Restore Joy, Part 1

Isaiah 54
Broadcast Featured Image

In today’s broadcast, Colin delves into Isaiah 54, highlighting that joy in Jesus Christ can lift us up even when we are in the depths of sorrow. If you’ve faced challenges, be they personal crises, relationship heartaches, or societal disruptions, this message shows how joy rooted in Christ transcends your circumstances. Listen in as Colin explains how joy found in God’s people, God’s love, and God’s city can transform the deepest pains into remarkable joy.

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You don’t need to wait until you have an experience of disaster before you pursue

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this joy. This joy is not just for the barren woman, the deserted wife and

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the person who is in the afflicted city and has lost their home.

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Joy in Jesus Christ will free you to savour all other joys in your life and

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will strengthen you to face all other sorrows in your life.

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Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I’m David Pick and Colin it sounds as

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if you’re saying that this joy comes from a relationship with Jesus Christ

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and the Bible makes it clear that this joy helps us as we face the difficulties

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and the reality of life. Yeah I love this about the Scriptures. Some people have

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the idea that the Bible is some kind of council of perfection, you know that it

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describes an ideal people in an ideal world. No it’s the Word of God into our

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world in all of its desperate need and pain as we experience it and we’re going

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to look at a part of the scripture today where God speaks into some of the

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greatest pains of life. He speaks about the woman who longs for a child and

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cannot have one. He speaks about someone who loves in marriage and then is

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rejected, the love is just thrown back in their face and they’re completely

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rejected. Speaks about situations of being broken and devastated and then

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speaks of how joy could come into these lives. Now that’s something remarkable

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that can only come from God himself. But this is the Bible, it’s not speaking to

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some ideal world it’s speaking to the real world in which we live, the world

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into which Jesus Christ has come. So we’re going to open up the Bible and see

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about this if you can join us in Isaiah chapter 54 as we begin the message

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called Restore Joy, here’s Colin. We’re continuing our series Restore My Soul

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Nine Heart Cries, Nine Prayers for Revival and our aim is that you will

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experience the Gospel more fully in your life and that we would narrow the gap

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between the faith we profess and the life that we experience. We began last

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week by asking God or to restore faith. Now here’s the second cry today and it

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is this cry Lord restore joy, restore joy. The desire for joy is universal, one

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thing that unites every person here, whatever our circumstance in life, is we

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all deeply want to be happy. Blaise Pascal, the great mathematician and

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Christian philosopher put it this way. He said, all men seek happiness, this is

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without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this

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end. The cause of some going to war and of others avoiding it, is the same desire

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in both, attended by different views. The will never takes the least step but to

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this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even those

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who hang themselves. And you see, Lois Pascal is saying,

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we are driven by this passion for what we most deeply believe will make us happy,

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even the person who takes their life, something you should never do.

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But those who do are driven by a sense of pain being so great that I would be

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better off out of it.

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The passion, the drive for happiness is universal.

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And therefore, it is never more intense than when we experience sorrow.

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So, as I’ve tried to meditate and pray about the scripture throughout these

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last days, I’ve just thought about across the congregation and situations that I

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know of, and there are so many more that I don’t, but some of you who are carrying

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heavy burdens, and absorbing great pressures, and enduring big

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disappointments, and experiencing great struggles, or living with great sorrows.

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And you know that over time that fatigues the body and it drains the soul,

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and when you experience that kind of sorrow, especially over a prolonged period

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of time, you desperately need to know that God is for your joy.

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And your immediate reaction might be to say, well, now, if you want me to believe

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that God is for my joy, you need to give me a jolly good reason when I look at

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what’s going on in my life. Well, the reason was last week.

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You look at the cross. You believe that. If you’ve come to that

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place of faith, you will be saying, God is totally for me in Christ.

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The cross demonstrates that. And if that is true and if you

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deeply believe that, you have to draw the conclusion, therefore,

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that God is for your joy. In fact, C.S. Lewis puts it this way.

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He says, God is more for your joy than you are. Here’s what Lewis says.

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He says, our Lord finds our desires for joy not too strong but too weak.

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We are like half-hearted creatures fooling around with drink and sex and

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ambition when infinite joy is offered to us. We’re like an ignorant child who wants

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to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by

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the offer of a holiday at the seaside. We are, says Lewis,

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far too easily pleased. Now, here we are trying to find a way to

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make our lives happier and Lewis says God has a happiness in view for you that is

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so much greater and so much bigger. It’s just like a child playing with mud

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because he’s never imagined what a day at the seaside would actually look like.

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Now, I want you to turn with me, please, to Isaiah chapter 54 and to see there

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that throughout this chapter, Isaiah finds joy in the most unlikely places.

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And he paints, in this chapter, three scenes of intense human sorrow.

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Now, immediately, there will be some of us in this congregation who identify

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with one, or perhaps more, of these. And you will say,

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That is exactly speaking to me.

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The first scene of human sorrow that Isaiah identifies is the barren woman

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in verse one, the woman who has never had any children.

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Sing, O Barren Woman, you who never bore a child.

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Now, for many women and a number who are in the congregation this morning,

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this may be a source of great pain and of sensitivity.

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It’s worth remembering that in the ancient world, the emotions associated

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with this were really intensified by some very practical considerations.

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See, in the ancient world, family was the key to survival.

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In ancient Israel, one thing you had was land.

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Remember, in the time of Joshua, they divided the land between the 12 tribes

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so that each family had land.

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So you were able to support yourself with the land so long as you had someone to work it.

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In fact, a team of people to work your land.

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How are you going to get a team of people to work your land over time?

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The extended family.

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So the key to survival in the long term, and especially into old age, is

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have lots of children, indeed lots of children

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because some of them won’t live for very long in the ancient world

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so in the ancient world, the barren woman, think about it, had a very bleak future.

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She would be destitute, she would be hungry, she would be poor.

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So that’s Isaiah’s first picture of intense sorrow.

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The woman who never had any children.

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Here’s the second.

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It’s in verse 6.

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The deserted wife.

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Now again, there are folks in our congregation who know what this is like.

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You married young.

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Some guy told you that he loved you.

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And you felt things for him and you married and it seemed that things would work out very

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well.

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But it wasn’t long after you were married before you became aware that he was fast losing

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interest in you.

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And over time, all your dreams of joy seemed shattered.

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You were, to use Isaiah’s words, distressed in spirit.

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You lost confidence in yourself.

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Felt humiliated.

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You felt that your life was adrift.

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And there are folks perhaps who are right there in the middle of that even today.

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Then Isaiah pictures a third scene of intense human sorrow.

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And it’s in verse 11.

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And it’s extraordinary that this passage should have been the passage chosen for us today.

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Because in verse 11, he talks about the afflicted city and why is the city afflicted in verse

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Because it is lashed by storms.

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Extraordinary!

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Isaiah chapter 54 in verse 11.

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And we think about that today, with some of us have water in our homes.

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And I don’t want to minimize that but we think of others whose homes are just devastated.

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We think of the scale of devastation of Katrina and now Ike.

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And the pain and the energy needed just for folks to try and rebuild life after in cases

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a total loss.

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And then if we think more widely about some of the scenes of flooding in India and people

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dragging carts and just a few possessions, miles and miles.

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And this is the picture that Isaiah paints for us.

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The city lashed by storms.

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Can you picture that?

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The devastation of ruined homes, the torn up buildings.

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I think there’s more here actually in what Isaiah is saying than the storms of violent

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weather.

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One writer translates Isaiah’s words as a tempest driven city.

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That’s a helpful picture.

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Think of all of us in the congregation who regularly drive into the city to make a living.

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You take the train into the city every day and you live in, what might be described as

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you think about the business world, you live in a tempest driven city.

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You work in a cut throat business environment and it brings relentless pressure on you and

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it drains the soul.

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Because the city with all its excitement is a relentlessly demanding place for you to

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spend your working life.

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The choice of these three scenes, I think is very, very significant, because the natural

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inclination of the human heart is that we are inclined to seek our happiness in three

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places.

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One is children, another is marriage, and the third is money.

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Our pride, our joy, our sense of dignity and worth and value and happiness and security

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and all of that, naturally tend to get wrapped up in the children you raise, the person to

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whom you are married, the possessions that you have.

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Which is why when someone’s child goes off the rails, your son or daughter goes off the

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rails, or your marriage is on the rocks, or your career suddenly hits the skids and is

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in ruins, many people feel that this now is a total loss, my life is not worth anything

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anymore.

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Therefore, you would expect the most unhappy people in the world to be the barren woman,

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the deserted wife, or the people who live in the ruined city.

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What I want us to grasp from Isaiah 54 is that Isaiah sees joy, joy in these most unlikely

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places.

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Chapter 54, verse 1, the barren woman, what is she doing?

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She is singing, she is bursting into song, she is shouting for joy.

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Verse 6, what’s happening to her?

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She has found security, she knows she is loved.

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What’s happening with the ruined city in verse 11 and 12?

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It’s being rebuilt.

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Only, it’s not being rebuilt with bricks and mortar, it is being rebuilt with rubies

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and sapphires and precious stones.

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And if you follow the story through – because Isaiah 54 and 55 really is kind of a unit

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together, so that’s why we’re looking at them together.

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If you follow it through to chapter 55 and verse 12, you have this marvelous promise

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that is given to the people who have experienced such intense sorrow.

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God says to the barren woman, the deserted wife, and the people of the ruined city, you

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will go out in joy and you will be led forth in peace, and the mountains and the hills

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will burst into song before you, and all of the trees will clap their hands.

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Now you say, how in all the world can that happen?

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How can the people who have known the greatest sorrows end up finding this greatest joy?

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You are listening to Open The Bible with Pastor Colin Smith in our message today called Restore

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Joy. It’s part of a series originally called Restore My Soul and it’s one of the most popular

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messages of the past twelve months. This month we’ll be broadcasting many of the most popular

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messages under the title, Listeners’ Favorites, and if you’ve missed any of the series so

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far, or if you want to listen again, or go back you can do that by coming online to our

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website www.openthebible.org.uk or you can find us as a podcast if that’s a more convenient

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way for your to hear Pastor Colin’s teaching, and those are available on all the regular

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podcasting sites, search for Open the Bible UK, and subscribe to receive regular updates.

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Back to the message now, we are now in Isaiah and chapter 54, here’s Colin.

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How can the people who’ve known the greatest sorrows end up finding this greatest joy?

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Now, let’s answer that question by looking more closely at what happens in this chapter.

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Verse one, the barren woman is singing, why?

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Because she is surrounded by a community of people who love her like their own mother,

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and she finds joy in them as if they were her own children.

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Sing o barren woman, you who never bore a child.

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Burst into song and shout for joy, you who never were in labor.

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Why?

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Because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband, says

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the Lord.’

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So the joy of this woman is that although she has no children of her own, she finds

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herself in a community of God’s redeemed people who love her as if she were their own mother,

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and she has come to love these people as if they were her own children.

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So the barren woman has found joy in God’s people.

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That’s Isaiah chapter 54 in verse 1, joy in God’s people.

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What’s it mean for the deserted wife?

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What’s happened in her life?

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Well, she has gone through such emotional trauma, but now she has become a woman of

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confidence, she has dignity, she is not ashamed, and she knows that she is loved.

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Verse 4, ”Do not be afraid,” God says to her, ”you will not suffer shame.

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Do not fear disgrace.

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”You will not be humiliated.

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”And remember no more the reproach of your widowed.”

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So this remarkable healing is going to take place in this woman’s life, and now God tells

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us why in verse 5.

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”For,” here is the reason, ”your maker is your husband,” wow, ”the Lord Almighty

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is His name.

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”The Holy one of Israel is Your Redeemer.

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He is called the God of all the earth.”

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So just as the barren woman has found joy in God’s people, this deserted wife is finding

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joy in God’s love.

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”Your maker is your husband,” 54 in verse 5.

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Let’s look at the ruined city.

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It’s being rebuilt, only it’s being rebuilt infinitely better.

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Guys in construction, you have never seen anything like this building project.

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Look at it with me.

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”Oh, afflicted city lashed by storms and not comforted…”

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God says, ”I will build you with”, what?

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”with stones of turquoise, your foundations with sapphires, your battlements of rubies,

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your gates of sparkling jewels and all your walls of precious stones.”

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And where in the world could you see a city built of that stuff?

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Well, John in the New Testament takes up these very words from Isaiah in Revelation in chapter

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21, and makes it very clear that what Isaiah is describing here is the New Jerusalem that

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comes down out of heaven that will be the everlasting home filled with joy for all the

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people of God.

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And so what Isaiah is speaking about here is that there will be joy for those who have

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experienced such devastation in their city, in the city who’s builder and maker is God.

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To quote the Book of Hebrews, and they’re finding joy in God’s city.

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Now, let’s put these three together because they’re giving us the key to how folks who

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have experienced great sorrow in life may hope to enter into an even greater joy.

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Those who have experienced this sorrow are finding joy in God’s people, joy in God’s

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love, and joy in God’s city.

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And the fullness of this joy, of course, awaits the day when our Lord Jesus Christ

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will come back in power and in glory.

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But in Jesus Christ, the beginning of that joy is ours already, so that when Jesus Christ

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comes again, you see, the little family, nuclear family thing won’t be anymore.

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That’s why there’s no more marriage in heaven.

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There will be an extension of community so that the love of the one who is lonely will

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be as if this one was my own mother, and I was her son, and this experience of love and

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joy that is shared by all in the presence of God will be complete.

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But it is begun even now, so that by the redeeming love of the Lord Jesus Christ we are brought

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together into a community where what really matters is not so much that we’re married

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or we’re single, or we’re rich, or we’re poor, but we come to find joy in one another in

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Jesus Christ, and to build one another up in the body of Christ. That’s what the church

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is all about and we … On that day we will know God’s love as we have never known it

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in this life, yet already we taste the joy of the love of God. And although we’ve not

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yet seen the city that lies ahead of us, already we have come to know the one who is building

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us and he says to us, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against

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him.

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You’ve been listening to Pastor Colin Smith and a message called Restore Joy. It’s been

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a message which many people have requested so we’ve included it on our list of listener’s

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favorites. I hope you found it helpful to hear how people who experience great sadness

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and difficulty in life can also find great joy in Jesus Christ. Next time we’re going

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to look at how we can cultivate that joy. So I hope you’ll join us for that broadcast.

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If you ever miss one of the messages, why don’t you come online. There you can go back

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and listen again or catch up with ones you might have missed. Our website address is

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www.openthebible.org.uk. Also on our website, and available as a podcast, is Open The Bible

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Daily, and that’s a series of short two to three minute daily reflections based on Pastor

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Colin Smith’s teaching and read in the UK by Sue MacLeish. You can find that on our

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website, openthebible.org.uk, and again as a podcast.

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At Open the Bible we welcome contact with our listeners. If you’ve been blessed by

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Pastor Colin Smith’s teaching and you’d like to reach out to us, there are several

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ways you can do that. You can write to us at Open the Bible PO Box 1420 Cheltenham

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GL50 9PG or you can phone us on 0330 335 8089. If we’re not available when you call,

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leave a message for us and we’ll return your call. All of these contact details are

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available on our website, openthebible.org.uk.

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Open the Bible is supported entirely by our listeners, that’s people just like you.

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And if supporting Open the Bible is something you’ve been considering doing, this month

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we have an offer for you which I hope you’ll like. If you’re able to set up a new donation

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to the work of Open the Bible, in the amount of £5 per month or more, we’d love to thank

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you by sending you a copy of Pastor Colin’s new book Flying Through the Bible. And Colin,

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I think you’re keen for us not to just read this book ourselves, but to pass it on to

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someone else.

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What I’m hoping is that folks will ask the question, who is there in my life who really

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needs to know the God of the Bible? Someone’s who’s not yet a believer, but just might be

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open to discover what God’s Word actually says. What I’ve found over the years is that

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the best way to introduce someone who does not yet believe to the truth, is to start

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with an overview of the Bible. The Bible actually is God’s way of disclosing the building blocks

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that we need in order to understand who Jesus is, what he’s accomplished and what he’s able

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to offer to us. So this is a very simple introduction to the Bible that you could give to someone

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who does not yet believe or to someone who’s a new believer and really needs to be discipled

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and established in the faith.

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Well we’d love to send you a copy of Colin’s book, Flying Through the Bible, if you’re

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able to set up a new donation to the work of Open the Bible in the amount of £5 per

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month or more this month.

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You can give online and there are full details of this offer on our website, OpentheBible.org.uk.

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For Open the Bible and Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick, and I hope you’ll be able

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to join us again next time.

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Many people feel that life’s too short for sorrow.

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What good can come out of it?

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Discover the value of sorrow next time on Open the Bible.

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Colin Smith

Trustee / Founder and Teaching Pastor

Colin Smith is the Senior Pastor of The Orchard Evangelical Free Church in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. He has authored a number of books, including Heaven, How I Got Here and Heaven, So Near – So Far. Colin is the Founder and Teaching Pastor for Open the Bible. Follow him on X formerly Twitter.

Linked resources

Sermons on Isaiah What if your heart cried out to God? What if all our hearts cried out for revival? The church and the world would never be the same. In these sermons on Isaiah, you’ll discover nine heart-cries for revival. Each one is an expression of God’s heart for His people. As they become

Colin Smith

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