Isaiah 28:23-29 “The Story of Your Life”

Introduction:

1. Have you ever thought of writing an autobiography? Have you ever thought of putting the story of your life in print?

2. Whether you know it or not you are already under contract. The Holy Spirit has every intention of publishing your Life Story…In fact, the page-by-page account of your story on planet earth is actually being written right now.

3. You say, “My life is no different than anyone else’s. Who would read it?” The opposite is true. Your life is like no one else’s. You are as unique as a fingerprint.

4. God’s sovereign hand is weaving all things (even our mistakes and failures) together in such a way that in the final analysis He will receive all the glory and we will be blessed.

5. Life’s messages determine life’s ministries. Nothing you have ever experienced is accidental or incidental. Not that horrible crisis your family went through when you were 10…not that alcoholic father…not that physical deformity…not that relationship that fell apart. God has either designed or used everything in your life to make you who you are, and there is no one else in the world who is exactly the same.

6. You are crucial to God’s Kingdom and program. Your design and experiences are vital ingredients to making a man or woman for God to use someplace no one else can go.

7. That’s what makes the sovereignty of God so crucial to understanding our worth in Christ. The very things you question God about in your life are the very things that make your life unique. You are You IT WAS ALL BY DESIGN!

8. You may think God simply let a reject through the assembly lines of eternity when He made you. He made you like He did and exposed you to what He did in order for you to become who you are. Who you are will determine where you are sent into the mission fields of life.

9. So stop putting yourself down and running yourself down as though God could have done better.

10. Did you know you are a Masterpiece in the making? Isaiah 28:23-29 reminds of this in a simple parable:

I. OUR PREPARATION 28:23-25a

A. Listen...God Is Speaking 23

1. Four imperatives command the people to hear what God has to say: Give ear…Hear…Hearken…

Hear My speech

2. Often to don’t. This is a message delivered orally from a man. This is God speaking through them!

B. Look...God Is Showing 24-25a

1. Broken Soil 24a Two questions are given: Does the farmer plow all day to sow?

Does the farmer open and break the clods of his ground? The whole day the farmer with

a simple one pointed plow breaks the soil. The purpose is to sow. Must he engage in

constant, unending plowing? NO…there is other work He must do.

God breaks up the soil of our lives so we can receive what He wants to plant.

Brokenness: Disappointment…Pain…Loss brings us to the end of ourselves.

2. Blessed Soil 24b-25a He discs the field…harrows the ground dragging branches to

smooth the soil. The farmer not only plows, opens, harrows…His ground. The ground

belongs to the farmer. It was the object of His care and concern. Israel was not ready for

sowing. Judgment would precede a harvest.

God is working on us, not to destroy us, but to make us fruitful.

II. OUR PROPERTIES 28:25b

A. Different Plants 5 plants are mentioned:

1. Cummin was used to flavor dishes, especially during fasts. Jews paid tithes in cummin.

2. Fitches called ‘nutmeg flower’ were black seeds sprinkled over some kind of breads. It

was used as condiments by the Greeks and Romans. These seeds have a warm aromatic

flavor and they can assist in digestion.

3. Wheat or Corn was used for cereals in general.

4. Barley…oats were unknown. It was food for horses and donkeys. It was the food of the

poor in country districts.

5. Spelt…rye was unknown. It was a kind of wild wheat and was used for camel fodder.

B. Different Purposes

1. We have many stories…alcohol, drugs, crime, divorce. Millions of wrong choices.

2. Your Story: Your parents…did God make a mistake? Those parents were part of His

plan. Your Talents…Your Intellect…Your Physical Abilities…Your Appearance (Be it

Miss America or Miss Piggy) Who cares? That outer package in which God wrapped you

was strictly for the purpose of magnifying His character through you.

3. If you needed to be attractively designed…you didn’t have anything to do with it. Most

of us are not exceptional in any way…plain ordinary would describe most. We are designed

in such a way that God would receive the glory!

4. Man makes superior and inferior people. God doesn’t make superior and inferior

people. HE MAKES DIFFERENT PEOPLE FOR DIFFERENT PURPOSES!!

III. OUR PLACEMENT 28:25b-26

A. Different Locations 25b Cummin was scattered in sowing. Fitches was scattered and cast abroad.

Corn was carefully planted in rows. Barley/spelt “in their place” appointed place…sowing is not done

haphazardly but in a definite fashion.

B. Different Life 25b-26 All are ‘seeds’. All have a different existence.

1. Where you live. Where you grew up. Some can have children…some can’t. The People in Your

Life…that Sunday School teacher when you were in the 6th grade. That

one you wanted to marry, but left you… Every person who has ever passed through your life is

by God’s design. The hurt was not His doing, but He will use that hurt for His glory!

2. God instructs and God teaches. 26 The Traumas In Your Life…The Spiritual Experiences In

Your Life

IV. OUR PAIN 28:27-28

The pain of producing

A. Different Instruments

1. Each instrument us was used to have the plant let go of the seed. In each case discomfort is caused

in the process from the plant’s perspective.

2. Process used: *Threshing Instrument *Cartwheel *Beaten with a staff *Ground (some used oxen or

horses as the grain was crushed. Unless it lets go it will never be used as intended.

B. Different Intention

The farmer knows…it is in his hands! Your Spiritual Gifts…Your Unchangeable Defect

Things you would erase if you had the opportunity: Your Personality, Your Appearance...

Good Things: reveal God’s handiwork. Bad Things reveal His sovereignty. Don’t Blame God for

the Bad caused by someone else. HE WILL USE IT FOR HIS GLORY IF YOU WILL LET GO!

V. OUR PURPOSE 28:29

A. The Source This comes from the Lord of host.

B. The Solace He is wonderful in counsel…we desperately need Him. Excellent in working…

What He does is right. All the glory and praise goes to Him. Your life is unfolding!

Your life is a beautiful story. It is not yet finished. It will get even more beautiful as it concludes...when He reaches down and takes you in His arms forever.

THEN AND ONLY THEN WILL THE STORY OF YOUR LIFE BE COMPLETE!

Why God Chose Me

My talents? Is that what He saw long ago?

My talents? I see that the answer is, “No.”

My looks? Just a mirror dispels that thought

If that’s why He called me, He called me for naught.

My wisdom? Not even a trace do I see.

Then why? Tell me why did my Savior call me?

And just like the wind as it glides through the sky,

A voice, softly answers, “Yes, I’ll tell you why.”

“Because, when I looked, you were nothing to see,

And when I shine through nothing, then men will see Me.

I call men of weakness, so I can be strong;

I call even the downcast and give them a song.

“I call out of nothing; so, when something appears,

Men give ME the glory and down through the years,

It has been so, though the world is appalled;

Not many noble nor wise have been called.”

The poor man, the weak man, though often despised,

Come alive at God’s touch, and the world is surprised.

The fruitless, the failures, the dregs of the earth,

Become princes and kings when God’s Son gives them birth.

And in spite of their past, or how they were raised,

God gives them life, and the world is amazed.

Your credentials for heaven? I’ll give you a clue;

They’re only that God has found Jesus in you.

In spite of your weakness, your failures, your health;

In spite of your lack of applause, praise or wealth;

He called, He equipped, He sent from above,

And made you His chosen, and bathed you in love.

‘Twas only that God, in His Infinite power,

Gave us Himself in that marvelous hour.

When we said, “Yes,” to His gift of Grace,

And Jesus said, “Yes,” as He took our place.

What a trophy we are; what a victory indeed!

(But not for our value; but rather our need.,)

Then let’s yield all we are, all we have, all we own,

Relinquish our pride, and come down from our throne.

And turning to Jesus, let’s worship and praise

That He will be Lord all the rest of our days.

My talents? My wisdom? No dear God, now I see,

It was grace and grace only that You should choose me!