Isaiah 52:1-12
What If I’m Just A Failure?

Introduction
1. I don’t feel good enough. You try, but you fail more than you succeed in your Christian walk.
2. What if I’m just a failure?
3. Isaiah 52:1-12 Israel was a failure. Lying in a drunken stupor (51:17) (v. 21 drunken, but
not with wine), the Babylonian Captivity had whipped them. They didn’t have faith to get up
and go on.

What if I’m just a failure?
I. THE POSSIBILITIES OF FAILURES 52:1-3
Isaiah is talking to Jerusalem. God wants Lady Zion to stop feeling sorry for herself…throw
off her chains, and put on the beautiful garments laid out for her.
A. The Statements of Possibilities 1,2
1. Strengthen Put on (clothe yourself), thy strength (in your strength) Put on
beautiful garments.
2. Shake Off The dust…they were wallowing on the ground drunk. (51:14)
3. Sit Down
4. Set Free Loosen thyself…O captive daughter of Zion. Freedom is possible! No
more the uncircumcised/unclean. They were overrun by Babylonians.
*How does God see her? Not what she is, but what she is going to be. Now she
is a queen by the power and grace of God. Captive daughter…the suffering was
real! The Jewish exiles lost the sight of God. They were victims!
*As failures we do not believe that through Christ we have a new dignity and
distinction…freshness and freedom. If the Son shall make you free, you are free
indeed. (John 8:36) For freedom Christ has set us free. (Gal. 5:1a)
B. The Solution for Possibilities 3
1. You have sold yourself for nothing. Every one of us has nothing to offer God…
nothing!
2. You shall be redeemed without money. Christ pays our way in advance…in full…by
His own merits! Awake to Possibilities!

What if I’m just a failure?
II. THE PERSPECTIVE OF FAILURES 52:4-6
NOTHINGS…NOBODIES are My people…My name. Hear God speak. Hear what God has
to say!
A. What God Says 4
1. God knows who you are.
2. God knows where you have been. Egypt…Assyria
3. God knows your unfair, unjust treatment. Without cause…
B. What God Sees 5
1. What, No Purpose? Taken for nothing
2. What, No Pain? Wail…God sees your tears.
3. What, No Preeminence? God knows what is going on. They blaspheme my
name…continually, every day.
C. What God Senses 6
Even though you are a failure...you still belong to Me…My people.
1.My people shall know my name (character).
2.The day will come…I am He who speaks…Behold it is I…My people no matter where you go! No matter what happens to us we still belong to Him!
3.My name…He identifies with us. His name is on the line. He will come through!

What if I’m just a failure?
III. THE PROCLAMATION OF FAILURES 52:7-10
God permits us to be where we are so we can be a voice for Him.
A. The Witness 7
Failures with beautiful feet…
1.Isaiah is not admiring someone’s feet. What a welcome sound is the footfall of a
runner bringing good news.
2.What is God’s good news to lost, hopeless people? Happiness…Peace…Salvation…
Our God reigns! The message is not that we can make God victorious, but His grace has already won over everything that oppresses us.
God loves us with a love that cannot be defeated, even by our own stupidity!
B. The Welcome 8
1. The messenger is welcomed by the watchman on the city wall.
2. Failures bring a message: There are walls, obstacles, barriers…God opens the gate!
C. The Worship 9
1. The city bursts into song.
2. Happiness…Peace…Salvation…Our God reigns! Wasted Places Restored…
Wasted People Redeemed!
D. The World 10
1. The ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. This news is for the whole
world!
2. God takes failures. We are just one beggar telling another beggar where to find
bread!

What if I’m just a failure?
IV. THE PILGRIMAGE OF FAILURES 52:11-12
Go out…Depart…Go is a key word. 5 times it is given…Israel is leaving Babylon!
A. A Life of Separation 11
1. Go Out Go from there…from the midst of her
2. Be Clean These were priests, but we represent Jesus Christ.
B. A Life of Serenity 12
Two barriers to “Rest”
1. Fear Go, but don’t hurry.
2. Flight Go, but not flight…not as a fugitive.
3. “For” God is ahead of you…God is behind you.

How can you be a failure with God?
Fear and Flight Stop Faith
How can you fail with God?