Piper's Notes

March 4, 1984 (Morning)

Bethlehem Baptist Church

John Piper, Pastor

A PRECIOUS PROMISE: THE OUTPOURING OF GOD'S SPIRIT

(Isaiah 44:1-5 ESV)

“But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen! 2 Thus says

the LORD who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you:

Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen. 3 For I will pour

water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit

upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. 4 They shall spring

up among the grass like willows by flowing streams. 5 This one will say, ‘I am

the LORD’s,’ another will call on the name of Jacob, and another will write on his

hand, ‘The LORD’s,’ and name himself by the name of Israel.”

Do you know why it is easier to be nice to people on Friday than it is on Monday?

Isn't it because hope is like a river that flows into us from a bright future, fills up the

reservoir of our joy and then overflows in kindness to others? On Friday rest and

recreation are just around the corner, so close we can taste them. By hope we taste

the power of the weekend to come. The little reservoir of our joy begins to fill. And if

the weekend looks bright enough our reservoir of joy will fill to the brim and start to

spill over. This spillover of joy onto other people is called love. So you are always

nicer to people when you feel happy about your future. Hope fills you with joy and

joy spills over in smiles and kind words and helpful deeds. It happens before

vacations, before birthdays, before Christmas, and for most people on Friday -

T.G.I.F.!

It won't be hard, then, to help people see that the good news of Christianity fits our

need perfectly. Most people not only long for joy, but also for the great freedom of

being so full in ourselves we can live for others. Nothing shows the fullness and

freedom of the human soul more than love. Therefore, deep down people want to

love. You can tell this by how many people admire Mother Teresa. Deep down we

wish we were so full that our lives were a constant spring of life-giving water

satisfying the needs of others. But instead we are confronted by the puny reality of

our anxious, covetous hearts. Most of the time people are obstacles to our feeble

pursuits of pleasure or threats to our fragile peace of mind. Rarely do they find us so

content that they can drink from the overflow of our joy.

Why? Because all weekends are imperfect. Vacations cost money and come to an

end. Birthdays bring presents … and age. The Christmas tree dries up. You don't

hear from your friend for another year. The problem for all of us is that the fullness of

joy and the freedom of love which we crave won't ever come until we can be

absolutely sure that the best and happiest future imaginable is guaranteed for us.

Let me say it again: until we can feel full assurance of a guaranteed future of

maximum joy, our lives will be a continual sequence of childish cravings and self-

centered frustrations.

The fact that we can all be happier and kinder on Friday ought to teach us that joy

and love are impossible without hope. And the fact that all weekends peter out into

Monday ought to make us Christians. Because the stunning message at the heart

of the Christian gospel, which is almost too good to be true, is that the almighty

God who made heaven and earth has said to those who trust in him, "I know the

plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a

future and a hope" (Jer. 29:11). The heart of the gospel is that by giving his own Son

to die on the cross God has purchased and guaranteed the best possible future for

those who trust him. Paul says to the church at Rome, "If God is for us, who is

against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not

also give us all things with him?"

How can you have fullness of joy and the glorious freedom to be a loving

person when the weekend brings loneliness and the car breaks down on

vacation and your birthday carries you irrevocably toward death?

Answer: Become a Christian and believe God when he says,

"All things work together for good for those who love God and are called according

to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28).

"Let us rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance and

endurance produces tested character and tested character produces hope and

hope does not disappoint us, because the love of God has been poured out into

our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" (Rom. 5:3-5).

Christians believe in a sovereign God who never says, "Oops." We believe that all

our days -- Fridays and Mondays! -- are divine strokes on the canvas of our lives by

the Master Artist who certified his skill, his power and his love in the Masterpiece of

Calvary. The Holy Spirit has been poured into our hearts assuring us that if God did

not spare his Son, then he will not spare any effort to guarantee for us the best and

happiest future. Therefore, hope does not disappoint. Therefore, joy is undaunted in

the face of suffering. Therefore, the freedom to love is possible in this rotten world.

That is, it is possible for those who follow Jesus into the storm and really believe

that at the best time he can and will say to the wind and waves: "Peace! Be Still!"

Just like water is made for the gills of a fish, and wind is made for the wings of a

bird, so the gospel of Christ is made for the soul of man. It gives the full assurance

of hope (Heb. 6:11) and from that the fullness of joy (Rom. 5:2) and from that the

freedom to love (Col. 1:4-5). And from that the God who supplies it all is glorified (1

Pet. 4:11). What more could anyone ask or imagine?

Now if we pause and ask what this has to do with the work of the Holy Spirit, the

answer is plain. Being filled with joy by the river of hope that overflows in the freedom

to love, all to the glory of God -- this is what the New Testament means by being

filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). There are passages which make this very plain. For

example, Romans 15:13 says, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace

in believing in order that by the power of the Holy Spirit you might abound in hope."

How can we abound in hope? Answer: by the power of the Holy Spirit. When Paul

says in Romans 5:5, "Hope does not disappoint us because God's love has been

poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us," he

means that the work of the Holy Spirit is to open our eyes to the staggering

implications of the love of God for our future and thereby fill us with hope.

And since joy (Rom. 15:13) and love (Col. 1:4-5) flow from hope, which abounds by

the power of the Holy Spirit, therefore it's not surprising to hear Paul say (in Gal.

5:22) that love and joy are the fruit of the Spirit. So there are two ways to describe

the key to the treasures of the Christian life. One way is to say that the key is to

abound in hope which gives fullness of joy which overflows in the freedom of love to

the glory of God. And the other way is to say that the key is to be filled with the

Holy Spirit.

When we see this connection -- that the fullness of hope and joy and love and the

fullness of the Holy Spirit are one fullness -- then a very practical answer emerges to

the burning question at Bethlehem these days, namely the question, How can we

be filled with the Holy Spirit? How can we experience an outpouring of the Holy

Spirit upon our church that fills us with indomitable joy and frees us and empowers

us to love those around us in ways so authentic that they are won to Christ?

Answer: meditate day and night upon the incomparable hope-giving promises of

God. That's the way Paul kept his heart full of hope and joy and love. He said (in

Rom. 15:4) "whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction that

by the steadfastness and encouragement of the scriptures we might abound in

hope." The full assurance of hope comes from meditating on the promises of God's

Word. And this does not contradict the sentence eight verses later that says that

the Holy Spirit gives us hope. For we learned last week that the Holy Spirit is the

divine author of scripture. It is, no contradiction that the way he fills us with hope is

by filling us with his own word of promise. Hope is not some vague emotion that

comes out of nowhere, like a stomachache. Hope is the confidence that the

stupendous future promised to us by the Word of the Spirit is going to really come

true. Therefore, the way to be filled with the Spirit is to be filled with his Word. The

way to have the power of the Spirit is to believe the promises of his Word. For it is

the word of promise that fills us with hope and hope fills us with joy and joy

overflows in the power and freedom to love our neighbor. And that is the fullness of

the Holy Spirit.

Well, what I have said so far was originally intended to be a short introduction to a

long exposition of Isaiah 44:1-5. But I got so carried away that it will have to serve

as a long introduction to a short exposition.

Isaiah 44:1-5 is a promise which ought to fill us with hope and with the Holy Spirit.

Let's pose just two brief questions to the text.

1) To whom is the promise made?

2) What is the promise?

In answer to the first question, the promise is not made to all Israelites, nor only

to Israelites. In the verse immediately preceding chapter 44 (43:28) God shows what

he does with unrepentant Israel: "I delivered Jacob to utter destruction and Israel to

reviling." When Israel refuses to serve the Lord he is punished. But Isaiah 44:1-5

promises blessing not punishment. Therefore God addresses Israel in verse 1 and

verse 2 as "my servant." "Hear now, Jacob my servant" (v. 1) … "Fear not, O Jacob

my servant" (v. 2). Insofar as Israel serves God it stands under the promise not the

curse. Not only that, the name Jeshurun ("Jeshurun, whom I have chosen") in v. 2

probably means the "upright one." So God's promise is not made to all Israel with

no qualification but only to Israel as "upright." Israel as "servant of God." The

promise does not apply to all Israelites.

Nor does it apply only to Israelites. Verse 5 is probably referring to converted

gentiles when it says, "This one will say, 'I am the Lord's,' another will call himself

by the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand, 'The Lord's,' and surname

himself by the name of Israel." (Compare Ps. 87:4-5.) The promise is not going to be

restricted to physical Israel because there will be many who accept Israel's God,

who align themselves with God's people and who give themselves to God. That

includes you and me if we belong to Christ (Gal. 3:29). We are true Jews,

Abraham's offspring and heirs of the promise.

So the answer to the first question is: the promise is made to Israel insofar as Israel

serves God and is upright; and the promise reaches out to Gentiles who will say, "I

am the Lord's," and submit themselves to the God of Israel, whom we know today

as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The promise is ours.

Second, what is the promise? The promise in verse 3 is that God will pour out his

Spirit: "I will pour out my Spirit upon your descendants and my blessing on your

offspring." God promised in the eighth century B.C. that a day was coming when he

would fill his upright servants with himself. The idea of pouring is the idea of

copiousness. When we say, "It's pouring outside" we mean something more than,

"It's drizzling, or misting or dripping." We mean, "If you go out, you'll get drenched."

So God's pouring corresponds to our being drenched or soaked or filled. In other

words, God promises a day when his people, his servants, will be drenched with the

Spirit.

I would argue that ever since the day of Pentecost, when this prophecy (as well as

Joel 2:28: Ezek. 39:29 and Zech. 12:10) received its inaugural fulfillment, it has been

a Christian duty to delight to seek and maintain the fullness of God's Spirit. Ever

since Peter claimed in Acts 2:16-17 that the last days of outpouring had begun,

none of us who reads this promise in Isaiah 44 should be content until we are

drenched with the Holy Spirit.

What will that mean according to Isaiah?

First, it will mean that our fears will be taken away. Verse 2: "Fear not, O Jacob, my

servant." The Spirit of God is God. When he is poured out upon you, you are safe!

Not safe from trouble, but safe from everything that God Almighty knows is not good

for you. When we are drenched with the Spirit we are drenched with the assurance

that Mondays are made in heaven just like Fridays. Whatever seems fearful

tomorrow does not need to be fearful if you are filled with the Spirit. Relations at

home may be tense, health may be deteriorating, the boss may be planning your

dismissal, tomorrow may bring a very threatening confrontation -- whatever is

making you anxious about tomorrow, open your heart to the outpouring of God's

Spirit, look to his word of promise and he will fill you with hope and conquer your

fear.

Verse three describes the effect of the outpouring in another way. "I will pour water

on the thirsty (land)." The word "land" is not in the original (K.J.V., "I will pour water

on him that is thirsty"). I take this to mean that when the Holy Spirit is poured out

not only are fears removed but longings are satisfied. The soul's thirst for God is

quenched -- or at least we taste enough satisfaction in him to know where to spend

the rest of our life drinking.

Our future can look bleak for two reasons: one is the prospect that misery is

coming; the other is the prospect that happiness is not coming. And isn't virtually all

the work of the human heart exhausted by these two things: fearing future misery

and thirsting for future happiness? If so, then Isaiah's promise is just what we need:

when the Spirit is poured out into our heart fear is taken away and thirst is satisfied.

Or to put it another way, if the Spirit has taken away what is fearful out of our future

and put what is soul-satisfying into our future, then he has given to us the full

assurance of hope. And we begin to see the ancient roots of Romans 15:13: "By the

power of the Holy Spirit we abound in hope."

Verse 4 describes yet another effect of the outpouring of the Spirit. Those who

experience it "will spring up among grass like willows by flowing streams." Doesn't

this imply that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is not supposed to be a one-time

thing or a sporadic thing, but instead should be continual. We should drink up the

Holy Spirit the way a tree by the stream continually drinks up water. In your life right

now you might be surrounded by desert, but if your roots go down by the stream of

the Spirit you will always flourish. If you draw on his life you will never thirst. The

assurance of hope will give rise to the flourishing of joy.

But what about the spillover of love?

Does Isaiah promise that, too? Isaiah 58:11 shows that he does: "The Lord will

guide you continually and satisfy your desire with good things, and make your

bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose

waters fail not." There it is. The final promise is that we will be springs, not sponges.

The human heart cannot be satisfied until it becomes a spring from which others

can drink. Hope we must have! Joy we must have! But the goal of our quest is

reached when our joy in God spills over in love to others for the glory of God.

It's not an accident that in Psalm 1 the tree planted by streams of water that brings

forth fruit for others is a picture of the person who meditates on the Word of God day

and night, while the tree planted by streams of water in Isaiah 44 is a picture of the

person who has experienced the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It's not an accident

because the Spirit of God does not produce hope apart from the Word of God; and

the Word of God does not produce hope apart from the Spirit of God. But the Spirit

through the Word, and the Word by the Spirit, takes away fear, nourishes hope, fills

with joy, overflows in love and glorifies God. That's what it means to be filled with the

Spirit. Therefore the way to experience the outpouring of the Spirit is to pour the

Word of the Spirit into your mind and heart every day and believe it.

I urge you in the name of Jesus Christ, if you long for the touch of the Spirit

of God upon your life, give yourself day and night to the reading of his

Word.