Restoration

Rev Gideon Lee

I like those shows that restores old things. Like junks that are ready to be thrown away but was restored to look brand new. In Penang someone defaced the wall paintings and they had to get the original artist to come and restore the painting. This morning I want to talk about how God is still on the mission of restoration.

Remember the day you got saved you were brand new, a new creation. There was a bounce in your steps. But along the way we lost it. What the enemy has stolen from you God wants to restore to you. This is the heritage of the children of God. The problem is whether we want to cooperate with God in the process. Restoration will mean a painful process like putting us through the fire.

There are three things I want to look at this morning.

Isaiah 54

The Future Glory of Zion

1 “Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor;

because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the Lord.

2 “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back;

lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.

3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.

4 “Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.

5 For your Maker is your husband–the Lord Almighty is his name–the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.

6 The Lord will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit– a wife who married young, only to be rejected,” says your God.

7 “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back.

8 In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,”

says the Lord your Redeemer.

9 “To me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth.

So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again.

10 Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken

nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

11 “O afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will build you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with sapphires.

12 I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.

13 All your sons will be taught by the Lord, and great will be your children’s peace.

14 In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you.

15 If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you.

16 “See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work.

And it is I who have created the destroyer to work havoc;

17 no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord. God is in the business of restoration. These scriptures shows that God wants to restore our life.

1. He wants to restore the Joy of the Lord.

This is what the Lord first wants to restore. We remember how joyful we were when we first came to the Lord. If the church does not have the joy who else then have the joy? We have as children of God so much to be joyful about.

Joy is important and God wants to restore our joy.

Isaiah 54:1 “Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the Lord.

Having children is very important those days. Yet the Lord says to burst into songs and shout for joy. Sarah had no children yet when God fulfilled his promise and Sarah bore a son and his name means "laughter". God can fill us with joy once again. This morning the worship team did an excellent job even though there were so many issues. We are called Tabernacle of Praise so if you have lost your joy, seek the Lord as he is in the business of restoration. Sing and shout for joy. Has something caused you to loose your joy? God can restore it.

How many of you have heard of Frances Crosby? She lost her sight at a young age due to a medical issue. One of the songs she wrote is Blessed Assurance. She could have been bitter. In the lyrics is vision of rapture…This is my story…

1. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
   Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
   Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
   Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.

2. Perfect submission, perfect delight,
   Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
   Angels, descending, bring from above
   Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

3. Perfect submission, all is at rest,
   I in my Savior am happy and blest,
   Watching and waiting, looking above,
   Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

She was blind but she did not to let it rob her of her joy. Her songs have ministered to thousands if not millions of people.

2. He wants to restore our dignity

Isaiah 54:4 “Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.

There are some things I did in my past I am shameful about. I'm not talking about being embarrassed but it's some things I did I am not proud of. Some of you may have this too.

Remember the woman with the issue of blood? It was not just a physical problem but also a spiritual problem. When she is menstruating, she's considered unclean and is ostracised.  The Jews have this understanding that if you are unclean they cannot touch you. But Jesus was not bothered about this. Jesus was the other way around. He has the power to make her clean.

One day she heard Jesus was coming around. She said if she could just touch the hem of his garment then she will be healed. And the Bible said as soon as she touched his garment Jesus felt a power left him and he said who touched me? The woman said it is I that touched you. And Jesus said you are healed. Everyone knew she had an issue of blood but now she's healed. Jesus restored her dignity.

This morning he wants to restore your dignity. Come back to him because he can do it.

Jesus restores your joy and he is also able to restore you dignity. He took your greatest shame when he went to the cross for you.

3. God wants to restore his favour back upon your life.

Isaiah 54:17 no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord.

There's also a verse in Joel.

Joel 2:25 “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten–the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm–my great army that I sent among you.

I like this. God says he will repay the great and young locusts, the big and the small and the others. He didn't leave any out.

Some of you may feel that you are so cornered you don't know where to turn to. Some of you may feel you have been pressed from every side. Sometimes locusts do come but God says he is going to restore it all. Nothing is too impossible with God.

When I was working in the Edge newspaper, I was headhunted to go to Reader's Digest. One of the things I said to God was that I want to leave with my testimony intact. So when I put in my resignation letter there was a change in my boss. I was his favourite employee probably because of the favour of the Lord. He was the best boss I had. He would sit with me to craft my proposal. He will teach me the art of writing. At that time I was not able to draft a good letter. He would help me.

But when I put in my resignation letter he became very angry with me. He would check through all my work. I was already assistant GM and for one month he was on my back. It was a totally different person from what I know. Two weeks before I left he began to treat me like how he treated me before.

Before I left, he asked his secretary to collect money from the Marketing Department to make me a full suit. Including shoes and socks and belt. Only thing didn't buy is an underwear. He has never done this for any staff.

He told me that I'll leave with his blessing and gave me a farewell dinner. I was there 5 years and he told me he promised me I'll leave better. He just WhatsApp me that after 20 years he is retiring. He took the trouble to inform me. God wants to restore your relationship. God got's your back.

He is a God of restoration. He loves to do the Impossible. All things means all. Whatever you are going through I encourage you he is able. Today I'm going to open the altar because I want to minister to you. I don't want to talk about the theme but to minister to you.

One reason why I want to shift the time to 10.30 am is so that you can come earlier to pray for the service. We have the floor to our own so you can come earlier and we finish earlier so you have time to fellowship and have lunch. Come to the sanctuary to pray. 31st January we will be up there. Let's give God a hand.