The Best Is Yet To Come Too Good To Be True 57:15 Pastor Ryan Heller

The High and Lofty One lives forever, and his name is holy. This is what he says: I live in a high and holy place. But I am with those who are crushed and humble. I will renew the spirit of those who are humble and the courage of those who are crushed. Isaiah 57:15 (GW)

1. God lives in high places and humble hearts.

He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them. Psalm 147:4 (NIV)

Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. :1-2 (NIV)

Be humble and give more honor to others than to yourselves. Philippians 2:3b (NCV)

Pride leads to destruction; a proud attitude brings ruin. Proverbs 16:18 (NCV)

First pride, then the crash – the bigger the ego, the harder the fall. Proverbs 16:18 (MSG)

2. When I have a humble heart God will revive me.

…I will renew the spirit of those who are humble and the courage of those who are crushed. Isaiah 57:15 (GW)

At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. 2 Timothy 4:16-17 (NIV)

The Best Is Yet To Come- Too Good To Be True

Let's open our today to the 57th chapter of the . Isaiah, chapter 57. Have you ever received news that seemed too good to be true? Maybe you were at the mall and you saw a little section, a little sale section that said 70% off, plus an additional 30, and you thought, that's too good to be true. Or maybe you got a robo call that said you had won a free vacation to the Bahamas, and you said to yourself, that's too good to be true. Have you ever had an experience like that?

This week I was over at Starbucks, and I looked up. There was this beautiful girl that walked in, probably in her twenties; and she had a guy with her. I don't know if it was her husband or her boyfriend, but she was just a drop dead gorgeous, you know, woman. Then I looked over at the guy, and I'm trying to think how to say this in church, but he was just kind of an ugly guy, you know? My first thought was how did this guy, get that girl? I wanted to go over and give him a high five, and just say, you know, on behalf of all dudes, man, thanks for just giving us all a little more confidence. I mean, I don't know what you did. You must have a great personality, you must have a lot of money, I don't know what's going on, but man, good for you.

I looked at that and thought, too good to be true. When you see Barbie, sometimes you expect to see Ken; but not necessarily. It kind of reminded me when Julia Roberts married Lyle Lovett. Do you guys remember that? It was like beauty and the beast you know. Still trying to figure that ... That didn't last very long. Donald Trump, you know, he married Melania. I'm still trying to figure that out. He wrote the book, "The Art of the Deal." Maybe he knows how to make deals. I don't know. He actually married three supermodels. That's actually pretty amazing, isn't it? Sometimes things are just too good to be true.

You know what? Sometimes when we read things in the , we read that and we're like, that's too good to be true. But it is. But it is. The Bible is full of promises from God that are too good to be true, but it is. Too good to be true, but it is. In Isaiah 57, verse 15, I want to wrap up this series that we've been in over the last few weeks, called, "The Best is Yet to Come". I hope that you believe that for your life, that your best days, that your best opportunities, that your freshest walk with God, that the greatest things that the Lord is going to do in your life, that the best is yet to come. I believe that when we believe the best is yet to come, that we'll see this promise today from Isaiah 57:15, and say, man, this is too good to be true, but it is. It's too good to be true, but it is.

Look at the scripture, it says, "The High and Lofty One, the High and Lofty One lives forever, and his name is Holy, and this is what he says, 'I live in a high and holy place, but I am with those who are crushed and humble, and I will renew the spirit of those who are humble and the courage of those who are crushed.'" It's a beautiful promise from God.

The Bible says this; first of all, that God lives in high places, but he also lives in humble hearts.

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Isn't that amazing? I mean, just think about that for a moment. How could God dwell in the high and lofty places? How could God live in all of the heavens and how could he live in your heart? How is that even possible? How is it possible that the Creator God could dwell in the heart of the created person? How is it possible that a perfect, and a righteous, and a Holy God could live in the heart of a sinful individual? How is it possible that a big God, could live in a small heart? How is it possible that an infinite God, could dwell in a finite soul? Isn't that amazing?

The Bible says this, "God dwells in two places. God has two homes. The heavenly places, and the hearts of those who are humble." That's where God dwells. Well, how is that even possible? How is that possible? It's pretty amazing to think about, isn't it? I want to tell you today, the reason that this message is so powerful and so important, is because what we believe about God, is the most important thought that we will ever have. What we believe about God has implications into our relationships, our self-worth, our future. I mean, everything centers for what we believe about God. If we can understand how the God of heaven could dwell in our life, oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Amazing change, amazing power, amazing strength, I believe would just begin to take place.

This is why the prophet Isaiah is sharing this with his people because the people of Isaiah 57 had forgotten about how great God was. We have a tendency, many times, to minimize God and magnify self. We believe that we are bigger and greater than we really are. We have a tendency to bring God down a few notches, don't we? Listen, when you minimize God or when you maximize self, you distort reality. God dwells in the high and lofty places. He's amazing. He's God. He also lives in the hearts of the humble. The bible says he doesn't just live in any heart, but he lives in the heart of those who have a humble and a contrite heart. That's where God dwells. Where is God? He's in the heart of the humble. That's where he is.

What we believe about God has such a profound effect on our lives. The psalmist said, in Psalm 147, "He counts the number of stars and he gives names to them all." Did you know astronomers tell us there's over one septillion stars in the universe. Can you believe that? I didn't even know septillion was a number. Sounds like an animal, doesn't it? Septillion, sounds like a reptile. It's bigger than a million, it's way bigger than a billion, it's huge. It's a septillion. I mean, God knows the names. The names of all the stars. Church, are you hearing me today? I mean, it's amazing. God, he's big. He lives in the high and the lofty places.

The Milky Way galaxy, they tell us, is so massive that if you were traveling at the speed of light, it would take you a hundred thousand years to travel from one end to the other. That's just the Milky Way galaxy. Scientist also tell us that there are, by many estimates, one hundred billion galaxies. Wow. The Milky Way, that's just one. God reigns over all of it. He's a great God. He's a great God. He dwells in the high and the lofty places. We need to remember that. Let God be who God is. The Scripture says he lives forever. Look at that in The Best Is Yet To Come- Too Good To Be True Page 3 of 9

verse 15, he lives forever. God has always been here, he always will be here. The reason God knows so much, he's been around a really long time.

You're not the first person to have that problem that you've got. Did you know that? You're not the first person struggling with that. God says, oh I've been seeing that over and over, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. I understand. I get it. Yeah, been there, done that. Been through all that. Yeah, lives forever. He inhabits eternity. He thinks outside of time. The Bible says that our life is like a vapor or a breath compared to God. God is big and he's holy. He's the exalted one. He's a righteous man, there's no sin in him. It says he dwells in the heart of the humble and contrite, not just anyone. What is a contrite heart? Look at that in verse 15 again. What is that? A contrite heart?

What is a contrite heart? A contrite heart is a heart that has been crushed and shaped. The same word for contrite is also a word that can be used to speak of the quarrying process of a rock. If you've ever been to a rock quarry, you know that they have to cut the rock and they have to shape it. Like at a granite quarry, they take a big blow torch and they cut the rock and then they sandblast it and then they polish it and then they shape it and they craft it. Before the rock is usable it has to be worked and manipulated. It has to go through a process. God has to bring us through that process. That is a contrite heart. Sometimes we have to be crushed and cut for God to bring us through the process. Some of us are in a season right now in our life where God is crushing us. He is polishing us. He is getting us ready for the great things he wants to do in our lives. The Bible says, God dwells in the heart of the contrite person. The person that says, God, here's my heart, here's my life. Mold me and shape me God. That's the humble and contrite heart.

God, make me into the person you need to be. I am the clay, and you are the potter, God. Shape me and mold me. The humble heart, he says here. The humble heart. I believe this, humility is an underrated virtue. Very few people want to talk about being humble. I did a little search on Google this week. Here's what I discovered; I typed in 'improving confidence', do you know what I discovered? Two hundred and fifty-four million results. How about that? Everyone wants to talk about being more confident. I typed in, 'improving humility', you know how many responses I saw? Three and a half million. Two hundred and fifty-four million. Three and a half million. Nobody is talking about being humble today. Nobody wants to be humble. Everybody wants to be confident.

Do you know what you'll find, I believe this too, when you walk in humility before God, God will bring confidence in your life. It's actually the opposite, see? We spend all this time trying to puff ourselves up and trying to have more swag in our life. All this. Listen, your swag comes from God. That's where it comes from. The Bible says, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and God will lift you up. You want to be great? The way to greatness is the way of humility. It is. It's a forgotten virtue. Humility is underrated. By remaining humble, we will be more receptive to opportunities to improve. The Best Is Yet To Come- Too Good To Be True Page 4 of 9

I mean, if you work in an office with somebody who is prideful. Think about how difficult it is just to get something done. You've got to stroke everybody's ego and you got to say it just a certain way. It's cumbersome. It really is. When a person is humble, you know what? They're flexible. People who are rigid, are people that are pride. It's gotta be my way. It's gotta be like this. This is why a lot of marriages are struggling because there's a lot of pride in the home. There's not that spirit of humility and we wonder today why are our marriages suffering? What would our homes be like if we brought more humility to the table? God says, that's the place where I dwell. That's the place where I work. You know?

When you begin to walk in humility, you invite the presence of God into your life. The hand of God. God just starts working, moving, relationships, struggles, issues, problems. Oh my goodness. When we begin to humble ourselves before God. Humility. Humility. Humility is not low self-confidence, it's not self-loathing. Sometimes we get this mixed up. Like, oh, I'm so humble. I want to wear sack cloths and ashes. I want to dress in all gray and black and walk around with a scowl on my face. That's not what humility is. Humility is just a dependence on God. It's understanding who God is, and who God is in your life. The fact that God could dwell in the heavenly places, and yet God could live in your heart. That should make everyone of us humble. Right there. That God would want something to do with me. That God would want to live in my life. Through the person of Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. His resurrection on the third day, that God would want to come and dwell with me, that ought to humble every one of us.

Listen, when pride walks into the room, God walks out. That's what we need. We need humility. We need humility. Not trying to fake confidence. Not trying to act like we know all the stuff that we don't. We need true humility. That's why the apostle Paul said it like this in Philippians two. He said, "Be humble and give more honor to others, than to yourselves." That's what humility is. Pride destroys, and humility unites. Pride destroys. Criticism, and competition, and superficiality, and stubbornness, come from pride. The Proverbs says it this way; Proverbs 16, "Pride leads to destruction. A proud attitude brings ruin." I love the message paraphrase of the same verse. It says this, "First pride, then the crash. The bigger the ego, the harder the fall." How about that? The bigger the ego, the harder the fall.

Listen, when you're walking in humility, sometimes you will get off to a slower start than the person who is proud. The self-promoter. Sometimes the self-promoter gets a lot of the attention starting out. But you know what will happen? The person of pride will flame out because they don't have the substance. When you are just walking in humility and walking before God. God is going to lift you up. God is going to lift you up.

One of the great marks of humility is being able to see others do well. You know? When somebody is striving for the same goal that you're striving for, and they get there first. Are you upset? Or do you celebrate with them? When you live in humility you can say, man, good The Best Is Yet To Come- Too Good To Be True Page 5 of 9

for you. Congratulations. Way to go. Man, I know you worked hard to get there. You're not sitting around and going, well man, I wish that was me. I should have done it first. You know? That's not walking in humility. God says, I don't dwell in that place. God doesn't want anything to do with that. Isaiah said, a little bit later, in chapter 66, verse two. He said, "These are the ones I look on with favor. Those who are humble and contrite in spirit and who tremble at my word." See, when you are humble before God, you will respect the word of God. It's one of the great marks of humility. It's not just celebrating when others do well, but it is also a respect and an awe of the word of God. When we hear things in the word of God, when we study things in the word of God, our response is humility. Okay God, maybe I don't understand all that, but that's what the Word says so God, sign me up. That's humility.

Do you humble? Are you walking in humility? Are you walking in that reverence, and respect, of the word of God. Those who tremble at my word. He uses the same word there, humble and contrite, in Isaiah 66:2. Those who are humble and contrite in spirit and all who tremble at my word. That's what humility is. We gotta be contrite and humble. What happens when that happens? When we walk with a contrite heart and a humility, that's when God revives us.

2. When I have a humble heart God will revive me.

Look at this. Look at the last part of verse 15. "I will renew the spirit of those who are humble, and the courage of those who are crushed." When I have a humble heart, God will revive me. When I have a humble heart, God will revive me. What happens? Sometimes we just need to be renewed, don't we? Anybody here ever get tired sometimes? Got to take a little vacation? I love Edge Church. I think about Edge Church everyday. Sometimes I gotta get out of here. I gotta be honest with you. Sometimes I gotta unplug the phone. Turn the phone off. Just get away. Refresh with my wife, with my family. To get resuscitated, to get revived.

Spiritually the Bible says this; when we walk humble before God, God will renew us and revive us spiritually, over and over and over. Let me ask you a question, if you feel weary and worn out today, are you walking humbly before God and his word? Are you walking in humility, man? Are you walking in that contrite heart? Trying to do everything on your own. By your own strength. When you think it's all up to you, that's pride right there. That's pride. You've elevated self and you've diminished God. We need to have a holy awareness in our life. A holy dependence on him. The scripture says the end result of that is your life will be revived and you will have courage. Amen? Anybody here need courage today? Strength? I will renew the spirit of those who are humble and courage of those who are crushed. See, when you get crushed, sometimes in your life, you don't have courage. When you walk humbly before God, God will give you courage to overcome being crushed. That's the way it works.

Sometimes we just crawl into a shell when we are going through adversity. We need to get The Best Is Yet To Come- Too Good To Be True Page 6 of 9

on our knees before God. Humbly before him and say, God, I need you. I tremble before your word God. I want to know you God. You're amazing God. A septillion stars in the universe, the Milky Way galaxy is huge God. You inhabit all of that, but God, would you inhabit my life? Would you give me strength today God? Would you give me hope? That's why nothing is a big deal for God, by the way. Nothing is a big deal for God. God is not overwhelmed by your issues today. You don't have an issue today that God looks at and goes, man, I just absolutely just don't know what to do with her. I been up all night worried about that man. I just don't know what to do.

God just says, I dwell in high places, and I dwell in humble hearts. That's where I'm at. That's where I do my business. That's where I work. That's where I move. That's where I do things that are unbelievable. Sometimes we look around and we're like, man, God is always working in his life. God seems to never be doing anything over here. What's the difference? A humble and contrite heart. When we come humbly before the God. Listen, you can't stop God from working in your life when you are humble before him. It will begin to happen. It will. He says he will revive us. He will revive the brokenhearted. Psalm 147 says, "He heals the brokenhearted, and he binds up their wounds." Somebody today has got a broken heart. God is the one who binds up those broken hearts and those wounds. God is the one who bandages us up. He is the one that stops the infection and stops the bleeding in our life. He is the one who heals those wounds.

Some of us today are going through some relationship trauma. Maybe you are going through a divorce today. Your heart is broken. Your heart is broken. You gotta let God work in your life. Some people go through a divorce and they leave the divorce with all kinds of hang-ups. That's why people 15, 20 years after divorce, they won't remarry anybody. They won't give their hearts to anybody else because they've got hang-ups and they never dealt with the past. We gotta let God bind up those wounds. People say, I'll never trust again. I'll never love again. I'll never let somebody close again. No. We've gotta let God work in our lives. We gotta let God work in our lives to help us to move through the junk of the past, so that we can embrace the plans that he has for us in the future. Don't do that. Don't be the person that goes down the road of a terrible break-up, or a divorce, and just says, I'm just never going to love anybody. I'm just never going to be close. I'm just never. I can't because I've got all these weird hang-ups. I can't do it. Don't do that. Walk humbly before God. Remember this. God is the one who heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He also revives courage and tenacity.

Where are you getting your strength today? Is it from God? God is an endless reservoir. There's no amount of strength that you need, that exceeds God's capacity to give it to you. If you are not finding God's strength today, ask yourself, am I walking humbly before him? You walk humble before God, God will begin to supercharge your life. You'll have courage and strength that you didn't know that you had. You'll be like, where did this come from? Woah. The apostle Paul said this in second Timothy chapter four, he went through some adversity in The Best Is Yet To Come- Too Good To Be True Page 7 of 9

his life. He said, "At my first offense, no one came to support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them." Then, in verse 17, he says, "But the Lord stood at my side, and gave me strength. So that through me the message might fully be proclaimed and all the gentiles might hear it and I was delivered from the lions mouth." Woah. Paul says, you know what? Nobody else was around, but the Lord stood by me.

You may be all alone, nobody else may be standing with you, but God is with you. God is with you. God is the one who will deliver you from the mouth of the lion. How about that? God is the one who is the giver of courage and tenacity. God is the one that helps us to keep fighting for what is right. He's the one that gives us the ability to keep fighting for our dreams. He's the one that give us courage and boldness. One of the themes in the book of Acts, is the boldness of the early church. The courage, man, that people had from the power of the Holy Spirit. That's what many of us need today. We need courage and power from the Holy Spirit to get through what we are going through. We need to remember today, God dwells in high places, but he also lives in humble hearts. He lives in those humble hearts. He does.

He also revives the forgotten. He revives the forgotten. The story of Joseph in the book of Genesis, I think is one of the most profound examples. Joseph is imprisoned, he has been falsely accused of trying to rape his bosses wife. He didn't do it, but he was thrown into jail anyway. In that prison cell, he begins to interpret the dreams of a cup-bearer and the baker of the Pharaoh. They've been thrown into prison. The Pharaoh got upset with them. Joseph is interpreting dreams. God had given him the ability to interpret dreams. The cup-bearer and the baker got out of prison. The baker lost his life, but the cup-bearer stuck around and was in the house of Pharaoh.

Nobody remembered Joseph. Joseph's family wasn't there to visit him. They were far away. The cup-bearer wasn't there. Joseph's got nobody. He's flying solo. Two years he's in prison. Two years after his friend, the cup-bearer, got out. All of a sudden Pharaoh's got a dream. It's driving Pharaoh crazy because he doesn't know what it means. He inquires of the cup-bearer. The cup-bearer says, man, go and let's pull Joseph out of the cell down there. Let's see if Joseph can help. Joseph comes before the Pharaoh of . He says, hey, I hear you have the ability to interpret dreams. Joseph, in humility and wisdom, says something so profound. He says, really it's kinda not me, it's really God. It's God through me. You know? In other words, I have a dependence on God, but let me see if I can help. Joseph interprets the dreams of Pharaoh and rises and rises and rises to become the Prime Minister of Egypt. When he was formally the inmate. How about that?

I love to say this, God revives the forgotten. God remembers the people that nobody else is thinking about. God is the one who resuscitates courage and tenacity and drive, in the life of the person that feels overwhelmed. When we feel that way, we come before God humbly and he empowers us. He empowers us. God dwells in two places. The heavenly places, and the humble hearts. It seems too good to be true, doesn't it? It seems too good to be true, The Best Is Yet To Come- Too Good To Be True Page 8 of 9

that the God of Heaven would come and live in my life. When I turn to God with a humble and contrite heart, God will take me places and will do things in and through my life that I never thought was possible. That's why we serve a great God. That's why the best is yet to come. The best is yet to come church. The best is yet to come. He lives in high places and he lives in humble hearts. Let's pray together.

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