1 00:00:01,520 --> 00:00:05,040 Greetings brothers and sisters from the Capitol Hill Baptist 2 00:00:05,040 --> 00:00:08,520 Church in Washington, DC. It's a joy to see so many of you 3 00:00:08,520 --> 00:00:11,880 who I know and love and have prayed for, and to meet many of 4 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:13,800 you who I'm meeting now for the first time. 5 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:18,720 My prayer as I've thought about this time and prepared a message 6 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:21,680 has been Paul's from Romans chapter one that I might be able 7 00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:24,920 to impart some spiritual gift to strengthen you. 8 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:28,680 And when Paul prays that prayer, when he tells the Romans that 9 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:32,360 that's what he's been praying for them, he says that we may be 10 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:36,120 mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and 11 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:38,240 mine. He didn't just expect to give 12 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:41,400 them a gift, but to receive one in return. 13 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:46,000 And the gift that that I received from you as I sing, as 14 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:49,320 I pray with you, as I see your attentiveness to God's Word, is 15 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:53,760 the encouragement that the same gospel is being proclaimed here, 16 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:56,680 the same gospel is being believed here, the same gospel 17 00:00:56,680 --> 00:00:58,840 is being cherished and treasured here. 18 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:00,360 So it's a joy to bring you God's Word. 19 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:04,879 I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that history is a 20 00:01:04,879 --> 00:01:08,920 battleground. This is the year that our nation 21 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:11,120 celebrates its 250th anniversary. 22 00:01:11,960 --> 00:01:14,440 And many of the questions that are being asked and answered and 23 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:18,200 debated and argued over in these days is who are we? 24 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:22,320 What is our identity? There? 25 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:27,760 There debates about who we are, about where we're going. 26 00:01:29,320 --> 00:01:33,480 See, the stories we tell shape our memories. 27 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:39,440 Our memories shape our identity. And our identity justifies an 28 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:42,240 intended course of action. That's why history is a 29 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:44,720 battleground. This is true for the stories we 30 00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:46,480 tell about ourselves as individuals. 31 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:49,880 This is true for the stories we tell about our churches. 32 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:53,320 This is true for the stories we tell as a nation. 33 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:58,280 See, there's no sure way to control a person or people than 34 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:04,280 to control their history. See, if I control your memory, I 35 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:07,240 control your identity. If I control your identity, then 36 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:10,280 I'm justified in whatever course of action I take against you. 37 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:14,800 What's the saying? History is written by the 38 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:19,240 victor. What is the truth about 39 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:23,800 America's story? What's the truth about your 40 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:28,280 story? What's the truth about Trinity 41 00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:33,000 Baptist Church's story? Who decides it? 42 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:38,480 What will it be? See in Isaiah's day? 43 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:42,640 Back in the Old Testament, in the 8th century BC, God's people 44 00:02:42,640 --> 00:02:46,760 were engaged in a fight for their very life over questions 45 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:50,000 of memory and identity and destiny. 46 00:02:50,640 --> 00:02:53,280 Who they were as a nation was being redefined in front of 47 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:56,240 their eyes, not by their fellow Jews, but by the surrounding 48 00:02:56,240 --> 00:03:00,960 nations, by their oppressors, especially the mighty Babylonian 49 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:06,160 Empire, which would conquer and exiled Judah in 586 BC. 50 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:08,520 See if history is written by the victor. 51 00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:16,320 The Babylonians were masters of composing narratives to justify 52 00:03:16,920 --> 00:03:20,800 their treatment of subjugated peoples and their status as a 53 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:23,240 superpower. Their main tool wasn't just 54 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:27,880 their military might, it was the soft power of theological 55 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:30,920 narratives. The belief was that when one 56 00:03:30,920 --> 00:03:36,280 nation conquered another nation, it was proof beyond shadow of of 57 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:40,680 a doubt that their God had conquered the subjugated 58 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:44,080 nation's God. In this case, Babylon's conquest 59 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:48,600 over Judah was supposed to prove that Mardock, the chief God of 60 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:52,800 the Babylonian pantheon, had conquered Yahweh, the God of 61 00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:55,200 Israel. After all, how could God allow 62 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:57,520 this to happen? How could God allow His people 63 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:02,240 to be defeated and taken into exile if Yahweh had not been 64 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:05,800 beaten by Mardock? Was he who he said he was? 65 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:09,360 Was he the all powerful good God, the only creator? 66 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:16,000 Or is he a lower deity beaten by a greater God? 67 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:20,120 Were his promises true? Could he be relied on? 68 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:24,880 See, it wasn't enough for Babylon to shackle Judah's 69 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:27,560 hands. They wanted to rewrite their 70 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:31,800 history as well. The problem was that Judah had 71 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:36,920 began to internalize the narrative, and as their view of 72 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:45,880 God shrunk, their fears grew. Judah's fear is captured in a 73 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:49,280 single verse. We're in chapter 51 this 74 00:04:49,280 --> 00:04:53,600 morning, but go back to chapter 49, chapter 49, verse 14. 75 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:57,560 This is the verse that God is responding to through His 76 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:02,840 prophet Isaiah in chapter 49, in chapter 50, in chapter 51 and 77 00:05:02,840 --> 00:05:06,120 chapter 52, all the way up to chapter 52, verse 13. 78 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:08,760 So if you want to understand this section of Isaiah, you need 79 00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:10,960 to understand chapter 49, verse 14. 80 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:20,960 It's Judah's declaration, but Zion said the Lord has forsaken 81 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:27,720 me, the Lord has forgotten me. That's how Judah felt. 82 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:33,760 Judah felt forgotten. And to this cry, to this cry of 83 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:36,880 his dejected people, God responds in chapter 49 with the 84 00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:41,320 tender image of a mother with her child, asking the question, 85 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:44,840 Can a mother forget her nursing child? 86 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:49,160 And in chapter 50, he responds with the image of a husband with 87 00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:50,960 a wife saying, I haven't divorced you. 88 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:54,680 He's saying I haven't forgotten you, I haven't rejected you. 89 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:58,160 And he's going to prove it. He's going to continue to prove 90 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:01,560 his faithfulness and his sovereignty to his people. 91 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:07,440 Trinity Baptist Church, I don't know all the fears you're 92 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:11,400 facing, whether that's individually or corporately as a 93 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:13,720 church. I know some of them. 94 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:18,920 I know that leadership transitions our hard time in the 95 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:21,240 life of a church. It raises questions. 96 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:25,000 But what God's doing and what His purposes are in this? 97 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:32,440 Today's passage offers you a path out of fear, a path out of 98 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:36,200 fearing man and circumstances and instead fearing the God who 99 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:38,080 controls them. Turn with me in your Bible to 100 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:41,400 Isaiah 51. If you're using the Black Pew 101 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:45,240 Bibles, they can. That can be found on page 572. 102 00:06:45,840 --> 00:06:53,320 This is the word of the Lord. Listen to me, you who pursue 103 00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:55,920 righteousness, you who seek the Lord. 104 00:06:56,120 --> 00:06:59,960 Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry 105 00:06:59,960 --> 00:07:03,280 from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father, and 106 00:07:03,280 --> 00:07:08,560 to Sarah who bore you. For he was but one when I called 107 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:12,400 him, that I might bless him and multiply him. 108 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:17,680 For the Lord comforts Zion, He comforts all her waste places, 109 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:21,720 and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden 110 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:24,640 of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found 111 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:27,080 in her Thanksgiving. In the voice of song. 112 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:30,760 Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation. 113 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:35,080 For a law will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a 114 00:07:35,080 --> 00:07:39,280 light to the peoples. My righteousness draws near, My 115 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:43,000 salvation has gone out, and my arm will judge the peoples. 116 00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:47,040 The coastlands wait for me, and for my arm they wait. 117 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:52,720 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look to the earth 118 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:55,040 beneath. For the heavens will vanish like 119 00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:57,320 smoke. The earth will wear out like a 120 00:07:57,320 --> 00:08:01,680 garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner. 121 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:05,680 But my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness 122 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:08,680 will never be dismayed. Listen to me, you who know 123 00:08:08,680 --> 00:08:12,640 righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law, fear not 124 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:16,720 to the reproach of man, or be dismayed if there are violence. 125 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:20,520 For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm 126 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:24,040 will eat them like wool. But my righteousness will be 127 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:28,920 forever, and my salvation to all generations. 128 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:34,280 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord, awake as in the 129 00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:37,080 day of old, the generations of long ago. 130 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:41,799 Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon? 131 00:08:41,799 --> 00:08:45,120 Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great 132 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:47,240 deep? You who made the depths of the 133 00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:51,200 sea away for the redeemed to Passover and the ransom to the 134 00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:54,160 Lord, shall return and come to Zion with singing. 135 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:56,840 Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. 136 00:08:56,920 --> 00:09:00,080 They shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow in sighing 137 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:04,200 shoutfully away. I I am he who comforts you. 138 00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:08,920 Who are you that you are afraid of man, who dies of the Son of 139 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:12,760 man who is made like grass and have forgotten the Lord your 140 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:15,800 Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundation 141 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:18,840 of the earth? And you fear continually all the 142 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:23,040 day, because of the wrath of the oppressor when he sets himself 143 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:26,320 to destroy. And where is the wrath of the 144 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:29,440 oppressor? He who is bowed down shall be 145 00:09:29,560 --> 00:09:32,080 speedily released. He shall not die and go down to 146 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:33,960 the pit, neither shall his bread be lacking. 147 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:37,880 I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea so that his 148 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:40,960 waves roar. The Lord of hosts is his name. 149 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:44,600 And I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the 150 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:48,320 shadow of my hand, establishing the heavens and laying the 151 00:09:48,320 --> 00:09:53,240 foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, You are my 152 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:58,440 people, wake yourself, wake yourself. 153 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:02,080 Stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the 154 00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:05,080 Lord the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs, the 155 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:08,240 bowl, the cup of staggering. And there is no one to guide her 156 00:10:08,440 --> 00:10:11,280 among all the sun she is born. There is none to take her by the 157 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:13,560 hand among all the sun she has brought up. 158 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:16,040 These two things have happened to you. 159 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:20,160 Who will console you? Devastation and destruction, 160 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:23,240 famine and sword, Who will comfort you? 161 00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:26,840 Your sons have fainted. They lie at the head of every 162 00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:28,560 street, like an antelope in the net. 163 00:10:28,680 --> 00:10:31,520 They are full of the wrath of the Lord, the rebuke of your 164 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:34,640 God. Therefore hear this, you who are 165 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:36,960 afflicted, who are drunk but not with wine. 166 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:43,240 Thus says the Lord, the Lord your God, who pleads the cause 167 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:48,520 of his people. Behold, I have taken from your 168 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:53,880 hand the cup of staggering, the bowl of my wrath. 169 00:10:54,040 --> 00:11:00,640 You shall drink no more, and I will put it in the hand of your 170 00:11:00,640 --> 00:11:04,240 tormentors, who have said to you, bow down, that we may pass 171 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:08,080 over, and you have made your back like the ground and like 172 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:09,680 the street for them to pass over. 173 00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:17,000 Friends, what do we do when fears loom large? 174 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:23,400 This passage gives us 3 answers, three ways where we can be free 175 00:11:23,400 --> 00:11:28,040 from fears, control. First, look up at who God is. 176 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:31,960 Second, look back at what God has done. 177 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:36,320 And 3rd, look forward to what God has promised. 178 00:11:36,560 --> 00:11:39,880 Look up, look back, look forward. 179 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:43,560 Because this chapter contains overlapping themes, I won't be 180 00:11:43,560 --> 00:11:47,080 preaching these verses in order. We'll be jumping around, but I 181 00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:50,160 will give you the verses that map onto each point, and we're 182 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:52,240 going to begin right in the middle, right? 183 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:56,640 Really in verses 12 to 16 where we see Isaiah's first answer. 184 00:11:56,640 --> 00:12:02,040 The first way to be free from fierce control is to look up at 185 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:04,400 who God is. See to his fearing and 186 00:12:04,400 --> 00:12:07,680 despairing people. God responds in verses 12 to 16 187 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:11,000 by telling them to look up at who He is. 188 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:14,960 That's why God says in verse 12, I am he who comforts you. 189 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:18,240 Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the Son of 190 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:21,680 man who is made like grass, and have forgotten the Lord your 191 00:12:21,680 --> 00:12:23,760 maker. Did you notice the connection 192 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:28,520 between fear and forgetting? That's because fears grow when 193 00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:33,120 we forget who God is. Judah's fear was that God had 194 00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:36,960 forgotten them. Reality was that they were 195 00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:42,800 starting to forget who God is. This is just one of a dozen 196 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:46,280 times that Isaiah tells his people to fear. 197 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:50,040 Not fear is mentioned three times in chapter 51 alone. 198 00:12:50,040 --> 00:12:53,760 Verse 7 if you're not the reproach of man, verse 13 you 199 00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:56,520 fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the 200 00:12:56,520 --> 00:13:01,680 oppressor, and verse 12 you are afraid of man who dies. 201 00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:04,640 Isaiah is making one basic point about fear. 202 00:13:04,640 --> 00:13:07,960 Fear arises when God is forgotten. 203 00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:13,760 When God is forgotten, the fears in our lives metastasize out of 204 00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:18,560 proportion. Fear is the response of the 205 00:13:18,560 --> 00:13:22,320 heart when what we treasure is threatened. 206 00:13:24,040 --> 00:13:27,720 Isaiah isn't saying that that the things we treasure are bad. 207 00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:31,320 And you can treasure things like your marriage or your children 208 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:35,640 or your job or your church. And what you treasure can be 209 00:13:35,640 --> 00:13:40,720 threatened in a fallen world. Other people can threaten the 210 00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:44,240 things you treasure. He's not saying the things you 211 00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:49,040 treasure are necessarily bad. He's just reminding you to 212 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:54,760 remember who controls them. The one who controls his people 213 00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:59,480 is God, so he tells them to look up to his fearful people. 214 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:04,480 He hands a telescope and says, look up, look at the stars who 215 00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:07,160 made them. Verse 6, lift your eyes to the 216 00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:09,080 heaven and look at the earth beneath. 217 00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:12,800 Or verse 13, your maker stretched out the heavens and 218 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:15,000 laid the foundations of the earth. 219 00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:17,560 Count the stars if you can. Who made them? 220 00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:20,160 Not the people who are threatening you. 221 00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:25,280 I made them. He's reminding them of who he 222 00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:30,840 is, because when we forget God, people become big. 223 00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:34,560 Our fears become big because God has become small. 224 00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:39,760 Verses 12 to 16 teaches that people can oppress and destroy. 225 00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:43,560 That's verse 13. People can imprison and revile. 226 00:14:43,560 --> 00:14:46,960 That's verses 7 and 14. God's people were going to be 227 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:50,200 taken into exile. Bad things were going to happen 228 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:53,760 to them, but those bad things were not proof that God wasn't 229 00:14:53,760 --> 00:14:57,880 who He says He is. The basic point of verse 12 is 230 00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:01,560 that man dies. These people who are oppressing 231 00:15:01,560 --> 00:15:04,760 them are mortal, perishing, temporary. 232 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:08,480 Then contrast that with who God is. 233 00:15:09,960 --> 00:15:14,920 God is the all powerful creator, but we forget that, don't we? 234 00:15:15,960 --> 00:15:21,520 Because the fears in our lives grow large and we forget who God 235 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:25,400 is. One of my favorite presidents 236 00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:30,680 was Theodore Roosevelt and Theodore had a contemporary who 237 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:35,400 recounts visiting him at the White House and he goes up after 238 00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:37,000 dinner. Roosevelt says, let's go up to 239 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:39,440 the rooftop. They go up to the rooftop after 240 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:43,240 dinner, and they look up at the stars. 241 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:45,760 Theodore Roosevelt just wanted to stare at the stars. 242 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:49,960 And they spend a minute. Another minute, several minutes 243 00:15:49,960 --> 00:15:55,320 go by, lost in silent contemplation at the wonder 244 00:15:55,760 --> 00:15:59,040 above them. After a few minutes, Roosevelt 245 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:02,840 breaks the silence by saying, let us return now. 246 00:16:03,960 --> 00:16:08,080 We are small enough now. You hear what he's saying, 247 00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:09,960 right? There's something about the 248 00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:14,040 immensity of the cosmos that puts ourselves, our own 249 00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:16,800 concerns, back in appropriate proportion. 250 00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:25,560 We can't do that today, can we? I don't know what it's like here 251 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:28,960 in Durham or Chapel Hill, but particularly in Washington, DC. 252 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:34,600 If I step out on the average night and look up at the sky, I 253 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:40,960 can see maybe 6, maybe 10 stars. Scientists blame this on light 254 00:16:41,080 --> 00:16:43,640 pollution. The light from streetlights, 255 00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:47,640 buildings, especially in cities, disrupts the darkness and makes 256 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:50,520 stars invisible to the naked eye. 257 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:55,000 Millions of stars shining brightly in galaxies afar, 258 00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:57,800 totally invisible to the naked eye. 259 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:01,560 Does that ever happened in your life? 260 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:10,839 Does the does the the the light pollution of the ordinary day, 261 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:17,839 or the work or the fear blind your eyes to the reality of who 262 00:17:17,839 --> 00:17:22,359 God is being proclaimed even by inanimate creation? 263 00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:28,160 Friends, where do we go to remember who God is? 264 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:32,800 Friends, we don't just go to the stars, we go to God's Word. 265 00:17:33,440 --> 00:17:36,880 If Psalm 19 as we saying is right and God is declaring His 266 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:41,240 invisible attributes even from creation, how much more is God 267 00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:44,040 declaring who He is from His Word? 268 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:49,080 Friend, to be free from fears control, look up and remember 269 00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:52,760 who God is supremely by turning to His Word. 270 00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:58,560 Members of Trinity Baptist Church, it is so good for you to 271 00:17:58,560 --> 00:18:01,480 share your fears and concerns with each other. 272 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:04,240 You want to have a culture in your church where you can share 273 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:08,280 honestly the hard things. How how you're responding to 274 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:11,200 hard events in your life or hard events in the life of this 275 00:18:11,200 --> 00:18:13,320 church. As you share those fears with 276 00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:16,640 each other. Also share God's word with each 277 00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:21,360 other. Share truths about who God is to 278 00:18:21,360 --> 00:18:25,120 strengthen your faith during a time of difficulty and 279 00:18:25,120 --> 00:18:29,200 transition. God is the all powerful creator, 280 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:32,920 but He's also personal. Did you see that in verse 16? 281 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:36,320 The same voice that spoke the world into existence says to 282 00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:43,280 you, you are my people friends, This is where fears go to die. 283 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:47,360 Remembering who God is and that He loves you. 284 00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:52,600 He made you and He has purposes for you and nothing will stop 285 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:54,720 him from bringing them to completion. 286 00:18:56,040 --> 00:18:58,320 So when fears take hold, friends, look up. 287 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:02,040 Look up at who God is, but don't stop there. 288 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:06,280 As you look up at who God is, also remember to look back. 289 00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:10,040 Look back at what God has done. And that's .2. 290 00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:14,080 We see this call to look back, to look back at what God has 291 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:17,160 done, especially in the 1st 11 verses of our passage. 292 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:21,280 Isaiah highlights the story of Abraham in verses one to three 293 00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:24,600 and then the story of the Exodus in nine to 11. 294 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:27,960 To remind his people where they come from. 295 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:32,600 He snatches the telescope. He hands them a history textbook 296 00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:35,920 and he says remember your roots, remember where you came from. 297 00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:39,240 And it's not flashy. Look at verse one. 298 00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:43,560 Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from 299 00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:45,840 which you were dug. Look to Abraham, your father, 300 00:19:45,840 --> 00:19:49,040 and to Sarah who bore you. God is saying, remember where 301 00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:52,000 you're from. Some people take a lot of pride 302 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:54,240 in their lineage and their family history. 303 00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:57,880 I had a college classmate who was a direct descendant, Patra 304 00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:00,080 Linearly, from President William Howard Taft. 305 00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:03,520 He was very proud of that fact, maybe more proud than he should 306 00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:06,600 have been. Sometimes lineage serves as a 307 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:09,560 source of pride. That's not what's going on here. 308 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:15,600 Isaiah is not telling them to look back at Abraham and Sarah 309 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:18,280 because of Abraham and Sarah's greatness. 310 00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:21,680 It's exactly the opposite. The point is Abraham's 311 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:23,600 smallness. That's what the middle of verse 312 00:20:23,600 --> 00:20:27,560 2 means. He was but one when I called 313 00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:31,000 him. See, if ever there was an 314 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:37,360 unlikely couple from which to form a nation, it was Abraham 315 00:20:37,360 --> 00:20:40,640 and Sarah. What was their glaring problem? 316 00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:45,960 Abraham was too old and Sarah was infertile. 317 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:51,520 He's glaring problems and God chooses them. 318 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:56,880 This is the couple God calls an idol worshipper from east of 319 00:20:56,880 --> 00:20:58,440 Babylon. How about that? 320 00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:03,160 And he gives them the promise of land and descendant as numerous 321 00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:07,160 as the stars in the sky. God is saying, look back at your 322 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:10,280 roots. Abraham and Sarah were as 323 00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:14,640 infertile as an inanimate rock, Yet I struck the rock, and I cut 324 00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:17,440 descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. 325 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:20,120 You think exile is going to stop my purposes? 326 00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:23,840 You think you're going to be too few after exile? 327 00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:26,760 You think that God's purposes were will be thwarted. 328 00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:30,560 Remember where you started. Remember where you were when God 329 00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:34,840 called you. God says I did it once, I can do 330 00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:39,160 it again. I didn't choose you because I 331 00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:42,840 needed you. I chose you because I loved you 332 00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:48,360 to display my power through you. It's a it's an argument from the 333 00:21:48,360 --> 00:21:51,040 greater to the lesser. If he could do this with Abraham 334 00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:57,520 and Sarah, he can do it again. How much more can he redeem and 335 00:21:57,520 --> 00:22:02,000 restore his diminished and and discouraged people from exile? 336 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:06,360 Friends, the point isn't their attractiveness. 337 00:22:06,360 --> 00:22:10,800 The point is their unlikeliness as candidates of God's electing 338 00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:12,520 love. And it's always been this way. 339 00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:15,840 We know this in our own lives, don't we? 340 00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:18,040 Where were you when God found you? 341 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:24,800 Scripture tells us we were dead in our transgressions and sins. 342 00:22:25,080 --> 00:22:28,040 We were dead. We had nothing to commend us. 343 00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:32,320 We had only sin to condemn us. We had no hope that He would 344 00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:36,040 befriend us. But God, being rich in mercy 345 00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:39,040 because of his great love with which He loved us while we were 346 00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:42,200 dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. 347 00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:47,480 And he doesn't leave us there. He then saves us for good works 348 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:49,760 that he's prepared beforehand for us to walk in. 349 00:22:50,600 --> 00:22:55,160 He calls His people from the most unlikely places, He makes 350 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:58,640 them alive, He changes them, and He equips them for a life of 351 00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:00,720 fruitful service. He did that with Abraham and 352 00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:04,520 Sarah Trinity Baptist Church. This is what God is doing in 353 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:09,440 you. The promise of God's blessing on 354 00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:13,680 this church is not tied to the skill of its pastors or their 355 00:23:13,680 --> 00:23:17,200 national reputation. The promises of God for this 356 00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:23,280 church are tied to His Word and His purposes, and unlikeliness 357 00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:26,960 and unlikely candidates are God's calling card. 358 00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:31,840 When God goes looking for a people to work through, he 359 00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:33,560 doesn't go searching on Sotheby's. 360 00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:37,960 He's looking for fixer uppers only. 361 00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:41,720 You see where God goes. He says I go to the waste places 362 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:46,800 and make them like Eden. Verse three he turns waste 363 00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:51,480 places into vineyards as as God said through John the Baptist in 364 00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:57,760 Luke chapter 3, God is able from stones to raise up children for 365 00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:01,840 Abraham. Trinity Baptist Church. 366 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:09,480 When you look on the events of this past year, does your future 367 00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:13,240 seem as uncertain as Abraham and Sarah's? 368 00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:17,040 Does it feel as hopeless as theirs? 369 00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:20,160 Yes, there are these great promises, but how can God work 370 00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:24,440 through these hard circumstances or these people? 371 00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:28,760 Friends, that has never stopped our God at all. 372 00:24:29,840 --> 00:24:31,680 That's the point of this comparison. 373 00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:36,680 If God can work through Abraham and Sarah, if He dug Israel out 374 00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:40,320 of that quarry, can't you trust Him to finish the work that He 375 00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:43,000 began in you? It's His work. 376 00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:51,040 See, trials come and Satan says God hates you, or God is unable. 377 00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:54,120 God has abandoned you. If he loved you, why would he 378 00:24:54,120 --> 00:24:58,800 let you suffer? But faith, strengthened and 379 00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:02,400 sanctified by memory, says, yes, he may be striking me. 380 00:25:03,120 --> 00:25:05,080 It's not to hurt me, but to heal me. 381 00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:09,600 Yes, He may be cutting me, but I know that my God works all 382 00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:13,280 things for my good. Yes, it hurts, but it is not 383 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:17,440 meaningless. He's doing something, friend. 384 00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:22,800 He's doing something stroke by stroke, cut by cut. 385 00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:28,280 God is carving a statue out of a rock for his glory. 386 00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:33,720 So look to Abraham, look to Sarah, look back at what God has 387 00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:37,320 done in your life individually, in your life corporately. 388 00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:42,600 But don't stop there because the same God that called Abraham out 389 00:25:42,600 --> 00:25:45,840 of Babylon also rescued Israel from Egypt. 390 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:48,160 That's what verses 9 to 11 are all about. 391 00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:51,600 God calls His people to remember where they were. 392 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:59,080 In verse 9, we see the heartfelt prayer of petition and response. 393 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:03,120 See, God's people hear this promise, and maybe you hear it 394 00:26:03,120 --> 00:26:06,160 this way this morning. That sounds great, but what 395 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:10,560 about right now? That may be very good and well 396 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:13,720 for coming generations. I just don't see it in my 397 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:16,400 lifetime. What is God doing now in my 398 00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:18,440 pain? What is God doing now in my 399 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:21,240 suffering? And in verse 9, that's how God's 400 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:24,720 people cry out. They call out for God to awake, 401 00:26:25,560 --> 00:26:27,600 awake. They're not literally asking for 402 00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:30,440 God to wake up. He's the God who doesn't slumber 403 00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:33,440 or sleep. They're asking for him to act 404 00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:38,720 awake, awake, put on strength or arm of the Lord. 405 00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:41,680 They're begging for God to do it again. 406 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:43,600 They're saying you've done it once, do it again. 407 00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:46,840 This is a prayer of faith. It's also a prayer of pain. 408 00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:53,200 They're saying do it now. Was it not you who cut Rahab in 409 00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:55,760 pieces? Was it not you who dried up the 410 00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:58,320 sea? Was it not you? 411 00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:03,120 Rahab is a poetic name for Egypt. 412 00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:06,200 It's not a reference to the the prostitute who helped the two 413 00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:09,760 spies. Rahab is often presented in the 414 00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:15,400 Bible as a mythical sea monster or or dragon identified with 415 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:18,400 Egypt. See, in Babylonian mythology, 416 00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:25,640 the same serpent is is known as Tyamat, the primeval dragon 417 00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:28,640 monster of chaos. According to Babylon mythology, 418 00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:32,320 Mardock, if we go back to the beginning, the chief God of the 419 00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:36,000 Babylonian pantheon was supposed to have defeated time at in 420 00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:39,120 combat at creation, showing himself to be supreme. 421 00:27:39,120 --> 00:27:43,680 So the Bible doesn't endorse that Babylonian mythology, but 422 00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:46,800 the Bible often shows itself conversant in those rival 423 00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:52,080 accounts of creation. And the allusions here to Rahab 424 00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:55,600 are not accidental. See, the Babylonians were saying 425 00:27:56,400 --> 00:28:00,280 that their God had conquered Yahweh, Their God had conquered 426 00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:05,000 Judah's God. Yahweh isn't who he says he is. 427 00:28:05,120 --> 00:28:07,600 He isn't all powerful. He can't keep his promises. 428 00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:09,880 He doesn't love you. But what does verse 9 say? 429 00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:14,480 Verse 9 counters that view directly. 430 00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:19,200 It asks who cut Rahab in pieces? Who pierced the dragon? 431 00:28:19,320 --> 00:28:21,280 It wasn't Mardock, it was Yahweh. 432 00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:25,560 God redeemed his people from Egypt. 433 00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:29,840 He did this not in the unverifiable shadowy past of 434 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:32,160 creation myths like the Babylonians. 435 00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:35,760 He did it in history. He did it in in the sight of all 436 00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:40,080 the nations. It was verifiable that God had 437 00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:44,000 come down and rescued his people from slavery in Egypt. 438 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:48,760 In verse 9 to 11, document three specific events. 439 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:52,400 Three specific events that highlight God's faithfulness in 440 00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:54,200 power. Verse 9 says that God defeated 441 00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:57,080 Egypt's gods. Verse 10 says that God dried up 442 00:28:57,080 --> 00:28:59,480 the Red Sea. Verse 11 says that God brought 443 00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:01,480 His people safely into the Promised Land. 444 00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:06,240 God's people are looking back in faith and remembering what God 445 00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:09,120 has done. Friends, remembering God's 446 00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:10,920 faithfulness is an antidote to fear. 447 00:29:13,680 --> 00:29:18,200 Have you taken time, individually or corporately, to 448 00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:22,120 step back and remember what God has done in this church? 449 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:26,440 To remember what God has done in your life? 450 00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:30,640 Friends, spend time recounting the faithfulness of God. 451 00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:35,000 And if that's if that's too challenging for you because of 452 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:38,600 circumstances you're facing, if your faith is struggling and 453 00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:41,880 weak and you don't feel like you have anything to share, ask 454 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:45,640 someone else to share with you how God has shown him so 455 00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:49,160 faithful in their life. Ask them this past year, what 456 00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:52,720 has God done in your life? And draw strength to nourish 457 00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:56,160 your faith by hearing of God's faithfulness in their life. 458 00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:01,760 One of the great privileges I had over the past several years 459 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:05,440 was to work on researching and eventually writing a history of 460 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:07,520 my local church, Capital Baptist Church. 461 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:12,640 We're approaching 150 years in just two years, and a year or so 462 00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:15,640 ago I published a book called The Light on the Hill recounting 463 00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:18,720 God's faithfulness. And one real encouragement in 464 00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:22,560 the process was helping members of my local church understand 465 00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:26,160 the challenges that we went through, especially early on. 466 00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:29,680 So you look at a church like Capitol Hill Baptist Church and 467 00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:32,360 marked ever and you think things have always must have always 468 00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:34,600 been great. Things have always must have 469 00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:38,040 always just been amazing there. Maybe it's just they've always 470 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:40,440 had just great preachers and that's not the case. 471 00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:45,880 The church was started by a newly married couple that you 472 00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:49,080 have never heard of named Abraham and Celestia Faris. 473 00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:51,040 They had no theological education. 474 00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:53,920 They had no degrees. They had no certificates. 475 00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:56,360 They started a prayer meeting in their home and they said, let's 476 00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:59,480 pray for a Baptist Church to be started in our neighborhood. 477 00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:01,560 We want a church that we can send our kids to. 478 00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:05,080 We want a church that can evangelize this neighborhood. 479 00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:09,120 God started small. Isn't that like God? 480 00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:13,480 Isn't that like God to work through small, apparently 481 00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:15,360 insignificant people in the world's eyes? 482 00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:19,120 Abraham died before the church even got started. 483 00:31:19,720 --> 00:31:23,720 Celestia was left a widow in her mid 20s with three young 484 00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:25,200 children. She never remarried. 485 00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:28,560 She had to go back in the workforce to provide for herself 486 00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:31,680 and her kids. And I can't help but think that 487 00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:35,600 there were so many times in Celestia's life when she asked, 488 00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:40,680 Lord, what are you doing? What am I here for? 489 00:31:41,360 --> 00:31:43,760 Why did you send this trial my way friends? 490 00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:47,720 Did she have any idea what the Lord was doing in her and 491 00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:51,280 through her? Did she have any idea how the 492 00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:55,960 Lord would answer prayers that she prayed in faith in ways that 493 00:31:55,960 --> 00:31:58,280 she will only see fulfilled in glory? 494 00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:02,280 Friends, it didn't end there. Six years into the church's 495 00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:05,800 existence, we went through a horrible season of conflict. 496 00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:10,240 A year of tension and conflict over debt and where to build a 497 00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:13,000 second building. It ended with the senior pastor 498 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:16,840 resigning and taking half the church with him to plant a 499 00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:22,000 church a block and a half away. Not exactly a successful church 500 00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:28,840 plant story if you ask me. And yet the the Lord continued 501 00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:30,800 the work through the faithful Saints. 502 00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:35,560 Through unlikely circumstances, the Lord preserved the church. 503 00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:39,760 Even more recently, in the 1990s, a senior pastor 504 00:32:39,760 --> 00:32:45,840 disqualified himself very heinously and and was fired by 505 00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:48,600 the church. And there were people who had 506 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:52,560 come to the church under his ministry to be there and support 507 00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:54,200 the work. Some of those were Matt and Eli 508 00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:55,600 Schmucker. Some of you may know them. 509 00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:59,840 One night Matt and Eli were up after all this had happened. 510 00:32:59,840 --> 00:33:02,040 They had no pastor. They had moved there for this 511 00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:04,880 church and nothing seemed to be going the way it should. 512 00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:11,640 I said, what are we doing here? We uprooted our family for this. 513 00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:18,560 And Matt said to Eli, he said, we're here for the people who 514 00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:22,120 are to come. The Lord's not done with this 515 00:33:22,120 --> 00:33:24,680 work. The Lord is going to finish what 516 00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:26,760 he started. We can be here for them. 517 00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:30,120 That's how God works through unlikely people, through 518 00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:32,840 unlikely circumstances, through trials. 519 00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:35,320 Why? Because He gets the glory. 520 00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:40,160 Trinity Baptist Church, my prayer for you is that you would 521 00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:43,920 persevere in trusting the Lord and His promises and His 522 00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:51,200 purposes for your church. I don't think those events felt 523 00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:55,520 good to them. I think for our church, many of 524 00:33:55,520 --> 00:33:58,800 those members may have felt like things were a failure. 525 00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:02,840 It wasn't a failure. It was instead the foil. 526 00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:08,360 It was the foil in the plot. It was the darkness that would 527 00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:10,520 make the light shine all the brighter. 528 00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:14,840 Friends, the circumstances in your life might feel like a 529 00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:18,199 failure from heaven's perspective. 530 00:34:18,679 --> 00:34:22,000 That will just be the foil. That will be the darkness 531 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:25,239 against which the light of God's grace shines. 532 00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:33,480 Your job is to be faithful, and you do that in part by looking 533 00:34:33,480 --> 00:34:37,000 back, by remembering what God has done in your life, in your 534 00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:39,159 church's life, in other church's life. 535 00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:43,600 But don't stop there. Look up, look back and let all 536 00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:48,320 of that, let your view of God, let your trust in God's goodness 537 00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:52,920 lead you to look forward in faith to what God has promised. 538 00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:54,760 That's our final point. Look forward. 539 00:34:55,639 --> 00:34:57,640 Look forward to what God has promised. 540 00:34:57,640 --> 00:35:00,120 We see this especially in verses 17 to 23. 541 00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:05,720 We see here the second of three wake up calls in chapters 51 and 542 00:35:05,720 --> 00:35:07,760 52. This time it's the prophet 543 00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:11,240 Isaiah addressing God's people. See, unlike God, God's people 544 00:35:11,240 --> 00:35:14,200 needed to wake up. They needed to wake up because, 545 00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:17,960 as verse 17 says, they had drunk from the hand of the Lord, the 546 00:35:17,960 --> 00:35:21,680 cup of His wrath. Throughout the Bible, God's 547 00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:25,040 wrath, God's judgement for sin, is often pictured as a cup. 548 00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:28,080 A cup which the nations would drink. 549 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:35,200 And yet, because they had broken God's covenant, God's people 550 00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:38,200 would drink that cup through exile. 551 00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:41,440 It's important year to to distinguish between God's 552 00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:44,600 temporal judgments and God's eternal judgments. 553 00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:48,400 Temporal judgments are the covenantal consequences for 554 00:35:48,400 --> 00:35:49,960 Israel's sin. You can read about them in 555 00:35:49,960 --> 00:35:54,880 Deuteronomy 28 or Leviticus 26. The the punishment of exile. 556 00:35:55,920 --> 00:36:00,480 Eternal judgments refer to eternity separated from God in 557 00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:03,040 hell. God isn't saying that his people 558 00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:05,760 will drink that cup of wrath, His eternal judgement though 559 00:36:05,760 --> 00:36:07,880 they may. He's saying they would face a 560 00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:10,760 season of temporal judgement in exile. 561 00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:14,520 The effects are terrifying. In verse 17, they are described 562 00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:17,640 as staggering. This isn't the stumbling of a 563 00:36:17,640 --> 00:36:19,880 drunkard. This is the involuntarily 564 00:36:20,240 --> 00:36:25,400 tremoring or trembling of a of a of a person in deep affliction. 565 00:36:26,240 --> 00:36:29,400 Verse 18 pictures Judah as a blind woman without a guide. 566 00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:33,200 Verse 19 describes the fourfold punishment of devastation and 567 00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:36,720 destruction, famine, and sword. Verse 20 to fix God's people as 568 00:36:36,720 --> 00:36:40,040 a wild animal trapped in the net and unable to escape. 569 00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:45,160 These are horrific images of judgement. 570 00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:51,560 See, Judah would experience this temporal judgement as a 571 00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:53,880 consequence of their sin when they go into exile. 572 00:36:54,720 --> 00:36:58,640 And in that sense, verse 17 can say that Judah has drunk to the 573 00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:02,960 dregs the cup of God's wrath. Literally, they've drained a cup 574 00:37:02,960 --> 00:37:07,600 of the promise of verse 21 to 23 is that there is a day coming 575 00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:13,120 when God will say enough. God is promising in verse 22 to 576 00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:17,640 to one day turn from pouring out His judgement to instead 577 00:37:17,640 --> 00:37:19,560 pleading the cause of his people. 578 00:37:19,720 --> 00:37:23,480 He says in verse 22, Behold, I have taken from your hand the 579 00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:25,520 cup of staggering and the bowl of wrath. 580 00:37:25,520 --> 00:37:28,160 You shall drink no more. He takes it out of the hands of 581 00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:31,280 his people, and he places it in verse 23 into the hands of your 582 00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:33,520 tormentors. He's saying there's a day coming 583 00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:37,880 when your enemies, the nations who are punishing you, who have 584 00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:40,480 been the agents of my judgement, will themselves become the 585 00:37:40,480 --> 00:37:44,480 objects of my judgement. Exile isn't the end. 586 00:37:46,160 --> 00:37:53,400 The question is how and when. Because as horrific as these 587 00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:58,360 descriptions are, and they are terrible, they are a mere shadow 588 00:37:58,360 --> 00:38:02,800 of the much greater punishment that awaits any of us who have 589 00:38:02,800 --> 00:38:06,640 rebelled against God, which is an eternity separated from God 590 00:38:06,920 --> 00:38:10,880 in hell. See, Judah could go into exile. 591 00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:15,280 They could face God's temporal discipline for their sins. 592 00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:20,160 They couldn't do anything to assuage the wrath of God. 593 00:38:20,360 --> 00:38:28,600 For sin, Friends, the wages of sin is death, eternal separation 594 00:38:28,600 --> 00:38:31,560 from God. This is what we should really 595 00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:36,520 fear. Not a temporary affliction, not 596 00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:42,240 a temporary trial, but an eternal conscious torment in 597 00:38:42,400 --> 00:38:45,800 hell. Not for a season, but forever. 598 00:38:45,920 --> 00:38:49,920 Not a cup that is quickly turned over and emptied, but a cup that 599 00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:55,760 never ends. Our sin demands A punishment 600 00:38:55,760 --> 00:38:59,960 that lasts as long as the one we have sinned against. 601 00:39:02,600 --> 00:39:09,320 So how can this be? When will the cup of God's wrath 602 00:39:09,320 --> 00:39:12,200 be drunk? And who will drink it? 603 00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:17,000 Isaiah 51 doesn't give us the answer. 604 00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:23,760 It leaves us in the tension. Attention that has been building 605 00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:27,320 ever since the first servant song of Isaiah 52. 606 00:39:27,440 --> 00:39:30,600 Attention that is building and building over the course of 607 00:39:30,600 --> 00:39:34,480 Isaiah until you get to the words in Isaiah 52 verse 13. 608 00:39:34,720 --> 00:39:42,560 Behold, my Servant, all along God has been slowly unveiling 609 00:39:43,200 --> 00:39:46,680 one who would come and bear the punishment that his people 610 00:39:46,680 --> 00:39:49,880 deserve, not just the temporal punishment for sin, the eternal 611 00:39:49,880 --> 00:39:54,840 cup of God's wrath. Because you get to verse 21 and 612 00:39:54,960 --> 00:39:57,960 the tension has been building and you get to that word. 613 00:39:58,040 --> 00:40:01,760 Therefore, and this is really the load bearing word of our 614 00:40:01,760 --> 00:40:05,200 passage. Therefore, what if God's people 615 00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:09,040 have really sinned? If God really has been so good, 616 00:40:09,560 --> 00:40:12,280 if he has shown himself so faithful and his people have 617 00:40:12,280 --> 00:40:16,200 sinned again and again and again, what is the sentence 618 00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:19,400 going to be? And I think if you're reading 619 00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:22,120 these words in Isaiah's day, you're not expecting a happy 620 00:40:22,120 --> 00:40:25,840 ending. You're expecting a sentence to 621 00:40:25,840 --> 00:40:30,480 come down of judgement. Therefore, I want nothing more 622 00:40:30,480 --> 00:40:35,400 to do with you. It's over, we're done. 623 00:40:36,920 --> 00:40:44,480 I'm through. Here's what he doesn't say. 624 00:40:46,080 --> 00:40:49,200 He doesn't say you're getting what you deserve. 625 00:40:50,560 --> 00:40:53,840 He says give me the cup. I'll drink it. 626 00:40:55,640 --> 00:41:00,400 I'll drink it all. I'll drink it all for you all. 627 00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:02,200 Plead your case. Verse 22. 628 00:41:02,200 --> 00:41:07,200 I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering, and it's only 629 00:41:07,200 --> 00:41:11,200 in Christ that we see the awful cost at which this salvation is 630 00:41:11,200 --> 00:41:13,600 achieved. Because in the garden Jesus 631 00:41:13,600 --> 00:41:16,920 cried out. My father, if it is possible, 632 00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:22,040 let this cup pass from me, this cup of wrath, this cup of 633 00:41:22,040 --> 00:41:24,000 judgement. And friends, there was another 634 00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:30,400 way, the way for that that cup to not be drunk by the sun was 635 00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:32,440 it was for it to be drunk by you and me. 636 00:41:34,520 --> 00:41:39,120 And so Jesus says I will take it. 637 00:41:41,760 --> 00:41:45,440 I will take the cup. Friends, if you are in Christ, 638 00:41:45,680 --> 00:41:48,560 this is what Jesus has said for you. 639 00:41:50,240 --> 00:41:55,520 He said I have taken it. That bitter cup, love drank it 640 00:41:55,520 --> 00:42:00,680 up. He drank it all in that same 641 00:42:00,920 --> 00:42:05,520 hands that took the cup in your place. 642 00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:12,680 He offers you a different cup. Not a cup of judgement, not a 643 00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:19,960 cup of wrath, a cup of joy, a cup that he has reserved to 644 00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:24,120 drink with you on that last day. He says take and drink. 645 00:42:24,640 --> 00:42:27,280 No, not the cup of wrath. I drank that up. 646 00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:32,200 I drink it all. No, drink the cup of gladness. 647 00:42:32,360 --> 00:42:35,960 Drink the cup of the New Covenant in my blood. 648 00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:41,840 Trinity Baptist Church. This is the gospel that will 649 00:42:41,840 --> 00:42:45,960 sustain you through any trial. This is the gospel that causes 650 00:42:45,960 --> 00:42:48,520 fears to flee. So look up and wonder. 651 00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:53,520 Look back and remember. Look forward together, because 652 00:42:53,520 --> 00:42:57,560 one day soon the one who took that cup out of your hand will 653 00:42:57,560 --> 00:43:01,800 hand you a different cup. He'll tell you to look up. 654 00:43:02,200 --> 00:43:05,400 You won't see the stars, you will see his face. 655 00:43:06,040 --> 00:43:08,680 He'll tell you to look back and you'll see the whole way that he 656 00:43:08,680 --> 00:43:11,160 led you. You'll see all the trials and 657 00:43:11,160 --> 00:43:15,640 that they were but foil to contrast with his purposes for 658 00:43:15,640 --> 00:43:19,120 you. And there will be nothing left 659 00:43:19,280 --> 00:43:25,080 to look forward to other than an eternity of joy in His presence. 660 00:43:26,720 --> 00:43:28,760 Friends, our lives may be a battleground. 661 00:43:28,760 --> 00:43:32,320 History may be a battleground, But He has won the battle. 662 00:43:32,920 --> 00:43:38,520 He has fixed your identity. He's determined your destiny. 663 00:43:39,200 --> 00:43:47,080 So fear not, because this dying Lamb, His precious blood, will 664 00:43:47,080 --> 00:43:53,240 never lose its power till all the ransom Church of God be 665 00:43:53,240 --> 00:44:09,640 saved to sin no more. So fear not, let's pray God, we 666 00:44:09,640 --> 00:44:16,440 praise you as the only true God, and we praise you that you have 667 00:44:16,440 --> 00:44:19,240 not dealt with us according to our sins. 668 00:44:20,480 --> 00:44:24,640 We praise you for the Lord Jesus Christ who took the punishment 669 00:44:24,640 --> 00:44:28,520 that we deserve in our place, and we thank you that because of 670 00:44:28,520 --> 00:44:35,280 Him, no trial that you send our way can separate us from your 671 00:44:35,280 --> 00:44:40,880 love. So help us to fear you and to 672 00:44:40,880 --> 00:44:43,640 fear not. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.