Our Promise-Keeping God

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, this morning we come to you with complete confidence in your character,

! in your sufficiency, in the word that you've given to us, in the indwelling spirit in the

promises that you have given to us that hold us and strengthen us in the moments of challenge

and darkness.

And I, along with this dear people, trust you and call upon your name to make your word

clear, convicting, strengthening, and Christ-exalting.

We ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

I'd like you to turn in your Bibles this morning to Isaiah chapter 60.

Isaiah 60 · chapter mention

By way of explanation, a reminder that the purpose of preaching is rooted in the great responsibility

of making the word of God clear.

Doing so through the power of the Spirit of God for the glory of Christ.

And I read that to you not just to kind of give an introductory statement, but to tell

you right up front what I'm here to do.

My desire is to lift up Jesus and do so clearly that you walk out of here with confidence and

abiding trust in His finished work on the cross.

Saturday.

Saturday.

And I have been making numerous trips to Home Depot.

Some of you know that I'm a permanent remodeler.

When I die, I'm going to the place that's finished and somebody else did the work.

And I got to tell you, I like that idea.

But I am checking out.

One young guy says to me, how are you doing?

You know what I said, right?

Any better than I'd be dead.

Guy got this really quizzical look on his face.

He's like, are you saying that, let me see, are you glad you're not dead?

I said, well, yeah, I was okay.

But I said, that's not what I said.

What I said is, any better than I'd be dead.

That just took it further into the dark.

I mean, what do you mean?

I said, well, the truth of the matter is, is when I die, I'm going to heaven and I'm going

to see Jesus.

And today doesn't compare with that time.

And, you know, the reason I could say that with absolute confidence, do you understand

that?

Real confidence is because the God who is my Lord and Savior, the Lord Jesus, who is my

Redeemer, keeps every one of His promises.

He makes a promise.

Now, by the way, you have to parse the fact that He doesn't make all the promises to the

same people exactly the right.

But when He makes a promise to me, He keeps it.

His unconditional promises, I rest on.

I rest on.

And I have confidence in.

And that's the reason that Saturday when I was speaking to the young man there, I could

say, any better than I'd be dead.

Because when I die and I leave this place, I am going to see the Lord Jesus face to face

and I will delight myself in His presence beyond my present imagination.

And when we come to Isaiah chapter 60, we're looking at a compressed portion of text that tells us about our promise

Isaiah 60 · chapter mention

keeping God.

I admit that one of the challenges of interpreting the book of Isaiah is dealing with the question of what happens to the nation of Israel

and does God actually keep His promises to Abraham and to the people that He promised the things that we read of so often in the Old Testament.

And so as we step into this passage, I want to kind of bring together, first of all, kind of the overview of the ugly reality of the nation of Israel's difficulties and hardness.

How many of you have ever read through the book of Judges and thought to yourself,

really?

Or just try this.

You've worked your way through the care that God gave to the nation of Israel after He brought them out of the land of Egypt.

Remember how willing they were to obey Him in everything and how enthusiastic they were in following God and just really tender hearts towards God.

Isn't that right?

No.

And you think to yourself, how in the world could God put up with them?

Until you wake up and look at yourself in the mirror and think, I'm really glad.

You know, He was faithful to them.

I can trust Him to be faithful to me.

And Isaiah gives us a reason to have confidence in our promise-keeping God.

Now, I want you to, by way of background, take a look at the point of hope for Israel by turning back just for a moment to Isaiah chapter 59.

Isaiah 59 · chapter mention

You're there in 60.

You don't have to go very far back.

But look at Isaiah 59, verse 20 and 21.

Isaiah 59:20

Now, stop and think with me just for a moment.

about what we've learned so far in the book of Isaiah, namely in relationship to His prophetic utterances to the land of Israel, to the nation of Israel.

What kind of people populated that land?

A pretty disobedient, hard-headed group.

Isn't that right?

And He had every reason to deal with them.

And eventually, He dealt with them with unbelievable firmness.

And He sent them off into the land of captivity.

And He was very firm in His discipline with them.

But here are promises made.

A Redeemer will come to Zion and to those in Jacob who turned from transgression.

There is something that's going to happen that is supernatural and something that is not earned or deserved.

God's going to do something.

And when you stop and think about it, when you think about the word Redeemer,

you're recognizing that it suggests to us that there's somebody who's in a mess and needs help.

A Redeemer is someone who rescues.

A Redeemer is someone who delivers.

A Redeemer is someone who comes into the picture when all is lost and there's nothing that you can lean upon.

And then the Redeemer arrives.

The value of a Redeemer is not seen when everything is going well and there are no difficulties.

The value of the Redeemer is seen in brokenness and in heartache and in difficulty.

So here, at the cusp of the change between the history of Israel and the promises of God,

we find here that this nation which had drifted away into idolatry

and who had endured the firm judgment of God,

nevertheless is given this promise and this hope that there will be a day

when God will do something spectacular for His people and according to His promise.

So here we have, we know, we know God will not break His promises.

And that's kind of an underlying theme that I want you to hold on to this morning.

And really it's something that when you walk out of here,

if you are here this morning and you are a believer,

one of the things that should be an abiding confidence to you

and an encouragement to your soul is this,

is the one who has redeemed you is going to keep His promises.

He's not going to break them.

I was thinking of illustration of dealing with little kids

and one of the things I have a tendency to do,

putting out my hand and they smack my hand and they smack my hand and they smack.

What do I do eventually?

Pastor Andrew, you've got a good spirit.

I like that.

He's a little bit of a tease.

I can tell that.

He's tamped down because he's going to be a senior pastor in a couple months here.

But, you know, you let him hit it three or four times and then what do you do?

Atticus, you're right.

You pull it away.

Okay.

Ah!

God never does that to us.

Do you understand that?

When He makes a promise, He follows through with it.

He doesn't mess with us ever.

Now, by the way, a little sidebar on that

is that God's promises to His children are that He will get you home.

You like that, don't you?

But a little part of that promise is that He'll get you home

if He has to put the hurt to you to get your attention.

You don't realize that sometimes, but if you're sitting here

and you're a child of God and you drift left of center,

trust me, He'll work to help you.

And so my advice to you, kind of a little note on the side, is don't mess.

Trust His promises and follow His Word.

Walk in obedience and humility and don't mess things up.

And the reason I bring that to you is because Israel had struggled

with obedience and trust, and they brought a lot of heartache

into their lives.

God dropped the hammer on them, and yet here,

He is letting them know that He will redeem them.

It's interesting to notice that this passage, actually,

that I read there in Isaiah chapter 59,

Isaiah 59 · chapter mention

appears elsewhere in the Scriptures.

And so I want you to...we'll be there for a while.

So go ahead and turn to Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

By the way, when you find a passage being recited in another place in the Bible,

it's an indication that the previous passage has bearing on the argument

or the case that is being presented in the next passage.

And so we're in Romans chapter...did I say 12?

I meant 11.

Romans chapter 11, verse 26 and 27.

Romans 11:26

Let me read it to you.

And in this way, all Israel will be saved as it is written.

And what you find next is the very passage out of Isaiah chapter 59.

Isaiah 59 · chapter mention

The deliverer will come from Zion.

He will banish ungodliness from Jacob.

And this will be my covenant with them,

that I will take away their sins.

The larger context of the ministry that Isaiah had prophetically.

Now, it is important for us to recognize that when Paul recited this passage from Isaiah,

he had a reason for doing it.

The book of Romans is a book that lays out God's glory in salvation.

And the starting point of helping us realize God's glory in salvation

is the recognition of the absolute darkness and depravity of our hearts.

Do you realize that?

People don't get saved without coming to grips with the darkness of their soul.

And that's one of the reasons that you have the first three chapters of Romans

argue very clearly for the reality of the hardness and darkness of men's souls

so that they can hear also the message of salvation in Christ.

You work your way through the book of Romans,

and after Romans chapter 8, it begins now with this statement,

Romans 8 · chapter mention

there is now therefore no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.

Isn't that right?

Hey, if you're saved, the case is closed.

It's done.

In the court of heaven, you are redeemed for all eternity,

and you can look forward to the day that you're going to see him face to face.

The argument also follows on, and beginning there in Romans chapter 8, verse 28,

Romans 8:28

it says what?

All things work together.

How many of you are going through things that you're wondering,

is this good?

Is this good?

Yeah.

It says all things work together for good to those that are called according to his purpose

and those that love God or are loved by him.

So here we have this ongoing argument.

God saves us.

He grants us the blessing of peace with him,

and he will never stop loving us.

Why don't you think about that?

Why don't you think about that?

God will never change his mind in relationship to you who have been called by him and loved by him.

That's a pretty neat promise, isn't it?

But when you think about that, the very next thought that you have to ask yourself is,

really?

Paul takes three chapters to prove the unconditional, unchangeable love of God,

and he does so by bringing your attention to the nation of Israel.

What?

You really don't change your mind?

You really continue loving people like them, like me?

Three chapters give us a picture of God's love for the nation of Israel,

and what you find in Romans 9, 10, and 11 is this clear argument

that our confidence in our salvation can rest in the sovereign faithfulness of God to the nation.

Paul takes great pains to show us that though God has dealt with the nation of Israel

and with their rebellious heart incredibly firmly,

nevertheless, he's going to keep his promises and are going to redeem them.

Now, with that in mind,

I want you to next look at a promise that was made to Abraham

that we actually find over in Isaiah being fulfilled,

and in Genesis chapter 12,

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

I want you to mark the very first promise made in relationship to the nation of Israel.

Now, here, follow me.

Why is it important to track the promises of God?

Why is it?

Because we find ourselves in a regular situation where we wonder,

is God a promise-keeping God?

Is this going to work out well?

Well, every one of us here,

struggling with adversity and hardship and difficulty,

and life is not the way we would like it.

But do we know how the story ends?

I believe we do because of who God is

and because of the promises that he's made.

So in Genesis chapter 12,

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

I want you to mark the promise that God made to Abraham.

By the way, how did Abraham start out?

Does anybody know?

Hey, listen up.

He was a really neat guy.

He just, he had a heart for God.

He was just all over being spiritual.

Is that the truth?

He was just an ordinary pagan,

and God called him.

And so here, we work our way through the story,

and in Genesis chapter 12, it says,

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

Now the Lord said to Abraham,

Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house

to the land that I will show you,

and I will make of you a great nation,

and I will bless you and make your name great

so that you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you,

and him who dishonors you I will curse,

and in you all the families of the earth

shall be blessed.

I want you to recognize here in these promises

that is made to Abraham,

they kind of break down into three different parts

that I want you to recognize.

Number one, God promised a land

to the descendants of Abraham.

This promise is explained more completely

in Genesis chapter 15.

Genesis 15 · chapter mention

We're not going to look at it in detail,

but recognize that in Genesis chapter 15,

Genesis 15 · chapter mention

the boundaries of the land

that God said he would give to Abraham

are clearly stipulated.

You can Google it,

and you can check and say,

Hey, what is the land that God promised?

What are the boundaries of that?

And you'll get an idea of it.

Incidentally,

the covenant that God made with Abraham

was not conditional.

It was unconditional.

Let me make a distinction

so you follow along with me here.

A conditional contract or a covenant

is a little bit like the one you make

with your mortgage company.

What's that contract like?

You make a covenant.

Hey, I get to live in this house,

but I have to make monthly payments.

What happens if you stop making monthly payments?

Eventually, they invite you to leave.

And if you don't leave under invitation,

they will help you by moving your stuff out

and setting it on the street

or on the curb.

Got that?

Same thing with a car.

They say,

You can buy that car.

You make X number of dollar monthly payment,

and what happens if you don't make the payment?

I was driving through my neighborhood a little while back,

and I saw this guy working his truck up to the car

that was sitting on the curb.

And I noticed that he was a little nervous about doing it,

and I actually,

being a conversationalist that I am,

I said,

Hey, what are you doing?

He said,

Well, I'm picking up this car.

I said,

Is there something wrong with it?

He says,

No, they just didn't make the payments.

Ah.

That's a conditional covenant.

You keep your part.

I'll keep my part.

An unconditional covenant is one in which

there's no two parties agreeing to everything.

There's one party that says,

I'm going to do this.

Let me give you an illustration of an unconditional covenant.

Here's what I said to my wife.

I'm 48 years ago almost.

Yeah, 48.

I said,

I will love you in sickness and in health

until death do us part.

That's unconditional.

There's no qualifier in it.

I'll love you so long as you love me

and you bring me breakfast in bed and blah, blah, blah.

You know, no.

This is me.

I'm doing it.

And here is God saying to Abraham,

Genesis chapter 12,

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

I am going to keep my promise to you

and I'm going to give you a land.

Has this promise been met completely?

Not yet.

Number two,

God also promised a nation to Abraham.

Going back there,

verse two,

I will make of you a great nation.

By the way,

Abraham at that point was 75.

Now, I'm not going to get into biology,

but 75 is kind of stretching it

for being a daddy.

And here is God saying to Abraham,

who had been childless for all these years,

many years,

someday you're going to be a great nation.

His answer was,

yeah, right, really?

Where's the start to all of this?

And yet we find that God kept his promise

and made a great nation of Abraham

and his offspring spread all over the world.

Furthermore, God promised that all the nations of the earth

would be blessed through God's blessing to Abraham.

How was that?

How is that?

Well, to help you think it through in broad terms,

you understand that it was through the seed of Abraham

that God brought David

and brought ultimately our Redeemer,

the Lord Jesus Christ.

He came through Abraham's line.

And so here we have,

and I want you to see the picture,

against the backdrop of the ugliness

of the absolute spiritual failure of Israel

God says to his people that he is chastising

and he's disciplining,

I am going to keep my promise.

I remind you,

the promises of God

are cast in particularly neat light

against the backdrop

of some of the hardest moments of our life.

Do you understand that?

I want to say that to you

who are sitting here today

and your life is marked by difficulty

and hardship

and things you didn't choose.

I encourage you to know this.

God's promises are most precious

against the backdrop of the hardship you're in.

And I want to remind you

that if he keeps his promise to the nation of Israel,

he'll keep his promise to you.

So here we are.

God says,

you're going to have a land,

you're going to have children,

and you are going to be a blessing to other people.

And the full range of God's promise to Abraham

is yet to be fulfilled.

But do we believe that God is going to keep his promise?

Absolutely.

And it is because of that

that we kind of step in now

to the broad picture of Isaiah chapter 60,

Isaiah 60 · chapter mention

and I want you to look at the future blessings

to the nation of Israel.

You look there at Isaiah chapter 60,

Isaiah 60 · chapter mention

and we're not going to read all through the passage,

but in Isaiah chapter 60,

Isaiah 60 · chapter mention

beginning there in verse 1 and 2,

it says,

Arise, shine, for your light has come,

and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

I want you to recognize

as you work your way through that,

look at verse 4,

What is God saying to the nation here?

And this is Isaiah making a promise

to a group of people

that are going to suffer great hardship.

He says,

I want you to understand

that the day is coming

that God is going to fulfill his promises to Abraham,

and he's going to bless you.

How?

He is going to gather

the dispersed people

that he drove out

because of the rebellion of their hearts.

He's going to bring them back together again.

God drove them from the land

because of discipline.

He will regather them

as a people

from every corner of the world.

That has happened only in part,

and it will happen in its entirety,

and in doing so,

people are going to look at this and say,

Wow, this is God doing something

unbelievable,

and he's doing it

according to his promise.

Why could I say

to the man in Home Depot,

My end is going to be better

than the present?

It's because I know

God keeps his promises.

And here we are being reminded,

God says,

Listen,

there will be a regathering

of these dispersed people

wherever they've been sent to.

I'll bring them back.

Secondly,

you look there in verse 9.

It says,

For the coastlands shall hope for me,

the ships of Tarshish first,

to bring your children from afar,

their silver and gold with them,

for the name of the Lord your God

and for the Holy One of Israel,

because he has made you beautiful.

There will be a rejoicing

in God's care for his people.

Not only is he going to bring them back,

but there are going to be people

that rejoice together

in the reality that he keeps his promises.

What value is it

that God keeps his promises

to other people?

Do you benefit from that?

Yes.

How do you benefit?

Because you have assurance

that if he did it for them,

he will do it for you.

I think about the song

that we probably don't sing

very often anymore.

It is no secret what God can do,

what he's done for others.

He'll do for you.

And God, keeping his promise

to the nation of Israel,

reminds me that he will also

keep his promise to me.

He is going to fulfill his promises.

He is not going to back away

from bringing blessing to me,

despite the hardness of my heart

and the similarity I have

between my life and pattern

and the life of the nation of Israel.

Furthermore, I want you to recognize

in the passage

that the nation will honor God

by delighting in his work

for his people.

Mark what we find there

in Isaiah chapter 60,

Isaiah 60 · chapter mention

looking at verse 19 through 21.

Isaiah chapter 16,

verse 19 through 21.

The sun shall be no more,

your light by day,

nor for brightness

shall the moon give you light,

but the Lord will be

your everlasting light

and your God will be your glory.

Your sun shall no more go down,

nor your moon withdraw itself,

for the Lord will be

your everlasting light

and your days of mourning

shall be ended.

Your people shall all be righteous.

They shall possess the land forever,

the branch of my planting,

the work of my hands,

that I might be glorified.

And what will the response

of others be

when they see the hand of God

in the life of his people?

They are going to rejoice.

They're going to mark the success

and the certainty of God

who keeps his promises,

and they're going to find pleasure

and satisfaction in it.

I want you to turn

over to Revelation

and see what the future

is going to be

according to the promises

of Scripture.

Go in your Bible

to Revelation chapter 21,

Revelation 21:23

verse 23.

verse 23.

verse 23.

Revelation chapter 21,

Revelation 21:23

verse 23.

There in Isaiah chapter 60,

Isaiah 60 · chapter mention

we have this assurance

that God will keep

his promises to his people.

In Revelation chapter 21,

Revelation 21 · chapter mention

we find out what that future

is going to be.

And mark what we read there

in verse 23.

And the city has no need

of sun or moon

to shine on it,

for the glory of God

gives its light,

and its lamp is the Lamb.

By its lights

will nations walk,

and the kings of the earth

will bring their glory into it,

and its gates will never be shut

by day,

and there will be no night there.

They will bring into it

the glory and the honor

of the nations.

What's the future

going to be like?

Stop and think with me

just for a moment

of how messy the day is

that we live in.

How unbelievably tense,

marked by turmoil.

Everywhere you turn,

you see good reason

to be reasonably anxiety,

or have a reasonable anxiety,

with the messiness of life.

Our government is not

what you'd like.

Am I right?

The neighborhoods

that you live in

are not as safe

as you'd like.

The job that you have,

it's not as certain

as you'd like.

The health that you enjoy

is not what you hope.

And everywhere we live,

relationships,

a struggle.

Well, guess what?

The day is coming

when we will enjoy

the fulfilled promises of God

in every aspect of our life,

and one of the proofs of that

is what God did

and is doing

for the nation of Israel.

You mark there

of how this story ends

in Revelation,

but I want you to turn

to another passage

to see a better picture

of the promises God made

to the nation of Israel

in particular.

Go over to Jeremiah chapter 31.

Jeremiah 31 · chapter mention

Jeremiah chapter 31.

Jeremiah 31 · chapter mention

If you're in Isaiah,

just kind of cut forward

a little bit

and go to Isaiah chapter 31

Isaiah 31 · chapter mention

or Jeremiah 31.

Let me remind you of something.

We had communion.

Was it last week, Pastor?

Yes, it was, right?

Yeah.

And if you're looking

at the passage

in 1 Corinthians 11,

Jesus speaks of the new covenant,

right?

This cup is the new covenant

in my blood.

What is the new covenant?

Remember, covenant is a promise.

Basically, there are two kinds

of promises.

There's promises in which you agree

and somebody else agrees,

or there's an unconditional covenant.

I want you to look at Isaiah

or Jeremiah chapter 31

Jeremiah 31 · chapter mention

and go to 31 through 34.

Behold, the days are coming,

declares the Lord,

that I will make a new covenant

with the house of Israel

and the house of Judah,

not like the covenant

that I made with their fathers

on the day

when I took them by the hand

to bring them out

of the land of Egypt,

my covenant that they broke,

though I was their husband,

declares the Lord.

Now stop for a moment.

God says the new covenant

is going to be different

than that covenant.

That covenant is one

that they failed to keep.

A reminder.

After God gave the Ten Commandments

to the nation of Israel,

if you were to go back

into the book of Exodus,

you would find there

that after Moses read the covenant

and the sacrifice was made,

here's what the nation of Israel said.

All that you have said,

we will do.

How'd that go?

You read through the Pentateuch

and you think,

I can't believe it.

I mean, you stop and think about it.

Every morning when an Israelite got up,

he had food that came from where?

Heaven.

And every morning when he got up,

he saw that there was a pillar of cloud

or there was a cloud over the tabernacle

or there was a pillar of fire by night.

Do you think they had any doubt

who was in charge

and who was leading them?

No.

And yet,

in their stubborn,

dark hearts,

they kept on rebelling

and God kept on caring for them.

So here we are.

Jeremiah,

I'm going to make a different covenant with you.

And in verse 33,

this is the covenant

that I will make with the house of Israel

after those days,

declares the Lord.

I will put my law within them

and I will write it on their hearts

and I will be their God

and they will be my people.

Periodically,

I end up in conversation with people

who make professions of faith,

but they really have no evidence of faith.

Do you follow what I'm talking about?

I mean,

it's still moderately popular to say,

yes, I'm a believer,

I'm a believer.

But the truth of the matter is,

there's no evidence.

This passage is indicating

that one of the genuine characteristics

of a person who is a believer

is a connection with the Word of God.

There's an affection,

not always,

but there is,

remember it says,

as newborn babes desiring

the sincere milk of the Word.

One of the things that I get into

when I'm talking to a person

about the authenticity of their faith

is,

question is,

has there ever been a time

when you were actually

genuinely interested in the Word?

You were encouraged by it,

you were strengthened by it,

you were convicted by it,

you were connected to it.

You know,

it's one thing to read a letter

from somebody you don't care.

It's another thing to read a letter

from someone you really love.

Years ago when we had a Christian school here,

I remember walking across the,

between the two buildings

and finding a note folded up real small.

Now,

being a person who grew up in boarding school,

there was a lot of a perverse curiosity in me,

so I opened it up.

Oh,

it was drippy.

It was,

it was as sappy a note

as I've read in some time.

Of course,

I haven't read many of those

for a long time,

but,

but I remember reading it

and so,

I had the nerve

to take it to the young man

and say,

hey,

this probably belongs to you

because your name's on it.

when I read the letter,

it didn't mean a thing to me.

He turned all colors of red,

you know,

it was like,

but it meant a lot to him.

So,

coming back,

here's God.

Look at the passage.

He says,

here's what I'm going to do.

I'm going to put my law within you

and I'm going to write it on your hearts.

Are there any of you here

that have ever memorized Bible verses

and they didn't mean a thing to you?

You were just doing it

because you wanted to play games

in Awana

or,

you know,

you got a prize in VBS

or something like that,

but,

but then,

then,

there have been those moments

where,

where adversity and hardship

has just brought you

brokenhearted to God

and the word has touched

and encouraged your heart

and lifted you up

and it's found a place

and it's been revival

and encouragement,

right?

God says,

hey,

this is what I'm going to do

and here he is

talking to a people

who he gave him the word

and it just didn't connect

and he says,

here's what I'm going to do.

You don't need to worry about,

I'm going to drive that business home.

I'm going to get the word in your life,

okay?

And verse 34,

and no longer shall each one

teach his neighbor

and each his brother

saying,

know the Lord

for they'll know me.

from the least of them

to the greatest

and then mark the last part

for I will forgive

their iniquity

and I will remember

their sins

no more.

I have been reading

through the scriptures

and

I'm in the Psalms

right now

and one of the things

that I've been

kind of struck by

is

the psalmist

talking about

the sins of youth,

okay?

Forgive the sins

of my youth.

Don't remember

my sins

from my youth

and

boy,

I don't know

how many of you

kind of think back

and some of you

are fairly young

are still in that youth part

and are kind of

stacking up the crowd

or the tally

but some of you

are older

and you can remember

oh,

that wasn't smart.

That was wicked.

I mean,

yeah.

Here is God

saying to his people,

look at that passage again,

I will forgive

their iniquity

and I will remember

their sin

no more.

one of the

undeniable pleasures,

pleasure that I have

in talking to people

about the Lord Jesus

is I can look them

in the eye

and I can tell them this,

I know

the one

who can forgive

all of your sins

and take away

the shame

and guilt

of the darkness

of your heart.

You ever laid awake

at night

feeling bad

about something?

A lie you told?

Something you stole?

A gross dishonesty?

Manipulating someone else

and taking something

from them?

Immorality?

And the burden

of that darkness

just eats away

at your heart

at night

and there really

seems to be

no recovery.

You know what it says

in the Bible?

I will forgive

all your sins.

I will take away

that burden

and that sin.

And here we are

understanding

that God

made promises

to the nation

of Israel

and God

is going

to keep them.

Now his

unconditional covenant

to Abraham

and to the nation

of Israel

gives us

confidence

in his

unconditional

covenant

with us.

We are a people

that do believe

in salvation

being something

that when we are

saved

we don't have to

sit in constant

anxiety

about whether or not

we're going to

make it home.

I bump into people

periodically

and you know

hey

if you were to

die tonight

and God

were to ask you

why he should

let you into

heaven

what would you

say?

Well I don't

know.

I'm trying

the best I can.

Have you ever

heard that answer?

I'm trying

the best I can.

Well I am

thankful

that my

getting home

does not

have anything

to do

with me

trying the

best I can.

My confidence

rests

in the finished

work of Christ

not in mine.

And Jeremiah

reminds me

of that

work of God.

Let me bring

you to the

last part

that I want

you to see.

Go back

to Isaiah

Isaiah 60 · chapter mention

chapter 60

and see the

blessing to

the nations.

Do other

people get

blessed

when Israel

is blessed?

Well

God told

Abraham that

that's the way

it would work.

work.

Incidentally

as a

corollary

to that

over in

2 Corinthians

and we're

just kind

of a

sidebar

here for

a moment

but in

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 1:4

chapter 1

verse 4

it tells

me

that the

blessings

I've

received

in part

are to

play out

into the

lives

of other

people.

Isn't

that right?

And so

we look

at

Isaiah

Isaiah 60 · chapter mention

chapter 60

and look

at verse

2 and

3.

The latter

part of

2 it

says

but the

Lord will

arise upon

you and

his glory

will be

seen upon

you and

nations will

come to

your light

and kings

to the

brightness

of your

rising.

Think

back with

me again

to the

promise that

God made

to Abraham

through you

all the

nations of

the earth

will be

blessed.

I'm going

to make

you a

great nation

and I'm

going to

bless you

and I'm

going to

make your

name

great

and all

the families

of the

earth will

be blessed

through you.

Now

do you see

the similarity?

God made

a promise

to Abraham

that all

the nations

of the

earth would

be blessed

through his

offspring

and that

promise has

had partial

fulfillment

in the coming

of our

Christ who

died and

rose again

to be the

savior of

all who

trust in

him by

faith.

But there

still is a

portion of

the promises

that are yet

to be realized

and that is

in the eternal

reign of

Christ over

all the

earth.

I listen

to our

songs and I

think about

the things we

sing about

Jesus being

king.

The day is

coming that

he will reign

over all the

earth and he

will reign for

all eternity.

I am

thankful that

I see less

on Facebook

today about

politics.

I'm not sure

it's just

because I've

excluded people

that are

obsessive about

it.

But you know

I can only

take so

much.

It does

make me

kind of

think forward

I am

looking forward

to the day

that Jesus

is in

charge.

And that's

going to be

wonderful.

And so you

look here in

the reality

of the fact

and you

realize that

the promise

that God

made to

Abraham has

had partial

fulfillment in

the coming of

our Savior.

But the

promise of

blessing will

be completed

in the

eternal reign

of Christ.

Are you

looking forward

to that?

Are you

longing for

his coming?

Are you

anticipating it?

How many of

you know what

Maranatha

means?

It does

not.

It's not

pronounced

Marantha.

In the

old days

when we

had a

school I

used to

just die

when they

would go

on the

radio and

they'd go

on the

TV and

say Marantha

Christian

school.

But anyway

I stopped

trying to

correct people.

Hey it's

good.

Works for

you.

How do

you spell

it?

Do you

know what

it means?

Our

Lord's

coming.

It is to

be something

that

characterizes

the heart

of the

believer.

I'm

looking forward

to it.

Why?

Because for

one I'm

going to

see him.

For two I'm

going to be

like him.

And third I

am going to

enjoy his

perfect reign

over all

all the

kingdoms of

the earth and

over all of

creation for

all of

eternity.

eternity.

That's the

way I'd

like every

person's

story to

end.

Do you

understand

that point?

But the

truth of

the matter

is all

of eternity

will be

spent in

one of

two

conditions.

Those who

have come

in humility

and brokenness

confessing their

sins and

believing in

the finished

work of

Christ will

spend eternity

with him.

That's good.

If you were to

go back to the

book of

Revelation and

you don't need

to go there

this morning you

will find that

there is another

part to it.

Those who

refuse the

offer of

salvation through

the finished

work of

Christ will

spend all of

eternity in

hell suffering

forever for

their rebellious

and hardened

hearts.

And when's

the time to

come to grips

with that?

Now,

now,

now,

and so I

would appeal

to you if you

are here this

morning and

don't know the

Lord Jesus

Christ as your

Savior,

don't walk out

of here saying

well there will

be another day

because you

don't know

that.

The fact of

the matter is

is Christ

Jesus came

into the

world to

save sinners

and if you

are here and

you sense the

burden of your

heart and you

realize that the

darkness of your

soul is not

something that

you can solve,

I would plead

with you,

trust in the

Lord Jesus

Christ in whom

alone is

salvation.

Let's close

in prayer.

Father God,

I'm thankful

that you keep

promises.

You have

promised to

bless.

You have

promised also

to judge.

and this

morning you

offer the

gift of

salvation to

all who will

believe in the

Lord Jesus

Christ and

that work of

belief is a

work of your

grace.

And I would

plead with you

this morning that

you would touch

the lives of

those that are

here that do

not know Christ

that they would

be drawn to the

cross.

That believers

who are under

the burden and

heartache and

challenge of life

would rest in

confidence that

you who have

done everything

for our salvation

will bring them

through the

heartache and

the challenge of

this day.

You will not

fail them.

Help us to

walk out of

here victorious

because of

Christ.

And to display

that joy and

that victory to

an unbelieving

world with

quietness and

with gentleness.

We ask this in

Jesus' name.

Amen.