Every Son & Every Daughter’s Story

Let's read from the Book of Isaiah. We're gonna be

in verses eighteen of forty two through verse twenty one

of chapter forty three. It's about about a chapter's worth

of text, although it moves across the conventional chapter break.

Let's start in forty two eighteen. You can read along

as I read aloud. Hear you deaf, look you blind?

That you may see? Who is blind? But my servant

or death is my messenger whom I send? Who is

blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant

of the Lord. He sees many things, but does not

observe them. His ears are open, but he does not hear.

The Lord was pleased for his righteousness sake, to magnify

his law and make it glorious. But this is a

people plundered and looted. They are all of them trapped

in holes and hidden in prisons. They've become plunder with

no one to rescue, spoil, with none to say restore.

Who among you will give ear to this, will attend

and listen for the time to come. Who gave up

Jacob to the looter and Israel to the plunderers? Was

it not the Lord against whom we have sinned in

whose ways they would not walk, and whose laws they

would not obey. So he poured on them the heat

of his anger and the might of battle. It set

him on fire all around, but he did not understand.

It burned him up, but he did not take it

to heart. But now, thus says the Lord, he who

created you, oh Jacob, who formed you, Oh Israel, fear not,

for I have redeemed you, called you by name. You

are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will

be with you. Through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.

When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,

and the flames shall not consume you. For I am

the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

I gave Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Siba, in

exchange for you, because you are precious in my eyes

and honored, and I love you. I give men in

return for you, peoples, in exchange for your life. Fear not,

for I am with you. I will bring your offspring

from the east, and from the west I will gather,

gather you. I will say to the north, give up

to the south, Do not withhold bring my sons from

Afar and my daughters, from the end of the earth.

Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created

for my glory, whom I formed and made. Bring out

the people who are blind yet have eyes, who are

deaf and yet haveviers. All nations gather together. The peoples assemble,

who among them can declare this and show us the

former things. Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right.

Let them hear and say it's true. You are my witnesses,

declares the Lord and my servant, whom I've chosen, that

you may know and believe me and understand that I

am He. Before me, no God was formed, nor shall

there be any after me. I I am the Lord,

and beside me there is no savior. I declared and

saved and proclaimed when there was no strange God among you,

and you are my witnesses, declares the Lord. And I

am God, and henceforth I am He. There is none

who can deliver from my hand I work and who

can turn it back. Thus says the Lord, Lord, your Redeemer,

the Holy One of Israel. For your sake, I send

to Babylon and bring them all down as fugitives. Even

the Chaldeans in the ships in which they rejoice. I

am the Lord, your holy One, the creator of Israel,

your King. Thus says the Lord, who makes away in

the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings

forth chariot and horse, army and warrior. They lie down,

they cannot rise. They are extinguished, quenched like a wick.

Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold,

I'm doing a new thing. Now it springs forth. Do

you not perceive it. I will make a way in

the wilderness, rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will

honor me, the jackals and ostriches. For I give water

in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink

to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself,

that they might declare my praise. This is the word

of the Lord. Do you know how to tell your

story of God's grace? Do you know how to tell

your story of God's grace? It's unique your story because

it's yours. You're like a snowflake. There's nobody exactly like you.

There's no one who exactly has your experiences. And yet,

in another sense, every story of God's grace is the

same because it's about him. It's about his grace, as

it says in verse six of forty three, Here bring

my sons from Afar, and my daughters from the ends

of the earth, everyone who was called by my name.

There is a sense in which this passage in Isaiah

is every son and daughter's story. I wonder, though, if

you recognize it. I wonder if you recognize it Christian

in such a deep way that it actually shapes your

life in response to that story, that it actually shapes

the way you worship, and shapes the way you forgive others,

and shapes the way you extend grace, and shapes the

way you love the God who showed you grace. I

wonder if you recognize it non Christian. I wonder if

you recognize in it this story of what it would

look like to become a son or daughter of God,

because this is every son and daughter story. He said, well,

what about it? What are you saying is every son

and daughter's story? There's a lot of dense Hebrew poetry here.

What are you talking about? Well, let's piece it together,

and we'll piece it together with these three questions. Who

were you? What did God do and why did he

do it? Who were you? What did God do and

why did he do it? That makes up, in some

sense every son and daughter's story. Well, let's start off

with who you were? Who were you? Christian? Let me ask,

do you know who you were before you were made his?

Do you have, I wonder, an accurate assessment before his

redemptive adoption? Well, you could consider these four descriptions blind deaf,

trapped and under judgment, blind deaf tracked an under judgment.

I mean, consider verse twenty He sees many things, but

he does not observe them. His ears are open, but

he does not hear. That's blind and deaf trapped. Consider

verse twenty two. They are all of them trapped in

holes and hidden in prisons under judgment. He poured verse

twenty five on him the heat of his anger. It

burned him up, but he did not take it to heart.

Those are some descriptions blind deaf trapped under judgment. And

you may say, well, hold on past her. I see

those words there, but I'm not so sure I was

so bad. I mean blind. I am one who has

been familiar with God's ways for a long time. I

feel like I've known him all my life. I'm not

so bad. I've just needed a little help from Jesus.

Aren't these descriptions here about those who would be unfamiliar

with God's ways, not like me? Well, I'm glad you asked,

because you know this passage. And Isaiah actually does start

off speaking to those who were unfamiliar with God's ways.

That's where he starts. In verse eighteen. He says, here,

see you blind, hear you deaf? And there he's speaking

to the nations. He's speaking to those unfamiliar with God's ways, saying, hey,

you should see what God is alike. You should hear

what he is like. But then he turns in verse

nineteen to Israel, to those who would be familiar with

his ways, and says this, yeah, but who is blind

as my servant? Who is as deaf as my dedicated one?

Is deaf as the messenger whom I send. In other words,

Israel was meant. His people were called to be a

guide to the blind and a messenger to the untaught,

and those unfamiliar with his ways were worse off by

having his people around. They were even worse blind deaf,

trapped in prison all So hold on I'm tracking with you,

but I'm bothered by this term my servant, because I

thought last week when we read about my servant, it

was my servant whom I uphold in whom my soul delights.

Isn't that who my servant is? Well, Isaiah uses my

servant in a couple of different ways the street. Raise

your hand if you consider yourself God servant? All right,

pretty good population here, glad to see that in church.

Now point up if in a different sense, you consider

Jesus Christ to be God's servant, the unique son of God,

the savior of the world. Okay, so we got hands

both times. You are God's servant, he is God servant.

And in Isaiah, God speaks of the Messiah to come

as my servant, and he speaks of his people as

my servant. And I think he does that to show

this profound contrast between who he called his people to

be and the one who actually answered that call. He

called his people to be a guide to the blind,

a messenger to the untaught, and those familiar with his

ways did not answer that call. But there was one

who did answer. In this case, in this passage my servant,

he's talking about his people, those familiar with His ways.

And so these are the descriptions blind, deaf, trapped under judgment,

And they are descriptions of everyone, everywhere, at every time,

apart from God's redemptive adoption, both those familiar with his

ways and those unfamiliar with his ways. This is every

son and daughter's story. That's what Romans three says. All,

both those familiar and unfamiliar, all are under sin, and

none is righteous, No, not one, No one understands, no

one seeks for God. Do you recognize who you were?

But let me explain why it matters. The author of

the Gospel of Luke captures this story, this account of

Jesus visiting someone for lunch, a guy named Simon. There's

a guy named Simon who would think to himself, I'm

not so bad blind, that's a lot death. I'm not

so sure. Trapped in sin and under judgment. I don't

know about that. I've known God and his ways for

a long time, but I might need a little help.

So let me invite Jesus over. And he invites Jesus over,

and he's like, no big deal, Jesus, it's going to

be a very casual thing. Just come on over. We'll

have some other people too, we'll make some hummus sandwiches.

It's I'm just I figure we should hang out. And

so Jesus comes over and Simon is very casual about

the whole thing. She's just say, hey, come on in,

meet missus. Simon, you know, make it like just tab

a seat. And there are other people there, and there's

a woman who makes her way into the lunch crowd

at Simon's house, and she makes her way to Jesus

and she doesn't take him casually at all. In fact,

she begins weeping over him. She can't stop crying, and

she can't stop kissing his feet. In fact, she makes

a muddy mess out of his feet with her tears,

and so she just starts drying them with her hair.

And Simon is like, this is a bad look. This

is a bad look for me because this is kind

of a scene. I wanted this to be super casual.

It's also a bad look for Jesus. I mean, if

he knew, you know, what kind of woman this is,

he wouldn't be letting her touch him like that. And

at that minute, Jesus looks at Simon and says, I

have something to say to you. Simon, still taking him casually,

says say it. Jesus says, there was a money lender

and there were two people who owed him money. One

owed him a million dollars and the other owned him

one hundred grand, and he forgave both the debts. Simon,

which do you think loved that money lender more? And

Simon says, well, I guess the one who was forgiven more.

And Jesus says, so you do get it. Jack came

here to your casual little lunch gathering. You didn't greet

me with a kiss of honor. You didn't wash my feet,

You didn't even give me a bawl for me to

wash my feet myself. And this woman, she hasn't stopped

kissing my feet because she recognizes she was blind, death,

trapped in sin and under judgment. She recognizes who she was.

And my question, Christian, is do you recognize who you were?

Because if you don't recognize who you were, you will

not love. You will not extend the forgiveness you've been extended.

You will not show others grace, you will not worship

with tears on Jesus' feet. It'll be a casual thing

to you. You'll come in, you'll go out, you'll murmur

these words words, your mind will just drift when we

speak of and sing of the love of God. But

if you recognize who you were, you won't stop kissing

Jesus' feet. And listen, non Christian, if you're here and

you hear this, I want you to know that not

only does our recognizing does our recognizing who we were

as Christians drive us to wonder and love and praise,

it might also drive you to coming to Him Right now.

You don't have to be scared of realizing that you

are blind, that you are deaf, that you are trapped

in sin and under judgment. You don't have to be

afraid of those things, not because they're good things, but

because they may lead you to the best thing that

could ever happen to you. And every Christian here could

testify to that, because it's every son and daughter's story

and it could be your story too. Who were you?

You were blind, deaf, trapped and under judgment? What did

God do? What did God do? That's where our passage

goes next. These are God's next two words. But now,

but now God does something By declaration he produces something

by proclamation. And I used four descriptions earlier, so I'll

use four descriptions again. Here's what he did. Redeemed, dwelt with, gathered,

and made away. He redeems. Look at verse one, there

fear not, for I have redeemed you. He dwells with.

Verse two, when you pass through the waters, I will

be with you. And in five, fear not, for I

am with you. He gathers. Verse six, I will say

to the north give up, and to the south do

not withhold. Bring my sons from afar, and my daughters

from the end of the earth. Bring out the people

who are blind and death. And he makes away verse thirteen.

There is none who can deliver from my hand I work,

and who can turn it back. Verse sixteen, Thus says

the lord who makes a way, who makes a path,

and nineteen, I will make a way. That's what he does.

He redeems, he dwells with, he gathers, he makes away.

This is what God did, and this is what God does.

You were blind, deaf, trapped under judgment. He redeems, dwells with, gathers,

and makes away. This is a good place for an amen.

But you might wonder does that really apply to us?

I mean, I see these words. I definitely preacher, I

definitely see these words in this book. But those are

old words. Those are old words to an old time,

to old people in a different situation. How is it

that you can take these words from this old book

and you can toss them in our direction? Does that count?

Can you do that? What makes you think you can

do that? I'll tell you why, because the Apostle Paul

takes up this passage right here and he brings it

to the Christian Church in corinth and two Corinthians, chapter six, saying,

I will make my dwelling among them. You shall be

sons and daughters to me. He's lifting right out of

this spot right here. We believers are the dwelling place

of God. We are gathered by Him, we are his

sons and daughters. And the Holy Spirit, through the Apostle

Paul takes these words from right here to the exiles

of Judah Uh and he the Spirit just spreads them

beyond that time and beyond these people, and he spreads

them into his people in Christ, into a first century

church in corinth a church full of gentiles just like us,

in a twenty first century church in San Antonio and says,

just as God gathered Judah from parts of the world

and redeemed as sons and daughters because He is the

only savior for the praise of his grace at that time,

in an even greater way, God is gathering from every

single part of the world, every tribe and tongue and nation,

and redeeming as sons and daughters by his proclamation and

incarnation and resurrection and ascension, because He is the only

savior for the praise of his grace for all time.

This is ours. This is every son and daughter's story.

And that story is blind death, trapped under judgment to redeemed,

dwelt with, gathered and made away. Did you notice perhaps

what God's action is based on. Did it seem as

though the blind managed to feel their way back to God?

Is that the story? Does it seem as though the

death started listening more closely with their ear cupped around,

with their handcupped around their ear. Does it seem like

the trapped manage to free themselves? Is that your story?

Or that you who were under judgment just worked your

way into a better standing with God? No, God takes

the decisive initiating action. He declares it that you may

know and believe me and understand that I am He,

I am the Lord. Besides me, there is no savior.

God is the sovereign initiator of salvation. Yes, God calls

you to walk in repentance. Yes, God calls you to

walk in holiness. But don't ever think you walked your

way back to him. He works his redemptive adoption by

his own calling. I have called you by name, your

mind rush just in my eyes and honored, and I

love you because you're mine. That's how my wife coaches

my kids all the time. My wife is constantly planting

little gospel seeds in their minds. She's sneaky like that.

And since they were infants, she would say to them,

I love you, Do you know why? And from the

time they were able to talk back, they would come

up with reasons and she would shoot them down. No,

I don't love you because you're good. No, I don't

love you because you were cooperative with your brothers this afternoon,

although I did appreciate that. No, I don't love you

because you make good grades. You could make better ones.

Do you know why? I love you? And She repeated

the same thing every time until they started repeating it back.

I love you because your mind, your mind, and God

has that question for you. Do you know why he

loves you? Do you think that his love for you

hinges on your self righteousness, your produced works? Is that

your story? If he was to ask you this morning,

do you know why I love you? Do you know

why you are precious and honored in my eyes? And

I love you? I hope you would answer back, he

loved me because I'm yours. And there's some of you

here right now who have this sense of him calling

you to himself. And you've resisted coming to him all

your life for a variety of reasons, but maybe right now,

deep down, it's because you think you need to earn

his grace. You think you can't be loved by him

because you aren't lovely. You have missed the logic of

his grace. He loves the unlovely, He redeems the trapped

in sin, He pardons those under judgment. Like I heard

another preacher say, not long ago, do you get cleaned

up to take a shower, then you've missed the logic

of the shower. Just come to him for grace. That's

every son and daughter's story, undeserved grace. So who you were,

that's what he did. Now we've been putting this story

together with these three questions, who you were and what

he did? And here's the third, and we'll be quick.

Why did he do it? Why did God do what

he did? To what ends? Did God rescue the blind?

Does it have something to do with the rescuer or

does it have something to do with the rescued? Is

this something to do with him or is this something

to do with us? What we can see it has

something to do with him, because it's for his glory,

it says in verse seven, bring him everyone who's called

by my name, who I created for my glory. I

has something to do with him, And we can also

see it has something to do with us, because in

verse tenants, this is for our understanding. You are my witnesses,

that you may know and believe me and understand that

I am He. So it has something to do with us,

and we can see that it has something to do

with him in the very last verse of this passage,

right the people whom I formed for myself. But we

can also see that it has something to do with

us in that same verse that they may declare my praise.

These two work together. Phijians one says it like this.

He has adopted us to himself as sons and daughters

through Jesus Christ, to the praise of his glorious grace,

his grace on display, his grace on display. It's about

Him and his grace and his glory, his grace on display,

reflected through you, reflected through your praise, reflected through your witness.

It's like those old fashioned lights, the way old fashioned

beacons worked or flashlights worked. You had a fire that

was the light source, but you also had a mirror

that would gather the light and shine it wherever he

was designed to go. And in that way also we

have these two things working together. God's glory, God's grace,

God's character, his redemption. It's all about him, but your testimony,

your life, your praise, your worship pointing into a world

in which God has designed it to go to light

up a room so that we can see reality, or

light up a coastline so that others might come safely home.

You may ask, well, that reflection, how do I do it?

How do I reflect His grace? How do I bear

that witness. I'll give you two ways right now, and

one of them you can do right now. It's just

passionate worship. Passionate worship right now and just a moment,

we're gonna all stand and sing, and as we reflect

the grace that God has shown us based on who

we were, blind, death, trapped in sin, under judgment, the

worship that he deserves is the kind that never stops

kissing his feet, never stops crime over the redemption we've

been shown if we see who we were and we

see what He's done. But not only passionate worship, also

this just tell your story. Tell your story. God has

rescued the blind to the praise of his grace. That's

your story. But your story, although it's the same as

every other's story, it's every son and daughter's story, your

story is also unique. You've got details, details I'm sure

you're not proud of, and it's time to tell it.

It's time to tell it. You can just it's not

actually that hard to bring it up with coworkers or neighbors.

Just say, look for your opportunities. I'm a Christian. It's

the most important thing in my life. I would love

to tell you my story sometimes. That's all I have

to say. I'm a Christian, it's thing in my life.

I would love to tell you my story sometimes. And

I guarantee you no one will take you up on

that at the moment, just that would be very strange.

Almost everybody goes, well, I'm going to extract myself from

this conversation today, and then you'll get a text. If

you keep them opening up that door that way, you'll

get a text. Because funny thing about blind people. Blind

people bump into things, Trapped people end up feeling the

claustrophobic situation, and you'll get a text saying, hey, remember

how you said, and they'll put it in the weirdest

ways how you said you know you're a Christian? Or

you would tell us your story and I'd like that.

I'd like to know your story because and they might

tell you what they've bumped into and then you just

open your mouth say that's scary to that. I think

God would say this, fear not for I have redeemed you.

Fear not for I am with you. Open up your

mouth and fear not, for I have placed my favor

on you. I love you. You are precious in my eyes.

I have called you by name. Just tell your story.

It's every son and daughter's story. Would you stand with

me and pray? Heavenly Father, we ask for opportunity. Lord,

Would you give us opportunity now that we would tell

of your grace? There are those who are living in blindness,

those who are living trapped in sin, those who are

living under judgment. Lord, would you give us the kind

of boldness that you've called from us to open up

our mouths and tell the story of your grace? Would

you give us opportunity and would you give us that

kind of boldness? Lord? Would you continue to reflect back

to us an awareness of the depth of the grace

that you've shown us who we were? Lord? Would would

would our would our hearts and souls never stop kissing

you for your grace? Would we see it for what

it is? Will we see you for who you are

and the work that you've done, what you've done to

make us your sons, what you've done to make us

your daughters, And testify to the world. We ask in

Jesus name, Amen, let's sing about it.