In All the Earth

I am not mad at you.

You probably knew that.

But I find myself having to say that a lot.

I hadn't planned on saying this.

It's because I wrestle with something called BRF syndrome.

I don't know if you know what that is.

You can look it up later.

It has something to do with my resting face.

Also, at times I can get pretty dour and sarcastic.

And that's a fault of mine.

It's a sin, really.

And the core group leaders experienced this a couple months ago.

Somebody asked me after a meeting with the core group leaders,

were you angry or sad or what?

I'm like, no, it was great.

It was fine.

But core group leaders, I apologize to you.

You need more than just that.

You need my encouragement.

I really love you guys and all you do.

But I'm not mad at you either.

Has anybody ever said, I'm not mad at you,

and that came as a big relief?

I think that's true for most of us, right?

Especially when they say, I'm not mad at you anymore.

I remember very distinctly a friend of mine saying that to me.

I was leading rehearsal.

This was about 12 years ago.

And I snapped at him.

And I didn't apologize afterwards.

And then I just let it go.

And it completely crushed him.

And over time, he removed himself from me and contacted with me.

And I gradually noticed it.

But by the time I really realized it, it felt like it was too late.

And I was really embarrassed by it.

And afraid, actually.

And I just hoped the whole thing would resolve itself on its own.

But surprise, it did not.

It remained bad.

And it got worse.

And I finally had to humble myself.

And I went to his house.

And I asked for his forgiveness.

And he explained how he had been hurt.

And he was right and was justified.

But then he said, Dan, I forgive you.

Completely.

It's as if it never happened.

And it made me want to tell others about it, too.

I went and told my wife.

I told my friends.

Like, look at this guy.

He just forgave me for this.

Just like that.

It was amazing.

And now I'm telling you about it.

Now, what if the person mad at you was not your friend, but somebody in a position of power or influence?

An elected official, a judge, the president, the king.

Or how about the creator of the universe?

What if it was God that was mad at you?

This is the position that the nation of Judah finds itself in, in Isaiah chapter 12.

Isaiah 12 · chapter mention

It's the first text that we read tonight.

The nation of Judah is going to learn that God's not angry anymore.

And we're going to see that the removal of that wrath, or as theologians put it, the expiation of that wrath, brings four things.

It brings repentance.

It brings trust.

It brings joy.

And it brings mission.

But you know where we're going, right?

I mean, ultimately, we're not talking about Judah.

We're talking about us.

I'm talking about you.

Some of you have walked into this room tonight not quite sure of what God thinks of you.

Some of you, when you walked into the room, think that God is angry with you.

Or he's displeased.

Or that he has a frown on his face.

Or maybe he was okay when you walked in, but who knows what he'll be like tomorrow, the next time you screw up.

Some of you know how you screw up over and over, and you wonder, really, how can God love a person like me?

Now, how do I know this about you or us?

And it's because half the people that come into my office, half the people that I counsel, wrestle with this specific point.

They're unsure about this point, that God loves them and likes them.

And is completely pleased with them.

This is not a rebuke for them or for you.

This is going to be an invitation to receive the affection that God is already lavishing on you.

Now, some of you feel pretty confident that God likes you, but for some reason that doesn't make much of a difference.

Like, you wonder, where's the joy that I used to experience?

Or the confidence I used to know?

Friends, I'm here to tell you that if you're in Christ, God loves you.

He likes you.

He's crazy about you.

He really wants you to know that.

So let's pray and ask him for help, okay?

God, give us the power, together with all your holy people,

to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is your love.

For our good and for your glory.

Amen.

So let's take first a look at where we are in the Bible.

We're in the book of Isaiah.

The prophet Isaiah lived and worked in the nation of Judah during the 8th and 7th centuries BC.

He began working during the reign of Ahaz.

Ahaz was a pretty despicable king.

And he led his people into some detestable practices.

He shuttered up the temple.

He set up altars all over the country to worship other gods, pagan gods.

He even performed child sacrifices.

He burned his own sons to pagan gods as an offering.

During his reign, Judah was attacked on all sides.

And instead of going to God for help,

he pledged allegiance to Judah's biggest enemy,

the kingdom of Assyria.

And so God, through the prophet, speaks judgment on Ahaz and the kingdom of Judah.

Now this is chapter 6 through 12 that I'm talking about.

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

Now, as bad as it is,

because God is compassionate and he's merciful,

God continually promises restoration and hope in the midst of all these judgments.

And if you've been attending church for several years,

you may remember some of those promises.

We hear them during the season of Advent every year.

This promise is centered on a future king,

one who would be called a wonderful counselor,

mighty God,

everlasting father,

prince of peace.

The promises also describe a profound future peace that the king brings,

a peace which you also hear about during Advent,

when the wolf shall dwell with the lamb,

and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,

and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together,

and the little child shall lead them.

Does that sound familiar?

That's Isaiah 11.

So after pronouncements of judgment and deliverance,

judgment and deliverance,

we arrive at chapter 12.

And verse 1 says,

you will say in that day,

and here the word you is singular.

So we often hear and read in the Bible

ourselves being addressed as you.

Usually it's in you plural, right?

God or the writers of Scripture are addressing you as a church.

But here's you singular.

So you are as free to be as individualistic with this verse as you'd like.

You will say on that day,

I will give thanks to you, O Lord,

for though you were angry with me,

your anger turned away that you might comfort me.

So where does that anger come from?

Well, it comes in a very different place.

It comes from a very different place

than, say, human anger would come.

See, when Isaiah is writing and speaking,

he's very concerned about the holiness of God.

He uses a title for God,

the Holy One of Israel,

25 times.

In the rest of the whole Old Testament,

you only find that seven times.

And in the beginning of this section,

in chapter 6,

Isaiah describes a vision he had

of God,

a king seated on a throne,

surrounded by

burning angels,

seraphim and cheraphim.

And they're crying out,

Holy, holy, holy

is the Lord of hosts.

Heaven and earth are full of his glory.

God is so holy

that Isaiah can't even describe him.

All he can describe

is the hem of his robe.

And this is because holiness

means profoundly pure,

profoundly separate,

other.

This holiness

constitutes an awesome threat

to an unworthy,

careless,

rejecting,

and unresponsive people.

How does one

assuage

anger like that?

One doesn't.

One doesn't.

It's the choice of God

to forgive

and to comfort.

The rest of the book of Isaiah

fleshes that out.

But this God

goes to great lengths

to deal with sin,

to reclaim the sinner,

to create a righteous people

for himself.

How does he do this?

Well, I think we need

to trace through Scripture

how God

deals with sin.

Okay?

We go to the book of Leviticus,

Leviticus 17 · chapter mention

chapter 17,

and it says,

For the life of a creature

is in the blood.

And God says,

I have given it to you

to make atonement

for yourselves

on the altar.

It is the blood

that makes atonement

for one's life.

The New Testament

agrees with this.

In Hebrews,

Hebrews 9:22

chapter 9,

verse 22,

which says,

Indeed,

under the law,

almost everything

is purified with blood.

Without the shedding of blood,

there is no forgiveness

of sins.

So a question

to ask might be,

well,

if that's true,

then how many sacrifices

must be made?

I mean,

must I keep offering sacrifices

for every little sin

that I do?

And that's a great question.

And one of the prophets

actually asks

that question himself.

The prophet Micah,

he asks this,

with what shall I come

before the Lord

and bow myself

before God on high?

Shall I come before him

with burnt offerings,

with calves a year old?

Will the Lord be pleased

with thousands of rams,

with ten thousands

of rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn

for my transgression,

the fruit of my body,

for the sin of my soul?

See, already that system

doesn't seem to be

making sense to him.

Right.

Because it's pointing

towards something else.

God goes to great lengths

to solve this dilemma.

He himself became

the perfect sacrifice

once for all

through the death

of his firstborn son,

Jesus Christ.

Hebrews chapter 10 says,

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

but when Christ had offered

for all time

a single sacrifice for sins,

he sat down

at the right hand of God

for by a single offering,

he has perfected

for all time

those who are being sanctified.

So it's done.

Sin is faced once for all

and then is cast

by the grace of God

into the depths of the sea.

And now we are at one

with Christ.

we are now brought

into union

with God's own son.

We share life with him.

And when God sees us,

he sees his son

on whom since eternity past,

he has lavished love,

affection,

praise,

and intimacy.

And now we get all of that.

Who wouldn't want that?

Who wouldn't want

the love of a father?

The affection of a father?

The praise of a father?

Intimacy with the father?

As Charles Spurgeon said,

God is so boundlessly pleased

with Jesus

that in him,

God is altogether

well pleased with us.

A catechism is a method

of teaching

through question and answer.

And there's one called

the Heidelberg Catechism.

It summarizes everything

we've just talked about

by asking,

how are you right with God?

You know,

I put this in the slides.

It's after all the scripture readings.

Is it up there?

Great.

Let's answer this together.

Church,

how are you right with God?

Only by true faith

in Jesus Christ,

even though my conscience

accuses me

of having grievously sinned

against all God's commandments

and of never having kept

any of them,

and even though

I am still inclined

toward all evil,

nevertheless,

without my deserving it at all,

out of sheer grace,

God grants and credits

to me

the perfect satisfaction,

righteousness,

and holiness of Christ

as if I had never sinned

nor been a sinner,

as if I had been

as perfectly obedient

as Christ was obedient for me.

All I need to do

is to accept this gift of God

with a believing heart.

That's it.

That's all.

Believe.

Friends, believe.

It makes the world of difference.

Believe.

Your Father loves you.

He's so crazy about you.

He wants to pour affection.

Just receive it.

Just receive it.

What happens when we accept this gift?

What happens when we are made right with God?

Well, a lot.

But four things that we'll look at tonight.

Four things that we find here

in Isaiah chapter 12.

Isaiah 12 · chapter mention

The first is repentance.

A regular turning away from sin.

And this is very important.

And it's not explicit here in the passage,

but it's strongly implicit.

Because this is how Old Testament prophecies work.

Old Testament prophecies are usually judgment

or they're,

excuse me,

they're judgment or they're blessing.

They're, yes.

Somebody help me out.

Now, most of the time,

there were contingencies on these

judgments or promises.

If God pronounced judgment on a nation

and the nation repents,

he would relent.

If God declared that a nation would prosper,

but the nation became wicked,

he would relent of the good

that he had intended for that nation.

And so this is why,

during the season of Advent,

repentance is emphasized.

We push repentance to a place of honor

at the table

in our worship together.

Waiting for God's deliverance

has always been accompanied by repentance.

Here's the key for us as the church.

If we are in Christ,

we will repent.

Because as Christians,

being in Christ,

it's in our DNA.

He tells us he will give us his Holy Spirit,

that he will write his law on our hearts.

But when we are made right with God,

we will live lives of repentance.

So second,

we learn to trust God alone.

So first is repentance,

second is trust.

Verse two says,

Behold, God is my salvation.

I will trust

and will not be afraid.

For the Lord God is my strength and my song,

and he's become my salvation.

Now remember,

when Judah ran into trouble,

Judah sought help not from God,

but from the kingdom of Assyria.

It didn't work out for Judah.

Judah would remain a puppet state

of a greater power

until the end of its existence.

The consequences of trusting anyone

or anything besides God

are always disastrous.

Yet we're always drawn to trust something besides God

for comfort,

for a meaning,

for feeling alive.

For us,

those things tend to be power

or money

or order

or achievement.

For instance,

not long before the film director,

Sidney Pollack,

died,

there was an article written about

his inability to slow down

and enjoy his final years

with his loved ones.

Though he was unwell

and the grueling process of filmmaking

was wearing him down,

he couldn't justify his existence

if he stopped.

He explained,

every time I finish a picture,

I feel like I've done something

I'm supposed to do

in the sense

that I've earned my stay

here on earth

for yet another year.

And then it would start all over again.

Make a film,

work hard,

achieve,

earn another year on earth

until he died.

Now I think a lot of us

can relate to that, right?

Some of us,

we derive our sense of worth

in feeling right about a cause.

And you see that one

all the time nowadays, right?

It's not enough to have

a certain value,

but in a perverse way,

we're comforted from being outraged

when that value is transgressed.

Feeling right makes us feel righteous.

But for those on whom God

has lavished his approval

and affection,

God's approval is enough.

We don't have to feel right.

We don't even have to be right.

We don't have to chase

something else for comfort,

for meaning,

for contentment.

The third thing happens

when we are made right with God

is joy.

Joy is the evidence

of having been reconciled

with our Holy Father.

In verse 3,

Isaiah writes,

with joy you will draw water

from the well's salvation.

Now here he shifts

to the second person plural.

First it was singular,

now it's plural.

There's a joy that happens

when we gather together

as God's reconciled people

and declare the stories

of how God has rescued us

and redeemed us.

And you know this,

especially if you were here

two weeks ago

and saw the baptisms, right?

Who here either wept

or almost wept

when Ali was baptized

two weeks ago, right?

To see the water

pour down from his head,

down his face,

and onto his

very stylish shirt.

Who didn't get the chills

to hear Ali

declared our brother

and to see those babies

marked as God's own children?

There's a joy

that's infectious

when we gather together

to declare the praises

of the one who has saved us.

This is why the writer

of the Hebrews tells us,

let us consider

how to stir up one another

to love and good works,

not neglecting to meet together,

as is the habit of some,

but encouraging one another

and all the more

as you see the day drawing near.

So repentance,

trust,

joy,

and fourthly,

that's a word, right?

Fourthly,

fourthly,

mission.

Come as a result

of being made right with God.

Verse four says,

and you will say in that day,

give thanks to the Lord,

call upon his name,

make known his deeds

among the peoples,

proclaim that his name

is exalted,

sing praises to the Lord,

for he has done gloriously.

Let this be made known

in all the earth.

Shout

and sing for joy,

O inhabitant of Zion,

for great in your midst

is the Holy One of Israel.

experiencing the radical,

extravagant love of Christ

compels to share it

with the world.

We do this all the time,

right,

when we find things beautiful.

A piece of music,

a movie,

a sunset,

a poem,

a vista,

a book,

an insane goal

by Lionel Messi.

We want to praise it

and we want to share that

with others,

right?

We experience this

every week

in our worship.

God gathers us in.

We declare his praises.

He feeds us

with his own word

and his own self.

And then he sends us out.

What do we hear

right before we leave?

Let us,

anybody know?

Let us go forth

into the,

yes,

let us go forth

into the world,

rejoicing in the power

of the Holy Spirit.

Thanks, Annika.

How can we declare

God's names

to peoples of the earth?

How can we make

that proclamation global

as Isaiah suggests?

Well,

for some of us

it might mean

going overseas,

right?

But I think

for most of us

it doesn't mean that.

It doesn't mean

we go overseas

and share the gospel

in a different language.

but we can still

support and strengthen

national churches

that are preaching

the gospel.

I think it's

really important now

more than ever.

Personally,

our family has a deep

heart for Europe.

We've long loved Europe

and it used to be

that the church

focused a lot

of its efforts

on the Middle East

and on Asia.

But now people

from those lands

are moving to Europe.

Now they're being forced

to move to Europe.

And the opportunity

to preach the gospel

to them is greater

than it's ever

been before.

So another thing

you can do

and this is what

my family did

and this is

we moved to

Washington, D.C.

You're already here

and you can stay.

You can stay in D.C.

Stay here.

Join a core group.

Love the city

long term.

Work for its prosperity

long term.

The nations are here

in Washington, D.C.

The opportunities here

are boundless.

This is why we came.

This is why we love D.C.

And why we love to be

a part of this church.

So,

let's review.

Because we've been

reconciled with God.

We repent.

We have trust.

We have joy.

We're sent on mission.

There was a sci-fi TV show

back in 2002

called Firefly.

It was canceled

after only 14 episodes

fueling the ire

from those fans

that believed it

to be the best TV show

of all time.

Not necessarily

one of those persons.

Now,

realizing

an opportunity,

this show

was made

into

a motion picture

and

it was called

Serenity

and geeks

everywhere rejoiced.

Now,

some of these

passionate fans

call themselves

brown coats.

I won't bore you

with the details

from the show

explaining why

they call themselves this

but needless to say

they wore brown coats.

the premiere

came

and on opening night

all over the country

the brown coats

came out.

And they didn't just

go to see the movie.

They bought extra tickets.

They would walk

around the mall

in their brown coats

and they would pass out

tickets to strangers.

This was

their enthusiasm

for this film.

How much more?

How so much more?

I'm not trying

to reduce

the story of redemption

to a sci-fi film.

How much more

should we tell others

about what we've received?

Right?

What we've experienced

in Christ.

A story.

A beautiful story.

The story of God

redeeming

and reconciling

the world to himself.

This God

gives us

clothes to wear

the robes of righteousness

that belong

to his own son.

And in Christ

God delights in us

and lavishes us

with love

and calls us

his beloved

sons and daughters.

In the name

of the Father

and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Let's pray.

Father,

what a joy

to know

that you have

forever forgotten

our sins

cast them

forever

deep into the ocean.

You will never

deal with us

according to our sins

or reward us

according to our iniquities.

For on the cross

you dealt with Jesus

according to our sins

and rewarded him

according to our iniquities.

Father,

thank you for such

a lavish salvation.

Rescue us

in those delusional moments

when we forget

your forgetfulness.

When we begin acting

as though Jesus'

sacrifice for our sins

wasn't enough.

When we think

there's something more

we can do

to gain your acceptance

and curry your favor.

When we hear

the accusations

of Satan

more clearly

than your rejoicing

over us

with singing.

So banner over us

in love

because Jesus'

words to us

are it is finished.

So with great peace

and fresh gratitude

we pray in his name.

Amen.