God's Grace that Changes Us, Transcends Boundaries, and Creates a Global Church

Invite you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the Old

Testament book of Isaiah chapter 56.

Isaiah 56 · chapter mention

Isaiah chapter 56. If you're using the red Bibles

Isaiah 56 · chapter mention

in the chairs around, you can find the page listed for you in

the bulletin where you can find Isaiah chapter 56.

Isaiah 56 · chapter mention

We're going to be looking at the 1st 8 verses of chapter 56.

If you grew up or if you come from a tradition that used the

Heidelberg Catechism, then you may be aware that the Heidelberg

Catechism is organized in the kind of three main sections can

be loosely called guilt, grace, and gratitude.

Guilt, grace and gratitude. There are questions and answers

in the Catechism about our sin, about the Gospel, and about the

proper and necessary response to being converted.

It's interesting that in some ways we could organize the book

of Isaiah under the same 3 headings, guilt, grace and

gratitude. Chapters one through 39 is all

about guilt, focused on the sin of the people, both Israel as

well as the nation's, their rebellion against the Lord in

His word. Chapters 40 through 55 speak

much about God's grace, the promise of a coming servant who

would redeem God's people from exile and from their sins.

And now we come to the final section of Isaiah's book,

chapters 56 to 66, and we can think of that as gratitude.

How should God's people live in response to being redeemed, in

response to God's grace? Let's look and see how Isaiah

and the Lord through Isaiah brings us to that sense of

gratitude. Isaiah 56 beginning in verse

one. Thus says the Lord keep justice

and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come and my

righteousness be revealed. Blessed is the man who does

this, and the Son of Man who holds it fast, who keeps the

Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any

evil. Let not the foreigner who has

joined himself to the Lord say, The Lord will surely separate me

from his people. And let not the eunuchs say,

Behold, I am a dry tree. For thus says the Lord to the

eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that

please me, and hold fast my covenant.

I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a

name better than sons and daughters.

I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.

And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to

minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his

servants. Everyone who keeps the Sabbath

and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant.

These I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in

the House of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their

sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house shall be

called a House of prayer for all peoples.

The Lord God who gathers the outcasts of Israel declares I

will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.

Let's pray together. Father, we do thank you for Your

word. We thank You for giving it to us

and we pray that through the work of Your Spirit, even in

these very moments as we read Your word and as we reflect on

it, that you would open our eyes, that You would prepare our

hearts that we might know and understand and believe what You

want us to know and understand and believe from this portion of

Your word. This we ask in Jesus name, Amen.

Most of us are familiar with John Newton, 18th century former

slave trader who was converted and changed his views,

eventually became an abolitionist.

He was a great hymn writer, hymns like Amazing Grace,

Glorious, the things of the are spoken.

But he was also a pastor and from 1764 to 1780 he pastored a

small parish church in the British town of Olney.

Now, Olney was not considered an impressive or even desirable

place. It was known for great poverty

and alcoholism and really rough living.

Many considered the people of Olney as morally and socially

unacceptable, outcasts the margins of society.

But Newton believed that the gospel of God's grace was for

those kinds of people too, those who felt excluded and forgotten

and marginalized. Instead of focusing on only the

respectable and desirable people of society, Newton intentionally

opened the door of the church and his own home to the poor and

to the destitute, to the workers, to the former

criminals, to those who were considered outsiders and

outcasts. The church became known as a

place that welcomed the spiritually overlooked.

Newton partnered with William Cooper to write a number of

hymns for what they called the ordinary people became known as

the Olney Hymnal That's still around today.

Newton said of his time as the pastor in Olney.

My grand point in preaching is to break the hard heart and to

heal the broken one. In the beginning verses here of

chapter 56 of Isaiah, the Lord says something rather

surprising, even shocking. He says that foreigners who join

themselves to the Lord will be included in the covenant

community of God's people. They will fully participate with

God's people. That eunuchs who normally were

prevented from full participation in the covenant

community would be included. And they too would fully

participate that the Lord's house will be a House of prayer

for all peoples, even those who are marginalized, the outcast,

the undesirables, the unacceptables, the the

overlooked, the destitute, even greater than John Newton, the

Lord God Himself welcomes into his Kingdom those that are once

excluded from the covenant community.

And why? What's the reason?

It's because of his grace. It's because of his mercy and

love. God's grace is powerful and it

changes people and it gives them a new status.

It it brings them in to the covenant community of God's

people. So let's look at these verses

this morning and see several things.

First of all, that grace, God's grace leads to change.

It leads to righteousness. Secondly, that God's grace

transcends all boundaries. Thirdly, that grace creates a

global church. And then let's finish by asking,

So what? What difference does this make

for us today? First of all, grace leads to

righteousness. You can see that in verses one

and two. Thus says the Lord, keep justice

and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my

righteousness be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this

and the Son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not

profaning it and keeps his hand from doing any evil.

Now as you hear those words read to you at first glance they they

especially verse one. It may sound like it's talking

about earning our salvation by works that we that we earn God's

acceptance by by being righteous.

But if we look more closely, we see that it says keep justice

and do righteousness. Why for or because the Lord's

salvation is coming not keep justice and do righteousness to

earn the Lord's salvation, but because the Lord's salvation is

coming. The the Lord is referring to

Jesus eventually coming. The Lord's salvation was coming

to the people, but even during the days of Isaiah, salvation

was available. When the people heard these

words initially they just needed to believe the Lord and trust in

Him for their forgiveness of their sins and trust in that

coming Redeemer, that coming one servant who would bring

salvation. The point here at verses 1 and 2

is that because salvation is real, because the servant

Redeemer is coming, therefore believe in the Lord and keep

justice and do righteousness. Keep the Sabbath, he says.

Don't profane it, but keep your hands from doing any kind of

evil. Live righteous lives staying

away from evil. That's to be the result of

having received forgiveness from the Lord.

It's the proper response of God's people.

God's grace to us is meant to lead us to greater righteousness

in our lives. And notice here in verse 2 where

it says does this and holds it fast.

Those are verbs that are in the imperative tense.

It's a sense of ongoing attitude and behavior.

So because salvation is real, because you have a relationship

with the Lord God Almighty, keep doing justice and keep on doing

righteousness. I think it's important to point

this out every time we come across it in the Scriptures.

The indicative leads to the imperative.

The indicative leads to the imperative.

The imperative does not lead to the indicative.

What is true leads to what we are to do.

We're told this over and over and over again in the Scriptures

because we are so prone to get it turned around.

We read about it in the New Testament in Titus chapter 3,

Titus 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3, verse 4 says. But when the goodness and loving

kindness of God our Saviour appeared, He saved us, not

because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to

His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the

Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus

Christ our Saviour, so that, being justified by His grace, we

might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

The indicative, the saying is trustworthy, and I want you to

insist on these things so that those who have believed in God

may be careful to devote themselves to good works.

These things are excellent and profitable for people.

The imperative, the indicative is that Jesus Christ has

appeared and has accomplished salvation for us.

He has changed our hearts, He has given us new hearts and we

are now new in Christ, new creations.

And the imperative is that God's people now are called to go and

to live like who they are, to do good works, to keep justice and

to do righteousness. When we live and we act as if we

what we do earns God's love and grace, then what we have is

something other than Christianity, and it becomes a

weight that can crush us, a weight that we are incapable of

sustaining. We're going to come back to this

in just a minute, but for now, just note the indicative leads

to the imperative and they can't be turned around.

God's grace is meant to lead us to transformation in our lives

to to do justice and to do righteousness and to stay away

from evil. Secondly, God's grace transcends

all boundaries. You notice how the Lord points

to two different kinds of people here in verses 3 through 7, two

different qualities or or characteristics of people who

were more often marginalized, left out of participating in the

covenant community, foreigners and eunuchs.

And the Lord says to the foreigners, don't say that.

I will surely separate you from my people.

And the Lord says to the eunuchs, don't say that you're

just a dry tree with no possibility of having a name

that would outlive you. No, the Lord says to the eunuch

here in these verses, if you love me, if you serve me, if you

are devoted to me, if you are in covenant with me, then I will

establish a monument in my house and I will give you a name that

is even better than sons and daughters.

He says, an everlasting name that will never be cut off.

Need to feel the weight here of what the Lord is saying.

The eunuchs were incapable of having children.

Their name would die with them. But for those who are in

covenant who are in relationship with the Lord, the Lord says, I

will give you a name that lasts forever.

I will make your name a monument.

Though they have experienced having other things being cut

off, their name will never be cut off.

The Lord says. And to the foreigner, in verses

6 and seven, he says, if you join yourself to the Lord, if

you love him, if you will be his servant, if you follow him, if

you are in covenant with the Lord, then the Lord will bring

you to himself, to his holy mountain, and you will be

included in the worship with God's people, and you will enter

into the House of the Lord. The Lord's house, which is a

House of prayer, is a house, he says, for all peoples, even the

poor, the destitute, the outcast, the marginalized, those

who are looked down upon, those who are excluded, those who are

seen as unimportant, even those who have shady backgrounds, even

those who have been criminals in the past, even the undesirables

of society. The House of the Lord is a house

for all peoples. Why?

Because God's grace transcends all boundaries.

At the beginning of verse 8, he says God's grace gathers the

outcasts. It it transcends the boundaries.

And we see that so well demonstrated in the life in the

ministry of Jesus, don't we? Who did he spend his time with?

Who did he minister to? Who did he heal?

He healed the sick, those with physical disabilities.

He spent time with the tax collectors and the prostitutes

and those who were possessed by demons.

The poor. Jesus constantly moved toward

the marginalized in the outcasts and the undesirables and those

who are seen as unacceptable in that culture.

His grace transcended all those boundaries.

He brought all of those walls crumbling down.

God's grace transcends all boundaries.

Thirdly, God's grace creates a global church.

It creates. It's building a worldwide global

church. That's what verse 8 says.

The Lord God who gathers the outcasts of Israel declares I

will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.

The Lord gathers the outcasts of Israel to himself, but he also

gathers others, he says. And as we've seen many times

through the book of Isaiah, these others are the nations.

Likely this is also what Jesus was saying in John chapter 10.

John 10 · chapter mention

I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own, and my own know

me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father.

And I lay down my life for the sheep, and I have other sheep

that are not of this fold. I must bring them also.

And they will listen to my voice.

So there will, there will be 1 flock, 1 shepherd.

This wonderful reality, this truth that we see so many times

and so clearly in the book of Isaiah, that the Lord is in the

business of creating a truly global church.

Right now we are rather isolated from brothers and sisters in

Christ in other parts of the United States, and especially

those in other parts of the world.

We we get glimpses of them when we go and visit another church,

when we are on vacation or travelling, or when we read the

updates from our global partners or we go visit them on the

field. But a day is coming when there

will be no more isolation and no more separation, that there will

be 1 church, a global church in reach, worldwide in scope.

The new heavens and the new earth will be made-up of one

people of God, people from every ethnicity, every nation, every

language. And as one of my Old Testament

professors used to say. And then we'll all speak Hebrew

together forever. This is what God's grace does.

It creates a global church. It's what the Lord is doing.

It's it's his work in progress. One day, hopefully soon, it will

be complete and there will be 1 flock with one shepherd, one

people with 1 Lord. God's grace leads to

transformation. It leads to righteousness.

It transcends all boundaries. It creates a global church.

So what are we to do with all of this?

What are our takeaways today? Three things.

First of all, reflect on the power of God's grace to change

us. God's grace to us and the gospel

is meant to lead to transformation in our lives.

As we said earlier, the indicative that the gospel of

grace God changing our heart. It is meant to lead us to the

imperative, to following His commands.

That is always what happens when we are joined with Christ and

have the Holy Spirit living in US.

God's grace is powerful and it changes us.

It transforms us. The Lord can choose to motivate

us toward greater obedience and greater works in many different

ways, to motivate us to keep justice and to do righteousness,

to keep our hands away from doing evil.

But I believe the most powerful motivator for us is His grace,

His love for us, the gospel. If I'm right about that, then in

moments when we are tempted, when we are considering giving

into our sin, whether it's in our thoughts or in our hearts or

our actions or with our words, then in that moment we should

come back to the good news of the gospel, of God's grace to us

through the person and work of Jesus.

The most powerful motivator, the most strengthening power in

fighting against and rooting out our sin is to meditate on the

extent of the Lord's love for us that has been demonstrated in

the gospel. The the depth of his grace to

us, what it cost Him to give it to us.

The the more we understand the extent of our sinful hearts, the

more we will understand the extent of His forgiving grace,

the more we will want to say no to our sin and yes to justice

and righteousness. And when you find yourself in

moments or even seasons when you are experiencing spiritual

weariness, feeling spiritually weighed down by a crushing

weight, that's a good opportunity to ask yourself and

to reflect on am I living as if the indicative leads to the

imperative? Or am I flipping it around and

living as if the imperative earns the indicative?

Are there ways in my life right now where I am trying to earn

God's approval and acceptance when I'm trying to get God's

delight over me by earning it in righteousness?

The indicative always leads to the imperative.

What is true leads to what to do.

Who you are in Christ leads to how you live in Christ.

And anytime we flip it around, it leads to spiritual weariness

in a crushing weight that that is on top of us.

God's grace is powerful to change us and transform us.

Secondly, keep the Sabbath, keep the Sabbath.

Isn't it interesting that the Lord mentions keeping the

Sabbath so many times in these verses today?

Verse 2 it's mentioned, verse 4 it's mentioned about the

eunuchs, and verse 6 it's mentioned regarding the

foreigners. This idea of keeping the Sabbath

hasn't been mentioned very much in Isaiah.

We we did see it right at the beginning of the book in chapter

1, verse 13, as the Lord was laying out His accusations on

the ways that His people had rebelled against him.

He, he basically said back in chapter one that their Sabbath

keeping had become just bare ritual.

They were just going through the motions.

It wasn't coming from the heart. They were just doing what they

were supposed to do in order to get things from the Lord or to

keep him from getting angry with them.

But here, right at the beginning of this last section of Isaiah,

this section that is really focused on living a life of

gratitude because of the grace of God to us, the Lord brings up

the idea of keeping the Sabbath several times here in these

verses. How does that apply to us today?

Well, not in exactly the same way that it did to the days of

Isaiah, but it does still apply. Think about our call to worship

this morning from Isaiah 58. That we're called.

We are called to call the Sabbath a delight.

To call the Sabbath a delight. It should be a delight to us.

Jesus said in Mark chapter 2. The Sabbath was made for man,

Mark 2 · chapter mention

not man for the Sabbath. In Revelation chapter 1, John

Revelation 1 · chapter mention

says that we call it the Lord's Day.

Now the But the principle still remains that the Lord's Day was

made for us, and it is a day of rest and gladness as we sang in

our opening hymn. The Lord has given us this day

every week to Orient ourselves, to Orient our upcoming week a

day to to gather corporately with God's people and to worship

and to glorify and to enjoy the Lord together.

To set aside our normal, our our usual routines and to have a day

each week that is different and set apart to to re establish the

Lord's desired rhythm in our life.

And it's to be a delight to us. How are you doing in keeping the

Lord's Day in delighting in the Lord's Day?

Now hear me clearly. Some of us are in vocations that

require us to work on occasion on the Lord's Day.

The Lord makes provision for that very clearly.

And some of us have seasons in life when it's really difficult

to delight in the Lord's Day, like when we have small

children. That's completely

understandable. Sometimes, through no fault of

our own, we have circumstances in our life that make it

particularly difficult to delight in the Lord's Day, and

the Lord understands. But outside of those scenarios,

how are you doing and delighting in the Lord's Day, This day that

the Lord has given to you? It's a gift.

It is a gift to you. When we neglect corporate

worship, when we neglect fellowship and with God's

people, when we treat this day like every other day, we are

missing out on experiencing the rest and the delight and the

gladness that comes from this Lord's gift, from the Lord's

gift to us. We miss out on on one of the

primary means by which the Lord feeds us and encourages us and

strengthens us. Instead, we should make every

effort to be with God's people on the Lord's Day.

When we can, we should think about and reflect on ways that

we might set this day apart, make it different.

That might involve getting things done on other days of the

week so that you don't have to do them on the Lord's Day.

It might involve having a special meal or a special

breakfast or a dessert on the Lord's Day.

It might involve choosing to not do something that you normally

do on the rest of the week, finding a way to make the Lord's

Day different and to set it apart.

We should delight in and enjoy and rejoice in and rest in this

wonderful gift that the Lord's Day has been given to us.

It's been made for us. Thirdly, how do we treat the

outcasts? It's a pretty obvious take away

from the verses in Isaiah chapter 56, and especially from

Isaiah 56 · chapter mention

the life and ministry of Jesus. We need to ask ourselves on a

regular basis how? How am I treating the outsiders,

the the foreigners, those with physical disabilities, the poor,

the outcasts, the marginalized, those that that that our society

looks down on or ignores or dismisses people that are not

like ourselves, people that don't look like us or talk like

us or like the things that we like or come from such different

backgrounds than us. It's clear in Isaiah, in the

Scriptures, that the Lord has these people on his heart, and

so they should be on our heart as well.

God's grace transcends all boundaries.

Any wall of hostility, any barrier of indifference has been

shattered by the gospel. What are the ways that you are

actively, intentionally seeking to treat and to serve the

outcasts and the outsiders and the marginalized of our society?

Now, if you're employed at Mayo, then you already are around the

hurting and the sick and the vulnerable and the lonely all of

the time. And so if you are serving in

your vocation faithfully, you, you are doing exactly what God's

Word says. But for all of us, we can keep

our eyes open. We can have our antenna up.

We we can be aware of what is happening around us and look for

those who are hurting and the outsiders and the poor and the

marginalized and the dismissed. And like Jesus, we can move

toward them. We have connections with so many

ministries and organizations that are ministering to and and

serving and seeking to love the people that we're speaking

about. One could easily volunteer with

a place like The Landing or Next Chapter or New Life Family

Services, or Together for Good or Arrive Ministries.

You could make a regular donation to the public schools

community community room box that we have in the foyer.

You could volunteer with what is essentially an English as a

second language program in one of our public schools, but

keeping your eyes intentionally open even when you're at church

on Sunday. Do you see anyone who falls into

any of these categories? You could go sit with them if

they want you to get to know them and learn ways that you

could serve them and be a friend and love them.

God's grace is powerful to change us.

The indicative leads to the imperative.

We are to pursue ways of keeping the Lord's Day, making the

Lord's Day different and setting it apart.

We are to look for ways to serve and to love the outsiders and

the foreigners, the outcasts, the marginalized in our society.

Let's pray together.