"I Will Do It"
[Isaiah 65:1-9]
June 24, 2007 Second Reformed Church
Over the past few weeks, as we have begun to look at the book of I Peter, we have seen Peter explain that Christians are exiles, we are strangers, in this world. We live in a world that is broken by sin and in need of a savior. And God has graciously given us the only possible hope -- the hope that is found in salvation in Jesus Alone.
We have come to know that this is a world in which people suffer for a variety of reasons -- and no one in his right mind enjoys to suffing -- but Peter explains that the Christian can endure suffering for the sake of Christ, because, as we suffer, we are being purified and made holy -- like unto the image of God the Son. So, if we suffer for His Sake, it is suffering that can be endured as we look forward to that much greater glory that is coming.
We saw the greatness of our salvation in understanding that we were ransomed by the Holy, Precious Blood of Jesus. We were made right with God -- our sin was forgiven and we were credited with His Righteousness -- as God sent His Son to die for us.
And we have seen that our response to all of this is what we learned in the summary of the Law: love God with all of your heart and all of your soul and all of your mind and all of your strength -- which means that we ought to strive to obey all the commandments of our God -- and to love our neighbor as ourselves -- which means we ought to do everything we can to make each other's lives better, especially in the things of God, and we ought to treat each other with at least as much care and concern and compassion as we give to ourselves.
This morning, as we celebrate the gift of ninety-one years as a church in this place, let us remember what we have seen and learned thus far in Peter and see what God said in the final prophecies of the prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah prophesied during the Babylonian captivity of the sixth century B.C. -- more than twenty-five hundred years ago. After three waves of conquest, most of Israel had been carried off into captivity, and in the final two-year battle, as the Israelites were starved out of the city and reduced to cannibalism, they watched with horror as the holy city of Jerusalem and Solomon's temple were destroyed. And for those taken early in the waves, they had spent over seventy years in captivity. Many had died and a new generation had come up who didn't know what they had lost, but the had heard.
In the chapters just before this morning's reading, Israel cried out to God, begging Him to return to them, to set them free, to finally forgive them for their sin for which they had been suffering.
And God tells Israel in chapter 65 that God had come to the point where He was ready to be sought out by Gentiles -- by people other than the Jews. God was ready to receive people into His kingdom who didn't come from the house and the lineage of David or Abraham. So God told Israel that He turned to a nation other than Israel and announced, "Here I am. Here I am."
God was telling them, as it had been prophesied in earlier chapters, and as history bears out, that Israel was going to be delivered from the Babylonians by Cyrus, King of the Medes and Persians. A pagan, gentile king was going to be the savior that God sent to Israel at that time. And Cyrus would conquer the Babylonians, and he would set Israel free and send them back to their land and give them money and tools and supplies to rebuild.
Let us understand from this that God uses people that we and the world would never expect or choose. We talked about this recently in our adult study, that God does not usually choose the people we would pick to accomplish His Plan. When I was in seminary, some of my friends told me that my health wasn't good enough to be an ordained minister -- they suggested I pursue something less taxing, like being a seminary professor.
When the early church began it's work of preaching the Good News and calling all people to repentance, there were those who argued against preaching to the Gentiles. This first council is recorded in Acts. And we learn that God uses people that we and the world would never expect or choose.
On this Anniversary Sunday, let us then understand that all people, every person, is welcome and commanded to come into this sanctuary and hear the Word of God. No person who has come to hear the Word of God is to be forbidden. No matter who that person is or what he or she has done.
And let us also immediately see that God has a Plan, and we're told that it is a Plan for good to all those who love God (Romans 8:28), and God will accomplish His Plan in His Time and in His Way. God will not be stopped and salvation in Jesus Christ Alone will not be stopped.
Secondly, this morning, we see that even though Israel was in captivity, even though she was crying out to God for deliverance, even though we are holy in Jesus Christ, we are still sinners, and we need to confess our sin before our God and Savior.
God told Israel that He had His Hands out all day long. Again and again, God opened His Arms, ready to welcome rebellious Israel back -- like that father in that parable we call "the Prodigal Son" -- the father's arms were open, ready and waiting, before the son said a word, and God waited and waited on Israel, and this is what God observed:
Israel had turned her back on the Law of God; she was doing whatever pleased her. She figured if she was in captivity, she didn't have to keep all of the moral law -- she was in some sort of "do what you want to" zone. She thought God would prefer her to be happy, momentarily excited, by the sin she engaged in.
She provoked God to His Face, over and over: she offered up sacrifices in her gardens, when God had said sacrifices were only allowed in specific places, and they offered their sacrifices, not to God, but to the gods of the Babylonians. Likewise, they offered incense, not in the proper way, but on bricks and to false gods. They worshiped in tombs and called upon the dead, and they did things to and with each other in the dark that are unlawful. They broke the kosher laws, eating swine and keeping a broth of abominable things in their vessels.
They sinned in the Face of God. They did not keep themselves separate and distinct as God had commanded them too. Instead, they boasted about how holy they were and how others -- even God -- dare not approach them. They were arrogant and prideful. And God told them that their sin wafted up to Him like smoke and burnt His Nostrils.
And God told them -- and He tells us -- that sin has a wage -- sin costs something -- sin must be paid for. Sometimes, we don't reap the results of our sin, or at least not right away, but someone has to pay. Do we consider the value of the Blood of Jesus? Do we really, seriously think of Him and what He suffered before we sin? Does it mean nothing that the Holy God was tortured and suffered and murdered?
And let's not argue or put up a fight, the account of our sin has been written down, and all of the evidence has been placed before God, as before the judge of a court, and the Judge says that He will not keep silent, He will not sweep these sins under the rug, He will not turn a blind eye. There will be payment, payment that will fall in your laps, payment that will come in flesh, and if we choose to follow after the sins of our fathers, we will receive judgment for those sins as well.
We must stop offering incense to false gods on the mountains. We must turn and repent and seek after God with everything that we are. And then, perhaps, God will be merciful. Perhaps, if we understand that we are all sinners, ever single person here this morning is a sinner -- you have offended God -- and a debt now must be paid -- perhaps God will be merciful.
We are still sinners, and we need to confess our sin before our God and Savior.
And there we have the Good News -- there is a Savior.
And God explained to Israel that wine is found in the whole cluster of the grapes and it would be foolish to destroy all of the grapes because there are some rotten, moldy grapes in the bunch. Instead, the grapes are grown to harvest. Those that are foul and unsalvageable are thrown away, but the grapes that are left -- the remnant of the cluster -- they are made, as Isaiah records it -- "into a blessing."
Right now, we, Christians, here at Second Reformed Church, giving thanks to God for ninety-one years -- we are exiles, waiting to return home to the Kingdom of God. And we are not all of the proper and highest birth -- God has chosen people for Himself Who will accomplish His Plan, and we will be surprised by the people God uses. And understand, there are people who are surprised that God uses you -- and me -- so we ought to be a people who welcome all who come to hear the Word of God.
And right now, we, Christians, here at Second Reformed Church, giving thanks to God for ninety-one years -- are sinners -- if we don't understand that, then there is no Hope in the Good News. And Jesus is the vine-dresser. Jesus is growing us, His grapes, and some of the grapes that hang on the bunch will be pruned away one day, but the rest, He is making them into a blessing.
Israel hope was found -- our hope is found -- in the second part of verse eight and verse nine: our hope is that God said, "I will do it." Not the annoying, weirdo, sinner sitting next to you, but God. God will forgive and God will save and God will accomplish His Plan.
"So I will do for my servants' sake, and not destroy them all. I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah inheritors of my mountains; my chosen shall inherit it, and my servants shall settle there."
Thanks be to God for our past, or present, and our future, because He will do it.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, forgive us for not loving You or obeying You wholeheartedly, with all of our hearts and souls and minds and strength. Forgive us for not loving others at least as much as we love ourselves. Forgive us for our sin, and turn us back to You. Thank You for the years and the history of this church. Thank You for using us to proclaim Your Good News and may You be pleased to continue to use us. Give us confidence and hope to live right and for You, knowing that we are forgiven because You paid our debt and we can be Your holy people because You are making us a blessing. For it is in Jesus' Name we pray, Amen.
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