WEBVTT 00:00:00.381 --> 00:00:05.633 Turn to Isaiah, chapter 12, isaiah, chapter 12. 00:00:05.633 --> 00:00:16.327 For those who are regularly here with us, your Bibles are probably starting to find a comfortable home in the book of Isaiah. 00:00:16.327 --> 00:00:22.073 We've been going through this book together and our text this morning is Isaiah, chapter 12. 00:00:22.073 --> 00:00:27.100 We'll take the entire chapter and I want to begin by reading it for us. 00:00:27.100 --> 00:00:28.382 This is God's word. 00:00:28.382 --> 00:00:40.892 On that day, you will say I will give thanks to you, lord, although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. 00:00:40.892 --> 00:00:43.765 Indeed, god is my salvation. 00:00:43.765 --> 00:00:47.642 I will trust him and not be afraid For the Lord. 00:00:47.642 --> 00:00:50.868 The Lord himself is my strength and my song. 00:00:50.868 --> 00:00:52.792 He has become my salvation. 00:00:52.792 --> 00:01:09.344 You will joyfully draw water from the springs of salvation and on that day, you will say give thanks to the Lord, proclaim his name, make his works known among the peoples, declare that his name is exalted. 00:01:09.344 --> 00:01:12.673 Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things. 00:01:12.673 --> 00:01:14.662 Let this be known throughout the earth. 00:01:14.662 --> 00:01:22.546 Cry out and sing citizen of Zion, for the Holy one of Israel is among you in his greatness. 00:01:22.546 --> 00:01:30.165 Lord, we're looking to you, asking again favor us with the very spirit that you poured out on Christ. 00:01:30.165 --> 00:01:33.173 Pour that out for us today in Jesus' name, amen. 00:01:35.600 --> 00:01:40.772 Parents normally try to teach their children to express gratitude. 00:01:40.772 --> 00:01:52.465 It's Christmas, your four-year-old gets a gift from Uncle Eddie and you say now go over and tell Uncle Eddie, thank you. 00:01:52.465 --> 00:01:59.555 We should respond to grace with gratitude. 00:01:59.555 --> 00:02:04.067 It's not just a child's lesson, that's a life lesson, that's a Bible lesson. 00:02:04.067 --> 00:02:07.734 We should respond to grace with gratitude. 00:02:07.734 --> 00:02:13.271 As you look at the text this morning, there's some repetition. 00:02:13.271 --> 00:02:21.473 Verse number one begins on that day, you will say I will give thanks to you, lord. 00:02:21.473 --> 00:02:25.127 It's almost a heading for this chapter, for this section. 00:02:25.127 --> 00:02:33.852 And then verse number four repeats on that day you will say give thanks to the Lord. 00:02:33.852 --> 00:02:52.360 Some of your Bibles might use the word praise for one of those occasions, and thanksgiving is certainly a form of praise, of praise. 00:02:52.360 --> 00:02:53.663 But why does Isaiah call us to give thanks to God? 00:02:53.663 --> 00:02:54.243 Because of his grace. 00:02:54.243 --> 00:02:59.394 This chapter is also filled with the grace of God and we should respond to grace with gratitude. 00:02:59.394 --> 00:03:04.162 Why is it so hard for children to say thank you? 00:03:04.162 --> 00:03:07.384 The same reason it's hard for us as adults. 00:03:07.384 --> 00:03:20.174 We minimize the gift, we think we're deserving of the grace, we run to experience whatever that thing is, and forget the giver. 00:03:20.174 --> 00:03:35.641 All those reasons they don't change, though we might improve our politeness, there's still those same heart temptations to respond to grace, but not with overflowing gratitude. 00:03:35.641 --> 00:03:39.025 So we're going to consider in this chapter two very simple headings. 00:03:39.025 --> 00:03:44.288 God extends grace and we respond with gratitude. 00:03:45.250 --> 00:03:51.254 But before we jump into those headings I want to take a little extra time to consider the context of this chapter. 00:03:51.254 --> 00:03:59.264 So I pointed out in verse one and verse four there's this repeated idea about giving thanks or praise. 00:03:59.264 --> 00:04:01.391 But there's another repeated idea in those verses. 00:04:01.391 --> 00:04:05.266 On that day you will say verse 1. 00:04:05.266 --> 00:04:06.389 And verse 4,. 00:04:06.389 --> 00:04:24.850 On that day you will say, if the overarching theme of this passage is the giving of thanks, then the scene of the passage is on that day. 00:04:24.850 --> 00:04:27.713 And it's not the first place you'd find this. 00:04:27.733 --> 00:04:31.103 You can look back in chapter 11, other places in Isaiah. 00:04:31.103 --> 00:04:41.406 On that day Isaiah is picking up in chapter 12, right where chapter 11 left off. 00:04:41.406 --> 00:04:49.865 So I'd like for us to take just pause for 45 minutes and listen to Doug's sermon again from last week, if you could play that. 00:04:49.865 --> 00:04:54.863 No, we're not going to do that, but just scan back to chapter 11 and look. 00:04:54.863 --> 00:04:57.312 There's a new king who's coming. 00:04:57.312 --> 00:04:59.117 He's empowered by God's spirit. 00:04:59.117 --> 00:05:02.730 His character stands in contrast with kings of the earth. 00:05:02.730 --> 00:05:05.120 He's going to bring hope for all the nations. 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:07.788 He's going to make things like the garden of Eden all over again. 00:05:07.788 --> 00:05:12.305 And look at the final verse, specifically verse 16 of chapter 11. 00:05:12.305 --> 00:05:23.572 There will be a highway for the remnant of his people who survived from Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt. 00:05:23.572 --> 00:05:35.975 Isaiah is comparing the people's captivity in Egypt from years and years before and God's rescue out of Egypt, that exodus. 00:05:35.975 --> 00:05:45.899 He's comparing it to what's going to happen in his own day when they're taken captive by Assyria and yet God's going to bring them out again. 00:05:45.899 --> 00:05:48.262 There's going to be a new Exodus. 00:05:48.262 --> 00:06:05.574 So on the immediate horizon, that's what we have A comparison of rescue from Assyria to rescue from Egypt, and chapter 12 is going to extend and elaborate that theme. 00:06:08.040 --> 00:06:12.632 What did the people do when they came out of Egypt and God rescued them? 00:06:12.632 --> 00:06:16.783 They gave thanks to God, chapter 12,. 00:06:16.783 --> 00:06:19.651 What are they going to do when they're rescued from Assyria? 00:06:19.651 --> 00:06:20.906 They're going to give thanks to God. 00:06:20.906 --> 00:06:26.812 What did they do when they came out of Egypt and crossed over the river? 00:06:26.812 --> 00:06:30.447 They burst out in jubilant songs. 00:06:30.447 --> 00:06:35.841 What are they going to do when they're rescued from Assyrian captivity? 00:06:35.841 --> 00:06:38.625 They're going to sing chapter 12. 00:06:38.625 --> 00:06:41.889 What did they find? 00:06:41.889 --> 00:06:51.165 As they journeyed through the wilderness out of Egypt, cross the Red Sea and then, shortly after that, exodus 15, 27 tells us. 00:06:51.165 --> 00:07:02.267 Then they came to Elam where there were 12 springs and 70 date palms, and they camped there by the water. 00:07:05.240 --> 00:07:18.913 How does Isaiah describe their experience in chapter 12, coming out of Assyria, verse number three look there, you will joyfully draw water from the springs of salvation. 00:07:18.913 --> 00:07:23.620 You hear how Isaiah is still picking up that comparison with Egypt. 00:07:23.620 --> 00:07:36.773 Just as they came out and experienced salvation and praise and thanksgiving and had these refreshing streams, they're going to come out again, praise, thanksgiving, and there's going to be refreshing springs. 00:07:36.773 --> 00:07:41.271 But here it's not the springs of Elam, it's the springs of salvation. 00:07:41.271 --> 00:07:47.062 So perhaps on the way back from Assyria they stopped off at some natural springs for refreshment. 00:07:47.062 --> 00:07:47.843 That's possible. 00:07:47.843 --> 00:07:54.005 But Isaiah's main point here is that there's a kind of comparison and an expansion. 00:07:54.005 --> 00:08:04.927 Those springs of Elam were a tangible picture of God's refreshing provision, his refreshing abundance, and that's going to happen again. 00:08:04.927 --> 00:08:07.552 So that's it. 00:08:07.552 --> 00:08:10.735 No, that's not it. 00:08:10.735 --> 00:08:16.151 That Exodus pattern is going to happen, not just out of Egypt and out of Assyria. 00:08:16.151 --> 00:08:21.593 It's going to happen again in the future in an even greater way. 00:08:21.593 --> 00:08:30.721 An even greater way. 00:08:30.740 --> 00:08:33.506 We read John, chapter four, for the scripture reading today, and I want to remind you of a portion of that scripture. 00:08:33.506 --> 00:08:35.230 This is Jesus' words in John 4, 14. 00:08:35.230 --> 00:08:39.043 Whoever drinks from the water that I will give will never get thirsty again. 00:08:39.043 --> 00:08:47.434 In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life. 00:08:47.434 --> 00:08:54.373 Can't dig that well with your own works, but you can receive it as a gift of God's grace. 00:08:55.240 --> 00:09:08.868 So just as Isaiah 11 and Isaiah 12 speak of this new Exodus, both of these chapters envision a day when there's going to be an even greater exodus, and we see that in the coming of Christ. 00:09:08.868 --> 00:09:12.149 We also see it at the very end of the story. 00:09:12.149 --> 00:09:14.288 Listen to these words from Revelation 21. 00:09:14.288 --> 00:09:18.450 Then one seated on the throne said look, I'm making everything new. 00:09:18.450 --> 00:09:22.311 He also said right, because these words are faithful and true. 00:09:22.311 --> 00:09:26.346 Then he said to me it is done. 00:09:26.346 --> 00:09:29.524 I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. 00:09:29.524 --> 00:09:35.241 I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life. 00:09:35.241 --> 00:09:37.304 There's the end of the story. 00:09:37.304 --> 00:09:47.876 So Isaiah 12 is just one piece of this glorious pattern of God's refreshing salvation in his people's lives. 00:09:47.876 --> 00:09:57.369 So I want to show you that pattern at the outset, because this sermon is going to be mainly an exposition of Isaiah 12, applying it to our lives. 00:09:57.570 --> 00:10:00.945 Spiritually, we're going to think about God's grace and our response of gratitude. 00:10:00.945 --> 00:10:09.884 But I don't want you to think that this is merely a kind of like parachute sermon on the idea of gratitude. 00:10:09.884 --> 00:10:17.767 In other words, it's not like this week I thought, boy, we've got some grouchy people who should give thanks a bit more often. 00:10:17.767 --> 00:10:20.943 We need to got to find a message on gratitude. 00:10:20.943 --> 00:10:26.543 So let me just kind of zoom over the landscape of the Bible and oh, it says thanks twice in that chapter. 00:10:26.543 --> 00:10:32.110 I'm going to parachute down and I'm going to really let them have it on gratitude, like well, where are you? 00:10:32.110 --> 00:10:35.701 Well, I don't know, but there's two words to say gratitude and thanks here. 00:10:35.701 --> 00:10:37.466 What's the context? 00:10:37.466 --> 00:10:40.894 I don't know, but this is going to really preach well on thanks. 00:10:42.581 --> 00:10:48.067 If we were just looking to do parachute sermons on gratitude, I mean we should do that every other week. 00:10:48.067 --> 00:10:50.187 I mean we don't need to do that once in a while. 00:10:50.187 --> 00:11:09.783 But I want to show you that this is flowing out of what Isaiah is intending to do God's grace in our salvation and his rescue from our captivity to sin is the culmination of that Exodus pattern that Isaiah was pointing to. 00:11:09.783 --> 00:11:19.586 So the Bible itself connects our experience of God's grace to Israel's journey out of Egypt and out of Assyria. 00:11:19.586 --> 00:11:26.174 And then those patterns of gratitude are God intended patterns for us. 00:11:26.174 --> 00:11:32.172 We should respond to grace with gratitude. 00:11:33.182 --> 00:11:34.566 Let's consider those two headings. 00:11:34.566 --> 00:11:35.448 We'll move through these. 00:11:35.448 --> 00:11:39.171 Number one God extends grace. 00:11:39.171 --> 00:11:43.470 He extends his grace through forgiveness. 00:11:43.470 --> 00:11:45.005 Look at verse number one. 00:11:45.005 --> 00:11:49.190 I will say I will give thanks to you, lord. 00:11:49.190 --> 00:11:57.032 Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. 00:11:59.581 --> 00:12:00.365 God gets angry. 00:12:00.365 --> 00:12:04.730 He gets angry with the wicked every day. 00:12:04.730 --> 00:12:09.743 He has a right to be angry. 00:12:09.743 --> 00:12:10.826 He gets angry with the wicked every day. 00:12:10.826 --> 00:12:11.389 He has a right to be angry. 00:12:11.389 --> 00:12:12.654 There are many people who think well, god doesn't get angry. 00:12:12.654 --> 00:12:12.916 He couldn't. 00:12:12.916 --> 00:12:13.720 That would be so ungodlike of him. 00:12:13.720 --> 00:12:18.889 You don't get that idea from reading the Bible Exodus 15, 7,. 00:12:18.889 --> 00:12:23.207 You unleashed your burning wrath Deuteronomy 29, 26, and 27. 00:12:23.207 --> 00:12:26.539 They began to serve other gods, bowing and worship to gods. 00:12:26.539 --> 00:12:29.748 They had not known gods that the Lord had not permitted them to worship. 00:12:29.748 --> 00:12:36.952 Therefore, the Lord's anger burned against this land and he brought every curse in this book written on it. 00:12:39.461 --> 00:12:47.313 Now, when we say that God gets angry, we're not saying he's moody, that he wakes up grouchy or unreasonable. 00:12:47.313 --> 00:12:54.812 His anger is the appropriate response to sin in the lives of his creatures. 00:12:54.812 --> 00:12:59.443 It's a righteous and calibrated and appropriate response. 00:12:59.443 --> 00:13:08.296 But and this is the beauty of our passage God is not only and always angry. 00:13:08.296 --> 00:13:10.423 He's not merely and simply angry. 00:13:10.423 --> 00:13:12.408 He's also a God of love. 00:13:12.408 --> 00:13:15.494 He's a God of forgiveness. 00:13:17.081 --> 00:13:31.304 I started reading a fiction book recently and one of the characters describes his father as like that angry God of the Old Testament, in other words, his memories from childhood of his father. 00:13:31.304 --> 00:13:31.924 In this book. 00:13:31.924 --> 00:13:39.898 His father seemed to be always angry, but that's actually not what's true about God. 00:13:39.898 --> 00:13:42.683 The New Testament portrays his anger as well. 00:13:42.683 --> 00:13:50.744 So, yes, he's a God who expresses anger, but he's not only and always ready to hurt someone. 00:13:52.750 --> 00:13:58.442 Verse 1 tells us that God's anger is turned away and he brings comfort. 00:13:58.442 --> 00:14:07.208 Turned away and he brings comfort that's just as much a part of his glorious character. 00:14:07.208 --> 00:14:12.873 Now I'm saying that God has a right to be angry because of sinful rebellion. 00:14:12.873 --> 00:14:18.740 So if God's going to leave aside anger and instead bring comfort, it can only be for one reason forgiveness. 00:14:18.740 --> 00:14:19.842 It can only be for one reason forgiveness. 00:14:19.842 --> 00:14:31.173 It's not because of a wild shift in his mood, it's he chooses to forgive rebels like us, and that's undeserved. 00:14:31.173 --> 00:14:33.360 That's a gift of his grace. 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:40.991 There's the big idea again that if he's gonna turn away from anger and bring comfort, it's not deserved, it's undeserved. 00:14:40.991 --> 00:14:45.139 It's a gracious gift, amazing grace. 00:14:45.139 --> 00:14:48.245 How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. 00:14:48.245 --> 00:14:52.696 God extends grace through forgiveness. 00:14:52.696 --> 00:14:57.083 He also extends grace through rescue. 00:14:58.270 --> 00:15:01.277 Verse number two indeed, god is my salvation. 00:15:01.277 --> 00:15:04.611 I will trust in him and not be afraid for the Lord. 00:15:04.611 --> 00:15:07.057 The Lord himself is my strength and my song. 00:15:07.057 --> 00:15:10.563 He has become my salvation. 00:15:10.563 --> 00:15:19.854 Knowing that God's wrath is removed from us and that he forgives us is enough reason to be overflowing with gratitude. 00:15:19.854 --> 00:15:22.501 But there's more than that. 00:15:23.870 --> 00:15:24.731 Consider Israel. 00:15:24.731 --> 00:15:28.883 They're in captivity, going to be in captivity Assyria, then later Babylon. 00:15:28.883 --> 00:15:34.139 The reason they're taken to captivity is because of God's judgment. 00:15:34.139 --> 00:15:36.673 He allows foreign nations to do that because of their sin. 00:15:36.673 --> 00:15:37.554 It's deserved. 00:15:37.554 --> 00:15:48.251 Imagine if God comes to Israel, in Assyria or then later in Babylon, and says I'm angry with you, but I no longer hold anything personally against you, I forgive you. 00:15:48.251 --> 00:15:50.817 That would be amazing, that would be wonderful. 00:15:50.817 --> 00:15:57.635 But they're still in Assyria, they're still in Babylon, they're still going to be in bondage. 00:15:58.817 --> 00:16:00.900 God does more than forgive us. 00:16:00.900 --> 00:16:05.552 He rescues us from bondage to sin. 00:16:05.552 --> 00:16:19.236 So, brothers and sisters, let's not only think of God's grace in terms of his forgiveness yes, it is that but it is more than just his not looking at our sin. 00:16:19.236 --> 00:16:32.782 It's his rescue from, as it's been said, rescued from the penalty of sin, rescued from the power of sin, and one day he will yet rescue us from the very presence of sin. 00:16:32.782 --> 00:16:34.636 What amazing grace. 00:16:34.636 --> 00:16:43.139 Nobody could get Israel out of Egypt, but mighty God in his grace. 00:16:43.139 --> 00:16:47.052 Nobody could get them out of Assyria, but mighty God in his grace. 00:16:47.052 --> 00:16:56.294 Friends, no one can get you and I out of our sin, not our parents, not our pastor, not we ourselves. 00:16:56.294 --> 00:17:02.063 It takes the almighty grace of God to rescue us ourselves. 00:17:02.063 --> 00:17:04.366 It takes the almighty grace of God to rescue us. 00:17:04.406 --> 00:17:13.967 Galatians 1, 3, and 4, grace to you and peace from God, the Father and Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father. 00:17:13.967 --> 00:17:15.791 To him be glory forever and ever. 00:17:15.791 --> 00:17:17.013 Amen. 00:17:17.013 --> 00:17:23.458 There's the fuller, complete picture of how he has done this, how he has shown favor to rebels. 00:17:23.458 --> 00:17:25.336 He's done it through Jesus Christ. 00:17:25.336 --> 00:17:27.217 He's done it through his atoning sacrifice. 00:17:28.250 --> 00:17:31.760 The son of God became a human being. 00:17:31.760 --> 00:17:35.181 He took on human flesh while remaining God. 00:17:35.181 --> 00:17:38.599 He lived a life that was so perfect. 00:17:38.599 --> 00:17:43.121 God was never angry at his son for anything his son personally had done. 00:17:43.121 --> 00:17:45.759 It was a life of complete and pure righteousness. 00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:50.609 And now God credits all those who trust in Christ alone. 00:17:50.609 --> 00:17:55.241 He gives them the righteousness of his son, that perfect record. 00:17:55.241 --> 00:18:00.480 Yes, jesus experienced the wrath of God, but not for himself. 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:06.498 He experienced that in the place of people like you and me, that we could be rescued, that we could find forgiveness. 00:18:06.498 --> 00:18:13.239 So if you don't know God's grace in your soul this morning, run to Jesus Christ. 00:18:13.239 --> 00:18:15.143 That's the place to go. 00:18:15.143 --> 00:18:21.979 We should respond to grace with gratitude. 00:18:22.019 --> 00:18:24.022 So let's look at the second heading. 00:18:24.022 --> 00:18:28.380 Responding with gratitude what does gratitude look like? 00:18:28.380 --> 00:18:31.054 I'm going to bring out four features of gratitude. 00:18:31.054 --> 00:18:36.284 First, gratitude recognizes God's character. 00:18:36.284 --> 00:18:39.234 We've already touched on this. 00:18:39.234 --> 00:19:05.675 The more we really understand God is the Holy One of Israel and go ahead and look there at verse number six cry out and sing, citizen of Zion, for the Holy One of Israel is among you in his greatness, when we stand in awe of the greatness and holiness of God, of his devotion to himself and his own glory, his perfect commitment in all of his covenant keeping you say wow. 00:19:05.675 --> 00:19:31.432 And it's in light of that holiness and greatness that the forgiveness which is also part of his character, the comfort that comes and overwhelms all of that judgment, those things together, rightly acknowledged, start to awaken in us the breadth and reality of the kind of gratitude that we should be offering, the magnitude of the gratitude, if I can say it that way. 00:19:31.432 --> 00:19:39.840 Do you recognize where you stand in relation to God's holiness and his greatness? 00:19:42.303 --> 00:19:49.256 It's almost like to contrast the child who's so focused on the toys and the gift. 00:19:49.256 --> 00:19:54.993 They forgot about the parent that gave them that gift. 00:19:54.993 --> 00:20:02.594 There's something understandable, yet also so wrong, about that image of a child who doesn't say thanks but just goes about playing with the toys. 00:20:02.594 --> 00:20:06.742 This is a great gift of grace and it deserves great gratitude. 00:20:06.742 --> 00:20:11.214 Gratitude not only recognizes God's character. 00:20:11.214 --> 00:20:16.530 Second feature is gratitude rests in God's character. 00:20:16.530 --> 00:20:20.700 Now, that's similar, but I'm pushing it a little bit farther. 00:20:21.582 --> 00:20:28.057 Verse number two, chapter 12, verse two of Isaiah Indeed, god is my salvation. 00:20:28.057 --> 00:20:36.237 I will trust him and not be afraid, for the Lord himself is my strength and my song. 00:20:36.237 --> 00:20:38.082 He has become my salvation. 00:20:38.082 --> 00:20:43.530 It's one thing to acknowledge with our lips God's character, his grace. 00:20:43.530 --> 00:20:50.344 It's another thing to lay hold of that with our hearts and rest in it and trust in it. 00:20:50.344 --> 00:20:58.483 The best kind of gratitude comes from a heart of trust, a heart that's resting in the Lord. 00:20:58.483 --> 00:21:06.480 You know, we should be like that child who gets the gift and runs over and says this is the most wonderful and best Christmas gift ever. 00:21:06.480 --> 00:21:07.422 Thank you so much. 00:21:07.422 --> 00:21:27.691 And because the Mahogany is comfortable sitting in the lap of their parents or their grandparents, because they trust and know the heart of the giver, can you, can we find time? 00:21:27.691 --> 00:21:35.505 It's all the hurry of our lives to sit down in the armchair of God's grace and say thank you and just rest there, free of of sinful anxiety, free of worry. 00:21:35.505 --> 00:21:39.234 Verse two gives us a clue about that kind of heart trust. 00:21:40.296 --> 00:21:42.921 Verse two speaks of this trust. 00:21:42.921 --> 00:21:45.865 That is an evidence of gratitude. 00:21:45.865 --> 00:21:52.363 It says I will trust in him and not be afraid. 00:21:52.363 --> 00:22:02.623 The more that fear crowds into your life, the more difficult it will be for you to truly live before God with gratitude. 00:22:02.623 --> 00:22:14.023 I'm going to say that again the more fear crowds into your life, the more difficult it will be for you to truly live before God with gratitude and praise. 00:22:14.023 --> 00:22:18.954 I'm not saying fear is always wrong. 00:22:18.954 --> 00:22:24.496 If you hear glass shatter in the middle of the night and you think an intruder's in your house, your heart's going to race. 00:22:24.496 --> 00:22:32.462 If you're a father and you get diagnosed with stage four cancer, you're going to wonder what's going to happen to my family. 00:22:32.462 --> 00:22:42.497 I'm also not saying if you ever express any doubt about God's salvation or you are not sure if his anger has turned from you, that that means you're not a Christian. 00:22:42.497 --> 00:22:49.316 I'm not saying those things, but I am saying what the text says God is my salvation. 00:22:49.316 --> 00:22:51.695 I will trust in him and not be afraid. 00:22:51.695 --> 00:22:56.318 That's the normal, should be the normal expression of thankfulness. 00:22:57.931 --> 00:23:10.133 I think we've all known people who say I'm trusting in God, but and then they spend minutes talking about this thing that's happening, that's bad in their life and this thing that's bad in their life. 00:23:10.133 --> 00:23:15.353 And I know I should trust in God, but you know this thing and this thing and this thing you know. 00:23:15.353 --> 00:23:16.816 Please pray about those things. 00:23:16.816 --> 00:23:34.040 Yes, let's absolutely pray for those difficult circumstances, but pray for their hearts, because sometimes the expressed profession of trust in God doesn't seem to match the focus of their minds. 00:23:34.040 --> 00:23:44.183 If I can say that Elizabeth Elliot says fear arises when we imagine that everything depends on us. 00:23:44.183 --> 00:23:53.422 And if you're in that trust struggle, acknowledge that, ask for help in that. 00:23:53.422 --> 00:24:01.624 To say, here are the circumstances I'm struggling to trust in God and because I'm struggling to trust in God, I'm struggling to experience gratitude. 00:24:01.624 --> 00:24:04.157 Pray for me and go to the Lord with that. 00:24:05.109 --> 00:24:06.316 Think of that man in the gospels. 00:24:06.316 --> 00:24:08.478 Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. 00:24:08.478 --> 00:24:10.556 God is so gracious. 00:24:10.556 --> 00:24:12.458 He loves to run to a prayer like that. 00:24:12.458 --> 00:24:17.419 He loves to run to those who are hurting and weak and acknowledging in every way their weakness before him. 00:24:17.419 --> 00:24:26.633 See if the Lord might not yet fill your heart with a resting gratitude that trusts in him. 00:24:26.633 --> 00:24:31.378 Third thing that gratitude does. 00:24:31.378 --> 00:24:37.310 Gratitude multiplies among God's people. 00:24:37.310 --> 00:25:03.858 You need to spend a lot of time with thankful, praising Christians because their gratitude will spur your gratitude and hopefully your gratitude will spur their gratitude, and then you can have a gratitude party, and that's even better than a personal gratitude retreat, although some of you could stand to take one of those too. 00:25:03.858 --> 00:25:07.601 I could stand to take one of those at different points in my life when I feel frustrated. 00:25:08.911 --> 00:25:12.500 There's a really fascinating pronoun shift in this passage. 00:25:12.500 --> 00:25:21.021 You do not see it quite as well in our English translations, but you see it in verses one and two where there are personal pronouns. 00:25:21.021 --> 00:25:31.570 Verse one on that day you will say I will give thanks to you, lord, although you were angry with me. 00:25:31.570 --> 00:25:33.634 Your anger is turned away. 00:25:33.634 --> 00:25:35.116 You have comforted me. 00:25:35.116 --> 00:25:36.878 God is my salvation. 00:25:36.878 --> 00:25:37.780 I will trust. 00:25:37.780 --> 00:25:39.623 Do you hear those personal pronouns? 00:25:39.623 --> 00:25:52.392 But then verses three to five actually shift to plural pronouns. 00:25:52.392 --> 00:25:53.313 In verse three, the you is a plural you. 00:25:53.313 --> 00:25:55.596 You all will joyfully draw water. 00:25:55.596 --> 00:26:02.846 You all will say the verbs are second person, imperative, plural verbs. 00:26:02.846 --> 00:26:04.250 You all should give thanks. 00:26:04.250 --> 00:26:06.075 You all should make known his works. 00:26:06.075 --> 00:26:12.650 You all should sing the personal moves to the corporate. 00:26:12.650 --> 00:26:16.238 Is isaiah 12? 00:26:16.238 --> 00:26:25.955 Is this isaiah's testimony of thanksgiving or is it the remnant's testimony of thanksgiving? 00:26:25.955 --> 00:26:30.442 Yes, the answer is yes. 00:26:30.442 --> 00:26:34.711 The personal blends with the corporate. 00:26:34.711 --> 00:26:41.964 It's not just about me giving thanks, it's about we giving thanks. 00:26:43.611 --> 00:26:48.542 Derek Kidner says there cannot be a transformed community without saved individuals. 00:26:48.542 --> 00:26:54.982 Nor can there be saved individual who is not incorporated into the community. 00:26:54.982 --> 00:26:57.256 These things work together. 00:26:57.256 --> 00:27:00.827 Matthew Henry says it, perhaps a little more memorably. 00:27:00.827 --> 00:27:08.243 Matthew Henry says in that day every particular believer shall sing a song of praise for his own interest in that salvation. 00:27:08.243 --> 00:27:11.439 Thanksgiving work shall be closet work. 00:27:11.439 --> 00:27:18.262 Many in concert shall join in praising God for the common benefit arising from this salvation. 00:27:18.262 --> 00:27:26.461 Thanksgiving work shall be congregation work and the praises of God shall be publicly sung in the congregations of the upright. 00:27:26.461 --> 00:27:29.536 So our gratitude should be closet work. 00:27:29.536 --> 00:27:31.662 Yes, on our own we should acknowledge God. 00:27:31.662 --> 00:27:36.161 Thank you for saving me, thank you for the gift of grace in all kinds of ways. 00:27:36.161 --> 00:27:39.837 But our Thanksgiving work shouldn't just be closet work. 00:27:39.837 --> 00:27:41.080 It shouldn't only be private. 00:27:41.080 --> 00:27:44.617 It should be congregation work where together we come and celebrate. 00:27:44.978 --> 00:27:47.123 Look what the Lord has done among us. 00:27:47.123 --> 00:27:49.096 Look what the Lord has done for all of us. 00:27:49.096 --> 00:27:50.855 Can't we give thanks to him? 00:27:50.855 --> 00:27:51.498 Yes, we can. 00:27:51.498 --> 00:27:59.122 When God extends grace, it's so spectacular. 00:27:59.122 --> 00:28:02.200 It's not enough for just one person to say thank you. 00:28:02.200 --> 00:28:04.529 It's too great, it's too glorious. 00:28:04.529 --> 00:28:10.913 It needs multitudes of people to express how beautiful and glorious it is. 00:28:10.913 --> 00:28:25.335 And so, just as God has sent grace to you individually, if you're trusted in Christ, that grace of salvation, forgiveness, rescue from sin, yes, you individually, but then together. 00:28:25.335 --> 00:28:30.894 God has given us grace, and God loves to work collectively among his people. 00:28:30.894 --> 00:28:37.173 And that leads to something else it's the last feature of this gratitude. 00:28:37.173 --> 00:28:40.982 So we should respond to God's grace with gratitude. 00:28:51.830 --> 00:28:53.693 Gratitude must be proclaimed among the nations verses four and five. 00:28:53.693 --> 00:29:07.951 On that day you will say give thanks to the lord, proclaim his name, make his works known among the peoples, declare that his name is exalted, sing to the Lord for he has done glorious things. 00:29:07.951 --> 00:29:10.717 Let this be known throughout the earth. 00:29:10.717 --> 00:29:20.632 We, as his people, gather together on the Lord's day in our different locations around the world and we offer our collective thanks to God. 00:29:20.632 --> 00:29:29.224 We want that Thanksgiving message to resound out of here into the very corners and ends of the earth. 00:29:29.224 --> 00:29:39.884 There should be a collective urgency among all of us who know the Lord to have that Thanksgiving spread. 00:29:39.884 --> 00:29:42.979 We get to be a channel of God's grace. 00:29:42.979 --> 00:29:46.666 We get to be a channel of God's grace. 00:29:46.890 --> 00:29:52.200 Our gratitude could cause someone that doesn't really know it in their hearts to want to seek it and experience it and explore it. 00:29:52.200 --> 00:29:56.201 We're channels of God's grace and it's nothing in us. 00:29:56.201 --> 00:29:58.915 You have to love John Calvin. 00:29:58.915 --> 00:30:17.036 Commenting on this passage, he says we ought also to consider the honor which he bestows upon us, that is, god, when he condescends to make use of our services for extolling and spreading the glory of his name, though we are altogether useless and of no value. 00:30:17.036 --> 00:30:19.521 You have to love the honesty there. 00:30:19.521 --> 00:30:31.811 It's not us, but it's this wonderful message that we have, this wonderful message that we have. 00:30:31.832 --> 00:30:40.295 I mentioned earlier that a gratitude that's from the heart should be a trusting gratitude that sits down in the armchair of God's grace and says your anger's turned away. 00:30:40.295 --> 00:30:41.176 I believe that. 00:30:41.176 --> 00:30:47.141 Thank you, lord, but don't take that armchair analogy too far. 00:30:47.141 --> 00:30:51.433 From the vantage point of our own fears and our own works. 00:30:51.433 --> 00:30:53.397 We rest from all of those things. 00:30:53.397 --> 00:30:55.122 Rest from those works. 00:30:55.122 --> 00:30:56.022 Jesus says. 00:30:56.022 --> 00:30:58.316 Come to you that labor heavy laden, I'll give you rest. 00:30:58.737 --> 00:31:08.871 So from that vantage point, but from the vantage point of what the nations need to know and hear, we can't be armchair Christians. 00:31:08.871 --> 00:31:14.711 From that vantage point, we have to have this urgency that the Thanksgiving has to spread. 00:31:14.711 --> 00:31:16.253 It has to go out of here. 00:31:16.253 --> 00:31:21.923 Sing to the Lord, verse 5 says, for he has done glorious things. 00:31:21.923 --> 00:31:25.038 Let this be known throughout the earth. 00:31:25.038 --> 00:31:39.962 We should want this geographical expansion in the same way that Jesus instructed his own disciples when he ascended to heaven be my witnesses in Jerusalem, judea, samaria, to the very ends of the earth. 00:31:39.962 --> 00:31:43.977 The same ends of the earth language we find right in this very passage from Isaiah. 00:31:44.698 --> 00:31:52.721 So sometimes people will say God's brought the nations to our doorstep here in New York City, and that's true. 00:31:52.721 --> 00:31:56.057 Let's take advantage of those opportunities. 00:31:56.057 --> 00:32:16.633 And then people like the Killebrews, people like the Jones family who are trying to work with Punjabi people in Queens, we want to support them, we want to be behind them, but let's not say, well, we sent the Killebrews and the Joneses, we support them as they are going to the nations who are here. 00:32:16.633 --> 00:32:22.515 Let me sit back in my armchair and just focus on my stocks and let that be my heart's you know, contentment and delight. 00:32:22.515 --> 00:32:23.817 That's not enough. 00:32:23.817 --> 00:32:42.095 There should be an impulse alongside of that to send out people like the Cooney family, like the Driscoll family, who are going out from here to the very geographical ends of the earth to see churches established that can overflow with gratitude to God. 00:32:42.095 --> 00:32:46.762 Let that be our collective passion. 00:32:46.762 --> 00:32:53.755 Don't let that be just a Killebrew burden or just a Cooney burden. 00:32:53.755 --> 00:33:00.993 Let it be a New Hyde Park Baptist Church burden, because that's the heart that God has for the nation. 00:33:00.993 --> 00:33:05.732 So we should share in the same heart and burden and passion that the Lord has. 00:33:06.253 --> 00:33:13.994 Missions is not just a Paul thing, it's an Isaiah thing, it's a Bible thing, it's a Christian thing. 00:33:13.994 --> 00:33:25.192 Last week, in chapter 11, verse 10, the root of Jesse is going to be a banner for all nations and we see it repeated here in chapter 12. 00:33:25.192 --> 00:33:33.224 All kinds of people get to, in a greater way, retrace the steps of Israel out of Egypt. 00:33:33.224 --> 00:33:41.512 God has given us forgiveness and rescued us from the exile and slavery of sin, and the world needs to know. 00:33:41.512 --> 00:33:44.922 We're grateful and we want you to hear that message and receive that message. 00:33:47.090 --> 00:33:48.153 I've mentioned this book before. 00:33:48.153 --> 00:33:48.895 I'll mention it again. 00:33:48.895 --> 00:33:52.512 Let the Nations Be Glad by John Piper, fantastic book on missions. 00:33:52.512 --> 00:33:57.431 He says if you love the glory of God, you cannot be indifferent to missions. 00:33:57.431 --> 00:34:00.955 Let me just change that for our sermon today. 00:34:00.955 --> 00:34:09.278 If you truly have gratitude in your heart to God for his grace, you cannot be indifferent to missions. 00:34:09.278 --> 00:34:11.898 Isn't that what Isaiah is telling us here? 00:34:11.898 --> 00:34:18.769 We should respond to grace in all kinds of ways, in all kinds of places. 00:34:18.769 --> 00:34:22.762 We should respond to grace with gratitude. 00:34:24.472 --> 00:34:29.221 As we draw to a close, let me show you one more beautiful thing from our passage. 00:34:29.221 --> 00:34:37.920 Isaiah 12, 2 offers this personal confession God is my salvation. 00:34:37.920 --> 00:34:43.014 I will trust him and not be afraid for the Lord. 00:34:43.014 --> 00:34:45.480 The Lord himself is my strength and my song. 00:34:45.480 --> 00:34:46.762 He has become my salvation. 00:34:46.762 --> 00:34:49.635 I will trust him. 00:34:49.635 --> 00:34:51.916 I will trust him. 00:34:54.090 --> 00:34:55.597 Turn over to Hebrews, chapter two. 00:34:55.597 --> 00:34:57.817 So we've been in Isaiah 12. 00:34:57.817 --> 00:35:02.036 Turn to the book of Hebrews that's New Testament, all the way towards the end. 00:35:02.036 --> 00:35:03.106 If you hit Revelation, you've gone too far. 00:35:03.106 --> 00:35:03.143 All the way towards the end. 00:35:03.143 --> 00:35:09.284 If you hit revelation, you've gone too far. 00:35:09.284 --> 00:35:18.728 The author of Hebrews puts those very words on the lips of Jesus. 00:35:18.728 --> 00:35:27.173 The author of Hebrews takes our passage and draws out from that passage a quote that he then puts on the lips of Jesus. 00:35:27.173 --> 00:35:30.081 Hebrews, chapter two, verse 13. 00:35:30.081 --> 00:35:38.217 Again, I will trust in him. 00:35:38.217 --> 00:35:44.356 Some of your Bibles might have those words in quotation marks or in bold print. 00:35:44.356 --> 00:35:56.402 The translators are trying to give a little clue that this seems to be a quotation from the Old Testament, and if you look in the notes or the margin there, you'll probably see a cross-reference to Isaiah 12, our passage for today. 00:35:58.630 --> 00:36:09.106 Now, here in Hebrews 2, beginning in verse 11, jesus is the one who's speaking, and the first quote of Jesus speaking comes from Psalm 22. 00:36:09.106 --> 00:36:15.063 And then we have this I will trust in him quote, which is likely from Isaiah 12. 00:36:15.063 --> 00:36:20.402 And then there's a final quote from Isaiah chapter eight. 00:36:20.402 --> 00:36:28.103 Notice how the context here in Hebrews 2 resonates with Isaiah chapter 12. 00:36:28.103 --> 00:36:35.643 Hebrews 2.15 speaks of Jesus rescuing his people from slavery. 00:36:35.643 --> 00:36:47.440 Isaiah has been moving from people's slavery in Egypt to present captivity in Assyria and then into the future and release from captivity to sin. 00:36:47.440 --> 00:36:53.657 Hebrews brings out freedom from captivity to sin. 00:36:53.657 --> 00:37:01.356 And then in Hebrews 2, verse 12, jesus offers a personal song of proclamation and praise. 00:37:01.356 --> 00:37:03.599 I will sing in the congregation. 00:37:03.599 --> 00:37:04.760 I will sing in the congregation. 00:37:04.760 --> 00:37:07.445 What has Isaiah been calling us to do? 00:37:07.445 --> 00:37:12.693 Sing in response to the Lord. 00:37:12.693 --> 00:37:23.889 And then, right as we get to the heart of these quotes, we get this simple and powerful expression from Christ. 00:37:23.889 --> 00:37:26.534 I will trust in him. 00:37:26.554 --> 00:37:30.103 Isaiah 12 is Isaiah's song of gratitude. 00:37:35.159 --> 00:37:37.550 It's the remnant song of gratitude. 00:37:38.050 --> 00:37:39.793 It's our Savior's song of gratitude. 00:37:39.813 --> 00:37:41.096 Christ is leading the way. 00:37:41.096 --> 00:37:44.643 Our Savior is out in front of us. 00:37:44.643 --> 00:37:52.128 He is singing before us in this gratitude. 00:37:52.128 --> 00:38:00.769 He sent out his word and his spirit that the nations might come to know and hear and rejoice. 00:38:00.769 --> 00:38:05.413 When we express gratitude like this, we're just following the footsteps of our Savior. 00:38:05.413 --> 00:38:07.356 That's what our Lord calls us to do. 00:38:07.356 --> 00:38:10.664 Let's do that this week together. 00:38:13.414 --> 00:38:17.902 Let's pray Lord, thank you, thank you. 00:38:21.070 --> 00:38:30.996 Help us to say thank you, not tritely, not hypocritically, but from hearts that have earnestly experienced the grace of God. 00:38:30.996 --> 00:38:39.800 Come down to men, they will call his name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. 00:38:39.800 --> 00:38:42.557 Thank you for that salvation. 00:38:42.557 --> 00:38:49.059