Second Sunday After Pentecost

Transcription

1 Second Sunday After Pentecost June 7, :30 am Rev. Todd Goldschmidt, Pastor Sermon Text: Isaiah 43:1-3a, Sermon Theme: We Worship A Forgetful God! Isaiah 43:1-3a, But now, this is what the LORD says he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. Yet you have not called upon me, O Jacob, you have not wearied yourselves for me, O Israel. You have not brought me sheep for burnt offerings, nor honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with grain offerings nor wearied you with demands for incense. You have not bought any fragrant calamus for me, or lavished on me the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your offenses. I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, And remembers your sins no more. (425) pastortodd@lhlc.org Page 1 of 5

2 A 10-year-old boy named Markus stood by the lake in the city park one fine spring day and watched the older kids launch their toy sailboats. He marveled as they tacked and jibed them on the winds using the tether that secured them to their wrist. He sprinted home that day, burst through the front door and shouted for all to hear, I m gonna make a toy boat to sail on the lake this summer! Markus dad heard his joyful cry and offered to help. For the next several weeks father and son spent every spare moment crafting their summer project. Finally, the little vessel was ready for its maiden voyage! Markus couldn t wait to launch the craft he and his father had built. He was so proud of what they d accomplished together. But the boat s maiden voyage turned out to be anything but a happy event. The very first strong breeze that caught its sails broke the string that held it to Markus wrist. He and his dad watched their prized craft take off across the lake licketysplit until it disappeared from view. Although they searched the opposite shore for hours until dark, they didn t find the boat they d worked so hard to build. A couple weeks later Markus and his mom were shopping in the town across the lake. Markus walked by the local knick-knack shack, and in the front window was his boat! He couldn t believe his eyes! He burst into the shop and told the storekeeper, That s my boat in your front window! My dad and I built it together earlier this summer. Would you mind lifting it down for me so I can take it home? My folks are gonna be thrilled! Now just a doggone minute, son. Hold your horses. I bought that boat from a drifter. He lit out of town, so I can t talk with him to see if your story checks out. And I can t take it down and give it to you because it s mine now. I tell you what: you can buy it back for $50. $50! How in the world would Markus ever raise that kind of money? But he set his heart and mind to it. He did odd jobs all summer long, and finally, the week before school started, he had the money he needed! His mom drove him to the store. Markus burst through the front door, plopped the money down on the counter, grabbed the boat, tore out of the store and hugged it to his chest as he cried gleefully, I love you, boat! You re twice mine: first I made you, and then I bought you back! Friends, that s how God feels about us! We re twice His: first He made us, then He bought us back! That s what He tells us through His prophet, Isaiah, this morning. He inspired that spokesman of old to write, But now, this is what the LORD says he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. God (425) pastortodd@lhlc.org Page 2 of 5

3 made us, and God bought us back! He knit us together in our mother s wombs, brought us safely into this world and then redeemed us from sin and death by the power of His Spirit, who brought us to believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. On that note, the Apostle Peter wrote: You know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed or bought back from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect (1 Pet. 1:18). We re twice God s: first He created us, then He redeemed us through Jesus priceless blood! Membership in God s family of faith has its privileges, no doubt about it. And Isaiah lists a few for us in the opening words of our text. He writes: When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. God promises to protect His people of every generation no matter what circumstance they find themselves in. Church history has borne out that steadfast pledge. Think of what Isaiah s first hearers thought of when he spoke those words to them around 700 years before the Advent of God s Messiah. The world powers were threatening their very existence as a people. First the Egyptians, then the Assyrians, then the Babylonians. So God had Isaiah direct their eyes of faith back to the mighty miracles He d performed in their past to deliver them from the hands of their enemies. Trapped at the edge of the Red Sea with the Egyptian army in hot pursuit, they thought that their goose was cooked: either they d be slaughtered on the shore, carried back into captivity or drown trying to make their escape. But God had other plans for His people. He stood as a pillar of cloud between them and their pursuers, parted the waters of the sea, and had his people pass through on dry ground. As soon as they reached the opposite shore, He commanded Moses to smite the waters with his staff, and the walls of water came crashing down on the Egyptian infantry drowning every last man! When they finally arrived on the banks of the Jordan River 40 years later, Joshua stopped those waters, too, so that the Israelites could pass through on dry ground much as they had at the outset of their Exodus. The Lord kept His promise and brought them safely home to the Promised Land of Canaan. Two hundred or so years after the time of the prophet Isaiah, the prophet Daniel was active in another captivity the Babylonian Exile. He three fellow exiles Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were elevated to powerful government posts by King Nebuchadnezzar. The Babylonian political elite were jealous of their (425) pastortodd@lhlc.org Page 3 of 5

4 Jewish counterparts, and convinced the king to erect a golden statue ninety feet high and nine feet wide. When the royal band struck up the tune, everyone in the kingdom was to bow down and worship it. But Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused. When Nebuchadnezzar heard of their impudence he confronted them. They told the king, We do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up (Daniel 3:16-18). I can t help but think their faith was bolstered by this promise of God from Isaiah 43. The king had them bound and thrown into a fiery furnace so hot that the men who tossed them in were overcome by the heat and died. But lo and behold, a fourth figure appeared in the flames below one like a son of the gods. When these stalwart believers came out of the furnace, we re told that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads was singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them. Once again, God proved faithful to His promises! But where do we fit in to Isaiah s prophecy? First off, God made us and redeemed us. We were in a far worse predicament than the Israelites at the Red Sea; a far hotter fire awaited us than the one those three men endured. We were destined for the fires of hell itself. Hell is described in the Scriptures as a place where the fate of those who end up spending eternity there with the devil and his angels face never-ending pain, misery and suffering. It s a place of which Jesus says, quoting the prophet Isaiah: their worm does not die and their fire is not quenched (Mark 9:48). We may not have bowed down to a massive golden idol, but we ve bowed down to other false gods: idols of wealth and ease, prosperity and pleasure; of recreation, leisure, laziness; of gossip, lust and greed and of recurrent failures to make God and His Word number one in our hearts and lives as He directs. We ve turned our backs on the poor, downtrodden, sick and needy; we ve kept silent when we should ve glorified God, championed His cause and shared His message of saving grace boldly with unbelievers. God condemns each one of us in the words of our text: Yet you have not called upon me, O Jacob, you have not wearied yourselves for me, O Israel. You have not brought me sheep for burnt offerings, nor honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with grain offerings nor wearied you with demands for incense. You have not bought any fragrant calamus for me, or lavished on me the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with (425) pastortodd@lhlc.org Page 4 of 5

5 your offenses. What have we withheld from God that He s due? Everything! He deserves our best, yet we so often give Him the worst of what He s blest us with. We worry and fret about whether or not we ll be able to make ends meet, when He s pledged to provide us with everything we need for our body and life. We ve succumbed to the ways of the world, taken on their philosophies, accepted their half-truths and bought in to Satan s deceitful schemes. We have failed on every front to honor the Lord above all else and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves! And so we cry out in despair, Have mercy, Lord! Have mercy on me. And in His amazing grace, in His steadfast love for us, He does! He has mercy, time and time again! Whenever we call on Him with humble hearts hearts softened by the hammer blows of His law and tenderized by the truths of His gospel humble hearts that cry out to Him in sincere repentance and Spiritworked faith, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. He listens; He answers; He forgives; He restores; and He equips us once more to enter the fray in His behalf as His blood-bought daughters and sons! And so we sing, Oh, precious is the flow, That makes me white as snow, No other blood I know, Nothing but the blood of Jesus! And to us God responds, I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. Yes our God is a Forgetful God! He never forgets us. But He always forgets our sins because of Jesus! Praise God for His amnesia! Amen. (425) pastortodd@lhlc.org Page 5 of 5