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[0:00] I'd like us to turn this morning to God's Word in the Old Testament and the book of Isaiah chapter 25 and reading at verse 9.

[0:15] Isaiah 25 and at verse 9. It will be said on that day, behold, this is our God.

[0:38] We have waited for him that he might save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for him. Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

[0:53] And it will be said in that day, behold, this is our God.

[1:10] Last week, we heard a sermon and had read to us, Joel chapter 2. And the day that's spoken of there is very much a day of judgment.

[1:25] A day of judgment because of the apostasy and the backsliding of the children of Israel. Spoken of there is a day of darkness, a day of clouds, a day of judgment.

[1:44] And a day of fire and desolation. All speaking in very real terms of God's displeasure with his people.

[1:58] They had turned away from worshipping him, from worshipping the living and true God, and they had turned to worshipping idols. During this period when Joel was prophesying, people were very close to God's final judgment coming upon them.

[2:18] When they would be driven into exile through the armies of Sennacherib, who God had raised up just for that purpose, to chastise his people, to hedge their ways in, as the Bible puts it, so that they would be drawn back to him and find in him their true God and their true salvation.

[2:45] But also in that same chapter, the tone turns to one of pity and mercy from God. Because we're reminded again and again in God's word that God is not continually angry with his people.

[3:01] Yes, he chastises them. Yes, he rebukes them. Yes, he sends judgment upon them, but all for one reason, to draw them back to himself.

[3:13] He's not a God who is continually angry, but he, as the psalmist says, as far as east, as distant from the west, so far has he put his judgments from us and he wants to render mercy towards us in our every situation.

[3:32] Also, the Lord is full of pity. The Lord is a merciful God. The Lord is a God who is full of everlasting love.

[3:46] And he promises to pour down upon his people, his spirit. And that promise comes to his fulfillment in the day of Christ, on the day of Pentecost, when the fullness of the spirit is poured out upon all his people.

[4:05] And they are brought to see the great wonders that were promised all the way through the Old Testament. Sons and daughters would prophesy.

[4:18] Old men would dream dreams. Young men would have visions. And the glory of the Lord would be seen. Wonders in heaven.

[4:34] Wonders in the earth. Blood and fire and tempest and smoke. the sun has turned to darkness and the moon to blood on that great and terrible day of the Lord.

[4:50] And in a very real way that's what happened on the day that the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. The Lord demonstrated his displeasure against this world and what the world was doing to his son.

[5:09] yes there was a very real judgment upon the son for the sins of the world that he had taken upon himself. There was a demonstration to the world of what God was doing to his son in the demonstration of the elements being turned and operating in a totally different way.

[5:35] Well in that day in the day when the Lord came to this earth when all the promises of the Old Testament were being fulfilled in him in that day we shall say lo this is our God we have waited for him and he will save us.

[5:58] in those words we also have a picture of a people who are waiting for the first coming of the Lord. A great body of people waiting from Adam for the coming of the Lord into this world.

[6:24] Every child of Adam from the beginning of the world until the last child that is born who is to be saved shall be of that caste who will say this is our God.

[6:50] From before time God has known his people he has loved us with an everlasting love he has loved us in a way that will continue to astound the creation astound the world that is outside the covenants from the time before we were born we were loved and we were known a love that will not let us go and he is able to save to the uttermost all who will come unto God are by the Lord Jesus Christ we have here the endlessness of God's desire the endlessness of God's people waiting for him to show his love and compassion but there's also the great breath of God's love not only the endless channel of grace that has been since

[7:56] Adam to our day but also the great breath of that love people of every kindred and nation and people and tongue all those will one day come and worship before the throne of God and of the Lamb the Bible says ten thousand times ten thousand will come and fall before him in wonder and love and in praise so here we have also a picture we have waited for him the Jews waiting for their deliverer all through the Old Testament there was this promise beginning back in Genesis chapter three that the deliverer would come and they are waiting and they are hoping that it's going to be in their day but they are waiting and waiting afar off for a long time told in Hebrews these all died in faith not having received the promises but having seen them afar off and they were waiting anticipation for that great and wonderful day until the time comes when he does appear when the fullness of times God appears on this earth born of a woman made under the law to redeem us who are under that law and then the picture turns the second half of this verse we are told this is the Lord you see in the first part behold this is our God the word used there is the word Elohim the Old

[9:36] Testament word that was used by the Jews for God but in the second part the verse we have the word here this is the Lord in capital letters suggesting that here is the covenant name for God Jehovah the God who has made himself known to us in Jesus Christ lo behold this is the Lord we today are waiting for him the second time in salvation in his great power in his delivering the world from idolatry and carelessness we are waiting for him to show that power as we live in a world which is more and more antagonistic towards Christians and Christianity as you read through not only the persecution that's happening in far off land but also we see the judgments that are being made in this land of Christians in their lifestyle and what they are allowed to do and how they're even turning the name of

[10:52] Christ and banning it you find how much persecution there is still going on more subtly than perhaps in past days but that persecution still continues so we're waiting for him and we will rejoice and be glad in his salvation salvation that is yes yes in time yes in salvation that is going to be for ours throughout all the endless ages of eternity the old theologians talked about a covenant of redemption and a covenant of grace covenant of redemption which was made in the ages of eternity before the world was and the father son and the holy spirit had this meeting whereby it was decided that the son of god would come to this world to seek and to save the lost and to give his life a ransom for the many covenant of redemption which would eventually become the covenant of grace should be applied to us redemption accomplished in the great eternity of god and applied in our own day in our own experience as we are brought to know more and more of what god has done for us as we learn more and more of the great love that he has for us and all that he has accomplished for us and for our salvation but what is the salvation that has been spoken of here in verse 9 go back to verse 7 and and you will see what the prophet here is speaking about he will destroy the covering cast over all nations at one time only the

[13:02] Jewish nation knew god worshipped the god of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob all the other nations were in spiritual darkness they worshipped idols they worshipped gods of their imagination but when Christ Jesus came that covering was removed he will destroy the covering cast over all people but not only Jews but also Gentiles that covering that blindness which has afflicted them will be taken away and the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ will be revealed to them they will see God as they've never seen him before they will see God as he is revealed in Jesus Christ the God who is loving and compassionate a God who has given his life for them he speaks so often about those who are giving their lives in defence of nations we remembered recently on Armistice

[14:12] Day all the sacrifice the great sacrifice that was made by men and women over the past hundred more years in the Lord Jesus Christ we have the great self sacrifice of himself sacrifice knowing that he needn't have died he had the power to overcome all evil and yet he gives himself a ransom for the many that we might live but the Jews have many reservations although we have this great revelation of God as to who Jesus Christ is as to what he has accomplished and what he has come to do and how much that love is displayed in his actions on the cross yet the Jews have many reservations about who Jesus Christ is and why they will not worship him we see that today while they still reject the

[15:17] Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah and really as they see it they have four very good reasons to reject Christ he died he suffered he the death that he died was on the death of someone who was cursed he died on a tree he was convicted as a blasphemer he was scourged his life seemed to be one of defeat not victory and as such they will not accept Christ so their Christ their Messiah is one who's going to be a great triumphant king and defender relieving them from oppression bringing them back to the great days of David and Solomon another reason why they reject the

[16:20] Lord Jesus Christ and Christianity is such is that the Lord Jesus Christ wanted to be the Messiah of the world the Jews wanted a Messiah just for themselves God was their God he was the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob he was not the God of the Gentiles and that's the way they wanted it to be and Jesus Christ comes into this world and he breaks down the wall of partition that is between Jew and Gentile that was discovered in the ruins of the temple in Jerusalem the plaque that used to stand on the walls there no Gentile is allowed past this wall on pain of death there was a wall of separation and that's the way the Jews wanted to keep it and when Jesus Christ came and broke down that wall of separation they hated him for it when he proclaimed to be the Messiah of the world they rejected him when he spoke about

[17:27] God's blessing the Gentiles in the widow of Zarephath or of Naaman the Syrian they got so angry in his sermon there in the Nazareth synagogue that they drove him out of the place and they wanted to throw him down from the highest place outside Nazareth to kill him the one reason that Paul was so hated by the Jews was that he proclaimed that the gospel was for the Gentiles also if he proclaimed the gospel only for the Jews there would have been no hatred there would have been no persecution for Paul but because he proclaimed a gospel that was for the world for every creature under heaven for Jew and Gentile alike well they wanted to kill Paul also and so we see here reasons why the

[18:30] Jews didn't want to accept the Lord as their Messiah they were expecting a Davidic king not a despised Nazarene they wanted someone who would ride triumphantly through this world not someone who would give his life and be killed they wanted someone who would be their Messiah alone and perhaps the greatest crime in their eyes was that he claimed to be the son of God Jesus Christ claimed to be the son of God he claimed to be able to forgive sins he accepted worship from his followers so in all these ways also they saw him as an imposter on the cross they cried out this man claimed to be the son of

[19:32] God we'll see how he's dealing with him now he claimed that he was one to be worshipped he claimed that he would destroy this temple and build it again he wanted to change our traditions we'll see how God is dealing with him see how much pain he is in see how he's suffering in all these ways Christ is rejected and will continue to be rejected but revelations chapter 7 speaks of a great and wonderful day where people of every nation and kindred and tongue and people shall fall before the throne of God and of the lamb and worship him not only Gentiles but

[20:33] Jews also Jesus will be their Messiah they will worship him and they will welcome him and for the world will be as life from the dead as the Jewish nation will rise up and become missionaries to the world he will swallow up death he will gain the victory he will swallow up on this mountain the covering cast over all peoples and the veil of ignorance that spread over all nations but he will also swallow up death for victory and the Lord God will wipe away tears from our fall faces we will swallow up death for the souls of believers souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness and do immediately pass into glory while their bodies still united to

[21:47] Christ to rest in the graves till the resurrection and that is why sometimes families of Christians who have died are able to rejoice that they go to a heaven where Christ is they mourn not as others who have no hope but they go to that place where Christ is even in this situations that we witnessed over the past few days there is still that hope and the promise that one day they shall be reunited one day they shall be together again a few short years of sufferings past and we reach that happy show where death shall be no more no more parting or as revelation puts it no more sea and we shall be forever with the

[23:01] Lord and all those tears of sorrow God will wipe away from our faces and he shall lead us to the very fount of the waters of life and feed us with the finest of the wheat of a picture here that Isaiah talks about a picture that speaks of on this mountain the laurel host will make for all peoples a feast of rich food a feast of well aged wine of rich food full of marrow aged wine well refined that's really a spiritual picture of what God is preparing for his people the finest of all things the greatest of all provisions the fullness of all his love being demonstrated to us and just lastly here the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth this is the salvation we are talking about swallowing up death in victory wiping away all tears and taking away the reproach from his people some of us looked recently at the terms of justification and sanctification but here the idea is more of adoption adoption which brings us to share in the same relationship that Jesus has with his heavenly father enjoyed in the same degree as Jesus

[25:03] Christ enjoys that relationship it's different in one way different in the fact that Jesus Christ is the only begotten son of God and we are the adoptive children of God but in that adoption God has for us although he is by nature and we by grace we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ of all his blessings of all his provision of all his desire for his son in us to join in the great fellowship that there will be in glory for the Lord's people he will transform our bodies like Christ's glorious body but here we have this the reproach of his people will be taken away all the ridicule all the mockery all the shame all that is past and we share the same inheritance as Christ the shame love as Christ the same right to call

[26:23] God father we share the same destiny we'll share the same glory we'll not be divine but we'll partake of the divine nature we'll know some of what it means to be some of what it means to be divine we will be Christ like words cannot fully transmit what God has in store for us but as we look at this passage we can take great comfort and great encouragement and great strength as to all God is doing for us in Christ Jesus we'll reign with him we'll share his throne we'll share the sonship of Christ with his father every blessing in the heavenly places is ours in Christ

[27:29] Jesus eternal life itself unlike the world which wants to take so much away from the Christian even though the Christian might deserve it the adoption of believers by our heavenly father means that we will receive not what we deserve but according to the riches of the glory of God in Christ Jesus the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth we will know only joy and fellowship and gladness and singing the time of sorrow will be past the time of rejoicing will appear and may the

[28:41]  Lord then bless these thoughts to us we shall conclude now singing to God