Great. Thank you, Irina and Graham. Well, good morning. It is wonderful to be with you again this morning.
And this morning we are in the final part of a series we're doing called The Church That Jesus Is Building.
And we've looked over the last three or four weeks at Psalm 127,
unless the Lord builds the house, those that build it labor in vain.
We've looked at Isaiah 66. God says,
And we've looked at Psalm 115.
And so for the last three weeks, we've been looking at the fact that this church, Watermark Church,
has to be a church which Christ is front and central at.
This cannot be a church which is built on human wisdom or human brilliance or human ingenuity.
This must be a church in which Christ, by the power of His Spirit, is at work.
And we do that by building this church on the Word of God and building it for His glory.
And so that's where we've been over the last few weeks.
But now the question remains, what happens when things don't go the way that we want them to?
What happens when, as a church, we say we're going to build healthy?
We're going to build on God's Word.
What happens when God says, I will glorify my name, but not in the way that you expect me to?
What happens when life doesn't always turn out the way we think it should?
A loved one passes away when it seems like you might be retrenched,
when your child is diagnosed with a debilitating sickness.
What happens when it seems like God has forgotten us?
Friends, the answer is, and this is true for us as individuals but also as a church,
the answer is we remind ourselves of who this God is that we love and worship.
And so today I want to bring to a conclusion this series by asking the question,
who is this God that is head of His church?
Every God in the ancient world, every culture had their gods, every city had their religion,
every culture had their idols that they worshipped and bowed down before.
But who is this God we've been speaking about?
What makes Him unique?
And secondly, should we trust Him?
Can we trust Him?
And so today we get to look at Isaiah chapter 46.
And we're going to learn three things about this God of the Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We're going to learn that He's the God who carries and cares.
He's the God who knows and governs all things.
And He's the God who redeems by His sovereign grace.
Okay?
So let's dive into the Scriptures.
Firstly, He's the God who carries and cares.
Now, the Scripture that Graham and Irina read to us, let me set some of the context for this.
The people of God, the nation of Israel, had gone into Babylon as exiles.
God had spoken to them.
And because of their sin and their rebellion,
eventually God brought the Babylonians, which is this world superpower, up to the northeast of where Israel was.
And the Babylonians had come and conquered them and taken them as exiles back to Babylon.
And so they are there in Babylon as the people of God as exiles.
Now, in Babylonian mythology, there were many gods, but there were two main gods.
The one was called Bel or Bel Marduk.
And in Babylonian mythology, his son was called Nebo.
And Nebo was the patron of the arts, the patron of writing and speech.
And his job in Babylonian mythology was to write on the tablets of destiny your fate for the coming year.
And so the gods would take counsel together, and then Nebo would write your destiny,
whether you were to have a good year or a bad year.
It was his job to write on the tablets of destiny your fate for the coming year.
And so if you were to have a good year, a good harvest, a good year in business,
if your family was to be blessed, it was because these gods, Bel and Nebo, had looked upon you favorably.
And so what you had to do is you had to please the gods, and then they would please you.
Now, there were many ways to do this, but one of the main ways that they did this was every year at New Year,
the people of Babylon would go to the outer parts of the city,
and there were these massive statues of Bel and Nebo.
They would take them off their place, carry them down the hill, put them on carts that had been constructed,
and then the oxen would carry these statues of the gods through the streets to a central shrine in the city of the center,
where everybody would burn incense and worship and bow down before these gods and elicit their favor.
And so they would do this hoping to secure a favor for the coming year.
Now, the people of God, the nation of Israel, are in Babylon.
They've been taken there, and when they first went to Babylon, they thought, God's just letting off some steam.
We know God's a bit upset because we haven't really been listening,
but two or three years, we'll be here, and then God will send us back to Israel.
God's not that angry with our sin.
We'll just be here a short while, and then we're going to go back.
And God said, no, no, no.
Seventy years, you'll be in Babylon.
And so after two or three years, the people thought, any day now, God's going to rescue us.
He's going to send us back.
And then five years came.
Ten years came.
Thirty years came.
And eventually, the people of God started to wonder, is God ever going to rescue us?
Has God forgotten us?
Where is this God who's promised to be faithful?
And the temptation for the people of God may have been to keep their options open.
Yeah, we'll worship God.
We'll worship Yahweh.
But maybe we should also just worship the Babylonian gods.
Maybe we should keep our options open.
We should hedge our bets.
Maybe these gods will look favorably upon us as well.
And of course, the people of God, they knew they ought to worship God of the Bible, Yahweh.
But they thought, maybe God's forgotten us.
Maybe a little sacrifice here and there won't hurt anyone.
Have you ever felt like that?
Have you ever felt like, yeah, I know the God of the Bible, but maybe I should just hedge my bets.
Maybe if I just trust this thing to secure a good future for me, then I can really rest safe at night.
I can sleep well at night.
The Bible and God plus my savings account.
This plus my boss's favor.
This plus just being a little sketchy on my tax returns.
You know what God has said?
You're not denying Him, but you've presented with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to secure your future.
You ever felt like that?
I know I have.
Now, as 21st century Hong Kongers, we may be tempted to mock these primitive gods.
And we think, oh, nobody worships gods like that these days.
I mean, honestly, we are educated.
We've been to business school.
We've got our MBA.
That's very primitive.
But actually, if we're honest, our culture and our lives are full of such gods all around us, aren't they?
They may not be standing upright in our houses.
Maybe we don't physically sing and dance before them or burn incense to them.
But all around us in our lives, there are things that we hope in, things that we trust in to make our lives meaningful, to make our lives purposeful.
Things that we hope will guarantee us a secure and stable future.
And they're things that we still dance to their tune.
Do you know that expression?
We still march to their beat.
They're things that own us and control us.
And we feel like we need to obey them in order to have a secure and comfortable future.
And things that, just like the worshipers of Bel and Nebo, we hope will write favorably upon the tablets of destiny, our fate.
And yet, these things that we hope will carry us into prosperity and fruitfulness become burdens, which we end up carrying, and ultimately, they end up owning us.
Look at what happens in verse 1 here.
God says,
I remember a few years ago, the church, I was involved in leading a campus of a church in Cape Town.
And it was a season of wonderful fruitfulness.
Everything was going right.
The church was growing.
New leaders were being added.
People were coming to Christ.
New people were getting baptized.
Everything was going well.
There was such momentum in the church.
And it was so exciting.
And one of the older men in my life, a really wise man, said to me,
Kevin, enjoy the momentum while it lasts.
But make sure it's your servant, not your master.
And at the time, I didn't know what he meant.
I thought, well, what's he saying?
But actually, about a year later, that season came to an end.
And it was just hard work.
Everything was hard work.
There weren't leaders coming through.
People weren't joining.
It felt like everything we did took twice the effort.
And I realized what he was saying.
He was saying, the season that you're in, don't let it control you.
Don't let it own you.
Make sure that this doesn't become a burden that you end up carrying.
Because this thing that you hope and trust in, ultimately, you end up carrying it.
It becomes a burden on your shoulders.
The things that you hope to carry you into a secure and stable future, ultimately, you end up carrying yourself.
And we all know what that's like, don't we?
Who of us here haven't put our hope or our confidence in something only for it to become a burden which we end up carrying?
A business degree, that new promotion, that car that we really thought was going to set us apart, our children's education.
Things that we hoped were going to carry us into a safe future end up owning us, controlling us.
We end up carrying them as a burden on our shoulders.
But look at the invitation of God here.
Look what he says in verse 5.
He invites us to compare himself to these things that we hope and trust in.
He says, to whom will you liken me or make me equal?
Compare me that we may be alike.
God actually says, he invites us to compare himself to these gods that we put our hope and trust in.
And verse 3 tells us, what is he like?
He says, listen to me, O house of Jacob.
Friends, I wonder how many of us here today feel like we've got to the end of ourselves.
Feel like you don't know where to turn.
You feel empty and alone.
You feel anxious.
You feel desperate.
Feel exhausted.
And the prevailing gods of our culture, the things of our culture that are inviting us to come and hope and trust in them.
Things that promise a safe and stable and a secure future.
Things imploring us to trust him and to take our problems away.
Friends, Jesus Christ says that if you look to these things, they promise to carry you.
But in the end, you will carry them.
There will be a burden on your back.
But friends, the God of the Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ, he's the only one who says, come to me and surrender.
Come to me and give me everything.
He asked you to take up his cross.
But then he unashamedly says that you need to give him everything.
But if you do that, he is the one who will carry you.
Look what he says here.
He says, you've been born by me from before your birth.
Carried from the womb, even to your old age.
Listen to me, O house of Jacob.
I will carry you.
Of the last six weeks as we've moved to Hong Kong, there have been a number of times where in the quiet of my own heart, I have, if I'm honest with myself, I felt like, God, I don't know if I can do this.
I've come to the end of myself.
And I felt like God this week just encouraging me from the scripture.
Kevin, I am the one who carries you.
I've carried you from your mother's womb.
I've carried you all those times when you weren't even aware of me, where you didn't even know me.
I was carrying you from the womb to the end of your days.
I am the one who carries you.
Friends, do you feel like that?
You feel like these burdens are overwhelming.
God says, I am the one who carries you.
You can trust in me.
For those of you that are in high school, the world tells you you're the master of your fate.
You're the captain of your destiny.
The world is your oyster.
You can do anything you want and be anything you want.
Just dance to this tune.
Just follow our rules.
Just trust in this thing and you will have a prosperous life.
Friends, it's a lie.
Those burdens you'll end up carrying and they will enslave you and ultimately they'll own you.
Friends, Jesus Christ invites us to come to him.
To let our lives be carried by him.
Christ says, I've borne you from the womb to your old age.
Carried you to your gray hairs.
Don't you realize the day you were conceived in your mother's womb, every moment you've been alive, every moment has been in his hands.
Listen to me, O house of Jacob.
You who have been born by me, even to your old age, I am the one who carries you.
I will bear you and I will save.
Friends, why should we trust this God of the Bible?
Why should we trust the Lord Jesus Christ?
When things don't go the way we expected.
When we end up in Babylon and we don't know where to turn.
Why should we trust him?
Because he's the one who says, I will carry you.
You can trust me.
He's the God who knows.
He's the God who cares.
He's the God who carries.
Secondly, he's the God who knows and governs all things.
Look at verse 8 with me.
God says this, remember this and stand firm.
Recall it, transgressors.
Remember the former things.
I am God and there is no other.
I am God.
There is none like me.
Declaring the end from the beginning.
From ancient times things not yet done.
Saying my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish my purposes.
I have spoken.
I will bring it to pass.
I have purposed and I will do it.
Friends, the thing that differentiates the one true God of the Bible from every other religion,
every other false God, is not the dedication of his worshipers, not the size of his temple,
but simply who he is.
He is God and there is no other.
He's not just one of a plethora of options of God.
He's not just slightly stronger, slightly more powerful, more faithful than other religions.
He is unique from every other God because he's the one true God because he is sovereign,
which means that he is supremely authoritative.
There is no one else but him.
If English is your second or your third or maybe your fourth language,
there's a really good Bible word you need to learn.
It's the word sovereign.
God is sovereign, which means that he is supremely authoritative.
There is nobody that has greater authority than him.
There's a wonderful story in the Bible.
In the book of Daniel, Daniel is having a conversation with the king of Babylon.
So Daniel is a Jewish man and he got taken to Babylon with the exiles as a teenager,
around 16, 17 years old.
He goes to Babylon and he serves the king of Babylon.
And the first king of Babylon is a man by the name of Nebuchadnezzar.
Nebuchadnezzar is named after Nebo, the Babylonian god.
And then his son called Belshazzar, named after Bel, becomes king after him.
And so many years after Daniel's been taken to Babylon,
he's having a conversation with the king Belshazzar about the first king,
his father called Nebuchadnezzar.
And this is what he says.
He says,
So he's saying,
Remember your father Nebuchadnezzar.
He was the most powerful man of the most powerful empire in the whole world.
There was nobody on the face of the planet more powerful than your dad.
If he wanted somebody killed, it was as good as dead.
If he wanted them kept alive, he just said the word.
Nobody had more power than your father, the king of Babylon.
But then look at the very next line.
He says,
But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened, so that he became proud,
he was brought down from his kingly throne.
His glory was taken from him.
Until he knew that the most high God rules the kingdom of mankind,
and sets over it whom he will.
Daniel is saying,
Even the most powerful man of the most powerful empire in the whole world,
is still subject to the sovereign God.
There is one God.
There is no one and nothing like him.
Friends, what does this mean for your boss?
What does this mean for social media?
Those of us that are in high school.
What does this mean for the voice of our family members?
These voices that seek to control us and own us.
There is a God that is above even the most highest supreme authority in our lives.
I am God.
There is no other.
I am God.
There is none like me.
And friends, the temptation for us as a church and as individuals,
is to run to all sorts of false gods.
Things that promise us the world.
Things that promise us,
This is how to grow your church.
This is how to have a stable and secure future.
This is how to become prosperous.
This is how to make things work.
And yet we forget that our lives and our church is actually in the hands of the sovereign God.
There is one God and there is no one like him.
Now, look at this passage.
This passage tells us two things about God's sovereignty.
There are two things that make God sovereign.
The first thing is that God knows everything.
Look what he says here in verse 9.
He says,
Remember the former things.
I am God.
There is no other.
I declare the end from the beginning.
From ancient times, things not yet done.
Remember, the Babylonian gods, Bel and Nebo,
they were the ones who were meant to write a favorable future for you.
They were the ones that were meant to secure that this coming year you had a good year.
And isn't that exactly what everything we hope and we trust in promises us?
It's exactly what the gods we trust in,
whether they are ancient or whether they are modern,
whether we are religious or whether we are secular.
All of us look to something to secure a stable and a promising future for us,
whether it's our savings account, our education,
a certain relationship, maybe that job opportunity.
But look at what God says.
He says,
I am God.
There is no other.
There is none like me.
Why?
What makes the God of the Bible unique?
Why should we trust Him?
Because truly I know the end from the beginning.
From ancient times, things not yet done.
Friends, I'm not sure what is troubling you today,
what it is that keeps you awake at night.
And I'm not saying that those are illegitimate fears.
Maybe they are legitimate.
But there is one who knows all things.
He knows how it's going to turn out and He invites you to trust Him.
God says the same thing in Isaiah 44.
He says,
I am the first.
I am the last.
Besides me, there is no God.
He says,
Who is like me?
Let Him proclaim it.
Let Him declare what is to come and what's going to happen in the future.
Then He says,
Fear not.
Be not afraid.
Have I not told you from old?
Have I not declared it?
Is there a God besides me?
There is no other rock.
I know not any other.
Friends, whether God is calling you to move to another country for the sake of the gospel,
like Graham in Arena,
whether God is asking you to start a new business,
or to leave a business,
to join a ministry,
or to start some new ministry,
or whether you're worried about where your children are going to go to school,
whether you're going to have children,
there is nothing in all the world that's going to happen next week,
or next year,
or in a million years from now,
that is outside of the knowledge of the sovereign God.
I declare the end from the beginning.
I know all things.
This is the God that we love and trust.
Friends, this God knows what's going to happen to Hong Kong in 30 years' time.
He knows where you're going to stay in the years to come,
even if you don't.
He knows how you're going to get through this year financially.
He knows when the next financial crash is going to happen.
He knows if and when you're going to have children.
He knows about that bad medical report that maybe you don't even know about yet,
but you might receive into the future.
He knows about that phone call that's going to rock your world.
Friends, he even knows about the mistakes that we're going to make that are going to humble us.
And he's not worried about any of it,
because none of it will catch him unaware.
He's the God who knows all things.
But secondly,
not only does God know all things,
he actually governs all things.
Look at verse 11 with me.
God says this.
He says,
I am God, there is no other.
I declare the end from the beginning,
from ancient times things not yet done,
saying,
My counsel will stand,
and I will accomplish my purposes.
I call a bird of prey from the east,
a man of my counsel from a far country.
What's God talking about here?
Remember,
Babylon is the world superpower of the age.
The most powerful nation in the world at the time that this is being written.
And God has told his people,
Because of your sin,
because of your rebellion,
because of your disobedience,
I will bring the Babylonians,
they will capture you,
they will tear down Israel,
they will take you as exiles back into Babylon.
But God said,
You will only be there 70 years.
70 years you'll be in Babylon,
and then I will set you free.
And in the preceding chapter,
Isaiah 45,
God actually names the person
that's going to come to Babylon
to set the people of God free.
Look what he says.
He says,
He calls him Cyrus.
He says,
Thus says the Lord,
to his anointed,
to Cyrus,
whose right hand I have taken hold of,
to subdue nations before him,
and loose the belts of kings.
Cyrus is my shepherd.
He shall fulfill all of my promises.
So God says,
There is going to be a man called Cyrus.
Cyrus my shepherd,
my anointed one.
He is going to come and set you free
and bring you back from Babylon,
back to Jerusalem.
He will shepherd you from captivity
back to the promised land.
And that's exactly what happened.
After 70 years,
in 538 BC,
a Persian king arises.
His name happens to be Cyrus.
And he overthrows the Babylonians.
And he becomes the king of the world's superpower.
And after a year,
he says,
Well,
I don't have any reason for these Jews to stay in Persia and Babylon.
Let's send them back to Jerusalem.
And so God raises up Cyrus,
and he sends,
Cyrus sends the people back to Israel,
and he sets them free to rebuild the temple and to worship Yahweh.
The only thing is,
this is written 150 years before Cyrus is even born.
There's no king of Persia called Cyrus when this is written.
How did Isaiah know that God was going to raise up a man called Cyrus to set God's people free?
How did he know?
Friends,
God says this,
I am God,
there is no other.
I am God,
there is none like me.
I declare the end from the beginning.
From ancient times,
things not yet done.
Saying,
my counsel,
the sovereign God,
will stand,
and I will accomplish my purposes.
I call a bird of prey from the east,
that's Cyrus,
a man who will do my bidding.
Friends,
I want to impress upon us the fact that the God of the Bible,
the God that we've been speaking about these last few weeks,
the Lord Jesus Christ,
the God who builds his church,
the God who says,
heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
I want us to know that this God is not just slightly better,
slightly more powerful,
slightly stronger than the prevailing gods of our culture.
Because we are made in God's image,
sometimes we think that God is a slightly better version of ourselves.
But he is God,
and there's none like him.
He's the sovereign Lord of all,
and we can trust him.
The God of the scriptures invites us to trust him,
and to bank our lives on him,
and to build this church on him,
and on his wisdom,
not on our own.
Friends,
I want us to know that the God of the scriptures is the one true God,
who brought everything into being.
The one who holds all things,
and sustains all things,
and governs all things.
The one who knows the end from the beginning,
and therefore,
we can trust him.
You can bank your life on him.
As the old hymn says,
In Christ,
the solid ground I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand.
What am I going to ask us?
I want to urge us as a community.
Can we bank our lives as individuals?
Can we build this church on this God,
on the sovereign God?
Can we trust him with our future?
And can we listen and obey him,
because we know that he knows all things,
and he governs and sustains all things.
He is the sovereign God,
and there is none like him.
Why should we trust him?
He is the one true God,
who knows all things.
He cares and he carries.
He knows and he governs all things.
Third thing is this.
Why should we trust him?
He is the God who saves,
through sovereign grace.
Now,
it is one thing for God to be sovereign,
over all the world,
totally in control,
but is he nice?
It is one thing for him to be in control,
but is he kind?
History hasn't always looked well,
favorably upon monarchs,
and dictators that were in control,
but they weren't kind or merciful.
Is this God good?
Can we trust him?
We spoke earlier about the fact that
God delivered his people from slavery,
from being in exile,
by this King Cyrus,
and Cyrus was the most unlikely source.
Nobody expected it.
Babylon was this world superpower.
They thought that they were going to rule
for a thousand years,
and almost out of nowhere,
God raises this man Cyrus,
and he comes and he sets his people free.
But it was the most unlikely of sources.
He was the most unlikely of deliverers.
But as you read the story of God's people
in the scriptures,
one of the things that we quickly learn
is that the biggest problem
God's people face
is actually no external army.
It's not the Babylonians
or the Persians
or the Egyptians.
The biggest enemy
that God's people face is where?
It's internal.
It's the battle of their hearts.
In fact,
the biggest battle
that Israel ever fought
was not on some battlefield
in the Middle East.
It was actually the battle
that was raging
in their own hearts.
Would they trust God?
Would they listen to him?
Would they obey him?
The Israelites thought
that they were enslaved
by the Babylonians,
but actually they were slaves
to their own sin.
They were slaves
to their own self-sufficiency,
to their own self-righteousness,
to the stubbornness
of their own hearts.
Remember verse 8 says this.
It says,
Remember this.
Call it to mind,
you transgressors.
Verse 12 says,
Listen to me,
you stubborn of heart,
you who are far from righteousness.
God's not speaking
about the Babylonians here.
He's speaking about his own people.
His own people are stubborn of heart.
They are far from righteousness.
And friends,
this is still the biggest battle
that God's people face.
Watermark,
into the future,
the biggest battle,
the biggest challenge
that we're going to face,
the biggest,
I guess,
challenges that we're going to have
are not going to be
from some government persecution.
It's not going to be
from some political party.
It's not going to be
from some other religion
that wants to stamp out Christianity.
It's not going to be
from anyone
that opposes the gospel.
The biggest battle
we're going to have to face
is the battle of our hearts
where we trust Christ,
where we love Him supremely.
And the biggest battle
which we're going to need to wage
is the same battle
that people of God
have always had to fight.
What are we hoping in?
What are we trusting in?
What God are we banking our lives on?
You see,
this is the real battle we face.
This is the real enemy.
But even in this,
God is not powerless.
You might think God says,
Oh, well,
it's a battle you've got to face
and I'll just let you decide.
Even in this,
God is not powerless.
Look at what he says.
Listen to me,
you stubborn of heart,
you who are far from my righteousness.
I will bring my righteousness near.
It is not far off.
My salvation will not delay.
I will bring my salvation to you,
to Zion,
for Israel my glory.
See, friends,
the good news of the gospel
is that God in His sovereign mercy
sent Cyrus' shepherd,
His chosen one,
to rescue and redeem Israel.
And so in the same way,
God would one day send another shepherd,
another anointed one,
the ultimate deliverer,
to rescue and redeem Israel.
Not trapped in Babylon,
not trapped in Egypt,
not trapped in Persia,
but slaves to their own sin,
slaves to their own stubborn hearts.
Jesus Christ,
our good shepherd,
came to set us free
from the battles that we wage,
and to come and set us free
from being slaves to sin,
to carry the burden
of our self-sufficiency
and our self-righteousness.
And how would He do it?
How would Jesus set us free?
Well, Jesus,
the good shepherd,
said this.
He says,
I am the good shepherd.
I lay down my life
for my sheep.
No one takes it from me.
I lay it down
of my own accord.
In His sovereignty,
God sent a rescuer,
the shepherd who would come
not bearing a sword
or a shield,
but come bearing a cross.
God sent one who wouldn't come
and lead an army of mighty men
to destroy the enemy.
He came to lead
a bunch of very ordinary men and women,
and He laid down His life.
Friends,
the Bible's greatest teaching
about the sovereignty of God
is that in His perfect knowledge,
in His absolute control of all things,
God sent His Son,
born as a baby in a manger,
growing up in the backwaters of Israel,
put on a sham mock trial
by the people of Israel,
sentenced to death
for a crime that He didn't do,
and yet all of it
was according to the definite plan
and the foreknowledge
of the sovereign God.
He didn't do it
because Pontius Pilate
was proudful.
He didn't do it
because the Jewish people
were jealous of Him.
Jesus didn't die
because anyone got the better of Him,
because Pontius Pilate
had a bad day at the office.
He did it because God
in His sovereignty
was sending a rescuer,
a saver,
the ultimate shepherd
to bring His people home.
Because in His sovereignty,
He chose to carry His people
from captivity to freedom.
But He did it first
by carrying a cross,
by bearing our sin
upon Himself.
It is the only way
that God could destroy our sin
without destroying the people
in which sin dwelt.
And so He went to the cross.
And so in the words
of that old hymn,
Behold the man upon the cross,
my sin upon His shoulders.
Ashamed,
I hear my mocking voice
call out amongst the scoffers.
Why should I gain from His reward?
Why?
I cannot give an answer,
but this I know with all my heart.
His wounds have paid my ransom.
Friends,
though we all,
like God's people,
have gone away,
gone astray,
like all God's people before us,
by nature we are sinners.
We are unrighteous
and without merit.
God's gracious gift
is that He brings
His righteousness near.
He brings salvation to us.
Though we are slaves to our sin,
Christ says,
I will come and deliver you.
I will carry you.
I've carried you from the grave,
from the tomb to the grave,
but I will carry you
to my righteousness.
God gives us a righteousness
which is not our own,
but it's given to us by grace
if we simply believe Him,
simply trust Him,
simply surrender,
simply repent of going our own way.
Friends,
none of us in this room
know what the future holds,
but we can know the one
who holds the future,
the future of this church,
the future of our families,
the future of all these things
in the hands of the one
true sovereign God,
and He invites us
to trust Him.
We can trust Him
because He's alive and real,
because He hears our prayers,
and because He answers.
We can trust Him
because He's the sovereign God
over every aspect of creation,
from the smallest molecule
to the grandest galaxy.
We can trust Him
because He's the one true God
who, though being God,
did not count equality with God
something to be grasped,
but He emptied Himself
and went to the cross for us.
We can trust Him
because He's the one true God
who's not only strong,
but exceedingly gracious as well.
I am God,
and there is none like me,
says God,
declaring the end
from the beginning,
from ancient times,
things not yet done,
saying,
my counsel will stand,
and I will accomplish
my purposes.
I have spoken.
I will bring it to pass.
I have purposed.
I will do it.
Let's pray together.
Why don't you stand with me?
Let's come before Christ,
stand in prayer.
Just as I was preparing
this last few days,
I was just so aware that
probably some of us here
that do feel like
we've come to the end
of ourselves,
feel anxious and exhausted,
feel alone and weary,
just feel like
God's word to us is,
I am the God
that carries you.
Come to me.
Jesus says,
come and
take my burden,
take my yoke upon yourself.
Come and follow me.
Come and let me be Lord.
Come and surrender.
But then He says,
my yoke is easy,
my burden is light.
We find that
Christ's burden is light
when you come to Him
and surrender.
Say,
Jesus,
have your way.
Friends,
I wonder if we can
repent of trusting
in false gods
to rescue
and to secure
a good future.
I wonder if we can
repent of hedging
our bets,
still serving God
while we have
a backup plan
of the gods
of our culture.
Maybe some of us
here we need to ask
Him to help us
to trust Him.
You say,
God,
I want to trust You more.
Won't You help me?
Holy Spirit,
we need You
to come and do
a work in our hearts.
We need You,
God,
to open our eyes
to see You afresh.
God,
won't You help us
to trust You
supremely?
God,
this week,
as we go into our week
and some of us
are going to be traveling
and there's pressures
at work,
God,
won't You help us
not to trust
in all the things
that our culture
is telling us
will secure us
a good future?
Won't You help us
to lift our eyes
above those things
to the one sovereign God
who rules and reigns?
Jesus,
we bring our lives
before You
to come and have Your way.
We trust You, God.
We trust You
with our church.
we trust You
with our lives.
We trust You
with our children.
We trust You
with our children.
Come have your way, God.