WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:01.679 What a joy it is to be with you. 00:00:02.780 --> 00:00:08.019 This morning, we will be walking through Isaiah 51 and most of chapter 52, piece by piece. 00:00:08.720 --> 00:00:12.280 It will help you to follow along if you have the Bible open in front of you. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:17.699 It can be found on page 572 of your pew Bibles, page 572. 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:22.219 And if you're not familiar with the Bible, the big numbers are the chapter numbers, and 00:00:22.219 --> 00:00:23.820 the smaller numbers are the verse numbers. 00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:26.800 Let's ask for God's help this morning. 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:32.539 Father in heaven, we ask for your help this morning. 00:00:33.380 --> 00:00:39.399 Would your spirit be among us, applying these truths to our hearts, to your honor and praise. 00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:44.920 Would the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:46.719 O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. 00:00:47.120 --> 00:00:48.460 We pray this in Christ's name. 00:00:49.240 --> 00:00:49.560 Amen. 00:00:49.560 --> 00:00:49.620 Amen. 00:00:53.120 --> 00:00:59.880 Suspected of being a spy for the British government, the missionary Adoniram Judson was imprisoned 00:00:59.880 --> 00:01:02.660 and sent on a long death march. 00:01:04.040 --> 00:01:07.320 Judson was America's first missionary to be sent overseas. 00:01:08.800 --> 00:01:13.240 Educated at what is now Brown University, he had renounced an easy life to bring the gospel 00:01:13.240 --> 00:01:14.859 to Burma, now Myanmar. 00:01:14.859 --> 00:01:18.560 But after leaving, three of his children died. 00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:21.700 And then a civil war broke out. 00:01:22.780 --> 00:01:27.159 And for 21 months, he was falsely accused and subjected to insult and cruelty. 00:01:28.079 --> 00:01:34.859 His prison guards tormented him, beating him, starving him, and finally forced him on a death 00:01:34.859 --> 00:01:37.260 march across the hot Burmese climate. 00:01:38.219 --> 00:01:41.480 The God he risked everything to serve had handed him a bitter cup to drink. 00:01:41.480 --> 00:01:48.260 You know, how could Judson trust God when all the circumstances in his life seem to argue 00:01:48.260 --> 00:01:49.240 he should do otherwise? 00:01:50.219 --> 00:01:52.420 Have the God he served abandoned him in his suffering? 00:01:53.600 --> 00:01:57.340 Well, friend, this is the situation that God's people face as we come to Isaiah 51. 00:01:58.460 --> 00:02:03.080 Because in the exile, God's people, likewise, were forced to trudge the hot desert on a long 00:02:03.080 --> 00:02:04.340 march to Babylon. 00:02:05.180 --> 00:02:09.259 And to give context in where we are, Israel as a nation had forsaken God. 00:02:09.259 --> 00:02:15.060 And after much long suffering, God had banished an unfaithful people from Jerusalem. 00:02:15.579 --> 00:02:17.399 God shattered Jerusalem. 00:02:17.780 --> 00:02:20.099 And he used Babylon as his means of accomplishing that. 00:02:20.919 --> 00:02:25.179 As Adam had been exiled from the garden, the people were once again exiled from the land 00:02:25.179 --> 00:02:26.319 because of their disobedience. 00:02:27.299 --> 00:02:32.739 But through this devastating storm of judgment, a remnant of faithful Israelites were caught 00:02:32.739 --> 00:02:35.919 up in the exile, ripped from their homes to an unknown land. 00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:40.359 Notice to whom the Lord is speaking to in chapter 52, verse 1. 00:02:41.639 --> 00:02:42.379 Look with me. 00:02:42.699 --> 00:02:48.060 God says, listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord. 00:02:48.839 --> 00:02:54.419 Or in verse 7, listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law. 00:02:55.560 --> 00:03:00.199 These are people who are sincerely seeking to be what is right before God, to live under 00:03:00.199 --> 00:03:01.619 his authority. 00:03:01.620 --> 00:03:06.780 You know, the term righteousness often means God's salvation, but here it means living under 00:03:06.780 --> 00:03:08.920 God's authority to the honor and praise of God. 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:14.200 But despite living for God's honor and praise, these Israelites are experiencing humiliation. 00:03:14.920 --> 00:03:15.920 Look down at verse 23. 00:03:17.039 --> 00:03:23.540 Their tormentors have tyrannized them, demanding that they bow down, that we may pass over. 00:03:23.780 --> 00:03:28.080 And you have made your back like the ground and like the street for them to pass over. 00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:33.860 Remember, God's people are Babylon's doormats, forced from their homes to be walked over. 00:03:35.580 --> 00:03:38.939 Is there any hope when you unjustly suffer? 00:03:40.880 --> 00:03:44.640 Isaiah 51 gives us a compass to navigate the storm. 00:03:45.439 --> 00:03:50.960 In these chapters, God will pursue his people in the desert and speaks comfort to those who 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:52.180 are suffering under tyranny. 00:03:52.180 --> 00:03:58.879 And the structure of this passage is God calls us to listen or pay attention in verses 1, 4, 00:03:58.900 --> 00:03:59.260 and 7. 00:03:59.980 --> 00:04:05.740 He then calls us to action, telling us to awake, awake in verses 9, 17, and verse 1 of chapter 00:04:05.740 --> 00:04:06.200 52. 00:04:07.060 --> 00:04:11.300 So to navigate the storm of suffering, we will look at three ways that God tells us to listen 00:04:11.300 --> 00:04:13.200 and three ways for us to awake. 00:04:13.719 --> 00:04:14.980 So there's six points today. 00:04:15.760 --> 00:04:19.560 Be comforted by Christian by, one, looking to your history. 00:04:19.560 --> 00:04:21.720 Two, look to your future. 00:04:22.300 --> 00:04:23.980 Three, look to your maker. 00:04:24.680 --> 00:04:26.699 Four, awake to God's deliverance. 00:04:27.060 --> 00:04:28.680 Five, awake to God's wrath. 00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:31.280 Six, awake to God's great salvation. 00:04:32.040 --> 00:04:32.759 Look to your history. 00:04:33.100 --> 00:04:33.740 Look to your future. 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:34.620 Look to your maker. 00:04:35.259 --> 00:04:36.279 Awake to God's deliverance. 00:04:36.439 --> 00:04:37.300 Awake to God's wrath. 00:04:37.439 --> 00:04:38.439 Awake to God's salvation. 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:43.160 So number one, be comforted by looking to your history from verses 1 to 3. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:48.399 To comfort his people, God commands the righteous to look to their history in verses 1 to 2. 00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:53.659 Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug. 00:04:54.239 --> 00:04:58.599 Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you, for he was but one when I called him, 00:04:59.179 --> 00:05:00.719 that I might bless him and multiply him. 00:05:01.459 --> 00:05:02.959 God commands Israel to look. 00:05:03.299 --> 00:05:06.639 The same verb God used with Abraham in Genesis 15, verse 5. 00:05:07.060 --> 00:05:09.319 Look up at the night sky and count the stars, Abraham. 00:05:09.799 --> 00:05:12.819 And God commands Israel to look where you came from. 00:05:13.159 --> 00:05:14.459 Look to Abraham and Sarah. 00:05:14.459 --> 00:05:17.639 Now, what is it about Abraham and Sarah that we must remember? 00:05:18.539 --> 00:05:20.219 Is it their greatness and their good works? 00:05:21.099 --> 00:05:21.419 No. 00:05:21.579 --> 00:05:25.599 The end of verse 2, Isaiah points us to the promises that God made to them. 00:05:26.359 --> 00:05:32.599 God had called Abraham and Sarah out of an idolatrous nation, out of an idolatrous family, 00:05:33.060 --> 00:05:33.979 and promised them blessing. 00:05:34.979 --> 00:05:37.740 God would recreate the world one day through that family. 00:05:37.740 --> 00:05:44.139 And their family would be as numerous as the stars of heaven, and through them all the nations of the earth would be blessed. 00:05:44.960 --> 00:05:48.040 And like Israel, Abraham and Sarah left their homes to an unknown land, 00:05:48.360 --> 00:05:51.500 and likewise had endured suffering and affliction and despair. 00:05:52.139 --> 00:05:53.400 But God had been gracious to them. 00:05:53.900 --> 00:05:56.000 He had kept his promises and preserved them. 00:05:56.480 --> 00:05:58.379 And he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 00:05:58.699 --> 00:06:02.680 And as God preserved Abraham and Sarah, God would preserve his people in a foreign land. 00:06:02.680 --> 00:06:08.540 In this desert of the exile, God promises that Zion, his people, will have joy and gladness again. 00:06:08.980 --> 00:06:09.819 Look down at verse 3. 00:06:10.220 --> 00:06:11.600 For the Lord comforts Zion. 00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:17.040 He comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord. 00:06:17.420 --> 00:06:19.340 Joy and gladness will be found in her. 00:06:20.379 --> 00:06:25.240 They all remember that and realize that although they were going to Babylon, God will still comfort them. 00:06:26.060 --> 00:06:28.600 The day will come again when Jerusalem will flourish. 00:06:28.600 --> 00:06:34.400 Joy, gladness, and God's presence will be found in Jerusalem just like in the Garden of Eden. 00:06:35.180 --> 00:06:37.020 He can make the desert green as a garden. 00:06:38.180 --> 00:06:40.240 And God gives water to the thirsty soul in the desert. 00:06:40.740 --> 00:06:44.460 And the way these Israelites could have joy in their suffering is recalling that God is faithful. 00:06:45.080 --> 00:06:47.020 And that faithfulness is to be trusted. 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:50.760 And God certainly kept this promise to comfort his people in the exile. 00:06:51.280 --> 00:06:53.860 He encouraged and comforted Daniel while in Babylon. 00:06:54.879 --> 00:06:57.300 As Christians, we are also strangers in exiles. 00:06:57.300 --> 00:06:59.400 And we must rely on God's word. 00:07:00.259 --> 00:07:03.160 We must know God's acts and his past faithfulness to his people. 00:07:03.879 --> 00:07:06.620 We must know the promises of God and what God has not promised. 00:07:07.540 --> 00:07:09.060 As Thomas Watson once said, 00:07:09.319 --> 00:07:13.580 Better to be in a prison with God's presence and God's promises than be on a throne without them. 00:07:14.600 --> 00:07:17.939 There is a spiritual principle that Isaiah wants the suffering heart to hear. 00:07:18.780 --> 00:07:24.019 Do not let your circumstances determine your assurance, but God's unchanging promises. 00:07:24.400 --> 00:07:24.920 I'll say that again. 00:07:24.920 --> 00:07:30.040 Do not let your circumstances determine your assurance, but God's unchanging promises. 00:07:30.280 --> 00:07:32.520 We must know these unchanging promises. 00:07:33.180 --> 00:07:37.259 So parents and grandparents, teach your children and grandchildren God's promises. 00:07:38.140 --> 00:07:42.920 Serve them well by teaching them to rely on God's promises and so persevere through trials as adults. 00:07:43.660 --> 00:07:48.020 Church, are we in the habit of reminding each other of God's promises and his past faithfulness? 00:07:48.019 --> 00:07:52.579 Is there anyone in your life that is reminding you of that in your despair? 00:07:53.399 --> 00:07:56.659 You know, thanking God for his past faithfulness is great medicine to the suffering heart. 00:07:57.279 --> 00:07:57.979 So here's an idea. 00:07:58.299 --> 00:08:02.259 Younger Christian, invite an older, more mature Christian to lunch, maybe today, 00:08:02.479 --> 00:08:06.819 and plan to ask them how in dark times God's promises comforted them. 00:08:07.259 --> 00:08:07.699 And listen. 00:08:07.699 --> 00:08:13.620 Or if you work near someone, like at the hospital or the university, invite them to study the Psalms with you on your break 00:08:13.620 --> 00:08:17.459 and learn together the former saints who have relied on God's promises in affliction. 00:08:18.300 --> 00:08:21.839 As a church, we ought to be reminding each other of these promises. 00:08:22.159 --> 00:08:26.939 And we look to God's faithfulness in the past to give us assurance that he will be with us today. 00:08:26.939 --> 00:08:29.160 And this is vital to the Christian life. 00:08:29.719 --> 00:08:36.039 If you find that life is a big pile of trash, God can still give you joy by relying on God's promises. 00:08:38.159 --> 00:08:42.100 When we are dejected, the Spirit gives us assurance to help us believe in God's Word. 00:08:42.620 --> 00:08:44.480 But God calls us not only to look to our past. 00:08:44.600 --> 00:08:48.220 Point number two is we must look to the certain future in verses 4 to 6. 00:08:48.860 --> 00:08:51.179 God calls these Israelites his own in verse 4. 00:08:51.460 --> 00:08:54.379 They are my people and my nation. 00:08:54.379 --> 00:08:57.220 All the promises to David and Abraham are theirs. 00:08:58.120 --> 00:08:59.460 What was that promise to Abraham? 00:09:00.320 --> 00:09:04.000 You know, God originally promised salvation in Genesis 3, 15, 00:09:04.139 --> 00:09:07.139 that he would send a male offspring to crush the head of the serpent. 00:09:08.299 --> 00:09:12.200 And as the story unfolded, God promised that this offspring, this Savior, 00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:16.639 would come through the line of Abraham, which would extend to the entire world. 00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:20.759 That salvation of this promised male offspring will surely come. 00:09:20.759 --> 00:09:24.039 In verse 6, God declares that this salvation will be forever. 00:09:24.379 --> 00:09:28.080 What God will do for the children of Abraham, all the world will come into its light, 00:09:28.360 --> 00:09:31.360 fulfilling the promise that God made to bless the whole world through Abraham. 00:09:31.779 --> 00:09:35.539 God declares in verse 4, I will set my justice for a light to the peoples. 00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:41.019 And this sense of justice echoes Isaiah's description of the servant's work in chapter 42, verse 4. 00:09:41.539 --> 00:09:46.320 He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth, 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:48.740 and the coastlands wait for his law. 00:09:49.419 --> 00:09:54.600 Justice here refers to God restoring order to chaos, making straight what sin has bent. 00:09:55.180 --> 00:09:59.340 And the servant would come to establish justice in the land, and that light would extend to all the nations. 00:10:00.039 --> 00:10:02.840 And in God's mind, this recreation of the world is as good as done. 00:10:03.320 --> 00:10:07.639 The reality of God's salvation is so clear that Isaiah uses the past tense in verse 5. 00:10:07.720 --> 00:10:11.519 God's salvation has gone out, and nothing will stop him, but future is certain. 00:10:11.519 --> 00:10:17.039 And notice the contrast of the permanence of salvation to the fleeting nature of the earth and even the heavens. 00:10:18.579 --> 00:10:23.559 God calls these exiles in verse 6 to lift up your eyes to the heavens and look to the earth beneath, 00:10:23.980 --> 00:10:25.379 for the heavens vanish like smoke. 00:10:25.740 --> 00:10:29.319 The earth will wear out like a garment, but my salvation will be forever. 00:10:30.039 --> 00:10:33.419 In the end, heaven and earth will vanish as quickly as smoke vanishes in the wind. 00:10:33.879 --> 00:10:38.399 The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the only thing that will remain is God's salvation. 00:10:38.399 --> 00:10:42.860 And God promises eternal vindication to his people in verse 8. 00:10:43.259 --> 00:10:45.899 You see those people who would oppose you, who oppose me? 00:10:46.679 --> 00:10:47.879 Don't worry about them, God says. 00:10:48.139 --> 00:10:51.299 The moth will eat them up, and the worm will eat them like wool. 00:10:51.740 --> 00:10:52.919 They will be consumed in judgment. 00:10:53.419 --> 00:10:55.819 Any attack on God's people is an attack on God himself. 00:10:56.279 --> 00:10:56.980 God will deal with it. 00:10:57.139 --> 00:10:58.220 He will vindicate his people. 00:10:58.319 --> 00:10:59.059 The future is certain. 00:10:59.799 --> 00:11:03.559 The people were tempted to think the kingdom of Babylon would outlast God's promises. 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:04.659 But God says no. 00:11:04.860 --> 00:11:06.000 His promises are permanent. 00:11:06.360 --> 00:11:07.100 And isn't that true? 00:11:07.100 --> 00:11:10.600 We are living witnesses to the truthfulness of Isaiah's word. 00:11:11.220 --> 00:11:14.700 Where is that great city of Babylon who exalted itself above God? 00:11:15.620 --> 00:11:17.340 It is a pile of rubble in Iraq. 00:11:18.040 --> 00:11:22.980 But here we are in this room, and God is still ruling and reigning because he is a sovereign creator. 00:11:23.519 --> 00:11:24.620 The people need not be afraid. 00:11:24.700 --> 00:11:25.860 His salvation has gone out. 00:11:26.580 --> 00:11:31.320 To place your hope anywhere else than God's salvation is like relying on a mirage in the desert 00:11:31.320 --> 00:11:33.639 to give you water when you are dying of thirst. 00:11:33.639 --> 00:11:38.039 Like a mirage in the desert, anything created will vanish away when you need it the most. 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:43.500 And to comfort us, God reminds us to look to our past and then to the certain future of God's salvation. 00:11:43.980 --> 00:11:46.860 And the next point, God reminds us that he is a sovereign creator. 00:11:47.899 --> 00:11:49.460 And point number three, look to your maker. 00:11:49.620 --> 00:11:52.019 In verses 12 to 16, look to your maker. 00:11:52.019 --> 00:11:58.139 Now this section gets to the heart of why we lose hope when we suffer unjustly, when others harm us. 00:11:58.840 --> 00:12:05.720 And the reason why is we live as if God were not our maker, and we become afraid of mere people rather than God. 00:12:06.439 --> 00:12:09.460 The people thought Babylon was bigger and more powerful than God himself. 00:12:09.980 --> 00:12:11.720 Could God really deliver us from our enemies? 00:12:11.720 --> 00:12:18.879 Because their hearts were full of fear, as verse 13 said, because of the wrath of their oppressor, whom they continually fear. 00:12:19.540 --> 00:12:22.160 They were enslaved because they were afraid. 00:12:23.040 --> 00:12:27.500 In the end, their tyrants were spiritual emperors who shackled the people in a spiritual dungeon. 00:12:28.120 --> 00:12:31.700 Now I think if we asked one of these Jews in the ancient synagogues and asked them the question, 00:12:31.960 --> 00:12:32.620 you know, who is your maker? 00:12:33.279 --> 00:12:35.340 They would immediately reply, God is our maker. 00:12:35.460 --> 00:12:36.460 We've read Genesis 1 and 2. 00:12:37.100 --> 00:12:37.920 We know God is our maker. 00:12:37.919 --> 00:12:44.179 The point isn't to say that they forgot some truth intellectually, but in their heart they lived as if God was not their maker. 00:12:44.839 --> 00:12:47.120 But there is one command in this section. 00:12:47.719 --> 00:12:49.899 Do not be afraid, verse 12. 00:12:50.259 --> 00:12:54.819 Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass? 00:12:55.740 --> 00:12:58.179 God gives an avalanche of reasons to not be afraid. 00:12:59.019 --> 00:13:05.959 Notice in verses 12 to 16, it contrasts the supreme greatness and transcendence of God with his close intimacy to comfort us. 00:13:05.960 --> 00:13:09.060 He is incomprehensibly powerful, verse 13. 00:13:09.320 --> 00:13:09.840 He is the maker. 00:13:10.220 --> 00:13:11.120 We are the creatures. 00:13:11.320 --> 00:13:12.040 He is the creator. 00:13:12.620 --> 00:13:15.320 He stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. 00:13:15.920 --> 00:13:17.900 He stirs up the roaring waves. 00:13:17.980 --> 00:13:19.100 The Lord of hosts is his name. 00:13:19.420 --> 00:13:20.379 He is the king of glory. 00:13:21.080 --> 00:13:24.680 Again in verse 16, God established the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. 00:13:25.019 --> 00:13:27.840 But in the same breath, God says he is near to his people. 00:13:28.379 --> 00:13:31.759 He uses his sovereign power as the world's maker to comfort us. 00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:34.860 I, even I am he that comforts you. 00:13:34.860 --> 00:13:37.480 The transcendent God is near to the brokenhearted. 00:13:37.899 --> 00:13:42.200 In verse 16, I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand. 00:13:42.639 --> 00:13:46.100 The transcendent Lord encircles and covers his beloved people. 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:48.779 And God will protect his people in the exile. 00:13:48.879 --> 00:13:52.820 In verse 14, the people who are bowed down will be speedily released. 00:13:53.519 --> 00:13:55.139 They shall not die and go down to the pit. 00:13:55.220 --> 00:13:56.680 Neither shall his bread be lacking. 00:13:56.679 --> 00:14:04.239 It's as easy for God to release the people from captivity as easy as it is for me to hand over a pen to you. 00:14:05.359 --> 00:14:08.239 Their tormentors are accounted as nothing before the Lord of hosts. 00:14:08.719 --> 00:14:10.779 These people are made like grass, God says. 00:14:11.379 --> 00:14:13.919 You know, fear of men is a lot like being afraid of grass. 00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:21.259 I would gather one thing universally true of all of us here is that none of us are afraid of grass. 00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:24.000 You mow the lawn. 00:14:24.959 --> 00:14:27.139 I want to give a second thought to how scary grass is. 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:30.120 You know, as far as Charles Spurgeon commenting on this verse says, 00:14:30.120 --> 00:14:35.580 You see the grass cut down by the mower's blade lying in long rows and withering in the sun. 00:14:35.879 --> 00:14:37.060 Are you afraid of that grass? 00:14:37.480 --> 00:14:38.759 No, you say, certainly not. 00:14:39.659 --> 00:14:43.240 Then be not afraid of men, for they shall be cut down after the same fashion. 00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:47.379 But just like Israel, many of us from day to day are terrified of grass. 00:14:48.179 --> 00:14:50.500 Many of us can relate to anxiety, this anxiety. 00:14:50.840 --> 00:14:52.580 We are afraid of others' opinions of us. 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:53.720 It paralyzes us. 00:14:54.019 --> 00:14:55.340 You know, when preparing for the sermon, 00:14:55.779 --> 00:14:58.340 part of me was afraid of what you all thought about this sermon, 00:14:58.340 --> 00:15:00.240 and then what God thought about this sermon. 00:15:01.379 --> 00:15:02.280 None of us are immune. 00:15:03.280 --> 00:15:04.879 We are mastered by other people. 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:05.660 They control us. 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:07.740 People are giants and God is tiny in the end. 00:15:07.800 --> 00:15:09.019 In the end, we are afraid of grass. 00:15:10.160 --> 00:15:12.800 In Ed Welch's book, When People Are Big and God Is Small, he writes, 00:15:13.060 --> 00:15:14.759 The fear of man goes by other names. 00:15:15.440 --> 00:15:17.399 When we are in our teens, it is called peer pressure. 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:20.080 When we are older, it is called people-pleasing. 00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:22.420 Recently, it has been called codependency. 00:15:23.060 --> 00:15:25.420 With these labels in mind, we can spot the fear of man everywhere. 00:15:25.419 --> 00:15:29.319 We never expect that using people to meet our desires leaves us enslaved to them. 00:15:30.139 --> 00:15:32.319 And the people were enslaved because they were afraid. 00:15:32.459 --> 00:15:36.919 They feared the Babylonians because they forgot the foundational truth that God is their maker. 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:39.659 And likewise, all of us have spiritual amnesia. 00:15:40.179 --> 00:15:44.139 Our hearts have a tendency to forget what God is like in our suffering. 00:15:44.659 --> 00:15:49.000 Rather than recognizing that the creator God is glorious, infinitely wise, holy, and strong, 00:15:49.500 --> 00:15:53.399 in our trials, we live as if he is small, as if he were one of us. 00:15:53.399 --> 00:15:55.659 We all have spiritual amnesia. 00:15:56.340 --> 00:16:00.360 And that's one of the reasons why here at Trinity, we make it our aim to preach the gospel each week. 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:03.720 To constantly be putting truths before us to remind us of them. 00:16:04.360 --> 00:16:08.399 We need to be reminded that God is powerful to save, even most discouraged saints. 00:16:09.019 --> 00:16:12.720 The gospel helps us to not lose heart, to avoid falling back into slavery. 00:16:13.879 --> 00:16:15.600 You know, a church member once asked Martin Luther, 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:18.360 Why do you preach the gospel to us week after week? 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:19.740 Why don't we move on to other things? 00:16:19.740 --> 00:16:23.919 And Luther replied, Well, because week after week, you forget it. 00:16:24.539 --> 00:16:28.940 Because week after week, you walk in here looking like a people who don't believe the gospel. 00:16:29.580 --> 00:16:33.419 And until you walk in looking like people who are truly liberated by the truth of the gospel, 00:16:33.539 --> 00:16:35.360 I'm going to continue to preach it to you. 00:16:36.340 --> 00:16:37.340 And we are the same way. 00:16:37.419 --> 00:16:38.759 We need to remind you of the gospel. 00:16:38.879 --> 00:16:43.519 And the Lord is our maker to not lose heart in our suffering and to avoid living in slavery. 00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:47.559 So, friend, in your suffering, look to your maker. 00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:51.840 And these calls to look and listen are paired with calls for God to act. 00:16:52.079 --> 00:16:53.039 Awake, awake. 00:16:53.279 --> 00:16:55.579 These people are crying out for God to deliver them. 00:16:56.059 --> 00:16:58.659 And point number four, awake to God's deliverance. 00:16:58.740 --> 00:16:59.699 In verses 9 to 11. 00:17:00.100 --> 00:17:01.220 Awake, awake. 00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:03.620 Put on strength, O arm of the Lord. 00:17:03.720 --> 00:17:07.039 Awake as in the days of old, the generations of long ago. 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:10.519 Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon? 00:17:10.519 --> 00:17:13.839 Was it not you who dried up the seas, the waters of the great deep, 00:17:14.139 --> 00:17:16.879 who made the depths of the sea away for the redeemed to pass over? 00:17:18.059 --> 00:17:22.240 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing. 00:17:23.079 --> 00:17:24.980 Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. 00:17:25.299 --> 00:17:28.940 They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. 00:17:30.180 --> 00:17:33.960 Isaiah, standing as a representative for the voice of the people, 00:17:34.299 --> 00:17:37.500 cries out to God to awake and put on strength. 00:17:38.339 --> 00:17:39.579 What an audacious claim. 00:17:40.539 --> 00:17:43.599 That's an accusation that God has not been active on the people's behalf. 00:17:44.119 --> 00:17:46.379 The power of that arm has not been available to them. 00:17:47.159 --> 00:17:49.740 But this rings with so much biblical faith. 00:17:50.579 --> 00:17:53.799 One thing to notice is how faith can reach the depths of despair. 00:17:54.759 --> 00:17:58.679 There is a place to feel broken, express deep sorrow, to lament. 00:17:59.439 --> 00:18:01.819 We've lost the ability in our day and age to lament well. 00:18:02.279 --> 00:18:05.759 I think some of us may be even embarrassed or too proud to admit 00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:08.059 these emotions are part of the Christian life. 00:18:09.339 --> 00:18:11.460 There is room in the church for the brokenhearted. 00:18:12.140 --> 00:18:14.519 Think of the despair of Abraham, of David, and Jeremiah. 00:18:15.299 --> 00:18:16.539 And Jesus himself lamented. 00:18:16.759 --> 00:18:19.119 He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. 00:18:19.980 --> 00:18:21.579 We read that in the Garden of Gethsemane, 00:18:21.940 --> 00:18:25.359 Jesus became greatly distressed, troubled, and sorrowful. 00:18:25.559 --> 00:18:28.579 And likewise, God's people in the exile are expressing sorrow. 00:18:28.579 --> 00:18:33.599 One area that Christians are prone to experience sorrow is the situation here. 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:37.980 You can sincerely believe that it is possible for God to do something, 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:41.819 yet be deeply troubled because he does not rescue you now. 00:18:42.399 --> 00:18:43.619 Is he even paying attention? 00:18:44.539 --> 00:18:46.279 Why does he not do something in our slavery? 00:18:47.399 --> 00:18:51.500 Isaiah speaks with the voice of the people calling on God's act as he had done in the days of old. 00:18:51.500 --> 00:18:53.599 And the Exodus is on his mind. 00:18:53.900 --> 00:18:58.640 He calls on the arm of the Lord, echoing when the Lord brought out Israel out of Egypt 00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:00.579 with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, 00:19:00.680 --> 00:19:02.880 with the great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders. 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:06.180 He is calling on God to awake as he did in the Exodus. 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:08.480 I think the question arises, 00:19:09.019 --> 00:19:13.359 who is Rahab in this dragon Isaiah is referring to in verse 9 to 10? 00:19:13.880 --> 00:19:14.279 You see that? 00:19:14.500 --> 00:19:18.519 When we hear Rahab, we normally think of the woman who performed courageous deeds of faith 00:19:18.519 --> 00:19:21.019 at the Battle of Jericho, mentioned in Hebrews 11. 00:19:21.500 --> 00:19:26.799 But the word Hebrew named Rahab literally means pride or arrogance. 00:19:27.480 --> 00:19:31.980 So other time, Rahab is used as an image of Egypt or here of Babylon. 00:19:32.779 --> 00:19:34.980 Isaiah is comparing Babylon to Egypt. 00:19:35.339 --> 00:19:38.740 And God cut Egypt in pieces and pierced Pharaoh the dragon. 00:19:39.380 --> 00:19:43.619 And likewise, God's people are calling on God to judge the nation of Babylon 00:19:43.619 --> 00:19:46.119 and free his people from slavery. 00:19:46.660 --> 00:19:50.299 And we know this is an allusion to the Exodus because the next verse in verse 10 00:19:50.299 --> 00:19:53.220 mentioned Israel crossing the Red Sea. 00:19:53.899 --> 00:19:56.919 Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, 00:19:57.019 --> 00:19:59.700 who made the depths of the sea away for the redeemed to pass over? 00:20:00.419 --> 00:20:02.500 Israel needs another Exodus. 00:20:03.299 --> 00:20:06.539 God must save his people through his outstretched arm. 00:20:07.480 --> 00:20:10.519 And God responds to this cry for freedom by giving a vision 00:20:10.519 --> 00:20:13.399 that has been used to encourage many a weary saint. 00:20:13.400 --> 00:20:14.980 In verse 11, 00:20:14.980 --> 00:20:19.200 Just as the Lord made a way in the dramatic crossing of the Red Sea, 00:20:19.400 --> 00:20:21.420 he will do something new to save his people. 00:20:21.980 --> 00:20:25.519 And the ransom of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing, 00:20:25.980 --> 00:20:27.819 everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. 00:20:28.299 --> 00:20:31.759 They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sin shall flee away. 00:20:32.620 --> 00:20:36.460 This is a vision of hope for the Christian suffering at the hands of the tyrant. 00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:41.279 This is promise for the ransomed of the Lord, those who are freed from slavery. 00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:45.940 Though mistreated now, soon everlasting joy will crown your head. 00:20:46.660 --> 00:20:50.200 Sorrow and sighing will flee away like a shadow flees when the sun comes out. 00:20:50.839 --> 00:20:55.059 When God's work of salvation comes, the released captives will be given a crown, 00:20:55.720 --> 00:20:57.099 eternal joy on their heads. 00:20:58.059 --> 00:21:00.779 In their suffering, in the mind of God, the people are glorified 00:21:00.779 --> 00:21:03.639 as they triumphantly march back into Zion with singing. 00:21:04.420 --> 00:21:07.920 God will defend his people from any nation that would seek to tyrannize them 00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:10.899 and will bring his people safely home again. 00:21:11.799 --> 00:21:13.940 As the psalm says, many are the afflictions of the righteous, 00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:16.019 but the Lord delivers him out of them all. 00:21:16.839 --> 00:21:17.940 And this is a picture of heaven. 00:21:18.599 --> 00:21:21.960 As 1 Peter reminds us, set your hope fully on the grace 00:21:21.960 --> 00:21:26.119 that will be brought to you at the day of Jesus Christ, 00:21:26.200 --> 00:21:27.379 the revelation of Jesus Christ. 00:21:27.539 --> 00:21:28.559 And that day will come. 00:21:29.079 --> 00:21:30.359 As Adoniram Judson said, 00:21:30.399 --> 00:21:31.639 when Christ calls me home, 00:21:31.639 --> 00:21:34.740 I shall go with the gladness of a boy bounding away from his school. 00:21:34.740 --> 00:21:40.440 This truth caused Christian slaves on the plantation to form choirs singing, 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:44.079 sweet low swing chariots, coming to carry me home. 00:21:44.940 --> 00:21:46.799 Christian, this is not our home. 00:21:47.500 --> 00:21:49.519 But God will one day bring us home. 00:21:50.140 --> 00:21:55.019 And God gives us a glorious picture of the future to help us endure suffering in the present. 00:21:55.799 --> 00:21:58.380 And these calls to listen are paired with calls for action. 00:21:58.380 --> 00:22:02.880 Point number five, awake to God's wrath in verse 17 to 23. 00:22:03.400 --> 00:22:05.200 God reverses the call to awake, 00:22:05.320 --> 00:22:08.000 and now it is Israel who must awake from her drunken stupor. 00:22:09.080 --> 00:22:10.440 Wake yourself, wake yourself. 00:22:10.680 --> 00:22:11.860 Stand up, O Jerusalem, 00:22:12.280 --> 00:22:14.360 you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord, 00:22:14.620 --> 00:22:15.700 the cup of his wrath, 00:22:16.620 --> 00:22:18.900 who have drunk to the dregs, the bull, the cup of staggering. 00:22:19.220 --> 00:22:20.300 There is none to guide her. 00:22:20.620 --> 00:22:22.100 Among all the sons she has borne, 00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:23.760 there is none to take her by the hand. 00:22:24.700 --> 00:22:26.300 Among all the sons she has brought up, 00:22:26.299 --> 00:22:28.319 these two things have happened to you. 00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:29.559 Who will console you? 00:22:29.960 --> 00:22:31.940 Devastation and destruction, famine and sword. 00:22:32.059 --> 00:22:32.899 Who will comfort you? 00:22:33.279 --> 00:22:34.200 Your sons have fainted. 00:22:34.440 --> 00:22:37.059 They lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net. 00:22:37.399 --> 00:22:39.960 They are full of the wrath of the Lord, the rebuke of your God. 00:22:40.779 --> 00:22:42.379 Through the devastation of the exile, 00:22:43.039 --> 00:22:45.440 Israel experienced the lightning storm of judgment. 00:22:46.240 --> 00:22:50.720 The Bible uses the image of drinking from the cup of God's wrath down to its dregs. 00:22:50.839 --> 00:22:54.659 The people experienced the Mosaic covenant curses for their disobedience. 00:22:54.660 --> 00:23:00.480 Verse 19 are images of those covenant curses that God promised through Moses in Deuteronomy. 00:23:01.220 --> 00:23:03.120 Devastation, destruction, famine and sword. 00:23:04.019 --> 00:23:08.180 But now God will turn the tables on Babylon in verse 22. 00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:13.480 Jerusalem will rise from the ashes and Babylon will go down into the ashes. 00:23:14.500 --> 00:23:15.300 Verse 21, 00:23:15.299 --> 00:23:19.579 Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted, who are drunk but not with wine. 00:23:20.039 --> 00:23:23.419 Thus says your Lord, the Lord, your God who pleads the cause of his people. 00:23:23.859 --> 00:23:27.859 Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering, the bowl of my wrath. 00:23:27.919 --> 00:23:29.059 You shall drink no more. 00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:32.240 And I will put it into the hand of your tormentors who have said to you, 00:23:32.559 --> 00:23:34.159 bow down that we may pass over. 00:23:34.440 --> 00:23:37.960 And you have made your back like the ground, like the street for them to pass over. 00:23:38.359 --> 00:23:39.319 God gets their attention. 00:23:39.319 --> 00:23:43.159 And behold, he will put the cup of wrath into the hand of the tormentors. 00:23:43.939 --> 00:23:45.919 And God will take up the cause of his people. 00:23:46.659 --> 00:23:50.159 God has been the prosecutor in the courtroom, but through the exile. 00:23:50.279 --> 00:23:55.039 But now God will switch sides and be their defender in the courtroom from every charge 00:23:55.039 --> 00:23:55.939 that can be brought against them. 00:23:56.679 --> 00:23:59.240 God, he is the faithful husband who defends his wife Israel. 00:23:59.679 --> 00:24:01.559 And God is committed to saving his people. 00:24:01.919 --> 00:24:04.500 As in the Exodus, God will once again deliver them from slavery. 00:24:04.500 --> 00:24:09.259 And this brings us to the last point, awake to God's great salvation. 00:24:09.460 --> 00:24:11.240 Awake to God's great salvation. 00:24:11.799 --> 00:24:17.200 Chapter 52 sets the table for Isaiah 53 and the description of the suffering servant who 00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:17.960 had come to save. 00:24:18.680 --> 00:24:23.460 The crescendo, the drama of God's salvation is getting louder and louder as Isaiah progresses. 00:24:24.059 --> 00:24:26.839 God will reverse the curses into blessing. 00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:31.720 Verse 1, chapter 52, awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion. 00:24:31.720 --> 00:24:34.539 Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. 00:24:34.940 --> 00:24:38.220 For there shall no more come into you, the uncircumcised and the unclean. 00:24:38.559 --> 00:24:40.220 Shake yourself from the dust and arise. 00:24:40.360 --> 00:24:41.420 Be seated, O Jerusalem. 00:24:41.880 --> 00:24:44.380 Loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion. 00:24:44.860 --> 00:24:48.440 For thus says the Lord, you were sold for nothing and you shall be redeemed without money. 00:24:48.819 --> 00:24:52.940 For thus says the Lord God, my people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there. 00:24:53.440 --> 00:24:55.000 And the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing. 00:24:55.519 --> 00:25:00.640 Now therefore, what have I here, declares the Lord, seeing that my people are taken away for nothing. 00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:05.480 Their rulers wail, declares the Lord, and continually all the day my name is despised. 00:25:05.940 --> 00:25:07.980 Therefore, my people shall know my name. 00:25:08.380 --> 00:25:10.960 Therefore, in that day they shall know that it is I who speak. 00:25:11.380 --> 00:25:12.300 Here I am. 00:25:12.840 --> 00:25:16.160 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, 00:25:16.480 --> 00:25:19.120 who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, 00:25:19.420 --> 00:25:23.080 who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, your God reigns. 00:25:23.400 --> 00:25:25.440 The voice of your watchmen, they lift up their voice. 00:25:25.580 --> 00:25:26.880 Together they sing for joy. 00:25:27.200 --> 00:25:29.759 For eye to eye they see the return of the Lord to Zion. 00:25:29.759 --> 00:25:33.500 Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem. 00:25:33.920 --> 00:25:35.220 For the Lord has comforted his people. 00:25:35.660 --> 00:25:36.599 He has redeemed Jerusalem. 00:25:36.980 --> 00:25:40.079 The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations. 00:25:40.379 --> 00:25:43.180 And all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. 00:25:43.500 --> 00:25:45.099 Depart, depart, go out from there. 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:46.559 Touch no unclean thing. 00:25:46.819 --> 00:25:47.640 Go out from the midst of her. 00:25:47.740 --> 00:25:50.299 Purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the Lord. 00:25:50.480 --> 00:25:51.900 For you shall not go out in haste. 00:25:52.160 --> 00:25:53.839 You shall not go in flight. 00:25:54.160 --> 00:25:57.819 For the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. 00:25:57.819 --> 00:26:02.379 The people were tempted to think that God's arm was too short to save the people. 00:26:02.939 --> 00:26:08.259 Back in chapter 51, verse 9, the people cried out for the arm of the Lord to awake to save the people. 00:26:08.679 --> 00:26:10.759 God declared, my righteousness draws near. 00:26:10.839 --> 00:26:12.139 My salvation has gone out. 00:26:12.480 --> 00:26:14.220 My arms will judge the people. 00:26:14.539 --> 00:26:16.859 The coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait. 00:26:16.859 --> 00:26:24.939 The world is waiting and waiting for the Lord's arm to appear to lead another exodus. 00:26:25.579 --> 00:26:29.459 But we begin to see in Isaiah that the arm is a person. 00:26:30.419 --> 00:26:31.959 He is the Messiah, the servant. 00:26:32.740 --> 00:26:37.639 God responds to his people's cry for the arm of the Lord in Isaiah 52, verse 10. 00:26:37.640 --> 00:26:45.860 The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. 00:26:46.800 --> 00:26:51.540 In Isaiah 53, we learn the suffering servant is called the arm of the Lord. 00:26:52.640 --> 00:26:53.540 53, verse 1. 00:26:53.600 --> 00:26:55.020 Who has believed what he has heard from us? 00:26:55.340 --> 00:26:58.060 And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 00:26:58.580 --> 00:27:01.480 For he grew up before him like a young plant. 00:27:01.480 --> 00:27:07.539 The servant's strength, the arm of the Lord, is supremely displayed in his humble service. 00:27:08.599 --> 00:27:14.079 The arm of the Lord is someone strong enough to shatter the shackles that bound his people in slavery. 00:27:14.660 --> 00:27:20.299 And God's salvation will come through the servant who will show God's strength when he saves his people, like in the exodus. 00:27:20.779 --> 00:27:23.339 But this exodus will be greater than the first one. 00:27:24.620 --> 00:27:29.279 God calls him in verse 11 to depart, depart, go out from there, touch no unclean thing. 00:27:29.279 --> 00:27:34.220 In the first exodus, God's people took some of Egypt with them. 00:27:35.059 --> 00:27:37.200 In the second exodus, they'll leave it all behind. 00:27:38.359 --> 00:27:40.119 There will be a complete separation. 00:27:40.879 --> 00:27:45.859 In the first exodus, the people were called to take jewelry from Egyptian houses to make haste. 00:27:46.200 --> 00:27:52.879 This time, they're commanded to touch nothing, to come out and be pure, not to go out in haste, because God himself would be with them. 00:27:53.359 --> 00:27:58.579 They're called to leave behind more than Babylon in the second exodus, but all ungodliness. 00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:05.399 This coming exodus would rescue them, not from a geopolitical reality, but deliver them from much deeper slavery. 00:28:06.299 --> 00:28:14.220 And the servant, the Lord Jesus, would redeem those out of the darkness of slavery, the slavery of the heart, and to bring good news. 00:28:14.500 --> 00:28:17.759 Paul quotes Isaiah 52 in Romans 10, as Tosin read earlier. 00:28:18.299 --> 00:28:21.759 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news. 00:28:21.759 --> 00:28:24.900 Jesus came to bring good news. 00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:33.559 And the gospel is a joyous proclamation of good news that sets the slave free, speaks peace to the rebel, and gives hope to the downcast. 00:28:34.119 --> 00:28:40.879 And the joyous proclamation of the gospel is this, that God is your maker, and your maker is holy. 00:28:41.359 --> 00:28:43.059 And he's made us in his image to know him. 00:28:43.700 --> 00:28:47.200 And because he is the maker, he has authority over us. 00:28:47.200 --> 00:28:50.220 But we've sinned against this good God. 00:28:50.840 --> 00:28:55.299 In our natural estate, we are citizens of Babylon, God's enemies and slaves to sin. 00:28:56.019 --> 00:28:59.380 And because of this sin, we all rightly deserve God's wrath and condemnation. 00:28:59.880 --> 00:29:03.259 We deserve to be consumed in judgment for reproaching God and his people. 00:29:03.799 --> 00:29:06.740 Consumed as the moth eats the garment, and the worm will eat them like wool. 00:29:07.759 --> 00:29:11.360 That is what we've all deserved, because we show contempt for God and his people by our sin. 00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:16.939 But here's the good news, the joyous news of happiness, of salvation, that Isaiah saw dimly. 00:29:17.379 --> 00:29:23.559 In his great love, God would bear his outstretched arm by sending Jesus the servant, who was fully God and fully man. 00:29:23.899 --> 00:29:26.079 Jesus put on strength by humbling himself. 00:29:26.879 --> 00:29:31.299 And this is the strength of God's arm that Isaiah wants us to see to prepare us for Isaiah 53. 00:29:31.859 --> 00:29:35.299 The supreme power of the servant is displayed by humility. 00:29:36.199 --> 00:29:39.019 Jesus would come to the servant and give his life as a ransom for many. 00:29:39.019 --> 00:29:43.579 This Jesus completely and fully obeyed his father, even to the point of death. 00:29:44.059 --> 00:29:46.779 He laid his life down and willingly went to a cross. 00:29:47.299 --> 00:29:52.319 Christ made his back like the ground was trampled, so that we would not be trampled under God's judgment. 00:29:53.299 --> 00:30:00.319 Christ paid the horrific penalty as a cup of God's wrath was poured on him as our substitute. 00:30:00.940 --> 00:30:06.519 He drank the cup the Father gave him for you and me, and for all who would have ever turned from their sin and trust in him. 00:30:06.519 --> 00:30:13.279 On the third day, he rose from the dead, and he now commands everyone everywhere to turn from their sin and trust in him alone. 00:30:13.740 --> 00:30:15.259 And he has not done these things in secret. 00:30:15.839 --> 00:30:18.619 He has done it in the public square, before the eyes of all the nations. 00:30:18.940 --> 00:30:22.299 And this is the good news that makes Christians sing for joy while suffering. 00:30:22.859 --> 00:30:27.660 In the most distressing circumstances, plantation slaves could form choirs singing gospel hymns. 00:30:28.059 --> 00:30:31.940 In the book of Acts, the apostle Paul and Silas sang hymns to their prison guards. 00:30:32.359 --> 00:30:35.319 Christ gives joy to Christians who suffer unjustly. 00:30:35.319 --> 00:30:40.399 And if you are here and you are not a Christian, awake, awake to God's salvation. 00:30:40.799 --> 00:30:41.500 Run to Christ. 00:30:41.980 --> 00:30:44.139 Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. 00:30:44.539 --> 00:30:46.480 His arm is not too short to save. 00:30:46.939 --> 00:30:51.599 He can reach across the universe with his outstretched arm to save even those broken and vile sinners. 00:30:52.279 --> 00:30:54.919 And for you, Christian, this suffering will not last forever. 00:30:55.519 --> 00:30:56.279 Things will get better. 00:30:56.980 --> 00:30:59.919 Do you see how much joy is bursting from the seams when the servant would appear? 00:30:59.920 --> 00:31:07.080 The people were in darkness in the exile, but the Spirit of God triumphantly is working out their salvation for their eternal joy. 00:31:08.440 --> 00:31:09.340 Adner, I'm Judson. 00:31:09.460 --> 00:31:12.140 This missionary drank the bitter cup of suffering. 00:31:13.000 --> 00:31:17.240 Where did Judson find hope during his death march and after losing his children? 00:31:18.279 --> 00:31:21.019 Look at the comfort he found in Christ in the midst of painful loss. 00:31:21.519 --> 00:31:25.380 Listen to the comfort he gave to a fellow missionary, Sarah Boardman, who had lost her husband. 00:31:25.380 --> 00:31:28.720 He wrote about finding the sweetness in the bitter cup of suffering. 00:31:28.860 --> 00:31:29.240 He writes, 00:31:30.040 --> 00:31:35.200 My dear sister, you are now drinking the bitter cup whose drags I am somewhat acquainted with. 00:31:35.940 --> 00:31:41.240 And though for some time you have been aware of its approach, I venture to say that it is far bitterer than you expected. 00:31:42.260 --> 00:31:49.160 As to your beloved, you know that all his tears are wiped away and that the crown which encircles his brow outshines the sun. 00:31:49.920 --> 00:31:52.120 Little Sarah and the others have found again their father. 00:31:52.119 --> 00:31:57.879 Not the frail, sinful, mortal that they left the earth, but an immortal saint. 00:31:58.539 --> 00:32:00.000 A magnificent, majestic king. 00:32:00.579 --> 00:32:01.859 What more can you desire for them? 00:32:02.519 --> 00:32:06.359 While therefore your tears flow, let a due proportion be tears of joy. 00:32:06.759 --> 00:32:09.599 Yet take the bitter cup with both hands and sit down and drink the cup. 00:32:10.179 --> 00:32:14.299 You will soon learn a secret that there is sweetness at the bottom. 00:32:15.039 --> 00:32:18.399 You will find the sweetest cup that you have ever tasted in all your life. 00:32:19.059 --> 00:32:20.539 You will find heaven coming near to you. 00:32:20.539 --> 00:32:24.940 Judson learned that Christ is the sweetness at the bottom of the suffering. 00:32:25.680 --> 00:32:27.639 And you can find the same. 00:32:28.720 --> 00:32:32.339 When we face unjust suffering, Christ is there for you too. 00:32:33.500 --> 00:32:37.240 He can make the waste places green as the Garden of Eden. 00:32:37.779 --> 00:32:38.139 Let's pray. 00:32:40.359 --> 00:32:41.159 Father in heaven, 00:32:41.160 --> 00:32:43.340 O Lord, 00:32:43.500 --> 00:32:44.640 give us water in the desert. 00:32:45.759 --> 00:32:49.100 Make these waste places green as the Garden of Eden, 00:32:49.180 --> 00:32:50.960 as you comfort us with your presence. 00:32:51.720 --> 00:32:52.840 Help us, Lord, 00:32:52.920 --> 00:32:55.019 to move forward to that crown of joy 00:32:55.019 --> 00:32:57.400 that would be placed upon our heads. 00:32:58.080 --> 00:32:59.140 And sorrow and sighing 00:32:59.140 --> 00:33:00.880 shall forever flee away. 00:33:02.000 --> 00:33:02.420 Amen. 00:33:02.420 --> 00:33:02.519 Amen.