Silence is a powerful thing, and yet we come today to praise God and thank Him that we can lift our voices up to Him in praise as well on this Remembrance Day.
Our theme this morning is the mountain of the Lord, the place that we can come to and find help and refuge in all our times of need.
And our first singing is from Psalm 121, the Scottish Psalter version.
A psalm that speaks to us of that place that we can look to.
I to the hills will lift mine eyes from whence doth come my need.
My safety cometh from the Lord who heaven and earth hath made.
We're going to sing the whole of this psalm, verse 1 to 8.
The tune is French, and we stand to sing to God's praise.
Amen.
I to the hills will lift mine eyes from whence doth come my need.
My safety cometh from the Lord who heaven and earth hath made.
Thy food he'll not let slide nor will.
His slumber that he keeps.
Behold he that keeps Israel.
His slumber that he keeps.
His slumber that he sleeps.
The Lord he keeps.
The Lord thy shade.
On thy right hand doth stay.
The moon by night they shall not smite.
Nor yet the sun by day.
The Lord shall keep thy soul he shall.
Preserve thee from all hell.
Henceforth thy going out and in.
God keep forever well.
Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer.
Let us pray.
Our Father in heaven, as we come in worship of you this day,
as we come even in that moment of silence,
we thank you that around the world today there are people who are just like us coming to hear your word
and to pause in these moments of remembrance of so much that was done for us.
As we remember the many who lay down their lives,
who suffered in so many ways that we might have the freedom that we have today.
We thank you that today we come with that silence, but also with the great joy that you are a God who speaks to us.
That even in the words that we have sung, that you remind us that there is great praise to be offered up to you,
the maker of heaven and earth.
And we thank you that young and old together here we come with so much to give thanks for.
And we just ask your blessing on all that we do today.
Thankful for the freedom that is ours in our land.
Thank you for the freedom to come and worship you.
And we pray that you will protect us and keep us in these freedoms.
That in our world, O Lord, that's full of troubles, that we remember that you are God and the God who is able to give peace.
And so we remember, Lord, your cause throughout the world today.
And remember us here, O Lord, as we come as families and as a congregation to you.
We do thank you for the promise of your presence with us.
May you look down upon us. May you bless your word to us this day and to all who hear it near and far.
That it will be a powerful word.
A word that we are reminded of what a great God you are.
And for all that you have given us in that great and wonderful provision that you have made for our salvation, for our safety.
The Lord Jesus Christ, may we praise his name.
And may he be lifted up before us today in all that we do, that all glory would be his.
So hear our prayers. Bless us. Bless the children as they go through to the tweenies and the Sunday school and the Bible class.
Lord, be with them there and all our young people, all our families.
Watch over us and bless us together.
That's all we ask. We ask in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen.
It's good to be together for worship today.
And of course, today is Remembrance Day.
And I'm sure maybe in school you've been remembering that as well.
I was in Laxdale School on Friday where we had the Remembrance Assembly and other schools have been doing it as well.
It's an important time for us to remember what was done for us in the past.
But in the midst of it all, what we remember too is our great God.
Our great God who watches over us at all times.
And the God who is a refuge and a strength for his people in all times.
Times of joy and times of need.
I want to share something with you about something I learned in the October holidays when we were away on holiday.
We went to visit the island of Jersey, which is one of the Channel Islands and it's very close to France.
You can actually see France on the horizon if you're in the right place on Jersey.
But it belongs to the United Kingdom, as part of the United Kingdom.
And during the Second World War, it was a part of the United Kingdom.
But in 1940, it was invaded by the German army.
And for the next nearly five years, the Germans occupied.
That means they were there that whole time.
That was where they were keeping people under their rule.
And as we were visiting Jersey, there were some interesting places that you could go and see the history of the place.
And especially from the Second World War.
One of the places we went to visit what's called the war tunnels.
And here on the side of a hill, the Germans used slaves to dig tunnels into this hill.
So it would be a place of protection for them.
They were ruling over the island and all its people.
And if you were a resident on Jersey, you belonged to the United Kingdom, you were under German rule, you had to have what they call an identity card.
And when we went to visit the war tunnels, we were all given, as we went in, an identity card that reminded us of people from the past.
So four of us went in and we got four identity cards.
And these are the cards, the same kind of cards that the people in Jersey had.
I know it's difficult to see.
I put them through on the table next door when I go through for the coffee and you can see it there.
And on these cards, what you have is a picture of the Persian.
And then you have their name and address and date of birth.
And also down the other side, there's details about them.
Their color of hair, their color of eyes, and these kinds of things.
And it's stamped as well and they had to sign it.
And what this meant was that if they were out and about and they were stopped by a German soldier,
they had to show this identity card to show that they belonged to the police and show them who they were.
And really, it's what kept them safe during that time.
Because if they didn't have that, they were in danger of being put in prison.
And so these were important cards for them to have.
And it's amazing just to think of how these are real people, real names of people who lived there in that time.
And this time of remembrance is a time when we remember so many different people and so many different names.
Names of people we maybe never knew.
And yet important names, maybe even names belonging to our own families.
But what's important for us today as well is to remember that we need like an identity card as well.
Something that will keep us safe in times of trouble.
And it's not an identity card like this.
But it's more our identity card that is found in the Bible.
Who do we belong to?
And who is our safety found in?
Do we belong to Jesus?
That's the important question for us today.
Is our identity found in Jesus?
Is our name known to Him in that way?
We are marked safe by Him.
Well, to be safe with Him is to believe in Him.
That's what the Bible teaches us.
To be safe in Him is to believe in Him.
And then He knows us by name.
He calls us by name to follow Him.
And we're safe with Him.
So much of our history has so much that is sad.
And when we think of what Jesus has done for us, that makes us sad as well because He had to die for our sins.
But yet He rose again.
Today we remember the many who gave their lives for us in conflicts in the past.
But remember today good news as well.
Of Jesus who came to save His people.
Of Jesus who rose from the dead.
And of Jesus who gives a promise of eternal life to all who believe in Him.
So may we find our identity in Him.
And be known by Him.
By believing in Him.
We're going to say the Lord's Prayer together now.
Our Father which art in heaven.
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation.
But deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever.
Amen.
We'll again sing to God's praise.
Now we're going to sing in Psalm 27.
Verses 1 to 5 in the Scottish Psalter.
Psalm 27, page 236.
We sing from the beginning of the Psalm down to verse 5.
The tune is Jackson.
The Lord's my light and saving health who shall make me dismayed.
My life's strength is the Lord of whom then shall I be afraid.
When as my enemies and foes, most wicked persons all, to eat my flesh against me rose, they stumbled and did fall.
And the psalmist goes on to describe coming into the place of the Lord and seeing the beauty of the Lord as the place of refuge for his people.
Psalm 27, we'll sing from verse 1 to 5.
We stand to sing.
The Lord's my light and saving health who shall make me dismayed.
My life's strength is the Lord of whom then shall I be afraid.
When as mine enemies and foes, most wicked persons all, to eat my flesh against me rose, they stumbled and did fall.
Against me though an host encamp my heart yet fearlessness.
Though war against me rise, I will be confident in this.
One thing I of the Lord desired and will seek to obtain.
That all days of my life I may within God's house remain.
That I the beauty of the Lord behold me and admire.
And that I in his holy place may reverently inquire.
For he in his pavilion shall be hide in evil days.
In secret of his tent may hide and on a rock may raise.
In secret of his holy place may be buried.
We'll turn together now to read God's word in the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament.
In Isaiah chapter 2.
You'll find this around page 685 of the church Bibles.
Isaiah chapter 2.
We're going to read the whole of this chapter.
Isaiah chapter 2.
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of mountains.
And shall be lifted up above the hills.
And all the nations shall flow to it.
And many people shall come and say,
Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of God, the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways.
And that we may walk in his paths.
For out of Sion shall go the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations and shall decide disputes for many people.
And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nations shall not lift up sword against nation.
Neither shall they learn war any more.
O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
For we have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of things from the east and of fortune tellers like the Philistines.
And they strike hands with the children of foreigners.
Their land is filled with silver and gold and there is no end to their treasures.
Their land is filled with horses and there is no end to their chariots.
Their land is filled with idols.
They bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made.
So man is humbled and each one is brought low.
Do not forgive them.
Enter into the rock and hide in the dust from before the terror of the Lord and from the splendor of his majesty.
The haughty looks of man shall be brought low.
And the lofty pride of men shall be humbled.
And the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
For the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up and it shall be brought low.
Against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up and against all the oaks of Bashan.
Against all the lofty mountains and against all the uplifted hills.
Against every high tower and against every fortified wall.
Against all the ships of Tarshish and against all the beautiful craft.
And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled.
And the lofty pride of men shall be brought low.
And the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
And the idols shall utterly pass away.
And people shall enter the caves of the rocks.
And the holes of the ground from before the terror of the Lord.
And from the splendor of his majesty.
When he rises to terrify the earth.
Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath.
For of what account?
In that day mankind will cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold.
Which they made for themselves to worship.
To the moles and to the bats.
To enter the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs.
From before the terror of the Lord.
And from the splendor of his majesty.
When he rises to terrify the earth.
Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath.
For of what account is he?
And so on.
May God bless that reading from his word.
As again just bow heads in a word of prayer.
Let us pray.
Lord our gracious God.
As we read your word.
We are reminded of so much.
Of the world in which we live today.
Of how relevant your word is to this day.
To days of old.
And even the days that are ahead of us.
It is a word that holds through.
Down through all the generations.
It speaks of man.
It speaks of what we are.
It speaks of our desires.
Which are so often away from you.
And as we see in this chapter that we have read.
We see both blessings and we see warnings.
We see the warnings of what it means to make idols.
And to go our own way.
We see what it means when man seeks to worship himself.
When we lose sight of God.
In so many ways.
So Lord we live in a world that has done this and is doing this.
We are reminded that there is sin in the heart of all.
As we think today on this remembrance day.
As we think of the evil that came to the fore.
For a generation past.
As we think of the wars that took place.
In our land and in so many nations of the world.
When we see the power of evil and all that it brought into our world once more.
Through the wickedness of man towards man.
We know oh Lord and we hear so much of the atrocities of war.
Not just in the past but even in our day as well.
When we see the suffering of so many.
When we think of the bloodshed.
When we think of the lives lost.
When we think of the innocent who suffer.
Young and old alike.
We think of what sin has done to our world.
And yet still as humanity we seek.
Our own good to our own ends.
Through our own means.
But we thank you God today that you remember us.
And that you are a God who is there.
A God who has been gracious to his people in the past.
A God who was warning his people through Isaiah.
In the passage that we have read.
Of the need to humble ourselves before you.
Before that great day of terror of the Lord's coming.
When you will restore all things.
When you will make all things new.
When you will turn the implements of war into implements of peace.
When you will bring your people to yourself.
When you will gather them in.
From north, south, east and west.
All who have trusted in you.
We are reminded, O Lord.
That there is a great day ahead for your people.
But it is also a day of terror.
For those who would perish.
For those who have put their trust in their own idols.
Made by their own hands.
For those who today.
Put their trust in these things still.
And we look to seek progress in the ways of man.
Instead of the ways of the Lord.
We pray that your spirit will be with us.
That you would bring a spirit of peace upon us.
As a people here, O Lord.
That we would know your presence with us.
That we would be made thankful for the freedom that is ours.
That we would be made thankful for all that has been done for us.
That we would be especially thankful for the peace of God.
That passes all understanding.
And we pray to know it.
And for many to know it in our midst and around us as well.
That you would lead us in these days.
And teach us by your word.
That through humility would come to the fore.
For it is through humility that there can be unity and peace.
And through humility, Lord, we would see so much good in this world.
And so we pray, O Lord, that you will humble us.
That you will teach us to make the best of our days.
And we think of the freedom that we have.
O Lord, that we would honour that freedom.
That we would honour you as our Lord and as our God.
And so that today, as we have so many burdens to bring to you in prayer.
That today, when we see a world in so much turmoil and chaos.
Today, as we see a world where wars still go on.
As we think of conflicts in the Middle East.
As we think of Russia and the Ukraine.
As we think of so many parts of the world, O Lord.
When there are people suffering.
We pray, Lord, for you to bring peace into our midst.
We pray for your protection for your people.
We pray for you to turn us to you in a great day of prayer.
To cry out to the Lord in our trouble.
And to know the rescuing that you are able to give.
That you are a God of salvation.
A God of promise.
We thank you that even as we look back to the generations past.
When we think of the first world war.
We think of the second world war.
And conflicts even since then.
So we remember the great sacrifice that was made.
We give you thanks for bringing us through these years.
We bring you thanks, O Lord, for restoring our land.
And giving us great blessings.
And we think of times of revivals.
Even since the end of these wars.
We thank you for them.
And for the way you blessed your word.
And yet today we see such a great turning away from it.
And so our prayer is, O Lord, again revive us.
Bring us to you.
To humble ourselves before you.
Help us to be a people who will honour you.
Honour you on this, your day.
As we think of what may happen in this week ahead.
As we've been praying for.
And continue to pray about the issue of Tesco opening on your day.
And the plans that they have for our week today.
We know, O Lord, that when we feel helpless.
That we bring these things to you as the God who is able to do abundantly more than we ask or imagine.
And so we pray, Lord, that you will humble us.
That we will be humble before you.
And that you will humble those in positions of making these decisions.
That they will be humbled by you.
By the prayers of your people.
By the power of your spirit.
To turn away from that.
And to honour you in all that they do.
We pray that for our nation and for our island as a whole.
That in all things we would seek to do it.
For your glory and for your name's sake.
Help us to be a people who abide by your truth and in your truth.
For in your truth there is life.
And life abundant.
So hear our prayers for these matters.
Hear our prayers for all our people.
For those in need today.
For those who mourn in our midst.
Mourn in the midst of this day but also in days of old.
People who still remember those who may be lost in times of conflict.
Families that grieve in the midst of all of these days.
We pray for your comfort.
For your blessing.
For your peace.
For those who are unwell in hospital and homes.
For those who are waiting on or going through times of treatment and operations.
Lord we commit them to you.
For all of us together as a people.
We know.
O Lord a day of your favour.
A day of your blessing.
Hear our prayers for our land and for the nations of the world today.
As so many will pause in remembrance.
As your word is spoken and read and heard by so many.
We pray that it will be blessed to all ends of the earth.
Hear our prayers.
Continue with us.
Pardoning all our sin.
That's all we ask.
We ask in Jesus name.
And for his sake.
Amen.
Let's again sing to God's praise.
This time we sing in Psalm 65.
Psalm 65.
Let's sing Psalms version on page 82.
And the tune is Huddersfield.
We're going to sing from verse 1 to verse 7.
And Zion praise awaits you Lord.
To you our vows will pay.
To you all people will come near.
You hear us when we pray.
In verse 6 it says,
By strength and power you formed the hills.
You hushed the ocean's voice.
You calmed the tumult of their waves.
And stilled the people's noise.
We'll sing these verses.
In verses 1 to 7.
To God's praise we stand to sing.
Let's pray.
us when we pray. When we were overwhelmed by sins and guilt upon us lay, you pardoned
all our trespasses and washed our guilt away. How blessed are those you choose and bring
within your courts of grace, where filled with blessings and your house and your most holy
place. With awesome deeds of righteousness, you answered us, O God, our Savior and hope
of farthest seas and all the earth abroad. By strength and power you formed the hills,
you hushed the ocean's voice, you calmed the tumult of their waves, and still the people's
voice.
We can turn back together with me to Isaiah chapter 2, and our focus this morning is on
verses 1 to verse 5, that first part of the chapter that speaks about the mountain of the
Lord. You read there at verse 2, it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain
of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of mountains, and shall be lifted
up above the hills, and all the nations shall flow to it. And many people shall come and say,
come, let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may
teach us his ways, and so on.
Well, as we come today to think of Remembrance Sunday and Remembrance Day, a time of reflection,
as we pause and look back, it is a time of worship, and we thank God for that, that we have the freedom
to come and worship him today, a freedom that may not have been ours had that great sacrifice not been
made for us. But it is, of course, a day when we come ultimately to worship God and praise his name.
We sing these words in Psalm 65, and Zion, praise awaits you, Lord. It is a time to give thanks
to God, and we want to do that by looking to God's word, and we're going to look at these verses before
us, verse 1 to 5 of Isaiah chapter 2, and just think of the mountain of the Lord and see that there is a
place that the Lord calls all nations and all people to come to. When you think of times of war,
high points, vantage points, hilltops, whatever you want to call them, they are always important
places in times of conflict. Why so? Well, when you think of them, kind of high points, they are points
where you can see what is coming. You can see what is around you, and so they've always been
important. That's why you find many castles built on top of hills, so they could see what was coming
all around them. You think of times of conflict in the Second World War, you see so many accounts told
of battles being fought over hills, so there'll be a sense of controlling the area around them.
They are important places. They give you an advantage over your enemy of being able to see
and have protection around you. And today, as we come and give thanks to God for his protection over us
in the midst of times of conflict in the past, when so many people lost their lives, we are thankful we
can come to God, who is a high point, who has that high point over us in all things, because God alone
sees and knows all things. Isaiah is writing here to the people of God, who have drifted away from God,
and they have started to put other things on their mountains, other idols that they would worship,
other places that they would go to, idols made of silver and gold with their own hands, as you see
described in the latter part of chapter 2. They've started to make their own places of worship, their own
gods that they would worship. But God is reminding them through Isaiah that he is the one who is to be
lifted high. He is the one who is to be raised up, and he is the one that they are to come to and find
their place of praise. When you think of advancement in technology and the advantage of being able to see
from great heights, and you think of what is available to wars, to armies around the world today,
in the sense of satellites up in space, and the vision that they give of the earth below, it's amazing
when you see the great details that they can see from that high point, and the advantage that it gives,
and yet still, it's nothing compared to the height of God. It's nothing compared to the vision that God has
of his people, and the knowledge that he has of his people, of all nations, and all people of this world.
And Isaiah, he didn't have any satellites that could show him what was going on around, and yet what he had
was a vision from God, that God gave him a vision that the people needed to hear. In verse 1 of this chapter,
it says, the word that Isaiah, the son of Amos, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, that the Lord gave
him this prophecy, this vision, and that's what you see revealed through the book of Isaiah, Isaiah showing
the people who God is, who they are, and their great need of God, of what was in store for them in the
present, of what they had done in the past, and what was ahead of them in the future. And for ourselves,
today, it is God's word that speaks to us, in the midst of remembering today conflicts past,
in remembering those who gave their lives in the midst of these conflicts, and remembering
conflicts ongoing throughout our world, and the many who serve in the armed forces far and wide
throughout the world. Today is a day of remembering these things, but remembering the God who is over all.
The God who Isaiah's vision saw concerning the people then, but a word that speaks to us today.
Isaiah is warning his people to find safety at the mountain of the Lord, in the presence of God.
For when days of trouble come, and ultimately when the day of the Lord comes, as Isaiah goes on to speak
of in this chapter and throughout this book, our safety, our refuge can only be found in God,
because there is nothing else in this world that offers us victory. Isaiah is writing at a time,
not that war is going on for them, but a time of war is about to come upon them. When they are going to
be taken into exile, when they are going to be invaded by an army, their protection must be in God.
And for ourselves today, as we see troubles around us, or as we think of peace that we do have in the
midst of troubles around us, we are reminded too of our greatest conflict. And that is the conflict
that goes on in the heart of every man, woman, boy, and child in this world. The conflict that causes wars.
It is sin. The sin that is in us all. And the sin that is evil in this world and causes so much evil
and hurt in this world. The sin that keeps us apart from God and away from God. We are reminded that it is
through faith in God and trusting in God that only then can we find peace and protection and prosperity
through him. Where do we go for this victory? Where do we go to seek this peace? Well, Isaiah is telling
the people that they are to come to the mountain of the Lord, to the place where God is worshipped,
to the place where God is lifted up. And I want us to think of three things about this place today.
It is a place of promise. It is a place of peace. And it is a place of praise. So the first thing we see
here today is it is a place of promise. Isaiah, as he saw these things concerning Judah and Jerusalem,
what he saw covered a great period of time, not just for his own day and for the people's time then,
but looking ahead to the days before them, looking ahead to even New Testament days and to our day,
and even further beyond that to the days that we don't even see ahead of us yet. We cannot see,
but we have the vision that God is showing us a day of the Lord's coming, the day of the Lord's
return. Isaiah's vision was looking to all of these things and it was looking to them in the midst of
the promises that God was making. Isaiah here is showing them the mountain of the house of the Lord,
a place that will be established as the highest of mountains, it says in verse 2 there. It is a place
of God's making. It is a place for the time of God's choosing, a place where God is going to bring
his people together. And as we look to that place, we see it as a place that is full of God's promises.
There's so much of this place that is the not yet, that is still to come. But there's so much of this
place that is the already, that is for us today as we await this great day of the Lord.
And when we think of Isaiah's prophesying here, what he does is not just look into the people's sense of
curiosity. It's not for their just a sense of curiosity, wondering what's ahead for them. It's not just for
us to be curious about, well, maybe this is one thing that could be ahead of us. This is maybe one
direction we might go in. People always want to try and think about the future. You see that
in verse 6 of this chapter, for you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because they are
full of things from the east and of fortune tellers, like the Philistines. They were curious to hear what
the future held for them. And they were looking in all different kinds of places for what the future
might hold for them. And they weren't listening to the Lord. And for ourselves today, the same is
through. The word of God is given to direct us, to show us the ways ahead of us, to show us the great
evil of sin in our hearts, to show us a great Savior who has come in Christ, to show us that the day of
the Lord is a day ahead of us all, a day where every knee will bow and tongue confess that he is Lord.
And yet still we want to be curious about, well, that may be just one option. Maybe there's something else.
But God's word wasn't just given to a curious people. It's given to a people with a great need.
God's word that gives us a great challenge to believe in him and a great assurance for those
who do, that there is safety in the Lord, that there is great comfort in the Lord, for the Lord
is a God of promise, a God who has promised us so much. He promised a son. He promised one who
would come to save us. Isaiah shows so wonderfully later on. He has fulfilled it.
And when he says that the day of the Lord is coming, he will fulfill it. In the New Testament,
when Paul is writing to the church at Thessalonica in chapter 4, he is there speaking about the day
of the Lord, the coming of the Lord Jesus. He concludes in verse 18 by speaking about this,
Therefore, comfort one another with these words. Comfort one another with these words.
The Lord's mountain, the Lord who is working in all of these things, the Lord who is promising
these things, is there to speak a word of comfort to those who believe and put their trust in him.
It is a sign of God's working. What is the promise that we have here? The Lord will establish his mountain.
That is the promise of God. So when we look back in the past and we look to conflicts in the past,
we see a people and nations who have tried to raise themselves up, to make themselves into the God of
this world. But they are brought down. And only the mountain of the Lord is the place that will last.
When it says there in verse 2, the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the
highest of mountains and lifted above the hills. It is a reminder that God is over all.
Whether it's nations or just a group of people or even individuals who try and raise themselves up
above God and have power over others through war and terror and all of these things, God is saying,
they will be brought low. They will be brought down and I will be lifted up. For the mountain of the Lord
is established. His rule is not something temporary. There are times when he allows wars and conflicts.
You see that in the scriptures itself. For the people in Isaiah's days, there was a time when they were
allowed to be brought into exile. But he's saying the day of the Lord is still coming. The mountain of the
Lord is still established. And how is his rule going to be? How is his rule going to stand? Well, we see it
through Jesus Christ. In John chapter 12, it says, now is the time of judgment on this world. Now,
the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men
to myself. In verse 2 of Isaiah here, it says, all the nations shall flow to it, to the mountain of the
Lord, to the place where the Lord is establishing his kingdom. And so that's what we have here. We have a
reminder that God is working. We may not see it finished yet. But it's not to say that it's not
established and it will stand forever. Winston Churchill, in 1942, after a victory in North Africa,
he said this in one of his speeches. He said, now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of
the end, but it's perhaps the end of the beginning. There was a long way to go. And when we look to the
Lord establishing his kingdom here in Isaiah's day, even in our own day, it is not the end,
but it's the beginning of the end. The Lord is establishing his throne, a throne that will last
for a, and for ourselves to know what is ahead of us would be so great in so many ways. And you think
back to the days of the trenches in World War I, when people couldn't see a way ahead in the midst of
this, or during the Second World War, in the early years, when it just seemed to be nation after nation
being conquered. Where was the end to come? There was no end to be seen. It was so uncertain.
And yet a nation called on God in prayer. A day of prayer was called by the nation.
And they looked to what was established, the rule of God, because God is a God of promise.
And for our day today, we need the same, to call on the Lord and to see that his kingdom,
his mountain is established. It shall not be overthrown. And that we are to trust
in the promises of God. The second thing we see here is the mountain of the Lord is a place
of peace, a safe haven that people can come to. How can we know peace? How could people know
peace in the days of Isaiah? Well, when you look at these verses, it says about many people shall come.
Come, it says in verse 3, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways, and that we may walk in his paths. It is about following the Lord.
They thought they had peace when they listened to all the false prophets around them, who said,
all is well. And they were being convinced by this, and yet the reality was so very different.
And they wouldn't listen to Isaiah. Chapter 1 makes it clear for us, the people in Isaiah's day were
rebellious, how they shunned God. And the second part of chapter 2 shows us the consequences of that.
But Isaiah is calling them to return. Come, go up the mountain of the Lord to the house of God,
that he may teach us his ways. It is a call to return, a call to repent. And for every nation of
the world today, and when we hear and see a day of remembrance where God's word is put before people,
it is a day of a call to remember and to repent of how we have forgotten the price that has been paid
for our peace, of how we have forgotten the God who is able to give peace, because we are so convinced
by those who teach us otherwise. In order to know this peace, we are to come to the mountain of the Lord,
to the place where God teaches, to the place where God speaks, not to the mountains as in Isaiah's day
that were being established by others with the idols and the false gods that they worshipped,
but to come to God who is able to bring peace. In any conflict, a signing of a peace treaty
is a time when peace comes. It's hard to imagine the feeling that people would have had
on the 11th of November, 1918. As we think of that coming tomorrow, and we think of the 11th hour of the 11th day,
of the 11th month, it takes us back to a time, a time when peace was declared. And it's just so hard to imagine,
after all that they'd come through, what that meant. But put ourselves into that situation when we think of
the greatest act that has been the greatest act that has been done for us to bring us peace.
As Christ himself went to the cross, he went having spoken these words to his people.
In John 14, he said,
Peace, I leave with you my peace I give to you. I do not give as the world gives.
Peace, do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. He spoke these words of peace,
the same words that he speaks at the beginning of that chapter. He is going to prepare a place for
his people. And he says, let not your hearts be troubled. The troubles of this world, they overwhelm us.
The troubles of this world, they make us see that we don't have peace in this world unless we have Christ.
And the question is, do you have that peace? Have you come to that place, to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach you his ways, that you might know his peace?
Today is our day we remember the peace and the price that was paid for it. But the greatest price of all
was paid by Christ, who gave his life. Isaiah was looking ahead to this day and further beyond it to
the day when the Lord will judge between all nations and ultimately bring peace. In verse 4,
he shall judge between the nations and shall decide disputes for many peoples. It is not the rulers of
this world who will do it. It is God. And instead of destruction, he says, there will be production.
He shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up
sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. That peace is only found in Christ
and in his day. In his day of coming, when he will ultimately bring peace for us.
We hear these words at this time of year in different places. At the going down of the sun and in the
morning, we will remember them. And also for your tomorrows, they gave our, we gave our today. And so it's
important for us to remember all that has been done for us to bring us peace. That Christ gave all for our peace.
Finally, we see too that this place is a place of praise.
There is no other place that we could go to at this time that could offer us hope and praise.
We think of the great devastation of war and the great price that was paid. It can leave us so overwhelmed
with emotion. I was sharing yesterday the remembrance service down in Melbourne of how someone had described
a scene. A scene that if you put every soldier who lost their life in the first world war from the British
servicemen, if you lined them up for a breast, it would stretch 97 miles.
It's the equivalent of seeing this line of men who lost their lives that would stretch from the butt of Lewis
through Barvis, through Barvis, through Barvis, through Barvis, through Barvis, through Barvis,
down to Harris, over the Clesham, through Tarbert, all the way to Leavarborough.
That would be the length of this line of men who lost their lives for a breast.
It's hard to comprehend the loss that was there in the midst of these conflicts.
And it's hard to see praise in the midst of that.
And we can only see praise when we see the God who has delivered us.
Because it is only through looking to him and trusting in him that we see a world that can be
a better place with him at the heart of all that we do and all that we see.
That we would praise his name.
And when you think of what Isaiah is showing the people here,
when he's saying, come, let us go up to the house of the mountain of the Lord.
Come, let us go up that he may teach us his ways, that we might walk in his paths.
Come, that we might praise the Lord, he is saying.
In Psalm 65, in Zion, praise awaits you, Lord.
To you our vows we'll pay.
To you all people will come near you.
Hear us when we pray.
There is praise that he is the one who is able to bring peace.
As you go through Isaiah, you see how much the people endured in their time.
The conflicts and hardships that came their way.
There's nothing new under the sun.
It goes on generation after generation.
And yet later on in Isaiah 66, the Lord speaks a word of peace to them.
In verse 12, for this is what the Lord says.
I will extend peace to her like a river and a wealth of nations like a flooding stream.
And then it goes on in verse 19 and 20.
A sign will go out among many lands and to the distant islands
that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory.
They will proclaim my glory among the nations.
And they will bring all your brothers from all the nations
to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord.
Today, our longing would be that in the midst of remembering the loss that has been done on our behalf,
that we would remember the Lord who is worthy of praise.
That we would not forget the Lord.
And our praise can only be increased the more we see our need.
The more we see what the Lord spares us from.
Not just wars in this life, but the eternity that is before us.
Thomas Watson, the Puritan pastor, he said this,
eternity to the godly is a day that has no sunset.
A day that has no sunset for the godly.
A wonderful day.
But then he goes on to say this,
eternity to the wicked is a night that has no sunrise.
And there is the warning of what it means for those who don't come to the mountain of the Lord.
To the one who is worthy of all our praise.
Eternity to the godly is a day that has no sunset.
But eternity to the wicked is a night that has no sunrise.
The warning that we see in what the vision of Isaiah is here is a warning to ourselves today.
That in the midst of all that goes on,
in the midst of our remembrance today,
we are to look to God.
The God of promise.
The God of peace.
And the God who is worthy of all our praise.
We remember today all who gave for our freedom.
Who paid the greatest price of all.
Who gave their lives.
We see names on war memorials.
And you see their age on war memorials.
So many were so young.
Who left these shores and never returned.
We remember them.
But let us remember above all.
The God who knows.
The God who sees.
The God of promise.
The God of peace.
And the God we praise for our freedom.
Let us not neglect the freedom that we have.
The God who has given it.
And let us praise his name.
Let us pray.
Our Father in heaven.
We do give you thanks for all the deliverance you give to us.
The deliverance of peace for our land in times of trouble.
But above all, Lord, the deliverance you give for our sin.
For the evil within us.
And for the heart that is so far from you.
We thank you that you came to us.
That you did not shun us.
That you gave so much.
Even your son, Christ Jesus our Lord.
That he might come into this troubled world.
And give up peace that is beyond this world.
And we pray, Lord, that you will bless us with your peace today.
And we pray that peace for all nations and people of this world.
That you would draw us to yourself.
That you would be pleased, O Lord, to hear your people crying out to you in all our needs.
Lord, have mercy on us.
And turn us towards you.
As we ask it in Jesus' name.
Amen.
We're going to conclude by singing to God's praise in Psalm 18.
And the Sing Psalms.
We'll sing from verse 1 to verse 6.
Psalm 18 on page 19 of the Psalm books.
The Sing Psalms version.
Verse 1 to 6.
And the tune is Rockingham.
I love you, Lord.
You are my strength.
A fortress is the Lord to me.
My rock and my deliverer.
For refuge to my God.
I flee.
We'll sing from verse 1 to 6.
To God's praise.
Amen.
I love you, Lord.
You are my strength.
A fortress is the Lord to me.
My rock and my deliverer.
For refuge to my God I flee.
He is my stronghold and my shield.
The Lord who saves me by his might.
I'll call on him and give him praise.
I'm safe.
He puts my foes to flight.
The cords of death entangled me.
Destruction hurt me like a wave.
And circled by the snares of death.
I face the terrors of the grave.
In my distress I called on God.
I cried out to the Lord for aid.
He from his temple heard my voice.
He listened to the prayer I made.
After the benediction I'll go to the door to my left.
We'll close with the benediction.
Now may grace, mercy and peace from God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest upon and abide with you all now and forevermore.
Amen.
Thank you.