A voice says, cry.
And I said, what shall I cry?
All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows on it.
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flowers fade.
But the word of our God will stand forever.
Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news.
Lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news.
Lift it up, fear not.
Say to the cities of Judah, behold your God.
Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him.
Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
He will tend his flock like a shepherd.
He will gather the lambs in his arms.
He will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighted the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
Who has measured the spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel?
Whom did he consult, and who made him understand?
Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?
Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales.
Behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.
Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
All the nations are as nothing before him.
They are accounted by him as less than nothing in emptiness.
To whom, then, will you liken God?
Or what likeness compare with him?
An idol, a craftsman, casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts for it silver chains.
He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot.
He seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move.
Do you not know?
Do you not hear?
Has it not been told to you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
who stretches out like the heavens, like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in,
who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.
Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown.
Scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth.
When he blows on them, and they wither, and the temptus carries them off like stubble.
To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him, says the Holy One?
Lift up your eyes on high and see.
Who created these?
He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might,
and because he is strong in power, not one is missing.
Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel?
My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God.
Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might, he increases strength.
Even youth shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted.
But they who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up with wings like eagles.
They shall run and not be weary.
They shall walk and not faint.
This is the word of God.
Great.
Thank you, Jeremy and Julie.
And good morning, Watermark family.
It is great to be with you, as it were.
Welcome to our third Sunday of Church Online.
I want you to know that we are recording this live as we speak, as you're watching it.
This isn't some pre-recorded production that we have neatly put together.
This is about as real and as raw as it gets,
as we as a church family are across the city gathering together,
primarily to worship our God and King.
In our homes, to lift our voices,
to raise our sights onto who God is,
to bring Him the worship that He is worth,
to adore His name,
and to hear Him speak to us from His word.
And so it's great to be with you,
and we're so glad that you have joined us this morning.
Before we do anything else, let's pray.
Let's come before our Father in prayer,
and ask Him to speak to us this morning.
I need it.
You need it.
We need it.
Let's come before our Father.
Lord Jesus Christ,
Sovereign God,
Majestic Father,
Holy Spirit,
God, we come before you this morning in such need of you.
God, as Dan reminded us,
God, our world is so full of angst and anxiety at the moment.
We are full of angst and anxiety.
God, the foundations have been shaken.
So many things,
so much uncertainty all around us.
God, we come before you this morning
because we are in such desperate need of you.
God, you are the rock upon which you can build our lives.
You are a sure and steady anchor for our souls.
Christ, this morning as we come to your word,
we pray, God, speak to us.
Take these words which are on the pages of Scripture
and write them on our hearts, God.
God, for those of us that are anxious and weary,
those of us that are exhausted
and are feeling faint,
Christ, won't you come and scoop us up, God?
Won't you carry us in wings like eagles?
Won't you bring us to your throne room, God,
and open the eyes of our heart to see you,
to behold you,
to gaze upon you?
God, we're in such desperate need of you today.
Come and minister to us, we pray, God.
Come and have your way.
Amen.
This last week,
as I have been thinking about this morning
and praying for it and preparing for it,
I really have carried this burden on my heart
for us as a church.
And I feel like God is wanting to do something in us
as a church community during this time.
In some senses, it's almost like a felt God saying,
don't waste the season that you're in.
What a pity it would be if,
as followers of Jesus,
we hunker down,
we do what we need to,
we get through this difficult season
that we as a city and as a world are facing,
get through the other side,
and then just carry on life as normal.
I feel like God is saying,
there's something I want to do in you
as individuals and as a church.
I want to shape you and your heart
for my mission in the city.
And so as we've been thinking and pondering about this,
one of the things that I feel like God wants to do with us
is to call us back to himself
and to call us to root and to anchor our lives
and our souls in who he is,
in the bigness and the majesty
and the sovereignty of our God.
And so in Matthew chapter seven,
Jesus tells this very famous parable.
He gets the end of a sermon on the mount
and he tells this parable where he says,
those that listen to my words,
follow me, love and trust me,
like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
And the rain fell and the storms came
and the wind blew and the floods increased,
but that house rooted on the rock of who I am
stood firm.
Conversely, those that trust or hope in other things,
like a foolish person,
built their house on the shifting sands.
And the rain falls and the storms come
and the winds blow and the floods rise
and that house comes crashing down.
Jesus unequivocally, unashamedly calls us
to bank our lives on him,
to root who we are in him,
to find our hope and our confidence in him.
Friends, it's not hard to see that
the time in which we're living,
not just with the virus around the world,
not just with the deep division
that we experienced last year as a city
and as a nation,
not only with the typhoon of economic uncertainty
that's coming our way,
but just with general uncertainty,
we're very aware that we are in the storm,
the storm that Jesus spoke about.
And so the question is,
how are we going to weather the storm?
Jesus makes this radical claim
and he calls us to bank our lives on him,
to build our lives on him,
to find our hope and our confidence,
to anchor our soul in who he is.
And he says that in doing that,
we get to weather the storms of life.
Now the question is this,
why do we find this so hard?
If you are a follower of Jesus this morning,
this won't be new to you.
Throughout the scriptures,
Jesus calls us to find our hope
and our confidence in him,
to anchor our lives to him.
But it's one thing to say that,
but to actually do it is so hard.
Why do we find it so hard?
I don't know if you've ever been hiking
or maybe walking along the beach
and you're walking amongst the rock pools of the beach
and you step on a rock
and as you step on it,
you think it's secure,
but as you stand on it,
it topples a little bit
and you suddenly realize,
oh my goodness,
it's not as secure as I thought it was.
In times like this,
times of uncertainty reveal to us
the certainty or the steadfastness
of the rocks upon which we are building
and banking our lives.
The life of the Christian
is really a life of growing
in certainty and confidence
that the rock of Jesus is rock solid
and we are able to carry,
he's able to carry the weight
of our lives and our hopes
and our expectations.
Jesus is a rock
that is not going to topple over
when we put the weight of our lives upon him.
But as we grow in our faith,
we grow in conviction
about who Jesus is.
And so this morning,
as we do that,
I want us to look at this passage
in Isaiah chapter 40.
And it's an amazing passage
that helps us to see something
of who is this rock
that calls us
to put the weight of our lives
and our hope
and our expectation upon him.
And so let's examine this rock
and see why it is
that Christ calls us
to anchor our lives in him.
Now, the context of Isaiah 40
that Jeremy and Julie read to us earlier
is very similar to the context of Habakkuk
that we looked at last week.
The context is that Isaiah,
this prophet,
is speaking to the nation of Israel.
The Babylonians,
this hasty and ruthless nation
from the north,
are going to come down.
They are, in the years to follow,
going to attack Israel,
destroy Jerusalem,
bring down the temple.
And most of the Israelites
are going to be taken back to Babylon
as exiled slaves.
And so things aren't looking good.
Isaiah is warning Israel
about this situation.
But that doesn't mean
that God has abandoned his people
because God promises
this is only going to be the case
for two generations.
In 70 years' time,
I will bring you back to Israel
and I will restore my people.
And so while this promises
to be a difficult time,
a time of pruning,
a time of refining,
all of this is under the watchful care
of the sovereign God.
And so look at what God says here
in verse 27 of Isaiah chapter 40.
He says,
Why do you say,
Oh, Jacob?
Why do you say,
Israel,
My way is hidden from God.
My rights are disregarded by my God.
Friends,
have you ever felt like that?
Have you ever felt like your way
is hidden from God?
That he's abandoned you?
He's forgotten about you?
That your life has fallen off
of his agenda?
Maybe God has fallen asleep?
God, where are you?
My way is hidden from you.
Can't you see what's going on here?
Have you disregarded me?
That's how Israel felt.
In light of the storm
that they're staring into,
God's people feel like
he's forgotten them.
He's abandoned them.
He's completely disregarded them.
But into this context,
God brings a word.
And it's an amazing word
of surety and confidence.
And so look at verse 9.
Look at what he says.
He says,
Go up on a high mountain,
O Zion,
O herald of good news,
lift up your voice with strength.
Jerusalem,
herald of good news,
lift it up.
Fear not.
So God gives them a message.
And he says,
Go on a high mountain
and declare this message
to the people of Israel.
I've got a word for them.
A gospel.
He calls it good news.
And what is this good news gospel
that he's going to bring them?
Is it,
Don't worry.
The stock market is bad now,
but it's all going to be fine.
I promise you,
you won't lose any money.
Is that God's good news message?
Is God's good news message,
Don't worry,
the Babylonians are only going to get,
only going to take out
the really bad guys.
But you guys,
your lives will be uninterrupted.
Don't worry.
Everything's going to be fine.
Or maybe the good news is,
What doesn't kill you
only makes you stronger.
Is that God's message?
No, friends.
That's not the good news.
Look at what he says.
He says,
O herald of good news,
lift up your voice with strength.
Say to the cities of Judah,
say to the people of God,
Behold your God.
You see,
when Isaiah comes with
a good news message,
it's not a message of health,
wealth,
and prosperity.
It's not a message
of comfort and ease.
Don't worry.
Everything's just going to be fine.
He calls the people of Israel
to lift their sights
and to take note.
Behold means to look,
to see.
Look at who your God is.
See who it is
that's in the heavens.
Behold your God.
He's not a puppy dog God.
He's not a genie
that you rub the lamp
and he gives you three wishes
and makes sure
your life's all fine.
He's not a God
that is a servant
that's trailing behind you,
picking up all the pieces,
making sure that
your life is neatly manicured.
No, friends.
Behold your God.
And what about this God?
Look at verse 10.
He says,
Behold,
the Lord God
comes with might.
His right arm
rules for him.
His reward is with him
and his recompense
goes before him.
It's a picture
of a military king
that's just been
on a campaign
and he's won.
He's defeated his enemy
and now
his spoils of war
are trailing behind him.
The defeated enemies
are in procession
going before him.
He comes with his reward
with his spoils of war.
He is a victorious,
mighty king
and nobody
can defeat him.
Behold your God.
And in the rest
of this passage
in Isaiah,
Isaiah is going to employ
imagery after imagery
after imagery
showing us
the bigness
and the majesty
and the incomparableness
and the unrivaledness
and the sovereignty
of who this God is.
The word sovereign
means that God
is totally
in control.
There is nothing
in all creation,
in all of life,
in all of the history
of the world
which is outside of
or beyond
his control.
There's nothing
about which God
looks
or thinks about something
and wishes
that things could be different
but he doesn't know
how to bring that about
or how to change things.
God
is sovereign
and in this passage
he invites us
to consider
who he is
and he compares himself
to ourselves
and the things
that we hope
and trust in.
Look at what he says
in verse 13
and 14.
He invites us
to consider his wisdom.
Look at verse 13.
He says,
Who has measured
the spirit of the Lord?
Some translations say,
Who has directed
the mind of God?
Who has told God
or given him advice
about how he should
go about things?
What man shows him
his counsel?
Who did God consult?
Who made him
understand things?
Who taught God
the path of justice,
what's right and wrong
with the world?
Who taught him knowledge
or showed him
the way of understanding?
In other words,
has God ever needed
advice or counsel
on how to handle things?
Has there ever been
anything in which
God needed somebody
to show him
how to go about it
or how to do things?
No, friends.
This God is sovereign.
There is nothing
about which he is confused.
There is nothing
which catches God
off guard
which he didn't see coming.
Furthermore,
there is nothing
with which God
needs our help
or our assistance
because it's beyond him.
And what about
the nations?
What about
other nations
that disregard God
and are bent
on destroying
the gospel,
wiping out
Christians
and destroying
God's people?
What about
those mighty
superpowers,
the nations
in the world
that have no regard
for God
and want to trample
him and his people
and are bent
on destroying
the work of God
and the nations?
What about them?
Look at verse 15.
He says,
Behold,
the nations
are like a drop
from a bucket.
They are accounted
as the dust
on the scales.
The imagery here
is,
imagine you go
to the wet market
and you want to buy
some fruit
and some vegetables
and so the fruit seller
gives you a basket
and you pile up
the basket
with your vegetables
or your fruit
and you give it back
to them
and he puts it
on the scale
to weigh
how much
the vegetables are
so that he knows
how much to charge you,
how much you must pay.
Now imagine you've got
a big basket
of oranges there
and as he's weighing it,
you say,
Hang on,
hang on.
You haven't cleaned
the basket.
There's still some,
there's some specks
of dust in there.
You're trying to rip me off.
You're trying to make it heavier
so that I will pay
more money
so that you can get
more money.
No,
you must clean
the dust
off the basket.
I don't want to pay extra.
Nobody does that.
Why?
Because specks of dust
are so insignificant,
they're so inconsequential,
they're not going to
make any difference.
If there's one speck of dust
or two specks of dust
or five specks of dust,
that's not going to
change the weight.
It's not going to change
how much you pay.
It's utterly meaningless
in the consequence,
in the grand scheme
of what's happening.
Friends,
look at what God
is saying here.
He's saying,
all the military
and political strength
and the might
and the determination
of the nations,
at the end of the day,
they are like dust
on the scales.
They are utterly
inconsequential.
They have zero significance
as to whether God
is going to accomplish
his plans or not.
All the nations
are as nothing before him.
Their power
is accounted by him
as less than nothingness
and emptiness.
This God is sovereign.
Look at what he says.
What about other gods?
Things that we are tempted
to hope and trust in.
Sometimes you might think,
okay,
I'll worship and trust Jesus,
but I'll also have a plan B
in case God doesn't
come through for me.
Maybe I'll worship
and trust Jesus,
but I'll also pray
to my ancestors
because I don't want to
bother the spirits.
I've got to keep them happy.
Maybe I'll trust Jesus,
but I'll also burn
some jostics at the temple
just in case.
I'll trust Jesus,
but I'll also just keep
this other thing
on standby in my life.
Look what God says
about those other things
that we're tempted
to trust in.
Verse 18.
To whom then
will you liken me?
What likeness
compares with him?
An idol?
A temple?
A jostic?
Oh, an idol,
a craftsman casts it.
A goldsmith overlays it
with gold
and he casts
for its silver chains.
If someone is too impoverished
for gold,
he chooses special wood,
wood that won't rot.
Then he goes and seeks out
a skillful craftsman
and he sets up the idol
and he makes sure
that it will not fall over,
will not topple down.
God is pointing out
the irony here
that we look to these gods,
these man-made gods,
but then we've got to watch them
very carefully
to make sure
that they don't fall over.
If the craftsman
doesn't make it well,
maybe in the wind
it'll fall over,
it'll topple down.
And so we've got to watch it
and keep a steady eye on it
to make sure
that the god
that we trust in
doesn't fall over.
Friends,
maybe we don't
go and burn incidents
at the temple,
but what are the things
we hope and trust in?
What are those other plan Bs,
those other gods
in our life
that we think,
I just got to keep
that on standby?
Friends,
are we not the same?
Do we need to watch them,
keep a steady eye on them,
carefully manage them
and analyze them,
stay up late
to find out
how they're doing
in the US
or wake up early?
Are these things
that we hope and trust in
not man-made gods
that are just as fallible
as the gold
and the silver
of ancient days?
And yet,
contrast that to Yahweh,
the sovereign God,
who is the maker
of heaven and earth.
Look at verse 21.
He says,
Do you not know?
Do you not hear?
Has it been told you
from the beginning?
Have you not understood
from the foundation
of the earth?
It is he
who sits above
the circle of the earth
and its inhabitants
are like grasshoppers.
He says in verse 26,
Lift up your eyes
on high and see.
He's asking them
to look at the stars
in the night sky.
The Babylonian culture
used to worship the stars.
They were an integral part
of their mythology
and their worship
and they would ascribe
to the stars
divine status.
And God says,
Lift up your eyes
in the heavens
and see these stars.
Who created all these?
Who brings out
their host by number?
Who calls them by name?
And by the greatness
of His might
because He is strong,
not one is missing.
Friends,
in contrast to the gods
and the idols
that we're tempted
to hope and trust in,
the sovereign God
doesn't need our assistance
to manage and make sure
that He's still on the throne
and He doesn't topple over.
Rather,
it is He
who is holding
the universe together.
It's He
who's holding
the cosmos together.
The stars
and the galaxies
are held together
by Him.
Friends,
do you not see
what He's saying here?
In times like these,
we may feel like,
God,
I've got to keep
my life together
and God is inviting us
to see He's the one
who's holding
our lives
in His hands.
Look at
verse 23 here.
He talks about
rulers and nations.
He says,
this God brings
princes,
kings and premiers
and presidents
to nothing.
He makes the rulers
of the earth
as emptiness.
There's this amazing passage
in the book of Daniel,
chapter 5.
Daniel was a young man
and he was taken
to Babylon
as part of
one of the exiled slaves.
And so,
Babylon attacks Jerusalem,
they take all these
young men,
or they take everyone
as slaves,
but they take a bunch
of the young men
and enroll them
in the palace
of Babylon
to teach them
Babylonian mythology
and ways
and to try and get them
to adopt the culture.
And so,
Daniel is one of these
young men
that is in the palace.
And he lives
in the palace
70 years.
And Nebuchadnezzar
is the king
that brought Israel
to Babylon.
And Daniel
is having a conversation
with Nebuchadnezzar's son,
a king called Belshazzar.
And he says to Belshazzar,
he says,
O king,
the most high God
gave your father,
Nebuchadnezzar,
kingship and greatness,
glory and majesty.
And because of the greatness
that he gave him,
all peoples,
all nations
and languages
trembled and feared
before your father.
Whomever he would,
he killed.
Whomever he would,
he kept alive.
Whom he would,
he raised up.
And whom he would,
he humbled.
So Daniel's saying,
Belshazzar,
don't you realize
your father,
Nebuchadnezzar,
was sovereign
over the known world.
He was the king
of the superpower.
Whatever he said
went.
If he wanted somebody
dead,
they were dead.
If he wanted somebody
alive,
they were kept alive.
There was nothing
that your father
wanted
that didn't happen
in all of the known world
throughout the
Babylonian empire.
talk about supreme
authority.
But then look at
the next line.
He says,
but when his heart
was lifted up
and his spirit
was hardened
that he dealt
proudly,
he was brought down
from his kingly throne.
His glory was
taken from him
until he knew
that the one
true God,
the most high God,
rules the kingdom
of mankind
and sets over it
whom he will.
That happened
to Nebuchadnezzar.
At one stage,
he stands
on the balcony
of his palace
and he looks
over his kingdom
and he says
to himself,
ah,
my great kingdom
that I have made
by the greatness
of my hand.
And God says,
Nebuchadnezzar,
I'm going to humble you.
And he drives him
from the throne.
Nebuchadnezzar
is taken off the throne
and he goes
and he wanders
for seven years
until he acknowledges
that God is God
and that he is not.
And God restores him
to the throne
of Babylon.
And Daniel's saying
here to Belshazzar,
he's saying
even the most powerful,
most important monarch
on the planet,
even his life
is still subject
to the sovereign God.
I am God,
there is no other.
I am God,
there is none
like me.
And friends,
this passage,
Isaiah 40,
we've just skimmed over it.
I mean,
we really should have done this
in four or five weeks.
But the Bible
is full of these passages
exclaiming
that the God
that we worship,
the God of Abraham,
Isaac,
and Jacob,
Yahweh,
is the sovereign God
over all the world.
There is no one
and nothing like him.
He is in control
of everything
and everyone.
And the Bible
is full of this.
Isaiah 46
says this,
I am God,
there is no other.
I am God,
there is none like me.
I declare
the end
from the beginning
and from ancient times
things that have not
yet been done.
In other words,
God is saying,
I know what's going
to happen next year.
I know what's going
to happen in Hong Kong
in three years time,
in 30 years time,
in 300 million years time.
I know it all.
And friends,
sometimes we can think,
yes,
God knows everything.
He foreknows things.
But that doesn't mean
he's in control
of everything.
Well,
look at what he says here.
I declare the end
from the beginning,
from ancient times
things not yet done,
because
my counsel
will stand,
I will accomplish
what I have purposed.
Friends,
God foreknows everything
because he is sovereign
over everything.
And again and again
and again,
the scriptures proclaim,
this is the God
that we come to.
Behold your God,
the sovereign,
majestic one.
Friends,
this is the God
we read about
in the scriptures
and we've sung about
this morning.
This is the God
we pray to
and we worship
and that we put
our hope in.
And whose glory
we live for.
God is not
slightly better
or stronger
than the other gods
around us.
He's not a slightly
better or stronger
version of the other
things we tempt
to hope and trust in.
He is the uncreated one.
He is the incomparable one.
He is the rock of ages.
There's never been a time
when he did not exist
or he was not sovereign.
He is the sovereign
God of all.
And therefore,
friends,
we can bank
our lives on him.
We can put the full weight
of our hope
and our trust
and our lives on him.
He is a steady rock
upon which we can stand
because he will not
topple over or fall
when our weight
is placed upon him.
He is the rock of ages.
Joel Spurgeon
said this quote.
He said,
I've learned to kiss,
to love,
the waves that drive me
back onto the rock of ages.
I'm so grateful
for these times,
these storms of life,
says Spurgeon,
because they remind me
once again
what is the one true rock
upon which I can build
and bank my life.
Now,
as we come towards the end,
I want to just tackle
one or two things.
This truth about God's
supreme sovereignty
is an anchor for the soul.
But if we're honest,
it also raises
some difficult questions
because if God is sovereign
over everything,
why does he allow
hardship to happen?
Why is there so much
wickedness and brokenness
in our world?
What about disease
and cancer
and death
and famine
and war?
Why does God
allow these things
to happen?
Those are big questions.
The Bible
doesn't give us
a simple,
neatly packaged answer
with a ribbon
and a bow tied on it.
There's no Bible verse
that in one sentence
says,
here you go,
here's the answer.
In fact,
if we're honest,
it's one of the difficult
things in the Bible
that the Bible
leaves it,
it's a bit of a mystery.
And God says,
I'm asking you to trust me.
And so friends,
it's a big question
and we don't have
simplistic,
neatly packaged
answers for it.
The Bible does say
a lot about it.
It does,
God gives us
the resources
to lament.
He does give us
a vision for the future
of an eternity
where there'll be
no more pain,
no more wickedness,
no more sickness,
no more anxiety,
no more anxiousness,
no more angst
in our heart,
no more saying goodbye
to loved ones,
no more tears.
C.S. Lewis said
that this life
and this world
is like the contents page
of a great novel
and the story
hasn't even yet started.
It's about to start
one day in eternity.
But why eternity
takes so long?
Why are we not there yet?
Why God doesn't
click his fingers?
God doesn't tell us
the exact answer
for why he's doing
exactly what he's doing.
But he calls us
and he says,
in the midst
of the storms of life,
you can trust me.
But here's another thing
that God says.
While we don't know
why exactly
he allows these things
to happen,
we do know
or we can be certain
of one of the reasons
why it's not the case.
We know that it's not
because he doesn't care.
Throughout the scripture,
if there's one thing
God tells us again and again,
it's that he is sovereign
and Lord,
but it is a father
who cares for his people.
And so,
look at how Isaiah 40 ends.
Look at verse 27 with me.
He says here in verse 27,
Why do you say,
O Jacob,
and speak,
O Israel?
My way is hidden
from the Lord.
My right is disregarded
by God.
We spoke about that earlier.
Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the creator
of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint.
He does not get weary.
Dan read that scripture
to us earlier,
Psalm 121,
about the Lord
never sleeps.
He never slumbers.
He never gets tired.
He never needs
to take a rest.
He's never put
his phone on silent.
He never says,
I just need some time
to myself.
I can't help you.
He never grows faint
or weary.
He's never exhausted
about what's going on
in the world.
His understanding
is unsearchable.
But,
oh,
don't you know,
he gives power
to the faint.
To those that have
no might,
he increases their strength.
Friends,
do you feel like that today?
You feel faint.
You feel tired.
You feel worn out
about what's going on
in our world.
He promises to come
alongside us
and to strengthen us,
to give might
to those that feel weak.
Even youths
shall faint
and be weary.
Even young men
fall down exhausted.
Those who look like
they've got it all together,
those who look strong
on the outside
and they'll persevere,
even they get
to the end of themselves.
Even they eventually
don't have what it takes.
But God,
the sovereign God,
never tires.
He never gets worn out.
Those who wait
for the Lord
will renew
their strength.
They'll mount up
on wings like eagles.
They'll run
and not be weary.
They'll walk
and they'll not grow faint.
It's a picture
of someone
who is on a long journey
and they start off
confident and strong.
They're going to get
to the other side.
They've got this thing.
But by the end,
they're exhausted
and they're weary
and they can't take
one more step.
They're absolutely finished.
Friends,
how many of us
feel like that?
After nine months
of difficulty
in our city
and who knows
when it's going to end,
feel exhausted.
And God comes
and He swoops up
underneath and He says,
I'll carry you.
I'll get you
to the end.
You don't have
to rely on yourself.
You don't have
to look to yourself.
Look to me.
I'm the sovereign God.
I'll carry you
to the end.
Charles Spurgeon said,
He who counts
the stars
and calls them
each by name
is in no danger
of forgetting
his own children.
Friends,
this majestic
sovereign God
is in no danger
of forgetting
your needs
and where you're at,
of being unaware
of your challenges
and your fears
and your anxieties.
He's the sovereign God
who cares
for His children.
Friends,
this rock of ages,
this is Christ,
the solid rock
upon which we stand.
Yes,
He is rock solid
and He's trustworthy.
But don't you see
He's also tender.
Yes,
He's a warrior king.
He's vanquishing
His enemies.
But He's also a shepherd
that gently cares
for His people.
And so let's finally
look back at verse 9.
We read this earlier.
It says,
O Zion,
herald of good news,
lift up your voice
with strength.
Say to the cities of Judah,
behold your God.
Your God comes with might.
His arm rules for Him.
But then look at verse 11,
the next verse.
He says,
He will tend His flock
like a shepherd.
He will gather the lambs,
the young ones,
in His arms.
He will carry them
in His bosom.
He will gently lead those
that are with young.
Friends,
the sovereign God
who is sovereignly
in control
of the whole world
is the same God
who in His sovereignty
will take care
of your soul
in the midst of challenges
and the midst of difficulties.
Verse 10 speaks about
this warrior king
who defeats his enemies,
who has the spoils of war
trailing behind him.
There's no one and nothing
that's too powerful for him,
that's too strong for him,
that causes him anxiety
or uncertainty.
There's nothing over which
he does not have control,
but this majestic warrior king
is also a shepherd.
And He lifts up those
that are weak.
And He comes alongside
those that are weary.
And those that are exhausted
have come to the end
of themselves.
He swoops them up
and He picks them up
and He carries them home.
Friends,
this great and glorious God,
this anchor for our soul
is also gracious and tender.
He's compassionate
and kind
and caring.
He knows the fears
of our hearts.
He knows what bothers us.
And He comes alongside
and He says,
I'm with you.
In the Gospels,
Jesus picks up
on Isaiah chapter 40
when He describes Himself.
And He describes Himself
as the sovereign God.
He says,
I've come
and there's nobody
that can control my life.
I have utter control
of my life,
even over life
and death.
He says to His disciples,
I'm going to die.
But it's not because
Pontius Pilate
is taking my life.
It's not because
the Jewish people,
the scribes and the Pharisees
are jealous of me.
It's not because
the Romans are tired of me.
I have authority
to lay it down.
No one takes it from me.
I lay it down
of my own accord,
He says.
I have authority
to lay down my life
and I have authority
to take it up again.
I will die,
says Jesus,
on the day
that has been determined
by me and my Father
and I will raise
on the day
that my Father
and I have determined.
We are utterly sovereign
over life,
over death,
over everything.
Nobody takes it from us.
It's in my hands.
But then He also says,
I'm a gentle shepherd.
And so in verse 11
of John chapter 10,
He says,
why is He going to die
on the cross?
Why is His life going to be,
why is He going to lay
His life down?
Because I'm a good shepherd.
The good shepherd
lays down His life
for His sheep.
I am the good shepherd,
says Jesus.
I know my own
and my own know me.
Just as the Father knows me
and I know the Father
and I lay down my life
for my sheep.
Friends,
Jesus,
the sovereign God,
sovereignly went
to the cross
and chose
to give us grace.
Jesus went
and died on the cross
because He knew
this was the way
for Him and His Father
to rescue and redeem
a broken world.
A world full of anxiety
and anxiousness.
A world full of fear
and brokenness.
A world full of sinners
like you and I
because He loved us
and He's calling us
to Himself.
Friends,
why does God
allow these things
to happen?
We don't know exactly
but one thing we do know
it's not because
He doesn't care.
It's not because
He doesn't care.
The cross of Christ
proves it.
Jesus loves us enough
to go and lay down
His life on the cross
to be nailed there
and to die for us.
And this majestic tender God
promises to carry us home.
Friends,
this morning God
is calling us,
each one of us,
to build and bank our lives
on Christ the solid rock.
Christ the solid rock.
And why should we trust Him?
Why should we do it?
Well,
because He's the sovereign God
of all.
He's Lord of all creation
but also because
He's a tender shepherd,
a Father that loves
His children.
We can trust Him.
Let's come to Him
in prayer.
Let's pray.
Oh,
great and glorious God.
Father,
we confess that
so often we read
Your Word,
we read scriptures
like this
and we just gloss
over them.
God,
we don't often
give thought
or time,
consideration
to Your majesty
and Your sovereignty.
Father,
forgive us.
Father,
forgive us
for the times
when we want
to control our lives.
We've trusted ourselves
more than You.
God,
forgive us
for the times
we've trusted our idols,
our man-made gods
rather than You.
God,
forgive us
for the times
when we've trusted
our own wisdom
more than You.
God,
this morning,
forgive us
but don't just forgive us.
God,
pour faith into our hearts.
Oh,
Jesus,
I pray,
God,
pour faith
into our hearts
that we will be those
that see the bigness
and the majesty
and the sovereignty
of our God.
God,
show us what that means,
I pray.
Lord,
I pray that these
won't just be words
that are in a theology textbook
or words that are
in our Bible
but these are words
that are written
deep in our hearts
that God,
our hearts
will sink their anchors
deep into the rock of ages.
God,
open our eyes
to behold our God.
Open our eyes,
God,
to see You
for who You are.
God,
help us to see
that You're not
just a puppy dog,
God.
You're not just
a genie
that wants to
give us three wishes
to make our lives
slightly more comfortable
and convenient.
You are the sovereign God.
There is no other like You.
Oh,
God,
we pray,
give us faith.
Open our eyes
to see that,
God.
God,
help us to pray.
O Lord,
we need You.
God,
we need You.
God,
this morning
we confess
that
we are full of fears
and anxieties,
full of worries.
God,
we bring those fears
to Your feet.
We bring them
to the foot of the cross.
God,
Watermark Church
does not need
me
or the other elders
or the other pastors.
God,
no pastor
is going to get us
through
the challenges
we face.
We need You,
God.
God,
Christ,
I pray
once You do
something profound
in us
as a church,
God,
take our hearts
and drive
our anchor
deep into You.
God,
change us,
shape us,
mold us,
call us
to You,
we pray.
God,
come and have Your way.
Christ,
thank You
that You are
a cornerstone.
You're not just
a stone
in a building.
You are
the cornerstone,
the rock of ages.
You're the sure
foundation.
You're a sure
and steady anchor
for us all.
God,
we look to You.
We look to You,
God.
Holy Spirit,
as we sing
these next two songs,
we ask You
to come and minister
to our hearts
and souls,
God.
God,
won't You
still the
voices in our head,
still the anxiety
in our minds
and our hearts,
God?
Won't You
quieten the fears,
God?
Holy Spirit,
come and minister
profoundly,
we pray.
Come and have Your way.