Good morning, Watermark.
If you do not know me, my name is Alfie,
and I'm one of the guys here on staff.
I help out with the university ministry.
And it was really great.
Thank you, Jordan and Iris, for sharing about our trip.
And in a way, they've done, you know,
I don't know, 40% of what I'm going to try to do today.
Talk about how the gospel transforms us,
how the gospel fills us with praise and worship,
that we would go out and we would be about God's mission in the world today.
We need to be about God's mission
because this is a world that isn't very hopeless,
isn't very hopeful.
It is hopeless.
There's a lot of hopelessness around.
You don't have to look far.
You open a newspaper, you look on Facebook,
you look at a magazine,
there is sadness around.
There is a longing for freedom from suffering.
There is a longing for a hope that is permanent,
that is tangible, that is eternal.
You know, this past week, there was a shooting in Orlando,
and that brought up many questions and many strong feelings.
There is anger, confusion, hurt, sadness.
I don't know how you felt.
How did you respond?
But it's not just far away in the U.S., it's here as well,
because Hong Kong is meant to be this land of freedom and opportunity
where if you come here and you can work hard enough,
you'll have a great life,
you'll have a great family,
and everything will be perfect.
But it seems that the stuff of life here in Hong Kong
drains our hope.
Whether it's people coming and taking our jobs
because they're trying to escape their hopeless situation overseas,
where they can't get jobs there,
they're coming to Hong Kong,
and now there's this huge competition for jobs.
Or maybe you're trying to find a home for your family,
but it seems like this unlimited amount of money is coming out of China,
driving home house prices up,
and you feel hopeless or trapped.
You know, it could be that you're looking for a husband,
but there aren't any quality guys around.
Or maybe you're a guy,
and you're just complaining that the girls are just far too picky.
All of this brings up feelings of hopelessness.
We feel trapped.
We feel stuck.
Like God has abandoned us.
Like he doesn't care about where we are.
He doesn't care about what we're going through.
We're alone,
and even when we look up to him,
we can't seem to reach or call out.
God seems far away.
Sometimes he feels,
it feels like he's abandoned us.
This isn't a foreign feeling,
I don't think, to many of us.
I think we've all been through times
where we feel hopeless about one thing or another.
Yet, with all of this,
we look at our key words at Watermark,
and we think we feel hopeless,
but we're supposed to be on mission.
How do we do that?
When I can't deal with the struggles of my life,
how am I supposed to go and spread this message of joy?
Anyway,
what I want to show you guys today
is that if we haven't received this message of freedom
and of hope in the gospel,
that we can't be people on mission,
for us to be a church
that is reaching out and loving
and sharing the gospel
and doing justice in our community,
that we need to be people who are captured,
who are amazed,
who are freed by the gospel.
So we've been in this series in Isaiah.
We've spent about five weeks on it,
and we've been going through this passage at the end,
the series of passages at the end of Isaiah,
which talk about this great news,
this hope for God's people.
But Isaiah starts early on in the beginning,
and it starts with Isaiah preaching
to the people of Israel.
The people of Israel have turned to follow idols.
They've turned,
and they've put their hope and security
in the horses of Egypt.
And Isaiah tells them in chapter one
that you are my children that I've brought up,
but you have rebelled against me.
He calls them to repent,
to turn back to God,
but they don't.
Isaiah calls to them again,
but they continue in their ways.
Eventually, these people are conquered
by the nation of Babylon,
and they're taken away in exile.
And while they're in exile,
they feel abandoned.
They feel stuck and hopeless.
And Isaiah calls these people,
and he says,
God has not left you alone.
He's not done with you.
Isaiah says that God is saying,
I am with you.
Fear not.
He says in chapter 41,
he says that your idols haven't saved you,
but I am going to be your salvation.
He says these things that you turn to
to look for hope and satisfaction and security,
they have failed you,
but I am your God.
I am the one that calls to you,
and I am the one that is going to bring you
out of Babylon.
After a number of years,
the Persian Empire comes in
and destroys Babylon,
and they begin sending back
the exiles to Israel.
And this is a passage
that we're going to be reading today,
the passage that these exiles
returning to Jerusalem
would have opened up
and read what Isaiah had written
many years ago.
We talked about how Isaiah
called the people of Israel
to be satisfied in God.
That was in Isaiah chapter 55,
that the things that they were looking for
would not satisfy.
We looked in chapter 56
about how God had a big picture
for Israel's new hope,
that he was going to bring in
the outsiders,
the people who would normally
have been kept out
of Israel's society.
We saw how God was calling them
not just to be righteous
in their religious actions,
but to be doing justice
and calling people
who have been treated unjustly
to see a God who loves them
and cares for them.
And last week,
we saw a vision that God gave
for God's people
not just being defined
by their culture
or ethnicity,
but how God's glory
is made amazing and great
because he's bringing all people
from all nations
to himself.
And now we find ourselves
in Isaiah chapter 61,
where God says
he is bringing good news
to the poor
and he is opening the prison
for the captives.
He's telling these people,
these exiles,
that they are a part of people
who are going to be
enjoying God's freedom
and his blessing over them.
So today,
we're going to have three parts.
Hopefully, you'll follow along.
We're going to talk about
what God's hope looked like
for the exiles
reading this for the first time.
Then we're going to
fast forward a little bit
and hear about
what this passage meant
for the Israels
reading it again
when they're oppressed
by Romans.
And we'll finish up
looking at
what this passage
has to say for us,
what it's calling us to.
Before we start,
I want to talk
a little bit about
a Japanese soldier
in World War II.
His name was Hiro Onoda.
And he was
an intelligence officer
and he was sent
to an island
in the Philippines
called Lubang.
And he was told
that he had
a very important mission
to go and sabotage
U.S. military installments
on the island.
And he went
and he was attached
to a group of soldiers
but in a couple of months,
all but a few
of his soldiers
had died.
The U.S. had come in,
they'd taken control
of the island
and he told his soldiers
to go and hide
in the jungles
and in the hills.
A couple of months later,
the war ended
and leaflets
were dropped
all over these islands,
all these places
where Japanese soldiers
were hiding,
telling them
the war was over,
that they could come out,
that they didn't have
to fight anymore.
Onoda and his men,
there were three of them left,
they found these leaflets
and they looked at them
and they were convinced
that it was a trick,
that the war wasn't really over,
that it was a way
to get them out of hiding
so that they could be killed.
And so for many years,
despite the war having ended,
they continued their little battle
in the hills.
They would occasionally clash
with Philippine
and American forces,
but they lived their lives
in constant fear.
They lived their lives
afraid of what would happen,
afraid of an enemy
that would kill them.
This is how Israel lived
when they came back from exile.
They lived in fear
of an enemy.
They lived in fear of Babylon.
They lived in fear
of slavery.
You can read about it
in books like Ezra and Nehemiah,
where the people,
instead of going
and rebuilding Jerusalem,
instead of rebuilding
the rubble
and the ashes
of their temple,
of their walls,
they paneled up their houses
and made little forts
where they would be safe,
where they would be hidden.
They were worried.
They were in fear.
They felt abandoned.
And God calls out to them.
God calls out to them
and says,
I have come to bring good news.
And Isaiah 61,
he says,
he has sent me
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty
to the captives,
to these slaves,
to open up the prison
for those who are bound,
to proclaim the year
of the Lord's favor,
to comfort those
who are mourning.
This message of hope
from God
says that after all
their struggle,
that they could live in hope,
they could live in freedom.
It's good news.
It's healing.
It's comfort
for these people
who have been liberated
from years
of Babylonian slavery,
people who felt
abandoned
and hopeless.
But he doesn't just
give them this message
of hope.
He shows them
what this hope
is supposed to do.
In verse 4,
he says that
these people
are going to build up
ancient ruins,
the things
that the Babylonians
had destroyed,
the things that
the surrounding nations
had picked away
from the ruins,
that they were going
to be people
that would build up
former devastations.
They would repair
ruined cities.
And it's not just
an instruction
that Isaiah is giving them,
that God is giving them.
Other prophets
and leaders
would call these people
to say,
hey, look,
God has set you free.
He used the Persians
to free you
from the Babylonians.
You don't have to hide
in your holes anymore.
You can live
like free people.
Build up the walls.
Build up the temple.
Worship God.
Find your security.
And your identity
in Him.
But Israel was afraid.
They felt abandoned.
They felt alone.
They were living
in fear.
They had called,
they had been called
to live
as free people.
But they continued
to live
as if
they were slaves.
You know,
back on
Lubang Island,
Hiro Noda
and his three
remaining soldiers,
they spent
many years,
almost 28 years,
fighting
against
an enemy
that wasn't there.
They spent
their years
in fear
of nothing,
fighting
against nothing,
hiding
from
nothing.
Again,
leaflets were dropped
and this time
it had pictures
and letters
from their family members
saying,
the war is over.
Please come home.
They looked at these letters
and they said,
no,
this is another trick.
This is another trick
to get us out of hiding.
The war is still
going on.
In a couple of years,
the remaining soldiers
that were with
Hiro Noda
died
and he was left alone.
So he hid,
he fortified his defenses
and he continued
to live
in fear.
Hiro's story
is an interesting one
because
if he's right,
if the war
is still going on,
then what he was doing
makes perfect sense.
What he was doing,
hiding
and trying to keep safe
is the right thing
to do
in a war
when an enemy
is looking for you,
hunting you
and trying to kill you.
But
if the war is over,
if what these leaflets
said was true,
then to continue
to live in fear
is the wrong thing.
That he is free.
He is free
from his orders.
He is free
from fear
of the enemy
around him.
But Israel
acted in the same way.
They acted
in fear
when they were free.
They acted like slaves
when God
had brought them
good news.
Many of us Christians,
we act
like these Israelites.
We feel like
we are not free
from the burdens
of our past,
that we are not
free
from the struggles
that we face today.
But the gospel
says that
if your hope
is in Christ,
then you're free
from guilt,
from shame,
that you're free
from the expectation
to be perfect
because God
has given us
righteousness.
God says
that you are
loved
so you don't need
to look for it
in other places.
He says that
you're forgiven
so you have no need
to prove yourself.
But as Christians,
so many times
we live that way.
We live,
we do things,
we act
and we believe
in a way
that we still need
to earn
our salvation.
We live
as if we are
still slaves
to sin.
We live
as if we're
still slaves
to our guilt.
We live
as if
God
doesn't care
about us,
that he's
abandoned us,
that
he isn't
going to call
us to him.
The gospel
says,
Isaiah 61
says that
there is
liberty
for the
captives.
Christians,
if you
are in
Christ,
then you
need no
fear of
sin.
You need
no fear
of the
enemy
because God
has defeated
him.
He says
it's over.
Just like
he told
Israelites,
just like
the leaflets
told the
Japanese
soldiers,
it's over.
You
are free.
The Jews
living in
exile here,
continue to
live as
slaves under
Babylonian
masters.
But if
they were
free,
then they
could enjoy
their freedom.
They could
enjoy what
that meant,
being able
to worship
God,
being identified
with him,
finding their
security in
him.
The
Babylonians
who had
enslaved them
were gone.
They did
not need to
fear them
anymore.
Christians,
if you
are in
Christ,
the sin
that
enslaved
you
has no
power over
you anymore.
Don't give
an opportunity
for your
dead
former
master
to have
power
over you
because
Jesus has
come
and he
has said
that you
are free.
Now,
we go
500 years
forward
and now
these
Israelites,
they've tried
to rebuild
their city,
they've rebuilt
the temple,
people,
but they
find themselves
oppressed
by a
different kind
of master.
They find
themselves
under the
Roman Empire
and these
Romans
are
exporting
Greek
culture
and trying
to destroy
what is
left of
the identity
of God's
people,
their Jewish
identity,
their identity
as God's
chosen people.
And in the
midst of that,
the people
themselves
became divided.
You have
on one
side
these
religious
Pharisees
and they're
the people
that they
found their
freedom in
ethnic and
religious purity.
They
increased the
laws to this
almost unattainable
standard.
They're the
kind of people
that would
whisper under
their breath
when they
saw something
going wrong.
They're the
kind of people
that would
post on
Facebook
about all
the wrong
things going
on in the
church today.
On the
other side
was another
group of
people.
These were
the cultural,
the social
elites,
these sinners.
They made
the best
of a tricky
situation.
They would
join up
and cozy
up with
the Romans.
And their
morality was
defined by
whatever got
them ahead.
These are the
kinds of
people who
would lie
to get a
promotion.
Those who
wouldn't worry
about others
suffering around
them as long
as they looked
good, as long
as they were
comfortable.
And between
these two
groups,
those who
couldn't be a
religious elite
or an elite
in society,
were the
poor and
the sick
and the
hungry,
who fell
between the
cracks and
suffered the
worst of
Roman oppression.
And into
this backdrop,
Jesus walks
in.
And it says
that one day
while he's in
the synagogue
in Nazareth,
he opens up
the scroll.
You can read
about it in
Luke 4.
and he
finds this
passage,
Isaiah 61,
and he reads
it to the
people.
It says,
the Spirit of
the Lord is
upon me to
proclaim good
news to the
poor.
He sent me to
proclaim liberty
to the
captives,
recovering of
sight to the
blind,
liberty to
those who
are oppressed,
to proclaim
the year of
the Lord's
favor.
God's
favor.
He rolled
up the
scroll,
and he
looked at
the people,
and he
said,
today,
this
scripture has
been
fulfilled
before you.
People
looked at
him,
and they're
a bit
confused.
And they
said,
isn't this
Joseph's
son?
Jesus
comes,
and he
quotes this
passage,
and he
says,
what Isaiah
left for
those exiles
so many
years ago
is about
me.
It's about
what I am
going to
do.
It's my
manifesto.
It's the
things that
I am going
to spend
my time
doing.
I'm going
to spend
my time
preaching
about.
And we
see this
throughout
the
gospels.
We see
how God
healed
people.
He brought
sight to
blind
people.
He forgives
the sins
of the
paralytic
and tells
them to
stand up
and walk.
One
moment,
he tenderly
calls to
a Samaritan
woman and
shows her
where she
can find
living water.
And another
moment,
he calls to
the Pharisees
to turn
away from
their hypocrisy.
Jesus spent
his time
preaching this
gospel,
addressing all
the wickedness
that sin had
brought into
the world.
And he
said,
this is
about me.
I am your
freedom.
I am where
your hope
is.
Your hope
isn't in
being able
to follow
these laws
perfectly.
Your hope
isn't in
escaping the
laws and
living your
life your
own way.
He looks to
them both
and he says,
I am your
freedom.
I am the
place where
you can find
hope.
The people
heard this
and they
were divided.
Throughout his
ministry,
you saw people
coming to
Jesus because
they knew
that he
was the
hope for
their sick.
He was the
hope for
their poverty.
They knew
that he
could feed
them.
Again,
other people
came to
see what
they could
get from
him.
And when
they didn't
like what
he had to
say,
they walked
away.
Other people,
as we see in
this passage,
tried to kill
him.
After Jesus
read this
passage in the
synagogue,
the people
were enraged.
A riot
started.
They dragged
Jesus and
they tried to
take him
over to
this cliff
and throw
him off.
But it
says that
Jesus passed
through the
crowds and
he went on
his way.
He went
to do what
he had said,
to bring good
news to the
people, to
bring liberty
and freedom
to those who
are lost.
The religious
people, they
didn't like
Jesus because
he didn't
stand for
what they
did.
He didn't
hate the
Romans like
they wanted
him to.
In fact, his
agenda was
completely
different.
But they
couldn't see
the rescue
that they
needed, that
it would
come from
Jesus.
They didn't
see that he
would bring
the freedom
that they
wanted, that
their laws
would only tie
them and
keep them as
slaves.
The sinners
and the social
elites, they
didn't like
Jesus either
because he
didn't seem
concerned about
the here and
now, about
their comfort
and their
satisfaction
because he
looked forward.
He was
looking to
an eternal
kingdom and
that wasn't
the kind of
freedom that
they wanted.
Jesus brings
a message of
freedom to
all people,
but many of
us, we
don't like it.
we don't
like it
because Jesus
says uncomfortable
things about
who we are,
about our
sinful nature,
about the
state of our
hearts and
our souls
before him.
After three
years of his
ministry,
after three
years of
good news,
of hope and
freedom,
eventually the
people would
take him to
another hill
where they
would kill
him.
Where Jesus
had been
spending his
life correcting
the wrongs
that sin had
caused, in
his death, he
would get to
the root of
the problem.
On the cross,
where these
people thought
they were
killing God's
messenger,
instead God
was killing
sin.
We see in
the Bible that
three days
later he
rose again
and showed
the people
who trusted
in him,
the people
who had
hope and
the freedom
that he
would bring,
that their
freedom wasn't
just from
the Roman
oppressors,
the freedom
wasn't just
from the
Pharisees'
oppression,
the freedom
wasn't from
the sinners
who took
advantage from
them,
their freedom
was even
over death,
that those
who had
hope in
Christ had
a freedom
that goes
beyond the
life we
live,
to an
eternity
where God
is restoring,
where we
get to see
what Isaiah
talks about,
we get to
see in its
fullness,
in its
beauty,
perfect good
news,
perfect hope,
perfect freedom
for those who
are bound.
the Bible
says that we
are in a
state of
spiritual
poverty,
we need
God's
good news,
that we
are blind
to our
sin,
we need
God to
open our
eyes,
the Bible
says that
the rules
we follow
cannot save
us,
and neither
can our
freedom
outside
them.
And if
you are
not a
Christian here
today,
then Jesus
calls you
and he
says,
I have
good news
for you,
because
where your
imperfection
haunts you,
God says
that in
me you
are perfect.
Where you
struggle for
approval from
other people,
God says,
you don't
need that
because I
love you.
Where we
fail at
work and
at home,
Jesus says
that my
strength,
my grace
is enough
for you.
On the
cross,
God fulfills
what he
says in
Isaiah 61.
He says,
trust in me
because while
everything else
is going to
let you
down,
while your
work and
your family
and your
nice two
bedroom flat
are eventually
going to
fail you
and let
you down,
I will
not.
I will
give you
freedom and
hope beyond
this life.
I will
give you
unimaginable
love.
I will
bring you
into a
family that
lasts forever.
forever and
I will
give you
forgiveness
for every
wrong,
for every
sin.
This is a
hope not
just for
the exiles
who are
hearing this
in Isaiah
61.
It's not
just for
the people
in that
synagogue
at Sabbath
hearing Jesus
in Luke 4.
It's a
hope for
us.
It's a
hope that
we have
heard from
the mouth
of God
himself.
In
1974,
a young
Japanese
guy,
his name
was
Nariyo
Suzuki,
decided that
he would
travel to
Lubang Island
to go
and find
Onoda.
He searched
and after a
couple of
days he
found him
hiding in
the jungle.
And this
is the
first person
that Hiro
Onoda had
spoken to
in over
two years.
And Suzuki
shared with
him the
good news.
The war
is over.
You don't
have to
hide.
But Onoda
wasn't
convinced.
And so
Suzuki went
back to
Japan,
found Onoda's
commanding
officer,
the guy
that had
sent him
out on
this mission
and brought
him back
to Lubang
and said,
the war
is over.
You don't
have to
follow these
orders anymore.
You're
free.
You can
come out
of hiding.
He turned
over his
weapons.
He came
out of the
jungle.
And he
returned to
Japan,
where he
lived not
in fear of
Americans who
were going to
kill him,
not in fear of
being found
out, not
struggling in
the jungle,
but living a
free and
full life.
Jesus'
message hasn't
changed.
What he said
to the people in
the synagogue that
day is the
same message
that he has
for us today.
real freedom,
real good
news.
And he
came so we
could hear it,
not just from
a second-hand
messenger, but
he came that we
would hear it
firsthand, that
we would hear it
from him, that
we would see in
him our hope.
as Christians,
are our lives
showing that
hope?
Do our lives
show that we
are really
saved?
Do our lives
show that
we have
confidence in
God?
do we walk
around in
fear or
in trust?
Do we live
our lives in
guilt or
in confidence?
I love what
Isaiah talks
about in
verses 10 and
11.
He says,
the people who
have experienced
God's freedom,
they rejoice in
God.
They say,
my soul will
exalt in my
God because he
has given me
clothes of
righteousness.
He has given
me robes of
salvation.
He says that
God's people
who have
experienced his
love, God's
people who have
experienced his
salvation are
like a plant
that sprouts
forward with
righteousness and
praise, that
their lives are
a fountain of
God's love, of
God's grace.
Do we?
Do we look
like that?
Do we?
Sound like
these people
who are
rejoicing?
Do we wear
these robes?
Are we trees
in a garden?
Often in the
church, and
if I want us,
I'm talking
about myself,
we look for
other things
other than
Jesus, other
than his
righteousness and
his salvation.
Just like the
Israelites hid
in their holes
and paneled
their homes,
or just like
the religious
people clung
to their
laws, or
Hiro Noda
stuck with
his orders.
We look for
things that can
save us, like
our boss's
approval, where
if he will
like us
enough, then
we can have
freedom.
Or maybe it's
our grades at
school.
Or perhaps it's
the love of our
friends and our
family, and we
serve these things
hoping that they
will free us.
But if God is
our hope, if
what Jesus says
is true, that
there is freedom,
then our work can
be different.
It means that when
we're stuck between
a terrible boss and
tough working hours,
we can look and
know that our God
hasn't abandoned us,
that he's there,
that we know that
we can pass our
exams at school,
or we can fail them
spectacularly, because
either way, God's love
is enough, and he will
provide, and he says
that you are free.
And he says,
this hope in God
propels us into
mission, because when
we see our hope, when
our lives are rejoicing
in our difficulty, when
our lives are rejoicing
in our struggle, we can
look up, and we can
see other people who
are trapped, slaves to
their work, to others'
approval, slaves to the
struggles that they're
facing today.
We can look up and
see the things that
we've been talking
about the past couple
of weeks.
We can look up to the
thirsty, and we can
tell them where to
find true water, true
life.
We can look to the
outsiders, those who
are ignored by others,
and bring them in to a
family where they are
loved and accepted.
We can go out, and we
can see injustice, and
because our hope is not
in our ability to do
something about it, but
in God who promises to
right the wrongs.
We can love those who
have been treated
unjustly.
If our mission is
fueled by our own
motivation, we're going
to fail.
But if our mission as a
church is fueled by God's
hope, then we can do
amazing things, rejoicing in
God and knowing that he is
in control.
When you go to work, and
you see someone who comes
in like, it's the end of
the week, and it's only
Monday, or they look
defeated at their desk the
moment they sit down, what
hope can you share with
them?
How can your friendships and
relationships be different as
you're pointing people to the
true satisfaction?
What about the disadvantaged
people in your neighborhood?
How can your community group go
out and share hope and share
freedom and share love with these
people?
What about the mother in your
child's play group who looks
like there's no hope?
Or the neighbor across the
hallway who's just lost their
spouse to cancer?
All of our lives can be about
God's mission because in every
moment, in every struggle, in
every sadness, we know that we
have received this message of
hope, good news for the poor,
freedom for captives.
Jesus says in Isaiah 61 that
God's Spirit is upon him to bring
good news.
And if we are God's children,
then God's Spirit is on us so we
can proclaim good news to the poor
and liberty to the captives, that we
can bring comfort to the
morning.
We can look to those around us and
say that there is true freedom and
hope in Christ, that you don't have
to fight your war anymore because
Christ has done it.
You don't have to search and look for
love because God has all that you
need, that you don't have to be
perfect because he gives you
forgiveness.
Let's pray.
Father God, I thank you for your good
news.
I thank you that you speak to us in
our trapped lives, in our
hopelessness, in our slavery.
And you say that we can come to you,
that we can find hope, that we can
find relief.
And I thank you for the words that
you share with us in Isaiah 61,
that you have brought good news.
I pray that we would be people who
receive this good news, who are
shaped by your great love for us,
who are shaped by the amazing
freedom and hope that you give us in
Jesus.
In his name, amen.