Trust In God

Well, the preaching this morning will be from Isaiah 55. It'll be all 13 verses of that short chapter.

And before we stand and have the reading of God's Word, I just want to set the context a little bit, because that is a fairly important aspect of what we're going to preach here.

Now, one of the questions that you can ask that would kind of bind together the entire book of Isaiah is, whom will you trust?

Will you trust God or man? Will you trust God or your idols? Will you trust God or the strength of horses and so forth?

And so much of the book is these oracles against those who would trust these other things, anything other than God.

So trust is sort of a theme that could bind together much of the book of Isaiah. As he goes through the traditional prophetic oracles, he takes,

Isaiah takes a bit of a historical excursus, if you will, in chapters 36 through 39, the life of King Hezekiah, the greatest king since King David himself, who cleansed the temple, who restored the

Passover, who trusted God against the Assyrians, and then boasted to the

Babylonian envoys about all he had and all he had done, and thus brought judgment upon Israel.

And at the end of chapter 39, 36 through 39, being that historical interlude, King Hezekiah, this great king, infamously says when he hears that his sin, his boasting to the

Babylonians would bring judgment against his own people by those very Babylonians who were growing at the time and soon would be the superpower of the day.

And Hezekiah says, the word that Lord has spoken through you, meaning Hezekiah, is good.

For he thought to himself, there would be peace and security in my day. Then in chapter 40 begins this set of oracles, this more classic prophecy.

Now, we're almost done with the context here, and we'll stand in a moment and read chapter 55, but chapters 40 to 55 are about a people in exile, the people in exile because of the judgment that Hezekiah was the final step to bring upon them.

And then chapter 56 through the end is the people returned to the land. So chapter 55 then, recall this as the context, is to that people in exile.

And the last thing I'll say, and then we'll stand and read, is for you to keep in mind also that these words were prophetic, that they were written about a hundred years before Babylon came and destroyed the defensive walls of Jerusalem, conquered the people, ransacked the temple.

They were written about a hundred years before all that. So they were taken into exile, for 70 years they lived in Babylon in exile, and then were returned by God's decree using the pagan kings at the time.

So that's just to set the context. I hope it didn't test your patience for too long, but now we will stand and read

Isaiah 55, and God will only be able to proclaim the gospel by it. So please stand with me.

This is the word of the Lord. Come everyone who thirsts, come to the water, and he who has no money, come buy and eat.

Come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear and come to me, hear that your soul may live, and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast sure love for David.

Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you because of the

Lord your God and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. Seek the

Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts.

Let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth.

It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which

I sent it. For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace. The mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress, instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle, and it shall make a name for the

Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." May God bless the reading and even now the proclamation of his word.

Please be seated. So the question is, do you trust

God? Do we trust God? This people is in exile who this was first written to.

They are in Babylon. They've been there for 70 years after the cataclysm of the destruction of their defensive walls and the ransacking of the temple.

And this call here, this come that is being given, is not the general evangelical call that we often think of it.

It can relate that way, but the primary purpose of this call, come, is for this people in exile in Babylon, hundreds of miles away from the homeland, to leave there and to trust

God and to come back as a people, if you will, who are the one who went off and left the 99.

And Jesus Christ says that the good shepherd goes after the one leaving the 99 behind. So these people away from the homeland who have been sent off, they didn't wander off, but they were sent off by God, are called to come back, are called to trust, are called to trust

God and to leave what they had and they had built up for those 70 years and to trust

God's word to come back. And this is for us today as well. We who have wandered away from the

Lord, we who in our own strength have entrusted ourselves, having left the word of God behind, having forgotten to pray, have wandered away from it and are called back.

And how do we come back? How is it that we can repent? How is it that we can leave behind all the things that we've built up, at least in spirit, and put our trust in God?

This is what the passage is really about, to return to the Lord, to come back to the Lord, to trust that what

God says He will give is not just better than what you could afford with money.

It's not just the best that the world can offer you. It's every bit as good as God says it will be.

To repent, to return, to strive again for that image of His Son for which we are predestined, not just a practical thing, not just something you ought to do because the

Bible says, and therefore I'm going to follow the commands, though we do follow the commands, but to do it in trusting

God and trusting God that what He says He will have you to do and what

He says will be the result of it, not just better, not just the best, not just superior, but as good as He says it will be.

Do we trust God? Have you wandered away? Have you put yourself in exile as it were?

Well, that's what this passage is about, to return to the Lord, to trust the

Lord, to put your faith, your hope, and your trust in Him to find in Him your satisfaction.

Why do you spend your money? Why do you put your effort? Why do you put all your time? Why do you put your spirit? Why do you put yourself into all these other things?

They're good in and of themselves. Paul says that the physical things that we have, good food, homes, they're sanctified by the

Word of God and by prayer. They're good things, but they're not meant to be your satisfaction.

It is He who gave them to you. It is He who allows us to enjoy them. It is

He, the creator of the things that we enjoy, who is to be our satisfaction. Do you trust

God? Will you trust God and return to Him? That's what these 13 verses are about.

He speaks to a people in Babylon. They've been there for 70 years. You know, they prospered in Babylon.

In Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 7, as Jeremiah is telling the people, you're going to be exiled, you're going to be taken away.

And when you get there, what does he say to do in Jeremiah 29? He says, pray for the prosperity of the city where I am sending you.

Pray for the good of the people there. Integrate yourselves. Become part of society and prosper among them, which they did.

You know, they were not only prosperous people and well integrated into that society, very secure because they were citizens of the superpower of the day, but some of their sons were very high up in government.

You know, Daniel and his three friends. I'm going to get the name wrong. I'll keep thinking of the names that they were given by Babylon.

But what was it? It was Hananiah and Mishael and... say it louder?

Ezariah. Thank you. They were high officials. And Daniel, like Joseph centuries before in Egypt, he was second only to the king.

They had friends. They had homes. They had jobs. They had careers. They had cars. They had houses.

They had everything. And God says, come.

He says, come to the waters and he who has no money, come buy and eat. We said, we've got lots of money.

Lord, we did what Jeremiah said. We prayed for the city and we have prospered. What do you mean no money?

I can pay for anything. Come buy wine and milk. What is wine and milk?

Well, milk for the body. Milk for the physical aspect and our good. Wine is in the

Bible, messianic bounty. The goodness of God poured out. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price.

And again, we look and we say, I can pay. I can pay for the very best. I've got lots of money.

God is calling them from this wonderful land where they've obeyed God. They've submitted to his will in the exile for 70 years.

And what does God say when he says, come and be satisfied here with real splendid food?

Well, clearly he's saying, trust me. You're going to leave this land where you've prospered, the

Silicon Valley of its day, with these salaries that for me are just unbelievable.

I worked for PG &E for many years. When I was in staff at PG &E to make $50 ,000 a year.

Now some of you are going to snicker, but back then to make $50 ,000 a year is like, wow, they really think something of you.

This people was in the land where you live now. A land that prospers, a land with salaries that would just blow your mind.

They had everything. And God says, trust me, be satisfied with what

I'm going to give you because it's as good as I say it's going to be. So to leave this land and to come back to Judah in obedience to the

Lord, you read Haggai, you read the opening of Ezra and Nehemiah.

So you're leaving this fertile land in Mesopotamia, Babylon. You're leaving behind your security, your prosperity.

You're going to a land that's filled with what? Drought, an economy in a shambles.

If it's an economy at all, there's no crops, there's no borders, you have no king, there's no army.

Who was left behind when Babylon did the exile and took people away? The riffraff we could say.

What does God say to us today? Trust me to leave behind your spiritual commitment to these things, the things that the apostle

Paul says, I count them all as rubbish. Do we count them as rubbish?

Are we willing to leave them behind? It's harder than we might think. We need to trust

God that it's as good as he says it will be to trust him, to leave this land of prosperity and go to this land of drought.

Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters and he who has no money, come buy and eat. This come in the

Hebrew is ahoy. It's a pitiful cry of the water vendor and it says to those who are coming in from this dry and dusty road, merchants coming to sell their goods in the city and there's the water merchant saying hoy or come.

I have what you need. I've suffered as you suffer. I know what you're going through. Please come here.

Of course, it takes money. You have to pay for it if he has a booth there like the food trucks that we see, but it's this cry that says

I relate to you. Well, this is the voice that God takes up in the water vendor and think about this for a moment.

Psalm 113 verse 6 says that God looks far down from heaven to even notice us. The King James says he humbles himself to even look upon us.

He's so far. He's so different. He's so away and yet here he takes up the voice of a merchant to call his people to trust him, to leave behind what they thought was everything that they could possibly get in this world and how is it that God can say with this voice that relates to you, this voice that says hoy, this voice that says come, this voice that says

I know what you've gone through, I know what you are going through, and I know what you need. You might stop and say, well, look, you're

God Almighty. You are El Shaddai. You are above. You are there. You are different.

You are holy. You are not me, though we relate to him by analogy, though we were made so we can relate to him.

How is it that this God can call out with this voice that relates to us and says

I know what you've gone through. I know what you need. Well, it's because of Jesus Christ.

It's because the word who became flesh. It's because Jesus Christ as God, as man, man and God, never the two confused, went through everything that we went through.

He was tempted in all ways as we are tempted, yet without sin. He wept at a funeral.

He rejoiced at weddings. He laughed with good humor and he wept when things were sorrowful.

He faced everything that you and I face. So when he says come, when he says hoi,

I know what you need, I know what you've gone through, it's not just some parable.

It's not just some words that sound good and make us feel better about God. It's God who became flesh and dwelt among us.

It is he, it is Christ who said come to me all who labor and are heavily laden.

Is that not the same voice? And I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I'm gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Not just words, real true rest by faith in him.

By faith in him who suffered all that you suffer, who went through all that you've gone through and are going through and will go through.

So when God through says come to me because I know, because I've been there,

I've walked on this earth, he's speaking of the incarnate Jesus Christ, the eternal son of God who became flesh and walked among us.

So when it says in the Bible come to me and ask why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy, he knows what really does satisfy.

And again you could look and say was this bread? I eat this food on my table, of course we're prospering in Babylon, I can afford the very best.

This bread, I eat it, I get some calories in me, I can work. What are you talking about? Of course the meaning is all spiritual.

The meaning is deeper than that stuff that's put on the table. He's saying why are you being satisfied in what the maker has made rather than the maker who made what you're enjoying.

This is a question to them to trust God that what he says will satisfy will indeed satisfy.

It will accomplish what he says it will. And the question is to us where's your hope? In what do you find your satisfaction?

Is it in the stuff that you have? Your car, your job, your education?

Do we not strive for things because we think the other side of all the work will be better? Many of us have gone to top universities and we worked hard and we didn't work hard because we said when

I get this degree I'm going to get a lousy job and life is going to stink.

Of course not, we did it because we think it's going to be better. This is exactly what we need to trust

God for. To put our hope, our trust, our satisfaction in the provider and not the things that we have before us but in him who gave them to us.

And this is the call to Israel back then. He says to delight yourselves in the rich food.

To delight yourselves in what he will give to trust him that what he gives is not better, not best, not superior, but as good as he says it will be.

Words fail to describe it. He goes on in verse 3 he says incline your ear and come to me hear that your soul may live and I'll make you with you an everlasting covenant my steadfast sure love for David.

Well we don't want to spend too much time on this one. I can tell you what this verse or these verses mean in verse 3 of chapter 55 and I can tell you infallibly and actually very quickly not because I'm bright but because the apostle

Paul tells us exactly what this means and we'll just we'll get through this part really quickly.

I want you to understand what are the sure mercies of David? Those who come, those who trust God, those who say

I will leave this prosperous place, I will find my satisfaction in God. They had it a little harder than you because they had to actually physically leave and go from Babylon back to the land.

We need to change our spirit, our focus and find our satisfaction elsewhere.

And what comes to those who come to this call? The sure mercies of David.

What are the sure mercies of David? Was it forgiveness? Psalm 32 would say yes.

David brought forth that forgiveness. Blessed is he whose sins are forgiven, whose iniquities are covered.

And David an adulterer, a murderer, we all know that. He shows forth the mercy of God in himself as he repented of his sin.

But what are the sure mercies of David ultimately? Well the New Testament tells us.

Verse 34 of chapter 13 of Acts, this is the apostle Paul's first public sermon, he says, and as for the fact, emphasis mine, as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, that's

God the Father raised Christ the Son from the dead, no more to return to corruption he has spoken in this way.

And here is Isaiah 55 verse 3. I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.

It sounds a little different than what I read. That's because Paul quotes from the Greek translation of the

Old Testament. Don't worry about the difference. This is what he's quoting. So what are the sure mercies of David?

It's the resurrection. It's the resurrection of Jesus Christ that seals our redemption, that proves

God's satisfaction in his sacrifice. He raised him from the dead so that we know, so we can be sure of that historical fact and that we in history sometime in the future will follow in a resurrection just like his.

We shall see him as he is one day for we shall be like him because of the resurrection.

So when we read in Isaiah 55 verse 3 and this people who's being called to change their focus, to find their satisfaction in God, and to trust that satisfaction that no matter how bad it looks over in this land where he's telling them to go, it's going to be as good as he says it will be.

How do we know that we can do this? How do we know it's as good as God says it will be?

Not just better, not just best, not just the superior. As good as he says it will be because of the resurrection.

Because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead to certify the salvation that we have in him.

And therefore when he says, I will make this covenant with you, the sure mercies of David think resurrection.

He says, behold I've made him a witness to to the peoples. This is verse 4. A leader and commander for the peoples.

Behold you shall call a nation that you do not know and a nation you did not know shall run to you. Now a nation you do not know, this is speaking of Jesus Christ and the people who come to him from all nations, from all tongues, from all kindred.

Did he not know who they are? Well we're not going to take this apart this morning.

Jesus Christ knew all things. Our understanding of the Bible says that he knew, that God always knew who he put in Christ and who

Christ died for, who his suffering was meant to benefit. And yet, do you not know

Jesus didn't know? Was he ignorant? No, what we understand here then is that Jesus in a ubiquitous way simply called people himself and said, come to me you who are weary and heavy laden.

He didn't say, come to me you predestined one by God. No, just like us in his humanity, we give a ubiquitous call to all to come to Christ.

He was satisfied that as he proclaimed the gospel, that he was, he is the gospel, that as he proclaimed it according to God's will, that all that God would meant him to have would come to him.

All whom the father has will certainly come to me, said the Lord Jesus Christ. Well that's what this verse is meaning, that he will call a nation that you do not know and the nation you did not know shall run to you.

Who's the nation who did not know Jesus Christ who runs to him? Is that not you?

Is that not me? It's not everyone who rebelled against God, who hated

God, who lived a life against him, who found satisfaction here in these physical things and not the one who gave them to us.

Did you not run to God? People who did not know him, you and me and whoever has faith in Christ have run to him because God gave you a heart to believe in him.

It's Ezekiel 36. He takes out the heart of stone which is impervious to the things of God. He gives you a heart of flesh which is open to things of God, which corresponds to God, a heart that wants to know

God, a heart that runs to Jesus Christ and wants to be like him, wants to know him. That's what this verse ultimately means, that Jesus Christ proclaimed the gospel to whomever and those who

God predestined ran to him, desired him. We could even say we chose to follow

Christ. Now that sounds funny in this reformed church, doesn't it? But how did you choose to follow

Christ? Because God made you want to choose, because God gave you the heart to choose, because you did not know him and yet you ran to him because God changed you and gave you a new heart and gave you a new spirit and a new desire to run to him.

It says in verse six now, and remember we're speaking, this is written over a hundred years before the exiles to whom this would directly apply, seek the

Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he's near, let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, let him return to the

Lord that he may have compassion on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. Do we trust the

Lord for his pardon? Do you know that repentance is of value?

Now if there was no pardon behind repentance, why would we ever repent? We need to trust

God, this abundant pardon that he gives, and why is his pardon abundant? Well the answer is simple.

I can see most of you nodding your heads saying, oh I know the answer to that. Why is his pardon so abundant?

It's because our sin is so abundant. His pardon matches our need.

He says, I'll give you what really satisfies you. Come to me and I'll give you what you really need. That was early in the chapter.

Now he says he will abundantly pardon. We need to trust that. This people, this section, excuse me, the section of Isaiah, as I said after the historic interlude of chapters 36 to 39 began in chapter 40.

And how does chapter 40 begin? It's a beautiful words. Comfort, comfort my people says your

God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare is entered, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the

Lord's hand double for all her sins. You know again, if I'm in Babylon and I'm saying, well this part is pretty good.

Look where I'm living and who's going to mess with me? Daniel is a Jew like me and he's second in command of the whole nation.

I've got money. I've got status. I've got degrees. We're part of the government here.

We've got everything. So being forgiven here is pretty good.

Well that's a very cynical way to look at it. We need to trust

God in his pardon, which means we need to trust his word which says we need to be pardoned.

For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 3 23, Romans 6 23, for the wages of sin is death.

But the gift of life, the gift of eternal life is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Why do we repent?

We repent because the forgiveness that God gives us and the transformation that we have when we repent and we grow that extra step in the

Lord and we truly leave behind our sin, that movement towards the image of Jesus Christ is not just good.

It's not just going to give you a smoother better life. It may in fact do quite the opposite in this world. But we need to trust that it's every bit as good as God says it will be and as it is now to be more and more like his

Jesus Christ. We need to trust what he says here that your sins have been pardoned, that your iniquity has been paid, double has been paid.

Well for them then of course is speaking of their 70 years in Babylon away from the land and they need to see that and despite their comfort, despite their prosperity, despite their status as sort of lousy.

Because where we need to go is where God says it's going to be good and it'll be we trust him it'll be as good as he says it will be.

That land of drought, that land without defensive walls, that land without borders, that land without an army, that land we will go without a king, that land is populated by the riffraff, by the people who weren't even worth taking into exile.

And yet there they went. Read the opening of the book of Ezra and these people trusted as they left that land where they had done so well and returned.

Trusting what? Trusting it to be as good as God says it will be. Why can we trust

God and his pardon? It was the author to Amazing Grace, John Newton, who famously said,

I only know this. He says, I am a great sinner but Jesus is a great savior.

How can this be? How can we trust God in this pardon that he gives? It flows right from there.

He said, let him return to the Lord they may have compassion on him. That's verse 7. And to our God for he will abundantly pardon.

He will pardon as abundant as our sin. Jesus Christ's cross is adequate for all our iniquities against God.

That's what it is saying here. How do we trust that? How do we trust this statement from God?

How do we trust that when Jesus Christ from the cross says it is finished? It really truly is finished.

Well here it says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. He doesn't think like us.

He doesn't hold grudges. When God says, I've forgiven you, he's forgiven you. When God says that Jesus Christ died for your sins and the sins are answered, he meant it.

Why? Why do we trust that? Because God doesn't even think like us. He doesn't behave like us.

He doesn't need to hold spiritual superiority over us by holding that little grudge and saying, oh we love you as a brother.

You're a wonderful sister in the Lord. Everything's wonderful and cheery. Let's sing together. But I always remember because I'm a little better than you because I didn't do that.

I know I forgave you because you offended me so horribly and we had that Matthew 18 discussion and we worked it all out all to the glory of God.

But I'm going to keep a little bit in reserve. It's hard to trust a

God who says my pardon is abundant because I don't think like you think.

He doesn't. When he says forgiven, he means forgiven. When he raised

Jesus from the dead, he meant for us to trust him that the redemption was accomplished and that Jesus Christ did accomplish what he went to the cross for, which was our forgiveness.

So how much different is God than us? How much different are his thoughts than us?

Why do we trust this word from him? For the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways.

That's verse 9. And my thoughts than your thoughts. How much higher is heaven than the earth?

We have no markers. You know, so when we take vacation, we go through Oregon, we always look at the mileage markers because or the exit numbers because they mark the miles for you.

You know how far you've gone. So I know how far Oregon or different places are from California or from Fremont or from Sunnyvale.

How far is the heaven from the earth? As far away as God's thoughts are from our thoughts.

As far away as God's behavior is from our behavior, if I can say it that way.

It's infinite. The heavens are higher than the earth. My ways are higher than your ways. My thoughts than your thoughts.

But praise God. We do know God's thoughts, do we not? We have the word of Christ.

These are the thoughts of God. This is the very mind of Christ that we have in the scriptures. Can we be like God?

Yes. Like. Like God. No perfection in this life.

Always a striving. But the scripture reveals God to us. The scripture gives his will for us.

If you listen in the morning as Pastor Conley puts forth the catechism questions to us and then gives the comments on the scripture that we read.

This is the will of God. This is the mind of Christ that you're hearing. This is the thoughts of God. They're so much higher than our thoughts and yet they're given to us in our language and in a way that we can know them and understand them.

And yet it's because God's thoughts are so much higher and so much better and so much more holy than ours and so different from ours.

That's the very reason you can trust him. To leave behind your satisfaction in the things of this world.

And I keep saying this. It's hard for us to do. We prosper in a way that no nation, no people ever has.

And within this nation that prospers as no people has ever prospered. I don't know how many places there are like this very valley where we live.

Where there's so much money. Where there's so much to be satisfied with. And things that we can touch and hold on to.

For as the rain and the snow come down. The verse 10 from heaven. And do not return there but water the earth.

Making it bring forth and sprout. Giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater. So shall my word be that goes forth my mouth.

It shall not return to me empty but it shall accomplish that which I purpose. And shall succeed in the thing which

I sent it. Now again the people who heard this first. The exiles. What are they hearing?

They're hearing to the land of promise. Go to the land of milk and honey. Go to the land that I redeemed you from Egypt to take.

The land that I warned you if you sin. If you go to idols. If you trust anything other than me.

If you find your satisfaction in these things. Rather than I who gave you the things.

You'll be vomited out of the land. God gives his word.

That this is the land of promise. And to obey him and return there.

Would be as good as he says it will be. And ultimately if you follow the history of Israel.

Up from then as they rebuilt the temple later. And at the time of Jesus Christ. His word is absolutely true.

It would take too long to tease that out right now. But the scripture says that God did bless them.

They did rebuild the temple. And he kept his word in redeeming the people. And so us when we look at ourselves.

And we look at ourselves carefully. We say what is my satisfaction? Is God just sort of the afterthought?

Of course when I come on Sundays. He's the first thought. And I raise my hands as we worship and sing and pray.

But in truth. When I go home. My satisfaction is in things that I've provided.

Oh thank God. You made me strong and smart so I can get a good job and buy these things. I give you all the praise for it.

But I sure like this car. I sure like this house. I like this degree

I've got put up on my wall from that school. God blesses you with that.

There's nothing wrong with those things. Where we go astray. Is that our satisfaction is in them.

And then we raise ourselves up that way. Because it's what Hezekiah did at the end of that historic interlude

I referred to. He shows off. So the Babylonian envoy comes. And they want to congratulate him because of the healing that they heard he had.

He forgets to say well you know God did it. You know and just before that God wiped out the

Assyrians. Remember he prayed and he put the threat of the Assyrians before the Lord. He trusted

God and what happened? 185 Assyrians are 185 ,000 excuse me 185 ,000

Assyrians are gone. Jerusalem is no longer under threat. That's what it means to trust

God. This is what it means to believe that His Word will accomplish what

He says it will accomplish. And what will it accomplish? It will be as good as He says it will be. It may not look that way right now.

You may have things that you're looking at and saying boy this is really really good.

And it is. What does His Word accomplish? It accomplishes in us a reduction of our pride.

A taking away of our pride and putting it all on Christ and what He has given us.

His Word will succeed in a thing that He sent it for. Can we go to John 3 16?

John 3 16. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

There's the Word of God. He sent His Son. He sent the Word of God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word is always God.

Jesus Christ is that Word who came and dwelt among us. And that Word that Jesus Christ came and that Word that Jesus Christ is and that Word that Jesus Christ accomplished was the redemption of His people.

Just as in Isaiah 55 in a much much much smaller way that that Word is accomplished when this people came from Babylon trusted

God and went to this desolate land and trusted Him that to obey

Him despite appearances would be as good as He says it would be. How can they do that?

How can we by walking by faith and not by sight by trusting what the

Word of God says? The question throughout is do we trust Him? His Word will accomplish what it says not just words.

These are not just something that are comforting. We say that's like a nice little poem I'm going to memorize. Jesus Christ the

Word of God accomplished what God sent Him for. The redemption of His people that in Him we find our hope, our trust, our satisfaction.

So we trust God? Do we trust God that when He says what you're eating does not satisfy come to mean

I will give you what really satisfies what truly satisfies? I will give you Jesus Christ. I will give you faith to believe if you will submit yourself to this

Word. If you will repent of your sin and come as He says to the people of God but come and become one of the people of God by faith in Christ.

His Word will accomplish in you what it says. 2 Corinthians 5 17. If anyone is in Christ behold

He is a new creation. God makes exude. The old things pass away. The old man is gone.

The new man is there. You can put him on daily as it says in Colossians. Put on the new man who's created by God in true righteousness and holiness.

Put off the old man who's growing corrupt because of the desires of this world. How do we keep away from the desires of this world?

How do we satisfy ourselves in God? By prayer, by fellowship with saints, by looking to the

Word of God and saying this Word is not just true though it's true with a capital

T. This Word is not just good though it's good with a capital G. But what it will accomplish in me is as good as God says it will be.

How good does God say it will be? It says you're predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ Jesus Himself.

I ask what could be better? I don't like asking that way. Is that just better? Is that just best? Is that just superior?

No. No. My words fail. I tried to find adjectives that could convey this.

I haven't got them. I've got this statement that I say over and over. It will be as good as God says it will be. To be like His beloved

Son. How far are we from that image? As far as heaven is from the earth. Are you closer to Him than me?

You may well be. I could be closer than you. But no matter that distance that we have between each other, that distance that the best and closest man on earth or woman on earth has to the image of Christ who's done more than anybody else in history, how far are they?

As far as heaven is from the earth. Until that day that God accomplishes His Word in the resurrection.

And we shall see Him as He is because we shall be like Him. Let's finish with the last two verses.

You shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace. This is the people, if you read the opening of Ezra, this is people who are coming to the temple, obeying

God's Word, following Ezra to go back to the land of promise. You shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace.

The mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing. And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress. Instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle. And it shall make a name for the

Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. Now let's understand that mountains do not sing.

Trees do not clap. What is God saying here? He's saying trust me.

Trust me because that land you're going to, that drought stricken land that has not been cared for because of the people who were left behind, they don't know what they're doing.

They didn't take care of it. They're poor. They're uneducated. They don't have any skills. Trust me that creation itself will cooperate with you.

That will open up the heavens and rain will come down again. That the crops will grow again.

That you will prosper again. Saying trust me. Come forth.

Read the pilgrim songs beginning at Psalm 120. Where do

I find my strength? I look to the hills. My strength is in the Lord God who made everything.

Read those psalms and see the people singing and praying as they go back to the land.

But what we have here is just a foretaste. A foretaste of creation once again cooperating with us.

This is Romans 8. Let me get here.

Excuse me. I thought I had a book marked. I didn't. At verse 20 in chapter 8 of Romans.

For the creation was subjected to futility not willingly but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage.

The trees shall clap their hands. The mountain shall sing for joy. It shall be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

It will once again cooperate with us. It will stop resisting your efforts. This is

Christ's return. This is when all things are made new. Do you trust this word? We speak in Revelation where it speaks of the new creation and we say how much we believe that there will be no more tears.

There'll be no more sorrow. Do we believe that word? Do we really trust that word? Our worship is a foretaste of that.

The church should be a picture of that coming redemption when creation itself stops resisting us.

What makes it worthwhile to repent, to return to the Lord, to come to him in sorrow for having found satisfaction in anything other than him?

What makes repentance worthwhile? What makes our suffering endurable?

I have multiple sclerosis. You have cancer. You suffered from horrible

COVID. What makes it worthwhile? Do we just grit our teeth and bear it?

That's worldly. No, it's because we know that one day we won't stop suffering because we're just dead.

That's the hope of the world, trying to gain every last breath. Oh, keep and work for your breath.

Take advantage of the medical technology that we have available, which is so incredible, which has kept me upright when years ago, half a generation ago, it would be unsurvivable.

No, take advantage of those things, but know this. It's worthwhile now, suffering these things, going through what we go through, because one day

Christ will return. And when he returns, he will make all things new. And when he makes all things new, we will be a part of it because he will resurrect us and we'll follow him in a resurrection like his.

We shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. Do you trust this word? Do you trust this word enough to repent of having found satisfaction in anything other than Christ, the giver?

Do you trust this word from a God who doesn't think like we do, whose thoughts are so far away from ours that it's infinite and yet gave us his mind in the word?

Do you trust this God that as you follow his word and become more and more like his son,

Jesus Christ, that the result of it is his pleasure? And for us, it will be as good as he says it will be.

Let's put our trust in God and find our satisfaction in him and him alone. Amen.

Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. We thank you for this time that we have together and for this word that you've given us.

I pray, Lord, for our trust and our hope and our satisfaction to be in Christ Jesus and him alone.

in all these things, would you receive all the glory and praise for it in Jesus' name. Amen.