← ArchiveIsaiahThe Lord’s Heart for the NationsDateNovember 24, 2019SpeakerDr Josh BurnhamTextIsaiahPassages in this sermonIsaiah 664:23Matthew 813:25Acts 230:50Isaiah 632:41Mark 938:09Ephesians 241:07Ephesians 2:1042:52TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00*Music* So welcome and good morning. My name is Josh Burner, lead pastor. I was the one who was playing in the snow earlier. And if you want to play in the snow, we will have snow on December 11th. It will snow here, the weatherman predicts. And so join us for that Wednesday night.0:29night. I find it refreshing and somewhat odd that we are doing what we do right now. We take it for granted that what we see here today is thousands of years of people gathering on the Lord's day0:54to worship this Messiah who we believe died on the cross and rose again on a Sunday. Do you realize how oddly strange that is to a world that says is the resurrection true? So what we do today right now is a culmination of thousands of years of sacred gatherings. May we not take this1:19for granted. May we not take this for granted. And so here's our hope. If you don't know Jesus Christ and you just wandered in here, maybe someone asked you to come, our prayer is that you would see the majesty and the glory of this Jesus Christ and that you would follow him. That's our prayer for you. And if you've come here today and maybe you are downcast in your soul, I pray that the joy of1:44Christ would bring rejoicing to your heart and that a brother or a sister would come and bear your burdens as we're called to do. So with us right now, the Bible promises where two or more are gathered in the name of Christ, he is here also. So we don't have to wonder, is the presence of God going to show up? He only needs two. And because I believe there are at least two here with hearts on fire2:11for Christ. Praise God, he is here. He is here. So we're going to finish a sermon series in the book of Isaiah. We've through several weeks, several months, we've been walking through the book of Isaiah together around this central theme. It's the theme that we see in Isaiah. The name Isaiah, the prophet in the Old Testament means this. It's simply that Yahweh saves. And we would not be here today, I would not be here today if I didn't believe that truth. If I didn't believe that God through his son, Jesus Christ, is our salvation, what we're doing here right now is only a charade.2:39So not only do we proclaim this, but we believe it. And we're going to see this final section, the final words in the prophet of Isaiah. So how do we sum up this book that many would say is the greatest Old Testament book? Some have called Isaiah the fifth evangelist or the fifth gospel.3:04Now let me remind you what some of your writing instructions would tell you online. I had a professor one time that told me that we should write our conclusion first. And it just doesn't make sense. I'm a linear thinker. And so for me, it is you write the introduction first because that's what comes first. And he said, but your conclusion is so important.3:28It's the final words. And so the writing center affirms us about a conclusion that a conclusion to an essay or a book or an email allows the author to have the final say on issues raised, to synthesize thoughts and to demonstrate the importance of ideas. And they say this, the conclusion of any work makes your readers glad they read your paper.3:56paper. So what we're going to read today is the final passage and the final text and the final words of 66 chapters in Isaiah. So don't miss the exclamation point that Isaiah gives. So if you have your Bibles with you, join me in Isaiah 66 beginning in verse 18.4:23Today's message is simply this God's heart for the nations because that's what Isaiah leaves us with. God's heart for the nations. If you want to use the pew Bible, it is page 662. And if this is your first time here and you think, well, you guys are ending three months in Isaiah and this is my first Sunday, you will fit in. We're not going to leave you behind. And we're going to wrap up what Isaiah is saying through this context to our context.4:46This is the living and active word of the Lord. Let's read together. Isaiah 66 verse 18 halfway through the Old Testament, which is the first third of your Bible.5:13God says, knowing their works and their thoughts. I have come to gather all nations and languages. They will come and see my glory. Let's pause there. There's several words that we're going to look back at nations, languages and glory. We'll come back to those words.5:26Verse 19. I will establish a sign among them and I will send survivors from them to the nations, to Tarshish, to Put, to Lude, who are the archers, to Tubal and Javan and the coast and islands far away, who have not heard about me or seen my glory, and they will proclaim my glory among the nations.5:50Verse 19. They will bring all of your brothers from all the nations as a gift to the Lord on horses and chariots and litters and on mules and camels to my holy mountain, Jerusalem, says the Lord.6:15Verse 19. Just as the Israelites bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. Verse 19. I will also take some of them as priests and Levites, says the Lord. For just as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, will remain before me, this is the Lord's declaration.6:34So your offspring and your name will remain. All mankind will come to worship me from new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, says the Lord. Final verse of the final chapter in Isaiah. This is the exclamation points that he gives. And this is verse 24.7:00As they leave, they will see the dead bodies of those who have rebelled against me, for their worm will never die, their fire will never go out, and they will be a whore to all mankind. I mean, if we read this honestly, we're thinking, out of all, Isaiah, out of everything that you could have left us with, you left us with this thought.7:29And I pray that this image would burn in our minds and our hearts and that God would give us his heart for the nations. Let me pray for us. Father, as we read your word, we know it is living and it is active. Lord, I believe there are people in this room right now that do not know you.7:56They do not believe that Jesus died for them. They do not believe that Jesus rose again for them. Lord, I pray that they would believe. Father, give us your heart for the nations. Give us your heart within us that we may live sent lives. And may we not forget this image that if we walk in rebellion, that we will walk a road to destruction, to a place, an eternal place where the worm will always feast and the fire will not die out.8:19Lord, may we not forget this image that you want us to be left with today. Father, burn within us a deep, deep affection for your grace and your mercy. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Some of you are thinking, what in the world have I gotten myself into?8:50What is Isaiah saying? So I want to give you four central truths. But before we look at that, here's what we need to realize. Most scholars would say that what you have just read is given by two bookends. So very quickly, look at verse 19. Isaiah says, the Lord says through Isaiah that he will establish a sign to all nations. Okay, that's one bookend. If you look at verse 22 and 23, then there's a reference to this new heavens and new earth.9:19The same reference that Revelation makes, which is the second coming of Jesus Christ. So in verse 19, we have the first coming of the Messiah. In verse 22, we have the second coming of the Messiah. So what we have read and what I'm going to share today is between the first and the second coming of Jesus Christ. Where God is working out his glory for among the nations.9:47And you might be thinking, well, pastor, this was written before Jesus Christ, before the cross. That's true. And it was still relevant. And it was still impactful to them as much as it is us today. So with that, let's hear God's heart. Verse 18. The Lord says, knowing their works and their thoughts, I have come to gather all nations and languages.10:11So 10 times in about three verses, Isaiah mentions nations, tongues, and other people. Mauritius, the coast. Some of you are thinking, well, I was just in Lude the other day and I know where that place is. No, you don't. We don't even know where it is. Most scholars will say it's around the Red Sea, northern Africa, but they're not sure.10:38So Isaiah is wanting to put in our minds that God cares about all the nations. What is God saying here? He's saying that He loves the nations. That's God's heart. And I really believe that our heart should beat as God's heart today. So just put your hand over your heart. We're not going to say the pledge to anyone except the Lord. But just think of that.11:07If God's heartbeat is going, doom, doom, doom, doom for the nations, isn't that what we should want? Shouldn't we be people that say, God, I want to love what you love. And God, I want to love the people you love. This is God's heart for the nations. And He loves them so much that He wants to do what? Now look at the verse, the word right before He says the nations. I have come to do what to the nations?11:35I've come to gather. Now that's important for us for several reasons. Because one, you and I are gathering this morning. God's people throughout time have always gathered. That's what God's people do. People who are gathered through the power of the Holy Spirit gather others. And I push back against American Christianity. I use that word loosely. People say, I know Jesus Christ, but I don't have to go to church. I don't love the church.12:05I don't have to gather. Well, I would lovingly say, what Bible are you reading? Verse 18, right? Knowing their works and their thoughts, I have come to gather. That's what God's people do. We are gatherers by nature. We should want to gather together. We should want to proclaim the glory of God. We should want to be with each other. That's who we are. And not only should we do that for others and ourselves, we should do that for others.12:34We should do that for those who do not yet belong. You see, God loves the 155,000 people who are dying today and don't know Jesus Christ. And He wants to gather them. The Bible says that God desires that all men know Him. God is in the gathering business. He has a heart for the nation. And why is this important? Because we see this displayed in Jesus Christ.13:03Jesus was by nature a gatherer. Now, some of you are going to say, well, I don't know if I like that. That's okay. This is what Jesus did. You don't have to like Jesus. But this is who He is. See, Jesus would often gather in a way that makes church people uncomfortable. You say, well, how is that true? Well, in Matthew 8, there's a man who had skin disease, most likely leprosy. And these men were not only physically tormented, but they were social outcasts.13:31They could not worship. They could not be around community. And so Jesus is praying and He's proclaiming and He's healing. And this man who's a leper comes to Jesus and He kneels. And Jesus does something that you and I would go, oh! He heals him, yes, but before He heals him, He touches this man. And Jesus wants them to know, hey, man, who is a social outcast, I love you.14:01And I came to die for you. And I came to heal you. And I came to gather you. What a powerful demonstration of God's gathering nature and nurturing spirit for us. But it doesn't end there. It's the same passage. The Messiah went to the other side of the Galilee. Now, the other side means, that's like the other side of the tracks.14:29We tell our kids, don't go to the other side of the tracks. Like Jesus' mom told him, don't go to the other side of the sea. That's the Gentile area. It's the pagan area. That's where the demons hang out. Like the whole gates of hell will not prevail. They believed in Ciceroi Philippi that the gates of hell were over there. Like that's where Jesus is. And when Jesus is on the wrong side of the sea, these demon-possessed men come out to Him.14:52Now, I don't care how brave you are. If two demonic men come to you, you're going the other way. Let's just be real, okay? And you say, well, I would fight them. Well, remember in Acts, someone goes to try to cast out a demon, and the demon whips him, and he runs away naked. So just precaution.15:20And Jesus cast out the demon. On the wrong side of the sea, He finds a man who is wrongly possessed by a demon. And Jesus radically heals him and brings him back. Why? Because God is gathering His people. He's gathering the nations. He's gathering the other people on the other side of the sea. It doesn't end there. Jesus says that He would be bold enough that if there were 100 sheep, and there were 99 that were doing the good sheep thing, and there was one.15:47You know, everyone has that one friend that's just jumping by himself. Jesus says that He would leave the 99, and He would do what? He would go and find that one to gather Him. See, God loves the nations so much, that's His heart, that He wants us to gather because He gathers.16:15So let me make this practical for us. Most of us live in a society and watch a certain news channel, whichever side you're on, that does anything but gather. Like, the world wants to divide and conquer, and God is about gathering. Like, the world says this is Iron Bowl week. You should hate those people. It's Egg Bowl week.16:46You should hate those people. And God says, Josh, don't you understand I died for them? And I say, but God, I don't know if Jesus wore blue and orange, or red and blue, or crimson and white. And God says, but my kingdom is so much greater than football, than politics, than socioeconomic barriers, than education. God is saying, Josh, don't you understand? I love the nations. And I sent my son to die for them, and I gathered the nations, and I gather you.17:16So church, because God has gathered us, we should gather others. So when a Democrat walks in, we say, you're welcome. And when a Republican walks in, we say, you're welcome. And when a liberal walks in, we say, God wants to gather you. And when a conservative walks in, we say, you're welcome. And when a tight insider comes in, we say, mmm, you're welcome.17:46And when someone from Mississippi State comes in, we say, God bless you, come on in. But I want us to be a people, no matter who you are, no matter what you look like, and no matter what your upbringing, that we say, come. Come all who were weary and need rest, because our God is a God who gathers.18:15And we live in a world that does anything. We live in a scattered world. But our God is the one who gathers. That's the heart of the Lord, that they have come to gather all nations and all languages for his glory. You see, this is the missionary effort. But God's heart doesn't end at the nations. Look at verse 18.18:44God says that, knowing their works and their thoughts, I have come to gather all nations and all languages that they would come and see my glory. Verse 19, I will establish a sign among them. See, this is God's heart for the nations. But now we see God's heart for you. So this is what one scholar says. About this sign. Now, some of you are thinking, God gives us signs all the time. Dreams and visions and miracles and just going outside and seeing the sun rise.19:12Or some of you don't get up that early so you see the sun set. Whichever one that shows you beauty, you say, that's God's sign to me. But this sign is different. One scholar says it this way. How is the worldwide privilege to come about? How will God gather all of these nations? Knowing as we do that this passage refers to the interim between the comings of the Lord Jesus Christ.19:39This sign can only be his cross. This sign. When you read, I will establish a sign among them and I will send survivors to all the nations. This sign is the cross of Jesus Christ. So what is God's heart for you? He wants you to know that he sent his son to die on the cross for your sins and that he rose again.20:08That for everyone who believes in him might not perish but have everlasting life. Now, I really need you and I to understand how radically odd this is. That the sign God gives the nations for his glory is a sign of death. It's the Roman sign of crucifixion.20:36It's this constant reminder that death is before you. But if you would believe in Jesus who died, then you would have life. This is God's heart for you. A.W. Tozer says it this way. The cross is the lightning rod of grace that short circuits God's wrath to Christ so that only the light of his love remains for believers. I love that. The cross is the lightning rod of God's grace that short circuits his wrath.21:05I think of that old hymn that many of you know. On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross. This sign, I will establish a sign among them. The emblem, the sign of suffering and shame. Now, why is God's heart for you so important? Because those two stanzas are information. We could sing that song on a hill far away stood an old rugged cross.21:37The emblem of suffering and shame. Now, some of you know the song. So you know the next verse, though. It gets personal, doesn't it? This is God's heart for me now. So I, I love the old cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain. What is God's heart for you?22:06God's heart for you is that you would see the sign of redemption and that you wouldn't just sing on a hill far away. It's an old rugged cross, the emblem. Yeah, we get it. A suffering and shame. God wants you to be able to sing the next verse. God wants you to see the sign and say this. And I love it. I love this old cross because in the sign of this redemption, I have found life.22:30So God, his heart is for the nations, but his heart is for you, that you would believe and that you would follow. And there's something about the heart of God that when the heart of God for you becomes the heart of God in you, everything changes. Look at verse 19. It says, I will establish the sign, the sign of hope and redemption and life.23:02And yes, it's a gruesome sign. It's a sign of a cross, but it will be for all nations. And that when my heart for you gets in you, this is what immediately happens. One commentator says that this is the clearest Old Testament statement of missionary outreach in the entire Bible.23:18But God says, I will give you a sign and then I will send you out. So when the heart of Christ for you becomes the heart of Christ in me, then I must live sent.23:48So God doesn't want me just to sit and soak and grow and be fattened spiritually. He wants us to sit and soak and grow and go. That's God's desire. You see, Isaiah says that the distinguishing mark of a Christ follower is sentness. It's sentness. Look what he says in verse 19.24:17Let me read it again. It should reinforce it in our lives. I will establish a sign among them and I will send. So if you know Jesus and you see the sign, then you go. That's pretty clear, isn't it? So if I am not going, is it because I have not seen? Or is it because I am so stubborn I will live in disobedience to God? And I know you're thinking, well, I can't go where you want me to go. That's between you and the Lord. He doesn't say where yet.24:48He says go. Live sent. And so are you being sent? Are you going? Are you living missionally today? And you might think, now where? So where are we going? This word is a common word. This word is used hundreds of times in the Old Testament. It can mean to send out mail or to send out a message. But here it's just a common word to send out people for the glory of God. Why? Because I believe it should be natural. It should be common for us to go.25:18It's like breathing in and breathing out. You don't think about it. We shouldn't think about whether we should go or not. We should just do it because we have seen the sign. And the sign means that we are now sent. So where should we go? That's a great question. God's heart, we've already seen as for who? Verse 18. He will gather the nations and the languages. I was talking with a friend in this church several weeks ago.25:46And they were having lunch right after this service. And they were at a restaurant and they were talking with a man who is, he's not a first generation American. He was born outside of the States. And as they began to discuss, he said, you know what? I've never heard about this Jesus person. And he said, I've never, I've never even been inside of an American church.26:12I've seen it on TV. And he said, do you think that your pastor would, he would be willing to let me walk through the church? I'm like, sure, I'll give him the key. I don't care. I haven't. I have not done that. And then he said, but I don't, I don't have a Bible in my language. And so the first thing that this person did, they called me up and I called a friend up and I have another friend in the church and I will not throw him to the wolves or anything.26:38But this man's trunk, you can find, I found my Christmas suit in his trunk recently. And so I asked, I was asking, we were praying, I said, we need a Chinese Bible. He said, oh, I have one of those in my trunk. I said, no, you don't. He said, I do. I have a Chinese Bible in my trunk. And so we were able to give this Bible to this man. And you could just see like the gospel working in his life.27:06What does it look like to live sent? It might look like going to lunch today and God sending the nations to you at lunch and being willing and ready to have a conversation about the hope that is within you. The gospel, the nations are coming to St. Clair County. And when they come here, we want to share. And when they're not coming here, we want to go.27:35That's God's heart. God's heart within us is a heart that says, go. The missionary obligation of the church is to create a magnetic community where we share a saving message. Now, I know what you might be thinking. You might be thinking, well, I'm not this, I'm not the Navy SEAL of the church. I can't share Christ. Who's God calling to be this special sent person?28:03Let's look at this. Verse 19. God says, I will establish a sign among them and I will send survivors. Some of your Bibles say them, but the CSB translates it survivors. From them to the nations. What is a survivor? Let me give you a personal example. I moved to New Orleans in 2005 in August.28:31And some of you might not. That doesn't really ring a bell to you. But two weeks later, after moving to New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina hit. One of the most devastating hurricanes, not because of the actual hurricane, but because of the levee breach that this nation has ever experienced. Now, let me tell you that I was not in the city during that time. I evacuated to Baton Rouge, but I watched as a city that I love was inundated with water. And so I have a deep connection with anyone who lived in New Orleans during that time because I'm a survivor.29:01And let me just give you a trite example. I was in the Superdome when the Saints played the Atlanta Falcons. It was the first home football game after Hurricane Katrina. I have never been to a place that was as loud as that place. And my wife was there. Sorry to my Atlanta fans, but the Falcons never had a chance. But it wasn't about football.29:31It was because this team wandered into a home of survivors. And that was like none other. It was a surreal moment. I remember Steve Gleason blocking that punt, running to us in the end zone. And he is a hero to this day. And I will have an instant connection to anyone who lived through that hurricane because I'm a survivor. Some of you have been through cancer and you're battling cancer right now.30:00And you're a survivor of that. You have a personal connection because you're a survivor of that incredibly gruesome disease. You know the effects of radiation and chemotherapy. You've been sick to your stomach and you've lost your hair. And so you can walk up to someone. You don't have to say a word, do you? You know. Because you're a survivor. Because you're a survivor. There is power in the words of a survivor.30:26There's nothing special about survivors. It's God's grace in our life. But a survivor is simply spiritually someone who knew they were going to hell. And they realize that God has saved them. Not because of who we were but because of who he is. Peter would say it like this in Acts chapter 2. Peter replied, repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the givness of your sins.30:53And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. He says, be saved from this corrupt generation. And he's not saying this as someone is pointing the finger and saying, how dare you, evil men and women. And he's saying, I'm a survivor and my word carries weight. We should proclaim the message of Jesus as survivors. And if you have given your life to Jesus Christ, you're a survivor.31:22And there was nothing special about me living in New Orleans. But that radically shaped who I was. I walked with a unique humbleness and perspective because I survived. And for those in Christ Jesus, we should walk with a unique perspective in this world. Because we survive by his grace. Sent people have the heart of Christ because they have survived, lived, sent.31:48This is his God. This is his heart within us. But not only that, how should we live then? How do we go? How do we live sent for Christ? And it's by his glory. So many times in this passage, God reminds us of his glory. Verse 18 says that he will gather all nations and languages and they will come and they will see my glory. The coast and the islands far away.32:18In verse 19, who have not heard about me or seen my glory. They will one day proclaim my glory among the nations. You see, we live this way because of the glory of Christ. And this is not the first time that we have encountered the glory of God in Isaiah. You might have read before Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah sees this vision of God, right? And he's awestruck. And Isaiah's struggling over his words.32:48And he sees these burning angels. The seraphim are burning ones and they're worshiping God. And they're saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. And we would expect the angels to say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is filled with his... Well, that's what they said. But we would expect the whole earth is filled with his holiness, right? But they don't say that.33:17These angels say, holy, holy, holy. The whole earth is filled with his glory. The glory that one day all nations will see. What is the glory of God? How can we live out the glory of God? I think John Piper says it best in how we can just try to describe this. Just follow me as I use John Piper's words.33:44He says this about the glory of God. He said it's impossible to define. It's like the word beauty compared to the word basketball. If someone says that they have never heard of a basketball and they don't know what a basketball is, you would not have a difficult time describing a basketball. You would tell them it's a round ball that's not like a football and it's not like a football34:13and it's not like a baseball, but it's round or rubber or leather and you can bounce in. It's about this size. But not so with the glory of God. We can't describe the glory of God in that way. The glory of God, Piper would say, is much like beauty. How do you describe to someone what beautiful is? But he said, God has given us enough glimpses that like beauty, we can point and say, that sunrise is beautiful34:42and that person is beautiful and this kind act is beautiful. And in the same way, God has demonstrated his holiness among us so that we can point and say, that's his glory and that's his glory and that's his glory. And Piper would sum up the glory of God in this way, this short, pithy definition. He says that the glory of God is the ongoing public display of his holiness.35:10The glory of God is God going public with his holiness. So what does that mean for you and me? God uses his church to go public with his holiness. Some of you are just thinking, oh no. No, we're not perfect and we're not perfected.35:38If God is counting on us to display his glory to the nations, we failed. But when you read the Bible, what does the Bible say about the church? That he has robed the church in splendor and in righteousness and in garments that are spotless and without blemish. Church, you pursue righteousness for the glory of God36:05because the world is looking at us and God is using his church to make his holiness public. And that's the way that we must live. So we live with this weight because God's holy glory is demonstrated through us among all the nations. So God has a heart for the nations. He has a heart for you. And when his heart gets within you, we live sent and we live in a way that demonstrates his holiness.36:34One last image in Isaiah. And it's the image that made us go, huh? It's this last verse. Because of God's glory, one day Jesus will return again and make all things new. That's what this passage says, right? Verse 22. Because of the glory of God, the Lord Jesus Christ will return and everything will be radically made new.37:01And we're about to get up and we're going to charge the gates of hell. And then Isaiah says this. Don't forget. As they leave, verse 24, they will see the dead bodies of those who have rebelled against me. For the worm will never die and their fire will never go out and they will be a horror to all mankind. Isaiah gives us this beautiful image37:30of a new city, Jerusalem, that Jesus Christ is going to make. And you know what's by this new city that Isaiah pictures? A cemetery. It's as if Isaiah doesn't want us to forget this haunting, horrific image. And before you say, well, of course, this is Old Testament language, that the God of love and grace and the New Testament is not this God. Surely God doesn't want us38:00to think about this, a place where worm will never die and the fire will never go out. Well, listen to what Jesus Christ says in Mark chapter 9. So put your finger in Isaiah 66, verse 24. You stay there, okay? Listen to the words of Jesus Christ. If your eye causes you to fall away, gouge it out. It is better for you to enter to the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes38:29and to be thrown into hell. This is what Jesus says. Where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. Where does Jesus get that language from? Isaiah 66, verse 24. God wants us to understand that there will be a judgment day for every single person. Don't forget that. Because that should motivate us to live in a way that is thankful and humble38:58and humble and grateful for what God has done. A.W. Pink says it this way. Such in brief is the portion awaiting the lost. Eternal separation from the fount of all goodness. Everlasting punishment. Torment of soul and body. Endless existence in the lake of fire. In association with the vilest of the vile. Every ray of hope excluded.39:28Utterly crushed and overwhelmed by the wrath of a sin-avenging God. You say, well, wow. I can't believe God would do that. He doesn't. But He will not force you to worship Him. He will not force you to follow Him. And Isaiah reminds you and God wants you to know if you walk a life39:57without Jesus Christ, you will live in eternity without Jesus Christ. And a small glimpse of what that looks like is right here. that hell is a place for those who have rebelled against me. It's a place where the worm will never die and the fire will never go out. To those who are choosing to live in rebellion, you are choosing to walk this road to hell.40:26And Isaiah is simply saying, wake up. You don't have to go there. Like, don't you see this new Jerusalem? Don't you see the abundant life? And I think in a small way, when you leave here today, that's the reason that you will leave with a cemetery in your rear view mirror. Because God wants us40:55to remember what we were and what we could be if it wasn't for His grace. So let me end with this verse in the New Testament. Ephesians 2, verse 8. God simply says, you are saved by grace through faith. It is not of works. It is the gift of God. It's not of works. It's not anything you've done so that no man will boast.41:24will boast. You see, God loves you so much that He does not want to leave you with verse 24 of Isaiah 66. He wants you to know this sign in verse 19, the sign of the cross, that Jesus took your place and that He died for you and that if you by faith today, if you felt in your spirit that, hey, I am a sinner, that you can confess that before God today and you can make your life right by confessing and saying, God, I know I've sinned and I know I have no hope.41:54God, I understand that I am destined for this place but you have provided another way and I want Jesus Christ and today, Lord, I want you to be mine and me to be yours and you promise to gather me if I would trust in you. If that's you today, do business with God. He is ready and waiting to bring you home. Don't stay in rebellion.42:24in rebellion. By faith, come to Him and if you want to talk to someone after the service or during our time of response, we would love to do that. Pastor Brad will be in the lobby waiting for you. I'll be down front or you can just come to this altar and pour your face out before God and say, God, I don't want to walk this road that I am walking right now. Gather me. Lord, I am the one and I know you're looking for me. But Ephesians 2.10 says this,42:54says this, that we are the workmanship of Christ created in Christ Jesus for good works that God has prepared us beforehand to do. You know what God is saying? If you've been gathered, gather people. If you've been saved, tell people. God is saying to us right now, if His heart is within you, it will flow43:24out of you. So do not sit where you are but go. God says, I will gather my people and I will send them out. May we live as survivors in a world that so desperately needs that message. And my prayer in our time of response is that God would pour forth His Spirit upon us that we would be so uncomfortable with the lostness in this world that we would go, that we would go, that we would go. Let's pray.43:55Let's pray. Father, Thank you.← Previous in IsaiahHe Is Coming; He Is HereMore sermons on Isaiah →
