The Sermon for Sunday, July 21st, 2024, the Eighth Sunday after Trinity
The Lessons: Isaiah 57:14-21; Psalm 22:22-32; Ephesians 2:11-22; Mark 6:30-44
The Text: Isaiah 57:14-21
INTRODUCTION
In The Wonderful Spirit Filled Life, Charles Stanley writes:
“In water-safety courses a cardinal rule is never to swim out to a drowning man and try to help him as long as he is thrashing about. To do so is to commit suicide. As long as a drowning man thinks he can help himself, he is dangerous to anyone who tries to help him. His tendency is to grab one trying to aid him and take them both down in the process. The correct procedure is to stay just far enough away so that he can’t grab you. Then you wait. And when he finally gives up, you make your move. At that point, the one drowning is pliable. He won’t work against you. He will let you help.
The same principle holds true in our relationship with the Holy Spirit. Until we give up, we aren’t really in a position to be helped.[1]
The Sacrament of Baptism is itself an illustration of the point that we come to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, for we cannot save ourselves. On this special day when Brandy Falcon is baptized, I want us to consider God’s path of healing, guidance, and restoration for his people, as depicted in our First Lesson from the fifty-seventh chapter of the Book of the prophet Isaiah.
ISAIAH 57:14-21
The opening words of our First Lesson, “And shall say,” lead us to ask who the speaker is. This is not immediately clear. The idea in the Hebrew original is that someone will say these words. We do not know who it is. It could be the prophet Isaiah, or it could be one angel relaying God’s command to other angels.
The words, “Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people” (Isaiah 57:14, KJV) imply ancient roadmaking. If a king were to use a road and pass along it in his chariot, preparations would have to be made to improve the road surface beforehand. This would require building up the edges of the road and removing boulders. We are reminded of Isaiah 40:3-5:
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
(Isaiah 40:3-5, KJV)
We believe that this passage prophesied the coming of St. John the Baptist as the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it indicates a spiritual way being made for the Lord, as does Isaiah 57:14. What God was doing for Israel, as He has done now for all nations through the Lord Jesus Christ, is to make a way into his presence. He has taken away the obstacles and revealed Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, without whom no-one comes to God the Father (John 14:6).
The very next verse in our First Lesson for today sets before us the paradoxical picture of the Holy God living in eternity and in “the high and holy place” with the person who has a contrite and humble spirit (Isaiah 57:15). The meaning of “contrite” is literally “crushed,” but figuratively, it means “penitent, afflicted with remorse and guilt.” The way to God is the way of penitence and contrition. The Holy Spirit brings a person conviction of sin and contrition. In the context of Isaiah 57, the whole nation had gone astray, and stubbornly and rebelliously disobeyed God. The word “forwardly” (Isaiah 57:17) means “stubbornly and rebelliously.” Now God offers healing, guidance, and restoration to the nation that is penitent. Now in Christ Jesus our Lord, everyone who is contrite and humble, turning away from his sins with all his heart, mind, and soul, finds revival, salvation, healing, guidance, and restoration. When anyone approaches God humbly in penitence and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, God revives him.
The Sacrament of Holy Baptism, which all Christians have received, is that humble, penitent, and faithful beginning of the Christian life. While we remain convinced of our self-importance, self-reliance, and are full of stubbornness and rebelliousness, we cannot even approach God, or begin the Christian pilgrimage. Baptism is a sign of renouncing sin and selfishness and turning to God.
When we continue along the Christian way, having entered the narrow gate and taking the hard and narrow road (Matthew 7:14), we find that instead of God being our adversary, He has become our Lord and Savior, Healer, Guide, and Restorer. We hear from the Lord Jesus Christ the words of the Gospel, the words of peace that are spoken to God’s people, wherever they are in this world, whether far off or near (Isaiah 57:19). St. Augustine of Hippo (A.D.354-430) wrote these significant words in the first chapter of his first book of Confessions: “You have created us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in you” (Augustine: Confessions, I.i.8-9, my translation). Long ago, Isaiah confirmed the restless of those who live selfishly and sinfully, without God:
But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
(Isaiah 57:20-21, KJV)
Instead of remaining without rest and peace, everyone everywhere is called by God to turn away from their sins, humble themselves before him, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and receive the forgiveness of sins. Psalm 32:1-2 testifies to the blessed state of the person who has been forgiven:
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
(Psalm 32:1-2, KJV)
What is God’s purpose for all who come to him with a contrite and humble spirit? The answer is given here in Isaiah 57:
I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.
(Isaiah 57:18, KJV)
God’s purpose in the Lord Jesus Christ is to heal, guide, and restore peace and comfort to all who believe.
CONCLUSION
Will you humbly approach God, so that you may live at peace with Him and receive the healing, guidance, and restoration that God wants to give you?
[1] p.559, 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers and Writers, from Craig Larson and Leadership Journal. Baker Books, 2002, 2nd Printing, 2008.