Isaiah 12 - The Lord Is My Strength and My Song

J Patrick McDonald

Isaiah • Sermon • Submitted 2 months ago • Presented 2 months ago • 33:47

Psalm 5

Isaiah 12

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You will say in that day: “I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. 2 “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” 3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4 And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. 5 “Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. 6 Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

Target Date: Sunday, 7 April 2024

Thoughts on the Passage:

The praise of God in this passage is not because He has delivered you from your enemies, but that He has delivered you from His wrath on your sin.

The mightiest work God does in this world, the one that took Him more than a single word or thought to accomplish, was to deliver you from your sin. That required the blood of Jesus Christ.

God has not made you a better person. He has clothed you in the righteousness of Christ and filled you with His Holy Spirit.

If He were to remove either of those, you would be no better than the most wicked sinner you know. Not just judicially – actually.

You prove that EVERY TIME you return to the sin you say you have repented of, that you have left behind.

Sanctification is not about being a better version of yourself. It is about learning to live clothed in the righteousness of the Son and learning to walk about in the Spirit.

And true repentance is not simply feeling sorry or determining to leave a sin – it is filling the opportunity and void of that sin with things of the Spirit found in the Spirit Himself.

You – in yourself doing everything you can – are just as wicked and sinful as you were before. It is you in Christ that has become someone set apart – a saint.

It is you filled with, controlled by the Spirit who becomes the useful vessel God called you to be.

That is why the Law is weak – it works on improving this flesh. The gospel covers the flesh and kills the flesh, transforming us toward the finished work of God.

The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” - Luke 10:17-20

In embracing God’s forgiveness through His grace, we simultaneously embrace His holiness, His righteousness, and His justice, and we are able to be grateful for Him as He reveals Himself to be our salvation in it all.

For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. 5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. 6 You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. 7 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you. 8 Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me. - Psalm 5:4-8

Of the psalm, Craigie says, “Though evil persons are excluded from God’s presence because of their sin, it does not follow that the psalmist is admitted by virtue of his own goodness. The psalmist’s entrance into God’s house would be based only upon ‘the abundance of your loving kindness’ (v. 8; [v. 7, our numbering]); that is to say, it was only God’s grace and covenant love (hesed) toward his people which made entrance into his presence possible.”

1 – The word “you” here is singular; in verses 3-4, it is plural.

You (individually) are saved by God from His wrath and redeemed from your sin.

You (corporately) join together as God’s praise-lifting people.

It is of redeemed individuals that God’s people is made.

Psalm 5:11 - let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you.

Joy is the song of the redeemed.

It has ever been the heart’s cry of the wicked saved by grace.

God deals with us gently – including the ungodly for a time.

Romans 2:4-5 - do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

The Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit of God are not a pair of training wheels, needed and intended to teach you to ride for yourself; they are, in that way, a pair of crutches from which you will never graduate, but in whom you will walk.

walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. – Galatians 5:16

Sermon Text:

Have you ever seen one of those movies or television shows, or read a story, that starts at the very end?

Where you see the last scene first, and the rest of the movie or book was spent telling the story of how you got to that last scene?

That is the way I would like to look at our passage today.

Look at verse 6: Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

What possible reason do the Jews listening to Isaiah preach this message have to be shouting for joy or singing for joy?

They have just been invaded by the mighty Assyrian army.

Isaiah has told them that the army will completely overrun the nation of Israel, and will lay waste to the nation of Judah, encircling Jerusalem.

And all this is being done as the judgment of God falls on the nation.

Even if He decides to spare Jerusalem, it won’t bring back the thousands that have died.

It won’t return the spoils and the lands ravaged by the cruel invaders.

And even the fact at the end of the verse that the Holy One of Israel is in their midst is a mixed blessing in their eyes.

He can be a defender, yes. But He is not defending them now.

He has made them promises He will keep, yes. But their sin has driven a wedge between them and God.

But it is He who is bringing this tragedy on them in the first place, all because they worshipped idols and oppressed the poor.

Sure, He will raise up a Messiah from the stump of Jesse,

But He is the one who cut off the rest of David’s line and much of Abraham’s in the first place.

He made the stump.

He is in their midst, yes. But He is HOLY. And He judges. And their deeds are undeniably evil.

And even if they wanted to, they aren’t sure if they could do any better than they have done.

Have you ever felt that way? Scared to be close to God because He is so holy.

People walk into church every week in a thousand different congregations and sing hymns of praise to God when, in their hearts, they feel a million miles away from Him.

His glory isn’t a comfort – it is a terror.

They smile and shake hands with other people.

They joke with each other and talk about sports, or music, or hobbies – anything but how their lives are going spiritually because they feel hollow and dead.

And then the first hymn begins, and they sing “Great is Thy Faithfulness”, but it is just familiar words and a familiar tune.

How do you get from the tragedy that is so often life to “Shout and sing for joy!”?

Is the secret to just put on a happy face?

To CHOOSE to be happy and joyful?

We’ve tried that, haven’t we?

You had a fight in the car on the way here to church this morning?

Maybe someone was running late, and you didn’t want to be late today.

Or someone was rushing you.

Or you are still steaming over the argument you had two days ago.

Or you had just rather have had two more hours of sleep this morning.

But regardless of how you felt, you came to church, your teeth gritted, determined to do your duty for God and sit through this sermon.

Determined to not let anyone else know how you REALLY feel.

And not even sure you would have even shown up if people wouldn’t have asked you about your absence later.

But in all that, have you “sung with joy”? Has your heart been lifted by the songs, the prayers, by the Scriptures?

Was your heart made fresh anew by declaring the creed?

I’ll not ask if the sermon did anything for you. Too early to tell.

Has all the “acting” like you were joyful MADE you joyful?

Are you shouting God’s praise in your heart, or are you closer to shouting AT Him for the things you are going through?

How do we get there? How do we get to “shout and sing for joy”?

It starts in verse 1: I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.

Now as I read that, how many of you think I am going to talk about feeling grateful, giving thanks to God?

I’m not.

There is nothing wrong with thanking someone when you don’t particularly FEEL grateful, like thanking someone for a gift you didn’t particularly like.

We should express our gratitude, even to God, and even when we don’t FEEL like it.

But that doesn’t answer the first question, does it: does being told to THANK someone make you “shout and sing for joy”?

I think for most people I know, that’s not a lot of motivation for joyful shouting and singing.

It’s just one more thing I’m being told to do that my heart really isn’t in.

One more law, one more commandment that I know I can’t keep properly.

But there’s something else in verse 1, isn’t there?

though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.

There is something for hope. There is something to shout about.

There is something to sing for joy.

Think about what the people are hearing Isaiah say:

The sins of the people, yours included, are what has brought this great judgment of God.

They DESERVED His judgment;

They DESERVED God’s wrath.

You and I are no better than that.

We have the same basis for sin – this flesh in which we inherited the sin of Adam.

We all stand in the same condemnation that he earned by disobeying God.

But we are WORSE than that. We have done things OURSELVES that we knew were wrong, that violated God’s perfect law.

It is no use to try to comfort ourselves with thoughts like:

If it weren’t for that Adam…

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. - 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

Do we seriously think we are somehow better than the people around us.

We try that, don’t we?

We shake our heads at the sin around us.

We look at the wicked around us and thank God we are not like them.

And yet, we are.

See what Paul says is the difference between you and the unrighteous?

you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

The good news, the news that sets us to shouting and singing for joy is this: that God has not dealt with us according to what our sin deserves, but according to His great mercy.

though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.

David says the same thing in Psalm 5:

He begins, as Isaiah did, with the holiness and judgment of God in verses 4-6:

And then he declares in verse 7:

But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you.

David was prideful; he was a man of war.

And after talking about what God hates, he declares it is only by God’s steadfast love that he may enter before the Holy One.

It’s easy to look at this psalm and think he is talking about how much BETTER he is than the wicked outside, but does that make any sense in the psalm?

He is not saying “But I, because of my pure heart or clean record…may approach You”.

It is because of the steadfast love of God;

We call that GRACE now.

And then, in verse 8, he recognizes his CONTINUING need of God’s grace:

Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me.

God’s mercy doesn’t end with your conversion or your redemption;

Your need of that mercy doesn’t end with your baptism, or your appointment as a teacher or a preacher.

The mercy of God SUSTAINS His people throughout their lives, producing what we know as PERSEVERANCE of the saints.

Then we see David’s summary in verse 11:

But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you.

It is not those who do the right things, but those who hide themselves in God, that sing for joy.

That is the same promise Isaiah makes to his hearers.

Back in our passage in Isaiah, verse 2, we read this:

“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”

God IS my salvation – not God WAS my salvation.

It is His PRESENT salvation that is what David was asking for and what Isaiah is here promising that the people will rejoice in.

Some people live as if they think that God saved them through Jesus Christ and converted them by the Holy Spirit, and that makes them better people.

That Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are spiritual “training wheels” who help us to learn to ride on our own.

Do you remember those training wheels when you were learning to ride a bicycle?

Your entire goal in having them was to one day not need them.

To ride on just two wheels, balanced and upright.

But from Isaiah and David we learn that our triune God is not some set of training wheels we will one day outgrow, but is more akin to crutches to allow us to walk in our crippled state.

We cannot, and never will be able to, walk without the aid of our Lord and His Spirit.

We are forever dependent on being clothed in the righteousness of Christ because we have NONE of our own.

And we are forever dependent on walking in His Spirit because we are blind as to the way forward.

walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. – Galatians 5:16

I know this may be a disturbing thought for some, particularly those who think they are doing quite well in following our Lord.

But I assure you that were God to take either our Lord’s righteousness or His Spirit’s guidance from us, we would plunge straight back into the wickedness He called us from.

That is why HIS work is so vital in our perseverance: even a heart that has been called to Him suffers from the sin and temptations of this world.

Think about how easily you are lured back into sin you have left behind, how tempting it can be from time to time.

And know that if God were not keeping you, you would be flying back to that sin.

If you are getting stronger in following Christ, and I pray always you are, it is not because your flesh is strengthened,

But because you are becoming more accustomed to wearing the righteousness of Christ and walking with the aid of the Spirit.

Sanctification is REHAB, the SPIRIT teaching you every single day to walk more with His aid.

The LORD is my strength…and my salvation…

He has brought me out of His wrath and judgment and saved me.

Washed, set apart, and justified for His work.

He has comforted me instead of destroying me.

He makes me to walk in His ways. He leads me with His knowledge and understanding.

O Christian, He hasn’t merely made you GOOD; He has made you HIS.

He leads you where you cannot see to go; He carries you when your strength is too frail.

And if you are not a believer, I invite you to consider the gentle way God has dealt with you thus far.

He is holy, and you are brittle, a thin clay jar.

His great power and mighty strength has not been used to bring you to this moment to hear His gospel;

He has nudged you, gently guided you to this moment.

Were He to use any measure of His great power, you would be entirely consumed by it, crushed and mangled by it.

Toward Him, you are more frail than a newborn puppy, eyes still closed and legs untrained.

He doesn’t toss you around, just like you would not toss that puppy into the air.

He is gentle, easy with you, to bring you here.

All so you could hear this: give up your old way of life.

Leave behind your self-reliance, your self-righteousness, your pride, your love for the things of this world.

Because there is a day coming, and it is not far from any of us, when we will stand before that holy God and His gentleness will be at an end.

The wrath of God is the debt you have earned from your sin and rebellion, and it will be due.

In that day, the only thing that will save you, the only ONE who can save you, is to trust in the grace of God delivered in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Turn from your sin and trust yourself completely to Him.

He is the only way anyone may be saved.

God has been truly gentle until that point, but Paul tells us this:

I beg you to let your testimony in that day to be that you heard the news of God’s offer of salvation, and you cast yourself upon His mercy through Jesus Christ.

That salvation, the very same that Isaiah and David proclaimed as their source of joy, can be yours as well.

Life is not pointless; it is not moving from one boredom to another.

When God saves you by His great mercy, He brings you into joy you cannot imagine now.

Christian, if you are living a lackluster life, going through the motions of devotion, separate yourself from everything and spend time considering the great mercy He has displayed in you.

Remember where He called you from.

And remember what would happen to you if He ever let you go.

And you will proclaim the great salvation of our God!