Bulletins - South Gate Baptist Church Springfield

Angels We Have Heard On High
Glory To His Name
What Child Is This
Goodness Of God
Introduction
This morning we continue our Advent series as we “Journey to Jesus” together and look at promises in Isaiah that are fulfilled in the New Testament. This morning, as Carol and Lou read about, we celebrate God’s love. As we hear that word, love, lots of things come to mind. We love family, friends, freedom. We love parties, people, and pizza (and maybe pineapple on the pizza). How do you know that someone loves something? Sure, they might talk about something a whole lot… but how do you really know that they love it? Like if you have 2 people who both talk about how much they love Dr. Pepper, but one person never drinks it and the other person drinks it every day, who do you think really loves Dr. Pepper? The person who shows that emotion with action. Take this to our relationships - any husband can say “I love my wife.” Those are just words. But which person loves their wife: The husband who says them and never comes home because he is busy having fun, traveling, living his “best” life, and growing in other relationships, or the husband who sacrifices himself to provide for his wife? They both can say those words - but one of them practices what they preach while the other one is deceiving themselves by throwing the word love around far too loosely.
We live in a world that does this. Love is said often and it’s not always genuine… Here’s some good news: Whenever we talk about God’s love, it’s a genuine love. It’s an active love. It’s a sacrificial love. It’s a love that is not reckless, but it is radical. It’s not careless, it’s calculated. It’s not self-centered, it’s sacrificial. It’s not convenient, it’s costly.
This morning, we’re going to be in Isaiah 40 and John 10, looking at the depths of God’s love and what Jesus did to display that love to us.
Isaiah 40:1–11 CSB
1 “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. 2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and announce to her that her time of hard service is over, her iniquity has been pardoned, and she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” 3 A voice of one crying out: Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert. 4 Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill will be leveled; the uneven ground will become smooth and the rough places, a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord will appear, and all humanity together will see it, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. 6 A voice was saying, “Cry out!” Another said, “What should I cry out?” “All humanity is grass, and all its goodness is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flowers fade when the breath of the Lord blows on them; indeed, the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever.” 9 Zion, herald of good news, go up on a high mountain. Jerusalem, herald of good news, raise your voice loudly. Raise it, do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” 10 See, the Lord God comes with strength, and his power establishes his rule. His wages are with him, and his reward accompanies him. 11 He protects his flock like a shepherd; he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them in the fold of his garment. He gently leads those that are nursing.
God comforts His people like a shepherd - let’s give Him thanks for His goodness and love today, let’s pray.
God’s Love Pursues (1-5)
Isaiah 40 is an interesting chapter in the book of Isaiah. It marks a pivot of sorts. The first 39 chapters are written to the people of Israel from 740 BC - 681 BC. This is the time when the Assyrians are the major power in the area and eventually they capture the northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 BC and threatened to capture Jerusalem, this is the context of Psalm 46 as God delivered them while Hezekiah was the king of the southern Kingdom, Judah. All of these events take place and the context is straightforward. But in chapter 40, we see a shift. In Isaiah 39, Isaiah predicted that the people of Judah, the southern Kingdom, would go into exile… and in 587, Jerusalem was captured by the Babylonians. This is well after the death of Isaiah! So, critical scholars believe that we have a new author, a new “Isaiah” as some would call it, because the events that took place in real history are so accurate that there is no way that Isaiah could have possibly predicted them when he did. That’s the critical, progressive approach to understanding Isaiah… but we have to take a step back here and remember something about this book - this is God’s Word. 2 Timothy 3:16
2 Timothy 3:16 CSB
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness,
It is God-breathed. God is the author of Scripture. You can’t pit Jesus against Paul or the red letters against the black letters, because they’re truly all red letters because they’re either said by Jesus or Jesus inspired the writers to say what they said. It should come as no surprise that whenever we read Biblical prophecy, people in our world have to come up with some other explanation for it because “it’s too accurate!” Of course it is, because God is the one who said it would happen, and God is the one who caused it to happen!
Isaiah 46:10 CSB
10 I declare the end from the beginning, and from long ago what is not yet done, saying: my plan will take place, and I will do all my will.
This is our God! He declares the end from the beginning. He has a plan, and that plan comes to pass! In Isaiah 40, we see a glimpse of that plan and this is a word of encouragement to the people living in exile - God has not abandoned you. God is still good. God has a purpose. God will save and deliver you! How can they know this? Because God’s love pursues us.
A few weeks ago, Lindsey and I were doing some Christmas shopping and we were at Mardel. Lindsey goes to look around, and I do what I always do whenever I get to Mardel, I go to the back right which is where the Bible’s and Christian books are located. I have to confess, many of those books belong at Barnes and Noble across the parking lot, and not a Christian bookstore, but I always enjoy looking around. After a few minutes, I start walking down the right side of the store and saw that they were having a 50% off sale on wall decor. Lots of Bible verses and baby decor, but eventually I came across this. I had seen the first one before, but I hadn’t seen the whole set… and it floored me. You see the first image, Jesus pursues the sheep. The second image, Jesus purifies the sheep (we could say that He saves the sheep). The third image, Jesus protects the sheep. Where does it start? He pursues the sheep. This is what Luke 15 tells us about Jesus - He pursues 1 lost sheep and leaves the 99 behind and He rejoices whenever He finds that sheep! This is the love of our God in pursuing us - He doesn’t stay where it’s safe, He literally breaks through a world of brokenness and darkness as we saw last week in Isaiah 9 and Ephesians 2 in order to bring about salvation in our lives. He pursues His people.
God’s pursuit provides His people with comfort. This is Isaiah 40, comfort my people, says your God. Why were the people in exile in Babylon? God made things clear: Obey the covenant and be blessed, disobey and be cursed. One of those curses was to be conquered by a foreign power and taken into exile. The people disobeyed God, worshiped idols, stopped standing on God’s Word, and they were justly given what they deserved: exile. Yet, even in exile, God provides. Even in God’s discipline, there is grace. Comfort. Love. Ray Ortlund shared is like this, “Even when we don’t act like the people of God, God still identifies with us “my people” … “your God.” Even in exile, He is near.”
Why would God say and do these things? Why would He comfort people who have betrayed and backstabbed Him? Because of His love for them. Not because of their perfection or goodness, they weren’t perfect and had deliberately disobeyed, just like you and I. Have you ever wondered that? Why on earth would God love a broken person like me? The world will say that it’s because of how amazing you are. Some churchgoers will say that it’s because of how amazing you will become… the Word says that it’s because of how amazing God is. The answer is not in my goodness, it’s in His!
Look at what God will do, Isaiah hears a voice and it declares a powerful message: The King is coming to comfort His people and declare God’s glory to the whole world! Now, real quick, this is hundreds of years before Bethlehem… but who is this obviously in reference to? Who is the King who came to bring comfort to His people, to change the world, and to showcase God’s glory to the world? None other than Jesus Christ! Remember in Luke 3 we studied about John the Baptist and this is what John quoted as he baptized people who were repenting of their sins. They had an awareness of their shortcomings, sin, and brokenness. John quoted this to remind people of who was coming after him. Jesus entered this world and He changed this world - he lifts up the valleys and levels the hills. What does this mean? Did Jesus literally make the world flat? Some people might try and argue that one in our world today, but this isn’t a geographical statement, it’s a spiritual one. Jesus lifts up those who are down in the dumps, He humbles the proud. Jesus saves those who realize how hopeless they are without Him, and Jesus speaks harshly against those who think that they have no need for Him in the first place.
Why would Jesus do this? Why would the Messiah come as the King of Kings to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted? So that the glory of God is on display for humanity. God’s glory is might, look back in Exodus 24 at what took place with the Israelites
Exodus 24:17 CSB
17 The appearance of the Lord’s glory to the Israelites was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop.
A consuming fire settled on Mt. Sinai for 6 days, God’s presence was covered with a cloud, but a fire raged on. Eventually Moses comes up the Mountain when God calls him to and he stays on Mt. Sinai for 40 days while God speaks and eventually gives Moses the 10 commandments which He Himself wrote! But what happened whenever Moses came down? The people in Exodus 32 had built a golden Chick-Fil-A cow to worship. God says this
Exodus 32:9–10 CSB
9 The Lord also said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone, so that my anger can burn against them and I can destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
Do you see God’s thoughts on sin? This is serious stuff! God’s glory is His presence with His people… but because of their sin, God’s glory departs. Here is the promise of Isaiah 40:5 - God’s glory will return, and it won’t just be in one place at one time! God’s glory will appear and it will be public! It won’t just be for the Israelites, but all flesh, all people’s will see it. What does that sound like to you? That sounds like John 1:14
John 1:14 CSB
14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
This is Advent language. This is the beauty of Christmas as Jesus came to pursue us as God in the flesh and to do what only God could do in saving sinners. God’s love pursues and God comes through on this promise chiefly not with a cradle, but with the cross
God’s Love Protects (6-11)
We see another voice in verse 6 and this voice cries out a message that sounds strange to our ears. It says that humanity is grass, our goodness is like the flower of a field that withers and fades. I’m not sure about you, but that’s not the most encouraging of messages is it? Like if you had a dream and the Lord was giving you a message to go and share with other people, you’d probably hope for a positive message like what Isaiah told king Hezekiah earlier in his ministry about how the angel of the Lord would destroy the 190,000 Assyrians! That’s an awesome message to share. This one? This is the one that gets you in trouble in the court of public opinion. This is one that people in our world strongly disagree with. We’re grass? Our goodness doesn’t measure up? Our human nature says the opposite - we think we’re of the utmost importance and that we are the center of the universe!
But Isaiah is reminded of something so important: We are finite, God alone is infinite.
James 4:14 CSB
14 Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes.
We are like a vapor… Like the mist. We are here one minute and gone the next… Yet, what do so many people do? They live as if they are promised tomorrow and will be here forever. We put things off and say, “I’ll deal with that later…” But we’re not promised later. We think that we have these incredible plans, but it just takes one thing to happen and everything comes crumbling down because we are grass. We’re a vapor. We’re here and then we’re not. So what does God’s Word do? God protects us. How? By reminding us of the frailty of life. By reminding us of the reality that even at our best, we won’t be here forever. So, God’s Word speaks truth. See, the most loving thing you can do whenever someone is walking into certain destruction is to warn them - and this is what God does! He reminds His people that this world, as good as it is, isn’t forever… that one day, we will fade away. Grass withers, flowers fade. This isn’t encouraging! But what comes next is nourishing.
The Word of our God remains forever. Now, I love history. I love looking at ancient civilizations that have shaped our world and impacted our country. Take the Romans - the Roman empire ruled the Mediterranean world during Jesus’ life. The Romans dominated the world for hundreds of years, and existed for nearly 2,000 years from the 400s BC until 1453 AD when Constantinople finally was destroyed. The Romans impacted trade, technology, government, military tactics, medicine, finances, to this day there are Roman principles that influence our culture and Roman roads and buildings that are still in use 2,000 years later! In its peak, the city of Rome had well over 1 million residents and its Circus Maximus stadium could seat 250,000 people and at one point, nearly 1 out of every 4 people on the planet lived in the Roman Empire. Yet, there are people today who couldn’t tell you a think about the Romans. Even then, the beauty, power, and awe of Rome is no more because the Romans are grass and when the breath of the Lord blows, it all fades away.
Get this: God doesn’t want you to build your life on a foundation that will leave you hopeless and helpless on the Last Day. He doesn’t want you to build your foundation on the sinking sand or the swaying grass… God’s Word remains forever. God’s Word is forever true. It is our authority. It is perfect. It is right. It is living and active.
Some say that God’s Word needs an update - I hear and see this objection often. That verse, that chapter, that book, the whole Bible is thousands of years old, and those people were different and had a different world than the one we live in today… therefore, God’s Word means something different today. We need to update God’s Word. We need to make it more relevant. We need to make it more relatable. We need to make it less offensive. We need to make it more updated with the times and culture that we live in today! God’s Word doesn’t need updated, God’s people need to submit. God is not going to rewrite His Word to accommodate a godless world.
God’s love protects us because God’s Word stands over us - we stand under Scripture, not over it. How often have you had a situation in your life when you knew what the Bible told you to do, but you did something different because you thought that other option was better? Anyone? I know I have. How does that work out? God cannot bless what goes against God’s Word. God is gracious to bring good out of bad things, but He doesn’t bless the bad thing. He has something better for us, and He gives us His Word to protect us. He rules, He reigns, verse 11 tells us that He protects His flock like a shepherd. Isaiah has this vision and God promises to come to His people. To pursue them and to protect them. To seek them and to save them. Today God protects us in a host of ways that we usually don’t see. John Piper once said that God is always doing 10,000 things in your life and you might be aware of 3 of them. But it doesn’t change the fact that God is always at work in ways that we don’t see. Our world changes - people let us down - inflation hits - emotions fade - health comes and goes… but God’s Word remains the same and this provides us with protection.
It protects us from darkness. It protects us from separation. It also protects us from forces that want to do us harm. Look at what God tells husbands to do in Ephesians 5
Ephesians 5:25–26 CSB
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word.
Husbands, you are to love your wife as Jesus loved His Church and gave His life for us. This means that you sacrifice yourself and you lead her - notice verse 26 - cleansing her with the washing of water by the Word. How does Jesus wash us? By His Word. Whenever we sit under the teaching and preaching of the Word, Jesus cleanses us and He changes us. You want to know what keeps a pastor up at night before Sunday? That task of proclaiming the Word. I’m not creative enough, smart enough, funny enough, or good enough to stand in this pulpit and do anything other than do what 2 Timothy 4:2 demands and preach the Word. This is what Jesus did. This is what Jesus demands. This is what Jesus deserves. And when this takes place, Jesus changes lives.
The Word of God does the Work of God in the People of God for the Glory of God!
What does God’s Work? Programs and philosophies are supplemental. God’s Word is the source. Whenever I stand before Jesus one day as a pastor, I’ll give an account to God for who I shepherded HIS flock. He won’t ask, “Were you perfect? Were you funny? Were you popular? Did you always have an approval rating of 100%?” He’ll ask, “Did you feed my sheep? We’re you faithful to the Word? Are your sheep more like Christ?” That’s a weight! Husbands, you’ll be asked the same question regarding your wife - He’ll ask you, “How did you lead my daughter? Did you lead her to be more like Jesus? Did you wash her in the Word?” What is our hope? God’s Word… because God’s Word does God’s Work.
Today, have you come to see the protection that comes to our lives whenever we live under the authority of God’s Word? If you have not, look at one final reason why we do this in John 10 as we see the work of Jesus on our behalf.
Sermons from John Piper (1980–1989) (Three Meditations on “The Messiah”) Jesus Christ is a glorious Savior! A glorious Savior. He said, “It is not the well who have need of a physician but the sick.” He came to save us from the disease of sin. To take him as a sin-forgiver and not a sin-destroyer is like being deathly sick with pneumonia and using the precious antibiotic to rub on your skin. The doctor says, “You’re supposed to swallow it! It goes inside of you!” But you say, “I don’t care for the taste. Besides it feels good on the outside; I think it helps.” “But the medicine is made to fight your disease. You’re going to die if you don’t take it!” But you say, “I think it will work this way. I feel better already.”
John 10:11–18 CSB
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand, since he is not the shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep, leaves them and runs away when he sees a wolf coming. The wolf then snatches and scatters them. 13 This happens because he is a hired hand and doesn’t care about the sheep. 14 “I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 But I have other sheep that are not from this sheep pen; I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”
God’s Love Pays the Price (11-18)
Isaiah 40 told us that God protects His flock like a shepherd… and John 10:11 begins by telling us that Jesus is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. At Christmas, we remember the situation that we were facing. Walking in darkness. Separated from God because of our sin. Things weren’t good! But God. When the time was right, He sent Jesus into this world on a rescue mission. The way that God pursues and protects His people is by God’s Son paying the price for our salvation.
What has our Good Shepherd done? He has laid down His life for his sheep. He knows His sheep and He says that His sheep know Him. No one takes His sheep out of His hand. If you are a Christian, aren’t you thankful that Jesus Christ not only knows you, but He has saved you and secured you in His eternal grip and He won’t drop you? Jesus doesn’t lose His sheep. Y’all this is good news from our Good Shepherd. This Good Shepherd not only protects and provides for His sheep, but He prevails over His enemies as well. Our Shepherd was crucified and killed - but as John 10 reminds us, He had the right to rise on the 3rd day because He had done no wrong.
Jesus is the shepherd who wins our freedom not just with rod and staff, but chiefly with a blood stained cross. He knows our darkest secrets. He knows our insecurities. He knows our failures and our flaws. He knows our inabilities. He knows our weaknesses. He knows that we are silly, straying sheep who get turned around a million times and who are prone to wander and forget His greatness and provision day after day… but do you know what Jesus says whenever He looks at His sheep? That sheep is mine. But it has a broken leg. It’s mine. But it’s stubborn… it’s mine. But it’s flawed… it’s mine. But it is just a dumb sheep… it’s mine. Look at this promise that God gives in both Old and New Testaments
Ezekiel 34:23 CSB
23 I will establish over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will shepherd them. He will tend them himself and will be their shepherd.
Ezekiel 34 shows us that God will provide One shepherd who will guide and protect His people.
1 Peter 2:25 CSB
25 For you were like sheep going astray, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
1 Peter 2 and 1 Peter 5 remind us that we are like straying sheep, but Jesus is the Chief Shepherd. He guides us. He defends us. We hear His voice and He listen because we are His sheep!
Notice how this text ends, though. It doesn’t end with Jesus on the cross… it ends with Jesus raised with a crown! CS Lewis depicted this in the The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien were good friends and both were Christians, Tolkien was Catholic and Lewis was Anglican. Tolkien famously wrote the Lord of the Rings and CS Lewis wrote the Chronicles of Narnia. Both of these were Christian! Tolkien included key Christian themes such as God’s providence, mercy, humility, and the fall of sin. Meanwhile, CS Lewis didn’t hide his Christian influence into mere themes… he shared the Gospel story explicitly.
In Lewis’ world, there is a Lion named Aslan who rules as the King of Narnia. In the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, one of the humans, Edmund, was a traitor and captured by the witch. Aslan meets with the witch and willingly takes Edmund’s place, and is killed by the witch and her army… Fast forward when the morning dawns, and Edmund’s sisters, Susan and Lucy, look at the place where Aslan was killed and they don’t see his body. They begin to look around and suddenly, there is Aslan. Alive! Friends, we see God’s love on full display on the cross of Christ as Jesus took our place. We were lost and separated from God, but God loved us enough to send His Son to pay the price for our salvation… and we see the love of God on display 3 days later as Jesus defeated death once and for all so that we can live today knowing that all that death can do is make our lives infinitely better!
God’s love lights up our way and leads us home. He is the Good Shepherd who loves His sheep. He comforts us. His Word endures forever. He pursues, He protects, He provides. Today, have you experienced His love? Not, do you know about God’s love… but have you experienced it? Has it changed you?
Advent Action:
Return to the Shepherd Who Pursues
Jesus came to seek and save as the Shepherd of His sheep! Today, have you come to the realization that He pursues sinners? Have you been feeling a stirring in your soul? A conviction about sin? Stop suppressing that! Realize that today, the Hound of Heaven is pursuing you. He seeks and He saves. If you have drifted away from prayer - repent and return to the Lord. If you have been living in darkness - repent and return to the Lord. You are never too far gone for the Shepherd!
Revel in God’s Glory
Isaiah 40 reminds us that God’s glory has appeared with the arrival of Jesus Christ. John 1:14 tells us that when the Word became flesh, people observed God’s glory. What exactly is God’s glory, though? God’s glory is the displaying of God’s presence. Think of the Sun - our sun is a powerful ball of fire that casts light upon our faces. God IS holy - and His holiness casts light into the world around us. Psalm 19:1 tells us that the heavens declare the glory of God. God’s glory is God showing us WHO He is! You will not find satisfaction, peace, and joy until you come to experience God’s glory in the person and work of Jesus. And until you surrender to Jesus, you will miss God’s glory every single time. Don’t miss it. Revel in it. Stand in awe of this Creator God!
Rest Under the Word that Protects
Our world believes that we are the authority and that if there is an authority that we don’t like, we can ignore it… or do better than it. God’s Word is the ultimate authority because of WHO its author is! God’s Word lasts. God’s Word is right. God’s Word stands the test of time. When people fail you, God’s Word will protect you from bitterness. When your circumstances change, God’s Word will protect you from fear. When culture changes, God’s Word will protect you from deception. God doesn’t change His Word to fit the times, He changes His people by conforming us to His Word! Rest under His protection by abiding and submitting to His Word today!
Reach Those Outside the Pen
We are saved to share this wonderful story! Notice what Jesus says in John 10 - there are some sheep outside the sheep pen, and Jesus will gather them. How will those sheep be gathered? Through the proclamation of the good news that we call the Gospel! Today, as a Christian, you are to reach those outside the pen. Who do you know today that doesn’t know Jesus? Who do you know who still needs to come home? Speak the truth in love to that person. Share that God’s love pursues, protects, and provides salvation.
- - Isaiah 40:1–11ESV
- - 2 Timothy 3:16ESV
- - Isaiah 46:10ESV
- - Exodus 24:17ESV
- - Exodus 32:9–10ESV
- - John 1:14ESV
- - James 4:14ESV
- - Ephesians 5:25–26ESV
- - John 10:11–18ESV
- - Ezekiel 34:23ESV
- - 1 Peter 2:25ESV
Give Us Clean Hands

Introduction

God’s Love Pursues (1-5)

God’s Love Protects (6-11)

God’s Love Pays the Price (11-18)

Isaiah 40:1–11ESV

2 Timothy 3:16ESV

Isaiah 46:10ESV

Exodus 24:17ESV

Exodus 32:9–10ESV

John 1:14ESV

James 4:14ESV

Ephesians 5:25–26ESV

John 10:11–18ESV

Ezekiel 34:23ESV

1 Peter 2:25ESV