Isaiah chapter 12 and reading
from verse 1. And in that day thou shalt say,
O Lord, I will praise thee. Though thou wast angry with me,
thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me. Behold, God
is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid,
for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He also has become
my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw
water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall ye say,
Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among
the people, make mention that his name is exalted. Sing unto
the Lord, for he hath done excellent things. This is known in all
the earth. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant
of Zion, For great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of
thee. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. Now we've come to the end of
a section in the book of Isaiah with this chapter. And this section
has been very clearly referring to the Messiah and his kingdom. We've learned about his virgin
birth, we've learned about the son that was given, the child
that was born, and we've seen some beautiful pictures of the
Lord Jesus Christ already in these passages. In the coming
weeks, God willing, we'll be thinking about some of the enemies
of the Lord's people and how the Lord dealt with them. But
here in chapter 12, the faithful prophet reassures the Lord's
elect people of the Lord's promised mercy. And once again we remind
ourselves how that the remnant people, the elect of God, the
remnant that would be saved, that would continue and maintain
the promises all the way through to the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. They were preserved, they were
comforted, they were encouraged by the writings of the prophets
during the years of their tribulation. So that these were preparatory
passages of scripture. These were messages that were
given to them to prepare them for the difficulties that lay
ahead. The prophet was reassuring God's
people of the Lord's continuing mercy, of their assured deliverance
by his strength. And even we find in this short
passage, the short chapter, the theme of the song that they will
sing in praise and worship to God for the effectual accomplishment
of Christ's salvation. Now I think there's something
delightful about this. Here is Isaiah, at the instigation of God the
Holy Spirit, preparing the Lord's remnant people for a period of
trial and suffering. Because God is going to bring
judgment on the wicked of the nation. But what does Isaiah
say to the people? He points the Lord's little ones
to the day of grace. That's what he's talking about
when he says in the opening verse, in that day. He's pointing them
to the day of grace. He's pointing them to the Messiah. He's pointing them to the Lord,
their salvation. And he says to them, This is
the song that you will sing when all these things shall come to
pass and the promises of God have been accomplished. And just by way of introduction,
I want to say that I find that a very interesting and engaging
idea. that such is the degree of confident
assurance provided for the Lord's people in this world, that the
words of their victory songs have already been written and
communicated to them. Do you realise what is being
said here? It's as if the Lord is saying,
don't worry about anything. I've got it all in hand. I shall do all things well. And when I have done everything
that I have promised to do, these are the words of the songs that
you'll sing. Now, usually, poets and musicians
write their ballads After the event to commemorate the great
victories that have been accomplished the church has been given her
hymns of praise in anticipation of the victories yet to come
and nor is this an isolated case The Apostle John tells the church
that they too will be singing in heaven. They will be singing
the glory of our salvation so that it is of no uncertain outcome. This will not be our song if
the captain of our salvation succeeds. It will be our song
when he brings us to our eternal rest, such as the certainty,
such as the confidence, such as the assurance of our state
and the promises of our God. It will be our song when we enter
into our rest. And what is that song? John tells
us, he says that the church will sing to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of
every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. Worthy is
the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom,
and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing unto him
that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and
ever. So that this is the song, this
is the theme, this is the praise that will ascend to our God. And our passage today in Isaiah
chapter 12 is to the same effect. Isaiah is telling the people
of his day, these centuries before the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ, to look forward to the coming of Christ, to the day
of victory, to the day of glory, to the day of grace. And he tells them that God has
ordained success. God gives them grounds for confidence
and God will comfort all who trust in him. So I've got three
lessons that I want to leave with you today from Isaiah's
ancient texts to these people. But I think that if we just pause
and dwell on them for a moment or two, we will see that there
is a current application for these truths, which also should
bless and encourage us. And the first one that I want
to draw to your attention is to be seen in the opening couple
of verses of this little chapter and it might be summarised in
this sentence. There's comfort in salvation
for the Lord's people. There's comfort in salvation
for the Lord's people. Maybe you think that's pretty
straightforward and obvious. It's what we talk about all the
time in many ways. But I want our thoughts today
to be very practical. And I'd like for us all to apply
Isaiah's words to our own lives. The prophet is speaking of that
day, and we've learned already from his writings that this directs
the Lord's people to the day of Christ's crucifixion, to the
day of his sacrifice specifically, or indeed more generally, to
the gospel age. And Isaiah is saying that in
that day, The church will say, though thou wast angry with me,
thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me. You see,
it's in looking to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ that
the church of Jesus Christ is comforted. It is realising the
significance and the implications. It is gathering, as it were,
the strands of scriptural teaching together, the doctrines of the
Word of God, from the Garden of Eden to the prophecies of
John. It is gathering all of these
disparate strands together and binding them all to see that
the focus of our attention is the cross of Jesus Christ. And
by that work on the cross, there is comfort to be had for the
Lord's people. There is help. There is encouragement. There is blessing to be found. There is comfort for us because
the anger of the Lord has been turned away. That felt condemnation
that is in our souls under the weight of sin, we realise that
the Lord Jesus Christ has taken our place and that the mercy
and grace and goodness of God flows to us now because of our
Saviour. And this is the personal testimony
of the Lord's people. If you are one of the Lord's
people, if you see and understand what happened on the cross, if
you trust in the sacrifice of Christ and in the power of the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, there is comfort in that for
you. in this life, in this world,
day by day, in the moments, in the circumstances, in the challenges
that you face, there is comfort in the fact that Jesus Christ
died on the cross that day. It would be hundreds of probably
700 years of trouble and trial and persecution and separation
that yet was to afflict the Lord Jesus Christ's people of the
Old Testament before the Saviour came, before the Messiah was
revealed. But throughout all that time,
they were encouraged by Isaiah to be comforted in looking forward
to the day of grace. And so to us as well. Our personal
testimony is that our comfort is drawn from what Christ has
done for us on the cross. Perhaps these people had a sense
of dread because of the sin that they felt in their own souls. Perhaps they had a fear of God's
anger. The Lord's people associate with
this. We know what this is like. We
know what that sense of dread is, that our own unworthiness,
our own sin. We know that there is a stage,
a period of blindness, when any hope of mercy, any concept of
grace, any discovery of the love of God seems to be far away.
It's as if we hear the raging of the law in our own conscience
and we interpret that rage, that denunciation, that condemnation
as the anger of God against our sin. But then we get a glimpse of
that day of grace. Then the blindness and the deafness
which separates us from the truth dissipates, it's removed. The
barrenness that afflicts our souls is called into fertility
and into life. There's a blossoming of spiritual
understanding in our souls and we hear the gospel for the very
first time and we see the Saviour in a new and fresh and lively
way and we understand the meaning of His substitutionary atonement. and of Christ's death in our
place. We see the way of salvation opened
up and wonder of wonders What once seemed contrary to us, foolishness
to our benighted minds beneath us, as far as our proud spirits
were concerned, now appears as the very power of God and the
wisdom of God. We hear the Saviour's gracious
invitation to come unto me And we see in the words of Isaiah,
I will trust and not be afraid. I will trust and not be afraid. God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord Jehovah is my strength
and my song. He also is become my salvation. God is my salvation. I don't suppose there's one listening
to the service today who isn't familiar with that phrase, that
sentiment, that language. But I tell you this, on another
day we might not have got any further than that amazing four
word phrase. God is my salvation. God is my
salvation. God is my salvation. God is my salvation. God is my salvation. I want us to notice that in that
simple phrase is all the world of comfort. for a sinner that
has seen the Lord Jesus Christ and all that he has accomplished.
I want us to notice that the sinner's dread has become the
believer's testimony. I will trust and not be afraid. This is for us. This is for you
and for me. Not only for the Old Testament
people that Isaiah preached to and declared to. Not only for
the people that were alive at the time of Christ or the early
apostolic church. It is for you and me today. Trust is faith. That's all it
is. Faith is trust. Trust is faith.
These words are synonymous. I believe, what we're saying
is I believe Christ is the way of salvation. I believe God's
anger is turned away. I believe God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid. There's comfort here for the
Lord's people. And I know that some of you are
facing trials at the moment. Some of you will soon die. Some
of you are old and frail. Some of you are caring for those
who are old and frail. But you can say, each one of
us can say, who have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, God is
my salvation. Christ is my strength and song. He has also become my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid. Do you feel weak? Christ is my
strength. Do you feel afraid? You've got
a new song. Christ is your song. Your hope,
your confidence, your stronghold in the day of trouble. Christ
holds us close and he will not let us go. We often think about
a stronghold as some fortress, some inanimate covering or defence. Well, I suppose in a sense that
was the stronghold that was built by men to protect themselves. But this stronghold is the grip
of our Saviour, as we are safely and securely located in the palm
of His hand. So that's our first point. It's
comfort in our salvation. But there's another thing that
we learn from these delightful verses from Isaiah, and it is
this, that there's joy as well. There's joy in drawing water. from the wells of salvation. That's what Isaiah says in verse
3. Therefore with joy shall ye draw
water out of the wells of salvation. Shame on us if we are miserable
Christians. We have no cause to be miserable. There is joy in drawing water
from the wells of salvation. And these Old Testament people,
these people that were under siege in their cities, that were
expelled from their land, that saw their families destroyed,
that were taken into captivity and exile and thought they would
never see their land again, as they held on to the promises
of the written words of the prophets through the ages, through the
centuries, and they looked forward to the coming of Christ and the
fulfilment of God's promises, well, they were provided with
a reason for joy. Against nature, when everything,
when, how shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? Well
they sang it because they had joy in drawing water from the
wells of salvation. Water from the wells of salvation
is a reference to God's grace. And the reference I think here
is not so much to saving grace, although I trust there was an
element, a degree of joy in our conversion, but rather the joy
of drawing grace from the wells of salvation is a picture of
daily revival in a thirsty land. for weary souls who find God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit to be wells of constant goodness
and grace and mercy. wells of salvation. And especially
Christ, who is the fountainhead and source of all daily grace
to his people. He is ongoing help to us. You
see, that's the wonder of our relationship with Christ. It's
not that we got saved 20 years ago, or 40 years ago, or six
months ago. And these things are something
that are to do with our history and our past. Our relationship,
the salvation that we have with the Lord Jesus Christ in that
lively, living relationship, this living water that springs
up within us, is his grace to us day by day. ongoing help, soul refreshment,
spiritual vitality for God's people. Water is life. Water is life in this world. but it is grace to the Lord's
people, and grace is life to us day by day, and there is joy
to be had in experiencing the grace of God day by day. Isaiah says, with joy shall ye
draw water, which I take literally to mean that we ought to rejoice
in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice. Why? Because faith receives grace. Faith receives grace and proves
the goodness and kindness of our friend and our saviour, the
King. I like the idea of the drawing
of the water. It's like drawing water in a
bucket from a well. It takes effort to draw water
from a well. It requires energy, it requires
us to exercise ourselves. There is an engagement, there
is an employment required in drawing water. but the thirst that the Lord
gives us by which we feel a need to drink at the wells of salvation. Our trials sent to expose our
weaknesses and bring us to the Lord cause us to feel a need
for him and to come to him for help. but we have this promise in our
coming that he will supply grace sufficient to our need. And I like to think that the
sufficiency of that grace is that there is a fulsome supply
and a little bit left over. a little bit left over to warm
our hearts and bring us joy. So that it's not only the solving
of our problems, but it is the solving of them with a little
bit of joy to season the experience. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 16 says,
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that
we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Let us go to the wells of salvation
with a boldness, knowing that as we draw therefrom, there is
a joy to be had in the experience of the Lord's presence and the
Lord's help. Let us come boldly, let us draw
freely, let us drink deeply at the well and from the well of
salvation that is Christ. Let us rejoice in the provision
of sufficient grace day by day by day, hour by hour, moment
by moment. So there is comfort in salvation
and there is joy in drawing from the wells of salvation. And the
third thing that we notice here in these verses is that there
is a worship to God and there is a witness to men. And we read about that in verses
four to six. Worship to God, witness to men. Isaiah calls the Lord's elect
people to joyfully praise the perfections of Christ and at
the same time to call and engage others to do the same. Now we
long to see men and women and boys and girls saved in this
world. And it's a great kindness on
the part of God that he commissions his church to represent him here
in this world. We get the privilege of representing
the Lord to our friends and to our families and to go into all
the world and preach the gospel. The Lord could have designed
things differently. He could have preached by angels
or by bringing men and women to himself by other means. But
he did it like this. And he employs the church in
this great activity. We get to go and preach the gospel. But let me ask, what is it to
preach the gospel? I dare say that it is not what
we see going on in many churches today. It is not enticing proud
men and women to do what is impossible. It's not teasing corrupt minds
or God's implacable foes with false concepts and prospects. We don't play to the will or
to the fallen flesh of men and women. We simply declare what
the Lord has done. At least that's the gospel according
to Isaiah. The prophet says, in that day,
that is in the gospel day, The day that follows and flows from
the work of Christ upon the cross, in that day shall ye say, praise
the Lord, call upon His name, declare His doings among the
people. make mention that his name is
exalted. Sing unto the Lord, for he hath
done excellent things. This is known in all the earth.
Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy
One of Israel in the midst of thee. That's evangelism. That's evangelism right there. Praising God declaring the excellence
of Christ. That is what lifting up our Saviour
entails and comprises of. And the Lord Jesus Christ has
said, I, if I be lifted up, shall draw all men unto me. So that declaring Christ, he
will draw men and women to himself. We who are the Lord's people,
we personally thank God for his great salvation, and we are eager
to tell others about what the Lord has done for us. We declare
his doings among the people. That's what the prophet says,
declare his doings among the people, which we are happy to
do. And someone might say, well,
is anybody listening? Well, that's God's business. That's
God's business. We are to declare his doings
among the people. That's all we're called to do.
We can't save. We can't change. We can't convert.
We couldn't do it for ourselves and we can't do it for others.
We declare his doings among the people. And true worship is praising
the Lord's perfections and commending the work of salvation to others. And Isaiah is very explicit about
the method. He uses these words. This is
his language. Call, declare, mention, sing,
cry, shout. I take this simply to mean preaching
the gospel of Christ's accomplishments and worshipping and bearing personal
testimony to the things that we have seen and heard. And to
my mind, Peter agrees entirely with that. He says in 1 Peter
3, verse 15, sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready
always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason
of the hope that is within you with meekness and fear. The song of the Lord's people
is the excellence of Christ. Isaiah tells us that the Lord
Jehovah has done excellent things. Hebrews tells us that Christ
has an excellent name and an excellent ministry. His excellent
name is the divine glory of His person. His excellent ministry
is His wonderful works. You remember how the Pharisees
criticised the Lord Jesus and the Lord's disciples for worshipping
him? And the Saviour replied, I tell
you, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately
cry out. May the Lord give us grace to
speak about the Saviour, to tell out my soul the wonders of his
grace. Just one final thought and then
we're done. In the previous chapter, Isaiah
had said, the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the
Lord as the waters cover the sea. And here in this little
chapter, he tells us that the excellence of Christ is known
in all the earth. These two strands are beautiful. The earth shall be full of the
knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. The excellence
of Christ is known in all the earth. And remember Isaiah is
speaking 700 years before the coming of Christ and yet he has
such an enlarged, expansive, worldwide testimony of what the
accomplishments and the consequences of that day of Christ's sacrifice
would accomplish. And I want to propose to you
today that Isaiah's ancient prophecy is right up to date for this
simple fact. That there's never been a time
when the excellencies of Christ and the knowledge of the gospel
truth is more widespread and widely known and accessible than
it is today. Isaiah was speaking about here
and now and today. Now we've got our technology
and this technology that is available to us today in the providence
and the wisdom of God means that our own little service here can
literally be heard by anyone, anywhere. the earth shall be
full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the
sea. The excellence of Christ is known
in all the earth. We are part of the confirmation
of the prophet's words. So whether it's speaking to our
neighbour or broadcasting to the world, Let our mission be
to honour Christ by exalting his excellent name and declaring
his excellent ministry. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us today. Amen.