Sermon Tone Analysis

Great Reasons to Praise the Lord

Isaiah 12:1-6

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - March 10, 2013

(Revised from sermon preached at McClendon Baptist Church Jan. 22, 2006)

BACKGROUND:

*This morning please open your Bibles to Isaiah 12, thinking about great reasons to praise the Lord.

This chapter of praise mainly applies to the coming Kingdom, when Jesus returns to rule on the earth for a thousand years.

But this Scripture also surely applies to us today.

*Matthew Henry explained: “The song of praise in this chapter is suitable for the return of the outcasts of Israel from their long captivity.

But it is especially suitable to a sinner, when he first finds peace and joy in believing, to a believer, when his peace is renewed after corrections for backslidings, and to the whole company of the redeemed, when they meet before the throne of God in heaven.”

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*With that background in mind, let’s read Isaiah 12:1-6.

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 comfortedst me.

2. Behold, 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.

3. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

4.

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.

5. Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.

6. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.

INTRODUCTION:

*MacNeil Jordan was born in Barbados on Christmas Day in 1902.

On his 100th birthday, he could still recite pages of scripture and poetry.

He could tell you the name of the ship that brought him to Ellis Island, the street where he got his first job as a garment worker, and the name of the cafeteria where he ate 70 years ago.

*A month before MacNeil’s 100th birthday, his family made a CD on everything he wanted to say.

His 8 children, 23 grandchildren, 33 great-grandchildren and 3 great-great-children all got copies.

Here is MacNeil’s recipe for long life: “I eat well.

I sleep well.

I walk quite a bit.” -- And every week there's church, where “I praise my God.” MacNeil said that’s what is most important: “Give God praise every day.

That's all.

That's my life.”

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*That’s great advice Church.

And we know that praising the Lord is important to God, because He talks about it in His Word at least 225 times!

*King David was a champion for praise to the Lord.

-In Psalm 7:17, David said: “I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness, And will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.”

-In Psalm 9:1-2

1.

I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works.

2. I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.

-In Psalm 21:13, “Be exalted, O Lord, in Your own strength!

We will sing and praise Your power.”

-In Psalm 28:7, “The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, And with my song I will praise Him.”

-In Psalm 40:3, “He has put a new song in my mouth Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the Lord.”

*Psalm 106:1 says: “Praise ye the Lord.

O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.”

*And Psalm 107 cries out 4 times: “Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!”

*There’s no doubt about it: We really should praise the Lord! -- Isaiah shows us why.

1.

First of all Church: Praise the Lord, because He is our salvation.

*Isaiah mentions our salvation three times in vs. 1-3:

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 comfortedst me.

2. Behold, 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.

3. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

*We can see an extremely important part of our salvation here in vs. 1: “O Lord, I will praise You; though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away...”

He is talking about God’s righteous anger against our sin.

And if you are saved, God’s anger is turned away from you.

*King David helps us understand this in Psalm 103:8-12, where he said:

8.

The Lord is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.

9.

He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever.

10.

He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities.

11.

For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;

12.

As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

*If you are saved, God’s anger is turned away, but He has a right to be angry with us.

Part of salvation is admitting this truth.

In Proverbs 20:9, King Solomon asked a wise question: “Who can say, ‘I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin.’?” -- The obvious answer is: No one can say that.

*Paul put it this way in Romans 3:

10. . .

“There is none righteous, no, not one;

11. there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.

12.

They have all gone out of the way; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.”

23. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

(Romans 3:10-12 & 23)

*The Holy God has a right to be angry with all of us.

How was His anger turned away?

-There was only one place where it could have been turned.

-There was only one place where it was turned.

-And that was the cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

*As Isaiah 53:5&6 says:

5. . .

He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

6.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

*Stop and think about what Jesus really did for us on the cross.

*In May of 1915, the British passenger ship Lusitania was torpedoed by a German submarine.

When the Lusitania was hit, there were 1,962 people on board.

In a matter of minutes, the huge ship began to come apart.

In the next few hours, 1,201 passengers and crew died.

*One of those who went down with the ship was American millionaire Alfred Vanderbilt.

Survivors reported that Vanderbilt spent his last moments helping others to safety.

He rounded up as many children as he could and got them into lifeboats.

And just before the ship went down, Vanderbilt handed his life jacket to a young mother with a baby in her arms.

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*That was a brave and noble sacrifice.

But Jesus Christ did so much more!

-- Jesus didn’t just take our physical death, He took our spiritual death, He took our eternal death.

Without Jesus, we were all going down, and not just into the depths of the sea.

Without Jesus we were all going down to everlasting torment and death in Hell.

*There was nothing we could do to save ourselves.

But Jesus took all of our guilt and punishment on the cross.

Jesus Christ took our death, so that we could have His eternal life by placing our trust in Him.

And the Apostle Paul could say these wonderful words to Christians in Romans 5:6-9:

6.

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

7.

For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.

8.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

9.

Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

*Praise the Lord!

[1] Verse 3 here in Isaiah 12 reminds us that we can praise the Lord with joy: “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.”

*This word “salvation” carries the idea of deliverance, prosperity, health, help, freedom, safety, defense, rescue, and victory.