images of love
Notes
Transcript
Title: Images of Love
Theme: God with us through repentance and relationship
Text: Isaiah 40:1-5; Mark 1:1-8 Malachi 3:1
Goal: the road is made level through love, repentance, and relationship.
ME: ORIENTATION: FIND COMMON GROUND WITH THE AUDIENCE
the road is made level through love, repentance, and relationship.
WE: IDENTIFICATION (MAKE IT CLEAR THAT YOU STRUGGLE)
What if this is a season to be prepared?
What if in a way a season of Judgement?
What if this judgement is not about the sick but rather a call to be ready for his coming? Just a reminder it is soon.
What if all these lock downs are to get us alone that we might see him.
What if…
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
1The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way,
3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’ ”
4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Mk 1:1–8). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
GOD: ILLUMINATION (THE GOAL IS TO RESOLVE THE TENSION
The road of return in Isaiah
Comfort for God’s People
40 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Is 40:1–5). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
Comfort and return
word "comfort," in Hebrew, is a command in the plural form. It is an order given to a multitude, all of whom have the same task: To announce the end of Israel's exile in Babylon.
40 -66, has as its major goal to convince the Israelites that God not only would allow them to return home, but God desires them to do so.
This message is necessary because not everyone is unhappy in Babylon. Many of the exiled Israelites have completely assimilated into Babylonian society. The prospect of returning to a country in ruins, across a vast and dangerous wasteland, is not everyone's idea of a bright future.
The year is 539 B.C., some 48 years since the final destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians, the year in which Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylon and issued his famous edict granting those who had been resettled in Babylon permission to return to their original homes and rebuild the temples of their gods (2 Chronicles 36:23
To persuade the Israelites that returning to Israel was the will of God required two things: Convincing them that they really were forgiven for the sins which had led to the exile, and convincing them that they would be able to survive the journey. Isaiah 40:1-2 addresses this first concern. Scripture had repeatedly charged the Israelites that departure from the exclusive worship of God would result in their forfeiture of God's holy land (Deuteronomy 28:58-65; 2 Kings 17:7-20). Scripture had also foretold, however, that there would remain forgiveness in God for those who would repent and desire to return to God's way (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:22-38; Hosea 14;1-7). Deuteronomy 30:1-5 promises that should they be exiled as far away as the ends of the earth, even from that distance God would gather back those who truly desire to return. So for those who thought that the exile would last forever, Isaiah 40:1-2 announces
Jeremiah 31:31-34
31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Je 31:31–34). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
Not only is this the new road on which the exiles will travel, a road with all the obstacles removed, all the hills lowered and the valleys raised, it is also a road on which God himself will come out to meet them! The highway is a divine one on which the merciful God will come to rescue his people and lead them back to their rightful home.
The road in the Gospel
A. Anticipation of Christ’s coming
In the season of Advent, when penitence in anticipation of God's coming to us in Jesus Christ is the primary task of the Christian,
Penitence
the action of feeling or showing sorrow and regret for having done wrong; repentance.
"a public display of penitence" One beggar showing another beggar where to find bread."
Isaiah 40
serves to underscore all that is important for us to know as we begin the journey for ourselves. Pardon is offered us for our sins. The distance between us and God can be bridged by believing in the miraculous road that will return us to our true land and heritage. In our prayer and meditation, we do our part to meet God on the road that has been prepared between us, the road on which God will lead us to freedom and salvation through Christ who is the true Way..
B. The Gospel message
Jesus
The name means ‘Yahweh is salvation’, and Matthew draws particular attention to that (Mt. 1:21): ‘You are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.’1
Messiah
Matthew 1:21 (ESV)
21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Mt 1:21). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
Wha
Gospel’ as a world-changing event points to the essential historicity of the Christian good news. Those who believe it, live by it, share it and proclaim it can count on the fact that it happened.
In Mark. Jesus’ opening words are crucial: ‘The time has come … The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!’ (1:15). Mark does not only testify to this urgent challenge to believe: he exemplifies it. We do well to hear him as we read his account of the good news ‘about Jesus Christ, the Son of God’.1
Mark is emphasizing that however new and awesome the gospel events are, they have been carefully prepared for by God, and that the Old Testament is the reliable witness to that patient preparation
C.This Desert of which we speak
As Stuart Blanch has pointed out, the area referred to had a significant geographical location. It was a boundary between East and West, which the Romans would watch with particular care. It also had historical importance. Lot chose the Plain of Jordan when given the opportunity (Gn. 13). Jacob crossed the Jordan on his way to meet Esau (Gn. 33). Joshua led the people of Israel across the Jordan into the Promised Land (Jos. 3). The ministries of the prophets Elijah and Elisha had focused on the Jordan. In preaching and baptizing here,
John was calling up many sacred memories. The desert had spiritual meaning, too. The people had wandered there for forty years, sustained by God’s goodness. There was some idea that the Messiah would appear in the desert. Where better to preach and baptize than in the place where current political tensions, past sacred memories and cherished future hopes met?1
III.The steps toward Advent
John
(1) He was a man who lived his message. Not only his words, but also his whole life was a protest. Three things about him marked the reality of his protest against contemporary life.
In the Old Testament it is sometimes called Jeshimmon, which means The Devastation. John was no city-dweller. He was a man from the desert and from its solitudes and its desolations. He was a man who had given his his life.
Many come with a message but there life doesn’t measure up.
. But in the case of John, the man was the message, and because of that people listened.
(2) His message was effective because he told people what in their heart of hearts they knew and brought them what in the depths of their souls they were waiting for.
(a) He is Pointing to their religious memories. in extracting from their memories what they already knew. No message is so effective as that which speaks to a person’s own conscience, and that message becomes well-nigh irresistible when it is spoken by someone who obviously has the right to speak.
B. Message
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way,
3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’ ”
4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Mk 1:1–8). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
A. Advent is a time we will meet Christ to repent of those things deep within our soul.
B. The message is clear He will soon come.
C. A message of repentance and forgiveness.
D. A message to the religious, Church, Saints and sinners.
E. He will Baptize you with the Holy Spirit
F. He will live in your heart
G, Gos will write his message on our hearts,
Mark 1:15
15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Mk 1:15). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
YOU: APPLICATION (TELL PEOPLE WHAT TO DO AND WHAT THEY HAVE HEARD)
The message for me these days is about repentance and revival. What if Jesus is coming soon, are you living right?
Conclusion
Life was filled with guns and war
And everyone got trampled on the floor
I wish we'd all been ready
Children died, the days grew cold
A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold
I wish we'd all been ready
There's no time to change your mind
The Son has come and you've been left behind
A man and wife asleep in bed
She hears a noise and turns her head, he's gone
I wish we'd all be ready
Two men walking up a hill
One disappears and one's left standing still
I wish we'd all been ready
There's no time to change your mind
The Son has come and you've been left behind
Life was filled with guns and war
And everyone got trampled on the floor
I wish we'd all been ready
Children died, the days grew cold
A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold
I wish we'd all been ready
There's no time to change your mind
How could you have been so blind
The Father spoke, the demons dined
The Son has come and you've been left behind
"One beggar showing another beggar where to find bread."
What does the road to advent look like for you?
Is it a road where you meet Christ?
Is it a path of repentance and live right? Are you ready
Shall we wake up
Are you walking the path toward His coming?