Sermon Tone Analysis
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Announced, Saved, Proclaimed
This is a passage of grace from God.
The title in my Bible for this section is “Don’t Fear.”
How we need to hear that message of “don’t fear.”
If you give in to all that is heard on the news and out of the mouths of politicians it would seem that the world ended a week ago.
There is a non-stop news cycle about all the bad stuff that is supposedly happening.
Before Christmas it was the supply chain crisis.
Guess what?
We still celebrated Christmas.
We have lived with about 2 years with this virus.
It has instilled so much fear in our world.
Is it real?
Yes, but it has been so politicized that you don’t know what is the real truth from what the politicians are saying is the truth.
There is a snow storm coming this afternoon.
If you’ve watched the news it would seem that the world is going to come to an end.
Some of the advice the news people were handing out is simply crazy.
Don’t Fear God says.
This is a pretty amazing thing for God to say if you go back to the previous chapter.
In chapter 42:18-25 Isaiah has just read the Jews the riot act.
Did you ever read the riot act to your kids?
You know what I mean.
You stand there, maybe with a finger pointing at them, loudly telling them all that they have done wrong and warning them if they don’t knock it off you are knock them off.
Now I don’t think we really mean that we will “knock them off,” but we want to get the point across that we are not going to put up with that behavior any longer.
That is what Isaiah has done.
You can almost picture the fear in the people.
Now this was given as a prophecy so it wasn’t like Isaiah was standing behind a pulpit preaching at them, but it has the same effect.
Isaiah ends what he has to say in chapter 42 verse 25 by writing:
It sounds like God is going scorched earth on them.
Scorched earth is a military strategy that aims to destroy anything that might be useful to the enemy.
In this case it is the entire nation.
I don’t know about you but that is just a wee bit scary to think about.
The sad thing is that Judah didn’t even realize what had happened.
Judah was oblivious to what was happening.
That is just the way sin in our lives works.
Sin blinds us to what is really going on.
It takes us far from God.
Isaiah even asks that question.
Isaiah 42:24 (CEB)
24 Wasn’t it the Lord, the one we sinned against?
They were not willing to walk in God’s ways, and wouldn’t listen to his teaching.
Not willing to walk in God’s ways.
Wouldn’t listen to his teaching.
I don’t know about you but it sounds like the Church with a big C today.
Hey, I don’t like how the Bible puts it there so I’ll just do my own thing.
God didn’t really mean that did He?
Of course, He didn’t.
I don’t like what the Bible has to say about my sin so let me justify it or rationalize it away.
God’s loving, He’s never going to really send anyone to hell is He?
One of this days and maybe sooner than we think, God is going to go scorched earth on sin and those who doubt the reality of hell are going to learn the truth.
I’m so glad that God is a God of grace.
There is forgiveness through Jesus.
If we repent of our sins they are forgiven and forgotten.
God’s grace comes rushing through our scripture text this morning.
I love how God begins His response here.
But now.
Isaiah had hit the scorched earth approach in the prophecy.
But now God says and He brings words of grace and mercy.
I am so glad that I serve a God of Grace.
I grew up with a faith that was based on Judgement, there was no grace, no mercy.
It was all about judgement and I really did not want anything to do with that.
I cannot even begin to describe to joy I experienced when I discovered that yes there is judgement, but the Bible if full of Grace and mercy from beginning to end.
God says “Don’t fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine.”
The Jews, God’s special people are engulfed in sin and rebellion.
Isaiah has just let them have it and God says
Isaiah 43:1 (CEB)
Don’t fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine.
They didn’t deserve that, they deserved judgement but God gave them grace.
Rather than being afraid of the judgement, God redeems them, He calls them by name, they are His.
That is God, that redemption is for us.
When Jesus came, He came to redeem all of humanity.
He came on the greatest rescue mission of all time.
He came to redeem us.
There it is in a nutshell.
Isaiah was writing in the before.
God is speaking in the “but now” time frame.
Isaiah is writing in the “this is how its going to be” while God is speaking in the here and now.
We sort of lose the concept of redemption.
You might earn points by visiting a store and spending so much over a period of time.
When you make the limit you can then redeem those points for something free.
I stop and get tea on my way to work.
Every time I do that, I earn points towards a free cup.
Redemption was a concept that resonated with the Jews.
It was something they understood.
There are four different meanings found in the Old Testament.
The one we are most familiar with is found in the Book of Ruth.
Boaz was a kinsman-redeemer.
Boaz was not related to Ruth, but he was related to Naomi.
He had the obligation by law to redeem the property that had belonged to Naomi’s husband.
Kinsman-redeemers had two responsibilities.
They had redeem family property that had been sold.
They also had to marry the widow of a relative who had died.
Boaz did both.
He bought back the land of Naomi’s husband.
He married Ruth who although not a direct relative she was the daughter-in-law of Naomi who was related to Boaz by marriage.
As great as that is, God’s idea of redemption goes way beyond that.
God through Jesus redeemed us.
Paul captured it well:
God redeemed you!
You were God’s expensive purchase.
God did what He had to do in order to redeem you.
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