God Sings, So You Give Thanks!

Well, this is the week that we celebrate our harvest feast. We've done it now for decades and it's always a highlight of the year. We've spent some time not just feasting together, but thanking God for all the things he's done in our lives. And so this is the day that we want to highlight Thanksgiving. So I'm going to ask you now to turn in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 11.

Isaiah chapter 11 We want to concentrate on what this prophet says to us about Thanksgiving By the way, we want to invite all of you to the Harvest Feast This isn't just meant for us here Whoever's here is welcome to come and we want to make sure that you know that As we gather together and speak of God's grace to us in several ways well let's um let's pray God you are good you are a good father to us we know that there are times Lord because of the events in our lives where we may question that in our minds but yet by faith we lay hold of the fact that you have revealed yourself as good you have told us that you are good and you do not lie and so father even this day as we come together from all kinds of different things that have happened this week or over the months things that that are easy things that are difficult we were reminded that you are good and that we can sing to you out of hearts of gratitude this day i pray that we would not just think about this in terms of our own Thanksgiving day and our own harvest feast, but you would cause us to think that there is great cause for us to rejoice and to give thanks to you and to sing a song of thanksgiving to you. So would you please guide our thinking now? Help us.

Lord, help us not just to learn something from long ago in this prophet, but help us to know this is for us. This must be true of us. We thank you in Jesus name Amen The first real songs of Thanksgiving that is songs devoted to a day of Thanksgiving were sung by the pilgrims several hundreds of years ago, in the 1620s in fact. You remember, if you know the history of the pilgrims, that their first year was a devastating disaster for them as half of them died in an incredibly tough winter.

But then the next year, as God gave them increase, they gathered together and they had a great day of thanksgiving, of worship and singing and feasting, because they wanted to thank God for the provisions that he had made, even after such horrendous and horrible experiences that they had. but they also wanted to thank him in worship and song because he had given them a new start in a new world they had come to this continent to escape the persecutions that they experienced because of their beliefs and they now experienced although a difficult world it was yet a world of freedom and a world of peace for them this was a world of new beginnings it was to them a new day So on the first Thanksgiving, they sang to God because of the new day beginning to dawn for them. Well, when we come to the prophet Isaiah, we find in chapter 12, a hymn or a song of Thanksgiving, a song given to us so that we might express our praise and thanks to our great God and deliverer for the new day that he has given us. this is all about thanks to God for a new day I'm going to ask you to follow as I read Isaiah chapters 11 and 12 there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse and a branch from his root shall bear fruit and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and might the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist and faithfulness the belt of his loins The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together, and the little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze.

Their young shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. in that day the root of Jesse who shall stand as a signal for the peoples of him shall the nations inquire and his resting place shall be glorious in that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people from Assyria from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar from Hamat and from the coastlands of the sea he will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart, and those harassed Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not harass Ephraim. But they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west, and together they shall plunder the people of the east. They shall put out their hand against Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites shall obey them. and the Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt and will wave his hand over the river with his scorching breath and strike it into seven channels and he will lead people across in sandals and there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant that remains of his people as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.

You will say in that day I will give thanks to you O Lord for though you were angry with me your anger turned away that you might comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and will not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation and you will say in that day give thanks to the lord call upon his name make known his deeds among the peoples proclaim that his name is exalted sing praises to the lord for he has done gloriously let this be made known in all the earth shout and sing for joy oh inhabitant of zion for great in your midst is the holy one of israel what do we find here here's the first thing we see sing a hymn of thanksgiving for the new day sing a hymn of thanksgiving for the new day god says through isaiah and that day in that day i will give thanks to you oh lord for though you are angry with me your anger turned away that you might comfort me in that day what day i did isaiah here speaks of that great day when messiahs appears when the messiah arrives and that day will look glorious what does it look like it says the king would appear from the davidic house when it's broken down chapter 11 verses 1 and 2 when all is broken down when there is no ruler suddenly from that stump will come this branch.

This king will administer his kingdom with methods different than any other king. Note what he says here in verses three through five. Notice the difference. He will delight in the fear of the Lord. The spirit of the Lord is going to compound him to produce that fear, but he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He's not going to be like people who could care nothing about the fear of the Lord.

None of the rulers who care nothing for God or the fear. He He was going to actually delight in the fear of the Lord. He's not going to be misled by what his eyes see or by what his ears hear. He's not going to be misled by the accused who's dressed really quite properly in order to sway the jury. He's not going to be swayed by any appearances. He's not going to be swayed by any kinds of lies that his ears hear.

He will be able to judge with righteousness and faithfulness. Nothing will sway him from that justice. and then verses 6 through 16 of chapter 11 you see the fruit of the messianic kingdom and it's going to be greater than any scene yet all of creation will be ruled by peace and harmony all these incredibly um colorful metaphors here do you hear it you know the the lion and the goat together and and uh they're eating they're eating vegetation instead of turning on one another and tearing each other apart and eating each other You've got children playing over snake holes, right? That's pretty, that's, you know, when your baby's crawling over, right?

On her hands and knees and crawling over to where the spider is, you about have a fit. But here, everything's going to be so peaceful, there's not even going to be poisonous snakes that will harm us, right? This is the fruit of that day. This is a day of incredible peace and harmony that doesn't just extend politically, but all the way down to the very roots of creation.

And guess what? It's all because there's going to be this universal knowledge of the Lord. Everyone, like the sea over the whole entire globe, will be the knowledge of the Lord. Everyone will know him. And the nations will submit to the peaceful rule of Messiah. And then lastly, the last part of that chapter, God's people would be gathered from all the corners of the earth and experience another exodus, only with a greater Messiah.

You say, that's great, so why do we give thanks? Because that day has begun in Messiah. The day began when Jesus appeared. This day began when Jesus appeared. When you turn to the book of Matthew, for example, and I would encourage you to read the book of Matthew. Matthew shows that Jesus comes and establishes his kingdom.

It's one of the main themes of this book, that Jesus comes. And in chapter 4, as he begins his ministry, it says in verse 17, From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The idea here being, the kingdom of heaven is right here. Now you just have to connect to it. It's here now, so connect. It's right near to you, connect to it. one pastor i know talked about the fact that um when when electrification came to rural areas for the first time i don't know if there's anybody even that old in this congregation to remember that but when when maybe but when uh uh the the electrification came to rural areas they they run the the electricity you had to connect to it and that's what he's saying here the kingdom of god has arrived.

You've got to connect to it. So this kingdom that's promised in Isaiah 11 has arrived with Messiah Jesus You see Jesus now this is what we have to think now Jesus inaugurated that great day He began that great day The great day began when Jesus came He began the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy. Now it hasn't been completely fulfilled, but it has begun to be fulfilled.

The kingdom has arrived. And now we are seeing the first fruits of that. That means that what you have here is our Thanksgiving hymn. When Israel crossed the Red Sea, you read it in Exodus 15, there's this marvelous hymn of Thanksgiving. And so we have a hymn of Thanksgiving that we sing to God. This is ours.

This isn't just for some far-off people in the future. This is ours now. The king has arrived with his kingdom. The day is dawning. We now can give thanks because of that. we have this song to sing and this hymn of thanksgiving fits the occasion right we don't sing we gather together at easter or christmas it wouldn't be bad to sing it then but it would be kind of jarring to you just like i remember one year um i was preaching through matthew and i think it was like May or June and we were we were in the part where Jesus is born and we sang Christmas carols it was just so jarring I don't think anybody got it I don't even I don't know if anybody even heard the sermon that day you know because it just doesn't quite fit and so this does fit because the day has arrived the day has arrived this day is described in chapter 11 is not fully here, but the streaks of the light of that day can be seen as it dawns.

This is our song. And so God says, sing a song of thanksgiving for your great salvation. Surely, he says in verse 2, behold, surely God is my salvation. He has become my salvation. But how? how? God is our salvation through the work of his King.

His salvation appears in the King coming when the house of David was in ruins and the King arrived and that is how he is our salvation He is our salvation in the King and he brings peace and harmony a universal knowledge of the Lord He gathers to himself all his people from all over the world All of chapter 11 describes the salvation that Jesus brings. Now look, this is something I think we have to think a little more deeply on. When I say the word salvation, when I say things like, sing a song of thanksgiving for your great salvation what do you think almost immediately my guess is you thought sing sing a song of salvation because i'm going to heaven someday but when you read chapter 11 it goes much wider and much deeper than just us getting to glory what is it it is every aspect of life in this world is what it should be that is the salvation that the Bible describes.

Certainly, it is us reconciled to God so that we'll be in glory, but that's just the foundation of that salvation. The curse came through a man. Therefore, we must be saved. He must redeem us. But notice, in Romans chapter 8, remember that little phrase? The rest of creation waits for the glory of the children of God. and so yes it is getting to glory but it goes much broader and much deeper the salvation that God brings is not just the reconciliation of people to himself it's the elimination of the curse altogether that is salvation it wouldn't be much of a salvation if we got to glory and found it was the same as it is now I don't think we'd call it glory would we no and that's what he describes in chapter 11.

Do you ever read that chapter? It just is like, it just kind of blows your mind. Can you imagine creation like this? Can you imagine a king like this? Can you imagine anything like this? And that's what our salvation is.

Every aspect of creation now operating as it should under the lordship of god with no curse everything operating just everything clicking everything fitting everything just going like it should that is the salvation that we can thank god for he said well i don see it yet Well Jesus began the work of salvation Those who come to him in faith and repentance are beginning to taste the fruit of this yet glorious day when all of creation operates like it should. Because in redemption, you are starting to operate the way you should, and you are experiencing that kind of peace. You know, when Becca puts out her gardens, right?

Plural. So three, in fact, there's always these first fruits, if you will. We always get the peas and the potatoes first. Those always seem to come up. And you all know at the beginning of the growing season, you have that peas and potatoes dish that everybody makes when the first stuff comes in. But that's just the beginning of it.

That's not the whole thing. That's not the whole thing. Everything else continues to come. everything else comes. We don't get to the watermelons until the fall. Right? We don't get to the pumpkins until the fall.

We don't get to some of the really good stuff until the end. And so that's what's happening here. That's what it is with the salvation that Messiah brings. We are beginning to experience peace and harmony. The knowledge of the one true God is going out over all the earth. It is not covering the globe like the waters cover the seas. nevertheless, the story of God reconciling man to himself and taking care of all creation is spreading out over all the earth as the gospel goes out and is preached.

There is a sense in which this great exodus has begun and God is gathering his people from all four corners of the earth. We are experiencing the firstfruits of that. So the question is, can you sing a song of thanksgiving for that great salvation? Can you sing that song now? I tell you what, I can sing that song when I think about what's coming. And by the way, young people, I know this is kind of, yeah, that's cool, Pastor, but when you get our age, right, it starts looking really fine, right?

The other day, for example, I knelt down to get something off the floor, and then I put my hand on the chair and I got up and some young person said to me, are you okay? It's like, yeah, I'm fine. It just takes a little more to get up. That's all, right? You can sing a song. Thanksgiving for that great salvation now.

You know, you have a taste of it. You anticipate it. Notice that this salvation that comes through Messiah moves God from an angry judge to a comforting father. Do you see that? You see that in verse 1? I will give thanks to you, Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away that you might comfort me.

God's people of that day had incurred the wrath of God because they had been unfaithful to the covenant they had made with God, and God said, if you don't keep the covenant, I will be angry. And they hadn't, and he scattered them as a result. But with the coming of that day of Messiah, he promises comfort instead of anger. The idea of comfort here is you comfort someone in this word by lifting the burden off of someone so that they can breathe again, right?

Have you ever had a burden so heavy you're trudging up the hill and you can barely breathe right he's saying he's going to lift that so god moves removes the distressing burden of his wrath he removes the distressing burden of his wrath do you know that as a christian as you have entrusted yourself to this king this messiah you no longer have to fear the wrath of god he is never going to pour that out on you he has removed that burden from you right he's removed that burden from you well we have to acknowledge the burden of that wrath and turn to Jesus to find relief and he removes that burden and then we find God because of Jesus not because of us we find God because of Jesus now comforts us can you sing a song of thanksgiving for this great God becoming your comfort do you find him as your comfort oh you should here is a God that is so great the God that created the world the God who is holy the God who will pour out his wrath someday on sinners who says to you I am your comfort I am your comfort. The salvation through Messiah makes God our refuge and strength. Look at verse 2.

I will trust and will not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and my song. we know from experience that God is our strength we're strong in God because his power has been displayed in the redemption of his people what a powerful thing that he has done Jesus is this powerful redeemer who has purchased us from the slavery that our sin has bound us in and has now purchased us so that we are no longer by his grace the slaves of sin he has instead purchased to people that are now free to worship him and his redemption will yet be displayed look at verse 4 of chapter 11 right and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked his power is going to remove the curse of sin when he comes in power and strength and those who are convinced of their weakness will find that God is a refuge and strength. They will truly sing the praises of God who is their refuge and their strength. A little over two years ago I had a stroke.

Some of you remember that. I was in the hospital. I was laying in my hospital bed and John McQueen walks in. We chatted for a bit and he says, Pastor, let me read the Word of God to you. here's what he read God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble therefore we will not fear though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea though the waters roar and foam though the mountains tremble at its swelling God is a refuge in our times of trouble.

I can remember him reading that. I mean, I'm the one usually doing this, right? And he comes in and just opens the word of God And there is God as a refuge As you hear His promises As He says I really for you not against you Keep that in mind. And in that, there can be found refuge. There can be found strength in God who protects His children. So we can trust Him. and we don't have to give way to fear.

We don't have to give way to fear. He becomes our song. He becomes our song. I was working outside yesterday and called a clearance. I don't know why he had his little three-wheeler thing and he was carrying it. I don't know why he was carrying it instead of rolling it.

But as he's walking along, this is really fascinating to me, he's walking along with this little three-wheeled thing and he's just singing. he's making up a song as he's going along that's the way it is with us we ought to be able to sing about God wherever we are because of the things because he's our refuge because he's for us and never ever against us in Christ we can sing a song of thanksgiving to him we can sing right we can sing can you sing a song of thanksgiving for your refuge and strength there's real thanksgiving there the salvation through Messiah provides inexhaustible sources of joy verse 3 with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation that salvation is like a deep well that produces great fountains of joy when you read chapter 11 and you see how deep salvation goes, there should be great joy that motivates your thanksgiving and your singing. Frankly, we've got to ask ourselves the question, have I run out of water? It's not because the water's not there.

It's because we haven't gone there enough to draw from it. When we moved out to our place outside of town here in 1989, we moved out there, and in the first week, our pump went out. and the well and if you live up on the ridge like we do you know that your well is about 150 feet deep but the the shaft had shifted so we couldn get our submersible pump out So we had to drill a whole new well right The very first week we lived in our new house, we had to drill a new well. We were without water because it took a long time.

I remember Chuck, the well driller, was going, man, this is crazy. It took us a week to get water. Do you know what it's like to live like that? I mean, you've got to go get your water. It's a very laborious thing. This is something we take for granted.

We didn't have a steady supply of water. And there's nothing that gives us more distress than a scarcity of water. Go without water for a day. You can't hardly do it, can you? But our salvation produces all that we need to live. people look for joy in many places and what they find are dry cisterns they try to find joy in entertainment right this will be my escape they'll be enjoying this I'll just go binge on Netflix what do you get from that? tired and it gets dull after a while you need more I'll find joy in these relationships and then you get involved in a relationship and you find out that the other person just isn't as perfect as you thought he was in fact he or she has many flaws there's no joy in that it seems and if only I have this job there'll be great joy dry cistern, you know why? because no matter what even your dream job has got drudgery connected to it oh positions of power power but you know what happens it's never enough you gotta have more possessions there's joy in that you all know the kind of joy you get when you smell a new car smell goes away doesn't it and the car, either you wreck it or it rusts out.

It's a dry cistern. There's no joy in it. None of these things, nothing fully satisfies those people. deep longings. But the work of God in Christ opens up these wells. If we would only draw water from the well of our salvation, we would find joy. We would find joy.

Can you recount all that you have in Jesus? It's a source of joy. There's glory waiting. There's glory waiting. Let that sink in. You ever think about that?

There's glory waiting when everything will be operating and doing what it should and there will be nothing to fight anymore no sin in me no sin outside of me nothing but perfection i look forward to that grace operating so that you can know god's love your life has purpose do you know how many people out there live life with no purpose at all just going to work coming home entertained for a few hours, eat, go to sleep, go to work. Life has no purpose at all. And yet you have a life that says, I'm living for the glory of God and God does not overlook one bit of it.

Every little bit that I do has got purpose in it. I spoke with someone who was truly suffering because of their love for Jesus and when I asked how is it going his reply was hard but good right that's how we can answer can you sing a song of thanksgiving for the wells of joy that you find in Jesus just take a few moments and ask yourself this question what do I have that unbelievers do not have what do i have can you sing a song of thanksgiving because of the joy of your salvation here's the last thing that isaiah says to us he says sing a song of thanksgiving to the world verses four and four through six give thanks to the lord call upon his name make known his deeds among the peoples proclaim that his name is exalted sing praises to the lord for he's done gloriously let this be made known in all the earth shout and sing for joy oh inhabitant of zion for great for great in you in your midst is the holy one of israel because of our great deliverance because it's begun we have an obligation to what does he say we have an obligation to make known his deeds among the peoples we have to make it known in all the earth have you noticed that in thanksgiving at least in our family we all get together This is the one time where we all work really hard the Pazmas and the Parkers and that's it so far. We all try to get together, right?

And we gather around as a family to celebrate, and what do we do? We shut the world out. I'm not saying that's wrong. I'm just saying here we're told in our thanksgiving not to shut the world out, but to go out to the world and tell them that our king is exalted and to let them know all that he has done. Right? This hymn of thanksgiving says to us that we go to the world and call it to give thanks and call on the name of the Lord.

Vast portions of the world lay in darkness, and they're just outside your door. You know, I don't know about you, it's hard to escape because we're such a entertainment celebrity kind of a centered culture the scandal that's just sweeping over the entertainment industry right now it's breathtaking it's not surprising should not surprise us at all that this wicked horrible sexual stuff is going on but I want you to think about the darkness of that the darkness of bondage to sin. These people, these men who are perpetrating these things on women, and other men for that matter, are bound in the darkness of their sin and they cannot escape.

One who's a very famous comedian has been called out and his response is essentially says, well it's true, but what can I do about it? He's lost. He doesn't know what to do with his perverted thoughts, right? He has no idea. He's bonded in bondage to darkness. Not only that, there's the darkness of oppression.

I don't know about you, but I don't encourage you to read much of this stuff because it's pretty awful. But one thing I've picked up is a lot of the stuff that these women are saying that have been through this is the shame and the oppression that happens there and just the almost hopelessness. What can I do in this situation? The darkness of oppression is so huge of people using their power to take advantage of other people It awful And the only answer for them is the gospel And we proclaim the gospel to people like that so they can be freed from this bondage to power and this bondage to darkness and this bondage to perversion.

The gospel is the only thing that will deliver them. We can put in all the laws we want. We can have all the policies we can. It may restrain some of it, but it will never change their hearts. See, the gospel is a gospel of deliverance from darkness, so that men everywhere can give thanks to God, so that men everywhere can call on His name. This song of thanksgiving to the world calls it to know the glorious work God has done that exalts His name.

What has He done? He's delivered His people. He's delivered His people. they'll look at us and say, wow, look at them. Right? Wow. He's glorified in the cross.

I mean, ever read John? John chapter 12. Turn there very quickly. John 12. Verse 27. Jesus talking now.

Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father glorify your name. Then a voice came from heaven I have glorified it and I will glorify it again. The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered.

Others said an angel had spoken to him. Jesus answered this voice has come for your sake not mine. Now is the judgment of this world. Now will the ruler of this world be cast out and I when I am lifted up from the earth will draw all people to myself. He said this to show what kind of death he was going to die. here is the glory of God in the most awful shameful thing ever seen and he says God's glorified in it because when I'm lifted up in open shame guess what I'm going to draw people to me I'm going to draw people to God through that instrument of shame and humiliation and torture I will draw people in God with glory will be seen that's how God's glorified God's glory is seen and his name is exalted in this conquering king when you look at chapter 11 verse 4 he's strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he shall kill all the wicked you know where you find that again you find that again in revelation 19 it quoted in revelation 19 where where the king arrives on a horse a white horse it says and the rod smashes the nations This hymn of thanksgiving to the world calls it to recognize the presence of God among his people.

Verse 6, God is present among us. Before in this book when God was present, Isaiah the prophet, whose writing here was flat on his face saying, Woe to me, I'm a man of unclean lips. but now this Holy One is in our presence and is the cause not of falling down on our faces but of rejoicing this Holy One is in our presence we don't have to cry out in fear how can that be? because the glory of God appeared in a man, Jesus and the glory of God is in this place because of Jesus and he has revealed himself in the crucified God has revealed himself in the crucified and resurrected one and his presence among us now reveals that we are his people and so we can give thanksgiving well can I say this to you as we close it is okay to give thanks to God for the freedom that we know it is okay to thank God for the prosperity that we've experienced. But if that's as far as we go, we haven't gone far enough.

You see, this is our God and a new day has dawned. We can give thanks. It's like being up at 5.30 in the morning and you see the streaks of light. You see that red on the horizon and the streaks of light across the sky. And you say, oh, thanks God for another day. Listen, Jesus has come and the dawning of a new age is here.

And we're experiencing the first fruits of it. And we can thank God that we're experiencing it now and someday we'll experience it to the full. That is the place where we need to be when we give thanks. What God has done for us in Christ. Thank you, Father, for you have rescued us in Jesus. You have bought us for that time when there will be no more conflict or sin. will be what it should be.

That day has dawned in Jesus and that King has come who will rule. Oh God, help us to give thanks to You because of what You've done and because of who You are. Father, sometimes, frankly, we have to repent of our thanksgiving because it is so shallow. Help us to go to the well of salvation and draw out that water that will never end. Help us to see these things so that we can truly be a people who overflow with thanksgiving.

We will thank You in Jesus' name. Amen.