Sunday, May 19, 2019

In that day, God became your salvation.


This is the day the LORD has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it.  Amen.


In that day, God became your salvation.

Dear brothers and sisters of the living Savior,

            Throughout our lives, there are days that stand out as especially memorable, some for joyous reasons, others for the sorrow or tragedy.  For decades, no one forgot the Day of Infamy when our nation was attacked at Pearl Harbor.  Then, after the World War II was won, our nation set aside days to commemorate the victories in Europe and Japan.  Later on, everyone remembered where they were when they heard that President Kennedy had been assassinated.  Then, a few years later, we all celebrated when American astronauts walked on the moon.  More recently, the day that terrorists flew planes into twin towers held our attentions for years.

Such extremely memorable days aren’t restricted to public events, however.  We each have days that we will never forget.  Perhaps, it was the day you met your one true love, or the day your first new-born child was placed in your arms.  And, most likely everyone here also has a day, or more than one, when tragedy scarred you for life. 

In our sermon text, Isaiah tells us about one specific day in time that changed the course of human history.  Yet, the day Isaiah tells us about also has application to other days, days personal to each of us and general to all believers, giving the theme: In that day, God became your salvation.

Because that one day in time changed everything, we celebrate Easter on an annual and even weekly basis.  I began this sermon by speaking about historic tragedies, and personal ones as well, but perhaps the most memorable event, and by human standards the greatest injustice in history, took place that day the holy Son of God willingly died on a cross for the sins of the world. 

Since the fall into sin, mankind had been afraid of God, much like wild animals became afraid of man.  Because of mankind’s sin, death entered the world, and both man and animals became afraid of death.  Blood was shed first to cover Adam and Eve’s shame as the Lord brought animal skins to cover their nakedness.  Then, on that most important day, blood was shed once for all when Jesus gave His life on the cross to cover the sins of the world, and what Isaiah had foretold let us all say, “Surely God is my salvation.  I will trust him and will not be afraid, because Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation.”

Because Jesus lived and died for all, no one should ever have to fear God or death again, but most people still do.  Isaiah had written, “In that day you will say: I will give thanks to you, Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger has turned away, and you comfort me.”  Yet, the day Jesus died, no one on earth was giving thanks to God.  In heaven the saints and angels rejoiced at the sacrifice the Lamb of God had made, but here on earth, all was gloom and sorrow.  We needed another day, the day we celebrate today, for Jesus rose on the third day to proclaim victory forever. 

In that third day after Jesus was buried, the world learned what Jesus had accomplished for all people.  The gates of heaven were opened, and the devil was permanently bound by the good news, and this became the source of life and strength to all who drink of the living water Jesus promised.  The well of salvation is the Good News proclaimed throughout the Bible that tells us what Jesus has done to make us right with God.  It is a never-ending source of life-giving peace, for God Himself has taken up our sins and iniquities and graciously gives us in exchange the righteousness of His Son, so that we can rightly say, In that day, God became our salvation.

Having said that, in order for us to be saved from the condemnation our sins deserved, we also needed another day in which God Himself intercedes on our behalf.  So, God instituted baptism as a means of bringing faith and new life to those He chooses to adopt into His family.  And in connection with that day, all who believe can sing with the prophet, “Surely God is my salvation.  I will trust him and will not be afraid, because Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation.  Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”  For, in the day you first were given faith in Christ as your Savior, In that day, God became your salvation. 

One thing that troubles God’s children, however, is that still today many people don’t have the comfort of knowing God as their salvation.  In fact, we all enter life on this troubled planet without that knowledge, therefore other days become vitally important for each soul.  Isaiah wrote about the day when we have drawn water from the well of salvation.  When the gospel transformed our lives from slavery and death into life everlasting, we could each sing with great joy about what God has done.  Furthermore, Christian believers want that same joy for those they love.  This love flows naturally from the love of God that dwells within us, welling up into willing service to our neighbors and friends in the vocations God gives us.  Thus, we live fulfilling what Isaiah wrote: “In that day you will say: ‘Give thanks to the Lord!  Proclaim his name.  Declare among the peoples what he has done.  Proclaim that his name is exalted!  Sing to the Lord, for he has done amazing things!  Let this be known in all the earth!’” 

Because the Holy Spirit has brought us to faith in Jesus, God’s love works in us to proclaim His name to more and more people.  That’s part of why we gather as the Church of God on earth.  Certainly we come to be refreshed and cleansed of our sins by the power of God’s love, but we also join together to sing His praise and to share that wonderful blessing with others, with our own children and to the distant tribes, cities, and nations wherever we have opportunity to proclaim the good news, and because “God our Savior,…wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth,” (1 Timothy 2:3-4 NIV 84) God’s love also moves us to have a love for other sinners.  Thus, we give thanks to God by telling others about Jesus, whether that be by individual expressions or by the mutual encouragement and work of the congregation of believers, and we willingly serve even the wicked so that they might see God’s love at work in us and be converted as well.

There is another day when this message means the world to us.  Jesus told His followers, “In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world." (John 16:33 NIV 84)  What the world so often fails to understand is that Jesus didn’t come to make this world a paradise.  Rather, Jesus came so that we wouldn’t be stuck in this place of sin and death forever.  But, as long as we reside on earth, there will be much to weep over.  Persecution will raise its ugly head in ways big and small.  Sin will still trouble the believer, because we were born in sin and its hold on us isn’t easily overcome.  The battle against our inherited sinfulness is an ongoing struggle that will trouble us often.  But in this too, Jesus is our help and our strength.  In every day of trial, we need the Savior who has walked among us, who knows our struggles, who experienced our frailty yet forgives willingly, because He has paid the full price for our freedom.  Therefore, we praise God again for the refreshing water of the Gospel, and that even in the day of trial, God is our salvation.

This day of salvation takes on even more meaning when tragedy strikes or when death calls away someone we love.  The world offers all kinds of empty platitudes.  Some people turn to drugs or alcohol to numb the pain.  Some vainly speculate that after death there is nothing more.  Other people may imagine nice-sounding fantasies of what they wish might come after this world, but only God holds out His hands and gives us the sure promise of a home in His heaven, where there is never again any sorrow, pain, sin, or death, where the devil can’t torment or accuse us anymore. 

Then, in that day when tragedy strikes, or death steals away your loved one, even in that day God is your salvation.  In those days of agony and tears, God offers again His sure comfort of sins forgiven and life assured.  Like in every other trial, God carries us through the pain.  He lifts us up with the promise, “that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil.  Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.” (Isaiah 57:1-2 NIV 84)  Even while enduring the pain of physical death separating us from our loved ones, we have God’s assurance that this is but a temporary separation, and one in which our believing loved ones are not suffering but are already enjoying the glory and peace of heaven.

Which leads us to one more day in which God is your salvation.  The Son of God who came to earth to live with us, to experience life on earth just as we do, and who lived perfectly for us but died as full payment for our sins has not abandoned us here, for risen from the dead and ascended to His Father’s side to rule over all things, He is also returning to take us home.  However, on the day Jesus returns, it won’t be to a quiet countryside night.  Instead, when Jesus returns, He will arrive for all the world to see with a vast army of angels to weed out the tares from the wheat. 

As Jesus returns on the last day of this earth, many will be those who are again terrified of God’s judgment, who “will say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’" (Luke 23:30 NIV 84)  However, those whom God has made His own by faith look forward to that day with great expectation, not because of any goodness in ourselves, but because we know what Isaiah was privileged to share with God’s people: “Surely God is my salvation.  I will trust him and will not be afraid, because Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation.” 

Whenever we remember what Jesus has done for us, we gain confidence that we have nothing to fear.  Thus, as we wait for Jesus to return, whether we face good times or trials, whether we find love or the world greets us with persecution and terror, we can go on in the sure confidence of the writer to the Hebrews who declares, “because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’  So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.  What can man do to me?’" (Hebrews 13:5-6 NIV 84)

Dear friends, today is a day of rejoicing, just as is every day for the believer.  Today, we are reminded again of what Jesus has accomplished to cleanse us of every fault and weakness, of how He lived for us and died to set us free from the slavery of the devil’s rebellion, and the prison of guilt.  We remember that the Holy Spirit has dressed us in the pure white robes of Christ’s holiness as the Father has forgiven our sins for Jesus’ sake and remembers them no more.  Always remember with joy and great celebration the day Jesus rose from the grave to announce the good news to all people, and remember with gladness, also, the day that the Holy Spirit brought that news into your life personally, for In that day, God became your salvation.  Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.
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