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Please remain standing for the reading of God’s word.
This morning as we continue our study of the book of the prophet Isaiah, we are in Isaiah
chapter 3 verses 1 through 15.
That’s my sermon text today.
I’m going to begin reading at the very last verse of chapter 2 because that ending of
chapter 2 connects with the theme that is taken up in chapter 3.
You’ll find this on page 675 in your pew bibles.
Dear friends, let us hear God’s holy word.
Isaiah 2 verse 22.
Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?
For behold, the Lord God of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah, support
and supply, all support of bread, and all support of water.
The mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder,
the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor and the skillful magician, and
the expert in charms.
And I will make boys their princes, and infants shall rule over them.
And the people will oppress one another, every one his fellow, and every one his neighbor.
The youth will be insolent to the elder, and the despised to the honorable.
For a man will take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, You have
a cloak, you shall be our leader, and this heap of ruins shall be under your rule.
On that day he will speak out, saying, I will not be a healer.
In my house there is neither bread nor cloak.
You shall not make me leader of the people.
For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their deeds
are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence.
For the look on their faces bears witness against them.
They proclaim their sin like Sodom.
They do not hide it.
Woe to them, for they have brought evil on themselves.
Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their
deeds.
Woe to the wicked, it shall be ill with him, for what his hands have dealt out shall be
done to him.
My people, infants are their oppressors, and women rule over them.
O my people, your guides mislead you, and they have swallowed up the course of your
paths.
The Lord has taken his place to contend.
He stands to judge peoples.
The Lord will enter into judgment with the elders and princes of his people.
It is you who have devoured the vineyard.
The spoil of the poor is in your houses.
What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the faces of the poor, declares the
Lord God of hosts.
The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever.
Let us seek the blessing of the Lord upon the preaching of his word.
Our Lord and Father in heaven, we thank you that you have raised up prophets and apostles
to reveal your word to your people, and we thank you for the prophet Isaiah and for the
book of Isaiah, which is so instructive to us.
We thank you for this portion of your God-breathed, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word.
We would ask, heavenly Father, that as your spirit breathed out this word, that your spirit
would indeed use this word to breathe new life, renewed life into our souls, and we
pray that you would make us open to the truths that the spirit is revealing to us in this
portion of his word.
Be with us now, open our minds and our hearts to behold wondrous things from your word,
and grant unto me, your unworthy servant, the grace to declare your word with clarity
and power and faithfulness.
We pray these things in Jesus’ name, and all of God’s people said, Amen.
You may be seated.
The title of my sermon on this Lord’s Day morning is Defying the Lord’s Glorious Presence.
This is based on my sermon title on a section of verse 8.
And if you’re following along in your sermon outlines, there’s a number of words that I
encourage the children to keep track of.
The words judgment, leadership, righteous, faithful, and presence.
Well, dear friends, few things are more necessary for the smooth and stable functioning of any
organization or organized body than the presence of competent, stable, and ethical leadership
within that organization or organized body.
This is true whether we’re talking about a business organization or a charitable organization,
a government or governmental organization, or a church.
When leadership fails, eventually that failure negatively impacts the entire organization.
And when competent, experienced, stable leadership is replaced by incompetent, inexperienced,
naively idealistic, and immature leadership, the organization in question will usually
begin a downward negative spiral, a destabilizing spiral that if left unchecked will eventually
result in the ruin and the destruction of the organization as a whole.
And so for example, just to give you an example of this, in recent years we have learned through
news reports of the situation in the nation of Haiti, and we’ve learned through news
reports about the devastating impact of a weak, destabilized, and to my understanding
a profoundly corrupt government in the nation of Haiti, which has led to the almost complete
breakdown of that society and has left the Haitian population tragically vulnerable to
things like gang violence and other social dangers and deprivations.
According to World Vision, in a report dated just two months ago on May 21, 2024, an estimated
80% of the capital city is under the control of gangs, including the international airport,
which remains closed. Looting at Haiti’s main port has depleted critical fuel, water,
and food supplies to alarming levels, intensifying an already severe food insecurity crisis.
Well, dear ones, the kind of societal breakdown that Haiti is even now experiencing is what
tends to happen to a society when strong, competent, and moral leadership is lacking
and when corruption abounds. Friends, it is precisely this kind of societal breakdown
and devastation that the Lord, Yahweh, Israel’s faithful covenant God, is threatening against
His faithless people and against their leaders in this solemn judgment passage from the book
of the prophet Isaiah, which we are considering on this Lord’s Day morning.
So as we turn our attention to our passage for today, I would again remind us of the
context and setting of this passage. Our passage for this Lord’s Day morning is found within
a lengthy judgment oracle section that extends basically from chapter 2 verse 6 all the way
through chapter 4 verse 1. In chapter 2, the ultimate reference and fulfillment of the
judgment oracle of that chapter is the final day of judgment, as we’ve learned in recent
Lord’s Days. And that final day of judgment, of course, will occur when our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ, returns in glory at the end of this present new covenant age in redemptive
history. But beginning here in chapter 3, the Holy Spirit through the prophet Isaiah
narrows the focus of this judgment oracle to the situation that existed among the professed
people of God living in Isaiah’s time. Thus, in chapter 3 verse 1, the focus is on the
holy city of Jerusalem, the capital of the southern kingdom of Judah. The focus is on
Jerusalem and on the land of Judah. If you look at verse 1, it says, for behold, and
children, what does that word behold mean? That word means pay attention. This is important.
For behold, the Lord God of hosts, the title for the Lord given here, exalts His sovereignty.
He is the Lord God of hosts. And what is He going to do? He is taking away from Jerusalem
and from Judah support and supply, all support of bread and so forth. And so the focus narrows
from God’s universal judgment that is coming at the end of this age on Judgment Day. The
focus is narrowed down to Isaiah’s contemporaries and to the generations that would immediately
follow that of Isaiah’s time. Our passage for today is an example of judgment beginning
at the household of God, as we read about in 1 Peter 4.17. And therefore, the focus
turns from the general final judgment that God will bring upon all humanity at the end
of this age to the specific historical judgments that God will bring upon Isaiah’s faithless
covenant-breaking contemporaries and upon their descendants in the near-term future.
Now in chapter 2, verse 22, the very last verse of the previous chapter, the Lord had
urged the people not to trust in man. And here in chapter 3, we see one of the reasons
why they are not to trust in man. I mean, back in chapter 2, verse 22, the Lord exhorts
His people. He says, stop regarding man. Isaiah’s contemporaries were trusting in man. They
were not trusting in the Lord their God. Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath,
or of what account is he. Man is mortal. Man is sinful. Man is liable to disappoint you.
But in chapter 3, we see one of the reasons why they are not to trust in men. Namely,
Yahweh in judgment is planning to remove those men that the people had trusted in to bring
stability and order to their society. And instead, the Lord would replace such men with
leaders whose inexperience and naivete would make their leadership resemble the leadership
of mere children, and whose incompetence and weakness would lead to the utter breakdown
of social order and civil society within the Israelite theocracy. In other words, friends,
in this judgment passage we are considering today, the God of order, the God who in the
beginning brought order out of chaos, this God would threaten to remove order and to
bring societal chaos and devastation upon his unrepentant, sinning people. As we turn
our attention to the opening section of this chapter, verses 1 through 7, we notice first
of all a description of the deprivations of divine judgment. If you’re following along
in your sermon outline, that’s the first main point. Consider, friends, the deprivations
of divine judgment. It says in verse 1, for behold, the Lord God of hosts, this depicts
the Lord as the God of all creation. He is the Lord of all of the hosts of heaven, and
perhaps also this terminology points to God as the divine warrior, the one who fights
for his people, or in the case of his covenant-breaking people, who fights against them. He is the
Lord over the armies of heaven, all of the angelic armies. And what does he say? Behold,
the Lord God of hosts, he is doing something in judgment. He is what? Taking away from
Jerusalem, the holy city, the city where the temple of the Lord dwelt, the temple that
was a symbol of God’s gracious, redemptive presence and rule over his people. He is going
to bring, he’s going to take away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and supply, and then
to be more specific, all support of bread and all support of water. What is the Lord
threatening here in this judgment oracle against his sinful people? Well, he is threatening
to remove from Judah and Jerusalem even the basic necessities of life, basic necessities
like food and water. And they would be removed, thereby threatening the basic survival of
the people. And then the Lord also threatens to remove certain leaders that the people
had trusted in instead of trusting primarily in the Lord. And he mentions first of all
military leaders. The mighty man and the soldier, apparently the people had trusted in their
military might, their military strength instead of trusting in Yahweh, their faithful covenant
making, covenant keeping God. The mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet.
There would be a dearth not only of military strength, but there would be, the word of
the Lord would be rare in that day as well. And then he mentions the diviner and the elder.
Apparently against God’s holy law, the people had turned to diviners. They had turned to
the occult instead of turning to the word of the Lord. The captain of 50. The 50 was
a military unit there. And the man of rank. The counselor and the skillful magician and
the expert in charms. Here Isaiah mentions the kinds and categories of leaders, whether
legitimate or illegitimate, that the people had come to depend upon for what might be
described as their Judean way of life. They were pretty comfortable with their way of
life. But here Yahweh in holy judgment against his unrepentant, unbelieving people would
strip away all of these supports that the people had relied upon instead of relying
upon their God. Exposing them, making them vulnerable to his holy judgment. And then
it goes on to say in verses 4 and 5, and I will make boys their princes. And infants
shall rule over them. I don’t believe we necessarily have to understand this in an
overly literalistic sense, although some of the kings of Judah had begun their reigns
rather early in life. But the point here is that their leadership will be as the leadership
of children. It will be leadership based on a lack of experience, a lack of wisdom,
a lack of discernment. Remember Solomon’s son Rehoboam rejected the counsel of the elders
and he followed the advice of his younger companions to the detriment of the kingdom.
And so that is an example of the kinds of things that are envisioned here. And then
it goes on to say in verse 5, and the people will oppress one another. Everyone his fellow
and everyone his neighbor. The youth will be insolent to the elder. That’s one sign
of the breakdown of any society is when there is a lack of respect for the elderly in that
society. The youth will be insolent to the elder and the despised to the honorable. Not
only would the Lord Yahweh strip from his faithless people leaders who were competent,
stable, and experienced, but in their place he would inflict in judgment upon his people
inexperienced, incompetent, and childish leaders. So-called leaders who would afflict and oppress
his people instead of leading them into the ways of justice, truth, righteousness, and
obedience. In the words of Dr. E.J. Young, when competent and capable men are removed
from positions of authority in government, it is to be expected that incompetent and
capricious rulers will take their place. And it is precisely that change which is here
pictured. He goes on to say, when men who in experience and ability have the capacity
of children take over the reigns of the state, chaos is bound to follow. And then he goes
on to say in verses 6 and 7, for a man will take hold of his brother in the house of his
father. Here’s the scenario that will work itself out as Isaiah envisions the judgment
of God coming upon the people and inflicting them with this chaos and breakdown of society.
It will get so bad that the following scenario will play out. For a man will take hold of
his brother in the house of his father saying, you have a cloak. You’re wearing nice clothes,
in other words. You have a cloak. You shall be our leader. And this heap of ruins shall
be under your rule. In that day he will speak out saying, I will not be a healer. In my
house there is neither bread nor cloak. You think I’ve got it together? No, I don’t even
have a bread or cloak in my house. In my house there is neither bread nor cloak. You shall
not make me the leader of the people. There will be such desperation for sound, competent
leadership that even those who look the part, even those who have superficial adornments
and the outward appearances of competency will be sought out and conscripted for service.
But here’s the irony. Here’s the twist. They will refuse to serve. See, usually if someone
is sought out to fill a high position, a position of great power or authority, of high leadership,
usually it’s considered to be an honor. And at least you will consider it, right? If at
your workplace the higher-ups approach you and offer you a promotion that would raise
you up in your position, that’s usually a good thing. And certainly it’s an honorable
thing in the business world to be asked to climb the ladder and get a promotion, and
certainly in government as well. But the irony here is that when they’re offered, indeed,
when they’re sought out and conscripted to such service, they say, no way, no way, Jose.
They will protest, basically saying, look, we don’t want responsibility for this mess.
You’re not able to solve your problems or to fix your mess. Deal with it yourself. That’s
the outcome here. Well, friends, I think there’s many lessons that we can learn from this portion
of Isaiah’s judgment oracle here in this passage. But let me just mention a few points of application.
First of all, brothers and sisters, let us be thankful for the blessing of a social order
and for a basically competent, just civil government. Now, I’m not going to get political,
don’t worry. But let’s face it, we are in the midst of an election season, and we Americans,
if we love to do anything, we love to complain about our government. And certainly there
are some things that could be legitimately complained against. But let us remember, brothers
and sisters, that civil government is an ordinance of Almighty God. The Bible reveals
that the civil magistrate is actually described in Romans 13 as a minister, a servant of God,
minister of God’s wrath against evildoers and so forth. Let us remember that civil government
is an ordinance of God, and it is intended to be a great blessing to our fallen, sin-cursed
world. To quote again from Dr. Young, good government is one of God’s best gifts to a
sinful race. You see, stable governments do such positive things as restraining criminal
behavior and protecting its citizens from the threats of foreign adversaries. And all
of those actions of a stable, basically just government help to promote a life, a basic
civil order and the ability to live in basic peace. As we’ve seen with the breakdown of
civil government in places like Haiti, the breakdown of government leads to great dangers
and hardships. But the presence of a basically stable, not a perfect, there is no such thing
as a perfect human government in this sight of glory, but the presence of a basically
stable government is a great blessing and a great aid to the safety and security of
any people. Therefore, brothers and sisters, let us pray for our government leaders. Let
us pray for their salvation in the case of those who do not know the Savior, which would
include, I believe, many of them. But also let us pray that God in his providence would
guide them to govern justly, competently, righteously and ethically for the glory of
God and for the common good. But friends, while we should be thankful for the blessing
of stable civil government, we should never, ever put our trust in princes. Brothers and
sisters, let us never put our ultimate trust in political leaders or in civil institutions
or in military might. These things can be helpful towards promoting justice in society
and the common good. But let us not be like the people of Isaiah’s day, who put their
ultimate hope and trust in man. Instead, may our ultimate trust be in the sovereign Lord
and in him alone. Again, to quote from Isaiah 2.22, stop regarding man in whose nostrils
is breath, for of what account is he? And so we see the deprivations of the people of
the Lord in the opening section of chapter 3. But next, let us consider the reasons for
such divine judgment. Let us consider the reasons for divine judgment. The Lord through
Isaiah lays out the reasons for this severe judgment that he is about to bring upon his
faithless people in verses 8-12. In verse 8, it says this, for Jerusalem has stumbled
and Judah has fallen because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord, defying
his glorious presence. And then in verse 9, for the look on their faces bears witness
against them. They proclaim their sin like Sodom. They do not hide it. Woe to them, for
they have brought evil on themselves. Now here, Isaiah summarizes the reasons for the
Lord’s judgment against his people in these words. Why is he going to judge his people?
It says in verse 8, because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord, defying
his glorious presence. Or as versions like the New King James Version translate this
last phrase, to provoke the eyes of his glory. The focus here is on God’s glorious presence
and thus his all-seeing eye, if you will, his special observation and examination of
his people. God’s holy presence and therefore his searching gaze were present in a special
way among his covenant people, as symbolized by the temple in Jerusalem and by its altars.
God’s glorious presence dwelt in Jerusalem and in Judea in a special way. The temple
represented God’s kingly, royal, covenantal, gracious and redemptive presence, dwelling
in the midst of his sinful people. That’s the amazing thing about our God, is he redeems
us not only to allow us to go to heaven when we die, but he redeems us by his grace so
that he might come and make his dwelling in our midst. Jesus promises to be present where
two or more are gathered in his name and the spirit, we are told in the scriptures, abides
among us. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit and he dwells within us. He dwells in us as
his people. His presence is in our midst, brothers and sisters. What’s interesting about the
Old Testament, remember God had redeemed the people of Israel from their slavery in Egypt.
He brought them out from under the burdens of Pharaoh and the Egyptians by a mighty hand
and an outstretched arm. He poured out many mighty supernatural plagues upon Pharaoh and
the Egyptians and he brought his people out through the Red Sea on dry land. He brought
them to Mount Sinai. He spoke his word to them. He gave them his laws. He also gave
them very detailed instructions for how they were to make at first a tabernacle, a tent,
where he would dwell in their midst by his Shekinah glory presence and ultimately by
the temple. God redeems his people so that he might dwell in their midst. His glorious
presence attended the children of Israel in their wilderness wanderings, going before
them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. And now that Solomon had
built his glorious temple and there in the Holy of Holies of that temple was the Ark
of the Covenant, a symbol of God’s throne. God was there. His glory was there in the
temple, dwelling in the midst of his redeemed people. And what do they do? They disregard
his glorious presence. They go after other gods. They consult diviners and charmers.
They learn the ways of the pagan idol worshipping gentiles that surrounded them instead of being
faithful to the Lord. As it says again in our passage in verse 8, their speech and their
deeds are against the Lord. Notice in your English translation the term Lord is in all
capital letters. That’s an indication to the English reader that the translators are translating
the Hebrew term for God Yahweh, the Hebrew name Yahweh or sometimes transliterated as
Jehovah. This is the covenant name for God. This is the name for God in his special covenantal
and redemptive relationship with his people Israel. But they had been against the Lord.
The Lord in grace had been for them. He had redeemed them. He had brought them to himself.
He had given them his word. He had brought them into his holy land. He came and dwelt
amongst them. But they disregarded his glorious presence by trusting in man rather than trusting
in the Lord. So instead of showing their gratitude to the Lord for his many mercies to them,
instead of showing their gratitude through trusting him and seeking to live in obedience
to his holy commandments, they defied his glorious presence or they provoked the eyes
of his glory as it could be understood. What inexcusable ingratitude they showed. And so
he goes on to say in verses 10 through 12, tell the righteous that it shall be well with
them for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds. Now why does Isaiah turn his attention
here to the righteous? Well this assures us that even in this time of redemptive history,
even in Isaiah’s day where there was so much degeneration, spiritual degeneracy among God’s
people, God still had preserved for himself a remnant, a faithful remnant. There were
among God’s unfaithful people as a whole, there were still those who sought to be faithful,
who were rightly related to the Lord. And so God assures them through Isaiah, tell the
righteous that it shall be well with them. They might not have felt that way at the time.
They might have looked around them and said, you know, this is a godless environment. Here
we are supposed to be God’s covenant people. We’re living in the Holy Land. The temple
is there in Jerusalem and yet look at the people. They’re going after other gods. They’re
oppressing one another. They’re consulting diviners instead of consulting the word of
the Lord. And God assures the faithful among his people that they shall eat the fruit of
their deeds. Be patient in other words. Be patient. It shall be well with you. But then
verse 11, woe to the wicked. It shall be ill with him for what his hands have dealt out
shall be done to him. Verse 10 assures us that even in the degenerate times during which
Isaiah lived, God had preserved a faithful remnant of the righteous. While divine judgment
would come upon the covenant nation as a whole, the principles of individual responsibility
and individual retribution would still be in operation as they always are in operation.
And therefore, let not the righteous despair, but also let not the wicked entertain false
hopes. What are some of the lessons that we can learn from this passage here? Well, first
of all, brothers and sisters, the word of God reveals that there are ultimately only
two categories of people. Those who are described in scripture as the righteous and the wicked.
There’s no other category. You’re either in one category or the other. Another way to
describe it is the saved or the lost, the redeemed or the unredeemed. To which category
do you belong, dear listener? Are you among the righteous? Now, when the scriptures describe
the righteous, they’re not describing people who are righteous by their own works, their
own worthiness, their own inherent merit. No, the Bible says that we are sinners. We are
fallen. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Righteousness is a gift
of God given through faith in Jesus Christ and Christ alone. As you trust Christ alone
for your salvation from sin, God imputes Christ’s perfect everlasting righteousness to you,
which you receive by grace through faith in Christ alone. And once you receive Christ,
the Spirit comes and dwells within you and begins to sanctify you, working in you both
to will and to do that, which is his good pleasure. So we are righteous in the sense
of rightly related to God, not by our works or our merits or our worthiness, but by God’s
grace, his sovereign grace and grace alone. But those who are wicked have only themselves
to blame for their wickedness. So are you rightly related to the Lord? Do you look to
Christ who was crucified for the forgiveness of sins and raised from the dead so that all
who believe in him might not perish but have everlasting life? Do you trust in Christ and
Christ alone or are you trusting in yourself and walking in your own way? God in his word
calls upon each and every one of us to repent and believe the good news, to believe upon
the Lord Jesus Christ and Christ alone for our salvation. May you repent and believe
today, dear listener. We also learn in this passage that the people in Isaiah’s day had
been misguided by their weak and wayward leaders. Look at verse 12. It says, My people,
infants are their oppressors and women rule over them. Oh, my people, your guides mislead
you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths. Not only did they have poor
and incompetent leaders, they had immature leaders and they had weak leaders who led
them astray. Now I do want to note some look at this passage, verse 12, and they see that
Isaiah, the Lord through Isaiah says that women will rule over them and they say, aha,
see, the Bible says that it’s wrong or sinful for women to hold positions of civil
authority. And that’s an implication that some draw out of this passage. But friends,
I would suggest to you that this reference here to women ruling over the people was probably
meant to be an illustrative statement rather than a normative statement. In other words,
in that time, in that context, the idea of women in positions of civil authority would
connote weakness. And so again, we have to be careful how we apply the scriptures. But
however we understand this reference to the women, the point here is that the people would
be afflicted with weak and misleading guidance and leadership. They were being misguided
by those who should have guided them into the ways of truth. But friends, let us make
sure that we are guided by the word of God. May we be guided by a careful study of God’s
word and a careful meditation upon that word and also by devoting ourselves to hearing
the sound and faithful preaching of God’s word. That is where we will get sound guidance
and direction in our lives and in the church. But finally, as we wrap up our consideration
of this passage, we see Yahweh’s contention against faithless leaders. Yahweh’s contention
against faithless leaders in verses 13 through 15. Verse 13 says the Lord, Yahweh, has taken
his place to do what? To contend. He stands to do what? To judge peoples. This is a courtroom
scene, if you will. In this verse, Isaiah depicts a courtroom scene where Yahweh, the
supreme judge of all, takes his stand to judge his people. And in verses 14 through 15, the
judgment is pronounced. He says the Lord will enter into judgment with the elders and the
princes of his people. These are the civil authorities. These are the princes of the
people, the royalty and the elders of the people who were supposed to provide godly
leadership to the people. The Lord will enter into judgment first and foremost with them.
And by the way, in the exile, the Babylonian exile that was to follow later on, it was
the leaders, it was these princes and elders that would go first into exile. Yahweh takes
his stand specifically against the leaders of his people and he condemns them. Why? Because
of their injustice in oppressing the poor among the people. Instead of defending the most
vulnerable in society, instead of treating them with justice and compassion, instead
of maintaining their rights, they had instead oppressed and even stolen from the poor of
the land. And that’s why it says at the end of verse 14, it is you who have devoured the
vineyard. Here Israel is compared to a vineyard. That imagery will come out more fully in
chapter 5. It is you who have devoured the vineyard. The spoil of the poor is in your
houses. The spoil of the poor is in your houses. The spoil of the poor is in your houses.
And then he says in these chilling words in verse 15, what do you mean by crushing my
people? By grinding the face of the poor declares the Lord God of hosts. Again, my
friends, they had oppressed. Instead of defending the most vulnerable, they had
oppressed them and they had stolen from them. Scripture assures us, my friends, that the
Lord hears the cries of the poor, the widows, and the orphans among his people who cry to
him in their afflictions. He hears their cries and he will bring justice to bear sooner
or later. And so friends, as we wrap up our time in the Word today, in contrast to the
evil, incompetent, and oppressive leaders of God’s people in Isaiah’s day, these leaders
point to the need for a better leader, a greater leader. In contrast to these evil,
incompetent, oppressive, and childish leaders that were common in Isaiah’s day, Jesus of
Nazareth, the promised Messiah, would be the perfect leader and prince of God’s people.
In Jesus Christ, the glorious presence of God became incarnate and dwelt among us. By
the Holy Spirit, he now dwells in and among us as his church. He is present. His glorious
presence is in our midst. His gaze is upon us. Dear friends, let us honor his glorious
presence. How do we do that? We do that by entrusting our souls into his sovereign care.
We do that by trusting in his merit and sacrifice alone for our eternal salvation. We do that
by confessing his lordship and we do that by seeking to hold fast to his word, seeking
to walk after a new obedience out of gratitude for God’s amazing gift of salvation. And
we walk after a new obedience out of gratitude for God’s amazing gift of salvation in his
son, Jesus Christ. May we not defy his glorious presence. May we, by the sovereign grace of
God, honor his glorious presence in faith, repentance, and a walking after a new obedience.
Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we praise and thank you, Lord God. For Jesus, the
Prince of Peace, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, we thank you that by your spirit
you dwell in us and abide among us. We would ask, Lord, that you would grant us the grace
to honor you, to hallow your holy name as a church and in our individual lives as believers.
Be with us now, Lord. Cause your word to bear fruit in our lives. And may we go from this
place with the sense of your blessing resting upon us. In Jesus’ name we pray, and all of
God’s people said, Amen. Friends, let’s close our time of worship by rising and we’ll sing
together. Number 405, I love thy kingdom, Lord. 405.