Good morning.
We're going to take just a moment, if you've got the bookmark in your Bible with a list of names on it, we're going to take just a moment of silence and pray for the names that are
on that bookmark, for those that we are trying to reach with the Gospel, and those that we are trying to reach with the truth.
As you are thinking, one of the things I would ask you to keep in your prayers in the coming days, if you have not already, are the Christians who are in Iran, who are in the
region all over the Middle East, members of the church striving to do what many of us have never experienced in our lives.
And that's preach and teach the gospel in a country where you can be killed for teaching and preaching the gospel.
And those people exist.
I'm connected with some individuals who know the people in Iran.
And we would love for there to be a day, someday in the future, where they're not under fear of threat for teaching and preaching the gospel.
But they are, so keep them in your prayers with all of the instability and the things going on in that region, not just in Iran, but in many of the countries around the region.
And frankly, Christianity is not treated much better in Israel or many of the other places either.
So keep those individuals in your prayers and the difficulties that they're facing because of world events.
Take your Bibles, if you will, and open them to Isaiah.
The last uh two Sundays we've been going over the booklets.
We're not going to do that today.
We're going to pick that up uh after I return from the Michigan trip that we're about to head on and we'll cover Book 2 at that time.
But I wanted to take some time today and I don't know if Jacob stole a look at the sermon title as he was picking out his songs, but he started with.
Song about praise.
And that's our topic for this morning.
Praise Him for He is worthy.
When you consider Scripture, when you consider what God has to say and what the text of Scripture has to say about God and about what we are to do in worship,
What not only we do, but all of creation does.
It praises Him, for He is worthy.
Take your Bibles and turn to Isaiah chapter 12.
Put your thumb in that passage.
That's where we're going to spend the majority of our time.
But as you're turning there, I want to read you just a few words from the book of Revelation.
Revelation chapter 4 we read, oh
After these things I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven and the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking to me saying come up here and I will show you
things which must take place after this.
Immediately I was in the spirit and behold a throne set in heaven and one sat on the throne and he who sat there was like a jasper and sardius stone in appearance and there
was a rainbow around the throne in an appearance like an emerald."
Around the throne were 24 thrones, and on the thrones I saw 24 elders sitting clothed in white robes, and they had crowns of gold on their heads, and from the throne proceeded
lightnings, thunderings, and voices.
Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.
Before the throne there was a sea of glass like crystal, and in the midst of the throne and around the throne were four living creatures, full of eyes in front and in back.
The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature was like a calf, the third living creature the face of a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying
eagle.
The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within, and they do not rest day or night, saying, Holy.
Holy, holy Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come.
Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits
on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne saying, are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power.
for you created all things and by your will they exist and were created." The book of Revelation in this picture, in the vision that John sees there in the midst of heaven, is
a picture of God receiving praise, honor, and glory in heaven.
Yet when you go throughout that book, in the book of Revelation,
You find that in reality God receives praise, honor, and glory and should and is worthy to receive praise, honor, and glory not just from those who are in heaven, but also from
those who are on the earth, also from all creation.
So in Isaiah chapter 12, Isaiah writes a hymn, a song.
Psalm.
And we read in that passage about the God who is worthy of praise and why God is worthy of praise and what things God has done that make Him worthy of our praise.
It should go without saying, yet it's worth pointing out, that if we are going to praise God, we ought to praise Him in accordance with His commandments.
We ought to praise Him in accordance with His instructions.
If we are to sing praises to God, we ought to follow His commandments when we sing praises to Him.
It's not very honoring.
to honor someone in a way that pleases you and displeases them.
So it should go without saying if we are going to praise God, we should not do so to our own personal pleasure, to our own personal preference, but rather to His preference for
honor and praise.
If you look throughout the New Testament, the command of praise, the command and instruction given is that we are to praise Him with the fruit of our lips.
that we are to sing songs of praise to Him as we've already done this morning, that we are to do those things with our hearts, that we are to focus on the Word of God as we do so.
But here in Isaiah chapter 12, Isaiah teaches us about the God who is worthy of praise.
In verse 1, we read, And in that day you will say, O Lord, I will praise you, though you were angry with me.
Your anger is turned away, and you comfort me.
We notice as Isaiah opens, if you're familiar with the context of Isaiah, Isaiah in chapter 1 is called Israel to come to God to reason with God about their sin, and they've
refused.
Isaiah, through God's prophecy, through Revelation, has declared that Israel is going to be judged for their sins, for their unwillingness to repent.
but they are going to go through this period of judgment.
And in chapter 12, Isaiah looks beyond that point.
He looks beyond the point of judgment of the nation to a day, he says, where you will say, where Israel would say, I will praise you though you were angry with me.
The first thing that we learn.
from Isaiah chapter 12 is God is worthy of praise because sin angers him.
when we realize, when we come to appreciate that God's attitude towards sin is that He will not participate in it, that He will not fellowship in it, that He will have nothing
to do with it.
and that when we insist on living in it.
His anger towards sin brings about judgment on us.
Turn to Isaiah chapter 59.
In Isaiah chapter 59, Isaiah draws out clearly this idea.
We read in 59 and verse 1, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.
But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will
Notice the choice there.
He chooses not to hear.
Now in Isaiah chapter 12, Isaiah is writing from a time of repentance in Israel, from a day in the future where the remnant turns back to God and is recognizing that there was a
time when God was angry with them because they refused to repent.
We need to realize that God is praiseworthy because God does not change based upon our whims.
God does not change to appease His creation.
Rather, God knows what is best for us.
And sin is not that.
We need to realize that God is worthy of praise because sin angers God with the holiness and the righteousness and the justice of His nature.
And God will have nothing to do with it, and that is to our benefit.
Imagine, imagine if you were to consider what it would be like to worship a God who had all the same flaws we do.
Imagine what it would be like to be someone who followed after the Grecian gods or the Roman gods.
There were just an amplification of men.
All the flaws of humanity seen visible in the doctrines about their gods.
How much hope would that give you?
How much would you be able to look at those gods and say, we'd be so much better if we just did what they do?
Jehovah, the God who is alive, the God who is really there.
angered by sin.
And when we continue to participate in it, we draw his anger and judgment upon ourselves.
in Revelation chapter 5.
As the vision continues and John sees the picture of Christ, the Lamb who was slain, we read in Revelation chapter 5 and in verse 9, and they sang a new song saying, You are
worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood.
out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth." God so despises sin.
God so opposes sin.
that He is willing to judge those who were created by His hand if they live in sin, yet He so loves His creation that He was willing to send Jesus Christ to die so that we are
redeemed from that sin.
Praise God because sin angers Him.
And yet He did not leave us alone.
The second part of verse 1, you read, Your anger is turned away from Me, and you comfort Me.
Isaiah points out that we should praise God because, number two, He is willing to forgive and comfort.
It's not just that He is angry with sin.
It's not just that He is angered with those who live in sin, but He is also willing to forgive and comfort those who will repent of their sin.
If you turn over to Psalm 117.
The psalmist writer writes in Psalm 117 and in verses 1 and 2, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles.
Loud him, all you peoples, for his merciful kindness is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord.
The psalmist writer points out that God, who knows that we have done wrong, that knows that we have participated in that which is evil, that knows that we have violated His law,
is willing to redeem us, to forgive us, and to restore us.
In 1 Peter chapter 2 and in verse 9,
Peter writes, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness
into His marvelous light.
We should praise God not just because He is angered by sin, and as a result condemns it and judges it and judges us if we continue in it.
But we should praise Him because knowing all of those things, He provided us a way to leave sin behind that we could never have accomplished on our own.
and he called us out of that darkness into his light.
Number three, verse two.
In Isaiah chapter 12 and in verse two we read, Behold, God is my salvation, and I trust, I will trust and not be afraid, for Yah, the Lord,
is my strength and song and has become my salvation.
The third reason that Isaiah says we should praise him is because he patiently saves us.
Notice the progression.
He says, He is my strength.
He is the support when we are unable to support ourselves.
In the midst of struggles, in the midst of trials, in the midst of temptation, He remains with us.
But He doesn't just say that God is our support.
He says He is my strength and my song.
God is the reason for praise.
God is the one who patiently knows that we go through struggles and yet having supported us through those struggles gives us reason to sing.
The New Testament teaches us that if anyone is sorrowful, let him pray.
If anyone is rejoicing, is happy, let him sing.
God is the one who patiently saves us, gives us strength through the difficulties, and gives us a reason to sing in happiness.
oh
But notice the progression still.
My strength and my song and has become my salvation.
Isaiah, as he writes this, knows that it is through God's patience and longsuffering and mercy and kindness and grace that we are saved.
Interestingly, Isaiah here is actually echoing the words of Moses in Exodus chapter 15.
As Israel is coming out of Egypt, as Israel crosses the Red Sea, as Israel has finally looked back and seen the army of Egypt swallowed up by the Red Sea.
Moses sings a song.
And Moses uses these words.
And Isaiah, centuries down the line in Israel's history, calls Israel back to the salvation of their nation in its birth, to consider the God who is their strength and
their song and had become their salvation.
God is worthy of praise because He patiently saves us.
In Revelation chapter 19,
As the visions that John sees continue, we read in Revelation 19 and in verse 1, After these things I heard a loud voice out of a great multitude in heaven saying, Alleluia,
salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God.
for true and righteous are his judgments, because he has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and he has avenged on her the blood of his
servants shed by her." You go back to chapter 6 and you'll find those Christians crying out, saying, how long are you going to let us be killed by these persecutors?
Over in chapter 19, they're singing praises in heaven saying, vengeance is done.
God is worthy of praise because sin angers Him and because He is willing to forgive and comfort and because He patiently saves us.
But if you go back to chapter 12 and verse 3, you read, "'Therefore, with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.'" As Isaiah pictures
his people in need of the water that God supplies.
You remember in Israel's past, back to that time where they came out of Egypt, for a period of time they were wandering through the wilderness and at one point they cried out
to God, they cried out to Moses because they said, we're going to die of thirst.
You brought us out here into the desert to kill us.
There's no water for us, there's no water for our animals, there's no water for our families, and we've left Egypt where we had all these blessings and now we're out here in
the middle of nowhere, we're all gonna die.
And God tells Moses to gather the people.
And as the people are gathered together, Moses is instructed to strike the rock.
And the rock that is there and their presence splits in two, and out from it comes the water that God provided that didn't just provide enough water for a hundred people or a
thousand people, but by all likelihood there was more than a million present.
And there was enough water for all of them and all their flocks and all their herds and all their families.
and all that they could consume never made a dent in the supply." Notice the words again.
He says, therefore with joy you will draw water from the well of salvation.
Over in John chapter 4, Jesus sits at a well.
and a Samaritan woman comes to draw water from the well.
And while she is there drawing water from the well, Jesus asks of her a drink.
She questions him why he, being a Jew and a man, asked a drink from her, a Samaritan woman.
And Jesus said, if you knew who I was,
you would have asked to drink from me, and I would have given you of the waters of life, such that the water that when you drink of it you never thirst again."
Isaiah
800 years before that happens, writes about the waters of salvation.
that they would draw out of them.
And yet you can see in the picture, unlike this material world where you pull something out and the source is diminished.
Then when it comes to God, when you draw out of the waters of salvation, those waters are not diminished.
There's no scarcity with the salvation that God provides.
It is not a limited resource.
But rather, we should understand that it is an eternal resource.
So number four, as we read this verse, is that we should praise God because His salvation is eternal.
Jesus said to the woman, if you drink of the waters that I give you, you'll never thirst again.
The salvation which God provides is not temporary, it's not momentary, it's not limited, and it's not scarce.
It is eternal.
And because God's salvation is eternal, He is worthy of praise.
But then you consider number five.
In verses four and five, we find out that God is worthy of praise because there is no one like Him.
Isaiah writes, and in that day, you will say, now notice, he said,
concerning Israel, God, you were at one time angry with me, but now you've forgiven me and you've comforted me.
And now he writes concerning Israel, I will trust in you, I will not be afraid, you are my strength, you are my song, you have become my salvation.
And then he says, as he looks at Israel, says, you will draw water from the well of salvation, in that day you will say,
Praise the Lord.
Call upon His name.
Declare His deeds among the peoples.
Make mention that His name is exalted.
Sing to the Lord, for He has done excellent things.
This is known in all the earth.
as Isaiah focuses his attention on the nation.
He desires for the nation to praise God because there is no one like God.
What did we read there in Revelation chapter 5?
Revelation chapter 4?
He's worthy of praise, for He created everything.
For by His power it continues to exist.
Of what other can that be said?
There is none.
Psalm 47.
Psalmist writer.
writes there beginning in verse 6 of that psalm.
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Psalm 47 and in verse 6 we read, sing praises to God.
Sing praises.
Sing praises to our King.
Sing praises.
For God is the King of all the earth.
Sing praises with understanding.
So the psalmist-writer draws our attention to the one who rules everything.
He calls upon us to praise God.
But then in verse 6, as Isaiah closes this hymn, he writes, cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst.
God is worthy of praise, number 6, because He is with.
us.
uh
a God who created everything.
yet has the care and the concern sufficient to care about us?
The psalmist writer would ask the question, what is man that you are mindful of him?
Psalmist writer questioned, God, why are we worth so much to You when we look at ourselves and consider we're not worth much at all?
in Acts chapter 16.
Acts chapter 16.
Verse 25, we read, at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
Suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed.
In the midst of being in prison, in the midst
of being persecuted.
In the midst of being put into chains and bonds at midnight, they weren't awake wondering what would become of them.
They weren't wondering whether they would have any hope of escaping punishment.
They weren't groveling before the prison guards asking them to be released.
At midnight, they were singing praises to God.
Why?
Because they knew He was with them.
They knew they didn't serve a God who was far off and uninterested.
They rather serve to God who was right there.
And you read in the text, as the chains were loosed and the doors were opened, the keeper of the prison, awakening from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing that the
prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself.
But Paul called with a loud voice saying, do yourself no harm, for we are all here.
Then he called for a light and ran in and fell down, trembling before Paul and Silas.
And he brought them out and said, "'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?'
this jailer.
observed their actions, observed the God they served.
and knew that that was the God he needed to serve.
So they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved in your household.
Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in the house.
And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes, and immediately he and all his family were baptized.
Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them, and he rejoiced having believed in God with all his household."
He is my strength and has become my song and my salvation.
For the Philippian jailer on that night, he could say concerning God, he has become my salvation.
But what did the Philippian jailer do?
He heard, he believed.
He was baptized.
Having been baptized, he could rejoice in and praise God.
If you have need of the ability to praise God for he is worthy of praise, you will not praise him by continuing in sin.
You will not get anything from God but judgment.
for continuing in sin.
You will not praise Him by serving yourself.
You will not praise Him by honoring yourself.
If you're going to praise God, you're going to have to do it His way.
But if you're willing to praise Him, He's worthy of it.
And He's willing to forgive.
And He's willing to save.
If you have need of the invitation this morning,
to put Christ on in baptism, to become a part of the family of God, the assembly of people who praise God in accordance with His commandments, the Church of the Living God.
You can do that this morning.
If you've departed from Him, if you've started serving yourself instead of Him and you need to repent, then come back to Him because...
Right now, He's angry with you.
But He'd much rather comfort you and forgive.
If you have needed the invitation, why not come forward now as we stand and as we sing.