LWLC Wiki

Search this site

Summary: auto-extracted from transcripts

Summary

There would be complaint with regard to what is occurring so let's go back to Isaiah chapter 45 9 to 12 and Isaiah addresses this of that which would occur 14 Woe to you 45 verse 9 Woe to you who strive with your maker earthen vessels with a potter Does the clay say to the one who fashions it what are you making or your work has no handles Woe to anyone who says to a father what are you beginning or to a woman with what are you in labor Thee says the Lord the Holy One of Israel and its maker will you question me about my children or command me concerning the work of my hands I made the earth and created humankind upon it was my hands that stretched out the heavens and I commanded all their host Luther writes that that in this in this passage here the supreme temptation of why me is being addressed Luther Luther wrote this When such trials of why come beware that you do not answer and allow these attacks to get control rather close your eyes and kill a reason and take refuge with the word do not let the why Get into your heart. Absolutely nothing Absolutely Nothing So Luther cautions about the why me here the potter exercises complete control over the clay The clay are the word of his hand So we then can have confidence we can have confidence with regard to whatever we are experiencing here That that is being formed whether it is good or whether God allows challenges into our lives No matter whether we are broken or whether we are whole our one purpose is to do what but to bring glory to God And we are called to bring an empowered to bring glory to God not only in the good times but also in the Challenging times and God removes the why off of the table because Emory thing that God allows is for here comes the phrase again His ultimate good is ultimate glory in our ultimate good And so we can then say Because I know who you are in light of the cross because I know who you are in light of the word I can trust you then potter So we as the clay don't turn and say Why me Why me instead how can I give you glory God and empower me to give you glory amidst all of that That is the purpose with regard to why we are here is to bring him Glory take a look at chapter 45 verse 13 I have aroused Cyrus in righteousness and I will make all his path straight He shall build my city and set my exiles tree not for price or reward says the Lord of hosts God is in charge of all of history all of history God is in charge of even even heathen nations to carry out his will And so as one looks at the at the world and when has there ever been a generation that has not asked what's the world coming to Right, that's a universal question right As we look at the world and we say well, what is the world coming to as God's still in charge? Here's the second point underneath that He remains hidden outside of the revelation of Scripture because outside of the revelation of Scripture We have no Reliable information about him none If we want to know who God is and what God says we must turn to his word because that's where he has revealed himself and that's where he has spoken We don't turn inward To ourselves we turn outward to his word Here's a third subpoint of that God has revealed to us what it is we need to know in his word So that tells us right Then we're not going to know everything nor are we going to understand everything. Let's go to Isaiah 55 We'll peek ahead a little bit Isaiah chapter 55 verse 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts Nor are your ways my ways says the Lord For as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts God is smarter than us Right God's God And we're the creature And that means we will not always understand his ways But he has given us enough to know So when we don't understand his ways We return to that which we know Which is what he has revealed to us in his word We return amidst things we don't understand to what we know His incredible love for us that through Christ he has opened up eternity for us that our sins have been atoned for We turn to what he know we know all of his attributes that he's omnipotent omniscient etc We return to what we know that we are here amidst things we can't understand I'm its God reserves in his own counsel To give him glory And that's freeing For us because the opposite course of action Is when we don't understand his ways we are tempted to do what but build an idol And why do we build an idol out of anything We build an idol so that we can control it We can control it We can say Here's God Because I And if we fashion it then Then we say thus say if me I have fashioned then a God Instead of Saying I will not fashion the God of my own making and turn to the God of my own making In attempt to control a God that I can't always understand but I will rest in the surety of who God is Reveal to his word and that'll be enough That'll be enough Because there are those times in life right where we say I don't understand this God. I am and there is no one beside me But the evil shall come upon you which you cannot charm away Disaster shall fall upon you which you will not be able to ward off and ruin the shall come on you suddenly of which you know Nothing Isaiah already saw the downfall of Babylon already saw When you go to 48 You've got some classic law and and gospel that go on in chapter 48 The first portion of chapter 48 Is is really giving the law against the house of of Jacob the hardness of their hearts the second portion of 48 Um is a word of invitation To leave Babylon and to trust in the Lord So let's go to a 48 will pick up in in 17 Thus says the Lord your Redeemer the Holy one of Israel I am the Lord your God who teaches you for your own good Who leads you and the way you should go Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments and your prosperity would have been like a river in your success like the waves of the sea Your offspring would have been like the sand in your descendants like its grains their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before me Go out from Babylon flee from Caldia Declare this with a shout of joy proclaim it Send it forth to the end of the earth say the Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob Verse 20 here tells the people this word of prophecy that when the time comes they are to announce to the ends here of the earth with Shouts of joy their redemption here from Babylonian captivity And when you think of us God has redeemed us in a much greater way hasn't he Then a release of the people out of captivity we've been redeemed through the cross of Jesus Christ and may we As his redeemed people announce with great joy what God has done If God called the people to announce with great joy here The redemption from the Babylonian captivity how much more how much more Do we have the joy and are we cold to express that joy and that reality In terms of what God has done for us in Christ So We've seen here now today the raising up a Cyrus The return of the Jews to Palestine to rebuild Jerusalem in the temple That word of prophecy here Ultimate purpose Deserving the people out of which the Messiah will come and redeem the world We've seen that whatever God makes of us Are we broken or whole our purpose is to give him glory We've seen How the hidden God speaks through his word and if we want to know Who he is and what he says We don't go inward We go outward to the word We've seen the total helplessness of idols and our temptation to create our own idols in whatever form When we cry out with the with the why me And we've seen how God has redeemed us in a much greater way No wonder we can announce with joy Well, we'll continue next week as we turn to chapters 49 to 52 Gracious Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for the opportunity to be in your house and to receive your word. Adam and Eve had everything down to the fact that they bore the image of God the idea of not having enough not being enough it wasn't even a question in their mind because they had never experienced lack they had never experienced anything outside of perfection they had never experienced anything outside of the completeness of God and then the devil comes that tricky serpent and whispers into Eve's ear and raises the question of enough in her life the temptation stirs in Eve's heart and she thinks maybe what she has isn't enough maybe there's more look with me please at chapter three beginning in verse six so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise she took of its fruit and ate and she also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate then the eyes of both were opened and they knew that they were naked and they so did leave together and made loincloths for themselves eating fruit seems pretty innocent it's not a huge deal right to eat a fruit why is that really a big deal after all it looked good it seemed like it would be good to Eve was it a big deal yes it was a big deal because God had expressly forbidden it he had expressly forbidden eating of that fruit we like to judge sin and rank it some sins are worse than others some sins not so bad we can joke about it a little bit but sin is sin sin is sin all sin and sin is not determined by how you or I feel about it sin is not determined by whether we want to say something is right or wrong the whole series of acceptable sins with the big question mark it begs the question what sin is acceptable and the answer is a resounding none no sin is acceptable absolutely zero sin is acceptable even if everyone else does it sin is sin sin is wrong and sin earns the full wrath of God the Father Eve sinned when she questioned the word of God and determined for herself what would be right and good she tried to blame the serpent but the guilt lies directly on her shoulders for her own sin and just like Eve just like Eve we sin out of envy Eve envied God his wisdom Eve envied God his authority and his sovereignty and so she determined for herself that what she had the word of God was not enough and she ate of the fruit just like Eve our envy says that we what we have been given by God is not enough whether it is a matter of a material thing that God has blessed us with we see others who have more and we look at our blessing and say it's not enough out of envy we see the spouse of another person and look at our own spouse and say what God has given me in this spouse is not enough we see others who are wiser than us more talented than us more skilled than us funnyer than us and we envy because we are not enough in our envy we delight in the downfall of others when another struggles we take delight when another when another has a mishap we find little glimpses of joy or humor our envy our envy ultimately comes down to the envy we have over our own lives, over our own morality, over our own decisions that we do not hold the authority that we do not hold the ultimate wisdom that we do not hold ultimate sovereignty and we envy God we envy God and we determine for ourselves what is right and what is wrong in our gospel reading today we have that period where pilot is bringing Jesus before the Jewish people and he has a custom to turn over one of the prisoners to the Jewish people to release him and let him go free and surely he's expecting that he'll let Jesus go because as it said he knew that Jesus had been handed over by the chief priests out of envy the chief priests envy Jesus they envied the power that he had they envied the fluence that he had and they sought his downfall they sought his demise we envy God Jesus stood before the crowd in a crown of thorns and they mocked him and called for his crucifixion do you envy God in that moment they beat him and flogged him stripping away pieces of skin do you envy God they marched him through the streets holding across that he could barely carry do you still envy God they nailed him to two pieces of wood do you envy God Jesus hung there on the cross struggling for breath while those around him crucified with him taunted and tormented him the soldiers at the foot of his cross teased him mocked him while his mother and his friends stood by weeping unable to do a thing do you envy God on that cross the entire wrath of the father was poured out so heavily the burden of the sin of this world of all time all places all people thoughts words and deeds the punishment poured out upon the sun so devastating that he called out my God my God why have you forsaken me and he gave up his spirit to death do you still envy God they removed the body and buried it in a tomb Jesus had died if that had been you or I or any person to ever walk this earth the story would end there it would be done and it would be deserved and just but God God is God he is not you or I God in the second person of the Trinity Jesus Christ walked this earth to live the life that you and I cannot live he walked this earth out of his love for you and I so that when he died experiencing the full punishment unjust punishment of the father he could do what neither you nor I could do and he rose victorious he conquered death he conquered the grave he conquered your sin he conquered my sin even the sin of our envy Jesus did for you and for I what we could never do for ourselves or for anyone else from the beginning of your life of faith when you were born through waters of baptism you were born free you were born into salvation you were born into eternal forgiveness and you were born once again in the image of God and as Paul writes in Galatians it is no longer I who live but it is Christ who lives in me and in Christ you come before the father not enough in yourself but you are in Christ and in Christ you are enough because you stand redeemed in Christ and this was planned from before the beginning in Ephesians chapter one Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit writes he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love he destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of his will to the to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the beloved in him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us what you have my brothers and sisters is Christ there is no need to be in Christ you have forgiveness in Christ you have salvation in Christ you have life in Christ and what you have in Christ is enough and so the joy that you have in Christ is enough the peace that you have in Christ is enough the love that you have in Christ is enough and so I encourage you I encourage you to live live in Christ because not only is Christ enough Christ is everything Hi, my name is Carrie and I am a recovering like a hollock.

Video citations