1. "God's action in the world is not spontaneous or reactionary. It is from old. It's not based on something outside the council of his will. There hasn't been a second in human history where God has been surprised by what has taken place."

2. "We may not know what God is doing and why He's doing it, but we can trust that it is from Him and that He and His plans are good. God's plans are formed of old, they're faithful and they're sure."

3. "Our confidence is not so much what we know will happen, our confidence is in who will make it happen."

4. "The day is coming when our pleas for repentance will turn to praise for God's judgment."

5. "Death is the instrument that Satan used for destruction and death is the instrument God uses for deliverance. What Satan used as an instrument for destruction, God uses as an instrument for deliverance. God wields the enemy's weapon against him."

6. "Sin and death have been the contagion in all men, and no amount of masking and social distancing can keep us from them."

7. "When God humbles you, you should see it as His mercy."

8. "The proud or self-reliant and that leads to their demise, but the poor and needy in spirit, they are God-reliant and that leads to their deliverance."

9. "Your enemies, our enemies that have caused so much pain, sin and death, they have an expiration date, but you, you do not."

10. "They waited for Him because they knew He was worth waiting for. These are those who did not lose heart even though their bodies wasted away. They persevered and trusted that their light momentary affliction was preparing them for yet an eternal weight of glory."

Observation Questions

1. In Isaiah 25:1, what three characteristics does Isaiah use to describe God's plans, and what does he say God has done that prompts this praise?

2. According to Isaiah 25:4-5, what images does Isaiah use to describe God's protection of His people, and who specifically does God protect?

3. In Isaiah 25:6, what does Isaiah say the Lord of hosts will make on "this mountain," and how does he describe the quality of what will be provided?

4. What two things does Isaiah 25:7-8 say God will "swallow up" or remove, and from whom will these things be removed?

5. In Isaiah 25:9, what is the response of God's people on "that day," and what reason do they give for their rejoicing?

6. According to Isaiah 25:10-12, what happens to Moab, and what imagery does Isaiah use to describe both their condition and their response?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why is it significant that Isaiah describes God's plans as "formed of old" rather than as reactions to circumstances? How does this understanding of God's plans provide comfort to believers facing uncertain situations?

2. The sermon contrasts two responses to God's humbling: some nations "glorify" God and "fear" Him (v. 3), while Moab tries to save itself like a swimmer (v. 11). What does this contrast teach us about the difference between those who are delivered and those who are destroyed?

3. How does the imagery of God "swallowing up death forever" (v. 8) connect to the broader biblical story of sin entering through Adam and being defeated through Christ? Why is death described as something that must be "swallowed" rather than simply ended?

4. Isaiah describes God's people as "the poor" and "the needy" who waited for God to save them (vv. 4, 9). What does it mean to be spiritually "poor and needy," and why is this posture essential for receiving God's salvation?

5. The passage describes God personally wiping away tears from "all faces" (v. 8). What does this intimate action reveal about the nature of God's relationship with His people in the final salvation, and how does this differ from how earthly kings typically relate to their subjects?

Application Questions

1. The sermon challenged listeners to end each day by praying, "God, I thank you that your plans for this day were formed of old, they were faithful, and they are sure." What specific situation in your life right now would benefit from this daily practice, and how might it change your perspective on that situation?

2. Isaiah shows that God defeats His enemies by sheltering His people through attacks rather than preventing attacks altogether. How does this truth change the way you interpret difficult circumstances you are currently facing? What would it look like to trust God's protection even while experiencing hardship?

3. The sermon described the ongoing struggle believers face with sin as like "running with a sprained ankle." What sin or struggle in your life causes you the most shame and guilt, and how does the promise that God will one day remove "the reproach of His people" (v. 8) encourage you to keep fighting?

4. Moab's response to being humbled was to rely on their own strength to pull themselves out, while God's people waited for Him. In what area of your life are you most tempted to be self-reliant rather than God-reliant? What would "waiting for God" look like practically in that area?

5. The sermon emphasized that our weekly gatherings are a "foretaste" of the feast we will share with God's people forever. How might viewing corporate worship as preparation for eternity change how you prioritize and participate in your church community this week?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Revelation 19:1-9 — This passage shows the fulfillment of Isaiah's vision, with a multitude praising God for His true and just judgments and celebrating the marriage supper of the Lamb.

2. Romans 6:19-23 — Paul explains how sin leads to death but God's gift through Christ leads to eternal life, connecting to Isaiah's promise that God will swallow up death forever.

3. 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 — This passage describes Christ's final victory over death, showing how the promise in Isaiah 25:8 finds its ultimate fulfillment in the resurrection.

4. Matthew 5:1-12 — Jesus' Beatitudes, especially "Blessed are the poor in spirit," directly connect to Isaiah's teaching that the poor and needy who depend on God will inherit His kingdom.

5. Revelation 21:1-8 — John's vision of the new heaven and new earth where God dwells with His people and wipes away every tear expands on Isaiah's prophecy of God's final salvation.

Sermon Main Topics

I. The Promise of God's Salvation Illustrated Through Dunkirk

II. God's Salvation Brings the Fulfillment of God's Purposes (Isaiah 25:1)

III. God's Salvation Brings the Defeat of God's Enemies (Isaiah 25:2-5, 10-12)

IV. God's Salvation Brings the Deliverance of God's People (Isaiah 25:4, 6-9)

V. Call to Wait Well for God's Coming Salvation

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Detailed Sermon Outline

Have you ever had to wait for something that was promised?

This week marks the 71st anniversary of the rescue at Dunkirk, where thousands of soldiers were waiting for the promised rescue. Just eight months into World War II, Germany was marching across Belgium, northern France, and they appeared unstoppable.

British and French soldiers had to retreat to the town that was the last allied port for withdrawal, which was Dunkirk. With no place left to go or no place for people left to turn to, almost 400,000 soldiers waited on the beaches of Dunkirk, waiting for the rescue. The British Navy could not pull the rescue off on its own, so it enlisted the help of British civilians to use their regular boats and their fishing boats to save these stranded soldiers. From May 29th to June 4th of 1940, 860 Navy ships and civilian boats sailed across the English Channel and successfully rescued 338,000 soldiers. The promised salvation had come.

And in many ways, this picture is a picture of God's people throughout history sitting and waiting for the promised salvation, stuck between the enemy and the sea, waiting for God to come. I mean, even now this morning, this gathering is a reminder that God has not yet come. And that we are anticipating that day that He will bring His salvation. But what will this salvation bring? And what will it look like?

Or our passage this morning, Isaiah 25, answers this question. So if you have your Bible, I invite you to grab them.

Turn to Isaiah 25.

Plans formed of old, faithful and sure. For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin. The foreigner's palace is a city no more. It will never be rebuilt. Therefore strong peoples will glorify you.

Cities of ruthless nations will fear you. For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy and his distress.

A shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall, like heat in a dry place. You subdue the noise of the foreigners as heat by the shade of a cloud. So the song of the ruthless is put down. On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine, refine well refined.

And He will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever.

And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces and the reproach of His people He will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, Behold, this is our God. We have waited for Him, that He might save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for Him.

Let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation. For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain, and Moab shall be trampled down in his place. As straw is trampled down in a dunghill. He will spread out His hands in the midst of it, as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim. But the Lord will lay low His pompous pride together with the skill of His hands, and the high fortifications of His walls.

He will bring down, lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust.

Last week we saw in Isaiah 24 that Isaiah makes a transition from talking about the oracles and proclaiming the oracles of judgment on the nations to focusing on judgment on the entire earth. 24 is just the focus of God cleansing the earth of all the wickedness that has taken place. And Isaiah 24 through 27 is best understood as one section. Where Isaiah compares the city of man, which is the city of destruction, to the city of God, which is the city of deliverance. 24 is focused on judgment, and 25 primarily focuses on God's salvation.

God's salvation. And my question for us to consider today is this: what will God's salvation bring?

What will God's salvation bring? I think there's three things that Isaiah shows us what God's salvation will bring. God's the fulfillment of God's purposes, the defeat of God's enemies, and the deliverance of God's people. The fulfillment of God's purposes, the defeat of God's enemies, and the deliverance of God's people. Let's look at point one, the fulfillment of God's purposes.

If you look down in verse 1, Isaiah starts with praise. He says, O Lord, you are my God. I will exalt you. I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure. Isaiah starts with praise and rejoicing for the works that God has done.

And the thing that we need to notice here is this isn't just this individual praise done by Isaiah alone. If you go back, you see that God's glory is before His elders. So Isaiah here is representing the people. This is communal praise. Isaiah is praising God on behalf of the people, just like a few minutes ago with DPAC led us in the prayer of praise.

That was our prayer of praise. And Mark has so helpfully taught us through the years that we need to own prayers in this church. When somebody, when a member prays a prayer in our church, we need to own it by saying amen, because it represents us. They're praying on behalf of us. Same here for Isaiah.

He represents the people. And Isaiah praises God that his plans are formed of old, they're faithful and they're sure. What does it mean that God's plans are formed of old? Well, it means that there's nothing new about God's plans or purposes. Before the foundation of the world, God planned what would take place according to his own wisdom and his own counsel.

So God's action in the world is not spontaneous or reactionary. It is from old. It's not based on something outside the council of his will. There hasn't been a second in human history where God has been surprised by what has taken place. Whether in Isaiah's day, in the early church or in our own, God's action in the world was planned long ago.

We see this in Isaiah 46:9-11. God speaks and he says, hey, there's none like me. I am like no other in the world. I alone am God. I am the one who planned the end from the beginning and I declared it so and it will take place.

God's plans are formed of old. Not only that, they are faithful. Isaiah praises God for his plans being faithful. What does it mean that God's plans are faithful? And who are they faithful to?

Well, they're faithful to himself. God's plans and purposes are guided and shaped by his perfection. His wisdom and His goodness. What God has planned for the world, His people and His enemy is right and good. And He's doing and He's working all things out for His ultimate purpose, which is the praise and the glory of Himself.

God's plans are formed of old, they're faithful, and they're also sure. They're also sure. What He has planned will take place. It is a certainty. God will have no unfinished business.

What God has planned for creation will take place. And throughout Israel's history, God would make promises to them and He would seal those promises with as surely as I live. God is saying His promises and His plans are a certainty like His existence. There's no what ifs in God's plans. He's never been late, he's never missed an assignment, and he's never forgotten.

This is how he could say in Isaiah 55 that his word will be sent out and it will accomplish his purpose. It will not return empty or void. He makes his promises and he delivers on those promises in his own time and in his own way.

So for us as believers, we don't need to look around the circumstances to see what, or in our circumstances in our world to see what God's doing. We just need to look at His Word and see who He is and trust that who He is is faithful and sure. That's where our certainty comes from. Our confidence is not so much what we know will happen, our confidence is in who will make it happen. One of my favorite books is Knowing God.

And in chapter 9 of Knowing God, Packer talks through God's wisdom, that He is alone wise, that wisdom comes from Him alone. But in the chapter he comes to a place where there's a difficulty there, because even though God is good and wise, there's some difficult circumstances that His people will go through. And Packer writes this to give encouragement to Christians who are in perplexing circumstances.

Packer says, Perhaps God means to strengthen us in patience, good humor, compassion, humility, or meekness by giving us some extra practice in exercising these graces under especially difficult conditions. Perhaps He has new lessons in self-denial and self-distrust to teach us. Perhaps He wishes to break us of complacency or unreality. Or undetected forms of pride and conceit. Perhaps his purpose is simply to draw us closer to himself and conscious communion with him.

For it is often the case, as all the saints know, that the fellowship with the Father and the Son is most vivid and sweet, and Christian joy is greatest when the cross is heaviest.

And what I love about this quote, is it doesn't really give us answers to why we go through what we go through. But behind it is a certainty that our God is good and all that He does is good. We may not know what God is doing and why He's doing it, but we can trust that it is from Him and that He and His plans are good. God's plans are formed of old, they're faithful and they're sure. So church, what situation in your life, what relationship in your life is causing you the most anxiety.

Maybe right now it's the course of your life. Maybe there's some things that you're wanting to take place that they haven't taken place yet. Maybe you're looking for a job. Maybe you're hoping for a spouse. Maybe you're hoping to have children.

And I don't know why God is not giving you those things yet, but I can tell you this with certainty: that God's plans for your life are formed of old. They're faithful and they're sure. Maybe you're here and you're anxious about your children. The anxiety that it is to raise children in our world and you have to make all these decisions for them and you're fearful about their salvation and all these things. I can't tell you what God will do with your kids' life, but I can tell you this: His plans for them are formed of old.

They are faithful and they are sure. Maybe you're anxious about God's church. And if you get on Twitter, there's much to be anxious about. There's a lot of division, a lot of anger. But I can tell you this, that I don't know why God is allowing us to go through these times right now as a church as a whole, but I know His plans for His church, they're formed of old.

They are faithful and they are sure. His church will stand the test of time. This is who our God is.

So I want to encourage you with this. I think it would do us a lot of good that each and every day, no matter what we go through, no matter how we feel, that at the end of our day we just take a moment and we just kind of clear our thoughts and we just pray a prayer and say, God, I thank you that your plans for this day, they were formed of old, they were faithful and they are sure. Regardless of where you find yourself today, I just want to encourage you with this: that God's plans are good. And so is he. And you can trust him.

You can trust him. So we see that, that God, when he brings salvation, will fulfill his purposes. Well, what are some of those purposes and what else will God's salvation bring? That brings me to my second point. The defeat of God's enemies.

The defeat of God's enemies. And this will primarily cover verses two to five and 10 to 12.

Isaiah, after praising God for his wonderful acts, shows us what God planned to do and has now done in the world. He's defeated his enemies. Look at verse 2. For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin, the foreigner's palace is a city no more. It will never be rebuilt.

So this is the same city that Isaiah mentions in Isaiah 24, in verses 10 and 12. This city Isaiah sees as representing the entire earth. All of humanity is represented in this earth. All of the rebellious humanity is represented in this city. And God has now brought judgment for their transgressing of his laws.

Violating of his statutes and breaking the everlasting covenant. Here, Isaiah and the remnant are praising God for bringing judgment on those who have resisted him. Now, last week I said that we shouldn't hasten or enjoy the demise of the wicked and that we should pray for them and seek to see those who oppose God repent. That is all still true. But we need to know this.

The day is coming when our pleas for repentance will turn to praise for God's judgment. The day is coming when our pleas for them to repent will turn to praise for God's judgment on all those who resist him. In the end, God will judge those who have opposed him, and we as believers will rejoice in that judgment, for it will be right. We see this in Revelation 19. Right after God has judged the wicked nations and peoples of the earth, there is a multitude that shout, Hallelujah!

Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for His judgments are true and just. For He has judged the great prostitute who has corrupted the earth with her immorality and has avenged on her the blood of His servants. We now as believers, we pray and we plead with God to be merciful towards those who resist Him.

And we trust that He will. But the day will come when we will rejoice in God's judgment. Well, how then does God defeat His enemies? How does this take place? We'll look back at verses 3 through 5.

He says that strong peoples will glorify you, cities of ruthless nations will fear you, for you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from The heat. How does God defeat his enemies? By sheltering his people.

These ruthless and strong nations storm against his people. Their attacks are like an overwhelming heat on a hot day. Their war songs and shout, they seek to discourage and disorient his people, but they fall flat. God covers them and he shields them completely, and eventually the storm gives way and they cease.

Their energy is gone. And defending the weak, the Lord leads to the defeat, or it leads to the defeat of the strong. God takes the weak things of the world and he shames the strong. This point reminds me of our time at Anacostia Park. Back probably in October or November, I don't know if you remember this day, it seared in my mind, especially with three little kids.

It was raining like crazy. And I thought, nobody's going to come to church today. It's just going to be me and my children and the staff, right? And we show up and there's like five, six hundred people there. It's amazing.

I don't know if you remember this day, but while we were under the pavilion, it is pouring down rain. But in the midst of the rain, we were sheltered and we were rejoicing in God. We were covered completely by that pavilion. And that's the picture here. God will shelter and cover his people.

And nothing can harm them. And he will defeat his enemy. Church, you need to know this, that you are the Lord's, and nothing can harm you or hurt you without the Lord's allowance.

Our enemy may prowl and roar, but he has no power over us. Through protecting his people, God defeats his enemies. I want you to notice something here that's interesting. There are actually a few responses from God's enemies here. There's actually two responses we see in our passage.

One is rejoicing and another is rejection. One is rejoicing and another is rejection. It says here in verse 3 that strong peoples will glorify you. Cities of ruthless nations will fear you. God throughout history has humbled the proud and wicked.

And they have turned and repented. We see this with Nineveh. They were a wicked nation. God sends Jonah to warn them of the upcoming judgment and they turn to God and repent. We should pray for this in our own day.

To see the strong and the ruthless who oppose God repent and turn towards Christ. But not all will turn towards Christ. Isaiah tells us that some won't rejoice but will reject God's offer of repentance.

Look at verses 10 through 12 here. Isaiah says, For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain, and Moab shall be trampled down in his place, as a straw is trampled down in a dung hill, and he will spread out his hands in the midst of it, as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim, but the Lord will lay low his pompous pride together with the skill of his hands. And the high fortifications of his walls he will bring down, lay low, cast to the ground, to the dust. Earlier on in Isaiah, in Isaiah 16, Isaiah proclaims judgment against Moab, because he says that all people on the earth have heard of their arrogance and their pride and their boasting. God warns them that they will be humbled.

Well, this passage in Isaiah 25, we see the humbling of Moab. God strikes them and humbles them. They are cast down into utter filth. But they, like these other nations that God has brought low, have an opportunity to repent and turn towards them. However they choose otherwise.

We see their response in verse 11. Isaiah uses this reference of a swimmer. They are cast down into other filth and they find strength within themselves. They raise their arms. They are going to pull themselves out of their despair.

They're essentially saying, I will save myself. I have no reason to cry out to God. I am my own savior. Moab's pride leads to his destruction. What lesson can we learn from Moab?

When God humbles you, you should see it as His mercy. When God humbles you, you should see it as His mercy and you and we and I all of us that God will humble should repent of our self-reliance and rejoice in His kindness. We should see God's humbling as His mercy. So not only will God's salvation bring the fulfillment of His purposes, the defeat of His enemies, it will also bring the deliverance of His people. This is my third and final point, and this is my longest point today.

Let's look at the deliverance of God's people. This will cover verses 4 and 6 through 9. In this point, I think here Isaiah gives us six things. He reveals six things about God's deliverance. The first thing I want us to see is God's power.

God's deliverance reveals God's power. If you look at verses 7 and 8 here, Isaiah says, on or he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow death forever. God will display his power over death. But where did death come from?

Well, before the fall, Adam and Eve lived in perfect harmony with God in the garden. They were right with God. But Satan came in and tempted them and encouraged them to rebel against God. And they did. Satan's deception led to destruction.

Because they sinned, death entered into the world. The apostle Paul tells us in Romans 6:23 that the payment or the punishment for sin is death. God is a holy and just God and He must punish sin and that punishment is death. The real devastation with this sin is it doesn't just inflict on us a physical death but a spiritual death.

We are all born spiritually dead and there's nothing that we can do about our deadness. There is something that must happen to us from the outside to change us from the inside for us to be alive again. Adam is our father and we have received his nature and his guilt and we are spiritually dead and will physically die. This more than anything else than you read on the news is our greatest problem in the world. More than anything else this affects and oppresses all people.

This afflicts and causes the greatest harm on the earth. Sin and death have been the contagion in all men, and no amount of masking and social distancing can keep us from them. Well, how do we overcome this issue of death? What shall we do to overcome sin and death? How does God's people, how are they delivered from death?

Well, it's like this. I want you to imagine that you were in a terrible accident. And you were rushed to the hospital and you've lost a lots of blood and you need a blood transfusion. And you have a rare type of blood and there's only one person who can give you this blood. There you are helplessly waiting and that one person can help you.

Who will do that? Who for us will take on death for us? Who will free us from our great foe? It is God. But how will God free us from death?

He does it through death.

Think about it. God in His rich and abundant mercy displays His love for us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He died in our place. God made Him who knew no sin to become sin so that we would be freed from sin and death and be made right with God.

Jesus defeated death by dying in our place and being raised from the dead. Think about this. Death is the instrument that Satan used for destruction and death is the instrument God uses for deliverance. What Satan used as an instrument for destruction, God uses as an instrument for deliverance. God wields the enemy's weapon against him.

Isn't that so like God to do that? Doesn't that remind you of the story of David and Goliath? God's people are overcome by a great enemy, and none can defeat them except one, God's man. David comes down and he knocks Goliath down with his sling and his stone. But do you remember how David finishes off Goliath?

David takes Goliath's own sword and he kills him and cuts off his head. He defeats his enemy with his own weapon. Isn't that what God promised the serpent that he would do in Genesis 3:15? That the seed of Adam would come and crush the serpent's head? Well, that seed is Christ, and when Christ walked out of the grave, he crushed Satan's head.

Through Christ's death and resurrection, sin and death and Satan have been dealt a fatal blow. Jesus took on the body of death to deliver us from it. Death does not rule over him, he rules over death. Christ's resurrection is a picture and a trailer of what Isaiah is talking about, that death being destroyed on God's holy mountain. So whoever believes in Christ is spiritually raised from the dead.

We still await our physical resurrection. That's why Jesus would say in John 11:25, Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. We see this with Isaiah, his vision he has, this defeat of death happens in Christ's first and second coming. Christ defeats death at his first coming and he will destroy it at his second coming. Death is the final enemy to be destroyed.

So for those of you who are here who aren't Christians, we are so thankful you are here. And I know for many of us, death feels like a very morbid topic to talk about. Our society does everything we can to prevent thinking about it. We've now changed funerals to be called celebrations of life. We seek to avoid death, but it's inevitable.

But there's good news. We Christians have a certainty about facing death. Christ has overcome and He's defeated death, and you can have that same certainty as well, that same hope. I would love to talk to you about it. I'll be in the back of our main hall here at this door.

We'll have pastors at the doors. We would love to talk to you with about this certainty that we have about facing death. Well, not only do we see God's power in defeating death, we see it in removing the reproach of all people. Look back at verse 8.

Isaiah says, He will swallow up death forever. In the last part of verse 8, he says, the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth. For the Lord has spoken. What does this mean that God will remove the reproach of His people? What He's saying is God on that day will remove the shame and the disgrace of His people.

God in that day will remove all the things that keep us and have kept us from following Him fully. Though we have been saved by grace, And we are new creations, we still have defective hearts. We still have hearts and flesh that seek to trip us up. It's like being a runner and having a sprained ankle. You seek to run and sprint, but you're not able to run like you want to.

And in many ways, that's the picture of the Christian life. This life we now live is filled with constant reminders that we're not yet complete in Christ. Maybe many of you can relate to this. Maybe you wake up each day, you read your Bible, you're eager to die to yourself and follow Christ. And as soon as you walk out the door, and as soon as you open your phone, as soon as you hear the cry of a child, or you walk in your office, your flesh and your emotions and your mind, they go rogue, and they rebel against your desire to follow the Lord.

Many of us fight hard We struggle, but oftentimes we lose. And with those fights and those losses comes a lot of shame and guilt.

But brothers and sisters, the day is coming when that shame and guilt will be no more. When that struggle will be gone. So for you, what sin are you seeking to kill in your life right now? What anxiety, what fear, what decision that is exhausting you each day that you keep seeking to kill and to put to death and have victory over. Be encouraged.

Isaiah tells us the day is coming when that sin that has stalked you and suffocated you will be cast into utter darkness. It will be no more. He will destroy it completely. Sorrow, shame and sin and death will have no place there. Or in the words of Thomas Watson, Heaven is a place where sorrow cannot live.

And joy cannot die. So saints, I want to encourage you with this. Let's live with hope. Let's live with hope. Your enemies, our enemies that have caused so much pain, sin and death, they have an expiration date, but you, you do not.

When you have felt the effects of sin and death in the world and in your body, I want you to look to Isaiah 25 and rejoice for the day is drawing near when that will no longer be the case. Not only live with hope, live with assurance. For those of you who are here who struggle with shame and guilt from past sins or present struggles, I want you to keep fighting on and I want you to keep marching on. The shame that you hear in your voice is not a friend you should listen to. You aren't who He says you are.

And in moments of shame and sorrow, praise God and think on the day that shame will have no place in you. It will be gone forever. So not only do we see God's power, let's look at number two, we see God's place. God's place.

Look at verse 6. Isaiah says, On this mountain. Then he goes down again in verse 7, he says, He will swallow up on this mountain. Well, where is this mountain? Where is God?

We see back in verse 23 of chapter 4, it says, the moon will be confounded, and the sun of shame, for the Lord of hosts reigns on Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem his glory will be before His elders. We saw last week that God would pour out His wrath with purpose, that He would judge the earth and cleanse it and replace it with something new. And this is a picture that the new has come, that God now dwells on the earth with His people. His earth, the earth, is His dwelling place. Not only do we see God's place, we see God's people.

Look at the awes that Isaiah uses. He says that all peoples from all nations will be there. Now, in case you're confused, Isaiah is not a universalist. He's not saying that everyone who's ever lived on the earth will be there. No, he's saying all of those who've trusted in God for their salvation, they will be there.

Like in chapter 24, where God lists the people groups that will all experience God's judgment, that none will escape God's judgment. Judgment, color, class, or creed? In the same way, none. There will be no people group that doesn't experience the salvation of God. God is saving a people from every tribe, tongue, and nation so that we can enjoy Him and be with Christ forever.

Well, who are these people? We see them in verse four. These are the needy and the poor that God sheltered. These are those who abandoned themselves, that did not rely on themselves, who trusted in God for their salvation. I mean, just look at verse 9, look at their response.

It will be said on that day, Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, that He might save us. On the earth, they were not seeking to defend or avenge themselves. They were trusting that God would keep them and sustain them to the end. Compare them to Moab in verse 11. Moab has been brought down.

They've been humbled. They've now seen their poor and lowly state, and what do they do? They look for salvation in themselves and not in God. They have not learned their lessons from pride. The pride has blinded them and now it is their demise.

The proud or self-reliant and that leads to their demise, but the poor and needy in spirit, they are God-reliant and that leads to their deliverance. So how do you make it to this holy mountain? How do you be a part of the people of God? Be poor in spirit. Be poor and needy.

Know that you have nothing in yourself to offer to God. Seek Him for salvation, repent of your sins, and trust in Him. That's why Jesus tells us at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, Blessed are who, not the proud, but the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The real blessing in this life, it isn't found in power or position or possessions, but being poor in spirit. Knowing that you have nothing to offer to God, but he has offered you everything you need in Christ and trusting him for it.

So for the kids in the room and the teenagers in the room, what do you want to be known for when you grow up? What do you want people to say about you? I would encourage you to add to the top of the list being poor in spirit. Someone who is not self-reliant but completely relies on God. I would encourage you to take time this afternoon at lunch to talk to your parents about what it means to be poor in spirit.

Not only do we see God's people, we see God's provision. Number four, God's provision.

Look at verse 6 and let's see His abundant provision. It says, On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, and aged wine well refined. I want you to notice for something for a second. Notice who's at this meal. It says all peoples.

Why is that significant? Well, if you think back to Exodus 24, right after the Covenant is confirmed between God and his people, who goes up and feasts with God? It's Moses and the elders. Think about the night before Christ was crucified. Who had the meal with Christ when he instituted the supper?

It was his 12 Disciples will here on God's holy mountain. It won't be just the elders and the apostles. It will be all of God's people sitting at His table and enjoying Him and His provision.

And we will eat and drink and be glad for His good provision towards us. Notice again kind of the comparison and contrast between 24 and 25. If you go over to verses 7 and through 9 of 24, We see there that those who have rejected and rebelled against God, there is no dancing anymore. There is no rejoicing. Their wine is bitter and it will eventually cease.

This is what awaits for those who reject and abandon God in this life. But for those who waited on the Lord, it's the complete opposite. God has reserved the very best for them. There is rejoicing and gladness and singing, and the wine that is there is not bitter, but it is satisfying and sweet. Now, when you think about a feast, what comes to your mind?

So, for me, I think about my mom, who is an amazing cook. Penny Lacey is a saint. I mean, just cooks delicious meals. And I think about specifically her Christmas meal that she cooks that she's been doing since I was a kid. And it starts with a standing rib roast.

Now, let me clarify, this isn't any standing rib roast. This is a 17-pound standing rib roast. It's massive and it pleases me. I love it. Not only that, she has mashed potatoes and sweet potato dumplings and green beans wrapped in bacon.

And then she has these rolls that are so heavenly. They are hot and they are dripping with butter. And it's almost as if you can feel your arteries clogging as you eat them.

And it's glorious. Then there's desserts, galore, and sweet tea to the high heavens. It is an amazing and amazing feast. And we've had that meal since I was a kid, but now it means something more. See, because my family, we all live in different places, so we don't get to see each other very much.

So when we have this meal, it means that the family is home. Brothers and sisters, when we have this meal with the Lord, it means the family is finally home. It means the veil of sin and death has been removed, and the prodigal has returned.

And the Father is making a feast for his people.

This feast that the Lord will make for us will be far greater and more extravagant that anything we've ever experienced in this life, we will no longer be poor and needy, but we will be satisfied in every way because we eat at the King's table. We will be greatly nourished with this rich meal, and we will lack for nothing, and we will rejoice that our family has made it home. Not only is this a means for rejoicing, but it's also a means of that the family's home, it's a means of celebrating all that God did in and through his people. I mean, I was reminded of this on Friday. We had our intern going away luncheon.

Another class has come and another class is gone. And it was super sad just to see these brothers who we've gotten to know for five months. Now they and their families are leaving, being sent out. And if you've been at CHBC at all, you've had the privilege of seeing a lot of wonderful people come. And a lot of wonderful people go.

A lot of staff and interns and supported workers and members that we've sent out. And I know that many of us long to see and be with them again. But you know what the joy of the Lord's table will be? Is we will not only be with them and hear what they did, we will see with our own eyes what they gave their life to. We will see the fruit that God produced through their faithfulness.

We will rejoice that not only are they complete in Christ, we will see what God did in and through them. I don't know if this gets you excited, but this motivates me to continue on and to not give up, for it is worth it. It is worth it. Not only do we see God's provision, we see God's presence. Number five, God's presence.

The curse separated God from his people. They were cast out of the garden. They had no mediator between them and God. They had to have a mediator between them and God. And they were unable to be in God's presence because of their sin.

But Christ has come, and he's removed the barrier, and he's torn the veil, and he's brought us near to God. We see the barrier removed here in verse 8. And this will be the focus of tonight's sermon from Patrick Houlihan, Revelation 21:4. It says this, that the Lord will wipe away tears from all faces.

We see here the nearness of God and the joy of His presence. I want you to notice something. It doesn't say some faces. It doesn't say most faces. It says all faces.

And I want you to notice here, too, there's something that Isaiah does. It says, the Lord God, but the Lord there is not Yahweh, it's King. The King himself will reach down and he will wipe away the tears from all faces. This is a tender and compassionate King. He is not like the kings of old who were ruthless and demanding.

No, he's a gentle and kind King. And he loves and cares for his people and he is accessible to them. I want you to notice something here that each person will experience God's intentional fatherly care. And the sorrow of separation is gone, and God is with his people. It reminds me of this, every night when we put our kids down for bed, our oldest wants me to snuggle with her every night.

So me, a grown man, crawls up into her little small bed, and I'm laying there and snuggling with her. And when I think she's asleep, I try to sneak out, and she opens her eyes, and she says really pitifully, Dad, one more minute? And it makes me melt every single time. One more minute becomes 10 more minutes eventually. She just keeps asking.

But I love that because I love knowing that my presence gives her comfort. And there's certain moments that she will run into our room at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning with tears in her eyes, afraid. And it brings me no greater joy than to wipe those tears away and to carry her in her room and wait till she falls asleep. I love that my presence brings her comfort. And brothers and sisters, I don't know what your relationship was like with your dad.

If you felt loved by him or safe with him. If you were comforted by him in moments of sadness. Or if he caused you more sadness in your life. I don't know anything about your dad, but I can tell you this. Your Heavenly Father pales in comparison.

I mean, your earthly father pales in comparison to the goodness and kindness and love that your Father in Heaven will show you. You will feel completely safe in his presence. He is the one who made you and knows what is best for you, and he will give you his best himself. I don't know what sorrow and sadness you carry in this life, though you may sow with tears, you will reap with joy in God's presence one day. Not only do we see God's presence, we see lastly, God's praise.

God's praise.

God ultimately delivers His people to His place to praise and enjoy Him forever. Look at verse 9. It will be said on that day, Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, that He might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him, let us be glad and rejoice in this salvation, that He has saved us. The God that they sought and praised in faith, they now praise and see in person.

They can finally do what God created and saved them for: enjoy and rejoice and praise Him forever. Their praise reflects on what God has kept them from and persevered them and preserved them through. They've waited for Him. They've sought no one else for salvation. They trusted His Word and believed that His promises were true.

They were sifted by Satan. They were attacked by strong and ruthless nations. Many of these lost their lives for seeking him and preaching his gospel. Many were outcasted and hated. Yet they did not desert God.

They waited for him because they knew he was worth waiting for. These are those who did not lose heart even though their bodies wasted away. They persevered and trusted that their light momentary affliction was preparing them for yet an eternal weight of glory. For this moment. And they are now before their God who they waited for and they are rejoicing in his goodness and mercy towards them.

So church, don't lose heart. Let's keep going. Let's keep waiting well. Let's keep pressing on. Let's keep gathering in this room to encourage one another, to remind one another that this is just a foretaste.

This singing is just a sample an appetizer to the greater entree that is to come of being with God's people at his table, rejoicing in his glory and goodness forever. Let's keep pressing on. Let's keep reminding ourselves what we're working towards. And next week, when we come together to take the Lord's Supper, I would encourage you to prioritize that and be here. Yes, it's a reminder of what Christ has done, but it's also a reminder and encouragement of what Christ will do.

Dwell and feast with his people. Make the church the center of your life so that you are continually reminded that heaven is your home and that Christ is your king. So in conclusion, last week I encouraged you as we were looking at Isaiah 24, a weighty passage to not wince at it, but to lean into it. Well, this week I don't want you just to lean into our passage. I want you to rest and rejoice in it.

I want the reality of this salvation to shape and inform the every area of your life. Let this view of God in His place strengthen and encourage you to be faithful and to wait well for Him until He comes and rescues you or He calls you home. Let's pray.

O Father in heaven, we thank you for your kindness and your mercy towards us.

Not only have you saved us, But yout are preparing a place for us that we will dwell with youh forever.

Lord, I pray for those in this room today who may be discouraged, downtrodden, who want to give up. Lord, I pray that through youh Spirit and youd Word you would comfort them and bind them up and carry them to the end. Lord, I pray for those in this room here who don't know youw. Oh Lord, open their eyes to see, cause them to repent of their pride, cause them to trust you. And Lord, cause us as a church to remain faithful to the end.

And I praise you and thank you that you will not lose a single one. Oh Lord God, we thank you and praise you for your goodness and kindness towards us. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.