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[0:00] Isaiah chapter 25. O Lord, you are my God. I will exalt you and praise your name.

[0:11] ! For in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things,! things planned long ago. You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin, the foreigner's stronghold a city no more.

[0:27] It will never be rebuilt. Therefore, strong peoples will honor you. Cities of ruthless nations will revere you.

[0:40] You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat.

[0:51] For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall and like the heat of the desert. You silence the uproar of foreigners as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud.

[1:08] So the song of the ruthless is stilled. On this mountain, the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine, the best of meats and the finest of wines.

[1:28] On this mountain, he will destroy the shroud that unfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations. He will swallow up death forever.

[1:42] The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces. He will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth.

[1:54] The Lord has spoken. In that day, they will say, Surely this is our God. We trusted in him and he saved us.

[2:07] This is the Lord. We trusted in him. Let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation. The hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain, but Moab will be trampled under him as straw is trampled down in the manure.

[2:27] They will spread out their hands in it as a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim. God will bring down their pride despite the cleverness of their hands.

[2:41] He will bring down your high fortified walls and lay them low. He will bring them down to the ground to the very dust.

[2:53] The wise man tells us in Proverbs, Death and destruction are never satisfied. Indeed, he compares death to a leech or to a fire that say, Give, give, that will not be satisfied, that will not say enough.

[3:15] Death. Every minute, death swallows up 104 people on our planet. That's 150,000 every day.

[3:28] That's 55 million every year. Death's appetite is ferocious. Gravestones show us that death is no respecter of persons.

[3:43] For as we look at the dates on the stones, they tell us that he devours young as well as old, rich as well as poor, famous as well as unknown.

[3:58] And the reality is, is that 10 out of 10 people die. Some will die of heart attacks. Others will die of cancer.

[4:09] Some will die of accidents and all sorts of different reasons, but 10 out of 10 will die. If this enemy of yours does not get you today, it will get you.

[4:26] That's the reality that we all live with. Disease. What is disease? It is death at work, sucking life out of its victims.

[4:41] And those who death is devouring are not nameless statistics. They're people with names and personalities. They're fathers and mothers and sons and daughters and uncles and aunts and grandparents and grandchildren and friends.

[5:03] And therefore, every day, death is the cause of untold misery, sorrow, and tears. That hasn't changed from Isaiah's day.

[5:14] That's the way it was when Isaiah wrote this prophecy. Death reigned. But in our text today, Isaiah tells us there is coming a time when death itself will be swallowed up forever.

[5:30] The devourer itself will be devoured. So unless you have an exemption from death, this passage in Isaiah 25 concerns you.

[5:46] Now, chapter 25 is another song of praise for God's salvation. We saw such a song in chapter 12 when God's people were saved out of their danger.

[6:01] And what we learned is that when God's people are saved, they start singing. And chapter 12 gave us one of their songs. And so now, in chapter 25, we have another song of praise for salvation.

[6:13] And it comes after 11 chapters of God's judgments upon particular nations. And one chapter, chapter 24, right preceding about God's final judgment upon the whole earth.

[6:26] Here we have this song of the redeemed, of those who have been rescued out of judgment. They sing, they praise the Lord. They know that they too deserve the same judgment that these others have received.

[6:44] And they are in awe of the fact that this God has saved them. And so they give Him praise. Now there's three stanzas to the song. The first stanza is verses 1 to 5.

[6:56] And it's praise for God's wonderful works of salvation. And it's all about God and what He has done. Notice, as He praises God, He praises Him that He is His personal God.

[7:12] You see that? Oh Lord, Yahweh, the God of Israel, You are my God. You see, it's all about personal pronouns. Can you say of the God who made you, You are my God.

[7:26] You're not just the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Not just the God of David and Abraham and Jesus. You are the God who is mine. Now that's covenantal language.

[7:39] The essence of the covenant is that God says, You will be my people and I will be your God. And that's where this song of praise begins.

[7:53] The rescued cannot get over the fact that they can say I am His and He is mine. He's a personal God.

[8:06] Secondly, He's a God of wonders. He says here that you have done marvelous things. Things that make us marvel. Things that make us stand in awe and wonder can this be so?

[8:20] The word here for marvelous is supernatural things. It's miraculous things that God does for His people.

[8:32] And we must never forget that when God saved us, it took supernatural, miraculous grace to do it.

[8:45] Tom played on the piano. It took a miracle to hang the stars in space. But when He saved my soul, cleansed and made me whole, it took a miracle of love and grace.

[8:58] What's the greatest picture of salvation in the Old Testament? Well, it's that Red Sea. And as you know, water doesn't open by itself.

[9:11] But God opened the water and brought His people through and then closed up the water on His enemies and their enemies. And that's the greatest picture.

[9:23] I say picture. It was a historical event, but it pictured the greater salvation of saving you and me from sin and Satan and death and hell.

[9:35] That's the greater wonder, the greater marvel. Indeed, we can sing with this redeemed man in Isaiah. you have done marvelous things, miraculous things in saving us.

[9:52] When the people of Israel came through the Red Sea, they sang a song of praise in verse 11 of Exodus 15, the song of redeemed on the far side of the Red Sea.

[10:03] Who among the gods is like you? Oh Lord, who is like you? Majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders.

[10:16] Wonders, that's our word, marvelous things. So he's a personal God, he's a God who does marvelous things in saving us. And then thirdly, he's a God of perfect faithfulness.

[10:29] You notice that in verse 1, in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things. Things planned long ago. So, we learn that these marvelous works of salvation were not done on the spur of the moment.

[10:47] They weren't done off the cuff as we say. Rather, they were planned long ago. So, whatever God does, he does on purpose. That means whatever God does, he planned first to do it.

[11:02] And not just in the morning of the afternoon when he does it, but he planned long ago in eternity past, in his eternal decrees. He chose us in Christ before the creation of the world.

[11:17] That's the kind of God that is my God, this man is saying. In him, in Christ, we were also chosen having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.

[11:38] Everything in my life, is being worked out according to the plan, planned long ago. And that includes the work of salvation.

[11:53] Have you personalized that? That chance meeting with that Christian who witnessed to you, that wasn't no, any chance meeting. That was planned long ago.

[12:05] You hearing that scripture passage preached, you reading that passage in the Bible, those events in your life that all came together, the conviction of the Holy Spirit, all of that was planned long ago.

[12:19] And in perfect faithfulness, he's done marvelous things for you, for your salvation. Should we not sing to this great God of wonders?

[12:31] God and the song goes on to spell out some of the marvelous deeds planned long ago, some of the things that God did for his people Israel.

[12:42] And we learn from this that God saves his people by destroying their enemies. That's a principle you better hold on to. You'll find it all the way from the Old Testament through to the last of Revelation.

[12:56] You'll find God saving his people by destroying his and their enemies. Did we not just mention that at the Red Sea? How did God save the Israelites? By destroying their enemies.

[13:11] And how did Jesus save you? By destroying your enemies. And so that's the principle in operation throughout the Bible and it was true here.

[13:22] Look at verse 2. You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin, the foreigners strong hold a city no more. It will never be rebuilt. And though this city is not named, it is described.

[13:36] And we learn that it's a foreign city. It's a fortified, a strong city. Indeed, it's the proud city of Israel's enemy who oppressed Israel.

[13:48] And very possibly it refers to that proud and ruthless city Babylon that sorely oppressed Israel. It's said in chapter 13 of Isaiah, Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians pride will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.

[14:05] She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations. No Arab will pitch his tent there. No shepherd will rest his flocks there. But it will be the home of the jackals and the wild animals.

[14:19] Whatever the city, whether it be Babylon or another city, it stands for all the cities that are proud in their rebellion and their oppression against God's people.

[14:33] And so God saved his people by destroying their enemies. He turned these enemy cities into a heap of rubble, a ruin, a city non-existent, never to be rebuilt.

[14:47] And notice in verse 3, he does it not only to save his people, but to get glory to himself. verse 3 gives us the result of his destroying the enemies. Therefore, strong peoples will honor you.

[15:02] Cities of ruthless nations will revere you, speaking of God. So these ruthless, strong cities that were just oppressing the Israelites, boasting of their strength, military might, these strong peoples and ruthless nations will come to the place where they honor and revere God.

[15:28] They will be humbled into recognizing God's destructive power, and they will hold his name in fear. You see, when they thought of Israel's God, they thought of him as a nobody.

[15:41] Our gods are stronger than them. We conquer them, and therefore our gods conquer their... They thought of him as nothing. They despise his name. God says, I'm going to change that when I crush them.

[15:54] Then they will honor me. Then they will know that I am the Lord. That phrase is used some 75 times in the prophet Ezekiel. Most often it's connected to God's judgments upon the earth.

[16:07] Then they will know that I am the Lord. And that's what Isaiah is saying here. Then they will revere the name of the Lord when they see God's power in destruction. So God destroys the enemies of Israel.

[16:21] Why? In order to save them. And now he speaks of what God is to his people. He's a refuge. He's a shelter. He's a shade.

[16:34] Verse four. You've been a refuge for the poor. A refuge for the needy in his distress. A shelter from the storm. And a shade from the heat.

[16:45] So the enemy nations they are the storm and the heat but God is the shelter and the shade to his people. Back in November the White House press secretary on national news claimed to be quoting a Bible verse when he said God helps those who help themselves.

[17:05] And you giggled because you know your Bible well enough to know that that's not found anywhere in the needy.

[17:45] He helps those who cannot help themselves. He helps those who are so poor and needy they don't have any resources against the strong and the ruthless that are seeking to crush them.

[17:57] Brothers and sisters is that not your testimony that your enemies were too strong for you? You could not fight against your sin and win.

[18:08] You could not fight against death and win. You could not fight against Satan and win. But glory to God he helps the helpless the poor and needy.

[18:23] Does that not make you want to sing praises to God? He doesn't arrive in the scene of our distress and say okay now let's see what you can do. Let's see how well you can help yourself to see if I'm going to help you.

[18:37] we'd all be goners forever. Rather he arrives on the scene and sees us in need and he helps us. He's the ever-present help in trouble.

[18:54] A fortress that's what a refuge is a place of security of safety and rest. rest. And then Isaiah uses two other terms a shelter and a shade a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat and in speaking of the storm and the heat Isaiah draws upon two kinds of life threatening extreme weather that was common in the near east the storm and the heat and they become their symbols as he goes on to say of the enemy nation.

[19:31] The enemy nation's breath is like a storm it's like heat it's like these extreme weather and in that extreme distress and need God has been a refuge he has been a shelter and a shade to defend us first a shelter from the storm verse four goes on to say for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall so remember what we're talking about we're talking about strong and ruthless nations that were coming to devour God's people Israel and Isaiah says that they're like a storm pounding against a wall threatening to knock it down you know Jesus used that language of a storm in his sermon on the mount didn't he that the storm the rain storm the rains came down and the floods came up and washed away that wall indeed all the walls the house was demolished that's the picture that that was something that happened in in

[20:42] Israel and suddenly the skies would pour out their water and floods would arrive where there weren't floods before and pound upon that building and so that's like the nations too strong for Israel coming in pounding like a flood upon the wall too strong to overcome we've seen the devastation of tsunami waves haven't we 20 30 plus feet high traveling 500 miles an hour crashing upon land and turning cities into rubble I saw a special this week on earthquakes tsunamis and Cannon Beach Oregon is a little town on the Pacific coastline that wants to be prepared for a tsunami should it come because just offshore out in the Pacific is a fault line building up pressure where two of Earth's plates come together and the pressure's building and they know that and if perchance that would not those two places do not just slide along each other but actually buckle that will cause a tsunami that will turn the whole city of Cannon

[22:02] Beach into rubble and suck it out into the Pacific so they've got a plan and the plan is to build a huge storm shelter on 30 feet pylons so that the tidal wave will come in and just not hit the actual building up on top but just these these pylons and they themselves are designed to move and to give with the impact of that wave and then not to fall over completely but then to come back a right and to keep the whole population around a thousand people safe up on the storm shelter you have been a shelter from the storm so when the tsunami siren sounds the townspeople have so many minutes to scramble up to this shelter where they can watch the storm come in and be safe that's the plan well that's what

[23:02] Jesus is for his people a shelter in the time of storm and he's also a shade from the heat because these ruthless enemies are not only like a plounding flood but they're also like the heat of the desert verse 5 tells us and that could be an oppressive withering killing heat dangerous to be out in I've spoken to people who have done some visiting in the desert of Palestine and they have feared for their lives had they not had water along such as the heat but our Lord is a shade from the heat that's the word he uses to describe himself a shade from the heat he says in verse 5 you silence the uproar of foreigners as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud so that the song of the ruthless is stilled so here come the ruthless nations and they're like heat that would kill them and what does God have to do to save his people he can take away the ruthless strong as easy as calling a cloud to just come between us and the sun and so at one moment we're under the sun's scorching rays and fearing for our lives and the next moment it's no problem just that easy to God to remove the threat of his and our enemies how blessed to be under the shadow of the almighty within a weary land the Lord is thy shade the Lord is thy keeper so that the sun will not smite you by day nor the moon by night and we remember the pillar of cloud don't we sheltering the people of God in their desert wanderings it was a sign of

[25:04] God's presence it was leading them yes but it was also a shelter from the heat and Isaiah referred to that back earlier in this prophecy in chapter four where he spoke of God's own presence being that protective canopy over his people a shelter and shade from the heat of the day and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and the rain he who dwells in the shelter of the almighty will rest he who dwells in the shelter of the most high will rest in the shelter the shadow of the almighty so he's a shelter he's a shadow and we have the privilege of dwelling underneath so tomorrow you go to work and you're under the shelter you're under the shade come storms what may come scorching threat upon your life you're under the shelter nothing can get to you but what God designs in love and grace and pure wisdom and faithfulness you go into every problematic situation under the shelter you is this you is this you sing for joy to the Lord this is what he saves us unto this is what he does for his own a shelter from the storm a shade from the heat so this is a song of praise to

[26:36] God for saving us out of all kinds of distresses Israel had real enemies that were ruthless and strong that God destroyed in order to save them in order to shelter them and protect them we too have been saved from ruthless and enemies too strong for us now the second stanza of this song is verses 6 through 9 and in it he speaks of a coming feast and again we're going to see the principle that God saves his people by destroying their enemies and this time he's going to point to a greater salvation than from Babylon or Assyria or any nation a greater salvation from a greater enemy and we'll see who that enemy is in a moment verse 6 on this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples a banquet of aged wine the best of meats and the finest of wines the previous chapter spoke about the world's loud drunken party remember that their merry-making their eating and drinking and loud celebration all came to a screeching halt because God showed up in judgment that was the end of it their short lived pleasures were over forever but at that very point the real party is just beginning for the people of God it's the feast of all feasts it's the banquet of all banquets it's the party that never ends now

[28:13] Isaiah speaks of that feast here the Bible in many places speaks of the eternal state of God's people as a banquet as a feast you'll remember from the gospels the kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son Matthew 22 or Matthew 8 when that centurion had faith in Jesus and Jesus said to the crowd I tell you I've not found anyone in Israel with such faith I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast the feast with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God on and on passages Revelation 19 takes us to that wedding feast supper of the lamb I want you to notice several things about this feast that the Bible talks about here it tells us the place the host the provision and the guests where what's the place on this mountain chapter 24 ended with the

[29:24] Lord Almighty reigning on Mount Zion in Jerusalem and now the Lord Almighty prepares a feast on this mountain chapter 25 and verse 6 Hebrews 12 22 to 24 shows that Mount Zion is the heavenly Jerusalem it is the city of the living God it is the church of the first born to which all believers have come and our Bibles end with Mount Zion the new Jerusalem the holy city coming down out of heaven to a new earth purged from the curse and it's here that the Lord Almighty has prepared a feast for his people a feast that will never end that's the place who's the host well the reigning Lord Almighty is the one who will prepare this feast it's not a fellowship luncheon where everybody brings some of the food to the banquet no all the provisions of this feast are prepared and provided for by the

[30:31] Lord himself we contribute nothing to this feast it's all of grace isn't it all of grace and then what are the provisions that he provides well it's a feast of rich foods a banquet of aged wine the best of meats and the finest of wines what's being repeated over and over this is the very best of things Christian your best things are yet to come aren't they there is nothing here to disappoint only that which will satisfy you to the deepest part of your being all the guests are happy here there's nothing that can make them sad again and it speaks of the ultimate enjoyment that the Christian has of salvation full and free and final that will be the eternal heavenly state the eternal state as the new Jerusalem comes to this earth it includes all the salvation blessings that are ours in

[31:37] Christ as we drink from those wells of salvation the psalmist said they feast on the abundance of your house you give them drink from your river of delights we're speaking now of things that delight the soul we'll see him as he is we'll be made like him we'll no longer sin we'll no longer be tempted we'll see further things that we will no longer be through all that heaven will be is described as a feast that we will have all these provisions in plenty no shortage the best provision never again to hunger never again to thirst revelation seven everlasting pleasures at his right hand now who are the guests well the whole context emphasizes this is a feast of rich food for all the peoples for all the peoples everyone is to be invited no nation is to be excluded and some from every nation tribe and language and people will be there some from every nation will answer that call and be at this feast

[32:52] Jesus speaks that way when he speaks concerning this Gentile in Matthew 8 that many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God the Gentiles will pour in along with the Jews all who have trusted in Jesus Christ feasting together forever the remnant chosen by grace called chosen faithful those whose robes have been made white in the blood of the lamb righteousness by righteousness have put on the righteous acts of the saints will you be there will you be one of these guests feasting forever on the best things that's the important thing this morning for this feast to happen a certain enemy must be destroyed and it's death it's death

[34:08] I told you it's a greater salvation and a greater enemy than Babylon or Assyria was ever to Israel and any earthly enemy that you might have it's death notice how he puts it in 7 and 8 on this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all people the sheet that covers all nations he will swallow up death forever so the sheet and the shroud that's covering all nations the whole world's draped in this dark mourning veil the pall of death hangs over all peoples and all nations none are exempt death leaves its mark on every home it interrupts and spoils every earthly happiness it nags us it's ever reminding us that it's waiting for us no matter how much we exercise and how healthy we eat it's waiting for us for it's appointed unto man once to die and then the judgment and that's what makes death the great terror to mankind death is the wages of sin death is the punishment for sin and it takes us right into the presence of the judge against whom we've sinned that's why death is so horrific and so Paul says the sting of death is sin that's what makes it hurt so bad because

[35:48] I must come sinner that I am before the judge of all the earth and give an account for the things done while in the body whether good or bad you see why I say there can be no happy feast while this enemy lives and the Lord says I've got that covered too he will destroy the shroud that unfolds all people he will destroy this sheet that covers all nations he will swallow up death forever death that has been swallowing up all before it will itself be swallowed up in victory totally consumed finally destroyed once and for all it will not be allowed to spoil this party that must go on forever and ever and ever and so we have death swallowed up that the feast might go on death under God's wrath is his curse for sin that's why only God can remove this shroud of death it's because of our offense against him and so man will never get to the place where he can remove the shroud of death for all the anti-aging age-reversing stuff that's going on it's a mockery of the fact that God is the one who has cursed the earth with death and so only he can remove this shroud and this sheet and what an amazing method he devised to remove it how will God destroy death well he will have

[37:35] God the son come down to earth as a man and he will destroy death by dying the death under God's wrath that we deserve and then rising victorious the third day over death and then coming again in glory to raise up the bodies of every last child of God it was by death that he destroyed death the death of deaths in the death of Christ was Owen's book on Hebrews 2 14 and 15 you say but but if that was the victory on the cross and at the empty tomb we still die people die good people Christians die oh yes the Bible tells us that the last enemy to be destroyed is death 1 Corinthians 15 he's not finished death off just yet for that we must wait until the Lord

[38:40] Almighty comes back to establish his kingdom on this earth in an open and consummate way to welcome his own to his everlasting feast for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed and when the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality then then the saying that is written will come true death has been swallowed up in victory Paul is quoting Isaiah 25 and he's saying when will death be swallowed up when Jesus Christ the Lord Almighty King comes back and raises our mortal bodies in immortality to enjoy the feast with him forever and ever so death where is your victory death where is your sting the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law but thanks be to God he gives us the victory through our Lord

[39:46] Jesus Christ who died for our sins and rose again for our justification apart from this victory over death even this party would ring hollow because as good as it was we would know that there will be an end to it when I must die but because he swallows up death forever and we rise in glorious resurrection bodies incapable of dying we know every moment that we are enjoying the feast that this will never end and so what will happen when he swallows up death forever he goes on and says well the Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces as a mother does to her children when they come crying to her the sovereign Lord this almighty sovereign who rules over the nations he will wipe away their tears what a God this is our God no more tears why because he's removed all the causes of tears there's no more death what did you last cry about what did you last shed tears about it won't be in heaven he will wipe away every tear as the ransomed entered Zion with singing everlasting joy will crown their heads gladness and joy will overtake them and sorrow and sighing will flee away yes they come and enter

[41:17] Mount Zion that's where the feast is that's where the tears are wiped away that's where death is swallowed up in victory and that's where we'll enjoy Christ forever the book of Isaiah ends with the new Jerusalem and the new earth and it said that the sound of weeping and crying will be heard no more the apostle John's taken in vision away to that end of times and what does he see he sees the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven to the new earth and he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away a feast without tears a feast with unmixed joy and so he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth you ever thought of the disgrace of death the disgrace of death why do we die because we sinned against our kind maker death is disgraceful reminds us we sinned against our maker and it's disgraceful it takes a strong man and reduces him to nothing but he's going to remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth and then he ends with his own signature statement the lord has spoken that's the guarantee that this is going to happen because when the lord speaks it happens verse 9 tells us what they will be saying to each other at this feast in that day when death is swallowed up in victory and they sit down to this everlasting feast this is what they'll say to one another surely this is our god we trusted in him and he saved us this is the lord we trusted in him let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation that's how the feast goes on rejoicing and being glad in his salvation and all the praise is laid at his feet it's his doing none but he could do this these are such wonders that belong to him alone we trusted in him and he saved us he did the saving but salvation has always been by faith we trusted in him and he saved us we trusted we looked we leaned we waited and we didn't wait in vain did we brother we'll be saying to each other surely this is our god it's surely this is the lord he saved us when we called and forever you will rejoice and be glad in his salvation is this your song is this the one you'll be singing oh only in christ will we sing this song of his salvation from sin and death and hell and endless tears all through the merits of our lord jesus christ the third stanza of the song is a briefer stanza verses 10 through 12 and it closes with a stark contrast you've got the hand of the lord resting on mount zion with favor and blessing and feasting but you've got the foot of the lord trampling his enemies under him as straw is trampled in the manure moab moab was so proud and self sufficient that when she was threatened she refused to take refuge in the god of israel no i'll do for myself like someone trying to swim their way out of the predicament and god says no it won't happen he will bring down

[45:18] their pride despite the cleverness of their hands the lesson is clear that all self-sufficient sinners who lean on themselves against this great enemy death are offensive to god and he's determined to humble them and to tear down the things they trusted in down to the very dust do you see that children the last words of the text down how low how low to the very dust lower than the belly of a snake the very dust and so this song of praise ends on a solemn note doesn't it it does not back away from the hard facts of life the last word for all who refuse to take refuge in jesus christ is a word of judgment it's either run to him for mercy or be crushed by him in wrath he is not a god to be trifled with and so the great siren of the gospel has sounded run into christ and be sheltered safe in the arms of god but if you are too proud and self sufficient to run to christ to be saved by him alone then you are left to face the storm of god's wrath the heat of his consuming fire for all eternity why will you die why will you not turn and live and run to christ because those who get into christ get him and his victory over sin and death and hell believer there's there's comfort meant for you in this this is isaiah's word to the people of god what's your need today well we have a great god of wonders don't we whatever your whatever threatens your peace and your joy and your security you have a god who does the impossible who helps the needy the poor those who have nothing who are helpless you have such a god a god who so loves us that he swallowed up death for us by dying in our place and so one for us a place that is everlasting banquet then in every storm of life take refuge in him again and you will again sing this song we trusted in him and he saved us and you will give him praise until you come to that last enemy death at the resurrection when jesus comes and you were raised and you will be saying to one another we trusted in him and he saved us let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation let's do that as we turn in our grace hymns to number ten in perfect faithfulness he has done marvelous wonderful things he's the great god of wonders he's the god of our salvation let's stand and give him our praise god of grace and of wonders we stand in awe of your wonder of creation that you would speak into existence all things around us out of nothing even we ourselves your creatures but we have seen a greater wonder you should take sinners who are under condemnation who hated you who did not want you who were running from you and you made us new creatures in christ jesus and you gave up

[49:18]  your own son to shed his blood for us to cleanse us from our sin you sent your spirit to live within us to give us new birth and every grace that we need and we acknowledge that this is our god that there is none like you and we desire that others would come to take refuge in you so bring them this day that they not continue outside of the shelter of jesus christ exposed to the wrath of god bring them this day and keep the song alive in our hearts until that day when we see jesus ourselves and even that further day when we are raised our bodies raised from the dust and the last enemy is swallowed up forever we give you thanks in jesus name amen