The Fifth Sunday in Lent
\nMarch 13, 2016
\nIsaiah 43:16-21<\/p>\n
This is what the LORD says\u2014he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:\u00a0 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.\u00a0 See, I am doing a new thing!\u00a0 Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?\u00a0 I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.\u00a0 The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.”\u00a0 (NIV1984)<\/p>\n
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,<\/p>\n
For as long as I can remember I have been a \u201cTrekkie\u201d\u2014 which means that when I was growing up Star Trek was my all-time favorite show.\u00a0 Every week I would lie on the floor in front of the television and watch as Captain Kirk and the starship Enterprise stayed focused on their five year mission:\u00a0 \u201cto boldly go where no man has gone before.\u201d\u00a0 I was enthralled by Mr. Spock with his pointy ears and sometimes prickly logic.\u00a0 I envisioned what it would be like to say, \u201cBeam me up Scotty!\u201d and instantly be transported onto the Enterprise\u2014 or wherever I wanted to go.\u00a0 But mostly, I imagined how wonderful and how exciting it would be to travel across the universe and discover new worlds\u2014 \u201cTo boldly go where no man has gone before\u201d!<\/p>\n
Now, of course, I realize what I didn\u2019t realize as a child.\u00a0 Now I realize that traveling across the universe at warp speed without ever having to stop for fuel or provisions is impossible.\u00a0 Now I realize that while the universe is just as big if not bigger than I ever imagined, and while the universe is even more beautiful than I could ever imagine, this planet which the good Lord has given to us, this planet that we call \u201chome\u201d is unique in a whole variety of ways.\u00a0 One of the ways in which the earth is unique is that it contains everything we need to live\u2014 especially water!<\/p>\n
From early on mankind has known the importance of water.\u00a0 From early on mankind has realized that water is absolutely essential to our very existence.\u00a0 Perhaps that is why the good Lord very often connects the picture of water with the picture of life on the pages of His holy Word.\u00a0\u00a0 Therefore, my friends, as you and I continue our sermon series entitled Holy! Holy! Holy! <\/em><\/strong>let\u2019s see how this portion of the book of Isaiah focuses our attention on:\u00a0 Holy Water.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 There are two things we want to see today.\u00a0 First let\u2019s see how the Lord used water to provide His Old Testament people with physical life and salvation.\u00a0 Then let\u2019s see how God uses water to provide us, His New Testament people with spiritual life and salvation.<\/p>\n If you have your Bibles open to Isaiah 43 look at the opening two verses of our text.\u00a0 Isaiah writes, \u201cThis is what the LORD says\u2014 he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 What event in the history of God\u2019s Old Testament people is Isaiah describing here?\u00a0 He is describing the parting of the Red Sea.\u00a0 The Lord God of Israel had delivered His Chosen People out of slavery in the land of Egypt with great power and miraculous signs.\u00a0 Two million souls strong the people of God marched victoriously out of Egypt laden with gold and silver and clothing and livestock and herds and flocks.\u00a0 (See Exodus 12:35-38)\u00a0 Within days, however, the Children of Israel found themselves hopelessly trapped.\u00a0 On one side of them were the mighty waters of the Red Sea.\u00a0 On the other side were the horses and the chariots, the swords and the spears of Pharaoh\u2019s mighty army!\u00a0 God\u2019s people quickly learned, however, that with the Lord there is always hope, with the Lord there is always salvation!\u00a0 The Lord God parted the waters of the Red Sea, allowed the Israelites to cross over on dry ground and when Pharaoh\u2019s army tried to pursue the Israelites the Lord caused the waters to come crashing down with the result that Pharaoh\u2019s army \u201clay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n This, my friends, was a \u201cdefining moment\u201d in the history of God\u2019s Chosen People.\u00a0 For generations to come the celebration of Passover not only reminded the Israelites of how the Lord their God led them out of physical slavery, but the celebration of the Passover also reminded God\u2019s people of how the Lord granted them physical life and physical salvation when He used the water of the Red Sea to save His people from certain death at the hands of Pharaoh\u2019s army.\u00a0 From that perspective we might even call the waters of the Red Sea \u201choly water\u201d for that is the water that God used to provide His people with physical life, physical salvation.\u00a0 But as great and as glorious as that \u201cdefining moment\u201d in history was for God\u2019s people look at what Isaiah says in verses 18-21 of our text, \u201cForget the former things; do not dwell on the past.\u00a0 See, I am doing a new thing!\u00a0 Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?\u00a0 I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.\u00a0 The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n God had already revealed to His people through His servant Isaiah that just as He had allowed their brothers and sisters in the Northern Kingdom of Israel to be conquered by the Assyrians because of their sin and their stubbornness, so also God would allow the people of Judah and Jerusalem to be conquered and carried into exile by the Babylonians because of their own sin and their own stubbornness.\u00a0 But as God\u2019s people sat in exile in Babylon the Lord did not want them to sit and pine about the \u201cgood \u2018ol days,\u201d the days when the Lord delivered their ancestors from certain death using the waters of the Red Sea.\u00a0 The Lord did not want His people to be looking backwards and grieving over the glories they once enjoyed, glories that now seem to be hopelessly lost forever.\u00a0\u00a0 No, instead of backwards God wanted His people to look forward!\u00a0 God wanted His people to know that just as He was able to deliver their ancestors from the powerful Egyptian army so also He will <\/strong>deliver them from the mighty Babylonians!\u00a0 God wanted His people to realize that even though they were about to be carried off into exile, the Lord their God was already planning and preparing for their return to their homeland!\u00a0\u00a0 And what a mighty glorious return it would be!\u00a0 God uses the picture of \u201cmaking a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland,\u201d<\/em> God promises His people, \u201cI provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself\u201d<\/em> to assure His people that they would lack nothing <\/strong>as the Lord graciously leads His people home to Judah and Jerusalem!\u00a0 Yes, my friends, once again, God uses the picture of \u201cwater,\u201d we might even say \u201choly water,\u201d to describe how He <\/strong>would give His people physical life, physical salvation!<\/p>\n Now as I was studying this text and as I was listening to our Lord say to His Old Testament people, \u201cForget the former things; do not dwell on the past.\u00a0 See, I am doing a new thing! … I provide water in the desert\u2026to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself\u201d<\/em> I could not help but think of how beautifully those words apply to you and to me.\u00a0 All too often we get mired in our past, don\u2019t we.\u00a0 Sometimes we long for what we might remember as the \u201cgood \u2018ol days\u201d and wish we could go back to them.\u00a0 Sometimes we lament over how often we let sin rule over us as though we were its \u201cslaves\u201d and how often we found ourselves as \u201ccaptives\u201d to actions or to attitudes that we now regret.\u00a0 But the Lord our God does not want us to stay mired in the quicksand of our past, my friends!\u00a0 The Lord our God does not want us to let the sins of our past define who we are today or determine who we will be tomorrow!\u00a0 Instead of looking back, God says to you and to me, \u201cForget the former things; do not dwell on the past.\u00a0 See, I am doing a new thing! \u2026\u00a0 I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n What is the \u201cnew thing\u201d<\/em> that the Lord our God has done for us?\u00a0 How has the God of heaven provided us with \u201cwater in the desert and streams in the wasteland\u201d<\/em> of this sinful and sin-filled world?\u00a0 Permit me to suggest that the good Lord has done this for you and for me through \u201choly water\u201d\u2014 the \u201choly water\u201d of Baptism!\u00a0 By itself the water of Baptism is just plain water.\u00a0 But when that ordinary water is connected with the extraordinary power of God\u2019s holy Word it becomes a washing through which God Himself fulfills His promise, \u201cSee, I am doing a new thing!\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 The apostle Paul emphasizes the \u201cnew thing\u201d<\/em> that God does for <\/strong>us through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism when he writes in his letter to the Romans, \u201cOr don\u2019t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?\u00a0 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new<\/u> life\u201d <\/em>(Romans 6:3-4).<\/p>\n Our Baptism, my friends, was a \u201cdefining moment\u201d in our lives.\u00a0 The actual water used at our baptism may be long gone, but the \u201cnew thing\u201d<\/em> God did for us, the \u201cnew life\u201d that God gave to us, the \u201cnew salvation\u201d that became ours through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism continues into eternity!\u00a0 At the time of our Baptism the good Lord rescued us from a spiritual \u201cdesert\u201d<\/em> that could only bring death and destruction and He freely gave us to drink of the \u201cliving water\u201d<\/em> of His Son.\u00a0 At the time of our Baptism the God of heaven graciously brought us into the group of people He describes here in our text with the words, \u201cmy people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 And now because of what the Lord has done for us, because of what the Lord has given to us, because of the salvation the Lord has secured for us our number one goal in life is to \u201cproclaim\u201d<\/em> His \u201cpraise\u201d<\/em>!\u00a0 The words of our mouth as well as the actions of our life are to proclaim the \u201cnew thing\u201d<\/em> that the Lord has done for us\u2014 and for all people\u2014 through the work of His Christ (Pointing to the cross) and through the power of His Holy Spirit (Pointing to the Baptismal font).<\/p>\n This is why it is so vitally important for us to remember that Baptism is a Sacrament\u2014 something that God<\/strong> does for <\/strong>us.\u00a0 Sadly, in many churches today Baptism is taught as something that we <\/strong>do for <\/strong>God.\u00a0 For example, in the Baptist church Baptism is defined as, \u201cChristian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 It is an act of obedience symbolizing <\/strong>(emphasis mine) the believer\u2019s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer\u2019s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 Do you see the false teaching here?\u00a0 Instead of believing, teaching and confessing what Scripture declares concerning Baptism (namely, that Baptism is one of the \u201cmeans\u201d or \u201ctools\u201d that God uses to created the gift of saving faith in a person\u2019s heart\u2014 even in the heart of an infant) the Baptist church maintains that baptism \u201cis an act of<\/strong> obedience<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, Baptism is your <\/strong>way of showing God and your<\/strong> way of showing others that you<\/strong> have \u201caccepted\u201d Jesus as your Lord and Savior.\u00a0 Essentially, they have this precious Sacrament completely backwards!<\/p>\n \u201cWhat difference does it make?\u201d someone might say.\u00a0 It makes a tremendous difference my friends!\u00a0 For centuries the Christian Church has been confessing in the Nicene Creed, \u201cWe acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.\u201d\u00a0 If <\/strong>Baptism is your<\/strong> \u201cact of obedience\u201d and then one day you realize that you have not been very \u201cobedient\u201d to your Lord, what do you do?\u00a0 Just get baptized again!\u00a0 What difference does it make?\u00a0 If <\/strong>baptism is your <\/strong>\u201cact of obedience\u201d then the emphasis is placed on what you <\/strong>do for <\/strong>God and not<\/strong> on what God<\/strong> does for <\/strong>you.\u00a0 What difference does it make?\u00a0 Let me give you a real-life example.<\/p>\n In one of my previous congregations I had a couple who had been blessed with the gift of a son.\u00a0 The day after Mom gave birth I went up to the hospital to visit them and to congratulate them.\u00a0 The first thing I noticed was that the baby was not in the room with Mom.\u00a0 After I chatted a little bit, I asked about the baby.\u00a0 Mom and Dad told me that there was something \u201cnot right\u201d with him and so the doctors had him in the NICU.\u00a0 When I asked what the difficulty was they said, \u201cThe doctors aren\u2019t sure.\u201d\u00a0 Dad took me to see his son in the NICU.\u00a0 He looked very thin.\u00a0 Apparently he could not nurse or eat out of a bottle so they had to insert a feeding tube down his nose.\u00a0 After having a prayer and a devotion with Mom and Dad I left.\u00a0 The next day I went up to see them again.\u00a0 The baby was still in the NICU.\u00a0 The doctors were still uncertain of what the problem was.\u00a0 I talked to Mom and Dad about having their son baptized.\u00a0 Dad (who was not yet a member of our congregation) wanted to wait.\u00a0 He had family that he wanted present for the baptism.\u00a0 The next day I went back.\u00a0 Same conversation.\u00a0 Same response.\u00a0 After a few days the doctors said that they wanted to transfer the baby to a hospital that specialized in pediatrics.\u00a0 I suggested to Mom and Dad that we have their son baptized before he is transferred.\u00a0 Dad finally agreed and we baptized their son in a little room adjacent to the NICU.\u00a0 The next day the baby was transferred to that specialty hospital.\u00a0 Within days he was diagnosed with Zellweger Syndrome\u2014 an incurable genetic disease.\u00a0 Three and a half months later the baby died in Mom\u2019s arms.\u00a0 Can you guess what I preached on at the baby\u2019s funeral?\u00a0 Baptism!\u00a0 I assured Mom and Dad that when their son was baptized with water in the name of the Triune God, he was adopted by God to be His very own dearly beloved son!\u00a0\u00a0 I assured Mom and Dad that their son was now safe in our heavenly Father\u2019s Kingdom and that one day they would see him again.\u00a0 And, I was able to give them that assurance because\u2014 because of what the Scriptures teach us concerning the Sacrament of Holy Baptism!\u00a0 What difference does it make?\u00a0 It makes all the difference, my friends \u2014 both in time and in eternity!<\/p>\n The billions upon billions of dollars our nation spends on sending rovers to Mars to look for water is a testimony to how much we realize that water is essential for life.\u00a0 No water\u2014 no life.\u00a0 My prayer this morning we will take this realization and apply it to our spiritual lives as the children of God.\u00a0 Just as we might say that the water of the Red Sea was \u201choly water\u201d in so far as God used that water to provide His children with physical life, so also we can say that the water of Baptism is \u201choly water\u201d insofar as this is one of the ways what God uses to give us spiritual life!<\/p>\n To God be the glory!<\/p>\n Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Fifth Sunday in Lent March 13, 2016 Isaiah 43:16-21 This is what the LORD says\u2014he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:\u00a0 “Forget the former things; do 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