The Zeal of God Will Accomplish This

 

I want to start this sermon with an emphatic statement: "I am a free man!" But please don't misunderstand what I mean by this. When I say I'm a free man, you need to understand I am not free from the daily responsibility I have of encouraging you, my brothers and sisters in Christ. I am not free from the joyful duty I have of serving my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. I am not free from the deep desire I have to continually grow and mature in Christ. And I certainly am not free from the zealous commitment and compulsion I have to preach God's Word wherever and whenever I can.

However, what I am free of is this: I have been set free from slavery to sin. I have been set free of the tyranny of sin and the guilt associated with sin. Sin no longer has mastery over me. I have been set free from my bondage and my enslavement to sin. And I am free from the power wielded by sin. How was my freedom achieved? Did I manage to "wiggle" my way free from the bonds of sin? Did I do it with my own strength? Did I overcome sin by my own ingenuity or by my own intellect? How did I gain my freedom from sin? Notice I did not say "How did I become perfect and not sin any longer".

I said "Freedom from slavery to sin". I said "Freedom from the tyranny of sin." And I said "Sin no longer has any mastery over me." We often still fall into sin unintentionally. But sin is like a spiritual virus. It is like a disease. Once it takes hold in your or my life, it contaminates us and makes us unworthy of Heaven. It eats away at our righteousness. It influences our hearts, minds and actions. It makes us yearn for the things of the flesh, of the world. However, sin only has mastery over us if we "intentionally set our hearts and minds on sin" or if "we live in sin as a lifestyle choice" by walking away from our God and his influence in our lives.

Let me surprise you by telling you just how I overcame the mastery and tyranny of sin in my life. If you understand how I did it, it will help and encourage you to do it. 2 things helped me to overcome the mastery and the tyranny of sin in my life.

1.      Firstly, let me show you this word: SIN

Sin is the enemy of the Christian. Make no mistake about it … un-forgiven sin will cause you to lose your eternal life in Heaven with God. It will make you forfeit the prize that God has in store for you at the end of your earthly life. So you notice something about SIN? It has "I" in the centre of it. I, me! This means that when I place "I" or my will in the centre of my life, I will continually fall into sin, as my human desires will overcome my spiritual desires for obeying God. So how do I overcome SIN then? By placing an "other" person in the centre of my life instead. By replacing the "I" in the centre of my life by another. If I place "O" for other in the centre of the word sin, what does it spell? It spells "SON". I've learnt that if I place the Son of God in the centre of my life, if I submit to his will, then I will be able to overcome sin in my life. So will you! Okay, so that's the first thing then.

2.     What is the second thing that helped to save you and me from our sin?

The zeal of God accomplished this for us!

That's right. God's zealousness set us free. I fully understand that it took my Lord and Saviour to die on the cross to crucify my sin with him and to remove it from me. He did the same for you. I understand that when my Saviour rose from the dead, he also provided the hope of resurrection for me too. This will bring about my freedom from the bonds of death too. He did the same for you too. However, what truly brought about our freedom from sin? The zeal of God our Father! I want to go back to a Scripture recorded in the Book of Isaiah to show you how this happened.

Isaiah 9:1-7

¹Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honour Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan - ²The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.

³You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. ⁴For as in the day of Midian's defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.

⁵Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. ⁶For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

⁷Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

Just imagine this … Isaiah, a prophet of God. A man made holy by God and called by God to be his holy prophet. Isaiah … living so long ago. Facing such trials and tribulations as he tried to serve God well during difficult times. Having to proclaim God's displeasure on Israel due to their sinfulness. A time of gloom and distress. In the midst of all this strife and distress, Isaiah proclaims a wonderful message. This message had a direct influence on my life today and on my future eternal prospects. And on yours too. By God's power and insight, Isaiah proclaims a message for future generations - he proclaims a message to help me and my generation and all future generations too. His message is clear and decisive:

·         God's message for future generations is full of hope and full of joy

·         Isaiah prophesies a remarkable future for God's people

·         A time of joy and deliverance

·         A time of spiritual enlightenment and peace

·         A time of freedom and rejoicing.

How would God accomplish all of this? "The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this." All of God's Power, His Immense Strength, His full Purpose and His Zeal would be focused on bringing about this time of freedom and peace for mankind. For us to clearly understand why God was moved to do this, do not underestimate the trouble that mankind was in. Due to sin, all of mankind, including the Jews, faced a very bleak future. A future filled with distress, trouble and hardship. Let me use the Scripture I read from Isaiah earlier to describe how truly bad things were.

Look at the opening statement in Isaiah Chapter 9:

^"1Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress."

For those who were in distress

This is a very good word to describe mankind's plight at the time.

To Be Distressed:

1.      To be anxious

2.     To be fearful

3.     To be afflicted by concerns or trouble

4.     To be uneasy about life and the future

5.     To be worried

However, Isaiah proclaims that in the future, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress:

·         Whatever was going to happen was going to relieve us of our "distressed state"

·         It would remedy our anxiety and quell our fears

·         It would remove our concerns and worries

·         It would make us more confident of the future and nullify our distress and anxieties.

"In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honour Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan - "

Notice that in the past God humbled i.e. forcibly humiliated the land of Zebulun and the land of Napthali. God saw fit to humble the inhabitants of those lands due to their disobedience and sinfulness. God decided to "take them down a peg or two." He had to "break their pride" to show them who God truly was. However, in the future, honour will come upon the people. Notice the interesting part of this "honouring" process.

"… but in the future he will honour Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan."

Galilee of the Gentiles. What a revelation! Why was this revelation such an amazing statement to the then people of God, the Jews? God was actually going to honour a land where Gentiles resided. Very interesting! So no honour, but enforced humility instead for the lands of Zebulun and Napthali. However, great honour goes to the land of the Gentiles. Here we see the development of God's plan, to include the Gentiles in his Plan of Salvation.

^"2The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned."

Again, look at mankind's state here: Mankind was stumbling about in darkness. Have you ever been in a house at night, with most of the lights on, and suddenly there is a power failure. Inky blackness descends and you can't see a thing. You can only move about because you know the layout of your house. You still stumble about, trying to find those candles you put somewhere in cases of emergency like this. Finally you find them and the matches you put somewhere else, and you get the candle lit. But it is not as bright as the electric lights you had on earlier, but it gives enough light for you to at least see where you are going. This is basically the state mankind was in before our Lord came to save us. Mankind was blinded by our sinfulness. We were stumbling about going off on the wrong paths and getting lost. Mankind had the shadow of death hanging over us before God carried out his full plan of salvation. We had the sentence of death hanging over us. And we could not escape that death ourselves.

Then God, in his zeal, illuminated this world. He shone a light so bright that it could never be extinguished! Even the gates of Hell and all evil forces combined could not overcome this light. Why? Because the Source of this light is eternal and everlasting. The Source of this wonderful light will never fail. It is an unending, eternal light. This light does not come from a human generator, or an electricity power station. Instead, this light is reflected in the One our God sent to save us from our sins. Only Jesus the chosen One could illuminate this world and cleanse mankind of the darkness of sin.

³You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder.

You have enlarged the nation … now every man and woman, every person from every tribe and race and nation has access to this wonderful salvation, brought about by God's zeal and purpose. No longer were Gentiles excluded from the nation of God.

³You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder.

No longer do we just have a basic joy that our salvation has been achieved, God our Father has INCREASED our joy. This joy is contrasted here with people rejoicing at the time of a harvest. Have you ever lived in an agricultural community or near a farming community? Well, the reason why people rejoice at the harvest is simple. It is often very difficult and challenging to bring a crop to harvest. There are all sorts of things that could threaten a crop. Lack of rain or a drought, too much rain or a flood could wipe a crop out. Insects, birds or disease could threaten a crop. Lack of good or the right type of fertiliser could stunt the growth of crops and yield a poor harvest. So when the harvest is gathered, and there is a bumper crop, there are many reasons to celebrate and rejoice. Also when a harvest is gathered, it means that the farmer and his family can earn enough money to tie them over for the winter season. Not only them, but their wider community will benefit too. If the farmer and his family have money to spend, they will usually spend it in their local village or town, so others get indirect benefits too. So the farmer, his family and the community they live in can rejoice as they have sufficient funds to survive another year.

Notice the link to "dividing the plunder"? Meaning that there is a reward at the end of a harvest, and this brings great joy. ⁴For as in the day of Midian's defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. For me, this is such an important verse in this passage. I want to remind you here of what is yoke is typically used for. A yoked animal is one who is driven into a certain path. The animal's choices have been removed when a yoke is placed on its neck. It is no longer in control of its actions and direction. It had its freedom curtailed or removed. The driver of the animal can make it obey his every command, his every instruction. The animal is completely under the control of the driver. So in this passage of Scripture, God tells us almost in "coded language" what was accomplished for us when he brought about our salvation. He totally and finally defeated and overcome the yolk of oppression brought about by our enslavement to sin.

Romans 6:16-25

¹⁶Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. ¹⁸You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

¹⁹I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. ²⁰When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. ²¹What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! ²²But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. ²³For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Not only did our God overcome sin, He also overcame the devil, God's sworn enemy. He defeated the power of sin over us, AND the power of the one who enslaved us with sin. ⁴For as in the day of Midian's defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. Notice very carefully: God not only overcame sin and the power it wielded over us, Isaiah proclaims that God SHATTERED the yoke the burdens us, the bar across our shoulders, the rod of our oppressor. The word SHATTERED describes the TOTAL destruction of the yoke. Not just "He broke the yoke in two" or "He removed the yoke". Instead, He SHATTERED the yoke. God completely freed us from this burden of oppression. This "SHATTERING" of the yoke tells me that the yoke that once burdened us cannot again be refitted onto our shoulders. It has been shattered beyond recognition. It has been permanently removed from our shoulders. The yoke is in little pieces. It cannot be put together again. We have been completed ransomed and set free from sin and its oppressive powers of entrapment.

⁵Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. This wonderfully describes that a time of peace was coming to God's people. A time of peace so complete and permanent that war will no longer occur. All the vestiges of war will disappear. All the inclinations for war will be removed. All desires for war will be quelled by peace. I like this description, that every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment stained in blood will be fuel for the fire. We see here the total removal of images and emblems of war and warfare, of strife and disagreement. When you burn something in the fire, it is usually burnt up completely. All that remain of the objects burnt up are ashes, which will eventually blow away in the wind. It will look as if those objects of war were never there in the first place. So it will be with the coming of eternal peace. This peace will be accomplished by God for his people. He is zealous to accomplish this for his people.

So in conclusion, how would the zeal of God accomplish this?

⁶For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

⁷Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

It is not a matter of HOW, but IN WHOM would God accomplish this? For to us a child is born, to us a son is given … I get chills running up and down my spine when I read these words. I cannot contain my excitement at this news. I am unable to suppress my joy when I consider the importance of these words. Why? For here we have the promises of God fulfilled … here we have the news that mankind was longing for. News that heralded for us a new future. A new start, the beginning of the time of rejoicing and the time of peace. Here we have the proclamation of freedom for mankind … freedom from the yoke of sin and freedom from the one who enslaved us for so long. At last, we have a way out of sin. Finally, we can be relieved of the yoke that burdened us for so long. Finally, the fulfilled coming of the promised Messiah.

⁶For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Our Lord's Kingdom and reign will be an everlasting, eternal reign. He will be in charge, He will be in control. The government will be on his shoulders.

And rejoice, for we have an indication of how he will govern:

He will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

⁷Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

"Wonderful Counsellor, Might God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

"He will establish his Kingdom and uphold it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever."

 

 

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