I would invite you to turn with me this morning to Isaiah 54, Isaiah 54, as we will consider together the chapter with our focus on verse 10, focus on verse 10, but before we read that together, a few words of introduction, of course, boys and girls, we know that Isaiah was a prophet, and as a prophet, he was what we can call a prosecuting attorney for the covenant God, to prosecute the covenant, to remind the people of the stipulations of the covenant, the promises of God, the curses for disobedience, the blessings for obedience. And of course, therefore, he warned, especially the southern kingdom of Judah, his ministry was long, some 40 years, and he warned the small southern kingdom of Judah that they were going to face the punishment of God. They were going to face captivity, which we know was to be Babilon. He gave them that bad news. But it wasn't just bad news that Isaiah was to bring to the people. He also brought them good news. He brought them news of after the time of captivity, of redemption and deliverance. Isaiah chapter 52, there specifically, we find the prophecy of of redemption and deliverance promised to God's people. And then, of course, we are familiar with that beautiful Isaiah 53 where he outlines the work of the suffering servant and pointing out, really, that that redemption was going to be spiritual. Not just physical, but first and foremost, spiritual. And we know that was pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ, and we also know that the death of Christ is indeed the life of the church and therefore after foretelling of the suffering of Christ in chapter 53, Isaiah foretells of the flourishing of the church. Really in chapters 54 through 57, he points out the spiritual glory that awaits God's people. Again, our concern this morning to read chapter 54 and it's filled with so much we cannot begin to cover everything so i thought it might be good to have a heads up a little bit of what what we're going to be reading here and all that we find here we find in the context of the theme of from bad to good from something horrible to something pleasant from the curse to the blessing we see that as we read verses one through five that that the remnant would begin small but would indeed be greatly enlarged in verses 6 through 10 then though it seemed that god would withdraw from his people at times and remove his favor from them he would return in mercy he would not contend with them forever and then for a time indeed they would experience sorrow they would be under oppression but they would be advanced to great honor and splendor as we see in verses 11 and 12 and the knowledge righteousness and peace would flourish and prevail among them verses 13 and 14 and then the final verses we see that all the attempts against the church would be baffled and the church would indeed be secured from the malice and the threat of the enemies and the remnant was able to have such confidence and to be comforted in the midst of this good or bad to good language from curse to blessing language because of what we find in verse 10 and the beautiful character of our god and how isaiah brings that forth indeed i will read it in the esv i must confess that our church though we're on our way hopefully to switching over to the esv haven't done it yet and therefore i wasn't thinking and use the niv So we're going to, some of the words will be a little different throughout the course of the sermon. Isaiah chapter 54, hear now the word of the Lord. Sing, O barren one who did not bear. Break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor. For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married, says the Lord. Enlarge the place of your tent and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out. Do not hold back. Lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes, for you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and people and will people the desolate cities. Fear not, for you will not be ashamed and be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced. For you will forget the shame of your youth and the reproach of your widowhood. you will remember no more. For your maker is your husband. The Lord of hosts is his name. And the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. For the Lord has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God. For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing anger, for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer. This is like the days of Noah to me. As I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you and will not rebuke you. For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, But my steadfast love shall not depart from you. And my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord who has compassion on you. O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones. All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children. In righteousness you shall be established. You shall be far from oppression for you shall not fear and from terror for it shall not come near you. If anyone stirs up strife, it is not from me. Whoever stirs up strife with you shall fall because of you. Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created the ravager to destroy. No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed. And you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord. For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, But my steadfast or unfailing love shall not depart from you. And my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you. May God be pleased to add his blessing to the reading and consideration of his word this morning. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, some of you may remember hearing about six months ago that while I was trying to be a 16-year-old again with our youth group that I suffered a major knee injury. And while I was laid up of all of the cards and notes that I received, I received one from a widow lady in our congregation. Her husband died about a year and a half ago. He was a retired minister. His name was Reverend Martin Toonstra. And I received a card from her. And inside the card, she didn't write out the verse, but she simply wrote Isaiah 54, verse 10. And though I didn't know what that verse said specifically, I had a strong idea what might be included in that verse. You see, the very first time I met Reverend Toonstra after moving to Hudsonville, he said to me, do you know what the most beautiful word in the Hebrew language is? And before I could even venture a guess, I had no clue what he was thinking, he said it's the word chesed. You've got to kind of grind your throat when you say it a little bit, chesed. that word you see was embraced by their family of their four children two of them were twin daughters and at some point in the history of their family both of these daughters with their husbands and families were called to the foreign mission field separate places but before they left before the family was separated for those many miles and for that time reverend and mrs Tunstra gave each of the women in the family a necklace with the Hebrew spelling of chesed. And all of the men in the family received a tie clip with the very same word on it. Now these mementos, you see, were not meant to be some sort of lucky charm for the family, but these mementos were meant to remind their family as they would be miles apart, to remind them of the hope that each one of them embraced personally, and also then that hope that bound them together because of what that word means. Now, chesed is used in Scripture for both God and man. And it can be translated with a variety of words, for example, kindness, loving kindness, mercy, steadfast love, grace, faithfulness, devotion. With regard to God, the idea that ought always be understood is the loving kindness, the mercy, the faithfulness, the steadfastness, and the love of God. His covenant faithfulness pointing then to the most central attribute or quality or characteristic of God by which He obligates Himself to His people. By which he commits himself to his people in the covenant relationship in which he in essence says, you are my responsibility. I take responsibility for you. With his chesed, he gives confidence of his devotion to his people, including his sovereignty for us. All that he is for our benefit and for our good. He obligates Himself to be generous toward those He saves, being loyal to and merciful toward them who need redemption from sin and enemies and trouble. And that's exactly what we see the suffering servant accomplished in Isaiah 53. And therefore, that's also what we see is applied to God's people. That's what God's people receive in chapter 54, redemption, from sin, from enemies, from trouble. And you see, this was to be the confidence of that faithful remnant when they would be carried off into captivity. They could be separated from the promised land with this confidence. This was the confidence of the Toonstra family as they would be a half a world apart. And beloved, this is to be the confidence of all of God's people as we travel this life in the midst of a wicked world. And this is to be the confidence that we may have in our God that we are to teach to our children that by God's grace they too might know the chesed of God and to have that glorious confidence. And even though this life and even though the experiences of this life may seem to contradict this, we can be confident in the Lord's covenant faithfulness. His keset. His unfailing love, as the NIV says. His steadfast love, as the ESV says. That's that word in the text. The Lord's covenant faithfulness, which is, first of all, utterly immovable from His people. Now, that may seem somewhat simple. I mean, we know that, right? We confess He is a sovereign God. We confess we have nothing to worry with regard to our eternal state. We confess that He is always with us. We confess that with our lips. We know that in our heads. But do we really embrace that? Do we really know that deep down in our hearts that His covenant faithfulness, His steadfast love is utterly immovable from His people? Boys and girls, to put it another way, it is unshakable, it is unalterable, it is unchanging. or to put it in a positive way, it is firm. It is a mighty fortress. He has set His covenant faithfulness upon His own, never to be removed, never to be taken away from you and me, never to be diminished. It will not even be lessened. Our love often grows dim toward others. It often weakens. But not the unfailing love of our God. It is utterly immovable from His people because He is God. He is the God. Again, that seems simplistic, doesn't it? Something that we know. But as we think about the Old Testament church, Israel, and here specifically the kingdom of Judah, we know that they needed this reminder in the context in which they lived. They needed the reminder that He is the God, the one and only, and therefore He is the creator of all things. Maybe you notice as we read this chapter together that as Isaiah prophesies of the future glory of the church, he also reminds her of her trouble, that which he had prophesied before. He reminded her of that which was still future for her, her captivity, which we know would be in Babylon. And he describes that experience like being widowed, verse 4. Like a wife married young and then was rejected or cast off and deserted, verse 6. He describes it as one who was abandoned or deserted. Verse 7. We hear those things and there's not a lot of comfort in all of that. And we might be tempted to ask, as they might have been tempted to ask, is that supposed to make me feel better? And the answer is absolutely yes. Because the very same one who had abandoned or who would abandon them would bring them back. He would restore them. And then what makes this so comforting is this beautiful contrast that the Lord makes through Isaiah between the seeming momentary rejection of God and the never-ending, unfailing love of God. Verses 7 and 8. For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness i will have compassion on you says the lord your redeemer boys and girls we know that they were going to be in captivity they were in captivity for 70 years that's a whole generation for us but god says it's like a moment it's a moment in time compared to the everlasting love of god and understand too that these were not just nice sounding words after after Isaiah had given them the bad news and tried to settle them down a little bit so give them some nice-sounding words so they might not think about the bad that's coming. Not like putting salve over a wound that gives some temporary relief. These were the words of the Maker. In verse 5, For your Maker is your husband. The one who called them to be his wife is the Creator of the heavens and the earth and all things therein. The Lord Almighty is His name. The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. He is called the God of all the earth. The one and only Almighty God of all the earth who can say without hesitation and who can say with authority as He does in verse 10, though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken, nor my covenant of peace be removed says the lord who has compassion on you his covenant faithfulness is immovable because he is god the god but also then because he is sovereign again we say now wait a minute that's part and parcel of him being god we know that we confess that but remember old testament israel again had fallen over and over and over again to idolatry she had she had fallen into syncretistic worship the blending of the worship of the one true god with with idolatry and idols throughout her history and therefore she needed to the powerful reminder that the one who bound himself to them in that covenant relationship is the only god who exists not the gods of the nations he is the only one who exists And he had proven that again and again, for example, with the gods of Egypt or on Mount Carmel with Baal. And now, in this text, he puts a picture before his people, which was to be unmistakable. To point to his sovereignty, that he is the one and only God. The mountains and the hills. Now, the mountains and the hills in the eyes of mankind, we know, are grand. They are impressive. They are majestic. Coming from northwest Iowa, you have to believe that for me, the hills of Escondido were always beautiful and majestic looking. The rock formations. And you know that if you've seen the Rocky Mountains or the Canadian Rockies or maybe have been overseas somewhere, the Himalayas, or seen some of the great mountain peaks of this world, they are grand and they are impressive. you stand there and you are filled with awe and wonder you can hardly believe it as you stand there gazing upon them they leave you with a sense of strength with a sense of something impenetrable as if there is nothing that seems more permanent of course we know that that the mountains and the hills are subject to constant change from from erosion we can't see that with our eyes we know that the mountains and hills can be shifted due to earthquakes or they can be altered because of volcanic eruptions we think of mount saint helens many many years ago or they can be altered because of dynamite when they're building building an interstate freeway and one day we know as the bible tells us they will be completely removed as isaiah says in chapter 51 verse 6 lift up your eyes to the heavens look at the earth beneath the heavens will vanish like smoke and the earth will wear out like a garment and its habitations die like flies. But my salvation will last forever. My righteousness will never fail. Yet the truth is still that you gaze upon the mountain ranges and nothing seems more powerful. Nothing seems more stable or immovable. But God is. The God who made them. Psalm 90 is the prayer of Moses. In verse 2, we read, Before the mountains were born, or you brought forth the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. Boys and girls, before the mountains were born, before they were created, God is. He has been. He continues to be. The mountains and the hills are subject to Him. He's not subject to them. We read in Psalm 102, beginning at verse 25, In the beginning, you laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain. They will all wear out like a garment, like clothing. You will change them and they will be discarded. But you remain the same and your years will never end. The children of your servants will live in your presence. Their descendants will be established before you. In essence, our God looks, He says to the audience of Isaiah's day, He says to you and me today as well, look at the mountains. Go ahead. Gaze upon them. Take it all in. All of their majesty and their splendor and grandeur. And as you do so, as you think about how stable and how steadfast and how firm and how immovable those mountains seem, then know this without a doubt. That my unfailing love, My covenant of peace, my word, my salvation, as Isaiah says, is more so. These will never move. These will never change. These are to everlasting, and these are for you. Only this God is able to keep His word. And therefore, the remnant of true believers would be able to be separated from the promised land and from the presence of God for a time because of his chesed, because of his covenant faithfulness, his steadfast love and the truth of his word and the comfort of the truth of his word as the psalmist had in Psalm 73. Yet, I am always with you, no matter where I am. I am always with you. You hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward, you will take me into glory. Only this God, beloved, is the covenant God. He bound himself. He stuck himself, if you will. He committed himself to his people through Abraham. Remember when that covenant was made between God and Abraham, and the animals were cut in two and laid, the sides laid opposite? It wasn't Abraham who passed through. It wasn't even God and Abraham. It was God himself who symbolically passed through the pieces and promised, vowed that he would do what he had said. And those to whom he says, I will be your God and you shall be my people, they will never shake loose his grasp. And he will never let them go. Because for them, the Lord's covenant faithfulness, Secondly, it's completely dependable for His people. Without a doubt, dependable. Not only is it immovable from them, and therefore not only does it just sit there as it were, it works on behalf of His people. It is completely dependable for His people. Upon those whom He has compassion, as Isaiah says. And that idea of compassion is so very beautiful. Those who were needy, those who were in such a pitiable condition, Those who were completely dependent upon another, the Lord's compassion does for them that which they could not do for themselves. His covenant of faithfulness is completely dependable for His people. And therefore, it provides hope. Dependable hope. Dependable hope of redemption. In chapter 43, the Lord says through Isaiah, I have redeemed you. A beautiful phrase. I have redeemed you, He says. It hadn't taken place yet. But the Lord's word is so sure He could say it as if it was already a done deal. Because it would take place. Chapter 53 then again. The redeeming work of the suffering servant. Verse 5 of this chapter. For your maker is your husband. The Lord Almighty is His name. The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. He is called the God of all the earth. The dependable hope of redemption which was always God's covenant promise. In verse 4, we read again, Do not be afraid, you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace, you will not be humiliated, for you will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. Notice he doesn't say that they were never sinful, that they were never disgraced. He makes it clear that they were. But theirs is the dependable hope of redemption. God's covenant promise includes the sure hope of forgiveness. In Psalm 103, David says beautifully that God does not treat us as our sins deserve. He does not repay us according to our iniquities. And boys and girls and young people, we know that's because our Lord Jesus Christ was already paid according to what our sins deserve. He has already suffered for our iniquity. And therefore, David can say with confidence, as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. And as our Lord says again in Isaiah 43, as we heard a while ago, I remember your sin no more. You see, beloved, Israel's prostitution, which is exactly what it was, the covenant God had taken her for his bride and she had gone off with others. Israel's prostitution is a picture of all believers in sin. Yet his unfailing love is completely dependable for all who turn to Him in repentance and faith by the grace of God. For all who humble themselves in the sight of the Lord, theirs is a living hope, as Peter says, and that living hope very clearly is as the Word of God says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. That living hope is heard from the mouth of our Lord Jesus Christ when He says, come to me you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. completely dependable is god's covenant faithfulness providing hope the hope of redemption and the hope of god's presence in isaiah 43 that that beautiful chapter begins again but now this is what the lord says he who created you oh jacob he who formed you oh israel reminding them again of their origin fear not for i have redeemed you i have summoned you by name you are mine and then in a sense we have this so what when you pass through the waters i will be with you and when you pass through the rivers they will not sweep over you when you walk through the fire you will not be burned the flames will not set you ablaze for i am the lord your god the holy one of israel your savior again the remnant though separated from jerusalem and separated from the temple they would not really be separated from god as david says in psalm 103 but from everlasting to everlasting the lord's love is with those who fear him dependable hope of redemption dependable hope of god's presence and therefore dependable hope of restoration and renewal in verse 1 we read of many children in verse 2 of an enlarged tent pointing to the gospel going out throughout all the earth verse 3 offspring descendants overtaking the nations verse 4 they would not be left in shame and to grace and disgrace and all of this this restoration and renewal will be permanent verse 9 to me this is like the days of noah when i swore that the waters of noah would never again cover the earth so now i've sworn not to be angry with you never to rebuke you again never again would israel be cut off and we must take this to be talking about spiritual israel as paul makes clear in galatians chapter 4 never again will the church of jesus christ be abandoned never will she be separated from her head instead hers is the dependable hope of glory of jerusalem of the golden in verses 11 and 12 these verses point to god's people the bride being restored to a condition of beauty and glory and ultimately the glory of the church the bride adorned for her bridegroom as paul makes clear in ephesians that one day the lord jesus christ will present his bride to the father without spot or wrinkled or stained but instead radiant and holy and blameless again pointing to the splendor of the new jerusalem of which we read the scripture of which we sing the streets of gold the gates of pearl the sea of crystal dear people of god this hope of redemption this hope of god's presence this hope of restoration and renewal this hope of glory is completely dependable because of what we read in verse 14 in righteousness you will be established the church of jesus christ has been established by and in the perfect righteousness of jesus christ his righteousness is the believer's precious possession and gives a certain hope for god's people while we remain on this side of glory that the Lord's covenant faithfulness is completely dependable for His people as it provides comfort in trials. Again, Israel's captivity was still future. But this remnant would be taken away with the promise and the comfort of God's covenant faithfulness and the truth of His Word that she would not be forgotten, that she would not be abandoned forever. We know that the church of Jesus Christ today, we know that God's people have never, ever, ever been promised that we would never suffer affliction of any kind. That we would never suffer the temporary removal of God's favor for a season because of our sin. We do suffer. And sometimes it hurts bad. We suffer greatly. But dear people of God, we have been promised by the unfailing Word of God that nothing in all creation shall ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. We have been promised in John chapter 10 that nothing will be able to snatch the sheep of the good shepherd out of his father's hand. We have been promised by our God, call upon me in the day of trouble. I will hear you. I will answer you. And especially God's people are able to cling to the dependability of the Lord's covenant faithfulness which provides confidence in attack. Notice again verses 14 through 17. Interesting verses. In righteousness, you will be established. Tyranny will be far from you. You will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed. It will not come near you. And then notice, it's as if all of a sudden God speaks out of the other side of his mouth. If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing. Whoever attacks you will surrender to you. see it is i who created a blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work and it is i who have created the destroyer to work havoc no weapon forged against you will prevail and you will refute every tongue that accuses you this is the heritage of the servants of the lord and this is their vindication from me declares the lord you notice what our god says there in times of attack remember this i created the enemy i made him i'm the creator i created the enemy with the ability to create his tools of destruction but i also control when where and how he uses those tools of destruction the church of jesus christ will be and is attacked in this life the devil hates christ the devil hates his church he hates the word of god he seeks the church of destruction yet god uses these attacks to sharpen his people to rally his people to cause us to examine ourselves to strengthen our faith and draw us closer to him and to increase our assurance that indeed our enemies are also in his hand our enemies the enemies of the christ and his church are subject to him and therefore they can do nothing to remove his unfailing love and protection from his people and ours is the confidence with paul in second corinthians chapter four for our light and momentary troubles even a 70 year captivity our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. We do not fix our eyes on the mountains as glorious and strong as they appear, but we fix our eyes on the maker of those mountains. And our God's unfailing love provides confidence, especially in the face of Satan's accusation. We have to turn to that beautiful Romans 8. In verse 31, Paul says, What then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? We just considered all that which can be against us. But Paul's point is, nothing can be effectively against God's people. And then he goes on in verse 33, Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is He that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died more than that, who was raised to life, is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Beloved, if this truth has not gripped you yet, I pray that it does, and that it does soon and quickly. The truth of ourselves is crystal clear. Paul says earlier in Romans, For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no, not one. Satan accuses us before the throne of God. He knows what he is talking about. It's almost as if you can picture Satan standing there between God the Father on the throne and his people looking back and forth, looking at the Father, pointing at his people, saying, look, after all you've done for them, they still can't get it right. They still sin against you. You must do something about it. The Lord Jesus Christ says he has. He's at the right hand of God interceding for us. And even though we stumble and fall in sin, each and every day of our lives, our confidence is in our Lord Jesus Christ who is completely dependable for His people. He has perfectly kept. He has perfectly fulfilled that covenant of grace. He has brought His believers into perfect peace with God. Indeed, there are so many situations and so many circumstances and so many people in this life that seek to shake that peace from us or us from that peace. They seek to strip us of it, even our sinful selves, as we struggle with doubt and temptation. But God will not let His people go. Ever. We are His. He says that most beautiful three-word phrase again in Isaiah 43. He looks at His people. he looks at you and me as believers and he says you are mine you belong to me and that is how we are able when we celebrate the sacrament of the lord's supper that's how we are able to approach the lord's table and partake of that table with confidence that visible picture of our god's covenant faithfulness his unfailing steadfast love and that again beloved is the truth that is to be taught and impressed upon our children. That's the promise we made in baptism. To teach them these things. To impress that upon them. That they may be taught that the things of this life are undependable no matter how stable they appear. The things of this life are undependable. They are transient. They come and go. They give no lasting comfort. But God alone is our refuge and strength. His love is unfailing. It is from everlasting to everlasting. Akeset is indeed a beautiful word. It speaks of the Almighty God's devotion to His people. Think about that. He is devoted to. He is loyal to His people, to you and me. One commentator says rightly and beautifully, the infinite, undying, imperishable love of God is mine. Older than the mountains, deeper than their roots, wider than the heavens, stronger than all my sin is the love that grasps me and keeps me and will not let me go and lavishes its tenderness upon me and beseeches me and pleads with me and woos me and rebukes me and corrects me when I need. And finally, and sent His Son to die for me. Beloved, we are not, may we not fasten our love, our hope, our joy upon that which changes, that which perishes. But this promise of God is to undergird and to fortify us always, especially during the stormy seasons of life. God, to be sure the loving kindness of our God is good and free. It gives us hope of eternal life, even though our bodies die, even though our bodies decay. Yet this one, who is Lord of all, his unfailing love is utterly immovable from his people. It is completely dependable for his people. Amen. Let's pray together. Our Father in heaven, we humbly thank you for your precious word. Indeed, most likely each and every one of us as believers walked into this church building this morning able to confess these things but maybe not totally meditating upon them and understanding the truth of them. We pray, Father, that we may leave with a greater impression of your truth upon our hearts and lives of your covenant faithfulness. We praise you for your steadfast love, that promises to hold us and keep us and care for us, both now and forever. So that when we are called upon to face death, should our Lord tarry. That by your grace we may face it with confidence and to close our eyes here as we open them in the presence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We praise you for your goodness. Hear our prayer, O Lord, for Jesus' sake. In his name we pray these things. Amen.