Let us turn in the Word of God together for our scripture reading this morning to Isaiah chapter 42. Isaiah chapter 42. We'll read the first nine verses together. Isaiah chapter 42, beginning at verse 1, let us hear God's own word. God says, Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight. I will put my spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice. He will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope. This is what God the Lord says. He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people and life to those who walk on it. I am the Lord. I have called you in righteousness. I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and make you a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles. To open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison, and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord, that is my name. I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare. Before they spring into being, I announce them to you. So far the reading of God's Word. Most of you have probably noticed that just before the service, a group of people come through that door somewhat mysteriously. Most of you probably know what goes on behind that door, but maybe some of you don't. The elders and the deacons and the ministers meet in that room to pray before the service. And then sometimes before they pray for a little bit of chit-chat. We're a friendly group. And this morning, Steve Hauerzile came up to me and he said, you preached the first service after Reverend Hauerzile retired and the first service after Reverend Kaminga retired and now the first service after Reverend Voss has taken another call. He said, I guess that makes you the period. I said I'd prefer to think of myself as the beginning of a new paragraph. But whether we think of this service as a period or the beginning of a new paragraph, it's a very significant day, isn't it? It's a day of transition. And one of the aspects of a transition is that it's difficult. It's difficult to say goodbye. It will be difficult for the congregation. It will be difficult for the Voss family. And not only do we think of transition in terms of saying goodbye, but it means we face a somewhat uncertain future. And we're very thankful that Reverend Donovan is here, so we're not left pastorless. But we will be establishing a search committee, Begin to think about another pastor, and that future is somewhat uncertain. And any time the future is uncertain, it's difficult. That makes it a little difficult for a preacher. What do you preach on a difficult, significant transition Sunday? Actually, I had remembered that I'd done this before, and I looked back at those two other sermons, and I thought, no, I don't think so. Preachers often feel that way about old sermons. Gee, it was really good at the time. I wonder what happened to it. But difficult days, where do we turn in difficult days? And of course, difficult days are part of living, aren't they? We do have a difficult day and transition in this congregation, but many of us in this congregation face difficult days in a variety of ways, don't we? There's sickness in the congregation and physical struggles. There's grief in the congregation. People mourning over loved ones who are lost. Difficult days as we think about our country and the economic and political issues before our land. Difficult days as we think about the Church of Christ worldwide. Its struggles varying from place to place, but still struggles. So we worry about the decline of the influence of Christ and his church in many places. Decline of faithfulness in other places within the church itself. Where do we turn in difficulty? And this isn't a trick question. It's an easy question, isn't it? We turn to the scriptures, to the word of God, to the word that God has for us, words that speak to us in every circumstance of life. And I was drawn to this 42nd chapter of Isaiah's prophecy this morning because it's rich and profound declarations about God and who He is. God as the Creator. God as the Life-Giver. God as the History-Controller. God as the Savior-Sender. It's a wonderful picture of God. And it's a wonderful picture of our Christ. The one chosen by God, beloved of God, filled with God's Spirit. The one who is sent in the world to be kind and gentle, to bring salvation to his people. And then the great mission of Christ, that he will bring justice into the world. He'll bring what's right into the world. So, it's a wonderful, rich passage of Scripture. It's a passage quoted prominently in the New Testament, quoted at Jesus' baptism, quoted at Jesus' transfiguration, quoted to summarize Jesus' mission for preachers through the whole history of the church. It's been in great encouragement to say to God's people, a bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. If you feel the strength of your life is no more than a broken reed or a smoldering wick, Christ has come for you. So it's a wonderful, wonderful passage with statements about truth, about God and about Christ and about his mission. But this morning I want to focus particularly on the promises God makes at the heart of this passage. Verse 6, three promises. Three promises that God has made. In times of difficulty, we need above all the promises of God. What he has declared to his people, he will surely do. And there are three promises here. The first is, I have called you in righteousness. And the second is, I will take you by the hand and keep you. And the third is, I will give you as a covenant to the people and a light to the nations. Three wonderful promises. Now, these promises are made in the first place to Jesus as the servant of God. Preeminently, it's Jesus who was called by God in righteousness. It was Jesus who was taken by the hand and kept. And it was Jesus who was given as a covenant for the people and a light to the nations. And it would be perfectly appropriate for me as a preacher to spend this whole sermon just talking about how those promises are fulfilled in Jesus, in what he did, in what he accomplished. But I don't want us to miss this morning that because we are in Jesus as his people, these promises are for us as well. It's not just to Jesus that God said, I called you in righteousness. It's to us, he says, I called you in righteousness. It's not just to Jesus that he says, I will hold you by the hand and keep you. It's to us that he says that because we're in Jesus. And it's not even just to Jesus that he says, I will give you as a light to the nations. It's to us as well. And that's what I want to think with you this morning as we think about the future. As we think about who we are as Christians and as a congregation, who we are as Escondido United Reformed Church, how we begin to think not only about the period but the beginning of the paragraph. What does it mean that God has promised to be with us and to go with us? What does it mean for who we are and how we understand ourselves? What does it mean for how we plan about the future? These promises need to inform us and direct us and guide us. And so first of all, I have called you in righteousness. That's a promise. God says to Jesus in the first place and to us secondarily, I have done something. And what I have done is I have called you. In Jesus' case, I have called you, I have chosen you, I have given you my spirit, I have testified in your baptism that you are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased and in whom I will accomplish, accomplish my saving purpose in the world. But also God comes to us and he says, as I called Jesus in righteousness, so I call you as his people in righteousness. I have called you. This is where we begin. We are grounded in God's call. For those of you who are note takers, that's really point one. I don't want you to be confused about that. Grounded in God's call. Who are we? We are the people called of God. Now, what is the nature of the calling of God? I don't know if some of you parents had this experience. Occasionally, I would be sent out to call the kids in for dinner. and I'd call and very often there was little response and then I'd have to go hunt calling wasn't always enough you kids resonate with that at all sometimes there's a call that reveals a staggering deafness in children God's call is never like that God doesn't just say things and wonder if anybody hears God doesn't just say things and wonder if anybody will respond God's call is an effectual call that's what he's talking about here it's a call that has the effect he sets out to accomplish and what he's saying to us as his people as he said to Jesus is I have called you that means you're mine that means I've chosen you That means I've brought you to myself. I've called you to be my people. You need to be grounded in that calling. You need to know that's who you are. You're not just anybody. You're the people called by God. Called to himself. Called to life. He's called you by the Word. That's why we have always so stressed the importance of the preaching of the Word and the reading of the Word. The Word is what God uses to call people to Himself. We're called by the Spirit. The Spirit working through the Word and in our hearts is how we're brought to God. As Jesus was called in His baptism, so we're called in our baptism. I sometimes think we don't think about baptism enough. We are a baptized people. That is, we are a called people. God has put his mark upon us. It's a sign of what he said to us. You belong to me. And as we think about the future, as we think about going forward, we need to be filled individually and corporately as a congregation with that sense. I've been called by God. I belong to him. And God says here, I have called you in righteousness. I puzzled over that for a while. What exactly does God mean when he says, I called you in righteousness? Does he mean I called you to be righteous? Well, he certainly says that many places in scripture. But I don't think that's what he's saying here. I think he's saying here, I have called you by my righteousness. And what he means by that is my calling is irrevocable and unstoppable. As I am righteous, what I have set out to do, I will accomplish. I've called you in righteousness. Don't worry that I'll keep my promise. It's backed up, God says, by my own integrity. I will not fail in my purpose. I have called you. I have put my name upon you. And I've done it backed by the full faith and credit of my name. We used to say that the full faith and credit of the United States was something you could stake your life on. We're not quite so sure anymore. But the full faith and credit of our God is absolutely reliable. untouched by inflation, deflation, or debt ceilings. I have called you in righteousness, and I will accomplish it. And then God wants to sort of underline this promise, underscore this promise. I've called you in righteousness, and I can keep my promise, because as Isaiah says here, I created heaven and earth. You remember him saying that in verse 5. This is what the Lord God says. He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes in it. How did God do that? He called it into being, didn't He? He said it, and it was. He calls things that are not and makes them to be. And if God could bring heaven and earth into being by the word of His power, He can call us to Himself and guarantee His promise. that we are His, and we will remain His. We belong to Him. I have called you in righteousness. That's the first promise. And the second promise is, I will take you by the hand and keep you. I will take you by the hand and keep you. God made that promise to Jesus, didn't He? We say that earlier in Isaiah 42. I put my spirit on you. God said to Jesus. And the Spirit of God went with Jesus through his whole ministry. God protected him. God led him. And even when it seemed that Jesus was not being protected, when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane and the soldiers came to arrest him, what did Jesus say when his disciples rather pitifully tried to protect him? He said, what are you doing? I can call 12 legions of angels to come and protect me. My Father has not abandoned me. My Father has not let go of my hand. My Father has not failed to guard me, even though I enter these days of difficulty and suffering and death. And as that promise was true in Jesus, so that promise is true to us. God says, I will take you by the hand. In the original, it's even a little stronger. I will grab your hand. I will squeeze your hand. I will cling to your hand. God's not letting go. And therefore, he says, I will guard you. It's not just keep. It's, I will watch over you. I will protect you. I will preserve you. It's the same word that we find repeated over and over again in Psalm 121. So wonderfully set to music by Mendelssohn in the Elijah. He watching over Israel slumbers not nor sleeps. But watching over sounds almost sometimes like from a distance he is glancing at us. That's not the idea. He's hovering over us. He's standing guard over us. He's watching actively. That's why the poet says he slumbers not in our sleeps. The faithful guard on duty doesn't fall asleep, does he? And that's what God is for us. Every moment of every day in every difficulty, God is with us, holding our hand, guarding us, protecting us. That's the promise. He'll never let us go. And as we face the future then, it's not only that we have been called, but we will be kept. That's the promise. And again, we might ask, well, can God really fulfill that promise? And again, we find right in this passage itself, the assurance, the guarantee that God not only could do something for us in the past, but he will always be able to do for us in the future what he promises. Verse 9 of Isaiah 42, God says, See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare. Before they spring into a being, I announce them to you. Here's the God of prophecy, the God who can tell about the future. In Isaiah 41, God spent a lot of time contrasting himself with the idols of the nations. The idols just sit there. They can't speak and they can't tell you the future because they have no knowledge and they have no power. I, the Lord, am the only one who can tell you the future. And I can tell you the future, the Lord says, because I rule the future. I direct the future. I bring the future into being, says the Lord. And so when I say I will hold you by the hand in the future, and I will guard you in the future, I can make that promise and I'll keep that promise because I'm the Lord of the future. What a wonderful confidence that should give us. What a wonderful assurance that should give us. It's interesting, you know, how much time and energy certain liberal Bible scholars have gone to to try to show there aren't any really reliable prophecies in the Bible. Prophecies are all written after the event. And anybody can be a prophet after the event, right? I knew that was going to happen. but we need to bear in mind that as Isaiah is writing hundreds of years before the coming of Jesus, but is speaking about Jesus over and over and over again in all sorts of ways. If in no other way we can say with absolute certainty, Isaiah said, a Messiah is going to come, and Messiah came. God knows the future. But of course, Isaiah knew much more than just that general truth, didn't he? He knew a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. He knew his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God. He knew that he would give his life a ransom for many. He knew by the spirit of God's prophecy so many things because God controls the future. And that's the assurance for us. That's the promise that surrounds us that God will take us by the hand and hold on and guard us and protect us. Not always, perhaps, in exactly the way we'd like. Just as Jesus in the garden had to say, Father, I want this cup to pass from me, but still not as you will, but as I will. But in those struggles, in those difficulties, God has not let go of our hand. God has not fallen asleep on guard duty. Because his promise here is he'll never do that. We are grounded in his call. And we are guarded by his care. Those are the first two wonderful promises of this text. And then there's a third promise. I will make you a covenant for the people and a light for the nations. Well, we can see how abundantly this is fulfilled in Jesus, can't we? Jesus is the new covenant. Jesus is the one who came to be the great light in the world. When Jesus began his public ministry, Matthew quoted from Isaiah chapter 9, the people who dwelt in darkness have seen a great light. Jesus came as the great light into the world to bring salvation to the world, to accomplish salvation on the cross, to bear the sins of his people on the cross, that they might be saved. And so we immediately see how Jesus is the new covenant and the great light coming to the world. God promised that he'd be that and that's what he was. And we live in an age, don't we, that Isaiah probably could hardly have imagined. He said that the Savior would bring justice to the islands of the sea, meaning as far away as you can imagine. But Isaiah couldn't have imagined Escondido. And yet light has shined around the world, even to Escondido. Surely it's amazing how God has kept this promise in Jesus that he'd be the light of the world. But you know, when that great light arose in Israel, and he preached his sermon on the mount, what did he say to his disciples? He said, you are the light of the world. And one of the promises that we need to hold on to is not only the promise that we have been called by God to be his people, not only the promise that he will keep us as his people and never let us go, But we need to hold on to the promise that he will use us as his people, that he will give us to be the light to the nations. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, you are the light of the world. And maybe we shy away from that a little bit. No, no, not me. I don't want the light to shine on me. I don't think I'm up for being the light of the world. How big a bulb do I have to be to be the light of the world? Of course, when Isaiah speaks, when Jesus speaks, he's not talking about us each individually, simply on our own, being the light of the whole world. But he's saying we are to be a light shining in a dark world. You notice how in verse 7, Isaiah goes on to talk about the darkness of this world it's a world in which eyes are blind and do not see the light it's a world in which captives sit in dark prisons where they do not see the light and he's speaking poetically here isn't he Jesus literally healed the blind but the really important thing was he was testifying to how he was light coming to dark hearts and souls and minds to open them up to the truth and when we think about who we are and what promises God has given us when we think about the future we have to always remember God has set us has given us to be lights the NIV says I will make you a light but really it says I give you to be a light we are the light and he wants us to be the light in the world and this is an important part of our calling we need to keep that in mind our individual lives where we go have to reflect the light that has shone in our own souls our families need to reflect that our church as a congregation needs to be a light shining in our community, shining the light of Jesus Christ. We took our offering this morning for Project Philip, and that's a light that shines into prisons to help people hear the Word of God and to know about Christ. Calvin Christian School is starting up in the next few days. It's a light that has been established in this community of Christian education. And these are lights that Jesus has called us to shine in the world. To help people see Christ, to help people see salvation in him. And so as we think about the future, we need to think how can we continue to be and more and more be the lights that Christ has given us to be. But the wonderful thing is, he's promised we will be light. He promised that in him we are light. And so as we face a difficult time, a transition time, a time that may be worrisome to some of us as a congregation, and as you in various ways experiencing the difficulties of your lives, don't let the world determine the way you think, but turn to the promises of God. Promises that in this section of Isaiah are bracketed, are begun and ended with powerful words. The words, I am the Lord. It doesn't come through clearly in verse 6 in the NIV translation, but it's very clear in the original. The promises begin and end with the declaration, I am the Lord. I am the Lord who keeps promises. And these are the promises that you are to be going on with, says the Lord. I have called you in righteousness. I will keep you by the hand and guard you. And I will make you a covenant to the people and a light to the nations. May we all go forward together in that confidence. Amen. Let us pray. O Lord, we thank you for the richness of your word. And we thank you for the promises that you have made to us as Christians. We marvel that you are so good to us. We marvel that you are so kind to us. And we pray that you will minister these promises deeply to our hearts. So that whatever the struggles, whatever the difficulties, whatever the needs, we may know that we may trust your promises, for you are the Lord. Hear us, for we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.