Infinite Worth February 15, 2026

Welcome, good morning, fellowship. Man, what a privilege it is to be here with each and every one of you today as we continue to sing praises to Jesus Christ, our Lord, the risen Son of God. And for any of you who are relatively new with us this morning, my name is Ben Parkinson. I'm one of four, what we call teaching pastors here at fellowship, whether you're joining us in the chapel or here in the worship center or online at home and all across the world. Who gets the privilege of coming alongside our other three teaching pastors, Justin and Mark and Brandon to lead and teach the church in the team oriented way that we do across all of our campuses. So if I haven't had a chance to meet you yet, maybe I've been on another campus when you've been here most of the time and you have some time for the service, please come find me, say hi. I would love that. It'd be a huge blessing to me. And before we dive into Isaiah 25 this morning, I do want to remind everyone of the special gospel and culture conversation we're going to have as a church family tomorrow night. Speaking to a gospel perspective on the things that we're feeling around immigration and around the recent events in Minneapolis. So man, if you can join us for that, we'd love for you to, it's going to be on this campus tomorrow night at 6 PM in the warehouse. And then we'll have overflow room in the chapel for anyone that gets here later. If we fill up, I don't know how many of you are going to come. So I want to make sure we have room for everyone there, but we really do hope that you can be there with us for this important family conversation that we want to have as a church. And today we are in the second week of this series that we're preaching on the glory of God in the book of Isaiah, looking at seven different passages, moving through Isaiah from start to finish, not preaching every chapter, every verse of it, but moving from beginning to end in seven passages that we're calling infinite worth, infinite worth about the glory of God, which comes from our definition of glory as a church family, which is that God's glory is the public display of his infinite worth.

The idea being that God's always glorious, whether anyone sees it or not, he's always worthy to be praised whether anyone sees it or not. When he publicly displays his infinite worth in some way, whether it be to the angelic realm, whether it be to the human realm or any other realm he's created that we don't know about, when he does that, that is what brings him glory, glory. And that's how we bring him glory too. When we point others to how worthy of praise God is by singing about it, like we do on Sunday mornings together, telling others about it, pointing out God's public displays of his infinite worth when we see them happening in the world or by even imitating those things ourself through the power of the spirit in us, we can bring God glory. His glory is the public display of his infinite worth, but not only is God displaying his infinite worth in a public way, bringing him glory, it also blesses everyone and everything that he has created. That's how perfect and amazing our God is, that because he's perfect in every way, anytime he glorifies himself, it always blesses those created in his image, you and I. We're going to see that over and over again in this series. We'll see it in our passage today, but it's an important concept to understand because sometimes if we're not careful, and I've spoken to some believers before who have this question, they're like, man, doesn't it seem a little bit almost narcissistic for God to want everyone to glorify him? Doesn't it seem a little selfish for God to create all of this just for his glory and for us to worship him and give him glory? I mean, if someone else did that, we wouldn't think it was great, we would think it was a problem, right? Satan tried to do that, tried to become equal with God and take his glory from him, want everyone to glorify him, we would say that wasn't a good thing. We see people on the earth trying to rob God of his glory and kind of get glory for themselves in unhealthy ways, we would say that's not a very good thing. So why is it okay for God to be that way? Well, the reason why it's okay is what we talked about last week, we kicked off this

series in Isaiah six, because God is wholly set apart, different from any other being that exists and that he is perfect. He's completely righteous. He is love. He is all these things that no one else, no other being is in a perfect way. And so because of that, when God brings glory to himself, different than any other being who exists, it always results in blessing those that he's created. So for instance, God is love. Therefore, when he glorifies that aspect of himself, his love, it results in him loving us. Because God is grace, when he glorifies that in himself, it results in him pouring out his grace on us. Because God is salvation, when he glorifies himself, it results in him saving us, right? He is restoration. We'll talk about that in Isaiah 61. When he glorifies that part of himself, it results in him restoring us and our lives around us. Now, when he publicly displays who he is, when he brings himself glory, it always results in good things for those who he has created, which is unlike any other being that exists. We'll see that in our chapter today, our section today in Isaiah chapter 25, starting in verse one, if you wanna make your way there, if you have your Bibles with you. Of course, we'll have the verses on the screen

if you wanna follow along that way. But in this passage, we're gonna see God glorify something about himself in a public way that's gonna bless everyone who saw it back then, everyone who reads about it now, thousands of years later, like us. I think we're gonna see God do that here. And we're gonna look at Isaiah 25, starting in verse one, we're gonna read all the way through 26, verse 12. I know that's a bigger chunk than we usually bite off on a given Sunday, but I wanna read it all together to hear it the way they would have heard it back in 700 BC, and then we'll dive into the details of it. Let's look at the word of God this morning. Isaiah chapter 25, verse one, the prophet writes, "'O Lord, you are my God, and I will exalt you. "'I will praise your name, for you've done wonderful things, "'plans formed of old, faithful, and sure. "'For you've made the city a heap, "'the fortified city a ruin. "'The foreigner's palace is a city no more. "'It will never be rebuilt. "'Therefore, strong peoples will glorify you. "'Cities of ruthless nations will fear you, "'for you have been a stronghold to the poor, "'a stronghold to the needy in his distress, "'a shelter from the storm, and a shade from the heat. "'For the breath of the ruthless

"'is like a storm against a wall, "'like heat in a dry place. "'You subdue the noise of the foreigners "'as heat by the shade of a cloud. "'So the song of the ruthless is put down. "'But on this mountain, the Lord of hosts "'will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, "'a feast of well-aged wine, "'of rich food full of marrow, "'of aged wine well-refined. "'And he will swallow up on this mountain "'the covering that is cast over all the peoples, "'the veil that is spread over all nations. "'He will swallow up death forever. "'And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, "'and the reproach of his people "'he will take away from all the earth, "'for the Lord has spoken. "'And it will be said on that day, "'Behold, this is our God. "'We have waited for him that he might save us. "'This is the Lord. "'We've waited for him. "'Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. "'For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain. "'And Moab shall be trampled down in his place, "'as straws trampled down in a dunghill. "'And he will spread out his hands in the midst of it, "'as a swimmer spreads out his hands out to swim. "'But the Lord will lay low his pompous pride,

"'together with the skill of his hands. "'And the high fortifications of his walls "'he will bring down, "'lay low and cast to the ground, to the dust.'" Chapter 26 says, "'In that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah. "'We have a strong city. "'He sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks, "'open the gates that the righteous nation "'that keeps faith may enter in. "'You keep him in perfect peace, "'whose mind is stayed on you, "'because he trusts in you.'" Trust in the Lord forever. For the Lord God is an everlasting rock. For he's humbled the inhabitants of the height of the lofty city. He lays it low, lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust. The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy. The path of the righteous is level. You make level the way of the righteous. In the path of your judgment, O Lord, we wait for you. Your name and remembrance are a desire of our soul. My soul yearns for you in the night. My spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. But if favor is shown to the wicked,

he does not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness, he deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the Lord. O Lord, your hand is lifted up, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your righteousness. your people and be ashamed. Let the fire for your adversaries consume them. Oh Lord, you will ordain peace for us, for you've indeed done for us all our works. Fair words of God, amen. Man, that's good. Well, I wanted to read that all together. I know it was a bigger chunk, like we said, but I want us to hear, let it wash over us the way that they would have heard it back in Isaiah's day, because as we take a look at what God actually displays here in a public way, that shows his infinite worth, and then talk about the implications of that in our own lives, we're gonna have to move back and forth through the passage, it won't just be kind of verse after verse after verse, so I wanted us to look at it the way that they would have read it then. But it says something really interesting about what God displays and what that's meant to bless us with if we trust him in it. What does God display here? What do we actually see him do in this passage? Well, what he shows us here is that one of the many ways God displays his infinite worth to the world

that blesses us is through humbling those, oppressing others in his justice. We see that multiple times throughout this passage. I'll reread a couple of the places, but it's not all of them, right? I'm not gonna read the part about Moab, I'm not gonna read the part afterwards where he says it again, but let's just look at two sections where he brings this up, this idea that what we see him do here, this public display of his infinite worth, there are times where God publicly displays the humbling of those who are oppressing others. Look back at chapter 25, verses two through four with me. He says, for you've made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin, the foreigner's palace is a city no more. It will never be rebuilt. Therefore, strong peoples will glorify you. Cities of ruthless nations will fear you. Why, he says, for you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. And I love this, the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall, right? Like waves of a hurricane coming to crash in and take out a city on the coast, yet they built walls that it just comes up against and has no power, it doesn't destroy anything. He says, that's what you've done to the ruthless

coming against the poor and needy in this particular moment in history Isaiah is looking at. And then again, down in chapter 26, verses five and six, he says it again, for he has humbled the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city, he lays it low. He lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust, the foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, meaning they're trampling it, the steps of the needy are trampling this great city that was oppressing them. So in both of these sections, Isaiah is seeing God act in history, isn't he? In a way that is powerful and mighty, those who have gotten their wealth and their power from mistreating the poor, those who have built up their wealth on the backs of the desperation of the needy, right? That happens all the time in our world. They're those who see someone who's desperate, see someone who's hurting, see someone who has no way out and they think instead of man, how can I help them? They think I can take advantage of that. I can make some money off of that. I can gain some power off of their desperation because of their need. It says in this moment, Isaiah is looking at the Lord and he moves in power in that moment in history to bring those oppressive people low. In a public way, Isaiah says, I've seen the Lord defeat them humiliate them, expose them, bring down the lofty city.

This still happens today, doesn't it? In our midst. Whether it's an individual like Jeffrey Epstein that we've seen recently, who's finally exposed and brought to justice in a very public way. Whether it's a corporation like Purdue Pharma who had to pay billions recently for their role in the opioid epidemic that still plagues our country today or the downfall of corrupt governments or national leaders throughout history, like a Hitler or a Mussolini, a Muammar Gaddafi or a Saddam Hussein on a much more regular basis than we give God credit for, he publicly displays his power and his ability to look at the evil being perpetrated on the earth at times by an individual, by an organization, by a nation and say, that's enough. That's enough. And he steps in and he stops it in moments in history. And when we see God glorify himself by displaying his justice in those moments on the earth, it's actually meant to bless us with something like we said, right? Whenever he glorifies himself, it blesses those he's created. And what I've realized in sitting in this passage is one of the ways that seeing his justice show up on the earth in moments in history, it's actually meant to bless us with that.

that peace that we all long for that surpasses all human understanding. His justice is meant to give us peace, right? I mean, that's the verse in Philippians that many of us beg God for all the time. It may be a verse you pray every day. It may be a memory verse you've had logged away in your Bible or in the cards that you flip through in your month, Philippians 4, 6-7, where God says through the apostle Paul, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, there it is, that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Man, so many of us, if not all of us, wake up every day desperately wanting to feel that peace in our inner being, don't we? That sense that everything's gonna be okay. No matter what happens today, I'm gonna be okay. We all long for that calmness in the midst of the storms happening either in our lives or that we see happening in the chaotic world all around us that can make us feel out of control, that can make us feel so afraid. And as I've sat in this passage, preparing for this, part of what God's showing me here is that one of the reasons that I probably don't experience that peace

that I long for, no matter how many times I ask him for it, because I've prayed about it a lot. I've asked him for it a lot, and yet, I don't know about you but sometimes the second I come up from that prayer and open my eyes, I'm still anxious. I'm still nervous. I'm begging him to give me that inner peace. And he says, just, hey, pray, ask it, cast your cares on him. And I look up and I'm still like, man, I still feel pretty anxious. Still feel pretty nervous, right? And so many times what I've realized sitting in this passage is I think it's because I'm not connecting the peace I'm asking him for with the justice I see him exacting on the earth. I'm not connecting those two things in my heart the way Isaiah does here. You say, Ben, where does he connect that? Look back at Isaiah 26, three with me, where he says, you keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on you because he trusts in you. You keep an individual in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts you. He alludes to this idea of peace in the midst of his justice. Again, we'll put these verses on the screen, but in 26, 11 and 12 that we read, the very end of the passage that we read, he says, oh Lord, your hand is lifted up,

but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people and be ashamed. Let the fire for your adversaries consume. He said, I need you to show your justice in real time and space history. Why? Verse 12, oh Lord, you will ordain peace for us. He connects it to this idea of us feeling peace for you've indeed done for us all our works. Now in the midst of God talking about bringing justice to the powerful and the oppressive in a public way, he all of a sudden starts talking about peace that surpasses all human understanding when we trust in God. And I think that's part of what we miss when we ask God for peace. We ask him for it, but then instead of trusting him, instead of trusting his character, instead of trusting who he is, we immediately look up and begin immediately doubting if he is who he says he is. Immediately questioning if he cares, if he's gonna do anything about it, we've just asked him to do something about it. We immediately return to feeling anxious because we're not keeping our mind stayed on him. The things that are causing us to feel like our lives are out of control, and yet verse three here says that God keeps a person in perfect peace when our minds are stayed on him,

when our minds are focused on him, settled on him. And notice it says, because he trusts in you. That's the difference. That's the difference. That if we wanna experience that peace that we long for, that peace that the rest of the world can't comprehend or understand in the midst of the chaos that we're all living through, he says you gotta block out that chaos and focus your minds and hearts on the character of God, on who he is, on what you've seen him do past, present, and what he promises to do in the future. The ways he's been displaying his glory on the earth in the midst of those chaotic moments of our lives. As I was thinking about this, I was reminded of how God gave me a picture of this with our kids and our family a while ago when they were younger. Amy and I loved to hike and do outdoorsy stuff. And so we would always drag our kids with us, right? And we would do those things. And some of them loved it, right? Our oldest still loves it today. She's living in Santa Fe, big rock climber, does crazy things I would never attempt. And we drug her into that world and she loved it. Our younger one really loved a lot of it. In fact, sometimes when we go hiking, she would run ahead of us at a young age and give us a little bit of a ride.

get into scary things she shouldn't have been without us And she was a little bit of a slob. and really frustrate us because she had almost too much courage in that way. She was a little bit of a slob. She was a little bit of a slob. She was a little bit of a slob. Older one loved it, courageous. She was a little bit of a slob. Younger one loved it, probably a little too courageous. Middle one got all the fear from our family. Now she loved being outdoors. She would love going and hiking and dreaming about what God may be doing in the midst of the woods and the leaves and the butterflies. Maybe those are really fairies changing the seasons and just like Tinkerbell taught us. So she was all into that and all into kind of, man, what might be happening, all the little magpies. Maybe those are, you know, little gnome trees. She loved that part of it. But when we get to something scary, she was not a big fan. When we get to something that took a little bit of courage, and I remember one time, I don't know what we were thinking, we went and did one of those treetop courses with them. You know, the ones where you kind of hook into the rock climbing harness and you kind of clip yourself in so that if you fall, you don't really fall. I mean, there's some slack there, you're gonna fall, but it's gonna catch you hopefully.

And we got up there, but you climb up, you're up in the treetops doing all these crazy things, going across rope bridges and swinging on things and all that kind of stuff. And man, the other two were just loving life, you know, I mean, I'm having a blast. But our middle one, unfortunately, was she was making it through, but barely. And a lot of times she kept stopping, wanting to turn around, stopping, wanting to go down. We can't go down, they won't let you go down. It's fine, you're clipped in, you're safe, it's fine. She would sometimes just shake her head at us, like I'm not taking our step forward. And at one point they made her get out on this telephone pole, right? Like 30 feet up off the ground, you're just standing on a telephone pole, that big surface there on your feet. And the platform's right there, but you've got to like jump to the platform. She was not having that at all. And so she's sitting there, knee shaking. She just wants to turn around and go backwards, even though that's even a farther jump now with the way we got out there. And so she's feeling stuck, she's feeling trapped, she's panicking. And finally, I just had to look at her. I'm standing right there on the platform in front of her.

And I was like, you've got to quit looking around. You've got to quit looking down. You've got to quit looking at all the things that are scaring you. Just look at me. Just look at me and trust me. I love you, I'm not going to let anything happen to you. Jump to me and I promise you can trust me. But you got to look at me, you got to focus on me. You got to quit focusing on everything around you. Focus on me, jump to me, trust me. Sure enough, eventually we got her to do it about an hour later. And I'm not as trustworthy as God and she knows it, right? But eventually she jumped out there and I caught her and it was fine. It's amazing how many times I don't do that with our heavenly father. It's amazing how many times in the midst of my chaos, in the midst of my fear, in the midst of my anxiety, man, I just focus on all of it. I look at all of it, I stare at all of it. I let all of it come to me, washing over me in TV shows or programs or social media and all these kinds of things, just focus on it, focus on it, hearing it, looking at it. And at times I'm begging God, God, help me with my anxiety. Like I need that peace to pass on human understanding and I go right back to looking at it.

So many times God's saying, look, I can give you peace from all that chaos, but you've got to look at me. You got to stare at me, you got to look at who I am, what I've done for you, what I've done throughout history, what I'm going to do in the future that I promise, what I've done for you through Jesus Christ. You got to look at me, you got to trust my character and who I am and believe that no matter what is happening around you, I will catch you. It will be okay. I have a plan for your life. I'm not going to let you fall. It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay. We have to trust that focusing on his glory is what brings us that peace, which is what he goes on the next verse in verse four to say, we don't have on the screen, but he goes on right after that verse about peace. He says, trust in the Lord forever for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. He never changes, he never fails. It's never like you can trust him one day, but you can't the next. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. So what does he ask us to trust in specifically in this passage that brings us peace? And how does that relate to God's public justice that we see in moments in history on the earth? Well, the first thing we see here in this passage

is we experience peace when we trust that God's justice is not random or whimsical, but it's planned and under control. There's nothing that brings us more anxiety than to think of an all powerful God who just sits up there and knee jerk reacts to things on the earth. That doesn't bring me any peace. I don't know about you. In that way with a random kind of justice. That's the fear all the other peoples on the earth back in Isaiah's day felt because all of their manmade gods, their false gods they created in their minds that they made in their own image, right? The Assyrians and the Babylonians and the Greeks and the Romans and all these other groups of people with their religious ideas that God's people would come up against, all of them had created the idea and the notion of God's in their own image who are just bigger, more powerful versions of themselves. So they're picturing God reacting to things like they react to things in a. in a meaningful way at times, in an emotional way at times, in just a knee-jerk random way at times. Yeah, that kind of God, that's scary. That doesn't bring me any peace at all.

But look at what God says about himself and his justice showing up on the earth in chapter 25, verse one, the first verse we read to kick this whole thing off. It says, oh, Lord, you are my God. I will exalt you, I will praise your name for you have done wonderful things. And then look, plans formed of old, faithful and sure. Plans formed of old. Things Isaiah says he's seen God do in his day publicly to bring these oppressors down and to bring them low, he says, I know God's been planning this from the beginning. He didn't just decide, knee-jerk, react, or wake up one day and say, I think I'm gonna deal with that. It's been a part of his plan from the beginning. And then he calls them faithful and sure. You can count on it. Part of what gives a person peace whose mind is stayed on the Lord is that they know that God has a plan for when he steps in to glorify himself with praise and when he doesn't step in. It's measured, it's intentional, it's purposeful. And when he decides to, nothing can stop it. Nothing can stop it. And there's a peace that comes over us when we see the unjust brought to justice on the earth.

And we trust, right, it says who trusts in him, and we trust that God's the one doing it. It's not luck, it's not karma, it's not random. No, it's a sovereign God acting on behalf of his creation that he loves. When we recognize that it's God saying, I see you, I love you, I'm not gonna abandon you, I care about what you're going through. Knowing that the God of the universe cares about injustice in our lives, it brings us peace. I can rest in it. I can rest in the injustice I feel like I'm going through in whatever situation I'm in, because I know he sees it and he has a plan for it. And when he's ready to step in, he will, and nothing can stop that. But that's not where it stops. Because as nice as it is to see God act in certain moments of history on the earth in just ways, although that will bring us a measure of peace in our innermost being, there's a part of us that still longs for more, don't we? Longs for all injustice to be dealt with forever at some point, which is exactly what he promises in chapter 25, verses six through eight. Look at it again with me. He says, on this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food.

Now he's explaining to not just his people, all peoples, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food, full of marrow, of aged wine, well-refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain, the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. I love that he says the way that the rest of the nations at this point in history, in Isaiah's day, are blind to who Yahweh is, who the God of Israel is, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. One day, the veil will be lifted off and a bunch of Gentiles like us will get to see him for who he is. A bunch of people in Little Rock, Arkansas, will get to worship who he is. But not just now, not just 2,000 years later. Look, he goes on to verse eight to say, in fact, he will swallow up death forever. And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces. And the reproach of his people, he will take away from the earth. The Lord has spoken. God promises that what we get a glimpse of now in these moments of history, where we see him act in justice and bring the exalted low, one day, he says, that'll be the way it is forever. Perfectly. And that we get to experience peace in our innermost being when we trust that the justice we see in moments on the earth is foreshadowing

all things being made right one day in the future. That's a part of the peace he wants us to feel when we trust in who he is. And every time we see him act in history, we can say, man, one day that's how it's gonna be forever. There's a day coming where it will always be just forever. God promises that to us. And listen, one of the reasons I think God promises to return and make all things right one day is because he knows as those made in his image, there's only so much injustice we can take. There's only so much we can bear. There's only so much waiting we can do before we need to know it's gonna stop forever. A world that just goes on and on and on like our world is now, where we see God stepping in injustice sometimes, but also letting injustice flow at times for certain reasons back and forth in a different way. He knows if that goes on forever, if the promises this is gonna go on forever, that doesn't bring us ultimate peace. Just like we can suffer physically for a time, but eventually we need relief from the pain. God knows we can endure injustice for a season, but we've gotta know it's gonna stop at some point. We've got to. And that's true in the here and now and we need to see justice done in real time in space history and he steps in and says enough,

but it's also true of the future one day. Injustice will be done away with forever. And when God displays the glory of his public. it's meant to bring us peace that that reality is true. It's meant to remind us to say, oh yeah, that's what's coming. He's real, he sees. He can step in and expose anyone anytime in any way. And there's a day where he's gonna handle that once and for all. And as much as that reality brings us peace, the other side of that coin is true as well. And this is something God mentions here in our passage. It can be harder for us to wrap our heads around sometimes. And that is that God does bless us with peace when we trust that the justice we actually see is him on the earth, he's bringing down the earth, but he also blesses the one whose mind has stayed on him when we trust the justice that we don't see him do. That's the harder thing, isn't it? When we see injustice happening and we're like, God, why aren't you stepping in and handling that? Why aren't you dealing with that the way that I would in the timing that I would handle? Why are you waiting at all? Aren't you squashing injustice every second of every day all the time? How can you let it go on for even a second? Isaiah, in the midst of what he's talking about here, wrestles with that in chapter 26, verses seven through 10.

Look at it again with me. He says, the path of righteous is level. You make level the way of the righteous in the path of your judgments, O Lord. And then look, we wait for you, right? Sometimes you've got to wait to see his justice and that's frustrating, isn't it? He said, we wait for you, your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul. And then look at him waiting. He says, my soul yearns for you in the night. My spirit within me earnestly seeks you. He's like, I'm waiting for you to show up in the way that I'm asking you to. For when your judgments are in the earth, he inhabits the world to learn righteousness. He said, I know if you show up and act, the world will see, right? And when God acts, everyone who's sinning in the way that he shuts down gets real scared all of a sudden. They're like, oh, that could happen any minute. And it corrects things in certain people. But then look what he says in verse 10. But if favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness. In the land of a rightness, he deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the Lord. Isaiah's sitting there saying, I'm waiting for you to show up in this moment.

I know you can, I know you will, because I know when you do, man, it makes everyone kind of stay at attention and say, oh, I forgot God's real, but now he's reminding me he's real. But when you disappear for a while, when we don't see you for a while, when you don't act for a while, man, the corrupt just think they can do whatever they want. They run rampant over our lives. Isaiah turns now here to moments in verse eight where he's having to wait to see the justice of the Lord. And verses nine and 10, moments where he's worried that if God doesn't show up, the wicked will keep on doing what they're doing to the poor and to the needy and the oppressed. Why, God, do we only see your justice some of the time on the earth and not all of the time? Well, I wanna say here this morning that question is a multifaceted question. It has more than one simple answer. I wanna be clear about that. So I'm gonna talk about one of the ways, one of the things that we see in the scripture, one of the reasons why God's patient with injustice. But I want you to hear, I need you to lock in. I know you're kinda getting worried about lunch, but I need you to lock in it for a minute, okay? I need everyone to listen to this, okay? Because if you're not careful,

you're gonna misunderstand what I'm saying and you're gonna apply what I'm gonna say about God allowing injustice to continue at times to every act of injustice you see, and you're gonna take you to a dark place with God that's not healthy, okay? That would be unbiblical, that would be untrue to say every situation of injustice we see is gonna be covered by what I'm gonna say right now. But one of the reasons the scripture points to, one of the things we see God doing in his patience with injustice is because on the one hand, as much peace as it might bring us to see God act against the wicked in the here and now, if we're being humble at all about our own wickedness, if we're being humble at all about who is righteous and who is wicked, then it should bring us just as much peace in our inner being that God doesn't always immediately act and squash those who are unjust because we're unjust a lot of times. We need his patience in our lives. We need his grace to wait and give us time to see the fruit of our injustice and say, oh, wait a minute, God, I'm so sorry. What am I doing? At times, he's giving us time, others time, to repent in his grace and mercy, the same way he has any of us

that have come to faith in Jesus Christ. And by the way, even those of us in faith still act unjustly in different ways, right? But that's part of what we see, part of the peace that his justice is meant to bring us and his patience with injustice is meant to bring us is that one of the things that's meant to bring us peace is when we trust God to the justice that we don't see in moments on the earth is actually his grace giving unjust people time to repent. That's at times what God is showing us. Again, it's not every situation of injustice, but we need to think. Think about this in the way it brings us peace, that when we see God act, something in us says, good, God sees and cares about the one being sinned against, good. At the same time, when we see God not act in moments, there's a part of our heart that should also say, good, I'm glad God cares about the one who's sinning. Because that's me too. And praise God for his grace to me and his patience with me to let me come to repentance and to justice in the midst of my relationship with him. That's what God says through the apostle Peter in the New Testament in 2 Peter 3, nine through 10, look at it with me, he says, by the way, when it comes to God's justice, the Lord is not slow to his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you. And then look why, not wishing that any should perish,

but that all should reach repentance. Now he goes on in verse 10 to say, but listen, it's not gonna last forever. He says, but the day of the Lord will come like a thief and the heavens will pass away with a roar and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. God says, it's not gonna go on forever, but listen, when you see me not acting, don't think it's because I'm aloof. Don't think it's because I'm slow. Don't think it's because I don't care. Don't think it's because I don't see. Don't think it's because I don't exist. He says, if you see me not acting and you're wondering why, one of the reasons why is because I'm being patient. To give people who don't have the faith you have a chance to come to faith. Time to turn to me the way you have. God could almost look at this way and say, listen, if you're experiencing some injustice in your life and your mad guy's not dealing with it, guess what? He's already given you what you need to deal with that. He's given you the promise of eternal life. He's giving the promise of living with him forever in a perfect just world, in a perfect just eternity, like we've already seen him promise. We have everything we need to handle the injustice

that comes against us. The person that needs some time to come to that same reality is the one who's committing the injustice against you. They don't have what they need. They need faith. They need faith in God. And sometimes the way you walk through the injustice they're bringing upon you is what will show them who God is and might bring them to faith. God has lots of things he's doing in the midst of the world that can confuse us at times if our minds aren't stayed on him. If we're not trusting in who he is, what he's done past, present, and future. Now, again, that's not the only reason. Do not apply every act of injustice you see and say, well, God's just being patient with the sinner. No, there are other reasons why he may be doing that that we can talk about. But that's what we need to put in our bag of theology. That's what we need to put in our heart that can bring us peace when we're frustrated. Peace when we don't see what we wanna see. Peace when we get angry at him. Which brings me to the last thing I wanna point out in this passage about justice and peace and trust. And that is what God says here about the greatest act of justice he ever displayed in human history to glorify himself in a way that blesses us with peace when we trust it.

And that's what he declares in chapter 25, verse nine. Look at it with me again. He says, it will be said on that day, behold, this is our God. We've waited for him that he might save us. This is the Lord, we've waited for him. Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. And remember just before this, just before verse nine, chapter 25 is where in verse six, he was talking about on this great mountain, right? On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a rich feast of food. Verse seven, and he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil spread over all nations. What mountain is he talking about? Mount Zion, of course. Mount Moriah in Abraham's day that he was commanded to march up and sacrifice Isaac on that God replaced Isaac with the ram caught in the thicket and substituted something for his son. The mountain that Jerusalem would be built on, he's talking about Calvary. He's talking about Calvary. That's what humanity has waited for thousands of years to see for God to save us that he's talking about in verse nine. It will be said in that day, behold, this is our God. We've waited for him that he might save us.

What were they waiting to see? The ultimate peace. The ultimate thing that brings us peace, peace in knowing that the sovereign God of the universe who acts in a measured and planned way on the earth to display his justice, and who is patient in measured ways and planned ways on the earth to be patient with us is at peace with me because of what Jesus Christ did on that mountain to pay for my sin and to take the justice of God on himself. The ultimate peace we have, no matter what kind of chaos is going on around us is the ultimate peace I have is knowing, but at the end of the day, I'm at peace with the one God of the universe that matters. And no matter what happens to me in this life, I know I'm gonna be with him forever in peace in a perfect relationship with him because I'm at peace with him. He's not at war with me because of what Jesus did on the cross. That's the ultimate peace we experience when we trust that God's grace has made a way for everyone to experience the blessing of that future justice we talked about, when all injustice is squashed, when everything will be perfect, without having to endure the consequences of it. The peace we feel is that we get to experience God's perfect justice one day in eternity

without us having to experience the eternal consequences of it. Because in order for that future day that we're with God forever in eternity to be perfectly just, that means he has to get rid of all injustice and that would include us apart from Christ. But we get to enjoy that promise, we get to look forward to that promise, we get to feel peace because of that promise because Christ has endured it for us. That's that peace that surpasses all human understanding, fellowship. That whether it's the injustice we experience, and listen, it's not just the Jeffrey Epstein's of the world and the Hitler's of the world, okay? Those are examples I use because your brother would immediately say, oh yeah, that makes sense to me. Listen, we can experience injustice in any relationship we have. We can experience injustice with our neighbors. We can experience injustice with our coworkers. We can experience injustice with our spouse, right? There's probably some justice you wish God would bring on your spouse right now. To bring them to justice. You're like, God, when are you gonna show up and show them what I need them to see? We experience injustice in all kinds of ways.

We're waiting for God to act, we're wanting him to move, we're begging him and we're waiting on him in the midst of that. But whether it's the injustice we experience in our personal lives, or whether it's a boss or a president or a king or a company or a country, this is the peace we get to experience when we look at God's word and keep our minds stayed on him, that God's in control. When he needs to, he will step in and say, that's enough. He will wait at times to give me and others time to repent before he acts, but that all this injustice is gonna come to an end one day in a way that we get to enjoy the blessing of that without having to reap the consequences of it in our own lives, because of what Jesus Christ has done for us. That is perfect peace. That's something I can sit in and rest in no matter what I see going on around me. Praise God, that he glorifies his justice at times on the earth in a way that brings us peace. Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we come before you. And we thank you so much for this truth. God, we thank you and praise you that you continually display for us on the earth in real history, throughout history, moments where you're intervening to say that's enough and we can trust you in that.

God, I beg you that we would be the kind of church body, your body on the earth, right? You've left us down here to be a picture to the world, for them to have a glimpse of the kingdom that's coming, to be that city set on a hill, that light that needs to shine, Lord, throughout the world in the darkness. God, I beg you that we would be the kind of church who would keep our mind stayed on you in the midst of the chaos that we see around us every day. We would be the kind of church body and church family that trusts in who you are and not in the chaos that we see around us, who keeps our eyes fixed on you, that believes in your character, your goodness, your love, your hope, your justice, that believes in who you've been past, present, who you will be in the future so that in the midst of everything going on around us, we have such a perspective on it that the rest of the world around us is like, how are you doing that? How are you feeling what you're feeling? That it would be that peace you talk about that surpasses all human understanding. Humans can't understand how we can feel peace in the midst of it. God, I beg you, you would make us that kind of people, give us that kind of faith. I thank you, Lord, that that's the promise you give us.

I beg you, Lord, that we would trust you in that way. And we ask you, God, to bring an end to the injustices that we see on the earth for the people who are being hurt around us each and every day, and to the degree that we're the ones exacting those, bring justice to us. Wake us up. Make us repent. We ask it in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.