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Dave Johnson Sermon: “Surely” (Isaiah 12:2) November 14, 2010

What’s your favorite movie? Film critics often cite Citizen Kane or The Godfather or To Kill a Mockingbird or Gone with the Wind. One of my favorite movies is the classic 1980 film, Airplane! with Leslie Nielson and Robert Hays, and it’s not just my weird sense of humor—in fact the American Film Institute ranked it number 10 on its list of all time funniest movies. Airplane! is a spoof on disaster movies about an airplane in which the pilots have become ill due to food poisoning and a passenger attempts to fly and land the airplane. One of the best scenes is when Leslie Nielson and asks Robert Hays, “Can you fly this plane, and land it?” to which Hays replies, “Surely you can’t be serious” and Nielson responds, “I am serious... and don't call me Shirley” .

Although that’s one of the best “surely’s” ever, today I’m preaching about a different “surely:” the first verse from the First Song of Isaiah: “Surely, it is God who saves me; I will trust in him and not be afraid.”

In our unpredictable lives we all want a sure thing, we want a positive outcome that is certain or assured—a friend who will always be there for us, a job that will always be secure, a car that will always start (especially when we’re running late), financial investments that will always turn a profit, schools that will always be safe for our kids, holiday gatherings with family that will always joyful. We want security and dependability. We want a sure thing.

But of course often in our lives we experience the polar opposite. Friends we thought would always be there for us drop us like a hot potato, or we get laid off from a job, or the car won’t start, or our investments tank, or the school is full of bullies, or the holiday gatherings with family turn into an obstacle course of dysfunction. In our lives more often than not we are faced with the reality that there are very few “sure things.”

But today’s passage shows us that there is at least one sure thing: salvation from God—“Surely, it is God who saves me.”

“Surely it is God who saves me”—these words were written by the prophet, Isaiah, perhaps the greatest prophet in the Old Testament. His ministry lasted over 40 years, from about 740 to 700 B.C. During these years Israel initially experienced a period of peace and prosperity, but Israel assumed that this period of peace and prosperity was a sure thing, that it would always be that way, and they turned away from God and served pagan idols.

This happened from the top down, as king Ahaz not only worshipped pagan idols, but even offered some of his sons as burnt offerings to them (II Chronicles 28:3). After the death of Ahaz one of his sons who had not been offered to pagan gods, Hezekiah, became king. Under

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Hezekiah there was a brief period of reform, but it was too late to reverse Israel’s decline, and instead of continuing peace and prosperity it was destruction became a sure thing.

This happened in 722 B.C. when the Assyrians, under their Sargon II conquered Israel, killing thousands of Israelites and taking many thousands more into captivity. Their peace and prosperity were over. Their cities and homes were destroyed. Those who survived were taken captive, overcome with grief and despair.

And yet Isaiah’s ministry continued, for it was at this point, in the midst of the pain and destruction and death that the Holy Spirit inspired Isaiah to write, “Surely, it is God who saves me; I will trust in him and not be afraid.” In fact, the name, Isaiah, means “Yahweh is salvation.”

And it wasn’t during a time of peace and prosperity that God spoke these words through Isaiah, it was during a time of chaos and stress, chaos and stress that was directly related to Israel’s sin and idolatry. God didn’t wait for things to get better for Israel before speaking these words through Isaiah; He spoke them in the midst of their chaos and stress, even though the chaos and stress was their fault.

And it’s the same for us too. When things are going well in our lives we tend not to feel like we need the assurance of salvation, but when our lives are full of chaos and stress, when chaos and stress appear to be the only sure things in our lives, that’s when we need to be reminded that salvation through Jesus Christ is a sure thing. And the salvation that God assured through Isaiah was not just salvation for Israel, but for the world, for you and me, salvation that is found in Jesus Christ.

When I was a little kid I knew very little about the name, Jesus Christ. From collecting baseball cards I thought “Jesus” just happened to be the same name that a lot of baseball players from the Dominican Republic had and that “Christ” was simply Jesus’ last name. Obviously I was just a little off base .

Jesus means “Yahweh saves” and Christ means “the Anointed One”—in other words, Jesus Christ is the One who is anointed to save the world, that is, Jesus’ name matches what He does, just as the angel told Joseph: “(Mary) will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

Jesus himself told a Pharisee named Nicodemus that he didn’t come into the world to condemn us, but to save us (John 3:17).

Jesus came to save us from sin and death. He did this by dying on the cross in our place to atone for our sins, to reconcile us to a holy God, to give us the hope of eternal life. Salvation through Jesus Christ is a sure thing.

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And because it is God Almighty who saves us in Jesus Christ, we don’t have to be afraid: “Surely, it is God who saves me; I will trust in him and not be afraid.”

What are you afraid of? Some people are afraid of spiders or heights or closed spaces. Others are afraid of snakes or the dark or clowns. Gary Larson, the cartoonist of The Far Side, introduced a new fear to the world: “Luposlipaphobia,” which he defined as “An abnormal, persistent fear of being pursued by timber wolves around a kitchen table while wearing socks on a newly waxed floor.” When I was a kid I was afraid of public speaking, and in 8th grade my English teacher assigned us a speech that had to last five to seven minutes. He gave the assignment about six weeks in advance, and for the next six weeks I stressed about it. On the night before I had to give my speech I hardly slept, and the next morning I arrived at school with knots in my stomach, sweaty palms and shaky hands. That five to seven minutes felt like five to seven hours, and when it was finally over I did not feel like I had faced and conquered my fear of public speaking, I just slumped down into my desk simply glad it was over. There are some fears that run much deeper than Luposlipaphobia or public speaking—fears that tend to be common to all of us: the fear of being alone, the fear of judgment, the fear of rejection, the fear of failure, the fear of death. At times in our lives most of us eventually find ourselves face to face with these fears.

One of my favorite novels is Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. One of the characters is a little girl named Cossette, whose mother, Fantine had died. Cossette was taken in by a cruel couple, the Thenardiers, who mistreated her constantly. One night they made Cossette go out into the lonely dark alone on a long walk to fill a large bucket with water. She walked and walked and finally arrived at the stream and filled the bucket, which was now quite heavy. Cossette found herself alone in the dark, straining with the burden of the heavy bucket, stressed to the breaking point, and overcome with fear. Hugo tells us what happens next:

“(Cossette’s) breath came as a kind of painful gasp; sobs choked her… As hard as she tried to shorten her resting spells, and to walk as fast as possible between them, she anxiously realized that it would take her more than an hour to return at this rate, and that the Thenardiers would beat her. This anguish added to her dismay at being alone in the woods at night. She was worn out… (and she) could not help crying… At that moment she suddenly felt that the weight of the bucket was gone. A hand, which seemed enormous to her, had just caught the handle, and was carrying it easily. She looked up. A large dark form… was walking beside her in the darkness… This man, without saying a word, had grasped the handle of the bucket she was carrying… The child was not afraid (any more).”

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The stranger who came along Cossette’s side was Jean Valjean, the main character of the novel. Cossette was alone, exhausted, burdened, and scared, with no means of saving herself. Jean Valjean took the initiative, came along side Cossette in the midst of the darkness, took her burden, and later saved her from the Thenardiers.

Cossette didn’t stop being afraid because she decided not to be afraid anymore or because she faced her fear and overcame it. Cossette stopped being afraid because someone came alongside her and took her burden upon himself. Cossette stopped being afraid because someone came alongside her and took her fear away. And that is exactly what Jesus did for us. When Jesus was on the cross he was mocked and taunted. “Save yourself!” people jeered, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” But Jesus didn’t come down from the cross. Jesus didn’t save himself because he came to save you, and me, and the world. When Jesus died on the cross for us he not only bore our sins, he also faced our greatest fears—for Jesus was alone on the cross, Jesus was judged on the cross, Jesus was rejected on the cross, Jesus was deemed a failure on the cross, and Jesus died on the cross. And because of Jesus’ death we have been saved. Surely, it is God who saves us. And by the power of the Holy Spirit this same Jesus comes alongside us in the midst of our darkest fears, takes our burden upon himself, and takes away our fear. He does this because he loves us, because “perfect love casts out fear” (I John 4:18), because his yoke is easy and his burden is light (Matthew 11:30). And because God has saved us in Jesus Christ, we can trust him. He has come alongside us and taken hold of the bucket. Because God has saved us in Jesus Christ, we don’t have to be afraid anymore, even in the face of the greatest fear of all, the fear that everyone has to face eventually: death. In the early seventeenth century John Donne, an Anglican priest and poet, wrote several Holy Sonnets. Donne was no stranger to death, for his wife, Anne died after giving birth to a stillborn baby, and later his beloved daughter, Lucy, died at age 18. And yet Donne’s assurance that God was his salvation, even in the face of the deaths of those he loved, even in the face of his own death, is still evident. In Holy Sonnet I Donne describes God’s grace even in the face of death:

Thou hast made me, and shall thy work decay? Repair me now, for now mine end doth haste, I run to death, and death meets me as fast, And all my pleasures are like yesterday;

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I dare not move my dim eyes any way, Despair behind, and death before doth cast Such terror, and my feeble flesh doth waste By sin in it, which it t'wards hell doth weigh; Only thou art above, and when towards thee By thy leave I can look, I rise again; But our old subtle foe so tempteth me, That not one hour myself I can sustain; Thy Grace may wing me to prevent his art, And thou like Adamant draw mine iron heart.

The reality of course, is that even though we don’t have to be afraid anymore, often we are, but God’s grace is greater than our fears.

So today, if you are like Israel in Isaiah’s day and have gone from a season of peace and prosperity to a season of chaos and stress; or if you are like Cossette and alone in the dark, exhausted, burdened, at your wit’s end; or if you are like John Donne and facing the fear of death itself, be encouraged.

Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our salvation is a sure thing, we can trust him, and we don’t have to be afraid anymore.

Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the words God spoke through Isaiah twenty seven centuries ago are as true now as they were then: “Surely, it is God who saves me; I will trust in him and not be afraid.”

Amen.