God Is My Salvation

Our Bible passage, introduction to Sunday 26th March service and hymns are below.

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Our verses are:

Isa 12:1  And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.

Isa 12:2  Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.

Isa 12:3  Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

Isa 12:4  And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.

Isa 12:5  Sing unto the LORD; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.

Isa 12:6  Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.

 God Is My Salvation

This small chapter opens with a wonderful gospel theme for a day of praise. ‘Though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.’ The ‘day’ Isaiah is consistently speaking of is the day of grace and salvation by Christ. The church in past ages looked wholly and solely to the day of Christ’s victory for deliverance and comfort.

A song to sing

Isaiah speaks of our song and singing. Our song is the praise of our heart for God’s mercy and pardon by the death of Christ. This is our comfort. True comfort is that spiritual comfort that refreshes and sustains the soul of a sinner because of the blood of Jesus Christ. A man or a woman can bear a lot of hardship when they know they have peace with God and are comforted in Christ.

The people of Zion

We may consider the church collectively to be in view in this chapter but also the church comprised of its individual members. The title, ‘thou inhabitant of Zion’ distinguishes the Lord’s people from those who live outside the ‘holy city’. These redeemed saints have a personal and distinctive confession and testify, ‘God is my salvation, my strength and my song’.

Faith drives away fear

These are the Lord’s covenant people and they are identified by faith. They say, ‘I will trust, and not be afraid’. God’s gift of faith enables, informs and protects His people by revealing Christ to them as their only Saviour. He assures them of the efficacy of Christ’s blood to cleanse their sin. In trusting Jesus Christ believers deploy faith to drive away fear.

Our Well of Salvation

It is helpful to see Jesus Christ as the well of salvation from which the water of divine grace is drawn. The Lord told the Samaritan woman, ‘the water that I shall give … shall be … a well of water springing up into everlasting life’. As we trust the Lord to help us day by day so faith draws grace from Christ.

Sometimes we speak of preaching and worship and the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s supper as ‘means of grace’, yet these activities in themselves are nothing without the Lord. There is dead ceremony and there is spiritual life. Christ is both the fountainhead and the water, the well of salvation and the water of life to our soul.

‘Declare his doings’

Isaiah calls the Lord’s elect to joyfully praise the perfections of Christ and to engage others to do the same. We long to see others saved. The Lord’s people personally thank the Lord for His great salvation and are eager to tell others about what the Lord has done for them. ‘Declare his doings among the people’ says the prophet, which we are happy to do. True worship is praising the Lord for His perfections while commending the great work of salvation to others.

Our excellent Saviour

The song of the Lord’s people is the excellence of Christ. Isaiah tells us the Lord Jehovah has done excellent things. Hebrews tells us Christ has an ‘excellent name’ and an ‘excellent ministry’. His excellent name is the divine glory of His person. His excellent ministry is all His wonderful works. When the Pharisees criticised the Lord’s disciples for worshipping Him the Saviour replied, ‘I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out’. No one can silence Christ’s praise.

This is known

In the previous chapter Isaiah said, ‘the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea’. Here he tells us the excellence of Christ is known in all the earth. This worldwide testimony brings Isaiah’s ancient prophecy right up to date for us now. There has never been a time when the excellencies of Christ and the knowledge of the gospel were more widespread and widely known as they are today.

Through the technology available to us in the providence and wisdom of God, our own little Sunday service can be heard by anyone, anywhere. We are involved in the confirmation of the prophet’s words! Whether it is speaking to our neighbours or broadcasting to the world let our mission be to honour Christ by exalting His excellent name and His excellent ministry.

Amen

Our hymns are below.

Hymn 1 

Gadsby selection 232

“I will trust, and not be afraid.”  Isa. 12. 2

J. Newton                                104th

1
Begone, unbelief, my Saviour is near,
And for my relief will surely appear;
By prayer let me wrestle, and he will perform;
With Christ in the vessel, I smile at the storm.

2
Though dark be my way, since he is my Guide,
’Tis mine to obey, ’tis his to provide;
Though cisterns be broken, and creatures all fail,
The word he has spoken shall surely prevail.

3
His love in time past forbids me to think
He’ll leave me at last in trouble to sink;
Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review
Confirms his good pleasure to help me quite through.

4
Determined to save, he watched o’er my path,
When, Satan’s blind slave, I sported with death.
And can he have taught me to trust in his name,
And thus far have brought me to put me to shame?

5
Why should I complain of want or distress,
Temptation or pain? He told me no less;
The heirs of salvation, I know from his word,
Through much tribulation must follow their Lord.

6
How bitter that cup, no heart can conceive,
Which he drank quite up that sinners might live!
His way was much rougher and darker than mine;
Did Christ, my Lord, suffer, and shall I repine?

7
Since all that I meet shall work for my good,
The bitter is sweet, the medicine is food;
Though painful at present, ’twill cease before long,
And then O how pleasant the conqueror’s song!

Hymn 2

Gadsby selection 1044

“With joy shall ye draw water….” Isa. 12. 3

J. Kent   7s

1
Water from salvation’s wells,
Thirsty sinner, come and draw;
Grace in Jesus’ fulness dwells,
More than men or angels know.

2
’Twas in God, the fount supreme,
Till the day that Adam fell;
Then the first all-healing stream
Watered Eden’s garden well.

3
Far and wide the cleansing flood
O’er the sin-cursed garden ran;
Preaching peace by Jesus’ blood –
Blissful sound to rebel man.

4
Thousands now around the throne
Water from this fountain drew;
Felt their griefs and sorrows gone;
Hymned his praise; and why not you?

5
Bring no money, price, or aught,
No good deeds, nor pleasing frames,
Mercy never can be bought;
Grace is free; and all’s the Lamb’s.

It is our privilege to praise God for the excellence of the Lord Jesus Christ and the greatness of all His accomplishments. It is also our privilege to declare His doings to those around us in the world. May God give us grace and opportunity, with comfort and joy as we worship Him and serve His cause.

26 March 2023