: I invite you to stand for the reading of scripture. Our text today is Isaiah chapter 12. I believe it might be the shortest chapter in Isaiah, but it's full of rich truth for us. Isaiah 12 beginning in verse one. You will say in that day, I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away that you might comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and I will not be afraid. For the Lord God is my strength and my song and he has become my salvation. With joy, you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day, give thanks to the Lord. Call upon his name. Make known his deeds among the peoples. Proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously. Let this be made known in all the earth. Shout and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. This is the word of the Lord. Good morning. to see you all here. I guess we are the chosen unfrozen this morning, I suppose, in some ways. ah Good to have you here. I'm actually a little warm in this nice thick cardigan. We got the worship center warmed up for us. uh The church that we served at in the suburbs of St. Louis, Salem Evangelical, had a large building. The facility had been added to several times over the years. And there were lots of interesting little hidden rooms and back passageways and little storage spaces under the closets. It even had a bell tower, believe it or not. I spent many, many hours in that that church building over 12 years. I knew every hallway, every room, oh every closet, and I am a, I mean, guess fully grown, reasonably competent, somewhat mature adult, and yet there is a part of me that definitely did not like being alone in that church building after dark when the lights were out, right? Especially if I heard some noise coming from another part of the facility. can figure out what that is tomorrow, you know, when the lights are on. I could walk through any part of that church building with confidence and happiness until the lights went off, right? And then I wanted to get to the light or get home, just get someplace that felt safer. Are there dark rooms in your house that maybe you walk through more quickly than others? Maybe there are... dark parts of yourself that you don't necessarily want to bring into the light or see in the light. Darkness has a way of exposing our hidden fears and insecurities, doesn't it? In the passage that Pastor Tom read for us, there's this. theme of joy, a message of joy that comes through. But Isaiah is saying, joy does not come from pretending that the darkness isn't real. Joy is found not in even necessarily getting out of the dark. But joy is found in knowing that God is with us in the dark, and he's doing something about it. That is to say, God's presence is your joy in the darkness. I think that's what Isaiah is getting at here in this passage. God's presence is your joy in the darkness. It's interesting if you think about it, Advent always begins in the dark, doesn't it? On purpose, I mean, the season of the year. And before we get to angels singing, before we get to shepherds wanting to run off and tell the news of what they've seen, scripture invites us to feel the depth of the night, the darkness into which the light of Christ shines. Maybe that's why joy is such a surprising theme of this season of Advent, which is a season of waiting and longing. Because joy doesn't come from ideal conditions, right? Joy itself is born out of difficulty. It comes in the tension between longing and hope, between darkness and dawn. And Isaiah understood that probably better than most people. When he wrote the words in chapter 12, things were not going well for God's people. His nation, the remnant of the southern nation of Judah was trembling before the threat of this Assyrian empire that was on the horizon. Fear is hanging over the country. It seemed like their best days were in the past. The people's moral, spiritual life was shallow. And if you were here a few weeks ago, we saw just the previous chapter, 11, this hope, this promise of a renewed. creation where peace will reign eventually. But the context is God's judgment of his people for their own sins, his anger over their rejection and disobedience. and the promise and the warning of an exile, a deportation that they're going to endure. And it's into that darkness that Isaiah bursts forth with this song of joy in chapter 12. It's only six verses long, right, as Tom said, maybe the shortest in the book, but it's an amazing response to a long section in these previous chapters in the beginning of Isaiah of rebuke and warning and judgment and. uh And after warning people that they're going to suffer because of their sinful rebellion and rejection and calling them to repentance, we heard this promise, remember back in chapter 11, of a shoot rising up from the stump of this royal line of David. And Isaiah ends with this God-centered joy in the middle of the darkness that they're living in. That is what. Advent is inviting us to discover, to rediscover, not circumstantial happiness, but a resilient joy that shines like light in the darkness. Because its source is not the world, it's not what's going on around us, it's not what we see in us. Our source of lasting joy is God himself. God's presence is your joy in the darkness. So if you haven't already, go ahead and open your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 12. It's on page 684 if you're using those black Bibles in the seats in front of you. And let's just walk through this and let scripture point us through Isaiah to Advent joy. Look at the first two verses here. You will say in that day, I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away that you might comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid for the Lord God is my strength and my song and he has become my salvation. I think the first thing Isaiah wants us to see is that joy begins with the God who saves. Joy begins with the God who saves us. And in the first verse Isaiah is telling us that joy really grows out of. rescue, joy comes from rescue. There's this turn you see in verse one, you will say in that day, a couple of times in this passage Isaiah talks about that day and looking forward prophetically hundreds of years Isaiah saw the coming of Messiah and his rule of righteousness and judging evil and restoring things to the way they should be and rescuing his people and making everything right. And that's what he's looking forward to in that day when the Messiah comes, when he saves, when he delivers, when he makes everything the way it ought to be. And so it's this amazing turn. But because remember the context is, though you were angry with me. Joy doesn't begin with good vibes. It doesn't begin with, you know, Puffing ourselves up with good stories about ourselves, joy begins with grace, with reconciliation. Joy begins where we see the just, the deserved, the righteous anger of God towards us and towards our sin turn away because he provides salvation and rescue. And that... is what Isaiah is pointing us toward, the whole central movement of the gospel, that the God whose holiness we've offended, whose laws we've broken, whose relationship we've rejected, that God is the one who pursues us, the one who forgives us, the one who saves us from ourselves. Part of Isaiah's message is pointing out the people's brokenness and sin. Injustice and idolatry and greed and corruption and hypocrisy and immorality. It was Isaiah's world. That's our world. Isaiah is reminding us that's us. advent reminds us, first of all, that outside of Christ, we are guilty. God sends his son to reconcile a world of people that are shaped by darkness, whose lives reflect darkness. We need rescue. And in love, God has stepped towards us. Joy begins, flows from rescue and then it flows from identity, from a renewed identity. Look at what he says in verse two, behold, God is my salvation. I just want us to just take a second and let that sink in. Isaiah is not saying God helps me with salvation. God points me towards salvation. God tells me what I need to do. to get saved? He doesn't even say God gave me salvation. He says God is my salvation. And I think the significance is he's saying our security, our identity is not in life circumstances, not in political stability, not in personal success. Joy for God's people is in the character and the work and the presence of God with us. What does Isaiah mean that God is my salvation? He's saying God is the author, the cause, the agent, the accomplisher of my being rescued, that apart from God, rescue, hope, forgiveness is impossible. He's reminding us that in salvation we are delivered not just from this just anger of God, not just the guilt of our sin, but from the power of our sin. And we receive in the place of our sin the wonderful blessed righteousness of God's own son. That we are made sons and daughters of God by his free grace and then we become co-heirs with the sinless son of God. of all of God's blessings and promises. What more could we have? What more do we need than God himself? He is our salvation. It's this season of Advent that's reminding us that salvation is not a concept, it's not a philosophy, it's not an idea, it's not even a transaction, it's a person. God is my salvation. You have joy because Jesus, the light of the world is your life. And that joy then dispels fear. Look at what he says in verse two, I will trust and I will not be afraid. Now there is everything to fear until God becomes our salvation. And then there is nothing to fear. With confidence and security, the Christians, Christian can say, I will trust and I will not be afraid. Trust. and fear cannot live together in the same heart. One will drive out the other. And the people of Judah had a lot to fear looking around them, right? The fear of invasion, of instability, of unknowns. And we know what that's like too, right? Economic pressures and cultural changes and illness and loss and loneliness and. even the busyness, the expectation of the season, all the pressure and the stress that we experience, Advent joy frees us to acknowledge that we don't have to pretend that fear isn't real. We don't have to pretend that things are other than they are. It just says, I refuse to let fear be the loudest voice because I will trust in the Lord. because He is our light, our salvation, and He is the light that breaks into the darkness. And just like we saw this big snowstorm come in last night and the cold temperatures, and yet once again, the dawn showed up and drove out the darkness. Like the coming of the light at dawn when Jesus is our light, fear has to retreat. Joy dispels fear and joy sings. Isaiah says this uh a couple of times. Look at what Isaiah says. The Lord God is my strength and my song. Joy cannot remain silent. wells up within us, it overflows. Isaiah is saying that true joy is not just an inward feeling, it has an outward expression as well. Advent hymns, carols, worship songs, they're not just traditions, they're the natural expressions of our hearts responding to and giving voice to what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. We sing because God saves. I ran across this great little thought experiment last week. Would you rather have your life exactly as it is right now, or would you rather be the richest person in the world 200 years ago? And some of you are chuckling. To me, it's a no-brainer. The richest person 200 years ago didn't have modern communications. They didn't have radio, television, the internet, phones. They didn't have modern medicines. No modern surgery, no anesthesia, no antibiotics, no pain killers, no vaccines. Women died in childbirth at shocking rates. People commonly suffered and died from tragic diseases that we don't even remember anymore. No planes, no cars, no electronics, no indoor plumbing. No consistent supply of safe drinking water. No vitamins, no modern pain killers. When you think about your life that way, you start to get grateful real fast. And gratitude is always looking for reason to say thank you. When you take time to think of all that it means that God has saved us, all that he has done, all that you are blessed with because of Jesus' work, you get even more grateful. I'm forgiven. There's no fear of judgment. There's no shame. There's no condemnation. There's nothing that can ever separate me from God's love. and his good purposes and his commitment to do good to me ultimately. I will live eternally in the presence of God's glory and beauty and goodness and love and light. I am an heir of all of God's promises. And all my loved ones who have died in the hope of Jesus, I will see them again. And we will be reunited forever in the presence of Jesus. And Jesus will return to restore and redeem everything that has become broken and wrong. There will be no more evil, no more brokenness, no more sickness or corruption or death. God will judge finally evil and wrong. And that means my life has hope and meaning and purpose. Nothing that I ever do for Jesus is wasted. My life is not hopeless, it's not random. And God is working every single day to make me more and more into the person that I was created to be and that my heart ultimately wants me to be. And whether life goes the way I want or not, I have a deep and lasting joy because God has done all this for me and more. And when I see that, can't be quiet about it. I can't help but respond and praise Him. God's presence is your joy in the dark. Look what Isaiah pictures next in verse three. I love this image. With joy, you will draw water from the wells of salvation. Oh, this one sentence is such a deep reservoir itself of encouragement. Joy is drawn from the wells of God's salvation. Think about this again, we just sort of take for advantage the fact that we can turn a little handle and there's clean running abundant water constantly available to us. In the ancient Near East, water meant survival, water meant life, a dried up well is disaster. And Isaiah is using this image to say, God is not giving you a sip, a taste, a drop of salvation. He's giving you a never ending. bubbling up, welling up, overflowing, endless supply. And I think it's even significant that it's plural. It's wells of salvation, not because there's multiple sources, but because God's grace is abundant, it's lavished wherever you go, wherever God takes you, there is going to be another endless supply of his grace and life and joy. reminds us of Jesus' words, whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. Indeed, will be coming, welling up in him a spring, welling up to eternal life. Because Jesus is the fulfillment of this promise. He is Isaiah 12, three, in the flesh. He is the water, he is the source. And it tells us a couple of things. Joy is drawn out, but not created by us. Joy is drawn out by creating. There's almost a promise slash command here. With joy, you will draw water. God is providing refreshing, life-giving, abundant, endless water, but it must be drawn out. That tells me that joy is not automatic. I mean, can trust and believe in Jesus and not drink deeply of his joy and his life. It's possible to be a Christian and live kind of a dehydrated spiritual life, Not because the well is empty, but because I just get distracted and I go about my life and I don't intentionally draw from the well. It also reminds me that joy is not self-produced. Right? We don't manufacture joy by trying harder, by arranging our circumstance. Joy is received, it's not achieved. We draw from a well, certainly not from a mirror by looking at ourselves, or by trying to get things around the world around me to look right. Joy flows as we constantly return. to Jesus, to the promises of the gospel, to the hope and the encouragement that we have in him. And this image of water reminds us too that joy is a daily need. Drawing water implies repetition. Human beings have to drink water almost continuously to survive. We can go a month or two without eating and live. No one can live more than three or four days at most without any intake of water. And no one draws water once and says, oh, well, I'm good. I don't need anymore. I got all the water I will ever have need of, right? Joy is the same. It's not a single moment of emotional intensity, it's an ongoing practice of returning to Christ to experience him again and again and draw from his life. Somebody put it this way, that the darkness of this world drains us, the wells of God's salvation sustain us. The darkness of this world drains us, the wells of salvation sustain us. How many of you are night owls? You're energized by being, oh, I got to some hands up, that's good, even for this time of the morning, right? You're energized in the evening, you like to stay up late. How many of you are morning people? You like to get up early and see this, what is wrong with you people? do not wake up energized, right? Like, I have to go and draw energy from somewhere else. And like many of you, it comes from a coffee pot. My wife Amelia or I will often set up the coffee maker the night before and program it so that the coffee starts brewing even before we get up. Even for people who don't like coffee, they will admit that the smell of coffee brewing, oh, there's just something so delightful about it and fantastic. There's nothing as wonderful as waking up in the morning and smelling coffee that has been brewed for you by someone else or kids, like maybe pancakes, right? Like there's nothing like smelling pancakes coming from the kitchen, right? And even though the coffee pot is full or the pancakes are cooked, they don't walk to me. Like I have to actually go get the pancakes. I have to pour the coffee. I have to eat the food. That is the picture Isaiah is painting here. The wells of God's salvation never run dry. But we still have to go to the well to draw water. So maybe it's worth asking ourselves, Even a daily, just a simple daily question, what am I drawing joy from today? And when the buckets are empty, it doesn't do any good just to sort of soldier on and force our way through, grit our teeth, don't pretend everything is fine, go back to the well and get more water, draw from the well again. It's helpful, I think we just need better terminology than spiritual disciplines. Maybe spiritual practices is helpful. And it's really important for us to see them not as obligations, but as tools or as sources. Scripture, prayer, worship, Sabbath rest, community, those are tools, they're buckets in a sense to help us draw water from the wells of God's salvation. And we could take advantage of just simple Advent rhythms in this season. Maybe it's not even taking on a new, You know to memorize more scripture, but take advantage of the Advent gift devotional that if you haven't gotten one you haven't missed out yet Because it's not like a daily thing that you have to do something new every day. There's just a repeated reminder of a simple scripture and a prayer and a light that reminds us that Jesus is the light one moment each day to encourage us to draw from the well of God's salvation because God's presence is your joy in the darkness. And what happens as we draw from that well, as we walk in that way? Look in verse four, you will say in that day again, that the day when God visits us and saves us, give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing praises to the Lord for he has done gloriously. Let this be made known in all the earth. Isaiah shifts from personal joy in a sense we could say to corporate worship. The joy is not merely internal and personal, it is communal and proclamation. Joy overflows not just into personal expression, but joy overflows into worship. That's the response of a heart that sees God's goodness. Joy gives thanks. It's the natural response of God's people. Worship begins where entitlement ends. Like we know what entitlement is, right? Like I deserve this and I'm only gonna be happy when I get it. And when I let go of that and receive with gratitude the grace of what God has provided for me, that's where worship happens. Advent cultivates this by reminding us that the miracle of God condescending to enter our world, to take on human flesh, even be born as a baby in a barn, we give thanks because God has come to us. And that joy calls upon God's name. Call upon his name, Isaiah says in verse four. To call upon the Lord is to rely on him, to seek him, to... to declare that he is what I need. Joy leads to greater dependence, a joyful dependence, not independence. It's a reminder that we're not saved because of what we have done, not through our effort, but God's intervention. And then joy witnesses. Look at what Isaiah says again, make known his deeds among the people, proclaim that his name is exalted. Joy is missional. Joy is evangelistic. It is sharing good news. When you experience the light of Christ breaking into your darkness, you can't help but want other people to know about it and to experience it for themselves. Joy does not hoard, does not gather for itself. Joy shares. Isn't that, haven't we all experienced that? That's why Christmas is such a great window to have conversations with neighbors about joy and hope and in the middle of a dark season. where people may feel loneliness, people may feel stressed, overwhelmed. And joy ultimately is about exalting the Lord, not exalting ourselves, of course. Proclaim that His name is exalted. Sing praises to Him, for He has done gloriously. Isaiah is singing about the future of ultimate redemption and rescue, as if it's already happened, right? That's faith that is rooted in joy. That because God has promised it, it's as good as already done. And so we can sing gloriously because we already know the future that he has promised he will bring about and is bringing about. Christian worship is not just responsive, it is prophetic in that sense. We praise God for what he has done, what he is doing, and what he has promised that he will do. And we celebrate that. God's presence is your joy in the darkness. quickly look at verse six. Shout and sing for joy, O inhabitants of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. Joy grows in God's presence. Joy exists because of God's presence. The reason for joy is not merely what God has done, but who He is, and we could almost say where He is. Where is God? In your midst. He's with you, he's not far off somewhere, he's not way at some distance, you don't have to go somewhere to get to him. You don't have to come here, we gather and worship on Sunday because we're part of a community that gathers to worship and sing his praise, but we don't come here because this is where God lives. Right, I hope we all understand that. You are the temple of God's presence, this is not the temple. We come here together as God's temple to celebrate Him because He is with us always. What is He like? Oh, He is holy, He is great. Think back to where we started. The Holy One, the Great One was justly angry and wrathful towards our sin, but because of His salvation, We live in his presence with confidence and joy and security. God is not far off, he enters our world, he steps into our darkness, he stands in our midst. That's the promise of Advent. Jesus is Emmanuel, literally our God with us. And where God is present, joy is possible. God is your joy. The presence of God is your joy in the darkness. Every line of this passage points us towards Jesus. Your anger is turned away. Jesus bore the wrath that we deserved on the cross. God is my salvation. Jesus' name literally means God saves, Jehovah saves. I will trust and not be afraid. Jesus is the one who drives fear out. because he has taken the judgment and wrath. So now we enter God's presence with confidence and boldness. Jesus is the well of salvation. He offers us in that symbolic sense, the water of life that is unending. Make known his deeds. That's what we're here to do, to worship that Jesus' death and resurrection are the good news that we experience and we share with others. Advent is Christ centered joy because he is the light that shines in the darkness Maybe you're walking through personal darkness. Maybe you carry griefs in this season. Maybe you have anxiety maybe Life is uncertain and heavy We all need something to base our life on and and Isaiah is reminding us anything less than Jesus will crumble Doesn't matter whether it's Drugs or drink, doesn't matter whether it's your own strength or willpower, your learning, your accomplishments, your family, your nation, your tradition. Some people even base their life on religion. God comes to us in Advent and says, The stability, the hope, the joy that is available for you is in Jesus and what he has done. And if you have never come to a point in your life of knowing and trusting him in that way, I pray today that you will say, I want Jesus, I want his joy, I want his life. I turn from my sin and I come to him and take his forgiveness. He will shine the light of his life into your darkness. Or maybe you know Jesus, but maybe you're just weary. Maybe you're spiritually dry. You've believed, you've walked with Him for years, but joy feels distant. And Isaiah is saying, oh, draw from the wells of salvation again. There is an unending supply. An unending supply. to Christ, come to his word. Be reminded of the gospel and the promises of Jesus and who he is for you, even if you don't feel it in this moment, remind yourself of it. The well is not run dry, even though you may be dry. and maybe you feel unworthy. Isaiah begins with a reminder of sin, but ends with this promise of God's grace and presence. It's not about you being worthy. It's not about any of us being worthy. God's joy is not for the perfect, it's for the repentant. It's for the trusting and the hopeful. And what a witness it is to a world that is so filled with darkness and division and fear and despair when God's people radiate the joy and the worship that comes only from his presence. There were always parts of that church in St. Louis that, especially at night, I didn't want to walk through alone in the dark, but I got better at it because I reminded myself, one, there's nothing that's there in the dark that isn't there when the lights are on, but more importantly, even in the dark, God is with me and I will trust in him and not be afraid. Isaiah sang this song before Jesus came and we sing this song in anticipation of his coming again. And he invites us, give thanks, draw water, sing, worship, proclaim, because great in your midst is the Holy One. God's presence is your joy in the darkness. So rejoice. Let me pray for Father, thank you for the joy that breaks into our darkness. That though we once were far from you, your anger has been turned away through Christ. You come to us with grace, not judgment. You are our salvation, our strength, our song, our light. You are our life. Help us to draw from the wells of your mercy and kindness to find our joy, not in circumstances, but in you. shine your light into the darkness that we walk through, even the darkness of our own hearts. Remind us that you are in our midst, your joy would overflow in our worship, our words, and be known in the world. May our lives proclaim the greatness of you, the God who saves, because you are with us. go forth in joy. We pray. In the name of Jesus, our salvation. Amen. Thank you for engaging with our community by checking out this podcast. If you would like more information about our church and ministry, you can find us at faithchurchindeed.com.