The God Who Fights For Us

Caleb Eissler

Isaiah • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

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God is Destroying his enemies to bring everlasting peace. Through His prefect justice, God helps us fight our battles to bring justice to this fallen world.

Notes

Transcript

Group Question 1:

Who is your favorite hero of any book or movie? What is the most epic battle in any book or movie you've ever read? What makes them so epic?

Story Time

Before we dive into our passage for the night, I want to tell a short story that will help us grasp the our passage. I want you to imagine the story and the scene with me.

Take a breath, close your eyes, and imagine this with me.

Imagine that you are in a beautiful ancient city. Think Lord of Rings something with castles and knights. There are wonderful plants and flowers and trees around. The buildings are incredible. Surrounding the city is a massive, fortified wall. There are watchmen on the wall waiting for any sign of the enemy. You see artisans, at work, people at the market, and children playing in the alleys. It's beautiful.

Earlier in the day, something astonishing happened. You and all the citizens of the great city learned of a great hope. You learned of what could be. You heard of a future of perfect peace and bliss. A future that seemed to go on forever in complete joy. A future where all of your enemies were no more. A man, a king, had entered your gates and promised you the inheritance of this future. Parades were thrown for Him. Feasts were dedicated to Him. Jubilee filled the city.

Yet, as great as that future sounds something clouded the festivities. Something caused you to pause. Something cast doubt on the promises this King made. You know and everyone else in your city can look across the valley and see the city of your enemies. Their citadels are massive and intimidating. Just the thought of their warriors invokes fear. You know the strength of your enemies. You know their power and ruthless evil. You and your fellow citizen have tried defeat them before and have been utterly crushed. You feel helpless in their sight. As amazing as the new King's promised future sound, it seems impossible when you glance across the valley at the stronghold of your enemies. You've lived your whole life on alert because at any moment your enemies could attack, and if they did, you would be crushed.

You lay down to sleep with the tension of the future hope and the present peril.

Now imagine waking up. You see the sunlight pouring into your bedroom window. You wan and stretch and you soak in the first light of the morning.

Suddenly you hear noise off in the distance. It sounds like yells. You go to your window and try to hear what’s going on. It's the watchmen yelling. They're standing on top of the city wall looking out over the valley. You scan the valley to try and see what they're talking about.

Suddenly you see it. It's a man. He's striding back towards the city. His once white clothing is soaked in blood. Blood is splattered all over his face and his hands. His clothes are so soaked in blood that you can see blood literally dropping off of his clothes because they are so saturated. You wince at the sight on first glance, but your curiosity gets the best of you and you glance back to behold the man striding towards the city.

Suddenly, more yells from the watchmen snap you out of your shock. They're saying something about the man. You listen in and stare intently at the man. Then suddenly it hits you. that's no ordinary man. It's the King. The very king who promised your city peace. A thousand thoughts and questions race through your mind. Why is he soaked in blood? What is happening? What's going on?

Then you hear more cries from the watchmen. They're saying something about the enemy city off in the distance. You glance over at the enemy city in anticipation. You gasp. The once mighty and fortified city is in ruins. Its buildings are destroyed. Smoldering smoke rises up all over the city. You look closer and gasp again. Bodies are strewn everywhere. The ground is soaked in blood. Not once sign of life can be seen anywhere in the city. The gates of the city are blown apart and your enemies are defeated.

Then the question hits you. How could this man defeated all of your enemies by Himself? Your whole city had battled against them and lost. Who was this man? He is your new King.

Now you hear more yells. but these aren't yells of confusion. These are shouts of joy! The coming King has defeated the enemies of the people. Nothing stands in the way of the perpetual peace of the peoples. The battle is over and He has won. No more must you live in tension. No more must you grasp for hope. Hope is here and nothing can defeat it when the king is on your side. This really is happily ever after.

Open your eyes.

Isaiah 63: 1-6

Last week, Spencer spoke on Isaiah 62 and talked about a great wedding and a great love between God and His people. He talked about how God has promised His people a future of joy and peace and that He will protect His people. This week, we will be in the very next chapter in first 6 verses of Isaiah 63.

Group Question 2:

What does it mean that God fights for us?

General Question: what is the thing that happens in basically every movie before the happily ever after ending? (Battle or conflict).

The story I just told is a mirror of our passage, so picture the very same thing as we read.

Read Isaiah 63

What Is Going On Here?

God is destroying the enemies of His people to bring an everlasting peace for them.

Isaiah 63 is actually a prophecy of something God will do. To see the fulfillment of this prophecy, we have to turn to Revelation 19:11. Turn there with me.

Read Revelation 19:11ff

God and God alone accomplishes our salvation

God fights for us

God will bring perfect justice to the world

No one can defeat our king

Group Question 3:

What does it mean that God fights for us?

God will bring perfect justice and defeat our spiritual enemies

At every moment Jesus is fighting for you and in the end He will triumph for you.

Because God fights for us, we don’t have to live in fear and uncertainty. We can live with boldness for Him.

God Brings Perfect Justice to the World

Group Question 4:

What does justice look like to you? What are the best examples of justice you’ve seen in this life? What are examples of injustice that you’ve seen? What do you think it means for God to bring justice to the world? What does it mean for God to bring justice to the world?

God will right all wrongs. Tolkien quote- “All sad things will come untrue”

God brings justice at the cross or in Hell.

God’s justice and holiness will be vindicated in the end.

His judgement will be so perfect that even the damned will agree with their punishment.

All of creation bears witness.

God is actually loving because of justice

No need to fuss over the details of the end times if you are a Christian because you’re safe.

General Question: Who are the enemies of God?

Satan

Demons

But the other enemy of God is...us

Romans 5:6-11

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Colossians 1:13-14

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The Justice of God against sinners

God made us good but we rebelled against Him.

If you’re a Christian, before you were saved, you were an enemy of God.

If you’re tonight and you’re not a Christian, you are an enemy of God.

Think about your non-Christian friends and family. They are enemies of God.

The fate that happened to those in the great battle was once our fate. We deserved to be utterly destroyed. We could not stand before Him. All of creation testifies against us. We stand not chance against God.

This is why we cling to the cross. Thanks be to God that He sent His own Son to take on the punishment we deserve so we could be with God. Through the cross, Jesus made it possible for us to cease to be enemies of God and become part of the family of God. If we accept Christ we can share in the victory of the cross where Jesus defeated every claim Satan has on us.

We must share the Gospel.

No One Can Defeat Our King

Romans 8:31-38

A lot of times in movies we think of epic and long lasting battles where it comes down to the last second in a close fought battle. The final battle will be nothing like that. Soon after our passage in Revelation 20, Satan is defeated in a verse.

Satan is not the hero of the story. He stands no chance against our king Jesus. Jesus will utterly defeat Him.

Here is where we see a different look at the wrath of God. Jesus is avenging the injustice and evil done against His loved ones, his children

Olivia and tackling story. (never been in a fight). You experience righteous anger when someone hurts someone you love.

Jesus is furious because of what Satan and his followers have done to the name of God and the children of God.

Jesus will pour out wrath and justice like we could never fathom, and in it will utterly destroy every enemy and stronghold of His people.

Through His righteous justice He will bring perfect peace so that no enemies could ever rise us again.

There is no spiritual obstacle that Jesus can’t defeat.

This gives us a boldness to pray to God in the name of Jesus for whatever things rise up against us. It’s as if we’re blowing on a battle horn calling for our King to aid us in battle. And he will win.

Jesus even defeats Satan in the battle of pleasure. Jesus’ offers a superior pleasure: Himself

“We come with double forces against the wicked, to persuade them to a godly life. . . . the common argument is the profitableness of religion, but alas, the wicked man is not in pursuit of profit; ’tis pleasure he seeks. Now, then, we will fight with them with their own weapons.”-Jonathan Edwards, Pleasantness of Religion

What could Satan possibly do to defeat Jesus? The best someone could do is make their enemy suffer and die. But Satan already tried that Jesus rose from the grave in the fullness of His divine authority. The very means that Satan use to kill Jesus made Him King. There is nothing Satan could do to get victory over Jesus.

Jesus is our undefeated King

Practical Takeaways

Worship and give adoration to King Jesus

Pray in boldness because we know Jesus can accomplish big things

Share the Gospel

Bow down to Jesus, recognize Him as king because He does not share His throne.

Don’t let Satan pull you into darkness over your sin.

“So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this: "I admit that I deserve death and hell, what of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where He is there I shall be also!”- Martin Luther