Hi, and welcome back to the Him We Proclaim podcast with Pastor John Vaughanville. What does it mean to rejoice in a broken world? On this third Sunday of Advent, Pastor Fonville takes us through Isaiah's prophetic vision and Paul's triumphant declarations to remind us that joy is not naive optimism. It is the fruit of our secure salvation. Even in the face of death and suffering, the gospel gives us real lasting reasons to rejoice because Christ has conquered death.
and is making all things new. Here's John with the next message called The Salvation of Christ, rejoicing in the hope of gospel resurrection.
Some rejoicing. We don't rejoice much, do we? Because Well, sometimes life is hard. And sometimes we come to church and we don't want to look like The happy clappies, you know, let's not do that. I get too...
But but the the theme this theme of rejoicing goes through the The readings that we have heard and a Yeah. And it tells us this, it tells us that as we wait, as we look. Right, for Christ to return. This mystery of salvation has been fulfilled in Christ. And because of this, it gives us a reason to rejoice.
to be happy. Look at the book of Isaiah. Look at what Isaiah says here. The powerful chapters 25 and 26. He presents to us this vision, this vision of...
Rejoicing. The consummation of God's plan of salvation in Christ. He gives us this prophetic anticipation of salvation's completion. And he says that this great mystery of God's plan of salvation. He says it has this ultimate victory of what?
Victory over death. Which what? It produces joyful celebration, rejoicing. This past week. We had two people that we know of.
just suddenly fall over dead. Just like that. Just ban. Two this past week and it was just it's shocking when you hear about this and these things kind of happen one was a 53 year old mother In her house, just going about her life. And she just drops over dead.
The the under What is a friend of the past? of our family for the past Gosh, 20 years. And he was 65 and he was going about his Life and bam, he had a heart attack and he died on the spot. Just this past week, and it was shocking to hear these things. When you hear these kinds of things, it doesn't produce rejoicing, right?
Produces grief, produces fear, produces sorrow. And this is the vision that Isaiah gives to us: this message of joy and triumph. in the midst of death. Yeah. He he speaks.
Look at this in chapter 25. He speaks of God preparing this great feast. All peoples. And he says it is a banquet with rich food, and here it is, fine wine. Right, that's not grape juice.
So Baptist will eventually get used to the new creation. But this is not just any banquet. Because Isaiah says this is a banquet where death itself is swallowed up forever. Just listen to the hope that he gives. He says, He says, as the Lord of hosts will prepare this lavish banquet for all...
All people's on this mountain. A banquet of aged wine and choice pieces with netro. and refined aged wine. Look at this. And on this mountain, he will swallow up the covering, which is over.
All peoples, the veil which is stretched over all nations. What is that? Death. The curse. Verse 8, and he will swallow up death for all time.
And the Lord God will wipe away. Tears on all faces. And he looked at the mm. remove reproach the shame of his people from all the earth. And he says, the Lord has spoken.
And it Will be said in that day, behold, this is our God for whom we have waited. That's the advent. We're waiting. That he might save us. This is the Lord God, for whom we have waited.
And here it is. Let us rejoice. and be glad in his salvation. What a passage of Scripture. And so the prophet calls upon God's people.
He says, rejoice and be glad. Why? Because God, the Lord, is going to destroy death forever. He's going to take away the weeping, the consequences of the curse, sorrow. Look at this.
The third thing, he's going to take away shame. from his people. This is the ultimate good news of Advent. The s you know death. The defeat of sorrow.
The defeat of shame. These are the great things that we face. That's why we don't have much rejoicing. Why? Because all around us, there's what?
Death. This past week, as I said, two of our people who we know just suddenly. Just out of the blue, just died. And that that produces what?
Sorrow. It produces sorrow. And shame, sin produces shame. But Isaiah says you can rejoice and be glad. Why?
Because God comes to intervene. He comes to take death and destroy it. He comes to take sorrow and replace it with joy. And he comes to take our shame. and cover it forever.
And so Isaiah calls us, he says, rejoice in this salvation. Look at chapter 26 verse 19. He introduces us to the hope of resurrection. He says, look at this, your dead shall live. That's the message of the Christian faith.
Their bodies shall rise. You who dwell dwelling. In the dust. He says, awake and sing for joy. What a powerful statement.
What I'm going to say about Christ, you what? Lay me. in the dust of Death. Jesus was laid in the dust of death. To destroy it.
That resurrection, the hope of the gospel, could be pronounced upon us when he rose from the dead. And this is the promise: your dead shall live, their bodies shall rise, you who dwell in the dust, awake. And sing for joy. This is great hope because if you've gone to the graveside, right, like my father-in-law. And we stood at his graveside just What, a year or so ago?
And you watch the dust cover that casket. You're thinking, wow. This looks pretty final. This looks like a hopeless condition. But it isn't.
Because God speaks his life-giving word through the gospel and he says, you who dwell in the dust. He speaks to us. Just like at creation, when he said, let there be what? Light. And there it was.
Light, how did that come about? The Holy Spirit is hovering. over creation. And when God's word speaks, the Holy Spirit who is hovering over creation takes that word and he brings forth life. That's what's happening here.
What is resurrection? It's new creation. It is the act of creation. Again. God speaks to us who are in the grave.
You listen to Him speaking to you the promise of the gospel. You who dwell in the dust. Oh wait. Do you hear that? That's the power of the gospel.
That is the hope of the gospel. That is advent. That is what we're waiting for, and that is what causes the church to rejoice and be glad. The Christian faith is not Platonic. What do I mean by that?
It's not this. The Christian faith is not that the hope is to escape this physical world. Right? And go up to heaven. As a disembodied spirit, That's not the hope of the gospel.
That's not the Christian faith.
Now, Paul does say in Philippians, to depart the body is to be present with what? Christ, but spiritually. But to be human is to meet in this flesh, to be physically present, to be physical. Why? Because God in creation, he pronounced what in the first chapters of Genesis.
Creation is good, very good. There's nothing wrong with creation, but it was fallen because of sin. And because of that, God is going to redeem his creation, physical creation. We're not spirits. We're not ghosts.
We're not angels. We're humans created in the image of God, flesh and blood, and in this physical creation that God has given to us, which is good but has been spoiled by sin. Yeah. And God comes to us, and the prophet says. And he speaks.
And he says, your dead shall live, their bodies, their bodies shall rise. That's why I don't like this phrase. Hey, hey, let's go salt winning. Because that's just 50% of it. How about we also say, hey, let's go body winning.
Because that's resurrection. That is the hope of the gospel. That is the hope of Advent. Creation restore, creation glorify, creation resurrected, all of creation. And God speaks to us in this dead state.
You who dwell in the dust, awake. And what does he say? Sing for joy. Don't you think that if you overcome death, when you wake up, you're going to be singing for joy? That's a joyful thing.
I used to, when when I was in church, I hate to say this, but I just have to because this is my experience in church. I hated hearing the pastor talk about going to heaven. I hated that. Because I would sit there as a little moi and hear that and go, I don't like that. It just sounds so Like a ghost.
I used to feel guilty because I used to think to myself when I was sitting there hearing these things, I was like, I like this earth. I kinda like my body. I like creation. But I didn't know why because I didn't know the gospel back then. But listen.
Physical creation, God created it. God took upon himself the Christmas message of flesh, and he dwelt among us, and he took on his creation. He became human, flesh and blood, and he redeemed it. Flesh and blood. That's what the church fathers say.
Gregory Ivanazi has this: what he has not taken upon himself, he's not redeemed. He hasn't just saved our souls, he's also saved our bodies. All of us. And this prophecy speaks of the resurrection of the dead, which is a cause for rejoicing. This hope that Isaiah is talking about is fulfilled.
Look at Revelation in chapter 21, verses 3 to 5. John speaks in the consummation of this prophecy there. And he says, I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and he will dwell among them. And they shall be his people, and God himself will be among them. And here it is.
Here's Isaiah. And he will what? Wipe away every tear from their eyes. And he says, and there will no longer be any death. They'll no longer be it.
Any mourning or crying or pain, the first things have passed away. And he who sits upon the throne said, Behold, I'm making all things new. And he said, right, for these words are faithful. And True. And so John concludes with this promise fulfilled in the new creation.
Where the vision of Isaiah 25 The vision of Isaiah 26. This joyful feast of salvation, this destruction of death. It is consummated, it's brought to fruition. And oh, this passage in Isaiah says that as Christians, we can rejoice in the assurance that death has been defeated in Christ and that the promise of resurrection is our future hope. That's what church is all about.
That's the elephant in the room that church addresses. Every Sunday. Nobody wants to talk about it, but it's a fact. And this is the hope. This is what the gospel presents to us.
And it's a cause more rejoicing. The consummation of the mystery of salvation brought to fulfillment in Christ. This brings us to Matthew that Jesus, Matthew, as is the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophetic hope. Matthew tells us that this mystery of God's plan and salvation is fulfilled in Christ. In Matthew chapter 11, we hear of John the Baptist, and he's in prison, and he's questioning: is Jesus the Messiah?
Is he the Christ? Because if he is, why am I in prison? Why hasn't he set up the kingdom? Why hasn't he brought the power of the kingdom? Why am I oppressed?
Why am I in prison? Why am I about to be beheaded? Is Jesus the Messiah? And so, in his doubt, he sends messengers to Jesus, and they say. Hey Jesus, are you the one to come?
Or should we expect someone else? Debbie, can you imagine? And when John the Baptist question about is Jesus the Christ. Jesus points John's disciples to his fulfillment of Isaiah chapter 35. And also Isaiah 25.
Jesus answered them and he said, Go and report to John what you hear and see. What do they hear? What do they see? The blind receive sight. The lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up.
And he says, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. You see, Jesus is just fulfilling Isaiah's prophecies here. And he understood that his ministry was the fulfillment of Old Testament promises about the kingdom of God. And he says, tell John these signs that you see, these signs that you see, these are the signs of the kingdom of God breaking into this fallen world. John was looking for wrong Christ, the wrong Messiah.
And Jesus says, look at these signs that I'm performing. The power of God's kingdom is breaking forth into this world where it has, Isaiah says there's a veil that covers the nations. That veil is being torn. That fell is being destroyed by me. The king who has come to bring his kingdom upon this earth.
It's breaking into this fallen world, fulfilling the very prophecies that Isaiah foretold. If you go back in Luke, the first chapter, the fourth chapter. Luke tells us that when Jesus began his public ministry, he stood up in the synagogue and he read Isaiah 61 and 62. And after he read it, he put down the scrolls and he looked at everybody and he says, Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Can you imagine that statement?
One of the clearest declarations of the kingdom coming when he came is Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12, Jesus proclaims that his exorcisms by the Spirit of God demonstrates that the kingdom of God has come. He says, if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
So when Jesus came in his first advent, in his first coming, he brought the power of the kingdom. And he began to reverse this curse.
Now the disciples believed that Jesus was the anointed king, but they struggled to understand his mission. Why? Because they expected this victory and they resisted that the kingdom included suffering. And on a cross. Matthew chapter 16, verses 21 through 23, Jesus tells his disciples, the Son of Man, right?
Daniel 7, the great conquering Son of Man coming from heaven. Jesus tells his disciples and Peter, he says, the son of man must suffer and die. and be raised again on the third day. And Peter In response to Jesus' statement, he rebukes Jesus and he says, God forbid this will never happen to you. And then Jesus said, get behind me.
Satan. Because he was trying to prevent Jesus from. Achieving victory over death by dying on the cross because at the cross Jesus defeated death forever. And the disciples' understanding of who Jesus is shifted. after that witness what?
Jesus' crucifixion and his resurrection and realize that the kingdom's arrival comes not just one time but in two stages. The Jews expected Messiah to bring all the kingdom's blessings. The first time when he came But that's not how it worked. You see, Jesus in his first coming, in his first advent, he inaugurated the kingdom of God. He defeated Satan.
He defeated sin. He defeated death by his work. at Calvary. But In his second coming, he'll consummate the kingdom by completely bringing to fruition Isaiah's vision of this great feast that takes place when the resurrection occurs. And so today in Advent, We we find ourselves living in in between the times.
In between Christ's first and second comings. And so how do we say it? We say it like this, what the scriptures teach us. The kingdom of God has come. But it's all coming.
In his first coming, Jesus brought the kingdom with him. Through his death, through his burial, through his resurrection, he has broken the power of sin and death. But in his second coming, he'll consummate the kingdom. And at this time, this vision that Isaiah gives to us. This joyful feast of salvation, this destruction of death forever, is finally and fully brought to fruition.
And God's reign is made complete. And new creation.
Now As we wait. At this Mm-hmm. In between the times, looking for that fruition, looking for that final fulfillment, the consummation of God's kingdom. How are we supposed to live? 1 Corinthians chapter 4, Paul tells us, and we heard it today, Paul calls believers to be faithful stewards.
of this mystery of God's plan of salvation. Faithful stewards. In 1 Corinthians 4, Paul is speaking to the Corinthians about what their job is in the church. And he says, remember that the apostles, remember that I, Paul, how are you to regard us? We are servants of Christ.
And he says this, doers, the mysteries of God. This requirement to be faithful snoozers applies not just to the apostles, but it applies to the whole church because 1 Peter 4, verse 10, listen to what he says. He says, Each one of you has received a special gift. Right. He says, use it.
Use your gift in the church. As you have received it, see, it's a gift. He says, use your gift to serve one another. As good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Everybody in the church has a gift, has something to give, has something they can contribute.
God has given us these gifts, these talents, these abilities, these dispositions, whatever you want to call them, to serve the needs of the body of Christ. That's what Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 12. He says, if a whole body is what? Foot. If the whole body is a hand, Right, not much can get done.
But but the whole body working together is like this beautiful symphony because when we go to the symphony we don't just listen to tubas. Right. Those are beautiful. They're great instruments, but I don't particularly care to just go listen to a tuba for two hours. But what if it was a tuba?
Let's say kettle drums.
Well, I like kettle drums and I like tubas, but I don't think I'm going to pay two hours to go do that. But what if I show up to hear the The London Symphony Orchestra together on the stage. I'll pay to go three hours to that. Why? Because the whole thing is working together as one body to produce beautiful sound music.
And Paul says, Peter says, as each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards. Of the manifold grace of God. This mysteries of salvation. What is it? Grace.
That's a mystery. Forgiveness, the defeat of sin and death, the incarnation. Talk about mystery, the eternal God taking upon himself flesh and becoming a baby, being robbed by his mother. God in human flesh. That is a mystery.
The promise of resurrection for Jew and Gentile in a new creation, the destruction of death forever. The establishment of God's eternal kingdom upon this earth in a new earth in a new creation perfectly glorified all these mysteries revealed to us in Christ Paul says they've been entrusted to the apostles, but also to the whole church. And so how are we supposed to live in light of this? Paul tells us, he says, don't become innovators. Be a faithful steward.
Be a faithful steward. These mysteries of salvation that we're called to rejoice in, we're also called to be faithful stewards of them, to guard the gospel, protect the gospel. Steward it, protect it, be faithful, be found trustworthy. And so our joy in Christ's first coming and our hope in his second coming require us to do two things. Rejoice in it, but also faithfully proclaim it and guard it, steward it.
And John the Baptist provides for us the gospel account. Right. an example of a faithful steward. He prepared the way for the coming of the Messiah. He pointed people.
to the coming of Jesus, the Messiah. And just like John the Baptist, we watch, we wait, we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. And as we do that, we are faithful stewards guarding and protecting. And so as these scriptures, as Isaiah calls us to rejoice with this good news that death and sorrow and shame are swallowed up forever in God's victory. It's the Matthew tells us that Christ is the fulfillment of this hope.
Christ is the one who breaks into this fallen world and he brings the kingdom of God in his first and his second comings. In 1 Corinthians 4, Paul says, take a... All of these mysteries that you've heard that are fulfilled in Christ. Be faithful stewards of it. Guard it.
Rejoice in it and proclaim it to others. And so, as we await the fullness of God's salvation. This is what the scriptures call us tune today. rejoicing together in the hope that we have in Christ. Joy took the World.
The Lord has Come. Right. That's the Advent. But also, let us be faithful stewards. of this mystery that's been Reveal to us In Christ.
And that's great hope. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this. great message of hope that we have. Have mercy upon us.
We thank you that you forgive us. We thank you that our shame is taken away. We thank you that in Christ we have the hope. overcoming death and the grave. We thank you that we have the hope of this new creation that is to come.
And as we wait. As we look by faith, Help us to be faithful stewards of this great mystery. Faithful to proclaim it. faithful to keep it pure. Core.
Faithful to give it to others. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Uh John Fawnville sends his thanks for listening today. And before we wrap up, can I tell you about an encouraging book you might want to get soon?
It's called Hope and Holiness: How the Gospel Enables and Empowers Sexual Purity. You're not alone if you've tried to conquer sexual temptations and tried all the methods available, only to find yourself feeling defeated again. This book may be just what you're looking for. with his shepherding heart. John shows that the gospel, not practical steps or more self-discipline, is God's provision for the power to live a life of sexual purity.
and it's available to every Christian. What I like is the book is available in three convenient ways, paperback, audiobook, or Kindle. The links are in our podcast descriptions or just search for Hope and Holiness by John Fawnville on Amazon to get a copy for you and it's a wonderful book to go through with a small group. Him We Proclaim is a ministry of Paramount Church in Jacksonville, Florida. You can find us at paramountchurch.com.
We'll talk again soon.
