Anchor Of Hope Christian Reformed Church

Isaiah 45: 14-19

Isaiah 45: 7-13

A beautiful verse that speaks about God saving us by His grace alone is Isaiah 45:4 "For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me." This truth is at the center of the following verses: John 15:16 "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you." John 10:16 "And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd." 1 John 4:19 "We love because he first loved us." God saved us in His Son Jesus Christ when we did not know Him, did not desire Him, and only hated Him and our neighbor! Thank you, God, for your grace! Amen!

Only in the Lord is wisdom and understanding And truth and life and love... It is a fool who would look for these things in the fallen creation rather than in the Holy perfect Creator. As God promised that he would use Cyrus to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple, Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all God's promises who saves God's people through his substitutionary atonement on the Cross so that we, who are in Christ, are the body of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit! Amen!

One of the most amazing and precious declarations of the Gospel of Jesus Christ by God to His elect children is found in Isaiah 44:22 "I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you." Salvation is only by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Jesus redeems us from the curse of the law by dying in our place and satisfying the wrath of God we deserve. The light of Jesus Christ burns away the cloud and mist of our sins when we are made alive by the power of the Holy Spirit! Amen!

Who or what you worship; desire; love with all your heart, mind, soul and strength; place your security in, and or derive your peace and joy and life from will decide what you become. Those who worship unseeing, unhearing, lifeless idols of any kind will be blind, deaf to the truth of Jesus Christ and remain dead unless God makes them and gives them the gracious gifts of belief in obedience to and love for Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. If you worship an idol you become like that Idol; If by God's grace you worship Jesus Christ then through the power of the Holy Spirit you are able to become Like Christ in His righteousness and holiness! Amen! What a gift! What a Savior! What a God!

John 3:16 "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." Due to the sin on Adam and Eve every human being is conceived in sin and under condemnation, wrath and judgement unless they are saved by God's grace the holy and righteous life, substitution death and victorious resurrection of Jesus Christ! God made a way when we could find no way! Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. If you want to be saved then you need to come into the light of Jesus Christ so that it is made visible that He is your only hope, strength, holiness, and goodness. Only God is good! Amen!

Jesus makes clear in John 3:6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." If a person is to have eternal life and be in right relationship with God then they must be holy as God is holy, righteous as God is righteous, and perfect as God is perfect. Because we are conceived and born with a corrupt, fallen, unrighteous, sinful nature it is impossible for us to be in a right relationship with God unless we are born again by the Spirit of God and receive the gracious gifts of repentance and belief in the holiness, righteousness, and perfection that we can only find in Jesus Christ crucified and risen! Amen!

"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Jesus prophesied that Herod's earthly temple was to be destroyed in the near future after His death. The church is to be the temple of God, indwelt by the Holy Spirit because of Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross. Jesus is alive! Eternal life is only found in Him! Amen!

Jesus is the Word, the light, the Son of God, God, the Beginning and the End, Life, the Lamb of God, the Son of man... Everything was made through and for Him, it makes sense that Jesus could turn water into wine. Jesus needs no seeds, soil, vines, grapes, or wine press. God made everything that has been made from nothing! As Rev. 19:9 says "Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." The greatest miracle of all is that while we were still dead in our trespasses and sins, Jesus Made us alive in Himself! Amen!Praise the Lord!

John Testifies About Jesus29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”[a]John’s Disciples Follow Jesus35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

John 1:16-1816 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and[a] is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

O, how we need Jesus! The law speaks of our condemnation, the wrath of our holy God because of our unholiness, our disobedience, our rebellion, our curse, our unrighteousness, and God's just judgement! O how we need the Grace and truth of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ! Galatians 3:13-14 (13) Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us--for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"-- (14) so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. Praise the Lord!

Jesus is life! Jesus is light! Without being made alive in Jesus Christ we are dead and lost in darkness. Everyone needs God's light to shine on him or her for them to be saved. Thank you, Jesus, that you died on the cross so that we could have light and go from darkness to light. Amen!

The Word Became Flesh1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

God pours out His Spirit on all who are His- all chosen, precious, loved, elected, foreknown by Him. This is our only hope! It is only through the substitutionary and sacrificial work of Jesus Christ on our behalf and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that we can be saved. Thank you Father for making us alive in your Son Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit! Amen!

We did not seek God; God sought us! We did not love God, God first loved us and enabled us to love Him! We were condemned because of the guilt of our sin and rebellion and Jesus took our sin on His perfect, holy self so that we could by faith receive His righteousness! In Christ God has removed our sins! This is what we give thanks for! Amen!

"Redeemed"— The Hebrew for this word means to ransom by a price paid to free captives. God the Creator, Former, Caller, Redeemer, Savior is making a new holy people through the ransom of His holy Son Jesus Christ. As God makes clear in Isaiah 43:11-12 "I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no savior. (12) I declared and saved and proclaimed, when there was no strange god among you; and you are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and I am God." Jesus is the only Way, Truth, and Life!Amen!

Isaiah 42 makes clear in verses 6-8 that the LORD alone is creator, savior, and the only source of righteousness and hope for sinners. (6) "I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, (7) to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. (8) I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. Praise the Lord that he has shone the light of Jesus Christ into our darkness and given us eyes to see, ears to hear and new heart to trust and believe in Jesus Christ as our righteousness!Amen!

We are bombarded at times by the lies and deceptions of the World, the Devil, and our old fallen flesh. At the center of these lies and deceptions is that we can find strength, pleasure, joy, hope, security... outside of God and His will and His ways. We are constantly offered idols from within our fallen hearts and minds and form the fallen world outside. God makes clear that strength and salvation can only be found in His righteous right hand and in the Holy one of Israel, Jesus Christ. Jesus Crucified is our only hope of forgiveness rather then the condemnation we deserve. Jesus Christ risen is our only hope of eternal life in the blessings of God's good pleasure. Amen!