Isaiah 61:1-6 - Freedom, the Love of God reclaimed!
Isaiah 61:1-6 - Freedom, the Love of God reclaimed!
By Pastor Lee Hemen
July 10, 2011 AM
On a bleak day in February in 1832, a young theological student sat in his seminary room. He was going over some children's sheet music sent to him by his friend Lowell Mason. He glanced at one but he didn't like the wording so he began to tap out the beat and make up his own words. He wrote quickly, "My country, tis of thee Sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing; Land where my fathers died, Land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountain side, let freedom ring!" Therefore, the hymn America was written by Samuel Francis Smith a seminary student. Why do the words to America stir within us a hidden patriotism? I believe it is because a nation or a person cannot know real freedom until they experience the love of God firsthand! In a nation that prides itself on its independence, America has forgotten its interdependence upon God.
Like a broken and ruined life, a nation would experience the worst of personal defeat. It would lose its freedom because it had left God's love. That nation was Israel. Nevertheless, when the prophet Isaiah proclaimed his message to the nation he and Israel never realized by who or how it would come true! Over 686 years later, a young Jewish carpenter would stand in the midst of a local congregation and say that these words of the prophet were fulfilled. Freedom had returned! The love of God was reclaimed for a nation and for the individual!
READ: Isaiah 61:1-6
Knowing about love and experiencing love are two different things entirely. A spinster may desire love but she can never know it fully until she experiences it for herself. The same is true for those who say, “God loves everyone.” Unless they have a personal experience with God’s love, they are still spiritual spinsters wishing for something they have never experienced for themselves! The Bible teaches us that the love of God can be reclaimed in our lives…
I. By understanding just how much God loves us!
“My native country, thee, Land of the noble free, Thy name I love: I love thy rocks and rills, Thy woods and templed hills; My heart with rapture thrills Like that above!”
1. The love God has for us is timeless! Jeremiah 31:3 reminds us that, “The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.’” When Isaiah wrote the words of God’s promise, little did he know that the love of God they expressed would be fulfilled in the person of Jesus, as the promised Messiah.
2. The love God has for us is without measure! Paul tried to explain it when he wrote, “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure!” (Ephesians 3:17-19 NIV) It is the good news for the spiritually poor, the broken hearted, and those enslaved by sin!
3. God’s love is both expensive and expansive! Jesus expressed it best when He told Nicomdemus, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 NIV) Now is the favorable year of the Lord! Jesus has established the kingdom of God and any can enter in if they come to him by faith.
EXAMPLE: This is why Lowell Mason would take a hymn written by Isaac Watts and put it to an old Gregorian chant. Watts wrote, “When I survey the wondrous cross, On which the Prince of glory died, My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride. Were the whole realm of nature mine that were a present far too small; Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.” The only way we can reclaim our true freedom is by knowing how much God loves us!
This morning you may sit there and think, “Oh yes, I know God loves me.” However, knowing about it and claiming it are two different things. We have seen how much God loves us but true love is not felt and understood until it is claimed by the person it is directed! This is why so many girls allow boys to chase them until they are caught! They want them to claim their love and devotion. God is the same way. Let me explain. The Bible teaches us that the love of God is reclaimed in our lives…
II. By professing his love for ourselves!
“Let music swell the breeze, And ring from all the trees Sweet freedom's song: Let mortal tongues awake: Let all that breathe partake: let rocks their silence break, The sound prolong!”
1. God’s love is reclaimed when we acknowledge Jesus in our lives! John would write that, “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the Day of Judgment...” (1 John 4:15-17a NIV) Isaiah’s promise is for all people, “to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair!”
2. God’s love is reclaimed by those who recognize their sin condition! Paul understood and would relate, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23 NIV) However, to know Jesus is to realize that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1-2 NIV) Isaiah would respond by singing, “I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” (Isaiah 61:10 NIV)
3. God’s love is reclaimed when we walk with Him daily! Again, Paul taught, “For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him. The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body...” (Romans 6:9-11 NIV) We are to, “clothe [ourselves] with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” (Romans 13:14 NIV) We are to be God’s “living sacrifices.” (Romans 12:1 NIV) This is how the promise of Isaiah comes true, “Their descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the LORD has blessed.” (Isaiah 61:9 NIV)
EXAMPLE: Hannah Whitall Smith wrote that the chief problem people have with their Christianity is feelings over faith. We somehow cannot get over the fact that when we believe in Christ we are completely His! She states, “We cannot believe we are consecrated until we feel that we are: and because we do not feel that God has taken us in hand, we cannot believe He has! As usual, we put feelings first and faith second and the fact (salvation) last of all!” Hannah's answer was to claim Christ's salvation daily! This is why Eliza Hewett wrote in her hymn, “More about Jesus would I know, More of His grace to others show; More of his saving fullness see, More of His love who died for me! More, more about Jesus, More, more about Jesus; More of His saving fullness see, More of His love who died for me!”
Conclusion:
“Our father's God, to Thee, Author of liberty, To Thee we sing: Long may our land be right With freedom's holy light; Protect us by Thy might, Great God, our King!” How do we know God loves us? On July 4th at the fireworks, I saw something that was interesting. Human mothers have something in common with the guillemot, a small arctic bird that lives in the rocky cliffs. While these birds flock by the thousands and lay their eggs in crowded conditions, each knows its own egg! Even if it is moved! During the fireworks at the Fort, in a crowd of thousands, the human mothers that were concerned about their children always knew where they were. The Bible teaches us that our heavenly Father knows where all of His children are as well. Paul wrote, “Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: ‘The Lord knows those who are his,’ and, ‘Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.’” (2 Timothy 2:19 NIV) God does indeed know us and loves us. Isaiah’s promise of the “good news” for those spiritually poor, blind and captive has been fulfilled. The favorable year of the Lord is today! All you need to do is profess that love for yourself and understand that real freedom is found in the fulfilled promise of Jesus Christ.
----
Pastor Lee Hemen has been the outspoken pastor of the same church for 25 years in Vancouver, WA. He writes regularly on spirituality and conservative causes and maintains several web blogs. This article is copyrighted © 2011 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.
By Pastor Lee Hemen
July 10, 2011 AM
On a bleak day in February in 1832, a young theological student sat in his seminary room. He was going over some children's sheet music sent to him by his friend Lowell Mason. He glanced at one but he didn't like the wording so he began to tap out the beat and make up his own words. He wrote quickly, "My country, tis of thee Sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing; Land where my fathers died, Land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountain side, let freedom ring!" Therefore, the hymn America was written by Samuel Francis Smith a seminary student. Why do the words to America stir within us a hidden patriotism? I believe it is because a nation or a person cannot know real freedom until they experience the love of God firsthand! In a nation that prides itself on its independence, America has forgotten its interdependence upon God.
Like a broken and ruined life, a nation would experience the worst of personal defeat. It would lose its freedom because it had left God's love. That nation was Israel. Nevertheless, when the prophet Isaiah proclaimed his message to the nation he and Israel never realized by who or how it would come true! Over 686 years later, a young Jewish carpenter would stand in the midst of a local congregation and say that these words of the prophet were fulfilled. Freedom had returned! The love of God was reclaimed for a nation and for the individual!
READ: Isaiah 61:1-6
Knowing about love and experiencing love are two different things entirely. A spinster may desire love but she can never know it fully until she experiences it for herself. The same is true for those who say, “God loves everyone.” Unless they have a personal experience with God’s love, they are still spiritual spinsters wishing for something they have never experienced for themselves! The Bible teaches us that the love of God can be reclaimed in our lives…
I. By understanding just how much God loves us!
“My native country, thee, Land of the noble free, Thy name I love: I love thy rocks and rills, Thy woods and templed hills; My heart with rapture thrills Like that above!”
1. The love God has for us is timeless! Jeremiah 31:3 reminds us that, “The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.’” When Isaiah wrote the words of God’s promise, little did he know that the love of God they expressed would be fulfilled in the person of Jesus, as the promised Messiah.
2. The love God has for us is without measure! Paul tried to explain it when he wrote, “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure!” (Ephesians 3:17-19 NIV) It is the good news for the spiritually poor, the broken hearted, and those enslaved by sin!
3. God’s love is both expensive and expansive! Jesus expressed it best when He told Nicomdemus, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 NIV) Now is the favorable year of the Lord! Jesus has established the kingdom of God and any can enter in if they come to him by faith.
EXAMPLE: This is why Lowell Mason would take a hymn written by Isaac Watts and put it to an old Gregorian chant. Watts wrote, “When I survey the wondrous cross, On which the Prince of glory died, My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride. Were the whole realm of nature mine that were a present far too small; Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.” The only way we can reclaim our true freedom is by knowing how much God loves us!
This morning you may sit there and think, “Oh yes, I know God loves me.” However, knowing about it and claiming it are two different things. We have seen how much God loves us but true love is not felt and understood until it is claimed by the person it is directed! This is why so many girls allow boys to chase them until they are caught! They want them to claim their love and devotion. God is the same way. Let me explain. The Bible teaches us that the love of God is reclaimed in our lives…
II. By professing his love for ourselves!
“Let music swell the breeze, And ring from all the trees Sweet freedom's song: Let mortal tongues awake: Let all that breathe partake: let rocks their silence break, The sound prolong!”
1. God’s love is reclaimed when we acknowledge Jesus in our lives! John would write that, “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the Day of Judgment...” (1 John 4:15-17a NIV) Isaiah’s promise is for all people, “to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair!”
2. God’s love is reclaimed by those who recognize their sin condition! Paul understood and would relate, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23 NIV) However, to know Jesus is to realize that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1-2 NIV) Isaiah would respond by singing, “I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” (Isaiah 61:10 NIV)
3. God’s love is reclaimed when we walk with Him daily! Again, Paul taught, “For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him. The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body...” (Romans 6:9-11 NIV) We are to, “clothe [ourselves] with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” (Romans 13:14 NIV) We are to be God’s “living sacrifices.” (Romans 12:1 NIV) This is how the promise of Isaiah comes true, “Their descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the LORD has blessed.” (Isaiah 61:9 NIV)
EXAMPLE: Hannah Whitall Smith wrote that the chief problem people have with their Christianity is feelings over faith. We somehow cannot get over the fact that when we believe in Christ we are completely His! She states, “We cannot believe we are consecrated until we feel that we are: and because we do not feel that God has taken us in hand, we cannot believe He has! As usual, we put feelings first and faith second and the fact (salvation) last of all!” Hannah's answer was to claim Christ's salvation daily! This is why Eliza Hewett wrote in her hymn, “More about Jesus would I know, More of His grace to others show; More of his saving fullness see, More of His love who died for me! More, more about Jesus, More, more about Jesus; More of His saving fullness see, More of His love who died for me!”
Conclusion:
“Our father's God, to Thee, Author of liberty, To Thee we sing: Long may our land be right With freedom's holy light; Protect us by Thy might, Great God, our King!” How do we know God loves us? On July 4th at the fireworks, I saw something that was interesting. Human mothers have something in common with the guillemot, a small arctic bird that lives in the rocky cliffs. While these birds flock by the thousands and lay their eggs in crowded conditions, each knows its own egg! Even if it is moved! During the fireworks at the Fort, in a crowd of thousands, the human mothers that were concerned about their children always knew where they were. The Bible teaches us that our heavenly Father knows where all of His children are as well. Paul wrote, “Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: ‘The Lord knows those who are his,’ and, ‘Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.’” (2 Timothy 2:19 NIV) God does indeed know us and loves us. Isaiah’s promise of the “good news” for those spiritually poor, blind and captive has been fulfilled. The favorable year of the Lord is today! All you need to do is profess that love for yourself and understand that real freedom is found in the fulfilled promise of Jesus Christ.
----
Pastor Lee Hemen has been the outspoken pastor of the same church for 25 years in Vancouver, WA. He writes regularly on spirituality and conservative causes and maintains several web blogs. This article is copyrighted © 2011 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.
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