Introduction

Isaiah 56:1-8 ESV  Thus says the LORD: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my righteousness be revealed.  (2)  Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”  (3)  Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, “The LORD will surely separate me from his people”; and let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”  (4)  For thus says the LORD: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant,  (5)  I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.  (6)  “And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant—  (7)  these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”  (8)  The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, “I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.”

• You know one of the many things I love about Missions Sunday is how easy it is to write a sermon about missions.
  • If you have been with CLC for even just a short while, you know we are all about Scripture here.
    • We worship in accordance to the scriptures.
    • We pray as the scriptures to teach us to pray.
    • We strive to obey what the Scriptures teach us.
    • And we follow the God of the Bible, the Jesus of Scriptures…
    • So when I preach, I preach straight from the Bible…
      • Which is why missions Sunday is so easy…
      • Because there are SO MANY SCRIPTURES ABOUT MISSIONS.
        • And not just from the New Testament.
        • Not just after Jesus gave us the great commission to go out into all nations.
        • But even in the Old Testament it is clear that Jesus cared about missions.
          • I could preach many sermons from the Old Testament about missions…
            • I could go to Jonah and talk about how God saved an entire city of foreigners by sending a missionary there to prophesy to them.
            • I could talk about how in exodus there where Egyptians that converted and left with the Israelites into the wilderness.
            • I mean, when Solomon builds the Temple… look how he prays to dedicate it in 1 Kings 8!

1 Kings 8:41-43 ESV  “Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for your name’s sake  (42)  (for they shall hear of your great name and your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house,  (43)  hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name.

• Or what about when David killed Goliath… even that has a international missions undertone… did you know that? Check it out…

1 Samuel 17:45-46 ESV  Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  (46)  This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,

• Guy’s the Old Testament is chalk full of verses, stories, even books about God bringing salvation to the nations…
  • And that is what missions is, it is the mission of the church to bring salvation, baptism, and discipleship to all the nations!
• But this particular section of scripture in Isaiah is so beautiful to me. Because not only is it an Old Testament passage about God’s love for the nations, it is also a prophecy about the coming Messiah.

• This morning sermon is “Salvation for the Nations”. Before we get into it, let’s pray…

Point One – Salvation Always Has Been and Always Will Be Through Christ Jesus

Isaiah 56:1 ESV  Thus says the LORD: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my righteousness be revealed.

• Someone say “Soon”…
  • For soon My salvation will come, and My righteousness be revealed.
    • If you have been doing this Christian thing for a hot minute church, you probably know what God is talking about here… He is talking about the coming Messiah, the coming Savior of the world… God is saying “Son I will send my son to die on the cross for you, to be buried for you, to rise on the third day for you, and to ascend into heaven and intercede for you!”.
    • It’s a pretty cool prophecy if you ask me…
      • But what I love about this old testament prophecy of the coming New Testament savior is that it is explicitly missions focused.
      • It is focused not just on the jew… but EVERYONE who believes in Christ. Currently (at the time of it’s writing), and in the future.
    • Verse 2 shows us this prophecy for salvation and righteousness is current…

Isaiah 56:2 ESV  Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.” 

• And verse 8 shows us the prophecy is for future generations as well.

Isaiah 56:8 ESV  The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, “I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.”

• And the whole thing, verse 1-8, has a missions focus… talking about the foreigners, and the eunuchs, and the outcasts.
  • But let me highlight what is maybe the most powerful of all these verses, or at least the most applicable and relevant for a church congregation… verses 6-7

Isaiah 56:6-7 ESV  “And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant—  (7)  these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

• The foreigners who join themselves to the Lord will be welcomed into the house of God, to love God and be his servants, and they will be made full of joy and prayer and God will accept their offerings and sacrifices.
  • Who are those foreigners, they are you and me! Because if you are not of Jewish decent then you are a foreigner… but Christ died and rose again so that you could be one of the foreigners welcomed into the kingdom of God.
  • And obviously this verse was important to Jesus because HE QUOTED IT (right after flipping over some tables, cracking a whip and driving out a bunch of thieves non-the-less!)
    • Matthew 21:13, Mark 11:17, and Luke 19:46 all record when Jesus quoted this scripture… here it is from Mark:

Mark 11:17 ESV  And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”

• So the Gospel is universal… it transcends cultures, and languages, and races, and nations, and whatever… the gospel is for all nations.
  • And as a side note, we need to be praying for all nations, and I think it is about time we step up our prayer game to the next level as a church… as the world falls apart, let it be the prayers of the saints for the nations that rise up to the throne of God, amen?!
• But none the less, the gospel is for the nations, and it’s all about Christ…
  • even before Christ was born, those who were saved were saved because their obedience to God showed their faith in the coming Christ. Hebrews chapter 11 makes that clear, you can go read the entirety of Hebrews 11 and understand that it has ALWAYS been through faith in Christ that man is saved.
    • And I mean ALWAYS in ALL WAYS.
    • Weather you are Ukrainian or Russian, Nigerian or Guatemalan, European, African, Asian, Hispanic, Native American, Whatever… and whenever… before Christ, after Christ, yesterday, today, tomorrow…
    • SALVATION IS ALWAYS THROUGH CHRIST.

Acts 4:12 ESV  And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

John 14:6 ESV  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

• Look, Christ is the ONLY way to be saved. Without Christ there is no missions. Which is why Isaiah prophecies “SOON Salvation will come” but that the salvation would cover those who were obedient even before salvation came.
  • Without Christ there is no Missions church.
    • Missions is not going to orphanages in poor countries and taking selfies.
    • Nor is it building houses and digging wells in foreign lands…
    • No, instead, missions is going to orphanages in poor countries and preaching the Gospel.
    • It is digging wells in villages and given the villagers the water of Life that will never leave them thirsty.
    • It is building the house of God in nations who maybe have never heard His name.
    • It is leading people from all tribes and tongues and languages to Jesus…
      • And then it is teaching them to obey Him… that brings me to my second point this morning…. A vital part of missions is to teach obedience.

Point Two – A Vital Part of Missions is to Teach Obedience

Isaiah 56:4-7 ESV  For thus says the LORD: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant,  (5)  I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.  (6)  “And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant—  (7)  these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

• Do you notice the theme of obedience in these verses?
  • To those who keep my Sabbath, who hold fast to my covenant.
  • In other words… it is not the nationality the separates people from God or joins people to God, it is their faith in Christ and their OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST.
    • THUS, A VITAL PART OF MISSIONS IS TO TEACH OBEDIENCE.

Matthew 28:19-20 ESV  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  (20)  teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

• Someone say “Teach”… teach them to observe… in other words… teach them to obey all that I have commanded you.
  • This is the great commission, this is our marching orders from our commander in chief… This is our goal in life, the great commission.
    • And here in the great commission we see four Action words… GO, MAKE, BABTIZE, AND TEACH.
      • And missions fail when you neglect one of these things…
        • So many missions fail because they never get past go… they raise money, they send out letters, they go to some foreign country… and that is it… they visit some orphanages, ride an Elephant, maybe say a prayer or two… then come home… THATS NOT MISSIONS, THAT’S A VACATIOn.
        • Other mission trips fail because they GO and MAKE and BAPTIZE… but they don’t TEACH.
          • They go for a week or two, lead dozens or even hundreds of people to Christ… they baptize them… and then they leave… they never teach, they never disciple, the never train… so you have all these new believers who have ben instructed “Go and follow Christ” but they have no idea how because the person who lead them to Christ just hopped on a jumbo jet back to the land of General Mills and Quacker Oats!
• No, we must not simply go and make converts… we must make disciples who we teach to obey Christ… because obedience is not just a vital part of missions, it is a vital part of Salvation.

John 14:15 ESV  “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Matthew 7:21 ESV  “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Luke 6:46 ESV  “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

• Salvation is not just some magic prayer that you say and then you get a Golden Ticket into heaven…
  • It starts with a prayer, for sure, but it continues on from there with an obedient relationship with Christ Jesus as Lord and Master…
    • And the New Testament makes it very clear that we must LEARN to follow after Christ, and the way we learn is through Discipleship.
• And this church is why when we send our next mission team, it will be to plant a church. They will not go for 10 days or even 10 weeks, but more like 10 months, or even longer.
  • They will plant a church and make disciples… they will pour into these disciples lives, train them and teach them, when they come back they will have left a functioning church in their wake.
  • A church that continues to preach Christ, make disciples, baptize them, and teach them.
• It was exactly how this Church, CLC, was planted, through a team of missionaries from Singapore who gave up a year of their lives to come to CEDAR RAPIDS IOWA of all places to make disciples, to baptize them, and to teach them.
• And this church is why we do Mission Faith Pledges.

Conclusion

But before we get into mission faith pledges, lets deal with anyone in this room who is ready to give their life to Jesus… because the Gospel is for all nations, and all people, including the people in this room.

• Gospel Call