Our Weakness, and God's Strength

Good afternoon, everyone. Nice to be in person with all of you here and want to say a big hello to everyone out there in Zoom land and also say thank you to everyone who's stepping up in so many different ways to make Sabbath services possible, especially over the last few months with all of these unusual circumstances that unfortunately now seem kind of normal. But we've had all kinds of people stepping up, helping to take care of all the different arrangements for services every week, doing more than they've done before, and it's really great to see. Well, lately I've been reflecting a little bit on being middle-aged, and one of the special things about being middle-aged is that young people think you're old and old people think you're young. So you get kind of stuck in the middle, don't you? But I guess I've lived enough years after crossing over 50 to see that there are certain things that just seem like they're embedded in the human condition. And as much as we as we're younger are idealistic and we think that we can change and forge things that are different, it seems like sooner or later just humanity and the nature of humanity and what it is does seem to sink in a bit. And as we get older we get a different understanding as well of human weakness and just how it's part of our condition. So we all experience that in different ways. You know, maybe it's that creaking and popping in the knee as you walk up and down the steps.

Maybe it's other things that we suffer with. Maybe it's waking up in the middle of the night, like some of my friends tell me, boy, I'm turning 50 and I start waking up at two or three in the morning and I can't get back to sleep for an hour or two. And it's all these things that we struggle with that are part of the human condition. And we don't really like to admire ourselves and focus on weakness and how bad things are. And we shouldn't. But it is something that we should reflect on from time to time in a proper way. And I'd like to spend a little bit of time today starting off this sermon, at least, to think about some different areas of human weakness and reflect on it for a bit. We won't stay there. We won't dwell on it. I promise we'll come out of the trough and have something better to think about before we end the sermon today. But I'd like to look at four different elements of human weakness and just spend a little bit of time reflecting on those if we could. The first one I'd like to talk about is the frailness of our physical lives.

The frailness of our physical lives. If you would, turn with me to Psalm 39.

We'll read verses 4 and 5 of Psalm 39.

Here the psalmist writes words that we probably remember reading at some point in our time, Lord, make me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am. Indeed, you've made my days as hand-breaths, and my age as nothing before you. Certainly, every man at his best state is but vapor. And then it has that word, selah, which is thought by most people to mean, think on this. Take a pause. Since many of the psalms were musical, perhaps it had a chorus or a musical interlude of sorts where you would think on the things that were stated before that. And so here the psalmist is saying it's important for us to know the end of our days and to understand our frailty as human beings. And there are blessings that come with that, aren't there? It's not just that we sit there and we think, boy, you know, my life's going to be gone in a flash and I'm going to be dead. But it's meant as a reflection in the thought process in terms of we have to take advantage of the things that are with us in the days that we are alive. Be thankful for that and make the most of the days that we have whatever they're like.

My mother turned 85 actually yesterday. That was a big milestone in our family. She's part of a family of six kids. They're all still alive. One of them is still under the age of 80. And my uncle sent a letter to me for her, which I read to her on the phone yesterday. And there was one section of it that was particularly poignant and specific to this point. I'd like to go ahead and read it to you.

And just for a little context, my uncle for decades has been a Lutheran minister. He's long retired since he's in his 80s. But just in terms of context and background, a little more reflective in some of the things that he writes. And here he wrote to my mom, he said, we're of an age where we understand that the majority of our time lies behind us. It's a wonderful thing and reasonably thankful when we have many pleasant times we can look back and reflect on. Hopefully you're not suffering too much under the realization that in old age things become more limited and we no longer have the strength and opportunity for larger undertakings. We've come to peace with the fact that our world is smaller and we're moving towards the end of our lives. I hope deeply that despite all of this, you can peacefully and happily enjoy the days still to come. I found that touching, you know, as he was writing to his sister. I think he's about 83 years old, just a couple of years younger. And just to get a glimpse, because it's not really something, even though we talk here at services, we probably all know people that are in that age group. It's not really something I've been a part of as far as this dialogue between two people in their 80s.

For whatever reason, it struck me in terms of just this, both this combination of a realization of where they're at in life and also a thankfulness for the blessings that they've had in their lives and what is still to come, even at that stage of life. Turn with me, if you will, to James 4.

We think a little bit more of the frailty of life, and it's hard to imagine. I think it's a blessing that when we're young, we can't really understand how quickly life goes by, because we might not enjoy it quite the same way if we realized what's to come. And as we look back, hopefully we can be thankful for the things that we've done, the things we've experienced, just as my uncle wrote in his note. James 4. Let's read verses 13 through 15. Here James writes, Come now, you who say today or tomorrow will go to such and such a city and spend a year there and buy and sell and make a profit. Whereas you don't know what will happen tomorrow, for what is your life? It's even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that. So talking here about a view and an understanding that our life is frail. And as we've probably all experienced with one or another loved one that's been in our lives with a family of friends, sometimes love life comes to a fairly sudden end. And so we have to realize that in the way that we live our lives and realizing that it's by God's will that we do the things that we do. And so the scriptures point out to us that a realistic assessment in terms of weakness of the frailness of our human lives is important. I think, if anything, this situation that we've been living in with COVID since March has probably underscored this as much as anything. Look at the way that we've all reacted as human beings, as nations across the world, as we've had really the most serious threat to human mortality in many of our lifetimes. You know, I was born in the mid-60s and the tail end of the Vietnam War is sort of a dim memory in my mind. And certainly coming up through the Cold War, there was plenty of fear that something could be unleashed in terms of nuclear destruction. But in terms of direct danger and thinking that there was something that could threaten human life, this is really the first big experience that I've had in that way, where people have really been scared on a broader basis about what's going to happen to life. And you can see in the way that we've reacted, many would say overreacted, to things that have gone on. But it's been out of that fear because people have realized that this is something that threatens our very human lives, and that frailty of life is something that, especially in our society, we don't really focus on that often. Let's shift to a second weakness, one that we as Christians especially should also focus on and think about, and that is our proclivity to sin and Satan's presence to encourage that.

Our proclivity to sin and Satan's presence to encourage sin. Now, we see lots written about sin within the Bible. I think Paul probably states this struggle the most eloquently in what he writes in Romans, if you'll turn to Romans 7 with me.

Romans 7. And we'll start in verse 18. I think all of us, as we've had honest times looking at our lives, can understand exactly what it is that Paul is talking about. We don't know exactly what he's talking about in terms of specifics, but we know that he dealt with a number of things, both physical and apparently also spiritual issues within his life. Romans 7, starting in verse 18, Paul says, I know that in me that is in my flesh nothing good dwells. For to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I don't find. For the good that I will to do, I don't do it.

But the evil that I will not to do, that I practice. Now, if I do what I will not to do, it's no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. And Paul goes on, as he's reflecting and thinking through this and talking about that war that's in his members, the downward pull of sin that he always has to be conscious of, and then the pull of the Holy Spirit that's trying to lead him as he's moving away from those sinful pulls. And we have to recognize that, don't we, as we go through our spiritual lives. We can't think that we're somehow invincible. It says clearly numerous times in the Bible that if any of us think we stand, if anyone of us think that we're without sin, we're foolish to think that. In fact, we have to rely on God and his strength.

And if it's not enough, the sinful pulls that we have within our own carnal fleshly selves, we know that Satan's influence is out there, always greasing the skids for us to move in that carnal direction. Now, we all have weaknesses of different kinds, and one of the uniquely difficult things of our society, and maybe it's not so unique when we look back through the years, there's always something there that's been there, but in our society it seems so easy to be tempted into sin, doesn't it? Whether we turn on the television, the entertainment that we consume, whether it's the news that we watch, whether it's things on the internet, whatever it is that we struggle with in terms of the sins that we have, there's something there ready to pull us and drag us into that direction. And unless we're strong, unless we're careful what it is that we take into our minds, those weaknesses that we have as human beings, fed by the things that Satan has very cleverly pulled into our society, can draw us very quickly away. We won't turn there, but in 2 Corinthians 4, Satan is referred to as the god of this world. It talks about how he's blinded minds and deceives people, and we can't make any mistake about that, that in addition to the human proclivity to sin that lives within us, Satan is there actively trying to put stumbling blocks before us, trying to draw us as individuals, societies and nations and people as a whole into a direction, a direction of division, of strife, and all the things that we see happening in the world around us. He'll turn to 1 Peter 5 related to this weakness, and Satan and how he adds to that weakness. Let's read verses 8 through 10 of 1 Peter 5. 1 Peter 5 verses 8 through 10.

Here, Peter writes, Be sober and be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Walks around like a roaring lion. I don't know if anyone has heard a lion roar in the wild before. It's a pretty sobering experience. I know we took one trip of about a week back several years ago as a family. We went to Africa when we were living in Europe. We went on a safari, and we were in a tent. They set up these good-sized tents where they have mattresses and things. They're people who are up all night, Maasai warriors and others, who are guarding the camp. But you could, in the early morning, hear the grunting and the breathing of, I assume it was lions. It might have been other large cats. You could hear them. You reflected at that point on the fact that I'm relying at this point on some canvas that's maybe, you know, 1.6 of an inch thick, and this Maasai warrior out there who hopefully knows exactly what he's doing to keep people safe. When there's a roaring lion walking around, that was just a grunting lion, wheezing a little bit. When there's a roaring lion walking around, how do we as human beings feel? I think there's very few of us. There's probably very few even Maasai warriors. Remember when we were out doing a drive one day, and we were approaching a lion that was eating, I think it was like a water buffalo or something, that he had killed, and the Maasai guide was on the back of the vehicle that we were on, and he looked out and he said, he's not happy, and the driver immediately cranked the wheel, hit the gas, and got us out of there that fast. Because he knew what an unhappy lion can do, and he knew that the last place that you want to be is anywhere in the proximity of an unhappy lion. Is that the way we think of Satan? Is that the sort of healthy respect, if that's the right word to use, for the power that he has that we have within us, and that healthy respect for the weakness that we've got within us for sin? That's why the Bible uses an analogy like this.

1 John 3 verse 8 says, he who sins is of the devil because the devil has sinned from the beginning.

Again, drawing that very close line between sin and Satan. And we know that we can't simply say, it's not our fault, we can't help it as people, it's all Satan's fault. That's not at all what the Bible is telling us. It's telling us that there's a combination here. There's a weakness that's within us, a proclivity toward sin, and there's an adversary there that's doing everything that he possibly can to drive us to feed that weakness and have us take advantage of that weakness.

Let's talk about a third weakness, the inability to find peace, whether outwardly or inwardly. And this, I'd say, is a societal thing. We look at the way that we all live today as people, the inability to find peace outwardly or inwardly.

It's virtually impossible today to avoid the steady diet of unrest and violence in our lives. And unfortunately, it seems like it's just escalated over the course of the summer, at least in the U.S., with all the things that we've experienced. And it's difficult to watch these things and see a way out of them, isn't there? We see these weaknesses within our own society being exposed. And we have to admit at some point as a society that we feed in some perverse way off of controversy, strife, and violence.

And we've somehow fallen down that hole. We have a very, very difficult time getting back out of it. Our social platforms, our social media turns more and more into arguments and name calling, often over really innocuous things that get put out there. We probably all see it if we're on Facebook, for example, or other social media platforms.

Sometimes things that seem really innocent get sent out there as a message, and then somebody just jumps in and starts going after somebody. Our entertainment centers increasingly around violence and killing. That's what we watch for the fun of it very often. And virtual mobs, and unfortunately now literal ones, are ready to pounce on those who don't agree with them. Peace, it seems, is even more elusive to us than it ever has been before.

Turn with me, if you will, to Isaiah 59. This weakness is something that the prophets of old had warned about, and in fact had talked about as a consequence to ancient Israel as they began to reject God's way of life, as they started to wander farther and farther away from the ways that were taught by God to them as a nation. Isaiah 59, we'll read verses 4 and 8. Here the prophet writes in Isaiah 4, "...no one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies.

They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity." In verse 8, "...the way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their ways. They've made themselves crooked paths, and whoever takes that way shall not know peace." Whoever takes that way will not know peace if we don't follow justice in God's way.

And certainly we can see that in our lives. I was doing just a took a 30 seconds of a Google search to come up with three quick headlines. The first headline said, Google searches for panic attack and anxiety attack hit all-time high during the coronavirus pandemic.

The second headline said, COVID and mental health, 50 percent of those sampled have serious depression and anxiety. The third one says, COVID-19 records spike in internet anxiety and panic queries. It's a difficult time. Again, I don't want to mire us in this, but we have to recognize the weakness that's in there, the weakness that's in our society and in us as a people, in terms of our inability to find peace. You know, every year as we get to the winter holiday season, as the world around us salivates Christmas, we hear a lot about peace on earth.

We might get cards from acquaintances or people at work that wish you peace and health going into the new year. And certainly something we always yearn for as people, but it seems like as a society have much more of a difficult time reaching. And of course, I think as Christians it hurts us even more because we want to make a difference. God's Spirit lives within us, and we do try to reach out. We do try to do what we can to make a difference.

We should continue to do that, exactly like we heard in the sermonette, showing God's love to the world around us. At the same time, I sense a frustration that's out there, and it's frustration in people who don't understand why society can't be different than it is. And we do understand that, and it's in some of the points that we just talked about.

The fact that Satan is out there, the fact that as a society we're operating outside of the ways of God, and we're trying to, in our own ways, try to create something that will bring about peace. And the sad fact is that we will just not be able to cure matters of the human heart. And actually as Christians, that weakness, that understanding that even though we do everything we can to use God's Spirit, the light to the world, and show His love, we have to at the same time recognize the fact that we cannot solve matters in the human heart.

There's only one way those matters can be solved, and that's through God and through His Holy Spirit. Turn with me, if you will, to Isaiah 57. One last Scripture on this section, Isaiah 57, and we'll read verses 20 and 21. Isaiah 57, verse 20, Isaiah writes, But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose water is cast up mire and dirt.

There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked. Now we can be thankful for the fact that we've been called, we've been granted God's Holy Spirit, and His peace is something that we should be able to find, and we'll come back to that a little bit later. Weakness number four, last weakness, and then things will get a little more positive, I promise. Separation from God, the fourth weakness that we cope with as a society, as human beings, is separation from God. And as I alluded to earlier, this, I believe, is the ultimate weakness that we face in the world today. Alienation from God.

And we have to find, like I said before, a way to shine God's light in a world, even knowing that there's not enough light there on a human level to blot out all of the darkness that's there.

But the separation from God is something that the entire world is struggling with, more mightily, I think, today than I've ever seen or experienced in my lifetime.

You'll turn with me to Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2, Paul, points out to the Ephesians the fact that everyone struggled with this. All the people that God has called struggled with being separated from God and being part of the world. Ephesians 2, verses 11 and 12. Ephesians 2, verses 11 and 12. Paul writes, therefore, remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. And so Paul was pointing out, just as I'll read these words to you, as people called out by God, that it wasn't always that way. We were strangers from God as well, just like the world around us is today. In Isaiah 59, we'll go again back to Isaiah for one last verse here, verses 1 and 2. Isaiah talks more about this, and in talking with Israel, to whom God's Word was given as a nation, he talks to them about why they are separated from God. Isaiah 59 verses 1 and 2. Here Isaiah writes, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save. He's reminding of the fact that God hasn't changed. Israel was called out by God. Israel was given salvation physically, coming out of Egypt. They were given the promised land. They went through the Red Sea. They saw Jericho destroyed. They ate manna in the desert. And Isaiah is pointing out to them as they were having these national problems. It's not like God somehow became powerless over the years. It's something else that happened, nor is his ear heavy that it cannot hear in verse 1. But in verse 2, your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so he will not hear. We do live in a world that's separated from God, and it's strongly separated from God because of the unwillingness of humans without God's Spirit, just as we all were, the unwillingness of people to listen to God. So again, my purpose is not just to create depression here and add to the anxiety and difficulties that we all struggle with in life. And fortunately, the punchline of all of this is that the story is not over. Turn with me, if you will, to 2 Corinthians 12, because this is the turnaround. This is really the thesis that I want to put the rest of this sermon on, is what Paul writes to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 12.

2 Corinthians 12, verses 9 and 10. Again, Paul here is talking about some of the things that he suffered with. People have speculated that he had eye problems. They speculated that he had other physical disabilities, perhaps that even marred his facial features, but we don't know for certain.

2 Corinthians 12, verse 9, though, he talks about these things and how he prayed fervently to God, for God to take them away from him. And in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9, he writes, God said to me, My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

So then I will boast most gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may reside in me. Therefore, I am content with weakness, with insults, with troubles, with persecutions, and difficulties for the sake of Christ. For whenever I am weak, then I am strong. So Paul pointed out and acknowledged and understood his weaknesses, but he said that those weaknesses were there so that God's strength could be given glory. And that's where I'd like to turn for the rest of the sermon, which I've titled Our Weakness, God's Strength. I know I kind of mired us in that dark hole of focusing on our weakness for a while, but the rest of this message is going to focus on God's strength and how it comes through. The upcoming Holy Days are a celebration of God's strength over human weaknesses. And I don't know if you noticed with the four points that I went through in terms of the weaknesses, but I intended those four points to tie directly to the four Holy Days that are coming up. And we'll spend a little bit of time in the rest of the sermon today talking about those weaknesses and talking about the Holy Days coming up and how they show God's strength triumphing over each and every one of those weaknesses that we suffer with so deeply as human beings. It's not a vague dream, it's a concrete plan. And that's why we keep the Holy Days every year, because God has set out a plan which He's set forth by His will and His design so that His strength will conquer all human weakness and bring a different world for all of us. And not only all of us, but everyone who's ever lived to have a chance to enjoy. So let's start with the first Holy Day that's coming up, as we've heard, in just three weeks, the Feast of Trumpets. The Feast of Trumpets. And one of the things that we think about and that we signify with the Feast of Trumpets is God's strength that overcomes our physical frailty. Remember the first weakness that we talked about is our human physical frailty. And when we celebrate the Feast of Trumpets, one of the things that we think about is the resurrection.

And when our bodies will be made perfect and how the power of God will overcome that temporary and frail nature of our human brains. Turn with me, if you will, to 1 Corinthians 15 verse 42. And for those who haven't read it recently, I would encourage you, write down 1 Corinthians 15 as a chapter to spend some time with over the next couple weeks. As we come into the Feast of Trumpets, it's a fantastic chapter that has to do with the resurrection and all the things that are going to happen and our resurrected bodies. Wonderful things to reflect on, not only when we think about God's strength over our human frailty, but when we think of the Feast of Trumpets to come. 1 Corinthians 15, let's start in verse 42. Here Paul lays out to the Corinthians, the body is sown in corruption, but it's raised in incorruption. It's sown in dishonor, but it's raised in glory. It's sown in weakness, but it's raised in power. It's sown in natural body, it's raised a spiritual body. There's a natural body and there's a spiritual body, and so it is written, the first man Adam became a living being, the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. Of course, that reference to the second Adam is to Jesus Christ. Just as Adam came and was created by God as the first physical human being, Jesus Christ came as the firstborn among many brethren. And he was the personification of God's power and strength, being raised from the dead, becoming a spirit being just as we will have the opportunity to be. And just like this passage went through, all of the things that are frail and weak about our physical bodies, the fact that they decay and go away and they suffer disease and injury and all of these other things will be taken away by the power of God. And that's something that we reflect on deeply and should feast of trumpets, how God's strength will conquer that human weakness. Go with me to Isaiah 35, reading a lot from Isaiah today, and we'll read verses 3 through 7. Isaiah 35 verses 3 through 7. Some very hopeful words that Isaiah wrote when he was writing to ancient Israel. Again, holding out the hope of that strength of God that's never gone away.

It's just that sometimes we don't recognize it, we don't think about it as much as maybe we could. Isaiah 35 will start verse 3. Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees.

Say to those who are fearful hearted, Be strong and do not fear. Behold, your God will come with vengeance and with the recompense of God, He will come and save you. And then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf will be unstopped, the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb will sing. Waters will burst forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert, the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water, in the habitation of jackals where each lay there will be grass with reeds and rushes. What is it that each of us struggles with physically? Unfortunately, not many of us have to pause very long before we start working our way down the list. I know because I had conversations with many of you about the things that that ael you, and they are a lot. But as we recognize, as we celebrate the Feast of Trumpets to come, let's recognize that this weakness that we have is only for a short time.

When we talk about the frailty and the shortness of human life, and in God's span, the way He views the world and His plan that He's bringing, it's a short time. And He promises that His strength will prevail. We're not going to be left in frail physical weakness. And He reminds us of that every year as we rehearse His plan, and the fact that Jesus Christ will return, and He will bring us, among other things, glorious spiritual bodies that will not be subject to the pain and the decay that we suffer today. Let's move to the next Holy Day, the Day of Atonement, or the Feast of Atonement.

We talked again about the weakness of our human nature towards sin, and the fact that in addition to that, Satan is out there trying to feed that weakness in every way that we can. And at Atonement, we recognize the removal of Satan as the instigator of evil, the removal of Satan as the instigator of evil in this world. Turn with me, if you will, to Revelation 20. Revelation 20 verses 1 through 3. Again, another element of God's strength that's going to overcome the weaknesses that we have in this world as human beings. Revelation 20, starting in verse 1, Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil, and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so he should deceive the nations no more till a thousand years were finished. But after these things, he must be released for a little while. And we won't go through the other scriptures, but we understand the fact that Satan is released for a short time after this millennial period, and then permanently put away, never again to be able to influence mankind in the way that he has in the past. God's strength will prevail, not only over sin in our lives, but in the instigator, the encourager of sin, who's dedicated his entire being and life to having human beings sin and go against the way of God. Turn with me, if you will, to James 4, as well, talking about that same strength and how we harness it in our lives today, as we go through our day-to-day lives. Not only something that's in the future, where we say, well, Satan has power over us now, and he'll be conquered in the future. That's not the way it is at all. He is here, he's stirring things up in the world, but that does not mean that he has to have power over us.

James 4 verses 7 through 10. Therefore, submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up.

That's one of the reasons why we're talking today about weaknesses. We could see it right here in this passage. In fact, we have to acknowledge our weakness. We have to humble ourselves before God. It's not like we go before God and say, you know, I've got these five parts of my life, and you know, one, two, and three, I pretty much got those nailed God. You don't need to worry about those. But four and five, I could really use some help there. That's not the way we come to God.

We have to come to God in total humility, realizing that as frail human beings, with the weaknesses that we have, we need God in every single part of our lives. And the sooner we can recognize that in our lives and turn the entirety of our lives over to him, the more we will have this protection, this strength that comes from him to live a different life. And we think about that at the day of atonement, time that we humble ourselves through fasting, and that strength of God comes to us through his Spirit, and we recognize the fact that he will not only forgive us our sins, but take away that instigator of our sin, that wants to encourage our sins, take him away from influence in our lives here and permanently when that day is fulfilled. Let's go to the third holy day to come, then, which is the Feast of Tabernacles. And again, the third weakness we talked about was the inability for us to find peace, inability for us as human beings to find peace, whether we think of physical peace in terms of strife between each other or inward peace in terms of just individually in our own minds having that peace. And the fact is that what we understand and what we celebrate so well at the feast is the fact that the strength of God's peace is going to overwhelm all of that human tendency, the tendency to strife and violence between people, the tendency to anxiousness, anxiety within ourselves and our own minds. We'll go back to Isaiah again. It's been kind of a trend here, this sermon. Isaiah will read chapter 11, verses 6-9.

Anyone who's kept the feast with us, I'm sure, has heard these verses, read before Isaiah 11, verses 6-9. Here Isaiah writes, the wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall die down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and the little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Well, that just about brings tears to the eyes, doesn't it? Especially when we think of our lives today and the things that we suffer even in our country right now, as we see week to week what plays out on our television sets. No matter what side of these different issues we might be on, one thing we can and should all agree on is there a huge number of injustices being done, harm done to people that never needs to happen, things that just should not happen in this world, no matter where we fall politically or socially or racially or anywhere else. But we're going to be given a kingdom of God where no one will hurt or destroy. How incredible will that be? How much we need that? How much we need to pray for that? Turn with me, if you will, Isaiah 2. We'll read verses 2 through 4 of Isaiah 2. Isaiah 2 verses 2 through 4.

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house will be established on the top of the mountains and will be exalted above the hills and all nations will flow to it.

Many people shall come and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us His ways. We will walk in His paths.

For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and rebuke many people. They will beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and they will not learn war anymore. How incredible will that time be? You know, when we think about it, division between people is as old as human civilization.

No matter what it is, we seem to have this specialty as human beings to find things that will divide us and to take advantage of those in cruel and difficult ways. What will that world be like when that ability—when we no longer learn that, when that's not fed from the outside by a devil that wants to take advantage of all the strife that can exist in our hearts.

God's strength will remove our human weakness towards division, strife, and violence.

And let's all pray that that day comes very soon.

The fourth item, and the last one that I'll talk about, is what we call the eighth day.

And that's when we celebrate the fact that everyone who's ever lived will have the opportunity to know God.

So we talked about the fourth weakness being man's separation from God and all the terrible things that have happened to human beings as a result of that.

Turn with me, if you will, to Revelation 21.

Revelation 21. This is the culmination of God's entire plan for humanity.

And this is an incredible time because everything that God's planned out for history will finally come to fulfillment.

And most importantly of all, man's separation from God will be ended.

Revelation 21 verses 1 through 4.

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.

And also there was no more sea.

Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people.

God himself will be with them and be their God, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

There will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There will be no more pain for the former things passed away.

A completely new and fresh start, the way that God wanted things to be from the beginning.

You know, we see in the Bible from the beginning that God dwelt with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

And then as they ate from the wrong tree, they were separated from God. Mankind since then has been.

And God's will from the beginning has been to dwell closely with mankind, and that will be fulfilled.

And probably the greatest truth of all in 1 Timothy 2 verses 3 and 4.

1 Timothy 2 verses 3 and 4.

Here Paul writing to Timothy says in 1 Timothy 2, For this is good and acceptable in the sight of our God and Savior, who desires all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth.

To me, that's the most incredible thing about the wrap-up that eighth day at the end of the feast, that separate Holy Day.

We think about God's plan being completely fulfilled and dwelling with mankind.

And that desire that God has every human being that he's ever created, has the opportunity for a relationship with him.

That weakness of separation from God will be fully overcome by the strength of God and His plan as He executes that plan, and as He finalizes it on the earth.

So those are the four weaknesses that I identified, at least, with these Holy Days. I'm sure you could find more and much more exciting and promising the strength of God that's going to come and overcome every one of those weaknesses.

And how easy it is in the lives that we live today to get mired in these things that plague us, whether individual difficulties as human beings, as we face our frailties and our weaknesses, as we look at our society, separation from God, the sin, we see the hand of the devil as an instigator and a divider out there. These days that we're entering, these Holy Days, give us so much promise.

They talk about everything that God has in store for us as He works out His plan and finalizes His plan, not only for us, but for the entire world, for everyone who's ever lived.

It's a powerful reminder of God's strength and how it will triumph over human weaknesses.

I like to go into the Holy Days and think about overarching themes. To me, this theme of God's strength over our human weakness is one that's worthy of reflection as we go through these upcoming Holy Days, because it's something that threads its way all the way through this time. I'd like to encourage us to use these days as a recommitment to overwhelm the human weakness that's in our lives with the strength of God.

Now, if you're like me, you'd probably come away from the feast really feeling charged up because all the time that we have with other people.

And something I'd like to lay out there for all of us to think about is why?

What's one of the things that we do during the feast?

We spend time with each other. We spend time in God's Word.

We spend time fellowshiping, talking about the things that God is doing in our lives.

And what do we crowd out?

At least, if you're like me, we tend to not watch the news.

We tend not to do a lot of other entertainment. We might go somewhere for dinner. We might do some things with other people that we're congregating with for the feast.

But so much of those things that are in the world that remind us of the weaknesses that are out there, that feed those sins within us, we do a good job as a people during the feast of holding those things at arm's length.

And we spend our time fellowshiping, and we spend our time in God's Word.

And the challenge that we have to carry away after we're charged up during that time is how do we carry that into our day-to-day lives?

We know that we have to live in this world. We know we have to go to our jobs every day. We have to take care of our homes and all of those things. But how do we continue to move to increase that volume of God, His strengthening spirit coming into our lives, and pushing out more of the weakness of the world, the influence of Satan, and those things around us that try to come in?

It's something worth reflecting on as we think about this theme of God's strength and our weakness through these coming Holy Days.

I'd like to leave you with one scripture in Isaiah 46. We'll read verses 9 and 10 of Isaiah 46, because the thing that we have to remember more than anything else, God has a plan and He's going to execute it. And there is no question that He will execute that plan.

We're given a lot of prophecy in the Bible. Much of it fulfilled, much of it prophecy about Jesus Christ.

One of the reasons those prophecies are in there is to help us realize that God's Word is sure and true.

He was able to foretell the end before the beginning and all of these prophecies about Jesus Christ. And that's meant as kind of a down payment on the fact that everything else that He says is true as well.

I like the line that Paul uses when he says that he calls things that are not as though they were. It says God's Word is so certain that you can count on it. It's already done.

You've probably dealt with people like that in business or maybe had a contractor over or something. And somebody says, you know what? This guy's Word is like gold. If he says it, it's already happened.

And we know some people who we can generally rely on that way. And that's exactly what God is in full perfection.

Turn with me, if you will, Isaiah 46, and we'll conclude reading verses 9 and 10 by Isaiah 46. And this is from the new English translation.

Isaiah 46 verse 9.

Isaiah, relaying the words of God, Remember what I accomplished in antiquity. Truly, I am God. I have no peer. I am God, and there is none like me. Who announces the end from the beginning and reveals beforehand what has not yet occurred. Who says, My plan will be realized. I will accomplish what I desire.