In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Dear Christian friends,

Have you ever felt like giving up? Maybe it was during a new diet you started. Things started off well, but then you saw that double layered chocolate fudge cake, oozing with that perfect frosting; and the words from a friend, "Do you want a piece?" How about that exercise program you started, and even enjoyed, but the results are so slow in coming that you just want to give up.

How do you overcome those feelings of giving up? Ask anyone who plays sports, ask any musician, ask any person who has succeeded, and they will tell you that success come from constantly renewing your focus on the goal. A good coach always tells his players, "Stay focused!"

As Christians we too may feel like giving up. Sometimes our sinful desires or doubts just seem far to great for us and we want to give in to them. It is during times like these that we need to stay focused on our ultimate goal in life. Our text for today once again refocuses us on the wonderful goal of salvation awaiting us. Look forward to the LORD’S Salvation. Salvation the Lord prepares for us. Salvation we receive through faith. Listen to our God’s Word of comfort for us, taken from the 25^th chapter of Isaiah, verse 6-9.

6 On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine-- the best of meats and the finest of wines.

7 On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations;

8 he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.

Before we dig in to our text, it is important for us to look at the context surrounding it. In the previous 10 chapters of Isaiah, the LORD warns Judah, and it’s surrounding nations, about how He will punish each of them for their immorality and idolatry. These words of judgement reach their climax in chapter 24, when the Lord starts describing the final judgement of the whole earth. With chapter 25 Isaiah breaks into praising God for all the wonderful things He will do on the last day. Though this day will be a horrible day for those who reject Jesus as their Savior, it will be a great day, a day of salvation for believers. God uses the pictures in Isaiah’s song of praise to encourage us to stand firm. Let’s us renew our focus on the salvation the LORD"S preparing.

What is this salvation God is preparing for us? What does it all include? God knows that He can’t get us to understand all the wonders of heaven. Because of our human ignorance, it is harder for God to explain heaven to us than it is for a nuclear physicist to explain the Cook nuclear power plant to a preschooler. This is why God uses pictures to represent His coming glory.

Isaiah tells us the LORD of Host, the eternal God of the Universe himself, is preparing a feast on his mountain: Mount Zion. Mount Zion is heaven, and the feast represents the great joy we will have in heaven: joy that God himself is preparing for us. The feast will contain the richest food and the best wine. God is not holding anything back. He is going all out for this feast. The pleasures and joy of our eternal paradise in heaven will be beyond our wildest imagination.

It is also important to note that this feast is for all people. God offers the joys of heaven to all. Race and culture don’t matter to God. According to Him we are all the same: we are all humans. Jesus died for all people. God has called people in every culture to faith, and wants them all to enjoy His feast.

Exactly what God is preparing for us in heaven we can’t comprehend, but by His description it is clear that we will thoroughly enjoy it. Not only will we enjoy it for all the riches and joy God will give us, but we will also enjoy it because of what God is saving us from.

Why is God preparing such a wonderful feast for us? Is it because we are so good? No, actually the opposite is true. The Old Testament reading from Ezekiel two weeks ago said that the soul who sins is the one who will die. If anyone would ever tell me that he is a good person, I would ask him one question: Are you going to die? Death proves that we are sinners. If we were perfect, that is, if we ever did enough to please God, we wouldn’t die. If you sin, you die. It is that simple.

Because of our sins, we are actually walking dead men, in the sense that we have separated ourselves from God, the source of life. Because of our sin God is hidden from us and we can’t see Him or come to know Him. We are enshrouded and wrapped up in sinful ignorance and death. We are on our "merry" way to hell!

But God doesn’t like looking at a dead creation. He doesn’t want us to be separated from him. He loves us, and this is why he sent his one and only Son into the world, who we know as Jesus. Even though he was tempted in every way as we are, he kept the law perfectly for us. Even though He was perfect, he died for us. He took on our sinfulness and suffered God’s severe punishment in our place. And, do you know what the best part is? He conquered death! He rose victoriously from the grave. He saved us! Now, when God looks at us, he sees Jesus, his own Son! Jesus has already removed the first shroud that was covering us: the shroud of sin and spiritual death that separated us from God.

God, in his ultimate wisdom and love for lost sinners, decided that it would be best if we (believers) carry out the task of telling others about Jesus so that they may also live. But this means for us that we still must live in this sinful world for a while longer. Being on earth means that, even though we are declared perfect by what Jesus has done for us, our evil nature in us still gets us to sin. Even though God has revealed to us who he is, and what he has done for us, we still only know him in part. While on this earth we are still tempted, we still fall into sin, and we still die. BUT…

BUT, the LORD is preparing a feast for us on his Holy Mountain. He is coming soon. He promises it. When he comes, he will completely destroy the shroud that is covering the nations. He will swallow up death in eternal victory!!! All people will be raised to life. All people will see God and know Him fully. For those who believed in Him, this will be a glorious day, a day of feasting. A day when we will be fully saved from sin, ignorance, and death. From then on there will be no more death. There will be no more tears or anything that will cause us pain. The Lord will also take away our shame, our sin, and everything that we have suffered because we are Christians. What a glorious day it will be!

We can be sure that God will do these things because "the LORD has spoken." This statement is like God’s seal; his signature on a contract. The contract telling us what God has done and will do for us is Scripture itself. Look, God even signed his name! Look forward to the Salvation the LORD’S preparing!

How often do you get paid? Some of us only get paid once a month. Those of you who only get paid once a month know about the struggle there is a week or two before your paycheck when all the bills come due, and cash is running low. This struggle makes you constantly look forward to that wonderful "payday" when there will be no more bills, and a big dinner that night. Keeping focused on "payday" can help you go forward in your work and not give up.

If our attitude is such for a measly paycheck, how much more shouldn’t we look forward to Christ’s coming. Look at what he is giving us? Riches, wealth (both spiritual and physical) and a place at the table of God! Look at what he is taking away from us: death, sorrow, pain, and ignorance! As we struggle through these last days, look forward! Look forward and rejoice in the salvation the LORD is preparing for us. He will give us the strength to press on, because we know that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Hearing about both the wonderful things God is going to do for us, and the bad things he will take away from us, really makes us want to be on God’s Holy mountain, right? But how do we get there? How do we make sure we are on the right side of the fence, so to speak?

They also said that they trusted in God. This was the way they received their salvation: They believed God’s promises. With the help of the Holy Spirit, They persevered in their faith. They didn’t let any worries detract them from focusing on their goal and look: their God came through. Seeing all that God has done for them, and seeing how He kept all His promises they rejoice. They now realize that any suffering they experienced was totally worth it, as they patiently waited for their salvation to be revealed.

So great is the salvation God brought to his believers that they can do nothing but rejoice and be glad. They are shouting, singing, praising and glorifying God. The are ecstatic for all that the Lord has done for them.

Imagine that your boss came to you this week, and told you that he is going to give you a $1000 Christmas bonus, because he values you as an employee. What would you do? Most likely you would thank him now and tell your family about the bonus that is coming at Christmas. You would look forward to that bonus and then, when Christmas came, you would eagerly expect the bonus and thank your boss handing it to you even more than you did months earlier.

God doesn’t want us to only rejoice in his coming salvation when he comes, he wants us to rejoice now. Just as our boss wouldn’t want us to say, "Ya, sure I’m going to receive a bonus, Uh, huh. Surrrrrre," so also God hates it when we don’t trust in His promises. Do you think our boss would still give us that bonus if our reaction were one of constant unbelief and sarcasm? God is happy when we trust in His promises. It is actually only through this trusting that we receive the great gifts he promises give us. We have no reason not to trust him. God has never lied. Actually he can’t lie. God even put all his promises us down in writing and signed his name at the bottom. "The LORD has spoken!" Look forward to the LORD’S salvation, salvation we receive through faith!

Our daily life is a struggle and many times we feel like giving up or giving in to temptation. Such feelings either cause us to, or are caused by our loss of focus on our final goal: the feast God is preparing for us on his mountain. When the world, the devil, and our sinful nature get us depressed, let us do what our sermon text tells us to do: Rejoice. Rejoice while looking forward with confidence to the wonderful salvation we already have, and will fully possess when our wonderful Lord returns again. Look forward and rejoice in the LORD’S salvation. Amen.