Dec. 28, 2024

Oh No! Isaiah 43:18-19

Oh No! Isaiah 43:18-19

A review of a sermon on Isaiah 43:18-19

Spreaker podcast player badge
Apple Podcasts podcast player badge
Spotify podcast player badge
PocketCasts podcast player badge
Amazon Music podcast player badge
Overcast podcast player badge
Audible podcast player badge
Castro podcast player badge
iHeartRadio podcast player badge
Castbox podcast player badge
Podchaser podcast player badge
TuneIn podcast player badge
Deezer podcast player badge
Pandora podcast player badge
RadioPublic podcast player badge
Podcast Addict podcast player badge
RSS Feed podcast player badge
YouTube podcast player badge
Fountain podcast player badge
PlayerFM podcast player badge
Goodpods podcast player badge
Podverse podcast player badge
Podyssey podcast player badge
Breaker podcast player badge
Podurama podcast player badge
Audacy podcast player badge
JioSaavn podcast player badge
Spreaker podcast player iconApple Podcasts podcast player iconSpotify podcast player iconPocketCasts podcast player iconAmazon Music podcast player iconOvercast podcast player iconAudible podcast player iconCastro podcast player iconiHeartRadio podcast player iconCastbox podcast player iconPodchaser podcast player iconTuneIn podcast player iconDeezer podcast player iconPandora podcast player iconRadioPublic podcast player iconPodcast Addict podcast player iconRSS Feed podcast player iconYouTube podcast player iconFountain podcast player iconPlayerFM podcast player iconGoodpods podcast player iconPodverse podcast player iconPodyssey podcast player iconBreaker podcast player iconPodurama podcast player iconAudacy podcast player iconJioSaavn podcast player icon

A review of a sermon on Isaiah 43:18-19

WEBVTT

1
00:00:02.279 --> 00:00:05.080
Looking at our world from a theological perspective.

2
00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:09.880
This is the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central.

3
00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:17.000
All good things must come to and end. Right, That's

4
00:00:17.320 --> 00:00:20.000
what they tell you, right, All good things must come

5
00:00:20.039 --> 00:00:22.920
to an end, no matter how amazing it is, no

6
00:00:22.920 --> 00:00:25.960
matter how great it is, it has to come to

7
00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:30.600
some type of conclusion. It has to end. And in

8
00:00:30.679 --> 00:00:35.280
some ways, this is the end. Ladies and gentlemen, This

9
00:00:35.479 --> 00:00:40.320
is the end of our twenty twenty four sermons two

10
00:00:40.359 --> 00:00:45.719
point oh app sermon challenge. This is going to be

11
00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:49.119
really the end of that challenge. I don't know what

12
00:00:49.119 --> 00:00:51.479
we're going to do in twenty twenty five, but the

13
00:00:51.520 --> 00:00:53.960
sermon's two point oh app will still play a major

14
00:00:54.039 --> 00:00:56.640
part in it. But we will figure that out when

15
00:00:56.719 --> 00:00:59.320
we get there. But we need to bring this to

16
00:00:59.399 --> 00:01:02.439
some type of conclusion. But before we do that, before

17
00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:05.480
we kind of just have a very lengthy discussion before

18
00:01:05.480 --> 00:01:07.920
we get started on what we're really going to do.

19
00:01:08.280 --> 00:01:11.359
I guess I probably should at least give you an

20
00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:12.799
official introduction.

21
00:01:13.480 --> 00:01:14.560
Good morning everyone.

22
00:01:14.760 --> 00:01:19.040
It is Saturday, December the twenty eighth, twenty twenty four.

23
00:01:19.640 --> 00:01:24.120
It is currently eleven ten am Central time, and I

24
00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:27.239
am coming to you live from the Theology Central Studio

25
00:01:27.799 --> 00:01:33.239
located right here in Abilene, Texas well. It was December

26
00:01:33.359 --> 00:01:36.079
twenty twenty three. I don't know if you remember that

27
00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:38.879
far back. I know it was a long, long, long,

28
00:01:38.920 --> 00:01:41.319
long time ago, and it feels like in a galaxy

29
00:01:41.359 --> 00:01:43.959
far far far far far far far away. It does

30
00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:47.719
seem like almost another lifetime in certain ways. But I

31
00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:51.200
was sitting here in this studio and I came up

32
00:01:51.239 --> 00:01:54.439
with an idea. You know, we have this wonderful thing

33
00:01:54.519 --> 00:01:58.120
called the Sermon's two point zero app. Cermonadio provides this

34
00:01:58.239 --> 00:02:01.400
app free of charge. Anyone can download it on an

35
00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:06.159
Apple device, Android device that can access the content via

36
00:02:06.680 --> 00:02:11.319
you know, a web browser. And on this with all

37
00:02:11.360 --> 00:02:14.960
the content there, whether the Sermon's two point oh app

38
00:02:15.319 --> 00:02:19.800
or the Sermonadio website, there are millions upon millions of

39
00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:23.199
sermons available to everyone free of charge.

40
00:02:23.479 --> 00:02:24.280
About I don't know.

41
00:02:24.479 --> 00:02:27.039
I can't try to keep track between five, six, seven

42
00:02:27.240 --> 00:02:31.120
eight thousand sermons are added every single week.

43
00:02:31.560 --> 00:02:32.919
Just try to wrap your mind around that.

44
00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:36.840
Between five to eight thousand sermons are added every.

45
00:02:36.759 --> 00:02:39.280
Single week, So that means it's.

46
00:02:39.159 --> 00:02:42.599
A I mean, you could not listen to all the

47
00:02:42.639 --> 00:02:46.719
sermons available on that platform. If you spent twenty four

48
00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:49.439
hours a day, seven days a week of your entire

49
00:02:49.479 --> 00:02:50.039
life just.

50
00:02:50.039 --> 00:02:52.199
Listening, you could never listen to everything.

51
00:02:52.360 --> 00:02:55.719
But you have all of this content there, hours and

52
00:02:55.800 --> 00:02:58.719
hours and hours of this content, thousands of hours a

53
00:02:58.759 --> 00:03:01.120
lifetime of of content.

54
00:03:02.039 --> 00:03:05.199
How much of it just goes unutilized.

55
00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:08.400
Nobody ever discovers it, nobody ever finds it because people

56
00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:11.240
have a tendency. They're very much creatures of habit. Right, Oh,

57
00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:14.680
here's my favorite preacher. I like this church, and they

58
00:03:14.719 --> 00:03:16.919
have two or three and that's all they really listen to,

59
00:03:17.080 --> 00:03:21.000
and all of that other content just goes unnoticed, unused.

60
00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:22.319
And since it collects dust.

61
00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:24.680
And sometimes you can see that if you'll really just

62
00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:27.800
go through the app looking, you'll see some sermons that

63
00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:30.439
are five ten years old, and you're you know, and

64
00:03:30.439 --> 00:03:34.280
you'll be like, it's got what thirty four downloads, that's insane,

65
00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:37.759
But you'll nobody's listening to it, because nobody's ever going

66
00:03:37.800 --> 00:03:40.240
to discover it or find it unless you're really looking

67
00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:42.800
for something specific. And then people tend to narrow their

68
00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:48.159
searching down to certain churches or certain speakers. So I'm like, well,

69
00:03:48.879 --> 00:03:51.560
we can't just let all of this content, all of

70
00:03:51.599 --> 00:03:53.120
this resource, just go to waste.

71
00:03:53.400 --> 00:03:55.719
So I came up with a brilliant idea.

72
00:03:55.919 --> 00:03:58.919
The Sermon's two point oh app sermon Challenge. So I

73
00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:00.199
told everyone to buy another.

74
00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:05.840
Book, right, buy a notebook? Do I have my notebook here? Oh?

75
00:04:05.919 --> 00:04:09.159
Here it is, buy a notebook. Oh.

76
00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:12.120
I told everyone to get pencils, right, all right, get

77
00:04:12.120 --> 00:04:14.560
some pencils or right here we go. We got pencils,

78
00:04:14.919 --> 00:04:16.959
notebook pencils. And what did I tell you to do?

79
00:04:17.319 --> 00:04:17.879
Each day?

80
00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:20.399
You'll open the Sermon's two point oh app and you're

81
00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:22.600
going to look You're just going to go like to

82
00:04:22.720 --> 00:04:25.000
new sermons. You can click on any tab you want.

83
00:04:25.160 --> 00:04:28.079
You're just gonna find a random sermon. You're not going

84
00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:29.079
to look at You're not.

85
00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:30.079
Gonna be looking at anything.

86
00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:32.279
You're just gonna kind of swipe up and just kind

87
00:04:32.279 --> 00:04:34.480
of just pick and choose. You're not looking for a

88
00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:37.800
specific church, you're not looking for a specific name. You're

89
00:04:37.839 --> 00:04:40.680
just going to do the most random thing possible. Then

90
00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:42.279
you're going to write down the name of the sermon,

91
00:04:42.399 --> 00:04:44.560
write down the name of the speaker. You're going to

92
00:04:44.639 --> 00:04:46.399
listen to the sermon, and then you're just going to

93
00:04:46.439 --> 00:04:48.879
write out a little summary of that sermon, and then

94
00:04:48.920 --> 00:04:50.360
you'll do it the next day, of the next day,

95
00:04:50.399 --> 00:04:53.519
the next day. The goal was by the end of

96
00:04:53.560 --> 00:04:57.199
twenty twenty four, your notebook would have one sermon for

97
00:04:57.360 --> 00:05:00.519
every day of the entire year.

98
00:05:00.839 --> 00:05:01.720
That was the goal.

99
00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:04.120
Now, some days you may listen to four to make

100
00:05:04.199 --> 00:05:05.759
up for the days that you're not going to listen

101
00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:08.240
to any so, but you had an entire year to

102
00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:10.920
see if you could fill up one sermon for every

103
00:05:11.000 --> 00:05:13.079
day of the year. Now, sometimes I gave you specific

104
00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:16.360
things to look for, right right this week, you're going

105
00:05:16.439 --> 00:05:19.720
to look up random sermons on Proverbs chapter three, or

106
00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:24.959
random sermons on justification, or random sermons on long Gospel,

107
00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:28.839
whatever the case may be, trying to add a little

108
00:05:28.879 --> 00:05:31.040
bit of variety and creativity to it.

109
00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:33.160
And that that's and it was.

110
00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:35.920
It sounded like a great idea because the way, you know,

111
00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:38.360
the way I thought about it as well. On the

112
00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:40.879
days I can't broadcast, people have something to do. They

113
00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:42.639
get the sermons two points oh out. They're looking at

114
00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:45.399
random sermons. Whether they're listening to me, it doesn't matter

115
00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:47.839
if they're listening to me, if they're listening to other people,

116
00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:51.120
those sermons are being utilized, whether you like them, whether

117
00:05:51.199 --> 00:05:54.639
you dislike them, whether you you're going to benefit.

118
00:05:54.279 --> 00:05:55.680
In some way, shape or form.

119
00:05:55.759 --> 00:05:57.959
So I thought it was a great idea and we

120
00:05:58.000 --> 00:05:59.680
started it. And one of the things I said I

121
00:05:59.720 --> 00:06:04.079
would if you remember, was, hey, since you're gonna be

122
00:06:04.079 --> 00:06:07.160
listening to random sermons, I'll listen to random sermons. I'll

123
00:06:07.160 --> 00:06:09.879
look for a random sermon, grab it, and then we'll

124
00:06:09.959 --> 00:06:11.959
just review it live on the air, so that we're

125
00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:14.759
listening to the random sermon together, reacting in real time.

126
00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:16.959
It's not me listening to it first where I have

127
00:06:17.079 --> 00:06:21.319
some agenda. I'm just randomly listening and we'll see what happens.

128
00:06:21.800 --> 00:06:26.000
So it sounded like a pretty decent idea overall. I now,

129
00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:28.079
in my mind, though I had all these other things

130
00:06:28.120 --> 00:06:29.879
we're going to do in twenty twenty four, right, we

131
00:06:29.839 --> 00:06:31.600
were gonna do this, and we're gonna do this, and

132
00:06:31.639 --> 00:06:32.519
we're gonna do this.

133
00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:37.639
I had no idea.

134
00:06:36.120 --> 00:06:39.800
That the Sermons two point oh app Sermon Challenge would

135
00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:40.920
literally kind.

136
00:06:40.759 --> 00:06:42.560
Of just take over.

137
00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:47.079
The entire podcast, because it kind of became the engine

138
00:06:47.519 --> 00:06:50.759
that drove it, right, because I would review a sermon

139
00:06:51.480 --> 00:06:55.279
and look, I'm you know, I'm just gonna be honest.

140
00:06:55.319 --> 00:06:57.160
There were at times some of those sermons was just

141
00:06:57.240 --> 00:07:00.319
I don't know what was happening from a hermoneutical stand point,

142
00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:03.279
how they were handling the text, and it would get frustrating,

143
00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:06.879
it would get irritating. Sometimes that would be somewhat critical. Now,

144
00:07:06.920 --> 00:07:09.480
the goal was not to try to be critical, but hey,

145
00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:13.079
not everyone's going to agree on how scripture should be handled,

146
00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:15.959
and so I can obviously have my own opinion. But

147
00:07:16.079 --> 00:07:18.680
here's what I wanted to avoid. I didn't want to

148
00:07:18.759 --> 00:07:22.399
just criticize. If I criticize, then I was going to

149
00:07:22.439 --> 00:07:25.160
come back and say, Okay, this is how they handled

150
00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:27.920
the text. Well, now we're going to spend three, four

151
00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:30.079
or five weeks whatever, and we're going to just we're

152
00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:32.160
going to do more and more work on the text

153
00:07:32.199 --> 00:07:36.040
above and beyond reviewing the sermon. And so it turned

154
00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:40.759
into sometimes weeks and months of what we listened to

155
00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:43.240
one sermon, and that one sermon would lead to months

156
00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:49.120
of study and you know, creating our own interpretation, putting

157
00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:52.959
forth our own philological hypotheses and testing them. And that's

158
00:07:53.040 --> 00:07:55.839
what we have been doing really all year. Is so

159
00:07:56.000 --> 00:07:57.839
much of what I have done is not only the

160
00:07:57.879 --> 00:08:00.519
reviewing of a sermon, but then hours and hours and

161
00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:05.480
hours of really reaction and things that were inspired by

162
00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:11.360
that one sermon review which demonstrates that one sermon, whether

163
00:08:11.480 --> 00:08:14.720
you like it or whether you hate it, whether you

164
00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:18.000
think they were telling that they handled the text correctly

165
00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:21.199
or whether you thought they handled the text incorrectly, if

166
00:08:21.240 --> 00:08:24.480
you'll really do something with that one sermon, it literally

167
00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:29.199
could provide you hundreds of hours of spiritual food and

168
00:08:29.279 --> 00:08:33.200
research and study. So that means I mean, just again,

169
00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:35.720
the sermon's two point, oh app is so much is

170
00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:39.759
so much more valuable than I think anyone really understands.

171
00:08:39.799 --> 00:08:41.720
Because even if you listen to a sermon, you're like,

172
00:08:41.720 --> 00:08:43.720
oh that was horrible. Yeah, now what are you going

173
00:08:43.799 --> 00:08:46.879
to do with it? Just sit around criticizing it? Are

174
00:08:46.919 --> 00:08:49.320
you going to get to work dig into that text,

175
00:08:49.679 --> 00:08:51.840
really really work on it? And guess where this has

176
00:08:51.919 --> 00:08:55.360
all led us to this moment on December the twenty eighth.

177
00:08:55.399 --> 00:08:59.200
As we bring this challenge to some type of a conclusion,

178
00:09:00.320 --> 00:09:02.720
it brings us this is where it brings us. It

179
00:09:02.759 --> 00:09:06.519
brings us to this moment where we have found ourselves

180
00:09:06.559 --> 00:09:09.440
because of the sermon's two point oh out sermon challenge.

181
00:09:09.879 --> 00:09:13.840
We have found ourselves, now, are you ready, in Isaiah

182
00:09:13.960 --> 00:09:19.000
chapter forty to Isaiah chapter fifty five, because we have.

183
00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:21.559
Found sermon after sermon after sermon that.

184
00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:27.159
Completely mishandles versus within Isaiah forty to Isaiah fifty five.

185
00:09:27.399 --> 00:09:31.000
They misinterpret them, they twist them, they misuse them, they

186
00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:35.039
misapply them. It's been, in fact, at the number of

187
00:09:35.159 --> 00:09:39.039
sermons I've listened to on Isaiah forty to fifty five,

188
00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:41.320
I don't even know how many anymore, I've lost track.

189
00:09:41.799 --> 00:09:43.120
It's probably well over.

190
00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:45.440
I don't even know seventy now, I mean, and in

191
00:09:45.480 --> 00:09:47.519
many cases, I'm you know, I'm just listening to this

192
00:09:47.559 --> 00:09:50.039
and I'll be you know, I'll be doing something around

193
00:09:50.039 --> 00:09:54.200
the house. Just okay, Isaiah forty four, Okay, search boom,

194
00:09:54.399 --> 00:09:56.799
hit play, and then I'll be doing whatever and just

195
00:09:56.879 --> 00:09:59.159
listen and like, over and over and over, I'm like,

196
00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:03.279
what is what's happening here? Why is this section of

197
00:10:03.320 --> 00:10:07.039
scripture so mishandled? So that has turned into now me

198
00:10:07.240 --> 00:10:11.879
doing an entire study of Isaiah forty to Isaiah fifty five,

199
00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:15.159
verse by verse, and we have created a series for that,

200
00:10:15.840 --> 00:10:18.240
and we'll be working on Isaiah forty through fifty five

201
00:10:18.559 --> 00:10:20.600
all the well into twenty twenty five.

202
00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:23.000
I mean, I think it may take us most.

203
00:10:22.759 --> 00:10:24.679
Of twenty twenty five, and I don't even know if

204
00:10:24.679 --> 00:10:27.320
we're gonna finish it at this rate, but we're gonna.

205
00:10:27.320 --> 00:10:30.919
We're taking that section apart, we're dissecting it, we're taking

206
00:10:30.919 --> 00:10:34.519
it apart because of all because of the sermon's two

207
00:10:34.559 --> 00:10:37.639
point oh app sermon challenge. We listen to sermons and

208
00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:39.600
I'm like, this is a mess. Well, I can either

209
00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:41.559
criticize it or we can try to try to produce

210
00:10:41.679 --> 00:10:43.799
something drastically different.

211
00:10:44.159 --> 00:10:47.360
So that's what we're doing. So I think it's fitting

212
00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:48.000
because the.

213
00:10:47.919 --> 00:10:51.240
Sermon's two point oh app ultimately led us to Isaiah

214
00:10:51.240 --> 00:10:54.000
forty to fifty five, which is now going to lead

215
00:10:54.080 --> 00:10:56.919
us into all of twenty twenty five, that being a

216
00:10:56.960 --> 00:11:00.159
major focus. I thought it was somewhat fitting that I

217
00:11:00.279 --> 00:11:02.320
was looking through the sermons two point.

218
00:11:02.080 --> 00:11:03.080
Oh app.

219
00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:07.519
And I see a sermon entitled Happy.

220
00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:12.600
New Year exclamation point Happy New Year, and I'm like, oh, okay,

221
00:11:12.639 --> 00:11:15.279
we're already going to start. We're already over the Christmas sermons,

222
00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:17.120
and now we're going to go to the New Year. Sermons,

223
00:11:17.159 --> 00:11:19.279
and I'm like, Okay, this is good. So I clicked

224
00:11:19.320 --> 00:11:21.440
on it and I got ready to hit play, and

225
00:11:21.480 --> 00:11:24.399
then I noticed the text, and I'm like, You've got

226
00:11:24.519 --> 00:11:28.279
to be kidding me. We have a happy New Year

227
00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:36.480
sermon based off Isaiah forty three, eighteen through nineteen, And

228
00:11:36.559 --> 00:11:37.000
I'm like.

229
00:11:37.039 --> 00:11:39.720
You gotta be kidding me. You gotta be kidding me.

230
00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:43.120
Isaiah forty three, verse eighteen and nineteen. Do not remember

231
00:11:43.159 --> 00:11:46.679
the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold,

232
00:11:46.840 --> 00:11:50.320
I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth.

233
00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:53.440
Shall you not know it? I will even make a

234
00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:57.159
road and the wilderness and the rivers in the desert.

235
00:11:57.279 --> 00:12:00.639
And I'm like, you've got to be kidding me. Familiar

236
00:12:00.799 --> 00:12:03.440
with people using this for a New Year, I.

237
00:12:03.399 --> 00:12:07.519
Don't have it behind me. See, I think it's downstairs.

238
00:12:07.559 --> 00:12:08.279
Let me look here.

239
00:12:08.759 --> 00:12:12.799
I have a devotional that I used for many years

240
00:12:13.720 --> 00:12:18.879
by Charles Stanley, and I believe that devotional begins with

241
00:12:19.039 --> 00:12:23.360
Isaiah forty three, eighteen through nineteen. Do not remember the

242
00:12:23.399 --> 00:12:27.919
former things, Do not remember the former things, nor consider

243
00:12:27.960 --> 00:12:30.639
the old things. Behold, I will do a new thing.

244
00:12:31.399 --> 00:12:34.480
I cannot tell you how many devotionals begin with Isaiah

245
00:12:34.519 --> 00:12:37.320
forty three eighteen through nineteen, and they start January the

246
00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:40.080
first Ooh, God's going to do a new thing. I

247
00:12:40.120 --> 00:12:43.200
have heard this countless time my whole Christian life. You

248
00:12:43.240 --> 00:12:46.440
know what drives me absolutely crazy about this Isaiah forty three.

249
00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:48.720
Eighteen nineteen has nothing to do with you or me.

250
00:12:49.240 --> 00:12:52.720
It's about specific people and a historical context which we

251
00:12:52.799 --> 00:12:56.279
have now talked about. It feels like a million times

252
00:12:56.320 --> 00:12:59.440
and we have to keep bringing it up. Isaiah forty

253
00:12:59.480 --> 00:13:01.840
through fifty five is a book of comfort.

254
00:13:02.120 --> 00:13:04.120
What do these people need comfort from?

255
00:13:04.320 --> 00:13:07.720
Well, if you go to Isaiah thirty nine eighteen or

256
00:13:07.960 --> 00:13:11.519
the last part of Isaiah thirty nine, I can get

257
00:13:11.559 --> 00:13:12.799
back here Isaiah thirty.

258
00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:19.159
Nine starting here where say thirty nine?

259
00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:20.159
If you go to.

260
00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:26.639
Yeah, probably verse five Isaiah thirty nine, verse five. Then

261
00:13:26.679 --> 00:13:29.600
Isaiah said, Hezekiah, hear the word of the Lord of hosts. Behold,

262
00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:31.559
the days are coming when all that is in your

263
00:13:31.559 --> 00:13:34.759
house and what your fathers have accumulated unto this day,

264
00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:39.240
should be carried to Babylon. Isaiah forty through fifty five

265
00:13:39.679 --> 00:13:43.600
is words of comfort given to people who are.

266
00:13:43.480 --> 00:13:45.600
In Babylonian captivity.

267
00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:49.559
Now the words of comfort were given about a one

268
00:13:49.639 --> 00:13:52.440
hundred years before they even go into captivity. By the

269
00:13:52.440 --> 00:13:55.120
time they go into captivity, Isaiah is dead. But these

270
00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:58.039
words that he gives us an Isaiah forty through fifty

271
00:13:58.039 --> 00:14:00.440
five are to be brought to the people to bring

272
00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:01.279
them comfort.

273
00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:03.279
That's what the section is about.

274
00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:07.240
And for some weird reason, pastors just walk in and say, hey, guys, guys,

275
00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:10.519
guys in Babylonian captivity. I'm gonna mention you in the

276
00:14:10.559 --> 00:14:13.279
sermon just so that I give the appearance of caring

277
00:14:13.320 --> 00:14:16.399
about historical context. And then I'm going to shove you

278
00:14:16.519 --> 00:14:18.519
so far out of the way, and I'm going to

279
00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:20.480
insert all of us, and it's going to be about

280
00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:24.360
us having a new year. That's what it turns into,

281
00:14:24.519 --> 00:14:27.159
over and over and over and over again. And I'm like, well,

282
00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:30.039
you know, the sermon's two point oh app led us

283
00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:32.919
to Isaiah forty through fifty five to end twenty twenty four,

284
00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:35.480
and to go into twenty twenty five. What better way

285
00:14:36.600 --> 00:14:39.600
than to grab a random sermon on Isaiah forty through

286
00:14:39.639 --> 00:14:42.600
fifty five, in this particular case, Isaiah forty three eighteen

287
00:14:42.600 --> 00:14:45.080
through nineteen, and let's.

288
00:14:44.799 --> 00:14:45.919
Review and see what happens.

289
00:14:45.960 --> 00:14:49.960
Now you can already tell I feel that this is

290
00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:51.080
going to go in a bad way.

291
00:14:51.159 --> 00:14:51.879
I could be wrong.

292
00:14:51.919 --> 00:14:54.279
I haven't listened to the sermon yet, but I'm just

293
00:14:54.279 --> 00:14:59.360
trying to indicate devotional after devotional New Year's sermon, after

294
00:14:59.399 --> 00:15:03.000
New Year's s, after New Year's sermon, love to use

295
00:15:03.080 --> 00:15:04.960
Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen.

296
00:15:05.480 --> 00:15:08.120
So I basically I grabbed.

297
00:15:07.720 --> 00:15:10.960
Ai and I said, Hey, Ai, I'm about to review

298
00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:15.120
a sermon on Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen.

299
00:15:15.399 --> 00:15:17.360
Do you have any words for me? And this is

300
00:15:17.799 --> 00:15:21.600
this is what Ai said. Are you ready? And I'm

301
00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:22.960
quoting this is hilarious.

302
00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:27.399
AI said it would be wise to approach this sermon

303
00:15:27.480 --> 00:15:33.440
with great caution, and I just had to start laughing.

304
00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:36.159
And then Ai went on to say it would be

305
00:15:36.200 --> 00:15:39.720
wise to approach this sermon with great caution, as Isaiah

306
00:15:39.799 --> 00:15:44.200
forty three eighteen through nineteen is often taken out of context,

307
00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:51.080
especially when used as a motivational art topical text for.

308
00:15:51.120 --> 00:15:54.440
Something like a New Year's sermon.

309
00:15:57.559 --> 00:16:00.440
I was like, AI knows more than I, Like how

310
00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:03.120
this is why we need to remove all pastors and

311
00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:06.960
just insert Ai into all churches, because even Ai is like, whoa,

312
00:16:06.919 --> 00:16:09.000
whoa whoa, you're going to review a sermon on Isaiah

313
00:16:09.080 --> 00:16:12.200
forty three eighteen through nineteen. Hey, just be aware this

314
00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:16.519
sermon is constantly used and misused for something like a

315
00:16:16.559 --> 00:16:18.919
New Year's sermon. What is the name of this sermon,

316
00:16:19.240 --> 00:16:22.480
Happy New Year? What is the text Isaiah forty three

317
00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:26.200
eighteen through nineteen. You can't make this up. AI is

318
00:16:26.279 --> 00:16:29.360
even aware, like, hey, hey, be careful, be careful, be careful.

319
00:16:29.480 --> 00:16:32.960
So then AI is like, so we let's evaluate the

320
00:16:33.000 --> 00:16:40.240
passage and textual, historical, and philological context in order to

321
00:16:40.360 --> 00:16:46.200
discern potential pitfalls and how it how this passage can

322
00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:49.519
be mishandled. Well, I don't think there are any pitfalls.

323
00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:53.240
The only pitfalls are pastors want to preach sermons.

324
00:16:53.960 --> 00:16:56.440
Instead of preaching the text.

325
00:16:57.159 --> 00:17:00.279
So I think this is the most appropriate way to

326
00:17:00.360 --> 00:17:02.120
kind of this. This is going to kind of be

327
00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:05.119
the end of our sermon's two point oh app sermon challenge.

328
00:17:05.160 --> 00:17:05.680
It really is.

329
00:17:05.759 --> 00:17:07.519
I don't know what you've learned from it. I would

330
00:17:07.559 --> 00:17:10.119
like that maybe maybe even in January, we'll still have

331
00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:13.799
some conversations about it, looking back over everything that has

332
00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:17.039
occurred in the sermon's two point oh app a sermon challenge,

333
00:17:17.319 --> 00:17:19.240
I can. I am going to look here really quick

334
00:17:19.279 --> 00:17:22.119
so that I can be accurate here, because.

335
00:17:21.880 --> 00:17:24.200
I don't want to make up I don't want to

336
00:17:24.200 --> 00:17:26.960
make up inform. I don't want to give you wrong information.

337
00:17:26.599 --> 00:17:30.799
Here if I look it up, Yes, there have been

338
00:17:31.480 --> 00:17:36.680
one hundred and twenty three one hundred and twenty three

339
00:17:37.480 --> 00:17:42.319
messages in the Sermon's two point oh APP Sermon Challenge series.

340
00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:49.960
That's one hundred and twenty three hours of content content

341
00:17:50.480 --> 00:17:53.519
just in the Sermon Audio Sermons two point oh APP

342
00:17:53.559 --> 00:17:57.599
Sermon Challenge one hundred and twenty three hours. But that

343
00:17:57.680 --> 00:18:03.319
doesn't even begin to describe vibe how much that this

344
00:18:03.640 --> 00:18:08.519
challenge has influenced. Because if you go look at other series, right, like,

345
00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:10.359
let me just look at some other series.

346
00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:13.279
If I just go to let's see here, where do

347
00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:13.960
we want to go?

348
00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:19.880
If we look at oh, Psalm eighty three. So the

349
00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:23.559
entire series on Psalm eighty three all came about because

350
00:18:23.599 --> 00:18:26.039
of the Sermon's two point oh apps Sermon Challenge. That

351
00:18:26.200 --> 00:18:29.359
was twenty five hours of content.

352
00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:32.640
Right, So there's that. If I go to.

353
00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:40.480
A new interpretation, that's seven hours of content. If I

354
00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:43.680
just go through so much of this the Isaiah forty

355
00:18:43.720 --> 00:18:46.920
through fifty five, which is that series is because of

356
00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:49.359
the sermon's two point oh apps sermon challenge. Guess what,

357
00:18:49.799 --> 00:18:54.920
that's twenty five plus hours of content. So yo, you

358
00:18:55.039 --> 00:18:57.640
put it all together, The sermon's two point oh apps

359
00:18:57.640 --> 00:19:03.240
sermon challenge by itself has led to well over two

360
00:19:03.680 --> 00:19:11.119
hundred hours of broadcasting for this year. The sermon's two

361
00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:15.160
point oh apps sermon challenge by itself has led to

362
00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:20.839
over two hundred hours of broadcasting. That's crazy, and that

363
00:19:21.000 --> 00:19:24.039
just shows you that whether a sermon is good, whether

364
00:19:24.119 --> 00:19:28.240
a sermon is bad, you can do a lot with

365
00:19:28.359 --> 00:19:30.240
it if you're willing to put in the work.

366
00:19:30.279 --> 00:19:31.759
I don't know what we're getting ready to. I don't

367
00:19:31.759 --> 00:19:33.160
know if this is going to be good. I don't

368
00:19:33.160 --> 00:19:35.599
know if it's going to be bad. Am I skeptical?

369
00:19:35.880 --> 00:19:39.839
Yes, even Ai is telling me be cautious. Because a

370
00:19:39.960 --> 00:19:44.000
it's a sermon called Happy New Year, and the text

371
00:19:44.039 --> 00:19:51.119
is Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen. So we're going

372
00:19:51.160 --> 00:19:57.000
to get another example of well what pastors do with

373
00:19:57.079 --> 00:19:59.839
this text of scripture. But more importantly, we're going to

374
00:19:59.880 --> 00:20:04.079
get another example of well listening to sermons and listening

375
00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:09.200
to them cautiously, and that whether they're good or whether

376
00:20:09.240 --> 00:20:14.839
they're bad, we try to pull from it something beneficial.

377
00:20:14.960 --> 00:20:16.759
And that's what we are going to do. So I

378
00:20:16.799 --> 00:20:22.000
hope you're ready. Bible's open. Isaiah forty three, eighteen through nineteen.

379
00:20:23.640 --> 00:20:31.079
I got got some paper, got pencils. Here we go.

380
00:20:31.480 --> 00:20:33.559
I think we know where this is going. I'm gonna try.

381
00:20:33.640 --> 00:20:35.319
I'm gonna try not to I'm not gonna I'm gonna

382
00:20:35.319 --> 00:20:37.799
try not to be so cynical and skeptical. I'm gonna

383
00:20:37.799 --> 00:20:40.000
try to be positive. What we're about to hear, ladies

384
00:20:40.039 --> 00:20:43.279
and gentlemen, is the greatest exegetical study of Isaiah forty

385
00:20:43.279 --> 00:20:46.039
three eighteen through nineteen ever given on the face of earth.

386
00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:48.200
Now I know to say that I'm not being necessarily

387
00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:50.640
sincere because I don't really necessarily believe that.

388
00:20:50.839 --> 00:20:54.119
I definitely want to hope that. And so here we go.

389
00:20:55.720 --> 00:20:58.839
I want you to turn to Isaiah forty three. Isaiah

390
00:20:58.880 --> 00:21:02.400
forty three.

391
00:21:03.359 --> 00:21:04.160
Happy New Year.

392
00:21:06.519 --> 00:21:11.039
No, I mean that's the title of the sermon, and

393
00:21:11.079 --> 00:21:13.319
that is the title of the sermon, Happy New Year.

394
00:21:13.880 --> 00:21:16.240
I'm so thankful for you that are here worshiping with

395
00:21:16.319 --> 00:21:19.079
us today. Some have been sick and you're back. It's

396
00:21:19.119 --> 00:21:22.119
good to have you back. We appreciate you so much.

397
00:21:22.160 --> 00:21:25.240
Some are in from out of town that's visiting family,

398
00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:28.279
and still they choose to spend part of their time

399
00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:30.880
here with us in worship. And we are so glad

400
00:21:30.920 --> 00:21:33.400
that you're with us today. And I pray that the

401
00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:37.119
Lord will certainly bless you for giving your time to

402
00:21:37.200 --> 00:21:41.000
be in this place. In Isaiah chapter forty three, let's

403
00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:43.839
look at verses eighteen and nineteen.

404
00:21:45.480 --> 00:21:46.599
Hypothetical question.

405
00:21:46.920 --> 00:21:49.839
By no means, am I implying anything about the sermon

406
00:21:49.880 --> 00:21:52.480
we're going to listen to. But by no means I

407
00:21:52.519 --> 00:21:54.720
am not implying anything about the sermon we're going to

408
00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:58.000
listen to. But we throughout twenty twenty four, I've raised

409
00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:01.160
this question over and over and over. You take a church,

410
00:22:01.279 --> 00:22:03.759
You look at all the money it costs to keep

411
00:22:03.799 --> 00:22:12.240
that church operating, for the building materials, staff upkeep the grounds,

412
00:22:12.880 --> 00:22:17.359
mowing the lawn, all the different things, you know, landscaping, signs,

413
00:22:17.799 --> 00:22:22.000
all electricity, all all the things. It takes a lot

414
00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:24.440
of money to keep a church operating. I mean, just

415
00:22:24.480 --> 00:22:26.279
if you go to church, just ask for your budget

416
00:22:26.319 --> 00:22:28.000
and just look at how much how much money it

417
00:22:28.039 --> 00:22:30.960
took to keep the church operating for one year, one year,

418
00:22:31.519 --> 00:22:35.359
and then you and then the all the cost of

419
00:22:35.400 --> 00:22:39.039
your time to get dressed, to get ready to drive there,

420
00:22:39.480 --> 00:22:42.759
go there and then get then leave and come back home.

421
00:22:42.839 --> 00:22:44.720
You may turn back right back around and go back

422
00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:46.599
that evening. You may turn back around and go back

423
00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:50.440
there on Wednesday. You look at all the effort, the time,

424
00:22:50.559 --> 00:22:53.960
the work, the money to keep a church operating and

425
00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:58.519
for attending. Is how much is it really worth when

426
00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:02.279
in the end, either number one, you hear sermon after

427
00:23:02.279 --> 00:23:05.039
sermon after sermon where the text is really not being

428
00:23:05.079 --> 00:23:10.359
handled even remotely in a correct way or even in

429
00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:13.599
an in depth way. Many cases it's very surface. And

430
00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:16.480
when you take how much it costs to keep that

431
00:23:16.599 --> 00:23:20.039
church operating, how much content did the church even produce

432
00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:24.359
within that calendar year? How many sermons were actually preached?

433
00:23:26.240 --> 00:23:29.079
So people took time out to show up at this

434
00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:32.400
church for a sermon on Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen.

435
00:23:32.480 --> 00:23:35.640
Now only you can determine whether you think it's great

436
00:23:35.759 --> 00:23:37.880
or wonderful. I don't know, but I do question it

437
00:23:37.960 --> 00:23:40.039
a lot, because I know how much it costs to

438
00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:42.920
keep churches going and it's a lot of money. And

439
00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:46.359
then sometimes you'll be like, man, they basically produce like

440
00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:49.079
forty eight sermons the entire year. I mean, really that's

441
00:23:49.440 --> 00:23:53.480
the best forty eight sermons. Look at how much content

442
00:23:53.559 --> 00:23:54.559
this podcast has.

443
00:23:54.440 --> 00:23:55.240
Produced all of this.

444
00:23:55.640 --> 00:24:02.039
I mean, we've done over two hundred message jiz just

445
00:24:02.279 --> 00:24:04.799
related to the sermon's two point oh app sermon Challenge

446
00:24:04.799 --> 00:24:06.920
series that doesn't have anything to do with anything else

447
00:24:06.960 --> 00:24:10.839
we did. We've done over two hundred just on that that.

448
00:24:11.079 --> 00:24:16.200
Like, it's it's sometimes like, how do you I don't know,

449
00:24:16.279 --> 00:24:16.640
I don't know.

450
00:24:16.680 --> 00:24:18.359
You can draw your own conclusion that's going to take

451
00:24:18.440 --> 00:24:21.359
us in a different direction. But well, maybe we'll return

452
00:24:21.440 --> 00:24:23.119
back to that by the time this sermon is over.

453
00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:23.759
Here we go.

454
00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:34.359
Isaiah, Chapter forty three, Verses eighteen and nineteen. Remember you

455
00:24:34.480 --> 00:24:38.920
not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold,

456
00:24:39.079 --> 00:24:42.400
I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth,

457
00:24:43.079 --> 00:24:45.680
shall you not know it? I will even make a

458
00:24:45.720 --> 00:24:50.680
way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. You know,

459
00:24:51.799 --> 00:24:56.160
this is New Year's Eve for us here in America.

460
00:24:58.519 --> 00:24:59.960
Okay, now you can hear the people the best.

461
00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:00.680
Amen.

462
00:25:00.839 --> 00:25:02.279
That's right, Amen, that's right.

463
00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:05.519
As they're reading that, okay, and then immediately look what

464
00:25:05.559 --> 00:25:08.039
he does. He just read Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen.

465
00:25:08.440 --> 00:25:13.559
And then immediately where where's the hard pivot us?

466
00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:13.839
Hey?

467
00:25:13.880 --> 00:25:17.119
For us here in America it's New Year's Eve. Now

468
00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:22.039
he may just be hard pivoting to us so that

469
00:25:22.160 --> 00:25:23.440
he can move back.

470
00:25:23.599 --> 00:25:25.319
Now I can.

471
00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:28.960
Almost guarantee he will at least mention the historical context.

472
00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:31.079
But you watch what happens.

473
00:25:31.480 --> 00:25:34.640
Typically what we have seen, the historical context will be

474
00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:37.319
mentioned so that people get a sense a feel that

475
00:25:37.359 --> 00:25:38.160
we're really.

476
00:25:37.920 --> 00:25:40.359
Studying the text. And then it's just going to be like,

477
00:25:40.880 --> 00:25:41.480
forget it.

478
00:25:41.839 --> 00:25:45.799
Now it's us us us as us us us us

479
00:25:45.960 --> 00:25:47.559
as us as us.

480
00:25:47.400 --> 00:25:50.440
And the original recipients. We don't care about them.

481
00:25:50.839 --> 00:25:52.960
That's what typically happens. I'm not saying that's what's going

482
00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:56.720
to happen. That's what typically happens. So AI told us

483
00:25:56.720 --> 00:25:59.839
to be cautious, So let's be cautious here we go.

484
00:26:01.960 --> 00:26:05.359
But also for the majority of the world, now I

485
00:26:05.440 --> 00:26:09.359
realize that New Year's Day doesn't come to all cultures

486
00:26:09.400 --> 00:26:15.759
and all religions on this day. For example, the Jews,

487
00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:19.720
they celebrate Rasashana, the new year usually that falls about

488
00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.359
September through that period of time. But yet on our

489
00:26:24.480 --> 00:26:26.960
calendar we are on the brink of a new year.

490
00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:30.519
And it's funny how people when you end one year

491
00:26:30.519 --> 00:26:34.400
and start another. We have our customs here in America.

492
00:26:35.079 --> 00:26:37.400
But I kind of got intrigued a little bit, just

493
00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:41.000
as an intro to you as to what other people do.

494
00:26:41.119 --> 00:26:43.720
For example, I went back in history and read a

495
00:26:43.759 --> 00:26:47.960
little bit about the Romans, the ancient Roman culture. They

496
00:26:48.039 --> 00:26:52.440
celebrated New Year's Day by celebrating at the same time

497
00:26:52.519 --> 00:26:57.440
the birth of Janice. Janus was a god that they

498
00:26:58.240 --> 00:27:00.640
feel was born on New Year's Day.

499
00:27:01.160 --> 00:27:02.559
And many of you have seen.

500
00:27:02.640 --> 00:27:05.599
That god or a picture of that god that they

501
00:27:05.880 --> 00:27:10.440
that they celebrated. Janus had two faces, one looking forward

502
00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:13.519
and one looking back. So the idea is is that

503
00:27:13.920 --> 00:27:16.920
Janus was looking back on the old year and looking

504
00:27:16.960 --> 00:27:19.559
forward to the new year. Do you know the ancient

505
00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:23.640
Roman ancient Romans, of course they didn't celebrate Christmas, but

506
00:27:23.759 --> 00:27:27.960
they exchange gifts on their New Year's Day, but they

507
00:27:27.960 --> 00:27:29.319
didn't exchange gifts.

508
00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:35.440
Like some interesting background that kids screaming in the background,

509
00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:39.480
it's making it difficult to hear this historical background. But okay,

510
00:27:39.559 --> 00:27:42.160
all right, maybe the kid will calm down. Because the

511
00:27:42.240 --> 00:27:43.759
kids not happy obviously are here.

512
00:27:43.839 --> 00:27:44.200
We go.

513
00:27:46.079 --> 00:27:46.400
We do.

514
00:27:46.440 --> 00:27:52.279
They exchange gifts with friends for forgiveness, and rather than

515
00:27:52.480 --> 00:27:55.200
say that they had done somebody wrong in the past,

516
00:27:55.680 --> 00:27:59.680
they just brought them a gift and the gift covered

517
00:27:59.759 --> 00:28:06.480
up them saying I'm sorry. You know, gifts don't get

518
00:28:06.599 --> 00:28:09.039
rid of guilt. If you wrong somebody, you gotta make

519
00:28:09.079 --> 00:28:10.599
it right.

520
00:28:10.759 --> 00:28:11.680
Moving right along.

521
00:28:12.079 --> 00:28:16.720
The Chinese New Year they celebrate by putting off fireworks.

522
00:28:17.799 --> 00:28:18.480
They feel that.

523
00:28:18.480 --> 00:28:22.759
The light and the noise drives out evil spirits, so

524
00:28:22.839 --> 00:28:26.000
that's why they have fireworks on their New Year's Day.

525
00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:32.680
In Denmark, they throw plates and dishes against.

526
00:28:32.240 --> 00:28:33.279
Their neighbor's door.

527
00:28:34.279 --> 00:28:37.599
And the idea is is the plate breaks, the dishes break,

528
00:28:37.839 --> 00:28:42.680
the bigger pile of broken glass in front of your door.

529
00:28:43.240 --> 00:28:45.519
Then the more you are loved and the more you

530
00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:51.160
are appreciated. You'd appreciate until you clean the glass. I'm sure.

531
00:28:51.519 --> 00:28:55.519
Also some people there in Denmark at midnight, they stand

532
00:28:55.599 --> 00:28:59.079
on a chair and jump off because it's symbolic that

533
00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:04.240
they're leaping into the New year romania. They put on

534
00:29:04.519 --> 00:29:09.119
furs and masks and they dance in the streets, and

535
00:29:09.200 --> 00:29:13.400
the idea is is if they look ferocious enough, they'll

536
00:29:13.440 --> 00:29:16.799
ward off evil spirits. Isn't it funny how many people

537
00:29:16.960 --> 00:29:19.039
are trying to drive away evil spirits.

538
00:29:19.319 --> 00:29:20.359
At the first of the year.

539
00:29:21.480 --> 00:29:26.839
In Turkey, they sprinkle salt on the doorstep at midnight

540
00:29:27.319 --> 00:29:30.480
of their family and friends, and they believe that that

541
00:29:30.519 --> 00:29:35.279
will bring prosperity and peace to that home. Also others

542
00:29:35.880 --> 00:29:39.440
they open up pomegranates and they think that the pomegranates

543
00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:42.839
will attract wealth. So that's why have you ever noticed,

544
00:29:42.880 --> 00:29:46.480
even in our local grocery stores, how they always increase

545
00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:50.799
the amount of pomegranates that's in the store because that's

546
00:29:50.839 --> 00:29:53.799
passed on to even people here in America, they do that.

547
00:29:53.839 --> 00:29:57.440
In the Czech Republic, they determine their future by cutting

548
00:29:57.440 --> 00:29:58.759
apple in half.

549
00:30:00.920 --> 00:30:04.160
Now, please note the text is Isaiah forty three, eighteen

550
00:30:04.240 --> 00:30:10.920
through nineteen, a message to people in Babylonian captivity. Right,

551
00:30:11.720 --> 00:30:14.839
just keep that in mind, all right, because as each

552
00:30:14.960 --> 00:30:19.279
minute passes in this sermon, we are slowly walking further

553
00:30:19.359 --> 00:30:22.720
and further and further away from the original context, in

554
00:30:22.759 --> 00:30:25.960
the original meaning. All right, now, he may circle, I'm

555
00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:29.039
still counting that he will circle back and offer some

556
00:30:29.640 --> 00:30:30.880
historical context.

557
00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:34.160
But then what we'll see. Do we then stay in

558
00:30:34.160 --> 00:30:35.359
that historical context?

559
00:30:35.359 --> 00:30:38.319
Do we try to interpret this within that historical context?

560
00:30:38.519 --> 00:30:41.680
Or are these words just like well, sorry, boom and

561
00:30:41.720 --> 00:30:43.960
just rip them out and say, hey, ladies and gentlemen,

562
00:30:44.680 --> 00:30:47.759
here's the message to us going into New Year's right,

563
00:30:47.920 --> 00:30:48.960
is that what's going to happen?

564
00:30:49.000 --> 00:30:51.039
I don't know. I don't know. We're going to see.

565
00:30:52.920 --> 00:30:55.039
When they cut the apple in half, they look at

566
00:30:55.079 --> 00:30:57.839
the core, and if the core is shaped in the

567
00:30:57.920 --> 00:31:01.519
shape of a cross, then it may somebody there in

568
00:31:01.559 --> 00:31:05.119
that household or in that group will fall ill in

569
00:31:05.200 --> 00:31:08.640
the coming year. If there's a star there, it means

570
00:31:08.720 --> 00:31:12.759
that it'll be health and happiness to that particular home.

571
00:31:13.240 --> 00:31:16.079
There's a lot of different ways of celebrating the new year.

572
00:31:16.319 --> 00:31:18.599
A lot of you will find ways to celebrate the

573
00:31:18.640 --> 00:31:20.880
new year. And I could go through and ask if

574
00:31:20.880 --> 00:31:25.000
you've got individual traditions in your home, and the majority

575
00:31:25.039 --> 00:31:27.599
of you would say yes. We have certain things that

576
00:31:27.640 --> 00:31:30.640
we do as we enter into the new year. One

577
00:31:30.680 --> 00:31:33.119
of the things that we are known for in this

578
00:31:33.240 --> 00:31:38.480
country is that we set resolutions. And I'm here to

579
00:31:38.559 --> 00:31:45.839
tell you don't make resolutions. We don't need resolutions. We

580
00:31:45.880 --> 00:31:50.880
need a revolution. Now, by revolution, I'm not talking about

581
00:31:50.880 --> 00:31:55.720
a rebellion. I'm talking about a drastic change, because we

582
00:31:55.799 --> 00:31:58.720
do need a change, and in this country, I think

583
00:31:58.759 --> 00:32:03.720
you'll agree, we desperately need a change. So just making

584
00:32:03.720 --> 00:32:06.599
a resolution, it's something that will bring guilt to you

585
00:32:07.039 --> 00:32:10.000
in the path in the future, because you'll think, oh,

586
00:32:10.039 --> 00:32:12.119
I said it, and I didn't know what some of

587
00:32:12.160 --> 00:32:12.680
you are like.

588
00:32:14.680 --> 00:32:17.119
All right, so let me get this right. So we're

589
00:32:17.119 --> 00:32:19.480
in Isaiah forty three, eighteen nineteen. All right, all right,

590
00:32:19.519 --> 00:32:21.519
so we got all these different ways people celebrate the

591
00:32:21.519 --> 00:32:24.799
New years. Now what we need to don't make a resolution.

592
00:32:25.880 --> 00:32:28.880
We need a revolution. So don't make a resolution because

593
00:32:28.880 --> 00:32:30.559
you're just going to break it. But we need a revolution.

594
00:32:31.119 --> 00:32:33.920
And he describes a revolution as a change. Well, when

595
00:32:33.960 --> 00:32:36.359
you make a resolution, are you making a resolution? If

596
00:32:36.400 --> 00:32:38.759
you make a if you say we need a revolution,

597
00:32:39.119 --> 00:32:41.680
are you saying you're committed to a revolution, meaning you

598
00:32:41.720 --> 00:32:44.680
need we're committed to a change. Isn't that a resolution?

599
00:32:45.200 --> 00:32:48.079
If you're saying I'm committed to a revolution, aren't you

600
00:32:48.160 --> 00:32:53.720
then resolving to I don't get that, Hey, resolution, bad

601
00:32:54.039 --> 00:32:56.640
commit to a revolution because we need a change. Are

602
00:32:56.720 --> 00:33:00.519
you saying I'm then resolving to make a Am I

603
00:33:00.559 --> 00:33:01.599
the one making the Okay?

604
00:33:01.640 --> 00:33:02.480
I'm so confused?

605
00:33:02.559 --> 00:33:07.440
So resolution bad? Revolution good? Everyone everyone in the congregation loved.

606
00:33:07.519 --> 00:33:10.200
Everybody was like, man, yeah, but I don't I don't

607
00:33:10.279 --> 00:33:14.640
like if I commit to a revolution? Am I not

608
00:33:14.799 --> 00:33:18.279
resolving to do something? Because he says it's about changing?

609
00:33:18.599 --> 00:33:21.319
So do I just say, I'm not gonna make a resolution,

610
00:33:21.480 --> 00:33:23.359
but we need a revolution and that's it. And I

611
00:33:23.720 --> 00:33:26.279
don't commit to anything. I'm not going to plan anything.

612
00:33:26.440 --> 00:33:28.839
I'm not gonna do anything. I'm just gonna say we

613
00:33:28.880 --> 00:33:30.880
need a revolution. But if you say you need a

614
00:33:30.920 --> 00:33:33.559
revolution and that's changed, are you then not going to

615
00:33:33.640 --> 00:33:35.599
commit to doing the things in order to produce and

616
00:33:35.640 --> 00:33:36.680
bring about said change?

617
00:33:36.880 --> 00:33:38.119
Is it that not a resolution?

618
00:33:40.200 --> 00:33:43.160
I know it preaches good, we don't need a resolution,

619
00:33:43.480 --> 00:33:46.880
we need a revolution. And everybody's like, a man, look,

620
00:33:47.200 --> 00:33:51.519
what are you committed to the revolution? Are you going

621
00:33:51.599 --> 00:33:53.440
to resolve to do these things?

622
00:33:53.559 --> 00:33:57.680
Wait? That's a resolution? But I gotta look this up.

623
00:33:57.759 --> 00:34:02.559
I gotta look this up because now I'm kind of

624
00:34:02.640 --> 00:34:03.599
laughing at this.

625
00:34:03.599 --> 00:34:05.880
This is someone making me laugh. Here, Hang on, I

626
00:34:05.920 --> 00:34:07.359
gotta look here. Oh wait, I don't want to go

627
00:34:07.400 --> 00:34:08.440
to that. I want to go here.

628
00:34:09.239 --> 00:34:16.239
All right, resolution, it's a firm decision to do or

629
00:34:16.280 --> 00:34:17.360
not do something.

630
00:34:19.639 --> 00:34:23.199
Don't make a hey, don't make a firm decision to

631
00:34:23.280 --> 00:34:23.840
do something.

632
00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:27.880
Don't do that, don't make a don't have a firm

633
00:34:30.039 --> 00:34:32.280
don't make a firm decision to do anything. But we

634
00:34:32.320 --> 00:34:33.280
need a revolution?

635
00:34:33.639 --> 00:34:35.280
Well are we gonna be Are we gonna make a

636
00:34:35.320 --> 00:34:37.440
firm decision that we need a revolution?

637
00:34:37.960 --> 00:34:39.239
Is that not a resolution?

638
00:34:39.800 --> 00:34:41.079
I don't understand.

639
00:34:41.880 --> 00:34:44.199
Sometimes in sermons we look and I know, look, I've

640
00:34:44.239 --> 00:34:45.480
done the same thing as preachers.

641
00:34:45.480 --> 00:34:46.920
We come up with this cool little.

642
00:34:46.679 --> 00:34:48.920
Phrase and we're like, oh, this is really good, this

643
00:34:49.000 --> 00:34:51.719
is really good. This is gonna get the amens. But

644
00:34:51.960 --> 00:34:55.360
I mean, anyone logically going, so, are we making a

645
00:34:55.400 --> 00:34:56.960
decision that we need a revolution?

646
00:34:57.400 --> 00:34:59.280
Yes? Well that's a resolution?

647
00:35:00.880 --> 00:35:04.760
Okay, all right, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm just that's so,

648
00:35:06.159 --> 00:35:07.599
that's so ridiculous, all.

649
00:35:07.599 --> 00:35:12.239
Right, like myself, you meant well, but you've gained and

650
00:35:12.280 --> 00:35:15.039
lost one thousand pounds and you're right back to where

651
00:35:15.079 --> 00:35:15.360
you are.

652
00:35:15.679 --> 00:35:17.360
So the resolution doesn't do it.

653
00:35:17.800 --> 00:35:20.800
And you can buy all of the programs you want,

654
00:35:21.159 --> 00:35:23.840
you can go out and spend twelve hundred dollars for

655
00:35:23.880 --> 00:35:27.000
a piece of equipment, and the only thing you're going

656
00:35:27.039 --> 00:35:28.559
to lose is twelve hundred dollars.

657
00:35:30.760 --> 00:35:31.480
I am preaching.

658
00:35:32.599 --> 00:35:36.360
What's ironic about this? Now we know this text, we've

659
00:35:36.360 --> 00:35:40.079
read it. Well, what really struck me is it's quite

660
00:35:40.159 --> 00:35:43.920
evident that he's saying, as you're stepping into something new here,

661
00:35:44.400 --> 00:35:47.159
even though he's writing to the children of Israel. Verse eighteen,

662
00:35:47.440 --> 00:35:51.079
he said, remember not the former things, and he said,

663
00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:52.840
neither consider the things of old.

664
00:35:53.440 --> 00:35:55.000
So he's telling them to forget.

665
00:35:55.880 --> 00:35:59.360
But if you read the two verses before that, he's

666
00:35:59.440 --> 00:36:01.199
remembering the things that God.

667
00:36:01.000 --> 00:36:03.480
Has done when he brought them out of Egypt.

668
00:36:04.079 --> 00:36:08.199
So in the verses before this, he's telling them about

669
00:36:08.239 --> 00:36:10.960
things that they need to remember. Then he tells them,

670
00:36:10.960 --> 00:36:12.480
whatever you do forget.

671
00:36:13.400 --> 00:36:16.280
Don't remember it. You need to remember, and you don't

672
00:36:16.320 --> 00:36:17.079
need to remember.

673
00:36:17.440 --> 00:36:21.679
Well, now that seems at first like it's totally opposite

674
00:36:21.719 --> 00:36:24.280
of one another, until you stop to think about what

675
00:36:24.360 --> 00:36:27.840
he's really saying. He's saying that there are things in

676
00:36:27.880 --> 00:36:30.760
a new year that you need to remember, but definitely

677
00:36:30.840 --> 00:36:34.000
there's things you need to forget. You need to remember

678
00:36:34.119 --> 00:36:35.519
what God has done for.

679
00:36:35.440 --> 00:36:38.840
You in the past. But also once.

680
00:36:38.599 --> 00:36:42.000
That you confess your sins to the Lord, and once

681
00:36:42.039 --> 00:36:45.159
you ask the Lord for forgiveness, and once you ask

682
00:36:45.239 --> 00:36:48.880
the Lord to overcome the mistakes that you've made, you

683
00:36:49.079 --> 00:36:51.719
need to put that in the rear view mirror, and

684
00:36:51.760 --> 00:36:52.920
you need to move forward.

685
00:36:53.400 --> 00:36:54.320
Remember the Lord.

686
00:36:54.599 --> 00:36:58.400
When someone comes and apologizes, you need to remember that

687
00:36:58.440 --> 00:37:02.039
they apologize and accept them and forgive them.

688
00:37:02.280 --> 00:37:04.440
And you need to more. He said, forget it, move on.

689
00:37:04.719 --> 00:37:07.840
I know it's impossible for our mind to forget, and

690
00:37:07.960 --> 00:37:10.440
it's something we can't remember what we want to remember,

691
00:37:10.679 --> 00:37:12.679
and we can't forget what we want to forget.

692
00:37:13.760 --> 00:37:14.960
But that's the way that we are.

693
00:37:15.519 --> 00:37:17.960
But he makes it very plain that there is a

694
00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:21.320
pattern here of the things that we need to forget.

695
00:37:22.000 --> 00:37:24.360
And he's saying, as we stand on the brink of

696
00:37:24.400 --> 00:37:27.719
something new, it reminds us of three things in these

697
00:37:27.760 --> 00:37:33.119
two verses. Number one, it reminds us of the past.

698
00:37:33.559 --> 00:37:34.480
That's what he says.

699
00:37:34.760 --> 00:37:39.480
He's please know, he is throwing in a you know, Israel.

700
00:37:40.079 --> 00:37:44.440
He's mentioning them briefly, but immediately he turning these principles into.

701
00:37:44.239 --> 00:37:48.880
Well us us US, US, us. This is all becoming

702
00:37:48.920 --> 00:37:54.360
about us. Oh, this is so okay.

703
00:37:54.639 --> 00:37:56.800
Let's just see where this goes. Let's get the basic principles.

704
00:37:56.840 --> 00:37:58.440
We may not even have to review much of this

705
00:37:58.440 --> 00:38:00.840
because you're gonna get the basic idea. He's just gonna

706
00:38:00.840 --> 00:38:03.440
go to Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen, rip out

707
00:38:03.480 --> 00:38:07.000
some principles, kind of mention the immediate context, and then

708
00:38:07.039 --> 00:38:09.039
just tell this is what you're supposed to do. He's

709
00:38:09.039 --> 00:38:12.480
going to take a dec a passage that's really descrept

710
00:38:12.639 --> 00:38:17.000
well really, it's a passage that's really prescribing what those

711
00:38:17.079 --> 00:38:20.159
people should do and making it prescriptive for us. And

712
00:38:20.239 --> 00:38:22.559
we could get into a whole hermonutical discussion here, but

713
00:38:22.639 --> 00:38:24.360
let's just go through these concepts. Here.

714
00:38:25.840 --> 00:38:29.400
He says in Isaiah forty three eighteen, remember you not

715
00:38:29.840 --> 00:38:34.519
the former things, neither consider the things of all. So

716
00:38:34.599 --> 00:38:38.119
he's talking about the past, and he starts off the

717
00:38:38.119 --> 00:38:40.840
first half of that by saying, remember you not the

718
00:38:40.880 --> 00:38:45.360
former things. There's some things we just need to forget

719
00:38:45.400 --> 00:38:47.599
that has happened in the past. You just need to

720
00:38:47.639 --> 00:38:50.480
forget it because if you don't forget.

721
00:38:50.159 --> 00:38:52.599
It, it will.

722
00:38:52.079 --> 00:38:55.800
Bind you instead of you getting it behind you and

723
00:38:55.840 --> 00:38:58.159
you need to put it behind you instead of letting

724
00:38:58.199 --> 00:38:59.119
it bind.

725
00:38:58.840 --> 00:39:00.639
You as you go into new year.

726
00:39:01.159 --> 00:39:03.239
And if you don't get rid of it, this is

727
00:39:03.280 --> 00:39:06.840
what will happen. You'll get misery. There'll be a misery

728
00:39:06.920 --> 00:39:09.559
from the past. As you go over those things in

729
00:39:09.639 --> 00:39:12.440
your mind time and time again. All it will do

730
00:39:12.960 --> 00:39:15.639
is they'll just make it. It'll just make it bigger, it'll

731
00:39:15.639 --> 00:39:17.599
make it heavier, and it'll lay on.

732
00:39:17.599 --> 00:39:18.440
You even more.

733
00:39:18.800 --> 00:39:21.480
So there's some things you just need, and I mean,

734
00:39:21.679 --> 00:39:25.280
enough is enough. It's been over for thirty or forty

735
00:39:25.320 --> 00:39:28.199
and there's people here today that right now they've got

736
00:39:28.320 --> 00:39:32.360
grudges that they've held for forty and fifty years.

737
00:39:32.480 --> 00:39:33.199
Get over it.

738
00:39:37.039 --> 00:39:40.079
I know a preacher friend down in the mountains of

739
00:39:40.159 --> 00:39:44.039
North Carolina, and he gives a little little stration. I've

740
00:39:44.039 --> 00:39:46.920
heard him give it when he preach. Preaches. He talks

741
00:39:46.960 --> 00:39:49.280
about when he was a boy, him and the boys

742
00:39:49.280 --> 00:39:51.400
that he grew up with, they were out in the country.

743
00:39:51.440 --> 00:39:52.599
There wasn't a lot to do.

744
00:39:53.000 --> 00:39:56.320
Bear this in mind, But one day they're out trying

745
00:39:56.360 --> 00:39:58.639
to find something to do, and they come up on

746
00:39:58.719 --> 00:40:02.639
a dead rooster in the barnyard. So one of them

747
00:40:02.679 --> 00:40:05.800
gets the bright idea. I know what we'll do. We'll

748
00:40:05.800 --> 00:40:09.280
have a funeral for the rooster. So they tapped one

749
00:40:09.320 --> 00:40:10.920
of them to be the preacher and want them to

750
00:40:10.960 --> 00:40:14.519
be the senor, and they taped others to give a

751
00:40:14.599 --> 00:40:17.679
yula gin, and they had a little service for the rooster.

752
00:40:18.159 --> 00:40:20.679
Had the service for the rooster. They preached, they sang,

753
00:40:20.760 --> 00:40:24.119
they shouted, and they buried the rooster. Next day, they

754
00:40:24.119 --> 00:40:26.199
didn't have anything to do, and they said, hey, let's

755
00:40:26.199 --> 00:40:28.519
dig up that rooster and have another service.

756
00:40:29.199 --> 00:40:31.519
And they did so.

757
00:40:31.599 --> 00:40:34.159
Two or three days later, they said, hey, let's dig

758
00:40:34.320 --> 00:40:38.800
up that rooster, and they did. On about the seventh

759
00:40:38.880 --> 00:40:42.239
day when they said, hey, let's dig up that rooster,

760
00:40:42.599 --> 00:40:45.480
one of them spoke up and said, it stinks too much.

761
00:40:45.599 --> 00:40:46.760
Let's just leave it buried.

762
00:40:51.159 --> 00:40:55.039
Some things, it'll only smell worse as you dig it up.

763
00:40:55.559 --> 00:40:57.639
The best thing you can do is bury it and

764
00:40:57.719 --> 00:40:58.559
put it behind you.

765
00:40:58.920 --> 00:41:05.719
Because okay, see now this all right, this is where

766
00:41:05.760 --> 00:41:08.719
I struggle. All Right, these are some great I mean,

767
00:41:08.719 --> 00:41:11.239
he's making some in I mean, that's a great illustration.

768
00:41:11.440 --> 00:41:12.960
Hey, it stinks.

769
00:41:13.400 --> 00:41:15.679
Some things just need to be buried and not brought

770
00:41:15.719 --> 00:41:18.840
back up and just move on. Okay, there are good

771
00:41:18.960 --> 00:41:24.280
principles here. Some of these is like almost basic psychological points,

772
00:41:24.280 --> 00:41:27.519
some good self help, you know, tips how to go

773
00:41:27.559 --> 00:41:29.400
into a new year. Some things you just need to

774
00:41:29.400 --> 00:41:31.719
forget and move on. You just gotta let it be

775
00:41:31.840 --> 00:41:36.480
and move on. Okay, that's some good advice. The issue

776
00:41:36.559 --> 00:41:39.320
is do we take this from Isaiah forty three eighteen.

777
00:41:39.639 --> 00:41:43.639
Is Isaiah forty three eighteen designed and ridden and given

778
00:41:43.679 --> 00:41:46.920
by inspiration so that we can have some tips and

779
00:41:46.960 --> 00:41:47.360
how to.

780
00:41:47.280 --> 00:41:48.239
Move into the new year.

781
00:41:48.360 --> 00:41:52.360
You could give these basic points about hey, let's we're

782
00:41:52.400 --> 00:41:56.599
going into a new year. Here's some basic principles. But see,

783
00:41:56.639 --> 00:42:00.920
because as a church, we always have to have a scripture,

784
00:42:01.159 --> 00:42:03.280
even if we're utilizing the text of scripture in a

785
00:42:03.320 --> 00:42:05.639
way that has nothing to do with this, Isaiah forty

786
00:42:05.639 --> 00:42:07.559
three is not designed to have anything to do.

787
00:42:07.559 --> 00:42:08.360
With what he's saying.

788
00:42:08.519 --> 00:42:11.559
These points are good. I may go back and write

789
00:42:11.599 --> 00:42:13.800
down some of these points. These are some good points

790
00:42:13.800 --> 00:42:16.480
to remember going into a new year. There are some

791
00:42:16.639 --> 00:42:20.039
things we just need to forget and let them be

792
00:42:20.480 --> 00:42:23.639
and get over it and move on. Sometimes we just

793
00:42:23.840 --> 00:42:27.159
need to move forward because some things just keep holding

794
00:42:27.239 --> 00:42:30.639
us and pulling us back, and you you sometimes just need.

795
00:42:30.480 --> 00:42:35.960
To break free and just move on. I man, I am.

796
00:42:36.119 --> 00:42:38.280
I think that's a great principle.

797
00:42:38.480 --> 00:42:41.239
See what can happen in preaching is we can hear

798
00:42:41.320 --> 00:42:45.519
great points and say it was a great sermon, but

799
00:42:45.599 --> 00:42:48.320
we never think about what just happened to the text of.

800
00:42:48.280 --> 00:42:50.159
Scripture that was utilized.

801
00:42:50.840 --> 00:42:53.119
So let's do a little work here briefly on Isaiah

802
00:42:53.119 --> 00:42:54.960
forty three eighteen through nineteen. I'm going to read it

803
00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:57.920
from a different translation. Remember not the former things, nor

804
00:42:57.960 --> 00:43:00.719
consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a

805
00:43:00.760 --> 00:43:03.960
new thing. Now it springs, and now it springs forth.

806
00:43:04.239 --> 00:43:06.559
Do you not perceive it? I will make a way

807
00:43:06.559 --> 00:43:09.559
in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Now here's

808
00:43:09.559 --> 00:43:13.559
the textual context Isaiah forty three. This chapter is addressed

809
00:43:13.599 --> 00:43:14.559
to Israel.

810
00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:18.559
In the context of their Babylonian exile.

811
00:43:18.880 --> 00:43:22.760
It focuses on God's redemptive work and his faithfulness to

812
00:43:22.800 --> 00:43:28.800
restore Israel despite their unfaithfulness. A versus leading up to

813
00:43:29.280 --> 00:43:32.519
verses eighteen and nineteen we have Isaiah forty three one

814
00:43:32.559 --> 00:43:35.960
through seven. God reminds Israel of his covenantal love and

815
00:43:36.039 --> 00:43:37.679
promises to redeem them.

816
00:43:37.679 --> 00:43:39.239
If you go back to Isaiah forty three.

817
00:43:39.639 --> 00:43:44.719
But now, thus says the Lord who created you, Oh Jacob,

818
00:43:44.760 --> 00:43:47.000
do you see Isaiah forty three, Verse one, I'm reading

819
00:43:47.000 --> 00:43:47.920
from the new King James.

820
00:43:47.960 --> 00:43:48.199
There.

821
00:43:48.559 --> 00:43:51.480
Look, But now, thus says the Lord who created you,

822
00:43:51.880 --> 00:43:54.559
Oh Jacob. This is not about you. This is not

823
00:43:54.599 --> 00:43:57.000
about you going into a new year. This is about

824
00:43:57.079 --> 00:44:02.000
Jacob and he formed you. Oh, Oh Israel, fear not,

825
00:44:02.239 --> 00:44:05.039
for I have redeemed you. I have called you by

826
00:44:05.119 --> 00:44:08.039
your name, your mind. When you pass through the waters,

827
00:44:08.119 --> 00:44:10.360
I will be with you, and through the rivers they

828
00:44:10.360 --> 00:44:13.519
shall not overflow you. I know. Pilgrim's progress takes this

829
00:44:13.599 --> 00:44:16.920
passage and again once again turns it into some allegory

830
00:44:17.000 --> 00:44:22.039
or metaphor. This is about Israel. Everything here is about

831
00:44:22.119 --> 00:44:27.679
Israel and his covenantal relationship with them. All right, So

832
00:44:27.760 --> 00:44:30.199
Isaiah forty three one through seven, God reminds Israel of

833
00:44:30.239 --> 00:44:34.320
his covenantal love. Isaiah forty three, sixteen through seventeen references

834
00:44:34.360 --> 00:44:37.719
to Exodus, a past example of God's deliverance, parting the

835
00:44:37.760 --> 00:44:42.800
sea and defeating Egypt. Right now, this leads to the basically,

836
00:44:43.000 --> 00:44:44.880
you can see what the verses leading up to it.

837
00:44:44.960 --> 00:44:46.000
Now the flow of thought.

838
00:44:46.320 --> 00:44:49.119
Verse eighteen calls Israel to shift their focus from past

839
00:44:49.280 --> 00:44:52.760
acts of deliverance like the Exodus, to anticipate a new

840
00:44:52.800 --> 00:44:53.679
act of redemption.

841
00:44:54.440 --> 00:44:57.079
Now, what he tried to say is no, no, no, no.

842
00:44:57.199 --> 00:45:00.599
In verse seventeen, when it talks about those past things,

843
00:45:00.639 --> 00:45:03.440
there's some things you should remember and some things you

844
00:45:03.480 --> 00:45:07.760
should forget that according to some Now again we can

845
00:45:07.800 --> 00:45:08.280
get into a.

846
00:45:08.199 --> 00:45:09.480
Whole hermonutical argument.

847
00:45:09.800 --> 00:45:13.239
When he gets into verse eighteen and Isaiah forty three,

848
00:45:13.960 --> 00:45:17.320
he says, do not remember the former things? Is he saying,

849
00:45:18.760 --> 00:45:21.320
how do we understand the difference between seventeen and eighteen?

850
00:45:21.360 --> 00:45:23.119
Because at seventeen he says.

851
00:45:22.920 --> 00:45:25.719
Who brings forth the chariot and Horace, the army and

852
00:45:25.760 --> 00:45:28.639
the power? They shall lie down together. They shall not rise.

853
00:45:28.840 --> 00:45:29.800
They are extinguished.

854
00:45:29.800 --> 00:45:32.360
They are quenched like a wig. Do not remember the

855
00:45:32.400 --> 00:45:33.119
former things?

856
00:45:33.400 --> 00:45:36.079
Oh the way the sermon handled it is, hey don't no,

857
00:45:36.199 --> 00:45:39.159
don't remember bad things, but do remember the good things.

858
00:45:39.480 --> 00:45:41.639
Maybe the text what God is saying, hey, no, no, no, no,

859
00:45:41.679 --> 00:45:46.000
forget the past deliverance, forget that, forget the exodus, because

860
00:45:46.079 --> 00:45:48.440
I want you to turn your focus not to going

861
00:45:48.519 --> 00:45:52.079
well in the back in the good old days, God

862
00:45:52.119 --> 00:45:55.679
delivered our forefathers, oh, I remember the stories of how God.

863
00:45:55.960 --> 00:45:57.360
No, no, stop worrying about what.

864
00:45:57.320 --> 00:45:59.880
God did in the past, look now to the future,

865
00:46:00.039 --> 00:46:03.079
because God is going to do something now in the future.

866
00:46:03.159 --> 00:46:05.440
And that new thing that he's about to do.

867
00:46:05.599 --> 00:46:08.760
Is he's going to bring them out of Babylonian captivity,

868
00:46:09.039 --> 00:46:10.800
bring them back into the land. They're going to be

869
00:46:10.840 --> 00:46:13.760
able to rebuild the Temple and rebuild Jerusalem.

870
00:46:13.960 --> 00:46:15.440
That's what it's about.

871
00:46:16.559 --> 00:46:18.920
So even the way he handled that, he just because

872
00:46:18.960 --> 00:46:20.960
see he didn't really dig what He's not dealing with

873
00:46:21.000 --> 00:46:21.519
the text.

874
00:46:22.000 --> 00:46:23.840
He just has these little points.

875
00:46:23.480 --> 00:46:25.800
He wants to make to give you some self help

876
00:46:25.880 --> 00:46:28.119
points and how to handle the new year.

877
00:46:28.239 --> 00:46:29.559
But this is not what it's about.

878
00:46:29.760 --> 00:46:33.320
It's Israel forever forget everything now say wait, wait, we

879
00:46:33.360 --> 00:46:35.800
got to be careful. See that doesn't work because we're

880
00:46:35.840 --> 00:46:37.719
gonna say no, we need to remember the good things

881
00:46:37.800 --> 00:46:39.840
God has done for us. But the text here in

882
00:46:39.880 --> 00:46:43.360
this context is no, no, you even forget that. Stop

883
00:46:43.679 --> 00:46:46.000
looking backwards, look forward.

884
00:46:46.840 --> 00:46:49.719
That's the flow of thought.

885
00:46:50.719 --> 00:46:53.079
God is calling Israel to shift their focus from past

886
00:46:53.119 --> 00:46:56.519
acts of deliverance, even the exodus. Stop looking back at

887
00:46:56.519 --> 00:46:59.920
that to anticipate a new act of Redemption. Verse Night

888
00:47:00.280 --> 00:47:03.320
promises a new kind of deliverance, symbolized by making a

889
00:47:03.360 --> 00:47:05.679
way in the wilderness, and a river in the wilderness,

890
00:47:06.119 --> 00:47:07.320
and a river in the desert.

891
00:47:07.360 --> 00:47:09.440
Now I'm making away in the wilderness.

892
00:47:10.800 --> 00:47:15.440
That goes back to Isaiah chapter forty, which we've been studying,

893
00:47:16.679 --> 00:47:19.719
because in Isaiah chapter forty, the voice of the voice

894
00:47:19.760 --> 00:47:21.840
of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of

895
00:47:21.880 --> 00:47:25.800
the Lord makes straight in the desert, a highway for

896
00:47:25.920 --> 00:47:26.599
our God.

897
00:47:27.679 --> 00:47:28.719
God's going to And.

898
00:47:28.679 --> 00:47:30.440
Then then you go back to then you go to Isaiah

899
00:47:30.480 --> 00:47:34.559
forty three eighteen. Then do not remember the former things, nor.

900
00:47:34.480 --> 00:47:35.079
Consider they all.

901
00:47:35.119 --> 00:47:38.079
Behold, I will do a new thing now that she'll

902
00:47:38.119 --> 00:47:42.280
spring forth. I will even make a road in the wilderness.

903
00:47:42.519 --> 00:47:45.000
So it's the same it's the same thing being talked

904
00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:47.639
about in Isaiah forty is in Isaiah forty three, he

905
00:47:47.760 --> 00:47:50.199
is telling them even though you're in the wilderness, and

906
00:47:50.239 --> 00:47:52.519
we talked about we talked about it in our study

907
00:47:52.519 --> 00:47:55.719
of Isaiah forty. Basically, it's very much a wilderness from

908
00:47:55.800 --> 00:47:59.760
Babylon going back to Jerusalem that they would have to

909
00:47:59.800 --> 00:48:02.199
go through the wilderness. God is going to have to,

910
00:48:02.199 --> 00:48:04.719
in a sense make a road to bring them through

911
00:48:04.760 --> 00:48:06.760
that back to Jerusalem.

912
00:48:08.320 --> 00:48:11.159
That's what this text is about, all right.

913
00:48:12.639 --> 00:48:15.280
Weighs it away in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

914
00:48:15.440 --> 00:48:19.280
These are metaphors of God's ability to overcome insurmountable obstacles,

915
00:48:19.639 --> 00:48:23.079
return the return from exile through the wilderness, and provide

916
00:48:23.239 --> 00:48:27.119
for his people. These are all the things that are

917
00:48:27.199 --> 00:48:29.239
happening right here in this text.

918
00:48:29.280 --> 00:48:29.639
All right.

919
00:48:32.719 --> 00:48:35.840
And yeah, I've got notes and notes and notes here.

920
00:48:35.880 --> 00:48:38.760
We can look at now the historical context. I'm skipping

921
00:48:38.880 --> 00:48:42.639
around original audience. We know the original audience. The audience

922
00:48:42.719 --> 00:48:45.199
is Israel and exile living in Babylon and longing for

923
00:48:45.280 --> 00:48:49.559
restoration to their homeland, immediate historical fulfillment. The new thing

924
00:48:49.639 --> 00:48:52.679
refers to the return from Babylon and God's providential care

925
00:48:52.800 --> 00:48:55.480
during the journey, just as he provided for Israel during

926
00:48:55.559 --> 00:48:56.320
the exodus.

927
00:48:56.599 --> 00:48:58.599
It this demonstrates God's sovereignty.

928
00:48:58.719 --> 00:49:04.760
It demonstrates his covenant told faithfulness. That's what that's what

929
00:49:04.800 --> 00:49:09.519
this is about. But but this is turning into hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,

930
00:49:09.760 --> 00:49:12.079
you get ready to go into new year. Forget forget

931
00:49:12.119 --> 00:49:15.159
those things this has this has nothing to do with

932
00:49:17.639 --> 00:49:19.360
all right, let's just see what he's going to do here.

933
00:49:19.400 --> 00:49:22.920
Let's see what he's going to do here, because if

934
00:49:22.960 --> 00:49:25.039
you if you make an argument, well at least eighteen

935
00:49:25.079 --> 00:49:27.000
there's a principle that we could we could talk about

936
00:49:27.000 --> 00:49:30.440
how we need to forget some things. Okay, maybe what

937
00:49:30.519 --> 00:49:32.079
is he going to do about behold that will do

938
00:49:32.119 --> 00:49:34.760
a new thing? Because that's where it's going to get

939
00:49:34.800 --> 00:49:37.920
really dangerous if he makes that applicable to us, right,

940
00:49:38.199 --> 00:49:39.360
that could get really dangerous.

941
00:49:39.440 --> 00:49:40.599
Let's see what he's going to do here.

942
00:49:42.239 --> 00:49:46.159
Calls it's just it's just the misery that it calls.

943
00:49:46.320 --> 00:49:50.159
It's not hurting anybody but you. That's all that it's hurting.

944
00:49:50.400 --> 00:49:54.000
It doesn't cure anything, it doesn't fix anything. It doesn't

945
00:49:54.039 --> 00:49:57.119
make anything right that needs to be made right. The

946
00:49:57.199 --> 00:50:00.559
sooner you accepted, they're not going to say I'm sorry.

947
00:50:00.639 --> 00:50:03.719
They will buy you a gift before they say I'm sorry.

948
00:50:03.920 --> 00:50:06.440
They're not going to do it because they're never wrong.

949
00:50:08.960 --> 00:50:11.760
So it binds you to the misery, and it also

950
00:50:11.920 --> 00:50:16.880
binds you to the state of just recapturing that over

951
00:50:16.920 --> 00:50:17.719
and over again.

952
00:50:17.960 --> 00:50:19.679
He starts by the misery.

953
00:50:19.719 --> 00:50:22.360
He said, if you remember the former things, it'll bring

954
00:50:22.400 --> 00:50:25.480
you misery. But he said, neither consider the things of old.

955
00:50:25.679 --> 00:50:28.719
In other words, don't go back and just bring it

956
00:50:28.800 --> 00:50:31.800
back up like a photographic memory of it over and

957
00:50:31.840 --> 00:50:34.360
over again, because that won't take care of it. So

958
00:50:34.440 --> 00:50:37.719
he tells us first about the past, but then he

959
00:50:37.800 --> 00:50:40.519
tells us about the present. In the first half of

960
00:50:40.559 --> 00:50:44.199
the nineteenth verse, he said, behold, I will do a

961
00:50:44.280 --> 00:50:50.719
new thing. What's the next word? Now that's the present.

962
00:50:51.239 --> 00:50:55.159
Now it shall spring forth. You shall not know of it.

963
00:50:56.039 --> 00:50:59.159
So he's saying, I'm going to do something new for

964
00:50:59.280 --> 00:51:02.800
you this year. Would you like God to do something

965
00:51:02.880 --> 00:51:05.159
new for you? Would you like to see a new thing?

966
00:51:05.639 --> 00:51:07.719
And I know we look forward and we say, well,

967
00:51:07.760 --> 00:51:10.159
in this year we can see new things happen.

968
00:51:12.639 --> 00:51:17.119
Okay, now I just get ticked off. That has nothing

969
00:51:17.159 --> 00:51:18.840
to do with God doing a new thing for you.

970
00:51:19.079 --> 00:51:21.639
It's not a promise to you. It's not about you.

971
00:51:21.840 --> 00:51:24.960
It's not directed at you. And you telling people about

972
00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:26.920
God doing a new thing for you based off this

973
00:51:27.159 --> 00:51:33.000
verse is absolutely malpractice. It is absolutely ripping the scripture

974
00:51:33.119 --> 00:51:36.079
so far out of context it is not acceptable.

975
00:51:36.320 --> 00:51:37.199
Now I get see.

976
00:51:37.320 --> 00:51:39.159
Before I was like, okay, well, maybe I could try

977
00:51:39.159 --> 00:51:41.000
to find something to do with the way he's handling

978
00:51:41.000 --> 00:51:43.320
the verse eighteen, even though it has nothing to do

979
00:51:43.400 --> 00:51:43.760
with us.

980
00:51:43.880 --> 00:51:45.639
If you want to try to do something.

981
00:51:45.440 --> 00:51:48.360
But man alive, when you get to verse nineteen, he says,

982
00:51:48.440 --> 00:51:50.760
I will do a new thing, a new thing for them.

983
00:51:50.920 --> 00:51:53.679
And the new thing for them was their physical deliverance

984
00:51:53.679 --> 00:51:56.840
from Babylonian captivity. That's not a promise for you, has

985
00:51:57.000 --> 00:51:58.239
nothing to do with you.

986
00:51:57.880 --> 00:52:04.119
You cannot take that and use it. Now.

987
00:52:04.119 --> 00:52:08.199
You give people some hope, some expectation that's not based

988
00:52:08.199 --> 00:52:11.760
off anything other than your mishandling of the Word of God.

989
00:52:12.239 --> 00:52:13.920
And here's what's interesting, I.

990
00:52:13.840 --> 00:52:16.400
Asked, I asked Ai, what are some of the ways

991
00:52:16.480 --> 00:52:19.320
people misuse Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen?

992
00:52:19.360 --> 00:52:20.679
Are you ready? Here we go.

993
00:52:20.800 --> 00:52:24.440
Here's the number one thing pastors do to Isaiah forty

994
00:52:24.480 --> 00:52:29.639
three eighteen through nineteen. According to Ai, they over spiritualize

995
00:52:30.119 --> 00:52:36.039
and individualize the text. They apply a new thing to

996
00:52:36.360 --> 00:52:43.079
personal resolutions, life changes, our general optimism about the future.

997
00:52:43.679 --> 00:52:46.840
The text is about God's redemptive work for Israel, and

998
00:52:46.880 --> 00:52:53.519
as covenental promises, not about individual self improvement or motivation.

999
00:52:54.239 --> 00:52:58.119
Even Ai knows that text is not for us.

1000
00:52:58.400 --> 00:53:01.119
How in the world can AI, I do a better

1001
00:53:01.239 --> 00:53:05.440
job than humans when it comes to the Word of God. Well,

1002
00:53:05.639 --> 00:53:08.199
I think there's a lot of reasons because AI is

1003
00:53:08.239 --> 00:53:11.039
not worried about who it offends, who it ticks off.

1004
00:53:11.199 --> 00:53:13.960
It's not worried about preaching a sermon. It's worried just

1005
00:53:14.000 --> 00:53:16.480
about like, how do we understand the text based off

1006
00:53:16.480 --> 00:53:18.679
the words that are used and based off the historical

1007
00:53:18.719 --> 00:53:25.719
context which is known. This is why I cannot stand sermons.

1008
00:53:27.800 --> 00:53:30.159
On one hand, let me make let me let me clarify.

1009
00:53:30.360 --> 00:53:32.480
On one hand, I love sermons because I like to

1010
00:53:32.519 --> 00:53:34.480
listen to them, so then it gets me into the

1011
00:53:34.519 --> 00:53:36.840
text and I have to take it apart and dissect

1012
00:53:36.840 --> 00:53:37.599
the text.

1013
00:53:37.400 --> 00:53:39.199
And work work work, work, work, work work.

1014
00:53:39.440 --> 00:53:43.000
But I get frustrated that sermons do such a damage

1015
00:53:43.000 --> 00:53:45.559
of keeping people a million miles away from the text.

1016
00:53:45.679 --> 00:53:47.920
These people walked in on New Year's Eve to hear

1017
00:53:47.920 --> 00:53:50.559
a sermon on Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen. They're

1018
00:53:50.559 --> 00:53:52.480
gonna leave and guess what, They're not going to know

1019
00:53:52.920 --> 00:53:54.280
nothing about Isaiah.

1020
00:53:54.000 --> 00:53:55.760
Forty three eight through eighteen through nineteen.

1021
00:53:56.000 --> 00:53:58.760
This sermon moved them further and further away from the

1022
00:53:58.840 --> 00:54:02.159
actual text to get give them basically a self help

1023
00:54:02.239 --> 00:54:05.000
program on how to go into a new year using

1024
00:54:05.119 --> 00:54:09.239
some basic pop psychology concepts. And I know the pastors say, no,

1025
00:54:09.280 --> 00:54:11.199
it comes from the word of God. The word of

1026
00:54:11.199 --> 00:54:14.159
God has nothing to do with what you're talking about

1027
00:54:14.280 --> 00:54:17.840
based off the text that you're utilizing. I knew the

1028
00:54:17.920 --> 00:54:20.239
New Thing was where things are gonna I knew this

1029
00:54:20.280 --> 00:54:22.639
is where things were gonna go all wacky.

1030
00:54:23.440 --> 00:54:25.159
Let's hope. He corrects.

1031
00:54:25.400 --> 00:54:28.440
He takes a hard pivot and goes back into a

1032
00:54:28.519 --> 00:54:33.079
more a better concept here, let's see.

1033
00:54:35.159 --> 00:54:37.320
But the truth of the matter is the New Thing

1034
00:54:37.400 --> 00:54:38.719
could happen right now.

1035
00:54:40.920 --> 00:54:42.840
So he's saying, in the present.

1036
00:54:42.920 --> 00:54:46.599
You've got all of these wonderful things that God's wanting

1037
00:54:46.639 --> 00:54:50.000
to do right before you. Now could be the time

1038
00:54:50.280 --> 00:54:53.280
that it springs forth, that Heaven could touch it and

1039
00:54:53.400 --> 00:54:56.960
everything change right now in a moment of time, and

1040
00:54:56.960 --> 00:54:59.800
it could all turn around for God's glory.

1041
00:55:00.079 --> 00:55:04.559
Now he deals with the present.

1042
00:55:06.400 --> 00:55:12.239
What are the people amening for them?

1043
00:55:12.800 --> 00:55:13.239
Now?

1044
00:55:13.400 --> 00:55:16.679
It's a spring fort Isaiah forty through fifty five, the

1045
00:55:16.719 --> 00:55:19.719
Book of Comfort. He's comfort, He's giving comfort to people

1046
00:55:19.760 --> 00:55:22.960
and babyloney captivity, letting them know it has come to

1047
00:55:23.039 --> 00:55:25.480
an end. Your captivity has come to an end, and

1048
00:55:25.519 --> 00:55:28.440
this man by the name of Cyrus is going to

1049
00:55:28.480 --> 00:55:32.119
decree your release, and he's going to release you back.

1050
00:55:33.559 --> 00:55:37.480
We talked about all of this in Isaiah chapter forty.

1051
00:55:37.519 --> 00:55:39.320
This is why we are spending so much time in

1052
00:55:39.400 --> 00:55:42.400
Isaiah forty through fifty five because I do not know

1053
00:55:42.519 --> 00:55:46.320
now I've lost count on the number of sermons that

1054
00:55:47.039 --> 00:55:49.119
I've yet to find a sermon that even tries to

1055
00:55:49.159 --> 00:55:52.960
handle this text in anything close to what it actually

1056
00:55:53.079 --> 00:55:56.280
is about.

1057
00:55:56.639 --> 00:56:01.039
So in your present, you've got to get rid of

1058
00:56:01.079 --> 00:56:03.320
your past to have a present. As all as you say,

1059
00:56:03.559 --> 00:56:05.920
stuck in the past, you can't have a present.

1060
00:56:08.079 --> 00:56:11.960
Okay, these people are going to be released from captivity

1061
00:56:12.239 --> 00:56:15.400
no matter what if they continue to remember what.

1062
00:56:15.480 --> 00:56:15.960
Is he saying?

1063
00:56:16.000 --> 00:56:18.079
You can't have a present if you stuck in the past.

1064
00:56:18.159 --> 00:56:19.840
There's nothing to do with this text.

1065
00:56:20.280 --> 00:56:22.639
This text is like, hey, guys, if you don't forget

1066
00:56:22.639 --> 00:56:25.719
the past, you can't have a present. No, It's like, hey,

1067
00:56:25.880 --> 00:56:28.559
it's time to change your focus because something is going

1068
00:56:28.599 --> 00:56:31.039
to happen. It's going to happen no matter what they do.

1069
00:56:31.239 --> 00:56:34.079
It doesn't matter how they respond to it doesn't matter.

1070
00:56:34.159 --> 00:56:37.119
It's going to happen because God made a promise that

1071
00:56:37.159 --> 00:56:39.440
it was going to happen. It's going to happen not

1072
00:56:39.440 --> 00:56:43.239
because of Israel's faithfulness and faithfulness, but because of God's

1073
00:56:43.239 --> 00:56:44.800
faithfulness to his covenant.

1074
00:56:44.960 --> 00:56:46.119
That's the whole point.

1075
00:56:46.239 --> 00:56:48.679
It's going to happen no matter what they do, no

1076
00:56:48.719 --> 00:56:49.920
matter how they respond.

1077
00:56:50.159 --> 00:56:51.760
This is not like, hey, guys, if.

1078
00:56:51.599 --> 00:56:53.679
You don't do this, you don't get this, how are

1079
00:56:53.679 --> 00:56:55.800
you going to turn it into some like you can't

1080
00:56:55.840 --> 00:56:57.800
have a present unless you forget the past.

1081
00:56:57.880 --> 00:56:59.920
Well, you can go to some pop psychology.

1082
00:57:00.119 --> 00:57:02.800
Has nothing to do with Isaiah forty three, eighteenth through nineteen,

1083
00:57:03.159 --> 00:57:04.039
not a thing.

1084
00:57:07.400 --> 00:57:09.639
But if you want a present, you've got to get rid.

1085
00:57:09.559 --> 00:57:11.960
Of the past. But he does more than that.

1086
00:57:12.360 --> 00:57:15.119
Look at the end of that nineteenth verse, he winds

1087
00:57:15.199 --> 00:57:17.639
up by saying, I will even make a way in

1088
00:57:17.719 --> 00:57:20.480
the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

1089
00:57:21.480 --> 00:57:22.920
So he not only tells.

1090
00:57:22.679 --> 00:57:25.480
Us about the past, and he not only tells us

1091
00:57:25.920 --> 00:57:29.679
about the present, but he tells us about the possibilities

1092
00:57:30.400 --> 00:57:33.119
that should bless us. When we think about what is

1093
00:57:33.320 --> 00:57:34.719
possible with God.

1094
00:57:37.320 --> 00:57:40.280
God is not talking about some possibility for you. He's

1095
00:57:40.320 --> 00:57:43.320
not even talking about a possibility for them. He's telling

1096
00:57:43.360 --> 00:57:47.039
them what he is going to do because of his

1097
00:57:47.280 --> 00:57:50.119
sovereignty and because of the covenant he made with Israel.

1098
00:57:50.199 --> 00:57:54.039
This is not about some theoretical possibility. It's about an

1099
00:57:54.199 --> 00:57:56.559
actuality that God is going to bring about.

1100
00:57:56.639 --> 00:58:00.119
And it has not a thing to do with you.

1101
00:58:03.280 --> 00:58:06.400
What possibilities are that He said, one thing is I'll

1102
00:58:06.440 --> 00:58:11.920
make a way God can make away. When you see,

1103
00:58:11.960 --> 00:58:15.800
there is no way God can make away. God has

1104
00:58:15.840 --> 00:58:18.159
a way of opening doors that won't open.

1105
00:58:20.559 --> 00:58:24.519
Oh, in the name of all that is good.

1106
00:58:24.760 --> 00:58:28.199
Okay that now you're telling people, hey, when you go

1107
00:58:28.280 --> 00:58:30.519
into the new year, if you need a way God's

1108
00:58:30.559 --> 00:58:33.039
gonna make away. You're making a promise that God's going

1109
00:58:33.079 --> 00:58:35.199
to make away, and you're making a promise based off

1110
00:58:35.199 --> 00:58:38.079
a text that is not promising those people anything. You're

1111
00:58:38.079 --> 00:58:42.000
providing false promise, false comfort to people, because someone's gonna

1112
00:58:42.000 --> 00:58:43.920
go into the new year and they're gonna find themselves.

1113
00:58:43.960 --> 00:58:46.039
There could be some person sitting there in that building

1114
00:58:46.119 --> 00:58:49.119
right there, good listening, some person who may be listening online,

1115
00:58:49.199 --> 00:58:51.079
who knows what situation they're in. They could be in

1116
00:58:51.079 --> 00:58:53.159
a situation where they're being molested. They could be in

1117
00:58:53.199 --> 00:58:55.000
a situation where they're being beat. They could be in

1118
00:58:55.000 --> 00:58:58.000
a situation whether they're dying of cancer. Oh, God's gonna

1119
00:58:58.000 --> 00:59:00.000
make away. You know what's gonna happen the next year.

1120
00:59:00.480 --> 00:59:02.840
Nothing's gonna get better. It could actually get worse. But

1121
00:59:02.880 --> 00:59:06.159
you're making some promise and giving people some optimism based

1122
00:59:06.159 --> 00:59:08.559
off a text that has nothing to do with anybody

1123
00:59:08.920 --> 00:59:11.880
other than the original recipients. Now, I'm not saying there

1124
00:59:11.920 --> 00:59:14.400
is an application, but you can't go and promise someone

1125
00:59:14.559 --> 00:59:17.079
that God's going to make a way. He's making a

1126
00:59:17.119 --> 00:59:20.519
way for them to come out of Babylonian captivity. How

1127
00:59:20.760 --> 00:59:24.079
dare you take that and then offer that comfort to

1128
00:59:24.199 --> 00:59:28.599
people facing whatever circumstance they're in, unless they're in Babylonian captivity,

1129
00:59:28.800 --> 00:59:31.960
unless they were a part of Judah and Babylonian captivity,

1130
00:59:32.119 --> 00:59:34.320
that promise is not for you.

1131
00:59:37.800 --> 00:59:40.800
He has a way of carving out roads that you

1132
00:59:40.840 --> 00:59:44.519
don't even know exists. He has a way of making

1133
00:59:44.599 --> 00:59:47.920
plans that you don't know it could even happen because

1134
00:59:48.000 --> 00:59:50.719
God can do it. Now, notice when he talks about

1135
00:59:50.760 --> 00:59:54.159
God making a way, he's saying this is a message

1136
00:59:54.199 --> 00:59:56.119
to you that God can.

1137
00:59:55.960 --> 00:59:57.719
Still perform miracles.

1138
01:00:00.000 --> 01:00:02.440
Am I the only one that gets weary of hearing

1139
01:00:02.480 --> 01:00:06.400
people say that God is not the same God today

1140
01:00:06.440 --> 01:00:09.840
that he was when Jesus was on this earth and

1141
01:00:09.920 --> 01:00:13.440
when the disciples and the apostles started the early Church.

1142
01:00:13.639 --> 01:00:14.760
It's not the same God.

1143
01:00:14.880 --> 01:00:15.039
Now.

1144
01:00:15.079 --> 01:00:17.559
All of that's changed. No, I tell you what's changed.

1145
01:00:17.639 --> 01:00:18.719
We have God.

1146
01:00:20.079 --> 01:00:26.840
Nobody says God has changed. Okay, God, oh man, God

1147
01:00:26.920 --> 01:00:31.800
is obvious. God doesn't change. How he may operate the

1148
01:00:32.320 --> 01:00:34.079
way he operates may change.

1149
01:00:34.119 --> 01:00:37.400
That's not a change in God. God is the same

1150
01:00:37.480 --> 01:00:39.480
God yesterday, today and forever.

1151
01:00:39.880 --> 01:00:43.119
But you cannot deny. He's not parting the Red Sea

1152
01:00:43.320 --> 01:00:48.920
and making food fall from heaven. It's a kind of glory.

1153
01:00:49.079 --> 01:00:54.119
Is not dwelling in a temple. We're not doing animal sacrifices.

1154
01:00:54.239 --> 01:00:57.519
There's been countless things that have changed. But God is

1155
01:00:57.559 --> 01:01:01.719
still the same God. Jesus is not walking the earth

1156
01:01:02.920 --> 01:01:04.159
in physical form.

1157
01:01:08.000 --> 01:01:08.760
What is any.

1158
01:01:11.599 --> 01:01:15.639
God hasn't changed. His power hasn't changed. He can do anything,

1159
01:01:15.960 --> 01:01:19.480
and the messages we serving God, that doesn't change.

1160
01:01:19.559 --> 01:01:24.239
He has the same power this morning honey had when

1161
01:01:24.280 --> 01:01:29.639
he created this earth. That's the message.

1162
01:01:30.400 --> 01:01:33.719
It can happen the possibilities that's in front of you

1163
01:01:34.519 --> 01:01:36.000
by being obedient to God.

1164
01:01:36.679 --> 01:01:43.239
Then oh my goodness, Hey, so God, there's possibilities that

1165
01:01:43.280 --> 01:01:46.159
God will do things with you if you are obedient

1166
01:01:46.239 --> 01:01:46.760
to God.

1167
01:01:47.320 --> 01:01:48.119
Well, then guess what.

1168
01:01:48.519 --> 01:01:50.400
Then God's not going to do any of that stuff

1169
01:01:50.440 --> 01:01:53.000
for you because you're never obedient to God. You go, yes,

1170
01:01:53.039 --> 01:01:55.639
I am No, You're in a perpetual state of disobedience.

1171
01:01:55.719 --> 01:01:56.840
Do I need to prove it to you?

1172
01:01:57.280 --> 01:01:57.800
Let me see.

1173
01:01:57.840 --> 01:01:59.920
The Bible says, be holy as He is holy. Wait,

1174
01:02:00.079 --> 01:02:01.960
You're never holy as God is holy. So you're in

1175
01:02:02.000 --> 01:02:05.400
a perpetual state of practical disobedience because you never fulfilled

1176
01:02:05.400 --> 01:02:08.000
that command. And Matthew and the Gospel and the Sermon

1177
01:02:08.039 --> 01:02:10.119
on the Mount and the Gospel of Matthew. Sermon on

1178
01:02:10.159 --> 01:02:12.320
the Mount, Jesus says, be perfect as your heavenly Father

1179
01:02:12.400 --> 01:02:12.800
is perfect.

1180
01:02:12.880 --> 01:02:13.719
You've never done that.

1181
01:02:13.840 --> 01:02:15.599
You never come close to doing that, So you're in

1182
01:02:15.639 --> 01:02:18.000
a perpetual state of disobedience. He says, to love God

1183
01:02:18.000 --> 01:02:19.239
with all your heart, mind, body, and soul.

1184
01:02:19.320 --> 01:02:19.920
You never do that.

1185
01:02:19.960 --> 01:02:22.199
You're in a perpetual state of disobedience. Love your neighbor

1186
01:02:22.199 --> 01:02:23.760
as yourself. You never pulled that off. You're in a

1187
01:02:23.800 --> 01:02:27.039
perpetual state of disobedience. Do all things without complaining and grumbling.

1188
01:02:27.119 --> 01:02:28.519
And I can go on and on and on and

1189
01:02:28.559 --> 01:02:30.480
on and on and on. Do not lie, do not deceive,

1190
01:02:30.559 --> 01:02:33.599
do not covid, do not lust, do not have bitterness,

1191
01:02:33.639 --> 01:02:35.840
do not at anger, do on and on and on

1192
01:02:35.880 --> 01:02:37.039
and on and on and on and on.

1193
01:02:37.239 --> 01:02:39.320
You are in a perpetual state of disobedience.

1194
01:02:39.360 --> 01:02:43.239
Because God's law demands perfection internally and externally and thought, word,

1195
01:02:43.280 --> 01:02:45.880
deed desire. You are in a perpetual state of disobedience.

1196
01:02:45.920 --> 01:02:47.440
So therefore, if God's power is not going to do

1197
01:02:47.440 --> 01:02:49.800
anything unless you're obedient, then you're in trouble. But guess

1198
01:02:49.840 --> 01:02:52.199
what God's power showed up for Israel even when they

1199
01:02:52.199 --> 01:02:53.000
were disobedient.

1200
01:02:53.079 --> 01:02:55.480
Because the whole message is God is faithful even when

1201
01:02:55.480 --> 01:03:00.519
his people are unfaithful. Man alife.

1202
01:03:04.719 --> 01:03:07.559
You see why the Isaiah forty through fifty five, I mean,

1203
01:03:07.559 --> 01:03:09.559
what a way to end this is?

1204
01:03:09.719 --> 01:03:15.280
This is so just all right, We'll just go a

1205
01:03:15.280 --> 01:03:16.559
couple of more minutes and we'll end.

1206
01:03:18.159 --> 01:03:21.440
Also, it's not only a matter of the way that

1207
01:03:21.519 --> 01:03:24.840
God can make away, but notice something else he can

1208
01:03:24.880 --> 01:03:28.599
do the miraculous in this sense, the last half of

1209
01:03:28.639 --> 01:03:34.280
that nineteenth verse, he makes away in the wilderness and

1210
01:03:34.400 --> 01:03:38.679
in the desert. It's one thing to make away, But

1211
01:03:38.800 --> 01:03:41.599
to make away in the wilderness, there's no supplies in

1212
01:03:41.639 --> 01:03:47.800
the wilderness. You don't have population. In the wilderness, you

1213
01:03:47.840 --> 01:03:51.000
don't have people, you don't have individuals that you can

1214
01:03:51.079 --> 01:03:54.760
turn to. God's making away at a place that it

1215
01:03:54.880 --> 01:03:58.000
seems like it's impossible for that to happen.

1216
01:03:58.559 --> 01:03:59.480
To have a.

1217
01:04:01.400 --> 01:04:04.119
In the wilderness, and in the desert, to have a river,

1218
01:04:04.599 --> 01:04:11.000
What an amazing God that we save. Anybody can find

1219
01:04:11.800 --> 01:04:15.800
water in the valley of plush lands where it rains frequently,

1220
01:04:17.159 --> 01:04:22.519
But to find a desert with a river running through it.

1221
01:04:23.960 --> 01:04:28.440
By the way, the desert doesn't stay a desert when

1222
01:04:28.480 --> 01:04:29.599
the river runs through it.

1223
01:04:34.119 --> 01:04:34.760
He's a God.

1224
01:04:36.760 --> 01:04:37.000
I mean.

1225
01:04:37.039 --> 01:04:40.199
The people love discerning the people love it. They're not

1226
01:04:40.280 --> 01:04:43.199
learning anything about Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen, not

1227
01:04:43.599 --> 01:04:45.199
one thing.

1228
01:04:45.760 --> 01:04:56.119
About the actual text. So I asked Ai, what are

1229
01:04:56.119 --> 01:04:56.760
some ways?

1230
01:04:56.920 --> 01:05:00.920
What are some ways that people miss use Isaiah forty

1231
01:05:00.960 --> 01:05:03.639
three eighteen through nineteen. The first one was over spiritualizing

1232
01:05:03.639 --> 01:05:07.840
and individualizing the text. You're hearing it a new thing

1233
01:05:08.440 --> 01:05:11.280
they miss They apply a new thing to a personal resolution,

1234
01:05:11.440 --> 01:05:14.559
life changes or general optimism about the future. The text

1235
01:05:14.559 --> 01:05:17.400
is about God's redemptive work for Israel and his covenantal promises,

1236
01:05:17.480 --> 01:05:21.639
not about individual self improvement or motivation. Another thing pastors do,

1237
01:05:21.679 --> 01:05:24.440
according to Ai, is they ignore the historical context.

1238
01:05:24.840 --> 01:05:26.719
They dispatch this passage.

1239
01:05:27.159 --> 01:05:31.079
They detach this passage from its historical setting and apply

1240
01:05:31.159 --> 01:05:34.000
it as a timeless principle about God always doing something new.

1241
01:05:34.159 --> 01:05:35.960
The new thing is specifically.

1242
01:05:35.400 --> 01:05:38.440
About Israel's return from exile and does not promise constant

1243
01:05:38.480 --> 01:05:39.880
novelty or change.

1244
01:05:39.559 --> 01:05:40.559
For believers today.

1245
01:05:41.119 --> 01:05:43.280
A third thing, they use it as a blank check

1246
01:05:43.320 --> 01:05:47.559
for optimism, Ai says, interpreting the text as a general

1247
01:05:47.559 --> 01:05:49.599
promise that God will do new things for everyone in

1248
01:05:49.639 --> 01:05:54.239
every situation. The focus is on God's specific redemptive plan,

1249
01:05:54.760 --> 01:05:57.599
not an assurance of perpetual new beginnings.

1250
01:05:58.159 --> 01:05:59.800
So they so a.

1251
01:06:00.079 --> 01:06:02.159
I goes on to say, here's some of the potential

1252
01:06:02.199 --> 01:06:05.480
pitfalls and a happy New Year's sermon based on Isaiah

1253
01:06:05.480 --> 01:06:08.800
forty three, eighteen through nineteen. If the sermon emphasizes vague

1254
01:06:08.800 --> 01:06:11.679
ideas like new beginnings or fresh starts without addressing the

1255
01:06:11.800 --> 01:06:17.480
historical context, it risks misrepresenting the text. Number two ignores Israel.

1256
01:06:17.599 --> 01:06:20.199
The passage is deeply rooted in God's covenant with Israel.

1257
01:06:20.320 --> 01:06:23.519
Applying it directly to a New Year's message without acknowledging

1258
01:06:23.519 --> 01:06:25.960
this focus erases the original meaning.

1259
01:06:27.320 --> 01:06:29.239
Prosperity or self help focus.

1260
01:06:29.400 --> 01:06:31.519
There's a danger of turning this passage into a feel

1261
01:06:31.559 --> 01:06:36.920
good promise about personal success or achievements, which disminishes its

1262
01:06:36.960 --> 01:06:43.559
pillological depth. AI called it almost like I asked, Ai,

1263
01:06:43.679 --> 01:06:46.440
what's the how do people misuse it? And it laid

1264
01:06:46.519 --> 01:06:49.199
out exactly how pastors misuse the text.

1265
01:06:49.320 --> 01:06:52.400
And this sermon is basically it.

1266
01:06:52.559 --> 01:06:55.199
Just like AI said, this is what pastors do, and

1267
01:06:55.239 --> 01:06:59.960
this sermon it did every single thing AI said pastors do.

1268
01:07:00.599 --> 01:07:08.280
And here's the thing. So, how valuable is church? How

1269
01:07:08.360 --> 01:07:12.440
valuable is church? People got dressed, they drove there, and

1270
01:07:12.480 --> 01:07:14.639
they went there. Now the people of it, the people

1271
01:07:14.679 --> 01:07:17.800
of it, because these are self help principles, these are

1272
01:07:17.840 --> 01:07:20.159
feel good principles. Oh, we're going into a new year.

1273
01:07:20.199 --> 01:07:22.559
God's gonna do a new thing. He can make away

1274
01:07:22.639 --> 01:07:24.880
in the wilderness, he can make a river in the desert.

1275
01:07:24.920 --> 01:07:25.599
He's gonna do.

1276
01:07:25.559 --> 01:07:27.519
This for me, and bid this for me, and all

1277
01:07:27.559 --> 01:07:33.320
these false, fake, fraudulent promises, creating a mirage that they're oh, look,

1278
01:07:33.519 --> 01:07:35.639
I know you're dying of thirst. Look look, look, look,

1279
01:07:35.639 --> 01:07:38.159
look look there's there's there's a there's a you know,

1280
01:07:38.400 --> 01:07:40.840
a stream there, there's water there.

1281
01:07:40.639 --> 01:07:42.440
And you run and you jump and.

1282
01:07:42.360 --> 01:07:45.400
You just find yourself faced in the dirt because it

1283
01:07:45.440 --> 01:07:46.159
was a mirage.

1284
01:07:46.239 --> 01:08:02.039
It was nothing there. It's it's an illusion, unbelievable.

1285
01:08:02.280 --> 01:08:06.599
So well, ladies and gentlemen, there you have it. We

1286
01:08:06.880 --> 01:08:11.840
end are sermons two point oh app sermon challenge with

1287
01:08:11.960 --> 01:08:17.720
another example of how sermons in many cases have caused

1288
01:08:17.880 --> 01:08:23.760
more problems and more damage to people understanding the scripture

1289
01:08:24.119 --> 01:08:27.800
than they have done good. And here is my justification

1290
01:08:27.920 --> 01:08:33.840
for this, my entire Christian life. What I have heard

1291
01:08:34.039 --> 01:08:37.239
over and over. I heard it in Bible college, i

1292
01:08:37.279 --> 01:08:40.880
heard it in seminary. I've seen it in research papers,

1293
01:08:41.800 --> 01:08:44.279
doctrinal thesis, you name it. I've seen it over and

1294
01:08:44.319 --> 01:08:46.039
over and over that we have a problem in the

1295
01:08:46.079 --> 01:08:49.880
American Church. People are biblically illiterate. People are theiologically illiterate.

1296
01:08:49.960 --> 01:08:51.960
We've got to fix this problem. We've got to fix

1297
01:08:52.000 --> 01:08:54.720
this problem. And with all the millions of sermons, we

1298
01:08:54.760 --> 01:08:58.760
have not fixed the problem. Because the sermon is the problem.

1299
01:08:58.960 --> 01:09:01.720
The sermon is the thing standing in the way. You

1300
01:09:01.840 --> 01:09:04.840
have the people on one side, you have understanding on

1301
01:09:04.880 --> 01:09:07.760
the other. And in between understanding and the people are

1302
01:09:07.840 --> 01:09:11.760
sermons which completely blind people to understanding because they can

1303
01:09:11.800 --> 01:09:13.479
never actually get to the text.

1304
01:09:13.640 --> 01:09:15.039
Because sermons are there.

1305
01:09:14.840 --> 01:09:19.279
To be well speeches and presentations and performances, and they're

1306
01:09:19.319 --> 01:09:21.760
there to give people feel good messages or whatever the

1307
01:09:21.760 --> 01:09:24.439
case may be, they don't actually get us to the

1308
01:09:24.560 --> 01:09:37.159
actual text. And that's unacceptable. The sermons structure needs to

1309
01:09:37.159 --> 01:09:40.920
be just demolished. It needs to be blown up, and

1310
01:09:40.960 --> 01:09:43.720
we need to put in its place. We come to church,

1311
01:09:43.880 --> 01:09:47.960
we bring Bibles and notebooks, and we dig into the text.

1312
01:09:48.119 --> 01:09:50.920
We don't care. We don't care if it agrees.

1313
01:09:50.600 --> 01:09:53.600
With this system of theology or this system of theology.

1314
01:09:53.680 --> 01:09:55.479
I don't care if it makes the reform people mad

1315
01:09:55.640 --> 01:09:58.199
the non reform. We don't care about teams. We're not

1316
01:09:58.239 --> 01:10:01.760
committed to any team, committed to anything other than the

1317
01:10:01.800 --> 01:10:02.840
text itself.

1318
01:10:03.079 --> 01:10:06.239
What is the text about? What is going on in

1319
01:10:06.319 --> 01:10:09.680
Isaiah forty three. Now I'm not saying there aren't principles

1320
01:10:09.720 --> 01:10:13.600
of application that could be brought to us, but you've

1321
01:10:13.640 --> 01:10:15.880
got to handle them in a very, very very very

1322
01:10:16.000 --> 01:10:17.920
very very careful way. But I'm not going to get

1323
01:10:17.920 --> 01:10:20.600
into the application because what you just heard is someone

1324
01:10:20.680 --> 01:10:24.039
completely misapply the entire text. So instead of focusing on

1325
01:10:24.079 --> 01:10:25.119
how it applies.

1326
01:10:24.760 --> 01:10:26.600
To us, we may need to go back to Isaiah

1327
01:10:26.600 --> 01:10:28.840
forty three and just try to think about the original

1328
01:10:28.840 --> 01:10:32.920
recipients and what it meant to them, because it's not

1329
01:10:33.600 --> 01:10:39.239
about us. The new thing was them being delivered from

1330
01:10:39.279 --> 01:10:42.840
Babylonian captivity. That is not a promise of God doing

1331
01:10:42.880 --> 01:10:46.119
a new thing in twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four,

1332
01:10:46.399 --> 01:10:50.159
twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six, twenty twenty seven, nineteen

1333
01:10:50.199 --> 01:10:53.880
eighty seven, nineteen ninety four, whatever year, some pastor misuses

1334
01:10:53.920 --> 01:11:05.720
the text. So, ladies and gentlemen, I hope your notebook

1335
01:11:05.760 --> 01:11:08.479
is full. I hope it's been a good year. I

1336
01:11:08.520 --> 01:11:10.960
hope you've learned a lot about hermeneutics. I hope you've

1337
01:11:11.000 --> 01:11:13.319
learned a lot about how to listen to sermons. I

1338
01:11:13.359 --> 01:11:16.239
hope you've had some great spiritual benefit from it. We

1339
01:11:16.279 --> 01:11:18.640
can have a long talk about how much spiritual benefit

1340
01:11:18.680 --> 01:11:20.680
has to has come from this.

1341
01:11:20.760 --> 01:11:21.800
I know this one thing.

1342
01:11:22.560 --> 01:11:25.239
Reviewing sermons has gotten me more into the text than

1343
01:11:25.279 --> 01:11:30.680
ever before, because well.

1344
01:11:28.560 --> 01:11:30.279
You see what just happened there. We had to go,

1345
01:11:30.439 --> 01:11:33.159
we had to look into the text.

1346
01:11:34.720 --> 01:11:37.439
Now we're going to cover Isaiah forty three, verse by

1347
01:11:37.520 --> 01:11:40.920
verse somewhere in twenty twenty five whenever we finish Isaiah

1348
01:11:41.079 --> 01:11:46.279
forty one and forty two, and trust me, it won't

1349
01:11:46.319 --> 01:11:48.159
sound anything like that.

1350
01:11:48.760 --> 01:11:49.600
Thanks for listening.

1351
01:11:49.880 --> 01:11:53.960
Everyone, have a wonderful new year, and we'll see what.

1352
01:11:54.159 --> 01:11:54.520
I don't know.

1353
01:11:54.840 --> 01:11:56.439
I don't know what we're going to do in twenty

1354
01:11:56.479 --> 01:11:59.119
twenty five. I don't know, but I know this. Have

1355
01:11:59.159 --> 01:12:02.000
the Sermons two point oh app on your.

1356
01:12:01.800 --> 01:12:03.720
Devices and utilize it.

1357
01:12:03.840 --> 01:12:07.079
Because even though that was a frustrating sermon, guess what

1358
01:12:07.399 --> 01:12:10.720
it caused us to do spend seventy two minutes considering

1359
01:12:10.760 --> 01:12:14.960
Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen. So see, I may

1360
01:12:15.000 --> 01:12:17.279
get frustrated by it, but I'm grateful that it's there.

1361
01:12:17.760 --> 01:12:19.399
I want that sermon to be there. I want that

1362
01:12:19.439 --> 01:12:20.960
sermon to be there for people. I want everyone to

1363
01:12:20.960 --> 01:12:23.560
go listen to that sermon because it should force you

1364
01:12:23.600 --> 01:12:26.600
to really spend time in Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen.

1365
01:12:26.880 --> 01:12:28.920
If you won't just allow.

1366
01:12:28.680 --> 01:12:30.880
The sermon to keep you from the text, if you'll

1367
01:12:30.880 --> 01:12:33.199
allow the sermon to drive you to the text, then

1368
01:12:33.239 --> 01:12:33.720
it's done it.

1369
01:12:34.239 --> 01:12:37.520
Who cares how it gets you there? So I'm glad

1370
01:12:37.560 --> 01:12:40.439
the sermon is there. I'm glad. I'm glad because it

1371
01:12:40.600 --> 01:12:43.199
just allowed us to do what we've just done. All right,

1372
01:12:43.239 --> 01:12:43.960
Thanks for listening.

1373
01:12:44.279 --> 01:12:47.399
Everyone, Have a great rest of your December, have a

1374
01:12:47.439 --> 01:12:52.039
great New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, spend time with

1375
01:12:52.079 --> 01:12:56.159
your family. If your situation is bad, I am so sorry.

1376
01:12:56.279 --> 01:12:59.079
I apologize. I wish I could give you some promise

1377
01:12:59.079 --> 01:13:01.520
that everything's going to do better, but I cannot give you.

1378
01:13:01.600 --> 01:13:03.239
I can give you the promise that everything will be

1379
01:13:03.239 --> 01:13:06.079
better in eternity. I can't give you any promise things

1380
01:13:06.079 --> 01:13:07.439
are going to be better in the here and now.

1381
01:13:07.479 --> 01:13:10.199
But I can tell you that you can cling to

1382
01:13:10.399 --> 01:13:12.880
and trust in the fact that salvation is found in

1383
01:13:12.960 --> 01:13:14.960
Jesus Christ. Your sins have been removed as far as

1384
01:13:14.960 --> 01:13:17.640
the east is from the west because of his sacrificial death.

1385
01:13:17.840 --> 01:13:20.920
Trust in him, rest in his finished work. That's what

1386
01:13:20.960 --> 01:13:23.239
you can hold on to. I can't promise how life.

1387
01:13:23.239 --> 01:13:24.800
I can't even promise how life is going to go

1388
01:13:24.840 --> 01:13:28.000
from now to the end of before to the beginning

1389
01:13:28.039 --> 01:13:30.279
of twenty twenty five, and we have no idea what

1390
01:13:30.319 --> 01:13:32.359
twenty twenty five is going to hold. It's probably going

1391
01:13:32.399 --> 01:13:35.720
to be filled with pain and difficulty and suffering and

1392
01:13:35.760 --> 01:13:38.800
loneliness and for a lot of people. And that's the

1393
01:13:38.840 --> 01:13:41.199
way life works. And I wish I could give you

1394
01:13:41.239 --> 01:13:43.760
some promise it, oh, it's all going to be wonderful,

1395
01:13:43.760 --> 01:13:46.800
But I can't because we do not have that promise.

1396
01:13:47.119 --> 01:13:48.920
We have the promise that in this life there's going

1397
01:13:48.960 --> 01:13:52.079
to be difficulty, in pain and suffering. That's what we

1398
01:13:52.119 --> 01:13:55.039
can know, so we can prepare ourselves for that instead

1399
01:13:55.039 --> 01:13:59.319
of clinging to fraudulent promises offered by pastors who misuse scripture.

1400
01:13:59.680 --> 01:14:03.000
Thanks listening, God bless