Jan. 11, 2025

Sermon Prep: Isaiah 40:25-28

Sermon Prep: Isaiah 40:25-28

A review of a sermon in Isaiah 40:25-28

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 in Isaiah 40:25-28

WEBVTT

1
00:00:02.439 --> 00:00:06.200
Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

2
00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:13.279
the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good morning everyone.

3
00:00:13.519 --> 00:00:18.000
It is Saturday, January the eleventh, twenty twenty five. It

4
00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:22.000
is currently ten thirty seven am Central Time, and I

5
00:00:22.039 --> 00:00:25.160
am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio

6
00:00:25.800 --> 00:00:30.839
located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now, the last ten

7
00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:36.479
or fifteen minutes, I've been looking at podcasts, analytics, looking

8
00:00:36.520 --> 00:00:38.920
at statistics, and I was a little concerned. I was

9
00:00:38.920 --> 00:00:42.920
a little bothered, right because I opened everything up because

10
00:00:42.920 --> 00:00:46.000
I was going to fill out the metadata for this episode.

11
00:00:46.039 --> 00:00:48.600
Right because we broadcast live on the Sermon's two point

12
00:00:48.679 --> 00:00:52.280
zero app, the Sermon Audio platform, So before we go live,

13
00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:55.439
I always type out the metadata, the title, a description,

14
00:00:55.679 --> 00:00:58.799
all of that so people looking at the Sermonadio website

15
00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:01.759
they'll see it and go, oh, okay, that's that's what

16
00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:04.239
he's talking about today, all right. So I was filling

17
00:01:04.319 --> 00:01:06.959
all of that out and then doing so, I clicked

18
00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:10.280
on the analytics and I was like, wait, what that

19
00:01:10.319 --> 00:01:13.840
cannot be true. That cannot be true because the analytics

20
00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:19.079
indicated that we've only had three downloads and streams from January,

21
00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:23.120
the first to January the eleventh, which is today. I'm

22
00:01:23.159 --> 00:01:26.519
like three, I'm like, that's it. I give up. I'm

23
00:01:26.920 --> 00:01:27.680
I'm done.

24
00:01:27.799 --> 00:01:28.120
I was.

25
00:01:28.200 --> 00:01:31.519
I was just like, there's there, They're that's that's horrible.

26
00:01:31.719 --> 00:01:34.280
So I kept looking around and I'm like, okay, well,

27
00:01:34.439 --> 00:01:36.879
let's just move on. And as I was getting everything

28
00:01:36.959 --> 00:01:40.239
ready to go live, I realized there's something going wrong

29
00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:44.599
behind the scenes. Because all the information that I typically

30
00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:49.439
look look at on my iPad when I'm broadcasting, I

31
00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:51.879
typically can see I see a map of the United States.

32
00:01:51.879 --> 00:01:53.599
It will show me where people are tuning in. It'll

33
00:01:53.599 --> 00:01:56.879
get me numbers, right, not no numbers are showing up.

34
00:01:56.959 --> 00:02:00.359
The map is blank. So clearly there's something wrong behind

35
00:02:00.359 --> 00:02:04.200
the scenes. But things may be wrong behind the scenes,

36
00:02:04.840 --> 00:02:09.919
but hopefully, here behind this microphone, I can you know,

37
00:02:10.039 --> 00:02:13.360
I can hopefully accomplish something and maybe things will not

38
00:02:13.479 --> 00:02:16.199
go wrong during this broadcast. We're going to hope and see.

39
00:02:16.280 --> 00:02:18.919
But if things are going wrong like that, I always

40
00:02:18.919 --> 00:02:20.960
get nervous that well, is something going to happen to

41
00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:24.319
the live feed? Is everything going to drop out? Is

42
00:02:23.919 --> 00:02:26.800
the site the website going to crash, or the app's

43
00:02:26.840 --> 00:02:29.319
going to crash? What's going to happen, but I'm not

44
00:02:29.400 --> 00:02:32.120
going to worry about that. And what I'm going to

45
00:02:32.199 --> 00:02:37.319
try to do is, well, it's Saturday, right, so I'm

46
00:02:37.319 --> 00:02:40.360
gonna do some sermon prep and I'm gonna do my

47
00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:43.680
sermon prep right here live on the air, as I

48
00:02:43.719 --> 00:02:47.080
tend to do, because what I like to do on Saturdays.

49
00:02:47.240 --> 00:02:49.719
Even if I've done sermon prep throughout the week, which

50
00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:52.280
typically you know I have, and rarely do I get

51
00:02:52.280 --> 00:02:54.479
to a Saturday and haven't done any sermon prep. I mean,

52
00:02:54.479 --> 00:02:57.199
there may be one or two times where that's happened,

53
00:02:57.199 --> 00:02:59.759
but those are rare. But Saturday is where I really

54
00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:03.000
earn my attention. I'm like, Okay, all the work I've done,

55
00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:05.319
now I got to put it all together, and Saturday

56
00:03:05.400 --> 00:03:08.240
is where I really try to turn my focus onto

57
00:03:08.360 --> 00:03:11.520
everything that's going to happen on Sunday. That's where everything

58
00:03:12.479 --> 00:03:14.840
any other studies I've been working on, any of the

59
00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:17.199
discussions we've had on the podcast, I try to put

60
00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:19.199
them aside. I'm like, Okay, now we have to turn

61
00:03:19.240 --> 00:03:22.159
our attention to what I'm going to be talking about tomorrow. Well,

62
00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:26.960
tomorrow we return to Isaiah chapter forty. Specifically, tomorrow we're

63
00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:31.280
gonna be looking at verses nine through eleven Isaiah forty

64
00:03:31.719 --> 00:03:33.879
nine through eleven. Let me read it to you. I'll

65
00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:36.599
be reading from the King James Isaiah chapter forty nine

66
00:03:36.639 --> 00:03:42.240
through eleven. Oh Zion, that bring us good tidings, Get

67
00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:46.080
thee up in the high mountain, Oh Jerusalem, that bring

68
00:03:46.199 --> 00:03:50.560
us good tidings. Lift up thy voice with strength, lift

69
00:03:50.599 --> 00:03:54.439
it up. Be not afraid say into the cities of Judah,

70
00:03:54.919 --> 00:04:01.520
behold your God. Verse ten. Behold the Lord God will

71
00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:05.240
come with strong hand, and his arms shall rule for him. Behold,

72
00:04:05.240 --> 00:04:08.199
his reward is with him, and his work before him.

73
00:04:08.479 --> 00:04:11.159
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall

74
00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:14.039
gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in

75
00:04:14.120 --> 00:04:18.480
his bosom, and shall gently lead those who are with young.

76
00:04:18.920 --> 00:04:23.199
That's Isaiah forty nine through eleven. Right, So, I have

77
00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:26.000
been working on Isaiah forty nine through eleven. I'd already

78
00:04:26.040 --> 00:04:28.639
worked on it, probably well over a week ago, done

79
00:04:28.680 --> 00:04:31.879
a lot of work on it. Then I did a

80
00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:34.560
lot of work this week, and then this morning I

81
00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:37.639
really started turning my attention to Isaiah forty nine through eleven,

82
00:04:37.839 --> 00:04:40.439
really digging in a little bit more, because well, that's

83
00:04:40.439 --> 00:04:42.279
what we're going to be talking about tomorrow at Victory

84
00:04:42.319 --> 00:04:47.360
Baptist Church. And I found myself this morning and about

85
00:04:47.399 --> 00:04:50.800
a forty five minute you can almost refer to it

86
00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:53.920
as an argument, as kind of a back and forth

87
00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:59.160
debate with artificial intelligence about Isaiah forty nine through eleven.

88
00:04:59.399 --> 00:05:03.160
I was putting for some ideas. AI did not like

89
00:05:03.240 --> 00:05:05.959
my ideas, kept pushing back. I kept pushing back. We

90
00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:08.120
went back and forth, back and forth, back and forth,

91
00:05:08.160 --> 00:05:11.639
back and forth, back and forth. And then finally kind

92
00:05:11.680 --> 00:05:13.680
of in the midst of this back and forth, an

93
00:05:13.800 --> 00:05:17.360
idea came to my mind about Isaiah forty nine through eleven,

94
00:05:18.519 --> 00:05:21.000
an idea that I'm going to focus on tomorrow. I'm

95
00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:23.399
going to change my entire Everything that I was going

96
00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:26.720
to preach tomorrow is going to get put aside. And

97
00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:30.600
I've changed everything probably in the last forty five minutes

98
00:05:30.600 --> 00:05:35.279
to an hour, because in fact, for those who are

99
00:05:35.319 --> 00:05:37.680
going to be listening to the sermons tomorrow, I want

100
00:05:37.720 --> 00:05:40.319
you to write down a couple of things. Right, if

101
00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:42.000
you have a piece of paper, I want you to

102
00:05:42.040 --> 00:05:51.360
write down number one, ordinary means, ordinary means. I want

103
00:05:51.399 --> 00:05:55.360
you to write that down ordinary means. And number two

104
00:05:55.360 --> 00:06:02.800
you write down supernatural means, ordinary means means supernatural means,

105
00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:09.399
because I believe Isaiah forty nine through eleven is really

106
00:06:09.480 --> 00:06:15.639
about maybe how to perceive ordinary means. Now, I'm not

107
00:06:15.639 --> 00:06:18.000
gonna give anything away because I don't want to start

108
00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:20.639
preaching and teaching it now, but that's where we're gonna

109
00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:23.279
be heading tomorrow. My approach is going to be looking

110
00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:26.720
at this concept of ordinary means versus supernatural means because

111
00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:29.079
I think Isaiah forty nine to eleven, at least in

112
00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:33.240
my mind at least, leads to this discussion. And there's

113
00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:36.199
a reason why. There's a lot of things we could discuss.

114
00:06:36.279 --> 00:06:38.360
We won't get into any of that now, but that's

115
00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:41.079
what we're gonna be doing. But after I got that already,

116
00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:43.720
I organized it. I'm like, okay, here we go, and

117
00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:47.639
I got I really have like three I probably have

118
00:06:47.839 --> 00:06:52.920
four specific messages all for tomorrow, even though I only

119
00:06:52.920 --> 00:06:55.399
have two hours, so I'm gonna have to really focus.

120
00:06:55.439 --> 00:06:58.319
I think we're gonna go with the ordinary versus supernatural

121
00:06:58.319 --> 00:07:01.279
means tomorrow. That's where the focus is going to be.

122
00:07:01.720 --> 00:07:03.800
Hopefully that turns out to be a good thing. But

123
00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:05.879
in the midst of all of that. So I've got

124
00:07:05.959 --> 00:07:09.199
all the analytical problems behind the scenes going on. Okay,

125
00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:11.639
I got all of that going on. I'm arguing with

126
00:07:11.800 --> 00:07:16.040
artificial intelligence. I'm redoing all of my sermons. Well, in

127
00:07:16.079 --> 00:07:17.279
the midst of all of that, I'm like, well, you

128
00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:19.720
know what I need to do right to really just

129
00:07:19.800 --> 00:07:23.160
kind of you know, really dig in and get my

130
00:07:23.319 --> 00:07:26.839
mind focused on Isaiah forty, Isaiah forty, Isaiah forty, because

131
00:07:26.839 --> 00:07:28.319
that's what I want to do. I want, I want,

132
00:07:28.360 --> 00:07:33.000
I always want to arrive at church with just my mind,

133
00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:38.800
you know, kind of swimming in whatever text we are

134
00:07:38.839 --> 00:07:41.839
going to be discussing, whatever, whatever we're going to be covering.

135
00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:44.519
And the way to do that in many cases is

136
00:07:44.639 --> 00:07:48.800
listen to, you know, countless sermons on a particular passage

137
00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:52.480
or read countless commentaries on a particular passage. Because the

138
00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:57.720
more information I have, the more information I'm bringing in,

139
00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:00.759
the more I can I can see things and structure

140
00:08:00.839 --> 00:08:05.360
things and maybe challenge interpretations, and it just leads me

141
00:08:05.399 --> 00:08:09.360
to being better prepared to engage in leading the people

142
00:08:09.399 --> 00:08:12.240
through a tech. So tomorrow it's Isaiah forty nine through eleven.

143
00:08:12.360 --> 00:08:14.560
I think it's going to be all about ordinary versus

144
00:08:14.560 --> 00:08:17.600
supernatural means. But in order to continue to keep my

145
00:08:17.680 --> 00:08:21.920
mind focused on Isaiah forty nine through eleven for sermon prep,

146
00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:26.600
let's review a sermon on Isaiah forty nine through eleven.

147
00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:28.879
So I went to the sermon, I think, I went

148
00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:31.920
to the sermonadio website, did a search for Isaiah forty

149
00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:34.799
nine through eleven. Now, the first one that jumped out

150
00:08:34.799 --> 00:08:39.360
at me was Isaiah forty nine through eleven, and then

151
00:08:39.399 --> 00:08:44.559
in parentheses it said baptism. And I'm like, what, someone

152
00:08:44.600 --> 00:08:49.279
took Isaiah forty nine through eleven and this is a

153
00:08:49.320 --> 00:08:52.759
sermon referring to baptism or about baptism or for a

154
00:08:52.799 --> 00:08:56.519
baptismal service. I'm like, what is going on? So I

155
00:08:56.600 --> 00:08:59.399
wanted to listen to that one, but I knew that

156
00:08:59.159 --> 00:09:03.200
that I would allay already be going in pretty much thinking, oh,

157
00:09:03.240 --> 00:09:07.200
this is going to be another example of someone misapplying, misinterpreting,

158
00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:10.279
twisting the scripture to make it about us, us us

159
00:09:10.440 --> 00:09:13.200
us us, and forget the people whom it is about.

160
00:09:13.240 --> 00:09:17.600
I mean, Isaiah, chapter forty, Oh Zion that bring us

161
00:09:17.639 --> 00:09:22.480
good timings, get the up in the high mountains, Oh Jerusalem.

162
00:09:22.840 --> 00:09:26.759
All right, say onto the Cities of Judah. I mean,

163
00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:29.840
I don't know, how how can you just read a

164
00:09:29.879 --> 00:09:31.600
text like that and like, hey, ladies and gentlemen, this

165
00:09:31.639 --> 00:09:34.879
is about us and about baptism. I don't know. I

166
00:09:34.919 --> 00:09:36.799
want to listen to that one just to see if

167
00:09:36.840 --> 00:09:40.200
it's going to be as bad as I am perceiving.

168
00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:44.200
My perception may be completely wrong. So but I knew

169
00:09:44.240 --> 00:09:47.559
I would go into that when probably expecting it to

170
00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:50.279
be bad. And if it was bad, is that really

171
00:09:50.360 --> 00:09:52.799
going to help me with my sermon prep Because we've

172
00:09:52.840 --> 00:09:58.519
already established in our series Isaiah forty through Isaiah chapter

173
00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:02.480
forty through Isaiah chapter fifty five, as early as we are.

174
00:10:02.519 --> 00:10:04.080
I mean, in some ways we're not that early into

175
00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:06.720
the series. But considering we're still in chapter forty, we

176
00:10:06.840 --> 00:10:09.639
just made it to verse nine, we're still early in

177
00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:15.039
the series. From that perspective we've already talked about it

178
00:10:15.080 --> 00:10:20.639
feels like a hundred times how sermons constantly misapply, misinterpret

179
00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:23.120
this section of scripture. That's why we're doing the series

180
00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:25.600
in the first place. So I didn't want to necessarily

181
00:10:25.639 --> 00:10:27.720
go to a sermon that I already knew is going

182
00:10:27.759 --> 00:10:31.360
to possibly do that. So I chose another one. This

183
00:10:31.399 --> 00:10:35.919
one is entitled the Wonder of God Part one. Now

184
00:10:35.960 --> 00:10:38.960
I'm like, okay, that's the Wonder of God. Well, the

185
00:10:39.000 --> 00:10:43.519
text says behold your God. Now immediately when it says

186
00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:45.279
the wonder of God, is it going to refer to

187
00:10:45.320 --> 00:10:47.320
the wonder of God or behold your God as it

188
00:10:47.360 --> 00:10:50.480
relates to the people who this text is actually about

189
00:10:50.519 --> 00:10:53.200
and two and four or is it once again going

190
00:10:53.240 --> 00:10:56.039
to push them out and push it and bring us in. Well, well,

191
00:10:56.039 --> 00:10:58.440
we we're going to see, but we're gonna review this now.

192
00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:02.440
The good thing about this one short The entire sermon

193
00:11:02.840 --> 00:11:06.120
is thirty minutes and forty nine seconds. Well, when you now,

194
00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:08.720
the only thing is I did fast forward through all

195
00:11:08.720 --> 00:11:13.320
the scripture reading the prayer because I wanted to. You know,

196
00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:15.320
we can't do a lot with that. I mean, I

197
00:11:15.320 --> 00:11:18.399
could do my typical review of an opening prayer, but

198
00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:20.480
you know what I'm going to say. And so we

199
00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:23.240
know with the so from the beginning of this sermon

200
00:11:23.759 --> 00:11:25.679
to the end, you know, there's gonna be like an

201
00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:29.120
introductory section to the sermon and then then the summarizing

202
00:11:29.159 --> 00:11:33.039
at the end. So probably the sermon total, it's probably

203
00:11:33.039 --> 00:11:35.840
about twenty five minutes So I don't know how in

204
00:11:35.879 --> 00:11:38.200
the world you can handle Isaiah forty nine through eleven

205
00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:40.679
in about twenty five minutes. This is gonna be a

206
00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:46.200
this is gonna be crazy. I'm already thinking we're gonna

207
00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:50.200
spend two hours tomorrow on Isaiah forty nine through eleven,

208
00:11:50.600 --> 00:11:53.799
and we're not even going to finish nine through eleven.

209
00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:58.039
We're gonna it's probably gonna take us maybe two three

210
00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:00.840
Sundays to finish Isaiah forty ninth. So I don't know

211
00:12:00.879 --> 00:12:03.679
how you can do this, but gonna I'm gonna definitely

212
00:12:03.720 --> 00:12:06.720
be curious to see. So are you ready? So for

213
00:12:06.799 --> 00:12:10.159
sermon prep now for you? You need it. Write down

214
00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:13.480
ordinary means, supernatural means, because that's what we're gonna be

215
00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:15.879
talking about tomorrow. But for now, I'm gonna try not

216
00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:18.799
to start preaching tomorrow's message. What I want to do

217
00:12:18.919 --> 00:12:24.399
is just kind of just immerse myself into discussion about

218
00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:27.159
this section of scripture so that I'll be more prepared

219
00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:30.320
for tomorrow. So here we go. You're ready, Let's listen.

220
00:12:30.519 --> 00:12:32.960
I have no idea what's about to happen. Let's hope

221
00:12:33.080 --> 00:12:34.720
it's going to be something beneficial.

222
00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:44.600
Well beloved Congregation, of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Think about it,

223
00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:48.039
the wonder.

224
00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:52.320
Of God.

225
00:12:52.759 --> 00:12:56.159
Scripture reveals God to us, or maybe we would more

226
00:12:56.679 --> 00:13:00.919
precisely say, God reveals himself in scripture to us as

227
00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:05.279
one who is a rock, as one who is a refuge,

228
00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:09.799
as one who is a shield and buckler, as one

229
00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:13.799
who is a high tower, and as one who is

230
00:13:14.039 --> 00:13:18.080
all of those things and so much more, as he

231
00:13:18.120 --> 00:13:22.720
comes to us in grace and in mercy, promising in

232
00:13:22.759 --> 00:13:25.159
his word that as we look to him for care

233
00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:28.240
and keeping, he will surely provide it.

234
00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:34.559
Okay, well, we're off to a wonderful start. Okay, immediately,

235
00:13:35.159 --> 00:13:38.919
do you notice what happened Isaiah forty nine through eleven

236
00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:41.879
is the text It's not about us in any way,

237
00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:44.519
shape or form. It's about Jude. It's about the cities

238
00:13:44.559 --> 00:13:48.440
of Judah. It's about their captivity. It's about their deliverance.

239
00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:51.440
That's what it's about. We've established that like nine hundred

240
00:13:51.480 --> 00:13:54.200
times already in our series in Isaiah forty through fifty five.

241
00:13:54.519 --> 00:13:58.399
And immediately, did you see it reveals to us, to us,

242
00:13:58.759 --> 00:14:02.240
to us, to us, us, to us, to us, and

243
00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:04.600
then say all of those things. He's a rock, He's

244
00:14:04.639 --> 00:14:07.879
a shield. He's a refuge, and he will provide that

245
00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:15.320
for us, us us. Oh, that drives me so crazy.

246
00:14:15.639 --> 00:14:19.679
It's maddening. I I've almost reached the point I have

247
00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:24.399
so much struggle with listening to sermons anymore. How did

248
00:14:24.440 --> 00:14:26.320
we end up in this text? How did we end

249
00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:29.000
up anywhere? And what do you do when you tell people, Hey,

250
00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:32.600
God is a rock, he's a protector, he's a defender,

251
00:14:32.840 --> 00:14:36.000
he's your shield. He's gonna do all of this for you. Now,

252
00:14:36.039 --> 00:14:38.279
I'm sorry that you're you know, you were molested for

253
00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:40.679
five years. I'm sorry that you were raped. I'm sorry

254
00:14:40.720 --> 00:14:43.799
that you died, this and this, and well, so how

255
00:14:43.799 --> 00:14:46.320
do we understand that? Now? When we look at these

256
00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:49.039
passages in the Old Testament, and many of them they

257
00:14:49.080 --> 00:14:53.320
make perfect sense, especially when we understand the context, because

258
00:14:53.360 --> 00:14:56.639
many of these things are spoken to is ry L,

259
00:14:57.440 --> 00:15:01.799
a nation whom God had made a covenant with, and

260
00:15:01.840 --> 00:15:04.799
he made covenants with them that he would protect, that

261
00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:08.480
he would provide, So it fits perfect It makes perfect

262
00:15:08.519 --> 00:15:13.759
sense within its historical context. But we take these things

263
00:15:13.799 --> 00:15:16.120
and say, it's about us, It's about us, it's about us.

264
00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:18.639
How do we just started? He just started as sermon

265
00:15:18.679 --> 00:15:21.639
on Isaiah forty nine to eleven, and immediately, it's not

266
00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:24.600
about them. It's not about they all of a sudden,

267
00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:30.759
now it's about me, you, us. I know I say

268
00:15:30.759 --> 00:15:35.200
this all the time Christians because of culture wars and

269
00:15:35.240 --> 00:15:37.679
because of all the issues going on within our culture,

270
00:15:37.960 --> 00:15:42.120
Christians are constantly griping and complaining about people's misuse of pronouns.

271
00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:44.440
And you've got to use the right pronouns. And I'm

272
00:15:44.440 --> 00:15:47.519
not going to use your preferred pronouns because pronouns, it's

273
00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:50.440
about reality, it's about truth. Well, then we come to

274
00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:53.240
the Bible, and when the text is about them, them,

275
00:15:53.720 --> 00:15:57.600
they all of a sudden, it's about me, you, we us.

276
00:15:58.840 --> 00:16:01.879
I'm more worried about the wrong pronouns when it comes

277
00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:06.120
to interpreting scripture. How did we end up here? How

278
00:16:06.120 --> 00:16:13.559
did it become about us? That's about them? Don't we

279
00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:17.519
start with them? But okay, he's already talked how God

280
00:16:17.559 --> 00:16:22.440
reveals to us. God will provide. He's a buckler, a shield,

281
00:16:22.480 --> 00:16:25.840
a refuge, a rock for us. It's all become about us.

282
00:16:26.840 --> 00:16:28.679
Now I'm assuming he's going to get back to them.

283
00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:33.759
But man, it always just makes me nervous, especially in

284
00:16:33.799 --> 00:16:37.080
a sermon. It's already less than thirty minutes left of

285
00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:39.960
the sermon. It's down to about twenty something minutes, and

286
00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:42.840
already we've started off with us. I don't know why

287
00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:45.120
we always start with us when we're dealing with a

288
00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:52.279
text that's about them.

289
00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:57.360
Wow, the wonder of God. Indeed, we approach this sermon

290
00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:00.960
as we should all sermons. But when the wonder of

291
00:17:00.960 --> 00:17:03.960
God is before us, we approach a servant or a

292
00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:07.839
subject like this, not perched high on the seat of judgment,

293
00:17:08.839 --> 00:17:13.720
but bowed low in reference, with shoes off of our feet,

294
00:17:13.799 --> 00:17:16.759
so to speak, knowing without doubt that we stand on

295
00:17:17.000 --> 00:17:21.559
holy ground. The burden of Isaiah chapter forty, verse twenty five,

296
00:17:21.599 --> 00:17:24.839
and as I mentioned verse eighteen, very similar, is that

297
00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:28.599
God wants his people to know that He will not

298
00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:35.079
permit himself to be likened by them to the idols

299
00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:39.240
and false gods of the nations. And the problem in

300
00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:42.720
Israel during Isaiah's day is that the people were doing

301
00:17:42.839 --> 00:17:48.960
just that. Isaiah addressing the nation as captives, calling them God,

302
00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:53.359
calling them by his prophet to this repentance and mindfulness.

303
00:17:54.440 --> 00:17:58.160
The people had come to the point where where they

304
00:17:58.200 --> 00:18:01.839
seem to have forgotten the greatness of God and seem

305
00:18:01.880 --> 00:18:04.880
to be focused on comparing the Lord with the idols

306
00:18:05.160 --> 00:18:10.319
and superstitions all around them. Instead, it's what John Calvin

307
00:18:10.359 --> 00:18:15.200
said was vanity joined with pride, and what God is

308
00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:19.680
saying here in verse twenty five is essentially this will

309
00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:26.559
you rob me of my majesty by such foolish comparisons

310
00:18:26.759 --> 00:18:30.440
as these? So let's keep that in mind. The wonder

311
00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:33.200
of God here in Isaiah. You can see the Pew

312
00:18:33.240 --> 00:18:35.079
Bible has that heading for us at the beginning of

313
00:18:35.160 --> 00:18:38.599
verse nine. The Greatness of God well known passage here

314
00:18:38.759 --> 00:18:42.000
in Isaiah chapter forty, verses nine to thirty one, looking

315
00:18:42.039 --> 00:18:44.400
at verse twenty five for the text if you will,

316
00:18:44.839 --> 00:18:47.240
but tonight just looking at verses twenty six to twenty

317
00:18:47.279 --> 00:18:52.200
eight with this theme, Our God challenges us by asking

318
00:18:52.920 --> 00:18:55.359
who is like me?

319
00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:00.480
Okay, well, I don't know what we're gonna get actually

320
00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:05.160
nine through eleven. Okay, So God challenges us. Note even

321
00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:09.079
the way he's going. God challenges us us us us

322
00:19:09.160 --> 00:19:12.440
us us, we we me me you all right, So

323
00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:14.680
I don't think we're gonna actually get nine to eleven.

324
00:19:15.720 --> 00:19:18.880
When I looked up Isaiah forty nine through eleven, this

325
00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:24.640
this is the sermon it gave me. Pastors, when you

326
00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:29.079
fill out your metadata, if you're not going to cover

327
00:19:29.160 --> 00:19:32.759
a passage of scripture when it asked you to include

328
00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:37.400
the scripture, just don't put that section, right. That would

329
00:19:37.400 --> 00:19:40.240
be great for those of us who search out sermons

330
00:19:40.359 --> 00:19:44.079
on a particular text. Okay, please help us out. All right,

331
00:19:44.119 --> 00:19:45.759
So we're gonna go with this. All right, we're gonna

332
00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:47.759
go with this. So we're gonna be in Isaiah forty

333
00:19:48.200 --> 00:19:51.039
twenty five through thirty one. It looks like we'll read

334
00:19:51.119 --> 00:19:54.240
this Isaiah forty twenty five through thirty one. Hey, this

335
00:19:54.279 --> 00:19:56.599
is the fun part of going into these sermon reviews

336
00:19:56.599 --> 00:19:59.799
blind right, This is the fun part. Sometimes it can

337
00:19:59.799 --> 00:20:02.240
be maddening and frustrated. I'm gonna have to pivot because

338
00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:04.640
I was ready to talk about Isaiah forty nine to eleven.

339
00:20:04.920 --> 00:20:07.640
I'm ready to go. I've spent hours and hours and

340
00:20:07.720 --> 00:20:11.200
hours with it. So but we're gonna pivot Isaiah forty

341
00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:17.200
twenty five To whom then, will ye yee like in me?

342
00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:21.400
Or shall I be equal saith the Holy One? To

343
00:20:21.519 --> 00:20:26.000
whom will you liking me? That you there is referencing

344
00:20:26.039 --> 00:20:30.000
to a specific people. He did briefly mention them all right,

345
00:20:30.759 --> 00:20:36.359
lift up your eyes. That's that's that's them right, And

346
00:20:36.400 --> 00:20:41.279
behold who hath created these things that bringeth out their

347
00:20:41.319 --> 00:20:45.240
host by number? He calleth them all by names, by

348
00:20:45.240 --> 00:20:48.079
the greatness of his mind. For that he is strong.

349
00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:53.000
He is strong and power, not one faileth Now look

350
00:20:53.039 --> 00:20:56.480
carefully so we know exactly who's being spoken of. In

351
00:20:56.480 --> 00:20:59.720
case there's any confusion, or just in case this pastor

352
00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:02.759
decides not to really deal with the reality of this text.

353
00:21:02.839 --> 00:21:11.839
Look at verse twenty seven. What sayest thou, oh, Jacob? Right,

354
00:21:11.880 --> 00:21:16.960
So the text constantly returns back to making sure we

355
00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:21.359
know exactly who this is about. Let's see if how

356
00:21:21.400 --> 00:21:24.519
this would apply to the people in its context, if

357
00:21:24.519 --> 00:21:26.480
it's going to be discussed. Here we go. We only

358
00:21:26.519 --> 00:21:29.400
have about twenty minutes left of this sermon, so he's

359
00:21:29.440 --> 00:21:30.559
going to have to move fast.

360
00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:35.119
And the first thing then that we'll ask ourselves as

361
00:21:35.160 --> 00:21:39.039
we consider his question to us is why does God

362
00:21:39.160 --> 00:21:41.039
challenge us like this?

363
00:21:43.960 --> 00:21:50.160
It's not God's question to us. It's not God challenging us.

364
00:21:50.680 --> 00:21:56.720
It's God asking a question to them. He is challenging them.

365
00:21:56.920 --> 00:22:00.559
It's not a question to us it's not him challenging us,

366
00:22:00.759 --> 00:22:05.680
it's them. Why is this so complicated? And preaching the

367
00:22:05.880 --> 00:22:09.160
text says it's them? I mean, what do I have

368
00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:11.880
to do to demonstrate this over and over and over?

369
00:22:12.839 --> 00:22:16.039
Why is it so complicated in Isaiah forty through fifty five?

370
00:22:16.359 --> 00:22:19.559
Can anyone answer this question? Why is it so difficult

371
00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:22.759
for a pastor simply to open up Isaiah forty through

372
00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:28.599
fifty five and refer to them them them them. Now

373
00:22:28.599 --> 00:22:30.799
I'm not saying we can't learn anything from it, but

374
00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:33.920
don't we have to? Why are we rephrasing this is

375
00:22:33.960 --> 00:22:38.519
God's challenge to us? No, I'm not in Babylonian captivity.

376
00:22:38.599 --> 00:22:42.759
You're not in Babylonian captivity at this time, So don't

377
00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:44.720
we have to understand it? I just don't get it.

378
00:22:44.759 --> 00:22:46.240
I don't get it. I don't get it. All right,

379
00:22:46.359 --> 00:22:48.559
let's see, he's got to have to go back to them.

380
00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:50.799
He's got to go back to them, right, that can't

381
00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:51.480
be forgotten.

382
00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:56.480
So as things open up then Verses twenty six to

383
00:22:56.519 --> 00:22:58.279
twenty eight, if you have your Bible open, you can

384
00:22:58.319 --> 00:23:01.480
see him there on the bottom of that right hand page.

385
00:23:02.079 --> 00:23:05.599
Maybe we could summarize things here by talking about the

386
00:23:05.839 --> 00:23:10.079
people having lost sight remember of the majesty, justice, and

387
00:23:10.200 --> 00:23:14.039
power of God. In answer to the question that God

388
00:23:14.119 --> 00:23:19.200
asks in verse twenty five, it's as though a dullness

389
00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:23.480
and a sluggishness has come upon the people, and all

390
00:23:23.519 --> 00:23:24.839
of us are prone to this.

391
00:23:27.039 --> 00:23:30.839
Now, wait, let's put this in its historical context, right,

392
00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:33.720
Isaiah forty through fifty five. I don't know if he's

393
00:23:33.759 --> 00:23:37.960
going to even establish this is God's message to those

394
00:23:38.599 --> 00:23:44.519
in Babylonian captivity. Now they are in Babylon. Let's go

395
00:23:44.599 --> 00:23:48.279
with that. Okay, Now is Babylon. What do we know

396
00:23:48.319 --> 00:23:54.720
about the Babylonians and idolatry? Are the Babylonians and their gods?

397
00:23:55.160 --> 00:23:57.839
What do you know anything about that? What do we

398
00:23:57.880 --> 00:24:01.799
know about the Babylonians and their religion? The religion of Babylon?

399
00:24:02.200 --> 00:24:05.079
What do we know? What do we know? So let's

400
00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:07.599
let's since he's not going to be because he's seeing

401
00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:10.680
these people, we got to put this section. If God

402
00:24:10.759 --> 00:24:14.680
is speaking to them about to whom, then will ye

403
00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:19.839
those in Babylonian captive Babylonian captivity like in me too?

404
00:24:20.960 --> 00:24:24.400
Maybe this is specifically that maybe they're dull, Maybe they're

405
00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:26.960
going through some of these issues. I don't know because

406
00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:31.279
they've been in captivity for seventy years. I mean, do

407
00:24:31.319 --> 00:24:34.119
we do we not at least consider the historical context

408
00:24:34.279 --> 00:24:37.200
even slightly. So let's do a little bit of work here.

409
00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:39.759
Let's do a little bit of work here. Oh, this

410
00:24:39.880 --> 00:24:42.279
is gonna I'm gonna. I'm telling you, I'm gonna lose

411
00:24:42.319 --> 00:24:46.200
my mind. Okay, remember how twenty twenty four ended. Twenty

412
00:24:46.240 --> 00:24:49.559
twenty four ended with me slowly but surely losing my

413
00:24:49.720 --> 00:24:52.240
mind because of summone reviews. I tried to make it

414
00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:54.519
positive at the end, but this is where I get

415
00:24:54.640 --> 00:24:57.920
so frustrated. All right, So what I'm going to do is,

416
00:24:57.920 --> 00:25:00.720
I'm gonna go to hang on. I'm gonna I'm going

417
00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:05.200
to go to let me look down here, I'm going

418
00:25:05.240 --> 00:25:13.440
to outline I'm going to outline the uh outline the

419
00:25:13.480 --> 00:25:32.079
religious beliefs of the Babylonians hang on during the time

420
00:25:34.880 --> 00:25:58.279
of Judah's Judah's captivity. What Okay? Did they have many

421
00:25:58.319 --> 00:26:03.960
false God and idol? Sorry, here we go. Let's just

422
00:26:03.960 --> 00:26:08.559
do a little brief work here, all right. So the

423
00:26:08.599 --> 00:26:13.319
Babylonian Empire six twenty six to five thirty nine BC,

424
00:26:13.799 --> 00:26:18.440
during the time of Judas captivity was deeply polytheistic, with

425
00:26:18.559 --> 00:26:22.960
a pantheon of gods and religious practices that were central

426
00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:27.000
to their cultural and daily life. Their religion was closely

427
00:26:27.039 --> 00:26:30.920
tied to their political and social structures and heavily influenced

428
00:26:30.920 --> 00:26:34.519
their worldview. Below was an outline of their beliefs, practices,

429
00:26:34.559 --> 00:26:36.720
and the role of false gods and idols. Now, ladies

430
00:26:36.759 --> 00:26:39.519
and gentlemen, what is happening right now? This was not

431
00:26:39.680 --> 00:26:42.279
my intent. My intent was to do sermon prep. But

432
00:26:42.359 --> 00:26:44.519
what is this turning into? This is turning into what

433
00:26:44.559 --> 00:26:48.240
twenty twenty five is about ai versus sermons. We're listening

434
00:26:48.319 --> 00:26:51.000
to a sermon that went to Isaiah forty starting in

435
00:26:51.079 --> 00:26:53.680
verse twenty five to thirty one immediately made it about

436
00:26:53.799 --> 00:26:57.680
us forgot them. And then it's now kind of saying, hey,

437
00:26:57.880 --> 00:27:00.799
these people were dull, These people were, you know, being

438
00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:03.359
blinded by idols. Well wait a minute, do we want

439
00:27:03.359 --> 00:27:06.000
to at least try to understand possibly, why do you

440
00:27:06.079 --> 00:27:09.480
realize that they were in captivity for seventy years? That

441
00:27:09.559 --> 00:27:13.839
means there's people who were born and raised in captivity.

442
00:27:14.079 --> 00:27:16.440
So are they not going to be Possibly? I don't

443
00:27:16.480 --> 00:27:19.319
know the gods they're going to be hearing about are

444
00:27:19.319 --> 00:27:21.400
going to be the false gods. The gods they are

445
00:27:21.400 --> 00:27:23.359
going to be seeing is going to be the false gods.

446
00:27:23.640 --> 00:27:27.079
And well, they may hear stories about their god, but

447
00:27:27.160 --> 00:27:29.839
they know that their God hasn't gotten them out of

448
00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:33.799
Babylonian captivity. Don't you think the allure and the and

449
00:27:33.839 --> 00:27:37.160
the pull to another god could not? Could that not

450
00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:39.759
possibly explain it? Should we not at least discuss this?

451
00:27:42.119 --> 00:27:46.000
Are the core beliefs of the Babylonians system polytheism. The

452
00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:49.839
Babylonians worshiped many gods, each with specific roles and attributes.

453
00:27:50.400 --> 00:27:53.480
Their gods were often associated with natural forces the sun,

454
00:27:53.599 --> 00:27:59.200
the moon, the water, and societal function justice, war, and fertility. Well,

455
00:27:59.200 --> 00:28:01.920
if they have god gods dealing with their social functions

456
00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:06.079
or societal functions, guess what they're the They are the captive,

457
00:28:06.559 --> 00:28:10.599
they are the captors, They are the conquerors. They have

458
00:28:10.759 --> 00:28:15.279
conquered Israel. So in some sense, if you're in this system,

459
00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:18.640
you may say, well, maybe there God is greater than

460
00:28:18.640 --> 00:28:20.960
our god. Maybe we should look to their gods because

461
00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:26.759
their gods captured us, destroyed our temple, destroyed our city.

462
00:28:27.759 --> 00:28:31.960
The cosmic order Marduk, the chief god of Babylon was

463
00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:35.240
considered the king of the gods according to the Babylonian mythology,

464
00:28:35.440 --> 00:28:37.559
and then it goes through and talks about everything that

465
00:28:37.640 --> 00:28:42.319
happened here. Anthropomorphic gods. Babylonian gods were depicted as having

466
00:28:42.480 --> 00:28:46.559
human traits, emotions, and weaknesses. They were thought to interact

467
00:28:46.559 --> 00:28:51.720
with humanity, requiring worship, sacrifices, and rituals to maintain favor.

468
00:28:52.880 --> 00:28:56.039
The king, seen as chosen by the gods to rule

469
00:28:56.119 --> 00:29:01.519
on their behalf. Babylonian rulers like Nebaconezer oft the often

470
00:29:01.559 --> 00:29:05.799
credited their victories and accomplishments to the favor of the gods.

471
00:29:05.960 --> 00:29:08.400
See if everyone in Babylon would have been like, we

472
00:29:08.440 --> 00:29:13.519
defeated Israel. Our gods are greater than their gods, and

473
00:29:13.559 --> 00:29:18.559
then it names a number of their false gods, mark Duke, Ishatar,

474
00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:28.839
Nabu sin or Nana, shamesh adad Tamat. They had idols.

475
00:29:28.839 --> 00:29:32.240
The Babylonians created idols to represent their gods, believing these

476
00:29:32.240 --> 00:29:36.920
physical objects housed divine presence. Temples were constructed as places

477
00:29:36.920 --> 00:29:39.799
where gods could descend to interact with humans. Idols were

478
00:29:39.799 --> 00:29:43.799
made of precious materials and treated as sacred, receiving food, drink,

479
00:29:43.960 --> 00:29:47.920
and care, widespread idolatry. I mean, come on, now, we

480
00:29:47.960 --> 00:29:50.359
can understand now when you come to a text here

481
00:29:50.400 --> 00:29:53.960
in Isaiah forty, verses twenty five through thirty one, if

482
00:29:54.000 --> 00:29:56.400
you're going to in any way shape or form, say, okay,

483
00:29:56.680 --> 00:30:01.240
why is God speaking to Judah, who's and Babylonian captivity

484
00:30:01.519 --> 00:30:07.319
about idolatry? Because they are in Babylon. There is idols everywhere,

485
00:30:07.559 --> 00:30:12.119
there's false gods everywhere. It makes perfect sense to why

486
00:30:12.559 --> 00:30:15.799
maybe these things are happening. Now? Is this sermon going

487
00:30:15.839 --> 00:30:20.519
to place this in any form of historical context, cultural context,

488
00:30:20.799 --> 00:30:23.599
textual context, or is it just going to become about

489
00:30:23.640 --> 00:30:27.359
you and me? Well, let's find.

490
00:30:27.160 --> 00:30:32.160
Out so that when God asks this question, it's a

491
00:30:32.200 --> 00:30:37.079
way then of arousing us, of exciting us, of awakening us.

492
00:30:37.279 --> 00:30:40.039
Did you notice, especially early on in that reading of

493
00:30:40.519 --> 00:30:45.160
Isaiah forty, how often that word behold is used by

494
00:30:45.160 --> 00:30:49.000
the prophet as God speaks through him, not only too

495
00:30:49.000 --> 00:30:51.880
ancient Israel, but to us as well. That's a way

496
00:30:51.920 --> 00:30:54.400
of snapping the fingers, that's the way of getting the attention,

497
00:30:54.680 --> 00:30:57.640
that's the way of arresting the mind and of grabbing

498
00:30:57.720 --> 00:31:02.599
the heart, be whole your God, just like verse nine

499
00:31:02.920 --> 00:31:07.400
mentions to us. But verse twenty six, where we're at tonight.

500
00:31:08.680 --> 00:31:13.200
Us us us us us us us, he briefly mentions them,

501
00:31:13.519 --> 00:31:15.599
and again he's is he even going to explain when

502
00:31:15.640 --> 00:31:18.319
he says the prop the prophet wrote this. But the

503
00:31:18.359 --> 00:31:22.680
prophet Isaiah was dead during this time, all right. Remember

504
00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:25.759
he put these words together maybe about some with some

505
00:31:25.799 --> 00:31:28.279
sources say one hundred and thirty years, but about one

506
00:31:28.359 --> 00:31:31.359
hundred years before they even go into captivity. So we

507
00:31:31.480 --> 00:31:33.640
have to at least keep that in mind. Are we

508
00:31:33.640 --> 00:31:36.759
gonna Are we gonna put this in any accurate perspective?

509
00:31:36.960 --> 00:31:38.759
So let's see where this is going to go. I mean,

510
00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:40.759
we don't have a lot of time left with this sermon,

511
00:31:41.279 --> 00:31:43.039
and in fact, we may not even listen to all of

512
00:31:43.079 --> 00:31:46.519
it because I think this is going completely the opposite direction.

513
00:31:46.640 --> 00:31:50.119
I wanted Isaiah forty nine to eleven, so but okay,

514
00:31:50.599 --> 00:31:53.599
I got no problem dealing with twenty five through thirty one.

515
00:31:54.000 --> 00:31:57.440
It's kind of sermon prep way into the future. You're

516
00:31:57.480 --> 00:31:59.160
gonna know where we're gonna go when we get there,

517
00:31:59.200 --> 00:32:01.160
because obviously, when we get there, we're going to talk

518
00:32:01.160 --> 00:32:05.119
about Babylon and well idolatry, so that we understand the context, right,

519
00:32:05.160 --> 00:32:08.119
I mean, wouldn't that be important? I don't know. Possibly.

520
00:32:10.119 --> 00:32:13.519
Knight is a call that God gives to the people.

521
00:32:13.960 --> 00:32:17.279
It's as though he's saying, come on outside, look up

522
00:32:17.319 --> 00:32:20.200
at the sky, so that you might see beyond the

523
00:32:20.240 --> 00:32:25.240
stars and the planets, and behold me, the one who

524
00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:29.359
has fashioned and created and distributed all of them across

525
00:32:29.400 --> 00:32:35.160
the span of the heavens. It's a skillful ordering of

526
00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:40.119
the universe that God wants his people to see, using

527
00:32:40.160 --> 00:32:44.400
that then as a mirror, a reflection by which they

528
00:32:44.480 --> 00:32:49.799
might then behold his surpassing majesty and greatness. Because even

529
00:32:49.839 --> 00:32:52.359
as we confessed there in the Belgian Confession, God, as

530
00:32:52.400 --> 00:32:57.279
scripture teaches, is in his own nature invisible. And yet God,

531
00:32:57.400 --> 00:33:01.799
who is invisible, has given a visible reflection of himself

532
00:33:02.279 --> 00:33:06.039
in the glory and grandeur of creation. And that's what

533
00:33:06.079 --> 00:33:09.400
God is calling the people to remember here. It's a

534
00:33:09.880 --> 00:33:14.319
sort of summons that's well suited to us as human beings,

535
00:33:14.359 --> 00:33:18.200
isn't it. After all? Think about it. Among all of

536
00:33:18.200 --> 00:33:22.279
the earthly creatures, man included, Man is the only one

537
00:33:22.279 --> 00:33:26.079
that laughs and weeps, and man is the only one

538
00:33:26.079 --> 00:33:30.119
who struck with the difference between the way things are

539
00:33:31.480 --> 00:33:36.000
and the way things ought to be. We are reflective

540
00:33:36.559 --> 00:33:40.039
on creation as image bearers of God in a way

541
00:33:40.079 --> 00:33:42.839
that the brute beasts, much less the birds and the

542
00:33:42.880 --> 00:33:45.960
insects and the creepy crawleys never can or will be.

543
00:33:47.200 --> 00:33:49.160
And that was brought home to me at one point,

544
00:33:49.720 --> 00:33:52.400
probably two thousand and six, maybe two thousand and seven.

545
00:33:53.279 --> 00:33:55.759
Karen and the kids at that point had gone out

546
00:33:55.799 --> 00:33:58.720
to Washington already, and I was coming down by myself

547
00:33:58.720 --> 00:34:03.000
from Winnipeg, driving all alone the long trip from Winnipeg

548
00:34:03.079 --> 00:34:06.119
to Portchard, Washington. But I had our dog with us,

549
00:34:06.319 --> 00:34:08.840
and he was in the front seat as my trusting

550
00:34:08.880 --> 00:34:11.800
companion for that trip. And I remember we were just

551
00:34:12.039 --> 00:34:15.880
west of Fargo on Interstate ninety four, and it must

552
00:34:15.920 --> 00:34:17.880
have been around the fourth of July, because they had

553
00:34:17.920 --> 00:34:20.880
this huge fireworks display. It looked like off in the

554
00:34:20.920 --> 00:34:25.199
distance over some rodeo, and I'm driving down the road

555
00:34:25.239 --> 00:34:28.159
looking over there and keeping my eye here and enjoying

556
00:34:28.199 --> 00:34:30.320
the light show. And I tried to get the dog's

557
00:34:30.360 --> 00:34:32.519
attention to have him look at the fireworks and to

558
00:34:32.559 --> 00:34:34.880
see if he would notice them, but he had no

559
00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:37.559
clue about what I was trying to do, much less

560
00:34:37.599 --> 00:34:39.880
of any of the brightness and the brilliance that was

561
00:34:39.920 --> 00:34:44.960
out there for anybody to see. It doesn't work to

562
00:34:45.119 --> 00:34:49.280
draw a dumb animal's attention to the glory of fireworks,

563
00:34:49.559 --> 00:34:53.719
much less to the glory of God displayed in creation.

564
00:34:54.719 --> 00:34:57.639
And so in a nutshell, these words here in verse

565
00:34:57.679 --> 00:35:02.239
twenty six, there their rebus to Israel, because they are

566
00:35:02.480 --> 00:35:06.519
tempted to liken the idle gods of the nations, which

567
00:35:06.599 --> 00:35:10.519
were associated with the stars and the planets and the

568
00:35:10.519 --> 00:35:16.159
creaturely elements of the heavenly bodies, and compare them to

569
00:35:16.239 --> 00:35:20.920
the one who upholds all of what he himself has fashioned.

570
00:35:22.840 --> 00:35:25.159
Now I'm glad he at least mentions Israel. He at

571
00:35:25.239 --> 00:35:28.800
least at least we've gotten back to Israel being mentioned here.

572
00:35:29.280 --> 00:35:33.639
But is he not going to explain why they may

573
00:35:33.719 --> 00:35:37.840
be in this position because they are in Babylonian captivity.

574
00:35:38.119 --> 00:35:41.079
They're going to be there for seventy years at this

575
00:35:41.119 --> 00:35:44.199
point when this is meant, when this message is supposed

576
00:35:44.239 --> 00:35:46.840
to really be applicable to them, Maybe they're getting they're

577
00:35:46.840 --> 00:35:49.239
getting close to the end of those seventy years, so

578
00:35:49.280 --> 00:35:51.480
whenever this message is ultimately I mean, in some ways

579
00:35:51.480 --> 00:35:53.679
the message was given to them before they even get there,

580
00:35:53.880 --> 00:35:56.760
because Isaiah, you know, put it together over one hundred

581
00:35:56.840 --> 00:36:00.000
years before. But the point is this message would if

582
00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:03.800
if you put this in its context. They're in Babylonian captivity. Now,

583
00:36:03.880 --> 00:36:06.239
let's take a minute step back look at the religion

584
00:36:06.280 --> 00:36:09.239
of Babylon, and we could see why they would be

585
00:36:09.320 --> 00:36:12.159
possibly drawn to it. What could possibly lead them to

586
00:36:12.159 --> 00:36:14.920
be drawn to it? What could it be? I don't know.

587
00:36:15.400 --> 00:36:19.760
They're in captivity, their God doesn't appear to be anywhere,

588
00:36:20.119 --> 00:36:24.079
and the gods of Babylon are everywhere, and the gods

589
00:36:24.079 --> 00:36:28.920
of Babylon well has destroyed Jerusalem in their temple and

590
00:36:29.000 --> 00:36:31.360
put them in captivity. So you could see why there

591
00:36:31.400 --> 00:36:35.119
may be, especially in this culture, there could be some thought, hmm,

592
00:36:36.639 --> 00:36:40.280
where is our God? Our God was obviously defeated by

593
00:36:40.320 --> 00:36:42.760
their god. There would be you could see why they

594
00:36:42.760 --> 00:36:45.039
would be drawn to that. Do we not at least

595
00:36:45.079 --> 00:36:49.280
discuss that, do we not at least place it in

596
00:36:49.320 --> 00:36:52.880
any context? Or do we just simply throw our condemnation

597
00:36:53.400 --> 00:36:58.079
upon them?

598
00:36:58.199 --> 00:36:59.280
Do you see.

599
00:37:00.440 --> 00:37:04.000
The minimizing of God that takes place in that the

600
00:37:04.039 --> 00:37:09.159
heavenly bodies are creaturely elements, and the nations worshiped them

601
00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:11.760
rather than the one who had made them.

602
00:37:11.800 --> 00:37:12.960
And even among.

603
00:37:12.719 --> 00:37:17.480
Ancient Near Eastern cosmogonies, the ancient Near Eastern stories of

604
00:37:17.639 --> 00:37:21.079
the origin and development or birth of the world, even

605
00:37:21.119 --> 00:37:25.400
among those ancient Near Eastern stories, there was nothing comparable

606
00:37:25.800 --> 00:37:28.519
to the elegance and the grandeur of what we know

607
00:37:28.599 --> 00:37:29.800
as Genesis Chapter one.

608
00:37:30.639 --> 00:37:32.519
Typically, the ancient Near Eastern.

609
00:37:32.239 --> 00:37:35.400
Stories of how the universe began were it was the

610
00:37:35.400 --> 00:37:38.800
sort of collateral damage from a battle taking place between

611
00:37:38.840 --> 00:37:42.960
the gods, or even gods would have their bodily fluids

612
00:37:43.400 --> 00:37:46.079
cast into the heavens, and that's where the stars and

613
00:37:46.159 --> 00:37:50.920
the planets came from. It's very pagan, very crass, very

614
00:37:51.000 --> 00:37:54.199
much beneath the dignity of the true and living God,

615
00:37:54.239 --> 00:37:56.800
who is the author and maker and framer of all things,

616
00:37:56.920 --> 00:38:03.400
to be associated with that kind of Haagen pornography in religion.

617
00:38:04.880 --> 00:38:09.679
And so while verse twenty six simultaneously destroys the folly

618
00:38:09.719 --> 00:38:13.159
of comparing false gods to the living and true God,

619
00:38:13.679 --> 00:38:16.840
the one who is sovereign overall, it also makes a

620
00:38:17.039 --> 00:38:23.280
solid defense of Yahweh's lordship over heaven and earth, just

621
00:38:23.320 --> 00:38:26.000
like we sing right in number three hundred and two

622
00:38:26.239 --> 00:38:29.039
from oursalter Hymnal. Our Lord is great, he calls by

623
00:38:29.119 --> 00:38:33.119
name and counts the stars of night. His wisdom is unsearchable,

624
00:38:34.039 --> 00:38:39.920
and wondrous is his might verses twenty seven and twenty

625
00:38:39.960 --> 00:38:45.119
eight two verses finishing off our preaching passage per se

626
00:38:45.159 --> 00:38:49.960
tonight basically a word, an extended word of admonishment and

627
00:38:50.039 --> 00:38:54.000
correction that God brings to the people, addressing them formally

628
00:38:54.039 --> 00:38:58.840
as Jacob as Israel, chiding them for thinking that somehow

629
00:38:59.079 --> 00:39:02.480
they're their sinful ways can be hidden from God, from God,

630
00:39:02.519 --> 00:39:05.159
and that the judgment the right, which is what that means,

631
00:39:05.159 --> 00:39:08.920
the judgment they deserve, would be somehow disregarded from God.

632
00:39:09.480 --> 00:39:14.760
And we need to remember that too. Right if we are,

633
00:39:15.360 --> 00:39:18.159
if we are trapped in hypocrisy, or if we go

634
00:39:18.239 --> 00:39:21.480
astray in disobedience, or if we come to a point

635
00:39:21.480 --> 00:39:25.000
where we no longer care in our hearts to serve

636
00:39:25.039 --> 00:39:29.360
the Lord, even though formerly and outwardly things might look good,

637
00:39:30.760 --> 00:39:34.119
Are we so foolish in that state to think that

638
00:39:34.159 --> 00:39:36.880
such can be hidden from God and to think that

639
00:39:36.920 --> 00:39:40.320
He won't be aware of what is in the recesses

640
00:39:40.360 --> 00:39:43.679
of our hearts. Now the idols of the nations, Sure

641
00:39:44.679 --> 00:39:47.239
things can look good on the outside for those who

642
00:39:47.320 --> 00:39:49.960
serve them, because the idols of the nations, like we

643
00:39:50.039 --> 00:39:53.000
sang this morning in Saw one fifteen. They might have eyes,

644
00:39:53.079 --> 00:39:55.760
but they can't see. They might have ears, but they

645
00:39:55.760 --> 00:39:58.400
can't hear. They might have a mouth, but they can't speak.

646
00:39:58.679 --> 00:40:03.199
What a contrast they are like my dog, dumb animals

647
00:40:03.239 --> 00:40:06.039
and idols to the Living and True God, who not

648
00:40:06.079 --> 00:40:08.599
only has eyes, if you will, but who is the

649
00:40:08.639 --> 00:40:12.599
only searcher of hearts, and who knows and sees and

650
00:40:12.760 --> 00:40:19.400
hears all things. For that reason, God reproves the people

651
00:40:20.280 --> 00:40:25.639
for forgetting what they had known and what they should know.

652
00:40:26.159 --> 00:40:33.519
In verse twenty eight, the He alone is the everlasting God,

653
00:40:34.800 --> 00:40:36.239
the creator.

654
00:40:35.920 --> 00:40:37.360
Of all things.

655
00:40:37.400 --> 00:40:39.239
Look at the language at the top of the page

656
00:40:39.239 --> 00:40:43.039
there in seven sixty four, the creator of the ends

657
00:40:43.119 --> 00:40:50.199
of the earth. Perhaps in all of the Old Testament,

658
00:40:51.159 --> 00:40:56.760
perhaps that's very close to the distinguishing mark of Israel's

659
00:40:56.760 --> 00:41:00.519
God in comparison to the idols and false gods of

660
00:41:00.559 --> 00:41:05.880
the nations, is that He, the Holy One, is the

661
00:41:06.000 --> 00:41:08.320
creator of all things.

662
00:41:10.119 --> 00:41:15.480
This is just so bizarre this approach. I it's almost

663
00:41:15.519 --> 00:41:20.519
as if like he makes little callbacks to the original recipients,

664
00:41:20.679 --> 00:41:23.840
but he's not in any way putting these words together

665
00:41:24.320 --> 00:41:28.639
and addressing the people whom they were addressed too. So

666
00:41:29.119 --> 00:41:30.679
if we do a little bit of work here when

667
00:41:30.679 --> 00:41:32.800
we get to Isaiah forty, make sure we remember it

668
00:41:32.840 --> 00:41:35.119
marks a significant shift in the Book of Isaiah. We've

669
00:41:35.119 --> 00:41:38.360
talked about this like a thousand times because Isaiah one

670
00:41:38.400 --> 00:41:41.079
through thirty nine is the message of judgment, and then

671
00:41:41.119 --> 00:41:43.880
we get a message of comfort and hope Isaiah forty.

672
00:41:44.239 --> 00:41:46.000
You could go all the way to sixty six, but

673
00:41:46.119 --> 00:41:49.079
Isaiah forty through fifty five we referred to as the

674
00:41:49.119 --> 00:41:52.760
Book of Comfort or the Book of consolation. Isaiah forty

675
00:41:52.760 --> 00:41:56.760
specifically addresses the exiles and Babylon. In fact, the entire

676
00:41:56.800 --> 00:42:00.280
section does, assuring them, though specifically in chapter forty, of

677
00:42:00.320 --> 00:42:04.440
God's ability and intention to deliver them. This section emphasizes

678
00:42:04.480 --> 00:42:10.320
God's greatness, his sovereignty, and his faithfulness and contrast to

679
00:42:10.360 --> 00:42:13.320
the weakness of human rulers and idols. Now, again this

680
00:42:13.440 --> 00:42:17.000
is going to be very important because the people in

681
00:42:17.039 --> 00:42:19.960
this situation, what are they going to see? They see

682
00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.159
the greatness of Babylon. They see the greatness of their gods,

683
00:42:24.320 --> 00:42:27.880
they see the greatness of their idols, because they're the conquerors,

684
00:42:28.119 --> 00:42:31.800
and they are the ones who have been conquered, all right.

685
00:42:32.679 --> 00:42:39.599
They understand their situation looks hopeless, helpless, It looks depressing, discouraging.

686
00:42:39.719 --> 00:42:43.079
People have come into Babylonian captivity. People have died within

687
00:42:43.159 --> 00:42:46.239
that captivity. Others have been born. That's all they know.

688
00:42:46.599 --> 00:42:50.000
Their situation would be very difficult. Now God brings comfort

689
00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:52.039
to them, but He's got to remind them of very

690
00:42:52.079 --> 00:42:57.599
specific things Isaiah forty twenty five through thirty one. As

691
00:42:57.639 --> 00:43:00.679
a part of a larger argument about God's in comparable

692
00:43:00.719 --> 00:43:04.360
power and care, the prophet confronts the doubts of the

693
00:43:04.400 --> 00:43:09.559
exiled Israelites who may have felt abandoned by God, and

694
00:43:09.599 --> 00:43:12.960
he reminds them of his sovereignty as creator and sustainer.

695
00:43:13.119 --> 00:43:16.960
We've talked about this. These people, even though they theoretically

696
00:43:17.000 --> 00:43:18.719
may believe in a God, they believe in a God

697
00:43:18.760 --> 00:43:21.480
in whom they cannot see. Yet they live in a

698
00:43:21.519 --> 00:43:26.440
situation surrounded by idols and gods who appear and seem

699
00:43:26.480 --> 00:43:29.760
to be the conqueror. The ones that are providing for

700
00:43:29.840 --> 00:43:35.239
these people. These people, their whole everything around them would scream,

701
00:43:35.360 --> 00:43:38.199
where is your God? Everything around them would scream, Your

702
00:43:38.239 --> 00:43:40.719
God is dead, Your God is not there, your God

703
00:43:40.760 --> 00:43:44.119
has abandoned you, or maybe your God doesn't even exist.

704
00:43:45.719 --> 00:43:49.079
That's the power of this passage. To remove it from

705
00:43:49.079 --> 00:43:52.840
its original recipients, destroys its real You can try to

706
00:43:52.840 --> 00:43:59.519
make it powerful about us, but it's really about them

707
00:44:00.320 --> 00:44:03.199
forty twenty five through twenty six. To whom, then, will

708
00:44:03.239 --> 00:44:06.079
you compare me that I should be like him? Says

709
00:44:06.119 --> 00:44:08.639
the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and

710
00:44:08.679 --> 00:44:11.960
see who created these He who brings out their host

711
00:44:12.000 --> 00:44:15.079
by numbers, calling them all by name, by the greatness

712
00:44:15.079 --> 00:44:17.480
of his mind, and because he is strong and power,

713
00:44:17.760 --> 00:44:20.280
not one is missing. This seems to be referring to

714
00:44:20.320 --> 00:44:24.280
the heavens to the stars to look up. God challenges

715
00:44:24.360 --> 00:44:28.199
Israel to consider his uniqueness and greatness. Unlike idols are

716
00:44:28.280 --> 00:44:30.920
human rulers, He is the creator of the universe. They're

717
00:44:30.920 --> 00:44:33.039
going to need to have to. He wants them to know.

718
00:44:33.519 --> 00:44:36.320
I am the Creator. I am greater than all of these.

719
00:44:36.480 --> 00:44:39.159
I know they look greater. I know, in your circumstances

720
00:44:39.199 --> 00:44:45.360
look more powerful, But I am the Creator. The host

721
00:44:45.360 --> 00:44:49.400
here refers to the stars, which are often deified in

722
00:44:49.480 --> 00:44:52.360
ancient Near Eastern cultures. God, however, is shown as the

723
00:44:52.360 --> 00:44:55.920
one who created and commands them, calling them each by name.

724
00:44:56.320 --> 00:44:59.599
This reminder of God's power over creation would reassure the

725
00:44:59.599 --> 00:45:03.159
exile that he is fully capable of orchestrating their deliverance

726
00:45:03.159 --> 00:45:06.760
From Babylon and verses twenty seven through twenty eight, we

727
00:45:06.920 --> 00:45:09.760
read why do you say, oh Jacob and speak O Israel?

728
00:45:09.840 --> 00:45:12.519
My way is hidden from the Lord. My right is

729
00:45:12.599 --> 00:45:15.559
disregarded by my God. Have you not known? Have you

730
00:45:15.639 --> 00:45:18.719
not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator

731
00:45:18.800 --> 00:45:20.800
the ends of the earth. He does not faint or

732
00:45:20.880 --> 00:45:26.199
grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. The exiles felt forgotten

733
00:45:26.400 --> 00:45:29.519
and abandoned, believing their plight was hidden from God, which

734
00:45:29.559 --> 00:45:33.199
makes perfect sense. That's what I've been saying, Israel. Where

735
00:45:33.239 --> 00:45:38.719
is God? They would have abandoned? So what does God

736
00:45:38.800 --> 00:45:41.800
resp How does he respond? He responds with basically some

737
00:45:41.920 --> 00:45:46.000
rhetorical questions. God reminds them of his eternal nature, his

738
00:45:46.119 --> 00:45:49.960
infinite understanding. He is not limited by human weakness like

739
00:45:50.039 --> 00:45:54.679
fatigue or ignorance. This rebuke is a gentle correction. It's

740
00:45:54.719 --> 00:46:00.199
correcting and trying to help their despair, trying to encourage them.

741
00:46:01.960 --> 00:46:04.880
I like, whenhen you put it in context, that makes sense.

742
00:46:06.559 --> 00:46:08.920
Now once again, I want you to see what just happened.

743
00:46:09.119 --> 00:46:11.639
We're listening to a sermon. This takes a passage in

744
00:46:11.719 --> 00:46:16.920
Isaiah forty makes it about us, US US completely, not

745
00:46:16.960 --> 00:46:21.760
even really accurately speaking to the historical He's making reference

746
00:46:21.800 --> 00:46:24.480
to the situation, but he's not really painting a picture

747
00:46:24.480 --> 00:46:26.559
at all so that you can really understand it or

748
00:46:26.599 --> 00:46:29.599
grasp it. And so what did I do while listening?

749
00:46:30.559 --> 00:46:34.599
I immediately just started doing some basic questioning and asking

750
00:46:34.639 --> 00:46:40.320
things to an artificial intelligence. It went within five seconds

751
00:46:41.199 --> 00:46:45.840
five count them one, two, three, four five. AI broke

752
00:46:45.920 --> 00:46:48.679
down Isaiah forty twenty five through thirty one and what

753
00:46:48.760 --> 00:46:54.440
it would have meitt to the original recipients within five seconds.

754
00:46:57.360 --> 00:46:59.679
This is exactly why we're doing the entire series on

755
00:46:59.760 --> 00:47:03.840
artify official intelligence. I'm telling you we are yet defined.

756
00:47:03.920 --> 00:47:08.199
So far, artificial intelligence has beaten every single sermon that

757
00:47:08.239 --> 00:47:11.760
we have listened to. And this was not the goal

758
00:47:11.800 --> 00:47:14.920
here was not even to compare AI to this sermon.

759
00:47:14.960 --> 00:47:17.039
The goal here was supposed to be a sermon on

760
00:47:17.079 --> 00:47:19.320
Isaiah forty nine through eleven, And I was just doing

761
00:47:19.320 --> 00:47:21.760
a little sermon prep and wanted to hear some discussion

762
00:47:21.840 --> 00:47:23.480
on that section. Well, it turns out it's not a

763
00:47:23.480 --> 00:47:25.679
sermon on Isaiah forty nine through eleven. I don't even

764
00:47:25.719 --> 00:47:28.320
know why it's listed. It's really about twenty five through

765
00:47:28.320 --> 00:47:30.760
thirty one. But even the handling of Isaiah forty twenty

766
00:47:30.800 --> 00:47:33.519
five through thirty one has, even though it's made brief

767
00:47:33.559 --> 00:47:36.960
references to the historical context, has kind completely abandoned the

768
00:47:37.039 --> 00:47:39.239
historical context, and right out of the gate was making

769
00:47:39.280 --> 00:47:41.320
it about me, me, me, me, me, you you you,

770
00:47:41.480 --> 00:47:43.280
and forgot about them and.

771
00:47:43.159 --> 00:47:49.199
They, And unlike the idols of the nations, look at

772
00:47:49.199 --> 00:47:53.280
the verse. God won't grow faint, he won't grow weary.

773
00:47:54.760 --> 00:47:56.840
Even though the people at this point are strangers in

774
00:47:56.880 --> 00:48:03.000
a strange land, exiles, yet they remember God's faithfulness to

775
00:48:03.119 --> 00:48:05.880
chasten the ones that he loves. That's what Hebrews twelve

776
00:48:05.920 --> 00:48:09.440
reminds us. Even though chastening is unpleasant and none of

777
00:48:09.480 --> 00:48:12.719
us like to endure it, yet chastening is a sign

778
00:48:12.760 --> 00:48:15.719
of sonship and a reminder to those who are chastened

779
00:48:15.800 --> 00:48:19.159
by the Lord that he loves them, since God chastens

780
00:48:19.360 --> 00:48:22.760
those he loves, and he scourges all of his sons,

781
00:48:23.159 --> 00:48:25.719
because God has by no means cast the people off,

782
00:48:25.880 --> 00:48:29.320
even though they be strangers in a strange land. But

783
00:48:29.360 --> 00:48:31.960
according to his promise that he has spoken to them,

784
00:48:33.159 --> 00:48:35.679
he will bring to pass by his almighty power, that

785
00:48:35.760 --> 00:48:41.440
restoration under Cyrus. Yet at this point a yet future date.

786
00:48:43.480 --> 00:48:47.280
Okay, that's awesome. He finally mentioned them, and he even

787
00:48:47.320 --> 00:48:52.480
mentioned Cyrus. I love that. Okay, so great, that's awesome

788
00:48:53.000 --> 00:48:58.159
that I'm gonna be I mean, hey, he actually even

789
00:48:58.280 --> 00:49:01.880
used them. He actually use the phrase instead of us.

790
00:49:01.679 --> 00:49:02.800
That's a good thing.

791
00:49:05.920 --> 00:49:08.599
So as we look at that kind of a survey

792
00:49:09.679 --> 00:49:14.039
of verses twenty six through twenty eight, how do we

793
00:49:14.119 --> 00:49:19.760
unfold things Because we're not in ancient Israel, we don't

794
00:49:19.800 --> 00:49:22.079
live in the same kind of culture that the ancient

795
00:49:22.119 --> 00:49:27.199
Near East had, and there's a certain distance that's created

796
00:49:27.280 --> 00:49:29.800
because of many factors between the world of the Old

797
00:49:29.840 --> 00:49:34.199
Testament and our own day and age. Right, let's pick

798
00:49:34.280 --> 00:49:37.320
up on a few things from these passages, from these

799
00:49:37.400 --> 00:49:42.960
verses to consider tonight.

800
00:49:40.880 --> 00:49:43.360
Now immediately, so he's already done now going through the text,

801
00:49:43.719 --> 00:49:46.559
so there was very little connecting it to the original recipients.

802
00:49:46.599 --> 00:49:50.679
Did not even didn't even really explain why the idolatry

803
00:49:50.679 --> 00:49:54.239
could have even been important ignored about the religious culture

804
00:49:54.239 --> 00:49:56.880
of Babylon at the time, didn't. I. I mean, we

805
00:49:56.920 --> 00:50:00.400
worked through it just using AI and we already covered

806
00:50:00.400 --> 00:50:02.920
the text better than this has been covered. But immediately, now,

807
00:50:02.920 --> 00:50:05.199
where are we going to Let's make it about us?

808
00:50:07.519 --> 00:50:10.119
So basically it starts with us, it ends with us,

809
00:50:10.159 --> 00:50:13.880
and the original recipients just get bare just a little

810
00:50:13.920 --> 00:50:17.880
bit of mention. I am grateful he at least mentions them,

811
00:50:18.360 --> 00:50:22.639
but then it kind of messed up a message to

812
00:50:22.800 --> 00:50:27.039
people suffering. We reach in, knock it out of their

813
00:50:27.039 --> 00:50:33.239
hand and say that's for me. I'm not saying there

814
00:50:33.239 --> 00:50:36.199
aren't things we can learn from it, But let's see

815
00:50:36.239 --> 00:50:39.119
what things he gives us, because are we about to

816
00:50:39.159 --> 00:50:41.920
be given? Are they somehow? Are we going to take

817
00:50:41.960 --> 00:50:44.119
some of this as being about us, as somehow their

818
00:50:44.199 --> 00:50:46.400
promises for us? Here, let's see where this goes.

819
00:50:49.000 --> 00:50:53.800
In the first place, God is our God, and that

820
00:50:53.880 --> 00:50:57.079
perhaps is the most wonderful of all of the wonders

821
00:50:57.079 --> 00:51:01.519
there are to consider. He has covenanted with us, which

822
00:51:01.559 --> 00:51:03.840
is a way of saying he has decided of his

823
00:51:03.880 --> 00:51:07.599
own will and purpose to enter into a relationship with

824
00:51:07.679 --> 00:51:10.960
us for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember

825
00:51:10.960 --> 00:51:14.119
that promise, boys and girls, young people, I will be

826
00:51:14.239 --> 00:51:19.079
your God and you will be my people. Well, that's

827
00:51:19.119 --> 00:51:22.760
a big part of why he's addressing Israel at this point.

828
00:51:24.519 --> 00:51:26.360
I will be your God and you will be my people.

829
00:51:27.400 --> 00:51:29.159
Is that a reference to us or was that a

830
00:51:29.199 --> 00:51:36.800
reference to Israel? He is he referencing Jeremiah? Is he

831
00:51:36.880 --> 00:51:40.760
referencing Ezekiel? Now he is saying this is important Israel.

832
00:51:40.800 --> 00:51:42.679
So he is going to return back to Israel. Okay,

833
00:51:42.960 --> 00:51:43.920
let's see where it goes.

834
00:51:46.000 --> 00:51:48.920
And that's why he still ministers to us by his

835
00:51:48.960 --> 00:51:51.719
word today. And God would have us to keep that

836
00:51:51.800 --> 00:51:53.800
in mind. Would you have us to keep it in heart?

837
00:51:54.320 --> 00:52:00.719
Because listen, even when or as we are disciplined, God

838
00:52:00.840 --> 00:52:05.280
has our good in view, doesn't he. If the Church

839
00:52:05.360 --> 00:52:09.360
comes to a time of loneliness, then the Church shouldn't

840
00:52:09.360 --> 00:52:12.360
give up and despair as if all is lost and

841
00:52:12.440 --> 00:52:15.320
there is no hope or help for the future. With

842
00:52:15.440 --> 00:52:18.760
God as the one covenanting with us, we are never alone,

843
00:52:19.519 --> 00:52:22.079
much less can we ever be abandoned.

844
00:52:23.000 --> 00:52:24.400
Instead, when we.

845
00:52:24.400 --> 00:52:28.800
Endure times of trial or chastening from the Lord, he

846
00:52:28.920 --> 00:52:33.119
uses those to purify us. He uses trials and tribulations

847
00:52:33.119 --> 00:52:36.440
to solidify our standing on the solid rock of Christ

848
00:52:36.599 --> 00:52:39.559
when we entrust ourselves into His care. During the midst

849
00:52:39.599 --> 00:52:44.559
of them, he uses affliction to embitter us to this

850
00:52:44.760 --> 00:52:48.960
world that He might then use adversity in the reminder

851
00:52:49.000 --> 00:52:52.719
of his promises to endere the world to come and

852
00:52:52.840 --> 00:52:55.440
all of the treasure found for us in Christ to

853
00:52:55.559 --> 00:52:59.639
our hearts. And that's what we need to remember, perhaps

854
00:52:59.639 --> 00:53:02.320
most of all, when we consider the wonder of God,

855
00:53:02.920 --> 00:53:05.840
that he designs all things, that He is working out

856
00:53:05.880 --> 00:53:09.800
in our lives for our good, that on the end

857
00:53:10.320 --> 00:53:12.679
He might be glorified and praised.

858
00:53:14.159 --> 00:53:18.119
In the second place, a lot of that was about

859
00:53:18.199 --> 00:53:20.199
us and not about them. And I think we could

860
00:53:20.199 --> 00:53:22.639
get into a really we could. Now we could put

861
00:53:22.639 --> 00:53:27.239
this down as a discussion question, because it's a common

862
00:53:27.320 --> 00:53:34.440
teaching within most evangelical fundamentalist non Catholic world. How Catholicism

863
00:53:34.480 --> 00:53:37.840
would I'd have to go verify some things. But in

864
00:53:37.880 --> 00:53:42.079
the non Catholic world and the Protestant evangelical fundamentalist Reformed world.

865
00:53:42.719 --> 00:53:47.880
It is a common teaching that God chastens us right

866
00:53:48.400 --> 00:53:54.039
in order to purify us right, so that God brings

867
00:53:54.639 --> 00:53:59.679
trial or difficulty or suffering. A lot of times it's

868
00:53:59.760 --> 00:54:02.960
view as it's happening because he is chasing, He's punishing

869
00:54:03.039 --> 00:54:06.360
us for some sin to purify us. But let's let's

870
00:54:06.400 --> 00:54:08.000
I think we have to really this is a very

871
00:54:08.000 --> 00:54:10.519
complicated question, and I know it's going to tick some

872
00:54:10.559 --> 00:54:14.000
people off. But does any of that really purify us?

873
00:54:16.280 --> 00:54:19.519
Is there any true purifying now? If it, I think it,

874
00:54:19.559 --> 00:54:21.719
They're there, I think it. If if if it works

875
00:54:21.760 --> 00:54:26.360
this way, if chastening makes us come to the realization

876
00:54:26.679 --> 00:54:31.199
of our sin, this is important. We see it, we

877
00:54:31.320 --> 00:54:34.199
acknowledge it, and then we are driven to the cross

878
00:54:34.320 --> 00:54:37.679
to confess it, and then we are cleaned by the

879
00:54:37.719 --> 00:54:41.000
blood of Jesus Christ. Then yes, if we confess our sins,

880
00:54:41.000 --> 00:54:43.559
He's faithful and just forgive us our sins and he

881
00:54:43.639 --> 00:54:47.440
cleanses us of all unrighteousness. If it works that way,

882
00:54:47.440 --> 00:54:50.559
then okay, But most preachers don't teach it that way.

883
00:54:50.800 --> 00:54:54.519
It's like the chastening purifies me in a practical way.

884
00:54:54.679 --> 00:54:58.400
But how pure can God? How pure can chastening actually

885
00:54:58.480 --> 00:55:01.679
make me. It may make me frame from an outward

886
00:55:02.480 --> 00:55:06.800
action or an outward behavior, but it's never truly going

887
00:55:06.880 --> 00:55:10.480
to purify me because all of my problems originate from

888
00:55:10.519 --> 00:55:13.880
my sinful nature. All the chasening in the world, all

889
00:55:13.920 --> 00:55:18.480
the beating, the pain, the suffering, is never going to

890
00:55:18.599 --> 00:55:22.079
change my sinful nature. My sinful nature will remain intact

891
00:55:22.199 --> 00:55:27.239
until glorification. So therefore chasening never changes the nature of

892
00:55:27.400 --> 00:55:32.239
where sin originates from. It may cause behavioral modification because

893
00:55:32.360 --> 00:55:35.559
I'm tired of being suffering. But even in Israel's case,

894
00:55:35.760 --> 00:55:38.840
did all of this seventy years of chasening did it

895
00:55:38.880 --> 00:55:43.199
actually fix them? Because we know it's not long that

896
00:55:43.199 --> 00:55:49.360
they're right back under Roman control, they are delivered, and

897
00:55:49.400 --> 00:55:52.440
God has to send profits to rebuke them, to say, hey,

898
00:55:52.760 --> 00:55:55.480
you need to finish the temple of those types of things,

899
00:55:56.559 --> 00:55:59.440
So did it really just chasing? When we think of

900
00:55:59.519 --> 00:56:02.679
chasening purifying, how does it really purify us?

901
00:56:02.679 --> 00:56:02.840
Now?

902
00:56:02.840 --> 00:56:06.960
If chastening makes me realize my sin and drives me

903
00:56:07.039 --> 00:56:10.039
to Christ to confess it that I am finding the

904
00:56:10.079 --> 00:56:12.880
cleansing that comes from the imputed righteousness, from the finished

905
00:56:12.920 --> 00:56:16.440
work of Jesus Christ, that's not a practical purifying That

906
00:56:16.559 --> 00:56:20.840
is my positional I'm already purified positionally, But is it

907
00:56:20.920 --> 00:56:23.320
is purifying me in a fellowship kind of way. I

908
00:56:23.320 --> 00:56:26.000
guess we could go along that line that way, but

909
00:56:26.079 --> 00:56:29.800
in a practical way. Let me just think about it,

910
00:56:29.880 --> 00:56:35.159
no matter how. Let's say I receive fifteen different times

911
00:56:35.239 --> 00:56:38.679
of chastisement in some form of punishment that God pours

912
00:56:38.719 --> 00:56:42.440
into my life, fifteen different times. Right, and let's say

913
00:56:42.559 --> 00:56:46.639
there it goes from minor to severe. Right, Let's say

914
00:56:46.639 --> 00:56:50.360
that my seizure disorder the reason I have seizures and

915
00:56:50.400 --> 00:56:53.280
neurological problems. Let's say it's a chastening from God, that

916
00:56:53.320 --> 00:56:56.199
God is punishing me for my sin. Well, I don't

917
00:56:56.199 --> 00:56:58.440
even know how many seizures I've had. I've lost count Okay,

918
00:56:58.480 --> 00:57:01.360
the number is some steam green, crazy number. Okay, but

919
00:57:01.800 --> 00:57:03.840
let's let's take that and each one of those are

920
00:57:03.880 --> 00:57:06.519
impacting my brain. And you know, well, sooner a letter,

921
00:57:06.559 --> 00:57:08.480
it's gonna it's gonna be the thing that ends me. Okay,

922
00:57:08.480 --> 00:57:12.239
that's great, But let's say it's chastening. You know what,

923
00:57:13.119 --> 00:57:17.920
I could have fifteen seizures today, I could have thirty seizures. Today,

924
00:57:18.119 --> 00:57:21.800
I could find myself laying in a pull of blood

925
00:57:22.239 --> 00:57:24.280
just crying out to God that I'm a sinner. I'm

926
00:57:24.320 --> 00:57:26.719
a sinner. I'm a sinner. You know what. All no

927
00:57:26.719 --> 00:57:28.719
matter how many seizures I have, you know what's not

928
00:57:28.760 --> 00:57:31.440
gonna change. I'm still not gonna love God with all

929
00:57:31.440 --> 00:57:34.079
my own body and soul because I'm incapable of doing

930
00:57:34.079 --> 00:57:36.679
that because of the sinful nature. I'm still not gonna

931
00:57:36.679 --> 00:57:38.719
be holy as God is holy, because I will never

932
00:57:38.760 --> 00:57:41.599
be holy as God is holy. So there is a

933
00:57:41.639 --> 00:57:53.119
limit to whatever purifying can even happen. Right Oh, I

934
00:57:53.360 --> 00:57:57.960
wasn't predicting that we would end up here. Now. See

935
00:57:57.960 --> 00:58:01.159
this is now, this right here, what we're doing right now,

936
00:58:01.280 --> 00:58:04.360
This is why listening to sermons is good. As frustrated

937
00:58:04.400 --> 00:58:07.159
as I've been in the sermon, because once again we

938
00:58:07.159 --> 00:58:09.760
go to Isaiah forty and immediately becomes about us. You

939
00:58:09.760 --> 00:58:11.960
see why we listen to sermons, because now we're having

940
00:58:12.000 --> 00:58:17.400
a very important conversation about chastisement and purifying. I don't

941
00:58:17.400 --> 00:58:20.079
know if that really is what Isaiah forty twenty five

942
00:58:20.119 --> 00:58:22.360
to thirty one is necessarily about, because I think it's

943
00:58:22.360 --> 00:58:25.760
more about encouragement. But okay, but that's all right. Now

944
00:58:25.800 --> 00:58:27.760
we can take this and we can do something with this.

945
00:58:27.840 --> 00:58:30.280
We can have some very important conversations about this.

946
00:58:33.239 --> 00:58:37.280
Let's remember here as well, the God has made us

947
00:58:37.440 --> 00:58:41.639
to be in relationship with himself. He has fitted us

948
00:58:41.760 --> 00:58:45.760
uniquely as human beings, as his image bearers.

949
00:58:47.519 --> 00:58:51.079
Please note all these applications as usus us us us

950
00:58:51.559 --> 00:59:01.079
us us us us us us us us. Oh, the

951
00:59:01.119 --> 00:59:04.360
poor people of Israel, the poor people of Judah, how

952
00:59:04.440 --> 00:59:09.400
quickly we simply just make it about us? I mean,

953
00:59:09.480 --> 00:59:10.639
come on, here we go.

954
00:59:12.519 --> 00:59:17.320
He has designed us to hear him. Now, granted, the

955
00:59:17.400 --> 00:59:19.280
fall into sin has thrown that.

956
00:59:19.400 --> 00:59:20.280
All out of whack.

957
00:59:21.360 --> 00:59:23.960
But as those who have the grace of God at

958
00:59:23.960 --> 00:59:27.039
work in their lives, whose eyes have been open and

959
00:59:27.079 --> 00:59:31.119
whose ears have been unstopped, we are now back into

960
00:59:31.199 --> 00:59:35.039
that position where we are able, not perfectly yet, but

961
00:59:35.079 --> 00:59:37.760
where we are able to hear God and to respond

962
00:59:37.880 --> 00:59:40.920
to Him, and to embrace all of what He sets

963
00:59:40.960 --> 00:59:45.840
before us in humility. The picture of verse twenty six

964
00:59:47.119 --> 00:59:50.840
is a picture especially especially framed for us.

965
00:59:50.920 --> 00:59:51.280
Isn't it?

966
00:59:53.000 --> 00:59:54.480
Have you ever gone out?

967
00:59:55.559 --> 00:59:59.519
Is twenty six perfectly framed for us? Or is twenty

968
00:59:59.559 --> 01:00:03.280
six per perfectly framed for I don't know the original recipients,

969
01:00:04.320 --> 01:00:11.719
which the text mentions by name. Why sayest thou, oh Jacob,

970
01:00:11.760 --> 01:00:17.760
and speakest o Israel? It could it be perfectly designed

971
01:00:17.800 --> 01:00:21.639
for them living in that time? Or guess what you

972
01:00:21.679 --> 01:00:24.719
don't have? You don't have big cities where the night

973
01:00:24.880 --> 01:00:29.239
sky is wiped out because of all the light. They

974
01:00:29.639 --> 01:00:32.679
lived at a time in captivity where at night they

975
01:00:32.719 --> 01:00:37.239
could look up and see the heavenly host and all

976
01:00:37.280 --> 01:00:44.119
of their brilliance. Would it be perfectly designed for them?

977
01:00:44.599 --> 01:00:45.079
I don't know.

978
01:00:47.320 --> 01:00:53.360
Sideboys and girls on a starry night, a clear, starry night,

979
01:00:54.760 --> 01:00:57.960
maybe not somewhere here in town where you have what

980
01:00:58.000 --> 01:01:00.800
do they call the light that destroys doesn't destroy, but

981
01:01:00.840 --> 01:01:03.760
it prevents seeing things as as clearly as you could,

982
01:01:04.079 --> 01:01:06.960
whatever that's called. You can't always see the light in

983
01:01:07.000 --> 01:01:09.360
the heavenly in the heavenly space.

984
01:01:11.119 --> 01:01:15.119
Exactly. So this is not perfectly designed for us. It's

985
01:01:15.159 --> 01:01:25.000
perfectly designed I don't know for the original recipients.

986
01:01:21.840 --> 01:01:25.199
Because of street lights or house lights down below. But

987
01:01:25.239 --> 01:01:26.760
if you're out in the fields or out in the

988
01:01:26.760 --> 01:01:29.000
countries at night and it's clear, you can see a

989
01:01:29.039 --> 01:01:34.039
whole host of stars scattered across the heavens. And think

990
01:01:34.079 --> 01:01:37.880
of what a unique position we are in, as those

991
01:01:38.119 --> 01:01:41.880
formed by God to consider something like the call of

992
01:01:41.960 --> 01:01:45.880
verse twenty six. He has made us to walk up rightly,

993
01:01:46.280 --> 01:01:51.440
hasn't he? Our natural posture is to see forward and

994
01:01:51.519 --> 01:01:55.440
to look outward and upward. And in the very design

995
01:01:55.920 --> 01:01:59.039
of how God has made us in that way, there's

996
01:01:59.039 --> 01:02:01.239
a reminder that we are all then to have our

997
01:02:01.280 --> 01:02:04.559
hearts and our minds lifted up not to the creation,

998
01:02:05.639 --> 01:02:10.320
but to Him who has made all things. Contrast that

999
01:02:10.400 --> 01:02:14.599
to my dog or your dog. A dog's world is

1000
01:02:14.639 --> 01:02:17.519
through its nose. I let my dog outside, and he

1001
01:02:17.679 --> 01:02:20.480
can't look up to save his life. He's too busy

1002
01:02:20.800 --> 01:02:24.320
sniffing all over the ground to find something interesting, either

1003
01:02:24.360 --> 01:02:28.639
to mark or to roll in. What a difference there

1004
01:02:28.760 --> 01:02:33.000
is between us and the animals. God has formed us

1005
01:02:33.039 --> 01:02:37.519
to consider higher things and to have our hearts lifted

1006
01:02:37.599 --> 01:02:41.039
up to Him. But that's not easy to do, is it?

1007
01:02:41.920 --> 01:02:44.239
We heard this morning on the first commandment and the

1008
01:02:44.280 --> 01:02:47.880
wholehearted devotion that God calls us to render. Sometimes that

1009
01:02:47.960 --> 01:02:51.480
seems elusive. Sometimes that seems like something we can never reach.

1010
01:02:51.679 --> 01:02:54.519
Sometimes that seems like something, quite frankly, that we don't

1011
01:02:54.599 --> 01:02:59.519
even want to pursue.

1012
01:02:57.719 --> 01:03:02.960
Because guess why, the law is not something we can do.

1013
01:03:03.480 --> 01:03:07.199
The law reveals what we cannot do, and the law

1014
01:03:07.320 --> 01:03:10.480
drives us to the one who did, And then we

1015
01:03:10.519 --> 01:03:14.800
are saved by imputed righteousness, not infused. We are saved

1016
01:03:14.840 --> 01:03:18.840
by his lawkeeping. And that lawkeeping of his is imputed

1017
01:03:18.840 --> 01:03:22.400
to my account, because I never will and never can

1018
01:03:22.519 --> 01:03:23.199
keep the law.

1019
01:03:23.400 --> 01:03:26.239
The law is simply there to reveal to me that

1020
01:03:26.400 --> 01:03:29.360
I can't and drive me to the one who can.

1021
01:03:30.079 --> 01:03:33.519
Why do we keep thinking that we can? We cannot?

1022
01:03:33.719 --> 01:03:38.599
I don't unders. It's like basic Reformation teaching that the

1023
01:03:38.639 --> 01:03:42.480
whole proper distinction between law and gospel. The law says

1024
01:03:42.559 --> 01:03:45.880
do this, but and we cannot do it, and the

1025
01:03:45.880 --> 01:03:49.079
Gospel says, but he did for on our behalf right.

1026
01:03:49.119 --> 01:03:50.880
But again, I don't know what any of this has

1027
01:03:50.920 --> 01:03:53.480
to do with the people who this was originally given to,

1028
01:03:53.559 --> 01:03:58.440
who are in Babylonian captivity. I don't understand. If we

1029
01:03:58.519 --> 01:04:01.719
put it in its proper content, this passage is much

1030
01:04:01.760 --> 01:04:04.000
more powerful. And what's the lesson that would then be

1031
01:04:04.079 --> 01:04:09.599
deriven to us? Is seeing God right even when everything

1032
01:04:09.679 --> 01:04:12.840
around us screams that our God is not present or

1033
01:04:12.840 --> 01:04:16.719
there seeing God's glory, God's greatness, God's power, even when

1034
01:04:16.760 --> 01:04:20.440
circumstances and situations, and even when other gods appear to

1035
01:04:20.480 --> 01:04:23.239
be more powerful and greater than our God. That's the

1036
01:04:23.280 --> 01:04:25.719
situation these people found themselves. If you'll just take a

1037
01:04:25.719 --> 01:04:29.559
few minutes to study the religion of Babylon at this time.

1038
01:04:32.920 --> 01:04:38.320
What we need, then, by God's grace, is a perspective

1039
01:04:38.519 --> 01:04:42.719
shift in the way we think. We need to be

1040
01:04:42.760 --> 01:04:47.199
captivated by the wonder of God. We need to have

1041
01:04:47.280 --> 01:04:52.800
our hearts enlarged by considering the greatness of our Creator.

1042
01:04:53.800 --> 01:04:56.559
We need to be able to think away from short

1043
01:04:56.639 --> 01:05:00.400
term focus to the long term focus. We need to

1044
01:05:00.400 --> 01:05:02.760
be able to think away from the small picture to

1045
01:05:02.840 --> 01:05:07.000
the big picture, away from things that are temporal and

1046
01:05:07.119 --> 01:05:12.639
shortsighted to that which is eternal and unending. In short,

1047
01:05:13.559 --> 01:05:15.920
we need to be able to turn away from self

1048
01:05:16.079 --> 01:05:18.280
thoughts to having.

1049
01:05:18.000 --> 01:05:19.199
God word thoughts.

1050
01:05:19.920 --> 01:05:22.000
That's the call that He gives to us in his

1051
01:05:22.039 --> 01:05:24.159
word at any number of places.

1052
01:05:27.239 --> 01:05:30.199
Isaiah forty twenty five to thirty one. Is not a

1053
01:05:30.239 --> 01:05:33.159
call to us, It's a call to the people. I

1054
01:05:33.199 --> 01:05:36.199
don't know what mentions them by name. I don't how

1055
01:05:36.199 --> 01:05:38.320
many times I have to say this. I don't know

1056
01:05:38.480 --> 01:05:41.079
why it's so complicated, but okay, all right.

1057
01:05:43.119 --> 01:05:45.599
And by his grace, that's what he enables us to do.

1058
01:05:45.760 --> 01:05:48.400
When we hear a passage like this, and he says,

1059
01:05:48.440 --> 01:05:54.639
behold your God in a third place to consider in

1060
01:05:54.719 --> 01:06:00.320
light of our passage tonight. God also treats us, and

1061
01:06:00.360 --> 01:06:03.199
he addresses ancient Israel as he does us. If you

1062
01:06:03.239 --> 01:06:05.320
look through the letters of the New Testament, for example,

1063
01:06:05.320 --> 01:06:08.679
boys and girls, he treats us as those who are

1064
01:06:08.719 --> 01:06:14.639
responsible for our behavior and for our actions. Right, there's

1065
01:06:14.679 --> 01:06:17.679
no Flip Wilson theology. We can't say the devil made

1066
01:06:17.719 --> 01:06:18.159
me do it.

1067
01:06:22.239 --> 01:06:29.440
Hey, Flip Wilson reference? What year was this sermon? Flip Wilson?

1068
01:06:29.599 --> 01:06:32.840
I don't even remember? But when when did Flip Wilson live?

1069
01:06:32.960 --> 01:06:36.119
Hang on? I got a Flip Wilson reference. Okay, I

1070
01:06:36.119 --> 01:06:39.400
gotta look this up. Okay, this is a Flip Wilson

1071
01:06:39.440 --> 01:06:42.719
reference in twenty twenty five. Hang on, let's when did

1072
01:06:42.760 --> 01:06:45.280
he win? I gotta hang on, I gotta ask Google

1073
01:06:45.719 --> 01:06:53.320
Flip Wilson. Okay, Flip Wilson. He uh he died in

1074
01:06:53.440 --> 01:06:57.320
nineteen ninety eight. He was born in nineteen thirty three.

1075
01:06:58.039 --> 01:07:00.280
He was a comedian, and I think I think he

1076
01:07:00.400 --> 01:07:02.119
was famous for saying, the devil made me do it,

1077
01:07:02.159 --> 01:07:03.960
the devil made me do it again. I don't know

1078
01:07:04.000 --> 01:07:05.840
what any of this has to do with Isaiah forty

1079
01:07:06.400 --> 01:07:09.480
twenty five through thirty one, but a Flip Wilson reference.

1080
01:07:09.719 --> 01:07:12.480
I know the church is always behind about ten years.

1081
01:07:12.599 --> 01:07:16.760
That's that's all. That's an old reference. Okay, all right,

1082
01:07:16.880 --> 01:07:18.760
I had to look that up. That's a long time ago.

1083
01:07:18.800 --> 01:07:21.639
All right, here we go.

1084
01:07:21.639 --> 01:07:25.800
God has created us as those who are accountable before Him,

1085
01:07:26.280 --> 01:07:30.559
and that's something worth keeping in mind. All human beings,

1086
01:07:30.719 --> 01:07:36.239
wheresoever they might be found, are without excuse before God.

1087
01:07:36.360 --> 01:07:41.039
No one compleat ignorance of any kind.

1088
01:07:42.000 --> 01:07:45.679
We'll just stop there, because I mean, we're not. I mean, obviously,

1089
01:07:45.719 --> 01:07:47.960
there's only a couple of minutes left, there's I mean,

1090
01:07:47.960 --> 01:07:53.280
we're I don't know what happened. So I looked up

1091
01:07:53.320 --> 01:07:55.320
the sermon on Isaiah forty nine through eleven. Now, this

1092
01:07:55.360 --> 01:07:57.599
is one of the fun things about doing sermon reviews. Right,

1093
01:07:57.639 --> 01:08:00.000
Because I go in blind, right, I go in blonde

1094
01:08:00.199 --> 01:08:01.920
because I don't want to listen to them first, because

1095
01:08:01.920 --> 01:08:03.880
then it's like, oh, you're picking a sermon you don't like,

1096
01:08:03.920 --> 01:08:07.599
you're picking a sermon to criticize, or it comes across

1097
01:08:07.639 --> 01:08:10.000
as overly produced, right, I like listening to it in

1098
01:08:10.039 --> 01:08:12.000
a real time. I listened to sermons, So if I'm

1099
01:08:12.000 --> 01:08:13.679
going to listen to them, why not listen to them

1100
01:08:13.840 --> 01:08:17.720
online live so that we can all learn. Just take

1101
01:08:17.760 --> 01:08:20.720
the sermon apart. But the goal here was Isaiah forty

1102
01:08:20.800 --> 01:08:23.319
nine through eleven. That was the goal. Because I'm doing

1103
01:08:23.319 --> 01:08:25.119
sermon prep, because that's why I'm going to be covering

1104
01:08:25.119 --> 01:08:28.359
tomorrow right now, so I've been working and working and

1105
01:08:28.399 --> 01:08:30.600
working on Isaiah forty nine through eleven. Is in our

1106
01:08:30.640 --> 01:08:33.199
series Isaiah forty through fifty five. So we get here.

1107
01:08:33.239 --> 01:08:35.520
The sermon is not even about Isaiah forty nine through eleven.

1108
01:08:35.600 --> 01:08:39.119
It's about Isaiah forty twenty five through thirty one. All right, great, fine,

1109
01:08:39.920 --> 01:08:44.479
we but it became about us, not about them. That's

1110
01:08:44.479 --> 01:08:46.439
a problem. I think if you were to put it

1111
01:08:46.560 --> 01:08:48.720
more about them and especially the context in which they

1112
01:08:48.720 --> 01:08:52.159
find themselves, you can kind of understand their being drawn

1113
01:08:52.159 --> 01:08:55.840
to idolatry. You can understand why this is happening. Especially

1114
01:08:55.840 --> 01:08:58.159
if you just spend a few minutes staying the religion

1115
01:08:58.199 --> 01:09:01.079
of Babylon at the time of Judas captivity, you would

1116
01:09:01.079 --> 01:09:07.640
have understood polytheistic idols everywhere they built, these temples, these

1117
01:09:07.680 --> 01:09:12.560
places where the gods would since interact with people, all

1118
01:09:12.560 --> 01:09:14.279
the different things about it. We went through all of

1119
01:09:14.319 --> 01:09:17.319
it briefly, and we looked all of that up. If

1120
01:09:17.319 --> 01:09:20.880
you break the text down and apply it specifically to

1121
01:09:21.000 --> 01:09:24.600
them first, there are some lessons that can be brought

1122
01:09:24.680 --> 01:09:27.319
over to us, but those lessons have to be connected

1123
01:09:27.319 --> 01:09:29.000
to what the text actually means. You just can't just

1124
01:09:29.039 --> 01:09:31.319
reach in there and just pull anything out of it.

1125
01:09:31.640 --> 01:09:35.439
So the whole thing was maddening and frustrating. Inevitably, I

1126
01:09:35.439 --> 01:09:38.039
didn't even realize this is going to happen. What we've

1127
01:09:38.079 --> 01:09:40.880
been doing in twenty twenty five is comparing sermons to

1128
01:09:40.960 --> 01:09:46.399
artificial intelligence. Once again, artificial intelligence clearly won. This artificial

1129
01:09:46.439 --> 01:09:49.640
intelligence is handling of Isaiah forty twenty five through thirty

1130
01:09:49.680 --> 01:09:52.840
one is far superior than what we heard, far superior,

1131
01:09:53.640 --> 01:10:06.039
more focused, put it in its context. Everything was well done.

1132
01:10:06.640 --> 01:10:11.560
So I don't know what to say, but we did

1133
01:10:11.560 --> 01:10:16.319
come up with an interesting discussion about chastisement and its

1134
01:10:16.439 --> 01:10:20.800
purifying role. Exactly how does that work and how do

1135
01:10:20.840 --> 01:10:24.239
we quantify that? How do we even qualify that? Have

1136
01:10:24.359 --> 01:10:28.119
we missed the mark there completely? I think that's something

1137
01:10:28.159 --> 01:10:30.399
we need to put a bookmark in and come back

1138
01:10:30.439 --> 01:10:32.319
to at some point in time. We do need to

1139
01:10:32.359 --> 01:10:35.560
discuss that, and again Isaiah forty twenty five through thirty one.

1140
01:10:35.560 --> 01:10:38.359
Though it is not really about chastisement. It's about encouragement

1141
01:10:38.399 --> 01:10:43.880
to people in their situations. All right, And the neighborhood kids,

1142
01:10:44.119 --> 01:10:50.119
do you hear that they're on their motorcycle. They have

1143
01:10:50.199 --> 01:10:53.439
this little loop here in the neighborhood. They ride, comes

1144
01:10:53.520 --> 01:10:56.159
right down to the side of the studio, goes right

1145
01:10:56.199 --> 01:10:59.119
down to the alley behind. They go down the alley,

1146
01:10:59.159 --> 01:11:00.680
they come out on the other side. Allie, come back

1147
01:11:00.720 --> 01:11:03.520
down the street, turn right back here side of my house,

1148
01:11:03.840 --> 01:11:07.680
right and they go into circle and they have a

1149
01:11:07.720 --> 01:11:11.680
great time. It's it's wonderful when I'm not recording. When

1150
01:11:11.720 --> 01:11:15.239
I'm recording, I want to, Oh, their motorcycle just died.

1151
01:11:15.640 --> 01:11:18.399
I don't know. Maybe I don't know what happened, so,

1152
01:11:18.600 --> 01:11:24.000
but yes, that's what's currently going on outside. So I'm

1153
01:11:24.000 --> 01:11:26.880
gonna I'm gonna go. I don't know what I'm gonna do.

1154
01:11:27.439 --> 01:11:31.119
I'm going to go just well, I guess I guess

1155
01:11:31.279 --> 01:11:33.479
I'll try to turn. I'll end it with a positive

1156
01:11:33.800 --> 01:11:36.239
listening to a sermon that is frustrating as I got,

1157
01:11:36.319 --> 01:11:38.439
and as irritating as it got, and I and just

1158
01:11:38.520 --> 01:11:41.680
some of the things that was happening there, we still

1159
01:11:41.800 --> 01:11:47.399
ended up in that conversation about chastisement. That that makes

1160
01:11:47.479 --> 01:11:49.800
that all worth it, right, because we've gotten to this

1161
01:11:49.920 --> 01:11:52.840
very important theological discussion that I think we could approach

1162
01:11:52.880 --> 01:11:55.079
in a way far different than the way anyone else

1163
01:11:55.119 --> 01:11:57.800
approaches it, and probably something that you've never even thought of.

1164
01:11:58.039 --> 01:12:00.960
That's why we listen to sermons, because we are confronted

1165
01:12:01.000 --> 01:12:06.319
sometimes with an idea that that leads to important meditation

1166
01:12:06.439 --> 01:12:09.479
and discussion. That's how we grow spiritually, even even in

1167
01:12:09.560 --> 01:12:14.000
sermons that we may completely disagree with. It's being it's

1168
01:12:14.199 --> 01:12:18.800
thinking them through, really taking them apart, And who cares

1169
01:12:18.840 --> 01:12:21.560
whether you agree or disagree. Ultimately, now now at this

1170
01:12:21.680 --> 01:12:23.800
point that sermon that we just listen to, it doesn't

1171
01:12:23.840 --> 01:12:26.640
even matter anymore. Who cares? Now what we're I'm going

1172
01:12:26.680 --> 01:12:31.239
to take with it is have we misunderstood chastisement and

1173
01:12:31.319 --> 01:12:35.239
purification that comes from it? Have we have we misunderstood this?

1174
01:12:35.319 --> 01:12:38.359
So now we have something to work on that. See,

1175
01:12:38.399 --> 01:12:42.000
that's that's the good thing about a sermon. All right,

1176
01:12:42.039 --> 01:12:45.000
thanks for listening, everyone, have a great Saturday. Yet Saturday

1177
01:12:45.600 --> 01:12:50.840
and tomorrow. Remember ordinary means supernatural means. That's I think

1178
01:12:50.840 --> 01:12:53.079
where we're going to focus on for our look at

1179
01:12:53.079 --> 01:12:55.279
Isaiah forty nine through eleven, not so much. We're not

1180
01:12:55.319 --> 01:12:57.439
going to do with the exegetical work on nine to eleven.

1181
01:12:57.600 --> 01:12:59.840
We're going to kind of take this little detour and

1182
01:13:00.119 --> 01:13:02.920
then the following week will then start our exegetical work

1183
01:13:02.960 --> 01:13:05.920
to nine to eleven because I think this will be beneficial.

1184
01:13:05.960 --> 01:13:09.560
You'll see how it's all going to work, right, So

1185
01:13:09.640 --> 01:13:10.199
God bless