Feb. 23, 2025

Isaiah 40:18-24

Isaiah 40:18-24

We continue our study of Isaiah 40

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We continue our study of Isaiah 40

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All right, Isaiah chapter forty. The gold today is to

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finish the whole chapter. Now, I don't know if we're

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going to be able to do that. I've got some

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mechanisms in place to try to keep me so that

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we can get close, but we're going to attempt to

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try now. On the way here, once again, I made

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another mistake listening to another sermon on Isaiah forty. I

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don't even know. I don't even know where the number

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is now, probably up to about almost one hundred and

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fifty sermons now that I've listened to between Isaiah forty

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and Isaiah fifty five, and it just each one becomes

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more frustrating than the previous one. So this one really

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bothered me because the sermon begins and he starts off

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a very you know, very pious sounding, you know, sounding

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of all spiritual, sounding like a pastor, and he and

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the way he starts the message is, you know, I

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didn't know where the Lord would lead me this week,

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but the Holy Spirit wanted me to talk about waiting today. Right,

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We're going to talk about waiting. You know which passage

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you go to the end of Isaiah forty about waiting

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on the Lord of course with the instantaneously he takes

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this waiting in Isaiah forty makes it all about us,

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makes it all about us, makes it all about us.

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But what bothered me was, within about a five minutes,

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maybe ten minute, maybe less than ten minutes, he goes

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with God leading him the Holy Spirit wanting him to

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talk about waiting, like it just the thought just came

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to him. Within five to ten minutes, he acknowledges to

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the entire congregation that for the last three months he'd

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been reading a book on waiting. That would seem to

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indicate that's probably where the thought came from, right, Not God,

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not the Holy Spirit. But of course if you tell

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everyone God in the Holy Spirit is the one who

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wants you to talk about waiting, well, then guess what.

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You can't complain about the sermon because yes, from the Lord.

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But I mean, it was so ridiculous to hear all

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this pious talk about God in the Holy Spirit and

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then tell everyone like he didn't even catch on, And well,

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if you've been reading a book for three months about waiting,

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what's probably on your mind? Like, I, oh, it was

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so irritating, so and then I don't even know I'm gonna.

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I think I'm gonna have Ai count how many times

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he uses pronouns like us we we I versus mentioning Israel.

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He doesn't mention Israel, but of course he mentions Israel

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simply to get to whom to us and make it

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all about us. So I don't I look, I don't

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even know at this point anymore. You know, Sunday I

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went through that thing that Ai. AI basically has reached

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the point that AI is just frustrated with it. Artificial

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intelligence is like, I can't tell you what to do. Obviously,

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Christians don't know how to handle Isaiah forty through fifty five.

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They just seem incapable because for every sermon I've listened to,

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I've had AI review and AI just is like, AI

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is like, it's not that hard, it's not that hard,

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but for some reason, it's hard. So what we're going

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to do is we're going to try to make it

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through this and maybe at some point, well, well we

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will review, but I think in this point, let's let's

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do this and our study of Isaiah forty. Remember we

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really started this entire discussion in October of twenty twenty four.

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Here we are getting close to the end of February

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twenty twenty five, we're still in Isaiah forty. I have

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listened and reviewed sermon after sermon after sermon after sermon.

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We know what the problem is. Every pastor opens up

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Isaiah forty and makes it about whom us, all right?

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And what does it do with the original recipients? Move

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them out, disregard them, or at the very least they

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do what give them a little bit of mention, just

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a brief mention, and then make it about us. I've

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grown so sick of it and so tired of it

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that I don't even have word. Well, I'll probably have words.

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Words I can't say because of how irritated I've become

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by it. But we've been working through it. So no

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matter what we've learned in Isaiah forty, what is the

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one thing we can take away Isaiah forty are words

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of comfort to whom to those and Babylonian captivity, which

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would specifically be whom Judah be the Southern kingdom, all right?

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Those are the words of comfort. These words of comfort

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are primarily based on what is the foundation for these

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words of comfort? What is the foundation of this The

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words the captivity and God's covenant with whom Israel with Judah, Right, Okay,

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because God says they're going to go in captivity, but

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it's already guaranteed that they're gonna do what they're gonna

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come out, right, So the promises are based on that.

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I cannot stress this enough, and I'm going to We're

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going to really double down on this maybe throughout twenty

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twenty five. I'm gonna because I know this goes against

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every church. I know this goes against every Christian you know,

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but I am going to like really become more dogmatic

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about this. Let me state this again. When you start,

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when you get to Genesis twelve, right, that's where we

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typically see the beginning of the Abrahamic Covenant, Right, can

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we agree with that? Okay, once we get to Genesis twelve,

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everything in your Bible from Genesis twelve to the end

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of the Old Testament, I'm going to be so dogmatic

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on this. Everything in there we read promises about this

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and promises about that, and someone praying about this or

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praying for this, or this happened. Everything has to be

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understood in light of what the Abrahamic Covenant and the

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covenants made the Dividic Covenant, the Mosaic Covenant. They have

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to be connected to the covenants. The people are saying things,

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praying things, expecting things, and almost in every single case,

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they are doing so for what reason? Because God has

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made specific promises within those covenants to whom, to the

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people we're reading about, correct, what do we do as Christians?

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We run to those all over the Old Testament and

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we make those promises about us, what us? And the

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sermon that I was just when I walked in, the

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sermon that was on that I was listening to. The

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whole thing is so this year or last year, did

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you have things that you were waiting on? Did you

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have things that hasn't come to pass yet? Are you

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still waiting? Well, basically, then what is he offering for hope?

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Go to Isaiah forty says wait upon the Lord, there's

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your hope. But in Isaiah forty the waiting is based

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off what the promise God had given to whom to

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Judah to get them out of captivity. When you go

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to the psalms and there's all this or this or that,

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it's in reference to Israel and those promises to them,

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it's like you're entering an entire segment of your Bible

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or the prom and everything are related to those covenants.

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Who are those covenants made with? Not us? All? Right? Now?

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I know that ruins everything you've ever been taught. But

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someone needs to ruin it. Because when you take promises

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that are not given to people and somehow give them

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to people, do they get the things that are promised? No?

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Because there was no promise to those to those people.

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Israels can still claim some of those promises. We cannot.

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Now if the promise is repeated in the New Testament

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and specifically given to us, then we have to ask,

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how then, now does it apply to us? In many cases,

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the Old Testament promises were very much based on They

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were very much connected to what actual material, physical deliverance,

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material provision. We can't take those promises for us, and

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in many cases, yeah, it hasn't even happened yet. If

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we believe in a future kingdom, which I think if

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you dun't, then you're left with all kinds of confusion

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about why they didn't get this or why they didn't

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get that, And so many Christians will come and then

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spiritualize that, which just even destroys the text even more

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so I cannot stress that enough. All right, So with

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all that said, our job today is, Isaiah forty, we

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need to get from verse eighteen to verse thirty one.

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Now here's what I'm going to do. And many many

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cases when I stand behind the pulpit, especially since artificial

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intelligence is, you know, taken so much taken over everything

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in our world, I will utilize a lot of artificial intelligence.

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But it's a bit. It's kind of a I go

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to artificial intelligence, and we go back and forth, back

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and forth, back and forth, back and forth, hour after

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hour after hour. It gives me something, then I will

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challenge this, or I will change this, or I will

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ask about this, and then it kind of expands and expands,

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and then I have to try to cut it all

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down and then try to say how to put it together.

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Well in this particular case, because at this point, I

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think we've already made the point. We need to just

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kind of get through, Isaiah forty, my goal today is

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I'm going to try to restrict myself to simply what

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AI gave me. I'm going to try right now. You know,

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as soon as I read like one sentence, what will

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I do? I probably will expound and leave it. But

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I'm going to try to say stay focused because we

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do need to finish Isaiah forty. I man, at some

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point it's going to be, you know, twenty twenty seven,

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we're still going to be in Isaiah forty. But at

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some point I feel like we keep making the same point.

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So we're going to try to move forward. So our

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goal is, our one is to go from eighteen to

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twenty four, right, eighteen to twenty four, all right, So

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let's read. Just I want to go back and read

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from one to seventeen. But if I do that, then

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you know, then I will start. So we're just going

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to start in first eighteen all right. So if you,

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if someone tunes into this on the internet, go back

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and listen to the five hundred hours of teaching that

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we've already done in Isaiah forty one through seventeen, all right,

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starting a verse eighteen to whom then will ye? Now

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let's start right there. Who is the ye? That's Judah,

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it's being spoken to those and Babylonian captivity. I'm just

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gonna stress that over and over and over. Okay, Remember

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it's given, It's made clear numerous times in Isaiah forty

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who this is too correct? Everybody, remember that we'll count

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those when we get to the end. All right, to

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whom then will ye liken God? Or what likeness will

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ye compare unto him? Now, I know I'm already doing

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what I said I was not going to do, but

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I'm already expanding on it. So why is he asking

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them these questions? Okay? Yes, we spent two hours what

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two weeks ago looking at all the religious nature of

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Babylon and everything about its idolatry and everything. So God

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is like, hey, guys, who are you gonna compare me to? Right?

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And there's the implication is they shouldn't be comparing him

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to anything, but they could possibly be comparing him to

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whom the Babylonian idols. Why would they possibly be comparing

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their God to the Babylonian idols? Because they're there. The

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Babylonian gods, from their worldview, beat their God because where

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is the temple for the true God? And shambles it's destroyed, right,

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so Babylon has won, so they could be comparing All right,

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does everybody understand that? All right? The workman melteth a

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graven image the goldsmiths, spread it over with gold, and

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casteths silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he

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will have no oblation, chooseth a tree that will, that

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will not rot. He seeketh under him a cunning work,

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meant to prepare a graven image that shall not be moved?

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Have you not known? Have you not heard that? Hath

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it not been told you from the beginning? Have you

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not understood from the foundations of the earth. It is

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he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and

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the inhabitants thereof, or as of grasshoppers, that stretcheth out

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the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as

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a tent to dwell in, that bringeth the princess to nothing.

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He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yay,

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they shall not be planted, Yay, they shall not be sown. Yay,

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their stock shall not take root in the earth. And

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he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither,

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and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. All right, now,

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I think we can clearly there's two I'll just mention

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two brief things, and then we'll see what AI does

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with the text. All right, are you ready? First, I

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think we can clearly see this is a direct discussion

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and response to the idolatry that the people are surround Adviy.

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Can we all agree with that? Now? Typically, what do

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Christians run to in this that section of scripture? What

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do Christians love to run to and have lengthy discussions

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and debates about in that section? Probably every sermon mentions

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it at least once maybe five times? Okay, whenever they

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take on this section or teach this sason, what about it?

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What does anything in it jump out at you? Okay?

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All right? Does everyone how many are using the King James?

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Did everybody find the word circle? Verse twenty two? What

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does it say? Okay? Why does this verse get so

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much attention in many Christian circles? See you get hit

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no pun intended? Okay, okay. A lot of people say

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this proves the Earth is round? And it gets into

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a big discussion. Does the NIV use the word circle? Okay? Right,

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So there's a lot of discussion. Now, let's just make

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it very clear that's not the point of the passage, right,

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That's not the point of the passage. Right. Point of

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the passage is not to prove anything or that. Again,

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I don't need Isaiah forty and my culture to prove

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the world is round. There's literally photographs from the space

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of here. I don't need that. Those who are still

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running around believing the earth is flat are out of

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their ever living minds. They got more prompts and just

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quoting Isaiah forty. It probably is not going to fix

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it if they if a photograph from space, but then

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they say the photographs of space is fake? All right,

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So just note that. I don't know how much discussion

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we'll get into that. Does it actually prove that? What

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does the word circle mean? What is the word in Hebrew?

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How is it being used? Okay, I don't know. If

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AI addresses it, it will one of the things that

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did not do we spend a lot of time with

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what Ai gave me, because if I spend time with it,

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I knew then this would turn into fifteen hours. So

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we'll just keep that in your mind and we'll do

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some work, all right. Does that sound good? All? Right?

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Here we go. AI says that we should call this

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section the incomparable God versus the worthless Idols and Rulers.

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The incomparable God versus Worthless idols and rulers. Everybody good

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with that title, right, God is incomparable, right because the

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question what is the question who are you comparing me to?

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That's where and it's comparing the idols and rulers. So basically,

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what does God want those in captivity to know? The

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religious system around you cannot compare to me. The rulers

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who have you in captivity cannot compare to me. Right now.

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The only problem with this is this is one of

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the what's the main lesson we should get here, is

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they are being given biblical and philological truth that is

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contradicted by what they see. Therefore, they're gonna have to

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believe this by faith because by sight, the gods of

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Babylon seem to be incomparable and to seem to be

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great and seemed to be mighty. It seemed to be

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in charge, and the God of Israel seems to be absent, defeated,

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weak and capable. And sometimes that's one of the difficult

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things about being a Christian is we believe that by faith.

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We talk about it all the time. We have to

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believe by faith sometimes when everything around us calls into

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question what we believe, and that's a very difficult concept,

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is it not? So I think we can see right

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here that the type it'll make sense, all right. Isaiah

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forty eighteen through twenty four is part of a larger

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section going all the way back to verse twelve, and

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that from twelve it goes all the way from twelve

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to thirty one. Actually, but we're breaking these sections down

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into individual parts, and this entire section from twelve to

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thirty one emphasizes God's absolute supremacy over creation, over idols,

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and over rulers. So from Isaiah forty twelve to thirty one,

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what is emphasized God's supremacy over what three things? Creation, idols, rulers, creation,

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idol's rulers. Right, this passage exposes the absurdity of idol

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worship and the fleeting nature of human rulers, contrasting them

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with the sovereignty of the One True God. So, simply put,

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this section is going to focus on what God is

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greater than idols. God is greater than rulers. Idols and

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rulers are worthless. God is greater than both. Specifically, they

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need to hear this in their situation. All right, we've

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read Isaiah forty eighteen through twenty four. AI gives me

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a different translation, but we'll skip that, all right. So

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let's focus now on the context and structure of the section. Right,

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context and structure. The first thing AI wants us to

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see is the immediate context, all right? What is the

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immediate context? The immediate context would be Verses twelve through seventeen,

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which we talked about twice. If you notice, right, we

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talked about it before, we talked about verses twelve through seventeen,

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before we spent the two hours talking about the idols

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in Babylon. Then last Sunday I spent another hour talking

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about verses twelve through seventeen. So you've had two hours

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of teaching on verses twelve through seventeen. You should be

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experts on it, all right. So Verses twelve through seven

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is the immediate context, right. That preceding section highlighted God's

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sovereignty over creation, showing him showing how the nations are

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insignificant before him. So in a roundabout way, Verses twelve

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through seventeen is emphasizing what's going to be emphasized, where

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in this section it's a continuation. Does that make sense?

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All right? Verses eighteen through twenty four. The passage contrasts

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God's supremacy with idols and earthly rulers. Isaiah forty twenty

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five through thirty one, which will cover next. That section

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reinforces God's power over all of creation and human strength,

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calling Israel to trust in him. All right, So, basically,

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if we want to make it simple, Isaiah forty twelve

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to thirty one, basically is this, God is in charge

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of everything. God is greater than everything. Hey, those in

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captivity trust in God, don't trust in human rulers, don't

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trust in idols. I mean, it's pretty simple. It's not difficult, right,

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It's not difficult. The problem is the reason we even

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have to spend so much time is because preachers come

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in and they insert whom into this entire discussion us.

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Now there's times to discuss us, but we'll see how

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we can do that. So there's the immediate context, everybody,

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no problem with the immediate context. Right now, Let's look

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at the AI gives us the structural breakdown, all right,

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Look in verse eighteen, what do you have? In verse eighteen,

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we have a question, very good, what is the question

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to whom will you like? In God? Who will you

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compare God to this calls for reflection. Can any idol

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or ruler truly compare to Yahweh? And the answer is

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nothing can compare to God, No idle, no ruler. I

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get what is so? It sounds so simple right from

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our perspective, we were like, well, come on, nothing can

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compare to God? But why is it such an issue?

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It's an issue because of what they see, right, what

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they experience, and that is that is the struggle with

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feism in general, That is the struggle with faith in general.

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So let's make it simple. Say, see, this is how

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you can apply it to us. We are all humans

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struggle with the same thing. Any belief in the true

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God is confronted with what reality? What reality are we

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confronted with by people who believe in God? We believe

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in a God in whom we cannot see, But we

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are surrounded by circumstances which not only we can see,

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we can feel, we are impacted by. And sometimes it

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is confusing. Why the God whom we cannot see, whom

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we are taught? What about the God and whom we

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cannot see, just like they're being taught, all powerful, all knowing,

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right present everywhere at all times. Well, if we have

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a God and whom we cannot see, who's omniscient, omnipotent,

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and omnipresent, and we have circumstances that seem to be

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literally out of control, the question is, then why isn't

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this our omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient God doing something about what

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we can see? Therefore, we can conclude what some people

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will conclude, that there is no God, or God is

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weaker than the You can see all the negative things

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that can be concluded, that this is the problem of theism.

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We can proclaim and scream there's a God, there's a

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God that look at creation. It proves God. But proving

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a God who then doesn't do anything in the very

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creation which he created seems very problematic. God is over creation.

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But what happens, what happens in this creation? Plague, famine, tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards,

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tsunamis right, nations, everything that happens. And you're like, it

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appears from a human perspective, what God is not there?

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And so they're struggling with it, just like we would

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struggle with it. Now does God give them a simple answer? Well,

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the only thing for Israel at least they have this.

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They do have a promise from their God that he

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is going to intervene in their situation. He is going

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to intervene in their situation, right, and he does intervene

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in what a physical material way? Now they have to

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wait for it. Keep that in mind, because that's the

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end of this entire section is about waiting. Right, they

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have to wait for it. Now. Is there a parallel

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to us, Well, we live in the midst of a

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world where there are we sometimes don't understand where God is.

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Are we not promised that God will intervene? Yes? But

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when will he intervene? Well, ultimately in the end, Right,

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do we have any guarantee that He's going to intervene

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in any of our circumstances in our life? None? Everyone

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understands that. Right. You have no guarantee that God's going

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to intervene to get rid of cancer, to save your child,

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if your child dies from resurrection. There is no guarantee

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of God intervening in any of our circumstances in any way,

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shape or form. We can't go to these promises and

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apply him to our circumstances. What we can say they

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waited for God to intervene based on what God's that

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God said he would. I do know that God will

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intervene when what happens. Well, if we go to a Revelation,

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when the sky opens, the horse comes through, someone's sitting

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upon that horse with a sword, death, destruction, kingdom set

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up in Revelation twenty, they're one thousand years. The end

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of the thousand years, they're ultimately a new heaven, new earth.

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No more pain, no more suffering, no more death. Will

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that we don't know when that's even going to occur,

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do we? Now? If we keep it in that perspective,

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then guess what that prevents us from doing? Believing and

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thinking that God's going to intervene in our specific situation.

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It's not. In fact, every time we whenever there's a problem,

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whenever there's pain, they're suffering and death. I know that

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nobody likes when I say this, but this is the case.

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Whenever there's a pain, there's a problem, there's a tragedy,

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and someone says, let's pray about it, we are literally

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praying to the God who knew it was going to happen,

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did nothing to stop it from happening, And depending on

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your theology, actually ordained it to happen, So it's very

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weird to now pray for God to intervene and that

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which he did not stop, that which he allowed, and

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that which He may have ordained. That's why we did

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that whole thing about maybe we don't know how to

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pray the right way, right, and so this fits in perfectly,

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and we can understand this, can we not. He wants

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them to realize God is truly in charge, but it's

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going to require faith to understand that. All right, what

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happens in verses nineteen through twenty eighteen was a question

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what happens in nineteen through twenty Do we feel this

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as being maybe somewhat ridiculing, being somewhat sarcastic what heth

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vil ay I believes it is, but you can tell

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me if you agree or disagree, well, definitely goes back.

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I mean, they've had this problem numerous times. But basically

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it's kind of ridiculing idolatry because it's describing that what

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makes it human hands, make it right, human hands crafted,

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and that these human hands, that these idols are basically

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what they're lifeless and powerless. Now we know we talked

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about the opening of the mouth ceremony. The Babylonians would

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have believed they had power, but he's trying to tell

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them their belief is fraudulent, there's wrong, there's nothing there. Right.

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What happens in verse twenty one right? Verse twenty one

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reads have you not known? Rhetorical questions? Have you not known?

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Have you not heard? Has it not been told from

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you from the beginning? Have you not understood? These are

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rhetorical questions, almost offered in what kind of like a rebuke?

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Can we agree with that? So? Now? So? Verse eighteen

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was a question. Verse nineteen to twenty is kind of

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a ridicule of the idols. Verse twenty one is kind

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of a rebuke and form of rhetorical questions for forgetting

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God's supremacy. He confronts basically, God confronts Israel with rhetorical

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questions about what they should already know? Can we agree

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with that? I mean, aren't all the questions basically assuming

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you should already know this? Guys? Right? Why should they'd

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already know it? Because this goes all the way back

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basically coming out of Egypt. As Robert said, they've been

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told this over and over and over and over and over.

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What does that seem to indicate From a practical standpoint,

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this is very important. We can learn all the theology.

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Theology is the study and knowledge of God. Right, so

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all these questions are about God. Correct? So philologically, have

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the people of Israel been instructed? Yes? Have they been

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taught about whom God is and whom God isn't, to

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what he does and what he doesn't do. And they've

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00:29:16.119 --> 00:29:18.319
been taught the nature of the promises given to them?

459
00:29:18.359 --> 00:29:21.359
Can we all agree with that? Yes? So what happens?

460
00:29:22.200 --> 00:29:31.240
Philological truth is great sitting where and a pew and

461
00:29:31.359 --> 00:29:37.640
a church in front of the tabernacle wherever. Right, it's

462
00:29:38.039 --> 00:29:43.440
theological truth is great in church. When does the logical

463
00:29:43.519 --> 00:29:49.680
truth become kind of meaningless and worthless to us? When

464
00:29:49.720 --> 00:29:51.960
we get in our car, drive down the road and

465
00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:55.119
maybe someone cuts us off, gets out of the car,

466
00:29:55.240 --> 00:29:57.200
tries to drag us out of the car and beating

467
00:29:57.240 --> 00:29:59.640
us down, All of a sudden, philological truth becomes not

468
00:29:59.720 --> 00:30:03.200
so yeah, all of a sudden, now things become very different. Right,

469
00:30:03.519 --> 00:30:06.680
Theological truth is great, But when your temple has been

470
00:30:06.720 --> 00:30:10.359
destroyed and you're in Babylonian captivity, you don't And you know,

471
00:30:10.559 --> 00:30:13.160
even if you know the exact date. I'm here for

472
00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:15.559
seventy years, so my children are gonna grow up and

473
00:30:15.599 --> 00:30:19.079
possibly die in captivity all of a sudden. Theological truth

474
00:30:19.119 --> 00:30:22.400
doesn't mean so much. Theological truth is great until you

475
00:30:22.400 --> 00:30:24.960
get a call at midnight that your child's been killed

476
00:30:24.960 --> 00:30:29.720
by a drunk driver. Right, theological So we have to

477
00:30:29.759 --> 00:30:33.480
realize sometimes theological truth is great theoretically, it can be

478
00:30:33.559 --> 00:30:37.160
very difficult to remember it practically. They're having a trust

479
00:30:37.200 --> 00:30:40.000
God is like you should have already known this in

480
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.079
some way. That is absolutely true, But it just demonstrates

481
00:30:44.079 --> 00:30:48.119
that what we know can greatly be impacted by what

482
00:30:48.160 --> 00:30:55.079
we experience and our lives. Typically what wins knowledge or

483
00:30:55.480 --> 00:31:01.759
circumstances and experience circumstances experience to trumps our knowledge. Yes,

484
00:31:02.319 --> 00:31:05.480
I mean it typically does, because it impacts our emotions,

485
00:31:05.559 --> 00:31:08.480
and then our emotions almost always win. So they get

486
00:31:08.839 --> 00:31:12.480
rebuked by these rhetorical questions. What happens in verses twenty

487
00:31:12.519 --> 00:31:16.880
two through twenty four? What happens in twenty two through

488
00:31:16.880 --> 00:31:28.240
twenty four? And is he that saith upon the circle

489
00:31:28.279 --> 00:31:32.559
of the earth, who is the he God? Okay, and

490
00:31:32.599 --> 00:31:37.160
the inhabitants thereof? Or what grasshoppers. So what he wants

491
00:31:37.240 --> 00:31:41.000
to contract Which inhabitants are you think he's necessarily pointing

492
00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:47.279
to here Israel, Judah, or he's pointing to Babylon. Maybe everyone,

493
00:31:47.319 --> 00:31:49.440
but I think for their specifically case, he wants them

494
00:31:49.440 --> 00:31:52.559
to understand that all these, no matter the armies, no

495
00:31:52.599 --> 00:31:56.599
matter the rulers, compared to him, they are insignificant. They're

496
00:31:56.640 --> 00:32:00.359
nothing but grasshoppers. Right. That stretcheth out the Hemans as

497
00:32:00.359 --> 00:32:02.799
a curtain that spreadeth them to attempt to dwell on.

498
00:32:03.119 --> 00:32:10.640
That bringeth the verse twenty three. Oh, now you're getting

499
00:32:10.680 --> 00:32:13.599
specifically to the leaders. See the inhabitants I think are

500
00:32:13.599 --> 00:32:16.519
the inhabitants of Babylon. The princes are the rulers of Babylon.

501
00:32:16.839 --> 00:32:22.799
To nothing. He maketh the rulers or judges of the

502
00:32:22.839 --> 00:32:28.200
earth as vanity. Yay, they shall not be planted. Who's

503
00:32:28.240 --> 00:32:33.559
the they? Who shall not be planted? The rulers? Right,

504
00:32:33.920 --> 00:32:37.240
they shall not be sown? Who's that? The rulers? Their

505
00:32:37.319 --> 00:32:40.680
stocks shall not take root. He shall also blow upon

506
00:32:40.839 --> 00:32:44.240
them who's the them? The rulers? And they show whither,

507
00:32:44.599 --> 00:32:47.839
and their whirlwinds shall take them away as stubble. So

508
00:32:47.960 --> 00:32:50.279
what is he wants then under so in verse eighteen,

509
00:32:50.519 --> 00:32:53.160
he asked a key question, who are you gonna like?

510
00:32:53.240 --> 00:32:56.319
In God to calls for them to reflect that there

511
00:32:56.359 --> 00:32:58.920
is no idle ruler that can compare to God. Verse

512
00:32:59.000 --> 00:33:03.480
nineteen to twenty two he ridicules idolatry, and he describes

513
00:33:03.519 --> 00:33:06.279
how they are made by human hands, which are lifeless

514
00:33:06.279 --> 00:33:10.319
and powerless. Verse twenty one, he rebukes them for forgetting

515
00:33:10.359 --> 00:33:13.839
God's supremacy by confronting them with rhetorical questions about what

516
00:33:13.880 --> 00:33:17.039
they should already know. Verses twenty two through twenty four

517
00:33:17.480 --> 00:33:22.200
God God's rule over earthly rulers. He exposes how human

518
00:33:22.279 --> 00:33:27.559
rulers are insignificant and temporary. In his side, again, what

519
00:33:27.640 --> 00:33:32.400
is the struggle for the people? God is saying human

520
00:33:32.519 --> 00:33:38.799
rulers are temporary and they are vain. What is their experience? Well,

521
00:33:38.839 --> 00:33:41.559
if they've been there almost seventy years, it looks like

522
00:33:41.640 --> 00:33:47.920
the Babylonian rulers are pretty what permanent? Okay? Agreed? And

523
00:33:48.079 --> 00:33:50.960
same thing can happen in our lives? Right? We see

524
00:33:50.960 --> 00:33:56.519
a circumstance, and sometimes a circumstance feels what permanent? Do we?

525
00:33:57.000 --> 00:34:02.359
What are you always taught about? Suicide? What's the cliche

526
00:34:02.519 --> 00:34:06.400
everyone tells someone who's gonna kill themselves. You're seeking a

527
00:34:06.440 --> 00:34:11.119
permanent solution for a temporary problem. I know it sounds

528
00:34:11.119 --> 00:34:12.800
so good, and when you're going through it, it's like,

529
00:34:12.920 --> 00:34:15.119
would you please just get out of my way? Because

530
00:34:15.119 --> 00:34:17.400
that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard, because you say

531
00:34:17.440 --> 00:34:19.760
my problem is temporary. You don't know how long I've

532
00:34:19.800 --> 00:34:23.519
been dealing with this problem, right, But in reality, from

533
00:34:23.559 --> 00:34:30.320
an eternal perspective, everything we face is from an eternal perspective,

534
00:34:30.760 --> 00:34:35.519
it's temporary, right, everything we face because everything on this

535
00:34:35.599 --> 00:34:39.599
earth is gonna want faith, but you have to see

536
00:34:39.599 --> 00:34:42.719
it from an eternal perspective. Someone can say, well, your

537
00:34:42.719 --> 00:34:45.559
situation is temporary. You don't know that I'm gonna be

538
00:34:45.559 --> 00:34:48.639
suffering for this for the rest of my earthly life. Right.

539
00:34:49.000 --> 00:34:53.000
The only way that works is if you believe in eternity. Correct.

540
00:34:53.239 --> 00:34:55.440
Someone has a terminal disease and you're like, well, you

541
00:34:55.440 --> 00:34:58.400
should not seek to end your life. Well it's terminal.

542
00:34:58.639 --> 00:35:02.440
I'm going to die with it's okay, so but it's temporary. Well,

543
00:35:02.480 --> 00:35:05.320
it's temporary as far as eternity is concerned, maybe not

544
00:35:05.400 --> 00:35:10.159
for life. So that's that's very important to understand that perspective. Okay,

545
00:35:10.440 --> 00:35:14.599
that's the structural breakdown. Everybody got verse eighteen nineteen through

546
00:35:14.599 --> 00:35:18.280
twenty twenty one, twenty two through twenty four. Everybody got that.

547
00:35:19.920 --> 00:35:22.960
We actually don't even need much help on that, do we? Right?

548
00:35:23.199 --> 00:35:27.400
But AI always doubles down. So there's the structural breakdown.

549
00:35:27.440 --> 00:35:31.159
Now it's going to give us an exegetical analysis, an

550
00:35:31.239 --> 00:35:34.599
exogetical analysis. We can go through these pretty quick, all right,

551
00:35:34.760 --> 00:35:37.559
cause it's going to take that structural breakdown. Now, it's

552
00:35:37.599 --> 00:35:40.119
going to break it down exogetically, so that means it's

553
00:35:40.159 --> 00:35:44.400
just going to expand on it, all right. So Isaiah

554
00:35:44.400 --> 00:35:48.199
forty verse eighteen, to whom then will you like in God?

555
00:35:48.599 --> 00:35:52.079
Or what likeness compare with him? What is the key question?

556
00:35:52.639 --> 00:35:55.880
We already talked about it in the structural breakdown. What's

557
00:35:55.920 --> 00:36:03.079
the key question being asked? Can God be compared to anything?

558
00:36:03.599 --> 00:36:06.960
And what's the answer? Nothing? Right, there's a rhetorical question

559
00:36:07.039 --> 00:36:09.800
and it demands an answer of no. No one compares

560
00:36:09.920 --> 00:36:13.760
to Yahweh or God. The word likeness refers to a

561
00:36:13.880 --> 00:36:17.079
representation or image. The same word is used in Genesis

562
00:36:17.159 --> 00:36:20.239
one twenty six for humanity. Being made in God's image,

563
00:36:20.400 --> 00:36:24.880
the implied rebuke. Any attempt to represent God with an

564
00:36:24.960 --> 00:36:29.960
idol is inherently flawed because nothing can can be compared

565
00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:33.480
to God. You can't make anything in God's likeness because

566
00:36:33.480 --> 00:36:36.679
nothing can compare to God. It will not capture everything

567
00:36:36.760 --> 00:36:40.280
God is. Does that make sense? All right? So what

568
00:36:40.400 --> 00:36:44.239
is the philological implication the uniqueness of God? This passage

569
00:36:44.280 --> 00:36:51.280
confronts idolatry directly. Unlike false gods, Yahweh is beyond human limitations.

570
00:36:51.920 --> 00:36:55.000
The sin of idolatry is not just about statues. It

571
00:36:55.039 --> 00:36:59.239
is about reducing God to something manageable and controllable. Meaning

572
00:36:59.760 --> 00:37:02.599
we can commit the same sin by reducing God to

573
00:37:02.679 --> 00:37:06.360
something in our mind that we can completely comprehend and understand.

574
00:37:07.159 --> 00:37:11.920
I think Church, this is my own feeling. I believe

575
00:37:11.920 --> 00:37:15.039
pastors have been committing this kind of sin since the

576
00:37:15.079 --> 00:37:18.840
beginning of Christianity because we like to reduce God into

577
00:37:18.840 --> 00:37:23.679
something wide that we can understand, something that we this

578
00:37:23.840 --> 00:37:27.039
and God will this. Don't we constantly speak about God

579
00:37:27.079 --> 00:37:31.719
in very dogmatic terms. Yeah, in some cases, I think

580
00:37:31.760 --> 00:37:34.480
we may be reducing God to something, to an image

581
00:37:34.679 --> 00:37:37.000
of our own creation. Remember the famous quote that's often

582
00:37:37.000 --> 00:37:43.400
attributed to votaire. God created man and his image, and

583
00:37:43.440 --> 00:37:46.440
man has been returning the favor ever since. Right now,

584
00:37:46.480 --> 00:37:48.880
that's attributed to voter. I don't have a source for it,

585
00:37:48.920 --> 00:37:52.000
but we get the idea, all right. Everybody got that,

586
00:37:53.320 --> 00:37:56.960
all right? So now we go to Isaiah forty nineteen

587
00:37:57.000 --> 00:37:59.960
through twenty. What is this section all about? We already

588
00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:02.440
look at it in the structural breakdown. This is kind

589
00:38:02.440 --> 00:38:06.239
of ridiculing or mocking idolatry, right, So I'm gonna read

590
00:38:06.280 --> 00:38:09.400
it the way AI gives this to me. AI writes

591
00:38:09.400 --> 00:38:14.480
it out differently. It says an idol exclamation point. A

592
00:38:14.639 --> 00:38:18.960
craftsman cast it. A goldsmith overlays it with gold and

593
00:38:19.159 --> 00:38:23.360
cast for its silver chains. He who is too impoverished

594
00:38:23.400 --> 00:38:26.320
for an offering, chooses wood that will not rot. He

595
00:38:26.400 --> 00:38:29.400
seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idle

596
00:38:29.480 --> 00:38:34.119
that will not move. All right. So AI breaks this

597
00:38:34.199 --> 00:38:37.800
section down into two parts. The absurdity of idol worship.

598
00:38:38.159 --> 00:38:41.320
Idols are made by human hands. They do not create anything.

599
00:38:41.760 --> 00:38:45.320
The contrast with God is stark. God creates humanity, but

600
00:38:45.440 --> 00:38:50.639
humanity creates idols. That's the contrast here. God creates people,

601
00:38:51.199 --> 00:38:56.840
people creates idols. Right, the wealthy used gold and silver,

602
00:38:57.199 --> 00:39:00.760
the poor will use wood, but neither are God. They're

603
00:39:00.920 --> 00:39:05.960
just silver, gold or wood. None of them are actually God. Secondly,

604
00:39:06.519 --> 00:39:09.719
Ai says the inability of idols to move or act.

605
00:39:09.800 --> 00:39:12.880
See that phrase at the end of that verse twenty

606
00:39:13.920 --> 00:39:20.480
depending on your translation, shall not be moved or they

607
00:39:20.519 --> 00:39:23.159
will not move, all right, The phrase they will not

608
00:39:23.239 --> 00:39:26.199
move is ironic. Idols must be nailed down to keep

609
00:39:26.239 --> 00:39:29.199
them from falling over, and they don't move anywhere. Right.

610
00:39:29.559 --> 00:39:34.119
The Babylonians and the Canaanites carried their gods in processions,

611
00:39:34.400 --> 00:39:38.960
believing they needed human support. Isaiah mocks this belief, highlighting

612
00:39:39.000 --> 00:39:41.960
how their so called gods needs stability while the true

613
00:39:42.039 --> 00:39:44.639
God upholds the universe. And we talked about that. They

614
00:39:44.679 --> 00:39:47.880
would take these processions through the streets carrying their idols,

615
00:39:48.760 --> 00:39:53.039
and so now God is basically mocking that your God

616
00:39:53.079 --> 00:39:55.920
has to be held up or you have to move it.

617
00:39:57.239 --> 00:40:02.599
I created everything. That's the contrast there, all right, we

618
00:40:02.679 --> 00:40:07.400
got that right now. Next verse twenty one, this is

619
00:40:07.440 --> 00:40:11.360
a rebuke for forgetting the truth. Ai types it out

620
00:40:11.360 --> 00:40:14.960
this way. Do you not know? Do you not hear?

621
00:40:15.320 --> 00:40:17.840
Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have

622
00:40:17.960 --> 00:40:21.639
you not understood from the foundations of the earth. This

623
00:40:21.719 --> 00:40:25.039
is a series of rhetorical questions about how many rhetorical

624
00:40:25.119 --> 00:40:29.280
questions do you find? And verse twenty one, how many

625
00:40:29.360 --> 00:40:31.880
rhetorical questions do you find? Ai gives me a number

626
00:40:31.920 --> 00:40:35.559
less se if you find the theme four. Ai says

627
00:40:35.559 --> 00:40:39.519
that there are four rhetorical questions here. This is what

628
00:40:39.559 --> 00:40:44.159
Ai says. Each question escalates pressing Israel to remember what

629
00:40:44.239 --> 00:40:47.159
they already know. This is how Ai breaks them down.

630
00:40:47.239 --> 00:40:50.360
Number one, do you not know? They should already know

631
00:40:50.440 --> 00:40:53.280
from history and experience, as Robert said, they should already

632
00:40:53.280 --> 00:40:56.480
know this from Egypt, right. Number two do you not hear?

633
00:40:56.840 --> 00:41:00.679
They have been taught through the law and profits? They

634
00:41:00.719 --> 00:41:04.840
have the law and profits? Okay. Number three has it

635
00:41:04.920 --> 00:41:08.119
not been told from the beginning? Refers to Israel's tradition

636
00:41:08.719 --> 00:41:12.159
and revelation. And number four have you not understood from

637
00:41:12.159 --> 00:41:16.840
the foundations of the earth? Creation itself testifies to God's supremacy.

638
00:41:17.639 --> 00:41:20.639
So Ai breaks it down, do you not know? Have

639
00:41:20.760 --> 00:41:22.719
you not heard? Has it been told to you from

640
00:41:22.760 --> 00:41:25.360
the beginning? And have you not understood from the foundations

641
00:41:25.400 --> 00:41:29.880
of the earth? So they should know from their history.

642
00:41:30.119 --> 00:41:32.199
They should know from the law and the profits, they

643
00:41:32.239 --> 00:41:35.159
should know from their own tradition in God's revelation, and

644
00:41:35.199 --> 00:41:38.880
they should know from creation. In other words, guys, there

645
00:41:38.920 --> 00:41:43.360
is no excuse you don't know these things, right, So

646
00:41:44.360 --> 00:41:48.639
the philological implication there's accountability for knowledge. Israel has no

647
00:41:48.760 --> 00:41:53.480
excuse for idolatry. They have been given divine revelation history

648
00:41:53.719 --> 00:42:00.480
proving y'ahways supremacy. Now, but what's the problem again, doesn't

649
00:42:00.480 --> 00:42:02.880
mention this, but we will mention this. The problem is

650
00:42:02.920 --> 00:42:05.639
all of those lessons and seeing all of those things.

651
00:42:06.280 --> 00:42:11.719
All it takes is one circumstance to completely so impact

652
00:42:11.840 --> 00:42:15.400
you that you forget everything. Remember that in that always

653
00:42:15.440 --> 00:42:20.280
our problem with Israel. We're always constantly they saw God

654
00:42:20.400 --> 00:42:23.559
part the Red Sea, they saw the plagues. What happens

655
00:42:23.559 --> 00:42:27.760
when they get into the wilderness? Where is God? Because

656
00:42:27.800 --> 00:42:36.280
what is always greater than theological knowledge? Circumstances? Experience? Why

657
00:42:36.400 --> 00:42:42.239
do you think circumstances and experiences are have a greater

658
00:42:42.440 --> 00:42:47.960
impact on us than theological knowledge. What do you think

659
00:42:48.000 --> 00:42:52.280
is the cause of that? Israel basically was in a

660
00:42:52.360 --> 00:42:56.159
Walking Living seminary twenty four to seven. But why is

661
00:42:56.199 --> 00:43:00.840
it that circumstances would always outweigh the philological knowledge which

662
00:43:00.840 --> 00:43:13.440
they knew. Okay, I'm gonna throw this. As human beings,

663
00:43:14.400 --> 00:43:17.039
do you think we are driven by emotion or driven

664
00:43:17.079 --> 00:43:24.960
by intellect? What drives us emotions? Right? And those emotions

665
00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:30.719
flow from what well from inside of us? Right? And

666
00:43:30.800 --> 00:43:35.519
what is there inside of us? A sinful nature? Right?

667
00:43:35.800 --> 00:43:39.079
So if our emotions drive us, and our emotions flow

668
00:43:39.119 --> 00:43:42.440
from a sinful nature, then our sinful nature using those

669
00:43:42.440 --> 00:43:47.639
emotions will always then forget what. We're not gonna think philologically,

670
00:43:48.360 --> 00:43:51.559
We're gonna think humanistically, We're gonna think materialistically. We're gonna

671
00:43:51.559 --> 00:43:55.280
think because it flows from inside of us. Everything that

672
00:43:55.320 --> 00:43:58.000
comes from inside of us comes from what a sinful nature,

673
00:43:58.039 --> 00:44:00.639
because we have a sinful nature. So our life is

674
00:44:01.360 --> 00:44:07.400
we're not driven intellectually, we're driven emotionally. That is, there's

675
00:44:07.440 --> 00:44:09.920
no I don't think there's any debate on that. Right.

676
00:44:10.440 --> 00:44:16.199
You can know five hundred things, but the right circumstance,

677
00:44:16.639 --> 00:44:20.599
getting the right emotion, the right feeling, you will do.

678
00:44:21.119 --> 00:44:23.920
That's why I get so mad when Christians like I

679
00:44:24.000 --> 00:44:26.440
just don't know how anyone could do that. I don't

680
00:44:26.480 --> 00:44:28.920
know how anyone could do that. I don't know how

681
00:44:29.000 --> 00:44:33.400
anyone can do that. Think about it. The man who

682
00:44:33.480 --> 00:44:39.960
knew God helped him kill Goliath, David, the man who

683
00:44:40.280 --> 00:44:43.920
witnessed and saw all the things that God had done.

684
00:44:44.119 --> 00:44:46.239
Where was God when he saw a woman taking a

685
00:44:46.280 --> 00:44:52.880
bath on her roof? Well, because what wouldn't the intellect

686
00:44:53.039 --> 00:45:01.039
wasn't driving desire, emotion, feeling. Right, They're a prophet who

687
00:45:01.039 --> 00:45:05.880
saw God bring fire down from heaven, and then what

688
00:45:05.960 --> 00:45:10.000
did he do? Immediately after that? He sat down under

689
00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:17.880
a juniper tree and asked what the God to kill him? Right? Well?

690
00:45:17.880 --> 00:45:20.320
Basically given up on God, giving up on everything. Over

691
00:45:20.400 --> 00:45:22.559
and over. There's times in the Bible like I don't

692
00:45:22.639 --> 00:45:27.039
understand why do they not if I can see? Don't

693
00:45:27.039 --> 00:45:34.760
We always think if I can see what they saw? No,

694
00:45:35.440 --> 00:45:39.800
because all it takes is what you see it. Then

695
00:45:39.840 --> 00:45:43.440
you go and then you experience the next desire we

696
00:45:43.519 --> 00:45:47.519
are basically we go from desire, feeling, and emotion. That's

697
00:45:47.559 --> 00:45:51.719
where we Our days are controlled by our desire, our feelings,

698
00:45:51.760 --> 00:45:56.239
and our emotions. You can sit in church for five

699
00:45:56.679 --> 00:46:04.800
hundred hours out in this building, right, I could preach

700
00:46:04.840 --> 00:46:08.159
to you for five hours. I'm putting others before yourself,

701
00:46:08.320 --> 00:46:14.719
do nothing, don't let anger, bitterness, frustration, show love, show compassion,

702
00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:17.639
and before you get home you may be fighting with

703
00:46:17.719 --> 00:46:23.039
each other in the car. Why because all that philological

704
00:46:23.199 --> 00:46:25.800
truth meant nothing as soon as someone got in the

705
00:46:25.840 --> 00:46:28.599
car and said something you didn't like, talked back to

706
00:46:28.639 --> 00:46:31.440
you the wrong way say, and you get frustrated and

707
00:46:31.480 --> 00:46:33.639
you get irritated. You know it to be true, and

708
00:46:33.679 --> 00:46:36.119
I know it to be true, and it is maddening

709
00:46:36.159 --> 00:46:39.079
that that's the way it works. But what does that demonstrate?

710
00:46:40.679 --> 00:46:47.280
Sinful nature trump's philological knowledge. I know that goes against

711
00:46:47.320 --> 00:46:50.000
every sermon you will ever hear. It is true, your

712
00:46:50.039 --> 00:46:53.800
sinful nature trumps your philological knowledge. Everyone was like, if

713
00:46:54.000 --> 00:46:56.360
I can't stand with what if those kids would just

714
00:46:56.400 --> 00:46:58.599
be taught better, if this person would have just meant

715
00:46:58.719 --> 00:47:02.239
I'll stop it. All the teaching in the world will

716
00:47:02.280 --> 00:47:06.280
not fix your sinful nature. Now, if you believe people

717
00:47:06.320 --> 00:47:09.800
are morally neutral, then maybe teaching will work. But haven't

718
00:47:09.800 --> 00:47:13.039
we done that throughout our human history? What is always

719
00:47:13.079 --> 00:47:15.960
the solution? When you get out of Christianity will do

720
00:47:16.000 --> 00:47:18.559
the same thing, But the world will always say the

721
00:47:18.719 --> 00:47:25.719
problems can be fixed with what education? Education? Well, all

722
00:47:25.760 --> 00:47:27.360
the education in the world. And look at all the

723
00:47:27.400 --> 00:47:31.119
problems in the world. Has education fixed them? No? Now,

724
00:47:31.159 --> 00:47:36.519
what education will do will make a dumb sinner a

725
00:47:36.559 --> 00:47:40.599
smart center. So it just may change the sin which

726
00:47:40.639 --> 00:47:49.719
they are committee, right, Because so I just want to you,

727
00:47:49.960 --> 00:47:52.079
when all of this have you not heard? Have you?

728
00:47:52.079 --> 00:47:55.000
You should know? They should know? But why do they

729
00:47:55.079 --> 00:47:57.320
not do something? All right? Well, okay, now what happens

730
00:47:57.320 --> 00:48:02.920
in verse twenty two through twenty four. Remember this is

731
00:48:02.960 --> 00:48:06.199
the insignificance of human rulers, right, So AI types it

732
00:48:06.239 --> 00:48:09.199
out this way. I'm trying to hurry because we need

733
00:48:09.239 --> 00:48:11.440
to finish this. It is he who sits above the

734
00:48:11.440 --> 00:48:15.039
circle of the earth and its habitants are like the

735
00:48:15.079 --> 00:48:18.559
grasshoppers who stretch out the heavens like a curtain, spreads

736
00:48:18.599 --> 00:48:22.480
them as a tent to dwell in, who brings princess

737
00:48:22.519 --> 00:48:24.960
to nothing makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

738
00:48:25.159 --> 00:48:29.000
Scarcely are they planted scarcely, so scarcely has their stem

739
00:48:29.039 --> 00:48:31.400
taken root in the earth. When he blows on them,

740
00:48:32.000 --> 00:48:36.199
they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

741
00:48:36.400 --> 00:48:40.960
All right, so here we go. AI breaks it down

742
00:48:41.000 --> 00:48:43.960
basically into two major points. Verse twenty two, God rules

743
00:48:44.039 --> 00:48:47.360
over creation, sits above the circle of the earth. It's

744
00:48:47.400 --> 00:48:51.360
describing God's sovereign rule over all things. That's the point

745
00:48:51.400 --> 00:48:55.480
of that passage. Okay, God sitting above the circle of

746
00:48:55.480 --> 00:48:59.639
the earth. It's just showing what it's not a scientific statement,

747
00:49:00.119 --> 00:49:06.239
philological statement. The philological statement is what God sits above

748
00:49:06.519 --> 00:49:12.440
all things. It's not making a scientific statement. Okay, I

749
00:49:12.480 --> 00:49:14.039
know people like to get into them, but that's not

750
00:49:14.119 --> 00:49:17.079
the point. Stretches out the heavens like a curtain. I mean,

751
00:49:17.159 --> 00:49:22.320
obviously it's using what kind of language. It's very poetic.

752
00:49:22.360 --> 00:49:25.599
I see, it's not being scientific. He stretched out the

753
00:49:25.639 --> 00:49:29.480
heavens like a curtain. He sits above the circle. It's

754
00:49:29.559 --> 00:49:35.320
not trying to make some dogmatic scientific statement, right. It

755
00:49:35.360 --> 00:49:39.480
emphasizes his power in creation, contrasting it with lifeless idols. Okay,

756
00:49:39.480 --> 00:49:41.480
that's verse twenty two. How about verse twenty three or

757
00:49:41.519 --> 00:49:44.480
twenty four. This is the fleeting nature of human power.

758
00:49:44.880 --> 00:49:48.280
He brings princess to nothing. Human rulers rise and fall.

759
00:49:48.440 --> 00:49:52.800
God remains supreme, and then I mean, basically they're gonna

760
00:49:52.840 --> 00:49:56.480
be carried away. They're basically they're not permanent. Their power

761
00:49:56.559 --> 00:49:59.440
is an illusion, all right, So what are the philological

762
00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:05.920
themes here? God is incomparable, idolatry is futile, and human

763
00:50:06.079 --> 00:50:09.920
earthly power is temporary. If you want three basic themes,

764
00:50:09.960 --> 00:50:14.920
those are the themes. God is incomparable, Idolatry is futile,

765
00:50:16.119 --> 00:50:21.119
Earthly power is temporary. Everybody got those three things. God

766
00:50:21.159 --> 00:50:32.480
is what incomparable. Idolatry is what feutile. Earthly power is temporary.

767
00:50:32.679 --> 00:50:36.760
Let me go through those one more time. God is incomparable.

768
00:50:36.840 --> 00:50:45.440
Idolatry is feudal. Earthly power is temporary. Everybody got those.

769
00:50:46.239 --> 00:50:49.000
If you remember that, then you remember the section. Okay,

770
00:50:49.360 --> 00:50:52.000
then AI gives me application. I'm not going to go

771
00:50:52.000 --> 00:50:53.920
through all of that because I've been trying to apply

772
00:50:53.920 --> 00:50:58.320
it throughout. It gives me all kinds of discussion questions. Okay,

773
00:50:59.239 --> 00:51:00.880
but I'm not going to go all of that, and

774
00:51:00.920 --> 00:51:05.360
then AI gives me a conclusion. Isaiah forty eighteen through

775
00:51:05.360 --> 00:51:09.360
twenty four exposes the foolishness of idolatry the fleeting nature

776
00:51:09.360 --> 00:51:12.280
of human power. You see a theme we keep repeating,

777
00:51:12.760 --> 00:51:15.639
calling us to trust in the One True God, the Creator,

778
00:51:15.719 --> 00:51:22.360
sustainer and supreme ruler over all things that's eighteen to

779
00:51:22.480 --> 00:51:26.199
twenty four. And I allowed AI to control that as

780
00:51:26.280 --> 00:51:28.159
much as possible. But you saw that I left Ai

781
00:51:28.239 --> 00:51:32.119
about fifty times there. Bet Okay, Right, AI broke the

782
00:51:32.159 --> 00:51:35.159
text down very well, did it not? And what a day?

783
00:51:36.039 --> 00:51:40.320
AI kept it focused on whom on Israel, because that's

784
00:51:40.320 --> 00:51:45.280
whom it is about. Right. We talked about some applications there,

785
00:51:45.320 --> 00:51:47.719
but we'll stop right there. I won't won't say anything

786
00:51:47.719 --> 00:51:50.159
else because the next hour we need to get from

787
00:51:50.159 --> 00:51:55.159
where twenty five to thirty one. All right, I think

788
00:51:55.199 --> 00:51:58.519
we can do it. All right, Well, you're foolish to think. Okay,

789
00:51:58.519 --> 00:52:03.639
now I'm choking, right. Pray, Lord God, we come before you. Lord,

790
00:52:03.679 --> 00:52:10.360
forgive us for our idolatry. Forgive us for our being

791
00:52:10.519 --> 00:52:15.320
controlled by our emotions desires. Forgive us for forgetting the

792
00:52:15.360 --> 00:52:19.000
truths that we have been taught. Lord. We are sinners,

793
00:52:19.239 --> 00:52:21.800
and that's our only hope is in what Christ has

794
00:52:21.840 --> 00:52:24.039
done for us. And it's in his name we pray.

795
00:52:24.199 --> 00:52:26.159
And God's people said