Dec. 29, 2024

Isaiah 40:6-8 Pt 2

Isaiah 40:6-8 Pt 2

We conclude our study of Isaiah 40:6-8

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We conclude our study of Isaiah 40:6-8

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All right, our number two Isaiah chapter forty we don't

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really have to do much of a review since it's

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the exact same people here, which that's a good thing.

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So we just jump right back into our conversation that

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we're having in the previous hour. Of those who will

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be listening online definitely will need to go back and

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listen to the first part here, but we'll read the

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section of scripture that we are so we're not really

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working on the section of scripture yet because we're really

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just working on the very first part. But Isaiah forty

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six through eight, we read these words the voice said cry,

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and he said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass,

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and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of

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the field. The grass witheeth the flower faith, because the

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spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely the people

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is grass. The grass withthereth the flower faith. But the

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word of our God shall stand forever. In most churches,

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when it comes to the sermon structure, they would just

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turn that into a sermon, make probably break it into

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three points, right, yes, and be done, and they would

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be done in about thirty to forty five minutes. Everybody

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would be like, what a great sermon, throw in some

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cross references, a good illustration at the beginning, a good

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maybe you know, emotional story at the end, and then

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everyone would love it because they got church. The only

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problem is they wouldn't actually be dealing with the issue

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at hand. So what is the issue at hand for us?

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Starting in verse six? The issue for us at hand

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is trying to identify the voice in verse six. We

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have looked and we spend an hour considering the voice

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in verse three and the voice in verse six. Are

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they the same? Are they different? We looked at similarities,

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we looked at differences, We looked at arguments for and against.

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So what we're going to do. We had a big

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discussion there at the end, trying to identify the voice,

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possibly the voice being God in verse three and verse six.

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We thought that that kind of fell apart a little bit.

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We talked about being Isaiah. We've talked about the voice

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in verse three being Cyrus verse six. Maybe not the

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same or are the same? We've looked at a lot

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of different theories. So now what I want to do

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is step back and just kind of go back, kind

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of continue on in some of my notes, skip down

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a little bit, just do a little bit more work,

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and then maybe we'll circle back to some of that discussion.

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Everybody okay with that? All right, but we can kind

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of move forward because this may offer some clarification. Maybe

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this will make it easier, maybe this will just make

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it more complicated. Let's consider this, everybody ready, Let's consider

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how the voices could be connected. Let's do that. Does

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that sound like a good idea? All right, so let's

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go with this. Even if the voices are distinct, they

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still are linked together. We've already kind of hinted at this,

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have we not? Whether this the same voice or whether

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they're different voices, whether we should identify them or shouldn't

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identify them. They are thematically linked together. That much everyone

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should be able to agree with. Are we okay with that?

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And verse three, the voice announces God's coming deliverance and

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the need for preparation. Everybody okay with that? Verse six,

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the voice proclaims the reason for trusting in God's deliverance,

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which is human efforts are fleeting. Humans are fleeting, but

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God's word endures forever. So let me put those two together.

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How are they thematically lenked? The voice announces God's coming

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and deliverance, and the need to prepare for that. In

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verse three and verse six, the voice proclaims the reason

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for trusting in this deliverance, which is humans are fleeting,

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humans are gonna fade away, but God's word will endure forever.

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All right. Together, these voices form a progressive revelation. Verse three,

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it's a call to prepare. Israel is urged to prepare

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for God's intervention symbolized by the highway imagery. Verse are.

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So that's the call to prepare number two. Then we

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have the proclamation of God's faithfulness, and verses six through eight,

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Israel is reminded of the transient nature of human power

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and the enduring reliability of God's promises, God's word. God's

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word is faithful because God's word endures. Man is not faithful.

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Man fades away, Man's power fades away. God's word endures.

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So it's a progressive revelation, a call to prepare, and

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a proclamation of God's faithfulness. Does that make sense? All right?

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So what are the thiological implicat If the voices are

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the same. The passage reflects a single divine message with

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two aspects, prepare and trust in God's eternal Word. If

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it's if it's let me say that again. If the

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voices are the same, the passage reflects a single divine message,

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prepare and trust in God's eternal Word. If the voices

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are different, the voices represent different speakers or stages in

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God's revelation. One speaks of God's arrival. Another explains why

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preparation is necessary or why explains why that preparation is

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necessary and trustworthy. So if we have them separate, that

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means one has this message prepare, and then the second

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messenger comes and says, hey, you need to be preparing

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because God's word is enduring, trustworthy everything. Oh, you should

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be preparing. It's almost like one speaks and then another

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one speaks. If it's the same messenger, then he's given

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both points. But here's what I want you to grab onto.

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Whether it's one, whether it's two, whether they can be

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identified or whether they can't be identified. What can we

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identify the message can be identified? Has everyone got that?

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Whether we can identify the voice, whether we can identify,

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whether there's one or two, we can identify the message?

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Does that make sense? Does everybody feel okay with that?

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All right? Either interpretation one voice or two voices highlights

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God's sovereignty and faithfulness in delivering his people all right.

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While the voice in Isaiah forty verse three and the

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voice in Isaiah forty verse six could be the same,

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the shift in focus and structure suggest to some students

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and some scholars that they could represent two distinct proclamations.

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Verse three is the call to prepare. Verse six is

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a proclamation of human frailty and the enduring nature of

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God's word. Whether they are the same or whether they

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are different, the thematic connection between the two emphasizes the

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reliability of God's promise and the need to prepare spiritually

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for his redemptive work. Now, I don't like that last phrase,

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to repare spiritually, because I don't think this has anything

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to do with preparing spiritually. Yeah, well, that's just it's

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it's taking the poetic language and now you're just adding

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something to the poetic language. It says it's going to

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make the highway straight. Prepare this. I think it's a look.

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Let me state it this way. Let's step back in history,

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because I'll turn a lot of sermons. Do this right, So,

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is everybody ready for a very important theological question was Israel.

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Was Judah going to be delivered from Babylonian captivity? No

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matter how spiritual or unspiritual, they were going to be yes,

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because they were going to be there for how many years?

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Irregardless whether they were going to be spiritual or ear

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or unspiritual. They were coming out of captivity. And guess what,

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we know what happened when they came out of captivity.

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They weren't that spiritual. So everyone tries to make it

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like I've even heard a pastor say they were going

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to be delivered if they prepared. No, that is not true.

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They were going to be delivered irregardless because God said

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it was seventy years. And why was it seventy years?

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Because see, yeah, the daper point was because they had

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not followed the Sabbath for the land. So I don't

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forget the spiritual press if. Oh, I'm so sick of that.

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I know that's how sermons have to preach. But that's

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why I hate sermons. Prepare was needed to be prepared

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physical tangible material. In fact, if go back to the

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Decree of Cyrus, what is he stay in like verse five?

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I think of it, he named some people and some

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I think some materials. I could be wrong. I'm going

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for memory the family. Does it mention some materials or gold,

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silver somewhere in that maybe four verse four? All physical prep?

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Does it say that they repented, read their Bible with

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the church, did devotions with the church, camp, did the

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walking to amas? Read purpose driven life? None of that? Okay?

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What was the preparation? The prep was removing all obstacles? Right?

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You could say the prep had two stages, remove all

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obstacles and gather all required materials. And that occurred. Yeah.

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See Cyrus literally tells them what to prepare. So this

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is no spiritual preparation. Everyone understand that this is not

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a sermon on Hey, this is what you need to do.

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So the preparing had nothing to do with it. So

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everybody understand that. All right. So I then was after

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I kind of looked at some of this, well, uh

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so what could how did this? How could this be

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looked at? So I went to AI and I asked

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AI a question about how could we look at this?

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And this is what AI said. It would be entirely accurate.

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Oh and just a funny thing about AI yesterday. Okay,

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so this just cracked me up your sday. I just

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this is a side note, just to you know, break

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the flow up a little bit here since this is

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so academic. Yesterday I got ready to review a sermon

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on Isaiah forty three eighteen and nineteen, right, so, I said, I. Uh, So,

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I asked Ai, I'm gonna review a sermon on Isaiah

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forty three eighteen through nineteen. Do you have any advice

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for me? You know what, Ai said, be very cautious

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because pastors frequently misuse, misupply, and misinterpret Isaiah forty three

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eighteen through nineteen. Then Ai gave me all the ways

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pastors misused and then I review the sermon and guess

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what the sermon did? Every single thing Ai said it does.

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And I'm like, yeah, I need Ai to tell me

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I can't be cautious listening to sermons because they misused

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the scriptures. That's that means it's so frequent that even

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AI knows it. That's that's embarrassing ladies. That's that ticks

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me off. That just means you it would be more

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valuable to burn all the churches to the ground and

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just listen to Ai, because AI has a better understanding

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of how to handle the text. That's a bad that's it.

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You know who's to blame for that? Human beings are

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to blame for that, okay, because we can't seem to

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handle this text of scripture in any meaningful way. But

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I talked to Ai in regards to this section, and

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AI said it would be entirely accurate to interpret both

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voices and Isaiah forty verse three and Isaiah forty verse

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six as messages proclaiming the message God wants declared, with

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each serving a distinct purpose. So AI said that it

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would be very accurate to see Isaiah forty verse three

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and verse eight that these voices are messengers that God

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wants to declare a particular message. All right, the first voice,

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This is how AI breaks it down, right, you ready?

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Isaiah forty verse three. AI refers to this first voice

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as the messenger of preparation. The first voice is a messenger,

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a herald, recalling for the preparation of the wave for

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God's arrival. This involves addressing obstacles that might hinder his work.

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The message is forward looking, urging action, prepare the way

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of the Lord. It is to mobilize the people and

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and to prepare for God's intervention to emphasize that God

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is coming to deliver and restore his people. I think

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we can agree with that, all right? That now, just

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please note the AI does not identify the messenger as God.

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In verse three. It identifies it as a person. Doesn't

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say who. Now again, when I read all of that,

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I'm sorry, I can't get away from it. It sounds

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like whom. It sounds like Cyrus. Ladies and gentlemen. Look,

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this first voice is It's forward looking, it's urging action.

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It's to mobilize the people to prepare for God's intervention.

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What don't we read in the decree? Cyrus is mobilizing

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the people? Is he not? I mean literally, whenever I

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read anything about that verse voice, it screams to me, Sorry,

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I can't get away from it. And look, everyone in

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the world may disagree with me. I just can't get

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away from it. I go read that decree, I read

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Isaiah forty verses three through five, and I'm like, how

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do I don't I don't get it. Here's the second voice.

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Are you ready? The second voice is the teacher of

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eternal truth. That's how AI defines the second voice, the

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teacher of eternal truth. The second voice is a teacher

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or a reminder, emphasizing key theological truths about humanity and God.

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The message shifts to reflection, highlighting the transient of human

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life right and the enduring nature of God's word. The

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purpose is to contrast human frailty with God's eternal sovereignty

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and faithfulness, to build trust in God's promises by reminding

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the people that while human efforts fade, God's word and

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his redemptive plan endure forever. All right, I think we

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can see that now if you go back to the

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decree of Cyrus. What does Cyrus want the people to know?

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Go back to the Ezra, Go back to the decree

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of Cyrus. I know I'm not gonna let this go,

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and but that's okay, I can't let it go. Just

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look at what Cyrus seems to be trying to convey

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to the people. What does he seem to want the

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people to know? How many? Okay? Where do you see

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that he is? He wants the people to know that

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the authority comes from God. Okay, so he wants the

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people to know God is involved? Right? Okay? Can wait?

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Does everyone feel comfortable with saying that? Because I don't

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because I am biased here, right, yeah, Lord God, he

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uses the Lord, right, he uses the covenant name, the

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national name of God, right, Okay, the Lord God. What

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word does he use for God is the Elohim? Lord

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is Jehovah, Jehovah and God. I don't know if he's

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using what's he's using here? I don't think it's Lohim.

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We'll see here. I didn't think about it. I'm just

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curious because I mean, I mean a lot. This is

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why a lot of people the Decree of Cyrus is

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controversial from a lot of perspectives. Oh, it's Elohim. Okay,

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So Elohim is nothing really, that's pretty common. So that's

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nothing unique there about that one. Okay, yeah, he's but

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he appointed me. See yeah, it's all God a point

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to me to do what? All right? Does he say

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anything else? Okay? How does he begin the next section? Okay?

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Anything among you God? Okay? I didn't know if he

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says anything about God said or God's nothing along those lines.

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But he's very clear that it's God, right, very clear

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that it's God. It's not man. So so the uh, yeah,

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so we we can see that the first voice and

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the sex. So the first voice is a messenger of preparation.

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The second voice is a teacher of eternal truth. Everybody

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got that? Yes? Okay? So these voices in a sense

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are distinct. Yet they can't they there's a they compliment.

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They create a complementary message, right. The first voice calls

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to action, focus on the need for preparation and removing obstacles.

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The people are to respond by aligning themselves with God's plan. Right,

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I think that's simple. Right. The first voice calls action.

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What are the people to do to the first voice

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Isaiah forty verse three, There to simply do what they're

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to follow there to prepare to see it. In verse three, okay,

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the second voice calls to trust, teaches that the ultimate

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deliverance depends on God, not human strength. What is the

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audience to do with the second voice? They just basically

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they're just to believe and be reminded that, hey, humans

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are frail, God's word will endure forever. Together, these two

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voices urge the people to actively prepare, and it gives

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them the philological foundation for why they can trust because

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God has said so, all right. This dual function aligns

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with how God often uses messengers. In scripture, harolds or

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messengers announce his coming. John the Baptist does this, and

279
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obviously the New Testament to prepare the way, and teachers

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remind people of his truth. So this fits the broader

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context of Isaiah forty, which is both a called a

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readiness and a reassurance of God's enduring faithfulness. This understanding

283
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reinforces two key theological truths, God's called action he uses

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messengers to challenge people to work, and God's sovereign faithfulness

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and reminds people that while human strength is fleeting, his

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word will endure forever. Both voices serve as instruments of

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God's redemptive plan, delivering a complimentary message that addresses both

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the need for action and the assurance for divine reliability.

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All right, so I think we can see that, can

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we not? So what should we do then? With the voice? Issue?

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This is what This is what I suggest. As much

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as I look, I will argue this, and so I'm

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gonna make one argument. So what should we do with

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the voice? You may want to write these points down, right,

295
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So we'll try to make some individual points here. You ready.

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The first thing we should do with the voices are

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you ready? Is just focus on the message more than

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the voice first. Now, typically I would say we should

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identify the voice first, but in this particular case, just

300
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let's identify the message first, right, and we get the message, prepare,

301
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God is coming, right, Why should you prepare? Because human

302
00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:56.559
beings are going to fly, fail, fall, fade, be blown away.

303
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But God's word endures forever. You've got a reason to

304
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prepare because God said it's going to happen, and his

305
00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:07.599
word last, it outlasts anybody else, right, And that that

306
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is comforting? And which way, why is it comforting that

307
00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:16.079
God's word will outlast any human Well? One, it's comforting

308
00:22:16.119 --> 00:22:19.319
because well that means, hey, if the Babylonian's in charge,

309
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sooner or later, they're going to fade away. God's word

310
00:22:21.799 --> 00:22:25.319
is going to If you see your own people start

311
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to die, your own family members start to remember they're

312
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in captivity for seventy years. What that reassures them that

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even though we may die, God's word is going to

314
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endure forever. Right, So it gives you that comfort, all right,

315
00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:45.880
So we can we can get that, Yes, we get

316
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the message. Everyone can get the message. Now, So that's

317
00:22:48.920 --> 00:22:51.079
the first thing we need to grow. The second thing

318
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I am going to make this statement. I know it

319
00:22:54.200 --> 00:22:59.599
may not be popular. Popular, we cannot just overlook Cyrus

320
00:22:59.640 --> 00:23:02.720
in the yes. And here's the reason I want to

321
00:23:02.720 --> 00:23:06.680
so stress Cyrus is that if I stress Cyrus, what

322
00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:11.119
am I forcing you to do with the text to

323
00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:14.599
maintain in its historical context. I don't want you to

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leave the historical context. Sermon after sermon, who gets and

325
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all the sermons I've listened to, Who's almost never mentioned

326
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In any of the sermons I've listened to, Cyrus is

327
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never even hinted at. You've got to know Cyrus's involvement here, right,

328
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So I think we have to do that. Three, the

329
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struggle and identifying the voice, whether it's one, two, and

330
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who it may or may not be. Even though it

331
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may feel like it's futile and it's not worth it,

332
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it's worth it because it's forcing you to do what

333
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to get into the text. So the exercise and trying

334
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to figure this out, even though it may feel futile,

335
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it's worth it because it's getting you into the text.

336
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A lot of people say, well, see, if you don't

337
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really have a good conclusion, why waste two hours doing it?

338
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Because it's forced us to do what we've spent hours.

339
00:24:14.400 --> 00:24:17.039
We spent now almost two hours going through the text

340
00:24:17.119 --> 00:24:19.359
over and over and over and over again. So what

341
00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:22.359
should you always remember? You should remember all of the

342
00:24:22.440 --> 00:24:29.880
things that we have discussed. All right, So now let's

343
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work through six through eight. So what conclusion should we

344
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come to? Yeah, I think the conclusion we should come

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to is it's almost impossible for us to identify the

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voice it really is. I know everybody wants to run

347
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to John the Baptist. That doesn't help us in the

348
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historical context. I want to run to Cyrus. Why do

349
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I want to run to Cyrus? Because it forces us

350
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into the historical context, which is why I feel gets

351
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already abandoned. But I know this, his voices are giving

352
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very important information to whom, to those people in captivity.

353
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All right, So now let's just go through six through

354
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eight and we'll just try to bring out some points

355
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here so that we can leave here with something specific.

356
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Does that sound good? All right? So first, let's look

357
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at the contextual kind of overview. Let's look at the

358
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immediate context and the historical context and the literary context.

359
00:25:27.039 --> 00:25:31.240
All right, everybody ready, right, the immediate context. These verses

360
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Verses six through eight follow the initial comfort and preparation

361
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themes of Isaiah forty right. Verses one through two proclaim

362
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God's comfort for his people and announce they're basically Deliverance

363
00:25:44.519 --> 00:25:47.960
three through five introduces a voice calling for preparation for

364
00:25:48.039 --> 00:25:51.279
God's coming revealing his glory, and verses six through eight

365
00:25:51.759 --> 00:25:55.160
shifts the focus to contrast human frailty with the enduring

366
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reliability of God's word. That's the immediate context. Everybody agree

367
00:25:59.480 --> 00:26:02.799
with that, that's simple, straightforward. We've established that now like

368
00:26:02.839 --> 00:26:05.920
ten different ways, have we not? That's the immediate context.

369
00:26:06.119 --> 00:26:10.720
What's the historical context? This is addressed to Israel during

370
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the Babylonian exile, and the passage remains reminds the people

371
00:26:14.960 --> 00:26:19.880
their oppression is temporary and weak in comparison to their God,

372
00:26:20.240 --> 00:26:23.200
and their hope lies in God's eternal promise, not in

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human power. We got that. That's historical context. So do

374
00:26:28.160 --> 00:26:32.039
we have the immediate context? Do we have the historical context?

375
00:26:32.160 --> 00:26:35.920
Everybody should say, man, what's the literary context? Isaiah forty

376
00:26:35.960 --> 00:26:40.079
begins what is known as what the Book of Comfort

377
00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:44.519
goes all the way to chapter fifty five. This is

378
00:26:44.559 --> 00:26:48.319
designed to reassure the exiled israel Israelites of God's plan

379
00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:52.160
to restore them. And what literary thing that you need

380
00:26:52.200 --> 00:26:55.480
to remember about this section is what type of literary

381
00:26:55.519 --> 00:27:01.319
style is being used over and over and over poetics? Right.

382
00:27:01.640 --> 00:27:04.799
It employes vivid imagery and metaphors to contrast human frailty

383
00:27:04.880 --> 00:27:09.519
with God's sovereignty. Right, everybody got that? So what is

384
00:27:09.519 --> 00:27:15.480
the three context here that we looked at? Immediate, historical, literary. Right,

385
00:27:15.720 --> 00:27:17.559
All of that is just a reminder. We're going to

386
00:27:17.640 --> 00:27:19.839
do that every section, every section, I'm going to give

387
00:27:19.839 --> 00:27:23.559
you the immediate, the historical, literary, or some other form

388
00:27:23.599 --> 00:27:26.920
of context, because the context puts it all together. All right, Now,

389
00:27:27.079 --> 00:27:29.960
if we just start working verses six to eight, let's

390
00:27:30.039 --> 00:27:32.880
just take some of this apart, all right, Let's start

391
00:27:32.880 --> 00:27:36.519
in verse six, right, and I'm going to read from

392
00:27:36.519 --> 00:27:41.319
this translation. We have a voice says cry, And I said,

393
00:27:41.359 --> 00:27:45.440
what shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all

394
00:27:45.480 --> 00:27:48.880
its beauty is like the flower of the field. Right,

395
00:27:49.359 --> 00:27:51.920
A voice says cry? Can ever want agree? A voice

396
00:27:51.920 --> 00:27:57.960
says cry? Likely this seems to be a divine command, Right,

397
00:27:58.079 --> 00:28:01.000
I think we can agree with that? Voice emphasizes the

398
00:28:01.039 --> 00:28:04.720
need to proclaim an essential truth to these people? Right

399
00:28:05.119 --> 00:28:08.680
cry out? Right? Look, in verse six, a voice says, cry,

400
00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:13.000
that's important. This voice wants someone to cry something out

401
00:28:13.240 --> 00:28:16.039
that's obviously important. When it says to cry it out,

402
00:28:16.279 --> 00:28:22.640
that is almost emphasizing what yell it? Raise your voice.

403
00:28:23.240 --> 00:28:27.119
It doesn't just say speak it, cry it with some passion,

404
00:28:27.279 --> 00:28:32.799
with some emphasis. This is important. The people need to

405
00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:36.759
know this, can we and then we have the dialogue

406
00:28:36.799 --> 00:28:40.759
that kind of intervenes here in this section, Right, what

407
00:28:40.960 --> 00:28:44.920
shall I cry? This response mirrors the humility of the

408
00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:48.759
prophet or messenger who seeks to clarity from God about

409
00:28:48.799 --> 00:28:55.200
the message, because the voice just says, cry, what's the

410
00:28:55.240 --> 00:28:59.839
obvious question? What am I supposed to say? Meaning that

411
00:28:59.839 --> 00:29:02.920
the messenger understands that it's not to go proclaim what

412
00:29:05.400 --> 00:29:09.400
their message? That the messenger understands is supposed to proclaim.

413
00:29:10.440 --> 00:29:13.559
Whoever this voice is calling out, you got I gotta

414
00:29:13.599 --> 00:29:19.440
proclaim your message, right, I gotta go proclaim your message whoever,

415
00:29:19.680 --> 00:29:23.200
whoever they understand it. It's it's got to be your message. Okay?

416
00:29:23.920 --> 00:29:26.960
Can we all agree with that? Right? What's next after that?

417
00:29:28.200 --> 00:29:33.240
What shall I cry? Then? Immediately? What's after it, Yeah,

418
00:29:33.319 --> 00:29:35.799
what does it say exact words? Next a couple of words.

419
00:29:36.119 --> 00:29:39.839
Does it say all flesh is all men are like grass?

420
00:29:39.920 --> 00:29:42.640
Or all flesh is as grass? It refers to humanity,

421
00:29:42.680 --> 00:29:48.000
emphasizing morality and frailty. Right. The metaphor compares human life

422
00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:53.119
to grass, which is fragile and short lived. Right, it's

423
00:29:53.119 --> 00:29:54.960
trying to show you that what when it comes to

424
00:29:55.039 --> 00:29:59.279
human life, what is it like grass? It grows up

425
00:29:59.319 --> 00:30:06.400
and then what happens to it fades cut down? Right

426
00:30:07.319 --> 00:30:09.960
in Texas, if we do get grass that actually shows up,

427
00:30:10.519 --> 00:30:11.960
it shows up for a little bit of time, and

428
00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:14.960
then what happens to it? You can you can look

429
00:30:14.960 --> 00:30:17.799
out the window over there. It's that brown. I don't

430
00:30:17.799 --> 00:30:20.000
know what that stuff is, right, you step on it,

431
00:30:20.039 --> 00:30:23.119
and what happens to it? Just and it just does? What?

432
00:30:23.440 --> 00:30:28.880
And the Texas wind? That's that's uh, that's human beings.

433
00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:36.279
That's human beings right now, we can we want to

434
00:30:36.319 --> 00:30:38.279
immediately make it about us, but we got to put

435
00:30:38.279 --> 00:30:41.799
it in its context. That's they're probably realizing that one

436
00:30:41.839 --> 00:30:44.240
they're gonna they see the frailty of their own life. Right,

437
00:30:44.920 --> 00:30:49.359
they're in captivity. People have died. But it also is

438
00:30:49.400 --> 00:30:51.720
a reminder, and it's gonna be hard for them to see.

439
00:30:51.759 --> 00:30:54.000
They probably would have a hard time seeing the Babylonians

440
00:30:54.039 --> 00:30:58.799
in that way, as we've already mentioned, right, the metaphors

441
00:30:58.839 --> 00:31:01.799
comparing human life to grass, which is fragile and short

442
00:31:01.799 --> 00:31:04.279
lived all and know what else does it say? After all?

443
00:31:04.319 --> 00:31:17.119
Flesh is grass and all the goodliness and some translations

444
00:31:17.960 --> 00:31:22.599
some have the idea of all its beauty. But whatever

445
00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:25.680
is good about it, whatever is beautiful about it, whatever

446
00:31:25.799 --> 00:31:30.680
is positive about it, is what it's like the flower

447
00:31:30.799 --> 00:31:34.799
of the field, right, So it can be It can

448
00:31:34.880 --> 00:31:38.000
mean faithful, It can mean loyalty, it can mean splendor,

449
00:31:38.039 --> 00:31:42.000
it can mean whatever it is humanity, even humanity and

450
00:31:42.039 --> 00:31:48.200
its best form right or as fleeting as wildflowers which

451
00:31:48.200 --> 00:31:51.519
bloom briefly before they wither. So in other words, as humans.

452
00:31:51.640 --> 00:31:54.519
If you take anything good in us, you think anything

453
00:31:54.599 --> 00:32:00.960
strong in us, anything powerful in us, it's only what temporary.

454
00:32:01.400 --> 00:32:05.240
That's the point. It's fleeting. It's temporary, all right? Everybody

455
00:32:05.279 --> 00:32:10.400
see that? Does that? Break that down pretty good? Everybody

456
00:32:10.400 --> 00:32:13.359
got that? All right? Now, what happens in verse seven?

457
00:32:15.480 --> 00:32:20.359
The first part is the grass withthereth and the flower fades.

458
00:32:20.400 --> 00:32:26.440
The metaphor deepens not only not only as human life brief,

459
00:32:26.759 --> 00:32:32.200
but it's also subject to decay and disappearance. The grass withthereth,

460
00:32:32.599 --> 00:32:37.960
the flower fadeth, it just is gone. It's just re

461
00:32:38.119 --> 00:32:46.039
emphasizing that. Can we agree? And then it says what next?

462
00:32:46.799 --> 00:32:52.960
Because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it? Now,

463
00:32:53.000 --> 00:32:56.640
some translations have when the breath of the Lord bloweth

464
00:32:56.720 --> 00:32:59.960
upon it? Does someone see that? Because the word spirit

465
00:33:00.160 --> 00:33:03.720
can be the word breath, right, so that it could

466
00:33:03.720 --> 00:33:06.759
be translated a number of different ways. Here, all right,

467
00:33:07.000 --> 00:33:14.480
but what does this seem to be referring to? That's

468
00:33:14.519 --> 00:33:17.960
by God's hand. This is demonstrating God's power. Very good,

469
00:33:18.160 --> 00:33:21.440
This is demonstrating that this, as one would say, it

470
00:33:21.480 --> 00:33:27.240
symbolizes God's judgment or the natural fragility of creation under

471
00:33:27.319 --> 00:33:30.960
his control. But the idea refers to God's sovereign power.

472
00:33:32.200 --> 00:33:35.759
The phrase reminds the audience that even human frailty is

473
00:33:35.960 --> 00:33:41.799
under God's sovereignty. In a sense, God is the one

474
00:33:41.839 --> 00:33:45.960
who does the way. What's the imagery, whether it's a flower,

475
00:33:46.359 --> 00:33:51.920
whether it's grass, what happens when God breathes upon it?

476
00:33:51.920 --> 00:33:54.160
It's gone? So, in other words, it's almost like you

477
00:33:54.240 --> 00:33:59.960
take it, and God goes and it's demonstrating, not it

478
00:34:00.079 --> 00:34:04.039
demonstrating how frail we are. It's contrasting our frailty to

479
00:34:04.119 --> 00:34:09.559
God's power. He simply breathes upon it. So now what

480
00:34:09.880 --> 00:34:20.079
and it's context. What does that mean for the people listening? Yeah,

481
00:34:20.159 --> 00:34:22.559
you could? And the and the message here is the

482
00:34:22.599 --> 00:34:28.400
Babylonians God can do what with yeah? And he and

483
00:34:28.480 --> 00:34:32.239
he and they leave in the most like ridiculous way.

484
00:34:32.440 --> 00:34:35.039
Right you got you got the king of Babylon who's like,

485
00:34:37.719 --> 00:34:41.239
I don't care. He just kind of walks away, and

486
00:34:41.239 --> 00:34:45.599
then Cyrus just kind of walks, just kind of walks in,

487
00:34:45.639 --> 00:34:47.960
and he's like, all right, guys leave. I mean that

488
00:34:48.239 --> 00:34:50.360
you couldn't write that in a story. People would be like,

489
00:34:50.440 --> 00:34:53.559
that's too stupid, that's not the way it works. But

490
00:34:53.639 --> 00:34:57.360
that's literally the way it worked historically. The Babylonian king

491
00:34:57.480 --> 00:34:59.599
just kind of goes a wall and Cyrus just come

492
00:34:59.719 --> 00:35:01.760
and the kind of just basically open the gates and

493
00:35:01.800 --> 00:35:03.920
Cyrus just walks stay and it's like I'm hearing to

494
00:35:04.039 --> 00:35:07.360
free you, okay, And they're like, what is happening here?

495
00:35:09.079 --> 00:35:17.440
Demonstrating what God's sovereignty he just makes it all go away?

496
00:35:17.639 --> 00:35:19.559
And then what does it say at the end of

497
00:35:19.679 --> 00:35:27.719
verse seven? Surely the people are what our grass? The

498
00:35:27.800 --> 00:35:31.199
metaphors applied directly to the audience, affirming that humanity's power

499
00:35:31.239 --> 00:35:36.519
and permanence are illusions. It's all going away, The people

500
00:35:36.840 --> 00:35:40.360
is grass. It's all going away, all right? So now

501
00:35:40.400 --> 00:35:45.719
what does that bring us to verse eight? All right,

502
00:35:46.719 --> 00:35:49.199
the grass withereth, the flower phades, but the word of

503
00:35:49.199 --> 00:35:51.239
our Lord stands for other the grass wither it the

504
00:35:51.239 --> 00:35:56.199
flower phase. This repetition reinforces the transient, the transience of

505
00:35:56.360 --> 00:36:00.360
human life. That's what it's just being repetitive. If is

506
00:36:00.400 --> 00:36:06.079
it not human life? It withereth the flower fadeth. But

507
00:36:06.239 --> 00:36:13.760
what's the key phrase there? That word? But right? Because

508
00:36:13.800 --> 00:36:18.320
then that does what negates everything that comes before? And what?

509
00:36:18.679 --> 00:36:22.800
And what is a state that the God's word, the

510
00:36:22.840 --> 00:36:27.119
word of our God, shall stand forever. This is the eternity,

511
00:36:27.239 --> 00:36:31.280
eternity and reliability of God's word. This is the his

512
00:36:31.400 --> 00:36:34.760
The theological assertion being stated here is that, hey, all

513
00:36:34.800 --> 00:36:37.360
of this other stuff may fall apart, God's word is

514
00:36:37.360 --> 00:36:45.320
the only thing that's going to last. God promises are immutable, trustworthy,

515
00:36:45.400 --> 00:36:49.239
and unchanging. That's what they're really supposed to get from this. Right,

516
00:36:49.639 --> 00:36:53.320
this voice is supposed to tell the people God said it,

517
00:36:53.320 --> 00:36:57.159
it's going to happen. And again, that's why it reminds

518
00:36:57.239 --> 00:37:02.480
me of Cyrus's decree. Everyone. I know, you don't know me.

519
00:37:03.000 --> 00:37:05.039
I know I just walked through the gate. I know

520
00:37:05.119 --> 00:37:09.800
I'm a Persian king. But let me tell you something, God,

521
00:37:10.440 --> 00:37:16.400
your God, Jehovah has told me that I'm going to

522
00:37:16.480 --> 00:37:21.239
do what build back your city, build back your temple.

523
00:37:21.920 --> 00:37:24.039
God told me that, right. I mean, when you read

524
00:37:24.039 --> 00:37:28.000
that decree and Ezra, isn't that just shocking to you?

525
00:37:28.320 --> 00:37:33.039
How he is? He not dogmatic? He asserts it with

526
00:37:33.119 --> 00:37:38.159
what complete certainty that it's God that's told him to

527
00:37:38.199 --> 00:37:42.840
do this? Right, So, well, there's a certainty here. God's

528
00:37:42.880 --> 00:37:46.480
word is the reason. Now this should directly comfort the

529
00:37:46.519 --> 00:37:49.639
exiles by affirming that God's covenant with Israel and door

530
00:37:50.159 --> 00:37:54.039
and not only that god word endures forever. There's a

531
00:37:54.079 --> 00:37:58.199
lot of elements to that for them. Right did God

532
00:37:58.239 --> 00:38:00.119
make a promise to them a long time ago in

533
00:38:00.719 --> 00:38:04.880
his covenants? Those covenants are going to what end or forever?

534
00:38:05.079 --> 00:38:07.800
Did he promise that? And the beginning of Isaiah forty

535
00:38:07.800 --> 00:38:10.840
that they're gonna they're basically their captivity is over. Yes,

536
00:38:11.199 --> 00:38:14.519
that's going to stant. Did he promise that to captivity

537
00:38:14.599 --> 00:38:18.840
be seventy years? Yes, that's going to stant. All of

538
00:38:18.880 --> 00:38:22.840
that is to bring comfort to those individuals. All right,

539
00:38:22.960 --> 00:38:27.519
everybody got that. That's kind of an exogetical walk through

540
00:38:27.559 --> 00:38:30.480
that section six through eight. We kind of exogetically walk

541
00:38:30.519 --> 00:38:32.079
through it. So then what do we want to do.

542
00:38:32.159 --> 00:38:34.840
Let's pull some key themes out from that. You ready

543
00:38:34.840 --> 00:38:37.280
for some key themes? I think we can see the

544
00:38:37.280 --> 00:38:39.159
first one. What's the first key theme you get from

545
00:38:39.239 --> 00:38:45.920
Versus six to eight? The first one the freilty or

546
00:38:45.960 --> 00:38:50.719
a futility of a humanity of our lives. Right, humanity

547
00:38:50.800 --> 00:38:54.480
is like grass and flowers, beautiful but fragile. The imagery

548
00:38:54.480 --> 00:38:56.880
reminds us of our dependence on God and the futility

549
00:38:56.920 --> 00:38:59.679
of placing our hope in human stream. We just got

550
00:38:59.719 --> 00:39:03.840
to see it's it's fading and it's hard for us

551
00:39:03.840 --> 00:39:06.840
as humans to grasp onto that. I think I think

552
00:39:07.400 --> 00:39:10.159
I think age is what helps you catch on to it.

553
00:39:10.239 --> 00:39:15.559
Right when you're young, you think, what, I'm gonna live forever,

554
00:39:16.880 --> 00:39:18.800
I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna

555
00:39:18.800 --> 00:39:20.440
do this. I'm gonna do this, and I'm gonna do this.

556
00:39:20.480 --> 00:39:23.199
I'm gonna do this, and then it doesn't take long.

557
00:39:23.280 --> 00:39:25.039
Then all of a sudden you wake up one day going,

558
00:39:26.679 --> 00:39:31.440
it's gone, because all of a sudden you realize you've

559
00:39:31.519 --> 00:39:36.480
lived more life than you have because at some point

560
00:39:36.519 --> 00:39:40.079
you start being you start the clock, you start counting down,

561
00:39:40.320 --> 00:39:43.159
right before you're counting up, I'm gonna do this, I'm

562
00:39:43.199 --> 00:39:45.000
gonna do this, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this,

563
00:39:45.079 --> 00:39:46.320
And then all of a sudden you wake up one

564
00:39:46.400 --> 00:39:52.679
day going, man, I may have ten years left. Like

565
00:39:52.719 --> 00:39:55.480
if I look at the entire history of my family line,

566
00:39:56.199 --> 00:39:58.559
I probably have ten years if I'm lucky, because no

567
00:39:58.599 --> 00:40:02.000
one makes it beyond that Hamlet family. So I would

568
00:40:02.039 --> 00:40:04.719
probably have like ten years left in my life if

569
00:40:04.760 --> 00:40:08.480
I'm being like remotely honest with the way now I'm not.

570
00:40:08.559 --> 00:40:10.760
I know God is ultimately sovereign, but I'm saying from

571
00:40:10.760 --> 00:40:14.119
a practical standpoint, I got probably ten years left. That's

572
00:40:14.159 --> 00:40:16.599
a weird way to look at life, is it. I

573
00:40:16.719 --> 00:40:19.840
that's kind of depressing, isn't I? You know how fast

574
00:40:19.840 --> 00:40:28.360
ten years goes, that's that's half of what I did

575
00:40:28.400 --> 00:40:32.519
in the military. Okay, that's depressing. Okay for some people

576
00:40:32.559 --> 00:40:35.159
that's their entire high school career. Okay, and I'm joking, okay, Joe,

577
00:40:35.320 --> 00:40:38.639
But that's that goes back when you're young, ten years

578
00:40:38.639 --> 00:40:41.960
seems like a million a million years. You're never gonna

579
00:40:42.000 --> 00:40:44.880
get those ten years, right, remember when I can't remember

580
00:40:44.880 --> 00:40:47.559
when you first joined the military. You're like people that

581
00:40:47.719 --> 00:40:49.360
get to that end of that first four years and

582
00:40:49.400 --> 00:40:50.719
they're like, I just don't know if I can do

583
00:40:50.760 --> 00:40:53.119
this anymore. If you stay in, all of a sudden

584
00:40:53.159 --> 00:40:55.159
you're at ten years and you're like, what just happened?

585
00:40:55.480 --> 00:40:59.079
And then next thing you know, the second ten goes

586
00:40:59.079 --> 00:41:02.039
by like this, and a lot of people like I

587
00:41:02.079 --> 00:41:04.039
can't do I can't do it. When you look, when

588
00:41:04.079 --> 00:41:07.159
you start counting down, your whole perspective changes, and what

589
00:41:07.159 --> 00:41:12.480
do you begin to realize just how temporal, how frail,

590
00:41:13.239 --> 00:41:16.920
and how transient life is. Can you imagine being Babylonian captivity?

591
00:41:18.760 --> 00:41:21.039
They would have really understood the frailty of life? Would

592
00:41:21.079 --> 00:41:23.360
they have not? I mean they've been there for how

593
00:41:23.400 --> 00:41:26.079
many years? Well, depending on when they get the message,

594
00:41:26.239 --> 00:41:30.559
ten years, twenty years, thirty years and seventy means a

595
00:41:30.559 --> 00:41:35.440
lot of people were never going to see freedom. That

596
00:41:36.920 --> 00:41:40.480
frailty is a powerful lesson here. The sovereignty of God.

597
00:41:40.679 --> 00:41:43.920
Can we agree that that's a major emphasis here? God's

598
00:41:43.920 --> 00:41:48.000
breath emphasizes his control over creation and history. Nothing happens

599
00:41:48.000 --> 00:41:50.840
outside of God's sovereign will, including the rise and fall

600
00:41:50.920 --> 00:41:55.400
of nations. God's controlling it all. What's the difficult part

601
00:41:55.400 --> 00:42:02.639
about that? I can't. The most complicated part in life

602
00:42:02.920 --> 00:42:08.760
for us as believers is understanding God's sovereignty because it

603
00:42:08.840 --> 00:42:14.760
makes no sense? Does it come on? Has God's sovereignty

604
00:42:14.760 --> 00:42:16.800
ever made sense in your life? Maybe for you, not

605
00:42:16.920 --> 00:42:20.599
for me? I can bring up a million issues, can I?

606
00:42:20.599 --> 00:42:22.480
And I I mean? I mean, we can talk about

607
00:42:22.519 --> 00:42:26.800
God's sovereignty right now? Do we want to talk about

608
00:42:26.800 --> 00:42:28.400
what's going on in Gaza? Do we want to talk

609
00:42:28.400 --> 00:42:32.719
about what's going on in Ukraine death? Do you want

610
00:42:32.760 --> 00:42:35.760
to talk about how many children were sexually molested in

611
00:42:35.800 --> 00:42:37.639
twenty twenty four? Do you want to talk about how

612
00:42:37.679 --> 00:42:40.880
many people are victims of human trafficking and sex trafficking?

613
00:42:41.639 --> 00:42:45.320
How many people were beaten in physical abuse or domestic abuse?

614
00:42:45.400 --> 00:42:49.000
Do we want to go on crime. Well, when God

615
00:42:49.079 --> 00:42:55.000
is sovereign, what's the obvious question? Well, then do something right.

616
00:42:55.440 --> 00:42:59.119
So it's always hard, but God is sovereign, but it

617
00:42:59.119 --> 00:43:02.039
can be hard to assess that if all, if God

618
00:43:02.079 --> 00:43:04.800
can just breathe and make life go away, then he

619
00:43:04.840 --> 00:43:09.039
can just breathe and keep life healthy preserved. And I

620
00:43:09.039 --> 00:43:11.639
don't nobody has to die of cancer or suffer or

621
00:43:11.639 --> 00:43:13.880
get old. But that's not the way it works, is it.

622
00:43:15.599 --> 00:43:19.480
That doesn't deny his sovereignty, but it does call it

623
00:43:19.519 --> 00:43:22.119
into question in our mind. I think that that's okay,

624
00:43:22.599 --> 00:43:26.719
a third lesson? So what's the first lesson? Frailty of humanity?

625
00:43:26.760 --> 00:43:29.400
Second the sovereignty of God? What's the third lesson? And

626
00:43:29.480 --> 00:43:33.440
this section sixty eight, the one that everyone goes to,

627
00:43:35.920 --> 00:43:39.039
the Word of God endures forever. Right, God's word is

628
00:43:39.039 --> 00:43:43.000
contrasted with transient nature of humanity. Human life faids. God's

629
00:43:43.000 --> 00:43:47.000
promises remain. This ensures that his covenant faithfulness is unaffected

630
00:43:47.000 --> 00:43:53.119
by human frailty. All right, God's covenant last. Man doesn't

631
00:43:55.199 --> 00:43:59.239
right God's covenant last. It doesn't matter what else happens,

632
00:43:59.480 --> 00:44:03.159
because God made his comany. His word stands. His word

633
00:44:03.280 --> 00:44:07.800
is eternal does Does everyone get that? All? Right? So

634
00:44:08.079 --> 00:44:14.920
how about some historical and philological application here? Right? How

635
00:44:14.920 --> 00:44:18.280
about historical application for Israel. I think we've covered this.

636
00:44:18.360 --> 00:44:22.079
I think everyone feels comfortable with this. Right. The Israelites

637
00:44:22.079 --> 00:44:24.880
were in Babylonian captivity, surrounded by a powerful empire that

638
00:44:24.960 --> 00:44:29.039
seemed insurmountable. This passage reassures them that Babylon's might is leading.

639
00:44:29.159 --> 00:44:33.960
God's promises of restoration will endure. Can we everyone can

640
00:44:34.000 --> 00:44:40.239
agree with that? Right? That's pretty truthful. And despite Israel's failure,

641
00:44:41.320 --> 00:44:45.880
God's covenant remains intact. His word to redeem or restore

642
00:44:45.880 --> 00:44:50.599
his people's stands firm. This shows God's word. God is faithful.

643
00:44:50.760 --> 00:44:53.400
He is faithful to his word even when we remain

644
00:44:56.239 --> 00:45:02.320
unfaithful to it. We may be faithless faithful if you

645
00:45:02.400 --> 00:45:05.679
preach this that, hey, God will do this, if you

646
00:45:05.760 --> 00:45:08.559
do this, That's not what this text is about. This

647
00:45:08.599 --> 00:45:12.000
is God's word endures. And guess what when we talk

648
00:45:12.039 --> 00:45:15.440
about the frailty of man and that we were like

649
00:45:15.559 --> 00:45:18.440
grass and we wither away, you know what else withers away?

650
00:45:20.360 --> 00:45:26.000
Our morality, good, our gooding, good listeners, our goodness, okay,

651
00:45:26.280 --> 00:45:31.400
our godliness? It all corrupts and faith it always breaks

652
00:45:31.559 --> 00:45:35.239
down no matter how Look, when you first become a Christian,

653
00:45:35.360 --> 00:45:38.079
right at that very moment, depending on when you got saved,

654
00:45:38.079 --> 00:45:41.079
if you guys saved older in life's at that feeling

655
00:45:41.119 --> 00:45:44.679
you feel like you're gonna do what. There's a feeling

656
00:45:44.719 --> 00:45:47.280
that you're gonna You're gonna be the best Christian. You're

657
00:45:47.320 --> 00:45:50.440
gonna serve God. You're gonna do only that which is right.

658
00:45:50.599 --> 00:45:53.559
You're gonna love God. You're never gonna think the wrong thing,

659
00:45:53.960 --> 00:45:56.960
do the wrong thing. You really have that passion and

660
00:45:57.039 --> 00:45:59.519
zeal for it, and nobody should ever want to diminish

661
00:45:59.559 --> 00:46:02.239
anyone's passion and zeal. You want to applaud that, you

662
00:46:02.239 --> 00:46:05.079
don't want to throw water on it. Right, But what

663
00:46:05.880 --> 00:46:15.480
ultimately happens. You begin to realize you fail here, you fell, here,

664
00:46:16.559 --> 00:46:20.159
you fall, you fall, you fall, and then all of

665
00:46:20.199 --> 00:46:26.639
that apparent godliness and goodness begins to what fade away?

666
00:46:27.320 --> 00:46:32.519
But what endures God's word? And what does God's word say?

667
00:46:33.320 --> 00:46:37.519
That He sent his only son to save sinners of

668
00:46:37.559 --> 00:46:44.480
whom we are chief right, and we say by an

669
00:46:44.480 --> 00:46:50.360
imputed righteousness, And that righteousness remains irregardless of what I

670
00:46:50.400 --> 00:46:55.519
do or don't do. So God's word endures forever. That's

671
00:46:55.840 --> 00:46:59.559
and we see this in Israel. God's word remains truthful

672
00:46:59.599 --> 00:47:02.639
for them no matter what does everybody say. I cannot

673
00:47:02.679 --> 00:47:09.840
stress that enough right, that it shows God's faithfulness to them.

674
00:47:09.880 --> 00:47:12.679
So there's kind of the historical application for Israel. What

675
00:47:12.800 --> 00:47:16.559
about some philological insights for us? Well, it shows God's

676
00:47:16.559 --> 00:47:19.480
eternal nature and it gives us for some kind of

677
00:47:19.519 --> 00:47:22.280
redemptive hope. We could we could kind of add more

678
00:47:22.320 --> 00:47:25.159
to that, But let's apply it for us today. Is

679
00:47:25.199 --> 00:47:33.440
there any application for us today? What are some app

680
00:47:33.599 --> 00:47:36.599
versus six to eight? Is there application for us today? Well,

681
00:47:36.920 --> 00:47:40.320
let me go back. I've tried to establish this the

682
00:47:40.559 --> 00:47:42.679
entire time we've been in Isaiah forty. So let me

683
00:47:42.920 --> 00:47:46.199
establish it again. Okay, you've got I want to I

684
00:47:46.239 --> 00:47:48.159
want to have this so ingrained in your brain that

685
00:47:48.239 --> 00:47:51.199
the minute I talk about application for day for today,

686
00:47:51.400 --> 00:47:55.599
everyone says the same thing. As Israel or Judah was

687
00:47:55.639 --> 00:48:00.199
in Babylonian captivity in a similar way, we are in

688
00:48:00.239 --> 00:48:07.199
our own Babylonian captivity? Are we not? Yes? Where do

689
00:48:07.280 --> 00:48:11.400
we live in a fallen world? Right? Are we captive

690
00:48:11.440 --> 00:48:15.119
to this fallen world. Yes, what are we captive to

691
00:48:15.880 --> 00:48:18.599
the corruption of our body? You get sick, gets weak,

692
00:48:18.639 --> 00:48:23.000
and it dies. Agreed. We are held captive to a

693
00:48:23.320 --> 00:48:27.079
sin nature, all right? And we're in a world where

694
00:48:27.079 --> 00:48:30.119
there's going to be pain, suffering and death because even

695
00:48:30.199 --> 00:48:34.280
Jesus said, in this world you will have tribulation, right,

696
00:48:34.719 --> 00:48:37.760
So are we trapped there? There's no way for us

697
00:48:37.800 --> 00:48:39.920
to get out of it? Can you escape your sinful nature?

698
00:48:40.679 --> 00:48:44.199
Can you escape your corruptible body? And can you escape

699
00:48:44.239 --> 00:48:46.719
all of the issues in this world? You can try

700
00:48:46.760 --> 00:48:48.519
to escape some of them, but for the most part,

701
00:48:48.519 --> 00:48:50.519
you're forced to deal with them over and over and

702
00:48:50.559 --> 00:48:52.639
over and over and over and over again. Are you not?

703
00:48:53.360 --> 00:48:56.360
Does that get tiring? Frustrating and sometimes you want to

704
00:48:56.400 --> 00:48:59.000
throw your hands up and say I quit. Okay every

705
00:48:59.039 --> 00:49:03.239
single day? Right, So we can relate to being in captivity,

706
00:49:03.280 --> 00:49:07.119
can we not? Now? The message to them is what?

707
00:49:07.119 --> 00:49:10.079
What is the message to them in captivity? Well, one,

708
00:49:10.119 --> 00:49:12.559
their captivity is coming to an end. Is there a

709
00:49:12.599 --> 00:49:17.400
message of that related to us? Yeah, it's all gonna

710
00:49:17.440 --> 00:49:21.199
come to an end. It's called glorification, right, So it's

711
00:49:21.199 --> 00:49:24.480
gonna we have the same promise, just in a different way. Yes,

712
00:49:25.519 --> 00:49:30.400
And do we need to be reminded that the frailty

713
00:49:30.440 --> 00:49:36.280
of humanity? Yes, because sometimes we see forces people. I

714
00:49:36.599 --> 00:49:39.519
used to say this because my military career, I always

715
00:49:39.559 --> 00:49:42.239
stayed in the same place for very long periods of time. Right.

716
00:49:42.239 --> 00:49:44.440
I didn't move around like most people in the military. Right,

717
00:49:44.880 --> 00:49:47.559
So I learned I could just live it, you know,

718
00:49:47.880 --> 00:49:51.639
no matter how much someone got on my nerves or

719
00:49:51.719 --> 00:49:54.960
bothered me, even if they were the boss. My attitude

720
00:49:54.960 --> 00:49:58.280
always was I'll be here when you're gone, because I

721
00:49:58.320 --> 00:50:01.239
always stayed in the same place forever. Right, So even

722
00:50:01.280 --> 00:50:02.880
if I had a commander that was all up in

723
00:50:02.920 --> 00:50:07.360
my case or whatever, you're gonna be leaving and I'm

724
00:50:07.400 --> 00:50:09.800
still gonna be right here and all of the stuff

725
00:50:09.840 --> 00:50:12.039
that you thought was so important and all of your

726
00:50:12.079 --> 00:50:15.400
new ideas, guess what's gonna happen to your ideas. We're

727
00:50:15.440 --> 00:50:18.800
gonna change them the second you walk out the door.

728
00:50:18.840 --> 00:50:20.800
In fact, I even had that I could take you

729
00:50:20.840 --> 00:50:22.639
to the place at die Saur Force Space in the

730
00:50:22.679 --> 00:50:27.159
hospital where this commander was all in my face and

731
00:50:27.239 --> 00:50:30.360
I literally said those words that you're gonna leave and

732
00:50:30.400 --> 00:50:32.639
I'm still gonna be here, and guess what the second

733
00:50:32.639 --> 00:50:34.360
you walk out that door. Guess what I'm going to do.

734
00:50:35.119 --> 00:50:37.960
I'm gonna change every single thing that you have told

735
00:50:38.000 --> 00:50:40.400
me to do. So guess what the day he retired

736
00:50:40.440 --> 00:50:42.400
and was walking out the sidewalk, guess what I did.

737
00:50:43.760 --> 00:50:48.440
I walked out there to say you're gone. And guess

738
00:50:48.440 --> 00:50:50.079
what I'm gonna do when I walk right back into

739
00:50:50.079 --> 00:50:55.480
that building, changing everything you told me to do? Right,

740
00:50:55.719 --> 00:50:59.880
Because that's that's the way it is, right, human power,

741
00:51:00.079 --> 00:51:04.800
Everything is what It's temporary? Right, So do we not

742
00:51:04.960 --> 00:51:07.039
need to we need to be reminded that not only

743
00:51:07.079 --> 00:51:10.079
of all the forces around us are temporary, but what

744
00:51:10.159 --> 00:51:14.840
else do we need to be reminded? We are temporary?

745
00:51:15.079 --> 00:51:17.199
So then that can mean that sometimes we try to

746
00:51:17.239 --> 00:51:20.280
grab onto things that's nothing more than what like sand

747
00:51:20.639 --> 00:51:23.239
that's just gonna We try to grab onto things it's

748
00:51:23.280 --> 00:51:27.119
not going. You know, you can sit around remembering the

749
00:51:27.119 --> 00:51:31.079
good old days. But the good old days what they're

750
00:51:31.079 --> 00:51:35.119
good and gone? Okay, it doesn't matter how glorious those

751
00:51:35.280 --> 00:51:39.519
those those old days, they're gone. It's everything is temporary.

752
00:51:39.800 --> 00:51:43.920
We need to be reminded of that, do we not? Yes?

753
00:51:44.920 --> 00:51:48.599
I think I think we need to recognize the human

754
00:51:48.639 --> 00:51:52.239
frailty we have to see that. Right, our trust is

755
00:51:52.239 --> 00:51:55.239
not in human strength, it's not even in our own goodliness,

756
00:51:55.480 --> 00:51:58.599
it's not in our own ability. Or we can't even

757
00:51:58.639 --> 00:52:02.599
trust on our own morality because it's transient. And I

758
00:52:02.679 --> 00:52:05.559
know Christians, it's shocking. It's so weird to me that

759
00:52:05.679 --> 00:52:08.360
Christians always like, what is happening? So many people are

760
00:52:08.360 --> 00:52:11.480
falling into sin. People have been falling into sin since

761
00:52:11.599 --> 00:52:19.960
canaan Abel because we are frail, weak, sinful human beings.

762
00:52:20.360 --> 00:52:24.599
That's what we do, right, We've got to see that.

763
00:52:25.519 --> 00:52:28.639
So then what do we turn to? What would be

764
00:52:28.679 --> 00:52:35.880
then the application for us? We turned to God's word,

765
00:52:36.679 --> 00:52:41.239
which endures forever. Israel had a specific message to them

766
00:52:41.320 --> 00:52:44.840
that endures forever. And that's why I reject a lot

767
00:52:44.880 --> 00:52:48.400
of the systems of eschatology that replaces us with Israel,

768
00:52:48.679 --> 00:52:51.360
because then that doesn't mean God's word was enduring. Right,

769
00:52:52.280 --> 00:52:56.039
So if that, guess what Israel I believe will be

770
00:52:56.159 --> 00:52:59.559
saved and God will give them the land? Right now,

771
00:53:00.159 --> 00:53:05.199
guess what we what promises? Can I hold on to that?

772
00:53:05.320 --> 00:53:07.519
I'm say by an imputed righteousness. You know why I

773
00:53:07.519 --> 00:53:10.239
want to hold on to that, because irregardless of my

774
00:53:10.360 --> 00:53:12.920
righteousness or my feelings. What do I know? My salvation

775
00:53:13.039 --> 00:53:17.199
is dependent upon that righteousness that's given to me by

776
00:53:17.199 --> 00:53:21.840
God's God's Word tells me and points me too. Right,

777
00:53:22.159 --> 00:53:24.760
So there is something I can hold on to in

778
00:53:24.800 --> 00:53:29.639
contrast to that which is transient. Does that make sense right?

779
00:53:30.000 --> 00:53:33.679
The if I think it's in one Peter, I think

780
00:53:33.719 --> 00:53:36.920
the same phrase shows up in first Peter. Let me

781
00:53:37.039 --> 00:53:42.559
look here about the grass withering. But it's connected to

782
00:53:42.639 --> 00:53:45.840
something else. If I remember correctly. I'm going by memory,

783
00:53:45.920 --> 00:53:48.320
So don't if this turns out to be wrong, don't

784
00:53:49.199 --> 00:53:53.519
say how did you not know? Verse twenty two, Oh, no,

785
00:53:53.639 --> 00:53:55.840
Verse twenty three, Yes, look at verse twenty three. One

786
00:53:55.960 --> 00:54:05.159
Peter one twenty three. Everybody ready being born again, not

787
00:54:05.280 --> 00:54:10.480
of what not of perishable seed or corruptible seed, but

788
00:54:10.599 --> 00:54:13.559
of incorruptible by the word of God, which does what

789
00:54:17.760 --> 00:54:27.760
liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass,

790
00:54:27.960 --> 00:54:33.320
and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.

791
00:54:33.639 --> 00:54:37.719
The grass withereth, and the flower thereof felleth away. But

792
00:54:37.880 --> 00:54:40.599
the Word of the Lord endured forever. And this is

793
00:54:40.599 --> 00:54:44.559
the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you.

794
00:54:44.960 --> 00:54:48.360
How does Peter use this phrase. He applies it to

795
00:54:48.440 --> 00:54:54.559
what the gospel. The gospel is the enduring word that

796
00:54:54.599 --> 00:55:01.400
we hold on to everything around us, your morality, church, past, people,

797
00:55:02.199 --> 00:55:05.559
people who hate you, people who gossip about you. None

798
00:55:05.639 --> 00:55:08.400
of them matter. They're all gonna fade away. You know

799
00:55:08.440 --> 00:55:11.159
what's gonna last the gospel that was preached to me.

800
00:55:11.400 --> 00:55:14.079
And guess what that gospel is. You are a sinner.

801
00:55:14.280 --> 00:55:17.119
God is holy. He sent his son to save sinners,

802
00:55:17.280 --> 00:55:20.920
and he saved you by faith alone, because of Christ alone,

803
00:55:21.119 --> 00:55:25.320
by an imputed righteousness, not an infused righteousness. That last.

804
00:55:25.519 --> 00:55:30.800
Everything else will fade away. That's how Peter takes it

805
00:55:30.840 --> 00:55:37.480
and applies it to us directly. All right, does that

806
00:55:37.519 --> 00:55:42.039
make sense? All right? So then how can we break

807
00:55:42.079 --> 00:55:48.599
this down? Go back to Isaiah forty verse six. A

808
00:55:48.719 --> 00:55:54.239
voice wants a message to be cried out. Everybody see

809
00:55:54.280 --> 00:55:58.800
that verse six, And we should ask what is that

810
00:55:58.880 --> 00:56:01.960
message that should be cried out? For them? They would

811
00:56:02.000 --> 00:56:04.639
be asking, hey, what message do you want me to cry?

812
00:56:04.760 --> 00:56:09.920
And what is that message? Number one? The frailty of humanity?

813
00:56:09.920 --> 00:56:14.320
In verse six and seven. Can we see that human

814
00:56:14.360 --> 00:56:18.239
life is frail? And I'm going to add so I'm

815
00:56:18.239 --> 00:56:20.679
going to say the first. So there's a call for

816
00:56:20.719 --> 00:56:23.760
a message to be proclaimed. The first part of that

817
00:56:23.840 --> 00:56:26.639
message is the frail to humanity. The second part of

818
00:56:26.639 --> 00:56:30.760
that phrase is God is sovereign over it because his

819
00:56:30.840 --> 00:56:35.239
breath breathes upon it, right. And then third the enduring

820
00:56:35.719 --> 00:56:40.679
word of God. It is enduring. All of that message

821
00:56:40.719 --> 00:56:44.239
was applicable to them, and it's applicable to us in

822
00:56:44.320 --> 00:56:47.840
the same sense that we are in Babylonian captivity. And

823
00:56:47.920 --> 00:56:52.000
guess what we need to be reminded that life is frail.

824
00:56:52.320 --> 00:56:55.880
God is sovereign, but his word endures forever. And what

825
00:56:56.159 --> 00:56:59.280
how does this word apply to us? Peter says, it

826
00:56:59.280 --> 00:57:03.719
applies to the gods in a sense. What was and

827
00:57:03.760 --> 00:57:08.960
the gospel is what good news? What was the good

828
00:57:09.000 --> 00:57:13.360
news to them? Freedom from captivity? What is the good

829
00:57:13.400 --> 00:57:16.679
news for us? That we have been saved by an

830
00:57:16.719 --> 00:57:22.199
imputed righteousness which guarantees us deliverance from all of our

831
00:57:22.239 --> 00:57:25.480
Babylonian captivity? When where there is a new heaven, new earth,

832
00:57:25.559 --> 00:57:27.519
no more pain, no more suffering, and no more death.

833
00:57:29.840 --> 00:57:33.880
Does that all fit together? All? Right? So there we go.

834
00:57:34.320 --> 00:57:38.079
We've done it. We've went from Isaiah forty verse one

835
00:57:38.159 --> 00:57:45.599
all the way to verse eight, any questions, did we

836
00:57:45.880 --> 00:57:50.559
figure out who the voices are? No, we didn't. But

837
00:57:50.679 --> 00:57:56.800
what do I want you to remember about the voices? Okay?

838
00:57:56.880 --> 00:57:59.239
I want you to remember the message of the voice. Secondly,

839
00:57:59.280 --> 00:58:03.679
I want you not to forget cyrus okay, because it

840
00:58:03.719 --> 00:58:06.239
puts us in a historical context. And number three, I

841
00:58:06.280 --> 00:58:08.960
want you to see that even though we never were

842
00:58:09.039 --> 00:58:13.880
able to figure it out, the exercise of working through

843
00:58:13.920 --> 00:58:16.920
it may have felt feutile. You may have felt like, well,

844
00:58:16.960 --> 00:58:18.800
that was a waste of time. What did it do?

845
00:58:19.039 --> 00:58:22.639
What did it keep us doing? For an hour? We

846
00:58:22.840 --> 00:58:24.880
made us go through that text over and over and

847
00:58:24.920 --> 00:58:28.800
over and over and over again. Right. So, sometimes sometimes

848
00:58:28.840 --> 00:58:34.440
the pursuit of an answer is what is valuable, not

849
00:58:34.559 --> 00:58:40.119
the answer. And Bible study, the pursuit of the answer

850
00:58:40.679 --> 00:58:44.000
is more important than sometimes the answer, because sometimes all

851
00:58:44.039 --> 00:58:48.360
of your pursuit will end up wear Don't I don't

852
00:58:48.400 --> 00:58:53.159
really know. Don't feel that that pursuit was then not valuable,

853
00:58:53.440 --> 00:58:56.000
because what did it? If you're pursuing it? We spent

854
00:58:56.119 --> 00:58:59.519
an hour working on that, right, Sarah even threw out

855
00:58:59.559 --> 00:59:01.679
a new idea and we worked on that for a

856
00:59:01.679 --> 00:59:04.519
little bit, right, And we went back and forth and

857
00:59:04.599 --> 00:59:06.719
came up with all kinds of different ideas, and we

858
00:59:06.800 --> 00:59:09.360
tried and tried and tried, and we don't really have

859
00:59:09.440 --> 00:59:12.280
a good answer. But we know this. These voices are

860
00:59:12.320 --> 00:59:16.239
messengers and we need to hear the message. They needed

861
00:59:16.280 --> 00:59:20.159
to prepare, and that definitely has historical. The other the

862
00:59:20.320 --> 00:59:22.840
second message is, hey, here's the reason you need to

863
00:59:22.840 --> 00:59:26.239
prepare because everything around you is going to fade away,

864
00:59:26.239 --> 00:59:29.400
but God's word is going to last. And that's a

865
00:59:29.400 --> 00:59:32.280
good way to end twenty twenty four. Is in twenty

866
00:59:32.320 --> 00:59:34.519
twenty five, what is the one thing we'll be confronted

867
00:59:34.519 --> 00:59:38.519
with throughout twenty twenty five? The frailty of human beings? Right,

868
00:59:38.840 --> 00:59:42.039
your own frailty. What's going to happen in twenty twenty five?

869
00:59:44.920 --> 00:59:51.559
People are going to die, right, people are going to

870
00:59:51.639 --> 00:59:54.199
get sick, They're going to get injured, going to get hurt.

871
00:59:54.639 --> 00:59:57.559
They're going to be emotionally hurt, physically hurt. There's going

872
00:59:57.599 --> 00:59:59.639
to be pain, there's going to be suffering, there's going

873
00:59:59.679 --> 01:00:01.920
to bea Is that all a guarantee? I know that

874
01:00:01.960 --> 01:00:05.519
sounds not very that's not a very hopeful message. It's true,

875
01:00:05.679 --> 01:00:08.400
ladies and gentlemen, all those things are going to happen.

876
01:00:08.519 --> 01:00:13.639
It could be some of us, right, some of us

877
01:00:13.679 --> 01:00:15.679
may not be here by the end of twenty twenty five.

878
01:00:16.079 --> 01:00:21.559
But what will be here, God's word will endure. Everything

879
01:00:21.599 --> 01:00:24.480
else around you crumbles and faiths. But that's so. What

880
01:00:24.519 --> 01:00:27.559
can we cling to the truth and specifically for us,

881
01:00:27.599 --> 01:00:31.320
the Gospel message? And yes, what else can we know

882
01:00:31.400 --> 01:00:35.280
in twenty twenty five? God is still sovereign that can

883
01:00:35.360 --> 01:00:38.320
and guess what we have a sovereign God in whom

884
01:00:38.320 --> 01:00:41.119
we cannot see as we live in a world in

885
01:00:41.159 --> 01:00:43.320
which we can see, and all the things that we

886
01:00:43.320 --> 01:00:47.920
witness in this world calls into question the existence of

887
01:00:47.960 --> 01:00:50.880
that sovereign God we just have. That's the reality of Christianity.

888
01:00:51.039 --> 01:00:54.760
That's why faith comes into play, because by sight, what

889
01:00:54.800 --> 01:00:58.920
would we what conclusion would we come to if we

890
01:00:58.920 --> 01:01:01.199
were looking at by sight? Be like there is no God?

891
01:01:04.760 --> 01:01:07.559
That Israel would have been questioning the existence of God

892
01:01:07.599 --> 01:01:10.480
in their situation where they have not, And it is

893
01:01:10.599 --> 01:01:13.280
bizarre that the person who shows up that says, hey, guys,

894
01:01:14.599 --> 01:01:18.519
God has has told me that I'm gonna take care

895
01:01:18.559 --> 01:01:20.320
all of it. They would have been baffled. Can you

896
01:01:20.360 --> 01:01:24.360
even try to wrap your mind around that scene, Hey,

897
01:01:24.679 --> 01:01:28.360
what's going on with the Babylonian kings kind of disappeared. Yeah,

898
01:01:28.360 --> 01:01:30.440
it's all good, but we're about to open the gates

899
01:01:30.440 --> 01:01:35.039
to whom the Persian king? Oh, no, is he worse

900
01:01:35.079 --> 01:01:37.880
than the Babylonian king. Well, they opened the gates and

901
01:01:37.880 --> 01:01:39.559
all of a sudden he comes walking in and he's like,

902
01:01:41.679 --> 01:01:45.199
God has sent me here to tell you that God

903
01:01:45.599 --> 01:01:48.159
once that I am going to do that. That would

904
01:01:48.159 --> 01:01:50.679
have been bizarre for them to even comprehend. You know,

905
01:01:51.199 --> 01:01:54.440
it's so crazy. But up to for seventy years, they

906
01:01:54.440 --> 01:01:56.280
would have been having a hard time believing God was

907
01:01:56.320 --> 01:01:59.599
involved in anything because they were doing what for seventy years,

908
01:02:01.440 --> 01:02:07.159
suffering and dying. Well, it's great. Someone comes says, hey,

909
01:02:07.199 --> 01:02:10.199
God is all powerful and sovereign. Well then mine is it? Yeah?

910
01:02:10.199 --> 01:02:12.960
I don't know. Get me out of Babylonian captivity, you know,

911
01:02:13.880 --> 01:02:15.880
raise my family back from the dead so they can

912
01:02:15.920 --> 01:02:18.679
see us being getting together. You know, there'd be a

913
01:02:18.719 --> 01:02:21.159
lot of questions. So but that's the reality we all

914
01:02:21.440 --> 01:02:24.400
we all endure, all right, and we live in all right.

915
01:02:24.480 --> 01:02:27.119
Let's pray Lord, are we come before you this afternoon? Lord?

916
01:02:27.159 --> 01:02:29.840
As we end this year and we thank you that

917
01:02:29.920 --> 01:02:33.960
we have. We probably at the beginning of this year

918
01:02:34.000 --> 01:02:37.079
didn't even know we would still even be in this building. Lord,

919
01:02:37.119 --> 01:02:39.400
you have kept us here, and we don't know what

920
01:02:39.599 --> 01:02:41.599
happens in the next year, but we trust in you.

921
01:02:42.119 --> 01:02:45.000
And whether the church is here, whether the church is

922
01:02:45.039 --> 01:02:47.519
not here, whether we are here, whether we are not here,

923
01:02:48.000 --> 01:02:51.159
your word endures forever. And what you say will happen

924
01:02:52.039 --> 01:02:55.639
is what will happen. And we can be grateful that

925
01:02:55.719 --> 01:02:59.599
my salvation is a sure thing because you have proclaimed it,

926
01:03:00.039 --> 01:03:03.079
and it has nothing to do with my faithfulness or unfaithfulness.

927
01:03:03.119 --> 01:03:07.000
And we praise you, and we think Jesus, and it's

928
01:03:07.000 --> 01:03:10.119
in his name we pray. And God's people said Amen.