Isaiah 40:9-11 Baptism?

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Do I wait? Do I wait? Maybe I just sit here and wait? Come on? Should I I mean, look at your clock? I mean, do I say good morning? Or do I wait? Oh? I mean what should I do? I mean it says eleven fifty nine am. I mean, should I say good morning? Or do I say good afternoon in just a minute? Or do I wait? What do I do? What do I do? I've got to make a decision, ladies and gentlemen. What do I do? I'm just going to say good afternoon everyone. It is Saturday, January eighteenth, twenty twenty five.

0:47 It is currently twelve pm Central time, and I'm coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. CE. I made the right decision. I just delay just a little bit and then we could go live straight up. Twelve noon. High noon, right, I mean that means like, oh, we're gonna have a shootout, right it's high noon. That means the outlaws are coming to town and the sheriff is gonna stand in the middle of the street as a tumbleweed. Blows by, and they're gonna have a they're gonna stare down, and then the music's gonna get dramatic, and then someone's gonna draw, and then there's gonna be shooting, and then okay, well maybe that's a little over dramatic. Okay, it is high noon.

1:31 We're not gonna have a shootout. There's not gonna be any outlaws riding into town. There's not gonna be any shooting, but there is gonna be probably enough frustration, and that will drive me to the local saloon. So I probably by the time this is over, I'm just gonna be in the local saloon. And you can just wrap up the end of the broadcast. And why why do I think this broadcast is gonna drive me to the local saloon? Why? Well, because once again we are going to be reviewing another sermon on Isaiah chapter forty. All right, our sermon reviews on Isaiah forty forty one, forty two, forty three, they've all, man, they I just I'm still trying to process how it's possible, Like if someone would have told me, hey, just start listening to sermons on Isaiah chapter forty all the way through Isaiah chapter fifty five. And when you do this, you're going to find that you cannot find You're going to find you're going to discover that you cannot find a sermon that attempts to handle the text and anything remotely looking like a correct way. They're going to constantly insert us into the text. They're going to mishandle it, misinterpret it, misapply it. It's going to be an absolute train wreck. I probably would have looked at someone and said, oh, come on, I can't find one. I mean, that's that's a little bit of that's hyper that's I mean, look,

3:01 I appreciate good hyperbole, but I mean, come on, we should be able to find some, right But so far I have not been able to find one, and it's very frustrating. So what I'm trying to change my focus now it's not so much about trying to find one. Now, it's not even about that. It's not even now about trying to demonstrate how you cannot find It's not even about trying to demonstrate that what I have said, that I cannot find one, it's true. It's not about even it's not about trying to find one. It's not about trying to prove that you can't find one. Really my focus now when I listen to sermons on Isaiah forty through Isaiah chapter fifty five, it's more about now just living inside the text, right, because the more sermons you listen to on Isaiah forty to Isaiah chapter fifty five, the more you listen to just the more you have to engage the text, the more you have to think about it, the more you have to interpret it, the more you have to struggle with it. So that just makes me better prepared. And what we have been doing, which is this lengthy series on Isaiah forty through fifty five.

4:12 I don't think we're ever going to get done with chapter forty, but we are moving close. We're moving slowly, but we are at least moving forward right and tomorrow the goal was Isaiah chapter forty nine through eleven. That's where we have been. Isaiah chapter forty versus nine through eleven. We've already reviewed I think one or two sermons on Isaiah forty nine through eleven. They have been once again just it's I don't even know how to classify them. You classify them yourselves. But tomorrow, so here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to review a sermon on Isaiah forty nine through eleven, mainly just to keep me thinking about Isaiah forty nine through eleven, right, So it's just really helping me. I don't know. Tomorrow, we're just going to be doing a live stream. We're not going to be doing in person service. So I think tomorrow I may I may return back to our discussion about AI versus Lordship Salvation, because I think that's I think that we're really discovering something very interesting, and we started that, you know, in podcast form, so I don't want to necessarily take what should be a sermon and move it back to the podcast. I try to maintain some level of consistency if I'm doing things on the podcast and I leave it in the podcast. If I'm doing things in front of a live audience at church, then I try to keep it there so that when people are listening, there's some consistency. So I think that's what we may

5:43 do tomorrow. I think that could be interesting. I'll just have to kind of put things back together and change things up a little bit, but I think I think it could be very beneficial. So today, just for my own sake, keeping my mind connected to Isaiah forty We're going to review a sermon and just to tell you, I mean, you tell me if you think this is going to go the right direction. This one is called are you ready the name of the sermon? He gathers the lambs open parentheses, baptism, close parentheses. He gathers the lambs baptism. Now right there should tell you this is not going to need to go well, because how in the world are we What does Isaiah chapter forty, verses nine to eleven have to do with baptism. The fact that this is somehow being connected to baptism at least, then the title is already concerning. Now, maybe this is just a baptism service and they're just using Isaiah forty nine to eleven. That's just happens to be the pre The sermon is on Isaiah forty nine to eleven, but they're not connecting it in any way, shape or form to baptism. That's what I'm hoping. I'm hoping, Oh, this is just a baptism service and they wanted everyone to know is a baptismal service. But the sermon was on Isaiah forty nine to eleven. It just happened to be a coincidence that the sermon happened on the day of

7:16 a baptism. But they're not going to try to anyway take the text and apply it to baptism, because ladies and gentlemen, if they try to take Isaiah forty nine to eleven and apply it to baptism, well, as I stated in the opening, you're gonna find me in the local saloon because I'm not going I just I don't know how that happens. But so I'm going to try to be I'm going to try to be positive here and not be negative. That's what I always try to do. But here's the good thing. No matter how well this goes, or no matter how bad it goes, here's the good thing. Right, the good thing will be this. This is going to be another hour in Isaiah chapter forty. And if you put all the hours together that we have spent in Isaiah chapter forty as of this moment Saturday, January the eighteenth, twenty twenty five, if you put all of those moments we've spent in Isaiah chapter forty up to this moment, I think we can say we probably understand Isaiah forty better than we have ever in our lives. I think that's a fair assessment if you consider how many hours we have spent. I could go look it up right now.

8:30 I don't even know how many hours it is. I bet you it's a considerable number of hours. If you want to go look it up. You can look up all the messages that we've done in Isaiah chapter forty through fifty five right now, and I think you would have to say, probably, you probably know more about it now than you ever have. I think, so I could be wrong. I'm going to at least I'm going to at least convince myself that that is true, so that I feel like I've accomplished something. But are you ready? I hope. So, so here we go. We are going to go to this now. Let me just make this very clear. The original sermon was recorded at such a low volume. I don't even have a I don't even know why they uploaded it because nobody can hear it, right.

9:10 So I took it to increase the volume artificially, right. And I tried the first time and it still wasn't loud enough, so I had to delete that attempt to a second try then a third try, a fourth try, a fifth try, a sixth try. I had to keep just increasing the artificial amplification of this, and it was just ridiculous. How many times I think it took six times total to get this to a volume. And I still don't even know if the volume is loud enough, so I hope that it is. But here we go the goal here, Really, I think I think we're going to do this. The sermon is fifty minutes, so if we do a full review, you know that that's going to take four episodes that could and I don't I don't necessarily want to have to come back and do a part two to this. So I think what we're going to do, we're just going to look to see what. Okay, here's the basic things we're going to look for. How quickly are we inserted into Isaiah chapter forty you know we're going to be looking for that. How quickly? Two does the sermon try to somehow connect this to baptism, and if so, how? And three what is the basic thesis the basic hypothesis that they put forth and their interpretation of Isaiah forty nine to eleven? So how quickly are we inserted, do they connect it to baptism, and kind of basically what is their interpretation of the text.

10:32 Once we've kind of been able to answer those three things, then there's really at that point there's I mean once especially if those three things are all negative, then there's no real point in continuing the sermon review. Right, We're just going to be able to mark this down. Is here's another approach to the text. Here's you should be keeping track of all the different ways we've heard these texts approach so far. I think I think we can summarize so far, in every single sermon that we have reviewed, the one thing that is in common. They insert us almost instantaneously, and they make the text more about They may mention the original context, but they make it about us. And I think we can say that that's been true in every situation. But here we go. I hope this goes well. I'm a little I'm skeptical, But here we go.

11:22 We are going to review a sermon called He gathers the Lambs Baptism, supposedly based on Isaiah chapter forty. Here we go again. By the end of this, I'm going to end up in the local saloon I'm telling you right, here we go. For those who are just tuning in you have no idea what I'm referring to, just go back and listen to the introduction. Here we go, chapter forty, Isaiah Chapter forty, The Word of God and Isaiah Chapter forty. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, seth your God, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. The voice of Him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert to highway.

12:42 For our God, every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough place is plain, And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. The voice said, cry, And he said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth. Because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth. But the word of our God shall stand forever. O Zion that bringetht good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain.

13:38 O Jerusalem that bringeth good tidings, Lift up thy voice with strength, lift it up. Be not afraid, say unto the cities of Judah, behold your God. Behold the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arms shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his war before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, meeted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance. Who hath directed the spirit of the Lord, or being his Counselor hath taught him with whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding. Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance. Behold, he taketh up the aisles as a very little thing, and Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, or the beasts thereof efficient for a burnt offering. All nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him less than nothing in vanity. To whom then will ye liken God?

15:12 Or what likeness will ye compare unto him? The workman melteth the graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation, chooseth a tree that will not rot. He seeketh unto him a cunning workman, to prepare a graven image that shall not be moved. Have you not known? Have you not heard? Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood? From the foundations of the earth. It is he that setteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in, that bringeth the princes to nothing. He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted. YEA, they shall not be sown.

16:11 Yea. Their stock shall not take root in the earth. And he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? Seth the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things that bringeth out their host by number. He calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, For that he is strong in power. Not one faileth. Why sayest thou, o Jacob, and speakest o Israel. My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God. Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard? That the Everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary. There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might. He increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.

17:37 Okay, well, one positive thing in this as we heard the entire chapter read, that's a positive. Right, We're going to look for the positive. We still are waiting now, So he's just read the entire chapter now, and all of these reviews that we've done on sermons between from Isaiah chapter forty through Isaiah chapter fifty five, you know what we're waiting for? How quickly? How soon is it going to be before we are inserted into a text that has nothing to do with us, Right, how quickly is that going to occur? So, and most of the sermons it happens almost instantaneously. In some cases it happens even in the title of the sermons. So we're going to see. Remember we always go into these sermon reviews completely blind. We don't know what's going to happen. I'm listening to it for the first time, and so we're going to see. So how quickly are we going to be inserted into the text. I'm going to repeat those three things. I'm going to be looking for how quickly are we going to be inserted into the text because baptism is in the title of this sermon. I want to know how when the world Isaiah forty is going to be connected to baptism, right. And number three, we just want to know how ultimately, what is going to be the hypotheses, the hypothetical, you know, interpretation that is put forth, and we're going to be able to try to determine if we agree or disagree. Now, supposedly the focus of this is going to be in Isaiah forty nine through eleven. Supposedly. Again, so many times it will grab a sermon, look at the description. We'll listen. In many cases I never even covered the text they say they're going to cover. But supposedly it's Isaiah forty nine to eleven. The good thing is if it's anywhere in

19:10 chapter forty, considering we are going, you know, we're doing our own verse by verse from Isaiah chapter forty all the way through Isaiah chapter fifty five, and it's going to take us forever. So no matter where it goes, we can still utilize this and it still keeps us in the text. But we will see so he read the entire chapter. That's a good thing. At least everyone has seen whatever he looks at. Everyone has seen the full context. Now it would be curious, though, I am fascinated by this, how people can sit in the pew because we've how many sermons have we reviewed so far on Isaiah forty through fifty five. It's a crazy but they'll sit in the pew. In many cases, the churches will read large sections of the chapter and every situation that we've seen the chapter will clearly indicate who this is to and who this is about. Then the German goes makes it all about them, and nobody in the and everybody in the congregation is amenning or seemingly loving it, and they're like, wait a minute, do you not realize so we've already seen right here, and just if well, if we'll just I'm just going to go through this quickly, just to show you, all right, Isaiah chapter forty verse one, Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people. Now, who are the people in the context with other people in the context?

20:21 Are the people in chapter thirty nine who go to Babylonian captivity? We already know historically that these words of comfort Isaiah forty through fifty five is the Book of Comfort of the Book of Consolation was given about one hundred between one hundred, one hundred and twenty years before they even go into captivity. But these are words of comfort to people in Babylonian captivity. Chapter thirty nine Versus five through eight clearly indicates that so now there is a call to comfort those people. The people are the people in Babylonian captivity, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. It's even making it very clear who it's referring to. Then if you go down, if you look at verse nine, Oh Zion, that bringeth good tidings, get thee up into the highest mountains, Oh Jerusalem, that bring good tidings. Lift up thy voice with strength, lift it up. Be not afraid say onto the cities of Judah. Like we could go through this section. It may the writer does everything in his power, okay, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to make sure everyone knows exactly who it's about. But preachers just come in and go, I don't care. We're gonna insert us into it. Now. People say, well, isn't it applicable that's applicable if we first understand what it means to the original people and our application is consistent with that, and in some cases it may not be.

21:46 So we've worked on all of this. Now let's see what happens. He's read the whole chapter. That is a positive. Now let's see what happens. All right, what do you think do we want to put bats? Now? How how long is it going to take before you and I are inted into this? Instead of using they them, it's going to use things like I, US, WEE me you. Let's see if that happens quickly. I'm hoping that this is going to be the first example of where that doesn't happen. We read the word of God that far this morning, and the text for our sermon is versy eleven. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

22:51 That dramatic pause is not because anything's happened to the audio. There's just a long pause here, So like whit what happened? Did the broadcast end? Okay? Now just he's there's a long pause here. As he's I don't know, maybe getting his notes together. I don't know. I'm not looking at the video. So here we go. We get wet. Oh, let's see what happens. Belove it. In the Lord Jesus Christ, Isaiah chapter forty is a beautiful word of comfort to God's people. In the first thirty nine chapters of this prophecy, Isaiah was called to bring words of rebuke to the people of Judah on account of their sins, and to warn them about the coming captivity in Babylon.

23:54 Oh wow, ladies and gentlemen, this is good he's he literally started, not with us, He started with the original context. I am so happy. This is good news, ladies and gentlemen. This is good news. He goes to the first thirty nine chapters. Yes, there were words of rebuke and warns and words of warning of judgment. Chapter forty is the traumatic change. Forty through fifty five is the book of consolation and book of comfort. Okay, great, this is awesome. I'm I'm I'm happy this. This is good news, ladies. And maybe this is going to be the one this is going to break. I mean, we're over like one hundred now. This is going to be good, right, are we ready? Let's see, let's I'm I'm I'm holding out hope here.

24:37 But now beginning here in chapter forty, God commands Isaiah to speak words of comfort to his people. Comfort e, comfort e my people, sef your God. The word of comfort that Isaiah has called to proclaim is the comfort of the pardon of their sins and the that God would bring them back from captivity and restore them again in the Promised Land. Okay, really good, And I just remember God has Isaiah put these words down. But Isaiah is dead before they go into captivity from everything that we have been able to establish. Okay, but that's fine. But this is this is all good though he's talking about these are words of comfort to people in captivity, Babylonian captivity. Okay, great, everything is at least being placed in its proper textual and historical context. That is. I am so happy for that.

25:35 I am so happy for that. I'm just curious where this is going to go now. And throughout chapter forty, God reminds his people of who he is. What's emphasized throughout the chapter is the greatness, the power, the sovereignty of God there's none that can compare to him. There is none that can be made equal to God. He's so highly exalted above all as the sovereign God of might, who's able to provide for the needs of his people. But not only must Isaiah remind the people that God is sovereign and powerful, He's also called to remind them that God is a God of tender mercy.

26:31 Now I would throw in here. He is reminding them of all these attributes and characteristics of God and contrast to the idols of Babylon and the false deities of Babylon. We already did this in our discussion of Isaiah forty. We spend a considerable amount of time, and when we get further into Isaiah chapter forty, we'll spend well repeat a lot of what we have said. Go look at the religious belief of the Babylonians, all of their deities, all of their idols, all the different just everything about it. And you can see these people have been in Babylonian captivity.

27:12 If they're reaching the end of that captivity, they've been there seventy years, right or almost seventy years, getting close to seventy years. Well, during that time, remember people have been born in captivity, people came into captivity and died. You really have Now this is going to be the generation of Babylon. This is going to be the Babylonian generation. They've now been influenced by Babylon. They've been around all of their religious beliefs and their religious idols and all they've been around that. So now in this word of comfort is to remind them, now, this is the true God in contrast to all the Babylonian deities. So the more you know about the Babylonian religious, understanding their philosophy and their beliefs, then it makes great sense when you contrast this year, like, oh, he's caught trusting this because the Babylonian deities would be this way. So you could do you could actually do a little bit of research.

28:07 Contrast all the things said about God and Isaiah forty and contrast that with the beliefs and about the Babylonian deities and their gods, and you'll see a great contrast. And we will do that when we get there. Now I know his goal here. He's not necessarily trying to take the whole text apart. He wants to focus on verse eleven. So it makes perfect sense why he would not go into all of that right now. I'm just saying that if you're going to work to Isaiah forty, at some point you have to address that, because that's what's happening here. This is the Babylonian generation, and they've been influenced by Babylonian religion and that polytheistic idolatry. Yeah, and so God is establishing, no, this is the true God and compared to those false gods.

29:00 And pity of love and grace to his own. That thought is conveyed in our text. As our shepherd, God cares for all of his sheep in all of their needs. There we go. We've just got inserted into it. As our shepherd, He cares about all our needs. Did you hear that? Now? See, this is where we have to be very careful because you can take from this now and Isaiah forty the needs that are going to be met here. The provision that's going to be met here is for the people in Babylonian captivity, and these needs and these provisions that's going to be met is based off God's specific promises to them over and over in the Old Testament. When God promises Israel this or this or this, and He's going to provide this. It's all based off the covenants that God made with them specifically to do the those things. You got to be very careful that you say, we'll see how God's going to provide, and God's going to do this, and God's going to do this, and God's going to do this, and then somehow make it like tell the people in the pew that this is somehow applicable to them, and God's going to do something similar for you. Wait a minute, here, God is intervening. He's going to do so through ordinary means, through Cyrus, and he's going to release them from their Babylonian captivity. He's going to do something in a very tangible, physical,

30:31 material way. You got to be very careful when you say, hey, hey, guys, you're out there. God's going to meet your needs. God's going to do this for you, or God's going to defend you. God's going to protect you. You've got to be very careful. I can pull up a story right now about the Creation Museum. They have a I guess they have like a praise ban there and one of the members of that praise ban has been arrested, and well, he sexually molested assaulted a young a teenager. I guess there's eighty counts. It's like the story was on the Christian Post. I was gonna do a podcast about it yesterday. Well, now when Christians see that, they're like, oh, this is horrible. He was ungodly, he was never saved. Like, wait, what about the victim? I know what we want to talk about, whether this person in the praise band was saved or not saved or how on God? What about the victim?

31:22 The victim was eighty counts. I won't go into all the details of the case because it's somewhat disturbing, but eighty counts was God they're protecting? Was God they're looking after this young person who was being sexually assaulted and molested. Do I need to pull up all the statistics about how many children, how many young people have been sexually assaulted and molested inside churches? So see, when you give some kind of when you just say God's our shepherd and He's gonna care for us, you go to explain what that means, because you can get the idea that well, God's gonna be right there, he's gonna take care of this.

32:03 He's gonna take care of this. He's gonna take care of this, and some way to go wait to take care of what. You see, my child died, my wife has cancer like this has happened. This has happened. So you have to explain what it means, because sometimes these are specific promises of God doing something for a specific people within a specific context, based off a specific covenant. I think we have to we have to at least articulate that, now, what God does for us, Come on, let's be honest, most of it is for what he does for us spiritually. Right, Okay, well let's let's let's let's see where he goes with it. But just note you just see how quickly us got inserted. Now he's taken He's done a good job giving us the history, but all of a sudden it went from them to r the us. All of a sudden, we've been inserted into it. Well, that's great if you're gonna add application, but you've got to be careful what you're applying. When he feeds his flock like a shepherd, Okay, if you're going to make that about us, how does he feed us.

33:06 Now we have to get into Now we can get into some lots of discussions here. Right, does he always feed people? How about all the people who starve? You want to know how many people starve to death every single day in this world? The numbers are somewhat staggering. So those are the questions we have to have. Let's see if it's going, if it's just gonna briefly mention us and then go right back to the original recipients, or if it's going to continue this course. He takes the little lambs in his arms and holds them in his bosom, and he gently leads those that are with young. How great is our God in his sovereignty and power? How great is his mercy, his compassion, and his tenderness towards uh. That's a good word of comfort for us. That's a word of comfort that we all stand in need of as God's people, whether old or young, male or female, single or married, rich or poor, we all have our own struggles in this earthly life, the common struggle against sin and our sinful natures, and the struggles with the various burdens and trials that God sends upon us. We need comfort.

34:40 Now please note he's taking these words of comfort that are for people in Babylonian captivity, and now these words of comfort are being somehow stated as if they are for you and they are for me. Well, now, so exact now when you are going to draw this connection, Well, wait a minute, wait a minute. What comfort are you saying is because God here is going to intervene in a material, physical way. He's going to literally deliver them from literal bondage, from literal captivity. He's literally going to bring them back into a literal land. Now, so, so are you saying that God's gonna comfort us in the most literal physical way, providing us in very literal or physical ways. That's where you have to Then some this just becomes it becomes sentimentalism, it becomes vague, right, oh okay, so that people's like, oh, God's gonna comfort me. God's going to do this for me. What are the people going to whether you like it or not. In preaching, I know this to be true. You can say something and then people later will say you said this, and you're like, wait, what are you talking about? I never said that. I never meant what I've known. No, No, no, and you'll go back and listen like, how did they draw that conclusion from that statement? That's why sometimes you have to be extremely blunt, or people will misrepresent what you said completely. How will people sitting there who are going through some difficulty, some pain, some grief, some suffering, and some need and hear that God is going to gather them and put him in his arms. He's gonna

36:12 gather he's gonna feed them, He's gonna do this, He's going to do this now once first you're taking verses that this has nothing to do with you, This has to do with them. But if you're gonna make it about us, you've got to explain exactly how this works. What can I expect? What should I not expect? Because if people have an expectation of God doing the A b CD, E f G when there is no promise that he's actually going to do that, people are going to be left disappointed, discouraged, despondent, and you know what they may end up They may end up start deconstructing, thinking, well, this just doesn't work. You promised me, well, because people gave you promises that weren't meant for you, all right, So let's see how he's gonna hand. He's got a long ways to go. He's just introducing it. But this is giving me that vibe of that kind of a sentimental sermon. It makes everyone feel good, everyone feels encouraged.

37:09 But what does it mean in the most practical way? What is God going to do or not do? What can you expect or not expect? What is what? Because man, Christianity loves to sell its message sometimes almost like it's an infocommercial. Oh, God's gonna do this for you, and God's going to do this for you. But wait, there's more call Now God will throw in this, this, this, this and this and then sometimes people after a couple of years or like God didn't do any of that? What are you talking about? Well, and then you go find out hmmm, maybe just maybe there was some major misapplication of the text.

37:53 But this word of God is also fitting at the occasion of infant baptism. It's the word of comfort that has special application to the little lambs of God's covenant and the mothers. Oh wow, now what just happened? How does Isaiah forty verse eleven have anything to do with infant baptism and anything to do with the mothers bringing their infants to be baptized. Oh man, I don't even under that is a lead. Okay, all right. As promising as this all started, see this goes, this is following the same trajectory. Sermon.

38:45 Now this one takes it to a far new level. Now we are in Isaiah forty verse eleven, and we're gonna connect this to infant baptism. Oh so, so do we understand that when we baptize a baby, now the baby becomes I don't know, a part of the flock. Are you saying the corporate body or are you saying the spiritual body? Are you saying it sacramento regenerate? Is it regenerating the baby? And so now now he's going to gather that baby as a lamb, and he's going to carry it, and he's gonna gently lead it ensuring. I guess then a child who's been infantly, who's been baptized as an infant, is going to be protected by God.

39:28 So nothing bad is ever going to happen to it. Like, what do you mean by this? I've known plenty of people who've been baptized as babies and their lives turned into absolute, total tragedy, devastation, destruction, drug use, sin, pain, suffering. So the infant baptism didn't do anything for them? So was the water broken on that particular day? Like, how do we understand that? I mean, you're using Isaiah forty verse eleven and connecting it to infant baptism. Oh, I got here, I got to hear how this goes? All? Right? Let's see. As the word of God here speaks of God's tender care, taking the little lambs into his arms and carrying them close to his heart, gently leading those that are with young.

40:26 Consider this word of God this morning under the theme he gathers the lambs, first the needy sheep, secondly the tender shepherd, and then thirdly the certain outcome. The text is describing God's leading of his people on a pilgrimage or a journey. Although Isaiah prophesied some hundreds of years before the return from captivity go, God gives Isaiah to speak as if that return is already a reality, as if God's people have already returned. So certain is that promise of God. God will take them into Babylon to chasten them for their sins, but he will not leave them there. He will bring his people back again to the land of Promise. And though the promise of the return is a word of comfort and joy in itself, that means for the people of God a journey from Babylon to the Promised Land, and a journey that would be difficult. The way from Babylon to the Promised Land was a treacherous path, went through difficult desert terrain. God's

41:57 people would have been exposed along the way to enemies and robbers that would seek to take advantage of them. And God's people would be a small remnant in comparison to their enemies and the nations around them. They were just a small remnant that would be taken back to the Promised Land. They were vulnerable, and they might be tempted to be discouraged, exhausted, and weary on account of the way. They needed comfort. But not only do the people of God need comfort because of the difficulty of God's way of leading them, they also need that comfort and especially on account of their own weaknesses. And that's what's conveyed in our text when it refers to God's people as sheep. That's an illustration that's used many times throughout the Word of God. To describe God's people, we're sheep.

43:10 Sheep are not nice, clean, intelligent creatures. They're often very dirty. They're foolish. We would say, they don't have any common sense. They're very easily led astray and go off from the shepherd and the rest of the flock and get all entangled. They're prone to be weary and exhausted. They're difficult creatures. They're often stubborn, so that though the shepherd tries to lead them in a certain way and stubbornness, they want to go off in their own way. Sheep are in anyways defenseless and helpless. They have no sufficiency in themselves.

44:00 They have no way of protecting themselves from predators. They are wholly dependent upon a shepherd, a tender shepherd, to lead them, to protect them, and to feed them. Now, if you're going to go into all of those descriptions about sheep, well in Isaiah forty eleven, you would then have to apply all of those descriptions to Israel, to Judah, because that's who it's about. That's what you would have to do first. So if you're like, hey, we're in Isaiah forour and again just look at the very text. Now he keeps menching the historical context. Well, the historical context. If you're gonna say, well, he calls the people's sheep, or he refers to them as sheep, Well, how was Judah like sheep? Well, they were disobedient, they were this, they were this, they were this, they were this, they were this, they were this, they were this. Connect it there that not necessarily directly to us. Now, at some point maybe you can make it about us, but you got to you gotta deal with the original context.

45:10 I'm still trying to figure out how we got baptism into this. So we're gonna least let this play out and try to at least see is he going to in any way, shape or form, try to figure out how this is connected to baptism, because either you're just gonna say this picture is what baptism does, which you're gonna then making it sacramental, so wearing a sacramental system, or I don't know what you do. I don't I think other than a sacramental system. This really becomes problematic. But let's see, by referring to God's people here as sheep, the word of God is emphasizing the neediness of God's people.

45:52 And then not only is there the common neediness that's conveyed there, the neediness that we all share as the sheep of God, but the Word of God also speaks of unique needs and unique weaknesses. And it does so here by referring to the lambs of the flock and the mothers with young. Shortly after the little lambs are born, they're bouncing around and running all over the place, filled with all kinds of youthful energy. And yet those lambs are very prone to wander and go astray, even more so than the older sheep. And though those lambs have a burst of youthful energy and are prancing and jumping all around, they're very easily tire, especially if the shepherd is leading them on a journey. Then the passage speaks of those that are with young, literally those that give suck, which can refer to the you lambs, the mothers who are bearing lambs and they've not been born yet, or those that have given birth to their lambs and are

47:24 now giving them suck and caring for them. In any case, it's referring to the mothers. The mothers needed to be cared for by the shepherd gently. Other passages of God's word make that plane. For example, Genesis thirty three, verse thirteen, which is a record of the history of Jacob's returning from dwelling with his uncle Laban and his first meeting with his brother Esau. That says he Jacob said, unto him, Esau, my Lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me, and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die.

48:11 Jacob is concerned not only about his own little ones, but about the little lambs and the mothers of his flock, that they not be overdriven, they needed to be cared for gently. And then again in Psalm seventy eight, Verses seventy and seventy one, we read he chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds from following the Ewes great with young, and speaking of David's care of his flock when he was chosen out of that to be king, and mentioned specifically he had a special care for the Ewes that were with young. By speaking of the little lambs and those that are with young, God is speaking of particular weaknesses or particular needs and struggles of certain of the sheep in the fall. This word of God describes well our own weaknesses and their own need for comfort. God is leading us on a journey, on a pilgrimage. That's the nature of our life as Christians.

49:39 In this world. We have the hope before us of the heavenly promised land of glory and perfection in heaven with God. But presently our position is in Babylon. We live in the midst of a world that is wholly pursuing after sin. That's anti Christian. Though we live in the midst of this world, we don't belong to it. Now. I do one hundred percent agree with the basic analogy here because I've said the same thing. If you're going to apply this the way you apply this is yes, in a sense, we are in our own captivity. We still have a sinful nature, we still sin, We are in a fallen world. We are in Babylon, right, So, and that sense that is true. Now, what do we need to understand? What we need to understand who God is? Right?

50:35 But we got to be very careful here when we apply this to us being in Babylon. Now this is where it gets complicated, right, and this is where the problems can begin. If you take these specific promises given to Judah in Babylonian captivity and try to make them transferable to us, you're stealing the promise from them making it applicable to us. And I'm telling you, ladies and gentlemen, those promises given to Israel or for you, they're not for you. And so you're going to be left going, well, wait a minute, God promised to feed or together, or to protect or to provide. Well, why is it not happening? Because those promises were based off covenants given specifically to Israel.

51:16 That's the Now the analogy is, as they were in captivity, we are in our own Babylonian captivity. Okay, great, Now what lessons can we learn? Well, we have to learn to trust God and see God at work even in the ordinary, because we've been talking about that, right, because here God is going to work in this particular case very much in ordinary means, not supernatural means, because he's going to deliver them through the hands of Cyrus. Okay, so we could talk about that, but you've got to be very careful what you do here, God's major for us. Most of the things He's doing for us is spiritual because when it comes to our now you we can get into a whole DISCUSSI about what God provides doesn't provide, When does he protect? When does he not protect? Because that leads to all kinds of theological issues. So with the over our all analogy, I agree. Now, what's what is?

52:13 How is he going to take this promise? First of all, I still don't know how it's connected to baptism. He's not done anything to see how this is even connected to baptism. He's just mentioned it. I still want to know, because you're either going with a sacramental view or I don't know what you're going to do. But the basic analogy I'm in agreement with. Now, how do we under What does Isaiah forty through fifty five have to say to us about our quote unquote Babylona captivity. You cannot take the promises given to Israel in their captivity and apply them to us. That's the issue. That's where the problem can begin. Let's see if that if he's going to avoid that problem, or if that's what we're going to walk. Into this world is not our home. This is not our abiding place forever. This is not where we have our hope set. We're pilgrims. We're on a journey. God is leading us through this life, through this world, on to glory with him. But though that hope of heaven is certain, and though there's comfort and joy for the Christian and knowing that that's what awaits him, there is yet the difficulty of the way the hardships that God sends upon us in this light.

53:44 Now, when you say God sends the hardships upon us in this life, now that raises questions, Right, that raises serious questions because again, if I go back to the news article about the young person who is sexually assaulted and molested, and eighty counts the person was charged with like, so did God send that upon that child? What hardships? Do we draw a distinction between the hardships God sends upon us? Or is are we going in a much more like if we go again, we get into a discussion about God's sovereignty here, Right, we know God would allow it. God allows it. There's no way to get around it. Because God is all knowing and all powerful.

54:29 So clearly whatever suffering comes into your life, he allows it. Whether it's murder. I mean, we can go to some heinous crimes. Do we need to get into sexual assault, child being molested? All of those types of things. We know he at least allows it. There's no way to get around that. He knew before the foundations of the world that it was going to happen to this person and this person and this person being abused, whatever the case may be, So he allowed it. Did God send it? Now? Again, what we're supposed to be doing was weary in Isaiah chapter forty, verse eleven. We're supposed to be talking about them and their situation. But you notice what is happening now. We're getting in to these discussions where we're ignoring the original people and it becomes about us, because that's what happens with all of these sermons. So what do you mean God sends us? Okay, God sends the problem?

55:21 All right? How do you process that right? When horrible things happen? I mean, that's an issue Christians have been struggling with for two thousand years. Christians love their little bumper sticker answers, They love their little cliches. Supposedly it makes them feel better. I don't know how it makes them feel better. It should trouble them just as much as it troubled anybody else on the Christian Post. Not only whereas there's an article about that person from the Creation Museum and what happened there again like part of their praise ban or whatever it is, and the child eighty counts. Right underneath that article was another article about a Christian school where there's an investigation something happen again about children being some things happening to children there of a sexual nature. I mean, like you can just look all day long, what how do you understand these things? Well, you said, well, we're in a fallen world. Okay, great, we're in a fallen world. But if God is the one directing and sending it, these raises serious questions. I'm all for having those questions. It's just hard to try to go and address those issues. Well, we're trying to figure out Isaiah forty verse eleven, and I still want to know what does any of this have to do with baptism? So let's see if we can figure this out.

56:39 That way is difficult because we're constantly beset by our enemies. God's people as they are in this world at any one time, are just a small remnant in comparison to the wicked and unbelieving world amongst whom we live goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. There is the threat of false teachers who are wolves, who seek to lead the sheep astray, to scatter them, to harm them, to destroy them. And then there's the difficulty that comes as God sends upon us the hardships and the sorrows and the trials of earthly life. And though God sends those trials in different ways and in varying degrees to his children and a certain way in common, we all share that there are all struggles that we all face to varying degrees in our lives. There's the struggle at times with sickness, the necessity of surgery, the aches and the pains of old age and the breakdown of the body. There's loss, death, sorrow, grief, loneliness. There's

58:14 discouragement and disappointment as we had our own plans and our own hopes and desires, but God's way of leading us is in a different way. There's strife and division, and homes and families, there's being hurt and sinned against by others. So many are the afflictions that God sends upon his people. In this light, the way is difficult. The end and the goal is certain, but the way in which God leads is often a hard, difficult way.

58:58 Now, is anybody starting to have some questions? Right? Is anybody raising their hand? So the text is he will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with the young. But yet the very God who's supposed to be gathering us and holding us close to his bosom, I guess at some points he sets us down and like, boom, you get this, You get this disease, Boom, you get this suffering boom because God sends it, God brings it into your life. So boom, Oh, your child's gonna be murdered. Boom. Oh, your child's gonna be killed by a drug driver. Boom, your child's gonna get molested by a church leader. Boom, this is going to happen. You're gonna lose your job, Boom, this is going to happen. You're gonna be paralyzed. Boom, this is gonna happen. This is gonna happen, This is gonna happen, This is gonna happen, This is gonna happen. Wait, I thought he is the one carrying me and guiding me and holding me to his bosom. So now the problem here? Well, first, this text is specifically about them coming out of Babylonian captivity. That's what this is referencing to.

1:00:07 But of course we've already left them so far behind. But don't you if you're reading this text, you're like, that's the text of the sermon. But I'm being told now at least twice, maybe three times, God brings this, God directs this. God brings this into your life, varying degrees, varying levels of severity, but he brings it into your life. So we see the one carrying me and protecting me, or see the one bringing all of these horrible things into my life, because you can, you can talk about just the normal aches and pains of old age, but we know that we suffer far more than just the normal aches and pains of old age. People suffer some very messed up things. So as do I look to God as the one comforting me and protecting me, or do I look to the God as the one going, Hey, you're gonna get a little bit of this, How you're gonna get a little bit of this, How you're gonna get a lot more for this, and of course that we'll convince ourselves doing that all for our good. I still don't know why. You know, I could go through a lot of things in my life and like, I don't know what good came from that. Yeah, I don't know what good came from being beaten. I don't know what good came I could go through. I mean, like, huh, yeah, lots of questions there, But these are the kinds of questions that you have to have in church. See, we don't have these kinds of questions because it makes everyone uncomfortable.

1:01:22 Christians will get very defensive and get mad and get upset. I understand that because nobody likes it. But I mean, this is this is a perfect time to have this question. We're in a text about God doing comforting, but it's turning into all the things God will allow to bring into your life. Well, first of all, wait, what has this got to do with baptism? And wait, a minute. What does this got to do with Isaiah forty verse eleven. This is what happens to all of these sermons is inevitably the train leaves the track somehow. Not only is it the case that God's way for us is difficult, we need comfort because of who we are as needy sheep, The text and the context here teach us that. For example, in verses six and seven, the voice said, cry, and he said, what shall I cry?

1:02:15 All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass. That's us. Wait in the context, is that us? Or is that trying to remind the people who are in Babylonian captivity that all the people around you that God is greater than all the people and that they are all going to fade and they're all going to just be as the spirit. Uh, where's this say, because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it, Surely the people is grass. Is this God telling them, hey, all of you are just grass and you're weak? Or is this trying to give them comfort? That is mighty nation that has them in captivity are just as grasps. How should we interpret that in its context? See, he's turning the entire text now making it about us. This is where things start falling apart. What is that actually about? Now?

1:03:23 We're now we've reached over the hour mark and went out just now starting to get into some of these issues. So is God the comforter? Or is God the one who brings in all the pain and suffering and makes the way of our life hard? Is he the one who makes it hard? So do we look to comfort from the God making the way hard? Do I seek comfort from the very God who made the way hard? Hey, God, I'm coming to you for comfort. But you're the one who allowed this to happen, and you brought this in. He either allowed it or he directly brought it. But I now come to the very God who allowed it or who brought the pain and suffering, and I go to him for comfort. Does not anyone find that a little bit confusing? And then in Isaiah forty six to eight, is that us or is that God speaking to them?

1:04:10 Like? What is going on to how should we understand Isaiah forty six to wait in its actual context. Remember this is a section of comfort. This is he telling them, hey, be comforted by the fact that you're just like grass and you're just going to disappear. Find comfort in that. Or is this supposed to be comfort for them in a different way, because remember this all is about comfort, right, Oh so so many Let's see where this goes. And again, what is this they have to do with baptism? We are grass, grow up in a moment, and our life is quickly over. And then at the end of the chapter verses twenty nine and thirty, he giveth power to the feint, and to them that have no might, He increase its strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. Think of what we would consider to be the epitome of earthly strength. We'd say, young men, they're in the prime of their life. They're filled with all kinds of strength, and they can do all kinds of things, work all day, and play sports all night, and just go on and on with all of that youthful energy and strength. Even the youths shall fate and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. Even what we would think the strongest of us are.

1:05:42 Weak, isn't Isaiah forty twenty nine, And that entire section isn't it about those in captivity? Okay, we're sheep, and sheep are weak and helpless and dependent. Text teaches that as well when it refers to the lambs and the mothers with young. That's not to say that it's only the lambs and the mothers who are weak and in need of comfort. This is only giving an example. The weakness that's true of all of us is exemplified in the little lambs. They're small, they're helpless.

1:06:41 They're so dependent upon father and especially mother to provide for them, to protect them, to feed them on their own. They're helpless. And there are the needs of mothers with young. Now, in a certain sense, we stand in awe the strength that God gives to a mother and she bears a child and cares for the child. But there's the struggles that she faces as well. She might be sick as she bears the child, as she comes to the end of her pregnancy, she's exhausted. She can hardly stay up on her feet and continue the work that God has given her to do. And then once the child is born, all of the responsibilities of the care of home and family, and plus the care of the little child, and perhaps the child's up all night and she hardly sleeps at all.

1:07:47 And then she continues to go on and on so that she might come to the point of throwing her hands up and saying, I can't go on. I'm exhausted. We are weak on account of who we are physically, Okay, So for. I don't know what's happening. I don't know what's happening. Okay, I don't know what any of this has to do with the original people this was written to. Secondly, is this leading me to the conclusion that baptism solves all of these problems? Is that where this is leading me to, Hey, baptism is the thing that because he said this is all connected to baptism, is baptism. I know we're already over an hour, but I gotta wait to see if he's going to where does baptism come into play here?

1:08:45 Creatures of the dust or grass made out of the dust, soon returning to the dust, helpless dependent. We have our physical weaknesses, our emotional weaknesses and struggles, our mental weaknesses and struggles and then there's our weakness on account of our sins and our sinful natures. Yes, we belong to Christ and are in him. We've been regenerated by the spirit. We are are new creatures in Him. And yet we have that old man of sin that still cleaves to us.

1:09:34 Wait, are we new or not new? Now? If he means new positionally, but we're not new practically, then man, and we're in complete agreement. But he didn't really articulate that. There, right, we're new, but we still have the old. Well, then that's not new. So we're new positionally, we're not new practically. So positionally we're perfect, holy and righteous. But our positionally we're holy right now, just perfect, and we're new. Practically we are sinful, weak, ungodly, and therefore we're going to sinfall and we cannot keep the law. And if that's the direction he's going, great. I still know why any of this has to do with baptism. I don't know what any of this has to do with Isaiah forty verses nine through eleven and its original context, which is literally these are supposed to be a message speaking to the cities of Judah.

1:10:22 But okay, that corrupts and taints everything that we do. We have in this life only ever a small beginning of the new obedience. We struggle with sin and our own besetting sins. We so easily give in to temptation and the same temptations again and again. And those are the weaknesses that we share in common. Then there are all of the unique weaknesses, unique struggles and difficulties that each one of us has. We're daid by God.

1:11:13 Oh, our specific weaknesses are ordained by God. So if someone has a spiritual weakness that's ordained by God and they fall into sin, this raises all kinds of other questions. Okay, all right, I just want to know what this has to do with First of all, with the original recipients who the message specifically is supposed to be giving to. And second, I still try to figure out what has this got to do with baptism. We are needy sheep in our need. We have a great shepherd. We have a great shepherd for our great need, a shepherd who tenderly cares for us and provides for us.

1:12:09 Okay, now wait a minute. So we have a God who brings in the hardship, the God who brings the pain and tragedy into our life, who allows it and has even ordained our weakness. But we have a God who is our shepherd, who comforts and provides for us. Is the provision the pain and suffering he brings into my life? Is the provision the weakness he ordained? Or is the provision to stop that? I don't now, I don't know. Versy. Lovin emphasizes that with the word order in the original.

1:12:53 In the original, it says, as a shepherd, he shepherds his flock. We are the flock of our shepherd, our God, and the fact that we're his flock means that we belong to him. There's a relationship that's established between him and us, and what's conveyed there is the truth of God's covenant. He's established his covenant with us. He's drawn us to himself. He's brought us into fellowship and the warmth of his love and intimate communion with him. As was quoted in the baptism form out of Genesis seventeen, verse seven, He's our God, we are his people. That's the that's the essence of God's covenant with us.

1:13:57 I guess the original recipients Judah and Israel just have been They have gotten the boot. They have been kicked out of this text completely. They were briefly mentioned, and I do appreciate at least historical context was given. But you notice this text, they've been completely removed. And now we're we're walking around. Go it's Us Us Us and the Covenant. The Covenant was made with them. Even the new Covenant is made with the House of Israel and the House of Judah. Literally, the text states that we are in grafted. In that covenant. Life is ground it in the work of Jesus Christ. God has shown himself to be our good shepherd, in the good Shepherd Jesus Christ. Jesus says in John ten, verse eleven, I am the good Shepherd, The good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep, and verse fourteen again, I am the good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and have known of mine. The fact that we belong to him, that we're in Jesus Christ, means that we are the objects of his tender compassion and his unfailing care.

1:15:24 Again, this is where it's all sentimental. But we're not getting any into anything practical. If God is the one who brings in the pain, brings in the suffering, either because he allows it or decrees it or ordains it and ordains even my specific weaknesses. If he's the one bringing that all in, Yet he's the one who supposedly offer offering the care and the protection. Well, where's the care in the protection? If he's the one bringing in the pain, the suffering and the weakness, is he going to protect me from the pain, suffering, and the weakness that he brought into my life? Bring And then he's like, hey, it's like slap you, Oh come here, I'm so sorry. Slap you. Oh come here, I'm so sorry. Slap you.

1:16:06 Oh come here, I'm so sorry. Is that the way that we understand this? Like, see, when you bring up these conflicting concepts, I know, in church, you're not supposed to go, wait a minute, this is confusing. I know you're not supposed to do that in church, right, We're just supposed to say, amen, oh this is beautiful, this is comforting. But someone thinking is going to go like, wait a minute, how does this work? So he brings in the pain, he brings in the suffering, he brings in the weakness, But yet he gathers me, and he protects me, and he provides and he wha wait, wait, wait, how does this work? And not only that, you still are taking a passage that's not even about us and making it about us, which is what leads to a lot of these problems.

1:16:55 Having given his only begotten son to the death of the cross in order to redeem us, our Shepherd will certainly provide us then everything else that we stand in need of. If He's given Christ to the cross to redeem us and to meet our greatest need, will he not then provide for us what we stand in need of in this life? Is there anything then that can separate us from His love in Christ? And the answer is, of course not. For Christ's sake, we know and are assured of the faithfulness and the care and the love of our God and Shepherd for us.

1:17:46 Okay, God provides, God cares, God protects, He takes care of us. That's the sentimental idea. But I'm gonna go back to this because and I keep mentioning it, mentioning it because I was going to talk about this yesterday. But here's the headline, all right, Worship Leader, former arc and counter Creation museum band member charged with sodomy. Popular Christian apologetics organization Answers in Genesis has confirmed that this individual, a member of True Song, the residential musical act of the Arc Encounter and Creation Museum in northern Kentucky, is no longer connected to the band, as he was charged with eighty counts of sexual abuse and sodomy of a teenager who was a member of a church where he served as worship leader. So he was a worship leader, and eighty accounts of sexual abuse and sodomy against a teenager who was a member of that church. Where was God protecting? Where was he comforting? Where was he looking after the young? Where was he doing all of these things? See, we can just offer these sentimental ideas. Now. Part of the problem is you're taking a promise that has nothing to do with us and making it about us. This is a very specific promise for a very specific group of people and a very specific situation. When you try to apply it to today, well then someone's going to bring up an article like this and go what about this?

1:19:10 On that same website. I mean I could go to it. I could just bring probably fifty articles about these horrible situations that happened within the church, within Christianity. Now, all we want to do is say, well, he wasn't a Christian, he wasn't a Christian, but where was God in protecting the child? I know this makes people uncomfortable. I know people get mad at me. But we have to be willing to face this head on because we get these sentimental sermons. So and again it's supposed to connect to baptism. Is baptism the solution to all of this. We're not getting any specific answers.

1:19:51 Before we describe in further detail what the text says about that care. It's important to make this point, and that's in relation to the young lambs of God's covenant. God's flock includes, according to the text, the little lambs, and what that teaches is the truth elsewhere taught in the Word of God, that God establishes his covenant with believers and their seed. This text has literally nothing to do with that. This is about Judah, has nothing to do with us or the church or anything like that. Man, Okay, now it's getting frustrating.

1:20:44 With believers and their spiritual children, the children of the Promise already as children, and that is the basis on which we add minister to them the sacrament to baptism. There we go. So this is being used as a proof text for infant baptism. This has got to be the worst proof text for infant baptism I've ever seen in the history of humankind. The second he refers to it as a sacrament. Now we have to get into the argument about the language sacrament. What the word sacrament typically means a visible means of grace. So you're going to say that when you put water on the baby, well, then something happens. What happens here? What happens? Are their sins washed away? Are they regenerated? Are are you just putting a seal of the Covenant on them? And it's not sacramental. So now we got to get into a whole Is this baptismal regeneration? I'm assuming most likely it's not.

1:21:44 But you know, if you call it a sacrament, then it's a visible means of grace. What does the grace be, Well, the child is set apart. Look, if this is Presbyterian, I've known I don't even know how many people I've known who were baptized as babies and Presbyterian churches. I went to basic training with a lot of people who are baptized Presbyterians. I'm telling you it didn't do a thing for them. I can guarantee you that many of them were atheist and agnostic. The promise of God that He establishes his covenant with believers and their seed. As believing parents, we cling tightly to that promise of God, knowing that that promise of God is sure and it stands, and that He will certainly keep his covenant and continue it amongst our children.

1:22:43 We oppose, on the one hand, the error those like the Federal Vision who teach that God establishes his covenant with every single one of the children of believers. We know that cannot be true. Election and reprobation cuts through the line of believers and their children. But we also, on the other hand, oppose the error of those like the Baptists who say that God does not establish his covenant with any of the children at all. That word of view them and to deal with them as they grow up as really no different spiritually than the children of the He then as children already as children, God is pleased to establish his covenant with them.

1:23:33 Look, I'm not even gonna get into the criticisms a Baptist here, right. You know what my criticism is, Isaiah forty verse eleven has nothing to do with what you're talking about. That's the issue you're preaching Isaiah forty eleven. Then, for crying out loud, this is a message to those in Judah. The text literally says, be not afraid say unto the cities of Judah, behold your God. This is not about being a Baptist. This is not being about a Presbyterian. This is leading comprehension that you learned in elementary school. And on the basis of that promise of God, we administer the sacrament of baptism to all of the children of believing parents, knowing that it will serve as a means of grace to the children of the promis.

1:24:29 Okay, so it is a means of grace. So he's using the term sacrament in a correct way. Okay, that's good. A lot of times I hear I've heard people who are not Presbyterian or Lutherans and they refer to the things as sacraments. I'm like, what in the world are you talking about. You go to a Baptist church, they're not sacraments to ordinances. If you call them sacraments, then there are means of grace. You don't believe in a means of If you believe in a sacramental system, then this makes sense. So you take the baby. They're weak, they're a lamb, they're all of this. You put the sacrament on them and both means of grace. So now God that then the way God helps correct all of those weaknesses is through baptism. Well, now you get into all kinds of issues because it doesn't work for I don't know how many kids I've seen who have been baptized.

1:25:15 I've worked with so many people in the military, and I was like, oh, your baptized as a baby. Well, obviously something went wrong there, something went wrong there, something went wrong there. Now I know they always have a way out of it. Well, it doesn't guarantee anything. Well, so then the means of grace is not a guarantee. God can't do a work and the means of grace to actually bring about Now is it a means of grace and only changing the child positionally? But it does nothing for them practically, But then it would be then being changed positionally not on the basis of faith, but on the basis of water. Oh, Or is it on the basis of the parents' faith? Oh? Now we got all kinds of other theological issues.

1:26:06 Is the God and shepherd of us and our seed after us? He cares for us. He cares for us, tenderly cares for us by providing us with all that we need in the midst of this life and the pilgrimage along which he leads us. And that's taught in the three phrases key phrases in verse eleven. First of all, it says he shall feed his flock like a shepherd, and that word feed means more generally to shepherd. He shepherds his flock like a shepherd. And what's involved there is not just the one aspect of the work of a shepherd in feeding, but all of the activities and the callings that belong to a shepherd and the care of his sheep. The shepherd certainly feeds his sheep by leading them to the green pastures and the quiet waters.

1:27:18 But he also leads them and he guides them. He doesn't drive them, but he leads them, and he guides them, and he protects them and defends them against the threat of the wolves and the predators. The shepherd provides a comprehensive care for his needy sheep. Is it spiritual or is it physical? If it's physical, then who was protecting the kid who has sexually abused eighty accounts. I'm not saying those are eighty separate occasions, but eighty counts go through story after story, off the story of the story, the story of story. Now, if you're gonna say protect, he's gonna do all of this You've got now in their particular case in Isaiah forty, you know where the text actually is found. It makes perfect sense. He's literally going to guide them through ordinary means, through Cyrus to bring them from Babylon back into their land.

1:28:22 It's tangible, it's physical, it's material. It's going to occur. I just don't know how many of these things I can rip out of context and make about me. Then, secondly, the Word of God says he shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his boosom. Those little newborn lambs that easily tire and easily go astray. As the shepherd's leading them on the way, he takes them in his arms, and he holds them close to his heart so that they don't go as and so that when they're exhausted, they are brought along their way safely.

1:29:09 So every kid baptized never can go astray. Right, I mean, if you're connecting this to baptism, then every child that is baptized, God carries them close to his bosom. They can never go astray, they can never be pulled away. So they're all going to grow up believing and having sound doctrine because they can't go astray because he's holding I don't understand. This has lots of beautiful words, but when I'm trying to break it down to what it means practically, and it's starting to it just deteriorates. It falls apart. It's like a mirage. Oh there's water there, and there's no water. It's just dust. And you're like, well, what does this mean in any practical way. We're gonna have to stop there. I'll just let it go to a stopping point. Here.

1:30:03 He takes the little lambs in his arm and he carries them in his bosom, close to his heart. Then thirdly, Versy Levin says. See, there's no explanation of what any of this means in a practical way, so I can make this all work practically in Isaiah forty eleven, because I know exactly who it's about, and I know exactly how it played out in history. I know exactly how it occurred. Cyrus comes to power, Cyrus releases them and lets them go back. You can see the decree of Cyrus and Ezra chapter one. We know exactly how it played out in history. There's no it's not sentimental. We don't have to spiritualize aligorize.

1:30:45 We know, and it has not a thing to do with infant baptism. Man, unbelievable. I don't even know what you do with all of that. You go. I don't remember the opening illustration. I said, I'm gonna end up in the saloon. That's where I'm at it, Ladies and gentlemen. I just don't Why is Isaiah forty so difficult? I don't get it. I know we when pastors preach, they want to make it about us, But you've got to somehow stay true to the text to some level, and when you leave the I mean, I don't even know how all of this stuff ended up in the text, and really it brought up more philological problems than it did at all. And off free people may say that was comforting, there was no comfort because now I'm left with, wait a minute, is God the one who comforts or is the God one striking me down with all of these problems? Or am I supposed to find comfort from the one who's given me all the problems? Which again, very much, I know it's very blunt description, but it's like someone touching you in the fish slapping you, going, oh, now, come here, let me comfort you, slapping you, Oh, let me come here and comfort you. That is confusing, and any reasonable logical person would ask those questions. And I don't care if the church doesn't like those questions, but there's got to be a place for people to struggle with that very concept because it is confusing and it is confounding, convoluted, And

1:32:18 we'll stop there. So Isaiah forty nine through eleven, we're still I mean, this one was better than probably this one was better than probably every sermon we've ever heard so far on Isaiah forty This one probably better because at least he spent a lot of he read the entire chapter. He did go through some of the context, but at the same time, as good as it was there, it left us just utterly confused. And I still don't know how on the word we get the Sacrament of infant baptism and Isaiah forty verse eleven. How in the world. And trust me, if you had a better text, you think you would go to I don't know. The passage just says baptize the babies. You know that would be That'd be a good text. That would be a really good text, wouldn't it. Hey, what is preventing me from being baptized? Well do you believe? Oh? Okay, well, now we can get into all kinds of Yeah, all right, thanks for listening. Everyone, Have a good Saturday, have a good Sunday. And yeah, I wish that I wish I could give us something more here. I know I'm left with lots of confusion here, but that's not my fault, right, My job is where I'm just listening to sermons on Isaiah forty The sermons leave us here like I want you to be like, because if I was just listening to this sermon, I'd be left with all these questions and all these struggles. So I want to leave you, and then you work through it and you see how

1:33:50 you answer all of this. Thanks for listening, God bless