Isaiah 43: The Fourth Man

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central. Good morning everyone. It is Saturday, February fifteenth, twenty twenty five. It is currently eleven twenty seven am Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now, question, if you hear the phrase the testimony of God, what do you think that means? When you hear that phrase? What comes to your mind the testimony of God? What comes to your mind when you hear that phrase? If someone was saying, hey, I was reading my Bible this morning, and I read these words, and I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. That's First Corinthians, chapter two, verse one. What comes to your mind when you hear that phrase? Or if someone called you and said, hey, I was reading this verse what is the testimony of God?

1:14 What would be your definition that you would give them? The testimony of God is. Go? What would you say? What would it be? Now I've not given it? Probably a lot of thought. Now I've preached all the way through First Corinthians before. I think it took four years to go through the book of First Corinthians, so I have preached on it before. But I was listening there was a sermon on this morning, a live webcast on the sermon's two point oh app and they called it something like something sweet words or more than sweet words or not sweet words. I can't remember exactly. They had on the screen. They had a picture of like Valentines candy, and they were kind of doing this little Valentine's kind of trying to connect it to that. But when they were preaching on this and First Corinthians, chapter two, verse one, they kind of referred to the testimony of God like like the testimony we have and God has his own testimony, And I was like, what is happening right now? So whenever that sermon is finally uploaded, I will download it and then I will then we will we will try to review it. But I just I'm just curious, how would you define the testimony of God? Because this idea that it's somehow like God has a testimony, You have a testimony. God has a testimony, And I'm like, what do you mean by that?

2:41 What do you mean by that? And I don't even think it fits the context it was. It was already a little confusing. And then one was really frustrating in the sermon is he talked about when he was in Bible college, he bought this huge dictionary, kept talking about how big it was, and it could kill someone. It would be a consual weapon if he hid it under his coat, this giant dictionary of philological terms, of the evangelical philological terms something I can't remember the exact name of the dictionary. And he said he bought it. He was so proud that he bought it, and he took it home and he put it on his shelf, and he probably never looked at it more than four or five times. And it was almost like, I guess he was proud of the fact that he had this dictionary of all of these phyllological terms so that he could learn that he could grow. But I guess it was a badge of honor not to use the dictionary. And I was like, what is this? But then what was so frustrating? He says that in a sermon where his handling a first Corinth dance, Chapter two, Verse one, I don't know what that was. The testimony. God has a testimony like we do. It's okay, I think the context tells us what it is, but I'm just curious. So just keep that in mind. At some point we'll circle back to that. Because I was just I was just like, I think, I think I know what the testimony of God is, and I think that freezed. Well, okay, I'm not going to start preaching that, but yes, so that sermon it'll be uploaded at some point to the sermon's two point oh app but it will be something about sweet words more than sweet words, not sweet words. It'll

4:14 be based off One Corinthias, chapter two, verses one through eleven. If you see that uploaded under new Sermons today, you may want to listen to it. Listen to how he explains the testimony of God, and then you can you can determine whether you agree or disagree. I just I don't know what that was. But we've got more to do. We've got more to do than that, all right, But I wanted to just mention that. But let's do this. It was October the twenty second, twenty twenty four. October the twenty second, twenty twenty four that I produced a message a podcast episode entitled Isaiah forty three Fear Not Isaiah forty three Fear Not. That was October the TWE twenty second, twenty twenty four. I don't know if I had.

5:03 I don't even think I had in my mind at that time what we were about to walk into, right, because I start early on expressing my frustration, expressing my irritation and how Isaiah forty three and different things in Isaiah is handled so incorrectly by so many preachers in so many churches that they go to Isaiah and they immediately want to make these passages about us, about us, about us, and they do that in Isaiah forty three they do it, and so that what it ultimately ended in, ultimately what it has turned into, I should say it that way. Is this. Now we're doing this in depth, basically, verse by verse study of Isaiah chapter forty all the way through Isaiah chapter fifty five. It's going to take forever. And there's a part of me that says, what are you doing?

5:54 What are you doing? You've already made your point, right. We have reviewed sermon after sermon after sermon of sermons found somewhere based on something between Isaiah chapter forty and Isaiah chapter fifty five. Every single sermon you have reviewed, every single sermon you have listened to, continually demonstrates this, taking these passages, making them about us, pushing out the original recipients, destroying the historical context, destroying the textual context. It is maddening. But you have made that point over and over and over. So maybe you should just wrap it up, and maybe we finished Isaiah forty and then we just stop. But can I do that? If sermon after sermon after sermon continues to make the same mistakes, doesn't someone need to produce a series of messages on Isaiah forty through fifty five that does the opposite of what I feel to be an erroneous way of handling the text. Now, most of you, maybe many of you, you will agree in the way all the other sermons handle it, but I think it's just completely wrong. So there's a part says I should just give up. But then I continue to find more and more sermons obviously being produced, being preached on Isaiah forty through fifty five that I think continues to make the same mistake. And well, we have a sermon on Isaiah forty three. So we're gonna be going to Isaiah forty three, which is where it all started anyway, and we're gonna listen to a sermon.

7:21 And I feel that this one is well, at least from just the like sixty seconds I have heard of it. Maybe it was maybe it was, you know, two minutes. What I have heard of it appears to be going the same direction everyone else does. Now. One of the reasons I'm reviewing this one is just just because mainly not because it's just on Isaiah forty three, which just adds to what we are doing. But I'm reviewing this one mainly because it's a miss. This is the name of the church, Messiah Amish Mennonite Church, And we talked about this yesterday how I stumbled upon the Amish well on sermon audio and I'm like, wait, the Amish have their sermons digitally recorded, uploaded to sermonadio, and their church has a phone number that seems to go I guess everything about the Amish. But I guess if you connect the Amish with the Mennonite, then I guess then there's then I guess technology can be utilized. It's kind of interesting However, the Amish, at least according to some sources, their understanding of salvation would be very workspace.

8:27 So yeah, there's a lot here like what is going on here? But they have a sermon on Isaiah forty three. I'm like, well, we've listened to just think of all the different groups we've listened to so far, sermons on between based on Isaiah forty through Isaiah chapter fifty five. We've heard sermons from Presbyterians, We've heard sermons from Baptist We've heard sermons from Bible churches. We've heard sermons from reform churches, non reform churches. We've heard sermons from people who are clearly omeline. We've heard sermons from people who are clearly dispensational, premillennial, and it doesn't matter their philological background. Inevitably, the same thing happens with the sermons. They go to Isaiah chapter forty, between between Isaiah chapter forty and Isaiah chapter fifty five, and they move out the original recipients and move us in. Even churches that you would think who are more dispensational would be like no, no, no, no, no, this is about Israel, this is about Israel. They almost inevitably fall into the same trap. They may say this is about Israel, but then the sermon becomes all about us, all about us, all about us, all about us. It's somewhat maddening to watch this play out over and over and over. So I thought today we would do this. Obviously, tomorrow will be spending two hours in Isaiah chapter forty.

9:47 We're hoping tomorrow to get I would hope that we can possibly tomorrow get from Isaiah chapter forty, verse twelve all the way down to twenty four maybe maybe maybe, uh yeah, and then we'll save twenty five to thirty one maybe and its own as its own section. I think that's what we're gonna try to do. So we're gonna get close to maybe trying to finish up Isaiah chapter forty tomorrow. We're not gonna finish it all the way up. We'll need at least one more week. But I think we've covered everything we can cover in Isaiah forty. But to just get us back into this discussion of what Isaiah forty through fifty five is actually about who it's about. Just to reinforce these ideas. Some people may say, look, you've made your point, but Look, as long as new sermons are being produced on this section of scripture, there's got to be someone no matter how repetitive. Look, it's repetitive that people keep keep handling the text the exact same way, which I believe is an error. Well, then there I can be repetitive and trying to offer a counter perspective. So are you ready, let's jump in. This is from an Amish Mennonite church. They entitled the sermon the Fourth Man. Now that caught my attention that the fourth man. Well, who's the first man, who's the second man, who's the third man? And where did the fourth man come from? And who is he? And what do I need?

11:16 Where does the fourth man come into play here? So Isaiah forty three, somehow this is about the fourth Man. I'm curious to see where they go with this. You know what we're looking for right now? Just so that you're just so that you remember this. Isaiah forty through fifty five is sometimes referred to as the Book of Consolation or the Book of Comfort. It is comfort being offered not to you and I, it is comfort being offered to those and Babylonian captivity. They are clearly identified in Isaiah thirty nine, five through eight. Then the word of comfort is to be delivered to those in Babylonian captivity, and they are identified countless times just in chapter forty Jerusalem, the Cities of Judah. There's no question who this is about, all right, And you cannot forget Cyrus and all of this.

12:14 We've talked about him. Cyrus is the king that is utilized to release the people from Babylonian captivity. We've talked about all of that. So what we're going to do is when we listen to this sermon on Isaiah forty three, well, how much has Judah talked about? How much is Israel talked about versus? How much are we talked about? And at the beginning, is it immediately is it immediately put into or is it immediately set up? Is it immediately framed with us in mind? Or is it immediately framed with Judah in mind? Are you ready? Here? We go?

12:54 Welcome to each one that is here, and we greet you in Jesus' name, Home folks, And we have a good amount. Of visitors here this morning. We're delighted that you've chosen to join us this morning. We don't know your names, but God does. But we want you to feel free to worship our great God. This morning for a text turned to the Old Testament, to the Book of Isaiah, chapter forty three. My prayer to God this week was Lord, what would you have for your people to hear? And for me as well? What is my need?

13:41 So immediately we already know how this is being framed. So this week he prayed, God, what would you have your people here? He's referring to the people there in front of him, the congregation, And what would you have me here? What need do I have? So immediately, this is about me, This is about you, about them, It's I've said it countless times over and over and over. For some reason, when preachers come to Isaiah forty through fifty five, it's never them, It's never they. It's me, It's I. It's us, it's we, And I don't understand how I me us, And we end up in Isaiah forty through fifty five when it's clearly about them and they and the them and they is Judah and Babylonian captivity.

14:26 That is who the message is for. It's a word of comfort to them. Whatever we can, whatever principles we can learn from. It is secondary to the message delivered to them. But even as prayer is Lord, what for us? For me? I my needs me, me, me, me, me me, don't get it so already. See I'm already. I'm already getting frustrated. I'm already getting frustrated. It's just it's like a broken record. Okay, that's that's a dated term. I mean some I mean Vinyl is still growing a popularity again to some level. Okay, But if you have a broken record, sometimes you will say that a record that where the needle gets stuck in the groove and it just kind of and it just kind of repeats, it gets stuck, right, Okay, Well does anyone know you know what I'm talking about? Someone does? Okay, Well, that's what it feels like. And I hate to say that, but it's just like, here we are, the sermon hasn't even just starting, and immediately me the words you have for me.

15:34 I want to take the words that were meant for them and I want to make them all about words for me. But there were words for them. Let's see what else. Let's see. Maybe I'm just being too quick. You know, it is true that after listening to like a hundred sermons on this subject, you can start becoming very jaded, you can start becoming very cynical. You can just start now just assuming, and you know that can make you look really foolish. So pull back and say, hey, he just started. Let's not worry. Let's not say he's pulled out the frame yet. He's not framing this. Let's just give it a little bit more time. This message this morning is it's it's kind of twofold one.

16:15 It's an message of encouragement. Secondly, it is a message of a reaffirmation of some a foundational truth that every believer in Christ needs to be settled on because it is the bedrock of victory in the Christian's life and of quote spiritual success. All right, So the words of Isaiah forty three are foundational on They're the bedrock for victory in the Christian life, for spiritual success. So clearly it's being framed about us. It's about us. So somehow the words directed towards Judah whither in Babylonian captivity are foundational to us, and they're basically essential for us to have spirititual victory, to have spiritual success. Somehow. The words of Isaiah forty three are about us and what we need to know so that we can have victory and that we can have success. Now, just make sure this is very important. I'm not saying that this is true, but this is what we need to be on the lookout for. If you take principles and you take promises and you apply them to people or give them to people and say you need this to be successful, you need this to be victorious, yet the principle or the promise is not for them, then they're not going to end up victorious. They're not going to end up successful. They're going to end up discouraged, frustrated, desponded, depressed, deconstructing because they're being told this will give you victory, this will give you success, and you're like, well, it

17:47 didn't do any of that. Well it's not. It wasn't the fault of the text. It wasn't the fault of Christianity. It was the fault of preachers giving you promises that were never designed for you in the first place. I'm not saying that that's what's going to happen here, but I'm a little at least I'm a little concerned, because I know Isaiah forty three are words of comfort to those in Babylonian captivity, and so therefore we would say most of this would be descriptive, not prescriptive, as we have now talked about. I feel like one hundred and fifty thousand times, but I have to continue to repeat that hermenoutical principle. Many passages are descriptive. They're not prescribing you anything, Okay.

18:37 In Isaiah forty three, beginning reading in verse one through verse seven, and then maybe picking up a few further down in the passage. But now, thus saith the Lord that created the old Jacob and he that formed the o Israel. Fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name, Thou art mine. Now, I don't want to belabor the point, but did you notice anything about Isaiah forty three, verse one, as if the writer knows that there's going to come a people someday that's going to constantly try to make this about them. In this section Isaiah forty through fifty five, the recipients are identified countless times. But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, oh Jacob and he that formed THEE, Oh Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed THEE.

19:37 I have called THEE by thy name, Thou art mine. Now what are these people fearing? Well, they may be fearing that they're in Babylonian captivity and they're never going to get out. But fear not, because I have redeemed THEE. Now redeemed thee, is he saying? Is he speaking of their Babylonian captivity. Look, I know you're still in it, but just no, I have redeemed you. Your time is coming to an end. In fact, if you go to Isaiah forty, we've already talked about, they are told almost right from the beginning. Hey, the time is up. It's all coming to an end. So the redemption here is that the redemption from Babylonian captivity is referring to the redemption of them from Egyptian captivity, their fathers and the past.

20:22 All right, I have called THEE by thy name, Thou art mine. How are they his? They are in a covenant relationship with God. He has made a covenant with them. Clearly, this is about them. Now, let's see what happens. When thou passest through the waters. I will be with THEE, and through the rivers they shall not overflow THEE. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon THEE. No Verse two seems to show that, Hey, no matter what you go through, no matter what difficult, no matter what, I'm going to be with you. Why because God is in a covenant relationship with them. God promised them that they're going to come out of Babylon in captivity. And then you can say that there are a lot of other promises given to them that have yet be fulfilled, and we say that they will be fulfilled in the future.

21:16 So the whole thing here is about them. Oh, and just to make sure that there's no confusion, look at verse three. For I am the Lord, thy God, the Holy One of Israel. They're mentioned again and verse three. For I am the Lord, thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Siba for THEE. Since thou wast precious in my sight, Thou hast been honorable, and I have loved THEE. Therefore will I give men for THEE and people for thy life. Fear not, for I am with THEE. I will bring thy seed from the east and gather thee from the west. I will say to the north give up, and to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth, even everyone that is called by my name.

22:09 For I have created him for my glory. I have formed him, yay, I have made him. Now from a hermeneutical standpoint, what we could be the question I would come to mind. I wouldn't even be thinking about me. I would be like sounds like a regathering of Israel. I will say to the north, give up, to the south, keep not back, Bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth. This seems like a regathering of Israel. Now, is this a reference to what happens when they come out of Babylonian captivity? Or is this a reference of some future restoration of Israel, some regathering of Israel that has not occurred that would be a worthy hermoneutical dispute and discussion and debate, and that we could try to figure out. Is this like is it partially partially fulfilled? And the return from Babylonian captivity.

22:59 But it's pittri to a future regathering that is yet to occur. Those are not about you, not about me, about them. This is all about them. Now, let's see what he's going to do. Because remember he said that in this passage though he's already made it, he's already framed it about us, and that somehow in this passage we find the foundational basically principles so that we can be sir, spiritually victorious and have spiritual success. Let's see now, in the years gone by, I have grown to love this portion, this passage here in Isaiah. If ever there's a passage from forty well, I'm not sure forty one, I'm going to say. And following the next several chapters in Isaiah, Isaiah brings home the point that there is that God is God beside him, there is none else, and that brings to us a sense of.

23:56 Security and knowing there is no other God. It is God. A we believe in the in the Triune God. And here is one of those passages that has spoken deeply to me. I've entitled the message the Fourth. Okay, I just cut him off, But you notice this passage has spoken deeply to me, spoken deeply to me, words spoken to them. Now speak deeply to me. All right, now that's possible. But I got to understand how Now he's just getting ready to say I entitled this message the Fourth Man. I cut him off right in the middle.

24:38 So hopefully he gives me an explanation why we got this called the fourth Man, because I'm very interested in that. That definitely has my attention. Frith Man, And you might wonder, well, that's kind of an unusual message. You don't even find it here in this passage, And I'll admit it's true. But I think by the end of the message you'll understand what I mean about the fourth Man. And in verse two, I want to highlight this passage here in Isaiah forty three, and I want to be speaking of a number of characters in the Bible, referring to some other passages as well, to reaffirm that foundational truth in that we find in God's word. Various writers speak about it, and we need to pick up on it in order for a stability in our own personal life. Verse two is what spoke the loudest when Thou passest through the waters, I will be with THEE, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow THEE. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon THEE.

25:41 And it is that The phrase I want to pick out of this is verse two. There it says, I will be with THEE. That's the foundational truth. Verse five says, fear not, for I am with THEE. Now sometimes we read passages and it just water on a duck's back. We hear it, Yeah, that's true, and our mind moves on to other things if it was even at the first centered on this thought. But that thought of I am with THEE. You know. In verse one, this is some of the things God says about what he has done for us. Verse one, he says, I have redeemed THEE. Verse one, I have called THEE. Verse four, I have loved THEE. Verse seven, I have created him from my glory. Verse seven, I have formed him. Verse seven I have made him. And verse twenty one, this people have I formed for myself.

26:40 God is saying, I have done these things. Now, he's got to be really careful here, because he said for us. Isaiah forty three is speaking of what God has done for Israel, specifically for Judah, for those in Babylonian captivity. How many times I have to say this? It feels like it feels like I could spend the rest of my life just reviewing sermons on Isaiah forty through fifty five and just spend my life going hell, what are we doing? What are we doing now? Now? If you want to try to draw a parallel, then okay, if you want to draw a parallel, but don't say that these were words to us, These were words to them.

27:21 Can we talk about them before we get to us? Maybe he will. And usually when we do things, there's a reason behind it. There's a purpose and a plan and there's no question. And I'm in my mind that God is at work and he is involved with his creation, no question about it. He says, I have made you, I have done this, I have done that, and you are called by my name, and he says, thou art mine. There's a whole message right there. If you're here this morning and I think you have no purpose and why am I here on this earth, that right there would clinch the argument. I have called you and I have and.

28:02 You are mine. That's verse one. But that's just a rabbit trail there, just a little bit on the side. Note back to what Brother Phil was saying earlier. Our church has been through a stressful time, and I wondered, Lord, what message could I bring this morning that would help us as we work through what has transpired, which we believe was the work of the Lord. All Right, so the people are going through a difficult time, and so he's going to take a message from Isaiah forty three which is not about our difficult difficult time or your difficult time, and he's going to somehow try to bring words of comfort to us based off words of comfort given to someone else. Now, while we were listening this is again we've been talking about AI all through twenty twenty five. While we were listening, I just immediately downloaded the raw transcript of the message. I gave it to AI and said, AI, what do you take from this this is Ai? AI responded in five seconds weaknesses and areas of concern So AI analyze this sermon in five seconds and said, weaknesses and areas of concerns?

29:14 Are you ready? Number one contextual misapplication of Isaiah forty three. AI in five seconds could tell me, there is a contextual misapplication of Isaiah forty three happening in this sermon. Human beings can't figure that out. Pastors cannot figure that out. People who've gone to seminary can figure that out. But Ai can figure it out in five seconds. Em contextual misapplication of Isaiah forty three, you want to hear what Ai has to say. Ai said, the sermon universalizes Isaiah forty three one through seven, applying it directly to individual believers today without first considering its original context. The contextual reality Isaiah forty three is part of Second Isaiah Isaiah forty three fifty five, which primarily addresses Israel's restoration from Babylonian exile.

30:13 Isn't it amazing? Ai immediately realizes the problem. Ai immediately realizes the weakness. Ai immediately realizes the concern. AI does, so, if you were sitting in that church, I now it's an Omnish church, an Amish church, not in I keep putting it in there, an Amish church, Amish Mennonite church. I don't know if anyone there is having a phone with Ai on it, but if they do, within five seconds, they'd be like. Whoa wha whoa whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa whoa. We have contextual misapplication occurring. AI goes on to say the waters and fire in Isaiah forty three to two are likely metaphors for Israel's trials and exile, similar to their past deliverance in the Exodus. Notice Ai immediately attaches this language metaphorical symbolic language to Israel in the context that they find themselves, which is their Babylonian exile. The redeeming language is national and covenantal pointing to God's faithfulness and bringing Israel back, not a promise of personal protection for every believer and every situation. Well, God's faithfulness is a timeless truth. The direct individual application of Isaiah forty three to two, when you pass through the waters, I will be with you to believers today is problematic. The sermon bypasses the original corporate message to Israel and jumps

31:44 too quickly to modern personal application. The AI goes on to say this sermon has a lack of nuanced discussion on suffering. The sermon strongly asserts that God will always be with believers, but it seems to imply that the Gara that this guarantees victory and deliverance and trials. Well, many biblical figures experience God's presence without immediate deliverance. Paul Thorn in the Flesh and the martyrdom of the Apostles, And you can think of person after person in real life who supposedly has God, and there is no deliverance, There is no protection, There is suffering, pain, death, there is I don't know, children being molested inside churches, sexual abuse, sexual assault. This happens, This happens, this happens, this happens, This happens. But say, hey, let's go to Isaiah forty three.

32:31 Let's rip it completely out of context, and let's promise everyone then Everything's going to be wonderful and great, and God's going to do all the things for you that he did for Israel. But there's no guarantee he's going to do the things for you that he did for Israel, because with Israel he made a specific promise given in the covenant he made with them. Now you hear me getting frustrated, But I get sick and tired of this. What is why is this so complicated? AI also goes on within this sermon, you have an over use of personal and dramatic retellings. The dramatic storytelling, especially David and Goliath, Daniel, Joseph, and Joshua, make the sermon engaging, but overshadows the actual text.

33:14 The Fourth Man analogy from Daniel three point twenty five is not directly tied to Isaiah forty three, but it is used as a thematic link. While creative connections can be useful, the risk of making biblical narratives serve the sermon's theme rather than letting the text shape the message. Some connections linking Joshua's conquest directly to the personal Christian victory blur the line between historical redemptive acts and modern application. And I mean it goes on. It offers number four. It goes on with philological and exegetical concerns. For example, I mean, I mean AI wrote wrote a book. I mean within five seconds, I mean literally I could put this in PDF file and literally it's I mean, it destroys the sermon in seconds. In seconds, it just literally obliterates it. It doesn't say, oh, this is a good sermon. No, it destroys it. It goes on to say, does Isaiah forty three one through seven teach personal salvation. The sermon implies that Isaiah forty three one through seven describes salvation from sin and personal redemption, but the context is corporate God redeeming Israel from exile. All right, Isaiah forty three, I have redeemed you is about physical restoration Israel's return to the land, not about individual justification. This sermon emphasizes God's presence as guaranteed reality, but biblically, God's presence is

34:44 often contingent on faithfulness. Israel's exile happened precisely because they broke the Covenant. Passages like Deuteronomy thirty one warned that God may hide his face when his people turn from him. Clarification is needed. Then it gives a list of suggest improvements one, two, three, four. Okay, so it I mean, it just takes the sermon apart. It takes the sermon apart in five seconds, and it makes every I don't even know what to do. I don't. So we already know that the sermon is going to be a mess.

35:28 We already know, and we already know the fourth Man thing is taking something from Daniel somehow connecting it to Isaiah forty three. There's just it's a listen to. We'll just listen to a little bit more. I think we've already established once again it's I just don't know what to do. I really don't know what to do. I've reached I'm reaching my breaking point here. Like how many sermons do we review? And it's the same playbook. It's this. It's like there's a it was like a It's like someone's put together a template and they meld it to all the churches and they open their mailbox like, oh, this is how I preach Isaiah forty through fifty five.

36:10 Everyone the same way, the same way, the same No one bothered to go wait, wait, wait, guys, guys, guys, wait a minute, wait, just basic hermeneutical principles here. The text tells you who it's about. The context tells you who it's about. The history tells you who it's about. It's not about us. Ordinations cause change, ordinations cause stress. The three families that were in the lot just come through that. That was a stressful time. Some of us know how that feels. The leadership has come through a stressful time. The one who are is was Ordane feels the effects directly of coming through this stressful time, He and his family, their lives have been changed and altered significantly. So where do we go in times like this when the stress level is ratcheted up a few notches? How do we cope personally when stress enters our life on more of a general scale. Where do we turn to when these stresses come and shake our world a little bit? It's a good shaking, but it's still stress involved. What should be our mindset towards change?

37:36 Well? I think the answer for me, at least is to know that we are not alone in this process. That fact brings my heart a certain sense of comfort and peace, doesn't it yours? And then I go back to what Isaiah God through Isaiah to his people. God told Isaiah, yuh, tell my people that I will be with them. Okay, so he's taking they're going through a stressful time. It sounds like because of ordination, but it's a good stress, but it's a stress time. And so then basically, hey, what helps me know is that God is with me?

38:20 Now Again, I've stated it so many times. It's a double edged sword, right, It's a double leedged sword depending on what you're going through. Okay, God is with me. Yeah, God is with you. I'm sorry your daughter is still dead because she was hit by a drunk driver, but God is with you. Hey, I'm sorry the cancer is now spread, it's terminal, you've got six months. But God is with you. Hey, I know this situation, but God is with you. It can be comforting, Okay, God is with me, but it can also be a double edged sword because you can be like, wait, so the all knowing, all powerful God is with me, but he's not going to fix any of the situation, not making it, not gonna make it any better, and he didn't prevent it. Hey, we just got a call from the school. Our kid has been shot in a school shooting. But hey, God is with us. So the God who's with us is the God who knew it was going to happen, did nothing to stop it, and is not going to raise our child from the dead. But God is with us.

39:15 It's a double ledged sword. I know. It's always presented in sermons as a Hey, this is the thing that should bring you so much comfort. And not only that, though, the problem is he's taking a passage. Now. Remember Isaiah wrote the Isaiah forty through fifty five about one hundred years before they even go into captivity. But so Isaiah is in a sense almost trying to give them words of comfort before they ever go into the situation. But he says, it's to God, it's to his people, it's to Judah and Babylonian captivity. See, he's not being very precise and exactly who this is too. This is to them, This is telling them what God is going to do for them. God is going to intervene for them.

39:56 God's going to do this for them. And what is the basis of God doing all of this for them? Very specific promises given to them. None of it is you, it's them. And he reiterates, he reaffirms it in verse five, fear not, for I am with THEE. And so we come back to that truth that God is with us. If you forget everything else of the message this morning, camp on that thought and think about that and what it means. Now, I got no problem if you want to have a discussion about God being with us. But if you're going to have that discussion, then you've got to have the very uncomfortable reality of what that means. God is with me. But there's no there's no guarantee he's going to protect me in any way, shape or form. It's no guarantee he's going to provide healing, he's going to fix the problem. God is with me. Now, what I can take from that is because He is with me, then my eternal security is guaranteed. I'm eternally secure. My sins have been forgotten, the righteousness of Christ have been imputed in my account. There will come a time there'll be no more pain, no more suffering, and no more death, and there will be no more sinful nature. I will have a new body. Yeah, I am guaranteed all of the blessings and eternity. But right now, when this life, I may say God is with me, but that is no.

41:29 You can't even hint that it's a guarantee that God's gonna protect, intervene, or do anything for you. Because there's been millions of people that God has been with They've been martyred, they've been killed, they've been tortured, they've suffered from death, disease. God may be with you, and they may have gone to church when they were young and then sexually assaulted by religious leader. I mean, we can go on and on and on and on and on. If things happen. They may be in a Christian school and a school shooting happens, then they get killed. Okay, we can go on and on and on. Now I know whenever I say that people roll the rise, they get mad, they get defensive, they don't like it. But if we're going to have if we're gonna have a theology that's worth anything, it has to have a theology that exists in reality, not a theology that creates a Hallmark movie version of life. But because life is not like a Hallmark movie. It's not like a Disney movie.

42:20 It's real and it's painful, and it's messy, and it's ugly, and it's sometimes complicated to understand. But what you cannot do is go take things that were meant for other people and their situation with a specific promise based off a specific covenant which had nothing to do with us, and then go then try to steal all of that and apply it to us. And somehow I think that God's going to act in the same or similar manner. Now here's a question. I'd like that just a little bit of feedback. What would you say is the evidence of God's presence in your life?

43:10 Oh, now, that's a good question. What is the evidence of God's presence in your life? What is the evidence that God is present? Okay, Now, I may have been very frustrated with the whole sermon. I may be very frustrated, but see, this is why we listen to sermons. I'm a frustrated, But that's a good question. What is the evidence of God's presence in your life? The dog next door?

43:57 The evidence that there's a dog next door is never ending barking, which is irritating me right now, right, What is the evidence of God's presence in your life? I want you to write that down and I want you to think about that all day. We're gonna stop. No, We're gonna see if he gives an answer. But that's a good question. We say God is present, we say God he's omnipresent, we say he's with us. All right, what is the evidence of that? Oh, that's that's a good question. Let's see how it answers it? Or in the situation, what would you say is the evidence that you could point to that would reaffirm that God is in my life? Or God is present? It's kind of a vague question. Don't there's no bad answers, But what's the evidence that God is with you?

44:52 Peace? In my brother? If I had a pink balloon, I'd give it to you. That is the first one on my list. Brother Brett, do you have peace in your heart? See? As we go through stressful times and we wonder does anybody care? Does anybody know what I'm going through? Marcus could ask that and there'd be some brethren say I know exactly what you're going through, but that God is present. The result is manifest by a peace. Is there another Is there something else that would be an evidence? Huh? You feel his presence?

45:35 How okay? So the sermon is saying the evidence is you have peace of mind and you feel His presence. Oh boy, I asked Ai about this. Ai immediately within five seconds says, uh, there's a weakness in how this sermon frames this question. A says, did the sermon imply that God's presence is always evidence and positive outcomes? If evidence of God's presence is framed primarily in terms of victory, success or deliverance, this mis represents biblical reality. Many faithful believers suffer struggle and feel abandoned. This does not mean God is absent see Job David in the Psalms and Paul's Hardships? Did it rely on subjective feelings rather than objective truth? Some sermons overemphasize emotional experiences. You should feel peace, joy, confidence is proof of God's presence. However, many faithful believers struggle with doubt. Jeremiah John de Baptist, Well, how did Jesus respond in the garden. Biblical evidence of God's presence is not based on emotion, but on truth. Did it confuse temporary experiences with lasting assurance. If miracles, visions, or supernatural signs are emphasized as primary evidence of God's presence, this neglects the biblical teaching that God's presers sence is primarily known through the spirit, the Word, and perseverance. All right,

47:06 so they've given us you peace of mind, and you feel it now. If you go with how you feel, ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry, that is a recipe of not spiritual victory, of not spiritual success. That is a recipe for complete and total destruction when it comes to God. When it comes to faith, do not base anything on feelings. Feelings will mislead you destroy you, ruin you. How do you feel his presence even it's life giving?

47:49 Isn't it okay? Someone else another evidence that you can point to that you would say because of that, I know God is present. Please note this is you, you, you, you, you. The text is being absolutely systematically just destroyed in front of our very eyes, our very ears. Question was God present with Judah in their Babylonian captivity? Did they feel it?

48:29 Did they sense it? Did they have peace of mind during it? And I will argue God was present because well, he's present with Israel, He's with them. But yet guess what around them was pain, suffering, death and captivity. They didn't feel it, they didn't see it, they didn't experience it, didn't change it. Because God's presence is not determined or detected by your feelings, or even by your circumstances, or even by your your experience. I'm sir. People who are supportive, yes, they come around you, lay their hand on your shoulder, or speak words of encouragement.

49:15 So people who are supportive proves God's presence right. Atheists never support other atheists. Agnostics never support other God's presence is because someone comes up and puts their hand on my shoulder and says, here here, now, Everything's gonna be okay. That's proof of God's presence. So when Job's friends show up and accuse him of everything, was God not present? Or did God abandon Joe? Oh? So many when David felt like everyone was against him, when Paul felt like everyone had abandoned him. When John the Baptist ended up in prison and Jesus himself didn't even bother to show go up to go here now here, Now Everything's gonna be okay. Oh no, he was left to run in prison and then have his head removed. So was that not Did that prove that God wasn't present?

50:15 Thank you for that? For the field the joy of the Lord. Amen. Amen, there's a joy there because I'm not eardened by myself. God is with me. The Word says I will be with THEE. The Word says I am with THEE. And because of that, there's the side benefits that come in peace, support, joy, and I put down here calmness. There's a lack of anxiety. Why because He is with us. So Christians should always have all of these things because God is with THEE, and these are the result of God being with you. So if God is with you, then you have no you have calm, peace, joy, no matter what's going on. Because oh, this becomes so so then I guess you have to begin to question if God is with you? Oh man, okay.

51:17 I almost apologize because this message is so simple, it's so basic, But the profoundness of the fact that He's with us is able to help carry me through some of the hardest times in my life and you as well. Let's turn back to Joshua. I'm going to be using a lot of scripture this morning. I want you to see what I see Joshua chapter one. And we find here a man who is asked to take on a responsibility, and it looks fairly monumental to him. But notice something Joshua chapter one.

52:00 Now, and what world and what system of cross referencing do you get from Isaiah forty three to Joshua? What system of cross referencing even makes that plausible or possible? How do we're in Isaiah forty three? Let's go to Joshua. Whoa whah, whoa, whoa? How did we get here? Now? Maybe we go to Joshua to see the promises and God's covenant that he made with Israel. And because he did this in the past, then they can be as sure of God's present working in the present. I don't know. I want to read the first nine verses. Now, Joshua was right after deuterana Eh. Now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass at the Lord's spake unto Joshua, the son of Nun Moses minister, saying, Moses, my servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, now on all this people, unto the land which I give to them, even to the children of Israel, every place that the soul of your foot shall tread upon that I have given unto you, as I said, unto Moses, from the wilderness and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea towards the going down to the Sun shall be your coast. There shall not any man be able to stand before THEE all the days of thy life.

53:25 As I was with Moses, so I will be with THEE. I will not fail THEE, nor forsafe THEE be strong and of a good courage. Fronto this people, shalt thou divide for an inheritance to land, which I swear unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayst observed to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant commanded. THEE turn not from it to the right or to the left, that thou mayst prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth. But thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayst observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make that way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee be strong and have a good courage.

54:13 Be not afraid, neither. Be the host made for the Lord thy God is with THEE with whatsoever thou goest. Now, Notice as he read this, and he didn't stop to emphasize this, but I was just like, Oh, this is so important. Verse six of Joshua Win six. Be strong enough, good courage, for unto this people, shalt thou divide for an inheritance to the land, which I swear unto their fathers to give them again. You're going to a passage specifically for Israel. I don't understand anymore. I don't understand. I don't understand. I mean, And what's the whole basis here is Deuteronomy twenty eight twenty nine thirty.

55:09 If you do good, boom, you get blessings. If you do bad, you get curses. And what happens while living under a law, the system of the law, they're never going to do good to the standard which God demands, which is perfection. So they're going to fall, and they're going to fall, and they're going to fall, and they're going to fall, and they end up with the curses and the curses and the curses because if you live yourself, if you place yourself under the law, you will only get the curses. Because we cannot obey the law. We cannot keep the law before we're saved, and we cannot obey and keep the law after we're saved. Therefore we need Christ, who keeps it perfectly. And then his obedience is imputed to my account by faith alone. But you know, at this point I'm well, we'll just see. I don't even know what is happening anymore.

55:56 Moses has passed off the scene, his protege, his younger. It says Moses, Minister Joshua has been chosen by God to assume the mantle of leadership, and as most every young man does. And I suppose that's probably the way brother Marcus feels. It's the way I felt when that call came. We feel so small, we feel inadequate. It's there's so much work to do, we'll never get it all done. And it's. I have no idea what this has to do with Isaiah forty three. I literally have no idea. I have no idea what it this has to do with Isaiah forty three. Literally none, I am. I don't understand. I don't understand.

56:57 To work larger than our abilities, of our own strength. And I think that's the way Joshua felt. Now, let's look at this just a little deeper. In verse five, especially, I pick up this thought again. God is talking to Joshua, and specifically to Joshua in a personal sense, and God says, there shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life, as I was with Moses, so I will be with THEE. I will not fail THEE nor forsake THEE. If you would have been in Joshua's shoes and you'd hear God himself saying that to you, it'd be like putting.

57:46 A match to a pile of wood that has gas on it. Be explosive. It just take off, and no man could quench it at that moment, and Joshua needed that affirmation. God said, Joshua, be of good courage. I'm going to be with you. I need to know. I need to embrace that fact. We all need to embrace that fact. God is with me. And when God is with me, you become a team. The two of you make up a force that is unstoppable by the gates of Hell, and you cannot be stopped. Joshua, I have already said. After this, he went on a tear.

58:35 Thirty one kings were defeated because one man heard from God, I'm with you, and there shall not any man be able to stand before the all the days of thy life. He didn't go on a tear because he heard this. He had victory because God promised them victory based off the covenant that he had made with them that they would get the land. It's not the success is not on Joshua. The success is on God's covenant. But okay, now you talk about victory. None of us want to talk about defeat. None of us enjoy being unsuccessful in the Christian life. And if you want to get a hold with both.

59:16 Hands on victory in your Christian life, you must embrace the concept God is with you. He will not forsake you. I get all fired up by that thought. It's not a bragging thing unless we brag on God, which we want to do. But I feel so small and insignificant. That's the way Joshua felt. But God said, Joshua, I'll be with you, and I will help you. And he says be strong and be very courageous. Oh. These words were also spoken by David to Solomon. Yeah, that worked out really good with Solomon. That worked out really good with Solomon. Right, God was with him while he was sleeping with woman after woman after woman after woman. One hundred, two hundred, three hundred, four hundred, five hundred, six hundred, seven hundred, eight hundred, nine hundred. Okay, I worked out. Oh, and the Kingdom was divided worked out really good. Oh, God was with David worked out really good. So just know that God is with you doesn't guarantee then victory or success because oh, I don't know what any of this has to do with Isaiah forty three. I'm just going to stop right there. Or an hour, we could go further, but I think I think the AI is already demonstrated. He's just going to go to all these other stories that have nothing to do with Isaiah forty three in any wayship for him, there's no textual connection. There's no there's no connection.

1:00:49 He just. Ladies and gentlemen. I don't understand. Can someone explain to me? Is there some like cloud over Isaiah forty through fifty five that makes it impossible for us to see through? But we can be left with this question, what is the evidence of God's presence in your life? What is the evidence of God's presence in your life? I would not point to subjective feelings. I would not even I would not point to subjective feelings or objective circumstances that surround you or your experiencing. I do not think God's presence in your life is proven by subjective feelings or objective circumstances which you encounter. Neither are proof of God's presence in your life, all right, but you can work on that. All right. There you go. If you would like to listen to that sermon, it's called the Fourth Man, please go listen to the rest of it. We listened to them, but there's only about twenty four minutes I think left of the sermon, about twenty four minutes, so you take the end, they'll probably say, so, you're probably about about about twenty minutes of actual teaching left. And it looks like he's just going to go from all these biblical characters. Then somehow the Fourth Man is going to be connected to someone in Daniel. I don't even know what's going on there. Somehow that afit's Diesiah forty three.

1:02:15 I give up, all right, Well, that's another example of why we're doing discern this study in Isaiah forty to fifty five. All that did to me was confirm once again why we're doing it. Thanks for listening. Have a good day, God bless