Mishandlling Isaiah 40:9-11

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central. Good evening everyone. It is Wednesday, January the fifteenth, twenty twenty five. It is currently nine o two pm. I almost said twenty twenty four, I did did you hear it? Did you hear it? Did you hear me? Kind of stumble there just slightly did you hear it? In my mind? So that messed me completely up? So let's do that again. Should I just start completely over? I'm not going to start completely over? Good evening everyone. It is Wednesday, January the fifteenth, twenty twenty five. It is currently nine three pm Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas.

0:51 I hope you're having a great evening if you're listening to us live, and if you're not listening to us live, well, I hope you're having a great time. Whenever it is that you choose to listen, morning, afternoon, evening, late at night, whenever it may be. Hopefully things are going well for you, and hopefully by the time you're done listening to this, we can all say things are still going well, because sometimes when we do what we are about to do, by the time it's over, I hate to say it, sometimes by the time it's over, it's so very frustrating. But I am hoping that this will go. What I'm going to try to do with what we are about to do is I'm utilizing this as well, basically sermon prep time, and you're just kind of invited along. And one of the ways I'm going to do sermon prep in this particular moment is I'm going to listen to a sermon on the very text that I did a little bit of preaching on last Sunday, and I'll be doing a lot more preaching on it this coming Sunday.

1:56 And you should know what that text is. If you've been with us, you know we are. We are in a series on Isaiah chapter forty, going all the way to Isaiah chapter fifty five. We are taking apart verse by verse, section bi section. We are digging in as deep as we can. And the reason we're really really working on this section of scripture is because I have grown to say frustrated would be an understatement to say angry. Maybe getting a little closer to the truth, maybe if I say, if I'm getting to the point I'm just discouraged, depressed and want to just scream and give up, that's really where I have reached. And I've reached that point due to sermons on Isaiah chapter forty through Isaiah chapter fifty five. Because sermon after sermon after sermon after sermon, what do they do. They tell you to open your bibles to Isaiah chapter forty or Isaiah chapter forty one, or Isaiah forty two or forty three or forty four or forty five. You just named the chapter, and immediately what they insert us into the text, and we're not there, ladies and gentlemen, Isaiah chapter forty through fifty five is about those in Babylonian captivity. Is about those who are about to be released from Babylonian captivity. It's not about you, it's not about me. But for some weird reason, they insert us in and move the original recipients out. Now they'll take just a second, they'll mention them, they'll throw in a little bit of historical background, so they sound like they're really handling the text. But inevitably it becomes

3:29 about you and becomes about me, and it's so irritating, it's so just I want to just scream because I don't understand why it's so difficult to handle this text in any meaningful way. And this has also led to a lot of our discussion about artificial intelligence. Why is it that artificial intelligence, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again can well it demonstrates on me state this way. Why is it that, over and over and over again, AI handles the text of Scripture far better than well us human Bible teachers and human preachers. The AI and every single case, has handled the text better, more accurately, more factually, more in context. And it's kind of depressing. But here we are, and we're gonna listen to another sermon, in this case Isaiah Sermon on Isaiah chapter forty, verses nine through eleven. And the reason we're doing this is because of an email that I received a couple of hours ago.

4:39 And the email states this, this sermon is by a sovereign Grace preacher. You have not done an AI review of a sermon with their theological point of view. They tend to spiritual a lies the Old Testament text to make them relevant and downplay the historical setting of the text and see allegory and every passage. They're the opposite of literal dispensational list. Whether they go through a book expositionally, it depends sometimes they sometimes they do, and sometimes it is more topical. And then they give me another link to this preacher and they say, I did not realize how many times this person has spoken from Isaiah chapter forty and I haven't gone to look at all of those.

5:33 I just went with the very first sermon that they gave me, and we're gonna go with that. Now that already sounds, you know, like, hey, we're gonna be going in the wrong direction. Now. I did have a this is what I did. I didn't have Ai review this sermon. I what I did is simply asked Ai, hey, you break down Isaiah chapter forty, verses nine through eleven. You break it down. I did ask Ai to give me the most com comen mistakes preachers make in the handling of Isaiah chapter forty nine through eleven. I did ask Ai to go ahead and do that. So let's look at that. Because I wanted AI to just go ahead and see what they would say. So let me let me get through this all right. Common ways the text is mishandled. Right, So according to Ai, this is the way human beings commonly mishandle Isaiah Chapter forty, verses nine through eleven. They give me four ways. Number One, they over spiritualize the passage. Some interpretitions ignore the historical context of Babylonian exile and apply the text solely to spiritual deliverance or some event, and eschatology number two misapply the shepherd imagery. The shepherd imagery is sometimes applied narrowly to church leaders or pastors without recognizing its primarily refers to God himself as the shepherd of his people. Number Three neglecting the ordinary means of deliverance. Now I find that funny, right,

7:07 AI said, Hey, One of the most common ways people mishandle this is they ignore the ordinary means of deliverance. And what did I spend all of last Sunday doing talking about the ordinary means of deliverance versus the supernatural means? So I spent an entire hour plus talking about ordinary means. Ai says. One of the most common ways pastors mishandle it is they don't talk about that. So I feel pretty good. If AI was to review my sermon from last week, it would be like, hey, now, it would probably still rip me apart and tear me apart, but it would at least say I got that part right.

7:48 This is what AI says. Many failed to recognize that God's deliverance in this context came through Cyrus, a human king, rather than supernatural intervention, leading to an over emphasis on Maraki lists expectations number four, isolating the passage from the larger narrative the passages. This passage is sometimes treated as a standalone promise without connecting it to the broader themes of Isaiah forty through fifty five, including God's sovereignty over nations and his contrast with idols. And I made sure we contrasted it with idols as well last week. So I feel like I've tried everything I can to avoid that mishandling. But that's what Isaiah said. That's what Isaiah.

8:33 That's what AI says about many pastors and how they mishandle Isaiah chapter forty nine through eleven. So that's what AI says pastors typically do well. Someone said, we've never reviewed a sermon on Isaiah forty from this particular theological point of view. Here we go. Let's just find out what I don't know, what's going to happen. Now. The goal here, let me make it very clear, the goal here in this moment is not to do a review of the entire sermon or not. We're not even going to. Now the title, I'm already concerned. The title is Lord, be our shepherd. Oh you are are now Wait a minute, Isaiah forty nine or eleven. It's not about you or me.

9:17 It's about them. It's about God being their shepherd in Babylonia captivity, and they're coming out of so already I'm concerned because the title is about be our shepherd. No, no, no, no, no no. The text is about them, so already I'm worried already. So what we're gonna do is this, instead of trying to do a review of the entire sermon. It's about thirty minutes long. We know that means basically it's about twenty five minutes, maybe twenty, because it's depending on how quickly they actually get into the sermon and how long they use to the end. To simply summarize, repeat the points and pray you may really only have about twenty twenty minutes of teaching, but the goals, we're just gonna listen to see first how quickly they insert us into it to get a basic thesis, basic idea of how they're going to handle the text. And then we may look at how AI handles the text, and then we'll just go from there. And then Sunday, I've got to determine do I return back to the ordinary versus supernatural because I didn't even cover everything I wanted to cover, or did that do a sufficient enough job?

10:23 I think I did, So we may just dive right into Isaiah forty nine through eleven on Sunday and see how far we can get. But here we go. Let's see a little after nine pm Central time. I know it's a little later for others. Let's just sit back this evening, kick back, grab something to drink, Let's do a little well sermon review. Let's do a little bit of work on Isaiah forty nine through eleven, and we will compare it to see does it do all the things Ai says humans typically do with the text. It's pretty sad when AI's like, here's how humans mess up the t I find that humorous, so you may not. All right, are you ready? Here we go?

11:10 Turn with me if you would back to Isaiah forty. Isaiah forty, let's read verses nine to eleven again, Oh Zion, that bringest good tidings, and that means those who tell good tidings to Zion, get thee up in to the high mountain. Oh Jerusalem, that bringest 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 arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his work 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

12:41 lead those that are with young. All right, now, I always want to say I want to always say anything positive I can possibly say, because some people again try to say that my reviews are too negative. But you know my reviews are. I go in blind. So it's not like you can accuse me of picking sermons that I'm I've got something against. I'm just listening to sermons. In many cases, just trying to learn myself. All right, but here the first thing I'm going to obviously say they do very well is that's very he reads very well, right, very methodical, clear, enunciates good slow pace. Where I have a tendency to say, all right, let's read Isaiah forty verses nine through eleven.

13:23 Oh sorr, yeah, that bring us good time. He's good to the up in hih Mountain Juman and yeah, and I just kind of mumble it all together. And so I try to slow myself down and and do better. But it is important when you're reading it publicly to try to read it in a good way. And I always get challenged and convicted that, man, I could do better when I read, I could do better when I read, I just yeah, I just read so much quicker in my head and when I yeah, so, but I'm just making excuses. Obviously I could do better. So that's so far, so good. All right. Now let's see where we go. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his arm, and shall carry them in his bosom. That sounds so nice to me. That sounds so so nice to me. I want the Lord Jesus Christ to be my shepherd.

14:29 Oh boy, oh boy. Okay, so he did such a good job reading that, and immediately now he wants the Lord Jesus to be his shepherd. Okay. I don't know how in the world we're getting there from Isaiah forty verse eleven. I have no idea. I have no idea, because that's not about you. It's not about me. That's okay, But all right, all right, all right, let's just say maybe he's saying this just to kind of draw the people. Maybe we'll just this is his kind of like you know, I hate to use the term because it sounds fleshly, but the hook, you know, you got to put that hook to grab the people's attention. I mean, I hate to say it. Preaching utilizes every fleshly technique you can imagine typically, So is this the hook to go over?

15:19 All right? Yeah, and everybody's like, yeah, I want the Lord to be my shepherd too. All right, there we go. But he's gett to go into then in a sense, real in the hook and go all right, guys, I know I got your attention, But in this particular case, it's not about you or me. It's about them. Is that what's getting ready to happen? Let's see, I really do I sincerely do I think about scriptures that say He will give you the desires of your heart. If any of us have that desire, he put it there. We don't take credit, we don't boast in anything. But I want the Lord Jesus Christ to be my shepherd.

16:03 Major theological and kind of philosophical issue. If God puts the right desires inside of us, then why doesn't everyone who Clay who is a Christian? Why don't we all have then only desire for good thing? If God gives me the desire, if I don't have the desire for something, well, then that would be God. God has to give me the desire for scripture, God has to give me the So are you going to say he gives everyone the same desires? If he gives everyone the same desires, then there should be some equality, There should be some unity, and there should be some equality across the board of everyone pursuing the same spiritual things to the same level, because they would all have the exact same desire from God. Clearly, not all people have the same desire, So if they don't have the same desire is it is that on God? Like?

17:03 How how do you process that? Hey, if you've got desire, if you've got a right desire, God put the right desire in you, you can take no credit for it. Great, But I have wrong desires? Why do I have wrong desires? I mean, all right, we could stay right there. I almost want to go to Ai and start a discussion with Ai right now about that whole subject. I really do, I really do. But but right now we'll just we want to We want to see where how he's going to handle this text. I want him to feed me. I cannot feed myself.

17:44 I cannot feed you. You know, the command is, if you love me, feed my sheep. I Peter knew he couldn't feed anybody. I cannot feed. I can't even feed myself. He must feed. Hmmm, so we can't. God has to feed us. I'm assuming he means spiritually. So when God, when God told Peter to feed the flog, Peter couldn't do it. When pastors are told to feed the flow, we can't do it. When you're told to desire the sincere milk of the Word and to read it and desire it, you're not You can't really feed yourself. God has to be the one to feed you. Now does God feed me through my effort? Or does God feed me irregardless of my effort. So, according to what we have so far, God puts the right desire inside of you, and God is the one who feeds you. So any lie, so any spiritual mouth. You know, if you're if you're if you're not nourished properly right, if you're not properly spiritually nourished, is because God failed to feed you. And if you have wrong desires, it is because God has not given you the right desire. Is that where we end up. Any malnourishment is the result of God. God is the one who feeds you. Well, if God is the one who feeds me and pastors aren't the one who feeds me, then what's the point of going to church because they're not the one who feeds me. I've

19:17 got questions. You may want to be writing these things down. You may you may want to open up a notebook right now and write these downs. That is God the one who gives us the right desires. And if God is the one who gives us the right desires, why doesn't everyone have the same level of desire and the same desires. And if we don't like so, like, who's to be blamed? There? And if God is the one doing the feeding and pastors can't actually feed you, a pastor can't feed you, you cannot feed yourself. How does God feed you? Does he? Just? Well? Does God feed you by giving you the desire for the word? And then when you study the word? But is that you feeding you? Or is that God feeding you?

20:04 Got lots of questions here. He must do all the feeding. And I want by his grace, I want him to feed me. I want him to feed. My soul. I want him to lead me. Okay, Now, now, just do you realize all the pronouns I, I, I, ME, ME, me, it's not about them the immediately just so, what has happened? Once again we have another sermon on Isaiah forty where instantaneously we us I, ME, you were inserted into the text and them not even mentioned at the beginning. How how can you start a sermon on Isaiah forty nine through eleven and just immediately leave out the people it's actually written to. Okay, So God gives the desire, God does the feeding. How I guess God does the leading.

21:06 How does God do the leading? Let's see if we find out, if we're going to get some idea how God does the leading. You know, there's a time in every person's life when they don't want anybody to lead them but themselves. I'll lead myself, thank you. I'm past that. I'm over that. Honestly, Wow, that's a big claim. I don't know how you've accomplished reaching a point where you're over leading yourself. You just want God to lead you. You have no sinful nature, because I guarantee if you have a sinful nature, the sinful nature still wants to lead itself. The sinful nature still doesn't want to be led by God unless you somehow have eradicated the old nature.

21:52 If you ever reached that point, then by all means, you should be preaching and you should write a book and tell everyone how you reach the point where you now. I only want to be led by God and there is nothing in you that wants to lead itself. Because that is a massive accomplishment, that is that is a major I will just confess to everyone. I still want to lead me time and time again, and there's time and time again I don't want God to lead me. I want to go my direction way more than I probably should, way more than I probably should even admit. But I'm going to admit it because it's true. And I know that becomes a shock to everyone. But you know, hey, w if we're talking in private, you could probably be a little honest with yourself as well.

22:38 I want him to lead me. I don't want to take one step without him moving my foot. I want him to carry me through this life. That's what I want. I want him to carry me through this life, this very difficult life. I want met him to carry me all the way home. That's what I want. If the Lord is willing, and just a moment, we're gonna close this service with the song Savior like a shepherd lead us.

23:22 That song is a prayer, if you think about it, that song is a prayer. That song is the crying out of a desire. It's a request from God's people to him. Okay, you can kind of see the overall direction this is going. This is all more kind of emotional experiential. We're going to sing this song, right, there's a very like this is not at all worried about the text at this point, we're gonna sing this at the end. It's gonna be a prayer because we're gonna take uys forty verse eleven, and we're gonna make it about us.

24:03 It has nothing to do with you. But okay, okay, all right, now, he's still got plenty of time here to flip it. He's got plenty of time. Let's see, let's see. I don't know how far we're gonna have to go. But sometimes what happens is I keep waiting, keep thinking, Okay, we're gonna get to the original recipients. He will mention them, because every sermon at least mentions the original people, at least for a moment. I always wait, and sometimes I wait and wait and wait, and then when finally they mention them, I'm kind of like, that's it. But I always try to maintain some level of being positive. But considering this is just right out the gate, him, I I, I, I I. We are gonna seeing this about this, and well, yeah, I mean the original recipients just as well. You know who cares about that. But I'm going to believe they're gonna be mentioned.

25:00 Listen to these words. I'm going to quote this song to you, and see if this is not the desire and the requests of your heart. Savior, like a shepherd, lead us much. We need thy tender care in thy pleasant pastures. Where's that? It's the pleasant pastures of his word, the very, very pleasant pastures of his word. In thy pleasant pastures, feed us, feed me, feed me your word by your spirit, through your means. Feed me your word in thy pleasant pastures. Feed us for our use. Please thy folds, prepare even us, even us, Let thy blessing fall on us. Prepare a place for us. That thief on the cross said, Lord, prepare a place for me.

26:09 When you enter into your kingdom, remember me blessed Jesus. Blessed Lord, Jesus, Thou hast bought us thine we are. You bought us, You paid for us, and we belonged to you. What did he buy us with his own precious blood? We belong to you. I mean, if you want to go back to the beginning of this sermon, you should and just take a piece of u and you should do it with all sermons, and Isaiah forty to fifty five, you really should. You just take a piece of paper and just keep track of how when you listen to these sermons, how many times it's me, you, I, US, WE me, you us, Why it's all, it's over and over and it's again.

26:55 I know I make this a joke, but I I I'm more serious than probably people think. But even though I try to say it in a joking manner, Christians get so up in arms about pronouns. Oh, I'm you gotta use the right pronoun. I'm not going to recognize your false pronoun because it's me ignoring reality. No, I will use only these pronouns. But when it comes to preaching, we don't care. Forget they forget them. It's me, it's us, it's I, it's we. We don't even care about the actual pronouns, about what the text it's about them. I mean, the text even identifies, Oh Zion, that bring us good tidings.

27:39 Get thee up into the high mountains, Oh Jerusalem, that bring us good tidings. Lift up thy voice with strength, lift up, be not afraid say onto the cities of Judah. Say unto the cities of Judah. Pray comes to preaching, we can do whatever we want with pronouns. We only care about pronouns when it deals with other people. When it comes to preaching, we'll use whichever stinking pronoun we want. Now, remember what AI said. The way this is these passages are typically mishandled over spiritualizing the passage, misapplying the shepherd imagery, neglecting the ordinary means of deliverance, or isolating the passage from the larger narrative right now, so far, I don't know if we can say it's over spiritualizing. It's misapplying the entire passage to be about us. And at least they make the shepherd Jesus, So at least they do that.

28:42 That's a good thing. They're not even talking about the deliverance here, and it's definitely isolating the passage from the larger narrative. I mean, clearly that's happening. Now. Maybe they're going to get to the large narrative, but so far it's been completely isolated. Has brought us Thine we are? The prayer continues by saying we are thine. Do thou befriend us, Oh friend of sinners, do thou befriend us? Be the guardian of our way, keep thy flock from sin, the sin of unbelief, you know, Our Lord said, all manner of sin shall be forgiven, but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, the sin of unbelief. Keep thy flock, keep us from unbelief, keep thy flock from that great sin. Defend us from that.

29:46 Seek us when we go astray? Not if not, if seek us? This is what I want when I go astray? Would you please seek me? Now? If God is the one who gives you the right desires, and God is the one who feeds you, then how are you going astray? To go astray would mean you would have a different desire than God's desire. But you said God is the one who gives us the right desire. So why did God and I give you the right desire? And now you want to stray?

30:26 They don't understand. They don't understand. Okay, I'm just going to be patient, going to be patient. I'm going to be hopeful. Blessed Jesus, Blessed Lord, Jesus. Hear, oh, hear us. When we pray, Please hear me. Please give me a heart to cry out to you in sincerity, not just with lip. Serface. Lord, put a prayer in my heart, cause my tongue to speak it. And then please hear me and answer me. The song goes on to say, thou hast promised to receive us.

31:09 I have no idea how we have the word of God right here in front of us Isaiah forty nine to eleven. And somehow the sermon has turned into an exposition of a song, not the text. Okay, I don't know how that happened. How about the text? How about the text? You've already made it about us, ignoring who it's actually about. And now you're going to a song and you're exeguting. I'm not doing a full exegesus of the song, but you're more preaching the song now than the text. Now help obviously revert back to the text. But okay, here we go, poor and sinful though we be, Thou hast mercy to relieve us. I tell you what mercy does for me. It relieves me.

31:58 What's interesting is he taking the words of the song and speaking them as if the song is like the inspired scripture, that when the song says something, this is the way it is. But it's a song, right when you have to then justify you being so dogmatic about what the song is asserting by giving some scriptural justification for it. I mean, don't you think maybe I don't know what that's just the thought. It relieves me all of that, all of my wrong everything, I am, everything that stacks up against me, And I think, why am I? Thus? You know the relieving factor mercy and the blood. Thank God for the blood. There's no fixing this. Thank God for the blood. Thou hast mercy to relieve us, grace to cleans and power to free. So, blessed Jesus, blessed, Lord Jesus. Early, let us turn to THEE early in life, early in the trial, early in the morning, early every morning, let us turn to THEE.

33:16 Not I will turn to THEE. Would you please let me turn me and I'll be turned? So God does the giving you the right desire. God does the feeding, and God does the turning. If God gives me the right desire and he feeds me and he turns me, then why are we just then? Not perfect? Like? I've got so many questions here? Early, let us seek thy favor. Early, let us do thy will. What is his will? Bow to the son, Kiss the son, hear him, believe on him, trust him, look to him, follow him. Lord, Early, let us do thy will. Let me bow to you, Blessed Lord and only Savior, with thy love, our hearts, souls, innermost beings fill blessed Jesus, Blessed Lord Jesus. Thou hast loved us, love us still? Would you love me still? You think about that? Would you please still love me? Even though

34:49 I'm still what I am? I'm still that same cinner I always was? Would you still love me? That's what I want. I want for you to please still love me. Thou hast loved us? Love us still? Now? Honestly? Is that our prayer to him? That is the desire of our heart. That's the request that we cry out to him. We want him to be our shepherd. I want you to be my shepherd. We want him to lead us.

35:30 We want him to feed us. We want him to carry us in his arm all the way home. He's making the promises in Isaiah forty eleven, which is specifically about those in Babylonian captivity, and making them about us. I'm baffled at how scriptures are handled in churches all across the world. I just I don't. We can do whatever we want with scripture, that's the thing. Look, no matter what everyone said, Oh, we want preaching and we want it extuchetical, and we want it expositional. That church does it wrong, and that church doesn't wrong. The bottom line, anyone can do whatever they want with scripture. There is no one guiding it, there is no one regulating it.

36:14 It's just a free for all. And we see it every single time, especially in Isaiah forty to fifty five. You can just do whatever you want. Just go to the text and make it about you. Forget the context, forget who it's about. Just do whatever you want with it. The Bible is nothing more than Plato in the hands of preachers, and we just molded here you go, boom, I'm gonna make this about you. I'm gonna make it about me, even though it has nothing to do with us. Now, as I've demonstrated over and over and over, whenever I say that, people are like, oh, you're telling me there's no application. There is always application, but the application comes way after we've dealt with everything in his historical context, and then we have to make sure that the application flows and is accurate too the true meaning of the text.

37:05 I want to enter all the way in Lord, carry me all the way home, don't leave me in the way. That is honestly what I want. That is honestly the request and desire of my heart. I know it is yours too. I know it is, and we all know that the reason that is the request and the desires, because He put it there. We well, I'm glad everyone's got the right desires. Everyone's got the right desires. I don't know what they're ever worried about, ever going astray, because then they would have the right desires. The only way you go astrays when you desire something other than what God want. I am so confused by all of it, but I'm glad everyone in that church has the right desires. They must be the most perfect church on earth. I just know everyone in my church, including their pastor, we have wrong desires and we're sinners. I know maybe your church is perfect, but you know, at least for me, if I find a perfect church, I'm not joining it because I'll make it imperfect.

38:10 Know that we know that we give thanks for that. And the comforting promise of his word is that desire that he put there. That's our that we're you know, I could read the song again. This request we're making to him. This is our hearts cry to you, that desire that his people have. Because he put it there, that cry that he has caused his people to request from him, That is exactly what he's going to do for them. He put it there because that's what he's going to do for him. Everything they're come, Please let this be. That's what it's going to be for them.

38:59 Look with me, if you would. Isaiah forty six. Just a few pages over, Isaiah forty six, Verse three says hearken unto me old house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the House of Israel, all of my chosen people, which are born by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb, and even to your old age, I am he, and even to gray hairs. He's saying, I formed you in the belly you fourth, I separated you from your mother's womb, and even then before I formed you in the belly, all the way up to gray hair verse four, even to your old age, I am he, and even to gray hairs. Will I carry you?

40:19 I have made and I will bear. Even I will carry and will deliver you. That's the promise of his pleasant pastures to his people. Oh man, Okay, I'm gonna lose my mind. Okay, he just read from a text. Let me just read the beginning of Isaiah forty. He went to Isaiah forty six. None of this is being put in its historical context. None of this is being applied properly. Isaiah forty six, verse three. Hearken on to me, oh, house of Jacob and all the remnant of the House of is ray Al. It's not a fault. I don't understand why this is so complicated. If someone would have told me that after all of this time and all of these sermons on Isaiah forty through fifty five, that we would reach a point of just total just discouragement, that none of them are going to handle the text right, none of them.

41:21 I would say, that's a little hyperbolic. You're being way too cynical. You're being way now. I don't think you can be cynical and negative enough. It seems to be impossible, all right now. He kept saying about God gives us the right desire. God gives us the right desire. So I had to talk to Ai about it while that was going on, and I said, many preachers say God puts right desires in us, And Ai says this, you raise an excellent theological point that challenges the common statement that God puts right desires in us. While this idea is often used to encourage Christians to trust that their good desire comes from God, it can lead to problem plematic implications if not carefully nuanced. Here's a breakdown of the issue and how to think about it biblically. Philological implications of God puts right desires in us. If God puts all right desires in Christians, why do they still sin?

42:17 If Christians only had desires placed in them by God, they would not sin, as sin arises from wrong desires. James Chapter one, verses fifteen through fifteen are fourteen through fifteen the continued presence of sinful desires, and Christians demonstrates that their hearts are not yet fully transformed Romans seven, eighteen through twenty five. So Ai is like, well, we'll wait a minute. Wait a minute, Wait a minute. If God only gives us right desires, then we should all have right desires. Therefore we shouldn't sin. Where do sin comes from wrong desires? Where do the wrong desires come from? Inside of us? Why are they there if God is only giving us good desires. So well, okay, then, ay, Now AI does something here that I strongly disagree with.

43:05 Here it says God gives believers a new heart and new affections, and I quote Ezekuel thirty six. I completely disagree with that, completely disagree with that. So here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna challenge I'm gonna challenge AI. I'm gonna challenge AI here because uh, Ezequel thirty six is not about us. I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna challenge AI here. I completely disagree with this. All right, Okay, you said. This.

43:46 The problem is the Ezekuel passage is clearly speaking about what God. Will do for Israel. It isn't about us. It isn't about us or the Church correct question mark. All right, okay, So AI says you are correct that Ezekiel thirty six, twenty six through twenty seven is part of a prophecy specifically addressed to Israel, promising restoration and renewal after their exile, and its immediate context. It is not directly about the Church or individual Christians, but about what God will do for the nation of Israel and fulfillment of his covenant promises.

44:50 All right, so it does say so, so well, it goes back and forth. Now, now it would turn into a long and turn. It would turn into a long discussion. Here, it would go into a long discussion. But they admit that the passage is not about us. So we again, I don't wh when it says we're gonna get a new heart. The new heart is for Israel, and they get the new heart right when they are restored back to the land. The passage screams that, so I would I would have to have a long discussion with Ai here. Now let's go back to what it said prior to this, all right, So okay Ai goes on to say claiming that all good desires come from God can lead to confusion or self deception. For example, a person might justify selfish or harmful actions by labeling labeling them as God given desires. Scriptures cause believers to test their desires against the word of God. You just don't say, oh, I think this desire is good, it must come from God.

45:59 It doesn't work that way, all right. So, so already there's problems with that. There's there's theological problems with this, all right, So this sermon, there's a million other issues. Now I did ask Ai to just review the whole sermon. I'm gonna go back here. I did. I gave it the entire transcript. What I'm gonna do is play just a little bit more of a sermon to see if he ever returns back to us. He took that Ezekiel forty six passage again, a passage where it literally it says who is speaking of, just like he did in Isaiah forty a passage that literally says who it's speaking to, and in both cases he made it about us. Then he does this desire thing where there's all kinds of theological problems that requires a lengthy discussion that we don't have time to get into. But let me just tell you there's all kinds of problems with that. Now, let's see where it goes.

46:48 Has pleasant pastures, he said, I will care for you, and I will carry you all the way home. That relieves my soul. Okay, we get the idea. I mean, we could go on for another hour. I mean, let's just let's just call it right. This sermon is not going to return to the original context. So I gave the I downloaded the transcript and gave it to Ai. And this is what AI said, Number one, this sermon number one, it fails to address the historical and literary context. This sermon largely ignores the historical context of Isaiah forty nine through eleven, which was addressed to the Jewish exiles and babylon. Instead, it applies the text directly to individual Christians without exploring its meaning for the original audience. Why is this problematic?

47:41 Isaiah forty nine through eleven was written to exiles who needed reassurance that God was sovereign over their situation and would deliver them even through ordinary means cyrus. By bypassing this context, the preacher risk reducing the text to vague spiritual encouragement rather than addressing its specific philological and historical significance. AI said. This is what should be done better. The pastor should explain the historical context, the Babylonian captivity and the promise of deliverance through SIUs. The pastor should emphasize the original call to behold your God as a command to recognize God's sovereignty and faithfulness even in the midst of suffering. The second thing the sermon does wrong. It over spiritualizes the shepherd imagery. The sermon focuses heavily on a shepherd imagery and verse eleven as a metaphor for Jesus' role as a personal shepherd to individual believers. Oh why is this problematic? Ai says? While the shepherd imagery can point to Christ, its primary meaning in Isaiah forty is about God's care for the nation of Israel as a whole during their deliverance from exile. Over spiritualizing the text risk ignoring its corporate and covenantial dimensions. The pastor.

48:55 Here's the better approach. The pastor should acknowledge the immediate meaning God's tender care for his people as he led them back to their land. Then he should connect the imagery to a broader biblical theme of God as shepherd, culminating in Jesus as the good Shepherd. The point is he to ignore the entire historical context. He then could have said, well, as God did this, this is the ways in which God may do that for us. But remember it's going to be very different than the way He did it for them, because the way He's doing things for them is going to be what very material, physical fleshly an actual deliverance from an actual nation brought back to an actual land to actually rebuild a physical temple.

49:37 That's that we can. We got to be very careful when God's going to do things, We're going to have to understand how it would work for us. It's not going to be the same way as a third thing the sermon does wrong. According to AI, it misinterprets the phrase Behold your God. The phrase behold your God is interpreted primarily as a call to individual reflection on Jesus's personal savior. The preacher also describes it as a warning of judgment to unbelievers. Why is this problematic? AI says, in its original context, behold your God is a proclamation of God's glory, sovereignty, and coming deliverance for the exiles. Well, it does call people to recognize God's majesty. It's not a warning of judgment. There is not a warning of judgment in this passage. You know why, because Isaiah one through thirty nine did all the judgment in forty through fifty five is a book of comfort. It's not about warning in that particular case. So they completely misinterpret that number four, The sermon neglects the ordinary means of deliverance.

50:41 The sermon does not address the fact that God's deliverance in Isaiah forty could come through Cyrus, a human king, rather than supernatural miracles. Why is this problematic? Ignoring this aspect miss is a key theological theme. God often works through ordinary means to accomplish his extraordinary purposes. The exiles were called to trust in God's sovereignty even and his deliverance did not come from a dramatic miracle like the Exodus. A better approach the pastor should emphasize how God used Cyrus and demonstrated his control over history and his ability to work through ordinary events. Encouraged listeners to trust God's providence in their own lives even when his work is not immediately visible. Next, the next thing the sermon did wrong It disconnected. It was disconnected from the broader context of Isaiah forty. The sermon isolates verses nine through eleven from the rest of Isaiah forty, neglecting the chapter's emphasis on God's incomparability and power over creation and idols. Why is this problematic without the broader context The message of Isaiah forty nine tough eleven can be reduced to sentimentalism rather than a robust proclamation of God's greatness. And that's what I was saying. It's more he was turning it into this like emotional thing. It's sentimentalism. It's not a robust teaching of the text. Number six it over instance, there's an over emphasis on personal application. The sermon focuses almost exclusively on personal applications, such as wanting Jesus to

52:12 carry us all the way home, without engaging with the corporate and historic dimensions of the text. Why is this problematic? While personal application is important, it should flow from a proper understanding of the text original meaning and philological message. Over emphasis on personal application can obscure the broader themes of God's covenant, faithfulness, and his work in history. There So, AI gave us six things that the sermon did wrong, six things, and of course it was able to do that in five seconds. Ai and I didn't even go through how AI broke down the entire chapter, the entire section. I got an entire, in depth exegetical study of Isaiah forty written by Ai, and it did it in five seconds.

52:58 And it's a million times better than that sermon. If you care about the text, now, if you want something that's sentimental, touches the heartstrings, kind of gives you, oh Jesus is going to carry me and all of that, well then great, you got what you wanted. Now that just then, just admit you don't care about the text. You just want to be encouraged. You just want to feel good, even though if you're being handed promises that doesn't have anything to do with you. And you can run home trying to claim all of these promises, and you may be sorely disappointed because well, none of that has anything to do with you. It won't end, ladies and gentlemen, it will not. It is absolutely like, how many sermons are we going to review on Isaiah forty through fifty five before we just I mean it's almost like we're in a you know, a you know, a UFC match and I'm ready to tap out. I'm tapping, I'm tapping, I give up, I give I surrender, Like how many more? And just remember all of the sermons that have been reviewed have been chosen at random. There's been no like, oh I'm gonna choose this. I know this one is a bad one. This is a bad We've covered now every every philological point of view, We've looked at it from reform point of view. Even the dispensational preachers have have mishandled the text. They will at least and part mention the historical part, but in many cases they slide right over into it's about us. It's about us, it's about us. It is it is fascinating. Now,

54:35 someone at some point is going to be like, look, here's a good one. Well great, Even if you send me a good one, it's gonna be one good one. And at this point I'm well over one hundred. I think some of the other listeners have also listened up too close to one hundred. We're probably well over a hundred sermons that we've yet to find one. So even if you know of one great one, that can't make up for the one hundred bad ones. And what's amazing is is in all of these sermons where this happens, they're literally read they're just literally reading around the verses that say although well, in many cases they will literally read the words where the text is saying Judah Israel, Jacob Jerusalem, and then they will read it and then immediately ignore that in the sermon. How can you do that?

55:30 I don't know, ladies and gentlemen, I give up. But once again, this is another example now where AI versus another sermon. AI wins again hands down. In fact, AI tore that sermon into shreds. It pointed out six things that it did wrong. That's AI, that's not me. AI doesn't have any agenda there. AI was like, here, No, the whole thing's messed up. And I just love how AI keeps pointing out in Isaiah forty nine to eleven, ordinary means, ordinary means. That's why I spent all of that time on it. Now, me and Ai, I still get upset with the way AI because it pulls from you know, Christianity at large, and the way it handles Ezekiel thirty six drives me crazy. No. I argue with it every single time, and it will admit that I'm right about how to interpret it, but it constantly still refers to the way most of Christianity handles it. I don't care. I don't care if ninety nine percent of Christianity handles it that way, You're all wrong. Okay, you go to Ezekiel thirty six the text makes it clear who it's about. I don't care how many people tell me I'm wrong. One hundred percent of Christianity can tell me I'm wrong. You know you are wrong. Factually reading comprehension says you're wrong. The text literally says who it's about, just like it does in Isaiah forty, just like it did in Isaiah forty six. Now if you want to look at zekel Well thirty six, and if it's referred

57:01 to in the New Testament, now we could have that discussion. All right, There's much more I want to say, but we're gonna stop. Thanks for listening. Everyone, have a good evening. And if you're just as frustrated and ready to give up as I am, I can completely understand. But what if we we're only in We're January the fifteenth, twenty twenty five. We're fifteen days into twenty twenty five, and we have already clearly demonstrated that in almost every situation so far, every single situation we've looked at, AI does better than any sermon that we can find. AI is better than any sermon we can find. I don't even know how to process that. I don't even know like my brain. I don't know what that means means for the future, and that's what we've been talking about in our series about AI. People are gonna have to wake up. Look, I look, somebody's gonna wake up and go wait a minute.

58:09 AI can do better than any sermon. Then what's the point of sermons? Now? You could say sermons could be improved dramatically if they would use AI. Okay, you could argue that maybe are we gonna reach the golden age of preaching where preaching is much better because of artificial intelligence, But then it would just be preaching what AI is saying. So then do you really need the preacher If all the preacher is gonna do is put a sermon together with AI, Like see, you just reach another problem. So all right, thanks for listening everyone, of a great night, God bless