Oh No! Isaiah 43:18-19

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central. All good things must come to and end. Right, That's what they tell you, right, All good things must come to an end, no matter how amazing it is, no matter how great it is, it has to come to some type of conclusion. It has to end. And in some ways, this is the end. Ladies and gentlemen, This is the end of our twenty twenty four sermons two point oh app sermon challenge. This is going to be really the end of that challenge. I don't know what we're going to do in twenty twenty five, but the sermon's two point oh app will still play a major part in it. But we will figure that out when we get there. But we need to bring this to some type of conclusion. But before we do that, before we kind of just have a very lengthy discussion before we get started on what we're really going to do.

1:08 I guess I probably should at least give you an official introduction. Good morning everyone. It is Saturday, December the twenty eighth, twenty twenty four. It is currently eleven ten am Central time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central Studio located right here in Abilene, Texas well. It was December twenty twenty three. I don't know if you remember that far back. I know it was a long, long, long, long time ago, and it feels like in a galaxy far far far far far far far away. It does seem like almost another lifetime in certain ways. But I was sitting here in this studio and I came up with an idea. You know, we have this wonderful thing called the Sermon's two point zero app. Cermonadio provides this app free of charge. Anyone can download it on an Apple device, Android device that can access the content via you know, a web browser. And on this with all the content there, whether the Sermon's two point oh app or the Sermonadio website, there are millions upon millions of sermons available to everyone free of charge.

2:23 About I don't know. I can't try to keep track between five, six, seven eight thousand sermons are added every single week. Just try to wrap your mind around that. Between five to eight thousand sermons are added every. Single week, So that means it's. A I mean, you could not listen to all the sermons available on that platform. If you spent twenty four hours a day, seven days a week of your entire life just. Listening, you could never listen to everything. But you have all of this content there, hours and hours and hours of this content, thousands of hours a lifetime of of content. How much of it just goes unutilized.

3:05 Nobody ever discovers it, nobody ever finds it because people have a tendency. They're very much creatures of habit. Right, Oh, here's my favorite preacher. I like this church, and they have two or three and that's all they really listen to, and all of that other content just goes unnoticed, unused. And since it collects dust. And sometimes you can see that if you'll really just go through the app looking, you'll see some sermons that are five ten years old, and you're you know, and you'll be like, it's got what thirty four downloads, that's insane, But you'll nobody's listening to it, because nobody's ever going to discover it or find it unless you're really looking for something specific. And then people tend to narrow their searching down to certain churches or certain speakers. So I'm like, well, we can't just let all of this content, all of this resource, just go to waste.

3:53 So I came up with a brilliant idea. The Sermon's two point oh app sermon Challenge. So I told everyone to buy another. Book, right, buy a notebook? Do I have my notebook here? Oh? Here it is, buy a notebook. Oh. I told everyone to get pencils, right, all right, get some pencils or right here we go. We got pencils, notebook pencils. And what did I tell you to do? Each day? You'll open the Sermon's two point oh app and you're going to look You're just going to go like to new sermons. You can click on any tab you want. You're just gonna find a random sermon. You're not going to look at You're not. Gonna be looking at anything. You're just gonna kind of swipe up and just kind of just pick and choose. You're not looking for a specific church, you're not looking for a specific name. You're just going to do the most random thing possible. Then you're going to write down the name of the sermon, write down the name of the speaker. You're going to listen to the sermon, and then you're just going to write out a little summary of that sermon, and then you'll do it the next day, of the next day, the next day. The goal was by the end of twenty twenty four, your notebook would have one sermon for every day of the entire year.

5:00 That was the goal. Now, some days you may listen to four to make up for the days that you're not going to listen to any so, but you had an entire year to see if you could fill up one sermon for every day of the year. Now, sometimes I gave you specific things to look for, right right this week, you're going to look up random sermons on Proverbs chapter three, or random sermons on justification, or random sermons on long Gospel, whatever the case may be, trying to add a little bit of variety and creativity to it. And that that's and it was. It sounded like a great idea because the way, you know, the way I thought about it as well. On the days I can't broadcast, people have something to do. They get the sermons two points oh out. They're looking at random sermons. Whether they're listening to me, it doesn't matter if they're listening to me, if they're listening to other people, those sermons are being utilized, whether you like them, whether you dislike them, whether you you're going to benefit.

5:54 In some way, shape or form. So I thought it was a great idea and we started it. And one of the things I said I would if you remember, was, hey, since you're gonna be listening to random sermons, I'll listen to random sermons. I'll look for a random sermon, grab it, and then we'll just review it live on the air, so that we're listening to the random sermon together, reacting in real time. It's not me listening to it first where I have some agenda. I'm just randomly listening and we'll see what happens. So it sounded like a pretty decent idea overall. I now, in my mind, though I had all these other things we're going to do in twenty twenty four, right, we were gonna do this, and we're gonna do this, and we're gonna do this. I had no idea.

6:36 That the Sermons two point oh app Sermon Challenge would literally kind. Of just take over. The entire podcast, because it kind of became the engine that drove it, right, because I would review a sermon and look, I'm you know, I'm just gonna be honest. There were at times some of those sermons was just I don't know what was happening from a hermoneutical stand point, how they were handling the text, and it would get frustrating, it would get irritating. Sometimes that would be somewhat critical. Now, the goal was not to try to be critical, but hey, not everyone's going to agree on how scripture should be handled, and so I can obviously have my own opinion. But here's what I wanted to avoid. I didn't want to just criticize. If I criticize, then I was going to come back and say, Okay, this is how they handled the text. Well, now we're going to spend three, four or five weeks whatever, and we're going to just we're going to do more and more work on the text above and beyond reviewing the sermon. And so it turned into sometimes weeks and months of what we listened to one sermon, and that one sermon would lead to months of study and you know, creating our own interpretation, putting forth our own philological hypotheses and testing them. And that's what we have been doing really all year. Is so much of what I have done is not only the reviewing of a sermon, but then hours and hours and hours of really reaction and things that were inspired by that one sermon review which demonstrates that one sermon, whether

8:11 you like it or whether you hate it, whether you think they were telling that they handled the text correctly or whether you thought they handled the text incorrectly, if you'll really do something with that one sermon, it literally could provide you hundreds of hours of spiritual food and research and study. So that means I mean, just again, the sermon's two point, oh app is so much is so much more valuable than I think anyone really understands. Because even if you listen to a sermon, you're like, oh that was horrible. Yeah, now what are you going to do with it? Just sit around criticizing it? Are you going to get to work dig into that text, really really work on it? And guess where this has all led us to this moment on December the twenty eighth.

8:55 As we bring this challenge to some type of a conclusion, it brings us this is where it brings us. It brings us to this moment where we have found ourselves because of the sermon's two point oh out sermon challenge. We have found ourselves, now, are you ready, in Isaiah chapter forty to Isaiah chapter fifty five, because we have. Found sermon after sermon after sermon that. Completely mishandles versus within Isaiah forty to Isaiah fifty five. They misinterpret them, they twist them, they misuse them, they misapply them. It's been, in fact, at the number of sermons I've listened to on Isaiah forty to fifty five, I don't even know how many anymore, I've lost track.

9:41 It's probably well over. I don't even know seventy now, I mean, and in many cases, I'm you know, I'm just listening to this and I'll be you know, I'll be doing something around the house. Just okay, Isaiah forty four, Okay, search boom, hit play, and then I'll be doing whatever and just listen and like, over and over and over, I'm like, what is what's happening here? Why is this section of scripture so mishandled? So that has turned into now me doing an entire study of Isaiah forty to Isaiah fifty five, verse by verse, and we have created a series for that, and we'll be working on Isaiah forty through fifty five all the well into twenty twenty five. I mean, I think it may take us most.

10:22 Of twenty twenty five, and I don't even know if we're gonna finish it at this rate, but we're gonna. We're taking that section apart, we're dissecting it, we're taking it apart because of all because of the sermon's two point oh app sermon challenge. We listen to sermons and I'm like, this is a mess. Well, I can either criticize it or we can try to try to produce something drastically different. So that's what we're doing. So I think it's fitting because the. Sermon's two point oh app ultimately led us to Isaiah forty to fifty five, which is now going to lead us into all of twenty twenty five, that being a major focus. I thought it was somewhat fitting that I was looking through the sermons two point. Oh app.

11:04 And I see a sermon entitled Happy. New Year exclamation point Happy New Year, and I'm like, oh, okay, we're already going to start. We're already over the Christmas sermons, and now we're going to go to the New Year. Sermons, and I'm like, Okay, this is good. So I clicked on it and I got ready to hit play, and then I noticed the text, and I'm like, You've got to be kidding me. We have a happy New Year sermon based off Isaiah forty three, eighteen through nineteen, And I'm like. You gotta be kidding me. You gotta be kidding me. Isaiah forty three, verse eighteen and nineteen. Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth.

11:50 Shall you not know it? I will even make a road and the wilderness and the rivers in the desert. And I'm like, you've got to be kidding me. Familiar with people using this for a New Year, I. Don't have it behind me. See, I think it's downstairs. Let me look here. I have a devotional that I used for many years by Charles Stanley, and I believe that devotional begins with Isaiah forty three, eighteen through nineteen. Do not remember the former things, Do not remember the former things, nor consider the old things. Behold, I will do a new thing.

12:31 I cannot tell you how many devotionals begin with Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen, and they start January the first Ooh, God's going to do a new thing. I have heard this countless time my whole Christian life. You know what drives me absolutely crazy about this Isaiah forty three. Eighteen nineteen has nothing to do with you or me. It's about specific people and a historical context which we have now talked about. It feels like a million times and we have to keep bringing it up. Isaiah forty through fifty five is a book of comfort. What do these people need comfort from? Well, if you go to Isaiah thirty nine eighteen or the last part of Isaiah thirty nine, I can get back here Isaiah thirty.

13:12 Nine starting here where say thirty nine? If you go to. Yeah, probably verse five Isaiah thirty nine, verse five. Then Isaiah said, Hezekiah, hear the word of the Lord of hosts. Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and what your fathers have accumulated unto this day, should be carried to Babylon. Isaiah forty through fifty five is words of comfort given to people who are. In Babylonian captivity. Now the words of comfort were given about a one hundred years before they even go into captivity. By the time they go into captivity, Isaiah is dead. But these words that he gives us an Isaiah forty through fifty five are to be brought to the people to bring them comfort.

14:01 That's what the section is about. And for some weird reason, pastors just walk in and say, hey, guys, guys, guys in Babylonian captivity. I'm gonna mention you in the sermon just so that I give the appearance of caring about historical context. And then I'm going to shove you so far out of the way, and I'm going to insert all of us, and it's going to be about us having a new year. That's what it turns into, over and over and over and over again. And I'm like, well, you know, the sermon's two point oh app led us to Isaiah forty through fifty five to end twenty twenty four, and to go into twenty twenty five. What better way than to grab a random sermon on Isaiah forty through fifty five, in this particular case, Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen, and let's.

14:44 Review and see what happens. Now you can already tell I feel that this is going to go in a bad way. I could be wrong. I haven't listened to the sermon yet, but I'm just trying to indicate devotional after devotional New Year's sermon, after New Year's s, after New Year's sermon, love to use Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen. So I basically I grabbed. Ai and I said, Hey, Ai, I'm about to review a sermon on Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen. Do you have any words for me? And this is this is what Ai said. Are you ready? And I'm quoting this is hilarious. AI said it would be wise to approach this sermon with great caution, and I just had to start laughing.

15:33 And then Ai went on to say it would be wise to approach this sermon with great caution, as Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen is often taken out of context, especially when used as a motivational art topical text for. Something like a New Year's sermon. I was like, AI knows more than I, Like how this is why we need to remove all pastors and just insert Ai into all churches, because even Ai is like, whoa, whoa whoa, you're going to review a sermon on Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen. Hey, just be aware this sermon is constantly used and misused for something like a New Year's sermon. What is the name of this sermon, Happy New Year? What is the text Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen. You can't make this up. AI is even aware, like, hey, hey, be careful, be careful, be careful.

16:29 So then AI is like, so we let's evaluate the passage and textual, historical, and philological context in order to discern potential pitfalls and how it how this passage can be mishandled. Well, I don't think there are any pitfalls. The only pitfalls are pastors want to preach sermons. Instead of preaching the text. So I think this is the most appropriate way to kind of this. This is going to kind of be the end of our sermon's two point oh app sermon challenge. It really is. I don't know what you've learned from it. I would like that maybe maybe even in January, we'll still have some conversations about it, looking back over everything that has occurred in the sermon's two point oh app a sermon challenge, I can. I am going to look here really quick so that I can be accurate here, because.

17:21 I don't want to make up I don't want to make up inform. I don't want to give you wrong information. Here if I look it up, Yes, there have been one hundred and twenty three one hundred and twenty three messages in the Sermon's two point oh APP Sermon Challenge series. That's one hundred and twenty three hours of content content just in the Sermon Audio Sermons two point oh APP Sermon Challenge one hundred and twenty three hours. But that doesn't even begin to describe vibe how much that this challenge has influenced. Because if you go look at other series, right, like, let me just look at some other series.

18:10 If I just go to let's see here, where do we want to go? If we look at oh, Psalm eighty three. So the entire series on Psalm eighty three all came about because of the Sermon's two point oh apps Sermon Challenge. That was twenty five hours of content. Right, So there's that. If I go to. A new interpretation, that's seven hours of content. If I just go through so much of this the Isaiah forty through fifty five, which is that series is because of the sermon's two point oh apps sermon challenge. Guess what, that's twenty five plus hours of content. So yo, you put it all together, The sermon's two point oh apps sermon challenge by itself has led to well over two hundred hours of broadcasting for this year. The sermon's two point oh apps sermon challenge by itself has led to over two hundred hours of broadcasting. That's crazy, and that just shows you that whether a sermon is good, whether a sermon is bad, you can do a lot with it if you're willing to put in the work.

19:30 I don't know what we're getting ready to. I don't know if this is going to be good. I don't know if it's going to be bad. Am I skeptical? Yes, even Ai is telling me be cautious. Because a it's a sermon called Happy New Year, and the text is Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen. So we're going to get another example of well what pastors do with this text of scripture. But more importantly, we're going to get another example of well listening to sermons and listening to them cautiously, and that whether they're good or whether they're bad, we try to pull from it something beneficial.

20:14 And that's what we are going to do. So I hope you're ready. Bible's open. Isaiah forty three, eighteen through nineteen. I got got some paper, got pencils. Here we go. I think we know where this is going. I'm gonna try. I'm gonna try not to I'm not gonna I'm gonna try not to be so cynical and skeptical. I'm gonna try to be positive. What we're about to hear, ladies and gentlemen, is the greatest exegetical study of Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen ever given on the face of earth. Now I know to say that I'm not being necessarily sincere because I don't really necessarily believe that. I definitely want to hope that. And so here we go.

20:55 I want you to turn to Isaiah forty three. Isaiah forty three. Happy New Year. No, I mean that's the title of the sermon, and that is the title of the sermon, Happy New Year. I'm so thankful for you that are here worshiping with us today. Some have been sick and you're back. It's good to have you back. We appreciate you so much. Some are in from out of town that's visiting family, and still they choose to spend part of their time here with us in worship. And we are so glad that you're with us today. And I pray that the Lord will certainly bless you for giving your time to be in this place. In Isaiah chapter forty three, let's look at verses eighteen and nineteen.

21:45 Hypothetical question. By no means, am I implying anything about the sermon we're going to listen to. But by no means I am not implying anything about the sermon we're going to listen to. But we throughout twenty twenty four, I've raised this question over and over and over. You take a church, You look at all the money it costs to keep that church operating, for the building materials, staff upkeep the grounds, mowing the lawn, all the different things, you know, landscaping, signs, all electricity, all all the things. It takes a lot of money to keep a church operating. I mean, just if you go to church, just ask for your budget and just look at how much how much money it took to keep the church operating for one year, one year, and then you and then the all the cost of your time to get dressed, to get ready to drive there, go there and then get then leave and come back home.

22:42 You may turn back right back around and go back that evening. You may turn back around and go back there on Wednesday. You look at all the effort, the time, the work, the money to keep a church operating and for attending. Is how much is it really worth when in the end, either number one, you hear sermon after sermon after sermon where the text is really not being handled even remotely in a correct way or even in an in depth way. Many cases it's very surface. And when you take how much it costs to keep that church operating, how much content did the church even produce within that calendar year? How many sermons were actually preached?

23:26 So people took time out to show up at this church for a sermon on Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen. Now only you can determine whether you think it's great or wonderful. I don't know, but I do question it a lot, because I know how much it costs to keep churches going and it's a lot of money. And then sometimes you'll be like, man, they basically produce like forty eight sermons the entire year. I mean, really that's the best forty eight sermons. Look at how much content this podcast has. Produced all of this. I mean, we've done over two hundred message jiz just related to the sermon's two point oh app sermon Challenge series that doesn't have anything to do with anything else we did. We've done over two hundred just on that that.

24:11 Like, it's it's sometimes like, how do you I don't know, I don't know. You can draw your own conclusion that's going to take us in a different direction. But well, maybe we'll return back to that by the time this sermon is over. Here we go. Isaiah, Chapter forty three, Verses eighteen and nineteen. Remember you not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth, shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. You know, this is New Year's Eve for us here in America.

24:58 Okay, now you can hear the people the best. Amen. That's right, Amen, that's right. As they're reading that, okay, and then immediately look what he does. He just read Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen. And then immediately where where's the hard pivot us? Hey? For us here in America it's New Year's Eve. Now he may just be hard pivoting to us so that he can move back. Now I can. Almost guarantee he will at least mention the historical context. But you watch what happens. Typically what we have seen, the historical context will be mentioned so that people get a sense a feel that we're really. Studying the text. And then it's just going to be like, forget it.

25:41 Now it's us us us as us us us us as us as us. And the original recipients. We don't care about them. That's what typically happens. I'm not saying that's what's going to happen. That's what typically happens. So AI told us to be cautious, So let's be cautious here we go. But also for the majority of the world, now I realize that New Year's Day doesn't come to all cultures and all religions on this day. For example, the Jews, they celebrate Rasashana, the new year usually that falls about September through that period of time. But yet on our calendar we are on the brink of a new year.

26:28 And it's funny how people when you end one year and start another. We have our customs here in America. But I kind of got intrigued a little bit, just as an intro to you as to what other people do. For example, I went back in history and read a little bit about the Romans, the ancient Roman culture. They celebrated New Year's Day by celebrating at the same time the birth of Janice. Janus was a god that they feel was born on New Year's Day. And many of you have seen. That god or a picture of that god that they that they celebrated. Janus had two faces, one looking forward and one looking back. So the idea is is that Janus was looking back on the old year and looking forward to the new year. Do you know the ancient Roman ancient Romans, of course they didn't celebrate Christmas, but they exchange gifts on their New Year's Day, but they didn't exchange gifts.

27:29 Like some interesting background that kids screaming in the background, it's making it difficult to hear this historical background. But okay, all right, maybe the kid will calm down. Because the kids not happy obviously are here. We go. We do. They exchange gifts with friends for forgiveness, and rather than say that they had done somebody wrong in the past, they just brought them a gift and the gift covered up them saying I'm sorry. You know, gifts don't get rid of guilt. If you wrong somebody, you gotta make it right.

28:10 Moving right along. The Chinese New Year they celebrate by putting off fireworks. They feel that. The light and the noise drives out evil spirits, so that's why they have fireworks on their New Year's Day. In Denmark, they throw plates and dishes against. Their neighbor's door. And the idea is is the plate breaks, the dishes break, the bigger pile of broken glass in front of your door. Then the more you are loved and the more you are appreciated. You'd appreciate until you clean the glass. I'm sure.

28:51 Also some people there in Denmark at midnight, they stand on a chair and jump off because it's symbolic that they're leaping into the New year romania. They put on furs and masks and they dance in the streets, and the idea is is if they look ferocious enough, they'll ward off evil spirits. Isn't it funny how many people are trying to drive away evil spirits. At the first of the year. In Turkey, they sprinkle salt on the doorstep at midnight of their family and friends, and they believe that that will bring prosperity and peace to that home. Also others they open up pomegranates and they think that the pomegranates will attract wealth. So that's why have you ever noticed, even in our local grocery stores, how they always increase the amount of pomegranates that's in the store because that's passed on to even people here in America, they do that.

29:53 In the Czech Republic, they determine their future by cutting apple in half. Now, please note the text is Isaiah forty three, eighteen through nineteen, a message to people in Babylonian captivity. Right, just keep that in mind, all right, because as each minute passes in this sermon, we are slowly walking further and further and further away from the original context, in the original meaning. All right, now, he may circle, I'm still counting that he will circle back and offer some historical context. But then what we'll see. Do we then stay in that historical context?

30:35 Do we try to interpret this within that historical context? Or are these words just like well, sorry, boom and just rip them out and say, hey, ladies and gentlemen, here's the message to us going into New Year's right, is that what's going to happen? I don't know. I don't know. We're going to see. When they cut the apple in half, they look at the core, and if the core is shaped in the shape of a cross, then it may somebody there in that household or in that group will fall ill in the coming year. If there's a star there, it means that it'll be health and happiness to that particular home. There's a lot of different ways of celebrating the new year.

31:16 A lot of you will find ways to celebrate the new year. And I could go through and ask if you've got individual traditions in your home, and the majority of you would say yes. We have certain things that we do as we enter into the new year. One of the things that we are known for in this country is that we set resolutions. And I'm here to tell you don't make resolutions. We don't need resolutions. We need a revolution. Now, by revolution, I'm not talking about a rebellion. I'm talking about a drastic change, because we do need a change, and in this country, I think you'll agree, we desperately need a change. So just making a resolution, it's something that will bring guilt to you in the path in the future, because you'll think, oh, I said it, and I didn't know what some of you are like.

32:14 All right, so let me get this right. So we're in Isaiah forty three, eighteen nineteen. All right, all right, so we got all these different ways people celebrate the New years. Now what we need to don't make a resolution. We need a revolution. So don't make a resolution because you're just going to break it. But we need a revolution. And he describes a revolution as a change. Well, when you make a resolution, are you making a resolution? If you make a if you say we need a revolution, are you saying you're committed to a revolution, meaning you need we're committed to a change. Isn't that a resolution? If you're saying I'm committed to a revolution, aren't you then resolving to I don't get that, Hey, resolution, bad commit to a revolution because we need a change. Are you saying I'm then resolving to make a Am I the one making the Okay?

33:01 I'm so confused? So resolution bad? Revolution good? Everyone everyone in the congregation loved. Everybody was like, man, yeah, but I don't I don't like if I commit to a revolution? Am I not resolving to do something? Because he says it's about changing? So do I just say, I'm not gonna make a resolution, but we need a revolution and that's it. And I don't commit to anything. I'm not going to plan anything. I'm not gonna do anything. I'm just gonna say we need a revolution. But if you say you need a revolution and that's changed, are you then not going to commit to doing the things in order to produce and bring about said change? Is it that not a resolution? I know it preaches good, we don't need a resolution, we need a revolution. And everybody's like, a man, look, what are you committed to the revolution? Are you going to resolve to do these things?

33:53 Wait? That's a resolution? But I gotta look this up. I gotta look this up because now I'm kind of laughing at this. This is someone making me laugh. Here, Hang on, I gotta look here. Oh wait, I don't want to go to that. I want to go here. All right, resolution, it's a firm decision to do or not do something. Don't make a hey, don't make a firm decision to do something. Don't do that, don't make a don't have a firm don't make a firm decision to do anything. But we need a revolution?

34:33 Well are we gonna be Are we gonna make a firm decision that we need a revolution? Is that not a resolution? I don't understand. Sometimes in sermons we look and I know, look, I've done the same thing as preachers. We come up with this cool little. Phrase and we're like, oh, this is really good, this is really good. This is gonna get the amens. But I mean, anyone logically going, so, are we making a decision that we need a revolution? Yes? Well that's a resolution? Okay, all right, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm just that's so, that's so ridiculous, all. Right, like myself, you meant well, but you've gained and lost one thousand pounds and you're right back to where you are.

35:15 So the resolution doesn't do it. And you can buy all of the programs you want, you can go out and spend twelve hundred dollars for a piece of equipment, and the only thing you're going to lose is twelve hundred dollars. I am preaching. What's ironic about this? Now we know this text, we've read it. Well, what really struck me is it's quite evident that he's saying, as you're stepping into something new here, even though he's writing to the children of Israel. Verse eighteen, he said, remember not the former things, and he said, neither consider the things of old. So he's telling them to forget.

35:55 But if you read the two verses before that, he's remembering the things that God. Has done when he brought them out of Egypt. So in the verses before this, he's telling them about things that they need to remember. Then he tells them, whatever you do forget. Don't remember it. You need to remember, and you don't need to remember. Well, now that seems at first like it's totally opposite of one another, until you stop to think about what he's really saying. He's saying that there are things in a new year that you need to remember, but definitely there's things you need to forget. You need to remember what God has done for. You in the past. But also once.

36:38 That you confess your sins to the Lord, and once you ask the Lord for forgiveness, and once you ask the Lord to overcome the mistakes that you've made, you need to put that in the rear view mirror, and you need to move forward. Remember the Lord. When someone comes and apologizes, you need to remember that they apologize and accept them and forgive them. And you need to more. He said, forget it, move on. I know it's impossible for our mind to forget, and it's something we can't remember what we want to remember, and we can't forget what we want to forget. But that's the way that we are. But he makes it very plain that there is a pattern here of the things that we need to forget.

37:22 And he's saying, as we stand on the brink of something new, it reminds us of three things in these two verses. Number one, it reminds us of the past. That's what he says. He's please know, he is throwing in a you know, Israel. He's mentioning them briefly, but immediately he turning these principles into. Well us us US, US, us. This is all becoming about us. Oh, this is so okay. Let's just see where this goes. Let's get the basic principles. We may not even have to review much of this because you're gonna get the basic idea. He's just gonna go to Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen, rip out some principles, kind of mention the immediate context, and then just tell this is what you're supposed to do. He's going to take a dec a passage that's really descrept well really, it's a passage that's really prescribing what those people should do and making it prescriptive for us. And we could get into a whole hermonutical discussion here, but let's just go through these concepts. Here.

38:25 He says in Isaiah forty three eighteen, remember you not the former things, neither consider the things of all. So he's talking about the past, and he starts off the first half of that by saying, remember you not the former things. There's some things we just need to forget that has happened in the past. You just need to forget it because if you don't forget. It, it will. Bind you instead of you getting it behind you and you need to put it behind you instead of letting it bind. You as you go into new year. And if you don't get rid of it, this is what will happen. You'll get misery. There'll be a misery from the past. As you go over those things in your mind time and time again. All it will do is they'll just make it. It'll just make it bigger, it'll make it heavier, and it'll lay on.

39:17 You even more. So there's some things you just need, and I mean, enough is enough. It's been over for thirty or forty and there's people here today that right now they've got grudges that they've held for forty and fifty years. Get over it. I know a preacher friend down in the mountains of North Carolina, and he gives a little little stration. I've heard him give it when he preach. Preaches. He talks about when he was a boy, him and the boys that he grew up with, they were out in the country. There wasn't a lot to do. Bear this in mind, But one day they're out trying to find something to do, and they come up on a dead rooster in the barnyard. So one of them gets the bright idea. I know what we'll do. We'll have a funeral for the rooster. So they tapped one of them to be the preacher and want them to be the senor, and they taped others to give a yula gin, and they had a little service for the rooster.

40:18 Had the service for the rooster. They preached, they sang, they shouted, and they buried the rooster. Next day, they didn't have anything to do, and they said, hey, let's dig up that rooster and have another service. And they did so. Two or three days later, they said, hey, let's dig up that rooster, and they did. On about the seventh day when they said, hey, let's dig up that rooster, one of them spoke up and said, it stinks too much. Let's just leave it buried. Some things, it'll only smell worse as you dig it up. The best thing you can do is bury it and put it behind you.

40:58 Because okay, see now this all right, this is where I struggle. All Right, these are some great I mean, he's making some in I mean, that's a great illustration. Hey, it stinks. Some things just need to be buried and not brought back up and just move on. Okay, there are good principles here. Some of these is like almost basic psychological points, some good self help, you know, tips how to go into a new year. Some things you just need to forget and move on. You just gotta let it be and move on. Okay, that's some good advice. The issue is do we take this from Isaiah forty three eighteen.

41:39 Is Isaiah forty three eighteen designed and ridden and given by inspiration so that we can have some tips and how to. Move into the new year. You could give these basic points about hey, let's we're going into a new year. Here's some basic principles. But see, because as a church, we always have to have a scripture, even if we're utilizing the text of scripture in a way that has nothing to do with this, Isaiah forty three is not designed to have anything to do. With what he's saying. These points are good. I may go back and write down some of these points. These are some good points to remember going into a new year. There are some things we just need to forget and let them be and get over it and move on. Sometimes we just need to move forward because some things just keep holding us and pulling us back, and you you sometimes just need.

42:30 To break free and just move on. I man, I am. I think that's a great principle. See what can happen in preaching is we can hear great points and say it was a great sermon, but we never think about what just happened to the text of. Scripture that was utilized. So let's do a little work here briefly on Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen. I'm going to read it from a different translation. Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs, and now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Now here's the textual context Isaiah forty three. This chapter is addressed to Israel.

43:15 In the context of their Babylonian exile. It focuses on God's redemptive work and his faithfulness to restore Israel despite their unfaithfulness. A versus leading up to verses eighteen and nineteen we have Isaiah forty three one through seven. God reminds Israel of his covenantal love and promises to redeem them. If you go back to Isaiah forty three. But now, thus says the Lord who created you, Oh Jacob, do you see Isaiah forty three, Verse one, I'm reading from the new King James. There. Look, But now, thus says the Lord who created you, Oh Jacob. This is not about you. This is not about you going into a new year. This is about Jacob and he formed you. Oh, Oh Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name, your mind. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers they shall not overflow you. I know. Pilgrim's progress takes this passage and again once again turns it into some allegory or metaphor. This is about Israel. Everything here is about Israel and his covenantal relationship with them. All right, So Isaiah forty three one through seven, God reminds Israel of his covenantal love. Isaiah forty three, sixteen through seventeen references to Exodus, a past example of God's deliverance, parting the sea and defeating Egypt. Right now, this leads to the basically, you can see what the verses leading up to it.

44:44 Now the flow of thought. Verse eighteen calls Israel to shift their focus from past acts of deliverance like the Exodus, to anticipate a new act of redemption. Now, what he tried to say is no, no, no, no. In verse seventeen, when it talks about those past things, there's some things you should remember and some things you should forget that according to some Now again we can get into a. Whole hermonutical argument. When he gets into verse eighteen and Isaiah forty three, he says, do not remember the former things? Is he saying, how do we understand the difference between seventeen and eighteen? Because at seventeen he says. Who brings forth the chariot and Horace, the army and the power? They shall lie down together. They shall not rise.

45:28 They are extinguished. They are quenched like a wig. Do not remember the former things? Oh the way the sermon handled it is, hey don't no, don't remember bad things, but do remember the good things. Maybe the text what God is saying, hey, no, no, no, no, forget the past deliverance, forget that, forget the exodus, because I want you to turn your focus not to going well in the back in the good old days, God delivered our forefathers, oh, I remember the stories of how God. No, no, stop worrying about what. God did in the past, look now to the future, because God is going to do something now in the future. And that new thing that he's about to do. Is he's going to bring them out of Babylonian captivity, bring them back into the land. They're going to be able to rebuild the Temple and rebuild Jerusalem.

46:13 That's what it's about. So even the way he handled that, he just because see he didn't really dig what He's not dealing with the text. He just has these little points. He wants to make to give you some self help points and how to handle the new year. But this is not what it's about. It's Israel forever forget everything now say wait, wait, we got to be careful. See that doesn't work because we're gonna say no, we need to remember the good things God has done for us. But the text here in this context is no, no, you even forget that. Stop looking backwards, look forward. That's the flow of thought. God is calling Israel to shift their focus from past acts of deliverance, even the exodus. Stop looking back at that to anticipate a new act of Redemption. Verse Night promises a new kind of deliverance, symbolized by making a way in the wilderness, and a river in the wilderness, and a river in the desert.

47:07 Now I'm making away in the wilderness. That goes back to Isaiah chapter forty, which we've been studying, because in Isaiah chapter forty, the voice of the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord makes straight in the desert, a highway for our God. God's going to And. Then then you go back to then you go to Isaiah forty three eighteen. Then do not remember the former things, nor. Consider they all. Behold, I will do a new thing now that she'll spring forth. I will even make a road in the wilderness. So it's the same it's the same thing being talked about in Isaiah forty is in Isaiah forty three, he is telling them even though you're in the wilderness, and we talked about we talked about it in our study of Isaiah forty. Basically, it's very much a wilderness from Babylon going back to Jerusalem that they would have to go through the wilderness. God is going to have to, in a sense make a road to bring them through that back to Jerusalem.

48:08 That's what this text is about, all right. Weighs it away in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. These are metaphors of God's ability to overcome insurmountable obstacles, return the return from exile through the wilderness, and provide for his people. These are all the things that are happening right here in this text. All right. And yeah, I've got notes and notes and notes here. We can look at now the historical context. I'm skipping around original audience. We know the original audience. The audience is Israel and exile living in Babylon and longing for restoration to their homeland, immediate historical fulfillment. The new thing refers to the return from Babylon and God's providential care during the journey, just as he provided for Israel during the exodus.

48:56 It this demonstrates God's sovereignty. It demonstrates his covenant told faithfulness. That's what that's what this is about. But but this is turning into hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, you get ready to go into new year. Forget forget those things this has this has nothing to do with all right, let's just see what he's going to do here. Let's see what he's going to do here, because if you if you make an argument, well at least eighteen there's a principle that we could we could talk about how we need to forget some things. Okay, maybe what is he going to do about behold that will do a new thing? Because that's where it's going to get really dangerous if he makes that applicable to us, right, that could get really dangerous.

49:39 Let's see what he's going to do here. Calls it's just it's just the misery that it calls. It's not hurting anybody but you. That's all that it's hurting. It doesn't cure anything, it doesn't fix anything. It doesn't make anything right that needs to be made right. The sooner you accepted, they're not going to say I'm sorry. They will buy you a gift before they say I'm sorry. They're not going to do it because they're never wrong. So it binds you to the misery, and it also binds you to the state of just recapturing that over and over again. He starts by the misery.

50:19 He said, if you remember the former things, it'll bring you misery. But he said, neither consider the things of old. In other words, don't go back and just bring it back up like a photographic memory of it over and over again, because that won't take care of it. So he tells us first about the past, but then he tells us about the present. In the first half of the nineteenth verse, he said, behold, I will do a new thing. What's the next word? Now that's the present. Now it shall spring forth. You shall not know of it. So he's saying, I'm going to do something new for you this year. Would you like God to do something new for you? Would you like to see a new thing?

51:05 And I know we look forward and we say, well, in this year we can see new things happen. Okay, now I just get ticked off. That has nothing to do with God doing a new thing for you. It's not a promise to you. It's not about you. It's not directed at you. And you telling people about God doing a new thing for you based off this verse is absolutely malpractice. It is absolutely ripping the scripture so far out of context it is not acceptable. Now I get see. Before I was like, okay, well, maybe I could try to find something to do with the way he's handling the verse eighteen, even though it has nothing to do with us. If you want to try to do something. But man alive, when you get to verse nineteen, he says, I will do a new thing, a new thing for them.

51:50 And the new thing for them was their physical deliverance from Babylonian captivity. That's not a promise for you, has nothing to do with you. You cannot take that and use it. Now. You give people some hope, some expectation that's not based off anything other than your mishandling of the Word of God. And here's what's interesting, I. Asked, I asked Ai, what are some of the ways people misuse Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen? Are you ready? Here we go. Here's the number one thing pastors do to Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen. According to Ai, they over spiritualize and individualize the text. They apply a new thing to personal resolutions, life changes, our general optimism about the future.

52:43 The text is about God's redemptive work for Israel, and as covenental promises, not about individual self improvement or motivation. Even Ai knows that text is not for us. How in the world can AI, I do a better job than humans when it comes to the Word of God. Well, I think there's a lot of reasons because AI is not worried about who it offends, who it ticks off. It's not worried about preaching a sermon. It's worried just about like, how do we understand the text based off the words that are used and based off the historical context which is known. This is why I cannot stand sermons.

53:27 On one hand, let me make let me let me clarify. On one hand, I love sermons because I like to listen to them, so then it gets me into the text and I have to take it apart and dissect the text. And work work work, work, work, work work. But I get frustrated that sermons do such a damage of keeping people a million miles away from the text. These people walked in on New Year's Eve to hear a sermon on Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen. They're gonna leave and guess what, They're not going to know nothing about Isaiah. Forty three eight through eighteen through nineteen. This sermon moved them further and further away from the actual text to get give them basically a self help program on how to go into a new year using some basic pop psychology concepts. And I know the pastors say, no, it comes from the word of God. The word of God has nothing to do with what you're talking about based off the text that you're utilizing. I knew the New Thing was where things are gonna I knew this is where things were gonna go all wacky.

54:23 Let's hope. He corrects. He takes a hard pivot and goes back into a more a better concept here, let's see. But the truth of the matter is the New Thing could happen right now. So he's saying, in the present. You've got all of these wonderful things that God's wanting to do right before you. Now could be the time that it springs forth, that Heaven could touch it and everything change right now in a moment of time, and it could all turn around for God's glory. Now he deals with the present.

55:06 What are the people amening for them? Now? It's a spring fort Isaiah forty through fifty five, the Book of Comfort. He's comfort, He's giving comfort to people and babyloney captivity, letting them know it has come to an end. Your captivity has come to an end, and this man by the name of Cyrus is going to decree your release, and he's going to release you back. We talked about all of this in Isaiah chapter forty. This is why we are spending so much time in Isaiah forty through fifty five because I do not know now I've lost count on the number of sermons that I've yet to find a sermon that even tries to handle this text in anything close to what it actually is about.

55:56 So in your present, you've got to get rid of your past to have a present. As all as you say, stuck in the past, you can't have a present. Okay, these people are going to be released from captivity no matter what if they continue to remember what. Is he saying? You can't have a present if you stuck in the past. There's nothing to do with this text. This text is like, hey, guys, if you don't forget the past, you can't have a present. No, It's like, hey, it's time to change your focus because something is going to happen. It's going to happen no matter what they do. It doesn't matter how they respond to it doesn't matter. It's going to happen because God made a promise that it was going to happen. It's going to happen not because of Israel's faithfulness and faithfulness, but because of God's faithfulness to his covenant.

56:44 That's the whole point. It's going to happen no matter what they do, no matter how they respond. This is not like, hey, guys, if. You don't do this, you don't get this, how are you going to turn it into some like you can't have a present unless you forget the past. Well, you can go to some pop psychology. Has nothing to do with Isaiah forty three, eighteenth through nineteen, not a thing. But if you want a present, you've got to get rid. Of the past. But he does more than that. Look at the end of that nineteenth verse, he winds up by saying, I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. So he not only tells. Us about the past, and he not only tells us about the present, but he tells us about the possibilities that should bless us. When we think about what is possible with God.

57:37 God is not talking about some possibility for you. He's not even talking about a possibility for them. He's telling them what he is going to do because of his sovereignty and because of the covenant he made with Israel. This is not about some theoretical possibility. It's about an actuality that God is going to bring about. And it has not a thing to do with you. What possibilities are that He said, one thing is I'll make a way God can make away. When you see, there is no way God can make away. God has a way of opening doors that won't open.

58:20 Oh, in the name of all that is good. Okay that now you're telling people, hey, when you go into the new year, if you need a way God's gonna make away. You're making a promise that God's going to make away, and you're making a promise based off a text that is not promising those people anything. You're providing false promise, false comfort to people, because someone's gonna go into the new year and they're gonna find themselves. There could be some person sitting there in that building right there, good listening, some person who may be listening online, who knows what situation they're in. They could be in a situation where they're being molested. They could be in a situation where they're being beat. They could be in a situation whether they're dying of cancer. Oh, God's gonna make away. You know what's gonna happen the next year. Nothing's gonna get better. It could actually get worse. But you're making some promise and giving people some optimism based off a text that has nothing to do with anybody other than the original recipients. Now, I'm not saying there is an application, but you can't go and promise someone that God's going to make a way. He's making a way for them to come out of Babylonian captivity. How dare you take that and then offer that comfort to people facing whatever circumstance they're in, unless they're in Babylonian captivity, unless they were a part of Judah and Babylonian captivity, that promise is not for you.

59:37 He has a way of carving out roads that you don't even know exists. He has a way of making plans that you don't know it could even happen because God can do it. Now, notice when he talks about God making a way, he's saying this is a message to you that God can. Still perform miracles. Am I the only one that gets weary of hearing people say that God is not the same God today that he was when Jesus was on this earth and when the disciples and the apostles started the early Church. It's not the same God. Now. All of that's changed. No, I tell you what's changed. We have God.

1:00:20 Nobody says God has changed. Okay, God, oh man, God is obvious. God doesn't change. How he may operate the way he operates may change. That's not a change in God. God is the same God yesterday, today and forever. But you cannot deny. He's not parting the Red Sea and making food fall from heaven. It's a kind of glory. Is not dwelling in a temple. We're not doing animal sacrifices. There's been countless things that have changed. But God is still the same God. Jesus is not walking the earth in physical form.

1:01:08 What is any. God hasn't changed. His power hasn't changed. He can do anything, and the messages we serving God, that doesn't change. He has the same power this morning honey had when he created this earth. That's the message. It can happen the possibilities that's in front of you by being obedient to God. Then oh my goodness, Hey, so God, there's possibilities that God will do things with you if you are obedient to God. Well, then guess what.

1:01:48 Then God's not going to do any of that stuff for you because you're never obedient to God. You go, yes, I am No, You're in a perpetual state of disobedience. Do I need to prove it to you? Let me see. The Bible says, be holy as He is holy. Wait, You're never holy as God is holy. So you're in a perpetual state of practical disobedience because you never fulfilled that command. And Matthew and the Gospel and the Sermon on the Mount and the Gospel of Matthew. Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. You've never done that. You never come close to doing that, So you're in a perpetual state of disobedience. He says, to love God with all your heart, mind, body, and soul. You never do that. You're in a perpetual state of disobedience. Love your neighbor as yourself. You never pulled that off. You're in a perpetual state of disobedience. Do all things without complaining and grumbling. And I can go on and on and on and on and on and on. Do not lie, do not deceive, do not covid, do not lust, do not have bitterness, do not at anger, do on and on and on and on and on and on and on.

1:02:37 You are in a perpetual state of disobedience. Because God's law demands perfection internally and externally and thought, word, deed desire. You are in a perpetual state of disobedience. So therefore, if God's power is not going to do anything unless you're obedient, then you're in trouble. But guess what God's power showed up for Israel even when they were disobedient. Because the whole message is God is faithful even when his people are unfaithful. Man alife. You see why the Isaiah forty through fifty five, I mean, what a way to end this is? This is so just all right, We'll just go a couple of more minutes and we'll end.

1:03:18 Also, it's not only a matter of the way that God can make away, but notice something else he can do the miraculous in this sense, the last half of that nineteenth verse, he makes away in the wilderness and in the desert. It's one thing to make away, But to make away in the wilderness, there's no supplies in the wilderness. You don't have population. In the wilderness, you don't have people, you don't have individuals that you can turn to. God's making away at a place that it seems like it's impossible for that to happen.

1:03:58 To have a. In the wilderness, and in the desert, to have a river, What an amazing God that we save. Anybody can find water in the valley of plush lands where it rains frequently, But to find a desert with a river running through it. By the way, the desert doesn't stay a desert when the river runs through it. He's a God. I mean. The people love discerning the people love it. They're not learning anything about Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen, not one thing.

1:04:45 About the actual text. So I asked Ai, what are some ways? What are some ways that people miss use Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen. The first one was over spiritualizing and individualizing the text. You're hearing it a new thing they miss They apply a new thing to a personal resolution, life changes or general optimism about the future. The text is about God's redemptive work for Israel and his covenantal promises, not about individual self improvement or motivation. Another thing pastors do, according to Ai, is they ignore the historical context. They dispatch this passage.

1:05:27 They detach this passage from its historical setting and apply it as a timeless principle about God always doing something new. The new thing is specifically. About Israel's return from exile and does not promise constant novelty or change. For believers today. A third thing, they use it as a blank check for optimism, Ai says, interpreting the text as a general promise that God will do new things for everyone in every situation. The focus is on God's specific redemptive plan, not an assurance of perpetual new beginnings. So they so a. I goes on to say, here's some of the potential pitfalls and a happy New Year's sermon based on Isaiah forty three, eighteen through nineteen. If the sermon emphasizes vague ideas like new beginnings or fresh starts without addressing the historical context, it risks misrepresenting the text. Number two ignores Israel.

1:06:17 The passage is deeply rooted in God's covenant with Israel. Applying it directly to a New Year's message without acknowledging this focus erases the original meaning. Prosperity or self help focus. There's a danger of turning this passage into a feel good promise about personal success or achievements, which disminishes its pillological depth. AI called it almost like I asked, Ai, what's the how do people misuse it? And it laid out exactly how pastors misuse the text. And this sermon is basically it. Just like AI said, this is what pastors do, and this sermon it did every single thing AI said pastors do.

1:07:00 And here's the thing. So, how valuable is church? How valuable is church? People got dressed, they drove there, and they went there. Now the people of it, the people of it, because these are self help principles, these are feel good principles. Oh, we're going into a new year. God's gonna do a new thing. He can make away in the wilderness, he can make a river in the desert. He's gonna do. This for me, and bid this for me, and all these false, fake, fraudulent promises, creating a mirage that they're oh, look, I know you're dying of thirst. Look look, look, look, look look there's there's there's a there's a you know, a stream there, there's water there.

1:07:40 And you run and you jump and. You just find yourself faced in the dirt because it was a mirage. It was nothing there. It's it's an illusion, unbelievable. So well, ladies and gentlemen, there you have it. We end are sermons two point oh app sermon challenge with another example of how sermons in many cases have caused more problems and more damage to people understanding the scripture than they have done good. And here is my justification for this, my entire Christian life. What I have heard over and over. I heard it in Bible college, i heard it in seminary. I've seen it in research papers, doctrinal thesis, you name it. I've seen it over and over and over that we have a problem in the American Church. People are biblically illiterate. People are theiologically illiterate.

1:08:49 We've got to fix this problem. We've got to fix this problem. And with all the millions of sermons, we have not fixed the problem. Because the sermon is the problem. The sermon is the thing standing in the way. You have the people on one side, you have understanding on the other. And in between understanding and the people are sermons which completely blind people to understanding because they can never actually get to the text. Because sermons are there. To be well speeches and presentations and performances, and they're there to give people feel good messages or whatever the case may be, they don't actually get us to the actual text. And that's unacceptable. The sermons structure needs to be just demolished. It needs to be blown up, and we need to put in its place. We come to church, we bring Bibles and notebooks, and we dig into the text.

1:09:48 We don't care. We don't care if it agrees. With this system of theology or this system of theology. I don't care if it makes the reform people mad the non reform. We don't care about teams. We're not committed to any team, committed to anything other than the text itself. What is the text about? What is going on in Isaiah forty three. Now I'm not saying there aren't principles of application that could be brought to us, but you've got to handle them in a very, very very very very very careful way. But I'm not going to get into the application because what you just heard is someone completely misapply the entire text. So instead of focusing on how it applies. To us, we may need to go back to Isaiah forty three and just try to think about the original recipients and what it meant to them, because it's not about us. The new thing was them being delivered from Babylonian captivity. That is not a promise of God doing a new thing in twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six, twenty twenty seven, nineteen eighty seven, nineteen ninety four, whatever year, some pastor misuses the text. So, ladies and gentlemen, I hope your notebook is full. I hope it's been a good year. I hope you've learned a lot about hermeneutics. I hope you've learned a lot about how to listen to sermons. I hope you've had some great spiritual benefit from it. We can have a long talk about how much spiritual benefit

1:11:18 has to has come from this. I know this one thing. Reviewing sermons has gotten me more into the text than ever before, because well. You see what just happened there. We had to go, we had to look into the text. Now we're going to cover Isaiah forty three, verse by verse somewhere in twenty twenty five whenever we finish Isaiah forty one and forty two, and trust me, it won't sound anything like that. Thanks for listening. Everyone, have a wonderful new year, and we'll see what. I don't know. I don't know what we're going to do in twenty twenty five. I don't know, but I know this. Have the Sermons two point oh app on your.

1:12:01 Devices and utilize it. Because even though that was a frustrating sermon, guess what it caused us to do spend seventy two minutes considering Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen. So see, I may get frustrated by it, but I'm grateful that it's there. I want that sermon to be there. I want that sermon to be there for people. I want everyone to go listen to that sermon because it should force you to really spend time in Isaiah forty three eighteen through nineteen. If you won't just allow. The sermon to keep you from the text, if you'll allow the sermon to drive you to the text, then it's done it. Who cares how it gets you there? So I'm glad the sermon is there. I'm glad. I'm glad because it just allowed us to do what we've just done. All right, Thanks for listening.

1:12:44 Everyone, Have a great rest of your December, have a great New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, spend time with your family. If your situation is bad, I am so sorry. I apologize. I wish I could give you some promise that everything's going to do better, but I cannot give you. I can give you the promise that everything will be better in eternity. I can't give you any promise things are going to be better in the here and now. But I can tell you that you can cling to and trust in the fact that salvation is found in Jesus Christ. Your sins have been removed as far as the east is from the west because of his sacrificial death. Trust in him, rest in his finished work. That's what you can hold on to. I can't promise how life. I can't even promise how life is going to go from now to the end of before to the beginning of twenty twenty five, and we have no idea what twenty twenty five is going to hold. It's probably going to be filled with pain and difficulty and suffering and loneliness and for a lot of people. And that's the way life works. And I wish I could give you some promise it, oh, it's all going to be wonderful, But I can't because we do not have that promise.

1:13:47 We have the promise that in this life there's going to be difficulty, in pain and suffering. That's what we can know, so we can prepare ourselves for that instead of clinging to fraudulent promises offered by pastors who misuse scripture. Thanks listening, God bless