Jan. 11, 2025

Sermon Prep: Isaiah 40:25-28

Sermon Prep: Isaiah 40:25-28

A review of a sermon in Isaiah 40:25-28

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A review of a sermon in Isaiah 40:25-28

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

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the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good morning everyone.

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It is Saturday, January the eleventh, twenty twenty five. It

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is currently ten thirty seven am Central Time, and I

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am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio

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located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now, the last ten

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or fifteen minutes, I've been looking at podcasts, analytics, looking

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at statistics, and I was a little concerned. I was

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a little bothered, right because I opened everything up because

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I was going to fill out the metadata for this episode.

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Right because we broadcast live on the Sermon's two point

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zero app, the Sermon Audio platform, So before we go live,

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I always type out the metadata, the title, a description,

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all of that so people looking at the Sermonadio website

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they'll see it and go, oh, okay, that's that's what

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he's talking about today, all right. So I was filling

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all of that out and then doing so, I clicked

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on the analytics and I was like, wait, what that

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cannot be true. That cannot be true because the analytics

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indicated that we've only had three downloads and streams from January,

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the first to January the eleventh, which is today. I'm

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like three, I'm like, that's it. I give up. I'm

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I'm done.

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I was.

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I was just like, there's there, They're that's that's horrible.

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So I kept looking around and I'm like, okay, well,

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let's just move on. And as I was getting everything

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ready to go live, I realized there's something going wrong

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behind the scenes. Because all the information that I typically

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look look at on my iPad when I'm broadcasting, I

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typically can see I see a map of the United States.

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It will show me where people are tuning in. It'll

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get me numbers, right, not no numbers are showing up.

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The map is blank. So clearly there's something wrong behind

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the scenes. But things may be wrong behind the scenes,

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but hopefully, here behind this microphone, I can you know,

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I can hopefully accomplish something and maybe things will not

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go wrong during this broadcast. We're going to hope and see.

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But if things are going wrong like that, I always

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get nervous that well, is something going to happen to

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the live feed? Is everything going to drop out? Is

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the site the website going to crash, or the app's

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going to crash? What's going to happen, but I'm not

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going to worry about that. And what I'm going to

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try to do is, well, it's Saturday, right, so I'm

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gonna do some sermon prep and I'm gonna do my

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sermon prep right here live on the air, as I

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tend to do, because what I like to do on Saturdays.

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Even if I've done sermon prep throughout the week, which

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typically you know I have, and rarely do I get

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to a Saturday and haven't done any sermon prep. I mean,

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there may be one or two times where that's happened,

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but those are rare. But Saturday is where I really

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earn my attention. I'm like, Okay, all the work I've done,

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now I got to put it all together, and Saturday

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is where I really try to turn my focus onto

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everything that's going to happen on Sunday. That's where everything

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any other studies I've been working on, any of the

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discussions we've had on the podcast, I try to put

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them aside. I'm like, Okay, now we have to turn

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our attention to what I'm going to be talking about tomorrow. Well,

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tomorrow we return to Isaiah chapter forty. Specifically, tomorrow we're

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gonna be looking at verses nine through eleven Isaiah forty

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nine through eleven. Let me read it to you. I'll

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be reading from the King James Isaiah chapter forty nine

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through eleven. Oh Zion, that bring us good tidings, Get

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thee up in the high mountain, Oh Jerusalem, that bring

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us good tidings. Lift up thy voice with strength, lift

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it up. Be not afraid say into the cities of Judah,

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behold your God. Verse ten. Behold the Lord God will

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come with strong hand, and his arms shall rule for him. Behold,

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his reward is with him, and his work before him.

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He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall

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gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in

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his bosom, and shall gently lead those who are with young.

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That's Isaiah forty nine through eleven. Right, So, I have

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been working on Isaiah forty nine through eleven. I'd already

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worked on it, probably well over a week ago, done

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a lot of work on it. Then I did a

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lot of work this week, and then this morning I

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really started turning my attention to Isaiah forty nine through eleven,

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really digging in a little bit more, because well, that's

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what we're going to be talking about tomorrow at Victory

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Baptist Church. And I found myself this morning and about

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a forty five minute you can almost refer to it

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as an argument, as kind of a back and forth

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debate with artificial intelligence about Isaiah forty nine through eleven.

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I was putting for some ideas. AI did not like

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my ideas, kept pushing back. I kept pushing back. We

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went back and forth, back and forth, back and forth,

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back and forth, back and forth. And then finally kind

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of in the midst of this back and forth, an

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idea came to my mind about Isaiah forty nine through eleven,

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an idea that I'm going to focus on tomorrow. I'm

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going to change my entire Everything that I was going

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to preach tomorrow is going to get put aside. And

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I've changed everything probably in the last forty five minutes

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to an hour, because in fact, for those who are

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going to be listening to the sermons tomorrow, I want

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you to write down a couple of things. Right, if

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you have a piece of paper, I want you to

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write down number one, ordinary means, ordinary means. I want

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you to write that down ordinary means. And number two

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you write down supernatural means, ordinary means means supernatural means,

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because I believe Isaiah forty nine through eleven is really

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about maybe how to perceive ordinary means. Now, I'm not

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gonna give anything away because I don't want to start

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preaching and teaching it now, but that's where we're gonna

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be heading tomorrow. My approach is going to be looking

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at this concept of ordinary means versus supernatural means because

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I think Isaiah forty nine to eleven, at least in

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my mind at least, leads to this discussion. And there's

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a reason why. There's a lot of things we could discuss.

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We won't get into any of that now, but that's

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what we're gonna be doing. But after I got that already,

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I organized it. I'm like, okay, here we go, and

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I got I really have like three I probably have

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four specific messages all for tomorrow, even though I only

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have two hours, so I'm gonna have to really focus.

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I think we're gonna go with the ordinary versus supernatural

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means tomorrow. That's where the focus is going to be.

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Hopefully that turns out to be a good thing. But

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in the midst of all of that. So I've got

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all the analytical problems behind the scenes going on. Okay,

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I got all of that going on. I'm arguing with

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artificial intelligence. I'm redoing all of my sermons. Well, in

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the midst of all of that, I'm like, well, you

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know what I need to do right to really just

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kind of you know, really dig in and get my

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mind focused on Isaiah forty, Isaiah forty, Isaiah forty, because

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that's what I want to do. I want, I want,

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I always want to arrive at church with just my mind,

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you know, kind of swimming in whatever text we are

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going to be discussing, whatever, whatever we're going to be covering.

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And the way to do that in many cases is

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listen to, you know, countless sermons on a particular passage

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or read countless commentaries on a particular passage. Because the

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more information I have, the more information I'm bringing in,

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the more I can I can see things and structure

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things and maybe challenge interpretations, and it just leads me

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to being better prepared to engage in leading the people

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through a tech. So tomorrow it's Isaiah forty nine through eleven.

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I think it's going to be all about ordinary versus

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supernatural means. But in order to continue to keep my

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mind focused on Isaiah forty nine through eleven for sermon prep,

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let's review a sermon on Isaiah forty nine through eleven.

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So I went to the sermon, I think, I went

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to the sermonadio website, did a search for Isaiah forty

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nine through eleven. Now, the first one that jumped out

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at me was Isaiah forty nine through eleven, and then

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in parentheses it said baptism. And I'm like, what, someone

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took Isaiah forty nine through eleven and this is a

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sermon referring to baptism or about baptism or for a

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baptismal service. I'm like, what is going on? So I

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wanted to listen to that one, but I knew that

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that I would allay already be going in pretty much thinking, oh,

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this is going to be another example of someone misapplying, misinterpreting,

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twisting the scripture to make it about us, us us

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us us, and forget the people whom it is about.

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I mean, Isaiah, chapter forty, Oh Zion that bring us

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good timings, get the up in the high mountains, Oh Jerusalem.

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All right, say onto the Cities of Judah. I mean,

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I don't know, how how can you just read a

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text like that and like, hey, ladies and gentlemen, this

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is about us and about baptism. I don't know. I

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want to listen to that one just to see if

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it's going to be as bad as I am perceiving.

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My perception may be completely wrong. So but I knew

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I would go into that when probably expecting it to

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be bad. And if it was bad, is that really

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going to help me with my sermon prep Because we've

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already established in our series Isaiah forty through Isaiah chapter

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forty through Isaiah chapter fifty five, as early as we are.

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I mean, in some ways we're not that early into

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the series. But considering we're still in chapter forty, we

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just made it to verse nine, we're still early in

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the series. From that perspective we've already talked about it

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feels like a hundred times how sermons constantly misapply, misinterpret

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this section of scripture. That's why we're doing the series

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in the first place. So I didn't want to necessarily

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go to a sermon that I already knew is going

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to possibly do that. So I chose another one. This

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one is entitled the Wonder of God Part one. Now

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I'm like, okay, that's the Wonder of God. Well, the

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text says behold your God. Now immediately when it says

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the wonder of God, is it going to refer to

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the wonder of God or behold your God as it

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relates to the people who this text is actually about

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and two and four or is it once again going

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to push them out and push it and bring us in. Well, well,

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we we're going to see, but we're gonna review this now.

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The good thing about this one short The entire sermon

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is thirty minutes and forty nine seconds. Well, when you now,

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the only thing is I did fast forward through all

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the scripture reading the prayer because I wanted to. You know,

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we can't do a lot with that. I mean, I

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could do my typical review of an opening prayer, but

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you know what I'm going to say. And so we

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know with the so from the beginning of this sermon

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to the end, you know, there's gonna be like an

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introductory section to the sermon and then then the summarizing

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at the end. So probably the sermon total, it's probably

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about twenty five minutes So I don't know how in

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the world you can handle Isaiah forty nine through eleven

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in about twenty five minutes. This is gonna be a

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this is gonna be crazy. I'm already thinking we're gonna

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spend two hours tomorrow on Isaiah forty nine through eleven,

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and we're not even going to finish nine through eleven.

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We're gonna it's probably gonna take us maybe two three

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Sundays to finish Isaiah forty ninth. So I don't know

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how you can do this, but gonna I'm gonna definitely

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be curious to see. So are you ready? So for

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sermon prep now for you? You need it. Write down

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ordinary means, supernatural means, because that's what we're gonna be

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talking about tomorrow. But for now, I'm gonna try not

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to start preaching tomorrow's message. What I want to do

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is just kind of just immerse myself into discussion about

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this section of scripture so that I'll be more prepared

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for tomorrow. So here we go. You're ready, Let's listen.

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I have no idea what's about to happen. Let's hope

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it's going to be something beneficial.

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Well beloved Congregation, of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Think about it,

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the wonder.

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Of God.

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Scripture reveals God to us, or maybe we would more

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precisely say, God reveals himself in scripture to us as

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one who is a rock, as one who is a refuge,

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as one who is a shield and buckler, as one

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who is a high tower, and as one who is

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all of those things and so much more, as he

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comes to us in grace and in mercy, promising in

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his word that as we look to him for care

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and keeping, he will surely provide it.

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Okay, well, we're off to a wonderful start. Okay, immediately,

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do you notice what happened Isaiah forty nine through eleven

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is the text It's not about us in any way,

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shape or form. It's about Jude. It's about the cities

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of Judah. It's about their captivity. It's about their deliverance.

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That's what it's about. We've established that like nine hundred

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times already in our series in Isaiah forty through fifty five.

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And immediately, did you see it reveals to us, to us,

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to us, to us, us, to us, to us, and

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then say all of those things. He's a rock, He's

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a shield. He's a refuge, and he will provide that

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for us, us us. Oh, that drives me so crazy.

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It's maddening. I I've almost reached the point I have

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so much struggle with listening to sermons anymore. How did

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we end up in this text? How did we end

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up anywhere? And what do you do when you tell people, Hey,

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God is a rock, he's a protector, he's a defender,

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he's your shield. He's gonna do all of this for you. Now,

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I'm sorry that you're you know, you were molested for

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five years. I'm sorry that you were raped. I'm sorry

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that you died, this and this, and well, so how

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do we understand that? Now? When we look at these

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passages in the Old Testament, and many of them they

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make perfect sense, especially when we understand the context, because

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many of these things are spoken to is ry L,

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a nation whom God had made a covenant with, and

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he made covenants with them that he would protect, that

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he would provide, So it fits perfect It makes perfect

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sense within its historical context. But we take these things

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and say, it's about us, It's about us, it's about us.

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How do we just started? He just started as sermon

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on Isaiah forty nine to eleven, and immediately, it's not

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about them. It's not about they all of a sudden,

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now it's about me, you, us. I know I say

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this all the time Christians because of culture wars and

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because of all the issues going on within our culture,

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Christians are constantly griping and complaining about people's misuse of pronouns.

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And you've got to use the right pronouns. And I'm

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not going to use your preferred pronouns because pronouns, it's

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about reality, it's about truth. Well, then we come to

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the Bible, and when the text is about them, them,

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they all of a sudden, it's about me, you, we us.

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I'm more worried about the wrong pronouns when it comes

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to interpreting scripture. How did we end up here? How

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did it become about us? That's about them? Don't we

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start with them? But okay, he's already talked how God

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reveals to us. God will provide. He's a buckler, a shield,

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a refuge, a rock for us. It's all become about us.

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Now I'm assuming he's going to get back to them.

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But man, it always just makes me nervous, especially in

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a sermon. It's already less than thirty minutes left of

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the sermon. It's down to about twenty something minutes, and

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already we've started off with us. I don't know why

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we always start with us when we're dealing with a

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text that's about them.

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Wow, the wonder of God. Indeed, we approach this sermon

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as we should all sermons. But when the wonder of

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God is before us, we approach a servant or a

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subject like this, not perched high on the seat of judgment,

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but bowed low in reference, with shoes off of our feet,

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so to speak, knowing without doubt that we stand on

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holy ground. The burden of Isaiah chapter forty, verse twenty five,

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and as I mentioned verse eighteen, very similar, is that

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God wants his people to know that He will not

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permit himself to be likened by them to the idols

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and false gods of the nations. And the problem in

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Israel during Isaiah's day is that the people were doing

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just that. Isaiah addressing the nation as captives, calling them God,

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calling them by his prophet to this repentance and mindfulness.

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The people had come to the point where where they

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seem to have forgotten the greatness of God and seem

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to be focused on comparing the Lord with the idols

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and superstitions all around them. Instead, it's what John Calvin

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said was vanity joined with pride, and what God is

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saying here in verse twenty five is essentially this will

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you rob me of my majesty by such foolish comparisons

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as these? So let's keep that in mind. The wonder

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of God here in Isaiah. You can see the Pew

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Bible has that heading for us at the beginning of

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verse nine. The Greatness of God well known passage here

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in Isaiah chapter forty, verses nine to thirty one, looking

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at verse twenty five for the text if you will,

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but tonight just looking at verses twenty six to twenty

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eight with this theme, Our God challenges us by asking

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who is like me?

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Okay, well, I don't know what we're gonna get actually

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nine through eleven. Okay, So God challenges us. Note even

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the way he's going. God challenges us us us us

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us us, we we me me you all right, So

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I don't think we're gonna actually get nine to eleven.

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When I looked up Isaiah forty nine through eleven, this

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this is the sermon it gave me. Pastors, when you

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fill out your metadata, if you're not going to cover

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a passage of scripture when it asked you to include

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the scripture, just don't put that section, right. That would

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be great for those of us who search out sermons

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on a particular text. Okay, please help us out. All right,

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So we're gonna go with this. All right, we're gonna

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go with this. So we're gonna be in Isaiah forty

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twenty five through thirty one. It looks like we'll read

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this Isaiah forty twenty five through thirty one. Hey, this

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is the fun part of going into these sermon reviews

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blind right, This is the fun part. Sometimes it can

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be maddening and frustrated. I'm gonna have to pivot because

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I was ready to talk about Isaiah forty nine to eleven.

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I'm ready to go. I've spent hours and hours and

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hours with it. So but we're gonna pivot Isaiah forty

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twenty five To whom then, will ye yee like in me?

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Or shall I be equal saith the Holy One? To

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whom will you liking me? That you there is referencing

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to a specific people. He did briefly mention them all right,

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lift up your eyes. That's that's that's them right, And

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behold who hath created these things that bringeth out their

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host by number? He calleth them all by names, by

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the greatness of his mind. For that he is strong.

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He is strong and power, not one faileth Now look

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carefully so we know exactly who's being spoken of. In

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case there's any confusion, or just in case this pastor

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decides not to really deal with the reality of this text.

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Look at verse twenty seven. What sayest thou, oh, Jacob? Right,

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So the text constantly returns back to making sure we

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know exactly who this is about. Let's see if how

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this would apply to the people in its context, if

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it's going to be discussed. Here we go. We only

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have about twenty minutes left of this sermon, so he's

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going to have to move fast.

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And the first thing then that we'll ask ourselves as

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we consider his question to us is why does God

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challenge us like this?

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It's not God's question to us. It's not God challenging us.

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It's God asking a question to them. He is challenging them.

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It's not a question to us it's not him challenging us,

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it's them. Why is this so complicated? And preaching the

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text says it's them? I mean, what do I have

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to do to demonstrate this over and over and over?

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Why is it so complicated in Isaiah forty through fifty five?

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Can anyone answer this question? Why is it so difficult

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for a pastor simply to open up Isaiah forty through

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fifty five and refer to them them them them. Now

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I'm not saying we can't learn anything from it, but

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don't we have to? Why are we rephrasing this is

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God's challenge to us? No, I'm not in Babylonian captivity.

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You're not in Babylonian captivity at this time, So don't

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we have to understand it? I just don't get it.

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I don't get it. I don't get it. All right,

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let's see, he's got to have to go back to them.

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He's got to go back to them, right, that can't

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be forgotten.

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So as things open up then Verses twenty six to

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twenty eight, if you have your Bible open, you can

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see him there on the bottom of that right hand page.

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Maybe we could summarize things here by talking about the

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people having lost sight remember of the majesty, justice, and

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power of God. In answer to the question that God

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asks in verse twenty five, it's as though a dullness

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and a sluggishness has come upon the people, and all

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of us are prone to this.

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Now, wait, let's put this in its historical context, right,

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Isaiah forty through fifty five. I don't know if he's

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going to even establish this is God's message to those

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in Babylonian captivity. Now they are in Babylon. Let's go

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with that. Okay, Now is Babylon. What do we know

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about the Babylonians and idolatry? Are the Babylonians and their gods?

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What do you know anything about that? What do we

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know about the Babylonians and their religion? The religion of Babylon?

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What do we know? What do we know? So let's

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let's since he's not going to be because he's seeing

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these people, we got to put this section. If God

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is speaking to them about to whom, then will ye

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those in Babylonian captive Babylonian captivity like in me too?

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Maybe this is specifically that maybe they're dull, Maybe they're

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going through some of these issues. I don't know because

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they've been in captivity for seventy years. I mean, do

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we do we not at least consider the historical context

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even slightly. So let's do a little bit of work here.

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Let's do a little bit of work here. Oh, this

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is gonna I'm gonna. I'm telling you, I'm gonna lose

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my mind. Okay, remember how twenty twenty four ended. Twenty

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twenty four ended with me slowly but surely losing my

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mind because of summone reviews. I tried to make it

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positive at the end, but this is where I get

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so frustrated. All right, So what I'm going to do is,

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I'm gonna go to hang on. I'm gonna I'm going

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to go to let me look down here, I'm going

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to outline I'm going to outline the uh outline the

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religious beliefs of the Babylonians hang on during the time

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of Judah's Judah's captivity. What Okay? Did they have many

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false God and idol? Sorry, here we go. Let's just

422
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do a little brief work here, all right. So the

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Babylonian Empire six twenty six to five thirty nine BC,

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during the time of Judas captivity was deeply polytheistic, with

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a pantheon of gods and religious practices that were central

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to their cultural and daily life. Their religion was closely

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tied to their political and social structures and heavily influenced

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their worldview. Below was an outline of their beliefs, practices,

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and the role of false gods and idols. Now, ladies

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and gentlemen, what is happening right now? This was not

431
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my intent. My intent was to do sermon prep. But

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what is this turning into? This is turning into what

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twenty twenty five is about ai versus sermons. We're listening

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to a sermon that went to Isaiah forty starting in

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verse twenty five to thirty one immediately made it about

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us forgot them. And then it's now kind of saying, hey,

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these people were dull, These people were, you know, being

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blinded by idols. Well wait a minute, do we want

439
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to at least try to understand possibly, why do you

440
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realize that they were in captivity for seventy years? That

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means there's people who were born and raised in captivity.

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So are they not going to be Possibly? I don't

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know the gods they're going to be hearing about are

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going to be the false gods. The gods they are

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going to be seeing is going to be the false gods.

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And well, they may hear stories about their god, but

447
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they know that their God hasn't gotten them out of

448
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Babylonian captivity. Don't you think the allure and the and

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the pull to another god could not? Could that not

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possibly explain it? Should we not at least discuss this?

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Are the core beliefs of the Babylonians system polytheism. The

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Babylonians worshiped many gods, each with specific roles and attributes.

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Their gods were often associated with natural forces the sun,

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the moon, the water, and societal function justice, war, and fertility. Well,

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if they have god gods dealing with their social functions

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or societal functions, guess what they're the They are the captive,

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they are the captors, They are the conquerors. They have

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conquered Israel. So in some sense, if you're in this system,

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you may say, well, maybe there God is greater than

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our god. Maybe we should look to their gods because

461
00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:26.759
their gods captured us, destroyed our temple, destroyed our city.

462
00:28:27.759 --> 00:28:31.960
The cosmic order Marduk, the chief god of Babylon was

463
00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:35.240
considered the king of the gods according to the Babylonian mythology,

464
00:28:35.440 --> 00:28:37.559
and then it goes through and talks about everything that

465
00:28:37.640 --> 00:28:42.319
happened here. Anthropomorphic gods. Babylonian gods were depicted as having

466
00:28:42.480 --> 00:28:46.559
human traits, emotions, and weaknesses. They were thought to interact

467
00:28:46.559 --> 00:28:51.720
with humanity, requiring worship, sacrifices, and rituals to maintain favor.

468
00:28:52.880 --> 00:28:56.039
The king, seen as chosen by the gods to rule

469
00:28:56.119 --> 00:29:01.519
on their behalf. Babylonian rulers like Nebaconezer oft the often

470
00:29:01.559 --> 00:29:05.799
credited their victories and accomplishments to the favor of the gods.

471
00:29:05.960 --> 00:29:08.400
See if everyone in Babylon would have been like, we

472
00:29:08.440 --> 00:29:13.519
defeated Israel. Our gods are greater than their gods, and

473
00:29:13.559 --> 00:29:18.559
then it names a number of their false gods, mark Duke, Ishatar,

474
00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:28.839
Nabu sin or Nana, shamesh adad Tamat. They had idols.

475
00:29:28.839 --> 00:29:32.240
The Babylonians created idols to represent their gods, believing these

476
00:29:32.240 --> 00:29:36.920
physical objects housed divine presence. Temples were constructed as places

477
00:29:36.920 --> 00:29:39.799
where gods could descend to interact with humans. Idols were

478
00:29:39.799 --> 00:29:43.799
made of precious materials and treated as sacred, receiving food, drink,

479
00:29:43.960 --> 00:29:47.920
and care, widespread idolatry. I mean, come on, now, we

480
00:29:47.960 --> 00:29:50.359
can understand now when you come to a text here

481
00:29:50.400 --> 00:29:53.960
in Isaiah forty, verses twenty five through thirty one, if

482
00:29:54.000 --> 00:29:56.400
you're going to in any way shape or form, say, okay,

483
00:29:56.680 --> 00:30:01.240
why is God speaking to Judah, who's and Babylonian captivity

484
00:30:01.519 --> 00:30:07.319
about idolatry? Because they are in Babylon. There is idols everywhere,

485
00:30:07.559 --> 00:30:12.119
there's false gods everywhere. It makes perfect sense to why

486
00:30:12.559 --> 00:30:15.799
maybe these things are happening. Now? Is this sermon going

487
00:30:15.839 --> 00:30:20.519
to place this in any form of historical context, cultural context,

488
00:30:20.799 --> 00:30:23.599
textual context, or is it just going to become about

489
00:30:23.640 --> 00:30:27.359
you and me? Well, let's find.

490
00:30:27.160 --> 00:30:32.160
Out so that when God asks this question, it's a

491
00:30:32.200 --> 00:30:37.079
way then of arousing us, of exciting us, of awakening us.

492
00:30:37.279 --> 00:30:40.039
Did you notice, especially early on in that reading of

493
00:30:40.519 --> 00:30:45.160
Isaiah forty, how often that word behold is used by

494
00:30:45.160 --> 00:30:49.000
the prophet as God speaks through him, not only too

495
00:30:49.000 --> 00:30:51.880
ancient Israel, but to us as well. That's a way

496
00:30:51.920 --> 00:30:54.400
of snapping the fingers, that's the way of getting the attention,

497
00:30:54.680 --> 00:30:57.640
that's the way of arresting the mind and of grabbing

498
00:30:57.720 --> 00:31:02.599
the heart, be whole your God, just like verse nine

499
00:31:02.920 --> 00:31:07.400
mentions to us. But verse twenty six, where we're at tonight.

500
00:31:08.680 --> 00:31:13.200
Us us us us us us us, he briefly mentions them,

501
00:31:13.519 --> 00:31:15.599
and again he's is he even going to explain when

502
00:31:15.640 --> 00:31:18.319
he says the prop the prophet wrote this. But the

503
00:31:18.359 --> 00:31:22.680
prophet Isaiah was dead during this time, all right. Remember

504
00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:25.759
he put these words together maybe about some with some

505
00:31:25.799 --> 00:31:28.279
sources say one hundred and thirty years, but about one

506
00:31:28.359 --> 00:31:31.359
hundred years before they even go into captivity. So we

507
00:31:31.480 --> 00:31:33.640
have to at least keep that in mind. Are we

508
00:31:33.640 --> 00:31:36.759
gonna Are we gonna put this in any accurate perspective?

509
00:31:36.960 --> 00:31:38.759
So let's see where this is going to go. I mean,

510
00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:40.759
we don't have a lot of time left with this sermon,

511
00:31:41.279 --> 00:31:43.039
and in fact, we may not even listen to all of

512
00:31:43.079 --> 00:31:46.519
it because I think this is going completely the opposite direction.

513
00:31:46.640 --> 00:31:50.119
I wanted Isaiah forty nine to eleven, so but okay,

514
00:31:50.599 --> 00:31:53.599
I got no problem dealing with twenty five through thirty one.

515
00:31:54.000 --> 00:31:57.440
It's kind of sermon prep way into the future. You're

516
00:31:57.480 --> 00:31:59.160
gonna know where we're gonna go when we get there,

517
00:31:59.200 --> 00:32:01.160
because obviously, when we get there, we're going to talk

518
00:32:01.160 --> 00:32:05.119
about Babylon and well idolatry, so that we understand the context, right,

519
00:32:05.160 --> 00:32:08.119
I mean, wouldn't that be important? I don't know. Possibly.

520
00:32:10.119 --> 00:32:13.519
Knight is a call that God gives to the people.

521
00:32:13.960 --> 00:32:17.279
It's as though he's saying, come on outside, look up

522
00:32:17.319 --> 00:32:20.200
at the sky, so that you might see beyond the

523
00:32:20.240 --> 00:32:25.240
stars and the planets, and behold me, the one who

524
00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:29.359
has fashioned and created and distributed all of them across

525
00:32:29.400 --> 00:32:35.160
the span of the heavens. It's a skillful ordering of

526
00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:40.119
the universe that God wants his people to see, using

527
00:32:40.160 --> 00:32:44.400
that then as a mirror, a reflection by which they

528
00:32:44.480 --> 00:32:49.799
might then behold his surpassing majesty and greatness. Because even

529
00:32:49.839 --> 00:32:52.359
as we confessed there in the Belgian Confession, God, as

530
00:32:52.400 --> 00:32:57.279
scripture teaches, is in his own nature invisible. And yet God,

531
00:32:57.400 --> 00:33:01.799
who is invisible, has given a visible reflection of himself

532
00:33:02.279 --> 00:33:06.039
in the glory and grandeur of creation. And that's what

533
00:33:06.079 --> 00:33:09.400
God is calling the people to remember here. It's a

534
00:33:09.880 --> 00:33:14.319
sort of summons that's well suited to us as human beings,

535
00:33:14.359 --> 00:33:18.200
isn't it. After all? Think about it. Among all of

536
00:33:18.200 --> 00:33:22.279
the earthly creatures, man included, Man is the only one

537
00:33:22.279 --> 00:33:26.079
that laughs and weeps, and man is the only one

538
00:33:26.079 --> 00:33:30.119
who struck with the difference between the way things are

539
00:33:31.480 --> 00:33:36.000
and the way things ought to be. We are reflective

540
00:33:36.559 --> 00:33:40.039
on creation as image bearers of God in a way

541
00:33:40.079 --> 00:33:42.839
that the brute beasts, much less the birds and the

542
00:33:42.880 --> 00:33:45.960
insects and the creepy crawleys never can or will be.

543
00:33:47.200 --> 00:33:49.160
And that was brought home to me at one point,

544
00:33:49.720 --> 00:33:52.400
probably two thousand and six, maybe two thousand and seven.

545
00:33:53.279 --> 00:33:55.759
Karen and the kids at that point had gone out

546
00:33:55.799 --> 00:33:58.720
to Washington already, and I was coming down by myself

547
00:33:58.720 --> 00:34:03.000
from Winnipeg, driving all alone the long trip from Winnipeg

548
00:34:03.079 --> 00:34:06.119
to Portchard, Washington. But I had our dog with us,

549
00:34:06.319 --> 00:34:08.840
and he was in the front seat as my trusting

550
00:34:08.880 --> 00:34:11.800
companion for that trip. And I remember we were just

551
00:34:12.039 --> 00:34:15.880
west of Fargo on Interstate ninety four, and it must

552
00:34:15.920 --> 00:34:17.880
have been around the fourth of July, because they had

553
00:34:17.920 --> 00:34:20.880
this huge fireworks display. It looked like off in the

554
00:34:20.920 --> 00:34:25.199
distance over some rodeo, and I'm driving down the road

555
00:34:25.239 --> 00:34:28.159
looking over there and keeping my eye here and enjoying

556
00:34:28.199 --> 00:34:30.320
the light show. And I tried to get the dog's

557
00:34:30.360 --> 00:34:32.519
attention to have him look at the fireworks and to

558
00:34:32.559 --> 00:34:34.880
see if he would notice them, but he had no

559
00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:37.559
clue about what I was trying to do, much less

560
00:34:37.599 --> 00:34:39.880
of any of the brightness and the brilliance that was

561
00:34:39.920 --> 00:34:44.960
out there for anybody to see. It doesn't work to

562
00:34:45.119 --> 00:34:49.280
draw a dumb animal's attention to the glory of fireworks,

563
00:34:49.559 --> 00:34:53.719
much less to the glory of God displayed in creation.

564
00:34:54.719 --> 00:34:57.639
And so in a nutshell, these words here in verse

565
00:34:57.679 --> 00:35:02.239
twenty six, there their rebus to Israel, because they are

566
00:35:02.480 --> 00:35:06.519
tempted to liken the idle gods of the nations, which

567
00:35:06.599 --> 00:35:10.519
were associated with the stars and the planets and the

568
00:35:10.519 --> 00:35:16.159
creaturely elements of the heavenly bodies, and compare them to

569
00:35:16.239 --> 00:35:20.920
the one who upholds all of what he himself has fashioned.

570
00:35:22.840 --> 00:35:25.159
Now I'm glad he at least mentions Israel. He at

571
00:35:25.239 --> 00:35:28.800
least at least we've gotten back to Israel being mentioned here.

572
00:35:29.280 --> 00:35:33.639
But is he not going to explain why they may

573
00:35:33.719 --> 00:35:37.840
be in this position because they are in Babylonian captivity.

574
00:35:38.119 --> 00:35:41.079
They're going to be there for seventy years at this

575
00:35:41.119 --> 00:35:44.199
point when this is meant, when this message is supposed

576
00:35:44.239 --> 00:35:46.840
to really be applicable to them, Maybe they're getting they're

577
00:35:46.840 --> 00:35:49.239
getting close to the end of those seventy years, so

578
00:35:49.280 --> 00:35:51.480
whenever this message is ultimately I mean, in some ways

579
00:35:51.480 --> 00:35:53.679
the message was given to them before they even get there,

580
00:35:53.880 --> 00:35:56.760
because Isaiah, you know, put it together over one hundred

581
00:35:56.840 --> 00:36:00.000
years before. But the point is this message would if

582
00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:03.800
if you put this in its context. They're in Babylonian captivity. Now,

583
00:36:03.880 --> 00:36:06.239
let's take a minute step back look at the religion

584
00:36:06.280 --> 00:36:09.239
of Babylon, and we could see why they would be

585
00:36:09.320 --> 00:36:12.159
possibly drawn to it. What could possibly lead them to

586
00:36:12.159 --> 00:36:14.920
be drawn to it? What could it be? I don't know.

587
00:36:15.400 --> 00:36:19.760
They're in captivity, their God doesn't appear to be anywhere,

588
00:36:20.119 --> 00:36:24.079
and the gods of Babylon are everywhere, and the gods

589
00:36:24.079 --> 00:36:28.920
of Babylon well has destroyed Jerusalem in their temple and

590
00:36:29.000 --> 00:36:31.360
put them in captivity. So you could see why there

591
00:36:31.400 --> 00:36:35.119
may be, especially in this culture, there could be some thought, hmm,

592
00:36:36.639 --> 00:36:40.280
where is our God? Our God was obviously defeated by

593
00:36:40.320 --> 00:36:42.760
their god. There would be you could see why they

594
00:36:42.760 --> 00:36:45.039
would be drawn to that. Do we not at least

595
00:36:45.079 --> 00:36:49.280
discuss that, do we not at least place it in

596
00:36:49.320 --> 00:36:52.880
any context? Or do we just simply throw our condemnation

597
00:36:53.400 --> 00:36:58.079
upon them?

598
00:36:58.199 --> 00:36:59.280
Do you see.

599
00:37:00.440 --> 00:37:04.000
The minimizing of God that takes place in that the

600
00:37:04.039 --> 00:37:09.159
heavenly bodies are creaturely elements, and the nations worshiped them

601
00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:11.760
rather than the one who had made them.

602
00:37:11.800 --> 00:37:12.960
And even among.

603
00:37:12.719 --> 00:37:17.480
Ancient Near Eastern cosmogonies, the ancient Near Eastern stories of

604
00:37:17.639 --> 00:37:21.079
the origin and development or birth of the world, even

605
00:37:21.119 --> 00:37:25.400
among those ancient Near Eastern stories, there was nothing comparable

606
00:37:25.800 --> 00:37:28.519
to the elegance and the grandeur of what we know

607
00:37:28.599 --> 00:37:29.800
as Genesis Chapter one.

608
00:37:30.639 --> 00:37:32.519
Typically, the ancient Near Eastern.

609
00:37:32.239 --> 00:37:35.400
Stories of how the universe began were it was the

610
00:37:35.400 --> 00:37:38.800
sort of collateral damage from a battle taking place between

611
00:37:38.840 --> 00:37:42.960
the gods, or even gods would have their bodily fluids

612
00:37:43.400 --> 00:37:46.079
cast into the heavens, and that's where the stars and

613
00:37:46.159 --> 00:37:50.920
the planets came from. It's very pagan, very crass, very

614
00:37:51.000 --> 00:37:54.199
much beneath the dignity of the true and living God,

615
00:37:54.239 --> 00:37:56.800
who is the author and maker and framer of all things,

616
00:37:56.920 --> 00:38:03.400
to be associated with that kind of Haagen pornography in religion.

617
00:38:04.880 --> 00:38:09.679
And so while verse twenty six simultaneously destroys the folly

618
00:38:09.719 --> 00:38:13.159
of comparing false gods to the living and true God,

619
00:38:13.679 --> 00:38:16.840
the one who is sovereign overall, it also makes a

620
00:38:17.039 --> 00:38:23.280
solid defense of Yahweh's lordship over heaven and earth, just

621
00:38:23.320 --> 00:38:26.000
like we sing right in number three hundred and two

622
00:38:26.239 --> 00:38:29.039
from oursalter Hymnal. Our Lord is great, he calls by

623
00:38:29.119 --> 00:38:33.119
name and counts the stars of night. His wisdom is unsearchable,

624
00:38:34.039 --> 00:38:39.920
and wondrous is his might verses twenty seven and twenty

625
00:38:39.960 --> 00:38:45.119
eight two verses finishing off our preaching passage per se

626
00:38:45.159 --> 00:38:49.960
tonight basically a word, an extended word of admonishment and

627
00:38:50.039 --> 00:38:54.000
correction that God brings to the people, addressing them formally

628
00:38:54.039 --> 00:38:58.840
as Jacob as Israel, chiding them for thinking that somehow

629
00:38:59.079 --> 00:39:02.480
they're their sinful ways can be hidden from God, from God,

630
00:39:02.519 --> 00:39:05.159
and that the judgment the right, which is what that means,

631
00:39:05.159 --> 00:39:08.920
the judgment they deserve, would be somehow disregarded from God.

632
00:39:09.480 --> 00:39:14.760
And we need to remember that too. Right if we are,

633
00:39:15.360 --> 00:39:18.159
if we are trapped in hypocrisy, or if we go

634
00:39:18.239 --> 00:39:21.480
astray in disobedience, or if we come to a point

635
00:39:21.480 --> 00:39:25.000
where we no longer care in our hearts to serve

636
00:39:25.039 --> 00:39:29.360
the Lord, even though formerly and outwardly things might look good,

637
00:39:30.760 --> 00:39:34.119
Are we so foolish in that state to think that

638
00:39:34.159 --> 00:39:36.880
such can be hidden from God and to think that

639
00:39:36.920 --> 00:39:40.320
He won't be aware of what is in the recesses

640
00:39:40.360 --> 00:39:43.679
of our hearts. Now the idols of the nations, Sure

641
00:39:44.679 --> 00:39:47.239
things can look good on the outside for those who

642
00:39:47.320 --> 00:39:49.960
serve them, because the idols of the nations, like we

643
00:39:50.039 --> 00:39:53.000
sang this morning in Saw one fifteen. They might have eyes,

644
00:39:53.079 --> 00:39:55.760
but they can't see. They might have ears, but they

645
00:39:55.760 --> 00:39:58.400
can't hear. They might have a mouth, but they can't speak.

646
00:39:58.679 --> 00:40:03.199
What a contrast they are like my dog, dumb animals

647
00:40:03.239 --> 00:40:06.039
and idols to the Living and True God, who not

648
00:40:06.079 --> 00:40:08.599
only has eyes, if you will, but who is the

649
00:40:08.639 --> 00:40:12.599
only searcher of hearts, and who knows and sees and

650
00:40:12.760 --> 00:40:19.400
hears all things. For that reason, God reproves the people

651
00:40:20.280 --> 00:40:25.639
for forgetting what they had known and what they should know.

652
00:40:26.159 --> 00:40:33.519
In verse twenty eight, the He alone is the everlasting God,

653
00:40:34.800 --> 00:40:36.239
the creator.

654
00:40:35.920 --> 00:40:37.360
Of all things.

655
00:40:37.400 --> 00:40:39.239
Look at the language at the top of the page

656
00:40:39.239 --> 00:40:43.039
there in seven sixty four, the creator of the ends

657
00:40:43.119 --> 00:40:50.199
of the earth. Perhaps in all of the Old Testament,

658
00:40:51.159 --> 00:40:56.760
perhaps that's very close to the distinguishing mark of Israel's

659
00:40:56.760 --> 00:41:00.519
God in comparison to the idols and false gods of

660
00:41:00.559 --> 00:41:05.880
the nations, is that He, the Holy One, is the

661
00:41:06.000 --> 00:41:08.320
creator of all things.

662
00:41:10.119 --> 00:41:15.480
This is just so bizarre this approach. I it's almost

663
00:41:15.519 --> 00:41:20.519
as if like he makes little callbacks to the original recipients,

664
00:41:20.679 --> 00:41:23.840
but he's not in any way putting these words together

665
00:41:24.320 --> 00:41:28.639
and addressing the people whom they were addressed too. So

666
00:41:29.119 --> 00:41:30.679
if we do a little bit of work here when

667
00:41:30.679 --> 00:41:32.800
we get to Isaiah forty, make sure we remember it

668
00:41:32.840 --> 00:41:35.119
marks a significant shift in the Book of Isaiah. We've

669
00:41:35.119 --> 00:41:38.360
talked about this like a thousand times because Isaiah one

670
00:41:38.400 --> 00:41:41.079
through thirty nine is the message of judgment, and then

671
00:41:41.119 --> 00:41:43.880
we get a message of comfort and hope Isaiah forty.

672
00:41:44.239 --> 00:41:46.000
You could go all the way to sixty six, but

673
00:41:46.119 --> 00:41:49.079
Isaiah forty through fifty five we referred to as the

674
00:41:49.119 --> 00:41:52.760
Book of Comfort or the Book of consolation. Isaiah forty

675
00:41:52.760 --> 00:41:56.760
specifically addresses the exiles and Babylon. In fact, the entire

676
00:41:56.800 --> 00:42:00.280
section does, assuring them, though specifically in chapter forty, of

677
00:42:00.320 --> 00:42:04.440
God's ability and intention to deliver them. This section emphasizes

678
00:42:04.480 --> 00:42:10.320
God's greatness, his sovereignty, and his faithfulness and contrast to

679
00:42:10.360 --> 00:42:13.320
the weakness of human rulers and idols. Now, again this

680
00:42:13.440 --> 00:42:17.000
is going to be very important because the people in

681
00:42:17.039 --> 00:42:19.960
this situation, what are they going to see? They see

682
00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.159
the greatness of Babylon. They see the greatness of their gods,

683
00:42:24.320 --> 00:42:27.880
they see the greatness of their idols, because they're the conquerors,

684
00:42:28.119 --> 00:42:31.800
and they are the ones who have been conquered, all right.

685
00:42:32.679 --> 00:42:39.599
They understand their situation looks hopeless, helpless, It looks depressing, discouraging.

686
00:42:39.719 --> 00:42:43.079
People have come into Babylonian captivity. People have died within

687
00:42:43.159 --> 00:42:46.239
that captivity. Others have been born. That's all they know.

688
00:42:46.599 --> 00:42:50.000
Their situation would be very difficult. Now God brings comfort

689
00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:52.039
to them, but He's got to remind them of very

690
00:42:52.079 --> 00:42:57.599
specific things Isaiah forty twenty five through thirty one. As

691
00:42:57.639 --> 00:43:00.679
a part of a larger argument about God's in comparable

692
00:43:00.719 --> 00:43:04.360
power and care, the prophet confronts the doubts of the

693
00:43:04.400 --> 00:43:09.559
exiled Israelites who may have felt abandoned by God, and

694
00:43:09.599 --> 00:43:12.960
he reminds them of his sovereignty as creator and sustainer.

695
00:43:13.119 --> 00:43:16.960
We've talked about this. These people, even though they theoretically

696
00:43:17.000 --> 00:43:18.719
may believe in a God, they believe in a God

697
00:43:18.760 --> 00:43:21.480
in whom they cannot see. Yet they live in a

698
00:43:21.519 --> 00:43:26.440
situation surrounded by idols and gods who appear and seem

699
00:43:26.480 --> 00:43:29.760
to be the conqueror. The ones that are providing for

700
00:43:29.840 --> 00:43:35.239
these people. These people, their whole everything around them would scream,

701
00:43:35.360 --> 00:43:38.199
where is your God? Everything around them would scream, Your

702
00:43:38.239 --> 00:43:40.719
God is dead, Your God is not there, your God

703
00:43:40.760 --> 00:43:44.119
has abandoned you, or maybe your God doesn't even exist.

704
00:43:45.719 --> 00:43:49.079
That's the power of this passage. To remove it from

705
00:43:49.079 --> 00:43:52.840
its original recipients, destroys its real You can try to

706
00:43:52.840 --> 00:43:59.519
make it powerful about us, but it's really about them

707
00:44:00.320 --> 00:44:03.199
forty twenty five through twenty six. To whom, then, will

708
00:44:03.239 --> 00:44:06.079
you compare me that I should be like him? Says

709
00:44:06.119 --> 00:44:08.639
the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and

710
00:44:08.679 --> 00:44:11.960
see who created these He who brings out their host

711
00:44:12.000 --> 00:44:15.079
by numbers, calling them all by name, by the greatness

712
00:44:15.079 --> 00:44:17.480
of his mind, and because he is strong and power,

713
00:44:17.760 --> 00:44:20.280
not one is missing. This seems to be referring to

714
00:44:20.320 --> 00:44:24.280
the heavens to the stars to look up. God challenges

715
00:44:24.360 --> 00:44:28.199
Israel to consider his uniqueness and greatness. Unlike idols are

716
00:44:28.280 --> 00:44:30.920
human rulers, He is the creator of the universe. They're

717
00:44:30.920 --> 00:44:33.039
going to need to have to. He wants them to know.

718
00:44:33.519 --> 00:44:36.320
I am the Creator. I am greater than all of these.

719
00:44:36.480 --> 00:44:39.159
I know they look greater. I know, in your circumstances

720
00:44:39.199 --> 00:44:45.360
look more powerful, But I am the Creator. The host

721
00:44:45.360 --> 00:44:49.400
here refers to the stars, which are often deified in

722
00:44:49.480 --> 00:44:52.360
ancient Near Eastern cultures. God, however, is shown as the

723
00:44:52.360 --> 00:44:55.920
one who created and commands them, calling them each by name.

724
00:44:56.320 --> 00:44:59.599
This reminder of God's power over creation would reassure the

725
00:44:59.599 --> 00:45:03.159
exile that he is fully capable of orchestrating their deliverance

726
00:45:03.159 --> 00:45:06.760
From Babylon and verses twenty seven through twenty eight, we

727
00:45:06.920 --> 00:45:09.760
read why do you say, oh Jacob and speak O Israel?

728
00:45:09.840 --> 00:45:12.519
My way is hidden from the Lord. My right is

729
00:45:12.599 --> 00:45:15.559
disregarded by my God. Have you not known? Have you

730
00:45:15.639 --> 00:45:18.719
not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator

731
00:45:18.800 --> 00:45:20.800
the ends of the earth. He does not faint or

732
00:45:20.880 --> 00:45:26.199
grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. The exiles felt forgotten

733
00:45:26.400 --> 00:45:29.519
and abandoned, believing their plight was hidden from God, which

734
00:45:29.559 --> 00:45:33.199
makes perfect sense. That's what I've been saying, Israel. Where

735
00:45:33.239 --> 00:45:38.719
is God? They would have abandoned? So what does God

736
00:45:38.800 --> 00:45:41.800
resp How does he respond? He responds with basically some

737
00:45:41.920 --> 00:45:46.000
rhetorical questions. God reminds them of his eternal nature, his

738
00:45:46.119 --> 00:45:49.960
infinite understanding. He is not limited by human weakness like

739
00:45:50.039 --> 00:45:54.679
fatigue or ignorance. This rebuke is a gentle correction. It's

740
00:45:54.719 --> 00:46:00.199
correcting and trying to help their despair, trying to encourage them.

741
00:46:01.960 --> 00:46:04.880
I like, whenhen you put it in context, that makes sense.

742
00:46:06.559 --> 00:46:08.920
Now once again, I want you to see what just happened.

743
00:46:09.119 --> 00:46:11.639
We're listening to a sermon. This takes a passage in

744
00:46:11.719 --> 00:46:16.920
Isaiah forty makes it about us, US US completely, not

745
00:46:16.960 --> 00:46:21.760
even really accurately speaking to the historical He's making reference

746
00:46:21.800 --> 00:46:24.480
to the situation, but he's not really painting a picture

747
00:46:24.480 --> 00:46:26.559
at all so that you can really understand it or

748
00:46:26.599 --> 00:46:29.599
grasp it. And so what did I do while listening?

749
00:46:30.559 --> 00:46:34.599
I immediately just started doing some basic questioning and asking

750
00:46:34.639 --> 00:46:40.320
things to an artificial intelligence. It went within five seconds

751
00:46:41.199 --> 00:46:45.840
five count them one, two, three, four five. AI broke

752
00:46:45.920 --> 00:46:48.679
down Isaiah forty twenty five through thirty one and what

753
00:46:48.760 --> 00:46:54.440
it would have meitt to the original recipients within five seconds.

754
00:46:57.360 --> 00:46:59.679
This is exactly why we're doing the entire series on

755
00:46:59.760 --> 00:47:03.840
artify official intelligence. I'm telling you we are yet defined.

756
00:47:03.920 --> 00:47:08.199
So far, artificial intelligence has beaten every single sermon that

757
00:47:08.239 --> 00:47:11.760
we have listened to. And this was not the goal

758
00:47:11.800 --> 00:47:14.920
here was not even to compare AI to this sermon.

759
00:47:14.960 --> 00:47:17.039
The goal here was supposed to be a sermon on

760
00:47:17.079 --> 00:47:19.320
Isaiah forty nine through eleven, And I was just doing

761
00:47:19.320 --> 00:47:21.760
a little sermon prep and wanted to hear some discussion

762
00:47:21.840 --> 00:47:23.480
on that section. Well, it turns out it's not a

763
00:47:23.480 --> 00:47:25.679
sermon on Isaiah forty nine through eleven. I don't even

764
00:47:25.719 --> 00:47:28.320
know why it's listed. It's really about twenty five through

765
00:47:28.320 --> 00:47:30.760
thirty one. But even the handling of Isaiah forty twenty

766
00:47:30.800 --> 00:47:33.519
five through thirty one has, even though it's made brief

767
00:47:33.559 --> 00:47:36.960
references to the historical context, has kind completely abandoned the

768
00:47:37.039 --> 00:47:39.239
historical context, and right out of the gate was making

769
00:47:39.280 --> 00:47:41.320
it about me, me, me, me, me, you you you,

770
00:47:41.480 --> 00:47:43.280
and forgot about them and.

771
00:47:43.159 --> 00:47:49.199
They, And unlike the idols of the nations, look at

772
00:47:49.199 --> 00:47:53.280
the verse. God won't grow faint, he won't grow weary.

773
00:47:54.760 --> 00:47:56.840
Even though the people at this point are strangers in

774
00:47:56.880 --> 00:48:03.000
a strange land, exiles, yet they remember God's faithfulness to

775
00:48:03.119 --> 00:48:05.880
chasten the ones that he loves. That's what Hebrews twelve

776
00:48:05.920 --> 00:48:09.440
reminds us. Even though chastening is unpleasant and none of

777
00:48:09.480 --> 00:48:12.719
us like to endure it, yet chastening is a sign

778
00:48:12.760 --> 00:48:15.719
of sonship and a reminder to those who are chastened

779
00:48:15.800 --> 00:48:19.159
by the Lord that he loves them, since God chastens

780
00:48:19.360 --> 00:48:22.760
those he loves, and he scourges all of his sons,

781
00:48:23.159 --> 00:48:25.719
because God has by no means cast the people off,

782
00:48:25.880 --> 00:48:29.320
even though they be strangers in a strange land. But

783
00:48:29.360 --> 00:48:31.960
according to his promise that he has spoken to them,

784
00:48:33.159 --> 00:48:35.679
he will bring to pass by his almighty power, that

785
00:48:35.760 --> 00:48:41.440
restoration under Cyrus. Yet at this point a yet future date.

786
00:48:43.480 --> 00:48:47.280
Okay, that's awesome. He finally mentioned them, and he even

787
00:48:47.320 --> 00:48:52.480
mentioned Cyrus. I love that. Okay, so great, that's awesome

788
00:48:53.000 --> 00:48:58.159
that I'm gonna be I mean, hey, he actually even

789
00:48:58.280 --> 00:49:01.880
used them. He actually use the phrase instead of us.

790
00:49:01.679 --> 00:49:02.800
That's a good thing.

791
00:49:05.920 --> 00:49:08.599
So as we look at that kind of a survey

792
00:49:09.679 --> 00:49:14.039
of verses twenty six through twenty eight, how do we

793
00:49:14.119 --> 00:49:19.760
unfold things Because we're not in ancient Israel, we don't

794
00:49:19.800 --> 00:49:22.079
live in the same kind of culture that the ancient

795
00:49:22.119 --> 00:49:27.199
Near East had, and there's a certain distance that's created

796
00:49:27.280 --> 00:49:29.800
because of many factors between the world of the Old

797
00:49:29.840 --> 00:49:34.199
Testament and our own day and age. Right, let's pick

798
00:49:34.280 --> 00:49:37.320
up on a few things from these passages, from these

799
00:49:37.400 --> 00:49:42.960
verses to consider tonight.

800
00:49:40.880 --> 00:49:43.360
Now immediately, so he's already done now going through the text,

801
00:49:43.719 --> 00:49:46.559
so there was very little connecting it to the original recipients.

802
00:49:46.599 --> 00:49:50.679
Did not even didn't even really explain why the idolatry

803
00:49:50.679 --> 00:49:54.239
could have even been important ignored about the religious culture

804
00:49:54.239 --> 00:49:56.880
of Babylon at the time, didn't. I. I mean, we

805
00:49:56.920 --> 00:50:00.400
worked through it just using AI and we already covered

806
00:50:00.400 --> 00:50:02.920
the text better than this has been covered. But immediately, now,

807
00:50:02.920 --> 00:50:05.199
where are we going to Let's make it about us?

808
00:50:07.519 --> 00:50:10.119
So basically it starts with us, it ends with us,

809
00:50:10.159 --> 00:50:13.880
and the original recipients just get bare just a little

810
00:50:13.920 --> 00:50:17.880
bit of mention. I am grateful he at least mentions them,

811
00:50:18.360 --> 00:50:22.639
but then it kind of messed up a message to

812
00:50:22.800 --> 00:50:27.039
people suffering. We reach in, knock it out of their

813
00:50:27.039 --> 00:50:33.239
hand and say that's for me. I'm not saying there

814
00:50:33.239 --> 00:50:36.199
aren't things we can learn from it, But let's see

815
00:50:36.239 --> 00:50:39.119
what things he gives us, because are we about to

816
00:50:39.159 --> 00:50:41.920
be given? Are they somehow? Are we going to take

817
00:50:41.960 --> 00:50:44.119
some of this as being about us, as somehow their

818
00:50:44.199 --> 00:50:46.400
promises for us? Here, let's see where this goes.

819
00:50:49.000 --> 00:50:53.800
In the first place, God is our God, and that

820
00:50:53.880 --> 00:50:57.079
perhaps is the most wonderful of all of the wonders

821
00:50:57.079 --> 00:51:01.519
there are to consider. He has covenanted with us, which

822
00:51:01.559 --> 00:51:03.840
is a way of saying he has decided of his

823
00:51:03.880 --> 00:51:07.599
own will and purpose to enter into a relationship with

824
00:51:07.679 --> 00:51:10.960
us for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember

825
00:51:10.960 --> 00:51:14.119
that promise, boys and girls, young people, I will be

826
00:51:14.239 --> 00:51:19.079
your God and you will be my people. Well, that's

827
00:51:19.119 --> 00:51:22.760
a big part of why he's addressing Israel at this point.

828
00:51:24.519 --> 00:51:26.360
I will be your God and you will be my people.

829
00:51:27.400 --> 00:51:29.159
Is that a reference to us or was that a

830
00:51:29.199 --> 00:51:36.800
reference to Israel? He is he referencing Jeremiah? Is he

831
00:51:36.880 --> 00:51:40.760
referencing Ezekiel? Now he is saying this is important Israel.

832
00:51:40.800 --> 00:51:42.679
So he is going to return back to Israel. Okay,

833
00:51:42.960 --> 00:51:43.920
let's see where it goes.

834
00:51:46.000 --> 00:51:48.920
And that's why he still ministers to us by his

835
00:51:48.960 --> 00:51:51.719
word today. And God would have us to keep that

836
00:51:51.800 --> 00:51:53.800
in mind. Would you have us to keep it in heart?

837
00:51:54.320 --> 00:52:00.719
Because listen, even when or as we are disciplined, God

838
00:52:00.840 --> 00:52:05.280
has our good in view, doesn't he. If the Church

839
00:52:05.360 --> 00:52:09.360
comes to a time of loneliness, then the Church shouldn't

840
00:52:09.360 --> 00:52:12.360
give up and despair as if all is lost and

841
00:52:12.440 --> 00:52:15.320
there is no hope or help for the future. With

842
00:52:15.440 --> 00:52:18.760
God as the one covenanting with us, we are never alone,

843
00:52:19.519 --> 00:52:22.079
much less can we ever be abandoned.

844
00:52:23.000 --> 00:52:24.400
Instead, when we.

845
00:52:24.400 --> 00:52:28.800
Endure times of trial or chastening from the Lord, he

846
00:52:28.920 --> 00:52:33.119
uses those to purify us. He uses trials and tribulations

847
00:52:33.119 --> 00:52:36.440
to solidify our standing on the solid rock of Christ

848
00:52:36.599 --> 00:52:39.559
when we entrust ourselves into His care. During the midst

849
00:52:39.599 --> 00:52:44.559
of them, he uses affliction to embitter us to this

850
00:52:44.760 --> 00:52:48.960
world that He might then use adversity in the reminder

851
00:52:49.000 --> 00:52:52.719
of his promises to endere the world to come and

852
00:52:52.840 --> 00:52:55.440
all of the treasure found for us in Christ to

853
00:52:55.559 --> 00:52:59.639
our hearts. And that's what we need to remember, perhaps

854
00:52:59.639 --> 00:53:02.320
most of all, when we consider the wonder of God,

855
00:53:02.920 --> 00:53:05.840
that he designs all things, that He is working out

856
00:53:05.880 --> 00:53:09.800
in our lives for our good, that on the end

857
00:53:10.320 --> 00:53:12.679
He might be glorified and praised.

858
00:53:14.159 --> 00:53:18.119
In the second place, a lot of that was about

859
00:53:18.199 --> 00:53:20.199
us and not about them. And I think we could

860
00:53:20.199 --> 00:53:22.639
get into a really we could. Now we could put

861
00:53:22.639 --> 00:53:27.239
this down as a discussion question, because it's a common

862
00:53:27.320 --> 00:53:34.440
teaching within most evangelical fundamentalist non Catholic world. How Catholicism

863
00:53:34.480 --> 00:53:37.840
would I'd have to go verify some things. But in

864
00:53:37.880 --> 00:53:42.079
the non Catholic world and the Protestant evangelical fundamentalist Reformed world.

865
00:53:42.719 --> 00:53:47.880
It is a common teaching that God chastens us right

866
00:53:48.400 --> 00:53:54.039
in order to purify us right, so that God brings

867
00:53:54.639 --> 00:53:59.679
trial or difficulty or suffering. A lot of times it's

868
00:53:59.760 --> 00:54:02.960
view as it's happening because he is chasing, He's punishing

869
00:54:03.039 --> 00:54:06.360
us for some sin to purify us. But let's let's

870
00:54:06.400 --> 00:54:08.000
I think we have to really this is a very

871
00:54:08.000 --> 00:54:10.519
complicated question, and I know it's going to tick some

872
00:54:10.559 --> 00:54:14.000
people off. But does any of that really purify us?

873
00:54:16.280 --> 00:54:19.519
Is there any true purifying now? If it, I think it,

874
00:54:19.559 --> 00:54:21.719
They're there, I think it. If if if it works

875
00:54:21.760 --> 00:54:26.360
this way, if chastening makes us come to the realization

876
00:54:26.679 --> 00:54:31.199
of our sin, this is important. We see it, we

877
00:54:31.320 --> 00:54:34.199
acknowledge it, and then we are driven to the cross

878
00:54:34.320 --> 00:54:37.679
to confess it, and then we are cleaned by the

879
00:54:37.719 --> 00:54:41.000
blood of Jesus Christ. Then yes, if we confess our sins,

880
00:54:41.000 --> 00:54:43.559
He's faithful and just forgive us our sins and he

881
00:54:43.639 --> 00:54:47.440
cleanses us of all unrighteousness. If it works that way,

882
00:54:47.440 --> 00:54:50.559
then okay, But most preachers don't teach it that way.

883
00:54:50.800 --> 00:54:54.519
It's like the chastening purifies me in a practical way.

884
00:54:54.679 --> 00:54:58.400
But how pure can God? How pure can chastening actually

885
00:54:58.480 --> 00:55:01.679
make me. It may make me frame from an outward

886
00:55:02.480 --> 00:55:06.800
action or an outward behavior, but it's never truly going

887
00:55:06.880 --> 00:55:10.480
to purify me because all of my problems originate from

888
00:55:10.519 --> 00:55:13.880
my sinful nature. All the chasening in the world, all

889
00:55:13.920 --> 00:55:18.480
the beating, the pain, the suffering, is never going to

890
00:55:18.599 --> 00:55:22.079
change my sinful nature. My sinful nature will remain intact

891
00:55:22.199 --> 00:55:27.239
until glorification. So therefore chasening never changes the nature of

892
00:55:27.400 --> 00:55:32.239
where sin originates from. It may cause behavioral modification because

893
00:55:32.360 --> 00:55:35.559
I'm tired of being suffering. But even in Israel's case,

894
00:55:35.760 --> 00:55:38.840
did all of this seventy years of chasening did it

895
00:55:38.880 --> 00:55:43.199
actually fix them? Because we know it's not long that

896
00:55:43.199 --> 00:55:49.360
they're right back under Roman control, they are delivered, and

897
00:55:49.400 --> 00:55:52.440
God has to send profits to rebuke them, to say, hey,

898
00:55:52.760 --> 00:55:55.480
you need to finish the temple of those types of things,

899
00:55:56.559 --> 00:55:59.440
So did it really just chasing? When we think of

900
00:55:59.519 --> 00:56:02.679
chasening purifying, how does it really purify us?

901
00:56:02.679 --> 00:56:02.840
Now?

902
00:56:02.840 --> 00:56:06.960
If chastening makes me realize my sin and drives me

903
00:56:07.039 --> 00:56:10.039
to Christ to confess it that I am finding the

904
00:56:10.079 --> 00:56:12.880
cleansing that comes from the imputed righteousness, from the finished

905
00:56:12.920 --> 00:56:16.440
work of Jesus Christ, that's not a practical purifying That

906
00:56:16.559 --> 00:56:20.840
is my positional I'm already purified positionally, But is it

907
00:56:20.920 --> 00:56:23.320
is purifying me in a fellowship kind of way. I

908
00:56:23.320 --> 00:56:26.000
guess we could go along that line that way, but

909
00:56:26.079 --> 00:56:29.800
in a practical way. Let me just think about it,

910
00:56:29.880 --> 00:56:35.159
no matter how. Let's say I receive fifteen different times

911
00:56:35.239 --> 00:56:38.679
of chastisement in some form of punishment that God pours

912
00:56:38.719 --> 00:56:42.440
into my life, fifteen different times. Right, and let's say

913
00:56:42.559 --> 00:56:46.639
there it goes from minor to severe. Right, Let's say

914
00:56:46.639 --> 00:56:50.360
that my seizure disorder the reason I have seizures and

915
00:56:50.400 --> 00:56:53.280
neurological problems. Let's say it's a chastening from God, that

916
00:56:53.320 --> 00:56:56.199
God is punishing me for my sin. Well, I don't

917
00:56:56.199 --> 00:56:58.440
even know how many seizures I've had. I've lost count Okay,

918
00:56:58.480 --> 00:57:01.360
the number is some steam green, crazy number. Okay, but

919
00:57:01.800 --> 00:57:03.840
let's let's take that and each one of those are

920
00:57:03.880 --> 00:57:06.519
impacting my brain. And you know, well, sooner a letter,

921
00:57:06.559 --> 00:57:08.480
it's gonna it's gonna be the thing that ends me. Okay,

922
00:57:08.480 --> 00:57:12.239
that's great, But let's say it's chastening. You know what,

923
00:57:13.119 --> 00:57:17.920
I could have fifteen seizures today, I could have thirty seizures. Today,

924
00:57:18.119 --> 00:57:21.800
I could find myself laying in a pull of blood

925
00:57:22.239 --> 00:57:24.280
just crying out to God that I'm a sinner. I'm

926
00:57:24.320 --> 00:57:26.719
a sinner. I'm a sinner. You know what. All no

927
00:57:26.719 --> 00:57:28.719
matter how many seizures I have, you know what's not

928
00:57:28.760 --> 00:57:31.440
gonna change. I'm still not gonna love God with all

929
00:57:31.440 --> 00:57:34.079
my own body and soul because I'm incapable of doing

930
00:57:34.079 --> 00:57:36.679
that because of the sinful nature. I'm still not gonna

931
00:57:36.679 --> 00:57:38.719
be holy as God is holy, because I will never

932
00:57:38.760 --> 00:57:41.599
be holy as God is holy. So there is a

933
00:57:41.639 --> 00:57:53.119
limit to whatever purifying can even happen. Right Oh, I

934
00:57:53.360 --> 00:57:57.960
wasn't predicting that we would end up here. Now. See

935
00:57:57.960 --> 00:58:01.159
this is now, this right here, what we're doing right now,

936
00:58:01.280 --> 00:58:04.360
This is why listening to sermons is good. As frustrated

937
00:58:04.400 --> 00:58:07.159
as I've been in the sermon, because once again we

938
00:58:07.159 --> 00:58:09.760
go to Isaiah forty and immediately becomes about us. You

939
00:58:09.760 --> 00:58:11.960
see why we listen to sermons, because now we're having

940
00:58:12.000 --> 00:58:17.400
a very important conversation about chastisement and purifying. I don't

941
00:58:17.400 --> 00:58:20.079
know if that really is what Isaiah forty twenty five

942
00:58:20.119 --> 00:58:22.360
to thirty one is necessarily about, because I think it's

943
00:58:22.360 --> 00:58:25.760
more about encouragement. But okay, but that's all right. Now

944
00:58:25.800 --> 00:58:27.760
we can take this and we can do something with this.

945
00:58:27.840 --> 00:58:30.280
We can have some very important conversations about this.

946
00:58:33.239 --> 00:58:37.280
Let's remember here as well, the God has made us

947
00:58:37.440 --> 00:58:41.639
to be in relationship with himself. He has fitted us

948
00:58:41.760 --> 00:58:45.760
uniquely as human beings, as his image bearers.

949
00:58:47.519 --> 00:58:51.079
Please note all these applications as usus us us us

950
00:58:51.559 --> 00:59:01.079
us us us us us us us us. Oh, the

951
00:59:01.119 --> 00:59:04.360
poor people of Israel, the poor people of Judah, how

952
00:59:04.440 --> 00:59:09.400
quickly we simply just make it about us? I mean,

953
00:59:09.480 --> 00:59:10.639
come on, here we go.

954
00:59:12.519 --> 00:59:17.320
He has designed us to hear him. Now, granted, the

955
00:59:17.400 --> 00:59:19.280
fall into sin has thrown that.

956
00:59:19.400 --> 00:59:20.280
All out of whack.

957
00:59:21.360 --> 00:59:23.960
But as those who have the grace of God at

958
00:59:23.960 --> 00:59:27.039
work in their lives, whose eyes have been open and

959
00:59:27.079 --> 00:59:31.119
whose ears have been unstopped, we are now back into

960
00:59:31.199 --> 00:59:35.039
that position where we are able, not perfectly yet, but

961
00:59:35.079 --> 00:59:37.760
where we are able to hear God and to respond

962
00:59:37.880 --> 00:59:40.920
to Him, and to embrace all of what He sets

963
00:59:40.960 --> 00:59:45.840
before us in humility. The picture of verse twenty six

964
00:59:47.119 --> 00:59:50.840
is a picture especially especially framed for us.

965
00:59:50.920 --> 00:59:51.280
Isn't it?

966
00:59:53.000 --> 00:59:54.480
Have you ever gone out?

967
00:59:55.559 --> 00:59:59.519
Is twenty six perfectly framed for us? Or is twenty

968
00:59:59.559 --> 01:00:03.280
six per perfectly framed for I don't know the original recipients,

969
01:00:04.320 --> 01:00:11.719
which the text mentions by name. Why sayest thou, oh Jacob,

970
01:00:11.760 --> 01:00:17.760
and speakest o Israel? It could it be perfectly designed

971
01:00:17.800 --> 01:00:21.639
for them living in that time? Or guess what you

972
01:00:21.679 --> 01:00:24.719
don't have? You don't have big cities where the night

973
01:00:24.880 --> 01:00:29.239
sky is wiped out because of all the light. They

974
01:00:29.639 --> 01:00:32.679
lived at a time in captivity where at night they

975
01:00:32.719 --> 01:00:37.239
could look up and see the heavenly host and all

976
01:00:37.280 --> 01:00:44.119
of their brilliance. Would it be perfectly designed for them?

977
01:00:44.599 --> 01:00:45.079
I don't know.

978
01:00:47.320 --> 01:00:53.360
Sideboys and girls on a starry night, a clear, starry night,

979
01:00:54.760 --> 01:00:57.960
maybe not somewhere here in town where you have what

980
01:00:58.000 --> 01:01:00.800
do they call the light that destroys doesn't destroy, but

981
01:01:00.840 --> 01:01:03.760
it prevents seeing things as as clearly as you could,

982
01:01:04.079 --> 01:01:06.960
whatever that's called. You can't always see the light in

983
01:01:07.000 --> 01:01:09.360
the heavenly in the heavenly space.

984
01:01:11.119 --> 01:01:15.119
Exactly. So this is not perfectly designed for us. It's

985
01:01:15.159 --> 01:01:25.000
perfectly designed I don't know for the original recipients.

986
01:01:21.840 --> 01:01:25.199
Because of street lights or house lights down below. But

987
01:01:25.239 --> 01:01:26.760
if you're out in the fields or out in the

988
01:01:26.760 --> 01:01:29.000
countries at night and it's clear, you can see a

989
01:01:29.039 --> 01:01:34.039
whole host of stars scattered across the heavens. And think

990
01:01:34.079 --> 01:01:37.880
of what a unique position we are in, as those

991
01:01:38.119 --> 01:01:41.880
formed by God to consider something like the call of

992
01:01:41.960 --> 01:01:45.880
verse twenty six. He has made us to walk up rightly,

993
01:01:46.280 --> 01:01:51.440
hasn't he? Our natural posture is to see forward and

994
01:01:51.519 --> 01:01:55.440
to look outward and upward. And in the very design

995
01:01:55.920 --> 01:01:59.039
of how God has made us in that way, there's

996
01:01:59.039 --> 01:02:01.239
a reminder that we are all then to have our

997
01:02:01.280 --> 01:02:04.559
hearts and our minds lifted up not to the creation,

998
01:02:05.639 --> 01:02:10.320
but to Him who has made all things. Contrast that

999
01:02:10.400 --> 01:02:14.599
to my dog or your dog. A dog's world is

1000
01:02:14.639 --> 01:02:17.519
through its nose. I let my dog outside, and he

1001
01:02:17.679 --> 01:02:20.480
can't look up to save his life. He's too busy

1002
01:02:20.800 --> 01:02:24.320
sniffing all over the ground to find something interesting, either

1003
01:02:24.360 --> 01:02:28.639
to mark or to roll in. What a difference there

1004
01:02:28.760 --> 01:02:33.000
is between us and the animals. God has formed us

1005
01:02:33.039 --> 01:02:37.519
to consider higher things and to have our hearts lifted

1006
01:02:37.599 --> 01:02:41.039
up to Him. But that's not easy to do, is it?

1007
01:02:41.920 --> 01:02:44.239
We heard this morning on the first commandment and the

1008
01:02:44.280 --> 01:02:47.880
wholehearted devotion that God calls us to render. Sometimes that

1009
01:02:47.960 --> 01:02:51.480
seems elusive. Sometimes that seems like something we can never reach.

1010
01:02:51.679 --> 01:02:54.519
Sometimes that seems like something, quite frankly, that we don't

1011
01:02:54.599 --> 01:02:59.519
even want to pursue.

1012
01:02:57.719 --> 01:03:02.960
Because guess why, the law is not something we can do.

1013
01:03:03.480 --> 01:03:07.199
The law reveals what we cannot do, and the law

1014
01:03:07.320 --> 01:03:10.480
drives us to the one who did, And then we

1015
01:03:10.519 --> 01:03:14.800
are saved by imputed righteousness, not infused. We are saved

1016
01:03:14.840 --> 01:03:18.840
by his lawkeeping. And that lawkeeping of his is imputed

1017
01:03:18.840 --> 01:03:22.400
to my account, because I never will and never can

1018
01:03:22.519 --> 01:03:23.199
keep the law.

1019
01:03:23.400 --> 01:03:26.239
The law is simply there to reveal to me that

1020
01:03:26.400 --> 01:03:29.360
I can't and drive me to the one who can.

1021
01:03:30.079 --> 01:03:33.519
Why do we keep thinking that we can? We cannot?

1022
01:03:33.719 --> 01:03:38.599
I don't unders. It's like basic Reformation teaching that the

1023
01:03:38.639 --> 01:03:42.480
whole proper distinction between law and gospel. The law says

1024
01:03:42.559 --> 01:03:45.880
do this, but and we cannot do it, and the

1025
01:03:45.880 --> 01:03:49.079
Gospel says, but he did for on our behalf right.

1026
01:03:49.119 --> 01:03:50.880
But again, I don't know what any of this has

1027
01:03:50.920 --> 01:03:53.480
to do with the people who this was originally given to,

1028
01:03:53.559 --> 01:03:58.440
who are in Babylonian captivity. I don't understand. If we

1029
01:03:58.519 --> 01:04:01.719
put it in its proper content, this passage is much

1030
01:04:01.760 --> 01:04:04.000
more powerful. And what's the lesson that would then be

1031
01:04:04.079 --> 01:04:09.599
deriven to us? Is seeing God right even when everything

1032
01:04:09.679 --> 01:04:12.840
around us screams that our God is not present or

1033
01:04:12.840 --> 01:04:16.719
there seeing God's glory, God's greatness, God's power, even when

1034
01:04:16.760 --> 01:04:20.440
circumstances and situations, and even when other gods appear to

1035
01:04:20.480 --> 01:04:23.239
be more powerful and greater than our God. That's the

1036
01:04:23.280 --> 01:04:25.719
situation these people found themselves. If you'll just take a

1037
01:04:25.719 --> 01:04:29.559
few minutes to study the religion of Babylon at this time.

1038
01:04:32.920 --> 01:04:38.320
What we need, then, by God's grace, is a perspective

1039
01:04:38.519 --> 01:04:42.719
shift in the way we think. We need to be

1040
01:04:42.760 --> 01:04:47.199
captivated by the wonder of God. We need to have

1041
01:04:47.280 --> 01:04:52.800
our hearts enlarged by considering the greatness of our Creator.

1042
01:04:53.800 --> 01:04:56.559
We need to be able to think away from short

1043
01:04:56.639 --> 01:05:00.400
term focus to the long term focus. We need to

1044
01:05:00.400 --> 01:05:02.760
be able to think away from the small picture to

1045
01:05:02.840 --> 01:05:07.000
the big picture, away from things that are temporal and

1046
01:05:07.119 --> 01:05:12.639
shortsighted to that which is eternal and unending. In short,

1047
01:05:13.559 --> 01:05:15.920
we need to be able to turn away from self

1048
01:05:16.079 --> 01:05:18.280
thoughts to having.

1049
01:05:18.000 --> 01:05:19.199
God word thoughts.

1050
01:05:19.920 --> 01:05:22.000
That's the call that He gives to us in his

1051
01:05:22.039 --> 01:05:24.159
word at any number of places.

1052
01:05:27.239 --> 01:05:30.199
Isaiah forty twenty five to thirty one. Is not a

1053
01:05:30.239 --> 01:05:33.159
call to us, It's a call to the people. I

1054
01:05:33.199 --> 01:05:36.199
don't know what mentions them by name. I don't how

1055
01:05:36.199 --> 01:05:38.320
many times I have to say this. I don't know

1056
01:05:38.480 --> 01:05:41.079
why it's so complicated, but okay, all right.

1057
01:05:43.119 --> 01:05:45.599
And by his grace, that's what he enables us to do.

1058
01:05:45.760 --> 01:05:48.400
When we hear a passage like this, and he says,

1059
01:05:48.440 --> 01:05:54.639
behold your God in a third place to consider in

1060
01:05:54.719 --> 01:06:00.320
light of our passage tonight. God also treats us, and

1061
01:06:00.360 --> 01:06:03.199
he addresses ancient Israel as he does us. If you

1062
01:06:03.239 --> 01:06:05.320
look through the letters of the New Testament, for example,

1063
01:06:05.320 --> 01:06:08.679
boys and girls, he treats us as those who are

1064
01:06:08.719 --> 01:06:14.639
responsible for our behavior and for our actions. Right, there's

1065
01:06:14.679 --> 01:06:17.679
no Flip Wilson theology. We can't say the devil made

1066
01:06:17.719 --> 01:06:18.159
me do it.

1067
01:06:22.239 --> 01:06:29.440
Hey, Flip Wilson reference? What year was this sermon? Flip Wilson?

1068
01:06:29.599 --> 01:06:32.840
I don't even remember? But when when did Flip Wilson live?

1069
01:06:32.960 --> 01:06:36.119
Hang on? I got a Flip Wilson reference. Okay, I

1070
01:06:36.119 --> 01:06:39.400
gotta look this up. Okay, this is a Flip Wilson

1071
01:06:39.440 --> 01:06:42.719
reference in twenty twenty five. Hang on, let's when did

1072
01:06:42.760 --> 01:06:45.280
he win? I gotta hang on, I gotta ask Google

1073
01:06:45.719 --> 01:06:53.320
Flip Wilson. Okay, Flip Wilson. He uh he died in

1074
01:06:53.440 --> 01:06:57.320
nineteen ninety eight. He was born in nineteen thirty three.

1075
01:06:58.039 --> 01:07:00.280
He was a comedian, and I think I think he

1076
01:07:00.400 --> 01:07:02.119
was famous for saying, the devil made me do it,

1077
01:07:02.159 --> 01:07:03.960
the devil made me do it again. I don't know

1078
01:07:04.000 --> 01:07:05.840
what any of this has to do with Isaiah forty

1079
01:07:06.400 --> 01:07:09.480
twenty five through thirty one, but a Flip Wilson reference.

1080
01:07:09.719 --> 01:07:12.480
I know the church is always behind about ten years.

1081
01:07:12.599 --> 01:07:16.760
That's that's all. That's an old reference. Okay, all right,

1082
01:07:16.880 --> 01:07:18.760
I had to look that up. That's a long time ago.

1083
01:07:18.800 --> 01:07:21.639
All right, here we go.

1084
01:07:21.639 --> 01:07:25.800
God has created us as those who are accountable before Him,

1085
01:07:26.280 --> 01:07:30.559
and that's something worth keeping in mind. All human beings,

1086
01:07:30.719 --> 01:07:36.239
wheresoever they might be found, are without excuse before God.

1087
01:07:36.360 --> 01:07:41.039
No one compleat ignorance of any kind.

1088
01:07:42.000 --> 01:07:45.679
We'll just stop there, because I mean, we're not. I mean, obviously,

1089
01:07:45.719 --> 01:07:47.960
there's only a couple of minutes left, there's I mean,

1090
01:07:47.960 --> 01:07:53.280
we're I don't know what happened. So I looked up

1091
01:07:53.320 --> 01:07:55.320
the sermon on Isaiah forty nine through eleven. Now, this

1092
01:07:55.360 --> 01:07:57.599
is one of the fun things about doing sermon reviews. Right,

1093
01:07:57.639 --> 01:08:00.000
Because I go in blind, right, I go in blonde

1094
01:08:00.199 --> 01:08:01.920
because I don't want to listen to them first, because

1095
01:08:01.920 --> 01:08:03.880
then it's like, oh, you're picking a sermon you don't like,

1096
01:08:03.920 --> 01:08:07.599
you're picking a sermon to criticize, or it comes across

1097
01:08:07.639 --> 01:08:10.000
as overly produced, right, I like listening to it in

1098
01:08:10.039 --> 01:08:12.000
a real time. I listened to sermons, So if I'm

1099
01:08:12.000 --> 01:08:13.679
going to listen to them, why not listen to them

1100
01:08:13.840 --> 01:08:17.720
online live so that we can all learn. Just take

1101
01:08:17.760 --> 01:08:20.720
the sermon apart. But the goal here was Isaiah forty

1102
01:08:20.800 --> 01:08:23.319
nine through eleven. That was the goal. Because I'm doing

1103
01:08:23.319 --> 01:08:25.119
sermon prep, because that's why I'm going to be covering

1104
01:08:25.119 --> 01:08:28.359
tomorrow right now, so I've been working and working and

1105
01:08:28.399 --> 01:08:30.600
working on Isaiah forty nine through eleven. Is in our

1106
01:08:30.640 --> 01:08:33.199
series Isaiah forty through fifty five. So we get here.

1107
01:08:33.239 --> 01:08:35.520
The sermon is not even about Isaiah forty nine through eleven.

1108
01:08:35.600 --> 01:08:39.119
It's about Isaiah forty twenty five through thirty one. All right, great, fine,

1109
01:08:39.920 --> 01:08:44.479
we but it became about us, not about them. That's

1110
01:08:44.479 --> 01:08:46.439
a problem. I think if you were to put it

1111
01:08:46.560 --> 01:08:48.720
more about them and especially the context in which they

1112
01:08:48.720 --> 01:08:52.159
find themselves, you can kind of understand their being drawn

1113
01:08:52.159 --> 01:08:55.840
to idolatry. You can understand why this is happening. Especially

1114
01:08:55.840 --> 01:08:58.159
if you just spend a few minutes staying the religion

1115
01:08:58.199 --> 01:09:01.079
of Babylon at the time of Judas captivity, you would

1116
01:09:01.079 --> 01:09:07.640
have understood polytheistic idols everywhere they built, these temples, these

1117
01:09:07.680 --> 01:09:12.560
places where the gods would since interact with people, all

1118
01:09:12.560 --> 01:09:14.279
the different things about it. We went through all of

1119
01:09:14.319 --> 01:09:17.319
it briefly, and we looked all of that up. If

1120
01:09:17.319 --> 01:09:20.880
you break the text down and apply it specifically to

1121
01:09:21.000 --> 01:09:24.600
them first, there are some lessons that can be brought

1122
01:09:24.680 --> 01:09:27.319
over to us, but those lessons have to be connected

1123
01:09:27.319 --> 01:09:29.000
to what the text actually means. You just can't just

1124
01:09:29.039 --> 01:09:31.319
reach in there and just pull anything out of it.

1125
01:09:31.640 --> 01:09:35.439
So the whole thing was maddening and frustrating. Inevitably, I

1126
01:09:35.439 --> 01:09:38.039
didn't even realize this is going to happen. What we've

1127
01:09:38.079 --> 01:09:40.880
been doing in twenty twenty five is comparing sermons to

1128
01:09:40.960 --> 01:09:46.399
artificial intelligence. Once again, artificial intelligence clearly won. This artificial

1129
01:09:46.439 --> 01:09:49.640
intelligence is handling of Isaiah forty twenty five through thirty

1130
01:09:49.680 --> 01:09:52.840
one is far superior than what we heard, far superior,

1131
01:09:53.640 --> 01:10:06.039
more focused, put it in its context. Everything was well done.

1132
01:10:06.640 --> 01:10:11.560
So I don't know what to say, but we did

1133
01:10:11.560 --> 01:10:16.319
come up with an interesting discussion about chastisement and its

1134
01:10:16.439 --> 01:10:20.800
purifying role. Exactly how does that work and how do

1135
01:10:20.840 --> 01:10:24.239
we quantify that? How do we even qualify that? Have

1136
01:10:24.359 --> 01:10:28.119
we missed the mark there completely? I think that's something

1137
01:10:28.159 --> 01:10:30.399
we need to put a bookmark in and come back

1138
01:10:30.439 --> 01:10:32.319
to at some point in time. We do need to

1139
01:10:32.359 --> 01:10:35.560
discuss that, and again Isaiah forty twenty five through thirty one.

1140
01:10:35.560 --> 01:10:38.359
Though it is not really about chastisement. It's about encouragement

1141
01:10:38.399 --> 01:10:43.880
to people in their situations. All right, And the neighborhood kids,

1142
01:10:44.119 --> 01:10:50.119
do you hear that they're on their motorcycle. They have

1143
01:10:50.199 --> 01:10:53.439
this little loop here in the neighborhood. They ride, comes

1144
01:10:53.520 --> 01:10:56.159
right down to the side of the studio, goes right

1145
01:10:56.199 --> 01:10:59.119
down to the alley behind. They go down the alley,

1146
01:10:59.159 --> 01:11:00.680
they come out on the other side. Allie, come back

1147
01:11:00.720 --> 01:11:03.520
down the street, turn right back here side of my house,

1148
01:11:03.840 --> 01:11:07.680
right and they go into circle and they have a

1149
01:11:07.720 --> 01:11:11.680
great time. It's it's wonderful when I'm not recording. When

1150
01:11:11.720 --> 01:11:15.239
I'm recording, I want to, Oh, their motorcycle just died.

1151
01:11:15.640 --> 01:11:18.399
I don't know. Maybe I don't know what happened, so,

1152
01:11:18.600 --> 01:11:24.000
but yes, that's what's currently going on outside. So I'm

1153
01:11:24.000 --> 01:11:26.880
gonna I'm gonna go. I don't know what I'm gonna do.

1154
01:11:27.439 --> 01:11:31.119
I'm going to go just well, I guess I guess

1155
01:11:31.279 --> 01:11:33.479
I'll try to turn. I'll end it with a positive

1156
01:11:33.800 --> 01:11:36.239
listening to a sermon that is frustrating as I got,

1157
01:11:36.319 --> 01:11:38.439
and as irritating as it got, and I and just

1158
01:11:38.520 --> 01:11:41.680
some of the things that was happening there, we still

1159
01:11:41.800 --> 01:11:47.399
ended up in that conversation about chastisement. That that makes

1160
01:11:47.479 --> 01:11:49.800
that all worth it, right, because we've gotten to this

1161
01:11:49.920 --> 01:11:52.840
very important theological discussion that I think we could approach

1162
01:11:52.880 --> 01:11:55.079
in a way far different than the way anyone else

1163
01:11:55.119 --> 01:11:57.800
approaches it, and probably something that you've never even thought of.

1164
01:11:58.039 --> 01:12:00.960
That's why we listen to sermons, because we are confronted

1165
01:12:01.000 --> 01:12:06.319
sometimes with an idea that that leads to important meditation

1166
01:12:06.439 --> 01:12:09.479
and discussion. That's how we grow spiritually, even even in

1167
01:12:09.560 --> 01:12:14.000
sermons that we may completely disagree with. It's being it's

1168
01:12:14.199 --> 01:12:18.800
thinking them through, really taking them apart, And who cares

1169
01:12:18.840 --> 01:12:21.560
whether you agree or disagree. Ultimately, now now at this

1170
01:12:21.680 --> 01:12:23.800
point that sermon that we just listen to, it doesn't

1171
01:12:23.840 --> 01:12:26.640
even matter anymore. Who cares? Now what we're I'm going

1172
01:12:26.680 --> 01:12:31.239
to take with it is have we misunderstood chastisement and

1173
01:12:31.319 --> 01:12:35.239
purification that comes from it? Have we have we misunderstood this?

1174
01:12:35.319 --> 01:12:38.359
So now we have something to work on that. See,

1175
01:12:38.399 --> 01:12:42.000
that's that's the good thing about a sermon. All right,

1176
01:12:42.039 --> 01:12:45.000
thanks for listening, everyone, have a great Saturday. Yet Saturday

1177
01:12:45.600 --> 01:12:50.840
and tomorrow. Remember ordinary means supernatural means. That's I think

1178
01:12:50.840 --> 01:12:53.079
where we're going to focus on for our look at

1179
01:12:53.079 --> 01:12:55.279
Isaiah forty nine through eleven, not so much. We're not

1180
01:12:55.319 --> 01:12:57.439
going to do with the exegetical work on nine to eleven.

1181
01:12:57.600 --> 01:12:59.840
We're going to kind of take this little detour and

1182
01:13:00.119 --> 01:13:02.920
then the following week will then start our exegetical work

1183
01:13:02.960 --> 01:13:05.920
to nine to eleven because I think this will be beneficial.

1184
01:13:05.960 --> 01:13:09.560
You'll see how it's all going to work, right, So

1185
01:13:09.640 --> 01:13:10.199
God bless