April 6, 2025

Words vs Methods: Isaiah 50:7 Pt 2

Words vs Methods: Isaiah 50:7 Pt 2

We conclude our sermon review

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We conclude our sermon review

WEBVTT

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective.

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This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central.

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Good morning everyone. It is Sunday, April sixth, twenty twenty five.

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It is currently eleven twenty eight am Central Time, and

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I'm coming to you live from the Theology Central studio

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located right here in Abilene, Texas. It's been a little

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confusing for about twenty minutes trying to figure out what

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I should do in this episode, but I think I've

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made the right decision here. We are going to go

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back to what I did earlier this morning and go

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back to our review of this sermon on Isaiah, chapter fifty,

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verse seven. Let me put this all back together. It

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all started so innocently. Oh it was so innocent, right.

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I'm on YouTube and I see a video that the

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church is starving people to death, and I'm like, whoa,

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I've been saying that forever. And the thumbnail artwork showed

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someone holding a plate of chicken nuggets, and it basically

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was like, here's all these people starving in the church,

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and all the church offers people our chicken nuggets. So

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I'm like, oh, this is going to fit perfectly. So

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I start listening. It's an interview with a pastor of

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a very very very very very very very very famous church,

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a church that has about twelve thousand people attending every week,

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a church that brings in thirty million dollars a year.

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And he was like, I'm not like those other megachurch pastors.

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I teach the Bible expository preaching. We dig in meet

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not just entertaining, not watered down ted talks, but we

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dig in. And I'm like, okay, great. So then I

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went looked up the church's website, started looking and like

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what just happened here? Everything was everything I don't even

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know what, I don't even know what to call it.

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Everything was completely opposite to everything. So I wanted to

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use this as a case study. Right, how pastors sell

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what the church is using one kind of language because

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they know that's what the people want to hear. The

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church is about the Bible. The church is about teaching

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the churches, about equipping saints, not entertaining them. Say all

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the right words, but the reality is when the people

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actually walk into the building, they don't want what they

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say they want. They really want a little bit of entertainment,

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They want fun, They want motivational speeches, and so you

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got to then give them that. So that's what we've

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been talking. So we took this, We review the interview,

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we went through the entire church website, we look at

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the church's finances, and then we started reviewing the sermon.

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The sermon is on Isaiah chapter fifty, verse seven. We've

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already spent over an hour reviewing. The thing's already been

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a dramatic train wreck. Right. He gives a quote supposedly

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from Augustine that's not from Augustine because Augusta never said anything.

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He gives supposedly a quote from C. S. Lewis, and

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he says it's from this book, but it's not even

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actually from that book. There's just all kinds of problems.

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It's supposedly the text is Isaiah chapter fifty. He's made

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the entire thing about us us us us us. And

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finally we're right at the point where he's getting ready

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to quote Isaiah chapter fifty, verse seven, and he's going

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to begin I guess what he refers to as expositional

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preaching on Isaiah chapter fifty verse seven. What happens here

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is an absolute it's a travesty. I have no words

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for it, but we're just going to listen to it,

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and we're gonna we'll interrupt and go there. And I

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know I'm kind of going through that kind of review

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of everything quickly, but I mean, you can go back

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and listen. This is like, I mean, we've done for

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almost four hours of work on this. This is like

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moving on to our number five. So I don't have

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time to review four hours of basically work. But please

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go back and listen. But here we go. We're gonna

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just jump into the middle of this sermon. There's no

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easy transition. I always say I always hate the part

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twos to sermon reviews because it feels like you're walking

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up to the edge of the pool and just jumping in.

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There's no easing into it. But I did back it up,

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so I'm just gonna let him talk. He basically basically,

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if I want to summarize what it is so far

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as hey guys, then it's it's because he preached this

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on January the fifth, twenty twenty five. Hey guys, it's

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a new year, and we have to be motivated. We

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can't just want change. We just can't hope for change.

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We have to do it, and we can do it

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if we will put forth some effort and we'll get

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some dedication. And we need change this year. We need

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to be the instrument of change kind of concept, right,

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And basically it's a motivational speech to get you ready

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for a new year. What has that got to do

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with Isaiah chapter fifty, verse seven, Absolutely nothing, because Isaiah

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chapter fifty is in a what's known as the Book

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of Comfort or the Book of Consolation, and it's words

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to people and Babylonian captivity has nothing to do with

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you your new year goals at your New year resolution,

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has nothing to do with any of that. So it's

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the whole thing is just bizarre. But he's getting ready

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to get to Isaiah chapter fifty, and I think we

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go from bizarre to I don't even know what you

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call it, and you can draw your own conclusions. Here

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we go that we.

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Would develop kind of this kind of coin, this term

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like a spiritual grit that I'm going to be surefooted

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even in the face of adversity and whatever may come.

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And so our message series that we're kicking off today,

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it's gonna be an a week series.

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It's based off a single verse.

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In the Old Testament Book of Isaiah, where the Old

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Testament prophet Isaiah says these really powerful words. He says,

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and I think he was doing a little bit of

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meditation of his own.

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Now just remember that I lost my mind last time,

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because the way he's reading this is like, hey, Isaiah

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was doing some meditating on his own. And then Isaiah

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said this, for the Lord God will help me. Therefore

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shall eye not be confounded. Therefore have I set my

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face like a flint, and I know that I shall

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not be ashamed.

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He's saying that.

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Isaiah is like almost saying that up to himself. This

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is a servants song, ladies and gentlemen, this is a

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servant song. We talked about this in the last review.

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We just talked about this in the last hour that

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we did on Isaiah forty two. The servant songs, you

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have to identify the servant. The servant here is not Isaiah.

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Most would say this servant song here is referring to Jesus.

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So somehow he just takes a servant song that's about Jesus,

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somehow flipped it turns it to now Isaiah speaking about himself,

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and he's now going to flip it again and make

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it about you and me in our new Year's resolutions.

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I guess this is insane. What is happening here? Okay,

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this is just crazy. But here we go, Here we go.

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He goes because the sovereign Lord, that word sovereign just

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means he is in control.

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He helps me.

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I will not be disgraced the four I have here.

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It is set my face like flint. Flint is another

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word for stone. It means that I'm fixed. I'm not

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gonna be like blown around by the waves of change.

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My eyes are fixed upon becoming more and more like Christ.

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And I know that all that effort, I will not

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be put to shame. And that's what this eight week

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series is all about. And actually, what I want you

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to know is I've laid out all the message series

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for twenty twenty five. And the way I lay out

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a message series is kind of like a menu, like

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what does our church body need to what nutrients do

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we need to kind of carry us through and really

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kind of the mega theme for twenty twenty five is

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preparing us to follow God wherever he may lead.

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Now, all of this is just ridiculous. Isaiah fifty seven

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has nothing to do with any of this. The whole

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concept of laying out sermon series like a menu to

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see what nutrients the people need. The nutrients people need

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is the word of God. It is milk and meat.

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So open up the text and preach the actual text

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and stop making it about the people. The text is

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not about the people. The text is about what the

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text says. Oh, the whole thing here is just crazy.

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And even his little sovereignty that just means God is

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in control. There's about a million issues when you deal

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with God's sovereignty. But of course we're not going to

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get into the theiological implications of God's sovereignty. No, we're

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not going to get into that. We're not actually going

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to deal with the text. This whole thing is crazy, right. Basically,

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he quotes Isaiah chapter fifty, verse seven. I'm gonna read

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it from a different translation because the sovereign Lord helps me.

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I will not be disgraced. Therefore I have said my

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face like a flint, determined to do his will, and

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I know I will not be put to shame. He

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then used, So when he does he quotes that, then

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he uses this line to launch into a motivational appeal

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for consistency, resilience, and daily discipline, applying the phrase set

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my face like flint to mean be resolute in your habits,

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push through difficulty, don't be derailed by emotion, and stay

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faithful even when you don't see results. This is basically

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how he frames the entire sermon. The idea of being

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set like flint becomes simply a metaphor for spiritual consistency

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over time. He doesn't identify who's actually speaking here. He

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doesn't talk about the context. This thing is a disaster.

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In fact, I think we could go on to say

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what this is what's missing. There is no exegesis of

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the text itself, and we're going to listen to more.

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There's no exegesis of the text. None, none, zero, none.

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The context of Isaiah fifty has never explained, not even briefly.

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The pastor never identifies the speaker of verse seven as

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the servant of the Lord who speaks through Isaiah fifty

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four through nine. He offers no reference to verse four

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through six, which describes the servants suffering obedience and humiliation.

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No connection is made to the suffering silence and submission

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of this servant and the face of injustice. No mention

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of the Messianic significance. Isaiah fifty seven is one of

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the servants songs in Isaiah, traditionally and historically understood by

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the Church as a prophecy about Christ, the suffering servant

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who obeys the Father unto shame, suffering, and vindication. The

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phrase set my face like flint appears to be a

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prophetic preview of Christ's resolute journey towards the Cross, echoed

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in Luke nine point fifty one, where Jesus sets his

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face to go to Jerusalem. None of this is acknowledged.

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Christ is never identified as the fulfillment of the verse. Now,

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I know, I just gave away the plot, but I

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don't even know what I don't even know what is

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going on here. So well, let's just see how this unfold.

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I could say a million more things, but I just well, okay,

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let's just go. Let's just I don't know what to say.

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And if you've been in our church over the last year,

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you've heard me talk about this a lot, about like

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the Great awakenings and and the fifth grade awakening, you

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know it could happen this year because every fifty years

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is when God has sparked one and that would be

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twenty twenty five.

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Just remember everything he's saying about every fifth year, that's

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when God does a great awakening. That is there's no

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historic I don't even know what he's talking. This is

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like numerological superstition. There's no historical evidence for this. We

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talked about this and the last and the and the

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review before when I when I was reviewing part of this.

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There is this just completely. He says that dogmatically, there's

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it's not true. You can look at the dating of

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the Great Awakening. There's gap, major gaps between it. Not

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every five years. It's none of it makes any sense.

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It's not even true biblically, it's not true Historically, it's

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not it's just not.

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I okay, it's okay, I'm just gonna be calm because

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I'm losing my mind.

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Okay, all right. But and none of it has anything

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to do with Isah chapter fifty verse seven.

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And we don't, like, you know, speculate that God might

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do that. We do anticipate it, and we anticipate God,

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would you please bring revival and would you please bring awakening?

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And it could happen. It seems like things are kind

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of getting set up where that could happen. What I

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want you to know is that if that does happen,

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we can expect resistance because the enemy isn't just gonna

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roll over. And so if God is going to bring revival,

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and if he is going to bring awakening, then that

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means like right now, you need to get your feet

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set right right now, you need to recognize that there's

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going to be resistance. There's going to be battle, and

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I want to prepare you for the battle that I

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know you're already facing, isn't it?

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At times it feels like life is a battle. But

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where's that?

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Just me?

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You guys are kind of doing.

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Like the eight o'clock You're just kind of looking at me,

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all right, So I got I think that seventeen degree

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weather has gotten into your soul, a right, So I

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just need to kind of warm you up here, right,

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don't leave me alone up here? I think at times

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it feels like we're all in a battle. You ever

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feel like you're fighting for your marriage, like just tooth

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and nail. You ever feel like you're fighting for your kids?

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Ever feel like you're just fighting for your own emotional

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health and sanity, You're fighting for your relationship with God.

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It's because you are.

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You're in a spiritual battle, not against flesh and blood,

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but against the principalities and powers of darkness in the

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evil realm. And I want you to like the The

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worst than actually being in a battle is being in

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a battle and you don't know it.

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And I want you to actually know it. And I

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want you to be.

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Sure footed, and I want your faces to be fixed

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like flint. That we are going to be a people

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that don't try to dodge adversity, but we try to

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live well in the face of adversity.

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And so this eight week.

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Series is really about moving. I want to move you

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and me from I hope to I declare.

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I he's just ripping that phrase so far out of context.

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That phrase has nothing to do with you, has nothing

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to do with me. I want to move from I

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hope to I declare because I guess if you declare something,

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then of course that's going to happen. Are we getting

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ready to go straight up word faith? Here? Declare it

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and it will happen.

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Declare good things, and good things will happen. Declare blessing

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and you good blessing. Declare health, then you get health,

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declare good things, Declare that you can dunk a basketball

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and magically you can. Is that where it's going?

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I don't know. At this point, I have no idea.

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I can just speculate because I don't know where this

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is going. I mean, I'm just sitting here looking like this.

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This is the person who we listen to an entire

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interview who talked about expositional preaching and that he preaches

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the meat and he doesn't do water down to We

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had talks that are just motivational, and then.

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I'm looking at this and I'm like Isaiah chapter fifty

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verse seven, Isaiah chapter fifty verse seven. And look, even

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if I just open up my study Bible, the third

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Servant Song consists of reflection by the servant and the

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prophets addressed to the being and unbelieving Israel in verses

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ten through eleven. This prophecy was fulfilled and the suffering

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of Jesus Christ. That took me three seconds just looking

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at the notes in my Bible. But this is what

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you get in a church.

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That brings in thirty million dollars so that people can

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get preaching like this. And if you break it down,

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he does about fifty two sermons in a year. It's

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about four hundred thousand dollars per sermon. Man, for four

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hundred thousand dollars, I could break Isaiah chapter fifty down.

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I could break it down fifteen different ways for you. Okay, exegetically, topically, theologically, devotionally,

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just make up stuff like he's doing. I mean, I guess,

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for four hundred thousand dollars, I'll give you whatever you

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want in Isaiah chapter fifty, I'll just I'll just make

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up stuff and I'll do like and I said it

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just one sermon I'll give you. I'll give you one

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hundred for four hundred thousand dollars, I'll give you a

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discount like man, Okay, here we go.

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I declare these this is gonna be the kind of

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person that I'm gonna be in twenty twenty five, good or bad,

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blessings or curses. Like I declare, this is kind of

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person I'm gonna be. And so I just want to

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kind of tease out like where we're headed just the

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first four weeks of this eight week series. I'll tell

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you what we're gonna talk about today in just a minute.

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Next week, we're going to talk about facing temptation, and

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so it's like we're going to be a people that

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are going to fight temptation, not give into it. The

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week after that, I want to be the kind of

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person that handles criticism. Well, hello, I think all of

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us need that, right, Like how do we handle criticism

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in good and godly ways? And then the week after that,

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we're going to talk about like how do we move

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on from refusing to stay offended? Being offended is a

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fact of life, Staying offended is a choice, and some

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of us have chosen to stay offended.

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And so that's just the next few weeks. We're gonna

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have so much fun. Today, here's where we're going.

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I'll, I mean, the people seem to love this. I'm

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still seeing here going. What has it got to do

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with Isaiah Edepter fifty. I have no idea. I don't

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even know why Isaiah fifty is even read here other

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than I guess he likes that phrase. I set my

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face like a flint, But he didn't even identify who

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the eye is. I set my face like a flint.

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I now becomes me and you, But the eye is

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not you or me. It's not even Isaiah. Okay, I'm

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gonna go just I think I don't know what to

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do here. I'm just gonna I don't know if we're

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even gonna finish this, because at this point I think

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I'm just I think we're just gonna I may do

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just a quick exegetical work through Isaiah fifty is what

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I may do. I just may do. I may just

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go and PROMPTU and just show you how, like you know,

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for less than four hundred thousand dollars, I can give

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you an exegetical study of Isaiah fifty and PROMPTU. I

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think maybe I'm going to do that.

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I want to talk about consistency today. I want to

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be the kind of person that is consistent. And so

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if we were, and here's why, if we were to

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identify and if I were to identify some of the

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primary things that have kept me from becoming who God

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has ordained me to be and from doing what God

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plans for me to be, a lack of consistency would

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likely be the culprit. Like honestly, it's at times like

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I'm not sharing with you brand new information. I'm just

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trying to remind you of information that you already know.

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You just need to apply.

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Now, remember this is supposedly he does expository preaching. He's

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not like all the other megachurch pastors. He doesn't give

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you just motivational speeches. And now all of a sudden,

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this is turning into a sermon on consistency from Isaiah fifty.

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He's not even mentioned Judah, he's not mentioned, Israel mentioned, Babylon,

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Babylonian captivity, Cyrus, servants songs, Jesus, it's you you you

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you you you you you you you you you you

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you you you you you you you you you. A

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passage that could be about what Jesus did for you

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now becomes about what you are supposed to do because

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you need to be consistent. So now a passage that

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could be possibly identified as gospel is being completely flipped

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on its head and turned into law about you being consistent.

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And that's American evangelicalism.

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Consistently Because a lot of our lives are filled with

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lots of stops and starts.

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So if you've ever been stuck, which.

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We all have, if you've ever hit a wall, which

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we all have, if you've ever thought, you know, why

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am I not where I am in life? I thought

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I would be by the age of twenty, by the

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age of thirty, by the age of forty, and so on.

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Likely it was a lack of consistency. It's not that

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you didn't know what to do. You knew what to do, you.

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Just weren't doing it consistently. That was likely the culprit

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and listen man. That is true in all four areas

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of that I just mentioned. That is certainly true in

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our spiritual walk, but it's also true in our relationships,

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our physical and emotional.

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Health, and in our finances.

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Inconsistency is one of the greatest detriments to transformation and

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change in those four categories. When I was in college,

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I remember reading this book by Eugene Peterson, And if

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that name sounds familiar to you, it's because he was

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the one who did the message paraphrase. And a lesser

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known book of his, which was highly influential in my

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formative years, was this book Behind Me. It was titled

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A long Obedience in the same direction.

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Doesn't that just sound so inspiring?

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Like we don't want to hear that, do we? We

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want to hear like a short obedience, you know, in.

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Whatever direction I want to go. That's kind of what

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we want to.

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Hear, and honestly, like my spiritual growth would not be

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described at times, there are seasons of my life when

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it has not been a long obedience in the same direction.

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If I'm being honest, it's been a momentary obedience when

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I felt like it in.

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All sorts of directions. And I go like, why am.

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I not changing?

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And I love the subtitle of the book, it's discipleship

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in an instant society, which means that your discipleship, which

408
00:22:28.359 --> 00:22:31.519
is once again that's just a fancy word for looking

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more and more like Jesus in your life.

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Why wouldn't he just preach the sermon and say, I'm

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not going to have a text today because I'm going

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to base this sermon on this book by Eugene Peterson.

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But you're going to go to Isaiah fifty verse seven

414
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and rip a verse, rip a phrase so far out

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of context, and rob these people of actually hearing a

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sermon on the actual text that you gave them. So

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these people are going to leave clueless about Isaiah fifty

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for seven. And if these people go and they're actually

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using Isaiah fifty seven as some motivational slogan they put

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on their refrigerator, and they tell other people about Isaiah

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fifty seven, saying that you're literally robbing people of what

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the passage is actually about. All right, So we'll get

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back to him in a minute, because at this point

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we're not missing anything, all right. So the and the

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I gave that, I kind of pretended that we went

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to this church on a Sunday to listen to this.

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So let's pretend that we were in this church and

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we're listening, and I'm likes, guys, guys, come here, come here,

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and we all get up and we walk out and

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we go find an empty I mean it's I mean

431
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it's a huge church. Obviously, we go find an empty

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classroom because obviously no one's studying, and we and we

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go sit down and like, okay, guys, let's work on.

434
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Let's work on Isaiah chapter fifty. Now, if you don't

435
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know anything about Isaiah fifty, it seems to continue the

436
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themes of comfort, confrontation, and covenant that run through chapters

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forty through fifty five, right, Because there's comfort, there's confrontation

438
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about idolatry. And I know a lot of this because

439
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you know, we've been doing exegetical work on Isaiah forty

440
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through fifty five, And obviously the concept of covenant runs

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throughout because it's about people who are in covenant with

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God who are in Babylonian captivity. So comfort, confrontation and

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covenant is a theme that runs all the way through

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and Isaiah fifty is going to continue that theme and

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it runs all and this on these ideas, comfort confrontation

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and covenant runs all the way through fifty five. Chapters

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forty nine and through fifty three seem to highlight the

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role of the servant of the Lord. Now we would

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have to identify, is the servant of the Lord in

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forty nine through fifty three different than the servant of

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the Lord, say in Isaiah forty two, which we argue

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that the servant in Isaiah forty two is actually Cyrus,

453
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So we think that in forty nine through fifty three,

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this is forty nine through fifty three, is probably a

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different servant. So the servant of the Lord is a

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unique figure who seems to bring salvation through obedience and suffering.

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So the servant of the Lord in forty nine through

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fifty three, if it is true that this is a

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servant who brings salvation through suffering and obedience. Then it's

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not about you having obedience and a long obedience. In

461
00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:24.039
the same direction, it's not about you having consistency. It's

462
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not about you trying. It's not about you setting new goals.

463
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It's about what he did for you, not what you

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are supposed to do. So literally, a passage that could

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possibly be about the gospel, he just flipped around and

466
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turned it into law. That is evil. That's not This

467
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is not just a difference of an opinion. That's evil

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because when and pastors do it all the time, gospel

469
00:25:46.880 --> 00:25:50.599
based passages, they turn into law. They make it about you,

470
00:25:50.599 --> 00:25:53.680
you you you, you, you do th. And this entire

471
00:25:53.720 --> 00:25:56.880
thing is about a servant in Isaiah fifty, and he's

472
00:25:56.920 --> 00:26:00.680
made it all about you doing better and doing more

473
00:26:00.880 --> 00:26:03.920
and being consistent and being more obedient and forgetting what

474
00:26:04.039 --> 00:26:12.640
this servant supposedly was doing for us. And Isaiah fifty

475
00:26:12.799 --> 00:26:17.599
one through three, Oh, I know, is this crazy. Oh

476
00:26:17.640 --> 00:26:20.079
we're gonna do something really weird. We're going to actually

477
00:26:20.160 --> 00:26:21.799
go back and read the context. I mean, he didn't

478
00:26:21.799 --> 00:26:23.759
even bother to do that. Maybe we should do that.

479
00:26:23.839 --> 00:26:27.880
Isaiah fifty. Thus saith the Lord, where is the bill

480
00:26:28.039 --> 00:26:32.440
of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? Or

481
00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:36.359
which of my creditors it is to whom I have

482
00:26:36.599 --> 00:26:40.960
sold you? Behold? For your I have sold you? Behold

483
00:26:41.039 --> 00:26:45.359
for your iniquities? Have ye sold yourselves? And for your transgressions?

484
00:26:45.559 --> 00:26:47.119
Is your mother put away?

485
00:26:47.799 --> 00:26:48.039
WHOA?

486
00:26:48.279 --> 00:26:52.119
Something bad is going on here? Wherefore I, when I came,

487
00:26:52.440 --> 00:26:55.559
where's there no man? When I called? Where's there none

488
00:26:55.599 --> 00:26:58.680
to answer? Is my hand shortened at all? That it

489
00:26:58.720 --> 00:27:02.839
cannot redeem? Or that I have no power to deliver?

490
00:27:03.240 --> 00:27:05.880
Behold at my rebuke. I dry up the sea, I

491
00:27:05.960 --> 00:27:09.079
make the rivers a wilderness. Their fish stinketh because there

492
00:27:09.160 --> 00:27:13.000
is no water, and dieth for thirst. I clothe the

493
00:27:13.079 --> 00:27:18.559
heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth they're covering. Oh well,

494
00:27:18.559 --> 00:27:21.799
we got some strong words of rebuke and judgment and

495
00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:24.839
fifty verses one through three for some weird reason, that

496
00:27:24.920 --> 00:27:27.799
don't show up in this sermon that's based on Isaiah

497
00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:31.920
fifty verse seven. All right, But in Isaiah fifty one

498
00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:36.480
through three, God seems to be addressing Israel's complaint about abandonment.

499
00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:40.359
All right, Thus, saith the Lord, where is the bill

500
00:27:40.359 --> 00:27:43.319
of divorcement? It goes so Israel seems to be they

501
00:27:43.359 --> 00:27:46.599
have some complaint, probably in their captivity in babbelon captivity,

502
00:27:46.640 --> 00:27:49.599
feeling like that they have been abandoned, and God's addressing this.

503
00:27:50.519 --> 00:27:52.759
I mean, Judea has been there. I mean, they're gonna

504
00:27:52.759 --> 00:27:54.920
be there totally for seventy years. I know that these

505
00:27:54.920 --> 00:27:56.759
words are given to them before they even actually go.

506
00:27:56.839 --> 00:27:58.920
We can get into whole discussion about that. I mean,

507
00:27:58.960 --> 00:28:01.559
I know we're getting into all of the hermoneutical issues,

508
00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:03.599
and this is weird. We don't do this in church.

509
00:28:04.319 --> 00:28:05.680
I know some of you are like, I want to

510
00:28:05.720 --> 00:28:07.480
go back out there. I want to go listen to

511
00:28:07.519 --> 00:28:11.880
him because it's motivational, and it sounds this sounds too

512
00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:14.519
academic and sounds like seminary. I'm gonna go sit out there.

513
00:28:14.519 --> 00:28:16.839
Well you go sit with them, Okay, you go with them,

514
00:28:17.119 --> 00:28:19.519
But if you're going to understand this, God is addressing

515
00:28:19.640 --> 00:28:22.319
Israel because Israel seems to have made some complaints about

516
00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:23.839
we've been abandoned.

517
00:28:23.960 --> 00:28:24.799
Where have you been?

518
00:28:27.039 --> 00:28:31.079
And Isaiah fifty verse four, the Lord God hath given

519
00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:33.079
me the tongue of the learned. All of a sudden,

520
00:28:33.079 --> 00:28:37.519
this is a radical change. Thus saith the Lord he's speaking,

521
00:28:38.519 --> 00:28:42.759
he is talking to it appears Israel. And then all

522
00:28:42.759 --> 00:28:45.079
of a sudden, in verse four, someone says, the Lord

523
00:28:45.079 --> 00:28:47.160
God hath given me the tongue of the learn, that

524
00:28:47.440 --> 00:28:50.039
I should know how to speak a word in season

525
00:28:50.240 --> 00:28:53.599
to him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning.

526
00:28:53.759 --> 00:28:57.359
He wakeneth my ear to hear as he as the learned.

527
00:28:57.559 --> 00:29:01.000
The Lord hath opened my ear, and I was not rebellious.

528
00:29:01.039 --> 00:29:04.279
Well wait a minute, that doesn't sound like Israel. Who

529
00:29:04.440 --> 00:29:07.319
is this person talking? Where did this person come from?

530
00:29:07.799 --> 00:29:07.920
All?

531
00:29:07.960 --> 00:29:10.400
Right? These are like I don't know. This is far

532
00:29:10.440 --> 00:29:13.960
more interesting than a motivational speech on being really committed

533
00:29:13.960 --> 00:29:18.319
in twenty twenty five. But okay, And verses four through nine,

534
00:29:18.880 --> 00:29:21.960
the servant of the Lord speaks, and the first person

535
00:29:22.400 --> 00:29:27.519
describing his obedience and suffering. So we kind of have

536
00:29:27.559 --> 00:29:31.200
a structure here for verses one through nine. Verses one

537
00:29:31.279 --> 00:29:34.079
through three, we kind of have a divine challenge, right.

538
00:29:34.240 --> 00:29:38.160
The speaker seems to be God, and the focus seems

539
00:29:38.160 --> 00:29:40.680
to be a rebuke of Israel and what they have

540
00:29:40.839 --> 00:29:45.440
done and their unbelief. Four through nine seems to be

541
00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:50.359
a servant song, and the servant songs are critical in

542
00:29:50.400 --> 00:29:54.160
Isaiah forty through fifty five. The speaker here appears to

543
00:29:54.200 --> 00:29:56.680
be the servant from what we can tell, all right,

544
00:29:57.599 --> 00:30:03.359
the focus here is obedience self and trust in God. Hey, hey,

545
00:30:03.680 --> 00:30:05.880
I'm going There's going to be suffering, but I'm going

546
00:30:05.880 --> 00:30:10.160
to be obedient and maybe vindicated or something positive is

547
00:30:10.200 --> 00:30:13.720
going to come from this. All right. So if we

548
00:30:13.720 --> 00:30:16.839
look at verses one through three, we have yahways or

549
00:30:16.880 --> 00:30:21.079
God's challenge we I mean, it says, thus saith the

550
00:30:21.200 --> 00:30:25.720
Lord all caps, so Shahweh Jehovah. Okay Jehovah. And we

551
00:30:25.759 --> 00:30:28.119
can get into that whole discussion. But we have God's

552
00:30:28.240 --> 00:30:31.240
challenge to Israel. And if we read it, thus saith

553
00:30:31.279 --> 00:30:34.440
the Lord, where is your mother's certificate of divorce with

554
00:30:34.519 --> 00:30:37.759
which I sent her away? Or which of my creditors

555
00:30:37.960 --> 00:30:40.839
is to whom I've sold you behold? For your iniquities

556
00:30:40.839 --> 00:30:43.279
you were sold and for your transgressions your mother was

557
00:30:43.319 --> 00:30:48.400
sent away. This seems to be rhetorical questions exposing the

558
00:30:48.440 --> 00:30:51.079
falseness of Israel's complaint. You wo'd have to go back

559
00:30:51.119 --> 00:30:53.680
to chapter forty nine. I don't have time to build

560
00:30:53.680 --> 00:30:56.920
this completely. I'm doing this and PROMPTU right, so you

561
00:30:56.960 --> 00:30:59.400
would have to go back to forty nine because I

562
00:30:59.400 --> 00:31:03.000
get Israel has made some complaints about we've been abandoned,

563
00:31:03.079 --> 00:31:05.480
and I can understand they would they would feel that way,

564
00:31:05.519 --> 00:31:10.599
So God's addressing it. God did not divorce Israel or

565
00:31:10.640 --> 00:31:13.200
sell them due to a lack of care. There is

566
00:31:13.279 --> 00:31:17.519
no certificate and no creditor. Instead, their suffering is due

567
00:31:17.519 --> 00:31:23.400
to their own iniquity. Israel's exile is not divine abandonment.

568
00:31:23.839 --> 00:31:28.319
It's a result of their covenant breaking sin. Remember they're

569
00:31:28.359 --> 00:31:32.920
in a specific covenant Deuteronomy twenty eight, twenty nine thirty.

570
00:31:33.279 --> 00:31:36.400
If you do good, you get this. If you do bad,

571
00:31:36.599 --> 00:31:39.279
you suffer. Suffer, suffer, suffer, suffer. What do we learn

572
00:31:39.319 --> 00:31:44.039
about this that not only does Israel, none of us

573
00:31:44.240 --> 00:31:48.559
will ever fulfill a covenant that's based on lawkeeping, because

574
00:31:48.559 --> 00:31:50.480
we cannot keep the law. If you want to make

575
00:31:50.519 --> 00:31:55.160
it about us Verse two, Why when I came was

576
00:31:55.200 --> 00:31:57.200
there no man? Why when I called there was no

577
00:31:57.240 --> 00:31:59.920
one to answer? Is my hand shortened that it can

578
00:32:00.160 --> 00:32:02.519
not to redeem or I have no power to deliver?

579
00:32:03.960 --> 00:32:07.359
God came to say, but Israel was unresponsive. Is my

580
00:32:07.480 --> 00:32:11.400
hand shortened? It's an anthropomorphic way of saying God is

581
00:32:11.440 --> 00:32:14.279
not limited, all right, because I speaking of God in

582
00:32:14.599 --> 00:32:18.519
human form, human you know, has a hand, having a hand,

583
00:32:18.519 --> 00:32:21.799
that type of thing. These questions are designed to rebuke

584
00:32:21.880 --> 00:32:25.880
Israel's unbelief. It's not here to really speak of God's inability.

585
00:32:26.319 --> 00:32:29.759
God is not powerless, Israel is faithless. The real issue

586
00:32:29.839 --> 00:32:34.559
is not divine weakness, but Israel's human their hard heart.

587
00:32:34.680 --> 00:32:38.720
I think let's say it that way, all right, That's

588
00:32:38.759 --> 00:32:41.480
what's happening here. Then verse three, I clothe the heavens

589
00:32:41.519 --> 00:32:44.680
with blackness and my sack cloth. They're coverings. This seems

590
00:32:44.680 --> 00:32:47.960
to speak of God's God's authority, cosmic authority. We could

591
00:32:48.000 --> 00:32:51.000
say he darkens to heavens, like an allusion to judgment,

592
00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:55.359
maybe from like Exodus ten. Sackcloth's obviously is a metaphor

593
00:32:55.519 --> 00:33:00.359
for mourning and calamity. God rebukes Israel for misinterpreting, for

594
00:33:00.519 --> 00:33:04.839
misinterpreting their suffering. They were not forsaken, they were being disciplined.

595
00:33:05.039 --> 00:33:07.960
Yet God is still able to redeem. Hey, don't see

596
00:33:07.960 --> 00:33:12.400
yourself as being forsaken. Understand you're being judged, and understand

597
00:33:12.400 --> 00:33:15.279
that I have the ability to redeem you and to

598
00:33:15.400 --> 00:33:18.799
deliver you. I think that's a good way of summarizing

599
00:33:18.920 --> 00:33:21.039
verses one through three. Now, all of a sudden, what

600
00:33:21.119 --> 00:33:25.880
happens in verses four through nine. The servant speaks Here

601
00:33:25.920 --> 00:33:29.960
the voice shifts. We're no longer hearing from God directly,

602
00:33:30.240 --> 00:33:34.920
but from the servant of the Lord in the first person.

603
00:33:35.680 --> 00:33:39.960
This is the third Servant's song, following four Isaiah forty

604
00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.359
two and Isaiah forty nine. The Lord God has given

605
00:33:44.400 --> 00:33:46.559
me the tongue of those who are taught, that I

606
00:33:46.680 --> 00:33:50.039
may know how to sustain with a word him who

607
00:33:50.400 --> 00:33:53.079
is weary. Now we can get into a major discussion

608
00:33:53.359 --> 00:33:56.839
and who this servant is. See, that's the real issue here.

609
00:33:57.079 --> 00:34:00.000
How do we identify this servant? And our options are

610
00:34:00.039 --> 00:34:02.880
are do we identify the servant as being Israel? Well,

611
00:34:02.920 --> 00:34:05.480
that makes no sense because Israel's just rebuked in the

612
00:34:05.559 --> 00:34:08.599
verses before, so we already know that's not plausible. Doesn't

613
00:34:08.599 --> 00:34:12.920
even make sense, is it Cyrus? Which, of course Cyrus

614
00:34:13.199 --> 00:34:16.320
serving as a servant we believe in forty two because

615
00:34:16.320 --> 00:34:18.480
he is the servant of the Lord, chosen by God

616
00:34:18.639 --> 00:34:22.239
to deliver the people, even though he's blind death and

617
00:34:22.280 --> 00:34:24.639
doesn't know what's going on, because he's a pagan. All right,

618
00:34:24.679 --> 00:34:27.119
so does that apply to Isaiah fifty. See, that's where

619
00:34:27.119 --> 00:34:29.960
the real exegetical work needs to take place. But hey,

620
00:34:29.960 --> 00:34:32.039
and this sermon we're listening to, none of this is

621
00:34:32.079 --> 00:34:35.639
even being discussed, but hey, it's worth you know, four

622
00:34:35.719 --> 00:34:36.880
hundred thousand dollars.

623
00:34:36.960 --> 00:34:37.679
I guess, all right.

624
00:34:39.119 --> 00:34:43.360
So, but the servant here speaks verse four, the Lord

625
00:34:43.400 --> 00:34:45.119
has given me the tongue of those who are taught,

626
00:34:45.119 --> 00:34:46.880
that I may know how to sustain with him a

627
00:34:46.920 --> 00:34:49.400
word him who is weary, the tongue of the learn,

628
00:34:49.480 --> 00:34:54.239
a disciplined, in instructed speaker. I think that's a way

629
00:34:54.239 --> 00:34:58.079
to understand this purpose to comfort the weary, A direct

630
00:34:58.119 --> 00:35:01.039
tie to Isaiah forty one through two. Isaiah forty, verse

631
00:35:01.079 --> 00:35:03.119
thirty one. All right, the Lord has given me the

632
00:35:03.159 --> 00:35:05.079
tongue of those who were taught, that I may know

633
00:35:05.119 --> 00:35:07.320
how to sustain with the word him who was weary.

634
00:35:07.559 --> 00:35:10.880
This servant is there to comfort those who are weary.

635
00:35:11.000 --> 00:35:12.320
You see where I kind of want to go a

636
00:35:12.360 --> 00:35:15.519
little bit here with Cyrus a little bit. Maybe the

637
00:35:15.559 --> 00:35:19.119
servant does not speak from personal brilliance, but from divine instruction.

638
00:35:20.280 --> 00:35:22.960
Jesus and Matthew eleven e goes this come to me

639
00:35:23.119 --> 00:35:25.920
all who are weary. All right, So if you want

640
00:35:25.960 --> 00:35:27.719
to try to connect it there, I don't think we should,

641
00:35:27.719 --> 00:35:30.840
But okay, verse five we could go with I mean

642
00:35:31.000 --> 00:35:32.519
we could, I mean we could go a lot of

643
00:35:32.559 --> 00:35:37.639
different directions. Verse five. The Lord God has opened my ear,

644
00:35:37.719 --> 00:35:40.400
and I will not and I was not rebellious. I

645
00:35:40.480 --> 00:35:44.840
turn not backward. Now this is where being Cyrus wet to.

646
00:35:44.920 --> 00:35:47.400
We'd be careful. If it's Cyrus, then we could go, Well,

647
00:35:48.119 --> 00:35:51.199
God opened his ear in a sense to he's going

648
00:35:51.239 --> 00:35:54.159
to do exactly what God says, and he wasn't rebellious

649
00:35:54.159 --> 00:35:56.360
to what God tells Cyrus to do, which is to

650
00:35:56.400 --> 00:35:59.239
release the people from captivity. So again I'm going to

651
00:36:00.079 --> 00:36:02.559
you know, this is the exegetical work is we would

652
00:36:02.599 --> 00:36:04.519
have to try to see how this fits to Cyrus.

653
00:36:04.639 --> 00:36:06.719
These people in this church probably don't even know who

654
00:36:06.800 --> 00:36:09.599
Cyrus is, and they're not even hearing about him, because

655
00:36:09.599 --> 00:36:11.960
this pastor doesn't even bother to handle this text in

656
00:36:12.000 --> 00:36:15.360
any meaningful way. But this has nothing to do with

657
00:36:15.400 --> 00:36:18.920
these people. This is nothing about people doing more. This

658
00:36:18.960 --> 00:36:25.440
is about the servant doing something for the people. Unlike Israel,

659
00:36:25.559 --> 00:36:29.239
this figure is obedient, obedient at least to what he's

660
00:36:29.239 --> 00:36:33.239
called to do. The language equis echoes psalm forty maybe,

661
00:36:34.159 --> 00:36:39.920
and what we could talk about something in Hebrews. Yeah,

662
00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:42.239
all right, I got to decide what I'm gonna say

663
00:36:42.360 --> 00:36:44.639
because I can't turn this into a full blown exposition.

664
00:36:44.679 --> 00:36:49.159
But okay, Israel has closed ears and hard hearts. The

665
00:36:49.239 --> 00:36:53.280
servant listens and obeys whoever the servant is. He listens

666
00:36:53.440 --> 00:36:56.000
and obeys because he's going to do something for the

667
00:36:56.039 --> 00:36:58.480
people who are weary. They're weary because they feel like

668
00:36:58.519 --> 00:37:02.920
they've been abandoned. They're weary because they're under divine judgment.

669
00:37:03.320 --> 00:37:06.400
The servant is going to bring comfort to that weariness. Well,

670
00:37:06.519 --> 00:37:10.360
historically we know who brings comfort to their weariness. Cyrus

671
00:37:10.400 --> 00:37:15.519
comes walking in and lets the people go. All right, So,

672
00:37:16.199 --> 00:37:18.719
but it's what's being done for the people. It's not

673
00:37:18.840 --> 00:37:21.119
this is hey, guys, you need to work harder. This

674
00:37:21.239 --> 00:37:25.599
is not about them working harder. Verse six. I gave

675
00:37:25.679 --> 00:37:29.559
my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to

676
00:37:29.599 --> 00:37:32.360
those who pull out the beard. I hid not my

677
00:37:32.480 --> 00:37:37.960
face from disgrace and spitting. Now, this really takes a jump.

678
00:37:38.440 --> 00:37:41.480
This really takes a jump. This seems to sound like

679
00:37:41.760 --> 00:37:47.719
voluntary suffering. It definitely seems to talk about humiliation, physical abuse,

680
00:37:48.039 --> 00:37:52.880
and shameful treatment. This clearly seems to be pointing to

681
00:37:52.960 --> 00:37:56.280
what Jesus suffered in Matthew twenty six and Mark fourteen.

682
00:37:58.719 --> 00:38:02.920
This does not seem to be disciplinary suffering. Now I

683
00:38:02.920 --> 00:38:05.360
think there may be see in the first part Israel,

684
00:38:05.400 --> 00:38:09.280
you're suffering discipline, you're suffering judgment. This seems to be

685
00:38:09.360 --> 00:38:12.880
suffering for a different purpose, to do something for those

686
00:38:12.880 --> 00:38:16.480
who are weary. We could call this redemptive suffering. This

687
00:38:16.559 --> 00:38:23.159
is willing and purposeful verse seven. But the Lord God

688
00:38:23.280 --> 00:38:26.920
helps me. Therefore have I not been disgraced? Therefore I

689
00:38:26.920 --> 00:38:29.760
have set my face like a flint. Set my face

690
00:38:29.840 --> 00:38:35.480
like a flint, firm resolve, unshaken by opposition. This seems

691
00:38:35.480 --> 00:38:38.159
to be fulfilled in Luke nine, where Jesus set his

692
00:38:38.239 --> 00:38:41.880
face to go to Jerusalem. The servant is sustained by

693
00:38:42.000 --> 00:38:46.519
confidence in God's vindication, not public opinion. I have set

694
00:38:46.559 --> 00:38:48.880
my face like a flint. This is not about you,

695
00:38:49.199 --> 00:38:51.840
This is not about me. This is about the servant.

696
00:38:52.039 --> 00:38:56.320
And if the servant is Jesus, this is Jesus setting

697
00:38:56.320 --> 00:39:00.760
his face like flint to do redemptive suffering for you.

698
00:39:01.199 --> 00:39:05.159
How does this get turned into a sermon about you

699
00:39:05.239 --> 00:39:08.519
working harder and you being more obedient? So this would

700
00:39:08.519 --> 00:39:11.519
be a gospel passage showing you what Jesus did for you,

701
00:39:11.599 --> 00:39:13.920
if we say the servant is Jesus, or at the

702
00:39:14.039 --> 00:39:17.639
very least, it's a servant's song about what Cyrus is

703
00:39:17.679 --> 00:39:20.519
doing for the people in Babylonian captivity. And this is

704
00:39:20.519 --> 00:39:23.039
where it kind of falls apart, because does he suffer

705
00:39:23.239 --> 00:39:24.800
like I don't know if there's any way to connect

706
00:39:24.800 --> 00:39:27.440
that to Cyrus. But see, these are the hermonoutical questions

707
00:39:27.480 --> 00:39:29.280
that should be asked. But no, no, we get a

708
00:39:29.280 --> 00:39:32.199
sermon about, hey, guys, you can do better. Hey guys,

709
00:39:32.199 --> 00:39:34.400
you can work harder. Hey guys, you can do more.

710
00:39:34.559 --> 00:39:36.760
You can do more. You're just gotta be more committed.

711
00:39:36.880 --> 00:39:38.679
Don't just say you want, don't say I hope you

712
00:39:38.719 --> 00:39:40.440
can do it. Like you're in a cycle class and

713
00:39:40.440 --> 00:39:43.599
the guy's trying to motivate you to cycle for three miles.

714
00:39:48.519 --> 00:39:52.119
Verse eight. He who vindicates me is near, who will

715
00:39:52.159 --> 00:39:54.960
contend with me? Let us stand up together? Who is

716
00:39:55.039 --> 00:39:58.719
my adversary? Let him come near? Now this seems to

717
00:39:58.760 --> 00:40:02.639
be like a legal language WI contend adversary stand up

718
00:40:02.840 --> 00:40:05.760
seems to be like courtroom metaphors, which Isaiah has used

719
00:40:05.800 --> 00:40:09.119
courtroom metaphors when it talked about basically God versus the

720
00:40:09.119 --> 00:40:13.480
idols of Babylon. The servant is confident in his justification

721
00:40:13.639 --> 00:40:17.800
before God. All right, so we could get into we could,

722
00:40:17.800 --> 00:40:19.400
I could go some other places with that, but I

723
00:40:19.400 --> 00:40:22.239
won't currently verse nine, Behold the Lord God helps me,

724
00:40:22.519 --> 00:40:25.159
who will declare me guilty. Behold, all of them will

725
00:40:25.159 --> 00:40:28.599
wear out like a garment. The moth will eat them up.

726
00:40:28.880 --> 00:40:33.239
The servant's enemies will perish like moth eaten clothes. This

727
00:40:33.480 --> 00:40:37.159
is a vindication is basically guaranteed, not because the servant

728
00:40:37.199 --> 00:40:42.800
is bold, but because God is faithful. All right. This

729
00:40:43.440 --> 00:40:48.719
seems to be a prophetic portrait of Christ, obedient, suffering

730
00:40:48.840 --> 00:40:52.639
yet vindicated. His resolved and suffering comfort for the weary

731
00:40:52.840 --> 00:40:55.920
and vindication by God are central to the Gospel. We

732
00:40:56.000 --> 00:40:58.719
are not the servant. We are the weary in need

733
00:40:58.760 --> 00:41:01.199
of a servant's word and saving work. Now, if we

734
00:41:01.239 --> 00:41:04.519
put it in its context, if we put it in

735
00:41:04.599 --> 00:41:12.679
the context, Israel is in judgment. Now Israel may be

736
00:41:12.920 --> 00:41:16.639
sent back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. But what

737
00:41:16.679 --> 00:41:20.039
they need is to be redeemed, They need to be saved.

738
00:41:20.400 --> 00:41:24.880
They need a servant who will suffer God's wrath for

739
00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:28.519
them so they no longer have to endure God's wrath

740
00:41:29.000 --> 00:41:31.880
on them. And that is the suffering servant, who I

741
00:41:31.880 --> 00:41:36.440
think we'll see later on in this. So there is

742
00:41:36.519 --> 00:41:42.760
a quick exegetical work on Isaiah fifty one through nine.

743
00:41:42.880 --> 00:41:46.559
There we go, and I just want you to see

744
00:41:46.559 --> 00:41:49.840
how evil what has taken place. He's taken us a

745
00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:53.159
verse about what the servant is doing for someone else,

746
00:41:53.280 --> 00:41:58.239
either for Israel or for us, and he's turning into guys,

747
00:41:58.360 --> 00:42:01.440
you need to be committed, You need consistency, You need

748
00:42:01.480 --> 00:42:04.880
to do this, you need to do that. How utterly

749
00:42:05.039 --> 00:42:09.639
messed up is this? Now? Ssh, we're gonna go back

750
00:42:09.679 --> 00:42:12.400
into the sanctuary. Okay, we just we just had our

751
00:42:12.440 --> 00:42:15.559
own little Bible study, all right, But hey, I mean,

752
00:42:15.719 --> 00:42:17.679
the reason we give all this money to this church,

753
00:42:18.039 --> 00:42:20.320
you know, thirty million dollars, is so that we can

754
00:42:20.320 --> 00:42:23.199
get these four hundred thousand dollars sermons. Because they're so

755
00:42:24.440 --> 00:42:29.639
expository and so full of spiritual meat.

756
00:42:30.320 --> 00:42:34.159
It cannot be microwaved. It doesn't happen with one sermon.

757
00:42:34.440 --> 00:42:37.159
It doesn't happen with just attending church one time. It

758
00:42:37.159 --> 00:42:40.079
doesn't happen with just going through rooted one time. It

759
00:42:40.119 --> 00:42:42.719
doesn't happen. You cannot microwave it.

760
00:42:42.719 --> 00:42:45.599
It's more like our crock pot.

761
00:42:46.400 --> 00:42:48.599
Rooted is one of the small groups you can join

762
00:42:48.800 --> 00:42:51.199
so that you can get connected to God. And you

763
00:42:51.239 --> 00:42:55.880
can join that group for forty dollars. They have a

764
00:42:55.920 --> 00:42:58.039
small group that you can join to get you rooted,

765
00:42:58.119 --> 00:43:00.800
get you grounded into faith, and it's only forty dollars

766
00:43:00.800 --> 00:43:04.960
to join. The church has a four million dollar surplus,

767
00:43:05.039 --> 00:43:07.599
or they did in what twenty twenty three, the last

768
00:43:07.639 --> 00:43:11.000
financial records, I was able to see four million dollars.

769
00:43:11.079 --> 00:43:13.000
But if you want to join this group so that

770
00:43:13.039 --> 00:43:15.599
you can get rooted in your faith, it's only for

771
00:43:15.679 --> 00:43:21.360
the low low price of forty dollars.

772
00:43:21.400 --> 00:43:27.639
And it's developed over time and unfortunately through adversity, not

773
00:43:27.800 --> 00:43:31.360
around it. Second Peter, chapter one, verse six talks about

774
00:43:31.480 --> 00:43:34.880
being patient in Endurance James chapter.

775
00:43:34.679 --> 00:43:35.639
One, versus sixty eight.

776
00:43:35.880 --> 00:43:38.960
Let these words encourage you, says, do not waiver for

777
00:43:39.039 --> 00:43:42.679
a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a

778
00:43:42.719 --> 00:43:43.639
wave of the sea.

779
00:43:43.719 --> 00:43:45.079
That is blown and tossed by the wind.

780
00:43:47.559 --> 00:43:49.599
Do you know what he's actually done in this sermon.

781
00:43:50.199 --> 00:43:59.039
He's made you the suffering servant. Let's just keep listening.

782
00:44:00.440 --> 00:44:03.199
Most people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

783
00:44:03.199 --> 00:44:06.400
Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and

784
00:44:06.440 --> 00:44:08.679
they are unstable in everything.

785
00:44:08.320 --> 00:44:08.840
That they do.

786
00:44:09.119 --> 00:44:11.320
And I would say that for a lot of us

787
00:44:11.360 --> 00:44:13.960
in the church in the West, this explains why there's

788
00:44:14.000 --> 00:44:19.079
no power. It's because we're living kind of divided lives

789
00:44:19.119 --> 00:44:21.599
between God and the world. It's like sort of like

790
00:44:21.599 --> 00:44:24.440
a syncretism. We've got one foot in and one foot out.

791
00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:27.159
And so because of that, we're not tapping into the

792
00:44:27.320 --> 00:44:30.679
help that's the word for the Holy Spirit helper that

793
00:44:30.760 --> 00:44:35.320
we all need, and we end up foregoing the power

794
00:44:35.400 --> 00:44:38.760
that God has made available to us. And we often

795
00:44:38.840 --> 00:44:41.679
just think, you know, man, change needs to come in

796
00:44:41.840 --> 00:44:43.920
one big decision.

797
00:44:44.119 --> 00:44:44.719
You know, let me.

798
00:44:44.719 --> 00:44:48.920
Get like a running start, and I'm gonna jump into change.

799
00:44:48.960 --> 00:44:50.679
And then if we don't see it, then we get frustrated.

800
00:44:50.719 --> 00:44:55.559
So if change doesn't happen in one crucial conversation, if

801
00:44:55.679 --> 00:45:00.000
change doesn't take place in one counseling appointment, if change

802
00:45:00.199 --> 00:45:03.559
doesn't take place in one investment, one act of generosity,

803
00:45:03.920 --> 00:45:06.599
one killer vacation with the fam where I connect with

804
00:45:06.639 --> 00:45:12.519
my kids, instead of like consistent daily conversation, maybe just

805
00:45:12.559 --> 00:45:15.639
one church service, one sermon, series, one prayer. If the

806
00:45:15.760 --> 00:45:19.639
change that I'm looking for doesn't happen, then we maybe

807
00:45:19.760 --> 00:45:20.840
assume all kinds of things.

808
00:45:20.880 --> 00:45:22.360
Well, it didn't work. God doesn't care.

809
00:45:22.440 --> 00:45:24.679
I must have done something wrong, or our favorite option,

810
00:45:25.440 --> 00:45:29.360
we just blame other people. And we're oftentimes missing this

811
00:45:29.400 --> 00:45:31.480
equation right here. Take a picture of this with your phone.

812
00:45:31.480 --> 00:45:34.320
Write it down. I think this is such a crucial

813
00:45:34.400 --> 00:45:39.440
thing for us to remember. Consistent that means regular and

814
00:45:39.559 --> 00:45:44.119
daily actionable. I can see it, I can measure it.

815
00:45:44.800 --> 00:45:47.800
Behaviors all right, that's more than good feelings and intentions.

816
00:45:47.840 --> 00:45:52.280
And this is really key over time. I'm not gonna

817
00:45:52.280 --> 00:45:58.239
give up. Even this is just self help. This is

818
00:45:58.280 --> 00:46:01.239
life coach one oh one, self help one O one.

819
00:46:01.639 --> 00:46:02.519
This has nothing to.

820
00:46:02.440 --> 00:46:04.679
Do with Isaiah fifty verse seven. I just gave the

821
00:46:05.159 --> 00:46:12.119
transcript of this sermon to AI. AI says the pastor

822
00:46:12.159 --> 00:46:16.400
in this sermon repeatedly applies Isaiah fifty seven and implicitly

823
00:46:16.480 --> 00:46:19.280
the broader context of Isaiah fifty four through eleven to

824
00:46:19.360 --> 00:46:22.400
the individual Christian, turning the Servant's words into a model

825
00:46:22.880 --> 00:46:26.159
or challenge for how we should suffer and persevere in adversity.

826
00:46:26.440 --> 00:46:30.639
This is both hermeneutically and theologically problematic. The pastor makes

827
00:46:30.679 --> 00:46:35.039
Isaiah fifty seven about us modern believers, but claiming it

828
00:46:35.079 --> 00:46:37.360
represents the posture we should adopt at the start of

829
00:46:37.360 --> 00:46:40.360
a new year, setting our faces like flint to face adversity,

830
00:46:40.599 --> 00:46:43.719
remain consistent, and live with resolve. He says Isaiah may

831
00:46:43.760 --> 00:46:47.199
have been meditating when writing this, suggesting these are Isaiah's

832
00:46:47.199 --> 00:46:49.800
personal reflections rather than prophetic words of the servant of

833
00:46:49.840 --> 00:46:52.960
the Lord. He frames the verse as a motivational challenge

834
00:46:53.039 --> 00:46:56.920
to become more committed, more consistent, and more resilient, essentially

835
00:46:56.920 --> 00:47:00.880
a spiritualized version of a new year's resolution. Places Isaiah

836
00:47:00.960 --> 00:47:03.719
fifty seven as the thematic anchor of the entire self

837
00:47:03.719 --> 00:47:07.960
improvement sermon series. Set like a flint, centered on our behavior.

838
00:47:08.840 --> 00:47:11.960
This is the textual and hermoneutical reality. This is one

839
00:47:11.960 --> 00:47:14.480
of the servants songs. As we've just discussed when I

840
00:47:14.559 --> 00:47:18.679
did my little exegetical breakdown. All right, the servant is

841
00:47:18.719 --> 00:47:22.440
not Isaiah. The servant is and then it goes through

842
00:47:22.519 --> 00:47:25.800
talking about the servant. I says, now here's the philological

843
00:47:26.119 --> 00:47:31.880
and logical errors Christ's centric misplacement. By placing the modern

844
00:47:31.920 --> 00:47:34.519
believer in the role of the servant, the sermon displaces

845
00:47:34.599 --> 00:47:37.199
Christ from the center of the text and imposes a

846
00:47:37.199 --> 00:47:41.840
burden of redemptive suffering and steadfast perfection on you and me.

847
00:47:42.119 --> 00:47:44.800
I want you to hear that again, by placing us

848
00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:47.280
in the role of the servant, because that's literally what

849
00:47:47.320 --> 00:47:50.679
this sermon does. The sermon displaces Christ from the center

850
00:47:50.719 --> 00:47:53.480
of the text and imposes a burden of redemption, of

851
00:47:53.519 --> 00:47:57.000
redemptive suffering on you and me. Basically that we have

852
00:47:57.079 --> 00:48:00.639
to be steadfast and perfect that's what worse supposed to do.

853
00:48:01.119 --> 00:48:04.840
This not only confuses law and gospel, but invites moralism.

854
00:48:05.039 --> 00:48:09.159
You're supposed to be un You're supposed to be unwavering, unflinching,

855
00:48:09.599 --> 00:48:14.360
undiscourageable servant of God. You're basically like you're to be Jesus.

856
00:48:14.679 --> 00:48:17.360
I can't be Jesus. That's why Jesus has to do

857
00:48:17.400 --> 00:48:20.679
it for me. That's the whole point of We need

858
00:48:20.719 --> 00:48:23.519
the servant of God to redeem us and to save us,

859
00:48:23.880 --> 00:48:27.239
just like Israel needed someone to deliver and save them

860
00:48:27.400 --> 00:48:31.480
because they couldn't deliver and save themselves. Not only physically,

861
00:48:31.679 --> 00:48:34.880
they couldn't save themselves spiritually by keeping the law, just

862
00:48:34.920 --> 00:48:41.119
like we can't. Isaiah fifty seven isn't about summoning your

863
00:48:41.199 --> 00:48:45.400
personal resolve. It's about the obedient servants' confidence and divine

864
00:48:45.480 --> 00:48:49.519
vindication despite horrific suffering. It points forward to Jesus who

865
00:48:49.599 --> 00:48:51.960
said his face like flint, to go to Jerusalem and

866
00:48:52.000 --> 00:48:55.599
suffer for our salvation. Turning this into a motivational message

867
00:48:55.639 --> 00:49:00.000
is hermeneutically reckless, especially in a text about substitutionary o being,

868
00:49:00.039 --> 00:49:03.159
radience and suffering. The sermon calls us to be the

869
00:49:03.239 --> 00:49:08.239
servant who remains faithful despite suffering and rejection, an impossible

870
00:49:08.280 --> 00:49:13.360
and crushing standard that the servant himself fulfills on our behalf.

871
00:49:15.639 --> 00:49:21.599
Ai says this is absolutely horrible teaching, not because it

872
00:49:21.719 --> 00:49:25.920
lacks passion or clarity, because it misrepresents the identity of

873
00:49:25.920 --> 00:49:29.719
the servant, replacing Christ with the Christian and turns redemptive

874
00:49:29.800 --> 00:49:33.920
suffering into a spiritual challenge. It's a classic example, maybe

875
00:49:33.920 --> 00:49:37.800
of a well intentioned, practical sermon but ends up obscuring

876
00:49:37.840 --> 00:49:42.159
the Gospel and replacing it with law heavy behavior centered spirituality.

877
00:49:44.039 --> 00:49:47.559
I want you to hear that Ai says, it's absolute

878
00:49:47.920 --> 00:49:58.840
horrible teaching. I did not say that. Ai did.

879
00:50:01.679 --> 00:50:01.800
Man.

880
00:50:08.159 --> 00:50:10.920
When you see a passage that shows what God is

881
00:50:11.000 --> 00:50:15.239
doing for you or what God did for Israel, that

882
00:50:15.280 --> 00:50:18.320
doesn't turn into you do it, you do it, You

883
00:50:18.400 --> 00:50:20.559
do it. This is law for you to do, you

884
00:50:20.599 --> 00:50:23.039
to do, you to do. You need to be consistent.

885
00:50:23.159 --> 00:50:25.199
You need to be consistent. You've got to stop this

886
00:50:25.360 --> 00:50:28.519
microwave mentality. It's not gonna just get fixed and won

887
00:50:28.599 --> 00:50:30.960
this or won that. You gotta be consistent. You gotta

888
00:50:30.960 --> 00:50:32.960
be a better father. You gotta be a better husband.

889
00:50:33.000 --> 00:50:34.639
You gotta be a better wife. You gotta be a

890
00:50:34.679 --> 00:50:37.280
better this. You gotta be a better that. Just be consistent,

891
00:50:37.480 --> 00:50:43.360
Just do more. That is literally, literally what's wrong with

892
00:50:43.440 --> 00:50:47.519
the entire evangelical and industrial complex. I don't care if

893
00:50:47.519 --> 00:50:49.880
you've got big buildings, twelve thousand people and bring in

894
00:50:49.960 --> 00:50:55.519
thirty million dollars. You literally and single handedly obliterated the

895
00:50:55.599 --> 00:50:57.800
Gospel and replaced it with the law.

896
00:51:00.119 --> 00:51:03.519
Even when it gets hard, even when resistance comes, even

897
00:51:03.559 --> 00:51:05.960
when I lose my motivation I'm not going to give

898
00:51:06.039 --> 00:51:09.800
up now. It may not look real pretty today, but

899
00:51:09.840 --> 00:51:16.079
I'm going to keep moving forward. That equals real change.

900
00:51:16.199 --> 00:51:21.559
And oftentimes we are inconsistent. There's nothing like really actionable.

901
00:51:21.639 --> 00:51:23.360
It's just kind of ethereal. It's just kind of like

902
00:51:23.800 --> 00:51:27.599
emotional and there's no it ever gets translated into behavior,

903
00:51:27.639 --> 00:51:29.840
and we don't give it enough time, and we don't

904
00:51:29.920 --> 00:51:32.159
experience the transformation that Jesus.

905
00:51:31.800 --> 00:51:36.239
Died for us to have. Jesus died for me to

906
00:51:36.320 --> 00:51:38.599
be transformed. But the only way I'm going to be

907
00:51:38.599 --> 00:51:42.400
transformed if I am consistent and I do my part.

908
00:51:43.039 --> 00:51:45.199
I've got to do it well. First of all, this

909
00:51:45.239 --> 00:51:48.039
seems to be saying that transformation comes by just coming

910
00:51:48.079 --> 00:51:51.239
up with a couple of plans and ideas. No, wait

911
00:51:51.280 --> 00:51:56.119
a minute, isn't the reason what hinders transformation? Isn't the

912
00:51:56.159 --> 00:52:00.880
reality of a sinful nature? Does a sinful nature go away?

913
00:52:01.119 --> 00:52:04.159
And does Christ transform us practically or does he transform

914
00:52:04.239 --> 00:52:09.880
us positionally? This thing is a philological, utter complete trainer.

915
00:52:10.480 --> 00:52:12.880
In fact, this is this is spiritually just I mean,

916
00:52:13.239 --> 00:52:15.840
I'm just gonna it's just pure evil, It's what this is.

917
00:52:16.280 --> 00:52:19.679
This is basically, you're transformed by what you. Jesus simply

918
00:52:19.719 --> 00:52:22.719
died so that you can be transformed. But the transformation

919
00:52:22.880 --> 00:52:25.159
is all up to you. But wait a minute, so

920
00:52:25.280 --> 00:52:28.480
I'm trying to wait, How do I transform myself when

921
00:52:28.519 --> 00:52:31.000
the issue is my sinful native This is a complete thing,

922
00:52:31.199 --> 00:52:35.480
this is pure for I don't even know what this is.

923
00:52:35.639 --> 00:52:38.639
This is Pelagius would probably even be like, what is

924
00:52:38.679 --> 00:52:44.119
happening here? This is Pelagianism, full blown Plagianism. Basically, you're

925
00:52:44.480 --> 00:52:49.239
you can just be perfect by being the suffering servant.

926
00:52:49.320 --> 00:52:52.559
In Isaiah fifty seven, we don't need Jesus to be

927
00:52:52.599 --> 00:52:55.119
the suffering servant. We can be the suffering servant, and

928
00:52:55.239 --> 00:52:57.480
in our suffering we can be consistent and we can

929
00:52:57.480 --> 00:53:00.159
be obedient. We can be perfect because Jesus died so

930
00:53:00.239 --> 00:53:04.840
that we can be perfect. But hey, died so I

931
00:53:04.880 --> 00:53:07.119
can be perfect. But I gotta do it. So I

932
00:53:07.119 --> 00:53:09.679
don't really know what is death? Did? I don't know?

933
00:53:11.880 --> 00:53:13.119
James, Chapter two, verse seventeen.

934
00:53:13.119 --> 00:53:15.719
It says, so you see, faith by itself, it isn't

935
00:53:15.800 --> 00:53:19.239
enough until it produces good deeds.

936
00:53:19.400 --> 00:53:22.239
It is dead and useless.

937
00:53:23.239 --> 00:53:27.199
And really, what we're after here is transformation. That's what

938
00:53:27.199 --> 00:53:32.639
we're after. And transformation happens when I do consistently what

939
00:53:32.719 --> 00:53:38.920
I used to do occasionally. And that's true in relationships, finances, health.

940
00:53:40.960 --> 00:53:45.280
Okay, this is self help. Do better, do better, do more,

941
00:53:45.400 --> 00:53:48.639
This is law, law, law, law. A passage about the

942
00:53:48.679 --> 00:53:52.320
suffering servant just turned into a passage about you doing more.

943
00:53:52.519 --> 00:53:55.960
You being consistent, do more, be consistent, do more of

944
00:53:56.000 --> 00:53:58.119
what you used to do. Just a little love. Do more, now,

945
00:53:58.360 --> 00:54:02.039
be consistent, do more, do more, do more, work harder,

946
00:54:02.159 --> 00:54:06.480
do more, do more. Law law, law, law, law, and

947
00:54:06.559 --> 00:54:08.960
Jesus just died so that you can be transformed. But

948
00:54:09.000 --> 00:54:11.360
you've got to do all the transforming yourself by doing

949
00:54:11.400 --> 00:54:12.639
more and more and more and more and more and

950
00:54:12.639 --> 00:54:14.880
more and more. Then you'll be transformed. So I don't know,

951
00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:15.880
Jesus what Jesus?

952
00:54:19.400 --> 00:54:19.960
I give up?

953
00:54:21.119 --> 00:54:25.320
I give up? I do I just I really I don't.

954
00:54:27.119 --> 00:54:27.159
Know.

955
00:54:27.239 --> 00:54:28.880
I'm not going to finish it. There's no point in

956
00:54:28.920 --> 00:54:31.519
reviewing the rest of it. I mean, we see what's

957
00:54:31.599 --> 00:54:34.800
going to happen. You can go look this up yourself

958
00:54:34.840 --> 00:54:36.280
if you want. Let me go see if I can

959
00:54:36.320 --> 00:54:38.800
find the website. I think I'll close this thing, and

960
00:54:38.960 --> 00:54:40.880
I think I got it right here. You if you

961
00:54:40.960 --> 00:54:46.199
want it, here you go, and so let's get up,

962
00:54:46.280 --> 00:54:48.079
let's talk. We're just gonna walk out. We're gonna walk

963
00:54:48.079 --> 00:54:50.280
out in the middle of church. Come on, let's just leave.

964
00:54:50.480 --> 00:54:52.599
So where we're gonna go, I don't know. We're gonna

965
00:54:52.639 --> 00:54:55.639
find someplace in Indianapolis, Indiana to eat. Okay, all right,

966
00:54:55.920 --> 00:55:00.599
so here we go. You can go to tp dot

967
00:55:00.920 --> 00:55:04.960
org TPCC dot org look for the place about messages

968
00:55:05.079 --> 00:55:08.159
or explore messages, look for the one from January the fifth,

969
00:55:08.519 --> 00:55:11.079
and then you can listen to the entire series. Set

970
00:55:11.400 --> 00:55:13.960
your face like a flint. I think it's about you

971
00:55:14.000 --> 00:55:16.239
setting your face like a flint, even though Isaiah fifty

972
00:55:16.280 --> 00:55:18.719
to seven is nothing about you, and it possibly has

973
00:55:18.760 --> 00:55:20.599
something to do with Jesus who set his face like

974
00:55:20.599 --> 00:55:22.400
a flint so that he went to Jerusalem and died

975
00:55:22.440 --> 00:55:24.559
for you. But if it's not about what Jesus did

976
00:55:24.559 --> 00:55:26.559
for you, it's about what you can do so that

977
00:55:26.639 --> 00:55:31.960
you can just be a better person. This is what

978
00:55:32.000 --> 00:55:41.920
the church wants, moralism, law, expositional preaching, because that's supposedly

979
00:55:41.920 --> 00:55:49.280
what you're getting there TPCC dot org. Now again, the

980
00:55:49.320 --> 00:55:52.920
only reason I ended up at this church's website is

981
00:55:52.920 --> 00:55:54.880
because I saw a video where the pastor was talking

982
00:55:54.880 --> 00:55:57.920
about how he's so different than everyone else, and how

983
00:55:57.960 --> 00:56:00.840
his preaching is so different, and how he his focus

984
00:56:00.880 --> 00:56:03.639
is on the meat and preaching and not starving people

985
00:56:03.639 --> 00:56:07.159
and not just giving them chicken nuggets, but doing expository preaching.

986
00:56:10.239 --> 00:56:16.000
That's why got me here. And then the first sermon

987
00:56:16.039 --> 00:56:19.440
we listened to, I don't know what that. I don't

988
00:56:19.440 --> 00:56:22.239
know what that is. Now, according to one email that

989
00:56:22.280 --> 00:56:27.039
I received, they also have another teaching minister pastor that

990
00:56:27.119 --> 00:56:29.320
supposedly is a good teacher. I have to go look

991
00:56:29.320 --> 00:56:31.400
for the name and then see if we can find

992
00:56:31.880 --> 00:56:33.840
one of their sermons, and then we will we will

993
00:56:33.880 --> 00:56:36.079
review it because if there's a good then we want

994
00:56:36.079 --> 00:56:38.559
to we want to review the good as well. Right,

995
00:56:39.119 --> 00:56:41.920
But the whole thing is is and I'll probably do

996
00:56:41.960 --> 00:56:46.360
an entire episode on this entire strategy where you say

997
00:56:46.400 --> 00:56:48.719
all of the again, you say all of these good

998
00:56:48.760 --> 00:56:50.800
words about what the church is and what the church

999
00:56:50.840 --> 00:56:53.239
is supposed to do and preaching and the authority of

1000
00:56:53.280 --> 00:56:57.559
scripture and exposition, and then in practice, though you can't

1001
00:56:57.599 --> 00:57:00.840
really do what you well, how you mark it, because

1002
00:57:00.880 --> 00:57:03.599
if you do that in practice, you won't have ten

1003
00:57:03.679 --> 00:57:08.000
thousand people and thirty million dollars. Now, there's exceptions that

1004
00:57:08.119 --> 00:57:11.880
some churches can be more expositional and be successful, but

1005
00:57:12.039 --> 00:57:16.000
I think in the long run, you're going to have

1006
00:57:16.039 --> 00:57:18.199
to provide a whole lot of other stuff or the

1007
00:57:18.239 --> 00:57:21.679
people won't come. I'm not saying always, there's always the

1008
00:57:21.760 --> 00:57:24.960
exception to the rule. All right, we're speaking in general.

1009
00:57:25.000 --> 00:57:26.840
All right, But I'm going to stop because I have

1010
00:57:26.960 --> 00:57:34.280
now been teaching for three and a half hours. About

1011
00:57:34.280 --> 00:57:36.360
three and a half hours, I think I've been teaching

1012
00:57:36.960 --> 00:57:41.960
so man, so hopefully we've accomplished something today. So I'm

1013
00:57:41.960 --> 00:57:45.840
going to stop. I need food desperately, my head is pounding,

1014
00:57:46.320 --> 00:57:50.320
and yeah, I hope we've accomplished something. But in the

1015
00:57:50.320 --> 00:57:51.840
midst of all of that, you got a little bit

1016
00:57:51.840 --> 00:57:54.639
of an exegetical work on Isaiah fifty. Please note that

1017
00:57:54.719 --> 00:57:59.519
was that was impromptu exagetical work. Okay, when we get

1018
00:57:59.519 --> 00:58:03.760
to Isaiah fifty, through our exegetical work of Isaiah forty

1019
00:58:03.800 --> 00:58:06.679
through fifty five, then we may challenge that, we may

1020
00:58:06.679 --> 00:58:09.599
come to different conclusions. I kept leaving that open because

1021
00:58:09.639 --> 00:58:12.639
we will challenge the identity of the servant in Isaiah fifty.

1022
00:58:12.639 --> 00:58:15.199
We will challenge it to some level, because we have

1023
00:58:15.280 --> 00:58:17.760
to at least consider all possibilities. I just know this,

1024
00:58:18.199 --> 00:58:24.719
it's not Isaiah and it's definitely not you. God, bless