Peace and Truth

Transcript

this morning I want to talk about uh perspective and you know who we are and uh who were supposed to be if you will

um it's been it you know it's been a an interesting week uh for me I had a situation last weekend where I in two days I had very um opposite experiences on Sunday um

we went to a family uh event for Cindy's Aunt who turned 100. so he went to a hundred birth 100th birthday celebration you don't really get to go too many 100 birthday celebrations in fact you know for many of you know I've done many many functions over the years and that kind of stuff and Josh asked me how many 100 birthday parties I did and I couldn't remember any because it just doesn't happen that often so it was a nice celebration uh for Cindy's for Cindy's ah on Sunday

and then on Monday I went to a funeral for a friend of mine who I worked with at Dependable cleaners who's only 39. so I go 100th birthday on Sunday and I go to the burial of a 39 year old on Monday and uh it gets you thinking quite a bit about life in general never mind the fact by Tuesday I turned 64. so

so we've had a lot of those type of uh experiences and I want to talk this morning about

our faith if you don't know what's going on in the community we've had some tragedy in our community as well who are we supposed to be what do we how are we supposed to see uh what we represent what we represent

now a few weeks ago um I did a midweek class when I where I talked about the Assyria if you don't know if you haven't been following and I don't know why you would I've been doing sort of a pick and choose through uh the prophecy of Isaiah and we were looking at Isaiah 37 and and the Conquering of the Assyrian we talked about what the Assyrian represents and the Assyrian represents the power of the flesh that's what an Assyrian was and Syrian was a big strong guy

and and we live in a world that worships the Assyria we live in a world today more than ever that worships power and wealth and influence and all those things that in Assyrian is all about

and and we don't ever want to get caught up in you know I told the story of a relative of ours that couldn't even deal with the fact that Mark Wahlberg was in the same room as as we were at a at a function because Mark Wahlberg has money and and influence and he's he's somebody we don't know

I don't know he he doesn't know Mark Wahlberg from a whole Noah who knows what what Mark is doesn't really matter because we know what the flesh is

but that that external Assyrian can have all kinds of Power we saw that right with with those three faithful men that met RAB shanka and were terrified and what he had to say because he had the the power to to get into Jerusalem and to kill everybody and to and to and to use his his strength to defeat

the city of Jerusalem and it was it was Hezekiah that brought it before God and said this is not about us it's about you the lady before God

that's how you overcome the Assyria but there's two types of Assyrians not two types there's two

aspects of the Assyrian one is that external you know that that worshiping of the world that that worry about what somebody else can do for you that's that's the external Assyria

but there's also an Assyrian in here

that Assyrian that says I ought to be you know I'm a Christadelphian I ought to be you know stronger I ought to be better

I've been baptized into Christ I ought to be

that's the Assyrian in my mind saying that

because it's not about my strength or what I ought to be it's about God's strength right the prophecy of Isaiah by the way is all about God's strength it's Isaiah the son of Amos we know nothing about Amos except for the fact that his name means strength Isaiah is a prophet of God and what Isaiah is prophesying again and again and again along with Messianic and all that kind of stuff but the overriding thing of Isaiah is the only strength lies with God

so when I say I ought to I ought I ought to that is My Own Strength I'm relying on

we can't rely on our strength it's God's strength right and God's strength is made perfect how how is God's strength made perfect

in our weakness that's how God's changed is made perfect

so you can't rely on your own Assyria

if you do you're just gonna keep going down the wrong path what I ought to be

so how do we find comfort then

I will keep him in perfect peace

whose mind is stayed on day we keep our mind on the things of God we put our faith in our trust

in the power and in the ability of God because if we trust in ourselves we will always fail we will find ourselves in deep disappointment

and think I I never became what I was supposed to be

well God's strength is made perfect in weakness so I want to build on some of those themes this morning and one of the things I want to mention and I've mentioned this a couple different times is a good crystalline talks there's another good one on this week that was picked by our dear Young Brother Brian Adams who's one of the three remember Brian was he just here a few weeks ago the son of Dana and Becky and it used to be one of our Sunday school students and he's now part of the triumphant that picks talks for good christovian podcasts

and he picked this one and it's a and it's a beauty it's done by a brother by the name of Stephen Hill I don't know Stephen Hill at all he's from Australia he's an older brother

and he gave an exhortation and his exhortation that he gave is first and foremost to other older brother any what he was talking about was he says you know when you get older and you start to see that end of the line it's coming I mentioned I just turned 64. it's coming closer all the time

and you start to see that end of the line and you get a Fray

and you get afraid because the Judgment seat is coming you know who knows how much longer I have before I'm standing there before God and before the Lord Jesus Christ being judged for you know what sort of a faithful man I am

and the brother was talking about how he had a conversation with another older brother who was who was quite old at the time he said in a fact had had fallen asleep shortly there after the conversation and their brother was petrified

and his point was we have nothing to be afraid of if you understand God then you have nothing to be afraid of

because God casts out fear and he went you know where I would go and even where I've gone before he went to first John and this is what it says in first John chapter 4 verse 18. he said there and he talks about John and he's right John speaks in black and white there's no gray area in the writings of John it is or it isn't that's the way John writes it is this or it's not this it's not like John is talking about you know part of something John was talking in absolute words that's that's the power of of John's gospel and the power of His writings and he says this there is no fear

well there's no fear of the world there's no fear of of there is no fear

in love and he's talking about perfect love because he says but perfect love

cats out fear

it casts out all

fear

because fear hath torment and that's what fear does fear has torment fear is is difficult to deal with those older Brethren that he's talking about who see the end of their lives and who are afraid they're in torment

because of their fear of God

why because they're sinning of course they're sinners we're all sinners because they've fallen short in their lives or they feel like they've fallen short in their lives of course they have

because that's what life is but that is not what love is

it says he that feareth is not made perfect

in love

but perfect love casts out fear why why does perfect love cast out feel well it's right there in John again he said herein Is Love that is perfect love

not that we love God

but that God loved us but God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son who believeth in him shall not perish but every eternal life it's not about whether or not you can attain onto perfect love and if you don't or perfect faith and if you don't you fall short it's not about the love that you have it's about the love that God has given you that's the calling we're called to brothers and sisters

to recognize and understand and reflect the love of God

not your ability not my ability but what he has done that's what we're called to not that we loved God

or not that we can reach a point where we can love God so much that God will say okay you love me enough now no

it's about that God loved us and what all that means

they sent his only son to be the propitiation of our sins

so how do we reflect

the love of God

how do we reflect God's perfect love

will never do it absolutely until that wonderful day in the kingdom when we are transformed when we are changed but right now how do we show that we understand the depth of God's love for us and John says no man have seen God at any time we can't we can't show God except

if we love one another God dwells in US and his love

is perfected in US

so how do we know that we are reflecting the love of God and we do it by whether or not we love one another

and he's talking about brethren in Christ

and so who is brethren in Christ well those that can understand what this word means and those are very very very few

we are blessed

not we have attained onto but we are blessed to be able to look at these words and understand

that there is an overcoming of fear

you know what says fear is the beginning of wisdom and it absolutely is you better fear God if you're a sinner and of course we fear God and brought came to baptism so fear is the beginning of wisdom what's the end of wisdom

you ever think about that yeah fear is the beginning of one wisdom what's the end

well this is what Paul says

Paul says this three things left

faith hope

and love where's wisdom

well it's Incorporated isn't it love

and the greatest of these is love

the end of wisdom

is perfect love

and fear is gone

how would you like to live

with no fear

well the problem is that fear is torment

and torment

as we know and as we have seen can consume us

we don't want to be consumed

with our fears

we want to be transformed

by the love of God

Isaiah says this

Isaiah 41. for I the Lord thy God will hold thee in thy right hand saying unto thee fear not I will help thee fear not thou worm Jacob for ye men of Israel and ye men of Israel and I will help thee saith the Lord and thy Redeemer the holy run of Israel notice he calls Jacob a worm why

because that's what we are

and yet he says Don't Be Afraid yeah I am the chiefest of Sinners I if I've proven nothing I've proven I'm the cheapest of Sinners that's what I've proven it to me

and yet God can still love me and say you don't have to be afraid why

because of the Redeemer

because God and the Redeemer have redeemed me from my Redeem Me From Myself

Psalm 34 says this

I sought the Lord and he heard me and he delivered me from all my fears all of them

again Isaiah says this

but now thus saith the Lord that created thee o Jacob he that formed thee o Israel do not fear for I have redeemed you

I have summoned You by name you are a mine do you see who he's talking to there by the way it's in vital that we understand who he's talking to he says now thus saith the Lord that created the O Jacob

and he that formed the O Israel he's not repeating himself

he's talking about two different sets of individuals

oh Jacob is natural in Israel that's what Jacob represents

he represents natural Israel he represents the Jews

he that formed thee o Israel who is that

that spiritual Israel

that's you and I brothers and sisters that's why he talks about Jacob and Israel

because there's two peoples within that Covenant

there's the Jews

and then there's the spiritual Jews

those that can understand the word of God and it's in its depth and in its wonder and in its truth

and put their names into that name we are called right here and it says he's redeemed you he has called you by name

how powerful is that that he has called you by name

you like me the chiefest of sinners

because that's the god that we worship that's the God We Trust in Jesus put it this way

Jesus says peace I leave you my peace I give unto you not our peace

Christ peace and he says give I give uh I give unto you not as the world giveth not that kind of peace

give eye onto you let your hearts let not your hearts be troubled neither Let It Be Afraid there is no fear

because we have the Peace of Christ

if we lay aside that internal Syrian

and put our Faith and Hope in God

Paul put it this way

the God hath not given us the spirit of fear

but a power and of love and of a sound mind

that's what this word of Truth offers us a sound mind truth in all of its form but notice where the power comes from comes from God he hath given us

not the spirit of fear

but of power God's power and God's love

in the mind of God

so what I want to look at this morning before we get to Isaiah 39 what time is it oh wonderful I want to look at a few examples of people who come to the realization that what they're really relying on is God's strength and not their own

and that it is the Redeemer that allows them to be to be blessed of God and not themselves I'm going to look at three examples and we're going to look at Abraham I want to look at Isaac and we're going to look at Jacob hopefully if we have the time and then we'll look at the example I believe is there in Isaiah 39. and some of these I know I've talked about in the past before but I think they fit the context

the first one is with Abraham now Abraham was a man of faith

and

God takes him out of UR of the chaldees and he has all these tremendous trials but there's a point in Abraham's life where Abraham makes not a confession because he's already a man of faith not about baptism not a confession it's a realization he has this incredible realization and it happens in Genesis 20 when he's dealing with abimelech remember when Jacob went down into Egypt right and he says to Sarah tell them you're my sister because he's he was what afraid

right

and what happens the whole thing falls apart uh the the Pharaoh realizes he'd been lying to him and he kicks him out right

and then at a certain point he ends up with the Philistines in in uh Garage in in the Philistines and he says has his wife said the same thing

tell him you're my sister why because he's afraid

right and look what happens so you know you know it's the context and the Bible I said unto Abraham what's Sorrows thou that thou Hast done this thing in other words told this lie why did you do this

and Abraham says this is why I did it and again it's not a confession he doesn't he's not saying

well dear Lord forgive me for this he's saying to a woman like this is why I did it because this is what the flesh is

he says

because I thought surely the fear of God is not in this place

and they will slay me for my wife's sake

so he sets up a plan his strength he is my plan to protect me

I'm going to rely on Sarah's loving kindness and have her tell a lie to protect me but notice she says

and it came to pass

when God had caused me to wander from my father's house

God did it it's God's plan and purpose you see the difference you see how he says I was afraid so I made this lie with my wife

and he came to pass when God sent me

when I should have been relying on God's strength

because it was all him

just like you and I are baptized into Christ not because we're somehow wonderfully faithful people we're baptized into Christ because God has called us into Christ

God caused me to wander from my father's house

that I said unto her this is thy kindness which Thou shalt show unto me at every place whether we shall come say of me he is my brother he says this is the kindness I want you to do to protect me did it work

it didn't work

was Abraham protected yes he was protected by who by God

why though

why was he protected by God

because he was a great man of faith

he'd been lying

since the day he left her of chaldees he's been living with this lie

he's been using this lie the entire time and yet God has continued to bless him

even though he's been living a lie

that doesn't bring glory to God

so then why that's where the Redeemer comes in that's the realization you have to have somebody else

in order to stand before God but with the Redeemer you can always stand before God

because the strength lies with him that's what Christ did Christ crucified that flesh by relying on the strength of his father even all the way to the Cross which we're going to see in just a minute

and Abraham never sins after this

you'll never see another moment and he goes through other trials after this he still has to offer up Isaac

which by the way causes him and his wife to split up because apparently his wife had a problem with that

but he never sins again after this because after this he always relies on the father what about Isaac Isaac is a really interesting one

because Isaac as we know you in Genesis 26 uses the same lie right he ends up with the Philistines he ends up with abimelech in garage probably a different abimelech abimelech is probably in the Name of the King of a Philip uh the Philistines but that not that important

and it says in verse six and seven and Isaac dwelt in garage and the men of that place asked him of his wife and he said she is my sister sound familiar why would why would the word of God give you the same lie with two different people why would it do that not not why did did Isaac use the same lie but why would God show us that he's showing us that to say this is the exact same situation this is the exact same trusting in yourself he's he's making it obvious to you that the same lesson is going to be taught

and he said she is my wife lest he said the men of this place shall kill me for Rebecca because she was fair to look upon

and have been like called Isaac and said behold of a surety she is thy wife did it work

didn't work

it never works to trust in your own strength

and how safe is thou that she is my sister and Isaac said unto him because I said

lest I die for her he was afraid

so he made a plan

he goes on from there later on

in verse 26. in this the fascinating story in which remember Isaac leaves uh garar and he he moves along and he digs well and every time he digs a well they find water and every time they find water the Philistines come and say that's our will and then they moved further away he digs a well he finds water and they move away and he goes He digs it well they find water and they keep getting kicked out by the Philistines right and they keep claiming those wells until finally they come to this place and he digs so well and they haven't found water yet by the way at the at the moment that this event happens and what happens is abimelech comes to meet Isaac because abimelech is watching what's going on and it's not just a Bim like it's watching what's going on it's the Sky by the name of a who's that

well who is he well by the way his name means possession keep that in mind and then abimelech went from Gerard and whose ass one who's at one of his friends and FICO the chief captain of his army why would we be told in what possible difference does it make that abimelech brings some friend to his name of who's that

what's the point of that whose app never specifically says anything because notice in the next line it says we saw certainly that the Lord with thee why are we told this thing about this guy named ahuzat whose name means possession that he happened to be there surely there were other people there too

and the reason is this notice it says and the who's that one of his friends well who's that was a friend of abimelech but much much more importantly well who's that was a friend of Isaacs

and we know that by what they said because what they say to Isaac has to mean that they understood what Isaac represented and Isaac had forgotten because Isaac was getting

ticked by what was happening so look what it says

and Isaac said unto them wherefore Come Ye Timmy seeing you hate me right Isaac is angry because he keeps digging these Wells keep finding the water and they keep kicking them out they dig another one to find one keeps kicking them out and he's Fed Up and in the course of being fed up he forgot what he represented

now he's he's back with that Assyrian in his mind who do you think you are and he's ready to stand up and fight for himself I've obviously I've cut some passages out but

this is what they said and pay attention to the words

and they said we saw certainly that the Lord was with me well they did right they knew the Lord was with him because where

Isaac was digging these Wells down in the South down in in the nege Avenue how do you pronounce that that's a Barren land down there that's not a place where you just you know you just drop anchor and dig a well and yet every time Isaac digs a well he's finding water and they said the Lord's got to be with him

and we saw it

but that's not the key that you can understand that

and then they said and as we have done onto thee nothing but good not true

this is still the Philistines

and have sent thee away in peace not true they kept fighting with them from one well to the next to the next

they say this

that thou art now the blessed of the Lord the Lord was with thee

Thou Art now the Blessed of the Lord that's different

and the difference is this

they said we knew that the Lord was with you we knew the Lord was blessing you

and now we know

that you serve the Lord that you are blessed of the lord they're saying that you actually serve the Lord

and Isaac had forgotten it because look what happens next and he made them a feast and they did eat and drink he completely does a 180. why

because he had forgotten he is the Blessed of God

he has the protection of God

he is within the plan and purpose of God

and it took his friend oh who's that to remind him of who he was how would a who's that know that because he knew him back in Gerard and Isaac said this is who who I am for this is who I work for

isn't that powerful you see there's such a difference between God is with you

and you are a part of God and that's what they're saying to him

what about Jacob

you know the story of Jacob wrestling with an Angel you know Jacob's coming down from from Laban he comes to a place called mahanayam and he sets up this big elaborate plan right he's got this big plan where he's going to send three different groups out because he's got to meet his brother Esau and he knows his brother Esau is not happy so he has a plan he puts his whole plan together and then he prays to God and says please be with me in my plan

but he's got a problem and the problem is he's not right with God why because he stole the blessing

and he never paid the price for stealing that blessing remember he steals the blessing from Esau you know he puts on the the Woolen the garments and he fools his father and he steals the blessing and he goes up to Laban and he lives up in Laban and the Lord is with him all the time he's up there and blesses him and gives them all kinds of stuff and now he's got to come back

and yes he's got to answer Esau but he's still got to answer to God

and he knows it and remember the the the armies of the Lord are there mahanayam and they don't join up right you would think with the armies of the lord they're the angels of God there that Jacob would go right over and say okay with you guys here we can deal with Esau he doesn't do that because he's not right with God

God has not taken his pound of Flesh from him for his sin he has not paid the price for his sin

and you know what he never pays it look what it says

it says when he saw that he prevailed not against him who saw what

and the national inclination is to say it's the Angel Sanchez I'm not going to beat this guy

but this Angel is doing it's not an angel working a a wrestling with with Jacob on his own he's the angel of God he's doing God's purpose so the angel knows what's going on the angel is not going to have some Revelation saying I'm not going to defeat this God it that would make no sense whatsoever but that's the way it looks in the way the texture reads because we can dive into the text and find it because God has blessed us

chiefest of sinners

it was Jacob that understood

that the angel wasn't going to beat him he wasn't going to take that pond of Flesh and then the Angels proves it right away by just touching himself and say see I could have beaten you at any time

at any time I could have done it and he did it within the context of it Moses says uh you touch a hollow's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him

I could have beat you at any time

but I didn't why not

because he's the blessed

of God

look what it says

gamma

he says thy name shall be called No More Jacob one who wrestles with God one who struggles with God one who's an adversary of God but Israel a prince

one who was working with God one who is part of the kingdom of God for as a prince

thou as power with God and with men as a prince not as Jacob

but as a prince

and that's why you prevailed

because you now understand that in weakness God's power is made perfect that's what Jacob came to understand why didn't this Angel just beat me he had plenty of strength to do it all you do is touch me and he was defeating me why'd he do it

this is what Jacob says and this is where we'll come to really the Crux of the matter and we oh we got good and Jacob called the name of the place Pena peniel

he says for I have seen God face to face

and my life is preserved

not that word preserved means it means to be snatched away

he said I was snatched away from death

by God

he let me live I met him face to face no one sees God face to face and lives

and here I am wrestling with God in the form of this angel and he'll let me live

and he said I was snatched away

why am I snatched away why why is that pond of Flesh not taken

that pawn the flesh is taken it is taken

but it's not taken by Jacob it's taken by Christ

who crucified the flesh now notice what it says in Psalm 22 the crucifixion psalm

says be not thou Far From Me O Lord O my strength haste thee to help me

deliver my soul from The Sword you know what that word Deliver Us same word

same word

snatched away

snatch my soul away from the sword my darling from the power of the dog

Christ was snatched away how was Christ's not Christ wasn't snatched away from Death he died

he's calling on his father to say take me away from sin

he's snatched away from sin by his death same word that's Our Redeemer that's what the Redeemer does for you and I

he snatches us away from death so that God's strength is made perfect there's the weakest man on that cross

crucifying the flesh by putting his faith in the will of his father

okay now let's we've still got a few minutes yes yeah I'm not presiding today so I can go right up to 10 29. look what happens in Isaiah 39. Isaiah 39 is a confusing chapter if if you don't look at it closely it's a confusing chapter period I'll tell you why because Hezekiah has this this great moment with God where he brings the the the

uh words of ramsheka and and sennacher of Malaysian before God and the Assyrian is destroyed right the next morning they get up and the Assyrian is gone and never to be heard from again they're done

and then he then he gets sick right and God says okay I'm going to give you 15 more years

and you would think in those 15 more years Hezekiah would be would be so happy and so and so appreciative of what God did that those would be the greatest years in his life and they were the worst of his years why

why

because he still has something to learn

right and this is where Lord willing we're going to take our Sunday school class I got I think I have April um where we get into Babylon right because as soon as the Assyrian is gone in walks Babylon

and Babylon is is a whole different animal than the Assyrian far more subtle far more manipulative than the Assyrian who was bold and brash

Babylon is about that flesh that we we have to literally dig in to see it all sounds so good look what happens in Isaiah 39. at that time meredog baladin the son of baladin king of Babylon set letters and presents to Hezekiah for he had heard that he had been sick and was recovered

it does a nice thing doesn't he Hezekiah had been sick and the king of Babylon says yeah I heard he was sick so he sends presents I don't think he has alternative motive truthfully at that moment but he's still a Babylonian he's still ruled by the flesh

and Hezekiah was glad of them and showed them the house of his precious things the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious ointment and all the house of his armor and all that was found in his treasure he shows him everything

look at this is what I got see how he might even said see how God has blessed me see everything I got

you want to show everything you got to a Babylonian and they said oh that's terrific and then they go back and say yeah we brought him his presence and boy I'll tell you he's doing well

really yeah he's he got a lot of stuff there he's a nice guy

really

that's interesting what happens down comes the Babylonian right there was nothing in his house nor all of his Dominion the Hezekiah showed him not that's all I got right here and he thinks he's doing it for a friend

just like you know we treat the Babylonian in our lives as as a friend that they're they're nice people they're good people and they they you know they're these are being they're being nice they are nice

but they're still Babylonia

so Isaiah comes

and said Isaiah Hezekiah and understand Isaiah had already been prophesying for years about the Babylonian

and Hezekiah was a disciple if you will of Isaiah and Isaiah had been saying long before this day watch out for Babylon Babylon is representative and so he goes he says uh says Hezekiah hear the word of the Lord of hosts

behold the days come that all that is in thy house and all that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day shall be carried away to Babylon nothing shall be left saith the Lord and of thy sons that thou shall issue from thee which Thou shalt beget shall they take away and they shall be eunuchs in the Palace of the king of Babylon

he said there's going to be a price to pay for what you did

but not recognizing

Babylon

you're going to pay a price and hezekiah's response

if you look at it from a natural perspective makes no sense at all because he says this

then said Hezekiah to Isaiah good is the word of the Lord which thou has spoken he said moreover for there shall be peace and Truth in my day

what a strange response

for a man of Faith to say oh this is good so you're saying that you know after I die you know the babylon's going to come and take all our stuff and take our take uh my kids and take them off to Babylon oh this is good

because at least there'll be peace in my time

you know that's not what he's saying I know that's what it looks like but that's not what he's saying and there's one word that tells you that that's not what he's saying and that word is truth

for there will be peace

and Truth in my days and what's the truth the truth is this

Hezekiah did what he could he was a good King

he was a great reformer

but he could never defeat Babylon

and he knew it he recognized it

he also recognized that Babylon had to come

and take everything

so that the true

King

could come that's why the very next chapter starts off at the very next verse

comfort you comfort you my people it's the next verse in Isaiah's prophecy

because Hezekiah said you know what

this has to happen why because I'm not that's Christ

I'm another sinner just like everybody else

he's going to be peace in my days my fight is over I have not won but he will

there shall be peace

and Truth

in my days

isn't that an incredible thing

that this man who is failing is able to say yep that's right that's just what Abraham was saying that's just what Isaac was saying that's just what Jacob was saying

because our strength is never in ourselves

we can never say because we have the word of God we are something

we aren't something

except blessed

except truly blessed that we can find peace in our hearts if we just recognize

that it is God's love that is perfect

and we put our lives and our faith and our hope in him

and we love each other

so that God can see we understand you know what it means to love somebody else in this way it means you're not focusing on yourself when you truly love another person you will do anything for that other person whatever you have to do whatever sacrifice you have to give

to save that other person because you love them because God has shown you and has done for you what you never deserved

it's a powerful message but if we don't hear it we'll always hear the Assyrian and our said our head we will always be fooled by the Babylonian unless we understand that perfect love is of God that it is there for us we can overcome our fears

through Christ

we can be at perfect peace

if our mind has stayed on him

Transcript

come to you my people saith your God class II

now it it might um sounds strange to you for me to call it class two when this is the first class

um but actually the first class um was in February if you remember back in February uh I think brother Mark Hampton was sick one week so I offered to fill in and

um

what I fill in the in on was Isaiah 39. I've been trekking my way through Isaiah

for a while

for a while now uh brother Ben gave me a commission about five years ago he doesn't even remember it but he did saying get Isaiah figured out so I've been working at it ever since I have not got Isaiah figured up but it has been a tremendous walk nonetheless

back in February we were talking about the end of Isaac of hezekiah's life and what takes place in Isaiah 39 and why it was it is there uh if you remember at the end of Isaiah 39 it says this

then said Isaiah 2 I then said Hezekiah to Isaiah good is the word of the Lord which thou has spoken he has more of a he said maroba for there shall be peace and Truth in my days and we pointed out when you look at that on the surface it looks as if Isaiah is saying

um after remember Hezekiah wrote remember Isaiah

rebukes him because when the Babylonians came Hezekiah showed him all of his stuff

and Isaiah says what have you shown them and he said I showed him everything and Isaiah said because you have done this after you're gone your children are going to be dragged into Babylon and all the stuff is going to be dragging into Babylon because because you have done this

and Isaiah says well that's good

um and to look at it it looks as if he's saying well that's good it'll happen in my kids time and not my time

and the problem with of course is that that does not fit the character of Hezekiah Hezekiah was was a faithful man did he make a mistake in showing everything he had and we'll talk about that more this morning to the Babylonians absolutely

and if and as we pointed out then if that word truth wasn't there if it just said there'll be peace in my days

then then that interpretation would make sense

but he says truth and peace and Hezekiah knew what truth was because Hezekiah was a man of Faith you know we don't give uh I in this is my opinion we don't give as much credit to the Old Testament uh Patriarchs and how much they understood about their Bible a faithful individual has been a faithful individual since the dawn of time he is a man who understands and knows the word of God that's where faith comes from faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God so these men Abraham Isaac Jacob David

Moses Noah

they knew their God now they didn't have the advantages that we have certainly they didn't have this this whole book but they certainly had enough to understand what God's plan and purpose was

and of course the key role in God's plan and purpose is the Redeemer and all the we pointed out last week all these people understood that they were in need of a redeemer

now this morning what I'd like to do is I'm actually going to rehash a little bit this point in Isaiah 39. um because there's some uh greater Revelations if you will a greater truths that come out when you consider Isaiah 39 or Isaiah 36-39 with the other two accounts of the end of the life of Hezekiah

remember we pointed out a few weeks ago and I understand you don't remember this but I'm going to remind you that the Isaiah 39 this ending here where he says there will be peace and Truth in my days

the whole purpose of that ending is to understand that Hezekiah knew his Redeemer

Hezekiah understood that he was a sinner and he understood that in his life people would look at his life and think what a great faithful man Hezekiah was and we'll see that in some of the other accounts and everything would be about all the stuff that Hezekiah did and that's not faith that's just a man doing great things

Hezekiah knew it had to be about Christ and it wasn't going to be about Christ if all they ever said about Hezekiah was he did he had he renewed the Passover he dug the conduit he did this he did this he did this

and now because of this sin and because of the fact that that the Babylonians would have got to come in because of his era what his period was going to be about was Christ and that's what he wanted and so the end of Isaiah 39 is all about what it means to have a redeemer that's why he said there'll be peace and Truth in my days when you look at my days and you look at the whole picture what you'll see is my commitment to Christ and not what all the stuff that I did that's what we talked about in February what I want to talk about this morning is sort of a follow-up to that by looking at the other accounts of the end of hezekiah's life and what their focus was

and finally the other question we want to address is okay your life is about faith what does that look like

and that's Lord willing what we'll answer

um this morning

so in order to do that we need to uh look at the other two accounts before we do that I want to ask an obvious question and I don't remember if I asked this question in February or not I didn't go back and watch the talk but

Isaiah 36-39 is the historical account of Hezekiah at the end of his life starting from the time where the Assyrians come and they besiege the city all the way through this verse right here where he says there will be peace and Truth in my days here's an obvious question and it's a good question always to ask whenever you read the Bible actually there's two questions that go along with us not just why is this here but also why is something not there

right when you read something and you say why is why is that there why is there not something else there that's always a good question to ask why is this here when you look in Isaiah 36-39 that's an easy question to ask because it's so different from the rest of the prophecy of Isaiah right the rest of the prophecy Isaiah 95 98 of it is prophecy it's Isaac it's the word of the Lord speaking through Isaiah offering prophecies about the future prophecies about their Disobedience all these type of stuff and all of a sudden out of nowhere he comes out of that prophetic statements and launches into a historical account why

you can see how the question easily pops up why is it there he doesn't do that with the other kings right he doesn't do what they has he gives us one brief historical note with ahaz and Isaiah 7 when again they're being besieged This Time by Syria in the northern kingdom of of Israel and we and that's where he says I'm going to give you a sign of Virgin shall conceive in Isaiah 7. but other than that he never there's no other step back and this is what ahaz did and this is who he was and the other two kings that he prophesied during were jotham

I don't think Jonathan has ever mentioned in Isaiah nor is Manasseh in Manasseh you would think in the life of Manasseh he was a wicked King there'd be to say but Isaiah doesn't do it and yet he does it in this context with Hezekiah why does he do it

and what what is emphasized here is different than what is emphasized in Second Kings 20 and what is emphasized in second Chronicles chapter 32. so just as as a reminder this is this is how it ends

good is the word of the Lord for there shall be peace and Truth in my days

and that truth is about is about Christ and that peace is about Christ

because Christ said this

I am the way the truth and the life No One Cometh onto the father but by me and that is as true with the Old Testament Patriarchs as it is with the disciples as it is with you and I no one comes to the father but through Christ that's actually what that February class if you remember it it all was all about remember we took a look at Abraham

we said Abraham came to that realization and he came to that realization when he was meeting with abimelech and he this was the second time where he said Sarah's my sister instead of my wife and when abimelech figures out abimele access to why did you say that

and he said you know I've been saying that

since I left earlys actually actually he said more than that he says I've been saying that since the Lord took me from early cold days in other words I've been telling that lie because it was a lie it was half true

I've been telling that lie throughout my entire walk with god I've been telling that lie and yet God has blessed me God has worked through me God has done all these things with me and I've been telling a lie why is that important

because God is not connected with sin

God can have no connection with sin so how can God work through Abraham If Abraham is a sinner the only way is a redeemer

that's the only way it can work the only way we can walk in faith is through Christ why because we're sinners

and so Abraham knew as he said that that statement to abimelech he knew this wasn't really about him it couldn't be about him because he's been telling that lies since the beginning does that make sense

because the same thing happens with Isaac we went through Isaac remember we talked about Isaac with Isaac it was when is it abimelech yeah is a bimlock or him like I always get those two confused but anyway he comes with with FICO the uh captain of the host and he comes with a friend to his and a friend of Isaac's name ahuzath and remember Isaac is in Beersheba

and they come to Isaac in Beersheba and Isaiah Isaac is upset right because his men keep digging these whales and finding water and the Philistines keep taking it

but whose Earth wasn't just a friend of abimelech he was a friend of Isaacs and Isaac had taught him the truth when he was down down with the Philistine down in garan and this is what ahuzaf says to Isaac

he says we know that God is with you right they see him dig the wells they say oh God is with him but then he says and I'm paraphrasing him but this is the essence of what he says more importantly

you are a servant of God in other words God works

through you

and here's Isaac he's upset that they keep digging these Wells and he's angry with them because they keep stealing the wells and who's that is the one that has to remind him don't you know God works through you

and what does Isaac do he throws A Feast for him remember he completely turns 180 degrees and he throws a feet that's a Jew by the way throwing A Feast for a couple of Gentiles which is kind of interesting you know itself

but that's when Isaac realizes it can't actually be about me can it has to be about something else

because I'm a sinner and yet you're right God does work through me you're absolutely correct and what happens at the well as soon as they leave water and he calls it The Well of seven or The Well of with The Well of Oats right and Isaac never sins again after that Abraham never sins again after he says

I've been telling that lie since I came out of Earth and we looked at Jacob

would Jacob it happens when he wrestles with the angel

because when he wrestles with the angel he's got a sin to pay for

he had stolen the blessing he had tricked his brother for for uh the birthright

but the blessing he stole

and he'd never paid the price for stealing that blessing and he's got to meet with God and he meets with God and he wrestles with God and he realizes God's not going to beat him he's not going to do it why not God has every right if he's a righteous God he has every right to punish Jacob for what he's done

and he doesn't why not well Jacob explains it Jacob says I face death and God snatched me away from death right he uses the word preserved but that word preserved means snatched me away I had every right to die and God said no you're not going to die I'm going to snatch you away how is that possible

Redeemer it's the only way and when we pointed out that word snatched away preserved we pointed out it's the exact same word in Psalm 22 when Christ is on the cross and Christ says

take me away from the from the dog Christ is not snatched away from Death the way Jacob was Christ was snatched away from sin by dying on the cross

that's the Redeemer that's what Jacob understood that's what Isaac understood that's what Abraham understood Moses Noah that's what John the Baptist understood we talked about John the Baptist in a whole different class and John the Baptist had to come to understand he needed Christ

we won't go into how he comes to that conclusion but it has to do with the fact that he said there comes a man greater than I and then when he comes and goes to the bathtub he no longer says that anymore he says this comes one who's preferred before me because he was before me it no longer becomes about John greater than I is about John

preferred before me is about Christ

that's the realization that a servant of Christ must always always come to so Christ is the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father but by him

so I want to take a look at Second Kings 20 first so turn over to Second Kings 20 if you feel uh so inclined

and we're going to pick it up in verse 12. and again this is this is the corollary account in Second Kings of the period in hezekiah's life where Hezekiah makes makes a mistake all the other things have already happened I believe if we're correct

yes and then the remember he maybe he gets sick

and he prays to God uh Isaiah says you're going to die get yourself squared away because you're going to die and Hezekiah says praise to God for not to die and God gives him 15 more years right and remarkably enough those are the worst 15 years of hezekiah's life as far as his faith is concerned right because notice what it says

um in verse 12. again this is second Kings chapter 20. at that time let's pick it up in 11 just so we have have um context and Isaiah the prophet called unto the Lord and he brought the shadow of 10 degrees backward to which by which it had gone down in the dial of ahaz remember that's the sign that Hezekiah asked for Hezekiah said you got to give me a sign and the Lord gives him the sign Hezekiah says what the sign he wants right he wants to he wants the shadow to move backwards something don't happen naturally

and then it says at that time so virtually right away

Hezekiah asked for a sign from God because he's going to die

God gives him the sign and then Hezekiah immediately falls into sin why

why at that time beredek biladen the son of baladin King of Babylon sent letters in the present onto Hezekiah for you had heard that Hezekiah had been sick and his hunkered onto them and showed them all the house of his precious things the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious ointments all the house of his armor and all that was found in his treasures there was nothing in his house nor in all his Dominion that Hezekiah showed them not

so Hezekiah says I showed him all my stuff all the stuff I had accumulated all the stuff I had

what's wrong with that statement

it's all about Hezekiah

and that's not Hezekiah

but Hezekiah is a sinner just like everybody else

right

so Hezekiah gets caught up

right he's given a blessing from God he's given 15 more years and what's his mentality because we know this mentality because we suffer with the same thing I guess I'm okay with God

right

at that time right away I guess I'm okay with God remember David in second uh Samuel 7 right who am I that God would do this for me and then you get by the time you get like two chapters along David is sleeping with Bathsheba how does it happen

it happens when you make it about you not about Christ

I guess I'm okay I showed them everything I had

that's not a man of faith a man of faith is what Paul said remember what Paul said everything I've gained I count as lost that I'm I know Christ that's what faith is Hezekiah is a man of Faith but he makes a mistake and he makes a mistake in a natural way because he's a natural man like the rest of us he thinks I guess I'm okay with God God has granted my request he's given me the sign I guess I'm okay so then of course Isaiah comes right and Isaiah says what have you done

and he said well I I showed him all my stuff right

um

verse 15. and what have they seen in thy house and Hezekiah answered all the things that are in my house have they seen there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them so why do you show them all this stuff right the Babylonians come According to second kings 20. and we're going to see the Babylonians in typical fashion a duplicitous right and he said well he'd been sick

you know the poor guy had been sick and so you know we we sent the contingency to say wonderful to hear you better and we we brought a present

is that insincere no I I don't think it's insincere at all I think that's legitimately why they did it

but this is Babylon

Babylon is Babylon is Babylon Babylon yesterday Babylon today Babylon tomorrow until babylon's gone

we all know Babylon babylon's not like Assyria right we talked about Assyria a little while back the Assyrian the Assyrian is brutal the Searing is is conceded the Assyrian is strong the Assyrian is cold the Assyrian is callous all those things that's the Assyrian that ain't the Babylonian the Babylonian is civil

the Babylonian is intelligent the Babylonian is respectful

the Babylonian is sneaky the Babylonian is duplicitous yes they sent their person to offer a present

and while they were there they also had a good look around did they necessarily have an ulterior motive at that moment I don't know probably not

but they're still Babylonian

they're still driven by the flesh and you couldn't help but notice this guy's doing pretty well

there's a lot of money

down in Jerusalem it's the same thing by the way that joab saw in Anna right there's a lot of good stuff over there in Ammon and they've been nasty to us remember they they

cut the beards in half and all that kind of stuff you remember that story next thing you know they're attacking the city of Indiana I can't remember the name of it same thing why that's Babylon that's the flesh that's the way it is and that's what that's what goes on here

so there were two things that Hezekiah Eridan

Steve

my stuff in hezekiah's case yeah David David David you know counting the census and these are all the men under my control it's all about their pride and he pays the price for it right right yeah uh Chris

just to uh to connect Steve's point about David you know and I know this is a well discussed point but very significant that at that time of Bathsheba he did not go out to with a host of Israel you know so the Zeal of Yahweh of hosts uh he decided that perhaps he was his days of fighting the battles of the Lord were over and uh he was looking forward to more his own retirement and his own uh you know maybe self-pleasures and that's where his biggest troubles began at that point but so he you know very significant when he's on the rooftop the host of Israel is out to battle you know so he's become a little more self-centered away from the uh the Zeal of Yahweh of Hosting right as as the beginning of that chapter starts office says when the King goes off to war David stayed home yeah that's literally what what the verse says right yeah I mean the king when it's time for the king to go after War uh David stayed home yeah

yes absolutely yeah so it kind of showed that his values were changing okay at that point in time what was valuable to him you know once I get the microphone you're in trouble so yeah I

you were making a point about Jacob and uh wrestling the angel can you get that microphone yeah I I just wanted to say that he wrestled the angel until the dawn you know to the to the day style Rose in his heart that he came to that realization of his of his election and so forth you know and Peter Peter picks up on the day star a rising in our hearts a great Point thank you very good thanks for that so I want to point out this this so I think there's two reasons that um that uh Hezekiah showed everything he had first of course it was pride and self-confidence and the second thing and the second thing is just a lack of respect for the flesh

you know that's that's so easy in a life of faith to fall into the Trap of not recognizing the how strong the flesh is even in a person of faith right they can't they seem to come you know for a good reason for for a nice reason it would have been perfectly fine to be respectable to them and take their take their gift or whatever and but

it's still Babylon and Isaiah had been prophesying against Babylon for years when Babylon was virtually nothing when he first started Prophet about prophesying about Babylon you can think people would look at it and said Babylon babylon's just some little you know Backwoods and a watch out for Babylon Isaiah was saying it for years and years and years watch out for Babylon not the country yes the country but not the country what it represents

and Babylon is insidious

as soon as we let it in it will it will climb in and distort

and the only thing that keeps you out of it is the word of Truth and fellowship

that's the only thing that keeps you out of Babylon we all know what it means to be dragged into Babylon and and remember that's what happens here right

this is my

yeah

so so Isaiah says to Hezekiah and this is in Second Kings 20. behold the days come that all that is in thine house and that which thy fathers have laid up in store onto this day shall be carried into Babylon nothing shall be left saith the Lord and thy Sons shall be taken away it's all going to be dragged into Babylon

and Isaiah says that's a good thing why is it a good thing well there's a real strong truth in what Isaiah says there he's talking to Hezekiah about his situation

but the strong truth is everyone

is dragged into Babylon

the question is not whether you're going to get dragged into Babylon

and you're going to dragged in again and again and again and again and again the question is are you gonna come back

and Isaiah Hezekiah recognizes

that they have to get Dragged In they're going to be physically dragged but they would have been dragged anyway because that's the life of a sinner

but

there's peace

and Truth

it will be peace and Truth because Hezekiah was dragged into Babylon right here and yet still

he's not going to suffer for his sin because he's been forgiven through Redemption and he says that's what I want people to see in my days and that's what my children will say and come to understand and that's partially just what the people who were dragged into Babylon at the time of the Babylon captivity came to understand they understand it completely because they came back and fell right back into the same sins but we're all going to be dragged back into Babylon again and again and again and the world is going to be dragged into Babylon that King of the North going to happen again

until everybody across the Earth knows

that it's really all about Christ and not about them that's the message of being dragged into Babylon

this is what how this

um account ends but what time do we have

1003 you know I'm running out of time because of Chris

2019. then said Hezekiah on to Isaiah

good is the word of the Lord which thou has spoken

and he said is it not good

if peace and Truth be in my days so he uses the expression of good twice

why is it good

is it good that this happened

well it's good because of this

because God

is good

this is God's purpose being done you and I and Hezekiah and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob

none good but God

he's saying this is good this is exactly

What God Says has to happen so that you will come as an individual as a community as a world to recognize that all things are possible through Christ

but nothing is possible possible without them it's good that this is downstairs

um I'm just looking at this and I'm wondering if Hezekiah is thinking that it's good because in his lifetime there'll be peace and safety but so you know Hill has sort of escape this

but is you know he doesn't it's almost like he doesn't care for his descendants am I reading it wrong or is that uh yeah that is wrong but and you as a fence that's what yeah that's what the February class was all about yeah that's not what Hezekiah is saying I was I was traveling yeah no I understand you

missed that one it's on tape

uh Steve is because of that word truth

and actually I'm going to show you more reasons for it in a minute thanks Jim but yeah sure but that word truth could not be there if it said just said Peace there'll be peace in my days that's exactly what Hezekiah would have been saying and that's exactly the way it looks when you look at when you look at it um

at first for sure but that's not what he's saying because Hezekiah is a man of faith and he says there will be truth in my days and and by the way there's no days left right after these it looked the very next verse after 2019 is and then he you know then he died you know same thing in Isaiah right we have the story where he says there'll be truth in my days and that's the end of the account there's no more Hezekiah so I don't think he's talking about the days to come the rest of my days are going to be peaceful I think he's talking about what's going to be seen in his days Chris oh

no no don't yell at because the people can't hear it online

many aspects of it but the the truth in hezekiah's day is that I will defend the city okay that was an aspect of uh well what I'm sorry I will defend this city you know he said yes so certainly that is something that remained true to the end of Hezekiah that truth that I will defend this city

yep

okay now I want to go over to um

I've got it written down here as second Kings 20. oh yeah this is the end of it I'm sorry this is the end of the second Kings account notice what it says

and the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and all his might

and how he made a pool and a conduit and brought water into the city are they not written in the books of The Chronicles of the kings of Judah II kings 20 verse 20. so the king's account the the book of King's account

in the end is all about hezekiah's might and Hezekiah had a lot of Might he did a lot of great things no doubt about it and that's really what this is all about it's about hezekiah's might it even says it right there the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and all his might and notice it mentions The Chronicles of the kings of Judah notice it doesn't mention Isaiah and you say well maybe this was written before Isaiah or something along that lines probably not given the fact that this is a later accountant Isaiah is virtually a

what's that called when you're in the in that time frame there's a word for that account

but he doesn't mention he doesn't mention it when we get the Chronicles we see the Chronicles does and we'll talk about that

but in the end the the king's account is about the might of Hezekiah where the Isaiah account is about the Redemption through Christ so then what is the Chronicles account about this is a fascinating account it takes place in Chronicles chapter 32 Second Chronicles chapter 32 if you want to look it up I'll have the verses up on the screen as well but at Second Chronicles 32 27-33 and it's slightly different than the king's account in the Isaiah count but the context is exactly is exactly the same as we'll see start in 27 it says and I I think I've shortened this a bit yeah I did and Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honor and he made himself Treasures for silver and for gold and for precious stones and for spices and for Shields and for all manner of pleasant Jewels if you look at the life of Hezekiah before these final accounts before he is

um given 15 more years

you won't hear anything about all all the things that Hezekiah did for himself

remember Hezekiah did the Passover and Hezekiah brought the brought the notes into the into the temple to God and all that kind of stuff it isn't until until he's been given 15 more years when all of a sudden it becomes all about him

moreover he provided him cities and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance

for God had given him substance very much well that's him excuse me an interesting line that God had given him sustenance so there's there's this contrast between he did this for himself and he did this for himself and he got this for himself and he got that for himself for God had given him substance very much and and the story is going to build upon that

it says this

this same Hezekiah the one we've been looking at the post 15 you know the post sickness this Hezekiah also stopped up the water course Soviet Soviet Soviet on and on how be it

in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon

who were sent on to him to inquire of the Wonders that were done in his land well that's not what we read

in the other accounts in the other accounts they right they they came to bring him presents because he'd been sick and yet this says it's not that to Inquirer the Wonders that was done in his land well which was it and the answer is both

again this is Babylon

duplicitous

yes outwardly yeah we feel terrible that you were sick look we brought you nice things what do you here

isn't that interesting look at all you got here

did they forget they didn't forget they didn't say oh that's they might have at the time so that's all that's all Hezekiah is but when they got back to Babylon you believe all the stuff he's got there really huh

but he's feeling better now oh good that's nice

but this is what it says

I think that's part of it yeah how did this happen well think of some of the things that happened first of all um as far as you're looking at from Babylon a Syria surrounding the city and the next day they're dead

how's that happen Hezekiah is on the verge of death and all of a sudden you know probably has a terminal illness of something all of a he's well well that's interesting how did that happen

what did you say yeah the Sundial went backwards how does that happen well we're not going to go into how that happened because I went into that one day on a Wednesday night class and I paid the price for it but I can tell you how it happened Shekinah Glory that's how it happened God took a light more bright brighter than the Sun and move that light because God controls that light but we won't go down that road today but yeah those are the Wonders absolutely

there's a lot of stuff going on in Jerusalem and he had a lot of stuff when he get all this stuff this tiny little country

but God Did It for this reason

to try him it says and God left him

to try him that he might know all that was in his heart

so going back to Steve's question if the end of of hezekiah's life was for him to say you know this is not my problem it's my kids kids problem then what was in hezekiah's heart was Pride

right because he's saying I was not I'm freeing clear but that's not the heart of Hezekiah because Hezekiah is a man of Faith he's already he's already shown that

but he had to come to understand what was in his heart he had to come to understand the depth of evil and of sin

within himself

it doesn't go away I I know I'm telling you something you never realized before but it doesn't go away

right

that's what sin is

so so what's our relief from it do we just do we just keep fighting and someday all of a sudden we don't do it anymore of course not our relief from it is to put all things

in God's hands our relief from it is to be dead in ourselves

and alive in Christ

we come here on Sunday morning because we get the bread and the wine telling us not about you I'm famous Steve Stewart line it's not about you

it's not about you

and so he's shown everything

that is in that is in his heart

and everything that was in his heart was what the will of flesh is all about but

what was also in his heart was that he was a man of faith and he knew he had a redeemer and he knew that Redeemer had saved him from his sins because God had worked through him as well despite the fact that he was a sinner

and so this is how the Chronicles account ends

now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah are in his goodness behold they are written in the vision of the prophet Isaiah of Isaiah the prophet so the second Chronicle account

tells us about the Isaiah count

the the second Kings one that was about the might of Hezekiah doesn't mention the Isaiah account

but the Chronicles one says they are written in the vision of the prophet Isaiah mentioned first and foremost

that the prophet Isaiah was right right about this very same very same thing

but this account is about Hezekiah

the Isaiah count is about Christ The King's account is about hezekiah's might what's this one about

and his goodness

what goodness

we just said there's none good but God

so what goodness

would it be about Hezekiah

well first of all Hezekiah had said it didn't he he said there'll be peace and Truth in my days

you'll see the goodness of God in my days because you'll come to realize it's about the Redeemer but he also talks about it again go back to chapter 31 for a minute skip one page back to chapter 31 and look what it says there

31 verse 20. and thus did Hezekiah throughout all Jews Judah and wrought that which was good and right and Truth before the Lord his God

and in every work that he had began in the service of the house of God what does it mean that he began the service of the house of God it's his whole life I mean he began

you're not done that's what it means he's not done with his service of the house of God because Hezekiah is a man of faith

and in the law and in the Commandments to seek his God

he did it with all his heart and prosper that's Hezekiah so you've got goodness righteousness and Truth and you've got the law

and you've got the Commandments that's righteousness and Truth

and you got to seek his God

and when you seek the god of Israel and when you put your heart

all with all his heart

into the hands of the god of Israel that's what goodness is and Hezekiah did many things that were good

he restarted he restarted the Passover and remember how he restarted the Passover in in contrast to Josiah right Josiah told everybody you got to come to the Passover and he dragged everybody to the Passover

Hezekiah didn't do that

Hezekiah pleaded for people to come to the Passover

that was the goodness of Hezekiah

Hezekiah at a time when the Assyrians was were banging at the door

goes into the temple everybody else is petrified and he goes into the temple and lays the words of the Assyrians before his Lord and says this is about you God this is not about me or us

that's the goodness of Hezekiah and he could have done none of those things

if he didn't understand

that he was doing everything through the one who could stand before God

the one who was truly righteous

and truly could even though that man had not yet been born

he could know who he was and one of the big ways that he knew who he was because of this prophet

the prophet that lived in his time

who was the prophet of the Messiah we see you know Ben commissioned me to do it and we find Christ again he is there throughout the book because the book is really about Christ

Isaiah see sees Christ in his kingdom in Isaiah 6 and the rest of the book is explaining who that guy is

and what he represents

and he did it first and foremost to his King which was Hezekiah and Hezekiah understood it

so that is where we come to when we get to the end of Isaiah 39. and so not surprisingly when you see that is why Isaiah 40 starts the way that it does

Comfort ye Comfort ye my people say you're God safe your God it's not a com a statement completely out of context it actually fits within the context of everything that happens in Isaiah 36-39 that now it's time it's obviously the Lord through Isaiah but now it's time for Isaiah to say to them this is where Comfort comes from and next week we'll talk about Lord willing we'll talk about what Isaiah is saying and what he's offering and who he's offering it to when he says Comfort ye Comfort ye my people saith you're God

any other questions or comments before we close because I think we're

oh 10 20. I'm not presiding today Gordon so talk for as long as you like

laughs

and if it's Rich Janine really talk for as long as yeah there's a great example in this for us many of these good Kings when they prospered vanity took over correct and they did not give God credit for their prosperity

so we have to remember that everything we have is the gift from God it's not about us it's about God in us helping us all the days of our life yep wonderful Point Gordon thank you

Transcript

we are on our third class on comfort we are Lord willing finally going to get into

Isaiah 40. uh Comfort e Comfort ye my people saith your God

um I'd like to start off this morning just by about talking about comfort for a moment on

um a basic level

the idea of the pursuit the pursuit of comfort

is Big Business

a lot of people make a lot of money

selling

comfort

I pulled this picture off I think this is a mattress ad

but if you look at the picture you can see that it's all about comfort you know you've got muted lighting you've got um muted color tones

everything is very casual you see the shirt is just kind of casually draped even the even the blanket has wrinkles in it you know when they when they set up these you know super shoots everything has to be absolutely perfect you'd never see a blanket with like little wrinkles in it but they're shooting for this idea of comfort because Comfort is a big seller people are always seeking for Comfort come on Chase try to be on time next time

mattress sales exceeded 36 million dollars and it's mattress sales as you know is all about comfort

just as an example you guys all know Bridget right Jordan's Furniture has a whole marketing campaign a whole computer system just to sell Comfort

um you go there you get yourself measured I have absolutely no idea whether or not this Bridget actually works uh but I know it sells because that's what Comfort does comfort sells

even this guy has gotten into selling comfort and selling mattresses that's Tom Brady selling the Beautyrest Black

now what difference it makes what color the mattress is I have no idea if you think about it the mattress is always covered by a sheet and blankets but he's selling a Beautyrest Black because Comfort is such a big business and speaking of big business when he sells it it's only a mere 5799 dollars which of course to Tom Brady is a drop in the bucket however for the rest of us that's a pretty that's a pretty large amount of money to sell to spend on a mattress

in contrast to that I'll tell you a quick story Cindy and I's first mattress was free it was a waterbed and it was given to us by Brother Tom and sister Jen Robidoux and I have to tell you for the price of zero it was quite comfortable

um other than when it would spring a leak every once in a while you'd find yourself not on a water bed but just in water

but but Comfort itself is extremely big business it doesn't matter whether you are selling a mattress or a comfy pair of socks or a book on comfort food or drinking Southern Comfort or the inside of butchy's car there that nice Comfort luxury vehicle or even they even sell comfort as a place to go you know find your comfort zone what's his name there Snoop Dogg sells Comfort on the beach with his Corona and taking the day right it's all about comfort

and yet none of these things can actually offer the comfort that people are really looking for it doesn't really matter how comfortable your mattress is if you're like me if you're struggling and then this is what my mattress feels like

uh Comfort is very very hard truly to find the inner Comfort the art of comfort the luxuries the things that you can anybody can find those and they're all nice for a moment for a moment in time right when you need a need a good night's sleep and you lie down on a comfort Comfort Mattress it's nice but that's not what true comfort really is

but of course all things are possible with God

you can find the inner comfort that we're all seeking to find and that's the comfort that Isaiah is talking about in Isaiah 40. he's not talking about momentary Comfort we're going to get into that this morning he's talking about the comfort from within that allows you to be comfortable in your faith and in your life no matter what you're going through I mean consider

the Lord Jesus Christ when they're on the sea right it was a tumultuous storm

the other disciples who were all well educated strong seafaring men were petrified they thought they were going to drown

and yet Jesus was comfortably asleep in the boat and of course then when they finally wake him up and say you know aren't you worried that we're going to die he simply said peace be still and the sea was comforted that's the comfort that we're looking for or consider Paul and Silas right and Philippi certainly physically they weren't comfortable at all they would just been beaten they were in stocks and yet at midnight they were found singing hymns of praise and offering prayers incredible comfort in their hearts despite what they were going through that's the Comfort we're looking for or it's also the comfort that Paul speaks about in second Corinthians he starts off his second letter to the Corinthians all about comfort and of course it's important that he does because his first letter is is more of a challenge right his first letter is is criticizing them and and forcing them or demanding that they do something about their situation so he starts off his second letter and he says this

blessed be God even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of mercies and the God of All Comfort who comforteth comforteth if

us and all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the Comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God

for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so are comfort that word consolation is the exact same word comfort also a boundeth by Christ so true Comfort again comes from within and it comes it comes

through Christ

through Christ

true Comfort is Possible only through Christ you know it's interesting look at them really despite his bed he looks pretty comfortable you know good for him or as Jesus put it he put it this way

and we mentioned this last week it has that at the Last Supper in John 14 he says peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth giveth I unto you let your let not your hearts be troubled neither Let It Be Afraid remember the whole point of the first couple of classes was to emphasize that what happened Hezekiah was referring to when he said there shall be peace and Truth in my days was the comfort of Christ now he wasn't referencing Christ but he was referencing his Redeemer he was referencing Christ because Christ is the Redeemer but that's what he was referencing when he says there'll be peace and Truth in my days and we spent two whole classes just trying to solidify that reality in our minds because naturally it doesn't look that way it looks like he's talking about something else but when you look closely at the words of God which by the way where Christ is he's the word made flesh then we can find him even in these these passages that seem to say something else

uh his story where he says my days would seem uh would be seen as a reflection of what it means to be redeemed that is truth and the peace that comes from the person of Faith who knows and accepts the spiritual truth

uh this type of comfort runs completely counter to what is natural we naturally seek for comfort from within to come from within ourselves that's our that's our natural inclination and so when we struggle with sin we naturally have an inclination I think I can do this I can get over this I can but that's not the way life is

once you are a sinner Paul says once you sin you are a slave

to sin and so a faithful person is working we are working all the time to let go of ourselves that's just what Hezekiah was doing at the end of his life remember it says that the father left him that he might try him that he might find out what was truly in his heart and what was truly in his heart is twofold first of all that he was a sinner that he couldn't of himself overcome sin

and the second thing was that he wasn't going to pay a price for it because he was part of the redeemed we keep expecting that other shoe to fall when Jacob was coming down towards mahanayam he knew he had to meet Esau he also knew he had to meet God because he had sinned and he had a price to pay and he never paid that price that's why he figured out you know what I'm not gonna I'm not gonna lose this fight

I'm not going to pay the price I was snatched away I was redeemed and that's the god that we have

and so as we come to

Isaiah 40. that's that's what we want to be looking for that's who Isaiah is speaking to the first thing we want to consider is who was Isaiah talking to well that's actually not the first thing I'll show you what the first thing I'd like to talk about is and it's in the this is the first two verses of Isaiah 40. my people saith your God speak ye comfortably and we'll look at that word it's a different word than the first two to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her Warfare is accomplished accomplished that her iniquity is pardoned for she hath received of the Lord's hand double

for all her sins we're going to spend the entire morning looking at this verse These two verses because there's so much being said in these two verses that's important for us to understand but the first thing I want you to at is that first verse before we even get into Comfort I just want you to consider what it says in that first that very first verse because it's a it's an incredible uh verse of comfort and it's an incredible verse of of connection if you will he says Comfort e Comfort ye my people saith your God

it doesn't say Comfort the people says God

that's not what it doesn't say it very specifically says Comfort my people

saith you're gone

so who is the Lord through Isaiah speaking to

right it you it goes on says speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem so you say okay so he's speaking to to Israel

but notice when it goes on it talks about um your iniquity is pardoned

well in Isaiah 40 Israel's iniquity is not part it hasn't been pardoned yet it is still to come but not natural Israel right at the time of Isaiah the people weren't weren't connected with God notice it says Speak comfortably to my people well God's always had the Covenant with with his people right saith your God

well the Israelites have never really had God as their God not not fully not completely not to the point of saying that your iniquity is pardoned in your Warfare is accomplished and we'll look at what those things mean

right you still have the the Babylonian invasion in conquering you still have the Romans destroying Jerusalem you still have the dispersion you still have all the things that are happening going to happen later on at end times those things still all have to happen and yet here it appears as if he's saying you can be comfortable now because you're in your Warfare is accomplished and your iniquity is pardoned well it couldn't have been for them so you say okay so maybe it's a fourth telling prophecy maybe he's speaking of a of another time still yet to come and he is in essence speaking of another time still yet to come yet like we know with all prophecy he has to be speaking also to somebody there at that time

and what he's who he's speaking to is spiritual Jerusalem and that's not unusual by the way for people to speak to somebody but that's not who's who's meant to hear it right think of think of Jesus speaking in Parables right Jesus always spoke in public right everything he said he says everything I said I said in front of in front of everybody and we made that analogy in another class remember talking about light

and the fact that light shines forth it doesn't it doesn't pick and choose who It Shines on it shines forth now whether you want to be in the light that's your decision right so Jesus the disciples come to Jesus and they say why do you speak in Parables they don't understand he says because it's not for them I'm speaking in public the words going out but only certain people are hearing it and that's and that's just as true here and it's true time and time and time again in the prophecy of Isaiah Isaiah is the prophet of the Messiah and again and again again he speaks and he might be speaking in public but it's not the public who is meant to hear it and just just to back that up I'll give you um an example

the sign of Emmanuel in Isaiah 7. we talked about this in another class but just consider it for a minute right consider the story so so if you remember in Isaiah 7 Isaiah comes down and meets a has right on the wall of Jerusalem wall of Jerusalem and at that time Jerusalem is being attacked by Syria and the northern kingdom of Ephraim

and Isaiah comes to ahaz and he says listen don't worry about it don't worry about these twos the the the the paker and the son of ramaliah right don't worry about them because they're not going to defeat you in fact God says through Isaiah just ask for a sign he says you can ask for any sign you want anything in heaven and on Earth you can ask for anything and I'll give it to you to prove to you that you're not going to be defeated by these two kingdoms and of course ahaz b and a has says I won't ask for a sign right because we're not supposed to ask for a sign we're not supposed to test God unless God says test me and then you know then it's kind of okay so I so Isaiah says to ahabs

all right I'll give you a sign or the Lord says to ahaz I'm going to give you a sign

and he says a virgin shall conceive right he says therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel

now who was that signed for

and you say well he's speaking to ahaz it must be for ahaz

but think about the sign

is ahaz going to believe that sign

you know I'm not a doctor but that's not easy to prove

that a virgin shall conceive certainly not going to be easy enough for a faithless man for ahaz to believe him

right how are you going to prove that that first of all we don't even necessarily read about a virgin at this point conceiving and we don't have to get into that but it can't be for ahabs

because ahaz is never going to believe him so who is it for

well if you remember the story Isaiah didn't come along

he brought his son along right why let me bring the son along for why are we even told that and his son's name is sheer Jessup okay what does that mean

it means a remnant shall return

when Ahab says I give you a sign the sign wasn't for ahaz or when Isaiah says that he has I give you a sign the sign wasn't for he has because ahaz was never going to believe it nor would any other faithless person believe it

but a person of Faith would because it spoke directly to another sign

now the sign was the seed of the woman shall crush the head of the seat of the serpent and now Isaiah says I'll give you a sign a virgin shall conceive and there is sheer gessive representative of the remnant and the remnant is repeated in Isaiah again and again and again and again he's constantly speaking to the remnant to that small band of faithful people who are faithful to the word and who are called by God

those were the only ones that would understand what this sign meant because they're the only ones who are connected to the word of God

so that's why sheer Joseph is there that's actually who Isaiah is speaking to even though he's talking to ahaz the only one listening is sheer Joseph and he represents you and I

so so it's it's consistent

that things are said that you have to stop and say okay just like we were talking about last week why is this here who is he talking to so who was Isaiah talking to at the beginning of Isaiah 40 when he says comfy eat Comfort ye my people saith your God

the ones in whom he actually was their God at that point they would be a Remnant in Israel

that Isaiah would know who were faithful people who needed signs like this to strengthen their faith just just as we do and so it's a very very powerful very intimate statement that is made here and the last two weeks was to show that it was made because of what Hezekiah did because he's just as representative as Shear Joseph as the faithful person the one who sins but yet recognizes he's not going to pay the price for sin because it's already been paid and therefore it my life and faith is really all about that other person because otherwise God could never work through me because I'm a sinner so I have to be dead in Christ and alive in Christ that's what we all have by the grace of God

and where we're exceedingly thankful for

and so we're going to see again and again and again this separation between the faithless and who here what they hear just as as they did in Isaiah 39. and the faithful in what's really being said

and that's really where Comfort comes in because we talked you know initially about how people seek Comfort but they seek it in a bed they seek it in a vacation they seek it in a nice pair of socks nobody doesn't like a nice pair of socks right

but that's not real comfort and that's not the Comfort that's here so let's consider for a couple minutes this idea

of comfort once again

comfrey eat Comfort eat my people saith your God now the very interesting thing about that word comfort

an interesting thing is this

it's actually translated two different ways

sixty percent of the time when this word is used it's translated as comfort sixty percent the other 40 of the time surprisingly enough it's translated as repent

now you don't really think of a connection right between comfort

and repentance

so what's what's what's the connection well the connection is this what the word is references to you know how you do this this you know well where does the word come from and where is its

etymology or whatever and what this word is talking about is about a sigh it's about breathing out letting go

just like when you get on a comfortable bed

or just like you do

when God speaks to you in comforting words in faith and you say I am comforted because I recognize

that I'm saved by Christ that was the comfort that Abraham felt when he said to abemba like I've been doing that since I was called out of Earl occulties by the Lord that's the comfort that Isaiah felt when instead of being angry at abimelech and at um a whose app his friend he threw him a feast

that's the comfort that John the Baptist felt

when he said to his disciples

my joy is complete he must increase and I must decrease that's true of every person of faith

and so the connection between comfort and repentance is the same type of thing we have comfort

in our faith

it's a true Faith It's a Wonderful faith but it also starts with repentance

right that's how it starts the first thing we have to do is repent and when we go through that that challenge of meeting with the Examining Board who are so difficult to meet with in this equation I don't know if had to go through it but they're brutal people

and then you get to the Waters of baptism and you go into that water and you come out of that water

and you have repented and your sins have been forgiven

it's an incredible feeling isn't it I used to tell a story when I when I had another life go into confession and there's nothing worse than going to confession and I I will not promote going to confession however I will say this after you get out of confession and you said you're 15 our fathers and you're 37 Hail Mary's and and you'll leave in the church you felt pretty good

I used to say I hope I die between between the the chapel and the vestibule because if I get outside I I'm done but at that moment you feel pretty good it's it's good to repent

and so I believe these two words are expressing those two exact things when you say well which is it Comfort or repentance it's actually both and I'll tell you why it is because right from here onward it moves to repentance and then to comfort by verse 3 of this chapter it's talking about John the Baptist

and from verse 3 I think it's to verse 9 maybe it's all about John the Baptist and John the Baptist is all about repentance

and then it moves right from there to

the good news

and the good news is all about comfort

the comfort of our walking Christ so when it says Comfort e comfort you my people I know it's double right and I know double is double emphasis but this is more than just double emphasis this word actually represents both repentance and the Comfort the Comforts of scripture and so he says it twice Comfort e Comfort e my people saith your God Oh Come am I quoting that right see uh company my people saith your God

so you have this you have this double here two different words

meaning the same but slightly different and going repentance

salvation

offer your repentance receive the comfort of God and so he's obviously speaking to the faithful at this time in the end all of Israel will do that right they'll come to that point of repentance

that point the point of

recognizing that they are sinners that they can't get out themselves but they can be saved by Christ I want to consider for a moment the last verse first the last part of this verse

because it says for she hath received of the Lord 's hand double

there it is again there's a double she has received of the Lord's hand double

for all our sins so you have double Comfort up above at the beginning of these two verses and then you have the Lord's hand you have received double

for all her sins

what's the double you think the double is

well we know what one is right we know what it's we know what the single uh what you receive singly from the Lord from your sins that's easy right because the wages of sin

is death so everybody receives that right everybody gets that nobody nobody gets out of that

but what's the second one what's the what's what's double

anyway you have an idea what he's talking about when he says receive double

punishment

probably it it's interesting because that's kind of what's insinuated right you're gonna you're gonna be doubly punished for your sin

you're going to be doubly rebuked

for your sins

sin can have her own punishment you know you steal and maybe you get put in prison right you know so it has its own or can have yeah yeah it's on punishment in that way yeah not sure if that's the answer but

um no but it's I appreciate I appreciate your input as always this is what I I think it does because again he's speaking to the redeemed he's speaking to Israel but he's speaking to the redeemed of Israel and this is what Israel had different than everybody else everybody dies because they sin

but Israel had the word Israel had the law

so they didn't just receive condemnation

they received rebuke right if you if you do something you know in the world and you don't you know outside yeah you might suffer within society and that kind of stuff like what butchy's talking about but you're not punished by God you simply die

but Israel was held responsible for the fact that they had the law

so their double punishment wasn't just that they died but they had to stand before the law and they failed

but that is even not what's being spoken of here that is true that's double punishment but that's not what this is because he's speaking again to the redeemed

what he's talking about is this he's talking about humiliation

that's the double because punishment for punishment's sake from the Lord isn't just God taking out upon the flesh

that's not what it is

the purpose of punishment is for you to is for you to change

and so what you have to go through in faith is a humiliation everybody goes through it

and the thing about humiliation is this when you hit and I've said this before when you hit rock bottom and you land flat down like like uh Jeremiah did in that well face first down into the well

there's one of two things you can do you can keep your head buried in the mud

or you got to roll over and look up and if you roll over and look up there's God

that's why Moses put the snake on a pole

right because if you want to you get bit by the snake and the snake represents sin right you get bit by the snake if you look up at that pole you don't die

and how many of those Jews said I'm not looking at that poll that's a bunch of superstition well it would be Superstition and it does end up being Superstition doesn't it because Hezekiah has to destroy the pole but when God says look at the pole you look at the pole

otherwise you don't look at the poll because you think oh I can I can do this I can do this that's what a person stuck in sin does

but when you receive double yes you receive condemnation yes you will you are of the flesh

but you receive humiliation and humiliation brings God back in so later on in this verse one it says all flesh is as grass

but the word lives forever

that's what humiliation does that's what you look up when you see if you're looking up and seeing properly and so you have this double you have this this double at the at the hand of God that the Jews had to go through that you and I have to go through

before I before you people drag me in here I didn't worry about all kinds of stuff

and then you drag me in here and now I got all this guilt thanks a bunch

but I can turn to Jesus

because that's where the Comfort comes from because in the end

it's really about him

but you know that's not the only double here you had the comfort and comfort you had double free sins but look there's another one

speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem

and cry unto her there's another double in the same same two verses so so what is he saying when he says speak ye comfortably

to Jerusalem well that's a different word for comfort you know what this word means this is beautiful

this word means

speak to the heart

and that's exactly the comfort that we're searching it says specifically the inner man that's what this is speak to the heart to Jerusalem

not not not condemnation you know condemnation is is you die

speak to the heart and this is this is again an ongoing message throughout Isaiah way back in Isaiah 1 remember what he says he says come let us reason together let's sit down and talk about it wash yourself make yourself clean take care of the Poor Me Be follow Justice and listen we can sit down and talk that's just what this word is talking about

speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem talk to the Jerusalem's heart the faithful person the heart God speaks to to us every single day despite our sins

he can speak comfortably to us because we recognize where Redemption comes from and then he says

um and cry onto her and that cry means cry out cry onto her and again it brings us right back to the Lord Jesus Christ and the whole bit about light

right you speak it out so that everybody hears it

but only those who are called receive it and he says Speak Out cry out and then later on of course she says the Lord says cry and he says what should I Cry

and he says all flesh is as grass and as the flower of the field and we'll take a look at that Lord willing in another week because although is it speaking about mortality yes it is but it's actually talking about so much more

than mortality yes all flesh is grass but anybody can recognize that all fleshes as grass that we all die anybody can recognize that but what really dies

and what lives on and it's covered it's covered in that burrow so he says cry out and so he cries out oh beautiful but that's not even the last double in this verse because look what he says here

that her Warfare

is accomplished

and that her iniquity is part

so you got comfort and comfort you got speak and cry you got double for your sins and you got Warfare

accomplished

an iniquity pardon so you've got double on double on double

because there's two ways to see things this is the way the flesh but is the way the spirit that's I believe why I believe it's all so doubled so what is it talking about when it says her Warfare is accomplished

well what's the Warfare well again that's easy the war fails fair is the battle against sin that's what the Warfare is right we battle sin every single day everybody everybody does we're not just the only ones we're not the only people who who have guilt right the Warfare against sin happens every single day

but notice it doesn't say the war the war is won

it says the Warfare is accomplished

why does it say the Warfare was accomplished and not the Warfare is one you won the war

because you don't win the war

we don't

win the war we don't overcome sin of ourselves

her Warfare

is accomplished that's just the Warfare that Hezekiah had right that he could see everything that was in his heart guess what Hezekiah you've done a lot of great things you know what you're a sinner that's what you are that's what we are so how is the Warfare accomplished

it's the realization that you have before you're baptized to say I can't do this on my own

that's the accomplishment or as it's put in the time that Jesus Christ comes to preach this message in the fullness of time that's what this word accomplished means it talking about the fullness the completeness that time where you hit the the the the the floor face down and you look up

that's what the accomplishment is the Warfare is accomplished for the faithful in Israel

and that her iniquity somebody's creeping up behind me is pardoned

now that's really important to understand and we know it but it never hurts to be reiterated and it is this your iniquity is not it's not talking about forgiven

it doesn't say your iniquity Is Forgiven

it says your iniquity is pardoned

there's a big difference between forgiven and pardon our sins can be forgiven we're very thankful that our sins can be forgiven but our sinful flesh is not forgiven because it never goes away

but it is pardoned

it is pardoned through Christ pardon is about the grace of God

not just the mercy of God

but the grace of God

that's what the realization was that Hezekiah had

my sins are pardoned even though I'm still sinning that's what Abraham was talking about I've been doing that since since I left her and yet the Lord has blessed me again and again and again why

when who's that spoke to Isaac he said you are a servant of God

how can I be a servant of God I'm sinning right now

because it's not about you

that's the realization of a life and faith

that's not really about you it is you being called into Christ

and everything is possible through Christ

and if we are dead in him and we lay aside all of our natural inclinations to see where we stand in the process

and just keep our eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith

that's what a life of faith is and that's exactly what Isaiah is saying to hear to his faithful in Israel do you see what Hezekiah said do you understand what he was talking about I can comfort you in the same way here's what I'll do I'll show you about the one to come before Christ and then I'll show you about Christ and then we'll talk about the world and what they see and then we'll say that you can fly like eagles if you put your faith in God in his word his word that's what this whole Comfort is all about

it's an incredible chapter it's amazing that it's here at this moment in time that Isaiah offers up these words to you and I

thousands of years later finding the same Comfort through the same faith in Christ

Transcript

all right good morning everybody

we are on

good morning good morning

9 30. Sunday school starts at 9 30. [Laughter]

well we're on class number four

uh in our subject of comfort from the prophecy of Isaiah this morning I want to talk about this idea of

preparing the way

as it says in Isaiah 40 verse 3. the voice of him that cryeth in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord make straight in the desert a highway for our God

so we're preparing the way for what we're preparing the way uh

the way for the Lord that's what's being prepared which we understand obviously means the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ hold on a second

all of a sudden they looked up and you guys were all in a fog

ah there we go

um

so yeah so this idea of preparing the way for uh uh the coming of the Lord obviously we know as a reference uh of uh first and foremost to the Lord Jesus Christ but also this is in the context and this is going to an important Point as we uh go through the class this morning it's within the context of this idea of comfort

um

which is really you know what we were trying to set up in those first three classes when we looked at Hezekiah when we looked at those first couple verses in Isaiah 40 verse 1 and 2 this comfort that the Lord is providing to his to his children

um it's the way the Lord through the coming Messiah and the comfort that that he presup he provides all those first principles that are so important to to our faith which is really what the rest of the chapter is really about it's it's an opening it it looks simplistic in a lot of ways but it's a re it's a reopening of all those uh first principles

so this is the Comfort uh that that unique comfort that we talked about not the everyday Comforts not the Comforts like we talked about mattresses not the Comforts of of everyday things not the comfort that the world uh provides but the inner Comfort uh that that we are all seeking and we pointed it out in um you know John's gospel

um at the Last Supper when Jesus says to his disciples peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you and he says this by the way right after he's talked about the fact that he's going to send the comforter you know all know he talks about the comfort of the spirit the spirit of God so he says my peace I give unto you and we've talked about that idea about the fact that it's it's Christ's peace that that he offers unto us not our own and he says not as the world gives

eye unto you it's a completely different Comfort than the comfort that the world is offering uh any of us whether that Comfort is in wealth or in material things or in or even for many the comfort that that is offered in a false understanding of what Christ really represents none of those Comforts are transformational and none of those Comforts uh speak directly to the heart that we're going to talk about again this morning and so Jesus says to his disciples let not your hearts be troubled

neither let them be afraid

you go specifically to the heart this I this idea of don't let your heart

be troubled

and when we talked about these ideas of comfort we pointed out that you know that third word is all about comforting of the heart that you know speak comfortably to Jerusalem it's speaking to the Inner Man that comfort that lies within

and so we're seeking for a comfort that is without fear

you know um and it's hard it's hard to to let go of the comfort that we find in in ourselves

and yet it's not impossible you know think of think of what happens on the cross for instance

right on the cross we know we know the story of the man on the cross and he's dying

and the other man says you know says to Jesus

um you know save yourself and save us

and the man on the cross has has nothing else happening he he is completely exposed he is going to die

and he says to to the other Thief we are here right he says we are receiving the due Rewards

of our sins

now you say well that's because he was a thief

but these words speak just as much to us as they do to the thief on the cross we might not be a thief

but because of what our flesh represents we receive the due rewards of our sins because the reward of sin is death he's just speaking for all of us but he's speaking in a way in which he's opening up his heart to what is true

right but what we like to do is we like to hide

what is really true we like to hide that inner heart we know that we're sinners

we know that these words speak to us as well as Anybody Everybody Knows

that they're a sinner I've met and I'm sure you have two I've met some incredibly

conceded as the only word I could think of people who just think that they never make any mistakes and yet even they know they're a sinner

but we cover up inside of us that inner heart we keep it covered we hide it we justify right that's what the flesh does what Paul talks about right when he says when he says the carnal of mind is that enmity with God

and it can't do the will of God I'm paraphrasing but that's that's what he's that's what he's talking about

and so you can't find comfort

unless you let that go

unless you openly before God admit and open up that yes I am a slave to sin that's what we do at baptism right

we let it go well well we we don't fully let it go because we know we continue to sin but the process that we're in is a process of letting go

of of being dead in ourselves and and alive in Christ and this this this process is there in those two words of comfort right the first word of comfort those Comfort ye comfort you the first one we mentioned that that word Comfort has two representations repentance

which we're going to talk about this morning and preparing the way and the comfort of the Gospel that true gospel that we can despite our sins that we can be alive in Christ that we can be forgiven and that we can be raised to everlasting life as this chapter ends you know you can you can fly like eagles

I can do all things through Christ

but that that heart

that we don't want people to see that's very hard to let go of

so when we talk about this idea of preparing the way why do we have to prepare the way why did why did John even have to come why couldn't Jesus just arrive and say hey here's here's the better message

and I believe the reason is because God recognizes and God knows

it's very hard to let go

it's extremely hard to let go and so he provides a preparation to prepare those that are called to Christ to be ready for when he comes not completely ready like oh I I knew this is what he was talking about because John's message is a bit different than Jesus's message

John's message is about repentance

Jesus's message is about being born again

but before you ever can have the comfort of truly being born again and of course we will never fully know that Comfort until that day when we are changed in a moment in a twinkling of the eye

but we can we can recognize it we can we can have moments of experience with it where we understand what it really is all about

but John wasn't about that John was about getting you to that point of seeing yourself

as opposed to blaming the Romans or the Pharisees or or anybody else for your problems

because that's what the flesh does the flesh protects itself all the time that's what that's what it does and so the thief on the cross is really speaking for all of us

and of course the Lord says to him because he has done this because he has opened up his heart on that day he will be with him in Paradise

what a thought it is to have a heart without fear

can you imagine how that how that man on the cross felt

both before

when he was on the cross dying as he recognized for the due reward of his sins

and then in that moment saying to Jesus when you come into your kingdom remember me and he says you'll be there with me there's a man dying on the cross for his sins

and Jesus says you'll be with me in Paradise

imagine the comfort that must have given him at such an awful moment that he was going through well that's that's that's really us as well isn't it

because we understand the will of the flesh so so again just just to quickly review those those two comforts

yeah of course

is that on

okay maybe Frozen turned it up so I was just going to say that you know there will be a time if the Lord remains away when we are all

in the same position as that thief on the cross you know about to die sure and uh

I imagine that if I were in that position today you know I would look back on my life and there were things there would likely be things that I would regret

as we all have regrets in life right and just to think about Jesus offering those kind words whether it's to the thief or as he says to the you know the the men in the upper room with him you know fear not and what was the what was the passage that you had quoted from the upper room from John 14 just now peace I leave with you my peace I give you yeah um let not your heartbeat that's not your heart be troubled yeah you know yeah right I mean it's a wonderful man we follow that he is you know giving us that that Comfort even in those challenging times yeah

absolutely

so again just just to reiterate what we've talked about before this word Comfort that's at the beginning of Isaiah 4 chapter one and two it has two complementary meanings one is repentance and the other is is uh that inner comfort that that comes from faith

and so yeah but you have to go through this I you have to go through this this bit of repentance you have to face yourselves you know I was talking about you know going to confession and you feel pretty good when you come out of confession but it's still just momentary right it it goes away that that good feeling goes away all too quickly because you're reliant on yourself you think oh my sins are forgiven therefore I'm okay and then you immediately realize like I used to say before you even get outside the church that you're not okay that's where the other Comfort has to come in that's where like like Steve is talking about that comfort in Christ because we're all going to die

unless Christ comes you know in in the meantime we're all going to die we're all going to have that moment of recognizing in its complete form like the crease on the thief on the cross our mortality

and at that point you know I've talked to you know the brothers that we know that are sick and you know brother Jack says I can't imagine going through what I'm going through without the comfort of the Gospel it carries them every day now that he knows that his mortality is is right around the corner and it should really carry us every day as well shouldn't it even though maybe ours isn't as near as others so that first Comfort is about is speaking about repentance that that comfort that John brings we don't really think of John as one who brings Comfort but he really does

because he brings people to a recognition of what they need to look at in their lives

that second comfort the uh in verse two that's about the Good Tidings and and we pointed out that the chapter goes in this direction I'm not just speaking in general you know the first comfort about repentance that's exactly where the chapter goes after verse two it goes right to John the Baptist well it goes

partially to John the Baptist we'll take a look at that in just a few minutes it does go to John the Baptist but it goes to John the Baptist in the context of this complete Comfort which we'll say and then that from verses three to verses 8 the majority of that is talking about the ministry of John or being prophesied the ministry of John the one to come who will prepare the way for the coming of the Lord and then in verse 9 it picks up on the Christ it starts talking about the Good Tidings the good message that's going to come Lord willing we'll speak about that in our last class in a couple weeks

and then there's this third word Comfort speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and that comfortably is speak to the inner man that's not me making up that word if you look it up in strongs that's exactly what it says it says the Inner Man that's the Comfort it's talking about comforting comforting that inner man in your heart that wants to protect itself

but when you let go as our as our dear brother Bob used to say let go and let God there's an incredible comfort

that comes from that comes from that

but it's hard

to let go

and God knows it's hard to let go and you and I we know

that it's hard to let go we want to protect the flesh wants to protect that that that inner person right that's why they come up with this idea that when you die your flesh dies but your spirit lives on it's not talking about spirits talking about your head

all right perfectly willing to let this body go you know what I mean good you know what I mean I'm perfectly willing to let this body go no problem I just don't want to let this go

right but you have to and that's what Jesus is talking about right when he talks about the thief on I mean the uh the rich man

right he says the rich man the rich man comes to him the rich man really wants to do the right thing he tell me what I need to do and I'll do it and he says have you done this and have you done this and I've done all that he says okay just just

let your riches go

and he can't do it

and Jesus says children how hard it is for them that trust enriches to enter into the kingdom of God I picked the mark example because the others say who are rich but it's not really just about being rich

because we're all rich

in here we all have things that we trust in instead of God because I might not be rich but I know I know the difference between right and wrong because that's the thing we're trusting in

you're trusting in your own riches you're trusting in your own opinions you're trusting in your own perspective

and it's so hard you can't enter the kingdom of God

by yourself

no one comes to the father but by me he said Jesus he says it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God and it says they were astonished out of measure now we know Paul speaks I mean Mark speaks in great hyperboles but it doesn't mean they're not true

it was shocked that he would say this right because a rich man is clearly blessed from God because he's got all this stuff

if he can't get into the kingdom then who can who can be saved if it can't be that person who's clearly being blessed by God he's got he's got everything he could possibly need and Jesus says it's impossible with men

no matter what you have

God doesn't God doesn't bless you with riches because you're you're better than anybody else

it's his plan and purpose

but with God

all things are possible with God what an incredible hope that is to think that and and the message is going to go directly in that direction that that there's no difference between you between one and another

All Flesh is grass it says there's no difference in the eyes of God

we put those differences in

we're the ones that put them in to think this person must be this or that person must be that and John's interestingly enough John's

message

was to say that that's not the way things are

everybody was a brutal vipers right

everybody was

but John as we pointed out another class he had to learn he had to learn that message for himself as well because everybody's got to learn it right remember before before Christ's baptism John used to say there's one coming who's greater than I

and then after John's baptism he no longer says there's one greater than I not because Jesus isn't greater than John he clearly is but because John realized he's not greater than anybody else

right two classes of people the one who never sins and everybody else All Flesh

is as grass isn't that fascinating

very

jump in yeah of course um we have that Parable in Luke as well um Luke 18 verse 9. and it says and he spake this Parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others exactly and just that idea if we think we can do it ourselves and the the value really of Life uh they were interviewing this guy and they said you know are you rich and he said uh well what do you count as as rich because I don't have money but what I have is life right in the ability to serve God right and that's that's the greatest Rich that we could ever ask for

everybody's you know everybody's searching for

inner Comfort they just don't know how to find it you know I almost cut out a clip there's a great clip in in Caddyshack where Bill Murray says

um you know I don't have anything but when I die he met he met some Guru and the guru said to him when you die you will have total Consciousness right so I got that going for me everybody's looking for it we live in a world that is is so desperate for the comfort that provided in Christ it's unbelievable but that but but people don't know where to look to look anywhere they'll look everywhere for it

and yet it's sitting right here as a simple message in the word of God and by the grace of God

you and I have been shown that message we didn't earn it I know I don't have to tell you that but we know it's true

we didn't earn it

but we can we can reflect it we can strive

every day to be like Christ that maybe when they see us they might be able to see that hope that lies in our hearts they might be able to wonder

what is it about the way he lives

it's not it's not because we're going to be so not because we're so righteous right sometimes we try to put on this this facade this cover-up of being of being righteous that's what the Pharisees did it doesn't really speak to anybody

but if you are truly sincere in your humble walk in faith it'll stand out as different

because you are no longer at enmity with God

so here we have again that going back to verse Isaiah verse 40 verse 3. it says the voice of him that cryeth in the wilderness so it starts out as a voice and it's interesting you know verses one and two was sort of like a an encapsulation of itself to tell you where the rest of the chapter is going but then it doesn't give an introduction to the voice it just jumps in the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness I think it's a great message and it's actually truly the way it actually works out isn't it because you know around about 300 or so Steve would know better than me when Malachi uh finally spoke as in the 300s right oh yeah thanks a lot thanks a bunch

I believe

so they went like 300 years right without a prophet

so and then all of a sudden there's John

screaming in the wilderness well it wasn't really all of a sudden but we'll consider that in a minute and I would suggest to you that it's not actually true that there weren't

profits or at least profits so-called in between that time 300 BC in the time the John comes because there's always somebody saying something that they claim comes from God we have it today with people crying out that's saying that you know you see these people on TV or whatever they're saying that they're speaking the word of God and then they'll do that King James speak you know and you'll go well that sounds like the King James but I have no idea what verse that is because it doesn't exist right

and I'm sure it was true in this period as well I'm sure there were many going out and saying the Lord saith and gave some sort of you know great pronouncement but nobody was listening and the reason nobody was listening is because you you you can see through what their true motivation is

right you you see these televangelists on TV and they're they're supposedly proclaiming the word of God and meanwhile they are dressed in complete gold and everything else and they've got their own personal jet which is an upgrade from their past personal Jet and all of that kind of stuff and you can see it and anybody could see it all the way through the centuries and so were there other prophets I'm sure there were but you could understand their motivation their self-motivation

and then Along Comes John

and he's in a Hamilton camel hair coat

the the feathers like digging into his skin and he's eating locusts and wild honey

and he's preaching out in the wilderness he's got nothing he gains nothing from doing this and yet he does it

and so he stood out as completely different from all of those others and he's speaking in a way that people go wait a minute I can understand this

he is speaking about me

I love it when somebody says I heard an excitation the other day and I swear the brother was talking directly to me

that's what the word of God does that's what the voice does it's a voice crying in the wilderness because it's not just some guy

crying in the wilderness it's not who he is it's what he's it's what he's saying

and that's really what the message of John

is all about

and it says he he cries which means to to call out

in other words he's not standing in the wilderness and waiting for a certain 15 people and saying okay I'm going to tell you what it is

that's not what he's doing he's in the wilderness and he's literally crying out in the wilderness anybody that wants to hear it I am letting it out there for everybody to hand and that's to hear and that's exactly where the gospel works that's exactly where the word of God works

right we've looked at that before too and we talked about about light shining in a dark place what light does is it shines forth it doesn't shine on you it doesn't shine on the right side pews and not on the left side pews it shines forth to everybody the question is whether you want to hear it or not it's the same thing with the voice crying in the wilderness John is crying in the wilderness he's not selecting who he cries to

he's not even selecting by the way who he's addressing to right because there's two types of people that come out to John there's the type who are who are looking to understand the message and is the type who are coming out and saying what is this guy doing and no one's looking to hear the message they're the ones who are being baptized hearing the message about themselves and being baptized and the other group well the Pharisees and the scribes and the others who will come out saying what is this guy up to and John says the exact same thing to both of them

he calls them all a brood of vipers a Generation of Vipers you're all a Generation of Vipers

you're all as grass

that's the message of John

crying out in the wilderness and it's interesting if you consider the response that they had to John crying in the wilderness this is a picture of the Wilderness by the way that's the Jordan River and I picked it because notice and we're going to get into this more

very soon

um it's not a desert

right the Jordan River is there it's not it's not a desert but it is but it is a wilderness

and the response to John in the wilderness is remarkable John did baptized in the wilderness and preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins and they went on to him all the land of Judea and they of Jerusalem and we're all baptized of him in the river of Jordan confessing their sins

so he had incredible success in bringing the people out to the wilderness well why did they come out

to the Wilderness well I think there's a few reasons with one reason that overrides all of them but let's talk about some of the other reasons

first of all they knew John

John was not a stranger

to the people Jesus was for the most part Jesus caught Everybody by surprise when he came who is this guy Jesus of Nazareth right can anything good come out of Nazareth they knew John or at least they knew of John and here's why remember the story of Zacharias John's father right remember John's father goes goes into the temple right and he serves inside the temple and he comes out he can't speak

and and everybody's like what is this song first of all he's late right they're waiting for him only takes exactly this amount of time to do what you have to do and he comes out late now like he's late he can't be late and he comes up he can't speak

and then and then he can't speak for nine months he can't speak and in the meantime he's like this old guy and his wife is like this old woman and they have a baby

and the baby is born and they go to Elizabeth and they say what are you going to name him and she says we're going to name him John and they're like what are you crazy are you kidding him John there's no John's in your family and so they go to Zacharias and they say your wife is she's crazy she wants anyone John what are you gonna name the kid he gets on the tablet and he writes down his name is John

and all of a sudden this guy who couldn't speak for nine months now he can speak and he starts praising God right it says that his mouth was opened immediately and his tongue loosed and he spoke and he praised God and fear came on all of them that dwelt round about them

this was petrifying that this could happen you know think of it as a fearful thing but it was they knew this guy couldn't speak

they knew this was an old family they have a baby he writes the name down and now he can talk it scared the Daylights out of them

and so it says in all these things are noised about throughout all the Hill Country of Judea and all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts saying what Manner of Child shall this be in the hand of the Lord was with him that word you notice I put in italics that word them can you tell that oh yeah you can tell that's pretty good better than on my screen and all day that heard

laid up in their hearts the word them is actually not there it's added in for clarity but it's actually not fair

and so it was the ones who heard

that laid it up where

they laid it up in their hearts what Manner of Child

will this be and so 30 years later

all of a sudden look who's out in the wilderness now in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea and Herod B and tetrak of Galilee and his brother Philip tetrack of idumia icturia and all the region of trekonitis and lysanius and the tetrak of Abilene ananias and Caiaphas being the high priests

the word of God came unto John

the son of Zacharias

in the wilderness

it came on to John not just came on to John came unto John the son of Zacharias and so out there in the wilderness you're not going to believe who's out there do you remember like 30 years ago that story of that guy that that levitical priest who goes into the temple and he comes out late and he can't speak and then he and his wife who are like a hundred have a kid right and they name him John which was crazy because there was no John in their family and you're supposed to follow the Traditions but they didn't they named him John and then the guy can speak do you remember that crazy story that's the guy in the wilderness right now

get out of town I'm not kidding you that's him John the son of Zacharias he's way out in the wilderness preaching the word of God and he's got like a Hammel coat and he eats bugs

I gotta go see this right

so so that was part of the process they knew John

but that's not what brought him out to the wilderness because it's right here what brings him out to the wilderness

the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness so why did they go out to the Wilderness why does God bring everybody out to the Wilderness why isn't John in the middle of the temple right that's where all the people are why isn't he in the middle of the temple he he could be act remember John is the son of Zacharias he's a levitical priest himself he could be in the temple screaming that's what Jesus went why didn't John go there why was John out in the wilderness

because that word wilderness

is really about getting away

because in Jerusalem and in Judea was all that noise and Luke

tells us there's all that noise that's why all these things are listed you say well he's just given us historical context that he is but look at the way he goes about the historical context

well this guy was doing this and that guy was doing that and he was over there and he was over there you got the Romans you got the the I do means you got you got this one you got that one you got two high priests

noise noise noise noise noise noise noise noise noise

and if you're living in Jerusalem that's all you hear is noise and you don't know who to listen to you don't know where they're coming from oh I I follow Cai FS I follow Hillel I do this uh the Romans are doing that everybody's doing that and you got all this noise

and there's John out in the wilderness

and he's saying repent

and they go out and they hear the word

that's why he was in the wilderness

get out

get up that's exactly what we all had to do right that's exactly what so often somebody in the rotation talks about I got I've been getting caught up in the noise

and then right and then I had an excitation to give and I had to stop listening to all the noise you know what I found out it's just noise

and so that's what the Wilderness I gotta move quickly I'm going to skip over a couple things because there's a point I want to make but that's what the noise is all about so he's preaching the word of God that simple message of repentance

that message that speaks to the heart you've been listening to all that noise you want to talk about the Romans you want to talk about the Pharisees no no no I'm going to talk about you

you're a brutal vipers you're a sinner and you need to repent

oh Judea came out everybody knows there's a sinner

and saying saying it's about saying you need to repent

you need to address your sins forget all the noise you're out here there's one voice out here and that's the voice of God and I'm street I'm the voice screaming it at you you need to repent and they did

the voice of one cryeth in the wilderness prepared the way make straight in the desert a highway for our God that's Isaiah 40 verse 3. I want to point something out that's really interesting in the last few minutes

this is Isaiah 40 verse 3 again the voice of him that crieth and the Wilderness prepare you the way it makes straight the desert a highway for our God we all know that that's speaking about John right because all four gospels quote that all four

look what it says in Mark Matthew

for this is he that spoketh of the Prophet uh for this is he that was spoken of by the Prophet isaiahs this is Matthew speaking of God speaking through Matthew we know the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord make his path straight

Matthew says that this is what Mark's gospel says as it is written in the prophets behold I send my messenger before thy face which shall prepare the way before Thee the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord make his paths straight this is what Luke says

as is written in the book of the words of Isaias the prophet saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord make his path straight every Valley shall be filled and every mountain and Hill shall be brought low and the Crooked shall be made straight and the rough way shall be made smooth and All Flesh shall see the salvation of God he virtually quotes the entire of Isaiah's quote John says this now it's not John actually it's John the Baptist speaking John is John is speaking in uh John the Baptist is speaking in John is recording it he said that's John the Baptist I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness make straight the way of the Lord as said the prophet Isaiah that's how everybody covers all four gospels point to this verse in Isaiah verse Isaiah 40 verse 3 and says the voice of one speaking in the wilderness prepare ye the way

anybody say anything strange in that

anybody pick up on something there

every single one of them

no desert

Isaiah 40 verse 3 very specifically says

in the desert and every quote of John speaking of Isaiah 40. none of them mention the desert not one

why not

it's because of what the desert represents

you see Isaiah 40 is a prophecy about John Isaiah 40 verse 3 is a prophet John but it's not just about John

it's about comfort

and the Wilderness represents getting away we do that for Bible school right we get away

that's not what the desert represents the desert is a different word

and the desert represents barrenness

barrenness

John didn't provide barrenness

Jesus did you say where did Jesus provide barrenness

you must be born again

you must start from the beginning John came and said repent

repent is is taking a good hard look at that inner man that inner heart and recognizing that you're a sinner and Jesus after that way is prepared for him comes and says it's more than that

you must let that heart go

and follow me and then I will take you down that highway to the kingdom

so John's responsibility was not to bring them to the desert that was Jesus's responsibility John brought them to the wilderness Jesus brings us into the desert where we can start afresh start anew and move forward the comfort of the Gospel that's why the desert is never mentioned in the in these quotes from Isaiah 40. isn't that fascinating the message continues again and again and again these two these two aspects of comfort that God that God is providing through Isaiah the first is to take that good hard look at yourself get away from all the noise and recognize your Sinner and we're very good at doing that

but the second is Letting Go that's the hard part letting go that's what Hezekiah was doing when Hezekiah said there shall be peace

and Truth in my days he was letting go not really about me it's about Christ

any comments or questions and we'll pick up from here about grass and all the rest of it in a couple weeks and get into

the good tidings

Transcript

well good morning everybody

this is as far as I'm aware our last class and I think it's probably important that I'd be aware since I'm teaching the class

the April is coming to an end I owned April so I think next week is uh

uh is Brother Rich hopefully he's feeling up to it uh by next Sunday I think it's him

uh it's our last class on comfort

and hopefully today we'll be able to bring a little bit out about that second Comfort the true comfort of the Gospel remember when we talked about comfort and the fact that in chapter 40 verse 1 the word is repeated twice and that's because it is bringing out two aspects of comfort we talked about that very word that's used actually being translated two different ways

um 40 of the time is translated as repentance and 60 of the time is translated as comfort which raises the obvious question what are those two things uh have in common and you can find it sort of in the you know in the breakdown of the word itself the word has to do with breathing out Letting Go basically or or unburdening yourself is probably the best way to put it and the first Comfort is the comfort that that John brings that unburdening of yourself from from sin that's what repentance is all about repentance is is unburdening yourself uh from sin and of course the second Comfort is the comfort of the gospel and the gospel is about unburdening yourself from the way of the flesh from the from the will of the flesh being born again being renewed as we'll see later on this morning Lord Lord willing and so that's the Comfort we want to um get to today this idea of not just getting away as when we talked about John John was in the wilderness right and he had he he pulled the people away Into the Wilderness uh that they might get away and take a good hard honest look at themselves

but the gospel does more than that the gospel is not just reformational it's transformational it changes uh the individual those who who come to understand and come to put their faith into the true uh gospel and we'll talk quite a bit Lord willing about uh that this morning

uh but but we talked about the fact that John uh prepared the way and that you have to you have to go through John to get to Jesus right the way has to be prepared in the wilderness you have to you know you have to take a good hard look at yourself

before you can let yourself go you have to understand the depth of sinful flesh God has a great respect for sinful flesh he doesn't respect it as honor it he respects it as he understands the depth of the power of the will of Flesh so he has put this this

comfort in place for those who believe this comfort of understanding that you can actually let go and let God as our dear brother Bob Lloyd used to say

remember Jesus said this he said you have to be born of water first in order to see the kingdom but you have to be born with a spirit in order to enter in and that's the two aspects of comfort

so the first one that has to be established is that

preparing the way in the wilderness and we talked about this last week

John's Ministry brought People Into the Wilderness he was way over by the by the Jordan River outside of all the noise and it's hard to get away from the noise as we all understand very very well and there was plenty of noise in Jerusalem and within the Jewish community and what happens in the noise is it gets you to think about what everybody else is doing wrong you know they had the Romans who were over taxing them and and the military was always there you have the the the

religious rulers condemning you all the time you had all this noise noise and John takes people away takes them into the wilderness and it's not that people weren't trying uh to have introspection remember brother John perks on Wednesday was talking about the Pharisees and he said look the Pharisees were trying to figure it out

right but what they didn't understand was the depth of their own sin right they were going to purify themselves well enough to be acceptable on to be acceptable unto God and of course we know that that's not possible once you you sin you are a slave to sin and so you all if you can't let this go

then you're always going to be a slave to it no matter what you do no matter how Paul talks about it in First Corinthians 13 doesn't it you can you can do everything right

but if you don't have love

it's just a what is it gonging a symbol right it's just noise if you don't have it and of course that's what is at the heart of the gospel and it is truly

sad is the only word I can think of that people miss

what's at the heart of the Gospel they miss that it's really about God's love

it's it's it's sad when when when you watch people struggle

with what's at the heart of the Gospel when they think it's it's about it's about

protecting something or it's about

um

separating out separating out

and God is really about love and mercy and Grace

so you have to have true introspection first and foremost

in uh

Matthew 7 of Matthew 3 verse 7. John says this he says o Generation of Vipers who hath warn you to flee from the Wrath to come bring therefore

bring forth therefore free fruits meet unto repentance so John calls the entire generation a Generation of Vipers it wasn't you know these people were okay and those people were a little bit better and those people were a little bit better than that and those people were a little bit less it's an entire generation who shall declare this generation John does he declares it a generation a Generation of Vipers

but notice he's talking about about Sin right who hath warn you to flee from the Wrath to come the Wrath to come is the Wrath that comes because of sin

because because we don't follow God and he says therefore you know bring forth therefore fruits meet unto repentance in other words in other words improve yourself

you know do the things that that show that you're the show that you're repentant

but you can see in John

and this was John's message it was preparing the way it was getting people ready for the gospel message right but in John it was about reformation

in Jesus it's about transformation notice what Jesus says in the exact same context in Matthew 12 34 he says o Generation of Vipers how can you being evil

speak good things for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth

and so Jesus again is is about the nature of of man

how can you being evil right we've quoted so many times many of you have the young man coming to Jesus what good thing must I do and Jesus says don't call me good there's none good but God that's the flesh that's the way it is that's the reality that we have to come to that we'll be looking at again this morning

and we talked also about the fact that this quote about um preparing the way

come on the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness prepared the way the Lord makes straight in the desert a highway for our God that quote prepare the way is is repeated in every gospel in relation to John

right in fact in the Gospel of John it's John the one is the one that says it right they come to John they say who what are you doing he says I'm a voice in the wilderness that's what I am preparing the way of the Lord but as we pointed out at the end of last week

that word desert isn't there

in all four quotes of this quote and the quote is virtually completely covered within the context of all the four gospels this quote about about John

and yet the word desert is never mentioned in any of them and yet there it is right there in the quote and yet it's always every gospel writer and even John himself took it out why

because it's not John's job

to bring people into the desert John brought People Into the Wilderness and the Wilderness is a way but it's not out

we talked about the fact that the desert is really about

um is really about barrenness it's about where jesus takes you he takes you into the desert he takes you away from everything the desert is Barren there's nothing there starting afresh the example we used is being born again starting from the beginning that's what the devil of the devil that's what the desert in this context represents and that's why it's not connected to John because that was not John's job that was that was Christ's job was to bring was to was to to build that Highway in the desert for his people and and just so you don't think that I'm just you know pulling this out of this idea out of nowhere

I want to show you a quote about rivers in the desert and it's not very far away from what we're talking about it's in Isaiah 43 and this is what it says in Isaiah 43. it says behold I will do a new thing

now it shall spring forth shall you not know it I will make a way in the wilderness that's a new thing right John John comes and he he he makes a wait in the wilderness that's exactly what he does

and rivers

in the desert

because I give Waters in the wilderness

and rivers in the desert to to give drink to my people My Chosen so what is this rivers in the desert as opposed to Waters in the wilderness what is it talking about well for me this passage takes me my mind right to some a very specific place when it talks about a drink of a drink of water a drink of Living Water anybody have any ideas anything to pop into them the way it does to me who was given a drink of Living Water

oh no I am going to the Gospel of John actually if you're going if you're going to the Samaritan woman that's exactly where I'm exactly what I'm talking about yeah it makes me think of the of the Samaritan woman right because remember the Samaritan woman has a well

and it's Jacob's Well

and Jesus says give me to drink and the woman says you know who are you a Jew asking a Samaritan for a drink and Jesus says if you ask me for water I would be giving you living water that would well up so much that you would you would never thirst

right now think about what the well represents it's Jacob's Well right it's all that stuff over here it's it's all that message of the Old Testament and it is water and it does refresh

but it's not living water

and it doesn't lead on to eternal life

whereas the water that Jesus offers to the Samaritan woman is living water

never die Living Water eternal life that's what that's what the gospel offers as opposed to what the Old Law would offer the Old Law refreshed

Jacob's Well gave good water

Jesus would have happily drank from it

but it doesn't well up onto eternal life and here we see in this passage the fact that those Rivers come from the desert the rivers in the desert you can have water in the wilderness

but you have rivers in the desert so it's not just me making this up if that's you know what was wrong through your head maybe it was I don't know it's actually there right in Isaiah's gospel and it's not just there it's it's repeated multiple times most specifically in Isaiah's gospel this idea of rivers in the desert so jesus takes us into the desert the gospel message takes us into the desert and a way is prepared a way onto Everlasting unto Everlasting like

but notice in the end it talks about to give drink to my people

My Chosen

so it's very specific who gets this living water we get to this water this living water in the desert it is the it is the redeem that Isaiah so much talks about this chapter uh that we've looked at chapter 40. we're constantly going back to the redeemed because that's really who Isaiah is talking to he's talking to the redeemed those people who have understood the gospel remember uh way back we were talking about Emmanuel I don't know if you probably don't remember it but when we were talking about about Emmanuel and we were saying Isaiah says to Ahab I will give you a song a virgin shall conceive

and we recognize Ahab was never going to understand that song right he was never going to it because you can't prove it

he was it was because it wasn't for him

it was for the one that came with Isaiah remember his son Shira Jessup a Remnant shall return the message was really for them and they could see the message they could understand the concept because they already understood Genesis 3 16. right the the of the woman will crush the seed of the serpent and this spoke directly to that prophecy and that's what the remnant really are those people that understand the word of God that that that believe in the word of God that trust

probably that's the most important word that trust in the word of God that allow the word of God to tell them what to believe not to to use the word of God to to verify what they believe because if you use the word of God to verify what you believe it'll be happy to give you that

but it'll never be transformational it never will because all it'll do it'll allow you to validate what you believe

and I mentioned you know the the Jewish rabbi that I listen to from time to time he's always quite interesting but he can't see

the Christ

in Isaiah 53. you can't see it

because he doesn't know the gospel because he doesn't believe the gospel because he doesn't want to hear the gospel I I shouldn't put words in his mouth but that's

when you hear him break down what Isaiah 53 is about you think you're not hearing anything and we'll actually cover that kind of thought quite a bit as well so if you're in Isaiah 40 and why you would be I don't know because I've never actually said it but if you just so happen to be take a look at verse 5 because that's where we're going to go to next and and we're going to talk about why

um these verses move from one to the next and we're certainly not going to get through Isaiah 40 all of it by the end of today so my apologies if that's what you thought but that is not going to happen

brother Phil Baines was here last year last week and he saw me and he said oh great to see I'm enjoying your classes on Sunday morning I said thank you very much he said four weeks in you're on verse three

that's the way it goes

um

so it goes to the glory of the Lord in the very next verse verse 5 right it says and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed

and All Flesh shall see it together for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it so what is being talking talked about here well we are in the we are in the process right we've got John preparing the way we've got the gospel message coming and it says that the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and All Flesh

shall see it together

and that's exactly what happened wasn't it when John came right and John went out in the wilderness it says all Jerusalem and Judea went out to hear John they all went out there

and when Jesus performed his miracles right they all saw the Miracles we talked about this actually didn't we when we talked about light

and how light works light shines forth everybody it doesn't it doesn't shine forth over there and not over there it shines forth that's what it does everybody sees it that's the way God is God shines forth

but not everybody lives in the light do they that's what Jesus talks about in John 3. he said but men are evil so they preferred the darkness it's not that the light doesn't shine this book that we read from

virtually everybody we know has one or can have one nobody's not allowed to have it not in the generation that we live in anybody can read it

and you can read it and trust it or you can read it and let it tell you what it wants to tell you it'll do either one or you can do what most people do and not read it at all but everybody has the opportunity that's the way it works

and when we read it we don't we don't find things that nobody else can find we don't we don't we're not given some special you know remember when we talked about the gnostics a while ago they thought they were given some sort of special message that nobody else gets to hear no no no no you don't and no we don't

this shines forth that's what it does and that's just what happened when John came and that's just what happened when Jesus came

the truth of the Gospel shined forth the truth of what's in the heart of a man shines forth

in All Flesh season notice it talks about All Flesh All Flesh sees it All Flesh sorry in the time of Jesus in Israel

and then by the time we get to Christ's return All Flesh will have seen it

whether or not you you want to believe it whether or not you want to follow it that's a different deal but everybody sees it why because the Lord has said it he said that's the way it works and so that's and so that's the way that it does work

All Flesh sees it notice it doesn't say All Flesh sees it and responds because that's not what it does everybody sees it together as well

and so the obvious question is what do we need to do

to respond

well what we need to do is we need to understand who we are in relation to the almighty that's the first thing you have to understand what is your if if you're going to hear this message from the Lord who has spoken of what is my relationship to the Lord so that's right where Isaiah goes or right where the Lord goes

with Isaiah so it's it shouldn't be surprising at all at the very next Voice verse

says the voice said cry and he said what shall I cry all flesh is grass and we'll look at the rest of it in just a minute but that shouldn't be surprising that that's where we go because that's exactly where the private the previous verse leads us to

now I want to talk a little bit before we get into the idea of grass and All Flesh being grass about this voice crying so who is this voice crying and who is the voice crying to

the I don't know what the the general idea of you know the 150 years of Christadelphian scholarship I don't know what they know I can tell you what CeCe Walker thought only because it's written in his book Ministry of the prophets which is a Robert Roberts CeCe Walker book by this but by this time it's CG Walker and he believed that this voice crying in the wilderness was John or this boy's crying

um I shouldn't say in the wilderness I apologize this voice said cry and he said what shall I cry and he said this is this is John his voice crying it's understandable that he says that because just in a couple voices versus before it says the voice crying in the wilderness and that voice crying in the wilderness was John

so it's natural you know just a couple verses later let's say the uh the voice said cry

and think oh that must be John that's the voice crying in the wilderness

but with with great respect for CeCe Walker or for anybody else that believes that that's what that voice is verse voice is

I don't believe that's correct

and I'll give you two reasons why I I don't believe that this is John either speaking or John being spoken to the first reason is because this verse about All Flesh being grass is never attributed to John

the whole the previous verse remember except for the word desert that entire verse was was multiple times uh attributed both about John and in the Gospel of John to John to John the Baptist that is

but this verse never is and it's only a few verses later and so we never hear John in the wilderness saying all flesh is grass right we've already talked about what John said in the wilderness your Generation of Vipers who has told you to flee from the Wrath do the right things you know if you have two cloaks give one away all those type of things and yet this verse is actually never

um connected to John in fact I could only find this verse being specifically mentioned once and that was in First Peter chapter 3 I think I don't know if I put it in my notes uh no I just put first Peter um and in the first Peter reference it's not really talking about John at all so John's never referenced so I don't think that's what it is secondly this is not John's message right John's message was very specific John's message was about Sin

and how do you repent from sin

his message was not what this message is this message is about mortality this message is about life and death and you say well the wages of sin is death yes it is but that's not what this message is about because notice in this message where death comes from it says the grass withereth the flower fadeth because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it so it's not talking about Sin in of itself it's talking about mortality in fact you know it's not about sin because the only reference you have is and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field sin is not about goodliness at all

so if John's message was about Sin and this message was about is really about the mortality of the flesh

and it would make no sense that this would be attributed to John because remember John's job was to take people out into the wilderness

it was Jesus's job

to teach people that all flesh is as grass

now your everybody's in the same boat right that's the lesson that everybody has to learn doesn't matter whether you're a Pharisee it doesn't matter whether you're a a famous person doesn't matter it doesn't matter who you are makes no difference who you are or what you have or what you don't have you can be like a flower in the field and you can stand out for a moment of time as goodliness or as as some sort of some sort of beauty beauty doesn't make any difference you are still going to die

and the reason you're going to die is because God

blows upon you in other words he's in charge of life and death

and that's the message of that's the message of the Gospel

so what does the grass represent well the grass represents

everybody right all flesh is grass the people is grass

right grass is not you know you don't look one blade to the next and say well this Blade's pretty good that one's a little lower no it's grass

and that's the way God sees us we are as grass we live we Bloom we fade we die

that's grass

and that's how God sees us he breathes into us the breath of life and we have life and he breathes back the breath of life and we wither and die

that's that's what the grass

represents and you might have a you might have a flower there

if this was about Sin by the way what you would have in the grass is you would have weeds

it would be talking if this was about John it'd be talking about the weeds in the grass that suffocate the grass that's what sin does but that's not what this is

this is this is two fundamental first principles important fundamental first principles that you have to understand and accept in order to be able to see the gospel and the first is that all fleshes as grass

that's the First Fundamental principle and you say well that's obvious well it's really not that obvious is it because we try to make it something else

right I'm prayer we talked about this a couple weeks ago I'm perfectly willing to let not the microphone but this flesh go especially as you get older if you're young you might not understand this but as you get older you're perfectly willing to say you want to take this thing away and give me a new body I'm all for it but I'm not going to let this go I'm going to do whatever I can to hold on to this

and so that's where things like the immortality of the spirit and all those kind of things come from and the vast vast vast vast vast majority of people who believe in God believe that when you die your spirit goes to heaven and you live on and you cannot accept and believe in the gospel

if you are going to hold on to something because the gospel is about letting go

it's about being born again and I don't want to be born again I just want to keep what I got I'm perfectly willing to be born of a new body but I don't want to be born of a new mind so you don't let it go and so when you come to the gospel and you say you see what Jesus says you say um

maybe maybe when I die I don't really die

and the First Fundamental principle is in order to see the kingdom in order to see the truth of the Gospel is All Flesh is as grass

it grows

it's born it grows it Withers it dies that's flesh

if you want to accept that

then you ought to be able to accept the other part of it which is this that it is God in charge of life and death

there's no devil there's no there's no battle in the spiritual underworld there's none of that

God is in charge of life and God is in charge of death he says it again and again and again in his word of Truth

but if I want to believe something else I can find something that says something that that appears to say something different can I

but God's in charge

so those are two fundamental principles in this passage

that it's talking about but it's talking about even more than that because look what it does it says all flesh is as grass the grass withereth and the flower fadeth why because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it

surely the people is grass

that's that's life and death

but then he says the grass withereth and the flower fade if he says it again we've been pointing out doubles throughout this uh prophecy Isaiah does it again and again and again but this one's different don't think you don't die because he says all the grass withers and the flood of Fades that doesn't change

but the word of God shall stand forever

can you see the contrast

All Flesh dies

God has declared it God makes it happen but the word right it's the spirit that blows that All Flesh dies and yet it is the spirit that is the spirit word

that stands forever that doesn't die

so you have this this remarkable contrast

between this flesh that must die

and the word of God

That Never Dies

so where you want to be right so you have got to become connected become grafted in to that spirit you're still going to die this flesh is still going to die

but there is an everlasting hope because of the word of Truth I mean it's it's remarkable

almost unfathomable

that you and I could be sitting here talking about this

there are so many powers and so many influences and so many things

that gets you to think about something else and yet here is the plan and purpose right before you get out into the wilderness take a good hard look at yourself

recognize that you are sinful flesh

and then put your hope in the gospel

and so we would expect and we certainly see that in the very next verse it goes right to the gospel well it goes to the gospel

I love that picture

he goes to the gospel if you hear it

or if you're willing to listen to it right

then it goes to the gospel oh this let me take a side check I forgot to mention this the reason I'm putting this verse up is this I mentioned that that um that that voice was not John

then what voice was it

I believe the voice is from God and the voice of speaking is speaking

partly to Isaiah but not fully to Isaiah so so go back again to that I should I shouldn't have skipped forward I apologize that previous uh

uh come on thank you the voice said cry and he said what shall I say

well this voice I believe is the voice of God it's the same voice that spoke to Isaiah and that's where this comes in it's the same voice that spoke to Isaiah in Isaiah 6 when the commission started the commission started in Isaiah 6 verses 8 through 10. when Isaiah says I heard the voice of the Lord

so the voice speaks to Isaiah I believe this is the voice that's heard and does I does Isaiah cry all flesh is the grass of course he does we just we read it it's literally in in Isaiah

but it says he said so keep that in mind but look what this verse says it says I heard the voice of the Lord saying whom shall I send you guys all know this this reference I'm sure and who will go for us then he said here I am send me that is Isaiah that is also Christ by the way

and he said go and tell these people and look what it says hear ye indeed but understand not and see indeed but perceive not that's just what we said earlier that's exactly the way the message works the light shines forth the message goes out you'll hear it but you won't understand it you'll see it but you won't perceive it and that's just what God told Isaiah that's just what's going to happen I didn't imagine getting that as a commission here's what I want you to do I want you to go out and I want you to speak the word of Truth and by the way nobody's going to listen to you

well what am I doing it for because that's the way it is and there were those that listened few but there were because Isaiah always refers back to that Remnant that is hearing the voice he said and see perceive not make the heart of this people fat and make their ears heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and convert and be healed that's the gospel that's what Jesus was doing right Jesus was speaking forth the gospel God sent him out to speak the truth and he spoke the truth and got all the way down to just 12 people willing to hear it

and yet there was still 12. and we live in an entire world that doesn't hear the gospel message they hear what they want to hear they they are they grow fat and ears heavy and eyes shut

and yet here we are looking at this going oh okay

that's exactly what I believe

power of the Gospel

and again it says the grass with us but the word of God stands forever and so we're going to go right from there to the gospel that's exactly where we would think we would go and that's exactly where we do go the very next verse

o Zion that bringeth good tidings and get thee up into a high mountain oh Jerusalem that bringeth good tidings lift up thy voice with strength lift up Be not Afraid say unto the Seas of Judah behold your God

and so and so the passage goes right to the gospel if you can see it

it's exactly where we would expect the passage the the verses to go

is to the gospel because this is the gospel that is spoken of at the end of that previous verse when it says but the word of God stands forever and and the word of God comes

now we can see it very easily but

this is a really challenging verse

not because of the idea of the good tithing so we understand what the good tidings is we've we've been blessed to understand what those good tidings are

but what is Isaiah talking about when he says o Zion that bringeth good tidings high mountain oh Jerusalem that bringeth good tidings lift up thy voice with strength lift it up what is Isaiah talking about I got to tell you I I struggled yes I was working on this yesterday I struggled with this verse all day Cindy must have wondered what I was doing because one moment I'd be up in my office the next moment I'd be down watching you know the baseball game and then I'd be back in my office and then I'd be taking a shower and then I'd be cleaning the kitchen doing anything but trying to figure out address what in the world this verse was talking about and and that happens as any of you that have done these studies you know you just you hit a wall and I hit a wall because I couldn't figure out

why Zion and Jerusalem I mentioned right it says Zion that brings Good Tidings Zion never brings Good Tidings that I that I knew of or Jerusalem never brings Good Tidings that I could that I could figure out right especially first of all in the time of Isaiah we're probably talking about the time of Manasseh right now because because remember Hezekiah dies in chapter 39. and here's some manasa comes in we're probably in the time of Manassas certainly right at the beginning of it

and there were good tidings coming from Jerusalem in the time of Jesus they weren't good tidings coming from Jerusalem today in Jerusalem there aren't good tidings coming from Jerusalem

and so I was stuck what is he talking about

and then I remembered

it's funny how it's amazing how this works because what I remembered was very simple

this prophecy is about comfort that's what the whole prophecy is about remember when we looked at that that quote of uh chapter verse 3 about prepare the way and we said why would Jesus be in a prophecy about John because that everything in that verse is about John except for the desert why would that be in there it's about John well it's not really about John it's partially about John but it's really about comfort

because the whole verse is about Comfort because the first verse talks about Comfort introduces us to comfort and when you put this in the context of comfort you know exactly what at least I did I knew exactly what it was talking about when I thought about it from Comfort because it says don't be afraid

when we started these classes

the first thing we talked about was Hezekiah right

and we said Hezekiah has this weird ending to his life where he makes this statement in the statement he makes is after he has sinned right he says the word of God is good for there shall be peace in truth in my days

and we said that's a weird statement because what it sounds like he's saying is here's a good thing my kids will suffer instead of me

right

that's what and it's perfectly understandable to have that understanding of what it says because that's just what it looks like but what we discovered was that's not what it said and the reason we know that's not what it says is because we understand the gospel because we understand Redemption

and when you understand Redemption you understand what Hezekiah was saying

but the truth of that voice Hezekiah speaking doesn't happen without the gospel

last week we had a whole dissertation if you will on Melchizedek right

without the gospel Melchizedek is just some guy that Abraham meets and has a meal with he has no meaning without the gospel

everything that David says the Lord said unto my Lord

um you know the whole psalm 23. none of it has any real meaning without the gospel we talked about Abraham meeting abimelech and saying I've been committing that sin since I came out of Earl the chaldees it has no meaning without Redemption without the gospel why Isaac would have changed from being angry at a who's ath and at uh

uh the king of the Philistines and FICO I can't remember all the names and then has a feast Forum that would make absolutely no sense without the gospel

the struggle that Jacob has with the angel

when he says I should have died and I was snatched away from Death has no meaning without the gospel

but with the gospel

it all has meaning

all those voices in Jerusalem and in Zion

with the gospel all those voices are heard

they're never heard without him

when Abraham offers up his son on Mount Moriah it makes no real sense without the gospel without understanding that God was going to offer up his own son you can understand this it's a faithful thing to do

and you can certainly understand why Abraham and his his wife never get back together again after that happens by the way they live in two different places you can understand that

but if you understand that Abraham knew

his son would be reborn because he understood Redemption then it all has meaning and all of a sudden all those voices

can now cry out in strength

can climb up to a mountain in strength they were always there

and now they can be heard

Simeon and Anna

will make no sense about the gospel

the shepherds in the wilderness if they had gone into Jerusalem and started as they did Right and started telling everybody that yeah Angels Came From the sky and told us about about this about this birth

they'd just be some crazy Shepherds probably smoking some crazy stuff

without the gospel

everything opens up with the Good Tidings that's what this verse is talking about in every message is the same when you get down to the fundamentals of what Hezekiah said what Abraham said what David said what all these people said it all came down to the same thing behold your God

none of this is possible unless God is in charge and all these things happen because God is in charge every message that we have of the Gospel boils itself down to behold your God that's what we believe in That's The Power of the Gospel

I gave an exhortation once where I said I don't know anything as as my sons are perfectly willing to tell me I don't know a thing

but for some reason I can tell you what this says

because the gospel gives power I tell the story of of brother Alfred Norris he spoke at Eastern Christian Bible school back in the 90s and if you don't know Alfred Norris Alfred Norris at this time was about 175 180 somewhere on that he was only about five foot five he was a really small guy little stature little guy and he was very very very old at this point

and when when you you uh you know call his name to come up and give his Bible class he could barely get to the podium and he was so short you could barely see him over the podium as it was and then he would start giving his presentation never looked at a note didn't have slides

six days straight 45 minutes slam you

with the gospel with the truth of it with the power of it with the love of it it was it was a remarkable thing to watch

because that's what the gospel is

it's about strength it's about power it's about holding on it's about it's about giving yourself up

and allowing God to do in your life and he's in in this verse it says Don't Be Afraid

God is in charge he's got it

he has it that's what that's the beauty of the Gospel that's the comfort of the Gospel is knowing it's his

he owns it

he has called you and I and all others all all he's saying my for us to do is speak loud

tell people what you know

God is good and look what it's I'm going to skip over the other verses because we're running out of time but look what it's well we'll take a look at this one because you it does go to the gospel right he shall feed his flock Like a Shepherd He Shall Gather his lands with his arms and carry them in his bosom look at the Comfort in that verse

that's verse 11 talking about about obviously about Christ

and saying he takes him in his arms that's just what he's done with us he gathers us together and takes us in his arm and gently leads those that are with young those that are spreading

the gospel

he gently leads them that's us brothers and sisters

by the grace of God and look how the chapter ends

he giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he increases strength even the youth shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fail that is trusting in the flesh

but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength

Born Again renewed not reformed

renewed

they shall Mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint that's just what you saw with brother Alfred

it was like he when he stood up to speak he completely transformed before your eyes his flesh was just old and small and and weak

but his voice wasn't and his message wasn't

he was like one that that runs instead of walks when he spoke it was like he was running down the street

that's the gospel message that's the power of the gospel for those that let go and let go and that's what we're called to do by the grace of God

we we be more blessed than to know these things

and there's nothing more important for us to do

than to let go and let God