["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Good evening. We're in Isaiah chapter 41
and the Bible reads
Keep silence before me oh islands and let the people renew their strength. Let them come near
Then let them speak let us come near together to judgment
Who raised up the righteous man from the east called him to his foot gave the nations before him and made him rule over kings
He gave them as a dust to his sword and as driven stubble to his bow
He pursued them and passed safely even by the way that he had not gone with his feet
Who had wrought and done it calling the generations from the beginning?
I the lord the first and with the last I am he
The isle saw it and feared the ends of the earth were afraid junior and came
They helped everyone his neighbor and everyone said to his brother be of good courage. So the carpenter encouraged goldsmith
And he that smoothed with the hammer him that smote the anvil saying it is ready for the soldering
And he fastened it with nails that it should not be moved
But thou israel art my servant jacob whom I have chosen the seed of abraham my friend
That whom I have taken from the ends of the earth and called thee from the chief man
They're up and said unto thee thou art my servant. I have chosen thee and not cast thee away
Fear thou not brand with thee be not dismayed for I am thy god. I will strengthen thee. Yeah, I will help thee
Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness
behold
All they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded they shall be as nothing
And they that strive with thee shall perish
Thou shalt seek them and shall not find them even them that contended with thee
They that war against thee shall be as nothing and as a thing of not
For I the lord thy god will hold thy right hand saying unto thee fear not I will help thee
Fear not that worm jacob and you men of israel. I will help thee saith the lord
And thy redeemer the holy one of israel behold. I'll make thee a new sharp thirsting instrument having teeth
Thou shall thresh the mountains and beat them small and shall make them as hills as chap
Thou shall fan them and the wind shall carry them away and the whirlwind shall scatter them
And thou shall rejoice in the lord thou shall glory in the holy one of israel
When the poor and needy seek water and there is none and the tongue faileth for thirst I the lord will hear them
I the god of israel will not forsake them
I will open rivers in high places and fountains in the midst of the valleys
I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water
I will plant in the wilderness the cedar shitty tree the myrtle and the oil tree
And I will set in the desert the fir tree and the pine and the bog street together
That they may see and know and consider and understand together that the hand of the lord hath done this
And the holy one of israel hath created it
Produce your cause saith the lord bring forth your strong fees and say the king of jacob
Let them bring them forth and show us what shall happen
Let them show the former things that they be that we may consider them and know the latter end of them
Declare us things for to come
Show the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that you are gods. Yea
Do good or do evil that we may be dismayed and behold it together
behold
You're of nothing and your work of not and abomination is he that chooseth you
I have raised up one from the north and he shall come from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name
He shall come upon princes as upon mortar and as a potter tread the tread of clay
Who had declared from the beginning that we may know and before time that we may see he is righteous
Yea, there is none that showeth. Yea, there is none that declareth. Yea, there is none that heareth your words
The first shall say to zion behold behold them
And I will give to jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings for I beheld and there was no man even among them
And there was no counselor that when I asked of them could answer a word behold
They are all vanity their works are nothing their molten images are wind and confusion. Let's pray
Father god, we thank you dear lord for the king james bible. We thank you for our church dear lord
We thank you for our pastor
Please bless him tonight as he preaches your word in jesus. May we pray. Amen
Amen, okay. We're in chapter 41 of the book of isaiah
And let me just give you a little bit of review from last week in chapter 40
We began the section of the book of isaiah that deals primarily with comfort consolation
The first two sections chapters 1 to 35 really focus on condemnation
There's a lot of preaching against the uh nations a lot of judgment against the nations
And then there's an interlude between chapter 36 and 39
Where the focus is on king hezekiah and the confiscation of the land how babylon is going to take them over
And of course we see that there but now from chapters 40 all the way till the end of the book of isaiah
We have a lot of preaching on consolation a lot of encouragement a lot of comfort not to say that there's no judgment
But the majority of the content in these particular passages
Are positive they're they're more so about consoling god's people giving them hope and encouragement now tonight in chapter 41
We're going to look at three things. We're going to see that god is addressing the islands
He's going to encourage israel and then he's going to confront the idols of these particular
Islands now the major thing that's being uh addressed here is really when it comes to that consolation that comfort
Is the fact that god is consoling his people about his omniscience
And his omnipotence knowing full well that god is almighty. He's powerful. He's capable
He knows all things. He knows the beginning from the end that should offer us some consolation
You know in a world where a lot of things are uncertain. We don't know what's going to happen
You know our might is limited our power is limited our resources are limited our knowledge of future events whether personally
Or worldwide is limited. It's not limited to god. God knows all things and so that should create a sense of comfort within us
That because he's our god because we are his people and his servants we can rest
assured that god
Will take care of us through uncertain times. And so this is what this is. Uh, this chapter is going to address here
first and foremost, let's look at the
addressing of the islands
And we're going to look at the summons to the nations for trial. Look here the lord takes on the role
Of a judge that is cross examining the nations and issuing a sentence against them
So a lot of the wording that we see in the first couple chapters
It's like god sitting on the throne judging the nations and basically causing them to come forth
He's going to essentially accuse them, but he's also going to give them room to defend themselves to see if they can
You know essentially be vindicated of their actions and of course
the major
Accusation is the fact that they're idolatrous. Okay, so he issues this declaration against them
He allows them to defend themselves and then ultimately he begins to judge them verse one says keep silence before mule islands
And let the people renew their strength let them come near
Then let them speak let us come near together to judgment. So the idea here is that even if the nations
Were given the opportunity so to speak to defend themselves
It'd be in vain since all of sin comes short of the glory of god
So he's basically calling out to these islands these nations and he's saying hey keep silence. I'm going to declare unto you
And then he's it says there then let them speak referring to the fact that they have a chance to defend themselves
And then a judgment is going to pursue thereafter
And we're going to see of course that the nations fall short of the glory of god and not just nations, but obviously individuals, right?
Whenever a person tries to vindicate themselves before god someone who's not saved someone tries to
Say well, you know, we should be allowed into heaven
I will go to heaven because of my good deeds because i've repented of my sin at the end of the day
That person is going to be found in the balances wanting right? They're going to fall short of the glory of god
There's none that do with good. No, not one and in fact the bible says in romans 3 19
Now we know that what things so ever the law saith it's safe to them who are under the law
That every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before god
And what's interesting about this?
Is that a lot of people out there who claim to be christians will often claim that they're saved because they keep the law, right?
That they're a good person and they may even say well, we don't believe that you're saved by keeping the law
We just believe that you have to repent of sin to be saved, but that's literally saying the exact same thing
Because the bible says that sin
Is the transgression of the law
Therefore repenting of sin by nature literally means that you're keeping the law because when you keep the law
You don't sin you don't commit those things that god tells you not to do
So thereby if someone says that they're repenting of their sins for salvation
That basically means that's translated to their they believe that the keeping of the law can justify them before god
But the bible is very clear that the laws are schoolmaster to bring us unto christ not because it can provide
Salvation through christ, but it's supposed to show us our condition before a holy god
It's supposed to show us that we are guilty before him and that we cannot save ourselves. Okay?
And make no mistake about it, you know when people stand before god
They will probably say something to this effect that they kept the law. They've done good. We have the example of matthew chapter seven
Where the man says, you know have not I prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils
And in thy name have done many wonderful works
But then the lord is going to profess unto them depart from me that work iniquity. I never knew you
Why because the one thing that person did not say is have not I believed on the lord jesus christ to be saved
He's listening his works his you know, the the things that he's accomplished the things that he's done in the name of christ
And this is a common theme with people who think they're christians. And in fact, you know this last tuesday we're out soul winning
And I was out with uh brother hernandez
And we knock on the door and and he gets the witness to this person gets the girl saved
Praise god, and then it's my turn. So then, you know, I knock on the door and this lady comes out
and um, you know, she's very bubbly and you know, just kind of happy and she's just like oh i'm a christian, you know, and
And i'm like, okay great. You know, what do you have to do to be saved and
You probably experience this where it's like they give a right answer, but then they just keep answering
You guys know what i'm talking about?
It's like they give you the right answer and you're just like yes, and then they're like and
I'm, just like no
You know, they're just like oh you have to believe on jesus christ to be saved and you have to repent of your sins
right
and you know, i'm just like
Oh man, it's just that my countenance drops after that
That's what this lady said. She's like, you know, you have to repent of your sins to be saved
And you know
I try not to be rude at the door, you know, I don't like to get into arguments with people and and you know
Rebuke people I want to approach them with meekness and with fear
And so as kindly as I could I was just basically telling her well, you know
The bible actually doesn't say you have to repent of your sins to be saved. It's only exclusively by believing on jesus christ
And she's like, oh, yeah, it's not by works
But you do have to repent of your sins, you know
And I said you would you consider keeping god's commandments as works and she says yes
I was like well since
Sin is the transgression of the law and you're saying you have to repent of your sins to be saved
You're basically saying you have to keep god's law to be saved. She goes no, no, no, we're saying the same thing
We're saying the same thing
And I was like, you know, we're we're not saying the same thing actually, you know
and you know
She's just like you do you definitely have to repent of your sins because you know, people are super wicked out there
They're very sinful and I think it's just wrong to say you just have to believe on jesus christ to be saved
You have to tell them they have to repent of their sins because if not sin is not being preached against
And I said I do believe you have to preach against sin, but not in the context of salvation, right?
And she's like no, I think you do
I think you're doing people a disservice if you're not saying you have to repent
If you don't say you have to repent of your sins to be saved in conjunction with believing on jesus christ
So after a while, you know, i'm just trying to give her some verses and i'm quoting verses to her
And i'm explaining to her that repentance of sin is not necessary for salvation. It's not a phrase in the bible
It's it's synonymous with works
Can't be saved by it and then she's like everyone in the bible preached repentance of sin for salvation
Jesus preached that john the baptist preached it paul preached it
And then I quoted every single one of them
right
And I was like actually they did not say you have to repent of sins to be saved. This is what they said
You know, I quoted john 336
various scriptures romans four five
You know, just just give her every example of what she said
That's what this person says in order to be saved. You have to repent of your sins
And she's just not she's just trying to you know, justify herself before the lord
You know and then you know after a while, you know, she became argumentative
And at the end she says you know what you're really just wasting your time because there's people out there
who are lost
And they need the message more than I do because i'm saved
And we're saying the same thing
And so there's people out there that are lost and I just kindly told I said I know that's why i'm here because you're one
of them
You know and I and I wasn't trying to be rude I was being I was trying to be as genuine as possible
And I just said you're one of them. That's why i'm why do you think i'm spending all this time trying to explain this to you
And she's just her jaw dropped and she was just felt super disrespected
I'm, not sure why you know
And then she's like I can't believe you just said that to me
And I said i'm saying it out of love because i'm just trying to show you what the bible says because you know
You think that you're saved but you're not
And this is the reason why
And she's just like I just can't believe I can't and i'm thinking to myself. I know you can't believe
You just can't believe
And then you know and it by the way she had
She said that she went to calvary chapel. Okay, and here's the problem with calvary chapel
Some sometimes you run into calvary chapel people and they're saved
Most of the time it's like the old heads that are saved who got saved at a baptist church though
She was not an old head
And so it's like a mixed bag there where you find people who are saved but then you find people are just not saved
And so, you know, she was really offended
And she started like rebuking me and I said, all right
Well, i'm out of here, but at least you know that a prophet was among you, you know
A prophet has been among you and she looked and she said what?
You know that bible verse is just completely foreign to her. She's probably never heard that verse in her life, you know
And I said at least you at least you know the truth at least you know what i'm you know
What the bible says about this and I walked away and I just thought to myself, you know
So many people out there who are literally just literally trying to justify themselves before god
Based upon their works or how how well they're able to keep god's commandments
But but at the end of the day if I were to take that person through every single commandment every single law
Every single statement in the bible that commands this person to do something, you know at the end of the day
She would she wouldn't be able to check any of them off
Because we've broken all of god's commandments
You know whosoever keepeth the whole law yet offended one point is guilty of all
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law
And so in like manner all these nations
They can come up with whatever defense they can why they can be saved and why they deserve god
Why they merit god's grace and why they merit salvation but at the end of the day the world will become guilty before god
Why because at the end of the day all nations shall be turned into hell and all nations that forget god, right?
The bible says in romans 3 also in verse 4. It says god forbid yet. Let god be true
But every man a liar as it is written that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings and mightest overcome
When thou are judged
So he calls the islands to come before him
And he says renew your strength. In other words, it's like when he's talking to joe and he says girl if thy loins like a man
You're going to stand before the judge. So renew your strength come near
Then let them speak, you know make your case and then we're going to come together for judgment. Okay, look at verse two
We're going to see that he gives a prophecy
Of cyrus king of persia verse two says who raised up the righteous man from the east
Called him to his foot gave the nations before him and made him rule over kings
He gave them as the dust of his sword
And as driven stubble to his bow
He pursued them and passed safely even by the way that he had got not gone with his feet
So he switches to this kind of these these questions that he gives the islands and the nations
And he's basically saying, you know, who's the one who raised up?
Cyrus king of persia, which is who is he referring to that's who he's referring to here
And what is this? This is a declaration
Of his omnipotence
Because cyrus king of persia was a very powerful king who ended up destroying the babylonian empire, right?
He destroyed the babylonian empire
Ultimately, he took over after them as a world superpower
and then he basically
You know sanctioned for the jews to return back to their land and sanction the reconstruction of the temple once again
I mean he was greatly used of god and we would look at someone like cyrus and say that was a powerful man
But hold on a second who's more powerful him or the man who sent him?
It's obviously god, right? This is why he's asking who you think cyrus is powerful
Well who raised up the righteous man from the east who's the one who moved his heart?
To accomplish all these things to take over the babylonians to destroy them to save you to be the anointed
He's declaring his own omnipotence by saying i'm the one who gave you who brought cyrus king of persia
This is referring to one of the most notable kings
Not just in the bible just in history period you know cyrus the great
Was greatly used of god to decimate the babylonian empire and did a lot of great exploits
But what's interesting about this is the fact that you know cyrus is being prophesied here in isaiah 41 and then we'll see him also
named in isaiah 45
At least a century before he's born
So he's very notable king because of the fact of of his exploits
But also because of the fact that he's literally named by god at least a century before now you can think to yourself
Well, wouldn't that be a self-fulfilling prophecy though, you know someone in the future can say oh, you know
They read this prophecy and they want to fulfill it and you know, just kind of take advantage of that
Well, you know someone can rise up a hundred years later
And claim to be cyrus king of persia, but who's actually going to be able to do
What cyrus the great actually did?
Right unless god allowed that person to do it because he was he did a lot of great exploits
Let me read to you go to go to isaiah chapter 45
Isaiah 45 just a couple pages to the right there
isaiah 45 verse number one
Says thus saith the lord to his anointed
By the way, this is why I believe that cyrus was actually saved
He's a saved man, you know, sometimes there's debate whether Nebuchadnezzar was saved or not
I believe he was saved but I don't think there's any doubt in my mind
That cyrus the great was actually saved call them his the anointed meaning that he's like the savior
of the jewish people
Of those of judah like a physical savior because he's he's essentially delivering them from the hand of the babylonians
Whose right hand I have holden
To subdue nations before him and I will loose the loins of kings to open before him the two leaved gates
And the gate shall not be shut. I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight
I will break in pieces the gates of brass and cut in center the bars of iron
Go back to chapter 41 if you would chapter 41
So the righteous man of the east was great
You know cyrus the great was great
But even greater obviously was the person that raised him up to do so
And the reason this is a declaration of god's omnipotence
Is because it really shows that god is able to raise one up one leader up and abase another right? He's able to essentially
dictate
the
You know the the the agenda of the world to a certain degree he's able to move hearts
Against people or for people he's able to raise up leaders raise up deliverers
We see that over and over again in the book of judges where he will raise up a deliverer
To essentially rescue and save god's people from the oppressor the bible tells us in daniel 2 21
And he changed the times and the seasons he removeth kings and seteth up kings
He giveth wisdom unto the wise and knowledge to them that no understanding psalm 75
And verse 6 says for promotion
Cometh neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south
But god is the judge. He put it down one and set it up
Another and I believe this is referring to the fact that you know, whatever king
magistrate president
Prime minister exists god allowed that person to have that position for a particular purpose and even trump
Yes, you know trump though, you know, uh, there might be some
Something happening in the background with the with the rules of the darkness of this world
At the end of the day, they need to get permission from god
To set up that person, right?
And you know, obviously to what degree and to what extent for what purpose we don't know exactly
You know, the the prime minister of canada
Is uh resigning right and hallelujah for that
You know and then, you know president trump is or who's about to be president i'll just call him president trump
You know, he he's like, you know, maybe we should integrate, you know, canada into america, you know
But but no, it's not I don't think that's a good idea because there's a bunch of liberals over there, you know
and so
It'll just but at the end of the day, you know
You look at all these world leaders that are being taken down others that are taking a position of leadership
Becoming president no longer becoming president, you know, obviously there's forces behind the scenes who are orchestrating a lot of this
But at the end of the day, it's not without god's allowing right? It's not without god's permission
It's not like god's like well, you know, they're just kind of doing their own thing and you know
I'm not involved in it whatsoever
God is obviously involved to a certain degree where he's allowing those things to take place and if he wanted to he could allow
Come on to be the president right if he if he had wanted to if he'd wanted to he would allow
Trudeau to remain the prime minister in canada for another whatever years, you know
If that's his will if that's what he wanted for a specific purpose, he could have done that
Because according to the bible he has the power to do so and uh, look at verse four
He says who hath wrought wrought means
To work is the past tense of work
Who hath wrought and done it calling the generations from the beginning?
I the lord the first and with the last I am he
So we saw the declaration of his omnipotence
By raising up a strong leader
But we also see here a declaration of his omniscience
Why because it says here that he calls the generations?
from the beginning
I the lord the first with the last
And the lord is the only one who is omniscient and capable of calling the generations from the beginning, you know
He knows all things. He has knowledge of everything. He can see the hearts of man
He knows what's going to happen to our nation. He knows your end. He knows the decisions that we're going to make
And so in light of that we as god's people should rest assured that everything was going to be okay
You know the bible says I know the thoughts that I think of you
Thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end and obviously that's a promise given to israel or judah
But it's a promise that we can inherit as well, right because he knows our end as well
All things work together for good to those who love god to them who are called according to his purpose
And so we should rest in the fact that god is an omniscient god who calls the generations from the beginning
The bible also says in isaiah 46 verse 9
Remember the former things of old for I am god and there is none else. I am god and there is none like me
Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done saying my counsel shall stand
And I want you to notice this and I will do all my pleasure
It's very powerful statement here showing us that you know at the end of the day things can seem out of control in your personal
Life it can seem out of control in this world
Things can be going awry in our nation or in your community. You think about these fires that have been taking place
And people are just kind of losing their minds they're like, oh man so many houses have burned down
So many areas have burned down what's going to happen? Well, first of all god allowed those fires to take place
You know, I don't I don't believe someone just brother adam was telling me that people are like spreading these
There's always some conspiracy out there right where some blue beam is being shot down and you know
That's where the fire comes from the government sending something from space to create these fires
Just stupid nonsense, right?
But but here's the thing is that you know
Who cares how the fire started?
You know who brought the winds?
To spread those fires fires are happening all the time, by the way
Always happening and you know to have a hundred mile an hour winds to spread those fires. Obviously that comes from god
You never want to take god out of the equation
When there are catastrophic catastrophic events such as fires right earthquakes fires
Floods, these are all the lord's doing
God is allowing these things to happen
And you know sometimes when they happen I try to think of events that might have taken place that have provoked the lord
In doing so but you know at the end of the day we kind of don't even need to do that
Because the nation is just wicked. It's just always a good time to like judge
California it's always a good time to judge america
It's just always a good time. Sometimes it doesn't even need to be provoked by a specific event
Although i'm sure something probably happened
At the end of the day god doesn't need a reason because we already gave him a ton of reasons as a nation
A ton of reasons that's california why it deserves to be burned then in fact, you know, god burns california every single year
every year
California literally burns every single year now
given
You know not in los angeles or pacific palisades, you know the way it is now
But you know, it's that's still in california though
You know and don't buy into like all of the ai images too, by the way
Where people like oh man hollywood's burning down even the hollywood sign is burning down. That's ai generated
The fire is not even there
And people are just like, oh, yeah, I saw the hollywood sign burning that for sure, you know, god's doing that
Well, god is burning stuff, but the hollywood sign is not on fire though. Okay, the fire is actually away from that area
But the point that i'm making here is that you know the lord
As as chaotic as it is right now, you know, god knows the end from the beginning
And so we shouldn't worry and fret
And be full of care when we have things like that happen in our state or in our nation
And I feel like as a christian and as a pastor i'm just constantly trying to help people to not freak out
You know because we have so much access to the news to social media. There's all kinds of fake news out there
There's all kinds of nonsense being promoted and there's even christians out there who just love being negative about everything
Just doom and gloom about everything and it's just like at the end of the day, you know, if you're saved
You're walking with god you're reading the bible you're winning souls to christ you're serving the lord you have nothing to worry about
Why because he calls the generations from the beginning god knows the beginning from the end
And if we're serving god, then we all will experience that expected end just as that expected beginning. We're going to be safe
Everything's going to be okay
He said what if what if the fires come here? Well, then they let them come
You know, we can be in goshen still
If god allows our houses to burn down and our resources to burn down
That just means he's going to give us other houses under the resources because god takes care of his people
You know here he's obviously calling the birth of the anointed king
By name a century before it happens. He's kind of you know, letting us know that he knows all information
There's nothing that can be hidden from him
He knows how things are going to turn out the bible says in ecclesiastes 3 11 he hath made everything beautiful in his time
Also, he hath set the world in their heart so that man so that no man can find out the work that god maketh from
The beginning to the end revelation 1 11
Says this saying I am alpha and omega the first and the last
And what thou seest right in a book and sent it into the seven churches which are in asia
You know god has a panoramic view
Of all of history. He has a panoramic view of your life. He has a panoramic view of the lifespan of our church
And so, you know instead of being full of care and worrying what's going to happen and what's going to what's going to be the result
Of this well if you want to come out winning just keep serving god
Keep walking with the lord
And you know, there's such a spike in anxiety and such a spike in panic attacks and all these things
But really it's just people
Just doing it to themselves
Right what the information overload and allowing themselves to view all this information
Rather than just putting your face in the scripture get your face out of facebook
And put your face in this book. Amen
Your face needs to be in this book more than it's on facebook
You know get the get the instant word more than the instagram
You know, what's another one? What's another social media platform?
Tik tok
I don't have one for that one. That's a hard one actually
You know, uh
Tik tok tik tok. No, I don't got anything, you know spend more time. Oh x you know instead of you know
I don't have anything for that one either. Sorry
You know instead of spending so much time on social media getting your news from there and just inducing your anxiety
Your depression your worry because you know the rulers of the darkness of this world are constantly doing wicked stuff
And you know if you're constantly looking for that and constantly listening to that
Of course, you're going to be anxious you're going to be worried and you're just like well
I have to know about these things. No, you have to know what the will of the lord is
You know
The bible talks about understanding what the will of the lord is
You know see that he walks circumspectly not as fools but as wise the bible says
And so how do we do that by reading the word of god?
You know staying out of the news and you're like well, I have to know what's going on with the fires
Well, if you if you're in it then yes
Please know what's going on, right?
But if it doesn't affect you then, you know
Pray for those who are in the fire pray for those who are experiencing it pray for brother rick, for example
right
And just realize that god knows god knew that this was going to happen in the beginning of 2025
And he knows what's going to happen throughout 2025. He knows all the catastrophic events that are going to take place during this time
And you know, I don't think it's our job and I don't think it's even productive to figure out
What is the nefarious agenda behind the fire zone?
Right, don't you hear a lot of that?
You know, what are the why do they not why did they drain the fire hydrants right before this happened?
You know, why is there no waters? Why is there no water to put out the fire? Why who cares?
It doesn't matter can you change that you're gonna write a letter
What are you gonna do to change that?
nothing
And again, you know, you just gotta be careful with all the news that's out there because a lot of it's just fake news sometimes
You know rest in the fact that god is omniscient he's omnipotent
You know rest in the depths of his of the of the riches of both the wisdom and knowledge of god, right?
The fact that his ways are unsearchable
And his ways are past finding out and so he's declaring unto these nations. Hey, who's like unto me?
Who's who knows the beginning from the end who can just call out?
A king who's going to come and destroy the babylonian empire who can call him out by name a century before he's even born
There's no god. There's no idol. There's no false deity that can do such a thing as the lord look at verse five
Now he says all these things right to the islands
and
You know the result that god wants is for people to be like, oh, yeah
That is true
Man, god is powerful
Wow
Let's believe on the lord. Let's just throw away all these idols
right
Look at verse five the isles saw it and feared
The end of the earth were afraid drew near and came so basically they're like, whoa, and then they start fearing god
They're just like, oh man, this is true. And then they become afraid and you think to yourself. Okay, this is this is good
This is progress. They're starting to recognize, right?
Who's in charge because in light of the terribleness of god the nation should fear
But instead of allowing that fear to move them to reverence god and submit to god
They dig their heels further into idolatry
crazy
verse six
So, you know, they saw it they feared
They were afraid verse six. They helped everyone his neighbor
And everyone said to his brother be of good courage now, why is he saying be of good courage?
Are they saying strengthen yourself in the lord?
God is on our side if we're on his side
What is the message that they're bringing to their neighbor verse seven? So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith?
And he that smoothest with the hammer him that smote the anvil saying it is ready for the soldering
And he fastened it with nails that it should not be moved. What is he talking about idols?
So like they're afraid and they're just like oh we need to make more idols
Yeah, you're still doing great man, we're doing good, you know make another idol we need to pray into the idol
So in spite of the fact that god just declared his omniscience
His his omnipotence the fact that he can just raise a boss king to just destroy the nations
The fact that he knows the beginning from the end
The limitless power that god has access to because he is power the source of power
In light of that they become afraid and they're just like
Hey, man
We need to like make more idols. We need to search into our god still and just kind of dig our heels deeper
And you know worship these false gods
And you think to yourself, you know, really is that what they're doing? Well, isn't that what people do today?
I mean logically speaking you would think that everyone at the pacific palisades at this moment
Would think to themselves god. I need you
Lord save me. I mean that's as close to hell as you're gonna get this side of eternity, right?
But I promise you a ton of people are not going to be seeking after god
I guarantee you the vast majority of the people in those areas
In spite of the fact that they just lost everything i'm not going to cry out to the lord god
Cry out to the lord jesus christ
Maybe not. I guarantee you a lot of them won't even go to church on sunday
Yeah
Why because the sin nature of man is that despite beholding the terribleness of god and his power and his might
Some people just dig their heels even deeper into their idolatry
And to their own beliefs and they reject god and you know what they may say to their neighbor and to the carpenter
They may encourage their neighbor and the people who are who are around them
To just further go into whatever their sin and their rejection of god, but you know what though hand join in hand
The wicked shall not be unpunished
So, yeah, this is going to create a whole lot a whole lot of unity
With the communities where people are joining hand in hand and they're encouraging each other
But how many of them are actually going to encourage each other to actually seek the lord though?
very little
So why are the fires taking place? I'll tell you why
so that
It could wake them up and realize like I have nothing but god
You know god just removes everything in order for that person that individual to actually seek after the lord their god
You know, and here's the thing is is if those were those people were actually seeking god god would send some soul wonders over there
God will help them to see a video
Bring them to a gospel presentation
That is the purpose of the fires
How are you gonna bring god into this don't you know people are hurting out there we don't need religious talk right now
Where was god when all this happened? He was right there in the midst of it
He did it
What do you mean? Where was he?
He's right there
He's doing it to you
He's the one to burn it down
Where was god and all this when I lost all these things he's the one who made you lose it
So you can see god
be saved
And not experience an eternal fire in hell
But you know despite the evident power of god the idolatrous nations still seek their false deities
You know, they help their they'll help their idolatrous neighbor and encourage each other in an evil matter
And i'm telling you, you know, the pacific palisades is just you know filled with people. I promise you that are probably not going to see god
Even after all this is said and done
Why because that's the nature of man?
That when people just waste trials
You know you would think that after god sending fire after fire after fire after fire
Every single year on california that some people would just wake up
And say you know what?
It's time to seek the lord. It's time to stir myself up to seek god
Lest some evil should fall upon me lest some evil should come upon
You know my resources and my house and my things
But you know what? This is this is what people do
In spite of all that they still reject it
They still reject the lord and continue in their vices continue in their idolatrous worship
He goes on to say in verse eight
We're going to look at now he switches gears here
Uh, and and then begins to encourage israel. So throughout these verses we're going to look at right now
We find a series of assurances and promises that
Though directed towards the old testament israel are also applicable to us as new new testament christians
And so god gives assurance to his people that they are his servants. He says in verse eight, but thou israel aren't my servant
Jacob whom I have chosen the seed of abraham my friend
Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth and called thee
From the chief men thereof and said unto thee there are my servant. I have chosen thee and have not cast thee
Away, so obviously he's referring to israel here and this is pre new testament, right? This is still old testament
So they were not cast away. They're still his people. They're they're part of that old covenant
And the reality is this is the way we can apply this in the new testament is that as new testament christians
We are the servants of the lord
and he says there
in verse nine
Towards the latter he says thou are my servant. I have chosen thee and have not cast thee away
Well in like manner we as god's people have been chosen, right?
He goes I have chosen thee he tells him in john chapter 15 that you should go and bring forth fruit
And that your fruit should remain
so the principle that we can learn here is that you know, if we don't want to be destroyed along with
This nation or whatever evil befalls the nation or community. We need to keep being the servants of the lord
We need to serve a purpose
right
And how do we serve that purpose in the new testament?
Soul winning serving one another preaching the gospel
Being a useful servant of the lord doing god's will serving the purpose here in this earth. Look at verse 10
We see god's promise that he will protect them as well. He says fear thou not
For I am with thee be not dismayed for I am thy god
I will strengthen thee. Yea, I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness
Behold all they that were incensed
Incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded
They shall be as nothing and they that strive with thee shall perish
Thou shall seek them shall not find them even them that contended with thee
They that war against thee shall be as nothing and as a thing of not for I the lord thy god will
Will hold thy right hand saying unto thee fear not I will help thee so obviously he's literally referring to the babylonian nation
Who are against the israelites the asyrian nations who are against them and he's telling them, you know, they're going to be ashamed
They're going to be confounded everyone who is against you. They're going to eat crow
They're going to be destroyed. I'm going to defend you now
Obviously we don't necessarily have a nation as an enemy
The way the israelites and the way judah did but you know, we do have enemies though, right?
Maybe those enemies have come from within maybe it's your own family members
Maybe there were parents maybe there were you know, your sons daughters neighbors
Someone who has put a considerable effort into fighting you
And discourage you and to keep you from doing god's will right? Maybe it's a spouse
Maybe it's someone who's close to you. Maybe someone is a far off
But the truth is if you've been a christian for any length of time you have gotten at least one enemy
If you've done things, right?
Right. Yea, all that will live godly in christ. Jesus shall suffer persecution and all of us to a certain degree, you know
We've accumulated some enemies and obviously some of these enemies
We should pray for them right we should love our enemies and pray for them
But there are certain enemies that are the enemies of the lord
And
To them the lord says that they shall be as nothing
Okay. In other words god is saying i'm going to vindicate you
I'm going to protect you from them to the point where even if you were to look for your enemies
You're not going to be able to find them because he's going to scatter them. Okay
And so this is his promise to protect his people look at verse 14. It says fear not thou warm jacob
And ye men of israel I will help thee sayeth the lord and thy redeemer the holy one of israel behold
I will make thee I like what he says here a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth
Thou shall thresh the mountains and beat them small and shall make the hills as chaff. What is he saying here?
He's basically telling israel, you know, you're going to serve a purpose in the future
To actually execute justice upon the nations upon the mountains
But the way we can apply this
To us as new test new testament christians is that we ourselves also
Can be as a sharp threshing instrument. It's an agricultural instrument, right?
This separates the wheat from the chaff
And as we serve god, obviously in the new testament, we're not fighting battles with other nations
We're not involved in conquest
You know overcoming other nations and trying to subject them or whatever
You know the the battle of the new testament is a spiritual battle
And it's a battle for the souls of men
right
And so
We want to be that sharp threshing instrument
That is able to separate the wheat from the chaff how so, you know
We make a distinction between that which is evil and that which is good through the preaching of god's word, right?
You know, I i'm just thinking of that lady that I preached through on on tuesday
And she's just like I can't say people aren't saved
You know, i'm just saying it's a mystery
And I thought I said you said you're saved. I said
So are you saying salvation is a mystery?
And she she kind of caught her so she's like well i'm just saying
That you know, I just i'm not gonna say people are not saved. I can't really say that and i'm thinking to myself I can say that
Because i'm like a sharp threshing instrument
That separates the wheat from the chaff
You know by thy words thou shalt be justified by thy words thou shalt be condemned
Various instances in the new testament where the apostle paul for example says i'm afraid of you
Lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain meaning. I don't think you're saved
What is he doing he's separating the wheat from the chaff basically saying, you know
You're probably not saved because of what you're saying this person is saved
So, you know as as christians, you know, we can't be
These types of christians that churches are producing nowadays or they're just afraid to offend people
They're afraid to say that people aren't saved
They're afraid to say oh man, you know, that's kind of offensive. That's kind of personal. I can't really say that for sure
I know that you know, he believes in god, but you know, well just ask him when he believes about salvation
And if he gives an answer
That's not according to the biblical salvation. He's not saved
How can you say that i'll tell you how because i'm a sharp threshing instrument
That separates the wheat from the chaff
Okay
And so we do that through soul winning
I mean literally when we're out there soul winning. We're like a sharp threshing instrument going door to door
Making a distinction of who's saved and who's not
You know, there's times i'm not gonna door and i'm i'm like that sharp threshing instrument and i'm like oh this person's saved
This is wheat
What do you have to do to be saved and they're like, you know
They may give like a watered down answer like, uh, accept jesus into my heart
I did that a couple years ago and it's just like wow. I wouldn't necessarily word it like that
But you know, so would you say you have to do anything else to be saved?
They're like, nope, just accept jesus christ as your personal lord and savior. Can you ever lose your salvation?
Nope, you can't lose your salvation. It's not by repenting of your sin. Nope. That's a work. Okay, this is wheat
Separate the wheat go to the next door find myself a chaff
Try to convert them to be in a wheat
That's literally what we're doing when we're out preaching the gospel, right?
We're a sharp threshing instrument going door to door seeing who's saved seeing who's not it's not like well
You know, i'm going to door to door. I can't really judge though
Why are you out there then why are you we're literally going out there to judge people whether they're saved or not
I don't think that's my place. Yeah, because you're not a sharp threshing instrument
That's why it's not your place you don't know what you're doing
I just don't think it's right and what what's so hypocritical about what this lady was saying too, by the way
Is that?
In one instance, she's saying I can't judge people and say that they're not saved
But in the other instance, she's saying if you don't repent of your sins, you're not saved
So it's like so which one is it?
But the truth is is that she just wasn't saved
She's a chap who thinks she's wheat
You know
And so we as the uh christians in the new testament were to operate as that sharp threshing instrument and soul winning
You know, we also do it through just preaching to distinguish the truth from the lie and fake christians from real christians
Just because someone says that they're a christian doesn't mean that they're wheat
Because someone says that they're saved doesn't mean that they're saved now
I would hope that if a person says i'm saved, you know when I knock on the door and someone says i'm saved
I hope 100 that that's true
I'm not like
Yeah, i'm about to find out right now. It's probably not even safe in my mind. I'm like, oh cool. This person's possibly saved
And then I have to ask them just to make sure right
And then it's just like, you know, no, you know, what do you have to do to be safe?
Well, you don't have to talk to me about that I serve in my church
I'm part of the worship team in my church
You know i'm there all the time
You know i'm at saddleback i've been there for years, you know, i've done many wonderful works i've cast out devils in his name
You know, I prophesied in his name done many wonderful works, you know, and i'm just like, okay, we got a chaff here
He's a fake christian
You know how offensive that would be if you actually told people in those churches that they're just not saved
Super offensive why because they hate the sharp threshing instruments
They rather just mix the wheat with the tares and just keep them together
Right and obviously some wheat do grow
with the tares
in this world
But when it comes to a church though
You know, we're constantly putting that sharp threshing instrument of the preaching of god's word to kind of sift through the church, right?
We're constantly dragging it through the aisles talking about salvation
Talking about the specifics of believing on the lord jesus christ and calling upon the name of the lord
Why because we want to make sure that everyone's wheat here
And obviously as the church continues to grow you're going to have chaff. I mean, you know, we have chaff in our church
Let me just be honest with you just people who just come to church and they're not even saved, you know
That's a fact that just as the church grows. That's what happens
And you're like, well, what are you doing about it? Well, i'm just bringing that threshing instrument
I'm, just constantly talking about the gospel talking about you know, and not every sermon's about the gospel, but you know, I plug it in
Through sermons plug in salvation by grace through faith. It's calling upon the name of the lord believe on the lord. Jesus christ
You know talking about heaven talking about eternal life talking about hell just constantly bringing that threshing instrument so that this person knows
You know when they walk out that door, I know what that pastor believes about salvation
So
But just in truth in general
You know, we want to make sure that we make a distinction between false doctrine and god's doctrine
Heresy, we never want to take this middle line with the fundamentals of the faith and just be like well who am I to judge?
You know
Who am I to judge about the deity of jesus christ the humanity of jesus christ?
You know who am I to judge about the trinity, you know, some people explain it differently or something like that
You know, you're not a sharp threshing instrument. You're pretty dull there
And so that's important look at verse 17
Now we're going to see god's provision for their needs he says when the poor and needy seek water
And there is none and their tongue faileth for thirst. I the lord will hear them
I the god of israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places and fountains in the midst of the valleys
I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water. What is he basically saying here?
He's saying hey, you know, you're going to be a threshing instrument. You're going to be my servant
And what is the result of serving god god provides for you?
One of the greatest insurances that you will ever have as a christian
for your health for your resources
For you know the bills to be paid for you to remain in good health is keep serving god
And obviously there's other list of things like, you know, just don't drink alcohol
You know, I want to preach a sermon called living longer
And how what the bible says how we can live longer and obviously there's various things that we can do
But one of the things that will just keep you here as a servant of the lord. Just keep serving god
And one of the best things to do to keep to have god provide for your needs is keep serving him, right?
Seeking the kingdom of god his righteousness putting the things of god first putting church first putting reading your bible first
putting souls first
Doing those things will cause god to provide for your needs, especially in times of trouble
We're almost done here. Look at verse 21
Now he switches gears into confronting the idols
Here the lord almost in a mocking way
Begins to tempt the false gods of the land and challenges them to match his power
And when you kind of read this, it's kind of reminiscent of elijah, you know mocking the prophets of bale and first king chapter 18
And he's like, you know go call bale. Maybe he's in a journey
Maybe he's he's sleeping. He needs someone to wake him up
It's kind of mocking him. This is kind of what the lord does with the idols of these islands in verse 21
He wants evidence of their power says produce your cause sayeth the lord
Bring forth your strong reasons sayeth the king of jacob
So after he's done just kind of showing his power his omnipotence his omniscience
His capabilities how he's able to provide how is he?
He's going to be able to you know deliver jacob how he's going to raise up king cyrus and all these things that he's doing
Now he turns to the idols
And he says all right, let's see what you can do
Now, let's see what you got
Bring your strong reason say the king of jacob produce your cause
You know, he's basically spent the majority of the chapter flexing on these idols in these nations
Who are producing these idols, right?
And then he turns to him. He's like, all right. Now, what can you guys do?
I love that
I can prophesy of a king that's not even born yet who's going to accomplish all these things. He's going to be my servant
What do you got?
lame
Verse 22, so he wants evidence of their power, but he also wants evidence of their omniscience verse 22
Let them bring them forth
And show us what shall happen
Let them show the former things
What they be?
That we may consider them and know the latter end of them or declare us things for for to come so he's like
Aside from the power he's like
All right, bring forth these idols and let's see what you can tell me of the past
You know talk about the former things, you know, because god can speak of creation
He was there
Right, he can speak of the creation period he can speak of former things. He's like you tell me of the former things
So we can consider it tell me of the latter end or just declare to us things for to come in other words
Okay, then if you can't tell me what happened in the past go ahead and prophesy the future for me
What is he asking for? He wants evidence of the omniscience of these idols?
Like do you know more than me?
right
evidence of their power evidence of their omniscience
He also wants evidence of their omnipotence verse 23 show the things that are to come here after
That we may know that ye are gods. I like that
Now, let's see what happens just to show show me that you're a god if you're able to do these
But look what he says yay
Do good
or do evil
That we may be dismayed and beholded together
He's like do some good deed or do a bad do something
Get something done
So that we can be dismayed
Right and we could behold everyone could just behold it together. I mean he's calling him out hard
Because here's the thing god can do evil and he can do good right not evil as in sinful
But he can bring the evil day upon people
And in fact the bible says in isaiah 45 verse 7 I form the light and create darkness I make peace and create evil
I the lord do all these things
Basically, he's just like when I say i'm gonna do it. I actually do it. Let's see what you guys can do
I mean, this is embarrassing
He's calling him out to like fight and these idols are not gonna fight
And so what does he want he wants he's putting them on trial
He's basically saying, you know, i've declared what I can do. I've shown you what I can do
I'm prophesying of what I will do
Now, let's see what you can do and what is he doing? He's essentially removing the confidence of the people on these idols
He's putting them to shame
right
And finally, we see his verdict on the idols because they're not gonna do anything. They can't do anything, you know
You could go to a catholic church and mock those idols
Mock that idol of jesus it will literally do nothing
You can you know, oh but that's sacrilegious it's not sacrilegious because that's not god
You can mock the virgin mary
That statute you can mock the statute of joseph of jesus and all their idols. They can't do anything
What are they gonna do bleed out of their eyes?
Oh, wow
Oh, man, yeah, you haven't seen this miracle. Well, you mean like the virgin mary on the tortilla. Oh, wow
Oh, wow, you're able to put your face on a tortilla so powerful
What a magnificent capability that you put your image on some mexican ladies tortilla in mexico
So impressive
Oh, wow, you know
Some statute is able to just you know, it's crying
Wow
In india, you know you guys heard of that story where the the statue was like it was it had tears
And then they came and they're just like oh the statues of miracles and then they realized it was bad plumbing
The toilet water was like, you know, they're like drinking out of it. I mean that's god mocking them for their idolatry
They're literally eating their own dung drinking their own piss
But it's just like you go to these catholic idols these icons you can mock and they can pull out whatever miracle they want
It's not impressive
I'm, not impressed with that
Blood out of the eyes, even if that were true, even if that was a legitimate miracle. I'm not impressed
What's so impressive about a statue bleeding out of the eyes or whatever there's nothing impressive about that
My god created the heavens and the earth
Amen
My god sent fires
Yeah, my god sent floods and storms and earthquakes and destroyed nations
Yours bleeds out of the eyes
Look at he says in verse 24 behold ye are of nothing
He's like calling out. He's just like you're nothing
And your work of not an abomination is he that chooseth you so he's like he's like addressing the idols themselves
right
He's like and obviously these idols they can't even speak they can't hear they can't see
So he's like he's addressing the idols, but really what he's doing is addressing the people who believe in the idols
It's like it's like it's like if i'm talking to the idol here
And you know adrian's the one worshiping the idol
He's just listening to all these disses that i'm saying like these people are an abomination who trust in you
That's embarrassing. He's just shaming them is what they're doing. He doesn't worship
So you're nothing your work of not you're an abomination
Verse 25 raised up one from the north and he shall come from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name
He shall come upon princes as upon mortar and as the potter treadeth the clay
Who hath declared from the beginning that we may know and before times that we may say he is righteous
Yay, there is none that showeth. Yay. There is none that declares. Yay. There is none that heareth your words
So no one's reading your bible
No one's listening. No one's reading your scriptures
The first shall say to zion behold behold them and I will give to jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings
For I beheld and there was no man
Even among them and there was no counselor that when I asked of them could answer a word
Basically, what is he saying? You know after all this no one's defending themselves anymore
Because it's true
The prophets of bale can just cut themselves and cut themselves and cry out the bell. Nothing happened
The god of israel on the other hand brought fire down from heaven
No one can answer the word
Behold they are all vanity their works are nothing their molten images are wind and confusion
You know, basically the entire chapter is just to show the people who are trusting in idols your idols suck your deities suck
They're trashed or nothing and you're in abomination for worshiping this thing because you have to make it I made you you have to make them
The deity the the god of the bible makes people
These people make their idols make their deities they have to bear them they have to carry them
They have to do things for them and they they're they're incapable of saving they're incapable of speaking
They're incapable of seeing the future calling back the former things they can do no exploits
What are some closing thoughts here closing thoughts the nations often do not consider the power of the lord
You know, they don't consider it
And if and when they do they more often than not become obstinate and refuse the lord anyways
So in spite of the fact that god is powerful
And they see the power of the lord they can be afraid
And even fear god, but they still don't choose the lord. They still choose their idols
And you know, although some christians may not worship literal idols of gold and silver
You know, they sometimes worship other things that they believe
Can deliver them like gold and silver meaning money, right?
And so obviously this isn't applicable to christians worshiping literal idols, but you know, they you know, I covet this is idolatry
according to the bible
And so, you know one thing that we can learn from this
Is that we need to make sure that we are dependent upon the lord
And we need to make sure that we remember the fact that god is omnipotent
That he is omniscient. He's all powerful. He's all knowing and it's obviously easier said than done at certain times
But the but it's still true though
You know and I as a pastor even there's times I have to remind myself like the lord knows everything
He knows the inner recesses of the heart
He knows the beginning from the end and I need to make sure that I am
Confident and i'm satisfied with the fact that god has a panoramic view
Of all the events in my life in the life of my family the life of our church
And you know what because i'm on his side
I know that the end of my story
It's gonna be good
No matter how it looks it's always going to be good because you know, i'm going to continue to be that sharp threshing instrument
I want to continue to serve the lord and that's it. Let's pray father. We thank you so much for your word
And lord help us as your people to rest upon the fact that you are almighty all-powerful
omniscient and omnipotent
And that the idols of the islands lord the idols of the nations are nothing help us never to
Idolize something or depend on something else other than you lord
to meet our needs
Whether that be our our physical needs lord our spiritual needs our mental needs. May we rest upon you and your word
We do pray for those in the fires lord who?
Are the righteous and even those who?
May not be saved lord and maybe this has caused them to be humbled
I pray that you'd work in their hearts lord that they would seek the lord out
And that they would come to the saving knowledge of jesus christ
And if there are righteous people there lord who have suffered loss. I pray that you'd help us to get in touch with them
And that you'd help us to help them lord and may you protect them and guide them and provide for them
And we love you. We thank you pray these things in jesus name. Amen