Good evening, tonight we're in Isaiah chapter 61 and the Bible reads
Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek.
He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn,
to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning,
the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
that they might be called trees of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.
They shall build the old wastes,
they shall raise up the former desolations,
they shall repair the waste cities,
the desolations of many generations.
And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks,
and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen
and your vine dressers.
Be shall be named the priests of the Lord men shall call you the ministers of our God
You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles and in their glory shall you boast yourselves for your shame?
You shall have double for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion therefore in their land
They shall possess the double everlasting joy shall be unto them for I the Lord love judgment
I hate robbery for burnt offering and I will direct their work in truth and I will make an everlasting covenant with them
and their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offering among the people,
all that seed them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God,
for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself
with her jewels."
For as the earth bringeth forth her bud and as the garden causeeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth
So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations
Let's pray do Lord God just thank you for this opportunity that we have tonight to hear the preaching of a word Lord
Thank you for the book of Isaiah and thank you for pastor
Please bless him right down fill him with the Holy Spirit as he preaches your word unto us Lord and bless this service
We pray this all in Jesus name. Amen
Alright, amen. We are in Isaiah 61 and this chapter is very significant because of the fact of its fulfillment in the New Testament in Luke chapter number four.
And of course we'll go there in just a bit, but this is of course a prophecy of Jesus Christ and his ministry, his mission, so to speak, when he came to this earth and we see that it's fulfilled in Luke chapter four.
Let's read verse number one here. It says, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me.
because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek,
he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." So let's talk a little bit about
what it means to be anointed. Why is it saying here that God has anointed the Lord Jesus Christ?
Of course, this first portion here is referring to the Savior's anointing and anointed, another word
Christ okay someone who's selected someone who is a Messiah and or the
Christ and in fact Messiah is the Hebrew word whereas Christ is the Greek word
for anointed so when we talk about Jesus Christ Christ is not his last name
right it's referring to the fact that Jesus is the anointed one he is the
elect one he is the Messiah and in the Old Testament when Kings
or priests were selected for a specific service,
they were actually physically anointed with oil.
And in fact, that's the symbolism that we see there.
Anytime a specific king was anointed,
you think of Elisha.
When he went to go anoint, obviously he sent someone to do it, but when he went to go anoint Jihu,
the son of Heneini, or Nimshi, should I say,
they brought a vessel of oil and they poured it over his head
and essentially that signified that he was elected to be the king over Israel.
That was a custom that they had.
in the Old Testament.
Now obviously, there wasn't anything special
about that physical oil.
There wasn't any supernatural elements added to it.
It wasn't necessarily that God's power
was on that physical oil.
It symbolized, it essentially pictured the fact
that God's Holy Spirit was on that man.
God's Holy Spirit was on that person.
And so kings were anointed, priests were anointed,
and although we can't prove for sure
that prophets were physically anointed,
The Bible does refer to Old Testament prophets as being the anointed of the Lord, right?
They're the ones who, God says in the book of Psalms,
touch not mine anointed and do my prophets no harm,
using the prophets and those who are anointed interchangeably there.
And of course, even though they're physically anointed in the Old Testament,
or we can't point to a specific scripture where they were,
we know that the prophets of God were anointed with the Holy Spirit, right?
They were given unction
from on high, to preach the word of God,
to prophesy into nations,
and so that is essentially what that's referring to there.
And again, that oil signifies being filled
with the Holy Spirit in order to be in power
to serve God at a specific capacity.
And,
Now obviously the only difference is you know when it comes to us being anointed and Jesus Christ being the anointed is that he received
The Spirit without measure right? He is fully filled with the Spirit. He is fully anointed
He is the elect one that's who Jesus Christ is
Let me read to you a couple verses here. You don't have to turn them
I don't read a couple verses regarding the anointed one Jesus Christ says in Psalm 2 verse 1
Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing?
the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord
and against his anointed saying let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords
from us. John chapter 1 and verse 39 it says he saith unto them come and see they came and saw
where he dwelt and abode with him that day for it was about the tenth hour one of the two which
He first findeth his own brother Simon and saith unto him,
we have found the Messiah's which is being interpreted the Christ,
showing that Messiah is used interchangeably with the Christ Messiah being the Hebrew,
Christ being the Greek. John chapter 3 and verse 33 says,
he that hath received his testimony has said to his seal that God is true.
For he whom God had sent speak at the words of God, for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
Meaning that Jesus Christ was fully filled with the Holy Spirit of God.
He, you know, God didn't, God the Father didn't limit the Spirit in the Lord Jesus Christ's life.
He was fully filled with the Holy Spirit of God.
John chapter 4 verse 25 says, the woman saith unto him, I know the Messiah's cometh.
which is called Christ.
Obviously, she's speaking both there,
Messiah's being Hebrew, Christ being Greek.
Acts chapter 10 and verse 38 says,
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Ghost and with power.
who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil for God was with them.
So we see here that God the Father anointed Jesus Christ and he says with the Holy Ghosts
which obviously many would associate that with that physical anointing of the oil
of the Old Testament. Last scripture here in Hebrews chapter 1 verse 8 says,
but unto the Son he saith thy throne oh God is for ever and ever a scepter of righteousness
Thou hast love righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore God, even thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows."
And so over and over again, we see Jesus Christ being referred to as the Messiah, as the Christ, as the anointed, these essentially all mean the same thing.
Now again, we too as Christians are anointed with the Holy Spirit, right?
And, in fact, you know, once we get saved, once we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
we are permanently in dwelt with that anointing.
We're permanently in dwelt with the Holy Spirit of God.
The Bible says in Ephesians 1.13, in whom you also trusted, after that you heard the
word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that you believed we were
sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
We are permanently anointed by God through salvation.
The only difference is, of course, is that we obviously need a daily filling of the Holy Spirit.
So even though we're in dwelt, permanently with the Holy Spirit,
because the presence of the flesh is there, therefore we need fresh oil every single day, right?
And so, you know, it's not enough that we are in dwelt by the Holy Spirit for salvation, obviously it's enough.
But when it comes to living out the Christian life, you know
Accomplishing the task that God has elected us for right God has chosen us for
We need to ask for the filling of the Holy Spirit each and every day
And you know, throughout the New Testament,
you see these commands constant regarding the Holy Spirit.
It talks about walking the Spirit.
You should not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
And it talks about, you know,
not grieving the Holy Spirit of God,
to not quench the Holy Spirit of God.
And so all these commandments are there
because of the fact that we are flesh, okay?
And the flesh unfortunately sometimes takes over.
Sometimes we're in the flesh
and what happens when that takes place?
We end up quenching
the Holy Spirit of God and you know the reason it says quench is because you know
we get the idea of fire being quenched that's when we would use that word to
squelch something or to quench a fire is to put a covering over that fire right
well the Holy Spirit can be compared to that fire and in fact Acts chapter 2 is
a great example of that right you know cloven tongues like as a fire when the
Holy Spirit of God comes upon the disciples and so the Holy Spirit within
In other words, the Holy Spirit constantly wants us to obey God,
is constantly ministering to us the Word of God,
but there are instances where we quench the Holy Spirit.
What does that mean?
We essentially put a blanket over the Holy Spirit
where we don't obey what the Holy Spirit says
and that is synonymous with walking in the flesh.
And I can say this week that I was in the flesh,
probably even today, for sure today.
I was in the flesh because I'm a fleshly person. I'm a carnal individual.
I am made of flesh and though I am saved, you know, there are instances in my life
where the old man creeps in and maybe
I have a fleshly thought, I have fleshly words, fleshly
actions and it's at that point that I essentially
quench the spirit of God, right? And we could compare that to
you know, quenching the spirit of God can be compared to
Right because the fire that dwells within us constantly want is pushing us to do right
So an example of this would be you know
You're supposed to read the Bible and you know that you're supposed to read the Bible and the Holy Spirit that that anointing that we have
That fire that we have
Motivates us moves us to read the Bible and then we say now I'm gonna do something else instead
What are we doing? We're quenching the spirit of God at that point, and we're walking in the flesh.
You know, we are motivated or moved by the Holy Spirit that burning inside us to forgive an offender.
And, you know, we have this bitterness or maybe resentment within us and the Holy Spirit brings into our remembrance to be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you.
And, you know, the Holy Spirit motivates you to forgive your husband for being such a jerk, for being mean to you, you know, to forgive your wife because, you know, she's just offensive sometimes.
I don't know, maybe she didn't recognize your gains or she didn't, you know, make you your favorite meal or something like that.
You know, and the Bible says, be not bitter against them.
They fall short of the weaker vessel.
And the Holy Spirit reminds you of these scriptures
and you choose to ignore them and not to forgive your spouse.
What are you doing?
You're quenching the spirit of God
because you are essentially putting a blanket
on the things that you know you're supposed to do
but you choose not to do them, right?
And so quenching the Holy Spirit is essentially synonymous
with walking in the flesh.
Now, here's the thing is that when you start walking
in the flesh, you fulfill the desires of the flesh.
Right and what does the Bible say the works of the flesh are made manifest
Which are these and so at that point once you start quenching the Holy Spirit of God quenching that anointing
What happens then then you begin to grieve the Holy Spirit?
Okay, and grieving the Holy Spirit isn't necessarily the same thing as quenching the Holy Spirit in
The sense of it's not that you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing now
You're doing things that are displeasing to the Holy Spirit
Now you're actually disobeying God's commands and these two things can be
Defined as thus okay, but you can be defined as you know
The sins of omission not doing what you know
You're supposed to do and the sins of commission doing the things that you know you're not supposed to do
So not doing the things that you're supposed to do is essentially quenching the Holy Spirit
Whereas doing the things that you know you're not supposed to do is grieving the Holy Spirit
And I just want you to notice that both of these
signify and prove that the third person of the Trinity
is a person, because he could be quenched.
He could be grieved.
What does it mean to be grieved?
It means it hurts him.
It gives him anguish.
You know, it gives him displeasure.
He's saddened at the fact that you are sinning,
transgressing the laws of God.
That's what it means to grieve the Holy Spirit.
And you know, in the old RFP people would say,
oh, you know, are you convicted about that, right?
About that particular sin and obviously people have various opinions if that's even a biblical concept or not
But you know at the end of the day we are
Causing the Holy Spirit more biblical term would be to grieve the Holy Spirit
Because here's the thing folks is that sometimes we can sin to the point where we become
Desensitized to that sin and we're no longer convicted about that sin
So obviously we can be convicted right if we are sinning against God
But you could actually become hardened towards that thing that you're doing to the point it doesn't really bother you anymore.
But one thing that does not change is the grieving of the Holy Spirit.
And so we have here the fact that we too are anointed, permanently anointed.
We are endowed with the Holy Spirit. Therefore we need to make sure that we walk in the Spirit.
We don't fulfill the lust of the flesh. We're not quenching the Spirit. We're not grieving the Spirit.
But the big thing is this is that we become filled with the Spirit.
And I like what David said in Psalm 92 verse 10 it says,
but my horn shall thou exalt like the horn of a unicorn,
I shall be anointed with fresh oil.
What is fresh oil?
New oil, right?
Something that's fresh, something that's new.
And again, although we are permanently anointed,
we need that fresh oil every single day.
But let's just be honest, you know,
I think you could probably point to someday this week.
where you did really good spiritually speaking, right?
You were filled with the spirit.
You were walking in the spirit.
You were doing that, which is pleasing unto the Lord.
But you know, there's no rollover filling with the spirit,
right?
Is that even a thing anymore, rollover minutes?
I don't know, is that even a thing?
Probably not.
It's from the ancient days, days of old.
You used to have this thing called rollover minutes, right?
Well, that's kind of like the same concept that people think is like well, you know reading my Bible today is gonna roll over for tomorrow
No, it doesn't you need fresh oil tomorrow
You know, oh for giving my spouse today will suffice for tomorrow's offense. No, you need to be you need to have fresh oil tomorrow
right, oh, you know
Winning souls today and doing that which is right in the side of the Lord today
Will be sufficient for the rest of the week
Well, you know reading your Bible on Monday and walking in the spirit on Monday gives you a good
You know gives you good momentum, but you can't necessarily depend on that for Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
You need fresh oil each and every one of those days.
And so it's important that when you wake up in the morning,
one of the first things that you do when you read your Bible
is you ask God, Lord, fill me with your spirit.
You're like, for what, Pastor?
I'm not going soul-warning.
Well, you need to be filled with the spirit
just to be like a Christian, right?
To do things that are contrary to the flesh.
Because let's just be honest.
We all want to do things that are in accordance to our flesh.
And so in order to abstain from fleshly lust,
in order to abstain from fleshly thinking,
in order to abstain from allowing that old man
to flesh itself out, you need to make sure
that you ask for God to fill you with that fresh oil,
that fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit.
So this is the constant battle
that we're gonna face in this life, right?
Jesus Christ did not face that though.
Because Jesus Christ is perfect, right, and obviously know that he was tempted on all points like as we are
But the Bible says yet without sin he faced trials and difficulties and tribulations
But he did not sin the Bible says whereas, you know, we can't testify to that
We know that we fall short of God's glory. We know that you know our flesh
We do the things that we don't want to do we have that battle of Romans chapter 7
The Apostle Paul was talking about the things which I hate that I do right and so it's a constant battle
But the way you can make sure that you overcome on a daily basis is that you recognize hey
I need to be filled with the Spirit and pray in faith that God will fill you with the Spirit
Fill this vessel this earthen vessel with God's power, okay?
Go to 1st John chapter 2 if you wouldn't we're gonna come back to Isaiah 61
This is a great concept here in the Bible of having that fresh oil being anointed that oil of the Holy Spirit
I'll read you from 2nd Corinthians 121. It says now he which established
Stablished at us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God
And then he says,
who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the spirit
in our hearts,
equating the sealing of the Holy Ghost
with the anointing that we received of God.
First John chapter two, verse 26,
one of my favorite passages here.
Actually, this is one of my favorite passages
to quote to Catholics.
Look what it says in verse six.
It says, these things have I written unto you,
concerning them that seduce you.
What does it mean to seduce, to deceive, right?
To be guile.
He says, verse 27,
but the anointing which ye have received of him
abided in you, and ye need not that any man teach you,
but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things,
and is truth and is no lie,
and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
And of course the context is the Holy Spirit
being that anointing that dwells within us.
And this is a great passage to teach
the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Right because what is the what is the purpose of the Holy Spirit other than to and dwell us to empower us?
Well, according to 1 John chapter 2
He's there to instruct us to bring all things into remembrance whatsoever Jesus Christ has commanded us
And so as you read the word of God as you consume biblical content
The Holy Spirit is just kind of filing that away in your spirit right and you're and you're a new man
And so once you, when you start reading the scriptures,
you're reading all the New Testament, what does he do?
He begins to teach you, he begins to minister unto you
the word of God, and then those dots start to connect.
And you know what, if you've read the Bible
for any length of time, you know exactly how that's like.
It's one of the most pleasurable things in the Christian life.
One of the greatest experiences personally for me in the Christian life is to read the
Word of God and have the Holy Spirit guide me through the scriptures and bring things
into remembrance.
You know, you read a passage and you've read five, six, seven, eight, nine times and then
you read it the eleventh time and you're like, whoa, now I know what this is referring
to because of another portion of scripture, you know, the Holy Spirit.
It's not you.
Right?
No, in fact, it's the ministry of the Holy Ghost
that is teaching you all things.
He's bringing those things into remembrance.
You say, why is this passage good for Catholics?
Oh, because according to them,
you're not allowed to interpret the Bible by yourself.
You need the Roman Catholic Church to do so.
And this is a common thing that they'll say,
what authority do you have to interpret the Scriptures?
Well, here, first John 2, 27.
That's my authority.
Because it literally says,
he need not that any man teach you.
And that's an apostle telling non-apostles regarding that.
And so the anointing is very important for us
to be filled with the spirit, to learn the word of God.
And look, folks, that's why it's important
when you read the Bible, you say,
open down my eyes that I may behold
wondrous things out of the law.
Fill me with your spirit to understand the scriptures.
Let me read you from Ephesians chapter 6.
It says,
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit.
Watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.
And for me, that utterance may be given, may be given unto me,
that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.
So, you know, the anointing of the Holy Spirit is there,
not just to teach us the scripture, but also to be bold, to be confident in the Lord.
And in fact, we see this in Acts chapter four.
You know, the apostles, the disciples,
they're kind of praying.
They're like, man, we need boldness
because obviously persecution is coming upon them.
They're a little afraid.
They're a little scared.
And they're asking God to fill them with the spirit
so that they can have boldness when they preach it.
And that's exactly what happens.
And you know what?
If you've never gone soul winning
because you're scared, fear not.
You have the anointing, right?
You're like, I think I might mess up.
Well, if you have the anointing within you,
just pray for boldness.
And I think anyone who's gone zoning
for any length of time can attest to
that supernatural boldness that you receive at the door,
right?
And you know, I'm sure you've been there
where you're not gonna door and it's just like,
everything's just flowing.
Everything's just like, you're just spitting.
You're just like freestyling.
You know, you're just like, bam, you're like, man,
this is like going good, you know?
And I like, they have a question and you're just like, bam,
you know, got the answer.
And you have all kinds of boldness and they're just,
they're just, and they often, not all the time,
but you know, sometimes they're just kind of like,
well, I've never heard it like this, right?
Like I've never heard someone explain it this clearly.
Let me tell you, that's the anointing of the Holy Spirit
upon your life.
Okay, so don't undermine the importance of being anointed by God when you go out there and preach the gospel
But that just preaching the gospel just standing for the word of God in general requires boldness
Because it goes against the grain of this world right and so if you're gonna preach something if you're gonna stand for something
That the world in general rejects and persecutes, you know, you might be tempted to not speak out as boldly about it
You know, this is why a lot of churches are lacking the feeling of the spirit a lot of pastors lack the feeling of the spirit a
Lot of churches and pastors and church leaders lack the feeling of the spirit
How do we know because they refrained from they abstained from saying certain statements?
quoting certain portions of scripture because they're afraid of what kind of flag they're gonna catch for it well sounds to me like either
Number one, you're just a coward
And, or number two, you're just not even saved
because you don't even have the Holy Spirit.
Or number three, you are saved and you're a coward
but you're just not asking for the anointing
of the Holy Spirit.
You know, God is looking for anointed, filled preachers, Christians, and so oners to just
preach it like it is, just preach what the Bible says, regardless of what happens, and
ask for boldness, ask for the confidence necessary to stand for the Word of God.
Then obviously it's easy to stand for the Word of God when no one's persecuting you.
It's another thing when you are being persecuted.
You know, we say, oh man, yeah, you know, you got to stand for righteousness, but we're
where they're literally saying like we're gonna beat you up
and they do get beat up.
Now, I'd like to think that I would be a part of that crowd.
You know, I like to think so, I can't say for sure,
but you know, I think that I would like to think
that us as a church, if there were to come upon us,
we'll catch a whooping for the word of Christ.
And you say, I don't know about me,
then pray for the online team.
And the only reason I feel like we would is because we know that we got to pray for the anointing of the Holy Spirit
that gives us that boldness to stand for the Word of God and rejoice when we're being persecuted, right?
The point that I'm making here is don't undermine the anointing of God's Spirit.
We need it every single day.
You need it not just to stand for boldness, not just to read the Scriptures,
but you also need it just to have wisdom and discernment for day-to-day tasks, day-to-day decisions, judgments that you need to make.
You know, certain judgments are outside of the scope
of your understanding and knowledge.
It's outside of your, you know, your realm of expertise,
so to speak, right?
And sometimes we just need God's judgment.
We need the Holy Spirit of God to enlighten us
and give us the right words to say,
to have a word fiddly spoken,
in due season to be sweet in the ears of the listener, right?
You know, sometimes you're met with a situation
you're just like, man.
You know, what am I going to say?
Well, maybe you just need to pray
for the Holy Spirit's guidance
to make the right judgment, to make the right call,
to have wisdom in that area.
Go back to Isaiah.
So we see that, you know,
the anointing doesn't just apply to Jesus Christ,
it's obviously applies to us.
The difference is, of course,
that Jesus Christ is anointed completely.
He is the elect one.
He is the chosen one.
He is the Christ, the Messiah.
He's the one who has the Spirit without measure.
He goes on to say in verse 1,
the Spirit of the Lord of God is upon me
because the Lord has anointed me.
And then he begins to go over some of his mission,
what he's gonna refer to here.
And obviously, you know, this is a prophetic chapter
regarding Jesus Christ,
but it obviously also applies to Isaiah,
just as we can take this and apply it to ourselves, right?
Because the mission that Jesus Christ has
also applies to us.
You know, Jesus Christ came to seek it,
to save that which is lost.
But he also sent us to seek it to save that which is lost as well.
So we're co-labors with Christ in this matter.
So he lists about seven things here that he's anointed to do, the mission that he has.
He says here to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.
So let's go over a couple of things here.
First he says that he's given the anointing to preach good tidings to the meek.
And what does it mean to preach good tidings?
Good tidings literally means gospel.
So when we talk about the gospel, it means the good news.
Tidings is another way of saying news, right?
And the good news is that Jesus Christ came to save sinners,
that he came to sacrifice himself to die on the cross
and that he resurrected on the third day.
So when we go out and preach the gospel,
that's what we're preaching.
The only difference is that what we add to our presentation
is the consequence, right?
The fact that they're sinners, they're conditioned, the consequence of sin, you say, why add that?
Well, in order for something to be good news, they have to hear the bad news first, okay?
The bad news is, is that there is eternal damnation and in fact later on he talks about the fact
that he's anointed to preach the day of vengeance of our God.
That means the wrath of God, the judgment of God that's going to come upon the world.
And so, you know, he's anointed to preach good tidings to the meek and it specifically says the meek because the meek are those who, you know, the gospel is for.
You cannot be saved unless you receive the gospel with the spirit of meekness. What is meekness?
Well, various ways that the New Testament will describe this is, for example, Luke 4 is poverty, someone who's poor in spirit.
Another way of saying poor is someone who is humble, right?
So in order for someone to be saved, they cannot be prideful. They cannot be arrogant.
they have to concede to the fact that they are lost
on their way to hell and that they need a savior.
And look, folks, this is why the Bible says
that people need to receive salvation,
receive Christ as a child.
Why, because a child doesn't necessarily have that pride.
His mind or her mind is not filled
with preconceived ideas of false religion
and false gospels.
It's like a clean slate, right?
And they're very humble.
So therefore it's easy for them to believe
whatever's given to them.
They're very, you know, they're simple.
You can say they're gullible,
but you know, that's a plus when it comes to the gospel though.
Because the gospel can be easily believed and God, you know, encourages people to receive it as a young child
And so the meek
The the good tidings the gospel the good news is for the meek and every single one of us here who are saved
You know, we came to a point in our lives where we had to humble ourselves to a different individual and
Conceived the fact that that person was right and we're wrong and that we deserve hell, right?
And so, you know, this is why it's important for us and obviously we can take this and kind of use this as a strategy for soul.
Because if we're going to go and preach the gospel to people, we want to go to the meek.
And if we were to translate that, you know, use the various forms of this word, we can say we want to go to the poor.
And this is why we go to the ghetto area sometimes.
And obviously we, you know, if you want to get specific,
you know, we can't, we can say, you know,
are they really poor?
But you know, obviously they have less.
Or, you know, they're in a situation that's not necessarily,
you know, the best situation for living conditions,
but it makes for great soul winning
because a lot of them are near death,
you know, they don't have a whole lot.
They're essentially humbling spirit, meek and spirit and the exception proves the rule.
You'll run into some ghetto areas where people are super prideful, arrogant, and they don't want to be saved.
But in my experience though, over the last 18 years, soul-winning,
I've noticed that the vast majority of ghetto, quote-unquote areas, poor areas, are very receptive to those glad tidings.
So he came to preach good tidings into the meek and a lot of what he says here is basically the same thing.
Okay, you know when he talks about preaching good tidings into the meek every other statement that he makes is tied into the gospel
Because that's what the gospel does. Look what it says. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted
And you know what there's people everyone gets saved because they don't want to go to hell
Right, but some people get saved under different conditions though
You know what I'm saying, you know, my father-in-law used to call it the season of the soul
And he would say, you know, this person didn't get saved,
but who knows, maybe they'll go through a season
of the soul one day.
And what he meant by that is that maybe this person
will go through a traumatic experience sometime in their life,
maybe they'll lose someone in their life,
maybe they'll go through some sort of health crisis,
some sort of economic crisis,
and it'll cause them to become brokenhearted.
And when a person is brokenhearted,
they're more receptive to the truth.
They're more receptive to the love of God. Why? Because nobody loves them
Right nobody cares for them and you think oh, that's sad. No, it's not sad
This is this is good. Okay for the heart to be in that condition because it's it's like right for the picking and
I can point to people in my life people that I've went to Christ
They got saved because they were in that lowly state that lowly condition that broken hearted condition
And so, you know, we have to understand that sometimes people get saved because they just quite frankly don't want to go to hell
Everyone gets saved because of that, but some people are that's like their primary reason why they would get saved
Others because they're seeking the truth and in light of the truth they get saved
You know other people they they they chase the rabbit down the hole
And they get into conspiracies and they're just like,
oh man, the Jews are in control of everything.
Oh man, who's their father?
Oh Satan, they're Satan, that must mean there's a God.
Oh, if there's a God, that means his son, Jesus.
And then it's just like, oh, then they get saved.
And then they come to this church.
But other people actually get saved
because they're broken hearted.
They're just sorrowful, they're grieved.
You know, they're going through a difficult time.
And so it's important for us to recognize
that when we run into someone like that out soaring,
you know, we show them the love of God, right?
Because of the fact that he's nine to them,
of those who have a contrite spirit,
you know, of a broken heart of a contrite spirit,
and he's there to bind up that broken heart
with the God, and the gospel does do that.
You know because the God when someone gets saved they recognize man the the Creator loves me
The Creator sent to send Jesus Christ to die for me
He will love me with an everlasting love and draw me with loving kindness God is love
Behold what manner of love the father epistod upon us that we should be called the sons of God and you know
You might run into people who are fatherless
people who are widows right
But he becomes a husband unto them once he once they get saved he becomes the heavenly father of the fatherless
So in various ways he binds up that broken heart of that individual and may we say that he continues to bind up the broken heart even of Christians on a day-to-day, month-to-month, year-to-year basis through the word of God.
So he's anointed to preach the gospel into the meek, to bind up the broken hearted, it says here these next two phrases to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.
because someone who's not saved
can be compared to someone who's imprisoned, right?
They're captive, they're captivated,
and they're essentially bound by false ideologies.
You don't really understand this until you talk to people
when you try to give them the gospel.
Because to you and I, for us it's like the gospel
is so easy to understand.
I mean, thank God for the simplicity, which is in Christ.
But when you talk to certain people,
they just, it just goes over their head.
They just don't get it.
And it's just like, you know, it just says believe
and they're just like, they can't grasp it.
And what people fail to realize,
soul winners fail to realize,
is not necessarily this person's being, you know,
difficult or being stubborn.
It's just that they're taking captive.
like their mind has been captivated by lies.
And folks, you know, when Satan puts a stronghold
in the mind, right, through false religion,
the philosophies of this world, it's hard to get through it.
I mean, I have family members who I would say
their minds have been taken captive by Satan at his will.
They're in prison to lies and false religion.
And even when you try to, as powerful as the truth is,
You know it just kind of goes over their mind. They can't overcome the simplicity which is in Christ. Why because they're bound by those lies?
Okay
And you know sometimes people like that, you know
They get saved up by prayer and fasting
Just got to pray and ask God for a miracle to God forgot to work in that person's life
But I believe you on a shout of a doubt that they can recover from that
You know those people in this church
Who were like that and now they're just like full-fledged members. They're saved. They love the Lord. They read the Bible
They like the preaching people who maybe if you would have met them a couple years ago
You would have thought like oh this person is just not getting it
But they weren't because they were taking captive
but obviously through prayer and you know that person just kept coming to church
Hearing the truth and obviously the word of God is like a fire and like a hammer to break at the rock and pieces, right?
And so the truth keeps banging, the truth keeps hitting,
and eventually it just destroys those strongholds,
and then it's just like, oh, they're free now,
they're liberated.
And look, I can remember a time in my life
when I was 17 years old, 16, you know,
I remember looking for the truth
and going to all the wrong places.
You know, one particular church that I went to
was an apostolic church.
And it was that Luz Del Mundo cult out of all places.
Now, I didn't go there necessary
because I was looking for the truth per se
as for a girl that I went there.
And she's like, you wanna come to church with me?
I'm like, yeah, sure, yeah, I'm all into church.
And then I remember going there and you know, there was a side of me that did want the truth and I wanted to know more about the Lord and
You know, they had a false gospel to major cult. It's super wicked
But I remember thinking to myself like this is wrong with this church
It just don't know what it is, but there's just something wrong with it
And I remember a Pentecostal co-worker of mine
Would come to me and he would tell me like why they were wrong, and I'm like, yeah, yeah, you're right
You know they say a lot of weird stuff
They say all this and you know
I don't know if this guy was saved it's possible that he was saved because I remember him talking about
The gospel that it's by believing on Jesus Christ, and it's by true
I never I don't remember him ever mentioning this by works or by repenting of your sin
Which is you know very unique for a Pentecostal if anything, right?
But I remember him telling me like yeah, it's just by your faith in Jesus Christ, but even then I didn't get saved
but I
Distinctly remember him telling me those things and I distinctly remember
You know the condition that I was in that it just kind of went
And I just didn't get it
You know because I had other strongholds in my mind
And it wasn't until I went to a fundamental Baptist church,
King James only amen, you know, I went there,
it was just clearly laid out.
And it could be that my friend maybe
wasn't necessarily asked clear.
You know, he might've said some words
that communicated the gospel but wasn't as clear.
But for sure when I went to the fundamental
Baptist church though, them dudes,
they, they, it's like crystal clear.
And not only was it clear, but they obviously had
the anointing of the Holy Spirit that was just powerful
when they said it, you know what I mean?
They had a lot of confidence.
They're just like, this is the truth.
And they're just like, you know, wide-eyed.
You think I'm wide-eyed.
All fundamental Baptist preachers have always been wide-eyed.
People always imitate me, they're like,
this is like, folks, I'm not the only,
everyone has done that throughout the centuries, okay?
because it's just the passion that they have, right?
And when they explained it to me,
I was just like, oh, I'm sold, now I get it.
But I can remember, you know, being unsaved, though.
And I can remember the barriers, the strongholds,
the incapability of understanding the truth.
And so, what destroys that?
The truth destroys it, okay?
And obviously this is why it's important for us to,
if we know someone who's not saved,
that we continue to talk to them about the gospel.
We keep giving them the truth.
And don't worry about, oh man,
what if I make him a reprobate?
Folks, no one in the Bible does it tell you
to stop giving the gospel to someone
because you just might make him a reprobate, okay?
Just keep doing it.
Let's keep giving them the gospel.
And obviously, you know, there's certain people
that are just not worth our time.
Become blasphemous and aggressive and antagonistic.
It's time to move on.
But there's instances where there's people
who just, they're just not getting it.
We just need to give them the gospel
because the gospel liberates them from that captivity.
It opens the prisons to them that are bound, okay?
Now go with me if you would to 1 Peter chapter three.
First Peter chapter 3
Now what's great about this passage is that in Luke chapter 4
Jesus Christ goes into a synagogue in Nazareth as this custom was to read the scriptures
He's given the book of Isaiah
We don't necessarily know if they gave him exactly Isaiah 61
How the books were laid out at that time if it was just like here choose one or something
Or maybe they just gave him a scroll, but he opened it up to Isaiah 61
And this is the passage that he quotes here. Okay
And of course he ends up you know he closes it he gives it to the ministry sits down everyone's just like whoa
You know, I can't believe you just said this or you know
He read this and then he says you know this day is the scripture fulfilled in your ears
Well, this is important to know look at 1st Peter chapter 3. Why is that look at verse 18?
It says for Christ also had once suffered for sins the just for the unjust the he might bring us to God
Being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the spirit
By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison
Now what is this talking about? Well, if you've been duped by dispensationalism
You might be tempted to think that this is referring to Abraham's bosom
This is a common scripture that they'll use to teach that okay. They'll say that when Jesus Christ died
that he went to the second compartment of hell.
I'm teaching you false doctrine right now.
If you've never heard this,
I'm gonna teach you false doctrine.
I don't believe I'm just telling you what it is, okay?
But I could probably explain it better than they can,
because they lacked the Holy Spirit, the annoying team.
But he went to the second compartment of hell,
which is known as Abraham's bosom.
And according to dispensational theology,
that second compartment was filled
with Old Testament saints.
Okay, so every believer of the Old Testament
If they believed on the Lord, kept the sacrifices, kept the commandments of God,
they were abiding by the Old Covenant, when they died, they went to Abraham's bosom.
Which, by the way, is a reason why a lot of these modern versions remove hell from the Old Testament
and just put the grave, sheol, all these other terms because of the fact that they can just interpret that to mean,
oh, that's basically saying that they're in the grave.
And grave is just another way of saying that they're in Abraham's bosom. It's the place of the dead
Even though anybody who saved is not considered dead in God's eyes
Because even the Bible says that Abraham Isaac and Jacob you know that God is not the God of the dead
But of the living right and he refers to Abraham Isaac and Jacob as being the living because anybody who saved just lives forever more
Obviously their bodies physically dead, but God views them holistically as just being alive unto the Lord. Okay
So what they believe is that you know all these Old Testament saints from Adam
All the way up until the death of Jesus Christ they all went to Abraham's bosom
They're just kind of chill in there waiting, you know, and you know various dipstick say different things
They have various interpretations. Some say that he just went down there and he picked them all up
Let's go guys and then they he went to heaven
Others say that he went down there and they'll use the scripture to teach that he preached to them
So there's various degrees of this because you know some believe that he went down there and then he took them to heaven
Others believe that he had to like get them resaved, which is why he had to preach to them in prison. Okay?
It's crazy
You know they believe once again, and then they went to heaven and you know that they'll they'll you know twist and
rest scriptures such as Luke 16
Obviously, that's where they get the term from Abraham's bosom.
They'll talk about the fact that the thief on the cross, Jesus said, today thou shalt
be with me in paradise, and they will state that Abraham's bosom is synonymous with paradise.
But you're kind of grasping at straws at this point because if you're using 1 Peter 3 18
to say that it's Abraham's bosom, how are you going to call paradise prison?
You know, it's just like oh paradise hotel you go in there's like this is more like prison, you know, and
So it's called prison. It's called paradise. It's called Abraham's bosom, you know, and they'll also say that acts chapter 2
Quoting Psalm 15 regarding Jesus Christ going to hell hell there is actually referring to Abraham's bosom
Okay, and let me just mention this, you know
From 2007 to about 2013 or something, I believed in that doctrine only because I was part of a church that
promoted that theology and it wasn't until I was kind of confronted with the Acts 2 passage
that you know, I just switched my stance on that because I thought to myself well if I'm gonna be truly King James only
Then I have to believe that Acts 2 is referring to the fact that Jesus Christ went to hell
Because if not, then it's a wrong interpretation of hell there.
It should say something else if it was something else.
But because it says hell, and because it's quoting Psalm 15
that says hell, that means that Jesus Christ went to hell.
And at that point, I was just like, you can't be King James
only and believe in Abraham's bosom because you would have
to use Acts 2 and Psalm 15 to teach Abraham's bosom when it
actually says hell.
So you're basically saying that hell is the wrong word there.
You know it sounds pretty crazy, so they'll use this and they'll say you know he went to preach the spirits in prison and you know
That's pretty much it, but what is this verse actually teaching here in verse 19?
It's teaching it's referring to what Luke chapter 4 is talking about and is referring to what Isaiah 61 verse 1 is talking about
Because Jesus Christ did preach to the spirits which are in prison now. What prison the prison of their mind?
The fact that they're taken captive by Satan at his will.
The fact that, you know, the God of this world who had blinded the minds of them which believed not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them.
This is what it's referring to.
So there's absolutely no verse in the Bible, zero verses, zero confirmations about Jesus Christ going to the underworld and preaching there.
But we do have passages.
That confirmed that what verse 19 of 1 Peter 3 is talking about is actually what Luke 4 is talking about
And it's actually what Isaiah 61 is referring to. So how do you know? Well, because Luke chapter 4
After stating that he's gonna set the captives free. He says today
descriptions fulfilled in your ears
Meaning that what 1 Peter 3 19 is talking about is the fulfillment of Luke chapter 4 verse 18
That he is essentially in preaching cap preaching to those who are taking captive those who have been
Imprisoned by lies. Okay, so that's important to know because you will get hit with that
You know that people will talk to you about that if they believe in dispensationalism
They'll point to this and say well, what about him preaching the spirits in prison and you can say well, he's
He preached to the spirits and preached to people
while he was here on this earth.
He's not preaching to ghosts.
Spirit is just referring to a person, right?
And let me just say this,
is that this is a very great way to say it.
When you're preaching the gospel to people,
you are preaching to their spirit.
Not preaching to their flesh.
Not preaching to their carnal side.
You're preaching to the spirit
that dwells within that person.
You know, and obviously we know that their spirit is dead and trespasses in sin
But it doesn't mean that it can't receive the gospel
Okay, because here's the thing folks is that Lazarus was also dead in the grave
But when the word of God said Lazarus come out
It he came out
Okay, well, how can a spirit listen if it's dead? Well, that's funny. How did Lazarus listen if he was dead?
I'll tell you how because the word of God is powerful
Okay, and it's able to resurrect the dead and you know what he can quicken the spirit through the gospel
That's how powerful it is. Okay, and so that's important to note there
See if there's anything else I want to say about that
That's pretty much it. Dispensationalism is garbage, you know, to teach that, and they're
grasping at straws. It's a stupid doctrine that twists many scriptures to try to teach
this, but all it's saying is that he essentially preached the gospel to them in our prison.
Now again, you know, when we think of someone who's in prison captivated, you know, it's
That is referring to someone who is believing lies,
is believing false ideologies,
is believing a false gospel,
but you could also compare this
to someone who's imprisoned by sin.
Okay, Bruce, stop ripping the paper.
You know, it's referring to someone
who is essentially involved in sin
because someone who is, you know,
taken captive by vices is someone who's imprisoned, right?
Look, folks, the homeless people out here,
yeah, they made their bed and they're sleeping in it,
but we can all collectively agree
that these people are imprisoned, right?
They are captivated, they are imprisoned,
they are essentially, they're entangled with their sin.
And sometimes that is a major hindrance
for someone to be saved.
I mean, try to preach the gospel to someone
who's absolutely drunk.
You know and I've gotten people who saved who were high-end drunk, okay, and unfortunately there were functioning addicts
That's why they probably were able to receive the gospel
You know if you don't know what a functioning addict is it's like they're like beyond being addicted. They actually need
alcohol and and substance abuse in order to even function as a normal person
That's like a real thing. I remember being like 17 years old working at a restaurant and I worked with just all functioning addicts
They were all either high off of marijuana
Drunk as drunk can be or involved in some other you know, they're doing cocaine or something like that
But you know, there's some of the nicest people though
Because they had to like do those things in order to just be nice. Oh
But when they got off of it though, they're they're monsters
Okay, and they're just like
Horrible people that's what I mean by functioning as like they needed that in order to function properly
So I've got a lot of functioning addicts saved
But you know there's people out here who like are even beyond that actually
It's no longer like a functioning thing. They just fried their brains. They've destroyed their minds
We had a guy one time
come into our building, this is like in between services.
It was a scary experience because my wife and my children
were in my office at the time.
And you know, after this, we started locking the doors.
You know, we used to leave them open,
but this guy just walks in.
And I was on my way to do like a hospital visit
and someone ended up telling me like,
hey, I don't know if it was my wife or someone.
They're like, someone's inside the building.
and they're asking to see, or my wife,
she's like, hey, someone's here to see you,
and they're like in the building right now.
I'm like, who are they?
Like, I don't know, the guy that looks weird,
you know, I don't know who he is.
So I rushed back, and what happened was,
my wife was in there, and he just like walked up,
and lights are all off, and he just walked into my office,
you know, it's a really scary thing.
But he was harmless, so to speak, you know,
he was just drunk is what he was.
And I came to talk to him and he's like,
you know, I want to know about the truth.
I want, and so I spent like a good 30 minutes
giving him the gospel, but he could not hang
even through two verses.
Like I would give him a verse and two verses
and it would just, and I'm like, are you paying attention?
He goes, yeah, I'm trying to pay attention.
I'm trying to pay attention.
And he's like, I was like, so repeat what I just told him.
He's like,
I don't remember what you said and that literally happened over a span of like 30 minutes
But he you know probably drink so much alcohol that it just completely destroyed his brain
I don't believe he's a reprobate because a reprobate is more of a spiritual thing that happens to you
I think he just destroyed his brain
And it was a sad thing because as much as like I try to give him the gospel and he wanted the truth
His brain was so destroyed by the way people. That's why I stay away from alcohol
It'll make you completely stupid, but it'll also just completely incapacitate you from
actually receiving any type of information whatsoever.
And obviously if you're saved, it won't do anything to your salvation.
But you know what, you could just spend the rest of your life being stupid, incapable
of hearing anything, understanding anything, learning anything.
You know, thank God for the Bible that could rebuild cells. It can make you smart again
It can make you retain things again
You know, you could be with the fill with the spirit of God
But you know, don't go back down that path of destruction
Because you it could worse can happen unto you after salvation, right? But this guy couldn't get saved
Because his brain was just completely demolished that person's in prison. He's captivated, right?
And so, you know, I've witnessed the people
who were just completely on drugs,
but they did get saved.
And I thought to myself, wow, this person was just liberated
from the lies that this vice had on this person's life.
That's not to say that they can't go back to that vice,
but the intention of that vice,
the intention that Satan had for that person
through that vice is for that person never to get saved.
But obviously the gospel broke through that.
Folks the people out here who are like demon possessed talking to themselves these people are captivated right they are imprisoned and
You know sometimes we try to give them the gospel, but sometimes just like talking to a brick wall. You can't get through to them
You know we we had someone recently
I think it was yesterday or something some lady was just walking up and down and I walked out there and and she's just like
Saying oh god, I was like what and she's like I'll probably get some candy over here at this store here
I just stay in the shade. It's hot out here. You know, she's like
But you know, I try to kind of test people out to see if they can even hold the conversation and
You know, she couldn't hold the conversation. She's captivated. She's imprisoned by these things
And so the point that I'm making here is the fact that he came to liberate people who are in that condition
He says also that he came to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord
Now, what is the acceptable year of the Lord?
It's referring to the rapture, okay?
The day of redemption, which by the way, it's interesting
because in verse 2, he says the acceptable year of the Lord
and the day of vengeance of our God to come for all that mourn.
And isn't that what the rapture is?
It's the liberation, the redemption of our bodies,
but it's also the day of the Lord which is vengeance upon everyone else.
So what do we see here?
to be, you know, to the broken hearted,
he preached comfort, he preached beauty for ashes,
but he also preached vengeance as well, okay?
And this obviously would not be welcomed
at your megachurch today.
You know, like, oh, why don't you preach like Jesus?
Well, Jesus preached the day of vengeance.
So, okay, I'll preach like Jesus.
And talk about people burning, splitting hell wide open.
Cause that's what the day of vengeance is.
And it says to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes,
the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called the trees of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.
So we see here that this was fulfilled in his first coming.
But the second half of it is something that's going to be fulfilled in a larger scale at his second coming right the vengeance of the Lord
We obviously know that his first coming he came lowly upon and asked his cult the second coming
You know, he's gonna come with vengeance
He's gonna come and bring destruction the Bible refers to it in Acts chapter
I believe it's Acts chapter 7 as the times of restitution
Where it's like God pays back
This world for their wickedness against the righteous and for blasphemy his name look at verse four here. Let me just finish up
This is verse four and they shall build the old waste the old waste
They shall raise up the former desolations and they shall repair the waste cities and the desolations of many generations and
Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vine dresser
So this is actually talk about the reconstruction both near and future
because the immediate context is what?
After the Babylonian captivity.
And so when he talks about the acceptable year of the Lord,
we could immediately interpret that
as them coming back from Babylon, right?
And being able to reconstruct the temple,
and they get their property back, their lands back,
and they can start building up the old waste places
that were destroyed by the Babylonians, okay?
They can restore the former desolations,
repair the waste cities.
So this actually takes place in the days of who?
Nehemiah and Ezra.
When they came and reconstructed the temple,
they're reconstructing the wall that goes around the city,
they are rebuilding what previous generations
allowed to be destroyed.
But this is also true in the future
when it comes to the millennial reign
and the new heaven and the new earth, right?
Because at the end of Daniel 70th week,
you have all types of desolation all around the world.
I mean the the wrath of God has been poured out upon the world without measure
destroying a large portion of the world and
So when we inherit the millennial reign
There's a lot of rebuilding that we have to do okay
And so the desolations of many generations
Etc. So it has both applications there verse 6 but ye shall be named the priest of the Lord
Men shall call you the ministers of our God
You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall you boast yourselves.
For your shame, you shall have double, and for your confusion, they shall rejoice in
their portion.
Therefore in their land, they shall possess the double.
Everlasting joy shall be unto them, for I the Lord love judgment.
I hate robbery for burnt offering, and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make
an everlasting covenant with them.
Go with me if you would to Romans chapter 10, Romans chapter 10.
So this is obviously referring to, if we were to apply this, their immediate future, referring to the fact that the priesthood will once again be reinstated, right?
Because when they're in Babylon, there's no temple. The temple was destroyed.
Synagogues are now the main source of worship and reading of the Scriptures.
This is why synagogues exist all over the known world at that time. The temple was destroyed, so therefore there is no priesthood, so to speak.
But now when they come back that priesthood can not be restored, which is why he says ye shall be named the
Priest of the Lord and then men shall call you the ministers of our God
But this is also referring to the fact that in the millennial reign new heaven and new earth
We shall be called kings and priests unto the Lord, right?
This is what Revelation 1 talks about that God will call us priests and kings because we will be
ministering the Word of God as the priest did in the Old Testament
Because that's exactly what they did, Old Testament priests not only fulfilled the functions
of the priesthood regarding the offerings, the burnt offerings and such, but they also
ministered the word of God.
They taught the word of God.
So in like manner, we're going to be doing the same thing in the millennial reign.
But it also says that we're going to be kings.
Why because we're also going to be ruling in reigning with Christ
So just as Christ is both king and priest and of course, he's prophet in like manner
We will also be kings and priests as well in the millennial reign. We're gonna be anointed for that specific task
But here in verse 6 7 and 8 it's saying that you know the Jews are gonna the Israelites excuse me are gonna be receiving this right
They're gonna get their portion for their shame. They shall have double, but then it also says that they
Referring to the Gentiles
Shall rejoice in their portion
Therefore in their land they shall possess the double everlasting joy shall be unto them
So he's promising, you know, a joy and fulfillment to the Israelites as well as to the Gentiles.
Why? Well, verse 8 says, for I the Lord love judgment.
What does it mean to love judgment? It means that he likes to be equal, right?
He likes everyone to receive that which is due unto them.
He's not a respecter of people.
You know, he sends the random the just as well as the unjust but even when it comes to all believers
You know, it's an evil playing field. Whoever puts in the work gets the reward
So he's like, you know, obviously the immediate interpretation will be that God's blessing the Middle Persian Empire, which is true
He's blessing God's people by allowing them to come back
But you know, he also blessed and prospered the Middle Persian Empire as well
Okay, but you know the the the dual fulfillment, which is beautiful here because you can see both taking place is that in the future
God's gonna bless both Jew and Gentile
But what are the stipulations? Well, it's he says in verse 8
I will direct their work in truth and I will make an everlasting covenant with them
What's the everlasting covenant? That's another way of saying the new covenant
Which is why he tells him in Hebrews 8.8 that he's going to make a new covenant with the house of Jacob and with the house of Israel.
What's that new covenant? It's called the New Testament. Old contract is done away with. Old covenant is done away with.
You have to sign this new contract if you want to be a part of this new covenant.
And you have to put there, I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
But look at what Romans 10 in light of Isaiah 61 look at what Romans 10 verse 10 says
For what the heart man believeth unto righteousness and what the mouth confession has been into salvation
For the scripture sayeth whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Let me just say this in Isaiah 61
What is he telling both parties? You're both gonna be abundantly rich
You're both gonna be blessed
Look what it says in verse 12, for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek,
for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
So he is abundant, he's generous to everyone who calls upon his son Jesus Christ through
faith.
So we see the fulfillment of that, we see the fulfillment of Isaiah 61 in Romans 10
and then a physical fulfillment of that in the millennial reign as well.
Because today both Jew and Gentile are blessed of God if they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and God is generous with them.
He blesses them.
His hands upon them.
They receive the anointing.
because of it. You know, our cup runneth over. He loaded us daily with benefits, right? Why? Because
we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. And, you know, the Bible tells us that He gives us all
things richly to enjoy. One spiritual sense, it's fulfilled in Romans 10 where He says,
You know, regardless of if you're a Jew or a Greek,
you get abundantly blessed by God through Jesus Christ.
What's a wonderful fulfillment there.
And so we're gonna finish there.
Verses nine through 11 is essentially referring
to the righteous springing through the resurrection.
He says at the end of the verse that the earth
is gonna bring forth her bud.
And what this is referring to is just the fact
that Israel will once again be a righteous nation.
But the way it becomes a righteous nation according to this verse though is that something from the ground is springing up
Right because he says bringing forth her bud and the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth
So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. What does that refer to the resurrection?
So how is Israel how will Israel become a righteous nation by the dead Israelites?
The dead people of Judah springing forth out of the ground, right, through the resurrection in order to make righteous nation once again, and that's it.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this Bible study. Thank you for Isaiah 61 and all these wonderful truths, Lord.
I pray that you'd help us as your people to be grateful for the fact that you are rich unto us who call upon you. And we're abundantly blessed, Lord.
And we're so thankful you're not a respecter of people I pray that in light of that we ask for the anointing of the Holy Spirit each and every day
To preach the gospel to make wise decisions to make right judgments
To bind up the brokenhearted Lord to minister unto others may you empower us through the Holy Ghost
To fulfill your will Lord and may your blessings as we go on our way. We love you. We thank you. Pray this things in Jesus name amen
Song number 192 ring the bells