We're in Isaiah 44. We've been going chapter by chapter through the book of Isaiah.
As you've been learning together with me, there are some chapters that are harder to understand, more cryptic than others.
But Isaiah 44 is actually very straightforward. It's actually quite a straightforward chapter.
Now the other thing that we've been doing as we're going through chapter by chapter,
we've been looking at the corresponding books of the Bible in those same numerical order.
So what is the 44th book of the Bible? Does anybody know?
So we've done Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, we're up to Acts.
Acts is the 44th book of the Bible. So what I want you to do is keep your finger there and come with me to the book of Acts.
Just keep a finger there in the book of Acts so we can compare the two. I do have quite a few references.
And again, this is a chapter that is just clearly, like you can clearly see, if you know the book of Acts really well,
you clearly see themes and teachings found in Isaiah 44 that you're going to clearly see there in the book of Acts.
But in Isaiah 44, if you go back to Isaiah 44, keep your finger there in Acts.
In Isaiah 44 verse number 3, God says,
The title of the sermon tonight is, I Will Pour My Spirit. I Will Pour My Spirit.
The Lord God is saying He's going to pour out His Holy Spirit upon His people.
Now Isaiah 44, if you pay attention to the reading,
God is once again comparing Himself as the one true God versus the false gods or the idols.
This is something that you're going to constantly read about in the Bible.
And you know, when you have this teaching, this concept being brought up over and over again,
I want you to not kind of just, ah, here we go, you know, I don't want you to take this idea,
ah, you know, here we go, just another chapter against idols and false gods.
But the reason it comes up so often in the Bible is just to remind us that our God is a jealous God.
Like, our false gods, idols, these are an abomination in the eyes of the Lord.
And the reason it just keeps coming up over and over and over again is just to remind us that,
boy, God wants our love, our attention, our praise, our worship.
He doesn't want to go anywhere else, not some wood, not some tree, not some gold, not some false god.
Our worship and praise, our love and attention must always go to our Lord God Almighty first and foremost.
You know, He is a jealous God. He deserves our praise.
And of course, His name is jealous. The Bible says that His name is jealous.
And jealousy in the Bible is a righteous characteristic to have, not to be confused with envy.
Of course, you know, in our modern day, we often use the word jealousy to convey envy, which is a negative connotation.
But jealousy is being protective or desiring the things that rightfully belong to you.
So me, as a jealous husband, I ought to be a jealous husband, I ought not desire my wife to hang out with a bunch of guys, you know.
If my wife comes up, you know, comes up to me, Kevin, you know, I've, you know,
I've caught up with some of my guy friends from high school on Facebook. Is it okay if I hang out with them?
No, it's not okay. And vice versa. It's not okay for me to go and hang out with a bunch of girls that are, you know,
we're friends with maybe in high school days or, you know, jealousy is a good thing to have between husbands and wives.
And, you know, I'm jealous for my children. I want my children to be protected.
And, you know, there's a reason why we homeschool them. We don't want them to be influenced by this wicked world because it is so easy to be so.
And so jealousy, so when we read about the jealousy of God, even though the word jealousy is not here, the concept is there.
This is why he's constantly, you know, speaking against these false gods and these idols.
But let's start there in verse number one. Isaiah 44 verse number one.
Yet now hear, O Jacob, my servants, and Israel, whom I have chosen.
So he's speaking about his, you know, the Old Testament nation of Israel there, right?
Thus saith the Lord that made thee and formed thee from the womb.
He says this twice. This idea about making and forming them comes up twice in this chapter.
He goes, Which will help thee? Fear not, O Jacob, my servants, and thou, Jesuran, whom I have chosen.
So this word or this name, Jesuran, when you look it up, you know, I don't know, I can't really go back to the Hebrew and tell you this is what it really means.
But according to all, everything that I've looked up, it basically means being upright or being just.
Okay, so he's speaking, look, this is supposed to be at least upright and just nation.
And this is why, look, I've formed you, I've created you, I've given you life.
God begins explaining how he has created a nation and created a people.
And, of course, the application that we want to take today in the New Testament is that we are the Israel of God.
You know, Christ is the seed of Abraham, and if we're in Christ Jesus, we're also the seed of Abraham, the Israel of God.
And so, of course, we can take this application to ourselves in the same way.
But the reason he keeps talking about how he has formed this nation and made these people is then he compares how people make idols.
Like he's made a people, he's made a righteous nation, and then the people of that nation go and make these stupid idols.
Like he's comparing one and the other.
Verse number three, for I will pour water upon him that is thirsty.
And, of course, these are like the words of Christ.
For those that are thirsty, we ought to go to Christ and drink of those waters of life freely, the everlasting waters that he gives us.
And floods upon the dry ground, I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine offspring.
Now, again, if you know the book of Acts, you should know what this is referring to.
Okay, so keep your finger there and come with me to Acts chapter two. Acts chapter two, please.
Acts chapter two and verse number four. Acts chapter two is the day of Pentecost.
It's the day that Christ speaks of, you know, the disciples, it was 120 at the time, they were together there in Jerusalem.
And they were waiting for this great blessing to come from the Father.
And in Acts chapter two, verse number four, it says,
So the Holy Spirit gave them the ability to utter or to speak in other languages.
This is a special gift given to them by the Holy Ghost.
Drop down to verse number 17, same chapter, Acts 2, 17.
What did it say in Isaiah 44?
I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine offspring.
And over here we have this great prophecy in the book of Acts, speaking of this great day to come,
the day of Pentecost when God will pour out and says,
My spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams.
One thing we definitely see here, when God pours out his spirit, what are the sons and daughters going to do?
What is the seed going to accomplish? They're going to prophesy.
And on the day of Pentecost, what are they doing?
They're preaching. They're prophesying. They're speaking of Christ.
They're preaching the gospel. They're being witnesses of Jesus Christ.
And so it's the Holy Spirit that gets poured upon us.
We get filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.
Every time that I get up to preach, I ask God in prayer,
Can you give me your Holy Spirit? Can you fill with me your spirit?
Can you pour out your spirit upon me?
So I can preach rightfully and truthfully to your wonderful people the great truths of your word.
Keep your finger there in Acts. We will come back to Acts.
Look at verse number 4 in Isaiah 44 and verse number 4.
Verse number 4.
And they shall spring up as among the grass and willows by the watercourses.
So when God gives us his water, verse number 3, I will pour water upon him.
Again, it's using that same language, the Holy Spirit.
And so it's just using the illustration of water.
So of course if we've got dry ground, nothing's growing on a parched ground.
You apply some water and then you're going to have some growth.
And so when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, brethren, we're going to spring up among the grass.
It's going to give us a step in it.
It's going to give us a boldness, a power to be able to do great things for the Lord.
Just bring it up like when you put water and all of a sudden your grass grows and the flowers grow.
That's the idea. That's the concept, what the Holy Spirit does in our lives.
It empowers us to do something great for God.
It says in verse number 5,
So it's saying here, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you're able to say to anybody,
I am the Lord's.
It gives you the boldness to say, hey, I'm a believer of Jesus Christ.
And it says here,
I've got no problem to say that inwardly, I'm a Jew inwardly.
I'm of the Israel of God.
This is what the Holy Spirit gives me, the ability to proclaim this truth that is pronounced for us in the New Testament,
that we are His people.
I understand when you're newer to the faith and you're a baby in Christ,
you can be more timid sometimes, not everybody, some people are just on fire,
but you can be timid to tell people that I'm saved or to tell your family and friends I've believed in Christ.
I want to tell you this good news.
And anytime you feel a little timid, even if it's just a day of soul winning,
you just don't feel like knocking that first door.
You just, ah, man, I just don't feel like putting myself out there.
What you ought to do is ask God, God, can you pour out your Spirit upon me?
Can you give me the ability to open my mouth boldly to speak the great truths of God?
Verse number six,
This is wonderful, we see the Lord speaking and His redeemer, the Lord of hosts.
So this is being said by, I believe they're the Father and the Son, both speaking.
I am the first and I am the last and beside me there is no God.
Now again, verse number six is wonderful because we see there is no other God, there is one God only,
but yet this one God is the King of Israel and the Redeemer, the Lord of hosts.
So again, obviously not just two, but we saw the Holy Spirit being poured out upon His people,
so we see immediately in this chapter the triune nature of God.
God in three persons, as we often proclaim Him in the doctrine of the Trinity.
Verse number seven,
And set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people,
and the things that are coming and shall come, let them show unto them.
Fear ye not, neither be afraid, have not I told thee from that time and have declared it.
Ye are even my witnesses, and is there a God beside me?
Yea, there is no God, I know not any.
Now verse number seven, let's look at that again.
And set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people.
What is God asking there?
And who, as I shall call and declare it?
God is asking, who's going to declare me as God?
Like He's looking at the Old Testament nation of Israel.
He says, among you, who's going to speak of me?
Who's going to declare me?
You see, God wants to use people, yes, you and I, and the Old Testament nation of Israel,
to declare the God, the only God, the Creator of all things.
God uses people, as it's said in verse number eight,
and declared it, ye are even my witnesses.
Brethren, one reason God has allowed us to continue walking this earth is to be witnesses.
Now we spoke about that last week.
Isaiah 43, I think the title was something like, Ye are my witnesses, something like that.
This idea continues.
But what I want you to notice is that God's got this entire nation of the Jews.
This entire nation.
They should all be witnesses, shouldn't they?
They're the covenants and people of God.
You know, God's blessed them and given them the land flowing with milk and honey.
God's protected them from their enemies of recent times in this period, the Assyrians.
We've looked at that. God's done so much for them.
And even amongst an entire nation, he goes, where are my witnesses?
Like, why isn't anybody declaring my name?
He's like, I've got to do it.
Where are the people that are willing to be my witnesses?
Is there a God beside me?
He's asking that question.
Like, if you don't want to declare me, who are you declaring?
Who are you witnessing?
Is there some other God that you prefer?
Ye, there is no God I know not any.
Of course, if you have your finger there in Acts, come back with me to Acts.
We're talking about how the Lord will pour out his spirit.
And of course, one reason he pours out his spirit is so we can be witnesses.
Acts chapter 1, the words of Jesus Christ, verse number 8.
He says, but ye shall receive power.
After that, the Holy Ghost is come upon you.
Brethren, when the Holy Ghost fills us,
Jesus Christ says, this is power.
The power of God upon you.
And it says here, and ye shall be witnesses unto me,
both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria
and unto the utmost part of the earth.
Brethren, God's given us his power.
A power that unbelievers do not have.
A power to be witnesses of the Lord.
This is why he gives us the Holy Ghost.
This is why he pours out his spirit upon us,
so we can go out there and be witnesses for him.
I would hate for God to look at Blessed Up Baptist Church
or New Life Baptist Church or Crown Baptist Church
and say, where are my witnesses?
You know, we ought to be saying, hey, we're here.
We're right here.
What's the next door you want me to knock?
What's the next area you want me to go to?
By the way, this is my time to promote the soul winning marathon coming up.
On the 9th of November, Port Macquarie.
Please come if you can.
I know it's a four hour drive, but we're going to have a good time.
You're like, pastor, I'm not really up for it.
All right, ask God to pour out his spirit upon you,
that you be witnesses.
You say, Lord, I will be a witness there in Port Macquarie
and then I'll get well fed at the Big Boys Cafe, brother, thank you.
This sermon's sponsored by the Big Boys Cafe.
And then we'll go out again and we'll preach the gospel.
We'll be witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ once again.
But we need the help of the Holy Ghost.
We need his power to be witnesses for the Lord.
That's the 9th of November.
Be there if you can, brethren.
But come back with me to Isaiah 44.
Isaiah 44, verse number nine.
Isaiah 44 and verse number nine.
Now, look, I know life is busy, brethren, and we have to work men, right?
Some men have wives that have to work, whatever it is.
It's not my recommendation, but I understand the difficulties,
the cost of living and all the struggles that come into life
and the business of life and, look, I know what it is to have kids.
People say to me, I don't know why I complain, pastor, you've got 12
and we haven't got one or two.
No, look, even one's busy.
It's a busy life.
Okay, and I understand that your ability to be at church
or your ability to learn God's word
or your ability to get out there and lock doors
gets decreased the busier you get in life, I understand.
But please always try to remember, look, the reason I'm still living
and breathing after I'm saved is to be a witness,
to be used by God to see people come to Christ.
Okay, please try to make time for soul winning, all right?
And again, I know, I know life is busy.
You know, I don't believe you're just a wicked person
if you're unable to go for a period of time,
but make sure you remind yourself that, hey, that is an important ministry,
that is an important work that God has left us to do.
You know, because we're not, obviously, as God's people here
at Blessed of Baptist Church, we're not getting distracted
by the idols and the false gods.
I mean, they did, the children of Israel here did,
we're going to read about shortly, okay,
but we have other distractions in life that obviously cause us
to forget the need of witnessing for Jesus Christ.
Now, let's read about their distractions here in verse number nine.
They that make a graven image are all of them vanity.
Look, it's not that the, I mean, obviously, the graven image,
the false god, the idol is vanity, but they that make the graven images
are vanity, is what he's saying.
He goes, people that spend their time making idols are worthless,
are good for nothing.
It says, and the delectable things shall not profit,
and they are their own witnesses.
Look, you know how we're witnesses,
like we're speaking of the things that we've seen,
and obviously, in the day of Pentecost,
they spoke of the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
but these witnesses, it says here, it continues,
they see not, so they're blind witnesses, nor know,
they're unknowledgeable, they're stupid witnesses,
that they may be ashamed, who have formed a god,
or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing.
Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed,
and the workmen, they are of men.
Let them all be gathered together, let them stand up,
yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together.
God says, get all the workers,
everyone that builds idols and creates all, you know,
has invested their time and work and effort in false religion,
put them all together.
He says, and they're still afraid.
They still don't know if they're going to heaven, right?
Like, speak to every other religion on the earth,
and you ask them, are you going to heaven?
I hope so, I don't know, I guess I'll find out.
They still have a fear of what their eternity awaits.
They still don't have any promise.
Brethren, we're hopeful, we know the moment we pass away.
We know that if tonight was the last day
that God allowed us to live on this earth,
we know that if we open our eyes in eternity,
and yes, be a little bit sad of leaving the earthly life
that God has given us, but we will be rejoicing
because we can see Christ face to face.
Like, we don't have the fear of all these other people
that make these false gods.
These false gods does not deliver them from their fears.
Verse number 12.
Now, we start talking about how these workers of idols,
how hard they work and how much time and effort they spend.
Remember, God says it's all for nothing, it's all vanity,
it's all a waste of time.
He says in verse number 12,
The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals,
and fashioneth it with hammers,
and worketh it with the strength of his arms.
Yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth,
he drinketh no water, and is faint.
So this guy that's putting together, working,
I guess he's the smith, so I guess it's metals,
I guess he's working on here, you know, with hammers.
You know, he's working hard to make this idol, you know,
look like whatever he's trying to create.
You know, he's going without food,
he's getting tired, he's getting weary, this is his job.
He's not drinking water, he's not looking after his health.
You know, he's working so hard for this idol.
And God says it's all for nothing.
Brethren, you know what? Like, we're witnesses.
All we have to do is this.
Hi, I'm Kevin from Blessed Op-Aptice Church.
This is my friend Jordan over here,
and we're going past the house, handing out these leaflets.
We want to ask you a question,
you're 100% sure you're going to heaven, right?
We're witnesses of Christ, and all these other people,
they're working hard, making their idols, all for nothing.
And we do things for eternal rewards in heaven.
Verse 113.
The carpenter stretcheth out his rule,
he marketh it out with a line, he fiteth it with planes,
and he marketh it out with the compass,
and maketh it after the figure of a man,
according to the beauty of a man, that he may remain in the house.
Again, constantly working, all these people working to make these idols.
Verse 114.
He heweth him down cedars,
so people working, cutting down trees, right, for the idol's sake,
and taketh the cypress and the oak,
which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest.
He planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.
So not only does he cut down trees,
but he's planting new trees for future work, for future idol work.
Verse 115.
Then shall it be for a man to burn,
for he will take thereof and warm himself.
So it says, look, when you cut down a tree,
some of the wood you're going to use for a fire to keep you warm at night,
to keep you warm during the cold.
And then it continues.
Yea, he kindleth it and baketh bread.
He uses the heat of the fire to make bread, right,
and then it says he's got leftovers.
Yea, he maketh a god.
So the same wood that is used for burning is now like,
oh, this must be very valuable stuff, let's make a god out of it.
Like the same things that people bow down to and worship,
like the Roman Catholic, Virgin Mary,
is the same material used to burn in fire,
to make bread, like for things that are lowly,
things that are just wasting wood for warmth.
They're now bowing themselves.
Let's make a god out of the same material.
Like God's kind of mocking them, if that makes sense.
You put all this work in, you cut down the trees,
and then you'll bow down to the same thing.
He maketh a god and worshipeth it.
He maketh it a graven image and falleth down thereto.
Like, you know, we think of, you know, like the hippies
and the new age, new ages, and they worship creation and the trees,
and like, you know, if someone's cutting down trees,
they chain themselves to trees, you know, this is God, you know,
you're hurting the earth by cutting down the tree.
Well, when people are bowing down and worshiping elders,
they're doing the same thing.
It's like, oh, this tree, oh, this piece of wood, you know,
this is going to deliver me, this is going to give me safety and protection.
Why would you choose that over God who created us?
Like, think about how stupid these religions are.
Like, God is in our midst tonight.
I know there's not many of us tonight,
but we're two or three gathered together, he said.
He will be in the midst of us.
Christ is in the midst of us tonight.
We're here to worship and praise him.
We're not just here to hear the ramblings, craziness of Pastor Kevin.
We're here to praise and worship and adore our Lord Jesus Christ,
our Saviour, our Redeemer.
And so he's here with us tonight.
We serve him, we worship him, we praise him.
And then you've got some other church, some Catholic church down the road
with all their idols and their gold and their pieces of wood
and things that look like some Mary or some saints
and people praying to pieces of wood.
It's crazy.
And so God's like, I'm the only God.
There is no other God beside me.
But that's what you want?
You know, again, we're seeing how far gone
the Old Testament nation of Israel have gone.
That they themselves have created these gods of the other nations.
Verse number 16.
He burneth part thereof in the fire.
With part thereof he eateth flesh.
Some of the wood goes to the fire to warm him up.
Some of the wood goes to have the oven going
to cook flesh, meat or bread, whatever it is.
He rosteth roast and is satisfied.
He warmeth himself and saith, aha, I am warm.
I have seen the fire.
And the residue thereof he maketh a god.
Even his graven image.
He falleth down unto it and worshipeth it
and prayeth unto it and saith, deliver me for thou art my God.
It's dumb, it's stupid, but this is what's happening
in every Roman Catholic church every week here in Sydney.
Look, my wife was a former Roman Catholic.
She had all the rosary beads and all the images
and all the statues and she'd pray to the saints.
When her dog was sick, she had to find the right saint
for the dogs to pray to.
Whatever issue, whatever prayer you need answered,
you've got to figure out which is the saint
that answers that prayer, specific prayer.
And she told me before she got saved, she was like,
these gods never help me.
These prayers don't get answered.
There is no joy, there is no satisfaction.
And so she started praying to Jesus.
She got rid of all the idols.
She said, I'm just going to pray.
She picked up a picture of Jesus.
She's ignorant, but she's trying her best.
She goes, look Jesus, I'm praying to everything else
and not answering.
Can you please tell me the truth?
Eventually, she sought, she seeks after God
and she found Him in time.
But obviously the Lord knows her heart.
She's trying to find the real God, the real God of the universe,
not these wooden things and these rosary beads
and these traditional things that were being followed
no answers, no prayers, no joy, no satisfaction.
And what we see here is that God's willing to give us the water.
He's willing to pour out His Spirit.
These things truly satisfy us as believers.
You know, as people that are created to put our faith
and trust on something.
Either you trust the Lord God of the Bible
or you're going to find yourself putting your faith on
wood, gold, silver, nonsense, science, falsely so called.
People put their faith in that to give their answers of life.
Brethren, I've lost where I'm up to.
Can someone remind me?
Verse 18.
So if you worship these gods that have no eyes,
you become like someone that has shut eyes.
You cannot see, you get blind, you get spiritually blinded
when you're worshiping following these other false gods.
Verse number 19.
And none considerth in his hearts,
neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say,
I have burned part of it in the fire,
yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof,
I have roasted flesh and eaten it,
and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination?
Shall I fall down by the stock of a tree?
Because they haven't even got the, they're so blinded.
They use wood to warm themselves up,
they use wood to cook their food,
and then they take the leftover, no one realises,
why would I take the leftovers and make a god out of this?
Like this is waste material.
It gets burnt up.
In the fire it gets burnt up.
Like that's what it's good for.
It's good for burning.
It's good for fire.
And I'm going to use this residue, the leftovers, and make myself a god.
Like god's saying, that would be common sense.
Like if someone started thinking that way,
it proves they have knowledge.
But the fact that they go out and create these idols anyway
and bow themselves down to this tree anyway
shows them that they are blind and they have no knowledge.
So what do we learn?
If you want to be stupid, follow false religion.
If you want to be an idiot in the sight of god,
vain, empty, worthless in the sight of god,
go and bow down yourself to some idol.
The Roman Catholic religion is vanity,
it's worthless, it's stupidity, it's blinding, it's ignorance.
There is no knowledge when people are bowing themselves down
to these pieces of wood or to these false gods.
And that's what god's saying. I hope you can see that.
That's what god is saying.
I've got no personal beef with the Roman Catholic Church
besides teaching, of course, a false gospel.
But it's god that says, look, it's stupidity is what it is.
Verse number 20.
He feedeth on ashes.
I believe this is speaking spiritually.
Because you know how we are to eat of the...
Every word of god is given for our nourishment.
How does the verse go again, brethren?
Every word of god...
That's it, thank you, brother.
Man shall not live on bread alone but by every word of god.
Every word of god.
So obviously we're not going to physically open the Bible
and start eating these words,
but we understand he's speaking spiritually
as we read and consume and digest the words that we're reading
and the sermons that he preached.
We're feeding our spiritual selves.
But for these people that worship false gods,
it says here in verse number 20,
he feedeth on ashes.
Instead of like god's word being our daily bread,
they're feeding on the wood that is used for fire
and of course all the leftovers, once the fire consumes it all,
it's all ash.
And then god's using that as an illustration.
That's what their false religion is.
When you eat just ash.
Is that going to be nutritious for you?
No.
It's disgusting.
It's going to dry your mouth.
It's just a disgusting way to consume spiritually.
But that's the illustration that god uses.
He feedeth on ashes.
A deceived heart hath turned him aside,
that he cannot deliver his soul,
nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?
Remember these, O Jacob and Israel,
for thou art my servant.
And here's the second time that he says it.
I have formed thee, thou art my servant, O Israel,
thou shalt not be forgotten of me.
Because look, you've been worshipping these false gods.
You've been ignorant.
You've been stupid.
But then he goes, Look, remember that you are my servant.
I've created you to be my servant.
Again, he has formed us.
He has given us life.
You know, like these men trying to create life out of wood
and gold and idols.
Look at them and make them look like they have eyes
and ears that cannot see and cannot hear.
Yet the way God creates us is, of course, with his Holy Spirit.
You know, the moment you believe in Christ,
you're born of the Spirit.
You know, your dead spirit gets made alive once again.
You're born again in the Spirit of God.
So he gives us life.
He gives us his Holy Spirit to be poured upon us
to do a work for him.
And he does it so we can be his servants.
That's why he mentions servants.
We're here to serve the Lord, brethren.
We're not here to serve idols.
We're not here to serve these stupid things
that distract us in life.
Verse number 22.
I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions.
Thank God.
And as a cloud thy sins.
Return unto me, for I have redeemed thee.
So he's saying to the people of Israel,
look, again, in the context of Isaiah,
you know, the physical nation there.
Look, God's like, I've seen you worship these false gods.
But I'm ready to forgive you.
Like, I have forgiven you.
I've blotted out your sins, your transgressions.
You know, return to me, for I have redeemed thee.
You know, can you keep your faith in me?
Come with me to Acts.
Acts chapter 3.
God uses those words,
I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions.
In Acts chapter 3.
You know, we're called to be witnesses of God.
And these are the words that we essentially are trying to say to people
when we go and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In Acts chapter 3, verse number 19.
Repent ye therefore and be converted
that your sins may be blotted out
when the times of refreshing shall come
from the presence of the Lord.
Remember, when we go out and we preach the gospel,
November 9th in Port Macquarie,
we're trying to get out there,
we're telling people,
look, you can have your sins blotted out!
Repent!
And be converted!
Alright, so, stop following your false religion,
stop following your idols,
stop trusting in your works,
stop putting your faith in the wrong place,
repent from that,
and put your faith on the right place,
Jesus Christ, the only God of the universe,
your Creator,
and serve Him.
And brethren, you know the moment you
ask people to put their faith on Christ,
the Bible says their sins are blotted out.
And then what?
We're His servants.
Once we're saved, we're His servants.
And God wants us to be His witnesses,
to tell other people about the good news of Jesus Christ.
I still have another reference in the book of Acts,
but I hope you can see that clearly.
I don't know how else you can't see it, really.
Isaiah 44 is clearly what the book of Acts is primarily about.
The Holy Spirit coming upon God's people,
being emboldened to be witnesses unto Him,
and starting what they did in the book of Acts,
was starting New Testament churches.
Come back with me to Isaiah 44, verse number 23.
Isaiah 44 and verse number 23.
I love these words.
Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord hath done it.
Shout, ye lower parts of the earth,
break forth into singing, ye mountains,
O forest and every tree therein,
for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob
and glorified Himself in Israel.
Look, God is saying here that all of creation
begins to rejoice when someone gets saved,
when someone's sins are blotted out,
and they're forgiven in the sight of God.
It says here that the heavens, the earth, God's creation,
all of it rejoices to know that somebody
has called upon the Lord.
Verse number 24.
Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer,
and here that formed thee from the womb.
This is the third time.
I am the Lord that maketh all things,
that stretcheth forth the heavens alone,
that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself,
that frustrateth the tokens of the liars,
and maketh diviners mad,
that turth wise men backward,
and maketh their knowledge foolish.
So it says he frustrates the tokens of the liars.
You know, the gospel message, the gospel truth
that we teach frustrates false prophets,
frustrates the liars.
You know, when we say, hey, salvation's free,
fully paid for, nothing that you need to do
except to put your faith in Christ alone.
It can't just be faith.
That must be dead faith, which is not a saving faith.
You've got to do some works to be saved.
It frustrates them to hear the great news of Jesus Christ.
It says he maketh diviners mad.
Now mad there means like crazy, go insane, mad.
Okay, the European English form of mad,
not the American form of mad, right?
Diviners are people that are in the occult.
You know, kind of divine familiar spirits, that kind of idea.
And if you just want to quickly come with me to the book of Acts, Acts 16.
Acts 16, verse number 16.
Acts 16.
Acts 16, 16.
So she's got a spirit of divination, she's a diviner.
So, you know, the gospel of the Lord makes diviners mad,
make them go crazy, okay?
And then verse number 17.
That means like yelling out, saying,
these men are the servants of the most high God,
which show unto us the way of salvation.
It's like, what?
Here's the thing, you think, that sounds really good.
Yeah, but if you've got a demon-possessed person saying,
listen to these guys, everyone's going to go like, you're crazy.
You're like a false prophet, like you're in the occult.
You're of the devil.
And so, like, I know it sounds like they're telling the,
well, she is saying the truth,
but her actions are causing people to be like,
I don't want to listen to Paul and these people.
Like, if they've been promoted by these people of the occult,
we don't want anything to do with that, right?
So, verse number 18.
All right, so, it definitely, you know,
verse number 25 in Isaiah 44.
That frustrates the token of the lies and maketh diviners mad.
She's going insane, like, every day following them.
These people are going to tell you about salvation.
These are, you know, these people love the Lord.
And she, Paul gets sick of it, right,
and calls on the Lord Jesus Christ
to deliver her from that spirit of divination.
And thank God she gets delivered from that.
Back to Isaiah 44 and verse number 26.
And I just want to say something quickly.
Diviners, the occult,
these practices do happen on this earth.
There is some element of power,
this power of wickedness, powers of darkness on the earth, okay?
The ability to, you know,
people to be able to speak to some devil.
Those things are true.
You know, to understand some element of,
you know, things they shouldn't know.
They know because some devil has told them.
Or sometimes people speak of,
oh, you know, I've met your grandfather,
and your grandfather has these words to say,
and people are like, oh, wow, that must be true.
The things that were mentioned must be true.
Yeah, the reason they're true, and many times they are,
just like this woman who has the spirit of divination
is saying true things,
is because these devils have been around for hundreds of years,
and they've probably known that grandfather.
They've known some element of that person's life.
Shared that to a woman who's got a spirit of divination,
and they're saying things that are true,
and people get amazed, oh, wow, amazing.
But, like, we've got all truth here.
I've got 1,600 or something like that,
years of truth that has been written down by 44 different writers,
the truth of God's word.
I mean, this trumps anything a spirit of divination can give you.
But I want you to know, like, sometimes,
because I have different conversations with people, right?
And, you know, it's like, pastor,
you need to understand the elite of the world,
the people in high positions of power.
You know, they've got all their allegiance to the devil,
and this world's going to the devil.
It's like, okay, maybe, yeah, maybe you're true.
Let's say you're 100% correct, right?
And our prime minister, Albanese,
and all our politicians are just doing the devil's bidding.
Okay, who cares?
Just like Paul, right?
Being able to call upon the name of Christ
and deliver that woman from a spirit of divination.
I mean, the powers of darkness are so insignificant to our creator God.
Again, this chapter just shows us and highlights to us
how stupid these idols are, these false gods,
these things that might look like they can help you in life,
but still, these people that are in the occult,
just like people that worship idols,
they're still afraid.
They still have no satisfaction.
They still don't know where their life's going to lead to in the future.
Many of them know they've sold their soul to the devil, you know,
and they're going to die and go into hell,
and they're fearful about that,
but we should not be afraid.
The Bible says greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
We've got the Holy Spirit of God living in us,
the power of Christ to preach the gospel.
I know I've used this illustration before,
but one of my favorite times soul-winning,
just the experience, knocking on a woman's door,
saying, are you sure you're going to heaven?
She said, no, I am definitely going to hell.
Why is that?
I know I've shared this story before,
but she turns around and shows me a tattoo of the devil or some pentagram,
I think the devil and the pentagram on her back.
She goes, look, I've sold my soul to the devil,
and I'm like, look, you still have your soul right now.
Let's just hear what I have to say, all right?
She goes, but it's too late. It's on my body.
I'm like, look, don't worry.
The body you have now, even my body, it's not going to heaven.
The Bible says flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
God's going to give you a new body.
If you trust in Jesus Christ, one day he's going to give you a new body.
There's not going to be any pentagram tattooed on it.
There's not going to be some face of the devil tattooed on it.
Your soul has not been sold to the devil until you die,
and it's not given to the devil anyway.
The devil doesn't collect souls in that same sense.
The devil's going to perish and die in hellfire for all eternity himself.
It's not like he rules and reigns in hell or something like this.
He's been punished by God for all eternity.
That's what the devil's got looking forward for himself.
So there's no need for us as God's people.
I'm just trying to encourage you to be afraid of the occult,
of diviners that might speak some element of truth
because some devil told them, who cares?
We've got the Holy Spirit of God.
This is what God tells us.
Everything here is what God tells us, and we know so much more.
God says these people are, what we saw was without knowledge, without understanding.
They eat ash, spiritually speaking,
whereas we're being nourished by the wonderful waters of the Holy Spirit of God.
Back to Isaiah 44, verse number 26.
So yeah, we're speaking about God here.
That confirmeth the word of his servants,
and performeth the counsel of his messengers,
that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shall be inhabited.
So I want you to now think about current day for Isaiah.
Remember, some of you guys should have gathered this
as we've been going chapter by chapter.
So God is saying this to his servants, the word of his servant.
I'm assuming his servant here is Isaiah himself,
prophesying of the future to come.
I'm assuming that, but I'm not 100% sure.
He says this. He saith to Jerusalem, verse number 26,
Thou shall be inhabited.
When does that happen?
And to the sinners of Judah, ye shall be built,
and I will raise up the decayed places thereof.
So I'm just going to let anybody here answer what could that be about.
Thou shall be inhabited. He's saying that to Jerusalem.
The second one, he returned another one?
Well, here's what I think it is.
Thou shall be inhabited.
I think that's where the Babylonians come in and wipe out the city.
And then it says, and to the city of Judah ye shall be built up,
and I will raise up the decayed places thereof.
So again, it is that Jerusalem is going to be rebuilt.
So Isaiah is prophesying of something again,
maybe 150 years into the future.
That Jerusalem is going to be rebuilt.
You're correct.
Verse number 27, that saith to the deep be dry, and dry up the rivers.
And this is the important part, verse number 28.
That saith of Cyrus, King Cyrus is not even born yet.
Again, this is, I'm just estimating, maybe 150 to 170 years in the past,
prophesying of things that are going to play out in the future.
That saith of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure,
even saying to Jerusalem, so Cyrus is saying to Jerusalem,
thou shalt be built, and to the temple thy foundation shall be laid.
So obviously you know your Bibles, that's talking about the Jews
coming back out of Babylonian captivity under the command of King Cyrus.
And just to prove it very quickly, come with me to Ezra in the Bible,
Old Testament, Ezra chapter 1,
Ezra chapter 1, verse number 1,
Ezra chapter 1.
Again, this just demonstrates to us the impossibility that a book like this should exist.
That they can speak of things over 100 years into the future,
before this man, Cyrus, is even born, with his own name,
that this is the man who's going to cause them to rebuild.
In Ezra chapter 1, verse number 1,
Ezra 1, 1, it says,
And he have charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem which is in Judah.
So rebuild the temple, essentially, okay?
So this is King Cyrus, he says, look, God's telling me, he's using me,
he's given me all the nations, because he's the king of Persia.
Remember that after the Babylonians, the Persian,
the Medo-Persian Empire took over Babylon.
They became the powerful kingdom on the earth at that point in time.
And God would use Cyrus to bring back the Jews into the land
to begin rebuilding the temple of God.
So Isaiah 44 ends with this amazing prophecy to come,
names the king before he even exists,
and once again just demonstrates to us that this is not a book written by man,
this is a book written by the Holy Spirit of God.
God said, I will pour out my spirit.
And as men wrote the Bible, they were moved by the Holy Spirit of God.
They received this pouring out of the Spirit upon them,
and they were able to speak of prophetic events to come.
I will pour out my spirit was the title for the sermon tonight.
All right, brethren, let's pray.