Alright, Isaiah 51, now look at verse number 7, it says,
Harken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law, fear ye not the reproach of men.
The title of the sermon tonight is Fear Not The Reproach Of Men.
Fear Not The Reproach Of Men.
So God is telling us not to fear men, we should of course fear our Lord God only.
And you need to understand when it comes to this chapter, if you didn't pick up on the reading,
that it's largely about the millennium to come.
It's largely about God blessing the millennium Israel in that time of thousand years.
Now, you need to understand of course that Isaiah is writing and speaking and preaching to the Israel of his day.
Now, this is where you need to be clear in your mindset otherwise you get confused.
So as Isaiah is preaching against the wicked nation of Israel of his day,
he's using the parallels that are coming with God's wrath coming by the hands of the Babylonians,
and then he's also speaking about future events, using that same parallel.
And of course even in the future events, the people of God are going to be persecuted by another Babylon,
Babylon the Great, the great harlot that you read about in the book of Revelation.
So those parallels you're going to see in this chapter.
But what you also need to understand is that the Israel of the day of Isaiah is under the old covenant.
They are the people of God, they are the covenanted people of God.
But that nation is not made up of only saved people.
So when he's preaching the wrath of God upon them, he's preaching to the people under the Old Testament covenant nation of Israel,
those that are not saved.
But when you understand the new covenant and the people of God under the new covenant,
everybody is saved under the new covenant.
So you need to be able to separate those two concepts.
Even though the parallel is of the Israel of that day, speaking of future events,
God's wrath of course will not come upon God's people under the new covenant because they are only made up of saved people.
So I want that to be clear in your mind as we go through this,
because otherwise you're going to conclude that maybe God's people, the believers of the end times, are facing God's wrath.
That is not true.
Now, let's start there in verse number one.
Harken to me, ye that follow righteousness, ye that seek the Lord.
Now that should be you and I.
As believers, we are people that follow after righteousness.
We're trying to do only the Lord God is righteous.
Of course we're clothed by the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
But we are to live by the righteousness of Christ.
We are to be holy people, obeying his commandments.
We are to be people that seek the Lord.
So if you want to take an application for us today, we can apply that for us today.
As God's people, we are those that seek after righteousness, those that seek after the Lord.
He says here, look unto the rock whence ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pits whence ye were digged.
God is telling us, look back to your beginnings, where you came from.
And when it comes to that physical nation of Israel, in verse number two, he says,
Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bear you.
For I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.
So God is reminding the covenanted nation of Israel of that day to look back to their past.
Look back where they came from.
They came back from Abraham and from Sarah.
And God had blessed Abraham greatly, and of course God wants to bless his people in the same way.
Now you've got your Bibles, keep a finger there in Isaiah 51.
And come with me to 1 Peter chapter 3, please.
You're there in Isaiah 51, but now turn to 1 Peter chapter 3, please.
1 Peter chapter 3.
So I don't want you to turn off.
I don't want you to go, okay, so God's speaking only to the physical Old Testament nation of Israel.
Because they physically came from Abraham and from Sarah.
And while you're turning to 1 Peter chapter 3, I'm going to read to you from a familiar passage in Galatians 3 7.
That says in Galatians 3 7,
Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
Now if you're of faith, if you put your faith in Christ, guess what?
You're a child of Abraham.
So when God says, Look unto Abraham your father, or I'm a child of Abraham, so yeah Abraham's my father.
He's my father in the faith.
And then it says in verse number 8, Galatians 3 8,
And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham,
saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
So Abraham was blessed, well through Abraham all nations too will be blessed.
And you as a child of Abraham in the nation of Australia, you too can be blessed together with faithful Abraham.
Well what about Sarah? Well you're there in 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse number 5.
1 Peter chapter 3 verse number 5.
This is primarily to women.
It says in verse number 5,
For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God,
adored themselves being in subjection unto their own husbands,
even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters ye are,
as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.
So ladies, you have the additional benefit of not just being a child of Abraham,
but you're identified as a daughter of Sarah.
We know this is speaking spiritually.
Our faith is the same as Abraham and Sarah.
We're blessed like Abraham and Sarah was blessed because of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now come back with me to Isaiah 51.
So I want to paint the picture there.
Of course, Isaiah is preaching to the Old Testament nation,
but we can take the applications and apply that spiritually to us today.
So I don't want you to lose sight about what's being talked about here, what's being preached.
Don't go, ah this is the Old Testament again, it's got nothing to do with me.
It's got everything to do with you.
So let's continue then, verse number 3.
For the Lord shall comfort Zion.
He will comfort all her waste places.
So I want you to think about that.
Zion, you know it's a shortened term for the city of Jerusalem,
but also largely speaking of the nation of Israel.
So what are all her waste places?
It's kind of like Australia, right?
Most Australians, we live on the coast.
Most of us don't live in the middle.
Why?
Because it's like a waste place.
It's like empty.
Okay, it's desert.
Like no one's going to really set up and
I know that real estate is going through the roof and the housing crisis.
No one wants to live though in the middle of Australia, right?
Those are the waste places.
So he says though about Israel, he will comfort all her waste places.
He will make her wilderness like Eden.
So what's Eden?
We know that when God created everything in six days,
he created Eden, then he created the garden in Eden, right?
And of course that was a beautiful garden.
It was a place of perfection and greatness and
Adam and Eve were allowed to eat of every tree except from one.
It's a place of paradise.
Well, God's speaking about making these waste places like Eden.
So when did that already take place?
Or is that still yet to come?
Anyone?
Still to come.
When is God going to make the wilderness out there in the Middle East,
you know, the deserts out there, those arid places like Eden,
it's going to be in the millennium when Christ comes back to rule for a thousand years.
That's what he does, right?
We've already seen this mentioned multiple times in the book of Isaiah.
It says in her desert, like the garden of the Lord,
joy and gladness shall be found therein,
thanksgiving and the voice of melody.
So in the millennium, this nation of Israel or the region of Israel,
whatever you're going to call it, will be a place of thanksgiving
and a place of melody, of singing, praises to God.
Now, we are on the 51st chapter of Isaiah.
So what is the 51st book of the Bible?
Anybody else but Tim?
Ramson, you got your hand that way?
Sorry, brother Tim.
All right, Tim.
Colossians.
Okay, well, next time, none of these two men, okay?
Someone else has to answer, all right?
Colossians.
Keep your finger there and come with me to Colossians chapter 3.
So we've been looking at how the chapters and numbers of the chapters of Isaiah
strangely, coincidentally, God-ordained.
Am I reading too much into it?
I don't know.
But it's just constantly seeing the same themes that are found in the books
lined up by the same number.
So we look at Colossians chapter 3, please.
Colossians chapter 3, verse number 15.
When we get to heaven, we can ask God,
God, did you really intentionally line up every chapter of Isaiah
to sound like every book of the Bible?
We'll find out.
We'll find out, right?
If that was God's true intent.
It seems like it, though.
If you asked me for my personal opinion, I think so.
It seems like it.
All right?
But look at Colossians 3, 15.
It says,
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts,
to the which also ye accord in one body,
and be ye thankful.
There's the thanksgiving.
Be ye thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom,
teaching and admonishing one another
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Well, what do we notice about Isaiah 51, verse number 3?
It says,
Joy and gladness shall be found therein,
thanksgiving and the voice of melody.
All right?
So what do we learn here?
The New Testament's going to be a great place to give God thanks,
a great place to sing praises to the Lord God.
But then with the New Testament, guess what?
You don't need to wait for the millennium.
You can do that now.
When we gather together in one body,
serving the Lord here at Blessed Our Baptist Church,
it ought to be a place of thanksgiving,
thanking God for all that He's done,
for the answered prayers, for His blessings,
and also a place of singing,
making melody in our hearts.
Isaiah 51, verse number 4.
Keep your finger there in Colossians.
We are going to turn to a few other passages.
Isaiah 51, verse number 4.
So God is speaking to the Old Testament nation of Israel,
speaking about a beautiful future that's coming in the millennium.
But again, the Old Testament Jews,
they need to get saved.
In order for that millennium to be wonderful for them,
they need to be like faithful Abraham, like Sarah,
and have placed their faith on Jesus Christ.
Otherwise, they're going to face the wrath of God,
which we're also going to see later in this chapter.
Verse number 4, he says,
Harken unto me, my people,
and give ear unto me, O my nation,
for a law shall proceed from me,
and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.
So God is saying, look, I'm going to judge over this nation,
O my nation, that nation is the nation of Israel.
And before you go, oh, God only cares for the nation of Israel,
look at the next verse, number 5.
My righteousness is near, my salvation is gone forth,
and my, look at this, my arms shall judge the people,
the isles shall wait upon me.
The isles there is a reference we've seen over and over again in the Book of Isaiah,
a reference to the nations,
or a reference to the regions outside of Israel.
So God says he's going to judge the people,
the isles shall wait upon me, look at this,
and on mine arm shall they trust.
So who else will be trusting the Lord in the millennium?
Who else will be waiting upon the Lord in the millennium?
The Gentile isles, the Gentile nations.
So I want you to be very clear that the millennium to come,
yes, Christ is going to rule over the whole earth from Israel,
but all nations, all Gentiles will be subdued under him,
and the vast majority, at least probably at the beginning,
because we know at the end of the millennium,
at the end of a thousand years,
there's a great rebellion that the devil organizes,
as the sand of the sea,
a great rebellion right at the end of the millennium,
but at the beginning of it,
most people obviously are going to come and trust Christ as their Savior.
On mine arm shall they trust,
their trust, their faith will also be on Jesus Christ.
Look at verse number six.
Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
and look upon the earth beneath,
for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke.
Does that sound familiar to you?
You start to notice these words, that's end time stuff.
For the heavens shall vanish away like smoke,
and the earth shall wax old like a garment,
and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner,
but my salvation shall be forever,
and my righteousness shall not be abolished.
So God is saying that there is coming a time
when the heavens are going to vanish away with smoke,
smoke there obviously is a reference,
where there's smoke there's fire, right?
That's the saying, right?
And the earth shall wax old like a garment.
Now when does this take place?
Now I want you to come with me to 2 Peter chapter 12 please.
Come with me to 2 Peter chapter 12,
chapter 3, there's no chapter 12.
2 Peter chapter 3 please,
2 Peter chapter 3 and verse number 12.
2 Peter chapter 3 and verse number 12 please,
2 Peter chapter 3 and verse number 12.
Again these words of the heavens shall vanish away like a smoke
should automatically throw you toward the end times to come.
And it says here in 2 Peter chapter 3 verse number 12,
it says, this is what we should be doing as God's people,
looking for and hasten unto the coming of the day of God,
wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved.
One day the heavens are just going to burn up, all right?
And the elements shall melt with fervent heat.
Now it's not just the fire but we learn from Isaiah,
there's also the smoke, right?
We're going to see all of that, right?
And so God is speaking about this current earth,
this current heaven that we see from this earth,
it's all going to be demolished
and that upsets me past, I've got a house here,
I like Sydney, I like where I live, I love the sunny coast,
whatever it is.
But, you know, this is the thing.
Verse number 13.
Nevertheless we, according to His promise,
look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Remember how Isaiah 51 began,
hearken to me ye that follow after righteousness.
Now, brethren, the place of righteousness ultimately
will be when God creates the new heavens and the new earth.
We can follow after righteousness today, we should be,
we have God's word, we have the Holy Spirit living within us,
but we know we live in a wicked world, okay?
We know we live in a sin-cursed world.
God promises us a new heaven, a new earth to come, all right?
And in that place we'll only dwell righteousness.
Like every person that makes up that place will be brethren,
brothers and sisters in the Lord,
all of us that have been saved of all time.
You know what's going to be nice in heaven?
This is what I think is going to be wonderful in heaven
and the new heavens and the new earth,
is that I don't have to look around and wonder,
is that truly a brother in the Lord?
All right, is this like sometimes you meet people and you're just like,
I don't know if that person's even saved.
I don't know, like he seems to just hate believers,
he seems to hate the Lord.
Like, is he a brother in the Lord? Is he a false prophet?
Is this a true man of God?
You know, that's what frustrates me about the earth today,
is I generally have a good outlook on people.
I usually like to give everybody the benefit of the doubt,
but there are times when I'm like, I don't know about this person.
For the new heavens and the new earth, guess what?
Only righteousness.
Like there's no need to fear, there's no need to doubt,
there's no need to wonder.
Everybody that makes up that place of righteousness will be brothers,
truly saved, people that truly trust in Christ as their savior.
And God's just reminding us
and he's reminding the Old Testament nation of Israel,
because you know, even today,
like, oh, the Holy Land.
It's all going to burn.
What's so good about the land and the dirt?
And you know, people sell like dirt from the Holy Land online
and like waters from the Jordan River online
and you can bless yourself and touch the Holy Land.
It's a place of wickedness.
It's sin-cursed.
Look, we look for the new heavens and new earth.
We ought to be happy when the Lord begins to destroy this earth.
Now, one thing I do want to be clear though,
one thing that I do notice amongst brethren in 2 Peter 3,
maybe you even have that perception right now,
which I want to clarify.
When we read about the heavens being dissolved,
the elements burnt, melted with fervent heat
and then looking forward to the new heavens and new earth,
that is not talking about the ultimate destruction of this current earth.
When the Bible speaks of the heavens being melted and all that kind of stuff,
that has to do with God's wrath, okay?
So after the rapture, after the great tribulation and the rapture comes
and we're caught up together with the Lord in the clouds,
then Christ begins to bring down His wrath upon the earth.
And that is a reference to what we just read there.
For example, if you just look at verse number 10 in 2 Peter 3, verse number 10,
look at the reference there in 2 Peter 3, verse number 10.
It says,
So we know when Christ comes, God's wrath falls upon this earth,
a lot of His wrath is going to be fire, okay?
And we know when Christ comes that the heaven will open like a scroll,
there's going to be some type of heavenly, I don't know.
I mean the Bible tells me the sun turns dark, that the moon turns to blood,
that the stars from heaven fall on the earth.
I mean it's just a place of catastrophe.
And of course, much of God's wrath is the burning up of the grass,
the seas are going to turn to blood.
I mean it's just going to be such a destructive time.
But even then when the earth is left so desolate
and the cities crumble, then Christ comes back,
rejuvenates the earth for a thousand years,
but when those thousand years are over,
Christ then gives the kingdom to the Father
and the Father creates then the new heaven and the new earth.
Okay, I want you to understand that chronology, all right?
But the day of the Lord is referencing a thief in the night
when the unbelieving world cannot see the coming of Christ.
But the Bible tells us that when we see the sun turn to darkness
and the moon to blood, that we ought to lift up our heads
for a redemption drawer of night.
Okay, that's when the rapture takes place.
All right, come back with me to Isaiah 51 please.
Isaiah 51 and verse number 7 is what we're up to.
Verse number 7 where we have the title for the sermon tonight.
Harken unto me, ye that know righteousness,
the people in whose hearts is my law.
Okay, so who are those that know righteousness?
Those whose heart is my law.
Where if God's law is in your heart,
you are those people that know righteousness.
I want you to understand this.
Again, the Old Testament nation of Israel,
they were not all saved.
Now were some saved?
Of course, Isaiah, okay?
And plus many other great men of God,
other believers there of that day were saved.
So verse number 7 is speaking to the Old Testament covenant nation of Israel,
but to those that are saved.
Those that know righteousness, those whose heart is my law.
He says, fear ye not the reproach of men,
neither be ye afraid of their reviolence.
All right?
So he's telling his people, he's telling his saved people,
don't be afraid of men.
Now, this comes forward to the end times
because before the Jesus Christ raptures his believers,
there's a time of great tribulation, right?
When men, when the earth, when the antichrist is persecuting God's people.
And of course, I guess naturally they might form in your heart a fear of men,
but God is telling you, look, don't be afraid of these wicked people.
Don't be afraid of their reproach.
Now let me be very clear that what God is saying there in verse number 7
All right?
Now, if you're fast enough to turn there, go there,
otherwise I'll just read it to you, but Hebrews chapter 8,
Hebrews chapter 8 and verse number 8,
because this is important when it comes to the transition
from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant.
And in Hebrews 8, 8, Hebrews 8, 8, the Bible says,
For finding fault with them, that's with the Old Testament Israel,
He saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
when I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
So there's an Old Covenant, God says I'm going to make a New Covenant.
You know, we often refer to that as the Old Testament and the New Testament.
It's the one and the same, all right?
So this is what God says about the New Testament in verse number 9.
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers
in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt,
because they continued not in My covenant,
and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
He says, Old Testament Israel, they did not regard My,
sorry, they did not continue in My covenant,
therefore I do not regard them.
I want you to kind of absorb into your mind.
I want you to think about the Jews today, all right?
Now, I've been told, you hate the Jews.
I don't hate the Jews, okay?
My wife is 1% Ashkenazi Jew.
I don't hate my wife 1%, okay?
I don't hate Jews, okay?
We just need to understand what the Bible says here, all right?
God says, I do not regard those people.
I don't regard those that do not continue in My covenant.
Because if they, if they listened to Moses,
if they believed Moses, they would have believed on Jesus Christ.
They do not uphold the covenant of God that God's given those people.
So God does not regard them.
And then I'm supposed to regard them?
Why should I do something that God doesn't do?
I don't understand.
Am I more righteous than God? Am I more loving than God?
No, God doesn't regard them, so I don't regard them.
Okay? They're just normal people that need Jesus.
That's it.
Nothing special about them.
Nothing special about the dirt that they sit on.
There's nothing special.
God does not regard them, all right?
But God says a new covenant's coming, okay?
A covenant that's available to everybody.
He says this in verse number 10.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days.
Save the Lord.
He says this.
I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts.
And I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.
That's very important.
So who are the people of God?
Those who He's put His laws into their mind and written them in their hearts.
It's those that make up the new covenant.
God's creating a new covenant.
The New Testament.
The New Testament in the blood of Jesus Christ.
So those that are in the new covenant, God says,
I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.
So who are God's people today?
Those under the new covenant.
No, no, no.
They say, Pastor Kevin, you don't understand.
The Jews, they're God's people.
Are they in the new covenant?
No.
If they've not trusted Jesus as their Savior, they're not in the new covenant.
They are not the people of God.
The Bible can't be any clearer.
This is why you are blessed with faithful Abraham,
because he's a father of many nations, the Bible says.
And anybody of any nation that is in the new covenant,
you've trusted the blood of Jesus Christ,
then the God of the Bible is your God, and you are His people.
So you need to understand that God is expressing how the old covenants,
yes, they are the people of God under the old covenant,
but if they're not saved, they are not truly His people.
The new covenant has come where you can truly,
everybody under this covenant can be the people of God.
So when you go back to Isaiah 51, if you've turned away,
you're going to understand that Isaiah is right into the Old Testament nation of Israel.
Verse number 7, are to the saved.
The people in whose heart is my law.
And then verse number 8, are to the people in that old covenant that are not saved.
He says,
For the moth shall eat them up like a garment,
and the worm shall eat them like wool,
but my righteousness shall be forever,
and my salvation from generation to generation.
Alright?
So we should not be afraid of men,
we should not be afraid of those that persecute us.
At the same time, those that are not in the new covenant
will be people like those that the moth eats up, like a garment.
And look, these words are not pointless.
The fact that the moth is mentioned,
we know that when Christ speaks in Matthew 6-19,
for example he says,
Lay up not for yourself treasures upon earth,
where moth and rust are corrupt,
and where thieves break through and steal.
You know, Jesus Christ wants us to lay up our treasures in heaven.
So where are the no moths that corrupt and eat garments?
In heaven.
So if some people are going to be eating up like a moth eats up a garment,
they're not going to be in heaven.
They're going to be in hell.
And then when it says,
And the worm shall eat them like wool,
well of course Christ also taught on this in Mark 9-44 for example.
He says,
Where their worm die if not,
and the fire is not quenched.
And we know that's a reference to hell.
A place of torments, day and night, forever and ever.
So God is speaking about his people,
whose law is in their hearts,
and everybody else who's not those people,
they're going to be destroyed in everlasting fire.
This is why, in verse number 9, then he says this,
Awake! Awake!
Put on strength, O arm of the Lord!
Awake!
As in the ancient days, in the generations of old!
Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab and wounded the dragon?
Rahab or Rahab here is not Rahab the woman in the Bible that we're familiar with.
Rahab here is a reference to Egypt.
There's a few times in your Bible that Rahab, that term, is referenced as Egypt.
You'll find that a few times sometimes in the Psalms, things like that.
So it's seen how God is the one that can deliver,
God is the one that can save,
and the wounded dragon would be Pharaoh,
but by extension you could say Satan.
We know that Satan is that great dragon,
but the dragon in many ways is the reference to Pharaoh here.
He's wounded Pharaoh, he's wounded the dragon.
This is why it's about Egypt, because in verse number 10 he says,
Art thou not it which have dried the sea,
the waters of the great deep,
that have made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?
We know that sea that gave way for them to pass over,
of course, was the Red Sea,
so again you can see how it's a reference to Egypt.
That God destroyed the armies of Egypt as the people of God passed over the Red Sea.
Verse number 11,
Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return,
and come with singing unto Zion,
and everlasting joy shall be upon their head,
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
Now, again, when I read verse number 11,
I just take that quite literally there, all right?
A place of everlasting joy, okay?
This is coming for the people of God.
A time of everlasting, meaning your joy never ends.
Like your joy is not going to be interrupted by sorrow.
Your joy is not going to be interrupted by mourning.
Now look, I have joy in my heart even tonight, okay?
I have joy in my heart for being saved.
I have joy in my heart being amongst Blessed Old Baptist Church,
what a great church you guys are, by the way.
I've got joy in my heart thinking about Christmas coming
and people remembering the Lord Jesus Christ,
and I have joy in my heart for those that are going to be here on Sunday
for service and enjoying a Christmas lunch together.
But we also understand that today, maybe tomorrow, there might be sadness.
Maybe there's sadness today, right?
Our joy gets interrupted on this earth today.
Well, once the millennium hits, okay, it's going to be a time of everlasting joy.
And when God creates a new heaven and a new earth
and wipes away all tears from all eyes, everlasting joy, okay,
this is the promise that God has given us.
And then he says this in verse number 12.
I, even I, am He that comforth you.
Who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die,
and of the Son of Man which shall be made as grass?
Because why are you afraid of men? I can comfort you.
Because men like grass.
You know, when you get a lawnmower, that's God.
That's how God sees men, just you cutting your grass on a summer's day.
God just wipes out your enemies like that.
It's not a big deal for him.
Why are you afraid of grass?
That's kind of what God's saying.
The fear of man is like fearing grass.
Why do we fear man?
Why is God saying this?
Again, you need to understand that there's a longer vision here
of the great tribulation to come.
Like, we're looking forward to the millennia, looking forward to the new heavens and the new earth,
but there's going to be a lot of hardship before that happens.
There's going to be a lot of destruction.
There's going to be a lot of persecution that's going to come.
But for those that are going to go through that end time period,
God does not want you to be afraid of man.
He's going to be the one that comforts us.
Now, I think you've got a finger in Colossians.
Come with me to Colossians chapter one.
Colossians chapter one.
Colossians one.
Sorry, Colossians four.
Colossians four.
And verse number seven.
Colossians four, verse number seven.
Because, you know, again, we don't have to wait for the millennium.
Like, we need to understand we also live in 2024, coming up to 2025.
And if there's sadness and sorrow in your heart today, we need to go to the Lord God.
But did you know God has also given our brothers and sisters in this church to comfort one another?
It's true.
Like, I'm comforted when I see you guys here on a Thursday night.
I truly am.
I really appreciate you guys.
You know, I hope when you look around this church, I hope you've got friends.
I hope you've developed friendships in this church.
I hope that you could say when I'm going through a hard time or have a great need that I can reach out to my church brethren
and I know they'll have my back.
I know they'll be there for me.
I hope that that's the case.
You know, it takes time.
If you're newer to the church, you might take a bit of time to develop that kind of friendship.
But we're here to comfort one another.
And in Colossians four, verse number seven.
In the Colossian church it says,
Paul is telling the Colossian church, look, I want to be there.
We often read about this in Paul, right?
I mean, the reason he's writing a letter is because he can't be there in person.
Okay, because I want to be there, but I'm going to say Antichokos.
He's going to care for your state.
He's going to see what you need and he's going to come and comfort your hearts.
Brethren, there is nothing more than God wants than for your hearts to be comforted.
I want you to understand this.
Alright, do we get depressed? Yes.
Do we get sad and sorrowful and cast down? Yes.
We're human beings.
We go through hard times.
Okay, we go through times of loneliness.
We go through times of stress.
We go through times of betrayal.
Whatever it is.
And your hearts get heavy.
Okay, and when your hearts get heavy, I don't want you to turn around and go,
I must be such a hopeless failure of a Christian.
No, when your hearts get heavy, then you need comfort.
Okay, and you know who your comforter is.
And Jesus says he's sending another comforter, which is the Holy Spirit of God.
Brethren, you have a comforter that dwells your hearts tonight.
You go to God, you say, God, comfort me by your Holy Spirit.
And I'm telling you, God is true to his word.
He will comfort you.
And sometimes God gives us a church of brethren as the vehicle by which he will comfort you.
So brethren, I just want you to consider this because God wants to express his desire for his people
not to be fearful of man and tribulations and troubles.
He wants you to be comforted.
He wants you to be comforted tonight.
And I hope as your pastor, I don't know how good I am actually,
but I hope I can give you comfort sometimes, right?
If you're going through some hardships, feel free to call me.
Happy to talk to you, happy to pray for you.
I know I can't be with you in person all the time, but I can definitely pray with you over the phone.
I can take you, you know, in other times I can take you to prayer.
You know, I want you to know that as your pastor, you know, just like Tychicus,
like a man who's a leader being sent to the church there,
I want that, I want to be that person for you.
And I would love for you to be that person for me in return.
Because you know, there are times this pastor needs to comfort it as well.
Because we're all human beings and we all have different struggles and difficulties in life.
Keep your finger there in Colossians, come back with me to Isaiah 51.
When we become fearful of men and our hearts full of sorrow,
it's not uncommon in verse number 13 for us to forget the Lord.
And forget us the Lord thy maker, you fear man, you need to be comforted,
God wants to comfort you, we just forget God.
Forget us God thy maker, that have stretched forth the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth,
and has feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor,
as if he were ready to destroy.
And where is the fury of the oppressor?
Where is the fury of the oppressor?
You know, God's asking you the question like,
Oh, I'm being oppressed, I'm being persecuted, I was so fearful.
God is asking like, have you forgotten me?
Have you forgotten your maker, the one who's created heaven to lay the foundations of the earth?
It's amazing to me.
It's amazing to me that our God, like we're here at church right now, right?
We're here to praise Jesus Christ.
We're praising the Lord.
He's our God.
He's our Saviour.
And yet when we go through problems, how often do we think,
God, you've forgotten me?
Or like, we forget God, we forget to go to God.
I was talking to someone just yesterday,
and I was expressing that when my family gets sick, like it's funny,
like when I hear about you guys are sick or whatever,
someone's sick and not doing well, I run quickly and pray to God for you.
But when my own family or I get sick, I forget to pray to God.
I was like, what? Why? What in the world?
Like when it affects you directly, you just kind of forget, right?
But when it's someone else, it's easier to remember to pray and take them to God.
And it's so crazy because he's telling us like,
the man who persecutes us, like what?
Like he said, it's grass.
Like God's created everything.
God's created the world.
Like God's created every star and planet and the earth and the oceans and the animals
and it's still going after over 6,000 years.
It's still going.
It still works.
Generations are born after generation.
God blesses the womb and brings forth children.
Time and time again, God just creates and creates.
He's the creator of all things.
He's such a high and mighty maker and we forget to go to him when we have troubles.
Like if he can do that, how much more can he comfort you and sort out your problems?
If he can do that, how much more can he sort out your oppressor?
The one who persecutes you.
Why do we get so caught up?
Sometimes people, you know, I don't know.
Maybe I think too highly about myself.
I don't know.
But I don't know why people hate me.
Like I don't actively try to hurt people.
Honestly, I don't have time.
Maybe if I was idle, maybe I would start figuring out how to hurt people.
I don't know.
I just don't have time.
I don't have time to just create enemies.
But people hate me.
And it's no surprise because they hated Jesus Christ as well.
But I don't really understand because I'm not really trying to hurt anybody.
And you know, it's so interesting that just serving the Lord,
just loving the Lord, just praising Him creates enemies.
It's like, why?
And we get why because men are sinners.
But I still don't get why.
You know, I just don't get it.
I think partly it's because I got saved at such a young age.
I didn't live like this long life being an unsaved sort of enemy of God.
I didn't live this long life where I just, you know, doing my own.
Well, I mean, I guess I still do my own thing.
We have free will.
Like not understanding God's judgment upon my life.
I never really had that kind of experience.
So I don't know what it's like to be an unsaved person
who then might develop hatred for God's people.
It doesn't make sense to me.
But if you can, I think you're in Colossians.
Come with me to Colossians chapter 1, please.
Colossians chapter 1.
So when people hate me, when there's fury of the oppressor,
because I don't get it,
and I don't have time to get involved in drama,
I just don't have the time.
I feel like other people want to fight for me.
I just don't worry about it, okay?
Because I truly just think about this, that God's created all things.
God's created that oppressor as well.
God sees all things.
If I've done something to offend them or hurt them,
God knows, then God can judge me as well.
God can search my heart, and I'm sure,
hopefully there's no wicked way in me,
but I guess sometimes there is because I'm just a sinner.
But I just know in the bottom of my heart
that God will balance the books.
I know that judgment and vengeance belong to the Lord.
And I'm not saying I'm such a mature believer.
If someone hates me, it doesn't really bother me.
I don't get that worked up about them.
I might get a bit sad. It's like, well, why?
It doesn't really make a lot of sense.
But at the end of the day, I'm just too busy to care.
And to me, it's like, if they're going to do something wicked toward me,
then God's going to sort it out.
So it's a lesson that I've learned,
and I hope it's a lesson that you can learn as well.
But you know how God spoke of himself being a creator of all things.
Look at Colossians 1.16, speaking about Jesus.
Colossians 1.16.
For by him were all things created. Did you know that?
By Jesus. Jesus created all things.
That are in heaven.
That are in earth.
Visible and invisible.
You know there's an invisible world, like right now in this pulpit?
All kind of microorganisms that we can't even see.
Like, the world is full of micro...
I've got all these bacteria, all little parasites and all things in my body,
just like you. We can't even see them.
God created those things too.
Things that we don't see.
I can't see the atom, but God created it.
You know? I mean, everything.
The heavens.
All the heavenly objects up there.
Alright? Then it says this.
Whether they be thrones, or dominions,
these are all powers on the earth.
Or principalities.
Or powers.
All things were created by him and for him.
Wow.
Brethren, you were created by God and you were created for him.
For Jesus.
It's just amazing that this is the God.
This is the big God that we serve.
Creator of all things.
Why should we fear men?
Why should we fear oppressors? God created them too.
God sees their actions.
God sees their wicked behaviour.
God hears their words.
God knows their hearts.
God created them.
God's going to get worked up about it.
The grass. God's going to mow the grass in due time.
Leave it in his hands.
Like if God can create a dry pathway in the Red Sea,
how can you not sort out your oppressor?
Just leave it to God.
Easier said than done, I know.
But I promise you, as you grow and you mature in the Lord,
I promise you, if your heart is in the Lord,
in his word,
you will start to just not care
for the oppressors and the people that say horrible things about you.
You're just going to stop caring.
And I've gotten to that point where I literally don't care.
Like I said, it makes me a little bit sad,
but it's in the Lord's hands.
And somehow, the blessings of the Lord are always just around the corner anyway.
Back to Isaiah 51, verse number 14.
Title for the sermon was Fear Not the Reproach of Men.
Fear not the reproach of men.
And the one that fights for me is the creator of all things,
including the one that reproaches me.
Including the one that oppresses me.
God's the creator of that individual.
Verse number 14.
The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed,
and that he should not die in the pit,
nor that his bread should fail.
So God is speaking about captives.
Now this could be, again, a reference to the coming judgment of God by Babylon,
or this could be a reference to the great tribulation,
the persecution against God's people by mystery Babylon.
One of the two Babylons.
Okay, verse number 15.
Again, who are God's people?
The ones who he wrote his law in their hearts.
Those that are of the new covenant.
Now what's interesting about the words in verse number 16,
he really told us he's the creator of heavens and earth,
but now he's telling us that he's covered in thee by the shadow of his hand,
that he may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth.
Hold on, God, you already did that.
Yeah, he's going to create a new heaven and a new earth.
Remember, he's going to create it all over again.
A new one for us.
Verse number 17.
Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem,
which has drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury.
Thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling and wrung them out.
All right, now let's go back to Old Testament Israel here.
Have they drunken the cup of God's fury?
Yes.
Babylon is coming, but don't forget Assyria.
Remember we saw that earlier?
After they took out the northern kingdom of Israel,
they then came and caused a lot of trouble in the southern kingdom, right?
They attempted a takeover of the southern kingdom, but it didn't work out.
But they tasted God's fury, okay, temporarily.
God then delivered them by the hand of a mighty angel.
Then he says this in verse number 18.
There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she have brought forth,
neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she have brought up.
So God is saying, or Isaiah is saying, there's nobody that can help this Israel against God's fury.
Verse 19.
These two things are come unto thee, who shall be sorry for thee?
No one's going to be upset when you get taken over, right?
Desolation and destruction and the famine and the sword,
by whom shall I comfort thee?
So God wants to comfort us.
But then he says, who can comfort you though, if you're going to face the wrath of God?
Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net.
They are full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God.
So these sons that are going to die, fight in the Babylonians.
Therefore, hear now this, thou afflicted and drunken, but not with wine,
thus saith thy Lord the Lord, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people,
behold, I have taken out thine hand to the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury,
thou shalt no more drink it again.
So God has offered Israel a cup of his fury.
And Israel, or I should say Judah, the southern kingdom,
they've drunken of that cup of God's fury, symbolically,
and they've drunken the dregs.
Do you know what dregs are?
The particles, the leftovers.
If you have like an orange juice, and you have all the particles of the orange down the bottom kind of thing,
meaning that you've drunk it all, like you've taken the full fury of God's wrath.
Now they've already tasted it by the hands of the Assyrians,
but they're going to face the full brunt of it by Babylon.
And again, God's just warning them.
God's giving them chance after chance to get things right with him.
And again, if you want to take this application, I believe you can, to the end times,
Babylon in that sense, and God's fury, you could do that,
but again, we're talking about then obviously not the new covenant of people,
people that have rejected Jesus.
They're the people that are going to face the fury of God, God's judgment.
When the heavens are dissolved, when the earth is destroyed by God's wrath,
the people are going to face God's wrath are those that have rejected Christ.
Again, I want you to be able to separate Old Testament Israel with the saved and the unsaved.
And the unsaved obviously are going to face God's fury.
Verse number 23.
But, so God says, look, I'm going to take away that cup of fury from you.
He's going to give it to another person, another nation.
Verse number 23.
But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee,
which have said to thy soul, bow down, that we may go over,
and thou hast laid thy body as the ground and as the street to them that went over.
So those that went over them, those that destroyed them, Babylon,
God's going to take his fury and give it to Babylon to drink
because then Babylon's going to get destroyed by the Medo-Persian Empire.
God does the same thing in the end times.
Mystery Babylon is drunk by the blood of the saints, made drunk by the blood of the saints.
And then he wipes out Mystery Babylon strangely by the hand of the Antichrist.
Did you know that?
And then Christ comes back and then destroys the Antichrist himself.
So you could take it two ways.
Obviously the primary application is for the nation of Israel at the time of Isaiah.
All right, brethren, I hope that makes sense to you.
It was a bit of a Bible study, a bit of understanding, you know,
the parallels between Old Testament Israel and Millennium Israel.
Of course, Millennium Israel is made up of all believers of all time.
Okay?
And we're going to be giving God thanks.
We're going to be rejoicing, singing melodies, praising God.
Everlasting joy.
Okay?
But of course God is warning the Old Testament nation of Israel of those that are unsaved,
obviously, that they will face destruction if they do not come into the New Covenant.
All right?
And of course God used Assyria, Babylon, these nations to bring his judgment upon those people.
All right, title for the sermon tonight was Fear Not the Approach of Men.
Brethren, the best thing you can do in life is just to fear God.
You've got to fear something.
Just fear God.
It's all sorted once you fear God.
God is far greater than any man on this earth.
All right, let's pray.