(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Alright, we're going to dig right in here, Isaiah chapter 44. Look down here, verse number 1, the Bible reads, Yet now hear, O Jacob, my servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen. Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee. Fear not, O Jacob, my servant, and thou, Jesuarion, whom I have chosen. Now, just this this phrase here is extremely important for people to understand, especially Christians understand, says, Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb. God makes every human being and forms and fashions them from the womb. From before you're born, from that moment you're conceived, God forms and fashions every person that comes into this world. Real quick, keep your place here. Flip forward to Jeremiah chapter number 1. Just real quick, I want to show you the same exact idea, the same exact concept. It's in multiple places where we're going to look at one more. In Jeremiah chapter 1, verse number 4, the Bible says, Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, So what we're going to read is literally the word of the Lord being spoken to Jeremiah the prophet, Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. And before thou cameest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and I redeemed thee, a prophet, and of the nations. So God's saying, Before I even formed you, I knew you. Because God's outside of time, right? So God knew way in the eternity past that he was going to make Jeremiah and make him a prophet and everything else. But regardless of the timing of that, what I'm focusing on here is that God formed Jeremiah in the belly. Why am I making a point of this? Because people today seem to think that if you destroy what's being formed in the belly, that that's just fine, and that's not murder, and that's not killing through the form of abortion, through the form of terminating pregnancies. What you're doing is you're fighting against God, who is forming and fashioning human life inside of a womb Very clearly, that's what God does. And you have the audacity to think that you could just go in there and exterminate the work that God is doing inside of every single womb of a mother with child. And then people have the audacity to say, Oh yeah, I'm a Christian. Now look, you can be saved and have an abortion because salvation's a free gift, but don't go around calling yourself a Christian. You know what it means to be a Christian? It means you're following God, you're following Christ, I'm a Christ follower. If you're killing life, you're not following Christ very well. And especially the blood of the innocent. Especially innocent life. I mean, it's not like you're executing justice upon some extremely wicked person that deserves capital punishment or something. You're doing the exact opposite. You're killing those that need protection the most. It's disgusting. God is the one that forms people in the belly. God does that. Every single person. And it shows you how special every single person is because God is taking the time to form everybody in the belly. Let's go back to Isaiah chapter 44. That's just one little small point and aspect I just want to point out real quick in this passage. There's a lot of stuff here. So let's keep moving forward. Verse number two again, Thus saith the Lord that made thee and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee. Fear not, O Jacob, my servant, and thou, Jezirim, whom I have chosen. Now this, I'm not going to get real in-depth in this either, but Jezirim is really the only time that it's spelled this way in the scripture. It's only found like four times total in the Bible. The only other place I think is in Deuteronomy where it's talking about Jezirim with an H instead of just an S there. That literally is just talking about Jacob or Israel. I mean, it's not. It's just another name for it. There's not a whole lot to it, but I just want to point that out to you so you don't get confused on what that means. And that's why it says, Fear not, O Jacob, my servant, and thou, Jezirim, whom I have chosen. It's just a restatement of what was there previously. Verse number three, for I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour my spirit upon thy head and my blessing upon thine offspring. And I love just all these verbs and adjectives he's using here. This great outpouring of blessing and God's goodness to the needy, to the dry, to the thirsty. He's saying, what's being expressed here is just this overflowing of God's blessing. He's saying, I'm just going to pour it out on you. I'm going to pour out water upon anyone who's thirsty. He's not saying, I'm just going to give you a little taste. I'm going to pour out a whole bunch of water for the thirsty. I'm going to, you know, floods upon the dry ground. Not a little sprinkling, not a little covering. He says, there's going to be floods of water. Way more than enough to satisfy the thirsty, the dry, the needy. He's got to pour out my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine offspring. So just as much as you can imagine, you know, a dry land just getting flooded. This is actually what they do in Arizona when they irrigate the land. You know, Arizona's a desert. The ground gets really dry. And depending on where you live, if you live in Phoenix, they actually have pipes in the ground. They flood the yards. You have to open up the pipe and then the water comes up and you end up flooding and saturating your ground with water. And that physical example is also being applied even in the same verse spiritually. So imagine just the sight of the dry ground, cracked ground, just receiving, getting flooded with water, and how much relief and life that brings them back into the earth and back in the ground. That's what God is doing with people. He says he's going to pour out his spirit upon your seed, upon your children. He says, my blessing upon thine offspring. When you serve God, the amount of blessings that God can bring forth and just kind of overflow on you and on your seed and on your loved ones, that's awesome to think about that. And that we should be continually looking to be in God's good graces and be pleasing in his sight, be people who God wants to bless because we're just listening to him or respecting him. We're showing reverence to his name and, you know, just being pleasing in his sight. That's where we want to be because God is fully capable of giving so much blessing. Verse 4, and they shall spring up as among the grass as willows by the watercourses. One shall say, I am the Lord's, and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob, and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord and surname himself by the name of Israel. So basically it's just saying, you know, a lot of people might be calling themselves something different, but they're all going to be still receiving him and looking to him, whether they call themselves by the name of Israel or saying, I'm the Lord's. I think this reminds me a lot of 1 Corinthians where it's saying, one say I'm of Paul, one say I'm of Apollos, and I'm of Christ, and I'm of Cephas, but they are still all, even though they might have been incorrect and looking too much to one person, they're all still ultimately followers of Christ and serving the Lord. And this is, I think, kind of similar to what was being expressed in the New Testament. Look at verse number 6, the Bible says, Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first and I am the last, and beside me there is no God. Now when the statement comes up multiple times in Isaiah 43, 44, 45, I've covered it a lot extensively already, but we're going to cover it still just a little bit again because there's different points and different aspects that I didn't cover last week, I'm going to be covering this week, and then even more next week. So there's a lot of different things that can be brought up and different doctrines that go along with this, and I think one of the things that's really interesting, when it just comes to the Trinity, understanding the Trinity, understanding who God is, how God can exist in three persons and still be one God, when we see things like, and here in verse 6, Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer. Whose Redeemer? The Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts. So it's still God, but this lines up with something I think it's even a little bit more explicit, what we see in John chapter 20. You don't have to turn if you want to, you can just make references. John chapter 20 verse 17, Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father and to my God and your God. So like Jesus was saying, and this is why Jehovah's Witnesses and other people who don't believe in the deity of Christ, they look at a verse like this, and they'll say like, well see look, how could he be God? Because he's saying right here, I'm going to my God and your God. If the Lord is his God, then how can he be God? It's because they're distinct persons while still retaining God. He's not saying that he's not God, but within the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, there's also an authority structure within that one God. And you see this also throughout scripture, which is why some people get confused I think. Some people just aren't saved at all, but some other people get confused in this, in understanding this. Just because there's authority structure still doesn't mean that there's not one God, and that the Trinity doesn't exist, right? So Jesus Christ is fully God, and while he's fully man, you know, on this earth, he was both, but he was fully God, fully deity. The Holy Ghost is fully God, and the Father is fully God as well. And, you know, I think most people here have been involved in Christianity for a while, understanding we've been reading your Bible a lot. This is a little bit more of a mystery. The Bible calls that, you know, that is a mystery, but that God was manifest in the flesh. So, but it's the only way to fully reconcile everything in the Word of God, and it does reconcile everything perfectly when you look at various statements. And that's why, you know, when we're understanding who God is, we take the whole Bible, and you can't just take one or two verses and just get all of your doctrine from that, especially when we're looking at who God is. Because you could look at this one and say, oh, well, see, Jesus must not be God there, because he said, well, I'm going to my God and your God, so obviously he's going to his God. Well, what about when Jesus said there is none good but one and that is God? I brought that up last week. Or Hebrews 1-8, if you did the Bible memory passage, you know this verse. Hebrews 1-8 says, but unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever, a scepter of righteousness is a scepter of thy kingdom. So you've got John 20, where Jesus is saying he's going to my God and your God, but then you have Hebrews 1-8 where God the Father is speaking unto the Son, saying, Thy throne, O God. So Jesus is being called God, while Jesus is calling Father God, right? Because both are true. Both are true. They have to be true. It's in the Word of God. And then, thank God, we have verses like 1 John 5-7, right, that say, you know, for there are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. John 1-1, in the beginning was the Word, Word is with God, and Word was God. Same as in the beginning with God. So this concept of God being split in a way, right, if you want to think about it that way, into three persons makes sense. And even looking at Isaiah 44-6, you know, Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel and His Redeemer, right? The Lord of hosts, I am the first, and I am the last. Beside me there is no God. So there is no other God. It's not that there's multiple gods. There's one God, but God exists as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And these three are one. And it is a bit of a mystery, and sometimes it can be hard to put into words, even though it's ultimately not that hard of a concept. And I've taught this before, I'll teach you again. I think, in my opinion, the best way, and everyone has their own opinion on what's the best way to explain things. Some people like to use an egg as an example. I previously would use, oftentimes, you know, water as an example. Water exists as a solid, liquid, a gas, but it's still all H2O. The molecular composition is H2O. Two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen. Whether you're looking at ice, whether you're looking at vapor, you know, whether you're looking at water, it's all still the same substance, the same essence, the same thing. In relating that to God, it's still God. Whether it's the Father, whether it's the Son, whether it's the Holy Spirit, it's all still God. But it's in these three different forms, manifestations, persons, and all those words are important in describing and nailing down the doctrine. Persons is important because there is different wills. We see Jesus Christ saying, not my will be done, but thy will. We see that Jesus is subservient to the will of the Father. But what's also important to understand is that there still isn't a contradiction. Even though they're separate wills, there is no contradiction because they are still share being God, right? So there's a unity. And like Jesus would say, just as I am in you and you are in me, right? And there's oneness and unity in the sense that they're God. But there's distinction and separation in the persons being very clearly distinct. And you just, you can't go too far one way or the other with this doctrine of going too far on the distinction into where you end up making three different gods, or too far on the oneness side of there being one God of just saying, well, Jesus is the Father and is the Holy Spirit, and it's all just, it's just all the same thing and just a different name for the same thing. You know, it's like, no, that's not it either. Because, I mean, that doesn't make sense. If you think about the, during the millennial reign of Christ, the Father is going to give the authority unto the Son and the Son is going to rule over everything. And then when the thousand years expire, then the Son is going to deliver authority back up to the Father. And, you know, there's going to be a little bit of a role reversal in the sense of the authority structure. But it's still God, still one God. So, again, and if you struggle with that, you know, don't, don't let it drive you nuts, first of all, okay? Because a lot of times you can, you know, trying to figure out some things that are a little bit deeper can start to make you crazy. I would just, you know, you start, just read the verses that I quoted a bunch of them and reference some of them, you know, and just read them over and over again, all these different verses that talk about God, you know, I brought a few of them up here, and just kind of meditate on them, let it sink in, how this can, how this can be. And you, you have to realize, well, I just have to accept it for what it is, too, even if I don't fully grasp it. How exactly does it all play out? How does that work? Physically speaking, well, I don't know. I mean, God's a spirit. So, how does that, how does that work? Physically, we don't, we don't, we don't fully understand. We understand things very physically in this earth, because that's what we deal with, with the matter. The spiritual world is different in the physics, right? I mean, physics is for the physical realm. The spiritual realm is a little bit different. We see Jesus had a spiritual body, yet he was able to appear inside of a room with all the doors closed. We know that there are angels and devils, that these creatures exist, and they actually walk to and fro about the earth, but we don't even necessarily see them. We know that God has opened up eyes of people before to be able to see angels, and be able to see these chariots, and be able to see these things that are real and exist, and could be, you know, potentially even in this room right now, but we don't even see it, because it's in the spiritual realm or dimension or however you want to think about it. We really lack a lot of understanding on that plane, so not fully grasping how God can exist in three persons and be one God, don't let that trouble you too much. Just put your faith in the word of God, and say this doesn't have to be an error. This doesn't, you know, accept it for what it says. It really does reconcile when you get everything together, and you start thinking about it and putting all the pieces together. It does fit, but it just could take a little bit of time to kind of mull it over and review everything, but anyhow, I don't want any of these sermons to just be full on Trinity sermons, but this topic comes up a lot, because we see it a lot in Isaiah 43, 44, and 45 specifically, so let's keep going here in Isaiah chapter 44, because I do want to cover up one, cover one other point that I didn't get to cover last week when I was debunking the Jehovah's false witnesses and their doctrine and understanding of who Jesus is and Jesus not being God and stuff like that. Look at verse number seven, the Bible says, and who as I shall call and shall declare it, 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, is there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God, I know not any. Now, one of the things, and I brought this up briefly last week, but I didn't cover it, and turn it over to Psalm 82, one of the objections from Jehovah's false witnesses as well as anyone else who might want to claim that Jesus is not deity, is not God, when we see references to Jesus being God, or I've had them say this before, when I brought up to a Jehovah's witness that, well what about John 1-1, right? And last week I mentioned how the New World Translation says, in the beginning it was a word, and it was with God, and the word was a God. They have no problem with that, and what they'll say is, well I mean Jesus said you're gods, and what they end up doing is quoting when Jesus says, what they like to try to do to answer that, Jesus said in John 10-34, we're going to go to John 10 as soon as we're done in Psalm 82, but Jesus is quoting Psalm 82, so we're going to start there first, and then we're going to look and see what Jesus said in John and why he said it, because they like to apply this verse completely incorrectly and out of context as for what he's talking about. In John 10-34, the Bible says Jesus answered them, is it not written in your law, I said ye are gods. If he called them gods, under whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken, save him whom the father has sanctified and sent in the world, thou blest be missed because I said I am the son of God, so they're going to say, see Jesus is being real clear, even the Bible says that there's gods, and they like to just use that as their answer, but I mentioned this last week, and I'm going to reiterate myself again, if you are involved in a discussion with someone, and you think it's valuable, it's worth your time, like they're not just closing their ears and have a stiff neck and don't want to hear it, where you're actually making some progress potentially, or they're giving you an audience to listen and actually think about what you're saying and consider it, right, because if they're closed off, and they're just a heretic and just wanting to fight you every step, it's not worth it, and you ought to just save your breath and maybe pray to God that something will change in their heart that where they could be receptive again, but ultimately there's no point in just winning an argument, it's just it's going to do no good, but if you have a person who's willing to listen and being receptive, then here's what I say, you want to pin them down on these very important details, like pointing out that Jesus is God is extremely important, no Jehovah's Witness is going to get saved unless they could recognize that Jesus Christ is God, you have to understand, you have to believe that, that's non-negotiable, you can't believe he's Michael the Archangel, you can't believe he's anything else but God, you cannot, because if you don't have the right, I mean it's a different Jesus, if you have a non-deity Jesus, it's not the Jesus that saves, so you have to pin them down and don't let them move the goalposts and start changing, oh well what about this, what about this, don't let them change the subject, and if they're going to bring up something, know where the references come from to dismantle what they're trying to say, because even if they say, well by the Bible says, I said you are gods, I still say, well how many gods are there, because when every time the Bible mentions gods, they're devils, every time, it's about little g gods, those are devils, and you're not supposed to worship gods, and you're not supposed to have anything to do with those gods, you know, you have nothing to do with them, but you're going to say that is Jesus one of those gods, those little g gods, because they don't, they are not going to want to lump Jesus Christ in with all the false idols that are called gods, because the Bible says that for there are that are called gods on the earth, just as there are gods many and lords many, but what we've got to understand is multiple times when we're referencing gods, and we're going to see this in Psalm 82, and this is what in John 10, we'll get to the way that Jesus uses the verse, is that men with a lot of power in this world, and rulers, consider themselves to be gods, and act like gods, so you'll see a reference to people being gods that are in these positions of authority, and a lot of power, and these rulers being gods, and it's not because anybody thinks they really do, like, have that they are deity, except for maybe the person themselves, that thinks they're a god, but they're referenced as gods, the only other reference for gods like that in the Bible would be just people who consider idols, just graven images to be a god, right, so it's either a person thinking that they're, you know, they're real powerful, they have all this power, they think they're a god, or just some idol, some graven image that people are worshiping as god, those are the two places you're gonna, the two types of references to these other gods that you're gonna find, and every other reference of that basically falls into those two categories, so you gotta ask the Jehovah's Witness, so which one is Jesus, right, does he just think he's so powerful be that he's a god, I mean obviously we know he's not some graven image, or is he his own third category where you only see that exist one time in the Bible where it's calling him a god, like no, because he is god, right, so, but let's look at Psalm 82, verse number one, the Bible says, God standeth in the congregation of the mighty, he judgeth among the gods, and again, we just got, the reason we're going here is because of all these references in Isaiah 43, 44, and 45, 44, 8 specifically says, is there a god beside me, yea there is no god, I know not any, so the scripture has to be true, so if Psalm 82 says he judgeth among the gods, we go, oh, oh, hold on a second, Isaiah 44, 8, God's saying, I don't, there is no other god, but Psalm 82 saying, he judgeth among the gods, how can they both be true, well how can they both be true, because God's talking about an actual god, like himself, like there is no other god, there is no other creator, there is no other almighty being, other than him, like he is the god, there is one god, and that's him, once he judgeth among the gods, it's talking about the people who think they're gods, it's talking about the people who think the idols are gods, it's about these other things that people reference as gods, but they are no gods, and the Jehovah's Witness have to decide, what is Jesus, is Jesus a god, or is he god, because God himself said, there is no god, I know not any, which has to mean that any other reference to God means that they are just something that's completely not God, even though they might think they are, and their own book says that Jesus Christ was a god, and the only way that you could really reconcile that with the Bible is by saying, well then that must mean that Jesus is one of these false gods, which is total blasphemy, right, it's extremely blasphemous, it's one of the worst things, I mean that's the exact opposite, and this is why I say you got, you know, it could do well to try to pin them down on that, to get them to make the decision, and this is only going to work on people who are already open to talking to you about it, and might have some interest in the truth, it's probably going to be people who have already seen some problems in their religion, it's usually who it is, and people who are steeped in it, they don't see any problems, they're not going to want to listen to you anyways, right, so you discern that early on, but let's let's get through this, I know I keep saying let's look at this, let's look at this, let's actually look at this, Psalm 82 verse number 1, God stands in the congregation of the mighty, he judgeth among the gods, how long will you judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah, defend the poor and fatherless, do justice to the afflicted and needy, deliver the poor and needy, rid them out of the hand of the wicked, they know not, neither will they understand, they walk on in darkness, all the foundations of the earth are out of course, I have said ye are gods, and all of you are children of the most high, but ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes, arise O God, judge the earth, for thou shalt inherit all nations, so the inheritance of all the nations is referring to God basically taking over all the nations, why is it bringing up these nations? Because it says that they're going to die like men, like one of the princes, a prince would be like a ruler, right, one of the rulers of these nations, and these are the people who are being referred to as your gods, right, you're all children of the most high, but you're going to die like men, so the way that saying I said you're gods is more in a mocking way, hey you're gods, and we've seen it already in Isaiah, well hey look, if you're really gods, then why don't you declare from the beginning what's going to happen, why don't you come down and do good or do evil, right, if you're gods, why don't you do this? And this is a similar fashion where the Bible's calling them out and saying look, you're gods, okay, but you're going to die like men, why, why, how could that even happen? Because they're not really gods, it's the only way that can happen, because they think they're gods. So Jesus references this in John chapter 10, if you want to turn to John chapter 10, but we also have to understand the position that Jesus is in when he answers things. You know, people love to try to take some of the words of Jesus and run with them and create doctrines out of them when he's answering people wisely when he's been put in a really tough spot, okay, and it doesn't mean that anything that Jesus is saying is untrue, but it means that he's answering people in a way so that he's not going to be killed like in that moment, because that's what people are trying to lay wait for him and catch him in his words and try to accuse him of stuff. This happens frequently in scripture, we see that, where they try to catch him in his words, try to catch him in, well, they're trying to get him with a woman taken in adultery, right, and that's one thing where Jesus says, you know, he that is well sin among you, let him first cast a stone, and people say, see, look, Jesus is teaching that, you know, no one's guilty, you know, should be put to death anymore and all this other stuff, and you got to just facepalm that, because, and I've, you know, we've gone over this before, we did this when we went through the book of Matthew, but first of all, Jesus doesn't say don't put her to death. He actually says to put her to death, but he's instructing those who are without sin to cast the first stone, right? It's very wise, because he is not contradicting the law of Moses at all, which is not just the law of Moses, the law of God, and Jesus is God. He's not contradicting his own law, but at the same time, he also didn't come to bring judgment on the earth and start ruling and reigning with a rod of iron the first time he came. He came to be the Savior, he came to give his life, he came to pay for sins, not to demand the payment for sins. He came to do the payment, so that wasn't his purpose at all. He was here on a mission, so why would he want to start being this ruler and this judge in that sense when he came to give his life? That's the ultimate reason for him doing that, but then also they were trying to catch him up because if he said don't kill her, well now he's guilty of blasphemy and he's not teaching the Word of God, he's going against the law of Moses, but if he says put her to death, well they weren't allowed to do that under the Roman government. They didn't have that authority. The ruling, the higher power in the land was that anything like that, they had to go to Caesar. They had to go and get Roman justice if you're going to actually have someone put to death. So if he would have said put her to death, then they would have been, oh see look, he's trying to use her authority and everything else and get him in trouble that way and try to get him imprisoned or put to death because of that. So they're trying to catch him in his words. That's one example. This is similar to that. Verse number 30, the Bible says, Jesus said, I and my father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. So now they're trying to kill him because he just said I and my father are one. And they know what that means. Jesus answered them, many good works have I showed you from my father. For which of those works do you stone me? So now they're starting to say like, you're trying to kill me? Like I've done all kinds of good things, so what are you killing me for? The Jews answered him, saying for a good work we stone thee not. They're saying we're not stoning you because of all the good things you've done, but for blasphemy. So they're accusing Jesus of blasphemy and because that thou being a man makest thyself God. The Jews had no problem understanding what he meant when he's saying, I and my father are one. And so many other places where Jesus spake, right? No man had to send it up into heaven, but the Son of God which is in heaven, right? And forgive me if I didn't quote that right, John 3, 15. But multiple times Jesus makes these statements, they know what he's saying. He's making himself God. Jesus answered them, is it not written in your law, I said ye are gods? So this is where Job is like, see look, Jesus isn't God because he's throwing this verse at them, trying to say, well doesn't the Bible say you are gods? And first of all, Jesus is making a statement, they don't understand this passage anyways. These people aren't saved. They're not trusting in Jesus, they're trying to kill him. And he's being wise and confounding them because they're not going to be able to explain this passage at all that he's bringing up to them. Verse 35 says, if he called them gods under whom the word of God came and the scripture cannot be broken, say ye of him whom the father hath sanctified and sent into the world, thou blasphemous because I said I am the Son of God. So basically he's trying to say, look, the Bible says you're gods, there has to be a reconciliation of this, I'm saying I'm the Son of God, but you're saying I'm blaspheming. And they don't have an answer for this. And he goes on to further just demonstrate that what he's saying is true. He says if I do not the works of my father, believe me not. Which is also why he brought up, hey, I did a lot of good works, for which of these, you know, why are you stoning me then? He says in verse 38 then, but if I do though ye believe me not, believe the works that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him. Because Jesus did so many works and so many great works and so many great wonders and miracles that is just, you cannot reproduce that. And no one has ever existed like Jesus before Jesus and no one has ever existed like Jesus after Jesus that was able to do the things that Jesus did. Now there are people who God has used to perform miracles. There have been people who have been raised back to life. There have been, you know, miracles that have been done through men before but nothing like the miracles that were done through Jesus Christ. In quantity and magnitude and everything. I mean there were some great miracles that were done, don't get me wrong, but, you know, with Moses, especially here with Elijah, Elijah, right, did some great miracles. But when Jesus was on this earth, I mean, he was just healing and doing miracles like all the time through his ministry. Just so many people got healed. They're going town to town to town. People are getting healed. Devils are being cast out. There's all kinds of good works being done. The lame are walking, the blind receive their sight, the deaf hear. I mean this is something that was just, his ministry was just marked with over and over and over again. Completely unlike what's been done before. Those were like first fruits of miracles to come that when Jesus did was just an outpouring of that spirit. So that's how he answers them, try to get them to explain. Go back to Isaiah chapter 44. His reference to your gods, it's, it's, he's basically backing them off from wanting to kill him by bringing up this passage. They don't know how to expound the passage anyways, and he's able to escape with his life, and he's still telling the truth the whole time, because he is the Son of God, and he's not blaspheming. But when the Bible is referring to other people being gods, it's never a good thing in that lower G gods type of a setting. So you know, Jehovah's Witnesses, you've got to decide one way or another what Jesus actually is. And if your book calls him a god, then that's not someone you should follow, unless he is God. Isaiah 44, verse number 9, the Bible reads, They that make a graven image are all of them vanity, and their delectable things shall not profit. And they are their own witnesses. They see not nor know that they may be ashamed. I love this verse. Now we're going to get into a lot of like just idolatry, and just kind of the criticism of idolatry and mocking idolatry. The dumb idol is its own witness, is what the Bible is saying here, right? So like we're supposed to be witnesses to God, and you know, we are witnesses, and we should be good witnesses, right? We could speak, we could think, we can talk to people, we witness for the Lord, but he's like that idol is its own witness. It's good for nothing, right? It's useless. The idol's dumb, it can't speak, it doesn't know, it doesn't know anything, it can't say anything, can't do anything, therefore it really has no witness, because it's just an object, right? So it's its own witness of being nothing, whereas God actually speaks. God speaks to his prophets, God speaks to people, and God knows things, and God reveals things, and that's how we know that there is a God, and there's a real Word of God. He's able to tell things before they happen, before they come to pass. All these things, a dumb idol can't do any of those things. Verse number 10, another verse. Who hath formed a God? I mean, by very definition, God or a God is the creator, not the creation. Who on this earth can make a God? Nobody. I mean, and that's one of the most basic things. It's amazing to me that so many people get wrapped up in idolatry at all, or ever have throughout history, because it's just, it's such a simple concept to think of. How could that, how could you be, how could you get down on your face, on your hands and knees, before an object that you made, or that some other man made? Like, I made this thing. Now look, I've made some pretty cool things in my lifetime that I think are cool. My shining best example of anything I've ever made, okay, you ready for this? It is molten. It's a hammer, okay? It's got a brass head and a steel rod and an aluminum handle that has a nice knurl on it, and I was able to do all the stuff on the lathe. It's really cool. I love that thing, but you know what? I'm not gonna bow down to that thing ever and start glorifying the works of my hands. It's a tool. I use it when I need to use it, and it sits in my toolbox. Not on a pedestal, not with a candle in front of it, right? It's hard to imagine just making some thing. Now I'm not some sculptor or anything like that, but if I were able to just have some talent to be able to like recreate an image of a animal or, you know, like I still, like how could you do that, build this thing, and then be like, okay, this is God. It's unbelievable. Now we don't, you know, in our day to day, this form of idolatry isn't really as popular. It still exists. Roman Catholic Church practices idolatry. Now they won't say that they're, you know, worshiping a false god at all. I mean, they'll completely deny that, and you know what? Really, everybody will that actually is involved in idolatry. They all will deny that that's what they're doing. But it's the same way that people who believe in workspace salvation will deny that and say, well, no, I mean, I just believe in it's by grace. But I mean, you can't just do whatever you want. But it's grace. But I mean, you got to at least follow some of the commandments, at least I have a desire to, right? But it's grace. But it's not, right? So that's not what you believe. Just admit it. And Catholic, you know, when you're walking over to the statue, and you get down on your knee, and you light a candle, you are worshiping that statue. And the biblical definition of worship, do the word study on your own, you will always find people falling prostrate, falling down, on their face, on their hands and knees. That is worship. This is not biblical worship, as far as the Bible using the word worship. Okay? And I don't care if people want to raise their hands up to heaven. But I'm just saying, this is like when people think worship, praise and worship, it's, you know, doing all this. Worship is when you get down on your hands and knees. When you're falling down to the ground, you're bowing yourself down. That is worship. And that is why I don't care what the culture is. I don't care what Asian culture or anything like that. I am not going to ever bow down myself to anyone or anything and just say, well, I'm not really worshiping. That is worship. That is the definition of worship. What, no matter what's in your heart, that is the definition of worship. And that's exactly what Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had to do when they had to worship the graven image. Hey, when you hear the music, everyone needs to fall down on the face. That was the command. And I guarantee you there's a lot of people who believe in the Lord that were getting down on their face. And they're probably justifying it by saying, well, I'm not really worshiping it, but I mean, if I don't do this, I'm gonna die. But I'm not worshiping. I mean, I'm worshiping God. I know when I get down on my hands and knees, I'm gonna pray to God and I'm gonna be worshiping God when I do this in front of this image. You can't justify it that way. People want to do that. It doesn't work. You don't do it. Don't fall down before an image. Who has formed a god, a molten, or a molten, or molten, a graven image that is profitable for nothing? Because it is. It's profitable for nothing. Anything that you make, look, at least my hammer is profitable for something, but these these idols and these graven images, they're good for nothing. It's like a paperweight. That's all you can do with it. Keep papers from blowing away in the wind. Because there is no deity there. There is no life there. There is nothing. Nothing. Behold, all his fellows, verse 11, 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. 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 blacksmith that's doing all this work on this god, like he gets faint, he's human, he's not deity. He's just making this object. The carpenter, verse 13, stretcheth out his rule, he marketh it out with a line, he fith it with planes, and he marketh it out with a compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, that it may remain in the house. He heweth him down cedars, 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. Then shall it be for a man to burn, for he will take thereof and warm himself. Now, this is just talking about men making these things, and how, you know, kind of how they make it. This is what they do. And then from the very beginning though, like verse 14, it's just talking about hewing down a cedar, a cedar tree, a cypress, and oak. These are different types of trees. He's just gathering this wood, this material, right? So as he goes and gathers this material, chops down a tree, he takes a tree out of the forest, and then it says, then shall it be for man to burn, for he will take thereof and warm himself. So first, he's just going to make a campfire. I mean, you cut down a tree, what are you going to do with all that wood? I mean, you're not going to make a god out of all of it. So it's like, well, okay, some of this wood, we're going to chop it up, and we're just going to make a little campfire here, and I'm going to keep myself warm. He kindeth it and baketh bread. Oh, cool. Well, this fire, this wood is going to be good for now making me some bread. I'm kind of hungry. I'm going to eat something, right? And then it says, yea, he maketh a god and worshipeth it. Like, how stupid. You just use this wood to get yourself warm and to feed yourself with some food, and now, like, all of a sudden, it's turned into a god? Like, it was fuel for your use to consume. But now, all of a sudden, you're going to make this god out of the same substance that's just this fuel? He maketh it a graven image and falleth down thereto. Now, I'm not going to get too far into this either. I'll probably preach on this soon. But what I believe about idolatry and physical idols, right, when physical idols are created, when we look to scripture and do a Bible study just on idols being made, they're always found in the context of people making gods and worshipping the work of their hands and falling down and worshipping these things. This is why I don't believe that every single physical object that bears a resemblance to anything, because, you know, the Bible's command is not to make an image of anything that's in the heavens above or in the earth beneath or the sea or, you know, anything like that. You're not supposed to make any image like any of those things. When we see those commandments, and I'm going to, now I'm going to have to do a sermon on this because it requires that to prove the point. But I don't believe that every single thing, like let's say a kid's toy of a giraffe or something, is necessarily just an idol. I don't believe that. The purpose of these things being made is for the purpose of worship, is for the purpose of being a religious thing, of worshiping God with or to, those are the things that I think are idols. That is the idolatry. It's not found in every possible thing that can be, you know, considered an image, right? It's something for the purpose of a religious context. So, that's what I believe about that, but like I said, now I'm going to have to force myself to preach on this subject because it's too hard to just make that statement and not prove it. But we don't have enough time, we definitely don't have enough time to prove that tonight. There's some really important stuff I need to get to, so look for a sermon to come soon on that subject. Let's keep reading here. Verse number 16, he burneth part thereof in the fire, with part thereof he eateth flesh, he rosteth roast, and is satisfied, yet he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire, and the residue thereof he maketh a god. It's like, he used everything like, well, here's the leftover, so from the leftovers, the residue of everything he has used to make himself food, to warm himself with, well, okay, I guess I'll make myself a god out of that, right, the refuse. 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. And, you know, you find this concept, though, of the thing that is used to bring food and warmth and all these good things. People worship the things that give that direct satisfaction or that direct need, right? Well, I need warmth. Well, this wood got me warm by burning it, so I'm going to worship this wood. I was able to make food over the fire, so I'm going to worship that wood, because it provided that for me, and this is the concept between a lot of heathen religions that are out there. You know, this is why the holy cow, you know, the phrase holy cow, it comes from Hinduism, because they believe that cows are sacred, and the reason I think cows are sacred is because of the milk that they give, and that they're these giving animals that bring life and sustenance and things like that, so they're like, oh, well, we can't, you know, they deify the creation just because of what it gives to you, and they don't understand, no, God gave that to you. Worship the God that gave that cool animal or that cool wood or that cool whatever to you to use and gave you dominion over that stuff. Worship the God that gave that to you, not the creation itself, and this is key, because what people do when they make these idols is they reduce the almighty God to just some, some creation, in this case, just some leftover burnt wood, the residue, right? Verse number 18, they have not known nor understood, for he hath shut their eyes that they cannot see, and their hearts that they cannot understand. This is, don't ignore the pattern in scripture of the path to a reprobate. What you are going to find, it's always linked to idolatry. It's always linked to false gods and the worship and creating of idols that makes people reprobate. We just got done reading multiple verses about these people and their false gods and how they're making these idols and everything else, and then in verse 18, let's look at it real carefully, they have not known nor understood, for he, who's the he? God. God has shut their eyes. Who are they? They are the ones that are building these idols and worshiping these idols and falling down to them, that they, the people who worship idols, cannot see, and their hearts, people worshiping idols, there, that they cannot understand. God makes it so these people can't see and that they can't understand. Turn, if you will, to John chapter 12. We find this also taught in multiple places. There's too much to get to, but I'm going to cry cover as much as I can. I'm going to turn to Romans 1, very famous, hopefully you all probably know this very well, but I'm going to reiterate it here to draw the connections for you that we need to see all throughout scripture. And people need to understand this because a lot of people who are introduced to reprobate doctrine, oftentimes what they hear is they'll hear these sermons and they'll hear preaching that talks about how we don't believe that homos can be saved, that the sodomites can't be saved. And too many people have this misunderstanding of thinking that why, why is that sin greater than another sin, that all of a sudden if they do that they can't be saved. They're misunderstanding the point. The point isn't that because they commit that sin that now they can no longer be saved. That is not how it works. That's not how it works. The reprobation, the rejection occurs before the sodomite acts happen. Before any of those things happen, a person rejects God first. They make up their own God. They create their own idol, whether it be a physical thing they do with their hands or something that they set up in their heart or in their mind to take the place of God and choose something that is not God to be their God and reject the true God. That is what happens during reprobation. We see this concept being brought up here in Isaiah. God shut their eyes. Why? Because they're turning to these creations to be their gods. Because they knew God and they glorified Him not as God. And this is where we're going to come in with Romans 1 where the Bible says, verse number 20, I'll start reading. You're in John 12. Romans 1 says, for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Because when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. There's your idolatry. So these people, they knew God, but they don't like God. They don't have anything to do with God, so they say, you know what, I'm going to make my own God. And here in Isaiah, the children of Israel knew God. You better believe they knew God. But they didn't like God. And they didn't like the law. They didn't like these things, so they decided to make up their own gods. And they started turning to idols. And when they did that, God's saying, you knew me, you didn't want me, and you want one of these gods of these heathen lands. So that's when He starts hardening hearts. That's when He starts blinding eyes. That's when He starts making it so that He says, you know what, now you can't believe. And in Romans 1, you know, when we continue on, the Bible says, wherefore, so for this reason, for the reason of them making these images like man and beast and everything else, wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth of God into a liar and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause, God gave them up unto vile affections, for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature, and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman burned in her lust one to another, men with men working in that which is unseemly and receiving themselves at recompense of their error which was meat. This is the reason why God turned them over to these reprobate minds to start doing these vile, disgusting things. Men with men, women with women, lying together, committing abominations. The only reason they even do this is because they already gave up on God, rejected God, and created their own God in their own image or in some image of a man or an animal or a beast or something like that, and said, that's what we want to worship. I know about God and I want nothing to do with him. This is why they get to that point. And because they do this and because the Bible says this is why God gives them over to the mind to do these things that they normally wouldn't do that are not convenient, that are not natural, which do not come naturally to man. Sin comes naturally. Homosexuality does not. You know what's natural for the natural person when introduced to homosexuality? Vomit. That's what's natural. Disgust. A churning and turning in your stomach, that's the natural response to sodomy. Once someone's been given over, that's when these things occur. That's why we say homos can't be saved because it's just evidence that at some point earlier in their life, they rejected the God of the Bible. They rejected the one true God. And they can call themselves Christians all they want, but you know what, so do Jehovah's Witnesses. And so do Mormons. And so do a lot of people who are not real Christians, who don't have the real God, they can call themselves whatever they want, but it doesn't make it so. And in John chapter 12, real important before we get back and finish up Isaiah 44, John 12 37, the Bible says, But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him, that the saying of Isaiah, the prophet, might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed, I report unto whom at the arm of the Lord been revealed. Therefore they could not believe. So, you know, he's quoting two different places here. He says, Because Isaiah saith again. So there's two different places being referenced here. One is, Lord, who hath believed, I report unto whom at the arm of the Lord been revealed. And then he's going to follow that up with explaining why they can't believe, because Isaiah saith again, verse 40, He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart. Well, isn't that what we just read? That God has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart in Isaiah 44? He hath shut their eyes that they cannot see and their hearts that they cannot understand. Verse 39, again, John 12, 39, Therefore they could not believe. They could not. So is it possible for that, is it possible for everybody to always be able to believe on Christ and get saved? No, because there's some people, it says here, they could not believe. Therefore they could not believe. Why? Why could they not believe? Because he hath blinded their eyes. When God blinds someone's eyes, guess what? You're not going to be unblinding them. Now when the devil blinds someone's eyes, God can unblind them. That veil can be lifted off their face. But when God blinds someone's eyes, no one could unblind those eyes. He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart and be converted and I should heal them. And if you're at any doubt, I mean, that's specifically talking about being converted and being healed, like being saved. This is salvation doctrine of God saying they can't believe, because that's all that's required to be saved. They can't believe because God closed their eyes and hardened their heart. Because that's what Isaiah said. It's being reiterated here in the book of John and we just saw Isaiah basically saying this same thing in Isaiah 44, 18. Let's go back to Isaiah 44. But what you're going to see is that same exact pattern. So don't overlook that in your understanding of reprobate doctrine and things like that. It always starts with the rejection of God and idolatry. And what you'll find is that the most severe consequences for the children of Israel all throughout Scripture has been when they turn to idols. There's a reason why the first two commandments are what they are in the ten commandments. Have no other gods before me and don't make any graven images or idols or bow down and worship them because the Lord is a jealous God. Don't go after those things. And God puts up with a lot and God is long-suffering and merciful with a lot of things, but as soon as the people start going after false gods, guess what? They're getting judged. People are coming in. They are going through because that infuriates the Lord. He can put up with a lot of sin, but when it comes to that, no. And when it comes to that in someone's heart in their life and they come up and just full-on reject the Lord, that's it. You're done. You're done. God doesn't play around with that. And if you could understand at least one thing, I mean the God that created everything, at least get the credit for being who He is, for being God, for being a creator, right? He's given us enough evidence to know He exists and everything else doesn't make sense. As we see people making wood objects and worshiping, like that doesn't make any sense. You would only do that because you don't like who God is. You just want to make up your own and pretend and play make-believe and believe a lie. Seriously. I mean, that's it. It's like, well, no, I really like my sin. I don't like these things that, you know, God says are a sin, so I'm just going to make up my own God. That's not a sin anymore. Now I can just make my flesh feel good and worship the things that make my flesh feel good, like a warm fire or the sun or whatever, or a cow. Verse number 19, let's finish this off. There's so much in this chapter. And none considerth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire. He also, I have baked bread upon the coals thereof. I have roasted flesh and eaten it. And shall I make the residue there of an abomination? Shall I fall down to the sock of a tree? He's like, and nobody's asking him these questions. They're not even asking themselves these questions. Verse 20, 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? I mean, it's exactly what I was just saying. They're believing lies and not even, like, recognizing that that's what they're doing. Remember these, O Jacob and Israel, for thou art my servant. I have formed thee. He brings up the fact again, like, I have formed you. Thou art my servant, O Israel, that thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have blotted out, and this is, you know, God told all the great things that he did for them now and for his people, right? Don't forget me. I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins. Return unto me, for I have redeemed thee. Sing, O ye heavens, for the earth 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. Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb. 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 turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish. God's able to do all these things, and, you know, we see these things. People get mad, like the tokens of the liars, the lying religions out there, you know, they get mad at the Bible, at the God of the Bible, at believers in the Bible. People get, you know, it's funny because I don't see any, you don't see any Muslims getting kicked out of their meeting spaces, but now we're seeing a Baptist church getting kicked out of theirs, or getting blown up. The bombings, the mosques probably had some bombings around the, from all the political propaganda, from mainstream media around 9-11. I do remember that happening, so I'm not going to say that that hasn't happened, but it's not because they're right. But God is able to take, you know, the wise men of this earth, and turn their, turn their wisdom against them, and make it backwards, right? Let's just confound them, and make it their knowledge foolish. Let's keep reading here, verse number 26. That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers. That saith to Jerusalem, thou shalt be inhabited into the cities of Judah, ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof. That saith to the deep, be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers. That saith of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be built, and to the temple, thy foundation shall be laid. Now, these last verses here, and we're completely out of time, but these last verses here are talking about the prophesying of the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and the temple after the captivity. But what's interesting about this is during the time of Isaiah, this hasn't even been destroyed yet. They haven't even gone into captivity yet, and he's already prophesying the return. I think that's pretty cool that he's talking about Cyrus, he's talking about being a shepherd, and Jerusalem being built. They're probably thinking, like, what are you talking about? Jerusalem is built. Because it's going to be destroyed when they go into captivity, and then they're going to have to rebuild it again, and that has not happened yet in Isaiah's day, because we know the time span that Isaiah preached in, and in the next part, Jeremiah, Jeremiah is the prophet that is around during the taken captivity and everything else. Isaiah was not. Isaiah was just before that happened, so he was giving all these warnings, especially earlier on in the book about this happening, but now the good news is that, hey, it's going to be rebuilt. And you'll notice, this latter portion of the book of Isaiah has a lot more positive things than it has the negative things. And I think that's also representative of the association that we see with it kind of corresponding with the different books of the Bible, the Old Testament and New Testament, and like this transition in, after chapter 39, seeing kind of a difference in the writing matches up with New Testament books. But let's always have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for your word. We pray that you would please just, there's so much, there's so many good things packed into these chapters here, Lord. Help us to just grow and understand more. You'd open up our understanding of these things. Lord, help us to increase the knowledge and that you would strengthen us in spirit and in faith to be able to serve you better. And, Lord, we love you. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.