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🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 Where is the fury of the oppressor? The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail. But I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves forward, the Lord of hosts is his name. And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, that say unto Zion, thou art my people. Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast 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. There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth, neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up. These two things are come unto thee, who shall be sorry for thee, desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword, by whom shall I comfort thee? Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net, they are full of fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God. Therefore, hear now this, thou afflicted and drunken, but not with wine. Thus saith thy Lord the Lord, and thy God that pleaded the cause of his people, behold, I have taken out thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury, thou shalt no more drink it again, but I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee, which I have said to thy soul, bow down, that we may go over, and thus lay thy body as the ground, and as the streets to them that went over. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you, dear Lord, for this wonderful church you've given us. We thank you for the King James Bible, dear Lord. We thank you for our pastor, dear God, and we ask that you please bless him tonight as he preaches your word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, we are in Isaiah chapter 51 this evening, and if you remember from the last couple of weeks, we've been going over the Servant's Songs, and these are a collection of chapters in the book of Isaiah that primarily deal with the prophetic teachings of the ministry of Jesus Christ, and last week was chapter 50, and that was essentially highlighting the sufferings of Christ, and here in chapter 51, we're actually going to take a break from that, and then it picks up again in chapter 52 and 53, but I do want to remind you that this second half of the book of Isaiah deals primarily with comforting Zion, comforting God's people. The first half dealt a lot with judgment and God's destruction upon not just Israel and Judah, but even their enemies, right? This second half of the book of Isaiah is very positive. There's a lot of exhortations here, a lot of comfort that God is seeking to give to his people to kind of help them make it through this particular trial that they're experiencing regarding the Babylonian captivity, and this is what we're going to look at tonight. We're going to look at three sections. The charge to look, the cry for God to awake and the cry for Jerusalem to awake as well, so let's look at the first section, the charge to look, and this is something that you'll see the first couple of verses up until verse number eight, and you'll see that phrase to look, to look, to look, and really what it's saying is observe, think upon, or remember. Look at verse number one. He gives the charge to look back. He says in verse one, Harken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord, look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. So he is through the prophet Isaiah talking to those of Judah, and he's telling them to look back. Look back to what? Well, he says look back unto the rock from whence ye are hewn, and that word hewn simply means to be cut out from or to be shaped from, right? So let's give a little bit of interpretation as far as what is he referring to here in this verse. The first thing I want you to notice is that when he talks about being hewn or cut out from or being shaped from, he's referring to that rock, and when you look at the Old Testament, you see that this rock is always mentioned in Israel, right? And thankfully, because of the New Testament, we know that the rock is referring to Jesus Christ, not Dwayne Johnson, amen? The rock is referring to their Messiah, their Savior, and specifically the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let me read to you from 1 Corinthians 10, in verse number four, it says, And did all drink the same spiritual drink, referring to Israel, drinking of that spiritual drink. For they drink of that spiritual rock, capital R, that followed them, and that rock was Christ. So obviously, the New Testament is trying to help us to realize that any time Israel, God's people, were aided, they were helped, they were provided by the rock, it's referring to Jesus Christ, showing us that Jesus Christ is the God of the Old Testament, right? He is Jehovah God, he is that rock, and in fact, turn with me, if you would, to Deuteronomy 32. Deuteronomy 32, hold your place there in Isaiah. Deuteronomy 32, what the Lord's telling them here is they need to remember the Lord that begat them. So as they're going through the specific trial of the Babylonian captivity, he, through the prophet Isaiah, is reminding them, hey, you need to remember from whence you're hewn. You need to remember from when the rock you came from, which is the God of the Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, they don't know the name of Jesus at this time, but they know that the rock is referring to their God. Look at Deuteronomy 32 and verse 15. Why is it important for them to remember this? Well, because Israel, more than anything, forgot this. They're constantly forgetting the Lord, they're constantly dismissing the fact that the rock is the God of their salvation. Look at verse 15. But Jeshurun, Jeshurun is just another name for Israel, waxed fat and kicked. Thou art waxed and fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness. And what is this referring to? It's not talking about diabetes, it's not saying that they're overweight or anything like that. This is symbolically representing the fact that they're being provided for by God. You know, God is giving them the necessities for living, and he's saying that they've grown thick, they've grown fat. Then he says, then he forsook God, which made him, and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation. What do we see here? When God provided for Israel, when he protected them, when he caused them to wax fat, when he prospered them, it was at that time that Israel actually forgot God. And you would think it's the other way around. You would think that when God provides for someone, when he causes people to prosper and succeed, it would cause them to think upon the Lord that much the more. That's how it should be. But unfortunately, Israel, like Christians today, often forget the rock of their salvation. They lightly esteem the Lord when things are going well, when things are prospering, when they're succeeding, whether financially or in their health or at their job. When they are succeeding and prospering going forward because of the Lord, often believers have a tendency to forget the Lord. And it says here that they forsook God, which made him, and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation. Verse 16. How do they do that? They provoke them to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked him to anger. Now, what it's referring to is the fact that Israel were just pagan sometimes. They just completely left the God of the Bible and just adopted pagan gods of their surrounding nations. And obviously, Christians today are not going to do this, right? If they backslide or forget the God of their salvation, the rock from whence they are hewn, they're not going to go worship Buddha. They're not going to worship some weird Hindu god. They're not going to commit abominations in that regard. But I want to remind you that idolatry in the New Testament is also communicated as being covetous, right? Covetousness, which is idolatry. And isn't that interesting that he's saying here that when they prosper, they forget the God, the rock of their salvation, and they begin to worship false gods. Well, in the New Testament, Christians aren't worshiping false gods, but they have a tendency to worship the almighty dollar, right? They become covetous, they become greedy, they begin to chase after that which, you know, they begin to chase after the mammon, filthy lucre almost, and they begin to worship that. He says in verse 17, They sacrificed them to devils and not to gods, to gods whom they knew not. To new gods they came newly up, whom your fathers feared not. Of the rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and has forgotten God that formed thee. So I want you to notice verse 18, it says that the rock begat Israel, right? And they're not being mindful of that, and they forgot the God that formed them. It's very similar to what we see in Isaiah chapter 51, where he's telling them, Hey, remember the rock from whence you are hewn, you're shaped from, you're cut out of, you are begotten of God. And this is important for us to also remember as Christians. Go to Psalm 40, if you would. Psalm 40, whether you're going through a difficult time, or you're going through a prosperous time, maybe you're experiencing some sort of affliction, some sort of challenge, some sort of tribulation, or you're not experiencing any tribulation at all. Everything's just going fine and dandy. You know, everything is, the bills are being paid, your health is doing well. Well, the same message applies to you, which is you need to remember the rock from whence you are hewn, right? Don't forget God when you're prospering, but also don't forsake God when you're going through a difficult time. And of course, the Israelites in Isaiah 51 are going through that difficult time, and he's still telling them, he's admonishing them to remember the rock from whence they are hewn. Look at Psalm 40, verse 1. It says, I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me and heard my cry. I want you to notice this, He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. This is a powerful verse here. Of course, David is speaking. He's saying that God took him out of a horrible pit and set his feet upon a rock. And of course, we know that rock is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know what? We can apply this to ourselves in regards to salvation, right? When we came to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, we can also testify and attest to the fact that God took us out out of the horrible pit, the miry clay known as hell, right? He saved us from the flames of hell, and He set us upon a rock. He set our feet upon the rock which is the Lord Jesus Christ. He established our goings, the Bible says, right? And so that's something that we need to, of course, keep in mind as Christians. You know, remember where you came from. Remember the fact that there was a time in your life when you were lost, right? Remember there was a time in your life when you were on your way to hell that if you were to have died at that moment, you would have split hell wide open. You know, before you get all high and mighty because of your success, because of your knowledge, because of your giftedness, because of the things that God has provided for you, because of the fact that God established your goings, you better make sure that you remember where you came from, right? And where you came from was that horrible pit. Where you came from was, you know, an unregenerated world that the Bible says you're walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. That's where you came from, right? Serving the desires of the flesh and of the mind were by nature the children of wrath, the Bible says. But hey, someone came to you, gave you the gospel, you heard the gospel, you came to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and now God commands you, you better remember the rock from whence you are human, okay? Don't become prideful, don't become arrogant. You know, the longer time passes as a Christian, the more tempting it is to become prideful, to become arrogant. Why? Because, you know, God begins to sanctify your life, He cleans you up, He makes you just a better person in general, right? He causes you to succeed, He gives you wisdom and understanding, He prospers you in your business, at your job, I mean, you just become, you just get an upgrade, right? Obviously, the ultimate upgrade is the resurrection, but you know, we all get an upgrade even after salvation, though. You get it plugged into church, you start learning some good biblical principles, and you just become a better person overall. But, you know, if you're not careful, you can cause that, or you can allow that to make you arrogant and prideful, and you can often forget where you came from. You know, sometimes it's good to just remember where you were before you got saved, right? You know, before you get overly critical of the unsaved people out there, remember you were one of them. We were one of them. You know, sometimes because we have so much knowledge, or maybe because we come to a church where, you know, the pastor shares at least 50 verses from the Bible in a sermon, you can often think, well, why do people believe that stupid doctrine or something? And I agree with you. There's some doctrines out there, it's just like, why do you even believe that? But then I have to remember, like, oh, I used to believe something stupid, too. I mean, we all believe stupid things. Hopefully, you don't believe stupid things anymore, though, okay? Hopefully, you moved on from that, but here's the thing, though, is that all of us believe something nonsensical, and you may say, well, I didn't really buy into, like, the nonsensical things of this world. Well, if you were unsaved, you believe nonsensical things, because you believe you can take yourself to heaven, and quite frankly, that's the stupidest thing, that's the stupidest doctrine on the face of the planet. And so we need to remember the rock from whence we are taken from, the pit referring to hell, the fact that God saved us from that. Psalm 86 verse 13 says, For great is thy mercy toward me, and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. And so, you know, this is an important thing to remember, and obviously, we need to move on to perfection. Therefore, you know, leaving the principles of the doctrines of Christ, let us go on to perfection, right? We need to learn more and understand and mature in the Christian life, but that's not to say we can't think upon the day that we got saved. And I'm not saying that you have to know the exact day when you got saved, the exact day you called upon the name of the Lord, the exact time that you were converted to Christianity, but, you know, it's good to think upon that era, though, you know? And just think about it like, man, I'm so grateful that I got saved. You know, I'm so thankful that, like, my sins are forgiven. You know, it's good to just meditate upon that every once in a while and just sit there and just think like, man, I'm saved. Like, my sins are completely forgiven. Like, I have eternal life. Like, I'm going to be in the millennial reign. Like, I'm never going to go to hell. Like, I'm a child of God. God is my Savior. You know, and, you know, I have the Holy Spirit dwelling within me. You're like, yeah, but, you know, I mean, yeah, but what's the big deal? I mean, it's a big deal. You know what it does? It causes us to become humble. And it causes us to have a swelling heart of gratitude that is thankful. We can't extrapolate a secondary application, and that is that, you know, we want to avoid having a hardened heart towards the things of God. Okay? It's a very dangerous place as a Christian to be when your heart becomes apathetic towards the things of God, where you're no longer invigorated by the preaching of God's Word, the reading of God's Word, by prayer, by soul winning, where you're just kind of bored with the things of God, or you're just apathetic, or you're just hardened through the lust of the things of this world, or through just resentment and bitterness. There's various things in this world that can cause your heart to become hardened towards the things of God. You know, it's a full-time job to keep a heart softened. It's a full-time job to keep it tender towards the things of God. And one of the best things you can do to maintain a tender heart before the Lord is read the Bible every single day. You know, don't be these, you know, Christians, don't be these crackhead Christians. You know what I mean by crackhead Christians? It's just crackheads, they don't really have a schedule. They just kind of do things on a whim, you know. My father-in-law used to say, like, don't live like a crackhead. That's good advice, you know. Don't live like a crackhead literally, but also spiritually, where you just kind of get up at whatever time, you just go to sleep at whatever time, you just read the Bible at a whim, you just pray whenever, whenever there's just a spirit leads you, you just do the will of God. Don't be a crackhead, spiritually speaking. Be someone who's disciplined. Why? Because then you run the risk of having a hardened heart. If you're not reading the Word of God daily, you don't know this, but let me just tell you, the longer you distance yourself from the Bible, the harder your heart gets, and you don't notice it right away. You just don't. It's like the frog in the water just doesn't notice that the temperature is rising and rising, and then it's just too late. And so in order to avoid a hardened heart, you have to force yourself to read the Bible when you don't feel like it. And pray unto the Lord, Lord, tenderize my heart, open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law, help me to cultivate and have a love for the Bible, and be honest with the Lord, you know, just, Lord, I don't love the Bible as much as I should, help me to love it more. And just by going through those exercises before you read the Bible, you keep your heart tender. And it takes work. But let me say this, it's a lot harder, though. It's way harder to tenderize your heart when it's already become hardened. It's easier to tenderize your heart when it's already tender to maintain it in a tender condition. It's harder to tenderize it when it's already become hard, you understand? You know, what's required for that? Trials, tribulations, hard preaching, rebuke. I mean, you've got to go through all the elements in order to tenderize the heart. The point is, is that, you know, we have to remember that keeping a tender heart before the Lord is of utmost priority. We need to make sure that, you know, maybe you're a person who had a hardened heart before, towards the things of God, and it became soft and it became tender through preaching. It became tender through the hymns. It became tender through your own personal Bible reading. Well, remember the rod from whence ye are hewn, lest ye return back to that same condition once again. And so that's important to note. Go back to Isaiah 51. Isaiah chapter 51. And of course, you know, the principle that we can learn there when he's telling them that, is he's essentially telling the children of Israel, you know, the progress that they've made. Like, remember the rod from whence ye are hewn. Remember the pit from whence ye came. Like, look at all the progress that you've made so far, right? Because obviously the children of Israel at this time, they feel forsaken. They feel like God has forgotten about them. He's not blessing them. And it's just like, okay, buddy, you need to, like, remember all the things that God has done for you though in the past and how much progress you've made so far. You know, for us as Christians, this is a temptation as well. Sometimes we're like, we look at how currently we're doing and we're just not impressed. We're just like, man, I just need to do so much more. I'm just not where I want to be. But it's just like, okay, but look how much progress you've made though thus far, okay? Look how much you've grown thus far. And, you know, the best way to illustrate this is trying to lose weight, in my opinion, because that's what I've been trying to do for the last billion years or whatever. You know, sometimes it's like you're on a cut, you're on a deficit, and you're just like, you don't see the progress. But then you see a picture of how fat you used to be, and you're like, oh, dang, I made a lot of progress. Who's this fat? Oh, that's me. And then you're just like, wow, man, I guess I did make a lot of progress. And that kind of motivates you to keep going forward, realizing like, hey, you know, I have made progress. I'm not where I want to be, but I'm definitely not where I used to be. And so, you know, spiritually speaking, we need to think upon those things. Maybe you feel like, man, I just feel like God has forsaken me. But here's the thing, though, like you have plenty of instances where you can recall in the past where God didn't forsake you, though, where he blessed you, where he carried you through, and you made a lot of progress as a Christian. And so remember the pit where you came from, remember the rock from whence you are hewn. Look at verse number two. It says, look unto Abraham. So he says, look back to the rock, and then he says, look back to Abraham. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you, for I called him alone and blessed him and increased him. So now he's telling them, like, look back at your spiritual fathers, right, for unto Abraham and, of course, Sarah. And, of course, Abraham and Sarah didn't physically beget the people he's speaking to right now, but in the spiritual sense, yes. And I want you to notice this. He says, for I have called him alone and blessed him and increased him. Now, why is that important? Well, go to Genesis chapter 12, because what is he talking about here? Genesis chapter 12. You know, this isn't even part of the sermon or part of the chapter, but, you know, it's consistent with what everything else that God says about this particular subject, because he's talking about Abraham, and he's saying, like, hey, I blessed him, right? And I've called him, I blessed him, I've increased him. Who's the him? Oh, it's referring to the nation of Israel, the current modern state of Israel. No, it's actually referring to Abraham. Look at Genesis 12, verse 2, it says, I will make of thee, speaking to Abraham, thee is singular, I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shall be a blessing. You see all those singular instances right there? Oh, no, no, he's talking to the modern state of Israel, the Christ-rejecting state of Israel. No, the King James Bible says what? Thee, thee, thy, thou. Verse 3, we're not even done. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Okay? And, you know, people make the argument, well, you know, it's referring to the fact that his descendants, you know, the physical descendants of Abraham inherit this particular promise, they inherit this blessing because of what we see in Genesis chapter 12. But you know what? Anybody who says that is lying that they've read the New Testament or paying attention when they read it. Because the New Testament is replete with passages giving us the interpretation to Genesis chapter 12. And when I say replete, I mean it's all over the place. Okay? You either have to be lying that it doesn't say what we're about to look at right now, or you just, you know, have these preconceived ideas and you're reading the scriptures through the lens of dispensationalism. Okay? Now go to Romans chapter 4, if you would, Romans chapter 4. This is important to note, my friends, even though, you know, we see this here in Isaiah chapter 51, God is telling the children of Israel, remember Abraham, because I blessed him, I've increased him. He's using Abraham as a spiritual forefather, not necessarily because they're the physical descendants of Abraham, though the argument can be made that they are, but more importantly, they are the spiritual descendants of Abraham because they are dealing with the God of the Bible, the Rock, which is Jesus, right? Let me read to you from Galatians chapter 3 verse 16, you're in Romans 4, Galatians 3 16, when addressing Genesis 12, it says, Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not unto seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. Case closed! There is the interpretation. No, it's referring to the modern state of Israel. Well, you know, I'd agree with that if the modern state of Israel believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, because verse 29 tells us, And if ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. But the last time I checked, people are spitting when they hear the name of Jesus in Israel, so I guess that 100% disqualifies them from being the seed. Well, no, that's the spiritual application. That's the only application that matters. This is a spiritual book, okay? Now look at Romans 4, a little more comprehensive explanation of what we see in Genesis 12. It says in verse number 8 of Romans 4, Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Cometh his blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also. Now, why is he talking about that? You read that and you're just like, why? I thought we were talking about salvation, now we're talking about circumcision? What a random thing to just bring up in this chapter. Well, the circumcision is referring to the Old Testament seal of covenant. Essentially referring to the fact that in the Old Testament, in order for the Israelites to be the people of God, they were essentially inaugurated in, or they were welcomed in through circumcision. They had to be circumcised in order to be the people of God in the Old Testament, okay? Whereas the surrounding nations were referred to as the Gentiles, they were referred to as the uncircumcision. This is how you make the distinction between the two. One was circumcised, meaning that they were the people of God, that was a token of the covenant. The other were not circumcised, essentially showing that they're Gentiles, okay? And he says here, does this blessedness of Abraham, the blessedness of David, the blessedness of being forgiven, of having salvation, of being God's people, does it come upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? He says, for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? When he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. Now what is that referring to? It's referring to the fact that when the promise was made to Abraham, it was actually given to him before he was circumcised. Before the seal or the token of the covenant was even given to him, the promise that he was essentially going to be the father of many nations was given to him before he got circumcised. Now, why? He says in verse 11, And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed unto them also, and the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised. For the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. So notice that it keeps driving or magnifying the righteousness of faith, which is essentially referring to the new covenant. Now, in the New Testament, you don't need to be circumcised physically in order to be the people of God. Why? Because the Bible says, For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision outward in the flesh made of hands, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart and not of the letter, excuse me, is of the heart and of the spirit and not of the letter whose praise is not of men but of God. So essentially saying that in order for you to be a participant of the new covenant, essentially making you the people of God, you have to be circumcised in heart, not in flesh. And how are you circumcised in heart? By believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Something that the nation of Israel has not done. Therefore, it doesn't matter if they're physically circumcised, it doesn't mean anything in the New Testament. You know, I'm sick and tired of people just kind of talking down in the New Testament, just completely ignoring teachings of the New Testament that clearly clarify what the Old Testament was talking about. It's pretty clear. Look at chapter 9, if you would, chapter 9. So we are the descendants of Abraham. You're a Gentile. Yeah, but that doesn't even matter in God's eyes though. Yeah, but you're like, aren't you like Mexican though? But it doesn't even matter to God though. It matters to a bunch of people who are racist against Mexicans and all that, but it doesn't matter to me and it doesn't matter to God. Why? Because my heart has been circumcised through faith in Christ. And I'm the people of God. And you know what? The people out there in Israel can call themselves the people of God, but, you know, it doesn't change the fact they're going to split hell wide open. And at the end of the day, they're not God's people, nor do we even worship the same God. Because if you don't have the Son, you don't have the Father. That's what the Bible says. Look at Romans 9, verse 6. Yeah, but pastor, they're still like the physical descendants of Abraham. Well, let me just remind you what John the Baptist said. That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. Say not within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father. For God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And isn't it interesting that 1 Peter chapter 2 says that God raised up lively stones to be the chosen people of God in 1 Peter 2.9. What are the lively stones referring to believers? The spiritual household of God made up of all believers. And so, you know, they can say they're descendants of Abraham all they want. At the end of the day, you know, we're the stones that God raised up through faith in Christ to be the people of God. Look at Romans 9, verse 6. It says, Not as though the word of God hath taken down the fact, for they are not all Israel which are of Israel, neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And people are like, oh yeah, of course, see there, yeah, we're spiritual descendants of Isaac, you know, or we're physical descendants of Isaac is what they'll say. But it clarifies in verse 8, that is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God. Now what does it mean when it says the children of flesh? It means Jews according to the flesh. That's what it's talking about in the New Testament. So he's saying, this is Paul, who is a Jew ethnically, but he's a Christian religiously, and he basically never even addresses the fact, he doesn't call himself a Jew per se, he mostly refers to himself as a believer. But he's saying here that the children of the flesh, referring to physical Jews, are not the children of God. Yeah, but they're the people of God. Children of God and people of God are synonymous. The same thing. I know people want to separate those, but it's literally the same exact thing. He says, that is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. Now, what don't people understand from that? What? Yeah, a lot. You know, they're like, oh no, but there's still, and let me explain to you why they make such a big deal about this, because they want the modern state of Israel to stay in that physical land. It's all political ideology. It has nothing to do with God. It's all to promote Zionism. So they have to try to twist scripture and rest the scriptures in order to justify the occupancy of Israel there in that land. That's all it is. Zionism has hijacked, you know, churches all across America to teach the stupid nonsense, and you say, why are you so against it? Because it's against the Bible. You know, the nation of Israel is a nation that's been cursed by God, and therefore, they're not allowed to be in that physical land. They're forcing, they're like Saul who's forcing, I force myself. They're forcing themselves to be in that land. They're only allowed to go back to the land once they believe on the Lord. And you know what? I'm all for Palestine, Palestinians dwelling there. I don't care what your political side is, because I'm for any nation dwelling there, as long as it's not Israel. Just like I was for the Assyrians taking over the Israelites, I'm for the Babylonians taking over the Israelites, because it's God's hand of judgment upon the Israelites for the rejection of God. You know, that's all it is. And so they have to try to do these mental gymnastics to ignore these clear passages of Scripture. And look, Romans is one of the most damaging books to Zionism, aside from Galatians, aside from Hebrews, aside from Ephesians, aside from basically the whole New Testament, I guess. The whole Bible has just completely destroyed Zionism. But it's saying here that, you know, just because they're the children of the flesh doesn't mean anything. They don't inherit the promise that was given to Abraham. That's what the Bible clearly teaches. Who are those that inherit it? I'll tell you who. It's believers. Now look, when he says they are not of all of Israel, which are Israel, it's essentially saying that God only recognizes the spiritual Israel. Now obviously we can call ourselves spiritual Jews and spiritual Israel, but the literal interpretation of that is the fact that the ethnic Jews, the ethnic Israelites, who are believers in Christ, they are the true Israel in God's eyes. And people always message me and they're like, yeah, but you think those promises made in the Old Testament doesn't apply to the nation of Israel? And I always say, of course it applies to the nation of Israel, those who believed. And I'm always just like, man, you guys are messed up. You guys always ignore all the millions and millions of Israelites who believed on the Lord in the Old Testament. The promise applies to them. You want to give it to a Christ-rejecting nation who blasphemes the Lord Jesus Christ, when you could literally just admire and honor believing Israelites of the Old Testament. The millions of believing Israelites of the Old Testament who the promises are literally for. Because look, make no mistake about it, Israel will inherit that land in the millennial reign. Like the 12 disciples are going to reign over the 12 tribes of Israel. They're going to be there ruling and reigning with Christ in Israel. We're not going to be in Israel. We'll make our pilgrimage to Israel to go worship the Lord. But we might get Orange County or something like that and rule over here and institute God's laws here. But at the end of the day, the Israelites, they deserve that. But let me just clarify though, the Israelites that believed on the Lord of the Old Testament. And you know what? Those Israelites agree with us and we agree with them. There are brothers and sisters in Christ. And you know, the Apostle Paul, who's of Benjamin, he's a Benjamite of the stock of Israel. He's had some of the most damaging, most damning statements about the children according to the flesh in the New Testament. And so, plain and simple, that's what he's telling them there. Go back to Isaiah and verse number three. The point that I'm making here is the fact that, you know, the blessings come upon... Oh, let me also say this since we're on the subject. You know, Genesis 12 specifically says that the nations will be blessed by the spiritual seed of Abraham. Now, let's do some math here. You know, can we really say the world has been blessed by that modern state of Israel? In fact, 109 countries, just ask 109 countries about that. That doesn't sound like a blessing. On the other hand, biblical Christianity has been a blessing to this world. Every society that biblical Christianity touches or has any part with is blessed beyond measure. Why? Because of the fact that the laws of the land end up benefiting greatly because of the laws of the Bible. But how about just spiritually speaking, the gospel comes unto them. They get saved. They get eternal life. They become functioning members of society. People love Christians. Not all people. Yeah, the godless reprobates of this world. Of course, they hate Christians. And so, the modern state of Israel tries to hijack. They try to hijack all the credit. Yeah, but the modern state, that is biblical Christianity. No, it's not. How do you call that biblical Christianity? It's biblical anti-Christianity is what it is. You know, Christians have not been removed from 109 countries. Just saying. So, you know, this Genesis heating for the bus kids are really dumb, but this one was just like legit. And it was called Father Abraham. Let me sing it to you. You guys ready? Father Abraham had many sons, and many sons had Father Abraham. I am one of them, and so are you. So let's just praise the Lord. Yeah, great song. A bunch of old IFB dispensational churches just singing that. And then afterwards they're like, the Jews are God's most beautiful brother of Abraham. I thought you just got finished telling me that I'm a child of Abraham, so are you. All right, look at verse three. It says, For the Lord shall comfort Zion. He will comfort all her waste places, and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found there in thanksgiving and the voice of melody. And so now we get into looking forward. So he tells them, hey, you're going through a hard time. Look back. Look back to Abraham. Look back to the rock from whence he was hewn. But now he's telling them to look ahead. How far ahead? Well, based on verse number three, he's like, look forward all the way to the millennial reign, to the new heaven and new earth. Because it's not until the millennial reign and the new heaven and new earth that the waste places will become like Eden and the desert places like the garden of the Lord. That doesn't exist right now, right? But it will exist one day, and he wants them to look forward to that day. Look at verse four. Give ear unto me, O my nation, for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a lie to the people. My righteousness is near, my salvation has gone forth, and my arm shall judge the people. The isles shall wait upon me, and on my arm shall they trust. Lift up your eyes to the heavens and look upon the earth beneath, 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 obviously this is referencing the new heaven and the new earth, okay? He's encouraging them to look to the distant future. And, you know, this is essentially God telling them, be more heavenly minded. I know you're going through a hard time, you're going through trials and difficulties. It's really, you know, your life is full of afflictions right now. You're being taken into captivity. So I want you to think upon, look upon, ponder upon the future. What is ahead, okay? And in the New Testament, this is expressed in this manner. The Bible tells us in Colossians chapter three, verse two, set your affections above, not on the things of this earth, right? If you're going through a hard time, you know, sometimes we just got to think about the fact that we're just sojourners here. Pilgrims and sojourners and the things concerning us have an end. We're not always going to be here. We're not always going to be in affliction and in pain and in sorrow. And like man though, you're not always going to be in physical prosperity and physical success. Like the money and the possessions of this world, they're going to fade away. The world's going to burn. Your successes, your achievements, your house, your boat, your car, your clothes, everything's going to go. And so therefore, we need to set our affections on things above, not on the things of this earth. Think about the millennial reign, right? And he's saying, you know, heaven is going to be new. The earth is going to be made new. He's going to transfigure all these things. You know, everything that we see right now, one day will just not exist. The works thereof shall also burn up. And all that's going to matter is what you did for Christ. Think about that. Think about all the activity that you expend your life on throughout the week. How much of it do you think is going to last for eternity? Now, a lot of it could last if you do it as unto the Lord. But the reality is this, you know, the things that for sure will last are the people we went to Christ, the people we turned to righteousness, right? The service of the Lord, that's going to exist forever. I'm going to read to you from Hebrews 11, verse 13. It says, These all died in faith, not having received the promises. This is addressing Abraham and Sarah, but having seen them afar off and were persuaded by them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country that is in heavenly. Wherefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city. So think about that. Abraham, who the promises were made to, even he wasn't really caring about the physical land of Israel. He didn't even really care about that. He didn't see it come to pass. Why? Because he thought about a better country. Which is New Jerusalem. Heaven. Look at verse number 7 of Isaiah 51. We're going to finish up here in just a bit. It says, Harken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law. Fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revileings. 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. So he tells them, look back. He tells them, look forward, and then here he says, look in. Why? Because they're the people in whose heart is the law. And what he's specifically saying here is that because you know the law of the Lord, because you know the word of God, you know that the wicked of this world will not prosper. You know that the evil of this world, they're not going to get away with it. The people who wronged you, the wicked of this world, the reprobates of this world, the evildoers of this world, they're going to be like a chaff which the wind drive out the way. But my righteousness, he says, will be forever. So he's charging them to remember the righteous judgment of God and that the Lord will punish the wicked. Think about this. You know, think about a person maybe who has affected you personally or has not affected you at all, but you've been grieved at their actions. The people, the wicked of this world, you think to yourself, man, how do they get away with this? How are they not brought to justice? Look at how wicked they've been towards me, towards my family, or towards just other righteous people. Lord, what's going to happen? Well, we know because we have the law in our hearts that God is not going to let them get away with it. And you know what? When we fret and worry and are grieved over the prosperity of the wicked, we need to look within, remind ourselves of the Word of God, and realize, you know what? Their payment is going to come one day. Their judgment shall come one day. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drive out the way. They're not going to be able to stand in judgment. God will recompense them one day upon their own heads. And he's telling them this, of course, because of the Babylonian captivity and the afflictions that they're suffering. They're probably thinking like, oh, we got the God of the Bible, but here we are suffering, and it seems as though nothing's happening. Yeah, but you need to look within and remember the law of the Lord that God's going to recompense them for their evil. You know, the Bible tells us in Psalm 31, verse 23, O love the Lord, all ye saints, for the Lord preserveth the faithful and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. I remember years ago when I was a brand new Christian and I got saved and my friend got saved, he came to me and he's like, Bruce, like, why does it say here that God's going to reward proud people? Because, you know, in our minds, you know, the connotation of reward is like a good thing. Like, why is it going to be good to, like, bad people? That's so weird. And I was just like, I looked at it, I was like, I don't know, man, I'm just going to believe it. Like, I can't really understand it. That is kind of weird. I guess I'll understand it. But obviously, you know, what I didn't understand is the fact that when he says that he's going to reward them, it's another way of saying he's going to recompense them. He's going to punish them. Reward in the Bible is not always referring to a good thing. Sometimes it's a bad thing. And here he says that he's going to reward the proud doer. He also says in Proverbs 26, verse 10, The great God that formed all things, both rewardeth the fool and rewardeth the transgressors. So, you know, before you think that maybe God has, you know, defrauded you, or you feel as though, you know, you got the short end of the stick, or you feel like, oh, man, these people have prospered, they're succeeding, I'm over here suffering. Just look in to the Word of God and realize that the prosperity will be very short-lived. And, you know, God has done unrighteous to forget your labor of love. Okay? We're going to stop there, but let me just briefly go over this. Verses 9 through 16 is the cry for God to awaken. The children of Israel are basically telling God, like, hey, you know, get up and do something. Awake, Lord. And I do want to mention this last thing because if you see in verse 9, it says, Awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord. Awake, as in ancient days, in the generations of old, art thou not it that hath cut Rahab and wounded the dragon? So let me just explain what that means because automatically you may think, like, Rahab the harlot? Like, God cut her up? Dang, like, what happened? We didn't get that part of the story. Like, I thought he delivered her. But Rahab, the name Rahab, or the word Rahab, also means proud or arrogant. Okay? And, in fact, you know, when you read the Psalms, for example, you'll see that the serpent, also known as Leviathan, is also referred to as Rahab. Okay? And, in fact, let me read to you from Psalm 89, verse 9, it says, Thou ruleth the raging of the seas, when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them. Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain, thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm. Psalm 87, verse 4, also says, I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon, to them that know me. Behold, Philistia and Tyrian with Ethiopia, this man was born there. And so what he's referring to, he's referring to Leviathan. Okay? Because Leviathan is essentially a proud beast. And, obviously, there's a lot of spiritual significance to that. And you say, well, why was Rahab the harlot called Rahab? Well, I think probably the reason that her name was Rahab is to signify the fact that, you know, you can't get saved unless you humble yourself. Like, she was proud like anybody else, but she had to humble herself and receive the spies, believe on the Lord. That's probably the significance of that. And so they're telling him to awake there. And I'm going to stop there, and I'll probably cover the rest of it in my introduction next week. But what's the point of tonight's sermon? Well, if you get anything, get this. You know, whether you're succeeding or you're suffering, we have to look these three ways. We've got to look back to our salvation. Be grateful for the fact that God saved you. And you know what? No matter how bad your day is, how bad your week is, you're just not going to go to hell with it. Just remember that. And I know that's kind of rough. You're just like, yeah, but you know. But here's the thing. Let's really think about that, though. No matter how bad even your life gets, which we are not going to have a bad life because of the fact that the blessing of the Lord make it rich and you have no sorrow to it. But we are going to experience afflictions in this world. But you just got to remember, like, your worst day on this earth just does not compare to an eternity in hell that the vast majority of the people in this world are going to face. We're saved. So, man, my marriage. Yeah, but you're saved, though. Yeah, but my kids. Yeah, but you're saved, though. My health. But you're saved, though. And I'm not saying that's the answer for everything. I'm just saying that that's something we've got to think upon in order to help us to have gratitude. So look back. Look forward to the millennial reign. Look forward to heavenly things. Look forward to the new heaven and new earth. Look forward to set your affections on things above. And then lastly, look within. Make sure you're hiding God's word in your heart to remind yourself of the judgments of the Lord. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word and thank you for the principles thereof. Help us as your people to ponder upon these things, whether in success or an affliction. May we look back to our salvation when we got saved. May we look forward to what's ahead of us in the eternal. And of course, throughout the process, may we look within, Lord. And I pray that you'd help us to think upon the word of God. Think about the think upon the principles thereof, the fact that you're faithful and that these judgments will come to pass. And the God of all the earth will do right. We know that. And I pray you bless us as we go on our way. We love you. We thank you.