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you you you you you you you you you you you Welcome to church, please grab the hymnals We'll turn to our her first hymn for this evening him number 162 him number 162 to God be the glory when you found it can you please stand That all may go in praise the Lord praise the Lord with the earth hear his voice praise the Lord praise the Lord Let the people rejoice all through Jesus the son Give him the glory great things he oh Thanks redemption the purchase of blood to every Promised of God Violets of ender who truly believes that moment from Jesus Praise the Lord Let the earth hear his voice praise the Lord praise the Lord Let the people rejoice Oh Through Jesus the son and give him the glory great things he Great things he Done and great our rejoicing through Jesus the son Higher and greater will be How wonder I'll transport when Jesus we see praise the Lord Praise the Lord let the earth hear his voice Praise the Lord praise the Lord let the people rejoice Great scene guys. Let's go to word of prayer Dear Heavenly Father Lord we seek you this evening. We ask that you would cleanse us from all unrighteousness We meet together and congregate to worship you Lord and to sing unto you Please help our our hearts to be open this evening to the preaching we pray that you bless this service and we pray for those that can't be here with us that you would come for them this evening and Lord be with us in Jesus name we pray amen Maybe seated Okay, our next hymn will be hymn number 212 happy day In number 212 212 happy day happy day when Jesus washed my sins away I Watch and pray every joy Well, they're just trying to move happy day happy day Jesus wash my sins away He told me how to worship great and every joy seen every day happy day Happy day when Jesus washed my sins away She's done the great transactions done. I am my Lord's and he is mine Oh He told me how to watch and pray I live rejoice in every day happy day When Jesus washed my sins away Rest my long And hard fixed on this place Happy day happy day Tell me how to wash and pray every joy Jesus wash I Okay, our next hymn will be hymn number 406 who is on the Lord's side Who is on the Lord's side Oh Oh Me Oh Messing By my grand Oh Is Joyfully enlisting by grace Divine Okay, I finally before the Bible reading go all the way to the front Him number four the way of the cross leads home in number four the way of the cross I Must need to go by the way of the cross. There's no other way I shall never sign on the gates of life in the way of the cross I It is sweet Oh Oh To My lord Where he waits at the open Way Oh They're 43 the Bible reads But now thus says the Lord that created thee O Jacob and he that formed the O Israel fear not For I have redeemed thee I have called thee by thy name Thou art mine When thou passes through the waters, I will be with thee and through the rivers They shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shall not be burnt neither shall the flame Kindle upon thee for I am the Lord thy God the Holy One of Israel thy Savior I gave Egypt for thy ransom Ethiopia and Seba for thee Since thou was precious in my sight thou has been honorable and I have loved thee Therefore will I give men for thee and people for thy life fear not I am with thee I will bring thy seed from east from the east and gather thee from the west I will say to the north give up and to the south Keep not back bring my sons far from far and my daughters from the ends of the earth Even everyone that is called by my name for I have created him for my glory. I have formed him Yay, I have made him Bring forth the blind people that have eyes and the deaf that have ears Let all the nations be gathered together and let the people be assembled Who among them can declare this and show us former things? Let them bring forth their witnesses that they may be justified or let them hear and say it is truth You are my witnesses saith the Lord and my servants whom I have chosen That ye may know and believe me and understand that I am he before me There was no God formed neither shall there be after me I even I am the Lord and beside me there is no Savior I have declared and have saved and I have showed when there was no strange God among you Therefore ye are my witnesses saith the Lord that I am God Yea before the day was I am he and there is none that can deliver out of my hand I will work and who shall let it Thus saith the Lord your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel for your sake I have sent to Babylon and have brought down all the nobles and the Chaldeans Whose cry is on is in the ships I am the Lord your Holy One the creator of Israel your King Thus saith the Lord which makes us away in the sea and the path of the mighty waters Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse and the army the power They shall lie down together. They shall not raise they are extinct. They are quenched as tow remember ye Remember ye not the former things neither consider the things of old behold I will do a new thing now it shall be now it shall spring forth Shall ye not know it I will even make a way in the wilderness and the rivers in the desert the beast of the field Shall honor me the dragons and the owls Because I have given water in the wilderness and the rivers in the desert to give Drink to my people my chosen these people have I formed for myself. They shall not show forth They shall show my forth my praise, but thou has not called upon me Oh Jacob, but thou has been weary of me Oh Israel thou has not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offering neither has thou honored me with thy sacrifices I have not caused thee to serve with an offering nor weary thee with instance incense thou has bought Me no sweet cane with money neither has thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices But thou has made me to serve With thy sins thou has wearied me with thine inequities I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake and will not Remember thy sin put me in remembrance Let us plead together declare thou that thou mayest be justified thy first Thy first father has sinned and thy teachers have transgressed against me Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary and have given Jacob to the curse and Israel to Reproaches, let's go to a way to pray Thank You father God for gathering us in your house again another Thursday Thank you that you bring the man of God all the way from Queensland and filling with thy Holy Spirit And thank you that you give us a hearing heart that we may not only be the hears of the word But the doers in Jesus Holy Name. Amen All right Isaiah 43 and just notice verse number 10 It just begins by saying ye are my witnesses ye are my witnesses is a title for the sermon tonight Now when you look at verse number one there Isaiah 43 verse number one it says But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel So, of course God is speaking to the Old Testament nation the covenant nation of Israel And I want to understand that by looking at verse number 10 ye are my witnesses He's saying to that Old Testament covenant people like they're supposed to be the witnesses of God They're supposed to be the witnesses of Jesus Christ That's why God, you know has this nation has formed this nation has blessed them has given them a land flowing with milk and honey And the whole purpose behind it is that they would be witnesses of God to the nations before them now Old Testament Israel did not do a very good job as witnesses Okay, and so what I want to do like obviously as I cover this book cover this chapter I want to explain to you what's happening in real time Isaiah is real time, okay, and he's Old Testament nation But then we also want to take the applications for us today because in the New Testament You know the people of God of all nations those that have believed on Christ. They're referred to as the Israel of God We are the Israel of God Spiritually speaking and of course we too are called to be witnesses of Jesus Christ And so what I want you to do is to show you the historical context of what we're reading But also I want to take some applications of us as witnesses of God or witnesses of our Lord Jesus Christ Now we are on the 43rd chapter of the Bible, which is the 43rd book of what's the book called? John the book of John so what I'm going to do is Give you a thing and then come with me to the book of John very quickly come with me to John chapter 1 John chapter 1 John chapter 1 now You know sometimes I feel like as I've been trying to find similar themes or teachings From the different books of the Bible sometimes I feel like I'm drawing a bit of a long bow I'm finding some similarities, and there are some things that are clearer than others, but when we look at Isaiah 43 it immediately Immediately looks like the book of John in so many ways in so many ways And I'm going to do my best to cover some of those But I hope you're there in John chapter 1 now Just flick back keep your finger there and can flick back to Isaiah 43 and look at verse number 1 Isaiah 43 verse 1 let's read it again, but now thus saith the Lord that created thee So how does this chapter begin? By saying that God is a creator okay created thee, O Jacob and he that formed thee O Israel fear Not for I have redeemed thee and I have called thee by thy name thou art mine So verse number 1 begins by saying that God is the creator, but it's also the Redeemer Okay, and then when we start John chapter 1 look at John chapter 1 verse number 1 John chapter 1 verse number 1 it says in the beginning was the word and the word was With God and the word was God the same was in the beginning with God All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made And so immediately the book of John begins by expressing that God not just God But the son the word that was manifest in the flesh was the creator or the one that made all things And so you merely see the similarity And of course in Isaiah 43 talks about God being the Redeemer and as you continue later on in that chapter John chapter 1 he talks about Jesus Christ the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world and that John The Baptist was a witness of that light which came into the world, which is why again we see the similarities You know where God is speaking of the Old Testament nation as the witnesses Where we see that in the beginning of John you can read in your own time that chapter That John is a witness of the light that came into the world and of course John the Baptist represents all believers essentially And we see later on we're going to see further similarities Of being a witness for Jesus Christ now keep a finger there in John because I do have a few references Come back with me to Isaiah 43 and verse number 2 Isaiah 43 verse number 2 again We need to understand first the historical context But then we want to take a application for us as the Israel of God of the New Testament in verse number 2 it says When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee Now this isn't just if it happens God's going to be with them. This is talking about historical events of Israel becoming a nation and of course that first reference when they are passed through the waters is when they went through the Red Sea Okay, then they were delivered out of Egypt God part of the waters He says I will I will be with thee or he was with them And it says and through the rivers They shall not overflow thee so what else happens later on They go past they also pass through the Jordan River Remember when they're on their way to the promised land God again opens the rivers and they're able to pass through the Jordan River And then it says that when they'll walk us through the fire Thou shalt not be burned neither shall the flame kindle upon thee And of course the reference there when you think about Daniel later on we read about Daniel and Shadrach Meshach and Abednego Or not Daniel so much but his three friends Shadrach Meshach and Abednego being thrown in the furnace of fire by king Nebuchadnezzar And the fire did not burn them did it? And I think you can actually apply a further reference there Neither shall the flame kindle upon thee, you know, we know that one day for those that reject Jesus Christ They're going to be cast into hell fire But for those that are believers of Jesus Christ the fires of hell will never burn us will never You know singe a single hair on our head and I believe those promises are there of course from a historical Perspective also, it's going to play out in the future when they're taken into Babylon the furnace But also we want to take the application for us today and often in the bible waters and fires represents Problems and troubles and difficulties that we go through in life You know if you've lived on this life long enough, you know, you've experienced certain challenges and difficulties. I wish life wasn't like this Like I I in many ways. I just wish we didn't have to constantly deal with problems, you know, we we've death We've struggles we've sicknesses We've broken relationships. We've family conflicts. We've problems between friends Backstabbing gossiping. I wish we didn't have to deal with these problems But God says that whatever waters whatever storms whatever fires that we pass through he promises us to be there with us You know, Jesus Christ says he'll never leave us nor forsake us And that's the best part about being a Christian Oh the best part is being saved and yet going to heaven But the next great part is that jesus christ is always with us and he doesn't promise us no problems In fact that he promises problems He promises us tribulations because that's what life is but that we're able to get through it through it with the help of jesus christ Instead of doing it on our own instead of the you know Try to come up with our own ideas and our own wisdom to overcome problems Christ will always be there with us and that's a a great promise And as I said as much as I would love life to be without these struggles I know that my eternal life in heaven will be without troubles. I know at some point I'm going to experience that life that I want here now But as a great promise and a great hope to come in the future Well, let's continue there verse number three For I am the lord thy god the holy one of israel thy savior I gave egypt for thy ransom ethiopia and seba for thee Since thou was precious in my sight thou has been honorable and I have loved thee Therefore will I give men for thee and people for thy life? So what we see here is just references of egypt ethiopia seba different. Um, maybe at certain times different enemies or Opposition toward the israelites He speaks of he's given men So we had a recent, you know in his the historical context you may recall how god sent an angel and destroyed the asyrian army Before they were able to take uh jerusalem in control. And so god is explaining that look i've overcome your enemies I've overcome the oppressors overcome those that hated you, you know, because he loves israel He loves the covenant of people he loves this nation here under the old covenant But once again, I want you to apply it for you because you are the israel of god, you know, god loves you And like we saw as he allows us to go past through the through the waters the storms of life and the fires Also when our enemies rise up against us, we know when people hate us for just the name of christ God says hey, he'll take them down. He says we're honorable. He says that he loves us He will give men for thee he'll take them down Because we're special in his eyes And it's wonderful to have a god that is on our side So verse number five continues fear not For I am with thee I will bring thy seed from the east And gather thee from the west I will say to the north Give up and to the south keep not back Bring my sons from far and my daughters from the ends of the earth Even everyone that is called by my name For I have created him for my glory. I have formed him. Yay. I have made him Now these verses that I just read christ is saying that he's got people East and the west and the north and the south and he's asking that they'd be delivered from these places Now many times in the bible when it comes to these prophets like isaiah and jeremiah refers to the north Quite often it does have to do with the babylonians Now one application of this and I think it is a good application Is that god is prophesying of they're still not taking into captivity, right? It's still I don't know maybe 30 40 years left before the babylonians come and take over the southern kingdom of juda But this might be very well a prophecy of 70 years later after the captivity That they're going to be delivered They're going to be you know The north is going to give up his people once again as they return back into the land of israel That could be definitely that could be an application. I think it is probably the first application But I want to take a secondary application here If you can keep your finger there and come with me to matthew keep your finger in john as well But come with me to matthew chapter 8 matthew chapter 8 because I want to again show you how it applies to us as well All right We're taking the historical teaching and we also want to understand what does this mean for us in the new testament in matthew chapter 8? In verse number 10 matthew chapter 8 in verse number 10 Remember god said in isaiah 43 that they come in from the east and from the west And of course jesus christ uses the same language here And i've taught on this so many times. I think it's it's such it's so this doctrine is so important for us to remember And this is when the roman centurion Asked jesus to just say the word and his servant will be healed And christ, you know says i've never seen such great faith, you know, no not in israel He's speaking about a gentile having greater faith than even the jews that he's come across Well, it says in matthew 8 10 when jesus heard it He marveled and said to them that followed verily I say unto you. I have not found so great faith No, not in israel. He's speaking about a roman centurion He says this roman this gentile has more faith in me than anyone here of the jews Then he says this in verse 11 And I say unto you that many shall come from the east and west And shall sit down with abraham and isaac and jacob in the kingdom of heaven Again, we understand the context that we're reading here that these people are the gentiles talking about the east and the west They're coming together. They're going to sit with abraham isaac and jacob in the kingdom of heaven And look at the jews in verse number 12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth This is a really important doctrine that I think a lot of churches miss Look does god love israel as we're reading there in isaiah 43. Does he love israel? Of course It's a physical covenanted people But we are now operating in the new testament Israel is a spiritual people from the east and the west abraham isaac and jay believers of all nations And if you have believed on jesus christ, you have entered into the new covenant You may recall when jesus christ speaks of his body and of his blood That's the that's the the the blood of the new covenant the blood of the new testament And through jesus christ under the new covenants doesn't matter where you belong doesn't matter if you grew up in israel Or you're from the east or the west or the north or the south? That if you're a believer in christ, we're going to be all gathered together in the kingdom of heaven Come back with me to isaiah 43 isaiah 43 And so the reason I read that is because then we can look at verses five six and seven Yes, we can take a historical context of them coming out of babylonian captivity About a prophecy about a hundred years before it happened or we can take it to be about the new testament believers Of all nations coming together as one people under god and verse number eight says Bring forth the blind that have eyes And the death that have ears let all the nations be gathered together and let the people be assembled Who among them can declare this? And show us former things Let them bring forth their witnesses that they may be justified Or let them hear and say it is truth Now what this is speaking about is again god speaking about his nation of israel Okay, then he's saying that there's coming a time when all nations are going to be gathered together to witness about israel to pass judgment about israel You know, uh, he's saying hey listen like he's calling the blind and he's even calling the main to come to be part of this uh judgment Now I believe everything that we're going to read here and what this is about is about The millennium christ ruling that thousand year period when all nations are going to be under christ And again in that millennium there is going to be a millennial israel. Okay, it's not 1948 israel It's not modern modern day israel. It's a millennial israel made up of believers of jesus christ Okay, and god is telling the nations come and judge this my people verse number 10 Ye are my witnesses Say of the lord and my servant whom I have chosen that you may know and believe me and understand That I I am he Before me there was no god formed Neither shall there be after me I even I am the lord and beside me there is no savior Now that's important. God says he's the only god. He's the only lord. There is no other god besides him You know, uh Christianity is a monotheistic religion. We believe in one god But that one god reveals himself to us in three persons the father the son and the holy ghost And yet at the same time at least theologically one god All right, and what's amazing about this one god of the bible as he said there in verse 11. I even I Am the lord and beside me there is no savior So besides the god of the bible there is no savior outside of christ biblical christianity there is no salvation Reverend, you know the greatest thing that we need to receive is the salvation of our lord jesus christ You know and like every and I know this saddens a lot of people But if someone dies as a muslim, they're going to die and go to hell If someone dies as a buddhist, they're going to go to hell if someone dies as a hindu they go into hell If someone dies as an atheist they're going to hell if someone dies as a as a jew Under judaism, they're going to die and go to hell What other false religions are there if someone dies as a false christian Still trusting in their works Or trusting in the virgin mary or trusting in their icons and their idols and their rosary beads And and their baptism and they're trusting in their church attendance and they're trusting in everything else. They're going to go to hell when they die There's only one savior and that's the lord god almighty you either go to heaven because of god or every other way It's it's hell There's a savior And he made it easy salvation by grace god's grace through faith On his son the lord jesus christ his death his burial resurrection. He paid for all of our sins He did all the work So we have nothing to do except to place our faith on jesus That's how easy a free gift eternal life eternal everlasting once you have it. You can never lose it because it's everlasting It's eternal Man, isn't that that's good news Like god made it so easy He did all the work Now when I said all those religions are going to hell. It's not that I hate them I love them for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son And brevin told for the sermon was ye are my witnesses Tells us that it's our responsibility. We can't complain and say well, they're in false religion. That's not fair All right, if you think it's not fair then you get out there and tell them about jesus That's why we're saved We're saved not just because we've got a home in heaven praise god But we've got people across all of sydney believing in false religion trusting everything else to save them except jesus christ And it's our job to tell them of the wonderful news of the savior It's a free gift People reject free gifts we knock on their doors Like what string they think they're strings attached I've knocked doors trying to give someone the gospel. They try to give me money like to go away It's like no, we don't want your money Oh, do I have to attend your church? No, you don't have to attend our church You just need to believe on jesus christ and thou shall be saved If you never set foot in church, I don't care I care a little bit But I care that you set foot in heaven in eternity. That's vastly more important than anything else Look the bible's telling us there is no savior besides the god in the bible Now I hope you keep a finger there in john. Come with me to john chapter 10. John chapter 10 and verse number 38 John chapter 10 and verse number 38 John chapter 10 verse number 38 christ says but if I do Though you believe not me believe the works That you may know and believe that the father is in me and I in him Now remember I even I am the lord and beside me there is no savior We know that jesus christ is the savior the savior of the world So who is saying these words? I even I am the lord and beside me. There is no savior These are the words of jesus found in the old testament He says the father is in me and I in him Because we serve one god there are no other gods beside the god of the bible And we know that one god is the father the son and the holy spirit Let's continue there in verse number 12 Sorry, uh ax ax I'm doing ax in new life. What are we now? Isaiah? Sorry guys I went back in time for a minute Isaiah verse number 12, please. It says I have declared and have saved And I have showed When there was no strange god among you Therefore ye are my witnesses safe lord that I am god Again, the witnesses this keeps coming up in the in isaiah 43 Why does this keep coming up? Isaiah 43 I'm losing chapter what chapter i'm after sorry guys You know if you did if you just do a random word search If you get like a bible program if you have on your phone if you can have a search And you type in the word witness or witnesses You know what book of the bible covers that topic the most? It's the book of john I mean that is one of the key themes Of the book of john, so i'll just give you an example come with me to john chapter one again Come with me to john chapter one and verse number 15 john chapter one and verse number 15 So i'm trying to explain that old testament israel was meant to be a witness of god Like god's saying i'm the savior i'm the only savior so if they're witnesses of the savior they're meant to be winning souls They're meant to be pointing people in historically speaking to the god of abraham isaac and jacob And that is the same job that we're trying to do as god's people in the new testament John chapter one verse number 15. I mentioned that earlier. John bear. That's john the baptist bear witness of him witness of him and cried saying This was he of whom I spake He that cometh after me is preferred Before me for he was before me That's interesting Jesus was born after john the baptist, right? John the baptist was six months older But he says but he was before me why because jesus is god god has always been he's the creator of john Even though they're cousins, you know from a human perspective the cousins, but jesus christ was born in bethlehem's manger And john says i'm a witness of him and he he was before me John knows who jesus christ is Okay, come with me to chapter 15. John chapter 15. John chapter 15 and verse number 27 john 15 John 15 and verse number 27. These are the words of jesus He says this to his believers. He says this to his disciples These are words that he's saying to us you and me And ye also shall bear witness Because you have been with me from the beginning And you also shall bear witness You know, there's a cult a christian cult that gets out there. They're called jehovah witnesses Witnesses They're not witnesses. They're false witnesses is what they are Okay, their gospel message. Their salvation is still Good works Be a good person try your best And then i've asked them So are you going to heaven? I don't know yet Because they can still mess up their lives, right? They're just trying their best and look I mean there's nothing wrong With being a good person and trying your best to live a good life I'm not but if that's what you're trusting in to go to heaven, you will never know if you're going to heaven Because we have good days and we have bad days Like what if I what if what if I would drop dead at 50 years old, right? And I live like 49 years just wholly living right just living and then the last year of my life I'm, just this wicked, you know, I just you know, i'm just on drugs. I'm like robbing banks. I'm just doing the worst of the worst And I die like that, you know people can say well that guy was definitely going unsaved Even though I had 40, you know 39 years of 49 years whatever of wholly living How you live is not the basis if you're saved or if you're a believer You're the basis of going to heaven is whether you're a believer believer in christ The god of abraham isaac and jake which is jesus christ, which was before john the baptist But I want to show you that we are witnesses brethren And the Bible doesn't tell us how often we should be witness You know, some people go out every week and I commend you for that. I think it's very good to Uh, like going out once a week preaching the gospel. I think it's good. It's good to just create a habit You know, like it's just part of your life to get out there once a week Even if it's just an hour out there. I think it's a very good habit to develop but the Bible doesn't tell us exactly You know how much we ought to witness but we all we are meant to be witnesses. That's the point We are meant to speak of jesus christ And look if you've been saved if you've been a believer For like five years and you've not yet told someone the gospel There's something wrong I'm, not saying you're not saved I'm, just saying you're not doing the task that god has asked you to do You know, you don't even need to know much you know how you got saved you know what jesus did for you You know that he died and he paid for all your sins, you know that he rose again from the dead three days later You know that he gave you a free, uh, you know entrance into heaven by his work on the cross And then all you need to do is tell someone else the same message It doesn't take much To be able to be a witness for jesus christ Come back with me to um Isaiah I want to say acts again. Sorry. Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43 and verse number 14 Sorry verse number 13 yay Before the day was I am he And there is none that can deliver out of my hand I will work and who shall let it Now if there's a few times that christ that god has said here I am he in the book of john You've got those seven I ams. I think it's the seven I ams. I am the door. I am the shepherd I'm the way i'm the bread of life I am the I am the way truth. I'm that's enjoying as well, isn't it? Yeah Yeah, so that anyway, I won't go into all of that today You can do your own research in your own time But there is one thing that I wanted to bring out of this verse something else besides Ime It says here and there is none that can deliver you out of my hand What does that sound like to you? Well, if you look at john chapter 10, you guys know this reference, of course There is none that can deliver you Can that can deliver out of my hand there is none that can deliver out of my hand John chapter 10 verse number 28 you guys know this john chapter 10 verse number 28 and I give unto them says jesus Eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand My father which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand See the same themes are coming up. You know what if you're in the hand of jesus No one can ever remove you out of his hand The moment you believe on christ you call upon his name in faith You trust his death bearing resurrection. You are like I said eternal life, but you are eternals eternally secure in the hand of jesus And then jesus says not just my hand Even the one that's greater than all the hand of the father You are in his hand and no one can ever pluck you out of his hand That's what's beautiful about salvation it's eternal it's forever once you've decided to put your trust in jesus It's done. You don't even have to doubt you don't have to have confusion. You know, it's done because jesus did it all Once again, if you're judging your salvation on how you're performing in life, you'll always have doubts Because you can you can be you can be at church tonight and then tomorrow you won't even care about god Maybe maybe tomorrow you might end up doing some wickedness And then you're like, I don't know if i'm saved I don't know if i'm a believer, of course you are Because it's not based on what you've done It's based on what jesus has done for you Now i'm not recommending go and live a wicked life i'm obviously not Okay, i'm rec i'm teaching you be a witness Right, that's the theme of tonight being witness for jesus christ tell others about the salvation that he offers us Brother, uh, brother ramsey, if you don't mind, can you turn on call air from the air con? Verse number 14 in isiah 43 verse number 14 I think that those are all the references that I have from the book of john so you can remove your hand out of john now but isiah 43 verse number 14 Thus save the lord your redeemer the holy one of israel For your sake I have sent to babylon And have brought down all their nobles And the caldeons whose cry is in the ships I am the lord your holy one the creator of israel your king Once again, we're seeing Who's been brought up here? Babylon the caldeons, okay again Uh, god is referring to the babylonian empire Okay, and we know that eventually the southern king of jude has been taken into captivity But that has not yet played out historically. That's still over a hundred years before it happens Okay, but once again, we see that god is referencing prophesying of these future events to come verse number 16 Thus save the lord which maketh a way in the sea And a path in the mighty waters, so he's referring back to what we read earlier. All right He passes us through the waters And again historically that has to do with the israelites coming through the red sea When they left egypt then it says because this way it says in verse number 17 which bring forth the chariots and the horse The army and the power they shall they shall lie down together. They shall not rise They are extinct They are quenched as toe I believe toe is like a candle or the wick of a candle something like that Okay, so they're quenched like a candle And so here once again god is speaking if I hope you guys know maybe maybe you don't fully know but When the early nation of israel was led by moses out of egypt, you know, god opened the red sea They were able to pass through they were being chased down by the egyptians by the army of pharaoh And then when god allowed all the israelites get through to the other side and as the chariots as the army are going through the red Sea god closes the water on top of the army and drowns the horses drowns the men Destroys the chariots so he wipes out the army of pharaoh in that process and that's what god is speaking about here And once again, it's just teaching us that god will always defend us from wickedness he'll defend us from wicked people You know as long as we're walking in the pathway that god has set before us It can be in the midst of the waters, but he says that he'll be with us But then he says this so we're talking about the past We're talking about the very birth of the nation of israel But then it says this in verse 18, which is interesting Remember ye not the former things Neither consider the things of old Now you're like my god just mentioned The things of the past you've mentioned like god just brought up the form of things You just brought up the things of the old right how the nation was delivered out of egypt But this is why this is why and look It's not saying never remember the the past But this is why because in verse number 19, he says behold I will do a new thing Now it shall bring forth Shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert Now we'll break this down in a moment, but it says look We don't need to live in the past Like it's it's good to remember what god has done for us right even in our lives god has answered prayers He's helped us through problems. He's given us wisdom. He's you know, for those that are married. He's found your spouse For those that have kids he's giving you children. I mean, it's good to remember what god has done for us in the past But then god says all right good But now he wants to do a new thing You know, god still wants to work in your life tonight and tomorrow and next week You know, it's good to look back at what god has done But now we need to say okay god, what are you going to do for me moving forward? God says man i've done these miracles for you i've delivered you in the past, but now i'm going to do a new thing And if you've been following me through the book of isaiah, you probably know what these references are about So let's I I believe this is all literal. Okay, uh verse number 19. Let's read it again behold. I will do a new thing Now it shall spring forth Shall you not know it I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers In the desert now before I keep reading. What do you believe that's about for those that sorry? All right I've not thought about like that. Let's keep reading a little bit more Verse number 20 the beast of the field shall honor me the dragons and the owls Because I give waters in the wilderness And rivers in the desert look at this to give drink to my people my chosen people This people have I formed for myself They shall show forth my praise Now if you've been following me all three chapters Quite often we know that isaiah brings up again the millennium That's an important part of the future events to come All right the millennium And what did we learn when christ comes back and puts his feet on the earth? What's going to do? He's going to change The topography of the earth It's all going to change. There are going to be new mountains There's going to be rivers in the deserts. There's going to be a river flowing from israel You know that's going to it's going to be able to nourish people You know christ is going to rule. I mean the world's going to be Rejuvenated it's going to be wonderful in the time of christ And he goes man you you you know, you're excited about the things by me, you know Open up the red sea and destroying egyptians Just wait to what I have planned for your future And uh, I talk about it a lot, I don't know what I just feel that the bible's full of references of the millennium And we ought to get excited about that because the bible tells us that we're made kings and priests That we're going to rule and reign with christ in the millennium Like we as god's people if you're if you're saved you're going to be part of that millennial government Okay, you're going to rule over nations and rule over cities and rule over towns Like we're going to be the counselors Was it a council vote not long ago here in new south wales? Like you're going to be the counselors Okay, and it's not going to be the vote of the people. It's going to be the choice of jesus christ To appoint us in positions of authority and power So like there's an exciting time to come Like in many ways where you know, we in many ways today we represent like christ first coming humble We're sojourners. We're just passing through We're not of this world. Our kingdom is not of this world All right. We're just trying to win souls. We're not you know, but then when christ comes back he comes in judgment And guess what in the millennium we're going to be judging with jesus christ So we get to live out this same process that christ lived on this earth When he came in human form Verse number 22 Now this is so he's talking about look I've got this great future ahead for you israel And this is where he gets again it gets sad like this chapter ends on on a bit of a negative tone, okay But thou has not called upon me. Oh jacob But thou has been weary of me. Oh israel So look i've helped you in the past you've seen all the miracles i've got this great future for you in the millennium And you don't call upon me. You don't talk to me. You're tired of me. It says god It's like wow Look I'm sure if you've been saved for a long period of time there have been times that you got weary in the faith Where you just stop picking up the bible You stop going to church Maybe you stop praying Life gets busy sometimes But sometimes it gets a bit weary You know turn up on a thursday night. So I appreciate you guys turn up on a thursday night, by the way I know it's it's not easy. It's a bit wearisome Look if I just wanted to give into my flesh I won't catch that flight here i'm much more comfortable at home It's there is a wearisome to it and it's just you have to understand that that is the christian life It's hard to remain zealous 24 7 in the spirit constantly witnessing of christ It gets tiring But when you get tired, I want you to understand that god is not just this Like our faith isn't just this religious program that we go through Like god is a real person He wants to talk to us. He leads us. He guides us He wants the best for us It's like My wife right if I don't spend time with my wife If I don't talk to my wife If we don't speak about our plans of the family and what what's going on? You know if I just wake up on a thursday, I don't say goodbye to my wife And I just leave the house and fly to sydney and she's like where's kevin and she went like what's going on? Like what's going on with our family like, you know, obviously to maintain a healthy strong and committed marriage We need to be in communication You know why life gets weary doesn't it, you know, especially with a whole bunch of kids you get very busy life gets weary and Sometimes you don't have time to maybe take your wife out on the date that you should have or whatever it is You don't have time to celebrate certain events potentially But you know if you don't maintain a a nice relationship it can destroy your marriage Well, god is not just this process god is not just Go to church or something like this right and just tick the box. God is real God has character We learn about him through his word We ought to speak to him and not just go through some vain repetition prayer dear lord. Thank you for today. Please bless me Thank you lord. Amen He's real He goes god says about the old Covenant people of israel you're tired of me. You're weary of me Reverend I don't want that to be you. Maybe it is you tonight. Maybe you are a bit weary You know in the faith, but I want you to remember the lord wants to spend time with you You know, he wants that personal relationship with you. He wants to spend time with you Look at verse number 23 so I want you to notice how they're weary with god It says thou has not brought me the small cattle for thy burnt offerings So they're still making burnt offerings But god says you've not brought me the small cattle neither hast thou honored me with thy sacrifices I have not caused thee to serve with an offering nor wearied thee with incense So there were these there were these daily sacrifices They had to bring the young of the little when it says the small cattle It's me referencing the young young cattle the young sheep the young kids of you know, goats They were bring to bring for their daily sacrifices God says look you come to the sacrifice, but you just bring in the old ones You're bringing I guess the maimed ones you're bringing the ones that you don't care about You know And that's kind of like coming to church Like okay, I went to church. I ticked the box Yeah, but did you give god your best though? You know, were you distracted about what's going to happen after church? Are you distracted about what's happening tomorrow at work? You know when you sing praises to god, is your heart really in it? Do you are you really trying to praise the lord? You know and so god's showing them look it's not that they've stopped doing what they have to do. They're just not doing the best They're not really following what god has asked them to be and what to do And what I love about at the end of verse number 23 god makes it very clear to them I have not caused thee to serve with an offering Nor wearied thee with incense He says what i've asked you to do Like in the temple It's not that hard to do That's what god is saying but you're still weary And really when you think about christian life If salvation is full and free paid in jesus christ And christ says that his yoke is easy His burden is light Like what we're meant to do as believers really is not that hard Like isn't that hard to open your bible and read it for 10 minutes a day God's given you 24 hours. He says look just give him 10 minutes 15 minutes of your day to read his word Is it really that hard? Is it really that hard to drive for half an hour an hour to get to church? You know, is it really that hard to open your mouth and tell someone hey Let me tell you about what jesus christ did for you so you can be sure of going to heaven Now there is effort But is it really that hard? When god has given you 24 hours in a day seven days in a week, he doesn't ask a lot from you And so that's what he's essentially saying like you guys are weary of me, but i've made it easy i've not given you such major burdens Just bring one of your kids just bring one of your sheep You know animals off, you know able to produce multiple It's not like moms human beings that you only produce one child every couple of years, you know animals are able to constantly reproduce and of course when you got a farm and you got land you're able to bring forth much goods and and uh, You know god's asking for a very small amount You know, is it that hard to bring the tithe And god says look take the 90 for you and give me the 10 Is it that hard is it that wearisome? To live a life that pleases the lord Look at verse number 24 Thou has bought me Sorry, that has that has bought me no sweet cane with money Neither has that filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices But thou has made me to serve with thy sins Thou has wearied me with thine iniquities He goes you're weary of me. I'm weary of you because of your sins because of your iniquities Verse number 24 when he says thou has bought me No sweet cane with money the sweet cane was to make incense like a like a perfume nice smelling incense They're like they're not even getting the right materials For the incense of the temple Like the priests are dropping the ball as well. Not just the people that are bringing the sacrifices But the priests that are meant to be working in the temple. They're dropping their game. They're dropping their ball It's like if I came to you know, thursday night tonight and i'm like, all right guys, uh sorry guys, I only prepared this sermon for the last five minutes before service and You know, I just gave you some garbage sermon You know, I just uh, yeah, you're doing well guys pat you on the back praise god Thank you. Good night. See you later All right, you're not giving your best pass to kevin And I want to speak to the preachers, you know, I appreciate the hard work and give your best preachers You know, let's bring the sweet cane Let's bring the sweet incense Let's give our best to the lord when we get behind this pulpit and we expound god's word to god's people We don't want to get wearisome God says man, you're weary of me. I'm weary of you You know, we've died iniquities Don't you bring these sacrifices but as far as god concerned you're not doing it properly Says man, i'm weary of your sick your sin boy We don't want to be that way. That's what i'm saying. Like this chapter ends on the downer Verse 25 I even I Am here that blood off out thy transgressions for mine own sake I will not remember thy sins Thank god So when we haven't given our best When we haven't been serving the lord when we've not been witnesses unto him When we've gotten behind this pulpit and preached and we knew that we just prepared five minutes and it was a garbage sermon, right? God says look i'm going to forgive you anyway Thank god For even when we do wrong, we don't live according to his ways Thank god, even when we get weary of god he's willing to forgive us God's reminding us man. He's he's a forgiving god Now this is important though god's telling them look i'm ready to forgive you, right But he's warning them about what's happening what's going to happen the babylonian takeover Okay, that's the judgment of god. It's on its way And this is why again it just ends on such a negative note verse number 29 26 Put me in remembrance Let us plead together Declare thou that thou mayest be justified You know if we're in sin, what are we meant to do? We're meant to go to god declare. Yes, lord I've sinned against you. I'm sorry. Please forgive me He says let us play together god saying let me help you confess your sins to me Like god wants us to be made right with him in our spiritual walk That our mayest be justified Then verse number 27 Thy first father have sinned And thy teachers have transgressed against me When he says thy first father, that's a reference to the first generation of the israelites Right, they came out of the red sea They went to mount sinai Didn't take long did it And they're building some golden calf And then like god gives him the covenant god gives him the ten commandments and like yeah, we'll be your covenant to people god And then god's all right. It's time to go to the promised land And what happened? Oh, we can't do it. We can't win the battle You know, uh, it's too hard We're like grasshoppers in their sight. They're giants wine complain murmur rebel against moses God says man your first father have sinned against me your first generation Like god's like saying from the very beginning till now right You're like this rebellious people now the reason I bring this up is because Oh, let's finish it verse number 28 Therefore so this is why okay, so because of this I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary And have given jacob to the curse and israel to reproaches That's just cryptic for You're going to get judged and we know the judgment that's going to come is babylon Okay, babylon is going to wipe them out. God's babylon is going to take them into captivity captivity for 70 years But the point here is that from the time israel came out of egypt Okay to the time when they're taken over by babylon is about 900 years God says you've the first fathers the first generation have sinned against me Just in case you think god is maybe a little too strict a little too hard He gives them 900 years Before babylon takes them It's about It's about like I said 30 40 years what we're reading this chapter before it actually took place And god's telling them look you've got like 30 years left He's asking. Hey confess your sins confess your iniquities. Let's get this right Bring the right offerings Right be a witness unto me And israel go man from the very beginning till now You've sinned against me And god says all right because of that i've given you 900 years It's like 890 years or something like that You know, you're going to get taken away My judgment's going to come Just in case anyone thinks for a minute That god is just too heavy-handed Just makes our life just too hard to serve him He gave this nation 900 years to get it right At some point god has enough and he's got to bring down the hammer. He's got to bring down the judgments So it ends in this very negative tone But as I said brethren the title for the sermon tonight was ye are my witnesses ye Are my witnesses And that was the task that old testament israel was meant to be a witness of god to all the nations of the earth Well, if you're saved today, you're under the new covenant. You're a child of god your job is to be a witness Hey, don't be weary in well-doing don't be weary serving the lord. Don't be weary coming to church Don't get weary reading your bible Okay, don't get weary trying to live a life that pleases god Okay, and brethren because we all stuff up. We all mess up. We all make mistakes. We all sin God's telling us. Hey when you sin guess what i'll help you i'll play with you I'll help you confess your sins so you can be made right with god once again All right, brethren ye are my witnesses. Let's pray Heavenly father lord. Thank you for this chapter Uh lord, thank you for all the similarities that we see with the book of john and lord as much as we can Shake our heads to old testament israel and see their failures Lord, you've got these words in the bible so we can reflect upon these and see where our failings are ourselves Please forgive us lord. We know we're not always Walking in your paths lord. If there's anyone weary here tonight in service towards you, please refresh us Please remind us that you're a forgiven god Lord you want to get things right with us. We know that you're also a god that will chastise and correct us But lord your long suffering help us to get made to be made right with you Please fill us with excitement and zeal and passion for for you help us to think about our walk and relationship with you as we talk to you and We're led by you help us not to go through some basic process of religion ticking the box of coming to church But that we truly love what we're doing lord and we love christ and please bring back that first love into our hearts Help us to be witnesses unto christ and we commit this night to you in jesus name. I pray. Amen All right, let's turn to hymn number 262 262 The light of the world is jesus 262 the light of the world is jesus 262 The Whole world was lost in the darkness of sin the light of the world is jesus Like sunshine and new thing his glory's shining the light of the world is jesus Come to the light To shine in for thee sweetly the light has dawned upon me Once I was blind but now I can see The light of the world is jesus No darkness have we who in jesus Find the light of the world is jesus We walk in the light when we follow our god the light of the world is jesus Come to the light to shine in for thee Sweetly the light has dawned upon me Me Once I was blind but now I can see The light of the world is jesus Ye dwellers in darkness with sin blind the nights the light of the world is jesus Jesus The light will arise the light of the world is jesus Come to the light to shine in for thee Sweetly the light has dawned upon me Once I was blind but now I can see The light of the world is jesus No need of the sunlight in heaven went home the light of the world is jesus The lamb is the light in the city of god The light of the world is jesus Jesus Come to the light to shine in for thee Sweetly the light has dawned upon me Once I was blind but now I can see The light of the world is jesus Jesus All right, great singing let's just close in a word of prayer, uh brother rams if you don't mind, thank you I have been called to thank you for this evening Lord your arm is not beside you And to whom shall we prepare you to go to thank you for our salvation You can buy who credit you may be with us the rest of the week that must be witnesses up to you Lord walking uprightly speaking the truth in our hearts and working in righteousness bringing glory and praise upon us We love you and give you things in jesus name. Amen. Amen. You're dismissed. Thank you all You