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But look at verse number eight, it says, Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, in a day of salvation have I helped thee, and I will preserve thee. The title for the sermon tonight is, I will preserve thee. God is telling His saints that He is the one that preserves us. You know, there are those that believe that, you know, yes, they'll say that salvation is by grace through faith alone on Christ Jesus, but if you wanna maintain that salvation, if you wanna make sure it doesn't get stripped away from you or you're truly a believer, you have to persevere till the end. No, no, no, you don't persevere till the end to be saved. It's the Lord God that preserves you. The Lord God preserves you. And that is a doctrine that we read about, of course, there in the Old Testament. But this is also, this verse that we read is also a verse that we find in the New Testament, which we'll look at later on. Now let's start doing verse number one, Isaiah 49, verse number one. Listen, O isles, unto me, you may recall that the isles, there's this reference to nations in general. I know we think of islands, but it's all, you know, all the scattered nations around the earth. Listen, O isles, unto me, and hearken ye people from far. The Lord have called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother have He made mention of my name. All right, so who's speaking here? The Lord have called me from the womb. You can say, well, obviously it's Isaiah. Isaiah is the one writing this. And yes, it is true about Isaiah that, you know, the Lord God from the womb, the Lord God had plans for Isaiah to obviously be a wonderful prophet and preacher. But as we continue, and the first few verses can be a little challenging, but once you understand the first few verses, then you understand the rest of the chapter quite well. It is the words of Isaiah speaking, but he speaks representing the nation of Israel, okay? What he says is kind of representative of Israel. So Israel kind of, that birth is when it came out of Egypt in the Exodus and became its own nation. But also, as you continue in this chapter, these words start becoming the words of Jesus Christ. Because sometimes Israel is a shadow or an object lesson of Christ. You may recall in the book of Hosea, when God speaks of Israel coming out of Egypt, this is my son, whom I called out of Egypt. Of course, the New Testament uses that phrase and that speaks of Jesus Christ coming out of Egypt when King Herod was seeking to kill him and they fled into Egypt, then he came out of Egypt, went into Nazareth. God uses that same terminology. So once you understand these few verses that it begins with Isaiah speaking, but then it's kind of representing Israel and the representation of Israel is not in a positive sense, it's quite in a negative sense. But then you'll soon see that it's about Christ, okay? So let's continue there in verse number two. It says, and he, that's speaking of God, have made my mouth, that's the mouth of Isaiah, like a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand have he hid me and made me a polished shaft. In his quiver have he hid me and he said unto me, thou art my servant, oh Israel, in whom I will be glorified. So you can see it's speaking about Israel here. But the one who has the mouth like a sharp sword, so far as we've been going through this book, of course, is Isaiah. Here's the one, Israel is far from God, right? They're ungodly, God is telling them that he's going to judge them by the Babylonian captivity. And so the one that has a sharp sword in his mouth at this point in time is Isaiah, who is preaching the word of God. Now, we're in Isaiah 49, so what is the 49th book of the Bible? Anybody know? Yes, brother? Ephesians, all right. So come with me to Ephesians chapter six. Come with me to Ephesians chapter six. And there are so many parallels to Ephesians in Isaiah 49, you can't miss it, all right? If you really read Isaiah 49 and just focus on what it's been said, you'll find so many things from the book of Ephesians. So Ephesians six, Ephesians six, and we're looking at the armor of God here, just very quickly, verse number 17, it says, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. What is the sword of the Spirit? The word of God, the Bible, the Scriptures. So, you know, this is about us in the New Testament as we live a righteous life, a holy life, as we prepare ourselves for warfare, not against flesh and blood, not a carnal warfare, but one that is spiritual, against authorities in high places, the works of the devil, against corrupt doctrines, against corrupt gospels, we go out there and we preach God's word, that is the sword of the Spirit. And so when we read about Isaiah having a sword that proceeds out of his mouth, of course, he's speaking, he's prophesying, he's preaching the word of God against the wicked nation of Israel. Now, keep your finger there in Ephesians, we are gonna come back to Ephesians or put a bookmark or something there, but come back with me to Isaiah 49, Isaiah 49. Verse number four, Isaiah 49, verse number four. Again, I believe these are here the words of the Lord, but also through Isaiah. In verse number four, it says, then I said, I have labored in vain, I have, so he's labored empty, like nothing's come good out of his labor. I have spent my strength for noughts, I have put a lot of effort in but for nothing, and in vain, yet surely my judgment is with the Lord and my work with my God. So sometimes as a preacher, as you labor, it's kind of like in vain, like tonight, I'm preaching God's word to you, right? But if you're distracted, if you're like, you don't wanna be in the spirit right now, you just come to church just to tick the box, right? Whatever it is, I'm not saying that's the case, but I'm sure on a Thursday, you're here because you wanna be here. But you know how it is, right? The flesh gets in the way and the last thing you're thinking about is the Lord and you're not really keen on really changing your life, you're pretty much comfortable where you are. And I can labor, I can preach, I can give my strength to the sermon tonight, but if you're not interested, you don't care about God's word, I could say that my labor's in vain, it's all for noughts, okay, and that's how Isaiah is feeling. He's preaching and God told him from the very beginning of his ministry, you're going to be used by me but they're not gonna listen to you, okay? There is a dull of hearing and things like that and it's, you know, and you might feel like that sometimes, especially when you go in those little soul winning, I'm sure there are times when you're out there and you've labored hard, you've walked kilometers, you've knocked 100 doors, no one's interested in you and you're like, oh man, I've labored in vain. Of course, nothing's truly in vain when we serve the Lord God. You know, we may not see the results or the fruits of it on this earth but of course, every work that we do for God is treasures that are laid up for us in heaven. So it's never vain in that sense from an internal perspective but from a temporal perspective, many times when we serve the Lord, it may feel like it's all in vain and that's what Isaiah is feeling at this point in time because, you know, the nation of Israel hasn't really fixed itself in any great way. God's judgment is still headed that way but what he says is even though it's all in vain and it's all kind of empty and you may feel that way sometimes, at the end of verse number four it says, yet surely my judgment is with the Lord. So look, I know God's gonna judge me anyway for the work that I've done, all right? And my work is with my God. God is remembering the work that I've done. He's going to reward me for the work that I've done even though on the earth it may seem like it was all in vain. And then verse number five. Now, verse number five is at this point, becomes very clear that this is now the words of Jesus, okay? And you'll soon see as we keep going, it's 100% Jesus Christ. It's not Isaiah, it's not Israel as a nation, it's the words of Jesus. And verse number five, it says that now, sayeth the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. Now, these can be the words of Isaiah, yes, but you'll soon see this starts to morph into Christ, okay? And so again, he's just speaking that he serves the Lord from the womb. He's not been successful, Isaiah, in gathering Israel together. They're still far from the Lord. But of course, Jesus Christ would say very similar words when he came, his first coming, shortly before he'd be arrested and crucified. And I'll just quickly read to you the words of Jesus in Matthew 23, 37. Christ says, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathered of her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Jesus says, oh Jerusalem, like you've killed the prophets, but even now I would gather you together, as a hen gathers his little babies, his children together, but you would not. Israel rejected Jesus Christ, of course. You start to see that this is not just Isaiah speaking, but this is speaking prophetically through the words of Isaiah of Jesus Christ. And it becomes very clear, especially when you get to the next verse, look at verse number six. And he said, so this is what God is saying. It is a light, is it a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. All right, so God is saying like, okay, Isaiah, you're feeling like all your effort is vain and empty. I guess Isaiah's feeling a little bit cast down, a little bit discouraged, all right. That's why God says to him, is it a light thing? You know, that thou shouldest be my servant. Now, I want you to really think about that statement. Is it a light thing? Is it like nothing? Is it just, you know, when we go and we serve the Lord, like to me as a pastor, right? You know, is this responsibility to me just a light thing? Just something I feel like doing. Just, you know, let's see how it goes. Just test it out. You know, no, no, no. It's a serious thing to serve the Lord. It's an important thing to serve the Lord, all right. And I want you to understand that, praise God, you're a sinner saved by grace, but now that you're a servant of the Lord, it is not a light thing. You have a massive responsibility ahead of you. We know we need to see souls saved and how we serve one another in this body. It doesn't matter what it is, Brevin, even if it's just cleaning the building for service, even if it's just organizing the resources, bringing some snacks, some meals to share with one another, you know, being in fellowship with each other, encouraging one another, it's not a light thing to serve the Lord. It's such an important responsibility and God is looking down and is going to reward you for the work that you've done. So, you know, when you get a bit discouraged in the service of the Lord, just remember, it's not a light thing, okay. It's serious business. It's such an important role that you have to serve your Lord God. So he's asking that to Isaiah. And so God then says this at the continuation of verse number six. He goes, I will also give thee, now we know this is not Isaiah, this is Jesus. I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. So you might say, well, Isaiah is kind of a light to the Gentiles. We know that that is a title given to Jesus. He's the light of the world. He's the light of the Gentiles. We also saw that in Isaiah 42, but also not only is Christ the light of the world, he made us his lights, right? We are the light of the world afterwards. And the same thing you can say, well, that's definitely Isaiah. He is a light, not just to the Gentiles, but it's a light to the nation of Israel. But where it's clearly not Isaiah is that he is not the salvation unto, Isaiah is not God's salvation unto the end of the earth, right? Nobody is saved because of Isaiah's sacrifice or anything like that, right? This is clearly about Jesus, okay? So I want you to notice how it kind of morphs, right? From Isaiah's words, again, kind of represents in Israel, but then now it's clearly about Jesus. Jesus is the one that is the salvation unto the end of the earth. And it continues making it very clear there in verse number seven. Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, we could say that's the Father speaking, thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, then it says this, and his holy one. His holy one, of course, is the Lord Jesus Christ. To him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, a servant of rulers. Okay, so what do we learn about Jesus? His holy one, that Jesus is one whom man despises. Jesus is one whom the nation, the nation of Israel abhorreth, hates. Abhor is to hate. We know that when Christ came, he was rejected by man, right? He was rejected by his own. He was hated by his own. He was taken as an innocent man and killed, slain, crucified on the cross. And so you can see that this is kind of the, you know, verse number seven is beginning to speak about his first coming, but then you start seeing it morphs into his second coming, right? It continues, our servant of rulers, look, kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, huh? So he's abhorred by the nations, he's abhorred by man, he's hated by man, but now princes are gonna come to worship him. When does that happen? At his second coming, okay? So I want you to be able to break this kind of down. It's all like this, but it's all true, okay? But you need to be able to identify when it's Isaiah, when it's Jesus, when it's his first coming, and when it's his second coming, all right? And so of course, this is speaking about princes also shall worship because of the Lord that is faithful and the holy one of Israel, and he shall choose thee. So we know when Christ comes the second time, he's going to rule over kings. He's the king of kings, he's the Lord of lords, all right? And in the millennium, his kingdom is going to be across the entire earth. Every power will be under the subjection of Jesus Christ. And that's what's really interesting about verse number seven, it begins by him being rejected, but then being completely accepted and every king, every prince subduing themselves under Christ. Now look at verse number eight, where we get the title from the sermon from. Thus saith the Lord. I want you to think about this verse. It's not going to be in Ephesians, but I want you to, because it is a pretty common verse in the New Testament. I want to see if anybody picks up on where it comes from. Thus saith the Lord, in an acceptable time have I heard thee. So I'll give you a little clue. Think of that phrase, in an acceptable time, okay? Have I heard thee? And in a day of salvation, there's another clue, in a day of salvation, have I helped thee? And I will preserve thee. I will give thee for a covenant of the people to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages. All right, now verse number eight is not word for word in the New Testament, but it's the same verse. It's just phrased a little differently. Does anyone know what verse that could be referring to? Something about an acceptable time, something about the day of salvation. Second Corinthians. Yeah, Second Corinthians. So can you come with me to Second Corinthians chapter six? Second Corinthians chapter six. Second Corinthians chapter six. Because you might be thinking, and as I, 49 verse eight, you might be thinking, well, what is that day of salvation? What is that when God's helping and preserving them? Could that be a reference of them coming out of Babylon captivity? You know, those are the kind of questions I ask myself as I prepare the sermon, thinking about the verses. But when you start to realize, hold on, this is more than that. We've already seen that God is, or Jesus Christ is the light of the Gentiles, the Redeemer of Israel, the salvation that has been offered unto the end of the earth. And then we get to verse number eight. This is not just talking about a physical deliverance out of Babylon. This is talking about your soul's salvation. And in Second Corinthians chapter six, Second Corinthians chapter six and verse number two. Second Corinthians chapter six and verse number two. For he saith, now, when did he say this? In Isaiah 49, okay? For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, in the day of salvation have I suckered thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. I'm sure many of you guys are familiar with that very verse, okay? And that verse in the New Testament speaks of the salvation of our souls. Today is the day of salvation. If there is someone in church that doesn't know if they're saved, I don't think that's the case, but just in case there is someone like that, you say, pastor, I'm still not sure. Well, today is the day of salvation. Don't wait for tomorrow, because tomorrow may never come. Today is the day, all right? And that salvation is being offered, of course, by the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to show you how Isaiah 49 is clearly about Jesus, because when the New Testament repeats what is being said by God, we know it's clearly Jesus Christ, who's offering the salvation of the soul. Now, you've also got a bookmark in Ephesians. Come with me to Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one in verse number 12. Ephesians being the 49th book of the Bible. And we talk about how not only will God provide us salvation, but he says, he will preserve thee. That's what you read in Isaiah 49. He will preserve thee. And so the salvation that God gives us is eternal. It's eternal security. Once saved, always saved, okay? It's not up to me to maintain that salvation. You know, once you have it, it's Jesus' task to preserve you, okay? And of course, that's why it's called everlasting life or eternal life, because if you could lose it tomorrow, it wasn't everlasting or eternal to begin with. It was only temporary life. God does not offer you temporary life. God offers you everlasting life. And so it's his job to provide the preservation. And there we have Ephesians chapter one verse number 12. Ephesians 1, 12. It says that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. What's the very first step of your salvation? Who first trusted in Christ, okay? That is first step number one. When we say to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved, what we are essentially telling people, they have to put their trust on the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the all-sufficient payment for their sins. So you first trusted in Christ, then verse number 13 says, in whom also ye trusted after that ye had heard the word of truth. So someone preached to you the word of truth, then you trusted in Christ. The gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, look at this, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. So once you're saved, guess what? You are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. Eternally sealed. This is why it's God who preserves you for all eternity. He's given you that down payment, the earnest of our inheritance, the Lord, sorry, the Holy Spirit of God. And so we have within us, not just the Holy Spirit, but we're born in the spirit. We have this holy new man, perfect, pure, without sin within us, the new man versus the old man, which is unfortunately contrary to the things of God. This is why our flesh, the Bible says, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God because it's got a sinful condition. This is why if you were to die today, your body's gonna stay in the grave, it's not going to heaven, okay? But your soul and spirit is going to ascend into heaven because it's perfect, all right? You say, well, one day my body's going to heaven, of course, at the resurrection, at the rapture, God's gonna give you a new resurrected body, you know, by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. One that is without corruption, without sin, one that is immortal, one that can never die, and one that will never sin, a body made like unto Christ Jesus. I'm looking forward to that time where I'm not just new man within, but I'm new man outside, just like Christ, never to sin against him ever again. Again, keep a bookmark there in Ephesians, please. Come back with me to Isaiah 49, Isaiah 49. The doubt may say to the prisoners, I want you to remember this concept, the prisoners, go forth to them that are in darkness. So prisoners, yeah, they're kind of in darkness, right? They're in a prison cell, the idea there is, you know, they don't get daylight. But then he says this to the prisoners, show yourselves. All right, so you've been in prison, you've been in darkness, now because of Jesus's salvation, show yourselves. And you should know these words. I think you're going to recognize some of these words, but I'll keep reading. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places. All right, so these prisoners, they come out of darkness, and now they're feeding in the ways of the Lord. Their pastures are in high places. Again, they're showing themselves, they're not hidden in the valleys, all right? Look at verse number 10 about these former prisoners. You guys should know these verses from somewhere else. They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor sun smite them, for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them. Does anyone recognize verse number 10, somewhere else in the New Testament? Psalm 23. Psalm 23, but somewhere from the New Testament. From the New Testament. Not quite, huh? No, no, it's the book of Revelation. Come with me to Revelation chapter seven, Revelation chapter seven. Revelation chapter seven. I mean, this is a really great chapter of Isaiah. It's linked all over the Bible. You'll see these words are not just me telling you like they are truly the same words that are spoken by now the apostle John. Now, these former prisoners are people that were unsaved, but now they're saved, right? When God says show yourself, okay, it's like, yeah, you were in darkness, you were a prisoner, but now not only show yourself, but you're no longer gonna hunger, you're no longer gonna thirst, neither shall the heat nor the sun smite you, smite them. And then it says this, for they have that, for he that have mercy on them, speaking of Jesus, Jesus gave them mercy, shall lead them, the one that leads us is Jesus, even by the springs of water shall he guide them. So we're being guided to the springs of water by Jesus Christ. Now, when we get to Revelation chapter seven, okay, so this is obviously before the millennial reign of Christ, before God begins to pour out his wrath on the earth, all right? He raptures his believers into heaven, you can read Revelation seven in your own time, you know that there's a great multitude of every tongue, of every tribe that appears, they're glorifying God, they're singing him praises, and then what does it say about this multitude? And by the way, that multitude is gonna contain all of us, okay, look at verse number 16 about the multitude, Revelation 7 16. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. Do you see how that's from Isaiah 49? But then we talk about Jesus leading them, well look at verse number 17. For the lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. You see how it says Isaiah 49 all over again, it said in Isaiah 49 verse number 10, for he that have mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them, where here it says the lamb, which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. The reason I'm making a point out of this, not just to show you the connections of the Bible, but to show that these prisoners in Isaiah 49, in case you're not sure who they are, it's when you were unsaved, you were this prisoner, okay, but now you've been delivered from prison, you've been delivered out of darkness, God wants you to show yourself, he wants you to be a light, he wants you to be led by him, and the ultimate conclusion of that is going to be home with him in heaven, and having all our tears wiped from our faces. All the sorrows, all the hurts, all the problems are gonna be taken away when we see Jesus Christ face to face. Back to Isaiah 49, Isaiah 49, Isaiah 49. And again, like we're not even that far into it, you can see how it's Isaiah, it's Israel, it's Jesus' first coming, it's his second coming, now it's about the rapture and being caught up in heaven. This, you know, if you break down this, oh man, this is a very deep chapter, okay? But I think you can see clearly how well connected it is with the rest of the Bible. Verse number 11, verse number 11 says, I will make all my mountains away and my highways shall be exalted. This might be a reference to the millennium, because we've already looked into this in Isaiah, where when Christ comes back in the millennium, the topography of the earth is gonna be changed and there are gonna be new mountains, especially in Jerusalem, there's gonna be a high mountain, there's gonna be rivers flowing through that mountain. So that could be a reference to that. Verse number 12, it says, behold, these shall come from far and lo, these from the north and from the west and these from the land of Sinam. So these that are coming from north and west, I tried to look up the land of Sinam, it's kind of a little bit unsure what it is, but you could easily say, well, if people come from the north and the west, this could be a reference to south or east. That's kind of the concept, you know? And then these people that are coming from these directions, verse number 13, what are they doing? Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth, and break forth into singing, O mountains, for the Lord have comforted his people and will have mercy upon his afflicted. Now, I won't get you to turn there, but Jesus Christ says these words in Luke 13, 29. He says, and they shall come from the east and from the west and from the north and from the south and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. And so when Christ is speaking these words, he's speaking about Gentile nations, people that are safe throughout all the earth, right? From Israel's perspective, whether you're north of Israel or south of Israel or east or west of Israel, whatever you're considering, what's Australia considered to Israel? I have no idea. We're, huh? Are we east? We're a western country, but I guess, I don't know, we're south. We're kind of south, we're kind of east, I guess, whatever, all right? But people of all nations, right, coming together in the millennium, you know, coming together with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and feasting together, celebrating together, worshiping God together, singing him praises. You know, the millennium, Christ ruling on this earth for a thousand years is something that's gonna be amazing for all people of all time that have trusted Christ as their Savior. Look at verse number 14. But Zion said, Zion is Jerusalem, the Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Because everyone's coming, all the Gentiles, right? We're coming in the millennium to celebrate God. And then Jerusalem's saying, well, what about us? And, you know, and then God says, can a woman forget her suck-in child? That she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. Thy walls are continually before me. All right, so what is happening here? You know, we can see that this is something that we read about in the book of Romans, how the Jews were provoked to jealousy because they had seen the Gentiles come to the Lord and God had made, you know, the Gentiles his people. And the Gentiles are making God their God, you know? And one thing that God wants to provoke from the unbelieving Jews is jealousy. What about us? Are we forgotten? I won't get you to turn there just because you've got your fingers in different places. But, you know, this is the concept that we've read about in Romans 11. When Paul writes to the Romans, he says in Romans 11, verse number one, I say then, have God cast away his people? God forbid, for I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. So, you know, this idea gets brought up by the Jews of the day, especially in Paul's day, is have we been rejected as a people? You know, has God forsaken us? And that's kind of what Zion is kind of speaking about there when he reads or hears about the Gentiles coming together. And this is where, you know, you can either take one view and you can be a Zionist and say, well, or like a dispensational Zionist, well, even unbelieving Jews are the people of God and God's still, you know, got a special covenant with them. And that can lead on a really bad path because the extreme nature of that is Jews don't need to be saved. They don't need to hear the gospel. They're right with God. They're already people of God. Obviously, I personally don't know any dispensational that takes that view, but there are some out there, you know, that are very extreme. But then you've got the other extreme where they'd say, well, all Jews, all Israelites are just rejected by God. And though many are, and anyone that's a reprobate is rejected by God, but of course, even Israelites today of the physical lineage, they're not rejected in the sense that they can't, it's not like they've lost their opportunity to trust Christ as their savior. You know, the gospel is still available to the Israelites today, you know? They just have to stop rejecting Christ. They have to start rejecting. They have to reject their false religion of Judaism, okay? God's not forgotten them. God can still save them, all right? Just like anybody else. Just like anybody or any nation that has a false religion. All they need to do is reject. They need to repent from their false religion and trust Christ as their savior. Just like we've read about so far. The people that are gonna be celebrating, enjoying the millennium with Christ are those that have received him as their savior. And that's what the Jews have to do even today, right? Modern day Israel is not a nation that I support, okay? It's not a people or a false religion that I support, okay? Not at all. But I do support them to have the opportunity of hearing the gospel for them to be saved. And that goes for the Palestinians as well. I support them, not politically, politically. Maybe you do, I don't know, I don't care. Okay, I don't care about the politics of the world today. I'm an ambassador, my kingdom's in heaven, all right? But I support the Palestinians' opportunities to hear the gospel and be saved as well, okay? And so, no, God has not cast away his people in the sense that he's just completely rejected them. They have an opportunity to be saved as well, which is why in the same chapter in Romans 11, verse five, Paul says, even so, then at this present time also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. All right? So God's not like, if you're a Jew, that's it. You're rejected, you're straight to hell. No, there are many that are of that physical descendancy that have entered into the election of grace, okay? And this is a remnant that God will never reject, okay? They are his people. And just an Israelite that is saved in Christ Jesus is as much the people of God as we are, okay? But you need to understand, there are people of God due to the election of grace. They have to be saved by grace through faith on the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what makes them a chosen people of God, not a physical descendancy. Look at verse number 17, Isaiah 49, verse number 17. Thy children shall make haste. Thy destroyers that made thee waste shall go forth of thee. Now, again, I believe this is about end times events because Jerusalem is gonna be surrounded by enemies. That's a deep topic I won't go into right now. And then Jesus Christ comes and destroys the armies of the Antichrist. But so there is, for 42 months, three and a half years, Jerusalem has been trodden under the foot of the Gentiles. Okay? And then verse number 18 says, Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold, all these gather themselves together, and come to thee as I live, saith the Lord. Thou shall surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee as a bride doeth. All right. So God is telling these, you know, Israelites, well, what about us? Well, you know, again, if they get saved, they too will be gathered together. Okay, they're gonna be part of the gathering. And they will be, like it says, and surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee as a bride doeth. It's interesting that God now speaks of a bride. Okay? And obviously, when a bride gets herself ready on her wedding day, she gets prepared, she gets a nice wedding dress, right? She looks the best that she can look for her husband. And of course, if Isaiah 49 is representative of the book of Ephesians, we also read about the similarities with a husband and wife, and how Christ speaks of the church. So let's quickly go to Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5, 25. Ephesians 5, 25. Ephesians 5, 25. So once you get saved, once you're a former prisoner in darkness, and you should show yourself, and show yourself in church, that's an important part, right, before we go home with God in heaven. That's what God wants, you know. Once you're saved, he wants you to be part of a church. He wants you to be faithfully attending, growing in the Lord, growing in knowledge. You know, one thing with the internet that's really painful sometimes as a pastor, I love the internet, like there's a lot of knowledge, and don't avoid it, there's no way around it now, okay? There's a lot of great truths that you can learn. But what the internet has created is people that have recently saved, absorbing six months of doctrines, of sermons, and now I know better than the pastor, okay? It creates that kind of environment, okay? And so I've gotta go into a church, and I need to correct my past, I need to correct the doctrines, I need to, I know better than what they know, and what's wrong with these people. It really creates an atmosphere of pride. But you know, church is an important part for a babe to come and hear the milk of God's word, to grow, and then to hear some meat, you know, line upon line, precept upon precept, it's a process of growth and maturity, okay? It's a marathon, the Christian life is a marathon. It's a lifelong marathon, it's not a sprint to see how much knowledge can I acquire, and then look down on people that don't have as much knowledge as I do, okay? But church is a place that normalizes you, okay? The internet can make you extreme, because you can absorb so much in such a short period of time, and you can be like this excessive person. You come to church and get amongst normal people, and then you start recognizing, okay, I need to stop criticizing people, and I realize there are problems in my own life that I need to fix, there are many doctrines of the Bible that I need to grow and absorb, you know, I need to go through tribulations and learn and develop, I need to care for brethren, all right? Instead of criticizing them for believing the wrong thing, maybe they need help because they're struggling in life. And you start caring for God's people, you start loving God's people, you start serving God's people, and that's really where growth starts to develop, when we come to church and we serve one another. And this is why in Ephesians 5, 25, the Bible says, husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing by the water by the word. You see, this is how Christ washes us and cleanses us. Yes, he died for you, but he also gave himself for the church, all right? Church is important. I know when we go solo and we say to people, more important than church, I wanna make sure that you go into heaven. Of course, going to heaven is vastly more important, but we also don't wanna make church not important, okay? Because it's where Christ wants us to be washed and cleansed by the water of the word. And then verse number 27, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. You see, God uses this illustration of a husband loving his wife and a husband caring for his wife so much that he does his best to guide her in God's word. And as husband, we should be able to lead our wives in the word of God, help us together to be watched and nourished by his word. And that's how God looks at his church. He looks at his church as a bride, as a wife, as a body that he cares for and wants the best for and gave his life for. And so he's saying essentially the same thing to the Israelites of the Old Testament, that they too can be these ornaments of this bride, all right? That they too can be beautified. You know, they don't have to be rejected. They don't have to feel like God's forsaken them because he's received the Gentiles. They too can be part of this beauty that makes up this bride. And eventually in the book of Revelation, we read about the bride being the holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven. But come back with me to Isaiah 49, verse number 19. Isaiah 49, verse number 19. God once again speaks in verse number 19, for thy waste and thy desolate places, again, the fact that earthly Jerusalem is going to be trodden on the foot of man, and the land of thy destruction shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants. And they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. Because God's going to wipe out those armies that swallowed them up, okay? God's telling them that their borders, if you will, they're going to be too narrow for all of your inhabitants. Now again, what you start to realize, this is about not 1948, okay? It's not about Zionism, Israel getting their land from the Palestinians or something. This is about the millennium, okay? This is about millennium Israel, okay? We already know what millennium Israel is. It's not just Jews that get saved. It's people that came from the East, West, North, and South. It's all, all of God's people, the Jews that are one inwardly, not outwardly, the Israel of God, okay? Those people, the believers, the saints, they're going to make up this millennium Israel, okay? And that's why the land is going to be too narrow. It's not big enough to contain all believers of all time. Verse number 20, the children which thou shall have after thou hast lost the other shall say again in thy ears, this place is too straight for me. Give place to me that I may dwell, all right? So, you know, believers are like, man, like what, we're all going to rule with Christ? Yeah, but like Israel is too small. Like it's too straight, it's too narrow, right? And then verse number 21, then shalt thou say in thine heart, who have begotten me these? Seeing I have lost my children, I am desolate, a captive. Now remember that term captive there for a moment? Because, you know, you were a prisoner, but a prisoner is a captive. And removing to and fro, and who have brought up these? Behold, I was left alone, these where had they been? Verse number 22, thus saith the Lord God, behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles and set up my standard to the people. And they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings, well, let me just stop there for a moment. So these people, these godly people are saying, you know, like we've been made desolate, our children have been taken away from us, like they've been mistreated, and God says, well, these same Gentiles, they're going to come and bring, they're going to essentially, in the millennium, the nations are going to help and serve the Israel of the millennium, okay? When we rule and reign with Christ, we're going to rule over the nations. The nations are going to serve us, brethren. I know that sounds crazy. Because like right now, our heart is to serve, right? And our main mission right now is to see Saul saved. You know, our task now is like the first coming of Christ. Right? We lower ourselves, we humble ourselves, we realize we're going to be hated by men, but our hearts are to win the lost, okay? But just like Christ's second coming, you're going to be on the earth again, with Christ. You're going to rule with him, okay? So just as different as Christ's first coming is to his second coming, is as different as your life on this earth is right now, and as it's going to be in the millennium, okay? You are going to be kings, priests, ruling over nations, ruling over peoples. And so these other nations, you know, they're going to come and they're going to be a help and service to us, which is crazy. Verse 23, and king shall be thy nursing fathers and their queens, their nursing mothers. And they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me. I know that blows, like that should blow your mind. It says the kings and queens are going to lick the dust of your feet. We're talking about the kings and queens that are on the earth, the powers that are on the earth, that, you know, during the Great Tribulation, those that did not take the mark of the beast, they're going to be ushered into the millennium. Many are going to get saved, obviously, okay? Those that did not take the mark of the beast, many of them are obviously going to be saved, but they're going to serve us, brethren. It's crazy to think, but that's the truth of what God's teaching us. And, you know, we're going to rule the whole earth. This is why just ruling from Israel alone is insufficient. The borders are too narrow for all believers of all time. Okay, we're going to not rule in one place, we're going to rule the entire earth, all right? And I'm going to ask God if I can just rule the Sunshine Coast. I'm happy, all right? I don't want Sydney, Sunshine Coast is sufficient, all right? One of you guys can take Sydney if you want. Verse number 24. Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? So there's a reference to the captive again. So again, this is speaking about our state before we were saved, all right? But, you know, also just the fact that, you know, that there is darkness, someone that is not saved, they're in darkness, they're captive, they're prisoner, and God's going to deliver these people. Like, you know, for us, we've been delivered spiritually out of these places of prison, and we're going to be exalted with Christ to rule the earth, okay? And then verse number 25. But thus saith the Lord, even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away. So again, this is believers. If you just take the whole chapter as it is, these were unsaved captives, were captives of the mighty. The mighty, you could say, is the devil, all right? Shall be taken away. So we've been delivered from the power of the devil, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered. There it is, delivered. For I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children. So there are two ways to understand this passage. Number one, if we take the holistic view of this chapter, it's all about salvation, okay? We were captive of the devil. God is the one that contends with those that took us into captivity, the devil, okay? The forces of darkness. You can also take this to take in the end times where the saints have been persecuted by the Antichrist, been persecuted by the wicked world, and that God will deliver those, of course, either through the rapture or those that get saved afterwards to enter into the millennium in that same sense. So you can view it in either way. But the reason I wanna bring your attention to how many times God speaks of the captives here and prisoners is if you go back to Ephesians 4, or come back with me to Ephesians 4 now, the book of Ephesians, because we are comparing the book of Ephesians as the 49th book of the Bible to this chapter, Ephesians 4, verse number seven. Ephesians 4, verse number seven. The Bible says, but unto every one of us, that's all believers, is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. So Ephesians 4 is saying that now that you're saved, you've been given grace, further grace, and this is a gift, a gift of Christ, okay? Not talking about salvation, you keep talking about here, it's a gift, a spiritual gift that we've all been given to serve the body of Christ, okay? And then verse number eight says this, wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now that term, he led captivity captive. It's all about the fact that those that took us into captivity are now captive, and those that weren't captive are made free, okay? It's flipping it on its head. Those that are taken captive become the ones that take the others captive, it's been flipped, right? So if the devil had us in darkness and in prison and God delivers us, we now have power over the devil, we have power over the wicked, all right? And you know, if you wanna take that idea into the millennium, you know, coming into the tribulation, when the saints have been persecuted by the world, the world's hating believers, but then God's gonna flip it on its head, and believers are going to rule the earth, they're gonna rule the world, all right? And this is why it says here, these that are led captivity captive, he says he gave gifts unto men. The same gift is a spiritual gift that God gives you to serve in the local body. We'll continue going there. Now that he ascended, what is it? But that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth. He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. This is in verse 11. And he gave some apostles. So these are the gifts that God is speaking about. He gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. This is why for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. I want you to be sure when you read the Bible that you read everything in context, okay? Some people say this leading captivity captive is when Christ died on the cross. They'll say he went to hell, because the Bible says that. But that he took the Old Testament saints, which were in the paradise of hell, they'll say, it's not correct. They'll say God took them captive to heaven. They were in captivity in the paradise of hell and God took them captive into heaven. But that doesn't make any sense because those people are in heaven right now. God says to these people that he took captivity captive, he gave gifts unto men, he gave them gifts. And those gifts are that we would edify the body of Christ, which is the church, okay? So this is talking about people on the earth today, okay? So what God is saying essentially here is this, before you were saved, you were taken into captivity by the devil, by darkness, okay? He came to the earth, he rose again, all right? And by that process, by salvation, he's taken you out of captivity, now he's given you gifts, some are made evangelists, prophets, pastors, we've seen all this, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Now the body of Christ for you is blessed by this church. That is your church. And I want you to think about this truth, God's delivered you out of captivity, he's delivered you out of prison, and now he's given you a gift, okay? Some type of spiritual gifts that you can edify this church. Now praise God, I know what mine is. It's the pastor, it's the preach. And there are some men here that are great at preaching, there are some men that are great at evangelism, right? And there are some women here great at evangelism, right? But there are many gifts that God gives us. And I want you to think about how has God placed me blessed about the church to edify the saints? You know, it's not just the pastor's responsibility to edify the saints, it is each one of our responsibility to edify the saints. You know, as I said, like even cleaning the building, organizing, you know, if you'd say pastor, I wanna organize a fellowship picnic or something like that. That could be your gift. Like I'm not good at these things, right? All I'm really good at, brethren, is knowing God's word and preaching God. And I don't know if I'm good at that either. You know, that's pretty much what I can do. I'm not very creative, you know? And there are other people that are much more creative. You can come up with better ideas, better plans, good ideas. But I always say that if you come up with these ideas, I want you to own that idea. Say, pastor, we need to do this as a church. All right, what are you willing to do to make that happen? Oh, no, I'm just saying to you, pastor, no, no, no. You've been given a gift. If God has shown you how you can edify the church, how is God going to utilize you? You say, my gift is to come up with all ideas but to do nothing. No, that's not a gift. That doesn't edify anybody. If you come up with a good idea for the church, I'm trusting that God's giving you that idea so you can implement it and be in charge of that idea, okay? So use the gifts that God's given you, right? He wants us to show ourselves, not to be in darkness, not to be in prison. We know that our home will be in heaven with the Lord God, but for the time being, he's delivered us not just to be saved, but that we can edify and grow this body here at Blessed of Baptist Church. Back to Isaiah 49. Back to Isaiah 49. When was that now? Thank you for your patience. Verse number 26. God says, and I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh, and they shall be drunken with their own blood as with sweet wine, and all flesh shall know that I, the Lord, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. So anyone that persecutes his people, God's gonna cause them to eat their own flesh, to be drunken with their own blood. We've been talking about how this ties into the end times. I'll just end with one more passage just to show you the link as well. Like we can apply that today, obviously, okay? We can also apply that to the end times. And very quickly, I'll just read it to you. In Revelation 16, verse number four. This is when, after the rapture, when the Lord begins to pour out his wrath on the earth. It says, in verse number four, when the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters, and they became blood. And I heard the angels of the waters say, thou art righteous, O Lord, which art and wast and shall be, because thou has judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou has given them blood to drink, for they are worthy. So again, this might be another reference to the end times. Because we know that a lot of this is about the second coming of Christ. It's about his millennial reign. And so one of these judgments of God, one of his wraths that fall upon the earth, is that all the waters are going to turn to blood. And God says, hey, this wicked world that's persecuted my saints, they're worthy to drink this blood. Instead of water, they're worthy to drink blood. And this is quite extreme, but this is, of course, the wrath of God. And so I think you can see there in Isaiah 49, quite a deep chapter after all. It covers multiple topics. But most of all, that I wanted to just end with in Isaiah 49 is God is the one that promised to preserve you. We should have no doubts of our salvation. Once you've trusted Christ, that he's paid for all of your sins, not some, he paid for all of your sins. He didn't pay for your sins. He said, I'll pay for your sins until the day you accept me as your savior, and then you pay for the rest of it. No, Christ has paid for every sin that you have ever done, that you will ever do till the day that you die. It's all been covered by the Lord. He is the one that preserves thee. All right, brethren, let's pray.