I thought we were going to go right back into worship, right?
Which I don't mind. What a fitting song for our time
together in God's Word. You know, I'm convinced that the
tumultuous times that we are living in provides no shortage
of material for pulpits and churches to address and to try
to explain. But if a pastor is not careful,
he can easily get swept up by the events that are taking place
in the world and allows the recent headlines to determine
the subject matter of his weekly sermons.
You may be aware of some ministries who base their
messages exclusively on cultural commentary or reactionary
analysis, and they might have a tinge of biblical reference to
what they have to say just so it can be free from any criticism
and be deemed as a sermon. And I don't think that kind of
level of concentration on the news is helpful, especially in
the local church, since the primary duty of a minister is to
preach the whole council of God in season and out of season.
Now, Paul said that on purpose. He said that for a reason.
In season and out of season, when it's popular, when it's
not, when people are asking for or when they're not, you preach
the word of God, Timothy. That is what you are to be
preoccupied with. But there's that temptation,
right? Because everything that's
happening around us is so real. And that's why I would argue
that there are incidents that take place in our lifetime that
captivate our culture in a very unique way, in a way that almost
puts a halt, stops the world in its tracks and creates almost a
universal unrest or disorientation.
And in those moments, I believe it is wise and even responsible
for spiritual leaders to take local, regional, even global
crises and to shed light on the Word of God and to confirm to
the child of God that you and I have heavenly guidance from our
God even in the midst of chaos. And that is what I want to do
with this Sunday service, not only because of the harrowing
assassination attempt on the former president of the United
States, but because of the events that unfolded, the
thoughts, the ideas, the discussions that followed that
historical day. You know, like the heightened
sense of vulnerability and concern for national and even
individual security. The growing distrust in our
government because of many reasons, including the
incompetence of leadership. The rumors that are flooding our
podcast and the predictions that secular profits are making
concerning where all of this is leading to and how we are racing
towards a world that we have never seen before.
And the cherry on top? Is just the plain uncertainty.
Of the future, I want to show you briefly how even the Lord
Jesus Christ is an example of leveraging current events to
drive spiritual truth into concerned hearers.
So we're not going in Mark today, if you haven't guessed
already, but I want to invite you to Luke chapter 13 briefly,
and we will be going to different texts in the Bible
this afternoon. But let's begin in Luke 13,
because I want to, to the best of my ability, always confirm
any point with what the Bible has to say.
Luke 13, one to five. There were some present at that
very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood pilot had
mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them.
Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners
than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this
way? No, I tell you.
But unless you repent, you all likewise perish.
Or those 18 on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them.
Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the
others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell.
You But unless you repent, you all likewise perish.
So here you have some Jews who were preoccupied with the
obvious news of that time. Of the cruel slaughtering of
some Galileans by the vicious hands of Pilate.
And they approached the Lord Jesus, this up and coming
popular preacher, teacher, prophet, miracle worker,
self-proclaimed Messiah, though true Messiah.
And they asked the Lord's opinion.
And you might be under the depression, like many other
people who've asked Jesus questions, that they're trying
to trap him. Or it can simply be curiosity.
What do you have to say about the headlines?
Lord Jesus doesn't shoo it away, He doesn't dismiss it.
He He addresses it and He uses what was on people's minds to
remind them and to reinforce their mortality and that they
themselves have application with something that seems to be
distant. You too must repent before it is
too late. Not only that, I love how the
Lord brings up another headline like they didn't bring up the
issue of the tower of Siloam. He brought it up so he was a, he
was aware of current tragedies himself.
So let me bring up to you about those who died who are under
that tower and that tower collapse on them.
Same application. You have to repent and get ready
because you don't know when your time will be.
And so Christ shows us here by way of example, I'm sure that
when there are times of unrest and uncertainty and disaster,
catastrophe. One of his.
Primary messages What? Repent.
Get ready to meet your God. You're not invincible, though we
all suffer with this invincibility complex.
You don't know when your day is coming.
Your days are numbered. So if you think that there are
worse sinners, that's not necessarily the case.
But make sure that you're ready with your sin and how Jesus
Christ will deal with it. He either forgive it or He'll
judge you for it. But the message of repentance is
not the only message that a faithful messenger of God will
proclaim in times of instability.
It is a primary one, but it's not the only one.
And sometimes we have this idea that the duty of a prophet is
exclusively about confronting and exposing the sin of others.
And though I believe that is an important description of a
messenger of God, it's not only that.
Yes, confront, yes, challenge, yes, through your word, seek
people's conviction. And I believe we need more of
that in this day than anything else.
Yet if you read the Bible carefully, you'll notice that
God has put another word in the mouth of the same prophets who
called the masses to turn from their sin and to surrender to
the lordship of God Almighty. I want to I want you to see it
with your own eyes and Isaiah chapter 40 and this is this is
what we are going to be focusing on today.
This is what prayerfully I want you to experience today and I
trust that the Lord will help us experience it.
Isaiah, a man who has given his woes to the people concerning
their iniquity and their rebellion.
But notice how the Lord instructs his prophet at this
point in verse one of Isaiah 40. Comfort, Comfort my people, says
your God, speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her.
What? Repent.
Turn from your sin, you rebels. No, cry to her that her warfare
is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received
from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.
Comfort. Comfort my people, says your
God. Notice the double emphasis of
comfort. You know what that's indicating?
The urgent longing of God for His people to experience relief.
Comfort, comfort, comfort. He doesn't want to just say it
once. He wants to say it again because
he wants his people who might be slow to receive that comfort, to
actually be comforted once and for all.
And notice you're also that this comfort, this comfort that's
able to. Be tangible is supernatural.
It's supernatural, it comes from God, and though it comes from
God, it's meant to be experienced by us.
It's meant to be tangible, it's meant to be real, it's meant to
be clutched on, it's meant to be something that actually changes
us. And so it comes from him.
But it's it's not this thing that is distant and theoretical.
It, it really touches the heart. And the primary means by which
God's comfort is transferred and delivered and unfolded for His
people is through His Word. Notice he says, speak tenderly
to Jerusalem, speak tenderly and cry to her.
Tell her these things. It's these things that are going
to bring her repose. It's these truths that are going
to give her solace. So speak now, Isaiah, these
words of comfort. Is there anything in this
context that would indicate why the Lord is saying this?
Well, you can look at the verses we read and part of it is that
comforter because her iniquity is pardoned.
If you want to know the foundation of God's comfort in
your life, it's going to be found when your sins are
forgiven. It's going to be in the place
where you realize that my record of debt has been dealt with.
It's been nailed on that cross, never to be visited again.
He'll never unnail it. He'll never remove it and shove
it back in my face. It's finished.
Right there you should know a flood of rest for your soul.
But there's something beyond that.
There's something in the immediate context.
I suggest that there was a real life event that called for this
kind of comfort. Look back at Isaiah 39 and verse
six and seven, and we won't read it.
But that's just a reference for you to realize that Hezekiah was
told of the Babylonian invasion, that there was going to come a
foreign country to ransack the people of God and even remove
the royal seed and bring them into the palace of a Pagan
people. And that's how Isaiah 39 ends.
And then you transition to Isaiah 40 and God says, now
comfort, Comfort my people. What are we to make of that?
Here's what you're to make of that.
Proving that the will of God for His people is to know a strange
alien serenity and a deep seated security in the midst of
calamity, in the midst of calamity.
Comfort in chaos. Comfort when the world is
shaking, when your world is shaking.
And though our world today leaves us no shortage of
disturbing news, I want to tell you today that this this book
provides towering promises and abundant hope that casts
everything else into a shadow. And so I want you to draw
comfort today. I want you to leave here
lighter. I want you to leave here with a
peace that guards your mind and your hearts, your thoughts and
your emotions. I want that to be experienced
through the word of God. So let's stay in Isaiah a little
bit and drink out of this well of truth, some comfort.
Where shall we go? So many places to go.
Let's go to a familiar passage, but revisit some truths that we
might have missed in Isaiah chapter 6 verse one, and notice
what the prophet experienced in a time of great distress for his
nation. Isaiah 6 verse one.
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting
upon a throne high and lifted up, and the train of his robe
filled the temple. Uzziah was one of the most
prosperous, innovative, famed kings in Israel's history.
And the full account of his reign is found in Second
Chronicles 26. And there's so many things that
you read about his success and the economy that he established
and the influence that he had on neighboring people groups.
But what's interesting about that part in Chronicles is that
you discover Isaiah the prophet was a contemporary to Uziah.
He was a prophet. He was a ministry.
He was in ministry during the time of this man's reign, and
prophets worked very closely with kings.
They had some level of relationship, and if the king
was righteous, then it was on good terms.
If they were not, then all they had was a knock on the door of
rebuke and warning. And Isaiah was one who
witnessed. He with his own eyes lived under
an administration that brought so much peace and prosperity and
power. He himself benefited from it,
but he also witnessed the tragedy of Uzziah's life.
Uzziah became proud, like many people do when they are
successful, even spiritually successful.
And God struck Uzziah with leprosy, and he was an outcast
until the day that he died. And we read here in Isaiah 6 one
that in that same year that Uzziah died, Isaiah's eyes were
open to a vision to bring comfort to him and threw him to
the people as a whole. The vision is plain and obvious.
He realizes something about God, the sovereignty of God, the
throne of God, the authority of God, the stability of God.
And I just find it absolutely amazing how more than one
account the. Scriptures record how the Lord
manifest himself in unusual moments in our lives.
Unusual moments especially in moments of suffering and pain.
I think of Job. Though a righteous man and who
feared God, think about the emotional distress, the physical
burden, the psychological and even the spiritual struggle.
And yet at the end of that account in Job, what do you
read? Oh, my eyes have seen you.
I've heard of you with my ears. But now my eyes have seen you.
I have. I have a new revelation of you
that can only have been known in this kind of thing.
I think of Stephen when he was ready to be stoned by his
enemies. You can think about the fear of
that moment, a man who had so much promise future, a man who
was a blessing to the church. The church just started and this
guy is ready to go. And what does he see?
He sees heaven open and he sees Christ, not sitting at the right
hand of God, but standing. He had a revelation of Christ.
What right at the threshold of pain, death.
What do you see here? You see, Isaiah, surely a man as
you're going to discover a man who was susceptible to being
fearful himself being overcome by a manifestation of the person
of Jesus Christ. According to John that would
change him that would instill a concrete confidence for his
call. Yes, personally, but something
about who God is despite his call.
And I want to tell you that these revelations may not be
immediate. I want to, I want to tell you if
look everything else in the world, it's in the world.
And as much as it might be affecting us.
As much as it's bombarding our phones and it's the subject
matter of our dinner conversations and our text
messages to people here and beyond, you have your own
things. There's private wars that each
of us are battling. But take this truth that when,
when God takes our suffering, he takes it as a platform for him
to step on and to show himself. But it may not be immediate.
It may not be even during. It may be after the fact.
Read again carefully. It doesn't say in the day Uzziah
died. It was in the year.
So what do you? Do when the lights have been
turned off and you don't understand what's going on and
you know how to read the writing on the wall, you stay put, you
wait, you worship while you wait, and you trust that the
Lord will show himself at the right time.
And you take that as an opportunity to bless him when it
doesn't make sense to bless him and to serve him when you have
little strength to do anything else.
So Isaiah, he is here in the year that King Uzziah died, and
God reveals himself to him in a very special way.
And then there's one. Thing, I mean, we, we've
preached on Isaiah 6 before. I believe it was last year's
Maranatha. We spent a whole session on it
at the conference. But I want to draw your
attention to just the 1st 3 verses.
Look at verse 2 and keep in mind that this was in the year that
King Uzziah died. Above him stood the Seraphim.
Each had six wings. With two he covered his face,
and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
That's so significant, I don't have time to touch on that, but
verse three and one call to another and said holy, holy,
holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. So these heavenly creatures,
these beings who are caught up in the atmosphere of holiness
and brilliance of God, they're saying something to one another.
By the way, this is generally misunderstood as them saying
something to God. They're not saying it directly
to God, they're saying it to one another.
And notice what they said. Thrice Holy is God, holy, holy,
Holy is the Lord of hosts. And notice what they didn't say.
The whole earth was full of His glory, Or the whole earth will
be full of his glory. Does it say that?
No, it's present tense. The whole earth is full of his
glory. Wait, is yes, in the same year
that King Uzziah died? What did these seraphim see?
Glory. That's what they saw permeating
the earth. What did Isaiah and the average
Israelites see? I'm not sure, but in times of
transition, unpredictability, uncertainty, it's difficult to
perceive glory. But these seraphim saw it to the
degree that it caused them, yes, to not just converse about it,
but in adoration, praise about it.
The whole earth is filled with this glory.
What are you seeing, Seraphim, and how are you seeing it?
Can I suggest one simple thing? Their vantage point.
Their perspective, they're seeing the globe from the throne
room of the Lord of host, and God in this vision is inviting
Isaiah up. See it from here, Isaiah.
Filter it from here. Isaiah, you know, Ephesians
tells us that you and I, this is a very mysterious statement.
It's very deep, but it's also simple that we are seated and
we're heavenly places. What is that speaking about You
positionally, your salvation is as secure as that you have a
seat in heavenly places. That's the main part of that
text. That's what that is trying to
convey. But there's also command that
practically you and I are to set our minds on things above
Colossians 3. So you're seated there
positionally. But let's be practical.
Let's view everything from the perspective of where we're
supposed to be seated. Heaven, eternity, God's might,
his power. The whole earth is filled with
his glory. What does Psalm 19 tell us about
the glory of God? That it's in the heavens.
It's in the skies above, is it not?
It's in creation. Do you wonder why I think the
thought is dying out now, but do you wonder why for a good period
of time in in our lifetime, there was such a push for
evolution and the notion that all this came from nothing, that
we're just an accident, that this is a miracle, but without a
God, Why do you think that's being pushed?
Do you think that's because science thought about it?
No, it's because it's an attempt to rob God of his glory.
You're supposed to look out and perceive everything and give God
glory, and Satan wants to even take that from God.
This isn't about science and philosophy and psychology and
Darwin. There's something spiritual
behind this stuff. And so we see here that the
Seraphim are looking at the world, and though kingdoms as we
sang are rising and kingdoms are falling, they're just caught up
in the. Glory.
You cannot afford to interpret your personal life, your home
life, your neighborhood life, your city, this nation, apart
from the filter of God's sovereignty.
You can't afford to do that. The Seraphim could look down and
worship while the majority worry.
And the only way that you can switch from panic to praise is
if you constantly consider, constantly include in every
micro and macro event, that there is a God who is lofty,
high, strong, unshaken, sovereign.
Climb there every morning before you check Fox, before you peep
into CNN. Climb there and stay there.
And allow God's glory to interpret everything for you.
I wonder how many today, since last week, and in the weeks to
come have been caught up with God's glory in your
conversations, it's OK to talk about this stuff that's
happening, but in your conversations, does does the
Lord and His power and might does He show up in that
conversation? Or is it simply just discussing
the recent podcasts and then sighing about how wicked this
world is and then going back to your room with shrugged
shoulders wondering if tomorrow is going to be worse than it was
today? This is not the only time Israel
experienced national distress. Go to Isaiah chapter 8 to
examine another episode of fear that apprehended the same people
group. And I want you to know that the
timing of this passage was during the reign of King Ahaz.
Ahaz. This is the grandson of Uzziah
and Ahaz, king of Judah was enduring his own news, the news
of. A coalition between Syria and
Israel. Remember, he represents the
Kingdom of Judah, the southern Kingdom.
And now news is out that Syria and Israel are encroaching upon
Jerusalem. And on top of that, there is now
talks of Assyria, a rising empire of that time, coming in
and just taking over everything. And so on more than one
occasion, the prophet Isaiah, who just finished having this
experience with Almighty God in Isaiah 6, comes to Isaiah 7 and
we're told in Isaiah. Seven, that the hearts of the
people, including the king. King Ahaz, we're shaking as
trees shake in the wind. He gives a prophecy after
prophecy. And finally, the Lord speaks to
Isaiah, not to speak to the people yet, but to speak to Him
directly as His Servant. And I want you to see this in
Isaiah 811. This is what the Lord says to
Isaiah individually. For the Lord spoke thus to me
with His strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the
way of this people. Pause.
What do you think the way of this people is?
So you see. Again, the urgency of the Lord
speaking to his servant. He's saying I'm putting my hand
on you and I am warning you not to walk in the way of this
people. What debauchery, Sexual
morality, Orgies. Drunkenness.
Worshipping. Molech No, verse 12.
Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy,
and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread.
Wow, Isaiah, you're my servant. You're supposed to think
different, feel different, function differently.
And what he's trying to say in summation is, I don't want you
to be preoccupied with the anxious feeling and discussions
that everybody else in your nation is wrapped up in.
What does that tell us? That even a man of God like
Isaiah can be sucked into the frenzy of a country or people
group or family that doesn't have concrete confidence in
their God. Don't get swept up in that.
And that's true of him. How much is it possible for us?
Therefore, you and I, like Isaiah, have to make a
conscience effort to not allow what overtakes the culture to
overtake you. Is it wrong to discuss these
things? No.
Is it wrong to investigate these things?
No. But if it paralyzes you and it
pulls you away from your primary duty as a Christian in the
Church of Jesus Christ, you've gone too far.
You've gone too far. But how?
How can you and I rise above the agitation and the alarm that's
surrounding us? You know, I tried to take care
of this body. So I go to the gym once in a
while and I usually bring headphones and just list my time
to listen to teachings. And this time a few days ago, I
thought, I'm not going to bring my headphones.
I'll just go in for a quick session.
So usually my ears are busy. My, my ears were not busy.
They're exposed to the elements. And here I am trying to do my
thing and. Secret services of the Democrats
are traumatic. Conservatives are the.
I wish I brought my headphones. And I get it naturally.
We we endured a historical thing.
I get it. But you can sense something in
the voice, you can sense something in the panic.
You can feel it. It's tangible.
Let it be for the world, not for the church.
So what's the secret? How is it that in these
inescapable things that pop up on your device when you choose
to go to the gym without your headphones, how can your heart
be bulletproof? How can you be?
How can you still have a song in your mouth and light on your
face? How he tells Isaiah, look at
verse 13. But the Lord of hosts him shall
you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear and let him
be your dread. Can I, can I summarize what the
fear of God is? It's very simple.
We don't have time to explore it together.
The fear of God is synonymous with being in awe of God.
You know what he's telling Isaiah, teaching you and I this
profound truth that the increasing presence of fear in
US is a symptom of my diminishing awe of God.
When fear rises up and is more present and prominent in this
heart of mine, that's an indication that what's becoming
less and less true in that same heart is my understanding of how
awesome God is. And so on the other side of the
coin, he says, if I if you're going to escape this pattern of
debilitating thoughts, then you must listen.
You must, you must, you must make less time for mainstream
media, your favorite podcast, and the recent article with the
newest findings or statistics, and stick your nose in the Bible
until your soul is stunned by God.
If you're able to take in everything that's happening and
your faith is stronger than ever, then keep going, brother.
I guess keep going, my sister. But if you're losing strength,
If your worship is diluting. If things concerning your
understanding of your purpose as a Christian, part of the Church
of Jesus Christ getting lost and foggy, then revisit the throne
room of God. Come to his word and stare it
stare at it long enough until you escape the web that most
people are caught in. I want to provide you just an
example of how that works. We're we're still in Isaiah the
good Isaiah 45 for a moment. Please, Lord tells Isaiah,
replace your fear of invading army's failing economy, inept
leaders. With a fear of me.
And if you fear me, you're not going to fear anything else.
What's the instruction here? You have to make an effort to
not feed this. Unholy fear and instead spend
the energy and feed the holy fear.
Look at Isaiah 45 verse one. Thus says the Lord to his
anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue
nations before him, and to loose the belts of kings, to open
doors before him, that gates may not be closed so.
We come to this prophecy, and it's a very interesting
prophecy. Again, why are we going to
Isaiah 45? Just to give you a little sample
of how your heart can be apprehended by the right kind of
fear. He tells him for the sake of my
servant Jacob. Later, as we're about to
discover, but initially in verse one.
Thus says the Lord to his anointed to his anointed.
The language of somebody being anointed was exclusively
reserved for priests and kings within.
The confines of Israel, the covenant that God had with him.
But here you have this man named Cyrus.
Cyrus, as we're about to discover, is a Gentile.
He's a Gentile king. And yet the Lord says he's my
anointed. I've set him apart for
something. I've called him to something.
And this prophecy is directed to Cyrus, and he's allowing Isaiah
and the nation of Israel to overhear this proclamation.
To overhear for what reason? Well, not just so that we would
realize that God knows the future, because Cyrus, though
this is directed to him, hasn't come into existence yet.
This is one of the most profound passages in all of the Bible.
Cyrus would come into existence. He would be born in this world
180. Years to 220 years after this
prophecy was declared. So you have gone through the
Prophet calling out a politician who's going to rule the known
world by name decades upon decades before it's even
realized. And the Lord calls Isaiah and
even his people to check this out.
I'm going to call somebody by name.
You know, you have people wringing their hands.
Who's going to win the election? Why are you scared about that?
God knows, should he, Terry, who's going to be the 65th
president of the United States? I'm calling you Cyrus by name,
and I'm going to equip you and I'm going to raise you.
To do what? To be above the nations.
And that's proven to be true. History testifies of this
prophecy coming to pass because Cyrus didn't invade the
Babylonian Empire and he did conquer it.
But is that? All the Lord is trying to do, is
He just trying to flex his omniscience?
No, He's showing what the ultimate purpose is.
When you Scroll down to verse four, look at verse 4.
For the sake of my servant Jacob and Israel my Chosen.
I call you by your name. He's still speaking to Cyrus.
And about Cyrus, I call you by your name.
I name you, though you do not know me.
I am the Lord, and there is no other besides me.
There is no God. I equip you, though you do not
know me. Do you understand the
implications of this? Not only do you have a Gentile,
not only do you have a gentile who's going to be a king, who's
not even real yet, you have the Lord.
Showcasing his sovereignty, the extent of it, that God can even
use a Gentile king who doesn't have a true living relationship
with him. For what?
For his purposes, and in this case it was for the sake of his
people, Jacob. So I'm going to shift the
nation's I'm going to fire and hire.
I'm going to see defeat and conquest for this sole central
reason for my people, because my people at that time are going to
be in exile in Babylon. And I'm going to allow Cyrus to
come in, Cyrus to conquer and at the right time, Cyrus to release
my people from Babylon back into Israel, the promised land.
And we're being told this hundreds of years before it
happened. And the bigger picture of this
whole thing is this. You ready?
You know what this tells us? History Centers on the glory of
God and the people of God. History.
History centers on the glory of God and the people that you
think that just because these people don't believe in God,
that God's playbook isn't at work.
You think that just because everybody's caught up with the
things of this life and they put their hope and whoever's in the
White House that that God is not orchestrating everything.
For His glory and for His people to be positioned exactly where
they need to be so that they can thrive and bring forth fruit.
Read your Bible, read your Bible and realize that history
centers. And I can't say it any better
than another preacher who commented on this passage.
The Lord raises up and he brings down.
Behind all the drama of human events today, there is a God who
is planning for His church through affliction and
persecution and chastising and tribulation, to be perfected and
prepared to inherit the Kingdom of God.
This isn't disconnected to the church.
What we're seeing, what's happening, it's all orbiting
about this one thing that the One who created all things has
something to accomplish. And everything is not falling
apart. It's falling exactly into.
Place exactly into place every detail.
I may not know what the next few months will bring, but I am sure
of one thing that whatever does happen, the church will be
exactly where she needs to be. The true church.
Exactly. And if I'm part of the church,
that includes me and that includes you.
On a side note, notice how verse one, I told you earlier that he
he's saying it to Cyrus. Why would you say it to Cyrus?
Cyrus hasn't even been born yet, unless of course, Cyrus would
know about it one day. And I just want to show you
again, just to show you how amazing this book is.
Do you know that Cyrus actually got this message eventually?
He actually received this word he's saying where you have to
make an effort to flip those pages to Ezra chapter one.
I want you to see it with your own eyes.
Ezra 1123. This is when Cyrus the king of
Persia defeated the Babylonians. And notice what it says here in
the opening of the book of Ezra chapter one, verse one.
I'll wait for those pages to stop moving in the first year of
Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of
Jeremiah might be fulfilled. So not only do you have Isaiah's
testimony, you have Jeremiah, who also prophesied the exact
amount of time that Israel would be in exile before they return
to Jerusalem. The Lord stirred up the spirit
of Cyrus, king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation
throughout all his Kingdom and also put it in writing.
Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord, the God of heaven, has
given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to
build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him,
and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild
the House of the Lord, the God of Israel.
He is the God who is in Jerusalem.
Now, that might not move you because you think that you're
just dealing with one book. You went from Isaiah, which is
one chapter in this big book, and you went now to this chapter
called Ezra. It's not one big book.
This is a library of books. There's a great span of time
between Isaiah and Ezra. Do you realize that what Isaiah
says here in chapter 45 was fulfilled and Ezra recorded it?
And here's my question. How did Cyra, king of Persia,
get access to this word? How did it come to him?
And it's all speculation. It's all speculation.
Can I give you my favorite speculation?
There was somebody in the Kingdom of Babylon who was also
during their there during the administration of Cyrus.
Do you know his name? Daniel.
Could it be that Daniel showed him this prophecy?
Could it be you're saying I don't know, OK, just could it
be? I'm not saying it's dogmatic.
You don't need to believe it to become a member here or
anything. The same Daniel who very likely
influenced the magicians and the magi that brought the magi from
the east to come and see the son of David who would be born in
Jerusalem. Where did they come from?
Why they? Why did?
These magi from the east come to Jerusalem well trace it in
biblical history. I think one possible reason is
because of the presence and the influence of the prophet Daniel.
Could it be that even here with Cyrus, Daniel was there?
You read Daniel Chapter 9 and Daniel start praying when you
realize that the 70 years was coming up, that Jeremiah, this
guy was in tune with the word of God and he was not ashamed to
share it. He was not ashamed to share it.
I'd like to think that. I'd like to think that Daniel
told Cyrus, Do you know that your name was brought up by one
of our prophets? Really.
When, oh, I don't know, like 180 years ago?
No way. Yes, let me show you.
Let me tell you about it. Something was inspired.
And Cyrus, the Lord stirred his spirit.
And he says, if you want to go back home, you can go back home.
What are you afraid of? If this is our God, what are
you? Nothing to be afraid of
anything. I'm afraid of him.
He knows what's going to happen.
He knows how long this empire called the United States will
will last. He knows.
He knows the exact day if it will last or if it will not.
He knows the exact moment. He knows every detail that will
lead up to its fall or, by His mercy, to its revival.
He knows, he knows. And guess what?
I hold his hand and so do you. He has a big hand and he's
leading me day by day. And sometimes, like a little
child, I asked where are we going?
And like a good dad does, he doesn't explain it all the time.
It's my God. OK, So what happens next week?
You're surprised, we're shocked, sure.
We're human, we're limited by time and space and Isaiah 6, the
Lord is there, Thrones are falling apart, and there's one
throne that is stable, unmoved, unshaken, and we're invited to
be there. Now, I know some of your
analytical and your critical thinkers, and I appreciate that.
So you're thinking, brother, that thank you for that sermon,
that was very encouraging. But I noticed that you stayed
within the bounds of the Old Testament where God primarily
dealt with a people group that was a theocracy.
And so obviously, in order to be faithful to them, their borders,
their land, was a part of their covenant, he would have to get
involved with governments and armies and kings and kingdoms.
But we're in the new covenant, we're the church, We don't we
don't have a country. How does this relate to us?
Besides, is God even that involved to the same degree that
he was when he was electing one people group and working through
them to showcase of the world his glory?
Can we take these observations that you've made, brother, and
and apply them to us as a people, group of many tribes and
tugs sprinkled across this world?
How does this help me? And I'm here to tell you that
the same God who supervises everything up to the time of
Cyrus, the same one who was there when Uzziah came off the
throne, and the same one who called Cyrus to take up a
throne, is the same one who's involved with every throne,
every church, every pulpit, every home.
Let me remind you the words of Jesus when He stood before
another governor by the name of Pilate and he was on trial and
Jesus fulfilling His role as a lamb remains silent.
So Pilate in John 19 verse 10 said to him, You will not speak
to me. Do you not know that I have
authority to release you and authority to crucify you?
What does Jesus say in verse 11? Jesus answered them, You would
have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you
from above. Therefore, he who delivered me
over to you has the greater sin. This is Jesus Christ, the
Mediator of a new covenant, and He even in this reminds Pilate
and even us that every position of power, the proportion of
authority that they carry with those positions has been
determined by heaven. Pilate would not have an inch of
that authority had it not been signed off by God Almighty.
Do you think it's any different today?
What about, what about the church?
I mean, this is the Lord right before his death, His
resurrection, his ascension. What comfort can we take that
that God's eye is on His people and that He is still allowing
what is taking place in history to center?
To center on the glory of God and the people of God.
There's so many examples, so many, you know what came to
mind? Just this little one, one that
we don't tend to think about when we think about the book of
Acts. It's a peripheral idea, but it's
so jam packed with awesome comfort when you think about God
and His church and worldwide events.
OK, this is our last text. It's in Acts 11.
Turn there in verse 28, actually verse 27.
Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch,
and one of the name Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit
that there would be a great famine over all the world.
This took place in the days of Claudius.
Isn't that amazing? So you have these prophets from
Jerusalem and I know that this text can be a matter of debate
about how this works, the office of a prophet and new covenant,
the gift of prophecy. Can the Spirit of God speaking
this way through his people to his people.
Let's put that aside for now and take the comforting truth out of
it. Here you have these prophets out
of Jerusalem coming to the church in Antioch.
And one of these prophets named Agabus foretells by the Spirit,
this is a real prophet, not those kind of like YouTube
prophets that predict things and just say anything and and it's
wrong and people still support them afterwards.
I don't understand a real prophet, a real prophet.
And he says there is going to be a famine that's going to hit not
just this area, the whole world. And it was right.
So put the debate aside. Put the debate aside.
OK, here's what I take out of it as a as a point, as a lesson.
If God wants to supernaturally reveal something to his church,
he's able. If God wants to prepare his
church in this way, he can. But even if he doesn't do it in
such a direct manifest way. He's always doing it.
He's. Always providentially
positioning and preparing his people primarily his word is
there, but even his spirit is with us.
The Holy Spirit of God is with us and he as in this I see that
though the world is going to experience something he's
telling his church, His heart is still for his people.
OK, we're not in we're not a nation and one people group.
That's the beauty of the gospel. But as one new race now as the
church, don't you see here by way of example, don't you take
comfort in knowing that God still supervises us and He's not
going to allow the powers that be or persecution or the evil
corruption erode the church, Even disasters, natural, natural
disasters. He still has his eye on his
church. He's watching, He's caring.
So the Spirit is here and what where I want to end is how the
disciples reacted to this news in verse 29.
So the disciples determined everyone according to his
ability to send relief to the brothers living in Judea,
worldwide famine. And you know what the disciples
don't do? They don't disperse and isolate
themselves and fear about what was going to happen to their
bank accounts, to their crops, to the future of their children.
They responded almost like instinct with selfless action.
What do you see here? Why am I bringing this to your
attention? In light of what's happening in
our world, may not be a famine. It may be a famine down the
road. But in light of the unrest,
civilly, universally, what do you have here?
An axe. You have a missionally minded
church. Missionally minded that when
they saw this, they realized what do we do to strengthen the
people of God? What do we do to help our
brethren? What do we do so they weren't
dragging their feet and murmuring about the mysteries of
this world to the point where they're not acting at all and
not praying at all and not rejoicing.
Stronger and not be asking God for greater opportunities to
tell people about this gospel. Not doing that.
Unshaken, just like their God in heaven.
Unmoved, just like that throne we read about.
That's what the church is supposed to be in this hour,
more active than ever. Our meetings across this land
should be absolutely packed. We should show the world that we
have greater reason to rejoice. We should show the world that we
have nothing to fear, nothing to worry about.
And not just in our meetings, in your life and in mine, outside
of these walls. So when those conversations come
up, when questions are asked, when a new videos popped in your
face, ask the Lord for the grace for the gospel to shine through
you. Ask God for the wisdom to know
how to put in these kernels of truth.
Ask God for even the mercy. That without words, just just
your posture and your language to testify of something that is
unexplainable. So I want to tell you today that
there is a horizontal response to everything.
And I wasn't planning on in this way, but I'm going to end this
way. There's also a vertical
response. I told you the last text was our
last text, but I promise you to this one in Hebrews.
And as I turn to, the priest team can join me on this
platform. Aren't you excited to be a
Christian in these days? I'm so excited.
Hebrews 12/28 Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a
Kingdom that cannot be shaken. And thus let us offer to God
acceptable worship with reverence and awe.
For our God is a consuming fire. Isn't that what Isaiah was told?
What's the context of us rejoicing in the truth that our
Kingdom cannot be shaken? Look at verse 27.
This phrase yet once more indicates the removal of things
that are shaken, that is, things that have been made in order
that things that cannot be shaken may remain.
What's this prophecy telling us that there's a time coming where
everything that has been made will be shaken?
And what's the response? The response is, yes, we saw an
example of the church when the world was caught by famine.
They were active. But also there's a vertical
response to give God worship with reverence and and what?
Ah, that fear. Why?
Because you have inherited something that can never be
taken from you. You're a Christian, blood
bought, eternally secured, and you have a future.
And no matter how wonderful this nation is, and we should praise
God, there's no nation like it. It doesn't compare to the
Kingdom that you've inherited by faith.
So there's a greater hope, a greater joy, a greater delight,
a greater, a greater government that awaits because we serve a
great God. So let's stand and give him that
worship and thank him with reverence, in awe, sacrifice of
praise.