1 00:00:00,960 --> 00:00:04,480 Well, good morning. As you're turning to your Bibles 2 00:00:04,640 --> 00:00:11,280 to to Isaiah chapter 48, which would be 6 O 8 and six O 9 in 3 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:14,520 the Pew Bibles. Just want to share a little bit 4 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:17,080 of a story. Some of you may remember that I 5 00:00:17,080 --> 00:00:20,600 preached a little over a year ago and I introduced that sermon 6 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:24,880 with a with a confession. I guess that I'd had a dream 7 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:28,240 that I was late for church on the day that I was supposed to 8 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:31,240 be preaching. That dream came true today, 9 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:36,560 almost came true today. I was about 5 miles from the 10 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:42,760 Highway 52 exit onto Hwy. 52 coming from high Interstate 90, 11 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:47,920 Started to notice a little wobbling in the back tire and 12 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:50,360 Lisa said I think it's kind of vibrating. 13 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:52,400 I think our wheels might be out of alignment. 14 00:00:53,480 --> 00:00:55,000 Turns out it was way worse than that. 15 00:00:55,680 --> 00:00:58,280 We we barely made it off the Interstate. 16 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:02,120 Some of you may know that on Interstate 90 and on Hwy. 52 17 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:06,440 there's a place of ill repute that is just South of the there. 18 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:08,640 I made sure I didn't park the car there. 19 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:11,880 I went all the way down to the to the quick trip. 20 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:17,320 I got parked there and thankfully my son Jake was able 21 00:01:17,320 --> 00:01:20,960 to come pick me up. I was not late, but I did. 22 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:24,240 I did tell Pastor Steve that I might be late and he said, well, 23 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:26,040 we'll just sing another hymn if we need to do that. 24 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:28,520 So anyway, didn't need to do that. 25 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:34,680 So as as we return to Isaiah 48, invite you to hear with me the 26 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:37,760 word of the Lord and then keep it open afterwards because we'll 27 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:39,920 be walking through it during the message. 28 00:01:40,320 --> 00:01:42,240 Let's pray. Well, actually I'm going to, 29 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:46,120 like I said, I'm not flustered at all by the experience of 30 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:48,320 today. We're just going to go right 31 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:54,640 ahead now to my copy of the Scriptures and Isaiah 48. 32 00:01:57,440 --> 00:02:00,880 Hear this, O House of Jacob, who are called by the name of 33 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:05,920 Israel, and who came from the waters of Judah, who swear by 34 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:08,479 the name of the Lord, and confess the God of Israel, but 35 00:02:08,479 --> 00:02:13,240 not in truth or right, for they call themselves after the holy 36 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:16,480 city, and stay themselves on the God of Israel. 37 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:21,400 The Lord of hosts is His name. The former things I declared of 38 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:23,960 old. They went out from my mouth, and 39 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:27,360 I announced them. Then suddenly I did them, and 40 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:30,840 they came to pass. Because I know that you are 41 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:34,960 obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your forehead 42 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:38,240 brass. I declared them to you from of 43 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:40,800 old. Before they came to pass. 44 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:44,200 I announced them to you, lest you should say, My idol did 45 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:46,360 them. My carved image and my metal 46 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:50,040 image commanded them. You have heard. 47 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:54,480 Now see all this, and will you not declare it from this time 48 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:56,800 forth? I announced to you new things, 49 00:02:57,360 --> 00:02:59,480 hidden things that you have not known. 50 00:03:00,640 --> 00:03:02,680 They're created now, not long ago. 51 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:05,720 Before today, you've never heard of them, lest you should say, 52 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:09,200 Behold, I knew them. You have never heard. 53 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:13,160 You have never known. From an old your ear has not 54 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:17,120 been opened. For I knew that you would surely 55 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:20,880 deal treacherously, and that from before birth you were 56 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:25,320 called a rebel. For my name's sake I defer my 57 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:28,720 anger. For the sake of my praise I 58 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:31,800 restrain it for you that I may not cut you off. 59 00:03:32,920 --> 00:03:35,200 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. 60 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:40,920 I have tried you in the furnace of affliction for my own sake. 61 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:44,560 For my own sake I do it. For how should my name be 62 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:47,520 profaned? My glory I will not give to 63 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:50,800 another. Listen to me, O Jacob and 64 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:55,800 Israel, whom I called. I am He, I am the 1st, and I am 65 00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:58,520 the last. My hand laid the foundation of 66 00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:02,080 the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens. 67 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:05,440 When I call to them, they stand forth together. 68 00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:11,240 Assemble all of you and listen. Who among them has declared 69 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:13,840 these things? The Lord loves him. 70 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:18,880 He shall perform his purpose on Babylon, and his arm shall be 71 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:23,200 against the Chaldeans. I even I have spoken and called 72 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:26,400 him. I have brought him, and he will 73 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:29,960 prosper in his way. Draw near to me. 74 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:34,160 Hear this from the beginning. I have not spoken in secret from 75 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:38,400 the time it came to be. I have been there, and now the 76 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:41,320 Lord God has sent me and His Spirit. 77 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:45,200 Thus says the Lord your Redeemer, the Holy One of 78 00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:48,000 Israel. I am the Lord your God, who 79 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:51,720 teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way that you should 80 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:55,200 go. Oh, that you had paid attention 81 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:58,000 to my commandments? Then your peace would have been 82 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:01,240 like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of 83 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:03,880 the sea. Your offspring would have been 84 00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:07,200 like the sand, and your descendants like its grains. 85 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:11,640 Their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before me. 86 00:05:12,840 --> 00:05:14,920 Go out from Babylon, free from Chaldea. 87 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:17,640 Declare this with a shot of joy. Proclaim it. 88 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:20,160 Send it out to the end of the earth. 89 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:23,000 Say the Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob. 90 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:26,520 They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts. 91 00:05:26,960 --> 00:05:29,800 He made water flow for them from the rock. 92 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:33,000 He split the rock, and the water gushed out. 93 00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:37,600 There is no peace, says the Lord, for the wicked. 94 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:43,080 The grass Withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God 95 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:48,880 will stand forever. Let's pray, Father, we trust 96 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:51,960 Your promise that the word that goes out from your mouth will 97 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:55,960 not return to you empty, but that it shall accomplish that 98 00:05:55,960 --> 00:05:59,280 which you purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which 99 00:05:59,280 --> 00:06:03,120 You sent it. Please attend to Your Word by 100 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:07,600 Your Holy Spirit and open our ears, enlighten our minds, and 101 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:11,280 warm our hearts to hear and receive and believe it. 102 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:16,040 Use this time for our prophet and for the glory of Your Son 103 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:20,360 our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, as we ask it in His 104 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:26,120 name. Amen was many of you will 105 00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:30,880 remember Trinity hosted the most recent meeting of the Siouxlands 106 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:33,640 Presbytery just this last September. 107 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:37,360 The Siouxlands Presbytery is made-up of all the PCA churches 108 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:39,880 in the Dakotas as well as Minnesota. 109 00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:44,240 It stretches from Duluth on the east, the northeast to Rapid 110 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:47,360 City in the southwest. It's about 13 hours or something 111 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:49,280 like that across if you're driving. 112 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:54,240 We meet three times a year at least the teaching elders or 113 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:58,320 pastors are required to be there are expected to be there unless 114 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:02,120 they have an excused absence. And we're also expected to bring 115 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:06,680 a representative a a congregational representative as 116 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:10,960 a ruling elder to have at least one of those ruling elders are 117 00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:14,840 men like me who are they're also the other ones that you see on 118 00:07:14,840 --> 00:07:18,520 the back of the bulletin who also leading in in 119 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:21,800 congregational prayer. We're generally not seminary 120 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:25,280 trained, but we serve on the session of the local church and 121 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:28,240 also then as congregational representatives to the 122 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:30,680 presbytery meetings or a General Assembly. 123 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:35,880 Our Book of Church Order, which we lovingly call the BCO, has 124 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:40,120 two sentences about the role of ruling elders In Chapter 8 and 125 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:43,720 Section 10 is what it says. It says elders, being of one 126 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:47,880 class of office ruling elders, possess the same authority and 127 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:50,680 eligibility to hold office in the courts of the church as 128 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:54,280 teaching elders. They should, moreover, cultivate 129 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:56,960 zealously their own aptness to teach the Bible and should 130 00:07:56,960 --> 00:07:58,920 improve every opportunity of doing so. 131 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:03,440 I'm standing here today instead of sitting there this morning 132 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:05,720 because of both of those sentences. 133 00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:10,440 To reflect the equality of the two orders of elders, the 134 00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:14,240 Siouxlands Presbytery has a tradition that one year that the 135 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:18,360 moderator, the one who runs the meeting, rotates between the 136 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:22,760 ruling elders and the teaching elders. 1 And so one year it's a 137 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:25,000 teaching elder. And this next year coming up 138 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:26,800 happens to be a year for a ruling elder. 139 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:31,360 So, as Providence would have it, I was minding my own business, 140 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:35,080 literally minding my own business, on my laptop in the 141 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:38,559 church office on September 25th on the 1st morning of 142 00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:43,400 Presbytery, when Pastor Johnson approached me and asked if I 143 00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:47,520 would consider being a candidate for moderator in 2026 because 144 00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:50,560 next year is is a ruling elder year in the rotation. 145 00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:53,040 So I asked him the dates of the meeting and I checked my 146 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:56,200 calendar and I found out that I didn't have any conflicts. 147 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:59,520 So I said I was willing. I didn't realize I'd be the only 148 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:03,400 candidate. So it's kind of like when we 149 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:07,280 have our congregational meetings like next week and Pastor Harper 150 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:09,400 will ask, so we need to have somebody take minutes. 151 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:10,600 Does anyone want to take minutes? 152 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:16,520 And I end up getting to do it. So I was it unanimously elected. 153 00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:19,160 How about that? Seriously though, I, I do look 154 00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:22,400 forward to serving in this role. I think it's a great opportunity 155 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:25,480 for growth and building relationships with the other 156 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:28,880 ruling elders, with the teaching elders as I run the meeting and 157 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:31,720 rule them out of order and all that kind of whatever else I 158 00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:34,520 need to do. So after I got elected to the 159 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:37,080 moderator role, Pastor Harper ordered a couple of books for 160 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:38,480 me. One of them is this 161 00:09:38,560 --> 00:09:41,560 Parliamentary Procedure at a Glance, it's a guide to Robert's 162 00:09:41,560 --> 00:09:44,280 Rules of Order. And then there's this page 163 00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:48,480 Turner they got me. This is our bond of Union. 164 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:53,160 The subtitle is A Commentary on the Book of Church Order of the 165 00:09:53,160 --> 00:10:00,360 Presbyterian Church in America. So as I was started reading 166 00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:05,120 through this to prepare for becoming the moderator, I came 167 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:09,960 across this second aspect of the ruling Elder role, where it says 168 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:13,880 they should moreover cultivate zealously their own aptness to 169 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:16,720 teach the Bible and should improve every opportunity for 170 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:19,360 doing so. It was just a couple weeks later 171 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:22,400 that Pastor Harper asked if I'd be willing to preach on November 172 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:25,000 16th. So I thought and prayed about it 173 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:27,440 overnight and it seemed like a good opportunity for some 174 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:31,600 zealous cultivation. So as Isaiah said earlier in the 175 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:35,640 book, here I am, send me a pastor Harper said I could 176 00:10:35,640 --> 00:10:39,840 choose my own text or I could continue in the Isaiah series. 177 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:42,640 And he said that Isaiah 48 was was Next up. 178 00:10:43,560 --> 00:10:45,920 And it's such a majestic conclusion to the section of 179 00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:47,920 Isaiah. I couldn't imagine picking 180 00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:50,520 another passage since this was what was on the docket. 181 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:55,800 He again helped by providing several of his commentaries as 182 00:10:55,800 --> 00:10:59,400 resources and I'm going to be adapting one of them by Alan 183 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:02,520 Harmon as the framework, guided by the others and filling in 184 00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:05,360 some of the sub points. And as we say in the membership 185 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:08,240 follows in humble reliance on the grace of the Holy Spirit. 186 00:11:08,960 --> 00:11:13,560 But it's that outline is on page 7, I guess, of your bulletin. 187 00:11:13,560 --> 00:11:16,960 And so if you'd like to follow along, that'd be great. 188 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:22,080 So Harmon titles this whole chapter, the Lord's rebuke to 189 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:26,040 Israel to in many ways, a summary and A and a 190 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:30,320 recapitulation of the section of Isaiah that begins with chapter 191 00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:36,120 40. Second Timothy 316 and 17 of the 192 00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:40,400 New International Version says all Scriptures God breathed and 193 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:44,280 is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and 194 00:11:44,280 --> 00:11:47,360 training in righteousness. So the servant of God may be 195 00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:52,720 thoroughly equipped for every good work instead of useful. 196 00:11:53,280 --> 00:11:58,200 The the ESV and King James say Scripture is profitable for 197 00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:00,800 these things. So I kind of want to focus on 198 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:05,400 prophet today in the verse 18 of of our passage, the Lord our 199 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:08,000 Redeemer, the Holy one of Israel tells us he's the one who 200 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:12,560 teaches you to profit. So my prayer for this morning, 201 00:12:12,920 --> 00:12:15,520 as has been for the last several weeks, is this time together 202 00:12:15,520 --> 00:12:20,040 will be profitable for all of us, teaching, rebuking, 203 00:12:20,240 --> 00:12:22,320 correcting, and training us in righteousness. 204 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:27,200 So we might be fully, completely, thoroughly equipped 205 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:30,480 for the good works that God has prepared for us beforehand that 206 00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:35,120 we should walk in them. So as we as we begin walking 207 00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:38,840 through the passage, the first half is on the refining of 208 00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:42,600 Israel, and it begins with a sharp rebuke from the Lord. 209 00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:48,720 Starting again at verse one, hear this, O House of Jacob, who 210 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:51,600 are called by the name of Israel, and who came from the 211 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:56,320 waters of Judah, who swear by the name of the Lord and confess 212 00:12:56,320 --> 00:13:01,440 the God of Israel, but not in truth or right, for they call 213 00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:05,480 themselves after the holy city and stay themselves on the God 214 00:13:05,480 --> 00:13:08,400 of Israel. The Lord of hosts is his name. 215 00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:13,400 God here is addressing their hypocrisy. 216 00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:17,320 They're professing faith without possessing faith. 217 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:22,520 They call themselves after the holy city, but their claim 218 00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:25,040 doesn't respond, doesn't correspond to reality. 219 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:28,600 As he says, it's not in truth or right. 220 00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:32,840 So then the Lord through Isaiah continues the indictment of 221 00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:35,480 their hard heartedness and their hard headedness. 222 00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:40,720 Picking up on verse 3, The former things I declared of old, 223 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:43,600 they went out from my mouth and I announced them. 224 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:46,680 Then suddenly I did them and they came to pass. 225 00:13:47,920 --> 00:13:50,960 Because I know that you are obstinate and your neck is an 226 00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:53,680 iron sinew and your forehead brass. 227 00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:58,360 I declared them to you from of old before they came to pass. 228 00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:01,480 I announced them to you, lest you should say my idol did them. 229 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:03,960 My carved image and my metal image commanded them. 230 00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:08,600 You have heard. Now see all this, and will you 231 00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:13,160 not declare it? Despite the many ways they've 232 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:15,880 seen God's miraculous deliverance in their nation's 233 00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:20,320 history and been told and had been told of His mighty acts in 234 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:24,360 fulfillment of prophecy, they still went astray in their 235 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:29,880 hearts after worthless idols. One of the former things that 236 00:14:29,880 --> 00:14:34,360 Isaiah is Speaking of was God's promise to Abram in Genesis 15, 237 00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:38,080 when he said, no for certain that your offspring will be 238 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:41,040 sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants 239 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:43,640 there, and they will be afflicted for 400 years. 240 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:46,640 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and 241 00:14:46,640 --> 00:14:49,320 afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 242 00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:54,120 Now this was of course fulfilled in the exodus from Egypt. 243 00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:58,400 And yet, what did the people of Israel do when Moses left them 244 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:03,680 alone at the foot of Mount Sinai after Aaron full fashioned a 245 00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:06,840 golden calf which was made out of the great possessions they 246 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:08,520 had plundered from the Egyptians? 247 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:13,040 They said these are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out 248 00:15:13,040 --> 00:15:17,600 of the land of Egypt. This pattern of lapses into 249 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:20,640 idolatry had persisted for centuries by the time of 250 00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:24,160 Isaiah's ministry. Over the 450 years since the 251 00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:27,960 Exodus, the people of Israel and Judah had lost sight of God's 252 00:15:27,960 --> 00:15:32,040 mighty hand in deliverance. They'd even sought an alliance 253 00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:36,080 with Egypt to fight their enemies instead of trusting the 254 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:39,080 God who had delivered them from Egypt. 255 00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:43,440 And so now, through Isaiah, for the last several chapters and 256 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:48,320 culminating here, God was declaring new things, picking up 257 00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:53,160 in the last half of verse 6. From this time forth I announced 258 00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:56,320 to you new things, hidden things that you have not known. 259 00:15:57,360 --> 00:15:59,920 They are created now, not long ago, before today. 260 00:15:59,920 --> 00:16:02,960 You've never heard of them, lest you should say, behold, I knew 261 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:06,080 them. You've never heard, you've never 262 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:09,240 known from of old your ear has not been opened. 263 00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:13,120 For I knew that you would surely deal treacherous, treacherously, 264 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:16,120 and that from before birth you were called a rebel. 265 00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:21,560 Knowing that they were stiff necked people, the Lord held 266 00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:25,240 back, revealing these things until just before they happened. 267 00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:29,360 So it will be clear that He, and not their idols had done them. 268 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:33,480 They would be taken into captivity, into Babylon, but not 269 00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:36,360 utterly wiped out so that His name would not be tarnished. 270 00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:40,040 Begin up in verse 9. For my name's sake, I defer my 271 00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:42,480 anger. For the sake of my praise, I 272 00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:44,720 restrained for you that I may not cut you off. 273 00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:48,120 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. 274 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:53,120 I've tried you in the furnace of affliction for my own sake. 275 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:55,800 For my own sake I do it. For how should my name be 276 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:59,280 profaned? My glory I will not give to 277 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:03,800 another. They were to be tried in the 278 00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:06,880 furnace of affliction as they had been in Egypt. 279 00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:11,040 They were not to be refined as silver, which ChatGPT tells me 280 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:15,560 is heated at 1800 to 2200°F until only the dross remains. 281 00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:19,560 One of the commentators said this was a good thing because 282 00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:24,040 dross was all they had. God would not cut them off 283 00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:26,000 because the glory of His name was at stake. 284 00:17:27,079 --> 00:17:31,200 If He forsook His people and failed to deliver them, the 285 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:34,320 nations would say He's no better than Bell or Nebo or one of the 286 00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:36,640 other idols fashioned by human hands. 287 00:17:38,360 --> 00:17:42,160 Those idols were powerless. But Israel's God is omnipotent, 288 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:46,400 as we see in the next verses which begin the second major 289 00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:49,880 section of the chapter, the redemption of Israel. 290 00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:55,480 Listen to me, O Jacob and Israel, whom I called. 291 00:17:56,480 --> 00:18:00,920 I am He, I am the 1st and I am the last. 292 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:05,480 My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand 293 00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:08,760 spread out the heavens. When I call to them, they stand 294 00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:13,200 forth together. Who is this all powerful God? 295 00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:19,600 It's Yahweh, the I am the capitalized Lord in our English 296 00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:22,960 Bibles. And here, without mentioning him 297 00:18:22,960 --> 00:18:28,160 by name, he again affirms his never before seen plan for the 298 00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:33,280 Persian king Cyrus. We first met in chapter 45 and 299 00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:35,440 it was still several decades from being born. 300 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:40,760 This Cyrus would overflow overthrow Babylon in a single 301 00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:45,600 day beginning verse 14. Assemble all of you and listen. 302 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:48,560 Who among them has declared these things? 303 00:18:49,240 --> 00:18:52,760 The Lord loves him. He shall perform his purpose on 304 00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:55,640 Babylon, and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans. 305 00:18:56,520 --> 00:18:59,320 I even I have spoken and called him. 306 00:18:59,880 --> 00:19:02,400 I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way. 307 00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:06,400 Cyrus is an instrument in the Lord's hand. 308 00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:09,680 He's not a robot or an automaton. 309 00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:13,840 He uses his own skill and intellect to freely and 310 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:17,040 willingly accomplish the work for which the Lord has called 311 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:20,000 him. The Lord loves him. 312 00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:27,320 He is a servant of the Lord. Harmon says, and the other 313 00:19:27,320 --> 00:19:30,680 commentators agree that the next verse, verse 16, is an 314 00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:35,080 interjection from not a servant, but the servant of the Lord 315 00:19:35,920 --> 00:19:38,280 who's going to take center stage in the next chapter. 316 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:42,520 Draw near to me. Hear this from the beginning. 317 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:47,040 I have not spoken in secret. From the time it came to be, I 318 00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:51,600 have been there and now the Lord God has sent me and His Spirit. 319 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:56,680 Harmon notes that the previous chapters have only designated 320 00:19:56,680 --> 00:20:00,000 one person as spirit in doubt and that is the servant of the 321 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:05,520 Lord. See chapter 42 verse one and the 322 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:08,400 name for God used in this passage here. 323 00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:12,520 Adonai Yahweh is the same one used in the third servant song 324 00:20:13,280 --> 00:20:16,600 in Isaiah 50. So if we put these together, the 325 00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:19,960 last phrase there becomes a description of the of a 326 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:24,600 conspiracy of the Trinity. The Lord God and his Spirit have 327 00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:30,720 sent the servant. In verses 17 to 19, we hear 328 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:34,920 God's heart as he mourns over Israel's regrettable resistance, 329 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:38,720 the failure of his people to love, trust and obey him. 330 00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:42,880 Thus says the Lord your Redeemer, the Holy One of 331 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:45,680 Israel. I am the Lord your God, who 332 00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:48,240 teaches you to prophet, who leads you in the way you should 333 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:51,280 go. Oh, that you had paid attention 334 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:54,080 to my commandments. Then your peace would have been 335 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:57,560 like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of 336 00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:00,520 the sea. Your offspring would have been 337 00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:03,760 like the sand, and your descendants like its grains. 338 00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:08,440 Their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before me. 339 00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:14,440 This is echoed in Jesus lament over Jerusalem in the days 340 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:17,440 before his crucifixion and also in Psalm 81. 341 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:28,050 And so I'd like to invite you to turn with me to Psalm 81, Psalm 342 00:21:28,050 --> 00:21:31,890 81, and I'm going to begin at verse 10. 343 00:21:39,790 --> 00:21:43,190 I am the Lord your God who brought you up out of the land 344 00:21:43,190 --> 00:21:46,590 of Egypt. Open wide your mouth, and I will 345 00:21:46,590 --> 00:21:49,920 fill it. But my people did not listen to 346 00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:52,040 me, who did not listen to my voice. 347 00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:56,040 Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their 348 00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:58,680 stubborn hearts to follow their own counsels. 349 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,560 Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in 350 00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:06,560 my ways. I would soon subdue their 351 00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:10,560 enemies and turn my hand against their foes. 352 00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:16,560 But the good news for those in captivity was that despite their 353 00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:20,360 sin and unbelief, despite their failure to love and trust their 354 00:22:20,360 --> 00:22:24,480 Redeemer, He would steal out of sheer grace and for the sake of 355 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:26,880 His name, deliver them yet again. 356 00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:29,760 And there would be the second Exodus. 357 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:35,040 This was the new thing, and not now, only now prophesied and 358 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:39,640 soon to be fulfilled. And so, as He promises the 359 00:22:39,640 --> 00:22:42,680 second Exodus, God reminds them of His faithfulness in the first 360 00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:46,240 Exodus when He led them through the desert and provided the food 361 00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:49,680 and water they needed, even making water flow from the rock, 362 00:22:50,360 --> 00:22:53,680 picking up again in Isaiah 48 and verse 20. 363 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:58,000 Go out from Babylon, free from Chaldea. 364 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:00,440 Declare this with a shout of joy. 365 00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:03,520 Proclaim it. Send it out to the end of the 366 00:23:03,520 --> 00:23:05,560 earth. Say the Lord has redeemed His 367 00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:09,200 servant Jacob. They did not thirst when He led 368 00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:12,680 them through the deserts. He made water flow for them from 369 00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:16,600 the rock, He split the rock, and the water gushed out. 370 00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:22,400 When they were to be freed from Babylon, they would not be 371 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:23,800 sneaking out in the middle of the night. 372 00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:27,760 They'd be walking out boldly because of the conquering, 373 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:32,000 because the conquering King Cyrus was the Lord's chosen 374 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:36,680 instrument, would set them free. Whoever heard of such a thing? 375 00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:40,120 When one nation conquers another, they ordinarily would 376 00:23:40,120 --> 00:23:42,640 keep the slaves, right? They're part of the property, 377 00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:45,920 the part of the plunder. Why would Cyrus have it in his 378 00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:48,720 heart to send the people back to Jerusalem and even pay for the 379 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:51,040 rebuilding of its walls and the temple? 380 00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:56,440 Because, as Proverbs 21 one tells us, the King's heart is a 381 00:23:56,440 --> 00:23:58,360 stream of water in the hand of the Lord. 382 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:03,560 He turns up wherever he will. This is something only the 383 00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:08,000 omnipotent King of the universe could do, and something only the 384 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:13,320 God of all grace would do. The chapter concludes with a 385 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:17,120 sobering warning. There is no peace, says the 386 00:24:17,120 --> 00:24:21,560 Lord, for the wicked. The promise that the nation 387 00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:26,240 would be liberated by Cyrus was sure, but individuals must not 388 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:28,600 become complacent as to their own standing. 389 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:33,800 As Paul writes in Romans 9, not all who are descended from 390 00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:38,560 Israel belong to Israel. Salvation of the nation doesn't 391 00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:43,200 translate to every individual. As Harmon puts it, the promised 392 00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:46,520 blessings only apply to those within Israel who seek the Lord 393 00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:52,920 in truth and righteousness. Pastor Harper usually concludes 394 00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:56,440 his sermons with So what to apply Scripture to our context. 395 00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:59,560 But to finish off my alliteration of rebuke and 396 00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:02,760 refining and redemption, I'm going to close with 397 00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:05,040 ramifications for God's people today. 398 00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:09,840 The first is one that we haven't called out specifically, but 399 00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:15,680 it's all through the text. Listen, listen to God when God 400 00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:19,480 speaks. Listen the comment, the 401 00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:22,400 commentator say the Hebrew word for listener here is sprinkled 402 00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:26,320 through this chapter 10 times. So let's walk through and see 403 00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:31,000 some of them in verse one. Hear this, O House of Jacob, 404 00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:36,280 verse 6, you have heard. Now see this, Now see all this 405 00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:40,400 and will you not declare it? Verse 12 listen to me, O Jacob. 406 00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:43,680 Verse 14, assemble all of you and listen. 407 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:47,880 Verse 16, draw near to me. Hear this. 408 00:25:49,120 --> 00:25:53,200 When the omnipotent Lord speaks, Our Calling is to listen. 409 00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:58,160 The second ramification is that when we listen, the way we show 410 00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:02,360 we've heard is to trust the message and to obey it. 411 00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:05,920 Obedience is the evidence that we've really heard. 412 00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:09,840 We don't want to hear Jesus say on the Judgment Day that we have 413 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:13,200 been calling ourselves Christians, but not in truth or 414 00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:16,360 right. Jesus Christ is the same 415 00:26:16,360 --> 00:26:21,080 yesterday, today, and forever. He teaches us to profit. 416 00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:24,040 He leads us in the way we should go. 417 00:26:25,560 --> 00:26:28,200 Today we have the fullness of His revelation, first through 418 00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:31,800 the prophet, but finally in his incarnation as well, and as his 419 00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:35,440 victorious resurrection that vindicated Him and justified 420 00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:39,560 those who are in Him. Our hearing and obeying doesn't 421 00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:42,600 merit our salvation, which comes only from the finished work of 422 00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:46,280 Christ on our behalf, but it is the fruit of faith in Him. 423 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:50,120 As He said, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments, and 424 00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:55,000 it will be good for us. It will be profitable. 425 00:26:56,280 --> 00:27:00,200 Our prophet may not be temporal or financial, but we know that 426 00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:02,600 when we lay up treasures in heaven, they are eternal, 427 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:07,240 undefiled, unfading, and not subject to Moss, rust, or 428 00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:10,240 thieves. And where our treasure is, there 429 00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:15,160 will our heart be also. The final ramification of this 430 00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:19,600 passage is a call to repent. There are other ramifications. 431 00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:22,800 This is the last one I got. It's implied in the final verse. 432 00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:29,640 There is no peace, says the Lord, for the wicked, if you've 433 00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:32,280 been calling yourself after the name of Christ, but, as Isaiah 434 00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:35,520 would say, not in truth or right, or if you've never 435 00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:39,360 professed faith in Christ. The right response to this is 436 00:27:39,360 --> 00:27:43,400 found later in this book in Isaiah 55 verses 6:00 and 7:00. 437 00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:47,640 Seek the Lord while he may be found. 438 00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:52,800 Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his ways, 439 00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:54,560 and the unrighteous man his thoughts. 440 00:27:55,360 --> 00:27:59,000 Let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him 441 00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:02,520 and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 442 00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:07,640 There is no peace for the wicked, but yet God graciously 443 00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:10,400 calls us to repentance and trust in Him. 444 00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:15,360 And then finally, I'd like you to take a little turn over to 445 00:28:15,360 --> 00:28:20,080 the right in your Bibles, a little bit to Ezekiel, because 446 00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:23,880 the prophet Ezekiel brought a very similar message in chapter 447 00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:26,840 18. And I'm going to begin at verse 448 00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:37,360 23, Ezekiel 1823. Have I any pleasure in the death 449 00:28:37,360 --> 00:28:42,600 of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he 450 00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:46,760 should turn from his way and live, And then skipping down to 451 00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:51,760 the last half of verse 30 and through the end, repent and turn 452 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:54,880 away from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be 453 00:28:54,880 --> 00:28:58,960 your ruin, castaway from you all the transgressions you have 454 00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:03,760 committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. 455 00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:07,080 Why will you die, O House of Israel? 456 00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:11,160 For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the 457 00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:14,600 Lord God. So turn and live. 458 00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:20,160 The first of Martin Luther's 95 theses nailed to the church door 459 00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:23,360 in Wittenberg in October 1517 was this. 460 00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:26,360 Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. 461 00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:30,920 In saying repent, ye intended that the whole life of His 462 00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:33,560 believers on earth should be a constant penance. 463 00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:39,240 Repentance isn't a one time act. Like the people of Israel, we 464 00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:42,680 are all prone to wander. That's why we confess our sins 465 00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:45,840 corporately and individually each week in the service, and 466 00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:49,080 why as we come to the Lord's Table, we remember his sacrifice 467 00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:53,000 to deliver us from the penalty of sin, from the power of sin, 468 00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:57,760 and one day from the presence of sin until that day. 469 00:29:57,760 --> 00:30:00,600 God calls us to this cycle, to this pattern. 470 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:07,440 First, to listen, to trust and obey, to repent when we fail, 471 00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:13,480 and to repent even when we think we're succeeding, may grant that 472 00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:15,880 we all would bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 473 00:30:15,880 --> 00:30:21,600 Let's pray. Father, we confess that we are 474 00:30:21,600 --> 00:30:25,400 prone to listen to the clamor of Babylon instead of Your still 475 00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:29,440 small voice in our weakness, help us to listen to You, to 476 00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:34,560 trust You, and to obey You, and to not be LED astray by the 477 00:30:34,560 --> 00:30:38,440 deceitfulness of sin. Give us eyes to see Your 478 00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:42,720 majestic power and glory, ears to hear Your voice of our Good 479 00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:46,920 Shepherd, Your only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and by Your 480 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:50,040 Holy Spirit's indwelling presence, give us increasing 481 00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:53,360 love for You and for our neighbors, and especially for 482 00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:57,520 those of the household of faith. We humbly ask this, not because 483 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:01,080 of any merit in ourselves, but because of who You have revealed 484 00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:05,200 yourself to be through Your Word, Who became flesh and gave 485 00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:09,160 Himself to redeem us from all lawlessness, and to purify and 486 00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:14,280 to purify for himself a people for his own possession, where 487 00:31:14,280 --> 00:31:17,280 zealous for good works. We ask it in His name. 488 00:31:17,760 --> 00:31:18,120 Amen.