“Comfort My People” | Sabbath School Panel by 3ABN - Lesson 8 Q1 2021

hello friends here on 3bn sabbath school panel we are about the truth the truth of god's word and that's what we do each and every week as we study the word of god in spirit and in truth we worship the lord as we rightly divide his word of truth and we're making our way through a study of the book of isaiah this week we're on lesson number eight entitled comfort my people and you know what you may be new to three a b and sabbath school panel we want to make sure that you have a copy of the lessons so that you can be able to study with us so there's two ways you can do that of course we encourage you to go to your local seventh day adventist church because there they can provide a free copy of the lesson and you have a small group to study with or you can go to www.absg.adventist.org and you can access a digital copy of the lesson you can put it on your ipad your phone your computer and you can study right along with us so again this week we're excited about what we're going to be studying we don't want you to go anywhere because we're going to come back in just a moment we're going to continue through our study this week [Music] hello friends and welcome to 3abn sabbath school panel we're making our way through the book of isaiah and we have made it to lesson number eight i think we can say we're a little over halfway there what are you guys saying after that amen all right it's been a wonderful study i've really learned a lot from the book of isaiah even though i've read through and i've studied the book of isaiah over the years there's always something else that the lord will show you along the way and it helps that you set on an incredible panel full of experts uh and it's a blessing to be with each one of you guys let me introduce our panel we have miss shelley quinn it's blessing to have you wonderful to be here praise the lord and then pastor john loma king it's always a blessing to have you brother yeah isaiah has been an eye-opener and a reminder praise god for it amen then to your left we have sisters i almost called you shelley but you're not shelley you're jill morricone all right how are you joe doing well we're getting this to my favorite part of isaiah starting with chapter 40. i love this part absolutely beautiful chapter and brother kenny shelton you locked and loaded and ready to go brother i'm just praising the lord for the opportunity and privilege that's right praise the lord praise the lord lesson number eight this week is entitled comfort my people and a little bit different from some of the previous lessons where we've all kind of had uh uh you know different chapters you know taking on multiple chapters we all get to kind of you know take a piece of this pie of chapter 40 as we're studying uh that particular chapter in this lesson this week uh before we go any further we need to have a prayer and pastor lemon king why don't you say a prayer for us brother sure a loving father and our god we thank you for the privilege of your word truly it is a lamp to our feet and the light to our paths illuminate our minds lord that we may communicate light and truth amen but may all the glory and honor go only to you we pray in jesus name amen amen amen amen amen amen praise the lord isaiah chapter 40 verse 9 is our memory text for this week's lesson and again it says get up into the high mountain o jerusalem you who bring good tidings lift up your voice with strength lift it up be not afraid say to the cities of judah behold your god so that's our memory text and i want to open sabbath afternoon had a wonderful story that kind of sets the foundation or sets us up for sunday's lesson which is entitled comfort for the future uh but this story says here it says world war ii ended in 1945 while a japanese soldier named shoichi yokoi was hiding out in the jungle on the island of guam leaflets dropped from the u.s plains proclaimed peace of course but yo yokoi thought it a trick so he didn't really believe that you know he thought it was a trick he thought the war was ongoing a loyal patriotic soldier of the emperor he had vowed never to surrender because he had no contact with civilization he lived on what he could find in the jungle a sparse hard existence indeed in 1972 27 years after the end of world war ii hunters came across yokoi while he was fishing and he only learned then that the message of peace had been true 27 years after the war what a life while the rest of his people had been enjoying peace for decades yokoi had been enduring decades of probation and stress and you know that can be said for a lot of us for a lot of people there may be someone watching today that says you know what i just seems like my life has just been full of anxieties and stress and depressions and whatever it is that you may be dealing with but the lord has a message he wants to bring comfort he wants us to have peace and that's what sunday's lesson is all about entitled comfort for the future of course this is in the context of judah the the nation of israel at that time the remnant of the lord who had been through a lot up to this point and our verses that kind of set the foundation for what we're going to be studying here this week from isaiah 40. i'm going to start in verses 1 and 2 and this is what it says comfort yes comfort my people says your god speak comfort to jerusalem and cry out to her that her warfare is ended that her iniquity is pardoned for she has received from the lord's hand double for all her sins and so this is an interesting text because what we're about to find out in studying my my lesson for this week and sunday is kind of helping to set the foundation and understanding how to rightly divide these chapters and we've arrived kind of to a turning point in the scripture in which all the way up to this point you know in referencing isaiah chapters 1 through 39 which we've studied so far it emphasizes events that are leading up to the deliverance from the assyrians which of course happened in 701 bc uh but of course at the beginning of chapter 40 as the lesson brings out and i have to agree with it based on the on the language that we're about to study the book kind of leaps ahead about a century and a half to the end of the babylonian captivity where jerusalem found themselves in 70 years of babylonian captivity verse 40 carries us beyond to the end of that captivity to 539 bc of course when they are uh being delivered by cyrus cyrus makes the decree sends the people home and of course uh the jews returned shortly thereafter so verse verses one and two and in chapter 40 of isaiah is within the context we're talking about comfort my people it's not coming necessarily on the brink of the ending of the you know oppression that assyrians were placing upon israel but rather skipping forward to the time after the babylonian captivity and you'll notice there in the in we can set we can clearly prove this through uh the language of the text you'll notice here in verses one and two where it says uh you know comfort for jerusalem and cry out for her that her warfare has ended okay that her iniquity is pardoned where she has received from the lord's hand double for all her sins and the lesson just simply brings out and asks the question what sins what what punishment did she have to endure what is this speaking of this this overcoming that god has brought them through this endurance that they've had to endure what is it speaking of and so basically we know that there was punishment administered by assyria of course isaiah chapter 10 refers to it as the rod of god's anger he allowed that judgment to come upon israel because of their lack of commitment to the covenant that he had made with them and so from which god delivered judah by destroying sennecarib which we studied in the previous lessons and of course as i said earlier that happened in 701 bc and you can read about that in isaiah chapter 37 which we studied last week of course and there was also the punishment administered by other nations against which isaiah had given proclamations against these individual nations and you can read that from isaiah 14 all the way through to chapter 23 and so you go and read you know chapters 1 through 39 and that takes you all the way up to the time in which god delivered his people from the assyrian armies but if you jump right into chapter 40 it almost seems like it's talking about god's finally going to bring comfort and peace to the people after he delivered them from you know from seneca rib and from what had happened with the assyrian oppression but yet the language suggests if you go back and kind of put some pieces together that actually you know we've skipped ahead about a century and a half and god is speaking of a time in which israel would come out of oppression they would come out of that captivity in babylon and only at that point would god say okay now you can endure a time of peace you can i'm going to bring comfort to my people so that brings me to the point here where i say the there was judgment administered by babylon okay which even though up to this point the text has not really expounded on that and we haven't been brought up to that historical point yet uh this is where babylon comes in the punishment that was administered by babylon which would carry away goods and people from judah because for two reasons and i'm going to read a little bit of one reason but we read one last week we studied one of the reasons why israel would be carried away to babylon because hezekiah made a mistake he had forgotten what god had done for him and so he of course displayed his wealth to the messengers of those people that had come from babylon and we read that from isaiah chapter 39 last week and i agree with you jill what you had said last week we wish that you know the message of scripture and isaiah as far as you know the oppression and all that had happened would have stopped with chapter 38 but you know there's chapter 39 and so it tells the story of something that is to come for the nation of israel as they would have to endure uh you know again more captivity more oppression more time of havoc because of their own sins and because of the sins of the leadership in fact i want to read about that right now just to kind of set the context this is let's go to second chronicles chapter 36 because i said there was two reasons why they would have to endure this babylonian captivity one was based on the part of hezekiah's bad decision to do what he done and not recognizing who the lord was and not giving credit where credit is due he became you know obviously selfish and was talking about all that he was doing and all that the nation of israel had done to gain all this wealth but god has a different message also for a second reason as to why they would be carried off into babylonian captivity this is set found in second chronicles 36 we're going to read verses 14 through 21 starting with verse 14 it says moreover all the leaders of the priest and the people transgressed more and more according to all the abominations of the nations and defiled the house of the lord which he had consecrated in jerusalem so again this is after hezekiah hezekiah did point the people to god he did allow them to worship the lord and he was as the bible said he did right in the sight of the lord for the most part but after him there was a slew a string of kings that did horrible things and launched israel into pagan worship into you know worshiping sun gods and and completely defiling the house of the lord and that's what we're seeing here in record it goes on to say in verse 15 and the lord god of their father sent warnings to them by his messengers of course we know this to be the prophets rising up early and sending them why because he had compassion on his people even amongst all this apostasy god had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place verse 16 but they mocked the messengers of god despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the lord arose against his people till there was no remedy and so what was the response to that let's read in verse 17 and on where it says therefore he brought against them the king of the chaldeans who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion on young man or virgin on the age of the week he gave them all into his hand and all the articles of the house of god great and small and the treasures of the house of the lord and the treasures of the king of the leaders all these he took to babylon so those treasures that hezekiah was all you know bragging about look look what i've done look what i have here babylon came back for it as a judgment on israel verse 19 then they burned the house of god broke down the wall of jerusalem burned all of its palaces with fire and destroyed all of its precious possessions and those who escaped the sword he carried away to babylon where they became servants to him and his sons and to the rule of the king of persia to fulfill the word of the lord by the mouth of jeremiah until the land had enjoyed her sabbath as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath to fulfill 70 years of course this is speaking of the 70 years of babylonian captivity we say all of this because i'm not going to go into it because we don't have enough time but if you go back and read isaiah chapter 14 verses 1 through 4 there's language connecting this passage to the first two verses of isaiah 40 that we just read earlier where god says comfort my people tell them that because of all of this you know what i forgive them i've pardoned them now i'm going to allow them to endure a time of peace so you'll see here if you go read isaiah 14 verses 1 through 4 and i'll just read verse 3 here it says it shall come to pass in the day of the lord gives you rest from your sorrow there it is and from your fear and the hard bondage of which you have made you were made to serve that you will take up this proverb against the king of babylon and say how the oppressor has ceased the golden city sea so again that language is almost the exact same language in context what we find in isaiah 40 verses 1 and 2 when god says you know what it's i'm giving you a time of peace all those all those hardships and all of the the the hard things you've had to endure because of your decisions you have paid for those sins you have paid you have done your time okay you've spent your time in prison now i'm going to have compassion on you once more and i'm going to allow you to endure and have a time of peace praise god for that don't we need peace in our life shouldn't we be able to also glean from this that we need to trust in the promises of god's word that right now many of us may be dealing with hardships in our life we may be dealing with stresses and anxiety but god is for his people he says hang in there trust in my promises because i'm coming back and when i come back i'm going to give you a never-ending time of peace that's right hallelujah thank you for that whoops um my lesson assignment is monday and it is called god's presence or it says presence word and road work so let me just i'm going to get to the chase cut to the chase here god's presence and god's word are covenant promises they were god's presence god's word was delivered to the people at mount sinai but guess what they rejected it they rejected his word they rejected him all throughout their apostasy so sin had broken this covenant between god and his people and the road work we're going to see is repentance it is a turning away from sin in order to receive the comfort of god's forgiveness and peace so once again isaiah 40 verse word one verse one comfort yes comfort my people says your god so isaiah is instructed to prophesy as though the babylonian captivity were already a present reality you know this is a dramatic shift instead of proclaiming the judgment in the doom he's talking about the exilements still a hundred years in the future before jerusalem's fall then they were going to spend 70 years in captivity but isaiah god says speak to my people tenderly bring words of comfort to them a hope of a blessed future so we always have to remember that god has a plan for his covenant people so verse two he says speak comfort to jerusalem cry out to her that her warfare has ended that her iniquity is pardoned for she has received from the lord's hand double for all of her sins now the cruel assault and the captivity of the babylonians was the double payment and that means that all of their sins and and it's so amazing how god would rescue his people that turn away from him god did rescue his people they turn away i think that happens too much today as well but you know what this reminds me of here's god he's he's anticipating their questions and he's giving them hope for a future it reminds me of isaiah 65 24 before they call i will answer them so god is prophesying through isaiah before it ever happens so that the people will know in advance that they have reason for hope and actually this is not just the deliverance from babylonian captivity or by cyrus it's also the future deliverance from the future system of babylon that we read about in revelation because the ultimate fulfillment we're going to see is the ultimate fulfillment of this deliverance comes in jesus christ so verse 3 isaiah 40 verse 3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness so here's an unnamed herald prepare the way of the lord make straight in the desert a highway for our god every valley shall be exalted every mountain and hill brought low then crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places made smooth you know it was customary for eastern monarchs they would send their uh heralds out before them to clear the past to make it a level road for them but we know that this prophecy is not speaking of the physical realm because if you look at israel in the wilderness and their deep watties and their high mountains boy i mean you'd have to have a bulldozer and dynamite it'd still be a daunting task wouldn't it so he's speaking of the spiritual realm and actually isaiah 42 verse 16 tells us only god can achieve this this true road work listen to what he says i will bring the blind by a way they did not know i will lead them in past they have not known i will make darkness light before them and crooked places straight these things i will do for them and not forsake them so god is the one as i believe it's acts 5 32 that says he grants us repentance through jesus christ but what god was telling his people is watch for my restoration you're gonna there's gonna come a day that you will repent and the new testament explicitly applies this to repentance so let's look at that john the baptist matthew 3 1-3 he's the i think of him as the last old testament prophet even though he doesn't show up till the new testament i mean he's the one that is preparing the way he's the ordained forerunner for the messiah so he challenges the people through repentance matthew 3 in those days john the baptist came preaching in the wilderness of judah and saying repent that's right i can hear that echoing oh boy can you not yes from all those years back when he said this i hear that echo and i hope that resonates with your heart that god is always calling us to repentance and it and we need to say lord not only am i confessing my sins but grant me repentance turn me around turn me away from this sin lord okay so matthew three verse two repent for the kingdom of heaven as it is at hand and then verse three says this is he who was spoken of by the prophet isaiah saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the lord make his paths straight so that's the road work the remnant of israel it says in mark one that john came baptizing in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins this is the only way that he can get their attention and prepare their hearts clearing the way for and and you know i think of confession as the clearinghouse of the conscience you know when when you are feeling guilty just go before the lord and confess your sin and you know what he takes all that guilt and condemnation away from you and you know that when you confess your sin he's faithful and just first john 1 9 says to cleanse i mean not only to forgive you but to cleanse you of all unrighteousness hallelujah so what happens verse 5 of isaiah 40. the glory of the lord shall be revealed all flesh shall see it together for the mouth of the lord has spoken so this prophecy is looking beyond their punishment that's right it's looking to the return of god's glory when he would bring them comfort and deliverance and hope and their misery god's gonna wipe it away and his glory's gonna replace it so um what happens is they're going to receive the favor that they rejected for all those years isn't that amazing so his presence and his word would be restored isaiah 40 verse 6 another voice proclaims this voice said cry out and he said what shall i cry all flesh is grasp and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field the grass withers the flower fades because the breath of the lord blows upon it surely the people are grass but and then it says i love versailles the grass withers the foul flower maids but the word of our lord stands forever we are like the flower and the grass short-lived we fade we're here today and gone tomorrow you know humanity is mortal in second timothy yeah first timothy 6 16 paul explains right now only god is immortal we didn't and then first corinthians 15 52 through 53 54 tells us that we don't put on immortality until the last trumpet when christ returns so we're just grasped but god's word is permanent and it guarantees that there will be no deviation from his plan the eternal word is dependable it brings comfort encouragement even in the face of adversity i just want to encourage you god wrote this word to give you a hope for the future get into the bible today ask for god's presence and his word to be restored in your life amen amen praise the lord i love that praise the lord for forgiveness right amen i love that that scripture in acts that you quoted i think it's acts 5 31 which says you know god has given us christ so that we might have forgiveness of sins we're going to take a short break and we'll be right back in a minute amen ever wish you could watch a three avian sabbath school panel again or share it on facebook instagram or twitter well you can by visiting three abn school sabbaschoolpanel.com a clean design makes it easy to find the program you're looking for there are also links to the adult bible study guide so you can follow along sharing is easy just click share and choose your favorite social media share a link save a life for eternity welcome back friends at 3abn sabbath school panel we're going to toss it over to pastor john loman king for tuesday's lesson i like the title of tuesday the birth of evangelism the birth of evangelism would god be so kind to give me that title there you go the birth of evangelism you know when we read isaiah chapter 40 verses 9 to 11 i like to begin there and the writer i love the transition jill we're now starting to get into the the lighter side of isaiah the side which has uh chapters and prophecies that bring brighter news you know we saw the carnage and the the military exploits and the wars and just a number of i would say depressing pictures but the good news out of all of that depression is that god still still sustains his people that's right he's still the one that's in charge of the outcome of the story yeah so we have all that bad news behind us and the lord now through the prophet isaiah starts to forecast the perpetuity of good news look at isaiah 40 verse 9 to 11 we'll begin there o zion you who bring good tidings get up into the high mountains oh jerusalem that's the place of proclamation where the message can resonate over the hillsides you who bring good tidings lift up your voice with strength sound the rangers messages with a loud voice lift it up be not afraid say to the cities of judah behold your god verse 10 behold the lord shall come with a strong hand and his arm shall rule for him behold his reward is with him revelation 22 12. so much in there and his work before him he will feed his flock like a shepherd john chapter 10. all this imagery is in there he will gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom the lost sheep and gently lead those who are with who are with young just so much imagery in that passage that we begin to find that isaiah the prophet what i love about the bible which is showing the deep inspiration of it is what's forecasted 700 years before starts to be metered into the lives of the writers of the new testament which shows that there's no way they want not even around and these records were not uh freely proliferated among them so god the same inspiration that spoke to isaiah the prophet in ezekiel and jeremiah is the same one that begins to inspire the minds of those who begin to lay the foundation of evangelism and i find also when we talk about the mission of christ because clearly the ultimate evangelist is jesus but i want to just make a few points about evangelism because the mission of christ is being revealed in these two verses but there are those who are forerunners of christ that are also going to be revealed we'll talk about that in a moment but four very quick points about the mission of jesus uh that is foretold in the verses uh jesus-based evangelism there should be no other kind of evangelism amen you know evangelists we could we know i mean those of us who love studying revelation we all love the deep the depth of the book but sometimes we can get so locked into the imagery that's right and we forget it's the revelation of jesus christ amen and people are not going to be converted on the on the veracity of the viciousness of a beast but they will be converted on the goodness of god amen yeah and the beautiful news of revelation is jesus-based evangelism is not based on information but is focused on transformation so that's what the prophet is talking about here jesus centered evangelism is not new thought but a new life amen the focus never needs to be changed jesus driven evangelism is not aimed at membership but discipleship yes members i've said so many you can do whatever you want as a member but you can't do whatever you want as a disciple because it requires denial of oneself so you might think about well what does it take and people have asked me what does it take to be a member of your church i've changed my answer i said i don't want members i want disciples amen because the lord never said go therefore they'll make members of all nations they said go therefore and make disciples of all nations that's right we've got too much membership and not enough disciples can i touch you we just broke our covert knight oh yeah but that's we got too much members and not enough disciples yeah that's right so jesus-based evangelism is go make disciples amen stop settling for membership membership dries up the pews the discipleship fills up the peter's throat and so we have to be jesus motivated jesus motivated evangelism is not group but individual focus that's right and so when you look at the message of jesus his message was so powerful look at all the individual stories and evangelism most of the outreach of jesus was not two groups it was the individuals the lost sheep the lost coin the lost son the woman at the well the man at the pool the bethsaida the demoniac jesus focused on the individual the woman with an issue of blood blind bartimaeus jesus focused on the individual and so often we get excited when we have crowds but i remember the story about a person who was preaching i forgot where it was but the story is nonetheless valid he was he was in south america in a town where catholicism was so strong that the priest sent out a letter prohibiting anyone to go to his evangelism on the night that the meetings opened there was not a single person sitting in that church he preached for a whole week he just decided well nobody here i'm just going to do and he opened the windows and he preached for a whole week and at the end of the week he said you know this is ridiculous nobody's showing up and he heard somebody outside and the tree said keep preaching we're listening all right now they didn't want the priest to let them know that they were in the building but they were hiding in the trees outside of the church so we have to be evangelism focused never worry about the numbers jesus always take one waters one plants and other waters but god gives the increase so evangelism is not just a presentation of good message but the presentation of a good god romans two verse four or do you despise the riches of his goodness forbearance and longsuffering not knowing that the goodness of god leads to repentance and i know i mean i've been rebuked in this particular way in my own self because i've become so wrapped up in my early days uh you know defining the horns and the and not that any of that is irrelevant it's so extremely irrelevant but don't let the horns eclipse the christ don't let the beast eclipse the lamb and so that's why jesus said in john 12 32 if i am lifted up i will draw all people to myself so let's go ahead and talk about evangelism how did the evangelism get started now shelley you took matthew chapter three so i believe that how john the baptist was a forerunner but the birth of evangelism is the focus of our story let's go to the book of luke chapter 2 verse 3 34 and 35 the birth of evangelism you know john was the forerunner he had a responsibility his life was short-lived but his life was fulfilled the length of the life is not the thing that we should gripe about but the fulfillment of our purpose is the major focus that's right john's life was short but it fulfilled the purpose let's look at two very powerful stories the the confirmation of john the baptist and his mission verse 34 then simeon blessed them this is now the child being uh where are we luke 3 luke chapter 2 verse 34 2 34. then simeon blessed them and said to mary his mother behold this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in israel speaking about christ and for a sign which will be spoken against yes a sword will pierce through your own soul also that is when jesus is crucified that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed now let's look at verse 36 and 38. let's see where public evangelism started now there was one anna a prophetess the daughter of fenugl of the tribe of asher she was of great age of a great age and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity and this woman was a widow of about 84 years who did not depart from the temple but served god with fasting and prayers night and day and coming in that instance she gave thanks to the lord and spoke of him to all those who looked for redemption in jerusalem public evangelism was first proclaimed through a woman that's right amen praise the lord and then it continued public evangelism continued through a woman john 20 verse 17 jesus said to her do not cling to me for i have not yet ascended this is mary in the garden but go to my brethren and say to them i am ascending to my father and your father and to my god and your god mary magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the lord and that she had spoken of these things and then finally the lord said yes verse matthew 26 13 assuredly i say to you wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her evangelism publicly began with a woman amen thank you so much pastor john we're having church you're on fire that's powerful i love that we go to wednesday's lesson which is merciful creator so turn from the new testament back to isaiah chapter 40 and we'll look at a few verses there in isaiah chapter 40. the theme of this passage isaiah 40 is the mercy of god the power of god the deliverance of god we see the mercy of god god wants to save his people because he is mercy merciful the power of god he's able to save them because he is powerful in the deliverance of god god is able to deliver them from their enemies from the gods with a little g of their enemies we look at the main argument here is that god can do it he can make the second exodus happen which is that deliverance from the babylonian captivity he can end the exile he can defeat the oppressors he can liberate his people we see this blending of god's mercy and power the lesson brought it out it was really neat before we get into my verses we see god's mercy in verses one and two ryan already covered that comfort my people says your god speak comfort to jerusalem cry out to her her warfare is ended that is god's mercy we see his deliverance and power in verses three through five that shelley covered the voice of one crime in the wilderness prepare the way of the lord make straight in the desert a highway for our god we see god's mercy in verse 9 pastor john that you read o zion you who bring good tidings lift up your voice with strength lift it up be not afraid we see god's deliverance and power in verse 10 behold the lord god comes with a strong hand and his arms shall rule for him we see god's mercy again in verse 11 as he feeds the flock like a shepherd and gathers the lambs with his arms we see god's deliverance and power in verses 12 all the way through verse 26 as we talk about who this god is and that he is the incomparable creator that's right and that it ends with the mercy of god again the very last verse is verse 27 through 31 of the chapter as our creator he gives power to the weak to the downtrodden to those who are faint he increases their strength so let's look at who is this god as we see this this god our god is omnipotent verse 12 we're in isaiah 40 verse 12. omnipotent just simply means he is all powerful his power it's limitless verse 12 who has measured the waters and the hollow of his hand can you imagine the oceans and everything god just measures it and the hollow of his hand measures heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure the dust of the entire earth just calculated it in a measure weighted the mountains and scales and the hills in of balance what is he saying god is omnipotent he is all-powerful god is omniscient that just means he is all true knowing the next verse verse 13 and 14 who has directed the spirit of the lord or as his counselor has taught him he knows with whom did he take counsel and who instructed him and taught him in the path of justice who taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding god knows everything he is omniscient he is all-knowing we're the students we're the ones who learn from him god is sovereign his authority is absolute let's read verses 15 through 17. behold the nations are as a drop in a bucket and are counted as a small dust on the scales look he lifts up the aisles as a very little thing and lebanon is not sufficient to burn nor it's be sufficient for a burnt offering all nations before him are what nothing they are counted by him less than nothing and worse worthless if you jump down to verse 23 it says he brings the princess to nothing he makes the judges of the earth useless what does that say god's authority is absolute over this entire earth we see in verses 18 through 20 that he is pastor kenny without compare to whom then were you liking god we've just gone through this god is omnipotent and he is omniscient and he is sovereign and his power is limitless yes who will you compare god to the answer is nobody nobody no one compares to god or what likeness will you compare to him the workman molds an image this is talking about idols the goldsmith over spreads it with gold or those who do work with their hands the silversmith cast silver chains whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution chooses a tree that will not rot he seeks for himself a skillful workman to prepare a carved image that will not totter but who will you liken god to god is without compare not only that not only is god omnipotent and omniscient and sovereign and without compare he is our creator let's see verse 21 and 22. have you not known have you not heard has it not been told you from the beginning that's right where have you been where have you not known have you not understood from the foundations of the earth it is he that's god our omnipotent omniscient god who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants they're like grasshoppers who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in verse 24 scarcely shall they be planted scarcely shall they be sown scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth when he will also blow on them and they will wither and the whirlwind will take them away like stubble to whom then will you liken me or to whom shall i be equal says the holy one it's amazing lessons learned in our remaining moments four lessons that i take away look at your problems against the backdrop of your incomparable god not the other way around how often we look at our problems we put our back to god our god who's omnipotent our god who's omniscient our god who's the creator our god nobody can compare with him and we put our back to him and all we do is we focus on the problem and we say wow that's huge but if you turned around and you look at the problem in focus of god behind that problem that problem is nothing in response to him look at your problems against the backdrop of who your god is lesson number two change your focus to god instead of complaining about the present isaiah 40 verse 27 jump down to verse 27 why do you say o jacob and speak o israel my way is hidden from the lord and my just claim is passed over by my god why do we complain about the present instead we should change our focus to god job did this in job 19 verse 7 he said i cry out help but no one answers me i protest but there is no justice instead of complaining about what is going on in our lives right now change your focus to god lesson number three our almighty omnipotent god reaches down to equip to empower and to strengthen us the god who rules the universe the god who knows everything the god who sees everything the god who holds this world is like a speck in the palm of his hand he reaches down because he knows we are but dust he knows our frame and he wants to equip and empower us verse 28 have you not known have you not heard the everlasting god the lord the creator of the ends of the earth he neither faints nor is weary his understanding it is unsearchable here it comes he gives power to the weak and to those who have no might he increases strength you need strength do you need mind do you need victory do you need deliverance in your life today turn your eyes to your almighty omnipotent creator god who's reaching down just now and says i will equip you i will stand you up i will give you strength finally lesson number four waiting on god increases your power and strength verse 30 even the youths shall faint and be weary the young men they're going to fall but those who wait on the lord that's right will renew their strength they will mount up with wings like eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint today i want to encourage you to turn your attention to your omnipotent creator god your omniscient god who knows and sees and who can do everything and he will lift you up from the dust and set you up and strengthen you for what he's called you to do amen well praise the lord i feel like i've had church and that's where we should when we study the word of god so that's certainly an encouragement for each and every one of you thank you and we need to continue on with uh thursday's lesson and again all the beauty of building up and lifting up jesus is is wonderful but sometimes we go back to the it's caused by the problem with idolatry thursday's lesson so there is a problem here that we have to deal with i see a god in this lesson i see a god of justice i see a god of judgment i see a god of mercy i'm here a god of love and a god you know with teachings and rebukes and counsel but also idolatry ruins our relationship with christ so it's something sometimes that we have to you know you stick in there among all this beautiful evangelism and winning souls for christ and the love of god is wonderful but we need to realize idolatry because it's prevalent today and it's in and around and among god's people it's thursday's lesson what is idolatry i looked in addiction webster's just simply said to worship of idol excessive devotion or reverence to some person or thing now notice what a what is an idol an image of something even of a god notice this used as an object of worship applied to any heathen deity something given excessive devotion and so certainly we go back where does all this come from we come back to exodus 20 verses 4 and 5. notice what the bible says thou shall not make into thee what any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water underneath the earth verse 5 thou shall not bow down thyself to them here's where it gets in no it gets heavy nor serve them for i the lord god am a jealous god visiting the iniquity of the fathers notice this upon the children and the third and the fourth generation that hate me now remember idolatry does what it destroys our personal relationship or intimate relationship with god that's been established here that we need an intimate relationship with him but by idle worship then we're trying to replace god with something else the prophet you know we talk about that refer to idol as spiritual adultery this is pretty heavy duty is it not jeremiah 3 6-9 and we'll just kind of hit the highlights of this because of our time jeremiah 3 6-9 the bible says thou has seen that which backsliding israel hath done remember we're not just talking about and i just put this in we're not just talking about the world and the things that are in the world and what the world is doing we're talking about daughters of zion we're talking about god's people these things are unprevalent among us we might do all the other things you're saying is wonderful and good but we have to follow up we have to get ourselves in line with the word of god even in things this little maybe distasteful to some we don't want to hear it no it's backsliding israel she played notice that israel played the harlot she committed adultery with stones and with stocks interesting ezekiel comes by ezekiel 16 15-19 simply said put it this way simply put god's people played once again to harlot she decked herself noticed this with colors with jewels and with gold and made images of what of men and did commit whoredom with them that sounds heavy duty to me isaiah 41 29 says behold they are all vanity their works are nothing they're molted images are notices wind of confusion to worship the an idol is to break the what the first commandment is that not right thou shalt have no other god's before me so if an idol is intended to represent the true god and let's think back like let's say the golden calf you remember that in exodus 32 4-5 said the lord rejects it as a likeness of himself deuteronomy 4 15-19 tells us these verses now don't corrupt yourself don't get involved in this by making it graven images not notice it's not of god men and women beasts the bible says or foul fish anything that creepeth upon the ground this gets pretty personal we'll get into hopefully a little bit clearer here in just a moment notice of the sun or the moon or the stars don't do any of that kind of stuff the problem god says is be careful that you do not worship them or you do not what serve them deuteronomy 4 19. so what kind of idolatry we could say do we face and maybe in our church today do or do we i think it's a legitimate question signs of the times 1 26 in 1882 makes a statement many who bear the name of christians are serving other gods besides the lord our creator demands our supreme devotion and our first allegiance anything thus trends to abate our love for god or to interfere with his service do him oh my notice that becomes therefore an an idol it's just it's just that simple well we know that it's simple but you know you have to have milk and then you'll be able to chew on the meat so we got to get to it so we can understand it that's right several forms of idolatry and you know what it could be money houses and land or anything we put before god we've got that and the um council's on stewardship i noticed this as 223 just make some statements here talks about notice this demon worship so we're looking at several things that could be demon what demon worship is in here is very very important that we look at and say you know what we don't want anything to to do with that at all covetousness is a form of what of idolatry um we're talking about demon washing we're talking about comm you know we're thinking we're communicating with the dead we have to be very careful with that uh disregarding the fourth uh precept of the decalogue results in and you read that in prophets in kings 182. uh let's get things people don't want to hear we talk about we gamble we do horse racing and different things like that it says right here is a species of fundamental of education uh 312 and goes on to say much more importance is placed on holidays now when we're entering that season so you know importance of holidays here fundamental education says here we have to be no remember it's not said holiday said too much importance upon that ornaments as a species that's kind of you know think about ornaments as a a species of and we're talking about jewelry we're talking about idols we're talking you know in fact the bible talks about jewelry it talks about it says it calls it filth now most people don't want to hear that but i just say well we need to hear it because we have to make a decision if the bible says it's filth then it's filled the bible says that it's a it's an idol then it's an idol if it's called a strange god in the word of god isaiah chapter three you can look at that for sure three and four you can look at it in jeremiah chapter four read it hosea chapter 2 verse 13. you can read about it there also revelation 17 verse 4 you can read about there you can read about it first timothy what is it 2 9 and 10 you can read it there you can read in first peter 3 1 through 4. i know that's a lot so i hope you're jotting it down it has a lot to say about these things and i'll go a little bit deeper with it because we're talking about and i'm glad everybody built up and we looked at the name of jesus but we're looking at something here sunday observance after light has come on the true sabbath is a form of idolatry fundamentals of education 287. now quickly picture taking i hear about a lot about that picture taking is a is a form as a species of and that's the council's stewardship uh message young people 3 16. picture taking is carried to extravagant now here length and encourages a species of idolatry i know everybody don't want to hear that because that's all we do a lot of time we go around we're taking pictures we're like saying you know but didn't say anything was wrong with that it's talking about overdone is that okay to say that right it's when it's overdone it's a species of idolatry whether we say that is or not god's word has said it the spirit of prophecy makes it very very clear all this means that we are invested in publications notices which would directly direct the souls of christ and away from him we don't want to do that i know we don't our time's running down here but let's just a couple more here real quick because i want you to study these things because it's very important it'd be nice pastor john means a lot of time it's nice to know about the horns it's nice to know about the beast it's nice to know about the mark of the beast it's nice to know about the image of the beast and all these things here but if we don't understand this is it possible we could be lost any truth that's in the word of god once we understand what the bible has to say about absolutely it's a testing truth there's no doubt about it self-dependence is idolatry trusting in self for salvation is idolatry a false concept of god is what is idolatry we worship we if we worship jehovah or baal the living god or we do worship an idol millions know and we need to know the attributes of god and we've been learning this on this panel this quote quickly deals with the second commandment and pictures historical sketches of sda missions it says a few condemned pictures urging that they are prohibited by the second commandment i hear a lot of this going on all the time but notice what it says here is the second commandment prohibits image worship example but notice this element said but god himself employed pictures and symbols to represent to the prophets lessons which he would have them to give to the people which the notices could be better understood than if given in any other way i'm kind of i want to i want to balance it i like to balance in the word of god here example quickly said the uh prophetic history presented by daniel and john they did it in symbols that we who read might understand it and i think that's what we need a little bit today dig in the word of god amen praise the lord gotta be careful about them selfies got to be gotta watch out for them selfies right let's get some final thoughts as we as we're preparing to close oh i wasn't even thinking about that i was engrossed um i guess that what i just want to think about is god's presence god's word is part of his covenant promises to us so do your own work that's repentance and god will restore it in your life i think the heart of evangelism is romans 10 verse 14 to 17 i love the way that paul says it how then shall they call on him and whom they have not believed and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher and how shall they preach unless they are sent as it is written how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace who bring glad tidings of good news but they have not all obeyed the gospel for isaiah says the lord has believed who has believed our report so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god amen isaiah 41 10 fear not i am with you be not dismayed i am your god god wants to strengthen and help you just now quickly it says our choice will be the same as it was in the days of israel for in the end we always worship something um praise the lord we'll have to call the fire department somebody getting hot on this panel praise the lord we hope that you have enjoyed this study today i know i have and i can't wait till we mount up like like eagles wings right and fly off into the comfort of jesus christ we thank you all so much for joining us each and every week come back next week we're going to be diving into lesson number nine we'll see you right back here again god bless [Music] you

Channel: Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN)

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Length: 58min 31sec (3511 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 14 2021