Through the Bible (Isaiah 65-66)

[Music] [Music] and uh we are lord willing going to finish up the book of isaiah tonight that's kind of a big monumental moment if you're a bible student going through the bible as it is a large and kind of you might even say brutal book in a lot of ways we've seen the ups and the downs of isaiah's message and it goes uh on the complete spectrum we've seen everything from the most uh horrifying of wrath even last sunday we looked at how god his wrath is building up in a bucket and it's eventually going to be poured out and ultimately lead to those who will go to that place that people make a joke or don't even believe in that is hell and if you missed sunday we talked all about hell and that's an important message uh you know don't you think people should know that hell exists and that it's eternal and it's torment for all of eternity that's something people should know about and yet it's funny to me that um today is a day where people uh sort of run from that topic um it reminds me a little bit of that little you know three-year-old that hasn't figured out yet you know that when they cover their eyes you can't see me and they think somehow because they can't see you uh you're not there or you can't be seen or they can't be seen and it's just a little bit immature to not just go well hell i don't want to hear about it and everybody's going to win love wins heaven and it's all good no matter who you are well that's that's a wrong view um hell is real and it's hot and it's eternal uh we looked at that on sunday so you got that extreme to where you go through uh the plan of god for salvation of humanity isaiah has shown us the the plan of the cross you know when you look at isaiah 53 and some of those other chapters of a very messianic massive proportions uh what a bit of good news that while we were yet sinners christ died for us and then we've seen in this last section of isaiah both the wrath to come but also the uh heaven that's to come and eternal life through jesus that goes into the millennial kingdom the new heavens and the new earth and as we wrap up isaiah tonight we're going to kind of we're going to see a little bit of all of that it's almost like at the end he just sort of forgive me but shotguns just kind of righteousness joy wrath new heavens and new earth and he's just going to say this is kind of what my whole book was about just in summary and some people might say it's a little messy i've actually read commentaries that talk about how the last two books or chapters i should say of isaiah sort of seems to flail a little bit but part of that is the way the jewish mind works and scholar uh scholarly works from judaism um one of the things they do is kind of circle back around to all the things that they'd been talking about and so we're gonna kind of see a very jewish thing here as isaiah wraps up his book which we like to think so linearly we like you know this is what's going to happen first then the next thing and then on to the end isaiah sort of swirls around and cycles through everything from the tribulation period to the new heavens and the new earth um you say well brett how are we supposed to know the order of events well that's what the rest of the bible sorts out for us so what you have to do when you go through isaiah is you have to kind of identify who are we talking to are we talking to jews or gentiles are we talking to the church of jesus christ are we talking about the millennial kingdom or are we talking about the tribulation period or the new heaven and earth it's time and place and people that's how you have to kind of sort through isaiah but the other books and i i believe the book of revelation by the way is the key that unlocks all the prophetic books of the old testament daniel isaiah ezekiel it gives us sort of that blueprint of how it's all going to come out chronologically that's that's the way i see the book of revelation we'll be there in a short matter of time you know once we finish up the old testament and get through the news so let's get to it isaiah chapter 65 is where we're at in our through the bible study isaiah chapter 65 and we left off you know with uh you know the the blessings upon israel for uh for god's mercy and even though their righteousness is seen by god as only filthy rags in chapter 64. um we learned in chapter 61 that he'll robe us and even his people the jews robed in righteousness and so we kind of left off with that as well and uh we begin in chapter 65 verse 1. it says i am sought of them that asked not of not for me i am found of them that sought me not i said behold me behold me unto a nation that was not called by my name i have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people which walketh in a way that was not good after their own thoughts interesting sort of paradox that isaiah presents her i am i am sad of them that ask not for me and i am found of them that sought me not i believe that's beginning with talking about the gentile people that we today would call the church people that found the i am of the jews the jewish people had a god and and the jews are god's chosen people but isn't it funny how the lord says i i sought for them uh that asked not for me i am sad of them that asked not for me that that'd be us now the jews the lord sought after but he he wouldn't uh they they wouldn't seek after him um you know the gentile nations we we uh we didn't have a clue um one of the my favorite things about going to israel is uh going to lud and um joppa those are the places of the birthplace of christianity for the gentiles um you know where the jews were believing in jerusalem but you know when peter moseyed down there to joppa and uh and made his way up to caesarea that's when the first gentiles were saved and became part of the church and then later paul would come through there and leave from caesarea and that's where christianity would spread from that coast to europe at philippi in macedonia and eventually into rome and then all over the world uh you know the gentile nations would hear the gospel of jesus christ people that weren't seeking after god whereas the jews were but isn't it interesting and what an irony the people of god wouldn't seek after him and thus they would be sort of put in a place of blindness and we're going to see that a little bit tonight as well so he says you know the middle of verse 1 i said behold me behold me and to a nation that was not called by my name and i have spread out my hands all the day into rebellious people there's a picture there of the lord reaching out his hands to a rebellious nation that is the jewish people and they were walking after their own thoughts and by the way you know we we see uh things go cyclical or uh what's the word there uh cyclically i guess uh you know in in a way where we see the same thing with the gentiles you know the jews were seeking after god and then they weren't and then they were and they weren't and same thing with the gentiles we see a lot of people today in the gentile nations just totally blowing off god and and in a way you you see in the in the scriptures the lord reaching out his hands to a world that has forsaken him and he's trying to lovingly woo us to himself where he died on the cross for our sins you know and people that have fallen out after christ are going to be saved people that haven't they're not but this is kind of how this chapter begins spreading out his hands to a rebellious people that's that's what god has done but they're going after their own thoughts going after their own way don't be that kind of person i said on sunday the people that go to heaven and the people go with all the differences really a world view one says you know my will be done on earth that's the unbeliever but the believer says thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven the person who submits themselves to god repents of their sins and accepts christ as their savior they're the truly saved person he goes on in verse three he says a people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face that sacrifice that sacrificeth in gardens and burneth incense upon altars of brick which remain among the graves and lodge in the mount monuments which eat swine flesh and broth of an abominable things that is in their vessels which say stand by thyself come not near to me for i am holier than thou these are a smoke in my nose a fire that burneth all day behold it is written before me i will not keep silence but i will recompense even recompense unto their bosom your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together saith the lord which have burned incense upon the mountains and blasphemed me upon the hills therefore will i measure their former work into their bosom um god is going to pay back against his people the jews are being talked about here in that they forsook the lord and this list of things that they did it's pretty dastardly you know we might miss some of these you know images where it says that they um sacrifice in gardens that would be maybe a better translation the groves where they would sacrifice undo pagan deities instead of the true living god and so that would be there in verse verse 4 but also those that would lodge in the mountains that would be the place called the high place where they would go up into the mountains and they would do their sacrifice and rituals for paganism up there also they would eat swine's flesh now some of you guys are like hey there's nothing wrong with a good hot dog you know god bless america well as jews pigs and swine and hot dogs would be forbidden they're not kosher to americans they're okay but but the jews were raising pigs and eating pigs flesh and uh and abominable things the broth of about abominable things um interesting uh sort of things there that had to do with believe it or not the broth of about all things necromancy uh that is speaking to the dead you know and what have you and it even kind of goes there uh saying uh you know they they would do that uh near the graves it says there um by the way christians need to be real careful when it comes to this uh idea of you know the occult and necromancy and um you know the graves one of the things that bethel church has promoted uh and though particularly the wife of the pastor of bethel um promotes this grave soaking sort of notion you can see it on youtube there's just like a bethel and gravesoaking and you'll see there's people going to graves in europe you know finding you know cs lewis's grave and then laying on it hoping to soak up some of the anointing you know that was on cs lewis uh and um it gets weirder you know just trying to soak up the holy anointing uh sort of like elijah when he you know gave his mantle of power to elijah with the mantle uh his cloak or whatever um but people are trying to do stuff that is dealing with the dead and i think that's a dangerous uh entry into really the occult and we have to be really careful about that um the holy spirit can fill you and and anoint you and bless you and you don't have to travel to europe and fall on c.s lewis's grave or whoever's you want the anointing from uh just ask for the holy spirit the father you know will give you know any good father you guys being fathers jesus said not to give good gifts to your children how much more will the father which is in heaven give the holy ghost to them that ask all you've got to do is ask for the power of the holy spirit upon your life and the lord will move and do a great work and you don't have to try to soak graves and be weird don't do that stuff it dabbles in that stuff that the jews were doing with dealing with the dead and what have you um you remember the story of king saul when he went to see the witch and tried to raise up samuel and people say did he really see samuel i don't believe that was really samuel i believe he thought it was samuel and it sounded like samuel being raised up from the dead but i believe it was um just pure evil that saul was consulting with and that was his craziness and his doom uh when he when he did that kind of stuff so watch out for that kind of stuff so god would sort of pay them back in judgment is what he's saying here in verses 3 through 7 because of their adult you know their idolatry and their adultery with other pagan deities as god calls it there in verse 8 it goes on and says thus saith the lord as the new wine is found in the cluster and one saith destroy it not for a blessing is in it so will i do for my servant's sake that i may not destroy them all you know just like there are good grapes and bad grapes and good grape clusters and bad grape clusters this is something believe it or not i know about this when i was a kid i got a job uh by one of the neighboring farms that was a vineyard and it's kind of funny because as a kid you know to me that was kind of like uh the bad thing you know drinking alcohol that's why i was raised you know and still to this day kind i'm glad about that but um we would go and we'd uh do some you know work in the vineyard but you could see the grapes some some clusters were good some were bad um but um but this is a picture here of the good and the bad but notice the lord says i'm not going to destroy them all this is that notion that we've talked about a lot in the bible where you know the lord declares i will not destroy the righteous with the wicked uh you know there's good clusters and bad clusters by the way do you want to be like you know more godly uh do you want to be more like christ do you want to be more like the lord that should be our our desire um one of the things the lord does is he doesn't destroy the righteous with the wicked but he is going to judge each person according to their works remember how we saw that on on sunday in revelation chapter 20 those that will stand before the great white throne they'll be judged each one individually according to their works as it turns out the lord's not going to divide out all the african-americans and say you guys stand over here we're going to judge you different than these people nope they're all going to be judged according he's not going to divide out all the law enforcement officers the police officers in america and say okay i'm going to judge all of you guys because you're law enforcement uh nope um ezekiel 18 says the soul that sins it will die the soul not a bunch of souls that's one of the problems with today in a lot of people's world view is they want to clump people and say these people are bad and this group is bad and all these people and boy right now if you're a white person in america man you're evil uh white privilege and stuff and they're clumping with this whole um you know notion of you know uh you know uh i think this you know this race theory that we talked about on our prophecy update is being taught in our schools that's that's really sad um because critical race theory is one of those things that is doing that basically just lumping everybody into groups and saying these people are all bad these people are all good and you know the lord doesn't look at it that way he's going to look at each person and how they lived and what they did and i think if you want to be more like the lord you should think that way unless trying to clump groups um and in some ways you know i believe uh something that is supposed to be fighting racism has become racism and we have to be careful on that one be more like the lord and you know i think there are really really good law enforcement officers and and the majority for sure and there no doubt has been and there's been proven uh really evil and bad law enforcement officers but every law enforcement officer i've ever known knows that the worst thing that is happening is bad law enforcement officers and they're totally opposed to that there's no support for that um and so be careful when we start lumping people into groups and what have you and that's true with races and and um and any group that you're trying to say that they're all bad now if there's a group that stands for something as a group that's all bad let's go with something extreme kkk well we all know that if you're a part of the kkk there's nothing good about that there's nothing redemptive it's all evil dark and ugly and uh so you know that that would be an example of a group that they're going to have to each one who's joined that group they're going to be judged before god as well and they're going to have to answer for that but first of all the lord's going to be the ultimate judge of that we don't have to be thankfully we can fight against those things that are evil in our world and what have you but be careful clumping people i see a real pitfall and and perhaps a lot of trouble on the horizon for our culture for our world the more we try to clump people into groups the soul that sins it will die and the lord never destroys the righteous with the wicked you know that's why by the way god looked at sodom and gomorrah said i'm going to destroy those cities and the lord spoke to abraham remember abram abraham was there with the the two angels and the lord himself um there in uh you know genesis chapter 19 and uh there the lord says should i do this thing and tell abraham what i'm about to do to sodom and he said yes he's speaking rhetorically i will reveal to him because he'll teach his family and his children after him of these things so lord said i'm about to destroy sodom and gomorrah and abraham says yeah but what if there are righteous there in sodom and the lord said i do not destroy the righteous within remember the bartering thing abraham did what if there's you know a hundred righteous or fifty righteous and he gets right down to it and he's ultimately abraham's worried because lot his nephew is there in sodom are you going to destroy everyone even the righteous the lord said i will not destroy the righteous with the wicked and how can god do that he knows who the righteous people are and who they aren't so he pulled the righteous out before he rained fire and brimstone on sodom and gomorrah now some of you might say he didn't pull him out uh a law was told by the angel to leave so he left nope that's not what happened read your bible the bible says while lot lingered there in sodom the angel grabbed him and put him outside of the city read your bible what i love about that by the way what a perfect picture of the lord doesn't destroy the righteous with the wicked and when he poured out his wrath on sodom what a perfect picture of what's going to happen during the tribulation period seven years of wrath being poured out and you might say but lord are you going to destroy the righteous with the wicked lord says i will not destroy the racket righteous with the wicked and thus the rapture of the church makes perfect perfect sense just like the lord lifted up lot and put him outside of sodom the lord's going to lift up his church and put that outside of the world when the wrath of god is poured out on a christ-rejecting sinful world that's important for you to know that and many other examples in the bible where the lord does not pour out his wrath upon his own people because he poured out his wrath upon his only begotten son on the cross to punish you and i and have us go through times of wrath would to say well the cross jesus didn't do enough to um to bear our sins but we're gonna have to feel the wrath of god because of the sins of the world nope jesus died for the sins of the world and god in first thessalonians chapter 4 and 5 says we're to comfort one another with these words in chapter 5 of first thessalonians it says you and i as christians we are not appointed unto wrath but to obtain salvation through jesus christ our lord man i love that that's that's some good news that's why it's called good news by the way because well bro you're just trying to escape these things yep correct uh luke's gospel jesus said pray that you be counted worthy to escape all these things and the way you'll be counted worthy is to be robed in righteousness through jesus christ to believe in the cross declared righteous and our sins forgiven then we will not be appointed unto wrath i see here this kind of imagery in this little verse of the lord saying i can sort out the good grapes from the bad that i may not destroy them all i'm going to save some of them the good ones that's verse 8 of our text here well it goes on in chapter 65 verse 9 and i will bring forth a seed out of jacob and out of judah an inheritor of my mountains and mine elect shall inherit it and my servants shall dwell there and sharon shall be a fold for flocks and the valley of acor a place for the herds to lie down in for my people have that have sought me so again there's there's people that have been seeking after the lord says i'm not going to destroy them but i'm actually going to have a place for them now this is interesting because he's referring to i believe jesus christ the messiah when he says i will bring forth a seed out of jacob that would be remember the seed of a virgin that's also a jew and the lord would bring his messiah and that's how they'd be saved that's how they be called in verse 9 mine elect now there's great confusion uh on this term the the elect of god who are the elect of god well those who've been elected uh by god um you know um and people struggle with this one you know did i vote for myself or did god vote for me the answer is this i heard one preacher say god voted for you satan voted against you so what's your vote going to be four against yourself and if you accept christ you're voting for and then you're part of god's elect because he elected you um that's kind of the way it's put here and some people say i don't know if i like that it doesn't matter it's the way god says there's people he's elected um you might even say selected god's elect and um you know we've been divinely appointed to be saved we've been chosen and uh and some of you might say how do you know if you're chosen simple answer if you've confessed christ and you believe in jesus who died on the cross and rose from the grave repented of your sins you're saved you're part of god's elect and that's the good news again you know the the elect of god but one thing you need to know the the elect always refers to god's people the question is is it god's chosen people the jews or god's people the chosen people the church uh who are the chosen both are chosen both are elected um but god's chosen people the jews are the first ones we romans chapter 9 10-11 tells us we were added in later the church of the gentiles that believed in god the god of the jews were grafted into that tree or that vine that's the jewish people we're grafted in praise the lord for that now some people say well the elect is the church then not the jews they lost their election no god made an eternal covenant with the jews and we'll see that as we read on here in isaiah but both are god's elect don't be confused by this we know that from so many places like for example isaiah we read in chapter 45 verse 4 for jacob my servant's sake and israel mine elect i have even called thee by thy name so right there you know you just got isaiah 45 verse 4. israel is called mine elect god calls them mine elect but the church is also called the elect of god and you should know that it's romans chapter 11 by the way um verses 5 and verse 7. let me just read that to you real quick romans 11 5 through 7 says this even so then at this present time there's a remnant according to the election of grace if by grace then it is no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace but if it be works then there's no more grace otherwise the work and no more work what then israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for but the election hath obtained it and the rest were blinded we're talking about the jews are in their blinded state according to romans 9 10 11. but there's a there's a remnant of people the gentiles who would have their eyes not blinded and they would be called god's elect saved by his grace that's us so we're called the elect now this causes confusion when people read stuff like in the tribulation period there's going to be god's elect there and you say well brett i thought you said we're going to be raptured and suddenly you see the elect of god there well there's a couple things going on first of all the rapture of the church happens we're the elect of god called to heaven rapture in the tribulation period there's going to be two different groups that are still the elect of god one the jews much of the jewish people are going to be there in the tribulation period that's one of the reasons the tribulation is going to happen is to wake up a nation that has lost their identity as god's chosen people they're not believers they're not god's you know children in that sense of salvation so the lord's going to wake up the jews during the tribulation period and they're called god's elect and all of israel will be saved during that time there's a second group in the tribulation that's going to also be called the elect of god and that is those who will be saved during the tribulation rapture of the church will lift his church up and out of here but the scriptures indicate there's going to be perhaps millions and millions of people who will actually believe during the tribulation period which is good it's still not going to be easy some of you might say well bro if i'm kind of doubtful so tell you what if you get raptured and suddenly 8th creek disappears and you're all in heaven then i'll believe you can choose that route if you want but hopefully you don't get hit by a bus between now and then as an unsaved person and then secondly you've got to understand during the millennial or apartment during the tribulation period if you're one of god's elect it's going to cost you it's not going to be easy you know being a christian today is a piece of cake but to be a christian in the day of tribulation it it's going to be horrifying and it's going to be brutal you'll be left out you won't be able to buy or sell you're going to be locked out left out and ultimately if they find you the bible says you'll be beheaded who beheads anybody anymore boy that's an interesting thing to talk about i don't have time for tonight of course islam still beheads people drug cartels in mexico still behead people but as it turns out there's a movement right now that's kind of linked to the old french bastille and the madame guillotine uh you know that whole day when people were getting their heads chopped off the you know aristocrats and uh the aristocracy were being beheaded there's there's a movement afoot right now to say these people that are against us you know in the antifa and some of these other kind of groups they're one of their symbols is a guillotine i think that's all staging for the tribulation period will they bring the guillotine back the answer is yes the bible says that's how the believer the the new christian in the tribulation period is going to end they'll they'll be beheaded for their faith then they get to go to heaven but you say uh yeah i'll just wait for that no better to be saved now and be raptured and be with the lord that's i'd choose that one and by the way being saved today will be the best move you ever made uh don't delay today is the day of salvation like the scriptures say so you got mine elect there uh the inheritor of my mountains servants that dwell there verse 9. but notice these places sharon shall be a fold for flocks and and the valley of acor a place for the herds to lie down and i love this there's a redemptive part of this i'll tell you what it is do you remember where we read about the valley of acor and where that took place it was in joshua chapter 7 verse 26 where the story of aiken took of the accursed thing and he and his family caused horrible trouble for israel because they were deceitful and greedy and dishonest and so joshua had to hunt them down and find them and then he burned their house and their family and it was it was a horrible day in israel during the wilderness wanderings as they went into the promised land and started to take you know take the the land um so so what was redeeming about that well they called the place where they burned aitkin and his family the valley of acor but here we read how the lord is going to take that valley and he's going to use it a place for the herds to lie down in for my people that have sought me it's going to be a sort of a place of refuge and a place of solace and peace that's just so like the lord taking our evil sinful stuff and uh turning it around to be uh forgotten first of all and become even a place where people might even be blessed i just see a beautiful redemptive piece here as we read that so the valley of acor is where aiken was killed you can make a note there if you want on your bible verse 11. but you are they that forsake the lord that forget my holy mountain that be you know the mount of the temple mount jerusalem that prepare a table for that troop your margin might read good fortune and that furnish the drink offering unto that number therefore will i remember you to the sword you shall all bow down to the slaughter because when i called you did not answer when i spake you did not hear but did evil before mine eyes and did choose that wherein i delighted not therefore thus saith the lord god behold my servants shall eat but you shall be hungry behold my servants shall drink but you shall be thirsty behold my servant shall rejoice but you shall be ashamed behold my servants shall sing for joy of heart but you shall cry for sorrow of heart and shall howl for vexation of spirit and you shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen for the lord god shall slay thee and call his servants by another name that he who blesseth him himself in the earth shall bless himself in the god of truth and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the god of truth because the former troubles are forgotten and because they are hid from mine eyes this is the lord explaining through isaiah the prophet what was going to happen when the jews forsook the lord and there's so much in the bible about this whether it's you know here in isaiah or ezekiel or other places where the lord says because you have forsaken me and gone to these other gods and goddesses and and when i've called out to you you wouldn't listen and you you know you're going to try to be happy but you're going to be sad you're going to try to be prosperous but you're going to fail that you know juxtaposition of trying to live sumptuously and richly and blessed but you're going to be in despair and none of it's going to work out empty is what it would be solomon's sort of a micro microcosm of what we're talking about here solomon had it all but he was miserable just like the jews would have it all but they'd be miserable why because they were rejecting the lord and so the lord this is what you learned from other scriptures he scattered his people all over the earth it's called the diaspora where he scattered the jews and for two thousand years almost they would be scattered all over the earth in different countries and this is why some people have become sort of you know replacement theology people god scattered his people he's done with the jews but they should have changed their notes when israel the jews started to re-gather and regroup uh you know back in the 1700s and 1800s the zionist movement when jews started moving back to the land and they should have changed their notes for sure may 14th 1948 when israel became a nation we'll talk about that in a minute but the lord says i i'm gonna i'm gonna do something strange and this would have sounded really strange to the jews when he says in verse 15 the lord shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen the jewish people uh was a curse i mean look at the uh imagery there in nazi germany um you know where the nazis were taking over you know these regions and putting on jews you know the yellow sleeve with the star of david saying jude you know it was a curse to be marked as a jew during that time and and really even to this day uh there's jews that don't want to be identified as jews because it tends to be a curse but the lord says you know you're you've i believe i'm leaving your name to be a curse from unto my chosen for the lord shall slay thee and call his servants by another name and wouldn't that be an interesting thing what name would he call the other group well i think it's it's told to us there in acts 11 26 jot this down in your notes acts 11 26 we know what the other name is um there in 1126 of the book of acts it says and when he had found him he brought him to antioch that when they came to pass and it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church and taught many people and the disciples were called christians first in antioch interesting the word christian was originally ascribed by enemies of the early church and they were using it as a derogatory thing you're a christian a little christ that's what they were thought they were doing you're a little christ and the church was like i like that that's what we're trying to be we're trying to be like christ so count us in and it's funny how the name that was meant to be an insult uh has actually became sort of the blessing uh you know for the church and what's what we largely call christianity today now one of the things i got to say about christianity and the word christian especially if you're new to this whole thing of being saved and a christian be careful because there's a lot of people that call themselves christians in this world but are not and there's a lot of people that uh did things in the name of christianity and history that knew nothing about christianity um you know i i liken like the crusades um you know the crusades love them or hate them see the evil in them or whatever there was there was some real problems there but that was really not as much about loving jesus and knowing the bible and being a true christian like in the early church that was a whole different deal and but it was done in the name of christianity i remember as a kid you know hearing um i think it was dan rather on 60 minutes or one of those guys and one of their you know openings of their 16-minute show is christians killing christians muslims killing muslims and i remember hearing that over and over week after week and i i finally i think i had asked my mom and dad why are christians killing christians and my parents had to you know as a little kid they had to say well there are people that call themselves christians who are not christians uh and the world doesn't differ differentiate between a true christian and a non-christian they just call them all christians um so it's a little bit like today when you see that that church you know that goes around uh bashing gay people and holding up signs and saying god hates gays and they they protest the military funerals and and they're a church from somewhere off in the you know kentucky or kansas somewhere and um and there's only like 50 people in the whole church and it's a cult it's a weird uh cult and they're all family members it's very uh weird but they're not christians but it's amazing to me how uh if you watch you know cnn over the last decade if you want to know what a christian is they'll show those people they like to show what christians do and yet every christian i know by the thousands would say yeah they're not christians so be careful when you hear that term christian who is a christian it's a person who recognizes they're a sinner and they want to be saved by christ jesus the messiah and so they repent of their sins confess christ as their savior and repent of their sins confess christ and with their mouth and with their heart say i accept and believe the work of the cross and so that i'm forgiven that jesus died on the cross for my sins and knowing that you're saved and forgiven because of jesus and the cross that's what a christian is it's not a good person or a bad person we're all bad it's not a person who pays to the church the tithe and the offering nope that's not a christian so be careful on this identity but the lord says there's a new group of people and i'm going to give them a new name and it's not going to be the jews it's going to be the christians and that's who we are we're part of that now don't make the mistake of thinking god's done with the jews at this point uh god actually has a whole new uh plan for the jews after the gentiles age is over romans chapter 11 when the fullness of the gentiles come in then the all of israel shall be saved god's got a plan and a purpose for them so there we have it this another name verse 15. um you know and then and then verse 16 i don't want to skip that he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the god of church truth and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the god of truth because of the former troubles are forgotten and because they are hid from mine eyes that's the church we're the ones who are blessed because our sins have been hidden from the eyes of god praise the lord for that now in verse 17 we change gears uh some people some scholars uh are uh arguing that they should have put a chapter break here because um verse 17 to the end of the book is kind of this sort of re talking through the end and in fact you can see a great correlation between the end of the book of revelation with this uh with this end of the book of isaiah you'll see some of the quoted verses from the book of revelation quoting from right here isaiah so isaiah closes his book out in the same way that the book of revelation closes out so that's kind of an interesting thing for you bible prophecy buffs to do a compare and contrast and see how isaiah closes this down and this starts in verse 17. it says in verse 17 before behold i create new heavens and a new earth and the former things shall not be remembered nor come to mind isn't that interesting that former things are not going to be remembered or come to mind the former things now um interesting because verse 16 told us that the the former things and the former troubles will be forgotten because they're hid from the eyes of the lord that's our sins um have you ever wondered how can i be happy in heaven because i'll remember the stupid things i did on earth and i'll be sad about that or what about the people that didn't become believers and were unsaved and you'll think how could i be happy in heaven if someone who i loved wasn't a christian is not going to be there i don't know the answers to that that's a hard one but let me throw out a few things that might you have to kind of get outside of laws of time space and physics and all this stuff but first of all right now we know all of our loved ones only partially and the lord knows everything about them and a person who's unsaved the lord knows how many opportunities they had to follow and believe but rejected over and over again and no matter who's unsaved we will all say the bible tells us we'll say righteous and true as judgments we'll we'll get it whenever the wrath of god is poured out upon the world we're not going to say that's not fair lord why didn't you save my you know my uncle bob uh he was a great guy nope when you see it you'll say actually he wasn't and he hardened his heart and you'll know all this you'll know the full story of uncle bob and you'll realize that he didn't deserve salvation because god declared it so and nobody's going to second-guess that when we stand before god and i know that's hard for us to picture and even fathom right now but um that's what's going to happen and then the there's going to be something that's going to be good and that is somehow we will forget the former things that's linked to the sinful things and that will make it's not that we're going to be stupid in heaven or in eternity but it's like the lord is able to forget don't you love it the lord is able to forgive and forget our sins you can't do that right now when we die and when we live in eternity i think we're gonna have that same ability is to see things uh that were evil just forget them like the lord can do right now that's how we're gonna be able to stand in his presence because he's forgiven and forgotten we're going to have that same characteristic i believe so the former things shall not be remembered nor come to mind i look forward to that day verse 17. but verse 18 be glad and rejoice forever in that which i i create for behold i create jerusalem of rejoicing and her people a joy and i will rejoice in jerusalem and joy in my people and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her nor the voice of crying there shall be no more fence an infant of days nor an old man that hath not filled his days for the child shall die a hundred years old but the sinner being 100 years old shall be accursed what's this thing about a child dying at a hundred years old we're talking about the millennial kingdom that's going to be very interesting it seems that maybe remember in the book of genesis you read about the time of methuselah and enoch and and uh noah and all this these guys lived to be you know a couple of these guys got almost close to a thousand years old and some people say well that didn't happen well this antediluvian world the pre-flood world um was strange in so many ways um it's and there's there's all kinds of things we could talk about sort of a it seemed like it was a greenhouse effect on the whole earth and people lived healthily there was some kind of vapor canopy around the earth perhaps scientists have speculated on where did all the water from the flood come from and uh it came from the firmament but also came from the earth and the earth was very different you know why did science find big furry woolly mammoths with buttercups in their mouths that were instantly frozen in the ice age uh where did they get the little flowers that they were chewing on their cud right when they were frozen that were perfectly preserved that's the funny thing there's all kinds of questions about why up in the arctic regions they found these um you know mammoths that had flowers in their digestive system the answer it was a different world perhaps um and um i believe the millennial kingdom might somehow look a lot like that anti-living world only without sinners like you know the people of noah's day and uh you know that the idea is if a person dies at 100 years old in the millennial kingdom it'll be like a child dying that's what it's saying here so there's going to be a different kind of thing in the millennial kingdom where we live longer or people will live now during the millennium this gets confusing because those of us that have been raptured we have new bodies we're not going to be living in the same way as the people on the earth but that's a whole technical discussion that we go through when we go through the end of the book of revelation and you can look that up we've done teachings on that if you want just go through the last couple chapters of the book of revelation and we talk about that but life spans will be extended like the before the flood i think that's going to be a a part of that and it's going to be a beautiful time verse 21 they shall build houses and inhabit them they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them excuse me they shall not build and another inhabit they shall not plant and another eat for as the days of a tree are the days of my people and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands they shall not labor in vain nor bring forth for trouble for they are the seed of the blessed of the lord and their offspring with them and it shall come to pass that before they call i will answer and while they are yet speaking i will hear the wolf and the lamb shall feed together and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock the dust shall be the serpents meat and they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountains saith the lord boy this is millennial kingdom stuff and you know you always hear people say the lion lies down with the lamb well technique's going to be biblical the wolf and the lamb shall feed together it used to be the wolf feeds on the lamb now they're going to just be eating together everybody's for you vegetarians out there all the animals are going to be going back to vegetarianism the wolf and the lion gonna eat uh you know straw or hay if you would um but notice the the one person who eats the same stuff during the millennial kingdom is the serpent but the serpent the dust shall be the serpent's meat dust remember when did the serpent start eating dust um that's what i used to say when i was a kid and we'd ride our bikes you know and and if we were passing our friend would say eat my dust as we flew by them and uh raised a bunch of dust but that that phrase eating the dust is the curse that was passed down to the serpent after the uh tricking of eve and adam there in the garden and he should the serpent shall eat the dust of the earth and so even during the month now we know where the serpent's going to be eating dust and that's in the abusa we talked about that on sunday remember he's he's held in uh in that place for a thousand years and then he'll be loose for a short time at the end of that thousand years we saw that on sunday if you missed that you'll want to catch up on that that's important stuff so uh that's these are these are descriptive uh you know things of what's gonna happen you know and there's not gonna be any serpent that's gonna hurt or destroy uh but everything's gonna be peaceful and prosperous i mean there's an image there of people just living in their houses with no threat nobody's going to you won't need a security system because nobody's going to try to take your stuff you're just going to be there with your little vineyard and farm and everything's going to be great during the millennial kingdom that's what it's saying here it's a picture for the jews to say wow a time of peace and prosperity for people well it goes on in chapter 66 verse 1 it says thus saith the lord the heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool where is the house that you build unto me and where is the place of my rest for all those things that my hand made and all those things have been saith the lord but to this man will i look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word we're about to hear people who are blowing off god altogether this is again isaiah just kind of cycling through topics and he's again going to talk about the rebellious people of israel he's like where are the people that are listening where are the people that are going to go worship at the temple mount in jerusalem he says i look to him that is poor of courtriet spirit by the way that's a thing the lord always uses in his word for example psalm 34 18 says the lord is near unto them that are of a broken heart and save such as as be of a contrite spirit the lord is near unto those people if you're broken and contrite man the lord says i'm near you whether you know it or not the lord cares about you but we're going to see the opposition of that a haughty prideful people that could care less about god but the person that's broken before god the lord says i will be near to you i love that well now he's going to talk about the bad behavior of the jews and we have to be careful because we can do the same errors if we're not careful verse 3 he that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man he that sacrifices a lamb as if he cut off a dog's neck he that offereth swine's blood he that burneth incense as if he blessed an idol yea they have chosen their own ways and their soul delighteth in their abominations i will also choose their delusions i will bring their fears upon them because when i called none did answer when i spake they did not hear but they did evil before mine eyes and chose that in which i delighted not hear the word of the lord ye that tremble at his word your brethren that hated you that cast you out for my name's sake said let the lord be glorified but he shall appear to your joy and they shall be ashamed a voice of noise from the city a voice from the temple a voice of the lord that rendereth recompense to his enemies okay so what's this talking about these people are sacrificing but their sacrifices are an abomination why well just you can look at this and see the context of this but it's simply saying they're doing all the sacrifice and some of it was even right you should make sacrifice the jews in jerusalem on the altar at the temple but their sacrifices were an abomination because they could care less about god they were just doing it as religious ritual and they were doing it even wrongly uh you know sacrificing swine's blood then what happens they start kind of normalized and then they get into these perverted versions of temple worship that were just an abomination to the lord could that be true of us as well you know the church is given very clear descriptions of what it's supposed to be in the new testament and i love the simplicity of what the the church the early church was and what it's supposed to be but could it be that some of our behaviors in the church have become not only not pleasing to the lord but maybe even an abomination to the lord that's why one of the things every church to do is say lord what is your what is your church supposed to be and i believe the the model is given for us in the book of the new testament but the book of acts uh man we see the early church start you know acts 2 42 they were given steadfastly continually to the breaking of bread prayer the apostles doctrine which is teaching the word that was the first one and and fellowship just simple teaching the word prayer breaking of bread which i think was communion maybe even having feasts and meals together at the same time um and then fellowship koinonia by the way that's one of the things we need to be creative in this day of quarantine uh is to make sure people are getting that koinonia that fellowship that uh nobody's being left alone i've noticed that some of the churches have um told you know the um you know their church we're not opening until 2021 you know and and who knows when they really will open but i think churches should be careful because there needs to be koinonia and ministry one to another and and i've noticed it in churches like ours and probably like a lot of churches around the country um there's the people in the church that are really well connected and they have friends everywhere and family everywhere and this this coronavirus quarantine was a blessing i have to say that's kind of what it was for us you know we were quarantined for you know the first you know four months uh and i had my kids around and we were able to have meals every night and it was the funnest time i've had in a long time just being able to hang out with my family that's just the truth of it and and not only that um without people in the congregation normally when i was here i'd be busy busy busy but i was able to spend more time with our church staff as we were you know putting out these live stream productions here and and uh you know just it was it was it was just a different season um so for those that have that we're going along during the quarantine just fine and i've noticed the pastors a lot of them are saying yeah so we're just going to shut down the church it's all good but here's the problem there's a lot of people that aren't as connected as i am or some of you are and they're alone in their apartment they don't have a ton of friends and they don't have a work place where people are saved and they're they're they're starving for that koinonia that was essential in the early church where they would fellowship one with each other and build each other up and encourage each other there was koinonia it's that part of that loving community around the church where they would focus on the lord and talk about things of the lord um and that's why the lord says don't forsake the gathering of yourselves together as the custom of some is and so there there was a point where we had to say as a church uh time's up you know we we abided by you know those um you know mandates i'm not going to call them laws because they're not laws no laws have been passed about masks and churches meeting and stuff that's that's a misnomer but um ideas given by the governor and their team but as suicide is racing on the highest it's been in a long time and alcoholism and uh you know there's there's all kinds of other issues going on that seems to be being ignored part of which the church of jesus christ we're supposed to come around each other and support those that are hurting and so that's one of the reasons we opened our doors on sundays and saturday night because we really feel that church is essential um and thank the lord the federal government declared church is essential and they told us to open their doors so we're abiding by that but our state government says no lock down and while you can have in clackamas county 100 people in a movie theater um but you can't have 50 people in a church building still and i think that's where we started seeing the hypocrisy you could riot in portland and everybody's being you know or you could even protest in parliament everybody was being celebrated if you were on one side of the political spectrum um and that was all okay but if you were protesting on the other side you were not social distancing and you were you know super spreaders and stuff there's definitely this kind of weird hypocrisy and a political agenda and a power move that we we kind of had to say nope we're going to answer to the lord first and foremost and that's why we you know several months ago you know opened our doors again and i say that not as a church protest we're not one of the churches saying we're going to make a big deal and try to post this and if you'll notice we're even trying to acquiesce uh as much as we can with trying to keep somewhat of a social distancing and and you know people want to wear masks they can um and and we'd encourage that uh if they want to um but we're not we're not you know locking down like we're like exactly you know the mandate uh but but because we feel like the lord has called us to a higher authority and so and there's a real need for people to have fellowship people who are hurting and uh and and man if you could only see on sundays when people come into the sanctuary here and just the tears of joy as people are walking in i wish i could show you if you've not been here yet man it's like welcome home and it's just heart heart-wrenching to see how hard this has been on a lot of people i mean if it hasn't been hard on you great stay home and and watch online that's why we do what we're doing and i hope it's a blessing to you there and you can do that as long as we can that's why we're still doing you know watch parties with small groups and we're encouraged people to stay home if they feel sick they need to stay home if they're worried about catching the coronavirus stay home and stay online but if you're one who really needs that church fellowship and i think ultimately we all do ultimately um but for this season uh man we want you to come back we want you to be here um on sundays and saturday nights for those services what about wednesday we'll see i've noticed wednesday nights are kind of cool because not a lot of people have actually said that they're worried about that but but sunday morning that's kind of the non-negotiable we should be gathering the church needs to gather and so we've been doing that for quite some time but i love how the early church was the definition of what the church is supposed to be here the jews lost sight of what they were supposed to really be doing in jerusalem at the temple the church can lose sight and man if we're not careful we're going to let the world redefine what the church is supposed to be don't don't let that happen to here to your church uh let's let's let the lord dictate what the church of jesus christ is supposed to look like well that's where the jews are here they've become an abomination in their worship practice and what have you um in verse five it says you know hear the word of the lord that you tremble at his word i hope we're still trembling at his word um you know where where we we see the the truth and we say man this is a fearful thing to be handling the truth of god's word um and uh let the lord be glorified and then verse six a voice of noise from the city a voice from the temple a voice of the lord that rendereth recompense to his enemies this is the lord um you know rebuking his enemies there at the uh verse six it goes on in verse seven before she travailed she brought forth before her pain came she was delivered of a man child who hath heard such a thing who hath seen such things shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day or shall a nation be born at once for as soon as zion travailed she brought forth her children shall i bring to the birth and shall not cause to bring forth saith the lord shall i cause to bring forth and shut the womb saith thy god rejoice ye with jerusalem and be glad with her all that ye that love her rejoice for the joy rejoice for joy with her all ye that mourn for her that ye may suck or nurse and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations that she may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory for thus saith the lord behold i will extend peace to her like a river and the glory of the gentiles like a flowing stream then shall you suck ye shall be born upon her sides and be dandeled or literally bounced upon her knees as one whom his mother comforteth so will i comfort you and you shall be comforted in jerusalem and when you see this your heart shall rejoice and your bones shall flourish like an herb and the hand of the lord shall be known toward his servants and his indignation toward his enemies so this is what the lord is going to do for jerusalem and i believe it's possible that this is describing what some of us and and if you're older in this room you saw with your own eyes when israel you know there's a rhetorical question here um in verse eight um you know can a nation be born at once the answer is yes and that and then it's talking about how then after it's born uh it'll be flourishing and prosper and the lord will will take care of it as a nursing mom you know is kind of the idea here and uh and and then people rejoice with her those that love her verse 10 rejoice with jerusalem and be glad with her all ye that love her who are those that love jerusalem and love israel us i'm at least the church that's supposed to be loving jerusalem people who love you know i love it you know because um this is one of the marks i think of god's people psalm 122 verse 6 says pray for the peace of jerusalem for they shall prosper that love thee the lord told abraham in genesis 12 i will bless the nations that bless israel and i will curse the nations that curse israel and uh the nations that are pro-israel and love israel and care about the jews in jerusalem they're going to be blessed and when christ when when jerusalem starts to prosper even the gentiles are going to rejoice and that's us the church of jesus um what an amazing day we live in to see israel prospering so profoundly and they're living in a place of real peace and prosperity right now which should be a warning to you bible prophecy buffs to see that perhaps this is the ezekiel 38 and 39 prophecy the precursor to that because they'd say peace and safety you know peace and prosperity will be during that time when the attack of gog magog happens but i digress but the lord here is saying this is what's going to happen can a nation be birthed in a day the answer is yes and he did that may 14 1948 is israel's birthday um and they keep prospering and one of the things that's allowed jerusalem to prosper more than ever in the last few years is when we as a nation uh declared jerusalem as the capital city for israel and that was a big deal that was a really big deal and i i really think that's part of this blessing on jerusalem and now the world kind of has to acknowledge because the united states acknowledged jerusalem as its capital and we're seeing some of these prophecies come to pass in our lifetime which is interesting because you'll note the rest of some of this you know this chapter here is going to talk about the very end could it be that these are signs the fact that israel is prospering that israel has been rebirthed as a nation they're 70 years old now and it's i think it could be the time where we're seeing all of these prophecies come to pass well verse 15 for behold the lord will come with fire and with his chariots like a whirlwind to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire for by fire and by his sword will the lord plead with all flesh and the slain of the lord shall be many anybody want to take a guess of what time period this is going to be um you may have sensed the shift in the language and the answer is the tribulation period the time of fire and god's wrath and judgment that's verses 15 and 16. verse 17 they that sanctify themselves and purify themselves in the gardens um uh now this sounds so beautiful but they might say the groves um behind one tree in the midst eating swine's flesh and the abomination and the mouse shall be confused consumed together saith the lord for i know their works and their thoughts it shall come that i will gather all nations in tongues and they shall come out and see my glory um the lord's gonna say all those that were sacrificing in the groves and to idols and what have you they're all gonna see his glory during this tribulation period verse 19 and i will set a sign among them and i will send those that escape to them unto the nations to chart tarshish pull lud and draw the bow to tuval and javon and to the isles far off that have not heard my my fame neither have seen my glory and they shall declare my glory among the gentiles and they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the lord out of all the nations upon horses and chariots in litters and upon mules and upon swift beasts to my holy mountain jerusalem saith the lord as the children of israel bring an offering in the clean vessel in the house of the lord and i will also take them for priests and for levites saying the lord we've seen the you know regathering of jews called zionism uh where the jews are in israel and jerusalem today but there's going to be another wave of that i believe after uh you know or during the tribulation period where jews are going to keep flooding back and eventually all of israel all of jews are going to go to jerusalem and that's going to culminate in the millennial kingdom where all the jews will come there and the lord's going to say i'm going to pick out the priests and the levites you know uh the the cohens and the other jews that are parts of the levite tribe and he's going to employ them for service there at the temple during the millennial kingdom that's what this is saying the lord's going to gather people even more so than we're seeing right now the gathering of israel well verse 22 and 20 through 24 we looked at on sunday he continues verse 22 for as the new heavens and the new earth will i make shall remain before me saith the lord so shall your seed and your name remain and it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another and from one sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before me saith the lord and they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me for their worm shall not die neither shall their fire be quenched and they shall be an adhore and a whoring unto all flesh we saw the new heaven and the new earth the millennial kingdom but then hell and that's the people who have rejected god after the great white throne judgment they'll be placed into gehenna or hell and we looked at that the where the worm doesn't die and we'll talk and you we defined that and talked about that on sunday isaiah is a heavy book in a lot of ways it ends on a heavy note of hell but i want to tell you i love the redemptive part you can either go to heaven or hell and isaiah paints a colorful picture one way or the other but i love it's through jesus christ who isaiah very profoundly prophesied of the coming messiah how was isaiah received during the time of his ministry as we close this book you know whatever happened to old isaiah well the bible doesn't tell us we don't know how isaiah died biblically speaking but the jewish talmud writes an interesting story now whether it's true or not i don't know for sure but it is interesting that the rabbis to this day teach that isaiah was running for his life because king manasseh remember he was a time it was during the time of isaiah when manasseh started to reign he was the most wicked king in israel's history and hated you know god's word hated the prophets and so he was running after isaiah wanting to slay him well isaiah the story is told from the talmud um that isaiah was running for his life and uh the army of manasseh was chasing after this poor prophet who was just speaking the truth and found a tree that had like a big hollow in it and he kind of was able to squeeze into this little hollow and hide in the tree but the army figured out he was in there and they could either go in the tree and try to get him and get him out but manasseh said leave him in there but cut the tree down and so they ran a saw through the the tree and as the story is told the blood of the prophet started to flow out of the tree as they were cutting it as he was hiding there and he was literally saw it in half um as a person by manasseh king of israel well that's depressing bro that's a sad note to end isaiah on but do you think isaiah is bummed out in heaven god man i want a bummer i wish i didn't run in that tree or i wish i wouldn't have prophesied those prophecies um you know manasseh as the talmud tells us was arguing that isaiah was contradicting himself over and over again in the book people try to say that today by the way the wicked people of the day but isaiah instead of defending what he what the lord told him to say he uh just stood his ground and he died you know for it paul the apostle said i don't count my life dear unto myself and in philippians he talked about man it'd be great if i get killed for the faith for me to live as christ to die is gain paul would say but isaiah had that same mentality and i have no doubt that he has no regrets that he lived for christ lived for god and spoke his word in a powerful way isaiah the prophet what a hero of the bible and i look forward to meeting him someday when we get to heaven but all that to say what about you are you afraid in this day to speak the truth isaiah was it and it cost him you have a bro what if it costs me big deal for me to live as christ to die is gain i don't count my life dearer to myself and neither should you we live for christ in this puny little time called life and then when you die as a believer eternity with the lord forever that's what it's all about i think isaiah had that you know eternal perspective and it served him well and he was truly one of the great prophets truly quoted many times over in the new testament as the man that god was speaking through at the time and we'll meet jeremiah the prophet uh starting next week so there it is the book of isaiah lord we are so thankful for your word that's living and powerful sharper than any two-edged sword and i pray that it would just continue to speak to our hearts um i pray that as we've just scratched the surface here in isaiah give us greater understanding of the truth lord and how to apply it and appropriate your word so we pray your blessing on all those tonight who've listened to this teaching and all those who will listen afterward bless them lord we pray in jesus name amen

Channel: Athey Creek

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Keywords: Brett Meador, Bible, Church, Teaching, Study, Christian, Jesus, Oregon, Through the Bible, Athey Creek, Athey Creek Church, Athey Creek Christian Fellowship

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Length: 72min 49sec (4369 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 15 2020