Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.onetwentysixfive.com/sermons/48151/isaiah-501-11/. Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt. [0:00] Well, that was me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [0:12] Thank you. I'll bless my brother. Lord, why do you want me? I've been in the whole test room this morning. I was about to say I'm just a number 50. [0:26] I guess I play a lot. I've played a 50. I've played some I've got to refer to the Messianic prophecy. And we'll be reading that. [0:38] It's short chapter. And especially considering that it comes out of a book of Isaiah. It's only 11 verses long. We'll read all 11 verses here. It's Lord Tell Creeds. Just a little while on it. [0:50] But I'll give you some background. I own this. I own this. I own this. God is speaking to His people here. [1:02] Israel, mainly Judah. And they're in a backsliding state. This is before the captivity. You've got to remember this. [1:14] But they're the only captivity in this prophecy. It would have been given about about 100 years. I give or take before the captivity actually happened. [1:26] God is telling them here through His man, the prophet Isaiah. Basically what they're going to be thinking during that time, during their captivity. And how they're going to be looking at God. [1:40] And He's also telling them once again about 100 years before the fact who they are, why they're in that shape and who He is. [1:52] So keep all that in mind as we read through this. But we'll pick up in Isaiah chapter 50, beginning of verse 1. It says, Let's say at the Lord, where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? [2:08] For which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, your iniquities have you sold yourselves, and for your transgression is your mother put away. [2:22] Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? [2:34] Behold, in my review, I drive to see, I make the rivers of wilderness, their fish stinketh because there is no water, and dyes the thirst. I prove the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their cover. [2:48] The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weird. He waketh morning by morning, and he waketh mine ere, to hear as the learned. [3:02] The Lord God has opened mine ere, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smithers, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, I hid not my face from shame and spittle, and the Lord God will help me. [3:18] Therefore shall I not be confounded, therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is near that justifies me, who will contend with me, let us stand together, for whom, who is my adversary, will let him come nearer to me. [3:36] Behold, the Lord God will help me, who is he that shall condemn me. Lo, they all shall wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat them up. Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that waketh in darkness, and hath no life. [3:54] Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. Behold, all you that give no fire, that can pass yourself through, about with sparks, walketh a lot of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. [4:08] This shall ye have of mine hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow. And it brings us to the end of the chapter there. Back to verse 1, Book of Isaiah in chapter 50 says, Thus saith the Lord, where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away, or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you. [4:28] Behold, your iniquity, for your iniquities have be sold to themselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away. So God here, once again, God is prophesying to these people. [4:42] Isaiah is prophesying to these people, and God is telling them through Isaiah what they're going to be thinking during the time of their captivity. [4:54] Once again, this was a hundred years give or take before the captivity actually took place before they were taken into the Babylonian bondage. [5:06] And God here is saying where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, where is this thing, where have I sold you unto a creditor, folks, I can promise you and God was promising his people here in not so many words that he has not divorced Israel. Let's get that off the plate real quick. God has not finished with the nation Israel. [5:34] God still got a plan. Israel is still the apple of his eye. He is not finished with the Jewish race. He is not finished with the Jewish nation. God has got plans for Israel. [5:46] God, when Israel and if Israel is delivered, it will be the same way that you and I has born again. Children of God were delivered. It will be by the same blood of the same Messiah, the man Jesus Christ. When Israel is delivered, when they are offered their salvation, it will be by the same Jesus that you and I were saved by. [6:10] It will be by the same blood that you and I were saved by. But here, God is saying where is the bill of this divorcement. He said, I haven't divorced you. [6:22] I haven't gotten rid of you, but you were embodied because of your own transgressions. You're the one that went out the way. You're the one that transgressed against my law. [6:34] You're the one that went against the word of God. He says, where is the proof? In other words, that I have sold you to someone. Folks in the Old Testament law, in the law that Almighty God gave himself. He said that a man could sell himself into slavery. [6:52] And sometimes, in the Easter, there were people that would sell their children into slavery. But they had to be in dire straits. It was pretty much the last resort that they could come to in order to do that. [7:06] Folks, I can assure you that Almighty God that spoke the universe into existence, that created the heavens. He created the earth. He created all the treasures thereof. He created you. And He created me. [7:20] He owns the hill and the cattle thereon. He is the one that blesses with all his treasure. He is the one that has a storehouse, a blessing. He is the one that owns it all. [7:32] He had no need to sell these people in the bondage. He had no reason to sell them in the slavery. And this is what He was getting at His own people. I did not put you here. You put yourself here. [7:50] You keep in mind He's talking to His people. He's talking to those who were the church of that day. He's talking to those whom He had redeemed. [8:02] Those of the same people that were brought across the Red Sea. Those which He had delivered now. Now, that generation had come and gone. That generation had died long before this. [8:16] But they were in the same race. They were the descendants of Abraham and Isaac and of Jacob. It was the same people, the very people that God called the apple of His eye. He was speaking to these people. [8:28] Those that had experienced His delivery. Those that knew all about the man of falling in the wilderness. Those that knew about the water that flowed from the rock. Those that knew about the quail that God sent. [8:40] Those that knew that God had provided everything that their ancestors would ever need. They knew all these accounts from the Old Testament scriptures. They had experienced God for themselves. [8:52] And yet, they feared to the left or they feared to the right and they did not heed to the word of God. And God says, this is the reason you're in the shape that you're in. [9:04] So on the verse 2 He said, Wherefore came I? Wherefore when I came was there no man? When I called was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all? That it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, in my rebuke I drive the sea, I make the rivers of wilderness. They're fish staked because there is no water. And God for thirst. Verse 3, I clothe the heavens with blackness and I make set cough for their cover and once again, folks, this is the almighty God of the universe. [9:36] This is the God of their fathers whom he was writing to here. He says, You're not here. You're not going to be here in this captivity because I'm unable to deliver you. You're not going to be there because I have lost some of my power. [9:54] You're not going to be here because of anything to do with me. It is not in me why you're there. It is all in you. Hey, Christian friend, let me tell you now if you get cold and indifferent on God, if you let prayer life slack, if you let your Bible reading slack, if you let your relationship with God slack just a little bit, you might wind up in the same shape that these Israelites are here. [10:20] We're getting ready to go into the wind that happens. Don't you dare point your finger at God and say, why did you allow me to get in this kind of shape? Why did you allow me to come to this place of darkness? [10:34] Why do I feel like such a slave that God will look down upon you and say, I didn't do this to you. You did it to yourself. You did it to yourself. [10:46] It's not in God. It is in you why we leave God. God will chase us. Praise God for it. He's had to chase me up in the years that I've been saved. If you're honest with yourself, He's had to chase you around the block of time or two in the years that you've been saved. [11:04] But I am the trouble of God. I am God's elect. I'm a born again child of God saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. And I am God. And He is mine. He is my beloved and I am His praise God for all of these things. [11:18] The folks, if I'm not careful, I can let my Christian lie. I can let my spiritual walk, get cold. I can let it get dark. I can let it go out, go off into life somewhere. [11:30] But if it happens, it is all my fault and not God. It is not because God has lost in you this power to keep me. It's not because God has lost in you this power to make sure that I continue in the same state to make sure that salvation is indeed mine by the blood of Jesus Christ. [11:50] If I won't go off and I leave this behind and I go down the wrong path, it is all me and not God. We have no right to point a finger at God. [12:02] No right whatsoever. God is not lost in you. God is not lost in you power to deliver. And God has not lost any power to keep that which belongs to him. [12:14] He says, he says here have I no power to deliver. Behold my rebuke. I drive the city. I think he was bringing the Israel lecture remembrance back to their deliverance to the deliverance of the Jewish nation through the Red Sea. Folks, that was all an act of God. We talk about Moses standing at the edge of the Red Sea. And we talk about him holding his staff up. And we talk about him spreading his hands. And we see all this. [12:44] But folks, ultimately it was not an act of Moses. It was an act of Almighty God that calls with the faith of a man named Moses. God is the one that parted that scene. God is the one that made the water as a wall on either side of those Israel acts. God is the one that sent the East wind out to see men that the Israel acts to cross over to the other side on dry land. It was all an act of God, not of Moses or any other man. He says he done the same thing with the rivers. [13:18] He bring the remembrance back again. When they crossed over in the entertainment, when they crossed over in the promised land, what did God do? He parted the Jordan River. Not only did they parted the Jordan River, but he parted it at the very hot of the flood season, folks. [13:36] And those people over there in Jericho, they knew they had to have been an act of God because it was impossible for man to have done that. It would have been impossible for man to have done up enough walls for man to have slung, enough rocks for man to have done anything to cross that river. [13:52] It had to have been an act of God. God says, I do these things. I parted the scene. I grow up the rivers. I do all these things. What makes you think I've lost any of that power? [14:06] Hallelujah. He says I closed the heavens with black. He says I make saccabal. They're covering. God does these things. Oops, God is in control of it all. [14:18] Whether you and I lock it or not. And whether you or I, you and I even believe it or not. Just because someone doesn't believe in God doesn't exist. Just because someone like that, the goodness of God doesn't mean that God is not good. [14:32] And just because they doubt that God controls the weather does not mean that he doesn't control the weather. Folks, God made the wins. He's the one that he's the one that the villas belong to. The storms belong in the God. The rain belongs under God. The sunshine does. When the moon shines her light, it all belongs to God. He's the one that set the clouds. He's the one that keeps them from overflowing the land right now. God is the one that does all these things. Why would we think he has lost any of his power? [15:06] Praise God. And if you think about this, the God, the God that controls all these things. He made the sun. He made the moon. He made the stars and he calls each and every one of them by name. [15:20] Praise God. He done all these things and that is great and it's miraculous and it's powerful. The folks it is tiny and it is minuscule as compared to the power that God has to save one lost soul. It is insignificant. [15:34] The power of God in those actions and in those things is insignificant as compared to his power to redeem a lost race of mankind. His power to redeem the center of his power to come back to where they are and convict them of their sin. Show them that they have been rebellious against him and say I have sent one name Jesus Christ. I sent him to be the propitiation for your sin. [16:04] I sent him that you might not suffer. I sent him that you might have love and heaven more abundantly. This is the ultimate act of the power of our God. [16:16] Hallelujah. Praise God through the weather. Praise God for Earthquakes and volcanoes. God can control all of that. It's all in his power. It is all in his power. Praise him for all those things. Folks praise him for salvation. Praise him that he has no lost power to deliver. Praise him that he has not only power to deliver. He's power to keep. He's power to keep these people. Once again I had not divorced these people. He had to just cast them off and said I'm done with you. Just a few chapters before this. He said fear not for I have been beaten thee. When I pass this through the water I will be with thee. When there will be crosses the river they will not overflow thee. When I walk this across the fire that shall not be burned either shall the flame tangle upon thee. This was a promise that he made to these same people ready to go into bondage and it is because of their own failure to heed to the word of God. [17:22] But he hit things with the cast them off. He hit them with the cast them off. Let's continue reading. This is where we start getting into the missing any part of if you like read this as Jesus speaking in the first person. [17:40] I'm with the opinion that you are the Lord. I'm persuaded that's exactly what's going on here. Verses 4 through 9. First Lord the Lord God had given me the tongue to learn that I should know how to speak a word and say to him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning. He wakeneth my dear to hear as the learned. The Lord he says the Lord has given me the tongue to learn now. I understand these words and I understand that all scriptures breathe of God and it's all inspired by the Holy Ghost. [18:16] The folks throughout the scriptures we see messianic prophecies. We see prophecies of Jesus. We have no biblical proof. We were writing just a little while ago. There is nothing in the Bible about Isaiah ever having his beard plucked out. There's nothing in the Bible about Isaiah ever offering his back to the Smiders. But there is scripture to show that these things were prophesied by the Father of our Messiah. They were prophesied of Jesus Christ. [18:42] So he says the Lord has given me the tongue to learn that I should know how to speak a word and say to him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning. He wakeneth my dear to hear as the learned. And people will look at that and they'll say well if that's Jesus Christ speaking, if that was truly the Messiah that was being prophesied there, what did he have to learn? Hey folks in the Bible Jesus Christ was born as a baby just as you and I were born as a baby. [19:08] He grew up through his childhood. He went through his toddler years. He went through his adolescence years. Went through his teenage years. And his ministry began when he was about the age of 30 years old. [19:20] But the Bible says that he grew in wisdom and he grew in stature. So Jesus Christ being yes, oh God. But he was also amen and God. Jesus Christ hey, he met with the Father and did not. He would go out according to Mark chapter 1. [19:38] He'd go out in the wee hours of the morning to be alone with God. To pray to God. To seek God. To seek what he could do for God. And seek what God would have him to do. So don't say, but he was Jesus. [19:54] He should have known all these things. Jesus first God. And Jesus is God. I'm not denying that one single bit that here the Bible says he waken with my ear to hear as the learner. [20:08] God instructed. God the Father instructed God the Son. I don't know exactly how deep that goes. I don't know exactly how detailed that goes. I don't know if he told him every word that he would say that day or every word that he would go that day or every one that he would be running into that day. All I know is that the Bible says and confirms that God, that Jesus Christ was instructed while he was here. [20:32] And he was instructed by God the Father first time the Lord had opened my ear and I was not rebellious and he turned away my back. Most this does not mean that God had reached down and cried with the ear of Jesus Christ for him to hear what he had to say. This isn't talking about hearing at all. His first hearing was covered in the previous verse to this. This is talking about something that you'll find over in Exodus chapter 21 that if a man was made a slave that was all fine and well. If he had a wife that was all fine and well. [21:06] But at the end of his six year he could go back out if he had a wife. He could take his wife. If he had children he could take his wife and his children. But it says that if he loved his master, if he wanted to stay with his master, that his master would bring him to the door or to the door post and he would bore his air through with an awl and he would serve his master forever. This servant would serve that master forever. [21:32] This is the opening of the air that is being spoken of here by Jesus Christ. His whole meat wants to do the Father's will. His whole mission wants to come here and do the Father's will by making a way of redemption and reconciliation to the God that had cast off man back in the garden. [21:52] His whole mission wants to do the will of the Father and it goes on forever. He says he's opened my ear. He's opened my ear and I was not rebellious. [22:08] Jesus never once said, are you sure about this Father? Are you sure this is the only way? Now I understand when he was in the garden he said it thought of me any other way that this cup passed from me. [22:20] But, he never once said, are you sure about this? He said, I was not rebellious. This was perfect obedience and Jesus Christ, whether he likes it or not, I don't care how high and powerful and how many you think you're a Christian both being. Jesus Christ is the only one to ever serve God the Father perfectly obedient and perfect obedience. [22:42] He is the only one to ever do so. I don't care if you've been saved for eight years, eight months, or a hundred years. Jesus Christ is the only one to be. It says I was not rebellious. Neither turned away from my back. [22:56] I wasn't rebellious. I didn't ask if he was sure, I didn't argue against it. I didn't turn away from my back, I didn't try to run the other way, I didn't run from this, I knew it was the Father's will for me to do this. [23:10] When this plan was developed Jesus Christ was there when it was put into play. Jesus Christ was there, when it was being executed. Christ was there and ever since then as the spirit of God is applying the toning blood of Jesus Christ to every born again believer since 2000 years ago Jesus Christ has been there he has always been there he is up on Omega he is the beginning in the end he's the first in the land he said I need a limit and was dead in the home I'm alive for evermore and all the keys of hell and I'm dead hallelujah that's my Jesus that we're talking about he didn't turn his back he didn't run the other direction he accepted he accepted what he was to do I gave my back to the Smiders my cheeks to them that plopped up there I did not my face from shame and spitting praise God that's what we deserve if you're here born again if you're saying that's what you didn't you deserve if you're here lost that's what you deserve that's what I deserve I deserve to have my back spit I deserve to have my face spit upon I deserve to have my beard plopped out of my cheeks I deserve the beating I deserve the scurging I deserve the humiliation I deserve it all but Jesus Christ hallelujah to the Lamb of God he's the one that took this punishment upon himself Jesus Christ offered his back to the Smiders Jesus Christ offered his cheek to those which would pluck out his hair why would he do it in such a way because it was the will of the Father because that's how it had to be done because without the shedding of blood there is no remission hallelujah I deserve everything that he took everything that he bore everything that he was and everything that was laid upon him was my punishment and it was yours whether your savior lost here this morning it was your punishment that [25:18] Jesus Christ took upon himself he offered his back to the Smiders none of us would do that I wouldn't do that now being a born again child of God he offered his cheek to those which would pluck the hair out of it I wouldn't do that now even being a born again child of God but Jesus Christ do it that I could become a born again child of God hallelujah to the Lamb praise God for the Lord God will help me he did the what he said he offered his back to the Smiders he offered his cheek to those who plucked the hair out he tells us the why for the Lord God will help me who will continue with me let us stand together who is my adversary let them come near to me he says the Lord will help them therefore I shall not be confounded I'm sorry I'll skip the verse therefore shall I not be confounded therefore have us in my face like a plant and I know I shall not be ashamed he says the Lord will help me and the calls that the Lord will help me remember this this is a prophetic of Jesus Christ because the Lord would help him this is why he could set his face like a fling not only that because he he was God coming to flesh but because God the Father would help him and he knew this he knew everything he knew everything about this whole plan he knew what was going to take place he said because the Lord God because because he will help me this is the reason I can offer my back this is the reason I can offer up my cheeks he will help me I will not be ashamed of what I'm gonna do for he is the Father's will that this take place it is the Father's hope for mankind it is the only hope that we have in the blood of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice that he made this is the reason God will help him he says the Lord God will help me that's a Hebrew term you have a little one and that's used several times many times throughout the scriptures of Lord God speaking of the power of God and speaking of the omniscience of God and the omnipotence of God speaking of everything about God wrapped up in those two words the Lord God says the Lord God will help me therefore shall I not become kind of therefore if I sit in my face like a plant I know I shall not be ashamed not [27:57] I might be hopefully he wasn't he wasn't dreading shame when he said said nevertheless no I will be done when he said it would be another way let this cut past from me it's not because he was dreading shame hope he was dreading why he would have to go through yes and you have my wood too he was doing what he had to go through as a man he was dreading the pain he was he was dreading all this there's people out there that they say that Jesus Christ and this is this is a heretical but they'll say that that Jesus Christ didn't become the son of God until the spirit of God descended on him at the baptism and they'll say just before the crucifixion the spirit of God removed itself from Jesus and it was just a man that was being that was being crucified there folks I can't find that bunch of garbage anywhere in the scripture the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ was is and never will be the son of God he was just as much God there and Mary's womb as he is now at the Father's right hand he was just as much God in the manger as he was there on the cross he is just as much God now as he was in this time and Isaiah's time and in the time of Abraham he is God he always will be God and beside him there is no other so when you hear teaching like that you be careful for more go well help me therefore I should not be confounded therefore I've set my face like a flint he's determined what he's gonna do not only to cross determine what he was gonna do it was determined for him what he would do remember he was not rebellious we read that just a verse or two ago he is nearer the justified me who continued me let us stand together who is my adversary let him come nearer me he is nearer the justified me hurry up not only could cross say this about the father that he is nearer would justify me I can say that about a being a born again child of God that he is nearer that justifies me he is so nearer that justifies me that he dwells on the inside of me he never leaves me it's not that I'll go one way and he'll go the other hey God is always with me my [30:14] Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever it teaches that he'll go with us always even to the end of the world it teaches that he will never leave nor forsake his children he that justifies me is nearer to me and to Christian take heed to that and comfort yourself in that scripture that God has not left you if you're a born again child of God God is still with you he is still there to console he is still there to God he is still there to help and he is still there to chest us if you get out of line just like a good father should just like a good father will he is nearer the justified me who will continue with me understand here in another who's gonna argue this with me let him stand with me who will continue who is my adversary let him come near to me we have an adversary folks if you're hearing your say we you have the same adversary that [31:17] I do we have the one that accuses the brethren was not in day he accuses the brethren of course accusations are in vain his accusations against the children of God are completely totally in vain but it shows the determination of the enemy it shows the determination of Satan and of demons that they continually accuse us knowing good and well hey the Bible said the word of God is forever settled in heaven they know they know that it does no good for them to accuse the brethren to the Bible specify the accuses the brethren those that are locked faith those that have been born again those that have been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ hey the Bible here says this would have been Jesus Christ saying himself who is my adversary let him come here to me let him come stand with me for God is my witness and God is my helper and because of God I have no saying because of God he will help me through this matter Christian brother [32:22] Christian sister we have the same guarantee in scripture if the adversary comes your way or comes my way God is there to get us through first team just a few more minutes who is among you I'm sorry verse 9 behold the Lord God will help me who is he that shall condemn you low they also wax old as a garment the moth shall eat them behold the Lord God will help me Lord God brought up at least three times in these 11 verses scripture the Lord God will help me this is the same God that David was clinging to when he went against Goliath when he said you come to me with a sword and a spear and a shield but I come to you in the name of the Lord God a host the God of the armies of Israel he said I don't care how big and tall and me you are I don't care that your spirit is like that of a weaver's beam I don't care about any of these things for I have the Lord God on my side that's what David was depending on folks we can't depend upon ourselves to get into that here in verse 11 when we get to it in just a minute but we can't depend upon ourselves we depend on God it is he that will help it is he that has provided a way and the salvation and it is he that will sustain us not only spiritually but it is he that was a state sustain us physically here on this earth as long as he wants us here God will sustain he will provide for his children he says the Lord will help me who is he that should condemn me no one no one praise God Romans 8 and 1 there's therefore no condemnation that are in cross Jesus there's no condemnation for me because I'm in cross Jesus because I'm in him not because I have not the cause I didn't this or I didn't that not because I prayed not because I didn't church not because I sing songs or teach Sunday school or preach the word these are not the reasons that there is no condemnation for me the reason that there is no condemnation is because I am him cross Jesus the church would do well to get that under your belt to get that in your head and in your heart it's not because of what you are doing that there's no condemnation that because of what cross has done for you and has done for sinners and has done for redemption and has done that we could be reconciled to a car that was angry with us the God the Bible says there is wrath abides upon the wicked April said wrath the boat upon me one day of the boat on me for many years but praise God the wrath of God was taken off of me the moment that I got saved the wrath of God no longer abides upon me but the spirit of God abides within me and it God's my step and it God's my actions it God's my speech it [35:37] God's me and a lot everlasting provided by the blood of Jesus Christ how who is he that shall condemn me no one though they all show back so there's a garden the month show you them anyone that's doing it using anyone that's doing the condemnation anyone listen folks we can be brought before man we can be brought into the courts of man we can be accused falsely all matter of things can be said against the children of God and we might even be found guilty even though we're innocent all kinds of things have been and will be said about the children of God the one word of truth from God one word of truth from God who cannot lie will walk away every false accusation it will blot out everything that has been said inaccurately against the children of God we may die here in this life we may die as martyrs we don't know we don't know how we're going to pass on we don't know who might walk in these church doors one day and just like the place up while we're here we don't know and they could be screaming all kinds of bad things about everybody inside one word of truth though from God watch away every bit of that watch away every lie every accusation every condemnation take comfort in that take comfort that the God of all truth is the one that keeps you take comfort that the God that created this world is the one that keeps you if he has all power to create and to keep the world and to keep the gears turning and to keep things happening the way they are everybody there are a lot of people things that the world just said in some automated motion no God has got control over every bit of it's not set on an automatic setting God controls God has it all in his hands take take comfort in that thought who's among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of this servant that walketh in darkness and have no life this is I once again he's speaking to God's children he's speaking to his ear like he's speaking to Judah he says who is among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of the servant that walketh in darkness those two or those three things really don't seem to go hand in hand they don't seem to make a whole lot of sense about fear of the Lord and if I'm hitting to the voice of his servant why would I be walking around in darkness a force this goes back to the old adage of the walking on a dark path somewhere you're you get lost you don't know where you're at but it's better to walk with almighty God in the dark because he knows where he's going then it's a walk completely alone and by myself in a pathway that is completely looking up from me to see my way the Bible says in the book of Daniel that God knows what's in the darkness he knows what's out there before us I don't know what tomorrow is gonna hold or next week or next year but almighty God already knows exactly where I'll be exactly what I'll be doing and exactly who I might run into this is darkness for me but it is not to the Almighty God knows his plan for you he knows his plan for me I fear the Lord and I praise God and Lord now obey the voice yeah and walks in darkness, and walks in darkness and heaven. [39:41] Oh, that's me. I walk in darkness and I have to live. Hey, I appreciate the song, so when my team says, that word's a label in my feet, and I lie into my path, and I get that, and I understand that, and I thank God for it. [39:56] But ultimately, folks, you and I, we walk in darkness. We walk in darkness, and we don't know what lies ahead, but God does. God completely gets and understands, and knows, and has ordained what lies ahead for me. [40:12] That gives me great comfort to know that God, whatever comes my way, whether it be sickness or whether it be health, whether it be a broken chicken account, or whether it be an overflowing chicken account, regardless of any of these things, God has ordained them. [40:29] And God has allowed them to happen, and he's allowed them to happen for his purpose. He's warning you to hear, you're going into captivity, and it's because of your own selfish, because of your own iniquity, and your own transposition against my law that you are going there. [40:45] But he's telling them all in the same verse here. He says, who fears God, and who has obeyed the voice of his servant, who has taken heed to these words that I'm saying? [40:59] These are the ones that will be by the ones that take heed and pay attention to the word of God. Hey, when we preach the gospel, those that take heed to it, those that give their selves under God, and come to him in faith and repentance, they're the ones that will obey the voice of the servant, Jesus Christ. [41:20] It'll do them no good to obey my voice, but to obey the voice of the Spirit, obey the voice of Christ, obey the word of God. [41:31] Well, these are the things that need to be obeyed, to both in darkness and have no lie. Let him trust in the name of God and stay upon his God. [41:41] Those that fear God, those that have listened to the voice of the servant, those that both in darkness and have not lied, these are the ones that let him trust in the name of God. [41:55] When you're in darkness, you can have God would have been speaking to these in Judah. These Israelites, when you're in darkness, when you're in captivity, because it's going to happen. [42:08] When this happens, he says, let him trust in the name of the Lord. Not in the name of the Babylonian gods, not in the name of Nebuchadnezzar. [42:21] When that time comes, not in the name of your father, your mother, not in the name of Moses, not in the name of anybody. That's what a lot of them were guilty of in the days of Jesus. [42:31] They said, we're sons of Abraham. We're sons of God. That's the thing. He says, let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God. [42:44] That lays something over in the dream traps. Says, trust in the name of the Lord. That lays it in their lips to trust in God. He says, and stay. Stay on God. Stay upon his God. [42:57] Folks, we as Christians, we need to stay upon God. That's a message that is much needed for the church nowadays. Stay upon God. [43:08] Don't stay upon yourself. And don't stay upon mommy and daddy's religion, or upon son and daughter's religion for that matter. You stay upon God. You stay upon the one, that instituted religion. [43:20] You stay upon the one that saved your soul. Don't stay upon yourself for your works, for your deeds, or anything else that you have done, folks. I'll tell you right now, it will do no good for a boat to anchor itself to itself. [43:35] It's got to be anchored to something else in order for it to do the right job. We need to be anchored on Almighty God. We need to be settled on God. And we need to stay upon God. [43:50] Verse 11. Behold, all ye the kindred fire that can pass yourselves about with sparks. [44:01] Walk into light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye of kindred. This shall you have in mind, then, to lie down and sorrow. [44:12] So verse 10, we have been saying, who is among you that fears the Lord? Verse 11, behold, all ye the kindred fire that can pass or accomplish yourselves about with sparks. [44:25] Walk into light of your power. This is a warning. It's a warning to people that we just spoke about. [44:36] Those that are not staying on God, those that do not fear God, those that are not heeding to the voice of His servant. Those that are not trusting in the name of the Lord. [44:47] So go ahead and kindle your own power, walking the light of your own fire. He says, and in the sparks that ye of kindled, sparks don't do a whole lot for light, maybe momentarily. [45:00] But long term, they don't do a whole lot. Even if those sparks do manage to light a fire, it's not the same as the light of God. [45:11] It is far from the light of God. This is a warning. You can't do your own fire that's going to go out. They're depending on those sparks. They won't last long. [45:21] You can't do your own fire that ain't going to last. You might glory Him. You might drive yourself in. You might say to the world, look at what I've done. [45:31] Look at what I've created. I've created all of myself. I've created a lot to light my own path, how I want to go. God says, you're a part of heaven and it's all right. [45:42] Let this be a warning to you. If you're here lost, God says, go bow down and stop. Now, this is ultimately for anyone that is not lost. [45:53] God says, you'll lie down sorrow. Not only sorrow, you'll lie down to torment. And that torment will be eternal. It will be everlasting. Let folks here remember, dear church, remember this, driving us to His people. [46:10] Behold, all ye that came with a fire, and patch yourselves up, and that was first, walking a lot of your bodies in this forest. There's a kindle. This shall you have in mind hand. [46:20] He shall lie down and sorrow, speaking to His own people, those which He told that He had already redeemed. Just a few chapters before this, He said, I will redeem you. [46:32] Those of we have the account of the deliverance, the purgator, this entire generation, this entire race of people, God delivers. He said, you'll lie down in sorrow. [46:44] If you are depending on your own power, and you're depending on your own sparks, this shall you have in mind hand. You shall lie down in sorrow. Speaking of the captivity, folks, that was a sorrowful term in the Israelites. [46:58] It would be a bad time for you and I if we were taking off somewhere that we didn't know, somewhere to a foreign land. No one spoke our language. Everybody wanted us to conform to their ways, dress like they did, act like they did, talk like they did. [47:12] Hey, it'd be a bad time for us too. This is the sorrow, specifically, that God was talking about here for His own people. He says, if you walk in your own ways, you walk by your own life, you make your own fire, you depend on your own sparks, you will lie down in sorrow. [47:28] That's where it'll stay. But if we depend on God, if we heed to the servant of God, we walk in His ways, we fear God. We do these things in verse 10. [47:40] If we have nothing to be afraid of, who will contend with us, as the previous verses say? Who can accuse us? Who can condemn us if we're walking in the way of God, if we're walking with God? [47:51] If God's got our hand taking us through this dark world, that we don't go up on the other side of the corner, but praise God, He does. It's a warning to believers, yes, specifically to believers. [48:04] There's also a warning on the flip side, so those who are depending on their own fire for salvation, our energy don't depend on that. Don't depend on your own works or your own deeds or anybody else's religion or religiosity. [48:19] We depend on what will get the word of God. You confess Jesus Christ is Lord, He's bleeding your heart, that God has raised him from the dead, and I shall be his servant. [48:29] God bless you, God bless you.