America's Only Hope - [Isaiah 40]

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Okay, here's the scoop tonight. We're going through the attributes of God on Sunday nights And I'm trying to teach them expositionally and what was up for the docket during the hurricane was
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Psalm 29 the God of the storm And how you would read? Psalm 8 by moonlight you would read
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Psalm. Maybe 139 When a child was born Psalm 8 by moonlight
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I said Psalm 19 when the Sun goes up and Psalm 29 you're supposed to read it when it's storming out So I have
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Psalm 29 ready tonight But I'm not going to preach it because I want a good New England thunderstorm on a
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Sunday night We can open up open up the windows and see it rain and storm this great
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Psalm Psalm 29 a taunt against Baal Supposedly the Thunder God and with kind of a biting sarcastic taunt
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The psalmist goes after Baal so that's not going to be tonight and so Brian why did you read
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Psalm 107 against tonight? I am just kidding you that was excellent by the way
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If you're a lay person here at the church And you'd like to read a layman and you'd like to read scriptures on Sunday night, and you're a man
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We'd love to talk to you because I'm trying to get the men of God here local men to stand up read the scriptures and pray
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So I thought you did a great job tonight by the way Brian All right, so what's on the docket for tonight? I've been thinking a lot about America today because it's the celebration of you're not celebration but the remembrance of 9 -eleven and I want to talk a little bit about why is
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America literally going to hell the destruction of America? What's the cause?
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What's the consequence and then how can we comfort the people here of God so what we're going to do is we're gonna look at?
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Romans 1 tonight, and then we're gonna look at Isaiah 40 And I think you're gonna be encouraged that no matter how bad the world gets
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I want you to see things properly So why don't we turn our Bibles to Romans chapter 1 and let's look at the cause of society's downfall
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I'm not really big in alliteration but tonight it just so happened to work out the cause of our society's downfall the
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Consequences of society's downfall and then how we comfort God's people and so the world seems to get worse and worse every single day
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How do we as Christians look at the world does it give us despair when we look at it improperly?
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I think the answer would be yes If I didn't believe in what R .C. Sproul wrote about in chosen by God and the sovereignty of God I'd be
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Discouraged wouldn't you be there are some good things that are happening in the world But it seems like especially in the last three or four years under the current administration
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We are running Pell -mell we are running headlong faster and faster into destruction, and I don't mean necessarily economic issues
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But I mean issues about abortion and issues about homosexuality etc so tonight What we'll do we'll look at Romans 1 and Isaiah chapter 40 just take a look at God's analysis of a society gone
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Awry, and then how do you comfort somebody who's in a really bleak situation so Romans chapter 1
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Verse 18 by the way as you've heard it me say many times before If you ever want to solve a theological problem, and don't know where to open your
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Bible. Where's a good chapter to open What's a good chapter to open to Romans 1 because it solves so many issues
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What is the cause of our society's downfall? What's at its root? Is it media is it
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TV? opinion writers Let's see what God says the cause is and we'll find that in Romans 1 18 and following and the answer is going to be willful ignorance and suppression of Christ Jesus suppression on purpose of God the
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Father Son and the Spirit verse 18 The righteousness of God had just been revealed and now verse 18 for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth
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They take the truth, and they they hold it back from people.
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That's a good way to translate it You could also probably translate it. They hold it under When we were kids we like to dunk our brothers and sisters in the water
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And you suppress them and you want to suppress them just long enough So your brother or sister is scared and maybe chokes a little bit, but they don't go tell mom and dad
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Don't tattle on you. This means to hold back to hold down to restrain
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You can even use this word to say I've got a crazy horse a Mustang That's wild and we need to somehow control that horse and here the text says this wrath of God is revealed from Heaven and this is not an unholy wrath.
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This is not a temperamental wrath This is God's holy wrath as man says on Purpose no to God stiff arming
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God you can just imagine that in football Someone's gonna come and tackle someone else and the society just tries to take their hand as it were and put it up against the
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Chin of God to say we don't want anything to do with you Sadly verse 19 it says for what can be known about God is
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Plain to them because God has shown it to them We're going to get rid of every single bit of excuse here because God shows them both
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Externally in creation and internally in conscience in conscience that he exists and that he should not be suppressed
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What should society be doing instead of suppressing God and holding God back and restraining? Supposedly God they should be what?
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Exalting God and lifting him up and you can just hear the psalmist come. Let's magnify the Lord together
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Let's extol him and lift him up, but no they're trying to push him down verse 20. I'm not doing really exit
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Jesus here I'm just reading to remind you what has happened. Why is America like it is here's the answer for his invisible attributes
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Namely his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived
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Ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made They've been clearly seen they've been clearly understood
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Therefore as they suppress it they are without excuse Charles Hobbes the theologian said the knowledge of God does not mean simply a knowledge that there is a
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God but as appears from what follows a knowledge of his nature and attributes his eternal power and Godhead and his justice in other words.
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They're not just suppressing. Oh, yeah, we know there's a God. We're monotheistic We believe in the supernatural No There's a certain kind of God a
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God who can make things with the word a God who can design things like the hydrological cycle The God of the universe verse 21 for although they knew
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God Here man the religious being knows God they did not honor him as God and if you don't do that You won't do the next thing either or give thanks to him
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But they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened
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Verse 22 claiming to be wise. I mean, this is exactly our society today. They became fools and Exchange the glory of the immortal
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God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things what's the cause of society's downfall a purposeful rejection of God What happens when you do that there are consequences and that's where we lead into verse 24 the consequences of society's rejection
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It's just not done in a vacuum. There are causes and effects. The cause is we want to reject
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God the consequences Things start going haywire and God just says you want to sin.
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I'll just let you sin What's one of the worst things that could happen to you if you're a creature? Not necessarily that God even actively judges you but he just says what
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Go your own way Go your own way It's this wrath of divine abandonment where he just says that's what you want
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You want to be like a dog America that goes back to its vomit and eats it spiritually then go
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It's not as if God is putting a speed bump there to even stop this group of people
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He just said just go ahead and do it and You know how many times does it say in this passage this next section gave them over gave them over gave them over?
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What's the answer? Three times he just gives them over you want to act like there's no
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God you've heard me say many times I remember I was at Grace Church and James Boyce came to preach and he was preaching about this topic and He says
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God's going to judge people that don't honor him or give thanks to him and don't think that he's a wise wonderful Savior and so he says
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You know it is a crazy thing It's insane who looks at the stars and the
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Sun and the moon who looks at a baby being born from a womb and says evolution Boy said only crazy people do that Insane asylum people straightjacket people crazy people and so when you act crazy and say that just was
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Evolution that just was X Y & Z sometimes God's Judgment is more of what you're experiencing
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So if you're gonna be crazy and act like you're crazy that there's no God what does God give you more lunacy?
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more craziness and Just how crazy is this? That you begin to worship beasts you worship man and birds verse 23 and animals and creeping things
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That is futile thinking Verse 24 it says therefore because of all this this is what you want.
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This is what you get You want to act crazy? Here's your straightjacket Therefore God gave them over in the lust of their hearts to impurity that their bodies might be dishonored among them divine abandonment
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You know take the glory of God in nature and say no, that's not God. That's a perversion
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God says, okay You like perverse go for it. Here's more perverse He gave them up to sexual impurity verse 24 lusts uncleanness
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I'm riding my bike down route 70 over by the there's a stream there and Some very large animal has died on the side of the road.
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I can't quite see it But I'll tell you what I smell it First I thought it was smelled so bad
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It might have been a body and here's this large creature matter of fact I reminds me when I was riding my bicycle in Germany And I saw a black thing on the side of the road as I was riding by and I thought you know
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What should I turn around and check it out or should I just keep going? I? Thought I've got to check it out. I turned around and I looked and here is this huge wild boar.
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I And I thought I've got to take a picture of it, but all I've got is kind of this chintzy iPhone
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You know 3s, and it's got a I got to get closer And what am I gonna do then I thought what if it's alive, so I'm kind of throwing sticks over at it
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But it didn't take me very long as I started to approach this huge boar with tusks I thought you know what that thing is dead
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How'd I know it was dead? By the looks on your faces. That's how I knew no
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I knew it's dead because I could smell it and can you imagine what the world worships?
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Sex free sex all this other stuff, but the Bible says it's unclean It's used of the word that we have for a decaying matter like a dead piece of meat a boar
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Just become stinky and smelly and gross God who designed sex to be great and wonderful and pure and holy in marriage
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It says people are so crazy that there's no God They just begin to do all these things with their bodies and how their bodies what this text ain't verse 24 might be dishonored among them
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Just let him go let him do what they want this reminds me of Jesus in Matthew 15
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Let him alone their blind guides are the blind and if a blind man guides a blind man both will fall into a pit
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Just let him go it'd be one thing if someone's Jesus said of a person like this you better go pray for them
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Go witness to them confront them go after them preach to them
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Evangelize them come alongside of them. This is God saying just let him go just let him go
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And when God lets a human go a human that's been made to worship and honor him what happens verse 25
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Because they exchange the truth of God for a lie And this is more the reason why excuse me and worshiped and served the creature rather than the
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Creator who was blessed forever Here's what else happens for this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions for their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to Nature it's easy to say
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Homosexuality is a sin Not because of first Corinthians 6 only not because of other passages
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But right here God says you don't honor me as a creature nor give a creature nor give Thanks, then
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I'm gonna just let you do weird wild perverse things like women with women And in the same way also verse 27 men abandon the natural function of women burned in their desire towards one another men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error this shows
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God as forcing the issue Driving the issue. This is the the abandonment that they have received of God And it just gets worse and worse and since verse 28 that did not see fit to acknowledge
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God Here it goes again God gave them up to a debased mind a mind that was made to worship
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Jesus now doesn't worship anything except itself and sex and other Things to do what ought not to be done depraved
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Thinking wrong thinking Disapproved thinking a document thinking if you're gonna put
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God out of your minds. He's gonna make sure it happens and Then verse 29 goes on to give us a list of things, and I don't have
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I might as well Just read it they were filled to the brim with They have full knowledge of all these things that they do filled with all manner of unrighteousness evil covetous malice
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Full of envy murder strife deceit maliciousness their gossip slanders haters of God insolent haughty
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How'd you like to have this on your resume boastful inventors of evil disobedient to parents foolish faith faithless heartless ruthless
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Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die. They not only do them
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But give hearty hearty approval to those at practicing. So what are we gonna do?
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That's the bad news Why don't we turn to Isaiah chapter 40 and let me give you some good news the cause of our society's downfall willful rejection of Christ The Godhead The consequence just give them over to more and now here we have the comfort of God's people
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Isaiah chapter 40 Really a wonderful passage if you ever say to yourself. What would
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I like to be? Talked to what would I like to be talked to preach to on my deathbed?
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This is a good one Isaiah chapter 40 It's so wonderful after 39 chapters of judgment now we come to comfort
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I can go to many passages, but I really really like Isaiah chapter 40 I want you to be excited about the
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Lord as you read through I'm sure there are songs about it Some of you have memorized it Here we have a message of comfort from God the
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Creator and Savior Now I can give you different outlines for Isaiah But let me just give you a weird outline not weird that I came up with it on my own other people have come up With it, but there are three times in Isaiah that Isaiah is taken up into the courts of heaven where God speaks
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Three times the first one is in chapter 1 Where God gives his charge against the rebels of Judah the second time is in Isaiah chapter 6
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With the holiness of God that Isaiah sees and then here's the third time To show you that these people were about as wicked as America was turned
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Isaiah chapter 1 and let me show you something from that first vision, I think I said turned Isaiah 40, but You can go to Isaiah chapter 1
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I'll just show you how the human heart really hasn't changed we have all kinds of inventions and everything else, but I Read Isaiah 1 and says and say to myself
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This is how God the Creator and Savior and judge deals with the sinful people I'm not trying to make
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Israel the church or anything like that I'm just saying the same things happen then look at this vision in Isaiah chapter 1 verse 1 and following the vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz Which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah Jotham a has and Hezekiah kings of Judah Here O heavens and give ear
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O earth for the Lord has spoken Yahweh spoken children Have I reared and brought up and they have rebelled against me the ox knows its owner
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Donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know People do not understand and look at these six indictments of chapter 1 verse 4.
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It sounds like America. Ah Sinful nation They've missed the mark this nation has a people laden with iniquity iniquity means to twist
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This is a this is a group of people that are just twisted Offspring of evildoers that kind of sounds like John the
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Baptist a little bit offspring of evildoers evil means to be injurious children who deal corruptly
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Children who literally cause other things to be putrefied They have forsaken the
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Lord With contempt they blaspheme God turn their back on God. They have despised the
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Holy One of Israel They are utterly estranged
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They're acting like strangers Sounds pretty bad. I wonder if any of those kind of people could ever have hope could ever have comfort
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So the remaining time that I have let me give you some comfort from Isaiah chapter 40. I think I can give you four
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Exhortations of comfort so when America gets worse and worse and worse and worse and worse You don't have to fall into the trap of despair
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Depression You can remember who God is. All right, let's go to Isaiah chapter 40 right now
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Isaiah chapter 40 And of course, this is Isaiah giving comforting truths
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During the coming captivity. So just imagine for a second World War two
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We don't win Hitler and the hordes come and invade America What would you tell the people if you were a pastor?
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you're all going to learn how to speak German soon and Hitler should have gone for the nuke and he got it
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He did and he got it first and we were gonna have invading Germans What if you were living in France back in the day or Belgium in the day and here comes
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Germany? What do you tell the people this is the exact message that? Isaiah gives to the children of Israel in the
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Babylonian exile Works well for them. I think it will do the same for us
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And it's a great poetic passage as well One of the things I love about the ESV is do you notice if you have the
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ESV 39? The sentences go all the way across the page and 40 chapter 40.
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They only go halfway. What does that signify? Narrative and 39 poetry and 40 so you can even tell when you try to interpret it's going to be a little bit different J.
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Gresham Machen said it is quite Impossible the wondering reader will say for prose style ever to attain greater heights than these
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Talking about God and his comfort. It doesn't get any better than this when it comes to poetry
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You're not going to see any kind of Hebrew roses or red violets or blue kind of thing This is this is at the top of the list in Hebrew What do we tell people who are going to have invading armies come or who live in a country like ours?
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Comfort number one no matter what happens to our country. You can't lose your salvation No matter what happens to America.
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You can't lose your salvation. I Think that's a pretty good deal. Don't you now listen how he talks to the people in Isaiah's contract
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Context, but then I think we can learn a lot as well Comfort comfort my people by the way, literally the word comfort means to breathe again
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Ever been so upset about something it kind of takes your breath away If you feel like you have an anaconda wrapped around yourself and every time you breathe a little bit just kind of short breaths
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I've been so frightened before and so anxiety riddled that I've had that kind of you just have that shortness of breath and You get just all wrapped up And you can just imagine how a ball of nerves would be and now
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Isaiah says after 39 chapters of judgment It's time to breathe again
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He says it twice to do you notice comfort comfort my people The force of it.
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This is going to be a great consolation. It's not gonna be Oh pie in the sky This is consolation from God through his prophet comfort comfort
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My people says your God speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare has ended that her iniquity is
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Pardoned that she has received from the Lord's hand Double for all her sins
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Israel you have a God you have a faithful God an intimate God your God the
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Covenant God He's a gracious God. He's not just full of judgment.
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He's full of grace and so therefore Speak kindly to Jerusalem.
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I Can hear a sentence here of judgment You're going to hear pardon and the stuff that you've got from the
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Babylonians the cruel punishment and the slaughter That's that's enough payment. That's enough payment.
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That's double payment. She's pardoned her twistedness is pardoned
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Those are good words to hear from God Did you know and of course, you know this because I'm your pastor and I've taught it to you many times and so has
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Steve We believe in a doctrine called the perseverance of the Saints the preservation by God Eternal security once saved always saved.
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You know what a good way to describe. This is if you say well I don't know about perseverance of the Saints Let me just make it very simple.
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Let me just call it this the doctrine of eternal life Because when you do believe with saving face saving faith on the
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Lord Jesus Christ you receive what kind of life eternal life and When God gives you faith, he gives you a faith that will last no matter what
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I Think that's pretty exciting when God gives faith to his people that faith will persevere because God will preserve us
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People say well if you say once saved always saved maybe it's going to invite disobedience Well, we don't want to disobey a
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God who gives us such a great salvation and a faith that perseveres God implants faith in his people that will hold throughout these troubled times
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Perseverance of the Saints preservation by God. Can you think of something that would come up in the future that God may unsave you?
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If you think that then you think that God has an inability to foresee Obstacles that might hinder him as he's executing the plan.
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Is there anything that God knows? Doesn't know about in the future that would make him say well, you know
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What maybe I shouldn't have saved him and maybe they they do need to lose their salvation. No God has also no lack of power or resources needed to overcome those obstacles that might arise.
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I Just was rehearsing some verses in my mind this week About perseverance of the
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Saints and how God is to be trusted The Lord loves justice and does not forsake his godly ones.
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They are preserved forever God keeps us in life and does not allow our feet to slip
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The Lord will not forsake his people nor will he forsake his inheritance? He preserves the way of the godly ones
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The Lord who sustains all who fall the Lord keeps all who love him
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How about Peter? Persecuted Peter's environment was a lot worse His readers environment was a lot worse than America and Peter says that you are kept by the power of God Through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time
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Arthur Pink was asked the question. How are you keeping yourself these days? There's an old way to say.
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How are you? How are you keeping yourself these days? Does anybody ever say that anymore? Becky's Becky's definitively
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Here's what pink would say How are you keeping yourself these days pink? I am
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NOT I'm being kept I Like that no matter how bad it gets I say to myself.
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I can't lose my salvation. That's exactly what you should say You didn't earn your salvation.
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Therefore. You can't lose your salvation By its very nature what God does is immutable
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One man said this way I never talked about God this way ever so I'll quote this person Actually, it was
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Kurt Daniels who said it Kurt Daniel. God is no quitter God doesn't quit if he starts a good work.
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Is he faithful to complete it? We know what the answer is I've told you many times before if you could lose your salvation
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God has more at stake when he Would have you lose your salvation because in eternity past if the father has chosen you the son has died for you in the spirit
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Is quick in you? What does that say about the eternal decree of God? So no matter what happens
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By the way, let's just preempt this for those of you that are here that are who are Republicans If a
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Democrat gets elected in 2012, this is a good verse to read
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I don't want you to panic and if it's going to be President Obama reelected our President Clinton Hillary Clinton or somebody else.
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I don't know what will happen in two years year and a half I'll never forget this and I think I've told
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Steve it the question when I was in seminary and I was in Greek class It's 1990.
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When did President Bill Bill Clinton become elected? 92 it was 1992.
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It was November 8th, and he had just won and It and our professor would always say are there any any prayer requests seminary?
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You would have thought the world was going to end President -elect Bill Clinton and not compared to our current president
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Bill Clinton seems like a right -wing Fundamentalist almost that's why
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I try not to make too many comments about politics on Sunday night nor Sundays at all But just remember it doesn't matter what happens.
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God is in control and you can't lose your salvation Israel. You've been pardoned
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That's good enough. Number two comfort number two, no matter what happens in our country. It cannot stop
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Jesus from returning About that no matter what happens. It can't stop
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Jesus from returning They could boycott Jesus return. They could make a legislative law against Jesus return
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They could put it in the books that we will not accept Jesus and we're gonna have some kind of atheistic thing
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But Jesus is going to come back and now in Isaiah. We have the Messiah introduced And it's a compressed view where you'll see his first coming and second coming kind of compressed there
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But we New Testament Christians know that there's a difference between his first coming in a second coming. Look at Isaiah chapter 40 verse 3
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Isaiah is now going to reveal God's glory as the Messiah is going to return a voice cries
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In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord make straight in the desert a highway for your
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God Just like now when President Obama goes to another country Everybody shows up early they get all the
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Secret Service people make sure it's the right way to go and everything's straight and path That's what they did with Kings back in those days
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God's taking the initiative before his people preparing the way of redemption through the forerunner.
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We know his name was John the Baptist Every valley shall be lifted up and every mountain and hill will be made low and uneven ground shall be level and the rough places
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Made plain or places of plain and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed We've seen first coming talk and now compressed in their second coming talk and all flesh will see it together
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It's not just the first coming where he's localized in Jerusalem You know when Jesus comes back all flesh will see him for the mouth of the
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Lord has spoken Blended together these two comings of Christ, but here's what happens
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Isaiah says you can receive comfort not just knowing that you're forgiven is real
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But the Messiah is going to come that'd be a good message for you. If you were in exile, wouldn't it? TS Eliot said this in 1925
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This is not the way the world ends Not with a bang, but with the whimper
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Robert Frost said some say the world will end in fire some say ice. I like that Shows they're listening and I saw heaven open and behold a white horse
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And he who sat on it is called faithful and true and in righteousness He judges and wages war and his eyes are a flame of fire and upon his head are many diadems
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He has a name written upon him, which no one knows except himself He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the
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Word of God And the armies which are in heaven clothed in fine linen and white and clean were following him on white horses
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From his mouth comes a sharp sword so that with it He may smite the nation's and he will rule them with a rod of iron
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And he treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty And on his robe and on his thigh right at eye level.
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He has a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I Hope you're thinking
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Jesus is going to come back I'm telling you this if you're gonna be voting in a year and a half the Republicans if you're a
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Republican can't clean up the mess that we have because the human corruption can't be changed with legislation
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But Jesus is coming back Son of man coming in the clouds mark 13 with great power and glory
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Robert Murray McShane once said to some friends. Do you think Christ will come tonight? One after another after another
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I could go around the room Kevin. You think Jesus is gonna come back tonight. What do you think? They said oh,
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I don't know. I think not It's Christ gonna come back tonight. I think not it's
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Christ gonna come back tonight one after another. I think not McShane opened up the
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Bible and he solemnly repeated this text the Son of Man cometh at an hour when you think not
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I Like that Horatious Bonar before he would go to sleep every single night
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Was to get up and open the curtain before he went to bed Look up into heaven and say perhaps tonight
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Lord Perhaps tonight it changes the way you live
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Reminds me of 1st John chapter 3 Father and daughter was swimming in the Atlantic true story distance from shore in the summer became separated
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Father said to the daughter Mary I'm going to shore for help if you get tired turn on your back You can float all day on your back.
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I'll come back for you Search and rescue boats everywhere hunting for this girl
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While hundreds of people to whom the news had spread waited on the shore Four hours before they found her far from land.
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She was calmly floating on her back and not frightened at all The account reads this cheers and tears of joy and relief greeted the rescuers with their precious burden as they came to land
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The child took it calmly She said dad said he would come for me and that I could float on my back all day
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So I swam and floated because I knew he would come to get me Exactly right.
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Jesus is coming back. Jesus is coming back. You think of the world is going crazy our
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Lord Return didn't people used to say that in the Bible Maranatha.
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What's Maranatha mean? Come Lord instead of saying Hi, how are you?
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greetings Hello. Goodbye. People used to shake each other's hand and say Maranatha.
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That'd be a good reminder Maranatha and I told the story on the radio station a while back that SOS Johnson repeated he said there was a conference a
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Bible conference and Lehman Strauss was the pastor and he was trying to say Friends live in the light of the soon return of Christ read your newspaper in light of Jesus is going to return
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This isn't the end all just because Notre Dame's owing to it doesn't matter. No, are they owing to they are?
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Okay, any team named our lady? I always root against but I root against team for theological reasons
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Mary was a fine lady, but she wasn't sinless. So our visitors tonight are just going who are these people?
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And so Lehman Strauss said say to people Maranatha. So we're all thinking
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Jesus will return So a couple of the older ladies said you know what in the morning when we get up on the way back from the conference center, let's say let's say those words to Lehman Strauss and so Lehman was walking this way and the ladies were there and they
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Got up their gumption and they're gonna obey what Lehman Strauss said and they looked at dr. Strauss and said dr.
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Strauss marijuana So now now It's Maranatha though is what we're after the soon return of Christ number three, how do you comfort someone?
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Again, we're just driving principles from Isaiah I'm not trying to say the church is is Israel Israel's a church, but the way
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God comforts them I think we can receive similar comfort number three No matter how unfaithful
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America becomes God and his word remain true and faithful It's focus on the right person and word
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The comfort is guaranteed the way the passage works is how can we be comforted? How can we know for sure?
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Who is Gonna back this up and it's going to be God verse 6 a voice says cry.
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I said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass and all its beauty is like the flower of the field that doesn't seem too comforting
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Grass withers the flower fades quoted in first Peter 1 as you know When the breath of the
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Lord blows on it Surely the people are grass if you are going to put your faith and hope in people they don't live long
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They they're tired. They're sick. They They'll fade away But there's someone to trust
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We'll never let you down the grass withers verse 8 the flower fades, but the word of our
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God will stand forever It'd be a good thing to put across the pulpit wouldn't it the word of our
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God stands forever We know we're utterly helpless we know he's utterly
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Faithful and when God says in Hebrews 13 to Christians, I'll never desert you nor will
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I ever forsake you We can confidently say the writer of Hebrew says the Lord is my helper.
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I will not be afraid what shall man do to me? God will take care of his people in America if he could take care of the martyrs he could take care of us
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And then lastly number four the fourth one found in the rest of the verses is no matter how unholy the world gets
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God's character is not affected no matter how unholy the world gets God remains holy faithful true a saving
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God You want an answer to how do I get over idolatry?
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I struggle with idolatry. What do I do? Correct knowledge of God that's the answer
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Verse 9 this is really interesting Go up on a high mountain. Oh Zion herald of good news lift up your voice with strength
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Oh Jerusalem herald of good news lift it up fear not say to the cities of Judah by the way
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This is a good way to start preaching. This is a good way to evangelize. This is a good way to get people's attention
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Woe is God Woe from God no woe is me no behold your
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God The way
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Israel is going to be restored to the land is with the presence of God God will be there with his people and then we just have a slew of just awesome verses that talk about this
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God Behold the Lord God sovereign God Adonai Yahweh comes with might
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In his arm rules for him. You have an arm back in those days. It's associated with strength deliverance
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This is a picture of omnipotence right here You want to know that the world who's going haywire you need to have your eyes focused on the object of your faith
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Behold his reward is with him for the believers Compensation as it were and his recompense before him
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But he's not just transcendent and great and large But he's also tender and compassionate verse 11
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Will tend his flock like a shepherd He'll gather the lambs in his arms That same arm that could crush the enemy now picks up the lamb
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He'll carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are young The good shepherds not going to leave his church unattended his sheep unattended
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Who would do that God the tender shepherd gathers his exiles together How much more for us?
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And then he begins to ask all kinds of rhetorical questions Fear is gripping their heart
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Power of Babylon is going to control who we are The might of Babylon will dictate our future and here's how
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God gets people to think properly For my mother she used to when she was going through chemo.
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She used to begin to Recite in her mind attributes of God beginning with the letter a so she would begin to say to herself
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I'm getting frightened a almighty be bountiful beautiful see compassionate
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D Deliver you could just work your way through and before you know it you're thinking about not your troubles not your issues
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Not what's going on, but who God is and that's exactly what these List of rhetorical questions are supposed to do
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I think if you break them down. I think there's 20 20 questions Ever play 20 questions when you're a kid our kids don't play 20 questions because they're like this
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Right tinker toys. No What's that one Lincoln logs, they don't know what any of those things are maybe throwback stores
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But they're kind of set in in Groups of questions, so maybe I'll just give you five groups of questions
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This is what we need an awareness of God So we don't forget about him so we don't suppress him so we don't do what
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Romans 1 talks about Considering the nature of Jesus the Redeemer our great
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God questions set number one about God's greatness
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Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Who does that?
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What's the hollow of your hand? You take your hand like this and make a little cup and how much water can you put in that little palm right there?
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What's the answer I Don't know two ounces When I fell on that surfboard yesterday that God there was a lot of water in God's ocean, and I think
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I drank about 19 Handfuls about that I thought I'm probably gonna have to go get my stomach pumped because you can't drink that much salt water without becoming crazy and here
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Can you imagine the ocean? if God had a hand what we're doing with this language of The Hebrew language is saying if God had a hand and he's a spirit so he doesn't but if he hand had a hand his
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Hand could just say Atlantic Pacific Arctic Mediterranean Aegean Adriatic and every other sea that's in there.
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How many C's are in the world? How many sail the seven seas you say seven or seventy?
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All right. Well, I came up with a few just off the top of my head This is how great God is and how big God is You know when you have huge problems you need good theology and that good theology should say
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I've got this massive problem And so I'm gonna have to make sure I see God Rightly, so here's what we do.
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This is worth of worth coming for tonight when you have a problem you need to say this problem over here
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God here. I am going to see my problem in light of this kind of 20 questions of God Because what we're all so prone to do is this
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I see my problem and it blocks or eclipses my view of God back here
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So what Isaiah is a saying would be good for us as well. We need to see our problem in Light of who
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God is not the other way around get it. You got a bad problem Behold your
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God behold your God see who he is versus here's my problem And I've got some extraneous theological facts back there.
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Look what he does He's enclosed the dust of the earth in measure and weighed in verse 12 the mountains in scales
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Who does that just pick up a big mountain and puts it on a scale? Here's k2 here's Everest and the hills in a in a balance and here
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The writers not trying to reduce God demands level with these anthropomorphic things. He's just trying to make this theological truth grab you
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Overwhelm you The biggest things that are in the world can't stop God from saying those things are small
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Those things are small Marking off the heavens by a span the distance between my out threats outstretched thumb and little
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Finger right there. There's a span This is how he marks off things is in a span
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That's pretty amazing heavens It's just a span well you get the idea
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Look at his second set of questions about God's wisdom kind of about God's greatness first Generally now about God's wisdom.
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It's supposed to give you comfort who has measured the Spirit of the Lord Speaking of measuring or what man shows him his counsel
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God like you sit down I'm gonna teach you a thing or two God didn't go to university.
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God didn't go to college. God never learned anything Tozer God knows instantly and effortlessly all matter and all matters all mind and every mind all spirit and all spirits all being and every being
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He knows all law and every law all relations all causes all thoughts all mysteries all enigmas all feeling all desires every
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Unuttered secret all thrones all dominions all personalities all things visible all things invisible all things in heaven all things in earth
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All motion all space all time all life all death all good all evil all heaven all hell Who taught
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God anything verse 14 whom did he consult and whom made him understand? My kids say dad, can you help me with math tonight?
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Consult me I say no, I don't understand call Tim Boslin. That's exactly what
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I do God says well, you know, how do I run the universe? Well, he never asked anyone Who showed him the way of understanding who taught him knowledge?
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It's kind of Job 38 to 42 kind of language almost We're nothing compared to God Yeah, but God what about China?
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What about the Democrats? What about the Republicans? Don't you know there's a threat of a dirty bomb going off What about Korea?
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What about Iran verse 15 behold the nation's are like a drop from a bucket. You don't even pick up bucket drops
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And are accustomed as the dust on the scanner accounted as dust on the scales By the way, when you go to the butcher shop, do you make sure they take the dust off the scales before they weigh?
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your ground beef Reminds me of the story of a butcher and he was asked by his friend, you know before you were a
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Christian How did you act and now that you're saved as a butcher? Did your life change at all now that Christ has made himself known in your life that you're born again?
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Are you different in any way shape or form? You know what the butcher said? Yeah, I am different. He said when
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I weigh the meat now, I don't weigh my thumb anymore. I thought that was interesting
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What's the text say like a drop a bucket accounted as dust on the scales behold he takes up the coastlands like fine dust
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Lebanon would not suffice for fuel. I think they've got some cedar there for wood Don't you they wouldn't suffice for fuel nor its beast enough for a burnt offering
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God is worthy of so much adoration and honor and sacrifice back in the day before the sacrifice of Christ You could take every animal in Lebanon and slayed on the altar and God would deserve much more than that All nations are as nothing before him.
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They're accounted by him as less than nothing. How do you do that and emptiness All those countries that oppress
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Israel and fight against them and the Amalekites and everyone else. They're nothing
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With ease God with two hands behind tied behind his back Babylonian Empire Nothing he asked more questions, there's a third set verse 18
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We got to wrap it up to whom then will you like in God are what likeness compare with him?
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This is why idolatry is so bad. You can't find anything like God For the kids sitting here tonight.
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It's stupid to worship anything else beside God Can one of you kids in the back say stupid? See, they don't even know they know not to say that word.
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It's a good to say it in that context Could been two kids you're always talkative Esther.
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Can you say stupid? It's hard to say but that's what it is.
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It's dumb verse 19. You can see the dumbness in the language and idle Verse 19 an idol just how dumb is that a craftsman cast it goldsmith overlays with gold and cast it for silver chains
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Suspends it it's dumb. It's lifeless He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot
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Make a good peak pick out the right piece of wood before you make your idol He seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move
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They taught her back and forth. So you better put some chains wrapped up around it so they don't fall over Set last fourth set of questions
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God's sovereign over creation. Do you not know do you not hear verse 21?
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Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundation of the earth
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Here we have the sovereign God. He is the one who sits above the circle of the earth and Its inhabitants are like grasshoppers who stretches out the heavens like a curtain
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Spreads them like a tent to dwell in Sovereign creator we can't fathom how sovereign and great he is
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You have to use curtains as an illustration He brings princes verse 23 to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth as Emptiness the most powerful people as emptiness
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God's sovereign over everything without exception Babylonian dictators and rulers as well
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Verse 24 we're almost done Scarcely are they planted scarcely sown scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth when he blows on them
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They wither and the tempest carries them off like stubble the toughest wildest strength that a nation or a man could have before God is nothing and Basically Isaiah is saying don't forget who you who you're dealing with You can't even compare him verse 25 to whom then will you compare me that I should be like him
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Says the Holy One of God and here comes the imperatives in the midst of the questioning
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This is what everyone needs to do when they're in any trouble if you're Israel back in those days or for us today
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Lift up your eyes on high and see who created these remember the sovereign creative power of God He who brings out their hosts by number
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Calling them by name Now how many words for power and strength can you see in the next part of this sentence?
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By the greatness one of his might too and because he is strong three in Power for not one is missing and by the way, if you don't know much about Babylonian religion
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Their gods were identified with stars So every God was identified with some star and here now
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Isaiah says God made all those he calls him by name Those stars don't control your destiny like the
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Babylonians would teach God controls the destiny of everyone including the stars
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Yes, but does he care? He's great. He's big. He's powerful, but does he care last set of questions?
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Verse 27. Why do you say Oh Jacob and speak Oh Israel my ways hidden from the
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Lord. He doesn't know me He doesn't see me. I'm too insignificant. He has a look my way doesn't care
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He can't be bothered and my right is disregarded by God. Oh That's not the way to think
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Have you not known? Have you not heard? Yahweh the Lord is the everlasting
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God The creator of the ends of the earth. He doesn't faint or grow weary you might but he doesn't his understanding is unsearchable
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He gives power to the faint verse 29 and to him who has no might he increases strength perfect assistance
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His power for your weakness Even though you shall faint and be weary and young man shall fall exhausted
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They who wait for the Lord renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles
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They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint Because the presence of God that's a pretty awesome chapter you could probably just get up and read it instead of expose it
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Friends let's put it this way to close. We walk by faith not by sight I'll never forget as long as I live
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MacArthur was asked the question How can you raise four kids in Los Angeles and this was 40 years ago 35 years ago.
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That's a bad place That's a wicked place. How do you raise kids in Los Angeles? And John said I walk by faith and not by sight
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What are we gonna do when the world gets worse? They persecute the church and they they tax us and they jail us and they do this and they do that We can trust
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God I could probably put it even this way We have a couple pastors here when we're in jail and you come and visit us you read us
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Isaiah 40 Because I'll need it and you'll need to read it to me How blessed it is everyone who fears the
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Lord and walks in his ways When you shall eat of the fruit of your hands, you will be happy and it will be well with you
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And we get to know this God because of the mediator Christ Jesus our advocate. Let's pray.
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Thank you father for tonight Thank you for just this cursory overview of Isaiah You are an awesome
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God You're a great God Thank you that you've revealed righteousness from faith to faith
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Thank you that the righteous man lives by faith I pray for those that are here tonight who are Christian people that you'd encourage them that you would help them see their problems through your greatness and attributes and For those who are here tonight who might not be
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Christians. I pray that you would give them no sleep or rest until they've called out for mercy that they've cried out
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Oh Lord have mercy upon me a sinner the sinner and Father that you would deliver them through their only only hope of a
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Savior Christ Jesus the eternal God who became man Died on a cross and was raised from the dead.
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I pray that they would Call upon that Savior Christ Jesus for salvation. Thank you for Isaiah chapter 40
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Thank you that as great as we think of you You're greater in Jesus name we pray.