WWUTT 2004 Some Trust in Horses and Chariots (Isaiah 31:1-32:20)

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The Lord said to Israel, You who trust in princes, who trust in the wicked, you are going to go to your destruction.

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But great is the one who makes the Lord his strength, when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word.

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Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q&A on Friday.

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Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

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Thank you, Becky.

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It's been a couple of weeks since we've been in our Old Testament Study, in the book of Isaiah.

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But today we come to Chapter 31, and it really goes well with Chapter 30.

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So I think this will be a good recap.

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It's also a short chapter.

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So we'll do this one and then jump into Chapter 32.

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But let me begin with Isaiah 31, verses 1 through 9.

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I'm reading from the Legacy Standard Bible.

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Hear the word of the Lord.

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Now the Egyptians are men and not God, and their horses are flesh and not spirit.

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So Yahweh will stretch out His hand, and he who helps will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and all of them will come to an end together.

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For thus says Yahweh to me, As the lion or the young lion growls over its prey, against which a multitude of shepherds is called out, and it will not be dismayed at their voice, nor afflicted at their noise.

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So will Yahweh of hosts come down to wage war on Mount Zion and on its hill, like flying birds.

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So Yahweh of hosts will defend Jerusalem.

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He will defend and deliver it.

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He will pass over and provide a way of escape.

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Return to Him, Him against whom you have deeply rebelled, O sons of Israel.

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For in that day every man will reject his silver idols and his gold idols, which your hands have made for you as a sin.

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And the Assyrian will fall by a sword not of man, and a sword not of man will devour him.

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So he will flee from the sword, and his choice men will become forced laborers.

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His rock will pass away because of terror, and his princes will be dismayed at the standard, declares Yahweh, whose fire is in Zion, and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

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So if you recall what we had read a couple of weeks ago in chapter 30, the Jews had sought an alliance with Egypt.

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They thought that the Egyptians could deliver them from the Assyrians.

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But God said that He would strike down the Egyptians with the Assyrians.

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And that's really what we have here in chapter 31.

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Same sort of a thing.

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Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses.

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Now this wasn't King Hezekiah that did this.

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It was either his advisors who convinced him to do it, or his advisors did it without his knowing, or without his consultation.

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So they went and made this alliance with Egypt and hoped that the Egyptians would come up and help them against the Assyrians.

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God said, you're putting trust in man, and you're putting trust in that nation to which you had formerly been enslaved.

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They're pagans.

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Why are you aligning with them? And so this woe is given in chapter 31 to those who trust in the Egyptians, who trust in horses and chariots.

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What do we read in Psalm 20, verse 7? Some boast in chariots and some in horses, but we will boast in the name of Yahweh our God.

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They have bowed down and fallen, but we have risen and stood upright.

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Save, O Yahweh, may the King answer us in the day we call.

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These were songs that the Jews would have been singing at this particular time.

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It was written by David.

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And yet they did not remember the scriptures.

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They did not remember the word of God.

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So they formed these alliances with these people that had no power to save, and God said he's going to strike down the Egyptians and anyone who aligns themselves with Egypt.

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For thus says Yahweh to me, this is verse 4, as the lion or the young lion growls over its prey, against which a multitude of shepherds is called out, and it will not be dismayed at their voice nor afflicted at their noise.

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So will Yahweh of hosts come down to wage war on Mount Zion and on its hill.

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So he is going to come against those Jews that had aligned themselves with Egypt, and no amount of noise that they make will change God's mind about the judgment that he's going to bring on them.

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Although he does say in verse 6, return to him against whom you have deeply rebelled, O sons of Israel.

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So he gives mercy.

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He gives them that opportunity to repent.

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But those who did not, we know according to the scriptures, they did perish.

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Now as I had pointed out a couple of weeks ago, when we read about this story in 2 Kings, the angel of the Lord came down and struck down 185,000 Assyrians.

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Just one angel did this.

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Wiped out these Assyrians.

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And that's prophesied right here in chapter 31.

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The Assyrian army will fall by a sword not of man, and a sword not of man will devour him.

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So he will flee from the sword, and his choice men will become forced laborers.

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And that's indeed what happened.

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185,000 were struck down.

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The rest of the army fled.

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The king went back to his place, and in the temple of a false god, he was struck down.

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So God brought this sword, and on his own, by his own mercy and grace, he protected the Jews by striking these down.

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And my friends, there is still present day application in this.

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There are many Christians who will turn to pagan politicians, thinking that this person will make our situation better.

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They will save us.

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They will improve our conditions.

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Turn to the Lord.

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You're probably enslaving yourself to somebody who is actually going to cast heavier burdens on you, not give us the deliverance that sometimes we expect out of our politicians.

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Worldly politicians will not save you.

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It is Christ who saves.

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So turn to the Lord, and he will have his vengeance upon the godless, not only in the Assyrians, not only in the Egyptians, but even in this nation, in the nation in which you reside.

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God rules over them, and he will strike down the godless.

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So the responsibility on us is to turn from our sin to Yahweh.

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Turn from our ways, our worldliness, to the Lord, and he will save.

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Now, what we read about next in chapter 32 is about his reign.

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He saves, he reigns.

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This is chapter 32, verse 1.

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Behold, a king will reign righteously, and princes will rule justly.

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Each will be like a refuge from the wind and a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry country, like the shade of a huge rock in a weary land.

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Then the eyes of those who see will not be blinded, and the ears of those who hear will pay attention, and the heart of the hasty will discern knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak clearly.

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Now, we know that this is in reference to Christ.

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Christ is the one who will reign, and we see even these things fulfilled in Christ's first coming, in his first advent.

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It wasn't long ago when we were in Matthew chapter 11, and we read about what Jesus had to say regarding John the Baptist, and he said to John's own disciples, Go back and tell John what you have seen, how the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them, and blessed is he who does not take offense at me.

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So aren't we reading about some of those things here? About how Jesus will unstop their ears so that they may hear, he'll open their eyes so that they may see, and the heart of the hasty will discern knowledge, the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak clearly.

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This is what we have by the regeneration of the Holy Spirit that happens in our hearts, that we're able to see, we're able to hear, we are able to speak and articulate clearly, mysteries that have been revealed to us in the Spirit, all according to his word.

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This is Christ who reigns, so we go on in verse 5, No longer will the wicked fool be called noble, or the rogue be spoken of as generous, like people who call evil good.

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When you look toward those worldly politicians to try to deliver and save us, and give us better conditions, make our situation more bearable, and yet they don't fulfill, they don't do it.

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Whatever promises they do give you, those things that they may actually follow through on, never seem to have the relief that you were hoping that they would.

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So these wicked men that do these things to gain favor from the people, they're wicked, they get called noble, the rogue will not be spoken of as generous.

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When our eyes are open to see the truth, the difference between the righteous and the unrighteous, then we won't be so hasty to refer to those who are evil as doing good.

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For a wicked fool speaks wicked folly, it says in verse 6, and his heart does wickedness, to do ungodliness and to speak error against Yahweh, in order to make the hungry person empty, he even causes the thirsty to lack drink.

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Now I've been referencing politicians, but this most readily refers to false teachers.

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And there's many politicians that fit in that category as well.

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Lots of politicians that will claim they're Christian and they're really not, or claim that they're doing the Lord's work and they aren't.

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But this in particular, especially when you think of like 2 Peter 2, or the book of Jude, which talks about those false teachers as being clouds without water, or springs without water.

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They promise refreshment and cannot deliver.

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They claim to be of God.

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They claim to be able to do godly things, but it is so beyond what God has promised, so beyond the word, it's twisting the word, so that when you go after what they offer, you're still hungry, you're still thirsty, you're never satisfied.

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A cloud without water is an impossibility.

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I mean, you can't even have a cloud if there is no water.

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But the illustration here would be like standing beneath a cloud with your mouth open, waiting for it to rain, and that rain never comes.

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A waterless cloud.

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So is the person who teaches falsely.

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They take away, they do not give.

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As for a rogue, his weapons are evil.

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He counsels wicked schemes, verse 7 says, to wreak destruction on the afflicted with lying words, even though the needy one speaks unjustly.

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But the noble man counsels noble plans, and by noble plans, he rises up.

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This will be the word of the Lord, and those who teach by that word.

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So we have, 32 is divided up into two sections, by the way.

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So this is the second section, beginning in verse 9, and this will go to the end of the chapter in verse 20.

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Rise up, you women who are at ease, and hear my voice.

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Give ear to my word, you complacent daughters.

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What a word, especially for those of us Americans that very easily fall prey to our own complacency.

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How lazy we can become when we just are fat and complacent.

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And so this being spoken to complacent women, verse 10, within a year and a few days, you will quake, oh complacent daughters, for the grape harvest is ended, and the fruit gathering will not come.

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Tremble, you women who are at ease.

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Quake, you complacent daughters.

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Strip, undress, and put sackcloth on your waist.

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Beat your breasts for your desirable fields, for the fruitful vine, for the land of my people in which thorns and briars shall come up.

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Indeed, against all the joyful houses and the exultant city, because the palace has been abandoned, the populated city forsaken.

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Hill and watchtower have become caves forever, a joy for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks.

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This is talking about how God's spirit will be taken from the land, so that the people will not find nourishment.

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They will seek for it and will not find it, because God's spirit will not be there.

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He will have abandoned them to their own complacency, really.

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Now, God speaks specifically to the daughters, to the women.

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Rise up, you women who are at ease.

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Quake, oh complacent daughters.

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But really, this is spoken to all of Judah.

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And those men who do not rise up and act like men will be as women.

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And so that's really the insult.

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That's the address that God is making here.

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Those men who do not lead, they do not defend, they do not fight, they're just as women of Jerusalem, just as the complacent women.

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So going on into verse 15, until the spirit is poured out upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful orchard, and the fruitful orchard is counted as a forest, then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness will live in the fruitful orchard.

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So you see here this address about the spirit of God being poured out, so the land will not be desolate forever.

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And again, this is a prophecy about the king who is to come.

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The work of the righteous will be peace, and the service of righteousness, quietness and security forever.

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Then my people will live in a peaceful abode, and in secure dwellings, and in undisturbed resting places.

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That's us now.

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That's even right now.

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When the king comes, when Christ comes, and the work of righteousness will be peace, and the service of righteousness, quietness and security forever.

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Christ has come, and we who are in Christ, this is exactly what we have.

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My people will live in a peaceful abode, and in secure dwellings, and in undisturbed resting places.

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We have that now.

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We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

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And if God is for us, who can be against us, as said in Romans 8, there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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If we are justified by faith, Romans 5, 1, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

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His anger is not against us.

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His judgment is not upon us.

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His wrath does not burn against us.

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We are at peace with God.

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We have fellowship with God through Christ.

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So our secure dwelling, our undisturbed resting place is in Christ.

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Verse 19, And it will hail when the forest comes down, and the city will be utterly laid low.

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But how blessed will you be, you who sow beside all waters, who let out freely the ox and the donkey.

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When we dwell with Christ, when we know the peace that we have with God through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, then though the world may be coming down around us, we know a peace that surpasses all understanding, as is said in Philippians chapter 4, guarding our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.

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Listen, if you remain fixed on Christ and his word, then all the stuff that's going on in our culture, all the noise, all the psyops, all the brainwashings, all these new ideas and fads that come about, the cultural trends that are here one way, different tomorrow, changing opinions, changing definitions, relative morals, this is good today, but it's something bad tomorrow, gas lightings, guilt trips, the shifting powers, changing in authority, all this other kind of stuff, everything that happens in our culture that's in constant flux, or even seems to be getting worse and worse and worse, these things won't even make you flinch.

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You will stand steadfast in the word of God.

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On Christ, the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.

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And we know in Christ we have peace.

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Just as we've been reading this past week, reading about how Christ is our peace, he is our rest, he is our Sabbath rest.

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So we are reminded again, from Matthew 11, 28-30, Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

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Take my yoke upon you, Jesus says, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

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For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

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And as I said earlier this week, a heavy yoke, a burdensome yoke, is any yoke that you would take on yourself, except the yoke of Christ.

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Every other yoke is heavy.

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The yoke of Christ is good, and leads us into the blessings of God, and into life everlasting.

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Don't be looking for that stuff in this world.

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Whatever you can find in this world, you think is going to satisfy, will actually leave you empty.

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And if you're not careful, you're actually going to find yourself aligning with those whose God's wrath is against.

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As said in James 4, you adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? So draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

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Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

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Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we've read here in Isaiah, chapters 31 and 32.

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A warning that was given to Judah.

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And may it be a warning to us now.

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May we be reminded, in our hearts, the goodness of our God that has been given to us in Christ.

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And the peace that surpasses all understanding is given in Christ Jesus, guarding our hearts and our minds, until the day that we join you forever in glory.

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Let us not be led astray.

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Let us not be dismayed at the things that are happening in this world.

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But we continue to hold fast to Christ and rest in him.

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It's in Jesus' name we pray.

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Amen.

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This has been, When We Understand The Text, with Pastor Gabriel Hughes.

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For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www.utt.com.

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Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's Word, When We Understand The Text.