Isaiah Lesson 61

Gaslighting, False Truth, and the Church’s Need for Discernment

Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this new year, 2022. We're so blessed. Lord, you have been faithful in the past and we know you go before us into this new year. Lord, as we continue through the book of Isaiah, Lord, we pray that you would lead us into all truth, that your word would sanctify us, that we would be open to being rebuked and corrected by the scripture.

We thank you for the encouragement also that we find. We ask that you would speak to us now through your holy word, in Jesus' name, amen.

I think the term is gaslighting. It's where if you say something often enough and loud enough, it doesn't matter if it's true. You'll eventually get people to say, well, it must be true because we've said it often enough.

I think gaslighting is when you make somebody feel like they're crazy. Well, that too. Yeah, that was a movie. Yes. It was a movie. Yeah, you toy with their brain so they think they're insane.

So there has been so much going on in our country and unfortunately, in what we would know as the evangelical church, there is so much speaking out loud and often until somebody absolutely has to believe your truth.

Jeff had sponsored back in December, I guess it was, the enemy within the church and the reality that just because somebody has something to say doesn't mean that we should actually be listening to it.

Even if it's Al Bowler. Right, yes, even if it's Al Bowler. In fact, just before we started, there was a conversation about Paul Tripp. Trapp? Tripp. Tripp, yeah, who had an amazing ministry for years and years and years and then woke up one day and realized that he had been wrong all these years and so he calls what he used to speak the truncated gospel.

All right, and so you come up with these aberrations and you speak them out often enough and loud enough where you have this perception of your own status and so how can I possibly be wrong? The post-modern movement and all of that.

Babylon in Isaiah 47 and the Background of Its Judgment

We are in the middle of a section that, Pastor Jeff, you've called the trial of the of Paul Scott and this particular chapter, 47, is just flat out gonna put Babylon right in the spotlight. It's basically a chapter on Babylon.

Stuck in the middle of it is verse four and it'll come to play because if you capture verse four, it puts true light on the whole rest of the chapter. Our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, is the Holy One of Israel.

Surrounded around that little phrase in the midst of a ton of stuff, aren't you half-true, but around it is all of this falseness about this place called Babylon. Babylon, tell me about Babylon. We're gonna do a little bit of background history.

First, tell me a little bit about Babylon. What do you know?

About one, it started from the Tower of Babel in Shana.

It actually started just before that, but you're really, really, really close. In Genesis 10, verses seven to 10, we go to Noah, we go to Cush. Should be in Nimrod. Nimrod, and he sets up the town of Babylon.

And so that's where it actually starts, but what's gonna happen is Babel is going to prosper, and it's going to multiply, and it's gonna grow in size, and in population, and in self-esteem. Because of their self-esteem,.

What do they think they should do? Build a tower and conquer the rest of the world.

Well, conquer the rest of the world, but they're gonna go even beyond that. They're gonna build a tower up to heaven. Create a false religion. Well, there it is, a false religion, absolutely. And so you go to Genesis 11, nine, you see God's reaction to what's going on, in fact.

Go to Genesis 11, if you would, Jeff, and start at verse one.

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.

And they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves.

Okay, that's good. Now God is gonna see what's going on. He's gonna be distressed. Go down and read verse nine, please.

Therefore, its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

This is really the Genesis, you're right, the tower, but it does go back all the way to Genesis 10 with Nimrod. I love that name, Nimrod. It's appropriately named. But as we go to the tower and God, it's basically called confusion.

And I think that's a pretty appropriate moniker to put on this whole concept of Babylon is confusion, because to me, the antithesis of truth is confusion. All right? The city does continue to grow and to prosper, and somewhere around 1830 BC, it becomes very prominent.

It has now successfully militarily attacked and conquered surrounding city-states, and so they become stronger and stronger and bigger and bigger, and eventually, the city of Babylon is noted for its glory.

What are some of the things in the city of Babylon in its heyday? In its heyday? Yeah. Astrology. Okay, so we have practices of astrology. We have a full stone, too. A lot, yeah.

The Haining Gardens. The Haining Gardens. Yeah, one of the seven wonders of the world.

Absolutely, one of the seven wonders of the world. I would be amazed to actually see what this was. They had a temple of Marduk, also called the Temple of Bab. It was idol worship. It was false worship, but apparently, this would be the centerpiece of a city, which was, get this, on each side, 13 miles.

13 miles. 13 miles on each side, where the walls were double-walled. The total thickness of the double walls was 85 feet. Yeah. One wall was 25 feet, the other wall was 23 feet, and there was a moat surrounding the city.

Totally impenetrable. Totally self-sufficient. Powerful. They had the Temple of Marduk, the Haining Gardens. So what's gonna happen, fast-forwarding in time, we get into the eighth century B .C. We have the Assyrians are in power, and they're going after, well, they've conquered the Northern Kingdom.

In fact, the Northern Kingdom disappears. Those 10 tribes are still called the Lost 10 Tribes. I got news for you, they won't be back when we get into Revelations, where all 12 tribes are there by name, but they could not conquer Jerusalem, thanks to one angel who killed 185 ,000 troops in one sitting.

Babylon is then going to defeat Assyria. Jerusalem is gonna go apostate. They're going to do false worship. The Shekinah Glory leaves the temple. The gates are open. So Babylon is gonna defeat Assyria, and then they're gonna defeat Jerusalem.

And scripture talks to us about the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar. We go into Daniel. Eventually, the reign of Belshazzar. We go back into Daniel, chapter five. Eventually, they will fall to Persia, in roughly 539 B .C.

And it's with Cyrus that the Jews are allowed to return. Brief history of the city of Jerusalem. Now, if we go into future, we go into prophecy, we go into Revelation. Rich, if you would get Revelation 17, just verse five.

And John, if you would get Revelation 18, just verse two. In Revelation 14, there are judgments proclaimed on the world, including Babylon. So that tells me one of two things. Either the city of Babylon itself is actually restored, or it's metaphorically talking about Babylon, which eventually is gonna represent the false religions of the world, the economic powers of the world.

I think both are there. I think there is an actual city of Babylon, which will be judged, which will be destroyed. But then there's also these other things. The seventh bowl, which is in Revelation 16.

God's wrath is specifically called out on worldly power. Okay? So now we go to 17, verse five. Verse five.

And on her forehead, a name was written. Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth. This is the false religions.

And this is what will be defeated by God, is those false religions. Babylon, Babylon the Great. And 18, verse two, John.

And he called out with a mighty voice, Fall on, fall on this Babylon the Great. She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.

The picture that's gonna be surrounding that verse in Revelation 18 is gonna be the fall of the worldly powers and economies. God's total victory. This chapter here in Isaiah 47 is gonna talk about Babylon and what's going to happen to Babylon.

There are a couple of places where the future of Babylon is spoken of. Habakkuk is one of the greatest, where the prophet Habakkuk looks at the evilness, the wickedness that's going on in Judah, and he says, God, aren't you even looking?

He says, yeah, you know what, I think I am. I'm gonna send Babylon. Well, Babylon was not the power at the time. At that time, Assyria was the power. But I'm gonna send a Babylon. Well, Babylon had existed, just not to the extent that they did.

And the prophet says, oh my goodness, that's no good. But God had a reason for bringing Babylon to be. But here we are in the time of Isaiah, and at this particular time when Isaiah's writing, Babylon is not the kingdom, but they're written as if they're the majestic kingdom, God's prophetic expressions of things to come.

What we're gonna look at in a couple of steps in this judgment against Babylon, this particular version that I printed out said that the humiliation of Babylon, that's not a bad way to proclaim it when we read some of these things.

Throughout the beginning of this chapter, there are a lot of statements about what Babylon thought of themselves. They're pretty good stuff. It's an inflated self-opinion. But then we're going to look in verse four, and we're gonna spend some time about the truth about God.

You see, Babylon had this self-inflated opinion, but then there's the truth of God, which eventually we're gonna go back through these verses and see how God is gonna proclaim judgment against Babylon for everything they thought they were, and eventually we get into the folly of worldly wisdom and enchantment.

So let's go ahead and do it. I'm gonna ask, Bob, if you would read us, please, one through 11 in 47. Okay, Isaiah 47.

Go down, sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Babylonians. No more will you be called tender or delicate. Take millstones and grime flour, take off your veil, lift up your skirts, bury your legs and wade through the streams.

Your nakedness will be exposed and your shame uncovered. I will take vengeance, I will spare no one. Our Redeemer, the Lord Almighty is His name, is the Holy One of Israel. Sit in silence, go into darkness, daughter of the Babylonians.

No more will you be called queen of kingdoms. I was angry with my people and desecrated my inheritance. I gave them into your hand and you showed them no mercy. Even on the aged, you laid a very heavy yoke.

You said, I will continue forever, the eternal queen. But you did not consider these things or reflect on what might happen. Now then, listen, you wanton creature, lounging in your security and saying to yourself, I am and there is none besides me.

I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children. Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day, loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells.

You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, no one sees me. Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, I am and there is none besides me. Disaster will come upon you and you will not know how to conjure it away.

A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom. A catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you.

These people had a pretty high level of understanding of who they were and quite frankly, at the height of their glory, a lot of these things, they could have validated because of how things were going for them.

Starting at the very beginning in verse one, Babylon perceives themselves as the virgin daughter, tender and delicate. What we have here is a nation that finds themselves pure and pleasing and desirable and righteous.

That's who they perceive themselves to be. It is ironic because that's not who they are, but they've established with so much success, they consider themselves to be the virgin daughter and to be tender and delicate.

Verse five, they actually call themselves, depends on which version you're reading, either the queen of Babylon or the mistress of kingdoms. Queen of kingdoms or the mistress of kingdoms. Lady, I have a lady.

Or the lady. What are they saying about themselves with that little phrase? You think they're pretty? Okay, sure, sure, why not? Why not? I think they think they're powerful. There is power in regards to, Sandy, you're on a good track.

They think they're desirable. They think they are that personification of beauty, of something that everybody would want to have and to take hold of. That's power. So Sandy, you are absolutely right with that.

Verse seven takes that concept where it says that they are the mistress or the queen or the lady forever. And so these people have now been so self-validated, self-approving, they have all this high opinion of themselves, they're pure, they're beautiful, they're desired by everybody, they're sought after for everybody, and this is never gonna come to an end because there ain't nobody that's gonna stop us.

Yeah, yeah, you're right. Sunday I was talking about the final military campaign as Joshua led up against an alliance of kings in the north. They were grossly outnumbered and grossly outpowered because of horses and chariots.

Of course, we know some trust in horses and chariots. We trust the naval America. Israel had the odds on their side. Babylon, in their impression, has not found defeat, has not found people that could stand up against them, and so they are not only all of these things, but it's gonna last in perpetuity.

They have no need to go anywhere else. And so now verse eight, how does this play out? It says that they are lovers of pleasures. So if you are all of these things, how do you respond to the desires of your heart?

Go for it.

Can you think of somebody that tried that and was disappointed? I'm sorry? Yes, I can, Samson, go on.

I don't mean specific. Scripturally, Ecclesiastes, vanity of vanity. It's all chasing after. I did not deny anything that my heart wanted. Whatever I wanted, I went for, and it turned out to be a vanity of vanity.

Vanity of the empty way. But in their opinion, it's their right, because of who they are and because of everything they've accomplished, they can just seek after anything they want that satisfies their desires.

Notice verse eight, too.

In verse eight, she says, who say in your heart, I am, and there is no one else besides me.

Oh my goodness, that's the next one. They have gotten so convinced of their status that they would actually say, I am. They go with me? Yeah. They go with me? And there is none besides me. They have developed a sense of perception of their own worth and supremacy over everything else.

Any thought that there is a God or whatever. I go back to the tower, and when God came down and he befuddled language, they were confused. And this is pretty much playing out right now. They're totally confused.

They called themselves bad, hell, the gate of God, and God changed it to bad, confusion. Yes, you're right. Wow.

Yeah, that's well said. Eight continues on and says that I will never be a widow, I will never know the loss of children. And what's saying here is the things that they hold as their rights, as their, what the privilege is, what they have, they will never be taken from them.

They will never experience the loss of a child, or that's how secure they are in their own. And then in verse 10, Jeffrey, verse 10 for me.

You felt secure in your wickedness. You said, no one sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray. And you said in your heart, I am, and there is no one besides me.

Now, whether they're acknowledging that it is wickedness, and they say, so what? Or whether they're so totally blind to it that they don't even realize their wickedness, but they're secure in their behavior, which, by the way, is wicked.

According to this, they say, so what? That's my paraphrase. They say, no one will see me. So to be so confident and so willing to, and so happy with what you're doing, that even if it's wrong, it's like, I am Babylon, right?

Nobody's gonna judge me, I'm secure. And nobody really sees what I'm doing anyway. And it repeats that comment, you say in your own heart, ego ame. I am. Pride goeth before destruction, and a holy spirit before a fall.

Very well said, very well said. To Babylon, there is no cause for them to withhold from evil. There is no cause to, there is no reason to challenge their behaviors, who they are, and what they are doing, because I am, and there is no one beside me.

Now, this is Babylon, and I think we can take a look at, are we talking about Babylon between 1800 BC and 600 something BC, when Persia eventually defeats them? Or are we talking about the end times? I think it's both end, I really do.

Because if we look at the book of Revelation, and we look at how the Antichrist comes, it's filled with the concept of I am, and so what? Because, but here's the beauty of it, and here's the power of it.

We're gonna look at some verses in association, because I think having our hearts filled with the truth and the encouragement of verse four puts the rest of chapter 47 in proper perspective. You know what, Babylon, it ain't all that.

You kind of reacted to that earlier. So, Karen, I'm gonna ask if you would have Deuteronomy 7, it's on the second page, verses seven and eight ready. Sandy Psalm 34, if you would have that ready. Barb, 1 Samuel 17, if you would have that ready.

I have no idea what that 4 to 46 means. It's a lot of reading. We'll do 1 Samuel 17, 4. 2 Chronicles, I obviously didn't proofread this one tight enough, 2 Chronicles 18. Jeff, you've got Psalm 71, and Rich, you've got 2 Kings 19.

I'm gonna read verse four one more time. Okay, I'm gonna start out at verse three, the last half. I will take advantage, follow the pronouns. This is not Babylon, this is Yahweh. I will take vengeance, and I will spare no one.

That's Yahweh, our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, is his name, is the Holy One of Israel. There's some truths about God. The first one is that he is our Redeemer. Deuteronomy 7, do you have that, Karen?

The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor chose you, because you were more in number than any people, for ye were the fewest of all people. But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the land of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

What does it mean to say that God is our Redeemer? Now, this is Old Testament context at this point in time, but what does it mean when it says that God is my Redeemer?

He's pushing us back from the role of Savior.

And that transitions Old Testament, New Testament, very well said. From an Old Testament perspective, what are they claiming that he's their Redeemer? He'll save them from destruction? Sort of, yes. From where?

Slavery? From where? Egypt. So the amount of slavery from Egypt, let's go back into the history of what they would have had. They were in bondage in Egypt. Going back a few years before that, God told Abram, leave your land, I'm gonna go to a land I'm telling you that I'm gonna give you.

Isaac, Jacob, we have the offering. Then we have Joseph going down, I'm gonna be preaching Sunday, but they do go back to the land. But it was God who brings them back into the land. But there is more in the Old Testament.

Psalm 34, Sandy? The Lord redeems the soul of his servants, and none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

See, when we consider, even in the Old Testament, the reality of God as the Redeemer, he does physically take them out of bondage, slavery in Egypt. He does protect them in that way. He does deliver the entire promised land into their hands.

He does that, but the people still need a relationship with God. They don't need a land. They need a relationship with God. That kind of got broken in Genesis 3. Satan convinced Eve, and then Adam goes along.

Did God really say that? Kind of got broken. And so, the soul of man is now an enmity, and there's only one way to return the soul of man to God, and that's the Redeemer. That's the Redeemer. And even back in Psalms, it talks about that the soul of his servants.

How many times is there recorded where the king of Judah leads the people astray, and God sends a judge, and they come back, and he brings their soul back? And in the Old Testament, it even says, what's the one thing, what's the one thing that God desires most from his people?

Their heart. Their heart. Just pure obedience doesn't do it. We know that from the beginning of Isaiah. Even your prayers, I don't listen because you don't do it with your heart. That's paraphrased. He is our Redeemer.

He is also called the Lord of Hosts. Who or what is the Lord of Hosts? Heavenly armies. Ha ha, heavenly armies, yes. Everything that is power, everything that is, 1 Samuel 17, four, do you have that part?

Four.

Goliath stood and shouted to the rent of Israel. I'm sorry, that's the wrong one. A champion named Goliath who was from Gath came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall. Keep on going to six.

We'll see if that's what I wanted. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing 5 ,000 shekels. On his legs, he wore bronze greaves, and bronze javelin was slung on his back.

His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod, and its iron point weighed 600 shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.

Okay, where I was looking, and I could probably try to find it, but it says in there that David eventually steps forward, right? And the Philistine says, who on earth are you? Again, who's paraphrasing?

And David says that I come to you. Keep going, Bob. In the name of the Lord. Of? Hosts. Hosts. I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts. David has a battle that he, this is a real battle. He basically put Israel's existence of a mind.

I say, I will be the one to face, because if he loses in battle, the repercussions were going to be that Israel was going to be slaves to the Philistines. So this is a real battle, but he goes out with full confidence that by going out to fight Goliath, who was a lot bigger than he was.

A lot bigger. A lot bigger. It would be like me trying to play basketball against Shaquille O 'Neal. It ain't gonna work. Anyway. But he says, I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts. This is the heavenly sovereign power.

That I'm coming to you. The odds are on my side. Second Chronicles 18.

Then Micaiah continued. Listen to what the Lord says. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne with all the armies of heaven on his right and on his left.

There's a battle of words going on between Micaiah and the king at that time. And the king doesn't even want to listen to him. And Micaiah's got words to say. And Micaiah says, you know what? I'm coming to you because I saw the Lord of hosts and on his right hand and on his left hand were all the powers of heaven.

That's who God is. Babylon, who thinks they're all that, as opposed to God, the Lord of hosts, who is all that. And then it says, not only is he our redeemer, not only is he the one who brings us back into relationship, not only is he the powerful Lord of hosts, but he is the Holy One of Israel.

Geoff, what do you got? Psalm 71, 22. I will also praise you with the heart for your faithfulness, O my God. I will sing praises to you with the lyre,.

O Holy One of Israel. And then give me 2 Kings, if you would.

Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.

See, sin is against the Holy One of Israel. So this God that he's talking about, who is the redeemer, the Lord of hosts, he is absolute pure, absolute just. So whatever is gonna be going on through him, with him, before him, has to stand against the measure of holiness.

In the middle of everything that's happening with Babylon and everything who Babylon thinks they are, the truth that stands against it, two little lines on my piece of paper against 16 verses or whatever is God.

The odds are on his side once again. Verse six, it talks about what God has done. What did he give Babylon in verse six and why?

Given them into your hand. Given the Israelites into his hand.

He gave the Israelites into the hands of Babylon. God is sovereign, it wasn't Babylon who did it, it was God who ordained it. Why did he give the Israelites into the hands of the Babylonians? To punish them.

Punish them.

That's why Habakkuk complained. Why did he give the Israelites to someone who's worse?

Absolutely right, but God knew what was going on. But what he's got to say against them in verse three, I will take vengeance, I will spare no one. God is really upset because it goes on here and it talks about that they abused even what God would have allowed them to do and they did it with such wickedness and evil that God is judging them and he will take vengeance against them, they overstepped.

Absolutely they overstepped, absolutely they overstepped. So now we're going to go back and go through these verses real quickly and see what God chooses to do to them. In verse one, we have the virgin daughter who is tender and delicate and all this other kind of stuff.

I got news for you, you're going to sit on the ground without a throne. It's not a picture of prosperity and even a beautiful, you're going to sit on the ground, no throne for you. The esteemed position that you think you have is not deserved.

You will not sit on that throne. In verse two, it says, take up the millstone, grind the flour. The picture here, instead of glory and having everything they want, they're going to work for it. They are now going to be put into the position of labor.

They're going to be put in the position of having to sweat by their brow. And then in verse three, it says, your nakedness is uncovered and disgraced. Instead of being so beautiful and desired by all, they're going to be exposed, they're going to be dishonored.

And this is what God is going to do to them. And then in verse five, it says, you're no more called the queen of kingdoms. And this is the picture of reality that they didn't deserve it in the first place.

They thought they were that, but in God's providence, 539, they're going to fall to the Persians. And you can read in Daniel how things are going to unfold that way. But they're no longer. Remember they said that I am forever.

I am the mistress of all kingdoms forever. And he says, no, no, you're not. I'm going to take vengeance. It's not going to last. Verse six, no mercy by God. I was angry with my people. I gave them into your hand.

You showed no mercy on the aged. You said, I will be, therefore, hear this, lovers of pleasure who sit. And it goes on and it says, you're going down. Verse 11 says, the evil shall come upon you, which you will not know how to charm away disaster, shall fall upon you, which you will be able to atone.

The ruin shall come upon you suddenly, of which you know nothing. There's nothing that they have that they could have to save them. Now the folly of what Babylon has relied on can be identified in a couple of ways.

One of them is their own wisdom and knowledge. They have relied on that. They've got the Tower of Marduk. They would rely on their idols and their gods. They would rely on the divination. They would rely on those who could read the stars.

They would rely on sorcery. Jeff, you called this section here the trial of false idols. And what he's got to say here at the end of it is just a strong word against it. So Bob, John, if you would read 9 through 15 for us, please.

In 47? Yes.

These two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day. The loss of children and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the great power of your enhancements.

You felt secure in your wickedness. You said, no one sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray. And you said in your heart, I am, and there is no one besides me. But evil shall come upon you, which you will not know how to charm away.

Disaster shall fall upon you, for which you will not be able to atone. And ruin shall come upon you suddenly, of which you know nothing. Stand fast in your enchantments and your many sorceries, with which you have labored from your youth.

Perhaps you may be able to succeed. Perhaps you may inspire terror. You are weary with your many counsels. Let them stand forth and save you. Those who divine the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who have the new moons, make known what shall come upon you.

Behold, they are like stubble. The fire consumes them. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. No coal for warming oneself is this. No fire to sit before. Such to you are those with whom you have labored, who have done business with you from your youth.

They wander about,.

Each in his own direction. There is no one to save you. Babylon, very reflective of the world today, finds comfort, finds assurance in things that they can control, as long as it's not God. They have the ability to be the master of their own destiny.

And they find that there's no reason to be concerned, because what they have, what they control, master of their own destiny, has served them quite well. And he's, one at a time, going to knock these down.

He says, you feel secure in your wickedness. No one sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge have led you astray. He's, in placing a measure, he's placing a grade on their wisdom and their knowledge. Why is their wisdom and knowledge inadequate?

Yeah, we're gonna get to that. It's based on, we can put a list of everything that it's based on, but what's it not based on? It's not based on God. And, there is nothing intrinsically evil, by the way, with knowledge.

My daughter gave me a t-shirt for Christmas this year. It's one of my favorites now. It says, Retired Engineer. Just like a real engineer. Just a lot more happy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I find, talking to this guy, is just so encouraging, because any topic that has to do with God, religion, church, he's read it and he remembers it. Stan stopped in this morning while we were having our time together.

We were having a devotion, going into prayer. And he was realizing that you could learn anything that you want to learn, but if it doesn't make that travel into your heart, it's just knowledge. Now, knowledge is not a bad thing.

Knowing, spending time with Jay and talking about what's gonna happen with the new building. He knows this information. Knowledge is not a bad thing. And even wisdom, knowing how to apply the knowledge that you have, is not a bad thing.

But if that's what you base your truth and reality on, the wisdom that you've gained in the world, it's a problem. It's got to be, it's got to be from God's grace and through his sovereign revelation.

And Jeff, even though you know all these names, and I, you know, you were, you, I asked you about a new translation, because I figured you already knew it. Tree of Life translation. I've never heard of that.

I got them online. I have Tree of Life out in the car. Is it good? Yeah, it's written by Jewish scholars to appeal to Jewish people. Like, when they come across the name Yesh, Jesus, they'll say Yeshua.