Isaiah Lesson 61

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Isaiah: Prophet of the Suffering Servant Lesson 61: Isaiah 47 Pastors Jeff Kliewer and John Lasken

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All right, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this new year 2022.
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We're so blessed. Lord, you have been faithful in the past and we know you go before us into this new year.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 like make somebody feel like they're crazy.
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Well, that too. That was a movie. Yes. It was a movie. You like toy with their brain so they think they're insane.
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So there has been so much going on in our country and unfortunately in what we would know as the evangelical church, you know, there is so much speaking out loud and often until somebody absolutely has to believe your truth.
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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, it doesn't mean that we should actually be listening to it.
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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, who had a 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.
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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
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I possibly be wrong? The post -modern movement and all of that.
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We are in the middle of a section that Pastor Jeff, you've called the trial of the all scots and this particular chapter 47 is just flat out going to put
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Babylon right in the spotlight. It's basically a chapter on Babylon.
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Stuck in the middle of it is verse four and it will come to play because if you capture verse four, it puts true light on the whole rest of the chapter.
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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, all right, you have truth, but around it is all of this falseness about this place called
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Babylon. Babylon. Tell me about Babylon. We're going to do a little bit of background history first.
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Tell me a little bit about Babylon. What do you know? About Babylon? It started from the
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Tower of Babel in Shammah. It actually started just before that, but you're really, really, really close.
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In Genesis 10, verses seven to 10, we go to Noah, we go to Cush in Nimrod and he sets up the town of Babel.
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That's where it actually starts, but what's going to happen is Babel is going to prosper and it's going to multiply and it's going to grow in size and in population and in self -esteem.
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Because of their self -esteem, what do they think they should do? Build a town and conquer the rest of the world.
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Well, conquer the rest of the world, but they're going to go even beyond that. They're going to build a tower up to heaven.
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Create a false religion. Well, there it is, a false religion. Absolutely. And so you go to Genesis 11, nine, you see
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God's reaction to what's going on. In fact, go to Genesis 11, if you would,
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Jeff, and start at verse one. Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.
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And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
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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.
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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.
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That's good. Now God is going to see what's going on. He's going to be distressed. But go down and read verse nine, please.
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Therefore its name was called Babel because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth.
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And from there, the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth. Okay. So this is, this is really the
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Genesis. You're right. The tower. But it does go back all the way to Genesis 10 with Nimrod.
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I love that name, Nimrod. It's appropriately named.
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But as we have, as we go to the tower and God, it's basically called confusion.
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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.
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All right. The city does continue to grow and to prosper and somewhere around 1830
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BC, it's becomes a very prominent. It has now successfully militarily attacked and conquered surrounding city states.
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And so they become stronger and stronger and bigger and bigger. And eventually the city of Babylon is noted for its glory.
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What are some of the things in the city of Babylon in its heyday? Yeah. Astrology.
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Okay. So we have practices of astrology. We have a lot. Yeah. One of the seven wonders of the world.
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Absolutely. One of the seven wonders of the world. I would be amazed to actually see what this was.
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They had a temple of Marduk, also called the Temple of Babel. It was idol worship.
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It was false worship. But apparently this would be the centerpiece of a city, which was, get this, on each side, 13 miles.
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13 miles on each side. The walls were double -walled.
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The total thickness of the double walls was 85 feet. One wall was 25 feet, the other wall was 23 feet, and there was a moat surrounding the city.
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Totally impenetrable. Totally self -sufficient. Powerful. They had the
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Temple of Marduk, hanging gardens. So what's going to happen, fast -forwarding in time, we get into the 8th century
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B .C. We have the Assyrians are in power, and they're going after, well, they've conquered the
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Northern Kingdom. In fact, the Northern Kingdom disappears. Those ten tribes are still called the
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Lost Ten Tribes. I got news for you. They won't be back when we get into Revelations, where all 12 tribes are there by name.
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But they could not conquer Jerusalem, thanks to one angel who killed 185 ,000 troops in one sitting.
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Babylon is then going to defeat Assyria. Jerusalem is going to go apostate.
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They're going to do false worship. The Shekinah Glory leaves the Temple, the gates are open.
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So Babylon is going to defeat Assyria, and then they're going to defeat Jerusalem. And Scripture talks to us about the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar.
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We go into Daniel. Eventually, the reign of Belshazzar. And we go back into Daniel, Chapter 5.
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Eventually, they will fall to Persia in roughly 539 B .C.
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And it's with Cyrus that the Jews are allowed to return. Brief history of the city of Jerusalem.
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Now, if we go into future, we go into prophecy, we go into Revelation.
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Rich, if you would get Revelation 17, just verse 5. And John, if you would get
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Revelation 18, just verse 2. In Revelation 14, there are judgments proclaimed on the world, including
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Babylon. So that tells me one of two things.
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Either the city of Babylon itself is actually restored, or it's metaphorically talking about Babylon, which eventually is going to represent the false religions of the world, the economic powers of the world.
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I think both are there. I think there is an actual city of Babylon, which will be judged, which will be destroyed.
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But then there's also these other things. The seventh bowl, which is in Revelation 16.
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God's wrath is specifically called out on worldly power. So now we go to 17, verse 5.
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This is the false religions. And this is what will be defeated by God, is those false religions.
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Babylon, Babylon the Great. And 18, verse 2, John. And he called out with a mighty voice, fall on Babylon the
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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.
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The picture that's going to be surrounding that verse in Revelation 18 is going to be the fall of the worldly powers and economies.
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God's total victory. This chapter here in Isaiah 47 is going to talk about Babylon and what's going to happen to Babylon.
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There are a couple of places where the future of Babylon is spoken of.
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Habakkuk is one of the greatest, where the prophet Habakkuk looks at the evilness, the wickedness that's going on in Judah.
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He says, God, aren't you even looking? He says, yeah, you know what, I think I am. I'm going to send Babylon.
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Well, Babylon was not the power at the time. At that time, Assyria was the power. But I'm going to send
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Babylon. Well, Babylon had existed, just not to the extent that they did.
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And the prophet says, oh my goodness, that's no good. But God had a reason for bringing
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Babylon to be. But here we are in the time of Isaiah.
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And at this particular time when Isaiah is writing, Babylon is not the kingdom.
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But they're written as if they're the majestic kingdom. God's prophetic expressions of things to come.
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What we're going to look at in a couple of steps in this judgment against Babylon, this particular version that I printed out said that the amelioration of Babylon, that's not a bad way to proclaim it when we read some of these things.
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Throughout the beginning of this chapter, there are a lot of statements about what Babylon thought of themselves.
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They're pretty good stuff. It's an inflated self -opinion. But then we're going to look in verse 4 and we're going to spend some time about the truth about God.
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You see, Babylon had this self -inflated opinion. But then there's the truth of God, which eventually we're going to go back through these verses and see how
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God is going to proclaim judgment against Babylon for everything they thought they were. And eventually we get into the folly of worldly wisdom and enchantments.
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So let's go ahead and do it. I'm going to ask, Bob, if you would read us, please, 1 through 11 in 47.
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Isaiah 47. Go down, sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon.
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Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Babylonians. No more will you be called tender or delicate.
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Take millstones and grind flour. Take off your veil. Lift up your skirts. Bury your legs and wade through the streams.
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Your nakedness will be exposed and your shame uncovered. I will take vengeance. I will spare no one.
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Our Redeemer, the Lord Almighty is His name, is the Holy One of Israel. Sit in silence.
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Go into darkness. Daughter of the Babylonians, no more will you be called queen of kingdoms.
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I was angry with my people and desecrated my inheritance. I gave them into your hand and you showed them no mercy.
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Even on the aged you laid a very heavy yoke. You said, I will continue forever, the eternal queen.
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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,
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I am and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children.
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Both of these will overtake you in a moment. On a single day, loss of children and widowhood.
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They will come upon you in full measure in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells.
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You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, no one sees me. Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself,
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I am and there is none besides me. Disaster will come upon you and you will not know how to conjure it away.
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A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom. A catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you.
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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.
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So starting at the very beginning in verse 1, Babylon perceives themselves as the virgin daughter, tender and delicate.
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And what we have here is a nation that finds themselves pure and pleasing and desirable and righteous.
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That's who they perceive themselves to be. It is ironic because that's not who they are.
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But they've established with so much success, they consider themselves to be the virgin daughter and to be tender and delicate.
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Verse 5, they actually call themselves, depends on which version you're reading, either the queen of Babylon or the mistress of kingdoms.
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The queen of kingdoms or the mistress of kingdoms. Or the lady.
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What are they saying about themselves with that little phrase? You think they're pretty?
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Okay, sure. Sure, why not? I think they think they're powerful.
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There is power in regards to saying you're on a good track. They think they're desirable.
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They think they are that personification of beauty, of something that everybody would want to have and to take hold of.
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That's power. So Sandy, you are absolutely right with that. Verse 7 takes that concept where it says that they are the mistress or the queen or the lady forever.
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And so these people have now been so self -validated, self -approving, they have all this high opinion of themselves.
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They're pure, they're beautiful, they're desired by everybody, they're sought after for everybody, and this is never going to come to an end because there ain't nobody that's going to stop us.
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Wrong. Yeah, yeah, you're right.
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Sunday I was talking about the final military campaign as Joshua led up against an alliance of kings in the north.
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They were grossly outnumbered and grossly outpowered because of horses and chariots. Of course, we know some trust in horses and chariots.
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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.
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And so they are not only all of these things, but it's going to last in perpetuity. They have no need to go anywhere else.
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And so now verse 8, how does this play out? It says that they are lovers of pleasures.
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So if you are all of these things, how do you respond to the desires of your heart?
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Go for it. Can you think of somebody that tried that and was disappointed?
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I'm sorry? I don't mean specifically, scripturally.
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Ecclesiastes. Vanity of vanity. It's all chasing after. I did not deny anything that my heart wanted.
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Whatever I wanted, I went for, and it turned out to be an empty... Vanity of vanity. Vanity, pulling of the empty web.
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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.
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Notice verse 8 too. In verse 8, she says, You say in your heart,
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I am, and there is no one else besides me. Oh my goodness. I think there's only one
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I. That's the next one. They have gotten so convinced of their status, that they would actually say,
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I am. They go with me? Yeah. They go with me? Yeah. And there is none besides me.
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They have developed a sense of perception of their own worth and supremacy over everything else.
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Any thought that there is a God or whatever. I go back to the tower, and when
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God came down, and he befuddled language, they were confused. And this is pretty much playing out right now.
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They're totally confused. They called themselves, the bad alligator of God, and God changed it to bad confusion.
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Yes, you're right. Wow. Yeah, that's well said. 8 continues on and says,
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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.
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They will never experience the loss of a child. That's how secure they are in their own.
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And then in verse 10. Jeff, read verse 10 for me. You felt secure in your wickedness.
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You said, no one sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray. And you said in your heart,
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I am, and there is no one besides me. Now, whether they're acknowledging that it is wickedness, and they say, so what?
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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.
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And according to this, they say, so what? That's my paraphrase. They say, no one will see me.
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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,
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I am Babylon, all right? Nobody's gonna judge me, I'm secure. And nobody really sees what
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I'm doing anyway. And it repeats that comment, you say in your own heart, ego amine.
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I am. Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
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Very well said. Very well said. To Babylon, there is no cause for them to withhold from evil.
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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.
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Now, this is Babylon. And I think we can take a look at, are we talking about Babylon between 1800
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B .C. and 600 something B .C. when
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Persia eventually defeats them? Or are we talking about the end times? I think it's both end.
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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.
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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.
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You know what, Babylon? It ain't all that. Karen, you kind of reacted to that earlier.
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So, Karen, I'm gonna ask if you would have Deuteronomy 7, it's on the second page, verses seven and eight, ready.
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Sandy, Psalm 34, if you would have that ready. Barb, 1 Samuel 17, if you would have that ready.
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I have no idea what that 4 to 46 means. That's a lot of reasons.
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We'll do 1 Samuel 17. 2 Chronicles, I obviously didn't proofread this one tight enough.
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2 Chronicles 18. Jeff, you got Psalm 71, and Rich, you've got 2
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Kings 19. I'm gonna read verse four one more time. Okay, I'm gonna start out at verse three, the last half.
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I will take advantage. Follow the pronouns. This is not Babylon. This is
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Yahweh. I will take vengeance, and I will spare no one.
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That's Yahweh. Our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, is His name, is the
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Holy One of Israel. There's some truths about God. The first one is that He is our
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Redeemer. Deuteronomy 7, do you have that, Karen? The Lord did not set
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His love upon you, nor chose you, because you were more in number than any people, for ye were the fewest of all people.
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But because the Lord loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn unto your fathers, hath the
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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.
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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
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Redeemer? It's purchasing us back from the role of sin. And that transitions
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Old Testament, New Testament, very well said. From an Old Testament perspective, what are they claiming?
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That He's their Redeemer. He will save them. From? Destruction.
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Sort of, yes. From where? Slavery. From where? Egypt. So the amount of slavery from Egypt.
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Let's go back into the history of what they would have had. They were in bondage in Egypt.
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Going back a few years before that, God told Abram, leave your land, I'm going to go to a land
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I'm telling you that I'm going to give you. Isaac, Jacob, we have the offering. Now we have
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Joseph going down. I'm re -preaching Sunday. But they do go back to the land.
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But it was God who brings them back to the land. But there is more in the Old Testament. Psalm 34,
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Sandy? The Lord redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.
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See, when we consider it, even in the Old Testament, the reality of God as the
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Redeemer, He does physically take them out of bondage, slavery in Egypt. He does protect them in that way.
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He does deliver the entire promised land into their hands. He does that. But the people still need a relationship with God.
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They don't need a land. They need a relationship with God. That kind of got broken in Genesis 3.
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Satan convinced Eve, and then Adam goes along. Did God really say that? It kind of got broken.
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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
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Redeemer. That's the Redeemer. And even back in Psalms, it talks about the soul of His servants.
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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.
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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?
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Their heart. Their heart. Just pure obedience doesn't do it.
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We know that from the beginning of Isaiah. Even your prayers, I don't listen because you don't do it with your heart.
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That's paraphrased. He is our Redeemer. He is also called the
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Lord of Hosts. Who or what is the
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Lord of Hosts? Heavenly armies. Heavenly armies, yes. Everything that is power, everything that is, 1
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Samuel 17, 4, do you have that part? Goliath stood and shouted to the rent of Israel.
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I'm sorry, that's wrong. A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp.
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He was over 9 feet tall. Keep on going to 6. 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.
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On his legs he wore bronze greaves and bronze javelin was slung on his back.
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His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod and its iron point weighed 600 shekels.
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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?
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And the Philistine says, who on earth are you? Again, who's paraphrasing? And David says that I come to you.
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Keep going, Bob. In the name of the Lord. Of hosts. I come to you in the name of the
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Lord of hosts. David has a battle. This is a real battle.
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He basically put Israel's existence on the line.
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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
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Philistines. So this is a real battle, but he goes out with full confidence that by going out to fight
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Goliath, who was a lot bigger than he was. A lot bigger.
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It would be like me trying to play basketball against Shaquille O 'Neal. It ain't going to work.
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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.
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The odds are on my side. 2 Chronicles 18. Then Micaiah continued.
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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.
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There's a battle of words going on between Micaiah and the king at that time.
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The king doesn't even want to listen to him, and Micaiah's got words to say. Micaiah says, you know what?
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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.
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That's who God is. Babylon, who thinks they're all that, as opposed to God, the
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Lord of hosts, who is all of 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
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Lord of hosts, but he is the Holy One of Israel. Jeff, what do you got?
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Psalm 71, 22. I will also praise you with the heart for your faithfulness,
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O my God. I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.
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And then give me 2 Kings, if you would. Whom have you reproached and blasphemed?
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Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted up your eyes on time?
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Against the Holy One of Israel. See, sin is against the Holy One of Israel.
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So this God that he's talking about, who is the redeemer, the Lord of hosts, he is absolute pure, absolute just.
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So whatever is going to be going on through him, with him, before him, has to stand against the measure of holiness.
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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
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God, the odds are on his side, once again. Verse 6, it talks about what
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God has done. What did he give Babylon in verse 6?
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And why? Given them into your hand. Given the Israelites into his hand.
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He gave the Israelites into the hands of Babylon. God is sovereign. It wasn't
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Babylon who did it. It was God who ordained it. Why did he give the
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Israelites into the hands of the Babylonians? To punish them. That's why
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Habakkuk complained. Why did he give the Israelites to someone who's worse? Absolutely, you're right. But God knew what was going on.
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But what he's got to say against them in verse 3, I will take vengeance,
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I will spare no one. God is really upset because it goes on here and it talks about that they abused even what
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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.
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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
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God chooses to do to them. In verse 1, we have the virgin daughter who is tender and delicate and all this other kind of stuff.
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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...
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You're going to sit on the ground, no throne for you. The esteemed position that you think you have is not deserved.
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You will not sit on that throne. In verse 2, it says, take up the millstone, grind the flour.
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The picture here, instead of glory and having everything they want, they're going to work for it.
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They are now going to be put into the position of labor. They're going to be put into the position of having to sweat by their brow.
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And then in verse 3, it says, your nakedness is uncovered and disgraced. Instead of being so beautiful and desired by all, they are going to be exposed.
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They are going to be dishonored. This is what God is going to do to them.
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And then in verse 5, it says, you're no more called the queen of kingdoms. Now this is the picture of reality that they didn't deserve it in the first place.
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They thought they were that, but in God's providence, 539, they're going to fall to the
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Persians. And you can read in Daniel how things are going to unfold that way.
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But they're no longer. Remember they said that I am forever. I am the mistress of all kingdoms forever.
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And he says, no, no, you're not. I'm going to take vengeance. It's not going to last.
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Verse 6, no mercy by God. I was angry with my people.
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I gave them into your hand. You showed no mercy on the aged. You said,
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I will be, therefore, hear this, lovers of pleasure who sit.
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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.
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Disaster shall fall upon you, which you will be able to atone. The ruin shall come upon you suddenly, of which you know nothing.
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There's nothing that they have that they could have to save them. Now the folly of what
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Babylon has relied on can be identified in a couple of ways.
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One of them is their own wisdom and knowledge. They have relied on that. They've got the
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Tower of Marduk. They would rely on their idols and their gods. They would rely on divination.
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They would rely on those who could read the stars. They would rely on sorcery.
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Jeff, you call 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.
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So Bob, if you, John, if you would read 9 through 15 for us, please.
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In 47? Yes. These two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day.
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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.
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You felt secure in your wickedness. You said, no one sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray.
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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.
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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.
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Stand fast in your enchantments and your many sorceries, with which you have labored from your youth.
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Perhaps you may be able to succeed. Perhaps you may inspire terror. You are weary with your many counsels.
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Let them stand forth and save you. Those who divine the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who add the new moons, make known what shall come upon you.
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Behold, they are like stubble. The fire consumes them. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame.
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No coal for warming oneself is this. No fire to sit before.
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Such to you are those with whom you have labored, who have done business with you from your youth.
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They wander about, each in his own direction. There is no one to save you.
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Babylon, very reflective of the world today, finds comfort, finds assurance in things that they can control, as long as it's not
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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.
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And he's, one at a time, going to knock these down. He says, you feel secure in your wickedness.
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No one sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge have led you astray.
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He's, in placing a measure, he's placing a grade on their wisdom and their knowledge.
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Why is their wisdom and knowledge inadequate? Because it's false.
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It's based on astronomy and astrology. Yeah, we're going to get to that. It's based on, we can put a list of everything that it's based on.
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But what's it not based on? God. It's not based on God. There is nothing intrinsically evil, by the way, with knowledge.
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My daughter gave me a t -shirt for Christmas this year. It's one of my favorites now.
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It says, retired engineer. Just like a real engineer.
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Just a lot more happy. 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.
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Stan stopped in this morning while we were having our time together. We were having a devotion going into prayer.
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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.
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Now, knowledge is not a bad thing. Knowing, spending time with Jay and talking about what's going to happen with the new building.
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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.
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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.
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It's got to be from God's grace and through His sovereign revelation.
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And Jeff, even though you know all these names, and I asked you about a new translation because I figured you already knew it.
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Tree of Life translation. I've never heard of that. I got them on me. I have Tree of Life out in the car.
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Is it good? Yeah, it's written by Jewish scholars to appeal to Jewish people.
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When they come across the name Jesus, they're like, yes you are. So it's messianic.
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It's messianic. Now this is good information, but don't base your theology, that information base your theology on God.
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What they've done is that they've chosen to make their wisdom and their knowledge their leadstone, and it's only going to lead them astray.
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It says you are not secure because of your charms. And I look at that to say they're hopeless and helpless to get themselves out of trouble.
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They can't argue their way out of a problem. There's a very, very silly
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Christmas movie called Jingle All the Way. I'm not seeing a whole lot of people that say they've seen it.
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Well, we had a lot of kids in the house. So, sure scene. Arnold Schwarzenegger is having a problem and his neighbor is willing to step in and save Arnold Schwarzenegger's family for him.
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Is that Jingle All the Way or something? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. See, now he has seen it.
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And Ted tells Arnold, you can't press your way out of this one. Okay, for Babylon, whatever trials, whatever wiles that they have, they're not going to get them out of trouble.
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It says that you think you're protected by your sorceries and enchantments and you'll look for counsel at those who gaze at stars.
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And it's not going to get it for you because in verse 14, it says they're like stubble that's consumed in the fire.
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And it says they are unable to save you. That passage in verse 13, let now the astrologers and stargazers and monthly prognosticate, it reminds me of people today looking at a paper for their astrology.
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Yes, absolutely. Now, absolutely, there are ways or having your, oh my goodness, was it, was it one of the first ladies had a, somebody that could read or do some sort of readings for her?
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Yeah, a psalm reading. Yeah, it's like, this is not going to work because at the end of it, it says they wander about each in their own direction.
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There is no one to save you unless you go into verse four, our Redeemer, the
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Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel. Babylon was at one time a very proud city.
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One of the seven wonders of the world, the hanging gardens. But when they were called on and they were given something by God to do and they went too far and they thought they were all that, by the sovereignty of God they could not stand up against them.
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The Persians took them down. There is a Babylon yet to come. We look at what's going on and we can be dismayed.
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I was at my first school board meeting yesterday and realizing that there's a lot of issues that are going to be going on out there.
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We can be concerned about the elections, we can be concerned about a lot of stuff, but it's only going to get worse at the time of the tribulation.
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Now, the church may have been raptured by the time all that happens. I tend to think that the church will be raptured at least by the time those things in Revelation because we would at least be in the second half of it.
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Whether we're out in the beginning, the middle, whatever. Here's the thing. Babylon, reflective, is it going to be a city, but it's going to be reflective of false religion, the power of the world, and we know the end of the story.
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God wins. Amen. We're going to close with that. So, Heavenly Father, thank you so much for who you are and what comfort we find in knowing that you are the
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Holy One of Israel, the Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is your name. We proclaim that you are the one true
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God. We look not to sorcery and enchantment and charms and councils and astrology and stars and things like that.
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Lord, we pray for those who have been finding comfort in those things that they would turn away from those idols because they are empty and meaningless and ultimately occultic and belong to the devil.
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So we pray, Lord, that any of that dabble in those things would be delivered and that we would put our hope entirely in you, the