Isaiah Lesson 67

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Isaiah: Prophet of the Suffering Servant Lesson 67: Isaiah 51:1-16 Pastors Jeff Kliewer and John Lasken

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Isaiah 51, we continue on with the journey that the prophet, that God is taking us through.
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As we get into it, it starts out by saying, listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the
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Lord. That's going to be an important concept, but as we get into the rest of this 16 verse section, it's clearly talking about promises foretelling of how
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God is going to care for and comfort his remnant children. A large part of knowing that God's care for, and as he says it, it's going to come to be, is recognizing what he has done in the past.
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I've been spending this week on Psalm 105. It starts out in Psalm 105, in the beginning,
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O give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people, and it's going to go on there for many verses.
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He's going to talk about and recapture the things of the people. I know where we were.
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We were talking in Joshua 1, how the people are encouraged to remind their next generations.
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You had some great thoughts. Is it coming to mind yet? Not yet. Okay. Only be strong and very courageous.
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Rich, I'm going to ask you to get to Psalm 105, and I'm going to have you read, okay, I'm going to have you read verses 7 and 8.
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What's going to happen throughout this psalm is he's basically going to encourage the people,
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I want you to remember what I have promised you, and then I want you to remember how it has come to be.
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He's going to talk about Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the covenants, and he's going to talk about you became few in number, and there was a famine in land, and Joseph got sold in slavery, and you went down to Egypt, and you became very fruitful, but then you became in slavery, and so I sent
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Moses and Aaron, and Moses performed all these signs, and it's going to talk about all the plagues.
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It's just going to rehearse all of these things. The darkness, the water and the blood, the fish die, the frogs, the swarms of flies, hail, fiery lightning bolts, locusts, and I struck the firstborn, and then
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I brought Israel out, and he reminds them of all of what he has done for them, and how in the desert there was a cloud by day, and there was light by night, and the quail, and the manna that was given at night, and the water that crushed forth, and he says in verse 42, for he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham his servant, so he brought his people out with joy.
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One of the things that I found interesting in that little phrase there in verse 43, he brought out his people with joy, is applying the concept of joy could be read, he with joy brought his people out, or it could be read that he brought his people out that they could have joy.
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Either one of them is really cool, because God delights in his people, but he does want to rehearse for his people, and so Psalm 105 is a rehearsal of everything that God has done.
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Give me verses 7 and 8 please, Rich. Verses 7 and 8, Psalm 105. He is the
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Lord our God. His judgments are in all the earth.
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He remembers his covenant forever. The work which he commanded for a thousand generations.
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He remembers his covenant. So now we're gonna be getting into Isaiah 51, and one of the things that's really important to do, and it was important for the nation of Israel, it was given to Joshua when they were, it should have been, before they even crossed into the promised land, and he told them to remind your people the next generation you remember what you said.
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Yeah, we were talking about how we should write it on our hands, on our foreheads, on our doorposts, talk about it in the morning, talk about it at noon, talk about it at night, that we have to remember his faithfulness so we can trust him for tomorrow.
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Absolutely. Psalm 51 is going to be an encouragement. It's going to talk about promises of blessings that God has for his remnant, then it's going to talk encouraging the remnant to remember that God's law is given and it prevails over all.
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Over all. Isaiah 51. Thank you. What did I say? Psalm. All right. Isaiah 51, thank you.
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If that's the only time I do that today, we're doing good. And then there is a prayer, as is expressed, that God would rise and he would actually ransom his remnant, and then there's a reality that the remnant is comforted because of the promise of God's power.
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Would you give us a word of prayer as we get started? Yes. So father, thank you so much that we have the privilege to open the text and let it be before us and Lord, we pray that your
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Holy Spirit would let this word be in us, that your word would be in us and that we would love your word, that we remember what you have said, that it would help us to trust you and that we would entrust our future to you.
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So Lord, I pray for my brother, John, that you would help him in teaching Isaiah 51 and I pray for all of us that we would have open hearts to hear your word in Jesus name.
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Amen. Give me just verse one. Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the
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Lord, look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug.
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Alright, this is going to be about the remnant. Much of Isaiah has been written to the people of Judah in large.
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I mean, we get to the very beginning of the book, I grow weary of your empty sacrifices and even when you pray because your heart is not there,
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I won't listen. Much of what is there is written to the people in large to convince them of how they have turned away from God.
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Much of the book is written prophetically pronouncing the promise of the coming
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Messiah. Chapter 53 is just a few weeks away. But then this section here has a unique application to something that we call the remnant.
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What or who is the remnant? Now remember, at this time of writing, the nation hasn't gone into captivity.
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This concept of the remnant may not make sense. But who or what is the remnant of Israel?
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It's those who still believe. There are many Israelites who say they follow
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God, but there's only a remnant that actually really worship Him in truth. You are absolutely so right.
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And it says here, listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and you who seek the
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Lord. There is a discriminator in this passage, that there is a message given for those who hold true.
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Deuteronomy 28 has in the front half, for those of you who follow the word, there are these blessings.
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But if you don't follow the word, there are these curses, starting in verse 15. Micah 112 actually says that he is going to assemble a remnant.
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Now prophetically speaking, we do know the nation goes into captivity. And we do know that under 70 years later, with the leadership of Ezra and then
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Nehemiah, God works in the heart of Cyrus, and the people are allowed to return.
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They don't all return, but the people are allowed to return. This concept of a remnant is very much an end times prophecy.
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And there is a reality that the nation of Israel, we are in what's called now the parentheses, the break between the 69th and 70th week of Daniel, the church age.
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And he has, in his economy, he is now using the church as his lamp, as his light.
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It was that under the covenant with Abram, he would be a light.
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They would be the bearer of the word. Through him, all nations would be blessed.
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But in Micah 212, he talks about, I will assemble a remnant.
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John, I'm going to ask you if you would get Isaiah 10 ready. Jeremiah 23,
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Bob, I'm going to ask if you would get that ready. I'll speak on Obadiah. And Romans 11,
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Josh, we have a new visitor with us, Josh. If you can see that, Romans 11, 1 to 5, if you would have that ready.
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There is a promise from God to not abandon his people. And today, it seems like this church age is just going on and on forever.
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The reality that he is going to bring an end to all things. I don't think it's hard to think that we are in what's known as the birth pangs.
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There would be wars and pestilence and earthquakes. And there would be those who speak out as little antichrists.
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It's not hard to think that we are in this phase of birth pangs. We may not be. We may just be in another cycle.
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And we pray for the third great awakening here in our country for a great revival. How awesome would that be to be part of that?
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That being said, the nation of Israel does not seem to be the standard bearer at this point in time.
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So much so that there is a large theology that replaces Israel with the church.
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In the end times. We do not believe that. We believe that God's promise does not change.
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It is his call. They are his people. And there will be a remnant. Isaiah 10, do you have that ready,
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John? The remnant of Israel will return. In that day, the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the
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Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty
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God. For though your people, Israel, be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return.
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Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. For the
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Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed in the midst of all the earth. There cannot be a partial fulfillment of this for it to be completely fulfilled.
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This is a promise, and it says, given to Jacob. That, oh by the way, is before the time of Rehoboam and Jeroboam and the dividing of the northern kingdom from the southern kingdom.
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This is a promise given to Jacob through the entirety of the people. And they are the sands of the sea.
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Only a remnant is going to survive. This, I believe, has to include the northern ten tribes for it to actually be brought to fulfillment.
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It says in Obadiah 17, and it talks about on Mount Zion, I will gather my people.
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Jeremiah 23, I gave that to you. Yes, please. Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture, declares the
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Lord. Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people.
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Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done, declares the
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Lord. I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture where they will be fruitful and increase in number.
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We do know that God does judge Babylon. But we do know that Babylon isn't gone.
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They're going to be back when we get to the end of time. So the final judgment on Babylon, as an opposition to God and peoples, and as symbolic of the one world religion, the one world economy, that's all in Revelation.
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There's fulfillment yet to come. He is going to bring his remnant back.
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In Romans 9, it rehearses that though you're the sands of the sea, a remnant will be saved, and this is the
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Lord's doing. And then Romans 11. Who did I give that to, Josh?
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I say then, has God cast away his people? Certainly not. For I also am an
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Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the child of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew.
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Or do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying,
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Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars. And I alone am left, and they seek my life.
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But what does the divine response say to him? I have reserved for myself 7 ,000 men who have not bowed to the knee of Baal.
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Even so, then, at this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. This is written by Paul.
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Even so, at this time, there is a remnant kept by God according to his grace.
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This remnant will be restored, and there are some amazing promises here. I wanted to highlight some important concepts about the remnant, first of all.
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It is the bloodline of God's people. The remnant, and you mentioned we are the remnant, and we are as we're grafted in.
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But as included here in this, the remnant that he talks about are the bloodline of Israel.
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Remnants. The second thing that has to be understood is that these are people who receive the covenant promise from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
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That God says, I will remain faithful to my covenant. That being said,
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God's people are punished because of their unfaithfulness. They go into captivity, and at this point in time, because they rejected their
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Messiah, there is a new covenant, and the fulfillment of the promise that all nations would be blessed.
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So there is punishment. That being said, it is God who remembers and is faithful in his love and mercy.
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He is going to identify the remnant based on those who seek after God, and those who desire righteousness.
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That's really what it says here in Isaiah 51 .1. Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the
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Lord. Now this remnant has a purpose.
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And I do believe that if you go into the end time teaching, that this remnant is called for a special service during the end times.
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If you go into Revelation 7, 1 -4, you have listed 12 ,000 from all 12 tribes, including the 10 northern tribes.
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12 ,000 from every 10 and 12 who are called and who are sealed. It can be understood, perhaps, that the two witnesses are part of these.
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They may be special, but Zechariah 8,
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Ivan, if you would get Zechariah 8, 20 -23, These 144 ,000 are going to be there as a special witness and testimony to the rest of the world during the great tribulation.
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And they're going to have the opportunity to be a blessing in a special way. If you have it, go ahead and read it.
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It says, Thus says the Lord of Hosts, It will yet be that people will come, even the inhabitants of many cities.
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The inhabitants of one will go to another, saying, Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the
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Lord and seek the Lord of Hosts. I will also go, so many people and mighty nations will come to seek the
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Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the Lord.
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Thus says the Lord of Hosts, In those days, ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a
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Jew, saying, Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. Isn't that beautiful?
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In this horrific time of the tribulation, God will be stirring within the hearts of people, recognizing that God is
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God. He could have ended things immediately at the beginning of the tribulation, but he does give seven years.
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And it says there that ten men will grab the hem of one Jew and say, Take us to Jerusalem, take me to your leader.
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These are those 144 ,000. This is his remnant that he's going to bring in to special ministry and special blessings to creation, according to his saying.
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Jeff, give me verses one to three this time, please. Okay. And as you do with Deuteronomy 6, Joyce, Sandy, Deuteronomy 7,
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I'll just talk to Nehemiah. And back over here, Rich, if you get
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Nehemiah 7. Nehemiah 7 for me. I'll just talk to Genesis 12. Go ahead. One to three.
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All right. Isaiah 51, one to three. Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the
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Lord. Look to the rock from which you were hewn and the quarry from which you were dug.
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Look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who bore you. For he has but one when
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I called him. He was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him.
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For the Lord comforts Zion. He comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the
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Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.
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Listen to me. Look to me, the rock. Look to me, Abraham and Sarah.
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Listen to me is a rather interesting word, and it starts out
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Deuteronomy 6, four to nine. Go ahead.
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Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the
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Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
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You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise.
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You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
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You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. And that passage is known as the
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Shema of Israel. What is the impact of that word there in the
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Shema? What is the impact of it? Hear. Hear. That's excellent.
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He's telling you, I want you to hear, I want you to look, I want you to remember, I want you to pay attention to the words that are given to you right now.
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And there he has it at the beginning of this right here. Shema. Shema.
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You who pursue righteousness. You who seek the Lord. Now look to the rock. Look to me. Look to the fact that I have established you as a people.
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Look to Abram and Sarah, your ancestors, you call them your forefathers. Look to them.
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Shema. In Nehemiah, when the people have come out now in the second return from captivity, the priests stand up and they proclaim the history of their faith.
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And much of what is said here, they proclaim to them so that the people have the recollection, they have an understanding of what
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God has already done for them. These are the people that God wants.
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Deuteronomy 7. Me. Okay, yes. For you are a holy people to the
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Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
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The Lord did not set his love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples for you were the fewest of all peoples.
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But because the Lord loved you, kept the oath which he swore to your forefathers, the
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Lord bought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
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We have a people, and at this point in time we are focusing on the remnants, and at the basis of all of it they are
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God's chosen holy people. That's their privilege is that they are chosen.
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Not because of what they are, but it clearly says over and over again, but because of God's love.
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Genesis 12 is going to give the I wills, I wills, the promises given to Abraham.
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And just for time, we'll hold off on Nehemiah 9. God who chose Abraham promises to fulfill them.
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And so he's telling these people, look to Abraham and look to Sarah. As I bless them, as I promise to them,
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I will be there for you. In verse 3 it says the Lord comforts
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Zion. Barbara, I'm going to ask if you would get Acts 2 ready.
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Acts 2 is actually a recitation of Psalm 16, verses 7 through 11.
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It's the reality of the joy and the worship, and the reality of just comfort, coming knowing of God's promise, and having a joy in God.
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If you've got 2, verses 25 to 28, please. My fingers work to turn these pages.
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Sure. Now, at the end of verse 3 here, it's going to say that he's going to make the wastelands like Eden.
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He's going to make the deserts like the Garden of the Lord. We've already heard this phraseology already in Isaiah.
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It's a little bit, but it will be fulfilled. It will be fulfilled in the millennial reign.
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It says the joy and gladness will be found in her. I don't think that there is really joy and gladness yet in the
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Jewish people. But there is a time where his remnant are going to experience the gardens, just like Eden, and they will have this joy and the gladness.
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Their Thanksgiving is going to be filled with a song of joy. This is what's coming for the remnant.
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Do you have that passage? Yes. David said about him, I saw the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand.
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I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices. My body also will live in hope because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let the
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Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the path of life. You will fill me with joy in your presence.
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Can you see that picture of that? I'm not talking about the circumstances you're in, but I'm talking about having a vision of God on His throne.
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I'm having a vision about a reality that this is the God of promised covenants. This is my hope.
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And so, therefore, my joy is fulfilled. This is what he is giving to the remnant.
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He is encouraging them to understand the future hope that they have and will always have.
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Verses 4 -8. Sandy, you're going to get Romans. I'm sorry, not Sandy. Carol, you're going to get
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Romans 7 -12. Now, Rich, you've got Psalm 19.
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And I will talk to the other ones there. So give me verses 4 -8, please. All right,
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Isaiah 51, 4 -8. Give attention to me, my people.
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Stop. Okay. I do this. I love to do this. This is not
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Shema. He starts out this passage in verse 1. Listen to me.
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Shema. This is a different word that he has here. It's keshav.
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And it's not used very often. It will show up in Proverbs 4, 20 -21.
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This is pay close attention. This is an emphatic
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Shema. This is what I've got to say. I want your ears really perked up. I want you to really give me your full attention to what
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I have to say now. Okay, go ahead. Okay. Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation.
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For a law will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples. My righteousness draws near.
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My salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples. The coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait.
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Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath. For the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner.
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But my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed.
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Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law.
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Fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilements. For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool.
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But my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations. Oh man, I love this.
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This is a projection of what's going to happen to the world, and what is the world going to be brought under?
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The law of God. This is a promise to this remnant. Okay, we did see it.
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Babylon was judged by God, and we do see that happening, but now we're in this realm, this church age.
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Yeah, I got news for you. I think I mentioned it last week. We know the end of the book. God wins, but I got news for you.
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On every page of the book, God wins, because he can't be defeated. It says here,
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I want you to becashah. I want you to pay close attention to what I have.
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And this is a message now given to his remnant to understand what's going to happen to the rest of the world.
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Okay, so this is now a proclamation of what's going to happen to the rest of the world, so that the remnant will know before it happens that God said it will happen.
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He says, the law is going to go out from me. You know, Pastor Jeff has been talking a lot lately about how the world is just ignoring.
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They just have a way of ignoring and setting up their own standards of righteousness. Well, it's going to last for a while.
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For a little while. It doesn't satisfy. It says here that the law is going to come out from me, and he is going to set up justice for a light to the peoples.
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This meaning to the peoples, not you, Jews, and not you, remnant.
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This is the rest of humanity that the truth and the reality of God's law is going to be unstoppable.
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Matthew 5 talks about a light on a city cannot be hid. Don't put your light under a bowl, but put it out and it gives light to everyone in the house.
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When the light of God shines, nothing can stop that light of God, and it says here,
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I will set my justice to the peoples. They may think that they're not under the light, but they are.
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It says my righteousness is at hand, and my salvation goes out.
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This picture is so awesome. My arm will judge the people. That's a picture of the power of God, the sovereign power of God that the world cannot stand up against.
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It says the coast lands hold for me. This is a picture of the islands and the hithers and the yonders. The world is going to know that there is a
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God. I think we read in Zechariah that at that time, 10 people are going to grab the hem of one
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Jew and say, take me to your leader. The world will see. And then he goes on and he says,
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I want you to do something for me. I want you to look at the heavens. And now
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I want you to look at the earth. Pretty awesome stuff. And you've got your confidence based on your science and your computers, and you've got your confidence based on what you believe you can touch and feel and prove.
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He says, take a look at them. What's going to happen to them? Decay. Yeah.
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Guess what? The heavens will go up like smoke, and the earth is going to wear out like a garment. This is what you think you're putting your trust in.
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And he's telling this to the peoples of the world. Go ahead and look at what's out there. It isn't going to last.
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Don't put your hopes in there. They who dwell in it will die in like manner.
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But, I love again when you see that word there, my salvation will be forever.
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My righteousness will never be dismayed, defeated, or decided.
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This is God promising to the remnant. His law prevails over all people, over all creations.
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Romans 7, 12, who's got that? Go ahead. But still the law itself is holy and right and good.
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His law is being attacked as being irrelevant today.
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There was an episode of a show that Sandy and I, I confess we like those shows sometimes.
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The West Wing. Oh, yeah. President Jeb Bartlett attacks this conservative person who is standing against homosexuality because it says in the
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Bible. And he says, but what about in the Bible where it says if your wife does such and such you should stone her.
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And he attacks the law as being irrelevant and insignificant and obsolete.
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He doesn't get it. He doesn't get it. Pastor Jeff, you kind of highlighted there are variations of the law.
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Do you want to highlight that? Well, there's some things that are fulfilled in Christ. As in like the
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Sabbath, He is our rest. The dietary laws are complete in Him. The things that distinctly marked
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Israel under the theocracy that they were in covenant with in the Old Testament were completed in Christ, not abolished, but fulfilled in Him in His death, burial, resurrection.
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But the morality of the law, the ethics of what's right and wrong with sexual ethics and all manner of not stealing and all of these things are eternal because they derive from just the natural law of the universe as God has made things to be.
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So they don't change. They don't change. And for time, I'm just going to talk. I'll get back to you for another one.
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Psalm 19, the law of the Lord is perfect. It is right. It is pure. It is desirable.
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And then Jesus in actually addressing this question in Matthew 5, 17 to 18, I have not come to abolish the law.
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I have come to fulfill it. Until everything passes away, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen by any means will disappear through the law until everything is fulfilled.
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The law stands. It's not the dietary law, and it's not these other things.
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It is the law of God, the Ten Commandments, identified by the greatest love of the
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Lord, your God, your heart, your soul, your mind, second like it, love your neighbor as yourself. This law does not go away, and His law will go out into all the peoples, and it will go out as a light to all peoples, and many are going to respond to it.
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Ten will hold the helm of one Jew and say, please take me because yours is true. Now, if you think you don't need to worry about this, look at your heavens and earth.
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Boom, they're gone, but my righteousness lasts forever. Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law.
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Don't fear the man. Don't fear the reproach of man. They're going to go away.
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They're going to all go away. Don't be afraid of man because my righteousness is forever, my salvation to all generations.
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Give me verses 9 through 11, please. Exodus, I better just talk to these, but go ahead.
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Okay. Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord. Awake as in days of old.
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Okay, now, I apologize. We have to put perspective again here. This is now pleading to God.
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This is now a prayer pleading to God. Wake up, put on your strength, arm of the
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Lord. This is now a prayer beseeching God's action. Go ahead and start it again.
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Okay, awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord. Awake as in days of old, the generations of long ago.
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Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon? Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?
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And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing. Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads.
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They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
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This is an amazing prayer of confidence in God. They're saying at the time, this should be the remnant saying,
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God, awake, we need your arm. We need your power. We need your power right now. Please, please, it's time, awake as in days old.
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I think of what it must have felt like for Daniel in captivity to be reading in the scroll and saying one, two, 60, 61, 60, 70.
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Ooh, I think I know what I'm supposed to do right now. Because he said after 70 years,
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I need to pray. God, now is the time. And he answered that prayer. The nation of Israel, the remnant calling to God, wake up, wake up, please.
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Wasn't you who cut Rahab in pieces? By the way, this is not Rahab the harlot of Jerusalem.
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This is a metaphor for Egypt. This is a metaphor for Egypt. And you're gonna get that out of Isaiah 30, verses six and seven.
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As the nation will go down through the Negev and they would go down, Rahab is Egypt. And so he's saying, you're the one who cut
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Egypt down. We didn't do that. You're the one who cut it down. You dried up the sea for us.
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We were complaining, we're dead. And he goes, and the sea was dried up and they went through it.
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Pharaoh drops, comes through them and they don't make it. I was in the Navy and we went through the
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Red Sea. We went through the Suez Canal, through the Red Sea, down into the Indian Ocean. And I was on watch in the mid watch one night.
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And I said, guys, I can't tell you exactly where. But somewhere we passed over Pharaoh's chariots.
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John, archeologists think they found chariot that was covered with... Yeah. Okay.
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Yeah, covered with reef. Yeah. I mean, I got news for you. This all happened. And the ransom of the
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Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing. Everlasting joy shall be on their heads.
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This prayer saying, I got it. This is it. This is time when we want your... Because we recognize, we acknowledge, we rejoice in everything that you did before.
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And now we know with confidence, the ransom of the Lord shall return.
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Verses 12 through 16. I, I am he who comforts you. You, who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass and have forgotten the
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Lord your maker who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. And you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor when he sets himself to destroy.
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And where is the wrath of the oppressor? He who is bowed down shall speedily be released.
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He shall not die and go down to the pit. Neither shall his bread be lacking. I am the
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Lord your God who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar. The Lord of hosts is his name.
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And I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand, establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth and saying to Zion, you are my people.
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Oh my goodness. You are my people. This is the promise to the remnant. I, I am he who comforts you.
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That is the promise. You don't need to be afraid of man. Man dies. Don't be afraid of man.
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The son of man is like grass and grass withers and flower fades. Isaiah 40 verses 8.
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They may have forgotten the Lord, but I am still here. Where is the wrath of the oppressor?
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It's meaningless. It means nothing. Psalm 144, 4.
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It says man is as a breath and as dazer as a fleeting shadow. Absolutely. It says
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I am the Lord your God in verse 15 who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar.
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The Lord of hosts is his name. He establishes truth and he has carried through us truth.
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Rehearse the truth. Go to Psalm 105 and read the truth and know that, that he is, he is he.
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We're going to close this in Hosea. Now, Rich, you're going to go to chapter 1. Hosea?
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Yeah, Hosea 1. You're going to first do 6. And eventually, John, you're going to get Hosea 2 in verse 21.
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Rich, I'm going to have you read a couple of verses out of chapter 1 in Hosea. Okay. Now, setting the stage, many of the prophets proclaim the unfaithfulness of Israel.
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And they talk about how unfaithfully they call them a prostitute. Many of them describe the meaningless and the empty worship and how
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God will not, will not honor that kind of worship. And Hosea has an interesting change of perspective which shows up at the end of this where he says, laying the foundation of the earth and saying to Zion, you are my people.
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Now, let's go into Hosea 1 .6. Chapter 1, verse 6.
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Oh, just 1 .6. Yes. And she conceived again and bore a daughter.
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And God said to him, call her name Lo -Ruhamah.
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For I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away.
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Lo -Ruhamah. No longer loved. Now give me verses 8 and 9.
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Verses 8 and 9. Now, when she had weaned Lo -Ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son.
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And God said, call his name Lo -Ami. For you are not my people and I will not be your
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God. Lo -Ruhamah, no longer loved. Lo -Ami, no longer my people.
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Give me chapter 2, verse 1. Chapter 2, verse 1. Okay. Say to your brethren, my people and your sisters, mercy is shown.
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Okay. Now we're going to see how God's care for his remnant changes
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Lo -Ruhamah and changes Lo -Ami.
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And again, going back into verse 16 of Isaiah 51, saying to Zion, you are my people.
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Lo -Ami. The low is gone. Now give me,
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John, if you would, Isaiah 2, verses 21 to 23. And in that day
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I will answer, declares the Lord. I apologize. I can do this again. In that day.
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In that day. This is a prophetic utterance. Okay, now go ahead and start over again. And in that day
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I will answer, declares the Lord. I will answer the heavens. And they shall answer the earth.
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And the earth shall answer the green, the wine and the oil. And they shall answer
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Jezreel. And I will sow her for myself in the land. Okay, I apologize again.
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Do you see the picture? The wastelands become like the Garden of Eden. It's like the gardens of old.
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Okay, go ahead. And I will have mercy on no mercy. And I will say to not my people, you are my people.
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And he shall say, you are my God. And what we have here is, I will say to lo
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Ruhamah, Ruhamah. And I will say to lo Ami, Ami.
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In that day, he's going to restore the wastelands like a garden. And his mercy, based on his mercy, what was lo
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Ruhamah, lo Ami is now Ami. We are now his people, laying the foundations of the earth and saying to Zion, you are my people.
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The promise to the remnant. Do you want to close us in prayer? Yes. Oh Lord, thank you so much that you're the
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God who saves, that you had mercy on undeserving people who were not your people at all.
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We were Gentiles. We were without God and without hope in the world. And yet you grafted us in and you have said even to us that you have mercy on whom you have mercy.
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You've included us in that and you have called us your people. Thank you, Lord, for saving us.
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It's all of your grace, all of your mercy. Thank you, Lord, that you're not done with your people Israel, but there will be a day when you gather them back into the land in Jerusalem and you yourself put your foot on the
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Mount of Olives, Jesus, and it splits from north to south and you reign for a thousand years here on earth.
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We look forward to that day. We know it's coming soon. Lord, we thank you for these great words of encouragement that we could look to you and remain faithful.
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We know that there are 7 ,000 that have not bowed the knee to Baal. Lord, we pray that we would be found among the remnant as we wait for you.