Of Ships and Tents

Silicon Valley Reformed Baptist Church

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Please stand when you have that for the reading of God's Word Now go ahead and say that this passage

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I find hard to break up. So After I sent information for the bulletin, I decided we'll only go through halfway through verse 23.

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So We'll just be looking at those verses and we'll save What it says about pray and spoil for next time

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Isaiah 33 beginning in verse 20 behold Zion the city of our appointed feasts your eyes will see

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Jerusalem an untroubled habitation an Immovable tent whose stakes will never be plucked up nor will any of its cords be broken but there the

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Lord and Majesty will be for us a place of Broad rivers and streams or no galley with oars can go nor majestic ship can pass

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For the Lord is our judge. The Lord is our lawgiver. The Lord is our King. He will save us

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Your cords hang loose. They cannot hold the mast firm in its place or keep the sails spread out

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Then pray and spoil in abundance will be divided Even the lame will take the prey and no inhabitant will say

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I am sick The people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity You may be seated dear

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Heavenly Father We thank you for this passage here in Isaiah and the promises it gives us we thank you for your majesty for your promises of stability and salvation

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Jesus name we pray. Amen May seem sometimes in life that it feels like the only thing that is certain is uncertainty and The only thing that is stable is instability.

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I don't know how often you feel like that feels often the case for me But the truth is that God's Kingdom the kingdom that he has founded in his church is a stable one

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It is one that is described here as being a tent whose cords cannot be broken

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As we remind ourselves of this truth and as we look to this truth the way that Isaiah presents it here to us

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It should give us much cause for For assurance much cause for security much cause for peace, even though the world is

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Unstable even though the situation around us may seem uncertain Can give us reason for peace

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That we know that things are certain in the eyes of the Lord and that his kingdom is a stable kingdom

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No matter how it may appear to us in our own eyes of flesh beginning here in verse 20 says behold

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Zion the city of our appointed feast Zion is a city where the temple exists

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Zion is the city where the Feast would happen the the religious feast that would happen several times a year and all the worship would take place

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And so Isaiah calls us to consider this city because it is where God is honored and is where his name dwells it's where he his favor is upon his people and consider

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When he says this the previous verse had said or the previous passage in verse 17 had said your eyes will behold

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The king and his beauty they will see a land that stretches afar So after having told us to consider this king that will give salvation to his people now

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We are to consider and behold the city the city where salvation lives. We are to consider

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Zion Yet, this is all

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Very surprising in the context of Isaiah, you know many things that Happen in Isaiah are surprising because one time it appears that Isaiah is saying one thing and later.

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It seems that he's saying the opposite Consider the very beginning of Isaiah Isaiah 114 spoke of these feasts and it says your new moons and your sacrifice your appointed feasts my soul hates

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They have become a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them Looking at the people's false worship.

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God is Dissatisfied with their rituals. He's dissatisfied with their worship And Isaiah 29 1 it said our aerial aerial

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Speaking of Jerusalem speaking of Zion the city where David encamped add year to year

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Let the feasts run their round yet I will distress aerial and there shall be moaning and lamentation and she shall be to me like an aerial meaning a furnace

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So each of these times the Lord said that the feasts Do nothing or worse.

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They even anger him. So how can Isaiah tell the people to behold the city of the appointed feasts as some sort of security to the people the answer is that ultimately just as the patriarchs were looking forward to a city a

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Greater city city whose builder and maker is the Lord Isaiah tells us to look forward not just to this physical city, which would ultimately be destroyed but He tells us to look forward to a heavenly city whose builder and maker is the

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Lord. He tells us to look forward to feasts that happen Not in a way where the

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Lord is dissatisfied them not in the way that increases the Lord's anger But to look forward to a worship where God is pleased by it

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He has attached his name to his people But the way he has done that in the New Covenant is a sure way that does not rely on The obedience of the people but relies rather on the obedience of Jesus Christ and is in him that our worship is found wholly acceptable to the

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Lord not like the worship of the Old Testament which relies on the which relies on the

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Righteousness of the people themselves our righteousness being mediated by a perfect Savior relies on him.

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So consider what it says in John 4 when Jesus speaks to the woman at the well

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God is spirit and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth

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He said before that but the hour is coming and is now here when true worshipers will worship the

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Father in spirit and in truth It does not matter which particular mountain we worship on It is not like the time of Isaiah where God had set himself physically in a particular place or he had he had made his favor explicit in a physical location now

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Through the work of Jesus Christ with the outpouring of the Spirit. There is a ready acknowledgement in the

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New Testament That those who worship him worship him in spirit and in truth and he receives that worship

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Because his presence is not limited to a particular physical temple but rather and coming and dwelling on earth in the

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Incarnation and then through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ sending his spirit He dwells in us so that our worship is acceptable for the

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Lord This is how we can look to Zion and feel a sense of security not because there is any

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Any security found in a particular building any security found in a particular city physical city but in the kingdom that God has established and tied his name to There is a great security and so you can know 100 %

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That there is a great assurance in the Lord's goodness

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That can be had through worship Because it is Jesus Christ himself that mediates that worship because the

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Zion that we have arrived at is a greater one Than the physical Zion that the nation of Israel had to enjoy now this also

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Should affect the way we think about worship if our worship is acceptable because it's in spirit and in truth

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If our worship before God is mediated by Christ and he has supplied his spirit that we might in the right heart worship

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Then what makes our worship successful? It's not it's not us in the effort that we put into it, but it is the work of the

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Spirit in us Rendering Acceptable worship that is to be mediated by the

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Sun so there are a lot of people who and I I Grew up in a church that did a lot of this where people will try to make their worship more acceptable to God By just really putting a lot of oomph into it, you know, and these are people who?

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Often you come across people who think their worship is more acceptable by the range of motions by the

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Furrows number of furrows in your brow things like that Yes a heart that desires to worship

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God will often become will become Emotional in such a way that such things will happen, but you cannot by your own human effort supply

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The kind of emotion that is necessary to be pleasing to God. This is only something the Spirit can do

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Only the Spirit can give you the kind of godly affections that are necessary to make your worship acceptable so do not think that just by supplying some human oomph

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Into your worship that will make it more acceptable Instead appeal to the Spirit that he would transform your heart appeal to the

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Spirit that he would through Transforming your affections to be ones that That honor the

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Lord that desire the Lord that sense his presence in our gathering

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That these would be things that draw your heart higher towards heaven and offer True true worship that is acceptable before God now.

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I hope I hope I'm being clear here I'm not saying anything about a mode of worship. I am saying that Emotions themselves are not what is pleasing to the

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Lord is rather the Spirit in our hearts producing godly emotions

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So let us appeal to the Spirit when we worship you may hear my prayers often I ask the Spirit to to guide our hearts and worship

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It is it is so necessary for our worship to be acceptable to the Lord that it be guided by the Spirit He continues on your eyes will see

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Jerusalem an untroubled habitation an immovable tent whose stakes will never be plucked up Nor will any of its cords be broken

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So it speaks of Zion speaks of Jerusalem and its permanence as an immovable tent

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Oh, this is a surprising image for permanence to speak of a tent Usually you don't think of a tent as being an immovable building you think of a building being immovable

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So why does he speak of it this way? once again to Appeal to the problem that's going on here is that people feel unstable.

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They feel like they're in the wilderness and We are people who are likewise In a sense in a wilderness

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We are going about this earth. That is not our home. We experience all kinds of trials.

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We experience all kinds of Difficulties They can make us feel not at peace as though we are we are about to be swept in a tent

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That's about to be swept away by the wind But he assures them that What they have is an immovable tent its stakes never plucked up nor any of its cords broken once again, how can this be said of How can this be said of this temple while he does call the people of that era to look forward to the

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Lord Restoring their worship and this does indeed happen It is the case that eventually the temple is destroyed and it's rebuilt and then destroyed again

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So ultimately this points forward not just to the temple that's there in Jerusalem But the temple that Christ has established by raising himself up from the dead, this is what it speaks of him and John 2

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So Jesus answered them destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up the Jews then said it has taken 46 years to build this temple and Will you raise it up in three days?

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But he was speaking about the temple of his body When therefore he was raised from the dead the disciples remembered that he had said this and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken

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This is where your assurance comes from doesn't come from physical building but it comes from the temple that Christ has established his own body as he has raised himself up from the dead and as he

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Has implanted his spirit in our hearts and in our gathering his work in our midst. This is

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This is what is immovable. This kingdom is immovable and another application for us it is very frequent for Christians to badmouth the church by saying that the church is in a very poor condition or or the

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They speak very poorly of Christ's bride Not that there's never any reason for concern there very often is but a lot of times the way people fret over the state of the church reflects an

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Understanding of the church that is not quite biblical It's an understanding that thinks that the the situation of the church is in people's hands rather than being in the

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Lord's hands Himself having established an immovable kingdom now often times there will be entities parading as the church that are not the church

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And there's much reason to be disgusted by that however In the way that you speak of the church and in the confidence that you have about the activities of the church

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Have confidence in what the Lord has said here He has made an immovable tent his kingdom is something immovable

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If you identify the church as something that can be shaken as something that can be torn down Then you are not identifying it as the

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Lord's work. You're not identifying it as a heavenly kingdom. You're identifying it as an earthly kingdom Now it is the case that this

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This promise here is speaking of God's kingdom as a whole. It is not speaking of each individual local church local churches may be shaken local churches may fall apart, but The kingdom that God has established in his universal church.

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It is forever and so Do not be discouraged when you see difficulties in the local church

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Do not Do not fret in such a way to think that that is indicative of Christ's failure that is indicative of God's kingdom being shaken while it is a sad thing

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Ultimately The health of the kingdom is in the Lord's hands and he has made an immovable tent says

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But there the Lord and majesty will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams Where no galley with oars can go nor majestic ship can pass

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So it described it in two ways one it's broad and two no ships can pass through it once again kind of a surprising contrast of images a tent that is immovable a broad stream that no ships can pass through Once again, two different things being said here one

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God has made the city such That he is supplying Everything that is needed to his people week by week.

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He supplies his people with his word He supplies his people with his spirit with everything they need in order to survive and yet at the same time

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He has designed his city such that no enemies. This is speaking of warships here and You can see that later in verse 23 when it describes the activity of these ships trying to attack

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That none of these ships can pass through so he's designed his his city both so that Many resources can flow to it so that it can prosper and yet at the same time it is perfectly protected

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This is what the Lord has done. And so What this is caused for once again is for great security for great a great sense of peace and stability

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Even though visibly things may not look peaceful things may not look stable There is no reason to to fret when the

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Lord has accomplished this through Jesus Christ So he speaks at the activity of these ships in verse 23 your cords hang loose

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They cannot hold the mass firm in its place or keep the sail spread out

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So he's speaking of the enemy you imagine the enemy warship coming in thinking that it can attack

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Jerusalem But then it's cords hang loose. They cannot hold the mass firm in its place. They have no strength.

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They have no stability themselves and There is a contrast made here

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Between Between the city whose cords are immovable and the

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Ship whose cords hang loose The same word is being used here There are some translations that translate the second word as tackle because that's what you might call the ropes on a ship

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But that misses the point here that there's a comparison being made between the ropes on the tent that cannot be moved and The ropes on the ship that cannot be moved the ship represents the enemies and the enemy is unstable now

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How often do you look at the powers in the world and it appears that they are very strong appears that they are very secure the kind of assaults that happen against the church the entities that assault the church the the world powers the

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Ideology you know the very different government institutions that that Propose and perpetuate

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Ungodly ideology all these things just seem so Powerful so strong.

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There's so many resources behind them and you see the church and what it's able to do and it seems

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Seems like the battle is rigged and it's rigged not in our favor, but God gives us confidence

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That he has designed the city so that it has everything it needs and has perfect perfect protection from the enemy and This has been the case throughout the history of the church it has always been the case that it looks like the church is in a poor weak condition and The enemies of God are far stronger are far greater

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But what has happened throughout history has not the church only grown and I'm not just talking about The numbers that you know different polling systems might use where if you say that you're a

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Christian you're a Christian I mean truly Truly the number of people who believe the gospel has increased and spread across the globe as the gospel has gone out to all the nations

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And so in any era if someone were to look at the situation and say this is not going to go

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Well, they would be shown wrong in every era the gospel has

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Grown at the rate that God has chosen, but it has grown Over time so that it now has reached so many different lands and we pray for it to reach further lands knowing that it eventually will not thinking that there's no stream that can carry the

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Resources there but God having his elect in every place designing his kingdom to spread throughout the whole world that those great broad rivers will reach even those places and Consider this a warning to because he speaks in second person

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He says he switches the second person. He says your cords hang loose They cannot hold the mass firm in its place or keep the sails spread it out

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You know, he turns and he speaks to the enemy a lot of times Well, not a lot of times if think put yourself in the other shoes if you are a

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Christian today Then maybe you are maybe you have a reason to Maybe you were attempted to despair the state of the world state of the church

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There are many in the opposite position right? They're a part of the world. They laugh at the church

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Because I think the world seems far stronger the church seems very weak Let this be a warning to every evil person who would think that Who would think that the church will ultimately fail?

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The answer is you might think that you're stable, but your cords hang loose You cannot keep your spit sails spread out.

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You cannot keep your mast upright and This this promise will come on the heads of every last one of Christ's enemies

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You know considering your heart today where you stand whether you stand with the Lord or whether you stand against him Whether you feel secure and on what basis your security is if it is not on the

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Lord And it is on yourself or on something else. It will fail you it will ultimately fail you and Why is all this the case verse 22 which comes in the middle of this passage?

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You know the way this is broken up in different Bibles is It's a hard decision to figure out where to put the paragraph breaks

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So I'm not sure where exactly I would put them, but I really consider 20 through 24 to be a unit because of this theme of cords you have an immovable tent whose cords cannot be broken and you have the ship whose cords

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Are definitely broken But right here in the middle in that in the way that Hebrew poetry works with the chiasm with the the most central point being right in the middle

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Why for the Lord is our judge the Lord is our lawgiver the Lord is our King he will save us

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We can have all the security because of the Lord The speaks of Jesus Christ.

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He is our judge. He is our lawgiver. He is our King. How is he our judge?

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Well, he guides us. He produces right judgments. He leads us by his word. How is he our lawgiver?

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He has told us only what is just these people in Isaiah's time Live in a world with much injustice where there's bribery and corruption, but God is just and he leads his people into justice

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The Lord is our King. He fights the battles so that the enemy is certainly destroyed Not out of our own strength, but out of his and all this takes place so that He will save his people

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You know, this is a this is an important verse even in the founding of our country some of you may be aware because you may have heard me speak of this before but the

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James Madison talked about this and others spoke of this too they decided in the early days of forming this country that because These different positions are held by the

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Lord. It wouldn't be right for any one man to have all of them So that's why our churches or our church.

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Excuse me. Our country is broken into Judicial legislative and executive

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Lord is our judge. That's judicial. Lord is our lawgiver legislative or is our King executive?

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he will save us and so Out of the recognition that these things are are held by the

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Lord and it's a vast weight of responsibility Many decided that it would be right to break the government into through three branches now

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I'm not commenting on whether or not that's the the right form of government or anything like that What I'm saying is that many have recognized in the importance of this first how vast

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Christ rulership is and how good it is and how it cannot be duplicated by any one man

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Even multiple working together, of course cannot do what Christ has done But even that out of wisdom one might not want to hold such power that Christ wields in this way and consider also

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The statement about Christ being King how it comes in the flow of this passage You remember the statement in verse 10

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God said that he would arise It said he would burn down his enemies and the question comes out who can dwell

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With the consuming fire in verse 14 who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings the answer is someone who does what is righteous and Then who is this person for 17 says your eyes will behold the king and his beauty

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They will see a land that stretches afar and now it speaks of that King again

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It says the Lord is our judge. The Lord is our lawgiver. The Lord is our King He will save us who is this coming

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King who will rescue the people who can dwell with everlasting burning? Who is this

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King who will protect from all enemies? It is the Lord. The Lord is King Now, how could that be?

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How could the throne of David be restored by God Almighty Himself? The New Testament gives the answer and the incarnation

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God has come to dwell with man out of the seat of David God himself in flesh has come to save us and the person of Jesus Christ He has produced the victory defeating the enemies

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Establishing his kingdom a kingdom full of stability a kingdom Secure whose cords cannot be broken

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So when you look around and you see that it might appear bleak and the world might appear strong And the church might appear weak

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Do not see things with eyes of faith rather or excuse me do not see things with eyes of the flesh but rather see them with eyes of faith and Have peace knowing that Christ is at work in His tent

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His kingdom is completely secure. Let's pray You're my father.

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Thank you for this Great stability and security that you have promised your people We asked it you would give us

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I give us eyes of faith that we might Embrace it more fully and we might live our lives in a

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With a sense of peace and joy knowing what you have accomplished in our accomplishing in Jesus name.