- 00:00
- Just coming back, we're going to open in prayer. What did
- 00:06
- I tell you? Why do you have to ask him? Things are starting off hostile here this morning.
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- Would I have said that to you if I had not already cleared it through him? I guess so. We're doing
- 00:25
- Ephesians next, right? What book are we doing next? Ephesians! But right now we're in Isaiah, and we did take a break.
- 00:38
- Jeff and I were talking about chapter 63, which is where we're at, and as I was reading it and thinking about where Jeff had taken us through the last couple of sections, it's like I needed to find a thread that was going through it, because it seems to almost go scattered, but I think
- 00:58
- I do have it. The book of Isaiah, written by the prophet...
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- Come on, guys. His name? Written by... Isaiah! Thank you! They're awake.
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- I was going to say, is this a trick question? No, it was not. There are many themes, there are many directions that this book goes, and probably starting out from the very beginning,
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- God is concerned that the heart of worship was missing amongst the people, and so he does talk about that.
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- But then this book is going to be an amazing master's course in the covenant promises and his sovereignty and his faithfulness.
- 01:45
- We learn about the Messiah, we learn about so many things. We've got some great teaching on the millennial kingdom, much, much going on.
- 01:53
- But the last couple of lessons in chapters 61 and 62, this was
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- Jeff's main idea for 61. The year of the Lord's favor extends to the meek of the earth, but national
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- Israel will require the great tribulation to find it and the millennium to enjoy it.
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- So although God's hand never leaves his people, the nation of Israel needed cleansing, and the themes there had to do with the great tribulation, but then the promise of the millennial.
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- And then the last time we met, which was all the way back in June, Jerusalem's future is bright.
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- We can just stop right there. But under present distress, the watchmen need to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, invite the nations to come to her king.
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- You see, Jerusalem is that chosen people, that privileged people with the word of God, but there was distress, and so they needed to be aware at the same time they needed to be about the business of reaching out and being that instrument that God would use for his word.
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- That being said, as we'll learn in Ephesians, the mystery is that the
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- Gentiles are also called in. We'll learn that in a couple of months. That's going to take us into chapter 63, which is going to start out with an interesting two questions.
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- Who is this that comes from Edom, and why is your garment red? And it was kind of like, okay, how does this tie in?
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- Where's the line of continuity between them? We'll see where this takes us. Pastor Jeff, open us with a prayer.
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- Father, we thank you so much that we can expect your coming kingdom, the millennium, and that we get to be a part of it.
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- Thank you, Lord, as we learn about it, that it turns our eyes to the King of kings, the Lord of lords, Jesus Christ.
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- We thank you for that great sacrifice that our king has made for us, and we look now,
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- God, to you in your word, that you would instruct us in how we ought to live before you, that we would be encouraged, and that we would be disciplined and chastened, that we would be strengthened.
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- Lord, help us by your word this morning. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Promises from God regarding the
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- Messiah are, I think, one of the central truths, one of the central concepts that you have to have an understanding of to be able to make any sense of this book of Isaiah in the first place.
- 04:30
- Without spending a lot of time, I wanted to take a short journey through the promises of God, and it starts out in Genesis 3 .15.
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- This was after the fall, when God proclaimed to Satan, to the serpents, that you're going to bruise the heel, but he's going to crush your head.
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- And we know that clearly as a promise that the Messiah is going to come, and for a time,
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- Satan is going to have his way, even to the extent of seeing the
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- Messiah go to the cross. But the reality is that, in the end, God wins.
- 05:05
- Eventually, in Genesis 12, we see Abram, and God giving some promises to Abram, and he says,
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- I'm going to make you a nation. And then he says that all peoples will be blessed through you.
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- So this message of love, this message of relationship that God is going to have with his people, that will culminate in the
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- Messiah, is coming, as a promise, in and through Abram, who will become
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- Abraham, who will become the nation, but it doesn't stop there, because all nations would be blessed through him.
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- Then there is a warning in, I think that's supposed to be
- 05:45
- Deuteronomy. There are blessings if you obey. 28.
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- There are blessings if you obey, but there are curses if you don't obey. So, the economy of what's to be coming is there.
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- There are going to be those who oppose. Although, through Abram, the promise given all the way back in Genesis would be made manifest, and it would be for all nations, there still will be those who follow and are blessed, but those who don't and are cursed.
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- Now, to get more specific into the book of Isaiah, in chapter 11, we're told, a shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse.
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- This is clearly Jesus. This is now the Messiah coming, the first coming.
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- A couple of chapters early in Isaiah 9, 6, he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father.
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- The realities of the promises that are given to the people with the coming of Messiah.
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- But we get into this chapter 63, and it says, who is this who comes from Edom?
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- And why is your apparel red? We are talking about messianic promises, but we're talking about the second coming at this point in time.
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- We're not talking about the shoot of Jesse who came, the epistatic view to Jesus who goes to the cross.
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- That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about, he moves forward now in time, in time perspective, the prophet does.
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- Daniel 9 speaks about the 77s.
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- These are the weeks, and the first 69 weeks culminate.
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- They start, I believe, at the rebuilding of the temple, and they culminate at the cross. And then there's this window, which some people call the time of the
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- Gentiles, some people call it the church age, some people call it the parentheses. It's that time that is between the 69th and the 70th week, which is what we're in now.
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- And eventually, when you get into Daniel 9, 24, it talks about the 77s are decreed until the final transgressions are paid for.
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- And then when you get into verse 27, at the end of the 70th seven, the end will all be poured out.
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- That is a definite arrow pointing to our book of Revelation, to God's book of Revelation.
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- And in the book of Revelation, the 70th week, seven years, takes place.
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- And we have, I believe it starts out with seals, and then trumpets, and then you can call it bowls or vials.
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- Yes, so that's what's coming up. This brings us into Isaiah 63.
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- Who is this that comes from Edom? If you would give me the first six verses, please.
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- Sure. Who is this who comes from Edom, in crimson garments from Basra?
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- He who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength. It is
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- I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save. Why is your apparel red, and your garments like this who treads in the winepress?
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- I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me. I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath.
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- Their lifeblood splattered on my garments and stained all my apparel.
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- For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come. I looked, but there was no one to help.
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- I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold. So my own arm brought me salvation, and my wrath upheld me.
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- I trampled down the peoples in my anger. I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.
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- A very clear, to me, picture of the bulls.
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- We get into the seals and the trumpets, and there is
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- God's judgment executed on creation. We then get to the seventh trumpet.
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- We introduce the bulls' vials, if you would. And it starts to become very aggressively heavy on the
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- Antichrist and on the beast and the dragon. You start to see a third dying, and you see huge numbers of death.
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- We get into this here, it says, who comes from Edom? This is an important tieback,
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- Isaiah 34. Rich, if you would get that, please. Isaiah 34, it's on the page.
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- 34, verses 5 through 7. And Malachi, Barb, if you would get that, chapter 1, verses 4 to 5.
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- 34, verses 5 to 7. For the sword will be bathed in heaven.
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- Indeed, it shall come down on Edom and on the people of my curse for judgment.
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- The sword of the Lord is filled with blood. It is made overflowing with fatness, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of kidneys and rams.
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- For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozeron and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
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- The wild oxen shall come down with them and the young bulls with the mighty bulls.
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- Okay, that's good. Why Edom? What did Edom ever do to God? It didn't let
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- Israel pass when it was going out. It was the enemy, yeah. They opposed God.
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- And you're right, they opposed the people as they were going through. God's wrath is being expressed using
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- Edom as the picture and then Basra as one of the cities of God executing judgment on those who would stand up against Him.
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- Do you have Micah for me? Malachi, I'm sorry, Malachi? Malachi 1, 4, and 5?
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- Yeah. Edom, they say, though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.
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- But this is what the Lord Almighty says, they may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the wicked land and people always under the wrath of the
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- Lord. You will see it with your own eyes and say, Great is the Lord, even beyond the borders of Israel.
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- Edom, picturing the people that stand up against God, being under the judgment of God, are so full of themselves, it says, that's fine, we're just going to rebuild it.
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- We are that good. And he says, no. No, that's not. I'm going to have you go to Revelation 16, there are various verses, and then 17.
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- I'm going to have you read the selected verses for me. And you're going to get Micah, chapter 7, ready, if you would.
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- Micah 7. Who is this that comes from Edom? Now this is the representative of God's judgment, now being levied down on those who are opposing
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- Him. Who is it that comes from Edom? In crimson garments, from Bezra, he who is splendor in his apparel.
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- We have the picture here of the Lord of Lords coming down in judgment, arraigned in His full garb of splendor, going against the nation of Edom, picturing all those who stand against Him in judgment, as we just got done reading in Isaiah 33,
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- God's judgment, coming down with a sword filled with blood on the people. Crimson garments from Bezra, His splendid garments, marching in His greatness and strength, juxtapositioning against how what you just read, they said so blatantly, brazenly said, if you knock it down, we're just going to rebuild again, we are that good.
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- Well, no, see, He says here, I am coming in the greatness and strength, it is
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- I, it is I, speaking in righteous, mighty to save.
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- Then He says, why is your apparel red? And He goes on to say here,
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- I've trodden the winepress, I've trodden them in my anger, I've trampled them in my wrath, their lifeblood spattered on my garments, the day of vengeance was in my heart.
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- I looked and there was nobody, and there was nobody to help, there was nobody to uphold, so in my arm
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- I brought down my salvation and my wrath. I trampled the people in my anger,
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- I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured their lifeblood on the earth. This is the picture of God coming down in vengeance, and I believe it is actually a picture of the seven bowls, the seven vials.
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- Give me the selected verses, please. Yeah, Revelation 16 in verse 1 says,
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- Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.
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- Then in verses 5 to 7, And I heard the angel in charge of the water say, Just you are,
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- O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments, for they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink.
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- It is what they deserve. And I heard the altar saying, Yes, Lord God, the Almighty, true and just are your judgments.
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- And then in 17, 1 and 2, There's just 17, verse 17. Oh, verse 17, sorry.
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- Verse 17, The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne saying,
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- It is done. And then 17, chapter 17, verses 1 and 2,
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- Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.
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- They are being judged for their wickedness, for their sexual immorality. And that sexual immorality often is used as a metaphor for idolatry.
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- This total opposition to God and the picture of His judgment coming down. And if you read those bowls, those vials, the water turning to blood, it's a horrific scene.
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- There's a horrible video right now that's shown on TV.
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- An Amerasian woman in New York, she had isolated herself for two years because of COVID.
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- And she finally felt emboldened to go out and go to the bodega. And as she was coming back, four teenage thugs asked her what time it was.
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- And because of a breakdown in language, she just showed them her watch and they beat her mercilessly, mercilessly.
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- It's horrific to look at. What is going to happen in the time of the seven bowls, seven vials if you would, it's going to be worse than that.
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- These people are going to deserve what they get. This woman did not deserve it, but these people are going to deserve it.
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- It says, I trampled down the peoples in my anger. I cannot really picture anything that would be more horrific than to be the subject of that verse where it says,
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- I trampled down the people in my anger, to have the anger of God so brought to completion and to fruition in the time to be there where He is going to come at them.
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- And to the extent that His great and splendor apparel is just filled with the blood of those whom
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- He has had to take down. I think it's funny, my Bible says,
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- I trampled my enemies down as if they were just grapes. Yep.
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- And that's the picture. That's the picture. That's the picture because he talks about wine presses. And if you were looking at what happens in a wine press, they just squash them, but the juice comes up.
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- And that's all that these enemies of God can be. They're nothing more than grapes. They're nothing more than...
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- Do you have Micah 7, 10? Micah 7, 10.
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- Micah 7, 10. It's like trampled the grapes of wrath. Oh my goodness. Oh, yeah.
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- I got 11, okay. Okay. Then she who is my enemy will flee, and shame will cover her who said to me, where is the
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- Lord your God? My eyes will see her. Now she will be trampled down like mud in the streets.
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- See, these people who say, who is this Lord your God? Can you see, can you even feel the surliness of our country today?
- 19:47
- Who is this your God? Says, I'll just look him right in the eye.
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- That arrogance will be humbled. That arrogance will be humbled. I'll just build my building back again. He says, no. And at the end of that verse, it says, they're going down.
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- They're going down like grapes. Just nothing more than grapes. So this is how this passage starts.
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- It is a picture of the reality that God's day of vengeance is not going to be stopped.
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- It has been told, and it will occur. Now we know going all the way back into Genesis 3, he will bruise your heel, he will crush your head.
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- We know that at the cross, the sting of death was defeated by the cross.
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- The blood was shed. But Satan is not yet removed from the world.
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- And his influence is not yet done. Now we're going to move into the time of the tribulation.
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- And it has to do with the fact that the nation of Israel needs to be cleansed. We just got done studying that when we were looking at Jerusalem.
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- They're going to need to go through the tribulation and eventually into the millennium.
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- That's in chapter 61. They need to be ever watching. These people who are so arrogant, saying,
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- I don't care about your God. It's going to come down.
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- Which is now going to lead the prophet to be so, I think, odd in fear over this powerful
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- God. And I also think that there's going to be a certain level that this prophet is realizing that the nation of Israel hasn't been true to God.
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- That he's now calling on God's mercy for his people.
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- Give me, if you would, verses 7 -14. I will recount the steadfast love of the
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- Lord, the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel, that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
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- For he said, surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely.
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- And he became their savior. In all their affliction he was afflicted. And the angel of his presence saved them.
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- In his love and in his pity he redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
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- Alright, we've got a picture here now of the prophet Isaiah praising God. Saying, I remember this
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- God. I remember his steadfast love, his praises, and all that he's done for us, the goodness and everything else, and how he's proclaimed, surely you are my people.
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- I remember all of this stuff. These are God's chosen people. We're living here right now.
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- And he became our savior, as he said there. The angel of the
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- Lord saves them. But, as he said there, what is the very next word?
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- But. There's always a but. There's always a but. I think you've mentioned that in a sermon.
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- I think I mentioned that Sunday. His favorite word is but. But God. See, it shows up in both ways though.
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- Yes. See, if you go to Ephesians 2, it starts out in the first three verses, and then it says, but God in his great mercy.
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- This one starts out by saying, I remember the goodness of the Lord. I can recount all of the blessings that he's given to us.
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- I just had a revelation from God on how bad it's going to be for Edom and Abbas.
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- But this isn't... By the way, Isaiah is written like a hundred years before they go into captivity.
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- And that's like how many years before the tribulation? We don't even know.
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- It's more than 2 ,000 and counting. But he's got a vision of the second half of the tribulation where the bulls are.
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- And he sees how horrible it is. And that just drives him into remembering it's a good thing
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- I have a merciful God. It's a good thing, because I can remember everything that he's done.
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- And he's our savior, and the angels have preserved us. But then
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- I can almost see him stopping and going, but they rebelled.
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- These people who had so much coming from them, but they rebelled.
- 24:40
- Numbers 11, verses 4 and 6, recalls a time in the wilderness where God is providing for them with manna.
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- And he's guiding them. And how do the people respond to being able to go out in the morning and get a meal for the day, and the day before Sabbath getting enough food for two days?
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- How do they respond to that? They grumble, they complain. They sure do. They sure do. If only we were back in Egypt where we could eat leeks.
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- Yeah, right. Nothing like a plenty of good breath, right? God's provision for them only led them to be dissatisfied.
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- And in fact, in 1 Samuel, when they're now in the promised land, and God has given them the land, and he's given them judges, and Samuel is on the scene.
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- And what do the people say to Samuel? We want a king.
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- Give us a king. We want to be like all the other nations. Because their king goes out and battles before them.
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- Who is their king? God. God is their king. And he says to them, you haven't rejected me.
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- Or Samuel says, you haven't rejected me, you've rejected God. When the nation is in Shittim, on the east side of the
- 26:18
- Jordan, getting ready to go in, God says, be of good courage. I am with you.
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- I will be with you. Be of courage. I will be with you. I go with you. And as long as they're depending on God throughout the book of Joshua, things are thumbs up.
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- The one time they decide to go it alone, the first battle at Ai, thumbs are down. But they forget all of this.
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- They forget how God fought the battle at Jericho before they ever went to Jericho because the hearts of the people were melted just at the prospect of them coming with their
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- God. And the nation said, you know what, we want to be like all the other nations. And that was the profession that really,
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- I think, displayed their heart. Because they were the nation that were
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- God's chosen people that were blessed, that would be forever his pride and joy. That wasn't enough for them.
- 27:21
- They wanted to be like the other nations because what did the other nations do? They decided their own destiny.
- 27:28
- That's... And worship their own gods. But they rebelled, rebelled and grieved the
- 27:35
- Holy Spirit. Therefore, here comes the next interjection. Keep going.
- 27:41
- But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. Therefore, he turned to be their enemy and himself fought against them.
- 27:49
- Then he remembered the days of old of Moses and his people, where he who brought them up out of the sea.
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- Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put in the midst of them his
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- Holy Spirit, who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name, who led them through the depths?
- 28:15
- Like a horse in the desert, they did not stumble. Like livestock that go down into the valley, the
- 28:21
- Spirit of the Lord gave them rest. So you led your people to make for yourself a glorious name.
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- When I was reading this and preparing, I was like, wait a minute, what just happened here? I literally had to stop and re -read this because I did not read what
- 28:39
- I just read. Okay, so let's take this. We start out, who's coming for me? The horrible, descriptive judgment that's coming upon the people that are against God, okay?
- 28:51
- And then we come into the prophet saying, fortunately, I do remember we have a
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- God of mercy. And he goes down through that. I recount the steadfast love. They are my people, he would say.
- 29:05
- The angel is going to, all of this. But then he almost has to stop and Simon says, but they rebelled.
- 29:11
- But they rebelled. And what I'm ready to read now are going to be proclamations of judgment against their rebellion.
- 29:20
- Because that's how really Isaiah starts. Proclamations against empty worship, right? But where does he go?
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- He almost goes back to mercy. If you read 10 through 14 again, it goes back to mercy.
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- Therefore, he turned to be their enemy. But then he remembered the days of old. He remembered
- 29:40
- Moses. He brought him up out of the sea. He put the Holy Spirit in the midst of them.
- 29:47
- He caused his glorious arm to go with... He's going back to recalling the mercy, the sovereignty of God that totally defies logic and reason as man would have.
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- Because when I got into verse 10, I'm ready now for the indictments against the people.
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- But it's not. It still is God who is faithful.
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- He caused the glorious arm to go with the right -handed man. He divided the waters before them. He took care of them.
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- Like a horse in the desert, they didn't stumble. Then we get down to verse 14. You led your people, why?
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- This is a big... Why does he do this? What does it say at the end of verse 14?
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- To make for yourself a glorious name. That's it. It's still all pointing back to God and his sovereign glory and who he is.
- 30:45
- It's not about the people. It is, but it isn't. It's about the glory of God.
- 30:52
- Psalm 29. Barbara, I'm going to ask of you again. Psalm 29, verses 1 and 2.
- 30:58
- And Carol, I'm going to ask of you to go to Revelation 4, verse 11. It says, so you led your people.
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- So you led your people. He could have abandoned them. They deserve to be abandoned.
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- They abandoned him. And they complained against him. So you led your people to make for yourself a glorious name.
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- Jeff, Psalm 29, verses 1 and 2. Ascribe to the Lord, O mighty ones.
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- Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name.
- 31:35
- Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness. I love this verse, these two verses.
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- I absolutely love these two verses because it's not contingent on anything. No. I mean, everybody in this room has gone through harsh times.
- 31:51
- I know each one of you to that extent. But I know each one of you has gone through harsh times. It doesn't say, when
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- I get you through these harsh times, give me the glory due my name. It just says, give me the glory due my name.
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- And when times are harsh, what's the best thing we can do? Thank Him and praise
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- Him. When times are going really, really good, was it a woman that just got that $2 billion lotto out in Illinois or something like that?
- 32:28
- Illinois. $2 billion. It was the largest lotto ever won.
- 32:33
- It was a little truck stop out in Illinois. She had the winning ticket. I would hope that if that happened to me, my first reaction would be to give glory to God.
- 32:45
- Because sometimes when things are going really good, that's when it's harder to remember to give glory to God. That being said,
- 32:51
- Psalm 29 verses 1 and 2 are not contingent on anything. They are just a statement of reality.
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- Read them again for me, please. Ascribe to the Lord, O mighty ones, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
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- Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name. Worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness.
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- And now give me Revelation 11 on top of that. Chapter 4, verse 11. You are worthy,
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- O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For You created everything, and it is for Your pleasure that they exist and were created.
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- If you were to go through this little section in Isaiah 63, starting in verse 7, he recounts the beautiful mercy of God and how
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- He's been... But then he says, we have blown it. But we have blown it.
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- That God has turned against us. But then as you read this, can you just see the tenderness of God who conceived for His own glory.
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- He's going to care for us. That's the beauty of this thing.
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- Juxtaposed against Edom and Basra. By the way, there is no mercy for them.
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- All there's going to be is white grapes. Squash grapes. Squash grapes. But for His people, there still is mercy.
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- Do you realize that there is a very strong theological approach to the book of Revelation that says that the church replaces
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- Israel. I think that's covenantal theology. And it says when you read into Revelation, you're not reading
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- Israel because the church has taken their place. I can't see it. I can't see it for two reasons.
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- One is in Daniel chapter 9, you have 70 weeks. In the 70th week, that's
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- Israel. That's not the church. And that is the tribulation period. And what
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- He has done here for His people, turning back to them. Because this recording of everything has to do with Moses and His people.
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- And He says He led His people and it's all for His glory. It's two sides.
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- You're God's enemy. You're God's people. And this is beautiful. So now what He's going to do is really kind of interesting because remember,
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- Isaiah's writing this stuff about 100 years before captivity. But this next section is really reading like we're in captivity and we need your help.
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- Anyway, it's a prayer for mercy. Give me verses 15 through 19.
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- Look down from heaven and see from your holy and beautiful habitation. Where are your zeal and your might?
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- The stirring of your inner parts and your compassion are held back from me. For you are our
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- Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us.
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- You, O Lord, are our Father. Our Redeemer from of old is your name. O Lord, why do you make us wander from your ways and harden our heart so that we fear you not?
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- Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage. Your holy people held possession for a little while.
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- Our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary. We have become like those over whom you have never ruled, like those who are not called by your name.
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- By the way, why I see this as a look ahead as if He was actually at the captivity.
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- Our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary. That occurs as Jerusalem is overrun.
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- The Shekinah glory leaves. It's left unprotected. The nation goes in. He's praying for these people who aren't even going to be born yet for another hundred years that God would show them mercy.
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- Look down in heaven and see, please. Look down in heaven and see. You've got to understand the context going back again into verse 18.
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- These are people that have lost their presence in Jerusalem. They have lost their presence with the tabernacle.
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- The Shekinah glory has gone. Look down in heaven and see from your holy and beautiful habitation.
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- We need you. We need you. This is a plea to Him. You are our Father. Even though Abraham and Isaac wouldn't even recognize us.
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- That's what that means there. Though Abraham doesn't know us and Isaac, Israel, doesn't acknowledge us, we have gone so bad and we are so far gone.
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- Our forefathers wouldn't even recognize us anymore. But you are our
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- Father. But you are our Father. You are the Redeemer of all. We're calling to you.
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- Don't make us wander away. Harden our hearts. Return us according to your will. Now we know that Daniel is reading in the book of Jeremias where he's told that there would be 70 years.
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- And he says, oh, oh, it's been 70 years. And so he prays and the
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- Lord works in the heart of Cyrus and the proclamation they get to go back and rebuild the temple.
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- Your people have held it for a while but it's been trampled down. We have become like those. You have never ruled.
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- See, Israel, first of all, let me put this in here.
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- Habakkuk is a book where the prophet is looking at the apostasy within the nation.
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- And he calls out to God and he says, aren't you even looking? Can't you see how bad things are?
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- And then God says, yeah, you're right. Israel said this nasty nation called Babylon. And he says, that's even worse,
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- Daniel. Are you serious? But you know what? God never chastises Habakkuk because Habakkuk sees an issue and he turns it to God.
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- That's the power of the book of Habakkuk. That's what's happening here is the prophet
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- Isaiah is seeing an issue that isn't even going to happen for 100 years. But seeing that issue and turning it to God.
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- You are the only answer. You are our father. And he's turning it back to them.
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- I feel like that's where we are now. When I read the book of Habakkuk. Yeah, I have written here very similar to the prophets today, especially 9 -11.
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- And then it talks about verses of the Babylonians, the Ruthless, whatever.
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- They're like the Taliban of our day. Absolutely. Yeah, no, you're 100 % right.
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- Psalm 119, Rich, verse 126. Psalm 119, verse 126.
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- I'm not with it because I forgot to grab it. That's okay. Psalm 119.
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- Romans 11 is going to talk about Israel is going to be saved. That's another rationale why
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- I don't believe in the covenant theology, dispensational theology. I don't want to put a label on it.
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- Revelation is God's final chapter on earth with the nation of Israel before the
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- Parsee before he comes and they reign with him in the millennial kingdom. It's not the church.
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- Romans 11, Israel is going to be saved. The Deliverer is going to come. This is God's covenant with his people.
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- Psalm 119, verse 126. Verse 126. It is time for you to act,
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- O Lord, for they have regarded your law as void. Can you have the heart so much in confidence with God and accepting his sovereign will that you could actually, in your prayer, say, it's time for you to act,
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- O God. Your law is broken. And to know that he cares enough.
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- By the way, he is going to have vengeance on Edom and Bozrah and it's going to be like squashed grapes. Hold that thought.
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- But he is faithful. We're going to close with two application verses. 1
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- Thessalonians 5. It's on the sheet. And Psalm 89,
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- Carol, if you would have those. We'll close with these two promise verses. The one who calls you is faithful.
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- He will do it. Now, I know this talks about a lot of things and you've got to be careful not to cherry pick a passage out of a pericope, if you like that word.
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- But the sentiment is true. God is faithful. When he says it, he's going to do it.
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- When he says, you're going to bruise my heel, I'm going to crush your head, that isn't going to ultimately happen until after the millennial kingdom.
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- His head is not going to be crushed until after the millennial kingdom because he gets one more chance.
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- And then he gets thrown into the lake of fire. But he's going to do it. And if he says he's going to judge people, he's going to do it.
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- Psalm 89, verse 80. O Lord, who is like you? Your faithfulness surrounds you.
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- That's it. Who is like you? I don't care what you've got your hopes in, who you've got your hopes in, there's nobody like God.
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- There's nobody like God. Do you want to close us in prayer? Father, we tremble before you, we tremble before your words, and we thank you so much that like Jacob, you chose us from the womb.
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- We tremble at the thought that there is an Esau called Red, Edom descending from Esau that will be red in the trampling of blood, squashed like grapes,
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- Lord. We tremble before such a prospect, the wrath of God unleashed on rebellious men.
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- Lord, all we can say is thank you for saving us. It wasn't because of any good in us, it was because of the glory of your great name, that you would glorify yourself in having a people for your own possession.
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- Thank you that you saved us. We give you all the praise, all the glory. We look forward to your second coming, and we pray that you would help us to go out preaching good news, that many would come to saving faith before time is up.
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- So we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. You never know what you're going to get in this book of Isaiah.