F4F | Your Biggest Year Yet?

Fighting for the Faith

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Welcome to another installment of Fighting for the Faith. My name is Chris Rosebro.

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I am your servant in Jesus Christ. This is the channel that compares what people are saying in the name of God to the

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Word of God. All right, so we're still early in the year 2021.

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I had to take a little bit of time off because, as you already know, I had COVID, and if you're wondering, you know, how

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I'm doing, I would basically say I'm doing fine. I don't have any symptoms other than fatigue at the moment, and that is loads of fun, because when you hit the wall at the end of the day, you hit it hard is the best way.

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So if in the middle of today's episode, if I just go, don't wake me up,

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I'll have my editor edit it out and see if I can come back to normal after I wake up. Anyway, you get the idea.

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So what we're gonna do today, rather than focusing in on the false prophecies, which is still a major story in the

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Visible Church today, instead we're gonna take a look at another form of irresponsibility, and that is the typical ear -scratching kind of message that you get this time of the year.

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So what we're gonna do is we're gonna head over to Audacious Church, and we're gonna listen to a fellow by the name of Stuart Kier, and the name of the message is

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Your Biggest Year Yet. So if you're attending a church, or you know somebody who does, and they are getting a message like this, they need to run, because Stuart Kier and Audacious Church are fulfilling the prophecy of 2

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Timothy chapter 4 of the day that would come when people would not endure sound doctrine, and tell people what they want to hear, scratch itching ears, rather than rightly handling the

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Word of Truth. And along the way, I should note in this particular episode, the

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Bible twisting on this one is one of those ones where, even if you apply our three rules for sound biblical exegesis, which are context, context, and context, it's gonna...yeah,

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best way I could put it, it's going to be...it ain't gonna work.

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So this is gonna be one of those times where you're gonna need to learn how to use some deeper biblical tools, and I'll recommend a couple of them so that you see how this all works when you're dealing with a text like this that's a little bit more difficult to understand on its face.

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Before we get started, I want to remind you that today's installment of Fighting for the Faith is sponsored by The Word of the

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Lord Endures Forever. The Word of the Lord Endures Forever. If you remember a couple episodes back, we invited

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Pastor Will Whedon on the program. If you're looking for a podcast, a resource where you can have in -depth daily biblical

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Bible study, The Word of the Lord Endures Forever is the podcast for you.

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Pastor Will Whedon is a marvelous exegete with a very firm grasp of the writings of the

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Church Fathers, and just a fellow who recognizes the proper distinction between law and gospel, and also that the scriptures are about Jesus, they're not about you.

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So if you want to have a resource, a podcast that you can listen to on a daily basis, so that you can go to the next level, if you would.

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What are the next steps now that you're recognizing false teaching is a bad thing, but you need to understand what

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God's Word says, The Word of the Lord Endures Forever is your program, and head over to thewordendures .org,

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we'll put a link down below in our description today, and again, thank you to The Word of the

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Lord Endures Forever for sponsoring this installment of Fighting for the Faith. Now before let's get to it, let's let's whirl up the desktop, and we are going to open up the web browser, which is right here, and we're heading off to Manchester in the

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United Kingdom, the home of Audacious Church. What a weird name for a church.

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Audacious Church. Audacious. Isn't audacious like synonymous with foolishness?

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It can be, by the way. And so we're here, the name of this, again, this name of the sermon is

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Your Biggest Year Yet, which is utterly irresponsible for any pastor to be preaching.

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Number one, this is not what the Bible teaches, and number two, preaching a one -size -fits -all, telling everybody who attends that particular service on any given

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Sunday that, oh, this will be their biggest year yet. You don't know that. You don't even know if you're gonna be alive tomorrow, or you're gonna get

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COVID and be down for 12 days, you know, just in misery.

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Anyway, you get the idea. So let's go ahead and get started on this sermon, and we'll see what we can do with it.

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Middle of last year, my wife turns to me, she said, babe, she said, I'm gonna have to start doing some fitness stuff.

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I said, you don't need to, because that's always the right answer.

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I said, no, no, I'm gonna do it. And so she signed up. She signed up for an online program. It's a great program.

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And she said, we should do it together. I have no idea what she was saying, and I said, babe, this is like marriage investment time.

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So we started working out together, yeah. And then the difficult part was this.

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She likes to work out first thing in the morning, like six Alright, already we got a problem, and the problem is, what biblical text are you preaching on right now?

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Usually if you're gonna be exegetically working through a biblical text so that people can properly understand what that text says and what

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God has put in there for us to understand what it means, you got to start with the text itself, usually read in context and, you know, worked out from there.

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So we already were, it ain't looking good. 15. I got to tell you something.

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I was not a morning person. And she wake me up every morning, come on, it's time to go.

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It's time to go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, trying to find a pair of shorts was the hardest part of the whole thing.

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And then this is what I decided. I'm going to change how I talk about me.

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Why? Oh, wow, big breakthrough moment. I'm gonna change how I talk about me. Okay.

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Literally, that's literally what I did. I started saying, I am a morning person. He went all

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Stuart Smalley on himself. He looked in the mirror and said, I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and gosh darn, people like me.

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Uh -huh. Now let me tell you, at first, the evidence did not match with the statement.

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Oh, but after a few weeks and after a little bit of time, everything started.

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And now I wake up fresh as a daisy. I just, I'm like, oh, the joy of the

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Lord is my strength. I just wake up ready to go. I don't. I don't think he believes what he's saying.

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Is this a stand -up comedy routine? What is this? I fight it every day, and every day I make the confession.

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Why? I make the confession. I'm good enough. I'm smart enough. I'm a morning person.

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Uh -huh. Because I am believing that my words shape my world.

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Bullpen is in action there in Manchester. How do you know? Because, oh, yeah, way to go, yeah, my words shape my, no biblical text says that.

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Now, by the way, he's about to pull a biblical text out of context. We'll take a look at it and see if we can make heads or tails of it.

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It's a very famously twisted text. So let me back up just a little bit as he explains why his words are so important.

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I am believing that my words shape my world. Listen, a guy called, in 1928,

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William Thomas said this. He's a sociologist. He said if. William Thomas, what book of the

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Bible did he write? He didn't. Yeah, that's right.

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Men define situations as real. They are real in their consequences. Twenty years later, a guy called

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Robert Merton better described it. And he said, let's call it a self -fulfilling prophecy.

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Mm, self -fulfilling prophecy. I'm a morning person. I assure you that I could sit there and I can shout it from my rooftop, you know, every

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Thursday at 2 a .m. and have the neighbors complain and call the police.

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It will not have any impact on me because I ain't a morning person. That when we speak over our lives, we shape ourselves.

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Kipling, he said it like this. Kipling said, words. Then why didn't Jesus just come and, as a major part of his discipleship program, sit down with his 12 disciples and say, listen, boys, the issue here is that, you know, sin is the natural consequence as a result of your negative filled words about yourself.

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And what you really need to do is speak positively over yourself. And then he goes to the cross and dies.

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Does any of that make any sense to you? Nothing. Jesus never taught like that at all. Jesus never said that their words create reality.

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Drugs are the most powerful drug used by mankind. Okay, I'm going to back it up so you can hear the context of that.

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Kipling, he said it like this. Kipling said, words are the most powerful drug used by mankind.

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Do you know why you're being arrested? For being dressed in a poorly designed advertisement gimmick?

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No, it's because you're dealing drugs. Drugs? Yes, drugs. Your costume clearly has words on it.

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And everyone knows that words are the most powerful drug used by mankind. But are we using words to have this conversation?

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And which book of the Bible did Kipling write? And when

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I say Kipling, I don't mean Mr. Kipling. He said, have a French fancy. You'll be okay.

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I mean, Rudyard Kipling. Words are the most powerful drug used by mankind.

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I want to suggest to you that for you to have your biggest year yet, it's got to happen in you before it happens outside of you.

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So let me see if I got this straight. 2021 needs to happen in me first before it happens out of me.

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And by that, you mean my biggest year yet. Right.

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Which biblical text says this exactly? And you'll note here that we got a lot of theology spewing out of Mr.

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Kier's face, but none of it's biblical. I don't know.

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I mean, you might as well believe in pixies. And, you know, if you clap your hands enough times, then

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Tinkerbell will come back from the dead. For you to have your biggest year yet, something's got to change in how you talk to yourself so that something happens outside of your world.

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All right. So your self -talk, it'll create something outside of your world.

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I'm not God. I can't create things with my words. Because your internal world has been completely recalibrated.

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And I want to suggest at the start of this year that if we can do it now, what could that mean for the year?

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Woo! Woo! If we could do it now! Oh, imagine! This is nonsense.

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This is utter gobbledygook. Now, let's take a look at a biblical text, shall we?

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I pointed out that this sermon in and of itself, which is kind of standard fare in evangelicalism nowadays, that this is a fulfillment of a prophecy given by the

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Apostle Paul. And I'll apply the context. This is a passage we go to with regularity here on Fighting for the

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Faith. And I always like to point to the fact that Paul, in his last letter before he's about to have his head taken off his shoulder by a

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Roman centurion, that he points young Pastor Timothy to what?

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The Scriptures. The Bible. And in pointing him to the Scriptures, he really, really, really wants to drive home this point that this is where God is communicating to us.

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And so you'll note that you, however, he says to young Pastor Timothy, this is chapter 3, verse 10, you have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings.

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It happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium in Lystra. Apparently, the year that Paul died, it wasn't going to be his best year yet.

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At least by any kind of earthly measurement. You know, he was about to die.

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And he's admonishing young Pastor Timothy to follow the example that Paul has left, including persecutions and suffering, which

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I don't hear a lot of people preaching about nowadays, which is kind of sad. So in this, which persecutions

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I endured, yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

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Yeah, you know, let's talk about having your best year yet, right? So I decree and declare in the year 2021,

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Christ is going to fulfill his words through his Apostle Paul in your life this year.

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And he's going to make sure that you who want to have a godly life, live a godly life in Christ Jesus, that in 2021, just like in 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, all the way back, that you will be persecuted.

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Do I have a witness? Where's my bullpen? Oh, yeah. Woo! Ah! Yay! I don't, yeah, it doesn't fit, does it?

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All right, so while evil people, Paul says, and impostors, they're going to go on from bad to worse.

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Yep, deceiving and being deceived. Oh, yeah, that's a funny thing. That's kind of happening in our day now and has been going on for a while.

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But as for you, young Pastor Timothy, whoops, hang on a second here. I hit a button by accident here.

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But as for you, continue in what you have learned, have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

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For all scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work.

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Ah, so what do we need? We need God's Word. We need to study it in depth, all right?

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And so as kind of as parting words, last will and testament, if you would, of the

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Apostle Paul to young Pastor Timothy, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the

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Word. Be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching, for the time is coming when people will not endure sound doctrine.

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That's what didaskalos here, didaskalia, it means. It means doctrine.

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You know, teaching and doctrine are synonyms. People will not endure sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and they will turn away from listening to the truth, and they will wander off into myths.

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That's happening in our day. People do not endure. In the visible church, places like Audacious, they don't endure sound doctrine, and they have accumulated for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, to scratch their itching ears, tell them what they want to hear, and they've wandered off into myth land.

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That's what they've done, all right? So, your best year yet has to happen in you before it happens to you, says

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Stuart Keir, but no biblical text says this. This is absurdity. This absolute, utter nonsense.

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In fact, one has to wonder, you know, what happens to the fellow or gal at Audacious Church who catches the new strain of COVID and finds themselves in the

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ICU unit there in their local hospital in Manchester, and they stop breathing, or maybe they have long -term physical effects as a result of that.

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You know, at the end of the year, rather than having their best year yet, they have a very large medical bill and ongoing lingering challenges health -wise because of the damage done to their bodies because of COVID.

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Do they get their tithe money back from Stuart Keir after that happens to them?

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Yeah, just one has to ask. All right, so let me back this up and listen again.

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If we can do it now, what could that mean for the year? I mean, what if?

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What if? You could deal with the biggest challenge in your life right up front on the year.

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How would that change the rest of your year? I mean, what if you could deal with that one thing that inside of you has been holding you down and dragging you back?

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There's only one thing holding me down and dragging me back. Are you talking about my sin nature?

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What are you referring to? How would the rest of the year pan out because that one thing changed?

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The Bible puts it like this in Proverbs. It says, as a man thinks in his heart, so he is.

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All right, very famously twisted text. You've probably heard multiple pastors twist this text.

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As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Ah, so there it is. Let's take a look at the context of that, shall we?

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So Proverbs 23. Hang on a second here. I am going to go to Proverbs 23, and let me come back to this.

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Verse 7. All right, so what I'm going to do is I'm going to put this into... Let's get our King James Version up, shall we?

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Because this is usually the translation that people go to in order to twist, all right?

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Because they want to create the impression that your thoughts create reality. Your words create the future.

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What you speak over yourself becomes a prophecy that will be fulfilled either negatively or positively.

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This is the root and the heart of the word of faith heresy. And so this is a famous text taken out of context.

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And you'll see how this works. But let me just read it out of context,

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Proverbs 23, 7, and then we'll put it back in context in the KJV, and then look at a good modern translation like the

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ESV to see what this text is saying. For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.

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Eat and drink saith he to thee, but his heart is not with thee. And you'll note that over and again that people who twist this passage, they take those words right there that I've highlighted, for as he thinketh in his heart, so is he, and that becomes their emphasis.

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But you'll note that's not a complete sentence. It's not a complete thought at all. So as he thinketh in his heart, so is he?

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So what's going on here? So let's apply context, context, context here, and you'll see what's going on.

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We'll keep it in the KJV, and we'll take a look, and this is the passage that you can go to, and the context will work, at least in helping you see the false teaching.

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So it says in Proverbs 23, 4, labor not to be rich. Cease from thine own wisdom, wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?

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For riches certainly make themselves wings, and then they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

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Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye? Neither desire thou his dainty meats.

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So verse 6, you'll note after the warning about seeking and desiring wealth, then goes on to say, be careful of the fellow who has an evil eye, which is an old school idiom.

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The person who has an evil eye is somebody who's greedy, somebody who really, really desires wealth, and money is their deity, their god.

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All right, this is the person who would rather you actually suffer, die of starvation and freeze to death, than actually give you a warm meal and a coat if you find yourself in need.

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So that person, it says, eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye? Neither desire his dainty meats.

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For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. He says to you, eat and drink, saith he to thee.

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But his heart is not with thee. So he doesn't mean what he says. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, sure, go ahead, have some hors d 'oeuvres, and every shrimp that you put into the sauce and put it in your mouth, all he sees is dollar signs.

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The more so which thou hast eaten, shalt thou vomit up and lose thy sweet words.

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All right, so this is not saying that you can create your future with your words.

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Now, let me show you the passage then in a modern translation in the ESV, and here's what, we'll just start at verse 6.

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Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy. Do not desire his delicacies. He is like one who is inwardly calculating.

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Eat and drink, he says to you, but his heart is not with you. You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten and waste your pleasant words.

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Ah, you see, there you go. So this is not a passage that says that your words create reality.

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Far from it. So already we've got a problem, and that is that the first touch of God's word, first touch of God's word,

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Proverbs 23 verse 7, he's taken it out of context, wove it into the tapestry of his false doctrine that your words create reality, and so he's twisting

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God's word. This is mythology. This isn't sound doctrine. Let me back it up, listen again. The Bible puts it like this in Proverbs.

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It says, as a man thinks in his heart, so he is.

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If I can change how I think about me, that's not what this passage is teaching at all.

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You're teaching magic. These are like new age principles. This is not sound biblical doctrine at all.

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You're twisting God's word. I can have my biggest year yet. That is not what

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Proverbs 23 7 teaches at all, right? If you can change how you think about you, let me promise you, you can have your biggest year yet.

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So if you don't have your biggest year yet, it's because you failed to embrace this principle, you know, how you think about yourself.

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This is a theology for narcissists. This is a theology for impenitent egoists, people who really believe that they're not super -duper special and that they can somehow wield power with their...

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They don't want Jesus, not the biblical one, that calls them to repent of their sins, the crucified and risen

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Savior who bled and died for them. They want the Jesus who is going to... They can steal power from and then use that power for creating better outcomes and making their lives cushier and softer and having less bumps.

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But that's not biblical Christianity, and that Jesus doesn't exist. The most influential year you've ever had.

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The most profitable year you've ever had. The most healthy year you've ever had. You can... Balogna.

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This is just satanic poison. When you change your thinking, everything is different.

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Yeah, said Stuart Smalley. Verses we're using for this two -part series this week and next week. This week is your biggest year yet.

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Next week is our biggest year yet. Absolutely irresponsible. This man is defying the clear command of God to preach the

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Word. He's twisting it and scratching itching ears. Verses we're using in Isaiah chapter 54. I want to read...

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Now, this is the part that I told you at the beginning of this episode, that if you apply the three rules of sound biblical exegesis, which are context, context, and context, this portion of the sermon, it's not going to be as easy, even in context, to understand what's going on here.

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So this is where you... a good commentary, a good study Bible. I'll show you some resources along the way that you can access, and one of them for free, that will help in this regard.

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And so let's take a look at what he's going to do with Isaiah 54. I'm with you for a moment, because they're great words.

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Great words. I'm going to read from verse 2, and it says this, "...enlarge the place of your tent."

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Oh, wow. See, I can have my best year yet, because Isaiah 54 2 says, "...enlarge

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the place of my tent." I think I have a tent. I got to think about this.

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It's been a while since I've been camping, so I think I still have a tent. I'm not interested in enlarging it, though.

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"...stretch your tent curtains wide." "...do not hold back." "...lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes."

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"...you will spread out to the right." That's the camera. Who's the you there? So this is...

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Okay, when we put this back in context, it's not going to help too much. Who's the you there? You will spread out to the right and to the left.

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Who's the you? Why should I assume that I'm the you? Why should

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I assume the people there at Audacious Church are the you? Who's the you that God is addressing there?

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I know that's to the left for me, but that's to the right for all of you. To the right and to the left, your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.

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Having descendants that dispossess nations and settle their desolate cities, what is this referring to?

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Is it some kind of post -dystopia world that the people of Audacious Church has

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Manchester been taken over by the world of Mad Max, and their descendants are going to be the ones who dispossess the remaining nations and settle in their desolate cities?

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What is this passage talking about? Because just looking at some of the words that you're reading here, it doesn't sound like it's a promise that 2021 is going to be my best year yet.

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It is one of those great verses of Scripture that you can read every time and be encouraged.

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There is more. There is something more. There's something that God is asking of you, that when it happens, it changes everything.

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Really? Okay. So what do we do with Isaiah 54? How do we understand it?

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So let's take a look. I'm going to show you a commentary that's free online, and it's the commentary of Dr.

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Paul Kretzmann, and it's called Kretzmann's Popular Commentary, and you can access this at kretzmannproject .org,

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K -R -E -T -Z -M -A -N -N -P -R -O -J -E -C -T .org,

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kretzmannproject .org. And so this is an old school, in the public domain now, biblical commentary on all the books of the

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Bible. Everything. And so because of its age, I mean, the modern translation that was used for the

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Popular Commentary was the KJV. But Kretzmann's commentary is just fantastic.

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If you want a quick understanding of a particular passage,

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Kretzmann's the place to go as a layman. So add this to your repertoire.

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Put this as a bookmark on your browser, you know, in the section that you keep for biblical resources,

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Kretzmann's Popular Commentary, it's going to help. So here's what Kretzmann says.

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The fruit of the Messiah's suffering is the headline that he's giving here, and there's a reason for this.

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And the reason for this is that in the immediate context before Isaiah 54, you have the

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Suffering Servant passage of Isaiah 53. And so he sees a connection between chapter 53 and 54.

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So before I read out what Kretzmann has given us here, I'm going to go ahead and take a look at Isaiah chapter 54, but I'm going to back up and I'm going to go into the immediate context because I can see here in the textual clues from Dr.

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Paul Kretzmann's commentary that he sees a connection between Isaiah 52, the last portion of 52 and 53, and what's coming in in the flow of thought then into 54.

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So here's what it says, Isaiah 52 verse 13. This is a unit here in the prophet

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Isaiah. Behold, my servant shall act wisely. This is a prophecy about Jesus. He shall be high and lifted up, and he shall be exalted.

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As many as were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance and his form beyond that of the children of mankind.

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So shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him. For that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.

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All right, so we're talking about the Suffering Servant, this is talking about Christ, this is a prophecy about him.

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So Isaiah continues, Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed?

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For he grew up before him like a young plant, like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.

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He was despised and he was rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. As one from whom men hid their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not.

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Surely he has borne our griefs. He's carried our sorrows. And yet we esteemed him stricken and smitten by God and afflicted, but he was pierced for our transgressions.

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He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

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All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

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And you'll note Isaiah 53 is one of the clearest texts as it relates to the concept of what we call penal substitutionary atonement.

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Or another synonymous phrase for the concept is the vicarious sufferings of Christ.

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He dies in our place. God has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He is pierced for your sin, my transgressions, so that we can have peace with God.

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It's a beautiful text that gives us the theology behind the sufferings of Christ on the cross, and it's just absolutely fantastic.

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So he was oppressed, he was afflicted, and yet he opened not his mouth, like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, like a sheep that, before it shears, is silenced.

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So he opened not his mouth, and by oppression and judgment he was taken away. And as for his generation who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people, and they gave his grave with the wicked and with the rich man in his death, although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth.

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So you'll note then one of the themes then of Christ's sufferings as for his generation who considered that he was cut off from the land of the living.

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There's a concept here, and that is that Christ had no children. He was cut off, he has no descendants.

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But is that true? And then wonderful prophecy about where Christ would be buried.

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Christ had no control over this. He was buried in a borrowed rich man's tomb, and so Isaiah prophesied that hundreds of years, hundreds, hundreds, just six, seven hundred years before Christ was ever conceived in the womb of Mary.

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So yeah, all right. So yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him and to put him to grief. When a soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days.

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Now how many offspring does Jesus have? Well, he had none. He wasn't married. I don't care what the Da Vinci Code says, he was never married, right?

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And the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied.

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And by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted as righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

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And so you note that we are accounted righteous, we are declared righteous because of Christ's righteousness given to us as a gift.

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So our iniquity is imputed to Christ, and he bleeds and suffers in our place, suffering the wrath of God that we have earned by our rebellion against God.

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And by his righteousness, his perfect sinlessness, we then are accounted righteous by faith as a gift.

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Therefore, I have defied him a portion with many. He shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul to death, and he was numbered with the transgressors.

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Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for their transgressors.

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All right, so that's your context immediately. And then Isaiah starts to head off in a different direction, kind of building off of that.

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But by itself, you have to find the connection. Sing, O barren one who did not bear, break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor.

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For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married, says Yahweh.

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All right, what is this referring to? And so you're going to note, this is going to take a little bit of work, because the immediate reference, you know, what is this referring to, isn't very obvious in the context itself.

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And this is one of the reasons why good commentaries note that Isaiah then is picking up a theme that he began earlier, maybe in chapter 49, talking about barren

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Israel. You know, because of her sin and rebellion, God has caused her to be desolate.

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And so now, you know, Isaiah capitalizing on the finished work of Christ on the cross, theologically, then turns to rebellious

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Israel and says, sing, O barren one. And you can see a theme here that is very similar to what you see in Galatians chapter 4, where Sarah, the one who had no children, she's the one who bears the son of the promise, and her descendants and, you know, and the descendants of Abraham through her are as numerous as the stars in the sky, the sand on the seashore, you get the idea.

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So a similar theme going on here. Enlarge the place of your tent. Let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out.

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Do not hold back. Lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes, for you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations, and will people the desolate cities.

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Fear not, for you will not be ashamed. Be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced, for you will forget the shame of your youth and the reproach of your widowhood.

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You will remember no more, for your maker is your husband. The Lord of hosts is his name. The holy one of Israel is your redeemer.

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The God of the whole earth, he is called. For Yahweh has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your

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God. For a brief moment, I deserted you, but with great compassion, I will gather you.

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In overflowing anger, for a moment, I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love, I will have compassion on you, says

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Yahweh, your redeemer." Ah, you can see that this is a prophecy then regarding, if you would, the spiritual bride of Christ.

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Right? And so this is really what's going on here. This is not a promise at all.

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That, you know, enlarge your place of your tent is not some promise that the year 2021 is going to be your best year yet.

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So let's now, having read the passage out, gone back into Isaiah 52, all the way through 53, and then read this portion of 54 in context, we got a general idea of the themes, but it may be difficult to put together.

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So let's go back to Kretzmann's commentary and see how he puts these pieces together. And so you'll note, again, the heading for this section is the fruit of the

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Messiah's suffering. So Yahweh's promise to relieve Zion's barrenness. Sing, O barren, in joyful shouting, thou that didst not bear.

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Note King James Bible here. The Jewish church, being for a while forsaken of God and therefore destitute of spiritual children, break forth into singing and cry aloud that thou that didst not travail with child, while the affliction of the dispersion was upon her, for more are the children of the desolate, for her who had for a time been forsaken by the

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Lord, her husband, than the children of the married wife, saith Yahweh. During the exile, the house of David was rejected by God, the worship of Jehovah.

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And you'll note that Kretzmann uses the kind of the old school word Jehovah, which really is not how

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Hebrew works, by the way. But you get the idea. The worship of Jehovah in Jerusalem had ceased and the prophecy had been reduced in amount.

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Therefore, the message of salvation was heard by a few only and no new believers were gained.

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With the restoration of Israel, however, and especially in the Messianic era, this condition would once more be changed in such a manner that Zion would have a greater number of spiritual children than ever.

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Enlarge the place of thy tent to make room for the increased number of spiritual children. And let them, the servants, stretch forth the curtains of thy inhabitations and the various sections which made up the large increased area of the tent and strengthen thy stakes, substituting stronger pins for those used till now.

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For thou shalt break forth on the right and on the left and on account of the rapid increase in children of the gospel.

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And that's the point here. With Christ having fulfilled his promise to bleed and die for our sins,

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God laid on him the iniquity of us all, we are made righteous. Now Israel begins to bear children all over again, and this is through the gospel.

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And thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles and make the desolate cities be inhabited, the picture being taken from the former warfare against the heathen and signifying the spiritual conquest of the

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Gentile world through the preaching of the gospel. So this text then in Isaiah, let's kind of back up, sing,

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O barren one, enlarge the place of your tent. This is fulfilled not in 2021 being your best year yet, this is being fulfilled in the gospel going forth into the world, into all nations.

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And the gospel, God, the Holy Spirit, drawing people to himself, regenerating them, giving them faith, and repenting them of their sins.

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And so that's what this is referring to. This is a prophecy of the growth of the church after the fulfillment of Christ's death and resurrection.

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Yeah, that's what's going on here. So Kretzmann helps us to see that, even if the

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English translation that he's using, the King James, is a little bit difficult to understand. It's still a great resource.

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And then let me show you another resource that I think is helpful. This is Logos and Logos Bible Software.

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I have a very large theological library in Logos, but one of the resources that I have available in Logos is a resource that you can purchase online as well, on Kindle or a hard copy edition, and it's called the

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Lutheran Study Bible, the Lutheran Study Bible. And it's, in fact, if you've ever seen it,

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I've got a large analog version of it here, the Lutheran Study... I don't know if I can get that in focus.

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But anyway, Lutheran Study Bible is one of the best study Bibles I have ever owned, and I'm not prejudiced because I'm a confessional

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Lutheran. If you're looking for no -nonsense, proper distinction of law and gospel, and how texts have been understood and interpreted by Christians through the millennia,

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Lutheran Study Bible is an absolutely great resource for you. So here I have the notes, then, in Logos for Isaiah 54.

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A barren one. As Sarah, childless until age 90, did not expect to give birth to an heir, so there was no prospect, according to human reason, for Jerusalem to become alive with citizens, her who is married.

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See God's divorce with the northern kingdom. Chapter 50 is a great example of the theme here that is being re -picked up, and His renewed relationship with His people.

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Then Isaiah 54, which we read, verses 4 to 8, Enlarge the place of your tent.

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The descendants will overflow the boundaries of their native land. Lengthen your cords. Cords, held up tents which could be spread more broadly to encompass more space.

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Possess the nations, not by political or military subjugation, but by a conquest of people's hearts and minds.

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Martin Luther said, We reign by the word. Where the word is preached, there we reign. We reign by the word of the gospel, of the forgiveness of sins, things like that.

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And so this, again, shows us what the major themes are, and Isaiah is one of those books of the

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Bible that isn't always easy to understand, and this is where resources like this are helpful.

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And then I would also note that, maybe like the word Bible commentary, this is another resource that I have in my library.

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Barren one who never gave birth picks up Jerusalem's complaint in Isaiah 49 of being abandoned by God.

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In 49, 18, she was called to see the children gathered about her more than the children of the married woman.

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Suggests that the growth of population in Jerusalem has been desolate so long, exceeds the natural growth of such a city.

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She's challenged to expand on all sides to make room for her enlarged family. And so you get the idea here.

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But a good commentary is one of these things that is very helpful. And then one of my favorite commentary series is called the ancient...

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Well, let me find the title page on this one. This is the

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Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. This is the Old Testament. This particular one is volume 11.

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So let me pull this back up then. And yeah, there we go. And so this is how the church fathers have understood these passages.

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Always a great thing to look at how has the ancient Christians read these biblical texts.

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And so here are a couple examples. And so this opening section, sing, O barren one, from sterility to fertility, pseudo -clement of Rome, by saying,

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Rejoice, O barren one who did not bear. He meant us, for our church was barren before being given children.

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And by saying, Cry aloud, you who have not been in travail, he means this, to offer up our prayers in simplicity to God and not grow weary like the women in labor.

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And by saying, For the children of the desolate will be more than the children of her that is married. He meant that our people seem to be abandoned by God, but now having believed, we have become more numerous than those who seem to have

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God. And again, you'll note that the ancient church then, here, clement of Rome, pseudo -clement of Rome, he clearly sees in the prophecy of Isaiah 54, a fulfillment in the church, in the

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New Testament era of the gospel going on, people being brought in. And so commentaries like this are extremely helpful.

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And those of you men watching or listening to the podcast, and you're considering entering into church work vocation, and you want to be a teacher and a preacher and an exegete of God's Word, then you need to be aware of the fact that you're going to be relying on, you need to be relying on good biblical scholars and exegetes and the

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Church Fathers in order to wrestle with these texts so that you do not twist them, and so that you can faithfully convey what is found in these texts and not head off in your own innovations and in the nonsense and the delusions of your own mind, especially if you want to scratch itching ears.

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But anyway, so you get the idea. So those are the resources that I think are going to be helpful along these lines, and if you're going to be a careful student of God's Word, how do you pick these things apart, especially if you're a layman and you don't have logos and stuff like that?

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Again, Kretzmann's popular commentary, great resource for getting you in the ballpark of understanding what texts say and what they mean.

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That being the case, coming back here to Stuart. Stuart here has twisted up this biblical text horribly, and in twisting up this text horribly, he's trying to make it sound like Isaiah 54 verse 2 is a promise that 2021 is going to be your best year ever, and that's not what it's saying at all.

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Let me back this up, and let's listen to what he said. Every time, and be encouraged, there is more.

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There is something more. There's something that God is asking of you, that when it happens, it changes everything.

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But we all know verses have a context. Yeah, that was totally out of context.

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I don't know about you, but when I have a moment when I think to myself, this year I could, and I think of something like, you know, hey,

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I could be totally transformed. I could be set free financially. I could move to a different house.

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Totally transformed, set free financially. Preaching to people's greed.

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I could move to a different city. You know, maybe you're thinking, I could date that person, we could marry. Maybe you're thinking,

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I could do that course, there's another voice that triggers inside my head. And a battle ensues between the little voice that promises vision.

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What little voice promises vision? What are you talking about? And a loud voice.

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You have voices in your head? You might want to check that out with like a psychiatrist or something.

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That tells me why not. Or this voice that gives me every reason why it's not me.

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And points out all those wonderful people that it could be. And what

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I don't realize and you don't realize is all those wonderful people are looking at you and wondering why it's not you, because it can't be them.

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What are you talking about? Because there's a battle going on inside of us. Context of Isaiah 54, two and three, surprisingly, is

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Isaiah 54, one and four. No, actually, the context goes well past that.

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All the way into chapter 49 and 50, a good commentary pointed that out already.

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And you really can't get how 54 picks up on the themes found in 49 and 50 until you work your way through 52 and 53, which we did.

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And we understand what the picture here is prophetically that's being proclaimed by Isaiah. And it has nothing to do with having 2021 be your best year ever.

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Now, when you read it, this is how Enlarge Your Place in Your Tent starts with these words.

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Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child, burst into song, shout for joy.

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You who were never in labor because more of the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband.

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Enlarge Your Place in Your Tent sounds great when you need more space. But when the circumstances of your life and the

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Word of God don't match, you have to make a decision which one you want to follow. No, in this particular case, if the circumstances of your life don't match up with the out -of -context false teaching that's being spewed from the stage at your megachurch, then you need to make a decision whether or not you're going to believe the

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Word of God rightly understood and taught, or the person who's twisting it up and scratching itching ears and telling people what they want to hear, which is what

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Stuart's doing here. Because the barren woman didn't need extra space in the circumstances she's in right now.

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And who's the barren woman referring to? This is why you need a good commentary sometimes. Your biggest year yet is not about who you are now.

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This text isn't about having your best year yet. It's not about your circumstances right now.

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It's about where you're going to be at the end of this year. No, this text isn't about that at all.

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Do you think that Isaiah 54 has been sitting dormant since Isaiah penned it until the year 2021?

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It's about what God's going to do through the year. Then verse four says this, having enlarged the place, enlarge, enlarge, do not be afraid.

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I suggest to you every time the Bible says, do not be afraid, it's because we need to understand that it's possible to be afraid.

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What seminary did you graduate from? Because we need to put that on the list of seminaries to avoid like the plague, because they clearly are not capable of training people to rightly handle

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God's word. So when it says, don't be afraid, it's because it's trying to put something into us to deal with the circumstance that is making you afraid.

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This is utter gobbledygook. If I do this, everyone is going to laugh at me.

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That, what? Isaiah 54 has nothing to do with that. If I'm making more space in a home where I have more than enough space already, that makes no sense.

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No, you're preaching on this text makes no sense at all. I'm doing a degree for a job that doesn't fit with where I am right now.

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People are going to go, what is that? Studying, you know, in school to have a career change has nothing to do with Isaiah 54.

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Any aspect of it, not even one word of it has anything to do with that. About, if I'm trying to move to a city for a place, a space that doesn't fit with our circumstance, what is going on there?

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What's going on is the little voice is starting to get louder because what you feed is what you give faith to.

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I don't even know what to make of this anymore. We are off into the word of faith heresy weeds.

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He's incapable of rightly handling a biblical text at all. And, you know, we're only, what?

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A third of the way through this travesty? One third of the way through and you can already tell there's no way to land the plane.

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I mean, everything he's spewing here is utterly false. There's no soundness to this sermon at all.

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And unfortunately, this is just the standard fare in what passes for preaching today in so many mildly charismatic churches that claim that, oh, they're all about making

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Christianity relevant for the masses and stuff, but they are incapable of rightly handling a biblical text to save their life.

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And so what should you do if this is your church? Leave. Get out.

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Flee the building. You're not being fed the truth here. You're being deceived, and this text isn't pointing you to repentance, faith, what

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Christ has done for you, a proper understanding of God's Word at all. This is exactly the type of church that was prophesied in 2

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Timothy 4, that during the time when people don't endure sound doctrine, they've gathered to themselves teachers to teach them what they want to hear.

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Scratch itching ears, Stuart Kier here, he's doing a fine job of scratching itching ears, trying to wrestle the biblical text as if somehow

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Isaiah 54 is a promise that year 2021's going to be your best year ever.

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The that text doesn't teach that at all. I think you get the point. So hopefully you found this helpful.

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If so, all the information on how you can share the video is down below in the description. And let me thank you for your prayers.

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Thank you for your prayers. When I was down with COVID, I always cover your prayers, and I thank God that he heard your prayers and my prayers, and he mercifully preserved my life and has given me back enough health to be able to continue to serve you in this way.

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So until next time, may God richly bless you in the grace and mercy won by Jesus Christ, this vicarious death on the cross for all of your sins.