Participants: C. A. Murray
Series Code: 12POP
Program Code: 12POP000009
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00:46 Good evening, and we welcome you back to Pillars of Prophecy.
00:50 Are we having a blessed time? 00:53 If you are, say "Praise the Lord. " Praise the Lord! 00:55 Amen. We have had already this evening 00:59 a wonderful sermon by Jay Rosario 01:01 and an anointed hour of music. It was really a blessing. 01:05 And this hour will be sure to please you as well 01:10 because it's my privilege to introduce our speaker tonight 01:13 who is Pastor C.A. Murray. 01:15 And he doesn't need an introduction. 01:18 You know when we take time to introduce we are not 01:22 honoring the man. We are simply introducing the man 01:27 who will bring honor and glory to the Lord. 01:30 And so Pastor C.A. is the Production Manager 01:34 here at 3ABN. He's an ordained minister. 01:38 He's... you've heard him sing this Camp Meeting. 01:41 He is a wonderful husband and you know 01:45 he's a good friend of mine. But more than that 01:48 he's a good friend of Jesus. 01:50 He's a man of his word and a man of God's Word. 01:54 So we'll be very pleased to have him address 01:58 the topic of Messianic Prophecies. 02:01 But before he comes out to speak 02:03 we're going to bring back Reggie and Ladye Love Smith. 02:08 And haven't you been blessed by their music? Amen! 02:11 Tonight they're going to sing a song that they wrote. 02:15 And the title of that song is Miracle. 02:52 I was tired and worn 02:55 the day that I met Jesus. 03:03 And I fell to my face 03:06 and cried out loud to Him. 03:13 "Lord I know if You're willing 03:19 You can heal me 03:25 from this hurt and pain 03:29 that lies so deep within. " 03:35 Could this be 03:41 my miracle? 03:46 Could this be the one 03:51 that I've been waiting for? 03:55 I've waited for. 03:58 I can hardly believe 04:04 how He cares so much for me. 04:09 Could this be 04:13 my miracle today? 04:32 He was standing by the well 04:37 when I first saw Him. 04:43 And He spoke of love 04:47 and how He cared for me. 04:53 For He told me I could drink 04:59 this living water 05:05 and it would quench my thirst 05:09 for all eternity. 05:16 Can this be 05:21 my miracle? 05:27 Can this be the one 05:31 that I've been waiting for? 05:35 I've waited for. 05:38 I can hardly believe 05:44 how He cares so much for me. 05:49 Can this be 05:53 my miracle today? 06:01 He said: "Come as you are 06:06 and drink from that fountain. " 06:14 Jesus made a way for you 06:17 if you will believe. 06:23 There is hope and peace for you 06:28 if you will trust Him. 06:34 He will break the chains 06:38 and set your spirit free. 06:45 This can be... oh, this can be 06:51 your miracle... your miracle. 06:57 This can be the one 07:01 that you've been waiting for... 07:05 you've waited for. 07:08 I can hardly believe 07:14 how He cares so much for me. 07:19 Can this be? Oh Lord, can this be? 07:25 Can this be? Yes this can be... 07:30 Can this be 07:35 your miracle 07:39 today? 07:44 I can hardly believe 07:50 how He cares so much 07:54 for me. 07:59 Can this be 08:03 my miracle 08:06 today? 08:11 God's miracle. 08:24 Amen! 08:31 Amen and amen. 08:37 I was talking with James Rafferty and 08:40 Kameron DeVasher last evening 08:42 and they were saying how tough it is to get a prophetic sermon 08:47 done in an hour because there are so many on-ramps and 08:49 off-ramps and so much material, so many ways 08:52 that you can go. And it's really tough to get it 08:56 all in an hour. And Shelley Quinn was saying 09:01 pretty much the same thing, so I have to agree with them. 09:03 There are so many facets to prophecy and so much 09:08 that can be encompassed by the prophetic word 09:10 that it's really just tough to sort of "fight the clock. " 09:14 But we will try to do our best. We am going to talk about 09:16 the Messianic prophecies. Of course, 09:19 we are going to concentrate our studies on the book of Isaiah, 09:22 but we will get to Isaiah through Luke. 09:27 So you want to put your finger in Isaiah 09:29 and then flip over to Luke 24. 09:32 Start there. We will get back to Isaiah 09:35 but we get to the Old Testament through the corridor of the New. 09:42 Love to hear those pages turning. 09:44 If you will, now bow your heads with me in a word of prayer. 09:47 Father God, truly Your Word is a lamp unto our feet, 09:50 a light unto our path. 09:52 And we pray now, mighty Father, 09:55 that You would be the teacher. That You would instruct us 09:59 and give us of the truth of Your Word. 10:03 Give us open and receptive hearts. And we thank you 10:05 in Jesus' name, Amen. Picture the scene: 10:10 two men are walking along a lonely, 10:14 dark, and dusty road. 10:17 Day is fading into dusk 10:21 bringing the curtain down on what has been 10:26 a long, exasperating, depressing, 10:31 disappointing three days. 10:35 It is as it were a "lost weekend. " 10:40 Have you ever wanted something really bad? 10:44 I mean really bad. 10:46 You wanted something so bad that 10:50 if you didn't get it you just didn't know how you would go on. 10:54 You ever wanted something really, really bad? 10:58 There are times when you can want something so badly 11:03 when the desire, the expectation 11:09 is so strong, so engrained and engraved on your psyche, 11:14 so much a part of your own personal ontology 11:18 that even the notion, the thought 11:21 that what you want could not be or not turn out precisely 11:25 as you wanted, precisely as you had envisioned it, 11:30 that thought is so alien to you, so repulsive, so repugnant, 11:36 so foreign, so alien to your thinking 11:40 that even... you don't even allow it to enter your mind 11:44 let alone your heart. 11:45 You just don't want to go there. 11:50 Some people want their Jesus - their Messiah - 11:54 with blonde hair and blue eyes. 12:02 Some people want their Messiah with black skin and dreadlocks 12:06 kind of like Bob Marley. 12:11 Some people want their Messiah to be kind of like 12:15 one of those vending machines where you get popcorn 12:18 and Famous Amos cookies and potato chips. 12:21 You know, you pray a little perfunctory prayer, 12:23 put in some seed money, pull out the handle and get 12:26 anything you want. 12:31 Some people want a Burger King Jesus. 12:35 Sort of an ethnocentrized have-it-your-way kind of God. 12:40 Some people want a 1960's hippie Jesus. 12:44 You know: sandals and slippers, "Peace, man. " 12:51 You see, this idea of making Jesus or making God 12:56 in our image and creating a God to fit our needs 13:01 and constructing a Savior to be what we want is as old 13:05 as sinful man. 13:07 Many of the Jews in the gospels and the epistles 13:12 rejected Jesus simply because He didn't fit their 13:17 preconceived notion. 13:20 They didn't get the Jesus they wanted 13:23 so they rejected the Jesus they had. 13:29 But not these two that are walking this road this night. 13:33 They are loyal, loving followers of Jesus... 13:38 not prominent ones. Ellen White says these two men 13:41 are "disciples. " They weren't prominent disciples. 13:44 They weren't a Matthew or a Luke or a John. 13:49 These were just followers of the Lord. 13:54 But evidently they were important enough to Jesus 13:57 to get a special visit. 14:00 See I could make a left turn... that's a sermon in itself. 14:02 There's nobody unimportant with Jesus. Amen! 14:07 So these three horrific days 14:11 have mercifully ended. 14:14 And as they walk, they weep. 14:18 They commemorate, they commiserate, they ruminate 14:21 on the galling apocalyptic failure of their fondest dreams. 14:26 On the worst weekend of their lives. 14:30 That 7-1/2 mile trip from Jerusalem to Emaeus 14:36 might well have been 7,000 miles 14:40 or 7,000,000 miles. 14:45 Now the Bible does not suggest or give us a digest 14:50 of their conversation before the arrival of Jesus. 14:55 But we can guess, we can intuit what they were talking about 15:00 by the clues that the Bible does give us. 15:05 The Bible says Cleopas and his companion loved their Lord. 15:09 They were true disciples. 15:11 But this love of God did not free them from the faulty 15:15 expectations, the misguided anticipation, 15:18 and the counterfeit ecclesiology rampant in rabbinical Judaism. 15:23 Cleopas and his fellow disciple 15:26 had made the same mistake that many of the Jews were making 15:30 and are making even today. 15:33 In short, their ethic was suffering under the weight 15:39 of their ethnic - 15:44 um-hmm - 15:48 and colored by 2,000 years of revisionist history. 15:52 The truth is, ladies and gentlemen, 15:54 that most of the pain and sadness and angina 15:58 that they were feeling that night was self-induced 16:01 and self-inflicted and unnecessary. 16:05 They were crying for nothing, Kenny. 16:10 You know, when you go to the doctor sometimes you get... 16:13 with one of these kind of non- distinct pains - the doctor will 16:16 push several spots you know to find out where it hurts. 16:19 He pushes here and you say: "Umh-umh... not there. 16:21 Not there. Umh-umh... not there. 16:23 Ummm! That's it. " 16:25 Well here's where the pain was for these two disciples; 16:30 here's where the migraine came from: 16:32 Luke 24:21. 16:34 This is the diagnosis of their pain. 16:39 The Bible says - recording their conversation to Jesus: 16:44 "But we were hoping that it was He 16:49 who was going to redeem Israel. " 16:53 Translated: "We were hoping 16:57 to get out from under Roman domination. " 17:00 "We were hoping to be top dog again. " 17:02 "We wanted God to do to Caesar just what He had done 17:06 to Pharaoh. " "We were hoping 17:09 that it was going to be Jesus who redeemed Israel. " 17:13 What they didn't understand is that is precisely what Jesus 17:15 had done. 17:18 He didn't redeem them from Rome; He redeemed them from sin. 17:23 The Bible says Jesus took them to a Bible study. 17:26 And I believe that Bible study was talking about 17:30 redemption, redeemers, and deliverance and freedom. 17:36 The Bible says He began at Moses... 17:37 a type of Christ, interestingly enough, and a redeemer. 17:41 And then He went through every single text concerning Himself. 17:48 And the Bible says their mourning turned to dancing. 17:51 Their sadness turned to joy. 17:56 And that very night they turned around and ran 18:01 back to Jerusalem. No food; no water; no sleep; no rest 18:06 because their lives had been changed by the truth. Amen! 18:11 And their response to learning the truth was the same 18:16 as it always is for people when they learn the truth. 18:21 Their response is codified for us in Luke 24:32. 18:25 "And they said to one another: 'did not our hearts 18:29 burn within us 18:34 as He spoke with us by the way? ' " 18:40 I have no doubt that Christ spent a lot of time 18:45 in the book of Isaiah. 18:47 There are three principal illusions 18:52 and many minor ones 18:55 showing who and what Christ was going to be and do 19:00 and it's found in the book of Isaiah. 19:01 I need to tell you: Isaiah is the prince of prophecy. 19:07 He is one of the most fabulous prophetic writers 19:11 in the Word of God. 19:13 And when they dug up the Dead Sea scrolls 19:16 Isaiah was one of the books translated the most 19:19 and one of the ones from which many, many manuscripts came. 19:24 Perhaps Isaiah's prophetic utterances were to them 19:27 among the clearest indicators of the manner, 19:30 message, and mission of Jesus. 19:33 And how wonderfully providential ladies and gentlemen 19:36 that Isaiah's prophetic word was given at the absolute 19:40 nadir, the absolute bottom, the absolute lowest point, 19:44 the absolute pit, the rock bottom of Israel's experience 19:48 with their own God. 19:50 So many see the Old Testament as a gospel of law 19:55 and the New Testament as a gospel of grace, 19:58 but let me correct that this night. 20:01 Because the truth is in 20:04 looking at the history of God's dealing with His own people 20:07 pre first Advent it is one of colossal, gelatinous, 20:13 over-arching radical, aggressive, 20:16 persistent, consistent, irresistible grace. 20:21 Old Testament. 20:23 In Isaiah, Hosea, Jeremiah, 20:28 Ezekiel we see grace that takes a licking 20:32 and keeps on ticking. 20:38 History affirms that when God's people are at their worst 20:43 the people's God is at His best. 20:47 Amen. 20:49 Now we could make a left turn and stay on that for 20 minutes. 20:53 Because if it's good for them it's good for you. 20:55 When you're at your worst - 20:58 um-hmm - 21:00 God is at His best. Amen! 21:04 And you see that in bold relief in the book of Isaiah. 21:07 Note to self: even when my lifestyle indicates 21:12 before the universe that I am a fool 21:15 God remains faithful. 21:22 II Timothy 2:13 says: 21:24 "If we are faithless, He remains faithful; 21:28 He cannot deny Himself. " 21:31 Now that's for good or ill. It simply says 21:34 the promises of God are true whether you are true or not. 21:38 Now that's for good or ill. 21:40 That does not counteract or contramand Galatians 6:7 21:43 It is true: what you sow you reap. 21:46 But the promises of God are true - 21:49 Amen? Amen - 21:51 and are not dependent upon you 21:53 because God swears by Himself. 21:55 When God says: "If we confess our sins 21:58 He is faithful and just to forgive" 22:00 you'll forgive my pejorative English 22:02 "that ain't got nothing to do with you. " 22:05 God made that promise because He's God. 22:08 So anybody who confesses their sins... 22:12 He is faithful and just to forgive anybody their sins. 22:17 Doesn't matter who you are. 22:19 God didn't make that promise just for you. 22:21 He made it for everybody and anybody. 22:24 Why? Because He's God! 22:26 Amen! 22:28 So He's faithful... cannot deny Himself. 22:32 Show you something really cute. 22:34 Lamentations chapter 3 verse 22. 22:36 Lamentations 3:22. 22:39 You've got to realize... and a lot of this stuff in Isaiah, 22:42 Lamentations, Jeremiah, the strength comes 22:45 because of the context. Not so much the words themselves - 22:48 though the words are powerful - it's the context in which 22:51 they are written. Look at Lamentations chapter 3 verse 22. 22:55 This is written... To get a handle on this... 22:58 this is written after the northern kingdom has been 23:03 erased for 100 years. 23:05 Nebuchadnezzar had already begun to dismantle 23:08 the kingdom of Judah. 23:09 Most of the rich and affluent were deported 23:14 and he was coming back to get the rest. 23:18 And Jeremiah writes: "Through the Lord's mercy 23:24 we are not consumed. " 23:28 You see the context? 23:30 We are going into captivity but through His mercies 23:33 we are not consumed. 23:34 "They are new every morning; 23:39 great is Your faithfulness. " Amen! 23:42 Now ladies and gentlemen, that rolls off the tongue 23:45 fairly easily when you've got money in the bank, 23:48 and you've got a nice house, 23:50 and the kids are doing all right, 23:52 and you've got health, and you've got a good family, 23:55 and you've got good friends. 23:56 You know, that is easy to talk that way. 23:59 But when you're broke 24:08 or bankrupt, unemployed, 24:12 homeless, sick, dysfunctional, 24:16 your children are misbehaving, 24:18 and you're on your way to prison 24:21 that's kind of a hard statement to make! 24:24 And ladies and gentlemen, that is precisely 24:28 where Israel was going. They were facing a 70-year 24:32 prison sentence - Lemuel - in Babylon. 24:35 Seventy-year bit. 24:40 And yet the prophet could say: "Your compassion 24:45 fails not. 24:48 Your mercies are new every morning. 24:52 Great is Your faithfulness. " 24:57 You see, we... God is not good... 25:01 God is not good in response to your goodness. 25:06 Need I belabor that point? 25:10 God is good because He's God! Amen! 25:14 God was good before you ever thought about being good. 25:22 He's not good in response to your being good... 25:24 He's good 'cause that's what God is. 25:26 In fact, it is His goodness 25:28 that brings out the goodness in you. 25:31 Amen. 25:37 And nobody does that better. 25:39 Nobody does a better job of making that point 25:42 than does Isaiah's Messianic prophecies. 25:46 And there's some good stuff in here, and I hope time doesn't 25:49 become my enemy. Well it's my enemy already. 25:53 You know the Bible says the last enemy that is slain 25:56 is going to be death. 25:57 One of those enemies will be time. 26:03 When you've got all eternity you can preach forever, John. 26:07 Isaiah highlights... he underscores 26:09 a love driven by desperation. 26:12 We see a new picture of God in the book of Isaiah. 26:15 We see this desperate, radical, all-encompassing, 26:19 clinging love of God. 26:21 The challenge is: "God's love for us is concomitant with 26:25 His hatred for sin. 26:29 I told some guys in a maximum security prison... 26:33 We were trying to tape some... some uh... 26:38 a little of the new Free Indeed! program. 26:41 And I told the guys: "You know, sometimes I almost 26:44 feel sorry for God. 26:45 To love that much and be treated like that... 26:50 that's rough. " 26:53 Because the amount of pain you receive is directly proportional 26:56 to the amount of love that you invest. 26:58 If you take a girl out one time, 27:00 spend a little money, and she says: "Don't call me again... 27:03 I didn't like the date. " Well one date; couple bucks; 27:05 couple hours. Not a big deal. 27:08 But if you've been dating for five years 27:17 and she says "Later, " 27:20 that hurts a little bit 27:22 because the pain is directly proportional to the investment. 27:28 And if you love a lot, 27:30 rejection hurts a lot. 27:35 And God is infinite love. 27:38 So how does He feel when He's rejected? 27:41 I told the guys in prison: "I almost feel pity for God, 27:44 but God doesn't need my pity... I need His. " 27:49 So do you. 27:56 Some of us may have an idea of how much God loves us 28:02 because He shows us that love 1,000 days 1,000 ways. 28:08 I think there are times when I can really feel the love of God. 28:11 Anybody else? You KNOW God loves you. 28:15 Because God wants you to know how much He loves you. 28:20 But I contend that human beings have absolutely no concept 28:26 of God's hatred of sin. 28:29 There's no way you can know how much God hates sin. 28:32 You can't. Because of our nature 28:36 there is nothing in this world that we hate 28:40 as much as God hates sin. 28:45 You can know how much He loves you 28:48 but you will never know His antipathy to sin. 28:55 Cannot know because we were born in sin. 28:58 We've got to fight our own sinful nature. 29:00 God has none of that. 29:02 We will never know how much God hates sin. 29:07 So how can we truly understand? 29:11 And if we had any idea, we would run from sin 29:16 like the plague. 29:19 Now let me make a left turn 29:21 'cause I want to get into Isaiah through the New Testament. 29:25 Show you something kind of cute. 29:27 Um, I want to look at Isaiah through the Messianic prophecies 29:33 and I've got to dash through this. 29:35 Matthew chapter 12 verse 39. 29:38 Write it down; I'll tell you what it says 29:41 or I'll give you a digest of what it says. 29:42 Matthew 12 verse 39. 29:44 One of the smart aleck Scribes and Pharisees 29:47 asked Christ for a sign. 29:49 Remember that? 29:51 "Give us a sign. " 29:53 Jesus says: "An evil and adulterous generation 29:58 seeks after a sign. " 30:03 But in Isaiah chapter 7 when Israel's cup of sin is 30:09 overflowing... In fact, it is so bad... Look at the language 30:12 in chapter 1 verses 3 through 20. 30:14 You've got to write that down. Had I more time I would read 30:16 all that for you and walk you through it. 30:18 But here is a digest of what's happening in Isaiah chapter 1 30:21 verses 3 through 20. 30:22 God says: "I hate your lifestyle. 30:26 Your worship is unacceptable. 30:29 Your sacrifices are futile. 30:31 Your prayers? An abomination. 30:34 I cannot hear you anymore. 30:36 When you lift up your hands in worship 30:39 I will cover My eyes. " 30:42 So there is no question that the relationship between 30:45 God and His people is fractured if not outright destroyed. 30:50 The relationship has broken down. 30:53 It doesn't really exist anymore. 30:56 And so God says to Isaiah: 30:58 "Go tell Ahaz the king: 'ask me for a sign. ' " 31:05 He said: "Ask Me for a sign. " 31:09 An evil and adulterous king 31:14 of an evil and adulterous people 31:18 "Ask for a sign. " 31:21 Now get my point: signs, ladies and gentlemen, 31:24 are not for believers... are they? 31:27 They're not. Believers have what? 31:32 Faith. Faith. Thank you. 31:34 You don't need signs... you've got faith. 31:36 Faith supersedes signs. 31:42 Faith is better than signs. 31:45 Faith is stronger than signs. 31:48 Signs can be counterfeited by the devil... 31:52 faith cannot! Amen! 31:57 You've heard the story of Isaac and Jacob and Esau? 32:04 He put on the rough skins and he felt it. 32:08 And he figured: "OK, that's got to be the right kid. " 32:12 You see, signs can be counterfeited. 32:18 Faith cannot. 32:21 Faith is better than signs. 32:23 Faith is stronger than signs. 32:25 Sometimes even in these last days 32:29 because of some of the tricks Satan's going to pull 32:32 you won't be able to believe your own senses. 32:35 All you will have is your faith. 32:41 So God in love goes against the grain of His own paradigm. 32:46 You've got to stick with me here. 32:47 He suspends the rules of engagement; 32:50 subordinates Himself to a people who should have but had no 32:54 faith; and in deference to a king and country who 32:59 have rejected Him, Jehovah God says: "Ask Me for a sign. " 33:06 And what does this smart aleck king say? 33:11 "No! 33:13 Not asking You for a sign. 33:15 I don't feel like asking You for a sign. " 33:20 Now God is suspending the rules. 33:21 He's gone against the grain, His own trajectory and says 33:24 "I'm going to let you ask Me for a sign... 33:27 I'm asking you to ask Me for a sign. 33:29 Faith ought to be enough but I will bow to you. 33:32 Ask Me for a sign. " 33:34 And the king says: "Not going to do it. " 33:39 So God told him: "I'm going to give you a couple signs 33:42 anyway. Number 1: you're looking over here at Syria. 33:45 Syria's not your problem. 33:46 Your problem is over here... Assyria. 33:51 And I want you to know 65 years from now nobody's 33:53 going to think about Syria. Your problem is Assyria. 33:58 My Word should be sufficient. " 34:01 Now let me take another left turn. 34:04 Elijah... or rather Isaiah and Hosea 34:09 are contemporaries. 34:12 They are prophesying at the same time. 34:14 Even their names display this desperate, radical, 34:20 uncompromising love of God 34:23 and His desire to be with His own. 34:25 I was talking with Irma the other night and I said: 34:27 "You know, it's almost as though the God we see in the book 34:29 of Isaiah is schizophrenic" and she jumped up on the bed 34:31 and said: "Don't you call God schizophrenic! " 34:36 But you see this dichotomy. 34:40 God wants to be with His people so bad 34:43 yet you also see this absolute hatred of sin... 34:46 and they exist together at the same time. 34:51 Hosea's name means Yahweh has saved. 34:54 You need to hold onto that. Isaiah means Jehovah will save. 34:58 Point: God loves His people. 35:05 Counterpoint: God hates sin. 35:09 So Hosea has two children... 35:12 they're not really his but we'll say they're his. 35:16 One is Lo-Ruhamah: not pitied or no more mercy. 35:21 So the father's name is... The father's name is 35:25 Yahweh has saved but the son's name is 35:28 No more mercy. 35:29 The second son, Lo-Ammi, his name is Not My people. 35:36 Isaiah's name is Jehovah will save. 35:40 His first son is Shear-Jashuh 35:44 which means A remnant shall return. 35:48 His second son is Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. 35:52 Now say that twenty times quick. 35:56 His name means Speed the spoil; hasten the plunder 36:00 or in short Destruction is coming quickly. 36:05 Isaiah says himself in Isaiah chapter 8 verse 18 36:10 "I and my children - or the children the Lord gave me - 36:13 are for signs and wonders. " 36:15 In other words, God didn't just give these names randomly 36:20 or capriciously or accidentally. 36:22 Those names were signs and sermons. 36:26 They were not just put there to prophesy 36:30 they were prophecies. Do you follow? 36:33 Those names were God's feelings about God's people. 36:40 So get this now: 36:42 God sent a man, two men, 36:47 whose names were signs with two sets of sons 36:52 who were additional signs 36:57 and they were predictions of the most ghastly 37:00 predictions in the Old Testament. 37:02 God was saying: "The Syrians can't hurt you 37:05 but the Assyrians will destroy you. 37:08 You will become slaves to the most vicious nation on earth. 37:14 They will take you; they will displace you; 37:18 they will enslave you; they will murder your men; 37:22 ravish your women; sweep away your children; 37:26 mercilessly slaughter your old seniors; 37:30 and when they are done 37:32 ten of the twelve tribes will be gone forever. " 37:38 That's a radical prophecy. 37:41 When the Assyrians are done... 37:44 If you want to read something that will just make your blood 37:47 curdle, read the history of Assyrian conquest. 37:50 The Assyrians were the original terrorists. 37:52 They were blood-thirsty people. 37:54 God is saying "When the Assyrians come through 37:58 not 50%, not 60%... 10 of the 12 tribes 38:03 will be gone... never to exist again. " 38:12 "And when they come you will no longer have a country 38:17 to call your own. 38:18 No visible assurance that you are the chosen. 38:21 You can't rock back on this promise given to Abraham 38:24 that we are the chosen. 38:26 When the Assyrians come you won't look like the chosen; 38:29 you won't feel like the chosen; 38:32 you won't live like the chosen. 38:34 You will feel abandoned, alien, alone, forsaken... 38:40 and all you will have is something that you didn't want; 38:46 that you don't deserve; 38:48 and yet I will give you one more sign 38:52 because when the Assyrians come you will need it. " 38:58 Isaiah 7:14 39:01 "Behold, a virgin shall conceive 39:06 and bear a Son 39:09 and you shall call His name 39:13 God with us. 39:19 And so when the Assyrians come 39:21 and you watch your children slaughtered and enslaved, 39:25 your women raped and tortured, 39:28 your men cut to shreds, 39:31 you're going to need to hold onto the fact 39:35 that a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son. 39:42 And even though it looks like God is far away 39:46 God is going to be with you. " 39:49 And as I alluded to this is the first of three 39:54 major prophetic utterances that give assurance 39:58 that God's eternal purpose will come to pass. 40:03 From the first prophecy in Genesis 3:15 40:06 to the last words of Jesus in Revelation 22:12 40:10 "Behold I come quickly" 40:11 God is saying: "Regardless of what things look like 40:14 you must resist the evidence of your own senses 40:17 and hold on by faith to the prophetic Word of God - 40:21 which is surer than your senses. " 40:23 The picture is that the plan of God will stand. 40:30 The picture that is given of God 40:35 in the book of Isaiah reaches unparalleled heights. 40:40 It is in Isaiah that the love of God and the heart of God 40:44 is exposed... as it were, stripped bare. 40:47 We see a God in Isaiah that we see nowhere else 40:51 in the Word of God. 40:53 We see a transcendent and a holy God... a righteous God. 40:58 Lord over a profligate and hypocritical people. 41:02 And yet we see a glorious, patient, temperate God. 41:06 The term Holy One of Israel 41:09 which talks about the majesty of God 41:11 appears in the Old Testament 32 times. 41:14 Do you know that 26 of those times is in the book of Isaiah? 41:19 Because he's giving them a picture of a holy, lofty Lord 41:24 who loves His people 41:25 and speaks of his understanding of a God 41:30 and what Christ is and what Christ's mission is 41:34 and what His people were bringing on and doing 41:38 to themselves. Make no mistake about it brothers and sisters, 41:41 Isaiah ministers in rough times. 41:44 Times of great national crisis. 41:47 God's people were as far away from Him as they ever would be. 41:53 And God in His love sent Isaiah, 41:56 murdered by Manasseh. 41:59 He sent Micah; He sent Amos; 42:04 He sent Hosea. Later on He sent Jeremiah and Ezekiel 42:10 to warn them, to encourage them. 42:13 We see a love that gushes from the heart of God. 42:17 A love, though unrequited, 42:20 simply would not let His people go. 42:26 Some of the most beautiful and sublime passages 42:28 in all of scripture are born in the conceit of that love. 42:35 But a love whose end and aim and ultimate purpose 42:40 is continually hindered by sin. 42:45 Israel is stripped bare in the book of Isaiah. 42:49 Sin is stripped bare in the book of Isaiah... 42:52 but so is God. 42:54 Some of the most beautiful, powerful, endearing, 42:57 and enduring passages in all of scripture are found in Isaiah 43:02 consonant with some of the most sober and arresting and somber 43:07 texts in the Bible. Give you an example: Isaiah 28. 43:10 Time is getting away from me so I don't have time to read it 43:12 all, but if you go to Isaiah 28:15 43:14 God speaks about a covenant that the leaders of Israel 43:17 are making with death. 43:21 We get a chance to see as much as humans can endure 43:25 the psychology of God. 43:27 The psychology of divinity. 43:29 He said: "You have made lies your refuge. " 43:33 You are lying to yourselves. 43:35 You have made this covenant with death. 43:37 But in verse 18 of that same chapter - 28:18- He says: 43:41 "But I God have annulled your covenant with death. " 43:46 Your agreement with hell has been cancelled. 43:49 The destruction that you are calling upon yourself 43:53 I guarantee you you're going to feel. 43:57 You think you're Teflon. 43:59 You think it's not going to touch you. 44:02 You think death is going to go by you, but I guarantee you 44:06 that the travesty, the drama 44:10 that you cause upon this kingdom 44:12 is not going to pass by your own head. 44:14 Now we see this thing that I call the schizophrenia of God 44:18 that my wife doesn't like and I apologize for that. 44:22 Because right in the middle of that invective, 44:25 right in the middle of God, as it were, spanking His people, 44:29 He tucks a little caveat... 44:34 a little love note. 44:36 It's as though He bares His breast and bares His soul. 44:40 So right in the middle of the spanking 44:42 verse 16 He says: "Behold I lay in Zion 44:46 a stone, a foundation, a tried and precious stone. " 44:49 Now who is that talking about? 44:51 Talking about Jesus. 44:53 So right in the middle of the spanking it's as though He says 44:57 "This is going to hurt me 45:01 worse than it hurts you. " 45:05 Now my Mother used to pull out that line. 45:09 And I didn't buy it then... 45:13 I don't buy it now. 45:15 But when you're dealing with God, it's true. 45:19 So right in the middle of saying "Your covenant with death 45:23 has been annulled... you are going to die... 45:27 by the way, Jesus is coming and I still love you 45:33 and I've laid a foundation stone 45:35 that nobody is going to be able to remove. " 45:39 You see the power of that? Even in the spanking 45:42 God stops to say: "I still love you. " 45:44 There's a text in Isaiah where God says: "Listen, 45:47 tell those people I'm not your God any more. 45:49 I'm done. Tell them to find some other God. " 45:54 And then one chapter later: "Oh, by the way, 45:56 tell them I love them. " 46:00 You see a love that will... you see God on the stretch. 46:03 You see a picture of God as never before. 46:06 You see a God who is hurt but He just can't let go 46:12 because He loves so much. 46:15 So He re-affirms yet again 46:18 "You have broken your word but I have not broken Mine. 46:22 You have broken your covenant 46:24 but My covenant remains unbroken. " 46:26 These allusions to Christ are set against a backdrop 46:29 of national apostasy. 46:32 The major continuing problem is this: 46:34 pernicious sinful living that reveals itself in God's people 46:39 trusting in wrong things - just like today - 46:41 seeking after other gods - just like today - 46:43 unethical and illegitimate alliances, 46:47 unjust, unfaithful, and treacherous leadership. 46:50 So the people were bad and so were the leaders. 46:54 Um-hmm. 46:56 And each and every time God enumerates their sins 47:01 or enunciates a complaint 47:03 or contemplates a punishment 47:05 He reiterates that His purpose through the prophecies 47:09 though grounded and founded in that time 47:13 are directly focusing to Jesus 47:16 and, by extension, to us. 47:20 Within the matrix Isaiah couches what I call 47:25 four Messianic missives. 47:27 I discovered this the other day. I call them the Messianic 47:30 missives. And I've got to run real fast. 47:31 Four times when he lifts up Jesus not as conqueror 47:35 but as servant Lord. 47:37 And this is a picture you get of Christ and God 47:39 in the book of Isaiah. You don't get a conquering king. 47:41 You get a servant Savior. 47:43 You get a servant Lord. 47:44 The Israel... rather, the Jews of old shouldn't have missed 47:48 this. That's why I said earlier on 47:52 that the pain that Cleopas and his buddy were feeling 47:54 was self-induced? Because it's plain what Jesus 47:57 was going to do. It's plain what Jesus was going to be 48:00 about. It's plain the kind of life Jesus was going to live. 48:03 It shouldn't have been missed. 48:05 Had they read this and understood this 48:07 they would have rejoiced even in their sadness 48:10 that Christ had gone to the cross. 48:12 Because the promise is that He's going to die one day 48:14 and three days later that temple was going to be resurrected. 48:22 Isaiah 42 verses 1-7: the first Messianic missive. 48:26 The second: Isaiah 49 verses 1-13. 48:29 The third Messianic missive: Isaiah 50:4-11. 48:34 And the fifth... the fourth rather: Isaiah chapters 52 48:38 and all the way through 53. 48:40 We don't have time to read them all. 48:41 I've got to try to pull them all together 48:43 and do it really fast. 48:45 They're all put in the last 1/3 of the book 48:48 when Israel's fate had been sealed. 48:52 Israel - the ten northern tribes - were gone 48:56 and Judah was going. 48:58 And yet we find these four Messianic missives 49:02 tucked in the last part of this marvelous book. 49:06 Isaiah 43 verses 1-7. 49:08 I'll give you a digest. He says... he starts out 49:10 the first line: "Behold My servant. " 49:14 So we see that we're talking about a servant King. 49:18 Verse 3... love this: 49:20 "He will be careful not to cut off one bruised branch 49:24 or blow out one flickering flame. " 49:27 That's not a picture of a conquering king. 49:32 That's a picture of a saving servant Savior. 49:39 God is saying: "If you come crawling to Jesus 49:43 with your last ounce of strength, 49:45 Jesus is not going to throw or kick sand in your face. " 49:49 Amen? Amen. If you come with Him... 49:52 If you've got one little flame flickering, 49:55 you know what He's going to do? 49:57 He's going to put some wood on that flame. 49:59 He's not going to blow it out. 50:00 That's a Savior... that's a servant! 50:04 That's not a conquering king. 50:07 If you can get to Jesus, 50:08 if you've got enough sense to call, 50:11 He's got enough love to answer. 50:16 That's the first Messianic missive. 50:19 The second Messianic missive is Isaiah 49:1-13. 50:23 Verse 3 is the one I want to highlight right now. 50:25 He says: "See My servant... " again servant. 50:29 The Christ content is this: it focuses on the Redeemer 50:34 of Israel as their Holy One. There's that term again. 50:37 He says: "To whom man despises, 50:41 who the nation abhors, 50:44 is the servant of rulers. " 50:46 Again, we've got this servant mentality. 50:49 Christ didn't come to Lord it over us. 50:51 He came to be a servant. 50:52 He's serving us even today! 50:56 Third Messianic missive: Isaiah 50:4-11. 51:00 Verse 4: God says: "Show Me the divorce papers. " 51:06 I call this the still-married missive. 51:08 God is saying: "Show Me the divorce papers. 51:13 You are acting like you're single. 51:15 You're acting like you don't have a husband. 51:18 You're acting like I'm not still your husband. 51:21 Show Me the divorce papers. 51:24 I didn't sign anything. 51:26 I didn't sell you; I didn't rent you; 51:30 I didn't loan you; and I didn't give you away. 51:33 In effect, you're still Mine. " 51:35 Amen. "Your problem is of your own making 51:39 not My inability to save you. " 51:42 Now that's a sermon in itself. 51:44 The upside is: if you follow God 51:49 stuff is gonna go good. 51:52 Amen? If you don't follow God 51:55 stuff is gonna go bad. 51:59 Amen. Amen. 52:02 That's what He's trying to say. 52:03 "You're getting ready to go into captivity not because 52:06 I couldn't keep you from captivity 52:08 but because you insist on following your own ways 52:13 and those ways are leading to captivity. 52:16 "There is a way that seemeth right... 52:20 but the end thereof? Ways of death. " 52:26 So God says: "I didn't sign any divorce papers... 52:29 you're still mine. " 52:30 The fourth Messianic missive 52:33 is also the third major Christ allusion. 52:38 It is Isaiah 52:13 through Isaiah 53:12. 52:42 And I don't have time to go into this, 52:44 but I have a little thing that I found in Isaiah. 52:46 I call them the He's us, the Jesus, or the Me's us. 52:51 He's us is something that Isaiah wrote 52:55 that dealt directly with him 52:59 but has futuristic implications. 53:02 The Jesus is those parts of the Messianic missive 53:07 that point directly to Jesus. 53:09 And the Me's us are those things that Isaiah wrote about Christ 53:14 that I can take as mine. 53:16 Amen? They go for me and us. 53:20 So Isaiah is full of He's us, 53:24 Jesus, and Me's us. 53:28 And I've got about ten He's us, Jesus, Me's us, 53:30 but time is getting away from me. 53:32 I can't do the He's us, Jesus, Me's us. 53:34 I guarantee you: it's in there. 53:38 Amen. 53:41 "Who hath believed our report? " 53:43 Powerful statement, rather. "And to whom has the arm of 53:47 the Lord been revealed? " 53:48 The most revealing of the several glimpses of Christ 53:52 is followed by a re-affirmation of this perpetual 53:54 covenant of peace. And then Isaiah closes with 53:57 what I call the crown jewel... these diamonds in the rough. 54:01 Don't have time to read them. Isaiah 55:5-7, 54:05 Isaiah 55:6-9, Isaiah 58:6-9 God says: 54:11 "Here I am. " Isaiah 59:21, 54:13 Isaiah chapter 60 where he talks about everlasting life. 54:17 He says: "You folk are trying to follow your own light 54:18 but your light is black light it's not real light. 54:21 If you want real light come to Me. 54:22 I am the giver of light. And if I give you light 54:24 you'll never be in darkness again. " 54:26 Amen. Powerful, powerful. Isaiah 61:1-3... 54:29 this was the text that Christ quoted in Luke chapter 4:15 54:33 when they tried to pick up stones and kill Him 54:35 when He talked about the acceptable year of the Lord. 54:37 How the arms of God are open. And you've got to realize 54:40 this is written against a backdrop of a people who had 54:42 turned their backs on God, who didn't want God anymore, 54:45 and were going into captivity. And God is saying with them: 54:48 "the door is still open. " 54:53 So that's Isaiah 61:1-3. 54:56 And I want to close with one of the most cherished scriptures 55:01 in the Word of God. I want you to find it with me: 55:04 Isaiah chapter 40. 55:06 Isaiah chapter 40. 55:08 I'm looking at my time but I want to close with this. 55:15 I suspect this scripture has given more hope 55:20 to the downtrodden 55:22 and to those who are sad. 55:28 Isaiah chapter 40 verse 28. 55:30 I read now from the New King James. 55:36 "Have you not known? 55:39 Have you not heard? 55:41 The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends 55:44 of the earth neither faints nor is weary. " 55:47 Praise God! Amen. 55:49 "His understanding is unsearchable. 55:51 He gives power to the weak 55:55 and to those who have no might 55:59 He increases strength. 56:04 Even the youth shall faint and be weary... " 56:09 Back in the days when we were at the Bethel Church 56:11 Pastor Lomacang and I would go and play basketball 56:13 all Sunday. 56:15 All Sunday. 56:17 All day 'cause you're young. 56:18 Figure you're never going to get old. 56:22 Now I play once a year. 56:28 "Even your youth shall faint and be weary 56:31 and the young men shall utterly fail 56:33 but they that wait on the Lord 56:39 shall renew their strength. 56:44 They shall mount up with wings as eagles. " 56:49 Glory to God. "They shall run... 56:55 not get weary. 56:58 They shall walk and not faint. " 57:04 Amen. And I suspect that promise has given more hope 57:07 to discouraged souls than any in the Word of God. 57:12 And it's right there in the book of Isaiah, 57:14 written at a time when God's people have said to their own 57:19 God: "We don't want You. " 57:23 And yet God's promise was sure. 57:27 "If you wait on the Lord, I'll be there. " |
Revised 2014-12-17