The Book of Isaiah (Part 2)

0:11 This week we continued reading in the book of Isaiah, and I have just loved it. I hope you have just loved reading the book of Isaiah. There's just no book like it. And the one thing that is so clear in the book of Isaiah is God's desire and his plan to exalt himself above all things. God says over and over, there's going to come a day when the pride of man is going to be brought down low and he alone is exalted. and throughout this book he's just begging Israel to make him their refuge the only one that they trust he the book is about God showing that he alone is the one who destroys and conquers and he alone is the one who saves he's saying look this is the way it's always been it's just about me. Quit trusting in other things. Look at what I am capable of doing.

1:22 so even as I speak today, I want to be so careful to just point you to him, just have you stare at him. I don't want to say anything that would exalt anyone else but him, so I just want to read passages to you from this book of Isaiah, just in case you just maybe glossed over some of them and having dealt with the weight of what God says about himself. He wants so badly for you to stop trusting in yourself, in any other person, in any army or country or anything besides him. Isaiah 30 verse 1, Ah, stubborn children, declares the Lord, who carry out a plan but not mine, who make an alliance but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin, who set out to go down to Egypt without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt.

2:41 Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation. Egypt's help is worthless and empty. Chapter 31, he says, Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses who trust in chariots because they are many, in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord. And yet he is wise and brings disaster. He does not call back his words, but will rise against the house of the evildoers and against the helpers of those who work iniquity. The Egyptians are man and not God. Their horses are flesh and not spirit. When the Lord stretches out his hand, the helper will stumble and he who is helped will fall and they will all perish together.

3:48 God wants us to trust in him and him alone. And when we go and trust in other things, he's going to make us fail. He's going to make us wait. Because he says in chapter 30, verse 15, For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest you shall be saved, in quietness and in trust shall be your strength, but you were unwilling. You said no, we'll flee upon horses. And verse 18, therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you. God's saying if you would just be quiet and trust in me alone I'd save you but no you're running to all these other methods so I'm going to wait to be gracious to you you see this in scripture so many times when people run to other things to save them And that's when God holds back his grace.

5:05 Because if he saves you in the midst of you trusting in all these other things, then all these other things will get the glory. But in verse 19 of chapter 30, he says, He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he hears you. God wants us to trust him and trust him alone. 33 verse 14, Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings? Isaiah 34, verse 2. The Lord is enraged against all the nations and furious against all their host. He has devoted them to destruction. He has given them over for slaughter.

5:58 Their slain shall be cast out and the stench of their corpses shall rise. The mountains shall flow with their blood. God predicting all the things that are going to happen to his adversaries, all in hopes that Israel would trust in him, knowing, look, he has the ability, he alone has the ability to conquer and to save. You see, Hezekiah does cry out to God in Isaiah 37. It's a beautiful thing when he says in verse 14, Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth, you have made heaven and earth.

6:55 Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, O Lord, and see and hear all the words of Sinatra, which he has sent to mock the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. So now, O Lord, our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord. Isaiah 40 verse 17 All the nations are as nothing before him. They are counted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

7:50 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness compare with him? Verse 23 who brings princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. Isaiah 44, verses 6 through 8. Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and His Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first and I am the last. Besides me, there is no God. Who is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and set it before me, since I appointed an ancient people. Let them declare what is to come and what will happen. Fear not, nor be afraid.

8:46 Have I not told you from of old and declared it? You are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? There is no rock. I know not any. Verse 22, I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like a mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you. Isaiah 45, verses 5-7. I am the Lord and there is no other. Besides me there is no God. I equip you though you do not know me, that people may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none besides me. I am the Lord and there is no other. I form light and create darkness.

9:42 I make well-being and create calamity. I am the Lord who does all these things. so powerful isaiah 47 verses 10 to 11 this is what he says to babylon listen closely you felt secure in your wickedness you said no one sees me your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray. And you said in your heart, I am and there is none besides me. But evil shall come upon you, which you will not know how to charm away. Disaster shall fall upon you, for which you will not be able to atone. And ruin shall come upon you suddenly, of which you know nothing.

10:45 gosh this so describes the spirit of the age that we live in and it's it's the same as back then thousands of years ago where you know i think about all these beautiful glamorous people that i see you know whether on a screen or on the television or wherever and it says you feel so secure in your wickedness and you said no one sees me your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray and you said in your heart i am and there is no one besides me he says there's so many people in the world that are doing their thing and they genuinely believe that there's no one above them they're calling themselves the I am it's about me there's no one besides me there's no one above me and he's saying your wisdom this wisdom you think you have that all the world comes to listen to this understanding that you think you have you think you're so brilliant he's saying it's leading you astray and he says evil shall come upon you which you will not know how to charm away disaster shall fall upon you for which you will not be able to atone and ruin shall come upon you suddenly of which you know nothing he says that day is coming a day is coming you think you have so much wisdom you think no one is watching you you think it's all about you and you have this freedom to do whatever you want but i'm telling you evil is going to come and all your charm he you're not going to be able to charm it away.

12:31 Disaster is going to fall upon you, and you will not be able to atone. ruin shall come upon you suddenly, of which you know nothing. And it's interesting because he's talking to Babylon, and it's the same thing, it's the same spirit that you see in Revelation 13 when he's talking about the destruction of Babylon and the end times. It's all about this spirit of Babylon, which is, look at me, look at me, look at me. And I even remember being in Hollywood at Hollywood and Highland and seeing the red carpet, you know, from that mall there in that courtyard. And then as I was looking around, I noticed that that court was called the Court of Babylon. It's inscribed right there. This is called the Court of Babylon.

13:24 And they had all these Babylonian gods. And that's where you look on from as you see the red carpet and people walking in to get an Oscar and a golden image of a man. And it's just all this false like, man, look at me, look at me, look at me. And God says, oh, you don't even get it. scary, scary stuff. Isaiah 49, verse 26, I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they shall drink and be drunk with their own blood as with wine. Then all flesh shall know that I am the Lord your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. and don't water down these words, just read them. Don't explain them away, just accept them.

14:23 Isaiah 51, verse 12. I, I am he who comforts you. Who are you that you are afraid of man? who dies. what else do you say to that I I am he who comforts you who are you that you are afraid of man who dies of the son of man who is made like grass and have forgotten the Lord your maker who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth and you fear continual all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor when he sets himself to destroy.

15:25 So you have all these passages where he's begging Israel, why? Why are you trusting in all these people? These are people. Do you realize that people die and that I don't? Do you realize that people make plans and they don't work? and yet every time I speak and say something is going to happen, it happens. Why? Why would you go anywhere else? I am he who comforts you.

15:53 So with all of that, though, when God talks about his salvation, then you get to chapters 52 and 53, and it's like everything makes sense. You get it. Okay, he's so strong. He's so powerful. Like he alone is exalted and he's going to destroy and his wrath is going to be poured out. But then you have this, it almost feels out of place because it's so surprising. When you get to Isaiah 53 and he talks about how he is going to save Israel. And he talks about the Messiah. Take some time to meditate on this. I don't even want to read it and explain it for you because it's such a mystery that everybody just needs to read the book of Isaiah and then get to chapters 50.