Participants:
Series Code: SSP
Program Code: SSP210001S
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00:01 Hello, I'm Jill Morikone.
00:02 Welcome to a brand new year and a brand new quarter. 00:05 We're studying this quarter 00:07 one of my favorite books of the Bible, 00:09 the Book of Isaiah. 00:10 "Comfort My People." 00:12 Wanna encourage you 00:13 if you don't have a copy of the quarterly, 00:15 you can go to the following website 00:16 ABSG.Adventist.org. 00:20 That stands for 00:22 AdultBibleStudyGuide. Adventist.org. 00:26 So grab your Bible, your quarterly, 00:28 and pen and paper and get ready to take notes 00:32 as we study this edition 00:33 of Sabbath School Panel "Crisis Of Identity." 01:08 Hello, we're delighted that you've taken time 01:10 from your day to join us 01:11 as we open up the Book of Isaiah. 01:13 I think Isaiah is one of my all time favorite books 01:17 of the Word of God 01:19 in addition to Romans, right, Pastor John? 01:21 Isaiah and Romans are two of my favorites. 01:23 Wanna introduce to you 01:24 our panel at this time our family, 01:27 we're gonna be journeying 01:28 through the Book of Isaiah together. 01:30 To my left, Pastor Ryan. 01:31 Joy to have you here. It's a blessing to be here. 01:34 I wanna make a note 01:35 because we can't quite social distance on the set. 01:38 We're wearing masks except for the one who's speaking. 01:41 So you'll notice that here at the beginning. 01:43 To Ryan's left is Shelley Quinn, 01:45 always a joy to have you here. 01:46 Always a joy to be here. Amen. 01:49 To your left Pastor John Lomacang, 01:51 my pastor, looking forward to sharing with you as well. 01:54 Yes, Isaiah is gonna be an exciting study. 01:56 Absolutely. 01:58 Last but not least Pastor Kenny Shelton, 02:01 always a joy to study with you. 02:03 It's always a privilege and look forward to the study. 02:05 Amen. 02:06 Before we go any further in this quarterly, 02:09 "Isaiah: Comfort My People," 02:11 it was written by Dr. Roy Gane. 02:13 He is a tremendous Hebrew scholar 02:16 and teacher of Old Testament 02:17 at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary 02:20 at Andrews University. 02:21 And he did an amazing job. 02:24 I just have to say that upfront, 02:25 I was blessed as I studied this quarterly. 02:29 You can open up to Isaiah 1 because we're starting there. 02:31 This lesson will focus on Isaiah Chapter 1 02:34 and Isaiah Chapter 5. 02:35 But before we go any further, 02:37 we wanna go to the Lord in prayer. 02:39 Pastor John, would you pray for us? 02:41 Our loving Father, we thank You so much 02:42 for the privilege and opportunity 02:44 that is always granted to us when we open Your Word. 02:48 Guide our minds and hearts that what is said 02:51 and what is done will bring glory and honor to You. 02:53 The clarity of this book, 02:55 may it be absorbed into our hearts into our minds. 02:59 And may those watching and listening, 03:01 find reason to continue to trust God and His Word. 03:05 In Jesus' name we pray. 03:07 Amen. Amen. 03:08 Thank you so much, prayed up and ready to go. 03:11 Before we actually jump into lesson number one, 03:15 I just wanna do a brief 03:16 overview of the Book of Isaiah, 03:18 seeing this is the very first lesson 03:20 of the quarter. 03:21 And, you know, I like dividing things into lists. 03:24 So we're gonna look at the author, 03:25 we're gonna look 03:27 at the historical setting for the book, 03:29 and the themes or the theology 03:31 that is developed throughout the Book of Isaiah. 03:34 That's the author, the historical setting, 03:37 and the themes or theology 03:39 that you find in the Book of Isaiah. 03:41 Of course, Isaiah 1:1, tells us who the author is, 03:44 that is Isaiah, the son of Amos. 03:46 Isaiah is perhaps 03:48 one of the greatest of the biblical prophets. 03:52 His name means, "The Lord saves." 03:55 And it's fitting for the theme of the book. 03:58 The book is really divided into two sections. 04:01 The first section Chapters 1-39 04:05 is the book of judgment and salvation. 04:09 This is you could say 04:10 the historical section of the Book of Isaiah. 04:13 There were two major national crisises 04:16 that took place in the kingdom of Judah 04:19 during the time of Isaiah. 04:21 The first, of course, in 735 BC, 04:23 we'll study that 04:25 when we get to Isaiah Chapter 7. 04:27 This was the Syro-Ephraimite Coalition, 04:30 the nation of Israel and the nation of Syria 04:33 coming together against 04:35 and attacking against the nation of Judah. 04:38 That was the first national crisis. 04:40 The second national crisis, 04:41 of course is during the reign of King Hezekiah. 04:44 This would be down Isaiah 36, 37, 38. 04:48 And this is 701 BC. 04:49 Remember, 185,000 Assyrians 04:52 were slain in one night by the angel of the Lord. 04:57 Now the second half of the Book of Isaiah, 04:59 this is Chapter 40 through Chapter 66 05:03 is more prophetic in nature. 05:06 This is the book of comfort, the book of restoration. 05:10 The reason I say, it's prophetic, 05:12 is Isaiah was looking forward to the Babylonian captivity. 05:17 And then the time when the exiles would return 05:20 when the remnant would return. 05:23 Some scholars see that 05:24 two people wrote the Book of Isaiah, 05:26 but we don't subscribe to that. 05:28 In fact, in the Qumran you can see there is no, 05:30 if you find the scroll of Isaiah, 05:33 there is no chapter break between 39 and 40. 05:35 There's no division, it is all one book. 05:39 The lesson said this even in translation, 05:41 which loses the evocative word plays 05:43 and alliteration of the Hebrew. 05:45 The Book of Isaiah has few peers 05:47 in the history of literature, whether it's sacred or secular. 05:53 What about the themes of the book? 05:55 We find it is really a book of salvation, 05:58 we find Jesus our Messiah, 06:00 the suffering servant, the Messianic King, 06:03 especially Isaiah Chapter 53. 06:06 The picture of the Messiah 06:07 is probably revealed more clearly there 06:10 than anywhere else in the Old Testament. 06:12 We find, of course, the book of judgment, 06:14 that judgment does not just come against God's people, 06:17 but other nations, Babylon and Assyrian, 06:20 Philistia and Moab and Syria, 06:22 and Israel and Ethiopia and Egypt and Babylon, 06:25 and Eden Arabia, 06:26 Jerusalem tire the entire earth. 06:28 That's the verse say 06:30 24 Chapters of the Book of Isaiah. 06:32 Then, of course, we find that book of comfort, 06:34 those promises of healing and comfort, 06:37 and deliverance and salvation, 06:38 and forgiveness and restoration. 06:41 We find God's holiness, 06:43 the portrait of God reaches unparalleled heights 06:47 in the Book of Isaiah. 06:49 God's holiness is emphasized more in Isaiah 06:51 than probably anywhere else in the Word of God. 06:55 And we see God's sovereignty, 06:57 that He can predict the future 06:59 and that He oversees all things. 07:01 We see truth, we see God's mercy, 07:04 as said His goodness and kindness, love, 07:07 covenant love with His people. 07:09 We see His covenant 07:11 all throughout the Book of Isaiah, 07:12 and that He made a covenant with them. 07:14 And even though they left Him, they forsook Him. 07:17 He did not forsake them. 07:20 We see God's promise. 07:22 When I highlight in my Bible, 07:25 I always put promises in yellow in the Book of Isaiah 07:27 especially the latter half is full of yellow, 07:30 because there's promises of forgiveness 07:32 and restoration and resurrection 07:34 and eternal life, 07:35 and a new heavens and a new earth, 07:37 peace and strength, and mercy 07:39 and peace, and salvation and deliverance, 07:41 and protection and provision. 07:43 Holy Spirit's anointing, vindication, gospel evangelism, 07:48 all of that's found in the Book of Isaiah. 07:51 And we also find God's remnant in Isaiah. 07:55 A remnant will choose to return to Him 07:58 to seek forgiveness, to walk in obedience. 08:03 The other thing we find is God's waiting or really, 08:06 our need to wait on God. 08:10 The problem with God's people in that time 08:12 is they were trusting the wrong things 08:14 and the wrong people. 08:15 They were trusting earthly powers, 08:17 they were trusting other gods, they were trusting themselves, 08:20 they were trusting unfaithful leaders. 08:23 They were even trusting 08:24 as we would discover mediums and spiritists. 08:28 But there's a great need to wait on God, 08:30 to trust only and God wait upon Him. 08:34 So let's jump into our lesson. 08:37 The memory text is Isaiah 1:18. 08:42 "Come now, let us reason together, 08:44 says the Lord. 08:45 Though your sins are like scarlet, 08:46 they shall be as white as snow. 08:49 Though they are red like crimson, 08:51 they shall be as wool." 08:53 The lesson started 08:54 with a little cute story of a boy 08:56 who is in a crowded store and you've probably seen this 08:59 and all of a sudden he loses his mama 09:02 and he can't find her and he's crying out, 09:03 "I need my mama, where's my mama?" 09:06 Now there's a lot of women in the store. 09:08 But the boy knows his mom. 09:11 He recognizes his mom. Why is that? 09:13 Because he knows who he is. 09:16 And he knows whose he is. He knows who he belongs to. 09:22 The problem with the children of Israel, 09:24 the people in Judah right now 09:27 is that they forgot whose they were, 09:30 they forgot who they belonged to. 09:34 This week, we look at how God 09:36 seeks to restore His people back to Himself. 09:41 Let's look at Isaiah 1:2. 09:44 Isaiah 1:2 the very first part of it, 09:46 it begins with, 09:48 "Hear oh heavens, and give ear oh earth, 09:51 for the Lord has spoken." 09:54 Now this is legal vocabulary. 09:56 And if you look at the literary forum, 09:58 this is what we call rib. 10:01 Now you might say what in the world is a rib? 10:04 This is God bringing a formal indictment 10:08 against the people of Judah. 10:11 A rib is God's covenant lawsuit. 10:14 God taking legal action against His people 10:18 because of their failure to keep His covenant. 10:21 We see a rib in Acts Chapter 7. 10:23 Remember the deacon Steven, just before he's stoned, 10:27 he pronounced a rib, as it were, 10:29 against the people, this judgment against them 10:32 because they had rejected 10:34 and crucified Jesus as the Messiah. 10:37 So we see this happening here, 10:40 Isaiah begins really the Book of Isaiah with this rib. 10:43 God's covenant lawsuit, 10:45 God's bringing a formal indictment against the people. 10:48 And what are the sins that He identifies? 10:52 I see two sins, of course, 10:54 the rest of the panel will discuss more in detail. 10:56 That's Chapter 1. 10:58 First is rebellion and the second 11:01 is the lack of knowledge and discernment. 11:03 If you look at the second half of verse 2, 11:05 it says, "I have nourished and brought up children, 11:08 and they have," what's that word? 11:10 "Rebelled against me." 11:13 Jump down to verse 4, 11:14 "Alas sinful nation of people laden with iniquity, 11:20 a brood of evil doers, 11:23 children who are corrupters, they have forsaken the Lord. 11:27 They have provoked to anger," 11:29 that word in Hebrew means to spurn, 11:31 to treat with contempt. 11:34 They have treated 11:35 the Holy One of Israel with contempt. 11:37 They have turned away backward. 11:40 They have rebelled against God. 11:45 And we also see they forgot 11:47 who their master was in verse 3, Isaiah 1:3. 11:51 "This is that lack of knowledge and discernment. 11:54 The ox knows its mat owner 11:56 and the donkey its masters' crib," 11:58 like the little boy knew his mama in the store. 12:00 "But Israel does not know. 12:03 My people do not consider," 12:06 that word consider in Hebrew is discern. 12:10 They lacked knowledge and discernment. 12:12 They forgot who their master was. 12:17 It's an interesting comparison in the next two verses, 12:19 verses 5 and 6. 12:22 As I read these verses, 12:24 think about a couple of the verbs 12:26 that are used here, 12:27 and I wanna look at the comparison 12:29 between the judgment against the people of Judah, 12:32 and the same words used 12:35 where Christ took our sin upon Him. 12:39 The words are stricken wounds, and bruise. 12:44 Okay, we're gonna compare Isaiah 1 and Isaiah 53. 12:47 Isaiah 1:5-6, 12:49 "Why should you be stricken again," 12:51 see that word stricken, 12:53 "You will revolt more and more, 12:55 the whole head is sick, 12:57 and the whole heart faints 12:59 from the soul of the foot, even to the head, 13:01 there is no soundness in it. 13:02 But wounds," you see that word? 13:04 "And bruises and putrifying sores, 13:08 they have not been closed 13:09 or bound up or soothe with ointment." 13:11 Now Isaiah 53:5 say, 13:13 "He was wounded for our transgressions, 13:17 he was bruised for our iniquities." 13:21 And verse 4 says, "Yet we esteemed him stricken, 13:25 smitten by God and afflicted." 13:27 So what I see there that parallel or comparison, 13:30 the people had forsaken God, 13:32 they had gone their own way, they had rebelled, 13:34 they did not discern, they did not even know 13:36 who their God was. 13:38 And yet He took their punishment, 13:42 their sin, some of the same words used, 13:45 upon Himself, to redeem them back to Himself. 13:51 Because God always has a remnant, 13:54 and we see this theme 13:55 of remnant first introduced in verse 9. 13:59 It says, because verse 7 and 8 talks about 14:02 the country is desolate and the cities burned with fire 14:05 and there's just total devastation. 14:07 Verse 9, "Unless the Lord of hosts had left to us, 14:10 a very small remnant," see that word? 14:14 In the beginning right here, 14:15 we would think there's total destruction, 14:17 we would think this book is going to be hopeless, 14:20 but right now it opens the door 14:22 for hope that God has a remnant 14:26 and He Himself will redeem His people. 14:29 Pastor Ryan. 14:31 Hmm, man, that was beautiful, 14:32 beautiful setup, beautiful setup. 14:34 I have Monday's lesson, which is entitled, 14:37 "Rotten Ritualism." 14:40 Rotten Ritualism, there's a lot that 14:42 we can learn from this particular lesson. 14:44 As I was going through 14:46 and studying the verses for this lesson, 14:48 I just, I could just sense the Lord's plea, 14:53 His crying, His attitude 14:55 towards His people in such love, 14:57 but yet sometimes you got to show 14:58 a little bit of tough love. 15:00 Right? 15:01 And that's essentially what God is doing here. 15:02 He has given chance 15:04 and opportunity and opportunity, 15:05 chance after chance to Israel to turn from their wicked ways. 15:09 And now He as Jill brought up beautifully, 15:11 He's calling them out for it. 15:12 He is putting them on the stand, 15:14 and He's saying, "Okay, now is the time, 15:15 we're gonna address this issue." 15:17 So I'm gonna start reading in verse 10. 15:20 So Isaiah 1:10, which kind of builds off 15:23 of verse 9 that you just read, Jill. 15:26 And so, I just wanna read verse 9 one more time 15:28 so that you can see the context of what is, 15:30 what God is saying in verse 10. 15:32 So Jill just read in verse 9, it says, 15:34 "Unless the Lord of hosts had left to us 15:37 a very small remnant, 15:39 we would have become like Sodom, 15:41 we would have been made like Gomorrah," right? 15:45 And you think, well, that's a strong, 15:48 that's a strong application there, 15:50 Sodom and Gomorrah. 15:51 But then notice what God says in verse 10, 15:53 Isaiah 1:10, the Bible says, "Hear the Word of the Lord." 15:58 But then notice the application 16:02 he's applying here, he says, 16:03 "You rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of our God, 16:09 you people of Gomorrah." 16:11 So there's a little bit of a symbolic language 16:13 that's being used here to describe the condition 16:16 how God is now viewing His people. 16:20 They have become 16:21 like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, 16:23 in the sense that Judah in this context 16:26 has forgotten God. 16:27 And we're living as if there was no God at all. 16:30 Just like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, 16:31 you go back and study that, God had to deal with that city 16:34 because they had reached a point 16:36 in which he couldn't even find 16:38 10 righteous people in the entire city. 16:41 And so God had to deal with them strongly. 16:44 And that's essentially what is happening with Israel. 16:47 We're moving toward that particular judgment 16:50 that is coming because they have forgotten God, 16:53 they have forsaken God. 16:54 And, of course, their actions 16:56 and their choices had become a reproach to God. 16:58 And so He's calling them out. 16:59 But notice verses 11-15, okay? 17:02 This is where an even stronger rebuke comes. 17:05 And God is again, 17:06 He's calling them out for their sinful deeds. 17:09 So Isaiah 1:11-15. 17:13 The Bible says, 17:14 "To what purpose is the multitude 17:16 of your sacrifices to me?" 17:19 Okay, so let's keep in mind, 17:21 as we're reading through these verses, 17:22 the title of this lesson is Rotten Ritualism. 17:24 Okay? 17:25 So God is about to bring to their attention, 17:27 that all the things, 17:29 they're just going through the motions, 17:30 they're doing the sacrifices, 17:31 they're holding the services in the temple, 17:34 they're burning the incense. 17:35 They're doing all those things 17:37 that the covenant people were supposed to be doing. 17:39 But God has a little bit different attitude towards 17:42 those actions now. 17:43 So he says there in verse 11, "To what purposes, 17:46 the multitude of your sacrifices to me, 17:48 says the Lord, I have had enough 17:50 of burnt offerings of rams, 17:52 and the fat of fed cattle. 17:54 I do not delight in the blood of bulls 17:56 or of lambs or goats. 17:58 When you come to appear before me, 18:00 who has required this 18:01 from your hand to trample My courts? 18:05 Bring no futile sacrifices, 18:08 incense is an abomination to Me. 18:11 The New Moons and the Sabbath and the calling of assemblies, 18:15 I cannot endure iniquity, and the sacred meeting." 18:21 And then verse 14, 18:22 "Your New Moons and your appointed feast, 18:24 My soul hates. 18:27 They are a trouble To me, I am weary of bearing them. 18:31 When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you, 18:35 even though you make many prayers, 18:37 I will not hear. 18:40 Your hands are full of blood." 18:43 So what is God addressing here? 18:46 It's very clear that 18:47 they are living in a state of intense apostasy. 18:52 But yet, at the same time, 18:54 they're still going through the motions of what God 18:56 has asked them to do. 18:58 And so essentially, 18:59 what God is doing is He's calling them out. 19:01 He's saying, "Look, you know, you're doing all that 19:03 I've asked you to do as far as the rituals, 19:05 you're going through the motions, 19:06 you're doing the practices, you know, 19:07 you're practicing the rites 19:09 and the ceremonies and the feasts, 19:10 and you're doing all the little things 19:12 that I've asked, but guess what? 19:13 It's of no avail. 19:14 It's of no importance to me 19:16 because your heart is not right." 19:19 And you'll notice here that he said 19:20 in that last closing text there of verse 15, 19:23 and these are strong words, for us to hear this from God. 19:26 So for someone to have to hear these words 19:28 from the creator would be haunting, right? 19:31 That you know what? 19:32 When you lift up your hands 19:33 and worship and praise, you know what? 19:35 I'm gonna hide my eyes. 19:37 He says, in the end, "Even when you pray to me, 19:39 you know, I'm not gonna hear it," why? 19:41 "Your hands are full of blood." 19:43 So what was going on here? 19:45 You see these same hands offered sacrifices but yet, 19:50 even though they were lifted up in prayer, 19:52 the Bible says, "They were full of blood." 19:55 That is that they're guilty of violence 19:57 and oppression towards others. 19:59 And so what we're seeing is that by mistreating, 20:02 so they're mistreating their own people, 20:04 they're guilty for the murder 20:05 and the mistreatment of their own people. 20:07 And by mistreating others, 20:08 that is the members of the covenant community, 20:11 they were showing contempt 20:13 for the protector of all of Israel. 20:16 Sins against other people were sins against the Lord. 20:19 So just as we find those texts and scriptures, 20:22 God says, "You do this to them. 20:23 So you've done it to Me." 20:25 That's exactly what was happening here. 20:26 An attack on their own people was an attack on God. 20:30 The rituals were, you know, 20:32 and Shelley would know these rituals, 20:34 these ceremonies, these feast days, 20:36 these, the ceremonial Sabbath 20:38 and all the offerings and the sacrifices, 20:39 and then incense, 20:41 all of that God did give to them, 20:42 but only within the context of the covenant, 20:45 but yet they had violated the covenant 20:46 by oppressing their own people. 20:49 And so what we see here is that essentially 20:52 their sinful actions had become 20:55 with the practices of these rituals. 20:57 In simultaneous, we see that 20:59 it was basically a slap in God's face, 21:01 and God says, "I'm not having it." 21:03 It may, it reminds me of that text over in Matthew 15:8, 21:06 where Jesus says, to the Pharisees, 21:08 He says, "You've drawn nigh unto me with your lips, 21:11 but your heart is far from Me." 21:14 So notice the counsel that God gives to them 21:17 because of these sins, of course, 21:19 God always provides a way of escape, right? 21:21 He always provides a way to make things right. 21:23 And we see that in verses 16 and 17, 21:26 in Isaiah Chapter 1. 21:27 So notice what the Bible says, Isaiah 1:16-17. 21:30 God says to them, He says, 21:31 "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. 21:34 Put away the evil of your doings 21:36 from before my eyes, cease to do evil. 21:40 Learn to do good, seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, 21:46 defend the fatherless, plead for the widow." 21:50 So what is God doing here? 21:51 He's calling them to repentance, 21:53 true, genuine repentance. 21:55 And notice that it's a choice. 21:57 I just have to add this in here. 21:59 No one's showing up in the presence of God to say, 22:00 "Well, Lord, look, 22:02 we can't help but it's our nature. 22:03 That's just what we do. We're evil by nature." 22:05 This is a choice. 22:06 God's saying, "It's conditional, 22:08 you have a choice. 22:09 You can choose me. 22:10 You can repent or you can continue down this path, 22:12 and it's gonna lead you nowhere good." 22:14 He calls them, notice this, 22:16 and what the text we just read verses 16 and 17. 22:18 He calls them to take a stand for what is right, 22:22 and to take a stand against the injustices 22:25 being done to the oppressed. 22:28 Do we need to do that sometimes? 22:29 Of course. 22:30 Does God call us to take a stand for what is right? 22:32 Amen. That's right. 22:33 In fact, having recently taken a preaching class 22:37 through my seminary program at Andrews, 22:39 I learned that after reading this passage here, 22:42 what Isaiah is preaching here is he's preaching 22:45 what is called a prophetic sermon, 22:46 not in the sense that he's preaching prophecy, 22:48 but yet he is declaring he's challenging right here. 22:52 He's addressing the real issues of his day. 22:54 And his message is very countercultural. 22:57 And he's challenging the status quo. 22:59 He's calling them out, 23:01 he's saying, "What you're doing is wrong." 23:02 And he's taking the stand against these evils. 23:04 And so that's what Isaiah is, basically God is using Isaiah 23:09 to preach this message to communicate this message. 23:12 And, you know, all of this reminds me 23:14 also of what Jesus done 23:16 likewise when He was speaking to the Pharisees 23:17 in Matthew Chapter 23, 23:19 when He was calling out the Pharisees. 23:21 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees... 23:23 I'm looking at Matthew 23:23-28. 23:26 I don't have enough time to read it all. 23:28 But I just wanna read a few of these words here. 23:29 Jesus understood the issues of His day, 23:32 He understood what was going on 23:33 and that there needed 23:34 that these issues needed to be addressed. 23:36 No more sugarcoating, no more watering down, 23:38 sometimes the plain truth of God's Word, 23:41 the straight testimony needs to be spoken and, 23:43 of course, in love and, of course, 23:45 this message God is delivering it in love. 23:48 And, of course, Christ when He spoke 23:49 to the Pharisees, 23:50 "Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites," 23:53 strong language, right? 23:54 If you walked up to someone today and said, 23:56 "Woe you hypocrite," you know, they would say, 23:58 "Don't you judge me." 24:00 We live in a world of "don't judge me." 24:02 But He goes on to say to the Pharisees, 24:03 "For you pay tithe and mint, and anise and cumin 24:06 and have neglected the weightier matters 24:08 of the law of justice and mercy and faith. 24:10 These you have ought to have done 24:12 without leaving others undone, 24:14 blind guides who strain out a gnat 24:17 and swallow a camel." 24:19 Jesus again, to the Pharisees, 24:20 He was addressing the issues of the day. 24:23 That's what God is doing. 24:24 He's had it up to here with Israel. 24:27 And He's finally saying, "Look, I love you, 24:29 I'm gonna give you another opportunity, 24:30 but we need to address these issues." 24:32 And the same thing applies with us. 24:33 Yeah. 24:35 You know, like Judah and Israel. 24:36 You know, sometimes we can get caught up in that. 24:38 And we also need to understand 24:40 that God is calling us to repentance 24:42 and to stand against those who oppress. 24:44 Absolutely. Amen. 24:46 Amen. Thank you so much, Ryan. 24:47 Incredible study. We're gonna take a short break. 24:49 We'll be right back. 24:54 Ever wish you could watch 24:55 a 3ABN Sabbath School Panel again, 24:58 or share it on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter? 25:01 Well, you can by visiting 3abnsabbathschoolpanel.com. 25:06 A clean design makes it easy 25:08 to find the program you're looking for. 25:10 There are also links to the Adult Bible Study Guide 25:14 so you can follow along. 25:15 Sharing is easy. 25:17 Just click share and choose your favorite social media. 25:20 Share a link, save a life for eternity. 25:25 Welcome back to lesson number one, 25:27 "A Crisis of Identity." 25:29 We're gonna pick up with Tuesday's lesson, 25:30 Shelley Quinn. 25:32 Oh, thank you so much. 25:33 I'm excited about Tuesday's lesson 25:35 because it is "The Argument of Forgiveness." 25:39 Here these degenerate Judeans had broken covenant with God. 25:45 But His sharp words against them 25:48 were not a rejection. 25:50 They were an invitation to turn around. 25:52 And as you read in verse 16, He's saying, "Wash yourselves." 25:58 He's suggesting reform to the people. 26:01 And this suggests hope. 26:03 You know, something that's interesting, 26:05 how many books are there in the Bible? 26:07 Sixty six, Thirty nine in the Old Testament, 26:10 twenty seven in the new, interesting. 26:12 That's the division of Isaiah. 26:15 Thirty nine in the old are showing people 26:18 their great need of salvation. 26:20 I mean, it's first 39, 26:22 the last 27 are God's great provision of salvation. 26:28 And that's why Isaiah is called the gospel prophet. 26:34 But let's look at 26:38 beginning with verse 18. 26:41 We will see that this is kind of a preview 26:44 of what the last 27 Chapters are that focus on God's grace. 26:48 So Isaiah 1:18, which was our memory verse. 26:53 He says, this is God, "Come now, 26:57 let us reason together, says the Lord, 27:00 though your sins are like scarlet, 27:03 they shall be white as snow, 27:07 though they are red like crimson, 27:09 they shall be as wool." 27:12 Come, this is an invitation to approach God. 27:16 He still gives that invitation today. 27:19 And then He's saying, "Let us reason together." 27:22 He's pleading with them. 27:24 He wants them to receive His correction. 27:28 He wants them to repent, 27:31 to turn around and come back to Him. 27:34 When you look at these two colors, 27:36 crimson which was a scarlet red. 27:40 This was a permanent dye that was, 27:44 it was a deep red dye. 27:46 And, boy, I'll tell you what? 27:49 It was almost impossible to get out. 27:53 And so what He's saying is, 27:55 their hands are stained with this same crimson, 28:00 the blood stained hands, 28:03 this indelible sin and perversity. 28:07 And so this was as permanent as dye without the Lord. 28:11 Only God can remove the stain of our sin. 28:15 But then when He says, "They shall be white as wool. 28:18 If you come to Me, repent, confess your sins, 28:22 they'll be as white as wool." 28:23 Wool is naturally white 28:26 and white portrays what is claimed. 28:31 So God's not only offering to forgive them, 28:35 He's offering to transform them. 28:38 Hallelujah. 28:40 But it required obedience and repentance. 28:45 So when we look, 28:48 I think you're gonna cover that. 28:49 So I'm gonna skip that. 28:50 So what I want to do in the few minutes I have left. 28:55 I want you to get out a pen and a paper. 28:57 I talk to so many people 28:59 who don't understand God's forgiveness 29:01 or they think that God, 29:03 it's only in the New Testament that we see forgiveness. 29:06 Ah, let's look at 29:08 what the gospel prophet tells us. 29:10 Isaiah 43:25-26. 29:16 Isaiah 43:25-26, this is God speaking. 29:20 He says, "I even, I am He who blots out 29:25 your transgressions for my own sake. 29:29 And I will not remember your sins." 29:33 He says, "Put me in remembrance. 29:35 Let me, let us contend together, 29:39 state your case, that you may be acquitted." 29:44 You know, this is a great revelation 29:47 of grace in the Old Testament. 29:49 I love this. 29:51 To not remember your sins means 29:54 God's not going to act on those sins. 29:58 To forget it is to hold back from acting. 30:03 If you remember something 30:04 when it says God remembers, it means He's gonna act on it. 30:08 But when He says, "I'm gonna forget, 30:11 I'm gonna hold back on acting on it." 30:13 So now look at verse, Isaiah 44:22. 30:19 Just write that down, Isaiah 44:22. 30:23 Again, this is God speaking, 30:25 "I have blotted out like a thick cloud, 30:29 your transgressions, and like a cloud, your sins, 30:34 return to Me, for I have redeemed you." 30:39 See, God provided for redemption 30:42 even before the cross, 30:45 but it was based on the cross alone. 30:48 This sacrificial system that He instituted, 30:51 the forgiveness by the blood of the animals. 30:54 It was symbolic, 30:55 it all pointed to the Lamb of God 30:58 who was slain 31:00 from the foundation of the earth. 31:01 And what happened when Jesus died? 31:04 His death validated those Old Testament sacrifices 31:10 for the forgiveness of sin. 31:12 Now look at Isaiah 53:6, 31:17 "All we like sheep have gone astray, 31:20 we have turned everyone to his own way." 31:24 All have sinned. All have sinned. 31:29 But He says, 31:30 "And the Lord has laid on him 31:34 the iniquity of assault." 31:37 Doesn't that remind you of 2 Corinthians 5:21? 31:40 When it says, "That God made Him, Jesus, 31:44 who knew no sin, to be sin for us, 31:47 that we might become 31:49 the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus." 31:53 So when you accept Christ, 31:55 when Christ went to the cross, all of our sins were on Him. 32:00 But when you accept Christ, when you ask for forgiveness, 32:04 His righteousness is credited to your account. 32:08 Halleluiah. 32:11 And He says to us in Revelation 1:5, 32:15 "It is to him who loved us, 32:18 and washed us from our sins 32:23 in His own blood." 32:25 And you know what? 32:27 Even that washing is even 32:29 for the people of the Old Covenant. 32:31 Listen, Hebrews 9:15. 32:33 "For this reason, 32:34 Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant, 32:37 by means of death," get this, 32:40 "for the redemption of the transgressions 32:43 under the first covenant." 32:46 You know, that's very important that 32:48 those who are called may receive 32:51 the promise of eternal inheritance. 32:55 I got to get to these because these are good. 32:57 Isaiah 55:6-7. Isaiah 55:6-7. 33:04 Well, you talked about 33:05 a yellow highlighter for promises, Jill. 33:08 These are more of these, 33:10 "Seek the Lord while He may be found. 33:14 Call upon Him while He is near." 33:16 God is calling to you today. 33:19 You at home, He's calling to me, 33:22 He's calling to you. 33:24 God is calling, it's an invitation to you. 33:28 He is saying, "Seek Me, call upon Me. 33:31 Let the wicked forsake his way 33:33 and the righteous man his thoughts. 33:35 Let him return to the Lord and He will have mercy on him." 33:41 And to our God, He will abundantly pardon. 33:45 God is ready to forgive you. 33:47 And I've just got to get this one in. 33:50 I'm just out of time. 33:51 But listen to this. 33:54 David, when David confessed his sin, you know, 33:59 he was guilty of murder with Bathsheba and her husband. 34:04 He was guilty of adultery, guilty of murder. 34:07 But when he went to the Lord and confessed his sin, 34:11 and he says, "Oh, wash me, wash me, 34:14 purge me with hyssop, wash me 34:16 and I'll be whiter than snow." 34:17 If you wanna see a great way to repent, 34:21 just read Psalm 51. 34:22 That's where that's from. 34:24 But later David said in the Psalms, he says, 34:27 "As far as the east is from the west, 34:30 so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 34:33 And here's proof of that. 34:35 In 1 Kings 14:8, just write this down. 34:39 God tells the prophet, "You send the prophets" what? 34:43 "Go tell Jeroboam," he says, "I've torn the kingdom away 34:47 from the house of David, I gave it to you. 34:49 And yet you have not been as my servant David," 34:52 this is God speaking, "who kept my commandments, 34:56 and who followed me 34:57 with all of his heart to do only 35:00 what was right in My eyes." 35:01 What? 35:04 David was guilty of all kinds of sin, 35:07 but he repented and when he did, 35:09 God's mercy was bestowed upon him. 35:12 And God is saying as far as I'm concerned, 35:15 his current concerns me, I forgot. 35:18 I'm not acting on that sin. Halleluiah. 35:21 You talk about grace in the Old Testament. 35:24 Praise the Lord. Amen. 35:25 Okay, wow. 35:27 Yeah, well, I'm taking my mask off. 35:28 And I'll put mine back on. 35:32 Praise the Lord. 35:33 Shelley, I think you're on fire. 35:35 All right. 35:36 I'm not sure if that's what it is. 35:37 But thank you for warming that lesson up. 35:39 "To Eat or Be Eaten." 35:41 I like the way that the writer uses that phrase 35:44 to eat or be eaten when in fact, 35:45 the text talks about being devoured. 35:48 I wanna begin Wednesday's lesson 35:49 by reading verses 19-31. 35:52 Because sometimes it's important 35:53 to get the context, 35:55 so that we won't end up in pre text. 35:57 Verse 19, "If" I want you to notice 35:59 these words as we go through, 36:01 "If you are willing and obedient, 36:03 you shall eat the good of the land. 36:05 But if you refuse and rebel you shall be devoured." 36:08 That's where the other word "Eat, by the sword, 36:12 for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. 36:14 How the faithful city has become a harlot. 36:18 It was full of justice, righteousness lodged in it, 36:21 but now murderers, your silver has become dross, 36:25 your wine mixed with water. 36:27 Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves. 36:31 Everyone loves bribes, and follow after rewards. 36:35 They do not defend the fatherless, 36:39 nor does the cause of the widow come before them. 36:42 Therefore the Lord says, the Lord of hosts, 36:45 the Mighty One of Israel, 36:46 'Ah, I will rid myself of my adversaries, 36:52 and take vengeance on my enemies. 36:54 I will turn my hand against you, 36:57 and thoroughly purge away your dross 36:59 and take away all your alloy. 37:03 I will restore your judges, as at the first 37:07 and your counselors as at the beginning. 37:09 Afterward you shall be 37:11 called the city of righteousness, 37:12 the faithful city, Zion shall be redeemed 37:15 with justice and her penitence with righteousness, 37:20 the destruction of transgression 37:21 and of sinners shall be together, 37:24 and those who forsake the Lord 37:25 shall be consumed, 37:26 for they shall be ashamed of the terebinth tree 37:29 which you have desired, and you shall be embarrassed 37:33 because of the gardens which you have chosen, 37:36 for you shall be as a terebinth, 37:38 whose leaf fades, 37:41 and as a garden that has no water. 37:44 The strong shall be as tender 37:47 and the work of it as a spark, 37:50 both will burn together, 37:53 and no one shall quench them.'" 37:56 Well, God is really, as Shelley pointed out, 38:00 and as we built up to this point, 38:01 God is trying His best to get their attention. 38:03 Yeah. 38:04 So the writer asked the question, 38:06 what theme appears here that is seen throughout the Bible. 38:11 Now what we're gonna do is, 38:12 we're gonna unpack the theme that is found in Isaiah 38:15 because it begins in verse 19-20, 38:18 "If you are willing, if you refuse." 38:21 What we have to come to discover is the promises 38:24 and the blessings of God are always conditioned. 38:29 Amen. Always conditional. 38:33 God always leaves the choice of obedience up to us. 38:36 Now when you think about it, 38:38 and I think that's how parents are. 38:39 They say, "If you clean your room, 38:41 then I will, if you behave yourself, 38:43 I will give you the car keys." 38:45 We do not reward disobedience with a blessing, 38:50 and neither does God. 38:52 Human nature is sinful as we are. 38:54 We don't say to the rebellious, "We're giving you more rope. 38:58 We're giving you more money. 39:00 We're giving criminals more access to banks 39:02 and all the things that they do." 39:04 We don't do that. But why don't we do that? 39:07 Because God doesn't do that. 39:09 But you'll find that what is talked about in Isaiah, 39:11 is how God has always been. 39:13 We find this in Deuteronomy in the writings of Moses. 39:16 Deuteronomy 30:19, 39:19 "I call heaven and earth 39:21 as witness today against you 39:24 that I have set before you life and death, 39:26 blessing and cursing. 39:28 Therefore choose life, 39:31 that both you and your descendants may live, 39:33 that you may love the Lord your God, 39:36 that you may obey His voice. 39:38 And that you may cling to him, for He is your life 39:42 and the length of your days. 39:44 And that you may dwell on the land 39:46 which the Lord swore 39:47 to your fathers to Abraham, Isaac, 39:49 and Jacob, to give them." 39:52 God's blessings and promises are always conditional. 39:55 So I have three things, Jill. 39:57 Three things, three lists 39:59 that are compounded in a few statements. 40:01 God is an if God, not an iffy God. 40:05 Okay. 40:06 God is an if God, but God is not an iffy God. 40:10 God's requirements are non-negotiable, 40:12 but always conditional. 40:14 They're non-negotiable, 40:16 but the conditions are up to us. 40:18 Look at the... 40:19 Let's first look at the non-negotiable part of God. 40:21 God never asks more than He requires. 40:25 And He never requires more than He asks. 40:28 That's right now. Think about that. 40:30 God never asks more than He requires. 40:32 And He never requires more than He asks. 40:35 God said, "Here's what I'm going to give you, 40:36 but here are the conditions." 40:37 He'll never ask for more, but He'll never take less. 40:41 We find that from the very beginning 40:43 between Cain and Abel. 40:46 Cain gave God what He, God never required. 40:49 God never accepted it. 40:50 And we know what happened with Abel. 40:52 Let's look at the conditional side. 40:55 "I will do what I promise if you do what I require." 41:00 That's the non-negotiable part of God, 41:03 but the conditional side of it. 41:05 You know, the fact of the matter is, 41:06 many people forfeit the blessings 41:08 and the promises of God, 41:09 because they live a conditional Christian life. 41:12 And I was looking at that panel, 41:14 I was looking at that. 41:15 When we think about today, the world we're living in, 41:18 we have 30,000 plus denominations, 41:20 Ryan, possibly, 30,000 different denominations, 41:24 all coming with this idea that well, 41:26 that's your interpretation of the text. 41:29 Well, that's not what the problem is. 41:31 The problem is not our interpretation. 41:33 The problem is the human heart. 41:36 Many people refuse to comply with God's requirements. 41:40 And then they want God to comply with their request. 41:43 And it just doesn't work that way. 41:45 And that's why the majority 41:47 of Christianity is more critical 41:49 than compliant to God's requirements. 41:52 They criticize, but that's, 41:54 God wants me to keep the Sabbath. 41:55 I don't want to keep that because 41:57 and then they say, well take this instead. 41:59 No, God is not that kind of God. 42:01 But what is the problem? 42:02 The problem is not God's requirements, 42:04 it's the human heart. 42:06 Romans 8:6-8, 42:08 "For to be carnally minded is death." 42:11 Look at the comparisons just like Deuteronomy, 42:13 just like Isaiah. 42:14 "For to be carnally minded is death, 42:16 but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 42:19 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, 42:22 for it is not subject to the law of God, 42:25 neither any of its requirements, 42:27 nor, indeed can be. 42:29 So then those who are in the flesh 42:31 cannot please God." 42:33 Notice the contrast. 42:35 God's law is not the problem, it's the carnal heart. 42:37 Here's another example of God's non-negotiable requirements, 42:41 coupled with the promise of His conditional blessings. 42:45 Let's look at 1 Kings 22:43. 42:48 This is another example in Scripture. 42:50 It talked about the leaders of God, 42:51 but notice something was left. 42:53 It speaks about Asa. 42:55 "And he walked in all the ways of his father Asa. 42:58 He did not turn aside from them, 43:01 doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord." 43:03 But look at this. 43:05 "Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away, 43:09 for the people offered sacrifices 43:10 and burnt incense on the high places." 43:13 You can do what's right 43:14 in God's sight up to a certain point. 43:17 But still there are things in your life 43:19 that needs to be torn down. 43:21 For example, the Lord says, 43:22 "If you love Me, keep My commandments." 43:24 But notice those are the requirements. 43:27 But here's the blessing. 43:28 And I will pray the Father 43:31 and He will give you another helper, 43:33 that he may abide with you forever. 43:35 We want the helper, we want the Spirit of God, 43:37 but we don't want to keep His commandments. 43:39 Christians, don't let any pastor tell you 43:42 that the commandments of God are not requirements. 43:44 That's a lie. 43:45 I don't even tiptoe through that. 43:47 You're asking for the Spirit of God 43:49 without following the commandments of God. 43:51 "If you love Me, the condition, 43:53 I'll send you another comforter." 43:54 That's why the apostle said in Acts 5:32. 43:58 "And we are His witnesses of these things. 44:01 And so also is the Holy Spirit 44:03 whom God has given to those who obey Him, 44:06 if you are willing and obedient." 44:09 That's where the blessing comes. 44:10 That's why the Lord says, 44:12 "God is not seduced by Christian substitutes, 44:15 but He is moved by loving obedience." 44:17 1 Samuel 15:22. 44:19 But Samuel replied, 44:21 "Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings 44:23 and sacrifices, as much as in obeying 44:25 the voice of the Lord?" 44:26 No, to obey is better than to sacrifice 44:29 and to heed is better than the fat of rams." 44:32 Let's go to number two. 44:34 "God is a God of choice." 44:36 He does not force our hands. 44:38 What about the choice? We read that. 44:41 "And if it seems evil to serve the Lord, 44:44 choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve." 44:47 If it seems evil, you got to make a choice still. 44:51 And the third one, "God is a particular God." 44:54 What is the particularness about God? 44:57 "If My people who are called by My name 44:59 will humble themselves and pray and seek My face, 45:02 and turn from their wicked ways, 45:04 then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins 45:08 and heal their land." 45:10 Why is there no middle ground with God? 45:12 Because there's no such thing as a partial blessing. 45:16 It's either a full blessing or none at all. 45:20 God is not an iffy God, 45:22 but God definitely is an if God. 45:25 Amen. Praise the Lord. 45:27 Maybe he should keep his mask off a little longer 45:29 and I keep mine on. 45:31 Praise God for that. 45:32 But we move smartly right on to Thursday's lesson. 45:36 This was a little bit challenging for me. 45:37 A lot of things are covered in here. 45:39 I found, you know, in my own heart and life 45:41 needs to be some changes, I don't know about you. 45:43 But Thursday's lesson that sounds 45:45 "Ominous Love Song." 45:46 So I thought, you know, go to the dictionary ominous 45:48 just make sure we get it 45:50 because I'm looking at love song, 45:51 I'm looking at something love 45:53 and then simply means it's evil. 45:54 It can be threatening and sinister. 45:57 That's kind of interesting thought 45:59 compared with the love thing. 46:01 So Isaiah Chapter 5, read the first seven verses. 46:07 Isaiah 5:1-7, again, gives us foundation here. 46:12 Now it says, "Now will I sing 46:14 to my well, beloved, a song 46:16 and of my beloved touching his vineyard. 46:20 My well beloved hath a vineyard and is very fruitful hill. 46:25 And he fenced it and gathered it 46:26 out of the stones, though, 46:27 and planted it with the choices vine, 46:30 built a tower 46:32 in the midst of it also made a," 46:34 notice he made something, 46:35 "a winepress in the midst of it thereof 46:38 and he looked that it should bring forth grapes. 46:42 And it brought forth wild grapes. 46:45 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem 46:48 and men of Judea, 46:49 judge I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard." 46:53 I love this verse. 46:54 I always have, it says, 46:56 "What could have been done 46:57 more to my vineyard that I have not done to it? 47:01 Wherefore, therefore when I look 47:03 that it should bring forth grapes, 47:06 brought it forth wild grapes?" 47:07 Verse 5, "And now go to, 47:09 and I tell you what I will do to my vineyard: 47:12 I will take away the hedge thereof, 47:14 it shall be eaten up, 47:16 break down the wall thereof, 47:17 and it shall be trodden down: 47:19 And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, 47:23 nor digged, 47:24 but there shall come briers and thorns: 47:27 I will also command the clouds 47:29 that they rain no rain upon it." 47:31 Verse 7, "For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts 47:34 is the house of Israel, 47:35 the men of Judah his pleasant plant: 47:37 he looked for judgment, 47:39 but behold oppression, for righteousness, 47:42 but behold a cry." 47:44 I know there's a lot of information 47:45 and probably, pastor, here, 47:47 and somebody others can get several sermons 47:48 just out of one or two verses of that. 47:50 But I think it's good to look at 47:51 because I'm looking at a question 47:53 would have to be asked, 47:55 as we read this, what's the meaning of it? 47:56 And I think it'd be fair to say this parable, 47:58 what was the meaning of it? 48:00 If we don't get that, we're not going to get 48:01 what we're talking about here. 48:03 And if you've read along with us, verse 7, 48:05 really gives you that, 48:07 so take time to read that again. 48:08 Now God uses parables to help people to look at themselves, 48:12 number one, honestly, and two, to do it objectively. 48:17 And how many of us 48:18 really are honest and objectively 48:20 when it comes to ourself, or even to our own kids, 48:23 you know, to our own religion? 48:25 It's very hard sometimes to look at something 48:27 and be really objective, 48:28 like God would have us to do is to look through, 48:30 certainly through His eyes. 48:32 But the Bible does say, 48:34 as I read in there in 2 Chronicles 13:5, 48:37 It says, "We need to" what? 48:38 "Examine ourselves." 48:39 So this is very scriptural here 48:41 that we need to look and examine ourselves, 48:44 that and be honest with ourself, 48:46 whether we're really in the faith or not. 48:48 A lot of times we say that we are in the faith, 48:50 but maybe you know, 48:52 we need some changes take place. 48:53 I think, book Isaiah is just beautiful 48:55 when you get into it, 48:56 because I'm saying already brought out love, 48:59 the love of God, the love of God has for us, 49:01 His mercy, His grace is coming back. 49:03 And no matter how far you wander away, 49:05 you can how you know what that song 49:07 I wandered far away from God, but now I'm coming home. 49:10 Just a beauty that we can come home to Him 49:13 when we confess our sins. 49:14 We come and He's faithful and just 49:16 to forgive us our sins. 49:17 He wants us to see, I think, at least in this part, 49:20 Thursday's lesson to see our true condition. 49:23 God calls this, interesting, a love song. 49:26 I'm saying what? A love song? What? 49:28 It's revealed from the beginning of Isaiah, 49:31 in fact, the whole scripture 49:32 that number one Bible says that God is what? 49:35 1 John 4:8 God is love, isn't He? 49:39 "He that loveth not knoweth not God, 49:42 for God is love." 49:43 Interesting, love then to me is an attribute of heaven. 49:48 Not love like goes on in the world today 49:50 and what we call love, man, 49:52 it's messed up far as I'm concerned. 49:53 But don't we, I know what love 49:55 and try to comprehend just a little bit of it. 49:57 It's when I behold Christ 49:59 or I behold Calvary that says love to me 50:03 that helps me to understand it better. 50:05 God then He gives all of this stuff 50:08 He sows in this parable. 50:09 It's beautiful how He bestows everything upon us 50:12 and all He wants, interesting, all He wants in return is love. 50:16 That's all He wants from us is love. 50:18 There's nothing we have that He really needs. 50:19 He just wants love. 50:20 And He says, "I gave you the good grapes, 50:23 and my, my, my, 50:25 if you didn't give me the wild grapes." 50:27 And you know that's translated stinking. 50:30 The stinking grapes. 50:33 See, sometimes these words 50:35 we just have to look at and look because it's, 50:36 well, it gave me wild grapes. 50:38 No, stinking grapes 50:39 is the way heaven looks at it here. 50:40 It's not good grapes. 50:42 Youth instructor, 50:43 I like this 1-13-1898, this is written. 50:47 It says, "Where love exists." 50:49 Please, if we get nothing out of these lessons, 50:51 "Where love exists, there is power and truth." 50:55 If love exists in the church, if love exists in your heart 50:58 and my heart, your heart here, 50:59 then we're going to see that there's power there, 51:02 there's truth there in our life. 51:04 And notice, love. 51:05 Oh, I love it, years ago I read it and I shout, 51:07 it says, love does good and nothing but good. 51:11 On the other hand, 51:13 I had to take myself a little whipping 51:16 because it says true love, love, 51:18 true love does nothing, right? 51:19 Good and nothing but good. 51:22 And so sometimes we see things not so good maybe come out. 51:25 We praise God, we can go back. 51:26 And those who have love bears what? 51:29 Bears fruit, is what this parable is about, 51:31 into everlasting life. 51:32 Now why would this parable put into a song? 51:35 Well, you know, you can make it, 51:37 well, it'll make it a little bit more thrilling 51:39 if it's a song or it might have a different effect 51:43 upon somebody else in our minds or whatever. 51:47 Or could it be that God said this here 51:49 because in a song we can learn it more easily. 51:51 We can commit it to memory more easily 51:54 so God again is one looking out for us. 51:56 God has many ways to try to wake us up as sinners. 52:00 Think about that. 52:02 He has many ways in which to try to wake us up 52:04 and I'm praying daily, He'll help me to wake up 52:06 and see things for what it really is changes 52:08 I need to make in my own life. 52:09 And I guarantee you, 52:11 there's so many that we don't even realize. 52:12 But I ask you to keep praying that, 52:14 so God will reveal these things to us. 52:17 And again, to be sorry for our sins we come, 52:19 we repent, and we're sorry for our sins. 52:21 2 Corinthians 7:10 says, 52:23 "For Godly sorrow," you know, well, what? 52:25 "Leads to repentance." 52:26 Yeah, "leads to repentance," right? 52:27 That's what Godly sorrow is 52:29 if we're really sorry for our sins. 52:30 So here in Chapter 5, the great blessing 52:33 He's given to His people, notice this, was, 52:36 now notice this, He just get 52:38 all He wanted in return is just love. 52:40 He just wanted us to commit ourselves to Him. 52:42 Let's look at just a few things real quickly 52:44 here quickly, I think. 52:45 Great things that God did for His people. 52:47 Number one, there's five of them, 52:48 let's see if we'll get through. 52:49 Number five, oh, praise God, 52:51 "They were His particular people." 52:54 This just jumped out and get you, 52:55 I mean, so you just, you have to jot them down, 52:57 isn't that right? 52:58 He, notice this, we are His peculiar people, 53:00 means we're His purchase, isn't that right? 53:02 We're His purchase possession, and that," notice this, 53:05 "and He acknowledged them as His own." 53:08 He acknowledges us as His own. 53:09 You talk about an awesome thing. 53:11 God can look down from glory and look at you 53:14 and look at me and look inside, 53:15 read your heart, read your mind, 53:17 read everything about you, know where you're headed, 53:19 know what you've been thinking, know what you've been doing. 53:21 And yet He can look down 53:23 and He say, "They're My people." 53:24 "They're My people." 53:26 Because He looks at me and He sees a finished product 53:27 if I'll let Him come and finish it. 53:29 Aren't you glad they look down to see the mess they are. 53:31 Just maybe turn around, 53:32 say we'll look for somebody else. 53:34 Okay, number two, 53:35 "His vineyard had extra ordinary soil." 53:39 In this para, after other words, 53:40 he's making everything to where we can bear fruit. 53:42 Right? 53:44 See, you're My special people, 53:45 I'm going to do special things for you. 53:46 The soil that you're going to plant 53:48 in His work is going to be extraordinary. 53:49 I'm going to do great things so it can produce a crop. 53:53 Three, "He fenced it in." 53:55 You notice that he fenced it in. 53:56 A fence can do what? 53:58 It serves as a protector, does it not? 54:00 Inside and outside sometimes, but it's the protector, 54:03 and it said, 54:05 no one could get in to hurt them. 54:06 Because in the eyes of the Lord, 54:08 they're honest constantly, and notice what happened. 54:10 He built the fence 54:12 and gave us all of these things. 54:14 But what happened? 54:15 We tore the fence down by our action, 54:18 by our lifestyle, we tore it down. 54:19 And then the enemy came in. 54:21 Note four, "He gathered the stones 54:24 even out of the ground." 54:25 First thing you do you go to plow, 54:26 you go to dust, stones, 54:28 you pick up all those things that's going to hamper you. 54:29 And I look at those stones as the weights. 54:32 Hebrews talks about 54:33 those weights so easily beset us, 54:35 the things that discourage us sometimes. 54:37 These are obstacles, God said, 54:39 "I'm going to take those out of the way. 54:40 So when you sow, there's going to be a harvest." 54:42 I like that. Number five, "He planted." 54:45 Notice it, "He planted it with the best vine." 54:48 And I said to myself, who is the vine? 54:52 John 15 says, "Jesus is the vine. 54:55 He said, "I'm the vine." He gave us the law. 54:57 He gave us the what? The Holy Spirit. 54:58 He's given us. 55:00 You know, we look at things today. 55:01 "His truth and light, in John 16:13, 55:04 lead us into all truth." 55:06 And I like this John 15. 55:08 We get close to being done, but praise God. 55:09 John 15:16, I like this. 55:11 He says, Ooh, he said, "You have not." 55:15 I like it. I like it. 55:17 I love it because it says, "Ye hath not chosen me." 55:21 That's right. But what? 55:23 "But I have chosen you. 55:25 I've ordained you to," do what? 55:27 "To bear fruit." Amen. 55:29 That's bottom line. 55:31 Amen. Thank you all so much. 55:34 What an incredible study. 55:36 Praise the Lord, that there is hope. 55:39 Yes, there is condemnation as in conviction. 55:42 Satan brings condemnation. 55:44 The Holy Spirit brings conviction. 55:45 There's conviction to our heart, 55:46 but there is hope in Jesus. 55:48 Praise the Lord for that. 55:49 I want to give each one of you 55:50 a moment to share something about your day. 55:52 Pastor Ryan? Absolutely. 55:53 You know, my lesson is just bringing out the fact that 55:56 the lesson I glean from it 55:58 is that God is calling us all to repentance, 56:00 and so we're living in a time 56:02 where we need now more than ever 56:04 to take self inventory to do some self examination. 56:07 And that's exactly 56:09 what God was calling Israel to do 56:10 here in this first Chapter of Isaiah 56:12 as He's pleading with them that 56:13 they return to Him and forsake self, 56:16 so I think that's the message 56:17 we need to glean from Tuesday's lesson. 56:19 Amen. Amen. Amen. 56:21 If we think of what He said in I Isaiah 1:18, 56:24 when God said, "Come, let us reason together 56:28 though your sins are like scarlet, 56:29 they'll be white as snow." 56:31 Reminds me of 1 John 1:9, when He says, 56:33 if you confess your sins before Him, 56:35 God is faithful 56:37 and just to forgive us our sins, 56:39 and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. 56:42 Hallelujah. That's right. 56:44 I said God is not an iffy God, but He surely is an if God. 56:48 We find in Proverbs 1:23. 56:51 Look at the conditions of God, 56:53 but look at the promises of God. 56:55 "He says, turn at my rebuke, 56:58 surely I will pour out my Spirit on you. 57:02 I will make my words known to you." 57:05 What's the condition? "Turn." 57:07 And then I will do 57:08 I will pour out my Spirit on you, 57:10 may you not be an iffy Christian, 57:13 but may you take hold of the if of God 57:16 and be blessed. 57:17 Glory. 57:18 2 Peter 2:21, pull this thing down. 57:21 "This is for it had been better for them 57:23 not to have known the way of righteous 57:25 than after they have known it 57:28 to turn from the holy commandment 57:29 delivered unto them." 57:31 Verse 22 has something, God's called you out. 57:33 He's cleansing us, right? 57:35 He's calling us into a wonderful 57:36 new relationship with Him. 57:38 And we need to make sure we don't do verse 22 57:40 where the dog is turned to his own vomit. 57:43 Thank you all so much, Pastor Kenny, 57:46 Pastor John, Shelley and Pastor Ryan, 57:48 just thank you for opening up the Word of God 57:50 and for sharing from your heart. 57:51 I am excited about this study and the journey 57:54 that we're going to take together. 57:56 Thank you for joining us. 57:58 This scripture jumped out at me as Pastor Kenny was talking. 58:00 This is Isaiah Chapter 5, but this is verse 20. 58:04 "Woe to those who call evil good 58:05 and good evil, 58:07 who put darkness for light and light for darkness, 58:10 who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." 58:12 I think the call in this entire first chapter is, 58:15 who are we? 58:17 This "Crisis of Identity" 58:18 to recognize our need of a Savior. 58:23 We need Jesus to come in and to transform our lives. 58:26 Make sure you join us next week. 58:28 Lesson number two, we look at 58:30 "Crisis of Leadership," Isaiah Chapter 6. |
Revised 2021-01-27