back to index2016-05-11 Wed Bible Study
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Alright, so we're looking at Chapter 46 and 47 today. 00:00:12.000 |
We're actually just starting to get into the good stuff. 00:00:15.000 |
And then the next session is the heavy messianic, you know, full-on... 00:00:24.000 |
You know, I kind of like the emphasis starting from the... for the next session. 00:00:28.000 |
Starting from, I think, Chapter 48, 49, okay? 00:00:32.000 |
But I'm sure you've already noticed that that's kind of like where he's going. 00:00:36.000 |
So let me pray for us and then we'll jump into the text. 00:00:47.000 |
We thank you for all the blessings that we have to be able to be in a country where we have the freedom. 00:00:53.000 |
That we don't have to worry about persecution, that we may be able to live peaceful and quiet lives. 00:00:59.000 |
But in the midst of all the blessings that you've given us, that we would not become complacent. 00:01:04.000 |
That there would be a constant reminder, Lord God, if not physically, spiritually. 00:01:10.000 |
Be able to understand, Lord, that we are in the midst of spiritual battle. 00:01:14.000 |
That you have a great work, Lord, that you are always doing and always have been doing. 00:01:19.000 |
That we may participate in this work, that we may be able to know your heart. 00:01:23.000 |
And as you pursue sinners, that you would make us people, Lord God, who join you in your work. 00:01:29.000 |
So we ask for your blessing. We ask, Lord God, that you give us deeper insight into your word. 00:01:40.000 |
All right, so the first question that was asked was, 00:01:42.000 |
Bel and Nebo were Babylonian names and Babylonian idols. 00:01:49.000 |
What are the two people that you thought of, either from memory or maybe you did some research, 00:01:54.000 |
that has the name Bello and Nebo to begin with? 00:02:07.000 |
So when the passage begins in verse 46, it says, 00:02:10.000 |
"Bel bows down, Nebo stoops. Their idols are on beasts and livestock." 00:02:15.000 |
So it is obviously in reference to the Babylonians and the idols that they worshipped. 00:02:25.000 |
What are the first three verses a picture of? 00:02:29.000 |
What historical activity is pictured in the first three verses of Isaiah 46? 00:02:45.000 |
What happens to Israel that's related to Babylon? 00:02:59.000 |
What do the Babylonians do when they take Israel and they conquer Israel? 00:03:14.000 |
But what particular event do you think this is in reference to, first seven verses? 00:03:29.000 |
It's like on the tip of your tongue. I can see it. 00:03:33.000 |
All I have to do is push you and it's going to come out. I can see it. 00:03:37.000 |
Enslaved them. They take them into captivity, right? 00:03:40.000 |
They take all the leaders, all the prominent people, right? 00:03:47.000 |
So if you look at the language in verse 40, chapter 1, or 46.1, 00:03:51.000 |
"They stoop down, they bow down together, they cannot save the burden, 00:03:57.000 |
So he's talking about how they're being carried out into captivity. 00:04:03.000 |
And these idols that they're taking into captivity can't save you. 00:04:07.000 |
They themselves are going to go into captivity, right? 00:04:09.000 |
So this is an illustration of Israel being taken into captivity 00:04:14.000 |
and the idols that Israel trusted to save them. 00:04:18.000 |
So God is rebuking them saying like, "They can't even save themselves. 00:04:32.000 |
All they are is a burden that needs to be carried with you. 00:04:47.000 |
"What contrast does God make with the idols of Babylon in verse 2?" 00:04:54.000 |
They stoop, they bow down together, they cannot save the burden, 00:05:00.000 |
But in contrast, verse 4, "Even to your old age I am He, 00:05:05.000 |
I have made, and I will bear, and I will carry, and will save." 00:05:15.000 |
How these idols are being carried into captivity, 00:05:20.000 |
but they can't carry you. You have to carry them. 00:05:22.000 |
But then He says, "But I, the only God, are going to end up carrying you." 00:05:28.000 |
So again, it's meant to be a contrast with the idol 00:05:39.000 |
So they need to be carried, but the true God will carry them. 00:05:56.000 |
So even though the rebuke is against the Babylonians, 00:06:00.000 |
He is establishing again the nation of Israel, 00:06:05.000 |
Right? They carried these, these are the idols that they trusted. 00:06:08.000 |
Now why did the Israelites have idols, the Babylonians, 00:06:11.000 |
the idols with them? And why were they, when they were taken into captivity, 00:06:21.000 |
It seems like they didn't discover the idols in Babylon. 00:06:24.000 |
Right? Look at the language. Look at verse 2. 00:06:27.000 |
All right, in verse 1, "Bellow bows down, nevel stoops, 00:06:32.000 |
In other words, they're on the beasts being taken into captivity. 00:06:36.000 |
These things carry, these things you carry, who are the you? 00:06:40.000 |
Israelites, right? These things you carry are born as burdens on weary beasts. 00:06:52.000 |
and then they're going in, relying on them to deliver them. 00:06:56.000 |
Right? And so God is saying, all these are our burdens 00:07:00.000 |
upon the beasts that are carrying you. They have to carry these idols too. 00:07:03.000 |
But why did the Israelites have the Babylonians' idols with them? 00:07:38.000 |
So obviously they're worthless. I mean, that's established. 00:07:41.000 |
They're idols, and you have to make them. Right? 00:07:47.000 |
But why did the Israelites have Babylonians' idols with them? 00:08:23.000 |
It may be for business reasons why they did that, but again, the rebuke isn't about business. 00:08:28.000 |
It's them actually worshipping these idols. Right? 00:08:31.000 |
If you think about it, when we bring the Gospel to poorer areas of the world, 00:08:37.000 |
a lot of times they receive the Gospel because they think that if they become Christians, 00:08:40.000 |
they're going to have what we have. Money. Right? 00:08:44.000 |
So a lot of times the people are receptive, not because they believe in the Gospel itself, 00:08:49.000 |
but they think that if I believe what you believe, am I going to have what you have? 00:08:54.000 |
And so a lot of times the response isn't really genuine. 00:08:57.000 |
And it kind of takes time. And then they realize that when they don't become rich after they become Christian, 00:09:04.000 |
That's something that I notice as we travel around and share the Gospel. 00:09:08.000 |
A lot of times they're hoping to get rich by becoming Christians, 00:09:11.000 |
because America is related to Christianity. Right? 00:09:15.000 |
I think that's probably what was happening around there, 00:09:19.000 |
And so a lot of them who are worshipping idols, I mean they weren't just worshipping any idols, 00:09:23.000 |
they're probably worshipping idols that they thought were successful. 00:09:28.000 |
And who were the successful, you know, people who were successful at that time? 00:09:32.000 |
The Syrians, the Babylonians. So these idols didn't come from nowhere. 00:09:37.000 |
So when they went into Canaan, what idols did they worship there? 00:09:41.000 |
Asherah, Baal, because they were the ones that they worshipped. 00:09:45.000 |
So these guys go in there and their crops are plenty and they're wealthy, 00:09:50.000 |
and they have things that they want, so they adopt their idols, right? 00:09:54.000 |
That they would worship, hoping that they can have what they have. 00:09:57.000 |
So it looks like the Israelites adopted some of the idols in Babylon, 00:10:03.000 |
and when they were taken into captivity, remember one of the rebukes of what God said in the previous chapter? 00:10:09.000 |
He said He brought disaster upon them, and how did they respond? 00:10:13.000 |
They didn't recognize, right? They didn't recognize that it was God. 00:10:18.000 |
And they remained obstinate. So even as they're being rebuked and being taken into captivity, 00:10:25.000 |
some of the Israelites were still holding on to these idols. 00:10:28.000 |
And so that's what He's rebuking. But you're carrying these burdens, 00:10:32.000 |
and all they are are extra burden, they can't carry you. 00:10:35.000 |
And so He's contrasting what they're putting their hopes in, 00:10:38.000 |
but in verse 4 it says, "I am the only true God." Right? 00:10:41.000 |
So I think that's probably why they had it with them, why they're carrying it in. 00:10:46.000 |
Again, it's a promise God will remain with them and carry them until old age. 00:10:52.000 |
He says He made, He's the one who made, He's the one who will bear, 00:10:57.000 |
He's the one who will carry, and He's the one who will save. 00:11:00.000 |
Reminding them that all these things, like you're the one who made the idols, 00:11:09.000 |
you're the one who will end up bearing them, you're the ones who will carry them, 00:11:15.000 |
So all of this stuff is in contrast to what He was saying about the idols. Right? 00:11:23.000 |
Again, this is the same tender care that we saw in Luke chapter 12, 6-7, 00:11:31.000 |
where God describes Himself, again previously He described Himself 00:11:36.000 |
like as a caring mother, "I know you in the mother's womb." Right? 00:11:40.000 |
And here again He's describing how He tenderly cares and loves them. 00:11:46.000 |
Or in the passage, it says, "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies, 00:11:52.000 |
Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 00:11:55.000 |
Fear not, you are of more value than many sparrows." 00:11:58.000 |
So again, that's basically, you know, it's the same God that is caring for 00:12:03.000 |
the nation of Israel, who's promising the same care to the church. 00:12:16.000 |
Repeatedly, over and over again, when God calls His people to repentance, 00:12:21.000 |
"Remember," He says, He keeps saying, "Remember, remember." Right? 00:12:25.000 |
What is it that He's asking them to remember? 00:12:31.000 |
And why? Why is He asking them to remember this? 00:12:40.000 |
Because the moment that they forget who it is that they worship, 00:12:43.000 |
and who it is that they love, that loves them, they begin to stray. 00:12:48.000 |
So, I think in the ESV, it says, "Remember to," 00:13:00.000 |
In the King James, literally it says, "Remember and be a man." Right? 00:13:07.000 |
That's probably more convicting for men. Right? Be a man. Right? 00:13:11.000 |
If you want to be a man, remember who God is that you worship. 00:13:16.000 |
Remember that God is the only God. He alone controls human history. 00:13:22.000 |
So He goes, again, you know, "Remember the former things of old, 00:13:26.000 |
for I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me. 00:13:30.000 |
Declaring the end from the beginning and from the ancient times things not yet done. 00:13:34.000 |
Saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.'" 00:13:37.000 |
So when He says, "My counsel shall stand," right, 00:13:46.000 |
The covenant that He made with Israel. Right? 00:13:52.000 |
even in the midst of their rebellion and sinfulness, God is faithful to who? 00:13:58.000 |
To Himself. To Hisself and His promises. Right? 00:14:03.000 |
His faithfulness was based upon the unilateral covenant that He makes with the nation of Israel. 00:14:12.000 |
You guys keep going to these idols thinking that if you worship their idols 00:14:18.000 |
And then what's going to happen to these people that you envy? 00:14:22.000 |
That you think that somehow if you worship their idols you're going to become like the Babylonians. 00:14:29.000 |
All these things that you envy in Babylon are going to come to nothing. 00:14:33.000 |
They're all going to be burned up too. They're all going to come under judgment. Right? 00:14:37.000 |
So He keeps telling them, "Even though you may not see for the moment with your eyes what God is doing, 00:14:43.000 |
but remember who He is. Remember that He's the God of the covenant." Right? 00:14:50.000 |
How is He going to do this? He said He's going to raise up the bird of prey from the east. 00:14:58.000 |
Okay, and we talked about that last week. Cyrus. 00:15:01.000 |
And how many years before Cyrus shows up and fulfills this prophecy, 00:15:14.000 |
So He said, "Cyrus is going to be raised up and He's going to deliver you from the Babylonians 00:15:19.000 |
and they're going to be crushed by My servant, King Cyrus." Right? 00:15:25.000 |
And He says, "Even this great king of Persia is ultimately under His control." 00:15:30.000 |
Which again, 200 years prior to it happening, it would have sounded ridiculous. 00:15:36.000 |
Right? God's going to raise up Persia, the most powerful nation at that particular time, 00:15:41.000 |
all for the purpose of delivering this insignificant group of people. Right? 00:15:47.000 |
And then when it happens, is the whole nation returned? 00:15:50.000 |
Very small percentage, maybe like 5% of the people who will go into captivity end up returning. 00:15:58.000 |
So if you heard it at that time thinking, "Wait a minute, God's going to raise up Persia 00:16:05.000 |
to deliver us from them?" It would have sounded ridiculous if it didn't actually happen. 00:16:11.000 |
Right? It actually happens exactly like God says. 00:16:15.000 |
And in retrospect, we look back at it now, right? 00:16:19.000 |
His whole human history was for the purpose of coming of Christ. 00:16:24.000 |
So God was doing something much bigger than Persia. 00:16:29.000 |
But at that time, it would have sounded ridiculous. Right? 00:16:34.000 |
What could be greater than Persia? What could be greater than Assyria? 00:16:41.000 |
So all of this, He's going to be faithful to these few, few people. 00:16:46.000 |
Right? Because His plan was to bring His Son through those people to save the world. 00:16:51.000 |
It wasn't just about Assyria. It wasn't just about that area. Right? 00:16:57.000 |
And He promises them, verse 12 and 13, He says, "Listen to me, you stubborn heart, 00:17:01.000 |
you who are far from righteousness." Again, He's talking to Israel. Right? 00:17:06.000 |
In other words, He said, "I'm being faithful to you, not because you're righteous." 00:17:11.000 |
He said, "You're stubborn of heart, and righteousness is far from you, 00:17:14.000 |
but I bring near My righteousness, and it is not far off. 00:17:20.000 |
And I will put salvation in Zion for Israel, My glory." 00:17:23.000 |
In other words, what is He saying? You're not going to deserve any of this. Right? 00:17:28.000 |
The salvation that's going to come isn't something you're going to earn. Right? 00:17:33.000 |
Because you are—righteousness is far from you. Right? 00:17:38.000 |
Now we obviously, in retrospect, we look back at it, and say, 00:17:42.000 |
He's clearly talking about Christ, and what He was going to do. 00:17:55.000 |
Yeah. So I don't know about you, but when you take a step back, 00:17:59.000 |
and you really let it sink in, what Isaiah is saying, 00:18:03.000 |
and what God is doing in the midst of history, you know, like, 00:18:07.000 |
I think we get into so much problem, and we create so many problems, 00:18:13.000 |
because we have a natural, like, default setting, where we're the center. 00:18:22.000 |
When, like, what is God doing, like, with me? 00:18:26.000 |
You know what I mean? Like, what is God's will for my life? 00:18:30.000 |
Do you know what I'm saying? And we get so caught up in trying to figure that out, 00:18:37.000 |
Not recognizing, like, this is what God's been doing in history. 00:18:41.000 |
This is what God is doing now, and this is what God will continue to do. 00:18:44.000 |
So the right question really should be, what am I doing, right? 00:18:53.000 |
If this is what God's doing, if this is, He's orchestrating the raising up of nations, 00:19:00.000 |
orchestrating kings, and rulers, and politicians, right? 00:19:04.000 |
He's orchestrating all of this for the purpose of salvation of mankind. 00:19:12.000 |
This is why Christ came. This is why He established the church, right? 00:19:17.000 |
And this is what He's trying to accomplish in our lives, right? 00:19:21.000 |
So I think a lot of the times the frustration and confusion comes because we separate God's will, 00:19:26.000 |
and then His will for me and my life, and then somehow, like, it's not connected. 00:19:33.000 |
You know? But I don't know about you, but, you know, this is a reminder to me, 00:19:39.000 |
like, we're a small part of this big picture of what God is doing, right? 00:19:53.000 |
I said, you know, Israelites, He's going to be faithful to them. 00:19:56.000 |
He raises up Babylon for the purpose of judgment. 00:19:59.000 |
But because the Babylonians thought, you know, of course, you know, like, we did it. 00:20:05.000 |
It's because we were smart, because we were powerful. 00:20:08.000 |
God's going to judge you for your pride, right? 00:20:11.000 |
God will humble Babylon of its pride and strip away their throne. 00:20:16.000 |
So if you look at chapter 47, verse 1, "Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon." 00:20:24.000 |
What image do you get when He's saying, "Sit on the ground"? 00:20:31.000 |
Like somebody sitting on the throne, instead of sitting on the throne, He said, "You're going to sit in the dust." 00:20:36.000 |
"For you shall no more be called tender and delicate." 00:20:39.000 |
Why does He use that imagery of tender and delicate? 00:20:56.000 |
If you notice, as you're reading 47, does He use a feminine description or a masculine description? 00:21:16.000 |
Yeah, daughter. Anyway, I'm not going to go through all this. 00:21:19.000 |
Like, "Strip off your robe, uncover your legs, pass through the rivers, and then your nakedness shall be uncovered." 00:21:25.000 |
So all of this stuff that He talks about, it's a female imagery. 00:21:28.000 |
Why does God use a female imagery to describe the shame that's going to come upon Babylon? 00:21:36.000 |
Because you would think a mighty nation like Babylon, you would say, you know, you think you're a mighty warrior, you know what I mean? 00:21:44.000 |
The lion is going to be turned into a little pipsqueak or whatever. 00:21:48.000 |
But He describes it as a delicate mistress or female. 00:21:57.000 |
I don't know if I should kind of demystify the Babylonian mighty country. 00:22:06.000 |
Like, it's really this delicate, you know, like you're saying, it's delicate, but it's something that's more... 00:22:17.000 |
It's not this, like, giant brick, it's something very soft and delicate and more vulnerable than what, like, nobody can stop. 00:22:25.000 |
Babylonians are like, no, it's this vulnerable thing that's going to be ashamed of. 00:22:37.000 |
In the other Pineso, Cyrus later, both had multiple places where it was described, because they had a knowledge of God. 00:22:45.000 |
They had some sort of unique, very interesting relationship with God. 00:22:49.000 |
And like you were saying earlier, that God was up to a plan much bigger than the nations themselves. 00:22:55.000 |
He wasn't just using them, He was actively imparting them with blessing, knowledge, wisdom, discernment. 00:23:02.000 |
So, not just so they can become powerful, but also because of God's care for them. 00:23:06.000 |
God seems to show affectionate care for the Babylonians and the... 00:23:15.000 |
Much more so that I think you can see with anything like Canaan or the other nations that just got wiped out. 00:23:29.000 |
So He had not just a plan for them, but a plan for blessing and good for them as well. 00:23:33.000 |
Maybe not like covenantally with Israel, but there's definitely a lot of care and investment 00:23:38.000 |
through the kings of these nations, the northern nations. 00:23:45.000 |
Yeah, I mean, they're definitely unlike the Assyrians where God actually is actively raising them and using them. 00:23:53.000 |
Think about the historical context of the Babylonians. 00:24:00.000 |
Remember when it's the judgment against Assyria? Remember how that's described? 00:24:13.000 |
And what you would expect because what the Assyrians were known for. 00:24:23.000 |
So it was almost like they were afraid of the Assyrians because of their brutality. 00:24:30.000 |
What was the stumbling block with the Babylonians? 00:24:47.000 |
The Assyrians wanted to inflict fear where the Babylonians were kind of like attracting the world to them. 00:24:54.000 |
So in the New Testament and in the Book of Revelation, whenever it talks about the world as Babylon, 00:25:04.000 |
Like the world's attraction, the temptation of the world. 00:25:07.000 |
Right? Where people are like, "I want to be like the Babylonians." 00:25:12.000 |
So I think, again, I think the reason why the feminine description is given is because the Babylonians were not known for brutality. 00:25:22.000 |
In fact, they were tempted. They want to be like the Babylonians. Right? 00:25:25.000 |
So when God gives opportunity for them to return, right? 00:25:30.000 |
The majority of the people in Babylon assimilated into the Babylonian culture. 00:25:37.000 |
Even when the Persians came, they got pretty comfortable where they were. 00:25:42.000 |
When the Assyrians took over, I mean, if they got free from the Assyrians, it meant freedom from oppression. 00:25:51.000 |
But when they got freed from the Babylonians and the Persians, a lot of them didn't want to be free. 00:26:01.000 |
In fact, going back to Jerusalem would have been risking their life. 00:26:05.000 |
They would have been—a lot of them got pretty comfortable there. 00:26:08.000 |
And there's a reason why the Bible describes the world as Babylon. 00:26:15.000 |
So again, again, you notice the subtle difference between how Assyria is described and Babylon is described. 00:26:23.000 |
And out of the two, which had a greater impact on Israel? 00:26:27.000 |
Which had a greater corrupting influence on Israel? 00:26:34.000 |
The Babylonians, their culture and their temptation had a much greater impact. 00:26:40.000 |
So if you look at Satan's work, is persecution what kills the Church? 00:26:49.000 |
If you go to anywhere where you hear persecution, you almost always—they tell you it purifies the Church. 00:26:54.000 |
The Church actually becomes stronger as a result of persecution. 00:27:07.000 |
So the lure of the Babylonians, the temptation of what the Babylonians were offering, was much more devastating to Israel than the Assyrians. 00:27:21.000 |
He says, "He will take vengeance on them because of their pride, thinking that somehow by their own effort, it's like, 'You were only strong because I allowed you to be.'" 00:27:39.000 |
Again, Babylon is described as a woman who falls from a lofty position and will no longer be considered tender and delicate. 00:27:48.000 |
Why do you think Babylon is described as a mistress? 00:28:05.000 |
Right, you have a relationship, but it's not legal. 00:28:23.000 |
You know, it's almost like acting like they're married, and she's a mistress. 00:28:28.000 |
So it's a mistress, not with God, but it's a mistress with Israel. 00:28:43.000 |
Why did God allow Babylon to become mighty and oppress Israel? 00:28:50.000 |
God gave his people over to Babylonians because of the sins of Israel. 00:28:54.000 |
Not because Babylon was great, but because the sin of Israel was great. 00:29:05.000 |
So even though God handed them over, but because they treated the Israelites mercilessly, meaning they took them into captivity, right? 00:29:18.000 |
Again, the only reason why God's people are conquered is because God allows it. 00:29:30.000 |
"Submit yourself therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you." 00:29:36.000 |
The only reason why the world has any foothold is because we allow it because of sin. 00:29:44.000 |
It's because anytime Israel strayed from God, they became weak. 00:29:50.000 |
It wasn't because of the great power of the Babylonians. 00:29:56.000 |
God withdrew from the nation, or Israel withdrew from God. 00:30:00.000 |
And that's exactly what it says in Revelations, right? 00:30:05.000 |
"If you do not restore your first love, I will take away my lampstand." 00:30:09.000 |
And lampstand is his church and his presence. 00:30:12.000 |
In other words, he's saying that if you remain lukewarm, right? 00:30:16.000 |
And your worship is all it is, is physical activity, and you're doing the right things, 00:30:21.000 |
and you have forsaken your first love, he said, "I will take away your lampstand." 00:30:25.000 |
In other words, the presence of God is withdrawn. 00:30:28.000 |
And then the church becomes worthless, like salt without flavor. 00:30:42.000 |
How is Babylon's sins, like how is it described? 00:30:56.000 |
And so, there are about five or six things that are described, 00:31:09.000 |
And I want you to think for a minute, in what way does pride manifest itself 00:31:13.000 |
in loving pleasure, and feeling secure, and control of destiny, right? 00:31:19.000 |
Feeling secure in wickedness, and relying on their wisdom and knowledge. 00:31:26.000 |
These are all fruits that God describes of pride. 00:31:34.000 |
What does pride and loving pleasure have to do with it? 00:31:52.000 |
Why is that a manifestation of pride of Babylon? 00:32:06.000 |
I mean, self-seeking, self-worship, self-centered, maybe? 00:32:20.000 |
You know, they have all that power, they've conquered everybody, 00:32:35.000 |
You know, that pride manifests when you think, like, 00:32:42.000 |
Sometimes God will allow you to experience things 00:32:45.000 |
where you become so desperate, you feel lost, 00:32:55.000 |
So you and I would recognize how helpless we are without His grace, right? 00:33:00.000 |
Because I think the most dangerous place for any Christian to be 00:33:12.000 |
Because of our experience, maybe because of the past fruit, 00:33:19.000 |
You know, I remember doing quiet time years ago, 00:33:23.000 |
when after the resurrection, Jesus meets the disciples, 00:33:27.000 |
and He tells the disciples to put the net into the water. 00:33:32.000 |
And they say, "We've been fishing all night, we didn't catch anything." 00:33:35.000 |
In other words, we're professional fishermen, 00:33:38.000 |
and we've been fishing all night when you're supposed to fish, right? 00:33:42.000 |
Where the water is cool and there's fish come up. 00:33:44.000 |
You're telling us to put a net in, you a carpenter, right? 00:33:48.000 |
Telling us professional fishermen who couldn't catch anything all night, 00:33:51.000 |
and you just want us to throw a net out there, and then all of a sudden… 00:33:54.000 |
But He said, "Because you said it, I'll do it." 00:33:57.000 |
And they put a net in, and then obviously they catch so much fish, 00:34:03.000 |
Probably Matthew, the tax collector, probably sat there and counted all this fish, right? 00:34:09.000 |
And then, they say, "Wow!" and they overflow, and they recognize, 00:34:12.000 |
"Wow, Jesus, they come and they have breakfast with Him." 00:34:15.000 |
And I remember thinking that when I was doing quiet time through that, 00:34:18.000 |
thinking, "It's usually the areas that we're successful in, 00:34:22.000 |
where we are the weakest in, because we're good at it." 00:34:29.000 |
So if you're an accountant, you tend to be less reliant upon God with money, 00:34:38.000 |
you tend to be more self-reliant when it comes to people, 00:34:45.000 |
So it's in the areas that you may be gifted in, 00:34:47.000 |
where you probably are the weakest, and you don't know it. 00:34:51.000 |
Our greatest blind spot in our faith is the areas where you may be… 00:34:56.000 |
you may be the best at doing, humanly speaking. 00:34:59.000 |
But in reality, spiritually, that's where you're the weakest. 00:35:07.000 |
Whatever we think we're good at is usually probably where you're the weakest. 00:35:14.000 |
He probably lived all his life, never made a single tent in his life, 00:35:24.000 |
Imagine how much money he needed to have to be able to hire Gamaliel as your teacher. 00:35:31.000 |
That's just like saying, "Oh, I need to be tutored." 00:35:34.000 |
And you find the chancellor for Harvard to come to your house and tutor you. 00:35:53.000 |
I'll bet you he had one of those soft, lotioned hands all his life, 00:36:00.000 |
until he became a Christian, and then he started making tents. 00:36:06.000 |
He didn't really experience hardship until he met Christ. 00:36:11.000 |
Jesus could get gold coins out of fish's mouths. 00:36:15.000 |
Why does he make his personally picked apostle make tents for a living? 00:36:31.000 |
So you look at all these descriptions, like, "These are all manifestations." 00:36:36.000 |
"You feel powerful. You have control over your destiny." 00:36:38.000 |
Like, "If I apply myself, I've been successful here." 00:36:48.000 |
Because you've sinned and you've been successful. 00:36:53.000 |
You haven't been praying, but everything in your life is going okay. 00:37:07.000 |
And these people that supposedly worshiped the right God, and we conquered them. 00:37:14.000 |
And God said, "God's going to humble all of them." 00:37:16.000 |
They're relying on their wisdom, their knowledge. 00:37:19.000 |
Because it was because of their wisdom and their knowledge why the Babylonians became what they were. 00:37:25.000 |
So that's what they were relying on until God humbles them. 00:37:28.000 |
And then they're going to come back and re-question, "Maybe it wasn't our knowledge. 00:37:37.000 |
So again, if God is concerned about us and he counts every hair on our head, 00:37:44.000 |
what is it that he is the most concerned about in our life? 00:37:51.000 |
He's expressing that he cares to that extent. 00:38:04.000 |
Because the moment you are filled with pride, you are the furthest from him. 00:38:11.000 |
So anything that causes you to think that you can do it, that's probably what he's the most concerned about. 00:38:18.000 |
Because that's what's going to keep you away from God. 00:38:22.000 |
So don't you think when the Bible says that God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble, 00:38:26.000 |
that God is actively pursuing to humble you and humble me? 00:38:31.000 |
Because that's the thing that he's most concerned about. 00:38:33.000 |
That you strain away thinking that you're not going to need him. 00:38:38.000 |
That's why if we don't buffet our bodies and make it our slave to humble, 00:38:41.000 |
like deliberately, actively, proactively humble ourselves, 00:38:50.000 |
Because that's what God cares about us so much, he's not going to let us stray. 00:38:54.000 |
If we're his children, he's going to discipline us to humble us. 00:39:08.000 |
Now why does he say they're going to experience losing a child and becoming a widower? 00:39:25.000 |
When they took them into captivity, they took their children, they took their husbands, 00:39:29.000 |
whatever was the choices of the land, they took them into Babylon. 00:39:34.000 |
So again, the judgment against them is you did this to my people and this is going to happen to you. 00:39:38.000 |
Right? You think that you are safe when you did this to my people? 00:39:42.000 |
Right? This is what's going to happen to you. 00:39:43.000 |
You're going to experience the pain that you've inflicted on my people. 00:40:01.000 |
Did I blot it out in your... I didn't, right? 00:40:06.000 |
So again, the principle over and over again, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. 00:40:11.000 |
That's the whole theme, right, of his judgment. 00:40:22.000 |
Again, the mocking of false idols that people relied on. 00:40:26.000 |
And that this was so... when it says that these are the idols that you relied upon your youth, 00:40:39.000 |
These were things that they worshipped and relied on since they were young. 00:40:46.000 |
Again, what will happen to these false idols? 00:40:48.000 |
It says they will be burned like stubble and will become completely useless. 00:40:59.000 |
Alright, so if you go back to... and I'm trying to give you some application questions or discussion questions at the end of each day. 00:41:07.000 |
So you guys can go back and look at the discussion questions and maybe take some time to discuss that or some of the things that we went over today.