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Isaiah 43 - The God Who Redeems and Protects Us · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show His love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk and looking forward to being in
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  Isaiah 43 with you today. Let's begin reading in Isaiah 43
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  and verse #1 now. This is what Yahweh says, the
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  one who created you, Jacob, and the one who formed you, Israel.
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  Do not fear, for I have redeemed you, I have purchased you back,
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  I have called you by your name. You are mine.
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  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and
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  the rivers will not overwhelm you.
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  When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, and
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  the flame will not burn you, for I am Yahweh, your God, the Holy
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  One of Israel, and your Savior. What a wonderful truth that we
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  read even here in these first starting verses, that because of
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  God's love for us, we don't have to have fear.
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  We are personally known, cared for, and loved.
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  We have been bought back here. Israel had been brought back
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  from the nations even as they had been exiled out, that God
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  was going to bring them back. And we have even a better
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  redemption than restoration of national identity.
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  The New Testament would tell us that we have been redeemed.
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  We've been bought with the precious blood of Christ, that
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  God gave his life for us so that not just that we could go back
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  and live in a land where our national identity would exist,
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  but so that we would have a restored relationship with God.
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  We would have an eternal home with him.
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  We would have everlasting life. That we would not experience the
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  condemnation that our sins had earned, but instead we would be
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  restored to God entirely. And then I love there some of
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  those verse, some of those phrases in verse #2 of God's
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  protection of us not from difficulties, but His protection
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  of us through difficulties. So we read this.
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  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.
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  You can think of the children of Israel.
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  They might have wished that God had just, you know, opened a
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  hole in the ground and the Egyptian army would have fallen
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  in, or that there would be, you know, like with Sodom and
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  Gomorrah, fire and brimstone that fell from heaven onto the
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  Egyptian army. But that's not the way that God
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  delivered them. He didn't say I'm going to take
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  away the difficulty of either Pharaoh's army or the Red Sea.
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  He says I'm going to open it up for you and you will walk
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  through. And then as Pharaoh's army tries
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  to pursue, then those same difficulties, the Red Sea, that
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  did not end up destroying the Israelites.
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  It did end up destroying the Israelites sole enemies, their
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  former imprisoners and and captive captivators.
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  I know the captors. Thank you.
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  You guys are like, listen, Brian, you're not on the ball
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  today. I know it.
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  I know it. We're we're still working on it
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  says when you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched
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  and the flame will not burn you. You can think of the three
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  Hebrew children, the the account that's given in Daniel of
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  Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, or is we better know them,
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  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And as they were in the fire,
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  God could have just had anyone that was going to throw them
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  into the fire be burned up and they would never have to go in
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  the fire. That would be the story that we
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  would want. We would want God.
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  I never want to go through financial hardships or I never
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  want to go through the loss of a spouse or an estranged
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  relationship with a child. Maybe that's far away from you.
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  We would never want to go through the difficulties, but
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  God says in the difficulties you get to see my personal care and
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  love and power exercised on your behalf and for you.
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  And what a joy that that is. Verse number, last part of verse
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  #3 Then God talks about the fact that He did not do this
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  redeeming work, this bringing back this people into the land
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  and restoring their national identity and sovereignty.
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  He did not do that for the other nations, that other nations as
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  they experienced destruction. It was a destruction from which
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  there would not be a recovery and there would not be certainly
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  an everlasting recovery like there would be for Israel.
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  So he says I have given Egypt as a ransom for you, Kush and Seba
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  in your place. These are kind of synonym names
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  for Egypt. Think like America, the US, you
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  know, some of those types of things would be one way to think
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  about Egypt. Kush Seba, God says when Egypt
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  goes under like that's it for Egypt.
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  Israel, even though they have not been more righteous than any
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  other nation, I am going to, because of my particular care
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  and love for them, do something for this nation that I am not
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  doing for any other nation. Obviously the purpose of all of
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  this would be to bring the Messiah Jesus into the land.
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  And even as Israel had some amount of sovereignty and self
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  rule under Roman occupation that then they were able to try
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  Jesus, condemn him and then bring him to the Romans to say
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  we need you to kill him. Because Rome did not allow the
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  the Jewish Sanhedrin to execute the death penalty on
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  individuals. So all of this is for the
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  purpose of Jesus. It's not just here's this one
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  ethnicity that God really loves and everyone else it's fine if
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  they're in, but the only one that God really cares about is
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  the Jews. No, God was intending all the
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  way from Genesis 3 and verse #15 to bring the Messiah Jesus
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  Christ from the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David
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  into the world that he would be truly God and truly man.
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  And so God was doing all of this for this purpose.
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  Verse #4 continues. Because you are precious in my
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  sight and honored, and I love you.
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  I will give people in exchange for you and nations instead of
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  your life, that instead of Israel experiencing the full
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  condemnation and destruction for their sin which they had justly
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  earned, that God was going to destroy some other nations.
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  And we read all about those back in like the Isaiah 10's and 20s.
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  So he says I'm giving people in exchange for you nations instead
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  of your life. He says do not fear for I am
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  with you. I'll bring your descendants from
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  the east and gather you from the West.
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  I'll say to the north give them up and to the South do not hold
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  them back. Bring my sons from far away and
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  my daughters from the ends of the earth.
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  Everyone who bears my name and his created from my glory, I
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  have formed them. Indeed I have made them.
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  Each person that exists, exists for the glory of God.
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  God is the one that has formed them.
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  God is the one that has made them.
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  It is why we would believe there's kind of a Latin phrase,
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  the Imago day, that we believe that every person is made in the
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  image of God. We get this from Genesis
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  chapters one and two, that in the image of God, man and woman
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  were created. And so each of us has worth and
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  value. And God says This is why murder
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  is so particularly awful, because you are destroying a
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  picture and image of God himself.
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  Now from verses 8 through 13 kind of does a little bit of a
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  new section. It says bring out a people who
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  are blind, yet have eyes and are deaf, yet have ears.
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  All the nations are gathered together and all the peoples are
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  assembled. Who among them can declare this
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  and tell us the former things? Who can tell us how things used
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  to be? Let them present their witnesses
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  to vindicate themselves, so that people may hear and say it is
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  true. You are my witnesses.
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  This is Yahweh's declaration and My Servant whom I've chosen.
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  Now remember, this is going to always be a picture of the
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  Messiah. Sometimes this will also be a
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  picture of like Israel, but the Messiah is the perfect example
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  of this servant. He says in my servant whom I've
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  chosen, and you are the witnesses.
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  This is what God says so that you may know and believe me and
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  understand that I am he. No God was formed before me, and
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  there will be none after me. God is in a rank and type and
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  substance and being all of his own.
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  He is the uncreated 1. He is the one that no one was
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  before him, that there will be no subsequent God after him.
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  Contrary to the claims of some cults, we will not become gods
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  of our own planets and worlds like some cults teach.
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  Instead, all throughout the endless ages, God is All in all.
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  He is the high and lifted up and Holy One.
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  All worship will go to Him forever, not to us.
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  Verse #11 I, I am Yahweh. Besides me there is no Savior.
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  This is why it's so important. Even though the New Testament
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  doesn't always phrase Jesus's deity in the ways that we in the
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  21st century would expect or want the the New Testament to
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  phrase Jesus's deity. Phrases like this connected with
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  the New Testament make it very, very, very clear that the
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  disciples and the apostles, those that knew and had
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  interacted with Jesus and then we're carrying out his message
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  and his gospel work. They knew that Jesus was God,
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  Jesus was Yahweh because Jesus is the only wise God, our
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  Savior. As we would read in, I think
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  it's Jude 24, you can read, I believe Titus 3 has a statement
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  something like this. First, John says that Jesus is
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  the Savior of all mankind. Same kind of thing in First
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  Timothy chapter 2. There's one God and one mediator
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  between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
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  All of that in connection with the Old Testament says there was
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  only one Savior. It is God and Jesus is God.
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  Now we would know. In other portions of the New
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  Testament it's also fleshed out. We have one God in three
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  persons, so that the Son is not the Father.
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  The Father is not the Spirit. The Spirit is not the Son, but
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  the Father's God. The Son is God, the spirit is
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  God, the Father is Lord, Son is Lord, Spirit is Lord, Father,
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  Savior, Son, and Savior. Spirit is Savior.
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  These three are one. There's not three gods, there's
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  one God, there's not like 3 saviors.
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  There is one savior. This is a divine wonderful
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  mystery. But today is not an episode on
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  the Trinity, it's an episode on Isaiah 43.
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  But I did want to bring that out, that the New Testament
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  authors want to make it very clear to us that Jesus is this
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  God, this Yahweh, this Savior, and he is the one true Savior.
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  Verse #12 I alone declared, saved and proclaimed, and not
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  some foreign God among you. So you are my witnesses.
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  This is Yahweh declaration and I am God also.
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  From today on I am He alone, and none can rescue from my power.
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  I act and who can reverse it? This is the wonderful doctrine
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  of the sovereignty of God, that what God has decreed can and
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  will happen and there is no one that is going to be able to
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  thwart what God is doing Now. God in His amazing storytelling
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  will sometimes have it where people do sins and actions of
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  their own in free will, not by decree of God.
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  God never commands evil or entices anyone to do wrong, yet
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  they in their fallen, evil, sinful nature, they choose
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  wrong. But that is not against, it's
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  not thwarting what God is attempting to do.
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  God paints that into the tapestry so that our sorry
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  tapestry is something I think you sew or put together like
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  that. It's something that God paints
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  into the painting so that the final picture is beautiful.
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  Greatest example of this that I know of is the Old Testament
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  with Joseph and then in the New Testament with Jesus Christ and
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  we read even some of the apostles words.
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  I think it's Acts 5 where they are praying to the Lord and
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  they're saying, hey, God, you know, Jesus was put to death by
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  the Pharisees and the Romans, which you planned out you for,
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  ordained for it to do. But they did not realize what
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  they were doing because if they realized the salvation and the
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  new life that would be brought, they would not have killed the
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  King of glory. They wouldn't have wanted to
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  work with God. But they did things that
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  ultimately worked into God's plan.
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  And so God's sovereignty means everything that happens, happens
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  by God's divine will in such a way that He never commands,
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  entices, forces people to send. They do that of their own
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  accord. But that God makes beautiful
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  things even through humanity's brokenness.
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  Verse #14 This is what Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of
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  Israel, says. Because of you I will send an
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  army to Babylon and bring all of them as fugitives, even the
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  Chaldeans and the ships in which they rejoice.
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  I am Yahweh, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your king.
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  This is what Yahweh says. Who makes a way in the sea.
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  So think of the Red Sea in a path through raging water, Who
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  brings out the chariot and the horse, the army and the Mighty
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  One. Together they lie down and they
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  do not rise again. They're extinguished, put out
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  like a Wick. Do not remember the past events.
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  Pay no attention to things of old.
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  Don't Don't worry about all the things that used to be because
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  verse #19 look, I'm about to do something new.
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  Even now it is coming. Do you not see it?
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  Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness.
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  Rivers in the desert, wild animals, jackals and ostriches
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  will honor me because I provide water in the wilderness and
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  rivers in the desert to give drink to my chosen people.
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  You can think of the times that God made there to be drinkable
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  water even from the rock or from formerly, like poisonous bitter
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  waters that God made there to be drink for His people.
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  God cares about people. God is supernatural and all
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  powerful. And so verse #21 He says the
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  people I formed for myself will declare my praise that the
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  people of God are not an accident.
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  They are the people that God has deliberately chosen, redeemed,
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  ransomed, made, formed for himself so that we would declare
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  His praises. And you can even look at
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  Ephesians chapter 1, verses 12 to 13 along those same lines
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  verse #22 But Jacob, you've not called on me because Israel, you
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  have become weary of me. You've not brought me your sheep
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  for burnt offerings or honored me with your sacrifices.
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  I've not burdened you with offerings or wearied you with
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  incense. You've not bought me aromatic
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  cane with silver or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices.
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  But you have burdened me with your sins.
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  You've wearied me with your iniquities.
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  He says instead of consistently bringing the sacrifices that
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  Israel was tasked to bring, all they kept bringing God was sin
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  and wickedness. And even in the times when they
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  were going through religious motions and maybe bringing a
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  bull or a sheep or something like that, it was not out of a
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  pure heart. It was I want to do more sin or
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  I want people to think well of me.
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  And so it was not actually in repentance that people were
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  offering sacrifices. And so God says Israel, like
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  I've loved you, I've cared for you, I am ransoming you, I'm
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  redeemed you, and yet you are not dealing with me as your God,
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  with obedience and repentance and treating God and others
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  rightly. Instead, they were going their
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  own way. Verse #25 I am the one I sweep
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  away your transgressions for my own sake and remember your sins
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  no more. Remind me.
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  Let's argue the case together. Recount the facts so that you
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  may be vindicated. Your first father sinned, and
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  your mediators have rebelled against me.
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  So I defiled the officers of the sanctuary and set Jacob apart
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  for destruction and Israel for scorn.
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  So here there's this reminder that though God has this
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  wonderful future in store, that Israel went into exile as a
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  result of their total abhorrence for God, for God's way for God's
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  way of treating people and their way of treating God himself.
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  Can I ask you today, what is the way in which you treat God?
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  Do you come to him offering your sacrifices, your offerings and
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  offering of praise and offering of worship, repenting of your
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  sin, a grieving your sin before God?
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  Do you come to him and say God, I'm sorry, I need you.
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  I need you to fix me. Because the way that I'm acting
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  in my marriage or the way that I'm acting with my kids, or the
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  way that I'm acting at my job with my friends, this just is
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  not working. And so God, I don't need more of
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  me. I need more of you.
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  Are you calling out to him like that?
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  And do you realize that when we actually desire a relationship
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  with God, that he always wants that relationship with us?
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  And so as a result, we can come boldly to the throne of grace
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  and find His grace to help in time of need.
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  What a joy that that is. I want you to take some comfort
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  from this God that redeems and ransoms, that forms a people for
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  Himself, to praise Him, to lift Him up, that He's the one that
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  cares for us. Even if we were scattered all
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  across the world, He would be the one to bring us back, even
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  as He did for Israel. But then we need to remember
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  that we can take God for granted, that we can reject His
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  way and still expect for Him to bless us in our wickedness.
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  May we remember that there can be temporal consequences for our
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  actions. May we seek a vibrant
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  relationship with God that does not invite the judgment of God
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  on our sin. And we can be so thankful that
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  because of Jesus Christ, the ultimate condemnation for our
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  sin, hell itself, eternal separation from God is never
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  something that the child of God will experience.
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  But let's not live like we are those headed for hell.
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  Let us live like those that are in relationship with God.
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  Thanks for tuning in today. And don't forget like, share,
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  comment, subscribe, leave a review if you're on Apple or
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  Spotify podcast if you are on a platform that has comments.
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  Comment the word sweep, sweep from verse #25 and you get
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  Tabernacle talk points. And one of these days they'll
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  figure out what those are worth. Thank you and look forward to
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  seeing you next episode.