Latest / Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self / Isaiah 44 - The All-Knowing God and the False Idols

Transcript

Isaiah 44 - The All-Knowing God and the False Idols · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

• 0:00
  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
• 0:03
  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
• 0:07
  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
• 0:10
  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
• 0:14
  others. Let's dive right in.
• 0:15
  Hello and welcome back to Tabernacle Talk.
• 0:17
  Today we are in Isaiah 44. Isaiah 44 and looking forward to
• 0:23
  a great another look at God's personal love for people, for
• 0:30
  you, for here in the Old Testament, for this nation of
• 0:35
  Israel from whose physical lineage the Messiah, Jesus
• 0:40
  Christ would come within right about 600 years or so from the
• 0:46
  time of the author here, maybe maybe 6:50 or so.
• 0:52
  We're going to begin today in Isaiah chapter 44 and verse #1
• 0:56
  we're also going to look a little bit today at idols.
• 1:00
  Those things that we believe in our life will give us ultimate
• 1:06
  fulfillment or happiness, the source of our provision.
• 1:11
  And we're going to look at how we can not be idolaters, those
• 1:15
  that believe false, those that are false gods, forces that lead
• 1:23
  us into the good life, and instead how we can focus on the
• 1:26
  one true God as the source of everything that we have and
• 1:30
  certainly everything good. Chapter 44 and verse number one
• 1:34
  of the scroll of Isaiah says this.
• 1:36
  And now listen, Jacob, my servant Israel, whom I have
• 1:40
  chosen. This is the word of Yahweh, your
• 1:43
  Maker, who formed you from the womb.
• 1:46
  He will help you. Do not fear Jacob, my servant
• 1:49
  Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. Jeshurun means like the upright
• 1:54
  one, for I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on
• 1:59
  the dry ground. I will pour out my spirit on
• 2:02
  your descendants and my blessing on your offspring.
• 2:06
  They'll sprout among the grass like poplars by flowing streams.
• 2:10
  This one will say I am Yahweh's, another will use the name of
• 2:14
  Jacob, still another will write on his hand Yahweh's and take on
• 2:19
  the name of Israel. Here as God looks towards the
• 2:23
  future, he reiterates again this truth that we've seen several
• 2:27
  times through Isaiah that there was coming a day that was
• 2:30
  promised when the children of Israel, not just those that were
• 2:36
  from a particular ethnic family, but all those who truly followed
• 2:41
  God like God had called Israel specifically to do.
• 2:44
  Everyone who would follow would be indwelt.
• 2:48
  They would have the Holy Spirit poured out on them so that the
• 2:52
  way that they lived their lives would no longer just be in their
• 2:57
  own strength or wisdom, but that God's presence would animate
• 3:03
  them towards the choices and decisions and beliefs and
• 3:08
  practices that they needed to have.
• 3:11
  We as humans are imperfect. We can't do what God wants us to
• 3:17
  do in right relationship with him or with others.
• 3:20
  And so God gave us his Holy Spirit so that we would be able,
• 3:25
  not in our own power, but in supernatural power to be patient
• 3:30
  and kind and holy and honest and loving and firm and, and just
• 3:38
  with others in ways that we could never have accomplished on
• 3:42
  our own, but that God's life living through US is able to do
• 3:47
  so. I, I love that promise there.
• 3:49
  Let's act today like the Holy Spirit lives in US.
• 3:53
  Let's not silence him. Or as Paul would tell the
• 3:57
  Ephesian believers, don't quench, Don't silence the Spirit
• 4:01
  of God. Instead, listen to his voice.
• 4:04
  Listen to the voice of the word of God, even as we go through
• 4:08
  this today to say, God, what do you want me to do?
• 4:11
  What do you want me to stop doing?
• 4:13
  How do you want me to relate with you?
• 4:14
  How do you want me to care for others?
• 4:16
  What would be loving or good things for me to do.
• 4:19
  These are all excellent things that we can ask for the Lord's
• 4:24
  help in I also love hearing verses four and five.
• 4:28
  These ones that follow the Lord, they recognize they, they call
• 4:32
  themselves by the name of I belong to God, I belong to
• 4:37
  Yahweh. And what a joy it is not just
• 4:40
  to, if you will be a better person, quote UN quote, but to
• 4:44
  actually belong, to have a family with a good heavenly
• 4:48
  Father who loves us, who cares about us, who empowers us, who
• 4:52
  has an established home and a future for us.
• 4:55
  The one who wants to help us to love and care for others in the
• 4:59
  here and now. This is a good God to belong to.
• 5:04
  Many people today want to do their own thing.
• 5:09
  They want to be fiercely independent that it's them,
• 5:12
  their choices, their desires, their will.
• 5:16
  You will never do better than belonging to the Lord and
• 5:21
  following His way and His path for your life.
• 5:25
  I'll talk to you guys here as, as just Brian.
• 5:30
  I have over and over again throughout my life tried to do
• 5:35
  things just in my own strength, in my own way, in my own wisdom,
• 5:40
  following my like heart or emotions.
• 5:44
  And it has never, ever once been better in my life than when I've
• 5:50
  been following the Lord and seeking Him.
• 5:52
  I promise you God's way is the best way every single time.
• 5:58
  Number six says this is what Yahweh, the King of Israel and
• 6:01
  its Redeemer, Yahweh of Heaven's armies says.
• 6:05
  I am the 1st and I am the last. There is no God but me who like
• 6:11
  me, can announce the future. Let him say so and make a case
• 6:15
  before me, since I have established an ancient people,
• 6:19
  let these gods declare the coming things and what will take
• 6:22
  place here. There's the challenge that God
• 6:25
  is the all knowing one, especially about the future, and
• 6:29
  God is the one that declares what is to come.
• 6:32
  And there were lots of, you know, false gods and idol
• 6:38
  worship and things that were happening during that time
• 6:40
  period. And God says, all right, if you
• 6:43
  think Baal or the prophets of Baal or this particular, you
• 6:48
  know, necromancer or someone, if they are really speaking to a
• 6:52
  spiritual being who purports to know the future, like, you know,
• 6:57
  come on, bring it. And, and we'll see how well he
• 7:00
  does at declaring the future. He says in verse #8 Do not be
• 7:04
  startled or afraid. Have I not told you and declared
• 7:08
  it long ago? You are my witnesses.
• 7:11
  Is there any God but me? There is no other rock.
• 7:15
  I do not know any. All who make idols are nothing,
• 7:20
  and what they treasure benefits no one.
• 7:24
  This is one of the things that with an idol in our lives, it is
• 7:29
  a great way to see what is true and what is false.
• 7:32
  What brings benefit, life, joy, love to others versus what sucks
• 7:40
  all of the joy and life and finances out of people's life.
• 7:49
  When you think about the idols of old, it was people and very
• 7:54
  often the religious groups that were trying to extort finances
• 7:59
  from people to try and say if you give money to this temple,
• 8:05
  if you sacrifice whatever animals or whatever children,
• 8:08
  you can experience immediate tangible blessings from the
• 8:15
  gods. So make this sacrifice, the
• 8:18
  rains will come, your crops will be totally fine, and you'll have
• 8:21
  enough food for both your family and some to sell, and you'll
• 8:25
  have money and all of this kind of stuff.
• 8:27
  So that was the model that was set out.
• 8:31
  And I think even today there are so many idols that are within
• 8:36
  our world today. I think very often phones can
• 8:41
  function, phones and computers can function in this way for us,
• 8:46
  that it is an immediate source of joy, fulfillment, purpose,
• 8:54
  instant gratification in ways that are very similar to how
• 8:59
  people treated the, the, the false gods and temples and
• 9:07
  prophets. And I'm trying to remember what
• 9:09
  the other word was, but I it's spacing right now.
• 9:13
  So that's how they treated those back then and that's how we
• 9:16
  treat things now that we say, OK, if I just pour more money
• 9:21
  into this like, you know, DraftKings app on my phone, I am
• 9:26
  going to get rich and I'll be able to have, you know, a
• 9:28
  wonderful vacation or I'll be able to get this or that for my
• 9:32
  family. And it is leaving up to, I don't
• 9:37
  even necessarily want to say random chance because so often
• 9:42
  things, especially apps have been, you know, manipulated
• 9:46
  games by people because they know that they can get
• 9:49
  exorbitant amounts, exorbitant amounts of money from people.
• 9:53
  So as people are doing things like, you know, online gambling
• 9:58
  on their phone, as people are consulting different apps or
• 10:03
  even different people, palm readers, tarot card readers, you
• 10:10
  know, even the way that we consider necromancy now is
• 10:16
  slightly different than what they did back in the day.
• 10:19
  But we will ask ChatGPT about our decisions before we would
• 10:25
  ever talk to one of our spiritual leaders, our pastors,
• 10:29
  other godly Christian friends, even a spouse.
• 10:34
  And so we turn to these things, these lifeless things in order
• 10:40
  to give us satisfaction, joy, financial security, and instead
• 10:46
  of trusting in God, we trust in the created things.
• 10:49
  And here God says all who make idols are nothing and what they
• 10:54
  treasure benefits no one. He says they're witnesses do not
• 10:57
  see or know anything, so they will be put to shame.
• 11:01
  The people of that, the false prophets and priests and
• 11:09
  priestesses, the people that they would say, Oh yeah, you
• 11:12
  know, we this, this God really did eat the food that was
• 11:17
  offered. And isn't that right?
• 11:19
  You know, whatever witness and the witness would say, Oh yes,
• 11:22
  we, we did see that and it was just something that was false.
• 11:26
  It was false witness that was going on so that people would
• 11:29
  believe that what was happening in these temples or at the
• 11:33
  sacrificial sites that they would believe that it was real
• 11:37
  based on the testimony both of the false prophet or priest and
• 11:43
  the testimony of the witnesses. And so God says these people
• 11:45
  that are a part of this scheme in order to get peoples
• 11:50
  finances, possessions, all of that, God says those people are
• 11:54
  going to experience judgment as well.
• 11:56
  They will be put to shame. He says who makes a God or cast
• 12:00
  a metal image that benefits no one.
• 12:02
  Look, all its worshippers will be put to shame.
• 12:06
  And the Craftsman are humans. They will all they all will
• 12:10
  assemble and stand. They will all will be startled
• 12:12
  and put to shame. Those that partake in creating
• 12:18
  false gods and things that destroy people's lives, They
• 12:22
  themselves will be put to shame. There will be judgment on that
• 12:25
  day for those people. Verse #12 The ironworker
• 12:28
  laborers over the coals shapes the idol with hammers and works
• 12:32
  it with his strong arm. Also he grows hungry and his
• 12:35
  strength fails. He doesn't drink water and his
• 12:37
  faint. So here this person that is
• 12:39
  creating this God is just a regular person and a regular
• 12:44
  person cannot make a supernaturally powerful thing.
• 12:49
  And so God says this is stupid. You shouldn't be trusting in
• 12:53
  these, you know, physical creations, these physical idols
• 12:59
  in order to give you life. I'd, I'd say this, your phone's
• 13:04
  app programmers are just regular humans.
• 13:08
  Every website that you would go to to fulfine fulfillment or
• 13:12
  happiness, financial security or prosperity, I would probably be
• 13:17
  a better way to phrase that. Or you know, relational
• 13:23
  fulfillment. Those, those people that create
• 13:27
  those things, they are only humans.
• 13:29
  So do not trust in the things that humans create in order to
• 13:34
  give you ultimate fulfillment. Verse #13 The woodworker
• 13:38
  stretches out a measuring line. He outlines it with a stylus.
• 13:41
  He shapes it with chisels and outlines it with a compass.
• 13:43
  He makes it according to a human form, like a beautiful person to
• 13:47
  dwell in a temple. He cuts down Cedars for his use,
• 13:50
  or he takes a Cypress or an oak. He lets it grow strong among the
• 13:53
  trees of the forest. He plants a Laurel and the rain
• 13:57
  makes it grow. A person can use it for fuel.
• 14:00
  He takes some of it and warms himself.
• 14:02
  Also. He Kindles a fire and bakes
• 14:04
  bread. He even makes it into a God and
• 14:07
  worships it. He makes an idol from it and
• 14:09
  bows down to it. He burns half of it in a fire,
• 14:13
  and he roasts meat on that half. He eats the roast and is
• 14:15
  satisfied. He warms himself and says, Ah,
• 14:17
  I'm warm, I I see the blaze. He makes a God or is idol with
• 14:21
  the rest of it. He bows down to it and worships.
• 14:24
  He prays to it, saying, Save me, for you are my God.
• 14:29
  Such people do not comprehend and cannot understand, for he
• 14:32
  has shut their eyes so that they cannot see in their minds, so
• 14:37
  they cannot understand. No one comes to his senses.
• 14:40
  No one has the perception or insight to say, I burned half of
• 14:44
  it in the fire. I also braked baked bread on its
• 14:48
  coals. I roasted meat and ate.
• 14:50
  Should I make something detestable with the rest of it?
• 14:53
  Should I bow down to a block of wood?
• 14:55
  It says he feeds on ashes, His deceived mind has led him astray
• 15:00
  and he cannot rescue himself. Or say, isn't there a lie in my
• 15:04
  right hand? We as humans cannot be saved, be
• 15:09
  rescued by the things that we create.
• 15:13
  I know many of you even on this podcast, hopefully many of you
• 15:18
  enjoy good jobs or good financial stability, but
• 15:22
  wherever you work is not your savior.
• 15:26
  Let me make it just for my my life.
• 15:29
  I'm thankful for Tabernacle Baptist.
• 15:32
  Tabernacle Baptist is not my savior or my identity.
• 15:37
  I serve God and one of the ways right now I serve God is through
• 15:42
  Tabernacle Baptist. But if tomorrow Tabernacle
• 15:45
  Baptist had a random thing and it's, you know, exploded into a
• 15:49
  million pieces, my salvation would not then be in question.
• 15:57
  My ultimate life's journey would not be laid waste because who I
• 16:04
  am is not tied to this thing. Tabernacle is not my God.
• 16:09
  Same goes for Samantha. I love her dearly.
• 16:12
  She is not my God. And so whatever comes or goes
• 16:16
  within my life, I need to always remember at the forefront of my
• 16:21
  mind all of the things of life. They are just stuff, the
• 16:27
  possessions, you know, I got some books or whatever behind
• 16:30
  me. I got this microphone.
• 16:33
  The people that are in my life, my my friends, my wife, my my
• 16:39
  children, the place that I work, even the place that I worship,
• 16:44
  these are all wonderful things, but none of them are God.
• 16:48
  And so everything else can change and ebb and flow.
• 16:53
  But I will be OK because my God is Jesus, Yahweh is my God.
• 16:59
  And so I don't have to fear the ebbs and flows of life.
• 17:03
  And so things, all sorts of things, can change at
• 17:06
  Tabernacle. And I will be OK because
• 17:10
  Tabernacle is not my God. God is the unchanging one.
• 17:15
  My kids will one day grow old, Lord willing, and move out of
• 17:20
  the house. And it'll just be me and
• 17:22
  Samantha, and that will be OK. It's OK for my life to change.
• 17:27
  It's OK even for my health and my body to change over time.
• 17:33
  I'm not necessarily looking forward to one day when I have
• 17:36
  all sorts of aches and pains and and those types of things.
• 17:40
  But it's coming one day. But it'll be OK.
• 17:43
  Everything else in life, I don't have to attempt to control it or
• 17:48
  to make it obey me because God is God and I am not.
• 17:53
  And so I can rest on him and I can pray to him.
• 17:55
  I don't have to try to manipulate other people.
• 17:58
  I don't have to try to manipulate my finances or, you
• 18:02
  know, my health or whatever. I can just say, God, I'm going
• 18:05
  to try and live, right? I'm going to try and work hard.
• 18:08
  I'm going to try and take care of my body in whatever way I
• 18:11
  can. But God, you are ultimately the
• 18:14
  only one that can or should be prayed to.
• 18:17
  And so I trust you. Take care of me.
• 18:21
  Do that instead of trying to trust in all of what humanity
• 18:27
  can make. Verse 21.
• 18:29
  Remember these things, Jacob and Israel, for you are my servant.
• 18:33
  I formed you. You're my servant.
• 18:35
  Israel. You will never be forgotten by
• 18:37
  me. I've swept away your
• 18:39
  transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist.
• 18:42
  Return to me, for I have redeemed you.
• 18:46
  Rejoice heavens, for Yahweh has acted.
• 18:48
  Shout depths of the earth, break out in the singing mountains,
• 18:52
  forest and every tree in it. For Yahweh has redeemed Jacob
• 18:56
  and glorifies himself through Israel.
• 19:00
  This is what Yahweh, your Redeemer, who formed you from
• 19:03
  the womb, says. I am Yahweh who made everything,
• 19:06
  who stretched out the heavens by myself, who alone spread out the
• 19:10
  earth, who destroys the omens of the false prophets and makes
• 19:15
  fools of diviners, who confounds the wise and makes their
• 19:19
  knowledge foolishness, Who confirms the message of His
• 19:22
  servant and fulfills the counsel of His messengers.
• 19:25
  Who says to Jerusalem she will be inhabited, and to the cities
• 19:29
  of Judah they will be rebuilt, and I will restore her ruins?
• 19:33
  Who says to the depths of the sea Be dry, and I will dry up
• 19:38
  your rivers? So again, over and over again
• 19:40
  throughout Isaiah, the picture is just as Israel came from
• 19:43
  Egypt by way of the Red Sea and then the Jordan walking through
• 19:49
  these sea areas on dry ground, if you will, a highway from
• 19:55
  Egypt all the way into the promised land.
• 19:57
  The God is saying this is now the kind of thing that you need
• 20:00
  to be thinking about with going from Babylon in exile back to
• 20:07
  Israel. Verse #28.
• 20:09
  God says to Cyrus, my shepherd, who he will fulfill all my
• 20:13
  pleasure. This is one of the kings of the
• 20:16
  Middle Persian Empire who gives the order for Israel to come
• 20:20
  back into the land. So this would be probably 150
• 20:26
  years after, yeah, at least 150 years after Isaiah's lifetime,
• 20:36
  that God would be the one that commands this Middle Persian
• 20:40
  king. Not in Israelite, not a God
• 20:42
  fear, but to have Israel come back to the land, he says, and
• 20:48
  God says to Jerusalem she will be rebuilt and of the temple its
• 20:52
  foundation will be laid. So here as we walk through this
• 20:58
  chapter, we see that God is good.
• 21:00
  God is the sovereign. 1 He declares the end from the
• 21:02
  beginning. He knows the first from the
• 21:04
  last. He's the one that knows the
• 21:05
  future. And so we don't need to try to
• 21:08
  consult other spiritual beings. We don't need to put our faith
• 21:12
  in what mankind can create to give us that certainty, that
• 21:18
  hope for the future because God says I have the hope for your
• 21:22
  future and I am the hope for your future.
• 21:24
  That doesn't mean that we don't ever attempt to plan, to
• 21:28
  prepare, to invest to, you know, make a way for our eventual
• 21:33
  retirement. Doesn't mean that we don't care
• 21:35
  about the relationships that we have or the job that God has
• 21:38
  given us. We need to use those, but use
• 21:41
  them. Don't trust them.
• 21:43
  Find your identity in God, not in the things that God gives.
• 21:50
  Thank you guys for for being here this episode.
• 21:53
  I know that I'll be mulling over some of these thoughts and even
• 21:57
  trying to think for myself. In what ways have I been
• 22:01
  trusting in things that either I'm doing or I'm making, or that
• 22:06
  other people are doing or making?
• 22:08
  And what ways am I relying on them rather than on the Lord?
• 22:13
  Don't forget to like, share, subscribe if you are on Apple or
• 22:19
  Spotify podcast, leave a review that helps us get to be able to
• 22:23
  interact with more people all around the world as we travel
• 22:27
  through scripture together. If you made it to the end of the
• 22:30
  episode, comment the word idol, idol, IDOL, not idol like lazy
• 22:37
  idol like the you know, little created God and you will get
• 22:41
  some Tabernacle talk points for that.
• 22:43
  Thanks for tuning in. Have a wonderful day.