August01_2023_psalm64_isaiah49

The speaker starts by expressing gratitude towards God for a new day and for being chosen for a purpose in the kingdom. They pray for God to speak to them and transform them through the power of the Holy Spirit. They also talk about denying themselves and taking up their cross to follow God's will. They then discuss Psalm 64 and how even in the midst of trials and attacks, God has a purpose and wants all to come to repentance. They mention the importance of staying in the secret place of God's presence and seek protection from the schemes and attacks of the enemy. They highlight the significance of words and how they can be like arrows, potentially poisoning one's determination to stay in the secret place. August 1st, 2023. Treasures in Christ. Psalm 64. Jehovah quara beti. Our Lord God who has called us from the womb. Isaiah 49.1. Listen to me, O Isles and coastlands, and hearken you peoples from afar. The Lord has called me from the womb, from the body of my mother. He has named me by name. O heavenly Father, would you so great that this moment was made. We're thinking, we're having a heart of gratitude towards you, Father God. You kept us through the night and brought us into a new day that's your very purpose for us, yet has one more day in it. And this beautiful reflection of the fact that from our mother's womb, where you knit us together are in purpose for your good purpose, Father God, to bring us into this place, that we can work in the kingdom, Father God. And we know that the ultimate outpouring of the kingdom is that you want none to perish but all to come into repentance. So we thank you and pray you for that day, Father God. We seek you today, Father God, and we know that we'll find you. And we say in sacrificial worship, knowing that you are transforming us and sanctifying us and set us in a heart of your will in our lives, your purpose for our lives is being fulfilled. So speak to me today, Father God, in your word. Speak to me and transform me today, Father God. As I want to know you more, as I know you more, know your ways more, and I know you more. So teach me your ways, Father God, transforming me by the power of the Holy Spirit that's in me, the very interpreter, the very translator, the very main line into the throne room by the authority of our Savior, my Savior, my Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. As we take the denial of the cross today, as I deny myself today and take up the cross and follow you, so that you can put the death of me into the flesh and sanctify me and set me apart for your kingdom work. We just praise you for that truth today. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen and amen. Well, I'm encouraged this morning. I'm working on some details on this. I'm recording it. Let's go to number 20 and see how this works out here. Let's see if anything goes here. What an amazing truth today. As I was browsing through this psalm 64, it was just amazing. We even get caught up in the things that come against us. We can get caught up in those so much that we can get distracted by the fact that God has purpose in it all. God has a purpose for us all in it all, so that none will perish but all will come to repentance. So we're going to take a look at a couple of passages today that are in relation to this. These are the ones he just kind of led me to. As I saw this thing in psalm 64, we're going to read of course now, but it was where he is shooting and says, oh yes, verse 7, psalm 64, 7 where God shoots an unexpected arrow at them. And I thought, hey, that's interesting. Show me, God, what does this mean? What does an unexpected arrow look like as we're in this place? So let's just take a look at psalm 64, and then I think when we get into Isaiah 49, we're going to see in depth what he's talking about here. Because we know God's a redeeming God. He's a God that wants none to perish but all to come to repentance, and this is a beautiful thing. It's a good news gospel. So we have psalm 64, we're going to go to the psalm of David, and it says, hear my voice, O God, in my complaint. Guard and preserve my life from the terror of the enemy. This is the secret place of the Most High. This is sacrificial worship. This is the ultimate authority of the kingdom right here. But notice what David's not doing. He's not being fake. He's not being fake. The first half of the verse, he says, in my complaint. He's talking about in his complaint, we're going to find in the flesh that these things that come against us are not pleasant. These are not things that we just enjoy. We're not just some kind of glutton for suffering. That's not how the kingdom works. And so David has a complaint, but he's coming to God because it's the will of God that he desires. It's the actual overriding power of the Father. This is why he uses the word O God here. Because this is the dictate of the kingdom. This is the operation that he wants to be operating in. And I love that it goes into the second half of verse 1 to remind us all our health and protection comes from God. We learned, he showed me the other day, the preservation and all of these things that he does in the kingdom for us. You know, what can man do to us, right? This is why we're in reverent fear and awe of God and not man. But does it mean that there's no effective fear and terror that comes from the enemy? Absolutely not. This is what David's talking about here. This is why we know God doesn't remove the storm. He doesn't remove the enemy. He doesn't remove the battle. He preserves it and guards the city. But God has to be the place that we're at. God has to be our only source of health. God helps those who recognize their need for him. And David's showing us how to operate in this place. So he's crying out to God and he's being honest with his communication. He's not trying to put a shiny face on it. He's just being real, as they say. He's being a hundred. And then in the same token, while he's in his real expression of what's going on, his complaint, the way they word it here, is that the recognition of God to guard him, not to utterly destroy and remove all the things that can come against him, but to guard him and to preserve him in the secret place. See, he wants to stay in the tabernacle of God. He wants to stay in the house of God. He doesn't want to be removed by the thing that's coming against him. And that's the threat I think we're going to see as we go through. That's the actual threat. That is what the enemy is trying to do. That is what the adversary is trying to do. He's trying to get us out of this place, this sacrificial worship. So David's bunkered down right here. He's showing us he's got to stay bunkered down. And it says, guard and preserve my life from the terror of the enemy. See, notice he's not telling him to just get rid of the terror. He's telling him to guard him and preserve him in it. In verse 2, it gets even more intimate. It's so beautiful. David does it. It's so poetic, but it's so brass tacks for standing out during the procedures in the body of Christ. He says, verse 2, hide me from the secret counsel and conspiracy of the ungodly for the scheming of evildoers. And I think we're going to see a little more as he goes a little more in depth. His recognition that these things are outside of obvious. These things are done in the inner man of the scheming of evildoers that come against those that are in the secret place. Because again, the value in staying in the secret place is increased when there's this terror coming. There's this conspiracy, this scheming that's going on, this secret counseling that's going on. There's more value in it. There's more value in the guarding and the preserving, I would say, in the relationship with God. There's more intimacy in it. There's more depth to it. Remember, he showed us on the day with the marrow and the fattened calf. We get the volume of it, but we get the depth of it as well. And it increases. The more that comes against us, the more it increases. And this is why it's a beautiful thing. This is why we don't want to stomp on the head of the devil and get rid of all the evil that's around us so we can live in some Pollyanna kingdom. There's no value in that. The value of the kingdom goes down. He's going to go even more in depth here. So we see verse 2 where it's stuff that's coming in the back door, stuff that's not always as clearly obvious in the flesh, but knowing that it's taking place, it's obvious that it's taking place, but you can't always see it. It's secret counseling, it's conspiracies, it's scheming. And now verse 3 where the attacks start to come. It says, who aim venomous words like arrows. See, so now we go from that secret scheming, conspiracy, and secret counseling into the attack that's coming at us. And we know already through the word of God that no weapon formed us can prosper, so we can bunker him in the secret place in knowing that truth. We can bunker him in just that truth alone. But there's more to it than just not having it prosper. We're going to see as we read on, there is a purpose that God has for redemption that requires us to stay in sacrificial worship in order for that to come to pass. David's just going into a little more depth of the degree, so it's coming from secret places, places that in the flesh we can't see. On a face, they can be looking at us with a smiling face, and yet in their hearts they're devising and conspiring and scheming these evil things and these things that are ungodly. And then they come at us with the attack. Now I always like that reference, and the sword we know automatically, we can see the sword is cutting and does a lot of things. And God uses the sword as a good symbolism of what he does, as he cuts away those things that are not pleasing to him. But here it's being used by the adversary to try to cut us out of this place. He's trying to cut us out of the secret place of Mosiah. He's trying to get us to kind of come out on our own and just do our own way and come back and try to be the magic and try to be the strength and the power that's required. But David shows us we have to stay hunkered down. There's no option to do this. This is not an option. And the venomous, I like the venomous words. These are words like arrows. They fly through the air. Words come out of the mouth and into an ear, and there's that degree of distance. And what happens with it is I think of the venom as a poison. So it becomes poisoning to our determination in our heart to stay in the secret place. It starts to put poison in us where it just starts to want to destroy the zeal and commitment, fortitude that we have in courage and desire to stay in the secret place. If somebody just says something in passing, you know, a simple word, you know, they might have been saying it out of pretense or out of sarcasm, out of whatever, or out of the real scheming, you know, that real conspiracy, real secret counsel. And the tongue comes out and starts to cut. And then there's those words that are just dropped, and they start to fester in our mind, and we start to doubt, you see. It starts to bring in doubt. And I can definitely see this happening. You know, it's a simple thing. You know, in that journey that we had when God transformed us physically because of our obedience to him, and that one word came in that said something, and it just, you know, it was venomous and poisonous in its intent. And it had a real impact on me. You know, knowing now that now it's time to just bunker down in the secret place, don't say nothing to anyone except for God, give him all my complaints, and let him guard me and preserve me from the terror of the enemy. It goes on to say in verse 4 to go a little bit more in depth, who shoot from ambush at the blameless man. Suddenly do they shoot him without self-reproach or fear. See, when those are, others are operating outside of the will of God, they'll end up operating outside the kingdom. They will do, and it seems like an ambush. He's using an illustration that it comes suddenly. It comes out of the blue. It comes from the sideways. You know, it's like, I know from this job I have now, I've had these circumstances where just out of the blue something was said, and it was just so cutting, it was so poisonous to me. Now, I ran. I didn't do it correctly. I didn't operate correctly in this place of sacrificial worship. I surrendered to God's powerful hand so God could guard me and preserve me. I ran. I thought that somehow I could just run away from it. This just isn't the case. But it's amazing how suddenly it came a couple of times actually since I've been there. It's like out of the blue. It's like I didn't expect that. It actually put me to tears. You know, this is the kind of ambush it seemed to hit me with. I was not expecting it from this particular person. But the reality is that there's this ungodly scheme in the hearts of the evil doing, and they come with the sword of their mouth and venomous words that poison, and they ambush, and it comes suddenly. And they don't have any self-reproach or fear. They come boldly in their own confidence. But we know that's operating outside the kingdom of God, and we know God wants them to perish. So let's see what God does with this. Well, he's going to go a little more deeply. They encourage the first five. They encourage themselves in an evil purpose. They talk of laying snares secretly, and they say, Who would discover us? When they're operating, we're operating out of the kingdom of God. The pride begins to just swell and swell and swell, and we begin to think, Hey, our way or the highway. It's just what can, you know, what are we going to find out? You know, we're doing this, we're doing that. We're keeping, it's all back room. It's in our heart. It's a conspiracy. It's secret counsel. And all we're doing is shooting words and venom. We're doing these things, and we're ambushing. And who's going to discover us? I love the illustration of what the enemy, the adversary is going to use to come against us, and the mindset of those that are. You know, it becomes this place where they become trapped in the delusion. Which is what he's talking about. It's the delusion when we operate outside the kingdom. He says that they think out acts of injustice and say, We have accomplished a well-devised thing. For the inward thought of each one is unsearchable, and his heart is deep. This is what we're talking about, where we in the flesh can't know what is going on. But David is writing lyrical, God's oracles here to let us know what's taking place. And what we need to be doing in the process, we need to be staying in the secret place of the Most High whenever anything is coming against us, knowing that it's coming devised in secret, undiscoverable in the flesh, in the inward thought of each one. And their heart is where it's at. And it goes deep. See, when we start to operate outside the kingdom, and we start devising these things, and our inner being starts to think out these things that are not just, that are just simply to get our agenda met. And we micromanage them and well-devise them. It's a depth of our heart that is being reflected in. See, it's the state of our heart. It shows, or their heart, or whoever it is, that's operating here. It's a reflection of the heart, right? It's from the heart force, or from the mouth force, or the heart. And God's looking at the heart. And we already know that the mouth force, you know, in symbolism, was poured out in verse 3. And then more reflection of how they do it, as far as ambushing, and without any regard to what they're doing. And they lay these traps and stairs, and they think out ways to just get their agenda met. And they think they've got a well-devised thing. It's their inner mercy that is in this bad place. Because sometimes we make mistakes out in the flesh, and we'll even take cutting things to others. You know, because we may have some bitterness or something in our heart that needs to be resolved, and we surrender to God, because we confessed and surrendered to God, so he can transform it. But this is an illustration of those who are completely off course. This is not a random mistake they're making. This is something they're devising in some kind of a lifestyle that they're living. So let's see what God's response is to this. Because we know what our response is. It's to stay in the secret places. It's to give all the complaint to God. It's to allow him to guard us and reserve us from the terror of the enemy. But let's see what God's response is. Verse 7. But God will shoot an unexpected arrow at them, and suddenly shall they be wounded. And you know, God has to go in, and he has to work on the heart of an individual. And this is how he does it. This is the symbolism for how he does it. He's got to go in, and he's got to take that stony heart and break it and make it into a soft heart, a heart that can love. So he's going to have to wound them. He's going to have to go in and create a wounding. Notice what it doesn't say he does. Utterly destroy them. See, God shoots this arrow, an unexpected arrow at them. And I think we're going to see as we go through the Scriptures today what this arrow is and why it's so beautiful. So God is the one that brings the unexpected response. He's the one who does recompense. He's the one that does all the avengeance, all the revenge, anything like that. He's the one who defends and guards, right? Preserves. And suddenly they shall be wounded. We've seen through a lot of Scriptures, I've seen a lot of Scriptures that say God will cause them to fall by their own device. The very ways in which they conspire to come against God's kingdom, which is coming against God's people. God will cause them to fall by their own device. He will pay back those that come against His children. But it's not just about the payback. We're going to go a little deeper into this today, I think. And we're going to see the heart of God. Because we want to see the heart of God. And this is why I like it when it says wounded in verse 17. It doesn't say completely annihilated with no chance of redemption. Because He wants none to perish but all to come into repentance. But He's got to commit this, He's got to bring something in to pierce the heart, to come in and pierce that heart, that stony heart that is devising these things. And here's the outcome of what happens when God goes to work in verse 7. It says, and they will be made to stumble. And we've read this before. We've read it like even a drunk, like a drunkenness, you know, where we just stumble, they stumble. So what they thought they had planned and laid out and devised and was perfect operating to get their agenda met and nobody could know and it was only in their heart that they could tell, right? But God knows He put the arrow right where it needed to go and it caused them to stumble. It says, their own tongues turning against them. They begin to recognize that what they've been doing has been coming against God and it comes against them. God turns their tables on Himself. And it says, all who gaze upon them will shake their heads and flee away. So we start to see the outcome of it. There starts to be, I don't want to say a testimony, but there starts to be a witnessing that takes place now. As God has shot the arrow, unexpected arrow at them and brought wounding to them, they begin to stumble and they begin to, their tongues, the things that they were doing that were planned for evil, God has turned for good. And everybody looks on and shakes their head like, hmm, and they flee away. So the support they thought they had, when God starts to operate to bring the transformation, causes all of that support they thought they had to go away. And this is the beautiful thing. This is the purpose of it all. See, God's not just some backhanded pistol-whipping, shoe-tossing, I-told-you-so kind of God who's just trying to utterly destroy people. This is the purpose of it. This is the witness that comes forth from what others are seeing as God is going to work. Notice David's not going to work. John's gone to work. David's not doing any arrow-shooting. God's doing the arrow-shooting. And I think we're going to see, when we see what that arrow is, how amazing it is God can do things and just work in the kingdom and get the will of the kingdom fulfilled. Because all of God's work, nothing will come back in vain. Everything God determines and wills to happen, will happen. And He has a purpose in what He's doing here. This is the beautiful thing. This is why there was only the wounding and not the utterly destroying. And verse 9 tells us the purpose right here. And all men, all men, that includes David. That's all men. When God works in situations like this where He's coming in, He's coming at that stony heart because He wants men to perish, right? He's coming at that stony heart and He's wounding them so that they fall on their own device. They stumble. They can't get solid footing. They can't. Their tongue turns against themselves. And everybody who was there and they thought were there supporting, goes away and they lack all the support. And all men shall reverent and fear Him be it all. And they will declare the work of God. How do we witness for God? How do we witness for God? We allow. We stay in people's place for the most time while God goes to work and does what He does. And as His glory pours forth, others around come into this place of reverent fear and awe and begin to declare the goodness of God. This is amazing. Now, well, He used the word work because, you know, hey, it was a wounding after all. But at the end of the day, it really is a good work that He's doing because it's a redemptive work that He's doing. But we've got to stay in the secret place for the most time, hunker down, allow God to do all of this. If we try to go out and set the table, we're going to find we're going to end up in a bad way. We're going to fall by our own side because that takes us outside of the powerful hand of God, the guarding and the protection, the vision and the preservation and everything that God does when we're in the secret place. But this is the outcome of what God does. He's not a fun sucker. He wants to shoot people in the heart. It's so that all men, including His children, will be strengthened in our reverent fear and awe of God and then are testifying to the good work of God. For they will wisely consider and acknowledge that it is His doing. This is why we've got to keep our fingers out of it. Because if we put our fingers in there in any fashion, then it is our doing. It is no longer His doing. And so we thank God for this truth that we're going to see our role in it as we go on into the Isaiah we'll see. But this is the outcome of what God is doing in His guarding and preserving and His going to work to bring that unexpected error, to bring the wounded so that they stumble and have no support in coming to this place of reverent fear and awe of God. Because God is the one who has done it. And they will declare His work and wisely consider and acknowledge that it is His doing. See, God is bringing them into redemption. This is a beautiful salvation passage of what God desires. Now, our perspective is that it's something coming against us. Our position is in the secret place of the Most High. God's operation is to bring this unexpected error to begin this transforming process. And it brings them into the reverent fear and awe that is required to begin to testify to the goodness of God and consider and acknowledge His power, our plan of that work. And it goes on to say, verse 10, The uncompromisingly righteous shall be glad in the Lord and shall trust and take refuge in Him. And all the upright in heart shall glory and offer praise. And this is a beautiful reflection of the body of Christ in the process. It's uncompromising, right? It's the fact that we have put our faith, hope and trust in God, in His righteousness. And that gives us the righteousness, right? And we are going to be glad in the Lord. Notice it just shifted to the Lord. Because up ahead it declared the work of God, which is the working of the kingdom, the overall kingdom work. Now, in verse 10, He brings in the Lord, which is the leadership. This is the righteousness of Christ that we give. This is what, and shall trust and take refuge in Christ, in His righteousness. Knowing that God is the one that comes in and He does the guarding and He does the preserving and He does the heart transforming. He does the work. And all the upright in heart shall glory and offer praise. All those whose heart is directed correctly, not who is perfect. You don't see any perfection in this verse 10. But this is the body of Christ. This is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ's righteousness we are talking about. We are uncompromising in our relationship and so therefore we are covered with the righteousness of Christ. And this makes us glad. It makes us glad when we look back at the process, when we look at it in context. There's the gladness that comes from the process. When we see God transforming people, it gives us a gladness because we've been transformed. And so at least they bunker down in this place of trust and refuge in Him. And our heart stays correctly directed. And His glory poured forth from us. And this is what the heart shall glory. That's what they mean by that. The heart shall glory because our heart is directed correctly. And what was a stony heart pours forth the glory of God because of the transforming power of His work in our heart. And what does that mean God has fulfilled His promise to my life? An outpouring of praise comes forth. What a beautiful passage. And I wanted to go a little more deeply into this unexpected arrow. So we can get an idea how this all works. And again an arrow is something that flies. It covers distance. It's a long-range attack. It would be when you consider it in war. I like its symbolism too for the fact that God is doing this from His throne in heaven. And that implies that distance is required. So from our stony heart or whoever might be operating with a stony heart, that arrow comes from a distance. It comes from the heavenly realm. But let's take a look at this arrow a little bit and see what He might be talking about. And we're going to go to Isaiah 49 for this. And it's a beautiful passage. This is a gospel passage actually. A body of Christ passage written by Isaiah many, many years before Jesus even came. So let's take a look and see what it says here. It says in Isaiah 49, listen to me, O Isles and Coastlands, and hearken, you peoples from afar. See, and we think about the distance. He's given a lot of illustration here to distance. And we think that we are distant from the Lord. And we're not in relationship with our Lord and Savior. And there's a distance that's there. There's a gap that's there. I'm going to let the dog in because the dog is in the room. Ah, she's happy. She's in. Okay. Okay. But now listen to the intimacy of what's taking place in the second part of verse one. This is beautiful. It says, the Lord has called me from the womb. From the body of my mother, He has named me. See, He's talking about purpose right here. First, He's talking about the gap. There's the gap between us and God. But then the connecting tissue is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Hence, the Lord. Now, we know that no one can come to Christ unless the Father calls them. Okay. And we know God wants none to perish. So that means, in my interpretation of that scripture, based on what the Holy Spirit is telling me, is that no one can come to Christ unless God calls them, and God wants none to perish. This tells me that He calls everyone. And when does He call us? Well, according to the scripture here, He calls us from the very beginning of our existence. God has determined into us the very operating potential, or I should say, the potential for relationship with Him. And given us, and we know that the name, He is named by name. Now, we're given a name by our parents. But the reality is, God already has determined before time began in His scheme, as He sees everything already before it happens. He determines our place in the body. Are we a hand, a foot, an eye, a nose, an ear? You know, I mean, those are symbolism to reflect the body of Christ. But God knows from before we're born. He knits us together in our mother's womb, and every day of our life was written down in His ledger book. This gives Him, knowing our free will choices, this gives us the purpose. This is where He gives us our purpose based on how we're going to make choices, how we're going to live our life. God gives us this name, which is symbolic of our position and place. And He calls us, which gives us our coordination and purpose. And it comes from the womb. It's beautiful. This is not something that we get when we go to college. Now, when we come to relationships at a certain point in our life, when we know right from wrong, and we can choose wrong, and we choose God. But that's not what He's talking about here. The calling is the purpose. The name is the position. He's given us a purpose and a place before we were born. And that is so beautiful. And He's using isles and coastlines and people from afar. Symbolism is the distance, the gap, that is from the heavenly to the earthly realm. And that's what I'm reading from that. So we see the distance and the great distance that God covers and fills the gap, as the Lord is referred there. Jesus fills the gap. He came to earth in the flesh to fill the gap between the spiritual and the physical. And He's given us purpose and position before we were even born. You can't earn it. This is why I encourage you to look. God calls you to go to seminary or do some kind of certification. Do it. But the reality is that you were called and given purpose and position before you were born. And now listen to this next very poetic, symbolic illustration of what God did when He did this purpose and position. Verse 2. And He has made my mouth like a sharp sword. And we know that the mouth is like a two-edged sword. It can go both ways. It can cut. It can bless and it can curse. And He's made our mouth this way. It becomes this position of submission if we want to operate correctly. Which He reflects in the next part. In the shadow of His hand, He is hidden. See, God's got us. And He's molding us. And He's making us. We have a free will, but need to operate in submission in the shadow of His power. Again, a symbolism now. I'm holding the palm down, facing around, creating a shadow. Because if we think heavenly to the earthly, there's that connection point. And it's in this place of submission, where we're submitted in sacrificial worship, that God can utilize us and that sword, the words of our mouth, the meditations of our heart, can be pleasing to the Lord. Now, this next part is so beautiful. So we're under the shadow of His hand. We're under His powerful hand. We have the potential, purpose, and position. And it goes on to say, And made me a polished arrow. We're the arrow. How beautiful is that? We're the arrow. But it's a polished arrow. And we think about that, like the smooth stones with David. We think about an arrowhead. Now, He's talking about polishing the arrowhead. So if we think about what happens when you take a rough rock, if you would just take a rough, chunky rock and make it into an arrowhead, it wouldn't be very polished. It would be very rough and have its spots, maybe some good spots and rough spots. But we think about those smooth stones and how they become smooth. He takes that chunk of rock and He begins to run the living water over it. And this is what polishes it. And it's interesting because I do think in the polishing process of stones, I've never used one, but I think that the rocks hit themselves as well. So you have the banging of the rocks against each other and the living water in a minute to bring out the polished arrow, the polished stone. We're thinking about the arrowhead now. We're thinking about the actual tip of the sword. We are the tip of the sword. God makes us the tip of the sword. The unexpected arrow becomes us. And it's so beautiful. It's so beautiful. He utilizes us. And that's that using, again, we think of the arrow as a distance weapon. So God is coming from the heavenly realm, utilizing our polished life, our sanctified, set-apart life, as the tool that goes in and pierces the stony heart. Not just because He wants to go around shooting arrows at things. He wants none to perish but all to come to repentance. It's so beautiful. And it says, in His quiver He has kept me close and concealed me. This is a reminder that it's not us. We can't walk around thinking we're some kind of Christian axe or hammer. This is not what this scripture is telling us. It's telling us first, God has made us this. He's given us this purpose and this place. He has designed us with the free will choice to choose to stay in sacrificial worship. And when we choose to stay in sacrificial worship, He transforms us. And in the transforming process, it's being symbolized here by this polished arrow. Which is then going to be doing the work in the kingdom. Because we all operate in the kingdom of God. We have one purpose and one purpose only. And that is that we can operate in such a way that God's glory pours forth and He's honored and men are drawn to Him so that they come into reverence, fear and awe and worship of God. And they come into relationship with God. And then the last part of verse 2 is just a reminder that it's not us. It's His quiver. It's His creation. And He conceals us. It's not anything that we do. He keeps us close. It's not like a constant thing. We're not always just this hammer of God. And we don't choose when this happens. God burns the unexpected arrow. Not us. We stay in this quiver in the secret place. So we're close and concealed by Him. It's a concealing really because unless He conceals us, it becomes what we're doing. And it's no longer reverence, fear and awe of God. If we go back to Psalm, they won't be declaring the work of God. They'll be declaring our work. So it can't be us. But yet it is us. God uses us and the sanctifying work He's done in us to do the heart transforming in those that are still perishing. What a beautiful gospel this is. What a beautiful role we have. But we have to remember, we've got to let Him conceal us. If we start thinking it's something by what we're doing and we come out like a hammer, then it'll be our work that they see. Only God knows the way to shoot the arrow. The unexpected arrow. It's coming from a place unexpected. It's coming from the place that we've been attacking if we were on the other side doing that scheming and all that scheming. It would come from the very submission of us. If we stay committed to the secret place of Most High like David has instructed us to do and God's shown us to do, then in that transforming place, the transforming work of God in our life that allows us to love our enemy. It allows us to do those things that be at peace with everyone, regardless of what they're doing. But we live at peace with everyone. We love our enemy. We do these things and we love each other and we're willing to carry one another's burdens and we're willing to do all of those things because God has put to death those prideful deeds of the flesh and He's bringing to life those fruits of the Holy Spirit. Hmm. What a beautiful truth. We're the unexpected arrow. But only can we be the unexpected arrow if He's sanctifying us, if He's polishing us, if we're kept close in the secret place concealed by Him. Hmm. Beautiful. Verse 3, And the Lord said to me, You are my servant, Israel. That's the fulfilled promise. You who strive with God and with men and for that. See, it's the fulfilled promise because in that sanctifying process, it's cutting away from us. So that's a striving, you see. And it's our flesh that continuously goes its own way and this is why it's a striving. And then, of course, striving with men is an easy one to see but the striving with God, we strive for multiple reasons. We strive because the flesh wants what it wants and God's putting that to death. That's a striving. We're striving with God because we go our own way and we're striving with men because, hey, that's just what we do. You know? Because of our own going astray. That's kind of a reflection of both. We strive with God because He's needing to put to death those deeds that come in enmity with Him and then we strive with men because we make mistakes and we go our own way. But we have victory because of the fulfilled promise of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who sanctified us by the Holy Spirit and set us apart in all of these things for God to fulfill His promise in our life of this polishing process. But we have to be His servants. And the Lord said to me, you are my servants. He's the leader. The leader. We're following the Lord. We're denying ourselves taking our cross and following Him. We're following the Lord. We're His servants. And the fulfilled promise is coming through in whom I will be glorified. And again, the glorified. His glory comes through us. In us and through us. It is not something we just give Him. Let's just give God glory. No, we can't. We can't give God glory. Because we're the creation. We can reflect His glory. His glory can shine in through us. But we can't just give to Him verbally. We're just going to give God the glory. It already is. We cannot let Him operate in our lives. We cannot serve Him. We cannot operate in the fulfilled promise of this process of sanctification. And His glory won't be there. It won't shine in through us because we're just not operating in the place where it ought to happen. Verse 4. Then I said, I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing in an empty futility. Yet surely my right is with the Lord and my recompense is with my God. See, and again, it's a reflection on His trying to do it on His own. Any time we go off course, it's empty, it's futile, it's vain. Yet surely my right is with the Lord. And so He gives us access into the kingdom because of His grace and mercy. Because He gives us by grace through faith we're saved. So we have access into this place. And God comes and gives us the recompense. He is the recompenser. He is the one that does this. And even though we've got our own way, this is what four reflections are falling off course and going our own way. All of us, like sheep, have found our own way, left our own way to go our own way. It's just what the Word says. You can't lie. And now, says the Lord, who flew me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob, that's the promise, that's the unsaved. So that's the entrance into the kingdom. We see Jacob is the promise of salvation. And that Israel, which is the fulfilled promise, might be gathered to Him. That's the kingdom of God. That's the body of Christ. And not be swept away. Because once we're in the secret place and we've determined to stay in it, we're guarded and protected and nothing can take us out of the loving hand of God when we choose to stay in it. For I am honorable in the eyes of the Lord and my God has become my strength. In the Savior, Jesus Christ. When we operate under denying ourselves, taking up our cross daily and following Him and submission to God, this is what He's talking about. Honoring something means we're obedient to Him and that's why the reference of the Lord. And my God has become my strength. And in this place, the joy of the Lord is the strength, right? The joy of the Lord is our strength. And now, says the Lord, once we know that it's a beautiful verse, my goodness, and now, says the Lord, who formed me from no one, we've got that purpose called the imposition. To be His servant. This is the purpose. To be His servant. And now to be served as that arrow that He's using to bring others into relationship to Him. To bring Jacob, the unsaved, back to Him. And that is where the body of Christ can be gathered to Him as the bride of Christ, okay? And not be swept away. Those who come in the body, what does Jesus pray for the disciples? The devil has come and asked to sift you. My prayer is that your faith won't fail. So you won't be swept away. So you'll stay in faith, no matter what happens. And in this walking in faith, the honor of God will be honored. And the joy of the Lord will become our strength. Because His promises of protection, provision, direction, preservation and salvation will be coming true in our life. And His sanctifying work will be coming true and all of His promises will be being fulfilled and will be filled with the joy of the Lord. What a beautiful passage. Oh my goodness. He says in verse 6, He says, It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob. It's too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob. Those are coming into salvation, right? And to restore the survivors of the judgments of Israel to be filled from the body of Christ. To restore. Because we all go our own way. And we know the purpose is salvation. That's the reference to the tribes of Jacob. And restoration to the survivor. And redemption and restoration. Which is the reference to the survivors of the judgments of Israel. Because God will discipline those who go their own way. And it goes on saying, I will also give you for a light to the nations that my salvation may extend to the end of the earth. We see the overall purpose right here. To bring in those who are unsaved and to redeem those who have left God's way to go their own way. And this light that he gives us, this is the light of Christ that he gives us as his servant. This is not something we generate. We can't just come up with this master plan of salvation. And we're going to go on, we're going to show everybody the plan of salvation. This is not it. And he's given us that reference in the last part of the verse. That my salvation may extend to the end of the earth. Okay, you try to get your little, you're going to draw on a little plan of salvation using the Roman road, and you're going to extend that to the end of the earth. There's no way you can only extend it two feet in front of you. It doesn't have to be the end of the earth. This requires God's hand. This requires God's light. It's beautiful. Verse 7, Thus says the Lord. This is our leader. This is our leader. And the power, the sovereignty that leads us in the kingdom. Well, that's what he just said. But this is his overall purpose here. The redeemer of Israel. Thus says the Lord. The redeemer of Israel. Israel's holy one. To him whom man rejects and despises. To him whom the nations abhor. To the servant of rulers. Kings shall see you and arise. Princes and men shall prostrate themselves because of the Lord, who is faithful. The holy one of Israel, who is chosen. This is the plan of salvation. This is the gospel right here. He wants to redeem the fulfilled promise. He is faithful. He is the holiness that is the holiness that we're being sanctified and set apart into. And all the powers and authorities in the world will come underneath his powerful name. Because of the redemption. The purpose. This is the purpose. It's not because he's just going to smash everybody down on their knees. It's because this is the place of redemption. This is the gospel after all. And this is where the flesh is always in enmity. When we see the rejection and despising. This is where in the abhorring. When we serve the world in things, it's in enmity with God. And it rejects and despises God. And it abhors God. Even if we have a great pristine face we can put on on Sundays. This is not. That's why it's not a decision to make. It's a relationship we have. Verse 8. Thus says the Lord in an acceptable and favored time. I have heard and answered you in a day of salvation. I have helped you. I will preserve you and give you for a covenant. The people to raise up and establish the land from its present state of ruin. And to apportion and comp them to inherit the desolate moral ways of heathenism their heritages. God will pay the recompense. And at the right time. It's God's time. And thus says the Lord. So that means as the body of Christ is moving in the direction the Lord is leading. It's in his appointed time that he does things. It's not what I want him to do. I've learned that firsthand. In verse 9 it says. Same to those who are bound. Conform to those who are in spiritual darkness. Remember it's spirit and truth. A lot of times we operate in truth. And we have the chrism that has led us into this spiritual darkness. We are in spiritual darkness. This is why I think we don't see greater things than these. Jesus promised us that we would see greater things. Do greater things than he did. And he raised people up from the dead. Physically raised them from the dead. But we're not seeing it. Because I believe we're in a spiritual darkness. But the Lord comes in. And he pays recompense. And he gives everybody according to what they deserve. And he establishes and gives you for a covenant with people. I will preserve you and give you for a covenant with people. Remember God is polishing us. So that we can play a role in the kingdom of redemption. It's a beautiful truth. And this is why we're in this quiver. This is why he'll send the unexpected arrow. Of how he's transformed us to come in and transform others. Because he wants us to perish. And so 1st Isaiah is saying to those who are bound to come forth. And to those who are in spiritual darkness. Show yourselves. Come in with the light of the Son of Righteousness. They shall feed in all the ways in which they go. And their pastor shall be not in the desert. But on all the bare grass covered hills. So we're going to be coming back into that shepherd's flock. We're going to be coming out of darkness into his marvelous light. And we show ourselves in this way. By operating under the righteousness of Christ. Which is the Son of Righteousness. But in sacrificial worship that's how we do it. Because as he transforms us. His glory is able to pour forth from us. And as we walk in honor to him. And reverend Pharaoh who is obedient to him. And in this place in the kingdom. In verse 10 it says. They will not hunger or thirst. Neither will mirage, mislead, or scorching wind or sun smite them. For he who has mercy on them will lead them. And by springs of water he will guide them. You see. We go back to that polishing effect of water. We go back to that mercy going. We're making mistakes. This is what he's talking about bringing us back into the fold. As we've gone our own way. He's left the 99 to bring us back into the fold. This is what he's talking about. And in this place there'll be clarity. There'll be discernment. There'll be that sanctifying work that is able to come in. And the wholeness which guides us. We know God's way more. We know him more. And he gives us the guidance on how to walk. This is how we follow the Lordship of Christ. Through the powerful work of the Holy Spirit as he sanctifies us. And I will make all my mountains a way and my highways will be raised. I've seen God go ahead and make the path straight and the crooked path straight and smooth. And as he elevates us. You know God is always referred to as the higher position. So the higher ground. I will make all my mountains a way. That's the higher purpose of God. That is the way you walk. And it becomes highways. We think about instead of that wilderness now where we have no road. We have a highway now. And that's going to be raised up and elevated too because it's the higher purpose of God. And it's giving us indication of ease of operation. We can see where we're going. We have a wide path to walk on now. We can see how this is made it straight. Verse 12. Behold there these shall come from afar. Behold these from the north and from the west. And these from the land of Sinan in China. Sing for joy. This is how it goes beyond what I can sit down and do on a napkin. This is what God is doing in the earth. And we're going to see that in the next verse. I'm going to have it in this verse. Sing for joy oh heavens and be joyful oh earth. So it's given the extent of the kingdom of God. It's an eternal kingdom that's heavenly and earthly. And break forth into singing. Because the joy. You see all this joy here in the singing. The praise that's coming out of his operating in our life. Of his bringing us back into relationship every time we go astray. It's a beautiful thing. And which is reflected in the mercy mentioned in verse 10. Because when we see mercy we know we're not getting what we do deserve. Sing for joy oh heavens and be joyful oh earth. And break forth into singing oh mountains. For the Lord has comforted his people. And will have compassion upon his afflicted. And see this is what we're talking about. This is the redeeming process. There is an affliction in God's discipline. And do know that that gives us the turning point. So that we can be brought back into the fold. Back by his mercy. Because if we got what we deserve. We'd be surely dead. But Zion. Jerusalem. The people I've seen in captivity said. The Lord has forsaken us and my Lord has forgotten me. This is Zion. This is representative of the body of Christ. And we know already from the passage up ahead. We've been in spiritual darkness. Right? So we've got our own way. We've left God's way to be our own. Now our faith and trust and heart towards God has been uncompromised. So this gives us the righteousness of Christ. Which allows us to have the mercy given to us. The righteousness of Christ is his grace of course. And the mercy is not getting what we deserve. Why? Because we're covered with the righteousness of Christ. During this process of discipline and restoration. God doesn't want to destroy us. He wants to redeem us. He's the redeemer. That's what we just read. But Zion, Jerusalem, our people have seen in captivity said. Because when we go our own way we become captive to the sin in our life. And this is why we feel displaced and forsaken. The Lord has forsaken me and my Lord has forgotten me. Because we're going our own way. We're off course. We're not following the Lordship anymore. And so this is what it feels like. It feels like there's a forsaking and a forgiving. It says in the Lord's hands. Can a woman forget her nursing child? This is a reminder that we're never forgotten. Just because we feel like we're forgotten. And we're forsaken because we're walking our own way. We're going to be captivated by the sin. We're letting the sin that deludes and ensnares us. Entrap us again and take us into captivity. But God's desire is for the body of Christ to be brought into. Through redemption and deliverance to be brought into this place. The good place. The place that's pleasing to the Lord. Where joy pours forth and singing and gratitude for all that God does. And His compassion upon His afflicted. Because He disciplines not to just whip us. He disciplines us to bring us back into this relationship. Back into the green field. The grassy field. Whatever it said up there. Grass covered hills. Not desert. You know what I mean about all of this. So this is what God's redemption wants. This is His desire for our lives. To redeem us. But in the process of going our own way. We feel forsaken and forgotten. But let's see what verse 15 says. And the Lord answered. Can a woman forget her nursing child? That she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes. They may forget. Yet I will not forget you. See. Behold I have indelibly imprinted and tattooed a picture of you on the palm of each of my hands. O Zion. O Zion. Your walls are continually performing. And we remember the passage where our lives being built up and sanctified and set apart for God's purposes. The Holy Spirit transforms us. It's His wall that goes up. It's a beautiful picture. And He's tattooed our image on His hand. That's the right hand of power. The left hand of direction and protection. And we have all of the aspects of God right there. Always. It's not just a disciplined hand. You know. It's not just the left hand that I was in. It symbolizes like stop. You know you put up a stop symbol with your hand. That's the discipline of God. And then the right hand is the helping hand. The one that reaches out and picks us up. It's the right hand we learned the other day. It's preservation and salvation. And all of these things represented in the right hand of God. So we're imprinted on God both of His hands. And He's using a symbolism of tattooed right on His palm. God doesn't forget us. Even though we feel forsaken and forgotten, we are not. Although a mother may forget her child, it says, yet I, God, will not forget you. Behold, I have indelibly imprinted, tattooed a picture of you on the palm of each of my hands. And we think the palm is the intimacy. We want to think of God as the backhander. It's not. It's the palm, intimate part of His palm that we're imprinted. Not the backhand of His palm. I love it. It's so beautiful. And the wall is a self-symbolic of the transformation process. Verse 17. Your children and your builders and the kings and your destroyers and those who laid you waste go forth from you. Lift up your eyes round about and see the returning exiles ready to rebuild Jerusalem. All these gather together and come as you. As I live, says the Lord, you die and shall surely clothe yourselves with them all as with an ornament of wine and onion as a bride does. And we remember this. We remember this from the Word of God. It tells us that as God is transforming others in the body of Christ, that has to be a dormant that we are being put into and gathered in. God is building up in us as the bride of Christ. It's the transforming work. So when we see others being transformed, we're full of the joy of the Lord yet again because of what God's doing in their life. And all of this is very intimate in the body of Christ. Zion is mentioned. The Lord is the leader of the body of Christ. The body of Christ, hence the name. And we become this thing, this adornment. The bride of Christ is now being built up. He's using walls as symbolism as well, as well as with the ornament and the clothing of the bride. It says, For your waste and desolate places and your land, once the scene of destruction, surely now in coming years, will be too narrow to accommodate the population, and those who once swallowed you up will be far away. This is a reference to the narrow way. This is a reference to the fact that the road and the way in the kingdom is narrow. It's not just, it's not this wide. Now, when we're walking in it, we're on a highway, which is much easier to walk on than a dirt road or, you know, to assimilate it, it's an elevated one. If we're operating in the elevation of God, the path is made easy for us. But the reality is, the way in is narrow. See, he's referencing the body of Christ and all those in the body of Christ that have gone their own way, which is all of us. But, his purpose and place is to redeem that endued relationship, as well as Jacob, we read earlier, where those who are unsaved entirely. You know, he wants a relationship with all, none to perish. So he's talking about, he's giving us more in-depth in the body of Christ here. This is a beautiful passage about the body of Christ, because we see the adornment, the bride, all of this reference to Zion, which is the body of Christ. And it says, for your ways can nestle places in your land. These are the places where we've gone our own way. Of destruction, surely now in coming years, will be too narrow to accommodate the population, and those who once swallowed you up will be far away. So he's referencing now the way back into the relationship, into the quiver of God, is narrow. This is not just a decision we make, it's a life we choose to live. And it goes on to say, the children of your bereavement, or during your captivity, shall yet say in your ears, the place is too narrow for me, make room for me, that I may live. Then Zion, you will say in your heart, who has borne me all these children, seeing that I lost my offspring, and am alone and barren and unfruitful and exiled, put away and wandering hither and thither. And who brought them up? Behold, I was left alone, put away by the Lord my husband. From where, then, did all these children come? I'm going to come right back. Now, what happens now? She was sitting at the door for a minute. So I figured I'd better go over. So this is an interesting thing, too, because we know when we're operating outside of the will of God and the kingdom of God, our offspring is a reference to the discipling that we do. So when we see offspring, we know that that's a reference to discipling. So we're having bad discipleship because we're out operating in our own agenda, and we're doing these things that are displeasing the Lord, and we're not operating correctly. But God redeems us, and when He redeems us, He's bringing us back, and all those offspring of the wrong way, the wandering out, the exiles, all this unfruitfulness. I love the unfruitfulness, alone-bearing unfruitfulness. Unfruitful because when we're operating and discipling outside of God's Spirit and in truth, we're operating in darkness, right? Maybe only the Word of God. We're only using the Word and the truth of God. We're not using the Spirit and the truth. We're in spiritual darkness, remember? Because it takes both. We have to worship Him in Spirit and in truth. And He is Spirit, right? So the reference is when we leave that spirit out, and we just operate in the kingdom of the truth, we've gone our own way, and it's this wanderness that we're wandering unfruitfully in, and we're discipling this to others. We're creating offspring and spiritual offspring that have been discipled incorrectly. We see that with the Pharisees. He says the same thing to the Pharisees. You have gone out and made disciples even more wicked than yourselves. And so this is how it works. And these are what God calls offspring and children in Scripture. In this passage, He's not talking about our actual physical children. Right? Oh, God's so cruel, you can't bring your kids back. No, it's not our kids He's talking about. He's talking about our spiritual offspring. And they've gone there and wandered away and went their own way, and God has to go get them back individually. If He can't come back in this group, and then, you know, it just won't work. It's a one-at-a-time thing. God is working each in their own appointed time. So then Zion, that's us, that's the offspring, that's the children and the kingdom, the bride of Christ, the kingdom of God, the body of Christ, is the word I think of. You shall say in your heart, Who has borne me all these children, seeing that I lost my offspring, and I am alone and barren and unfruitful and exiled, put away and wandering hither and thither, and who brought them up? Behold, I was left alone, put away by the Lord my husband. From where then did all these children come? Thus says the Lord, and so you see, there'll be offspring in the body of Christ, there'll be those children of God operating in the body of Christ when He brings us back, and they won't be the ones that we were discipling because we were discipling them wrong, but it will be more children in the body of Christ. And in verse 22 it says, Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up my hand to the Gentile nations and set up my standard and raise high my signal banner to the peoples, and they will bring your sons in the bosom of their garments, and your daughters will be carried upon their shoulders. You see, so it's the calling of God to the lost that brings in these children. It's not they just come with us by default, especially in discipling them wrong, because we were on course, that's what he was just talking about. It's a bereavement, right? All of the effort was in vain, and it's a bereavement to us because we've surely gone our own way and we were now in this restless place and now God is bringing us back to the straight and narrow and others are coming in as well because his banner, his standard has been lifted up. Because he's been lifted up, others are drawn to him, you see. And kings shall be your foster fathers and guardians and their queens your nursing mothers. They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth and lick up the dust of your feet and you shall know with an acquaintance and understanding based on and grounded in personal experience that I am the Lord. See, he is the one that's leading all of this. It's not how good we are. She wants in again. She's leading me now to the other cabin. So, I'm going to have William meet up in this way. And we'll see what she does with that. So, this is beautiful. So, we see this transformative place that he's bringing us back in and God is with us. As we come in to repentance and God is bringing redemption, that's the standard and the banner. You see, the transforming work God does in our life, remember that's the unexpected arrow. It's flying. And the transforming work of God is what is the elevating standard and banner. And others are drawn to it. And that's what God desires. None of us could all be drawn to him. As he has lifted up all men are drawn to him. That's the truth of God. It's a simple truth. It says then that all those things that once seemed to be powerful and have power and all of these things will come under this submission, under this place. Recognizing that it's the Lord that has done it. For they shall not be put to shame who wait for, look for and hope for and expect me. See, when we wait on the Lord and expect him to transform us and save us and preserve us and guard us, then we will not be put to shame. Our hope must be in him. Our trust and hope and confidence must be in him. Verse 24, shall the prey be taken from the mighty or the lawful captives of the just be delivered? For thus says the Lord, even the captives of the mighty will be taken away and the prey of the terrible will be delivered. For I will contend with him who contends with you and I will give safety to your children and ease them. You see, as we operate in the kingdom, nothing can take us. There's no captivity greater than God's ability to save and that's a beautiful thing. And I will make those who, and God is the one who does it, we know this. We've been given this knowledge. We're not the God hammer that we just walk around hammering people. God is the one who contends with those who contend with the body of Christ. And I will make those who oppress you consume themselves in mutual destructive wars where they will fall to their own devices, thus eating their own flesh and they will be drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine and all flesh will know with the knowledge grounded in personal experience that I the Lord am your Savior and your Redeemer. So we get the salvation that comes through Jacob. We get the redemption in the body of Christ. That's the fulfilled promise of Israel and the mighty one of Jacob, the promise. And all of this has one purpose. The arrow, the quiver, all of this restoration, redemption, salvation has one purpose and that's so that banner and standard goes high that those that are lost in the, what do you say up here, in the Gentile, something about a Gentile, in the Gentile world, bring Zion over here and I will lift up my hand to the Gentile nations and set up my standard and raise high my signal banner to the peoples. This is what his purpose is so that all the unsaved Gentiles reference the unsaved. So we have Zion in reference of the saved, Gentiles in reference of the unsaved and that's his purpose that men should perish but all should come to repentance. So this is the gospel, this is the gospel written, you know, hundreds of years before Jesus came and it's so beautiful and it gives us an encouragement today. It gives us an encouragement today that if we stay bunker down in the secret places of the most high God will fulfill the purpose and the calling he's given us from our mother's womb. And man, what a beautiful passage to show us this and a reminder that Psalm 64 truly is a treasure in Christ and that God is Jehovah-Quadra, our Lord God who has called us from the womb. O Heavenly Father, we're just so grateful for this truth today. We're thankful, Father God, that you've called us from the womb. You've given us purpose and place and position. You've given us all the directions we need to just stay bunkered in that secret place. To stay in your quiver, close to you, Father God. Hidden arrows, Father God, secret arrows that are hidden in your quiver and it's not about what we do but it's about what you're doing, Father God. And so I pray for the body of Christ today that they'll understand their purpose and their place as we will all understand it more deeply today that if you want none to perish but all to come to repentance you want to bring your lost children home and you want to bring those who've never come into relationship into relationship as the new offspring of the kingdom. So we thank you for this truth today, Father God. Transform the body of Christ with it. In Jesus' name I pray, amen and amen.