July24_2023_psalm60_isaiah59

The speaker begins with a prayer, thanking God for the new day and asking for understanding and knowledge of God's ways. They acknowledge God's sovereignty and power, and express gratitude for the protection and access to God's presence. The speaker then transitions to discussing Psalm 60 and its significance. They highlight the themes of discipline and restoration in the psalm, emphasizing God's desire to redeem and restore His people. The speaker interprets the symbolism in the psalm, explaining how disobedience leads to rejection and scattering, but God's heart is to restore and turn His people back to Him. They also discuss the symbolic imagery of earthquakes and the effects of wandering away from God. They conclude by highlighting the banner that God has set up for those who fear and revere Him, providing a place of refuge and truth. July 24th, 2023. Treasures in Christ, Psalm 60. Jehovah Nathan Nesayyari, our Lord God who has set up a banner for those who fear him. Psalm 64. But now you have set up a banner for those who fear and worshipfully revere you, to which they may flee from the bow. A standard displayed because of the truth. Salah, pause, and come again. O Heavenly Father, we thank you for this new day, Father God. We thank you for holding us through the night. We're thankful that we can come submitted under your powerful hand this morning as you rule over the kingdoms of men from your throne in heaven. We may not understand in complete detail, Father God, because we're still in the flesh right now, exactly of your sovereignty and your reach and your power. But we know from your truth in the spirit, Father God, that it is far beyond what we can imagine or even fathom in our own minds or definitely conjure in our own strength. You are the very Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. And you've given us access into this place through our Savior, Jesus Christ, the very Messiah, the very rising of the sun out of the grave with the keys to the kingdom and given us access into this very place. That no matter what is going on around us, no matter how we're floundering or what attacks are coming, we know in that secret place is the place we want to be. We thank you for that protection you give us, Father God, as you sealed us with your Holy Spirit until the day of redemption. This very Holy Spirit is the very main line from your throne room to each of your children. So I pray today, Father God, that we will grow in our understanding and knowledge of your ways, that we can know you more, Father God, and operate in the kingdom in a way that pleases you. That we can come under this banner that you've raised, Father God, the representation of the salvation of our very souls, the very creator and sustainer of all that we know and don't know. Oh, what a blessed truth this is. What a wonderful characteristic it is of you, Father God. Teach us and move us and mold us today. Transform us by the power of the Spirit. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen and amen. Oh, I'm encouraged this morning. As I started to read into Psalm 60, the next psalm in the Journey Through Psalms, I was encouraged to even to offshoot into Isaiah 59. So we'll see where we get today, but we're going to start with Psalm 60. I do enjoy the headers occasionally. They give us some insight to what's taking place. And we see in the header on Psalm 60 that it was to the chief musician. And it was set to the tune of, get this, the lily of the testimony. See, what is our testimony? Our testimony is the very things that God is doing in our life. And we know he is the lily of the valley. As he blossoms in our life, the glory pouring forth. This is a very poetic way to symbolize this glory of God pouring forth, blossoming in our lives as he operates in our lives. What a beautiful thing. What a beautiful thing. And he goes on to say that it's a poem of David, intended to record memorable thoughts and to teach. And we know all God's word is useful for doctrine and teaching and all of the encouragement and rebuke, correction. And we know that this is true. And he goes on to say, when he had striven with the Armeans of Mesopotamia and the Armeans of Zobah, and when Joab returned and spoke twelve thousand Edomites, we know that's the lineage of Esau, in the valley of Saul. So let's take a look at Psalm 60. We're going to start in verse 1. It says, O God, you have rejected us and cast us off, broken down our defenses and scattered us. You have been angry. O restore us and turn yourself to us again. We see here the word God is used. So this is an implication that when we're in this place of wandering, when we've gone our own way, when we've left the sheep, the pasture of the shepherd and gone our own path, this is what is reflected here. Because without the use of the word Lord, we know that the leadership is not being followed. But the ultimate will of God is being reflected here. And in this, God doesn't, he doesn't abide by rebellion. Rebellion and wandering is not something that's pleasing to Lord, and he has to discipline us to bring us back. And I love the poetic use of these words. There's a rejection, a casting off, a broken down, a scattering. But we don't want to get too caught up in the discipline. We don't want to get so focused on the discipline that we forget about the restoration. And this is what, all in one verse, what a powerful verse. Oh, restore us. See, we start to see the heart of God now, because we know David had a heart after God's own heart. And God knows, and we know from the scriptures all throughout, that God wants to restore and redeem. He wants none to perish, but all to come into repentance. And it's not as if God has, you know, left because he's omniscient and omnipotent. You know, when we see the reference to the Father, we know that he's Alpha Omega, he's everywhere, in everything. He is all knowledge, all presence, all power. But God doesn't operate for us when we're off course. God isn't going to come to work for us. In fact, he's going to reject that action and he's going to cast us off as operation in the kingdom. That's not going to be effective work. It's going to be broken down and scattered. Even our best laid plans are not going to hold up to the power of God. But again, it's not because he's a fun sucker who wants to just utterly destroy us. He wants to restore us and redeem us. And this is the purpose of God, and that's why I love the way verse 1 ends. Oh, restore us and turn yourself to us again. Again, it's not that he's disappeared. I've got to go find God. No, no, you don't need to find God. God is everywhere. We need to turn so that we walk in obedience, so that God is operating for us and in us and through us again. Instead of just the discipline to bring us to that turning point so we'll come back. But we thank God for the process because in the mercy and grace and longsuffering of God, it's the redemption of God that comes out of it. And this is why there's a reward in the discipline. This is why discipline is a reflection of his love. And we do anger God when we go our own way. He says he's going to go and give some more symbolism to the degree to which our wanderings can have an effect. And we already know we can get that feeling of rejection and cast off where we're broken down. Our defense is even the best laid plan. And he scatters this. It puts it to no avail, to no use. But we don't want to forget the heart of God to restore us and turn us back to him again. And it says turn yourself to us again. And really it's God's direction again. We're going to probably find Lord somewhere in here. And that's where we're heading. Because the direction of God comes through the lordship of God. And this is what we're being restored to. Verse 2. You have made the land to quake and tremble. You have rent it open. Repair its breaches for its shakes and totters. And I've been in an earthquake. I don't know if anybody's been in an earthquake, but I've been in an earthquake. And I know what it feels like, the overwhelming power of the earthquake. And that's just an isolated thing, you know. God is greater than the earthquakes. He is the one who initiates earthquakes. He controls them. He is the master of them. But it's very symbolic of our life. It's very unstable. He puts instability in our life when we operate in our own way. He tears it open and shakes it and totters it. There won't be any stability in going our own way. But God is the one who will repair its breaches. God is the one who brings restoration and redemption. In verse 3. You have made your people suffer hard things. See? God will go to great extents. Now, we know if we had no grace and mercy, we would utterly be destroyed. But in the process of our wanderings, and depending on the degree of wandering, and the degree of resistance and rebellion, will depend on the degree of the hard things that we must suffer. Because with great sin comes great delusion, requires great suffering, to give us the turning point. So that we can recognize and be aware of our iniquities. So that we can turn and be grieved and be turned back to the Lord. He says, you have given us to drink wine and make us real and be dazed. See, again, no effectiveness. We cannot think that we can operate under the powerful wings of God, out of sacrificial worship, and have any sort of effective power. It's like being drunk, where you just really don't have... That's why DUIs are such an important thing. Because you just can't drive. You just don't have the capacity. You just kind of, boom, boom. The alcohol just kind of throws you around in a mental daze. Seeing people start fights with entire groups of people, because they were dazed and reeled by the drunkenness of the alcohol that was in them. And he's not literally saying God is going to pour wine out of heaven to make us real and be dazed. He's giving us symbolism. It's kind of like, I think about that dazed and reeling, too. I think about that boxer who gets that strong uppercutter, that powerful shot, and they're reeled and dazed, and they're walking around. They're trying to walk, but they can't walk. They just stumble into each step, and it just moves them in a whole other direction, and they just can't get their bearings. And they'll call that a technical knockout. Even if they get it back on their feet, but they can't get their bearings to them, they'll count them out as a technical knockout. And this is what happens when we're in this place. And God does this hard thing to us to discipline us out of love, to bring us back, as we see in verse 1, to restore us to himself again. And be dazed, verse 4, But now you have set up a banner for those who fear and worshipfully revere you, to which they may flee from the bow. A standard displayed because of the truth. And this is a beautiful verse, because if we understand what he's talking about here, with the standard and a banner, we're talking about a pole, we're talking about something that goes up into the air, and a banner is reflective of the representation of, in this case, the kingdom. This is God's banner. This is the banner of the kingdom, the king of kings and the lord of lords, and it goes up on a standard that's highly displayed. And this is what would happen, I'm assuming, I'm not a war tactician, but I'm assuming that this is why they would bring banners to war. Because when you're in the midst of the battle and you can't see what's going on around you because everything is coming in, things are dying and landing all around you, but you can look up and see your banner for your army. It gives you enthusiasm and motivation to run to the banner. Because you know you've got troops, you've got fellow troops there, you've got some of your army there, and that gives you a place of safety. But we know that he's only using this as symbolism, and he's not talking about a physical army. He's talking about God's army. He's talking about soldiers of Christ who have gone their own way, can look and see the banner of God and know the very place to come. But there's a qualifying factor here. You can't just come around and grab the flagpole and go, Yay! We're under... No! Under the banner of God means that we're under the powerful hand of God, which means we're in sacrificial worship. This is not something we do when we get together and we sing songs. This is not a song we sing. Reverent worship and fear of God has nothing to do with songs. It's got to do with our heart and our life and where it comes when it's humbled. God humbles us with the hard things to give us a chance to come back, to restore us to Himself. And that banner is always waiting. God is a redeeming God. It's a good news gospel after all. And it's because of the truth of God. Because, see, God doesn't change. His truth is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. These are terms we can't fully comprehend. But His truth goes beyond time and space. He is the Alpha and Omega. And His standard... And I love the way that it's used, the word standard, because it has multiple definitions. Number one, it's that high pole from which the banner is raised. Number two, it is the standards by which we operate. And He just gave it to us. This is what God requires. There's no... In the restoration, in the redemption, there is no perfection required. There is a submission under the powerful hand of God. And the New Testament says it so beautifully, I offer my whole life as a living sacrifice. In other words, I'm willing to sacrifice everything the flesh wants, which is holy, the holy part of it. And I mean holy as in W-H-O-L-Y, as in all of it. God needs all of it. He can't operate with half our heart or our heart for two days a week, one day a week, four days a week. He needs our heart consistently. He needs our heart to be uncompromising, as we learn in the Scriptures often. Then we're in this place. Then we're in this place under His powerful hand. And we're starting to operate again in His standards, because of His unchanging truth. This is a very beautiful passage. I love this verse. I love the passage so far. It's been awesome. But verse 4 is a beautiful representation of sacrificial worship. And it's to remind us sometimes we go astray, like all of us, like sheep, have gone astray and gone our own way and left God's path to go our own. Sometimes it just looks like maybe having our own agenda. Maybe everything else is all the same, but we just have our own agenda. We want to push our own way. And sometimes it's severe rebellion. And I love it because verse 3, if I look back at the verse 3, it says, Well, you have made your people suffer a hard thing. He's talking about the intimacy of His children here. This is the kingdom of God, that God has brought the hard things against, the dazed and reeled capacity or inability to operate outside of it. And set up the banner, the place of safety for us to go, which is under His powerful hand. And in so doing, it brings us back under the spiritual law of freedom that we have through Christ Jesus. And I think we're going to see that as we read on through the scriptures today, which is amazing. This was in Psalms, well before Christ came. And there's a Salah, pause and calmly think of that in verse 4. So let's read them all together. O God, you have rejected us and cast us off, broken down our defenses and scattered us. You have been angry. O restore us and turn yourself to us again. You have made the land quake and tremble. You have rent it open. Repair its breaches for its shakes and totters. You have made your people suffer hard things. You have given us to drink wine that makes us reel and be dazed. But now you have set up a banner for those who fear and worshipfully revere you, to which they may flee from the bow. A standard displayed because of the truth. Salah, pause and calmly think of that. This is a beautiful illustration. And the truth of God is his faithfulness. It's his long-suffering. It's his mercy. It's his grace. It's his love. These are the truths of God that give us safety from the weapon of the enemy. It doesn't take away the attack, but it takes away its effectiveness. No prosperity can come from the enemy when we're in the secret place of the Messiah. And I love Psalm 91 because it really gets very descriptive. That a thousand may fall at my side and ten thousand at my right hand. That is very intimate. We're talking thousands and thousands of things falling all around us. The effects of the attacks are all around us. Yet it shall not come near us, he says. Beautiful. And it goes on, verse 5, that your beloved ones may be delivered. Save with your right hand and answer us, or me. You see what I mean? It's a deliverance. It's a redemption story. It's a good news gospel salvation story. And it requires us to be delivered out of our own devices. Even, you know, it could be out of the devices that others are bringing against us. It could be our own devices. But either way, the passage so far in context is referring to our own wanderings. And it requires us to be delivered out of those wanderings. And we do that when we're in sacrificial worship. And save with your right hand. That's a reflection of God's power to save you and answer us. God will give us the insight and the lessons, the teaching, the knowledge, the understanding that we need in the situation to grow from it. I was encouraged last night at work. We were having a good conversation as we were leaving work about God speaking to us and how he speaks to us through the Spirit and his truth. That we must worship him and seek him, in fact, and do these things all in Spirit and in truth. And this gives us the very insight and the very answers that we need. And it was a great conversation because I was reminded by one of the people there that this is why we go back up to verse 3 with the hard things that we suffer. And sometimes they're hard so that we won't forgive them. And God gives us a little more stability in our discernment in the future by allowing the lessons of our past to be so powerful, so hard, as he says in verse 3. And it's to help us not forget. And we oftentimes do forget. I mean, humans are funny, funny squirrels. I mean, we're like the dog that goes right back to its vomit. I mean, it is amazing sometimes. I'm confessing for me. I mean, I don't speak for all humanity. But I'm confessing for me. I have done some idiotic things that I knew I didn't want to do or shouldn't do. My flesh wanted to do them, of course. That's why I did them. But I knew in my heart of hearts where God had trained me already in this area, I didn't want to do it. But I went and did it anyways. And I'm still suffering today the consequences of this. The hard thing of God is still in operation in my life. And I believe it's like she said last night. It's so that we don't forget as quickly. And I like the passage that says it this way. My people perish for lack of knowledge. So once we know, have a better knowledge, a foundation of knowledge, then we'll have, based on understanding, then we can operate in wisdom. So it's not that we walk through life and completely oblivious to what happened in the past, because then we would be negating all of this wise, this training that we've been having in wisdom. Because it's really a training in how to operate in wisdom. We've been given wisdom. We have the capacity. We're created in God's image. Perfect in beauty and full of wisdom. But we can't operate in wisdom until we have the knowledge and understanding. And that's God's knowledge and understanding, not worldly knowledge and understanding. And that comes from the discipline, the redemption, the restoration, the salvation, the deliverance, and all of these things in the process is what gives us the knowledge and understanding. You know, people would always say this growing up. My mom always said this. I think it was my mom. Oh, don't pray for patience. Lord knows God will give you all kinds of challenges. Well, that's the only place you can use patience. You know, he's not just going to hit you with a wand and make like a robot and just give you the ability to withstand all the things in life to come against you. You actually have to suffer through them. This is why I think I'm still in this job. And when I tried to run from it a month ago or whenever it was, God didn't open up any jobs. He said, no, I've got you here training you for what's to come in life. And I can only imagine. You know, being a truck driver, we drive around 80,000 pounds, 75,000 pounds. You can't have impatience. You have to have the ability to withstand people honking, flipping you off, cursing at you, trying to run you off the road, shooting a gun at you. I've heard all kinds of stories. Drivers have been killed because of road rage. And the ability to handle that situation without getting prideful and allowing God's calm, peace, and all of this to control in this place his spiritual gift of self-control, then can come into play in patience and self-control and all of these things. And I've seen the development of it. I've had situations multiple times. The first one, I just completely bounced out of there. The second time, I waited a little while, and then I bounced. And the last time, I didn't bounce at all. Or maybe I did, but I can't remember. Oh, it was at the end of the day anyway. But either way, I'm getting a little better. I'm putting a little better answer on the test. And until that time where I can get that training and knowledge and understanding of how to respond to complete evil wickedness in your face in a godly fashion so I can walk in the wisdom God's given me, in a godly wisdom, then I'm still going to be here to be trained. So I have another month and a week based on the time frame God showed me. And originally, you know, before I tried to bail on it. And so I assume there's going to be continuous training. Trust me, every day at work is to the wall. I mean, it's all day with customer, customer, customer, customer, customer. And some will come up, and they're irritated about the fact that they had to wait 40 minutes in line. Some come up, and they're just grateful that I'm there to meet them. Whatever it is, I've heard all kinds of things. And there's usually those few a day where he drops in to just encourage me to continue to operate in the right way. And so it's been a blessing, and I'm glad I'm where I'm at. And so I'm glad God is training me and giving me the knowledge and understanding I need. And that's the answers. And answer us. That's the answers we need. That's what he's talking about. That your beloved ones may be delivered, saved with your right hand. That's the powerful hand of God. And answer us. This is the direction, this is the understanding and knowledge we'll get when God is working in our life now. Bringing us out in deliverance and saving us with his power. It says, verse 6, God has spoken in his holiness. In his promises. I will rejoice. And again, we always know those go hand in hand, right? So when the will of God, in his holiness, has proclaimed the promise of deliverance and salvation for answers in power, not just save us barely, but save us in power and give us the answers we need to operate more effectively in the kingdom. And this is in his holiness that it happens. This is not some mucked up thing. God gives us the perfect truth. And it comes in the form of his promises. And this brings out, this puts the joy of the Lord in us, right? And the fullness of joy. And it comes forth as praise and rejoicing. We've learned that. This is why I'm so glad he's trained us and given us understanding and knowledge about the word of God, his word, through the power of the Spirit. So that when we see something like this, when I see something like this, I know exactly what he's talking about here. And it's a beautiful thing to read God's word and really just be embracing it. I mean, engrossed in having an encounter with God. It says, God has spoken in his holiness and his promises. I will rejoice. I will divide and portion out the land, Shechem, and the valley of Sukkot west to east. Gilead is mine and Manasseh is mine. Ephraim also is my helmet, the defense of my head. Judah is my scepter and my lawgiver. Moab is my washpot, reduced to vile servitude. Upon Edom I cast my shoe in triumph. Over Philistia I raise the shout of victory. He's showing all the angles that he covers, all the angles that are in the kingdom of God, where God has brought everything necessary in all aspects and all angles. Who will bring me, David, into the strong city of Petra? Who will lead me into Edom? Have you not rejected us, O God? See, he's talking about the sustenance of God, the provisions of God. And when we're operating out of this place, this is why there's that rejection. We see, we go back to verse 1. Rejected, cast out, broken down, and all of these things. We don't get access to any of the provisions of God when we're operating in this place, where we have the ability to be in the kingdom of God, in the strength of God, in the leadership of God. Have you not rejected us, O God? And will you not go forth, O God, with our armies? See, now he's starting to transition into that place of lordship where we're going to see, because that's leadership. But he's still in this place, he's still reminding us, he's reminding us, this is how we're going to, this is the result of operating outside of sacrificial worship. O give us help against the adversary, for vain, ineffectual, and to no purpose is the help or salvation of man. And again, outside of God, there's no nothing. Through God we shall do valiantly, and he it is who shall tread down our adversaries. And again, David brings us back to the brass tacks. We can't get sidetracked thinking we're going to devise some kind of thing that's going to give us the help that we need. It's not going to happen. So we've got to come out of the wandering place, back into sacrificial worship, to come back into this place where we saw praise. You know, this place of promise, this place of praise, where all this provision then is provided. But outside of it, we won't get it. You know, the passage is really about wandering. And it's about us when we go astray. Now, when we've wandered, we really aren't going to get any help against the adversary, without a doubt. But a lot of times, this is what takes us out of sacrificial worship, is our ability, our thought that we have the ability to actually have some effective power against the things that come against us outside of this. And so now we have a double whammy. So now we've gone wandering, and we still have the adversary, right? But it's all in vain, because remember, unless you build a house, unless the Lord builds the house that you build, you've built it in vain. Unless the Lord has secured the house, you've secured it in vain. And he's showing us what the threat is here, at the end of the day, is we can be sidetracked when we've wandered away, that the pride starts to get us thinking that we can devise a scheme. We can put together a security team. We can do this, we can do that. And all we've really done is done a bunch of stuff in vain. And reminding back in verse 12 that the only answer, obviously, in sacrificial worship, is through God is how we shall do valiantly. For he it is who shall tread down our adversaries. It won't be us, at the end of the day, God will fight for us. Wow, so that's a beautiful passage about wandering away, the secret place of the Most High, God's provisions, and getting nothing outside of God. And it's a beautiful truth. And that standard, that banner, I was drawn to this, Isaiah 59. And so I'm just going to continue on with that. We're going to go to Isaiah 59. I'm going to start with verse 1. It says, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened at all, that it cannot save, nor his ear dull with deafness that it cannot hear. See, God's always desiring the redemption. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, see? We can't operate in God's kingdom if we're operating in iniquity. And your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear you. See, God just, and I like the one verse, say that if you have sin harbored in your heart, God will not listen to your prayers. Now, he hears us physically, I guess, in that sense, that God can hear us, but he's not responding, see? And we cause the separation. God is not some fun sucker who wants to condemn people to hell. Hell is a decision we make when we decide to choose our flesh and the iniquities of our flesh over God, because we know the flesh is always in enmity with God, and it can never not be. And so this creates that intimacy separation. We can't walk intimately with God if we're walking after the flesh. It goes on to say, For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. And if we think about hands, it's the things that do things. So it's the actions of our life are doing these things that are wicked and evil, and they are iniquitous. Your lips have spoken lies, your tongue mutters wickedness. There we go. And now we know what is this representation. When we see the physical speaking of the tongue, when it's symbolic, you know, he's using symbolism here, of course. When we're speaking with our tongue, it's a reflection of what's in our heart. And so we now, we know the core of us is wicked. And this just is not a place, you can't be in sacrificial worship with a wicked heart. God will not operate with you. There has to be that place of uncompromising in the heart. And we will make these mistakes. I mean, if anybody's thinking there's a Pollyanna doctrine, I'm not finding any scriptures that mention that, but they do mention a lot of this stuff. It says, None sues or calls in righteousness, but for the sake of doing injury to others and take some undue advantage. See, he's talking about suing, like somebody, a civil case. Sues or calls in righteousness. We're not, we aren't operating in the righteousness of Christ, but we're operating in wanting to hurt others. We're wanting to hurt others and wanting to get our, take vengeance. No one goes to law honestly and pleads his case in truth. They trust in emptiness, worthlessness, and futility, and speaking lies. They conceive mischief and bring forth evil. So he's using a civil case as an example of what we do in our lives. When we try to, we're trying to operate in this agenda of ours that is outside of God's agenda. We're outside of sacrificial worship. These are the behaviors that we see forth. It's not just about homosexuality, drug addiction, cursing, stealing, all of these things that a lot of times the body of Christ wants to focus on those types of sins. But you see what's going on here. This is just manipulation, guile, deception. This is trying to push your own agenda. You see what I mean? And all of this, conceiving mischief, that's like trying to make your thing work and bringing forth evil out of it because it's not God's will. They hatch Adder's eggs and weave the spider's web. He who eats of the eggs dies and from an egg which is crushed a viper breaks out for their nature is ruinous, deadly, and evil. They hatch Adder's eggs, so we're talking about a serpent's eggs, and they weave the spider's web and he who eats of the eggs dies and from the egg which is crushed a viper breaks out. So when we're thinking about new life and new birth and things that should be coming from the kingdom of God, because of all of this agenda that is being operated in outside of God's agenda, it's like a spider's web that's set up around circus eggs. And they come in, they're thinking, okay, we're going to eat. This is going to have provisions and sustenance for the body of Christ, but what comes forth from it is poison. A snake, a serpent that has, and it says dies, because that poison will go in and destroy whatever it is that is being operated. Whatever anything is operating, the poison is a reflection of death. It goes in and it deteriorates and destroys from within the things that it comes encounter with. And so a viper breaks out. A viper now is going to be another attack serpent for their nature is ruinous, deadly, and evil. So from these plans comes this poison and this death to the plan. The will of God then is not in operation, but yet the agenda of man has no fruition. It comes to death and it's poison. Their webs will not serve as clothing. When we're in this place of operation, we think that this device, this plan, these schemes that we've come up with to get our agenda met, is going to protect us and clothe us. But he's saying no, will not serve as clothing, nor will they cover themselves with what they make. Their works are works of iniquity and the acts of violence is in their hands. And again, the production is for self-gratifying, for selfish ambition, and for our self-agendas. And it will have no, the works, none of it, it's just all iniquity. It's not going to be any value in it. Wow, it's just very clear, he's making it in great detail, that although we'll be in the delusion that we'll have some success in it, we'll have no success and no value in it. Their feet run to evil and they make haste to shed innocent blood. When we're operating, when I'm operating in my own agenda, I'm willing to just run at and destroy anything that wants to come against it. And we can see that in Christendom and all the different denominations. This is a great example of what he's talking about. Because you have those that are coming into the body of Christ that are newborn babes of the Lord and they've been put and thrust into this place where self-agendas have ruled the day to the point where we've actually got what we call denominations. Oh, and I know every now and then we do some token things like, oh, it's a non-denominational gathering of the denominations. But at the end of the day, there's still denominations, there's still division. And it's those babes in Christ, as they say, are the ones that get slaughtered in this. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Desolation and destruction are in their paths and highways. Everything is all about that agenda. The way of peace they know not. There is no justice or right in their goings. They have made them into crooked paths. Whoever goes in them does not know peace. And this is why we see entire congregations of things where there just isn't any true peace of God. We don't see any. I mean, God may operate individually in some to show him his peace when they're operating in sacrificial worship. But because the way has been made crooked, we just can't get any of the provisions in the favor of God in this place. Therefore, our justice and right far from us. Because, see, God is the justice and the righteousness. And if we're not operating in it... Oh, I got ahead of... Let me finish reading. And righteousness and salvation do not overtake us. See, we wait expectantly for light, but only see darkness for brightness, but we walk in obscurity and gloom. So no matter what happens when we're staying in this place that's outside of God's sacrificial worship submission in his powerful hand, operating on his straight and narrow path without our own agenda, with only his agenda. And we have no access to the righteousness of God, the justice of God, where that would normally be fighting for us and bringing us salvation and we would be covered with the righteousness of Christ. But we can't operate in it because we're outside of it. And we expectantly wait. I mean, it's amazing, the prayer for waiting for it to manifest. We're waiting for the manifestation, but the manifestation will never come. This is what he says. Out of it, we wait for the light of Christ, but all we see is darkness. For the brightness, we walk in obscurity, where we can't really see very clearly in gloom, where it's just kind of disappointing. I mean, how many years are we going to pray for the same thing and wait for the manifestation and not be operating in gloom and kind of frustration? You know, and from it we'll see, we'll come all of these messages and sermons about different ways that the mind can contrive that could possibly make that where God's not answering the prayer for these reasons. We just don't have enough faith. We're just not doing this. We're just, well, we're just not in sacrificial worship operating under God's agenda. We're operating under our own agenda and we're never going to get it. We're going to always walk in darkness, in obscurity and gloom. Our expectation, as we have put our expectation in God, but we're only going to see darkness. And we're only going to be moving around and blurry and gloomy things because we're just not operating in sacrificial worship. We're not under the powerful hand of God because we're trying to push our own agendas. It's as simple as that. Because I would venture to say, if we're in Christendom, if we're part of any sort of denominational division, anything like that, then that means the source of what we're doing on a regular basis is outside of obedience to God because God has told us to be one in the body of Christ. Never does He speak to people in denominational terms. Now, in the New Testament, we do see the reference of people in different locations. The church in Philistia, the church in Coloss, the church in Jerusalem. They're all one church. There was no divisions in the church. So if we're in any sort of divisive fashion, and we're going, and we're operating in this way, and of course, I mean, I could go so far into this. I don't want to go very far into this, but you'll have to search out and test and examine your own ways, just as I have. And He's just been showing me plainly. If I'm only getting together once a week or twice a week with the body of Christ in some formal gathering in an additional structure that we have to now put a financial strain on people for, I'm already outside of the Scriptures. Because we see the first church in the Bible. We see, given the standing operating procedures for the body of Christ. And it's got nothing to do with a formal gathering in a building once or twice a week. It's got to do with them meeting nightly in one another's homes, fellowshiping and breaking bread. And it's got to do with them operating in a place where nobody's coming in trying to take over, but they're just talking, they're doing everything in an organized and orderly fashion where everybody gets a chance to speak the prophetic word that God is speaking through them. Not this, do everything in an orderly fashion means that we have to, at 9.30 we're going to start praying. I mean, worship, they call it a worship service in a lot of them. And that's not even what worship is. Worship isn't getting together singing. That's not what worship is. If anything, that would be an outward expression of our joy of the Lord which comes out as praise and gratitude. And that comes out when we're in that place of sacrificial worship reflecting on the goodness of God. So yeah, I guess you could determine a time of day to do it, but that's just not what we see in the Scriptures. The Scriptures, it's all as God is operating in them. David pours forth his praise and gratitude. We see these things poured forth in the Scriptures. We don't see organized setups to do it. So that can tell you right now, right off the bat, most of Christendom is operating in darkness and in obscurity and gloom. Or we would be seeing greater things than these. And not the occasional miracle that the devil can throw in there to keep us sidetracked. I mean, half the time we're not even praying about the right things. I mean, we've been given the illustration of how to pray in the Bible. And we've taken pray in all things and pray for everything. Make all your requests known to God. And we've ran with that because we don't want to suffer the consequences of our iniquity anymore. But the reality is, the truth of it is, we're going to until we use that turning point to come back and let God deliver us and bring the salvation of God and the fruit of God back into our life. It's an amazing truth. And it's His Word. I mean, we've got to see what He's saying here. The obscurity and the gloom and the expectation in what God's going to do. But yet, there's only darkness. There's only waiting for manifestations. There's no greater than these. And it just becomes this obscure thing that we're going after. We're trying to walk after and find it. And it's a place of gloom. It says, oh, He's going to go on to say it even more. We grope for the wall like the blind. Yes, we grope like those who have no eyes. See? And that's what I was thinking when I saw that obscurity and gloom. The walking was referred to give us the symbolism of motion. Because we have to walk. Faith without works is dead. And so we're trying to walk in faith. But we're walking in obscurity because we're operating outside of God. We're thinking we're the ones who are doing the special thing. And our agenda has to be met. And in it, we're falling into this place. He's given us the standing operating procedures for the body of Christ. I mean, there is no mystery here. And like I said, I just use the words Christendom because I have yet to be in a formal gathering that hasn't fallen in one of these ways. And you don't see it. If you look at them, you can see the obscurity. You can see the gloom. You can see the darkness. Even though they're going through the light, they want the light. It's not that they don't have a heart that wants God. But the fact is, you have to be operating in sacrificial worship under God's agenda and under God's powerful hand in order to get it. You just don't get it because God wants to just give His favor. Dropping all His favor, favor. Because He's just like a favor faucet and wants to drop on everybody for any old reason. We just saw God brings the hard things. You know? We can't Pollyanna this up. I mean, we really can't. So we broke around verse 10 for the wall like the blind. Yes, we broke like those who have no eyes. So we can't really see because we're not operating in spirit and truth. We're only operating in the truth a lot of times with our own agenda. We stumble at noonday as in the twilight. Again, a reference to the fact that we just... Our way is not straight anymore. It's crooked now. It's got stumbling blocks in the way. We stumble even in reflection of the brightest time of day and we're still stumbling as if it's not too dark. In dark places and among those who are full of life and vigor, we are as dead men. And this is an amazing thing because there are those in the body of Christ who are operating in sacrificial worship in the midst of this. And this is what He's talking about. So they're stumbling around. Those who operate outside of God's agenda and they want to just push their either denominational agenda, their own personal agenda or somebody spoke some prophetic word over an agenda. Whatever it is, I've seen lots of different things from lots of different places. And I've had all of these in my own life too, operating in my own agendas, in my own pride. Absolutely. And it's this dark place and it's stumbling and it's all of these things where it's like I'm broken but I just can't see. I can't get to that place. I'm stumbling everywhere. And all around me, maybe not all around me, but among me, it says dark place, and among those who are full of life and vigor. It makes us like dead men. See, we're unproductive. And I was able, during that time when I was really off on my own agenda, and I was able to get blessed and fed God's truth by several different, from several different locations where there was life and vigor in what they were saying. And I was as a dead man. And it took that, really, that reaching out of God and that to help bring me back. But this is an interesting place. We're actually walking as dead men when we operate outside sacrificial worship, outside of the will of God and we are operating in our own agenda. It says, verse 11, We all groan and growl like bears and moan, plaintively like doves. We are real pure in our prayers. I'll tell you what. Oh, this and that. It's amazing the things we hear being prayed for. And you just don't see any of that in the Scriptures. It's just amazing. The Lord's Prayer, all the prayers Jesus prayed for His disciples, you don't see any prayer for healing of sickness and disease. I just find that to be quite amazing. Because it's the core of the brass tacks that has to be resolved or that outward symptom is never, you know, it's like the guy who told me, he said, we've got to stop trying to cut off the sinful fruit. We've got to go after the root, you know, and cut it down at the root. And this is why the root of it is when we're outside of, we look at just the Lord's Prayer, where it's our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Most of the prayer is keeping us and putting us into submission under God's powerful hand. Because that's where God begins to operate. It's not just because we asked Him a thousand times to get rid of the diabetes, but we want to keep sucking down sugar. I mean, that just isn't going to work. You know, I mean, that is like mocking God. God will not be mocked. We will reap what we sow. Now, He wants to heal our desire to eat sugar. That's where we need to be at. Because we've made sugar, I, I, I'm confessing for me, and that's why it's so easy for me to talk about sugar. I, I, I, I, I, sugar had become an idol in my life. And I said that every day. And until that idolatry of sugar was removed, and I came out of that submission into submission under God's powerful hand, that I could never see any deliverance really come. So it wasn't like I was waiting for the manifestation. I was waiting for me to operate correctly. It's as simple as that. God doesn't just give it out to everyone. And He's going to really bring this home. And in this place, when we're in this place of misery, I'm going to call it, and we're in this place of, of blind groping and suffering because we just keep trying to push our own agenda. And we can be as, it says, we all groan and growl like bears. Okay, so there's a power and a groan and a growl. And that's usually a warning, you know, this is, and then moaning, I love this, moaning plaintively like doves. So we try to bring in the innocent look of it. And as we are moaning about our symptoms, I love it. And I'm, like I said, I'm confessing, you know, and I see it across Christendom. And it is amazing how we'll groan and growl like bears. Who by God is able and will moan, oh Lord, your power can heal me. You see how this all is what this sentence is saying. So we got this groan and growl like a bear where we're going to walk, we're going to talk as if there's power in what we're, in what's going on. And then we're going to get a break because we're not operating in the correct place. We never get that actual promise fulfilled because we're not operating in submission to God. And so we grope, start getting the groping and all of this. And there becomes this moaning. But we keep it all nice and shiny. It says we look for justice, but there is none. You know, after a while you've been praying for this sickness to leave your body, but you just have it come under the power of the hand of God in submission and obedience to His will and what His Word says about food, stress, sleep, exercise. Right? So, it's never going to come. So you're waiting, God, it's only fair. I've been praying for years and years and years. No, justice will never come. But there is none for salvation, but it is far from us. I see that, wow, this is so symbolic and descriptive of what I see in my own life and in Christendom across the board. And verse 12 is going to summarize and let us know what's really cracking. For our transgressions are multiplied before You, O Lord. This is the place we have to be. If we don't come in to sacrificial worship and we don't come in grieved by our sin and confessing to God the iniquity of our life, we have no chance. But we've got to start with, what did they say? Denial. You know, the first step in recovery is to own up that we have a problem, right? It's to actually admit that we have a problem. So, verse 12 starts the healing process. We saw the greatness, well, we saw it in Psalm, a quick synopsis of it. We got much more in depth of the intimacy of how we operate when we're in this place, which is a groping, blind place that's unproductive, has no justice, can't never reach the salvation it's clinging for, can't ever really get to the light, but it has an appearance of a dove, so it looks like it's innocent and it deserves that healing and all of that, but the reality is we're not operating under the power of God, and so we're in transgression, we're in iniquity, we're walking in evil and wickedness. Whether or not we think we are or not is not relevant. God's Word says we are. And the Holy Spirit should be giving us conviction of this truth. I mean, I didn't think of any of this stuff. The verse is at the bottom that I was excited about. Not in Isaiah, but God put them two together like a glove to show us when we're off on our own agenda and we've wandered away that what kind of effect it's going to have or I should say ineffective, how ineffective it is and what the appearance of it might look like. To give us the protips to keep us from falling into the trap or to recognize the trap so that we can use the turning point and come back to the powerful hand of God, back into sacrificial worships of God can transform us. It's such a beautiful truth. God is a redeeming God. This is good news at the end of the day. I mean, let's not get all flustered and I definitely hope nobody's feeling all... Because it's the Word of God I'm reading and the Spirit of God has given me translation for today's body of Christ. Because God's Word is alive and living. It's not a dead Word that's just given us a history of what Isaiah said about the Jewish people. He's talking to us. This is a love letter to us. And He's just given me the translation of what He's talking about. And you have to think it up with the author if it's causing you any angst or something. Maybe that's what He's using to help encourage you. Maybe there's somewhere you've got to search out test and examine too like I have to do in my life. For our training... And again, I mean, I can think of a lot of examples. A simple thing like this trying to get this... push the time frame on the job. But God's got training for me to do. But I want to push the agenda of pushing the time frame. And God said no. And it was blind. I'm like, I can't get a call back. I can't even get an email back. I can't get nothing back. I can get no response. And I jumped on a couple, two, three, boom, boom, boom. I got one that straight up rejected me. I'm like, whoa! Man, I mean, you know what I mean? I'm totally groping around to try to get a resolution for the situation I'm in when God says, no, I have you in this situation so that you can stay. Learn to stay in sacrificial worship under my powerful hand in the midst of it and I'll train you for what I have coming for you. Not bail on it and go grab another job. This is why He covered all them angles. Like I said, a rejection. I got no call back. No emails. I had three or four attempts. I got nothing back. Besides rejection, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. And this is what He's talking about when He's talking about looking for twilight, but I'm actually in a dark place. You know, I'm walking around in obscurity and gloom. I'm feeling kind of down and I'm like, I can't really see clearly. Waiting for the light, but all I see is darkness. It's a beautiful thing and then I'll start to growl, oh yeah, like a bear, and moan, oh and I'll make my moans go shiny to God like a dove looking for His justice. Oh God, give me a job before I go. But God's got a time appointed for that new season in my life and He doesn't want me trying to run my own agenda to get there. And that's just a simple thing like a career and a job. I mean, can you imagine advanced stuff like organized religion? Can you imagine how off course and quickly and easily we can go our own way? But I needed to confess on my own there so you understand I'm not just sitting there badgering people. I'm just speaking the truth of God the way He gives it to me. And He told me to use the word christened Him because it's about everybody who calls themselves the child of God. This is a threat and this is a place that a lot of us operate. There are some we know, we saw that are full of life and bigger. They're alive in Christ and they're operating in sacrificial worship. I've seen them. Just quick snippets and I'm like, wow, okay, that person's operating in the secret place of the Most High. And it's been encouraging for me to come back to God and get my life straightened out so I can get back into that operation in the favor and the kingdom of God. So verse 12 is going to bring us back to the root of it. The root of it is for our transgressions are multiplied before You, O Lord. And see, O Lord, now we're getting into that place where we're talking about the leadership, the direction. But when we go our own way, we're not following His direction. So that's why it's a great symbolism and it's a great use of that right there to give us an illustration. It's showing us we are transgressing God's way to go our own way which takes us out of His leadership. And how do we know? Because our sins testify against us. We're not seeing the favor in God operating in our lives where His glory can pour forth. We're not seeing it. We keep waiting for it to manifest. Well, why in the world would God want that to wait decades for something to manifest? It just doesn't make any sense to me. I mean, Jesus would have been a thousand years old if He waited for a decade for everything to manifest that God wanted to operate in and through Him. He'd be a thousand years old before He was crucified. I just think that's an easy answer. You know? Just waiting for it to manifest. Well, it's never going to manifest. We're back in that groping, looking for the light but we're only in darkness. Maybe. You don't have to search out and test things that many ways but maybe it's just not the right time. And either way, if it's not the right time and we're trying to push it like I was just saying with that job with my next season of my life, I'm not going to have any outcome from it because I've clearly testified to it. The sin of me trying to go my own agenda right there has clearly testified against me. And as he goes on to say, for our transgressions and I notice the way he uses the word our now. Isaiah's using the group terms because we all do this. We all like sheep go our own way and have gone our own way and left God's way to go our own way. He says, for our transgressions are with us. We can't escape them. And as for our iniquities, we know and recognize them as. And it's interesting because a lot of recovered growns, oh no, we've got to speak in the I and the me. And there's a time to do that. Absolutely. When I'm confessing, I need to be doing that. Right here, Isaiah is proclaiming over the body of Christ that when we're in this place, when we're broken around and we're doing it all, we just can't seem to get the answer. We're starting to get this gloom and we're feeling like it's just never going to happen. Right? Then this is because of this. It's because of transgressions, because of our sin, because of our iniquities. And it all, that's what shows it plainly. That's the root of it. And verse 13, this is, this is the practical side of that. Rebelling against and denying the Lord. This is the practical side of it. What does it mean to have transgression and sin and iniquity? It means that we're rebelling against and denying the Lord. This is the practical side of it. What does it mean to have transgression and sin and iniquity? It means that we're rebelling against and denying the Lord, which is the leader. Right? The Lord is reflective of God's leadership. So we're denying His leadership to follow our own leadership, our own agenda. Not His agenda, but our agenda. Not His path, but our path, which we've now made crooked and bumpy and with a lot of trip-ups now. And God's made it straight and plain over here. We did, but it's narrow. But it's narrow. It's narrow. God's way is narrow. The access point, there's one way in. We know it's through Jesus Christ into our salvation. But into the direction and the smooth path in life comes through sacrificial worship. There's no other way. We can't even get to the banner unless we're in reverent fear and worshipful fear of God, which is what sacrificial worship is. And anything outside when we're operating our way is rebelling against and denying the Lord. That's what we see in Jeremiah 17 as well. Why do we have the cursed life? Because we've gone, we've put our trust and hope in man's strength and we've taken our heart away from God. And He says, turning away from following our God. That's the ultimate will and purpose of the kingdom. That's the kingship representative of the kingdom. Lordship's the actual feet on the road, the rubber hitting the road. Rebelling against and denying the Lord, turning away from following our God. Speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and muttering and moaning from the heart words of falsehood. And this is the reflection of what comes out of our life. It's not always directly a hammer coming down. But when we speak, it's to keep things in a press. We see that. We see in denominational divisions. It keeps other denominations oppressed out of relationship. We see within churches, we see in denominational divisions. We see within churches, we have titling. We have rank and order, which keeps the body of Christ oppressed. And then we see revolt, speaking oppression and revolt, revolting from God's way creates this revolt. This would create segregation, conceiving and muttering and moaning from the heart words of falsehood. See, they're just speaking their own agenda. They're using God's word to try to justify their agenda. It says, but this is how I get. I was getting into the script. Verse 14, justice is turned away backwards. See, although they try to use God's truth to justify their agenda. It gets turned away. It can't operate that way. That's not how it works. You know, you don't take God's truth to try to justify your agenda. You take your agenda and fit it to God's truth. That's what you do. And this is where the justice is turned away backward. And righteousness, uprightness and right standing with God stands far off. For truth has fallen in the street. The city formed and uprightness cannot enter the courts of justice. See, we're not operating under the righteousness of Christ when we operate this way. We are just, we can't. It's far from us. It's not, we're not exempt from getting access to it, but it's far from us. The truth has fallen in the street. The truth is now thrown out as a byproduct because we aren't operating in spirit and in truth. We're operating just with our agenda trying to justify it by using a pot shot in God's truth. It's amazing how you'll see there's a lot of passages in scripture you just never hear preached. Yeah, it's amazing. There's reasons for that, I'm sure. But obviously there's a lot of scriptures. You know, there's a lot, I've been listening to preaching for a long time and there are some passages of scriptures in fact that God's brought me to and given me insight and revelation on that I've never heard preached. Because if you preached it, it would completely come against the agenda. And I love the one he gave me about tithing in Deuteronomy and it comes completely in the face of what most people and most in Christendom will hear preached from the pulpit or from anywhere, you know, in a Bible study or anywhere, about giving God back portions of what he's given us. And right in the face of it, the entire chapter, the two chapters, not just the Patokian verse that can be taken out, oh yeah, and the windows of heaven will be opened. Something that's been taken so out of context, it's insane. But he's given me actually, I think it's one or two chapters in Deuteronomy that he's given me actually, I think it's one or two chapters in Deuteronomy that he's given me actually, I think it's one or two chapters in Deuteronomy that show the brass tacks of what we call tithing or whatever, the tithes and offerings. And it gives the brass tacks but you're not going to hear anybody preaching on it because it's going to come against what they've been preaching because what they've been preaching is they've been taking God's word to try to fit their agenda. But we know there's a couple of simple ones that help with that that, you know, we should do nothing under compulsion. So anytime you've got a tithing message where as you come in and you orchestrate, this is the day I'm going to preach on tithing, then you're trying to take God's word and justify your agenda with it. Instead of just meaning night and one of his own fellowship and breaking bed and allowing prophetic word and revelation to pour back and forth among his children on an active day-to-day basis. Yes, truth is ... I'm going to get ahead of the scripture yet again. Verse 15, yes, truth is ... I'm going to get ahead of the scripture yet again. Verse 15, yes, truth is lacking and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. And the Lord saw it and it displeased him that there was no justice. See, God doesn't want to see us floundering around. And the Lord, that's the leadership saw it and was displeased that there was no justice. You know, he wants to, he wants us to operate in the kingdom. This is what he wants and it's just not pleasing to him that there is no chance for God to do anything that he wants to do. There is no chance for God's justice in God's favor and power to operate when we operate in our own kingdom. We're actually lacking, when he says the truth here we've got to understand what he's talking about. He's not just talking about the scriptures. Or he would have said the scriptures probably. But the truth, or he even would have said the word. The word, yes, the word is lacking he could have said there. That would have been more reflective of the scriptures but truth is something that can only be given to us via the Holy Spirit. So God's word goes in, you know we read it or hear it or whatever it is and the spirit gives us the truth of it. That's why we must worship him in spirit and in truth. And it's the when we operate only in the word of God where that truth that is made available through the spirit just falls to no good because it's just not being operated in. And it's displeasing to the Lord. And he saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor. No one to intervene on behalf of truth and right. Therefore his, and that's a good example, truth and right, we see truth or the spiritual side of it and right would be more of a detailed the word. So we have spirit and truth right there. Therefore his own arm brought him victory. His own righteousness having the spirit right there. And he saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor. No one to intervene on behalf of truth and right. Therefore his own arm brought him victory. His own righteousness having the spirit right there. And he saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore his own arm brought him victory. His own righteousness having the spirit right there. And he saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore his own righteousness having the spirit right there. And he saw that there was no intercessor. Therefore his own righteousness having the spirit right there. And he saw that his willingness to follow in sacrificial worship, the direction of God through the power of the Holy Spirit is what sustained him in righteousness. It wasn't even his, you know, was it like the righteousness of Jesus, you know, it was because of the Holy Spirit's direction and Jesus's willingness to submit under it. We see that throughout the scriptures. Jesus is always submitted under the Holy Spirit. I mean so many times, there's so many healings that take place, miracles, signs and wonders that could have started today, today's day and age, every one of them would have started a whole new denomination. Well we got a healing denomination, now we got a tongue speaking denomination, now we got a demon, you know, a casting out a demon denomination and on and on and on. But this is our Savior, this is the very perfection of Christ and why He is our Lord and Savior. Verse 17, and this is the gospel here, so all of our wanderings and all of our idiocracies, God wants to remind us that there is hope in Him. It says, verse 17, for the Lord put on righteousness as a breastplate or a coat of mail. And again, this is that put on righteousness, see, it's not He just was naturally righteous, He was, the righteousness was the righteousness of the Father given to Him through the Holy Spirit and His obedience to it and willingness to stay under the powerful hand of God, it gives Him this breastplate, this coat of mail, this defense and protection as He walks. Now, He walked and made every decision correctly to give us the perfect intercessor and the ability to bring us to salvation. We aren't going to walk it perfectly, but it's His perfection that covers us, the righteousness of Christ, right? And it's salvation as a helmet upon His head. Knowing He was in the hand of the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit kept His mind at peace knowing we are under the powerful hand of God under the Lordship of our Savior Jesus Christ whose righteousness and perfection gives us the grace and mercy we need, gives us peace of mind and protects the mind. Our mind can be, is kept in safety in the salvation of God. What a beautiful illustration, the armor of God in here is being talked about way back in Isaiah. It's beautiful. He puts on garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal. Notice that it's the garments of vengeance and the clothing of zeal. That it's not the person who is the source of the vengeance. Vengeance is the Lord and the Lord comes through and operates in vengeance and vengeance is the Lord and the Lord comes through and operates in vengeance and this is the clothing that becomes our garments. It becomes the outpouring of the glory of God which is our garments and our adornment. It's symbolic. We've got to get this symbolism here. Right? And our operating in the righteousness of Christ and the powerful hand of God and sacrificial worship is what is actually creating the garment for the bride of Christ to be presented to the bridegroom, Jesus Christ. And in this process we are called in this process we are clad with zeal. This is a serious divine jealousy as a cloak. We don't want anything to take this out of this place. We become using jealousy as a symbolism but that's why we use serious divine jealousy to show us the intensity of our defense of what God is doing in our life and the relationship and the redemption and the salvation and everything. All of the things that God is doing in our life all of the things that come with being a child of God. In verse 18 it's just a reminder that according as their deeds deserve so will he repay wrath to his adversaries recompense to his enemies on the foreign islands and coastlands he will make compensation. That God is not going to be mocked and he will be the one who takes vengeance and recompense for those that come against us as well as when we make our own mistakes. That is the turning point to bring us back. But we are going to reap what we sow. God is going to recompense. He is the one who takes vengeance. Verse 19 So as the result of the Messiah's intervention of course we just read about the gospel the Messiah this is beautiful they shall reverently fear the name of the Lord from the west that's us that's the unsaved from the west that's us that's the unsaved from the east that's us that's the unsaved from the east that's us that's the unsaved and his glory from the rising of the sun which is the east which is the rising of the sun Jesus Christ that we bring the glory of God to the earth. We have to be in reverential fear and awe of God. We've got to get out of this oh yeah reverence reverence is good we have to get into this place where we understand God can destroy us utterly our spirit our soul our body everything in it's place he gives us our very breath today in life and this moves us in obedience as we operate under the powerful hand of God and we fervently defend against being drawn out of it which is going to be the temptations of the devil so as a result of the Messiah's intervention they shall reverently fear the name of the Lord from the west now notice it's the name of the Lord because what is a name uh see the Lord is our direction the Lord is our savior he's the one who's led the way he was the he was the first born right in the new kingdom uh of uh eternal kingdom of God and and why it's the name of the Lord that's why it says when Jesus was sent into the right hand he was given a name above every name because a name is a representation see it's a fear of the representation of the kingdom it's not a you know it's a fear of God about to attack you you know it's a fear of the representation we don't want to misrepresent the kingdom and the name is where the power is because the Lord is at the right hand of the Father so it's his representation his uh essence his um that's why it says um it God will you know answer any prayer that's prayed you know in reverent uh where it's representing of Jesus uh the name of Jesus the life of Jesus the lordship of Jesus which is the will of God it's not just he'll give you anything you pray for I know we can get excited about some of that stuff as long as we say in Jesus name no okay in Jesus name and all that it represents I think is what the Amplified says and I do like that expansion that gets you a little more insight so as a result of the Messiah's intervention verse 19 they shall reverently fear the name of the lord from the west and his glory from the rising of the sun when the enemy shall come in like a flood so does this is there a Pollyanna here is there any you know nope no Pollyanna the enemy's gonna come in like a flood unexpectedly in overpowering me but then the spirit of the lord see because we operate in a spiritual kingdom the spirit of the lord will lift up a standard against him and put him to flight for he will come like a rushing stream which the breath of the lord drives away beautiful that's that standard that's that banner we're talking about but if we're outside of the sacrifice or worship then we're not where the standard is and the enemy that comes rushing in like a flood is going to smash into us and if we cry out to god he'll keep us from drowning but the reality is at the end of the day there has to be some repentance involved in this process or we may find ourselves swept completely away and we're not where the standard is and the enemy that comes rushing in like a flood is going to smash into us and if we cry out to god he'll keep us god just doesn't give us everything we want because oh we've just been making bad decisions for a long time no that's not how it operates god lets us operate in his favor when we come in obedience to him god works everything together for the good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose so now we have to be obedient to him and we are actually operating in the calling he's given us not the calling a man's given us or we've got given to ourselves or none of these things and not walking in obedience to our agenda we don't qualify we've been disqualified both ways there's stipulations on god's promises even by grace through faith we've been saved people say well that's absolutely but that is not true because it's by the grace of god giving something we don't deserve which is faith we can now walk in faith and be pleasing to the lord and this brings the salvation of god into our lives it's not a decision we make it's a life we live there's a stipulation on salvation this is why we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling ah what a beautiful passage about christ verse 20 he shall come as a redeemer and this is why we know the heart of god there's a lot up there about the ways we go off course but this is what the heart of god wants he shall come as a redeemer to zion and to those in jacob and i like just jacob here i'm going to leave it in the original translation because zion is the body of christ so this is the new kingdom and he's the redeemer so he redeems us and fills us until the day of redemption into the body of christ and to those in jacob which would reflect those who are not in relationship to him coming to god who is the god of promise he's the god of promise ok so he knows that those who cry out call on the name of the lord will be saved right so this is the promise of coming in jacob is the promise of coming in israel is the fulfilled in zion but what is required that we turn from transgression says the lord he shall come as redeemer to zion and to those outside those in salvation who've gone astray and those outside of salvation if they will come in repentance turn from transgression that's the turning into the repentance and of course transgression is anything against the lord so this is a repentance is what this means and it says the lord is calling us boom this is the way there's a stipulation he's not just it is a good news gospel but he's not just walking around hitting everybody with a redemption stick like just methodically there's stipulations to it there has to be repentance for god wants none to perish what is the what is the escape from perishing but all that will turn to him in repentance this is it this is it this is it in a nut wow this is amazing gospel in a nutshell last five verses were the were the messiah the savior the gospel in a nutshell verse 21 ask for me this is my covenant or lead with them says the lord this is god's promise when we turn in repentance to him this is god's promise of the redemption and salvation this is god's promise let's just see what it has to say ask for me in my covenant that's the covenant that's the relationship we're in says the lord my spirit who is upon you and who writes the law of god inwardly on the heart this was in the midst of the jewish law this was in the midst of the mosaic law god was giving him the insight that it's a law that should be on our heart that he has to write on our heart by the power of the spirit it's actually the law of the spirit technically it's the law of the spirit it's actually the law of the spirit technically because that's the one who puts it on our heart and my words he says which i have put in your mouth shall not depart out of your mouth or out of the mouth of your true spiritual children so we have the spirit and see how he goes to the word here and it's the truth the word we have the spirit and the truth represented right here this is the only way to please and worship the lord this is the only way to please and worship god is in spirit and in truth and this is going to go forth out of us we are going to speak the oracles of god through the power of the holy spirit and we will see it come out of those new babes in christ who come into the body of christ who then will be disciples to speak out the word of god in the power of the holy spirit and to their children's children from hence forth and forever more it says the lord is a reflection that we're being led here it starts with the lord it ends with the lord this is the leadership he's trying to show us but it says go ye therefore and make disciples he didn't say go ye therefore and make denominational membership he said go make disciples and how do you make them you walk in the way that's what he just said and they'll learn from what you do not from what you say it's not this great thing you can give them an opportunity to walk it's not this great thing you can give them enough books to give them enough education and knowledge it's so that they can see you walk in this way walk in the truth of god in the spirit and in truth and then they will walk in the spirit and in truth and then they will walk in the spirit and in truth and what does the mouth always represent it represents the heart of a man which we know that will pour forth the discipleship that the new babes in Christ will get to grow by and they'll be able to do the same thing and the next generation of Christians will grow by that and on and on and on from henceforth and forever it's got nothing to do with traditions and customs of a denomination it's got nothing to do with customs and traditions of man for sure or any other thing that we see Christendom has been so molded by which is why we're not seeing the outpouring everybody's crying about how when kids turn 18 they leave the church well yeah because there's no discipleship taking place oh we're teaching them a lot of scriptures and now because it's all about how good we can be they get pulled up to those standards I mean he's always preaching about this that and the other thing I think about lust in those ways all the time but if they saw us carrying one of those burdens and operating with the law of the spirit in our heart as we walk and fellowship one with another in the body of Christ in love that the world can go off and rebel like we all do if when they go off and rebel as we all do they will know how to come back to the correct path because they've been discipled in the body of Christ there is no true discipleship in the body of Christ according to the word of God that I've seen I'm starting to see glimpses of this here and I'm seeing God is speaking to his children he's pulled the remnant out and I love it because I think COVID was the year where he began to pull this remnant out because he said enough is enough with this organized religion let's get the attention of those who were taught and raised and it's just the way we do it because we've always done it I love the way that one guy said it he said when we die you can do it the way you want to do it well no I don't want to do it the way I want to do it I want to do it the way the spirit and truth and I'm sure at least represented there I didn't ask but I'm sure but it was just the spirit and the truth we've had that with another person here in town locally and I said there's a couple I'll just go give snippets never had any direct interaction with them but I just keep operating in the way God is transforming coming to operate and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and 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