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[0:00] Well, welcome to this pre-recorded meeting for Calvary Evangelical Church in Brighton for the 14th of June 2020.

[0:16] ! And we are just emerging from the lockdown with respect to the coronavirus. We are a church who live in the area of Brighton in Sussex, UK. We are believers in Jesus Christ.

[0:29] We are in number about 80 or so of us meeting together in Sunday mornings in normal times. And we're just ordinary people from different nations and different backgrounds.

[0:41] And we believe that God himself has brought us together to trust him, to know him, to love him and to serve him. And we're going to do our best to express that in this time together.

[0:55] So a particular welcome to you if you've just dropped in. Maybe looking for some spiritual guidance and comfort in this strange time that we're in. And the first ten minutes or so I'll try and keep things very user-friendly for you.

[1:09] And as we go on I'll be thinking of our more regular attenders. But don't think that you have to tune out just because of that. My name's Philip Wells. I'm one of the team of elders here at Calvary.

[1:21] It's fair to say I've been here the longest. And I'll be leading this morning. Other notices will be seen on the screen or are available through emails that are circulated.

[1:33] Let me put on the screen the plan. We're going to do the things that Christians normally do. We're going to sing songs or have them sung to us.

[1:48] Pray prayers. Have the Bible read. And talk about what the Bible is saying. And today the theme is a very big theme. It's the theme of judgment and salvation.

[2:00] But stay tuned and I'll explain more of that as we go along. This is part of a series of four talks based on the book of the prophet Isaiah. Chapters 65 and 66 in the Old Testament.

[2:14] And you'll find it really helpful if you can follow along the words for yourself when we get to that. So do make sure you have a copy either on your shelves or you can actually download it as a part of an app on your smart device.

[2:31] So let's begin by praying. Lord, you are the true and living God. Even though we do not see you, we know that you are there.

[2:42] And all this world around us has come from you. And we want to be in touch with the living God today. We don't want to be distant from you.

[2:54] But to know that we are close to you. And that you are with us as you promise you will be. So draw near to us as we want to draw near to you.

[3:05] And we pray that that will be true for every single person who is in any way in touch with this broadcast. And we pray it in Jesus' name.

[3:16] Amen. So I want to begin actually by looking at a matter which is very important in thinking about Jesus and Christianity and the Bible.

[3:30] And the question I'd like to look at is Old Testament or New Testament? And to start us off, I have a brief clip as a reference when a very famous person was asked this question.

[3:43] You're an Old Testament guy or a New Testament guy? Probably equal. I think it's just an incredible, the whole Bible is an incredible, I joke very much so.

[3:54] They always hold up the order of the deal. I say my second favorite book of all time. But I just think the Bible is just something very special. So, what's the answer?

[4:06] Old Testament or New Testament? I'd like to take a few minutes to explain that in a way which, for one reason or another, President Trump didn't feel at liberty to enlarge on when he was asked that question.

[4:19] So, I've got something to put up on the screen. Let me click it. The Bible is divided into two sections.

[4:32] The first and biggest is called, by Christian publishers and printers, the Old Testament. And the second is called, the smaller section, the later section is called the New Testament.

[4:45] And the names are there because they describe the contents in a way which I'll try and explain. Let me click. So, firstly, I should explain what a testament is.

[4:58] We use the expression testament in English when we say last will and testament, meaning a will, a written down set of wishes, including gifts and generous apportionments.

[5:13] In the Bible, the word is usually used with the equivalent of covenant. That's a better English equivalent, covenant.

[5:25] And a covenant is a relationship expressed in words spoken or words written down. And in the Bible, the covenants are written down.

[5:36] And a useful Western culture illustration would be the marriage relationship. So, according to the prayer book, the relationship is expressed in these words.

[5:49] I take you, X, Y, Z, to be my wife. And I take you, A, B, C, to be my husband. So, the words make a particular sort of relationship.

[6:03] And in the case of a marriage, it's a relationship with particular privileges and responsibilities and particular bonds. And in the case of marriage, the bonds are that of committed, faithful love and sex and, actually, legal and financial unity.

[6:23] So, you enter that relationship by means of the words that are solemnly and carefully spoken. So, the Bible can be thought of as two covenants, a book of covenants.

[6:36] Now, there are actually more than two covenants in the Bible, but we're just going to think about two. And the two in mind are organised around two people.

[6:48] And the two people are Moses. And if you're watching from a Muslim background, that's Musa. And the second person is Jesus.

[7:01] So, if you're watching from a Muslim background, it'd be Isa. So, I'm going to say three things about this matter of Old Covenant, New Covenant, Old Testament, New Testament.

[7:12] Number one, both these covenants and all the other covenants in the Bible depend on God being a covenant-making type of God. That's to say, he binds himself in relationships using words.

[7:26] He is a God of his word. In other words, he doesn't say things and let people down. He doesn't promise things and then twist events or fudge things to let himself off keeping his promises.

[7:43] And this is actually a sort of love. And the Bible has a special word for this covenant, faithful love. English translation being something like steadfast love.

[7:55] And the relationship itself is sometimes expressed in words like these. I will be their God and they will be my people. And whereas in our culture, a testament or a covenant is usually signed in ink.

[8:12] The ancient covenant was very often sealed with the death of an animal or animals. And this referred to the agreed penalty for breaking the covenant.

[8:26] And that death, there was something that both parties signed up and said, basically saying, well, if I break this covenant, may this happen to me, what's happened to these animals. So there is actually nothing more safe and desirable than to be in a safe, steady, secure relationship with God who makes covenant.

[8:48] So I put up there, it's a relationship. It's based on words and it gives security. God, the God of the Bible is a covenant making God. God. So let's put the division there.

[9:02] Old Testament, New Testament, New Testament being the smaller. And it's along this timeline with Moses, a picture of Moses. And there is Jesus signified, symbolized by his cross.

[9:17] Let's think then of the Moses covenant. This covenant was brilliant, but had a double flaw.

[9:28] The brilliance is to do with its ethical and spiritual quality. There are many words surrounding the Moses covenant, but there are ten in particular. Ten words, or we would say the Ten Commandments, which express in beautiful simplicity the duties of Moses' people towards God.

[9:47] And the words say things like this, have no other gods. That's to do with faithfulness and exclusivity. Don't make up your own version of what God is like.

[9:58] That has to do with a command against idol worship. And then there are commands like, do not lie. Do not steal.

[10:09] Which are just essential for any human society. And as well as these words, there was a complex system of sacrifices and priests and holy places.

[10:21] And that covenant was sealed with blood. So what was the major flaw? The flaw was that people were not good enough to keep the laws.

[10:33] And the sacrifices weren't powerful enough to secure forgiveness for the failure of the people. And that just brings us back to the old problem with human nature, which we, in our culture, experience daily.

[10:48] It's called guilt and shame. And the Moses covenant showed that, but had no adequate solution for it.

[11:01] So let me come to the Jesus covenant. And the Bible says this new covenant with Jesus is better. And let me explain. The covenant that Jesus brought is remembered in what we call the Lord's Supper or the Holy Communion.

[11:19] Or in other words, the church service where people eat bread and wine. When Jesus set this up, he said that the bread symbolized his broken body and the wine symbolized his shed blood.

[11:32] And he said that his blood was the blood of the new covenant. So there is a relationship to be had with God through Jesus.

[11:45] And what about those flaws in the Moses covenant? In other words, the people not living as they should and the old sacrifices not being good enough to secure forgiveness. Well, in the Jesus covenant, it is all marvelously taken care of.

[12:00] Not only was there an agreed penalty for covenant breaking, but amazingly, one party, the innocent party, Jesus, voluntarily pays the penalty for covenant breaking.

[12:16] He took the blame and the shame and the penalty. So the covenant doesn't end up being irreparably broken. But the promises are kept.

[12:28] All the penalties are paid by God himself. And the New Testament writers say that this covenant is most certainly a better covenant. And I agree.

[12:41] And I invite you not only to agree, but to make every effort to get into that covenant yourself. You need to leave behind all other sources of security, spiritual security, whatever it may be, and rest yourself solely and simply on the promises that God makes through Jesus Christ.

[13:03] To turn away from the sins of our human nature and approach the covenant mediator, Jesus himself personally. And I want to invite you to do that.

[13:15] You could even do that just now. But I'm going to leave that with you. And we're going to have sung to us or we're going to sing a wonderful psalm about what it is to be in covenant with God, who is the maker of heaven and earth.

[13:32] All people that on earth do dwell, sing to the Lord with cheerful voice. And we sung this before, but this is a remix version. All people that on earth do dwell, sing to the Lord with cheerful voice.

[14:06] Serve Him with joy. Serve Him with joy. Serve Him with joy. Serve Him with joy. Serve Him with joy. Serve Him with joy. Serve Him with joy. Serve Him with joy. Serve Him with joy.

[14:18] desde Come now before him and rejoice. Know that the Lord is God indeed.

[14:30] He formed us all without our aid. We are the flock he loves to feed.

[14:45] A sheep who by his hand are made. O enter then his gates with praise.

[15:00] And in his courts his love proclaim. Give thanks and bless him all your days.

[15:16] Let every tongue confess his name. The Lord Almighty God is good.

[15:31] His mercy is forever sure. His truth at all times firmly stood.

[15:47] And shall from age to age endure. God we thank you that we can have our human lives based deep in you.

[16:03] That we can have security and relationship with you. We're going to sing again. This is a song based on a psalm which talks about that relationship in these words.

[16:19] Psalm 90. A psalm of Moses. Lord you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born.

[16:30] Or you brought forth the earth and the world. From everlasting to everlasting you are God. What an amazing thought to have our roots and our home.

[16:42] In the God who is from everlasting to everlasting. We're going to sing this to a contemporary tune.

[16:53] Which may be unfamiliar. So there is one complete instrumental verse first. piano plays in bright rhythm Thank you.

[17:41] Thank you.

[18:11] Thank you. Thank you.

[19:11] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[19:45] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[19:57] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[20:09] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[20:21] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[20:32] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Our hope for years to come Be our defense while life shall last And our eternal home And our eternal home Our God, our help in ages past Our hope for years to come Now as I was saying, the central feature of the new covenant is Jesus himself And it's rather amazing, but completely true That the person, the human being, man or woman, boy or girl Who approaches this Jesus in prayer

[21:32] Finds that he is not just a historical figure Not just an ancient sage who said wise and wonderful things But a living person to whom we can relate In person to person trust and love And real relationship And this is beautifully expressed in the song Jesus, lover of my soul And it's sung for us by Ruth With accompaniment from Annika and myself It's number 682 if you have the book Jesus, lover of my soul Jesus, lover of my soul Let me to your presence fly Jesus, lover of my soul Jesus, lover of my soul Let me to your presence fly

[22:36] While the gathering waters roar While the tempest still is high Hide me, O my Savior, hide Till the storm of life has passed Settle to the hateful guide And receive my soul at last All my hope in you I see Leave or leave me not alone Still support and strengthen me All my trust on you is safe

[23:37] All my help from you I bring Cover my defenseless head With the shadow of your will You, the Christ, are all I want More than all in you I find Raise the fallen, cheer the faint Heal the sick and lead the blind Just and holy is your name I am all unworthiness Full and full of sin I am You are full of truth and grace

[24:37] Boundless grace with you is found Grace to cover all my sin Let the healing streams abound Make and keep me clean within Living fountain now impart All your life and purity Spring forever in my heart Rise to all eternity The passage we're going to look at Is the second half of Isaiah chapter 66 And Rosemary is going to read for us

[25:39] The whole chapter Isaiah chapter 66 Reading from verse 1 This is what the Lord says Heaven is my throne And the earth is my footstool Where is the house you will build for me?

[25:55] Where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things? And so they came into being Declares the Lord This is the one I esteem He who is humble and contrite in spirit And trembles at my word But whoever sacrifices a bull Is like one who kills a man And whoever offers a lamb Like one who breaks a dog's neck Whoever makes a grain offering Is like one who presents pig's blood And whoever burns memorial incense Like one who worships an idol They have chosen their own ways And their souls delight in their abominations So I also will choose harsh treatment for them And will bring upon them what they dread For when I called no one answered When I spoke no one listened They did evil in my sight And chose what displeases me Hear the word of the Lord You who tremble at his word

[26:55] Your brothers who hate you And exclude you because of my name Have said Let the Lord be glorified That we may see your joy Yet they will be put to shame Hear that uproar from the city Hear that noise from the temple It is the sound of the Lord Repaying his enemies all they deserve Before she goes into labour She gives birth Before the pains come upon her She delivers a son Who has ever heard of such a thing?

[27:28] Who has seen such things? Can a country be born in a day Or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labour Than she gives birth to her children Do I bring to the moment of birth And not give delivery?

[27:44] Says the Lord Do I close up the womb When I bring to delivery? Says your God Rejoice with Jerusalem And be glad for her All you who love her Rejoice greatly with her All you who mourn over her For you will nurse And be satisfied At her comforting breasts You will drink deeply And delight in her Overflowing abundance For this is what the Lord says I will extend peace to her Like a river And the wealth of nations Like a flooding stream You will nurse And be carried on her arm And dandled on her knees As a mother comforts her child So will I comfort you And you will be comforted Over Jerusalem When you see this Your heart will rejoice And you will flourish like grass The hand of the Lord Will be made known To his servants But his fury Will be shown to his foes

[28:46] See the Lord Is coming with fire And his chariots Are like a whirlwind He will bring down His anger with fury And his rebuke With flames of fire For with fire And with his sword The Lord will execute judgment Upon all men And many will be those Slain by the Lord Those who consecrate And purify themselves To go into the gardens Following the one In the midst of those Who eat the flesh Of pigs and rats And other abominable things They will meet their end Together Declares the Lord And I Because of their actions And their imaginations Am about to come And gather all nations And tongues And they will come And see my glory I will set a sign Among them And I will send Some of those Who survive To the nations To Tarshish To the Libyans And Lydians

[29:47] Famous as archers To Tubal And Greece And to the distant islands That have not heard Of my fame Or seen my glory They will proclaim My glory Among the nations And they will bring All your brothers From all the nations To my holy mountain In Jerusalem As an offering To the Lord On horses In chariots And wagons And on mules And camels Says the Lord They will bring them As the Israelites Bring their grain offerings To the temple Of the Lord In ceremonially Clean vessels And I will select Some of them also To be priests And Levites Says the Lord As the new heavens And the new earth That I make Will endure Before me Declares the Lord So will your name And descendants Endure From one new moon To another And from one Sabbath To another All mankind

[30:47] Will come And bow down Before me Says the Lord And they will go out And look upon The dead bodies Of those who Rebelled against me Their worm Will not die Nor will their fire Be quenched And they will be Loathsome To all mankind Thank you for that reading Now let's pray To God O Lord God We have heard great things About you That you are the covenant Making God Who gives and forms Relationships Solid and secure Based on promises That you make That are unbreakable We thank you For your solemn promises That you even bother With people like us To commit yourself To us In covenant We thank you For every promise That you have made And we thank you That all those promises Are yes and amen

[31:48] In Jesus Christ We come to you In adoration And thanksgiving We come to you In confession That although you Are so great And have been so good To us We are so fickle And feeble And we turn Again and again To our own Versions of God Or our own Sources of comfort Instead of looking To you And there is guilt And shame Attached to that But we thank you Again for the one Perfect sacrifice Made for us By Jesus Christ Through which We have forgiveness Of sins And as we turn To you We thank you Again for the Huge Enormous Wonderful Sin covering Power Of the blood Of Jesus Christ We turn to you In thanksgiving That even though We live in this Lockdown type world We have experienced Things that

[32:48] Get to us really In terms of Deprivation And loss of contact Yet we have much To be thankful for We thank you Lord That many of us Have been spared This virus And you have kept us safe Thank you Maybe even somebody Watching this Has recovered from it But we thank you For those of us Who have experienced Your safekeeping We thank you For the wonderful Weather we have Experienced in past Weeks We thank you For people who Have been around us Who have cared for us And we thank you For all the blessings Of life and breath Health and strength That you give In so many ways To so many of us So much of the time We come to you Lord to ask you We ask you For those who mourn And are bereaved We ask you For those who suffer And are in distress And anxiety And worry May they find That you are The great burden bearer And we ask you

[33:49] For our world That our world Might wake up To knowing That you are God And turn from All the unbelief And indifference And negligence And atheism And idolatry That characterise Our race And that we might Turn to you And many people Might have their hearts Turn to you In salvation As they look To Jesus Christ We pray this Would be true Of our world And of our nation And of our city And of the people Known to us And even perhaps Ourselves As we watch this Just now So show yourself To be a great And wonderful God We pray Help us too To hear your word Just now And to absorb Your word In its power And application And life changing force Help me to speak it And help us all To hear it We pray our prayers

[34:51] In the name of Jesus Amen So now we're going To change gear And think about That passage That has been Read to us Well we're going Now to think About this Remarkable And powerful Passage In Isaiah 66 I've entitled it Judgment and salvation There are two Instincts in the Human heart That I want to Latch on to At this point The instinct For eternity And the instinct For justice Eternity The sense that We were made For more than Just this life That we were made For something Better and grander Something that Endures Beyond this world

[35:51] And maybe Maybe you've Had an Inkling of that When you've Seen a beautiful Sunset Or looked at The stars Or heard the Mighty thunder And thought There is more To this world Than this world Eternity And the second Instinct Of justice The idea That right And wrong Are not Simply empty Accidents Of evolution But profound Realities That go to The core Of our being And the heart Of the universe Eternity And justice Eternity Looks beyond This life And justice Looks for a Linkage A moral Linkage Between good And evil Linked Into the Eternal future And the Bible says That both These instincts Are deeply True And gives Names To the way God expresses Himself In eternity And in Justice And I'm Going to Pick up On these

[36:52] Two names These two Ideas Of judgment And salvation God's Moral Assessment His judgment And fair Dealing And redemption So what is Good Will be Rewarded In the Future Even if It was Overlooked In the Present And what Is evil Will be Rewarded Fairly And thoroughly In the Future Even if It was Overlooked In the Present Eternity And justice Judgment And salvation Heaven And hell They're Strong Ideas But the Bible is Very strong On these Things And they Run Throughout The Bible From beginning To end Jesus Himself Said Enter Through the Narrow Gate That leads To life For wide Not wise Wide Is the Gate And broad Is the Way That leads

[37:52] To destruction He had In mind Two Destinations If you Like Heaven And hell So it's Not just An Old Testament Thing But we Are in The Old Testament We're Going to Look at The prophet Isaiah And he's Been describing Salvation I use That word But he's Been describing A home A new Heaven And a new Earth He's been Describing Judgment He uses The ideas Of awful Death Of destruction Corpses On a Battlefield And so On And really It's impossible To make sense Of our Lives now It's impossible To make sense Of our lives Now Without putting Them in This eternal Perspective Through all Of us It's particularly To Christian People of Course So this Is the Last In this Series We've Been Through Isaiah From Beginning To End Let's Hear Isaiah One Last

[38:52] Time And as We hear Let's Be Not Hearers Only But Doers Of The Word Or as Isaiah Says In the Chapter That We've Had Read Isaiah 66 This Is The One Whom I Esteem He Who Is Humble And Contrite In Spirit And Trembles At My Word A Bit Of Trembling At God's Word Would Do Us No Harm Whatsoever So Let me Just Go Through The Context Which Is What We've Been Doing Before These Latter Chapters Could Well Have Been Written With The Babylonian Exiles As The Target Audience Maybe In Babylon Or Maybe Having Just Returned From Babylon They Are Chapters Of Extremes They Emphasize The Desperate Need Of Sin As The Extremity!

[39:39] Sin Our Offences Are Many In Your Sight Lament The Readers 59 Verse 12 The Chapters Emphasize The Extreme Nature Of God's Grace Grace Meaning God Acting Out Of Sheer One Sided Kindness Appeal To God's Grace 64 1 God Oh That You Would Rend Heavens And Come Down And These Chapters Reach The High Point Of Declaring The Fullness Of God's Purposes It's These Chapters That Say Behold I Will Create A New Heavens And A New Earth What A Great Agenda God Has For The Future So They Present A Radical View Of God's Future And Astoundingly And Tantalizingly They Include The Gentiles Non-Jews As Fellow Heirs Of The Promises That Actually Belong To Abraham And His Family

[40:40] Well These Are The Promises That Spill Out Into All The Nations And In Places Like 60 Verse Three Nations Will Come To Your Light And Kings To The Brightness Of Your Rising!

[41:02] In Here Pigs Rats Mules Camels Maggots So Just Very Quickly And Visually We Have The Lord Is Coming With Fire And His Chariots Are Like A Whirlwind He Will Bring Down His Anger With Fury His Rebuke With Flames Of Fire So Like A Whirlwind Like Flames Of Fire God Executing!

[41:32] So Holy Hill And In Verse 18 Because Of Their Actions And Imaginations I'm About To Bring And Gather All Nations And Tongues And They Will Come And See My Glory I Will Set A Sign Among Them And Send Some Of Them Who Survive To The Nations To Tarshish To The Libyans And Lydians To Tubal And Greece And To The Distant Islands That Have Not Heard Of My Fame Or Seen My Glory They Will Proclaim My Glory Among The Nations And It Says

[42:32] Verse 20 They Will Bring All Your Brothers From All The Nations To My Holy Mountain In Jerusalem As An Offering To The Lord So There's The Glorious Holy Mountain A lot About Glory There And Here Are People From The Islands And I Only Drew A Camel And They Come To The My Holy Mountain And They Bring Offerings And Some Of Them Become Priests And Levites So That's Coming There And Verse 22 As The New Heavens And The New Earth That I Make Will Endure Before You Sorry Endure Before Me Declares The Lord So Will Your Name And Your Descendants Endure From One New Moon To Another And One Sabbath To Another All Mankind Will Come And Bow Down Before Me So A New Heaven And A New Earth And A New Moon And We Have The 28 Day Cycle Of The Moon And We Have The

[43:32] Seven Day Cycle Of When The Sabbath Comes Round Reminiscent Of God God's Working Week When He Made The World In Seven Days And The Unceasing Sabbath With Which He Ended It And Then We Have In Verse 24 Another Picture Of Dead Bodies Those Who Rebelled Against Me So I Put Some Dead Bodies And I Put Them On A Rubbish Heap Sort Of Smoldering Away And It Says Their Worm Will Not Die Nor Will Their Fire Be Quenched They Will Be Loathsome To All Mankind So There's A Pretty Loathsome Picture There Of Burning And Maggot Eating On Bodies So I've Just Gone Very Quickly Through That And It Seems To Me To Be About These Two Things Judgment And Salvation And We'll Look At Those In Turn Judgment And Salvation So Let's Ask First Of What Is

[44:33] The Judgment That's Described Here Well We Looked At It And We'll Just Go Back In A Little More Detail A Little Slower Verse 15 The Lord Is Coming With Fire His Chariots Are Like A Whirlwind It's A Picture That Has A Lot To Do With Defeat In Battle So We've Got The Lord Coming With Fire We've Got His Chariots Like A Whirlwind We Have His Strongly Felt Emotion There's Several References To Anger And Fury And Rebuke And Judgment It Says In Verse 16 With Fire And With His Sword The Lord Will Execute Judgment And It Says There Will Be Many Slain By The Lord Verse 16 So That's The Picture There It's A Gruesome

[45:33] Vivid Horrible Picture And No Sensible Person Surely Would Want To Aim Themselves For That No Sensible Person Would Want To Aim Themselves For That It's God Taking Action Against Against His Enemies After Centuries Of Patience God Says Enough Is Enough And Acts Against His Enemies Most Sensible Person Would Want To Put Themselves In That Firing Line

[46:37] Terms Are And To Accept Those Terms The Bible Says That Jesus Is The Lord's Ambassador And Those Terms Of Peace Are To Be Found In Him And Only In Him Come To Me He Says Hear The Generous Terms He Offers To Those Who Seek Amnesty In The Old Days Of Library Books People The Library Used To Offer An Amnesty All The Library Books That You Forgot To Take Back And The Finds And Build Up And Up And Up There Would Be A Day When You Could Take The Library Books Back In Safety And There Would Be No Charges Well Jesus Says If You Come To Me All The Charges Will Be Dropped This Is The Day This Is The Day Of Salvation Come To Him What

[47:37] Is The Judgment Well There's A Second Picture At The End Verse 24 They Will Go Out And Look On The Dead Bodies Of Those Who Rebelled Against Me Their Worm Will Not Die Nor Will Their Fire Be Quenched They Will Be Loathsome To All Mankind It's A Picture Of A Perpetual Rubbish Dump Remember When I Used To Take My Morning Walk In Sri Lanka When I Was Out In The Remote Areas I Would Pass Villagers Whose Morning Work Was To Chuck Their Rubbish Over The Fence And Set Fire To It So They Would Be Burning Off Yesterday's Rubbish You Could Smell It As You Walked Along And It Would Smolder Away And The Rubbish Would Be Visited By Flies And Perhaps Infested By Maggots A Rubbish Dump And That's Exactly What We Have Here This Is A Rubbish Dump And It's Got Dead Bodies On It What A Gruesome Picture This Is And The Unnatural Thing About This Is That The Worm

[48:38] Does Not Die The Maggot Doesn't Die And The Fire Doesn't Go Out So It's A Bizarre And Very Unpleasant Picture And It's Said It's A Picture Which Is Repellent And Disgusting Loathsome To All Flesh And To Be Perfectly Honest I Would Prefer Not To Be Having To Mention This But My Master Mentions It Jesus Says It Is Better For You To Enter The Kingdom Of God With One Eye Than To Have Two Eyes And To Be Thrown Into Hell Where Their Worm Does Not Die And The Fire Is Not Quenched Jesus Says That In Mark Chapter 9 Verse 48 And He's Quoting From Here Isn't He Quoting It With Approval And According To Jesus If We Cling To Our Sin We're Actually Consigning Ourselves To The Rubbish Dump Of Eternity And Jesus Says

[49:39] Make Every Effort And It Involves Figuratively Cutting Off Your Sin Because The Destination Of Those Who Cling To Their Sin Is This Horrible Eternal Rubbish Dump And I Have To Say I Find It Impossible To State Adequately Or With Sufficient Feeling And Engagement In My Heart To State Adequately The Importance Of Escaping This Judgment Or Let God Speak Through His Word It's Better To Enter The Kingdom Of God With One Eye Than To Have Two Eyes And Be Thrown Into This Hell Don't Go There Don't Go There So What Is The Judgment We've Looked At Now Why Is The Judgment What's The Rational Behind

[50:39] It What Have People Done To Deserve This Now That's A Very Big Question And There Are Actually Many Answers In This Book And Many Answers Spread Across The Bible But In Verse 4 Of This Chapter God's Complaint Is That I Called And No One Answered I Spoken No One Listened So There Is This Sin Of Ignoring You know Sometimes My phone Goes Off Quite Often I Miss It Going Off Sometimes It Might Go Off And I Think Am I Going To Ignore This And God Is On The Phone And You Can See It's Him Don't Ignore It Don't Put The Phone On Silent Reject His Call And There Are Other Reasons For Judgment In 58 3 There's This Inhumanity To Fellow

[51:39] Citizens! You Exploit Your Workers He Says And God Cares About That Well There Are Many Things Like That But In In This Section I'm Looking At Verse 17 Where It Says They Consecrate Those Who Consecrate And Purify Themselves To Go Into The Gardens Following!

[51:58] One Who Is In The Midst Of Those Who Eat The Flesh Of Pigs And Rats And Other Abominable Things They Will Meet Their End Together Declares The Lord I Understand There's A few Difficulties Of Translation There But There's Certainly Something About Consecration Making Holy Purification And Gardens And Pigs So I'm Sure You Know This But In The Context That I was Speaking In The Jewish Context Eating Pigs And Rats Would Be These Are Unclean Animals Abominable It's An Abominable Thing To Do Under The Law Of Moses And That's What He's Talking About Here He's Using Picture Language And Symbolic Language So This Is Not In My Understanding A Judgment Against The Traditional English Breakfast And There May Be Other Objections To Traditional English Breakfast But I Don't Think This Text Is One Of Them And Neither Is It An Indication

[52:58] Of Judgement Gardening Programs It's Not Against Gardeners That's Not What This Text Is About But What It Is Doing Is Using The Language Of Uncleanness And The Gardens Would Presumably Be Sacred Gardens Dedicated To Some Idol Or Place Where You Made Little Offerings See Sort Of Things Like That In India Don't You Little Gardens Or Shrines Dedicated To An Idol I Think That's The Territory We're In Here And He's Using This Language The Language Of Uncleanness So What's Going On Here I Think What We Have Here Is A Complete Reversal Of God's Ways These People Say We're Going To Consecrate Ourselves We're Going To Make Ourselves Holy We're Going To Make Ourselves Pure And The Way They Do It

[53:58] Is The Complete Opposite Of What God Says They've Got It Absolutely Completely Wrong Pigs Are Unholy And Impure And The Sacrifices That Are Made Are Not Made In The Authorised Altars But In These Holy Garden Places And The People Are Saying We're Pursuing Purity In Our Gardens By Eating This Food Which Is Unclean!

[54:28] Seems to Me That The Target Here Is Those Who Think They Are Progressing Morality And Ethics But Actually Doing The Exact Opposite Of What God Our Maker Has Revealed And Commanded So Down Through History People Have Done This In Biblical History There Are People Who Worship Through The Ministry Of Temple Prostitutes So That's Taking Sex Using Sex As A Sort Of Liberating Technique Completely Doing The Opposite Of What God Has Commanded God Gave Sex For Faithfulness And This Is Being Used Without Faithfulness Sacrifice!

[55:18] In The Bible There Are Child Sacrifices Which Are Thoroughly Condemned How Can You Take An Innocent Or Innocent A Little Infant And Sacrifice That Little Life As If That Would Gain Some Traction With Deity As If That Was The Right Thing To Do Children Treated As Subhuman And Expendable Well Do You Know I Think Our Culture Does That With Children That Are Still In The Womb I Know It's A Controversial Thing To Say But The Christian Church Has Always Insisted That Unborn Life Is Not To Be Used Or Scrapped Or Removed As If It's Expendable And Subhuman It's That's Not Progress Or Think Of Religion Using

[56:19] Religion As A Tool To Gain Power Over God Rather Than Submitting And Accepting The Grace That He Freely Offers All Of These I Don't Know That One Thank You Alexa All Of These All Of These Are Methods Which Are The Complete Reversal Of God's Ways By The Judgment Now There Is Actually No Salvation Without Judgment And That's One Of The Things That This Book Teaches Very Clearly The Route To Salvation Does Not Bypass Judgment In The Narrative Of Isaiah He Sees That His City Will Be Redeemed But It Won't Be Redeemed Without Going Through Judgment So Israel Was Taught This Lesson Through Her Own Experience There Was No Return To The Promised Land Without Going

[57:19] Through The Judgment Fire Of The Babylonian Exile Well That's The Lesson She Was Taught It Was Arguable Whether She Learned It It's Certainly A Truth That God Does Not Offer Anyone Salvation Without Judgment There Is No Short Cut To Salvation Without Judgment But What He Does Do Is Offer A Substitute To Bear The Judgment Instead A Substitutionary Sacrificial Atonement In Other Words Someone Else Gets Attacked By God's Fiery Sword Someone Else Gets Put Outside The Camp As If Rubbish Someone Else Enters The Realm Of The Dead As A Corpse But This Someone Else Is Someone Of Such Virtue And Nobility And Innocence That He Could Not Be Kept Under Judgment But Paid The Full Price And

[58:20] Rose From The Dead Gloriously Sin Free Death Free In Righteousness And Life Well Who am I Talking About Leave you To work That one Out Number Two Let's Look at Salvation So Let's Ask What Is The Salvation And We Could Put Three G's To This Couldn't We Gathering Gentiles Glory We Have It In Verse 18 I Will Gather All Nations And Tongues And They Will Come And See My Glory Gather The Gentiles To See My Glory Verse 19 There's An Outreach To The Nations I Will Set A Sign Among Them And I Will Send Some Of Those Who Survive To The Nations To Tarshish To The Libyans To The Lydians Famous As Archers To Tubal To

[59:20] Greece And To The Distant Islands That Have Not Heard Of My Fame Or Seen My Glory They Will Proclaim My Glory Among The Nations And They Will Bring All Your Brothers From All The Nations To My Holy Mountain In Jerusalem As An Offering To The Lord On Horses In Chariots And Waggons And On Mules And Camels Says The Lord They Will Bring Them As The Israelites Bring Their Grain Offerings To The Temple Of The Lord In Ceremonially Clean Vessels And I Will Select Some Of Them Also To Be Priests And Levites Says The Lord So There's A Bringing To The Holy Mountain And They Will Come Bringing Offerings And In Fact Them Being An Offering I'm Reminded Of The Apostle Paul Saying That His Priestly Work Was To Bring The Nations Foreigners As An Offering It Was A Sort Of Liturgy An Offering To The Lord The

[60:20] Priestly Work To Preach The Gospel And See Men And Women From Different Nations Coming To Jesus Christ And The Offerings I'm Sorry The Income Has Become An Offering Some Of Them Become Priests And Levites Well This Picks Up Many Things The Shining Glory Of Zion The Future Glory Of Zion And The Dawning Of The Present Glory Of Zion Jesus Saying Let Your Light So Shine!

[60:53] That People Will See Your Good Works And Glorify Your Father In Heaven Says That In Matthew Chapter 5 Verse 14 There's A Present Glory It's A Dawning Glory It's Not A Full Glory But There's A Present Glory Of Zion And The Apostle Paul Says To The Philippians You Shine You Shine Like Stars As You Hold Out The Word Of Life There's Something Glorious About Christians And Christian Churches And The Gospel And Gospel Communities Even As They Are Now And There's The Theme Of The Gathering In Of The Gentiles Often In The Old Testament This Is By Means!

[61:39] Of Attraction So They Get Attracted To The Holy Mountain But Here There's Something More Proactive Isn't There They're Sending Out I Will Send Some Of Them Who Survive To The Nations And They Bring Back The Those From Among The Nations Who Get To Who Are Responsive To That Invitation Of Course Jesus Expressed That Didn't He Go Into All The World And Preach The Good News There's Something Going About The Gospel It Isn't Just Waiting For Other People To Come In There Is A Proactiveness About The New Testament Grace Go Into All The World It's Truly Christian To Be Proactive Going Out Together Rather Than Waiting For People Just

[62:39] To Come In There Is An Attractiveness To The Gospel But That's Not All There Is To It And We've Only Got Half The Story If We Just Sit And Wait We Need To Be Proactive And What Is The Salvation Well Continuing!

[62:53] This Theme A New Heavens And A New Earth And I'm Now Looking! Before Me Declares The Lord So Will Your Name And Descendants Endure The New Heavens And The New Earth Will Endure And So Will The Inhabitants Your Name And Your Seed Will Endure A New Environment And A New Population To Suit That New Environment!

[63:25] But We're Not There At The Moment We're Told About It We Have To Use Our Imaginations We Can't Possibly Understand It As It Really Is But Here It's Portrayed To Us As A Complete New Universe A New Heavens And A New Earth And We're Told From One New Moon To Another And From One Sabbath To Another All Flesh All Mankind Will Come And Bow Down Before Me Says The Lord Something A New Humanity A New Yeah A New Humanity A New Race Of People Who Worship Before The Lord It's Not Only Space There's Time Here Sun And Moon Govern The Day And The Night And It Says!

[64:14] In Other Words They Give Time Variation And Significance Not All Time Has The Same Significance Some Have Some Significance Other Periods Of Time Have Other Significance And God Has Given That To Impregnate Time With Fruitfulness So Not Only Are We Shown That Space Is Holy And Filled With God But Also Time Is Holy And Filled With God From One New Moon To Another And One Shabbat One Sabbath To Another Well Time Big Subject Christians Begin To Sanctify Time Now Time Is A Christian Thing Now Make Redeeming The Time Says!

[65:07] The Apostle Paul Make Every Opportunity He Says So We Shouldn't Let The Phrase The Lord's Day Which Is Used Just That Once In Revelation 1 Verse 10 Blinders To The Fact That Actually All Days And All Time Belongs To The Lord It's All His All Of Time Is His And Though We Have Seasons To attempting homeschooling or washing the dishes or doing the garden.

[66:05] It's all done for him. Even now, all time belongs to the Lord, and we're to take it and sanctify it from one new moon to another and one Sabbath to another, if you like.

[66:19] But let me just add one more thing here. What's the reason that we're given time? Well, we're given time to prepare for the great future day.

[66:31] That's why we have time. That's why God doesn't close it down now and bring in the new world. He's given us these moments, the moments of our days, the years and months and days and hours, so that we would seek him.

[66:50] And the writer to the Hebrews says, look, there is a rest coming, a Sabbath, a Shabbat thing.

[67:02] Since the promise of entering his rest still remains, let's be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it, he says.

[67:13] Don't miss the opportunity. There are two destinations, a heaven and a hell. Don't end up in that hell.

[67:26] Be careful. Make every effort. Be diligent not to fall short. It's there for the asking.

[67:38] Don't fall short. There's a hell to avoid at all costs. And there's a heaven to be gained. And only a fool would fail to make every effort to get to Zion.

[67:51] Leave no stone unturned in their quest to find the way to God's heavenly city.

[68:01] And the claim of Jesus, which I believe, and there's many good reasons to believe him, the claim of Jesus is this is exactly what he will do for whoever comes to him.

[68:17] That's the end of our time in Isaiah. Jesus is the one who can bring us safe to the heavenly city.

[68:30] May he do that for every single person who's been listening to this. And may no one fall short of it. Amen. Well, we've thought about those solemn things, and they are solemn things, and I hope it was helpful.

[68:50] I really do hope that in a very deep sense. Maybe if you are a believing Christian in encouraging you and reminding all of us the things that are important that we ought to have our eyes on.

[69:03] Perhaps you've trembled at his word, and there's a blessing, isn't it, that God dwells with the one who trembles at his word. Maybe the covenant promises of God for his servants have excited you with their goodness.

[69:19] I hope so, and moved all of us to draw nearer to him. Or maybe the awfulness of the opposite prospect that was in those verses has scared you into the arms of God.

[69:34] God is strangely humble. You know, we ought to come to him because he is so superbly good. But he will welcome us with open arms, even if we come out of fear of the opposite.

[69:47] So this is the last opportunity, for a while at least, to hear what the Lord is saying through the prophet Isaiah. We started it, oh, I don't know how long ago, and it's been a long journey for us as a church, but a wonderful one.

[70:03] I really, myself, have appreciated the opportunity and the privilege, really, of serving you by going through this wonderful book and sharing it with other people.

[70:14] I had a really good time sharing this in Sri Lanka, you may remember, some months ago. Well, in a moment we're going to play out with another very Jesus-centred song, which Maria is going to lead us in.

[70:27] Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus. Set again to a contemporary tune. And thanks to Maria for doing the main vocals on this. So that's what will play us out.

[70:38] And let me say a prayer as we finish. Lord, how we thank you for a new and better way, the new and better covenant, and the great mediator of the new covenant.

[70:52] We thank you for the hope set before us, the hope that doesn't lead us into the temple or the tabernacle, but into heaven itself. May Jesus Christ, our great saviour, bring us all safely home.

[71:09] And now may grace and mercy and peace be with each one of us, through God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and forevermore.

[71:19] Amen. We're going to play out with 325, Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus. And until we meet again, it's goodbye from me.

[71:32] Bye-bye. Follow the deep, deep love of Jesus.

[71:47] For some measured boundless free. Rolling out a mighty ocean. In its fullness over me.

[72:02] Underneath me, all around me, is the current of your love.

[72:12] Leading onward, leading homeward, till your glorious rest above.

[72:23] Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus. Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus. All I need and trust is the deep, deep love of Jesus.

[72:41] Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus. Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus.

[72:54] Spread his praise from shore to shore. How he came to pay a ransom. Through the saving cross he bore.

[73:08] How he watches all his loved ones. Though he died to make his own. How for them he's interceding.

[73:24] Pleading now before the throne. All I need and trust is the deep, deep love of Jesus.

[73:35] All I need and trust is the deep, deep love of Jesus.

[73:47] All I need and trust is the pure love of Jesus. Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus. Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus.

[74:03] sing all the rest. It's an ocean full of blessing in the midst of every chest. Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus, mighty Savior, precious name.

[74:25] You will bring us home to glory where your love will never end.

[74:36] Oh, the deep, deep love, all I need and trust is the deep, deep love of Jesus.

[74:55] Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus. Thank you.