Our reading is from Isaiah chapter 11, a prophetic oracle that we'll be looking at.
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his root shall bear fruit,
and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord,
and his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.
And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together, and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together,
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hands on the others then.
They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples,
of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time,
to recover the remnant that remains of his people,
from Assyria, from Egypt, from Paphros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath,
and from the coastlands of the sea.
He will raise a signal for the nations, and will assemble the banished of Israel,
and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart, and those who harass Judah shall be cut off.
Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
But they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west,
and together they shall plunder the people of the east.
They shall put out their hands against Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites shall obey them.
And the Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt,
and will wave his hand over the river with his scorching breath,
and strike it into seven channels.
And he will lead people across in sandals.
And there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant that remains of his people,
as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.
Now, Watermark is a great church, but sometimes it feels a bit unusual,
because many people are wealthy and successful.
In many countries, and many times in history, the church looks very different.
It was made up of the poor, the marginalized, slaves, women,
who have always been a big part of the church.
Why? Because the Bible is about hope.
The Bible story is about hope, that God will make everything right.
But hope is only appealing for the hopeless, the desperate, those without power,
while those with a good life are often not very open.
Maybe some of you know that, because that's how you came to faith.
It was some kind of crisis.
Maybe you lost someone or something, and something happened,
and you faced hopelessness.
And that is when the gospel came to life.
Sometimes even on a national level, like the revival in Korea.
So, the church has grown so much,
but a lot of that had to do with the Japanese occupation,
and the Korean War.
And so today, as we're looking at the prophetic books of the Bible,
especially we'll look at hope,
because if you were here last week, Israel needed it.
And the story of the Bible is how God will make the world right.
It was perfect, but then we sinned,
and everything fell apart.
But God made promises to Israel,
and slowly over the past few weeks,
which, well, we covered hundreds of years,
they were almost there.
They almost reached the fulfillment under Solomon.
It was so wonderful.
But then, as we heard last week,
Solomon sinned, and everything fell apart.
His kingdom split in two.
And then 200 years later,
the north went into exile by the Assyrians,
and then 130 years later,
the south went into exile by the Babylonians.
And you can imagine the hopelessness of the people.
We were so close,
but now everything's falling apart.
God, what are you doing?
God, what is happening?
Most people are gone,
and a lot are dead,
and the rest are now slaves in a foreign country.
It was the greatest crisis the people had ever faced,
and they needed to hear from God.
And that is what God did.
He spoke to them.
He sent prophets.
Now, before we look at them,
just a little introduction,
so we know about prophets and how to read them.
First, today we're going into a very different section of the Bible.
So far, we've mainly looked just at the history,
and the first few books of the Bible
is basically one continuous history,
all the way from Genesis to Nehemiah.
But today, we're not looking at history.
We're looking at the prophets.
And we divide the Old Testament usually into four sections,
the law, history, wisdom, and prophets.
But it's not like this came after the history.
Actually, it came at the same time.
It's not sequential.
It's the same time as, yeah, like two kings, basically.
These incredibly significant events we talked about,
the exile of Israel,
the exile of Judah,
and then 70 years later,
they returned to the land.
And these were major disasters
when people needed God's words.
And so the prophets,
they span about 300 years,
maybe from 740 BC Amos
to 440 BC Malachi,
something like that.
At the same time,
it is a new stage in God's plan.
That's why we're talking about it.
Not just in one book,
but across all the prophets,
God reveals a new stage of his plan.
And so, yeah, today,
in a way, I'm covering about 25% of the Old Testament.
It's quite a lot.
So we will look at multiple books.
But what do prophets do?
In some way, they're heralds.
They're spokesmen from God, right?
They say,
Thus says the Lord,
and this is God's message.
But what do they say?
Often people think prophets,
they foretell the future.
They predict the future.
I mean, they talk about future events,
but that's not really what they are doing.
What do prophets do?
They explain the covenant.
Some people call them covenant watchdogs,
or covenant enforcement mediators,
or something like that.
But to do with the covenant,
they remind people of the covenant.
People are struggling.
What is happening?
And they say,
Well, remember the law of Moses.
Remember the covenant.
So, you know,
there's an Assyrian army outside Jerusalem,
and the people are wondering
what's going to happen.
And, well, the prophets,
they say,
Well, you've broken the covenant.
God should be at the center of your life.
And if you don't do that,
you face his curse.
And, well, you've been worshipping idols.
You've broken the covenant.
That's why there's Assyrians.
And if you don't repent,
they are going to destroy the city
and take all your stuff.
That's basically what they say.
So, it's not like they've had a vision of the future.
They're just explaining the covenant
in very creative ways.
But that's basically what they do.
I mean, silly illustration.
What happens if I let something go?
If I hold it and I let go,
well, you probably will tell me,
well, it's going to fall to the ground.
Now, have you just predicted the future?
Well, yeah, you have.
But that's not really what you do, right?
You haven't had a vision of that thing falling.
It's just you're explaining gravity.
What prophets, they do,
they explain the covenant.
They explain God's word
and apply it to their situation.
Which I think is interesting for the New Testament, right?
The gift of prophecy
is that about foretelling the future?
Or is it more about applying God's words?
We will not go there now.
But basically, they provide commentary
on what is happening.
Which is why it's good to know the history.
Because you can read the prophets in context.
And what is the main thing they're saying?
And they explain the covenant.
Well, what is the current situation?
As you've heard last week,
Israel was sinning.
They were turning away.
They were worshipping idols.
And so generally,
they just announce judgment.
And things are falling apart.
And the prophets say,
well, it's getting worse.
You're getting judged.
Sin has consequences.
And you've rejected God.
And so you face judgment.
Now, it depends a little bit
on when the prophets spoke.
Especially as they are approaching the exile.
Lots of sin and judgment.
So Jeremiah or Ezekiel,
the first half of the book,
is just hopeless judgment.
While, for example,
after they're back from exile,
it's slightly different.
But I'm not going to go into the judgment.
Because it doesn't really develop the story.
No, the prophets also remind the people
of other covenants.
Particularly the one with David.
As they are facing disaster and judgment,
the prophets remind them,
well, hey, God promised
that you would dwell in the land.
That you would have peace forever.
Under a king from David's family.
And so, most oracles,
they have to deal with David's family.
And that's what you see even in what we read.
Isaiah 1.
So Isaiah 11, verse 1.
There shall come forth a shoot
from the stump of Jesse.
It's how it started.
Now, Jesse was David's father.
So someone from David's family.
Right?
And almost every prophet does that.
They link the future to the Davidic king.
And yet it's not the same.
Yet God starts to reveal his full plan.
It's like there's a room
and it's been a bit dim
and we can't really see it.
And now God turns on the light
and he shows the full extent of his plan.
That's why the prophets are part of this storyline.
Unlike, for example, the wisdom literature.
Right?
Because slowly God is now going to build up
a picture of the full scale of what he's doing.
And I'm going to cover it quite comprehensively.
A lot of detail.
Not because this is a lecture.
But just seeing the scale of God's plan
is mind-blowing.
Breathtaking.
Right?
And the detail makes that out.
I mean, if you...
Someone says,
Okay, I've got a new phone.
It's the best phone ever.
How do you work that out?
Well, you look at the specs
and one by one,
Oh yeah, this really is the best phone ever.
And I think the prophets,
they say three big things.
There's the what,
the how,
and the who
of God's plan.
Okay.
So first the what.
And that is a full reversal
of the full.
God is doing a full reversal
of the full.
He said before
he will restore the kingdom.
But now it's explicit
we're going all the way
to the Garden of Eden
and further.
I mean, let's build up a picture.
First, of course,
I mean, the people are in exile,
so they need rescue.
So there's a return
from exile promised.
So in Isaiah 11,
verse 11,
In that day,
the Lord will extend his hand
yet a second time
to recover the remnant
that remains of his people
from Assyria,
from Egypt,
from Baphros,
from Cush, etc.
Verse 12,
He will raise a signal
for the nations
and will assemble
the banished of Israel.
And so he will bring
the people back.
And it's like
a second exodus,
right?
You heard a second time.
Look at verse 16.
And there will be
a highway from Assyria
for the remnant
that remains of his people
as there was for Israel
when they came up
from the land of Egypt.
So, yeah,
there's a return from exile
which is like
another exodus
with a big rescue
by God.
But this one
is so much bigger.
You remember
back then
they walked
through the Red Sea,
right?
God blew winds
and there was
this path
through the sea.
But now look
at verse 15.
And the Lord
will utterly destroy
the tongue
of the sea of Egypt
and will wave
his hands
over the river
with his scorching breath.
It's like
God will just,
he will just dry
up the Red Sea
completely.
This is like
a complete
final rescue
to bring them
back to the land.
So it's much bigger.
Peace, right?
Their big promise
was that they would
have peace
and no more disturbing.
Which is why
a lot of the prophets,
they have judgments
against foreign nations
that their enemies
are gone, right?
The main problem
for them was often
these other nations
that attacked them.
And so,
if God says
I'm going to get rid
of all the foreign nations,
that's in a way
wonderful, right?
It's safety.
And yet,
this peace
is so much greater.
I mean,
look at verse 6.
It's,
you know,
the wolf shall dwell
with the lamb
and the leopard
shall lie down
with the young goat
and the calf
and the lion
and the fattened calf
together
and a little child
shall lead them.
Right?
This is not just
foreign armies.
This is animals
have peace.
Right?
And, you know,
wolves and leopards,
they don't make
political alliances,
right?
They don't sign
peace treaties.
They,
you know,
they're naturally
predators.
And yet,
they're going to be
fully transformed.
So,
it's really like
the Garden of Eden.
Verse 9.
They shall not hurt
or destroy
in all my holy mountain
for the earth
shall be full
of the knowledge
of the Lord
as the waters
cover the sea.
It's going to be
a complete transformation.
The whole world
will know God
and no one
will fight anymore,
not even animals.
Isaiah,
he talks elsewhere
about a new creation.
I create new heavens
and a new earth.
So,
this is a worldwide
transformation.
It's not just,
yeah,
sometimes people
ping the prophets,
they talk about
a physical return
of Israel
as a nation,
but this is far
greater,
actually,
if you read it,
right?
It's a new creation.
And, of course,
there's blessing
like never before.
The mountains
will drip sweet wine
and the hills
will flow with milk
and the sower
will overtake the reaper.
There's so much harvest
that, yeah,
they're still reaping
but in the sowing time again.
One of the most amazing things
is that there's going to be
no more death.
I mean,
that was always
the ultimate curse,
right?
How did Genesis 2 start?
Well,
if you sin,
the day you eat of it,
you will die.
Death is always
the ultimate thing
and even under Solomon,
the people still died,
right?
But look at Isaiah 25,
6 to 8,
it's in the bulletin.
Isaiah 25,
look at what God promises here.
Isaiah 25, verse 6,
On this mountain
the Lord of hosts
will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food,
a feast of well-aged wine,
of rich food full of marrow,
of aged wine well refined.
It's not a poor existence,
right?
An incredible wedding banquet.
But then verse 7,
And he will swallow up
on this mountain
the covering that is cast
over all peoples,
the veil that is spread
over all nations.
He will swallow up death
forever.
And the Lord God
will wipe away tears
from all faces,
right?
People will live,
there will be no more death.
People will live forever.
And not just that people
won't die anymore.
26, 19, Isaiah,
it says,
Your dead shall live,
their bodies shall rise.
You who dwell in it,
dust awake.
So even people
who are currently dead
will come back to life.
Right?
That is what God is saying.
So it's really
a full reversal
of the fall.
A new creation.
No more death.
A full,
complete,
final rescue.
all the consequences
are solved.
So, you know,
their promises,
yeah,
it goes up and up and up
again beyond
the Garden of Eden.
And again,
that's so much grace,
right?
I mean,
who is this spoken to?
People in exile
for their idolatry
and sins.
People who deserve nothing
and God promises
them everything.
How would you feel,
right?
No more,
yeah,
transformed world.
No more death.
No more losing loved ones.
In fact,
your loved ones
are going to come back
from the dead.
This is such a wonderful thing.
At the same time,
it can feel so big
that it's kind of
hard to believe.
Right?
Israel is not doing well.
Everything's falling apart.
And then,
yeah,
not just everything,
God's plan seems to be
falling apart,
right?
God's kingdom.
And now God is saying
he's going to do
something so big.
I mean,
it's like,
it's completely the opposite
of their experience.
You know,
it's quite hard to believe,
right?
Remember,
two weeks ago,
I said,
yeah,
it's like a scale model
of a big building
to give you a preview.
But imagine someone
shows you a scale model
and it's falling apart,
right?
It's wobbly
and then it crashes
and then they tell you,
yeah,
please invest in the big thing
I'm doing.
You wouldn't have any confidence.
How can God do this
when his current plan
seems to not work?
What will guarantee it?
And that is the how.
It's because sin
will be fully dealt with.
Yeah,
the second big thing
God reveals,
yeah,
it goes together.
Sin will be fully solved.
The cause of the fall.
And if the cause
is fully solved,
so can the consequences be.
And it's really comprehensive.
First of all,
there will be a perfect
divine king.
We've seen already,
it is a king
who's going to help with sin.
Except that so far,
yeah,
all the kings have failed
because they were human
and they are sinful themselves.
But look at this king,
this shoot from the stump of Jesse.
Isaiah 11 verse 2.
And the spirit of the Lord
shall rest upon him,
the spirit of wisdom
and understanding,
the spirit of counsel
and might,
the spirit of knowledge
and the fear of the Lord.
And his delight
shall be in the fear
of the Lord.
He shall not judge
by what his eyes see
or decide disputes
by what his ears hear,
but with righteousness
he shall judge the poor.
Yeah?
So here's a king
who has wisdom
from the Holy Spirit
that no human king
has ever had.
And so he can rule perfectly.
He will bring perfect justice.
Right?
This oracle is linked
with Isaiah 9
which we always read
with Christmas.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace.
Basically,
God himself will be the king.
Alright?
There's no good human king
and so God says,
I will be the king.
God is perfect in power
and love
and justice
and everlasting.
And so,
he is the perfect king.
He can deal with sin.
But not just the king.
There will be a new covenant.
That's also in Isaiah
but the most famous passage
is in Jeremiah 31.
So Jeremiah 31,
verse 31.
Behold,
the days are coming,
declares the Lord,
when I will make
a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and the house of Judah.
Not like the covenant
that I made
with their fathers
on the day
when I took them
by the hand
to bring them out
to the land of Egypt.
So a new covenant
different from the one
when I came out of Egypt.
My covenant
that they broke
though I was their husband,
declares the Lord.
What was the problem
with the old covenant?
It could be broken
and they broke it.
I mean,
that's why the people
are in exile.
So the problem is
they have a covenant
that's conditional,
that involves law keeping
and that's the problem.
So instead,
this is the covenant
I will make.
I will put my law
within them
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God.
They shall meet my people.
They will all know me
for I will forgive
their iniquity
and I will remember
their sin no more.
And here is a new covenant
based on forgiveness
where God will no longer
act on sin.
Right?
And that's so wonderful
because sin was the problem.
Right?
But the covenant,
well the covenant was good
but it was a problem
for sinners
because it brought judgment.
But that will be different.
It's like
when you have a job
you can be on probation
and after your probation
you're on a permanent contract.
And so in theory
you then shouldn't
get fired anymore.
Except,
of course,
you still get fired.
But you know what I mean,
right?
On probation
versus permanent.
And that's so great
because when you're on probation
you need to perform
and if you don't perform
you will lose the job.
And so a permanent contract
is wonderful news.
But that's what God is offering.
I'm going to make
a permanent contract
with these people.
The only thing is
normally you get
a permanent contract
because you've been good.
and now God says
well I'm giving you
a permanent contract
because you've been terrible
and I don't want to have
to fire you again
and that's why you're getting
a permanent contract.
It's grace.
It's wonderful.
But yeah,
the judgment will be dealt with
because there's no more
law keeping
with punishment.
But how will they have
the law on their hearts
so deep inside?
Well they will have
new hearts
by the Spirit.
That's a big thing
in Ezekiel 36
verse 26.
The problem
as we saw
the past weeks
is our heart.
The human heart
is just full of idols
and sin
so we need new hearts
and that's what God says.
Ezekiel 36 26
And I will give you
a new heart
and a new spirit
I will put within you
and I will remove
the heart of stone
from your flesh
and give you
a heart of flesh
and I will put
my spirit within you
and cause you
to walk in my statutes
and be careful
to obey my rules.
He's going to give them
a new heart
by putting the spirit
inside them.
To be honest
this is quite humbling
right?
God has to
you know
how sinful
are we really?
Well the only
way that God
can think of
to stop us sinning
is that he comes
and lives inside us
and forces us
to obey him.
That's basically
what God is saying.
That's how sinful
we are.
Sin runs so deep
God has to come
and live inside you
to make you stop sinning.
That's how bad things are
but wonderfully
that's what he promises
he's going to give
the spirit
and so
not only will we have
an unbreakable covenant
by the spirit
people will no longer
sin.
Right?
So it is really
everything about sin
is going to be dealt with.
There's going to be
a perfect sacrifice
all through the Old Testament
there's sacrifices
they make atonement
and so there's going to be
a perfect sacrifice
Isaiah 53
I'm not going to go into it
because the next three weeks
as we approach the cross
we're going to look at that
but yeah
a perfect sacrifice
and for completion
Satan will be destroyed.
Right?
That's how things went wrong
in Genesis 3
remember Satan
tempting
did you remember Job
from last year
and Leviathan
well Isaiah 27
God says
he will punish Leviathan
he will slay the dragon
in the sea
right?
He will
deal with Satan
but you get the picture
right?
God will completely
and fully
deal with sin
the thing that
has always
got in the way
will be
sorted
and the thing is
God himself
will do it
no more human kings
he will be the king
no more us
fighting sin
he will be inside us
fighting sin
right?
no more our obedience
he will meet the demands
everything is God
doing it
by his grace
you know so far
we couldn't make
the world right
God said
I'll make the world right
as long as you
obey me
and we can't even do that
so God says
I will just do everything
I'll deal with the consequences
and the cause
I'll do it all
and isn't that
what we need
so much
right?
such good news
for Judah
suffering in exile
never again
will sin be a problem
that's so wonderful
so amazing
the only question is
well
for whom
if God does everything
and we nothing
well
who is it for
what qualifies you
and that is
I think
the third thing
that the prophets
talk about
the third big change
who is it for
well
partly
everyone
it's kind of
what you expect
right
I mean
if God's going to
make the whole world
right
it should be for
the whole world
right
you can't make
a new creation
in a little corner
it should involve
the whole world
and it does
it's not just Judah
first of all
the northern kingdom
is going to come back
and we saw that
in Isaiah
because
Ephraim
is another name
for the northern kingdom
and it says
Ephraim shall not
be jealous of Judah
and Judah shall not
harass Ephraim
they shall swoop
down on the
shoulder of the
Philistines in the west
and together
they shall plunder
the people of the east
so
north and south
are going to be
back together
again
and that was the
first
start of the downfall
when the kingdom split
and that's going to be
undone
north and south
will be back together
but also the nations
coming in
it's in Isaiah 11
but
you heard it especially
in Isaiah 25
right
who is this banquet
for?
for all peoples
and
death will be swallowed up
well
the veil that is cast
over all nations
right
it's for all nations
for Jews
and Gentiles
it was always the plan
back with Abraham
but in the prophets
it becomes very clear
they are fully included
they're not just
on the side
watching him
they're fully included
which is why
our church is here
right
because
I don't think
any of us
are Jews
we're all Gentiles
and yet
we're fully included
in God's people
so in some way
it's everyone
but
does it mean
everyone is just saved?
every human being ever?
no
actually
there is a change
especially
you see that
with Judah
because so far
God has dealt
with
the nation
right
they came out of Egypt
as a nation
they were blessed
under Solomon
as a nation
they went to the exile
as a nation
but in the prophets
God makes clear
I'm going to do it differently
I'm going to deal
with individuals
there's going to be
a division
you don't wonder
well
who are the people
God will save
and you might expect
him to say
well it's the most
righteous people
right
everyone who meets
the standard
but
yeah
you've seen the history
of Israel
there are no
righteous people
instead
it's everyone
who is repentant
everyone who is repentant
just listen to
what
God's people say
in Isaiah 64
starting at verse 5
you meet him
who joyfully
works righteousness
those who remember
you in your ways
behold
you were angry
and we sinned
in our sins
we have been a long time
and shall we be saved
we have all become
like one who is unclean
and all our righteous deeds
are like a polluted garment
we all fade like a leaf
and our iniquities
like the wind
take us away
verse 8
but now oh lord
you are our father
we are the clay
and you are our potter
we are all the work
of your hand
be not so terribly angry
oh lord
and remember not
iniquity forever
behold please look
we are all your people
yeah
you can hear it
they're not Pharisees
they are humble
and contrite
they know they've sinned
they know they don't
deserve anything
but they
they just appeal
to God's mercy
and that's the kind
of people that
God says
yeah these are the people
I esteem
the people I welcome
on the other hand
there's other people
and they
they continue to refuse
God
so next chapter
Isaiah 65
verse 2
I spread out my hands
all the day
to a rebellious people
who walk in a way
that is not good
following their own devices
a people who provoke me
to my face continually
sacrificing in gardens
and making offerings
on bricks
who eat pigs
flesh
verse 5
who say
keep to yourself
do not come near me
for I am too holy
for you
these are the smoke
in my nostrils
a fire that burns
all the day
and they're gonna get
judged
even worse judgment
than the exile
people who have
no interest in God
people who
continue to ignore him
and live their own way
so there's two groups
of sinners basically
but the difference
is repentance
one group repents
and they're accepted
and rescued
another group
keeps rejecting God
and they won't share
in the hope
which kind of makes sense
right
because we've seen
God will take care
of our sin
drastically
but it's only those
who know
they need that
who get it
but those who don't want
God to do it
either out of pride
or rebellion
they're not gonna benefit
right
so that's kind of
yeah
that's the third big change
so yeah
I altogether
I hope you see
these three big things
and they're
a massive change
right
a full reversal
of the fall
sin will be fully dealt
with
for everyone
who repents
now what do we do
with this
for I guess
it's all clear
right
I hope you recognize
this is the gospel
this is basically
the good news
of Jesus
that God saves us
from our sin
and we just need
to repent
that's basically
right
this is just exactly
the gospel
I mean I hope
today has really
just warmed your heart
seeing how much
God promises
how complete
is his solution
to sin
so amazing
such good news
right
everything is taken
care of
law
sin
judgment
Satan
everything is taken
care of
right
we often just think
gospel is just
Jesus died for my sins
but I hope you see
the gospel is far
greater
far more comprehensive
than that
and so this is really
really going to work
right
it's worth giving
your whole life to
and also I hope
it gives you
confidence
right
the bible is really
one book
the gospel is not
just in the new
testament
it's not just new
when Jesus comes
it's announced
in the old testament
when Peter and Paul
when they went around
preaching
they preached
from the prophets
to be honest
I think the new
testament adds
very little
that you can't
just find in the
prophets already
it's all here
and so
yeah
the whole
the prophets
are all about
the gospel
and actually
not just
the prophets
right
I hope in a way
you see
how everything
before the prophets
was just preparation
now last week
we covered
400 years of history
of Israel suffering
under the law
and ending up
in exile
but I hope you see
well they needed that
right
because hope
as we started
hope is for the hopeless
and so God
in a way
he got them to realize
their hopelessness
he made them realize
their sin
that they couldn't solve it
that's why
they were in that situation
so that they would
see their need
for Jesus
their need for God
to do it
just as he often does
for us
he brings us
to the end of ourselves
so that we turn to him
so it's a very simple
question for us
right
what is our hope
in us
and our efforts
I hope you will see
that fails
right
Israel tried
to save themselves
for 900 years
and they couldn't
we can't save ourselves
and God says
I'll do it
for you
I will take care
of everything
you just need to
admit your needs
your sin
I want to rescue you
it's like when you're
drowning
and God says
here take my hand
right
the right thing
to do is to grab
that hand
so God will pull you out
if you refuse
to grab the hand
because you are not
interested in being saved
or because you think
you can save yourself
yeah you will not be
rescued
you need to grab
God's hand
so will we do that
right
as we have this
great hope
will we confess
our sin
will we turn away
from ourselves
to God
will we say
please only you
can save us
and let him
do everything
because that is
how we should
respond
that is the people
God esteems
people who know
yeah they don't
deserve it
who know they
can't save themselves
that's how we
respond to the
wonderful work of
God
to the gospel
why don't we pray
father thank you
so much for
the incredible
love
seen here
and your great
promises
this new covenant
with everything
taken care of
a full reversal
of the fall
with sin
fully dealt
with
father help us
to want that
help us to know
we need it
and to know
that we need you
to do it
help us to turn
away from ourselves
turn away from
other things
to seek our only
hope
in you
to keep
holding on to you
to keep trusting you
to keep confessing
our sins
and holding on to you
because only you
can save
if we see this so
clearly
please
you know
our hearts are
deceptive
please keep
transforming us
please keeping us
close
that we might
walk with you
and live for you
in this great city
showing that
you are
the only savior
in Jesus name
we pray
amen
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you