Isaiah, Chapter 30
Isaiah 30:18-21 · Vern Peterman · Jul 23, 2006
Isaiah, No. 28
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/48262357264178

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

in this 30th chapter of Isaiah. As we do so, we'll do as our pattern has been, and that is to look at the whole chapter in kind of a sweeping view, and then zero in on the particular passage that Josiah read for us. Once in a while, and it's going to happen here this next month, the whole chapter will be the focal point passage, and we'll look at all the verses. This morning, just these here before us. We want to be taking a look first at the summary view.

Isaiah chapter 30 warns the people of Judah, that's the southern kingdom, not to turn to Egypt for protection. The people of Judah were concerned, very concerned, and concerned for good reason, about the Assyrian attack. The problem was that they were inclined to say, where can we look on planet Earth for help? What resources can I call upon on planet Earth to get help in my current circumstance?

That's the problem. That's where they run into trouble. So, Isaiah was God's mouthpiece for warning them, you're headed for trouble. You know the on-ramp signs when you're headed for the wrong way on the on-ramp? Where it says, do not go here. Go back, you're going the wrong way. That's Isaiah's job. Go back, you're going the wrong way.

Here is kind of the space station view of the Middle East here. Here's Israel and Judah as we've got them boxed. They're also the world's focal point of tension even this very week, right? Assyria and Egypt are located on either side. Here is Assyria threatening on one side and so they're looking for help and they say we'll go down to Egypt and get some help. So now the people of Judah were told that Egypt would fail them and that Assyria would get its due as well. Egypt's not going to hold you up. It doesn't matter if you think Egyptians are cool. It doesn't matter if you think Egypt is a really cool country.

That's not what God has in mind. You don't look to Him for help. Judah would suffer for not trusting the Lord for protection. But, one of the focal point verse messages here is there is hope. Hope's coming. Even if you turn to Egypt for help, I will come and I will bring a time unparalleled in all of history. The Lord says, I will come and lead and guide and protect and direct. There are some interesting things we want to point out before jumping into our focal point passage.

Isaiah 30, verse 6 lists several animals. So if you find this interesting. the zoo of Judea, if you will. Here are four wild, and the last two are beasts of burden. Why the animals? What would happen here is that the people of Judah would send from their leadership some delegates to go down to Egypt with some animals to carry payoff gifts to say, Egypt, would you please come help us by fighting for us against the Assyrians? That was their plan. in crossing that desert, they would encounter these animals, and they would take animals with them. That's what he's talking about here. He said, as you're going across here, you need to realize that heading down to Egypt is dangerous.

You're going to encounter the lioness and the lion. You're going to encounter the viper and the flying serpent. Now, the New American Standard has this translated from Seraph Ooph, and Ooph sounds like somebody slugged you in the gut, but no, it's not what it is. It is a flying serpent, or in the King James, a fiery flying serpent, which is actually closest. And NIV has just simply darting snakes.

Isaiah was writing about a situation here in this desert, and he was intending to convey a dangerous animal, very similar to the viper. Remember, this is the Hebrew poetic pattern where they'd have pears, lion and lioness, similar. the viper, and what is more likely here, a cobra. Why would that be significant in this context? It would be significant because in Egypt, what was the symbol of power? The cobra. And here we see on the head piece of the Egyptian ruler, this cobra there next to it. And just to make clear here, see those? Those are not Egyptian chickens. Those are vultures. Okay? All right.

All right, the next thing he mentions after going through the dangerous animals are the beasts of burden. You got the young donkeys here, and then the next beast of burden there was the camels. And between the two, they would carry both negotiators with Egypt, as well as carrying the payoff goods to hopefully entice Egypt to help. Well, these first four that are mentioned are a danger to those traveling down to Egypt to negotiate, and the next four are in danger because not only are the people going down there at risk because of this risky venture, but also the animals that they're riding are an attraction to the threats that are there. This is a not only unwise spiritually move, It is also, pardon me, it is also an unwise move because it is both dangerous and costly. Alright, now, something else in verse 8, the Lord tells Isaiah, now go and write it on a tablet before them and inscribe it on a scroll. that it may serve in the time to come as a witness forever.

See, they didn't have books like we have with a bound edge. So the ways of writing a book were, as we see here, a scroll, that was one form, or a clay tablet on which you inscribed. And so this would be, for example, the Isaiah scroll out of the Dead Sea Scrolls. That's exactly what we're reading here. and this would be sort of the equivalent of an Assyrian post-it note. So these would be the things the Lord is saying, write it down.

There is a distinction here. If we look to this Egyptian symbolism, the Egyptians looked at it this way. When the Egyptian priests wrote something down about the future, it was looked upon as magically bringing about that future prophecy. So they looked upon the writing as the power The difference here is the Lord is saying, record this for the future, but the Lord is the power, not the Egyptian priests.

They're not making it happen. The Lord is. All right. These four verses are going to reveal some aspects of God's character. This is the God who doesn't change. He keeps telling the people, I, the Lord, do not change. They'll also reveal the nature of God's blessings for Israel. We're going to note the distinctions there. And one of the key distinctions that we'll keep seeing is that if they will obey Him, the Lord will bless them. This is true of Israel. If they will obey, the Lord will bless. Deuteronomy 28 summarizes that. The first 14 verses give the blessings. The rest of the chapter, verses 15 through 68, Give the curses. All right.

Now, as we proceed through this chapter here, we're going to see what Isaiah reveals about God's character. We'll also see about how those of us in the church are blessed differently than Israel and the difference that that makes. Let's take a look here. One of the things that we are continuing to point out is that the Lord put in place three main people groups.

The Gentiles, which began from the very creation of Adam and Eve, and then branching off from that, Israel. These two are ethnic distinctions, right? These are earthly ethnic distinctions. The church is a heavenly people made up ethnically of Jews and Gentiles, but without any earthly ethnic distinction.

Important to see the difference. What we're going to see in this passage is looking at a time when all three of these groups will focus upon Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior. Israel will be the primary point that Isaiah will be making. We'll be looking at that and then looking at the church and seeing the distinctions in the way the Lord has dealt with each of those two groups of people.

Here's the passage. This is during the reign of Christ upon the earth that these verses are set. Verse 21 tells how the people of Israel, those who we call the Jews today, will know God's will when they see the Messiah face-to-face. It won't be a, here's a book, read this. They will see the Lord Jesus Christ face-to-face. They themselves. We'll take a look at how we who believe, who are now in the church by God's doing, can know God's will in these present days. Until that day when we see the Lord face-to-face ourselves. Now, how are we going to do this?

We're going to take a look at the Holly Hills Bible Church time machine. That's parked next to the Anderson's band, if you want to take a look. Now, the time machine says this, this Isaiah 30, 18 through 21 period is a time that is ahead of us here, known as the time from the second coming for 1,000 years following, the millennial kingdom. There is a time that's described in part earlier in the chapter, in the seven year tribulation period, right before that, immediately before that.

Just so we don't get disoriented, we're about here. And you could slide that a little closer to the end and I wouldn't mind. Okay. Now, one of the things we're going to do here is to step through this verse by verse, one verse at a time. All right. So, this is amazing but true. I want you to hold your seats. Don't get too excited. But we're going to start here. How about that? The first verse.

Verse 18 says this, The Lord longs to be gracious to you. This portion of this verse, verse 18, tells about God's inherently gracious character. The Lord longs to be gracious. Why? Because He is gracious. That's His character. That's who He is. Psalm 114 says to Israel, the Lord is gracious and compassionate. We have a couple more references there in Psalms and Joel that says basically the same thing. The Lord is, by character, gracious and compassionate. That is His nature and He's not skimpy about it. He is infinitely gracious and compassionate.

Israel's blessings, however, are conditional. What do we see in here? The Lord longs to be gracious to you, but it depends on you. The Lord longs to be gracious to you, but you have to make the first move. That's what Israel was told, right? Psalm 123 here in verses 2 and 3 says, So our eyes look to the Lord our God until He is gracious to us.

Be gracious to us, O Lord, be gracious to us. and asking, looking to the Lord for those things. Guess what? When we went through Ephesians, and by the way, that's getting to be over a couple of years back now. When we went through Ephesians, there was this verse here in Ephesians chapter 1.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished on us. Here is the Lord's grace. The Lord's grace is infinite. The Lord's grace is endless. He is the source of all grace entirely. And God was not skimpy about it. God was not cheap when it came to showing us that grace. It says here that He lavished, or in the King James, He hath abounded.

The idea is overflowing. If you hadn't pictured in mind something like in Niagara Falls of grace, that wouldn't be too out of range at all. Massive amount of grace. But that's just a start. You look at Ephesians 2, and we've pointed this out here because here we see the riches of His grace phrase again. Surpassing riches of His grace.

Overthrown. Over the top. This is not just a home run. This is a ball that's gone into orbit. It is incredible, massive grace. As Crystal sang for us here earlier, it is amazing grace. And if it isn't amazing, we don't understand it yet. It is phenomenal grace.

Here's Isaiah 30.18 again. He waits on high to have compassion on you. This is part of the characteristic of God's expression of compassion and grace to Israel. Remember, it's conditional.

If we recall Isaiah chapter 6, here is when Isaiah went into the heavenlies and saw the Lord Himself. Isaiah had been there. This is where the Lord waited on high to have compassion on Israel. Right there where Isaiah was in chapter 6. In the Lord giving the Sermon on the Mount, and the Sermon on the Mount was given to whom? to the Jews in Israel, right? And so what does he say? He makes this statement here in Matthew 6, 14 and 15. If you forgive others of their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.

How would you like that? Anybody like to volunteer for that? Like that arrangement? Does that suit you well? It's the Sermon on the Mount. It's consistent with the way the Lord had set things up with the Jews and Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount was simply continuing that message. But for the church, scripture paints a very different picture. Here's Colossians 3, 12 and 13. You also have this, just to make note for our guests, here's the page number on the handout. All those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on the heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving each other. That's forgiving each other so you can be forgiven? No. Whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord, what's the tense?

Forgave you. You forgive not in order to be forgiven, but because you are forgiven. Huge distinction. For Israel, In Isaiah's time, the message is, you forgive, then you can be forgiven. The Lord waits to have compassion on you. For the church, the Lord has already forgiven you. The Lord has already shown compassion on you. Therefore, your behavior follows, logically, out of what the Lord has already done. Not waiting for you to take the first step.

Ephesians 4.32 mentions the same idea there. We are not called upon to forgive in order to be forgiven. That's for Israel. We are forgiven and therefore are called upon to forgive. Alright. Then he says he waits on high here. This is a brief set of words. It sets Israel's position apart from ours in the church. This set of words goes like this. It says, He waits on high in order that He might have this compassion on you.

However, we have already, because of the Lord's compassion, remember while we were dead in our trespasses and sins? The Lord died for us. While we were dead in our trespasses and sins, we were raised. All these things were done in advance, not waiting for us to take the move, but God took the first move.

We've been seated with Christ there in the heavenlies, there in His presence. We find out about that after the fact. The Lord does not say if. The Lord is not waiting on high. It's a done deal for us in the church. Important things for us to count upon.

For the Lord is a God of justice. Here's another declaration of God's character. God, and this is one reason why we study this and we ask, is this a statement that is true of just Israel, or is it a statement in this case, this is true of God for all time, isn't it? It is God's character, statement of fact for all time because it is His character. We can take this and believe it. For the Lord is a God of justice. He is characteristically just. Ultimately, God's justice will prevail. We frequently can get really uptight and upset as human beings about justice not happening before our very eyes.

But the Lord lays it out here. He ultimately, in the broad sweep of things, is the one who is in charge. And He does not overlook any injustice between the cross Daily life here up to the time of the end. All things will ultimately be dealt with. All things. The Lord doesn't just say, oh, Jews will be Jews. Right? The Lord doesn't say, oh, well, who can do anything about it? No. He is the One who does something about every injustice.

No injustice ever at any time will be overlooked except those injustices. for which Jesus paid the price. If I call upon the Lord's movement against those injustices, thankfully, the Lord Jesus Christ takes the price of those injustices upon Himself. It's important for us to recall that and to see that because in our daily lives there is a great deal of injustice. There is a lot to get ticked off about, isn't there? But how important for us to recognize that the Lord has been, or is now, or will be dealing with every single injustice. And those are in His hands, not ours. Now, how blessed are all those who long for Him.

The Hebrew word here has the idea of waiting, which of course King James carries across. The view here that Israel is to have expressed is shown in Lamentations 3, 25 and 26. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the Lord. This is Israel's place, isn't it?

They wait for the Lord to take, you know, action, but they look to the Lord for that. For us, we count on the Lord's goodness. We count upon the Lord's already having acted on our behalf. Here in Ephesians 1, 3-4, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing.

What's the tense? Past tense. Done deal. Already accomplished. Where? In the heavenly places. Where is Israel waiting to be blessed? They're waiting on the Lord to bless them, if, on the earth. For us in the church, there's no waiting. It's already a done deal. It's past tense. How many blessings? A certain percentage? A significant portion? Every. Every spiritual blessing. And where is it? In the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus. There where we're seated with Him. There where we are in Him. Philippians 3, 20 and 21, for our citizenship is not in Israel, not Jerusalem, in heaven, from which we eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, as we step into the next verse here, this is the godly Jew of Isaiah's day and those of the tribulation period to come. Look to Jerusalem as their heart's home. And you may have a sense of that. There's a certain place that each of us kind of have here on planet Earth. We say, well, this is home to me. But ultimately, Isaiah is making a point here. For the godly Jew, Jerusalem is their heart's home. That's the city that matters. It's not just A place to have citizenship. It's the place to have citizenship. And this was answered for a time during the various years in which Israel, at moments and at times, turned to the Lord, ultimately to be answered during this coming time when the Lord reigns on planet Earth for this thousand-year reign.

Now, we're going to set this in Hebrew poetry pattern. You have it also in your handout there on page 3. And we're going to take this verse and set it out with that Hebrew poetry pattern. And we've marked this off as we typically do here. You can pick whatever symbol helps you.

The Hebrew poetry pattern is to show the ways in which the Hebrews would speak where they would restate things or rhyme with meanings. and use that kind of language. For example, all the Lord has given you, and so here's the pair, the bread of probation and the water of oppression. Or here's another one, he your teacher will no longer hide himself, but, kind of a mirror image pattern, your eyes will behold your teacher. Now, looking at these, the King James has adversity and affliction.

When they say bread, are they talking about something in a plastic bag over on the store shelf? No, they're thinking of the, what's the Jewish bread? This flat matzo most likely, and water. This is water from probably the time of Isaiah or possibly before. Water cup. This is prisoner food, isn't it? Bread and water. That's what you get. It's prisoner food.

So he pairs those things up together in this passage. And just so you know, let's get some cultural background. This is how we've gotten a lot of these in our own culture. Now you know where all these commercial names come from, right? Okay. You can laugh that off and we'll move on. Okay. Now, Deuteronomy 4.

Remember, this is 700 years before Isaiah was around, right? Moses was telling them this, when you are in distress, the Hebrew is tsar. I imagine the Russian Jews had a lot of fun with that one. Distress is tsar, okay? Translated privation or adversity there.

All these things have come upon you. In the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God. Has that happened yet? Still coming. Isn't that amazing? This, folks, is 3,400 years ago, still yet to happen. But it will happen. And it's talking about the exact same time that Isaiah is writing about, that we're studying this morning. You will listen to his voice. For the Lord your God is what? What are we reading in Isaiah? A compassionate God. It's because of the Lord's compassionate character, the Lord will be faithful.

Now right now, Israel's having a tough time, isn't it? A very tough time. It will come to a point where they will finally recognize and realize the Lord is their only salvation. Things are that desperate. And they will come to a place of recognizing that the Lord is indeed their only salvation, and He is the One. They will, at that point, listen to His voice. They will return to the Lord. And that will be the time of the Lord's returning.

Here we see there, "...but He, your Teacher, will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher." This is the only place in the Old Testament that I could find where this phrase, your teacher, ever shows up. Isn't that interesting? The closest I could find to it is Job 36.22. It is written, Behold, your God is exalted in His power. Who is a teacher like Him? And so Isaiah has picked a very select and unique phrase here. Something interesting, in the Hebrew, this word teacher means one who points out. Following on the idea of like an arrow the Lord is an arrow This way this way a pointing out. What's true?

This verse says that the coming of the time when Christ will reign upon the earth the godly people of act of Israel will actually and truly See God, their teacher. He will be in the person of Jesus Christ. This, by the way, is in contrast to my rabbi friend who said, oh, he will just be a human descendant of David. No, he will be God. This is the verse in Isaiah that says so. You will see your teacher. And this will be the long-awaited Messiah, the one anticipated by Job, where he says, and my eyes will see him.

All right, Zechariah 14 points out this, then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations. This is but a small sampling we're seeing in the news this last few weeks. There will be multiple nations come against Jerusalem. And the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations that oppose Israel at the end of the tribulation period, as when he fights on a day of battle, in that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives. which is in the front of Jerusalem to the east, then the Lord my God will come and all His holy ones with Him. Will it be the Lord Himself? Yes. It will be the Lord Himself. I'm afraid I have to disagree with my rabbi friend. That it will be the Lord Himself. That's what this verse is telling me. Not only that, what did the Lord say in Acts chapter 1?

Look at this. And they also, this is the disciples listening to the angels that were standing there. Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? So imagine the disciples watching Jesus, and it's like, when do we stop looking, you know? And so here they are, stunned.

He says, this Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven. The Mount of Olives. You've seen Him go up here. He will return just like you saw Him leave. Where? From the Mount of Olives. Where is He going to return? What's the verse right above it? To the Mount of Olives. Right there, folks. Him. That one.

And it will be the Lord. It will be God Himself. Jesus Christ the Messiah. Our Lord and Savior. Here's looking south towards the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in Israel. This area over here is the Mount of Olives. That is where he will return. Here is the Dome of the Rock off to the right, the location where the third Jewish temple will be rebuilt. He will come across that valley there into Jerusalem, but he'll land on the Mount of Olives.

This word teacher here, the Lord is Israel's teacher, teaching Israel the things that they're supposed to know. But what about us in the church right now? How are we supposed to learn? If Israel will have the Lord as their teacher, who do we have as a teacher now? Let's take a look at that. Remember Ephesians 4, 20-24? But you did not learn Christ in this way. Zeroing in on that verse a little bit more.

Paul is aware of the level of spiritual understanding of these people. He spent three years with them. And these words, learn and heard, were written with directness to the believer in Christ. It wasn't, you just learned about Christ, but you learned from Him personally. Okay? Now, how'd that happen?

The words taught and truth are both in. We're taught truth as one seated in Him. You weren't just taught and stuck it in here. You learn truth as one who is in Christ and seated with Him. It is by God's doing. 1 Corinthians 1.30 It's by God's doing you're in Christ. It is there where you are learning. It's there where you're seated in the heavenlies. That's where the learning takes place. The fact that it happens here in some of these rooms at the church building physically is incidental. You're learning from the Lord. That's the key message here. You didn't learn Christ.

That word is manthano. It's the verb form we get our word disciple from. It means to learn it with deep knowledge. In the church, are there disciples? Yes. But they're not disciples of any person. They're disciples of Christ. Christ is the one who's doing the teaching. The twelve disciples, yeah, they walk with the Lord physically.

In the church, were to behold him directly through his word and thus grow from glory to glory. This word disciple was used throughout the four Gospels and in the book of Acts. It was used of both those who were disciples of Christ in a Jewish sense as well as those who were in the church. But, interestingly after well over 200 times, at the end of Acts, it is completely cut off.

And now what we have instead is this word manfano, to learn as a disciple. And what we find is that this word is used often, this verb form is used often, it's connected up with Christ teaching us as a disciple. Isn't that amazing? There's the pattern, an amazing pattern.

The Jewish usage of disciple typically meant that one followed a man. That's the way the Jews looked at it, and they would call their leader a rabbi, right? The church saints, we can mistakenly do that too, can't we? We can make the error of following a person. Some of the denominations names have people because they followed a person.

Paul is, however, revealing God's intent in Ephesians 4. Christ is the one from whom we are to learn and be taught. He Himself. So in this coming time when the Lord will reign in Israel over the Jews, will they learn from Him? Yes. Are we to wait until then to learn from Him? No. We're to be learning from Him now. Anyone else that's involved in that process is just a vessel. We're learning from the Lord, folks. We're learning from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

Paul lays out there, these words translated learn and heard are in the active voice. Isn't that interesting? It's not a, hey, just sit down and I'll learn you. But instead, it is active. We learn and heard. Actively is the way he lays it out there, okay? Not passively. Actively. Being taught, however, wasn't a passive voice, since the believers are being taught by a person who is gifted to the church body.

That's the way Ephesians 4.11 puts it. By the way, this word heard, not this kind of heard. Not that kind. None of those. Okay. But we have a question for you. Now you're confused by all the moose. Alright? We have a question for you. The question is this.

Should we at Holly Hills have everybody pursue a CHD? Would you like a CHD? Should we have everybody here pursue one? Get a CHD. Does the Lord have in mind that we just stuff our brains with information about Jesus? Is that what he has in mind? Should we pursue the CHD?

You see, being Christ's disciple is a learning process. but he is the one that is our discipler. He is the one of whom we're being discipled. It's not intended to be just academic. Very important for us to get underscored in our minds. This is not simply an academic process.

Learning of Christ is being filled with the word of Christ. It's not apart from intimate fellowship with him. but is integrally tied with intimate fellowship with Him. It is also not apart from the church body. Learning of Christ is intended to be done in the church body as well.

It is not packing our head. It is not just going to school. It is learning from Him through the means and the instruments that He's given. God does not want us to just pack our brains, fill our head to the max. That's not the point. The Lord has given us people who equip the body spiritually, not just intellectually. Certainly, there's a lot to be challenged with, but that's not the ultimate point, is it? The ultimate point is beholding Him. The ultimate point, He is our Disciple.

The things that we learn aren't just supposed to be enhancements to our gray matter. It's not a matter of, do I know a lot of Bible stuff? It's, are we learning of Him? Are we learning from Him? That's the question. Our biblical learning, if it is to be of any value at all, has to do always with personal relationship with Christ.

We're beholding Him through His Word. Isaiah 30, 18-21, notice, "...but your eyes will behold your Teacher." Your ears will hear a word. We've noticed before, and we'll see again in Isaiah, that he pairs up the seeing and hearing, and he does so here as well. Here, he says, "...but your eyes will behold your Teacher."

During this thousand year reign of Christ on the earth, the people of Israel will be looking at the Lord their Messiah. Will you and I be there? Yeah, we'll be there too. But we who are in the church will return with Christ in resurrected bodies, like our Lord's. We will have already spent, in earth measure, seven years with Him. We'll behold Him, but we'll have a different relationship.

And that is one reason why you'll see us rather stepping aside from hymns that say, Christ is our King. Is He a King? Absolutely. Is He our King? No. We have a different relationship with Him. We're seated with Him. Very different. We will wait, however, until we see Him face-to-face.

In 2 Corinthians 3.18, But we all, with unveiled face, that is, not beholding through the law, beholding as in a mirror, that is God's Word, the glory of the Lord, are being transformed. The Lord is indeed the one that we're beholding. Not just words, not just intellectual thoughts, but the Lord of glory himself. Hebrews 12, 1 and 2 puts the focus this way. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith. Fixing our eyes on him. Later? Then? Certainly. Are we waiting? No. Now. Right now, fixing our eyes on Jesus.

Remember Ephesians 3.14? This is getting back several years now.

This 3.14 says it this way, The upward call in the culture was what the victors got to come and get their prize. That's what Paul is referring to here.

We're looking towards coming face to face with the Lord. He will reward us. He's longing to do so. And that reward is not just stuff, but a capacity to glorify Him. Here in this last verse, your ears will hear a word behind you, this is the way, walk in it. Whenever you turn to the right or to the left.

Now what's going to happen, the Lord is going to give explicit moral guidance to the Jews during this coming period. Right now, It's hard to see that they're responding to anything that the Lord has been telling them. They're getting in all kinds of trouble over there in Israel, and the ones that are around the rest of the world are having a tough time too.

This will be a time when they listen to the Lord. They will get explicit direction from the Lord. If you look here in Jeremiah 31-33, but this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days declares the Lord. I will put my law within them and on their heart I will write it and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Here's Israel's blessings in Deuteronomy 28. Look at the if. Now, it shall be if you diligently obey the Lord your God. being careful, all these blessings in verse 2 will come upon you. The last verse, verse 14 in this section, and do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today to the right or to the left to go after other gods to serve them. Right or to the left means what? It means other gods.

So staying on the path and going straight, that means following the Lord. So the Lord is going to give him explicit direction. No, don't follow after that God. No, don't follow after that God. Go straight, follow me. That's the direction He's going to give him. So that's what this verse here is conveying. Here in this passage, we look at it and we see how the Lord is going to guide Jews during this reign of Christ.

Christian believers, however, Should not look for this. We should expect something quite different. We have in scripture spelled out for us God's sovereign will. Things that are irreversibly fixed in place. Remember where we said there, you've been blessed with every spiritual blessing. That is fixed in place. That's not a, hey that might happen or it'd be awful nice. It's fixed in place. It's a done deal.

God's moral will is revealed in Scripture. We looked at that recently at the end of the last several chapters in Ephesians and the last part of Colossians. It is intended to describe the life of Christ, not to give us a Christian law. God's individual will consists of making wise decisions in the midst of the guidance that the Lord has given us. Godly wisdom, not worldly wisdom. Let's take a look at this first one here.

God reveals his sovereign will to us through scripture, lays that out, because he loves us. I don't know why, but he does, inexplicably. His sovereign will is those things that are firmly set in place can't be changed, and that's a good thing. Words that are revealed to us are pushed to the limits to describe the awesome blessings that we have in Christ. There's no question about that.

The next one is God's moral will that's revealed. And so the question here is, God's moral will, are we supposed to just make it a Christian law? Is that God's intent? Do we carry around this big rock called the Christian law? God has revealed His moral will in Scripture. He told the Ephesians, you guys that are stealing, stop it. He laid that out.

But the description here is not to be carried out in our own strength. The description of what is God's moral will is not ours to do. It is not ours to carry out. The moral imperatives of the New Testament written for the church are the description of what the life of Christ looks like lived out in us.

Big difference. The analogy we use here is the hand inside the glove is what gets the work done. We're the glove, he's the hand. How does the hand behave? is really the question. How does the Lord Jesus Christ behave living through us? That's what's being described, not the external behavior for us to try to carry it out.

They are the logical outworking of our position in Christ. Finally there, God's individual will consists of making these wise decisions. God revealed His sovereign will. God revealed His moral will. And then the application of godly wisdom in our daily lives comes down to what is God's will individually for you and me.

The key thing to see here is this is not a fork in the road kind of a decision. The Lord is not laying that out in front of us. The Lord isn't wanting to play some cosmic guessing game. and have you say, okay, are you going to turn right to the left? Pick one. Ah, you got the wrong one! No, the Lord is not doing that.

So what does the Lord want us to do? He's got some weird behavior He wants us to carry out in order to find His will? Is there some magic trick that I've got to come up with? You see, it's a matter of, I think, first of all, getting straight that the Lord isn't doing things in such a way that we should be asking the question, what do I have to do in order to get God off my back and I can get on with life? Or, how do I have to do this or that magic thing in order to get the Lord to just put me on a smooth, straight path until this life is done?

No hassles. How do I make that happen? It is easy for us to get the idea that we're supposed to do some gimmick. Is there some trick? What kind of special thing do I do? So anyway, if you see Randy back there in the polemics class, and everybody's doing this, you'll understand why.

No. There is not some gimmick that the Lord is saying, oh, if everybody will do this, this little gimmicky, tricky thing, if you just follow steps one, two, and three. Or I could say, if you'll just buy my book, I'll give you the easy path, five steps, and you're there. No. That's not what the Lord has in mind. What does the Lord want? What is the Lord actually asking for?

His intent is that we're occupied personally with Christ, not just intellectually, personally with Christ. Actively walking by faith in Him every day. It's dependence upon Him, not faith as a work. Resting in who we are in Him. by His doing, by what He's accomplished. That's what God has in mind. Nothing about this, the daily walk, the fellowship, is at all in conflict with those choices of individual will. The Lord is not wringing His hands hoping you'll buy the blue Chevy instead of the red one.

Okay? Which fork in the road that we walk isn't really God's first priority at all. Does it matter? Oh yeah, it matters, but it's not the first priority. Walking in fellowship with him along the path, whichever path that is, that's most certainly his concern. You see, the most important fork in the road is the one we don't see. Will I walk in dependence upon him and fellowship with him? That is the important fork in the road. That's the one we don't see, but that's the one that really counts.

When we went through Philippians in chapter 3, Paul had just set aside as useless the law, and he put instead a focus upon knowing Christ. Not eventually, certainly that's of great value and we should be looking forward to the time when we see Him. But by faith, walking with Him and knowing Him one moment to the next.

Let's pray. Lord, as we look at this passage, we see how You intend to, after centuries, and even in this very week watching the news, we can see the conflict setting up for that time when You will come and show Israel that You are their sole Redeemer. And as the tension mounts, Lord, so even more our anticipation of your coming, but the recognition as well of the walk that we have for you and how vital and important that is. That with all the events and activities, with all the things that are demanding and urgent in every day, to know you, to walk with you, to fellowship with you, to behold you, to gaze upon you, in that wonderful place where we're blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. With you. In you. In Jesus' name. Amen.