WEBVTT 00:00:01.161 --> 00:00:04.891 Take your Bible and go over to the book of Isaiah, isaiah chapter 7. 00:00:04.891 --> 00:00:21.272 If you're new with us or you don't have a Bible, you can find a Bible in the pew in front of you and you'll get to the beginning of Isaiah, at page 600, and just move a few more pages in and you'll find Isaiah, chapter 7, isaiah, chapter 7. 00:00:21.272 --> 00:00:40.220 This morning we're going to enter into a new section of Isaiah and, if you'll bear with me for a moment, I'm going to set that up for us so we can dive into the particulars of the passage that's in front of us today, which will be all of chapter 7 and the first part of chapter 8. 00:00:40.220 --> 00:00:57.914 But as we come from chapter 6 into chapter 7, we enter into a new section of Scripture that runs from chapter 7 to chapter 12, which actually is the introduction to a large division of Isaiah that runs all the way to chapter 39. 00:00:57.914 --> 00:01:10.128 In this larger section from chapter 7 to 39, there are two kings that we're going to look at King Ahaz and King Hezekiah. 00:01:10.128 --> 00:01:13.576 We'll learn about Ahaz in chapter 7 to 12. 00:01:13.576 --> 00:01:17.224 We'll learn about Hezekiah when we get to chapters 36 to 39. 00:01:19.310 --> 00:01:28.030 When we looked at Isaiah 6 a couple of weeks ago, just before Thanksgiving we noted that Isaiah's call to ministry started when Uzziah had died. 00:01:28.030 --> 00:01:36.871 So King Uzziah passed away and Isaiah receives this vision of a call to be a proclaimer of God's word to the people of Judah. 00:01:36.871 --> 00:01:55.915 The very first verse of Isaiah mentions some of these kings, the vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw during the reigns of King Uzziah, jotham, ahaz and Hezekiah right. 00:01:55.915 --> 00:01:57.162 So four of them are mentioned. 00:01:57.162 --> 00:02:02.492 Only three of them do we learn anything about. 00:02:02.492 --> 00:02:04.843 In fact, we don't learn much about Uzziah at all. 00:02:04.843 --> 00:02:08.953 We learn more about Ahaz and we learn more about Hezekiah. 00:02:08.953 --> 00:02:31.915 Uzziah's son, jotham, reigned with Uzziah as a co-regent for a while and when Uzziah passed away, jotham took up the reins and after he passed away, his son Ahaz took the reins officially and then passed them off later to his son, hezekiah. 00:02:33.200 --> 00:02:40.234 This whole section that we're looking at, from chapters 7 to 39, are united by the theme of trust in God. 00:02:40.234 --> 00:02:43.889 We'll see the test of Ahaz's faith. 00:02:43.889 --> 00:02:49.564 We'll see the test of Hezekiah's faith in chapters 7 to 12 and 36 to 39. 00:02:49.564 --> 00:03:03.283 And in the middle are these oracles to the nations, and even to the people of Israel and Judah, about whether or not they would trust the living God, trust him so much that they would not act like the other nations. 00:03:03.283 --> 00:03:11.306 And if they don't, and trust the Lord, they will not receive the punishment that comes upon those nations. 00:03:11.306 --> 00:03:19.491 So these two bookends are very, very important markers about what that whole section is about. 00:03:21.256 --> 00:03:26.592 This morning we're going to look at least at the introductory part of Ahaz's test of faith. 00:03:26.592 --> 00:03:30.330 Later we'll look at Hezekiah's test of faith. 00:03:30.330 --> 00:03:36.293 But both of these men, ahaz and Hezekiah, are under pressure. 00:03:36.293 --> 00:03:48.662 They're under pressure from attacks of nations outside of Israel and Judah side of Israel and Judah. 00:03:48.662 --> 00:04:04.532 And Isaiah is presenting to these people and to these kings the vision that God has come to them in this time of testing, that this God, who is the Holy One of Israel, is great enough and wise enough and powerful enough and loving enough to be trusted. 00:04:04.532 --> 00:04:16.309 And if they could only grasp a hold of that, then, accepting this vision of the Lord God, there would be hope for them. 00:04:16.309 --> 00:04:32.706 But if they refuse this message under their times of pressure, they will bear the consequences of that unbelief and fall into the same condemnation and judgment as the nations that received the oracles in chapter 13 to 35. 00:04:32.706 --> 00:04:37.391 The question is will they listen? 00:04:37.391 --> 00:04:40.949 Will they listen to Isaiah's message? 00:04:40.949 --> 00:04:52.952 Will they heed the call to commit themselves and submit themselves to the Holy One of Israel, or would Isaiah's message fall on deaf ears? 00:04:52.952 --> 00:04:59.192 Would they have their eyes closed to this wonderful and welcoming message? 00:05:00.721 --> 00:05:17.237 So this morning, as we walk into chapter 7, we enter into this conversation that God has, through Isaiah, with Ahaz and ask ourselves what would we do in the times of pressure that come? 00:05:17.237 --> 00:05:28.980 What kind of testing will that bring to us, and where will we go for help that bring to us? 00:05:28.980 --> 00:05:29.882 And where will we go for help? 00:05:29.882 --> 00:05:32.507 Will we go to the living God or will we try to find some way forward on our own? 00:05:32.507 --> 00:05:36.964 Keep that in mind as we walk through this, because we'll touch that little by little as we go through. 00:05:36.964 --> 00:05:39.872 And the first thing I want us to notice is Ahaz's trouble. 00:05:39.872 --> 00:05:41.422 Ahaz's trouble. 00:05:41.422 --> 00:05:44.790 Take a look at chapter 7 and verse 1. 00:05:44.790 --> 00:05:48.098 This took place during the reign of Ahaz's trouble. 00:05:48.098 --> 00:05:49.019 Take a look at chapter 7 and verse 1. 00:05:51.819 --> 00:05:54.362 This took place during the reign of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah. 00:05:54.362 --> 00:06:03.014 Aram's king Rezin and Israel's king Pekah, son of Remaliah, went to fight against Jerusalem, but they were not able to conquer it. 00:06:03.014 --> 00:06:07.661 It's interesting how this story starts. 00:06:07.661 --> 00:06:12.833 It starts kind of like a news headline where it gives you a summary of everything that's happened already. 00:06:12.833 --> 00:06:19.016 You get right into the end and the detail is there of how the outcome is fixed. 00:06:19.016 --> 00:06:22.668 These people came against Jerusalem but they weren't able to take it. 00:06:22.668 --> 00:06:35.685 And in this summary we're introduced to some more kings and you're thinking okay, uzziah, jotham, ahaz, hezekiah Now I've got Rezin and I've got this other guy, pekah. 00:06:35.685 --> 00:06:39.880 Why can't they all just be called Bob Joe Sam, bill? 00:06:39.880 --> 00:06:42.425 Why these strange names? 00:06:42.425 --> 00:06:45.552 Well, bob Joe Sam and Bill would be strange to them. 00:06:46.120 --> 00:06:50.791 So King Rezan is from Aram, modern day Syria. 00:06:50.791 --> 00:06:55.187 You might have heard about that in the news lately and you might have heard about Damascus. 00:06:55.187 --> 00:06:56.345 It's the same region. 00:06:56.345 --> 00:06:57.946 That's exactly where it's at. 00:06:57.946 --> 00:07:02.144 The 10 northern tribes are just north of Jerusalem. 00:07:02.144 --> 00:07:16.663 In the breakaway tribes after Solomon's reign, his son foolishly tried to exact a greater tax from the people and they broke away, and they've been broken away at enmity ever since. 00:07:17.625 --> 00:07:26.012 So these are two of the key players here, but there's another one that's on the horizon of this story, which comes into it a little bit later. 00:07:26.012 --> 00:07:27.045 We'll introduce them now. 00:07:27.045 --> 00:07:39.651 This is the kingdom of Assyria, a powerful, powerful kingdom which takes up roughly what is modern day Iraq, modern day Iraq. 00:07:39.651 --> 00:07:43.062 And it lies on the eastern end of what we call the Fertile Crescent. 00:07:43.062 --> 00:08:09.860 And it lies on the eastern end of what we call the Fertile Crescent and as they're rising in their empire kind of a resurgence, one of one that was actually a thousand years old but as they're rising and growing, they're beginning to flex their muscles, they're starting to reach out and grab more and more and more and they want to go after their main adversary, egypt. 00:08:09.860 --> 00:08:17.305 Well, as you move from the eastern side of the Fertile Crescent and you come down through the eastern side of the Mediterranean toward Egypt, guess who's in the way? 00:08:17.305 --> 00:08:27.656 Syria and Aram, israel and the Ten Tribes, judah and Jerusalem. 00:08:28.461 --> 00:08:35.811 These are just minor players on the world scene, but it matters to them, even though they're not the biggest guy in the room. 00:08:35.811 --> 00:08:41.672 What's going on between Egypt and Assyria matters to them. 00:08:41.672 --> 00:08:54.221 And as Assyria is coming down to control everything, including Egypt, they come along these different, little, smaller kingdoms and they're going to exert their power over them as well. 00:08:54.221 --> 00:09:01.148 But these little kingdoms are no match for the power and might and military of Assyria. 00:09:01.148 --> 00:09:04.951 So what do they do? 00:09:04.951 --> 00:09:11.116 The two kings, the king of Aram and the king of Israel. 00:09:11.116 --> 00:09:27.677 They're like you know, let's make a pact here, buddy, I'll take my army and you got your army and we'll put our armies together and maybe we'll be a little bit stronger together and maybe we'll be a little bit stronger together. 00:09:27.677 --> 00:09:37.187 So they're trying to reinforce their ability to stand against the onslaught of Assyria and they're looking around and thinking who else can we pull into our coalition? 00:09:37.187 --> 00:09:42.835 And they looked south of there and in Jerusalem is King Ahaz. 00:09:42.835 --> 00:09:55.027 And they're like Ahaz, join us, join us in this fight against Assyria. 00:09:55.027 --> 00:09:58.833 And Ahaz is like look, we have not been friends and we're not going to be friends. 00:09:58.833 --> 00:10:07.581 I'm not going to be your partner in this. 00:10:07.581 --> 00:10:25.274 And so the king of Aram and the king of Israel decide that they're going to go down to Jerusalem, they're going to kick out this king Ahaz and they're going to put in a puppet, they're going to put in a guy on the throne there who's going to do what they want him to do, and then the three of them can maybe muster enough strength to fight against Assyria. 00:10:27.481 --> 00:10:28.486 This is the scene. 00:10:28.486 --> 00:10:31.268 This is Ahaz's trouble. 00:10:31.268 --> 00:10:36.270 He is facing a crisis on an international scale. 00:10:36.270 --> 00:10:40.350 This is extremely troubling. 00:10:40.350 --> 00:10:52.662 And when you read 2 Kings, chapter 15, you realize that the king of Aram and the king of Israel had already made their coalition before Ahaz took ascendancy to the throne, ascended to the throne. 00:10:52.662 --> 00:11:01.368 So this thing that's going on with Ahaz right here is happening at the beginning of his reign. 00:11:01.368 --> 00:11:14.212 This test of whether he would trust the living God or try to fix things on his own ingenuity is what's going to mark him for the rest of his kingship. 00:11:14.212 --> 00:11:19.488 How is he going to respond to this Now? 00:11:19.567 --> 00:11:31.111 I have to say that right at this moment, it would be easy to sort of just move past all of this and enter into our life and talk about the challenges and difficulties that we face and we do. 00:11:31.111 --> 00:11:35.726 But this trouble is an international problem. 00:11:35.726 --> 00:11:40.081 This is more than just the fact that our car didn't start this morning. 00:11:40.081 --> 00:11:46.875 This is more than any individual thing that we might—crisis that we might be going through. 00:11:46.875 --> 00:11:51.792 However, I think there are principles that do apply here that help us. 00:11:54.480 --> 00:12:15.274 I'm reading at the moment a book called One Minute to Midnight, and it details, day by day and then hour by hour, the missile crisis in Cuba that John F Kennedy had to deal with when Russia had put these nuclear weapons on that island just off the shores of Florida. 00:12:15.274 --> 00:12:18.245 This is that kind of crisis. 00:12:18.245 --> 00:12:22.394 This is Ahaz's one minute to midnight. 00:12:22.394 --> 00:12:28.923 Ahaz's one minute to midnight. 00:12:28.923 --> 00:12:29.624 Well, how does he respond? 00:12:29.624 --> 00:12:32.230 Well, verse two tells us that he responds to this trouble with terror. 00:12:32.230 --> 00:12:38.846 With terror when it became known to the house of David that Aram had occupied Ephraim. 00:12:38.846 --> 00:12:40.993 Ephraim is another word for the 10 tribes. 00:12:40.993 --> 00:12:45.390 So they're starting to march, they're starting to make their movement. 00:12:46.460 --> 00:12:55.168 The heart of Ahaz and the hearts of his people trembled like the trees of a forest shaking in the wind. 00:12:55.168 --> 00:13:06.774 Royal and I were just up in the Adirondacks staying at Brian and Elaine's place for a few days, and when it gets windy up there you can feel it. 00:13:06.774 --> 00:13:08.765 Everything's moving. 00:13:08.765 --> 00:13:12.659 You can see all the trees shaking and moving around. 00:13:12.659 --> 00:13:17.773 If you were here during Sandy, I'm sure you saw trees moving and shaking around. 00:13:17.773 --> 00:13:19.547 This is the heart of Ahaz. 00:13:19.547 --> 00:13:21.245 This is the heart of the people. 00:13:21.245 --> 00:13:25.407 They are trembling, they're petrified. 00:13:27.980 --> 00:13:37.432 Times like this can be disturbing to the very core of who we are, especially when it's a global concern. 00:13:37.432 --> 00:14:06.725 One of the things that you capture in that book One Minute to Midnight is just how deeply the nuclear missile crisis had captured the hearts of the men in the White House and in Moscow, and how they trembled at the thought that not only thousands, but millions, perhaps hundreds of millions of people would die if something went the wrong way. 00:14:06.725 --> 00:14:17.390 Fear, this alarm, has captured his heart. 00:14:17.390 --> 00:14:19.505 How does he respond to this? 00:14:19.505 --> 00:14:23.451 Well, he plunges into frantic and foolish behavior. 00:14:23.451 --> 00:14:28.221 Plunges into frantic and foolish behavior. 00:14:28.221 --> 00:14:31.389 He starts scrambling to find out what kind of resources he might have to be able to handle what's coming at him. 00:14:31.389 --> 00:14:33.332 And take a look at verse 3. 00:14:35.780 --> 00:14:45.650 The Lord said to Isaiah go out with your son Shier to meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, by the road to the launderer's field. 00:14:45.650 --> 00:14:55.695 Well, at first that doesn't seem important, but let's find out why he's there. 00:14:55.695 --> 00:15:00.447 He's inspecting the water supply to Jerusalem. 00:15:00.447 --> 00:15:04.615 He's inspecting the water supply to the people in his area. 00:15:04.615 --> 00:15:05.537 Why? 00:15:05.537 --> 00:15:08.322 Why is the prophet told to meet the king there? 00:15:08.322 --> 00:15:22.904 Because the king is there for a reason Because if he's going to be surrounded by armies in a siege, one of the things he's going to necessarily need is a tappable resource of water. 00:15:22.904 --> 00:15:37.380 And so he's inspecting the water system to see if it's going to be satisfactory if they get surrounded, or try to do something about it if it isn't so. 00:15:37.441 --> 00:15:47.605 There he is engaged directly in activity in response to the trouble and he's not thinking about God. 00:15:47.605 --> 00:15:52.450 You don't see him going to the temple and praying. 00:15:52.450 --> 00:15:58.491 You don't see him stepping off into the woods and meditating upon the promises of God. 00:15:58.491 --> 00:16:10.190 You see him going to the water supply and saying, well, how many gallons per hour do we get out of this, and how many people do we have, and how long will that supply last and is it protected? 00:16:10.190 --> 00:16:12.455 And that's what he's doing. 00:16:12.455 --> 00:16:21.394 He's thinking about his resources and to see if they can measure up to the coming storm. 00:16:24.460 --> 00:16:35.548 Evidently he doesn't believe he's got enough resources, because when you read later in Isaiah and you read 2 Kings and you read in Chronicles, you discover he makes an alliance with Assyria. 00:16:35.548 --> 00:16:37.806 He's like I know how to fix this. 00:16:37.806 --> 00:16:38.673 You guys want us to alliance with Assyria. 00:16:38.673 --> 00:16:39.360 He's like I know how to fix this. 00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:42.328 You guys want us to fight against Assyria. 00:16:42.328 --> 00:16:46.510 I'll just be a friend of Assyria's and we'll fight you. 00:16:46.510 --> 00:16:49.626 This is exactly what he does. 00:16:51.160 --> 00:17:00.774 Driven by his fears, he focuses exclusively on the danger and he has no attention for any God-derived solutions to it at all. 00:17:00.774 --> 00:17:07.453 He simply tries to do things based upon his resources and his relationships. 00:17:07.453 --> 00:17:11.266 I'm clever enough to deal with this. 00:17:11.266 --> 00:17:12.369 I can handle it. 00:17:12.369 --> 00:17:23.727 This was Ahaz's typical response, sadly, and when we read more about Ahaz in the scriptures, we find out throughout his life. 00:17:23.727 --> 00:17:29.267 He was a man determined to think about things according to his own abilities. 00:17:29.267 --> 00:17:38.752 But God wonderfully brings him a test. 00:17:38.752 --> 00:17:49.569 The trouble and the terror turn into this interaction between Isaiah and Ahaz, which I'm going to title Ahaz's testing. 00:17:49.569 --> 00:17:58.392 Despite how evil this man is, god is going to move forward with his plans and move toward this man. 00:17:58.392 --> 00:18:15.193 This is a remarkable encounter that God would come to Ahaz in this dramatic point of decision and send his prophet into his personal space to talk to him face to face. 00:18:18.561 --> 00:18:19.788 What would Ahaz do here? 00:18:19.788 --> 00:18:23.082 Well, he could listen to the words of the prophet. 00:18:23.082 --> 00:18:38.692 He could listen with repentance and faith, realizing that there was really nothing to trust in himself, that his resources weren't significant enough, that his interactions were just simply ploys and not really power. 00:18:38.692 --> 00:18:47.294 He could heed the words of the prophet or he could refuse to listen and continue down his foolish way. 00:18:47.294 --> 00:18:49.423 What was he about to do? 00:18:50.645 --> 00:19:24.411 Well, look here in the scriptures, the Lord said to Isaiah meet with your son, ahaz, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, by the road to the launderer's field and say to him calm down and be quiet, don't be afraid or cowardly because of these two smoldering sticks, the fierce anger of Rezan and Aram and the son of Remaliah, for Aram, along with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has plotted harm against you. 00:19:24.411 --> 00:19:29.791 They say let's go up against Judah, terrorize it and conquer it for ourselves. 00:19:29.791 --> 00:19:33.523 Then we can install Tabeel's son as king in it. 00:19:33.523 --> 00:19:40.192 And I'm sure Ahaz is like okay, thanks, I needed all the details. 00:19:40.192 --> 00:19:46.986 Okay, yeah, I know that's what they're doing, but did he listen? 00:19:48.769 --> 00:19:56.924 Now notice, one of the first things that Isaiah wants to do is remind Ahaz of who he is. 00:19:56.924 --> 00:20:00.789 In this section of Scripture there are two. 00:20:00.789 --> 00:20:17.751 There's a repeat of a phrase that needs to be marked down in our Bibles In verse 2, notice what it says here to the house of David. 00:20:17.751 --> 00:20:32.133 It doesn't say Ahaz, it doesn't say King Ahaz, it doesn't say the people of Israel, it doesn't say those who live in Jerusalem, it doesn't say those in Judah. 00:20:32.133 --> 00:20:35.044 It says to the house of David. 00:20:35.044 --> 00:20:47.648 Just keep that in mind for a second and then, when you get down to verse 13, isaiah's continuing his conversation with Ahaz here and in verse 13,. 00:20:47.648 --> 00:20:51.421 He says listen, house of David. 00:20:51.421 --> 00:20:55.727 What is this? 00:20:55.727 --> 00:21:01.776 These references to the house of David that are particularly given to Ahaz? 00:21:01.776 --> 00:21:07.229 In fact, he is the embodiment in verse 2, of the house of David. 00:21:07.368 --> 00:21:27.542 When the news came to the house of David, that is when the news came to the court of the king, to Ahaz himself, king to Ahaz himself. 00:21:27.542 --> 00:21:31.019 You see, isaiah is reminding Ahaz of his theological identity. 00:21:31.019 --> 00:21:39.952 He's reminding him that he's not just the king of some small Middle Eastern nation. 00:21:39.952 --> 00:21:48.049 He's not just a small-time king who needs to think about his resources and his political connections as the only way to survive. 00:21:48.049 --> 00:21:56.286 He's calling him the house of David because he wants him to realize who he actually is. 00:21:58.488 --> 00:22:05.596 He lay in the line of David himself and he is currently the head of David's household. 00:22:05.596 --> 00:22:10.672 He is the heir of all the promises of God to David. 00:22:10.672 --> 00:22:15.228 So he is to live in this world. 00:22:15.228 --> 00:22:19.451 He's to live in the world in the light of that identity. 00:22:19.451 --> 00:22:30.010 He's to live in this world not taking into consideration the resources of himself and the resources of this world, as if those were the limits of his abilities. 00:22:30.010 --> 00:22:45.970 He's to think about the living God, the living God who has given promises to his forefather, david promises that were meant to be kept from generation to generation until the fulfillment of the end. 00:22:45.970 --> 00:23:02.069 You see, god made an eternal covenant with David, and Ahaz was part of that promise, if he believed. 00:23:02.069 --> 00:23:21.683 The guarantee of the people of Israel rested not upon Ahaz's ingenuity and not upon his resources that he could find in the water pool, but in the God who promised to keep them a people until the Deliverer came. 00:23:21.683 --> 00:23:35.884 God made a covenant that the throne of David would continue to stand, and this is why chapter 7 and verse 1 begins with this summary. 00:23:35.884 --> 00:23:39.051 They attacked them, but they didn't. 00:23:39.051 --> 00:23:40.766 They weren't successful. 00:23:45.520 --> 00:23:49.771 The prophet wants Ahaz to know just who he is. 00:23:49.771 --> 00:23:54.047 He wants him to enter into that identity. 00:23:54.047 --> 00:23:58.444 At the start of this threat, there's no need for panic. 00:23:58.444 --> 00:24:00.471 God is with you. 00:24:00.471 --> 00:24:15.049 The question is would Ahaz act like the spiritual son of David, or would he simply go on as another in the line of the physical lineage of David? 00:24:15.049 --> 00:24:26.501 Would he trust the living God and his promises, or would he simply try to muscle the powers afforded him as one of the physical descendants of the king? 00:24:26.501 --> 00:24:36.282 How do we respond in our troubles when we do? 00:24:36.984 --> 00:24:43.730 One of the things that we need to first anchor in our hearts is our identity as one of God's people. 00:24:43.730 --> 00:24:56.590 Knowing where our identity lies is one of the most significant things about our existence, because from it comes all of our actions. 00:24:56.590 --> 00:25:08.213 It's what centers us, it's what gives us the right outlook when we're confronted with things that are troubling and disturbing, or even earth shattering. 00:25:08.213 --> 00:25:19.075 And despite what people are saying to us today, our identity is not found in our contrived imaginations about who we are. 00:25:19.075 --> 00:25:25.972 Our identity is not what others say about us or what we even think about ourselves. 00:25:28.020 --> 00:25:31.672 Our identity, as the scriptures tell us, is found in Christ and Christ alone. 00:25:31.672 --> 00:25:44.849 You see, when we became a believer, we became the son of the living God, a child of his, an inheritor with Christ of all things. 00:25:44.849 --> 00:25:52.113 We became, as the scriptures say, we will reign with him as priests and kings. 00:25:52.113 --> 00:25:55.721 These are all markers of who we are. 00:25:55.721 --> 00:26:09.133 These are all markers of who we are when Christ took away our sin and our shame on the cross, it is because he, before the worlds were ever created, set his eternal love to save us. 00:26:09.133 --> 00:26:21.868 As he came to that place, denying the shame of the cross, for the joy that was set before him, the joy of including you into his eternal kingdom. 00:26:21.888 --> 00:26:23.316 And he gives us that identity. 00:26:23.316 --> 00:26:41.330 He gives us that identity so that we might never feel the bitter sting of the worthless efforts of self-improvement, so that we might not know the inadequacies, the eternal, utter, ruinous inadequacies of self-reliance. 00:26:41.330 --> 00:26:50.492 So, when trouble hits, we must stop and bring this truth to our mind first. 00:26:50.492 --> 00:26:57.484 We're Christ's, and this is what Paul said to the Corinthians. 00:26:57.484 --> 00:27:02.275 Don't you know that all things are yours and yours are Christ's? 00:27:02.275 --> 00:27:03.297 And this is what Paul said to the Corinthians. 00:27:03.297 --> 00:27:07.265 Don't you know that all things are yours and yours are Christ's, that you have the world and everything? 00:27:07.265 --> 00:27:10.290 Why are you playing around with these silly little things? 00:27:15.539 --> 00:27:20.710 If all of this is yours, your identity, if you're Christ, you've been chosen in Him. 00:27:20.710 --> 00:27:23.721 He knew you before you were even born. 00:27:23.721 --> 00:27:26.969 He paid the price for your sins in full. 00:27:26.969 --> 00:27:32.823 He sees you, he knows you, and that changes everything. 00:27:32.823 --> 00:27:36.329 Instead of being lost, you're now found. 00:27:36.329 --> 00:27:37.933 Instead of being seen as a sinner. 00:27:37.933 --> 00:27:41.604 Instead of being lost, you're now found. 00:27:41.604 --> 00:27:43.367 Instead of being seen as a sinner, you're received as a child. 00:27:43.367 --> 00:27:48.342 Instead of being an enemy, you're a friend, you're loved, you're redeemed, you're made new, you're forgiven. 00:27:48.342 --> 00:27:51.929 You're a treasure to God in every way. 00:27:51.929 --> 00:27:59.991 And these are not my words, these are God's words and only a summary of them to all of us. 00:27:59.991 --> 00:28:03.065 They're beautiful truths. 00:28:03.065 --> 00:28:13.595 Being known by God is to have the eternal God looking constantly to your good. 00:28:17.842 --> 00:28:21.944 Isaiah says to Ahaz, house of David. 00:28:21.944 --> 00:28:43.509 Sadly, to that unbelieving heart of Ahaz, that was just a grating reminder that God was invading his space, and it just underscores just how foolish it was for him to be fearful and frantically trying to find a solution. 00:28:43.509 --> 00:28:49.788 God's not done talking to this wicked man. 00:28:49.788 --> 00:28:55.351 Not only does he give him a reminder, he even gives him some reassurances. 00:28:55.351 --> 00:28:59.847 Look at this again, verse 4. 00:28:59.847 --> 00:29:30.990 Say to him calm down and be quiet, don't be afraid or cowardly, because these two smoldering stumps of firebrands Somebody, one of the commentators put it this way Think about two little cigarette butts that somebody's just scrubbing out into the ground that's these two kings that are trying to give him trouble. 00:29:30.990 --> 00:29:33.386 This is how God views this. 00:29:33.386 --> 00:29:35.665 You're afraid of these guys. 00:29:35.665 --> 00:29:50.101 They're nothing. 00:29:50.101 --> 00:29:50.801 Calm down, don't be afraid. 00:29:50.801 --> 00:29:53.404 They're just men, and I can deal with men, god says. 00:29:53.404 --> 00:30:00.276 He even sets a drop date for their destruction in verses 7 to 9. 00:30:00.276 --> 00:30:01.645 This is what the Lord says. 00:30:01.645 --> 00:30:04.807 It will not happen. 00:30:04.807 --> 00:30:08.609 This danger you're afraid of, it will not occur. 00:30:08.609 --> 00:30:11.646 The chief city of Aram is Damascus. 00:30:11.646 --> 00:30:13.267 The chief of Damascus is Dresden. 00:30:13.267 --> 00:30:20.233 Within 65 years, ephraim, too, will be shattered, will be too shattered to be a people. 00:30:20.233 --> 00:30:24.847 It's not going to happen. 00:30:24.847 --> 00:30:30.751 Within three years, aram was crushed. 00:30:30.751 --> 00:30:34.920 Within 10 years of this time, israel fell. 00:30:34.920 --> 00:30:48.900 Of this time, israel fell, and by the time you get to 670 BC, the 10 northern tribes are not numbered enough to even be called a people anymore. 00:30:51.949 --> 00:30:54.717 Life was doubling down on this man. 00:30:54.717 --> 00:30:58.453 It was getting well out of his hands. 00:30:58.453 --> 00:31:06.518 He's clutching for answers, and God gives him a reminder of who he is and reassurances of his safety. 00:31:06.518 --> 00:31:10.330 What does he do with it? 00:31:10.330 --> 00:31:14.134 He digs down deeper into himself. 00:31:14.134 --> 00:31:27.561 He digs down deeper into himself because he refuses to listen to what are nothing but beautiful words from God. 00:31:27.561 --> 00:31:31.357 What do you do when troubles come your way? 00:31:31.357 --> 00:31:33.068 Fearful and frantic? 00:31:33.068 --> 00:31:40.259 I think all of us could sign up to that Right. 00:31:40.259 --> 00:31:47.596 But are we arrested in our fear and arrested in our frantic actions when we're brought to the realization of who we really are in God? 00:31:47.596 --> 00:31:56.159 Does it calm us when we're given a reminder of the depth of God's commitment to us? 00:31:56.159 --> 00:32:00.674 Yeah, yeah, absolutely. 00:32:04.145 --> 00:32:27.971 Here Ahaz is thinking that his resources are only the abilities that he possesses, and so he leans into those strengths as hard as he can, and so he leans into those strengths as hard as he can, and when he doesn't see that his resources are sufficient enough, he just gets plain old, scared to death. 00:32:27.971 --> 00:32:41.118 The answer is not to clutch for something else, to grasp around for something more that he's not reaching to, to sit down and dream up a scheme that might just be a little bit better than the one that came to mind first of all. 00:32:41.118 --> 00:33:07.259 The answer was to rely on God, to trust him, be careful, be quiet, don't fear, and when you get to the place where you can rely upon God, even when life gets out of sorts, you can live your life in a completely different way. 00:33:07.259 --> 00:33:12.090 The Apostle Paul talked about this in 2 Corinthians, chapter 4. 00:33:12.090 --> 00:33:15.317 He said we're afflicted on every side. 00:33:19.007 --> 00:33:19.569 2 Corinthians, chapter 4. 00:33:19.569 --> 00:33:23.285 He said we're afflicted on every side, but not crushed. 00:33:23.285 --> 00:33:30.413 We're perplexed, but not in despair. 00:33:30.413 --> 00:33:32.462 We're persecuted, but we're not abandoned. 00:33:32.462 --> 00:33:40.646 We're struck down, but we're not destroyed. 00:33:40.646 --> 00:33:49.200 We're always caring about, in our body, the death of our Lord Jesus, and Jesus went to the cross so that the life of Jesus might also be displayed in our body. 00:33:49.200 --> 00:34:01.986 You see, we know this is what he said. 00:34:01.986 --> 00:34:06.009 We know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus. 00:34:06.028 --> 00:34:08.652 So, yes, I can be afflicted. 00:34:08.652 --> 00:34:10.632 Yes, I can be perplexed. 00:34:10.632 --> 00:34:11.213 Yes, I can be persecuted. 00:34:11.213 --> 00:34:12.534 Yes, I can be persecuted. 00:34:12.534 --> 00:34:14.697 Yes, I can be struck down. 00:34:14.697 --> 00:34:18.239 Yes, I can bear affliction. 00:34:19.001 --> 00:34:20.041 Yes, why? 00:34:20.041 --> 00:34:24.813 Because God's promises will one day overrule all of those things. 00:34:24.813 --> 00:34:42.891 That's why, so God, in his wondrous mercies, comes to this man and says remember who you are, remember what I've said, keep a hold of these promises. 00:34:42.891 --> 00:34:46.498 You have a requirement, though, and that's the next point. 00:34:46.498 --> 00:34:56.038 He says to him in verse 9, if you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all. 00:34:56.038 --> 00:35:18.786 God is giving Ahaz this moment of decision, this lifetime experience, this eternal experience, and he says if you do not stand in faith, you do not stand at all. 00:35:18.786 --> 00:35:29.481 Ahaz must reckon with God to be God and his God. 00:35:29.481 --> 00:35:36.036 If you're not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all. 00:35:37.405 --> 00:35:48.032 The commentators try to capture the word place in English and it's a word play in Hebrew, but they put it this way If you hold God in doubt, you'll not hold out. 00:35:48.032 --> 00:35:49.896 That was kind of cute. 00:35:49.896 --> 00:35:54.731 Unsure, insecure, this is the way someone else put it. 00:35:54.731 --> 00:36:00.532 If you do not firm up, you will not be confirmed. 00:36:00.532 --> 00:36:07.849 That's a little cheesy, but if you don't live by faith, you will not live at all. 00:36:07.849 --> 00:36:09.112 I think says it pretty clear. 00:36:12.485 --> 00:36:29.175 If you want to receive those reassurances, if you want to live in the realization of those promises, if you want to bask in the presence that I am, god says don't do anything except trust me. 00:36:29.175 --> 00:36:32.873 Don't go running around looking for an answer. 00:36:32.873 --> 00:36:35.990 Don't stay and cower. 00:36:35.990 --> 00:36:37.295 Trust me. 00:36:37.295 --> 00:36:42.454 God is moving to him in his weakness. 00:36:42.454 --> 00:36:44.552 He's moving to him in his need. 00:36:44.552 --> 00:36:47.934 He's moving to him and calling him to be honest about himself. 00:36:47.934 --> 00:36:59.811 Ahaz is only looking to his earthly resources, but God is telling him look here, look to me, just trust. 00:36:59.811 --> 00:37:17.233 And literally he's telling him just stand still, just be quiet, don't do anything, watch me work. 00:37:17.233 --> 00:37:23.333 Would Ahaz listen? 00:37:23.333 --> 00:37:30.052 Would he continue in his fearful and foolish self-reliance or would he be moved to faith by this? 00:37:34.206 --> 00:37:37.076 We face difficult times. 00:37:37.076 --> 00:37:43.378 We can often be fearful and frantically running around looking for answers. 00:37:43.378 --> 00:37:54.409 When God speaks to us in his word, telling us who we are and what he can do in our lives, we're left with the decision point Am I going to trust him or not? 00:37:54.409 --> 00:37:56.766 Am I going to listen to this? 00:37:56.766 --> 00:38:06.990 It's like that man who's walking along a cliff and he loses his footing, begins tumbling down the cliffside. 00:38:06.990 --> 00:38:18.719 Just as he's about to reach the very edge of the cliff he finds a little branch and he's holding onto it and his body is starting to sway over the branch, is looking pretty weak, and he looks up into heaven. 00:38:18.719 --> 00:38:21.507 He goes is anybody there? 00:38:21.507 --> 00:38:33.065 And he hears a voice from the clouds saying I'm here, I'll help you, let go of the branch. 00:38:33.065 --> 00:38:39.195 And the man goes is there anybody else out there? 00:38:39.195 --> 00:38:52.884 God is calling to us saying I'm here, let go of the branch and trust me to do what I can only do. 00:38:52.884 --> 00:38:57.871 And so often we're like I got to find another way. 00:38:57.891 --> 00:39:09.244 But God is more real than any of these earthly things that are important to us and he's more desirable than any of the worldly attractions that glitter in our eyes. 00:39:09.244 --> 00:39:19.784 He's faithful, he will fulfill his promises. 00:39:19.784 --> 00:39:31.307 And in order to strengthen this man even more, god steps out of his norm and makes Ahaz a request. 00:39:31.307 --> 00:39:44.403 So he goes from reminding him of his identity to reassuring him, to telling him to believe the requirement of faith and then this request. 00:39:44.403 --> 00:39:46.849 Look at verse 10. 00:39:46.869 --> 00:39:48.492 The Lord spoke again to Ahaz. 00:39:48.492 --> 00:39:51.458 Ask for a sign from the Lord, your God. 00:39:51.458 --> 00:40:02.987 It can be as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven. 00:40:02.987 --> 00:40:04.610 God doesn't normally act that way. 00:40:04.610 --> 00:40:07.333 He doesn't give Ahaz an ultimatum. 00:40:07.333 --> 00:40:10.478 He doesn't demand from him a leap of faith. 00:40:10.478 --> 00:40:19.204 He invites Ahaz to ask for a sign of his own choosing. 00:40:19.204 --> 00:40:34.764 Any way you want it to be, god is willing to be his God all the way up to any place he wants to go. 00:40:39.894 --> 00:40:40.717 What does Ahaz say? 00:40:40.717 --> 00:40:47.340 I will not ask, I will not test the Lord. 00:40:47.340 --> 00:40:50.070 Oh, so pious Ahaz all of a sudden. 00:40:50.070 --> 00:40:52.556 Far be it from me to test the Lord. 00:40:52.556 --> 00:40:59.429 He was testing the Lord with all of his unbelief up to this point in time anyway. 00:40:59.429 --> 00:41:01.411 His pious language is deceitful. 00:41:01.411 --> 00:41:08.641 He doesn't want to be deferential to the Lord, god. 00:41:08.641 --> 00:41:24.516 He doesn't want God in his life at all Because if he lets God in, god is going to have to take control, and that means he's got to operate according to God's ways, not his own. 00:41:24.516 --> 00:41:30.117 And if he gets through the crisis, he'd have to give God glory and not take it on himself. 00:41:30.117 --> 00:41:40.177 So he says no to God and makes his unbelief just sound so religiously pious. 00:41:40.177 --> 00:41:46.250 Oh I, I can't go to church. 00:41:46.250 --> 00:41:51.474 There are so many hypocrites there, says the biggest hypocrite in the room. 00:41:56.858 --> 00:41:59.260 In verse 11, look at the language change. 00:41:59.260 --> 00:42:03.887 Ask for a sign from the Lord, your God. 00:42:03.887 --> 00:42:10.454 Right Personalizes God to Ahaz, your God. 00:42:10.454 --> 00:42:13.699 He refuses in verse 12. 00:42:13.699 --> 00:42:16.221 Now look at the change in verse 13. 00:42:16.221 --> 00:42:22.197 Isaiah says listen, house of David, is it not enough for you to try the patience of men? 00:42:22.197 --> 00:42:25.373 Will you also try the patience of my God? 00:42:25.373 --> 00:42:30.092 Ooh, ahaz, you crossed the line. 00:42:30.092 --> 00:42:45.465 He's going to get a sign. 00:42:45.485 --> 00:42:56.637 All right, the offer was a sign of Ahaz's choosing of anything he wanted, so God could confirm to him the veracity of his words, the truthfulness of his promises, the strength of his ability, his desire to help him in his need. 00:42:56.637 --> 00:42:59.969 Anything you want, ahaz, anything. 00:42:59.969 --> 00:43:08.289 He's going to get a sign, but it's not going to be a sign to move him to a deeper sense of trust. 00:43:08.289 --> 00:43:13.297 It's going to be a sign that will leave him in shame for his unbelief. 00:43:13.297 --> 00:43:21.543 And what is that sign? 00:43:21.543 --> 00:43:26.389 The virgin will conceive and have a son and name him Emmanuel. 00:43:26.389 --> 00:43:32.840 By the time he learns to reject what is bad and choose what is good, he will be eating curds and honey. 00:43:32.840 --> 00:43:41.534 For before the boy knows to reject what is bad and choose what is good, the land of the two kings you dread will be abandoned. 00:43:41.534 --> 00:43:50.036 The Lord will bring on you, your people and your father's house such a time that's never been since Ephraim separated from Judah. 00:43:50.036 --> 00:43:53.074 He will bring the king of Assyria. 00:43:56.246 --> 00:44:00.958 Isaiah 7.14 lies right here in this midst, and it goes two different directions. 00:44:00.958 --> 00:44:04.454 It goes to this direction. 00:44:04.454 --> 00:44:09.869 Ahaz doesn't want it, he doesn't believe it, he won't receive it. 00:44:09.869 --> 00:44:14.989 But God is going to be faithful to his people and his promises, the house of David. 00:44:14.989 --> 00:44:18.492 God is going to be faithful to his people and his promises, the house of David. 00:44:18.492 --> 00:44:35.664 He's going to rescue a remnant, a remnant that will continue on until the fulfillment of that ultimate promise that David received, where there would be one that would sit upon his throne, whose kingdom would never end. 00:44:35.664 --> 00:44:39.509 But Ahaz wouldn't enjoy the blessings of being a part of that. 00:44:39.509 --> 00:44:52.364 Before this little boy would reach an age of being able to distinguish right and wrong, ahaz was going to find out that all his fears and his frantic efforts were nothing but foolish, foolish, fruitless behavior. 00:44:54.610 --> 00:44:57.376 In chapter 8 it details some of those things. 00:44:57.376 --> 00:45:04.534 A child, indeed, is born, and the parallels between the child in chapter eight and the child mentioned in chapter seven are unmistakable. 00:45:04.534 --> 00:45:10.335 And the name of that child in chapter eight is an ominous name. 00:45:10.335 --> 00:45:18.023 That means the spoil speeds the prey hastens means the spoil speeds the prey hastens. 00:45:18.023 --> 00:45:24.771 It's going to come swiftly down upon Aram and upon Israel, and even into Judah itself. 00:45:24.771 --> 00:45:33.554 The king of Assyria, the one that Ahaz thought would be his help, is now going to be part of his ruin. 00:45:33.554 --> 00:46:08.034 God would be with his people, but because Ahaz wanted to trust Assyria and trust Egypt more than he trusted God, he would become part of the destruction and not part of the rescue. 00:46:08.135 --> 00:46:09.675 In chapter 8 and verse 5,. 00:46:09.675 --> 00:46:30.565 It will overflow its channel and spill over its banks and it will pour into Judah, flood over it, sweep through reaching up to the neck and its flooded banks will fill your entire land, emmanuel. 00:46:30.565 --> 00:46:41.072 Assyria will come and it will rise like a flood and the Assyrians, like the Euphrates, will overflow its banks and rush in and sweep away Aram, syria. 00:46:41.072 --> 00:46:44.626 It will sweep away Israel and poor little Judah. 00:46:44.626 --> 00:46:54.916 Will have the floodwaters reaching up to its neck all the way up until only a little bit of it is above the water and the rest of it's destroyed. 00:46:54.916 --> 00:46:59.353 The people will survive, but barely. 00:46:59.353 --> 00:47:11.876 But as time marches on, assyria too will fall, but the people of Judah will live on. 00:47:11.876 --> 00:47:33.590 They will continue because there's another part of this promise that opens up when Matthew's gospel reminds us that a child is born who is called the son of David, and he is told. 00:47:34.612 --> 00:47:50.358 The angel makes the announcement that this is the fuller fulfillment of God with us, a virgin would conceive and bear a son, and we will call his name Emmanuel, because God is with us. 00:47:50.358 --> 00:48:06.639 The crisis there came and went and the sign became for him either an invitation to life or the cause for his destruction and to the world. 00:48:06.639 --> 00:48:18.659 On this day, and I mean today, there is a sign given that could have been as high as the heavens or as low as the depths of the grave. 00:48:18.659 --> 00:48:40.054 Any of us could have chosen and, had we in our wildest imaginations had thought about a test for God, it might have been this Could a virgin give birth and would that child be the embodiment of God in human flesh? 00:48:40.054 --> 00:48:43.579 And the sign is here. 00:48:43.579 --> 00:49:01.525 The sign is here to our generation and, just like it was a sign to Ahaz, a call to faith in the reliances of a God who can do far above and beyond what we can ask or think. 00:49:03.306 --> 00:49:04.288 You can trust Him. 00:49:04.288 --> 00:49:26.378 It becomes an invitation to life, or that sign of God made flesh and dwelt among us will stand as a marker of our eternal destruction because we refuse to believe the God who gave himself to us in human form. 00:49:26.378 --> 00:49:32.469 We stand on the precipice of eternity. 00:49:32.469 --> 00:49:40.239 Every Christmas we live through and every Christmas God reminds us. 00:49:40.239 --> 00:49:53.614 This world is reminded once again that he said whatever sign you can contrive, it can't be any grander than a virgin birth and God in human form. 00:49:55.036 --> 00:49:59.835 Trust me, believe in the Savior and live. 00:49:59.835 --> 00:50:12.313 Stop trying to figure it out on your own, stop trying to lean on your own resources, stop retreating into your own fears. 00:50:12.313 --> 00:50:15.750 Listen to me. 00:50:15.750 --> 00:50:18.672 I'm a God who can be trusted. 00:50:18.672 --> 00:50:20.871 I'm a God who can rescue. 00:50:20.871 --> 00:50:24.635 I'm a God who will save his people from their sins. 00:50:24.635 --> 00:50:29.715 I'm a God who can take down all your enemies. 00:50:29.715 --> 00:50:34.496 I'm a God who will envelop you in my presence. 00:50:34.496 --> 00:50:39.784 I'm a God who will envelop you in my presence. 00:50:39.784 --> 00:50:45.364 Trust the Emmanuel, the God, with us. 00:50:45.364 --> 00:51:00.648 If not, you'll be walking down the pathway of Ahaz and while others find their rescue at the very end of themselves, you will find your ruin at the end of your life. 00:51:00.668 --> 00:51:08.259