Nowadays to Better Days (Part A)

I do believe firmly that God elects to save those who believe. He wants believers, not hostages. 1 Timothy 2, God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now that's what God wants.

No guessing about that. Peter, of course, rings in on the same thing. Long suffering, willing that none should perish. That's what God wants. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Isaiah, chapter 65, with today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. The condition of these people was so dreadful that here come more rebukes and warnings.

Judgments will be necessary. God never ignored the Jews and nobody else. God doesn't ignore anybody. That's when Jesus said, every idle word puts mankind on alert, alert. Incessant disobedience, overall dismissal of their God. We've been going through it. Well, God went through it and so did the prophets, the people provoking him.

And the first six verses will be about that. Just in reading this, thinking about their apostate behavior, where would you go if you left Christ? To where would you turn?

What is there? What is worth, you know, leaving him for? Iscariot, Judas Iscariot, he went to his own place. Those are the words of Acts 1 25.

I don't want to go to that place. Fooling with God is for fools. And we learn these lessons that drilled into us. It's called training.

And when you train over and over again, it becomes so much better to apply the thing you've been training in. And that should be Christian, Christianity, right? We should be trained in the ways of the Lord. Well, verse one, I was sought by those who did not ask for me. I was found by those who did not seek me. I said, here I am, here I am to a nation that was not called by my name.

Quite a bit here. He is actually, Isaiah is giving us the answer to his questions that started in the last chapter. I won't refer back too much because it just eats up time. And you can, you know, of course, read it for yourselves and see how it joins together. But where he says I was sought by those who did not ask for me, literally, I let myself be sought. And where he says I was found, literally, I let myself be found.

I'm making myself available. Now, this is not limited to the Jewish people. This verse is quite far reaching. And ultimately, Isaiah is saying, or God is saying through Isaiah, if Isaiah could find me, as in chapter six of Isaiah, where he is called to a broader ministry, well, then anybody can find him. If the prophets could find God, what is the big message of Jonah? If Jonah could get right with God, then anybody could get right with God. After that whole episode, I said, here I am, here I am, the great I am of Moses on Mount Sinai.

I am who I am. Now, standing out in this first verse, if you highlight, you'd probably see it and you may have it highlighted where he says that not asked, not sought, not called or let me read it right from the verse. It did not ask for me, did not seek me, was not called by my name.

There's a pattern of disinterest. Now, this is a verse in Matthew that is directly linked to this that I've for years had problems with until the Lord clarified it for me. Matthew chapter seven, ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be open to you.

That's a paraphrase of this. He is attaching his words to Isaiah's words, which are also his words. And I used to think that the primary meaning of Matthew 7-7 was prayer. I've now come to believe it is salvation. It is about salvation, primarily.

That is the outstanding part. You just got through saying to them, don't cast pearl before swine. They'll turn and trample you, because if you just see it as prayer, you're going to scratch your head a long time in life.

I have asked, I have sought, I have knocked, and I'm no further or better off than I was when I started decades ago. But if you say, wait a minute, salvation is something that God offers for all who seek, for all who ask, for all who knock. And then he goes on to say, you know, treat others the way you want to be treated. It's directly connected to one's salvation. And once that becomes clear, then I get back to mechanical zero, where I need to be on these matters. I understand that God's eyes are on eternity. That's what matters most, and that's where my eyes need to be. And if I get caught up in asking and seeking and knocking and it not getting answered, then my eyes can get off of eternity very quickly, and I get stuck in my predicament.

Well, that's a side note. That really doesn't have anything to do with the direct teaching of Isaiah here in this verse. What does have to do with the direct teaching, and that doesn't take away from the Lord building on it at all, is he says here in verse 1, to a nation that was called by my name. I was sought by those who did not ask for me.

I was found by those who did not seek me. And these are the Gentiles, to a nation that was not called by my name. And that Hebrew word for Gentiles here is always applied to the Gentiles, not Israel. It is singular. Why is it singular? Almost always, it's plural.

Why nation and not the nations? Well, that makes a great distinction between the Gentiles that will be converted versus all the others. What Peter had in mind when he said, you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, singular. But there's more. There's a lot here in this first verse, I think.

If Gentiles could believe, then Israel, what's your story? That's part of what Isaiah is bringing out in this first verse. But again we come to what the theologians call prophetic perfect. That's pretty accurate, that's good.

I don't have an objection to that term. And that is when he is so sure, the prophet is so sure of an event that's future, could be thousands of years away, that he speaks as though it's already taken place. We covered that with Isaiah 53, several times in Isaiah. But instead of saying, I will be found future, here he is saying, I was found past some 700 years before the Gentiles come into the picture. See, that's the prophetic perfect. And it happens often with the prophets. And if you're familiar with Scripture, you'll pick it up.

And it makes sense, but without that you can get confused. Well, before we tie it into the New Testament, where in Scripture is this distinction between Jacob and everybody else? Between Israel and all the nations, the Gentiles, where does that come from?

How do they get separated from everybody else? Well, when Balak, the Moab king, called for Balaam, who was a prophet of God until he became an apostate. And he called for him to curse the Jewish people. And every time he opened his mouth to curse them, he blessed them.

And in one of his blessings, this is what he says, For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him there. Now he's looking at the Jewish camps before they entered into the Promised Land. They're on the west side of Jordan at this point in the wilderness. And then he says this, A people dwelling alone, not reckoning itself among the nations. They're not part of the nations. They're not Gentiles. They're Jews, distinct, like Christians. Christians are distinct. We're supposed to be from everybody else.

To lump us in with all the other religion is an error. Paul applies this verse in Isaiah 65, Isaiah 65, 1, he applies it to the converse. Romans 10, 20, Isaiah is very bold and says, Paul even tells us where he's getting it from. I was found by those who did not seek me.

I was made manifest by those who did not ask for me. It's about salvation. And here's the prophet, again 700 years, calling it like it already happened. It's documented in the book of Acts. One of my favorites in the Bible is the book of Acts. It tells the church how to be a church. And then it goes on to tell the Christians how to be Christians in those churches. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, now when he says the multitudes here in Acts 13, 45, there are Jews in there, but there are a lot of Gentiles. That's a dominant thought in that 13th chapter.

That's why I singled this one out instead of others. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul. These are those of that nation, those converts to Christ. Not the Jews, only the Gentiles. And again, 1 Peter 2, you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people. That's the Christians. Whether the letter is directed to Jewish Christians or not is irrelevant because there is no such thing. Really, there's no longer Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free. Barbarian, Scythian, they're all Christians if you're a believer in Christ.

Those walls of separation dissolve. So in the second verse, God is continuing after giving a heads up that I'm going to reach other nations, the Gentiles, I'm going to reach singular Gentiles, nation. He goes on, I have stretched out my hand all day long to a rebellious people who walk in a way that is not good.

According to their own thoughts. So he's answering Isaiah's question from Isaiah 64 verse 12. Well again, I'm not going to, you can reference it if you like, but where he's going in this section is the rebellious will be held accountable, the remnant will be honored, and then the rebellious will be doomed.

They will face utter doom. No denying God's investment in unbelievers. The Bible is about God investing in unbelievers as well as believers. Strengthening the saved, seeking the lost. Verse 3, a people who provoke me to anger continually to my face, who sacrifice in gardens and burn incense on altars of brick.

It's sort of like Zimri and Cosby who brazenly came into the camp showing off his pagan wife and Phineas put an end to that. This is man provoking God to his face. Well, I do believe firmly that God elects to save those who believe. He wants believers, not hostages. 1 Timothy chapter 2, God our Savior who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now that's what God wants, no guessing about that. Peter of course brings in on the same thing, long suffering, willing that none should perish. That's what God wants. Well, if rebellion persists and salvation is impossible, you won't be elected.

Those rebelling are not elected. Romans 11, because of unbelief they were broken off and you stand by faith. Now those are the Jews who didn't believe.

They don't get in just because they're Jewish. So to declare that God arbitrarily picks some for salvation so that they must be saved, whether they like it or not. And that he at the same time spreads out his hand in an attitude of mercy to those who cannot be saved. It doesn't make any sense, it's schizophrenic. It's irrational, near blasphemous, trying to put a round peg in a square hole.

It just doesn't work, it's not according to reason. So the people who provoke me to anger continually, verse 3, to my face, who sacrifice in gardens to burn incense on altars of brick. Well, they weren't supposed to make altars of brick. Anyway, verse 4, who sit among the graves and spend the night in the tombs, who eat swine's flesh and the broth of abominable things is in their vessels.

Well, the dietary laws were out of style with these people. It's interesting how they can make, just select parts of the Bible that are out of style. But they don't pick, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not kill.

How do you, who gets to decide these things? The scripture does. It will speak on it if it's something that has been overruled by another work of God, such as the Sabbath. The Sabbath is about devotion. And the Sabbath has really been upgraded for the New Testament church. We don't wait for a day in the week to devote, not that the Jews approached it that way. But the idea is that we are to be, our Sabbath is daily in devotion, in the sense of devotion to God.

This is not the system, the sabbatical system. Anyway, verse 5, who say, keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am holier than thou, holier than you. These are smoke in my nostrils of fire that burns all the day long. So you can say I'm holier than thou to somebody because it's in the Bible.

That would be terrible. This group of spiritual reprobates, they boasted special spiritual insights, achievements and status, just like the Nicolations in Revelation 2. You know, we're superior. The influence of Gnosticism carried that into the church whenever it could. By lording over the people, they were able to lead them astray. We see this today. People that have a platform stand behind lecterns, not pulpits, and in front of, not congregation, but crowds, and they control them with all sorts of clever sayings and leaving out the Scriptures, all of the Scriptures.

They cherry pick what they want if it helped their cause. This was happening in the early days when John the Apostle was still alive and Jesus wrote to the church, church of Thyatira, you allow that woman, Jezebel. She knew who she was, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. So it's happening here in Israel in Isaiah 65, verse 5. It's happening in the church today. It was happening in the church in the days of John. We're aware of these things.

We just must not back down. When the church gets sidetracked by all the petty little things that people want, instead of sticking to the Word of God, Acts 2.42, the doctrine and the communion, the fellowship and the prayer, that she weakens herself and she becomes in time just this social entity that is just another one on the shelf, and it takes a lot to stay off that shelf, where he refers to the smoke and the fire from here in verse 5. He mentions, these are smoke in my nostrils and a fire that burns all the day. Well, the smoke and the fire is a reference to their pagan sacrifices in verse 3, and the incense they offered to demons, they thought their gods, in verse 7. And so Isaiah is just pointing out, you think these things are reaching God, they're annoying the true God, they're angering him. You're further angering him. The smoke in the nostrils indicates something that is unbearable. And if you're maybe around a campfire and you get a gust of smoke up into your nose, you've got to get oxygen. The self-righteous, judgmental people irritate God, is what is being said.

And that's what he said. God said, I hate the doctrine of the Nicolations. Look up the abominations, the things that God considers an abomination, and you'd be surprised how many people are walking around, driving around, completely oblivious to these things.

I was watching an interview, I can only take like two minutes of any interview it seems, and this was someone asking questions of this activist who is saying, well God made me this way, and so, you know, he approves. And it's just the ignorance, it's like God doesn't, we know, you guys know that. The same on abortion, you know, it's a fetus, which I think is Latin for little child.

I'm serious. It's not a child, it's not a child at conception, it's just a zygote to something else. Whenever we can, if we can tell them, no, thus says the Lord, conception is the beginning of life, you know, just pray to God, if you are a student of the Word, if you are fortunate enough to attend a church that emphasizes the Word, you've got to, I would think, be saying, God, give me targets. Don't just load me up, give me something to shoot at, and pray that God will bring people in, and he does it in various ways.

It could be family members, you know, certainly raising up children, you answer their questions. Always looking to be effective to strike back at hell by having flow from us that which God has invested in us. Anyway, you can say, Lord, look, I sit through these long sermons, let's make it worthwhile, try that, see what he says and get back to me. Anyway, verse 6, behold, it is written before me, I will not keep silence, but will repay, even repay into their bosom. Verse 7, your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together, says Yahweh, who have burned incense on the mountains and blasphemed me on the hills.

Therefore, I will measure their former work into their bosom. So God responds, again to Isaiah's questions, that there's going to be judgment, I'm going to respond in judgment and punishment. Now bosom here, he uses it in verse 6 and 7, indicates that God is going to strike to the heart of the problem. He is going to penetrate, his judgments will strike deep, they will penetrate, they will achieve its goal.

They're like bunker busting bombs, there's no hiding from them. And so, the clear teaching of the first seven verses, is that the Gentiles are brought in and the apostate Jews, not all the Jews, but the ones that reject their own scripture, they will be dealt with and he'll revisit this list in chapter 66. Now verse 8, thus says Yahweh, as the new wine is found in the cluster and no one says, and one says, pardon me, and one says, do not destroy it, for a blessing is in it, so I will do for my servant's sake, that I may not destroy them all.

It's pretty terrifying. Paul said, knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade all men. You know, we get so hooked up on grace, we may lose sight that there's a terror that awaits those who fool around with God in a wicked way. The final fury of judgment is Jacob's trouble, but the Jews have, of course, suffered much since, let his blood be upon us and our children. Ezekiel talks about God purging out the unbelievers, he uses that word, and he will purge the antichrist, the antichristian Jews from Israel in the great tribulation period.

Evidently, there's no other way, for if there were, he would have taken that route. Free will is a very serious thing, and I don't know how anybody could deny it. I think when you read the Old Testament, don't you get so many offerings, then you're mindful of the free will offering.

It means something. So he will purge the unrighteous, but he will also establish the righteous Jews, the remnant within Israel, and the two witnesses, the 144,000 Jews, will be very active, very busy. You can't say it will be an exciting time, but it will be hot with activity. Verse 9, I will bring forth descendants from Jacob and from Judah, and heir of my mountains, and my elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there. So the great tribulation survivors, who are not in their glorified bodies, they are not immortal, they are subject still to death.

We will be in our glorified bodies, and a part of the new heavenly Jerusalem. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio today. Cross Reference Radio is a ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville in Virginia. If you'd like to learn more about this ministry, we invite you to visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com.

You'll find a number of teachings from Pastor Rick available there. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of new editions of Cross Reference Radio. Just search for Cross Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app. You can also follow the links at crossreferenceradio.com. We're glad we were able to spend time with you today. Tune in next time to continue learning from the book of Isaiah with Pastor Rick, right here on Cross Reference Radio.