Choices Count (Part B)

The hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants, and his indignation on his enemies.

Of course, this is future. And so now he goes and fills that in, this part about the enemies. For behold, Yahweh will come with fire and with his chariots, like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire.

Well, I don't want to be on the receiving end of that. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Book of Isaiah.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. And now here's Pastor Rick as he continues with his message called Choices Count in Isaiah chapter 66. He who sacrifices a lamb as if he breaks a dog's neck, heartless, barbaric, indiscriminate religion, that's what's being called out. He who offers a grain offering as if he offers a swine's blood. His outside actions are hiding his inward passions, what's in his heart. He's offering the grain offering.

That's okay, but not the swine's blood. And so Isaiah, again, is just challenging the motives of the religious people of his day, existing long before he came along and long after he went along. He who burns incense as if he blesses an idol. In other words, they're loving their lives, not the truth. And you know, second Thessalonians, because they did not have a love for the truth, they will be turned over to delusion. And anyway, he says, just as they have chosen their own ways, that's clear enough. See, we're created in the image of God.

And even though that image is marred, there are parts of it that have remained. And the part that has remained is free will. We have free will. It's beyond instinct. There's a choice involved.

The animal kingdom is more instinctive. Anyway, damaged by sin, yes, but we still have the ability to choose God. Proverbs 18, verse 2, a fool has no delight in understanding, but in expressing his own power. Well, that would characterize these chaps here in verse 3. And their soul delights in their abominations. They are passionate about their religious way.

And you better not object, by the way. Matthew 8, behold the city. The whole city came out to meet Jesus. This is after he cast out those demons into the 2,000 swine. Behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they begged him to depart from their region.

People at the university have done that a long time ago. So here are the hateful Hamas type or style religions through the lens of today. The killing of an ox, slaying a man, no difference to them whether you kill a man or you kill an animal. Barbaric and indiscriminate offerings. The thrill of violence in their offerings. It's a peaceful religion. If you look at their behavior, you have to say it's barbaric and indiscriminate. Forbidden religious offerings.

This is, of course, the grain offering held up, but really in their heart it was the swine's blood in defiance of God. When you drill down into what their motives are, people need to hear these things because people do these things. And we see them because we're Christians and God has touched us. Those that burn incense as to idols. There are those that have chosen their idols and the facts mean nothing. If you were to say to somebody, can you tell me why you believe in an idol?

Why you pray to a statue of Buddha or something like that? The best they can do is give you hearsay. They have no facts to back these things up. And then one of the beauties of the Judeo-Christian world is that we have an unbroken witness in writing from Adam today and all the way through to the Lord Returns. And not only is it in print, but the prophecies are in print. And so again, one of the best defenses when Satan knocks on your door and starts to say, you know, the Bible is not all that. Then how come it called Israel out to be a nation that it is?

To be so peculiar, so extraordinary. If the Bible weren't true, I wouldn't be seeing these things with my eyes, but I do see them. And to add to that, there were many a Christian before me who died long before Israel was put back in her land and they believed the scriptures by faith. And they could do it. I can do it because it makes sense. And so verse four, so I will choose their delusions, this barbaric group. And there are those that have a refined devil too, but the ones called out are rather extreme. So I will choose their delusions and bring their fears on them.

Now pause there. Why? Why is God choosing their delusions? Because of their choices. That's why.

They're not random. I will bring fears on them because when I called, no one answered. When I spoke, they did not hear, but they did evil before my eyes and chose that which I do not delight.

Well, these are intelligent human beings. They can choose, right? Or they can choose wrong. And it would be a little weird for God to say, I called out to you knowing that you couldn't choose, but you could choose.

So your defense is taken away. And so God will in scripture confuse the enemy. No mistake about that. He's not the author of confusion for his people, but he will author it for his enemies. Genesis 17, come, let us go down, says, of course, this is the Trinity in the Old Testament.

Let us go down there and confuse their language that they may not understand one another's speech. Well, that's what the Bible says. Well, Deuteronomy 28, Yahweh will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart if you depart from the law of the Lord. Psalm 81, verse 12, God speaking through the Psalmist. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart to walk in their own counsels.

And then there's Zechariah 12, four, if you want another one. So God controls the wicked. He doesn't control their choices, but he controls the outcome.

That's called sovereignty. If he weren't sovereign, then their choices could overthrow him. So the basic rule is where God cannot rule, he will overrule. Whether they know it or not or like it or not, Ezekiel talks about these false prophets.

And you know, they had to grate on his spirit. He says, then God speaking through Ezekiel about these false prophets. And if the prophet is induced to speak anything, I the Lord have induced that prophet, that is God interfering.

I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel. So we have the initial deception, which belongs to the man, to the person. And that's how it was with the pharaohs. When God hardened the heart of the pharaohs, they were already doing wrong. It wasn't like they were, you know, well, you know, we've been, you know, helping out down at the church. No, they were committing genocide.

And they were blasphemous, they were persecutors. And so God says, I'm going to just support your decision. Their decision was the initial deception. The secondary deception comes in when God says, now I'm going to control that decision.

You want to act like a hooligan in my world, that's your choice. But you are not going to be able to achieve all your goals. So anyway, God judiciously, wisely hardened pharaohs heart, granting what he already demanded. And that was a rejection of truth. Pharaoh could see these miracles. He could see Moses in action. And the same with Judas Iscariot. What you go do, do it quickly. And Jesus said, all right, it's done for you.

You've made your choices. And even at the end, the last words of Jesus that we know Judas heard. What was the last way the Lord referred to him as a friend, giving him another chance. Anyway, we shouldn't have any problem with this. But I have to harp on a little bit because there are those in Christianity that will tell you that God does not love everybody.

He hates a lot of people. Thessalonians 2, and for this reason, God will send strong delusion that they should believe the lie. And so there is God in total control. And with zeal, they romp off to deception with devotion and passion.

And we're going to get back to these guys and I won't have to comment on it and that will allow us to pick up time. But they're in this chapter, these very, beyond verse four, we're going to come across them again. And so as they romp off, they romp off into the arms of a devil who hates them. And I don't know that we tell the unbelievers that when we get the chance. The devil hates you.

You don't think that, you know, this is some sort of a pleasant arrangement you're getting away with. He hates your guts. He wants you doomed. And that's why he invests so much in your resistance to the only true God. And yeah, the woke and the antichrist, they are the walking devoured so long as they remain in that state. But Isaiah starts out his prophecy with coming against empty religion. But in that first chapter, he holds out hope to those who repent.

And that's the same way for us. There are those that are caught in this net of wokeness and an antichrist. But there is still hope.

And it is not a little deal. Because the minute you give up that hope, you've played into Satan's hand yourself. So the way to fight back is defy that.

Pray hard and often. Anyway, in life, those who refuse truth will default to error. That is a law of the universe like any other law. You can choose to believe two plus two is ten.

I have never met anybody that does that. But just by way of illustration, if you were to do such a thing, you would be embracing a lie. Well, people do that with religion and religious facts from the scripture. And bring their fears on them. The very thing they're trying to escape through their false gods, that's why they're burning incense and that's why they're making sacrifices to their false gods.

The very things they're trying to escape will fail them because of their choices in the end. He says, because when I called, no one answered. When I spoke, they did not hear.

Now he's speaking to Jewish apostates about them, but this applies to anyone who has been exposed to the truth and behaves this way. When he says, I called, they didn't hear. Well, God is justified. He initiated the contact. And they weren't interested.

And that's critical. No man comes to the Father unless the Spirit draws him. God initiates the contact. We're going to see in this chapter that there are those that are going to survive the great tribulation period and they need to be evangelized. How do you explain that? They didn't hear the gospel.

And they made it through. And God's going to send the Jews out to preach to them in the millennial kingdom. And so, again, when we talk about having the scripture shape your doctrine, not your doctrine shape your scripture, it's very serious because a lot have it, I think, upside down.

And I don't know if they would argue with me, but I would crush them. I'm glad you're laughing. This is a joke. But anyway, you know, it's a nice place to get in Christianity when you don't feel a need to debate. You don't strive.

And I'm getting there. But, he continues in verse four, but they did evil before my eyes and shows that in which I do not delight. So it was deliberate. They were determined. And so as a result, they distanced themselves further and further from truth. They were the primary cause of their own delusion.

And God was a secondary cause. John's gospel, chapter 15, Jesus said, if I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin because I did come and I did preach to them and they did see the miracles.

And now their choice is on them. Verse five, hear the word of Yahweh, you who tremble at his word, your brethren who hated you, who cast you out for my name's sake said, let Yahweh be glorified that we may see your joy, but they shall be ashamed. Well now, Isaiah turns back to the righteous ones, the contrite hearts, and he says, oh, by the way, you who love the Lord and love his word, you're being persecuted by your, ethnically speaking, brethren, the Jewish people, the apostates. Satan still goes behind God, hoping to ruin whatever God has achieved.

It's a story, one of the parable, meanings of the parable of the sower. There are people that accommodate Satan. They fraternize with him and they become vendors for him while at the same time denying he even exists or giving definition contrary to scripture. Anyway, Isaiah is saying, they're going to be those Jews that are going to persecute you and they're going to mock your faith and they did this with Jesus. You know, he's calling on the Lord, let's see if his God will answer him.

And this is the same thing going on here. It shows up in Isaiah 5, 19, Psalm 22, verse 8, but he says, but they shall be ashamed. Judgment will be dialed in because they are persecuting them. In the New Testament, it turned out this way, Jesus said, they will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.

Well, it's a little different here. Here, these Jews weren't interested in Yahweh. They were mocking the Jews that were interested in Yahweh. Jesus later says there will be those Jews that will be hypocrites, but they will be persecuting you thinking they're serving God. Well, that was Saul until God got his hands on him and his confession matches Peter. When Peter said, depart from me, I am a man of sin, Saul was saying the same thing when he said, who are you, Lord?

What do you want me to do? Absolute surrender. We wish the Bible could pick up the tones, the tone in Paul's voice. Verse 6, the sound of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, the voice of Yahweh who fully repays his enemies. What is driving that point home in this last chapter? Verse 7, before she was in labor, she gave birth. Before her pain came, she delivered a male child. Who has heard such a thing?

Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day or shall a nation be born at once? Yes, it shall be. Suddenly the enemies of the Lord will be destroyed when the Lord returns. This, of course, reference to the male child in the context of birth, it links directly with Revelation 12. It is the amazing story of Israel, the miraculous final birth of the kingdom. I don't know if you could say rebirth, you can. I mean, semantics, it is a rebirth in one sense, but in another way, it's such a fresh start. Never been the same, never been like that even in the days of David. You can't compare it to when Messiah returns and establishes Israel. And we have seen the beginnings of this verse. We have seen Israel put back in her land, which this verse is talking about the Jewish people being established before their Messiah. Can you imagine being in a concentration camp, being in one of the Nazi concentration camps as a Jew?

Could you imagine even picturing this coming true? You would think the whole Bible was false, and many of them did. Many Jews became atheists during those days, and they write about it.

So it's not like, it's not just, you know, my opinion, there's evidence for that. These verses, 6 through 9, they show that anything is possible with God according to what God wants. The painless birth referenced here goes back to Eden, and it is pointing to a future time when that part of the curse will be removed also. It uses that language to just keep, and we know we've covered that.

The curse will not be as in force during the millennial kingdom as it is now. Verse 9, shall I bring to the time of birth and not cause delivery, says Yahweh. Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb, says the Lord? Of course, these are rhetorical, and he is saying, I'm going to finish this. I'm going to deliver my people. I'm going to establish my nation. I'm not going to get halfway there and fail. It's going to happen. And the Arab world, of course, when on May 14th, 1948, when the United Nations said, okay, Israel, you're now a nation, among the nations, the Arab world ganged up on Israel, but not only did they, they could not gain a single step, they lost a lot.

And then they tried again in 65, and again, and each time they were beaten back. Antichrist, he will also come after them, but he will ultimately be stopped. Verse 10, rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad with her. All you who love her, rejoice for joy with her.

All you who mourn for her. Now, I don't know how many Gentiles in the days of Isaiah would have been in that category, but I know today there's many Christians that have a heart for Israel. And, you know, this is a far reaching, I don't know if prophecy is the right word, application of prophecy might be a better way to approach it. There Isaiah sort of looks into the future because there again are multitudes of Christians that love the Jewish people because of the seal God has placed on them as a people. That never condones the individual Jew who is sinning, but as a people, it's a different thing. Verse 11, that you may feed and be satisfied with the consolation of her bosom, that you may drink deeply and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. Verse 12, for thus says Yahweh, behold, I will extend peace to her like a river and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. Then you shall feed, on her sides shall you be carried and dandled on her knees, verse 13, and as one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. So, in a nutshell, the loving care of a mother is upon the nation of Israel from God, matching the metaphor of birth in verses seven through nine and it is a blessing to come for the Jewish people that God is saying. If you've ever had a chance to witness to a Jewish person, they can either just shut you down right away and won't hear anything or they can engage you and you find out just how ignorant of their own Bibles they are, how much more you know about their Jewish Bible than they do.

And that can be exciting, but the bottom line is you want that conversion right then and there. Verse 14, when you see this, your heart shall rejoice and your bones shall flourish like grass. The hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants and his indignation on his enemies.

Of course, this is future. And so now he goes and fills that in, this part about the enemy. For behold, Yahweh will come with fire and with his chariots like a whirlwind to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire.

Well, I don't want to be on the receiving end of that. So, joy to the friend of God, wrath to his enemies, a simple meaning. As close as Elijah-esque going up in a chariot of fire.

In Revelation 19, the saints were following Jesus in this picture of us just pouring out of heaven, but there are no mention of chariots. There's no contradiction there, just interesting. You can't wait to see that. It's like, I can't believe this is happening. I can't believe this is happening. You're going to be saying to yourself the whole time.

Or do you find that you're just going to be very casual about the whole deal? Anyway, it has never been enough to be just religious, and that's part of what he's pouring out here. There are consequences to making wrong choices in religion. Isaiah 13, verse 9, behold, a day of Yahweh comes, cruel, and it's what it means. Well, and it's, you know, if you're watching it, with both wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate, and he will destroy its sinners from it. Well, I said about Dwight Moody by someone else that Moody was the one to preach on hell because he was the one that when he preached on hell, he would tear up. He would weep. Well, if that is true, and he was genuine, which I believe he was, and I believe this anecdote is true, it's because he was totally in touch with what the Lord said in the word.

He believed it. He believed there'd be a fierce judgment on the wicked, and maybe that's why God used Moody so, so much. Anyway, verse 16, for by fire and by his sword, the Lord will judge all flesh, and the slain of the Lord shall be many.

Of course, the all is all the enemies in the context of what's being said. Well, all will be judged, but not with the sword, and this singles out the apostates in Isaiah's day. This is one of the reasons why the prophets always were so, you know, Israel-centric because that's all they knew. They didn't know about the church, and so, yeah, you know, you could read the Old Testament and say, boy, where do we come in? Well, we come in in the, you know, the Feast of Pentecost, you know, the Feast of First Fruits.

We're in there, but it's just not very developed until you get to the New Testament, and then by the time you get to the New Testament, and Acts begins to move past chapter 12, the Jews sort of come out of the picture, and the Gentiles are now in the lead, but then, you know, having the Old Testament still, we know that the Jews are never out of his sight. 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.