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So Isaiah chapter number 52 all kinds of famous passages here you probably picked up on as we were just reading through this chapter out loud and I'm excited to get to this but you know basically if you haven't picked up on it already you know there's a very heavy theme in this chapter if you haven't picked up on it it's a soul winning theme right so we'll be covering that a lot this evening and it's it's amazing I've kind of got another sermon prepared but how often the Bible talks about good tidings the gospel and things like that it's all throughout Scripture and I forget how long ago it was someone someone was one of the haters of like new IFB was trying to throw out some videos like mocking new IFB and put out the videos like soul winning soul winning soul winning soul winning soul winning soul winning soul winning if you remember that or not and you know what I say amen and when people try to mock us for that you know why don't you try reading the Bible and look and look for yourself how often the Bible is talking about this subject I'm not talking about where it just says they send people to and to I'm talking about just everywhere where the Bible is referring to preaching the Word of God and good you know preaching good tidings preaching the good news preaching the gospel you know it is found all throughout Scripture from Genesis to Revelation literally it's it's all over the place Isaiah 52 it's very heavy here in this passage so let's jump down here in verse number one let's dig right in the Bible says awake awake put on thy strength O Zion put on thy beautiful garments O Jerusalem the holy city for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean and I think there's a continuation of just a prophecy that we've been seeing you know multiple times in the book of Isaiah but even last week and here you know the Bible is making this this prophecy that hence forth means from here forward right from from now on there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean this is prophesying about you know future events obviously that haven't happened yet because right now and even to this point there's always been uncircumcised and unclean people everywhere in the world I mean Jerusalem yes but but everywhere in the world so this is a time that's going to come forth in the future that God's saying there is no more going to come the uncircumcised and the unclean shake thyself from the dust arise and sit down Oh Jerusalem loose thyself from the bands of thy neck Oh captive daughter of Zion so what does it talk about again it's a redemption right it's a freeing of and if you remember I think it was last week at the very end of the chapter it talks about where we're yeah right down right at verse 23 is where we left off last week but I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee which have said that I so bow down that we may go over and now us laid thy body as the ground and as a street to them that went over this right this is the attitude of the believers that that is said okay you know like they're letting themselves be trampled on essentially they're turning the other cheek they're having that attitude you know what God's the God that's going to judge so starting here in the ver into chapter 52 because this is still a continuous thought going from chapter 51 into 52 you know going from being humbled from being walked all over by this world by the unbelievers by the uncircumcised now he's prophesying hey you know what from here on forward the uncircumcised the unclean they're not going to be able to come and go as they please from you know he says shake thyself from the dust you don't get up and and arise sit down on Jerusalem loose thyself from the bands of thy neck right you're gonna you're gonna be freed you're gonna be you're gonna be redeemed from your captivity Oh captive daughter of giant verse number three for thus saith the Lord ye have sold yourselves for naught and ye shall be redeemed without money so you're you it says you've sold yourselves for naught that not means nothing like you've sold yourselves unto sin for nothing you've got you got nothing in return for that right you basically sold yourselves and got nothing he says but but you shall in and you shall be redeemed without money so Jesus Christ didn't pay for your souls with money he didn't use filthy lucre he shed his own blood to pay for your souls much more precious than money verse number four for thus saith the Lord God my people went down a fortnight into Egypt to sojourn there and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause now therefore what have I here saith the Lord that my people is taken away for not they that rule over them make them to howl saith the Lord in my name continually every day is blasphemed so God is seeing this God sees the hurt God sees the the persecution God sees the suffering God sees the wicked that are just continuing to persecute the the righteous and continuing to walk all over him and he's saying you know what it's gonna stop it's gonna stop here because when God's name is just being blasphemed continually every single day that makes God angry I you know people can continue to mock and the Bible says that you know in the last days perilous time shall come and and people are gonna be mocking saying well you know where is the sign of his of his appearing where is a sign of his coming you know well it's been already thousands of years and things just continue to go the same you cheap tell me that you know God's gonna get angry and God's gonna come you know people continue to blaspheme and say that but God is gonna come and don't confuse the long-suffering of the Lord because the Lord's not willing that he should perish with all should come to repentance with God not getting and continuing to get more and more angry until he reaches his tipping point see people are just lucky that God is so long-suffering and merciful I mean we're lucky that God's so long you know long-suffering merciful but there is there is a point there is a breaking point where God is going to say enough is enough you know where he's only gonna take so much of the blasphemy and the persecutions that have been happening and he says in verse 6 therefore my people shall know my name he says they're gonna know my name why because he's gonna make himself known I mean he's going to now come and defend therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak behold it is I verse number 7 how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings that publish it peace that bringeth good tidings of good that publish its salvation that saith unto Zion thy God reigneth now obviously we're gonna look at interview to Romans chapter 10 that bringing bring it the good news you know good tidings means news was tidings is news right so it's good news good tidings and we're gonna see also in a little bit that that's that's what gospel means as well we're gonna see the the definition for that now in this context it's not necessarily referring Isaiah chapter 52 to people preaching the gospel because they're saying is they're saying unto Zion that God raineth like they're bringing a different good news hey God's here right God is raining and now we no longer have to be be under the the thumb under the persecution of the unrighteous of the wicked and obviously you know you could you can apply this multiple ways but the publishing here let's just look at verse 7 again how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings so God just basically saying how blessed it is and what's a great thing it's a beautiful thing for the people who are bringing the good tidings it's always a good thing to be a bearer of good news instead of a bearer of bad news right even throughout the Bible you have messengers sometimes if the messengers bring a bad message like bad news the messenger would have to worry about whether or not they were going to be killed if they're gonna even keep their life if the if the person they're delivering the message to you like a king you know might just get so upset that they're just you know you you don't want to be known as a person even if you had nothing to do with it you don't want your name and your face associated with the bad news especially if something goes really bad right you want to be the person bringing forth the good news and how true is this how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bring it good tidings here that publisheth peace so they're bringing a message of peace now again in this context this is talking about this redemption this freeing of Israel the publishing of peace hey peace is a good thing right we're no longer under duress that bringeth good tidings of good that publisheth salvation you're talking about their salvation right that's it on his eye and I God raineth God's in charge God's ruling all good news obviously though this is exactly how our salvation works to or how anyone's salvation works their soul being saved right you have salvation from physical things of being persecuted and punished and everything like that when Jesus Christ comes back to rule and reign on this earth he's gonna save the Saints out of their tribulation out of their persecution we're gonna be able to look up and and rejoice when we see the Lord in here if we happen to be alive and remain in the coming of the Lord what a great day that's gonna be hey we could we could shout hey thy God raineth you know we could say there's good tidings there's peace there's finally gonna be an end to this and our redemption is nigh right that is definitely a salvation that is applicable and how great it's going to be to hear the good news and hear that trumpet you'll hear hear the sound of the trumpet and we're gonna see the Lord coming that's awesome what a beautiful thing that is but also right how awesome is it for the people whose soul gets saved from hell because of the person that's bringing the good news that's preaching the good tidings who has that great message of peace who's able to bring the comfort and bring the deliverance and bring the redemption that is in Jesus Christ to a person in need to the person that's lost to the person that needs to be saved from hell great application right which is why the application is made in Romans chapter 10 look at verse number 13 the Bible says for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher and how shall they pre accept they be sent now I love this passage this passage destroys you know the the the Calvinistic way of thinking where people whether they're Calvinists or not a lot of people have a Calvinistic way of thinking about things about salvation going oh well God will just make sure that that this person will hear the gospel and that they'll get if God wants them to be saved I'll just make sure it happens look God doesn't just make sure things happen no God does lead people God will send people but it's still up to us to obey and go forth and do the work see the way that God just makes sure things happen is by sending you to go but if you don't go people don't get saved and that's the bottom line God has we are God's husbandry the Bible the Bible says we are his work force we are the laborers that need to go forth and work he's doing the sending he's got the gift he has everything to provide and to supply us with all of our need to go forward and and lead people to Christ and bring that message but if I'll tell you if no one is going out and doing that work God is not going to go and do that work himself he's entrusted that job to believers so if the believers of this world do not go forward and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ people won't get saved and it's evident on what we just read in Romans 10 because what is Romans I mean first of all whosoever shall call upon the name of Lord shall be saved amen right whosoever shall call upon the name of Lord shall be saved everyone that calls the name of Lord is saved but you can't call the name of the Lord if you don't believe in them first of all right no one is calling out to a God they don't believe in that would be that's stupid right you're not you're not doing it all no one is anyone here calling out to Zeus or calling out to Jupiter or no one is now those aren't that's not a real God but you're not calling out to any of those things if you're gonna call it anyway you're calling the name of the Lord right you're gonna call on Jesus but you have to believe in him first it says how shall they call on him in whom they've not believed but then this how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard you can't expect people to call in the name of Jesus Christ to get saved if they've never heard of Jesus Christ you have to know you have to know who God is you have to know what God did for you have to know about that salvation you have to know about that gospel of peace in order to put your trust in that you have to know who Jesus Christ is and what he did for you in order to be saved you have to know that you can't believe yes is as easy as believing but how can you believe if you don't even know about it and how shall they hear without a preacher now the Bible says right here how are they gonna hear without a preacher did books exist back in the time when this was written yes they did did people write letters oh yeah we're reading the epistle to the Romans we're hate look Raza Paul literally wrote a letter to the Romans but he's saying how shall they hear without a preacher you need not not an author or a writer a preacher you need someone to hear by a preacher a spirits filled soul winner to go out and preach the Word of God to people so they could understand and get saved so they could hear the gospel and believe and call in the name of the Lord and get saved and that says verse 15 and how shall they preach except they be sent and that's where it all starts it kind of goes in backwards order from someone being saved by calling on the name of Lord going backwards all the way up to the beginning of hey it starts with people being sent it starts with the sending and from the sending you got a preacher going forth and preaches and that person preaching needs to preach to people who are in a here and those people who here need to believe and once they believe me to call in the name of Lord that's I mean this is very very simple this is how salvation works but it's referencing here and it says as it is written referring to Isaiah 52 7 how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things what a beautiful thing why because those are the people who are sent going forth and preaching good things flip back if you would do Isaiah chapter 40 Isaiah chapter 40 we went over this if like a couple months ago I guess but we see almost the same message in Isaiah chapter 40 as a 52 7 again says how beautiful upon the mountains of the feet of him that bringeth good tidings that publishes peace that bringeth good tidings of good that publishes salvation that that Seth unto Zion thy God reigneth that's the good news right there's there's peace there's prosperity your God reigns look at Isaiah chapter 40 verse number 6 the Bible says the voice said cry and he said what shall I cry all flesh is grass and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field the grass wither at the flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it surely the people is grass the grass wither it the flower fadeth but the word of our God shall stand forever verse 9 O Zion that bring us good tidings get thee up into thy high mountain O Jerusalem that bring us good tidings lift up thy voice with strength lift it up be not afraid say unto the cities of Judah behold your God it's the same message and even notice here he's saying you know O Zion that bring its good tidings get thee up into the high mountain how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings that publish with peace lift up be not afraid and would to God we could have people who would not be afraid to preach the gospel and I thank God we have a whole church full of people here that are not afraid to preach the gospel and we need more people to not be afraid to preach the gospel we need a lot more people because that's that is one of the number one things that prevents believers from preaching the gospel is fear it's fear I know hey I'll be the first to admit I was afraid I was afraid before I started soul winning I was afraid to even go out and be a silent partner and then after I was a silent partner I was afraid to try to open up my mouth and preach the gospel I was afraid it's not right we shouldn't be afraid we have no reason to fear fearfulness is a sin I didn't fear the Lord more than I was fearing man or fearing the unknown I mean the Bible says in Revelation 21 8 but the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable murderers and sorcerers and whore migrants and all dies shall have their part in Lakewood burn the fire brimstone which is like a death we use that list of sins usually we point out all liars the people who are unsaved saying hey this is bad enough to send you to hell but what's the first part but the fearful right but the fearful and especially as a believer you have no reason to be fearful you have no reason to be fearful no good reason and God commands you not to be fearful you only fear the Lord and if you fear the Lord you're gonna keep his commandments and he's commanding you to go out and preach the gospel every creature see how that works nice and simple right nonetheless I was still afraid and nonetheless people today are still afraid we have to overcome that fear though and understand and trust in God and hey you're bringing good tidings see people fear because you're worried about what other people are gonna think of you and get mad at you whatever but you're thinking about it all wrong you gotta think about this way you're bringing a good message don't worry if someone's gonna get mad I mean think about if you had any other good news to tell anyone do you ever worry about how they're gonna respond to a good message I mean think about that if you if you have good news maybe it maybe a new married young couple just finds out they're pregnant we've got good news hey we're gonna have a baby you're not worried about being afraid or you shouldn't be up like what people are gonna say to you when you've got a good message or hey you know you've been in need I'm gonna give you a thousand bucks to help you out right you're gonna tell them you're not gonna be afraid well what are they gonna say are they gonna be mad if I tell them I've got this great gift for them well you know what the message of salvation is good news which by the way we ought to preach it as such too right I don't like the the you know the Ray Comfort style the bad news right that he brings bad news you gotta repent of all your sins right well okay guess I ain't gonna make it then and that's how he treats people too when people are just like I can't do that he's just basically dams them then okay well yeah you're not gonna make it then he spends half of his time or more than half of his time just berating people and tell them how wicked how wicked how wicked how wicked you are it's like dude is there any good news to this at all we need to preach the good news obviously people understand their Center and they need a Savior obviously right of course of course we believe that and we have to teach that and preach that but the majority of the time we ought to be spending on the good news the bad news is that you're a sinner but you know what the gospel is the good news the gospel is that Christ paid your way the gospel is that hey the good news that lasts forever the good news is that now of your works the good news is bought and paid for the good news is all you have to do is believe amen that's the good news and we need to be preaching that good news so why do you have to be afraid that's good news I mean people reject good news okay whatever don't let that get to you no reason to fear lift up be not afraid say unto the cities of Judah behold your God flip forward now to chapter 61 Isaiah 61 I'm not going to get too far into this because we're going to get into this in about nine weeks when we get to chapter 61 but it's all it all fits together here Isaiah 61 verse number one the Bible reads the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all that mourn it's the same message it's the glad tidings it's the good news it's the gospel Jesus Christ quotes this in Luke chapter 4 and again I'm not going to get too far into this because we'll go into this more when we go through Isaiah chapter 61 but Jesus said this when he quoted says the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed and you could look down keep reading Isaiah 61 1 right I'm gonna read Luke 4 18 for you while you're looking at Isaiah 61 1 the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor so if you notice there if you're looking at Isaiah 61 1 he says because the Lord anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek and Jesus quoted that is saying because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor this is one of the reasons this is one of the main areas we get a definition of the gospel because you keep on seeing the gospel the gospel the gospel is a New Testament phrase or word right terminology we see here Jesus is calling good tidings the gospel so that's what the gospel means there should be nothing mysterious about it and don't try to to twist it into something else the gospel this means the good news it's good tidings glad tidings of good things and then you also notice it says good tidings unto the meek he says it's annoying me to preach the gospel to the poor all right people who are meek and humble it's the poor which is also why when we go out and preach the gospel we are targeting first and foremost the meek of the earth the humble the poor when we went to Macon we were targeting the lowest of the of the of the of the income community down there because this is what the Bible talks about we're in we're looking to reach those people first now we're gonna reach everybody the plan is to go and preach the gospel to every creature but we're gonna start with the meek and with the lowly and with the humble and they are the most receptive by the way as well go back to Isaiah chapter 52 we're instructed to preach good tidings we're instructed to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord as I said in Isaiah 61 verse number 8 in Isaiah 52 the Bible says thy watchmen shall lift up the voice with the voice together shall they sing for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion now I'm not gonna get too deep into this but turn if you would Ezekiel chapter 3 beware of the of the weird stuff on the internet one weird thing on the internet is the Nephilim okay anyone who's who's making videos out there about Nephilim and Nephilim and look the Nephilim are Giants that's what the Bible says by the way the King James Bible uses the word Giants because that's what they were they were Giants there's nothing too crazy about it they were large people they weren't you know 60 feet high or whatever the the the the non Word of God book say like the book of Enoch or whatever the book of Jasser yo these these other books that are not scripture make ridiculous claims that's why we don't read those things that's why they're not part of Scripture because they're garbage a giant was like you know it gives you dimensions on two of the Giants in the Bible of the one on the bed that they slept on and you know you know it they're like nine feet tall ten feet tall okay that's tall don't get me wrong it's I mean they're gonna be a few you know a few feet higher than me that's like a half of my height and you know and then some it's a big big guy but nothing outside but I mean look we're gonna have Pastor Thompson at the preaching you know he's a big guy all right I mean he may not be reaching Goliath stature but he's a big guy and we could look at some of the basketball players you know Shaquille O'Neal is a big guy I mean those guys they're they're like many Giants they're bordering on that that threshold of being what the Bible calls giant now Giants were still a little bit bigger but that's not outside of so you know some craziness realm of like you know Jack and the beanstalk type of giant right the jolly green giant it's not it's not like that half you probably don't even know what I'm talking about so it's all weird stuff out there and and it's and it's because it's not like used very much and people don't hear about that much so it's it gives away for people come up with all kinds of crazy stuff right but I'm not gonna get too far into debt but the reason I bring it up is Isaiah 52 8 says thy watchman shall lift up the voice so the watchman is like this whole other thing like oh man there's this race of people under the watchman and it like maybe it's the aliens are these watchmen and all kinds of crazy things out there avoid that stuff because the Bible has the answers that we need sometimes words are used or phrases are used in a way that's a little bit unfamiliar to us because the language is slightly different than what we're used to okay and I get that and that makes it sometimes a little bit more difficult for us and contemporary as contemporary English speakers to always understand exactly what the Bible saying but you know what you got to do you just got to study a little bit to show yourself approved under God you just got to do a little bit of comparing because the watchmen are come up multiple times in Scripture and here's a great passage about watchmen in Ezekiel chapter 3 look at verse number 16 the Bible reads and it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the Lord came unto me saying son of man I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel so God's saying look I've made you a watchman and what's a watchman a watchman would be someone who whose job it was to watch a city usually like if you're if you have city walls you have someone out at a post an outpost looking because they're looking for the enemy because they didn't have radar they didn't have all the technology to be on the lookout for an enemy that might be coming attacking so they physically had people out there watching and looking for danger that was going to come their way maybe it would come in a form of a you know some forest fire out there maybe it would come and enforces coming away whatever it is you got a watchman keeping guard and standing watch over the city well God is telling this preacher hey son of man I've made thee a watchman under the house of Israel it's your job to watch out for the house of Israel therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me said this is your job preacher I am going to tell you some words I'm going to give you a message you've got to warn the rest of the people because God's not speaking directly to all these people but you know what he's speaking to his prophet here he's saying you need to go and deliver this message that's your job you are like a watchman to the house of Israel when I say unto the wicked verse 18 thou shalt surely die and now give us him not warning nor speak is to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity but his blood will I require thine hand see if you're not going to warn the guy that's doing wickedly that hey man you're gonna die God's gonna judge you you know that's wicked and if that person ends up dying well I mean their bloods on them because they you know they're doing wickedly but he says I'm also gonna he's I'm gonna require that your hands though because you didn't tell him you know if you told them you might have changed we didn't tell him verse 19 yet if thou warn the wicked and he turned not from his wickedness nor from his wicked way he shall die in his iniquity but thou has delivered thy soul so he's saying you just you have to give the message so whether it's received or not that's not on you but as the watchman your job is to deliver the message that's what you have to do again when a righteous man to turn from his righteousness and commit iniquity and I lay a stumbling block before him he shall die because thou has not given him warning he shall die in his sin and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered but his blood will I require at thine hand nevertheless that I warn the righteous man that the righteous sin not and he doth not sin he shall surely live because he is warned also thou has delivered thy soul so God has set up watchmen and this set this fits in perfectly with a context here of publishing good tidings and him that brings the gospel of peace essentially in Isaiah chapter 52 which you go back to Isaiah chapter 52 and he says thy watchmen shall lift up the voice with the voice together shall they sing for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion and here this reference to the watchmen they're still on the lookout but they're gonna be glad then because they're gonna see the Lord coming and they're gonna you know rejoice so that's that's a good message that's gonna be a good news that God is coming right but we have the job of being watchmen watchmen to the world watchmen to the world watchmen to the to the saved and the unsaved light the righteous and the unrighteous to preach the Word of God and to warn people about being wicked and that there is a judgment to come and we have that job of being a watchman ourselves let's go back to Isaiah 52 verse number 9 the Bible reads break forth into joy sing together ye waste places of Jerusalem for the Lord hath comforted his people he hath redeemed Jerusalem the Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God so what that means is he's made bare his holy arm you know that means he's rolling up the sleeves you know is he's showing he's showing his might it says it made bare his holy arm God is showing his strength God is showing his wife and little that's why it gives you that because what do people do they want to show you how strong they are you know I'm not gonna do it because I don't want to be embarrassed looks a lot better in in a in a suit right but I'm not gonna roll up my sleeve it won't look nearly as impressive but you know what when God does it it's impressive I've got when God shows his strength you know there's like muscles on top of muscles bulging out and and and that is impressive he made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations and all the ends of the earth I mean his strength is so well known and is so powerful it says all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God and this is you know God act big when God saves he saves big when God saved the children of Israel you better believe it made the news made its way around the world all the nations when they came forth out of Egypt they had heard about the children of Israel that came for in the plagues that were on Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea and all this up and they were afraid of them when they were coming into Canaan land God was delivering them up and they you know they kept going and conquering I mean they were all afraid of them why cuz God is a mighty arm and that that news travels fast when God does something big and you better believe when God brings his salvation again it's gonna be more big news and the ends of the earth are gonna see the salvation of our God verse number 11 depart ye depart ye go ye out from thence touch no unclean thing go ye out of the midst of her be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord I told you before there's a lot of soul winning theme in this chapter okay and we've seen some a lot of that already but the good news is here okay God's salvation but verse 11 he's saying depart so you're going forth and when God sends his people to preach the gospel as we see all throughout the New Testament what do he's sending them out go into all the world and preach the gospel Jesus sent out his disciples to and to and told them to go into these different cities preaching the gospel right we are sent to go we're never told to bring everybody in it's always go forth and preach the gospel to party go ye out from thence but they says this touch no unclean thing okay we want to be the best laborers that we can be and we need to make sure we're bringing forth a good news yes but it's a holy God that we're serving and it's a good message and we're trying to bring everything in in in order if we're gonna be representing Christ because that's what we're doing we're pointing people to Christ and we're and we're preaching the Word of God which is holy you know we need to be holy as well turn if you were to 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 as a 52 said touch no unclean thing go you out of the midst of her be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord well we're not burying the vessels like they did in the Old Testament like the holy vessels we are the vessels we are the vessels of the Holy Ghost so when we go forth we need to keep our vessels clean we need to keep our vessels holy in order to do the work of the Lord just as much as the Levites had to keep the vessels of the Lord clean because they were holy vessels that they were used in the service of the Lord we need to keep these vessels clean I'm gonna read for you from Leviticus 22 verse number 1 about says the Lord spake unto Moses saying speak unto Aaron to his sons that they separate themselves from the holy things of the children of Israel and that they profane not my holy name in those things which they hallow unto me I am the Lord so in the service in the Old Testament he's saying make sure that they don't profane my holy name but when we go forth we better make sure we're not profaning the holy name of Jesus Christ when we go forward we want to go forth the the best way that we can that we could be clean don't touch the unclean thing and and go forth and deliver this message 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 verse number 14 the Bible reads be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness and what concord hath Christ with Belial or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols for ye are the temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people verse 17 wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a father unto you and you shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty God is calling us to be separate to be holy to not touch the unclean thing when in Isaiah 52 he's telling him depart go forward don't touch the unclean thing look we've got an important job to do we need to go all in we need it we need to not be these wishy-washy watered-down lukewarm Christians that want that likes all the uncleanness of the world and wants to live with all the uncleanness but then at the same time try to serve God doesn't work that way turn if you would one more place here second Timothy chapter 2 second Timothy chapter 2 I got one more verse one more passage on this this concept the Bible says in verse 19 nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth them that are his and let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity you're naming the name of Christ depart from iniquity and isn't it interesting you know I was talking with some church members about this like I don't know probably months ago now we're talking about people like this whole free grace thing right at people that just it every week it just boggles my mind that people just have this attitude of well what do I you know it's the New Testament man we're free in grace we don't have to worry about the laws you know it's nonsense over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again how many times are we told not to sin how many times we're supposed to live holy how are you gonna do that if you can't look back to the law for that there's no other way to try to keep yourself holy and righteous other than keeping the commandments of the Lord there's otherwise none of this makes any sense let everyone that name it the name of Christ depart from iniquity what is another word for iniquity sin how do you get where do you get sin from breaking the law hello iniquity is breaking the law if you're naming the name of Christ depart from iniquity how are you gonna do that by keeping the law it's so simple you know why people don't want to hear that because they like their sin they don't want to stop doing their sin so they want to claim well no I mean the Bible is here I'm just free in Christ so I don't have to worry about that anymore keep reading yes yes if you're saved you are free in Christ that's right all things are lawful to me but all things are not expedient all things are lawful to me but all things edify not and you better believe that as a child of God that God can end up getting sick of you being disobedient and you're gonna find yourself without the blessings and hey you're if you're a child of God you're always a child of God you don't want to be that stubborn stiff-neck rebellious son because God is not mocked and there are Bible believers there are you know saved people many say people who have lost their lives because they were just chose not to get right with God now obviously they sell their eternal life but they completely blew any chances they had of earning their rewards in heaven and that's a real look people downplay this too and I don't want to get too far in this I was even planning on going into this people downplay the whoa whoa but what's so big about the rewards or at least I'm gonna be in heaven well yeah you know what at least you're in heaven if you're comparing yourself to someone who's unsaved that's great but you know what you've wasted then however many years you could have had you've also didn't go and lead other people to Christ as you could have right if you're gonna depart from Nick we can be a servant of the Lord and go forth and and lead people to Christ and be faithful and that which is little God's gonna make you rule over that which is much God's gonna bless you God's gonna give you rewards those rewards are eternal I mean forever is a long time I'm happy when I get like a little bit of extra money or bonus from work but that goes away like that I mean I just recently got a bonus at work and it was awesome as great it's gone like in a week like gone so like well that was nice that was kind of cool gone right here today gone tomorrow sometimes quite literally okay gone it's like great now I have a little bit less debt but so but you know and that's kind of that's kind of cool that's kind of fun but these are eternal reward I mean when God's giving you a reward it's an eternal reward and here's the thing that we just we can't lose sight of if God is so amazing at like giving you salvation which alone is is just huge for free what's he gonna give you for working for him I mean we've all probably maybe so maybe we've all had our own share of working for people who were stingy and like not really wanting to give you anything but who would ever say that God is stingy like no way with how long-suffering and merciful and how much God loves us and gives and provides and God gives to even the wit you know the breath and and makes it the rain to rain on the just and on the unjust God is so good and so amazing we don't forget about that and who God is when you're working for him how he's gonna recompense you and you know there's probably a reason he doesn't give us very many details on those rewards right now I think he wants us acting by faith but I'm you know the Bible does say that that uh I have not seen or hear heard neither the coming of the heart of man the things that God has prepared to them that love him and I think I probably misquoted that little a little bit but but how awesome of a reward God's gonna give you for serving him it's not a light thing to just say like oh well I just gave up some reward like you could say that now but you know you're gonna be kicking yourself for all of eternity going what why did I care so much about not just just not being stubborn and not wanting to follow the law so that God just had to take me home early instead of serving him and I could have just had I mean just eternity like that's it you're not you're you know there's okay if the rewards are given you're you know but I want to do more well yeah you had your chance I mean those rewards they're they're they're given out anyhow that let's let's continue on here you're in second second Timothy chapter 2 verse 19 look at verse number 20 the Bible says but in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver but also of wooden of earth and some to honor and some dishonor if a man therefore purge himself from these he shall be a vessel in the honor sanctified and meet for the master's use of prepared unto every good work so we ought to depart from iniquity so that we can get ourselves purged from the sin that's that so easily besets purges from that so we could keep running the race so we keep moving forward and that we can be a vessel that is ready or meet for the master's use so that we are here ready God God's got a big you know some big plan that he wants to get done why don't you be a vessel that's that could step in and fill that job and fill that role why don't you prove yourself to God to be someone who's faithful so when the big task comes along you could be like here my Lord send me and he knows and could rely on you and say I am gonna send you because I know this man just like God knew Abraham when he's determining whether or not should I tell Abraham about the judgments gonna come and and what does God say about a raise it well I know Abraham and I know that he's gonna teach his household that he how he runs his house and that his whole family is gonna follow me and serve me he's like I know my servant Abraham that's the way where we want to be where God can speak of you going I know my servant fill in your name and and can trust you to be used to the Lord for his service and for his will but in order to do that we need to touch not the unclean thing we need to be a vessel unto honor we need to you know touch no unclean thing go you out of the midst or be clean that bear the vessels of the Lord you want to bear the vessels of Lord you I'd be Lord servant okay we'll be clean go back to Isaiah chapter 52 verse 12 for ye shall not go out with haste nor go by flight for the Lord will go before you and the God of Israel will be your rearward now this word comes up a few times a Bible rearward it's it's basically like a military position getting your getting your your six right he's getting your back Lord's there so that you could move forward without having to worry about the enemy sneaking up behind you and attacking you when you're not looking he's saying I got your back you go forward and just keep moving forward he says and look at it says for the Lord will go before you who said I'm gonna go ahead of you and I'm gonna go behind you I mean we're gonna be you know he's talking about being right smack dab in the middle with God defeating enemies before you and God watching out on your back behind you you just got to go and walk with God God will do all the heavy work we just need to go with them and honestly you know when we go forth and lead people in Christ we know it's not us literally that saves like it's not our power but we are going forth under the power of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit's going to be working through the Word of God to have that seed planted in their heart that brings the life but we just need to go forth in the middle there and God will do the real work but we need to just go there with him and be serving and burying the vessels verse number 13 behold my servant now this is a reference to Jesus Christ behold my servant shall deal prudently he shall be exalted and extolled and be very high this is talking about him being lifted up but verse 14 says as many were astonished at thee his visage was so marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of men and turn if you would to Philippians chapter 2 so when it says as many were astonished at thee astonished is just a simple way to remember astonished astonished right just think of that word astonished like they're they're kind of amazed like wow they're astonished at thee his visage and was a visage means it means his appearance or probably more specifically like his face his visage was so marred marred just means torn and corrupted and just messed up right mar if you mar something is just messed up his visage was so marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of men so when we read about Jesus Christ being beaten he was beaten severely to the point to where he was like becoming unrecognizable as a person so it's saying his visitors marred more than any man he said he stopped looking like I mean he's beaten so bad it's like is that a man now verse 13 said my my service he shall be exalted extolled and be very high why because he went through and was brought so low Philippians 2 verse number 8 the Bible reads and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross and the death of the cross of course means the literal cross but I think this is also including the everything that led up to the cross of his beatings and whippings and scourgings you know everything that that's like the death of the cross included all of those things up until he was literally nailed to a cross and had to suffer and shame that way but because of that verse 9 says wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of the glory of God the Father turn if you would to well you don't have to turn if you want you can go back to Isaiah 52 I'm gonna read just a few passages for you and then we're well I guess you could this is like the end of the passage so if you want to turn to Matthew 26 go ahead turn to Matthew 26 we're I'm wrapping it up right now I just want to I want to point this out because of the the reference in Isaiah 52 about his servant right now this is it's kind of dark but I think it's pretty clear and pretty widely accepted that this is a reference to Jesus Christ so oftentimes the Old Testament when God's referring to my servants like singular you know sometimes they may be talking about a prophet but literally usually I think we're gonna find it's talking about Jesus Christ himself he's this his servant he is that prophet he's the branch he is the one that that's going to be highly exalted and extolled but then it's also talks about his visage being so marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of men this gives a little bit more insight I think oftentimes you know it's not that we completely read past this but I don't think we get the full effect of how bad it was when we read through the Gospels about his beatings and I'm just gonna give you we're gonna look real quickly at Matthew 26 and 27 just a few accounts of Jesus Christ being beaten before his crucifixion and just keep in mind how bad this really was because we get the the facts that he was hit we get the fact that he was beaten we get the fact that he was whipped but it's hard to come up sometimes with a mental image of that because it doesn't say how many times how hard were all those you know it leaves a little bit to to the imagination of what what what exactly does this look like well Isaiah 52 tells us what this looked like when it says his visage was so marred more than any man so when we read like Matthew 26 verse 66 so so pretty far in Matthew 26 Bob reads what think ye they answered and said he is guilty of death then did they spit in his face and buffeted him so buffeted means they hit him okay and others smote him with the palms of their hands saying prophesy unto us thou Christ who is he that smote thee so they you know in another gospel I think it says that you'll put a bat like a bag over his head basically and that's why they're saying well who hit thee right so they're just starting to smack him and hit him and do all this stuff but we don't know how many times we see there spit in his face there's being real ultimately there's real me real jerks to him and then in Matthew 27 he goes before Pilate so you know he cuz he goes before Caiaphas he goes before what the Pilate and Herod and he goes before what's the other priests the the Caiaphas and starts with an a anise anise and Caiaphas he so he's seen by all these different people and they're all mistreating him basically I mean there's being he's being mistreated all over the place and then verse 27 here it says in verse 26 then released he Barabbas unto them and when he had scourged Jesus he delivered him to be crucified so even right there and when he had scourge scourge means he got whipped how many times he would whip don't know exactly then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers so now the soldiers got Jesus it says here there's a whole band of soldiers and they stripped him and put on him a scarlet robe and when they had platted a crown of thorns they put it upon his head and a reed in his right hand so now they're just mocking him as a king right they made this crown but the crown the crown of thorns and they put a reed in his hand like a like it would be a staff and they bowed the knee before him and mocked him saying Hail King of the Jews but then look at this in verse 30 and they spit upon him and took the reed and smote him on the head with the reed and it doesn't say they took off that crown of thorns either so they're hitting him with this reed and the thorns are just digging more into his head he gets to this point where he's just a bloody mess before they even nail him to the cross and he gets beaten so bad he's not even able to bear his cross because they're make the people being crucified carry their own crosses and bear that cross he's been beaten so bad by this point like I don't think Jesus was in bad shape we see him walking around all over the place all the time I think Jesus was probably very fit as far as being able to do everything that he did I mean he's able to walk on water he couldn't be that heavy right so so he said we had to be you know pretty well fit but when when you're beat up that bad you don't have strength right I mean his strength was just drained from him they had to compel someone else to come in and you know bear his cross for him because he got beaten so bad and we see in other places even you know in Isaiah and in the Psalms how bad Jesus had it you know if they plucked out the the hair of his beard they did they did all kinds of things to him and another scripture it talks about him being able to tell his bones I count his bones like that's how bad he was beat up let's never overlook that I know we just preached Sunday was Easter Sunday you know and we covered a lot of things you know I kind of went over the the the aspect of Jesus so going to hell but we also can't overlook everything else either and I'm not in it I think I said this Sunday but you know it was not meant to downplay everything else that Christ went through it was just to make sure we also don't forget that aspect as well because it's all important it was all it was all important everything that Christ went through I mean he went through a lot he suffered and bled and died and yes died died died and went to hell before rising again from the dead man it's got me so mad I heard something very recently by by some guy and I don't know if it's just morbid curiosity it made me listen to it but he said it's one of those people who don't believe what I preached on Sunday it's one of those people who gets so hung up on just the cross and look not taking anything away from what Christ did on the cross believe me but that was so focused he literally said that oh yeah the sprinkling of the blood and mercy seat and the resurrection from the dead was just a technicality that had to be like checked off and it was done but I have the hard work was all done and across like excuse me I'm sorry the resurrection as we saw in Sunday was not a technicality that's not some take oh yeah just technically he had to rise from the excuse me that's like the greatest victory in the history of the world Christ rose again from the dead because if there's no resurrection you're yet in your sins yeah I'm sorry that's not some little technicality he likened it to a baseball player that well you already got the home run but you know technically they still have to run the bases like no I'm sorry that's not the resurrection wasn't just some technicality the sprinkling of blood on a mercy seat is not a technicality it was something that was done with every sacrifice because it mirrored the holy things in heaven that's not a technicality it all serves a purpose and all serves a reason and I will not downplay the the act done on the cross but you also better not be downplaying anything else that Christ did for you it is all important all of it the death the burial the soul descending into hell the resurrection from the dead the ascension in the heaven and the sprinkling on a mercy yes all extremely important you better believe it we don't downplay any of it anyway let's finish up this chapter verse 15 so shall he sprinkle many nations the king shall shut their mouths at him for that which had not been told them shall they see and that which they had not heard shall they consider now I'm going to get into this verse in chapter 53 because that this actually just continues on with the next passage and I'll go I'll cover that last verse next week let's see me let's borrow a word of prayer dear Heavenly Father Lord we thank you so much again for all that you've done for us Lord help us to be able to try to keep ourselves holy and righteousness dear Lord and that we could not touch the unclean thing there's so many things that you've listed that are unclean in your law that help us to avoid those things so that we could bear the the holy vessels with sanctity and honor and that we could go forward as your servants that we could be meet for your use Lord we want to do great things for you and we want to be used by you Lord so help us to clean up our vessels help us to be able to present ourselves holy and acceptable unto you dear Lord and God we just love you and it's in Jesus name we pray amen