Bible Study: October 25, 2023

Okay, so we will get to Isaiah 57, but a question came in about Servant and the Sabbath day.

And I thought we'd just go ahead and address that question up front. So if you turn with me to Exodus 20, you're going to read through the Sabbath command in Exodus 20 and look at what it says specifically.

And that way we will understand better what God is saying in here about what we do and don't do on the Sabbath day.

So I'm in Exodus 20, and let's begin in verse 8. There we have the fourth commandment. It says, Remember the Sabbath day to keep at home. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work, you, and then he lists all these people. You, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.

And so the question is, what about these servants? Who are servants that are within our gates?

And I think the key thing there is the gates. What God is saying is that in the property that you control, no work should go on. Some people will look at that gates and say, well, there shouldn't be anything in any town or any city you do. And certainly in the time of Israel, when Israel was God's land and country, that would be no work would go on among anyone. The towns of God would keep the whole area of Israel would keep the Sabbath holy. There would be no work going on.

There would be no servile work at all, much like we went to Jerusalem years ago for the feast.

And I remember on the day of atonement, it was absolutely outside where we were in Jerusalem, just absolute quiet. There wasn't anything going on at all. There was no restaurants open. There were no people milling about, no cars going about. Of course, the hotel would know that we wouldn't have even been eating that day because it was atonement. Just literally nothing. And it was a beautiful feeling to know that the whole city was just at absolute peace. Now, whether it's still that way today, I don't know, but that was, like I said, decades ago that we were there. That would be the case in a land that has adopted, that is living under God's law like the old ancient Israel.

That isn't the case today. But we all have our own gates, if you will. So, you know, in my house, in the property that I own, if I, no one works, right? There's no lawn mowing going on. If I have a child living with me, he's not going to work that day. If he wants to live here, the Sabbath is kept absolutely holy within your gates, the property that you control. You don't have the air conditioner repairman come in on that day. You don't have the plumber come in that day. In your gates, it's your house, so you keep that day holy with no work going on. At the home office, we have, you know, we have that whole building there. We have several acres that are there. No work comes in. Anyone that comes into the home office, there's no lawn mowing going on. There's no landscaping going on.

There's nothing happening there. There is no work. So, the question was about servants that aren't in the church, but this verse is very clear. If they're in your house, if they work for you, they don't work for you on the Sabbath. That is your gates, the things that you control. And the work is any servile work, right? You don't hire someone to come and cook for you or whatever else like that. It is a day of rest where the whole household, the whole area that you control, I guess is the best word or own, is at rest. Does that make sense? Are there any questions on that or anything we need to discuss? Mr. Shaby? Yes, ma'am? When I had my cleaning business, I cleaned for mostly Jewish families. They used to hire people to come into their home to do the things that they were not allowed to do. Like they'd hire somebody to cook, to do whatever, and I never understood how they got that because then they wanted me to start working for them. And I said, I can't because I do these holy days and they thought that was blasphemous. That a person not in the Jewish faith would be able to do such things. Yeah, no, I'm surprised the Jews, I'm surprised the Jews would even consider that. I guess they did Christmas too. They did Christmas.

They did everything plus their stuff. It was crazy. So they were Jews in name only, kind of.

Mr. Shaby? Yes. Hey, Debbie. Hi. So I just want to mention one thing about what the scripture says. You know that it does say no servile work. And the definition, if you look it up, it does say laborious. However, God in the scripture gives the definition of servile in Exodus 12, 16. He says, no manner of work shall be done on the high days, but that which everyone must eat. That only may be prepared by you. So it doesn't mean you can do other things as long as it's not laborious. It means you can only prepare food on that day. That only may you do. So God gives the definition. Now where there's no definition, then maybe there's some gray areas you can wobble back and forth. But on this, Exodus 12, 16, it's very clear. No manner of work shall be done on the high days except that which everyone must eat. That only may be prepared by you. And that is on the... Exodus 12, 16? I see it. I see it. It should be done on that. But that which everyone must eat.

Yeah, I don't know what the point you're making is.

The point is people tend to use servile as nothing laborious. So that gives them latitude to do other things than just prepare food. Yeah, well they shouldn't, right? There shouldn't be laundry or anything like that going on, even though it's just a push button, push button exercise these days. Any of the things that can be done the other six days of the week shouldn't be done on the Sabbath day. Right.

Okay, and that's important because whoever in Isaiah 56 last week, God makes it quite a point. Quite a point there about defiling the Sabbath, right? That he expects that his people are keeping the Sabbath holy in the way that he designates. Not just going to our physical places of work, but actually using that day to grow closer to him. It's a day that's reserved for him. And as we talked about last week in the verses four and five there, where he talks about to the eunuchs, to the foreigners who keep the Sabbath, who keep from defiling the Sabbath. He just doesn't say keep the Sabbath, but keeps from defiling the Sabbath.

They will be there. He will walk them in. They will be part of the family. And that certainly points toward the New Testament time and the time that we live in that the Sabbath is to be kept without defiling it in the way that God defines that. So, okay. Anything else on that? Or can we move into chapter 57?

And it's okay if there's any other questions on it.

Hi, Mr. Shavey.

Yeah, Mark.

Yeah, I think one of the things we can remember is God says not doing your pleasure. And I think that emphasis on that kind of can put it into perspective is that the things that God says it's okay to do, but doing your own pleasure, your own thoughts, your own words. So, He put the emphasis on the word, your.

Yeah, that's a good point.

You're applying it back to yourself versus the outward to Him and not you as the individual doing what you want to do where He's not part of your thoughts.

Yep, that's a good point. He certainly uses the word you when we do the things that we want to do, rather than what God wants us to do. Yeah, that's that day is for what His will for us is.

Okay. Okay, well, let's look at chapter 57. I think we read the first couple verses. But if you remember in chapter 56, you know, as you're talking about keeping from defiling the Sabbath and the people that follow Him, and He closes chapter 56 with talking about, oh, watchman in verse 10, people who are teaching other people that they're just, He's talking certainly about those teachers and things in those last few verses of chapter 56.

They don't understand. They're out for money. They never are satisfied with what's going on.

And that leads right into chapter 57. We read verses one and two last week, and it talks about the righteous man perishing. And he makes the interesting thing in verse one there, what no one considers that the righteous is taken away from evil. Merciful men are taken away, no one considers that the righteous is taken away from evil. He shall enter into peace, and they will rest in their beds, each one walking in His uprightness. And that's an interesting verse. And looking at some of the commentaries to see what is the meaning of that verse, many of them will cite that it's like God will allow the righteous when He knows that in some cases they will die. The grave will be kind of their place of safety.

I don't think that's all that God means in that place. I think He keeps us in perfect peace as long as we are walking with Him. He does keep us from evil. We're going to learn that more and more.

People that were in Israel, that eighth day of the feast, people that were in Guatemala, He kept people from evil. He will keep us from the evil that's around us. We pray, deliver us from evil as part of our prayers every day, and that'll probably become a more important part of our prayers as we see the world closing in around us and the violence and the evil continuing to multiply in the world around us. But God does watch over the righteous, is what He's saying here in the first two verses of 57. Then He moves into a rather graphic description, if you will, of spiritual harlotry. He uses the physical harlotry as a good symbol of what people do when they play with the world and cheat on God, if you will, with the world and align themselves too much with Him. Let's pick it up in chapter 57. Basically, the rest of the chapter deals with that. In chapter 57, verse 3, it says, But come here, you sons of the sorceress, you offspring of the adulterer and the harlot.

He's talking about...it's pretty clear what he's talking about here. It can be taken physically, but he's talking about Israelites and His people who will commit spiritual adultery with the world and then fornicate with it. You offspring of the adulterer and the harlot.

Whom do you ridicule? He says. Against whom do you make a wide mouth? He's talking about people kind of mocking Him, kind of mocking Him, and just ridiculing anyone who does what's right.

Against whom do you make a wide mouth and stick out the tongue? Aren't you children of transgression, offspring of falsehood? Children of evil, right? A couple weeks ago, I read Hosea. If we want to turn over to Hosea for a moment, it's right after the book of Daniel. Hosea 5.

He's talking in chapter 5 about Ephraim and Israel and the little nation of Judah that's called Israel today in the modern world. In verse 7, he says, they've dealt treacherously with God.

They've dealt treacherously with Him. You know, they haven't obeyed Him. They've been an unfaithful wife. They haven't repaid Him with the kindness, the generosity, the love that He showed us. They turned on Him, betrayed Him, dealt with Him treacherously like a very wayward wife, if you will. They've dealt treacherously with the Lord, for they have begotten pagan children.

And when God says that, when He sees our children, to Him, they're godly offspring, He says. They're children that are born to us, that God entrusts them to our care in the hopes and with the expectation that we are going to train them in the way they should go, train them in the way of God, that they understand who God is, that they understand His way of life, that they embrace it, they will make it their own, that they will see the difference between the world and God's way and choose the ways of God.

Last week was the blessing of the little children in the congregations around the world. As you offer the prayer of that little baby, one of the things you ask is that God will guide their parents to teach them, teach them in the way that they should go, to teach them of God's way, and that the child will be receptive to that and adhere to that. But so many times, as God sees pagan children that have been born to people that He considers part of His family, or were part of His family, here they are.

They're considered, you know, their children offspring of falsehood. They're, you know, He still loves them. He still loves them, just like we love our children where they may go a different way that they go, but it's a disappointment to God and their offspring of falsehood, He says here in chapter 57 of Isaiah, and verse 4. So in verse 5, you know, He uses the, well, really it's kind of a passion, right?

These people have a passion for paganism, and He uses the physical sexual abandon, you know, to kind of portray what people do when they embrace this way of life. In flaming, in flaming yourselves with gods under every green tree.

It's like, you know, my people, they go out, they're spiritual harlots, like every tree that they just, they just, they're just rife with passion to do, to ally themselves with this. In flaming yourself with gods under every green tree. And of course, that leads to a reprobate mind. Romans 1 is very clear. Then it goes on, it says, slaying the children of the valleys, at least a child sacrifice, these things that God thinks is unimaginable, that people would do that, but as they abandon Him and just take wild abandon into the things they do, and the things that they align themselves with, they slay the children in the valleys under the clefts of the rocks.

You know, as we look at the, look at the world around us, you know, abortion has been part of our culture since, I think it was 1972, when the Supreme Court in the United States made that, made that ruling. But in the last few years, it has become almost something that is championed and celebrated abortion. It has taken a step forward from what it always has been. It's been there, it's always been wrong, it's always been the wrong thing, it's been gotten just used to, but in the recent years, it's just become almost like, what a right, we're going to celebrate it, we want to celebrate it, we want that, they want that fetus to be able to be aborted as late as possible.

And it almost has become a flag of honor, you know, to have, to have an abortion rather than what it should be. And we see ourselves as the world moves farther and further from God moving into these things that are just exacerbating what has been there, that the sin and the outlook of people are just so much different than they were before as they move further and further away from God and find themselves in a state of mind like God describes here in verse 5.

In verse 6, you know, after he talks about, you know, these things, what they do, they inflame themselves, slay the children in the valleys, and he goes with what your lot is going to be, you know, among the smooth stones of the stream. You know, it's kind of a funny translation there in verse 6. But as you try to pull apart the words, look at different translations of what that means, it's kind of like your idols are those stones, those smooth stones.

They are just there in the stream going along, and he said, that's going to be your portion. I'm not sure we know exactly what God means by that, but when he talks about idols and people have done, you know, worship these things, they're going to get what they, you know, what they have worshiped. And he goes, that's your portion. These are your lot. You poured to them a drink offering, you offered them a drink offering, and then he says, should I receive comfort? Should I receive comfort in these?

Hey, Mr. Glasgow, you got a comment? I do. When I read that the smooth stones in a country boy, under the smooth stones of the creek, we used to find what we call hellbenders, hellgramites, little lizard looking like creatures, ugly. You know, they're not, as far as I'm concerned, they're not edible, but that's kind of a real put down. I would, I read that to those that your portion lies under the smooth rock to the stream. You can eat the ugly creatures.

Interesting. Interesting. Very good. That makes sense, that there's something about those stones that is not at all appealing, right? Yeah, thank you for that. I have written down here, Jeremiah, you know, when I read the, when I read the, when God asks questions like he did here at the end of verse 6, and he says, should I receive comfort in these? Should I, should I be happy that you're doing these things or whatever? It just reminds me of Jeremiah, where he, he asks similar questions as he talks about the sins of Judah at that time. And Jeremiah 5. Nope. Be far here, let me find Jeremiah 5. Yeah, Jeremiah 5. Yeah, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna read, you know, he's talking about things in verse 7, then a 5, several times in Jeremiah, he'll go through these things that the nation is doing, and then he'll say, how shall I pardon you for this? Your children have forsaken me and sworn by those that are not gods when I had fed them to the fool. Then they committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the hardless houses. I gave them everything, and here they are, they just, they went to someone else and, and gave themselves to them. They were like well-fed, lusty stallions. Everyone they ate after his neighbor's wife. Shall I not punish them for these things, God says? I mean, aren't I justified in their, their punishment when they do these things, the way they've treated me, if they treated their husband that way, if they treated their wives that way, wouldn't that be, or the government that way, or anyone wouldn't they be?

So God says, aren't I justified to punish them for these things, and shall I not avenge myself on such a nation as this? Well, yeah, God has the right to. He has given, he has, he blessed ancient Israel, he blesses us, and when we turn against him and, and cheat on him, if we can use that, that same, you know, that same analogy of what he's using here in chapter 57, is he justified, and don't we deserve what we, what we get when we do that to God, and do we ever stop and think, what are we doing to him? Are we paying him with the same kindness, gratitude, love, attention, that he's given us? And if we stop sometimes and thought about those things, we realize, yeah, we need to, we need to repay God with our, well, with our lives, just like Paul said in Romans 12, 1 and 2 there, so. Okay, so God, you know, often through Isaiah and through these, he kind of brings it back to the people, like, do you get what I'm saying? Do you get what I'm saying, people?

Do you see how you treated me? Do you see what I've done for you, and what you haven't done for me, and how you've repaid me? So we go on to verse 7 then, and again, God is pretty, pretty graphic, if I can use that term, and what his people do, right? It says, on a lofty and high mountain, like, in clear view, for everyone to see, on a lofty and high mountain, you have set your bed.

Even there, you went up to offer sacrifice. You didn't care if the whole world saw what was going on and what you were doing. You have set your bed, even there, you went up to offer sacrifice.

Also, behind the doors and their posts, you have set up your remembrance. You've worshiped false gods. You have thrown, you have mocked me. You have disregarded everything I asked you to do.

You move further and further away from me, and you let the whole world see it. And as we look at the state of our, you know, morality in American and English-speaking nations today, we see that.

I mean, we lead the world in depravity in many, in many cases. You know, we have these little pockets, you know, you look at the various areas of the world and you see the evil emerging at each of them. You know, in America, the English-speaking nations, and over in Europe, you have this sexual depravity that's just, that's just, I'm going to use the word ridiculous because it's ridiculous when you see, when you see what we do, and you see that evil just multiplying itself. And the world, and this world, calling them heroes, actually celebrating it, acting like it is so, it's a tremendous honor to, to have some of this sexual depravity there. It's, it's just an affront to God and an affront to everything that, that's normal. And that's kind of what the West is doing right now, right? Europe, Australia, England, America, Canada, that's kind of what we are. You know, we're in the Middle East, we see terrorism rising up, and we see the evil that's there, and the stories that keep coming out of Israel, and we see that just the heinous acts that go on, and, and how any mind could even think about doing what the terrorists did when they came into that kibbutz, or those areas of Israel, and just ripped people apart and did things that you would never think would enter a human mind. You see the evil that's, that's building in that part of the world.

It's different than what's, what's here, you know, even though there are people who come into our countries, as some of the European nations are saying, what, what has come in has created really problems. And then you have the Eastern Bloc out there, and, and they're communists, they're the dictators, they're the authoritarians, they're looking to take over everyone, they want complete control, and that's, that's the way it's going to be, their way, everyone under their, everyone under their domain. And you see these differences, and they look down on America, we look down on them, and yet we have this world that's just moving and trending more and more toward evil every step of the way in different ways, but all evil, all of Satan, all of the Gentiles, if you will, right? When Bible talks about the times of the Gentiles, we see that happening, and that's kind of what the medieval times were like when the world was, was completely under the rule of, of non-Israelite nations, and then they were subdued.

So anyway, in verse seven, you know, we see here's, here's people that are just promoting themselves. They don't care. That's a complete affront to God of what they've done.

They go up on the high mountains. They do it behind doors, doors there. You set up your remembrance. You've been worshiping these false idols, everything. You're just there to kind of champion it all. I go on in verse eight there, right there in the middle of it, says, you've uncovered yourself to others other than me. Well, I mean, he's referring to the sanctity of marriage there, right? The, the, the relationship between husband and wife, and here, here, the wife is uncovering herself to other, to, to people other than God. She's committing adultery with these other things. God is drawing the comparison there. You've gone up to them. You've enlarged your bed. You've made it large. You're, you're welcoming anyone into your bed. You've enlarged your bed. You've made a covenant with them. You've loved their bed where you saw their nudity.

The things that was, that's reserved for husband and wife, this, this spiritual adulterous is doing with everyone and, and has no regard for the one with whom she made a covenant and who has given her everything. Verse 9, he continues it, you went to the king with ointment. You took all the finery to him. You went to the king with ointment. You increased your perfumes to make yourself look so attractive and do the things the way the world would to, to have him attracted to you. You increased your perfumes. You sent your messengers far off. You even descended to Sheol. You were willing to to give it all. You were even willing to go down to the grave at the lowest you could possibly be. That's how God looks on spiritual adultery and the harlotry. And, you know, we see that here in Isaiah. We see it in Revelation, a time that we're moving into more and more as the time goes on that, you know, when you see the picture, the way God looks at things, it's just, it's just disgusting, disgusting to him. In verse 10, you get this sense as he's describing this stuff here, and they're never satiated. They're always looking for something, but they're never satiated. So when he talks about, you know, you've done this, you've gone to kings, you're willing to go down to Sheol, you've enlarged your bed, you are wearied, verse 10. You are wearied in the length of your way. You're just tireless. You just keep moving. You're just keeping looking for something that's going to make it all worthwhile, but they never find satisfaction. That's the thing. You never find satisfaction in sin. You will never find satisfaction in the ways of the world. You will never find it there. It will always be that empty hole in your stomach that only God can fill. And once you know God, and you allow yourself to go the other way, you will never be satisfied. And that's what he's saying here. You're wearied in the length of your way. Yet you didn't say, there's no hope. You didn't say, okay, I give up.

I've been searching. I've been searching. I've done everything. It kind of reminds you of Ecclesiastes and Solomon. I did everything on earth. God blessed me with every physical blessing I could possibly have. I had every animal. I had all the knowledge. I was able to go here and do that and explore everything, but he was never filled up. He never was satisfied with the things of the earth. So he came to the conclusion in Ecclesiastes 12, this is the whole out of man. Fear God and keep his commandments. If you're looking for satisfaction, if you're looking for purpose, if you're looking for meaning to your life, it's in God. It's never in the ways of the world.

And that's what he's saying here, you know, through Isaiah. You're wearied in the length of your way.

Yet you didn't say, there's no hope. You didn't say, I'm going to keep doing it. You know, if I've done this, I'm going to go even further. You know, if same-sex marriage isn't enough, hey, let's champion transgender. Hey, if that's not enough, let's tramp. Let's justify and let's whatever the next perversion is that is coming our way. And you know, we hear things on the news about where that may be going. It's always just keep going. You're never going to find the satisfaction, but you didn't say there's no hope. And when you should have, you should have said, we got to turn back to God. We got to turn back to God. No, you found energy to just keep going and dig yourself even further and further and further away from God. You found the life in your hand. Therefore, you were not grieved. You just kept on worshiping false guides. You just kept looking for something that you're never in the world. And you weren't, you weren't grieved.

You never were remorse. You just kind of justified in your mind. This is what I do. This is what I do. I become more and more and more perverse, evil, whatever it is, the sin that, you know, grips us and we allow to take us away. So God is very graphic in here when He's talking about it.

In 56, it's like the people who keep from defiling the Sabbath, I will welcome them into my, you know, into my house of prayer. But here, these people who just keep going and going and going further and further away from God. It's a picture of what Israel did. It's a picture of what Judah did.

But you see that God still loves. Through it all, He still loves because He remembers why He created man. In verse 11, then He says, And of whom have you been afraid or feared? Who have you, and of whom have you been afraid or feared, that you have lied and not remembered Me? How did you go through all this and forget Me? How did you forget that I'm the one who did all these things? You should have remembered to fear Me and come back to Me. How come you never took it to heart? Is it not because I held My peace from a bowl, that you don't fear Me? What He's saying there is, you know, I haven't, I haven't, as you as you walked down this course, as you went down this road and this path toward evil and oblivion, I wasn't there. I didn't strike you immediately. I didn't slap you with all the sorts of things on earth. Is it because I held My peace and I was patient with you, hoping and seeing? Will you turn back to Me? When you see the end of your way, will you turn back to Me and realize there's peace, there's harmony, there's satisfaction, there's fulfillment in Me? Did I give you because I was patient with you and I didn't like make you, make you hurt and punish you royally at the time it was happening? And sometimes, you know, that can happen. Sometimes people, you know, if they don't get punished right away, they just kind of think, no, okay, we'll just keep on doing what we're doing. You know, I'm not sure exactly where in Ecclesiastes it is, but it says if a judgment isn't meted out swiftly, it kind of like loses its effect, right?

And people think it's okay. I've got Psalm 50 and verse 21. Let's turn back there for a moment because David, David kind of says the same thing here as it says there in Isaiah 57 Psalm 50 and verse 21. 50 and 21. Now, it's actually a Psalm of Asaph. Psalm 50 21 says, these things you've done, I've kept silent. I didn't yell it out right away. These things you've done and I've kept silent.

You thought that I was altogether like you because you didn't say anything. But God is, what's in our hearts? When do when we sin, do we recognize what we've done? Do we turn back to Him?

Or do we just keep going down there thinking, well, God didn't, you know, slap a punishment on me.

I didn't lose my job. I didn't get sick. I didn't whatever. These things you've done and I kept silent. You thought that I was altogether like you, but I will rebuke you and set them in order before your eyes. So verse 22, he says, and consider this you who forget God, lest I tear you in pieces or there be none to deliver. You know, God will see what we do. He wants us to turn to Him, to realize, to know what the truth is, what the way of life is, that it's in our hearts and in our minds, and will we turn back to Him when we find ourselves drifting or find ourselves doing something that we know we shouldn't? And then we think, I feel distant from God. I'm getting further from Him. I've got to get myself. I got to get down on my knees and get closer to God again and go back to our satisfaction and joy and peace and the good things in life are. Will we make ourselves do that? And that's what God is looking. Are we looking to Him? Do we get that? And is He, are we allowing Him to build that into our lives? And are we making choices to go back to Him, and we find in Him the source of everything good, everything good in life? So back in chapter 57, so what He's talking about, why have you forgotten me? You just completely forgot me. It never even occurred to you to come back to me, even though over and over through the prophets, down through the ages, you see God said, Remember me, turn back to me, come back, come back, and they just ignored Him. In verse 12 of chapter 57, I will declare your righteousness and your works, for they will not profit you. You know, it's like, they're not, what you're doing, your works, they're not going to profit you when you cry out. Verse 13, let your collection of idols deliver you.

You know, when you find yourself in trouble, and things are really, really, really bad, and then you cry out to me, you know, I'm going to let all the things you trusted in, let all the things that you've done, all your ideas deliver you, let your collection of idols deliver you, but the wind will carry them all away, a breath will take them. And God says, you know, you're going to learn your lesson, you cannot put your trust in the things of the world, put your trust in God. And that's how he completes verse 13. He who puts his trust in me, shall possess the land and shall inherit my holy mountain. Always comes down to, look at, look how God is doing things, look how he looks at things. Turn back to him and understand always, always, always, always the good things in life come from him. Never the world.

Maybe pleasurable for a moment, and I'm not saying everything in the world, I mean, God put us in a physical world to enjoy it, but the trust and the future and who we look to and who delivers us is God. He is the Savior. Nothing in the world, and it's enjoying the pleasures that God has allowed us to have in this world, but always recognizing it's him and that we owe it all to him. Verse 14, one shall say, keep it up, keep it up. Speaking of faith, right? Keep it up. Have faith in God, have faith in God building off of verse 13. Prepare the way, take the stumbling block out of the way of my people. They've had all these things in front of them, take it away from them so they can see clearly. You know, we read back in chapter 35 about the highway, taking away all the obstacles, so it's a highway, a path to God that's going to be there. Take the stumbling block out of the way of my people. For thus says the high and lofty one. These are beautiful verses here in verse 15 and 16. For thus says the high and lofty one, who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place with him who has a contrite and humble spirit. I don't think we should always remember, right? I dwell in the high and holy place with him who has a contrite and humble spirit. Whenever we think that we know so much and we're so great and we think we're wonderful and God needs us, stop and think, no, we need God. Everything that we do, everything that we have is because of what his mercy, his grace, and his love for us.

We have to remember, to him goes the glory. I dwell in the high and holy place with him who has a contrite and humble spirit. To revive the spirit. Mr. Shaby? Yes, ma'am.

So that reminds me of Isaiah 66 too? Exactly. To this man, will I look even to him that is humble and is contrite of heart and trembles at my word? Tremble. Absolutely. That's what God does. When we look at his word, we should tremble, especially when we see us doing something different than what that word says. Right? Yep. Yep. To revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. God will do that. He'll provide that for us. And he says, I won't contend forever, nor will I always be angry for the spirits. And he's talking about our spirit. If God was forever against us, if he was forever and never ever showed mercy, he understands us. He knows who we are. But the spirit would fail before me and the souls which I have made. We would cease to exist, but God still loves us. He lets us learn lessons. And sometimes we have to see what the ends of our ways are. There's a verse in Deuteronomy that says that when, you know, let's see what the ends of their way are. I think it's in Deuteronomy 28, 31, 32, somewhere in there in those chapters. God will let us see because we have to learn our way doesn't work. The world's way doesn't work. His way does work. I won't contend forever, and I won't always be angry for the spirit would fail before me and the souls which I have made. For the iniquity of his covenants-ness, for the iniquity of his covenants-ness, you know, there's a few words. We see the word sin. I think we're...well, maybe that's the next chapter. We see sin transgression and iniquity showing up in the same places. And there are three different types of sin, if you will, or transgressions against God. You know, this iniquity one speaks toward...it's kind of like premeditated, something that we think we're going to do, right? We kind of let it kind of within our mind. A thought comes into our mind, and we kind of work on it, and that's the iniquity part of it.

Actually, I have gotten the hit on myself, but since I'm talking about it, let me look up a verse here I wrote down about iniquity. Yeah, Micah, Micah 2. We'll come back to it later as well.

Micah 2 verse 1 kind of speaks of iniquity and trans...transgression is something different.

And sin is something different. All against God, all punishable by death, right? But Micah 2 verse 1 says, Woe to those who devise iniquity and work out evil on their beds. Okay, I'm sitting in bed, it's like, you know, I can do this, I can do that, I'm going to plan this out.

I'm going to use the example of terrorism, right? What happened in Israel? That was a well-planned out scheme that was all devised by hate, and we're going to go in, and we're going to murder, and assassinate people, and do...woe to those who devise iniquity, who work out evil on their beds.

At morning light, they practice it because it is in the power of their hands. They covet fields and take them by violence, houses, and seize them. They oppress a man in his house and a man and his inheritance. It's a kind of a premeditated thing. So when God says, for the iniquity of his covetousness, man, I really want that. You might think of Nabal, right? Wasn't it Nabal and who coveted? Yeah, someone was coveting. One of the kings of Israel was coveting someone's land, and so this evil was devised so that the queen could get it for him. Yeah, Xavier? Yeah, broshah, that subject came up on services in regards to the differences between those words, and they all fall under the same category of sin, because it says sin is a transgression of the law. Right. So would it be iniquity? Would it be transgression? Would it be sin? They all have their unique meaning, like breach of trust, rebellion, premeditated, but they all fall under sin. They all fall under the sin category. The wages of sin is death, right? So they all are all learned that. Yeah, it's just little degrees when you see those things.

Transgression is more of a revolt. You know, you have this exactly against God. You're making, you're deciding to do something against God. Yeah, yeah. Psalm 51 covers the Great Wall, where David categorized you, and mentions every one of them. Exactly. Very good. Yep.

Okay. Did I see another yellow light going on here?

Okay, let's, so verse 17. We remember verse 17, right? Yeah. For the iniquity of his covetousness, I was angry and struck him. God says, I hid and was angry. And sometimes he does, you know, he's like, you know, you want to do your own thing? Do your own thing. I'm not gonna, you know, I'm not gonna answer at that point. And when it went on backsliding in the way of his heart, there's that word, God's always looking, what's in our hearts? And he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. I've seen his ways, and I will heal him. He's, you know, I've seen what he's doing, but I can heal him. If he would turn back to me, I will, I will heal him. You know, we see God's love here. Even he created mankind for a purpose. He loves mankind. He sees the evil that we are, but he still has that vision and purpose in mind that he wants man to become those first fruits and to become, to give them eternal, to give us all eternal life. That's why Jesus Christ came to earth. That's why he died. So sins could be forgiven. God hasn't given up. He would certainly be justified when he looks at the way of the world and say, forget it. They're not worth, they're not worth my love. But God, you see his love in verse 18. All the things that you, I've seen his ways and I will heal him and I will lead him and restore comforts to him and to his mourners, his mercy, his love. I create the fruit of the lips. You know, Hebrews 13, 15 talks about the fruit of the lips, the praise that we give God, the glory that we give God. You know, that's not natural for a man. That's something that comes as God, as we allow his Holy Spirit to be in us, as we yield ourselves to him, that we, we learn to give him the glory and to praise him and worship him and honor him in all that he does. I create the fruit of the lips. It's not something that naturally comes in man. It's something that comes as a result of the Holy Spirit in us as we, we learn to love God, you know, the way he loves us, something that we work the rest of our lives on.

Peace, peace, he says. Peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near. You know, Paul, Paul uses those same words in Ephesians, Ephesians 2. You can turn there if you want.

I'll just read Ephesians 2, 17. You know, as, as he's talking about the Gentiles being called, Jews are called, Jews, God called too. So as, as the Jews and Gentiles would be called into the same church of God, if you will, the body of Christ. And he talks about breaking down the middle wall separation in verse 17. Paul writes that he, speaking of Christ, he came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near. For through him we both had access by one spirit to the Father. So he's, you know, using the words that here as he thought about peace, peace to him is far off. The Gentile, peace to him who is near, God will bring peace to all of man, mankind. Peace to them, God says, verse 19, in Isaiah 57, and I will heal him. But the wicked, those who don't come to God, those who don't, don't turn to him, the wicked are like the troubled sea. They're always angry. They're always stirred up. Remember years ago, someone telling me that they ran into someone who had left the church a while back, actually was a relative, and they said, every time I see him, he's angry. He's just always angry, this person. And I thought that was an interesting thing, and this verse is it, but the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest. They've lost that peace. They don't know how to get back to it. They need to turn back to God and repent, but they're like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. And God said, there is no peace. There is no peace for the wicked. Peace comes to the world under the reign of Jesus Christ. When Satan is put away, the world learns the way of peace. We learn peace. It's the fruit of the Holy Spirit. We never know what true peace is until we have God's Holy Spirit. The world will experience that when Christ returns. So as we move into chapter 58, you know, chapter 58, you see God instructing. He talked about the Sabbath day at the end of chapter 58. He talks about the Sabbath day a little bit, but he gives us the instructions of a very important spiritual tool in chapter 58. We've all read this probably many times on the day of Atonement.

It's talked about in services and there when we are all together on a fast day.

You know, hopefully as we fast throughout the year, we may go back to this chapter and kind of remind ourselves, what is it that God wants when we fast? How do we fast? It's not something that we naturally want to do and everything, but it's a valuable tool. You know, Christ makes that clear in his words in the New Testament when he's on earth. When he was preparing for the great temptation, he fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. It gave him strength. It gave him strength to be close to God. We have troubles and cares in our lives and things we need to overcome. Sometimes fasting is the tool we need to use in order to implore God to give us the strength to do that.

Moving into chapter 58, remember there's no chapter breaks in the scroll of Isaiah.

We read, there is no peace, says my God, for the wicked. Then in chapter 58, verse 1 is, cry aloud, spare not. Here's the way of God. I am the one who would have this eternity. I am the one who forgives. I will give you peace. I will give you mercy. I will restore comfort to you. Just come back to me, but turn from your sin. So cry aloud, spare not. Lift up your voice like a trumpet.

You know, a trumpet is loud, clear, absolutely separate from everything else. That's why they use the trumpet to get people's attention. That's why in ancient Israel you hear the trumpet call, everyone pays attention. So the message that goes out to God's people is clear, distinct, direct, no, no shrouding of it. This is wrong. This is the way. Walk in it, right? Absolutely. So it's indistinguishable from the truth of God. Lift up your voice like a trumpet. Tell my people their transgression. You know, and there's that word transgression. It indicates kind of like a little rebellion. If you look at the word in the Greek, it's like rebellion. You're rebellion against God.

You decide to do something against Him. It's a sin, just like iniquity is a sin, and just like sin, which is missing the mark, is a sin. Lift up your voice like a trumpet, then tell my people their transgression. Tell them what it is. Show them that they're doing things apart from God, His way, and the house of Jacob, their sins. You know, two different things. Tell my people their transgression. Tell my people that. And tell the house of Jacob their sins. Witness to the world.

Tell them what they're doing. Make sure they're aware that they are departing from God, and they have an affront to Him and the way they live their life. And then he says in verse 2, he kind of shows the hypocritical nature of people. It can be us if we don't watch what we're doing, and certainly maybe the world as well. But I think in verse 2, he may be talking about, you know, when he says, His people, they seek Me daily. They delight to know My ways. They're in the Bible and everything.

They kind of like indicate they want to read and know My way of doing things as a nation that did righteousness. And they didn't forsake the ordinance of their God. But he's saying that they look the part. You know, in 2 Timothy it says, well, I've lost my thought there on that.

They have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof, right?

They, as a nation that did righteousness, they want to look like they're doing the right thing.

They want to look like they haven't forsaken the ordinance of their God, but they have.

They ask of Me the ordinances of justice, and they take delight in approaching God. They, you know, may come to Him. They may have churches they go to. But then they ask Him a question.

Why have we fasted? And you haven't seen. What's wrong with you, God? Aren't we going through the motions here? Haven't we done everything? Haven't we looked like we're worshiping you? Haven't we been calling on your name? How come we fasted and you haven't answered our fast? You know?

Why have we afflicted our souls and you take no notice? Well, maybe they're doing it for the wrong reason, right? We don't fast to kind of force God into action. We don't fast. So, say, okay, God, I fasted now that I've done this, now that I spent my 24 hours or 48 hours or 72 hours without eating. This is what I expect you to do. It isn't a thing where we command God what to do.

He's looking at our heart. And what He's showing here in verse 3 is, they're just fasting, trying like, okay, we've done it. We've gone through the discomfort of fasting. Now do this for us, or why haven't you done it for us? And then He answers. He answers exactly why fasts aren't answered. In fact, in the day of your fast, you find pleasure. You keep on doing the things that you do every single day. You're not changing. You're not looking to change what you're doing.

You're still, you know, one of the commentaries talked about how, well, the Jews, right, they would have all these fast days. And we've heard that, right? They might fast one day a week, or on these certain fast days that they always did. And they just kind of afflicted themselves.

But they just kept doing the same thing. They would, you know, the next one says exploit all your laborers. You go to work, you still withhold money from them. You don't pay a good wage for the good day's work. You just keep doing the same things that aren't right. You're not paying attention. You're not changing your life. You're supposed to be when you're fasting. He's going to say, looking what you change, how do you become more like me? How do you get rid of the sins and the iniquities and the transgressions in your life so that you become more like me? In fact, in the day of your fast, you find pleasure. You just keep going around doing the same thing you always did. There's no thought about what needs to change in you. It's just, I'm not eating today, and I'm not drinking today, or whatever it is. And then you exploit all your laborers. You keep doing the same thing you've always done. You haven't changed at all. You haven't looked into yourself and changed any of the things so that you are doing things the way that God says.

Indeed, you fast for strife and debate. You're looking to fast because you're looking for someone else. You know, when those that you're against, you want me to do something to them. You're not looking to see how what you need to do to change. You're asking me to change these other people, and you've forgotten that you need to change some things. So when you fast, you're fasting for strife and debate. You want to keep on doing what you always do, and for me to get after these other people that are causing you some problems. You want them to change. Not about you changing and becoming who God wants. You want to strike with the fist of wickedness.

Punish them, God. Punish them, God. Why are you letting these people do this to me? Why are you letting them have this problem with me? Can you strike them down? That's why you're fasting.

God says, is that the kind of fast I'm going to answer? And He says, you will not fast as you do this day to make your voice heard on high. You're not going to do it this way. That's not the fast I'm looking for. You're not eating for a period of time. You're maybe withholding water from yourself for a period of time. That's a physical thing you're doing, but it's not reaching me because that's not the fast I'm looking for. That you are looking to say, I've done it. Now do what I ask you to do. If we look at our fasts, when I fast, I look at what is my real attitude here and what I'm fasting for. Fasting is something you learn the benefit of. It just doesn't come naturally.

It takes to understand what God means here about fasting. It's not just about afflicting our souls.

There is a righteous reason we fast, and then God will hear as He says. He says in verse 5, Is it a fast that I've chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul? Did I just want you to go without food for no reason? Is that why I said, hey, you know what? I think I could make these people be miserable for 24 hours. I'll just tell them the fast on the day of atonement.

Is it a fast that I've chosen, the day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bull rush and spread out sackcloth and ashes? Is it because I want you to look miserable?

You know, you might think of, where is it in Matthew? Matthew 6 or 7, where God says, when you fast, don't make yourself look like you're fasting. Don't go out and tell people, oh, I'm fasting today and I haven't combed my hair, I haven't washed my face. He goes, you go out and you do the right things because you fast to God, not to be seen. Because if you're fasting to be seen by other people, like He describes here in verse 5, then you've got your reward. You don't need. You got the reward, the reason that you're doing it. Would you call this a fast? Would you call this, you know, to be doing this an acceptable day to God?

So we kind of, if we really look at verses 3, 4, and 5 there, we see God says that that's not the fast that He wants. Yeah, Xavier. Roshibi, anybody here remembers Philip the Ruth when he asked the rabbi, one of the students, say, what's a blessing for the tsar? You know, we are advised to pray for all men. The rabbi said, certainly for the tsar, a blessing. Of course, may God bless him and keep the tsar away from us. Only us. That's a good one. He can be with everyone. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Very good.

So verse 6, then, he kind of says, this is the way to fast, right? Isn't this the fast that I have chosen? And the next few verses here will remind us of Isaiah 61, and a couple weeks will be in Isaiah 61, but we've just heard them, you know, recently at the feast. Isn't this the fast that I've chosen? To lose the bonds of wickedness. You know, God, what is binding me? Where's my thought? Where's my motivation? What is it that I need? I need you to help, I need you to identify the sin and the evil that's within me, so that, and help me and give me the strength to overcome it.

So become more like you, to lose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and are held down by sin, and not developing the potential that you have created them to become, and that you break every yoke. You know, the things that hold us back, the things that we are slave to, it's God, it's Jesus Christ's sacrifice that will break that yoke. In Matthew 11, 28, he says, come and take my yoke. Take my yoke. My yoke is light. It is not a burden.

You know, in verses 11 and 8, 7 and 8, you know, should remind us of Matthew 25, the last part of Matthew 25, when he says, these are the people that will be in my kingdom. He goes, isn't it the day when you're fasting, isn't it to share your bread with the hungry? Aren't you developing the agape?

You know, the concern for your brother, when you see a need that you're there to meet it, that you become more in tune with that. Isn't it to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out? Aren't you supposed to be watching out for those? Aren't you sharing with that? Aren't you developing that agape? God, help me on my fast to be more aware of those things, to open my heart and open my home more to those things, and to help out where I can.

When you see the naked, that you cover him. You see a need, you do it, right? To all those things in Matthew 25, when it talks about, you know, when the righteous said, well, when did we see you naked and clothe you? When did we see you hungry and we fed you? He's saying the same thing here in verse 7. God, help us when we fast to become this way. When you see the naked, that you cover him and not hide yourself from your own flesh. When you fast for these things, that God will will improve us, that God will show us our sins, that God will develop in us and help us and ask him to develop these traits in us that he wants us to have. Then, he says, then, you know what?

That's a fast I'm going to respond to. Then your light shall break forth like the morning.

Your healing will spring forth speedily, and your righteousness will go before you. People will see it. It will be there. It will lead you. It will guide you. God says something very beautiful.

The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. I will surround you. I will be with you every step of the way. When you fast and you're looking and your heart is in line with what I want it to be, show me, teach me, guide me, change me, mold me into who you want me to be, he says, I'll be there. Your righteousness will go before you and I'll bring up the rear.

My Bible has Exodus 14 verse 19 as a reference to that. It talks about the time when Israel was coming out of Egypt. God brought them out of Egypt. He was there leading them, but he was always there at the rear of them, too. He surrounded them. He watched over his people.

He kept them on the straight path. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing that God has there. Where are we on time? Okay, verse 9. He goes, when you are doing the things, when you're in line with me, when your heart is in line with what I want you to do, he's got the answer. Here's answered prayer. Then when you call, I'll answer.

Then when you call, I'll answer. It's just what Jesus Christ said. Whatever you ask in my name, when you are doing the things, I will give you. Ask for the things that are of him, in line with him, not just about what we want, but what God wants. Then you will call and the Lord will answer. You will cry, and he'll say, here I am. You want those answered prayers? You want God listening and God responding? And our hearts have to be in line with what he wants, what he wants us to become. And it goes on in verse 9. It says, when you call, I'll answer. When you cry, I'll say, here I am. If you take away the yoke from your midst, if you let the yoke of sin, if you ask me to break that yoke of sin, and you make the choices in your life, and I see that your heart is determined with the power of the Holy Spirit, that that yoke will be lifted from you.

If you take away the yoke from your midst, if you take away the pointing of the finger, right, the accusing, because so many times it's like, when it's their fault, it's their fault, the pointing of the finger, you know, Satan is the accuser of the brethren. When you kind of look at yourself, what do I need to change? How do I've got a relationship that needs to be healed?

What do I need to do? Doesn't mean it's all on us. But if we're all doing that, though, conflicts get resolved. When the Holy Spirit is there, it brings unity. If you take away the yoke from your midst, if you take away the pointing of your finger and speaking wickedness, controlling the tongue, right, James 3, and then he repeats it. If you extend your soul to the hungry, if you satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday. You will be living a life of light with God there all the time. God, verse 11, the eternal will guide you continually. He will satisfy your soul in drought. He will strengthen your bones.

You will be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

I mean, just look at the blessings that God says. If we just do the things that He says to do, and when we fast, that we do the things that we fast for the things to become more like Him. Change us, the renewal of our minds, the self-sacrifice that we need to be to become more like Him.

It's Raymond. There's a perspective that I think God has shown me a couple years ago. It really is helping me as I go along with the Sabbath in the Holy Days. It's this. We are in a relationship with God. I look at this like a relationship. Also, you're going into a marriage. Let's say one person in the marriage says, you know what? You have special days. I don't care about film.

I'm not going to observe them with you. All days are the same to me. How's that other person going to think? You don't care about me. You don't care about my feelings, my outlook. I'm trying to improve the relationship. That's how I think God looks at it. If we disregard the Sabbath in the Holy Days. You're right. That's what He says. You've disregarded me. You haven't kept up your covenant with me. God is sentimental sometimes. He is compassionate. He is compassionate. He does love us. We'll finish in verse 12. We're going to start next week on 13 and 14, which is part of the same thought where He talks about the Sabbath. I'll draw that attention, but it's good for us to start next week with it. He's continuing this thing.

It becomes like God. Honor Him. Do the things that He wants. That's salvation. That's eternity. That's joy, peace, the whole nine yards. He says, those from among you, you'll rebuild the old, waste places. He talks of the restoration here. Acts 3, 18 to 21, where it talks Jesus Christ doesn't have it until the time of the restoration of all things. He's talking about that restoration that will come. Those from among you shall build the old, waste places.

You will raise up the foundation of many generations, and you will be called the repair of the breach. You will be the one to know this reconciliation that God and the man reconciled. In 2 Corinthians 5, it talks about He's committed to us the ministry of reconciliation.

Jesus Christ reconciled us to God and did that. We will be part of that, too. You will be called the repair of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in. That's part of what God's future for all of us is. Then going on right there, as He continues that, build the agape. Then He talks about the Sabbath. Keep the Sabbath. It's building on what we read in chapter 56. Don't defile my Sabbath. It's a sign between the people, and it's a sacrifice we give to God each week.

Let me pause there. We'll pick up with verse 13 next week.

At least 59 part of chapter 60 will get through next week as well. Any questions? Hey, John, how are you doing today? You say, in reading this section, some words really pop out here.

In the world right now, everybody's destroying. They're destroying relationships. All these bombs and missiles. They just destroy. Bullets destroy. Everything that man does is just destroying.

What you just read here in verse 10, if you do these things, then God's going to have you become or participate in verse 12 of chapter 58. Build, raise up, repair, restore.

And then he said similar things. If you'll repent, I'm going to restore you. I'm going to restore your hope, your lives. You're going to be like a spring. You're going to be restored.

As has been mentioned, we are with God in a different way of life. It's totally light compared to dark. This whole passage just springs up with the repairing the life.

As you mentioned, sin does not satisfy, but people just keep tearing things apart, trying to greedily embellish themselves. It's a great study tonight. Thank you very much.

Any other comments? Anything anyone wants to talk about on any subject at all? Not maybe just if there's something else on your mind? Okay. Well, if not, it has been wonderful to be with all of you tonight. I hope you have a good rest of the evening. We will, as I say, see some of you in Cincinnati this coming Sabbath. The rest of those will have a very good rest of the week, Sabbath, and we will look forward to seeing you next Wednesday night then, okay?

Thank you.

Good night, everybody.

Good night.

Hello, Pastor Shaby.

Okay. How are you doing?

I just...

Oh, too late.

Oh, no, no, no. I'm so...

Well, good night, everybody.

I'm still here if you want to say something.

It's too late.

Well, not really, but okay. Okay.

Okay. Okay, good night.

Hello, Pastor Shaby. I was wondering if anybody heard about the meteor shower this weekend?

I didn't hear about it. Did anyone hear about the meteor shower?

No.

There's supposed to be a big comet meteor shower with fireballs, Saturday evening, you know, Saturday... well, after Sabbath, obviously.

Yeah.

David, Thomas.

Oh, yeah.

That's neat. No, I didn't hear anything about that. That's... yeah, that's neat, so...

Yeah, I'm going to try to see if I can catch some of it.

Oh, what was it? Oh, was it coming up? Is it coming up this Sabbath?

It's on... yep, this Saturday.

Oh, I thought you meant it was last...

They say you can see some of the...

Okay.

Yeah, they say you can see some of it Friday, but I'm not going out there front.

I'm going to wait till Saturday when it's supposed to be the biggest...

Okay, I'll have to look that up and see. That sounds interesting, so...

Okay. Okay, then, everyone, good night.

Good night.