Isaiah chapter 40. This is the dramatic conclusion, hopefully, of the chapter. We started our work on Isaiah 40 through 55, October of 2024. It's now February the 23rd, 2025, and we're about to finally finish one chapter in Isaiah 40 through 55. Our goal this morning is to go from 25 to 31. That is the goal. Now, since we have spent so much time in Isaiah 40, I don't want to spend a lot of time going back over everything. I just have to drive home this point over and over and over. The entire reason we're even studying this chapter is because after well over a hundred sermons listened to on Isaiah 40 through 55, every single one makes it all about us, us, us, us, us, us, and not about the people it's actually about. Isaiah 40 through 55 are words of comfort to whom? I want everyone to tell me. Judah, who is where? Babylonian captivity. These are words of comfort given to them. They're not for you to come and rip out a context and make it about you. All right? It's about them. It's about they. It's not about you, me, or I. Can everybody remember that? Isaiah 40 through 55 is about whom? You can just say it this way. Them and they. It's not about Me, us, we, or I. If everybody will remember that, we'll be in very good shape. And the reason we have to stress that is because we're looking at verses 25 through 31, which just happens to have some of the most famous words, and everyone knows these words, because we read verse 31, we sing it, everyone knows it, which reads, but they that wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength, mount up with wings as eagles, shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. And we make that some generic promise to us that if we wait, we will receive what? Some kind of power, some kind of strength, some kind of provision. The they there is referring to whom? Those in Babylonian captivity. God is promising to do what for those in Babylonian captivity? To strengthen them. Right? He's going to preserve them as a nation until they come out of Babylonian captivity, go back to Judah, and do what? Rebuild the city and rebuild the temple. It is specific promises. If you want to expand it, It's a promise to Israel at large, if you want to expand it, that God will ultimately do what? bring the kingdom promised in the Davidic covenant to them. They will have that kingdom, right? That's promised to them over and over and over, all right? So, that, I mean, that's, there, we're done. I mean, we can go home. But that's really all you need to know. But we're gonna read verses 25 through 31 first. We'll just read it into the King James first, and then we'll just break it down, all right? Now, to ensure that I can make it from 25 to 31, I am trying to rely completely, typically when I rely on AI, it's a lot of back and forth, and I go here, I ask further questions, and when I finally have my finished product, it's a lot of me and it's a lot of AI. I'm gonna try to use AI completely here so that I can stay on task. But you know what happens when I read one thing? I tend to leave it because it's hard for me not to, but we're gonna try. So everybody ready to read Isaiah 40, 25 through 31? This is the dramatic conclusion. Here we go. To whom then will ye, who is the ye? Judah and Babylonian captivity, all right? To whom then will ye liken me? Shall I be equal, saith the Holy One? Lift up. your eyes, that's Judah, right, on high, and behold, who hath created these things that bringeth out their host by number, he calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power, not one felleth. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, my judgment is passed over from my God. Now let's stop right here. This is verse 27. Who is mentioned again by name? Jacob. Israel, right? It's the same thing, correct? Okay, so let's do this again. I want everyone to do it. Go back to Isaiah 40, start in verse 1, go all the way down to verse 27, and count how many very specific references that we find that tells us who this chapter is about and who he is speaking to. This is like a reading comprehension test. Remember in school where they ask you a question, you have to go back to the paragraph you just read? I don't know why any... If someone will sit there and read the entire paragraph, I don't understand how people do reading comprehension tests. You don't read the paragraph. You read the question and you do what? You skip. Okay? Which then actually doesn't prove that you can actually read, right? It's not a reading comprehension test, OK? To do a reading comprehension test, they need to be completely different. But OK, in this particular case, this is reading comprehension 101. I need you to go to STEM, this chapter, and find for me all the references, count how many, that mention specifically who is being spoken to. All right, go. Okay, where's the first one? Let's go through, where's the first one? Where? Well, does verse one identify the people? Says, my people. So it can at least ask us to, lead us to ask what question? Who are they? Now, if you are reformed, my people becomes whom? to church. If you're not reformed, that becomes, well, so we have to need a little bit more than my people. That will never get us anywhere. But my people are gonna be identified. Now, you could identify my people by doing what? How could you identify my people here since there's so much debate about it in Christianity? You could go back to verse chapter 39, verses five through, what is it, eight? What is 39, five through eight? Who does that identify? Judah going into Babylon in captivity. So my people would be governed by the people mentioned in 39, five through eight, right? Is it five through eight? I'm going from memory. Okay. All right. All right. Okay. Now, okay. So where's the next reference? Verse two? Okay. Speak comfortably to? All right. That's very specific. Jerusalem is the capital of? Judah, the southern kingdom in this particular context. Is there any other reference? Where is the next one? Skim. We have been talking about this chapter literally since October. Okay, verse nine mentions Zion and Jerusalem and Judah. It says literally to speak to the cities of Judah, does it not? Okay, that's pretty clear. Okay, there's three, at least three references, maybe four. Okay, next. And we have lots of pronouns about ye, ye, ye, right? I mean, over and over and over that we could be identifying, which the governing principle will be all the times Judah has been mentioned, but okay. Anything else? Well, obviously the one I just read to you, but. Okay, 27 says, O Jacob and Israel. All right, so that's how many total? About five references. So in 31 verses, Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the writer, Isaiah, identifies five times who it's being spoken to. And preachers stand behind pulpits and make it all about us. Remember, I get so mad. Everybody wants to yell and scream about pronoun issues in our culture. I'm ready for the church to start knowing how to use pronouns. Okay? It's not me, it's not I, it's not we, it's not us, it's they and them. If we're gonna talk about pronouns, let's get the pronouns right in the Bible for crying out loud. It's not about us. Can everyone agree with at least that? All right, what verse did we stop at? Verse 27. Verse 28, hast thou not known? Again, the thou is referring to whom? To Israel. I mean, we could so belabor the point that you would be telling me to move on. You probably already are. Hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary, there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no strength, he increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fail, but they that wait upon the Lord, they shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall not walk and not faint. That's the text, all right? I almost immediately just launched into my own sermon, but I'm gonna stop. All right, so AI, we're gonna follow AI structure. You ready? First thing, AI does this every single time. It's very simple way it outlines it. First thing AI is gonna give us, wants us to consider is the context and the structure. The context and the structure. First, it's gonna give us the immediate context. The last hour, we looked at the previous section, but I'll have AI break it down. Versus one through 24. Isaiah 41-24 establishes God's sovereignty, His transcendence, and His superiority over idols and rulers. So in verses 1-24, what has Isaiah tried to tell the people? That God is sovereign, He is transcendent, and He is superior over idols and rulers. What is the significance of being sovereign? God is in charge of everything. What is the importance of being transcendent? He's above everything. He's not restricted to a specific situation, circumstance, or an image, or anything along those lines. Next, he is superior over idols and rulers. Why is this important? Where are the people of Judah? They are in Babylon, right? In captivity in Babylon. What are they surrounded by? A religious system that has idols, idols, a god for this, a god for this, and a god for that. What conclusion could they come to, especially in the culture in which they live? The gods they are surrounded by must be greater than their god because their temple is what? Destroyed. Their city is what? Destroyed. Where are they at? Captivity. So what could they conclude? The gods of Babylon are greater than their god. The rulers of Babylon are greater than their god. That's what they can conclude, all right? And so we talked about it in the last hour. Let me say it again. One of the most difficult things of believing in God, one of the most difficult things in any form of theism is that we, especially for Christians, we believe in a God in whom we cannot see, yet we are surrounded by circumstances which we see and we can feel. And what is always greater, theological knowledge or experience? experience, because we are not governed by intellect. We are governed by feelings and emotions. Don't think that you are governed by intellect. That's why in the last section, God tells Israel over and over, have you not heard? Have you not known? You should know all of this. Did they know all of it? Yes. They had the law. They had the prophets. They had God's revelation. Yet, when faced with circumstances, what would they do? And sometimes it's mind boggling to us, right? They saw God part the Red Sea. 15 minutes later, they were like, where's God? Why? Because we are controlled by our emotions. And our emotions flow from what? Our sinful nature. Because our emotions flow from our sinful nature, whenever we face circumstances, what do we have a tendency to do? We don't go running to God. We begin to question the existence of God, doubting God. That's why sometimes it's very confusing when people... It shouldn't be confusing to us, but when we read the Bible, we're like... I mean, David saw God do a lot of amazing things, right? I mean, he defeated Goliath with a slingshot, right? He saw God do a lot of amazing things. But where was God when he walked out one night on a roof and looked at someone bathing? God was still there, but David, what happens is circumstances, we forget God. And when we face circumstances, when we face whatever it is, it can be a temptation, it can be a desire, it can be a problem, it can be a tragedy. At that very moment, we become practical atheists. God no longer exists. And we're always shocked, like, how could someone do this? How could someone do that? Because all of the theological knowledge in the world, you could sit in church for five hours and I could preach to you, love your enemy, love your neighbor, be kind, put other people before you. Husbands, love your wife as Christ loved the church. Women, submit to your husband as unto the Lord. I could preach all of this, all of this. You could get in the, for five hours. You can get in the car and before you get from this building to Tuscola, what could be happening in the car? Arguing, fighting, selfishness. After five hours of teaching. Now, should my voice come into your car going, have you not heard? Have you not known? Is it a problem of you not knowing? It's not a problem of not knowing, it's a problem of what's inside of us, right? That's how come when Christians say this, it bothers me when they look at somebody like, man, I wish those parents should have taught them better. The teaching of a parent does not change what? The nature, Cain knew the truth, he yet killed his brother. I mean, when you get, those people in the Old Testament knew about God, yet they did what, what, what? So, it's our nature. Israel knows all of this stuff, but they are being confronted with what? Idols! And so God is talking to them. So 1 to 24, he's trying to establish to them his sovereignty, his transcendent, his superiority. 25 to 31, there's somewhat of a shift. It shifts from theological declaration to more application, addressing Israel's doubts and offering hope and renewal. So in 25, there's a shift. Basically, you can think of it one through 24 is very theological, theological, theological. 25 through 31, it becomes trying to become more application focused. Now, what can we not do? We gotta be very careful to run in there and grab this for us. There are principles we can take, which we just kinda discussed, did we not? All right, so there's the immediate context. Now, we're gonna do the structural breakdown, all right? AI breaks this down structurally into four parts. Part one is 25 through 26. Everybody look at verse 25 through 26. Tell me what this is about. The faster you answer, the faster we are done. Okay. 25 through 26. What is it about? Okay. Yeah, it's very similar. It's very similar. It's repeating the same themes. Can we say that this is basically saying God is incomparable? Can we say that? What do you see in the text that would go with this idea that God is unique, God is powerful over creation, and this is just being reaffirmed? What do you see in 25-26 to stress that? Well, it starts with a question, as Sarah pointed out. To whom then will ye liken me? What is the answer? There is no one you can liken God to. Who shall I be equal? Is God equal with anything? No, nothing is equal with God. He is superior, great, transcendent to all of that. Saith the Holy One, he even refers to himself as the Holy One, immediately meaning what? He is separate from everything else, right? God is holy, is anything like God and it's holiness. Now, I'm gonna take a detour. You know what that means then? When we see a scripture that says, be holy as God is holy, We're never going to be as holy as God is holy. How can we be holy as God is holy when God's holiness is accredited to my account? Does that make me holy? Just declares me to be holy. When God declares himself to be holy, he is saying no one is like me. So when pastors tell you to be holy as God is holy, as if it's something you can do, they're out of their ever living mind. Okay, because I can't do it. That's why Jesus came, because we can't, all right? But the minute we, so in some ways, if you say that we can, we're trying to liken ourselves unto whom? God, which is, well, we shouldn't do that. All right, so God's uniqueness is clearly there. And verse 26. Lift up your eyes on high, behold who hath created these things that bringeth out their host by number. He calleth them all by name by the greatness of his might. For he that is strong in power, not one felleth. Basically, what is he saying to do? Look up and see what? The heavens, who made it? God. Not the idols, not you, not the rulers of Babylon. He calls by name. So it's showing his omniscience and his omnipotence. Okay. Omnipotence means what? Powerful. Omniscience means? All-knowing. Okay. Okay. Everybody got that? All right. So it's showing both attributes. Okay. What happens in verse 27? Verse 25 through 26 is the incomparable God. What happens in verse 27? All right, this is Israel's complaint, right? What is Israel saying? God is saying to them, why say this, guys? Why say this, O Jacob? Why are you speaking, O Israel? And what are they saying? My way is hid from the Lord and my judgment is passed over from my God. Everybody see that? All right? If you look at verse 27, some translations will say, Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel? My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God. Basically, what are they saying? They've been forgotten! God is nowhere to be seen. This goes back and stresses what? All of the philological knowledge doesn't mean anything when you've been punched in the face by the Babylonians, taken from your country, and thrown basically into captivity. You may go, where's God? Because what rules us? Motion, desire, circumstance, not intellect. And we know that practically. I've already stated it again. Again, I could teach you a hundred hours, right? It's like, I mean, wouldn't it be great if we could just, I don't know, memorize the Ten Commandments and do them? Can anybody do the Ten Commandments? No. Nobody can do, I want all the kids here to know, you cannot obey the Ten Commandments. I know that's going to tick off most of American Christians. You cannot obey the Ten Commandments. Because to obey the Ten Commandments, you have to do something, what? You have to obey everything in action. You have to obey everything in your words. You have to obey everything in your mind. You have to obey everything in your internally. So even if you do the right thing, right? You're supposed to love your enemy. You're supposed to love your neighbor. You're supposed to put others before you. Even if you're like, oh, it's the last bowl of cereal, you can have it. That's obeying it which way? externally, but five minutes later, if inside you're mad, and you're angry, and someone's like, what's wrong? Nothing, nothing's wrong. You're mad because you didn't get, now you did the right thing, but then you're not doing the right thing. You see how you could, you still haven't obeyed it. And even if you do the right thing there, there's gonna be another area where you don't do the right thing. So what is the truth about humans from a biblical perspective? We are perpetually in sin, 24-7, 365. Israel knows the truth because all of that emotion flows from where? Inside of us, right? I know I'm repeating myself, but the text is repeating. Israel's complaining. In some ways we want to condemn their complaint, but don't we understand they're complaining? I understand they're complaining. All right, apologize for sneezing. Into the microphone and people listening going, what was that? All right, here we go. All right, we got all of that. Israel expresses their doubt and feels forgotten by God. Can we agree with that? So 25 to 26, the incomparable God. Verse 27 is Israel's complaint. What happens in verse 28? What happens in 28? He goes back with, what does he say? Hast thou not known? What does he mean? He's responding to their complaint, right? So they offer a complaint, and then he turns around and says, have you not known? So he's getting ready to do what? He's going to answer their complaint. Well, let me ask you this. How does he answer their complaint? Does he answer the complaint with something specific or with something theoretical? Oh, someone says specific. What does he say in that verse? Verse 28. Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard? That the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the end of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary, there is no searching of his understanding. There's nothing specific given to them, right? Does he say your situation is going to get better? No, he didn't say anything about that. What does he give them? He gives them theology. He gives them the theoretical. He gives them the theological answer. Break down that theological answer for me, okay? What are the theological answer he gives to their complaint? What is it? Give me the attributes of God that are listed in that verse. God will not grow weary, all right? That's showing his omnipotence, he does not get tired, he does not get weary, right? You could say his immutability, but okay. But all right, so we have at least his omnipotence there, what else? There's his omniscience again, omnipotence, omniscience, anything else? Oh, his eternality, the eternality of God, the omnipotence of God, the omniscience of God, any other attribute? Do what? Creator. Okay, what phrase? The creator of the ends of the earth. Yeah, you see that? So it shows he is creator. He's omnipotent, he's omniscient, and he's eternal. 28 is basically theology 101. He's basically taking them back to theology class. So, they are facing their circumstances, they express their emotion, and he simply responds by reminding them of the theological truth. Does that theological truth gonna change their feelings or emotions? No. But why does he give them theological truth? Because the only consistent thing in life is the truth about God. What is not consistent? The circumstances they're going to encounter. Are they going to encounter more negative circumstances after they leave Babylonian captivity? Yes. Are they going to suffer under the Romans? Yes! Are they gonna suffer 70 AD? Yes! Did the Jews suffer during the Holocaust and Nazi Germany? Yes! Do they not suffer under anti-semitism today? Yes! Are they still in their land? No! Are they still... I don't know what happened on October the 7th, what, a year ago, two years ago? 3,000 were slaughtered and killed? Over and over and over! Circumstances never get better! Because we live in a fallen world, it never is going to get better. That's why we gotta be very careful with practical promises. Now they can rely on some practical promises because of the covenants. So what is it saying? Sometimes in life, all we can revert back to are the theological truths about God because circumstances may never get better. So whatever we face, what can we know about God? He's omnipotent. He's eternal, he's omniscient, and he is creator. So go through those attributes again. Omnipotent, what does that mean? All-powerful. Omniscient means all-knowing. Eternal means everlasting. There's no beginning, there's no end. Creator means he made everything. That's true. Now, does that always help you in your circumstance? Now in their situation, it is very meaningful, because his power and his knowledge is getting ready to demonstrate itself by getting them out of captivity. But he's gonna get them out of captivity in a very non-spectacular way. There's not gonna be the parting of the Red Sea or anything. But for us, this is where our philosophical problems begin. Because if I have a God who's all-powerful, all-knowing, eternal, and creator, I sure wish he would do more than he's doing. And it's perfectly okay to struggle with that feeling. Now, what the text is demonstrating is circumstances does not prove or disprove the existence of God, because God can be those things, and circumstances does not disprove it, because he's still those things, irregardless of the circumstances. That's not easy to comprehend, right? It's not, it's not easy for me to comprehend. But everyone see what he just did there? Versus the structural breakdown, the incomparable God in verse 25 through 26, he stresses basically God's unique power in creation. Everybody see that? Then 27, he addresses their complaint by doing what? Basically repeating verses 25 through 26. He just repeats it. So this theological truth has been repeated numerous times. Now what does he do in verses 29 through 31? Oh, we're doing pretty good on time. 29 through 31. What happens here? Everybody read it. Everybody look at it. It's open book test. What happens in 29? This is a dramatic change. 25 through 26 is theological or theoretical? And I'm saying theoretical because it's like you can't necessarily, it's not tangible, right? 27 is their complaint. 28, he goes back to the theological. What does he do in 29 to 31? It's radically different than anything in the entire chapter, really. Now it seems very, well, let me say it. Okay, I gotta be careful. It's not specific in the sense there's nothing tangible like exactly what he's going to do, but now it seems to go from the theoretical, at least that God is saying what? I'm going to do something, right? I'm going to be involved in some way, shape, or form. It's almost like he's saying, I'm gonna use my attributes to help you out. Can we agree with that? AI says it this way. The weak are going to be renewed by trusting in God, contrasting human frailty with divine strength. So the weak are going to be renewed by trusting. Do we agree that 29 through 31 seems to indicate that the secret to their renewal will be in their trusting? Do we agree or disagree with that assessment? 29 to 31, the whole section. The secret to their renewal is in their trusting. Do we agree with that? Well, Stephen seems committed to saying yes. All right, we are. Now, this is very important. Why, when it says they're gonna be renewed in their trusting, they are renewed on which, this is the foundation. They can trust in God to act. Why can they trust in God to act? Because they have a specific promise for their specific situation. Does that make sense? Now we gotta be very careful here. I just listened to a sermon on the way here. In fact, when the, when the dancers walked in, I was still listening to it, that it takes verse 31, wait on the Lord, and guess what it turned it into? Are you, are you, are, there's some things going on in your life that you want to be fixed? Well, you just need to wait on the Lord. You can't give that promise to people in that way. They can expect God to intervene how? in their captivity because they have been promised that God is going to deliver them from their captivity. So if they will trust in God to deliver from their captivity, their strength is renewed in what way? Giving them the hope to carry on through the captivity because God has specifically promised to deliver them from that captivity. Does that make sense? We can't run to this and say, well, God is going to give me some strength in this situation. But we can apply it to us in this way. Where do we currently, remember, if we want to draw a correlation, here's the correlation. We currently live in our own captivity, right? I'm captive to the flesh. I have a sinful nature. I live in a world where there's pain, suffering, death, and disease. I'm there. Can I escape this world? Is Christianity escape to this world? No, I'm in it. I'm not of it, but I'm still in it and I'm still impacted by it. But what do I do now? There will come a time that heaven will open, Christ returns, and then ultimately there'll be no more pain, suffering, death, or tears, a new heaven and a new earth. I know that's coming. So that is supposed to then, I can find strength. Not that my circumstance is going to get better, but that in the end, it will. That's far different. I can preach that and be textually correct. I can promise you that if you will trust in God, you will find strength. But the strength is not that your problem is going to get better. Your cancer is going to go away. Something's going to work out fine with your child, or your job, or this, or that this is not going to happen, or this tragedy is not going to happen, or that this problem is going to get better, or this problem is going to get better. I have no assurance of anything getting better. In fact, there's a high probability things may actually get worse. You have no hope in that. My hope is where? Just as God delivered Judah from Babylon, I will be delivered ultimately from this world, this flesh, but that will be in eternity. I can't grab the promise of eternity and pull it into the present because I have no promise of the present. Does that make sense? So there can be strength gained, but it's gained in what God will do. That's supposed to get me through the duration of the present. Does that make sense? Yes? All right. So the structural breakdown is 25 through 26, which is about what? The incomparable God. Verse 27 is Israel's complaint. Verse 28 is basically a philological lesson on what? God's attributes, okay? Verse 29 through 31 is about strength for the weary. Everybody got that? Yes? All right, now, let's do the exegetical analysis. What does that mean? Well, AI breaks it down structurally, now it's going to expound on it. I shouldn't have to expound on it because what did we just do? Did I not just expound on it? Okay, so let's go through this quickly. All right, 25 through 26, the incomparable creator. To whom then will you compare me that I should be like him, says the Holy One. It's a rhetorical question. It's emphasizing God's uniqueness. The rhetorical question calls the audience to reject idolatry and false comparisons. The term Holy One is a title emphasizing God's absolute separateness from creation, which is what I stressed in my not following AI, okay? Same thing, all right? God is separate, all right? Lift up your eyes on high and see who created these. He who brings out their hosts by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one is missing. All right, can we see that? All right, now this then demonstrates God is sovereign, and he's the sovereign Lord over all of the universe. Lift up your eyes as I call to reflect on the vastness of heaven. Who created these? This is a direct challenge to the idolatry. The stars are not deities, but created things. Don't look to the stars as being gods. They were created. Calling them by name, ancient Near Eastern cultures often named stars as gods. But Yahweh names them and controls them. So it's like, no, you don't name them. God named them. He is demonstrating his sovereignty over their religious beliefs of Babylon. That's what he's doing, all right? It's a theological lesson, as we've already demonstrated. What is the implication? God sustains the Tsars. How much more will he sustain his people? Judah and their captivity, all right? There is the, we're doing the kind of the breakdown here. He has rhetorical questions. God is sovereign. Then Isaiah 40 through 27, or Isaiah 40, 27, this is Israel's complaint. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord, and my rights are disregarded by my God. Israel's doubt and complaint, my way is hidden. Israel feels abandoned, struggling to reconcile God's promises with their exile. My right is disregarded. It's a legal term implying God has ignored their case. So basically what they're saying is, God, we've brought our case to your courtroom and you will not hear us. You will not listen to us. We have a case against you. You claim to do all this stuff, but you haven't done anything for us. That's their complaint, right? And Israel question reveals a common human struggle. Where is God when we suffer? And that's a common struggle. And we've already talked about the theological implications of it, right? What are we controlled by? Emotion and desire, not our intellect, okay? It's an emotional response, all right? Verse 28, the eternal all-knowing God, have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint, grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. Basically, it's reaffirming theological truths. Have you not known? Have you not heard? Isaiah calls Israel to remember what they already know. Everlasting God, unlike human rulers or idols, Yahweh exists beyond time. Creator of the ends of the earth, God's power is universal, not just to local Israel, but everywhere. It does not faint and grow weary. In contrast to human weakness, God's strength is limitless. And we talked about all of the attributes there. Now, 29 through 31. I'm going to spend a little bit more time here because this is where all the sermons go, all right? 29 through 31. Everybody want to look at that? We can try to wrap this up here. We're going to bring this to some dramatic conclusion. Here we go. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might, he increases strength. Divine empowerment for the weak. God's strength is not just cosmic, but it is personal. He sustains the weak. The emphasis is not on self-reliance, but divine dependence. Now, the strength here is promised to whom? Judah. Right? So in a practical way, the strength could be defined as, if we're gonna get very practical, now most sermons you go to, it's just some vague promise, guys, wait on God, and he's gonna strengthen you this week when you go through that difficult problem. If you hear a sermon like that, just get up and leave your church, it's useless. All right? That's not the promise. He is promising to strengthen whom? Those in captivity. What does that mean practically? Judah as a divided kingdom, they went into captivity and Judah as a kingdom, they will come out. Is it a promise that every individual who goes in is coming out? If you apply this individually, I guarantee you there were people who went into that captivity who died. So God didn't obviously give them enough strength to even make it out. I mean, they were there for 70 years. The lifespan at that time would not have been like, no, people went in and people died. So the strength here is then as a group goes in, he's going to bring them out. Did he do that? That's what it's referencing here. If you make it personal, I know that destroys every sermon you've ever heard on it, but I'm sorry. That's the only way to understand it. All right. Even youths shall faint and be weary and young men shall be exhausted. Human strength, even at its peak, is temporary. That is true. All humans, our strength is what? Limited and temporary. So what does he want them to understand? God's strength is eternal and inexhaustible. So what does Judah need to do? They need to realize they gotta rely on God to get them through this. Based on what? Specific promises given to them. I can rely on specific promises given to me. Right? That God will create a new heaven and a new earth and there'll be no more pain and no more suffering and no more death. I can rely that my sins have been removed as far as the East is from the West and that Christ's righteousness has been imputed to my account. I can rely on those things because those are specifically to me. Does that make sense? All right? But they that wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. Now the key to strength here is said to be waiting on the Lord. To wait is more than a passive waiting. It means hoping, trusting, and expecting. So the key to their strength It says to wait, but the wait here, at least in the Hebrew, at least according to AI, carries more than just like, I'm just passively waiting. It's trusting. The key to their being strengthened is their trusting. Now, why can that help them? If you're in a bad situation, if you're in a bad situation, you can start to lose hope. But if you know, ultimately, The situation's gonna come to an end, and then this and this and this is going to happen. Theoretically, that should strengthen you. Now, what's the problem with the theoretical? As we are driven not by the intellectual reality, we're driven by the emotions. So, but in theory, they can be strengthened if they will remember God is going to deliver them from Babylon, Babylonian exile. There is going to be an end to it. Right? And even for us, there'll be an end to it. If we can remember that. Do we do a good job remembering that? Because I'm like, well, that's eternity. Tomorrow is Monday. I got problems now. And that's the difficulty. Right? Okay. Renew their strength. Literally exchange their weakness for God's power. Now you got to be careful with that. He's gonna exchange their weakness for his power in what way? Now you gotta understand this in its historical context. God is going to exchange their weakness with his power in what way? Until we get this question answered, we don't leave church. How is he going to exchange their weakness for his power? Do they have the power to release themselves? No. So God is going to exchange their weakness for his power because he's going to be the one to deliver them. This doesn't mean all of a sudden they're like, I can overcome this, I can overcome that. That's ridiculous if we think of it. And that's how preachers preach this about us. No, this is, do you have the power to create a new heaven and new earth where there's no more pain, no more suffering, and no more death? No. By relying on God, he's going to exchange your weakness for his power, because he's going to do what you can't do. If I trust in Christ, Guess what? Do I have the power to make myself righteous? Positionally or practically? No. But guess what? When I put my faith in Christ, my weakness is exchanged with His power because I'm declared to be something that I could not make myself to be, which is righteous. Not practically, but seriously. And He's gonna replace my weakness with power because there'll be a time that I'll no longer have a sinful nature and I'll be made like Him. That's how our weakness is exchanged with power. I know that goes against every sermon, because every sermon is going to be like, hey, if you're struggling this Sunday, you just rest in God, and he's going to give you power on Monday, he's going to give you power on Tuesday, he's going to reply. Just stop it, okay? I want to throw something when pastors start that nonsense. It's not true! Okay? Because you're a human being in flesh, you still have that weakness. In fact, you have an inherent weakness called sinful nature. It doesn't go away. So, in what way is their weakness going to be replaced? God is going to do for them what they are powerless to do. They cannot get themselves out of Babylonian captivity. I know I'm completely rewriting the way this has been interpreted. I don't care. Every sermon that's been preached on this has been wrong. I will stand my ground on this because I know facts. I mean, the thing I thought when I became a Christian as a teenager in Tuscola, Texas, is I was gonna get some power and I was gonna be able to do that which I could. And all these years later, guess what I still know? That I've never been able to achieve all the things pastors have promised that I could be able to achieve. Because they make it sound like I can basically be like a superhero and walk on water. Not true. Since everyone understand that. Okay, I cannot stress that enough, all right? He's going to exchange their weakness for his power in his power being the thing that delivers them. Mount up with wings like eagles, symbolizing effortless, sustained strength. Well, how is he going to mount them with wings as eagles? He's going to bring them from Babylon to... Judah, he's gonna be the one doing that through whom? Cyrus, all right? Run and not be weary, walk and not faint, highlights God's power for both extraordinary and ordinary endurance. They're going as a, again, not as an individual. If you make it individualistic, all you gotta do is go prove that someone in Judah died, and I guess that you blame them for dying because they didn't have enough faith. Oh, that sounds like Christianity, right? No, for Judah, for Israel, He's going to sustain them. Do they look like they don't exist now? In many ways, I mean, we see them now, but I mean, at least for a long time, they didn't even exist, but they look weak, powerless. But God will one day bring Israel, save them, according to the Bible, and then give them the kingdom. But that's all gonna be whom? God is going to do it. Again, not an individual, for the nation, for Judah, this is all based off covenant language. Has everybody got that? All right, so what are the theological themes here? AI wants us to know theological themes. All right, three. This is gonna sound very similar to the last hour. God is incomparable. No idol, no ruler, no power compares to God. Nothing compares to God. Nothing compares to God. Gonna change Sinead O'Connor's song to, Nothing Compares to God, right? Instead of nothing compares to you, nothing compares to God, right? That's a music reference for those who didn't get it. Okay, all right. Next, God is faithful. Even when Israel feels abandoned, God remains faithful. God is faithful to what? To his covenant. God is faithful to his covenant. Do they see God's faithfulness? They don't see it yet. They don't even feel like they're experiencing it. Same thing, God is faithful to us. But we may not always see it or experience it. Number three, human frailty versus divine strength. Well, this is what I would say. Well, we can just go with human frailty versus divine strength. Just know it this way. We are frail and God has to do what we cannot do. What could Judah not do? Free themselves. What can we not do? Save ourselves. God replaces our frailty with his strength in doing for us what we cannot do. That does not mean I get some supernatural power and practical circumstances the way it's preached. It's so, I guess, can you imagine how many sermons have been preached where people sit in church, they're going through a difficult time, they're struggling, they're waiting, this is happening, this is happening, this problem, someone is dying of cancer, their child's been hit by a drunk driver and is laying in the hospital, this is going on, they're struggling with work or finances or this, or their marriage is falling apart, and you're told by your pastor, wait on the Lord, and he will give you strength, and he's gonna help you through your problem. And then your problem gets worse and worse and worse. And then you feel guilty for not feeling the supposed strength that the pastor preached to you on Sunday. Because he's a stinking liar. That's not the promise. The promise was for them. To do something for them. And the promise can be applied to me, for God will do something for me, but it has nothing to do with what my problem is today. Because your problem today may not get any better. In fact, it could be terminal. I know that's not popular, but it's just very true. It doesn't always work that way. When I got the news that my mother was in the hospital, get there, I went to First Baptist Church, spent all night in prayer. She didn't make it. Well, but God gave you strength to get through it, did he? Because I just remember going down this highway, and I can take you out to the middle of nowhere where I lived, kneeling down, taking a gun, trying to kill myself. So obviously I didn't have any strength or power. I'd reached the end of myself. Now, was God's power still there? Well, the power in what way? I was still declared righteous even though my action would have demonstrated I was a great sinner who did not trust God. God would still have been faithful because salvation is not based on what I do or don't do or what Christ did. That part still existed even though, humanly speaking, you'd be like, you gave up on God. Now Christians can condemn me and say, I don't even think you were saved because no Christian would ever come to that point because Christians love to talk that way. But I could not perceive that. I wasn't thinking about eternity, I was thinking about the now. Because in the now, but in the now, when I'm weak, God's strength still remains. And God will still do what I can't do. He saves me based on what He did, not what I can do. He will put me in eternity, not based on what I can do, but based on what He can do. That's how we replace our weakness with His strength. I know that goes against every sermon you've ever heard, but I am sick of all the sermons I've heard on it because they lie to people. They give people false assurance that everything's gonna be better. Doesn't work that way. All right, that probably made me really popular. All right, that's okay. Right? Yeah, then AI gives me about a million questions to ask. All right, then here's the conclusion. Isaiah 40, 25 through 31 calls us to reject self-reliance, trust in God's wisdom, exchange our weakness for his strength. God's power is not only a cosmic, but deeply personal, offering hope and endurance for all who trust in him. If we understand that in the way which I have done so. AI guides me, but I'm gonna challenge that a little bit. Now, if I would challenge AI on it, it would have to admit, well, it doesn't work this way in a practical way. It works in a very philological way. It makes perfect sense. All right, any questions about 25 to 31? We just finished Isaiah 40. We did it. I had to rely on AI, even though I took it to a different direction. So what can we learn? Isaiah 40 are words of comfort given to people in Babylonian captivity. They're not directed towards us, so any direct application goes to whom? Judah. The applications we can pull to us, we have to do so in light of the text, being careful we don't insert ourselves into it. What can apply to us is, just as they needed comfort in their situation, we need comfort in ours. Their comfort was very practical, material, physical, that they were going to be delivered from their material, physical problem. We, our hope, is spiritual, that God will do for us spiritually, ultimately. Now, there will be a material part, that's when we get into eternity, but we can't be guaranteed any specific thing in our everyday life, other than what? Well, Christ died for me, his righteousness is imputed to my account, my sins are forgiven, I'm guaranteed eternity, nothing will separate me from the love of God, there will come a time, there'll be a new heaven, new earth, no more pain, no more suffering, and no more death. As long as I apply that, That way, then we don't do what? Give people false promises. And Christianity has spent 2,000 years giving people false promises. And what happens to many people is when they're young, new to the faith, they're bold. brash, make all kinds of ridiculous things like they know everything, even though they've only been really caring about their faith for about two years. You know what I'm saying? They say all kinds of ridiculous things. But guess what happens to many people? You've gone to church with them. And they come to a couple of conclusions. Either Christianity is false or I'm just not saved. It's not working for me. And then everyone else will sit there going, and point their little fingers and talk all judgmental and look, I don't know what's wrong with you. Well, just play your little, and you just get sick of Christians. Sometimes the worst part of Christianity are Christians. If we could just have Christianity without us, it would be great, wouldn't it? We could just keep us out of it. But it's typically younger people who talk the trash. And it's like, you just talk a big game. But sooner or later, life punches you in the face. And then you're like, well, wait a minute. I was promised this, and I was promised this, and I was promised that. Now, you can start pretending, and a lot of Christians do a good job pretending the rest of their life. But at some point, you almost want to look at them going, are you mentally ill? Because you are clearly describing something that doesn't actually exist in any tangible way. We can be realist, acknowledge reality, we just have to understand that the Bible works well in our reality if we understand the text correctly. All right, so can we, will God exchange our weakness for his power? Yes, if we understand it in the ways which I've outlined. Do we need to trust in God? Yes. Do we have to wait on God? Yes. Can we gain some sense of strength from that? And in which way? Well, that I know ultimately what? It will end a certain way. I can be guaranteed of how it's going to end. What can I not find strength in? On how it's going to work out here and now. I have no idea what's going to happen to you by the time this month is over. I have no idea what's going to happen to you in March. I have no idea what's going to happen to you in 2025. There will be tragedy, there will be pain, there will be good, there will be bad. For some people, it will be better than others. Others, it will get worse. and there's no hope of it getting better. I can't promise you it can't. If I point you to God's gonna make it better, I'm a liar. I'm hurting you, I'm not helping you. But I can say, new heaven, new earth, no more pain, no more suffering, no more death. And we can all say amen to that. All right, Lord God, we come before you this afternoon. Forgive us for the ways we've misinterpreted your scripture. Forgive us. Lord, help us understand this correctly. Lord, we fell so deeply in this section of scripture. We've messed up so many times. Just forgive us. May we read this differently. May we consider all the points that have been given, and may it have some practical implication on our lives. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Thank you very much.