The Prophetic Hope

Our reading is from Isaiah chapter 11, a prophetic oracle that we'll be looking at.

Isaiah 11 · chapter mention

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his root shall bear fruit,

and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord,

and his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear,

but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.

And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,

and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together, and a little child shall lead them.

The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together,

and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,

and the weaned child shall put his hands on the others then.

They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,

for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples,

of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time,

to recover the remnant that remains of his people,

from Assyria, from Egypt, from Paphros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath,

and from the coastlands of the sea.

He will raise a signal for the nations, and will assemble the banished of Israel,

and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart, and those who harass Judah shall be cut off.

Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.

But they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west,

and together they shall plunder the people of the east.

They shall put out their hands against Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites shall obey them.

And the Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt,

and will wave his hand over the river with his scorching breath,

and strike it into seven channels.

And he will lead people across in sandals.

And there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant that remains of his people,

as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.

Now, Watermark is a great church, but sometimes it feels a bit unusual,

because many people are wealthy and successful.

In many countries, and many times in history, the church looks very different.

It was made up of the poor, the marginalized, slaves, women,

who have always been a big part of the church.

Why? Because the Bible is about hope.

The Bible story is about hope, that God will make everything right.

But hope is only appealing for the hopeless, the desperate, those without power,

while those with a good life are often not very open.

Maybe some of you know that, because that's how you came to faith.

It was some kind of crisis.

Maybe you lost someone or something, and something happened,

and you faced hopelessness.

And that is when the gospel came to life.

Sometimes even on a national level, like the revival in Korea.

So, the church has grown so much,

but a lot of that had to do with the Japanese occupation,

and the Korean War.

And so today, as we're looking at the prophetic books of the Bible,

especially we'll look at hope,

because if you were here last week, Israel needed it.

And the story of the Bible is how God will make the world right.

It was perfect, but then we sinned,

and everything fell apart.

But God made promises to Israel,

and slowly over the past few weeks,

which, well, we covered hundreds of years,

they were almost there.

They almost reached the fulfillment under Solomon.

It was so wonderful.

But then, as we heard last week,

Solomon sinned, and everything fell apart.

His kingdom split in two.

And then 200 years later,

the north went into exile by the Assyrians,

and then 130 years later,

the south went into exile by the Babylonians.

And you can imagine the hopelessness of the people.

We were so close,

but now everything's falling apart.

God, what are you doing?

God, what is happening?

Most people are gone,

and a lot are dead,

and the rest are now slaves in a foreign country.

It was the greatest crisis the people had ever faced,

and they needed to hear from God.

And that is what God did.

He spoke to them.

He sent prophets.

Now, before we look at them,

just a little introduction,

so we know about prophets and how to read them.

First, today we're going into a very different section of the Bible.

So far, we've mainly looked just at the history,

and the first few books of the Bible

is basically one continuous history,

all the way from Genesis to Nehemiah.

But today, we're not looking at history.

We're looking at the prophets.

And we divide the Old Testament usually into four sections,

the law, history, wisdom, and prophets.

But it's not like this came after the history.

Actually, it came at the same time.

It's not sequential.

It's the same time as, yeah, like two kings, basically.

These incredibly significant events we talked about,

the exile of Israel,

the exile of Judah,

and then 70 years later,

they returned to the land.

And these were major disasters

when people needed God's words.

And so the prophets,

they span about 300 years,

maybe from 740 BC Amos

to 440 BC Malachi,

something like that.

At the same time,

it is a new stage in God's plan.

That's why we're talking about it.

Not just in one book,

but across all the prophets,

God reveals a new stage of his plan.

And so, yeah, today,

in a way, I'm covering about 25% of the Old Testament.

It's quite a lot.

So we will look at multiple books.

But what do prophets do?

In some way, they're heralds.

They're spokesmen from God, right?

They say,

Thus says the Lord,

and this is God's message.

But what do they say?

Often people think prophets,

they foretell the future.

They predict the future.

I mean, they talk about future events,

but that's not really what they are doing.

What do prophets do?

They explain the covenant.

Some people call them covenant watchdogs,

or covenant enforcement mediators,

or something like that.

But to do with the covenant,

they remind people of the covenant.

People are struggling.

What is happening?

And they say,

Well, remember the law of Moses.

Remember the covenant.

So, you know,

there's an Assyrian army outside Jerusalem,

and the people are wondering

what's going to happen.

And, well, the prophets,

they say,

Well, you've broken the covenant.

God should be at the center of your life.

And if you don't do that,

you face his curse.

And, well, you've been worshipping idols.

You've broken the covenant.

That's why there's Assyrians.

And if you don't repent,

they are going to destroy the city

and take all your stuff.

That's basically what they say.

So, it's not like they've had a vision of the future.

They're just explaining the covenant

in very creative ways.

But that's basically what they do.

I mean, silly illustration.

What happens if I let something go?

If I hold it and I let go,

well, you probably will tell me,

well, it's going to fall to the ground.

Now, have you just predicted the future?

Well, yeah, you have.

But that's not really what you do, right?

You haven't had a vision of that thing falling.

It's just you're explaining gravity.

What prophets, they do,

they explain the covenant.

They explain God's word

and apply it to their situation.

Which I think is interesting for the New Testament, right?

The gift of prophecy

is that about foretelling the future?

Or is it more about applying God's words?

We will not go there now.

But basically, they provide commentary

on what is happening.

Which is why it's good to know the history.

Because you can read the prophets in context.

And what is the main thing they're saying?

And they explain the covenant.

Well, what is the current situation?

As you've heard last week,

Israel was sinning.

They were turning away.

They were worshipping idols.

And so generally,

they just announce judgment.

And things are falling apart.

And the prophets say,

well, it's getting worse.

You're getting judged.

Sin has consequences.

And you've rejected God.

And so you face judgment.

Now, it depends a little bit

on when the prophets spoke.

Especially as they are approaching the exile.

Lots of sin and judgment.

So Jeremiah or Ezekiel,

the first half of the book,

is just hopeless judgment.

While, for example,

after they're back from exile,

it's slightly different.

But I'm not going to go into the judgment.

Because it doesn't really develop the story.

No, the prophets also remind the people

of other covenants.

Particularly the one with David.

As they are facing disaster and judgment,

the prophets remind them,

well, hey, God promised

that you would dwell in the land.

That you would have peace forever.

Under a king from David's family.

And so, most oracles,

they have to deal with David's family.

And that's what you see even in what we read.

Isaiah 1.

So Isaiah 11, verse 1.

Isaiah 11:1

There shall come forth a shoot

from the stump of Jesse.

It's how it started.

Now, Jesse was David's father.

So someone from David's family.

Right?

And almost every prophet does that.

They link the future to the Davidic king.

And yet it's not the same.

Yet God starts to reveal his full plan.

It's like there's a room

and it's been a bit dim

and we can't really see it.

And now God turns on the light

and he shows the full extent of his plan.

That's why the prophets are part of this storyline.

Unlike, for example, the wisdom literature.

Right?

Because slowly God is now going to build up

a picture of the full scale of what he's doing.

And I'm going to cover it quite comprehensively.

A lot of detail.

Not because this is a lecture.

But just seeing the scale of God's plan

is mind-blowing.

Breathtaking.

Right?

And the detail makes that out.

I mean, if you...

Someone says,

Okay, I've got a new phone.

It's the best phone ever.

How do you work that out?

Well, you look at the specs

and one by one,

Oh yeah, this really is the best phone ever.

And I think the prophets,

they say three big things.

There's the what,

the how,

and the who

of God's plan.

Okay.

So first the what.

And that is a full reversal

of the full.

God is doing a full reversal

of the full.

He said before

he will restore the kingdom.

But now it's explicit

we're going all the way

to the Garden of Eden

and further.

I mean, let's build up a picture.

First, of course,

I mean, the people are in exile,

so they need rescue.

So there's a return

from exile promised.

So in Isaiah 11,

Isaiah 11:11

verse 11,

In that day,

the Lord will extend his hand

yet a second time

to recover the remnant

that remains of his people

from Assyria,

from Egypt,

from Baphros,

from Cush, etc.

Verse 12,

He will raise a signal

for the nations

and will assemble

the banished of Israel.

And so he will bring

the people back.

And it's like

a second exodus,

right?

You heard a second time.

Look at verse 16.

And there will be

a highway from Assyria

for the remnant

that remains of his people

as there was for Israel

when they came up

from the land of Egypt.

So, yeah,

there's a return from exile

which is like

another exodus

with a big rescue

by God.

But this one

is so much bigger.

You remember

back then

they walked

through the Red Sea,

right?

God blew winds

and there was

this path

through the sea.

But now look

at verse 15.

And the Lord

will utterly destroy

the tongue

of the sea of Egypt

and will wave

his hands

over the river

with his scorching breath.

It's like

God will just,

he will just dry

up the Red Sea

completely.

This is like

a complete

final rescue

to bring them

back to the land.

So it's much bigger.

Peace, right?

Their big promise

was that they would

have peace

and no more disturbing.

Which is why

a lot of the prophets,

they have judgments

against foreign nations

that their enemies

are gone, right?

The main problem

for them was often

these other nations

that attacked them.

And so,

if God says

I'm going to get rid

of all the foreign nations,

that's in a way

wonderful, right?

It's safety.

And yet,

this peace

is so much greater.

I mean,

look at verse 6.

It's,

you know,

the wolf shall dwell

with the lamb

and the leopard

shall lie down

with the young goat

and the calf

and the lion

and the fattened calf

together

and a little child

shall lead them.

Right?

This is not just

foreign armies.

This is animals

have peace.

Right?

And, you know,

wolves and leopards,

they don't make

political alliances,

right?

They don't sign

peace treaties.

They,

you know,

they're naturally

predators.

And yet,

they're going to be

fully transformed.

So,

it's really like

the Garden of Eden.

Verse 9.

They shall not hurt

or destroy

in all my holy mountain

for the earth

shall be full

of the knowledge

of the Lord

as the waters

cover the sea.

It's going to be

a complete transformation.

The whole world

will know God

and no one

will fight anymore,

not even animals.

Isaiah,

he talks elsewhere

about a new creation.

I create new heavens

and a new earth.

So,

this is a worldwide

transformation.

It's not just,

yeah,

sometimes people

ping the prophets,

they talk about

a physical return

of Israel

as a nation,

but this is far

greater,

actually,

if you read it,

right?

It's a new creation.

And, of course,

there's blessing

like never before.

The mountains

will drip sweet wine

and the hills

will flow with milk

and the sower

will overtake the reaper.

There's so much harvest

that, yeah,

they're still reaping

but in the sowing time again.

One of the most amazing things

is that there's going to be

no more death.

I mean,

that was always

the ultimate curse,

right?

How did Genesis 2 start?

Well,

if you sin,

the day you eat of it,

you will die.

Death is always

the ultimate thing

and even under Solomon,

the people still died,

right?

But look at Isaiah 25,

6 to 8,

it's in the bulletin.

Isaiah 25,

look at what God promises here.

Isaiah 25, verse 6,

Isaiah 25:6

On this mountain

the Lord of hosts

will make for all peoples

a feast of rich food,

a feast of well-aged wine,

of rich food full of marrow,

of aged wine well refined.

It's not a poor existence,

right?

An incredible wedding banquet.

But then verse 7,

And he will swallow up

on this mountain

the covering that is cast

over all peoples,

the veil that is spread

over all nations.

He will swallow up death

forever.

And the Lord God

will wipe away tears

from all faces,

right?

People will live,

there will be no more death.

People will live forever.

And not just that people

won't die anymore.

26, 19, Isaiah,

it says,

Your dead shall live,

their bodies shall rise.

You who dwell in it,

dust awake.

So even people

who are currently dead

will come back to life.

Right?

That is what God is saying.

So it's really

a full reversal

of the fall.

A new creation.

No more death.

A full,

complete,

final rescue.

all the consequences

are solved.

So, you know,

their promises,

yeah,

it goes up and up and up

again beyond

the Garden of Eden.

And again,

that's so much grace,

right?

I mean,

who is this spoken to?

People in exile

for their idolatry

and sins.

People who deserve nothing

and God promises

them everything.

How would you feel,

right?

No more,

yeah,

transformed world.

No more death.

No more losing loved ones.

In fact,

your loved ones

are going to come back

from the dead.

This is such a wonderful thing.

At the same time,

it can feel so big

that it's kind of

hard to believe.

Right?

Israel is not doing well.

Everything's falling apart.

And then,

yeah,

not just everything,

God's plan seems to be

falling apart,

right?

God's kingdom.

And now God is saying

he's going to do

something so big.

I mean,

it's like,

it's completely the opposite

of their experience.

You know,

it's quite hard to believe,

right?

Remember,

two weeks ago,

I said,

yeah,

it's like a scale model

of a big building

to give you a preview.

But imagine someone

shows you a scale model

and it's falling apart,

right?

It's wobbly

and then it crashes

and then they tell you,

yeah,

please invest in the big thing

I'm doing.

You wouldn't have any confidence.

How can God do this

when his current plan

seems to not work?

What will guarantee it?

And that is the how.

It's because sin

will be fully dealt with.

Yeah,

the second big thing

God reveals,

yeah,

it goes together.

Sin will be fully solved.

The cause of the fall.

And if the cause

is fully solved,

so can the consequences be.

And it's really comprehensive.

First of all,

there will be a perfect

divine king.

We've seen already,

it is a king

who's going to help with sin.

Except that so far,

yeah,

all the kings have failed

because they were human

and they are sinful themselves.

But look at this king,

this shoot from the stump of Jesse.

Isaiah 11 verse 2.

Isaiah 11:2

And the spirit of the Lord

shall rest upon him,

the spirit of wisdom

and understanding,

the spirit of counsel

and might,

the spirit of knowledge

and the fear of the Lord.

And his delight

shall be in the fear

of the Lord.

He shall not judge

by what his eyes see

or decide disputes

by what his ears hear,

but with righteousness

he shall judge the poor.

Yeah?

So here's a king

who has wisdom

from the Holy Spirit

that no human king

has ever had.

And so he can rule perfectly.

He will bring perfect justice.

Right?

This oracle is linked

with Isaiah 9

which we always read

with Christmas.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor,

Mighty God,

Everlasting Father,

Prince of Peace.

Basically,

God himself will be the king.

Alright?

There's no good human king

and so God says,

I will be the king.

God is perfect in power

and love

and justice

and everlasting.

And so,

he is the perfect king.

He can deal with sin.

But not just the king.

There will be a new covenant.

That's also in Isaiah

but the most famous passage

is in Jeremiah 31.

So Jeremiah 31,

Jeremiah 31:31

verse 31.

Behold,

the days are coming,

declares the Lord,

when I will make

a new covenant

with the house of Israel

and the house of Judah.

Not like the covenant

that I made

with their fathers

on the day

when I took them

by the hand

to bring them out

to the land of Egypt.

So a new covenant

different from the one

when I came out of Egypt.

My covenant

that they broke

though I was their husband,

declares the Lord.

What was the problem

with the old covenant?

It could be broken

and they broke it.

I mean,

that's why the people

are in exile.

So the problem is

they have a covenant

that's conditional,

that involves law keeping

and that's the problem.

So instead,

this is the covenant

I will make.

I will put my law

within them

and write it on their hearts.

I will be their God.

They shall meet my people.

They will all know me

for I will forgive

their iniquity

and I will remember

their sin no more.

And here is a new covenant

based on forgiveness

where God will no longer

act on sin.

Right?

And that's so wonderful

because sin was the problem.

Right?

But the covenant,

well the covenant was good

but it was a problem

for sinners

because it brought judgment.

But that will be different.

It's like

when you have a job

you can be on probation

and after your probation

you're on a permanent contract.

And so in theory

you then shouldn't

get fired anymore.

Except,

of course,

you still get fired.

But you know what I mean,

right?

On probation

versus permanent.

And that's so great

because when you're on probation

you need to perform

and if you don't perform

you will lose the job.

And so a permanent contract

is wonderful news.

But that's what God is offering.

I'm going to make

a permanent contract

with these people.

The only thing is

normally you get

a permanent contract

because you've been good.

and now God says

well I'm giving you

a permanent contract

because you've been terrible

and I don't want to have

to fire you again

and that's why you're getting

a permanent contract.

It's grace.

It's wonderful.

But yeah,

the judgment will be dealt with

because there's no more

law keeping

with punishment.

But how will they have

the law on their hearts

so deep inside?

Well they will have

new hearts

by the Spirit.

That's a big thing

in Ezekiel 36

Ezekiel 36:26

verse 26.

The problem

as we saw

the past weeks

is our heart.

The human heart

is just full of idols

and sin

so we need new hearts

and that's what God says.

Ezekiel 36 26

And I will give you

a new heart

and a new spirit

I will put within you

and I will remove

the heart of stone

from your flesh

and give you

a heart of flesh

and I will put

my spirit within you

and cause you

to walk in my statutes

and be careful

to obey my rules.

He's going to give them

a new heart

by putting the spirit

inside them.

To be honest

this is quite humbling

right?

God has to

you know

how sinful

are we really?

Well the only

way that God

can think of

to stop us sinning

is that he comes

and lives inside us

and forces us

to obey him.

That's basically

what God is saying.

That's how sinful

we are.

Sin runs so deep

God has to come

and live inside you

to make you stop sinning.

That's how bad things are

but wonderfully

that's what he promises

he's going to give

the spirit

and so

not only will we have

an unbreakable covenant

by the spirit

people will no longer

sin.

Right?

So it is really

everything about sin

is going to be dealt with.

There's going to be

a perfect sacrifice

all through the Old Testament

there's sacrifices

they make atonement

and so there's going to be

a perfect sacrifice

Isaiah 53

I'm not going to go into it

because the next three weeks

as we approach the cross

we're going to look at that

but yeah

a perfect sacrifice

and for completion

Satan will be destroyed.

Right?

That's how things went wrong

in Genesis 3

remember Satan

tempting

did you remember Job

from last year

and Leviathan

well Isaiah 27

God says

he will punish Leviathan

he will slay the dragon

in the sea

right?

He will

deal with Satan

but you get the picture

right?

God will completely

and fully

deal with sin

the thing that

has always

got in the way

will be

sorted

and the thing is

God himself

will do it

no more human kings

he will be the king

no more us

fighting sin

he will be inside us

fighting sin

right?

no more our obedience

he will meet the demands

everything is God

doing it

by his grace

you know so far

we couldn't make

the world right

God said

I'll make the world right

as long as you

obey me

and we can't even do that

so God says

I will just do everything

I'll deal with the consequences

and the cause

I'll do it all

and isn't that

what we need

so much

right?

such good news

for Judah

suffering in exile

never again

will sin be a problem

that's so wonderful

so amazing

the only question is

well

for whom

if God does everything

and we nothing

well

who is it for

what qualifies you

and that is

I think

the third thing

that the prophets

talk about

the third big change

who is it for

well

partly

everyone

everyone

it's kind of

what you expect

right

I mean

if God's going to

make the whole world

right

it should be for

the whole world

right

you can't make

a new creation

in a little corner

it should involve

the whole world

and it does

it's not just Judah

first of all

the northern kingdom

is going to come back

and we saw that

in Isaiah

because

Ephraim

is another name

for the northern kingdom

and it says

Ephraim shall not

be jealous of Judah

and Judah shall not

harass Ephraim

they shall swoop

down on the

shoulder of the

Philistines in the west

and together

they shall plunder

the people of the east

so

north and south

are going to be

back together

again

and that was the

first

start of the downfall

when the kingdom split

and that's going to be

undone

north and south

will be back together

but also the nations

coming in

it's in Isaiah 11

but

you heard it especially

in Isaiah 25

right

who is this banquet

for?

for all peoples

and

death will be swallowed up

well

the veil that is cast

over all nations

right

it's for all nations

for Jews

and Gentiles

it was always the plan

back with Abraham

but in the prophets

it becomes very clear

they are fully included

they're not just

on the side

watching him

they're fully included

which is why

our church is here

right

because

I don't think

any of us

are Jews

we're all Gentiles

and yet

we're fully included

in God's people

so in some way

it's everyone

but

does it mean

everyone is just saved?

every human being ever?

no

actually

there is a change

especially

you see that

with Judah

because so far

God has dealt

with

the nation

right

they came out of Egypt

as a nation

they were blessed

under Solomon

as a nation

they went to the exile

as a nation

but in the prophets

God makes clear

I'm going to do it differently

I'm going to deal

with individuals

there's going to be

a division

you don't wonder

well

who are the people

God will save

and you might expect

him to say

well it's the most

righteous people

right

everyone who meets

the standard

but

yeah

you've seen the history

of Israel

there are no

righteous people

instead

it's everyone

who is repentant

everyone who is repentant

just listen to

what

God's people say

in Isaiah 64

starting at verse 5

you meet him

who joyfully

works righteousness

those who remember

you in your ways

behold

you were angry

and we sinned

in our sins

we have been a long time

and shall we be saved

we have all become

like one who is unclean

and all our righteous deeds

are like a polluted garment

we all fade like a leaf

and our iniquities

like the wind

take us away

verse 8

but now oh lord

you are our father

we are the clay

and you are our potter

we are all the work

of your hand

be not so terribly angry

oh lord

and remember not

iniquity forever

behold please look

we are all your people

yeah

you can hear it

they're not Pharisees

they are humble

and contrite

they know they've sinned

they know they don't

deserve anything

but they

they just appeal

to God's mercy

and that's the kind

of people that

God says

yeah these are the people

I esteem

the people I welcome

on the other hand

there's other people

and they

they continue to refuse

God

so next chapter

Isaiah 65

Isaiah 65:2

verse 2

I spread out my hands

all the day

to a rebellious people

who walk in a way

that is not good

following their own devices

a people who provoke me

to my face continually

sacrificing in gardens

and making offerings

on bricks

who eat pigs

flesh

verse 5

who say

keep to yourself

do not come near me

for I am too holy

for you

these are the smoke

in my nostrils

a fire that burns

all the day

and they're gonna get

judged

even worse judgment

than the exile

people who have

no interest in God

people who

continue to ignore him

and live their own way

so there's two groups

of sinners basically

but the difference

is repentance

one group repents

and they're accepted

and rescued

another group

keeps rejecting God

and they won't share

in the hope

which kind of makes sense

right

because we've seen

God will take care

of our sin

drastically

but it's only those

who know

they need that

who get it

but those who don't want

God to do it

either out of pride

or rebellion

they're not gonna benefit

right

so that's kind of

yeah

that's the third big change

so yeah

I altogether

I hope you see

these three big things

and they're

a massive change

right

a full reversal

of the fall

sin will be fully dealt

with

for everyone

who repents

now what do we do

with this

for I guess

it's all clear

right

I hope you recognize

this is the gospel

this is basically

the good news

of Jesus

that God saves us

from our sin

and we just need

to repent

that's basically

right

this is just exactly

the gospel

I mean I hope

today has really

just warmed your heart

seeing how much

God promises

how complete

is his solution

to sin

so amazing

such good news

right

everything is taken

care of

law

sin

judgment

Satan

everything is taken

care of

right

we often just think

gospel is just

Jesus died for my sins

but I hope you see

the gospel is far

greater

far more comprehensive

than that

and so this is really

really going to work

right

it's worth giving

your whole life to

and also I hope

it gives you

confidence

right

the bible is really

one book

the gospel is not

just in the new

testament

it's not just new

when Jesus comes

it's announced

in the old testament

when Peter and Paul

when they went around

preaching

they preached

from the prophets

to be honest

I think the new

testament adds

very little

that you can't

just find in the

prophets already

it's all here

and so

yeah

the whole

the prophets

are all about

the gospel

and actually

not just

the prophets

right

I hope in a way

you see

how everything

before the prophets

was just preparation

now last week

we covered

400 years of history

of Israel suffering

under the law

and ending up

in exile

but I hope you see

well they needed that

right

because hope

as we started

hope is for the hopeless

and so God

in a way

he got them to realize

their hopelessness

he made them realize

their sin

that they couldn't solve it

that's why

they were in that situation

so that they would

see their need

for Jesus

their need for God

to do it

just as he often does

for us

he brings us

to the end of ourselves

so that we turn to him

so it's a very simple

question for us

right

what is our hope

in us

and our efforts

I hope you will see

that fails

right

Israel tried

to save themselves

for 900 years

and they couldn't

we can't save ourselves

and God says

I'll do it

for you

I will take care

of everything

you just need to

admit your needs

your sin

I want to rescue you

it's like when you're

drowning

and God says

here take my hand

right

the right thing

to do is to grab

that hand

so God will pull you out

if you refuse

to grab the hand

because you are not

interested in being saved

or because you think

you can save yourself

yeah you will not be

rescued

you need to grab

God's hand

so will we do that

right

as we have this

great hope

will we confess

our sin

will we turn away

from ourselves

to God

will we say

please only you

can save us

and let him

do everything

because that is

how we should

respond

that is the people

God esteems

people who know

yeah they don't

deserve it

who know they

can't save themselves

that's how we

respond to the

wonderful work of

God

to the gospel

why don't we pray

father thank you

so much for

the incredible

love

seen here

and your great

promises

this new covenant

with everything

taken care of

a full reversal

of the fall

with sin

fully dealt

with

father help us

to want that

help us to know

we need it

and to know

that we need you

to do it

help us to turn

away from ourselves

turn away from

other things

to seek our only

hope

in you

to keep

holding on to you

to keep trusting you

to keep confessing

our sins

and holding on to you

because only you

can save

if we see this so

clearly

please

you know

our hearts are

deceptive

please keep

transforming us

please keeping us

close

that we might

walk with you

and live for you

in this great city

showing that

you are

the only savior

in Jesus name

we pray

amen

расск

you

you

you