Isaiah
Isaiah 57 vs 1-21
May 1, 2024 • Pastor Matt Korniotes • Isaiah 57
Isaiah Chapter 57 Verses 1 – 2 · “The righteous perishes, and no man takes it to heart.” Good thing Numbers 23:19 tells us that God is not a man… The righteous perishes and the merciful men are forsaken but nothing is lost on God. The rest of the righteous doesn’t, (can’t), come from this world. That doesn’t even make sense. The satisfaction of the saint can only come from the Spirit. · So as the things of this world continue to be unfair, difficult, frustrating and wearisome, its ok… You don’t go to Subway for a steak. They don’t serve that there. The world is going to do what the world is going to do. People are going to live for themselves. Call things that are evil, good. The world is going to harm you and call it right and fair… All of those things do much less damage if you expect them! · Verse 2 speaks of peace, rest, and uprightness. Uprightness in this world gets you contentions, debates and cycles of swirl! Verse 2 possibly speaks of death as well in the way this is worded and if that is so then we have a verse that reconciles how it is that the Bible speaks of death in certain places as “sleep.” Notice verse 2 says that entering into peace they shall rest in their beds…, and walk in uprightness! Yes, the Bible speaks of death as sleep, yes, the Bible speaks of the dead entering into their graves, and yes, the Bible speaks of the body doing all of those things while the Spirit walks with God! Isaiah Chapter 57 Verses 3 – 10 · This is quite the indictment against those who have essentially harmed the righteous. And the key central verse and theme of the indictment is verse 7. On a lofty and high mountain, you have set your bed. In other words, you have lifted, elevated, promoted yourself in your own heart and life and that truly is the downfall of everything… · Pride is the absolute worst disease of the spirit in all of creation. And rather than define what pride is, it’s far more-clear to say what it is not. It is not a spirit of service and responsibility towards God and others. It is a spirit of service and responsibility towards self… The refusal to submit yourself to others and to God. That is pride and that becomes your god. You cannot serve God and dabble in pride… · There you went up to offer sacrifice…, where? On the high hill you set up for yourself. Pride cannot be tolerated because it quickly becomes your god. It’s like a drug. A secret sin. There is no dabbling. You touch it and it takes over. Pride is the satanic supplement in the nature of created man that causes every kind of evil and torment… And it’s so extremely dangerous, you stay entirely clear of it as much as possible, because every one of us loves it (in our flesh)… · The only cure for it is to not fight it but to overcome it. If you fight pride, in a way, that itself is prideful. You must ignore it, release it, like the itch of a mosquito bite…, the moment you scratch it, it gets worse. So, the only cure for pride is humility… To cheerfully and joyfully submit myself to God and to others… Proverbs 16:19 says, “Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.” Isaiah Chapter 57 Verses 11 – 12 · That’s quite the challenge from God that is so healthy! All of your works and righteousness, you doing what you think is right…, what has gotten it you? Where has it gotten you? I am confident that there is no one in this room that would go to work tomorrow for free…, or better yet, what if you had to pay your employer tomorrow to go to work!? Your life delivers what you have invested. It’s as simple as that and the will and want of God is for our good, for our profit! · Perhaps not in terms of money or resources, but I’m also not necessarily saying not! The point is that our life and who we are will be a direct result of the wise investments we make or the unwise investments we make in terms of who’s righteousness we employ. Ours, or Gods! · And this word for profit in the Hebrew (I can’t make this up) its “yaal!” Literally pronounced “yaw-al!” HA! God’s like, “YALL! Come and buy without money and be greatly satisfied!!” You want to work for no profit that’s on you, but for me, profitlessness is one of my personal enemies! · Do you know what is profitable? Love. Kindness. Giving someone the benefit of the doubt. Serving the Lord. Doing for others what you can do for them. Treating others not how you want to be treated but how they need you to treat them. Playing the long game. Being willing to suffer and sacrifice for some sort of desired goal or outcome… Trusting the Lord is profitable even when I can’t see the end… Isaiah Chapter 57 Verse 13 · How about we trust the Lord and then when I cry out to the Lord, I call out in hope knowing He will deliver me because it is in Him I have put my trust. Not my mental trust, like my literal action-oriented God trusting decisions… That vibe is totally different than what we just read when we call out to Him in our moment of trouble! Isaiah Chapter 57 Verses 14 – 15 · God is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. The Creator of all things. Perfect, holy, just and all mighty. And He makes His company only with those that are contrite and humble in spirit. Humble we get. Maybe… · Humility is not considering self-less than others, it’s just simply considering self-less. What’s important to God is important to you and anything that challenges that is muted and starved. Hated and hunted in your heart of hearts. That’s humility. But God also uses the characterization of contrite. Contrite gives an essence of guilt. Of remorse. Of sorry. That we know we have fallen short, we know we are saved and accepted by grace, AND we are still sorry. Let me give you another word for contrite. Accountable… · Here are two things that are at the tip top of the list of short order in the world and in the church. Accountability and humility. Many are called, few are chosen. Why? This. God makes His place with the humble and the contrite. Not the humble alone. The humble and the contrite… These He revives! Isaiah Chapter 57 Verses 16 – 18 · These verses are difficult and seem out of place. God could perhaps be talking about one who strays or He could be talking about the nation of Israel as a whole. Either interpretation is acceptable. Isaiah Chapter 57 Verses 19 – 21 · There is no peace for the wicked. Always searching, always grasping, never arriving…, going from thing to thing, person to person, problem to problem, relationship to relationship and like a self-fulfilling prophecy, always somehow turning out the same. Like a troubled sea… It’s an indictment yes, but its also an offering that the peace of God is held out and offered to anyone and everyone… · Peace is far more than the end of war. The word means completeness. Settled on the inside. Sound in heart and mind. Safe. Content. The word even means a friend. It is a return to the closest state of original creation… THAT is profit!
Isaiah Chapter 56 Verses 1-12
April 24, 2024 • Pastor Matt Korniotes • Isaiah 56
Isaiah Chapter 56 Verses 1 – 2 · These opening verses of this chapter are really a call to faith. We, (maybe its just me (definitely me)), take the position of once things go a certain way, look a certain way, once she or he acts a certain way, then I will do what I am supposed to do. And that entirely understandable rational perspective keeps me and keeps you from being irrationally blessed by God at times! · Matthew 13:58 says, “He did not do many mighty works there (Nazareth) because of their unbelief.” This is a mysterious statement but we know that, “without faith (Hebrews 11:6) it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” · What’s my whole point? If I wait until I see the reward of the Lord to be faithful on my part then I’m not being faithful at all…, I’m just reacting. And part of God’s work in my life is to teach me to trust Him even when I am not able to see what He is planning or doing! And this is where the MIGHTY works of God truly originate from in my life. · Did you catch that in the verse in Matthew we just read? It’s not that God won’t work in your life if your faith is lackluster…, of course He will! God loves me and God loves you with a perfect, covenant, unconditional love through Jesus Christ…, BUT…, AND…, God’s MIGHTY works, which I entirely want in my life, come from and through me being not just a follower or a believer but a disciple. Disciplining my own heart and mind to do exactly what we just read in Isaiah 56! · Keep justice. Watch for it, look out for it, be ready and charged up to be a just and a good man…, and do righteousness! That word in the Hebrew is actually judgement…, do what is ordered in heaven, proper in the presence of the perfect…, and its then this incredible promise by God, “My salvation is about to come and My righteousness is about to be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this and the son of man who lays hold on it…!” · So, we cry out God bless me, God provide for me, God deliver me, God use me, God show me…, and in a way faith answers back, “You first!” Because the question is, what am I going to do if God does none of those things…? And this is really the crux of the matter. If God does nothing more than what He has already done for me through Christ, is it enough? These are those that love the Lord. Not for what He gives them but for who He is and what has already been given. These are the thankful, these are the hopeful, these are the faithful… · And we are going to see Isaiah talk about those who keep from defiling the Sabbath… Keeping the Sabbath was commanded to the Jews as a perpetual commandment. Exodus chapter 31 verses 16–17, “Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.” · This is a hot topic of discussion still within many groups and churches today. Should we keep the Sabbath as defined and described in the Old Testament because it is a perpetual commandment? The answer biblically is yes and it is no… · Exodus 31:16-17 cannot be more specific that it is specifically for the children of Israel. Is the church the children of Israel? No. We are the children of God. Number one. Second, the Sabbath is a sign between God and the children of Israel forever. Again, not the church. That’s enough for me personally but obviously because of all of the emotion around this topic it requires more investigation. · Something happened when Jesus came, died on the cross for the sins of the world, rose from the grave three days later, ascended to the Father and deployed the Holy Spirit into the hearts of humans. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.” It’s not that the law expired, or that the Old Covenant was thrown out…, it was satisfied completely, all of the law, all of the prophets, fully completed, established and settled in the Person and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. · We read in Hebrews 8:13, “In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” Why? The law was there to require obedience. The New Covenant is now in place to fully reveal something far more powerful than obedience… LOVE. As we read in Galatians 5 of the fruits of the Spirit being love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law! Why? It’s stronger than any LAW! · So, the rest commanded of the Sabbath is fully satisfied, wrapped up, obedience fulfilled and even original purpose revealed in Jesus Christ. To sabbath means to cease from work… Hebrews Chapter 4 is the definitive chapter to explain that the Sabbath commandment of the Old Testament was a foreshadowing of the rest we are to enter into in the Person of Jesus Christ through the New Covenant. What is the Sabbath? Not what…, who! Jesus Himself is the sabbath of all men… So, there’s the doctrine… · AND, do whatever you want! There are folks out there so hung up on things like Sabbath, and communion, and baptism and circumcision and rejecting Easter and recognizing Passover… Check this out, this might blow your mind… · Colossians 2:8-23, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God. Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.” · OH MAN. So, what does that mean!? YOU DO YOU unto the Lord and I will do ME unto the Lord! If I feel a strong conviction to recognize the Sabbath then that’s totally fine… maybe that’s what the Lord wants ME to do. AND my conviction is MINE. I will never tell you to have my conviction and likewise. The only thing we ought to persuade people towards is growing closer to Jesus. You may disagree with me but my agreement is not with you, it is with the Word of God… Isaiah Chapter 56 Verses 3 – 7 · Notice the personal reward for the personal obedience. To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths…, not to the eunuchs who ensure everyone around them keeps the sabbath… exactly what is repeated in verse 6…. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t teach, rebuke, exhort and correct. Obviously, we should, but the desire of our heart should not be first to ensure others are doing what we think they should be doing but rather ourselves. Are we ourselves walking in what God has revealed and asked of us personally? So entirely completely eternally more important!! Isaiah Chapter 56 Verses 7 – 8 · The house of the Lord, and this would have been shocking for the Israelite to read, shall be called a house of prayer for ALL nations! What do we see as we survey the religious scene today? You can’t take communion unless you are a part of our church. You can’t worship here unless you have converted to Judaism, Islam, on and on. When the house of the Lord ought to be a place where anyone is welcome to come in and pray…, meet God one on one… Isaiah Chapter 56 Verses 9 – 12 · The final verses are a call to get right personally. Peter was rebuked by Jesus because Peter was mindful of the things of men and not of God. Had nothing to do with anyone else but Peter himself… And so, as we set to seek after the Lord ourselves, He straightens everything out in terms of how we are to be in the world and towards others…
Isaiah 55 vs 8-13
April 17, 2024 • Pastor Matt Korniotes • Isaiah 55:8–13
Isaiah Chapter 55 Verses 8 – 9 · I am SO glad for these verses! Sometimes I surprise myself with how hair-brained I am and I don’t even have any hair! I love the fact that, (and it causes me such personal inner stabilization to know that), God has got things figured out! He sees what I do not see. AND, (this is awesome), He really cares about and for me. Which means, He is my Protector. My Guardian. Are there guardian angels? Sure, I can get there biblically, but here's what I know…, I have a guardian God! My Father who loves me, He protects me. He takes care of me… And/But, in His way…, not mine, and His way is higher… · There are two elements of “higher” that I need to deal with. One, the universe does not revolve around me. I wish it did, most of the time I live like it does, but it does not. And so, if God’s plan for my life doesn’t include me being the center of the universe, then I have to come to grips with perhaps what happens in my life may not be ideal for me personally but it is best for something greater than myself…, like others. AND, God’s glory is a much much higher cause than my comfortability… And I have to come to grips with that. · However, with that being said, I trust the Lord… And this life is just the beginning of what God has for me. Mark 10:29-30 says, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is not one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time – houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions – and in the age to come, eternal life.” · The point is that perhaps the higher way may not include my worldly, immediate, current personal benefit but nothing is lost on God. In fact, the word for “higher” in the Hebrew speaks of pride like God is saying He is in Himself proud of how He will take care of me as I trust in Him… · So, this calls me to set aside earthly rationale, experiential education, even feelings and emotions and take up a willingness to play the long game and sacrifice the moment for the righteous result…, to not be penny wise and pound foolish…, but to trust the Lord because He is intensely greater! AND, no matter what it means for me personally, the Word of God will always come to pass… This is why God’s word is SO profitable as we read in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness!” · I also love this because it is a pure confrontation to the pride of people. That if I just faith-this-up then God will do what I want or if I just name this then I can claim it or if I just declare it then God will deliver it! But God’s ways and thoughts are higher! And He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to Ephesians 3:20… So no, it’s not about what I would do or how I am approaching or thinking about a situation…, it’s about submitting to the One who is eternally greater than me! It’s sobering and yet its also entirely freeing to realize that my faith, my religion, my life, my exactly everything is not actually about ME! · Yes, I feel, yes, I deduce, yes, I comprehend, yes, I exist, and yet because of the fact and reality of God, I must decrease and He must increase! AND, God’s ways and thoughts are not like mine!? And that is a good thing… Because when you live long enough you begin to see that your ways and thoughts are sorely lacking! Isaiah Chapter 55 Verses 10 – 11 · I love this! Learn the word or not… Submit myself to the superiority of Jesus Christ or not… the word will still be fully fulfilled in my life and in yours! Just like rain coming down onto the ground. Let the ground try not to change… HA! Here comes rain… It was dirt… Now we might see some beautiful flowers, luscious green grass, profitable crops…, or maybe some fungus…, ha! Or some MUD! Whatever we are going to see…, we are going to see something! And that is the power and the effectivity of the word of God! · What should the water bring and what can the water of the word of God bring? LIFE! Seed to the sower, bread to the eater…, water is key to life and yet in some environments, water simply turns the ground into mud… And folks can even get quite stuck… But the intent of the word of God?... Look there, that amazing and great word…, “Prosper.” It means to advance, to cause success, to break out, to overcome, to bring about increase!! Isaiah Chapter 55 Verse 12 · This is a verse that I discovered very early on in my walk and one that I think about personally quite often. As you trust in the Lord and His ways are being brought about in your life, even when you are suffering, go outside, listen long enough and you will hear the wind in the trees and the sound of branches, leaves, even grass blades and know that is an encouragement from heaven for you to keep going! God is with you! You are highly favored! You are loved! And He is the King of kings and the Lord of Lords! Isaiah Chapter 55 Verse 13 · Thorns…, briers…, these are what it might look like today or what you would expect to grow…, but trust the Lord and stay humble… What will grow in the place of your own expectations, fears, even desires will surprise you, impress you, delight you…. This is, in context, what the power of the Word of God can and should be to my life and to yours…, a reversing affect of the curse that sin brought upon the earth… and in that it’s not even about you…, its unto the glory of the Lord, so…, He will do it!
Isaiah 55 vs 6-13
April 3, 2024 • Pastor Matt Korniotes • Isaiah 55:6–13
Isaiah Chapter 55 Verses 4 – 5 · David! The murderer. The adulterer! The failed father. He looked in the mirror and knew he walked with God, knew he loved God AND he knew that his relationship with God was DEFINITELY based on God’s goodness and not his own. So, he writes in Psalm 42:1 and 5, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. Why are you cast down O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance!” · Leadership in the heart of a Christian is so important! It cannot be overemphasized. That in Christ, through Christ, because of Christ, in response to Christ and for Christ, we are to be a light in a very dark world, a leader of this human race in terms of the things of God. Why are so many Christians so great at being a leader in the things of the enemy!? Pride, contentions, divisions, hatred, discouragement, room deflater and the negative nobility in the room!? · Well, here’s why… They jump right to boss-ship, being something more than others, before beginning at the first stage of true leadership which is simply to be a witness. “Indeed, I have given him as a witness to the people.” Who? · A broken, grace-needing and grace filled terrible sinner…, and yet the greatest king Israel ever has yet known… He began, his first identity within himself was that he was a witness of God. Then comes leadership. See that in verse 4? And that doesn’t mean someone that calls shots or someone that others listen to and accept and embrace and comply with… That’s not leadership… · Leadership is doing what is right, what is best for others…, alone. Doesn’t matter who is or is not doing it. You are. That is leadership. The fact that others follow simply reveals the leader… So, there is a foundation of witness, then there is a season of leadership…, then comes what everyone wants, the right and the calling and the ordaining of God to be a commander for the people. Not because you are or want to be a commander. You are a witness of God’s goodness. You are a leader in your own heart and mind…, and now, you are qualified to help, not hurt, help others… That is to be a commander for the Kingdom of God. · AND when commanders like this are in command then God’s glory smears on the people, the land, the ways, the group, the family, the everything like a thick jam! Proverbs 29:2 says, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice! But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.” What is a wicked man? A bad commander…, not yet a leader…, not a witness of God but a leader in the ways of the enemy… Isaiah Chapter 55 Verse 6 · I don’t encourage you to take this as at some point God cannot be found and at some point, God is not near… Jesus said that He will be with us to the end, and that in Him we will never be left or forsaken. I encourage you to read this as seek the Lord because (as a matter of fact), if you do, you’ll find Him, He may be found. And call upon God because (as a matter of fact), He is near to you… And the next verse gives us the heart-condition that God desires… Isaiah Chapter 55 Verse 7 · Align your heart and mind with the heart and mind of God. That is to lay aside wicked intent and action. It’s a sigh moment, a selah, where you just face that whatever you are thinking or doing or have done is not right in the eyes of God and you make that immediate change right then. That’s called submission, that’s called faith, that’s called humility, that’s called worship, that’s called repentance. It is the shortest path, the straight line to returning to the Lord. AND, the most efficient path to having God just take care of things. · How is it that we ask for guidance, and wisdom, and blessings, and results from the Lord and yet refuse to walk with Him? I want God’s results…, my only path to that is to go about it God’s way. Sometimes that looks like going to the cross, sometimes that looks like flipping over tables…, sometimes that looks like offering grace to the down-trodden, “I don’t condemn you either, go and sin no more…,” Sometimes that looks like calling folks a brood of vipers openly and in public… Either way, whether it feels great in the moment or not, I demand God’s results in my life and so the only path to that is to seek the Lord and stay in alignment with what He would have me to do… · By the way, that is a place that invites loneliness. That is a position that creates a desire in others to criticize…, so be it! I am and we should not be after or prioritizing the desired results of others upon our lives. That is not leadership that is collectivism and harkens back to the leadership approach of Nimrod… “Let us make a name for ourselves…” I am and we should be after prioritizing the desired results of God upon our lives…, if you want God’s results! Check out these next supporting verses on this topic! Isaiah Chapter 55 Verses 8 – 9 · This calls me to set aside earthly rationale, experiential education, even feelings and emotions and take up a willingness to play the long game and sacrifice the moment for the righteous result…, to not be penny wise and pound foolish…, but to trust the Lord because He is intensely greater! This is why God’s word is SO profitable as we read in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness!” · I also love this because it is a pure confrontation to the pride of people. That if I just faith-this-up then God will do what I want or if I just name this then I can claim it or if I just declare it then God will deliver it! But God’s ways and thoughts are higher! And He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to Ephesians 3:20… So no, it’s not about what I would do or how I am approaching or thinking about a situation…, it’s about submitting to the One who is eternally greater than me! It’s sobering and yet its also entirely freeing to realize that my faith, my religion, my life, my exactly everything is not actually about ME! · Yes, I feel, yes, I deduce, yes, I comprehend, yes, I exist, and yet because of the fact and reality of God, I must decrease and He must increase! AND, God’s ways and thoughts are not like mine!? GOOOOOOD! WHEW! Because when you live long enough you begin to see that your ways and thoughts are sorely lacking! Isaiah Chapter 55 Verses 10 – 11 · I love this! Learn the word or not… Submit myself to the superiority of Jesus Christ or not… the word will still be fully fulfilled in my life and in yours! Just like rain coming down onto the ground. Let the ground try not to change… HA! Here comes rain… It was dirt… Now we might see some beautiful flowers, luscious green grass, profitable crops…, or maybe some fungus…, ha! Or some MUD! Whatever we are going to see…, we are going to see something! And that is the power and the effectivity of the word of God! · What should the water bring and what can the water of the word of God bring? LIFE! Seed to the sower, bread to the eater…, water is key to life and yet in some environments, water simply turns the ground into mud… And folks can even get quite stuck… But the intent of the word of God?... Look there, that amazing and great word…, “Prosper.” It means to advance, to cause success, to break out, to overcome, to bring about increase!! Isaiah Chapter 55 Verse 12 · That is a verse that I think about personally quite often. As you trust in the Lord and His ways are being brought about in your life, even when you are suffering, go outside, listen long enough and you will hear the wind in the trees and the sound of branches, leaves, even grass blades and know that is an encouragement from heaven for you to keep going! God is with you! You are highly favored! You are loved! And He is the King of kings and the Lord of Lords! Isaiah Chapter 55 Verse 13 · Thorns…, briers…, these are what it might look like today or what you would expect to grow…, but trust the Lord and stay humble… What will grow in the place of your own expectations, fears, even desires will surprise you, impress you, delight you…, and in that its not even about you…, its unto the glory of the Lord!
Isaiah 55 vs 1-5
March 27, 2024 • Pastor Matt Korniotes • Isaiah 55:1–5
Isaiah Chapter 55 Verses 1 – 3 · “Ho!” This is a call like as unto one from a town crier! Before literacy was widespread and news was distributed on papers and parchments, this is how townspeople would get important information! And that is the idea here. · Spurgeon calls this, “The condescension (or stepping down) of God!” Essentially God is becoming a crier in the opening statements of this incredible chapter! Spurgeon writes, “How is it that God would become a beggar to His own creation, and stoop from magnificence of glory to cry, “Listen, Ho,” to foolish and ungrateful men?” WOW! The only motivation possible is love! · He says, “Everyone who thirsts.” And the thought isn’t that we should survey our own need and discover for ourselves if we should respond. The thought is one that is like the ground to the clouds. The answer is “duh!” No rain, no crops. No rain, no fruit. It’s not for us to think, “I wonder if I am thirsty, if I am in need…” This is a call to the people of God who know that they DON’T even know how much God is needed! · I don’t know if that makes sense… But to the one that knows the Lord and is mature in the Spirit, doesn’t matter how good they have it…, ask them if they need God’s grace. YES! Ask them if they need God’s help. YES! Ask them if they are desperate for Jesus in their lives. YES! But you have everything! You are so successful and you’re the CEO and you have this amazing family, home, job, calling, attitude, health, biceps! HA! YES, and OH HOW I NEED HIM!!! · This is a call to creation to wake up, not to respond in need, but to be awake in reality! That without rain, there is no crops…, no fruit, no profit…, and rain never comes from the ground. It always comes from above!! SO, hear this all that thirst…, is that you!? · And you who have no money…, what is money? Power, freedom, respect, security…, where do you get that from? From the world system? It will be gone soon… But get your power, freedom, respect, integrity, security from the things of God and His Kingdom…, EVERLASTING!! · Listen carefully, incline your ear AND hear, eat up, what is good… One can incline their ear, listen in, pay attention and yet not hear. Hearing means that whatever has been communicated is taken in, considered, makes a difference…, and God gives this amazing promise that if that would become your approach to what He says (described here as “good”), that my soul will delight itself in abundance and shall live… · Um, but there’s this issue of this tiny little word, “let.” “Let your soul delight itself in abundance.” Do you know that you can sit at the feast of feasts and starve!? I remember being stubborn and childish at the dinner table when I was a little kid. I didn’t want the food that was given to me. There was nothing wrong with the food! You know how children want only pizza, chicken nuggets and mac n’ cheese? The problem wasn’t the food…, the food was great! The problem was ME! · Some folks have the issue of simply receiving the grace of God based on the merit of Jesus Christ. Receiving and enjoying God’s favor, His love…, even though we have it and more in Christ. Some folks have the issue of super-strength flesh…, just stubborn in spirit and unwilling to yield. Or not strong enough to be not enough! Be open and ok with the fact that every second is a learning second in this life. Some people HATE to learn so they never do. Always defending, deflecting, correcting, criticizing and never considering…. · They miss the blessing of being Christ-like and miss the blessing of being in Christ because of it… Some folks just want their way, they want their mac n’ cheese, and if its anything but, they seep into complaint…, and starve. When God says learn what is good and eat what is good… Whatever it is for you, its ok to let yourself delight in the abundance of God… · Everyone who thirsts, come… Are we talking about water? Everyone who has no money… Are we talking about money? Certainly not. So what are we talking about? What’s this whole discussion been about…? Jesus stood up on the last day of the Passover Feast in Jerusalem and we have the scene in John 7:37-39, “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” · Jesus not only was revealing that He was the “Me” speaking in Isaiah 55, that He was Himself deity, but also that the waters and the money and the wine and the milk are all metaphors for the power of the Holy Spirit leading and over-blessing a life! Jesus called this life-result, “rivers of living water.” But it’s not so much for those that cry out in need, its for those that live a life in the understanding of no rain, no crops… We don’t need Jesus when we are in need…, we need Jesus for any semblance of everlasting life! · Who can come? EVERYONE. Who comes? Far too few, especially in the church!!! I mean you’re already here, you’re already committed…, this should be a no-brainer! You’re already at the feast…, and yet so many starve! Isaiah Chapter 55 Verses 4 – 5 · Leadership in the heart of a Christian is so important! It cannot be overemphasized. That in Christ, through Christ, because of Christ, in response to Christ and for Christ, we are to be a light in a very dark world, a leader of this human race in terms of the things of God. Why are so many Christians so great at being a leader in the things of the enemy!? Pride, contentions, divisions, hatred, discouragement, room deflater and the negative nobility in the room!? · Well, here’s why… They jump right to boss-ship, being something more than others, before beginning at the first stage of true leadership which is simply to be a witness. “Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people.” Who? · David! The murderer. The adulterer! The failed father. He looked in the mirror and knew he walked with God, knew he loved God AND he knew that his relationship with God was DEFINITELY based on God’s goodness and not his own. So, he writes in Psalm 42:1 and 5, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. Why are you cast down O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance!” · A broken, grace-needing and grace filled terrible sinner…, and yet the greatest king Israel ever has yet known… He began, his first identity within himself was that he was a witness of God. Then comes leadership. See that in verse 4? And that doesn’t mean someone that calls shots or someone that others listen to and accept and embrace and comply with… That’s not leadership… · Leadership is doing what is right, what is best for others…, alone. Doesn’t matter who is or is not doing it. You are. That is leadership. The fact that others follow simply reveals the leader… So, there is a foundation of witness, then there is a season of leadership…, then comes what everyone wants, the right and the calling and the ordaining of God to be a commander for the people. Not because you are or want to be a commander. You are a witness of God’s goodness. You are a leader in your own heart and mind…, and now, you are qualified to help, not hurt, help others… That is to be a commander for the Kingdom of God. · AND when commanders like this are in command then God’s glory smears on the people, the land, the ways, the group, the family, the everything like a thick jam! Proverbs 29:2 says, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice! But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.” What is a wicked man? A bad commander…, not yet a leader…, not a witness of God but a leader in the ways of the enemy…
Isaiah 54 vs 5-17
March 13, 2024 • Pastor Matt Korniotes • Isaiah 54:5–17
Just a quick note on verse 4. We see the word “widowhood.” How is it that one becomes a widow? The only way is for the husband to die. Verse 4 is a reference to the fact that God Himself will die for the sins of the world. Isaiah Chapter 54 Verses 5 – 8 · This is all covenant talk and we even see that word used by God in just a moment in verse 10… Israel is referred to in the Bible as the wife of God and the church is referred to in the Bible as the Bride of Christ. This can be confusing and even sound a bit weird but it all comes down to covenant relationship. · The Abrahamic Covenant, given to Abraham and signified in the rite of circumcision, was an unconditional covenant, one-sided, between God and the blessed descendant nation of Abraham. We read God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:2-3, “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” In this covenant God joined Himself to this people for all time. He promised. · And then the New Covenant, given through Jesus Christ and signified by the rite of circumcision of the heart, (Romans 2:29), is an unconditional covenant, one-sided, between God and the blessed descendant nation of Jesus Christ. And in this covenant God joined Himself to this people for all time. He promised… · So, in that we see the relationship commitment of God to Israel and the relationship commitment of God to the church, the wife and the bride. Not the same but also not different. God is One. Three in One. And think of the church as the bride that Christ has won unto Himself while Israel is the wife that God the Father has taken unto Himself. And here’s where it gets a little weird…, because Jesus was a Jew… I mean, weird to us but in truth not weird at all… · So, we read in these verses that there was a mere moment that they (the wife, Israel) were forsaken by God…, interesting isn’t it that Jesus called out from the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me.” And we read here that with a little wrath God hid His face from you for a moment…, and in the moment, Luke 23:44 tells us that darkness came over all the earth for about three hours, darkness upon all of creation, while Jesus took on the sin of the world. · It was at that moment the terror of perhaps the Father turning His head from the Son…, His Jewish Son…, representing all people in that moment… the wife, the bride, the entirety of human creation. Everything, the Old Testament and New, the Old Covenant and New, everything converges upon Jesus Christ… All to do what? To usher in God’s everlasting kindness, God’s grace upon sinful man… and to make good on every promise God ever spoke! Isaiah Chapter 54 Verses 9 – 10 · That’s covenant talk. And the implication, its rather obvious, is New Covenant. Because in the previous verses we see kindness disrupted per se. Justice. And yet from here on out, just like the flood of Noah, can’t and won’t happen again… Why? Because it’s new and its secure in the perfect covenant sacrifice of Jesus. · The only way God could or would make statements like we read in these verses is because and if the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was and is sufficient to forgive all people of all sin for all time once and for all! Nothing more is required and nothing more can be given than to bruise the head of what started this whole mess in the first place, self-absorption and self-service, reversed and defeated through the strength of agape love and personal sacrifice! · What did Noah do after the waters of the flood receded? Genesis 8:20-21, “Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.” Now, what did Paul say of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in Ephesians 5:2? “Walk in love, as Christ has also loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma…” · And now we have a glimpse of the ultimate promise as a result of what Jesus accomplished… Isaiah Chapter 54 Verses 11 – 15 · We are given a vision of the New Jerusalem in Revelation Chapter 21 which aligns perfectly to the promised description we just read. Revelation 21:9-21 reads, “Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like the most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Also, she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal. Then he measured its wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.” · But, while we wait, here we have promises for now also because the shadow of the New Jerusalem lives in the hearts of the redeemed… How do we visit it? Vacation there? AGAPE. Isaiah Chapter 54 Verses 16 – 17 · Who is the spoiler but the Holy Spirit Himself. The same power of salvation in the Word of God and blood of Jesus, if rejected, is the single condemnation upon men… Weapons are welcome to form against you, but they cannot, won’t prosper…, and God will even use the circumstances of creation to show His faithfulness (the blacksmith illustration). · This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. That is…, the faithful. The agape-ers. Not the believers, the servants. This is a word of action. A word used in the Hebrew 800 times in the Old Testament. How many times is the word “boss” used? Zero times! Ha! · The bride of Christ serves her Husband. It’s as simple as that. How do you know who is the bride of Christ? The one who respects and serves Jesus with their life! And this is the heritage of the servants of God because of the righteousness that is from God. · There’s no trying to serve the Lord. No need to plan, strive, fight through not wanting to…, for the one who has passed from death to life, this is simply natural. Why? Because that’s love… The greatest commandment is also the greatest and only proof…, AND, it’s the greatest weapon, tool, whatever you want to call it in this world for overcoming the world! · Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength… no problem. Agape…, that’s the pleasure of my life for those that know Him and are known by Him!
Isaiah 54 vs 1-17
March 6, 2024 • Pastor Matt Korniotes • Isaiah 54
Isaiah Chapter 54 Verse 1 · In that culture to not have children is to not have purpose. It would essentially mean that after you, your life, that’s it and all that you’ve done no longer matters because there is no one to carry it forward. No name. No family. No wealth. It’s all lost. It was a big deal. And if you happened to be a wife that was childless, it was horrible! · 1 Samuel Chapter 1 describes Hannah as afflicted, weeping in anguish and sorrowful in spirit. To the point that she wasn’t eating, wouldn’t go home and was just sitting in Shiloh, at the doorpost of the tabernacle of the Lord, crying out to God. Why? Because she hadn’t been able to have children… · All that to say, this first verse in this chapter is an ask of God…, a request of hope, a request of trust…, the circumstance is…, horrible…, and, My son, My daughter, let a song enter your heart. Honestly…, this is so difficult! More are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman… · The situation is not good. The good circumstances are outnumbered two to one by the bad circumstances…, but the Lord is essentially making an ask of me and of you and of them in their situation, remember that you have not lost Him! · Mary did this. Maybe you recall. Betrothed to be married to her amazing fiancé. We know that because of how he handles everything. Joseph was a good man. And no doubt Mary was in love with him, was excited to marry him…, this was everything to a young woman then… But, she’s pregnant. · There’s no way this won’t hurt joseph. There’s no way this won’t hurt her father, her mother, her siblings…, it would follow her the rest of her life and the rest of Jesus’ life. This fact that she became pregnant without being married to Joseph, AND, it wasn’t even his child! John 8:41 the pharisees insulted her and Jesus and Joseph by saying to Him, “We were not born of fornication!” And yet what do we find in Luke 1:46-55? Mary’s song… · It’s a tall order, a tough ask, but God loves you, He is for you, He is with you, and He will see you through…, and that is true in everyday and every situation. So, the circumstance…, He sees it too, but break forth into signing and that takes huge faith!! It actually puts on display to the world something more powerful than the world… AND…look at this… Isaiah Chapter 54 Verses 2 – 3 · BUT, I’m barren! Build onto the house? Make room for children!? Yes. Faith is acting like God is telling the truth. It is ACTIVE! Faith is believing what God has said even more than what this world has delivered! Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:7, “For we walk by faith, not by sight!” Why would we ever do that unless faith, the Word of God, what God has said, God’s integrity is MORE trustworthy than what we can perceive with our senses alone!? · And God would do this with Israel. He would bring them back from the Babylonian captivity and where are the Babylonians today!? The only Babylon physically left on earth is Babylon New York which is located on Long Island. In 2021 there were 12,194 living there. In 2021 there were 9.4 million people living in Israel! · Hearing this, reading this prophecy of Isaiah in Babylonian captivity, as their numbers no doubt decreased, would encourage them to continue on and trust in what God has promised! It’s the same with us as we spend time in the Word each day! Isaiah Chapter 54 Verse 4 · Ok not only did God do this with the nation of Israel, (actually several times over throughout history), I just want to point this out, this is a desire of the Lord and a benefit of ultimately surrendering your life to Him. God has a desire for me to let go, in a way, of my past failures. Learn from them for sure. Allow some humbling work for sure, but power over me unto discouragement and depression, absolutely not. · 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” There is an element of disobedience and unfaithfulness in holding onto and revisiting your past failures if it takes from your joy. Why? Because in that moment or season or mindset, if it takes from your joy, you are less like the Lord. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit and so not only is this permission to let go, this is a commandment. · If it takes hard work and counseling, so be it. Work it out. Don’t leave it buried or hidden. It’s taking from your joy and will be a hindrance between you and the Lord until you increase your faith, (increase your ACTIVE), and deal with what you’ve done. According to 2 Corinthians 5:17, my past has passed away…, so I don’t hang out with death. As Christians we are called to hang out with Life! Isaiah Chapter 54 Verses 5 – 8 · This is all New Covenant talk and we even see that word used by God in just a moment in verse 10… Israel is referred to in the Bible as the wife of God and the church is referred to in the Bible as the Bride of Christ. This can be confusing and even sound a bit weird but it all comes down to covenant relationship. · The Abrahamic Covenant, given to Abraham and signified in the rite of circumcision, was an unconditional covenant, one-sided, between God and the blessed descendant nation of Abraham (Genesis 12:2-3). In this covenant God joined Himself to this people for all time. He promised. And then the New Covenant, given through Jesus Christ and signified by the rite of circumcision of the heart, (Romans 2:29), is an unconditional covenant, one-sided, between God and the blessed descendant nation of Jesus Christ. And in this covenant God joined Himself to this people for all time. He promised… · So, in that we see the relationship commitment of God to Israel and the relationship commitment of God to the church, the wife and the bride. Not the same but also not different. God is One. Three in One. And think of the church as the bride that Christ has won unto Himself while Israel is the wife that God the Father has taken unto Himself. And here’s where it gets a little weird…, because Jesus was a Jew… I mean, weird to us but in truth not weird at all… · So, we read in these verses that there was a mere moment that they were forsaken by God…, interesting isn’t it that Jesus called out from the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me.” And we read here that with a little wrath God hid His face from you for a moment…, and in the moment of darkness upon all of creation, while Jesus took on the sin of the world, at that moment the terror of perhaps the Father turning His head from the Son…, His Jewish Son…, representing all people in that moment… All to do what? To usher in God’s everlasting kindness, God’s grace upon sinful man… Isaiah Chapter 54 Verses 9 – 10 · That’s covenant talk. And the implication, its rather obvious, is New Covenant. Because in the previous verses we see kindness disrupted per se. Justice. And yet from here on out, just like the flood of Noah, can’t and won’t happen again… Why? Because it’s new and its secure in the perfect covenant sacrifice of Jesus. · And now we have a glimpse of the ultimate promise as a result of what Jesus accomplished… Isaiah Chapter 54 Verses 11 – 14 · We are given a vision of the New Jerusalem in Revelation Chapter 21 (verses 9 – 21) which aligns perfectly to the promised description we just read. But, while we wait, here we have promises for now also because the shadow of the New Jerusalem lives in the hearts of the redeemed… How do we visit it? Vacation there? FAITH. Isaiah Chapter 54 Verses 15 – 17 · Who is the spoiler but the Holy Spirit Himself. The same power of salvation in the Word of God and blood of Jesus, if rejected, is the single condemnation upon men… Weapons are welcome to form against you, but they cannot, won’t prosper…, and God will even use the circumstances of creation to show His faithfulness (the blacksmith illustration). · This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. That is…, the faithful. Not the believers, the servants. This is a word of action. A word used in the Hebrew 800 times in the Old Testament. How many times is the word “boss” used? Zero times! Ha! · The bride of Christ serves her Husband. It’s as simple as that. How do you know who is the bride of Christ? The one who respects and serves Jesus with their life! And this is the heritage of the servants of God because of the righteousness that is from God. · There’s no trying to serve the Lord. No need to plan, strive, fight through not wanting to…, for the one who has passed from death to life, this is simply natural. Why? Because that’s love… The greatest commandment is also the greatest and only proof…, AND, it’s the greatest weapon, tool, whatever you want to call it in this world for overcoming the world! · Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength… no problem. That’s the pleasure of my life for those that know Him and are known by Him!
Isaiah 53 vs 6-12
February 28, 2024 • Pastor Matt Korniotes • Isaiah 53:6–12
Isaiah Chapter 53 Verse 6 · Not a man or a woman alive (or that ever has been) that could have saved themselves (well except Adam and Eve – before they sinned). All have gone astray. All need a Savior. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, bad news! But the good news, the gospel, (and here we have it 700 years before Jesus was even born), is that the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. · Here’s the thing about that. It’s not the fact that a person is imperfect or sinful that sends anyone to hell. What sends people to hell is the rejection of Jesus Christ. And I understand that’s technically a sin, in fact that is the only sin that cannot be forgiven, but the point that I’m making is that the blood of Jesus has sufficiently dealt with all sin from all people from all time. So, it’s not sin that keeps people out of heaven, it’s rejection of Jesus. · Check this out, Jesus said in John 10:7-14, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.” · Jesus said twice in that scripture set this mysterious statement that He is the door. What if you came to church tonight and looked at the building, looked at the door, and just said, “nah.” “I reject that door, I’m getting in through some other way.” You’re not getting in! It’s really that simple. Jesus is THE Way, THE truth and THE life and no one comes to the Father except through Him. · This is wild. Your sin is forgiven. That gift has been signed, sealed, delivered and it was thousands of years ago. Isaiah tells us here even that the Lord has Laid on Him my and your iniquity…, but if we reject the gift, we reject the door and there is no other way… It’s really that simple. · This is as many have heard and perhaps not fully grasped, what the Bible details as the one single unpardonable sin… Jesus revealed in Matthew 12:31-32, “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.” Why the Holy Spirit? Because His whole ministry is to testify not of Himself but of Jesus Christ being the Son of God and the Savior of the world. · We all start out the same way, all we like sheep have gone astray, each one turn naturally to his own way…, but how we end up relies entirely upon what we do with the Door, what we do with Jesus Christ. And, sheep…, well they are stubborn and they are dumb and they are selfish…, can I just say, once you find the Good Shepherd, dumb and stubborn and turning after your own way should go… Jesus said, “I know My sheep, and am known by My own.” Stupidity and stubbornness towards the things of God are echoes of my fallen nature…, and should fall off as I trust in Him! Here’s another why…, those things lead us astray… Isaiah Chapter 53 Verses 7 - 9 · He was crucified between two thieves, His grave with the wicked. And He was laid in a borrowed tomb. Borrowed from a rich man named Joseph of Arimathea. When questioned/interrogated by Herod, Jesus said not a word to Him, He opened not His mouth. And Pilate said of Him in Luke 23:14-15, “You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people. And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him; no, neither did Herod, for I sent you back to him; and indeed, nothing deserving of death has been done by Him.” · There’s a point here that I really like. Jesus was silent, He was not helpless. The people accusing Him and attacking Him, what if He had defended Himself? What if He had pleaded His case? Would they have listened? Would they have had some sort of heart change right there on the spot and begged Him for forgiveness? No way! Why not!? Wouldn’t that have been the right thing to do!? Obviously! So why not!? It’s one of the difficulties of this life… · It’s not a state of irrationality, a state of stupidity, a case of ignorance or incapacity…., sin, the flesh, evil, cruelty and selfishness, these things blind people and they bind them. These things in some enigmatic spiritual way, control people! These things, especially selfishness, it’s like it turns the lights off and makes completely dark what is right…, and its one of the greatest evils we will all many times encounter in this life. (We are watching this happen to our culture!) No matter what you say, no matter what she hears or the pleading you offer with him, they will in no way, no chance, stop whatever evil they are spewing, stop the harming, listen and just stop…, ask for forgiveness… In some enigmatic spiritual stronghold, they CANNOT. · So, what do you do? Well here comes the hardship. The more you do verbally, the worse things will become. Why? Because you are fighting a spiritual battle with physical means and that doesn’t work. So, what do you do. He was oppressed and He was afflicted…, in complete control and in perfect wisdom, He opened not His mouth. Every time you are in this hellish happenstance you have two choices. Defend yourself or let God defend you… · Check this out, Psalm 62:5-6 says, “My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved.” I know this, have seen this so many times in my own life, this verse, well, the end of this verse, “I shall not be moved,” only happens, that’s only the result IF I remain silent and allow the Lord to be my defense. · AND, it comes after the altercation, not within…, AND, it’s the only way to walk away with a win… Because selfishness blinds…and it binds… There is NO WAY your opponent is going to snap-change in the moment, even if it is the obvious right thing for them to do. So, Jesus was silent, He was anything but helpless… Isaiah Chapter 53 Verses 10 – 11 · How important is purpose to you? Is it more important than feelings? Interesting question. It pleased the Lord to bruise Him… That’s only more true than the truth that it destroyed the Lord to bruise Him also. A horrible day for God personally. His only begotten Son being terrorized, harmed, humiliated and ultimately killed. The personal pain no one will ever know but Him alone. And yet, the purpose, agreed upon by the Father and the Son before the dawn of creation. Planned and purposed… the joy of my salvation and yours outweighed in importance anything else… Isaiah Chapter 53 Verse 12 · He was numbered with the transgressors so that I may be numbered with the great. That’s really what it all comes down to… Without what Jesus has done for me, my life is filled with obstacles, hardships, its tedious, troublesome and certainly a short time…, and then it gets even worse. As God is here, now, forever with all of us in the Person of the Holy Spirit and yet I pass from this world to the next carrying with me my iniquity, and the next life, God is not there… · But because He has poured out His soul unto death, my soul has been redeemed unto life. So, this life is, as purposed and planned by God from the beginning, glory to glory, growth to growth, upgrade to upgrade as I learn of Him and then enter into what He has secured for me, life eternal in the presence of a God!
Isaiah 53 vs 1-12
February 21, 2024 • Pastor Matt Korniotes • Isaiah 53
Isaiah Chapter 53 Verse 1 · There is no doubt in my mind that as Isaiah was writing these words about the coming Savior of the world, that he had to have stopped mid-chapter and thought, “Who is going to believe this?” A Savior, a hero is undefeatable, unstoppable, indestructible, triumphal…, and yet in this chapter you find a warrior that is wounded and a Savior that is slaughtered! A true real reason why Israel today denies Jesus as Messiah! · But then Isaiah says, “Well, here’s who will believe, receive this, understand this, those that the arm of the Lord (the strength of God) has been revealed!” Who can understand that to love someone with unconditional love is the highest form of war anyone can wage? Who can understand that salvation and freedom and autonomous satisfaction actually comes from sacrifice!? Who can understand by faith that God is love and love yields…, love serves? · We are a race of human beings that are in constant competition with one another. Trying to get what we need for ourselves and accomplish our own will and serve our own senses, emotions and feelings…, and that is our human nature. When all of the things we truly want for ourselves and for our lives are found in discovering the way of our Creator which is to love. Specifically, to love God first and then to love each other as God loves us… We should be in constant competition with our flesh, not each other, and then we’d win! · So, Isaiah says, “Who can believe what’s in this chapter…? To whom it has been revealed.” Why? Why would God choose to reveal wisdom and power and fullness of joy to some and not to others? Simple. God resists the proud, those that push for their own and live unto themselves, and yet grace flows to and through the humble. Isaiah Chapter 53 Verse 2 · A root out of dry ground will be the Messiah. A perfect Man amongst a fallen race of humans. Different yet the same. Holy yet wholistic. The most lush timber standing alone in the driest of deserts… AND, who has believed, who can connect and accept that love is the reason, answer, plan and command from on-high? You, I can be and by the grace of God will be a tender plant, a root out of dry ground! · And we begin the only detailed description of Jesus Christ physically that we have of Him prior to ascending to heaven. That description we have of Him in Revelation Chapter 1. Isaiah tells us things we wouldn’t expect to read of the perfect Son of God… Not specifically or extra-ordinarily handsome. Not built like a body builder. Just normal. Plain. Doesn’t say that Jesus was ugly but people weren’t drawn to Him because of His physical appearance… Isaiah Chapter 53 Verse 3 · Isaiah describes Jesus with acute accuracy but please remember that although Jesus was despised and rejected, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, He was also a Man that walked in constant victory, in joy and in service to others. Yes, Jesus understands my pain and my times of down and depression, AND He also gave me the path and example of mission-minded communion with the Father that leads to overcoming self-focus, self-pity and emotional gloom. · Folks get stuck on themselves and I get it. This world is hard and this life is hard and we aren’t, no one is, all that we want to be or all that we know we can be. However, you and I have truly no excuse to be without joy for long seasons of our lives… Joy is a fruit of walking in the Spirit. Therefore, to be filled with joy is a result of commitment, faith on our part to hide ourselves in the God, and the mission that we are on to glorify Him! · Hide not your face from Him but rather set out to hide yourself within Him! When you are down, reach out to pray for someone. When you are especially fleshy, serve more! Romans 12:21 says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Many times, those that ask if they can pray for you need you to pray with them just as much… So, don’t disappear from church (hide your face), be here more than ever in those times of rejection, sorrow and grief. “But I don’t feel like it.” Yep… and? Do you spirit like it? Do you faith like it!? Isaiah Chapter 53 Verses 4 – 5 · This is what Jesus took for me, did for me, what would become of the future in terms of Isaiah. Seven hundred years before Jesus would even be born and yet we have such amazing detail from Isaiah. So many carry such heavy amounts of griefs and sorrows, hidden away and stored in the deepest corners of their hearts and who they are…, have you tried taking any of that to Jesus? Yes, He died for my sin and yes, His body was bruised and broken for my salvation, but the Bible also says that He has carried and borne my grief and sorrows… · We are told that Jesus was esteemed smitten, stricken by God and afflicted. It wasn’t understood at the time that He went to the cross WHY He was going to the cross. We know now, Isaiah revealed it also here, that all that He went through wasn’t because God had forsaken Him and wasn’t taking care of Him but it all was for the highest purpose…, forgiveness of all sin, peace between creation and Creator and the ultimate healing of humanity. · Folks take this verse to say that we all should be healed of all ailments. They will go to this verse and say that it says it right here, “By His stripes we are healed.” And so, with enough faith, it must be God’s will that we are all healed of all issues, ailments and illnesses. There is no doubt that all issues, ailments and illnesses are a result of the fall and not the original plan of God. However, can God heal? Yes! Is it always His will to heal everything? No. How can I be so sure? Because ultimately everyone does face death… So, at some point, everyone is NOT physically healed…, Aging the way we age is also a product of the fall. It in and of itself is an ailment. Also, to take this view terribly contradicts the personal experience of the saints in the Bible and throughout history. · We have one example of an ailment that was healed in the Bible but we are given why that ailment existed at all. John 9:1-3, “Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.”” · Also, Lazarus (Luke 16) who was homeless, penniless, family-less, covered in sores…, was he physically healed? No. And yet when he died, the angels came and took him to paradise. A man of faith. A man of righteousness. This is a conversation that can go on and on and certainly not one to divide over, go to war over, argue about…, if you want to believe that God’s will is for you to never suffer then take that up with the cross of Christ… But for me, this world and this life (as Paul says) is nothing compared to the one that is to come where everyone, all people will be healed entirely…, how/why? By His stripes… Isaiah Chapter 53 Verse 6 · Not a man or a woman alive or that ever has been that could have saved themselves (well except Adam and Eve – before they sinned). All have gone astray. All need a Savior. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Isaiah Chapter 53 Verses 7 – 9 · He was crucified between two thieves, His grave with the wicked. And He was laid in a borrowed tomb. Borrowed from a rich man named Joseph of Arimathea. When questioned/interrogated by Herod, Jesus said not a word to Him, He opened not His mouth. And Pilate said of Him in Luke 23:14-15, “You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people. And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him; no, neither did Herod, for I sent you back to him; and indeed, nothing deserving of death has been done by Him.” Isaiah Chapter 53 Verses 10 – 11 · How important is purpose to you? Is it more important than feelings? Interesting question. It pleased the Lord to bruise Him… That’s only more true than the truth that it destroyed the Lord to bruise Him also. A horrible day for God personally. His only begotten Son being terrorized, harmed, humiliated and ultimately killed. The personal pain no one will ever know but Him alone. And yet, the purpose, agreed upon by the Father and the Son before the dawn of creation. Planned and purposed… the joy of my salvation and yours outweighed in importance anything else… Isaiah Chapter 53 Verse 12 · He was numbered with the transgressors so that I may be numbered with the great. That’s really what it all comes down to… Without what Jesus has done for me, my life is filled with obstacles, hardships, its tedious, troublesome and certainly a short time…, and then it gets even worse. As God is here, now, forever with all of us in the Person of the Holy Spirit and yet I pass from this world to the next carrying with me my iniquity, and the next life, God is not there… · But because He has poured out His soul unto death, my soul has been redeemed unto life. So, this life is, as purposed and planned by God from the beginning, glory to glory, growth to growth, upgrade to upgrade as I learn of Him and then enter into what He has secured for me, life eternal in the presence of a God!
Isaiah 52 vs 1-15
February 14, 2024 • Pastor Matt Korniotes • Isaiah 52
Isaiah Chapter 52 Verses 1 – 2 · I count eight times in these two verses that God is telling His people that there is something for them to do. In the recent previous chapters leading up to this one, God has described what He has done. In Chapter 50 verse 4 we read, “He awakens me morning by morning.” In verse 5 of Chapter 50 we read, “The Lord God has opened my ear!” In Chapter 51 verse 3 we read, “For the Lord will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places. He will make her wilderness like Eden.” And in verse 16 of Chapter 51 he said, “I have put My words in your mouth; I have covered you with the shadow of My hand, that I may plant the heavens, lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’” · Over and over, we have heard what God has done for His people. And that goes for us as well. Ephesians 1:3-13, just this single chapter alone says that in Christ, God has blessed us. God has chosen us. God has accepted us! He has redeemed us. He has abounded towards us. He has given us Himself as an inheritance. He has sealed us unto eternal life now and to come! And a verse that I refer to often and lean on personally all the time is 2 Peter 1:3, “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.” · All that God has given to me and to you to them and to us and so many times I find myself pleading with God for something more… Doesn’t that just land on your mind right now as at least mildly absurd!? It does for me. God has given all. Has withheld nothing, not even Himself, not even His only Son… · So as the son of God that I am, the son of the King of kings, grafted/adopted into His family by the blood of Jesus…, as the called, redeemed, chosen and right now fully equipped person that I am right now, at times and maybe even all the time my play is not to wait here in my misery to be endowed from on high with some sort of new strength but to as we read in these verses, awake, put on what is already mine in Christ, arise, loose myself from the bonds of my captivity and take hold of the Word that God has already spoken to Me! · That is faith!! And its faith that moves mountains! Not new, more, additional, supplementary strength…, but by taking a hold of who I am and what I am and what has already been given to me in Christ… Again, that’s FAITH!! And according to scripture, if I can just grasp that about the amount of a mustard seed then I don’t need Dr. Phil or Dr. Strange or Dr. Dolittle, HA…, mountains in front of me begin to move!! Eight times in two verses…, stop crawling in your catastrophe…, step back into God’s promises… Check this out… Isaiah Chapter 52 Verse 3 · The term “sold yourselves” is the single Hebrew word, “makar,” and it has a dark connotation to it. Like death… And it means not that you placed yourself on eBay but that you have lost yourself…, and the reason why men and women lose themselves in this life truly, in the end, is nothing… · How much is $1B worth when you come to your last moments? Can your wealth buy you another day of life? What about that success? That position you secured by working all those late nights and weekends? Can your title give you more time? Can your bank account balance, or the contents of your garage, or your modernized beautiful home that you worked so hard to afford, maintain and upgrade…, can it make your adult sons and daughters children again so that you can redo their formative years when you were their hero and now you’re just their father? · God issues this statement to the nation of Israel but this warning to me and to you. What is it if a man gains this entire world and yet loses his soul? And whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, but whoever seeks to lose his life for the sake of knowing God, will gain it! Proverbs 4:7-9 says, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore, get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. Exalt her, and she will promote you; she will bring you honor, when you embrace her. She will place on your head an ornament of grace; a crown of glory she will deliver to you!” · All of the things of this life are not bad in and of themselves. In fact, Titus 1:15 says, “To the pure, ALL things are pure.” Anything that gets priority in your life over the Lord, anything…, is selling yourselves for what in the end will be nothing. So, what is the answer to having all things and yet not missing what is important? Priorities… Seriously, that’s it. Redemption comes without money. What’s that redemption? Yes, Jesus…, but left unprioritized in your life He is there and yet you can still lose yourselves… It’s priorities. Simple as that… Isaiah Chapter 52 Verses 4 – 6 · It’s wonderful that the people will know God even in their toughest times…, and Spurgeon once said that if you find yourself in the dirt, praise Him there…, but God has delivered all things to you and to me in His Son and frankly, I’d rather praise Him from a position of gaining my life… At any rate, in good and in tough times, God is ever ready to extend to us His grace. Isaiah Chapter 52 Verse 7 · Is this a proclamation of praise for those that preach the gospel? Sure. You can go there. But I simply see this as how pleasant, refreshing, and how thankful I am for people in the faith that are just positive, kind and in that remind me that God reigns. There’s so few. And there’s so many Christians… Doesn’t make sense to me. Isaiah Chapter 52 Verses 8 – 10 · This is Isaiah speaking prophetically about the captivity to come under the Babylonians, the desolation that is to come at the hands of the Romans, the return to their land and ultimately the redemption of Israel at the second coming of Christ. That although a nation has gone through what they have gone through, they have made it through and this small sliver of global grounds, this nation that bears the name of God Himself, yet lives… · AND for the heavy burdened, for the person that their life has been perhaps ransacked by the enemy, can’t seem to get a break, verse nine says, “a waste place,” and verse ten says, “a scrawny arm…,” that person will become a living substantiation of the strength possible in the human heart WHEN they surrender all and go all in after the Lord! Isaiah Chapter 52 Verses 11 – 12 · I love that! You who bear the vessels of the Lord, meaning, you who wear His brand! Like a Nike shirt or Under Armor shoes! You ever see someone that only wears one brand? Like everything Nike!? This is just like that however your brand loyalty is to the Lord of lords and the King of kings. The One who gave His life for yours! And the promise here is that calm, peace, comes upon you. Which is just another way to say confidence! · Walking with the Lord is itself a benefit but if I had 10 hours to preach tonight, I couldn’t begin to give or to describe to you the compensation package that a person, a soul, a mind, a life receives when they sign a “brand deal” with Jesus Christ! (MJ has made $1.5B dollars off of Nike since 1986. $150M alone in 2023.) Isaiah Chapter 52 Verses 13 – 15 · The pronouncement of the coming King moving into the next chapter which many call, “The Holy of Holies of the Bible.” Marred more than any man…, damaged mentally, emotionally, physically to the extent that they couldn’t even recognize Him as a man any longer…, and that is the price that was paid for my salvation…
Isaiah 51 vs 8-23
January 31, 2024 • Pastor Matt Korniotes • Isaiah 51:8–23
Isaiah Chapter 51 Verse 8 · The moth and the worm speak of natural, worldly decay (and even the condition of Gehenna) and the duality being discussed here is that the things of God remain but the reproach and insults of men have an expiration date. Or maybe let me say it this way SHOULD have an expiration date. What’s that mean!? · The Christian that is growing in the Lord is changing. And you are NOT what you were. Season to season, strength to strength. And so, insults and reproaches from before shouldn’t even fit anymore! AND, the moth and the worm are small, insignificant, easily terminated irritants, just swat them with an identity built in the Lord and in His Word! Fear less, get irritated less, love more… Isaiah Chapter 51 Verse 9 · We go from three “Listen to Me’s,” to five “Awakes!” And I love that because as you do set your heart and mind to listen to the Lord, seeking to know what He is saying, (as in know it for yourself), there is an awakening that will happen within you! Paul described this in Ephesians 1:18-19 as, “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you make know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power!” · The day is completely different than the night! That is what the word enlightened means, that light comes forth, the DAY breaks. Night is not only different than day because its dark, there’s a whole different feel to the entire experience! And so much more is revealed, so much more work can be accomplished, there’s far more warmth, the list just goes on and on… And so why is it that I don’t see well at times, why is it that I’m so cold at times, why is it that I’m so dark at times…? It’s not that I’m not able to be awake (as it were), it’s that somewhere along the way I stopped chasing the Lord like He stole my purse! HA! · AND, you always get far more out of the deal with your relationship with the Lord than you are able to invest. I mean that should just be intuitive in that statement! Three “Listen to Me’s” yield five “Awakes!” I know that’s stupid and elementary BUT I have found this to be true and I have watched this consistently be true in the lives of so many! You put in 100% and you get out 166%! That’s this equation… · Why does He work that way? Well A) because He is exponentially bigger than me! So much more than any part of creation, He is the Creator! AND the Lord calls you and draws you to Himself with this kind of profit because He loves you. So, the bottom line on your life’s balance sheet is that the closer you are to the Lord, the more fervently you are devoted to and walking with the Lord, the greater you will be! And God loves that… · You know who hates that though, your enemy! And he also has a high ROI (return on investment)! In fact, he strives to out-do God altogether in this realm that if you give him 10%, he will take 95%! AND, if I give God 80%, the enemy ruins the other 20%, eats it away, diseases it with destruction (a little leaven leavens the WHOLE lump), so that I’m stuck repairing or suffering from the 20% I withheld from the Lord even though anything I give to the Lord will profit! So, in a way, the enemy also has a substantial ROI. This is why Paul would write in Ephesians 4:27, “Give no place (even a foothold) to the devil,” because sin takes far more than you ever thought it would from you! · And folks say well who are these “Awakes” for? For the people of God or for the Lord? Doesn’t really matter! If the people, if the prophet, is calling out and praying that the Lord would awake for him and them then by implication it means that they are waking themselves… So, you can read and interpret these verses either way! Makes more sense to me to interpret them as being towards the people as Psalm 121:4 says, “Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep…” Isaiah Chapter 51 Verses 10 - 20 · I love this stretch of scripture because essentially it is the statement, “Have you had enough yet!?” I have seen this in my own heart and life and in so many others as well! The Word of God is right there! Salvation and life and strength and breakthrough and just an end to so much nonsense! It’s like you’re in a round-about and you just keep passing it and looking at it and not taking the exit! Awake! · That word means “WAKE YOURSELF UP!” No one can do this for anyone else. And everyone has the right to waste years and years on this unmerry go round of serving self and thus living in the many shades of fear and darkness. Lust, pride, agitation, frustration, arrested development! Unteachable, uncorrectable, offended constantly… But at some point, the sons and daughters of the King ought to wake up and accept the kingdom, step into their divine due through the blood of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit which is to OVERCOME the evil one!! Another translation for this word “awake” is to raise up, to be the variant, to master and to finally triumph!! Isaiah Chapter 51 Verses 21 – 23 · Drunk but not with wine is a call of mercy to the people because its verse 17 says that what has been guzzled down is the cup of His fury, the dregs of the cup of trembling meaning the consequence of the Word of God and the implication here is that as a people, they even lick the bottom of the cup as it says in that verse, “and have drained it out.” What’s that mean? They have settled into a pattern of navigating soulishly, living in a lesser state, rather than trusting the Lord, obeying His Word and thus steering their stories spiritually! · And so, God gives them the answer and it’s super hard. This is why the majority never enter into the life God has planned for them… Their path has been so difficult already. So many trials and tribulations and troubles and torments, but the answer is to trust the Lord, value His Kingdom over your own or even this life, and to CHOOSE humility. And when you have laid your body like the ground and as a street for those who walk over, that’s when God puts that cup in the hands of those who afflict you… The answer (doesn’t matter what the situation or past or whatever, the answer to fix ME and to fix YOU) is simple…, return to the cross of Christ. Personally, and even practically…
Isaiah 51 vs 1-23
January 24, 2024 • Pastor Matt Korniotes • Isaiah 51
Isaiah Chapter 51 Verses 1 – 3 Recall from last week, this word for follow means “chase it like it stole your purse!” HA! To chase, to pursue, to run after to harass…, that’s the picture. God has made amazing promises and in Him are hidden all of the riches of wisdom. And some have accepted that! Figured that out! And so, they don’t wait for righteousness to happen or for someone else to teach them, they pursue wisdom all on their own. And you who seek the Lord. The word here is demand, require, to search and search until something is secured. What’s the point? There are things, many things…, most things, in the Word of God and in the heart of God and in the mind of God that folks simply cannot hear and will not benefit from and will not ever know, because they are literally reserved only for those that this is what they do… And so, what is it God has for them in these verses? When you are in the grip, in the situation, in the season, in this life, remember…, remember that you were formed from dust. Remember that God created the intricacy of YOU from a hole dug in the earth…, and if He is that God, He is not restrained. AND, remember the impossibilities of taking a couple like Abraham and Sarah and completing His Word through them. AND in light of that, hold fast… Zion, this is why perhaps people get things wrong like Replacement Theology or Reformed Theology, because there is Israel and there is Zion. Israel is Israel, the Jewish people, the Jewish nation and that bloodline and land specifically, but Zion, that is the Kingdom of God on earth partly hidden and fulfilled in part, to be perfectly fulfilled in the New Heaven and the New Earth, the New Jerusalem. Spiritual Israel. Comprised of the entirety of the family of God, Jew and gentile, Israel and the church and yet the portion of the bloodline of Israel that rejects the Messiah, and in that rejects God, that is not Zion… So perhaps this is how folks twist doctrine and say God is finished with the Jew… He is not, Zion is simply His entire earthly spiritual Kingdom… And so, Zion, those that we’ve already mentioned, in this life, through even tragedies and crisis and hardship, and as Zion groans in this fallen dark and sinful world and life, God holds us like His beloved children in the palm of His hand. He does comfort. Wildernesses are as joy-filled as Eden, He does spring forth produce and beauty in deserts and even so we sing, we have joy, we have gladness and the heart of Zion is filled with thanksgiving! Isaiah Chapter 51 Verses 4 – 6 Notice, those who tie themselves intimately to the things of this world will incur loss… Those that tie themselves intimately to the things of God will incur upgrade! These are promises of hope to the people of God and really, we use the word “promises” and it’s not needed. This is the word of God. These are His commitments and yes, His promises but really, it’s just His word and that is enough. This is hope for Isaiah, hope for the nation who will soon be in captivity, hope for the people of God throughout their lives because it is a revealing assurance that this world, this life is not all there is and there is coming a place, an existence, where God’s salvation and righteousness fit entirely! Isaiah Chapter 51 Verse 7 The third “listen to Me” statement which is a command but is also a revelation of those that are ABLE to listen. (God would not command what we are not able to do…) And this listen to Me is “you who know righteousness…,” and what’s that mean? “You people in whose heart is My law,” and that is significant. Knowing righteousness is not that you do what is right or that you are educated in terms of proper doctrine. Those that know righteousness, and let’s go back, those that are the people of God, and those that seek the Lord and follow after righteousness, are those that have opened their heart, cleared out room, and welcomed the Word and Person of God in and above anything or anyone else, including themselves. These are they that in whose heart is God’s law. Not their own…, God’s law... That is the only path to knowing righteousness. And…, look, more revealing assurances…, those that grow to know righteousness…, do not fear the reproach of men, nor be afraid of their insults… Why do people offend us so much and so easily? Because we are so afraid. Fear manifests in offense… Offense is to be eaten up over what someone else has said or done… But those that hope and wait on the Lord…., those that know righteousness, there is a strength of character that blooms… And now, even the fiery darts of the enemy are stopped…, by what? The breastplate of righteousness…! Isaiah Chapter 51 Verse 8 The moth and the worm speak of natural, worldly decay (and even the condition of Gehenna) and the duality being discussed here is that the things of God remain but the reproach and insults of men have an expiration date. Or maybe let me say it this way SHOULD have an expiration date. What’s that mean!? The Christian that is growing in the Lord is changing. And you are NOT what you were. Season to season, strength to strength. And so, insults and reproaches from before shouldn’t even fit anymore! AND, the moth and the worm are small, insignificant, easily terminated irritants, just swat them with an identity built in the Lord and in His Word! Fear less, get irritated less, love more… Isaiah Chapter 51 Verses 9 – 20 I love this stretch of scripture because essentially it is the statement, “Have you had enough yet!?” I have seen this in my own heart and life and in so many others as well! The Word of God is right there! Salvation and life and strength and breakthrough and just an end to so much nonsense, its like you’re in a round-about and you just keep passing it and looking at it and not taking the exit! Awake! That word means “WAKE YOURSELF UP!” No one can do this for anyone else. And everyone has the right to waste years and years on this unmerry go round of serving self and thus living in the many shades of fear. Lust, pride, agitation, frustration, arrested development! Unteachable, uncorrectable, offended constantly… But at some point, the sons and daughters of the King ought to wake up and accept the kingdom, step into their divine due through the blood of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit which is to OVERCOME the evil one!! Another translation for this word awake is to raise up, to be the variant, to master and to finally triumph!! Isaiah Chapter 51 Verses 21 – 23 Drunk but not with wine is a call of mercy to the people because its verse 17 says that what has been guzzled down is the cup of His fury, the dregs of the cup of trembling meaning the consequence of the Word of God and the implication here is that as a people, they even lick the bottom of the cup as it says in that verse, “and have drained it out.” What’s that mean? They have settled into a pattern of navigating soulishly, living in a lesser state, rather than trusting the Lord, obeying His Word and thus steering their stories spiritually! And so, God gives them the answer and it’s super hard. This is why the majority never enter into the life God has planned for them… Their path has been so difficult already. So many trials and tribulations and troubles and torments, but the answer is to trust the Lord, value His Kingdom over your own or even this life and to CHOOSE humility. And when you have laid your body like the ground and as a street for those who walk over, that’s when God puts that cup in the hands of those who afflict you… The answer (doesn’t matter what the situation or past or whatever, the answer to fix ME and to fix YOU) is simple…, return to the cross of Christ. Personally, and even practically…
Isaiah 50 vs 6-11 & Isaiah 51 vs 1 - 7
January 17, 2024 • Pastor Matt Korniotes • Isaiah 50:6–11, Isaiah 51:1–7
Isaiah Chapter 50 Verse 6 · This verse speaks in sobering detail of the suffering of the Messiah. Mark 15 says He was beaten, mocked and they spit on Him. Luke 22 tells us He was punched in the face. And we know from Isaiah that at one point they plucked out His beard. The ultimate disrespect of any Jewish male… And notice the action wasn’t really on the part of His abusers but all that happened to Him was at His volunteering… We read here in the beginning of this verse, “I gave…” Isaiah Chapter 50 Verses 7 – 9 · How is it that Jesus was able to endure what He did and even more, to volunteer and proceed willingly when He had the power to stop it all immediately? And this is helpful, because when you and I find ourselves uncomfortable or suffering in the Spirit and we know we can end it right now…, divorce or strike back or go off on them, find another church, quit another job, why stay the course? Hebrews 12:1-2 says, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” · The reward of the cross was the resurrection and the place at the right hand of the throne of God. The place of the Advocate and the defeat of the adversary. That was a promise given by the Father for generations and then Jesus came not only to fulfill those promises but KNOWing that He was the fulfillment. Trusting the Father and trusting the Word above even His own situation. And so, He set His face like a flint, which means He determined in Himself to carry it through to the end… Isaiah Chapter 50 Verses 10 – 11 · I love this! We ask people today and we wonder, “Are you a Christian?” But who knows what that means anymore! Folks can say they are a Christian and then believe Jesus was an angel. Folks can say they are a Christian and then live for themselves! Are they really a follower of Jesus Christ!? Not a chance! Here is a better phrased question…, “Do you obey the voice of Jesus and do you fear the Lord?” That is the Biblical definition of a Christian! · And as the suffering Savior endured what He endured, as they beat Him and mocked Him and as He allowed Himself to be destroyed, He knew two things. One was that this would enable men to be saved, and two this would seal the fate of those that would reject Him. He says, “This you shall have from My hand…,” the same one mentioned in verse 16 of the last chapter that is inscribed with the names of all men that have ever lived…, “You shall lie down in torment.” Only time this Hebrew word torment is ever used in the Bible. And it means regret without repair…, sorrow without sorry, grief without relief, pain without cure…, this is the fate of those that make themselves enemies of Jesus Christ. Isaiah Chapter 51 Verses 1 – 3 · So, who is God talking to? Or maybe a better thought is, who will be able to hear this? He says, “Listen to Me you who follow after righteousness and you who seek the Lord.” This word for follow means “chase it like it stole your purse!” HA! To chase, to pursue, to run after to harass…, that’s the picture. God has made amazing promises and in Him are hidden all of the riches of wisdom. And some have accepted that! Figured that out! And so, they don’t wait for righteousness to happen or for someone else to teach them, they pursue wisdom all on their own. · And you who seek the Lord. The word here is demand, require, to search and search until something is secured. What’s the point? There are things, many things…, most things, in the Word of God and in the heart of God and in the mind of God that folks simply cannot hear and will not benefit from and will not ever know, because they are literally reserved only for those that this is what they do… Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart!” The things of God, like the things He really has promised and wants us to have, are only apprehended by the humble. Those that have turned the corner and surrendered their heart to Jesus! · And so, what is it God has for them in these verses? When you are in the grip, in the situation, in the season, in this life, remember…, remember that you were formed from dust. Remember that God created the intricacy of YOU from a hole dug in the earth…, and if He is that God, He is not restrained. AND, remember the impossibilities of taking a couple like Abraham and Sarah and completing His Word to them. AND in light of that, hold fast… · Zion, this is why perhaps people get things wrong like Replacement Theology or Reformed Theology, because there is Israel and there is Zion. Israel is Israel, the Jewish people, the Jewish nation and that bloodline and land specifically, but Zion, that is the Kingdom of God on earth. Spiritual Israel. Comprised of the entirety of the family of God, Jew and gentile, Israel and the church and yet the portion of the bloodline of Israel that rejects the Messiah, and in that rejects God, that is not Zion… So perhaps this is how folks twist doctrine and say God is finished with the Jew… He is not, Zion is simply His entire earthly spiritual Kingdom… · And so, Zion, those that we’ve already mentioned, in this life, through even tragedies and crisis and hardship, and as Zion groans in this fallen dark and sinful world and life, God holds us like His beloved children in the palm of His hand. He does comfort. Wildernesses are as joy-filled as Eden, He does spring forth produce and beauty in deserts and even so we sing, we have joy, we have gladness and the heart of Zion is filled with thanksgiving! Isaiah Chapter 51 Verses 4 – 6 · These are promises of hope to the people of God and really, we use the word “promises” and it’s not needed. This is the word of God. These are His commitments and yes, His promise,s but really its just His word and that is enough. This is hope for Isaiah, hope for the nation who will soon be in captivity, hope for the people of God throughout their lives because it is a revealing assurance that this world, this life is not all there is and there is coming a place, an existence, where God’s salvation and righteousness fit entirely! · It’s also a statement of practical applicability for us today. Those who tie themselves intimately to the things of this world will incur loss… Those that tie themselves intimately to the things of God will incur upgrade! Isaiah Chapter 51 Verse 7 · The third “listen to Me” statement which is a command but is also a revelation of those that are ABLE to listen. (God would not command what we are not able to do…) And this listen to Me is “you who know righteousness…,” and what’s that mean? “You people in whose heart is My law,” and that is significant. Knowing righteousness is not that you do what is right or that you are educated in terms of proper doctrine. Those that know righteousness, and let’s go back, those that are the people of God, and those that seek the Lord and follow after righteousness, are those that have opened their heart, cleared out room, and welcomed the Word and Person of God in and above anything or anyone else, including themselves, these are they that in whose heart is God’s law. Not their own…, God’s law... That is the only path to knowing righteousness. · And…, look, more revealing assurances…, those that grow to know righteousness…, do not fear the reproach of men, nor be afraid of their insults… Why do people offend us so much and so easily? Because we are so afraid. Fear manifests in offense… Offense is to be eaten up over what someone else has said or done… But those that hope and wait on the Lord…., those that know righteousness, there is a strength of character that blooms… And now, even the fiery darts of the enemy are stopped…, by what? The breastplate of righteousness…!
Isaiah 49 vs 14-26 & 50 vs 1-11
January 10, 2024 • Pastor Matt Korniotes • Isaiah 49:14–26
Isaiah Chapter 49 Verses 14 – 16 Thick Messianic prophecy there, right? God has essentially tattooed His own covenant into the palms of His hands. No doubt that was the thought then but we look back to the cross of Christ and know that this was a prophecy, (this chapter all together), of the Savior that would come, serve us and the Father, be hated and rejected of men, and give His life on the cross for the justice and the forgiveness of sin! And we will see these marks one day. After resurrecting Jesus said in John 20:27, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing!” Isaiah Chapter 49 Verses 17 – 23 Fulfilled by Pharoah in the 13 th century BC. Fulfilled when the Persian Cyrus the Great ended the exile in 538 BC. Fulfilled by the nations of the world on May 14 th , 1948… Isaiah Chapter 49 Verses 24 – 26 Why? Why all these things and promises upon this people? Not really anything to do with them but everything to do with the Word of God. Word is bond in us, and you and I are only as good as our word…, how much more a holy and perfect God!? All of these things will accomplish. All of these things and all of God’s Word and as we learn and observe time and time again God’s incessant perfection in His Word…, all flesh (that’s me and you) if we are paying attention, will progressively grow in our own faith and knowledge of God as Savior, Redeemer and the Mighty One! Isiaah Chapter 50 Verse 1 I love this because the implication is that even though this people has been full of wrong and all kinds of rebellion, God hasn’t dismissed them in any way! If they are far from the Lord then it’s their doing and not His! So, here’s the thing. Bringing ME close to GOD was and is HIS doing! He did that! And God has no intention or even possibility of undoing that! God doesn’t change His mind! Malachi 3:6 says, “For I am the Lord, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.” James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning!” Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” Not only is He unchanging but He is also all-knowing and all-wise and so changing His mind is actually impossible as that would infer that He realized some sort of mistake or He has decided a better way than before. Impossible! SO, God has done a thing in Jesus. He has brought Himself near to us, as we read in Ephesians 2:13, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ,” He has brought Himself near to us and in no way will He remove Himself from us… And I want to clear the air on a Christian concept. We have heard many many times that when we sin, we break fellowship with God. I want you to know that that statement does not mean that we create some sort of physical distance with God. That in some way we cause Him to move away from us and all of sudden because I have sinned, (which that sin was forgiven the moment I received Jesus), God is now far from me… NO. Fellowship is affected. Not proximity. Fellowship is the communion, the oneness, the sweet presence and agreement and enjoyment of one another. That definitely suffers! But not proximity. What God has done by His blood cannot be altered, reversed, or even affected lest it be proven that God is not God…, because what He does, He cannot change! Does that make sense!? SO, what does that mean and why do I bring that up? We sell ourselves and put away ourselves from the plan and path and will and grace-filled blessing of God and sweet communion with God through the Holy Spirit when we turn our back on Him and break fellowship. Does He go anywhere ever? Not a chance! Words of God in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” And this verse puts that hope-filled reassuring and yet heartbreaking/humbling truth on blast! Isaiah Chapter 50 Verses 2 – 3 God says that He has arrived and He is here and He is calling and yet no maturity being found in the called to answer Him. His desire is to continually redeem and deliver and not only that, that’s His character…, and yet so many so often find not the will and power to trust Him over the test of the day… And find dried seas, wilderness where there could and should be rivers, thirst and stinky fish! HA! The same God that clothes the heavens WILL establish all that concerns me as I trust in Him! Isaiah Chapter 50 Verses 4 – 5 I want you to see that the Bible is saying that there are things that man aspires to achieve through learning and personal scholarship and yet they are not so much earned as they are rewarded. Isaiah says here that, “The Lord has GIVEN Me the tongue of the learned,” and it is God that, “awakens my ear…” He says, “The Lord has opened My ear,” and the result is less or no rebellion against truth! Proverbs 2:6 says, “For the Lord gives wisdom, from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.” Those words in the Hebrew also mean, “perception, discernment, mental/social skill, awareness, emotional intelligence, discretion and insight.” There’s a reasonable thought that says the more we know the more we know…, but a person that has given their heart to the Lord in sincerity and humility knows more on their first day then the most learned Christian that has ever lived that hasn’t… And don’t miss the why… James 4:3 says, “You ask and you do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” The reason why God gives these things is seen in verse 4, “That I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary.” If my motivation or desire is to not take care and care for others, then why give me anything at all? Isaiah Chapter 50 Verse 6 This verse speaks in sobering detail of the suffering of the Messiah. Mark 15 says He was beaten, mocked and they spit on Him. Luke 22 tells us He was punched in the face. And we know from Isaiah that at one point they plucked out His beard. The ultimate disrespect of any Jewish male… And notice the action wasn’t really on the part of His abusers but all that happened to Him was at His volunteering… We read here in the beginning of this verse, “I gave…” Isaiah Chapter 50 Verses 7 – 9 How is it that Jesus was able to endure what He did and even more, to volunteer and proceed willingly when He had the power to stop it all immediately? And this is helpful, because when you and I find ourselves uncomfortable or suffering in the Spirit and we know we can end it right now…, divorce or strike back or go off on them, find another church, quit another job, why stay the course? Hebrews 12:1-2 says, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” The reward of the cross was the resurrection and the place at the right hand of the throne of God. The place of the Advocate and the defeat of the adversary. That was a promise given by the Father for generations and then Jesus came not only to fulfill those promises but KNOWing that He was the fulfillment. Trusting the Father and trusting the Word above even His own situation. And so, He set His faced like a flint, which means He determined in Himself to carry it through to the end… Isaiah Chapter 50 Verses 10 – 11 I love this! We ask people today and we wonder, “Are you a Christian?” But who knows what that means anymore! Folks can say they are a Christian and then believe Jesus was an angel. Folks can say they are a Christian and then live for themselves! Are they really a follower of Jesus Christ!? Not a chance! Here is a better phrased question…, “Do you obey the voice of Jesus and do you fear the Lord?” That is the Biblical definition of a Christian! And as the suffering Savior endured what He endured, as they beat Him and mocked Him and as He allowed Himself to be destroyed, He knew two things. One was that this would enable men to be saved, and two this would seal the fate of those that would reject Him. He says, “This you shall have from My hand…,” the same one mentioned in verse 16 of the last chapter that is inscribed with the names of all men that have ever lived…, “You shall lie down in torment.” Only time this Hebrew word torment is every used in the Bible. And it means regret without repair…, sorrow without sorry, grief without relief, pain without cure…, this is the fate of those that make themselves enemies of Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 49 vs 1-13
January 3, 2024 • Pastor Matt Korniotes • Isaiah 49:1–13
Isaiah Chapter 49 Verse 1 · Is Isaiah talking about Cyrus? Is he talking about himself? Is he talking about Jesus? Is he talking about Israel as a nation? The answer is, absolutely!! If you go strictly by verse 3 of this chapter, he is talking about Israel. However, in context of this section of his book, and really the entire chapter, He is talking most likely about Jesus, the coming Savior of the world! Even Cyrus fits, even talking about himself fits, why? Same reason you fit! · Last week we heard him say, in verse 8 of the previous chapter, that you and I and everyone, we were called a transgressor from the womb. Remember that? And yet here is another truth of every single human being. Every decedent of Adam and certainly one that I personally hold to with confidence. Every person, you, me (I know that I know this), we were all called by God by name from even before you were born. · God has a plan for you, He has a plan for Me, its just as detailed as any plan He has ever put together for anyone else. Because He’s that big…, and my life mission, as is many others, is to navigate daily in accordance and conjunction with His Word and will so that I don’t miss my calling. Missing what God has for me…, for you, living really within my own senses alone, emotions and learning only from experience, rather than trusting God’s Word and seeking to grow in Him, is that I find myself asking (some people for seasons and some for their entire lives), why am I here? Why was I even born? But when you are walking in your calling (which by the way you don’t have to figure out, your calling is simply to know Him and to be loved by Him) then you don’t wonder that! Everyday its answered and even in new ways all the time!! · In greatest context however of the rest of this chapter, it is most right to accept that this is speaking of the coming Messiah. In Micah 5:2, for example, Jesus was called forth even before being in the womb and then specifically in Luke 1:31, Jesus is called by name from the womb. “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.” Isaiah Chapter 49 Verses 2 – 4 · Odd words perhaps coming from Jesus but think about the discouragement He must have faced from all angles. The crowds followed Him for how they would personally benefit, and when the personal benefit stopped, they stopped. The leaders of His people hated Him and worked His entire life to silence Him, even from birth. His closest followers didn’t even care to stay awake in His time of greatest need. And even at the cross, only one remained, and that was after public betrayal of Judas and Peter… · But all the while, Jesus remained on mission. No matter the discouragements of the day, He would stay focused. Certainly, sometimes needing to be alone with the Father, but ultimately knowing what His faithfulness would afford, calling that here in Isaiah 49, His just reward… Isaiah Chapter 49 Verses 5 – 7 · We do see presented the plan of salvation for the Jew and the gentile. Something that would have been so out of place for Isaiah to write and probably would have caused him to be disrespected during his time but also shows that he was writing in the place of the coming Savior and not his own. · This gives us a delineation between God’s plan for Israel and God’s plan for the gentile world. There are those today that say that God is through with the nation of Israel but to get there you have to torture the scriptures. Replacement Theology and Reformed Theology, you have to dismiss certain scriptures to accept. Correct theology should be able to incorporate all of the scriptures… · And I absolutely love the statement set we see here that first it is said that the King of kings was formed in the womb to be a Servant, and as a Servant, check this out…, a Servant of rulers, kings will stand for Him and princes shall worship Him. Why, because of His faithfulness and His holiness, yes, but also due to a mystery revealed by Jesus Himself about life in general… · Matthew 20:25-27, “But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave.” I hope you discover this for yourself in your life. Those that don’t have to serve others and yet do, these are the greatest and not only in the eyes of God. They command the respect of the room in time… Isaiah Chapter 49 Verses 8 – 9 · This would be a great hope to read when in captivity in Babylon and the statement is as God has said before, that where we should find desolation, by all reason and human calculation, God will bring for His people a blessing… Just as when we deny our flesh and instead trust the Lord, where we think we will be so put out, God shows His faithfulness! Isaiah Chapter 49 Verses 10 – 13 · This is cool because what this implies is that when the people of God are on the path of God both they and heaven rejoice together and even the earth is blessed! If folks really want to save the planet, trust the Word of God! · And there is one statement here that is incredible! I mean, they all are but I want to shine the spotlight on the statement, “I will make each of My mountains a road, and my highways shall be elevated.” This is the way that trusting God works and why many don’t know the intense faithfulness of God and therefore find it hard to trust Him and His ways, especially when the Word of God goes against their emotions and perhaps even intuition. · But, have you ever seen mountains from miles away!? They look like walls. And faced with the task to get over them, the enemy offers the helicopter of hellish and fleshly ways… But as you just keep going…, just keep moving forward, not knowing how you’re going to get over the mountain but trusting God because He told you to, you get closer and closer and then finally so close and there it is…, the way… And its elevated. Able to be defended, easy to see and stay on…, the hard part is that time between seeing the mountain and the revelation of God’s faithfulness. Because its then you’re just treading forward without full knowledge. THAT is called faith. And the more highways you find, (and they are always there), the more confident you become AND your intuition flips from following self to following the Word of God. Why? Because He is who He says He is… Isaiah Chapter 49 Verses 14 – 16 · Thick Messianic prophecy there, right? God has essentially tattooed His own covenant into the palms of His hands. No doubt that was the thought then but we look back to the cross of Christ and know that this was a prophecy, (this chapter all together), of the Savior that would come, serve us and the Father, be hated and rejected of men, and give His life on the cross for the justice and the forgiveness of sin! · And we will see these marks one day. After resurrecting Jesus said in John 20:27, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing!” Isaiah Chapter 49 Verses 17 – 24 · Fulfilled by Pharoah in the 13th century BC. Fulfilled when the Persian Cyrus the Great ended the exile in 538 BC. Fulfilled by the nations of the world on May 14th, 1948… Isaiah Chapter 49 Verses 25 – 26 · Why? Why all these things and promises upon this people? Not really anything to do with them but everything to do with the Word of God. Word is bond in us, and you and I are only as good as our word…, how much more a holy and perfect God!? All of these things will accomplish. All of these things and all of God’s Word and as we learn and observe time and time again God’s incessant perfection in His Word…, all flesh (that’s me and you) if we are paying attention, will progressively grow in our own faith and knowledge of God as Savior, Redeemer and the Mighty One!