In the sermon titled 'I Will Pour Water On Him Who Is Thirsty,' Scott Brown elaborates on Isaiah 44, presenting a courtroom scene where God condescends to plead with His people. The passage emphasizes God's preferential love, His sovereignty, and the futility of idolatry. Brown highlights seven key concepts: condescension, assurance, superiority, witnesses, water, fear, and servant. The imagery of water symbolizes the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, bringing life and blessing to God's people. Isaiah's message assures that God is superior to all idols, urging believers to recognize their identity as God's servants and proclaim His name. The sermon also underscores the role of witnesses in testifying to God's truth and the need to overcome fear through faith in God's superiority and goodness.

Please remain standing as The first portion of Isaiah 44 is read in our hearing before the preaching of the word Isaiah 44 Verse 1 Yet here now O Jacob my servant and Israel whom I have chosen thus says the Lord who made you and formed you from the womb who will help you fear not oh Jacob my servant and you Jeshurun whom I have chosen For I pour water on him who is thirsty and floods on the dry ground. I will pour my spirit on your descendants and my blessing on your offspring. They will spring up among the grass like willows by the water courses. One will say, I am the Lord's. Another will call himself by the name of Jacob.

Another will write with his hand, the Lord's, and name himself by the name of Israel. Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts. I am the first and I am the last. Besides me there is no God and who can proclaim as I do. Then let him declare it and set it in order for me since I appointed the ancient people and the things that are coming and shall come.

Let them show these to them. Do not fear nor be afraid. Have I not told you from that time and declared it? You are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me?

Indeed, there is no other Rock. I know not one. Heavenly Father, there is no other Rock. There is no other God who can declare anything. And you have seen fit to declare to us in your word today, you have spoken to us and as we listen to the sermon, I pray that you would give us ears so that we might hear what you have to say.

In Jesus' name. We continue this great courtroom scene where the witnesses have been called and the testimonies are being delivered here. And the question really is why would anyone trust God? Why would anyone want to put their lives in his hands instead of turning away from this wicked and perverse generation. Why would anyone love him?

Why would you want to follow him? Why would you want to take the idol in your hand and put it aside? Well at the very end of this chapter at the very end of this section in this courtroom Isaiah says what why you? Why don't you realize there's a lie in your hand? And so this argument continues to go on and all throughout it, God's telling of his love.

He's telling of his absolute control over everything. He started this argument in chapter 43, and he's been explaining his preferential love toward his people. And he's proving this preferential love in this courtroom scene. And this scene began in verse 8 in chapter 43 and continues on here in chapter 44. And so he's continuing this argument in the courtroom.

And I want to give you seven words that will help us see our way through this section. You'll find various illusions and direct references to them, but before we walk you through the text, I'd like to just sort of give you some words that you can hang your understanding of this text upon. The first word is condescension. This is a section where God is condescending. God is coming down.

He's coming down into the courtroom. He's coming in the midst of his people to argue with him. This is a really startling scene I'm so astonished at the scenes that Isaiah Brings before us and here you have a scene of God Almighty The creator of the heavens in the earth he condescends he lowers himself and He actually comes into a courtroom. And this is the great condescension of God. He's actually pleading with his people.

God doesn't need to plead with anyone. He is God. He's almighty He's the creator of the ends of the earth. He doesn't owe anything. He doesn't owe any condescension at all He is God and there is no other but but here he comes down and he enters into a courtroom.

And what he says here is prophetic of his sending his son to come down, to come and walk among us, the word being made flesh, to come and walk in a dry and dusty land and bring life to it. So condescension, that's the first word. The second word is assurance. These words are cut out of the whole doctrine of assurance of God's love for his people as he carries them through the wilderness. The third word is superiority.

God proves himself to be God alone among all the pretenders. That's how Matthew Henry spoke of it. But God is absolutely declaring a superiority everywhere. And so in this passage, you know, God is appealing for Judah to look back on the Exodus, to look forward to the Babylonian captivity, And then to look forward to a new thing that he'll do and and God is proclaiming his superiority Over all things the next word the fourth word is witnesses This is a critical word in this whole section because there are witnesses that are called And all kinds of witnesses are called. Later on, we'll find the idols becoming witnesses.

And they'll witness to their own stupidity, their own lie that they are. But there are witnesses. And this is really reflective of what God does in the days of the new covenant where He says, you shall be my witnesses. The next word is the word water. Well now, we could talk a long time about water.

Water is so good. And Isaiah uses water over and over again. He uses it again here to help us to understand the love of God, to help us understand what He is like. And God is, you know, on this witness stand trying to explain to us who He is, and He uses water to speak of it. Fear, that's another word, fear.

Our text here today in verse 1 begins with the word fear, and then in verse 8 it concludes with the word fear. And Isaiah speaks of fear many, many times. And of course, we understand that do not fear is the most common command in the Bible. It's the most often repeated command. And we encounter it here.

And then finally the word servant, the word servant. Here we hear words like my servant and we learn from Isaiah that that everything is God's servant. There are good servants and bad servants, but all are his servant, and will encounter his servant. So let's look at the context here. As I said before, this whole context begins in chapter 43 verse 8, where the witnesses are called.

You can see this outline in front of you. The blind are called, the nations are called, his own people are called, and finally God himself testifies. And from verse 14, from this section on, from verse 13, from verse 11 on, I'm sorry, verse chapter 43, God is doing the witnessing. He's the one who is on the stand and he is speaking. And then in chapter 43, verses 14 through 24, God gives examples of his delivering power and how he is going to destroy Babylon in the future, how he rescued his people from the Red Sea and Pharaoh's army, and then how he'll do a new thing.

And then he brings evidence against the people. And we spoke of that last week, where he convicts the people who were weary of him, and they are wearying to him. It's a picture of people who have fake worship. They're just mouthing, they're just acting, They're just saying that they belong to God, but they really don't. And he brings this, evidences of his mercy, and he actually calls Judah to state the case of their innocence.

Tell me why I should not condemn you. Tell me why. This is one of the most important questions. Every person who recognizes that they've not bowed their knee to Jesus Christ should ask this question, why should God not condemn me and throw me into hell for all eternity? And God brings this out.

God reminds them of the root of the problem. He says that their problem is greater than that they're just sinners. Their first father sinned. They have original sin. They have inbred sin, inborn sin that they cannot get away from, that only the shed blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse them of this great, this great debacle that is upon them called their sin nature.

And then in verse 28 in the last chapter he gives the verdict, I will destroy you, I will destroy you. And then he turns again with more arguments. See, you know God is a God of judgment and mercy. He glorifies himself just as well in the damnation of the wicked as he does in the salvation of the repentant and so God turns the discussion from his vanquishing wrath his holiness his absolute death grip he has upon all those who have rejected him. And that death grip remains unless they turn and their hearts turn toward their Savior and the Spirit of God has poured out upon them, and they are refreshed." And so with that, with this announcement in verse 28 of the verdict that they are damned for all eternity, God says, but that's not the end of the story I call sinners and And what I'd like to do this morning is to frame these first eight verses in the manner of more arguments more arguments for which God uses to declare his superiority and his goodness because God is still witnessing to his own love and his own greatness.

My prayer today is that we would just continue to have our minds washed in the doctrine of God that we would see who he is, that we would understand more of his glory and particularly of his love because that's so prominent here. So there are seven ways that God declares his superiority and his goodness. You know, I'm so grateful to be able to do this, to be able to declare his superiority and his greatness. There's nothing better for a man or a woman to do than to declare how good God is and to proclaim his superiority and his majesty. And so that's what we're doing this morning.

You know, can we grasp it from these words that are here? Well, they're here for us, for our own good. Well, the first way that God declares his superiority and glory is he says listen you are my servant listen you are my servant yet here now oh Jacob my servant and Israel whom I have chosen. Thus says the Lord who made you and formed you from the womb. Who will help you?

Fear not, O Jacob my servant and you Jeshurun whom I have chosen." He starts out with these words in verse one, hear, yet hear now. God wants them to hear something. He desires that they open up their ears and that they would actually hear something. And it's the whole matter of God speaking to His people. He's so kind to communicate with His people.

And he's declaring his goodness by calling his people to hear, to open up their ears. And notice the very tender terms that he uses here. God is using very affirming and wonderful terms as he addresses his people, oh Jacob, my servant, and Israel whom I have chosen. The Lord made you and formed you from the womb. Who will help you?

Oh Jacob, my servant, Jeshurah. These are all terms of endearment. And God is speaking of his connection with them. He speaks of them as his. You are mine.

You're my servant. And this is the language that is the language of intimacy and loving kindness. You know, he uses the term Jeshurun. And the using of the word Jesherin for his people is one that he used in Deuteronomy. In fact, this language here in this first verse, verse 2 verses, is really inextricably connected with Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 26.

In Deuteronomy 32, 26, Jeshurun is used as a lament in a way. Remember when Absalom died, David's son, and he said, Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son Absalom. That was the way that God used the word, the term Jeshurah in Deuteronomy, chapter 32 in the Song of Moses. We memorize this many years ago when we went through Deuteronomy, but Jeshurah grew fat and kicked, you grew fat, you grew thick, you are obese, then he forsook the God of Jacob. That's what he says in Deuteronomy.

But if you go into the words before this, where he speaks of Jeshurah as fat and thick and obese and rebellious. It's really in the context of his loving kindness. He uses Jeshurun as a lament in Deuteronomy 32, And he uses it as a term of endearment in Isaiah 44. Here's what we read in Deuteronomy 32. He found him in a desert in the wasteland, a howling wilderness.

He encircled him. He instructed him. He kept him as the apple of his eye. These are the words of love. This is a context of endearment.

As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings. So the Lord alone led him, and there was no foreign God with him. He made him ride in the heights of the earth, that he might eat the produce of the fields. He made him draw honey from the rock and oil from the flinty rock, curds from the cattle and milk from the flock with fat of lambs and rams of the breed of Bishan and goats with the choicest of wheat. And you drank wine, the blood of grapes." this is the whole context of God's loving kindness toward Jeshurun by the way Jeshurun means beloved beloved and then he says but Jeshurun my beloved grew fat and kicked he grew fat he grew thick he was obese this is this is the idea And then he continues on in Deuteronomy chapter 32.

They provoked him to jealousy with foreign gods, with abominations. They provoked him to anger. They sacrificed to demons, not to God. To gods they did not know. To new gods, new arrivals that your fathers did not fear of the rock who begot you you are unmindful and have forgotten the God who fathered you and so these are terms of endearment he's he's saying my beloved my beloved Jeshurun.

And Jeshurun meaning the beloved or perhaps even the upright one. In Deuteronomy 32, Moses uses this term really as a lament at the fall, the downfall of his beloved Jeshurim. But here Isaiah picks up so many of the same words of Deuteronomy 32. You read Deuteronomy 32 a few times and you will see how often Isaiah uses these very same words, the rock, the water, just over and over again. We learned that Isaiah was definitely a student of Deuteronomy.

And so he's speaking of their identity. He's saying, you are my servant. He's appealing to them that he has created them, that he loves them, that he has actually formed them. And these are some of the most encouraging words that you can read. My chosen one, my created one, the one whom I have formed.

This is God's power and his sovereignty in choosing his people. And then he says, do not fear. Do not fear. Why? I will help you.

I will help you. That's the reason you should not fear, because of the help of God. By the way, this whole passage is about the outpouring of the helper, the Holy Spirit. The rivers of living water, the streams in the desert, this language is all really about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This passage is a prophetic passage that helps us to understand the power and the work of the Holy Spirit and why we should never quench the Holy Spirit, because He does such a good work in us.

And he says, fear not. And again, he's calling us to be delivered from all of our fears. Why? Because you have been created, because you've been formed, because you've been chosen, because you are Jeshurun, because the people of God are beloved. You know, I don't know how the people of God can get enough of the love of God.

And I think for us as a people, we should learn to see the love of God even more. The love of God is such a sweet, sweet thing. And so the first thing, the first argument that he gives is, you are my servant, Listen, you are my servant. He does this to proclaim his superiority and his goodness. And then the second way he does this is he says, I will pour out my spirit on your descendants.

I will pour out my spirit on your descendants. I will pour out my spirit on your descendants." This spans from verse 3 to verse 5. For I will pour water on him who is thirsty. I love the way that Isaiah speaks of the water. We saw this very same thing in the previous chapter, where the jackals and the ostriches and the beasts were the recipients of God's grace.

And now we learn that they were watered in the same way that we learn that the jackals and the ostriches were watered in Isaiah chapter 55. These jackals, these despised animals, the rats, the snakes of this world, the sinners of this world find themselves in a place where grass is growing up and blessing them. This is what God does for the repentant. He gives them grass. And, you know, I love the way that John Calvin speaks of this whole matter of the water, he says, Thus the spirit is compared to water, because without him all things decay and perish through drought, and because by the secret watering of this power he quickens the whole world, And because the barrenness occasioned by drought and heat is cured in such a manner that the earth puts on a new face, This is still more fully explained by the word which he afterwards employs, and that's the word blessing.

Water is blessing, and the consistent message of the Word of God is that God is so supremely good that he would pour out blessing upon his people. And you know what? The biblical writers cannot get over it. They cannot get over this language of water and the beauty of it. They cannot be unhooked from the goodness of God.

That's why Jeremiah, writing over a hundred years later, would say in Jeremiah 31, Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the isles afar off. And say, He who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd does. For the Lord has redeemed Jacob and ransomed him from the hand of one stronger than he. Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, streaming to the goodness of the Lord. For wheat and new wine and oil, for the young of the flock and of the herd.

And their souls shall be as a watered garden, and they shall not sorrow anymore at all." This imagery of the water, you know, I love water. I have always so loved the water. I think I began to love water all the more when the Lord Jesus Christ saved me and He poured His Spirit out upon me. And I had a sense of water like never before. And I cannot get over the beauty of the imagery of the water.

And this is why the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel of John in John 7 37 through 39 speaks of this. This scripture in Isaiah 44 is fulfilled out of the mouth of Jesus Christ in John 7 37 Where he says where it says on the last day the 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." And then John says, 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. Here we learn that Isaiah was speaking of the time of Jesus' glorification.

This prophecy of living water is a prophecy of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the resulting outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost that's recorded in Acts chapter 2. That is when the living water was poured out upon all flesh, fulfilling the prophecies here of Isaiah. God gives His Spirit. You know, this was quoted in Joel chapter 2 as well, that He would pour His Spirit out upon all flesh. So not only does God demonstrate His goodness in declaring His people His servant and pouring out His Spirit on His descendants.

He says His people will spring up, verse 4, and floods on the dry ground. I will pour my spirit on your descendants and my blessing on your offspring. They will spring up among the grass like willows by the watercourses." Here's another picture that we're given of what it means to become a child of Jesus Christ and that is That you you spring up Among the grass there's this lush Verdant grass and you're springing up there you You now exist among food to eat. It's luxuriant, nourishing grass. You know, if you're a cow, you know how important it is to have luxuriant grass.

You know, when a cow runs out of luxuriant grass, he wants to go somewhere else. He wants to break out. This is what a Christian ought to do. He ought to always be going for the best grass, the clearest waters. These are the waters that God has provided.

It's interesting, he says that the descendants will spring up among the grass. And I take this in two ways. First of all, this is what God does with his people. In all eras, in the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, God does this. But he does it in an increasing way in the days of the New Covenant.

It's a better covenant with better promises and better grass. But this is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. He's prefiguring how when the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, then the descendants would also receive this. There would be children all over the world and it's the blessing of God upon the descendants of those who love God and who are called according to His purpose. This is the promise of Abraham that we read in Galatians chapter 6.

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He does not say, and to seeds as of many but as of one, and to your seed who is Christ. And this I say that the law which was 430 years later cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ that it should make the promise of no effect. This is the promise of God spreading out throughout the whole world. When God said that in you Abraham, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

In you Abraham, all the nations shall be blessed. The families and the nations are blessed by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And he makes it like a watered garden. You know, we have some men who are getting ready just this week to go to Nigeria. And compared to America, it's a parched and dry ground.

You know, you might call it an undeveloped country or an underdeveloped country. But you know, when you go to countries like this, when you go to Africa and different parts of the world where animism has ruled and reigned, what you find is there's more parched ground there. And one of the fruits of the gospel in a nation is that it makes a garden. And we're living in a land that we live in today because of its great prosperity, largely because of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. There are so many Christians here.

And as a result of that, you don't see what you see when you go to a place like Nigeria, which has been ruled by animism and unbelief and the degradation of the idols. But when you have a people who turn to God and they believe in Jesus Christ, you have a watered garden, you have a completely different kind of a place. Of course, we're squandering that spiritual heritage that we have, but still you see the vestiges of it, of the goodness of God on our land. This is the promise of God to Abraham that all the nations would be blessed in Abraham. When people turn to Jesus Christ, they take dominion over their garden and they do it good, they do it well.

They're a blessing. This is the beauty of the people of God in the world. And This prophecy was given in Joel chapter 2, and I'll just read it to you because it's so critical that we understand what this means. And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.

Your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions. And also on my men servants and on my maids servants, I will pour out my spirit in those days. This means that there's no age category, there's no gender that is preferred. God pours his spirit out on all flesh.

Yes, your daughter. Your daughter can be filled with the Holy Spirit. Your son. The old man even can be filled with the Holy Spirit. It's a picture of a whole people from the oldest to the youngest who turn to Jesus Christ.

It doesn't matter how old or wise or young you are or what gender you are. He pours the Spirit out upon all flesh. What a blessing it is. The Lord Jesus told us that we were not born of flesh, but of the Spirit. You know, this is the whole essence of Psalm chapter 1.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither. And whatever he does, he shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous." And then he says, the ungodly will perish. That's what Isaiah is doing here. He's speaking of those who are nourished and blessed by the rivers of living water. But then in verse 9 of the same chapter, he'll speak of the degradation of the idols and the stupidity of worshipping idols, how you hold a lie in your right hand, your idol is a lie and you don't even recognize it. And then God burns you and you are destroyed.

So the Spirit of God is poured out. And then something else happens here. My servant will identify with me. Remember, God is glorifying Himself. He's explaining His superiority.

He's explaining his goodness. And so far he said, you are my servant, I have created you. You are mine. And he's glorifying himself by identifying himself with sinners. And then he glorifies himself by pouring out his spirit on descendants.

And then he glorifies himself by having his people spring up in the midst of grass that's succulent. And then God continues to glorify himself in verse 5. And he says, my servant, my servants will identify with me. God is glorifying himself. He turns the hearts of sinners to himself.

And now he's praising himself for how he turns the heart of sinners toward himself. And so he says in verse 5, one will say, I am the Lord's. Another will call himself by the name of Jacob. Another will write with his hand the Lord's and name himself by the name of Israel. God is boasting in the changed heart.

He's boasting that there will be people who will love Him. Now there are four kinds of people here, and I think it's helpful to just slow down and look at them. The first kind are those who make a public declaration. One will say, I am the Lord's. That's the person who declares as a witness that he belongs to God.

I am my beloved's and he is mine. He owns me. I am His and He is mine." And he's making a public declaration. This is what happens to the Christian. He makes that public declaration.

And then there's second, the second kind of person. Those who make a private affirmation. Another will call himself by the name of Jacob. He'll be walking around and he'll say, I am my beloveds. He does it silently.

He calls himself that way. You remember Paul saying this last week. He said he found himself after being converted. He would be walking down the streets of Toronto, and he was saying, Paul is a Christian. Paul is a Christian.

He was making a private affirmation in his heart. He couldn't stop saying it because he knew who he belonged to. And then there's the third, those who produce written documentation. Another will write with his hand, the Lord's. He will write with his hand.

What is in his heart will come out of his pen. And it will come out in his journal, it will come out in his notes, his letters, it'll come out in the things that he is recording and documenting, and he'll say, I am the Lord's. And then fifthly, or fourthly, those who identify with the people of God and name himself by the name of Israel. This is identifying himself with the people of God by Taking on the name of the people of God. I am a Christian.

You know, the term Christian was a slanderous term when it was first used. It was used to dishonor the people, but the name stuck. And so now we call ourselves Christians. We call ourselves by the despised name of this world, by those who would slander us. We proudly say we're Christians because we identify with Jesus Christ and His resurrection and all of his loving kindnesses and his living water and his bread and his light and his door and everything that is good, we identify with the people of God.

You know, it is kind of, it's always seemed kind of strange to me that we would identify with one another, because we're all such a broken people. And so we come together and, you know, they're not, like as the apostle Paul said, there are not many wise among you, not many great, really. God has a way of rescuing the despised of this world, the defiled of this world, the unpopular of this world. He gravitates toward the sick of this world, and he says, you know, It's the sick who need a physician, not the righteous. And so God, he collects all these unrighteous people.

He collects the, there's an ostrich over here, there's a jackal, there's a snake, there's a former rat over here, and he puts them all together. And then they identify with one another. They become a family. And they call themselves by one name. Israel.

By Christ. By the Church. We are the Church of Jesus Christ. He's assembled us. But this is the kind of person here, he identifies himself with the people of God, and he names himself by the name of Israel.

And this is, I think, this is reflective of the Gentiles coming in. This is reflective of what happened after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, where God used those filled with the Holy Spirit to spread the gospel throughout the whole earth. And even more and more despise of this world came to him from the great pagan nations from the bombed out cities from From from the places that have been so defiled by their own sins He sent his messengers everywhere He sent them out into the jungles where people walked around naked and then they were saved. And it's not too long after that that they're driving around in boats and cars because their whole lot in life is improved and they like it that way. Because they are taking dominion.

God's changed them. And so this is what happens. You have people who are identifying themselves with God in various ways, publicly and privately and writing and then identifying with the people of God. You know, it's hard for me to read this without thinking about what happened in my own youth when I was saved. In my teens, I remember I was working out in the garage.

One day I was so happy that Jesus Christ had saved my soul. He had consoled my soul. And I was out there in the garage and my father had a fiberboard on the garage wall and I took out a nail and I wrote, for God so loved Scott Brown that he gave his only begotten son. And I wrote that there. And then A few days later I saw my sisters had added their names to that.

We wanted to write it. You know, we just had an impulse. We wanted to write it. This is exactly what we see here. You come to this realization that you are the Lord's.

This is what happens to a person. They hear the Word of God and they're convicted. They might hear it over and over. It might bore them to tears for years and years. And then finally They realize that God is true and every man is a liar.

They realize that Jesus Christ is Lord. They realize that the wrath of God is upon them. And it's heavy upon them. And the hound of heaven is upon them. And they can't get away.

And they realize their only hope is Jesus Christ. And then they see the goodness of God, they see His love, they see His mercy, they see that they can be forgiven, they see that the jackal can actually be sitting in a home and can be healed. And they see that. And then at some point they realize that they've changed, that they want to love God, that they've been called to serve Him. And so they testify and they say, I am the Lord's.

Often it happens slowly, sometimes it comes upon people quickly. Think back, you know, you who are Christians, remember what that was like When you knew, when you said, I am the Lord's, I can't think of a greater moment in the history of a person's life than that moment where they say, I am the Lord's and He is mine. You know when this happens sometimes people become aware of it and tears start streaming down their faces. Sometimes they smile, sometimes they jump for joy, sometimes they cry out, you know, sometimes they might wail, sometimes they might just simply have a quiet inner realization and they say, I'm home. The sparrow has found its home, the jackal has found its place of rest, the ostrich is in its nest.

This is the poured out Spirit of God upon all flesh. They acknowledge his ownership and his rule and he changes your whole identity. That's what happens in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. He changes everything about who you are. He does it slowly.

Isaiah chapter 62, can't wait to get there. 62, verse two. You shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord will name. You shall also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, a royal diadem in the hand of God, beloved of God, Jeshurun being held. Yes.

You shall no longer be termed forsaken, nor shall your land anymore be termed desolate. But you shall be called Hebsiba, your land, Beulah, for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married. And they shall call them, " this is verse 12, they shall call them the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, and you shall be called sought out a city not forsaken." Praise God. God is glorifying himself in those who will identify with him, who will take on his name. Remember, God's in the courtroom.

God's in the courtroom. He's proving his love. He's proving his goodness by those he saves and puts his name, and they respond, and they write his name, and they meditate on his name, and they proclaim his name they become his witnesses remember that word very important word in this chapter, witnesses. And then, and then, fifthly, they say, God says, there is no God besides me, verse 6. Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first and I am the last.

Besides me there is no God." Here God in the courtroom is proclaiming that there's no God besides Him. You want to hold your idol so tightly? It's a lie. Realize that. There is no other God besides me.

That's the whole argument that God is making. That He is superior. That He is loving. That He is good. And there is no God.

Let go of your idol, lest you be destroyed with it. That's the whole argument. And He'll complete that argument next week as we move into this next section at the very end of The chapter but notice the words here our teacher on Tuesday morning said Scott. Here's a five-point sermon right here in this one verse. It's there.

The Lord, the King of Israel. And then he speaks of his Redeemer. Who is that? It's Jesus Christ. God the Father is speaking of his Son.

This is another Trinitarian verse. Here's how you know that God is the Father and the Son is a separate person. And also the Holy Spirit is a separate person as well in this passage of Scripture. But God calls His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, his Redeemer. The Redeemer that he sent and he calls him the Lord of hosts.

This is the Lord Jesus Christ. He calls him the first and the last. I love this language of the first and the last. The Lord Jesus identifies himself as the first and the last in the New Testament. But this has to do with the sequence of life.

You know, God is eternal, But from the standpoint of all of history and also of your life, He is the first and the last. This has to do with the sequence. All the phases of history from the beginning to the end, And this is who He is for every individual as well. He is the first and the last in all the phases of your life. And we have this picture of the co-equal, co-eternal God, the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

God the Father gives the Kingdom to His Son, and He is His Redeemer. He is the King of Israel. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He vanquishes death at His resurrection. And He is placed on high.

And He is the ruler of all at His resurrection. And He's the Redeemer. In Revelation chapter 22, the last place in the Bible where this language is communicated, Revelation 22, 7, behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him even so amen I am the alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end says the Lord who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." John is recording the very same argument that Isaiah is making here, that there is no other. He is the first and the last.

You're holding on to your idol. You're holding on to this worldly thing, keeping you from salvation, and it's lying to you. Don't you realize it's a lie? But Jesus Christ is the first and the last the beginning and the end and there is no other God That's the whole argument against idolatry that he's making he's appealing to be through his people to be saved and then And then God continues to make his case, and He does it by letting mortals and idols show the things that are coming, verse 7. And who can proclaim as I do?

Let them declare it and set it in order for me. He's saying, you idols, you rulers of the world, you earthly people, you proclaim the beginning of the end. Try it. Here's your opportunity. Are you the first and the last?

No. You're not the first and the last. That's what he's saying. He says, since I appointed the ancient people, are there a people? Are there people who can proclaim it?

No, they cannot, because I am the first and the last. He says, can they proclaim the things that are coming and the things that shall come? Let them show them. He's saying, you who are petting your idols and you're cultivating your worldliness, what can it do for you? It cannot do for you what I can do for you.

You know, God has condescended. He's come in and He's arguing with His people. He gets face to face, eyeball to eyeball, and He's saying, He's saying, you cannot do any of this, but I can do this. He's trying to argue them away from their idolatry. In the same way that Elijah was confronting the prophets of Baal.

And then finally he says, do not fear, verse 8. Do not fear nor be afraid. Have I not told you from that time and declared it? You are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me?

Indeed, there is no other rock. I know not one." There's so much here to speak of. There's the whole matter of fear. Do not fear nor be afraid. God is proclaiming Himself as the one to calm all of the fears of His people.

He's saying, you serve these idols, you'll always be running in fear. You'll always be running scared, but not with me. You have no reason to fear. And then he says, you are my witnesses. Again, this is really one of the central matters of this entire chapter.

The witnesses are being called, and now he's saying to his people, you are my witnesses. You will declare, you will utter it under your breath, you'll proclaim it from the housetops, you'll write it, and you'll identify with the people of God you are my witnesses God is praising himself because he has witnesses in the world he says is there a God besides me Isaiah over and over again has been saying the same thing. Behold your God. God is true. The idols are false.

Stop trusting in idols whose breath is in their nostrils. Stop trusting in man. Stop trusting in yourself. There is no God besides me. There is no other rock.

He uses this word rock again. You know, Moses said, our rock is not like their rock. The rock of the pagans is a rock that is crushed, it dissolves, but God is a rock. He is the rock that that crushes all the other rocks. He is the foundation stone of all things that will stand.

Moses said, Oh, that they were wise and understood this, that they would consider their latter end. I wish they could understand that their rock sold them into slavery, but their rock is not like our rock. He says, their vine is the vine of Sodom and the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are the grapes of Gaul. Their clusters are bitter.

Their wine is the poison of serpents and the cruel venom of cobras. He's saying everything of this world is like a serpent and a cobra and a poison. Your vine, your vine is a bad vine. And God is declaring his glorious water. He is the vine.

He is the wine. That's Isaiah's whole argument here. He's the faithful rock, the rock that saved them. You know in Isaiah 43 in the previous section we read about this, 43.9, let all the nations be gathered together and all the people be assembled who among them can declare this and show us the former things let them bring out their witnesses that they may be justified or let them hear and say it is truth. Bring out your rock.

Is it really worth trusting in? I mean look at your rock. Look at the thing you're basing your life on. Is it the vine of the poison? Is it the rock that will crush under your feet and be dissolved and you be swept away?

Is it that? This is Isaiah's argument. He's trying to argue with these people away from their idolatry and their worldliness. They're trusting in this world for anything. He's pulling them back.

He's crying out. He's using one argument after another. He's condescended. And he's speaking. How do we apply all of this?

I think first of all, we should recognize the significance of this whole matter of being witnesses. The New Testament uses this term over and over again. The Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles use this word. The word witness in the book of Acts and other places in the New Testament is the word martyrian. We get our word martyr from it.

The witnesses are the martyrs. The witnesses are those who give up their lives for Jesus Christ. The witnesses are those who have no fear. They are writing the name of Jesus. They're speaking the name of Jesus.

They're Identifying with the people of God they are the witnesses and and the Lord Jesus Christ said you you shall be my witnesses in Acts chapter 1 verse 8 is the classic text but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth." Here the prophet Isaiah is preparing the people of God to be witnesses. He's prophesying of that time where witnesses will go out throughout the whole earth, the martyrean, the martyrs, the ones who will give their lives up, the ones who will have their property plundered, the ones who will lose their heads, the ones who will lose their reputations. They are the ones who will be the witnesses. We need to be very careful to recognize that we should not fear. In fact, the use of this term, witness, is almost always connected with strength.

In Acts 1, the witnesses are of Jesus Christ. There's no greater strength than that. In Acts 1 verse 22, they are witnesses of the resurrection. And this is the way it is. Witnesses of Jesus Christ and His resurrection.

In contrast, there are those who are the fearful, the idolaters who are afraid. They're afraid to be identified with the name of Jesus Christ. If you are afraid, you need to know what kingdom you're in. If you're afraid to identify with the people of God and you don't love the people of God. If you're afraid to say, you are the Lord's, if you're afraid to testify to Jesus Christ and His resurrection, you need to recognize that here In this passage, God is arguing with you about his superiority and his goodness.