Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. Hello. Very thoughtful, very intentional. Hello there from Pastor Rod. You haven't done the hey. The bit the Fat Albert bit. You haven't done that one in a while. It's because I accidentally cut them out every time I do the descrip pass through. Yeah. It cuts out repeated words, so it ends up like I'm just saying, Hey. Oh, so what I just said just came through as just hey. Oh, okay. Yep. There it is because AI. Is is smarter than we are. AI is helping us to edit our podcast, which means every time we talk the things that we don't intend to say, like the ums, the ahs, and the ahs that probably just got cut out from my explanation are usually not there. Yeah, I don't know. I. Sometimes I think they're okay. It can be distracting for sure, but I think just regular conversation you expect 'em to be there. And that's true. I do leave them on the sermons. So when you preach, I leave all the ums, ahs, and ahs on the sermon. 'cause that feels more like the environment is conducive to that. But what the published podcast, it assumes that there's a kind of polish to it. So I typically am pretty free about removing all of those. Extra words that don't need to be there. And part of the reason why is because I'm trying to make sure that our podcast is as concise as possible for people that are listening in, which is not always easy for us to be concise. No. No it's not. Hey, my son started his job, Domino's Pizza. Does he smell like pizza all the time? He's only been there for a couple days and so far no. It's a, but he is, he's making the pizzas. So if you guys are in the market for a pizza, Domino's off Coleman and Prosper. Give him a call. Josh is there. He'll make your pizza for you if you're calling on a weeknight. Most weeknights is there a Compass Bible Church discount? He would love to be able to do that for you. But unfortunately, is there a family and friends discount doesn't have that clout. He gets a sweet discount. So if you call him and say, Hey Josh, can you get me a pizza and bring it, bring one to me. He might be able to hook you up on that. Wow. But yeah, so that's fun. We we went out to handles the other night to celebrate, by the way, how do you say, handles ice cream? How do you say it? Dels. Okay. Is that how you say it? No. I know some people that dupe put the emphasis on the back end, though. It's handels for them. I've never heard it pronounced like that. Yeah. Ever. There's some people in our church not gonna call 'em out, but if you talk to 'em, they'll say, Handels, we call handles. That's what we've always called it, but yeah. Yeah, California establishment too. They're here. By the way, Shipley Donuts, one of the best donuts locally here was bought by a California company in that concerns me. I'm worried that they're gonna California my donuts. Which California company were they bought by? Some nameless, faceless organization. I don't know. But they're the ones with the collages that I really like and their donuts are good. And I usually go there on Friday mornings to get my kids donuts. And I'm just concerned that they're gonna California my donuts and I'm not happy. What does about that does what does that exactly look like? Just, I feel like they may just turn them into Dunking Donuts, which is, dunking Donuts. Is Dunkin a California organization know they're from the Northeast, I think, but Okay. Yeah, but I still, I don't trust just trying to figure out, I don't trust them. Are they gonna taste like ocean and meaning they're just gonna take away the uniqueness? Like they're good. They're fresh. They're not, yeah. I don't know. Yeah. So I'm concerned. That's weighing heavily on my heart. I could tell, bro. Do you wanna stop and pray about that? I would love, let's take a pause. Yeah, let's pause the podcast. Let's everybody just praying for Shipley to not compromise. We're gonna take a 15 minute pause guys, for him to pray about this. Yeah. Give us a few minutes. We'll be back. Go ahead and speak in tongues and we'll be right back. Hey, we're back. Let's jump into our reading today. That was exhausting Isaiah 54 through 58. We're dealing with at least in chapters 54 through 57, the outcome of what we just read about in chapter 53. This is gonna be what the suffering servant is going to secure. Even as 53 ends outta the anguish of his soul, he is gonna see and be satisfied. This is part of what he's gonna be satisfied by, is what he's going to bring about in chapter two. 54. The ESV heading there, the eternal covenant of peace. He's talking here to Zion, to Israel, break forth into singing and cry aloud. He's gonna talk about the land and the seed there. In verse three. You're gonna spread abroad to the right and the left. Your offspring will possess the nations. That's a hearkening back to the Abrahamic covenant. When God promises Abraham, that he will possess the land and he will have offspring as numerous as the stars in the heaven. This is looking forward to the millennial kingdom. Verse five. God has described as Israel's husband in this verse. He's gonna betroth Israel to himself. He's the redeemer. Verse seven. Israel's future is gonna be described here for us, A brief moment. I deserted you. This is looking well from Isaiah's perspective forward to the exile, but from our perspective backwards, but with great compassion, I will gather you in an overflowing anger. For a moment, I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love, I will have compassion on you, says the Lord your redeemer. The suffering servant is securing this future for Israel, which is gonna be ultimately realized in the millennial kingdom. Verse 13, all your children will be taught by the Lord and great shall be the peace of your children. This is when Jesus is gonna be reigning on the throne from Jerusalem for that a thousand year reign. How should I feel about all this as a Christian Bible reader in 2025 in the year of our Lord? When I read these things, part of me is oh, that's cool. It sounds great for them. What else should I feel about this? If anything, yeah, a and I think there's parallels for us to realize that number one, we're gonna be there. If you're in Christ, you're gonna be there. You're gonna be in the millennial kingdom reigning with Christ. And there's a lot of mystery there that, what does that look like? Yeah. Do we get our own Dunkin? Our own Shipleys for sure. Yeah. Endless Donuts. That's amazing. No but we will be. In our glorified bodies at that point in time. And that sounds fun. That is gonna be fun. And so we are not gonna die. We are not going to have any of those concerns or anything else like that. We'll be with Christ. And so we'll be present for the millennial kingdom. But the millennial kingdom, these things that he's talking about here and I can't remember next couple of days here, we're gonna read about how during the millennial kingdom, somebody who dies at a hundred years old is gonna be considered a babe who's. Dying in the millennial kingdom. And that's the thing. There's still going to be death because there's still sin in the millennial kingdom. Will there be bats? Bats, winged creatures, wing? I that, I don't know, birds. Ah, you know what? Someone texted me really angry that you called bats, birds. What? I don't know if I called them bats or you called them birds. I'm not sure who called them. What? I don't remember us talking about bats, but Yeah, I didn't know either. But apparently on July 26th, 2025, in the year of our Lord and Isaiah 40 through 43, she asked, and I'm not gonna call her out, but she said, catching up on my DBR from what I missed while at camp. Okay. Okay. So she served at Revival. Okay. That narrows down the field and you said, and I think this is the plural, you okay. Plural. You said something I feel like I need clarification on. She asks and I quote, do you think bats or birds? And I said, what? Several exclamations, several question marks. I'm not even sure what you're referring to. And of course you references the podcast when you guys were talking about Ozzy Osborne. Do you remember this? Oh, vaguely. Yeah. Anyway, she was really upset about that. Yeah. Like visibly moved. We had another question written in that we didn't get to at the beginning of this episode. We have to hit it tomorrow, so we will. Hey Megan. Crazy. Megan, we're gonna hit your question tomorrow. We got you on the episode. Sorry we didn't get to it yet. Yeah, and Hailey, sorry about the bat thing. Anyways, there it is. Mystery resolved. We should feel excited about this. It's a different kind of excitement and yes, there is gonna be syndrome during the millennial kingdom. This is not the eternal state. There is still gonna be rebellion against God. I have so many questions. So many questions. We don't have time to answer all of your questions on this. Okay. So Isaiah 54 is supposed to help me think about the millennial kingdom in its future, right? For Israel, but we're gonna be there as well. Okay? Yeah. Asked and answered. Is it what I feel like asked and muddied? Maybe? I don't know. No, I just have more questions now. Okay. Chapter 55, we get from the Lord now a, an invitation to stubborn Israel to repent and to return to him, to seek him as it's gonna say while he still may be found. And so this is a. Confrontation on the idolatry of Israel, but he's gonna invite them to come to him now to return to him. So again, this is flashing back to Isaiah's day now saying, this is what's future. Now let's come back here. And what you need to do now is you need to come back. And I love verses six through nine, some of my favorite verses in all of Isaiah and Isaiah 55, where the Lord invites. The rebellious people to seek him while he may be found to call upon him while he is near, to let the wicked forsake his way to repent the unrighteous man, his thoughts and let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him and into our God for he will abundantly pardon? And that's the context in which God says, my thoughts are not your thoughts. And that's so incredible because he's saying, the reason I'm gonna be merciful to you is something that. It is not fathomable for you to comprehend from an earthly perspective. It makes no sense. And yet my thoughts are not your thoughts. My ways are not your ways declares the Lord, and so he's beckoning Israel to come back. How should we feel about Isaiah 55 is really good because this is a foreshadowing of the gospel. This is the call that. Is on every unrepentant sinner today. This is the message that we take to the lost all around us to say, Hey, seek the Lord while he may be found. 'cause he can still be found today by the repentant sinner that comes to him in faith. And God will still today abundantly, pardon? This was the message for Israel. It's still the message that we take is the church today. Yeah, I guess I love the verses that are there, but also the ones immediately following verses 10 and 11, specifically verse 11, he's talking about the fact that what he's saying to Isaiah or through Isaiah better said, those things are going to come to pass, and he says, I can guarantee it as the rain and the snow come down from heaven. So and so do not return there, but water the earth making it. Bring forth and sprout giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater. So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in. The thing for which I sent it, this is amazing for at least two reasons. Number one, the God speaks and it has to be fruitful. That's an amazing he's saying, there's no way I can speak and it not do what I say. That's a really cool thought. But also number two, God's word is more than just. Sounds that hit our ears. And in fact, it's not even the case here. We're reading the words so they're not sounds hitting our ears unless you just heard me read it off a second ago. But God's word is an action. When God speaks. It's not just God speaking like you and I speak. He actually does things with his words, which all by itself is a really cool thought. This is the very. A foundation of how we believe God created the earth. He didn't lift his hands. He wasn't flexing his muscles. He didn't break his sweat. He spoke everything into existence, and he does. He did that through Jesus Christ, who himself was the agent of God's creation. And that's a really cool thought. God does things through the power of his word. When we talk about God's powerful word, we're not just saying that in theory. Or as some grand gesture of of highlighting God's word. We're saying that God actually does things through his spoken word. Yeah. Which is why we're all saved to begin with. Chapter 56 is good news for the Gentiles in the room. So for me, not so much for Pastor Rod. That's right. Thank you. But it is good news for those of you listening that are gentiles, because this is where this invitation to come to the Lord, to seek him while he may be found, is extended to those even outside the nation of Israel. Verse six, in the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it these he says in verse seven, I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. And then this factors into the New Testament because he says that his house of prayer is gonna be called a house of prayer for all peoples. This is one of the reasons why Jesus, when he comes into the temple and finds the court of the Gentiles there turned into this money changing operation. This is why he gets so angry and turns over the tables, and it goes back to this verse. Even says, shall not my house be called a house of prayer for all nations? The money changers had set up camp in the court of the Gentiles. And so you had all of this noise, and you had the money being exchanged, and you had the animals there and the smells and everything else, which would've prohibited the nations from coming into the temple as far as they could get, as close as they could get to the temple to worship God. And so that was being impeded there. And it comes back here because God's plan has always been for the gospel to be not only just for the Israelites and the Jewish people, but also for the nations. And just think about how amazing that thought is. This is a pretty critical chapter and we gloss over it. We, it's a big deal though, because to this point, really throughout all of Israel's history, God had been hinting at Gentile inclusion, but here it's. Pretty explicit. It is. Yeah. I find that to be pretty fascinating that God would make it so clear to Isaiah and through Isaiah that God's desire is to have his salvation be extended to the top of my ESB says foreigners, salvation for foreigners. Yeah. I don't think you're supposed to say that anymore, but that's really cool and I love that because God is not just hinting at his future inclusion, but he's saying it explicitly. My, my goal is not just for you Israel, my goal is to use you to be a blessing to all people. That goes back to Genesis chapter 12. 15. The Abrahamic covenant wants to be a blessing for everybody, and here you have it more explicitly stated that God's blessing extends beyond Israel to the Gentiles, which at this time, remember you had the Assyrians threatening Israel, still you had the Babylonians that were gonna be coming up. So this is not a time when everybody in the world was living at peace with each other, where it's oh yeah the, yeah, sure. It'd be great to have them come to faith as well. This would've been radical for the Israelites to hear this and think about the Gentiles, those that were threatening their very existence as being some of the people that God wanted to. Bring into the covenant community. Yeah. No, thanks, God. Yeah. Chapter 57, the opening part here again, confronts Israel, stubbornness their idolatry, and yet at the same time it opens with an interesting concept here. He says in the second part of verse one, he says, for the righteous man is taken away from calamity, he enters into peace. They rest in their beds, who walk in their uprightness. We've talked quite a bit last year, and we've alluded to it a couple times this year about their concept of the afterlife, and I think this is talking about the confidence that the righteous person has in the peace that accompanies death in passing on and leaving this world and being taken away from calamity. That's removed from the danger, removed from the chaos, removed from God's judgment. And entering into peace instead, those who walk in their uprightness. And here's a glimpse it's still not as well developed as progressive revelation will continue to reveal as the Bible can progresses here. That was redundant, but anyways it's there nonetheless. I think there's a confidence there. And then the rest of this is contrasting that with those that are wicked, those that are stubborn, those that are self-righteous. He says in verse 11, have I not held my peace even for a long time? And do you not yet. Fear me. I will declare your righteousness and your deeds, but they will not profit you. We're gonna see again in a couple days here what he thinks about those righteous deeds and what they amount to in his sight. But the similar concept shows up here. He says, look, okay, fine. You wanna list your righteousness and your good deeds. Let's go there. Let's take into account of them and I'll tell you what they amount to they're not gonna profit you at all. Because in the end, it's not about that. It's about whether or not you worship me. And right now you're worshiping the faults gods. And so he's confronting the people there at the beginning of chapter 57. Yeah, I really like how verse 13 puts it. He says, when you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you. Yeah. Go cry out to your idols. And he says here, the wind will carry them all off. A breath will take them away. They're effectively weightless. They have no ability to help or to do anything valuable for them except enslave them and ensnare them in further sin. This is not new for Isaiah. This is what he's been saying the whole time, and he constantly highlights the uniqueness, the gravitas, and the power of Yahweh. And again, I really, I know I've said this before, but I just want you to see, even though they actually refer to real idols, that is the wood, the stones, and all those things we have different kinds of idols. Ours don't look the same, but we still can be idolaters in a different way. John Calvin is famous for having said that, the heart is an idol factory, and I think that is true even for Christians. The difference between us and an unbeliever however, is not that we. Don't have our idols is that we're willing to forsake them. So let me encourage you today, examine your heart as you read through this, and make sure that you are not putting your trust in something that's going to be carried off, where a breath will take those idols away. As some people will say money, sprouts, wings and flies away. So don't put your trust there either. Yeah. A good book, by the way, ladies, if you're looking for one on the, that subject is the book Idols of the Heart by Carolyn Mahaney. That's one that not for fellas. Do what? Not for fellas. I think it's more geared towards the lady folk, okay. I don't think that she's pressing in on the same idols that men might have in that context. Oh, I see. Okay. Rest of chapter 57. Then he does offer, again some hope here. And that's the thing with Isaiah, it's Isaiah's not, Hey, this is the final nail in the coffin. God's done with you. He's saying there is hope here. And so he's gonna exalt God, he's gonna, God is gonna exalt himself, I guess rather in verse 15. Thus says the one who is high, who inhabits eternity. I love that phrase. He inhabits eternity. He says, I dwell with a high in the holy place. And also with him who is contrite in lowly in spirit to be contrite over something. If you think about when somebody talks about feeling contrition, it's sorrow, it's repentant, it's to be. Grieved over one's sinfulness. And so he says of those people, verse 16, I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry. That's the hope of mercy and God's patience and God's steadfast love and his faithfulness to the covenant too. He's reminding the people of Judah, Hey, I'm not gonna abandon you forever. Judgment's coming, but if you are contrite. It's gonna go well for you in this, and there's a future and there's a hope for you in that as well. This is beautiful because he says in verse 15 that the God who inhabits eternity, the high, holy, lofty, perfect God is the same God who dwells with him, who is contrite and lowly in spirit, who you were just talking about. God lives with those who are humble and repentant. God spends time with those people. Those are the people that God is attracted to. In verse 19, it says, those are the same people that he speaks. Peace. Peace to. In verse 21, it says, there is no peace for the wicked. And so now we're beginning to see, at least in Isaiah's conception of who a righteous person is. A righteous person is humble, repentant, and looks to the Lord for salvation. And God says to that person, peace. Peace. You are the one who gets peace. That's not different from the New Testament. And I love this analogy because in the Old Testament, you might think the gospel was. Was not the same. And I guess it's true, it's not explicitly expressed in the Old Testament, but here you have a really good synopsis, a really good summary. The humble and contrary. See God, they're the ones who experience peace. The Wicked no peace. Chapter 58 is a is a sobering chapter as he talks about the pseudo righteous and the false religion that is out there. And he describes the people in a way that is, is. Fear inducing in, in verse two, he says yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God. They ask of me righteous judgments. They delight to draw near to God. You talked about idols and the fact that we don't have wood idols in our houses that we're bowing down to, and yet this man just. Again it's fear inducing how we can be prone to go throughout our whole weeks, forgetting our relationship with God. We can go through the motions of of just giving him lip service on Sunday mornings, and then go live for ourselves the rest of the week, and then show up on Sunday and offer our praise and song. Or we can have the diagnosis come back from the doctrine and all of a sudden we feel like, oh, now I need God and I've been living for myself for so long, and now I'm gonna turn to him and I'm gonna say, God, please help me. Please deliver me from this or. Something unjust happens to you or unjust happens in your life. You get fired from a job that you shouldn't have been or you get passed over from a promotion you should have gotten and you ask God to correct the injustice done to you. All the while you haven't had a relationship with him, and that's what he's confronting the Israelites on here. He says, you're delighting to draw near to me as though you think I should do anything for you when you haven't lived for me at all, and yet you. Delight to play church on Sundays. And so chapter 58 Or play temple. Or play temple, yeah. I guess for them. And so chapter 58 is very sobering in this and yet he's still telling them, Hey, there's time to repent. Verse 13, if you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight in the holy day of the Lord, honorable, if you honor it, then you shall take delight in the Lord. Then I'll make you ride on the heights of the earth. And so God is still calling his people back to repentance. But chapter 58 is just one of those that's okay, let's. Let's examine our hearts and make sure that we're not going through the motions and just playing church by showing up on Sunday, expecting God's gonna be happy with us. And how do you know if you're doing that? He gives a few clues here. Verse five says is such the fast that I choose a day for a person to humble himself. And so again, just like in chapter 57, you see a common thread about the kind of person God pleases or the kind of person that pleases God. And that person is the contr, the lowly. And here he says specifically the humble person. A fast is not meant to. To conduct your own business, as he says earlier, but it really is about humbling yourself and seeking the Lord well. What is the seeking of the Lord look like? In verses six and following, really through verse 12, that God says a lot of things like this. Is this, the face that I choose is it not this kind of fast that is to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yolk, to let the oppress go free and to break. Every yoke is it not to share your bread with the hungry and to bring the homeless poor into your house when you see the naked to cover him and not to hide yourself from your own flesh. That is your family. He's saying essentially, the humble person demonstrates a fast of repentance by acts of love for his people. I don't think that's any. I don't think that's any different for us. Our repentance has to be connected to works. Now, don't hear me say anything that I'm not, works are not repentance in and of themselves, but a repentant heart demonstrates works of love for people. I don't think there's any way that you can escape that. God is saying a humble person seeks the Lord's will, seeks the Lord's direction. And what that's going to manifest itself in is to do all of these acts of repentance. Really, which are acts of love for people. Verse 10, if you pour out yourself out for the hungry, satisfy the desire of the afflicted light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom as a noon day. In other words, your love for people will result in my blessing of your life and in your and of your work. Yeah, John the Baptist. Confronts the Pharisees and says, Hey, you need to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. So to your point, repentance is not, and that's the problem some in the church today will say repentance is simply a change of mind, but it's gotta be more than that. It's not just a change of mind to think that something that once. Didn't think was a sin, now is a sin. It's a matter of changing. Yes, your mind, but also your posture, your attitude, your approach, your behavior, your actions towards that. And you hate it. And you change and now you're turning towards obedience in Christ. And that obedience in Christ is gonna show up in our actions. It's gonna show up in, in more than just our words, more than just our mindset. And so that's why John says bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And that's why yeah, we've gotta see the love for others. I think that's a great example of when you're loving someone else, especially. With that sacrificial love that we're called to love one another with, and it's not because of what they can do for us. I think that's a great evidence of the fact that God's at work within a person's life. That's right. You can't change your mind about something and not change your actions about it. Yeah. There has to necessarily be, because you're not a compartmentalized human being. Your thoughts, your feelings and your actions all work together to harmonize with your whole person. We call it cognitive dissonance. When someone thinks in a way different than how they act, there's a cognitive dissonance because we don't like that. Human beings like being integrated, and that's what God wants for us. And part of that just looks like saying, man, if I really do truly love the Lord, I'm going to love people. And here's what that looks like in Isaiah 58. Yeah. Let's pray and then we'll be done with. This episode of the Daily Bible Podcast, God we want to be those that are wholeheartedly following you. We want to be fully devoted to you. We want to be men and women of integrity. A wholeness before you not thinking one way and acting another way. And God, we certainly don't wanna be those that draw near to you with a false sense of religiosity. We don't wanna be those that, that just go through the motions or render you lip service or only turn to you when we need you. We want to have a genuine. Intimate relationship with you that causes us to walk daily with you step by step as we walk in faith in your promises to us. And so we thank you for texts like this and the rich text that we've just read about how you will abundantly pardon us. And you are available to us and you delight to forgive us our, even of our trespasses and sins because of your mercy and your ways are above our ways. God we thank you for all of these wonderful things that we get to mind from the book of Isaiah. Help us as we continue to study it in the coming days. We're praying Jesus name, amen. Amen. Keep in your Bibles. Tune in again tomorrow for another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. See you. Bye.

thanks for listening to another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. This is a ministry of Compass Bible Church in north Texas. You can find out more information about ourChurch@compassntx.org. We would love for you to leave a review to rate to share this podcast on whatever platform you happen to be listening on, and we will catch you against tomorrow for another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.