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[0:00] And we find in this passage in the prophet Isaiah, which we read, mindful, as we've mentioned often in the past, that in the original there wouldn't be chapters and verses, there would just be continuous narrative, continuous scroll, writing, ongoing.

[0:16] So this is one reason why we shouldn't worry too much about appearing to jump from one chapter into the next, because in the original it would just run continuously. And we find in this passage that we have read, that we can say that there are different depths, as is so often the case, there are different depths to the truth of God's word.

[0:36] There is that which is clearly applicable to Israel and Judah in the original context. We can see also that it is applicable to us now in a New Testament era, in a present day, that we can take it as being applicable to us and to those who seek the Lord and those who have need of the Lord and perhaps those who have no thought of the Lord at all.

[0:58] It is applicable likewise to them. But we see also there are elements of the passage applicable to the Messiah, to the Lord Jesus Christ, who of course, as the representative of his people, gathers up their experience and their presentation of their righteousness in him, and there are no righteousness outside of him.

[1:22] As their sacrifice, he goes through suffering for them. He endures all that he endures for them. And there is a sense also in which it is applicable to him.

[1:33] There are these different levels, these different layers, and it is not a case of which one's the true meaning, because they are all the true meaning. We mentioned in prayer a moment ago about the ocean.

[1:45] Now, which is the true ocean? I remember years ago, as I've probably mentioned in the past, one visit I ever made to the south of France, being amazed to see the sea coming out of the beach.

[1:55] I think that's the Mediterranean. I've never seen the Mediterranean before. It's amazing. That's the same sea that stretches all the way to the shore of Palestine and goes past Cyprus and Crete and Malta and all these other islands.

[2:10] That's amazing. I expected it to be warm, and then when I paddle on the edge of it, of course, it was absolutely freezing cold, which was a bit of a disappointment. But even so, I still paddled under the shallow bit of it.

[2:22] But it's still the Meg. It was still the Mediterranean, just as much as the bit that lapsed the shores of Gaza or of Terapeh, or whatever the case may be. It's all still true, the same ocean.

[2:33] It is all still God's word, and it is all still applicable. It's not what's the real meaning here, what's the right one, what's the wrong one. Because whether it is to us, whether it is to Old Testament Israel, whether it is to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, it can be seen to be applicable in gathering up its application of truth in almost every case.

[2:58] Verse 18, then, of chapter 42. Hear ye death, and look ye blind that ye may see. Now, blindness is applied in different ways here.

[3:08] If we were to look back to preach to verse 16, which we didn't read, the Lord is talking about bringing his people out of exile. They have been blinded. They have been ignorant.

[3:19] They've been in darkness. But he intends to bring them out of exile to make the crooked things straight. These things will he do and not forsake them. They'll be turned back. They'll be greatly ashamed at trust in engraven images that say to the molten images, false gods, you are gods.

[3:36] Hear ye death, and look ye blind that ye may see. When we are in exile, and all of us have been in exile from the Lord at some point in our lives. When we are in exile, we are to an extent blinded.

[3:49] We are in an alien environment, just like the Israelites in Babylon. They were surrounded by idolatry. They could not physically see the promised land or the holy mount of Jerusalem.

[4:00] They couldn't physically see the temple. They couldn't participate in the sacrifices. They were blinded by their exile. And to an extent, we are blinded in our exile.

[4:11] Until such time as the Lord brings us back, that he draws us back to himself. It is his duty. It is not ours. The Jews in exile in Babylon didn't say, Ach, we're getting fed up here.

[4:24] No, time to go home. Rather, it took a changeover of regime from the Babylonians to the Medes and then the Persians. And Cyrus, finally, he writes the decree and tells them it's time for them to go home.

[4:37] Those that want to can go back to build the temple. They can go back to the promised land. But the order comes from the top. It comes from the king. It doesn't come from the captives on the ground.

[4:49] And when we are brought to the Lord out of our exile, out of our captivity to ignorance and sin, it doesn't come from us. Yes, the Lord made place in our hearts a desire to return to him.

[5:02] But it comes ultimately from the king. He issues the decree. He is the one that calls us back. Hear ye death. Look ye blind that ye may see.

[5:14] There is a sense in which we are all blind until the Lord opens our eyes. Remember Saul of Tarsus when he was converted. And how, yes, he thought he was doing God's will. He thought he was being a good person.

[5:25] He thought he was being right and full of zeal. And yet, after the Lord spoke to him in his Damascus Road conversion, he was physically and literally blind for three days. And he could eat or drink anything either until Ananias came and prayed over him.

[5:40] And it says, like scales fell from his eyes. And that's what is needed for us, for scales to fall from our eyes that we finally see the truth. As it is in Christ Jesus.

[5:53] And then it says, Who is blind but my servant? Or deaf as my messenger that I sent. Who is blind as he that is perfect and blind as the Lord's servant?

[6:05] Seeing many things but thou observest not. Opening the ears but he heareth not. Even those of us who know the Lord. We are so blind compared to what we should be.

[6:17] We are so deaf to his entreaties into the still small voice. Now when it says perfect there, if that's applied to people, whether it's the Old Testament Jews or the New Testament church, it doesn't mean sinless.

[6:31] It means fitted for the purpose. Perfectly suited for the purpose to which they are called. They are called to be the Lord's. And he has equipped them with all that they need for that. And yet they can still be so blind.

[6:44] And yet they can still be so ignorant. Seeing many things but thou observest not. Opening the ears but he heareth not. And we think, well how can this be applicable to Christ?

[6:55] Well because there is a sense in which our Lord, as he was attacked and brutalised and condemned, he was blind to all that they tried to provoke him with, plus the fact that they physically blindfolded him as they beat him up.

[7:11] And he was deaf to all their accusations and entreaties. Psalm 38 put it this way. Verse 13. But I as a deaf man heard not. I was as a dumb man openeth not his mouth.

[7:25] Thus I was as a man that heareth not, in whose mouth are no reproofs. Our Lord was blind to all that they tried to entice him with, blind to the blandishments of the devil on the mouth of temptation.

[7:40] He was blind to all the things they might try to get him to do or say, to betray his trust. He was deaf to the accusations. He wouldn't speak a word. Except occasionally to Pilate when he said, you would have no power.

[7:55] Except it were given you from on high. But this is a people robbed and spoiled. They are all of them snared in holes. They are hid in prison houses.

[8:06] They are for a prey and none delivereth. For a spoil and none seereth restore. Now the sense here of the holes, it literally means caverns. And the sense is of those who have fled into these caves and into these holes in the ground to escape from a bad calamity.

[8:23] But instead these, what they thought would be these places of safety, these inner caves and holes in the ground and caverns, have ended up becoming a prison to them. They've become caught, trapped in them.

[8:36] That is not so often the case with this world. If you think of anybody who is suffering under addiction of some kind, how did they get into that addiction? They would have gotten into that addiction initially because it seemed like a place of refuge.

[8:52] It seemed like a place of greater safety from which they could shut out the world. They could shut out the bad things, the pain, the hurt that was happening.

[9:03] It seemed like a safe hole in the ground, a safe cavern. And so they would return to it again and again. And eventually it became not a place of safety.

[9:13] In fact, probably very quickly it became not a place of safety. It became a place of imprisonment from which they couldn't escape. Even if they wanted to, even when they wanted to, they couldn't get out.

[9:26] This is a people robbed, robbed of their dignity in which they were created. We were created to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

[9:38] We were created for relationship with God. God made man in His own image, male and female. And this is what we are intended, designed to be and to do.

[9:50] That when sin comes in, when it first came in with our first parents, it robbed us as a human race of that dignity. It robbed us of all that we were meant to be.

[10:02] And so we are a people robbed and spoiled. And we seek our solace. We seek our protection, our safety in just about anything other than in the Lord, where we should be going.

[10:14] And it becomes our prison house. Even this world becomes our prison house. Even if we surround ourselves with wealth and protection. Remember the book of Proverbs says, wisdom is a defense and money is a defense.

[10:29] But the fear of the Lord is greater than all these things. They are for a prey. None delivereth for a spoil and none saith restore. Nobody's going to put them back.

[10:40] Nobody's going to set them free. And yet the Lord is the one who can set free. If we go back to verse 7 of chapter 42 that we didn't read today, but if we were to turn back to what you'd see, then it says, the Lord has called his people in righteousness and he intends to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

[11:06] Remember in chapter 61, if we were to go forward a bit to that, that which Jesus read in the synagogue in Nazareth, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek.

[11:19] He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. There is no power in earth that can get you free from your prison house.

[11:34] There is no power in earth that can break the chains of addiction or fear or anxiety to surround ourselves with what we think is the protection of this world. There is no power but the Lord able to do that because he alone is greater than all the powers in heaven and earth.

[11:54] There is nobody else who's going to say, restore. Who among you will give ear to this? Who will hearken and hear for the time to come? Who will learn from past judgments?

[12:05] You see, it's not just in a sense, it's not just God who doesn't change. Human nature doesn't change. Our technology changes and the sophistication of our society may change, but human nature doesn't change.

[12:20] We're just the same as we were hundreds of years ago, thousands of years ago, who got the same weaknesses, the same addictions, the same fascinations, the same power over us there is with the same kind of things that we fall because of.

[12:35] We don't learn from these things. Every generation thinks that they are the first generation to discover some particular sin or some particular delightful pastime and they think, oh, our parents knew nothing.

[12:48] Our grandparents, what did they know? They weren't modern people like us. They did the same things in their day. They made the same discoveries. They had the same sort of scared, kind of daredevil rebellion against their parents' generation.

[13:04] It all has happened before. We don't learn from the past. Here, for the time to come, who gave Jacob for a spoil and Israel to the robbers?

[13:17] Did not the Lord? He against whom we have sinned, for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient to his law. Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger and strength of batting that set him on fire round about.

[13:32] Yet he knew not. It burned him. Yet he laid it not to heart. And so often the Lord chastises not with the sword, but with the rod. He chastises that he may discipline us, that he may bring us back.

[13:47] But we won't hear. And we won't listen. And because we won't listen, it doesn't matter how much damage we sustain. We won't learn from it. We think of the rich man and Lazarus in the parable of Jesus told in Matthew 16.

[14:02] And when he says, you know, oh, let me, let's send somebody back. I've got five brothers and they'll learn not to come into this place of torment and of flames. You know, let Lazarus dip his finger and cool my tongue just with a drop of water.

[14:15] And Abram said, they have Moses and the prophets. They've got all the Old Testament scriptures. They've got all that they need. Everything is there that they need. In order to learn of me.

[14:26] He says, nay, Father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto them, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.

[14:39] Didn't that prove to be so true? Those who would not hear the word of God proclaiming the Messiah in the Old Testament, even when Jesus came back from the dead and proclaiming himself and his kingdom to the world, they still wouldn't hear.

[14:55] They still wouldn't believe and accept. Yet he knew it not. It burned him, but he waited not the heart. The Lord does not desire the suffering of his people.

[15:08] Rather, he desires that they learn from the inevitable sufferings of this world and sometimes the disciplined sufferings that he may inflict upon us.

[15:20] In chapter 30 of Isaiah, the Lord says this in verse 15. He says, Thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest shall ye be saved.

[15:31] In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. And ye would not. It was meant to be a word of comfort. It was meant to be their deliverance, but they wouldn't have it.

[15:43] But now, chapter 43, Thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel. Notice the two different names in use there.

[15:53] It means the same things, the same nation that's being described, Jacob, Israel. And one is the old name, the name of the supplanter, the twister, the chancer, Jacob.

[16:04] And the other is the name that God gave him at the time when he wrestled at the Jabot River. Israel, which means a prince with God. He says, I have called thee by thy name.

[16:15] Thou art mine. I gave you the name that you have. Now, we've said many times in the past, every name in Scripture means something. All names have a meaning anyway, but in Scripture particularly, a name is given because it means something.

[16:31] And when the Lord takes the name of the supplanter, Jacob, and changes it to that of a prince with God, Israel, it is for a reason. It is the Lord who plants in the heart of each one of our parents what name they are going to give to their child, perhaps before it is born.

[16:53] Before it's born, mum or your dad might have sat down and said, well, if it's a girl, we'll call it this. If it's a boy, we'll call it that. And so the name is probably already chosen.

[17:03] It might not be, it might not be until after they're born, but it's probably chosen before they're born. It's a girl this, it's a boy that. And then when the baby's born, then it's given the name. And we think, we think it up.

[17:14] We think it's up to us. We decide it's after auntie so-and-so or it's after uncle this or it's after his father or whatever. But it is the Lord who puts the name in the heart of the parents to lay upon each individual child.

[17:28] I have named them. I have called thee by thy name. Thou art mine. God owns every single soul that is brought into the world.

[17:41] Now they may or may not accept him. They may reject him. And they may not end up being with him for all eternity. He may choose to allow that which he owns to be separated from him for all eternity.

[17:55] But he owns us nonetheless. We are his by creation. We are his by design. And some are his by redemption and choosing.

[18:07] When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned.

[18:20] Neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour. He doesn't say, he doesn't say, well if you trust in me nothing bad will happen to you.

[18:34] He doesn't say, well as long as you believe in Jesus you'll have a nice, cozy, easy life. There won't be any floods, there won't be any fires, everything will just be hungry, don't you? You'll be fine.

[18:45] Now he says, when you pass through the waters, you're going to pass through the waters, there's going to be floods, there's going to be difficulties, and there's going to be problems. And that, my friend, as we all know, is going to happen to you whether or not you trust in Christ or not.

[19:01] Nobody gets a free ride in this world. Horrible things happen to people who reject the Lord just as they do to people who trust in the Lord. For the Christian, there is the additional burden that some things happen to them specifically because they belong to Christ.

[19:16] But even if they didn't, then bad things are still going to happen. That's the nature of this world, separated from God by sin. But what the Lord says is when you pass through the waters and through the floods, I will be with you.

[19:28] That's his promise. I will never leave you nor forsake you. When it happens, I'll be there with you in it. And it won't destroy you. It won't overwhelm you. It won't burn you up.

[19:40] Yes, there will be wounds, there will be injury, there will be suffering through it, but neither shall a flame kindle upon me. There shall not be burned up. You won't be destroyed because I will be with you.

[19:52] I will never leave you nor forsake you. How is he able to say this? Well, it's back to Jesus again. Because we said, remember, it's not just about us now and it's not just about Israel then.

[20:03] It's also about Christ. The representative for his people, the representative for redeemed mankind, that he has passed through the flood of suffering so much deeper than any suffering we endure.

[20:21] Because he endures not merely scourging and crucifixion and all the physical torment, but he endured also upon the cross that separation from the comfortable presence of his father, bearing upon himself the sin of all who would trust and believe in his name.

[20:44] Now, the father is of pure eyes that will behold iniquity. That means that he would be unable to look in love upon his son whilst that sin is being borne upon the cross.

[20:57] The father, if we may so speak reverently, turns his face away and that the Lord upon the cross is experiencing that separation when he cries, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

[21:11] It's not him that the father must turn away from. It is the sin which he bears. And the wages of sin is death. And separation from God is what death is.

[21:23] And if we are separated from God eternally, then we are eternally in a state of death. This is what Christ endured upon the cross. that separation, as it were, an eternal depth of separation from his father for all who would believe in his name.

[21:42] Not only up to that time, but for all time coming, he bore their price, their sin, upon the cross. He has endured such a depth of sorrow.

[21:53] It's not for nothing. The Apostles' Creed says he descended into hell. That is what he bore for us. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee.

[22:05] I have been down so much lower, so much deeper than you, it says. I have been burned so much more savagery. I know what fire is like. I know what floods are like.

[22:16] I know what suffering and sorrow is like. I know death. Because I have been there. And that's not anything that any of us can say.

[22:26] Not in the way that he can. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour. I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia, and sea before thee.

[22:40] Now, in a sense, historically, we could say this is applicable to when the Lord took the Israelites out of Egypt. It wasn't just a sort of walk in the park and sort of, bye, that's nice.

[22:51] I thank you for the 400 years we've been after us now. No. They had suffered as slaves in great difficulty and great suffering and great persecution for 400 years.

[23:03] And then when the time came, the Lord spoiled the Egyptians. He afflicted them with the plagues. Egypt was, to all intents and purposes, destroyed as a powerful nation. Why did he destroy what was at that time the world's greatest superpower so that his band of runaway slaves could be brought out?

[23:23] Now, many, if we can say innocent, Egyptians would have died in those plagues, would have suffered, would have been afflicted. But this, the Lord was prepared to do in order to redeem his people.

[23:36] But I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia, and Siva to save thee. Others have been permitted to go.

[23:47] Others have been, almost we might say, dispensed with so that you could be redeemed. Let's say, well, that doesn't seem very fair, does it? I mean, that's not very nice at all, isn't it?

[23:58] Why should they, Sava? They had, in a sense, their time. 400 years of glory and of oppression of these rights building their treasure cities. And, oh yes, but they didn't all equally benefit from that.

[24:10] No, but that is where they chose to build their treasures on earth. And the Israelites who trust, are believing and trusting in one who offers them here, no continuing city, but one that will last for all eternity.

[24:27] The Lord chooses whom he will save. And the Lord chooses whom he will let go. And if we find ourselves on the side of those redeemed, are we then to turn around and say, oh, well, this is a very fair Lord.

[24:42] You should have redeemed them as well. Well, the number of the elect is fixed by the Lord. You want to go and take your place? You want to go to a lost eternity. And then, and then come and take your place.

[24:53] Well, love would say, oh, yes, if I could do that, then I would like to, but is your love for Christ such that you want to be separated from him for all eternity.

[25:04] Love for Christ ultimately should overrule all these things that we who are in a sense apart from him as long as we are in the world long for him, look for that time when we shall be with him for all eternity.

[25:22] Can we bear to think of Christ so lightly and say, oh, well, you know, that's okay, Lord. I'll just end off to a lost eternity. Sorry, never mind. You know, bye. I'm sure you managed fine without me as long as somebody else can get in here.

[25:37] Is it worth it? Can you do it? Have you the power to do it? You don't have the power to redeem even one lost soul. Christ has the power to redeem as many as he will.

[25:49] And he has chosen for himself and enabled to believe in him all who will be redeemed. It is a hard, deep mystery mystery for us.

[26:01] But at the same time, if you were to say to one who has no thought of Christ, oh, come on, come to the Lord, he'll be saved you. You're a blessed eternity. Get me? Well, no, thanks. Religious nutter, don't want any of that stuff.

[26:12] You take your God and go. Oh, but you don't understand. You'll be like, fine, take it, go. But you've got to have the free choice to come. Well, I'm exercising my free choice. Go away.

[26:23] Get out of my life. This is the choice of the world. They want nothing of the Lord. And God, in his great mercy and perfect justice, gives us exactly what we want.

[26:38] If we desire the Lord for our Savior and pursue that and seek him while he is to be found, he grants us that in his mercy. And if we desire nothing to do with him, he grants us that.

[26:52] Since thou was precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable and I have loved thee. Therefore, will I give men for thee and people for thy life.

[27:03] He gives the ultimate man, the God-man for our lives. He stands himself in the gap. He goes himself to the cross and if there is an ultimate sacrifice to be made, it is he himself who makes it.

[27:17] Fear not, for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the east and gather thee from the west. I will say to the north, give up and to the south, keep not back.

[27:29] Bring my sons from far and my daughters from the end of the earth, even everyone that is called by my name. For I have created him for my glory. I have formed him.

[27:40] Yea, I have made him. Now you see, we have here, we have a prophecy, not only of Israel coming back from exile, because it doesn't say bring back my sons and daughters from my father.

[27:53] It says bring them. In other words, bring them from where they have never been before. They've never been sent out. They're not simply in exile. We're talking now about those who had never known the Lord before but who are being brought to him.

[28:08] This is why it says here, let all the nations, verse 9, be gathered together and the people be assembled. Now we've mentioned in the past of where the Old Testament uses the term nations or Gentiles.

[28:20] It means all the other nations of the world and when it says that the people, the people means Israel. Nations means the Gentiles. And we've got nations, the world, the Gentile world and you've got the people of Israel.

[28:33] Those who are redeemed from Jews and Gentile life being brought. Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, the deaf that have ears. And from the north and the south and the east and the west they are being brought to the Lord.

[28:47] When it says my sons from far and my daughters from the ends of the earth. You'll know of course that the Old Testament quite often tends to use the genetic term the masculine and use only sons instead of children quite often.

[29:02] When it specifies sons and daughters it means completeness, absolute completeness because it is enunciating both genders of children, sons and daughters, every last one redeemed, every last one who is called keep not back, bring my sons from far, my daughters from the ends of the earth.

[29:25] I'll say to the north, give up, to the south, keep not back. I'll bring my seat from the east, I'll gather thee from the west, everyone that is called by my name.

[29:36] Now again, we've mentioned often in the past that part of what is happening when a child is baptized, it's not just given its own name but it is baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity.

[29:48] The water, the sacrament is dispensed and the name of the Lord is pronounced upon that child. So and so I baptize thee in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

[30:00] It says in the book of Numbers at chapter 6 at the end the ironic blessing there says they will put my name upon the children of Israel and I will bless them.

[30:12] Now every child born of a father and mother in that family they take the name of the father. They have what we used to call a sow name. Our last name is the name of our father and we inherit that because we are their child.

[30:30] We inherit the name of the Lord because he puts his name upon us. We are not his children by nature. We are his children by adoption. Only Christ is his son by nature.

[30:43] But he has chosen and adopted his children and that's the thing with adoption isn't it? Because every adopted child isn't just a happening of nature over which we may have very little control.

[30:57] It is a child that is explicitly chosen named and chosen and brought within the family father. So bring forth the blind people that have eyes and the deaf that have ears.

[31:10] The Lord makes himself known. Romans tells us in chapter 1 verse 20 the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse.

[31:27] The evidence has hollowed round us. You know the people who would say oh there isn't any God because we just trust in science in fact the laws of science and the laws of nature and of mathematics and of logic all tell us we cannot simply have sprung into existence from non-existence.

[31:50] We didn't just get zapped in some primordial sludge and if we did who zapped us? Where does life begin and originate? It is statistically mathematically scientifically to all intents and purposes impossible that we have simply evolved from one little amino which is a hugely actually complex cell anyway and then into another cell and then another and all the way up the food chain because the statistical requirements of being able to make all these constant positive adaptations instead of decay down the way which is what the law of nature would require the laws of science would dictate it requires it necessitates some external input it requires somebody to actively insert power insert design insert intention into our growth development appearance as a human race the evidence is around us in creation the evidence is around us in providence the evidence is around us in the record of God's written word which contains things that people could not possibly have foreseen and known but which came to pass you know when you consider even the likes of Psalm 22 or of Isaiah 53 which is written something like six or seven hundred years before the crucifixion of Christ and yet the amount of detail that is in there they couldn't possibly have known because it is inspired by God when you have the Israelites taught in their camp in Deuteronomy and Leviticus about hygiene and about cleanliness and about care you know the basics like sewage disposal and all the rest of it hundreds thousands of years before bacteria was ever discovered by man why all this concern for hygiene and all these practices because God knows these things in a way that man does not know nowhere in the

[33:53] Bible does it say the earth is flat nowhere in the Bible does it say it's square or anything like that man invented that idea God did not declare it in his word he is way ahead of us there is the evidence of his written word there is the evidence of his appearance in the person of his son Jesus Christ and more not more than that but along with that there is the evidence of those whom the Lord continues to convert and to change their heart in each successive generation let all the nations be gathered together let the people be assembled who among them can declare this and show us former things who can show us the things that used to be and what shall be for the future let them bring forth their witnesses that they may be justified let them hear and say this truth ye are my witnesses say the Lord and my servant whom I have chosen not only

[34:53] Christ himself but all his spiritual children they are the evidence the witness that the Lord lives and that he continues to bring alive sons and daughters to himself in every generation ye are my witnesses say the Lord and my servant whom I have chosen you see there is Christ and there is his people there is Christ and there is his people just as he says you know to his father in John 17 verse 23 I in them and thou in me that they may be perfect in one that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me and when Jesus prays for his disciples he says also there in John 17 verse 20 neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe on me through their word each successive generation as the truth is transmitted down from those who have already received Christ so it is passed on to those who come to receive Christ you are my witnesses of the Lord if everything else was dead if creation was dead if the world around us was dead if the Bible was just a dead book of print and ink and binding and a page the living witness of living converts to Christ in each generation would be living proof and Christ lives and awakens from the dead you are my witnesses and my servant whom I have chosen that you may believe and know and believe me and understand that I am he before me there is no

[36:24] God's form neither shall be after me I even I am the Lord and beside me there is no saviour he is the saviour for all who will trust and believe in him he is the power to overcome all the problems difficulties and discouragements of this world but only him you know if we're going back to the Olympic model again we could be sitting there in the stands waving our flags as much as we might but what we can't do is we can't get down there on the track and try and run with the athletes and say hey I'm helping you here no you're not you're just getting in the way they've been training for this they're on top of the you're flying but you can't join in we can't do it ourselves it is Christ alone who wins the victory and Christ alone who gives us the victory and if we are in him then we are part of that victory and part of the witness not only that he is victorious but that he lives

[37:31]  I am the Lord and beside me there is no saviour but is my to us our we are excluding all ourega with father people remember is like is oh and I and either down or another our das along and