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Ambassador Baptist Church
1926 Babcock Blvd
Pittsburgh, PA 15209
(412)477-3210
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Pastor's Pen - August 7, 2007
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August 7, 2007

Isaiah 45-48
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Isaiah
Chapter 45
  1. Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
  2. I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
  3. And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.
  4. For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
  5. I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
  6. That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
  7. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
  8. Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.
  9. Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?
  10. Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth?
  11. Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.
  12. I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.
  13. I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the LORD of hosts.
  14. Thus saith the LORD, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God.
  15. Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.
  16. They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols.
  17. But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.
  18. For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.
  19. I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
  20. Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
  21. Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.
  22. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
  23. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
  24. Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
  25. In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.


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Isaiah
Chapter 46
  1. Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaden; they are a burden to the weary beast.
  2. They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity.
  3. Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb:
  4. And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.
  5. To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?
  6. They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship.
  7. They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place shall he not remove: yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.
  8. Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors.
  9. Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
  10. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
  11. Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.
  12. Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness:
  13. I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.


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Isaiah
Chapter 47
  1. Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.
  2. Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.
  3. Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.
  4. As for our redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.
  5. Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.
  6. I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.
  7. And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.
  8. Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:
  9. But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments.
  10. For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.
  11. Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.
  12. Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.
  13. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.
  14. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.
  15. Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee.


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Isaiah
Chapter 48
  1. Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.
  2. For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is his name.
  3. I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.
  4. Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;
  5. I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.
  6. Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.
  7. They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.
  8. Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb.
  9. For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.
  10. Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
  11. For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.
  12. Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.
  13. Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.
  14. All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? The LORD hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.
  15. I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.
  16. Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.
  17. Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
  18. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:
  19. Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.
  20. Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The LORD hath redeemed his servant Jacob.
  21. And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
  22. There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.


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Thought for the day:
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 I would like to direct our attention to a couple different verses today. The first one is found in Isaiah 45:9, which reads,

"Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker!".
This is a very simple verse, but also very profound. The God of Heaven is our Maker. He is the Creator of the universe and everything that is contained therein. John 1:3 teaches us that nothing has ever come into existence except by the power of Jesus Christ. In Paul's great sermon on Mars Hill he proclaimed of Jehovah God:
"In Him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28).
Because He is my Creator, and because He holds my next breath in His hands, He is my absolute authority, and the only opinion in life that matters is His. My full responsibility is to to find out what He wants me to do, and do it.

 Unfortunately, some Christians never figure this out. They read the Bible, yet they chose to ignore what It says. They make the decision that God is not going to tell them what to do, and that they can run their own lives without His interference. This, of course, brings them into conflict with the Lord. God still loves them, but they are functioning as the enemies of God. We don't like to think of it this way, but James 4:4 tells us that "the friendship of the world is enmity with God." I would not want to be in opposition to the Lord, because it is pretty clear that He is ultimately going to be the Winner! This is why Isaiah pronounces a woe on the rebellious man. He can never win, and he will pay the consequences for his actions against a holy and just God. How much easier it would be simply to submit to the Lord's will in the first place.

 A second verse of interest is found in Isaiah 45:19, which reads,

"I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth."
The oracles of the heathen spoke from caves in language that was both obscure and difficult to understand. This was not true of God. He spoke to Israel in a very public fashion on Mt. Sinai. Christ Himself referenced this verse when he responded to the questions of the High Priest by saying "I spake openly in the world, I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing." God's Word is very available to His people. In fact, it is available to the world at large if they were to desire to read and hear it. God does not operate in secret, nor does He need to teach in an obscure fashion. He does not have to be general in His statements so as to be sure that He gets it correct. He is always right, and He boldly proclaims His Word in such a public manner that all the world can see that what He says is true.

 One final verse is found in Isaiah 47:10 -

"For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me."
It is important for us to be reminded that the Lord sees everything that we do. We can get the impression that because our boss doesn't see it, nor our spouse, nor the police, that somehow we got away with something. To assume that I am going to escape judgment because no human observed my transgression is foolish indeed. Proverbs 15:3 reads,
"The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good."
He sees every move that I make. He not only sees my actions and hears my words, but He understands the heart attitude and motivation behind them. There is never a sin that I commit that He does not see, nor is there a benevolent action on my part that He fails to observe.

 God has made it very clear what He expects of us. Since He always knows what we are doing, and since His will is always going to be accomplished, it is always the best idea to simply obey.

Pastor Mark J Montgomery

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(412)477-3210
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