Welcome to The Word for Today.
The Word for Today is a continuous study
of the Bible, taught by Pastor Chuck Smith
of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California.
Pastor Chuck is currently teaching from the Old
Testament, and if you're following along in your
Bible, we'll be continuing today in Isaiah chapter
44, beginning with verse 8, as we continue
with an in-depth message entitled The Restoration
of Israel.
One thing is needful, O my Father, One
thing is needful, O my God, That I
sit at your feet and pour out my
love.
This thing is needful, O my God.
And now with today's study, here's Pastor Chuck.
And there was a surface spiritual reformation under
Hezekiah.
But at the death of Hezekiah, idolatry came
back with a vengeance.
And the nation of Judah was plunging into
idolatry, so that by the time that Jeremiah,
a hundred years later, was prophesying, the nation
was given over to idolatry.
There were many idols in every home, these
little statues that the people prayed before and
the people worshipped.
And so God is going to address here
the subject of idolatry, making idols and worshipping
them.
And though it doesn't really relate to us
today in as much as we don't really
form or fashion little idols, still people have
idols in their hearts that they worship.
You see, the idols to them represented many
of the things that people worship today.
These things they called gods and they made
little likenesses to represent these different things.
So if a person says, I'm a party
animal, I love to party, you know, I
live to party and all that.
And I've seen it on the bumper stickers,
you know, life is a party, born to
party.
That is a person's God.
They haven't created an idol, but in those
days they did have the little idol, Bacchus.
And that was saying, I'm born to party.
I live for party.
They did have the little idols that represented
Ashtoreth.
And that was saying, I'm into sex.
They did have idols that represented money and
power.
And they said, I'm after the bucks.
And so they formed idols.
And the Lord speaks of the folly of
these.
They make these little graven images, but they
are all of them vanity or emptiness.
And their delectable things shall not profit.
They're crafty arts and they are their own
witnesses.
These little idols are, can't you see?
They have eyes, but they can't see.
And they don't know anything that it might
be just a sort of a shame.
Here's a person praying to this little wooden
idol coming in and praying before it and
all.
And the Lord says, it's got little eyes
on it, but it can't see.
It has a head on it, but there's
no brains.
I mean, can't think it doesn't know anything.
And yet here's a person worshiping it.
Who has formed a God or has molded
a graven image that is profitable for nothing.
They've made these little idols and images and
they put all this work in it, but
they're really worthless.
They're not worth anything.
They're profitable for nothing.
Behold, all of his fellows shall be ashamed.
The workmen, they are men.
Let them be gathered together.
Let them stand up and they shall fear
and they shall be ashamed together.
For the Smith with the tongs, he works
in the coals.
He fashions it with hammers.
He works it with the strength of his
arms and yet he gets hungry and his
strength fails.
He drinks no water and he is faint
making this little God devoting himself to the
creating of this little God.
The carpenter stretches out his ruler.
He marks it out with a line.
He fits it with his planes and he
marks it with a compass and he makes
it after the figure of a man according
to the beauty of a man that it
may remain in the house.
So fashions out this little, carves out this
alive, makes it beautiful, like a handsome man
that it might be there in the house.
He hews down a cedar tree.
He takes the cypress and the oak, which
he strengthened for himself among the trees of
the forest.
And he plants an ash tree and the
rain does nourish it.
And then it shall be for a man
to burn.
And he will take thereof and he will
warm himself.
Yea, he kindles it and bakes bread.
Yea, he makes a God and worships it.
He makes a graven image and he falls
down to it.
Now here's the whole folly of it.
Here's a piece of wood.
He's chopped a piece of oak.
Part of it he puts in the fireplace
so he can keep warm.
He bakes his bread, puts it in the
oven and heats the oven, bakes his bread
with part of the wood.
And then with the rest of it he
carves a little God and he worships it.
Now he said, now here's the inconsistency.
He burns part in the fire.
Part of it he uses to roast the
flesh that he eats, that he might be
satisfied.
Yes, he warms himself and he says, aha,
I am warm.
I have seen the fire.
And the rest of it he makes a
God, even his graven image.
And he falls down to it and he
worships it and prays unto it and says,
deliver me for you are my God.
It's a stick.
And he doesn't stop to think, man, I've
burned part of this in the fireplace and
burned part of it in the oven.
And then carves this little thing and says,
you're my God, help me.
They have not known nor understood.
They don't stop to think.
How ridiculous.
For he has shut their eyes.
When a man turns his back upon God
and the truth of God, that man loses
a certain part of his reasoning capacities.
The Bible said that God will give to
them a strong delusion that they might believe
a lie because they did not have the
love of the truth in their hearts.
The Bible speaks about a reprobate mind.
And that is the mind that is deliberately
closed God out of it because they did
not want to retain God in their minds.
God gave them over to reprobate minds.
And there are people whose minds have become
reprobate and the things that they do are
shocking.
You cannot imagine intelligent grown men and women
doing the things that they do.
You think, how in the world can you
do those things?
You don't know what's going on in that
world out there.
There are things that the news media isn't
showing you that would absolutely shock you, horrify
you.
Every Father's Day up in San Francisco, that
community there puts on a parade in downtown
San Francisco.
We're going to send up some video cameras
this year to take some shots of that
parade.
And we will definitely censor it and edit
it.
We will have to.
But we would like to show you some
of the things that are done by supposedly
intelligent people in our community, college professors, business
leaders.
And when you see what is happening, as
me, you'll shake your head in disbelief and
say, I can't believe that's the United States.
I could believe it is Sodom and Gomorrah,
but I can't believe it's happening in the
United States.
But that's sort of the tragic consequence of
shutting God out of your mind.
A person may say, well, that's so stupid.
I would never do that.
Be careful.
When you shut your mind to the truth,
God then lets you have a reprobate mind
and you will believe a lie rather than
the truth.
I have some very shocking pictures of this
Rosh Hashanah community that was up in Oregon.
Again, you can't believe it.
And again, we'd have to edit it.
But I've got a people, the things that
they are doing, lying on the floor, writing
on the floor, screaming thousands of them in
the worship of this Rosh Hashanah.
Of course, he's dead now.
Their God is dead.
Poor people.
Their God died.
But these are intelligent people.
These are your neighbors.
And you read these things and you say,
can intelligent people do the, how can intelligent
people?
It's because having rejected God, God has given
them over to reprobate minds, void of understanding.
And so they don't consider in their hearts.
Neither is there knowledge or understanding to say
I've burned part of it in the fire.
Yes, I've baked bread upon the coals and
I've roasted the flesh and eaten it and
I shall make out of the rest of
it an abomination and I'll fall down to
this stock or this branch of a tree.
He feeds on ashes.
A deceived heart has turned him aside and
he cannot deliver his soul nor say, is
there not a lie in my right hand?
Now remember these, O Jacob and Israel, for
you are my servant and I have formed
you and you are my servant, O Israel,
and you shall not be forgotten of me.
So take this, look at it and remember
that God is the one who's created you
and formed you.
That you might keep your rational senses about
you.
And I love this.
I have blotted out as a thick cloud,
thy transgressions.
I've just blotted it out.
Can't see it like a thick cloud covered
it.
And as a cloud, thy sins return unto
me for I have redeemed you.
God's cry unto them.
Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord has
done it.
Shout, ye lower parts of the earth, break
forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest and
every tree therein, for the Lord has redeemed
Jacob and glorified himself in Israel.
And so the calling to nature to just
rejoice in the marvelous works of God among
his people.
God's work among you.
Oh, give thanks, rejoice for the Lord has
formed you and has worked among you and
he has redeemed you.
Thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer that formed
thee from the womb.
I am the Lord that makes all things
that stretched forth the heavens alone, that spreads
abroad the earth by myself.
I'm God.
I'm the one that's done these things.
That frustrated the tokens of the liars and
makes the diviners mad.
That turns wise men backward and makes their
knowledge foolish.
As Paul said, professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools because they worshiped and served
the creature more than the creator who is
blessed forevermore.
The moment you deny the existence of God
as the creator and you begin to buy
into the idiocy of the evolutionary theory, you
have to set aside your natural intelligence, logic,
because you are declaring this anomaly that you
can have design without a designer.
Now that is going in face of my
intelligent mind.
There was an explosion in a print factory
and this book came out of it.
All of the songs in neat order, numbered
with all of the notes and the words
to the verses.
It was a gigantic explosion and it took
several billion years for all of the letters
to fall into place, but given enough time
and we laugh because it's idiocy.
But yet the chances of this book coming
to pass through an explosion in the print
factory is much more practical than your human
body coming to pass by matter on matter
over billions of years.
Much more insane to think that your body
could have just come together in the beautiful,
fabulous design without any designer behind it, without
intelligence, the eye factor that is missing in
the evolutionary theory.
And so God frustrates the tokens of the
liars.
He makes the diviners mad and he turns
wise men backward and makes their knowledge foolish.
That confirms the word of his servant and
performs the counsel of his messengers that says
to Jerusalem, you will be inhabited and to
the cities of Judah, you will be built
and I will raise up the decayed places
thereof.
That says to the deep, be dry and
I will dry up thy rivers.
Now I'm the Lord and I say to
Jerusalem, you're going to be inhabited to the
cities of Judah.
You're going to be built.
This is before Jerusalem fell a hundred years
before Jerusalem fell and God is already prophesying
of these events.
They, they fell.
They were 70 years in captivity.
So this is a hundred and 70 years
is actually 180 years before it happened.
God is prophesying it.
And then he goes one step further that
says of Cyrus, he is my shepherd and
shall perform all my pleasure.
Even saying to Jerusalem, you will be built
and to the temple, your foundation shall be
laid.
A hundred and 80 years later, Cyrus, the
King of Persia said to the Jews, go
back, rebuild the temple, rebuild the city.
Amazing.
God names him before he was ever born.
And so this is what God is talking
about.
I am God.
I speak of things before they happen.
If you're God's prove it, bring us some
witnesses, say something that's going to take place
so that when it happens, we know that
you are God, but that you may know
that I am God.
And there is none like me.
Here he is.
I I'm Cyrus.
You're my shepherd.
And, and here's this, this neat internal evidence
of inspiration, because it's impossible.
In fact, it is so impossible that the
critics of the Bible say, Isaiah didn't really
write this.
And this was written after the fact by
a another man who put the name Isaiah
to it.
Unfortunately, he didn't inform Jesus.
And so Jesus thought that Isaiah had written
this in quotes, part of this portion and
says that Isaiah prophesied it, but Jesus doesn't
know as much as they know.
In fact, Jesus may not have said all
of the things that he said, and they
are determining now, which things Jesus said and
which he didn't.
You worship a marvelous God who has formed
you, who has created you for his purposes,
that he might love you.
He has chosen you.
You're precious in his sight.
He desires to just demonstrate his love to
you in so many different ways.
He just wants you to walk in fellowship
with him.
He wants you to just surrender to his
love and to his spirit that you might
know the richness of that fellowship and of
that love that he has for you.
And surely that's not asking too much.
May God help us to respond to his
love whereby he has forgiven us our sins,
whereby he's forgotten our past, whereby he has
justified us in order that he might fellowship
with us.
And may we live in fellowship with the
living God this week as he ministers to
you the richness of his love and grace.
Shall we pray?
Father, we thank you for your word.
Lord, we know that there is no God
like you.
You are the first and the last, and
beside you there is no other.
And may we allow you upon the throne
of our lives as we worship you and
as we fellowship together.
Pastor Chuck Smith will return with a few
closing comments, but first I'd like to remind
you that today's message is available in its
unedited form on cassette or CD.
Simply write or call and ask for ordering
details on tape or CD number C-3262.
Again that's tape or CD number C-3262.
As we come to a close in today's
program, we'd like to introduce a brand new
book written by Pastor Chuck Smith entitled Six
Vital Questions of Life.
In his new book, Pastor Chuck considers six
life-changing questions asked by the apostle Paul
in the book of Romans and then expounds
upon the biblical answers that can revolutionize your
Christian walk with God.
Satan is relentlessly pointing out our failures and
mistakes, and even though Satan is condemning us,
Pastor Chuck reminds us of the scriptures that
there is no condemnation to those who are
in Christ Jesus.
When Satan is hassling you concerning God's love,
look to the cross where God displayed how
much he loves you.
So if you ever had a question or
concern with respect to your relationship with God,
the book Six Vital Questions of Life by
Pastor Chuck will reassure and reinforce God's unique
plan and purpose for your life.
You see, if God is for you, then
who can be against you?
These are just some of the answers that
can help you understand the love that God
has for you, and that nothing can separate
you from the love of Christ.
This is definitely a life-changing resource, and
one you'll want to share with your family
and friends, especially if there is a misconception
of God's love in a person's life.
Again, you'll be requesting the book Six Vital
Questions of Life, new by Chuck Smith.
Also, if you'd like to order a copy
of today's message, you can do so by
simply asking for program number C-3262 when
you write or call.
Once again, that's program number C-3262.
Our address is the word for today, Post
Office Box 8000, Costa Mesa, California, 92628.
We can also be reached by dialing toll
-free 1-800-272-9673.
Once again, that's 1-800-272-WORD.
Or you can reach us on the World
Wide Web at www.twft.com.
Or if you'd like to email us, you
can do so at info at twft.com.
Well, coming up next time on the Word
for Today, Pastor Chuck will be continuing his
fascinating study through the book of Isaiah.
That's coming up next time on the Word
for Today.
And now with a few closing comments, here's
Pastor Chuck.
Father, we thank you for your Word, but
we thank you for your promises that you've
made for those who will live godly lives
in accordance to your Word and your will.
And so, Father, help us.
We can definitely see there are two categories
here.
Those that followed and received your salvation, and
those who closed their ears to the truth,
did their own abominable practices defying your Word.
Lord, we want to be those that obey
your Word and follow after truth.
Lead us, Lord, into your truth.
Guide us by your Spirit.
Lord, our hearts long, and we pray thy
kingdom come and thy will be done in
this earth, Lord, even as it is in
heaven.
And Lord, come quickly.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
This program
is sponsored by The Word for Today, the
radio ministry of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California.