And the chapter reads one to them that decree on righteous decrees and that right grievousness
which they have prescribed to turn aside the needy from judgment and to take away the
right from the poor of my people that widows may be their prey and that they may rob
the fatherless and what will you do in the day of visitation and the desolation
which shall come from far to whom will you flee for help and where will you leave
your glory without me they shall bow down under the prisoners and they shall fall under
the slain for all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still oh
Syrian the rod of mine anger and the staff in their hand is mine indignation I will
send them against in a hypocritical nation and against the people of my wrath while
I give them a charge to take the spoil and to take the prey and to tread them down
like the mire of the streets how be it he meaneth not so neither does his heart think
so but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few for he saith are
not my princes altogether kings is not Kalno as Carchemish is not Hamath as Arpad is
not Samaria as Damascus as my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols and whose
graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria shall I not as I have done
unto Samaria and her idols so due to Jerusalem and her idols wherefore shall come to pass
that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem I
will punish the fruit of the south heart of the king of Assyria and the glory of his
high looks for he saith by the strength of mine hand I have done it and by my wisdom
for I am prudent and I have removed the bounds of the people and I have robbed their
treasures and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man and my hand hath found
as a nest the riches of the people and as one gatherth eggs that are left have I gathered
all the earth and there was none that move the wing or open the mouth or peep shall
the axe boast itself against him that he with therewith or shall the saw magnify
itself against him that shaketh it as if the rod should shake itself against him
that lift it up or as if the staff should lift up itself as if it were no wood therefore
shall the Lord the Lord of hosts and among him fat ones leanness and under his
glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire and the light of Israel shall be
for a fire and his holy one for a flame and it shall burn and devour his thorns
and his briars in one day and shall consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful
field both soul and body and it shall be as when a standard bearer fainted and
the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few that a child may write them shall
come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel and such as our escape of the
house of Jacob shall no more again stay upon him that smote them we shall stay
upon the Lord the Holy One of Israel in truth the remnant shall return even
the remnant of Jacob unto the mighty God for though thy people Israel be as
the sand of the sea yet a remnant of them shall return the consumption
decreed shall overflow with righteousness for the Lord God of hosts
shall make a consumption even determined in the midst of all the land
therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts all my people that dwells in
Zion be not afraid of the Assyrian shall smite thee with a rod shall lift up
his staff against the after the manner of Egypt for yet a very little
while and the indignation shall cease and mine anger in their
destruction and the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him
according to the slaughter of Midian and at the rock of Orib and as his rod
was upon the sea so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt it shall
come to pass in that day that his burden shall be taken away from off thy
shoulder and his yoke from off thy neck and the yoke shall be destroyed
because of the anointing he has come to Aiath, he has passed to Migron
at Michmashiath laid up his carriages they are gone over the
passage they have taken up their lodging at Gebo. Rama is afraid Gibi of
Saul is fled lift up thy voice O daughter of Gelim cause it to be
heard unto Laish O poor Anathoth. Madmina is removed the inhabitants of
Gaben gathered themselves to flee as yet shall he remain at Nob that day he
shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion the hill of
Jerusalem behold the Lord the Lord of hosts shall lop the bow with terror
and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down and the haughty shall be
humbled and shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron and
Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one. Let's pray. Thank you Heavenly Father for
the King James Bible. Dear God we thank you for this church you have given us
your Lord we thank you for our pastor please bless him tonight as he
preaches your word on to us in Jesus name we pray amen. Amen.
Okay we're in Isaiah chapter 10 tonight and let me just do a little bit
of review from chapter 9 since I didn't really get to finish up the
latter end of chapter 9 now in chapter 9 we actually went over we've
been going over the destruction that's gonna come upon Judah mainly upon the
northern kingdom Israel but also a small percentage of Judah as well and
we see that God as he typically does gives hope at the end of it as far as
the destruction is concerned that a remnants gonna return and in chapter 9
he specifically talks about the fact that Jesus Christ right the Son of God
will one day be born the Word of God will be made flesh and then of
course speaking of the millennial reign he states that the government
shall be upon his shoulders essentially giving hope to Israel and to Judah
that no matter how dark it looks and how dim it is at this point one day
every wrong shall be made right every crooked path shall be made straight at
the end of the day there will be no enemy of God's people plundering him
plundering them and destroying them because one day the Son of God will
govern the entire world and he shall rule the world with a rod of iron and
of course we have that famous passage there in Isaiah 9 6 that we typically
use for Christmas and it talks about the increase of his government the fact
that there shall be worldwide peace and that we know at that point that the
meek shall inherit the earth that we have no more enemies and it'll
essentially be a time of great prosperity and peace the people of God
would no longer know any war and so he's setting forth that vision there
he's kind of giving them hope light at the end of the tunnel to help them
to realize that it's not always gonna be this way now we left off in verse
8 of Isaiah chapter 9 but it kind of works out because from verse 8 all the
way to verse 21 it's basically talking about the same exact thing that we're
gonna look in chapter 10 so it's it it's a continuation of a thought and
what the subject matter is about is actually just God's rod of anger on
Israel and on Judah now look at verse number 8 we're gonna see here that he's
gonna judge them for their stoutness of heart it says in verse 8 the Lord
sent a warden Jacob and it hath lighted upon Israel and all the people shall
know even Ephraim and inhabitants of Samaria that say in the pride and
stoutness of heart so basically he's bringing judgment upon them for two
reasons one because they're arrogant and prideful right but secondly because
of their stoutness of our stoutness meaning their strength of
heart okay essentially referring to the fact that they are a nation who are
very strong maybe militarily financially they got everything together they are
strong they are stable and often when a nation or person has all their ducks
in order their stout in heart so to speak they can become what prideful
okay they think that they can stand that nothing can take them down and of
course that makes the Lord very much angry and that's why he's gonna judge
them I'm gonna skip a couple verses here just kind of give you a summary of
what some of these passages are referring to so he's gonna judge them for their
stoutness of heart he's also gonna judge them for the heads and the tails
of the nation it says in verse 13 excuse me verse 14 therefore the Lord
will cut off from Israel head and tail branch and rush in one day what
is he referring to well verse 15 gives us the definition there it says
the ancient and honorable he is the head and the prophet that teacheth lies
he is the tail so he's gonna destroy them because of their pride because they
think they're strong nothing can take them down but also because of the
fact that they have bad leaders right who are leading them astray they have
the ancients that are supposed to be honorable but they're not leading
people in the ways of righteousness they're covetous they're taking
bribery they are unjust in their judgments but also for the tails and
who are the tails these are the prophets of the land these are the men
who were supposed to be teaching the Word of God but are not faithfully
proclaiming the statutes and precepts of the Lord which is why everyone's
going into apostasy they're worshiping false gods so he's punishing them for
their pride but also for the ancients and the prophets basically showing us
that everyone in the land is corrupt right you got the mean man the
average person in the land worshiping false gods but you also have the
prophet who's preaching lies the ancients supposed to be honorable but
he's causing people to err and therefore they're gonna be destroyed
look at verse 21 it says in verse 21 Manasseh Ephraim and Ephraim Manasseh
and they together shall be against Judah for all this his anger is not
turned away but his hand is stretched out still so he's gonna bring judgment
upon them because of their pride stoutness of heart the wicked
leadership of the ancients the lies that the prophets are teaching but also
because they just attack each other okay basically telling it saying that
Manasseh and Ephraim are gonna team up together to fight against Judah and
so here we have this the talk of civil war taking place and this should
not be taking place with God's people right they should dwell in unity
worshiping the same God and it's not like Manasseh and Ephraim are
attacking Judah for religious reasons it's not because you know they're off
course they're worshiping false gods they obviously have a wicked agenda
behind it they either want to plunder them they want to destroy them it's
not for righteous reasons at all so these are some of the reasons why
Judah and Israel are gonna be judged by God and I really like that phrase at
the end of verse 21 for all this his anger is not turned away but his hand
is stretched out still and this is a common phrase that you're gonna see
in these particular chapters here basically saying like I'm gonna judge
you I'm gonna whoop you you're gonna get a spanking and I'm not gonna stop
my hand is stretched out still he's not putting it to his side he's not
putting it back into his sheath he's like you got more coming to you you're
gonna get more judgment I'm not done with you he's listing all the reasons
he's judging them and then he's basically saying there's more to come
there's more things that you're guilty of okay so let's get into chapter 10
here we're gonna continue to look at the outstretched hand of judgment upon
Judah and then tonight we're also gonna focus on Assyria now why is he
judging them well look at verse 1 he says woe unto them that decree
unrighteous decrees and their right grievousness which they have
prescribed to turn aside the needy from judgment to take away the right
from the poor of my people that widows may be their prey and that they may
rob the fatherless so what's one of the reasons that his hand of judgment is
coming upon Judah because of the fact that they have wicked leaders
instituting wicked laws he says won't to them to decree on righteous decrees
what is he talking about instituting unrighteous laws not for the
betterment of the people not to protect the poor and the needy not to
help the fatherless but essentially to make themselves rich or to consume
upon their own lusts now the Bible tells us that people who rule men who
rule over men must be just and they have to rule in the fear of God right
meaning that you know God holds people in political arenas and people
who hold positions of leadership with a lot of accountability and he expects a
lot from them and this is important because today the world is just filled
with unrighteous leaders making all types of unrighteous decrees some
decrees that are not necessarily unrighteous they're just stupid but I
guarantee you you can look at a dumb decree that's been put out a dumb law
and tie it back to some dude who's just trying to make money off of it
I'm sure street sweeper tickets have some wicked agenda behind I'll just be
honest with you okay there's some dude in the higher up some political
realm was making money off of the quota of the parking tickets which is
why they're so strict about it they don't care how clean the streets are
maybe people at the bottom level are pretty concerned about it but they
don't care this is why the street super comes and he cleans the street
and it still looks dirty not necessarily doing a great job doing that you know
that's a stupid decree but there's also other unrighteous decrees that are
set forth I mean 2020 is an example of that right a ton of decrees that
were set forth there were unrighteous and it's essentially the government
testing the waters for future events but here in this specific passage
he tells us what are some of the decrees that are putting that are
being put out and who does it affect it says to turn aside the needy
from judgment okay to take away the right from the poor of my people the
widows may be their prey and that they may rob the fatherless now if you've
read the Bible for any length of time you know that God is themes and favors
the fatherless and the widows right and the poor God takes care of the poor
he's even made laws to take care of the poor and when the Bible talks about
poverty or those who are poor he's not referring to the heroin addict off
the 405 91 freeway you know what the sign that says anything helps you know
and what he's referring to is his crack addiction or whatever his meth
addiction or whatever new drug is out there now fentanyl addiction or
whatever he's not referring to that at all he's referring to people who are
legitimately poor because they're either handicapped they've been
diseased they've been abandoned for whatever reason and these are
individuals that for for you know the evil that's come upon them in their
day because of unlikely circumstances or just the evil days come upon them
they can't work to provide for themselves they're poor they're needy
God looks kindly upon those individuals okay and in the Old Testament you
know people who own particular vineyards God commanded them not to
glean the corners of the field so that the poor can go and pick up and glean
what was left behind because he wanted to feed them and he would
command all the landowners to do that because he took thought for the
poor of the land and that's not to say that there wasn't unrighteous poor
people in those days either that's why the Bible tells us to consider the
cause of the poor right someone's asking for money you should say well
for what and you know I'm not the type to necessarily just turn away every
person who asks me for money typically you know I try to discern is this
person legitimately in need and if they're asking for money I just
automatically think oh they want food so I say well do you want some
food I can get you some food and if they're picky then they're not getting
any food right if they're just like yeah if you can get me a number four
with the side of the if they're just super specific because you know they've
they've ordered that particular meal multiple times from different people
then I'm not getting it for them in my book it's like you take what I
give you right whatever is there is what you get and you should be grateful
for whatever it is you get because if I didn't come along you wouldn't have
gotten it and if you're legitimately hungry you'll take it amen you know
today was like my first day off the cut and then and you know what like I
I haven't had like really sweet stuff so like I had my wife make me fried
plantains which to some of you just like well I mean but folks to the
hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet and plantains aren't even bitter
they taste delicious and then and then for lunch I had I had a peach or a
nectarine I had one it was just like you know I felt like I was in a
different world you know I was grateful for that one because I'm trying to ease
my body back into you know having some normal foods you know so but what I'm
saying is if someone's actually starving out there whatever they get
they'll love right unless they're just getting it all the time and and
they're not necessarily legitimately poor which a lot of people out there are
not and so God takes you know he takes the poor people into
consideration so when you have unrighteous leaders putting forth
these laws and decrees to take advantage of the poor to take advantage of the
fatherless and widows that makes God really angry okay because he wants
them to be taken care of now specifically obviously this is
referring to the unrighteous politicians of that day but this is
also prophetic of something else because if you notice verse number two it says
towards the latter end what says to take away the right from the poor of my
people that widows may be their prey and that they may rob the fatherless
now you say well what is that prophetic of the New Testament Pharisees
let me read to you from Matthew chapter 15 in verse number three says
but he answered and said unto them why do you also transgress the
commandment of God by your tradition for God commanded saying honor
thy father and mother and he that cursed father and mother let him die to
the death by the way death penalty right there right Jesus Christ is
talking about but ye say whosoever shall say to his father or his mother it is
a gift by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me and honor not his
father or mother he shall be free thus have you made the commandment of God
of none effect by your tradition ye hypocrites well did his eyes
prophesy of you saying this people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth
and honor with me with their lips but their heart is far from me now in
that particular passage he's talking about Pharisees that are essentially
looking for a loophole in the commandments of God so they don't have
to take care of their parents financially speaking okay and in the
parallel passage it actually says it is Corbin meaning well I can't
financially provide for you mom and dad because this is actually supposed to
go to the temple instead so as long as I sanctify it to the temple which
they also take money from the temple they're not obligated to take care of
their parents financially where the Bible doesn't say this just says honor
your thy father thy mother okay but they put that loophole there to take
advantage of the innocent and not to pay their dues and essentially making
the commandments of God of none effect and in fact in Matthew chapter
23 when he's rebuking the Pharisees he tells them he calls them
hypocrites for ye devour widows houses now how does how do they do
that we don't know how exactly because the Bible doesn't explicitly tell
us how they do it but obviously they're finding some loopholes in the
commandments and they're or they're trying to make loopholes in the
commandments they're adding more commandments to the commandments of God
in order to tax the widows and the fatherless to make money off of them
okay what is what is it saying they're decreeing unrighteous decrees and
laws not for the benefit of the poor the fatherless and the widows but to
take advantage of them and it takes a pretty wicked person to you know
target that group right to target the fatherless the widows
those who are in need it takes like a false prophet okay
and so i thought it's interesting because you know the Pharisees are
essentially the descendants of these people in
juda who are decreeing these unrighteous laws
they are they want to claim they're the physical descendants of what you are
so fill you up the measure of what your fathers did
right and so they persecuted the prophets they persecuted
the men of god of the old testament but not only that they
also you know fleece the flock they're also taking advantage
of the innocent of the land and god is not pleased with that at all
you know kings should reign by wisdom kings should reign
in a merciful manner you know i'm not even against having a dictator
as long as he's a benevolent dictator we're actually not against any type of
ruler as long as they're ruling in the fear of god
you're like oh no i'm not for that we should always stick to a president
well it hasn't really worked out very well
you know like are you serious you want like a
monarchy or something well if that king fears god
he loves the lord he institutes biblical
laws and statutes i'm all for it and in fact you know uh this week i
saw a video of the president of el salvador
buccale is his name and this guy is awesome and you know
there's a little covetousness in my heart i was like man i wish
if this guy was running in the united states
he would bring my voting out of retirement
because this guy cleaned up el salvador like extensively from ms-13
i mean el salvador has become like a tourist spot once again
it's safe to walk the streets the murder the murder
percentage of murders has gone down extensively in el salvador
and uh this guy i saw this video and it was a very bold thing that he
did and i thought to myself well this is
awesome so he basically had a press conference
with all his cabinet and politicians of el salvador
and you know there's cameras there and he's holding this conference this
press conference and he's basically saying you know um
i'm not afraid of dying he says you know because
we're all gonna die and he's kind of going through this speech this
dissertation he's like i'm not afraid to die
and you know we're all gonna die you know i'm afraid to die though
with a bad legacy this is like you know it's good you know
and then he's like you know i don't want to leave a
a wicked legacy behind and i don't want to be known
as like a president who's a thief so therefore i don't steal
you know because i don't want to be known as a president who steals so
therefore i don't steal but you but here's the thing he said you know
presidents in times past there's some good presidents back in
the day he said and they didn't steal they did right you know they
they're they're uh they're law abiding citizens as
presidents should be but unfortunately he said you know
they surrounded themselves with thieves and people who were back so they left a
bad legacy behind because even though they themselves did not
break the law they surrounded themselves with people
who did and he's like and i don't want to do
that i don't want to surround myself with
thieves he said so you're all getting investigated
and then he's like he's like and if you if you've done nothing wrong then
you got nothing to fear and then like after the press
conference they got some they've got some guy in handcuffs or whatever and
they're taking them out and they ended up arresting like 10 of them
because they're all corrupt and you know people are just like this is
awesome you know and you know he got interviewed and
basically you know from what i've read i don't
think the guy's a christian you know unfortunately but when when
they when he was interviewed and it was asked like
how do you make these judgments he's like i pray
he's like i just asked for wisdom from god you know and
that's what i base it off of and from what i've heard he surrounds himself with
a lot of christian leaders in the land and this is how he basically
comes to a lot of decisions is basically by praying
and i'm not saying that he's a guy who's justified by grace through faith
but here's the thing is that you know he is giving some of the right
answers and you know he was interviewed and he
was saying you know uh what was you know how did you
approach these situations in osable he's like i
basically recognized that all this stuff is demonic
he goes ms-13 is satanic so it's a spiritual problem
i mean i don't think i've heard a president say anything like that before
right because they are of satan most of the time
you know and so i'm not saying the guy is super righteous i mean he might
be a corrupt person himself he just kind of like a wolf in sheep's clothing
but from what i've seen he seems like a pretty righteous person
oh to god that we would have someone like that that's not under
investigation he's not you know corrupt he's not you know
doing wicked things or whatever but you know obviously one day that is
going to happen it's going to be the lord jesus christ
and you know i'm not moving till salvador anytime soon by the way
okay because as great as that country is and as great as the president i got
you know us is still better in a lot of ways
okay you know i don't know how many fundamental baptist churches they got
out there uh but probably not many i'm not sure
but the point that i'm making here is that god does expect
a leader even if they're a not not a christian even if they're not a
believer he does expect them to rule justly though
he does expect them to rule in the fear of god
to be a just person and not to take advantage of his position
to make money off of the innocent and decree unrighteous laws
and just be a covetous greedy individual with blood on his hands
which is a lot of what the northern kingdom had the northern kingdom had
a lot of wicked people as their king they're mainly known for they have that
stigma of having unrighteous kings ruling over them
which is why god judged them and destroyed them and scattered them
and why those 10 tribes are just no longer even here today
the bible says in ecclesiastes chapter 5 verse 8 if thou see'st the
oppression of the poor and violent perverting of judgment and
justice in a province marvel not at the matter for he that
is higher than the highest regardeth and there be higher than they so what is
this telling us it's telling us that you know
we look at this world and see the injustices of this world whether in
our own nation or in other countries and we see the
violent perverting of judgment we see the oppression of the poor and
we're just like ah and in fact in chapter 7 it says
surely oppression maketh a wise man mad when you look at the president's
just like oh i mean the oppression in our land
right you know having biden as the president and you see the the
radical left and their agenda it kind of makes you crazy when you look at
all that stuff but the bible tells us marvel not
at the matter though for he that is higher than the
highest regarded so it's like god sees everything that's going on he's more
mad about it than you are you know he sees the beginning to the
end he sees everything in between he sees the inner recesses of the heart
and so we have to recognize that you know don't get too caught up in the
political realm of injustices yes it's wicked it
should be preached against you know we should post verses about it
we should tell people what the bible says about it but don't let it
consume you to the point where you're just like mad and when the
bible talks about bad it's like crazy you know a lot of christians they go
crazy when they spend too much time thinking about what's going on
in the political world
but at the end of the day you know he that is higher than the highest
regarded and we got to leave it in god's hands
and fight our battles the battles that god has set for us to fight
and not get involved in what's going on out there
but also recognize that you know what there are unrighteous decrees out there
and you know what america has its problems but it's nothing compared to a
lot of the nations out there i mean mexico just elected its first
woman president and to add on top of that
jewish president
in the words of one of our church members mexico is cooked
done i mean that's a double whammy it's like woman no good
jewish woman doubly no good you know and it's just like oh man so
hey you know i can't believe i'm saying this but you
know i'll take biden any day
let's just be honest
and you know what there's worse there's nations that are worse than there's
communist countries out there there are nations that are decreeing
unrighteous laws all the time far far worse than what's going on here
or even canada or even mexico i mean there's some nations where wickedness
abounds in the laws and people are oppressed and you know
it's it could it can make you mad it can
drive you crazy if you allow it to just saturate your
mind look at verse number four he says without me they shall bow down
under the prisoners and they shall fall under the slain for
all this his anger has not turned away but his
hand is stretched out still what he's saying you know the judgment
that's going to come upon judah and israel for their crimes for
their injustices god's going to come down on them hard
and he's saying that you know they're going to fall under the slain they're
not going to be able to hide from the from the judgment of god is basically
what he's saying there they can do everything they possibly can
to save themselves from god's rod of anger it's not going to happen
because the bible tells us if i ascend up into heaven thou art there
if i make my bed in hell thou art there
and you know this is true for a nation but it's also true for a
person when a christian is backslidden to get
away from god they get away from reading the bible
to get away from serving god they can try to run to the most remote part of
the world that cannot run from god's presence
they can't hide you can run but you can't hide
when you got god on you punishing you for your deeds for your backsliddenness
or whatever it is and so you know we need to take this
into consideration that moving geographically doesn't change
anything if you're not right with god just as
moving geographically doesn't change anything if you're right with god
if jesus goes with me i'll go anywhere you know if we have the lord on our side
it doesn't matter where we're at god's gonna bless us but you know what
if you don't have god on your side and you're backslidden
and you're not right with god you have sin in your life
you're not you're you're involved in things that god is not pleased with
it doesn't matter where you could go to the most conservative part
of the country god's hand of judgment will still be on him
so how do you know as jonah that's how jonah is like i i got a i got a ticket
i'm i'm just gonna go somewhere far i'm not
gonna go to ninova i'm just gonna run away it didn't help you swallow by a
whale and god might not send a whale to
swallow you up but the reality is this you know he
can do far worse though he can destroy your finances he can
destroy your health he can destroy your relationships
he can destroy your your mentality he can destroy your sanity
because at the end of the day you know you can hi you can run but you cannot
hide from god's hand of judgment look at
verse five oh asyrian so now he's going to get into asyria
which is actually the instrument of judgment that he uses he says
oh asyrian the rod of mine anger and the staff in their hand is mine
indignation now that's powerful because what is he saying the asyrians are
not god's people the asyrians are a heathen nation
they don't like god and they don't like god's people
but it says there that they are the rod of god's anger
what does that mean god is going to use them
okay he is the staff in the hand of his indignation what does this mean it
means that god will often use the heathen to
punish the righteous as a tool he says verse 6 i will send
him against an hypocritical nation and against the people of my wrath
will i give him in charge to take the spoiled to take the prey to tread down
them down like the mire of the streets how be it listen to this
he meaneth not so neither does his heart think so
but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few now that's
pretty powerful because what is it saying here it's basically
saying like god is making the asyrians do this
even though the asyrians don't even know that they're being used of god to
do this they're like oh man we're gonna destroy
them and we don't like their god is like their god is
making you do this though
the god of the bible is turning their hearts putting it in their minds
giving them the intelligence the military intelligence
the capabilities to destroy his people
you know why because god is not just the god of the hills he's also a god
of the valleys he's the god of the whole earth and
you know the bible says that the heart of the king is in the hand of the lord
and as the rivers of water he turneth it whether so ever he will
and we often think about that verse as far as favors concern but you know
what that verse can also be used to describe the fact that god
can turn someone's heart against you as well
think about that he concerns he can turn a king's heart
against you and in this case he's turning the heart
of the assyrians against israel to punish them and it's you know and it
says there you know he meaneth not so you know like hey you're being used of
guys like man i don't even believe in your god like
i'm doing my own thing or whatever and god's just like no i'm you're
you're my instrument i'm using you like
you don't know this but god is basically
using you like a puppet to destroy his people
okay neither duth he think it doth his heart think so but it is in his
heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few
now what this makes me think of is the fact that you know a lot of
churches don't really like to talk about things like this
because it kind of messes up their perception of
god that god is just always loving and you know god is love and he is
but you know the bible says that the lord hath made all things for himself
yea even the wicked for the day of evil
and in fact let me give you a another verse that communicates this
even better in fact go to isaiah 45 hold your
place on isaiah 10 i want you to see this yourself look at isaiah 45
and you know a lot of these christians in these non-denom type churches they
have trouble with verses like this because they have like a jedi type of
perception of christianity
you know hate leads to whatever and to the darkness thank you for quoting that
you know hate leads to darkness and you know
evil this and that or whatever you got to be a monk
a jedi monk look at verse seven of isaiah 45
i formed the light yeah and create darkness
oh i make peace yeah and create evil
oh i the lord do all these things oh man you know
god will never do that to you he says he creates evil
now this doesn't mean iniquity because the word evil in the bible is
used interchangeably to describe sin it's used to describe iniquity
transgression the workers of iniquity but it's also used to describe
judgment you know the bible talks about the evil day when evil comes upon you
judgment and woe and destruction and what he's saying here
is that yes he creates he forms the light because he is light
but hey he also creates darkness there's people out there who hate the
lord who god is placed into deep depression and darkness
people don't realize how vengeful god can get
yeah where god can just switch something in a person's mind to just
make them completely insane depressed you know disillusion discouraged
and they're just losing their minds why because he creates darkness
he makes peace because great peace out there which love thy law his you know
that will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee but it says but he also
creates evil and is there evil in the city and the lord has not done it that's what the bible says
so anytime you see some catastrophe taking place in this world just give god the glory
and god the credit tsunamis god tornadoes god earthquakes god hurricanes god
snow storms that kill tons of people god like how can you say that because he does create
evil any natural disaster you know back in the day insurances actually
never called the natural disasters they would call it like um act of god because people back
in the day knew that a natural disaster there's nothing natural disaster about it
god is the one who formulated that to happen
and you know that's an uncomfortable subject for a lot of people
but people don't seem to realize that god is love yes but not at the exclusion of being a god
of judgment though you know and think that you were think that they were sinners above all else
you know but except you repent ye shall all likewise perish that's the message of the bible
it was like oh man how can this happen to these people and the tsunami came and drowned
this entire village well here's the thing except you repent ye shall all likewise perish
and you should allow the evil that comes upon this world to motivate you to fear the lord your god
now if you're a christian obviously it should cause you to glorify god
and love the lord and be thankful that you are on his side
but if you're not saved you should be shaking in your freaking boots
because if you are one of the individuals in that disaster you could easily just die
and split hell wide open and it's all over for you
why because he creates darkness he creates evil he raises up the wicked for the day of evil
he was preparing us here he allowed a syria to prosper militarily financially
financially yea even in boldness and confidence i mean think about the fact that he allowed the
king of iseriah to formulate in his mind the plan which we're going to see later on
like of how to destroy israel and slightly destroy judah it came from god
now why is this important well because of the fact that we got a bunch of foreigners coming to
america right and all these conservatives are just like oh man you know god bless america
build the wall you can build the wall but god's judgment is still going to come in here though
because the bible teaches that when foreigners come into a land unfettered that's actually god
that's an indication that god is judging that land because the borders are removed and you
can build a wall as high as you want
you know the highest of the high though can leap over that wall nothing can protect you from
god's hand of judgment you know all these muslims that are coming in bringing their islam
and false religion and their wicked practices yeah we're against it 100 percent but let me just
say this is that it's an indication that god is judging america and you can vote as much
as you want god does not consider your vote he's like well more people seem to be leaning
right on this seem to have a conservative view on this i think i might change this or something
he you know what god's doing he's like look at this cute little wall
isn't that funny he was just like people could think like a wall can stop god
but you know what a lot of christians don't like what i'm saying right now because they've
been influenced by the political pundits of this world and they've been influenced by all
the republicans and the conservative party and they think well this is how it should be yeah
you know what if we were a god-fearing nation who loved the lord and didn't abort
millions of babies and promote sodomy for an entire month and promote perversion and
disgusting filth and you know just mocked if we didn't mock god then maybe
god would help us out here maybe the wall would do something
because keep in mind you know you have the king of israel and the king of juda
they're like trying to do everything they can they're like oh man let's hire people they're
trying to hire the asyrians to help them and the asyrians are actually punishing them now
so it's like god will even take your plans to save yourself and turn those plans against you
that that that dog that you bought to protect your house is going to turn on you and rend you
why because when you're not right with god everything just goes against you
nothing prospers nothing goes right
it's a scary place to be you're like oh man what should they do well the individuals of judah are
going to be fine those who are right with god should i say those who are right with god they
love the lord they're grieved at the abominations of the land they'll do just fine and even if
they're taken into captivity they're going to come back they just need to submit themselves
to the judgment that's coming upon them but to the rest of them who are just not falling
in line with what the bible says oh man they're going to get a whooping
bad they're going to get a rude awakening is what they're going to get
he said well then what should they do well here's what the bible says when a man's ways
please the lord he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him that's what the bible says
like oh man what should i do so my enemies don't destroy me or consume me make sure
that you're right with god please the lord jesus christ please him make sure that you're
obeying him serve him and he'll even make your enemies to be at peace with you
i'm just not saying that they'll like you they'll just leave you alone
and you know um you know people talk about you know bio warfare and and all these types
of ways that people fight wars here's the best way to fight a war is have god just make them
mad and insane
i think that's how we won in omani personally i think god just made them crazy
and here's the thing you don't know how much fear god can strike into someone's heart
when they're laying in their beds and all these crazy delusions and imaginations are coming
upon them i mean god doesn't need to send a disease he can just send imaginations a delusion
upon your enemies but you know what he can also do it to you though
so please god that's a great motivation to keep serving the lord
like man i felt like just taking it easy this summer i thought i was going to just do
barbecues and beach and just like come to church every once in a while but you know i
think i'm gonna stay right with god and do those things along with church you know because
we're gonna have a uh uh what do you call it a bonfire so you know you have some barbecues
and whatnot but you know sometimes people like to take it easy during the summer
or they just they get tired of the christian life they're just like you know i'm just gonna
take a break but you know no taking breaks during the christian life there's no breaks
if you need to slow down a little bit slow down but no breaks
oh you just want me to be in church yeah
but i also want the lord i want you to please god so that your enemies can be at peace with you
because the consistent thing that we see throughout the bible is that when you are
backslitted you're not right with god god can often turn your circumstances on you
where you will not prosper financially you will not prosper in your marriage you'll have all
these issues with your children you have issues at your job oh you're just trying to scare me
yeah i am because it's true
and i just find it so ironic and funny that judah's like assyria help us and assyria's
like yeah i'm gonna help you i'm gonna help myself on you because they were supposed to
protect them from the other nation and then they end up becoming the rod of god's anger against them
look at verse eight speaking of assyria he says for he saith are not my princes altogether king
so now we're looking at the pride of the assyrians here is not calno as karkemesh is
not hamath as arpad is not samaria as damascus he's basically boasting of his capabilities here
and the people he surrounds himself with as my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols
and whose graven images did excel them of jerusalem and of samaria shall i not as i have
done samaria and her idols do so due to jerusalem and her idols now what is he saying
i whooped israel who's supposedly god's people and he said i destroyed their idols which they
did have idols he's like don't you think i'm gonna do the same i'm gonna do the same to jerusalem
so he's speaking very pridefully he's arrogant he's stout in heart and what does he do he's
comparing himself with others right of other nations and he's basically saying that this god
of israel is like any other god i'm just going to take him over and it's just funny
for him to have this thought look at verse 12 he says wherefore it shall come to pass that
when the lord hath performed his whole work upon mount zion and on jerusalem
i will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of israel and the glory of his high
looks he's like oh so that's what you think okay well once you're done whooping them i'm
gonna whoop you that's what he's saying she's like once you're once i'm finished with
this work here it kind of reminds me of like when you have a lot of children and many of
them are guilty and merit chastisement you know it's like one of them's still acting up and he's
just like i'll deal with you later once i'm done here you're next kind of thing you know and
they think oh we're fine you know it's like no you're next okay you're you're guilty of
another crime so you are also going to get disciplined and you know this shows us that
god is no respecter of people and even though god is using the asyrians to punish judah in israel
asyria is still guilty of a lot of crimes and they're still wicked and god's not going to
let them go unpunished either and so he's like once i finish the work here you're next
because you're prideful too you're stout of heart and i'm going to destroy you too look at
verse 13 for he saith referring to the asyrians by the strength of my hand i have done it
and by my wisdom for i am prudent and i have removed the bounds of the people and have robbed
their treasures and i put down the inhabitants like a valiant man oh man this guy is just
arrogant and my hand had found as a nest the riches of the people oh man he's getting all
poetical now and as one gathers eggs that are left have i gathered all the earth and there
was none that moved the wing or opened the mouth or peeped good night i mean talk about
arrogant he's like i'm the big stuff i'm gonna go ahead and destroy them because
my wisdom i'm prudent i robbed their treasures and you know what there's nothing
god hates more than pride that seeks to rob god of his glory
because who knows you know if the asyrian king would have repented and said you know what the
lord had sent me to do this and now we're gonna go right with god i'm sure god probably
wouldn't have chastised the asyrians but not only is he being used to chastise judah
but now he's also robbing god of his glory because he's saying he's doing this by his own power
and his own strength and it reminds me of Nebuchadnezzar right when he said you know i have
built the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty
and look how look what happened to him look at verse 15 it says shall the axe boast itself
against him that he was there with so who's the axe here it's referring to the asyrians
or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it as if the rod should shake itself
against them that lift it up or as if the staff should lift up itself as if it were no wood
what is he saying you know you're just an instrument you're the axe you're the rod the one
swinging is the person that matters because he can just pick up any other acts he wants
wants and i think that that phrase there is very powerful shall the axe boast itself against him
that he was there with and you know if we're to make applications to us as christians
you know if god has gifted you with certain talents knowledge capabilities riches wealth
prudence wisdom whatever may be business savvy tech technology the capability of understanding
multiple languages don't boast yourself you're the axe don't boast yourself against the person
who's swinging you if god is using you in that manner what does he say be humble
you know because the bible tells us if a man purged himself from these he shall be a vessel
and to honor and meet for the master's use and prepared unto every good work and
essentially we are all as a hammer we are all as an axe we are all as a rod we are we have
this treasure in earthen vessels right and i think everyone here wants to be used of god
throughout their life that god's hand when we say god's hand is on you we mean that god
is grabbing you and using you to accomplish something great
right he's using your axe to chop down false doctrines or false ideologies of salvation by
works and causing people to come to the saving knowledge of jesus christ
he's using you as a rod to chastise you know not necessarily chastise but to break down
heresies and false ideologies and strongholds when you're going out there and preaching the
gospel he can use you in a great way and maybe he's using your financial understanding of
things to make to get wealth to be financially stable to be a blessing to others maybe he's
using your intelligence to help others become intelligent to learn to edify the kingdom of
god he's gifted you in a certain way never be an axe that's boasting against the person who's
swinging it hey maybe you have an incredible voice when you're up here singing you know maybe
you're given the gift of song leading don't boast against the axe though
maybe you just have a capability of communicating well maybe you're not a
pastor but you can communicate the truths of god's well of god well you know don't
boast against the person who's using you to communicate those truths what's the what's
the message don't be prideful don't be arrogant hey maybe you're you know you're holding
an instrument and god is using you as an instrument to play an instrument
don't boast though you know because sometimes christians here's the great thing about
christianity here's a thing about christianity that i just love love everything about it but
this particular thing i think is just wonderful and unique and awesome is that when you become
a christian you obey the lord you walk with god you actually become like a better person
you actually become like smarter you become gifted like god infuses success in you
via the keeping of his commandments he gives you wisdom he allows you to prosper and the
tendency for christians is to become prideful because of that or have like a superiority
complex or think that you're better than your peers or think that you're better than those
in your demographic of age or whatever but we should not be like the asyrians the acts
it's going to boast itself against the person who's swinging us which is god because here's
the thing you know what god can do is just take that action just break it and just no longer
use you ever again you know that's probably one of my greatest fears is to never be used of
god ever again i want to continue to be used of god i want to be used of god to see an
individual saying i want to be used of god to edify a church congregation by my preaching i
want to be used of god to proclaim the word of god to thousands of people around the world
via the internet i want to be used of god to raise godly children but you know what god at any
moment can just strip that from me and make me as dumb as a donkey and not capable of
understanding or or possessing the mental faculties to be able to like fulfill that
because at the end of the day we're just axes we're rods you understand we're saws
that he's using and i'm not saying that we're not important because obviously we are because
you know what at the end of the day god can't do it without us he can't get someone saved
without you but at the end of the day you know what if he doesn't if you choose not to
be used he can find someone else though you know i i get that we're not you know that we
are not irreplaceable so to speak like we're unique in the eyes of god but at the end of
the day you know if you leave first works baptist church and you decide to just backside
go into the world and never serve god again the church the ministry will continue on without
you and god will find a new saw he will find a new ax he will raise up another leader
he will raise up another godly couple he will raise up another person in your stead and the
ministry will continue to go on and that's one of my greatest fears i don't want it to go on
without me right like i want to be a part of this thing and even if i can do it in a small way
i'll take it and here's how you can guarantee your spot don't boast against the one swinging
do not be like the asyrians look at verse 16 therefore shall the lord the lord of hosts
sent among his fat ones leanness and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the
burning of a fire and the light of israel shall be for a fire and his holy one for a flame
and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briars in one day and shall consume the
glory of his forest and of his fruitful field both soul and body and they shall be
as when a standard bearer fainted and the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few
that a child may write them he's basically talking about all the judgment that's going to
come upon the asyrians and you kind of have like an undertone of hell here right
he talks about the fire then he talks about how it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briars
referring to reprobates and then at the end of verse 18 it says both soul and body so it's one
of those things where like god uses the wicked of this world to accomplish his means but even the
wicked will be punished even to the point where they will get saved and they will go to hell
and of course the main interpretation here is that he's physically destroying their forests
their fruitful fields even to the point where the trees are so burned up that even a child
can come and just count how many trees there are in one hand he says and the rest of the
trees of his forest shall be few that a child may write them he's like mama there's three you
know it's just it's not very hard to count
i'm going to stop there because i'm trying to uh finish on time versus 20 through 32 is
basically sheer jashup fulfilled because he gives him that promise that he is going to
return a remnant after the chastisement versus 26 to 31 is his promise that the burden of asyria
will eventually be lifted up and essentially implying that not every trial is forever you know
when you're going through a hard time god is saying it's not going to last forever this is
the season it's going to be hard when you go through it but don't think you'll be there
forever and then he reiterates the humbling of the prideful in verses 32 towards the end
of the chapter you know if you get nothing from the sermon make sure you get this is that
sharpen that axe of yours amen sharpen that axe sharpen that saw and if god uses you to chop
down some pretty heavy wood some heavy trees praise god for it but never boast against a god
who's using you to do so if god promotes you at your job hey you know if you get a
promotion you get a raise at your job give glory to god if you know you become a boss a supervisor
a superintendent you move up in positions whether in the church or at your job if you
succeed in any facet of your life make sure you give glory to god if you become better at
something make sure you give glory to god and say if it weren't for god i would not be able to
do this and not this fake stuff like the usc fighters do you know what i mean i just want to
thank the lord i don't believe that stuff a lot of these hollywood people when they do that
stuff i don't believe it i'm talking about sincere praise of god because you understand
beyond because a lot of those guys are prideful very arrogant and prideful i'm talking about a
spirit of humility that says if it wasn't for the lord i wouldn't be able to do this because
i wouldn't be able to learn all this if it wasn't for god and i think all of us could
look at our lives look at what we are right now just right now and let's just examine the
last five years of our lives and say god has improved me exponentially i'm like a better
christian i'm a better person than i was five years ago and it's not because i'm smart it's
not because i'm dedicated it's not because um you know i'm gifted it's because the lord
has allowed me to do this and you know lord please continue to use me make me better
help me to see more souls saved give me a greater expand uh expansion of influence
continue to use me to be a blessing and please don't discard me as an axe i want to be used
as long as i possibly can be used in your hand let's pray father we thank you so much for your
word and thank you lord for using us as a church and of course church is like ours to
see people saved turn people to righteousness it just changed lives lord and i pray that you'd
help us to continue to have a spirit of humility of course there's going to be instances
where maybe we become prideful arrogant when we think we're something and lord you've warned
us many times that we should never think ourselves more than we are of ourselves more
than we ought to but we should condescend to men of low estate lord and and and have humility
of mine and recognize that you can discard us as an instrument at any time if we are being
prideful and arrogant lord please continue to use us please continue to give us knowledge and
wisdom to know your your word lord give us give us uh uh just righteous judgment for the
decisions that we need to make on a day-to-day basis help us to uh prosper and succeed
at our jobs to gain favor with our bosses lord favor with people and lord may you continue
to use us may we never fall into the same trap of mentality that the asyrians did
where we boast against you lord may you bless us as we go on our way give us a great
weekend we love you we thank you pray these things in jesus name amen
okay
restart your song books the song number 332 channels only song number 332