And the Bible reads
Send you the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sila to the wilderness unto the mount of the daughter of Zion
For I shall be that as a wandering bird cast out of the nest
So the daughters of Moab shall be at the forest of Arnhem take counsel
Execute judgment make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday hide the outcasts
Pray not him that wandereth
Let mine outcast dwell with thee Moab
Be thou covert to them from the face of the spoiler for the extortioner is at an end
The spoiler ceaseth the oppressors are consumed out of the land and in mercy shall the throne be established
And he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David judging and seeking judgment and hasting righteousness
We have heard of the pride of Moab
He's very proud even of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath but his life shall not be so
Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab everyone shall howl for the foundations of Kirher Sheth
Shall ye mourn surely they are stricken for the fields of Heshbon languish and a vine of Sibmah
The Lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof there are come even a jazer
They wandered through the wilderness her branches are stretched out. They are gone over the sea
Therefore I will be well with the weaving of jazer the vine of Sibmah
I will water thee with my tears Oh
Heshbon and a lady for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen and
Gladness is taken away and joy out of the plentiful field and in the vineyards there shall be no singing
Now there shall there be shouting the treaders will shall tread out of out no wine in their presses
I have made their vintage shouting to cease
Wherefore my bow shall sound like in harp for Moab and mine inward parts for Kirher
And it shall come to pass when it is seen that Moab is worry on the high place
That he shall come to a sanctuary to pray but he shall not prevail
This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning Moab since that time
but now the Lord hath spoken saying within three years as the years of inhiraling and the glory of Moab shall be
Contemned with all that great multitude and the remnant shall be very small and feeble. Let's pray
Thank you Heavenly Father for the King James Bible you've given us your God we thank you for his wonderful Church
We thank you for our pastor. Please bless him tonight as he preaches your word on to us in Jesus name we pray
Amen, okay
We're continuing this evening with our Bible study on the book of Isaiah and let me go ahead and stir up your memory
a little bit by
Reviewing what's taking place over the last couple of chapters because from chapters 13 up until now and even just a couple chapters after this
It's all centered around the same theme of
Judging the nations. They are essentially sermons that are
Maledictions towards the surrounding nations initially God focused on Israel and Judah
He's judging them for their sin for their rebellion and their idolatry
But now that Judah has been taken care of in the sense of the judgments gonna come upon them
They know what's gonna happen
Now God is turning his focus to the surrounding nations and in chapters 13 to 14
We have Isaiah preaching against Babylon right and that was a pretty significant section there because chapter 14
highlights the sermon against Lucifer who is the spiritual
Principality that oversees Babylon then you have him preaching against Assyria Philistia and now his
Focus is on Moab and these last two chapters
Have been about Moab and Moab is pretty significant because of the fact that it's a it's a nation
That we can call a cousin nation to Israel they were they have history with Israel
They know of the God of Israel, but of course throughout the years throughout the history of Israel
we know that Moab was very much pagan and there constantly had conflict with Israel and
Last week we talked about some of the sins that they're involved with in the sense of they were trusting in their treasures
They were very wealthy, right and they were settled on their leads. They weren't moved about they weren't seeking the Lord and therefore
God's judgment was gonna come upon them
But this evening in chapter 16
We actually see the main reason why God is gonna judge Moab and really it's the main reason why God judges everyone
Regardless of what sin they have and that is pride
Pride will always cause God to judge you to judge me to judge a nation
Because God hates pride and when we look at Moab we see that that is
The glaring weakness of this nation is
Arrogancy and pride and this is why God is gonna bring down the hammer on them via the Assyrians
Now, let's go ahead and look at these a couple verses here
It's a short chapter, but we're gonna spend a couple a good amount of time on a specific section here
First of all, we're gonna look at them
The fact that Moab is essentially seeking asylum from Judah
And the reason we know that is because we see in these first two verses that they are paying tribute
Essentially as a last-ditch effort now keep in mind the Assyrian army has come plundered
Destroyed the Assyrian the Moabites and we see that God is instructing the Assyrians to kill them
To you know, slay them with the sword
And so now you have refugees fleeing Moab and they're trying to escape the sword
But even then God says like if you escape the lions are gonna come and get you
So he's doing a very thorough job and his execution of Moab
But this is the imagery that we get here is that the men are being destroyed. They're being killed
They're being slain and many of the women and children are just fleeing right? They're refugees from Moab from the the
invasion of the Assyrian army
Now look at verse number one
It says send ye the lamb
To the ruler of the land from Sila to the wilderness unto the mount of the daughter of Zion
For it shall be that as a wandering bird cast out of the nest
So the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnah
Now that's seems kind of cryptic you kind of wonder like what is this referring to send you the lamb
To the ruler of the land from Sila to the wilderness to the daughter of Zion. What is that referring to?
Well, as I mentioned, you know when you look at Moab in the history of Moab
they've always had conflict with Israel and
You think of a couple instances you have the Moabite-ish woman
or women enticing the men of Israel and
Seducing them to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed into idols, right?
That was via the agenda of Balak right who hired Balaam son of Bozor to curse the children of Israel
He was incapable of doing so
So what they ended up doing is using the Moabite-ish women to entice Israel to commit fornication
Thereby and curing the wrath of God upon them. And so God plagued Israel because of their disobedience
So you have that particular event there later on?
You actually have King David
Who ends up subjugating the Moabites along with other surrounding nations?
And he basically made it somewhat of a vassal state in the sense that they were
allowed to
Essentially be subject under Israel and and still exists, but they have to pay tribute to Israel
Okay, they would give gifts and so David did a really good job. It just kind of you know subjugating them. So they're
Subordinate to the Israelites but with the catch of you know, you can live peaceably
however, you have to make sure you pay tribute via livestock money, whatever it may be and
That continued for a pretty long time up until the Philistines would later remove that yoke from off the neck of Moab
But then later on King Ahaz would subjugate them once again and then the tribute
continued thereafter
Well, you see here that that's pretty much what the state that it's in and we don't necessarily know if that tribute stopped if it
Ceased but as they're fleeing God's telling them
hey pay the tribute send the lamb to Zion referring to Judah and
What I believe is taking place here
it's kind of like a last-ditch effort because obviously the Moabite-ish women and
The children they need refuge of some sort. They need protection. They need coverage of some sort
They're they're on the run from the Assyrian army
And it even says there in verse number two the latter and it says as a wandering bird
Cast out of the nest. What's that referring to? We think of a mama bird
Removing her children from the nest. They're kind of vulnerable, right? They're just kind of vulnerable to predators
They're weak and so this is the picture that God is painting of these refugees that are fleeing Moab
You know just anybody could just pick them off
And so, you know, he's telling them send a tribute because maybe Judah will take mercy on you and help you
This is the situation that they're in now. What is the principle that we can learn from this?
Well a principle that we can learn is that obviously when we look at nations in the Old Testament
God addresses them as though they're an individual right and I think he does that on purpose because
When we read this in the New Testament we can make application to ourselves even though God is talking to a specific nation
We know that these things are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come and so we could look
At God dealing with Israel or Moab or Babylon and make direct application to our specific lives
And the application that we can make with Moab is that you know when you sin against God
when you are living wickedly you rebel against God and
You are
Unrepentant, you know the options you have are limited
Right on what can happen thereafter when you're suffering the consequences of your actions your options are limited
and it's almost as if you have to kind of like, you know, hope that people or
You know institutions people family can be merciful with you because you're suffering the consequences of your actions
You think to yourself well, that's not fair, you know, they're women they're children they're fleeing for their lives
Yeah, well, they should have thought about that when they were offering offerings to key mosh the Falls God and
So it may seem unmerciful it may seem. Oh, man. What is why is God allowing this?
These are the consequences to people's actions
You understand?
Your options are limited when you're serving God you have a lot of options. You can eat of all the fruits of the trees
You can serve God at different capacities
You have God's hand upon you
But when you're unrepentant in your sin and you find yourself being chastised of God via the devil
Via your circumstances in life the cause and effect of life, you know, your options can be limited
And it's one of those things. There's just like pay tribute. I don't know you will see what happens and
You know one thing that's frustrating sometimes is that when people?
Rebel against God and they want all the good options
It's like all of you, you know, what about the good options? Well, then here's the thing there is no good options
There are instances where the will of God is multiple choice and they're all bad
All the choices are bad
You understand what I'm saying? It's like you go to a restaurant and
You know, you look at the menus like all the options are bad
But you chose to go to that restaurant
What's a what's a good restaurant to just listen let's just do water burger cuz we all hate water burger, okay
Sorry, do you guys have water burger over there? Oh, sorry about that. I
Just thought if I was like wait, they're from, you know, Florida. You guys like water burger. All right, good
Good, man
You know, he chose to serve the Lord and being God's grace. So, you know you go to a
Restaurant like water burger or whatever other restaurant, you know, and all the options are bad
It's like all this sucks. How about this? You know, you choose to go to India. Let's just do that one instead
You go to India
To go get food on the street. All the options are bad
They're all gonna kill you
They're all gonna give you diarrhea and you know, you're gonna vomit projectile vomit. You're gonna get all kinds of parasites
There is no good option, but you chose to go to India
See what I'm saying? I'm you know, no illustrations. Perfect. The point that I'm making here is that when you sin
And you choose not to get right with God you choose to be unrepentant
You can't be surprised when the options you have of that which works to your benefit are all bad
I mean think about when David numbered the people and the plague came upon Israel all the options were bad
It's like do you want to be chased by your enemies?
Or do you want the plague to come upon the people or you want all your soldiers to die?
Which one you want? It's like they're all bad
You want my hand against you? It's like no, where's where's the fourth option? Can I call it in?
Can I can I can I phone a family member it's like no matter what someone's gonna die and
Of course David in his wisdom because he walks with the Lord
He said, you know, it's better to just fall into the hands of the living God
Right because I know that he's merciful. He's gracious, you know, if I fall into the hands of my enemy
They're not gonna be merciful to me
So I rather just fall into the hands of my God because I know he'll be lovingly kind and gracious
And so this is the example that we see but with Moab is like they kind of have to take what they can get
Understand because of their rebellion for so many years their constant
Idolatrous practices, you know send a tribute. I mean, we'll see what happens type of a thing. Look at verse 3
Says take counsel
Execute judgment make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday hide the outcast
Beret not him that wandereth now. I was kind of racking my brain trying to figure out. What does this mean because it seems
Cryptic it seems a little obscure whatever it's referring to because you know in our minds as we're reading this
It's like Moab is the outcast, right? They're the ones who are wandering. They are the refugees. So why would God instruct them? Hey
Make sure you hide the outcast make sure you don't be raid them
There are wandering be Ray means like don't reveal if they're hiding from
The oppressor don't just reveal who they are so they can get captured or whatever
and it says in the beginning take counsel and execute judgment and
This is what I believe it's referring to
Because of the fact that I think this is what this is talking about is
Moab's tendency to just kind of be
Selfish and just give up their own people. Okay, as
They're wandering about as they're like being refugees. You say well, how do you know that? Well back in numbers 21?
You have an instance where you have the Ammonites
defeating Moab and
When they conquered Moab, they're being scattered and God says this of Moab
He says woe to the Moab and he says he had given his sons that escaped and his daughters
Into captivity and to sign on king of the Amorites
So the picture that's being painted here is that once they're defeated
It's just like take my sons and my daughters as long as you know, you don't do anything to me
They're willing to sacrifice their own people
Just to kind of save themselves
Which is pretty wicked think about it, right?
And so, you know, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Moab of what we're looking at here in Isaiah 16
You know, they're refugees
They're scattered and they can have the tendency to just give up the weak people
Just so they could be safe. You like you really think that's what it's talking about. Well, think about this
Okay, cuz who are we talking about here Moab and who's Moab?
Well Moab is a descendant of Lot and what did Lot do? He was willing to give up his daughters
to the Sodomites
to be violated and raped
Just to save his skin or even the skins or who he thought were the men who were visiting the city
And so this is kind of something that's already in the gene pool
I'm just kind of giving up their own people just for the sake of
protecting themselves and
You know, this isn't right, you know a principle that we can learn from
This is the fact that even when we're in dire straits and we're having a hard time
We can still help somebody to a certain degree
Don't ever have this attitude. It's just like well, I'm kind of struggling right now
So I don't want to help anybody, you know if you want help
Do what you can with what you have?
Be a blessing to someone else to some level of degree because you may have it bad
But you don't have it that bad and you always find someone who has it worse than you
Just remember that there's always someone who has it way worse than you
then you can you may not be able to reach up to help somebody but you can reach down to help somebody and
In fact, that is Christian virtue that no matter what situation we're in
We should seek to be a blessing to someone who is in a worse state than we are
In a worse condition than we are and you like well, I can't do much but yeah
But you you do something though, you can do something and in fact
the Bible says in Proverbs 24 verse 11 if thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death and
Those that are ready to be slain if thou sayest behold we knew it not
doth not he that ponder at the heart consider it and
He that keepeth thy soul doth not he know it and shall not he render to every man according to his works
In other words God is saying, you know, if you say you make excuses
Why you don't want to help somebody because you're in a bad situation
you know, you don't think God really sees the heart of the matter though and
Sees, is that really the reason why you don't want to help somebody you really you really think that you're just at the bottom
of the barrel
If you're alive today, if you're breathing today if you're in church today, you know, you're you're doing better than most people are
That's just fact, okay, and if you've had meals today and I think
Everyone's had meals today
You know if you are in church tonight, you're a pretty good situation
Despite how bad of a situation you might have it and you know what that means
There's still someone out there that you can help and here's a good principle to live by when you're going through a hard time
And that is the principle of the law of sowing and reaping
Sow good seeds
Why you're in dire straits sow good seeds when you're in a bad situation
So that you can reap the benefits later on
Understand and at the end of the day, you know, God ponders the heart. He sees what the real situation is and
You know, he can he can he can determine if you if that's really what it is
Oh, man, you know, I just I don't have enough money. Yeah, but but here's the thing you have something though
Well, I don't have the time we all got 24 hours in the day though
you know and
You like well, I don't have any resource to give anyway
Yeah, but you have words that you can give somebody you can encourage someone you can spend time with someone
You can give them a word of exhortation a word of wisdom
you can bless someone and
So what he's saying here is like hey
Take counsel
Execute judgment if you find a wanderer
Don't just say hey, he's over here
Just so you can get away yourself
So he says be Ray them be Ray means to reveal them
Like hey, don't tell the Assyrians. I'm gonna hide right here. And then you're just like hey, if you let me go
I'll let you know where like five of them are or something like that. And this is this is good
By the way, this is good instructions for the tribulation. Amen
Don't be that little buster who rats us all out
You know cuz you're hungry or whatever
You're like, I can't take it anymore. You promised me canes, you know, I'll tell you where that hurts a whole church
Is that you know?
Just just from just review brother Marcos's, uh, I think he has like a meme on that or something
But anyways, you know, the point is is that we need to make sure that we favor other is better than ourselves
Right, and I know that's hard to do when you're going through a hard time. It requires a level of discipline
It requires a level of just thought to say, you know what?
Lord I need you to bless me so I can bless someone else because you know
I don't really got nothing much to work with here
But help me to see what I do have or give me something so that I can bless someone else with
Look at verse 4
Verse 4 says let mine outcast dwell with thee Moab
Be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler from the extortioner
For the extortioner is at an end the spoiler sees that the oppressors are consumed out of the land
Now when you look at the what's taking place here, is that really true though?
Like is it happening at that time is the oppressor ceasing? No, it's not right
So this is the way you interpret the Bible when you realize that this is not taking place yet. What is God doing?
He's casting vision
Regarding the future
Okay, and you know
The greatest hope that he tends to cast as we've seen in the book of Isaiah is the hope of the millennial reign the fact
Jesus Christ will return one day that is ultimately when the oppressors will cease and they will stop and they would no longer exist
He said well, how do you know that's what it's referring to though
well
Look at verse 5 and in mercy shall the throne be established and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David
Judging and seeking judgment and hasting righteousness. That's how we know that is a prophetic statement
About the millennial reign in Jesus Christ and you think yourself like man, but that's so far into the future though
How can that provide a level of comfort for these people right now during this time?
If like we're in 2024 and that still hasn't been fulfilled
What kind of goes to show you that God has always expected his people to set their affections on things above?
Not on the things of this earth, even if the promise is given to us in the Bible don't happen in our lifetime
You know, God always wants us to be eternally minded and
Remind ourselves of his promises, you know when you think about the millennial reign
For example, you think about the new heaven and the new earth you think about eternity?
You think about the fact that Jesus Christ is going to come and helps you to be less temporal minded
More eternally minded it helps you to sacrifice more to serve God more and it helps you to realize that
What you're suffering through is a light affliction in
comparison to what you will experience in the future and
Here's the thing folks, you know, you think yourself. Yeah, but it's so long from now. Yeah, but what about for them though?
it was even longer for them and
Yet they still didn't receive the promises. They didn't receive the promise of that millennial reign
But what he's doing is he's just reminding them like hey one day everything will be fixed. The oppressors will cease
The king will reign and every wrong will be made right now look at verse 6 here. We're gonna get into Moab sin
He says in verse 6 we have heard of the pride of Moab
He is very proud even of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath
But his lies shall not be so
Now it's pretty ironic that Moab is prideful
He said why because they're so small
Right
Like, you know Babylon was just a mighty empire
The Assyrians were like mighty in warfare. They're a mighty empire Egypt. We're gonna cover Egypt in a couple weeks
You know, they're a mighty empire
But Moab is just like they're just they're smaller than Israel
You know, they're not very large not very vast and not a powerful nation
They're very small but it proves the point that you don't have to be big rich and famous to be prideful
It doesn't matter what size you are it really matters what's in your heart
right
And we see that a country like Moab with very little military might
Yeah, they're wealthy
But they don't they're not necessarily a nation of conquest
They can't even defeat Israel
They're small
But yet in their hearts, they're big
you see what I'm saying and
One thing you'll notice as a Christian is
that
Pride is the culprit for a lot of problems in this world
Pride keeps people from getting saved
Pride is the main reason people don't get saved, right?
you know you knock on the door and it's just like you talk to this person and they're just unwilling to just
repent of their own of their unbelief
Repent of what they're trusting them for salvation, right and place their faith in Jesus Christ because of pride I
Mean the vast majority of people do you meet online?
You talk to on social media. You just show them what the Bible says and they just reject it. Why it's because of pride
Because it requires humility
To believe what the Bible says you're gonna split hell wide open because you're a sinner. I
Mean no one can get saved unless they get unless they humble themselves and
Come to the recognition of their sinful condition before God that they deserve hell. That is what they deserve and
That the only way they can be saved is by their faith in Jesus Christ plus nothing minus nothing
Not by their works not by their deeds, but the person who says well, no
No, you have to you know faith without works is dead
Well, go ahead and pull up James chapter 2 in the Bible for me if you could find it first and foremost
Well, I just think you got you can't we're trying to say you could just believe and just live however you want
That's not what I said
But people who think that you know
You have to do works or keep God's commandments or do this that and the other just translate it as this pride
They think they can make themselves qualified for eternal life
They think their works qualify them to be saved to have favor with God
Folks is just pride
Because it requires humility to recognize that my righteousness are as filthy rags in the eyes of God
There's none righteous. No, not one and I'm included in that. There's none righteous
You know you run into some really prideful people online sometimes and
You and I think virtually everyone in here unless you're just not on social media at all. You've all spoken to someone online
Who you've sincerely try to win over by giving them verses or even in person and it's just like, you know
Catholics for example
Just pride you just want to finish the conversation and say you're just prideful. You're just an arrogant prideful
Kathy
Not willing to just humble yourself
You're subverting the Word of God to be saved right but you know pride is not though
you know pride is the culprit in keeping people from getting saved but you know pride is also the culprit in
Christians from getting right with God
Or from just like receiving correction from the pulpit
You know, they hear like a hard truth, maybe something that they heard on Sunday night, I don't know something something like that
And it's just like
Just say you're prideful
You can't deny it
And folks, you know, you didn't come to Candyland Baptist Church. This isn't like cotton candy Church or something like that
You know you come into a church where you're gonna hear the truth and you're gonna hear it loud sometimes
And it's to get your attention. So you don't forget it. Don't be prideful
Just receive the message and and folks, you know, it's it's it's always a good thing and you say why I just felt embarrassed
Though when you preach on Sunday night good
Good
Good, you're supposed to I
Mean think about this, you know the Bible God condemned people for not blushing
Says neither could they blush
He was angry at that. You should be bothered if it didn't bother you
if you're just like
I'm still gonna dress like a homo
I'm still gonna dress like a hoe. I don't care what anybody's shame is a good thing. Amen
Shame is a virtue that God exalts because it it indicates that you know
You still got something in there and you care about what God thinks about you
You care about what the Bible thinks and you know, you're like, well, I also care about what other people think about me
Well, yeah, that's part of shame. You should
So the Bible says and
So, you know never have this attitude of like well, you know, that's just for other people. It's not for me
I don't really agree with all that. You're just being prideful
Because at the end of the day if we sparred with the Bible you'd lose
You would lose
You would give me some liberal interpretation with some line from a devotional book or something or some emotional answer
Pride keeps people from hearing the preaching of God's Word. I'm talking about Christians
There's say people that yeah, it's safe. There's there are safe people that reject the principles of God's Word
They won't say it's not you know that it's heresy. They'll just say well, that's your interpretation
What it is is your pride
Causing you to say that
But also it just keeps people it keeps Christians who are backslidden from getting from getting right with God
Because there are instances when
People backslide to get out of church
They're involved in sin and their pride is impeding them from just getting right with God
Getting back into church getting back into the swing of things getting back into the Bible
Humbling themselves because you know what? Let me just be honest with you
It is humbling to come back to church when you've been out of church for a while
Of course it is and I commend every Christian who has ever come through our doors
After they've been gone for quite some time because yeah, it is a little humbling
But you know, we do try to soften the blow though
And not be like well, well, well
Look who we have
here
Well, you know, it's been a while brother done sinning
Yeah, I'm just messing with you
You're not fornicating anymore. Are you?
you know that obviously that's an exaggeration, but I guarantee you that's out there somewhere I
Guarantee you
You know, we try to soften the blow
I'm look my
Disposition when someone gets right with God and they come back to church. I literally love to pick up where we left off
Cuz it's embarrassing, you know, I understand it's like man everyone's gonna wonder like where have I been
What's going on?
And you know why I haven't invented I've been in church and I have to just repeat the same story to every single person
No, you don't just say, you know, I've been out, but I'm back in and it's just like amen brother
Let's let's go soul winning. Let's go out to eat. Let's go hang out. Let's pick up where we left off
That's my disposition
Let's just pick up and and look that's like a switch for me
I just want to pick up where I left off. Just act like we could just move on with our lives
And we don't even have to think about that
Certain era of your life where you backslid or something
Understand but you know pride will keep someone from just even making that decision
It's just like well, what are people gonna think about you?
you know, what are they gonna say though and
There you you're you're just gonna be so embarrassed and you know
you've missed out on so much and look at all the new people and look at so-and-so that he stayed in church and all these
Thoughts that come in at the end of the day is just pride. Just humble yourself and come back to church
And often once the band-aid is ripped off you'll realize like it wasn't even that bad
I've already like assimilated once again into the Christian life. I'm back in church. I'm so winning. I'm reading the Bible
I'm like serving God
All I have to do is just humble myself and just come and I'm talking about humbling yourself just to come to the doors
But pride will keep people from coming back to church
Every single time pride will keep people from admit Christians from admitting that they're wrong. I
mean have you ever talked to someone and
You just trying to tell them like you're wrong about this and they're just like unwilling to admit that they're wrong
Every one of us have talked to someone and it's just you know
It's what you ever have a checkmate moment
You do like a checkmate and you can see it in their eyes they they know that you know that you got them
And they're just unwilling to admit it
They just will not admit that they're wrong, you know the thought that pops into my mind this guy's prideful
This woman is prideful
Pride will keep people from just receiving correction admitting that they're wrong
Why because they feel like they have something to prove or they don't they don't they don't want their superior
Their pastor their supervisor their boss their fellow brother or sister in Christ to think that they were wrong about something
Folks, we're all wrong about something at one time or another myself included
I've been wrong before and you know, I'll be wrong again in the future. Obviously. My errors are very scarce
They should be as a pastor, but that doesn't mean I'm just completely immune to error
But when I make a mistake just you know, I made a mistake
That's it. Yeah, but what are people gonna think? Well, yeah, you're on like the social media. You're on the internet
I mean, I mean, what do you what do you want me to do?
There's nothing you can do
And in fact, let me do let me just say this people have more respect for you
When you're willing to admit that you're wrong then when you just resist and show yourself just
Stubborn and prideful and arrogant people
Look less think less of you when you're unwilling to admit that you're wrong
They think more of you when you're actually willing to admit that you're that you're wrong
If you say, you know, I'm wrong. It's just like okay cool. This guy's humble this this lady's humble
They're willing to admit it. They have the maturity to actually admit that but when they're just constantly resistant, it's just like
This guy's a clown
That one's admit it
And we've all had conversations with with a person or people
Where whether it's it's a major deal or a small deal where they're just unwilling to come to grips with the fact that they're wrong
happens all the time
And you have like all the evidence
You have like the boards you have the receipts
You have the text messages
You have the transcripts you have everything and they're just the numbers don't add up and it's just like
No, I'm so right about it. It's just like you are so arrogant and prideful
And you know what? You know what it makes you want to do resist that person
You know what God does he also resists that person, too
Good because God resisted the proud
I mean if it frustrates you imagine how it makes the God of heaven feel who's perfect who's justified
There is no error within him. He knows all things. He knows the inner recesses of the heart to see people
behave proudly against him
What am I saying? I'm saying, you know as a church and as a Christian as an individual check your pride
Okay
Stay humble be humble
Make sure you maintain humility
You're like, well, how do I do that?
Well, first of all, here's a good way to just maintain humility
Just recognize whatever successes you have are because of God and other people who have invested in you
You know, don't let let let another man praise thee and not thy known lips
Okay
You know someone compliments you on your gifts your talents your achievements
Automatically say well, you know, I thank God for that and you know, what my parents just I just had awesome parents
Or you know what brother so-and-so helped me achieve that if it wasn't for people's investment in my life
I want to be able to attain to that
Don't have this attitude. Yeah, I'm just built different
I'm just built a little bit. That's just it
I'm just I'm him
Because that's the attitude that a lot of young people have today, right?
I'm him
It's like that that's not even proper English
Humility is lacking in this generation and I get it, you know, we joke around or whatever
But you know at the heart of the matter
We should have a virtue of humility and and and here's the thing
It's something that we have to work on because it doesn't come naturally to us
Myself as a pastor there is a tendency there is a temptation to become prideful
Because it's just a temptation for everyone
So it's important. Look here. Here's good motivation to be humble
Humble yourself or God will humble you
And I rather like humble myself than have God humble me because he can embarrass me bad
He can embarrass you really bad. So either shame yourself and say you know what?
My
Parents is it's they just did a great job
Even though they weren't Christians. I learned a lot of things from them or you know
My pastor helped me or the church members, but for sure God helped me and I really appreciate the compliment, you know
I'm thankful for I'm thankful for the opportunity to serve or I'm thankful for this opportunity
You know, it's just the people that I'm surrounded with they just helped me a lot because there's no such thing as a self-made man
Deflect the praise
Right and then also
Just when you're thinking about yourself
Don't think yourself more highly than you want to think
Because it's easy to like verbalize humility. It's another thing to actually believe it in your heart
To think in your heart like
I'm
Him
You know, but in your heart, you just have to be like Lord. I'm struggling with pride
That's the one of the best ways to do it Lord
I'm just struggling with pride and you know that I'm prideful
You know that I have a tendency to become arrogant or take credit for these achievements
And I just want to say thank you for allowing me to do these things
And I know that at any moment you can just remove all these capabilities for my life
So, thank you
That's a way to be to humble yourself before the Lord is like give thanks unto God for those things and you know
Obviously we can't just will ourselves to not be prideful and be humble
But we can we can pray unto the Lord and just the mirror
the mere communion with the Lord like it invokes humility in our lives because we realize like God is big and
You know
He can just take all this away from me at any given time and that alone humbles you, right?
So we see that
Moab is extremely prideful for God to say very proud. It means that he was very prideful
He said well, how do you know when God has to put a very?
Think of egg long, right?
What does the Bible say? He was a very fat man?
He didn't just say like he was just he was overweight
He's just like he wants you to know he was very fat
We're like, how do you know because the blade went all the way in and ate that ate the handle
It's like cartoon status
So it's like one, you know, God doesn't exaggerate so when he says he was very fat or very prideful
It's kind of showing you. Oh, man, this this nation is very arrogant things very highly of itself
And in fact, let me just say this also
regarding this particular passage
This was obviously prophesied long before Jeremiah came on the scene and when you read Jeremiah 48
About the judgment of Moab from Jeremiah himself
he seems to call back almost word-for-word a lot of the stuff that's being said here in Isaiah 16 and
So it's almost as if he went back to those Scrolls and just kind of
Revisited them or just kind of integrated him into his preaching
But this happened, you know about a hundred years prior and yet you have Jeremiah
Preaching the same exact thing Jeremiah 48 14 says how say ye we are mighty and strong men for war
Referring to Moab Moab is spoiled and gone up out of the her cities and his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter
Sayeth the king whose name is the Lord of hosts. So they're they think that they're mighty
They think that they're powerful and they also think that you know, they have all these treasures
This is causing them to be puffed up arrogant because they have treasures they think that they're strong
They think that they're powerful and God's gonna have to humble them using a more powerful nation and just remember this guy's
You know before you decide to get into a fight one day
Because you're so good at fighting. Just know this. There's always someone who's just better than you
Talk to the experienced fighters in our church and I guarantee every single one of them there. There's always someone better
always
there's a tendency in young guys to want to just prove themselves and
Just kind of like be macho or you know
think that they can whoop everyone and
You know, and here's the thing is, you know, I was like that in my teenage years. I
think every red-blooded American is
You know, you just have a desire to prove yourself and not to be a punk
Not to be a little buster
But let me just say this is that eventually you will run into someone who is stronger than you and who will humble you
And
Especially as a Christian you said why don't you get in fights now? Well number one. I'm a pastor
Okay
So, you know, I can't I can't be a brawler
Number two, you know or should I say number one is because I'm a Christian I should say
number two is because I'm a pastor but number three is because
God is my Savior and he will just allow me to get my rear end kicked just to teach me a lesson
Even
I guarantee you, you know, if I'm just so prideful that I'm just gonna beat up some
120 pounder or something like that, you know, I almost think like God would like endow him with Samson's strength and just
Just whoop me just to teach just to humble me
Say you would fear 120 pounder. No, I fear God that he would let 120 pounder beat the crap out of me
You said that would happen. I believe so
Because you know, what God is more concerned with than your reputation is your sanctification
And
So he's more concerned with you
Not being prideful and arrogant and thinking that you're just all that and you can you can take on anybody
he's more concerned with keeping you humble so you can be usable right and
Therefore, yeah, he would cause you to lose a fight
You
Know oh, yeah, but I don't fight though. I got all these guns, you know, I
Got all these weapons and stuff he could cause the guns to jam and
Embarrass you or just cause you to lose your cognitive function. So you don't even know how to use a freaking gun
You just make you stupid and right in the moment. I
Don't think I'll do that. Yeah, cuz you don't fear God
Like I fear the Lord and I feel like that would happen to me
And I don't want that to happen. So obviously I don't get into confrontations with people
You know and and by the way, I'm not saying like, you know be a sissy be a wimp and a pacifist or whatever
You know, obviously if someone's attacking your family you have a duty to
Protect your family, right? But let me just be honest with you like
That is like my last
Resort though. So what's your first the Lord to just protect me and my family?
That's just it well, that's just not enough it is for me
You know, I just expect the Lord to take care of my wife and my children and I'm the earthly protector of my family
And God knows that you know, I'll get down to protect my family. You know, I'll do what I can
I'll give my life to protect my family
And he knows from the bottom of my heart
I will give my life for my children my wife in a second if need be
But I don't think that's gonna happen because I don't put myself in stupid situations
That's just at the end of the day and if I find myself in that situation
That means God allowed it and if he wants me to die that I'm gonna die
plain and simple and
So it's important for us to realize that you know, don't be like Moab
Oh, we're mighty strong and and you know
I got you know strength and fighting ability and armory. Yeah, you know
It's all good to have those things
Cuz I think God's fine with us having those things
But just don't let it get to your head though
Okay. Hey, I'm thankful I could deadlift 400 whatever
You know, but if I become prideful the next lift he just makes me pull
Slip a disc or something just because I'm being prideful and I'm just like this is a punk weight
easy and just
And then I'm just like stuck like this for like two weeks just so God can humble me
It can happen
That's why anytime I lift every time every time I lived and I'm about to pull ahead anytime
I always pray right before I do it
I'm dead serious. I
said Lord
Help me to lift this and help me not to injure myself. Give me the strength to lift this every single time
Because I don't want to go I don't want to approach the bar with pride
Like watch this how much is this?
Easy
Lightweight I
May say that a couple times but in my heart, I'm like, I'm just kidding Lord
Just kidding
Cuz you know at any given time he can just cause me to just injure myself for six months
You know
I can I can run into one of my church members playing basketball and
And tear ligaments in my middle finger and then just not live for six months, you know
Yeah, you think God was trying to humble you probably
And in fact now that I think about it
He probably was trying to humble me during that time because I was making so much progress and thinking that I was all that
So he just took me out for six months
What are you saying I'm saying just don't be like Moab
Moab literally had so much destruction come upon them only because they were just prideful
They weren't willing to humble themselves before God and let me just say this when it comes to the Lord
Obviously, I've only been walking with God for about 17 years, but in my experience
Sometimes it only requires just a little bit of humility for him to give a whole lot of mercy
Like he just wants you to just like correct it just a little bit
You know, I mean like go just start like even if you don't turn completely in the right direction
just give it a couple degrees and
Often God is just exceedingly gracious with us. Even if you do that
That's how he operates and
So
you know, he's able to abase us he's able to humble us and
Eventually Moab suffer the consequences of his pride look at verse 7 therefore shall Moab howl for who for Moab
He's just like he just grieved over himself
Folks I'd rather grieve for others
Right. I'd rather lament for the pain of others
For
The abasement of others not for my own
Woes because God is punishing me since therefore shall Moab howl for Moab everyone shall howl
For the foundations of kir hareseth shall be more and surely they are stricken
For the fields of Heshbon languish and the vine of Sibma the Lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants
There of their come even unto Jazer they wander through the wilderness or branches are stretched out
They are gone over the sea. This is reiterated in Jeremiah 48 and
it's basically saying that you know, God is removing the joy of Moab and
So when it talks about him removing these vineyards and these trees
It's almost as if like Moab was found their joy in
The fact that they had lush gardens and vineyards. That's where their joy is like. All right, well, I'm gonna remove all that joy
You know because that's what pride does and you know
There's a great principle for us to learn that you know, if you want to keep enjoying the things that God gave you
Keep giving glory to God keep being humble, right? I
Mean, I think all of us could say I love the stuff that I have. I love where I'm at
I love you know, my family. I love my church. I love the possessions
I enjoy the things that God has given to me, but
Stay humble
So you can keep enjoying them
You guys God is telling Moab. Oh you like all this stuff? All right
It's just all gone, how about now you like it you like it now now someone else is enjoying it
That was my commentary on how I
How it went about look at verse 9. It says therefore I will be well with the weeping of Jezre the vine of Simba
I will water thee with my tears O Heshbon and Elilah for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for the harvest is fallen
He says in gladness is taken away and joy out of the plentiful field and the vineyards there shall be no singing neither shall there
Be shouting the treaders shall tread out no wine in their press presses
I have made their vintage shouting to cease now
I want you to notice the balance that Isaiah has but also God because he's judging them
What does he say? He's like he's weeping for them to though
You
Know sometimes when God punishes God's people
He's he's definitely righteous and just in doing so but you know, he does hurt for it though
I mean think about the fact that when we sin we grieve the Holy Spirit of God
and
So this is a good print
This is a good lesson for us to learn that if someone is suffering the consequences of their actions don't become callous towards that either
That's what they get
Huh?
That's true, but you know, we should also weep for them though, too
And kind of mourn and think man you're gonna suffer some of the most horrific consequences of your actions
Cuz we're not for the grace of God. We'd be in that position, right and
So don't lose the quality of empathy in your life for others
Learn to have empathy for others, you know, they're like, well, I don't really know what that's like
Well, then ask God to kind of show you what it's like though without you having to go through that
Ask God to increase your empathy towards people who have you know are being destroyed by Satan because of their their decisions
Yeah, you know it's what they deserve for sure. And you know what? That's what they get
Yes, but you know, I kind of heard a little bit
Because I wish it wasn't so
You know, God is themes justice, but he also steams empathy. He steams compassion
He steams love and he wants us to have like a soft spot and still like weep with them that weep and mourn with them
that more
Well, you know
Let's say to just destroy them. Well, I hope it doesn't get to that point
And it should break our hearts when if it does
Because that's not God's will right?
and
So the harvest is gonna fail them
The Lord will put
Will be forced to put an end to their harvest and their joy
rebelling against the Lord will force God to withdraw his blessings from our lives and
So it's important for us to realize, you know
When when God chastises you sometimes he just goes all the way and he removes things to kind of get your attention
He does allow the the bank account to drop. He does remove your possessions
He does crash your car. He does crash your boat. He does allow something that happened to your home
He allows something to kind of get he allows health issues
to get your attention
Look at verse 11
Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab and my inward parts for Kirarash
It shall come to pass when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place
That he shall come to the Lord God of Israel
Nope to his sanctuary to pray but he shall not prevail. So even in spite of all this
They're still gonna go to the high places and seek out false gods for solace and comfort. What in the world?
and
Whether that whether this means that they're gonna go to their false gods or they're gonna go seek the God of the Bible
The end result is still the same because it says but he shall not prevail
What is this talking about? You know, there is a sin unto death. I do not say you shall pray for it
There are instances where people could go so far in the Christian life
Where you know what no amount of anointing can help you
No amount of prayer can help you like God has already said like you're done. I'm gonna destroy you
Because you've already gone too far
You become a castaway not a reprobate because you Christians can't be reprobate, but you can become a castaway
Where God says enough is enough. You're not getting it go to Proverbs chapter 1 and we'll finish off here
Proverbs chapter 1
So why are you saying this we know to kind of prevent you from ever going down that path
Ever going down the path of an unrepentant heart where you just refuse to get right with God
You just refuse and you refuse you don't want to listen. You don't take correction
Maybe the brothers in the church are trying to get to you and say hey, you need to correct your ways
You need to come back you need to do this and you just refuse refuse refuse folks
You don't know when your deadline is
everyone's deadlines different and
There can come a point in your life as a Christian where just God just says
All right, it's time to come home
You just become a saw
Like yeah, but that's like you're just getting really far. I don't know how really far is though
Yeah, do you want to find out I don't
Because you're really far might be different from my really far
I don't know. I
Really don't know and you know what? I don't care to find out and I hope you never have to find out either
I hope that when you if God forbid that you should get out of the ways of the Lord you
Backslide and you're involved in sin that you get right with God as soon as possible
Because you know what? That's one thing that God doesn't do he doesn't say hey by expiration date right here
Best to be used. What is it best used by?
You know, whatever date he's like, all right, cool. I still got a couple more months
Sorry, it doesn't work that way and
You know what? He can take you tomorrow and he'd be justified in doing so and you're like in every like well
I thought I had like a year or at least it's like, you know
God's not obligated to give you a timeline. He can just destroy it right off the bat. I
Don't want that to happen to me
I don't want that to happen to you, but it can happen to people and obviously, you know
It's far more severe for the unsaved but you know, it can happen to us. We die with dishonor
The greatest fear that you should have is to die with dishonor dishonoring the Lord Jesus Christ. So how so you know like saw I
Mean it's in the Bible forever
His he's been pretty mad so many sermons have been
Solving used for so many sermons
I'm sure he's just in heaven like
Sucks
You're saw I'm saw you help me so much I appreciate that
Look what it says in Proverbs chapter 1 verse 24 because I have called and he refused
I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but you have said it not all my counsel would none of my reproof
Here's the rough part. I will also laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear come in
That's powerful
Why would God laugh at my calamity because you're a joke to him
Because you were unwilling to listen
so just as you mocked and
Laughed at the council you didn't you took it lightly
God says okay. I'm gonna laugh at you when you when you're destroyed
And
I always look at that verse and say, you know, God doesn't have a sense of humor
It's kind of crazy though a
sense of humor is pretty wild
But you know, I think he's trying to convey something here and that is you know, don't how about this don't make God laugh
Hey here if you get anything from the sermon get this don't be God's punchline
He
Says when your fear cometh as a desolation your destruction cometh as a whirlwind when distress and anguish come upon you
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer Moab. They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me
For that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord
They would none of my counsel they despised all my reproof
therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices for the turning of the
Way of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them
But who so harkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil. Hey
harken
Listen, don't be prideful. Don't be arrogant get right with God as soon as you can
Don't be like Moab. Oh, oh help us from the Assyrians crickets
crickets
No one's coming to save you you can send the lamb though if you want
You can send some tribute to Judah, maybe that'll help I don't know I don't not want to be in that position
You know, I want to be able to call upon God to deliver me from the hand of my enemies
To deliver me from anguish and trial and the Lord is just right there
Because I'm right with the Lord
Here's the last thing he says this is the word that the Lord had spoken concerning Moab since that time
But now the Lord had spoken saying within three years as the years of an hireling and the glory of Moab should be condemned
With all that great multitude and the remnant shall be very small and feeble
I don't believe that's saying that he's gonna destroy them in three years
Three years respective to where Isaiah is preaching this from I believe he's saying that in a span of three years
Moab would be made desolate and how do we know that because
Jeremiah's preaching about Moab long into the future and that hasn't been fulfilled yet
And so that's obviously referring to the span of how long Moab is gonna be destroyed for what's the sermon tonight?
The sermon is simply this, you know
Listen in church, right?
Listen to your Bible reading
Don't take the correction lightly
Take it to heart
Get right with God
Don't allow yourself to stray too far
Come back as soon as you can
Cuz I don't know where your deadline is, I don't know I don't I don't know where the border is
I don't know where the crossing of the line is and I don't want to know and I don't want you to know
It's better to just you know, travail
To stay right with God
Than to wonder how far can I take this before God slays me?
Call upon God now, you know
Isn't it great to just have the confidence you could just pray right now and know that the Lord is listening
You can commune with the Lord now you can get God's blessing now
Whereas when you're outside of God's will we're just serving the lust of the flesh
People out there they're praying. They just don't know they're like man. I don't even know if God's even listening right now that sucks
Stay right with God. Amen
Let's pray father. We thank you so much for Isaiah 16 and for the
Example that Boab gives us here Lord. I pray that you would help us to learn from them and
To be a humble people and obviously we have the propensity to become prideful
to become arrogant to think highly of ourselves Lord and I pray that when we have those foolish thoughts that we would
Immediately commune with you and give praise to you and think upon those who have invested in us whether it's our family
our friends our church members our leaders and
Lord help us to remain humble so that we don't have to suffer like Moab did Lord and may we rejoice and enjoy
The privilege and the freedom that we have to be able to call upon you now in
Full confidence knowing full well that you're pleased with us that you're happy with us. You can bless us Lord
This is where you want us to be and I pray that you bless us as we go on our way
Give us a great weekend protect us as we go to Mexico on Saturday. Give us a fruitful
trip there and
Bless us as we come back on Sunday. We love you. We thank you pray these things in Jesus name. Amen
Please turn your songbooks of song number 413 song number 413 stand up stand up for Jesus
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