And the Bible reads, "Send ye 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 fores of Arnan.
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 a covert to them from the face of the spoiler, for the extortioner is at an
end.
For after 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 is very proud, even of his haughtiness, and his
pride and his wrath, but his lies shall not be so.
Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, everyone shall howl.
For the foundations of Kir-Harsheth shall ye mourn, 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 thereof, there come even a jaser.
They wandered through the wilderness, her branches are stretched out, they are gone
over the sea.
Therefore I will be well with the weeping of jaser, the vine of Sibma.
I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon and O'Laylee, 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, neither shall there be shouting.
The treaders shall tread out of no wine in their presses; I have made their vintage shouting
to cease.
Wherefore my bow shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-Heresh.
And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that
he shall come to his 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 have been huddling,
and the glory of Moab shall be content 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.
Dear God, we thank you for this wonderful church.
We thank you for our pastor.
Please bless him tonight as he preaches your word unto 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's been taken care of in the sense of the judgment's going to come
upon them, they know what's going to 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 nation that we can call a cousin nation to Israel.
They have history with Israel, they know of the God of Israel.
And of course throughout the years, throughout the history of Israel, we know that Moab was
very much pagan, and they 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 leaves, they weren't moved about, they weren't seeking
the Lord, and therefore God's judgment was going to come upon them.
But this evening, in Chapter 16, we actually see the main reason why God is going to 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
arrogance and pride, and this is why God is going to bring down the hammer on them via
the Assyrians.
Now, let's go ahead and look at these couple of verses here.
It's a short chapter, but we're going to spend a good amount of time on a specific
section here.
First of all, we're going to look at 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 Moabites.
And we see that God is instructing the Assyrians to kill them, to 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 going to come and get you.
So he's doing a very thorough job in 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 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 Arnon."
Now that seems kind of cryptic, you kind of wonder like what is this referring to, "Send
ye 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, when you look at Moab and the history of Moab, they've always had
conflict with Israel.
And you think of a couple of instances, you have the Moabite women enticing the men of
Israel and seducing them to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed into idols.
That was via the agenda of Balak, who hired Balaam the 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 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 still exists, but they have to pay tribute
to Israel.
Okay.
And so David did a really good job at 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 is kind of like a last ditch effort.
Because obviously the Moabitish women and the children, they need refuge of some sort.
They need protection.
They need coverage of some sort.
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 is that referring to?
Well, you 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, the 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 can 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 when you sin against God, when
you are living wickedly, you rebel against God, and you are unrepentant, the options
you have are limited, right, on what can happen thereafter.
When you are 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 are suffering the consequences
of your actions.
And you think to yourself, "Well, that's not fair.
You know, they are women.
They are children.
They are fleeing for their lives."
Yeah, well, they should have thought about that when they were offering offerings to
Chimosh, the false God.
And so it may seem unmerciful, it may seem, "Oh, man, 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 where it's just like, pay tribute, I don't know, we'll 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, oh, you know, what about the good options?
Well, 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 menu, it's like all
the options are bad, but you chose to go to that restaurant.
What's a good restaurant to just, let's just do Whataburger, because we all hate Whataburger,
okay?
Sorry, do you guys have Whataburger over there?
Oh, sorry about that.
I just thought about it, I was like, wait, they're from, you know, Florida, do you guys
like Whataburger?
Alright, 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 Whataburger 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 going to kill you.
They're all going to give you diarrhea and you know, you're going to vomit, projectile
vomit.
You're going to get all kinds of parasites.
There's no good option, but you chose to go to India.
See what I'm saying?
You know, no illustration is 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 do you want?
It's like, they're all bad.
You want my hand against you?
It's like, no, where's the fourth option?
Can I call it in?
Can I phone a family member?
It's like, no matter what, someone's going to 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 going to be merciful to me.
So I'd 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 with Moab is like, they kind of have to take what
they can get, you 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 three.
It says take counsel, execute judgment, make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the
noon day, hide the outcast, berate 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 what it's referring to, because 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
berate them that are wandering, berate 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 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 thee, Moab."
And he says, "He hath given his sons that escaped and his daughters into captivity into
Sion 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, their refugees are scattered and they can have the tendency to just give
up the weak people just so they could be saved.
You're like, "You really think that's what it's talking about?"
Well, think about this, okay, because 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 of 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 that 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're like, well, I can't do much, but yeah, but 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 into death, and those that are ready to be slain, if thou sayest, 'Behold,
we knew it not,' doth not he that pondereth 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 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 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 in 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 while 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 determine if that's really what
it is.
Oh man, you know, I just, I don't have enough money.
Yeah, but here's the thing.
You have something though.
Well, I don't have the time.
We all got 24 hours in a day though, you know, and you're like, well, I don't have any resource
to give anybody.
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 when he says beray them, beray means to reveal them.
Like, hey, don't tell the Assyrians I'm going to 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.
And 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, because you're hungry or whatever.
You're like, I can't take it anymore.
You promised me Cane's, you know, I'll tell you where that whole church is at, you know.
Just review Brother Marcus's, 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 others
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 four.
Verse four says, "Let mine al-kaz 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 cease it, the oppressors are consumed out
of the land."
Now, when you look at what's taking place here, is that really true though?
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 that Jesus Christ will return one day.
That is ultimately when the oppressors will cease and they will stop and they would no
longer exist.
You say, "Well, how do you know that's what it's referring to though?"
Well, look at verse five, "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 to 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 promises given to us in the Bible don't happen in our lifetime.
God always wants us to be eternally minded and remind ourselves of his promises.
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, it 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 think to 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 going to get into Moab's 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.
You say, 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 going
to cover Egypt in a couple of 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, they're 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're not necessarily a nation of conquest, they can't even defeat Israel, they're small,
but yet in their hearts they're big, 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 knock on the door and it's just like, you talk to this person and they're just unwilling
to just repent of their unbelief, repent of what they're trusting in for salvation,
right?
And place their faith in Jesus Christ because of pride!
I mean, the vast majority of people that you meet online, that 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.
It requires humility to believe what the Bible says, that you're going to split hell wide
open because you're a sinner.
I mean, no one can get saved 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 that says, "Well, no, no, no, you have to, you know, faith without works
is dead."
You can 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, what are you trying to say, you can 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, it's 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 run into some really prideful people online sometimes, 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 tried to win over by giving them verses, or even in person,
and it's just like Catholics, for example, pride.
You just want to finish the conversation and say, "You're just prideful.
You're just an arrogant, prideful Cathy, not willing to just humble yourself.
You're subverting the word of God to be saved."
Pride is the culprit in keeping people from getting saved, but pride is also the culprit
in Christians from getting right with God, or from just receiving correction from the
pulpit.
They hear a hard truth, maybe something that they heard on Sunday night, I don't know,
something like that, and it's just like, "Hmm, I agree with that."
Just say you're prideful, because you can't deny it.
And folks, you didn't come to Candyland Baptist Church, this isn't like cotton candy church
or something like that.
You come into a church where you're going to hear the truth, and you're going to 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 folks, it's always a good thing, and you say, "Why, I just felt embarrassed, though,
when you preached on Sunday night."
Good, good, you're supposed to.
I mean, think about this, you know, the Bible, God condemned people for not blushing.
He 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 going to dress like a homo.
I'm still going to dress like a hoe.
I don't care what anybody says."
Shame is a good thing, amen?
Shame is a virtue that God exalts, because 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, 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 of 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 are safe people that, yeah, 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."
No, 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 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 I'd be like, "Well, well, well, look who we have here.
Well, it's been a while, brother.
You done sinning?
I'm just messing with you.
You're not fornicating anymore, are you?"
Obviously, that's an exaggeration, but I guarantee you that's out there somewhere.
I guarantee you.
We try to soften the blow.
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.
It's embarrassing.
I understand.
It's like, "Man, everyone's going to wonder where I've been and what's going on and why
I haven't 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."
It's just like, "Amen, brother, 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 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 back slid
or something.
But, you know, pride will keep someone from just even making that decision.
It's just like, well, what are people going to think about you?
You know, what are they going to say though?
And you're just going to 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, 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 assimilated once again into the Christian life.
I'm back in church.
I'm soul-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 ... Pride will keep Christians from admitting that they're wrong.
I mean, have you ever talked to someone and you're just trying to tell them you're wrong
about this and they're just unwilling to admit that they're wrong?
Every one of us have talked to someone and it's just ... You ever have a checkmate moment?
You do like a checkmate and you can see it in their eyes.
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.
And you know the thought that pops into my mind?
This guy is 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 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 what, 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.
People are going to think you're on the social media,
you're on the internet, I mean what do you want me to do?
There's nothing you can do.
And in fact, let me just say this,
people have more respect for you
when you're willing to admit that you're wrong
than 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 wrong.
If you say, you know, I'm wrong, it's just like,
okay, cool, this guy's humble, 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, guy's a clown.
They're not willing to admit it.
And we've all had conversations with a person or people
where whether it's a major deal or a small deal,
or 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.
Because God resists 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 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 wouldn't be able to attain to that.
Don't have this attitude.
Yeah, I'm just built different.
I'm just built a little different, that's just it.
I'm just, I'm him.
'Cause that's the attitude
that a lot of young people have today, right?
I'm him.
That's not even proper English.
Humility is lacking in this generation.
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 here's the thing, it's something
that we have to work on,
'cause it doesn't come naturally to us.
Myself as a pastor, there is a tendency,
there is a temptation to become prideful,
'cause it's just a temptation for everyone.
So it's important, look,
here's a good motivation to be humble.
Humble yourself, or God will humble you.
And I'd rather humble myself than have God humble me,
'cause He can embarrass me bad.
He can embarrass you really bad.
So either shame yourself and say,
"You know what, my parents, they just did a great job,
"even though they weren't Christians,
"I learned a lot of things from them,
"or my pastor helped me, or the church members,
"but for sure, God helped me,
"and I really appreciate the compliment.
"I'm thankful for, I'm thankful for the opportunity
"to serve, or I'm thankful for this opportunity."
Just the people that I'm surrounded with,
they just help me a lot,
'cause 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,
'cause it's easy to verbalize humility.
It's another thing to actually believe it in your heart,
to think in your heart like, "Him."
But in your heart, you just have to be like,
"Lord, I'm struggling with pride."
That's 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 wanna 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 humble yourself before the Lord,
is 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 pray unto the Lord,
and just the mere communion with the Lord,
it invokes humility in our lives,
'cause we realize God is big,
and he can just take all this away from me
at any given time.
And that alone humbles you, right?
And so we see that Moab is extremely prideful.
For God to say very proud,
it means that he was very prideful.
You say, well, how do you know?
When God has to put a very, think of Eglon, 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?
'Cause the blade went all the way in
and ate the handle.
It's like cartoon status.
So it's like when, 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 nation is very arrogant,
thinks 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 them 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 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 think that they're mighty,
they think that they're powerful,
and they also think that they have all these treasures.
This is causing them to be puffed up, arrogant,
'cause 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, guys,
before you decide to get into a fight one day,
'cause 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 you, every single one of them
there, there's always someone better, always.
There's a tendency in young guys
to wanna just prove themselves,
and just be macho, or think that they can whoop everyone,
and here's the thing, I was like that in my teenage years.
I think every red-blooded American is.
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 say, "Why don't you get in fights now?"
Well, number one, I'm a pastor, okay?
So, you know, I can't be a brawler.
Number two, you know, or should I say number one,
is 'cause 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 whoop me,
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 say, 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 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 right in the moment.
I don't think God would do that, yeah,
'cause 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 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
'cause 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, then 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, you know, I got, you know,
strength and fighting ability and armory.
Yeah, you know, it's all good to have those things.
'Cause 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, you know, 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 I lift
and I'm about to pull, 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.
'Cause 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 of times,
but in my heart I'm like, I'm just kidding, Lord.
Just kidding, you know what I mean?
'Cause, you know, at any given time he can just cause me
to just injure myself for six months.
You know, I can run into one of my church members
playing basketball and tear ligaments in my middle finger
and then just not live for six months, you know?
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
'cause 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 what 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 suffered the consequences of his pride.
Look at verse seven, therefore shall Moab howl for who?
For Moab.
He's just like, he's just grieved over himself.
Folks, I rather grieve for others, right?
I rather lament for the pain of others,
for the abasement of others, not for my own woes
because God is punishing me.
It says, "Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab,
everyone shall howl.
For the foundations of Kier Haresheth shall ye mourn,
surely they are stricken.
For the fields of Heshbon language and the vine of Sibma,
lords of the heathen have broken down
the principal plants thereof.
They are come even unto Jaser.
They wander through the wilderness
where 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 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."
Because that's what pride does.
And, you know, this is a great principle for us to learn
that, you know, if you wanna 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
because God is telling me,
oh, you like all this stuff?
All right.
It's just all gone.
How about now?
You like it now?
Now someone else is enjoying it.
That was my commentary on how it went about.
Look at verse nine.
It says, "Therefore, I will be well
"with the weeping of Jayser, the vine of Simba.
"I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon and Elila,
"for the shouting for thy summer fruits
"and for the harvest is fallen."
He says, "And gladness is taken away
"and joy out of the plentiful field.
"And in the vineyards there shall be no singing,
"neither shall there be shouting.
"The treaders shall tread out no wine in their 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.
But what does he say?
He's weeping for them too, though.
You know, sometimes when God punishes God's people,
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 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.
'Cause if 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, it's 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 decisions.
Yeah, you know, it's what they deserve, for sure,
and you know what, that's what they get, yes,
but you know what, I kind of hurt a little bit
'cause I wish it wasn't so.
You know what, God esteems justice,
but he also esteems empathy.
He esteems compassion, he esteems love,
and he wants us to have like a soft spot
and still like weep with them that weep,
mourn with them that mourn.
Well, you know, let Satan just destroy them.
Well, I hope it doesn't get to that point,
and it should break our hearts if it does,
'cause that's not God's will, right?
And so the harvest is gonna fail them.
The Lord 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 God chastises you,
sometimes he just goes all the way
and he removes things to kind of get your attention.
He does allow the bank account to drop.
He does remove your possessions.
He does crash your car.
He does crash your boat.
He does allow something to happen to your home.
He allows something to kind of get,
he allows health issues to get your attention.
Look at verse 11, "Wherefore, my bow shall sound like an harp for Moab and my inward
parts for Keirahresh, and 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 going to go to the high places and seek out
false gods for solace and comfort.
What in the world?
And whether this means that they're going to go to their false gods or they're going
to 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 he shall pray for it.
There are instances where people can 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 going to 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 one, and we'll finish off here, Proverbs chapter one.
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 deadline's 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 Saul."
Like, yeah, but that's like, you're just getting really far.
I don't know how really far it is though.
Do you want to find out?
I don't because you're really far, it 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, 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, 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 where 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 Saul.
I mean, it's in the Bible forever.
He's been, man, so many sermons, Saul's been used for so many sermons, and I'm sure he's
just been having like, "You're Saul?
I'm Saul.
You helped me so much."
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 cometh."
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 counsel, you took it lightly.
God says, "Okay, I'm going to laugh at you when you're destroyed."
And I always look at that verse and say, "You know, God does have a sense of humor."
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, 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 whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
Hey hearken, listen, don't be prideful, don't be arrogant, get right with God as soon as
you can.
Don't be like Moab, "Oh help us from the Assyrians!"
Crickets, crickets, no one's coming to save you.
You can send a lamb though if you want.
You can send some tribute to Judah, maybe that'll help, I don't know.
I do 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 in the remnant shall
be very small and feeble."
I don't believe that's saying that he's going to destroy them in three years, three years
respective to where Isaiah is preaching this from.
I believe he's saying that in the span of three years, Moab would be made desolate.
And how do we know that?
Because Jeremiah is 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 going to 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 because I don't know where your deadline is.
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, you'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 Moab 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.
And 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 this thing's in Jesus' name, amen.
This is Psalm 413, stand up, stand up for Jesus.