The Bible reads, "For behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, that take away from Jerusalem
and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of
water, the mighty man and the man of war, the judge and the prophet and the prudent and
the ancient, the captain of fifty and the honorable man and the counselor and the cunning
artificer and the eloquent orator, that will give children to be their princes and babes
shall rule over them, and the people shall be oppressed, every one by another and every
one by his neighbor. The child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient and the
base against the honorable, but a man shall take hold of his brother for the house of
his father, saying, "Thou is clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under
thy hand." And that day shall he swear, saying, "I will not be in heeler, for in my house
is neither bread nor clothing; make me not a ruler of the people. For Jerusalem is ruined,
and Judah is fallen, because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, to
provoke the eyes of his glory. To show off their countenance doth witness against them,
and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Worn to their soul, for they
have rewarded evil unto themselves. Say to the righteous, that it shall be well with
him, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Worn to the wicked, shall be ill with
him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him. As for my people, children are
their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee
to err, and destroy the way thy paths. The Lord standeth up to plead, and standeth to
judge the people. The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people,
and the princes thereof. For ye have eaten up the vineyard, the spoil of the poor is
in your houses. What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and cry in the faces
of the poor? saith the Lord God of hosts. Moreover the Lord saith, because the daughters
of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks, and wanton eyes, walking and
missing as they go and making a tinkling with their feet therefore the Lord will
smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion and the Lord
will discover their secret parts and that day the Lord will take away the
bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet and their calls and their
round tires like the moon the chains the bracelets and the mufflers the bonnets
and the ornaments of the legs and the headbands and the tablets and the
earrings the rings the nose jewels the changeable suits of apparel and the
mantles and the wimples and the crisping pins the glasses and the fine linen and
the hoods and the veils they shall come to pass and instead of sweet smell they
should there shall be stink and instead of a girdle a rent and instead of well
set hair baldness and instead of a stomach err a girding of sackcloth and
burning instead of beauty thy men shall fall by the sword and thy mighty in the
war and her gates shall be shall lament and mourn and she being desolate shall
sit upon the ground let's pray we thank you Heavenly Father for the King James
Bible dear God we thank you for this wonderful church you've given us and we
thank you for our pastor dear Lord please bless him tonight as he preaches
your word in Jesus name we pray amen amen okay we're continuing this evening
with our Bible study in the book of Isaiah chapter number three in chapter
two we were essentially covering it's giving us some imagery here of the
millennial reign and of course it also talks about the day of the Lord and as
we know the day of the Lord is essentially referring to God's judgment
upon a particular nation of course here we're talking about Judah and Israel but
it's essentially a microcosm of what's going to take place in the end of the
world where when Christ comes back to rapture his people the day of the that's
considered the day of the Lord and that's when God begins to pour out his
wrath upon this world and so throughout the Bible you see that concept of the
day of the Lord that's often associated with God's judgment God's wrath and
that's what's what was being talked about towards the latter end of chapter
two now chapter three is a continuation of that judgment and tonight we're going
to look at the profile of a nation that's under judgment what are some of
the things that God does when God begins to judge a nation that has forsaken God
forsaken the Bible forsaken biblical principles what does God do to a nation
what is exactly how is it that he judges them what does he do to them well the
first thing we're gonna look at is that he's going to remove the necessities
essential necessities and competent leaders okay look at verse number one it
says for behold the Lord the Lord of hosts doth take away from Jerusalem and
from Judah the stay and the staff the whole stay of bread and the whole stay
of water what is that referring to when he says the stay and the staff well you
think of the word stay it's referring to that which establishes you that which
essentially keeps you keeps you afloat and the staff is referring to essentially
a rod or a stick that you would lean upon that you rely upon so when he says
the stay and the staff is referring to the fact that he's removing the
essentials of life that which we would rely upon to live and that's why he
specifically says excuse me the stay of bread and the whole stay of water now
how does he do that well throughout the Bible you see that God when he judges
the nation will often bring famine right meaning that he will allow it not to
rain he'll keep the rain from coming upon the crops and therefore creating a
drought therefore creating a famine people starve that is a way of how he
removes the stay of bread and the stay of water other instances he sometimes
sends an east wind as we see in the book of Hosea that destroys the crops if
it's not the east wind if it's not the famine sometimes you'll send locusts to
come and eat the crops destroy the crops you know God's very creative okay he has
a variety of options in which he destroys the essentials of life so one
of the first things that he does when he's judging the nation is that he
removes their food supply he removes their the bread and the water he
essentially begins to curse the ground he begins to curse the lamb and when I
think about this verse I think about second Chronicles chapter 7 where the
Bible says if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and
pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways he says then I will
hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and listen to this and will heal
their land okay so when God is saying here is that if God's people repent
from their sins they get right with God and they seek God's face then he's gonna
heal the lamb okay it's not gonna be cursed it's not gonna be filled with
famine and pestilence and locusts that which will consume the food and all their
resources let me read to you another verse here from Haggai chapter one
because if you remember in the previous chapters we see that Judah in the
previous chapter excuse me Judah it says of Judah that they have treasures and
riches essentially that they have an abundance and it's because of that that
they're essentially forgetting God right and we talked about the fact that when
you have an overabundance of resources and money and possessions you know
people have a tendency to idolize money and forsake the Lord okay so sometimes
God has to make you broke in order to humble you and get you back to where you
need to be where you're looking for God again and you're asking for your daily
bread but it reminds me of this verse in Haggai 1 verse 6 where it says you have
so much and bring in little you eat but you have not enough you drink but you
are not filled with drink ye clothed you but there is none warm and he that
earneth wages listen to this earneth wages to put it into bags with holes now
this is a perfect example of someone who decides to just forsake the things of
God to get out of church to make more money to get a second job and they
become fixated on becoming wealthy right but then they forsake church they
forsake the spiritual responsibilities and yeah they're more good they're
working more hours they're getting overtime in maybe they're working a
second job but you know what if you're a Christian God's not gonna allow you to
prosper and he's gonna allow those wages that you earn to go into bags with
holes in other words he's gonna make that money disappear one way or another
and that is one way that God gets people's attention you know the Bible
tells us that where your treasure is there your heart be also and whether you
like it or not sometimes our hearts are tied into our resources so it's
important to invest in things that you want to give your heart to that are
right things such as church or the people why because then your heart will
follow that if you invest in stupid things you know you're gonna get stupid
appetites and stupid results right you if you invest in buying video games then
you know you're gonna lose a heart for the Bible and the things of God and
you're gonna be a lazy game addict okay if you are investing in frivolous things
that don't matter that's where your attention and your
affection is gonna go and so he's telling us here in Haggai that sometimes
God can even hinder you from making more money and you're like well I got this
really great plan to make more money and I got this you know great boss he's
gonna give me extra hours you can have the greatest boss the greatest of
financial circumstances and that money can still go into a hole where you'll
never see it ever again if that's what God wants okay so I rather just have
both amen you know where you're able to pay your bills and please God and in
fact when you please God you can pay your bills and sometimes he even gives
you a little extra on top a little cherry on top a little abundance the
Bible says that he gives us all things richly to enjoy why not be in God's
good favor by obeying him and then you can still earn those extra wage or
whatever it may be but we see in Isaiah that obviously Israel is not doing that
so an over an abundance is not causing them to get closer to God they obviously
don't have the discipline to have an abundance and continue to serve God it's
causing them to forsake the Lord and you don't have to turn there but in
Isaiah 36 he kind of addresses the same thing he says in verse 6 lo thou trust
this in the staff of this broken reed on Egypt we're on if a man lean it will go
into his hand pierce it so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him
so one of the glaring weaknesses of Judah and Israel is they're putting their
trust in everything but God right they're putting their trust in the
resources and the riches but they're not really trusting in the Lord they're
putting their trust in Egypt and in Pharaoh and the government and political
authorities but they're not really trusting in the Lord so God's trying to
bring them back to this point of trusting in him and part of doing that
is removing the most essential of resources and you say well how does that
help to get you back you know to worshipping God and serving God well
Psalm 119 71 says this it is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might
learn nice statutes it's when you're in great trial of affliction that you have
a tendency to read the Bible more it's when you're broke that you have a
tendency to make more time for the Bible why because you ain't got no money to go
out no money to go buy stuff and go hang out and go on vacation and you know
go out to eat or whatever maybe you don't even got the gas money to go to
the nearby Starbucks and if you had the money to go to nearby star you don't
have money to buy a Starbucks so now you're gonna invest more time into the
things of God right and of course as you obey the Lord as you live a righteous
life and learn biblical principles you know God will bless you with with
abundance and sometimes even riches but the point that's being made here is that
Judah and Jerusalem had riches and abundance because God blessed them and
that caused them to forsake the Lord and it's for that reason that he begins
to remove the stay and the staff they're no longer established because
you're removing that bread they no longer have that staff that they're
leaning upon because God is removing the water as well okay he's creating
some form of famine in the land look at verse number two so now he not only
removes the essentials to life food water but he also begins to remove
capable leaders and this is a mark of true judgment upon a nation look what
it says in verse two the mighty man and the man of war the judge and the prophet
and the prudent and the ancient captain of 50 and the honorable man and the
counselor and the cunning artificer and the eloquent orator so what is he talking
about he says he's going to remove these people from the land okay who are these
people well you know he's talking about military might you think of a nation
they're in need of some sort of military army to protect them from outsiders and
foreigners who are trying to invade he's also removing judges that's a curse why
because of the fact that you need righteous judges in order to you know
judge judicial things tell people right from wrong hey you should owe this
person this money this person should be put to death you need someone to
exercise justice in the land right well that person is out he's removing prophets
so the spiritual leaders are out so now you don't know what God expects from you
you're not getting preaching and you don't know what the word of the Lord is
saying he's removing those who are knowledgeable and wise managers people
who are able to be captains of 50s the nobleman people of moral uprightness and
even engineers because he talks about the cunning artificers you know these
are the inventors these are the engineers and of course he talks about
the orators referring to those who are communicators now you think to yourself
well removing these people is a sign of God's judgment how so well the removing
of these members of society is a curse because they're essentially they're the
ones responsible for the advancement of a civilization understand and so when
you remove these types of people from a land that that nation that civilization
can't really go forward it can't advance you're removing essential people from
that society that can help that society not only thrive and grow but become
better that is a curse this is a curse because you know God gives men like
that to a civilization so they don't remain primitive understand and you
look at different nations in the world some of the most primitive nations out
there are people of less intelligence okay and often it's associated with a
false religion so often these nations that are poor and underdeveloped are
often nations that don't have Christ as their God and therefore suffering the
consequences of it now when I think of this particular passage I actually think
about the country of Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge okay now if you if you know
anything about the Khmer Rouge it's something that took place between 1975
and 1979 where a dictator by the name of Pol Pot who was the prime minister of
Cambodia at the time committed mass genocide of the Cambodian population
where up to three million people were essentially exterminated okay and the
people that he specifically targeted listen to this were the were the
intellectuals of the land so doctors were killed lawyers teachers religious
leaders and even people with glasses and I'm not joking if people walked around
with pair of glasses on they were done because they were considered educated
and therefore wiped out and Pol Pot was a very wicked Marxist dictator okay and
his reasoning for executing and committing this mass genocide of the
quote-unquote intellectuals is because it was a sign of Western civilization
influence oh god forbid that smart people would be in a land and that the
West would influence other nations to become smarter and more intellectual and
better and improve a society but that's literally what he said okay and so we
see here a parallel to Isaiah chapter 3 that part of a curse on the nation is
that he removes these types of people from a land and that's what happened to
Cambodia you know how do you make that parallel though you know Pol Pot is very
wicked he's a dictator you know can we really say that God did that well think
about this you know the the country of Cambodia is a nation that has embraced
and identified as being Buddhist since the 5th century AD and obviously you know
there's various types of religions there you have animus Hindus Islam but
primarily it's Buddhist okay and obviously all of those are false
religions and in fact Buddhism became the state religion in the 13th century
so for 2000 years and by the way still is but for 2000 years you have this
nation who has rejected the truth like oh no they're in darkness that you know
they didn't know better any nation that is worshiping false gods adhering to a
false religion is a byproduct of a nation who has rejected the God of the
Bible because every human being in this world knows about God okay they have the
witness in themselves and I'm not going to repreach that but they have the the
the light of their conscience they have you know different missionaries that have
gone there throughout the years they have the testimony of creation and so
everyone if they're actually looking for the truth will find the God of the Bible
and if they end up veering off into a false God it's an indicator that they've
rejected the light that God gave them and began to believe a lie okay so
Cambodia is a place where Buddhism has reigned essentially you know indicating
that the nation of is the nation of the also the nation of Israel Israel's been
on my mind lately you know the nation of Cambodia has rejected the Bible now you
say well you know does that mean that they've like never had the truth though
no I believe that there's been pockets of time throughout the history of
Cambodia where they've had the truth come to them and in fact there was a
90-year period starting in 1863 known as the French protectorate of Cambodia
where France essentially seized Cambodia okay you know and they protected it
right but they essentially took control of Cambodia for 90 years
and France is not wasn't a Christian nation it was predominantly Catholic but
you know Catholicism is at least more closely in proximity to Christianity that
Buddhism is right and of course France was already an established nation it's
already was already advanced and so when they came to Cambodia they improved a
lot of things the infrastructure was being improved public works were being
developed roads and well railroads were being constructed I mean Cambodia was
advancing as a society after the French kind of took over and of course if you
have Catholicism you know going there they're not Christian but you're gonna
have some form of a person that believes in true Christianity to come
there and in fact you know in 1923 is when they recorded Protestant missionaries
going to Cambodia so Protestant missionaries were going there they're
preaching the Word of God they're preaching the gospel well in 1953
Cambodia ended up getting their independence from France so they were no
longer under that protectorate of France and in 1965 listen to this the Prince of
Cambodia ends up expelling all missionaries from there okay so 1965 to
the date 90 years after the French came the Prince expels all missionaries and
there's a rumor that states that well between 1970 and 1975 they were allowed
to come back into the land for about five years to preach the Word of God and
it's possible that that was the case but then after that you have year zero what
is year zero 1975 when Pol Pot takes over the Khmer Rouge and just wipes them
all out okay and he not only kills commits mass genocide but they're even
bombing the rivers where there's fish I mean he's destroying the food you know
the state and the staff he's removing these important people from the land and
the point that I'm making here is that the indicator that a nation is being
judged is when the gentility as they say of a society is removed basically these
important people of knowledge people that can you know who are doctors and
lawyers and teachers and religious leaders they're completely taken out okay
so Cambodia is a perfect example of what's taking place in Isaiah chapter
3 and you say well aren't there missionaries there now I mean probably
maybe I don't know what they're preaching over there but I'm just saying
like in general Cambodia is not a Christian nation it's far removed from
Christianity and the Cambodia of today is suffering the consequences of
embracing paganism for the last two thousand years and so God you know the
Bible tells us that at this ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men
everywhere to repent and so you're like oh man the Khmer Rouge is bad and it
was bad Pol Pot is a wicked person and you know he is a devil but you know what
according to the Bible he was an instrument in the hand of God to correct
the nation and punish the nation who has clearly rejected the truth that's a
hard truth for a lot of people to swallow but it's back my friends and
God did this continuously throughout the Bible where he would use a foreign
nation to judge his people or other people even though they're extremely
wicked themselves the Bible tells us in Proverbs 28 verse 15 as a roaring lion
and a raging bear so is a wicked ruler over the poor people Proverbs 29 2 says
when the righteous are in authority the people rejoice but when the wicked
beareth rule the people mourn this ain't like you know when when there's
righteous people in the land everyone's happy you know laws are being
instituted you know the wicked are being removed everything is going great God's
laws are being carried out the people rejoice when there's law and order but
when there's disorder and crime and the person who's responsible for it is the
leader himself then the people mourn because of it okay and so we see there
a clear indication that a nation has been judged and I'm sure there's plenty
of other examples that we could pull out from history of different nations that
would fall under that same category as Cambodia okay look at verse number four
he goes on to say I will give children to be their princes and babes shall rule
over them so we're gonna look at the the deterioration of social order here he
says in verse five and the people shall be oppressed everyone by another and
everyone by his neighbor the child shall behave himself proudly against the
ancient and the base against the honorable so what do we see here we see
that roles are being reversed and authority is being usurped he says I'm
gonna give you babes to be your rulers children shall rule over you it says the
child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient referring to the
fact that you're gonna have young people who despise the ancient the elderly okay
that are disrespecting their elders right and unfortunately we see that
today where a lot of young people just lack a lot of respect and it's an
indicator that they weren't whooped when they're her little right and so now they
we are seeing the ramifications of an undisciplined generation that was not
corrected by their parents and they behave themselves proudly against the
ancient now hold your place there go to Ecclesiastes chapter 10 we're gonna come
back to Isaiah chapter 3 go to Ecclesiastes chapter 10 we're gonna read
a couple verses here so it says that the people shall be oppressed everyone by
another everyone by his neighbor the child shall behave himself proudly
against the ancient and the base against the honorable so base means like the
worst types of people they're gonna essentially behave themselves proudly it
says against those who are honorable and noble and deserving of respect those who
don't deserve respect are gonna just be dishonoring those who do and let me
reach you from Proverbs 30 verse 21 it says for three things the earth is
disquieted and for four which it cannot bear for a servant when he reigneth and
a fool when he is filled with meat referring to that reversal of the rose
look at Ecclesiastes 10 verse 5 there is an evil which I've seen under the Sun as
an arrow which proceeded from from the ruler folly is set in great dignity and
the rich sit in low place I have seen servants upon horses and princes
walking as servants upon the earth and I'm gonna get to this point in just a
bit but go back to Isaiah chapter 3 what this essentially referring to is
that people who are just the lowest scum of the earth are gonna be people who are
esteemed in the eyes of the world okay they're gonna be put on a pedestal and
of course in particular specifically it's referring to children behaving
themselves proudly and it's making me think of this passage right here
Proverbs 30 verse 11 says there is a generation that cursed at their father
and does not bless their mother there is a generation that are pure in their own
eyes and yet is not washed from their filthiness there is a generation oh how
lofty are their eyes you know behaving themselves proudly and their eyelids are
lifted up there is a generation whose teeth are as swords and their jaw teeth
as knives to devour the poor from off the earth and the needy from among men
essentially referring to the fact that when you remove the you know the the
men of this of society that actually improve a civilization you're left with
children you're left with the basis of people and there's no one to correct
them there's no one to chastise them to rebuke them to correct them there's no
one to bring justice to crimes committed by these types of people
understand so they're given unfettered access to become disrespectful and
dishonor people look at verse 6 it says when a man shall take hold of his
brother of the house of his father saying thou has clothing be thou a
ruler and let this ruin be under thy hand if that day shall he swear saying
I will not be a healer for in my house is neither bread nor clothing make me
not a ruler of the people so what do we see here well we looked at first that
when leadership is removed then you have the basis of people taking over
disrespecting the elderly being dishonorable towards who those who
merit honor and then there is a collapse of leadership qualifications because we
see here that this person's like oh man you're dressed nice why don't you rule
over us now unfortunately we do live in that age today you know the influencers
right or Hollywood or it's just like oh this guy has a million followers because
he dresses like a complete idiot because he has expensive clothing or whatever
maybe oh be thou a ruler over us what does that person have to offer you he's
the basis of people so when you remove the important people of society that
advances society people begin to look up to the worst types of people and admire
and esteem the worst types of people I mean think about this how many people
out there actually esteem the opinion of Hollywood actors oh man you ever heard
of cold by Denzel Washington who gives a crap what he thinks he's an actor yeah
but he just he says these things yeah he's acting when he tells you that his
job is literally to memorize lines and say it in such a way that he convinces
you that he's playing a particular character so when he told you know when
he's given his little speeches or whatever he's still acting and people
use them for like inspiration videos he's acting but I'm telling you people
literally look up to these people as though they merit some sort of honor or
influence they're actors they know nothing about spiritual matters why
would people go to you know Kanye West for example I mean good night you know
people are eating crow now you know those Christians who were defending
Kanye West saying oh he's saved you're being judgmental now he's just
completely apostate he was apostate before but now it's like a doubly
apostate because he's saying you know me willing and you know he's saying that
he had things against Jesus and you know he doesn't like Jesus because he didn't
answer his prayers or whatever who cares what he thinks he makes music that's all
he does I want to know what Taylor Swift have to say about this isn't your
Swifties yeah Swift kick in the rear end why would you go to the Swifties or the
Taylor Swift for any type of advice why cuz they got like a like a million
followers on their social media platform well those million followers are people
said thou hast clothing be thou ruler over us it's not like thou hast
intelligence thou hast salvation thou hast the word of God it's like you're
dressed and in fact you know it's even worse than that because now in our
society people follow those who are not dressed on social media right following
you know only fans girls or something because you know oh man they got a lot
of followers and they're beautiful or something like that you're a simp you're
a wimp and you're all you're saying you're you're you're worse than this guy
right here because this guy's least following something with someone with
clothes on right because this guy's saying you know that's clothing you're
saying that has no clothing rule that over me and I'll pay tribute to you
that's what you're saying but this is the world in which we live my friends
where the color we see a collapse of leadership qualifications that all of
a sudden because a video goes viral or something all of a sudden all this
person must know about life knows nothing about life and you know what it's great
when Christian videos that are actually espousing the right doctrine go viral
but at the end of the day you know what if some doofus out there you said
something about Christianity and he ends up going viral it doesn't make what he's
saying true just because a bunch of people watch the video you know actually
look in the Bible to see if that's true right and then you know it doesn't matter
how viral my videos go at the end of the day once you look at the Bible for
yourself plain and simple and you know what millions of views or thousands of
views doesn't give me credibility of teaching the Bible the Bible gives the
credibility because you can look at it for yourself so collapse and leadership
qualifications like well we don't have the mighty man we don't have the
counselor we don't have the judge we don't have the prophet you've got
clothing why don't you rule over me Denzel Washington why don't you rule
over me you know what's another actor out there you worldly people go ahead
you're about to say it right now what's another actor come on Mark
Wahlberg yeah Mario Lopez isn't that guy like a hundred years isn't he from like
Saved by the Bell he's still influencing people you know when people look to
athletes right don't they look to athletes football players basketball
players you know it's just like they throw a ball through a hoop they catch
pigskin that's all they do they're they're players in a coliseum that's all
they do so how is it that you can look for someone like that towards leaders
they're literally for entertainment oh but they have clothing nonsense my
friends basically teaching that any warm body can be a leader and obviously
keep in mind that previous to this he said the the base men right referring
to like the bottom of the barrel and nowadays it's the people who are the
bottom of the barrel who are being placed at the very top and let me give
you some verses here that this makes me think of Daniel chapter 4 verse 17 says
this matter is the decree of the Watchers and the demand by the word of
the holy ones to the intent of the living may know that the most high
ruleeth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will listen to this
and set it up over it the basis of men so what is he saying this is a curse
upon a nation when I remove people who are capable and competent and I give you
the basis of men to rule over you give me an example how about Biden he is the
basis of men where I mean the long list of gabs that he has said is just
innumerable okay things that he said is just makes no sense whatsoever these
last four years has been a crazy ride it's almost as if and here's the thing
he's entertaining he's like an entertainer that's who God gave this
nation though think about that for a minute Bible says of Jeroboam when he
created his own religion it says the verse 31 of first Kings 12 and he made
in house of high places and made priests of the lowest of the people which were
not of the sons of Levi I mean think about churches today and obviously we're
not in the condition that Judah or Israel's in but you know we're heading
in that direction where you have people who are pastoring churches who do not
qualify to pastor churches oh but he wants to be a pastor doesn't matter if
he wants to be a pastor does he qualify now it's great that someone desires to
be a bishop but at the end of the day the qualifications are there for a
reason you know and and here's the thing folks you look at the most famous
churches in America today the biggest churches in America today are filled or
have leaders that are the bases the lowest of the people I mean Stephen
Furtick is a perfect example of that when on Easter Sunday wears a freaking
doily as a sweater he literally has like his grandma's sweater on a pink sweater
with a bunch of holes in it looking as gay as the day is long it's like you
know I would have paid attention to your message but I can't because your
sweaters too loud it's overpowering you know but maybe that would be better
though there's probably more doctrine in that sweater than there is in his
actual sermon but he is the lowest of the people who's being placed as a man
of God in the land Joel's thing you know a lot of these false prophets
essentially is like a curse on this nation why because it's an indicator
that people have turned away their ears from the truth and are being turned
into fables it's an indicator it's a result of people and churches not
preaching the Bible rebuking reproving exhorting with all along suffering in
doctrine and the Bible told us that the time will come when they will not endorse
sound doctrine but will he to themselves teachers having itching ears well that's
why we have a heap of false teachers out there who are very famous very popular
very wealthy and you know they they just they they leave people straight you
criticize any one of these people online oh man people be all over you that's
like their favorite gay pastor or whatever you know and that sweater was
like $2,000 by the way $2,000 for that ugly sweater you can take that to an
ugly sweater contest for Christmas ugly Christmas sweater and you would
definitely win every single time let me read to you from Micah chapter 7 this is
a parallel to what we're looking at in Isaiah chapter 3 regarding a judgment
upon a nation it says the good man is perished out of the earth and there is
none upright among men they all lie and wait for blood they hunt every man his
brother with a net that they may do evil with both hands earnestly the prince
asketh and the judge asketh for a reward referring to bribery's and the great man
he uttereth his mischievous desire so they wrap it up in other words they're
very vocal about their mischievous deeds you see this on social media all
the time people are very just they have no shame whatsoever the best listen to
this the best of them is as a briar now in the Bible someone tell me what is a
briar signified what does what does it symbolize thorns and briars are what
reprobates he's like the best thing you got is a briar he's like well that's not
good yeah I know but that's like the best you got that's showing you how bad
of a condition that nation is the best of them is as a briar the most upright
is sharper than a thorn hedge the day of thy watchman and thy visitation cometh
now shall be their perplexity what is he saying I'm removing all the righteous
people from the land and this is all you're gonna have to work with you know
when it comes to the Republican Party the best of them is as a briar right you
know they just passed a bill through the house yesterday and I'm gonna preach on
this on Sunday I don't want to steal my thunder but they passed a bill that you
know that essentially if legalized if Biden puts a stamp of approval on it and
the Senate does will essentially make saying that the Jews killed Jesus
illegal hello who in the world would even propose such a thing Republicans
did it and you say why because the best of them is as a briar that's why there's
your beloved Republican Party trying to criminalize the Bible or what's the
penalty who cares what the penalty is I'm just mad over the fact that anyone's
even considering that it's just like well you know there's no penalty it's
not that big of a deal I don't care if there is a penalty because I'm gonna say
whether it becomes leader or not I'm just as soon as if it is enacted I'm
just gonna say it like generously just out of spite but who cares what the
penalty is who cares if they have another agenda who cares the fact that
it's even being considered and stated it's wicked because of these Republicans
these conservatives good night in the morning you're like oh man I thought they
have conservative values the best of them is as a briar the best Republican
out there is probably some wicked fag or something that's what the Bible is
telling us go back to or you're already in Isaiah chapter I don't want to steal
my thunder for Sunday but I took a little off the top okay so he's telling
them I'm judging you and this is how I'm gonna judge you I'm gonna take away
your food I'm gonna give you famine and you you're not gonna see this but I'm
gonna remove all the good people out of your land just as just to show you how
good you had it because the only thing you're gonna have to work with is the
basis of people children are gonna behave themselves proudly against you
you're not gonna have father figures you're not gonna have judges and
counselors and prophets to correct people when there's no magistrate in the
land there's no one to put people to shame so no one's being punished no
justice is being executed so put it this way guys hey you have a father in the
house praise God amen why cuz that's there to put people to shame in the
household when people are behaving shamelessly understand we're there to
to execute justice.
Oh, my dad's a little hard on me.
Good, maybe we need it to be a little harder.
Why?
Because of the fact that we don't want you to,
we don't want you to become like these people right here.
We don't want you to behave yourselves proudly
against the elderly and think, oh man, you know,
oh, you're 16, 17, 18 years old now.
You're just like a grown man.
You're still a kid.
And if you're living in your parents' house,
yeah, and they're still paying your bills,
you're still a kid.
They're feeding ya, they provided a home for ya,
a roof, a bed, a refrigerator full of food.
You have no reason to behave yourself proudly
against your mom and dad.
Yeah, but they don't know the rapid rate doctrine
like I do.
Look at verse eight.
So now we're gonna look at the reasons why he's judging them.
He says in verse eight,
"For Jerusalem is ruined and Judah is fallen
"because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord
"to provoke the eyes of his glory.
"The show of their countenance does witness against them,
"and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not.
"Woe unto their soul, for they have rewarded evil
"unto themselves."
So one of the reasons why he's actually judging them
this harshly is because of the fact that they are committing
these abominations proudly.
What does that mean?
It means their countenance is just like,
yeah, I'm doing this.
No shame, not embarrassed.
They're declaring it as Sodom.
Sodom has declared their sin pretty disgustingly,
and this is how Israel's behaving.
Shameless, they cannot blush, they don't care,
and so therefore, God's saying, you brought this upon yourself.
That's what he says at the end, for they have rewarded
evil unto themselves.
Verse 10 says, "Say to the righteous
that it shall be well with them,
for they shall eat the fruit of their doings."
Now that's a great passage for our church, okay?
Because when you look at our nation, you're like,
oh man, I can see a lot of this stuff taking place
in our nation.
Well, you know, say to the righteous,
it shall be well with them, though.
So God is not gonna destroy the righteous with the wicked.
He always talks about the righteous remnant
that he's gonna spare.
You know, our works, our service towards God is not in vain.
And if God just wipes out all of California,
he decides to wipe out all of California,
I guarantee you this one little section right here
will be just fine.
You know, and many other little sections
who are actually preaching the word of God.
Why?
Because it shall be well with them.
God's not gonna just wipe you out
because of the consequences of the wicked.
He sees the labor of love.
He sees what churches do, and he's not gonna forget it.
He says, "They shall eat the fruit of their doings."
"Woe unto the wicked, it shall be ill with them,
"for the reward of his hands shall be given him."
A great example of this is when God is judging Egypt.
And God's people are in Goshen,
even though Egypt is being completely decimated
and destroyed, Goshen is just fine.
And I believe that principle still applies today.
Verse 12 says, "As for my people,
"children are their oppressors."
And you know, some people wonder,
is this like literal children?
Well, it could be referring to literal children
because the beginning of the chapter indicates
that the men are removed, or it could be referring
to just men who act like children.
You know, I think that'd be a good verse
for Biden right there, right?
He just acts like a baby, okay?
Now here's the kicker, women rule over them.
So in a chapter that's talking about the profile
of a nation that is being judged by God,
one of the things that God brings up
is when a nation has women ruling over them.
Like where, like where though?
Anywhere, in a household, politically, religiously,
it's all bad, 'cause that's not a woman's place.
Well, I don't like that.
We'll then take, you know, beef with God says in verse 12.
He's literally saying, women are ruling over you.
You know, I don't know if the Philippines
still has like a woman ruling over them.
They did at one point.
You know, that's an indicator
that that nation has been cursed by God.
God is punishing that nation when he allows that.
Yeah, but I read in the Bible
about this lady named Deborah though,
and she was a judge of Israel.
Oh yeah, when was that?
What, do you know when that was?
Well, it was in the book of Judges.
And what was the theme of the book of Judges?
Every man doing that was just right in their own eyes.
Oh, what a fantastic illustration to bring up there.
What a fantastic example of women leadership
when the country is just in complete disarray,
disobeying God, worshiping false gods.
You know, especially when the tribe of Benjamin
is committing faggotry.
What a great example of when to pull out the Deborah card.
That's more of an indicator that a nation is cursed by God
when the only one capable of teaching the Bible is a woman.
Oh, are you just, you just hate women?
I don't.
A woman gave birth to me and I'm married to a woman
and I have three women as my daughters
and there's women in my church who listen to me every week
and they're listening to me right now as I say this.
Women are great.
We're talking about order though.
And you know what?
Joel Olsen's wife needs to sit down and shut up
and not preach the Bible.
You know, Joyce Myers needs to stop getting a facelift
and just lift herself off that platform
and never preach again.
Because all you're doing is confirming
that this nation is cursed.
Every time you get up and preach the Bible, Joyce Myers,
with your joker looking smile,
because that's what you are, you're a joke.
You are confirming that this nation is being cursed by God.
Why?
'Cause it's a woman who's ruling over a congregation.
And shame on Mr. Myers.
The hell are you, Mr. Myers?
What's wrong with you?
You know, it's just like, if this was applied to a church,
it's like all the men would be gone.
Then what are you doing there, Mr. Myers?
Are you the child?
You know, it's like, he removes all the best of men
of a church and just leaves it with a bunch of women.
But why is he still there?
You know?
And what a shame that he's literally sitting
under his wife's preaching.
And he's probably providing the majority
of the content for her sermons.
It's a curse.
Hey, oh, are you against women preaching?
No, of course I'm not against women preaching.
Women preach at our church every week, just not here.
They go and preach the gospel to get people saved.
And there's godly women in our church
who are very eloquent at giving the gospel to others
and getting people saved for sure,
or even teaching their kids the word of God.
My wife is an excellent preacher.
I hear her teaching and preaching the word of God
at home to our kids.
She's letting them have it, and you know.
She's teaching the word of God.
She's quoting verses.
That's great.
But never is Mrs. Mejia ever gonna come here
and share the word.
Why?
Because it's against the Bible,
and it's an indicator that a church is cursed.
Joyce Myles' church is cursed.
Joel Osteen's church, cursed.
And whatever other woman preacher out there.
And you know what?
That's why we gotta make sure that Biden stays alive.
Amen.
I know we want him to just kick the bucket,
but you know what?
He needs to stay alive.
You say why?
'Cause if he dies, Kamala takes over,
and now we're really screwed.
That is the nail in the coffin
to let us know that this nation is officially cursed.
So Lord, please keep Biden alive.
You know, please.
You know, if he has to climb stairs,
put him in one of those chairs.
It's just like, do what you can to keep that man alive.
Please keep him alive.
Why, because then we're going to have an Isaiah 312 here
where Kamala takes over and she's--
President Kamala.
I mean, ugh.
People, they which lead thee cause thee to err
and destroy the way of thy path.
You're like, well, how do you know
they're not teaching right things?
Because it's literally saying that the ones who are leading
them are causing them to err.
And I've said this before, but women preachers are--
first of all, it's not biblical.
But second of all, they're more likely to teach
a lot of false doctrine.
Because the Bible literally says in First Timothy chapter 2,
when telling us that women shouldn't preach,
it gives us the example of Adam and Eve
and says that Adam was not deceived.
But the woman being the transgression was deceived.
And that's in context of a woman preaching.
It's more susceptible to false doctrine.
How do you know?
Because she's the reason why we're here.
She listened and believed some false doctrine
from the serpent.
The apostle Paul said it.
Look at verse 13.
I'm going to breeze through some of this, because this is God reckoning with Judah.
He says, "The Lord standeth up to plead and standeth to judge the people.
The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people
and the princes thereof.
For ye have eaten up the vineyard, the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces and grind the faces of the poor?
Sayeth the Lord God of hosts."
What is he saying?
I'm going to take account with all of the leaders who are taxing the people.
And you know, they're suffering.
They're struggling.
But all of their riches is in your household.
You're beating my people to pieces.
He's essentially making them give account of their actions.
Look at verse 16.
Says, "Moreover, the Lord saith, because the daughters of Zion are haughty,
and walk with stretched forth necks and wants and eyes,
walking and mincing as they go, and making the tinkling with their feet."
Now, what is he talking about there?
Well, one of the curses of this nation is the fact that the women are just
extremely proud and arrogant, because God's will for a woman is to be meek
and quiet. But here we see that they're haughty. What does haughty mean? Just another
word for prideful, arrogant. And it says that they walk with stretched forth
necks and wants and eyes. Wants and would be like seductive eyes. So it's just
like they're just like, you know, just walking around. And then it says like
walking and mincing as they go. What does it mean? It's just like kind of like gliding,
just basically having a superiority complex, understand? And it's not like
it's just one woman, it's just all of them are like that, okay? And for some
reason they're making a tinkling with their feet. They have some sort of
ornaments on their ankles because they want everyone to know that they're
there, understand? And I think what the main thing that he's trying to get
across here is that they're just very proud, prideful, they're arrogant, they're
haughty. And the Bible tells us these six things that the Lord hate is seven or an
abomination to him, a proud look, the Bible says. That's the stretch forth
neck, the superiority complex, the portrayal that you're better than
someone else. God is not pleased with that. Proverbs 21 four says a high look
and a proud heart and the plowing of the wicked is sin. And these last
couple verses here of the chapter, he's just focusing a lot on the women. And of
course, when you have the removal of leadership, a woman ends up kind of
filling that void and you know it's just like well I gotta pay the bills here and
you know I'm the one that's making it happen so it makes them proud and makes
them arrogant and God's not pleased with that you know the boss lady or whatever
that's not right that's wicked to have that and you know what if you're in that
situation God bless you you're doing the best you can in your situation with what
you have but at the end of the day you know God still expects you to be humble
and not have a haughty spirit to make you to make people think that you're
just all that and a bag of chips God can literally cause a drought in your life
he can create a famine he can and in fact look what he says in verse 17 he
can disfigure you therefore the Lord will smite with the scab the crown of
the head of the daughters of Zion and the Lord will discover their secret
parts now the the remainder of these verses here from verses 17 to 23 he's
basically saying that everything is gonna do to them so he has like he gives
this description of some of their ornaments and some of the stuff is just
weird like they have round tires like a moon like they're like the majority of
their appearance has to do with like hats and bonnets and they're just very
like decked out they have the tinkling of their of their feet bracelets and
chains and mufflers it's like a car you know it's like the bonnets ornaments of
the legs the headbands tablets and earrings the rings of nose nose jewels
changeable suits of apparel the mantles and the wimples the crisping pins so he
goes through all this and he says I'm gonna replace all that with just a just
a massive scab because you know what is a scab it's just like a wound it's when
you're it's what it's like a natural band-aid right you have a wound and it
bleeds and it hardens it's what's we would call a scab so he says I'm gonna
remove all of these appearance to all this appearance that you have all these
ornaments I'm just gonna put a scab on your forehead I mean how embarrassed you
think a woman would be right I mean even the most humble of ladies in our church
would be embarrassed to just have a huge scab right here just come to church and
you're just like hey pastor right even if like you're really humble right now
think about these ladies though cuz they got their bonnets you know they got
the Botox if we were to put it parallel to today was that Xanax what's that
thing that people are doing now where they're like they're they're like
making themselves try to look younger what is it just saying you can speak in
church it's fine yeah yeah that you worded it say it again oh Zempik that's
what I was talking about what is Xanax what is that anti-depressants or
something oh oh Zempik oh Zempik yeah yeah that's what it is it's like it's
basically to try to make you look younger right and you know you people are
like taking that now all these Hollywood movie stars are taking it now but now
they look horrific though it's like backfiring on them so they're trying to
do all these outward things to make themselves look beautiful and God's like
you know what I'm just gonna give you a fat scab you're just gonna look ugly
because what is he saying? He's basically saying like your wound is incurable
because God sees the heart right? It doesn't matter how outwardly beautiful
you look or how outwardly beautiful you think you look you know at the end of
the day if you're just as ugly as sin in the inside that's how God sees you
He sees you as ugly as sin. It doesn't matter what your outward appearance is. So he's
saying I'm gonna remove all that put a scab on your forehead and put a scab on
your head let me reach you from 1st Peter 3.3 it says who's adorning let it
not be the outward adorning of the plating of the hair and of the wearing
of gold and putting on of apparel but let it be the hidden man of the heart in
that which is not corruptible even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit
which is in the sight of God of great price now if you are a woman who you
think you look beautiful or you are beautiful praise God and you know your
husband should be thankful but don't let that go to your head though right don't
let that go to your head be humble make sure that you're not allowing yourself
to become haughty and prideful why because that is disgusting in the eyes
of God okay and we're not saying that people should be like Amish people in our
church right you know see your husband about however he wants you to look you
know I'm saying what I'm saying is regardless of how you look because you
know you know there's ugly people who are prideful too though there's ugly
women out there who are prideful there's but ugly women out there who are prideful
on social media who literally think that they're just they're just goddesses
they're a tan or something but really what they are is they're like a ten
thousand pound literally and they're and they're and they're literally like
putting down men and and talking smack about people and it's just like you
don't need a scab you don't need a scab the land is filled with pride and
obviously the same goes with dudes there's dudes out there that are just
the same but obviously we're trying to focus on women right here because the
context is talk about women okay where they think they're just all that and in
my day they used to say all that in a bag of chips you guys don't know what I'm
talking about but just you know get the spirit of the letter here but in reality
they're just as ugly as sin they're just as ugly as sin and so you know God is
focused on the hidden man of the heart and you know that which is not
corruptible he esteems a woman who is of a meek and quiet spirit and I don't
think he's condemning the wearing of these things by the way okay because
it's saying that the adorning shouldn't be the outward adorning of the plating
of the hair and it goes through all this but the hidden man of the heart in other
words you shouldn't put so much focus on the outward appearance you know put the
makeup on the inside right first okay make sure that you're walking with God
you love the Lord you love your husband that you love your children that you
love the things of God that you love righteousness and of course that in the
sight of God is of great price you're like well you know but if I don't focus
on these other things I'm not gonna attract the right guy well you might
attract the wrong guy okay and we'll move on from that but that's what he
that's what he's saying here look at verse 24 let's finish up says they shall
come to pass that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink and instead of a
girdle or rent instead of well-set hair baldness and I mean he's basically
saying like oh you love to put tears on our tires on your head and make it look
like a moon and you know get your hair done or whatever I'll take care of I'll
just make you go bald instead of a stomach or a girding of sackcloth and
burning instead of beauty basically filled with disease because often when
the Bible talks about a burning it's referring to some sort of some form of
disease you know some STD of some sorts and so it's just like don't worry about
all that I'm just gonna uno-reverse all that and you're just gonna have the
exact opposite of everything you've tried to make yourself look better and
and you're gonna be miserable. "Thy men shall fall by the sword and thy mighty in
the war and her gate shall lament and mourn and she being desolate shall sit
upon the ground." So we looked at the profile of a nation under judgment and it
looks like America you know essentially you know the the the important men are
being removed you know but not completely because there's still great
churches there's still men of counsel and wisdom and prudence but you know
what we do see a pattern here that the child are the children are behaving
themselves proudly against the ancient we do see that the vast majority of the
population are steaming that which is an abomination in the eyes of God people
who don't know anything but how to dress well or you know they know how to do
pranks well or whatever it is that they do on social media okay they do you know
and then of course we see the profile of women that God's not proud of God's not
happy with and that is the fact that they are prideful and arrogant they've
lost the meekness they've lost the humility there and that's it let's pray
father we thank you so much for the book of Isaiah thank you for chapter 3 Lord
help us to be aware of these things and as we read the book of Isaiah help us
to look to the nation that we're in and compare it to what's taking place Lord
the Bible is very much relevant and sin will always be sin the sinful nature of
man will always exist this side of eternity and so help us to continue to
go to your word and never lean on the stay in the staff but rather lean upon
the rock who is able to provide for us in times of leanness Lord help us to
please you in all that we do Lord there might have been some hard truths tonight
but help us to receive it with meekness the engrafted word and rejoice in our
spirit over these biblical truths in Jesus name we pray amen