And the Bible reads, "It came to pass in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, and the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Resin, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Ramaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.
And it was told to the house of David, saying, 'Syria is confederate with Ephraim.' And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind.
Then said the Lord unto Isaiah, 'Go forth, now to meet Ahaz thou, and share Jashub thy son at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the Fowler's field.'
And saying to him, 'Take heed and be quiet, fear not, neither be faint-hearted for the two talls of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria and of the son of Remaliah.
Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have taken evil counsel against thee, saying, 'Let us go up against Judah and vex it, let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabael.'
Thus saith the Lord God, 'It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin, and within three score and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.'
And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.'
Moreover, the Lord spake unto Ahaz, saying, 'Ask thee again a sign of the Lord thy God. Ask it either in the depth or in the height above.'
But Ahaz said, 'I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.' And he said, 'Hear ye now, O house of David, it is a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Butter and honey shall ye eat, that he may know to refuse evil and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.
The Lord shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come, from the day that ye freedom departed from Judah, even the king of Assyria.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
And they shall come, and shall rest, all of them, in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes.
In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet, and it shall also consume the beard.
And it shall come to pass in that day that a man shall nourish a young cow and two sheep, and it shall come to pass for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter, for butter and honey shall everyone eat that is left in the land.
And it shall come to pass in that day that every place shall be where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silver leams, and it shall be even for briars and thorns.
With arrows and with bows shall men come thither, because all the land shall become briars and thorns, and on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock.
There shall not come thither the fear of briars or thorns, but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle.
Let's pray to the Lord God, thank you for this church you've given us, Lord. Thank you for the King James Bible, Lord.
And thank you for Pastor, we pray that you bless him right now, and fill him with your Holy Spirit as he preaches your word unto us, Lord.
And just pray that us in the congregation have ears to hear, Lord. And we pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.
Okay, we're continuing our Bible study tonight on the book of Isaiah, and we're in chapter seven.
Let me just give you a little bit of review from chapter six, just to get us caught up here and what's going on.
If you remember in chapter six, Isaiah gets this vision from the Lord, and it's a vision of the Lord sitting on his throne.
And of course, it's a famous passage where Isaiah is essentially volunteering to go and preach unto Judah to harden the hearts of the wicked people of the land.
And one of the significant aspects of chapter six is that it tells us that in the year that King Uzziah died.
And if you remember from chapter one, we saw that Isaiah's ministry essentially spans over four different kings.
You have Uzziah, you have Jotham, then you have Ahaz, and then lastly, you have Hezekiah.
Now, the reason that's important going into chapter seven is because of the fact that we literally just skipped Jotham.
So we went from Uzziah in the beginning, and we saw him being mentioned there in chapter six,
but for whatever reason, Jotham isn't really mentioned.
There's not nothing much talked about other than what we saw in chapter one.
And Jotham was a good king.
We saw that he was a man who loved the Lord.
He did that which is right in the sight of God.
The only thing is that Jotham didn't go to the temple of the Lord.
In modern terms, we would say, you know, he was saved.
He believed on the Lord.
He just didn't go to church, right?
And so this guy didn't go to the temple of the Lord.
And he still loved God.
He was a righteous man.
However, he ended up giving not himself, but he ended up having a son.
He ended up giving birth to Ahaz, who ended up being a very wicked king.
OK, and Ahaz was very bad.
He was known for offering his children in the fire, essentially
committing infanticide and offering incense and sacrifices in the high places.
He was not a righteous king, very much a bad reputation.
And that's where we pick up here in chapter seven.
And a lot of what happens in Ahaz's life and in his reign
isn't explicitly mentioned in chapter seven.
It's actually found in Second Kings chapter 16 and Second Chronicles 28.
And we're going to we're going to go to Second Chronicles 28
later on in the passage because it has to do what's taking place here.
And so we have Ahaz being mentioned here.
Look at verse number one.
It says, and it came to pass in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham,
the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that resin, the king of Syria,
and Pika, the son of Ramaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem
to war against it, but could not prevail against them.
Now, the first thing we're going to look at is that there is a is a plot
against Ahaz and Judah.
Now, if you remember previous when Uzziah was king,
the northern kingdom known as Israel had gone into captivity.
They're being punished by God.
But now we're fast forward.
We passed over Jotham.
We're into the reign of Ahaz.
And at this point, the northern kingdom is in confederacy with Syria.
So the northern kingdom is supposed to be a God-fearing nation.
They have God as their Lord.
They're actually in cahoots with the Syrians.
And the Syrians do not like God's people.
They're actually trying to overcome Judah.
So they actually ended up banding together.
And essentially being in agreement
to try to take captive that southern kingdom, Judah.
So they're in agreement with this.
They're confederate one with another.
And they're plotting against Ahaz.
They're plotting against Judah.
This is what it's telling us here in verse number one.
And it kind of gives us a summary of what
is the result of all this.
Because it ends up telling us that they go to war against it,
but could not prevail against it.
Now, one thing that I want to mention here
is God is basically telling us the sum total of what
takes place over the span of this war that's
taking place here.
But what's going to be told thereafter, verse one,
is essentially these things that took place prior to them
not being able to overcome it.
And so I'll explain what I mean in just a bit,
but just keep that in mind there.
So you have Ahaz, the king of Judah,
versus Rezin, the king of Syria, and Pika, the king of Israel.
Their confederate was one another against Ahaz.
Now, look at verse number two, if you would.
It says in verse number two, "And it
was told the house of David, saying,
Syria is confederate with Ephraim."
Ephraim is just another way of saying Israel, OK?
So just keep that in mind.
"And his heart was moved in the heart of his people,
as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind.
Then said the Lord unto Isaiah, go forth now to meet Ahaz,
thou, and shear Jashup thy son at the end
of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway
of the foolish field."
Now, what is it saying here?
Basically saying that obviously there are threats
that are being made towards Ahaz and towards Judah
that's actually causing the people of Judah
and even Ahaz to become afraid, okay?
They're disheartened, they become faint in the way.
And the reason we know this because it says in verse two
that his heart was moved and that they're moved
as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind.
So they're obviously afraid of Syria.
They're afraid of that Northern Kingdom of Israel
because it's double the force against them.
So they're afraid, oh, man, they're
going to take us captive.
They're going to destroy us as they've destroyed
the Northern Kingdom in times past.
And so God tells Isaiah, hey, go talk to Ahaz.
Go prophesy to Ahaz.
And I want you to bring your son, Shear Jashub.
Now, why is he bringing his son, Shear Jashub?
Well, the reason he's bringing him
is because Shear Jashub is going to be used as an object
lesson, so to speak, because the name Shear Jashub
means a remnant shall return.
Now, this is very interesting because if you paid attention
during when Brother Cody was reading the passage,
you see that God is telling Ahaz, hey,
they're not going to prevail.
Don't be afraid.
I'm going to be there.
You need to make sure that you believe
or you'll not be established.
He's like exhorting them.
He's telling Ahaz, basically, trust in me
because I'm going to deliver you out of the hand of Syria
and the northern kingdom of Israel.
But of course, God in his foreknowledge
knows that Ahaz is not going to trust in the Lord.
He's not going to place his faith in him.
He's not going to trust in him.
So that's why he brings Isaiah's son, Sheer Jashub, which
means a remnant shall return.
Why is he bringing him?
Because he knows that he's going to disobey.
They're going to end up going into captivity
later on in the future.
But it's OK, Sheer Jashub, a remnant will return.
He's given him that promise.
And what this teaches us is that God
knows the mistakes that we're going to make.
He knows the bad decisions that we're
going to make in the future.
But even in spite of that, he still
wants us to make the right decision.
Knowing full well what decision you're going to make
does not impede God from exhorting you
to the preaching of God's word or from reading the Bible
to make the right decision.
We're not Calvinists here.
We don't believe in this false interpretation
of what predestination is, as they do.
But we do know that God has the foreknowledge
of the decisions that we make.
But even in spite of that, he wants
us to make the right decision.
And so he's not saying, well, this is a waste of time.
Ahaz is not even going to believe.
Therefore, forget preaching to him.
Just let them fall by their own vices and whatever.
No, he's still going to make an effort to go out
and reach out to Ahaz.
But because he has the foreknowledge
that Ahaz is going to disobey, he's
having Isaiah bring his son, which means a remnant shall
return, foreshadowing the fact that they
will go into captivity.
But it's OK.
A remnant of Judah will return in the future.
He's giving that promise there.
Look at verse 4.
"And saying to him, take heed, and be quiet.
Fear not.
Neither be fainthearted for the two tails
of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of resin
with Syria and of the son of Ramaliah."
So what is he saying?
Hey, Isaiah comes to Ahaz, and he's saying, first of all,
pay attention.
That's what take heed means, right?
Pay attention.
Be quiet.
In other words, stop talking so much.
So this is implying that Ahaz is probably mouthing off a lot,
just saying vain things, not really paying attention
to what's going on.
You know, he's not studying to be quiet, OK?
So he says, take heed, be quiet, and don't fear.
Don't be feign-hearted.
Just because these two firebrands of smoking--
these smoking firebrands are threatening you,
it's all smoke, is what he's saying.
Because the firebrands pictures Syria and Israel,
and he said they're blowing off a lot of smoke,
but at the end of the day, I'm for you,
even though you have these two firebrands against you
that are trying to sear you, they're trying to burn you.
Don't fear them, OK?
Verse 5 says, "Because Syria, Ephraim,
and the son of Amaliah have taken evil counsel
against these, saying, let us go up against Judah and vex it,
and let us make a breach therein for us,
and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabiul.
Thus stated the Lord God, it shall not stand,
neither shall it come to pass."
Now, we often think, well, if I was in Ahaz's position,
I'd probably believe this, because he's saying it there.
But you know, sometimes the sinful condition of men
makes men do contrary to the Bible.
Even if God is saying, hey, it's not going to happen,
it shall not stand, it's not going to come to pass,
doesn't matter how valid the threats are,
doesn't matter what their reputation is in the past
of being able to conquer lands, and what
the percentage of their success is in times past,
what their success rate is, if they're going against you,
they're going against me, they're not going to succeed.
And this is essentially the word of the Lord, right?
Now today, we don't have visions like this.
We don't have a prophet coming to us
with a vision from the Lord.
We have the Bible itself.
And the Bible is filled with promises
of prophets of times past, and people who are preaching,
giving us the promises of God, telling us, fear not.
Don't be fainthearted.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.
Lean on him to thine own understanding,
and all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy paths.
I mean, we have a more sure word of prophecy,
the Bible says, right?
But sometimes even Christians today
just kind of disregard what the Bible says,
and they continue to fear.
They make unscriptural decisions about life
because they fear, they're afraid,
they think that they're gonna come out losing at the end.
But you know, this is something that me as a pastor,
I as a pastor struggle with.
You know, I can't really instill faith in people, you know?
And that's obviously not my job to do.
I preach the word of God.
I can tell you what the Bible says,
but at the end of the day, I can't increase your faith.
You know, you have to go out of your way
to increase your own faith.
I wish I can instill faith in people
and say, look, just trust God.
Just believe the Lord.
Just serve him.
Just believe what the Bible says.
You know, don't make decisions
outside of the parameters of the guidelines of the Bible.
Stick to serving God.
Stick to serving your family.
You know, do that which is right on the side of the Lord
and God will work things out.
He always does.
And a lot of times people just kind of lean
on their own understanding instead,
just like Ahaz, even though God says,
it shall not come to pass.
And what is he referring to?
He's referring to the fear of Ahaz
that he's gonna be conquered.
And you know what?
Fear has torment, the Bible says, right?
Sometimes our fears can get the best of us
and can cause us to behave in an unreasonable way
to make unreasonable decisions
and just completely disregard what the Bible says,
completely disregard what God's promises tell us.
But he's telling them that,
he's giving them that admonition to not be afraid.
And this isn't something that is only unique to Ahaz.
He's told many people this throughout the centuries,
throughout biblical history.
Let me read to you from Deuteronomy 20, verse one.
He tells the children of Israel here,
when thou goest out to battle against thine enemies
and seest horses and chariots and people more than thou,
be not afraid of them.
So obviously he knows that when they go to war,
the people that they're fighting against,
they have more resources.
They've got more horses, they got more chariots,
they got more soldiers.
And he says, when you see the great opposition that's
going to come against you, the first thing you need to do
is this, don't be afraid.
For the Lord thy God is with thee.
What?
What does that mean?
It means that us and God make the majority.
He says, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
What is he recalling there?
He's saying, remember how I brought you
out of the land of Egypt?
All the miracles that I did and how I plagued Egypt,
I can do the same for you even today.
Now obviously, we take this in a spiritual sense.
But you know what?
The same God who delivered the children of Israel out
of Egypt by a mighty hand, by plaguing Egypt
with all the plagues and all the death,
we serve the same God today.
So be not afraid.
He says in verse 2, "And it shall
be when you are come nigh into the battle,
that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people
and shall say unto them, Hero Israel, ye approach this day
into battle against your enemies.
Let not your hearts faint.
Fear not, and do not tremble, neither
be terrified because of them."
Sounds like he's saying, don't be scared.
As the famous words of Brother Hosea, who would fear?
Well, apparently a lot of people do fear here,
which is why God tells them, and then the priest comes
and is like, hey, don't be terrified.
Don't shake.
Don't tremble.
Why?
Because our eyes, the things that our eyes see
can often affect.
"Mine eye affecteth mine heart."
The way we perceive things can often
affect the way we behave.
And God knows that our hearts can melt and become afraid.
And he's saying, don't do it.
Have faith in God.
He says in verse 4, "For the Lord your God
is he that goeth with you to fight for you
against your enemies to save you."
So he's not just saying, hey, don't be afraid.
You'll figure it out.
Don't be afraid.
Pull up your bootstraps and just come up with something.
No, he's saying, don't be afraid because I'm going to save you.
Don't be afraid because I'm going to fight for you.
I'm on your side.
You're on my side.
And whoever God fights for, they're going to win.
They're going to come out the victor in the end.
Now, how do we apply this today?
Well, obviously, we're not out here conquering lands.
We can't apply this in a literal sense.
But there's a lot of spiritual battles
that we face on a day, weekly, and monthly, yearly basis.
And there are instances where you have these spiritual battles
of, I don't know, financial woes.
God can save you from those financial woes
and fight your battle for you.
Maybe it's a health issue that you're suffering with.
God can help you overcome those things.
Whatever battle that you face this side of eternity,
just keep in mind, don't be afraid.
Don't allow things to just strike fear in your hearts.
God did not give us the spirit of fear, but of power, love,
and a sound mind, the Bible says.
"In perfect love casteth thou fear."
And so as long as you're giving heed to God,
you're serving the Lord, you're doing that
which is right on the side of God,
you have nothing to fear.
You know the people who have something to fear
are those who are in disobedience to God.
When you find yourself in a trial or tribulation,
the first thing you gotta ask yourself is,
am I right with God?
'Cause if you're not right with God, you should be afraid.
Now luckily, what God will often do
is that when you go through a trial,
that's kind of like his indication,
his motivation for you to get right with God.
'Cause when we go through something that's like,
okay, I'm gonna cleanse myself,
I'm gonna confess all my sins and the sins of my spouse
and the sins of my kids and the sins of my church.
I'm gonna look for sins to confess.
You just wanna clear yourselves of all wrongdoing.
And then you end up positioning yourself
to be right with God through that tribulation.
But you know, there's people out there who are backslidden.
There's people out there who are just far from God.
They're living in disobedience to God.
They're going through a trial.
They're going through a storm.
And yeah, that's scary.
Because at that point, you don't have God's hand on you.
You have God's hand working against you.
If I go through a trial,
I wanna make sure that I'm in right sayings with the Lord
to guarantee that he's gonna fight my battles.
He's gonna fight for me.
And regardless of what the circumstance looks like,
I know that I'm gonna come out winning at the end,
hashtag winning, right?
Why?
Because you know, the Lord favors me.
I love the Lord.
I'm reading my Bible.
I'm going to church.
I'm preaching the gospel.
I'm essentially trying to make Christ the preeminent one
in my family, with my spouse, with my children.
I'm trying to serve God the best that I can, right?
So when you do that, then at that point,
when you've taken inventory of your personal life
and you realize, well, I'm not perfect,
but I'm doing the best that I can to live in obedience to God,
then I have nothing to fear.
He said, well, I'm serving God.
It just doesn't seem to be turning in my favor.
Well, joy cometh in the morning.
And if thou faint in the day of adversity,
thy strength is small.
And so it's important for us to not just throw into town
when the going gets tough.
When the going gets tough, you need
to make sure that you read the Bible, you're praying,
you don't get out of church, you don't get out of serving God.
You need to do those things even more consistently
when you're going through a trial in order
for you to come out on the other end as gold.
And so the main interpretation here is that he's saying,
don't be afraid of their horses and their chariots.
Horses are prepared against the day of battle,
but safety is of the Lord.
There's other nations that will prepare engines and horses
and chariots against you, but at the end of the day,
God will keep you safe.
He will protect you.
The Bible says in Psalm 20 verse seven, "Some trust in chariots
and some in horses."
And let me say this, may not be you.
Some trust in chariots and some in horses
may not be said of God's people
that they're trusting in chariots and horses.
Oh, we got some persecution pizza here, apparently.
Is that what that is?
Brother Hernandez, we're not paying for that.
Hello?
We didn't order it, but we'll take it for free.
Anytime we near June, they start sending us pizza
as if that's pers-
Now it's persecution for me
'cause I can't have pizza right now, so dang you.
They can't show their faces here,
so they send a pizza instead.
Some trust in chariots, others in some in horses,
but it says here,
but we will remember the name of the Lord our God, it says.
So he's basically, you know,
what the Bible's telling us here is that, you know,
there's certain individuals that place their faith
in the movable things of this earth,
the things that are unstable, money, possessions, people,
the arm of the flesh.
But David is saying,
but we are gonna remember the name of our Lord,
the Lord our God, okay?
And this is something that we should also take to heart
and recognize it doesn't matter how crazy it gets out there.
We need to make sure that we place our faith in God
and not trust that our own might, our strength,
our possessions, our knowledge, our wisdom,
our financial stability.
We need to remember the Lord our God in times of trial
and recognize that he's still gonna fight our battles for us.
And so that's what he's telling them here.
Look at verse number eight in Isaiah chapter seven.
It says for the head of Syria is Damascus
and the head of Damascus is resin.
And within three score and five years
shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.
And the head of Ephraim is Samarian,
the head of Samaria is Ramaliah's son.
If you will not believe,
surely you shall not be established.
Now, why is he saying, hey, the head of Syria is Damascus
and the head of Damascus is resin?
Why is he saying that?
Well, he's trying to get a point across here
that who they're trusting in is their actual leader.
Because the head of Syria is Damascus
and the head of Damascus is resin.
Well, hold on a second, the head of Judah is God though.
That's the difference, right?
And it's just like, you know,
it's basically showing us here that Syria and Israel
are trusting in the arm of the flesh,
whereas Judah should be trusting in their head, which is God.
Let me read to you from Joshua 23 verse eight.
It says, "But cleave unto the Lord your God
"as you have done unto this day.
"For the Lord hath driven out from before you
"great nations and strong.
"But as for you, no man hath been able to stand
"before you unto this day.
"One man of you shall chase a thousand
"for the Lord your God, he it is that fighteth for you
"as he hath promised you.
"Take good heed therefore unto yourselves
"that ye love the Lord your God."
So he's basically saying, you know,
if you wanna keep winning in the Christian life,
keep loving God.
Like, oh man, I just, I don't know how to become successful
in this area, I'm afraid that this is gonna fall apart.
Just keep loving the Lord.
If you just keep loving God, you keep loving the Bible,
you keep loving Jesus, you can't go wrong.
Now obviously when I say love Jesus,
that's in close relationship to loving the Bible.
We don't wanna just make this statement
and just like love Jesus
the way you think you could love Jesus.
Love Jesus the way, you know,
the way you love Jesus is different than the way I love.
No, we're all supposed to love him
by keeping his commandments.
In fact, Jesus says if you love me, keep my commandments.
So obviously when we talk about loving the Lord our God,
it's in close relationship to loving the Bible.
Upholding his statutes, his commandments, his precepts,
recognizing this is the most important thing.
You know, having a relationship with Jesus,
if that's what you want to call it, okay,
as long as you are actually reading the Bible
and that's what you mean by that.
'Cause most people don't, right?
Well, I have a relationship with God,
then why don't you go to church?
You know, well, you know, I have a relationship with Jesus.
That's funny, you don't come to his church
that he purchased with his own blood.
Well, I just, I don't know about you, you know,
I'm not the one to judge, but I love Jesus.
Then why don't you read the Bible?
'Cause he is the word of God.
Funny how you claim to love the Lord,
but you don't read the Bible.
When the word of God is literally Jesus.
And so, you know, to make these very vain
and empty statements, to try to lift yourself up
as being someone who loves the Lord means nothing to God
if you don't have the Bible as your proof.
Amen.
You know, when we say we love the Lord,
we can prove it by saying, this is what the Bible says.
You know, and obviously none of us love God.
None of us can love God perfectly,
but you know, we strive to love God on a daily basis
by walking with God on a daily basis, man.
We should not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceed out of the mouth of God.
Setting aside time to spend with the Lord
as we walk with him in his word, as we pray unto him,
making him part of our life, making him our life
through the Bible.
And so he says there, look, you'll survive this,
you'll succeed, you'll prosper, you just
got to make sure that you love the Lord your God,
not through a devotional book, not
through some your daily philosophical quote
of your favorite podcaster, not through some, I don't know,
some store sign that you buy that says God or Jesus.
I love Jesus coffee and whatever.
That's not an expression of your love for God, my friends.
The way we express our love for the Lord
is by keeping his commandments, by loving him.
And by the way, we're not talking about salvation either.
People try to mix those in a lot and say, well, if you love me,
keep my commandments.
And that's their argument against believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And it's like, well, that's funny.
It says if you love me-- it doesn't say if you love me,
you'll be saved.
It says if you love me, you'll keep my commandments,
which is a separate issue from salvation.
Because I don't know if you know this,
but the Bible does not require for you to love God to be saved.
Because in order for you to even cultivate a love for God,
you have to read the Bible.
How can someone just love God right off the bat
without even knowing anything about God, right?
And as we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ, we grow in our love for him as well.
Understand?
And it's just like, no, you have to love God
and give your life to him.
He gave his life for you for salvation.
So this is a very good sermon that he's given to Ahaz.
And he finishes off with verse 9 at the letter end of verse 9.
He says, "If you will not believe,
surely ye shall not be established."
And he's basically saying, like, if you don't have faith
in what I'm telling you right now,
then bad things are coming ahead of you.
You're not going to be an established person.
God's not going to be able to save you.
You're going to fold.
You're going to fall apart.
Now hold your place here and go to 2 Chronicles, chapter 28,
if you would, 2 Chronicles, chapter 28.
Now verse 1 of Isaiah 7 clearly tells us
that Israel and Syria are not going to prevail against Judah.
But that's not to say that they won't do considerable damage,
though.
So yeah, they won't prevail 100%,
but they will still do some considerable amount of damage
to Judah because of Ahaz.
Now, 2 Kings chapter 16 and this chapter right here,
2 Chronicles 28, essentially highlights
a lot of what took place during the reign of Ahaz.
Look at verse number 5, if you would.
It says, "Wherefore the Lord his God," referring to Ahaz,
"delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria.
And they smote him and carried away
a great multitude of them captives
and brought them to Damascus.
And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel,
who smote him with a great slaughter.
For Pekah, the son of Ramaliah, slew in Judah 120,000
in one day.
That sounds like a pretty considerable amount of damage
that they did, right?
Which were all valiant men, because they had forsaken
the Lord God of their fathers.
So what does this tell us?
It tells us that even though God--
you know, think of someone who's backslidden, for example.
They're not going to go to hell.
But that doesn't mean they can't do a considerable amount
of damage because of their disobedience
this side of eternity.
If they live in rebellion towards God,
they'll never be delivered and taken captive to hell.
But hold on a second.
120,000 can be slain.
They can lose a lot.
Is that more persecution pizza?
Did we accept the other one or no?
OK, and he's not accepting this one.
Sorry, folks.
You're going to have to wait till I'm done with my cut.
And then we can have pizza, OK?
Got to have temperance, amen?
You can do still a good amount of damage.
You know, you'll never stop being a child of God
if you're saved.
You'll never stop being a son of God.
You'll never go to hell.
But man, pika, Satan can wreak havoc in your life
because of your disobedience.
So they'll never prevail against you per se, right?
Satan will never prevail against you 100%
where he takes your soul and you lose your salvation,
but a lot of damage can still be done.
Look at verse eight.
It says, "And the children of Israel carried away captive
of their brethren 200,000 women, sons, and daughters,
and took also away much spoil from them
and brought the spoil to Samaria."
So obviously, we see 120,000 die.
There's 200,000 women and children
who are taken captive, and they take their spoil.
Look at verse nine.
"But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded.
And he went out before the host that came to Samaria
and said unto them, Behold, because the Lord God
of your fathers was wroth with Judah."
Wroth means wrathful, angry.
"He hath delivered them into your hand,
and ye have slain them in a rage that reacheth up unto heaven.
And now ye purpose to keep under the children of Judah
and Jerusalem for bondwomen unto you.
But are there not with you, even with you,
sins against the Lord your God?
Now hear me therefore, and deliver the captives again,
which ye have taken captive of your brethren,
for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you."
So what's going on here?
Well, this prophet comes and he tells the Syrians and Israel.
He says, hey, you guys are guilty of a lot of stuff too.
So unless you want God to just kind of whoop you as well,
return those people immediately.
The captives, the women and the children, bring them back.
Now, why does it say that?
Well, because of sheer jasheb, that's why.
A remnant shall return.
So even though they're taking captive,
he's basically the prophet of the Lord
came by the word of the Lord and said, hey,
make sure these people return back because that's God's will.
He doesn't want them to stay there.
Look at verse 16.
"At that time, did King Ahaz send them
to the king of Assyria to help him?"
So now, you know, he's going through these conflicts
with Syria and Israel, and you would think, you know,
facing this is like, I think I should start praying now.
Maybe I am going to go into the temple of the Lord
and do some sacrifices and bring reformation to the land
because we're getting whooped really bad.
120,000 of my valiant men just died.
Maybe I should start seeking the Lord.
No, he goes to the king of Assyria instead.
He goes to Tilgath-Pil-Nesser.
We'll call him Tilly for the sermon.
He goes to Tilly for help.
He doesn't go to God.
He doesn't go to the prophet.
He doesn't go to the Bible.
He goes to the arm of the flesh.
He goes to another nation to protect him against Syria
and against Israel.
This is Ahas.
He says in verse 17, "For again the Edomites
had come and smitten Judah and carried away captives."
Look at verse 20, if you would.
"And Tilgath-Pil-Nesser, king of Assyria, came unto him
and distressed him, but strengthened him not.
For Ahas took away a portion out of the house of the Lord,
and out of the house of the king, and of the princes,
and gave it unto the king of Assyria,
but he helped him not."
So what is this talking about?
So you have Ahas, he's like, I'll pay you anything.
So he's like taxing his household.
He's taxing the house of the Lord.
He's taxing the princes.
He's accumulating all this resources
to give to the king of Assyria to protect them
from the boogeyman.
And it does nothing for him.
Because it says that he distressed him,
and he strengthened him not.
So he paid this large price to be protected,
and it just didn't do anything for him.
Why?
Because when your back's slid in,
it doesn't matter who you have on your side.
If God is not on that side, you're not going to prosper.
He said he helped him not.
Look at verse 22.
"And in the time of his distress that he trespassed yet more
against the Lord, this is that king Ahaz.
For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him.
And he said, because the gods of the kings of Syria
will help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them
that they may help me.
But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel."
This guy's an idiot.
Why?
Because first of all, by the way,
the events in Isaiah 7 took place prior to this.
So the promise had already gotten to him
that God was going to deliver him.
And he's like, no, I'll just go to the king of Syria instead.
So he gives them all this wealth, all these resources.
And it's just like, will you protect me?
It's like the bully or whatever, right, in school.
I don't know, the proverbial bully in school
where you pay someone to protect you
from the bully or whatever.
Backfired on him 'cause the guy doesn't even,
he doesn't have his best interest in mind.
He ended up not strengthening him.
He distresses him.
And it gets to a point where Ahaz is like,
well, I got an idea.
I should sacrifice to the gods of the Syrians
because that God helped them.
That means their God can help me.
I mean, you're stupid.
What an idiot.
I mean, this is stupid.
As you're reading this, you're like,
how did you get in charge?
How did you become the king?
Like, what in the-- and I'm sure Jotham is just in heaven.
His dad is just like, oh, man.
I did not raise that boy right.
He's like, king of the hill, that boy ain't right.
So he's just like, I got a bright idea.
Let me just worship some false gods
because maybe they can help me.
So you got this.
He's basically acting like a Hindu.
He's just like, well, let me just accumulate more gods
because the more gods I have on my side,
the more likely it is that I'll succeed.
Wrong.
Because it says at the latter end of verse 23,
but they were the ruin of him and of all Israel.
And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God
and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God--
listen to this-- and shut up the doors
of the house of the Lord.
And he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem
and in every several city of Judah.
He made high places to burn incense unto other gods
and provoked to anger the Lord God of his fathers.
So obviously, this guy has it coming.
I mean, he's not listening.
He disregards the word of the Lord.
He's paying someone on the outside to protect them.
Doesn't work out.
So plan C is, well, let me just go ahead
and try to invoke the gods of the heathen to protect me.
That doesn't work.
And to add insult to injury, okay?
It doesn't state this in 2 Chronicles 28,
but 2 Kings 16 actually says
that when Ahaz goes to see King Tilgath-Panesser,
King Tilly from Assyria,
he sees all of his shrines and his places of worship
and he's like, "Hey, I like this.
"I like how you, let me get the blueprint."
So he takes the blueprints
of how they construct their temples for their false god
and he seeks to apply it to the house of god back home.
I mean, crazy.
Basically like what the Catholics did, right?
It's just like, hey man,
these statues are really nice of Mars
and, you know, Aphrodite or whatever.
And it's just like, let's just keep the statues
and we'll just give them Christian names.
You know, be Mary and Joseph and whatever.
That's basically what Ahaz is doing.
He was so impressed with the basilicas of the heathen
that he's just like, I want to kind of emulate that.
What the house of God.
It did not make God happy.
And God ended up punishing him for that.
And, you know, he had it coming, okay?
Now go back to Isaiah chapter seven.
So just to show you, okay?
You know, God's saying you're not going to be established.
We went to second Chronicles 28,
and obviously see we jumped forward in the future
that he didn't make the right decision.
He didn't trust in the Lord.
He trusted in the king of Assyria.
He trusted in the false gods of the Syrians.
It just didn't work out.
Not only that, but he even tries to construct
and adopt pagan worship and architecture
and apply it to God's house.
I mean, he's treasuring up wrath
against the day of wrath is what he's doing.
Look at verse 10.
"Over the Lord spake again into Ahaz."
This is obviously prior to all of that.
"Ask the assign of the Lord thy God,
ask it either in the depth or in the height above.
But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I
tempt the Lord."
OK, so what's going on here?
So God makes this promise to Isaiah.
He's like, hey, I'm going to deliver you.
If you believe, you will not be established.
And then he tells them, hey, just to kind of increase
your faith a little bit, ask for a sign.
Anything, height above, depth beneath,
doesn't matter what it is, ask for a sign
to kind of increase your faith that you'll believe.
And this is what Ahaz says.
Well, I don't want to do that, because I don't want
to tempt the Lord thy God.
Now, this is what's called being hyper spiritual,
when he's even just more godlier than God.
You know, Ahaz is like, I know what you're doing there,
but thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Stupid, it's not tempting the Lord
if God commands you to do it.
If God is telling you, prove me now herewith,
sayeth the Lord, you know, and that I will not
open the windows of heaven, pour you out a blessing,
that there should not be room enough to receive it,
then if he's commanding you to prove him, then do it, okay?
But let me explain to you why he says this,
aside from the fact that he's just being hyperspiritual
and it's just a dumb response.
He's doing it because he doesn't wanna confirm the fact
that God will deliver him.
'Cause he doesn't, you know, God, you know,
he's already promising he's gonna deliver him.
He's like, oh man, but if he pulls out a sign,
then it's for sure confirmation
that he is gonna deliver me.
So he doesn't want that because he wants to trust
in the King of Assyria instead, that's why.
But you know, neither will I tempt the Lord.
And this phrase kind of reminds me of people
who, you know, if you ever discuss salvation
with someone either online or in person,
and you talk about the fact that you can know
beyond a shadow of a doubt that you're saved,
this is what they say, that's so prideful.
I would never say that I know that I'm,
that's such an arrogant, prideful statement to me.
That ye may know that ye have eternal life,
and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
Sounds like God wants us to know
beyond a shadow of a doubt that we're saved.
But these holier-than-thou's, that's so prideful
and arrogant to say that you know that you're saved.
No, it's actually having faith in God's word
and believe in God's word.
It's actually prideful to think that you can be saved
without Jesus Christ or by adding something to Jesus Christ.
That's the pride, you know, because you want to boast
when you get to heaven.
Of course, they will never get to heaven.
But they, in their minds, they think, well, you know,
by my effort and by my righteousness,
I'm going to get myself there.
And you know, we need to make sure that we participate.
They won't say this, but this is basically what they mean.
They want to participate in their salvation.
They think they have to do the works and be righteous
and be godly, but the Bible actually
refers to those things as works of iniquity.
It isn't regarding any of that.
You know, they're over here thinking
that they're as clean as a whistle,
whereas God actually looks at them as a dirty rag.
Even the best that people do out there for salvation
is never good enough for God.
Never good enough.
So that's filthy rags in the eyes of God.
I mean, it literally says that our righteousness
are as filthy rags, meaning the best that you can do,
the best that you can accomplish,
the best that you can achieve is still
not good enough for God.
Why?
Because the only thing that God accepts that's good enough
is the blood of Jesus Christ.
And to say that, oh, no, it's something aside from that
or added to that, then you're the prideful one.
You're the arrogant one because you're rejecting what God says.
I would never say that I'm just--
that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you're saved.
Yeah, I know you'll never say it because you're not saved.
Thank you for divulging that information, but I know.
Yeah, I'm so prideful that I know that you're not saved.
How are you going to say that person's not saved?
Because they're basically saying that they're not saved?
Because they're claiming that you don't have to believe only
in Jesus Christ?
You know, how could you say that Jordan Peterson's not saved?
Because he's not.
Because he doesn't place his faith in Jesus.
I don't care how smart he sounds.
And I don't even think he sounds smart.
Whoever says he sounds smart, you're
not much intelligent yourself.
It's just like, but he's really intelligent.
No, he just knows.
He just has an extensive vocabulary,
and he just throws up all these words to confuse you
and give this illusion that he is smart.
But folks, he has the wisdom of this world.
And if he's so smart, then why can't he get saved?
If he's so smart, why can't he understand
the fundamentals of the Christian faith
that all we have to do is believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ?
I'll tell you why, because he's actually dumb.
That's why.
It takes the humility of a child-- well,
you don't sound very humble.
Well, hold on a second.
It takes the humility of a child to believe
on Jesus Christ, though.
And you know what?
There is a time in my life, 17 years ago,
where I recognized, oh crap, I can't save myself.
I'm 100% vulnerable to the flames of hell,
because I cannot save myself.
I need someone to save me.
That's called humility, recognizing
I can't do it on my own.
No matter how many works I do, no matter how hard I try,
I will never save myself.
Save me!
That's humility.
And that's what everyone needs this side of eternity
in order to be saved.
They need the humility to actually call upon the name
of the Lord in faith and not try to bring their baggage
of false works with them, of their false righteousness
and works to try to get them saved as well.
No, not by works of righteousness, which we have done,
but according to his mercy, he saved us, the Bible says.
And so, no, it has.
And it's astounding that he would say something like this,
I can't tempt the Lord God by asking something like that.
It's a hyper-spiritual attitude.
Look at verse 13, he says, "And he said, hear ye now,
O house of David, is it a small thing for you to weary men,
but will you weary my God also?"
I like that response.
Isaiah's just like, man, people are sick and tired of you,
but God is tired of you too.
That statement alone, neither will I tempt the Lord,
is just like, God is so tired of you, you're wearying God.
Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign.
So it's like, you're not going to ask for one?
Okay, I'll give you one.
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son
and shall call his name Emmanuel.
Now, this verse is very, very popular, right?
We know this passage is near and dear to our hearts
because it's quoted in Matthew chapter one,
and we often relate it to the nativity, right?
The birth of Jesus Christ.
Because Emmanuel means God with us, okay?
And this is how deep and powerful the Bible is.
Because there's an immediate interpretation
of why he's stating this,
but obviously it has prophetic meaning
for the future, for the future of Christ, right?
So let me give you what the immediate application
of this passage is in relation to Ahaz and Judah.
And then we're gonna talk about
what the interpretation is for the future.
Now, the first thing is, is this,
the reason God is giving him that sign
that a virgin shall conceive
and that his name shall be Emmanuel,
is because he's trying to reinforce the fact
that God is with them.
That God is with them, he's gonna protect them,
he's going to be with them.
And if God before us, who can be against us?
So he's like, a virgin's gonna conceive a child.
His name's gonna be Emmanuel, meaning God with us.
Judah will have God on their side.
But look what it goes on to say in verse 15.
Butter and honey shall he eat,
that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good.
Very important, verse 16.
For before the child shall know to refuse the evil
and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest
shall be forsaken of both her kings.
Now, what is that talking about?
It's rhetorical question that I'm asking here.
This is referring to the fact that God is expressing
that the deliverance of God for Judah
from these two kings of Israel and Syria,
God's gonna get rid of them before this child,
this literal child, 'cause we often think about
Emmanuel being Jesus Christ in the future,
but there's literally a child named Emmanuel, okay?
And he was born of a virgin,
it just wasn't a miraculous birth like Jesus Christ,
just to put that out there, okay?
The birth of Jesus Christ was miraculous, right?
'Cause he was born of the Holy Ghost,
but this particular child, you know, had a father,
you understand?
Because he's a human being, okay?
But obviously he's prophetic of Jesus Christ,
Emmanuel, God with us.
Now, why is he talking about the child eating and all this?
What does it mean?
Because he's saying before this child even learns to eat,
the King of Syria and the King of Israel are gonna be gone.
He's basically showing how fast God's gonna get rid
of the Northern Kingdom of Israel,
or their King and the King of Syria
for their crimes against Judah.
He's like, I'm gonna get rid of them
before this child is even able to eat solid foods,
they're gonna be gone, they're gonna be gone out of the land.
Why? 'Cause God is with you guys, okay?
So the immediate interpretation of this is the fact
that when the child comes, Emmanuel,
before he even learns to eat, King of Syria
and the King of Israel will be taken out of the land.
This is why he says, the land that thou abhorrest
shall be forsaken of both her kings.
What is the land that he abhors?
Israel and Syria, okay?
Now, what is this in relation to the first coming of Christ?
Because obviously, Emmanuel is a prophetic statement
made about the birth of Jesus Christ, right?
Well, if you think about it, when Jesus Christ came,
that's God with us, okay?
When he was born in the first century AD,
his coming, the first coming, essentially brought a defeat
to the principalities, powers,
and the rulers of the darkness of this world.
And more specifically, his death on the cross
solidified the defeat of the powers of darkness of Satan.
So if we were to picture Satan as being,
or if we were to picture the king of Syria
and the king of Israel being likened to Satan,
you know, before the child shall eat,
they're gonna be getting,
God's gonna get rid of the powers of darkness.
Not to say that they're gonna be completely gone,
'cause obviously we know that the God of this world
is blind of the minds,
but his crucifixion on the cross
essentially brings permanent victory in the spiritual sense.
And in fact, let me read you from John chapter 12, verse 31.
It says, "Now is the judgment of this world.
"Now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
"And I, if I be lifted up from the earth,
"will draw all men unto me."
Now, what does it mean when it says
that the prince of this world shall be cast out
in relation to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ?
This is simply just another way of stating
that Satan will be permanently defeated.
You say, well, how do you know that?
Well, there's other statements in the Bible
that kind of relate to that way of saying things
about Satan being defeated.
Let me give you one example.
Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14 says this,
"For as much then as the children are partakers
of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise
took part of the same, that through death--"
Listen to this, "he might destroy him
to have power of death, that is, the devil."
Now, was Satan literally destroyed?
No, it's obviously speaking to his defeat.
That's what it's saying, right?
So when it says that he might destroy him
that had the power of death, that is, the devil,
he's referring to the fact that he is victorious over Satan.
That's just another way, the way John 12 would say
that the prince of this world is cast out.
And in fact, you know, this is why Colossians 2 tells us
that he spoiled principalities and powers, right?
It says that he made a show of them openly,
triumphing over them in it.
He was triumphant over the principalities and powers
and rulers of the darkness of this world
through his death on the cross.
So when he came, Emmanuel came,
it is essentially the defeats of those kings, right?
The princes, principalities, the powers,
the rulers of the darkness of this world.
But not only that, but think about this.
You know, the second coming of Christ is also God with us.
And in fact, when Jesus Christ returns,
he's literally gonna remove the king out of the land.
Who's that king?
The antichrist.
And his new world order will be evicted.
And the Bible says that the kingdoms of this world
will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.
So God with us in the first century
brought that permanent defeat of Satan,
removing the people from the power of darkness,
bringing them to the light,
but also the second coming of Christ
will physically remove the antichrist from the land.
And if you think about it,
when the new heaven and the new earth are established,
prior to the new heaven and the new earth,
you have the great white throne judgment
where Satan is permanently removed
and he's cast into the lake of fire.
And then you have literally God, the father,
showing himself in the new heaven and the new earth as well.
So you can see how this name, Emmanuel,
has some pretty deep significance to it.
Not just to the days of Ahaz,
that essentially pictures when this child comes,
it's essentially recalling the fact that they,
the king of Syria and the king of Israel will be removed,
but also in the first century AD with Jesus being born,
second coming of Christ with the Antichrist being removed,
and ultimately Revelation chapter 20,
where the devil will be cast into the lake of fire,
permanently removed from the land of this world.
And of course, so shall we ever be with the Lord.
And so very powerful imagery there.
Look at verse 17, we're almost done.
The Lord shall bring upon thee and upon thy people
and upon thy father's house,
days that have not come from the day
that Ephraim departed from Judah, even the king of Assyria.
And it shall come to pass in that day
that the Lord shall hiss for the fly
that is in the outermost parts of the rivers of Egypt
and for the bead that is in the land of Assyria.
And they shall come and shall rest, all of them
in the desolate valleys and in the holes of the rocks
and upon all thorns and upon all bushes.
What is he saying?
So he's basically saying, this is the judgment
against you, Ahaz.
And he's basically telling him, you
know how you trusted in Assyria, as we saw in 2 Chronicles 28?
Well, Assyria is going to operate as a reed.
And that reed is going to go right through your hand.
Because God's going to use the Assyrians to punish Ahaz.
And he says, in verse 18, that the Lord
shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost
part of the rivers of Egypt, for the bee that
is in the land of Assyria.
What does that mean?
Basically, he's going to bring the Assyrians.
And that's not enough.
He's like, he's going to bring the Egyptians.
And he's going to hiss for them to come and destroy them
as well.
I mean, his punishment is doubly as bad.
Because obviously, Ahaz is a wicked individual.
So he hasn't forgotten the sins of Ahaz.
He's saying, you're going to get yours.
Yeah, I'm going to protect Judah.
But Ahaz, you're going to suffer a considerable amount of damage
because you disobeyed the Lord.
Look at verse 20.
And we'll stop here.
From verses 20 to 25, he basically
describes the humility that's going
to come upon the inhabitants of Judah.
He says, "In the same day shall the Lord
shave with the razor that is hired, namely by them
beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head
and the hair of the feet, and shall also consume the beard."
He's saying, the day that I come and punish you guys
by these foreign nations, they're
going to come and shave you.
And obviously, in the Bible, when someone shaved themselves,
it was essentially an expression of humility, of shame.
And I think of the guys who had their beards half-shaven.
You guys remember that?
And the soldiers of David that had their beards half-shaven,
and then David told them, like, hey, go into Jericho
until your beards are regrown, because they
were ashamed greatly.
It was a way to kind of humiliate them.
And so he's saying here that these foreign armies
are going to come.
They're going to shave all of you guys.
They're going to remove your hair from your body,
the hair of the feet, which is crazy.
It's like, dang, how much--
kind of gives you an indication there
is pretty hairy people.
Hair of the feet, and it shall also consume the beard.
A lot of testosterone going on back in those days.
It shall come to pass in that day
that a man shall nourish it on cow.
I'm not going to finish this.
Basically, towards the end of the chapter,
he's essentially saying that the land will become completely
desolate, is what he's telling them.
So what is the summary of chapter 7?
Well, it's a summary of an idiot by the name of Ahaz,
because he is dumb.
I mean, when you read a story, it's just like,
what are you doing?
You're costing the lives of so many people.
And God came to you and told you that he
was going to deliver you.
He even asked you to give a sign.
I mean, God was willing to do all that he could
to save Judah, even though they had a wicked king,
and he just refused.
Let me say this, don't be that person.
Don't be the person that comes to church,
you hear the admonishments of the Lord
from the Bible, from the preaching of God's word,
and you're just refusing the wisdom of God.
You're refusing the biblical principles of the Lord.
You want to lean on your own understanding.
And let me just say this, the more you know,
the more you're accountable for.
And that's why it's important when we come to church,
we don't come to be entertained, although sometimes we'll
see some entertaining things, as we saw tonight.
You don't come just to kind of kill time.
You're coming to hear from the Lord.
And it's often in these services, in the sermons,
you're going to hear something that directly relates to you.
And God has given you knowledge.
He's given you wisdom.
And you know what?
The story goes true.
Many times, people hear the Bible being preached to them,
and they pick and choose what they want to obey
and what they don't want to obey.
They'll hear something that's like, nah, I'm still
going to do it this way.
Nah, not right now.
I'm going to do it this way.
But you know what?
How did that turn out for Ahas, where he's just rebelling
against the word of God, he just completely disregarding it,
well, he's getting doubly the punishment because of it as well.
And no one's perfect enough here that we can just
obey everything that's being preached or everything that we read.
But folks, we need to make sure we take preaching serious.
We need to make sure that we take reading the Bible serious
and recognize the voice of the shepherd
when he's trying to warn us and admonish us,
that we give heed to it, right?
We give heed that we're quiet and that we
obey the word of the Lord so we don't suffer the ramifications
of our decisions.
Don't be an Ahaz.
Don't be a person that just completely ignores it.
And you'd rather go to the king of Assyria and pay the price.
He paid all that money for that bodyguard
who did nothing for him.
It just made his punishment even worse.
And then he's just like, well, maybe I'll
worship some false gods.
Maybe that'll help me or something.
It's just like, man, you're way off.
And so may this be a lesson to us tonight.
Don't be like an Ahaz.
Don't be an Ahaz.
Something else I want to say, but I can't.
You guys catch my drift, all right?
But it's true, though.
Don't be an Ahaz.
You know, be an individual who, when the Lord brings
the prophet to you, you obey the word of the Lord,
and you trust in God, and you love the Lord your God.
You step out in faith and believe
what he's saying in his word, and become blessed because of--
let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for your word.
And thank you for these bywords and proverbs
that we read in the Bible, such as Ahaz.
Lord, help us to avoid his ways, Lord, and the decisions
that he made.
Lord, may you give us wisdom and humility of heart
to receive with meekness the engrafted word
and recognize when we're wrong, and to accept
the biblical truths of the Bible
and your admonishments, Lord.
May you bless us as we go on our way.
Bless the soul-winding trip that we're taking on Saturday.
May we see a lot of people save, Lord,
and bring us back safely so we can have
a great service on Sunday.
We love you, and we thank you.
We pray this season in Jesus' name.
Amen.