And the Bible reads, "Moreover, the Lord said unto me,
take thee a great roll, and write in it
with a man's pen concerning Marishel el-Hashbaz.
And it took unto me faithful witness
to record Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son
of Jebrekaia.
And I went unto the prophetess, and she
conceived and bear a son.
Then said the Lord to me, call his name,
Marishel el-Hashbaz.
For before the child shall have knowledge to cry,
my father and my mother, the riches of Damascus
and the spoils of Mary shall be taken away
before the king of Assyria."
The Lord spake also unto me, saying,
"For as much as this people refuse at the waters of Shilohah
that go softly, and rejoice in Resin and Remaliah, son,
now therefore behold, the Lord bringeth upon them
the waters of the river, the strong and many,
even the king of Assyria, and all his glory.
And he shall come up over all his channels
and go over all his banks, and he shall pass through Judah,
shall overflow and go over.
He shall reach even to the neck,
and the stretching out of his wings
shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel."
"Associate yourselves, O ye people,
and ye shall be broken in pieces,
and give ear, all ye of four countries.
Gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces.
Take counsel together, and ye shall come to naught.
Speak the word, and ye shall not stand, for God is with us.
For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand,
and instructed me that I should not
walk in the way of this people, saying,
Say ye not a confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall
say a confederacy, neither fear ye their fear,
nor be afraid, sanctify the Lord of hosts himself,
and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread,
and it shall be for a sanctuary, but for a stone of stumbling,
and for a rock of a fence to both the houses of Israel,
for a djinn, and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken,
and be snared, and be taken, bind up the testimony,
seal the law among my disciples.
And I will wait upon the Lord that
hideth his face from the house of Jacob,
and I will look for him.
Behold, I and the children whom the Lord
hath given me are for signs, for wonders in Israel,
from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in Mount Zion.
What I shall say unto you, seek unto them
that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards
that peep, and the mutter.
Should not a people seek unto their God for the living
to the dead, to the law and to the testimony,
if they speak not according to this word,
it is because there is no light in them.
And they shall pass through it, hardly bestowed and hungry,
and shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry,
they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God,
and look upward.
They shall look unto the earth, and behold trouble and darkness,
dimness of anguish, and they shall be driven to darkness.
Let's pray.
We thank you, Heavenly Father, for the book of Isaiah, dear God.
Thank you for this wonderful church you've given us.
We thank you for giving us a pastor, dear Lord.
And we ask that you please bless him tonight
as he preaches your word unto us.
In Jesus' name, we pray.
Amen.
So King Ahaz, in chapter 7, of course,
is confronted with two different kings.
You have Rezin, the king of Syria,
and then Remaliah, the king of Israel,
who is threatening Ahaz, who is essentially
the king of Judah, the southern kingdom.
And we see in chapter 7 that Ahaz is not depending on God.
He's not looking towards the Lord.
And God is trying to encourage him.
He's trying to provoke him to trust in the Lord,
to pray unto God, and to recognize
that it's only by God's hand that he's
going to be delivered from the enemies of God.
And of course, he uses Isaiah's son in chapter 7
as essentially an example, his name,
Shir Jasheb, to mean that a remnant shall return.
So even though he's trying to convince Ahaz to trust in him,
God in his foreknowledge knows that Ahaz is not
going to trust in the Lord.
And eventually, Ahaz and Judah, to a certain extent,
a certain percentage of the land of the people,
are going to be castigated.
They're going to be destroyed.
They're going to be disciplined.
But he's bringing his son, Isaiah, along with him,
because his son's name means that a remnant shall return.
So even within the preaching that Isaiah is giving to Ahaz,
it's that promise, that object lesson to say,
I know you're going to disobey.
But even when you disobey, a remnant's
going to come back from that captivity of the Assyrians.
And of course, later on in chapter 7,
you have the birth of Emmanuel.
And Emmanuel means God with us.
And obviously, we know the prophetic significance
behind that.
It's referring to Jesus Christ in the New Testament.
We see that quoted in the book of Matthew chapter 1.
But the immediate interpretation of that
is the fact that he's trying to instill faith in Ahaz
to say, hey, God is with Judah.
He's with the people of Israel, those who are in Judah.
And that even though the Assyrians
are going to come and plunder and destroy you,
you just got to keep in mind that God is still with you,
even in spite of that.
And then, of course, it finishes off
with God explaining to Ahaz that at the end of the day,
even though Ahaz is depending on the Assyrians to destroy Syria
or to defend them against Syria and the northern kingdom
Israel, eventually Assyria is going to turn on him.
He's going to be used to punish Judah.
And it's a great lesson for us all
that if we depend on anything else other than the Lord
for our necessities, for our protection,
that which we're depending on, that which we're leaning on,
is eventually going to become our ruin.
Because God wants us to have faith in him.
He wants us to trust him, to pray unto him.
And just because something has various chariots and horses,
spiritually speaking, doesn't mean
that it's going to come out to your advantage
in the long term as a Christian, as a believer.
We need to make sure that we're putting our faith in God.
Now in chapter number eight, we have
another mention of a child that's going to be born.
And it's actually another child of Isaiah.
So initially, in chapter seven, you
see the mention of Sheer Jasheb, meaning
that a remnant shall return.
But then you have another birth of Isaiah's son.
And his name is Meher Shalhashbaz.
Now I'm pretty sure that this is actually
the longest name in the Bible.
And why he would name him that?
I don't know.
It's like, what's it short for?
Even the short term, the short part of it
is probably still long, right?
Try saying Meir Sheleh Hashbaz five times fast.
But you're not going to forget it.
Now, you won't be able to pronounce it,
but you won't forget it, OK?
So we have the birth of Meir Sheleh Hashbaz,
and it obviously has significance
to his name regarding the message
that God's bringing to Judah.
And I look at verse number one here.
It says, "Moreover, the Lord said unto me,
take thee a great roll"--
"me" there is obviously referring to Isaiah--
"take thee a great roll, and write in it
with the man's pen concerning Mayer Sheleh Hashbaz.
And it took unto me faithful witnesses
to record your Riah the Prezik, or Riah the son of Jeberikayah."
Now, what is he talking about in verse number one?
Well, this is pretty unique because of the fact
that typically prophets of the Old Testament
have a scribe writing something for them.
But in this particular case, you actually
have Isaiah being commanded of God to take a roll
and actually write himself.
Now, before we get into the term Mayer Sheleh Hashbaz
and what that means, I want you to notice
that he actually says, write in it with a man's pen.
What is that talking about when he says,
write in it with the man's pen?
Well, he's not referring to just, hey,
go find some dude's pen out there
and use that to pen down what I'm going to tell you.
I believe what he's actually referring to
is the clarity of the message.
In other words, I want you to write this down
the way any common man would write down
some sort of statement or document that's
very clearly understood by the person who's going to read it.
It's going to be clearly understood by the recipient.
So the man's pen is referring to the clarity of the message.
In other words, God wants everyone in Judah
to know what he's saying here.
And when you think about it, that's
not unique to Isaiah or the Book of Isaiah
or this particular passage.
This is how God wants the Word of God to be for all nations.
And obviously, there's instances in the Bible
where there are dark sayings, there are parables, things
that are hard to be understood that require prayer.
It requires for us to pray unto the Lord and say,
open down mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out
of thy law, other things that take spiritual maturity
to understand.
But in general, the essentials of the faith
are very easy to understand for the common man.
And in fact, Jesus Christ, the Bible
says of Jesus that the common people heard him gladly.
Even though he is the Word of God,
he is the epitome of knowledge and wisdom,
he is the source by which all knowledge stems from,
he was able to speak in such a manner
that everyone understood what he was saying,
those who were open to the truth.
He put the cookie on the bottom shelf,
he was alive into them,
he opened the eyes of their understanding
because of the fact that he came for the common man.
And that's not to say that people
who are really knowledgeable or have a lot of wisdom
can't understand the Bible, but I will say this,
it's often the case that the people
who have the most knowledge
are the most critical of the Bible.
The more knowledge you have, the more puffed up you are,
and you're not saved, the more likely it is
that you will take on this critical attitude
towards the Bible.
You will not have as much faith in it
because of the fact that knowledge puffeth up, okay?
And so this is the reason why sometimes
it's the simple-minded people of this world
that readily receive the word of God and they believe it.
And in fact, you know, I have an example of this.
When we were in Mexico on Saturday,
we're preaching the gospel to various people,
and Brother Ulysses Hernandez was talking to
a person at the park, she was a mother,
and her daughter was right next to her.
She was about 14, 13 years old,
and so he started preaching the gospel to the mom,
the stepmom, actually,
and I started preaching the gospel to the daughter.
Well, I started realizing a little bit
into the conversation that she was mentally disabled, okay?
And you can tell by her speech
that even though she was 14 years of age,
you know, mentally, she was probably around five or six.
Okay, she understood concepts
and she did have the mental faculties
to understand what I was telling her.
But, you know, there's obviously some mental issues
that she had there and she had trouble talking,
but she understood a lot of what I was saying.
And it was very touching to say the least
because when I would talk to her about the gospel
and I told her that God loved her,
she was just absolutely astounded at the biblical truths.
Like I told her, her name was Maria.
And I said, Maria, you know, Jesus loves you.
He died for you.
And she was just like, really?
And I'm just like, absolutely.
And I would tell her what the Bible says.
And I told her that, you know, I read her the verses
and I'll explain to her how Jesus died on the cross
to pay for her sins.
And every single time that I would tell her something
about the gospel, a point about the gospel,
she was just like, and it wasn't insincere
because she was in tears, you know?
And she was very much says, and so, you know,
it didn't take long for her to completely understand
the gospel and she ended up getting saved.
And she even told me herself, she said,
you know, she basically said, you know,
I wanted, in so many words, she said to kill myself,
you know, a couple years back, 'cause I'm just really sad.
You know, I'm really sad, I'm really depressed.
And I said, well, you know, the Lord loves you, Maria,
and he died for you.
He loves you and he has a purpose for you.
And her eyes got watery and she was just very thankful.
And at the end of the conversation,
when she ended up getting saved,
she called upon the name of the Lord.
You know, I got up and I said, thank you for your time, Maria.
She said, no, thank you for telling me these things.
Cause I did not know that.
And you know what? That touched my heart.
But it helped me,
it helped me to realize that sometimes, you know,
there are certain individuals who have all the knowledge.
They're so knowledgeable about so many things.
They may have, they may have degrees.
They may have all of the studies down, you know,
everything about science and evolution and their literary
geniuses out there. And you know what?
They're probably more likely than not,
a lot of them are not going to get saved because at the end of the day,
you know, person, you re the gospel requires the faith of a child to believe
it. Right. And it's not like the gospel is hard to understand.
I didn't need to come to her with any theological terms.
I didn't have to come to her with words of man's wisdom.
I just had to give her the Bible and she understood it plainly. She, she got it.
She believed it and she ended up getting saved.
It reminds me of a verse in Habakkuk. You don't have to turn there.
And chapter two, verse two, it says the Lord answered me and said,
write the vision and make it plain upon the tables that he may run that
read it. And you know what? That's exactly what God wants us to do.
The difference is it's already written on this table right here.
And all we have to do is explain it in a plain way. Right?
We don't have to be all Calvinistic about it and all articulate when we're
explaining the gospel.
It's very easily understood if we just make it plain.
First Corinthians two four, the apostle Paul, who by the way, wrote some letters.
There were hard to be understood, but when it came to the gospel,
he spake very plainly says in first Corinthians two four and my speech and my
preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom,
but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. In other words,
he didn't have to, you know,
flex his vocabulary or flex his wisdom in order to
demonstrate that he had power. All he had to do was essentially show this,
the power of the Holy spirit in him, right? The fact that he's preaching,
the words that I speak into their spirit and their life.
And it's the word of God that has power to convert.
He says that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men. Oh man,
that apologists is so powerful.
You see how he just argues all these particular points.
Their faith is then in the apologists,
their faith is in the the fallacious arguments of these apologists that make
all these claims.
Whereas the Bible tells us that we want people's faith to be in the power of
God, right? To give credit to God,
to give credit to the word of God. And you know,
they'll often tell us I never heard it explained that way.
But at the end of the day,
what they're referring to is the fact that it's just in the Bible.
Cause all we're doing is reading John three 16 reading Romans six 23,
reading Romans five eight. It's nothing super deep.
It's just plainly telling them what the Bible says regarding the gospel.
The Bible also says in second Corinthians chapter three, verse 12,
seeing them that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech.
I mean, why would we want to make the gospel hard to understand?
Want it to be easy to understand, right?
And thankfully there are terms in the word of God whereby we can explain it
plainly such as believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean,
as a very clear,
concise and simple statement to make to help people to understand what do you
have to do to be saved. You know, and by the way, the apostle Paul could have,
simply said, you know, when the guy asked, what must I do to be saved?
He could have simply said, be justified through the imputation of the righteousness,
you know, right? Cause it means the same thing.
You can have the redemption through the imputation of the blood of Jesus Christ
because his propitiation, you know,
he could have gone through that whole spule, but he didn't do that though.
What did he do? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
He basically citing what it says in John three 16 and is there any coincidence
that John three 16 is like the most famous verse in the Bible, right?
That people know now that's not to say that we can't get deep on the doctrine of
justification because the Bible does get deep and you know,
after we get saved, let us go on into perfection, right?
Let's learn what the Bible says further on the topic of salvation.
What are some pictures of salvation in the Bible?
What are the different facets of salvation according to the word of God?
But when we are seeking to convert someone to win some of the Christ to get
them saved, we need to use great plainness of speech.
It's not a time to flex how much you know about the Bible or how many
terms you can use or whatever, you know, what you have,
what tools you have on your belt really is just trying to get them saved as
easy as possible. Well, I think we, you shouldn't say believe, you know,
because why not? I mean, the book of John uses it repeatedly to explain
salvation. And obviously, you know,
you need to expand on what it means to believe sometimes and explain to them.
I'm not just saying believe in God, that he exists.
Belief simply means to trust and that's easy. Like, well,
what if they don't get that? Then you know what? Then it's time to move on.
They can't clearly understand what it means to trust, what it means to believe.
You know,
it may not be that they don't have the mental faculties to understand that.
And maybe they're just trolling you just want to waste your time.
They want to argue, et cetera.
But the point that's being made here is the fact that the Lord wants everyone in
Israel to know what is going to take place, which is why he says,
I want you to get a man's pen, pen this like any common man would pen this.
Don't make it complicated. This is not the book of Daniel here, you know,
or it's going to be sealed up until the end.
This is something that they want. They need to know now. Okay. Look at verse three.
He says,
and I went up to the prophetess and she conceived and bear a son.
Then said the Lord to me, call his name, Mayor Shella Hashbaz.
Now the prophetess that's being referred to here is Isaiah's wife.
Okay. And of course we know that because of the fact that Mayor Shella Hashbaz
is his son. Now, why is she a prophetess?
Is she a pastor of a church or something like that? Is she, you know,
a priest in the, in the temple ish?
What's the point here of calling her the prophetess? Well,
I believe the reason he is labeling her to be a prophet or a prophetess is
because of the fact that she's bringing forth the message and the message is
Mayor Shella Hashbaz. Cause you know, God is, you know,
using Mayor Shella Hashbaz as an object lesson,
the way he used Sheer Jasheb and the way he used Emmanuel.
And so the prophetess,
even though she's not necessarily proclaiming it with her mouth,
she's bringing forth Mayor Shella Hashbaz,
which is essentially the message to Israel, a very unique way of doing it.
But that's basically what it is.
And the reason it's important to know
that is in case some woman pastor or an advocate of a woman pastor says,
well, you've got the prophetess here.
Well, that's not what it's referring to.
And other instances where women are referred to as a prophetess,
it's often just referring to a woman who's just a soul owner, right?
Someone who's preaching the gospel, which the Bible does not forbid that.
And people often over exaggerate our position on, you know,
not letting women preach in church and they'll often say, well, you know,
you think like women can't preach the gospel or something like that.
It's just like we're talking about in church behind the pulpit.
The Bible forbids and prohibits them
from preaching the word of God because he considers that usurping the authority
over the man and call that chauvinistic and take it up with God.
That's what he said. He doesn't like that.
And it's an abomination.
It is complete disobedience to God's word.
And the reason, one of the reasons why he doesn't want women preaching beyond
the pulpit is because Adam was first form, then the woman and Adam will listen to
this. Adam was not deceived, but the woman being in the transgression was deceived.
So he's saying that in conjunction with not
letting him preach and basically is implying if you let a woman preach,
she's going to start teaching all kinds of weird doctrines because she's easily
deceived. No, we're not.
OK, Eve, how that how how did that go for you?
He's using the example of Eve, you know, first prophetess, you know,
she had one one shot to make an impression on biblical history.
And she couldn't do it because she was easily deceived.
And there's a reason why Satan went for Eve and not Adam.
OK, and so this is not saying that women can't preach.
Obviously, they can preach the gospel.
Obviously, to a certain extent,
they even preach the word of God to their children when they're teaching their
children at home, but when it comes to the parameters of the house of God
and the position of a bishop, elder and or pastor, you know,
the Bible tells us explicitly that only men can fulfill that office.
Let him be the husband of one wife.
Can't do that if you are a woman, you know,
and I don't care if you're a Methodist dike or whatever, you know,
this is like still don't work.
So he said he goes into the prophetess.
She conceives a bear's son.
And then God tells Isaiah, I want his name to be Maher Shella Hashbaz.
And, you know, remember Isaiah is penning this down.
So he's like, hold on, hold on, you know, like writing that whole name out.
Verse four says, for behold, the child, excuse me,
for before the child shall have knowledge to cry.
My father and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria
shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.
So what is he saying here?
Well, in Chapter seven, he gives Sheer Jasheb as an object lesson
because his name means that a remnant shall return, prophesying of the return
of those who go into captivity after Assyria plunders a portion of Judah.
Then he uses the birth of Emmanuel to convey the fact that even though this evil
is going to come upon them from this foreign nation, God is still with you.
Now he's using the birth of Isaiah's son
to communicate that the Assyrians will be quick to plunder their enemies.
OK, because what Meir Shalhashvaz essentially means is quick or quickly
to plunder or quick to plunder.
In other words, they're going to make quick work of Syria and of Israel.
So it's God's promise to Judah that even
though Assyria or even though Syria and Israel are Confederate one with another,
they're trying to destroy Judah, they're involved in a conspiracy against Judah.
God is basically telling them, don't worry,
the Assyrians, although we're going to punish you guys, too,
they're going to make quick work, quick plunder of Syria and Israel as well.
How quick?
Well, before your son's going to be able to say mama and papa,
it's going to happen.
Obviously, he doesn't give us a specific
time frame because it's different with every child.
And you can basically see sometimes my kids, for example,
at least my last daughter, she actually says dada before mama.
And my wife often is bitter at that because my wife is like, I feed you,
I hold you, you know, I'm there for you.
And then you just like dada, you know.
And so I feel very special about that.
But, you know, she's a year old.
So maybe there's obviously there's some there's children out there that maybe say
it even sooner than that. Right.
So we can say that maybe at least within a year span, right.
Within at least the first year,
I say a few months within the first year, God is going to execute retribution on
Syria and Israel and their confederacy one with another by the Assyrians.
He's going to may her shell hash bash them.
OK, he's going to make quick work of their enemies.
And so and, you know, obviously this has immediate significance to this time
period, but to a certain extent, you know, we can apply to ourselves as well,
because the Bible also says vengeance is mine. Say the Lord, I will repay.
He says avenge, not yourselves.
And here's the thing is that if you're
a Christian who just doesn't live a godly life, doesn't do anything for the Lord,
is just living just a complete lukewarm Christian life, you're not serving God,
then you don't got to worry.
You don't got to worry about anybody doing anything to you,
because you all live godly in Christ, Jesus shall suffer persecution.
And if you're the type that hasn't received any persecution whatsoever,
since you become a Christian, then, you know, you don't,
the Mayher Shalah Hashbaz has no significant significance to you because
that means something to Christians.
That means something to believers because of the fact that we want to be avenged.
You know, maybe you've had enemies who have criticized you.
They've mocked you.
They've been querulous towards you.
They have persecuted you.
They've wronged you.
And you just live by this principle.
I'm not going to strike back.
I'm not going to avenge myself.
Maybe you've had people defraud you, right?
Rob you,
you know, drag your name through the mud and have been very scabrous about your
character, just kind of criticizing you, lying about you.
You know, there's this temptation to say, you know what?
I want to, like, do something about it, right?
I mean, I think everyone feels that way,
unless you're just like a beta who just doesn't it doesn't bother you.
But any just red blooded man or even woman, you know, gets upset at that.
And there's there's something within us
innately that wants to, you know, execute vengeance on our enemies.
And this is why God gives us that promise, because he knows that is why he tells us
don't avenge yourselves, vengeance is mine, save the Lord.
I will repay. May here shall I hash bash.
God will make quick work of the enemies of God.
He's going to make quick work of even your enemies,
you know, whether they're the enemies of God or not.
I believe God does do that even to others who are not the enemies of God,
because at the end of the day, whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap.
And so this is very much an important
message to Judah because of the fact that even though a remnant shall return,
even though Assyria is not going to prevail and Israel and Syria are not going
to prevail, they are going to do some significant damage to Judah.
OK, and they're going to feel it.
Judah is going to feel it, so even when a just a minor loss is made,
you know, they probably want to do something about it.
And God is basically telling them Assyria is going to end up taking care of them.
He's going to destroy them because Assyria is a tool in the toolbox of God
he's going to use to essentially discipline
the northern kingdom, which is Israel, and of course, Syria, in which he's
confederate with. Look at verse number five.
It says the Lord spake also unto me again,
saying, For as much as this people refuse at the waters of Shiloh
that go softly and rejoice in resin and Ramaliah's son.
Now, therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river,
strong and many, even the king of Assyria and all his glory.
And he shall come up over all his channels and go over all his banks.
So what is he saying?
He's essentially describing the destruction of Israel and Syria.
And he's saying this, you know, because he's first mentioning Israel here.
He said, you know, Israel is refusing
the waters of Shiloh that go softly and they're rejoicing in the resident
of Ramali. So what is he saying?
You know, Israel apparently is just not happy with what I've given them because
God has given them the soft waters of Shiloh, the tranquil waters,
the quiescent waters of of Shiloh.
And basically, you know, kind of makes you think of Psalm 23, right?
He leaded me beside the still waters.
In other words, he's like, I've given you tranquility and you know what?
Israel doesn't want it.
So it's like, OK, you don't like the still calm waters of Shiloh.
Then I'm going to bring the flood upon you.
And who's the flood one?
The Bible floods are often synonymous with or picture armies.
So Israel's over here rebelling and they are disobeying God.
They're mocking God.
They're fighting against the southern kingdom.
And what are they doing?
They're essentially expressing their
discontentment with what God has provided for them.
The tranquil, quiet waters of Shiloh.
And God is saying, OK, you're not happy with that.
Then what I'm going to do is I'm going to bring up the waters of the river,
strong and many, the king of Assyria, and they're going to flood you
and they're going to drown you is what they're going to do.
OK, and so this is essentially saying
that they're not content with the waters that God provided,
the blessings that God has provided.
You know, this is just one of many
examples where God's people are just not happy with what God provides.
So then what he does is he gives them
what they want until they realize that's not what they want.
There's many times in the Bible and that happens, right?
Or it's just like they don't want, you know, to have the theocracy.
We want it.
We want a king like all the other nations.
And then they get Saul and then Saul ends up being a really bad king.
And it's just like, oh, man, what are we going to do?
You know, or how about the example with the quail in the wilderness, right?
Or they're like, we're tired of this manna.
We're tired of this manna.
We're tired of this bread.
Give us flesh to eat.
And, you know, they're complaining.
They're murmuring in the wilderness.
And finally, God says, OK, you want flesh?
I'll give you flesh so it comes out of your nostrils.
You know, you're and you're going to loathe it.
You're going to hate it.
It's going to be disgusting to you.
You're going to have exactly what you want.
You're going to have so much of it that it's going to disgust you.
And, you know, this is a perfect example of sin.
Because sometimes Christians out there, they're just like, oh, man,
all my friends are having fun and they're involved in all kinds of sin
and fornication and drugs or drunkenness or whatever it is.
Right.
And it's just like that's what they want for themselves.
And they feel like they're missing out.
And it's just like they begin to murder.
They're not happy with the tranquil waters of holiness, of abstinence, of,
you know, vigilance and sobriety.
They're not happy walking by the still waters with their shepherd.
So then what ends up happening is God gives them what they want.
And when he gives them what they want, they end up loathing that woman they found.
Right. It's like, oh, man, this is this is the woman that I want.
This Instagram hoe.
I've always wanted this Instagram hoe.
I'm telling you, there's a lot of young guys that are like that.
I want this Instagram hoe and they won't say it exactly.
But it's an IG hoe, though.
It's a social media hoe or thought or whatever it is that they call it nowadays.
Same thing, right? That hoe over there.
That's what it means.
What's what's another word that they use 304.
Now they're using numbers.
Who said that number, bop?
What does bop mean? Oh, it's a hoe.
But why bop? My man, you know that bop, you know, they they want that bop.
They want that thought. They want that hoe.
It sounds like a rap song or something.
But here's what ends up happening.
They get it.
And, you know, sin is pleasurable for a season.
But then it starts coming out of their nostrils.
And then they start realizing that this woman was not all that was cracked up to
be. They are making their lives a living hell.
Or in other worst cases, they end up producing a bastard.
And then, you know, the guy ends up wanting to get right with God,
wants to serve God again, wants to get serious about the things of God.
But now he has this bastard child and he has this the baby mama
who's probably going to put him on child support and all the slew of other
problems that come with it. Because at the end of the day, why?
Because they're not happy with the tranquil waters of Shiloh.
That's why, you know, before you start complaining about what God has provided
for you in the will of God,
you might want to look at the alternative and the end of that alternative. Yeah.
Of course, sin looks so great on the outside, but you know,
afterwards thy mouth shall be filled with gravel. The Bible tells us, you know,
once you consume it, once you eat it,
then you realize this is not everything that was cracked up to be. And you say,
well, you know,
I'm in that state right now where I'm just tempted to go back
to the world or whatever it is, you know, what should I do?
We'll do what ASAP did and just go to the house of God.
Cause it's when you go to the house of God,
then you understand the end of those people, you know,
cause then you got me calling out the hoes and the thoughts and the bops and
kind of pointing out the fact that it's stupid to want to go for such a wicked
woman. And then you're like, oh yeah, it is dumb. Oh man, that,
why would I do that? Yeah, why would you do that?
Stick to the waters of Shiloh, stick to the waters of Shiloh.
And this not only applies to young people,
but even older men who are married, right?
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, Bible says.
Drink water out of Shiloh where God has provided for you the necessary
spiritual waters that will actually quench your thirst.
And God actually approves of rather than seeking something outside of your
marriage, some strange woman out there who's going to destroy your life.
You can apply this all across the board to various things. At the end of the day,
the important thing is here is that we just need to be content with what God has
given to us. And at the end of the day, once you realize what the alternative is,
you know, tranquil waters or a flood, I'll stick with the tranquil waters,
you know, tranquil waters or tsunami. I'll stick to the tranquil waters.
You know,
the waters of Shiloh or deep in the ocean with nothing to no life jacket,
no, you know, lifesaver, nothing. Which one do you prefer? You know,
you think of those,
have you seen those Instagram videos where they always show a ship out in deep
sea and these massive waves that come.
You know what I'm talking about? Everyone's laughing,
knows what I'm talking about. No, the people aren't laughing.
You guys are Facebook people. Okay. You know,
there's these videos out there that show you how like scary, you know,
they call it thalassophobia where it's just like people who are afraid of like
the ocean because how vast and deep and dangerous it is. Right.
And they'll show these storms out in the oceans where the waves are just
crashing on these ships. And it's just like terrifying, absolutely terrifying.
Well, that's what sin is. That's what it'll do to you, but just crush you.
So I'll stick to the waters of Shiloh, but Israel did not want to do that.
They don't want to stick to the waters of Shiloh. So then, okay,
then you're going to, you know, you want to, uh,
you want something better or what you think is better.
Then you're going to suffer the consequences because of it.
Let me read you from Proverbs one and verse 22. It says here,
how long you simple ones we love simplicity and the scorners delight in
scorning and full of hate knowledge. Turn you at my reproof. Behold,
I will pour out my spirit unto you.
I will make known my words unto you because I have called and he refused.
I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded,
but you have said at not all my counsel with none of my reproof.
I will also laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh. Now,
whoever said that God doesn't have a sense of humor here.
It says that God will literally laugh. And you know what? This is called dark humor.
He's not laughing at like some PG joke.
He's laughing at the calamity of the, of the, of the wickedness,
the ones who are simple, who love scoring. He's like,
I'm going to laugh when you're destroyed. He said,
what makes you laugh when people are destroyed and they don't listen.
That's basically what he's saying. And to add to that, he says,
I'm going to laugh at your calamity and listen to this.
I will mock when your fear cometh. Do you guys realize what that means?
When he says mock, when your fear cometh, it's like,
what do you do when you mock, you copy them. And God's like,
that's basically what he's saying.
That's all God feels when people are just constantly corrected,
constantly reproved and they just scorn at judgment. They love simplicity.
They delight in scorning and criticizing the things of God. Okay.
There's going to be a lot of mocking going on at the great white throne
judgment. Let's just put it that way. You know,
all these pages on social media that are dedicated to just making jokes,
about Jesus Christ and making fun of him and scorning him and blaspheming the
Lord Jesus Christ and saying all kinds of wicked things. You know,
they're going to stand before God and God's, remember this meme? That's funny.
You know, this is posted on, you know, April, whatever 2000.
And he's like, no Lord, he's going to be like, no Lord, drag this bozo out.
You know what I mean? Throw him into the lake of fire. Oh,
I think you're just pulling too much out of it.
It literally says I will mock when your fear cometh when your fear cometh as a
desolation, your destruction cometh as a whirlwind.
When distress and anguish cometh upon you. This is what he's laughing at.
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer. They shall seek me early,
but they shall not find me for that they hated knowledge. They hate the Lord,
because Jesus Christ is the source of knowledge. He is knowledge.
And did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of my counsel.
They despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their
own devices for the turning away of the simple shall slay them and the
prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But who so hearken it unto me shall dwell safely. Listen to this.
And shall be quiet from fear of evil.
And how does this apply to Isaiah chapter eight? Well,
he's proclaiming this judgment that's going to come upon Israel because they
have despised the waters of Shiloh. But then later on,
he actually tells Isaiah like you're going to be fine because you're
hearkening unto counsel. You're going to dwell safely. And you know what?
It doesn't matter how bad America gets.
It doesn't matter what judgments God brings upon America.
As long as we trust in the Lord, we hearken unto counsel.
We shall be quiet from fear of evil. Be not afraid of sudden fear,
neither of the desolation of the wicked when it comes. So he's saying,
you don't want the waters of Shiloh? Okay. I'll bring a flood upon you.
And then we'll see what you think about that. Look at verse saying,
he shall pass through Judah. He shall overflow and go over.
He shall reach even to the neck and the stretching out of his wings shall fill
the breadth of the land. Oh, Emmanuel. What is he saying here?
So after Assyria does quick work of, of Israel and Syria, you know,
he's going to seek, seek to reach Judah, but he's not really going to prevail.
You know, a lot of it is going to affect Judah to a certain extent,
but as it says there, it's going to rise up even unto the neck.
So like Syria and Israel, they're just going to drown, right?
He's going to destroy them, but Judah's not going to drown.
He's going to be up to the neck. You know, you ever heard that phrase?
It's like, I'm up to the neck and work or whatever it is.
Like you feel like your head is just barely above water.
Well, that's how they're going to feel after a series done with them.
But this is obviously a indication or fulfillment that God will not allow them
to prevail against Judah because God is with Judah.
OK, that's what he says there.
Oh, Emmanuel, look at verse nine, associate yourselves.
Oh, you people, each shall be broken in pieces.
What is he saying? OK, you know, you guys can associate yourselves.
You guys can, like, band together, come up with a plan, a strategy.
You're going to be broken in pieces.
Give here all ye afar countries,
gird yourselves and you shall be broken in pieces.
You can get all your armor on.
You can gird yourself, put on your sword.
You're still going to be broken in pieces.
Gird yourselves and you shall be broken in pieces.
He repeats it twice.
Verse 10 says, take counsel together and it shall come to naught.
Speak the word and it shall not stand for God is with us.
Now, who's the one saying God is with us?
Isaiah is.
So Isaiah is preaching this to Judah.
He's preaching this particular obviously to Ahaz and Judah.
And he's saying like and Israel and Syria.
And he's basically saying like you guys
can do everything humanly possible on a practical level to defend yourself
against Assyria, it's just not going to work.
You can take counsel together.
What should we do? Should we go hide?
Should we, you know, set up garrisons?
Should we create a flank?
Well, what should we do to stop this or to survive it?
And God's like, you can put the best
plan together and it's just going to come to naught.
I like what he says, speak the word and it shall not stand.
He's like, I give you my word.
This is going to happen.
We will succeed over Assyria.
And then God's like, it's just not going to happen.
Why? Because God is with us, referring to Isaiah.
And of course, in a crazy way, he's like with Assyria as well.
God is with Assyria to chastise Israel in Syria.
And of course, God is with Isaiah.
And he's basically saying here that every
precautionary measure can be taken against Assyria.
But it's just not going to do any good.
And this kind of reminds me that when someone is really backslidden and they're
out of church, they're not reading the Bible anymore, they're just not serving God,
they just can't prosper and they can do everything humanly possible to try to
succeed, to avoid chastisement, avoid the consequences of their action.
But it will always come to naught. It always will.
You know, they try to do things their own way and they're not adhering to counsel
or the Bible, they're not listening to preaching anymore.
Serving God is no longer a priority and they just are fixated on whatever God's
going to make that come to naught, because as a child of God,
sometimes God just doesn't let you prosper.
If you're not putting first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
you can have all the money in the bank.
You can have the best leadership skills, all the connections,
everything humanly possible to succeed that all the gurus can say.
Yeah, if you do this, you're good to go.
But if you don't have God, then you're just toast.
Just not going to happen.
And it's going to be so embarrassing, too,
because one of the things that you'll see when it comes to
God chastising his children, sometimes he'll allow them to think that they got it
all together. And then when it doesn't fall, it doesn't go through.
It's just like, what happened? It's like, I'll tell you what happened.
God wasn't in it because God is capable of making your devices come to not.
If you're not putting him first, it won't do you any good.
OK, you know, a horse is a vain.
The Bible says that a horse is a vain thing for safety.
And it says neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.
You can have the best horses, the best army.
It's just not going to do any good if God is not with you.
And the Bible tells us if God be for us, then who can be against us?
Because it doesn't really matter how many
weapons, artillery, artillery, horses or, you know, nations do you have on your side?
At the end of the day, us and God make the majority.
This way, it's not really important,
you know, how many people are on our side, this side of eternity.
You know, the biggest false religion in the world is Catholicism.
And I think after that is like Islam.
They'll say Christianity, but they're talking about Catholicism.
Because we obviously know that those are mutually exclusive.
But, you know, they lump them together and they say Catholicism is the biggest,
you know, and it's just like, oh, man, you know, then we're the minority.
It's the minority that goes to heaven, though, right?
Broad is the way, so the Bible says.
And so you can have the numbers in your religion.
You can have everyone agreeing with you.
But you know what?
If you don't have God, who cares? You're toast.
And this is very bold of Isaiah.
He's like, come up with your strategy.
He's going to come to not because God is with us.
I mean, that's very bold.
It's very confident to say that, right?
Says the verse eleven for the Lord spake thus and thus to me with a strong hand
and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying,
say not a confederacy to all them to whom this people shall say a confederacy.
Neither fear ye their fear nor be afraid.
He's instructing Isaiah, saying, look,
you know, hey, I know you're in Judah, but you're not like them.
He's the prophet of the Lord and obviously him and his family.
And I'm sure there's a remnant also who's who's following his message.
And he's like, you know, it's don't allow them to fear mongering.
OK, and you can see how Isaiah can be put in that position, right?
If he's the only one standing up and believing this,
but then all of Judah is just freaking out, they're all scared.
That can easily instill fear in the heart of Isaiah.
And he can easily be like, oh, confederacy, you know,
they're confederate one with another.
So what are we going to do when they make the problem bigger than God basically?
And what God is telling Isaiah is like, hey,
I like what he says, neither fear their fear, like don't adopt their fear.
OK, don't be afraid.
Don't fear.
Be a person who trusts in the Lord.
OK, he says in verse 13, sanctify the Lord of hosts himself and let him be
your fear and let him be your dread.
That is a very powerful verse there,
because at the end of the day, if you truly fear God and not just fear him,
if you dread him, what a dread means like excessive fear.
Like you're just afraid of God.
Then you are in good standings.
You're going to be OK because God protects those who fear him.
He's merciful to them who fear him.
As high as the heavens are from the earth,
so great is his mercy towards them that fear him, the Bible tells us.
So one of the greatest things that you can do as a Christian.
Listen to me, the greatest things,
the greatest virtue that you can learn as a Christian is brain yourself to fear God.
Think about how terrible and dreadful God, what do you mean terrible?
Yeah, terrible. He says himself that he's terrible.
And if you don't think he's terrible,
in other words, dreadful and worthy of fear, then you don't really know the God
of the Bible very well, because yes, God is lovingly kind.
He's gracious. He's merciful.
Man, he can mop the floor with you in a matter of seconds if you want to.
He can literally destroy your life if you
want to in such a replete manner that you just you just fall apart, fall on your
knees and just he'll bring you to your knees.
And if you're like that, you have no fear of God in your heart.
You know, and I'm not saying that we just have to live like like just not, you know,
that our fear of God somehow impedes our love for God.
OK, you know, I believe you can love God and equally be terrified of God as well.
You know, I'm terrified of God's power.
I'm terrified of God's capability of just making my devices
and my achievements come to naught.
I'm terrified that God is are you terrified of your enemies?
No, I'm actually terrified of God using my enemies against me.
That's what I'm terrified of.
My enemies suck.
They're just homos and false prophets.
But I'm afraid of God, though, and, you know,
that God can use those groups to completely, completely bring me to naught
or to shame me or just destroy me.
I don't think they're capable of doing that.
I think God is capable of bringing that upon me.
You say then, you know, why would you fear that?
Well, the only reason I would fear
that is if I'm living in disobedience towards God, because the examples that we
see in the Bible is that God uses four nations and the enemies of God to
chastise his people.
So that should motivate us to serve God and be in right standings with him.
Right. Love the Lord and to obey God,
knowing full well that he can bring all types of trials and tribulations upon our
life through the enemies of God if you wanted to.
And this is why God is telling Isaiah don't fear like they fear,
because their fear is not causing them to seek after God.
Their fear is causing them to depend on Assyria.
It's like, you know, Americans today, right?
American Christians got all these Democrats and liberals and just haters of God.
And, you know, a lot of conservative Christians just losing their minds.
And it's not causing them to get closer to God.
It's driving them to, you know, get the right guy in office.
But is that really the answer?
No, the answer is fear God because the evil that shall come upon this nation
because of the wicked leadership will not come in close proximity to you.
If you just fear God, it shall not come nigh into the Bible says.
But if you want to join yourself to that
Confederacy, Judah, then you know what, then Assyria can mop the floor with you, too.
If you want to depend on Assyria, then Assyria shall be your shame.
It is going to be that reed that goes into your hand.
It's going to be your shame.
It's going to teach you a very grievous and painful lesson.
So don't let the fear of, you know,
old IFB fundamental Baptist or Zionist Christians instill this fear in you that
we have we must do something this year.
You know, I just heard that Trump's going to jail or something.
He's guilty or something like that.
I just heard something like, wow, it's crazy anyways.
But I'm sure there's there's Republicans
and conservatives that are just like losing their minds.
My mind is still here.
My mind is in here.
I'm not losing my mind, nor do I plan on losing my mind this entire year.
So what will cause you to lose your mind?
God, I never want to lose my mind like Nebuchadnezzar.
So it's important for us to let the Lord be our dread.
Fear God.
Contemplate and meditate in your heart how terrifying God is.
You're like, I don't know if that's the right attitude.
Then you need to read the Bible a little more because God delights in you fearing
him in that manner, because it shows it's an expression of humility.
It's an expression of faith.
And he repeatedly says in the Bible that we need to fear the Lord our God.
And it's not just reverence either.
That's like a given.
I mean, unsaved people give God reverence.
You know, it should be a step up for
believers that we actually are terrified of God.
As in verse 14, and he shall be for a sanctuary.
So for us, he's like a sanctuary, right?
He's like a strong tower.
But it says, but for a stone of stumbling
and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel and for a gin and for a
snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and many among them shall stumble and fall
and be broken and be stared and be taken, bind up the testimony, seal the law
among my disciples. Now, that should ring a bell, right?
Because it's prophetic of the Lord Jesus Christ, who's the rock of our
salvation. And he's basically saying, you know, the Assyrians are going to
destroy you. But at the end of the day, you're stumbling at the stone.
Who's the stone? The Lord Jesus Christ.
You're rejecting God.
You're rejecting Jehovah, rejecting the Lord.
So now that rock is going to be a stone of stumbling into you.
It's going to offend you.
I'm going to offend you is what God is saying there because of your rejection.
And this is true in Isaiah's day,
but it's so much the more true in the first century AD when Jesus Christ came.
Let me read to you a couple of verses here, go to first Peter, chapter two,
if you would hold your place there in Isaiah. We're almost done.
Give me about five minutes and we're done.
Let me read to you from Matthew 21 verse 43 says, therefore say I unto you,
the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation,
bringing forth the fruits thereof.
And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken,
but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. So, you know,
if, if they're trying to attack the Lord Jesus Christ, they're going to,
they're just going to break themselves doing it. Okay.
But if he takes the initiative to fall upon them,
he's just going to grind them to powder. So the,
the stone of stumbling referring to the Lord Jesus Christ is basically saying
that he's an adversary towards those who reject them.
Look at first Peter two six it says wherefore also it is contained in the
scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect precious and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
You know, like I say, he's not confounded until you therefore,
which believe he is precious, but unto them, which be disobedient,
goose the stone, which the builders disallowed or another way to say that the
stone, which the builders rejected the same has made the head of the corner and
a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense,
even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient where unto also they
were appointed. So, you know,
this is a very common disposition of the Israelites,
even from the old Testament, you know,
obviously the straw that broke the camel's back in the new Testament is they
rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. But let's just be honest here.
Israel has just repeatedly rejected God throughout the Bible because this is
prophesied all the way back in Isaiah's day.
God was offensive to them back then he was offensive towards the Israelites even
back then. And it's, it's saying there he's,
he offends them because they're disobedient. Go back to Isaiah if you would.
And so that is obviously prophetic of the Lord Jesus Christ says the verse 17,
and I will wait upon the Lord that hide at the space from the house of Jacob.
And I will look for him. Behold,
I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in
Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in Mount Zion.
So basically what it's saying here is that he's going to wait upon the Lord.
Now, what does it mean to wait upon the Lord? Well, you think of a waiter,
a waiter serves.
So the way you wait upon the Lord is that you serve the Lord.
So if there's something that you are waiting for,
you're praying about, you want God to bring your way.
You wait by waiting, by being God's waiter.
Basically, you serve God, come to church,
win people to Christ, you're a blessing to your brothers and sisters in Christ.
You serve God with your life.
You're waiting upon the Lord until he decides to give you that blessing.
That's what he's saying.
Verse 19 says, well, I'm going to skip these last couple of verses here,
but it's because it's pretty self-explanatory.
He's basically saying through verses 19 through 22,
he's telling them not to seek for alternatives.
So he's basically telling them, hey, this is a very trying time.
Don't look for the people with familiar spirits.
Don't go to the wizards.
Look what it says at the latter end of verse 19.
Should not a people seek unto their God for the living to the dead?
That's a good verse for the Catholics right there.
Why are you going to dead saints?
Why are you worshipping a corpse, a relic?
Because they always have these relics, right?
It's like a body part of a supposed saint when it's probably just some body
they dug up because they're just morbid like that.
And God is like, why don't you just ask me?
Why do you got to go to all these other things?
These statutes, they have no life.
Go go to God.
Don't go for any other alternative.
Go to God himself.
He says in verse 20 to the law and to the testimony,
if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
And I'm going to finish there.
But that's a great verse that basically says
if someone's coming to you in the name of the Lord, but they're not speaking
according to this word, there's no light in them.
If they come to you with traditions,
the traditions of men claiming to come in the name of the Lord,
there's no light in them.
And the same goes for the Israelites if they claim to be God's people.
But, you know, they are
depending on Syria or like Ahaz, who depends on Assyria.
There's no light in them.
And so what is the message tonight?
It's simply this that, you know, at the end of the day,
no matter how much our enemies prosper this side of eternity,
may or shall a hash pass.
God's going to make quick work of them one day.
They're going to be like the chaff in the wind, the Bible says, right?
The righteous shall dwell in safety, but the chaff will be blown away.
He's just going to wipe them all out.
You know, and obviously you like when when before he says mama and papa.
Just put it that way, OK?
You know, before it even comes out of his mouth, it's going to happen.
In other words, you know, just it's going to happen one day.
You just got to wait upon the Lord.
So keep serving God.
Keep winning souls.
Keep discipling people.
Keep loving the brethren.
Keep bringing your families to church.
Keep raising them in the nurturing, the admonition of the Lord.
Because one day Mayher Shele Hashbaz is going to say mama and papa.
Let's pray, Father, we thank you so much for your word.
And thank you for this great lesson here in the Book of Isaiah.
Help us to give heed to these things, Lord,
and recognize that you will make quick work of the enemies of God one day.
May we not fret because of the prosperity of the wicked.
But may we recognize that vengeance is yours and you will repay one day, Lord.
And as we wait upon that, may we wait upon you and serve you all the days of our
life, knowing full well that you will recompense us for our works and recompense
our enemies for their deeds. Lord, we love you.
We thank you. Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Turn to song number 343. Revive us again.
Song number 343.