Isaiah 10 17 it says,
And the light of Israel shall be for a fire.
The title of the sermon tonight is
The Light of Israel.
I want you to think about before we read that
in any great depth,
I want you to just be thinking about
what the light of Israel represents
in this chapter.
And if we start there in verse number 1,
Isaiah 10 verse 1 it says,
Woe unto them that decree,
unrighteous decrees,
and that right grievousness
which they have prescribed,
and turn aside the needy from judgment,
and to take away the right from the poor of my people,
that widows may be their prey,
and that they may rob the fatherless.
So, you may recall in the previous chapter,
you know, God was speaking of course,
we're still on the same topic of the Assyrian Empire
that not only are they going to destroy
and overtake the northern kingdom of Israel,
but they would eventually creep into Judah,
the southern kingdom,
and cause some havoc,
even though their stay in Judah won't be too long,
it'll be short-lived,
but God is telling now,
the southern kingdom,
look, the reason I'm going to bring judgment upon your land
is because you've got unrighteous judges, right?
You've got people that are taking advantage of the fatherless
and the widows,
and of course God is judging the nation
because of their corrupt judges and politicians.
Now, you know, nothing's changed.
Like, even though in Australia we have,
look, I'm sure there's corruption up there,
like, I'm sure there's corruption,
and I've got, I know there's corruption.
You know, in fact, I recall about 20 years ago,
20 years ago, roughly around that time,
are you guys familiar with the Whitlam Centre in Liverpool?
Whitlam Centre?
Anyway, it's a place where I used to play basketball.
Anyway, Liverpool Council had said
they were going to invest something like
$80 million into the Whitlam Centre,
and it was going to be this huge sporting complex,
okay, and that was the big vision for Liverpool,
and that was going to, you know,
help the economy and increase house prices,
and it's going to be this great thing for Liverpool.
Anyway, the story goes, as far as what was recorded,
was, I think it's, I think it was 20,
I think, from memory, look, I might be,
let's say 10 million, I think it's about the 10 million mark,
$10 million disappeared from Liverpool Council,
like, just disappeared, and all they had,
the only result they had of that $10 million
was one concrete slab, like, in the Whitlam Centre,
like, this $80 million project,
$10 million is spent, and one concrete slab has been laid,
and, like, where do the millions go?
I mean, obviously, it's in someone's pocket, okay?
Even though ICAC, or ACAC, I don't know,
investigated, they said, well, there's no corruption.
Look, I'm telling you there's corruption.
If there's one concrete slab that costs $10 million,
there's corruption, right there, okay?
And so, even from just a very local federal level,
there's great corruption, and we don't think there's corruption
in our politicians and the governments,
but, of course, there is, of course,
and, you know, when we think of other nations in this world,
we think of the South Americas and the Asian countries of the world,
of course, there's even greater corruption
than what we see in Australia, but, you know,
I say that because we get frustrated at the corruption,
but, again, there's nothing new under the sun.
It's been going on even in God's nation,
like, even in God's nation of Judah.
There's corrupt judges, there's corrupt politicians,
and so, brethren, like, it's not like we live in some strange time.
It's the same thing over and over again,
and the best thing to do is to learn from God's Word
how do we respond as God's people, you know,
in light of such a wicked world that we live in.
But let's continue in verse number three.
And what will you do in the day of visitation?
God is saying, I'm coming to visit you, Judah,
and what are you going to do on the day that I visit you?
He says, and in the desolation which shall come from far,
to whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your glory?
God is saying, look, I'm coming to visit.
Now, this idea is, of course, the concept there, of course,
is that God has given us free will, okay?
And it doesn't mean that God doesn't know what we do every single day.
It doesn't mean that God doesn't know when we do righteously,
and when we do wrongly.
Of course, God knows all things,
and God knows the number of the hairs in your head.
But the concept here is that
there are times that God just leaves us to our own devices.
When it comes to the southern nation of Judah,
it's as though God's a stranger.
He's left them to manage the nation,
and God's saying, hey, I'm coming to visit you.
I'm coming to visit you.
And of course, by the visit,
he's talking about the hand of the Assyrian Empire, okay?
I'm coming to visit you.
I'm going to judge you.
I'm going to see the corruption in your land,
and I'm going to pay you that visit.
And brethren, you need to remember that God has a lot of mercy,
that God is slow to anger,
and God knows the sins that you've committed today.
He knows the sins you've committed yesterday.
He knows the sins that you're going to commit tomorrow.
He knows them, okay?
And you might go through life thinking, well, I'm fine.
It doesn't seem like judgment's coming upon me.
It doesn't look like God's hand of chastisement is falling upon me.
But God's telling you, hey,
what are you going to do when I visit you on that day?
Look, God gives us time,
not time to continue to sin,
time to get right with him,
to say, Lord, man, I messed up today.
Lord, please forgive me.
Please help me to walk in your righteousness.
Thank you, Lord, for your salvation,
because if I had to go to heaven based on how good I was,
I would follow the Lord.
I'm a sinner. I need your help. I need your forgiveness.
It's a good and constant reminder that we ought to have in our hearts.
But God, as it were, gives us free will.
You know what? If you choose to continue living a sinful life, well,
you know, that's your choice.
But don't forget that God's going to visit you one day
and judge you for what you've done in your life.
So are you ready for that, you know?
What if the Lord came to visit you today, right now?
What if God decided, you know what,
I'm going to step into brother or sister Sal's life right now
and see where they are with me right now.
Are they walking with me?
Are they far from me?
Have they sinned against me?
Have they got unconfessed sin?
What would God say about your life today?
I hope his visitation will be a good one.
Like, I hope it's a visitation
where you guys can fellowship and go,
Oh, thank you, Lord, for coming.
Lord, thank you for your presence.
Thank you for being in my life.
And I enjoy your company, Lord.
I'm welcoming you. I hope that's the visitation.
I hope it's not the kind of visitation
where you get some random person to come up to your house
and you know your house is looking like a bomb.
Like you just had your Christmas party
and there's Christmas wrapping paper everywhere
and there's food all over the place
and there's just a mess of the house
and God comes to visit.
That'd be a bit embarrassing if your house is not in order.
But even the challenge is your house needs to be in order.
What if the Lord came to visit,
blessed our Baptist Church in 2024, next year?
All right, maybe we've done really well in 2023.
I believe we have. I believe we've pleased the Lord.
But what if we drop the ball in 2024?
What if we start preaching heresies?
What if we start walking away from his ways?
What if we start choosing some other Bible to preach from?
What if we start introducing worldly songs into our service
and what if we make man the emphasis of God's house?
You know, no, we need to be mindful that God can visit us
and he will visit us in 2024
and we want to make sure that as a church
we continue to serve him faithfully.
But God's asking Judah,
what are you going to do when I visit?
Okay, like who are you going to run to?
Obviously they're not in a good place at all with him.
Verse number four, let's continue.
Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners
and they shall fall under the slain.
For all this his anger is not turned away
but his hand is stretched out still.
Now again, God is saying that he's obviously angry
at the nation of Judah
and we see that term used that we saw many times in chapter nine
but his hand is stretched out still.
Now when I preached through Isaiah chapter nine last week
I made reference to the hand being stretched out still
was the hand of God's mercy
and I want to correct that
because after the service brother Ramsden
rebuked me sharply.
No, no, no, he rebuked me with love.
It said, Pastor, actually I read that another way
and I had a look at it and I read it that way
and I read it again here in verse number 10
and I go, you know what?
You're right Rams, you're right Rams, I was wrong, okay.
So the idea here is not so much
that he's got a hand of mercy that is stretched out.
Let me explain to you,
if you can just come back with me to Isaiah nine,
just come back with me to the previous chapter,
Isaiah nine verse 12.
Isaiah nine, 12, it says,
the Syrians before and the Philistines behind,
they should devour Israel with open mouth
for all this his anger is not turned away
but his hand is stretched out still.
And so God is saying, look, I'm going to judge a nation
but my hand is still stretched out,
meaning there's more judgment to come.
Like these are the very first steps
of the judgment that's going to befall you
and of course his hand being stretched out still
is meaning, look, I've still got my hand of correction.
I've still got my hand of judgment coming upon you.
It's still there.
Like my anger and my wrath has not yet abated
and I'm still there bringing more judgment upon you
in order to get you right with me.
And so when we get to chapter number 10
and let's read it again in verse number four,
without me they shall bow down under the prisoners
and they shall fall under the slain
for all this his anger is not turned away
but his hand is stretched out still.
What he means by that is,
Assyria is going to come and judge Judah
but that is just a short-lived judgment.
God's hand is still stretched out
because we know that some 80, 90 years from this time
that Judah is now going to be taken into captivity
by the Babylonian Empire.
And God has warned them,
look, my hand is still stretched out.
My judgment is still there.
Like, you know, there is still great wickedness on the land
and you better get this right
or further judgment is going to fall upon the land.
Now even though I taught that incorrectly,
the principle of what I taught was still correct
because the idea last week was that, you know,
as God is showing his hand of mercy,
we ought to be out there preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ
and see his soul saved.
That doesn't change that truth
because also, you know, when we go out soul-winning,
it's not like we get a soul saved every time, do we?
In fact, probably, I think my life it's 50-50.
50% of the times that I go out I get a soul saved.
50% of the times I don't get anyone saved.
And I love what pastor Roger Jimenez from Verde Baptist Church said,
you know, we call it soul-winning but really it's soul-warning.
We're warning people of the judgment to come.
We're warning people that they're not right with God
because sometimes they won't let you to get to the gospel.
Sometimes they won't let you or they hear the gospel
but they refuse to call upon them the Lord in faith.
And so what we're really doing, you know,
even if we're not winning a soul,
we are soul-warning of the judgment of God
and of course God's hand is stretched out still.
And the idea behind that of course is that
on Judgment Day, no one's going to have an excuse to say
nobody gave me the chance to hear the gospel.
No one came to my door.
Lord, I called out to you and you never had mercy upon me
to tell me about the great news of Jesus Christ.
That is not true.
Everyone's going to have an opportunity
and this church has been used by God
to go out there, yes, to win souls
but to also warn souls.
So when the day of judgment comes
and they've rejected Christ as their Savior,
God can say, no, I sent blessed up at the church to your door
to have the opportunity to hear the gospel.
So even though I was incorrect, what I taught last week,
it's still true.
The need to go out there, to be used by God
to preach the light of His Word.
So let's keep going there, verse number 5.
He says, O Assyrian...
Okay, now,
now we're speaking to the Assyrian Empire, okay?
As wicked as the Assyrians are,
it's God's wrath, it's God's vehicle of His wrath.
It's God's tool of judgment at this time, okay?
And it says, O Assyrian,
the rod of mine anger
and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
So the Assyrians taking over, destroying Israel
and then judging Judah is God's anger, okay?
And the staff in their hand represents their authority, their power, okay?
That's Christ, that's God's indignation.
You know, that's extreme anger,
even a mixture of hatred in the idea of the indignation of God.
And he says in verse number 6,
I will send him against a hypocritical nation
and against the people of my wrath
will I give him a charge
to take the spoil, to take the prey
and to tread down like the mire of the streets.
Now, I do believe the hypocritical nation
referenced here is the northern kingdom of Israel.
You could argue that it's the southern kingdom of Judah,
but I believe it's a northern...
Because God's just finished speaking to the southern kingdom
and now he speaks of a hypocritical nation almost in the third person.
Again, it could be Judah, but I believe it's Israel
because Israel was completely destroyed by the Assyrians.
And as we keep going through this chapter,
God is then again warned in
as God has destroyed this hypocritical nation,
he's also going to bring judgment on the southern kingdom of Judah.
I hope I've not confused anybody.
Just a quick reminder in case anybody's confused.
When the nation of Israel was established,
it was a single nation, the nation of Judah.
Sorry, nation of Israel, okay? Nation of Israel.
It had the 12 tribes under that confederacy, if you want to call it that, okay?
And of course, eventually there were kings on the land.
The first king was King Saul,
then the kingship was given to David and to Solomon,
but after Solomon, the kingdom was destroyed...
Not destroyed, but it was divided into two kingdoms, okay?
The northern kingdom is a kingdom of Israel.
So, when I say the northern kingdom of Israel,
I'm not talking about Judah.
I'm not talking about the southern kingdom.
The northern kingdom of Israel
ended up with the capital city of Samaria.
So, many times when God speaks of Samaria,
it's the capital city, okay?
God's speaking of the northern kingdom of Israel.
The southern kingdom of Judah retained Jerusalem as its capital city.
But for all intensive purposes,
they're two separate nations, okay?
They're two separate powers.
God judged the northern kingdom with the Assyrian Empire,
and then God judged the southern kingdom with the Babylonian Empire, okay?
So, just keep that in mind.
In case you don't know the history of Israel,
always keep that in mind.
Yes, it started as one nation,
but it became two nations,
and that's why the northern kingdom,
eventually, when they were dispersed and intermingled,
because the capital city was Samaria,
the people became known as the Samaritans.
And the Samaritans hated the Jews,
and the Jews hated the Samaritans, okay?
Anyway, let's continue in verse number six.
That's verse number seven.
Howbeit, he meaneth not so.
Let me stop there for a moment.
Let me explain to you what's happening here.
God is saying,
Assyria, I'm using you as my anger.
I'm using you to destroy a hypocritical nation.
Again, I believe that's the northern kingdom of Israel, okay?
So, God's purpose for Assyria was destroy Israel.
Take Israel into captivity.
That was God's purpose for Assyria.
But then when you get to verse number seven,
Howbeit he, that's Assyria, meaneth not so.
That means the Assyrian empire goes,
no, I'm not going to just do that.
They do that, but I'm going to do more than that.
Again, demonstrating the free will of these powers.
Now, it shows us a few things.
Even though God has given them the power and the authority
to have, you know, to conquer on the earth,
sometimes these kings, because of their own free will,
say, you know what, we're going to do more
beyond the boundaries that God has allowed us to do, okay?
And this is why Assyria says no.
It goes, neither doth his heart think so,
but it is in his heart, in the heart of the Assyrians,
to destroy and cut off nations, not a few.
So, God says destroy the hypocritical nation,
and Assyria goes, no, I'm going to destroy nations, not a few.
I'm going to go and conquer all the lands, okay?
And so, that's the heart of the Assyrian empire.
You know, operating, yes, within the power and authority
that God has given them, but again, the free will of the king says,
no, we're going to do more, you know, than what God has asked us to do.
So, as we keep going through this, the reason they do this is out of pride.
God makes it very clear that Assyria is full of pride.
And even though they're full of pride,
God uses their pride to then judge the southern kingdom of Judah, okay?
Let's keep going there, verse number 8.
Well, he saith, that's for Assyria saith,
are not my princes altogether kings?
Is not Calno as Carchemish?
Is not Hamath as Arphad?
Is not Samaria as Damascus?
So, Samaria, again, that is a reference to Israel.
And what he's saying here is that, he's saying that,
are not my princes altogether kings?
Meaning, the people under the authority of the king of Assyria
have conquered lands, and now they've become kings of those lands.
And so Assyria is like, you know, lifting itself up,
like we've got this power, we're overthrowing all these nations,
we're overthrowing all these people.
And then the king of Assyria continues, or Assyria the empire continues,
as my hand have found the kingdoms of the idols,
and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria.
I'll stop there for a moment.
He says, as we've overcome all these nations and all these cities,
we've overcome the graven images, the false gods of these other nations.
And then he says, these false gods of these other nations
excel or are better than the idols that are set up in Jerusalem and Samaria.
So we know, of course, the reason God is judging his nation
is because of, partly because of their idol worship.
Even though King Hezekiah, we saw this before,
was a great king in the southern kingdom of Judah,
and got rid of many of the idols of the land,
but the people of the land were still worshipping idols.
And so the king of Assyria sees the idols, and by extension the gods of Israel and Judah,
and say, well, if we defeated the idols and the gods of these other nations,
well, the gods and idols of Jerusalem and Samaria are inferior,
we're easily going to overtake them as well.
So the Assyrians at this point are like,
we're greater than the gods and the idols of these other nations.
We're going to be able to conquer all of these lands.
Verse 11.
Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols,
so do to Jerusalem and her idols?
Just like we destroyed Israel, now aren't we just going to do the same and destroy Judah?
That's in the heart of the Assyrian empire.
And again, if you know the history of Judah at this time,
they're being led by King Hezekiah, a great man of God.
A great man of God.
But even a great man of God, as much as he tried, the nation was still far from God.
Many of the people were still worshipping false gods because of the actions of his father that had done so wickedly.
Verse number 12.
Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem,
I will punish the fruit of the stout hearts of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
Now, so again, you can see that the stout heart and the glory of his high looks, the king of Assyria, what's it saying?
He's full of pride.
Instead of going, wow Lord, you've given me power, wow Lord, you've given me victory,
you've given me authority at this point in time, now it's all us.
Look how good we are. We're even better than the gods of these lands.
Okay, so God's saying, look, I'm going to punish the king of Assyria.
But before he says that, I want to make this a point.
Even though God, you know, had instructed the Assyrians to have certain boundaries as far as their conquest,
it says in verse number 12, wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem.
So Judah, that's the southern king of Judah, right?
So God's going to do a work on Judah, meaning his judgment, by Assyria.
Okay, so even though Assyria is full of pride, and they're stepping out of their mandate that God has given them,
God is going to use their pride to still punish Judah, because Judah was deserving of punishment.
But if you recall the story, ultimately, yes, King Hezekiah has a hard time and starts giving in to the Assyrian empire,
but eventually they push back and the Lord God gives them a great victory by sending an angel and destroying thousands of their soldiers,
completely wiping out the army of the Assyrians, and then the Assyrians end up backing off against Judah.
They don't end up conquering Judah. Briefly, just a very brief moment of time, they have a bit of victory which is God's judgment,
but then God's hand pulls them out of Judah, okay?
But again, God used the pride of the king of Assyria to do this.
And so, you know, we just learned some interesting things.
You know, God does give our prime minister power, right?
God does give our governments power, okay?
But often when a man receives power, guess what, the next thing is pride, okay?
And they start to overstep the boundaries that God has given, okay?
Let me give you an example.
You know, as a pastor of this church, the Bible says that I have rule in the house of the Lord, okay?
So I have a level of power and authority in this church, right?
So, you know, you as church members have been very great.
Like, you know, I never see you guys wanting to try to, you know, assert my authority or take control of the church or anything like that.
And that's great. And, you know, that is right.
That's the right and proper place of my power and authority.
But if I start to come into your family life, if I decide, look, I'm going to walk into your house whenever I want,
and I'm going to tell you to cook me a meal, and I'm going to boss your family around because I'm the pastor of the church,
have I overstepped my boundaries? Absolutely, I've overstepped my boundaries at that point.
And at that point, what it is, it's pride.
You know, when you've got a pastor who's interfering in your family life, in your day-to-day life, it's pride, okay?
They've got some level of authority. God's given me authority to preach God's word and to lead this church.
But once service is over, that's your place.
You know, husbands, you're the head of your family, not this pastor and not any pastor.
And husbands, you're also the head of your family, you're not the head of some other family to tell them what they're meant to do, okay?
They are under the authority of God.
And we need to be mindful because this is just, this is man.
Like, man, used by God greatly, becomes proud.
And like, I'd be lying to you if I never said, oh man, you know, at some point, as being a pastor, pride crept in.
I think if we're all honest, we know that pride creeps in when we do a good job.
We know that, oh man, I'm such a, instead of going, hey, Lord, actually it was you, Lord.
It was you all along, Lord.
Thank you for your blessings.
Look, that's been my approach most often than not, okay?
But I know this flesh. I know it's here.
Sometimes people at church praise me and give me such great words and it's encouraging.
But I also know my heart.
And like, if I had too much power, if I had too much wealth, I think I would chase the things of the world.
Because it's flesh.
I mean, my spirit would be grieving, right?
You know, but, I just, like, think of the great men of God, like even like King Solomon.
Think of King David and like a man of God's own heart and still he ends up going and committing adultery with another man's wife.
And you wonder, how is that? How can that happen?
It's just power and authority. It just goes to man's head too much.
And, you know, I'm thankful that God has made me a pastor of two churches.
I'm thankful that God has given me a big family to lead.
But I think that's enough.
I think, okay, Lord, you know, anything more, any more power, maybe, Lord, maybe.
I don't know, Lord, with your help, praise God not, but I can see my flesh, you know, trying to lift itself up
and glorify itself potentially for things that deserve no glory.
Because all blessings, all great gifts come from the Father above.
So let that be a lesson for you.
I know you've all done great things in life.
But don't pat yourself on the back.
Just say, thank you, God.
Thank you, God, for using me to do something great for you.
Verse number 13.
It says, For He saith, that's the King of Assyria,
For He saith, by the strength of my hand I have done it.
That's, yeah.
That's like when my wife, did I use this example before?
I can't remember.
When my wife can't open a jar, a pastor jar, and she comes to me and I crack, you know, by the strength of my hand.
I've done this.
Well, the King of Assyria is kind of doing the same thing.
Like, he's conquering all these nations.
He goes, because of me.
It's a lot like the King of Babylon.
Remember, Nebuchadnezzar was very much the same.
And God had a humble Nebuchadnezzar in a serious way.
It's just, this is man.
This is what we are, brethren.
Like, it's easy to point fingers, but this is what you're made of.
You're made of the same substance of these men.
You know?
Just be aware.
He says, And by my wisdom,
because I'm smarter than everybody else,
for I am prudent, and I have removed the bounds of the people,
and have robbed their treasures,
and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man.
He goes, I'm a brave and strong man, right?
And my hand have found as I nest the riches of the people
as one gathereth eggs that are left.
He says, it's like, use the illustration.
Again, the King of Assyria is saying these words in his heart.
You know, that I've found a nest with eggs,
and I've just taken those eggs for myself.
He says, And I have gathered all the earth,
and there was none that moved the wing or opened the mouth or peeped.
He goes, There's no one that is willing to stand up against me.
I can take whatever I want.
I can take the eggs from that nest,
and there's not going to be any bird that's going to resist me.
There's not even going to be a peep.
No one's going to even say anything against me
because they're so afraid of my strength and power
and wisdom and might.
All right? So he's like, I'm the strongest.
No one there's challenged me.
And of course, he's a weak man.
He thinks he's the strongest,
but of course, it's only by the strength of God that he's done anything in life.
And then God responds in verse number 15.
Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith?
God says, Man, if someone's taken out an axe and chops down a tree, right?
Like, the one doing the chopping is doing the work, right?
The axe has just been used as a tool.
Does the axe then turn around and say, Man, look at the tree that I chopped down.
The axe won't do that.
You'd say that would be stupid for the axe to do that.
Well, when we lift ourselves in pride, that's how stupid we are.
To lift ourselves up. Oh, look what we've done.
Or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it?
As if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up.
Or as the staff should lift up itself as if it were no wood.
Because who lifts up the staff? Does the staff just pick itself up?
No. A man picks up a staff and lifts it up.
God is saying, no, no. The king of Assyrian empire, you're my tool.
The only reason you have any strength behind you is because I'm utilizing you.
Brethren, you know, as a pastor, I need to understand this.
I have to understand this. Preaching God's word, Lord, you're utilizing me.
I am a tool.
When you go soul-winning and you win a soul, you're a tool to be used by God.
Did we save them? Yes.
But the only reason is because God saved them.
And God uses us as a tool to enjoy and be part of his beautiful work of salvation.
Of bringing a light to the lost and dying world.
Please never lift yourself up because you've got more salvation than someone else.
Don't. Okay? Don't. Because God hates pride.
We're tools.
I say this all the time, but before I get up to preach, I'm like,
Lord, can you empty me of everything that is mine?
Just empty me of my strength and empty me of my wisdom
and just utilize me as a tool as best as I can to be used by your hand.
Those are the kind of prayers that go through my head because if anyone walks away and says,
Pastor, that was a good sermon, glory to the Lord for that.
And I'm glad that God used me as an axe.
I'll be an axe. I'll be that. I'm happy to be the axe.
And let the Lord swing that axe however he wants.
We always need to have that mindset in our life, brethren.
I have no doubt some of you guys are going.
We have a young church. Some of you guys are going to do great things.
And I'm not even saying just great things for the Lord.
Some of you guys are going to start great businesses.
Some of you guys are going to have big bank accounts one day.
Some of you guys are going to do some great things.
And even though at the very beginning it's not going to be for the glory of self,
but when these things come, the successes come and God gives you victory in different light,
you're going to have, I'm telling you, you're going to start patting yourself on the back.
And I want you to remember this sermon. I'm just the axe.
I'm just the staff. And it's all glory to God to be used by Him.
Don't let your successes go to your head.
Even here in the gym, brother. You guys that hit the gym.
Good. Good. But hey, don't let it be, hey, well this is what I've achieved.
Hey, say with the help of God, I have been able to do such a work for Him.
To have a healthy body. For God to use me in a way to maybe increase my lifespan.
Or to be used, my strength to be used by God.
But give glory to God for anything, anything you do. Please.
Now, verse number 16.
Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among His fat ones leanness.
His fat ones here are Assyria, because Assyria is boasting of itself.
They're His in the sense that it's His axe.
So yeah, they were fat, but now He's going to make them lean.
He's going to make them go through famine and hardships.
And under His glory He shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.
And the light of Israel shall be for a fire.
And His holy one for a flame.
And it shall burn and devour His thorns and His briars in one day.
His thorns and His briars here in the Assyrian empire.
God says, look, I'm a flame, a fire. I'm the light of Israel.
Yes, you're judging Israel. Yes, you're destroying Israel.
Yes, you have authority and power over Israel.
But again, the only reason you've got that is because I am the light of Israel.
I am the one that is judging this nation.
And so God, because you've lifted yourself up and you think you're so good,
He goes, I'm going to burn you, because there's a fire, I'll burn you in one day.
Of course, their judgment comes by the Babylonian empire.
God uses another empire to destroy them.
Now, the light of Israel, verse 17, the reason I chose that as,
well, I like that as a title, the light of Israel.
Again, who's that speaking about there? God, isn't it? God's the light of Israel.
Now, there's only one other book of the Bible that uses this phrase, the light of Israel.
Does anyone know what it is or like to guess what it is?
You're able to guess it. You'd be able to guess it.
Second Samuel.
All right, because we're in Isaiah chapter 10 and the 10th book of the Bible is Second Samuel.
So come with me to Second Samuel 21.
Come with me to Second Samuel 21.
Second Samuel 21, please.
Second Samuel 21.
The story we're about to read is in the time when David was king of Israel,
but it's later in his life when he's an older man.
And obviously, as a young man, he defeated Goliath.
We all know that very famous story.
But do you know the story of when Goliath's son, another giant, came to fight against David?
It's only very shortly captured here, but this is later in David's life.
And in Second Samuel 21, verse 115, it says,
Moreover, the Philistines, Second Samuel 21, 15,
Moreover, the Philistines had yet war again with Israel.
And David went down, and his servants with him,
and fought against the Philistines, and David waxed feints.
It says David was getting tired.
Again, he's older in his age.
He's an aged man this time.
Verse number 16.
And Ishbi-benob, which was one of the sons of the giants.
So Ishbi-benob, there is Goliath's son.
It says here,
The weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight,
and being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David.
So Goliath's son goes, you know what, I'm going to get revenge on my father's killer.
I'm going to get revenge on this David.
Now that he's older, he probably can't fight as well as when he was younger.
In fact, when David fought when he was younger, it was just one stone, wasn't it?
One stone with the help of God was able to take down Goliath.
But of course, the son of Goliath thinks he's able to defeat David here.
And David, you can see, got tired.
And verse 17 says,
But Ebishai, the son of Zeruiah, sucketh him.
Sucketh means to help.
So David got help in this battle against Goliath's son.
And smote the Philistine, and killed him.
Then the men of David swear unto him, saying,
Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel.
There's the phrase.
So the soldiers are like, David, look, you can't come and fight with us anymore.
You're too old. We're not allowing you to fight with us anymore, David.
To not quench the light of Israel.
Who's the light of Israel in this reference?
David.
David, very good.
Because Goliath's son tried to kill David.
The light of Israel in this passage is David, King David.
Now, again, in Isaiah 10, the light of Israel is clearly the Lord God.
Now, with all that in mind, come with me to Matthew chapter 5.
What do we learn with these two passages together?
We learn something, of course, that we're already familiar with in the New Testament.
Well, you turn to Matthew 5.
I'll read to you from John chapter 8, verse number 12.
John 8, 12 says,
So as Christ was walking on the earth, he says,
I am the light of the world.
And we saw in Isaiah 10 that God is the light of Israel.
But you're turning to Matthew 5, look at verse number 14.
Jesus Christ says to his disciples,
Ye are the light of the world.
Isn't that interesting?
God is the light, the light of Israel.
And then so is David, though.
And then Jesus says, well, I am the light of the world.
And yet so are we, the light of the world.
A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.
Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel,
but on a candlestick.
And it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works,
and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Brethren, even though God, our Lord God,
Jesus Christ is the light of Israel,
and the light of the world,
he's given us his light.
We've walked out of darkness,
we've walked into his marvelous light
when we got saved,
and now we are the light of the world.
Brethren, this nation is in darkness,
okay?
Who's going to give this nation a vision?
Who's going to give them light?
Who's going to bring them back to God?
The only ones can be God's people.
Look, I hope we have a better prime minister in the future.
Like I hope America even gets a much better president than Biden,
in their future.
Okay?
Yeah, you can't get any worse than that, really.
But still, look, it doesn't matter
if you have your favorite politicians in power,
the light that comes to the world must be through believers.
Because it's the light of Jesus Christ.
It's not the light of good policies.
It's not the light of good laws and governance
that's going to help a nation.
It's the light of Jesus Christ.
And I love the fact that God is the light of Israel,
and David's the light of Israel.
God used David in such a great way
to glorify God.
And you have all the psalms that David wrote.
And of course that through David, a man after God's heart,
out of his descendants will come Jesus Christ,
the Savior of the world.
And so brethren, we are the light.
As wicked and dark as this world continues,
praise God that he's left a light on this earth.
And it's you and I.
So you either shine your light.
You got the option.
You shine your light or you hide it under a bushel.
And my challenge, of course, for you is that you shine that light.
You tell people about Jesus.
And when they're saved,
they're going to glorify God in heaven.
Verse 18, back to Isaiah 10.
Isaiah 10, 18.
God's still speaking against Assyria.
He says,
And shall consume the glory of his forest.
Remeses is going to burn them down.
Well, he's going to consume.
God uses the illustration of a forest,
sorry, a forest full of trees,
as the nation of Assyria,
of the Assyrian empire.
So he says,
And shall consume the glory of his forest,
and out of his fruitful field,
both soul and body,
and they shall be as when a standard bearer fainteth.
And the rest of the trees of the forest shall be few,
that a child may write them.
What God is saying is that the Assyrian empire right now
is a forest full of trees,
but he's going to burn it down so badly
there's only going to be a few trees left
where even a child can,
if I write them, a child can name them or number them.
Yeah.
Like, oh, okay, there's five trees there.
That's the idea.
A forest, it's innumerable power and majesty.
No, no, no.
There's only a few trees left.
That's going to be the judgment that falls on the Assyrians
by the hand of the Babylonians.
Verse number 20.
And it shall come to pass in that day
that the remnant of Israel,
okay, wait, I should stop there for a moment.
Let me give you the context.
So we know that Assyria is going to be destroyed by Babylon.
Yep.
And then we know that the southern kingdom
were then taken over by the Babylonian empire.
Okay, so God is speaking of Babylon
when you understand what God is referring to
with Assyria's destruction.
That's why it says in verse number 20.
And it shall come to pass in that day
that the remnant of Israel
and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob
shall no more again stay upon him that smote them.
So who smote Assyria?
Babylon.
Okay, so there's going to be a remnant of Israel
that will not stay, you know, in Babylon, okay?
It says, but shall stay upon the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
The remnant shall return,
even the remnant of Jacob unto the mighty God.
So even though God uses Babylon to destroy Assyria
and to take Judah into captivity,
after 70 years, we know that a remnant left, okay?
Under Ezra and Nehemiah, they came back into the land,
rebuilt the city and rebuilt the temple,
and that's the prophecy that we read about in those verses.
Verse number 22.
For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea,
yet a remnant of them shall return,
the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
For the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption,
even determined, in the midst of all the land.
You know that word consumption gets brought up twice?
You know when you eat food, you consume food?
It's sort of the idea of fulfillment,
like you're being fulfilled,
you're consuming all that is before you.
What God is essentially saying in a very different way
is that what he just prophesied is going to be fulfilled.
Like that's definitely going to happen by the handle,
it's even determined.
This is definitely going to happen,
this future prophecy that Babylon's going to destroy Assyria
and a remnant of Israel will also leave that land
and return back into the land of Canaan.
Verse number 22.
For though thy people, sorry, I read that already.
Verse number 24.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord God of hosts,
all my people that dwellest in Zion,
let me stop there for a moment.
What is Zion a reference to out of these two nations?
Not Israel, Jerusalem and Judah.
The reason I'm telling you guys so you understand, okay?
So when he says here,
all my people that dwellest in Zion,
he's talking to the southern kingdom again.
And this is the thing that with Isaiah,
it's a little bit tricky sometimes.
Again, Isaiah does primarily preach to the southern kingdom,
but there are times that he does preach to the northern kingdom
or about the northern kingdom
and you need to be able to divide those.
That's why understanding the history of the nation
and understanding the history of the captivity
and what took place helps understand,
of course, the book of Isaiah.
So now he's speaking to the southern kingdom.
Judah once again, he says,
Be not afraid of the Assyrian,
the Assyrian empire.
He shall smite thee with a rod
and shall lift up his staff against thee
after the manner of Egypt.
So again, Assyria did come into Judah.
They did have a period of time
where they caused a lot of havoc.
But then God says in verse 25,
For yet a very little while
and the nation shall cease
and mine anger in their destruction.
God says, look, just put up with it for a little while.
This Assyrian takeover, okay?
God says, I'm going to destroy them.
My anger's going to be abated.
And of course, the way he destroyed the army
was by the help of that angel
that came into the camp
and killed many thousands of the soldiers.
So this is what God is telling the southern kingdom.
Their judgment by Assyria is a short-term lesson.
Look, you better learn the lesson, okay?
Because Babylon, right?
If you don't get this right,
if you don't fix yourselves,
if you don't get the idols out of your land,
if you don't turn back to me as a people,
okay, well, the lesson,
if you're not going to learn your lesson,
then God's going to just allow Babylon to come and destroy them.
Okay, so that's the teaching
that God has given the nation.
Now, verse 126.
And the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him
according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Orib,
and as his rod was upon the sea,
so shall he lift it up after the manna of Egypt.
I'll just reference the rod upon the sea
because we talked about the Midianites last week.
But God is saying, the rod upon the sea, that's Moses.
Remember when Israel came out of Egypt
and then the Pharaoh and his armies, you know,
chased them and they were at a dead end.
They got to the Red Sea, they were at a dead end.
They thought, well, that's it, we're going to be destroyed.
You know, where is God?
And they got angry at Moses, they just lead us here
for us to just die.
And God says, no, no, no, just like the rod upon the sea,
I'm going to give you deliverance.
And so when the Assyrians come,
the people of the land are going to be like,
Lord, we're going to be destroyed.
God, no, no, no, I'm going to give you deliverance.
Okay, and so he uses the illustration of Moses
when he parted the Red Sea and, of course,
by the power of God and the nation of Israel
were able to pass through safely
and then God would destroy the army of Pharaoh and the Egyptians,
so too would God destroy the army of the Assyrians.
And then he continues, verse 27,
It shall come to pass in that day,
that his burden shall be taken away off thy shoulder,
the burden of Assyria,
and his yoke from off thy neck,
and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.
So, again, God is just telling them,
look, I love you, I'm going to deliver you,
giving them a lesson, just a lesson, okay?
And it's so sad that they did not learn the lesson, guys.
If you're with me studying for the book of Jeremiah,
they just got worse.
They got worse and worse and worse.
Even King Hezekiah, a great man of God,
could not turn the direction of the nation back in a good way.
You know, he was a great man,
but it was kind of like almost too late.
People's hearts had gone so hardened against the Lord
and, of course, in the time of Jeremiah,
when the Babylonians came,
God says that they were a reprobate nation,
a reprobate generation, essentially, at that point in time.
So, God will use Assyria, but Judah would be delivered.
And the next verses that we're about to read,
I'm not going to go into great detail
because I don't have all the geography in my mind exactly,
but the next few verses is the route that Assyria would take
as they came in their attempt to invade Judah, okay?
So, verse 128, it says,
He has come to Ayath.
He has passed to Migron.
At Mishmash he has laid up his carriages.
They have gone over the passage.
They have taken up their lodging at Jeba.
Rhema is afraid.
Gibeah of Saul is fled.
So, again, speaking of the Assyrian army,
just coming through all these cities, all these places, okay?
And they're marching, they're making their way to Jerusalem.
Verse 130,
Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Galen,
because it caused it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anahoth.
Mad-Meneph is removed.
The inhabitants of Gebam gather themselves to flee.
As yet shall he remain at Nob that day.
He shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.
So, again, just God speaking of the route they're taking from town to town,
from place to place,
and other nations or other cities are hearing about
the takeover of the Assyrians and they're starting to flee and panic.
And even, he says, he shall shake his hand, verse number 32,
against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
So, Assyria didn't take over Jerusalem,
but it surely gave it a shake.
It gave them fright, okay?
They never got the takeover of Jerusalem,
but it sure gave them a fright, okay?
And then in verse number 33,
by the time they get that close and Judah feels that's it, we're defeated,
verse number 33 says,
Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts shall lop the bow with terror,
and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down,
and the haughty shall be humbled,
and he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron,
and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.
It's interesting that it says shall lop the bow with terror.
It's the idea again of a man cutting down a tree.
I think of Brother Hayden and his job, right?
God's using Brother Hayden and just chopping down a tree,
and that tree represents Assyria being taken down by God.
But why does God use the illustration of trees and all this?
Because a tree is something that is high.
It grows tall, and that's why it refers to Assyria and the Assyrian king
as the high ones of stature shall be hewn down,
and the haughty, haughty means prideful, shall be humbled.
So God says, look, the time for Assyria to be destroyed
because of their pride is going to take place.
And again, I sometimes wonder what if.
I don't like to preach what if because what if never happened,
but I like to think what if.
What if Assyria, being used by God,
as the king could just turn around and say,
Lord, I give you glory. I give you praise.
You know, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
the God of the Bible, the God of the prophets,
has given me conquest over these lands,
and even over the nation of God.
He's given me power.
Like, what could Assyria have become?
Like, maybe something great in the eyes of the Lord.
And the reason I use that is because what can we become for our Lord God
if we just don't lift ourselves with pride?
Boy, we know that if we lift ourselves up,
God's going to take us down.
Not just the king of Assyria, but even his own children.
I'll read one passage to you, Proverbs 18-12.
Before destruction, the heart of man is haughty, haughty,
like the king of Assyria. Lift it up.
Before destruction.
Look, before someone is destroyed,
before someone destroys their ministry, destroys their life,
you say, how did that happen? Pride.
The Bible says pride. That's why.
You say, I don't want that in my life. Good.
It says, and before honor is humility.
You want to be honored?
You want to be honored by man?
You want to be honored by God?
You need to be humble.
You need to have humility.
Look, God looks at our hearts.
And like I said, we've all had some successes and achievements in life.
And you know as well as I do, there's been time of pride.
And why didn't God just destroy me and shut away?
Because we saw already God is merciful.
There's a day of visitation.
Maybe there's pride in your heart, even tonight.
Look, if pride is in your hearts tonight,
I don't want the Lord to visit you with anger and judgment
and chastise and correct you.
Of course, the Lord will never leave us nor forsake us.
His chastisement is profitable.
His chastisement is one of love.
To teach us a lesson, like the southern kingdom of Judah with Assyria,
is to teach them a lesson.
Sometimes God's heavy hand comes upon us in life.
And when it happens, I want you to stop and say,
Lord, is there pride in my heart?
Lord, have you visited me because there's pride?
Lord, have you been merciful?
You've given me time to get this sin out of my life.
And now, Lord, you've brought destruction upon me because I've not been humble.
Before honor is humility, I want you all to be honored.
I want to be honored.
I want people to say, hey, pastor, you're a good pastor.
But not out of pride.
I want it to be out of humility.
People say, hey, pastor, you're a down-to-earth kind of guy.
Pastor, I know you're sacrificial.
Pastor, I know you love us.
Pastor, I know you have a love for God.
Okay?
That's what I want.
I don't want, pastor, you're such a great preacher.
Because I know I'm not this great speaker.
Look, I made a mistake last week.
I know that I can make mistakes.
I know there's wickedness in my heart.
I know this flesh still battles against the spirit that is within me.
I don't want to be lifted.
Not in God's house, definitely not.
Not in God's business, not in God's ministry.
Not in the saving of souls do I ever want to elevate myself or lift myself up.
And, brethren, we can.
Look, I think, I'm not exaggerating.
I think in this church right now tonight, there are going to be men that can be very great,
very honored if you just stay humble.
That's it.
If you just stay humble and you say glory to God, glory to God in the highest.
I am just an axe.
I am just a staff.
Lord, you use me as you will.
Use me in whatever way.
Lord, help me to further your kingdom for your glory in your way.
Utilize me, God.
Whatever I've achieved in life, whatever I've achieved,
successes in my family or in my workplace or in the gym or at church or winning souls
or whatever your hobbies and likes are.
Even if you're out hunting, you guys had some success.
Reverend, give glory to God.
I'm sure you didn't get any food, but I'm sure you had fun.
Had a great time of fellowship and fun.
And you're like, oh, man, we're real men.
We lasted the wilderness in the night.
Give glory to God that He's given you that strength and that power
and the ambition and the zeal to do such a work.
Reverend, if you just give glory to God, I tell you, He's going to honor you.
He's going to lift you up, and you can do something great for Him.
All right, brethren, the title for the sermon was The Light of Israel.
Or The Light of the World, if we wanted to expand that to the New Testament teaching.
Brethren, you are the light, okay?
Please shine your light, but not your light, not the light of your strength,
not the light of your pride.
Shine the light of Jesus Christ and further His kingdom.