But there in Isaiah 7, and look at verse 9, it says,
And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Rem-elai's son.
If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.
Notice that it says here that if you don't believe, you won't be established.
The title of the sermon tonight is Believe and Be Established.
Believe and Be Established.
And one of the kings, one of the kings in the story, or the main king in the story really,
is a man who struggled, who did not believe.
And because he did not believe, he was not established.
He was tossed to and fro.
And brethren, the lesson that we need to take out of this is we need to believe the words of God.
We need to believe his promises.
And if we stand on his word, we will be established.
We will not be tossed around.
We will be grounded in the word that God has given us.
So let's start there in verse number 1.
And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah.
Now you may recall in Isaiah 6 we had a look at Uzziah.
But now Isaiah is preaching in the days of Ahaz.
Who's Ahaz?
Ahaz is the son of Jotham, who is the son of Uzziah.
So chapter 6 was about Uzziah.
Chapter 7 is about his grandson Ahaz, king of Judah, that Rezin, the king of Syria.
So now, I know there's a lot of names here.
But now you've got the king of Syria, I want you to think about the Syrians,
Rezin, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah.
Who's Pekah? The king of Israel.
So remember, the nation of Israel was split into two kingdoms.
The northern kingdom, known as Israel, the southern kingdom, known as Judah,
and the king of Israel at this time was Pekah, the son of Remaliah.
It says, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.
So we have, what's happening here is the king of Syria, Rezin, has come together with the king of Pekah,
the son of Israel, and they're making war against the southern kingdom of Judah.
Does that make sense?
So Ahaz is the king of Judah, and you've got two warring enemies coming together to take over his kingdom.
And of course it's going to bring fears, it's going to bring concern, they're going to have to fight back.
And it says here they have been fighting back, but could not prevail against it.
Now let's just understand a little bit what's happening in this timeline.
If you can just come back, keep your finger there, and come with me to 2 Chronicles in the Bible.
2 Chronicles 26.
I just want to give you a brief background of what's happening from a historical context,
so that we can better understand what Isaiah is preaching in Isaiah 7.
So 2 Chronicles 26, verse 21.
Now we looked at Uzziah last week, so I'm not going to repeat all of that,
but remember that he walked into the temple and offered incense, which was the wrong thing to do.
Now the Bible says he did right in the sight of the Lord, like early in his life he did what is right.
And some of the questions that I got afterwards was, you know, was this man saved?
You know, I believe, this is just what I believe from reading the scriptures,
when the Bible speaks of a king doing right in the sight of the Lord, I believe that man is saved.
Because the only way you can do righteousness in God's sight is if you're saved.
Because all our righteousness are like filthy rags.
Like anybody that is unsaved cannot do any righteousness in the eyes of God.
But if you are saved, you can do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord,
but we can still make grave errors, we can still make great mistakes, we can still commit great sins.
We can still walk far away from the Lord, but that does not take away our salvation,
because our salvation is not based on our walk, our salvation is based on the work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
his death, burial and resurrection, his payment for our sins.
Now, because he, remember he went in and offered the incense, so he did that, which was wrong,
he became leprous, remember that story?
Well in verse number 21, 2 Chronicles 26, 21, it says
And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwert in a several house being a leper,
for he was cut off from the house of the Lord, and Jotham his son was over the king's house,
judging the people of the land.
So now we have Jotham that's mentioned, right?
Uzziah's son.
Now, if you can come with me to chapter 27, 2 Chronicles 27, verse number 1,
let's learn a little bit about Jotham here.
2 Chronicles 27, verse number 1, it says
Jotham was twenty and five years old, so twenty-five years old, when he began to reign,
and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem,
his mother's name also was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok, look at verse number 2,
and he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord.
So he also does what is right in the sight of the Lord, again I believe he's a slave man, right?
According to all that his father Uzziah did.
So everything that Uzziah did that was right, his son followed in his footsteps, right?
But this is what he corrected, it says
Howbeit he entered not into the temple of the Lord.
Remember, his father Uzziah did enter into the temple of the Lord.
Uzziah did what was wrong.
So when it says here that his son Jotham did what is right,
but he did not enter into, it's not saying that he never walked into the temple,
it's not saying that he never offered sacrifices or that it was part of the services,
but he never went in and offered incense, is what it's saying, right?
He never took the responsibilities of the priests and made it his own,
so he did not corrupt the temple of God like his father had.
And drop down to verse number 9, it says
And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David.
And Ahaz, now we have Ahaz, which is what Isaiah chapter 7 is about, right?
And Ahaz his son reigned in his stead.
So Jotham reigned for 16 years.
So what we can say from Isaiah chapter 6 to Isaiah chapter 7,
there's a minimum of 16 years, obviously more, that takes place between these two chapters.
Does that make sense?
Because now Isaiah is preaching to Ahaz, the grandson of Uzziah.
Now if you come with me to the next chapter in 2 Chronicles 28,
2 Chronicles 28 verse number 1,
let's learn about Ahaz, who Isaiah is preaching to, in 2 Chronicles 28 verse number 1.
So instead of doing what was right in the sight of the Lord,
he did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord, okay?
So you can see here that Ahaz drops the ball, right?
He had a godly father, he had a godly grandfather, even though they made mistakes obviously,
because they're sinners like anybody else, but he did not which was right, okay?
And what did he do? Verse number 2.
So remember, the kings of Israel, the northern kingdom,
those kings were wicked, far from the Lord,
well he starts following the northern kingdom,
and he starts setting up images of Balaam which is just the devil, okay?
He starts worshipping false gods.
And not only that, that's pretty horrible.
But it says here, in verse number 3,
So what does he do?
He murders his own children.
He offers his own children as sacrifices to these false gods.
So little babies, little children are being put to death, even his own children.
Now parents, just think about how horrible,
like how wicked would you have to get to say,
you know what, I'm willing to sacrifice my kids,
burn them with fire to some false god.
So you can see this guy, look,
how do you go from having a godly father and godly grandfather
to just a downright wicked man, I don't know.
But what this proves to us is that every generation,
our children have to make their own decision
when it comes to believing in the Lord Jesus Christ,
to walk in the ways of the Lord.
We can do the best parents to raise our kids, to teach them God's word,
yes, to give them the gospel, to see them saved,
but at the end of it, it's going to be their own decision.
Okay, hopefully our children all get saved.
Like, you know, usually when you're younger,
you're more tender-hearted,
you're more likely to just trust the word of God
than to trust the strength of man.
But even a godly, saved child at the end has to make a decision,
am I going to walk according to God's ways,
or am I just going to go according to the rest of the world?
And that's just the reality, you know.
And what does it say, verse number four,
it says, he sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places
and on the hills and under every green tree.
So there's downright, you know, idolatry,
abomination, false religion, false worship
to other gods happening on the land of Judah right now.
Okay, so this makes sense that now Isaiah, once again,
you know, has to be used by God to preach against the king.
So I hope that's given you the background,
the backdrop of what's happening in Isaiah 7.
So come back with me to Isaiah 7.
You can keep a finger in 2 Chronicles if you want,
we are going to turn to another passage later on, if you want.
But Isaiah, back to Isaiah 7 and verse number 2.
Isaiah 7, verse number 2.
So let me just bring you back up to speed again, just in case you missed it.
So Ahaz, okay, he's the king of the southern kingdom of Judah, alright,
and he's concerned that the northern kingdom of Israel
has joined up with the king of Syria, the Syrians,
and they're going to attack him, okay?
So then it says in verse number 2,
and it was told the house of David saying,
Syria is confederate with Ephraim.
Now Ephraim, if you don't know, is one of the 12 tribes of Israel, obviously.
It's one of the 10 tribes that makes up the northern kingdom,
but many times in the Bible, God will use Ephraim as a tribe
to describe the entire nation, the entire northern nation of Israel.
The reason for that is because Ephraim was by far the biggest tribe of the northern kingdoms.
It's kind of like the southern kingdom, it's known as Judah,
but it was made of Judah and Benjamin, okay?
But because Judah was the larger tribe, the nation went by Judah,
and Israel many times, because it's the largest tribe of the 10,
the whole nation of Israel, the northern kingdom of Israel, is known as Ephraim.
So Syria is in confederate with Ephraim, they've made an agreement,
they're going to attack the southern kingdom,
and it says here, and his heart was moved.
That's the heart of Ahaz, and the heart of his people,
as the trees of the wood are moved with wind.
So it says they're afraid, right?
We're going to be overrun by our neighbours, they're going to be overrun by Syria, right?
And so they're afraid, their heart's been moved.
And you know, it says here, it's like the trees of the wood being moved with the wind.
Just this week, where I live in Malania, Sunshine Coast,
we had this massive hailstorm.
My car's all dented again.
A massive hailstorm that came through, and the wind was blowing,
I couldn't barely see anything.
And as the wind's, you're driving down the road,
and all of a sudden, there's a branch, and you go,
you've got to navigate around the branch.
And that's the picture, right?
That the fear that these people have, that these two nations are attacking them,
and again, what this reminds me of, if you can keep your thinking there,
come into Ephesians chapter 4,
because what we want to do is take the lessons and apply it for ourselves,
because isn't it true that we all have fears in life?
You know, there are things that happen, and we're concerned.
How's that going to affect us? How's that going to damage us?
We might have fears, oh, am I going to have a job next year?
You know, are my finances going to meet my needs?
You might have fears about certain enemies you may have
and the attacks that they're having against you.
I mean, we can have fears about many.
We might be fearful.
Are the lockdowns going to come back, right?
Is COVID going to be a big issue?
Is there going to be a COVID version 2 or something?
And it could cause great fears in our hearts or what have you, you know?
And when fears come, we are kind of moved.
It's easy to be tossed around and not to be established.
And I'm reminded here in Ephesians 4.14 that says that we,
henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro
and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men
and cutting craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive.
The Bible says there are people that are seeking to deceive us
when it comes to God's Word.
And we as believers can't remain as children.
Look, the moment you got saved, you were born again
and you're a babe in Christ, okay?
And when you're a babe in Christ, look, you don't know all that much, do you?
You need to come to church and need to read the Bible.
You need to speak to God and grow in His Word.
And there's nothing wrong with that.
But we can't remain as children, though.
Because if we remain as children, you're just going to hear someone say Jesus,
you're going to hear someone just say Bible,
and you're going to go, oh, man, that person must be of God.
But they could be preaching another gospel,
they could be preaching another Jesus,
they could have another spirit, but you have no idea.
And so it's so important that you go to a church that teaches you God's Word
so you can be grounded and grow up.
Because it says in Ephesians 4.15,
But speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things,
which is the head, even Christ.
The Bible's saying we need to grow up.
We can't remain as children.
We need to be adults when it comes to God's Word
so we can be grounded and not moved
every time someone tries to bring in lies and heresies
and then we don't know where we stand.
So brethren, you know, I'm going to do my best as your pastor
to preach God's Word without compromise, you know,
and I'm going to try to lessen my opinions
and try to just maximize God's Word to you.
But at the end of the day, you have to establish yourself.
You have to read God's Word yourself and say, yes, Lord,
this doctrine is true because I see it in the Scriptures
and I can see it in these Scriptures and I see it over here.
And part of that, just learning, reading the Bible,
you know, is so necessary in your growth that you'd not be tossed to and fro.
Well, going back to Isaiah 7,
Ahaz has been tossed around because of his fear,
his concern of being overtaken by the northern kingdom of Israel and by Syria.
And in verse number 3, it says,
Then said, in Isaiah 7 verse 3,
Then said the Lord unto Isaiah,
Go forth now to meet Ahaz.
So look, even though Ahaz is the wicked king,
God still wants Ahaz to do things right.
Ahaz still has an opportunity to be right with the Lord.
He says, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou and shear Jashub thy son,
at the end of the conduits of the upper pool of the highway of the foolish field.
So God says, look, Isaiah, go and go with your son.
I like that.
You know, we don't often know much about the families of the prophets.
You know, when you read the prophets, you don't really hear much about them so much.
It's interesting to see here, oh, Isaiah's a father.
I mean, it shouldn't be that strange, but what I like about this is that God says,
look, I want you to go with your son.
His son is helping Isaiah in the ministry.
And I think that's a great thing.
I love it, you know, if my kids can get to an older age.
I have no desire necessarily for my sons to be pastors or anything like that.
I hope someone else puts their hand up.
It's not that easy.
But anyway, if they can help in the ministry, what a blessing that is.
If our children can help out.
And look, you know, she, Jacob here, was a help to his father, Isaiah.
And so God says, go here to the certain pool and there you're going to meet Ahaz the king.
And it says in verse number four, and say unto him, take heed and be quiet.
So what Isaiah's going to say to the king, look, listen, pay attention.
God's got a word for you and be quiet, meaning be at peace.
Be calm, all right?
God's aware of the situation.
You don't need to panic. You don't need to be afraid.
That's why it says, fear not, neither be faint-hearted,
for the two tales of these smoking firebrands,
for the fierce anger of resin with Syria and the son of Remaliah.
So you can see here that God says, don't be afraid of these two kingdoms.
Don't be afraid of these two nations that are seeking to attack and hurt you guys.
What I love about this so much is that God is telling the king, a wicked king,
he said, look, calm, be calm. I've got it under control.
And what I love about this is you see God's faithfulness even though man is not faithful.
Like, how wicked is this king? And God's still concerned.
He says, look, calm down, relax, be at peace, okay?
Listen to my words, pay attention. It's going to be fine for you.
Don't be afraid in this illustration that he gives of the two tales of these smoking firebrands.
You know, that's a strange way to describe these two nations.
Does anyone know where that comes from?
Judges.
Book of Judges.
So wherein Isaiah took the seven, what's the seventh book of the Bible?
Judges.
Judges, all right.
So let's go to Judges 15. Let's go to Judges 15, please. Judges 15.
And I've been showing you how these chapters of Isaiah link into the different books of the Bible
in order, which is just amazing.
But Judges 15, let's just get to the story there.
Let's see what illustration God is speaking of here in Judges 15 verse number 1.
And of course when we read about the Judges, the book of Judges,
who's probably the most famous judge in the book of Judges?
Yeah, Samson. Yeah, pretty much.
Samson's pretty much the most famous superhero, super strong judge.
And Judges 15 verse 1. I won't give you all the story.
Let's just explain what the two tales of these smoking firebrands is about.
But it says here, but it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest,
so it's a time of harvest, right?
The farmers have been plowing the fields, sowing the seeds.
Now it's a time of harvest. It's a time of profit and blessings and all that.
That Samson visited his wife with a kid, that's a young goat,
and he said, I will go into my wife into the chamber,
but her father would not suffer him to go in.
So he wants to be intimate with his wife, he comes back,
but the wife's father says, no, I'm not letting you come see her.
Why is that? Because in verse number 2 it says,
and her father said, I verily thought that thou hast utterly hated her.
He goes, I thought you didn't like her anymore.
Therefore, I gave her to thy companion.
So, you know, she's now the wife of your friend, all right?
I mean, this is horrible, right?
Is not her younger sister fairer than she? Take her, I pray thee, instead of her.
I mean, it just shows the wickedness of that time.
And so Samson's wife's been given to another man.
I mean, man, how would you feel about that?
You'd be enraged, right? What does Samson do?
Verse number 3, and Samson said concerning them,
Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines,
though I do them at displeasure.
He goes, I'm going to do something so horrible,
but I'm going to be blameless because of what they've done to me.
Verse number 4, and Samson went and caught three hundred foxes.
I mean, foxes are hard to see.
Like, surely this man had some, not just superhuman strength,
but superhuman speed.
So he had to, like, chase foxes down in wherever holes they're located,
pull them out, captures three hundred foxes.
Look at this. And took firebrands.
That's basically just sticks that can be burnt, like faggots, okay?
Sticks that can be burnt.
And turned tail to tail.
So he takes two foxes, gets two tails, tail to tail,
and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.
The way I kind of picture this is he gets two foxes, tails,
maybe a rope around the tails, and then the sticks, lights on fire,
and then he lets them run, okay?
So you've got three hundred foxes, but a hundred and fifty team of foxes
that are going to run in the harvest.
We saw earlier that the harvest had come, right?
And this is what happens, verse number 5.
And when he had set the brands on fire,
he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines.
And burnt up both the shocks and also the standing corn
with the vineyards and olives.
Now I just think, if I got two foxes and tied them up,
they'd go insane, right?
You'd think they'd just like, they'd go wild, they'd just run everywhere, right?
Trying to pull from one another, trying to get rid of that fire that's burning up.
And so they're going into the harvest, they're going into the wheat and the corn,
and it's all being burnt up.
The whole harvest of the Philistines are being burnt up.
Like that's their livelihood.
That's their profit.
That's a whole years of labour is being destroyed by the hand of Samson.
And then verse number 6.
Then the Philistines said, Who have done this?
And they answered Samson, the son-in-law of Timnites,
because he had taken his wife and given her to his companion.
And the Philistines came up and burnt her and her father with fire.
So they're so angry that this happened that they actually end up killing
that father and his daughter.
But they think they're doing Samson a service.
We've just killed your father-in-law and your wife.
Well, I mean, if he was already upset that his wife's been taken
and given to another man, do you think he's going to be upset now
that his wife's been killed?
Of course.
Look at this, verse number 7.
And Samson said unto them, Though you have done this,
he goes, Though you think this is like a good thing,
yet will I be avenged of you.
And after that I will cease.
I'm going to take revenge now.
And then I'll stop.
And then look at verse number 8.
And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter,
and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.
So he smote them with hip and thigh, meaning he just went kickboxing.
But without the boxing, just the kicking.
I mean, what's a martial art that's mainly kicking, brother?
I don't know.
Taekwondo.
A little Taekwondo out.
He went out kicking all these Philistines and they're being massacred.
You know, slaughtered, this great number.
But I want you to notice that this is where God then takes this illustration
and speaks to Isaiah in chapter 7 to Ahaz.
Is it Ahaz? I'm getting confused now.
Yeah, Ahaz. Okay.
And so the illustration of two foxes running with that burning fire
to burn the harvest is the thought of one fox being in Syria,
the other fox being the northern kingdom of Israel,
and the fire being their armies coming to destroy the southern kingdom of Judah.
All right, back to Isaiah 7, verse number 5.
Isaiah 7, verse number 5.
I don't know if we're going to keep finding these parallels with Isaiah in the books of the Bible,
but I'm going to try.
And every time I do, I just think, wow, the Bible is just this supernatural, amazing book.
I don't know if you guys feel that way, but I surely do when I read this.
I go, wow, that's amazing.
But verse number 5.
Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah,
and the son of Remaliah is, sorry, in verse number 1,
the son of Remaliah is Pekah.
Okay. All right.
Have taken counsel against thee, saying,
Let us go up against Judah and vex it,
which is what they're doing, which is why they're afraid,
and let us make a breach therein for us,
and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabiel.
Thus saith the Lord God,
It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.
So God is telling Ahaz what they're planning.
They're planning to take you down, King Ahaz,
and they want to put a new king in place, like a puppet king.
You know, a king that is answerable to Syria,
a king that is answerable to Israel,
and so Judah would not be, you know,
in effect a sovereign nation anymore.
They'll be paying taxes.
They'll be, you know, sending the best resources
to these other nations.
And so God is telling them what they're planning,
but then he says, But it shall not stand,
neither shall it come to pass.
He says to King Ahaz, Look, you don't need to worry about it.
It's not even going to happen.
And you know what? I did a sermon a while ago.
I don't know if you was here at New Life Baptist Church,
but I did some research.
And did you know that 85 to 90 percent of our fears
never come to pass?
Like the things we worry about.
Oh, this is going to happen.
85 to 90 percent, I think it was 91 percent.
Doesn't happen.
That means like 90 percent of your fears are just pointless.
Like you just wasted your time.
And so if it's more likely that your fears
are not going to come to pass,
doesn't that tell you you should just fear God?
God knows. God knows the future.
God knows if this is going to happen or not.
So I'm just going to trust him. I'm going to leave it in his hands.
And brethren, when you learn to trust God,
when you learn to believe,
because to trust God is to believe God.
You know, you will be established, right?
You will be grounded.
You'll be like, You know, I don't care what happens.
Even, you know, if our nation's destroyed,
even if a foreign nation comes and takes over our resources
and conquers our land, what do I have to be afraid of?
You know, God's in control. He knows all things.
He knows the future.
So I'm just going to stand where God stands and I'll be just fine.
That ought to be the attitude of a believer.
But remember, Ahaz is not doing right in the sight of the Lord.
Okay?
Now, you say, well, pass even 10 percent of the things that will come to pass.
Yeah, but if my memory serves me right,
like 90 percent of the 10 percent that do come to pass,
you're able to handle easily.
Because problems do come all the time.
I mean, we're always dealing with issues.
But 90 percent of the 10 percent that do come, you're able to handle.
And you know what, the things that you can't, just again,
you're leaving God's hands.
Say, well, Lord, I can't deal with this.
I'm going to hand it over to you.
It's in your hands, Lord.
I don't need to be afraid.
I don't need to be concerned.
And of course, this brings to mind 2 Timothy 1 verse 7.
I'll just read it to you.
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear,
but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Sound means something that is stable.
Not tossed around concerned and worried
and overreacting about this and that and every little thing.
God, if you've got the spirit of God in you,
it ought not to give you fear, but power, love, sound mind.
In the past, I'm saved, but I'm very scared of things.
Does that mean I'm not saved?
Of course you're saved if you've trusted Jesus Christ as Saviour.
But you understand that sometimes we're in the spirit
and sometimes we're in the flesh.
And when we overreact and we get worried
and we stop trusting the Lord
and we start getting tossed around with every little issue in life,
it just tells me that we're walking in the flesh.
We're operating out of the flesh.
And our trust is not in our Lord God.
Back to Isaiah 7, verse 8.
Isaiah 7, verse 8.
He says,
So God is saying, look, they're not going to defeat you.
They're not going to conquer you, relax.
He says in 65 years, the northern kingdom of Israel is going to be destroyed.
And they're destroyed by the hands of the Assyrians.
The Assyrian empire.
Took them into captivity.
They were sent in various nations.
And so that's 65 years away.
But the nations are already starting to fall apart.
It doesn't just happen.
Being captured by a foreign nation doesn't just happen out of nowhere.
The nation of Israel has already fallen apart inwardly.
It's already far from the Lord.
Judgement's already coming on that land.
And God's saying, look, in 65 years, they're not even going to be a people.
They're going to be wiped out.
So what are you afraid of?
Then he says in verse number 9.
And the head of Ephraim is Samaria.
So again, Samaria was the capital city. That's all it's saying.
And again, this is why when you've got the Israelites that remain in the land
and then you've got the Assyrian takeover,
people are so intermingled that they became known as the Samaritans.
So when you read the book of the New Testament,
you know, you've got the Jews who were from Judah
and then you have the Samaritans who were the mixed races
of the Israelites, I should say,
and the other nations that came into the land.
But it says here, the head of Ephraim is Samaria.
And the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son,
which is again in verse number 1, Pekah.
If ye will not believe...
Well, let's just stop there for a moment.
What God is saying here is that Pekah is not going to take over Judah.
Like his power base is in Samaria.
He's never going to have power in Judah or Jerusalem.
So you don't need to be afraid.
Okay, that's what he's saying.
Then he concludes in verse number 9.
If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.
So God is using Isaiah to preach this, all right?
And he says to the king, look, if you don't believe my word,
you're still going to be afraid.
You're not going to be established.
You're not going to be fixed.
You're not going to be blessed.
You know, God won't be able to do a work in you and your kingdom.
And so the instruction here is, look, believe God's word, Ahaz,
even though you've been a wicked king.
God is opening the doors to the king.
Look, you've got a chance here.
Believe the words of God.
Believe the words of the prophet Isaiah, whom God has sent.
And brethren, you know, our trust must be in God's word.
I hope your trust is not in your pastor because I'm just a man
and I'm sinner like the rest of you and I have fears like the rest of you
and I don't always walk in faithfulness, you know.
But again, the example we see here is that God is always faithful when man fails.
You know, to believe God is just like how you got saved.
You heard the gospel.
You said, yes, I believe in Jesus Christ.
I believe he paid for my sins.
I believe he was crucified for me.
I believe he's victorious.
He rose from the dead.
Three days later, my trust is in him.
My trust is not in my church.
My trust is not in my good works.
My trust is in nothing but in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
When you've done that, you've believed the gospel.
And you've all done that, as far as I know.
You know, if you're not sure, then talk to me afterwards.
But then when it comes to the rest of God's word,
all we need to do is believe what we read.
Okay, Lord, you've made promises.
Lord, you've said this.
Lord, you've promised me eternal life.
Lord, you promised me a home in heaven.
Lord, you promised that every time I go in prayer, you're going to answer my prayers.
And look, if we go believing, in fact, the Bible says that we should ask without wavering,
you know, without doubts, that God can answer, that God hears our prayers.
And, brethren, that's going to establish you.
It's going to ground you, firm in God's word.
And even when things fall apart, you stay standing, faithful to our Lord God.
So believe and be established.
Now, I told a few of you guys, if you wanted to, keep a finger on 2 Chronicles.
So come with me to 2 Chronicles, chapter 17.
2 Chronicles, chapter 17, please.
2 Chronicles 17.
I want to introduce you to another king of Judah, an earlier king, and his name is Jehoshaphat.
2 Chronicles 17, verse number 1.
I'm not going to go into great depth of his life, but I just want to show you a few things.
I want to compare him with King Ahaz.
And it says here in 2 Chronicles 17, verse number 1,
And Jehoshaphat, his son, reigned in his stead, and strengthened himself against Israel.
And he placed forces in all the fenced cities of Judah, and set garrisons in the land of Judah,
and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa his father had taken.
But notice that Jehoshaphat also was at war with Israel.
He was also the king of the southern kingdom of Judah,
and he's also at war with the northern kingdom of Israel.
So it's very similar to the situation with Ahaz.
And it says in verse number 3,
But Ahaz did seek after Balaam. Remember the difference?
Jehoshaphat did not.
Jehoshaphat walked in the first ways of his father David.
Now if you can, come with me to 2 Chronicles 20, and verse number 20.
2 Chronicles 20, verse number 20.
We're just fast-forwarding a little bit further in Jehoshaphat's reign.
But we have another scenario where he also is at war with surrounding nations.
And in 2 Chronicles 20, it says,
What's he about to say? Look what he says.
Completely different to Ahaz.
We just have to believe God.
He says we're going to have the victory.
He says we're not going to be wiped out.
And if we just believe what God says, then we'll be established.
We'll still be here at the end of the war.
We'll be victorious.
Then he says,
And brethren, we have the writings of the prophets right here.
Believe the words of the prophets, which is the word of God.
And you prosper. You'll be established.
Look at verse number 21.
Isn't that amazing? He's about to go to war.
And he goes, you know what? We can spare some men here.
You guys sing.
You sing praises to God.
And look at this.
So this is what they're singing.
And look at verse number 22. It's amazing. Look at verse number 22.
Which would come against Judah.
And they were smitten.
What a great way to win a war.
Instead of having to fight, God fights for them.
And all they had to do was sing praises to God.
Say, hey, yeah, we're going to believe God.
We're going to be established.
And as they're praising God, God says, all right, I'll fight for you.
And he defeats the enemies.
And what I love about church is we come to praise God.
You know, please don't be late for church.
Try to be here on time.
Not for my, not out of respect of me or anything like that.
Because it's a time to sing to God.
Don't think, oh, I'll just go for the preaching or something like that.
Hey, come for the singing.
Look, we sing. Let God defeat our enemies.
Our fears that we get during the week. Let God deal with those fears.
We just say, all right, we believe you, Lord.
You can hear us. We'll praise you.
And, Lord, you take care of it.
I believe that. I believe that God has had many victories in our life
simply because we came to church and praised his name.
I have no doubt whatsoever.
Back to Isaiah 7, verse 10.
When it says that the Lord's speaking to Ahaz through Isaiah.
Saying,
This is amazing.
I remember Ahaz is a wicked man. Remember that.
God's showing his faithfulness.
God's saying, look, just believe my word.
And then he goes, look, if you don't believe, ask.
God is saying, ask for a sign.
Ask for a miracle.
He goes, ask any of the death.
He goes, look, ask whatever you want.
However ridiculously crazy you think that miracle is,
God says, I want to show you that I'm behind the nation.
I want to show you that my word is true.
I want to show you that you've got nothing to be afraid of.
Ask for a sign.
I mean, you could have asked for anything.
Okay, Lord, can you turn off the sun for two hours?
That's what God's allowing him to do.
Just anything.
Ask either in depth or in height above.
Whatever you want me to do.
I'll perform a miracle to show you that this is true.
Look at how Ahaz responds.
But Ahaz said, I will not ask.
He goes, I don't want to ask.
I don't want to see your miracle, God. I don't want to see your sign.
Neither will I tempt the Lord.
Look, he's not worshiping the Lord.
Look, the Bible is clear that we are not to tempt the Lord.
Okay?
But we're not tempting the Lord if he's saying to us,
ask of me and I'll do a miracle.
That's not tempting the Lord.
But he's trying to show, I guess, his holiness,
his virtual signaling, if I can borrow from brother Tim on Sunday.
I wouldn't ask.
What in the world?
God's just, you know, God's just opened the doors for anything.
It's only a few times that God has ever said something like that to a man.
I remember the time when God said to Solomon,
ask me for anything and I'll give it to you.
And Solomon asked for wisdom.
I mean, Ahaz could have said, Lord, make me brave.
Make me bold so I'm not afraid of these enemies.
He could have asked for anything and God would have come through
and given him that sign.
And so what this shows me is that you've got this man
who struggles to understand the word of God.
An unsaved man cannot.
Isaiah is speaking God's word.
But Ahaz just doesn't, he doesn't process in his mind.
He's not getting that.
He doesn't understand.
Well, God just asks, I'm not going to tempt the Lord.
You know, you don't understand context.
You know a few words, you know a few phrases,
but you don't understand what God is asking of you.
Verse number 13.
And he said,
Hear ye now, O house of David.
The house of David is speaking about the kingly line,
because the kingly line of David follows through.
And of course, the kingly line of David is important
because through that line would come the King of kings,
the Lord of lords, Jesus Christ.
And so we get to this prophecy of Jesus Christ in verse number 14,
but let's just understand why God brings that up.
He goes,
He said, Hear ye now, O house of David.
Is it a small thing for you to weary men?
But will ye weary my God also?
You know what Isaiah is saying to Ahaz?
You've made me weary.
Ahaz, you've made me, I'm sick and tired of you, Ahaz.
Like God's reaching out, God's being faithful,
God wants to help you, God's saying believe my word.
He goes, and Ahaz is like, nah, I'm not going to ask for miracles,
I'm not going to ask for a sign.
So he says, I'm tired of you.
I'm weary.
He goes, and God's weary of you too.
But he speaks largely of the house of David,
meaning down the kingly line.
And the thought here is that even with godly men,
as we saw with his grandfather,
kings still make major mistakes.
And even though you're saved,
you're going to make major mistakes in life.
You're going to commit sin.
You're going to make mistakes in life.
And again, what I'm trying to show you in all of this is
the faithfulness of God versus the faithfulness of man.
God is demonstrating, look, there is no earthly king
from the house of David
that's ever going to be 100% faithful,
that's always going to get things right.
So then God offers a solution in verse number 14,
which is the prophecy of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, because you're weary to man and you're weary to God,
because the kings make mistakes and commit sin
and they do that which is wrong,
therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign.
You didn't want a sign?
Well, here's a sign from God.
Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son
and shall call his name Immanuel.
So God's saying, look, there is coming the Messiah,
Immanuel, God with us.
If you can keep your finger there,
keep your finger there and come with me to Matthew chapter 1,
which is where the prophecy is fulfilled,
in Matthew chapter 1, verse number 22.
Matthew chapter 1, verse number 22.
So because, oh, house of David, kingly line, men fail,
we're going to have a king that never fails,
which is Immanuel, Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
in Matthew chapter 1, verse number 22.
Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled,
which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Behold, a virgin shall be with child
and shall bring forth a son
and they shall call his name Immanuel,
which being interpreted is God with us.
So it's really interesting.
You didn't ask for a sign?
I'll give you a sign.
I'll give you a miracle.
And of course, the birth of Jesus Christ was a miracle
because a virgin would be with child.
A virgin would give birth.
A woman that's not known a man.
This was a miraculous birth.
But what's really interesting here is in verse number 23,
in Matthew chapter 1, verse number 23,
Behold, a virgin shall be with child.
With what child?
And you go back to Isaiah chapter 7, verse number 14.
It says, Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign.
Behold, a virgin shall conceive.
Conceive is conception.
And the seed of the man fertilizes the egg of the woman.
Conception.
What does that prove to us in the scriptures?
That once conception takes place, that is a child.
That is not a blob of tissue that can be aborted,
killed, burnt in the fire.
As soon as conception takes place, that's a child.
So when you compare the two scriptures, it's very clear.
Because the abortion doctor will say to you,
it's got no heartbeat, it doesn't feel any pain.
How do you know?
How about we abort you and you tell us if you can feel pain or not?
Let's see if you're just a blob of tissues.
But we see Ahaz who actually killed his own children in the fire.
And God's saying, look, even from conception it's a child.
So this is going to fix the kingly line.
This is going to fix the house of David.
Of course, Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords,
and his reign is yet to come in the millennium, in the future.
And we're going to be part of his kingdom.
We're going to rule with Jesus Christ.
What a beautiful thing that we have that honor to be with Jesus Christ.
Back to Isaiah 7, verse 15.
Speaking of Jesus.
Butter and honey shall he eat.
We get a little bit of information about Jesus that we don't get in the New Testament.
He grew up eating butter and honey.
So is there anything wrong with butter?
No, it's probably the best thing for you.
People say, oh, stop eating butter, start eating margarine,
start eating, well, not really, everyone knows margarine is just plastic, right?
But maybe it's some of that olive spread,
or that half butter, half whatever.
How about just eat butter? It was good enough for Jesus.
Are you better than Jesus? Jesus ate butter, no problem whatsoever.
Honey, shall he eat?
Now, the fact that this is mentioned, butter and honey,
I'm going to show you in a minute that this speaks of,
because he's a king, but eating honey and butter is to make his humility.
Like he's not going to be eating the red steak,
eating the expensive products and all that kind of stuff.
It speaks of Christ and his humble beginnings.
Of course, Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem's manger.
But it says here that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good.
So unlike the other kings that did evil, no, no, no.
Jesus is going to refuse that evil.
He's going to do that which is good.
Verse number 16.
Verse number 16 gives us the timing of this prophecy.
It says, for before the child shall know to refuse evil and choose the good,
the land that thou abhorrest, which is the land of Syria and Israel,
because they're the enemies, shall be forsaken for both her kings.
So the prophecy is, before Jesus comes into the world,
your enemies that you're afraid of, they're going to be wiped out.
The kings are going to die long before the Messiah comes into the world.
So it just gives us a time frame.
Verse number 17.
The Lord shall bring upon thee and upon thy people and upon thy father's house
days that have not come from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah,
even the king of Assyria.
God is now saying that he's come in such a horrible time that you've never seen before
that's going to fall upon Ephraim, the northern kingdom, Israel.
Verse number 18.
So God is telling now how I'm going to wipe out your enemies,
how I'm going to wipe out that northern kingdom.
Verse number 18.
Sorry, verse number, did I just read that?
Yeah, verse 18 now.
And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall hiss
for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt
and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
And they shall come and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys
and in the holes of the rocks and upon all thorns and upon all bushes.
So God is saying here that Assyria, not to be confused with Syria,
but Assyria is coming and they're going to be used by God to destroy the northern kingdom of Israel.
Verse number 19.
And it shall, I read verse number 19 already.
Verse number 20.
In the same day that the Lord, and now God gives us this illustration of this attack on Israel.
In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired.
So God's going to take, this is an illustration.
The face of a man, he's got the biggest beard.
So think of brother Ramzan.
And pretend Ramzan represents Israel.
Well God's going to hire a razor.
To hire means to pay.
God's going to actually reward Assyria for this.
God's sending Assyria to attack and judge the nation of Israel.
But the example is a razor.
And think of the beard like people.
Think of the face as the land of Israel and the hair as the people on the land.
Or the fertility, the farming, the agriculture of the land if you want.
So God takes this razor, goes namely by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head.
So it's like Ramzan being shaved bald on the head.
And the hair of the feet, brother do you have hair on your feet?
I don't know, but anyway if there's hair on your feet it's like that, that's all going to come off as well.
And it shall also consume the beard.
So this man's going to be completely hairless from top to bottom.
The razor is Assyria and the face is the land and obviously the hair being the people.
And then it says in verse 21.
And it shall come to pass in that day that a man shall nourish a young cow and two sheep.
And it shall come to pass for the abundance of milk that they shall give ye.
And this is where I mentioned the butter and the honey.
It says he shall eat butter for butter and honey shall everyone eat that is left in the land.
So it's saying here that anyone that's left in the land, instead of them having great herds,
like a huge number of beasts, of cows and cattle, it says that a man's just going to have one cow and two sheep to take care of his family.
And all they're going to be left to eat is butter and honey because Assyria is going to come and take the goods of the land essentially.
Again it's talking about that they're going to be left in poverty.
And this is again speaking of Christ's early beginning, being born in Bethlehem as a manger.
He was not born in a palace, he did not have rich parents, and that's where that illustration of Jesus Christ comes in as well.
And verse number 23.
And it shall come to pass in that day that every place shall be, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, it shall even be for brides and thorns.
So there's not going to be any farming, the weeds and the thorns, they're all going to start to overtake all the vineyards because there's no man left on the land to take care of it.
Verse number 24.
Again, just in case I'm confused here, God is speaking about the northern kingdom of Israel here.
God is given this last comfort to King Ahaz.
Look, your enemies are going to be wiped out.
And we said 65 years from now, this is all going to happen to them.
Verse number 24.
Verse 24.
Alright.
Look, I don't have time to go through all of that, but basically, just in summary, God is just saying look, the northern kingdom of Israel is going to be taken out.
They're going to be wiped out.
Okay?
And his encouraging Ahaz, look, believe me and be established.
Don't be afraid.
And so the lesson that we ought to take, brethren, is look, it's natural to have fears.
It's natural.
Because we are human beings, we're flesh, you know, and we take our eyes off the Lord and we put our eyes upon the things that frustrate us, that give us fear.
But look, you know, brethren, just always remember that the Lord knows all things.
Like the Lord knows whether that 10% ever will come to pass.
You're worried about 90% of things that will never happen.
You know, God just wants us to trust him.
You know, it might just seem like, I don't know, people say things to me, you know, like very nice things.
They feel like I'm in control and like I've got everything together.
Churches and my family and work and whatever.
But really, brethren, I don't.
Like I am as fearful as all of you guys about everything, but I have my Lord God at my side.
Like I know, Lord, you take care of it.
Lord, blessed up Baptist Church is your church.
You said you will build the church.
Lord, you said new life Baptist Church will build the church.
We'll just do what you've told us to do.
It's in your hands.
Lord, you've given me this wife.
You've given me these kids.
Lord, you're going to have to provide.
I'm working as hard as I can.
Lord, it's in your hands.
You know, and when you truly just have your heart and trust upon God's word and upon him
and you see his faithfulness even with a wicked king.
Look, we're not as wicked as these kings.
I've never offered my kids to burn them in fire.
And if he's able to show faithfulness to someone as wicked as that,
how much more his own children have trusted Jesus Christ as Savior.
Brethren, we surely have nothing to be afraid of.
The title of this sermon was Believe and Be Established.
You know what, if there's any fears in your life today, how about you just hand them over to God.
Say, Lord, I'm going to believe. I'm going to trust in you.
You're looking out for my best. Please establish me.
Keep me fixed. Keep me continued being steadfast and strong according to your word.
Let's pray.