Alright, Amen. So, it's our new Bible study, Isaiah, and it is, yeah, it's the second largest book in terms of amount of chapters, at least, the book of Psalms being 150.
However, I was having a look and Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Genesis are all probably a similar overall length, okay, so this has got some shorter chapters in it as well, but it is 66 chapters, so it's going to be at least 66 weeks.
However, you know, we'll see how we do with that, and some might have to be done into two, but we'll see.
It's written by Isaiah, okay, or Isaiah. I generally pronounce it Isaiah, but some people pronounce it Isaiah.
And, you know, some say tomato, some say tomato.
I would say it's more British, Isaiah. Am I right with that? I think in Britain you hear Isaiah a bit more, and this is a British church, so I'm going to do my best,
but now and again I'll probably just say Isaiah anyway, just because you kind of mix it up a bit, keep you on your toes.
But it's written by Isaiah, obviously, okay. It's from the end of Uzziah, king of Judah, through to the end of Hezekiah's reign, okay.
So, this was written over, it seems to be, probably about 64 years, approximately, okay.
The time period. So, if you want to kind of get an idea of this and try and understand the book and what's going on and where it is,
if this helps, it's from around BC 762 to BC 698, okay.
So, it's that sort of period. A couple of hundred years on from Solomon, if that helps a little bit as well.
So, a couple of hundred years on from Solomon, and it finishes, so that's 64 years, just over a hundred years before the carrying away to Babylon.
So, that's the sort of time period we're in.
A couple of hundred years after Solomon, finishing about a hundred years before the carrying away to Babylon.
Okay, so, with that, in this book, we're going to see prophecies, we're going to see some historical writings, loads of application, okay, with this as well.
So, hopefully, we're all going to learn a lot as we go through this, okay.
So, I'm really excited about this Bible study.
So, we're going to start with Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 1 where it says,
the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
I'm going to pray and then we're going to get started. Father, thank you for your word.
Thank you for this great book of the Bible, Lord, and what we can learn from this book,
and there's so much that we can apply to us, Lord, and we can also see it in its historical context as well.
It's being prophesied about at the time, Lord, and also how we can then apply it to our lives here.
I pray that you just bless this whole Bible study, Lord, as we go through it over the next sort of year and a bit, Lord,
but also that you just bless this first chapter today.
You fill me with your spirit as I preach it.
You help me to preach in an accurate way, in a bold way, in a way that people take home from these things
that they can apply to their lives as well.
We'll be able to learn from it. We'll be able to kind of pay attention to what your word's saying, Lord,
and how I'm expanding it as we go through.
In Jesus' name we pray all of this. Amen.
Okay, so like I just said, it's in this time period from a few years before the end of Uzziah,
and Uzziah is also known as Azariah as well. He's called both names in the Bible.
So around 762 BC, okay, through Uzziah's son Jotham's reign, which ended around 743 BC,
through Jotham's son Ahaz's reign, as you can see they're being mentioned in verse 1,
which ended around 726 BC, and then finally Hezekiah's reign, which ended around 698 BC.
Now we don't know when Uzziah exactly died. It could have been a bit after that as well,
but he does preach all the way through that.
Now these first 35 chapters, the first 35 are mainly prophetic,
with four chapters of history during Hezekiah's day, followed by 27 more chapters of prophecy as well.
So let's see what God said through Uzziah, the son of Amoz.
Verse 1 said, the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem,
in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
So four kings, of which Uzziah and Jotham are described as doing good,
Ahaz bad, and Hezekiah especially good.
Okay, that's kind of a brief summary to start.
But here at the beginning of Isaiah's prophecy, we're in the reign of Uzziah,
or like I said, also known as Azariah, until Isaiah 6-1.
So in the first verse of Isaiah 6, we see Uzziah dies.
It says, in the year that king Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne,
high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
So turn to 2 Kings 15, because I'd like to give you the timeline as well while you're turning there.
So 2 Kings 15, so after the splitting of the kingdoms under Solomon's son Rehoboam,
okay, we had the reigns of Abijah, Asa and Jehoshaphat, then Jehoram, Ahaziah,
and then, if you remember the disastrous reign of the bloodthirsty queen Athaliah,
which was a pretty dark period for the history of Jerusalem there during that time.
Then it was Joash, or Jehoash, followed by Uzziah's father Amaziah.
Okay, so that's where we're at. It's not long after Athaliah.
2 Kings 15, said in verse 1, in the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam,
king of Israel began, Azariah son of Amaziah, king of Judah, to reign.
Okay, so this is Uzziah.
Sixteen years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned two and fifty years in Jerusalem,
and his mother's name was Jecaliah of Jerusalem.
And he did that which was right.
Okay, so there's a good start.
He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done,
save that the high places were not removed,
the people sacrificed and burned incense still on the high places.
I want you to bear that in mind.
Verse five said, and the Lord smote the king,
so that he was a leper unto the day of his death,
and dwelt in a several house, and Jotham the king's son was over the house,
judging the people of the land.
So this was a similar situation with his father.
He did good apart from the high places as well.
His father was the same with this.
And in fact Jotham we see the same as well.
And then after that, after being described as doing good, there's a bad ending.
Okay, now keep in mind the high places, like I said, and turn over to 2 Chronicles 25.
2 Chronicles chapter 25, where we can see his reign in a little bit more detail.
Okay, so the end of 2 Chronicles 25 shows the end of Isaiah's father Amaziah's reign.
Okay, it says in verse 27 there.
Verse 27 of 2 Chronicles 25.
Now after the time that Amaziah did turn away from following the Lord,
they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish,
but they sent to Lachish after him and slew him there.
And they brought him upon horse and buried him with his father's insidious duty.
So again, he was described as doing good, but then he turned away from following the Lord
and then it all went wrong for him at the end.
Now look at 2 Chronicles 26.
Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was 16 years old,
and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah.
So this is the Uzziah that we're talking about, who Isaiah's writing towards the end of his reign.
He built Eloth and restored it to Judah.
After that, the king slept with his fathers.
16 years old was Uzziah when he began to reign.
He reigned 50 and 2 years in Jerusalem, so it's a long reign.
His mother's name also was Jeckeliah of Jerusalem.
And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord,
the contour that his father Amaziah did.
And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God.
And as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper.
And he went forth and warred against the Philistines,
and break down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Japheth, and the wall of Ashdod,
and built cities about Ashdod, and among the Philistines.
And God helped him against Philistines, against the Arabians that dwelt in Gerubail and the Mahanims.
And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah,
and his name spread abroad even to the entering in of Egypt,
for he strengthened himself exceedingly.
Moreover, Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate,
and at the tony of the wall, and fortified them.
Also, he built towers in the desert, and digged many wells,
for he had much cattle, both in the low country and in the plains,
husbandmen also, and vine dressers in the mountains and in Carmel,
for he loved husbandry.
Moreover, Uzziah had a host of fighting men that went out to war by bands.
According to the number of their count, by the hand of Jael, the scribe,
a Maasai, the ruler, and the hand of Hanani, one of the king's captains.
The whole number of the chief of the fathers of the mighty men of valour were two thousand and six hundred.
And under the hand was an army, three hundred thousand, seven thousand,
and five hundred that made war with mighty power to help the king against the enemy.
And Uzziah prepared for them throughout all the host shields, and spears, and helmets,
and habogens, and bows, and slings to cast stones,
and he made in Jerusalem engines invented by cunning men
to be on the towers and upon the bulwarks,
to shoot arrows and great stones withal,
and his name spread far abroad, for he was marvellously helped till he was strong.
That's a pretty good write-up on him, right?
Sounds like a strong guy, this is a tough king, he's doing some great stuff,
he obviously is in the will of God, he's being blessed with a lot of...
It's all looking good, okay?
At this point, but...
Well, it has to be a but, doesn't it?
But, verse sixteen,
when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction,
for he transgressed against the Lord his God,
and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense.
And as arrived, a priest went in after him,
and with him four-score priests of the Lord that were valiant men.
And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him,
It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord,
but to the priests, the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense.
Go out of the sanctuary, for thou hast trespassed,
neither shall it be for thine honour from the Lord God.
Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense,
and while he was wroth with the priests, a leprosiever rose up in his forehead,
before the priests in the house of the Lord from beside the incense altar,
and Azariah the chief priests, and all the priests looked upon him,
and behold he was lepers in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence.
Yea, himself, hasted also to go out because the Lord had smitten him,
and Uzziah the king was a leper until the day of his death,
and dwelt in a several house, being a leper through his cut-off from the house of the Lord.
Jotham his son was over the king's house, judged by the people of the land.
Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah,
first to last did Uzziah, the prophet, the son of Amor's right.
So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers,
in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings,
for they said he is a leper, and Jotham his son reigns instead.
So light with his father, okay, Uzziah's reign ended badly,
and specifically here it was pride.
That was the issue, wasn't it? It was pride, he was lifted up,
it was all going well, and then he just thinks he can just walk in,
and start basically doing what he likes in the house of God.
Okay, that was the problem.
And often the leaders and the people go hand in hand in the Bible, okay.
And for me it's no coincidence that under both reigns,
the people sacrificed on the high places,
which weren't removed by these kings,
okay, unlike some of the better kings that did,
which continues with the next king Jotham, like I said,
the high places being a place of idolatrous worship.
Okay, so the high places are where they're going to basically worship
some form of idols, at least an idolatrous type of worship.
And it's on the back of that,
and this moment of prideful sort of DIY worship here,
that Isaiah is prophesying here in Isaiah 1.
Okay, so just the old idea of that is just to kind of get you an understanding
of what's going on here, why he's prophesying,
what he's prophesying here, because it's not just the king,
he's prophesying against a whole lot,
and so often it goes hand in hand, we see that, you know,
the king's often a reflection of the people and vice versa, okay.
And here it's on the back of that pride of things going well,
getting lifted up, and then doing the wrong thing, okay.
Keep a finger here in 2 Chronicles,
we will be coming back to 2 Chronicles,
look back in Isaiah 1 and verse 2,
where God through Isaiah says this,
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken.
I have nourished and brought up children,
and they have rebelled against me.
The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib,
but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
So you've got God's people, okay, who unlike the ox,
they don't know their owner, okay.
Unlike the ass, they don't know their master God's house, basically, okay.
And isn't that the case now too, right?
You've got God's children everywhere who just don't know him.
There are God's children all over the world,
they don't even know God.
They've become children by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
for all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus,
but they don't know nothing about him.
They don't know anything about him,
they're not even interested in knowing anything about him,
and they'll rarely, if ever, step foot in his house.
And that's a reality, that's a reality that, like I've preached before,
people need to understand that because otherwise they don't understand soul winning.
Look, the majority of people won't step foot in his house, at least now.
Now here's the thing to think about this as well.
I was talking to my wife about this recently,
I was saying to her, think about, you know, in a few years' time,
five years' time, seven years' time, ten years' time,
some of those people that have been saved round here,
that have maybe grown in a slow way,
read a bit of their Bible here and there, listened to some things,
maybe pushed God away for a bit,
maybe came back to the things of God,
maybe started looking on that channel,
they'd look to remember,
oh yeah, there was that church that got me saved,
started watching a bit more preaching and learning.
We will get those people now and again turning up,
but the vast majority of salvation's probably won't.
That's a sad truth, isn't it?
That's a reality, but that's what it is, you know,
and don't ever let that put you off going and getting them saved up, okay?
But anyway, so, we've got here, we've got,
he's saying that the ox knoweth his owner and the ass his master's crib,
but Israel does not know, my people does not consider.
And here's the worst thing about this,
is when it's all at your fingertips to know him,
it's all here.
Everything we want to know about him is here.
And when there are houses of God all over the world,
and let's be honest, there are.
So here we're talking about a house of God at this point in time.
And look, there are houses of God all over the world.
If you really want to know him,
and you really want to hear it say his ass his master's crib,
you really want to know the house of God,
your master's house, your master's crib,
you can get to know it, can't you?
You can put some effort in, you can try.
You can make an effort pretty much in a lot of areas in the world
to find at least somewhere, to go somewhere,
to at least make a visit.
Yeah, you might not be able to go every Sunday morning
if you live a day's journey from somewhere,
but you can try, can't you?
And the reality of it is, is while many people are going,
well, it's just not five minutes from my house,
whatever the church, whatever the country is,
whatever the nation is or whatever else,
ultimately they're just unwilling to get to know their master's crib.
They're unwilling often to know their owner as well,
like the ox here,
because so many of those people aren't sitting there
just studying and learning and growing and everything else.
They're just putting him to one side.
And what is it? What do you say here?
They've rebelled against me. It's pure rebellion.
That's really what it is, isn't it?
Because let's be honest, the second you're saved,
you know straight away, you pretty much, you know,
yeah, I should really be one, going to church,
and two, learning what God wants from me.
You know that, don't you?
Now, people put it to one side and put it away and everything else,
but it's rebellion, really.
They just rebel. They just don't want to get to know God.
They don't want to be in the house of God.
Wherever it is, wherever it is in the world.
Now, we can open our eyes, okay,
and by verse three we can be pointing our fingers at Judah,
but we can even be pointing our fingers to those around the nation
or around other nations,
but, you know, maybe God is saying to many here or watching,
thou art the man.
Maybe he's saying that here, right?
Maybe he's saying, I've nourished you.
Maybe he's saying to you here, I've nourished you.
I've brought you up from a babe in Christ and you've rebelled.
You don't even know me. You rarely consider my house.
Now, maybe not so many people are here on a midweek service, okay?
But the reality is, what is rebellion?
Ultimately, it's just refusing to do what God wants you to do
in many ways, in many areas.
Maybe, you know, maybe this gets personal straight away.
He said, our sinful nation,
a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers,
children of the corruptors, they have forsaken the Lord,
they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger,
they have gone away backward.
And that's how bad it had got, okay?
The idolatry, the forsaking of God for whatever the idol,
because that's really what it's about, isn't it?
A seed of evildoers, children of the corruptors,
they've forsaken the Lord
and they've forsaken him in return for idols.
They've put something above it.
And I'm sure just like now, back then, money was probably a big one.
Money is a massive one.
Money is such a reason why people put God down here
and something else up here.
Career, money, cash, their job, hours at work, their house,
you know, whatever it is, that's so often the issue.
That's so often the reason people rebel
because money becomes more important,
houses become more important, holidays become more important,
partying for many becomes more important, doesn't it?
Whatever it is, you know, not wanting to fall,
you know, popularity, the idol of popularity
with their friends, their unsafe friends, family,
and people just put things here and God here.
And I don't like to admit it, you know,
there's always an excuse for most people
but the reality of it is for so many people
it's money that comes here and God comes below.
And often, that's what the backsliding comes down to,
it's making an idol of something and forsaking God in return, isn't it?
It's forsaking God, it's God becomes less important,
God becomes less important,
how God wants you to live becomes less important,
knowing God becomes less important,
knowing God's house becomes less important
and something else takes precedence and that is an idol.
That's what you're doing,
you're just lifting something up above God.
He said, why should you be stricken anymore in verse five?
You will revolt more and more.
He said, the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint
from the sole of the foot even unto the head.
There is no soundness in it
but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores,
they have not been closed, neither bound up,
neither mollified with ointment.
So first off, he's saying, why continue to chastise you?
That's really what he's saying to them here.
And that's not a point that we as God's people want to get to, do we?
You don't want to get to a point where God's going,
it's becoming a waste of time chastising you because you don't respond.
You're not responding to the chastisement.
And like I say many times, anything going on in your life,
you personally, not everyone else,
need to just think, okay, could it be chastisement?
Is there something going on in my life?
Is there something I might be just being chastised for?
And use whatever you go through any trial or tribulation
to make sure you're right with God.
But sadly, so many don't.
So many just want to excuse everything away,
justify everything, justify their life,
find an excuse, find a reason.
And there might be a point where God just says,
why should you be sickened anymore?
You will revolt more and more.
The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint.
And he said, from the sole of the foot into the head,
there is no soundness in it
but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores,
they have not been closed now,
neither bound up, neither modified with ointment.
And when God says that enough is enough,
you're not responding to the punishment,
that's a bad place to get to.
And we don't want to get to that place
because what's going to be next after that point?
You know, you're just kind of cast off,
maybe you're just, eventually your mind is gone,
maybe it's, you know, a sound mind is gone
or maybe you can even, you know,
you can even die early or something like that.
Now it's interesting that he's preaching this to a nation
whose king around this time is a leper as well,
where he's talking about the whole head is sick,
the whole heart faint,
from the sole of the foot into the head,
there is no soundness in it
but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores,
which is something that is obviously very common
with leprosy as well,
they have not been closed, neither bound up,
neither modified with ointment.
But I do think that it's a prophecy really
of what's to come though.
So look at verse seven where it says,
your country is desolate,
your cities are burned with fire,
your land, strangers devour it in your presence,
and it is desolate as overthrown by strangers.
And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard,
as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers as a besieged city.
So this didn't seem to happen in the reign of a zire
or Jotham by the way,
but it did 20 or so years after this point
in Ahaz's reign.
So I believe that's what he's prophesying of here.
If you turn to 2 Chronicles 28,
2 Chronicles and chapter 28,
where we see what who,
if you remember I said, you know,
the first two zire and Jotham seem to do good,
barring the high places and the ends of their reign.
But Ahaz, not so good.
Ahaz was bad, okay.
It says in verse one here of 2 Chronicles 28 said,
Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to reign
and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem,
but he did not that which was right
in the sight of the Lord like David his father.
For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel
and made also molten images for Baalim.
Moreover, he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom
and burnt his children in the fire
after the abominations of the heathen
whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.
They were sacrificing children then,
like they sacrifice children now,
aka the abortion industry.
He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places
and on the hills and under every green tree,
wherefore the Lord his God delivered him
into the hand of the king of Syria
and they smote him
and carried away a great multitude of them captives
and brought them to Damascus.
And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel
who smote him with a great slaughter.
For Pekah, the son of Remaliah,
slew in Judah 120,000 in one day,
which were all valiant men
because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers.
And Zikri, a mighty man of Ephraim,
slew Maasai, the king's son,
and Azarikum, the governor of the house in Elkanah
that was next to the king
and the children of Israel
carried away captive with their brethren.
200,000 women sons and daughters
and took also away much support from them,
brought the support to Samaria.
So after this, okay, God intervened.
He had the captives set free.
But then soon after, look at verse 16,
after this point said,
At that time did King Ahaz send unto the kings of Assyria to help him,
for again the Edomites had come and submitted to Judah
and carried away captives.
The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the low country
and of the south of Judah
and had taken Beth-Shemesh and Agelon
and Gedoroth and Shocho with the villages thereof
and Timna with the villages thereof,
Gimzo also in the villages thereof,
and they dwelt there.
For the Lord brought Judah low
because of Ahaz, king of Israel,
for he made Judah naked
and transgressed sore against the Lord.
So with that in mind, looking at that,
which came from 20 years onwards
from the point we're in in Isaiah 1,
this could have been when this was fulfilled, okay?
Not long after, he said in verse 7 of Isaiah 1,
Your country is desolate,
your cities are burned with fire,
your land strangers devour it in your presence,
and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard,
as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
So the image of being surrounded, being besieged,
that's the point there,
that lodge there in a garden of vegetables
and a cottage in the middle of a vineyard.
Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant.
We should have been a Sodom,
we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
And now this is a great truth, okay?
That even a small remnant of believers can preserve a place.
Just a small remnant.
Now not necessarily a whole nation,
although maybe it could be the case,
but the area, the place where that remnant of believers are,
if there is a remnant in a place, centred in a place.
Turn to Genesis 18, okay,
where God, and it's a famous passage,
he's talking to Abraham
before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
and the surrounding cities, okay?
Genesis chapter 18 and verse 23.
Genesis 18, 23 says,
and Abraham drew near and said,
will thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
So just to point out,
it's not that he's bartering here,
I know I pointed this out when we studied it,
but it's a long time ago now that we're in Genesis 18.
You see, Abraham, he's drawing close to God.
It said in verse 23,
Abraham drew near and said,
and he's drawing close to understand him, okay?
So when we draw close to God,
we get to understand God more.
You draw nigh unto him, he'll draw nigh unto you.
Abraham draws near and then he's now asking him questions.
And when you draw close to God,
you can ask God questions.
You can understand him more,
you'll have more revealed to you about God
when you draw close.
That's what he's doing here.
Abraham draws near, then he asks him,
will thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
Now, because some people I know,
you could read this and think,
oh, Abraham's like almost telling him off.
I tell you, he's not just asking him.
He's asking him and then he just keeps asking,
well, what about this many?
What about this many?
As we see.
So he draws close to understand him.
He says, peradventure,
there'll be 50 righteous within the city.
Will thou also destroy and not spare the place
for the 50 righteous that are therein?
So he's saying, if there are 50 righteous there,
will you spare the place?
Okay?
And righteous here is referring to the same righteousness
that was accounted to Abraham, by the way.
You don't have to say no,
but Romans 4.3 says,
for what's said for scripture,
Abraham believed God
and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
So it's the righteousness that is imputed unto us
by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
For Abraham, it was that faith in the coming Saviour.
Okay?
So here at this point,
he's saying to him,
well, if there were 50 saved people, basically,
in the city,
would you also destroy and not spare the place
for the 50 righteous that are therein?
So he wants to understand
because don't forget,
he's got his nephew, Lot, in there
and he's wondering, right, you know,
I mean, hopefully Lot's probably got some people saved.
Might get away with this, you know?
Well, let's see what happens.
He said, that be far from me to do after this man
to stay the righteous with the wicked.
Now he's just saying,
look, I know that you wouldn't do that, you know?
That the righteous be as the wicked,
that be far from thee,
shall not the judge of all the earth do right?
So he's asking, he's trying to find out
and the Lord said,
if I find in Sodom 50 righteous in the city,
then I will spare all the place for their sakes.
So yeah, he was right.
You know, he was correct.
He's asked him, he's right.
He already has an idea,
he already has a knowledge of God
and he said, no, 50 righteous,
if there were just 50 saved people there,
I would spare a wicked place like Sodom,
full of sodomites.
I mean, they came from every quarter,
old and young,
to encircle a house
in what they consider to be fresh meat in there.
I mean, just what a wicked place.
That's what happens when you end up with a place
that's being overrun by filthy sodomites
and this is how bold they eventually get, right?
And especially when it comes to what goes on at night time
with these sorts of filthy, disgusting animals.
But he said 50 would spare.
And Abraham answered, said, behold now,
I've taken upon me to speak unto the Lord,
which am but dust and ashes.
So no, he's not rebuking him,
he's not correcting him,
he's just, he's humble here, isn't he?
And he's saying, look,
you know, I'm gonna ask you again now,
peradventure, maybe,
there shall lack five of the 50 righteous,
wilt thou destroy the city for lack of five?
And he said, if I find there 40 and five,
will not destroy it.
I was just going, okay, let's see.
How far down can we go here, right?
And he spake unto him again and said,
peradventure, there shall be 40 found there.
And he said, I will not do it for 40's sake.
And he said unto him, oh, let not the Lord be angry
and I will speak.
Peradventure, there shall 30 be fatter.
And he said, I will not do it if I find 30 there.
And he said, behold now,
I've taken upon me to speak unto the Lord,
peradventure, there shall be 20 found there.
And he said, I will not destroy it for 20's sake.
And he said, oh, let not the Lord be angry
and I'll speak yet but this once.
Peradventure, 10 shall be fatter.
He said, I will not destroy it for 10's sake.
And the Lord went his way
as soon as he had left communion with Abraham
and Abraham returned unto his place.
The Lord would have spared that wicked place
for 10 saved people.
Now, I don't know what the population of Sodom
and the surrounding cities was.
We don't know, okay?
So I don't know what the ratios are
but I do know that there's a lot of filthy sodomites there
and I do know that he was willing
to not raise the whole place
had there been 10 saved people in Sodom.
And doesn't that add an extra incentive to soul winning?
In the area you live, doesn't it add an extra incentive
really to kind of, to be close to a church, right?
To be soul winning in your area,
at least to be soul winning near where you live,
to be, I mean, the best possible place
would be near to a church
where people are soul winning, right?
And that's obviously the best scenario
but if not, to be able to at least be close enough
that hopefully that and the surrounding areas,
of course the surrounding cities
would have probably been left off as well
had there been 10 righteous in Sodom.
To be able to be close enough, to be soul winning,
to be getting people saved
because the more and more righteous there are
and you can even add to a nation if you wanted,
I'm sure it gets that point as well
where God is willing to not at least raise the place
and of course the judgment, the punishment,
the whipping that God can and does do upon nations.
Well, and I've got a theory and I might be wrong here
but my theory is, is when that tsunami
wiped out a load of place and absolutely battered them,
I would say in, is it Phuket and other places like that,
I would say there was probably hardly any,
if any, saved people at all.
And I would say the same with many of those places
that got wiped out, there was no one saved there
and they're like just trying to come out with all these,
maybe many of them are blaming God and everything else.
It's like, how about you just put your faith in Lord Jesus Christ?
How about if you're saved, you go out and get people saved?
Stop complaining and moaning
and we had someone today, we knocked on the door
and after a short conversation
suddenly she's talking about what happened in her life
and that's why she's not.
Basically got away from God
because when she was a Catholic
she said that, it's quite a bizarre story actually,
one of those where you're like thinking
I've got to not say the wrong thing here
where she said basically someone died
and then I think a child died.
It's like a sad story then she said,
so we went to have IVF
and she said basically one priest,
he was very supportive of the IVF
and everything else.
And then she said, then the next priest
when I said could you pray for it all to go well?
He said, I will only pray for God's,
for the best outcome that God would want
and she said, and it failed.
And she's gone, so that was the end of it for me.
You're like, where do you even start?
Well more important than IVF.
Have you died today?
Well, you could go down to the rabbit holes,
couldn't you?
So nice.
But the point being that people want to blame God
and blame God for this and that
and disasters all the time.
They're like, I can't believe this happened each time.
Well ultimately here it seems to me
that we're constantly saying in the word of God
that God will spare places for righteous people.
And if you're saved and you want to play spared
go out and get people saved as well, right?
Well, I don't know.
Well, unfortunately Lot wasn't doing that, was he?
But back in Isaiah one, he said,
except the Lord of hosts had left unto us
a very small remnant.
We should have been as Sodom
and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
So that's how much God cares about the land, by the way.
About that land was that had there been a remnant,
sorry, had there not been a remnant,
he would have wiped out like he did Sodom and Gomorrah.
According to Isaiah,
who God is speaking through here.
He would have wiped the whole place out.
He would have wiped out every lot of them
had there not be some of them saved.
And can you tell me how many saved people
there are in Jerusalem right now in Judah
as it was then in what we call Israel now?
I don't think there's very many.
And wow, you know,
people think that we should be praying
and sending money and finding any which way to help
and everything else.
I don't think God thinks much of that place.
Maybe there is a remnant there.
Maybe there's a remnant there, which is why that,
and it's a queer den anyway,
Tel Aviv being some sort of capital of sodomy
and everything else.
Maybe God's sparing it
because maybe there is a small remnant there
because it's got nothing to do
with the people that call themselves Jews.
Let's put it that way.
Anyway, so verse 10 said,
hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom,
give ear unto the Lord,
our God, you people of Gomorrah.
So he's describing it back then.
And it was nothing like it is now, by the way.
He's described it back then as Sodom and as Gomorrah.
And that's obviously, you know,
had it not been for that remnant,
they would have been wiped out.
He's comparing it to those wicked cities.
I don't know how much sodomy was going on,
but I'm sure there was a lot of other wickedness
going on as well.
And let's put it this way.
If there's one way of insulting someone,
it's comparing them to a place
given over to sodomy, isn't it?
I mean, that seems to be the case.
I mean, that seems to be a big insult, doesn't it?
You know, he's just said it.
It wouldn't be like under that.
He's going, hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom,
give ear unto the Lord, our God, you people of Gomorrah.
Yeah, that's how God's men preach, by the way.
Okay, they're preaching hard and they're preaching
and calling and basically sodomites.
He said, to what purpose
is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?
saith the Lord,
I am full of the burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts,
and I delight not in the blood of bullocks
or of lambs or of he goats.
Why?
Because as Hebrews 10 four says,
for it is not possible
that the blood of bulls and of goats
should take away sins.
Yes, God commanded it in the law
and there are obviously a few reasons.
One reason, you would say,
to provoke living right, in a way.
When you have to bring a sacrifice
every time you do whatever the sin is
and you're bringing animals
and if you can't afford it,
you're having to bring birds,
it's kind of like, in a way,
it's like a swear jar type.
Isn't it?
It'll put you off.
If every time you've got to basically
bring one of your flock
or you have to buy something
to bring to God,
it's a good incentive
to stop sinning, isn't it?
That's one way of looking at it.
It should have resulted in an holy nation.
That's what he wanted.
The sacrifices obviously pictured
the coming Lamb of God,
the Lamb of God
which shaketh away the sin of the world,
talking about the Lord Jesus Christ.
The law was a schoolmaster
to bring them unto Christ.
So as well,
it's showing the importance of sin,
and ultimately it's just showing them
that they're all sinners.
They're all having to bring sacrifice
and everything else.
But as Hebrews 11, six after ten,
it says,
But without faith,
it is impossible to please him.
For he that cometh to God
must believe that he is
and that he is a rewarder of them
that diligently seek him.
And that's the same today.
All of these unsaved Christians,
in inverted commas,
God doesn't delight in their sacrifices.
He doesn't delight in it.
Because some people look at it and go,
Well, at least they, you know,
at least they call themselves a church.
Well, at least they kind of read
some version of the Bible there.
He doesn't delight in that stuff.
He doesn't delight in their food bank.
God's not going,
Well, you know, thankfully,
thankfully, you know,
old liberal queer Baptist down the road,
you know,
saying it's welcome to all
that preach the false gospel.
And he said to the food bank,
I'm so pleased that they give out,
I'm so pleased that they give out
people's hard-earned money and food
to drug addicts,
to hobos,
to grifters,
to people that want a freebie.
I'm so pleased.
No, no, he doesn't delight in that.
He doesn't delight in their free creche.
He doesn't delight in the fact that
they go, Oh, come on in,
let's bring them all in
and then we can preach them
a false gospel maybe
if they then end up
coming to the church.
He doesn't delight in that stuff.
He's not going,
Well, at least they're doing something.
At least they're helping out
with the mums and their babies.
He doesn't delight in their flower arranging
at the front of the false church.
He's not looking at old
Mrs. Whoever,
Mrs. Miggins,
and her husband who's still
pushing around
the lawnmower,
and going,
Aren't they doing
a great work for me?
Oh, well, I'll let them off
because no,
he's looking at them going,
It's an abomination.
Your time sacrifice,
your effort,
is an abomination.
He's not pleased by it.
He's not joyed by it.
When you come to appear before me,
said here in verse 12,
Who hath required this at your hand
to tread my courts?
But I would say that
that also goes,
therefore, for the unsaved
that come to the real houses of God.
Now, just aside from those
that are seeking salvation,
okay,
those that are seeking God,
but this is a household of faith,
isn't it?
This is a household of faith.
God doesn't delight
in those rejecting him
playing Christian
because you get those as well
who reject him,
who want to pretend
and want to come along
and kind of like look right
and everything else.
He doesn't delight in that.
Whether in the house of God
or somewhere with the house
of God's sign outside,
he doesn't delight in that stuff.
He said in verse 13,
he said,
Bring no more vain oblations.
Now, vain oblations
are basically empty offerings.
He said,
Bring no more vain oblations.
Bring no more empty offerings.
Okay,
incenses and abomination unto me,
the new moons and sabbaths,
the calling of assemblies.
I cannot away with it.
It is iniquity,
even the solemn meters.
All of these fake churches
with their different events,
all their different types of events
and their so-called outreach events
and their music events
and all these different things,
even the ones
with their solemn assembly.
So aside from the rock band,
Pentecostal Church,
all of that,
he said it's all an abomination.
All of it.
A whole lot of it.
Whether it's solemn,
whether they seem to be,
you know,
doing similar to what we believe
is the way God wants us
to worship him reverently
in spirit and in truth
with traditional hymns of faith.
If they're preaching
repent of your sins there,
it's wickedness.
It's an abomination.
It doesn't matter
how much they look like
our type of church.
But here's the thing,
when you go and partake
in the false religious service,
you're partaking in an abomination.
Now, people go too far with that
and they just cast off
anyone that doesn't
preach exactly and believe
exactly like we do.
Okay, that's not right either.
You need to, you know,
you need to at least
be sure about that.
But some people then
go the other end,
and they're like,
well, they use the NIV,
but they've only got
repent of your sins.
And of course, you know,
they say,
and you can lose your salvation,
but it's the best
I've got in my area.
I mean, what on earth?
What are you turning up there?
You're walking to
the house of Baal.
It's the same thing.
God hates that stuff.
It's abomination.
And like I said,
you know, aside from,
aside from the tongues,
I mean, that stuff's
just ridiculous.
The, the, the rock band,
the sea of E and Chris
and Catholic incense,
okay, being waved around
like he talked about
the incense here
and everything else,
those solemn assemblies
at whatever version
that seemed to be,
it's all, it's just
a whole lot of it.
He said,
your new moons
and your appointed feasts,
my soul hateth.
There are trouble unto me.
I'm weary to bear them.
And when you spread forth
your hands,
I will hide mine eyes from you.
Yea, when you make
many prayers,
I will not hear.
Your hands are full of blood.
And that is the majority
of churches in this nation
that I know of.
Their hands are full
of the blood
of the unsaved.
They're full of it.
They're full of the blood
of the unsaved
through either false gospels,
which are everywhere,
or those that are saved,
just a lack of soul winning.
So those that maybe are right,
those that are saved,
they're still,
their hands are still
full of blood
because who else is going out
and actually preaching
the gospel?
And if we give the benefit
of the doubt to those
that it's a bit sketchy
and you know,
okay, but just say,
just say, you know,
the ones that want to like
the diehards are like,
no, they just,
they don't really mean
repent of your sins.
They just kind of,
they've just been using it
for 50 years.
Oh, well, you know,
even when you point it out,
they don't really mean,
you know, any of that stuff.
You know, it's just,
it's just bad terminology.
Well, why aren't they going
out and preaching
the gospel then?
So why aren't they going
out and preaching it
if they believe the gospel
and they're meant
to be a church?
Well, their hands
are full of blood.
He said in verse 16,
wash you,
make you clean,
wash away the evil
of your doings
from before mine eyes
and cease to do evil.
Learn to do well,
seek judgment,
relieve the oppressed,
judge the fathers,
plead for the widow.
Now, this is,
if you look at this closely,
this is a correct order
that God wants from everyone.
Look at the order here.
He said first,
wash you,
make you clean.
Wash you,
make you clean.
He's talking about salvation,
isn't it?
Wash you,
make you clean.
1 Corinthians 6,
let me not return this
as such for some of you,
but ye are washed,
by the name of the Lord Jesus
and by the spirit of our God.
He's saying here,
get saved.
First off,
get saved.
Wash you,
make you clean.
Get saved,
then,
put away the evil
of your doings
from before mine eyes.
So get saved,
wash you,
make you clean.
That comes from faith.
Then,
put away the evil
of your doings
from before mine eyes.
God wants to save,
but then he does
want us to start
living right too.
Of course,
when we preach in gospel,
we make it very clear
that it's grace
through faith alone.
It's not of any past works,
present works,
future works.
It's got nothing to do
with any of it.
You're saved by faith
in Christ.
However,
God does want people
to live right afterwards.
And once we get people
saved,
we do want to try
and encourage them
to live right, right?
We want to try
and encourage them
to put away the evil
of their doings
from before God's eyes,
to cease from doing evil.
And then,
after ceasing to do evil,
and look,
there's ways, obviously,
that we can encourage
people with that.
And obviously,
preaching is a big part
of that,
trying to encourage people.
If you've got personal
disciples, you know.
And again,
there's ways of doing that,
and you want to be careful
not to just go in
like a bulldozer
and, you know,
smashing everything they do,
because sometimes
it can be hard for people.
But you're trying
to encourage,
you're trying to get people
to get right,
to put away the evil
of their doings,
to cease to do evil.
And how are they going
to learn to cease
to do evil?
How are they going
to cease to do evil,
isn't it?
Learning what he does
and doesn't want from you.
That's how they cease
to do evil.
That's how they learn
to do well.
And, you know,
that's the right order,
isn't it?
Once you make you clean,
then put away the evil
of your doings,
perform a nice,
cease to do evil,
learn to do well.
And then he said,
seek judgment,
relieve the oppressed,
judge the fathers,
plea for the widow.
Now, as a nation,
remember,
we're preaching
to a nation here, okay?
A big part of that
was, you know,
in learning to do well,
and learning from what he does
and doesn't want,
was to seek judgment,
was to relieve the oppressed,
was to judge the fatherless,
it was to plead
for the widow, okay?
That's what they should
have been doing as a nation.
And as a church of believers,
we should also be seeking
God's judgment,
shouldn't we?
Not ours.
We should be relieving
the oppressed
through the gospel,
those who are oppressed
by the burdens,
by the chains of sin.
We should be trying
to relieve them.
We should be reaching all.
We shouldn't be avoiding
the poor,
avoiding the equivalent
to the fatherless and widows,
those, ultimately,
it's people who are
the poorest in society.
We shouldn't be avoiding them
because, well,
I don't know if we'll
get a tithe from them,
or we don't know if we'll,
you know, get,
oh, they seem a bit,
you know,
a bit bedraggled
and everything else.
It's all take, take, take,
and everything else.
We should just be
reaching all, shouldn't we?
And we're a church which,
where do we go?
Where do we go,
first and foremost?
Where do we choose
to go to the poor?
To preach the gospel
because they're
pure religion and
undefiled before God
and the fatherless is
to visit the fatherless
and widows in their affliction
to keep himself
unspotted from the world.
That's what we
should be doing,
shouldn't we?
Reaching those,
reaching the poor,
reaching those
that are the equivalent
to now,
and when I say
the equivalent,
just because nowadays
we're the benefit system
and everything else,
they're not necessarily
the poorest in our society,
but those that have
the least anyway,
the fatherless
and widows and others,
and to keep
himself unspotted
and make you clean,
put away the evil
of your doings from before,
and I cease to do evil,
learn to do well,
seek judgment,
relieve the oppressed,
judge the fatherless,
plead for the widow.
Come now and let us
reason together,
saith the Lord.
Though your sins
be as scarlet,
they should be
as white as snow,
though they be red
like crimson,
they shall be as wool.
So he wants them
to reason,
he wants them to think,
he wants them to
understand, you could say,
couldn't you?
Come, let us reason
together, he said.
Come now and let us
reason together
and he basically says that,
well, how can those
sins be white as snow,
how can they be as wool?
It's the washing
and sanctification by faith
in the coming Saviour,
isn't it?
That's what it's about.
It's in the coming
for them, obviously,
not for us,
it's the washing,
it's the washing
that comes by faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And 2 Corinthians 5.21,
you don't have to turn this
and it says,
for he has made him
to be sin for us
that's what he's saying.
He said, come now,
let us reason together,
so the Lord,
though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be
as white as snow,
though they be red
like crimson,
they shall be as wool.
That's the result
of salvation, isn't it?
He then said,
if you be willing
and obedient,
you shall eat
the good of the land,
but if you refuse
and rebel,
you shall be devoured
with the sword,
for the mouth of the
Lord has spoken it.
Now, this could be
second or after
salvation again,
or after that
eternal sanctification.
Or it could also
refer to obeying the gospel,
where he said,
if you be willing
and obedient.
The command is there,
as is the choice,
isn't it,
with the gospel, right?
He said,
if you be willing
and obedient,
you shall eat
the good of the land,
but if you refuse
and rebel,
you shall be
devoured with the sword,
for the mouth of the
Lord has spoken it.
In verse 16,
he said,
wash you,
make you clean.
However so many
choose not to obey,
that's a command,
isn't it?
Wash you,
to get saved, right?
In God's eyes.
Romans 10 16 says,
but they have not
all obeyed the gospel.
Now, we're not talking about,
of course,
the false prophets
that take this guy,
you've got to continue
to obey all the gods.
No, no, no.
The gospel is
a command, though,
to get saved,
isn't it?
For Isaiah saith,
Lord, who hath
believed our report?
And obviously that's
going to be later
in the book of Isaiah.
But verse 19,
where you are says,
if you be willing
and obedient,
you shall eat
the good of the land,
but if you refuse
the rebel,
you shall be devoured
with the sword,
for the mouth
of the Lord has spoken it.
Which on the back
of verse nine
would make sense.
Verse nine said,
except the Lord of hosts
had left unto us
a very small remnant,
we should have been
a sword and we should
have been like unto Gomorrah.
So basically what
he's saying here
is if you do that,
if you get saved,
if you be willing
and I think probably
obedient to the gospel,
what he just said earlier
about washing themselves,
you shall eat
the good of the land.
But if you refuse
the rebel,
the remnant probably
isn't enough to stop that,
to stop that destruction
of a land, okay.
He said in verse,
and whether it's Judah
or the city even there,
Jerusalem or not.
Verse 21,
how is the faithful city,
talking about Jerusalem,
become an harlot?
It was full of judgment,
righteousness lodged in it,
but now murderers.
So what a fool from grace, right?
From the days of David
and Solomon to what
it was now becoming.
I mean, how sad
is that really?
He said,
the silver has become
dross,
a wine mixed with water.
So the dross is a waste product.
It's the impurities, okay,
from that refining process
of any metals.
And here he's talking
about the silver.
Basically,
they're precious things
that become waste.
They're wine or juice,
we would say,
watered down.
And it makes you think
of how so many churches
fall too, doesn't it?
The precious things
end up getting trampled on,
don't they?
Okay,
the silver becomes dross.
For example,
the preserved word of God
just gets trampled on
in the end.
How many Baptist churches
out there,
out probably not just
in this town,
but across this country,
used to stand on
the word of God?
Used to stand on
the King James Bible
and the inspired,
preserved word of God
on thus saith the Lord.
And how many of them
now have trampled
on those things?
How many of them now,
those precious things
have just become
dross to them?
It's like they can't
even be bothered with
the word of God anymore.
They're just pick
and choose every week.
The narrow way
is the Gospel.
How many churches,
I'm sure,
there are churches out there,
and I have no doubt
that believe the Gospel,
that believe that narrow way.
They believe that it was
grace through faith alone,
that it was not of works,
it was not of yourselves,
and where are they now?
Where are those churches?
Watered down,
or at least they've
trampled on the Gospel,
and then after that,
they end up getting
more watered down.
The doctrines get
watered down,
they compromise,
don't they?
After that,
when they don't stand
on the word,
when they cast away
the precious things,
and whether there's
people saved or not,
maybe even the past saved,
but he's a bit like,
wants to sit on the fence,
because we don't want
to put off those people.
Well, they believe
you can lose your salvation,
but maybe they're
good people.
Maybe they're not so bad.
Maybe we could convince
them with time
or something else.
Well, then everything else
goes downhill,
doesn't it?
They're just compromising it.
Oh, next thing you know,
it's a rock band,
like we're talking about
Sunday with the music.
Next thing you know,
it's women teaching
and preaching
in various capacities.
Next thing you know,
they become sodomite friendly.
Next thing you know,
they're going,
well, you know,
welcome them all in.
Oh, we're just going
to move with the times.
It's like,
what on earth?
How do these people like,
these ones that claim
to be Bible believers,
how on earth, right?
Where do they start?
How are they even
making that stand?
And are they really
honestly trying to say
that they would have
believed like that
50 years ago,
what a load of nonsense, right?
And it all just gets
watered down,
the wine mixed with water.
He said,
thy princes are rebellious
and companions of thieves.
Everyone loveth gifts
and followeth after rewards.
They judge not the fatherless,
neither does the cause
of the widow come unto them.
And although that's leadership
the world over,
isn't that again
so often what destroys
the church too?
Because that's often
what it's about.
1 Timothy 6, 10,
you have to turn there,
it says,
for the love of money
is the root of all evil,
which whilst some coveted after,
and pierce themselves through
with many sorrows.
Trying to appease
the tithers,
the big denaters.
They judge in respect
of persons based on wealth,
based on connections.
They start to fold
on certain doctrines
because some of their
big supporters of the church
believe that.
Then they start relying
on other churches,
supporting,
all that sort of stuff.
And it all ultimately
comes down to money.
It comes down to money
and they won't just preach
the truth because
all they care about
is suddenly it becomes
a business thing,
it's financial
and everything else.
He said,
thy princes are rebellious
and companions of thieves.
Everyone loveth gifts
and followeth after rewards.
They judge not the fatherless,
neither does the cause
of the widow come unto them.
Therefore saith the Lord,
the Lord of hosts,
the mighty one of Israel,
I will ease me
of mine adversaries
and avenge me of mine enemies.
I will turn my hand
upon thee
and purely purge away
thy dross
and take away all thy tin.
And I will restore
thy judges as at the first
and thy counselors
as at the beginning.
After thou shalt be called
the city of righteousness,
the faithful city.
So God threw Isaiah.
He's saying,
okay, I will deal with you.
Enough is enough.
Take away all
of the reprobate silver,
basically.
I'm gonna sort this place out.
And sometimes that has
to happen, doesn't it?
And it had to happen
obviously to Judah
at this time.
And sometimes it has
to happen to a church.
Sometimes it has
to be a purging.
It has to be a cleanup, okay?
And here the restoration
talked of was probably
what happened, I believe,
under Hezekiah's reign.
Turn to 2 Chronicles 29.
2 Chronicles 29.
But like I said,
with churches,
this will just often happen,
okay?
You'll get these sorts
of times.
You get periods where there's
a bit of a purging,
a bit of a cleanup,
and God's saying,
okay, we need to sort this
out and then things improve
again.
We've seen that happen
in the past.
We'll see it in the future.
We've seen it in many
churches as well.
Well, we're turning this
to 2 Chronicles 29,
but I want to just
quote 2 Kings 18.
In verses 4 to 5 of Hezekiah,
your turn to 2 Chronicles 29,
but 2 Kings 18,
4 to 5 says of him,
he removed the high places.
So this is a king
that did remove
the high places.
He break the images
and cut down the groves
and break in pieces
the brazen serpent
that Moses had made,
for unto those days
the children of Israel
did burn incense to it,
and he called it Nahushtan.
He trusted in the Lord
God of Israel
so that after him
was none like him
among all the kings
of Judah,
nor any that were before him.
That's a glowing appraisal
in the Word of God, isn't it?
That's King Hezekiah.
You're in 2 Chronicles 29,
which goes into
a bit more detail.
It says in verse 1,
Hezekiah began to reign
when he was five
or twenty years old,
and he reigned nine
and twenty years in Jerusalem,
and his mother's name
was Abijah,
the daughter of Zechariah.
And he did that which was
right in the sight
of the Lord,
according to all that
David his father had done.
He, in the first year
of his reign,
in the first month,
opened the doors
of the house of the Lord
and repaired them.
The priests and the Levites
and gathered them together
into the east street,
and said unto them,
Hear me, you Levites,
sanctify now yourselves,
and sanctify the house
of the Lord God of your fathers,
and carry forth
the filthiness
out of the holy place.
Jump forward to verse 16.
It says in verse 16,
The priests went into
the inner part
of the house of the Lord
to cleanse it,
and brought out
all the uncleanness
that they found
in the temple of the Lord,
into the court
of the house of the Lord,
and the Levites took it
to carry it out
And now they began
on the first day
of the first month
to sanctify,
and on the eighth day
of the month
came they to the porch
of the Lord,
so they sanctified
the house of the Lord
in eight days,
and on the sixteenth day
of the first month
they made an end.
They then go on
to offer offerings,
song worship,
reinstitute the Passover
with the remnant
from the northern tribes
joining too.
He invites them all to it.
Some mock, scorn,
some join.
Second Chronicles 30
and verse 25,
after all,
that's as is.
Second Chronicles 30
and all the congregation
of Judah with the priests
and the Levites
and all the congregations
that came out of Israel
and the strangers
that came out of the land
of Israel that dwelt
in Judah rejoiced.
So there was great joy
in Jerusalem,
for since the time
of Solomon,
the son of David,
king of Israel,
there was not the like
in Jerusalem.
Then the priests,
the Levites,
arose and blessed
the people
and their voice was heard
and their prayer came up
to his holy dwelling place
even unto heaven.
That was the result
of Hezekiah cleaning up.
So where Isaiah said
in Isaiah 1 24,
therefore saith the Lord,
the Lord of Hose,
verse 24 of Isaiah 1,
the mighty one of Israel,
I will ease me
of mine adversaries
and avenge me
of mine enemies
and I will turn my hand
upon thee and purely
purge away thy dross
and take away
all thy tin
and I will restore
thy judges as at the first
and thy counselors
as at the beginning
after thou shalt be called
the city of righteousness,
the faithful city.
I think he's probably
prophesying of what
was to come shortly here.
I think he's prophesying
of this time
that was to come
and think about that,
therefore Isaiah also
saw that prophecy come true
as well in Hezekiah's reign.
He said,
Zion shall be redeemed
with judgment
and are converts
with righteousness
and the destruction
of the transgressors
and of the sinners
shall be together
and they that forsake
the Lord shall be consumed.
Which happened under
Ahaz as we saw,
okay, the transgressors
and they started
just getting taken out,
the Philistines
were taking them out,
the Ephraimites
were taking them out,
everyone's just
and then we see then
that revival under
Hezekiah afterwards.
He said,
for they shall be ashamed
of the oaks
which ye have desired
and ye shall be confounded
for the gardens
that ye have chosen.
One of the reasons
I said to him,
remember these high places,
this is what I think
he's talking about here,
the groves
is another thing
they're called,
they're places of idolatry,
okay, and he said
they'll be ashamed
of the oaks
which ye have desired
and ye should be
confounded for the gardens
that ye have chosen
and that's what
idolatry does,
doesn't it?
It confuses you,
it destroys your life
and you've got to
check that in life, okay,
and this is a good
takeaway at the end of this,
you've got to make sure
there's not something
in your life
that you're putting above God,
whatever it is,
whoever it is,
and that can be hard
for people
because some people,
you know,
yeah, God's quite high
but that loved one's higher,
that family member,
it's something,
you know,
if it's between them and God,
that family member's
going to win,
that loved one's going to,
maybe that spouse
is going to win,
maybe, no, no,
God has to be up the top.
God comes above it all.
Might not sound so romantic
when you say to your
husband or your wife,
you know,
I love you more than
anyone else apart from God
but you know what,
you better mean that, right,
because it's God up here,
everyone else comes below
and when you get that right,
so many things will go right,
as soon as you get that wrong,
it will start to confound you,
it will destroy your life
because you lift things
above God,
it will destroy your life
and that's what you said here,
they shall be ashamed
of the oaks
which they have desired
and you can just think
about any sort of idol
that is and you shall be
confounded for the God
that you have chosen,
for ye shall be as an oak
whose leaf fadeth
and is a garden
that hath no water
because what will happen,
the idol always gets
in the way of the
water of the word,
the idol will always
get in the way,
the idol will always
take time out of things
that God tare him out
of your Bible reading,
time out of your Bible
study,
time out of your being
in church,
time out of listening
to preaching,
it will just take time
out of the word basically,
it will take time out
of the water of the word
and that's why you'll
be like an oak
whose leaf fadeth
as a garden
that hath no water
and the strong shall be
as toe and the maker
of it as a spark
and they shall both
burn together
and none shall quench them,
toe is a bit separated
from flax
which burns easier
I think,
I remember in
the book of Judges
with Samson
it talks about
like a toe that
has been burnt,
he just snapped off
these green wreaths,
I think they are,
the warning is
that these unsaved
idolaters,
and those facilitating it,
they'll all burn
together in hell,
it's into the,
he said,
a nun shall quench them
into the fire
that never shall be quenched,
that's what
he's talking about,
so there he's just saying
that even the strong there,
along with those,
the maker of it,
and I think he's talking
about the maker
of the,
those idols,
those groves,
those high places,
you know,
there's a spark,
they're just all together,
they're just going to combine
together and they'll all
just burn up
and burn forever in hell.
So,
that was Isaiah 101 again,
it starts off with some
pretty hard preaching
and
that's going to continue
throughout the book,
alright,
there's some
good stuff in there,
there's going to be
some hard preaching in there,
there's going to be some,
maybe some harder messages
there as well,
and Isaiah,
he just comes out
just preaching hard,
doesn't he,
and often that's how God
prescribes it for his people,
doesn't he,
but hopefully we're
going to grow from that,
we're going to learn
a lot from that,
none of that was
too personal anyway,
but we'll see as we go on
there'll be some stuff
that's going to talk to you
and hopefully we'll be able
to apply it and,
you know,
and improve ourselves
on the back of it.
On that we're going to
finish in a word of prayer.
Father, thank you for your word,
thank you for this great book,
Lord,
that great chapter and
the messages and lessons
that we've hopefully
got out of that,
Lord,
especially about idolatry
and the love of money
and, you know,
loving gifts and
loving reward
and everything else
and to just be so
careful for that,
Lord,
to make sure that
you're at the top,
Lord,
you're what's most important
in all of our lives,
Lord,
and helps as a church
to just,
you know,
to get that right
and as well as
all the other areas
and just,
you know,
make sure that
we know you,
Lord,
that we know your house,
that we just
continue to know your house,
to keep learning about you
and to keep learning about you
knowing that,
you know,
knowledge will either
decrease or increase,
Lord,
and we just need to
keep increasing our knowledge
of you.
Help us to all do that,
help us to have a
good rest,
end of the week
and for Sheffield
to go great as well
and for Sunday
to be a great day
in your house.
Well,
Jesus,
thank you for all this.
Amen.