(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Certainly, there's been so many stuff out there. There's been so many other companies out there playing about that one. He's looking at it like, Judge Bond comes up, Oh, okay, that's worse. They don't want you looking at us. It's like, how do you inherit such a great face and take a back? I don't know. I'm pretty good. I'm pretty good. I like that. I like that. That really drives me nuts. That's really bad. I don't know. If it's the day that you are here, I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. Psalm 324, draw me nearer. Psalm 324, on the first. High and high, O Lord, I have heard thy voice, and it holds I love to be. But I long to rise in the arms of faith and be closer drawn to thee. Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord, to the cross where thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord, to thy precious, bleeding side. Consecrate me now to thy service, Lord, by the power of grace divine. Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope, and my will be lost at night. Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord, to the cross where thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord, to thy precious, bleeding side. O the pure delight of a single vow, that before thy throne I spend. When I kneel in prayer and with thee by God, I communest friend with friend. Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord, to the cross where thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord, to thy precious, bleeding side. On the last, there are depths of love that I cannot know till I cross the narrow sea. There are heights of joy that I may not reach till I rest in peace with thee. Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord, to the cross where thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord, to thy precious, bleeding side. Amen. All right. Great singing this evening. It's good to have you all here with us on a Wednesday night. At this time, we're going to go through our announcements. If you do not have one of these bulletins, just slip your hand up real high, and we'll make sure that we get one out to you. And if you'd open up to the first page, we'll go through them real quickly. We got the service times at the top there, Sunday morning at 1030, Sunday evening at 5 p.m. And you know what? Since the church started four years ago, we've had a couple different start times, but I think I'm pretty confident, pretty comfortable we'll be settling into this 5 p.m. time. Gives us quite a bit of time after service to be able to get some soul winning in, as well as still leaving a little bit of time in the evening to get home, and especially for those who are traveling and still be able to get a good night's rest for the rest of your week. We've got the Wednesday night Bible study, of course. We've got just today and next week, we'll be wrapping up the book of Isaiah, last two chapters, and then we'll be starting in the book of Hebrews the following week. We've got the soul winning opportunities listed there, as well as the salvation and the baptisms for the month of July, as well as for the year. If there's any salvation to report, let's take care of that right now. What day? Today. Amen. All right, one for today over there. Brother DJ? Sunday after church. All right, cool. Sunday after church. Two for Monday. All right. Anyone else? Oh, yes, sir. For today. Amen. All right. Very good. Very good. All right. We'll keep up the good work. Preaching the gospel. Obviously, it's a little bit warmer in the summertime. It's a little hotter, but that shouldn't change our efforts, right? All right. We'll keep up the good work. Preaching the gospel. Obviously, it's a little bit warmer in the summertime. It's a little hotter, but that shouldn't change our efforts, right? We'll keep up the good work. We'll keep up the good work. Preaching the gospel. Obviously, it's a little bit warmer in the summertime. That shouldn't change our efforts, right? It's actually a lot easier to go out in the heat and the sun than it is, I think, in the cold and the snow and the freezing and the rain. I've done both. I'd much prefer going out when it's a little bit hotter outside than when it's super cold. So anyhow, keep up the good work. Going out there and preaching the gospel. We've got the offering totals on there at the bottom of the page for the month of July. Birthday requests. Looking for updates, updates. We updated on ... How's your grandma doing, Brother DJ? Is she out of the hospital now? Well, it's actually ... She said she's okay if she's not in the room. She works at IU. Right. Yeah. Okay. So she's not released yet, but she's out of ICU. She's just in a room. Correct. Okay. But she's doing well. They just don't want to release her yet. Okay. Good. Good. We'll continue to pray for her. Any idea, any thoughts on when she might be released or no? I mean, it's just they're kind of taking it day by day ... Okay. They want to make sure that's cleared up, I'm sure, before they release her, with the problem that she has. Good. Good. I'm glad to hear things are improving there. So we'll continue to pray for Debbie. And then ... Let's see. Is there any other updates? How's Frankie doing? Any word from Sunday? I mean, anything just kind of the same? Okay. Still waiting to hear results from the colonoscopy and see from there. But he's home. Right. So that's good. And then we were going to add Brother Keith's sister, which I think I left ... I brought that card home with me. And what ... I'm trying to remember ... There's a heart problem with her, too? Yeah. It's a heart ... Heart problems. So pray for ... Do you have her name written down by chance right there? It'll be on next week's bulletin. It's Keith's sister. I said her name on Sunday, and I don't have the prayer request with me. I think it's in my notebook or in my bag. Any other updates, though? Anyone else have any updates? Anyone on the prayer list? All right. Very good. Continue to pray for everyone on the list. Pray for Steadfast Baptist Church. Pray for all the trials and persecutions that they're dealing with down there in Watauga, Texas. On the next page, it is the August Challenge. So we are ... This is our first service in August, and we have a first-time visitor with us today. So Brother Stephen, I don't know if you probably ... I don't know if you remember or if you ... I guess you probably have. You heard ... You chose the right day to bring in a first-time visitor to church. So you get a prize for doing that. Now we give out the prizes after the month. Usually it's well after the month, if you know me at all. Prizes come a little bit delayed, but they do come. So sure enough, that just ... I want to keep you on the hook for something. I mean, you got to like, man, I got to get that prize come in that Pastor Berzins holds me from a few months ago, and then you get another one, and then it's like that's how you keep coming back. See, it's not a ... It's a ploy to keep you all here. Just delay the prizes for a couple months. All right, Bible memory passage. So we are memorizing Hebrews Chapter 4 as our second week. If you are following along with our pace, two verses a week, we've got 10 weeks to learn all of Hebrews Chapter 4, and I'm still going to get caught up. There's a couple more prizes left for Hebrews Chapter 3. I handed them out for verses 1 through 6. I'll get the rest of them taken care of pretty soon, and then we'll work on Hebrews 4. We're working through the whole book, so I still am going to say, if you haven't started any of the Hebrews Bible memory, excuse me, I encourage you to do so. One, it's a great book of the Bible. Two, we're going to be doing a Bible study on it, and it's coming up in a couple weeks, so we're going to be starting that, and it'll help you be prepared even more to, I think, just learn and gain from the preaching, and in addition to having the scriptures memorized, and I'm sure you'll learn a lot more. You'll find it very valuable when we go through as a church this book, and this is also the first time we've really done this going through chapter by chapter through a book of the Bible, so it'd be really cool to be able to quote all of Hebrews from Chapter 1, Verse 1, all the way through to the end, and have it, you know, word perfect. That'd be a great accomplishment. So that's what we're working for. It's going to take a while to do this. It's going to take some time to do that, but we've got time, right? Lord willing, we've got time. So as long as you've got, put some effort into it, and it's as simple as doing two verses a week. If you could just memorize two verses a week, you could get the whole book of Hebrews memorized. Follow us on our path, and you'll get this whole thing memorized. Upcoming events. So September 3rd is going to be our soloing marathon in Alabama. I really need to get that information out ASAP. My goal is to have that done by the end of the week, make a video, get it out there, so that everyone knows where we're going to go. Be in prayer for that, too, as well, about that event. There's a lot of things going on. A lot of people are going to be coming out there to support us and get involved from Alabama, specifically. So be in prayer for that event, and October 13th through the 15th is the Mount Baptist Church Camp, and that's always a good time if you're able to make it out to that. I encourage you to try to contact Pastor Robinson, see if they have any spots available to make it out there. We have a really good time, a really nice camp, and I'm looking forward to that. Birthdays and anniversaries. Sarah's birthday was Monday, Truth had a birthday on Tuesday, Abigail's got a birthday today, and Mrs. Kristin Miller has a birthday tomorrow. So lots of birthdays this week, and you know what that means, Abigail, after service, what do you get? You get an ice cream bar, right? You show up to church on your birthday, you get free ice cream, that's the rule, and you get the pleasure of all of us singing happy birthday to you. So we're going to sing happy birthday to Abigail right now. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Abigail, happy birthday to you. All right, Abigail turned 11 today. Happy 11th birthday Abigail, and that is about it for our announcement. So I'm going to turn the service back over to Brother Peter, and he will lead us in the next song. Song 147, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. Song 147 on the first. What a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms, what a blessedness, what a peace is mine, leaning on the everlasting arms, leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms, leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh how sweet to walk in this pilgrim's way, leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh how bright the path grows from day to day, leaning on the everlasting arms, leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms, leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. What have I to dread, what have I to fear, leaning on the everlasting arms, I have blessed peace with my Lord so near, leaning on the everlasting arms, leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms, leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. Amen, church, great to see you. This time we're going to collect our Wednesday evening offering, which goes to support missions and ask the ushers if they can get the plates. Thank you. The church, while those offering plates are being passed around, you can open up your Bibles to the book of Isaiah, chapter 65. That is Isaiah, chapter 65, and as we do customary here at Strong Home Baptist Church, we're going to read the entire chapter, and that's brother Jesse, if he can please do that for us. In Isaiah 65, the Bible reads, I am sought of them that acts not for me, I am found of them that sought me not. I said, behold me, behold me unto a nation that was not called by my name. I have spread up my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good after their own thoughts. A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face, that sacrifices the gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick, which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine's flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels, which say, Stand by thyself, come not nearer to me, for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day. Behold, it is written before me, I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom. Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the Lord, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blaspheme me upon the hills, therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom. Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy not, for a blessing is in it, so will I do for my servants' sake, that I may not destroy them all. And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah, an inheritor of my mountains. And mine elects shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there. And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the earth to lie down in, for my people that have sought me. But ye are they that forsake the Lord, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number. Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter, because when I called ye did not answer, when I spake ye did not hear, but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, my servant shall eat, but ye shall be hungry. Behold, my servant shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty. Behold, my servant shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed. Behold, my servant shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit. And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen, for the Lord God shall slay thee and call his servants by another name, that he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth. And he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth, because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes. For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy, and I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people. And the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days. For the child shall die and hundred years old, but the sinner, being a hundred years old, shall be accursed. And they shall build houses and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build and another inhabit, they shall not plant and another eat, for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elects shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble, for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock, and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord. Let us pray. Father, we thank you this time, be good to us to come hear the preaching of the word of God, and pray he bless past burdens, fill in the Holy Ghost. Give him the words he needs to say to us so that we can come out of this church being better Christians, better used by you for your honor and glory, Lord. We thank you for all you've done for us. We thank you for eternal life, and we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. All right, Isaiah chapter 65, there's so many great points brought up here, and even just different doctrines have some excellent supporting verses inside of this chapter. So I'm going to do my best. We're not going to go really too far in depth into any single one of them, because we're going to try to cover the chapter as a whole. And one of the things that we see right off the bat here, and I want to, let's look down in our Bible at verse number one. The Bible says, I am sought of them that asked not for me. I am found of them that sought me not. I said, behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name. Turn to Romans chapter 10, where this is quoted. And the first thing we get in this, the first verse in this chapter we're seeing here, this great statement, and I think that this is something we should all lay to heart, this statement saying, I am sought of them that asked not for me. So God is being found of those that aren't really asking for Him. He says, I am found of them that sought me not. I said, behold me, behold me. So God's calling out to see, hey, behold me, look at me, right? Pay attention, here I am unto a nation that was not called by my name. Excuse me, and this is the foreshadowing, and we're going to get more in depth on this a little bit later in the sermon of what we believe in this church is a doctrine. It's called replacement theology, where the nation of Israel, when they stopped bearing the fruit of being the children of the Lord, of being God's people, of being the followers of the Lord, and it's supposed to be that great lighthouse to a dark world, when they ceased to follow the Lord, ultimately God removed their candlestick as a nation and gave it unto the nation that's going to bring forth the fruits thereof. And we'll get more deeply into that as we get into this passage. We'll go over some more verses regarding that. But even from the very beginning, this very first verse, we see this foreshadowing of saying, hey, I'm going to be found of those people that are not seeking after me, and I'm going to be, you know, we say, behold me, behold me unto a nation that was not called by my name. And this has to do with going out to people who are not looking for God, and this is exactly what we ought to be doing, is going forth and preaching the gospel boldly to people. They're not coming into church to hear the word of God. We need to go out and preach the word of God to them and find those people who are going to be found, even though they're not seeking at that moment, they're not, you're not looking to come in here, when people want to come into church and are looking for God, great, amen. I love that. But we need people to go out and find people and talk to people and say, hey, behold him, behold him unto a nation that is not called by his name. Now, we live in a nation that at least has the history of being called by Christians, but any more, it seems to be getting worse and worse. But let's look at Romans chapter 10, verse 17, where this very verse, the first two verses are quoted here. The Bible reads in verse number 17, So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. We had that great passage even earlier here, talking about, you know, how shall they hear without a preacher, how shall they preach that except they be sent, and all the great words about how, basically how a person gets saved, right? And it kind of culminates with faith coming by hearing and hearing by the word of God. You need the word of God to get saved, you need to hear the word of God in order to put your trust and faith in the word of God in order to be saved. So, that's how that ends up there. Verse 18 says, But I say, have they not heard? He's like, well, wait a minute, if that's all it takes, people need to hear, they need to believe, well, haven't they heard? He says, yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world. He's saying, yes, they did hear. Yes, the Jews heard. But I say, did not Israel know? Well, so, I mean, didn't Israel know this? First, Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you. Now, don't forget, too, we're in the book of Romans here, this, Romans 10, where we're reading. This is written to Gentiles. I mean, this is written to people who are believers to the church at Rome, right? And you would never have this type of thing going on in the Old Testament. Now, that's not to say that there weren't people preaching the Lord in other nations in the Old Testament, but this type of establishment of all the churches and things like that that was going on, I think this is a new thing, it's a little bit different, and definitely the belief of going out into these Gentile nations, see, if there were synagogues or anything, it was still more geared for the Jews, but this is designed to go out and target the people of these other nations and other lands to let them know, hey, there's a God, and he's also looking for that people who is going to serve him. So one of the punishments against Israel is to say, I'm going to provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, so by people who are not called by my name. I'm going to go out, and you're going to be provoked unto jealousy when you see the heathen, or the heathen nation, that used to be a heathen nation, maybe, people who the Gentiles are going forward and they're receiving the word of God, they're receiving the things of God, and you're not. And that's going to provoke them to jealousy. It says, by a foolish nation, I will anger you. Verse 20, but Esaias, which is Isaiah, is very bold in saith, I was found of them that sought me not. I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me. This is what, you know, verse number one that's quoted there. And then in verse 21, that's quoted there. And then in verse 21, he's quoting the next verse, but to Israel he saith, all day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people. And we get a little bit more clarity, at least, on how verses one and two go together. Verse one is talking about the nations that are provoking Israel to jealousy, because there are no people. And then verse two, he's focused then on Israel when he says, all day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people. And let's go back to Isaiah chapter 65. And we need to remember that key in verse one, you know, being found of them that seek me not to say, why do you go out and talk? You know, we need to go out and talk to people. We need to go out and preach the word of God. We need to go preach the gospel because they're not all just going to come busting down the door trying to get into church. But they need to hear, and you know what? A lot of people end up putting their trust in Christ as a result of people who go forth, and they weren't necessarily trying to talk to you that day, but then all of a sudden, they hear the word of God, and the word of God cuts through their heart and cuts through their soul, and they are convinced, and they realize they need a Savior, and you know, thank God for the day that every one of us put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. But our job is to go forth and preach the gospel, not sit here and preach the gospel. Obviously, preach the gospel no matter where you're at, but the command is to go. Go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature of the Bible. So Jesus Christ said that, right? Go, go out, and he said, but they don't want to hear. That's not your problem. Now, obviously, if someone doesn't want to literally listen to what you have to say, then you just move on, that's fine, but we still need to give them an opportunity to at least have that choice to say, okay, yeah, I don't want to hear you, fine. Verse number two, I've spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good after their own thoughts, a people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face. And I mean, who is this talking about? This is talking to Israel. As we already saw in Romans chapter 10, this is directed to God's people. He's saying, you're a rebellious people. I've spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people. It's not that God isn't trying, God has sent his prophets. But if we notice, you know, in the New Testament, we hear the parables, Jesus was saying all these parables about the husbandman or the ruler of the vineyard, sends out his servants, and they're beating some and killing others, and then he sends his son unto him at the end, and they kill him, and we're going to go over that particular passage a little bit later. But over and over again, we see that the children of Israel, by and large, rejected Christ, they rejected the Lord. It wasn't always that way. There was times when they would follow him, there was a lot of times they would follow the Lord and then kind of go back and forth between idolatry and everything else. It got so bad, as we're in the book of Isaiah here, that they're getting closer and closer to going into captivity as a result of their rebellion, as a result of their turning from the Lord, as a result of their turning to their idols and everything else, that God ends up bringing them into captivity. And this is meant to, obviously, not just have a prophetic teaching to it, but even for the people at that time to maybe wake up and realize, hey, God's trying to get through to you, maybe we ought to look at ourselves and see that we are the rebellious people, we are the ones that are walking in a way that's not good after our own thoughts, of people that provoke with me to anger continually to my face. I mean, imagine being God and your people that you freed from bondage, that you have been sending your servants to, that you've been trying to reach, that you've been blessing or whatever, you know, just caring about and everything else, and they're just, every day, just blaspheming. You know, it will demonstrate the long suffering of God for allowing things to continue as long as He really does. When God sees this stuff every single day and He knows what everybody does, we know a very small number of people just in general in our day-to-day contact and lives and things like that. I mean, think about how many people are out there in the world. God knows and sees what everybody does, what everybody thinks, the types of things that people say that provoke God. I mean, think about this. You think God's not upset by people that blaspheme His name, even if they're not believers? You say, oh, but they're not a believer anyways. Yeah, but that still is going to make God angry. He made His commandments for a reason. And when people are just casting around, you know, a real quick example would be people who just use the name of Jesus Christ as an expletive. They hurt themselves, and they'll just pronounce the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with absolutely no reason to call on Jesus Christ, other than just switching it out with some other four-letter word. To them, it's just the same. They might as well be just saying some other vulgar language or some other profane word, right? And instead, they're just using the name of Jesus Christ. You think that doesn't make God angry? And that's the tip of the iceberg for all the things that go on on a regular basis, on a day-to-day basis. And when you start thinking about that, you know, people provoking God to anger continually to His face the long-suffering of God, because He can endure a lot. But as we mentioned last week, you got to watch out, though, when you've reached that tipping point with the Lord. Because the more long-suffering He is, the worse it's going to be when you cross the line, when you've reached the point of no return. And then God's going to unleash on you. And that's what every nation ought to have, that proper fear of the Lord. And we need to get back to people having a good understanding and a healthy fear of the Lord. The people that are provoking me anger continue to my face, that sacrifices in gardens and burneth incense upon altars of brick. And one other thing you're going to notice, too, all throughout the Scripture, the thing that makes God the most angry is people going after other gods, worshiping other gods, their own idols, worshiping in the groves, everything else. There's a reason why Commandments 1 and 2 are in that order, 1 and 2, as opposed to all the rest of the Commandments. I mean, you've got murder, you've got stealing, you've got covetousness, you've got all these other things, but 1 and 2 are not having any other gods before them and not making any images and bowing down to those images and worshiping those images. The Lord our God is a jealous God. And we covered that a lot last week, but we need to remember that. And you see this over and over again, and I mentioned this last week, too. I'll say the same thing again. In Romans 1, you see God giving people over to reprobate mind. Why? Because they knew God, but they glorified Him not as God. They set up their own idols, they made up their own gods, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator who's blessed forever. Amen. But let's keep reading here. I don't want to go off on that tangent. We covered that last week. Verse 4, continuing on, I'm just listing off the condition of these people, which remain among the graves and lodge in the monuments which eat swine's flesh and broth of abominable things is in their vessels. They have no regard for the laws of God, for the commands of God, with all these things. They're just completely disobedient to the law of the Lord. Verse 5, which says, Stand by thyself, come not near to me, for I am holier than thou. Now, this is the kind of the linchpin here. He's listing off all of these various things that how His people are rebellious, how they're in error, in many grievous ways. And wait, you know, I mean, they're just not being obedient to His commandments pretty much at all, it seems. I mean, the dietary restrictions are out the door. They don't care about that. They're not putting any difference between the holy and profane. They don't care about, you know, they're provoking them to anger, and they're setting up idols, just false gods. They're just making up their own gods, and they have the audacity to say, Oh, yeah, I'm holier than you. You stay over there. They have this pompous, pious, proud attitude of being holier than thou. And now, look, there's a warning in this, too, by the way, even though this is applied to people who just, they're very religious, but they have absolutely zero respect for the Bible. No one ought to get to the point to where you're acting better than and holier than thou and having this type of an attitude, but especially when you're guilty of all these other grievous sins. I mean, that's just the pinnacle of hypocrisy. And this is exactly the Pharisaical attitude. This is the Pharisees to a T. But what I want to point out to you, because oftentimes independent fundamental Baptists will be the ones being called out to say, Oh, you're a Pharisee, and this Pharisee, this and Pharisee, that, and you're so judgmental. Now, to the judgment, I'll say, Yes, I am. The Bible says to judge righteous judgment. Over and over again, we're told, Over and over again, we're told to judge. We have to judge. How are we going to judge between right and wrong, between good and evil? You have to make judgment. But it has to be righteous judgment. We have to go, how are we going to do it? By looking to the law. And you say, You're legalistic. Yes, I want, I love the law of God, and I want to follow the law of God to the best of my ability, unlike the Pharisees. See, people will say, Well, the Pharisees, they were always looking to... No, they weren't. The Pharisees were looking to the law and how they could not judge. They could not follow the law. Every time they're asking questions of Jesus, they're trying to find a way around the law. Was the law full for a man to put away his wife for every cause? No. Jesus answers, No. And they're trying to find these reasons, and even when his own disciples hear it, they're like, Wow, if the case be so, then it's not good for a man to marry. Because they're under this attitude and under this teaching and in this culture where it's just kind of like, basically, I think it's probably very similar to today in the sense that people just want to get married or get divorced for any reason. And people want to be able to get divorced for every reason. And at least around the time of Jesus Christ, that appears to be the thinking as to what people were doing or would want to do. Now, and that's wicked, and Jesus said, You know, Moses, for the hardness of your heart, he gave you the precept, he gave that part of the law, that except it be for fornication, that that clause in law, and I'm not going to go into detail on all that tonight, that that was allowable, but it was, first of all, for the hardness of man's heart, not being able to get past that, and two, he said from the beginning it was not so. He said, For God made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall man leave father and mother and cleave unto his wife, and be joined unto his wife, and they too shall be one flesh. And he said, That's the way that God intended it. Two, one flesh, till death do us part. That's the way God intended it, but the Pharisees were always trying to find ways around it. The Pharisees were the ones that said, you know, instead of honor thy father and mother, which the Bible teaches, it's one of the Ten Commandments, honor your father and mother, honor is not just respect, honor is caring for, taking care of your parents, which is evident when Jesus rebukes the Pharisees when they say, you know, it's Corban, which is to say a gift whereby that might just be profited by me, and they've made the commandment of God of none effect. Jesus rebukes the Pharisees by that, and what they're saying is, well, hey, however I could benefit you, mom or dad, you just consider, you know, be thankful that I did that for you, and that you're lucky that I did anything for you when they're making the commandment of God of none effect, because God commands you. No, you must take care of you. You must honor your father and mother and care for them when they get in their older age, just as they cared for you when you were in your younger years and couldn't care for yourself. That's the way it would, but that's the Pharisees, okay? But they also love to judge other people, and they didn't do anything. You know, Jesus said, hey, you know, what the Pharisees say, you observe to do that when they're still under that Levitical priesthood, and he's saying, you know, what they're, you know, listen to what they're saying out of the law of Moses, but don't do what they do. So they're not even going to lift a finger to do all the things that they're saying. Some of the things they were saying might have been right, but he's saying they don't even do at all. And their heart was always trying to find a way to not have to follow the law of God and try to make all these exceptions and make their own rules that would circumvent or circumcede the authority of Scripture. So no, I mean, the independent fundamental Baptist I know aren't trying to make excuses for and make ways around following the law of the Lord. We actually want to follow the law of the Lord because we love the law of the Lord, because the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul. We care about the word of God, and we understand that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and it is profitable to us today. Turn if you would to James chapter 2. James chapter 2, we're going to get another illustration in Scripture where people can be having an attitude of holier than thou. But, you know, one thing we say, well, I'm a fundamentalist. You know, I'm not this big hypocrite, but you also want to watch out for the holier than thou attitude when you start to get, you know, a lot of knowledge, maybe a lot of zeal for serving God. But don't let it warp your view of other people to the point to where you're not kind and merciful and loving and full of charity to go forth and try to help other people as opposed to just being like, oh, get away from me, you wicked sinner. Right? Now, someone may be, you know, in sin, but we want to, you know, we're trying to help those people. Obviously, we're going to preach against that. We believe against living a wicked lifestyle and committing wicked acts and committing adultery and fornication and go down the list of all the various sins that people could be wrapped up in. But at the same time, you don't look down your nose at people. You go and try to become all things to all men that we might by all means save some. Just like the apostle Paul said, you know, to those who are without the law, as without law, yet not without law to God. I mean, we still follow the law of God, but we still approach these people where they're at to try to reach them with the word of God while at the same time rejecting getting involved with sin. Does that make sense? But we don't want to have the attitude where you're just going like, like the guy that prayed with himself, you know, I thank you, God, that I'm not like other people are. I fast twice in the week, right? I tithe of all that I have, and I'm not even like this publican over here, right? It's like, be full of yourself. We ought to be humble and not view ourselves so highly, but rather be more focused on other people. Now, here's another passage here, James 2, verse number 1, the Bible says, My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring in goodly apparel, and there come an also poor man in vile raiment, and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place, and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool, are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? Watch out for giving the preferential treatment to people in this instance that just like have money, or just that look good, or look nice. You know, that person wearing the gay clothing, it's not talking about queer clothing, okay? It's actually the real word gay there, or the happy. It's a good, cheerful clothing. It's, you know, be something nice. Someone walks in and be like, Oh, wow, they're dressed real sharp. They're dressed really nice. They've got their suit and tie on. Oh, come on up right here, and you greet that guest, and you give them, wow, look at you. You're so nice. Your family comes in. You're holding your Bible in your hand. And you know what? Praise God for the people that come in like that, right? I'm thankful when people come in like that. That's great. But you know what? When someone else comes in, and they don't look the same way, you don't just right off the bat just go like, Oh, well, I don't really want anyone to see this person that you could sit over there. Well, you know what? How about you just stand over here? That's wicked. Okay, and then you're acting with a holier-than-thou attitude. You know, that person needs God just as much as the person that you greeted and brought in and put in the best seat in the house just because they're dressed nice. Now, if someone's actions speak different on how they ought to be treated, then that's different. But you don't just judge the person that comes in because they're not wearing nice clothing or whatever. I heard somewhere, and I guess I don't know this to be 100% true for a fact, but it wouldn't shock me at all that I do know that they sell tickets for like the Joel Osteen show. You know, they call it church, but it's more of like a talk show or whatever, or kind of a self-help type of a motivational speech. But I've heard it somewhere. I don't know if it was like some expose thing or whatever where they kind of put good-looking people where the cameras are, like where they're broadcasting. And there's only certain people that get those seats and then like other people have to sit under the footstool, so to speak, and just kind of are off in the darker corners of the audience. They still want their money, so they're going to let them in, but you know, they've got to sit farther away. And especially if they don't have as much money, you know, it might be harder to get the plate to the... They're still going to pass the plate probably like four times while they're sitting there, but... just not in the posh seat in the uppermost room at feasts. And that's what the Pharisees were all about, and there's plenty of people out there that like that, that are into that. There's a lot of wicked people. The Pharisees were big on that. Jesus rebuked them up and down for that same attitude. We ought not to have that same type of an attitude. Love the law, yes. Walk an integrity of heart, yes. You know, try not to be a hypocrite, of course. But if you're sincere, then you should be... I mean, you're going to be doing as well as you can if you're sincere in that faith, if it's not just a front, if it's not just a show. And the Pharisees, it was just a show. It was just a religious thing, and they liked the praise of men more than the praise of God. But this is what drives people away, is a holier-than-thou attitude. And I understand that, because I don't want to be a bunch of people who are holier-than-thou, and judging every little thing that you do, if it's just a minutia. And, you know, the Pharisees, they would love to boldly proclaim how much they tithe of their Annas and Cumund, and, you know, and all the littlest things, but they omit the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. Let's keep reading here in Isaiah 65. Look at verse number 6. The Bible says, Behold, it is written before me, I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosoms. So he just gets done kind of listing up all these things that the children of Israel are guilty of, this rebellious people who, they're not following the commands, they're not following the laws, they're not following the dietary restrictions, they're not following any of these things. They're blaspheming the Lord, and he's saying, you know what? I'm not going to keep silence. God's not going to just put up with it over and over and over again. He says, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom. I'm going to repay them. They're going to get what's coming to them, because God is a God of judgment, ultimately. Your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the Lord, which have burned incense upon the mountains and blasphemed me upon the hills. Therefore, will I measure their former work into their bosom. Verse 8, thus saith the Lord, as the new wine is found in the cluster, and one sayeth, destroy it not, for a blessing is in it, so will I do for my servants' sakes that I may not destroy them all. Now, God is mentioning here, because he's going to recompense, he's going to bring judgment upon his people, but he's saying, just like they say, hey, there's a cluster of grapes over here, there's a blessing in it, you know, basically, don't destroy it. For the servants, it says for his servants' sake, he's not going to destroy them all. And we just got done last week, what about the fierceness of the wine, you know, when people are in the wrath of God, in the winepress of the wrath of God? Remember that reference from last week? He's saying, you know, I'm not going to destroy them all. The Lord knows how to save the righteous from among the wicked. And the other point, though, out of this, and in turn, if you go to Deuteronomy 32, and I know I bring up this reference every time I have any reference to alcohol consumption in my sermons, but I do that on purpose, because to me, this is one of the... If I could get some things to stick in your mind on how the Bible uses the word wine and how that word is not used only to talk about alcoholic beverages, but it actually is used to encompass the whole spectrum of the liquid that comes forth out of fruit. It doesn't even necessarily have to be grapes to read Song of Solomon, but historically, we're looking at grapes, or maybe more of the time, we're looking at the grape juice, but sometimes it uses the word wine to refer to fermented grape juice, which has alcohol, and sometimes it is not. And clearly, clearly in Isaiah, verse 8, it says, as the new wine is found in the cluster, how much alcohol content does the juice of the grape in the cluster that's still on the vine have inside of it? It's gonna have none. But it's referring to that as the new wine. But I thought all wine has alcohol in it. Well, apparently not. You think that, and I understand why people think that, because that's how we speak today. The English language today, when people say the word wine, they're referring to alcoholic content wine. That is very understandable, but you have to also understand that the English language is not, like, brand new. It's been around for hundreds of years. And when people would use that term, you know, four or five hundred years ago, it was used to encompass a broader spectrum than just alcoholic wine. And one evidence of this is found there in Isaiah 65, but in Deuteronomy 32, look at verse number 33, or excuse me, verse number 30. Let's start up in verse number 31. The Bible says, for their rock is not as our rock. Even our enemies themselves being judges, even them being judged, they know that their rock is not the same as our rock. What rock are they referring to here? Jesus Christ, the Lord, right? Their rock is not as our rock. Verse 32, for their vine is of the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are grapes of gall. Their clusters are bitter. Look at this. Their wine is the poison of dragons and the cruel venom of asps. Now, many times in Scripture, you're going to see wine referred to as a blessing, as something that's going to bring joy, as something that's good. And then in other parts of the Bible, you're going to have the exact opposite, like it says right here. Hey, their wine... Now, if you're differentiating between their wine versus our wine, it says their wine is the poison of dragons and the cruel venom of asps, then our wine must be very different. But there is wine that exists that's poison. And even the world will tell you today that alcoholic wine is poison. It's poison. It's toxic. That's why you get a toxicology report when people are either deceased or maybe they get vaccinated or something, they're going to get a toxicology... Why? They want to see what type of toxins are in the bloodstream. Or a person is intoxicated because what they have in their system is toxic, because it's poisonous. And it specifically even brings up here that their vine is of Sodom and of Gomorrah. Sodom and Gomorrah were obviously horrible people, representative of horrible people who violated other people. And the wine that's used in violating other people is alcoholic wine. All the time, people are taken advantage of. They get someone drunk. I mean, read Habakkuk. It says, he that gives his neighbor drink, that he may get him drunk and look on his nakedness. That's the poison of dragons. That's a wicked, wicked beverage to drink. That's why in the book of Proverbs it says, look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color a cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder. Those are the references to a different type of wine than the wine that's a blessing, than the wine that's, that new wine that's in the cluster that God's going to spare because it's great, because it's good. People like to mock the Bible or they'll try to say, well, Jesus turned water into wine, right? And they just assume, because they assume that that word wine just always means alcohol. It doesn't. It clearly, there's clearly two types of drinks being referenced here. Their wine, our wine. New wine, old wine. There's a difference. And I could go on and on. You know I could go on and on on that subject. I'm not going to. I'm going to refrain myself from continuing because there's a lot in this chapter I want to get to. And just keep these verses in mind. Write them down. Deuteronomy 32, 32. It's easy to remember. 32, 32. Very clear in Scripture. And I mean so many others, so many others. But understanding two meanings for the word wine. They're easy to differentiate. They're either positive or they're negative. Right? I mean, and it couldn't get more clear. Let's keep reading here, though. Yeah, let's keep reading. I don't want to keep going any further. As a new wine is found in a cluster and once they destroy it not for a blessing as in it so will I do for my servants' sake that I may not destroy them all. And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob. There it says a seed. One. Of course, we know who that seed is. That seed is Christ. We read Galatians chapter 3. You get that understanding going back all the way to the promise of Abraham. And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains. And mine elect shall inherit it and my servants shall dwell there. So, you know, Jesus ultimately is God's elect. Jesus is that seed. Jesus is the inheritor out of Judah that is the inheritor of the mountains. And we as servants shall dwell there with him. Verse 10. And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks in the valley of Achor, a place for the herds to lie down in for my people that have sought me. But ye are they that forsake the Lord. So, you know, again, the contrast here between those that serve him, those his people. And this ties in a lot with what we saw last week. God's people versus those that forsake the Lord. But in the context, who's the ye? He's talking to Israel. On the one hand, he's talking about the people who have sought God and his servants. He's saying, but you have forsaken me. You have forsaken the Lord. That forget my holy mountain. That prepare a table for that troop. And that forget, excuse me, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number. Therefore, will I number you to the sword and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter because when I called, ye did not answer. It's not that God wasn't trying to reach him. But he says, hey, look, when I called for you, you didn't answer. When I spake, ye did not hear, but did evil before mine eyes and did choose that wherein I delighted not. It was their choice. By the way, I brought this up on Sunday. You know we're not Calvinists. He's saying you chose not to. I called. Now, isn't that funny? Because he's saying I called and you didn't answer. The Calvinist will tell you, hey, well, if God calls, then nobody can resist that calling. Yes, they can. Yes, they can. Just as much as people refused Jesus Christ what he was calling when he was literally walking around on this earth. They were able to do it then. They're able to do it now. No different. God has given us, given us the capacity to choose to decide. This passage reminds me of Proverbs chapter 1. Turn it real quick if you would. Proverbs chapter 1. He says, when I called, you did not answer. When I spake, you did not hear, but did evil before mine eyes and did choose that wherein I delighted not. He said, you chose just to do all the wicked things. I tried to get through with you. I tried to call you. You didn't hear. You didn't want to listen. You didn't want anything to do with it. And Proverbs 1 fits in perfectly with this chapter anyways because he's talking about his people. He's talking about sending people to get through to them and he's saying, you don't want to listen. You want to do your own ways. You want to do whatever you want to do. You're not interested in my law. You're not interested in my word. You're not interested in what I have for you, so I'm going to bring a recompense. I'm going to judge. This is the warning in Isaiah 65. Look at Proverbs 1 verse 23. He says, the Bible says, turn you at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you. I will make known my words unto you. And you know what? That's a great promise we got. Turn to my reproof. Hey, when I tell you you're wrong, just listen to me and I'm going to pour out my spirit unto you. I'll make my words known unto you. I'll open things up unto you. It's going to be great. But when I tell you you're wrong, take heed and listen and turn to my reproof. I've got great things in store for you. Verse 24 continues, because I have called and ye refused, right, does that sound familiar? I called, you didn't answer. I called and ye refused. I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded. It's right here, trying to help, giving you a helping hand. People are just walking right by, they don't care at all. But ye have set at naught all my counsel and would none of my reproof. Look at this. I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh. Because I was there trying to help you, trying to do everything for you, when you just refuse, refuse, refuse, refuse, now when that day of trouble comes upon you, you say, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to mock. I'm going to laugh at you. You ought to have nothing to do with me. Everything's going great. I'm trying to get through with you. I'm trying to get through to you. I'm trying to get through to you. And then it's finally going to come down to it. He says, I'm going to laugh. I'm going to mock. When your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer. There is a time where people can push things too far to the point to where they even might want to call on the Lord. He says, I'm not going to answer you. Take heed. Now, obviously, we, as born-again believers, right, you're saved and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. And we can rejoice in the fact that He said, you know, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me, for that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of my counsel. They despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices, for the turning away of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil. It's the same concept being brought forward in Isaiah chapter 65, even when he references the new wine found in the cluster. He has a blessing in it. So will I do for my servant's sake that I may not destroy them all. I'm going to, you know, those that hearken unto me, you're going to dwell safely. You're going to be free from that fear of evil. It's not going to hurt you. It's not going to come down on you. Just as he's mentioning in Isaiah 65, his servants, his people, not you, not you wicked servants, not you people who are not observing his ways, but my servants, he says, yeah, they're going to, they're going to experience good things, but you are not. Let's go back to Isaiah 65, verse number 13. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, behold, and notice how many times he says my servants here, my servants, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry. Behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty. Behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed. Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart and shall howl for vexation of spirit, and ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen. For the Lord God shall slay thee and call his servants by another name, another name than the house of Israel. Turn, if you would, to Matthew chapter 21. This is that prophesying that Jesus clearly spells out in Matthew chapter 21. As we know, Jesus was the fulfillment of the scripture that he came unto his own and his own received him not. And it's for that reason that they were cast out of God's sight and were not, no longer going to be the people that he was going to use because he chose that people out when they were small in number. He chose that people out because of faithful Abraham. He chose that people out because of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and his servants. But, you know, how many times is he dealing with the people and he's being long-suffering and merciful and they're rebellious and they're stiff-necked and they still keep turning back to Egypt and they keep on, you know, doing these various things and turning to these idols and he has to rebuke them. He has to chase them over and over and over again until it finally gets to the tipping point and they reject Jesus Christ and says, that's it. That's the last straw. I've tried to get through with you, now you're done. Matthew 21, look at verse 37, the Bible says, But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. And this is the tail end of that parable where he's talking about letting out the vineyard unto husbandmen to take care of it and yield the fruits thereof at its appointed season. Verse 38, But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him and cast him out of the vineyard and slew him. When the Lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. And earlier in that passage he's talking about sending servants and saying to them, some they were beating and some they were killing and everything else, and then when he finally is like, Okay, look, I mean, I can't send any greater, any better than my own son. Right, I'm gonna send my son unto him at the last hope that they'll listen to my son. I mean, they're my servants. They haven't listened to anyone else, but my son they'll listen to. And even these people that say, you know, they're hearing this story and they're going, Man, those guys are wicked. Yeah, of course he's gonna come and destroy them and he's gonna let other people then be the servants. Verse 42, Jesus saith unto them, Did you never read in the scriptures the stone which the builders rejected? The same has become the head of the corner. This is the Lord's doing and is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. He's talking about a nation because it's gonna be taken from you, your nation, and given to another nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall in his stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever shall fall, it will grind him to power. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. You got that right. The chief priests, the Pharisees, the rulers of the Jews' religion that rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, the rulers of their nation, the people who were in charge, by and large, they're the ones that he says, you know what? God was using you. Because by Israel is how the word of the Lord was revealed. Right? The oracles of God were given through his people. But then he finally says, okay, that's it. The King of God is taken from you and given to another nation that's bringing forth the fruits. And, you know, people don't like the term replacement. It sounds like they've been replaced. Taken from one, given to another, that's replaced. And we can read about the olive tree and the wild branches and everything else, but it's the same concept. Hey, he cut off those branches that you could be grafted in. Praise God. Now, it doesn't mean we don't just, we don't, we just completely forsake all the Jews and don't try to give them the gospel. Of course we try to give them the gospel. And praise God, they get saved. They can come right back into the tree. They could be God's people once again if they accept the Lord Jesus Christ. But God is going to use those people that want to be used of him. He's not tied down now to some specific group of people, which is why in the New Testament, he says avoid genealogies. You don't care about your genealogy. You don't need to have a genealogy to serve God. And the priesthood's changed. And we'll get into that when we get into Hebrews and we'll see the order of Melchizedek and we'll see the changes to the law and the changes the way God does things under the Levitical priesthood. Yeah, you know what? They did have to care about the genealogy. That was part of that law, that priesthood. But the priesthood's been changed with Jesus Christ. So, amen. It's no longer under those types of rules for the order of service. Let's go back to Isaiah chapter 65. And again, there's a lot of content in this chapter that we could go on and on and preach probably multiple sermons on and study a lot in the scripture on these various subjects. And they're significant doctrines, too. I mean, with the alcohol, with this, with even just the holier-than-thou attitude, there's so many different elements in parts of this chapter. It's a really great chapter. But we've got to get through this. Isaiah 65 verse 16, the Bible says, that he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth. And he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth. I like that, the God of truth. There's only one God, but God is definitely the God of truth. Truth. Such a simple thing. It's amazing how there's people who are willfully ignorant that they don't want to know the truth. They want to be in the dark. They don't want to know. It baffles me that there are people like that. I thank God for a God of truth. Because the former troubles are forgotten and because they are hid from my knives. Verse 17, for behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mine. And this is interesting, too, because now we get into this prophecy of a time, of course, yet to come. New heavens and a new earth. We read about this in Revelation, and we're going to turn to Revelation 21 in just a minute if you want to get a place there. But it says the former, so the former heavens and earth, it says shall not be remembered. And, you know, obviously what we do here matters, and everything we do here has an eternal significance. Because the people that you could reach can determine whether or not that person is going to put their trust in Jesus Christ or not, and if they do, obviously that has an eternal impact for them. And the things that we do to serve the Lord here, when He gives us rewards, well, we know that those rewards can't be stolen. They're not going to corrupt or decay, that they are eternal rewards that God gives us, too. So those types of things are eternal, but that being said, it says that when the new heaven and new earth is here, that the former things shall not be remembered nor come into mine. And that's going to be a blessing for us, because if you think about the people that you loved in this life that might not have gotten saved, or even just if you're able to remember the things that you did that were wicked and wrong and bad and shameful, you won't think about those things or remember those things even at all. The things of this world, they're going to perish and die with the world when God changes it and creates a new heaven and new earth. And this is a glimpse that we get. Obviously, no one knows exactly what everything's going to be like with the new heaven and new earth, or even with our glorified bodies and things like that, but what it's going to be like, we don't know what it's like to exist without the sin flesh, the sin temptation, the sinfulness that goes along with being in this body. What a blessing to even not have to deal with that. We don't know what it's going to be like. I mean, I still believe we're going to, I mean, of course, we're going to have a free will, but we're going to be freed from that curse of being in a sinful flesh that's going to drive us to sin, and what a joy that's going to be, and to not have to remember all of the things or come to mind. It says in verse 18, but be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy, and I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in my people, and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. And remember that, too. You know, when you go through a hard time, maybe you face times like David where he says, you know, that my eyes make my couch to swim, or, you know, he's weeping so much, and you might have, you know, terrible loss, terrible tragedy, terrible things happening in this life. There is going to be a time where all of those things, they won't even exist. The weeping and the sorrow, it's going to go. It's going to go away. There is a time of serenity and peace and joy and no weeping and grief and sorrow of heart. That is really nice to look forward to and to even think about. Turn, if you would, to Revelation 21. We start reading in verse number 1 just how much similarity there is here between Isaiah 65 and Revelation 21. The Bible says, And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, as prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven say, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. Again, the new heaven, the new earth, the new Jerusalem, a new start, a new everything. And it's amazing how consistent everything is, even just to how life is going to be. You think about the salvation comes through, there's a birth, a life of Jesus Christ, and then the death, but then the resurrection, right? This earth began as the physical earth, it has a life, there's going to be a death, but then there's going to be a resurrection as God changes the earth into a new earth, just like we have a physical birth, a life, a death, and then we're going to have a new body that's changed at a resurrection of ourselves. The resurrection is always much, much greater in every situation. Let's go back to Isaiah 65 here, we're almost done. Verse number 20. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days. There's no tragedy there, right? There's not going to be an infant of days, like just, oh, that infant was born, now it's dead, after a few days. Nor an old man hath not filled his days, for the child shall die an hundred years old, like a hundred years old will be a child, right? But the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed, and they shall build houses and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build an another inhabit, they shall not plant an another eat. You're not going to have to worry about wicked people taking your stuff and your money and your resources and the tax man coming and just, oh, you have this, let me take that, no matter how they call themselves, whether it's the mafia or whether it's the legal mafia. You get to reap the fruit of your own labor. They shall not build another habit, they shall not plant another eat, for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble, for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord and their offspring with them, and it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. What a great time, and how awesome that's going to be for that to just be the norm and happen regularly, where, oh, you're going to ask God for something, you're going to call on God for anything, and he's just like, I'm there. Like, you're not even done speaking? Yep, got it. Praise God. Now, that's not something brand new, because God does do that for believers, even now and has in the past. He does do that sometimes, but the timing now, I don't think is good. Obviously, it's being brought up, because we're not going to be in the same conditions now as we will in the future. Those conditions will be different, and God's just going to be right there. Things will be going great. We're going to be asking for all the right things, because we're not going to have the sinful flesh. I think we're going to be able to ask for things, and just be like, yep, I'm right there, I'm right there, I'm right there. We're blessed of the Lord. We'll be blessed of the Lord. It's going to be a great place to be, and I'm just going to read a couple examples for you, like in Genesis chapter 24 of examples where God was right there to answer. God just answers right away. So when Isaac sent his servant to, or excuse me, when Abraham sent his servant to find a wife for Isaac, Abraham's like saying, okay, I'm an old man, but you need to find a wife for Isaac. He can't go back to that land where he came from, but I need you to find a wife out of my brethren. You need to find someone of kin to him to bring back to be a wife for him, and he sends his servants, and I'll read this for you. Genesis 24 verse 12, the Bible says, and he said, O Lord God of my master Abraham, this is the servant praying to God, O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and show kindness unto my master Abraham. Behold, I stand here by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water, and let it come to pass that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink, and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also. Let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac, and thereby shall I know that thou hast shown kindness unto my master. So he has this prayer, and he's trying to make all these conditions and saying, Look, God, I want to know that I'm picking the right one. So in this set of circumstances, when she comes out, I ask her for a drink. She not only does for me, but she also is, you know, giving water to camels and everything else. He said, Let that be the one that you want for Isaac to marry. And he's seeking the Lord. He's praying to God. Verse 15 says, And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder. Just right there. He hadn't even done speaking yet. All of a sudden, there you go. God prospered his way. There she is. Right there. That's one example. That's one example. Daniel chapter 9 is another example. Daniel 9, 19. The Bible says, This is Daniel now praying to the Lord. O Lord, hear, O Lord, forgive. This is where he's kind of pouring out his heart and expressing all the sins of the children of Israel and everything. O Lord, hearken and do. Defer not for thine own sake, O my God, for thy city and thy people are called by thy name. And whiles I was speaking and praying. Now look, because there's a lot more of the prayer. Verse 20 says, And whiles I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God, for the holy mountain of my God. Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation, and he informed me and talked with me and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. He's still praying, and Gabriel shows up as the answer to his prayer. Right there. And there's another instance where he's praying, and then, you know, Michael's saying, well, hey, look, when you prayed, God sent me, but, you know, I got caught up with the Prince of Persia, and he got involved in this other spiritual battle on the way there to tell Daniel, and it took a couple weeks or whatever to get to him, but he still gave him his answer. But in the new heaven and new earth, it's, that's how it's gonna work. Amen. And then verse 25, we'll close on this. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock, and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy, and all my holy mountains saith the Lord. So this is, I mean, this is total peace. This goes back to the time of how God created everything, a creation, before sin entered into the world, and you had the plants and the herbs, and, you know, everything was given that way. There was no death, and there was peace, and then after sin, you know, that's when the animals and other things started to become more carnivorous or omnivorous, you know, and change from a peaceful environment to one that brings forth death. There's sin. Sin brings forth death. But when sin is conquered and is finally, you know, when death is conquered and death and hell are cast into the lake of fire, you know, that's the second death, there's gonna be no more death. That's it. And no more sin, no more death, and what a great place to live and look forward to the new heaven and new earth, and obviously we've got one more chapter here in Isaiah, but you can see how even just from a high-level perspective, isn't it interesting how we're talking about these things now right near the end of the book of Isaiah? There's 66 books of the Bible, and we're closing in and getting real close there to Revelation, and we're covering a lot of the same type of content that we would there. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for all the great things that we can learn from your Word. God, there's so many things. It's so deep. I pray that you would please help us to understand the depths and the fullness of the richness of your Word, and I pray that you would help us to ever increase our understanding and our knowledge, dear Lord, and help us to not be an error in our understanding while we're in this fleshly body, but that you would enlighten us, and I pray that you would please open up your words unto us daily as we seek the truth. You're the God of truth, dear Lord, so we're seeking the truth from you, and I pray that you would please bless the church tonight, bless everyone here today. I pray that you would help us all be safe as we go our separate ways this evening and that you would lead us and guide us, and, Lord, help us to reach other people with the truth and that we wouldn't have a wicked heart or attitude of a holier-than-thou type of an attitude, but out of sincerity and truth of heart that we would just seek to genuinely serve you and care about your laws, care about your words, and care about serving you, and, God, help us to be a good example that we wouldn't be hypocrites, but just good examples of the believers. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, we're going to sing one last song before we're dismissed. Brother Peter, please lead us. All right, church, if you could open up your hymnals for the last song, song number 355. Song number 355, What a Friend We Have in Jesus. Song 355 on the first. What a friend we have in Jesus All our sins and griefs to bear What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer Oh, what peace we often forfeit Oh, what needless pain we bear All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer Have we trials and temptations Is there trouble anywhere We should never be discouraged Take it to the Lord in prayer Can we find a friend so faithful Who will all our sorrows share Jesus knows our every weakness Take it to the Lord in prayer Are we weak and heavy laden Covered with a load of care Precious Savior, still our refuge Take it to the Lord in prayer Do thy friend's despise forsake thee Take it to the Lord in prayer In his arms he'll take and shield thee Thou will find us all is fair Amen, church, great singing. Thank you so much for coming. You guys are dismissed.