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And the chapter reads one to them that decree on righteous decrees and that right grievousness which they have prescribed to turn aside the needy from judgment and to take away the right from the poor of my people that widows may be their prey and that they may rob the fatherless and what will you do in the day of visitation and the desolation which shall come from far to whom will you flee for help and where will you leave your glory without me they shall bow down under the prisoners and they shall fall under the slain for all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still oh Syrian the rod of mine anger and the staff in their hand is mine indignation I will send them against in a hypocritical nation and against the people of my wrath while I give them a charge to take the spoil and to take the prey and to tread them down like the mire of the streets how be it he meaneth not so neither does his heart think so but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few for he saith are not my princes altogether kings is not Kalno as Carchemish is not Hamath as Arpad is not Samaria as Damascus as my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria shall I not as I have done unto Samaria and her idols so due to Jerusalem and her idols wherefore shall come to pass that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem I will punish the fruit of the south heart of the king of Assyria and the glory of his high looks for he saith by the strength of mine hand I have done it and by my wisdom for I am prudent and I have removed the bounds of the people and I have robbed their treasures and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man and my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people and as one gatherth eggs that are left have I gathered all the earth and there was none that move the wing or open the mouth or peep shall the axe boast itself against him that he with therewith or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it as if the rod should shake itself against him that lift it up or as if the staff should lift up itself as if it were no wood therefore shall the Lord the Lord of hosts and among him fat ones leanness and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire and the light of Israel shall be for a fire and his holy one for a flame and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briars in one day and shall consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field both soul and body and it shall be as when a standard bearer fainted and the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few that a child may write them shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel and such as our escape of the house of Jacob shall no more again stay upon him that smote them we shall stay upon the Lord the Holy One of Israel in truth the remnant shall return even the remnant of Jacob unto the mighty God for though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea yet a remnant of them shall return the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness for the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption even determined in the midst of all the land therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts all my people that dwells in Zion be not afraid of the Assyrian shall smite thee with a rod shall lift up his staff against the after the manner of Egypt for yet a very little while and the indignation shall cease and mine anger in their destruction and the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian and at the rock of Orib and as his rod was upon the sea so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt it shall come to pass in that day that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder and his yoke from off thy neck and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing he has come to Aiath, he has passed to Migron at Michmashiath laid up his carriages they are gone over the passage they have taken up their lodging at Gebo. Rama is afraid Gibi of Saul is fled lift up thy voice O daughter of Gelim cause it to be heard unto Laish O poor Anathoth. Madmina is removed the inhabitants of Gaben gathered themselves to flee as yet shall he remain at Nob that day he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion the hill of Jerusalem behold the Lord the Lord of hosts shall lop the bow with terror and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down and the haughty shall be humbled and shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one. Let's pray. Thank you Heavenly Father for the King James Bible. Dear God we thank you for this church you have given us your Lord we thank you for our pastor please bless him tonight as he preaches your word on to us in Jesus name we pray amen. Amen. Okay we're in Isaiah chapter 10 tonight and let me just do a little bit of review from chapter 9 since I didn't really get to finish up the latter end of chapter 9 now in chapter 9 we actually went over we've been going over the destruction that's gonna come upon Judah mainly upon the northern kingdom Israel but also a small percentage of Judah as well and we see that God as he typically does gives hope at the end of it as far as the destruction is concerned that a remnants gonna return and in chapter 9 he specifically talks about the fact that Jesus Christ right the Son of God will one day be born the Word of God will be made flesh and then of course speaking of the millennial reign he states that the government shall be upon his shoulders essentially giving hope to Israel and to Judah that no matter how dark it looks and how dim it is at this point one day every wrong shall be made right every crooked path shall be made straight at the end of the day there will be no enemy of God's people plundering him plundering them and destroying them because one day the Son of God will govern the entire world and he shall rule the world with a rod of iron and of course we have that famous passage there in Isaiah 9 6 that we typically use for Christmas and it talks about the increase of his government the fact that there shall be worldwide peace and that we know at that point that the meek shall inherit the earth that we have no more enemies and it'll essentially be a time of great prosperity and peace the people of God would no longer know any war and so he's setting forth that vision there he's kind of giving them hope light at the end of the tunnel to help them to realize that it's not always gonna be this way now we left off in verse 8 of Isaiah chapter 9 but it kind of works out because from verse 8 all the way to verse 21 it's basically talking about the same exact thing that we're gonna look in chapter 10 so it's it it's a continuation of a thought and what the subject matter is about is actually just God's rod of anger on Israel and on Judah now look at verse number 8 we're gonna see here that he's gonna judge them for their stoutness of heart it says in verse 8 the Lord sent a warden Jacob and it hath lighted upon Israel and all the people shall know even Ephraim and inhabitants of Samaria that say in the pride and stoutness of heart so basically he's bringing judgment upon them for two reasons one because they're arrogant and prideful right but secondly because of their stoutness of our stoutness meaning their strength of heart okay essentially referring to the fact that they are a nation who are very strong maybe militarily financially they got everything together they are strong they are stable and often when a nation or person has all their ducks in order their stout in heart so to speak they can become what prideful okay they think that they can stand that nothing can take them down and of course that makes the Lord very much angry and that's why he's gonna judge them I'm gonna skip a couple verses here just kind of give you a summary of what some of these passages are referring to so he's gonna judge them for their stoutness of heart he's also gonna judge them for the heads and the tails of the nation it says in verse 13 excuse me verse 14 therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail branch and rush in one day what is he referring to well verse 15 gives us the definition there it says the ancient and honorable he is the head and the prophet that teacheth lies he is the tail so he's gonna destroy them because of their pride because they think they're strong nothing can take them down but also because of the fact that they have bad leaders right who are leading them astray they have the ancients that are supposed to be honorable but they're not leading people in the ways of righteousness they're covetous they're taking bribery they are unjust in their judgments but also for the tails and who are the tails these are the prophets of the land these are the men who were supposed to be teaching the Word of God but are not faithfully proclaiming the statutes and precepts of the Lord which is why everyone's going into apostasy they're worshiping false gods so he's punishing them for their pride but also for the ancients and the prophets basically showing us that everyone in the land is corrupt right you got the mean man the average person in the land worshiping false gods but you also have the prophet who's preaching lies the ancients supposed to be honorable but he's causing people to err and therefore they're gonna be destroyed look at verse 21 it says in verse 21 Manasseh Ephraim and Ephraim Manasseh and they together shall be against Judah for all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still so he's gonna bring judgment upon them because of their pride stoutness of heart the wicked leadership of the ancients the lies that the prophets are teaching but also because they just attack each other okay basically telling it saying that Manasseh and Ephraim are gonna team up together to fight against Judah and so here we have this the talk of civil war taking place and this should not be taking place with God's people right they should dwell in unity worshiping the same God and it's not like Manasseh and Ephraim are attacking Judah for religious reasons it's not because you know they're off course they're worshiping false gods they obviously have a wicked agenda behind it they either want to plunder them they want to destroy them it's not for righteous reasons at all so these are some of the reasons why Judah and Israel are gonna be judged by God and I really like that phrase at the end of verse 21 for all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still and this is a common phrase that you're gonna see in these particular chapters here basically saying like I'm gonna judge you I'm gonna whoop you you're gonna get a spanking and I'm not gonna stop my hand is stretched out still he's not putting it to his side he's not putting it back into his sheath he's like you got more coming to you you're gonna get more judgment I'm not done with you he's listing all the reasons he's judging them and then he's basically saying there's more to come there's more things that you're guilty of okay so let's get into chapter 10 here we're gonna continue to look at the outstretched hand of judgment upon Judah and then tonight we're also gonna focus on Assyria now why is he judging them well look at verse 1 he says woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees and their right grievousness which they have prescribed to turn aside the needy from judgment to take away the right from the poor of my people that widows may be their prey and that they may rob the fatherless so what's one of the reasons that his hand of judgment is coming upon Judah because of the fact that they have wicked leaders instituting wicked laws he says won't to them to decree on righteous decrees what is he talking about instituting unrighteous laws not for the betterment of the people not to protect the poor and the needy not to help the fatherless but essentially to make themselves rich or to consume upon their own lusts now the Bible tells us that people who rule men who rule over men must be just and they have to rule in the fear of God right meaning that you know God holds people in political arenas and people who hold positions of leadership with a lot of accountability and he expects a lot from them and this is important because today the world is just filled with unrighteous leaders making all types of unrighteous decrees some decrees that are not necessarily unrighteous they're just stupid but I guarantee you you can look at a dumb decree that's been put out a dumb law and tie it back to some dude who's just trying to make money off of it I'm sure street sweeper tickets have some wicked agenda behind I'll just be honest with you okay there's some dude in the higher up some political realm was making money off of the quota of the parking tickets which is why they're so strict about it they don't care how clean the streets are maybe people at the bottom level are pretty concerned about it but they don't care this is why the street super comes and he cleans the street and it still looks dirty not necessarily doing a great job doing that you know that's a stupid decree but there's also other unrighteous decrees that are set forth I mean 2020 is an example of that right a ton of decrees that were set forth there were unrighteous and it's essentially the government testing the waters for future events but here in this specific passage he tells us what are some of the decrees that are putting that are being put out and who does it affect it says to turn aside the needy from judgment okay to take away the right from the poor of my people the widows may be their prey and that they may rob the fatherless now if you've read the Bible for any length of time you know that God is themes and favors the fatherless and the widows right and the poor God takes care of the poor he's even made laws to take care of the poor and when the Bible talks about poverty or those who are poor he's not referring to the heroin addict off the 405 91 freeway you know what the sign that says anything helps you know and what he's referring to is his crack addiction or whatever his meth addiction or whatever new drug is out there now fentanyl addiction or whatever he's not referring to that at all he's referring to people who are legitimately poor because they're either handicapped they've been diseased they've been abandoned for whatever reason and these are individuals that for for you know the evil that's come upon them in their day because of unlikely circumstances or just the evil days come upon them they can't work to provide for themselves they're poor they're needy God looks kindly upon those individuals okay and in the Old Testament you know people who own particular vineyards God commanded them not to glean the corners of the field so that the poor can go and pick up and glean what was left behind because he wanted to feed them and he would command all the landowners to do that because he took thought for the poor of the land and that's not to say that there wasn't unrighteous poor people in those days either that's why the Bible tells us to consider the cause of the poor right someone's asking for money you should say well for what and you know I'm not the type to necessarily just turn away every person who asks me for money typically you know I try to discern is this person legitimately in need and if they're asking for money I just automatically think oh they want food so I say well do you want some food I can get you some food and if they're picky then they're not getting any food right if they're just like yeah if you can get me a number four with the side of the if they're just super specific because you know they've they've ordered that particular meal multiple times from different people then I'm not getting it for them in my book it's like you take what I give you right whatever is there is what you get and you should be grateful for whatever it is you get because if I didn't come along you wouldn't have gotten it and if you're legitimately hungry you'll take it amen you know today was like my first day off the cut and then and you know what like I I haven't had like really sweet stuff so like I had my wife make me fried plantains which to some of you just like well I mean but folks to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet and plantains aren't even bitter they taste delicious and then and then for lunch I had I had a peach or a nectarine I had one it was just like you know I felt like I was in a different world you know I was grateful for that one because I'm trying to ease my body back into you know having some normal foods you know so but what I'm saying is if someone's actually starving out there whatever they get they'll love right unless they're just getting it all the time and and they're not necessarily legitimately poor which a lot of people out there are not and so God takes you know he takes the poor people into consideration so when you have unrighteous leaders putting forth these laws and decrees to take advantage of the poor to take advantage of the fatherless and widows that makes God really angry okay because he wants them to be taken care of now specifically obviously this is referring to the unrighteous politicians of that day but this is also prophetic of something else because if you notice verse number two it says towards the latter end what says to take away the right from the poor of my people that widows may be their prey and that they may rob the fatherless now you say well what is that prophetic of the New Testament Pharisees let me read to you from Matthew chapter 15 in verse number three says but he answered and said unto them why do you also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition for God commanded saying honor thy father and mother and he that cursed father and mother let him die to the death by the way death penalty right there right Jesus Christ is talking about but ye say whosoever shall say to his father or his mother it is a gift by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me and honor not his father or mother he shall be free thus have you made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition ye hypocrites well did his eyes prophesy of you saying this people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honor with me with their lips but their heart is far from me now in that particular passage he's talking about Pharisees that are essentially looking for a loophole in the commandments of God so they don't have to take care of their parents financially speaking okay and in the parallel passage it actually says it is Corbin meaning well I can't financially provide for you mom and dad because this is actually supposed to go to the temple instead so as long as I sanctify it to the temple which they also take money from the temple they're not obligated to take care of their parents financially where the Bible doesn't say this just says honor your thy father thy mother okay but they put that loophole there to take advantage of the innocent and not to pay their dues and essentially making the commandments of God of none effect and in fact in Matthew chapter 23 when he's rebuking the Pharisees he tells them he calls them hypocrites for ye devour widows houses now how does how do they do that we don't know how exactly because the Bible doesn't explicitly tell us how they do it but obviously they're finding some loopholes in the commandments and they're or they're trying to make loopholes in the commandments they're adding more commandments to the commandments of God in order to tax the widows and the fatherless to make money off of them okay what is what is it saying they're decreeing unrighteous decrees and laws not for the benefit of the poor the fatherless and the widows but to take advantage of them and it takes a pretty wicked person to you know target that group right to target the fatherless the widows those who are in need it takes like a false prophet okay and so i thought it's interesting because you know the Pharisees are essentially the descendants of these people in juda who are decreeing these unrighteous laws they are they want to claim they're the physical descendants of what you are so fill you up the measure of what your fathers did right and so they persecuted the prophets they persecuted the men of god of the old testament but not only that they also you know fleece the flock they're also taking advantage of the innocent of the land and god is not pleased with that at all you know kings should reign by wisdom kings should reign in a merciful manner you know i'm not even against having a dictator as long as he's a benevolent dictator we're actually not against any type of ruler as long as they're ruling in the fear of god you're like oh no i'm not for that we should always stick to a president well it hasn't really worked out very well you know like are you serious you want like a monarchy or something well if that king fears god he loves the lord he institutes biblical laws and statutes i'm all for it and in fact you know uh this week i saw a video of the president of el salvador buccale is his name and this guy is awesome and you know there's a little covetousness in my heart i was like man i wish if this guy was running in the united states he would bring my voting out of retirement because this guy cleaned up el salvador like extensively from ms-13 i mean el salvador has become like a tourist spot once again it's safe to walk the streets the murder the murder percentage of murders has gone down extensively in el salvador and uh this guy i saw this video and it was a very bold thing that he did and i thought to myself well this is awesome so he basically had a press conference with all his cabinet and politicians of el salvador and you know there's cameras there and he's holding this conference this press conference and he's basically saying you know um i'm not afraid of dying he says you know because we're all gonna die and he's kind of going through this speech this dissertation he's like i'm not afraid to die and you know we're all gonna die you know i'm afraid to die though with a bad legacy this is like you know it's good you know and then he's like you know i don't want to leave a a wicked legacy behind and i don't want to be known as like a president who's a thief so therefore i don't steal you know because i don't want to be known as a president who steals so therefore i don't steal but you but here's the thing he said you know presidents in times past there's some good presidents back in the day he said and they didn't steal they did right you know they they're they're uh they're law abiding citizens as presidents should be but unfortunately he said you know they surrounded themselves with thieves and people who were back so they left a bad legacy behind because even though they themselves did not break the law they surrounded themselves with people who did and he's like and i don't want to do that i don't want to surround myself with thieves he said so you're all getting investigated and then he's like he's like and if you if you've done nothing wrong then you got nothing to fear and then like after the press conference they got some they've got some guy in handcuffs or whatever and they're taking them out and they ended up arresting like 10 of them because they're all corrupt and you know people are just like this is awesome you know and you know he got interviewed and basically you know from what i've read i don't think the guy's a christian you know unfortunately but when when they when he was interviewed and it was asked like how do you make these judgments he's like i pray he's like i just asked for wisdom from god you know and that's what i base it off of and from what i've heard he surrounds himself with a lot of christian leaders in the land and this is how he basically comes to a lot of decisions is basically by praying and i'm not saying that he's a guy who's justified by grace through faith but here's the thing is that you know he is giving some of the right answers and you know he was interviewed and he was saying you know uh what was you know how did you approach these situations in osable he's like i basically recognized that all this stuff is demonic he goes ms-13 is satanic so it's a spiritual problem i mean i don't think i've heard a president say anything like that before right because they are of satan most of the time you know and so i'm not saying the guy is super righteous i mean he might be a corrupt person himself he just kind of like a wolf in sheep's clothing but from what i've seen he seems like a pretty righteous person oh to god that we would have someone like that that's not under investigation he's not you know corrupt he's not you know doing wicked things or whatever but you know obviously one day that is going to happen it's going to be the lord jesus christ and you know i'm not moving till salvador anytime soon by the way okay because as great as that country is and as great as the president i got you know us is still better in a lot of ways okay you know i don't know how many fundamental baptist churches they got out there uh but probably not many i'm not sure but the point that i'm making here is that god does expect a leader even if they're a not not a christian even if they're not a believer he does expect them to rule justly though he does expect them to rule in the fear of god to be a just person and not to take advantage of his position to make money off of the innocent and decree unrighteous laws and just be a covetous greedy individual with blood on his hands which is a lot of what the northern kingdom had the northern kingdom had a lot of wicked people as their king they're mainly known for they have that stigma of having unrighteous kings ruling over them which is why god judged them and destroyed them and scattered them and why those 10 tribes are just no longer even here today the bible says in ecclesiastes chapter 5 verse 8 if thou see'st the oppression of the poor and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province marvel not at the matter for he that is higher than the highest regardeth and there be higher than they so what is this telling us it's telling us that you know we look at this world and see the injustices of this world whether in our own nation or in other countries and we see the violent perverting of judgment we see the oppression of the poor and we're just like ah and in fact in chapter 7 it says surely oppression maketh a wise man mad when you look at the president's just like oh i mean the oppression in our land right you know having biden as the president and you see the the radical left and their agenda it kind of makes you crazy when you look at all that stuff but the bible tells us marvel not at the matter though for he that is higher than the highest regarded so it's like god sees everything that's going on he's more mad about it than you are you know he sees the beginning to the end he sees everything in between he sees the inner recesses of the heart and so we have to recognize that you know don't get too caught up in the political realm of injustices yes it's wicked it should be preached against you know we should post verses about it we should tell people what the bible says about it but don't let it consume you to the point where you're just like mad and when the bible talks about bad it's like crazy you know a lot of christians they go crazy when they spend too much time thinking about what's going on in the political world but at the end of the day you know he that is higher than the highest regarded and we got to leave it in god's hands and fight our battles the battles that god has set for us to fight and not get involved in what's going on out there but also recognize that you know what there are unrighteous decrees out there and you know what america has its problems but it's nothing compared to a lot of the nations out there i mean mexico just elected its first woman president and to add on top of that jewish president in the words of one of our church members mexico is cooked done i mean that's a double whammy it's like woman no good jewish woman doubly no good you know and it's just like oh man so hey you know i can't believe i'm saying this but you know i'll take biden any day let's just be honest and you know what there's worse there's nations that are worse than there's communist countries out there there are nations that are decreeing unrighteous laws all the time far far worse than what's going on here or even canada or even mexico i mean there's some nations where wickedness abounds in the laws and people are oppressed and you know it's it could it can make you mad it can drive you crazy if you allow it to just saturate your mind look at verse number four he says without me they shall bow down under the prisoners and they shall fall under the slain for all this his anger has not turned away but his hand is stretched out still what he's saying you know the judgment that's going to come upon judah and israel for their crimes for their injustices god's going to come down on them hard and he's saying that you know they're going to fall under the slain they're not going to be able to hide from the from the judgment of god is basically what he's saying there they can do everything they possibly can to save themselves from god's rod of anger it's not going to happen because the bible tells us if i ascend up into heaven thou art there if i make my bed in hell thou art there and you know this is true for a nation but it's also true for a person when a christian is backslidden to get away from god they get away from reading the bible to get away from serving god they can try to run to the most remote part of the world that cannot run from god's presence they can't hide you can run but you can't hide when you got god on you punishing you for your deeds for your backsliddenness or whatever it is and so you know we need to take this into consideration that moving geographically doesn't change anything if you're not right with god just as moving geographically doesn't change anything if you're right with god if jesus goes with me i'll go anywhere you know if we have the lord on our side it doesn't matter where we're at god's gonna bless us but you know what if you don't have god on your side and you're backslidden and you're not right with god you have sin in your life you're not you're you're involved in things that god is not pleased with it doesn't matter where you could go to the most conservative part of the country god's hand of judgment will still be on him so how do you know as jonah that's how jonah is like i i got a i got a ticket i'm i'm just gonna go somewhere far i'm not gonna go to ninova i'm just gonna run away it didn't help you swallow by a whale and god might not send a whale to swallow you up but the reality is this you know he can do far worse though he can destroy your finances he can destroy your health he can destroy your relationships he can destroy your your mentality he can destroy your sanity because at the end of the day you know you can hi you can run but you cannot hide from god's hand of judgment look at verse five oh asyrian so now he's going to get into asyria which is actually the instrument of judgment that he uses he says oh asyrian the rod of mine anger and the staff in their hand is mine indignation now that's powerful because what is he saying the asyrians are not god's people the asyrians are a heathen nation they don't like god and they don't like god's people but it says there that they are the rod of god's anger what does that mean god is going to use them okay he is the staff in the hand of his indignation what does this mean it means that god will often use the heathen to punish the righteous as a tool he says verse 6 i will send him against an hypocritical nation and against the people of my wrath will i give him in charge to take the spoiled to take the prey to tread down them down like the mire of the streets how be it listen to this he meaneth not so neither does his heart think so but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few now that's pretty powerful because what is it saying here it's basically saying like god is making the asyrians do this even though the asyrians don't even know that they're being used of god to do this they're like oh man we're gonna destroy them and we don't like their god is like their god is making you do this though the god of the bible is turning their hearts putting it in their minds giving them the intelligence the military intelligence the capabilities to destroy his people you know why because god is not just the god of the hills he's also a god of the valleys he's the god of the whole earth and you know the bible says that the heart of the king is in the hand of the lord and as the rivers of water he turneth it whether so ever he will and we often think about that verse as far as favors concern but you know what that verse can also be used to describe the fact that god can turn someone's heart against you as well think about that he concerns he can turn a king's heart against you and in this case he's turning the heart of the assyrians against israel to punish them and it's you know and it says there you know he meaneth not so you know like hey you're being used of guys like man i don't even believe in your god like i'm doing my own thing or whatever and god's just like no i'm you're you're my instrument i'm using you like you don't know this but god is basically using you like a puppet to destroy his people okay neither duth he think it doth his heart think so but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few now what this makes me think of is the fact that you know a lot of churches don't really like to talk about things like this because it kind of messes up their perception of god that god is just always loving and you know god is love and he is but you know the bible says that the lord hath made all things for himself yea even the wicked for the day of evil and in fact let me give you a another verse that communicates this even better in fact go to isaiah 45 hold your place on isaiah 10 i want you to see this yourself look at isaiah 45 and you know a lot of these christians in these non-denom type churches they have trouble with verses like this because they have like a jedi type of perception of christianity you know hate leads to whatever and to the darkness thank you for quoting that you know hate leads to darkness and you know evil this and that or whatever you got to be a monk a jedi monk look at verse seven of isaiah 45 i formed the light yeah and create darkness oh i make peace yeah and create evil oh i the lord do all these things oh man you know god will never do that to you he says he creates evil now this doesn't mean iniquity because the word evil in the bible is used interchangeably to describe sin it's used to describe iniquity transgression the workers of iniquity but it's also used to describe judgment you know the bible talks about the evil day when evil comes upon you judgment and woe and destruction and what he's saying here is that yes he creates he forms the light because he is light but hey he also creates darkness there's people out there who hate the lord who god is placed into deep depression and darkness people don't realize how vengeful god can get yeah where god can just switch something in a person's mind to just make them completely insane depressed you know disillusion discouraged and they're just losing their minds why because he creates darkness he makes peace because great peace out there which love thy law his you know that will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee but it says but he also creates evil and is there evil in the city and the lord has not done it that's what the bible says so anytime you see some catastrophe taking place in this world just give god the glory and god the credit tsunamis god tornadoes god earthquakes god hurricanes god snow storms that kill tons of people god like how can you say that because he does create evil any natural disaster you know back in the day insurances actually never called the natural disasters they would call it like um act of god because people back in the day knew that a natural disaster there's nothing natural disaster about it god is the one who formulated that to happen and you know that's an uncomfortable subject for a lot of people but people don't seem to realize that god is love yes but not at the exclusion of being a god of judgment though you know and think that you were think that they were sinners above all else you know but except you repent ye shall all likewise perish that's the message of the bible it was like oh man how can this happen to these people and the tsunami came and drowned this entire village well here's the thing except you repent ye shall all likewise perish and you should allow the evil that comes upon this world to motivate you to fear the lord your god now if you're a christian obviously it should cause you to glorify god and love the lord and be thankful that you are on his side but if you're not saved you should be shaking in your freaking boots because if you are one of the individuals in that disaster you could easily just die and split hell wide open and it's all over for you why because he creates darkness he creates evil he raises up the wicked for the day of evil he was preparing us here he allowed a syria to prosper militarily financially financially yea even in boldness and confidence i mean think about the fact that he allowed the king of iseriah to formulate in his mind the plan which we're going to see later on like of how to destroy israel and slightly destroy judah it came from god now why is this important well because of the fact that we got a bunch of foreigners coming to america right and all these conservatives are just like oh man you know god bless america build the wall you can build the wall but god's judgment is still going to come in here though because the bible teaches that when foreigners come into a land unfettered that's actually god that's an indication that god is judging that land because the borders are removed and you can build a wall as high as you want you know the highest of the high though can leap over that wall nothing can protect you from god's hand of judgment you know all these muslims that are coming in bringing their islam and false religion and their wicked practices yeah we're against it 100 percent but let me just say this is that it's an indication that god is judging america and you can vote as much as you want god does not consider your vote he's like well more people seem to be leaning right on this seem to have a conservative view on this i think i might change this or something he you know what god's doing he's like look at this cute little wall isn't that funny he was just like people could think like a wall can stop god but you know what a lot of christians don't like what i'm saying right now because they've been influenced by the political pundits of this world and they've been influenced by all the republicans and the conservative party and they think well this is how it should be yeah you know what if we were a god-fearing nation who loved the lord and didn't abort millions of babies and promote sodomy for an entire month and promote perversion and disgusting filth and you know just mocked if we didn't mock god then maybe god would help us out here maybe the wall would do something because keep in mind you know you have the king of israel and the king of juda they're like trying to do everything they can they're like oh man let's hire people they're trying to hire the asyrians to help them and the asyrians are actually punishing them now so it's like god will even take your plans to save yourself and turn those plans against you that that that dog that you bought to protect your house is going to turn on you and rend you why because when you're not right with god everything just goes against you nothing prospers nothing goes right it's a scary place to be you're like oh man what should they do well the individuals of judah are going to be fine those who are right with god should i say those who are right with god they love the lord they're grieved at the abominations of the land they'll do just fine and even if they're taken into captivity they're going to come back they just need to submit themselves to the judgment that's coming upon them but to the rest of them who are just not falling in line with what the bible says oh man they're going to get a whooping bad they're going to get a rude awakening is what they're going to get he said well then what should they do well here's what the bible says when a man's ways please the lord he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him that's what the bible says like oh man what should i do so my enemies don't destroy me or consume me make sure that you're right with god please the lord jesus christ please him make sure that you're obeying him serve him and he'll even make your enemies to be at peace with you i'm just not saying that they'll like you they'll just leave you alone and you know um you know people talk about you know bio warfare and and all these types of ways that people fight wars here's the best way to fight a war is have god just make them mad and insane i think that's how we won in omani personally i think god just made them crazy and here's the thing you don't know how much fear god can strike into someone's heart when they're laying in their beds and all these crazy delusions and imaginations are coming upon them i mean god doesn't need to send a disease he can just send imaginations a delusion upon your enemies but you know what he can also do it to you though so please god that's a great motivation to keep serving the lord like man i felt like just taking it easy this summer i thought i was going to just do barbecues and beach and just like come to church every once in a while but you know i think i'm gonna stay right with god and do those things along with church you know because we're gonna have a uh uh what do you call it a bonfire so you know you have some barbecues and whatnot but you know sometimes people like to take it easy during the summer or they just they get tired of the christian life they're just like you know i'm just gonna take a break but you know no taking breaks during the christian life there's no breaks if you need to slow down a little bit slow down but no breaks oh you just want me to be in church yeah but i also want the lord i want you to please god so that your enemies can be at peace with you because the consistent thing that we see throughout the bible is that when you are backslitted you're not right with god god can often turn your circumstances on you where you will not prosper financially you will not prosper in your marriage you'll have all these issues with your children you have issues at your job oh you're just trying to scare me yeah i am because it's true and i just find it so ironic and funny that judah's like assyria help us and assyria's like yeah i'm gonna help you i'm gonna help myself on you because they were supposed to protect them from the other nation and then they end up becoming the rod of god's anger against them look at verse eight speaking of assyria he says for he saith are not my princes altogether king so now we're looking at the pride of the assyrians here is not calno as karkemesh is not hamath as arpad is not samaria as damascus he's basically boasting of his capabilities here and the people he surrounds himself with as my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols and whose graven images did excel them of jerusalem and of samaria shall i not as i have done samaria and her idols do so due to jerusalem and her idols now what is he saying i whooped israel who's supposedly god's people and he said i destroyed their idols which they did have idols he's like don't you think i'm gonna do the same i'm gonna do the same to jerusalem so he's speaking very pridefully he's arrogant he's stout in heart and what does he do he's comparing himself with others right of other nations and he's basically saying that this god of israel is like any other god i'm just going to take him over and it's just funny for him to have this thought look at verse 12 he says wherefore it shall come to pass that when the lord hath performed his whole work upon mount zion and on jerusalem i will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of israel and the glory of his high looks he's like oh so that's what you think okay well once you're done whooping them i'm gonna whoop you that's what he's saying she's like once you're once i'm finished with this work here it kind of reminds me of like when you have a lot of children and many of them are guilty and merit chastisement you know it's like one of them's still acting up and he's just like i'll deal with you later once i'm done here you're next kind of thing you know and they think oh we're fine you know it's like no you're next okay you're you're guilty of another crime so you are also going to get disciplined and you know this shows us that god is no respecter of people and even though god is using the asyrians to punish judah in israel asyria is still guilty of a lot of crimes and they're still wicked and god's not going to let them go unpunished either and so he's like once i finish the work here you're next because you're prideful too you're stout of heart and i'm going to destroy you too look at verse 13 for he saith referring to the asyrians by the strength of my hand i have done it and by my wisdom for i am prudent and i have removed the bounds of the people and have robbed their treasures and i put down the inhabitants like a valiant man oh man this guy is just arrogant and my hand had found as a nest the riches of the people oh man he's getting all poetical now and as one gathers eggs that are left have i gathered all the earth and there was none that moved the wing or opened the mouth or peeped good night i mean talk about arrogant he's like i'm the big stuff i'm gonna go ahead and destroy them because my wisdom i'm prudent i robbed their treasures and you know what there's nothing god hates more than pride that seeks to rob god of his glory because who knows you know if the asyrian king would have repented and said you know what the lord had sent me to do this and now we're gonna go right with god i'm sure god probably wouldn't have chastised the asyrians but not only is he being used to chastise judah but now he's also robbing god of his glory because he's saying he's doing this by his own power and his own strength and it reminds me of Nebuchadnezzar right when he said you know i have built the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty and look how look what happened to him look at verse 15 it says shall the axe boast itself against him that he was there with so who's the axe here it's referring to the asyrians or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up or as if the staff should lift up itself as if it were no wood what is he saying you know you're just an instrument you're the axe you're the rod the one swinging is the person that matters because he can just pick up any other acts he wants wants and i think that that phrase there is very powerful shall the axe boast itself against him that he was there with and you know if we're to make applications to us as christians you know if god has gifted you with certain talents knowledge capabilities riches wealth prudence wisdom whatever may be business savvy tech technology the capability of understanding multiple languages don't boast yourself you're the axe don't boast yourself against the person who's swinging you if god is using you in that manner what does he say be humble you know because the bible tells us if a man purged himself from these he shall be a vessel and to honor and meet for the master's use and prepared unto every good work and essentially we are all as a hammer we are all as an axe we are all as a rod we are we have this treasure in earthen vessels right and i think everyone here wants to be used of god throughout their life that god's hand when we say god's hand is on you we mean that god is grabbing you and using you to accomplish something great right he's using your axe to chop down false doctrines or false ideologies of salvation by works and causing people to come to the saving knowledge of jesus christ he's using you as a rod to chastise you know not necessarily chastise but to break down heresies and false ideologies and strongholds when you're going out there and preaching the gospel he can use you in a great way and maybe he's using your financial understanding of things to make to get wealth to be financially stable to be a blessing to others maybe he's using your intelligence to help others become intelligent to learn to edify the kingdom of god he's gifted you in a certain way never be an axe that's boasting against the person who's swinging it hey maybe you have an incredible voice when you're up here singing you know maybe you're given the gift of song leading don't boast against the axe though maybe you just have a capability of communicating well maybe you're not a pastor but you can communicate the truths of god's well of god well you know don't boast against the person who's using you to communicate those truths what's the what's the message don't be prideful don't be arrogant hey maybe you're you know you're holding an instrument and god is using you as an instrument to play an instrument don't boast though you know because sometimes christians here's the great thing about christianity here's a thing about christianity that i just love love everything about it but this particular thing i think is just wonderful and unique and awesome is that when you become a christian you obey the lord you walk with god you actually become like a better person you actually become like smarter you become gifted like god infuses success in you via the keeping of his commandments he gives you wisdom he allows you to prosper and the tendency for christians is to become prideful because of that or have like a superiority complex or think that you're better than your peers or think that you're better than those in your demographic of age or whatever but we should not be like the asyrians the acts it's going to boast itself against the person who's swinging us which is god because here's the thing you know what god can do is just take that action just break it and just no longer use you ever again you know that's probably one of my greatest fears is to never be used of god ever again i want to continue to be used of god i want to be used of god to see an individual saying i want to be used of god to edify a church congregation by my preaching i want to be used of god to proclaim the word of god to thousands of people around the world via the internet i want to be used of god to raise godly children but you know what god at any moment can just strip that from me and make me as dumb as a donkey and not capable of understanding or or possessing the mental faculties to be able to like fulfill that because at the end of the day we're just axes we're rods you understand we're saws that he's using and i'm not saying that we're not important because obviously we are because you know what at the end of the day god can't do it without us he can't get someone saved without you but at the end of the day you know what if he doesn't if you choose not to be used he can find someone else though you know i i get that we're not you know that we are not irreplaceable so to speak like we're unique in the eyes of god but at the end of the day you know if you leave first works baptist church and you decide to just backside go into the world and never serve god again the church the ministry will continue on without you and god will find a new saw he will find a new ax he will raise up another leader he will raise up another godly couple he will raise up another person in your stead and the ministry will continue to go on and that's one of my greatest fears i don't want it to go on without me right like i want to be a part of this thing and even if i can do it in a small way i'll take it and here's how you can guarantee your spot don't boast against the one swinging do not be like the asyrians look at verse 16 therefore shall the lord the lord of hosts sent among his fat ones leanness and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire and the light of israel shall be for a fire and his holy one for a flame and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briars in one day and shall consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field both soul and body and they shall be as when a standard bearer fainted and the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few that a child may write them he's basically talking about all the judgment that's going to come upon the asyrians and you kind of have like an undertone of hell here right he talks about the fire then he talks about how it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briars referring to reprobates and then at the end of verse 18 it says both soul and body so it's one of those things where like god uses the wicked of this world to accomplish his means but even the wicked will be punished even to the point where they will get saved and they will go to hell and of course the main interpretation here is that he's physically destroying their forests their fruitful fields even to the point where the trees are so burned up that even a child can come and just count how many trees there are in one hand he says and the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few that a child may write them he's like mama there's three you know it's just it's not very hard to count i'm going to stop there because i'm trying to uh finish on time versus 20 through 32 is basically sheer jashup fulfilled because he gives him that promise that he is going to return a remnant after the chastisement versus 26 to 31 is his promise that the burden of asyria will eventually be lifted up and essentially implying that not every trial is forever you know when you're going through a hard time god is saying it's not going to last forever this is the season it's going to be hard when you go through it but don't think you'll be there forever and then he reiterates the humbling of the prideful in verses 32 towards the end of the chapter you know if you get nothing from the sermon make sure you get this is that sharpen that axe of yours amen sharpen that axe sharpen that saw and if god uses you to chop down some pretty heavy wood some heavy trees praise god for it but never boast against a god who's using you to do so if god promotes you at your job hey you know if you get a promotion you get a raise at your job give glory to god if you know you become a boss a supervisor a superintendent you move up in positions whether in the church or at your job if you succeed in any facet of your life make sure you give glory to god if you become better at something make sure you give glory to god and say if it weren't for god i would not be able to do this and not this fake stuff like the usc fighters do you know what i mean i just want to thank the lord i don't believe that stuff a lot of these hollywood people when they do that stuff i don't believe it i'm talking about sincere praise of god because you understand beyond because a lot of those guys are prideful very arrogant and prideful i'm talking about a spirit of humility that says if it wasn't for the lord i wouldn't be able to do this because i wouldn't be able to learn all this if it wasn't for god and i think all of us could look at our lives look at what we are right now just right now and let's just examine the last five years of our lives and say god has improved me exponentially i'm like a better christian i'm a better person than i was five years ago and it's not because i'm smart it's not because i'm dedicated it's not because um you know i'm gifted it's because the lord has allowed me to do this and you know lord please continue to use me make me better help me to see more souls saved give me a greater expand uh expansion of influence continue to use me to be a blessing and please don't discard me as an axe i want to be used as long as i possibly can be used in your hand let's pray father we thank you so much for your word and thank you lord for using us as a church and of course church is like ours to see people saved turn people to righteousness it just changed lives lord and i pray that you'd help us to continue to have a spirit of humility of course there's going to be instances where maybe we become prideful arrogant when we think we're something and lord you've warned us many times that we should never think ourselves more than we are of ourselves more than we ought to but we should condescend to men of low estate lord and and and have humility of mine and recognize that you can discard us as an instrument at any time if we are being prideful and arrogant lord please continue to use us please continue to give us knowledge and wisdom to know your your word lord give us give us uh uh just righteous judgment for the decisions that we need to make on a day-to-day basis help us to uh prosper and succeed at our jobs to gain favor with our bosses lord favor with people and lord may you continue to use us may we never fall into the same trap of mentality that the asyrians did where we boast against you lord may you bless us as we go on our way give us a great weekend we love you we thank you pray these things in jesus name amen okay restart your song books the song number 332 channels only song number 332