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And the Bible reads, the burden of Moab. Because in the night hour of Moab is laid waste and brought to silence, because in the night carer of Moab is laid waste and brought to silence, he's gone up to Bejeth and to Dibon, the high places to weep. Moab shall howl over Nebo and over Mediba, on all their heads shall be baldness and every beard cut off, in their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth, on the tops of their houses and in their streets, everyone shall howl, weeping abundantly. And Heshbon shall cry, and Enlilah, their voice shall be heard even unto Jehaz, therefore the armed soldiers of Moab shall cry out, his life shall be grievous unto him. My heart shall cry out for Moab, his fugitives shall free unto Zoar, and Heifereth three years old. For by the mounting up of Lewith, with weeping shall they go it up, for in the way of Hernoum they shall raise up a cry of destruction. For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate, for the haze withered away, the grass baleth, there is no green thing. Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up, shall they carry away to the brook of the willows. For the cry is gone out round about the borders of Moab, the howling thereof unto Egliam, and the howling thereof unto Beerlim. For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood, for I will bring more upon Dimon, lines upon him that escapeth of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land. Let's pray. Thank you Heavenly Father for giving us the King James Bible dear Lord, we thank you for our pastor dear Lord, we thank you for this church, and please bless pastors tonight as he preaches your word unto us. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Amen. Okay we're continuing this evening with our Bible study on the book of Isaiah. Let me just give you a little bit of review from last week so we're caught up on what's going on here in its context. Of course chapter 14, 13 and 14, is essentially chapters on judgment towards Babylon. If you remember, at the beginning of chapter 13 we see that God is going to begin to pronounce judgment upon the surrounding nations starting off with Babylon, and much of 13 has to do with the literal Babylon, of course there's spiritual application to end times Babylon, but we spend a lot of time in chapter 14 talking about the King of Babylon, and of course there was a literal king that was judged, but he foreshadowed the end times of course, but more specifically it foreshadows Lucifer, who is Satan, that old serpent, the devil, and that's where we see the fall of Satan that's actually highlighted, the ultimate fall of Satan that's highlighted in Revelation chapter 20, when he's permanently cast into the lake of fire and he does not torment the nations anymore, he doesn't deceive the nations anymore. And so one thing that we can pick up from chapters 13 and 14 is that there's near and distant fulfillment. It's always important that when you're reading the Old Testament, particularly the major and minor prophets, you have to understand that a lot of what's being preached has a near fulfillment, and when I say near, I'm referring to within a couple hundred years of when it's being preached, but also there's a distant fulfillment in the end times as well, and so we never want to take this preterious view of the Old Testament and think, well, all of this has already been fulfilled and it has no future fulfillment. Obviously, much of it has already been fulfilled in the sense of the dual fulfillment, the first fulfillment is already accomplished, but God's word is deep, there's many layers and there's many elements to a lot of the preaching that isn't found when it's first fulfilled in his lifetime, but is found in the book of Revelation where God is judging the entire world, and so we see that the human king of Babylon was addressed as well as the principality of Babylon, Lucifer, Satan himself. Now for the next couple chapters, for the next few chapters, a lot of it is just preaching against the nations. Of course, we already went over Babylon, but then Assyria, Palestine, Moab is going to be addressed, and then lastly you have Damascus, Cush, and Egypt, and ultimately the entire earth that God is going to judge, and he starts off by judging Judah and Jerusalem, and then he addresses the surrounding nations thereafter, and so go back to chapter 14 if you would, because I want to finish off, I didn't get a chance to cover the last part of chapter 14, we spent the majority of the time talking about Lucifer, but now look at verse 19, this is still in that same context of the principality as well as the human king. It says in verse 19, but thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain thrust through with the sword that go down to the stones of the pit, as a carcass trodden under feet, thou shall not be joined with them in burial, because thou has destroyed thy land and slain thy people, the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned. What does it say? It's basically saying the king of Babylon will be destroyed, they will suffer the consequences of their actions and their punishments of the surrounding nations, their ungodly oppression of the surrounding nations, and God is basically saying it's going to come back around and it's going to bite you as well. What you sow you are going to reap one day. Look at verse 21, he says, prepare slaughter for his children, for the iniquity of their fathers, that they do not rise nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities, for I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the Lord. I will also make it a possession for the bittern and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts. The besom, by the way, is just referring to a broom, and what God is saying here is that he's essentially going to just sweep the land clean of all injustice, of all iniquity, he's going to rid the land of all of the oppression that the surrounding nations have brought. And now the destruction upon Assyria and Palestine, or Philistia, comes into play. Look at verse 24, the Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand, that I will break the Assyrian in my land. And upon my mountains tread him underfoot, then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders. This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations, for the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who shall disannul it? And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? So the first malediction that we see after Babylon is Assyria, and historically Assyria has been known to just be a very cruel nation, especially when they're oppressing the surrounding nations, they're very cruel, very evil, very wicked in their dealings of their prisoners, and so God's not going to turn a blind eye to those injustices. He sees what the Assyrians have done, and even though he essentially used them to punish his people, they're not going to be without punishment. God is specifically saying here, no one's going to change my mind about this. And it kind of goes to show us that there are certain nations in this world that have crossed the line to such an extent that God's not going to change his mind about punishing that nation. They can try to improve as much as they want, they can try to appease God as much as they want, future generations can even try to impede or slow down the judgment of God, but ultimately the judgment will come because God will not change his mind about sin that needs to be punished. What nation are you referring to? Well, how about the United States of America? And even though we would consider ourselves to be a generation that is seeking out the Lord, ask Christians, we are winning souls to Christ, we're preaching righteousness, we're trying to keep the judgment of God coming down upon this nation in our generation, at the end of the day, you know, America will be destroyed one day because it has to pay for past sins. And God's not just going to look at the abominations of the land and just kind of overlook it and say, well, it's America. You know, it says God bless, or in God we trust, on their currency or whatever. I'm just going to overlook all the murders of babies, all the injustices, all the sodomy, all the perversion, all the idolatry, all the wickedness. I'm just going to sweep that under the rug and just show mercy to that nation and they will never be destroyed, false. The Lord has purposed it and who shall just annul it, right? And the Bible tells us that the wicked shall be turned into hell and all nations that forget God. And so it doesn't matter how much a nation turns back to God, obviously that particular generation can experience the mercy of God. We see that in Israel or in Judah where a righteous king arose and brought reform to the land. And what did God say? God didn't say like, hey, I'm not going to punish this place anymore. You guys go scot-free, you're good to go. No, he said, I won't punish it in your day. My wrath will not be poured out in your day. What is the implication? It's going to be poured out one day. But because you're righteous, it's not going to come upon your day. So really the principle that we can learn there is that churches and Christians, not politics, churches and Christians through godly living, through righteousness, through preaching the gospel can actually impede the wrath of God from coming in our generation. But ultimately, I hate to break it to you, it's going to come one day. And even so, Lord, come. I mean if we love righteousness and justice as much as the Lord, we should want nations to be punished for their iniquity, their blasphemy against God, their idolatrous practices, their iniquity, their abominations that they commit. And obviously there is a constant battle within us because even though we want that punishment to come, we want people to be saved. And so therefore we preach righteousness, we preach the gospel, we want to get people saved in order for people to have the chance to have eternal life and live righteously and be blessed of God. But at the end of the day, who shall disannul it? No one's going to change the mind of God to not punish nations because he has a bone to pick with these nations who for hundreds of years have mocked God, disobeyed the Lord, he's not going to let that go unpunished, he is going to render unto them according to their works. Look at verse 28, so of course that's referring to Assyria, and then we're going to look at Palestine's punishment, it says, In the year that King Ahaz died was this burden. Rejoice not thou, O whole Palestine, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken, for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a concatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery, flying serpent. Now what is this referring to? Well because the Assyrians essentially just plundered and destroyed all the surrounding nations, you know, the Palestinians of this particular day, just those who dwell in that particular area, they rejoiced over the fact that Assyria is being punished because they were oppressed by the Assyrians. And so historically, those in that particular area, the Philistines, okay, made confederacy with Assyrians to go up against the Assyrians, and the king at that time ended up dying, and they're thinking to themselves, oh great, you know, this nation was punished, a nation that oppressed us, we're good to go, let's go ahead and get out from there under the oppression of the Assyrians, but what does the Bible say? It says, for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a concatrice. And what he's saying is that, you know, the king of Assyria might have died, but you know, he has a son, and that son is just as wicked as he is, that son is also going to oppress you, and you know what, the Philistines are not without fault, they are also going to be punished because historically, biblically, you see that the Philistines were always persecuting the Israelites, right? You know, constantly fighting against Israel, constantly warring with them, and it says there, rejoice not, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken. And what does that say? You know, we shouldn't rejoice when our enemy falleth, lest, you know, God's wrath turn from him, and it displeased him. And there's a great principle for us as Christians that, you know, we shouldn't rejoice when our personal enemies fall, because of the fact that, you know, part of rejoicing over your enemy falling is that God's going to stop punishing them, okay? His wrath will be turned from them. And obviously, there are enemies of God in this world that is not the same as our personal enemies, those who hate the Lord, that's a separate category. I'm just talking about people who don't like you, and who you may not like for whatever reason. You know, it's in our nature to rejoice when they fall, when misfortune finds them, when they go through hard times, or they get what's coming to them. You know, God doesn't want us to rejoice over that. He wants us to have a humble spirit, to be gracious and merciful towards our enemies. And in fact, the Bible tells us to love our enemies, right? To make sure that we bless those who curse us, those who despitefully use us. We need to make sure that we have a disposition of forgiveness and grace and mercy towards our personal enemies. And you know, that goes against our nature. So we have to like, on purpose, do that. We have to actually think about that, and put that into practice. But we see that principle here that he's telling them, don't rejoice, because you're counting your chickens before the eggs hatch, and at the end of the day, you think the Assyrians are no longer a problem, but hold on a second, from the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his son, Sargon is his name, is going to end up punishing you and destroying you. He's going to be used of God to punish you for your past dealings, okay? It says in verse 30, the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety, and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant. How, O gate, cry, O city, thou whole Palestine, are dissolved, for there shall come forth the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times. What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation, that the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it? So what's the purpose of punishing the Philistines? Well, obviously, they need to be punished for their actions, but it's also to show himself strong on the behalf of his people. And of course, his people in the Old Testament is the nation of Israel. And it says there in verse 32 that the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it. So even though we're not to rejoice when our enemy falls, when they do, we can rejoice in the Lord and say the Lord is just. The Lord is righteous. He will balance everything out at the end of the day. He is a just God, and he's gonna correct every wrong, right every wrong, and he's gonna bring justice upon the land, not just upon the land, but even in our personal lives as well. The ways of the Lord are equal, amen? And so even though Shalmaneser dies, his son Sargon ends up taking over and still oppressing them. And what this shows us at the end of the day is that judgment must begin at the house of God, but then also at the end of the day, after God's people are punished, he's gonna turn his wrath upon the four nations, Babylon, Assyria, the Philistines. And now we're into chapter 15 with the invasion of Moab, okay? And so this is a very short chapter, and it actually carries over into chapter 16, the judgment that comes upon Moab. Let's talk about Moab for a minute. Moab has played a pretty significant role in the life of Israel in that you can essentially view it as a cousin nation of Israel. And the reason why is because they're essentially, you know, it's embarrassing, but they're a result of an incestuous relationship between Lot and his daughter. That's where the nation of Moab comes from. And so, you know, they're there essentially from the beginning in the book of Genesis. And you know, throughout the history of Israel, you have a lot of conflict between Moab and Israel. I mean, from the early days, you have Balak, the king of Moab, seeking to curse Israel, right? Hiring Balaam, the son of Bozor, to curse them. And then later on, in the book of Judges, you have King Eglon, who's the king of Moab oppressing the children of Israel. And of course, God ends up delivering the children of Israel by the hand of Echad, the left-handed assassin. You have conflict there. But here's the thing, is that at the end of the day, in the book of Deuteronomy, God told Israel, hey, don't fight against Moab, okay? Don't fight against them in order to possess their land. I've given them these particular locations and this land for their possession. God was still blessing them, because at the end of the day, Moab, even though it's not necessarily Israel, because they're in close proximity to Israel, they should be worshiping the God of the Bible. And you have Ruth, for example, who's in the lineage of Jesus Christ. Ruth was a Moabite woman. And so there are plenty of Moabites who worshiped the God of the Bible, they loved the Lord, they followed the statutes and the commandments of God. So it's not like Moab, even though it's not a nation that's within Israel, it's not like, well, you know, they didn't know any better. They got their own form of worship, no, they're in really, I mean, physically, geographically close proximity to Israel, they have history with Israel, they know all about the God of the Bible. They know about the word of God, they have ancestors who are involved or are part of the lineage of Jesus Christ. And so there's no excuse. But when you look at Moab, especially in this particular interval of time, you see that they're worshiping false gods, Chemosh, a false god. And you think to yourself, how is it that you can stray so far from the path of worshiping the God of the Bible and worship false gods, you know, therefore the punishment upon Moab is gonna be severe. Because the punishment is always severe upon a person who's in close proximity to the truth. You know who gets punished pretty severely? Our people in the United States of America. Why? Because they're in a country where Christianity is rampant, right? Albeit not all of it is good. But you know what? You can find churches virtually in every single state in the United States of America. You can literally buy a Bible at the Dollar Tree if you wanted to. There's King James Bibles everywhere, there's churches everywhere. You can find the truth if you're looking for it. It's a nation that supposedly prides itself in being a Christian nation, not that it is. But what I'm saying is that they have knowledge of the God of the Bible. And so when you have people in the United States of America completely ignorant of the God of the Bible and worshipping false gods, getting involved in Buddhism, Hinduism, all paganism, their punishment is gonna be severe. Why? Because they're in close proximity to the truth. They're in the United States of—in God we trust, God bless America. People are always talking about the God of the Bible. And I'm not saying everyone who does is a righteous person, a lot of them are false prophets, but hey, God even used Balaam, the son of Bozor, who's a false prophet, to say some true things, right? And so Moab is going to be punished severely. Moab is actually invaded at night by the Assyrians. It says in verse 1, the burden of Moab, and why is it saying burden again? If you remember the burden of Babylon, it's referring to the fact that this message is gonna be heavy. He says the burden is referring to the weight of the message that's gonna come upon Moab. He says, because in the night, Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence, because in the night, Kur of Moab is laid waste and brought to silence. So the Assyrians historically end up destroying these two major cities of Moab, Ar and Kur, in one night. Now the question is, okay, so why is God judging Moab? And why is he so severe? Why is the punishment so severe towards them? Well, in the next chapter, we're gonna see next week some of the reasons why, their pride, their arrogance, but let's go to Jeremiah chapter 48, hold your place there, in Isaiah 15. And we're gonna look at Jeremiah 48, when God, in another instance, is gonna punish Moab via the Babylonians. And it's essentially for the same exact reasons why the Assyrians are gonna punish them and why God is using the Assyrians to punish them. Look at verse number one of Jeremiah 48. We'll come back to Isaiah in just a bit. Look at verse one, it says, against Moab, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, woe unto Nebo, for it is spoiled, Kiriathayim is confounded and taken, Mizgab is confounded and dismayed, there shall be no more praise of Moab, in Heshbon they have devised evil against it, come let us cut it off from being a nation, also thou shall be cut down, all madmen, the sword shall pursue thee, a voice of crying shall be from Horenaam, spoiling and great destruction, Moab is destroyed, her little ones have caused a cry to be heard, for in the going up of Luhith continual weeping shall go up, for in the going down of Horenaam the enemies have heard a cry of destruction, flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the wilderness, listen to this in verse seven, for because thou wast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures. So the first thing we see is that Moab is a nation that seems to be doing well financially, and you know what happens when people do well financially? They trust in those finances more than they trust in God. So Moab is very much prosperous, they're making money, they have treasures, they have wealth, and what does wealth do if it's unchecked? It causes you to stray from the paths of the Lord, to have a covetous, greedy heart, and it actually causes you to serve mammon rather than God. Now this doesn't mean that we can't have money, because obviously money is necessary to pay the bills. But let me just say this, to make a modern day application, people often use that as an excuse to make more money and then they get out of church. We gotta pay the bills, that's absolutely true. And you know what? It's not just to pay the bills by the way, it's also to just buy things that we like and want, because he's given us richly all things to enjoy, the Bible says. God's not against you enjoying things, purchasing things, and buying possessions and having nice things, but what he does have a problem with is when possessions have you, to the point where it causes you to stray from the paths of the Lord, and it causes you to trust in your works, and in your treasures, rather than in the living God. You see, prosperity and wealth is a sign of God's blessing, but it ends up being a curse to a certain extent, because some people can't handle that blessing, can't handle wealth, they can't handle a lot of money. And I'm sure God would give it to everyone if people could handle it, but they can't. You can't serve God and mammon, and covetousness is a grievous sin in the Bible, and in fact in the New Testament, covetousness can get you kicked out of church. Why? Because covetousness can spread like leaven in a church, cause people to get their eyes off of the eternal and place them on the temporal. You know when you have people in church just talking about money, talking about possessions, pyramid schemes, where they view church as an opportunity to recruit people and workers for their own greedy gain or lust that they have, at that point it becomes wrong. And I'm not saying don't hire people from our church and talk about your job, don't misunderstand what I'm saying, don't misinterpret what I'm saying. What I'm talking about is that when you come to church, the primary thing we should be talking about are the things of God. Not here's a get rich quick scheme, here's Avon, or whatever, what's that vacuum called? The rainbow vacuum, I don't even know if that still exists, but that was a thing back in the day, it's like a pyramid scheme. What's the most recent pyramid scheme, does anybody know of a new pyramid scheme? Prime America, this is the insurance thing, right? And by the way, let me just say this, that is what it is, right? I remember, let me just share a personal illustration, I think it was Prime America too, actually, now think about it. There's some church members from long ago, this is before we even started the church, this is when we're at our other church, and there's a couple that we, my wife and I invested in a lot, and we spent a lot of time with, and they ended up backsliding, they got out of church, and just started living for the world, and we kind of lost contact with them. And one day, just out of the blue, years later, they contact us, and they're like, hey, we want to see you guys, we heard you had a son, and we're like, oh man. So my wife and I were just super happy, we're like, oh, they're going to get back into the church, back to serving God, and they're people that we loved, and we set up a day when they would come over to our house, and they came to our house, and we're just like, wow, this is so cool, God's been working on them, and they just randomly wanted to contact us, and just maybe get back into the church, and they brought my son a gift, it was like a baby gift or something, and we're just so happy to see them. And we thought it was kind of like weird, that just out of the blue, they just contacted us, but you know what, I just give people the benefit of the doubt, and I just assume God's working in their life, you know? And I'm just rejoicing, because I'm thinking to myself, they're back, they're going to get back on board, back on track, what a blessing. And so we're sitting there, and they're just like, we want to talk to you guys about your life insurance. And then it clicked. I kind of looked at my wife, and I was like, oh no, this is the only reason they wanted to contact us again, it's not even to come to church, it's not because of anything godly, it's because they see us as an opportunity to make more money or something like that. Folks, that's covetousness, that's greed, that's covetousness, don't come to church looking for customers, amen? You know, if God gives you customers through the brothers and sisters in Christ, you know, if it's like organic, that's different, but when you're purposely trying to just come here only because, not because you want to hear preaching, you want to hear the word of God, you want to go sony, but you're coming primarily to find people to build up your pyramid scheme, I mean your business, then at that point it becomes wrong. These are people who trust in their treasures, and I'm not trying to deter anybody from getting raises at their job, making extra money, having a mind of witty inventions to make more money, even if you have enough or sufficient and you just want to make some more money, I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but let me just say this, you've got to make sure you're checking your heart to make sure you're staying right with God, that you're staying in, here's a good marker, that you're staying in church and not working on Sundays or Thursdays for the sake of making more money so you can buy more toys, so you can stay out of church longer, you know, you got to make sure that it doesn't take away from your Bible reading, from sowing, from these Christian practices that keep us in the ways of the Lord, okay, and it takes discipline my friends, it takes discipline to make a lot of money and stay right with God, and it's one of those things where it's just like, hey, if you're making a lot of money, if you're making treasures, you better first of all give glory to God and recognize that every good gift and every perfect gift cometh from above from the Father of lights, and don't allow it to become a God unto you as well, and in fact in Colossians chapter 3 it parallels covetousness with what? Idolatry, okay, when they're serving the Almighty dollar rather than Almighty God, so Moab is, you know, there's an issue here, they're not seeking after the Lord, why? Because they're rejoicing, they're trusting in their treasures, they're not exercising their faith in God, they're more, you know, concerned with the money that they have, the wealth that they have, it says, because thou has trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou shall also be taken, and this is a really funny statement right here, and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity with his priests and his princes together, what does he say? He's like, your gods won't even like, they're not gonna even escape, like I'm gonna have your gods go into captivity as well, like Chemosh is not even gonna survive this judgment, whatever idol they have, that's also gonna be taken into captivity with his gay little priest, his princes together, basically saying like, not even your gods gonna be able to deliver you out of my hand, is what he's saying, okay, and the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape, the valley also shall perish, the plain shall be destroyed as the Lord had spoken, give wings unto Moab that it may flee and get away, for the cities thereof shall be desolate without any to dwell therein, cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood, now he's not addressing Moab, he's talking about Babylon, so he's telling Babylon, hey, if you don't kill a bunch of people, you're doing the work of the Lord deceitfully, that's what he's saying there, cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood, he's essentially showing Moab that he's not messing around, he wants people to die in this invasion of Moab, and he's even declaring a curse upon those who are exercising the punishment, if they don't do a thorough job, he says in verse 11, Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his leaves, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity, therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed, what is he talking about, he's essentially saying, you know, Moab has just been chilling this entire time, he's not, he's at ease, he's not seeking the Lord, and obviously in a very practical sense, if we were to relate this to a person, we can say that Moab is being idle, you know what, idleness will destroy you spiritually, and idleness is a curse to God's people, because it's when you're idle that the devil can come and tempt you, you can get involved in sin, Christians should not be idle, the Bible says we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them, and obviously there's a time to relax, there's a time to just kind of wind down a little bit, after you've done work though, but your whole life should not be characterized by idleness, playing video games, just being lazy, just, you know, doomscrolling the internet and social media, you know, God wants us to be busy and productive and not idle, not be at ease, right, so he's saying, you know, Moab, they've never really had any conflict, they're at ease from their youth, they're settled on their lease, essentially referring to the fact that, you know, they are like stagnant juice, and what happens when juice stagnates, it begins to ferment, begins to smell, and so in order to prevent that, you have to, you know, transfer it, transport it from vessel to vessel, but they're not being transported vessel to vessel, they're just kind of stagnant in their life, and you know, as a Christian, the Christian life can be characterized by movement, right, and I'm not saying you have to put it in fourth gear the entire time, but you know what, you should be growing in your Christian faith though, and stretching yourself spiritually, you know, if you're reading your Bible every day, kudos to you, stretch yourself a little bit, we're reading an extra chapter tomorrow, stretch yourself a little bit and add another minute to that prayer life, stretch yourself a little bit and knock on another door, you know, challenge yourself spiritually so that you're not stagnant, you're not at ease, you are not settled on your lease, you're not stinking, he says, neither have you gone into captivity, therefore his tastes remain in him, and his scent is not changed, so the picture that God is giving here is that, hey, since you're at ease, you're not doing anything with your life, then what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna cause a foreign nation to come and put you into another vessel, since you're not putting yourself into another vessel, since you're not putting yourself through hardships and challenges, don't worry, I got you, I'll send the nation to make you uncomfortable, I'll send a financial woe in your life to make you pray, I'll send you hardships, difficulties, so that you do read your Bible, that's basically what he's saying, and so either, you know, allow yourself to purposely put yourself into hardships by disciplining yourself, increasing your character, or God is gonna do it for you, and sometimes he does it anyways, you understand what I'm saying? But here's the thing, is that I rather just make life sometimes hard on myself, so that, you know, God doesn't have to make life hard on me because I'm at ease, because I'm settled on my lease, and so, you know, the principle that we can learn here is that never feel like you just arrived as a Christian, and don't be a lazy, at-ease individual, and in the day and age in which we live, it's very easy to fall into that trap, especially for young people, okay? Become lazy, and now just the most, you know, menial tasks are just hard for them or something, right? It's just super hard, it's just like, you know, and then, you know, coming to church is just really hard, you know, I don't know, I don't know if I preached this here or somewhere else, it's just like, it's not hard to come to church, the car brings you, it's not very difficult at all, but, you know, when you have a generation that doesn't make life hard on themselves by challenging themselves, they end up being these individuals who are just inept, incapable. I was on the airplane coming back, and my seat was right next to the restroom, the lavatory, and this young person, it's like a teenager, came and, like, looked at the door and was just like, and it wasn't open, it was closed, and I'm like, what is she doing? And she was just kind of like, you know, I'm like, she's trying to open it. I'm thinking to myself, it says push, push, and then the flight attendant was right there, and she's like, how do I get in here? And she's like, the sign says push, you just have to push, and she's like, and I'm like, we're not gonna make it. I mean, I'm gonna make it, they're not gonna make it. Your generation is not gonna make it! I'm like, how? How? But I'm telling you, that's a byproduct of a nation, of a generation, should I say, that has had everything done for them, and has never challenged themselves in anything. Hardships are good for you, my friend. Don't be like Moab that's settled on their lease, they're at ease, they're settled on their lease, they haven't been transferred from vessel to vessel, they're stagnant, they're lazy, they're overweight, they don't, you know, know how to discipline themselves to go to sleep and wake up early and work hard. Don't be Moab! And that's why God is bringing judgment upon them. God will bring judgment upon you for your laziness, because he doesn't want us to be lazy, he wants us to be productive for the kingdom of God, and not just for the kingdom of God, just in whatever state you're in with your family, at your home, at your job, be a productive person. The Bible says that the righteous are more excellent than his neighbor. He's supposed to excel, right? And so this is why he's being judged here. This is a little verse 12. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will send unto him wanderers that shall cause him to wander, and shall empty his vessels and break their bottles. And Moab should be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel their confidence. He's like, you know, I'm gonna show you what Chemosh can do for you, which is nothing. You know, they're like going into captivity, they're like, man, I hope Chemosh can help me, and then Chemosh is just like, dude, I'm in the same boat as you, like I'm being taken captive. Go back to Isaiah, if you would. So this is the reason why. They're worshiping false gods, they're at ease, they're trusting in their treasures. You know, all this, even though they're in close proximity to Israel, close proximity to the statutes of the Lord, you say, man, that's wicked. Yeah, but are you like that? Because you're in close proximity to the truth, too. In fact, you're in closer proximity to the truth than most people in this nation are, because you're in church listening to the preaching of God's Word. You have a Bible on your lap. So how much more severe punishment can come upon a person who has more truth given to them? Look at verse number two. So this is the reason why they're being judged. He says, he has gone up to Bejeth and Dibon, the high places, to weep. Moab shall howl over Nebo and over Mediba. On all their heads shall be baldness and every beard cut off. In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth on the tops of their houses and in their streets. Everyone shall howl, weeping abundantly, and Heshbon shall cry. Elila, their voice shall be heard even unto Jehaz. Therefore the armed soldiers of Moab shall cry out, his life shall be grievous unto him. Now, this is astounding to think about. Why? Because in the midst of being judged, you know what they say? Let's go to the high places and weep. What does that mean? It means they're seeking after their false gods for comfort. Because they're not looking for the God of Israel. They're not looking for the mercy of God. They're going to the high places to humble themselves before false gods. Now, this is absolutely crazy to me and I was thinking about this and I thought to myself, man Moab, really? You know, this should wake you up to the God of the Bible. And I couldn't help but think of the RNC this week. Waha Guru, where you have this Hindu coming up and if you don't know what the RNC is, don't worry because it doesn't even matter. It's all nonsense, right? But you know, the Republican Party considers themselves to be a conservative Christian type of party, right? Based upon biblical principles or whatever. And we don't believe that and I hope you don't believe that. I say hope though because I'm sure some of you do, okay? But you know, and I know a lot of fundamental Baptists believe they're just like a godly party or something like that. Well, I hope our fundamental Baptist brethren woke up this week to see that this Republican Hindu, pagan, prayed unto a false god accrediting Waha Guru, this genderless God or whatever, for saving Donald Trump or whatever. And I'm thinking to myself, Waha Guru can't even keep Hindus in India from eating their own escriment. He can't even keep Hindus from eating unsanitary foods in the street. Waha Guru can't even clean up his own backyard. He can't even keep his own nation in check and you think he stopped the bullet? You know, this Hindu, you're like, oh man, that's insensitive. She's a pagan. She's praying to a false god. She's wicked. And any Christian who apologizes or any Christian that advocates for that and thinks it's okay and we shouldn't judge, you're a weakling of a Christian. Shut your mouth, don't call yourself a Christian. You are ashamed of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ and don't tell anybody that you're a believer. Because we worship the God of the Bible here. We worship the Lord Jesus Christ here. He is the God of gods and King of kings, Lord of lords. He is the superior deity who created the universe and Waha Guru is genderless. Our God is a man. He's not afraid to call himself a man. He's a man of war. That's what the Bible says. Waha Guru needs to teach his people over in India to not cannibalize, eat flesh, and eat crap. Because that's what they do over there. And you know what? India is the byproduct of false religion. You say, well that's what they do culturally. It's sick. It's against the Bible. It's disgusting. And you know what? That's what happens when false religion runs rampant. You have people that think it's okay to eat dung and not eat the cow that produced it. Great job, Waha Guru. Oh yeah, you're doing such a great job in India and then, you know, I'm sure you took a little vacation to come help Donald Trump from not being shot or something like that. You know, the Republican Party should be ashamed of themselves. They're an embarrassment to Christianity. And I'm not, by the way, I'm not a Republican. Just, I know you probably already know that, but just make myself very clear. Because I don't associate with people who worship false gods. I don't associate with the party who just completely disregards the God of the Bible. Oh, are you saying that, you know, God is the one who allowed Donald Trump to only be shot in the ear? Of course I believe that. Why would I not believe that? That should be not controversial. You say, are you in favor of Donald Trump? No, but obviously if, you know, the bullet just missed him by a couple inches or whatever, that's an act of God, not Waha Guru. And you know what? If I'm wrong, I'd rather be wrong giving credit to the God of the Bible than be right worshiping some false god. Because Waha Guru is fake, he's a false god, it's a devil. And the Republican Party should be ashamed of themselves, associating with that nonsense. And you know, if this offends you, this is a fundamental Baptist Church where we worship the Lord Jesus Christ. We make no apologies about it. And yes, we do not worship, we don't worship false gods, nor do we esteem them, nor do we make excuses. Well, that's their cultures and customs and their cultures and customs need a change. I'm not gonna worship or give credit to a genderless, some hermaphrodite false god. What is that? Some eunuch of a false god, and I'm supposed to believe that it was him or her, or whatever the heck that thing is, that saved Donald Trump. Obviously it's a miracle that that happened. I don't care, by the way, I don't buy into this, it's a hoax. You know, people who say it's a hoax, it's like everything's just a hoax. Everything's a, it's not a hoax, he literally got shot. He wasn't in on it either. How do you just like, yeah, just clip me in the ear. I'll turn at the perfect time and you'll clip me in the ear or something like that. It's nonsense, folks. Be realistic about things. And just because we say that God delivered Donald Trump doesn't mean we're in favor of Donald Trump either. You know, you know when we say that God delivered Donald Trump, it shows that we're in favor of God. And we accredit miraculous things to the Lord, the God of the Bible, who teaches his people not to eat their own escriment. And praise God for that, amen? That God comes to us and says, you know, make sure whatever goes out from you, you do without the camp and bury that mess. Not put it in your mouth and eat it. Nonsense, my friends. And you know what, if you don't understand that, you know, just go on Instagram a little bit, your algorithm can change if you just watch a couple of these videos of what kind of food they serve in India and how they serve that food and how disgusting and unsanitary it is. And you know, I'm not, in general, I'm just not a fan of Indian food. And you might, we might have some fans of Indian food here or whatever, but you know what, I don't like Indian food and it's not because I'm racist. It's because, you know, the way they serve the food there in India has just turned me off to Indian food. Sorry, when you're washing your plates in the water that's running in the streets, you're grabbing the food and just throwing it, it's disgusting. God is holy, he's a God of sanitation, and so, you know, forget wahaguru. Stinking false God. And then they had some former porn star or something praying up there as well. It's just like, oh yeah, this is a reflection of the Republican Party for sure. You know, I'm not necessarily surprised that that happened. It's one of the things that's like, that makes sense. This is what the Republican Party is. It's filled with godless, immoral pagans trying to introduce paganism into the Republican Party. Man, I hope some fundamental Baptists out there will finally wake up and stop associating with that nonsense and not make excuses for it either. They say, well, you know, it's not, this is politics, we got to keep it separate from... No, we're supposed to judge politics based upon what the Bible says. And the Bible says to not fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but listen to this, but rather reprove them. So it's not enough that you don't associate with the unfruitful works of darkness, God says you got to take it a step further and call it out. Reprove it, correct it. And I hate Hinduism. I despise it. It's a disgusting, filthy, pagan religion that God is not okay with. He hates it, and you know what, Hinduism has sent billions to hell. And it teaches a bunch of nonsense. Okay, and so let's move on from that, but hey Moab, you know, instead of going to the high place and giving credit to Wahoo Guru, why don't you actually call upon the name of the Lord and ask for his mercy? And I have no beef with people giving God credit for delivering Donald Trump. I have no beef with that. Not because of Donald J Trump's character, because of the character of God. And only he can perform such a miraculous, supernatural miracle. And so when I see that, I'm just like, glory to God. You're like, yeah, but Donald Trump's wicked. Yeah, but God isn't, though. And you know, he just delivers people sometimes. You know what, for his purposes, we don't know what it's for. I don't really care what it's for. I'm just glad I witnessed it, because I know God is able to do such things. Wahoo Guru is too busy eating dung in India, worshipping at a temple with like rats and stuff. You guys know what I'm talking about? All right, if you like Indian food, don't be offended. I'm just saying. Okay, I'm sure the Indian food here is great, but I don't want to know by first-hand experience. I'm not interested. Look at verse number five. Now this is very interesting. Verse five it says, my heart shall cry out for Moab. His fugitives shall flee into Zohar. Isn't that interesting? Why? Well, what is Zohar? Zohar is that little city that Lot fled to when Sodom and Gomorrah were being destroyed, right? Is it not a little city? This is where he goes, so it's like Moab going to its origins of where it started, essentially, is in that area. He says, in Heifer of three years old, for by the mounting up of Lut, with weeping, shall they go it up. For in the way of Horonaim, they shall raise up a cry of destruction. For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate, for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing. Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up, they shall carry away to the brooks of the willows. What is it saying? Well, it's saying that on their way to Zohar, because obviously they're fugitives now, their land has been plundered, it's being destroyed by the Assyrians, so the survivors are becoming fugitives and they're trying to flee into the surrounding cities, but as they go to Zohar, they're seeing all these other cities, Luhith, Nimrim, and you know, they see this and they're like, oh great, you know, you know, because they don't have anything, because everything is taken from them, so they're only carrying that which they can carry, they only possess that which they can carry, whatever food they can have for those couple days or whatever, so they come to these cities and it's just like water, but it's desolate, green grass, but it's gone, and the reason for that is because the Assyrians had already taken that over, so it's like this mirage of like, oh man, we're gonna be fine, and they get there and they're like, oh everything's gone, so just put yourself in the state of hopelessness that Moab feels, okay, and of course the reason they feel this way, God's allowing them, because he's taking all the security away from them in hopes that they'll seek the Lord, and you know what, this is very common amongst Christians too, you know, sometimes when a Christian backslides, gets out of church, one of the things that God does to kind of get him back on track is he removes everything from them, just takes it all, and you know, they're like, well, I'll go to Zor, I'll move to Texas, I'll move to Florida, you know, I'll make it there, and then you get there and it's just there's nothing, you go fishing, there's nothing, usually you just can't prosper anywhere, everything's gone, and here's some advice, if you ever backslide, you know, just get right with God immediately, because you don't want to get to a point where God has to like take everything from you in order to get your attention, and God has no issue with taking everything from you, and you know what, you can't outwit God, it's not gonna happen, and so they're just like, great, there's water, there is no water, the Assyrians already drank it all up, oh man, there's grass for our animals, there is no grass, everything's gone, everything's planted, everything's destroyed, you have nowhere to go, showing us that moving geographically doesn't help you, look at verse 8, and here's the last point, it says, for the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab, the howling thereof unto Eglaim, and the howling thereof of Birellium, for the waters of Daimon shall be full of blood, for I will bring more upon Daimon, lions upon him that escapeth of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land, and what does that mean, so basically God is sending the Assyrians to cut them down, and obviously they're survivors, and they're thinking, well you know, we escaped the edge of the sword, and God's like, no you didn't, I'm gonna send lions to come kill you too, this is not symbolic, when it says, lions upon him that escapeth Moab, he's not like saying like, he's not calling the Assyrians lions, it's literal lions, so on their way to, you know, deliverance, and you know, fleeing, they're encountering lions by the way that are slaying them, now this is not an isolated incident, God has repeatedly throughout the Old Testament used the beasts of the field to destroy people and to punish them, you don't hear that in the kids Sunday school lessons ever, most churches don't like to talk about that, but you know, God has got to use the lion to kill a prophet because he disobeyed him, an old prophet deceived a younger prophet who was right with God, he disobeyed the Lord, and a lion met him by the way, he just, he didn't even eat him, he just killed him and stood right next to him, he didn't even eat the donkey he was on, just to give it indication, hey I'm not here for the meal, I'm just doing, you know, I'm just here to take out the prophet, because God would do that, and in fact let me read to you from Leviticus 26 verse 21, before I read that, you know, another famous example is when children mocked the prophet of God, calling him Baldy Baldy, Elisha, one of the greatest prophets of the Old Testament, doubly than even Elijah, right, and they call him, they're mocking the man of God, calling him Baldy Baldy, and just bears just tear up all these kids, all these children, I mean God sent that, Leviticus 26, 21 says, if you walk contrary unto me, so automatically you should think, okay check, let's not do that, and will not hearken unto me, meaning you won't, don't want to listen, check, I will listen, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins, I will also send, so aside from the plagues, also means in conjunction with, on top of, in addition, I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number, and your highways shall be desolate, second Kings 17 25 says, and so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord, therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them, so it's like, you know, these people are not fearing God, they're living godless lives, they're doing that which is displeasing unto the Lord, and God's like, all right, send the lions, I mean that'll get your attention right there, wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, the nations which thou has removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of God, of the God of the land, therefore he sent lions among them, and behold they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land, and let me just say this, this is, I'm done here, you know, God, the Old Testament is not the only time this happens, by the way, though I don't see any stories in the New Testament where that's happening, we'll read the book of Revelation, first and foremost, he sends animals that we've never even seen from the bottom of this pit, to just come torment men for five months, how about that, but I believe throughout history, there's been instances where some sort of animal, a lion, will be sent to slay men, I mean there is a particular instance where, in India, of course, speaking of India, you know, they're building a railroad, and I'm sorry, this is in Africa, but they were using Indians as laborers, and they're building this railroad, and there's these two lions that were just killing all the workers, eating all the workers, dozens and dozens of workers, and it's just like, why would that happen, well because they're worshipping false gods, that's why, where was Waghuru then, right, and in India, there's also stories about leopards and various different beasts that come into particular towns and little villages, robbing the people of their children, slaying them, killing people, I mean this is very widely recorded, you can look this up, it happens all the time, I still believe that God uses animals to do this, to just come and just slay people, he said well why would God do that, to get their attention, that's why, to show them stop worshipping a false god, worship the god who oversees the animals and is sending them to slay you, and so what do we see with Moab, well we're not done yet because the next chapter is a continuation of the judgment, but what we see with the lesson that we can take away from Moab is, if you're in close proximity to the truth, just know that your punishment is that much more severe if you just decide to go the opposite direction, because to whosoever much is given, of him shall be much required, and Moab's punishment is just, it's just, like man that sounds a little excessive though, like the Assyrians and then lions, yeah, and of course the lion is a picture of what, the devil, and so may this be a lesson unto us to hearken unto the Lord, not trust in our treasures, not be at ease, make sure we live a life of challenge, obedience unto the Lord, so we could avoid the Assyrians, so to speak, and the lions as well. Amen? Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word, thank you for chapter 15 and the many wonderful principles thereof, Lord, that we can learn from that, and thank you for being the greatest god in the universe, the creator of the universe, and Lord I'm thankful that I'm in the right religion, the only true religion, which is Christianity, the superior religion that towers over all religions, and Lord you made an example not only of the people who are worshiping false gods, but you even made an example of their false gods as well, and Lord may we see that in our day, and may you abase those false religions, and we know that ultimately that will happen in the millennial reign, but Lord may we see it in our day as well, and may we give heed to the judgment upon Moab that we may not follow in their footsteps, but may we live a life that's pleasing unto you to avoid that punishment. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Please turn your psalm books to Psalm number 159. Blessed be the name. Psalm number 159.