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cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria, that shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the Lord of hosts. And that day it shall come to pass that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean. And it shall be as when the harvestman gathered the corn and reaped the ears with his arm, and it shall be as he that gathered ears in the valley of Rephaim. Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as a shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough. Four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the Lord God of Israel. At that day shall a man look to his maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. They shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves or the images. In that day shall his strong cities be as forsaken bough. And in the uppermost branch which they left because of the children of Israel, and there shall be desolation, because thou has forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength. Therefore shalt thou pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips. And the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish. But the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief, and of desperate sorrow. Woe to the multitude of many people which make a noise like the noise of the seas, and to the rushing of nations that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters. The nation shall rush like the rushing of many waters, but God shall rebuke them. And they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. And behold that evening tide trouble, and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and a lot of them that rob us. That's right. Thank you Heavenly Father for the King James Bible, dear God. Thank you for our pastor. Please bless him tonight as he preaches your word in Jesus name, Amen. Amen. Okay, we're continuing this evening with the book of Isaiah. Is this still on? Maybe I'm just loud. Isaiah chapter 17. And we're gonna talk about the burden of Damascus in just a bit. But let me just give you a little bit of review from the last couple of weeks, just kind of get us caught up on what's taking place here in the book of Isaiah. Since chapter 13, we've essentially read and seen some of the curses that have come upon the nation started off with Babylon. And of course, he goes into Assyria, and just different surrounding nations. And of course, the judgments began with Israel and Judah. But now that they've been preached against, Isaiah is essentially turning his attention to the surrounding nations, because of their sins of their abominations, their worship of false gods, and in many cases, the fact that they rose up against God's people to punish them to overcome them. And of course, we know that God used a lot of these wicked motives that these people had in wanting to take over Israel and Judah, you know, in order to punish them as well. And so we see that throughout these last couple of chapters. Last week, what the nation that was highlighted was Moab. And Moab, what's really significant and strange about Moab is the fact that they're being punished for being prideful, yet they're the smallest nation compared to the other nations that are being punished. They're very small. It's a cousin nation of Israel. But it taught us that doesn't matter if you are big or small, if you have money or you don't, you know, pride is an issue of the heart, right? And Moab had that problem. They were extremely prideful and arrogant. And it's for that reason that God brought severe punishment upon them in chapters 15 and 16. Now here in chapter 17, Isaiah actually begins to preach against Damascus, which is the capital of Syria, and Ephraim. And keep in mind that Ephraim is just another way of saying Israel. So often in the Bible, when you hear that phrase Ephraim, it's often collectively referring to Israel. And so here, he's going to highlight Damascus, which is the capital of Syria, and Israel. Now, why is that? Why is he preaching against Israel again? Right? We've seen a lot of preaching against Israel in the previous chapters. Why talk about them again? Well, I believe it's the fact that the judgment is going to come upon both of these nations, specifically for the reason that they're essentially joining affinity one with another against the southern kingdom Judah. Israel is that northern kingdom. Judah is the southern kingdom. The northern kingdom is essentially in a agreement with Syria to fight against Judah, which is really wicked and severe because they are essentially, you know, part of the same nation to a certain degree. They worship the same God. Obviously, it's a divided kingdom, but they're essentially joining forces with a foreign nation who worships false gods to fight against Judah. And so God is going to punish Israel along with Syria because of this, and we're going to look at the fate of these two nations. Look at verse number one. It says here, the burden of Damascus. Now, when it says burden, what is it talking about? It's saying that basically what's about to be stated right now is really heavy, okay? So heavy, in fact, that basically saying I'm going to wipe you guys out. There's a very heavy message. There's nothing light about it, right? He says, Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heaps. The cities of Aroir are forsaken. They shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid. The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim and the kingdom from Damascus and the remnant of Syria. They shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the Lord of hosts. Now go with me, if you would, to 2 Chronicles chapter 28, if you would, hold your place there in Isaiah, go to 2 Chronicles chapter 28. And we're going to see what's the reason for this particular punishment. And I again, I believe that the reason God is including Israel with the punishment that's going to come upon Syria is because essentially they've joined forces against Judah. And really, it's an unholy union. Israel supposed to be God's people. They're supposed to be God fearing people, yet they are teaming up with the godless, the ungodly, these pagans, these individuals who don't worship the God of the Bible. And they're doing it for a super wicked reason to essentially take advantage of and take down the southern kingdom of Judah. Now look at 2 Chronicles 28 and verse number six, it says here, Wherefore the Lord his God delivered him, referring to Ahaz, King Ahaz, into the hand of the king of Syria. And they smote him and carried away a great multitude of them captives and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter. Now one thing you'll notice as you read the Old Testament is that there's been multiple times where God has punished both Israel and Judah. But you'll notice that the punishment for Israel is always more severe than the punishment for Judah. Right. And why is that? Well, historically, when you look at the kings that rule over these particular nations, Israel just had way worse kings, right? They're always evil on the side of the Lord. They always did wickedly. Whereas in Judah, you had a couple bad apples. But overall, they had some pretty good kings and some pretty righteous people. And in fact, the southern kingdom was essentially that kingdom that still sought the Lord. They were still serving God, right? Whereas Israel, on the other hand, you might have had people, some people that serve God, but for the most part, they went apostate. Okay. So here we see that the king of Syria is seeking to destroy and overcome Judah. But then we also see that the king of Israel is also seeking to do the same. So both of these nations have a nefarious motive against Judah, and God is going to use that to punish Judah for their sins as well. Okay. He says in verse six, for Pekah, the son of Ramaliah, slew in Judah 120,000 in one day, which were a valiant man because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. And I forgot to mention this, but as I mentioned, you know, the punishment that would come upon Israel was far more severe. But that doesn't mean that Judah did not suffer casualties, right? As we see here, 120,000 in one day. But the difference is, is that Judah remained a people, whereas Israel became scattered in the long run. He says in verse seven, and Zikrai, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Messiah, the king's son, and Azraqam, the governor of the house, and Elkanah, that was next to the king, and the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren, referring to Judah, 200,000 women, sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria, which is the capital of Israel. But a prophet of the Lord was there whose name was Oded, and he went out before the host that came to Samaria, and said unto them, Behold, because the Lord God of your fathers was wrought with Judah, he had delivered them into your hand." Listen to this, and ye have slain them in a rage that reaches up into heaven. So God is saying, Hey, you know, God's electing you to punish Judah, but you're a little excessive about this. You know, they're being very excessive. It says the rage, you know, they slew them with the rage that reaches up into heaven. And God is a God of justice. He's not just going to let that go. He's not going to let that fly. He's not going to turn a blind eye to the injustices that Israel is doing to Judah. He says in verse 10, and now ye purpose to keep under the children of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you, but are there not with you, even with you, listen to this sins against the Lord your God. So he's saying, you know, you think you're all high and mighty for overcoming and destroying Judah. But just keep in mind, God hasn't overlooked your sins, right? He hasn't overlooked your faults, the things that you're doing, and the fact that you behaved extremely wickedly against the Lord far more exceedingly than even the southern kingdom of Judah. And the point that I'm making here is the fact that, you know, even though God used Israel and he used Syria to punish Judah, they're not without excuse. God's going to get them as well. And it should remind us that if you see nations around the world that seem to be succeeding or, you know, they seem to be succeeding or achieving great accomplishments through wicked means, it doesn't mean that God is favoring them. You know, they're going to get theirs in the long run. We see that pattern throughout the Old Testament. But here's another principle that I want to pull from this, and that is that God doesn't approve of unequal unions, even if it's for the greater good. You have two nations here that are in agreement. Israel and Syria have joined, they're in affinity, they're in agreement, they've committed together against Judah, and, you know, they essentially found common ground, they're going to overcome Judah, and Judah's being wicked, so it kind of works to their advantage. But at the end of the day, God doesn't approve of that unequal union, okay? And the point that I'm making there is the fact that, you know, God doesn't really approve of us joining forces with other sects of Christianity or other religions just because they may agree with us on a particular point, okay? You know, God doesn't approve of that. And in fact, you know, as I was thinking about this this afternoon, you know, nothing accomplishes this better than the right-wing conservative Republicans, right? Politics. I mean, you would think that in the scope of Christianity, that which brings Christians together should be Jesus, right? The Bible, salvation, the gospel, but no, it's not. You know, the thing that brings Christians together more than anything is actually politics. And in fact, you know, the thing that brings, quote-unquote, Christians together, we're talking about Catholics, Orthodox, Mormons, you know, anybody who leans towards believing the Bible, you know, here's the thing is that Christians will quickly join affinity with these groups because they share a common cause, they share a common interest, you know, which is America. They want to save America. And so let's all join hands and save the nation. But folks, let me just remind you that God doesn't approve of that unholy union, okay? You say, why? Because the Bible tells us to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. And just because a Catholic agrees with me about particular issues, you know, cultural issues, secular issues, you know, the abominations of the land or certain types of sins or whatever, or just because we agree on not liking liberals. You know, the left wing, we understand what the agenda of the left wing is, and, you know, these liberals and these communists, we may agree on that, but that doesn't mean we join forces with them to combat that. And, you know, politics has done a really good job in unifying different segments of Christianity, but you know what? God doesn't approve of that because he wants us to esteem the Bible and his principles far more than our political ideologies. And you know what? I'm just here to remind you that Christians need to stop being so political and be more Christian. Be more doctrinal in what they believe, in the stances that they take. You know, your political stance shouldn't be stronger than your Christian stance, okay? And this isn't something that's new. This has happened throughout biblical history. We've seen this multiple times, where kings were just notorious for teaming up with a wicked king. A righteous king is notorious for teaming up with a wicked king to fight against another person, you know, a common enemy that they had. And that's not right. You know, one of the most famous examples is Jehoshaphat, right? Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah, and he joined forces with Ahab, who was the king of Israel, the northern kingdom, and he was a super wicked king. His wife was Jezebel, and she was extremely wicked herself. And in fact, many of his evil exploits were done because she coaxed them into doing a lot of those things, okay? But, you know, you have this in Second Chronicles chapter 18, you have the story of Jehoshaphat and Ahab, and they're kind of hanging out, and Ahab wants to take over Ramoth Gilead. But he wants to double his forces, so he essentially recruits Jehoshaphat and the southern kingdom to fight with him against, to overcome Ramoth Gilead. And he asks him, you know, are you with me? And this righteous king, which is Jehoshaphat, he's a good king, he's not a wicked king at all, he just keeps bad company, you know, he says, you know, I am as thou art, thy people as my people, and we will go to war with thee. It's like, what in the world? And, you know, to add insult to injury, you know, Ahab tells Jehoshaphat, he's like, all right, you know, and I'm paraphrasing here, but he's like, okay, when we go out to war, I just need you to dress up like me. You know, in case when we go out to the field, someone thinks that, you know, they're trying to get me, I don't want them to kill me, so why don't you go ahead and dress like the king of Israel? And you would think, like, you know, Jehoshaphat would be like, ah, no thank you, you know, what about me? You know, what's gonna happen to me? You know, that discussion apparently wasn't taking place there, so they go on the battlefield, and here's the thing, you know, the prophecy against Ahab was already in full force, and God had already prophesied that he was gonna die, and so it doesn't matter if he gave his kingly raiment to another person, he can't hide from God, right? So he gives the clothing to Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat's in his chariot, and the guys are out to get him, and then he, like, screams, and he's like, I'm not him, you know? And they're like, oh, this isn't King Ahab. So they spare him, and they go out looking for the King of Israel, they don't find him, but there's a random guy who's just nameless, and the Bible says that he just cast a bow at a venture, meaning, you know, there's this melee of war going on, and this guy's just like, Lord, guide this arrow, and he ends up smiting Ahab between the joints and the harness, you know, because God just kind of guides that, he's just like, bam, you know? And then he bleeds out in his chariot, and he dies. He can change his garment, he can do all these things, but he can just cause a random guy, you know, who's probably just like, I'm just gonna look busy, you know? He's like, I just gotta look busy in this battlefield, and he's just like, you know? And God just used that, okay, to kill Ahab. Well, Jehoshaphat returns to his home in peace. He's not wicked, you know, he got involved in a stupid relationship with this person, and his dumb affinity, Ahab dies, but then, you know, Jehu, the son of Hanani, comes to him, who's a prophet, and he has a sermon for him, and he tells them, you know, shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord? It's a very powerful statement. He confronts the king, he's like, why are you helping ungodly people and loving them that hate the Lord? And really, Jehu didn't have an answer for him, because what is he referring to? He's referring to Ahab, who's ungodly, and in my personal opinion, he's not the one who hates the Lord, it's his wife who hates the Lord, because Jezebel, you know, was extremely wicked, and she, I believe she did more wickedly than her husband, and a lot of the evil stuff that he did was because of her influence. So I think when he says, you know, shouldest thou help the ungodly, he's referring to Ahab, because he was ungodly, but when he talks about those who hate the Lord, he's also referring to Jezebel, because, you know, by proxy, because she's his wife, he's aiding her as well. And what a shameful thing to be asked, you know, as a believer, as someone who, you know, claims to believe in the God of the Bible, that you're guilty of helping the ungodly and loving them who hate the Lord. And it doesn't end there, he says, you know, therefore, wrath is upon thee from before the Lord. So he's specifically telling them, you're gonna suffer some severe punishment because you're aiding the ungodly and you're loving them that hate the Lord, and you know what, nothing in the New Testament says that that principle is repealed. God still expects us as his people to be loyal to him and to not aid and assist the ungodly in their ungodliness, to advocate for what they're doing and to help them by joining forces with them and to love them that hate the Lord. The Bible's completely against them and says, therefore, he says, therefore, wrath is upon thee from before the Lord. Sounds to me like God did not approve of that unholy union between Jehoshaphat and Ahab. And you know, in the New Testament, obviously, we're not in a physical war, this is not a physical battle. The Bible says that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, and the rules of the darkness of this world. It's not a physical altercation that we're getting in, it's a spiritual battle. But you know, the Bible even tells us that we should not even bid God's speed of those who bring not the doctrines of Christ to us. Specifically says that those who don't bring the doctrines of Christ to us, we shouldn't invite him into our home, neither bid him God's speed, for he that doeth so says, the Bible says, is a partaker of his evil deeds. You know, and the most practical way to apply that is, you know, when a Mormon comes to your house, they're preaching a false gospel. I mean, I shouldn't have to tell a Baptist church that, but you know, it's important to clarify that. They teach a false gospel just like the Jehovah's Witnesses, just like the repent of your sins crowd. It's a gospel that's a curse, and if they bring that to you, it's not a noble, godly thing to invite them into your home, or to say, all right, God bless you, or goodbye. You know, you're like, oh, you can't even say, it says don't even bid him God's speed. You know, goodbye is basically bidding him God's, he's like, have a good, you know, farewell or whatever. And he says there, that if you do so, God views it as you participating or advocating for their ministry. Well, that's a little extreme. Yeah, you know, God is a little extreme, for sure. You know, if I remember correctly, one of his names is Jealous, like capital J. He says, my name is Jealous. You mean I can't even say bye to those people? Yeah, he's jealous. You know, if you could picture, it's like God saying, oh, are you gonna also wear short sleeves and put a badge on your shirt that says elder and ride around on a stupid bike and preach a false gospel too? He's like, well, no, I just thought it was a Christian thing to do. No, the Christian thing to do is not bid them God's speed. And mind you, this is New Testament. Why, because God does not approve of us joining for, well, you know, they're kinda right on something, they're not right on anything. Folks, if you're not right on salvation, you're not right on anything. You know, even if you are right on eschatology, you're right on Israel and replacement theology, but you're not right on salvation, you're not right. Okay, and the only reason you're right on the things that you're right about is because you've copied the people who are right and who are saved at the end of the day, okay? You know, the Bible tells us, they that forsake the law praise the wicked, but such as keep the law, contend with them. So the point that I'm making here is the fact that one of the reasons, go back to Isaiah chapter 17, if you wouldn't, one of the reasons why God is punishing Israel is because they join forces with the wicked nation against his people. And so, you know, we're not gonna have this kumbaya, we should never have a kumbaya type of atmosphere with Christians, or we're cool with the Catholics and we're cool with the Orthodox, we're cool with the, you know, Mormons or the, you know, whatever, you know, canopy of Christians, if they're not right on the doctrine, we can't be cool with them. It's what the Bible says. And keep in mind, you know, here's a good scripture here to kind of talk about Israel and Syria, though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished. And that's a good picture right there. You know, oh, we're gonna join hands together against the forces of darkness, the forces of evil. God's like, no. If you're joining forces with wicked people, you're gonna suffer the punishment of wicked people. That's how hard he draws the line. And you know what, that kind of preaching is necessary more today than ever before, because the day and age in which we live, every Christian wants to make excuses for every Christian that claims to be Christian, that claims to believe the Bible, that claims to say they believe in Jesus, but folks, you know, we need to question and ask people what they actually believe about the Bible. Because, you know, if someone says, you know, they believe in Jesus, but they believe Jesus is the Father, uh-uh. It's not the same one. The Bible talks about another Jesus. It says that people come and preach another Jesus. And no sympathy, empathy, or love should be shown to that doctrine or to those groups of people. Obviously, and look, I'm not saying that people who are deceived by that, you know, we shouldn't try to reach them, but the reality is this, is that we do try to reach people like that all the time. You know, the percentage of people that we speak to outdoor to door, you're gonna run into people who believe in all types of weird stuff. And we're not biased when we go out there. We don't have like a biased opinion about who we're preaching the gospel to. We want to preach the gospel to everyone, okay? And look, I despise Catholicism with every fiber of my being and probably my hatred for Catholicism has grown even more over the last couple of months where it's just a grief of mine into me. But you know what, when I go out and preach the gospel, I run into Catholics all the time and I genuinely love them in my heart. Because I want them to be saved. If someone tells me, you know, I go to the Catholic church and say whatever and you know, I do the catechism, I'm not like, pst, apostate. You guys are a bastardization of Christianity. See a sucker, you know? I'm not gonna, you know, say that. You know, you say, what's your attitude? My attitude is like, this person's lost and I genuinely hope this person gets saved. And when I approach them, I approach them with meekness and fear. You know, I walk on eggshells around unsafe people. Yes, I do. When I'm at the door, I walk on eggshells. I don't, I tread lightly. Why? Because their soul hangs in the balance. And right there, I'm not there to preach Isaiah 17 to them. I'm there to preach the gospel to them so that they can be saved. Okay? And so the point that I'm making is that I'm not saying that we shouldn't love Catholics and Orthodox, love them so that you give them the gospel. But you know what, what I see far too much, especially on social media, is a bunch of Christians just kind of joining forces with these people and making excuses for what they believe because, oh, because they're voting for Trump or something. You know? It's just like, well, you know, they believe right on this and you know, they're right about this and they're trying to get the right people in. Folks, there is no such thing as the right people. They don't exist in the political realm. There's none righteous, no, not one. Okay? And you know, I know you want to point to Old Testament scriptures of kings, but we're not under that system right now. And we're not under a theocracy. I wish we were, but that's not the case right now. One day we will be again, but that's not the case right now. Okay? And so I have the unsavory responsibility to remind our church that you're a Christian first. And in fact, you should only be a Christian. There's no second or third. You know what I mean? We're just Christians. And maybe a close second is Baptist, amen? If you really want to get specific about it. And if you really want to get more specific, it's like new IFB, because we got to keep labeling, put labels on there to make us different from what's out there. Labels are good, amen? If it wasn't for labels, we'd have had a lot of problems at the grocery store of what they get. If everything, just nothing had labels, it's just like, well, it's all food, right? You go home, it's like dog food. It's like, oh crap, you know? Point that I'm making is, you know, the Bible says, be not unequally oaked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness. The Bible tells us what concord hath Christ with Belial, what agreement hath the temple of God with idols. That's New Testament. He's saying, look, you got to understand, there's a very clear distinction between what we believe and what these other religions believe. And keep in mind, I understand there's other churches out there that believe like us, that are not Baptist. And you know what? Praise God for them. There's other churches out there that preach the gospel, they have the right doctrine, and they're serving God wherever they're at, and praise God for them. I'm talking about those who are under the cloak of Christianity, but they actually reject the Bible. You know, they believe in a false gospel. We should have no fellowship with that, okay? And not say, well, you know, but they're right politically. I don't care. That means absolutely nothing to me. And it should mean absolutely nothing to you as well, okay? And so he's punishing Israel, he's punishing Ephraim and Syria because they're joining forces there. And it says in verse number three, I want you to notice it says, the fortress also shall cease from Ephraim. What does that mean? You know, it's like, hey, the strongest of fortifications are not gonna help you against the Lord. So your fortresses is just nothing to God. You know, you can build up the highest of walls, but cursed be he that put his trust in man. Because at the end of the day, nothing can save you from God's wrath. The Bible says in Psalm 33 verse 17, and I like this verse, and horse is a vain thing for safety. Neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. And more specifically is that he can't deliver you, especially if God's against you. God's against you, it doesn't matter how high your walls are, how large of an, how vast of an army you have, how much artillery you possess, you're gonna get it if that's God's will and if you are living in complete rebellion against him. Look at verse number four. So we see there the fate of these two nations. Now we're gonna look at the fading glory of Israel. He says, and in that day, it shall come to pass that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean. Now what is this talking about? Well, specifically it's referring to the fact that the Assyrians would ultimately decimate Israel to the point where no glory shall be left in it. It's just gonna be an ugly nation, just ruinous heaps, it's not gonna have any glory, it's not gonna look powerful and strong, it's not gonna look like the nation that God wanted it to look like when he first established it. And that is in its most literal sense what's gonna happen to it, but it's also a foreshadowing of what's gonna happen to the nation of Israel spiritually in the New Testament. Because when you look at both Testaments, you actually come to the realization that the physical nation of Israel represents the Old Covenant. They're essentially almost synonymous one with another. Unless they believe on the Lord, they're essentially represented by the Old Covenant Old Testament. Now go to 2 Corinthians chapter three if you would, hold your place there in Isaiah. So this is foreshadowing the glory, because he's saying basically the glory of Israel is gonna just vanish away, it's gonna fade away, it's gonna be like leanness where it's just like you have Ephraim, also referred to as Jacob, also referred to as Israel, just kind of wasting away. It's like they're on this prolonged fast and they're just eating up all the muscle, all the fat, and they're just kind of withering away. He's saying that's gonna be the glory of Israel. It's just gonna cease to exist at one point. So Israel represents the Old Covenant that eventually faded away in the New Testament. In fact, look at 2 Corinthians chapter three verse seven. It says, but if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away. Now what is he referring to? Well if it's saying engraven, written and engraven in stones, it's referring to those two tables of stone that we talked about on Sunday night, referring to the 10 Commandments that represents the Old Covenant. And he's saying there that that's called the ministration of death because of the fact that the purpose of the law is to kill you. Can't give you any life, it's there to kill you. You can't keep the law to be saved because it's there, it's an assassin, it's there to just take you out. There's nothing in the law that can give you life. It's the ministration of death. But it says there that it was rather glorious, right? In other words, there was glory in the Old Testament through that Old Covenant, meaning that it was given by God, the laws are superior to all the laws of this world, they are glorious, they're wonderful, the law of God is great, and it manifested itself in a physical way in the countenance of Moses. In other words, when he went up to Mount Sinai to receive these two tables of stone, when he came down, he was shining, he was moggin' everyone, right? It was like no one can even look at who's beside him because he's just so glorious, right? You understand what I'm saying? I'm speaking to the young people, you old folks, don't worry, they're like, what is moggin'? Don't worry about it. This is for the younger crowd, I gotta speak to the Gen Zers every once in a while. But it was so glorious that he had to literally cover his face because the glory of his shining face was just so bright, people couldn't look at him, they couldn't steadfastly look at him. So it's essentially describing how wonderful and glorious the Old Testament is. So we don't wanna speak irreverently of the Old Testament to say there's no glory in it, right? It's very glorious. God established it for a purpose, right? He says in verse eight, "'How shall not the ministration of the Spirit "'be rather glorious?' So at the end of verse seven, it says that it was glorious, but the glory was supposed to be done away eventually, meaning that it was gonna be null and void at a certain point. And he says that the ministration of the Spirit, referring to the New Testament, will be rather glorious. In other words, it'll have more glory than the Old Covenant. He says in verse nine, "'For if the ministration of condemnation be glory,' referring to that Old Covenant, "'much more doth the ministration of righteousness "'exceed in glory.' "'For even that which was made glorious "'had no glory in this respect "'by reason of the glory that exceleth.'" This is just another fancy way of saying, even though the Old Testament was glorious, it just doesn't compare to the glory of the New Testament. Why? Because grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. The pinnacle apex of glory is Jesus. And because Jesus was revealed in the New Testament, it's way better. That's why they call it a better testament established upon better promises with a better mediator, right? It's just greater than that Old Covenant. So the point that he's making here is that the New Testament, New Covenant, is better than the Old. It excels in its glory. Verse 11, "'For if that which is done away was glorious, "'much more that which remaineth is glorious.'" Now, let me read to you from Hebrews chapter eight, verse 13, it says, in that he saith a new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old, is ready to vanish away. The point that I'm making here is that Israel's fading glory in Isaiah chapter 17 is a picture of that Old Testament that is ready to vanish away, and obviously at this point, it is already God, okay? And I think the reason why Hebrews eight says that it's ready to vanish away is because the book of Hebrews is written when? Pretty much in the first century A.D. So if in that first century, when the New Covenant was established, it was inaugurated, you still have pockets of people that are still observing that Old Covenant, and still even performing the Old Testament sacrifices, so it hasn't completely vanished away, right? And we have proof of that, we see that in the book of Acts, there's people who are saved that are still observing times and seasons, they're still performing the animal sacrifices, because they don't really know about that New Covenant until the gospel came to them, the name of Jesus Christ was revealed to them, but it came to a point that at least after the first century A.D., that Old Covenant is completely gone, okay? And so along with that, Israel's gone basically, right? It's no longer the people of God, because the New Testament, the people of God are all believers, you understand what I'm saying? And it's rather glorious. You know, God's people in the New Testament are far more glorious than the God's people of the Old Testament. You say, well, how so? Well, think about the quantity of believers that exist now compared to the quantity of believers that existed in the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant believers, you know, to a certain extent, obviously there's believers all over the world to a certain degree, because there's prophets preaching all over all places, but geographically it was only subject to that Middle East portion of the world, whereas now it's just, you know, this chosen generation is found in all different nations, in all tongues, there's believers all over the world throughout the generation, we would say, wow, it's far more glorious, right? It excels in glory because of the work that's been accomplished. So go back to Isaiah chapter 17. The point that I'm making there is the fact that this fading glory of Israel that's being wiped away is symbolically representing the fact that the Old Covenant will one day also be wiped away, vanish away, it'll be famished, it'll be gone, because, you know, the New Covenant is on its way. Look at verse five. It says, and it shall come to pass when the harvest men gather at the corn and reap at the ears with his arm, and it shall be as he that gatherth ears in the valley of Rephaim, yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bow, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, sayeth the Lord God of Israel. Now what is this talking about? Well, the immediate interpretation is the fact that when the Assyrians come to take over Israel, you know, he's gonna decimate it, but only a couple people are gonna be left behind, okay? In other words, you know, the conquering of Israel is gonna be so complete that if anybody survives, it'll only be a couple berries. You know, the harvest man comes and he reaps the entire harvest. You might find a couple berries here and there, but it has to be like at the top of the bow, right? Some place that was missed is what it's saying. In other words, it's essentially talking about the thoroughness of God's destruction upon Israel. But we see here that what he's also saying is that a remnant shall be left, right? And throughout the Old Testament, you always see that when God destroys, brings judgment upon Judah and Israel, he always says that a remnant is gonna be left. Now this remnant that's left behind is not based upon just because they're Israel or just because they're Judah or just because they're Jews, okay? It's not this, well, you know what? They are Jews, they're Israelites. Therefore, we're just gonna leave them behind because look what it says in verse seven. At that day, shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel and he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves or the images. So the remnant is based upon what? It's based upon the condition that they look towards the God of the Bible. Now obviously in the Old Testament, they weren't looking towards Jesus because they didn't know Jesus by name. The Old Testament, they knew him by the Old Testament names, you know, Jehovah, they knew him as the Lord God, the names by which he revealed himself in the Old. The point that I'm making here is that the only reason they were spared was why? It's because they're looking towards their Maker. It's not because, oh, you know, you guys can keep worshiping Moloch and Remphan, and I'm gonna spare you even though you're worshiping these false gods, the condition is they had to look to the Maker. They had to look towards the God of Israel. So the condition was still the same in the Old Testament. They had to be believers. And in fact, the reason why judgment is coming upon them is because they're worshiping false gods, right? They're not worshiping the God of the Bible. And this is not controversial at all. In the Old Testament, the condition that God gave Israel in Deuteronomy was that they can remain the people of God as long as they believed on the Lord, as long as they obey the covenant. Once they decided not to obey the covenant, God said, okay, I'm gonna bring foreigners to take you out. A new generation would come back that would believe on the Lord. And that was essentially the pattern that we see in the Old Testament. But a remnant was always left, but the remnant was always based upon a people that believed on the Lord, okay? And so this is a picture of the fact that salvation is conditional. What's the condition? You have to believe on the Lord. That has always been the condition, okay? It reminds me of 1 Thessalonians 1, 9 that says, for they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God, okay? And this is a little interjection here, but in order for someone to be saved, obviously they have to believe on Jesus Christ. But let me just say this. They can't exclusively on Jesus Christ. They cannot add Mary to that. They can't add these false Hindu gods and just kind of aggregate some other deities to their belief in Jesus. It's only by Jesus Christ. So Jesus is not added to their myriad of false deities. It has to be exclusively on Jesus, okay? And so they have to turn to God from idols, implying that they're trusting in those idols to be saved. So they have to forsake that, okay? And let me just say this, is that when someone gets saved, I don't believe people can still struggle with worshiping false gods. You understand what I'm saying? I think people can struggle with idolatry, which is a little different in the sense that people can get saved, but they keep their little idol because it holds some sort of sentimental value because of a person that gave it to them. You understand what I'm saying? But that's still idolatry though, right? So it's just like, well, you know, I'm a Christian, but my abuelita, she gave me this san-whatever, Santa Muerte or something, you know? She gave me this Santa Maria and all this or whatever, and I don't worship it, I just have it because, you know, my abuelita gave it to me. That thing needs to be burned and thrown in the trash or something because God considers that idolatry because you are esteeming that, and we know that the idol isn't anything, right? But it's obviously a devil, but at the end of the day, you know, God doesn't approve of that. And so, you know, what I'm saying is that when someone believes on Jesus Christ, I don't think if they genuinely believe in Jesus Christ, they're gonna be like, man, I wish I could worship Mary right now. Like, I'm struggling in my heart right now. Like, I just wanna save those 50 Hail Marys. I gotta fight this urge, you know? And I just wish I could worship those saints or something. This doesn't exist. You understand what I'm saying? Because people will point to like Solomon. Well, you know, he had all these false gods and he was worshiping them or whatever. Well, he was building altars to false gods because of his wives. He was doing it to placate his wives, okay? But in his heart, he actually was saved, he was a believer, but he was committing idolatry because he's constructing these idols for his pagan wives. And so, you know, Christians can still commit idolatry, even when saved, only because it holds sentimental value or because they're compromised because of their spouse or something like that. You know, I'm sure there's times when the spouse has gone to some Catholic church because of their spouse and, you know, they went through the whole rigamarole of, you know, the Catholic mass service or whatever. It's sinful. Especially if you're bound to statutes and stuff and, you know, going through that whole routine, that's idolatry. Yeah, but I'm doing it to placate, okay, whatever, but, you know, you're still committing idolatry. You know, confess that unto the Lord, not unto the priest, by the way. The point that I'm making here is the fact that in order for someone to be saved, though, they have to trust on Jesus Christ and remove their trust from that idol, which is the implication that's given here in Isaiah 17, is that they're looking towards their maker, they're forsaking the works of their hands, et cetera. Now go to Romans 11, Romans 11, because we're gonna go on the same thought here, because obviously we're dealing with Israel in Isaiah chapter 17, and, you know, you have a group of people commonly referred to as dispensationalists, right? Zionist Christians, whatever you wanna call them, and, you know, they still hold to this belief that the Jews are God's chosen people, and to that I say amen, if they're believers in Christ, though. But at that point, you shouldn't call them Jews, because in Christ Jesus, there's neither Jew nor Gentile. And there's, nowhere in the Bible does it say Judeo-Christian or Maisianic Jew or whatever. There's no special title given to a person of a specific ethnic background, because they convert to Christianity, okay? And there's no specific title, special title given to a person, or an amalgamation of two religions of Christianity and Judaism. So no matter which way you wanna cut it, it was like, well, it's because they're ethnically Jewish, yeah, but there's nothing in the Bible that says, go ahead and add your ethnic title to your religious title here. It's only Christian. But let's just say we're talking about their religion, well, for sure, you know, there's no adding another religion as a prefix to Christianity or something. It's only Christian, okay? And so, well, you should be more patient with people, and be more kind. No, God says this, though, okay? And look, let me just say this, is that to be a Christian, you have to believe that Christianity is the superior religion to all religions of the world. And all religions are inferior. And so inferior, in fact, that they'll all take you to hell. There's only one religion that'll take you to heaven, and by religion, I mean the belief in Christ, right? That's what we're talking about. Now, often, when you bring up this subject, people will bring up Romans 11. It's like their goat, it's like their ha ha! Oh, yeah? It's just like, well, what about this? You know? Romans 11 is actually one of my favorite chapters to go to when it comes to the subject of replacement theology, because it teaches replacement theology. It says in verse number one, I say then hath God cast away his people, God forbid, and that's when they just stop reading. They're like, boom, boom, right? It's like the whole don't judge, and then they go to Matthew 7, and they only read the first part of Matthew 7, and that's it. He says, God forbid, for I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. So why is he saying God forbid regarding the casting away of his people? Well, the person speaking is the apostle Paul, who is an Israelite, he's of the seed of Abraham, he's of the tribe of Benjamin, and he's saved. So he's saying God hasn't cast away his people, because his people of the Old Testament who believed on Jesus Christ, like the apostle Paul, remain the people of God. They're grandfathered into the New Testament, okay? He says God hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew. Why ye not what the scripture saith of Elias, how he maketh intercessions to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and dig down thine altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life. By the way, I want you to notice that he's making a distinction between himself and Israel. Elijah is of Israel. So how can he be being, wait a minute, wait a minute, you are God's chosen people. No, he's making a distinction between believing Israel and unbelieving Israel, and in fact, to the point where he's preaching against them, or he's praying against them. He says in verse four, but what saith the answer of God unto him, I have reserved myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Now hold on a second. If he's saying he's reserved to himself seven thousand people who have not bowed the knee to Baal, that means every other Israelite was bowing the knee to Baal, meaning they were not worshiping the God of the Bible, they were worshiping Baal. And if you're worshiping Baal, which is the devil, you're not saved. Can we all agree on that, that if you're worshiping Satan, you're not saved? Right? So he gives a little historical fact there, he's just dropping some historical facts there. And then he makes the application to his day, verse five, even so, then at this present time, also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Now what does the election of grace mean? Just a fancy way of saying, by grace are you saved through faith. The election of grace is referring to salvation. So he's saying that the remnant that you saw in Elijah's day, who did not bow the knee to Baal because they were saved, they believed in the Lord, in like manner, there is also a remnant today. But it's based upon the election of grace, meaning just like the apostle Paul, they're saved. He says, and if by grace, then it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace, but if it be of works, then it is no more of grace, otherwise work is no more work. Great verse to use there to show that you can't mix works with grace to be saved. You will make it null and void if you do. I want you to notice verse seven, what then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. So the apostle Paul is clearly making a distinction here between Israel and the election, showing us that Israel cannot be the elect if he's making a difference between the two. And he's saying that Israel didn't obtain that which they sought for, but those who were elected did obtain it, and the Israel that he's referring to were blinded. This is the same group of people that were worshiping Baal, you understand? Skip down to verse 22. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God on them which fell, severity, referring to the physical nation of Israel, but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness, otherwise thou also shall be cut off. And they also, listen to this, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. So what is he saying? You know, they don't have to remain in this pagan, you know, Moloch, star of rampant religious state that they're in. They could actually get saved if they wanted to. And so they can become the elect, they can become the actual Israel of God, if what? They don't remain in unbelief. So it sounds to me like the condition that was set forth in Isaiah 17 is still present even today. Cause he's saying if they don't, you know, if they stop just being Christ rejecting Israelites, they can be saved. I mean the condition is pretty simple. And obviously this applies to the entire world, right? But the context here is Israel. And so the point that I'm making here is that what God wants of Israel in the Old Testament and the book of Isaiah is for them to turn to their maker. And let me just state the obvious here. Our maker is Jesus Christ. Okay? So it's not like, well, they believe in God. They don't believe in God because they don't believe in Jesus Christ. He is the maker. By him all things consist. That's what the Bible says, right? In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. That's a wonderful verse there. So anything that was made was not made without him. He is the creator. So in the Old Testament, they have to look to their maker, Jehovah, the Lord God, the tetragrammaton. But in the New Testament, because Jesus, the name of Jesus revealed, they have to look to Jesus. And you know, they have to believe on him and realize that they're unsaved and they need Jesus Christ to save them. Okay? But you know what the Bible says? Who is the liar? But he did deny that Jesus is the Christ. He is anti-Christ that denied the Father and the Son. Showing it's clear that they can say that they're worshiping God all they want, but if they're rejecting the Son, God interprets that as a rejection of him. Not as a, well, we like God the Father, we just don't accept God the Son. Doesn't work that way. You might as well say you don't accept God the Holy Spirit. Cause they're God, they're all God. And so another way of saying this is you have to believe in the Trinity to be saved. Cause it's the whole package. You can't just accept one. It's not like, well, you know, we accept Jesus, but you know, we think the Holy Spirit is a force. Okay, you can't have salvation then. I gotcha. If that's what you believe, you just can't be saved. You can believe whatever you want, it's just not gonna save you. Cause the Holy Spirit is a person, and he is God. Okay. Go back to Isaiah, we're gonna finish up. Isaiah 17. You know, he's given these conditions. He's saying, you know, those who look to the Maker, they forsake their altars. And you know, a lot of Christians today seem to forget these verses, that the Israelites were major, major worshipers of false gods. Not only were they worshipers of false gods, they were major constructors of false gods. They're like making them, selling them. Their land is just filled with, it's basically like India and Israel. It's basically Cambodia and Israel. You take what Cambodia, you know, Southeast Asia, India is now, and you just basically say that was Israel during this time. Cause they literally had false gods like on every corner. They're like, what, I thought they were like, you know, the nation of Israel. Which would explain why their punishment is so severe. Look at verse number nine. I gotta finish up here. In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bow, and in the uppermost branch which they left because of the children of Israel, and there shall be desolation, because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength. Therefore, shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shall set it with strange slips. In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish, but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief, and of desperate sorrow. Now let me just cover this and I'm done, okay? Because he's saying, you know, I'm punishing you because you forgot me. Is what he's saying, right? You forgot the God of your salvation. And in its most literal interpretation, it's basically means they went apostate. Because when you compare what it means to forget, with what they actually did, what do they do? They started worshiping false gods. So God interprets you worshiping a false god as you forgetting the God of your salvation. You understand what I'm saying? So if they're worshiping false gods, they're basically saying they're not saved. And God words that as forgetting the God of your salvation. Now that's not very far removed from what we see in the New Testament, okay? Let me read to you from 1 Corinthians 15 verse one. It says, moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received in wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, listen to this, if ye keep in memory what I have preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. So what is it saying? It's saying that, you know, the Apostle Paul's telling the Corinthian church, hey, you're saved if you remember what I've told you about salvation, though. Okay, and the context of 1 Corinthians 15 is what? What is the main theme of 1 Corinthians 15? What? Resurrection. Which is essential to be saved, right? You have to believe in the resurrection, but you have Corinthians that were questioning whether there was a resurrection. And it's not because the Apostle Paul wasn't thorough, because he explained to the Corinthians the gospel, which a part of that is the resurrection. So he's saying, you know, you're saved if you keep in memory what I've told you, though. Right? Because if they forgot that, it basically means they don't believe that. And it's not like they forgot it, like they forgot that piece of information because what are they doing? They're questioning the resurrection. So it's something they know about, but they're rejecting. God interprets it as like, okay, then you've believed in vain, if you claim to have believed that previously. So when a person says, you know, oh man, you know, I'm a Mormon now. Hook me up with those short-sleeve shirts, get me a bike, a 10-speeder or whatever. What do I gotta do, you know? And it's just like, oh, you believed in vain. They're like, no, no, no, I'm so saved. You know, I believe in Jesus. It's like, no, you've gone apostate. You have forgotten the God of your salvation. You understand? So it's a great way to kinda like, you know, see that in Isaiah because they're worshiping false gods and God's saying like, you forgot me. Like, I'm not your God anymore. I mean, that's sad. That's so sad. You know, for God to know I'm like you, I'm like the God of your salvation, you forgot me. Like, you don't even worship me anymore. It's a devastating thing to think about, you know? And so you can see, it's like, basically it's like, they're his people from the covenant perspective, but you know, they're not really his people in heart, though, because they don't really believe on him. But the remnant does, though, and the remnant has not forgotten the Lord. You know, they may have, you know, veered off and done some stupid stuff, but they look into their Maker thereafter. And so I'm gonna stop there, because I'm out of time. Yeah, I'll stop there. I wanted to talk about this, but we'll talk about it next week. The point of this chapter that we can take away from this is that, hey, don't join forces with the wicked for a common cause, for a righteous cause at that, okay? You know, keep your loyalties to the Lord Jesus Christ and the Bible. And I hate to break it to you, but that's not the most popular position. You're not gonna garner a lot of followers or advocates of yourself when you take that position, but that's the right position to take. That's the biblical position to take, okay? And we don't wanna suffer punishment with the wicked because we join forces with them, because we aid them, we advocate, we're advocates of their agendas or whatever. You know, God's not looking at it and saying, well, that's honorable, you know? No, you know, it's not right. You know, we are strangers and pilgrims in this world, and we don't wanna suffer the consequences of the wicked because we also agreed with the wicked. You understand what I'm saying? And so let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you for this chapter, Lord, such a short chapter, but so much in it. I pray that you'd help us as your people to continue to increase in our love for the lost. There's a lot of people out there that are just deceived, Lord, and I pray that you would help us to be patient with them and approach them with love when we knock on their doors, but not at the exclusion of recognizing that we can't cross that line, Lord, and you don't want us to, we don't wanna become like a Jehoshaphat that loves the ungodly, helps the ungodly and loves them to hate the Lord. And I pray that you'd help us to carry that balance, and Lord, help us as your people to esteem being separated unto you in belief and practice, and may you bless us as we go on our way, Lord. Give us a great fellowship tomorrow as we go to the beach, Lord, and of course, give us a great weekend and a great offering so we can tear down this wall and make room for more. We love you and we thank you. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.