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Hail at thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops. Thou that art full of stirs, tumultuous city, a joyous city. Thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle. All thy rulers are fled together. They are bound by the archers. All that are found in thee are bound together, which have fled from far. Therefore, said I, look away from me. I will weep bitterly. Labor not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people. For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord God of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains. And Elam bear the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kur uncovered the shield. And it shall come to pass that thy choicest valley shall be full of chariots, and horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate. And he discovered the covering of Judah. Without this, look in that day to the armor of the house of the forest. Ye have seen also the breaches of the city of David, that they are many. And ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool. And ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall. Ye may also dish between the two walls for the water of the old pool. Ye have not looked unto the Maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago. And in that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding of sackcloth, and behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine. Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die. And it was revealed in my ears by the Lord of hosts. Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord of hosts. Thus saith the Lord God of hosts, go, get thee unto this treasure, even unto Shebna, which is over the house, and say, what hast thou here? And whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out of sepulcher here? As he that heweth out of sepulcher on high, and thy graveth in habitation for himself in a rock. Behold, the Lord will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee, and will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country. There shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy Lord's house. And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down, and shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant like him, the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. And the day of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder, so he shall open, and none shall shut, and he shall shut, and none shall open. And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place. And he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house, and shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups even to the vessels of flagons. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall. And the burden that was upon it shall be cut off, for the Lord hath spoken it. Let's pray. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for this wonderful church you've given us, your God. We thank you for the pastor you have given us, your Lord. And please bless him tonight as he preaches your word. In Jesus' name, we pray, amen. Amen. OK, we're continuing this evening with our Bible study in the book of Isaiah chapter 22 this evening. And just a little bit of review from chapters 20 to 21, we saw a lot of prophecy against Egypt, against Cush, and ultimately against Babylon. And obviously, we're in the section of the book of Isaiah where there's a lot of preaching and prophesying against the nations. And one nation that keeps coming up over and over again, of course, is Judah. And so we're right back again with sermons prophesying against Jerusalem itself for their iniquity. And this is a significant chapter because of the latter end of the chapter that talks about the key of David and the significance of that. So we'll get into that tonight regarding the key of David and what that is. Now, I want you to notice that in the first verse, it says the burden of the valley of vision. And obviously, we know when it says the burden, it's referring to the fact that the message that's going to be conveyed is a very heavy message. It's a heavy sermon. It's going to step on toes. It's going to offend people. And it's a message of condemnation and of judgment. But he calls it the valley of vision, excuse me, the burden of the valley of vision. And vision in the Bible is often used interchangeably to describe preaching or just the expounding of the law. Where no vision is, the people perish. But he that keepeth the law, happy is he. And often in the Bible, when you hear about a prophet prophesying a vision, it's referring to that, referring to that, the law that's being put forth by the prophet, by the preacher. And so this is a valley of vision because we've essentially been in this valley of chapters just talking about the valley or the vision of burden and of judgment that's going to come upon the nations. So he's filling up this valley with all of these judgments. That's basically what it's saying here, okay? And the first thing that he mentions here in this particular chapter is the grief upon the housetops. He says in verse one, the burden of the valley of vision, what aileth thee now that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops? Thou that are full of stirs, a tumultuous city, joyous city, thy slain men are not slain with a sword, nor dead in battle. Now keep in mind, what's taking place here is that Jerusalem is going to be overtaken, it's going to be destroyed. A lot of people are going to be taken captive, not everyone, but a good percentage of the population is going to be killed, they are going to be taken captive. And it's given us this depiction here that the people are filled with ailments. In other words, they're grieved, they're saddened, and it says that they're gone up into the housetops, okay? So it's given this depiction that they're on the housetops and they're grieved, they're looking at the destruction that's coming, they're looking at the judgment that's going to come upon them from this foreign army that God is essentially deputizing to come and destroy them. And this is a great picture here because of the fact that the principle that we can learn is either you obey the command to go on the housetops and talk about the word of God, talk about the glory of God, or you end up being on the housetops looking on the coming destruction that's going to come upon you. You see, the reason that Judah's in the mess that they're in is because they've forsaken the Lord, right? They've forsaken God, they're not being enlightened to the Gentiles, and so instead of shouting it from the housetops regarding the word of God, what are they doing now? Now they're grieving on the housetops, looking on the judgment to come. And it's a great principle for us that one of the motivations to stay right with God is that we don't want to get judged by God, right? Obviously there's a lot of great motivations in the Bible, a lot of great things, rewards that God wants to give to us, blessings that we can inherit because we're serving God, but that's not the only motivation that he puts forth. Another motivation is just destruction. And some people are motivated by rewards, they want to serve God because they know they'll be rewarded by God, but other people are just more highly motivated by the fact that if they forsake the Lord, if they go out of the way, God could potentially destroy their lives. And this is what invokes the fear of God. It's important to have fear in our hearts towards the Lord, knowing full well that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, and in context is referring to his judgment, right? And so this is something that personally myself, I'm definitely motivated by rewards, I'm motivated by the fact that I have a family who's in church, I want my kids to serve the Lord, but one great motivation to stay right with God is that I don't want God to punish me, okay? One great motivation to stay out of sin, to repent when I'm not right with God in my heart, or to make sure that I don't go to the world, or just forsake the ways of God, is that I think about the fact that I can be judged of God severely. And that's an important motivation, especially when you don't feel like doing what you're supposed to do, right? Sometimes you have to drag yourself to church, sometimes you have to drag yourself to the Bible, sometimes you have to drag yourself to go sowing, drag yourself to be right with God, and a great motivator is, you know what, I'm gonna do it even if I don't feel like it because I don't wanna suffer the punishment of the opposite, the alternative, right? And the Bible tells us in the New Testament, what I tell you in the ear, that shall ye upon the housetops, right? The housetops is essentially referring to be open about what you believe. Make sure you get that across to everyone. Go up there and tell your family about the Lord Jesus Christ, tell strangers about Jesus Christ, make sure that you live out the Christian life. And you can do that or you can suffer the consequences of just disobeying God, being in the world, being involved in sin, and you will be like Judah, who's upon the housetops grieved over the destruction that's coming. And you know what, being right with God is just so much better. And yeah, it's hard to serve God sometimes, it's sometimes monotonous, and there are instances where the commandments of God are grievous to us, because maybe we're just not as spiritual as we wanna be, but at the end of the day, the alternative is worse, okay? And here's the thing is that when you're serving God, yeah, you're gonna have instances where you don't feel like doing it, you don't feel like reading the Bible, you don't feel like praying, you don't feel like fulfilling your God-given responsibility, but if you just do it, even when you don't feel like it, eventually you get back in the mode of feeling like it. And then you realize, oh, my emotions are just kind of being my emotions. You know, you didn't get enough sleep or something, or you're not having enough protein, or you're just having a rough week or whatever, and it's that week that you just don't feel like doing the things that you're supposed to be doing. Keep doing them, knowing full well that the next week you might change your attitude, okay? And so it's important for us to realize that, that either you go on the housetop to proclaim, to serve God, to declare the word of the Lord, to continue to be a Christian, be a light unto this world, or eventually what you're gonna do is be on the housetop grieving over the destruction that's coming because of your bad decisions that you've made, okay? And so we see that there, the grief upon the housetops. Look at verse two, it says, it goes on to say, thou that art full of stirs, a tumultuous city, joyous city, thy slain men are not slain with a sword, nor dead in battle. All thy rulers are fled together, they are bound by the archers, all that are found in thee are bound together, which have fled from far. Now what I believe this is referring to is the fact that the reason a lot of the men in Judah are dying, obviously it's not because they're being killed by the sword, but rather they're either being taken captive or they're dying by starvation. Because if you remember the previous chapter, the Medes and the Persians are besieging the city. And if they're besieging the city, that is a tactic that's often being used to kind of starve out the people of the city to cause them to give up, right? Well in this particular case, these men who are being slain, they're not being killed by a sword, but rather because they have no food, okay? They're being starved out, God's allowing that, and so they are being punished. It says in verse four, therefore said I look away from me, this is Isaiah speaking, I will weep bitterly, labor not to come for me because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people, for it is a day of trouble and of treading down and of perplexity by the Lord God of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls and of crying to the mountains. So again, here we see the compassion of the prophet. Isaiah is weeping here, he's lamenting over the destruction upon Judah, and if you've read the Bible for any length of time, if you've heard sermons for any length of time, you know that Jeremiah is actually the one referred to as the weeping prophet, and if you read through the book of Jeremiah, you see that, that he laments, and in fact he's responsible for the book of Lamentations, right? Because he laments so much over the destruction, but quite frankly, many of the prophets lamented over the destruction that came upon their people, and Isaiah being one of them. So again, we see this disposition that he carries with them that although he's proclaiming judgment, he's saddened over the fact that people are gonna die over their decisions. Look at verse six. It says, Elam, referring to Persia, bear the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and cur uncovered the shield, and it shall come to pass that the choicest valley shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate. What is it saying? When God's hand is against you, there's not really much you can do, because the enemies of Judah are essentially sanctioned to be there by God, and he's telling them, Elam is ready with his quiverful, his arrows, cur has already uncovered the shield, he's ready to fight, and the choicest valleys are gonna be filled with chariots. There's no stopping the judgment of God, and obviously there's instances where maybe we're not right with God, the way we can apply this, and you can repent, right? You can get right with God, and you can get back in the church, you can get back in your Bible, you can clean yourself up, right? But there are instances, though, where Elam's already there. Cur has already uncovered the shield. The valley's already filled with chariots, and it's one of those things where it's like, you basically have sinned unto death, and punishment is coming no matter what. You say, when is that? I don't know, and I don't wanna find out. So it's better to just keep short accounts with the Lord. Right? If you feel like you weren't right with God today, then just get it right before the end of the service. We'll do the altar call, and you can come here, and get right with God. No, don't do that. But just do it from your seat or something. Do it right now, I mean, why not? Don't even, just tune me out, just get right with God right then and there. It's better to do that than to allow it to prolong itself, and then you find yourself, you know, being faced with Elam and Cur, who's already ready to destroy you. And so this is essentially showing us that, you know, you can't really stop the judgment of God that's coming no matter what. God's already prepared it for you. There's nothing you can do to stop it. Now look at verse eight. We're gonna look at the covering of Judah. It says in verse number eight, and he discovered the covering of Judah, and now it's looking that day to the armor of the house of the forest. So what does covering mean? Well, he's basically saying that God is observing what essentially Judah is using or depending on to be protected, okay? Because a covering is essentially that which is used to conceal, to protect, right? So God's looking on this, and he's like, I see what you're putting your trust in. I see the covering, I see what you're confiding in, and we see here that they're essentially trusting in their preparation, because it says in verse eight that he did look in that day to the armor of the house of the forest. So is Judah looking to the Lord God for safety? Are they looking towards the house of God? Are they looking towards the word of God? Well, the first thing they turn to is the armor that they have, right? They look to see how many AK-47s that they have, how many shotguns they have, do they have enough bullets? You know, do they have enough clips? Do they have enough knives? Do they have enough this? Are the cameras set up? Is surveillance good to go? What is that? That's the armor that they're looking towards. And this is not God like commending them for how prepared they are. Because you know, a lot of Christians will take this attitude of like, well, you know, safety is of the Lord, brother, you know, but the horse is prepared against the day of battle though, you know? And often people who say that are actually depending more on the horse than the safety of the Lord. They're just kind of using that as an excuse to like, you know, heap up weapons and all these things, which obviously it's not bad to have weapons and guns. But let me just be frank with you, the vast majority of people who obsess over those things often depend on that far more than the safety of the Lord. Let's just be honest. Let's be honest. And I'm all for the liberty to carry guns and this and whatnot and God and country and you know, but let's just be real honest, the vast majority of people who make it their prerogative to just heap up weapons and knives are often individuals that are not depending on the Lord for their safety because guess what? You take all those guns away from them, you take all the surveillance away, they're not going to be like, well, you know what? God's going to take care of me. They're going to be freaking out, right? They're not going to be like, do I walk through the valley of the shadow of death? They're like, no, you come and take my guns. They have this kind of libertarian attitude where it's just like you have to come and take them from you or something. And you know, again, look, I have a gun, you know? I'm all for having guns, but if someone comes and takes my gun, I'm not really concerned about my safety thereafter or beforehand because at the end of the day, God is the one who's protecting me. He's my covering. He is the one who's concealing me. I don't need a concealed carry because he's the one who's concealing me, amen? You know, he's the one who's covering me with his wing. And you know, I'd rather just fully depend on that than a Desert Eagle, although a Desert Eagle is pretty cool to have. I don't have one, but I wish I did. And you know, it'd be cool to have a Desert Eagle. I think that's a really awesome gun. But you know what? If that were to disappear and I just had no weapons, it's okay. You know, if God be for me, who can be against me? And no weapon formed against thee shall prosper, the Bible says. So if you're right with God, if you have that covering, then you're good to go. But we see here that he's actually condemning them for the armor. Cause he's saying, look, I've discovered the covering of Judah. It was like, ah, now we see what you're really depending on. It's the armor of the forest, not the armor of God. And we can put that into the New Testament application is that more important than any armor that we put on is the armor of God. Making sure that we're walking in the spirit, putting on the shield, taking up the shield of faith, the, what do you call it? Being good about with truth, making sure that we're shouting our feet with the gospel of peace, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the spirit. That's far more important than whatever physical armor, Teflon or whatever you can put upon yourself to defend yourself from whatever bullet or whatever. Is the armor of God. Yeah, but that ain't gonna stop no bullet. I don't know, it might though. It actually might. I'm not trying to test that, I'm just saying. You know what I mean? Because at the end of the day, putting on the armor of God means you're in favor with God. And you know, he can make me do like a kneel or something, you know, just stop the bullet or something, I don't know. I'm not trying to test that out, I'm just saying, I'd rather have that than the actual physical armor. And we have an example of here where God is like mocking them for depending on the armor. He also says in verse nine, he have seen also the breaches of the city of David, that there are many, and he gathered together the waters of the lower pool. So what is it saying here? It's saying that God can see that Judah, they are essentially covering all their bases. You know, they're getting ready for war and they're just like, all right, we gotta cover up all the breaches. You know, what's a breach? It's like a hole in the wall, right? So they're going around the wall, they're looking for little cracks and little holes that the enemy can get into, making sure that they seal that up. And God's like, oh, okay, you're pretty diligent in finding all the breaches of the city of David. And you know that there's many of them. So they're taking inventory of the city, they're seeing all the holes, and he gathered together the waters of the lower pool. What does that mean? They're getting ready for the siege. Because in a siege, one of the tactics is to rid them of water, right? To starve them out, to dehydrate them. And so they're just like, do we have enough water in the lower pool? That's what they're asking. So they're major preppers here. This is prepping right here, right? And you know, from a carnal perspective, this is very commendable. Because they're making sure they have armor, they're making sure they're covering their bases, making sure there's no holes in the walls, have enough water. He says in verse 10, you have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have you broken down to fortify the wall. So you know what else they're doing? They're just like, sorry folks, you gotta evacuate this place, we're gonna tear this down because we need to build a wall for your protection. They've numbered the houses, and some of those houses, they've broken down in order to build walls to protect them, okay? They're preparing adequate water for the siege, they're just prepping the walls. They're doing everything humanly possible to protect them from God, basically, okay? Now this should come as no surprise because Israel's done this just more times than the Bible can count. They're just always depending on something else other than God for their protection. And in fact, later on in Isaiah chapter 30, the Lord tells them, let me read it to you from Isaiah 30 verse one, it says, woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel but not of me, and that cover with the covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin, that walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh and to trust in the shadow of Egypt. So they're constantly guilty of just depending on other nations to take care of them, the covering of other nations, and not looking to the God of Israel, okay? Look at verse 11. He made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you have not looked unto the Maker thereof, neither had respect unto Him that fashioned it long ago. Isn't that sad? He's like, you know, you checked all the boxes, very organized, got your task list there, your hunting-to-do list, but there's one thing you're missing. You're not looking to the Maker thereof, right? Now, again, I don't think God is necessarily against having all these things, but He wants us to seek Him out first. You know, it's like the king who had the disease in his feet he had gout, or I mean, does it specifically say what? You know, he had rigor mortis, or not rigor mortis, that's when you're dead. You know, he had some sort of foot disease, okay? Some sort of athlete's foot, just something that was killing him. And what did he do? He went to the physicians before he went to God, okay? And that kind of shows you, by the way, that God wants you to search Him out for even the smallest of matters. He wants you to search Him out even for your athlete's foot. You know, like when you have a problem, just go to the Lord. And don't think, well, God is only involved in the spiritual matters. Well, then you're basically saying, oh, God is the God of the valleys, but not of the hills. He's the God of the hills, but not of the valleys. So you're like compartmentalizing God as if God can come through in this particular area, but not the other area. He wants us to seek Him out for everything. And so we need to be able to seek unto the Lord in times of trouble. And you know what, they would have done a lot better if they would have done all this after they sought after the Lord. And just be like, Lord, we need you, we repent, we wanna get right with God, and we love you, and we wanna follow your commandments, and we're all gonna get right with God, we're gonna get rid of all the idols, and we're gonna do all this as a means of faith that you will come through on this, right? So it's kinda interesting, because if they did these things first, that shows that they're faithless. But if they do it second, it would have showed that they had faith. Why, because it's all about priorities, my friend. Because they sought out these practical things first and not the Lord, it's showing that they don't have faith, whereas if they sought out God first and then prepared these things, the preparation of these things is an expression of faith that God will come through. But because God is not even in the equation, it's just showing that they're not really depending on God. Okay? The Bible tells us in Psalm 127, verse one, listen to this. Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh blood in vain. In other words, if you don't have God involved in the equation and your plans and your marriage with your child rearing, with any form of success or achievements that you want to accomplish, you're doing it in vain. Because at the end of the day, it's not gonna prosper, it's not gonna go further because of the fact that you're not getting God involved in the situation. Okay? And so this is a lesson for us as Christians to make sure, listen to me, make sure whatever decision you make, even if it's like for your job, even if it's for like a big decision, a small decision that you have to make, seek out the Lord first. Like, well, I only pray when I read my Bible or whatever. Well, that's great, but you know what? That should be somewhat of a primer to get you to pray for other things throughout the day as well. Lord, may there be no traffic. Lord, help me to find a parking spot. Lord, I got an ingrown toenail, help me with this. I mean, why not? Why not just make it a practice to seek after the Lord for all matters? Exercise faith, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and these things shall be added unto you. And so they have this backwards. I mean, they don't even have it backwards because they're not seeking God at all. I'm just saying they would have done better if they sought God and did this. Because doing this after seeking God would be an expression of faith. But they're doing it in vain. They are keeping the city in vain because at the end of the day, if God wants to break those walls, he will. So they're covering their bases in vain. The Bible also says in Jeremiah chapter 17 and verse number five, Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm, whose heart departeth from the Lord. He shall be like the heath in the desert and shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness and the salt land and not inhabited. Psalm 33 verse 17 says, And horse is a vain thing for safety, neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. The Bible tells us. Psalm four verse eight says, I will both lay me down in peace and sleep for thou Lord only makest me dwell in safety. And so at the end of the day, there's nothing wrong with preparation as long as it comes after seeking the Lord. But at the end of the day, if you sought the Lord and you have nothing to prepare, what about the person who doesn't have armor? What about the person who doesn't have a sword? What if they don't have surveillance and guns and all these things? You know, what about people who can't afford those things or don't have access to those possessions? Well, the safety of the Lord is enough, right? The safety of God is still enough. And so, yeah, but you gotta prepare. But what about the people who can't prepare though? What about people who don't have access to those things? I guess they only have the Lord and guess what? That's all that they need. And you know what, let me say this is that when you wake up in the morning, you get in your vehicle to go to work, you should pray, Lord, keep me safe today. Bring me back to my family safely. Prosper my way. Lord, help me to prosper in everything that I do today. Give me good success in all that I do. Give me good success in my work. Give me, prosper me and give me good success with the decisions that I have to make. Prosper me in my marriage. Prosper me at the gym. Prosper me with the brothers and sisters in Christ. Prosper me with my kids. Help me to have good success in my dealings with people. How many times do you pray before you deal with people, right? I mean, it's necessary for us to seek the Lord during these times because it's an expression of faith and it's showing God that you want him for a covering, not your own wits, not your own wisdom, not your possessions, not your things. You need God, okay? Look at verse 12. Turn that AC on, brother, you realize. We need a covering here. It feels like we had a physical covering. Look at verse 12. In that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping and to mourning. I knew it was off. It was off, huh? I knew something was wrong. In that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping and to mourning and to baldness and to girding with sackcloth. And behold, joy and gladness. So what is it saying? God was looking for a repentant nation. He was looking for people to weep and cry and baldness and girding with sackcloth, just these expressions of humility and repentance. He's going there to find that, to expect that, but what does he find instead? Joy and gladness, slain oxen, killing sheep, eating flesh, drinking wine. Listen to this. Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we shall die. And it was revealed in my ears by the Lord of hosts, surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord God of hosts. Now what is it saying? God gave them space to repent. He wants them to get right with God. And he's expecting them to have these outward expressions of repentance, but instead they are doing the exact opposite. They're celebrating, they have joy, they have gladness, and they have this careless attitude that says, let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. Now that should obviously ring a bell to you, right? New Testament, the Apostle Paul quotes this in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and it's essentially somewhat in the same context, because he's basically saying in 1 Corinthians 15, when people say that, evil communications corrupt good manners. So if you just live carelessly, just living life without consequence, well that corrupts your manner of living, okay? Become careless, reckless in the manner of which you live. You're not living with purpose. You're not necessarily living out your days trying to achieve something of significance, okay? And so here in Isaiah, when he tells them this, he's basically saying, I want you to get right with God. Now let me read to you from James 4, verse eight, it says, draw nigh to God, he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners. Purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep, and let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Now this is important, because, you know, when we fellowship with God, when you fellowship with God, you know, sometimes we feel a sense of joy, right? We're joyful, we're happy, but you know, there's times when fellowship with the Lord requires weeping, sadness of heart, mourning, and heaviness, okay? And we live in a society where this stuff is not necessarily looked upon as being a positive thing anymore, you know? You have funerals now where people don't wear black anymore or they'll dress in like, you know, loud colors or whatever, and you know, a celebration of life, which obviously, if that's what you've done, then that's your business. But really, the death of a loved one requires mourning. I mean, it's a dark thing, right? It's essentially death. And the Bible prescribes or describes mourning as being that which is dark. I mean, some people in the Bible would mourn for months on end, and it was acceptable, permissible in the eyes of God to mourn and weep and wear sackcloth and things of that nature. And here's the thing, folks, is we need to learn to kind of do that. And you say, well, are you really sure it's that bad, you know, you don't think you're exaggerating a little bit? Folks, on Instagram, you see some of the wildest stuff where like, you know, I'll give you an example, and this is probably one of the most extreme examples that I've seen within the last couple of months. And it's just like, you know, it shows like this girl, right, this person, and she's like me dealing with depression, right? And she's kind of like, you know, kind of dancing or whatever. And then it points to like a grave, it's like my sister who couldn't hack it. I mean, that's morbid. Because basically, her sister committed suicide from depression. And you know, you go to the comments section, and people are like, oh yeah, leave her alone, this is just how she grieves or whatever. Well, that's a wicked way to grieve. What is that? Just mocking the dead, mocking a family member, you know, just using them for content and likes. This is a sick world we live in that has perverted what mourning means, you know? The practice of mourning, a biblical manner of mourning, is to weep, to mourn, to be sad. And these are very much normal emotions that every person should experience. And you know what? You know, obviously, we don't want to live depressed, okay? A little depression just is good sometimes. Let me just be honest with you. I'm not saying all the time. If you're depressed all the time, then you know, there's some problems there. We need to get you in the gym, and get you eating some red meat or whatever, and maybe you got some issues that we need to work through if you're just constantly depressed, that's one thing. But you know what, seasons of depression are just completely normal and should be embraced, and you should work through those seasons, okay? Because sometimes people think, oh, depression, gotta take meds, and then you just become a weirdo after that. Then you just become this self-centered, I know this because I know people on meds, not here, okay? I mean, you might be, I don't know. But I know personally people who are on meds because of their depression, because they didn't know how to deal with a very, you know, just a very horrible thing to happen in their lives, and I'm not downplaying what happened in their lives, because it was bad. It was a loved one that passed away, but they couldn't, they didn't know how to deal with it, and so what did they do? They prescribed this person medication, and now this person two, three years later is one of the most self-centered people ever who doesn't want to have any dealings with any person, does not want to socialize, you know, just has, is just a very weird person. It just made that person worse, quite frankly. You're like, well, you know, some people just can't deal with depression like that, though. But here's the thing, though, depression, the Bible doesn't talk about depression. It talks about sorrow and sadness and mourning, which in our modern terms would be depression, sadness, where your bones hurt, your loins hurt, you water your couch with tears, right? It's when you're sad. And you know what, for the Christian, this is very much a normal thing that we should not just, like, want to get away from. We should allow that to help us to draw an eye onto God. Not use the covering of alcohol, the covering of medication, the covering of vice, the covering of a psychiatrist, a therapist or whatever, you know, a covering of a person who doesn't even know anything about the Lord to tell you, to just help you to be a more self-centered person. That's what therapists do, by the way. Let me just explain something to you about therapists. They are charlatans who just aid you in becoming a selfish, self-centered person and just never lets you heal from your wounds. Because they're just constantly like, now tell me about your childhood again. Tell me about how you've just been a victim for your entire life. That's what it is. And then people are just reliving this over and over again. They become a victim, then they get medication, and they just want to remove all toxic people from their lives or whatever. But then it's just like, and I'm all for removing toxic people, but to them, everyone's toxic. Everyone's toxic. And I get it, there are toxic people. There's people you should just cut out of your life because they're just, you know, just bad people sometimes. But not everyone's toxic. And every once in a while, you need people who have a different opinion than you. You need people who kind of challenge you a little bit, so you're just not constantly living in this bubble. The point that I'm making here is that mourning is very normal. Depression is normal. Obviously, you don't want to remain in the woods of depression for the rest of your life. And please don't misunderstand me, because I know depression, women can get involved in depression, especially after a child, and they can go through seasons like that. I'm not downplaying that at all. That's very much a normal part of the process. And I'm not saying don't do anything. I'm not saying, oh yeah, get over it. Okay, so don't think that's what I'm saying. I'm just saying that is often can be used in our lives to draw an eye onto God. And unfortunately, people, when they're in that state, do not seek after the Lord. I've counseled people who are depressed, and it's just like, have you read the Bible? No. Have you prayed? No. Like, they don't even, they just sleep. And I get it. You know, you get like that sometimes. But you know what? As Christians, we need to make sure that we are being proactive in seeking after the Lord. And obviously, if that depression lasts longer than what's expected, then obviously we need to get some help. But you know what, thank God that we have a local New Testament church where you can come to, and let's just be honest, you come to church, even if you're depressed, and your spirit is revived. You get exhorted by the brethren singing the psalms and the hymns. It reminds you what life is about, that life has purpose, you have purpose. I'm not trying to give you a TED Talk here. I'm just giving you the reality, like God has a plan for your life, okay? God loves you, and it's true. You know, that stuff is true. The only thing is, I don't want your money after you. I told you those things. Most people do, okay? I'm just telling you, the Lord loves you. People love you here. You understand? And sometimes you just, sometimes, you know, a merry heart doeth good like a medicine, amen? Come to church, you hear me joke around a little bit, you hear people, you just laugh at people, and you know what, it just quickens your dry spirit. It helps you to get back on track. And then when you leave church, you're like, man, I'm glad I came to church. One of the greatest cures for depression is when you just come to church. Because often, prolonged depression is because you just are too focused on yourself and your problems. That's really what it is. And some people may hear that and be like, yeah, but you don't know what I'm going through. Yeah, but what about what other people are going through too, though? You know, there's people in our church that are probably severely depressed right now, but they got dressed, they came to church. They're following the formula. And they just don't say anything about it. They're just going through that season. And please don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying be cold towards people like that, because look, I wish I could see the hearts of men and see who's hurting so I could just go encourage them. Right? But you know, it's not always the case, and sometimes people need to draw nines of the Lord and use the biblical formula. You know, obviously, get your diet right, go exercise, go run a lap or something, get that blood flowing, get those endorphins cracking in your body, and start getting physically active. Often that's the case. But if it's like some traumatic thing to happen to you, or maybe, and I'm not trying to be Dr. Phil here or anything like that, I'm just, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me at this moment right now to talk about this, though. You know, often it's just a matter of, you're just kind of, you have too much alone time. You know, it's good to be alone, to be in some solitude, to commune with your own heart and to the Lord, but sometimes a little too much communing with yourself, your thoughts can run wild. And then you just get out of hand in your mind, and then like, you know, before you know it, you're dying, you know, in your mind. You're just like, I'm dying, I'm just, the world is over. No one loves me. You know, God doesn't love me, people don't love me, and then you just start coming up with all these imaginations, because you have too much alone time. We're meant to be social creatures, okay? And so you need to come to church, and you need to get help, get help. Just say, hey, you know, I'm struggling with some depression right now, I need some help, you know, I need some encouragement, and we can help you through that. But don't just, you know, resist depression and just go straight for the bottle, straight for the marijuana, straight for the medication, straight for whatever vice that you struggle with, straight for the burger, you know? You know, just depress, eat. I stress eat, but I don't depress eat, okay? As you can plainly see, when I get stressed, I do wanna, you know, just order a lot of food, okay? But you know, obviously I'm not saying don't have a meal, but you know, don't use other coverings and just put a Band-Aid over the depression, you understand? It's a season, you're gonna get through it, but draw night to God, is what I'm saying, okay? I spent a lot of time on that, but I think it was necessary. Look at verse 15, it says, "'Thus saith the Lord God of hosts, "'Go, get thee unto this treasure, even unto Shebna, "'which is over the house, and say, "'What hast thou here, and whom hast thou here, "'that thou hast hewed thee out of sepulchre here, "'as he that heweth him out of sepulchre on high, "'and that graveth in habitation for himself in a rock.'" So Shebna is a scribe, we know him in other passages as being a scribe, he's essentially like a palace administrator of some sort. He's also a treasurer, he has a lot of responsibility, he's a man who is a man of authority next to Hezekiah, because he's in the days of Hezekiah. But based upon what's being said here, it sounds like he's a pretty prideful person, okay? Because he's getting a shout out from the Lord specifically, and the Lord's telling Isaiah to go to him and essentially rebuke him, because he's like, who do you think you are hewing out of sepulchre for yourself, okay? Because this is something that's obviously requires a lot of money, and he probably thinks he's very important to do, I mean, the Lord Jesus Christ didn't even have his own sepulchre, he was buried in a borrowed sepulchre, right? But this guy thinks he's something, because he's hewing out his own sepulchre on high, and he thinks he's someone, verse 17 says, "'Behold, the Lord will carry thee away "'with the mighty captivity and will surely cover thee.'" So it's kind of like, oh, you're getting this sepulchre to cover you, don't worry, God's gonna cover you. He's got you covered. Says in verse 18, "'He will surely violently turn "'and toss thee like a ball into a large country.'" What does he say, he's like, you know, you're making all these preparations as if you're gonna die here, but you're not gonna die here. You're hewing out a sepulchre for yourself because you're so presumptuous, and if I were to speculate what's going on here, I would say that possibly, Shebna is probably scoffing at this judgment that's gonna come upon Judah. He's scoffing at the preaching, possibly. He's like, no, nothing's gonna happen. Look, I've already hewn out my own sepulchre here. I'm gonna die here. This is where I'm gonna live, I'm gonna die. But God's like, no, you're not. In fact, I'm gonna take you like a ball, and I'm gonna, Kobe, you know, right into captivity. You're just gonna go right into captivity, and no one's gonna help you. There shalt thou die, it says. So it's just like, oh, you're tearing down barns, building up greater, but your soul shall be required of thee. You're so presumptuous to think that you're gonna die in your homeland. No, I'm gonna throw you like a ball into a country, and you're gonna die over there. And there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of the Lord's house. I and I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he put thee down. So obviously, this guy is someone who is evidently exalting himself. And again, he's not giving us a whole lot of detail, but based upon what we're reading, it sounds like this guy thinks he's someone. And he's presumptuous, he thinks he's gonna die in Judah, in spite of the fact that there's been many sermons against Judah, that these people are gonna go into captivity, a lot of people are gonna die, and he's like, no, I'm gonna die here, and God's like, no, you're gonna die over there. So he's exalting himself, therefore he will be abased. And the lesson we can learn from there is that don't put down your stakes too deep into this world. And there's nothing wrong with preparing a plot or whatever, but just understand, we are but pilgrims in this world, we're just passing through. And just in a practical way, too, don't get too comfortable in Orange County. Oh, oh, you just never know. I mean, I was someone like Shebna at one point, where I was like, I wanna live and die in L.A., man. It's just like, we're in L.A., and we're gonna be in L.A. forever, and that's what we're gonna reach, and boom! Here we are in Orange County, now we're here. And as far as I know, I'm planning to, but I'm not the Lord, okay, I'm not the treasurer here, per se, but I'm not the Lord, I wanna stay in Orange County, but you just never know. I mean, who would've thought that we would've came to Orange County from Los Angeles? I don't think anybody ever would've thought that. So you just never know. And this is not a public service announcement for you to start giving me ideas. Hey, why don't you come into the IE, or why don't you go a little north or something like that? I'm not taking requests, okay? We're planning to stay here as long as the Lord wants us here. I'm just saying the Lord might throw us like a ball somewhere else, you know? Can't have our stakes down too deep in one place. Gotta be willing to be flexible in the service of the Lord. Now what's interesting here is that Shebna's a scribe, he's essentially an administrator of some sort, but he's gonna be replaced by Eliakim. And Eliakim, throughout the Old Testament, is mentioned in conjunction with Shebna, and so here you have Shebna, who seems to be prideful, presumptuous, arrogant, God doesn't like this guy, but he likes Eliakim. So he's gonna replace Shebna with Eliakim, okay? He says in verse 20, And it shall come to pass in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand, and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. So God really likes Eliakim, and here's a good example that God believes in replacement theology, amen? He's replacing Shebna with Eliakim. Now, I don't know if you noticed this, but there's some undertones here of the Lord Jesus Christ, right? The fact that the government will be upon his shoulders, we see that he's gonna be clothed with the robe, with the girdle, and he's gonna commit the government into his hand. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem to the house of Judah. Therefore, Shebna can somewhat be a picture of who? The Antichrist, okay? The Antichrist comes, he exalts himself through the abomination of desolation and all of that, but then he is replaced with Jesus Christ, and we'll see right now that Eliakim is a picture of Jesus. He says in verse 22, in the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder, so he shall open and none shall shut, and he shall shut and none shall open. Now, let me just briefly talk about this, and I'm almost done, okay? This has been used by the Roman Catholic Church to teach a really stupid doctrine called the Eliakim Typological Argument, okay? And the Roman Catholic Church will essentially assert that Isaiah 22 is a typological prophecy of the Apostle Peter in Matthew 16, okay? So let's say, oh man, this is like prophetic of the Apostle Peter, which is their first pope, okay? Now, Peter's not the first pope. He's not even a pope. If he was here with us, he'd be preaching against the pope, okay? But go to Matthew 16 briefly. Let's just cover this and just destroy this real quick, because the Catholic Church is one of the easiest churches to just debunk, because you just look at what they believe, and just rest assured that basically the Bible will explicitly and blatantly say the exact opposite, okay? You almost wonder, it's like the Catholic Church just looked at the Bible and said, okay, just do the opposite of what the Bible says here, okay? Oh, Jesus Christ is the Savior? Oh, make Mary the mediator instead, you know? Okay, so Matthew 16 verse 18 says, and I say also unto thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Here's the fulfillment, and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. So this is the key passage that Catholics will use to claim that, you know, because don't you see Pope there? It's like spelled out, P-O-P-E, right there. First Pope, that's when he's inaugurated right there. He said, no, it's not there, exactly. Most of what the, if not all of what the Catholic Church believes, it just can't be found in the Bible, but they will say that this is the fulfillment of Isaiah 22 where the keys are given to him of David, and now he's able to bind things in earth and in heaven. And so this is what they will say that the Pope has infallibility. Whatever he says is bound in heaven and in earth. Like this is divine infallibility that what he says goes, okay? It's crazy. And they say that this is specifically designated for Peter and Pope's thereafter. Like it's clearly laid out there. He's giving unto him the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever is bound in heaven shall be bound in earth, et cetera. But here's the problem with that, okay? Go to Matthew 18, if you would. Matthew chapter 18, because remember, that power is given unto Peter. He is the one who has those keys, right, according to them. But luckily we have, you know, a couple chapters after this that gives us another example of this particular doctrine. Look at verse 15. Moreover, if thy brother trespass against him, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou must gain thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, then in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if you neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church. But if you neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and as a publican. Listen to this. Barely I say unto you, whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. So the exact same thing that Jesus tells Peter in Matthew chapter 16, he's also telling the church. He's telling every other believer that if they are able to, if this person does not want to repent, doesn't want to get right with God, they can be unto them as a heathen, as a publican, and that's bound in heaven as it is in earth. And he's not addressing only Peter. He's talking about all believers. So how do you know? Look at verse 19. Again, I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything, they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father, which is in heaven. So if just two people are together and they agree about this, it'll be bound in heaven as well as on earth. Verse 20, for two or three are gathered together in my name. There am I in the midst of them. Go to Revelation chapter three, Revelation chapter three. So obviously, that's a stupid doctrine made up by the Roman Catholic Church to try to prop up their pope and they're some of the biggest gaslighting institutions that exist in this world. It's just like the Bible clearly refutes them, but they want to ignore that. But they'll literally say that Isaiah 22 is a prophecy of Matthew 16. Now, what's another reason why that's completely blasphemous and stupid? Well, reason number one is because we showed you that the keys are given to all believers to bind on earth as well as in heaven. Everyone saw that, right? But here's another reason why this is stupid and blasphemous because they're claiming Eliakim is a picture of Peter, who's their first pope. But Eliakim is not a picture of Peter. Eliakim is a picture of Jesus because it's given to Eliakim the keys of David, right? Well, look at Revelation three, verse seven, to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, right? These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth. Now, who is the he there? Well, in context, it's referring to Jesus. No, Peter mentioned here. So it's wild that they would even come up with such a doctrine that can be easily refuted to show how can Eliakim be a picture of Peter when it's clear that Revelation chapter three is telling us that the person who has the key of David is Jesus, not Peter. It's crazy. And you say, oh, no, no, we wrote the Bible. How are you gonna tell me we wrote the Bible? That's like their argument. You show them that like, yeah, well, we gave you the Bible. That's like their go-to card there. You prove them wrong. It's like, well, we gave you the Bible. And this is why I say, then why don't you know it? Then why are you so ignorant of the Bible? Why can't you not be stupid in this area? And just clearly see why do you deny what the Bible says then? Oh, we gave you the Bible. How are you gonna tell me we gave you the Bible? Oh, you should have read Matthew 18 then. So that means you're familiar with Matthew 18 and Revelation three as well, right? It's nonsense, my friends. The fulfillment of Isaiah 22 is Revelation chapter three. Because Jesus Christ is the one who has the keys, who by the way, he has the keys of death and of hell as well. Because he's the only one who's gone to hell and has come back and he overcame death and he liveth forevermore, okay? He says in verse eight, I know thy works, behold, I have set before thee an open door, no man can shut it, for thou hast a little strength and hast kept my word and hast not denied my name. And this is not a sermon on the keys of David as far as Revelation chapter three is concerned. But this is essentially saying that Eliakim is being given the keys to the city. You guys heard that phrase before? The keys, in other words, he's like the one who's the authority, okay? Well, unlike man or one day in the future, Jesus Christ will have the keys of death and of hell. You have the keys of Jerusalem. He has the keys of David. He has the ultimate authority because one day he's gonna be ruling and reigning over all the earth. The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever. Go back to Isaiah 22, let's finish up. So Eliakim is a picture of Jesus, but guess what? He's just a picture. So as much as it was fulfilled in his day that that is what took place, he did replace Shebna, the scribe, the treasurer. You know, he pictured Jesus Christ beautifully. He was still a man who ended up dying because it says in verse 23, and I will fasten him as a nail in a shirt place and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house. This is obviously still figurative of Jesus Christ. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons. Verse 25, in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in a shirt place be removed and be cut down and fall. And the burden that was upon it shall be cut off for the Lord had spoken him. So obviously verse 25 now is talking about Eliakim specifically. Because Jesus Christ will be like a nail in a shirt place because his kingdom will last forever, right? It will never be removed. However, Eliakim, though he was fastened for a short time, eventually he would end up dying. He would be removed because he's not God, okay? He ended up being replaced later on. And so what's the lessons that we can learn from chapter 22? Hey, have the Lord as your covering. Make sure you're depending on the Lord. Be more mindful of when you're making decisions and make sure that you seek the Lord first, okay? No matter what decision you make. Where you go, what you do, have a spiritual mind to say, Lord, I need your blessing on this. And I'm not saying you have to like pray for an hour to do it just, Lord, please give me judgment, give me wisdom, give me knowledge and understanding, help me to make the right decisions today for the smallest of matters to the biggest of matters. And so very important, let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Help us, Lord, to be mindful of making you our covering in all that we do. And obviously we don't do it perfectly every single day, but may there be more instances in our lives where we do seek you and we meditate upon the word of God. We seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our lives. I pray that that would be more frequent than the times that we don't seek after you, Lord. And I pray you bless us as we go on our way, Lord. Bless our decisions, prosper us in our way. Help us to have good success in all that we do. We love you and we thank you and pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Be sure you hear those, the song number 401.