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

["Pomp and Circumstance"] Good evening. We're continuing in Isaiah chapter 30, and the Bible reads, Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me, 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. Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion. For his princes were at Zoann, and his ambassadors came to Haines. They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be in help, nor profit, but a shame, and also reproach. The burden of the beasts of the south into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, that will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them. For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose. Therefore have I cried concerning this, their strength is to sit still. Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever, that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord, which say to the seers, see not, and to the prophets, prophesy not unto his right things. Speak unto his smooth things, prophesy deceits. Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. Wherefore thus saith the Lord, Holy One of Israel, because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon. Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant, and he shall break it as the breaking of the potter's vessel that is broken in pieces. He shall not spare, so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it as shared to take fire from the earth, or to take water withal out of the pit. For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest shall ye be saved. In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength, and you would not. But ye said no, for we will flee upon horses, therefore shall he flee, and we will ride upon the swift, therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one, at the rebuke of five shall he flee, till he be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on a hill. And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you, for the Lord is a God of judgment. Blessed are all they that wait for him, for the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem. Thou shalt weep no more, he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry, when he shall hear it he will answer thee. And though the Lord give you bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner anymore, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers, and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left. You shall defile also covering thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold. Thou shalt cast them away as a monstrous cloth, thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence. Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal, and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous. In that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures. The oxen likewise, and the young asses that ere the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan. There shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill rivers, and streams of waters, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, and the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound. Behold the name of the Lord cometh from afar, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy. His lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire, and his breath as an overflowing stream shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity, and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to ere. You shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept, and gladness of heart, and when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the mighty one of Israel. And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones. For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod, and in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the Lord shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabards, and with harps, and in battles of shaking will he fight with it. For tophat is ordained of old, yea, for the king it is prepared, he hath made it deep and large, the pile thereof is fire and much wood, and the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it." Let's pray. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the King James Bible. Dear God, we thank you for this wonderful church you've given us. We thank you for our pastor. Please bless him as he preaches your word. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Okay, we're in Isaiah chapter 30 this evening, and tonight we're gonna look at the fact that Judah is placing their dependence upon Egypt. We know that Judah is in trouble with God, and that God is going to send the Assyrian army of foreign nations to come and take them over, destroy them, and unfortunately instead of seeking the Lord, instead of repenting of their ways, and cleansing themselves, and getting rid of the idols, and essentially correcting their ways, they decide to go the exact opposite and depend on another foreign nation to protect them from God's punishment. And obviously that's not the route to go there, and God is gonna punish him greatly for it. Look at verse 1. He says, woe to the rebellious children. Woe means great sorrow, distress, cursing is gonna come upon you. He says, woe to the rebellious children, sayeth the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me, and the cover with the covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin. So he starts off the chapter by telling them, hey, great sorrow and distress is gonna come upon you because of the fact that you're seeking counsel because of the judgment that's gonna come upon you, but here's the problem is that you're looking on all the wrong places. They're obviously seeking counsel of false gods. They're going to their idols, and in a physical manner, they're actually going to Egypt, which is a land that's filled with idols as well. And he says, you're trying to take counsel, but you're not coming to me. You're covering yourself, meaning you are protecting yourself with the covering, but ironically it's not by the Spirit of God, right? And he says there that they may add sin to sin. Now what does that mean when he says that they're adding sin to sin? Well, they're basically adding insult to injury. Aside from the fact that they're not going to the mouth of God to figure out what is it that we should do, they are also not going to the prophets. They're not going to the priests of the land. They're going to Egypt for protection, okay? And here we see a classic example of when God's people are in dire need, they need deliverance, they need protection, and who do they go to? They go to the White House, right? You know, they see all the spiritual problems that are taking place. They see everything that's happening in their land, and instead of going to the mouth of God, instead of seeking counsel at the prophet of God, they go to Egypt. And Egypt in the Bible is a picture of the world, right? It's a picture of the world system, and we see here that they're not asking counsel, they're not asking for advice, they're not asking for wisdom at the prophets. And in fact, look at verse 10, if you would. We'll go through verse 10 more in detail later. Look at verse 10, it says, which say to the seers, seers referring to the prophets, see not, and to the prophets, prophesy not into us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy the seats. So what is he saying? You know, you act like you want counsel, you act like you want solutions, you act like you want answers, but then you go to the prophets and say, but don't preach to us the truth though. I want the seats, you know, we're going to go to Egypt, we're going to go to the false gods, we're going to cover ourselves, we're going to protect ourselves through the world system and the world's solutions, okay? Egypt's solutions. And you don't have to turn there, but in Isaiah 28, if you remember this verse, in verse 20, it says, for the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it, and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it. He's basically saying, you know, you're like a person that's sleeping in a very small bed, very uncomfortable, and then you're covering yourself with just this little tiny security blanket that can't even warm your feet, your body. It's basically worthless. And he's saying that that's the same way that your so-called protection of the four nations, that's what it's going to do for you. It's only going to protect you or give you a sense of security, but there's no security whatsoever. Egypt is going to be the reason for your downfall. They're not going to be able to protect you. Now, this is pretty ridiculous that the people of God, instead of calling upon the name of the Lord, instead of praying unto God, instead of seeking out what the Lord can do for them and getting right with the Lord, they would decide to go to the world instead because they think that they are stronger, and in fact, in chapter 31, you'll see that it says that they go to Egypt because they have horses, because they have chariots, because they have something that they can offer them, they can protect them. And this is very embarrassing for God's people that instead of going to the God of the Bible for protection, they go to the world. And you got to ask yourself, you know, is there not a God in Israel that you go to inquire of Beelzebub or these false gods? Why are you going to these polytheistic nations and false gods to protect you when you have the God of the Bible right there that can protect you as long as you get right with him? And the answer is because they're not right with God, okay? Now, we have a modern-day example of this. You know, it's kind of interesting that we're covering chapter 30 and 31 these next two weeks because we have the elections taking place, you know, in about two weeks or so in November. And, you know, you know what the elections time and time again prove to me as a Christian is that a lot of times believers place their faith more in the world for spiritual problems than they do in the word of God and the house of God, okay? You know, I've talked to Christians and I've talked to Christians of different denominations and, of course, even Baptists, and, you know, they're really nervous about what's going to take place in the next two weeks, you know? They're kind of nervous about it. I know no one here is nervous about it. No one better be nervous about it. But, you know, a lot of people are. And I've spoken to people and had conversations with them where they're just like, you know, hopefully God's merciful to us and hopefully, you know, God shows us grace and we can just pray. And I just kind of tell them, it's like, well, you know, regardless of what happens, as long as we're right with God, you know, we're going to be fine. But, you know what? A lot of Christians don't think that way. A lot of Christians are kind of like at the edge of their seat and will probably have a meltdown if Kamala gets voted in as president or whatever. And you say, well, do you have an issue? Are you saying that it doesn't bother you if Kamala comes into presidency or something? Well, obviously, I would be bothered by it because of the fact that she's a woman and the fact that, at the end of the day, when you look at the situation through the lens of Scripture, the Bible clearly teaches us that if a woman rules over the man or over a nation, it's considered a curse into that nation, okay? Now, I don't believe Kamala coming into presidency, into leadership, is starting the curse of God upon the land. It's only confirming the curse that's already in the land. You know, Kamala would be the cherry on top of a cake known as the curse of God and the wrath of God upon our nation, okay? And so, you know, if that happens, then obviously, it just proves what we've been preaching on these last four years or whatever, eight years, that, you know, this land, this nation is cursed, as proven by the fact that she becomes president. You say, well, what if Trump becomes president? Well, then everyone can go back to just living, you know, being zealous for God and acting like they had faith in God all along and that, you know, they're just all...they've been...you know, God has always been on the throne no matter what took place. But you know what? We know that's a bunch of poppycock because at the end of the day, we should have that attitude no matter who's in leadership, no matter who becomes president. And, you know, I remember years ago when, you know, I forgot which presidents were running, but I remember the Republican parties and specifically the fundamental Baptist were just losing their minds. And they were throwing out all kinds of videos and talking about who you should vote for. I mean, it was like a huge deal to them, okay? And here's the thing, it's kind of showing you where their focus is. It's kind of showing you where they're placing their faith and it's kind of showing you what their covering is, okay? And, you know, on Sunday night, I'm saying this right now because it's going to force me to just prepare that, but on Sunday night, I'm going to preach a sermon called The White House or The Church House, you know, The White House or The Church House because I want to more extensively talk about the fact that we should...our faith should be in the church house, not in the White House. What happens in the White House doesn't affect us at all. You say, what about all the laws that they can pass? Folks, if we're right with God, it doesn't matter what laws are passed or not. And even if this country turns against Christians, it doesn't hinder us at all because we ought to obey God rather than them. And if we're right with God, if we're winning souls, if we're reading the Bible, living a righteous life, you know, there's no law, there's no person that can impede us from successfully living the Christian life because of God's hand upon us. We don't want to be like those of Judah that are going, they're looking for a cover, but it's not of God, it's not of the Spirit of God. They're asking for counsel, but it's not at the house of God, okay? And too many Christians compartmentalize God and they think, well, you know, you know, when we do the Christian thing when we come to church, but politics on the other hand, we need to depend on these earthly rulers to take care of us or something like that. It doesn't work that way. You know, the last time I checked when I read the New Testament, very little had to do with politics. Very little in the New Testament actually deals with Christians getting involved in politics. You know, last time I checked, some of the greatest men of God in the New Testament were not involved in politics at all. And people will often bring up the fact that, you know, Paul used his citizenship of being a Roman as like proof text that, you know, whatever, you know, some sort of political agenda. But you know what? That's, that doesn't really, I mean, what is that? Is that like the green card or the green card? Is that the green, is that like the wild card that just proves that we should just be voting, that we should just be involved in politics, that we should just place our faith in that? You know, it's nonsense. And a lot of times people will say, well, you know, they'll point to the Old Testament where you have what, you know, a theocracy, which is far different than the system that we possess today in the United States of America. You know, that was a theocracy where God was their king. And then even then you had an earthly king who was a believer at many times, for example, King David, King Saul, King Solomon, and various others who were subject unto a particular, it was an Old Testament phenomenon where God was ruling over that particular land. He said, well, technically, you know, the United States is, you know, is a Christian nation. Yeah, but it's not an Old Testament Christian believing nation, though, you know, because when you take a consensus, yeah, a lot of people say that they're Christian. But here's the thing, folks, is that the New Testament literally focuses on and emphasizes the spiritual nation, the spiritual house, not a physical nation, you know, this nation that we just need to permeate all of politics and all of society until we just usher in the kingdom or something. You know, that's a false doctrine that prepares the way to the Antichrist. You know, our kingdom, let me just let you in on a little secret. Our kingdom is not of this world. Okay. You know, Jesus' kingdom was not of this world. And the last time I checked, you know, the Great Commission has very little, if nothing to do with politics. Our faith should not be in who we vote in or who comes in to be the president or whatever mayor or governor, you know, and obviously the Bible tells us and commands us to pray for those in authority, to pray for magistrates and for governors and things of that nature. But here's the thing. It also says just to pray for all men. And so obviously we should pray for all men. And specifically, the reason the Bible commands us to pray for magistrates and governors and things of that nature is because of the fact that God wants us to live a quiet and peaceable life. It doesn't say get involved and vote for these governors or magistrates. It just says to pray for them. You know, don't take that command a little too far. Don't infer voting into that verse. Or it's just like, well, that's my proof text. That means we have to vote for the right person. No, it just says to pray for them. Okay. And pray that they stay out of our business. Pray that they would leave us alone. And obviously, do we want to pray that a righteous person would go into politics and favor Christians? I don't see a reason why we couldn't pray something like that. But we live in a real world though. And this is not a movie. This is where there's a happy ending. You know, most of the time, a lot of these politicians are wicked. And you know what? I refuse to support anybody or advocate for anybody who claims to have Christian values but supports abortion. What kind of nonsense is that? But you know what? I guarantee you, there's a lot of fundamental Baptists that are willing to see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, and just overlook the flaws of the new Republican Party where Trump is in support of abortion. That's wicked as hell. You know, since when do Christians just kind of turn a blind eye to that and say, well, yeah, but you know, we just got to get what we can or whatever nonsense. Why don't you just stay out of it and go win souls to Christ? Why don't you just lead your family, go to church, live a godly Christian life and, you know, not join a camp of Republican versus Democrat? You know, how about just Christian versus the world? Okay. You know, that's the important thing. Christians need to stop going down into Egypt for counsel. They need to stop going down into Egypt for a covering. We need to go to the mouth of God. We need to go to the house of God to get the right biblical perspective of our worldview and not allow politics, podcasts, you know, the Republican Party to mold us as Christians of how we should behave ourselves, how to conduct ourselves in this world. We should be influencing politics, amen? And, you know, at the end of the day, the answer is where? It's in the church house. The answer is not in the White House. And I know, you know, obviously in my flesh, I want Trump to get into office because it's just fun, you know, it's just a better world, I guess, you know, but at the end of the day, it's a facade, is it not? You know, and a lot of times when a Republican comes into leadership as the president, you know, a lot of Christians will put their guard down because they feel safe now, you know, because they got their man in office or whatever, but, you know, at the end of the day, folks, the covering should be of the Lord, of the Spirit, and, you know, this is, we are pilgrims, we are strangers and pilgrims on this earth, we're just the passing through, and so don't dig your stakes too far deep into this world and specifically into this nation. Our stakes should be rooted in the Lord Jesus Christ. And, you know, and a lot of times, you know, the Republican Party, Conservative Party kind of skews and perverts a Christian's compassion for other nations. You know, they become so political in their view of other nations because they adopt the worldview of America, you know, they often become skewed in their perception of other nations, you know. One example is, you know, the Republicans, the conservative stance on immigration. And, you know, don't tell me that doesn't influence Christians, where they take on this attitude that, you know, all immigrants are wicked and, you know, and it's almost as if they want to oppress the stranger. And here's the thing, I'm not saying that there's not strangers that come to this land that are wicked and murderous and, you know, MS-13 and, you know, criminal. I understand that that's a fact. But are you also going to tell me that there's not good people that God is allowing to come to this land because this is a land where the gospel is saturated? It's just likely that if they come to this land that they will get saved. You know, you say, well, prove it. We'll hop right here. I was born here, by the way. But, you know, my family, they're immigrants. My mom and my dad were immigrants. They came to this land. And, you know, I thank God that they immigrated to the United States of America. Why? Because they had me and I was born. I was raised here. I heard the gospel here. I got saved here. And so I thank God for that. I don't know if that would have happened in Guatemala, you know, and I don't have Guatemalan pride either, by the way. You know, I'm not just like chopping power, you know, Guatemalan power or whatever. You know, if I was doing that, then I should go to Guatemala. And so obviously we need to submit to the customs of whatever nation that we're in and support whatever nation that we're in. The point that I'm making is the fact that there's certain immigrants that are coming from different nations and, you know what, they need to get saved. And so instead of fighting against the immigrants and oppressing them, you know, and just painting all immigrants with a broad brush of just all being criminal, why don't we just recognize that maybe the mission field is coming here. Oh, I'm sorry, is that too biblical for you? Maybe that's too much of a spiritual, you know, position to take there. Well, that's true. It's just impossible to witness to everyone who comes across them. That's just an unrealistic goal to have there, to just a witness to every single immigrant that comes here. Well, let me give you an another unrealistic goal to have. Go therefore and teach all nations. That's more unrealistic than the goal to just preach the gospel to every immigrant that comes here. The Bible says to go to all nations. But you know what? It never said and never had this rule here, this condition, unless it's just too unrealistic. Amen? And so, you know, we have to make sure, and I know what I'm preaching, a lot of people don't agree with, maybe even in our church, but too bad. You're not the pastor I am. And it's my job to level out the minds of God's people, to get you to think biblically. And I'm checking your compassion this evening and helping you to realize stop using the covering of Egypt, stop getting counsel from, you know, these political people that are skewing your mind to think in a way that's not biblical, or even twisting scriptures, to try to fit their political agenda. Okay? You know, let's not be like Judah, where it's just like, well, God can't help us, so let's just go to Egypt. You know, God can't help us, so let's just go to our idols. Let's ask counsel of these diviners and soothsayers, you know, known as these Republican podcasters or whatever, you know, to get what our perspective should be. I don't care what these, I don't care what Ben Shapiro says, especially Ben Shapiro, you know, I don't care what, you know, I don't know whatever the political guys out there that's popular, because I don't really listen to those guys, but they're nothing to me. You know, according to the Bible, that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the eyes of God. And if they're highly esteemed in your eyes because of their political views, they're an abomination in the eyes of God. You know, God says that we should esteem the counsels of the Lord, the wisdom of God, and you should spend more time reading the Bible than trying to get what, you know, trying to tune in what your political view is, okay? You know, this is not a Republican Baptist Church, sorry to break it to you. I don't know, there's no Zionist flag here alongside an American flag, okay? Why? Because this is a church house, okay? And there's no Christian flag here either, you know, we just wave the banner of Jesus Christ, His banner of love, amen? Which is the gospel. The point that I'm making here is that, you know, Judah is, you know, God is rebuking Judah for depending on something other than God. And it's just like, it's just an easy fix. You know, just like for America, it would be an easy fix. If they just call, if the nation just humbles itself, you know, turns from their wicked ways, the Bible says, I will heal their land. And I do believe that even though that promise was made to Israel, it's definitely applicable to any nation who wants to withhold the wrath of God upon their land. You know, if they just turn from their wicked ways, they call upon God, God will heal their land, He will bless the people. And so, you know, you say, what are we gonna do? If the Democrats take over, what are we gonna do? We're gonna keep doing what we've always done, which is preach the Word of God, we're going to win souls to Christ. I know that's not as glamorous as having a Republican in office, but who cares how glamorous it is? May God get all the glory for it. You know, we want to win souls to Christ. We want to lead people in righteousness. We want to raise families for God. And, you know, who cares what happens to this nation? It's already cursed. Okay, you know, I care for the people in the nation. I care for the individuals in the nation. And so look at verse two. Again, woe to the rebellious children. You can put that right before verse two. It says 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. Therefore, shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame and the trust in the shadow of Egypt, your confusion. So God's gonna punish them and say, look, because you've decided to depend on something other than myself, who you're depending on is gonna bring you shame. It's gonna embarrass you. They're gonna bring you low. They're not gonna be able to help you. You've not asked at my mouth. You're trying to strengthen yourself in Pharaoh. And when it says that walk to go down into Egypt, that's literally what they're doing. Because in a couple verses, we're gonna see that they're carrying camels and asses with riches. I mean, they're going there with payments to Egypt, basically saying like, help us! You know? And what they're gonna find out is that Egypt is like, we'll take it, but we can't help you. We'll do what we can, but we can't help you. Now, isn't it sad? Well, I'm getting ahead of myself. So he says, you know, woe to them to go down into Egypt, have not asked at my mouth, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh. Pharaoh is also a picture of who? Satan. Egypt is a picture of the world. Pharaoh is a picture of Satan. And they're trusting in the shadow of Egypt. And mark it down, you know, Satan has his counterfeits for Christians. You know, he has his counterfeits for things that Christians can place their faith in. He has his own Bible version. He has his own type of churches. He has his own political leaders that claim to be Christian as well. But it's just crazy to think that people will still support Trump. Christians will still support Trump, even though he has openly said that he's basically for abortion. And the Christians are like, well, you know, let's not talk about that. He has other good qualities. Well, yeah, anything compared to just murdering babies would be considered a good quality. You can only go up from there when you just approve of murdering babies. But, you know, Christians don't like to talk about that stuff. You know, they don't like to talk about, well, we're not, we're not, we're not voting in a pastor. No, actually, you're voting in a president, which is, according to the Bible, is a very lofty position as well. You're leading a nation. And, you know, your character should be on par, and it should be godly, should be honest, it should be righteous. But it's crazy how the Republicans can just move the goalposts like that, and the Christians just follow along. It's crazy that they can just blatantly just go against what Christians hold to be valuable, such as life. And the Christian is just like, they just go right along with it, just make excuses for it, just compromise on that issue. It's insane. And they'll go there on, what is it, November 5th or whatever, and they'll vote Trump, knowing full well that they're advocating and supporting someone who is for murdering babies. That's crazy. That's insane. And how can you do it with a clear conscience? Tell me how you can do that. Well, what am I supposed to do? How about this? Just be a Christian. How about you place your faith in God's methods? How about you place your faith in God's solution? What's that? Win souls to Christ. That's not enough. It is for God. It is for God. Look at verse 4, it says, For his princes were at Zoan, his princes referring to Judas' princes. Zoan is an area in Egypt, and his ambassadors came to Hannes. They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be in help, nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach. And if you look at verse 6, it says, The burden of the beast of the south into the land of trouble and anguish from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and the fire-flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them. I mean, what a waste of a trip. They're literally going to Egypt with all of these riches and resources to purchase an alliance with Egypt. And it says there, they're taking it to a people that will not profit them at all. Now, isn't this sad that in times past, prior to this, during Solomon's time, the nations were coming to him with camels, and asses, and resources, and riches, to hear of the wisdom of Israel, the wisdom of Solomon. And now, they've gotten to a point where they're going to the nations with asses, and camels, and riches, and resources, to get counsel and protection from them. Oh, how the tables have turned. You know, and the modern day example of this is like, you know, there was a time when people would go to the church house. There was a time when people would go to Christians, they would go to the Bible, they would go to God, for the answers to society's woes. But now, it's just like Christians are going to the world for those solutions. They're going to the world for counsel. They're going to the world for a shadow. Oh, how the tables have turned. Why is it that the culture has been influencing churches and not the other way around? Why aren't Christians and churches capitulating and submitting to the world system? You guys remember those days when the Queen of the South used to come to Solomon to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and bring him a train of just goods? It's not like that anymore. Now, it's just like, well, let's take a train to Egypt, to the land of just polytheistic religion, of paganism, of just demonic influences, and let's just see if they can help us. They're going to a people that shall not profit them at all. He says, verse 7, for the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose. It kind of seems self-defeating. They're going to help in vain. It's just like, they're not helping at all. To no purpose. Therefore, have I cried concerning this. Their strength is to sit still. You know, the Bible tells us in Proverbs 11, verse 4, richest profit not in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivereth from death. What is he saying? He's basically saying, you know, Egypt is going to cause you to be ashamed. They're going to let you down. And you know what? The Republican Party's going to let you down. Politics will let you down. You know, the world system, the world's philosophies will let you down. But whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, whosoever believeth on the Lord shall never be ashamed. You know, if we place our faith and trust in God, we will never be ashamed. Okay? And it reminds me of when Jeremiah's preaching to Israel, he's preaching to Judah, and he tells him in Jeremiah, I think it's Chapter 2, he tells him, he says, you know, my people, he's speaking in God's stead, he says, my people have committed two evils. He's like, they're forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and they, you know, essentially taken to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, which can hold no water. It's like, you know, instead of going to the God of living water, you're basically possessing these cisterns, these broken cisterns, that can hold no water, they can't do anything for you. It's a delusion to think that Egypt can help you. And we as Christians need to get back to this thinking, you know, stop allowing yourself to be influenced by the world, by the Republican Party, by Twitter. You know, and by the way, you know, like, if you hold to those positions, you're basically, like, joining a bunch of Catholics, a bunch of Lutherans, and Protestants, and people who just don't believe like you. Oh, but we all have this common goal. Oh, what's the common goal, Jesus or Trump? Because the commonality that we should share with other Christians is the Lord Jesus Christ and the right doctrines. And so, you know, well, I think Trump's a Christian, though, you know, I think he has some sort of Christian value, you know what I mean? He likes two Corinthians or whatever. Folks, if you haven't learned it by now that politicians will tell you anything, they will tickle your ears as much as possible to get you to vote for them, okay? And again, you know, if he becomes president, I'm all for it. I'm not going to throw a party, you know, because life doesn't really change for me at the end of the day. You know, for me, it's like if he becomes president, we just get four years of just some crazy fun, you know, just fun tweets and, you know, we'll see what he does. You know, maybe we pay less on gas or something, I don't know, you know? If Kamala becomes president, I just get a lot of sermon ideas. You know, one in particular is going to be the Whore of Babylon. And I said that a couple of months ago or a month ago or something, just in case any other pastor tries to steal that, you know, sermon idea, I came up with it first. At the end of the day, the stuff doesn't change. Nothing changes, okay? Just the attitude of the Christian where they are under this delusion that things do change. You know, for example, like, you know, if you talk to these Christians who are really just heavily involved in politics over these last four years, it's been hell for them. But I'm going to tell you who it hasn't been hell for, us. You know, people will contact me like, oh, man, call me fornia. I feel bad for you guys and it's just a hell over there, you know, and especially right now under Biden. And I'm just like, I'll be honest with you, the church grew under Biden's administration. My church was smaller under Trump's administration. Now it's bigger under Biden's administration. And I'm not saying it because I'm giving credit to Biden. I'm just saying he doesn't affect it at all. We've seen more souls saved. You know, now, given I was bombed under Biden's administration. We were bombed under Biden's administration. I think that was the run at that time. You know, but this is what happens where you just, all you do is listen to that, political propaganda that makes you think that the sky is falling. It puts you under this illusion that the sky is always falling when it's not. And you know what? You know why people are so stressed out and have so much anxiety, especially amongst Christians, the two involved in politics. They're just involved in that stuff too much. And it's just like I get contacted by people who live in other states telling me how horrible it is for me in California. I mean, forget what, forget my anecdote. Forget what I say, even though I live here. Forget, you know, my opinion. They're, you know, they're the arbiters of what I'm going through here. Like, no, it's really bad over there. You're just going through hell and it's just horrible. I'm like, bro, I live here. And this is what they say. Cope and seethe. I'm like, dude, how are you going to tell me if I'm going, I'm literally having, I'm having the best time of my life. And then, you know, people from other states will come here and that they marvel, right? They marvel how conservative this area really is. You know, I'll tell them, I'm like, yeah, even the Starbucks doesn't allow pride flags there. And they're just like, what? I'm like, yeah, it's Starbucks. You know, the fags on, you know, they can't put flags up there at Starbucks. And I said, you know, even in Huntington Beach, they banned all pride flags on city property. And they're like, what? I'm like, yeah, but you don't hear about that stuff. Yeah, what hell we live in here? You know, every, every couple of blocks where I live in Corona and even in this area, you'll have these tents that are set up with all these flags that say F Joe Biden. And they're just like, what? I'm just like, yeah, this is just hell. You know, beautiful weather, the best food, the best food, you know, and beautiful weather, the best food, no fag stuff. I mean, it was kind of hard to even get mad in June. I'll just be honest with you. Right. I had a hard time getting mad. I had to like purposely just like pick fights or something, you know, just like they're trying to shove this stuff down our throat. I'm like, actually this, this month they kind of did it. They weren't able to, or something. I just did it out of habit. You know what I mean? But I didn't, you know, and they, but they don't, but no, oh no, we're, we're like living in hell right now. I'll tell you why. Cause they're been brainwashed, but all the propaganda, you know, to make it seem as though, oh man, we're just, we're just in a hell hole right now. And you guys just don't know it. Yeah. It's far greater over there where the humidity is a hundred degrees and everyone's a Christian supposedly. You're just living in paradise, right? You know, you're in paradise where you, you just, you know, you, you could potentially fall into some swamp and alligators eat you and give me a break, but that is a very telling passage there that they're going to Egypt. When in times past the nations used to come to Judah for wisdom. Hey, may we continue to go to the house of God for the wisdom for the council, not to the world, not to your favorite YouTube podcaster, not to your favorite, you know, political guy, go to the word of God, go to the house of God. Look at verse eight. He says, now go write it before them in a table and note it in a book that they may be for the time to come forever and ever. So what is it about the time? He's like, Hey, put this in the book. I want this to be put in a book. I want people to know about this. I want this to be around. He says that this is a rebellious people, lion children, children that would not hear the law of the Lord, which say to the seers, see not and to the prophets prophesied, not into us, right things, speaking to us, smooth things, prophesied to see. So what is he saying here? He said, you know, one of the reasons why these people keep going to Egypt and they're relying on the nations to protect them is because they're rejecting biblical preaching. They're literally saying, Hey prophets, I don't want to hear that hard preaching. I want a smooth sermon. Okay. So notice that it's not rejecting preaching, right? They're just rejecting the right kind of preaching. Cause he's saying, don't, he's basically saying, you know, preach into us, but don't preach into us, right things. We want smooth preaching. Okay. Implying that they're into preaching that will deceive them. It's smooth. Now, what does it mean when they talk about smooth preaching? What does that mean? Well, we see there that it's synonymous with deceit and in the Bible, this is often synonymous with flattery. Okay. So this is the kind of preaching that we see today that flatters the congregation rather than actually exhorts them, reproves them, edifies them. Okay. Now the, obviously the most common preacher or pastor that I can think of at this moment that is known for smooth preaching is Joe Osteen. Smooth as oil. All he does is oil up the entire congregation with deceit, with flattery, never rebukes, never reproves, never gives the truth, but this is why his stadium is filled. This is why he needs a stadium because the time will come when they will not endorse sound doctrine, but will actually what they will heap to themselves. Teachers having itching ears, you know, what does that? They want fables. They will be turned unto fables. And this is the plight of a person, of a church, of a Christian who rejects biblical preaching. They will even, they won't just completely disregard all preaching. They just will look for the type of preaching that will tell them what they want to hear. You know, and this is wicked. This is why they can't take the, this is why they can't handle Isaiah's preaching. Isaiah is there and he's just like, you guys are going to be judged. The Assyrians are going to come for you. This is a judgment of God upon your life. Women are ruling over you. Children are ruling over you. The people which lead thee cause thee to err. You're covetous. You're idolatrous. You're going to be destroyed. And they're like, ah, we don't, we don't like that kind of sermon. You know, that's, that's very mean. Okay. We want to hear smooth preaching. Tell me three steps, five steps of how to be successful in this life or something. You know, lie to me is what they want. Want to be lied to. And this is why a lot of non-denominant churches are filled with people because they just have smooth preaching. Flattery. You know, it's, it's the fundamental Baptists have been known for hard preaching, right? In general have been known for hard preaching and you know, and people will often make the argument where you can't grow a church with hard preaching, but the Bible never says that you're supposed to preach the word of God to grow the church. You know, Jesus said upon this rock, I will build my church. You know, it's Jesus' job to build the church. Our job is just to faithfully preach the word of God, you know, and renounce the hidden things of dishonesty, not handle the word of God, deceitfully preach the word begins to end season out of season. And we've got to reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. And you know what the result of that is, you're going to get people in your church who actually want the truth, not the smooth preaching, but he's telling them, you know, you're, you're literally telling the preachers not to preach unto you, you know, uh, right things. We want smooth things. We want the seats. And so when a church builds an appetite for that type of preaching, well, then they're susceptible to all types of lies and deceit and false doctrine and worldviews that are not biblical folks. That's why a lot of these liberal churches are super Republican. I mean, the hardest thing you'll hear from some of these churches is their political view. If you think about it, some of the hardest, I mean, when they, when they get like when it's hard preaching is when they're talking about Republicans versus Democrats, that's as hard as they're going to get. But if you skim through their other stuff that they preach about, it's all whack. It's all milk toast. It's weak. It's like, can I get a sermon on sodomites? Can I get a sermon on sin on fornication? Can you call, can you call the politicians out on both sides? Can you name them? Can you preach against abortion? Can you preach against a drunkenness? Can you preach against the Catholic church? Can you raise your voice for once? Well, only when I'm talking about Kamala or something, but folks that's, this is not God's remedy. God wants his people to not despise prophesying, right? Not despise hard preaching. And obviously, you know, what do we mean by hard preaching? We mean biblical preaching is what it is, right? And sometimes hard preaching is not necessarily the volume or the decibels of the voice. It's just the message that is coming across. It's when the truth is being stated to you. And often we enjoy the hard preaching that doesn't necessarily affect us, but preaches against others. But you know, hard preaching also is when I'm preaching against you, when I'm preaching against your habits and your sin and your flaws, and I'm stepping on your toes, that's hard preaching when I get personal. Okay. Look at verse 11. And they also say, get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy one of Israel to cease from before us. I mean, man, talk about brazen. They're telling the preachers, get away from me, get out of here. We don't want to listen to you make the Holy one of Israel to cease before us. Well, here's the new Testament way of saying that they don't want to retain God in their knowledge. That's another way of saying it, make them cease before us. It's wicked. But you know what? This is Satan's method to cause God's people to no longer place their faith in God for other matters, not just salvation, but just other matters in general by doing what by causing them to despise the preaching of God's word. And you know what we need to build an appetite for preaching. And I'm thankful in our church, an hour of preaching for you guys is like normal. I think, you know, sometimes I'll, you know, I'll finish up and they're just like, why you preach short? I'm like, how long was it? Like an hour, you know? Cause to them, like, like long preaching is when I'm preached for like an hour and 15. Then there's, I think the longest sermon I've ever preached was like an hour and 30 minutes. And I remember, I think that was like last year or something like that. I can't remember what it was, but I was preaching. It was like an hour and a half. And then most of the people told me like, it didn't even seem that long. Like you can endure sound doctrine because most people can't. Most churches can't. Most churches is like 30 to 40 minutes. And they even say that they're like statistically a person's attention span is about 30 to 40 minutes. And therefore churches need to make sure they regulate their preaching. Pastors need to make sure they regulate the length of their sermons and keep it to about 30 to 40 minutes. Well, yeah, if you're preaching to a bunch of people who hate preaching, if you're preaching to people who want to hear to see and smooth things. And if you're talking to people who don't like the truth, they don't want right things to preach them to them. Yeah, you got to preach for about 30 to 40 minutes, but people who actually want the truth, they don't really care the length of it. And I don't know, maybe one day I'll preach for two hours or so just to see if you guys can handle it. You know, there's been times where I'm just like, I know I'm out of time. And then people are like, keep going, keep going. And I know there's probably a couple of people are just like, no, don't tell them to keep going. I'm hungry. But one day I'm just going to do it just to make you endure. Yeah. Amen. But these are people who can't handle it. Okay. And so, you know, it's important for us as a church to remain a church that exalts the preaching of God's word and recognizes the importance of it. And you're able to endure it. Or it's just like, look, the food's not going anywhere. The restaurants will be open. You know, in other states, the restaurants close early. I don't know if you know that. I mean, I've traveled to other states. And then we go out to eat after church or something like that. And it's just like, everything's close. What's wrong with the state? Here, food is just constantly like, you know, in and out is like open to like two a.m. or one a.m. or something like that. They got you. You know, so food's not going anywhere. Yeah, but I have to, and I get it. Thursday night is different because, you know, it's the midweek service, but like for Sundays or any service for that matter. The point that I'm making is that, you know what, you should, the Spirit rejoices in hearing prophesying. They want to hear the truth. They want to hear preaching. They want to learn the word of God. But they don't. Judah does not. They're like, get out of here. I don't want to hear this. Turn aside out of the path. Get out of my way. Make God to cease from us. We don't want to hear about him. This is a nation that's becoming what? Reprobate. You know, in Jeremiah, it says that in Chapter six, reprobate silver, shall men call them for the Lord hath rejected them. And you know what? He's rejected them. Why? Because they've rejected him. I mean, they're literally saying, cease from us. I don't want to hear about you. It's wicked. Look at verse 12. He says, Wherefore, thus saith the Holy One of Israel, because he despised this word and trust and oppression and perverseness and stay thereon. Therefore, this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling on the high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant. He's basically saying, you know, this this attitude, this disposition you possess is going to be your demise. And he compares it to a breach. A breach is like a hole in the wall. And a way to compare this or to apply this today, he's basically saying, you know, this is the little problem that you have. But because you're not fixing it, that little breach is going to be bigger and eventually the entire wall is going to come down. OK. And the way we can apply that today is this. You know, whatever little sins you're struggling with, it may be like a little breach. But if you don't take care of it immediately, it's going to end up spreading and the wall is going to come down. It's going to destroy you in the long run. OK. And what is it doing to them? You know, this breach of despising the word of God being preached. It's a little breach, but it's going to eventually grow on the walls and come down. God's going to destroy them because of it. The ramifications of the rejection of God's word is going to be severe in the long run. OK, you think, well, you know, I don't like preaching right now. Maybe something down the road. I'll enjoy this type of preaching. No, somewhere down the road is where you're going to see the ramifications of you despising the word today. OK, look at verse 15. For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest shall you be saved and quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. And you would not. But he said, no, we will flee upon horses. Therefore shall you flee and we will ride upon the swift. Therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one at the rebuke of five. Shall you flee till you be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain and as an ensign on a hill? What is he saying? Here's your best option, Judah. Just take it. Like, what do you mean, just sit here? Yeah, just sit still, be quiet and let me do whatever I got to do. And they're like, no, we're going to run on horses. Because God's basically saying just sit still. Just the judgments already coming. You can't do anything about it. Don't fight against it. Just kind of go along with it. And similar to what he told what Jeremiah tells Judah, right, where he's just like, you know, you're going to go into captivity. Don't fight it. You know, I know the thoughts that I think of you, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. You're going to come back. You need to go to Babylon, just plant vineyards, plant, you know, build houses and do all that. Just live there. Don't fight against God's hand of judgment. He's like, sit still. And they're like, no, we're going to flee upon horses. And God says, okay, then, then the ones who are going to flee after you are going to be faster than you. He's like, they're like, we're going to flee upon horses. Therefore, you shall flee. And we were right upon the swift. Therefore, shall they that pursue you be swift? He's like, okay, if you want to run from me, that's fine. I'll just find faster horses because you can't run from God. There's nothing you can do. It's like, you can come up with all these devices to avoid the judgment of God upon you. But at the end of the day, you can't outsmart God. And it's interesting when he says in verse 17, 1000 shall flee at the rebuke of one. Now that's funny because in Deuteronomy, God told them that a thousand shall flee at one of them when God's hand was on them. So he basically told him in Deuteronomy, Hey, you know, I'm going to put the fear of God upon the nations, the surrounding nations to the point that like a thousand will flee from one of you guys because the dread of the Lord will be upon their hearts. And you're going to be able to like defeat your enemies. Easy. Well, the tables have turned where a thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one. So a thousand Israelites from Judah are going to flee from just one of these Assyrians. At the rebuke of five, shall you flee TB left as a beacon upon the top of the mountains as an ensign on a hill. Now I'm going to skip some of this because a lot of this is just reiterating again, just kind of going through the millennial reign all the way from verses 19 through 26. You could read that on your own, but he just kind of gives that foreshadowing. He's like, but I'm going to bless you in the long run. I'm going to bless your land. I'm going to bless your beast. You know, you're going to be here to hear the word of God one day and you know, all, everything will be okay in the long term after I'm done punishing you is what he's telling them. Right. Skip down to verse number, uh, look at verse 31. We'll finish up here because in verse 27 through 30, it's just a highlight of the Lord's indignation upon them. But I want you to notice verse 31. He says for through the voice of the Lord, shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smoke with a rod. And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the Lord shall lay upon him. It shall be with tabards and harps and in battles of shaken, will he fight with it? Referring to his punishment upon Assyria. Look at verse 33 for tophat is ordained of old. Yay for the King. It is prepared. He had made it deep and large. The pile thereof is fire and much wood, the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it. Now, what is he talking about? He talks about tophat. Well, tophat is a literal place. The Bible also calls it the valley of the children of Hinnom. But what is the picture? Obviously he's referring to hell. And the reason that's important because people will say, well, hell's not real. It's actually in the Old Testament. It was called tophat and tophat was actual geographical location known as Guyana. And that's where they would put all their trash. And so that's what they would call hell, but hell is not real. You're stupid. And you will find out one day that hell is real. And obviously tophat and the valley of the children of Hinnom is a place of fire, is a place of burning, and it symbolically represents the lake of fire and hell. It's giving an earthly illustration to represent something that is spiritual. And in fact, look what it says, tophat is ordained of old, meaning that hell has existed as of old. And in fact, in Matthew 25, when it talks about the angels going to hell, it talks about those angels going to hell from who, I'm misquoting here, it says it's prepared, there you go, for the devil and his angels. That hell is prepared, meaning that it was ordained of old for the devil and his angels. And specifically here in Isaiah, it's saying that that's where the king of Assyria is going to go. Now, I believe that that's literally referring to the king of Assyria, but it's also referring to that demon that is overseeing the king of Assyria. Because obviously, as we see in the Old Testament, many of these Old Testament kings who are these rulers of nations are being puppeteered by demonic forces. He says that it's ordained of old for the king. It is prepared. And of course, we know that it's referring to hell because he says it's like a stream of brimstone. He doth kindle it. Now, what does this teach us? It teaches us that at the end of the day, even though God used the Assyrian army to punish Judah, there's a far more severe punishment coming upon Assyria. They're going to go to hell is what he's saying. And the wicked shall be turned into hell and all nations that forget God. And from a literal standpoint, if we're to just talk about salvation, we know that there's a lot of people in Judah that probably went to hell too. A lot of Israelites that went to hell. Probably not the majority, but you know what? There's probably a lot because when you have a nation that's rejecting the God of the Bible, they're worshiping false gods. They don't want to retain God in their knowledge. They're essentially apostate. Well, this is why he told him in previous chapters, hell is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming. And so we see that even though God is punishing Judah, judgment must begin at the house of God, but then obviously it'll turn to the wicked, the heathen who are being used to punish them. What is the chapter really about? Well, trusting in the shadow of Egypt, we need to make sure as God's people, as a church, that we don't become this church that is being molded by the philosophies of this world. And look, there's a slew of things that we can point out about the Democratic Party that's wrong with them. The whole thing is wrong. It's the super wicked part of the wing of the dragon. It's the diseased part. I would say the Democratic Party is made for the deception of the unsaved wicked of this world. The Republican Party, the Conservative Party, is made to deceive believers. It's made to deceive Christians or those who claim to be Christian because they claim to uphold the same values as we do. Now, I agree that the Republican Party is a lot closer to us than the Democrats because those guys are just devils. They're super wicked. But the Republican Party, you know, they do have some good values and you even find Republicans just out and about who, you know, they're into Christianity or they go to church. They live, you know, clean lives. They esteem the things of God, things of that nature. And that's all good. But if we're just looking at the tenets of the Republican Party, you would see like a lot of the stuff is just not Christian at all. I mean, just how about there's just their loyal support to Israel? Yeah, that's like a red flag right there. You know, their support of the nation to crucify the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's kind of crazy that they claim to be such a Christian conservative type of a movement, all the while supporting the haters of God, the nation that hates the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, there's a slew of other things. But, you know, at the end of the day, you know, don't go down to Egypt for counsel. Don't use them for a covering. Don't use the Republican Party. You know, if you want to rally around a cause, rally around here, rally around this, rally around a church, rally around winning souls, rally around the fact that you're actually based. And I'm not red pilled. I'm not black pilled. I'm Bible pilled. I'm bread pilled. And I don't take pills, actually. I just read the Bible. Okay. I'm not anything pilled because I don't need prescriptions. You know, I'm not neo. This isn't the matrix. And so I don't do the red or blue pill. I just eat the word of God. And I see in the words of his mouth more than my necessary foods or whatever pill that's available there. You know, and by the way, who's the one issuing these pills anyways? Who, you know, what's that black guy in that movie called? What's his name? Morpheus. You know, it's Morpheus who's, you know, like morphine, right? He's making you dull to what's actually going on. Forget Morpheus. Slap those pills out of his hand. Say neither. You take them. I'm a Christian. I'm a Bible believer. I believe the Bible and my religion is superior to any political party. My word, the word of God is superior than any political ideology. It's superior in all its solutions and its worldview. And I don't need any of this. You know, I'm with God. My covering is the Lord Jesus Christ. My covering is the blood of Jesus. My covering is the Holy Spirit. I take counsel out of the mouth of God because man should not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. I don't go to Egypt for answers. I go to the church house, which is the pillar and ground of truth. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Lord, help us to avoid going down this path of just adhering to political ideologies. And there's something within every Christian where we want to be a part of a movement that may change our nation. And sometimes, Lord, the devil provides this through political means. But at the end of the day, the way to change our nation, the way to save a nation is through biblical means, spiritual means. It's by the salvation of souls, the renewing of the minds through the word of God. Not campaigns, not political ideologies, not any of these things, not policies. Lord, we need to make sure that we keep our minds on the word of God and view this view this world through scripture and not allow our minds to be influenced and molded by unsaved people who don't care about the Bible. And I pray that you bless us as we go on our way. We love you. We thank you. Praise things in Jesus name. Amen.