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🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 Good evening. We're in Isaiah chapter 45. And the Bible reads, Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations before him. And I will loose the loins of kings to open before him the two-leafed gates, and the gates shall not be shut. I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight. I will break in pieces the gates of brass and cut asunder the bars of iron. I will give thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name. I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou hast not known me, that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. Drop down, ye heavens from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness bring up together, I, the Lord, have created it. Go on to him that striveth with his Maker. Let the potsherds strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it? What makest thou, or thy work? He hath no hands. Go on to him that saith unto his Father, What begatest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth? Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker. Ask me of things to come concerning my sons and concerning the work of my hands commanding you. I have made the earth and created man upon it. I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their hosts have I commanded. I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways. He shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives. Not for price, nor reward, saith the Lord of hosts. Thus saith the Lord, the labor of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia, and of the Sabians, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine. They shall come after thee in chains, they shall come over, they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee, and there is none else, there is no God. Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior. They shall be ashamed and also confounded, all of them. They shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols. But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. Shall not be ashamed nor confounded, world without end. For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made it. He hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord, and there is none else. I have not spoken in secret in the dark place of the earth. I said not unto the seed of Jacob, seek ye me in vain. I the Lord speaketh righteousness. I declare things that are right. Assemble yourselves and come, draw near together, ye that are escape of the nations. They have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a God that cannot save. Tell ye and bring them near, yea, let them take counsel together, who hath declared this time from ancient time, who hath told it from that time. Have not I the Lord? And there is no God else beside me, a just God and a Savior. There is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved over the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return. Then unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely shall one say, In the Lord I have righteousness, and strength. Even to him shall men come, and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for the King James Bible you've given us, dear Lord, and preserved it for us. Thank you for this wonderful church you've given us, dear Lord. Just please bless the preaching of your word, bless the pastor, and just bless us in our congregation, dear Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Okay, we're in Isaiah chapter 45 this evening, and tonight I'm going to cover three things. I'm going to cover the prophecy of Cyrus, the power of the Creator, and the proclamation of his counsel. The prophecy of Cyrus, the power of the Creator, and lastly the proclamation of his counsel. I'm going to spend a lot of time talking about Cyrus the Great, Cyrus the King of Persia, because he does play a significant role in the history of Israel, and especially in this particular chapter. Now Cyrus, this prophecy that we see here, and the one that we see in the previous chapter, you've got to keep in mind that this is actually being made about 200 years prior to the birth of Cyrus. So obviously God is prophesying, he's predicting, regarding this king, the liberator of the nation of Israel, bringing him back to the land at least 200 years before this guy even exists. And obviously there's many instances in the Bible where prophetic statements are made about certain kings, but what's unique about this prediction is the fact that he's actually calling them out by name. So he's talking about Cyrus and the exploits that he's going to do. So this is very notable, and of course we know that he was a great ruler, but we see that according to this chapter he kind of pictures the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that he is called here the anointed, and of course Jesus Christ is the anointed one, he's the Messiah. And he's also historically known as the King of Kings, just as Jesus Christ is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And probably the most notable thing regarding King Cyrus, as far as the Bible's concern, Christianity's concern, is that he's known for the liberation of the Jewish people, just as Jesus Christ is the liberator of the human race from the bondage of sin and from the consequence of sin which is hell. And so there are a lot of parallels there between Cyrus and Jesus Christ. Now let's talk about the fact that he was anointed by God. And a couple things I want to talk about when it comes to Cyrus is, number one, was he saved? And I'm going to kind of give some reasons why I believe he was saved, but I'm also going to give some reasons why it's possible that he wasn't saved, and then I'm going to cover the reason why it actually doesn't matter at all. And this is actually a common, not a debate, but you know, people speculate and they'll say, you know, I really do think he was saved because of these particular passages here. Other people say, I don't think he was saved at all. And I'm going to show you from this passage why it's possible, you know, one of two for sure exists, and then why at the end of the day it honestly does not matter to us. It obviously matters to him, but it doesn't matter to us at all. And so let's talk about this. Look at verse one. It says here, So first and foremost, we would make the argument, those of us who may believe that he is saved, you know, we'd make the argument, well, you know, the Lord refers to him as the anointed, right? It's his anointed. It's somewhat of a possessive type of a statement that he makes there, and so reason would have it, it's possible that King Cyrus believed on the Lord and he was saved. And I agree with that to a certain degree. I can see how that argument can be made, and I would say, yeah, if God is calling him his anointed, it's possible that he was saved. Even though anointed simply means like a deliverer, and he's going to be used as an instrument of God to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Babylonians to bring him back to Israel. But here's the thing is that when you actually study the life of Cyrus, you know, he does stand out from a lot of different leaders throughout history in the sense that he was very benevolent, just naturally. He was a very benevolent leader. He was known for just being very kind and gracious and somewhat of a humanitarian. And in fact, in Xenophon's book that he wrote, he quotes Cyrus, and this is what Cyrus said, and it's a very good quote, but, you know, reading this, you can kind of make the argument, yeah, he was possibly saved, but others can say, well, this is kind of proof that he was just a good guy. It wasn't necessary that he was saved. And he says this. This is a quote from Cyrus. He says, whenever you can, act as a liberator. Freedom, dignity, wealth, these three together constitute the greatest happiness of humanity. If you bequeath all three to your people, their love for you will never die. So it just sounds like from a secular standpoint that Cyrus was just a really good leader. He was a person who loved people and was very noble just in a natural sense. And obviously, we know there's none to do with good, no, not one. There's none righteous, no, not one. And at the end of the day, you know, no one is good as far as the perfect standard of God. But I think all of us can say that there's good people out there, quote, unquote, right? Not necessarily perfect, but good as far as noble is concerned. And I would say Cyrus is one of those. And here's the thing is that I think Christians have the temptation, myself included, that when we hear about people throughout history, especially even in the Bible, you know, where they do, you know, very noble actions, we want to say that that person was possibly saved. Because, you know, our hearts are endeared towards people who want the good of God's people, who want the good of, you know, things that are righteous, who are being used of God in a certain specific way. And we often associate a noble nature with godly virtue. So when we look at the actions of Cyrus throughout history and some of the statements that are made about him in the Bible, you know, our temptation is to say, oh, man, he probably was saved, you know, because we hope that. And I think that's just the temptation for Christians, period. I mean, people will look at a current leader, for example, and some of the favor that he's shown towards believers, towards Christians, towards, you know, just showing favor towards, you know, conservative values. And, you know, there's a lot of Christians out there that want to say, well, maybe President Donald Trump is saved, you know, he seems to like Christians. And so, and I just think it's just a natural temptation for believers to associate noble actions and noble accomplishments of a person in power with possible godly virtue. And maybe that guy does believe in Christ, you know. And so that is often the case here. And obviously, Cyrus is the successor of the Babylonian Empire, right? You know, he essentially took over Babylon in 539 BC. He conquered it in a very, very unique manner. But, and I'll cover some of that later, because this chapter actually talks about it a little bit. But let me read to you a couple things here. There's an artifact that's actually found. It's called the Cyrus Cylinder. Anybody has ever heard of the Cyrus Cylinder? And basically, you know, most scholars would, you know, essentially say that this is the first human rights charter, okay? So after the Babylonian, the conquering of the Babylonian Empire, when Cyrus takes over, this is a charter that was written out, and it was essentially a lot of his decrees that he made. Okay, Cyrus, king of Persia. And there's a lot of people who see the Cyrus Cylinder as simply propaganda to slander the former ruler. You know, because the former ruler that they had was just not a good ruler, was very oppressive, and the people of the land just did not like him at all. And so when this was made, they would say, well, that's just propaganda to kind of make him look bad, drag his name through the mud, and just kind of prop up Cyrus as being the savior of the Babylonian people. And so they would write it off as not being necessarily accurate. But it does have a lot of decrees that he did make. And one of the decrees that he made, aside from the restoration or the deportation of the Jewish people back to Israel, you know, he did make a decree to restore shrines, objects of worship within Mesopotamia. So often when we look at the Bible and the fact that God used Cyrus to bring back the Jewish people, we don't realize that he actually showed favor to a lot of the pagans as well. You know, and so, you know, he restored those shrines, a lot of those objects of worship in Mesopotamia. And in fact, many of the people, and particularly what's stated in Cyrus' cylinder, is that he declares, they declare that Cyrus essentially took care of what the gods called his name as Marduk's cult, which is a false religion within Babylon. So he's just like kind of taking over for them. He's making sure they have religious liberty, religious freedom. So you see how he's just kind of for religious freedom in general, okay? A lot of people can say, yeah, but that doesn't outrule the fact that he's possibly saved, though, because he's showing favor to the Jewish people, and I would agree to that. But at the same time, you can see an argument can be made, well, he's just kind of showing favor to all religions within Babylon as well. And, you know, the same could be said of Donald Trump, right? You know, people want to say that he's Christian, that he's saved, but, you know, he is showing favor to Catholics, he's showing favor to just pretty much anybody within, you know, America. And so that's kind of the case there. And so, and by the way, in the Cyrus cylinder, there's actually no mention of the Jewish people, of Judea, of Jerusalem, or the deportation of the Jews back to Jerusalem at all. It's just kind of putting this canopy over anyone who's in Babylon at the time, and specifically those in Mesopotamia, and the religions that are involved in there. But obviously, we have a far more reliable declaration in the Word of God that tells us that happened, and then Cyrus did make a declaration, and there was something actually written down, though it's not in this, whatever, the Cyrus cylinder that people talk about. And so the point that I'm making with this is that, you know, Cyrus, when you look at him historically, he just sounds like a really good guy, you know? He just seemed like a really good political leader who, you know, was for the people, and had just a noble nature about him, and, you know, whoever came into contact with him, essentially were, you know, they benefited from his benevolence in a lot of ways, regardless of what cultural, religious background they came from, and God used that as an instrument to get the Jews back to the land. Now, obviously, from a secular perspective, we can see them and say, well, maybe he wasn't saved, maybe he was just a great guy, but obviously, there's portions of scripture that we see that can possibly hint towards the fact that he was. Now, the first thing we're going to look at here, actually, go to Ezra chapter 1, if you would, Ezra chapter 1. We're going to go back and forth here from Isaiah and Ezra, and the first thing I want to mention, of course, is the fact that he's anointed, he's selected by God. Is that just an ironclad proof that he is saved? Absolutely not, because anointed, yes, could mean Messiah, but it just means someone who's separated by God to a specific work, and Cyrus was separated by God for a specific task, for a specific work, but we also know that God actually worked within the heart of Cyrus, King of Persia. It wasn't that he was just kind of, you know, moving him to make certain decisions, he actually stirred him up personally to do that particular work. Look at Ezra chapter 1 and verse number 1, it says, Now, in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, King of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus, King of Persia, the Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he hath charged me to build him in house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Now, I could look at something like this and say, okay, you know, he's talking about the Lord God of heaven, he's the one responsible for giving me all these kingdoms, he's accrediting God with all these great exploits, and I think that is great proof there that it's possible that the man was saved in the sense that he's talking about the God of the Bible as though it's his God, right? Or at least he knows that the God of the Bible is heavily involved in his life, in his conquest, so on and so forth, but I want you to notice that it says that the Lord stirred him up, so God is the one moving in his heart, he's moving in his spirit, he's causing him to have compassion and obviously wanting to deliver the children of Israel from Babylon. Now, this is one of the reasons why I might lean towards the possibility that he was saved, and that's in verse 3. It says, Who is there among you of all his people? His God be with him and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, he is the God, which is in Jerusalem. So he's kind of like, you know, showing favor to the people, but he's talking about the fact, he's talking about the house of the Lord his God, he is the God, right? So it's kind of like Cyrus talking of the God of the Bible as though he's the only God. And this chapter and the chapter previous to this really kind of focuses in and emphasizes the fact that God is the only God in this universe, right? There's no one beside him, there's no savior next to him, so God is allowing these passages to be here for a particular reason, just to kind of point towards God, and the statement made by Cyrus would kind of indicate that it's possible that he believed on the Lord. And of course it says in verse 4, And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver and with gold and with goods and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. Now obviously we could look at the statements made by Cyrus regarding liberation, right? His humanitarian side. And we can say, well, you know, he's just kind of saying this because of the fact that he just favors people and he wants people to be free. You know, he is just a really good leader. And that's true. It's true for sure. That could be the case as well. Or it could be that God is just using his natural benevolent nature and directing it towards God's people after he believes on him in order to help them get back to Jerusalem. The point that I'm making here is the fact that at the end of the day, God does stir and move the hearts of rulers, whether they're saved or not. God can work in their hearts. He can stir up their spirit. He can give us favor in the eyes of rulers throughout history. And in fact, the Bible says in Proverbs 21 verse 1, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water. He turneth it whithersoever he will, the Bible says. So according to the Bible, leader's hearts are in God's hands. And he can easily just reach in there and turn their motives, turn their favor towards God's people at any given time. Now, the principle that Proverbs 21 is teaching us is that we should vote for the right rulers. That's what it's teaching us. Sike. No, actually, what it's telling us is that we should want favor with God because it's at the end of the day, the most important person in the equation is the Lord. You know, God is not putting rulers on a pedestal. He's essentially saying, if you want favor with the ruler, you need to make sure that I favor you. Right. In order for God to bless God's people, we need to make sure that we are living a life that is pleasing unto the Lord. Why? Because the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. And, you know, as rivers of water, he turneth it whithersoever he will. So this isn't like, well, let's get favor with the king. No, get favor with the king is what you need to get favor with. Right. So God stirs and moves the hearts of the rulers. And we need to take that into account. You know, if we as God's people, as Christians in the United States of America experience four years of great prosperity, you know, you can praise Donald Trump all you want. But I'm just going to praise the Lord Jesus Christ because he's the one who's favoring us at the end of the day. Right. He's the one who's blessing us with all the prosperity, all the success, everything that we have. And this is really what the chapter is all about, because you kind of read it and it spends a good chunk of time talking about Cyrus, King of Persia. But then God kind of flips it on us. And he's just like, But I'm God, though. You know, and obviously, Cyrus is essentially a picture of Jesus Christ. But at the end of the day, he is just like every other king. He needs to be saved as well. And at the end of the day, he's at the end of the day, the ultimate ruler. OK, now, when you think of Cyrus and how it just how is it that he stirred? How is it that he was stirred by God, you know, to show favor to the Jews, to return back to Jerusalem? How does he do it? Well, the same way that God stirs your heart today. How does he do it? Through preaching. And it's of my personal belief, it's possible there is a prophet of the Lord in his day who's preaching the word of God and stirring his heart to favor God's people. And I specifically believe that it's probably the prophet Daniel. OK, because the Bible says in Daniel chapter six, verse twenty eight. So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus, the Persian. So he was there during that particular time. And we also know that he is referencing the book of Isaiah. He's referencing the book of Jeremiah, which both books essentially have to do with the Babylonian captivity and the position that they're in. So it's possible that God is using Daniel to kind of preach to the king and stir up his heart. You know, obviously, God can reach into anyone's heart and just, you know, touch them and cause them to change their mind. But ultimately, let's just be realistic here. How does he do it? He does it through preaching. He stirs us up through the preaching of God's word. It's the Bible that has power. It's the Bible that is capable of going into the inner recesses of the heart. The word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. It pierces even to the dividing center and can affect the church member that sits in the pew, but can also affect the person that's in the White House. Now, if we could just get Donald Trump into some hot preaching, maybe he'll, you know, maybe he'll become, get saved or something. I don't know. You're like, well, I don't know about that. Well, I have faith in God's word, obviously. You know, and I believe it can happen because he turned the heart of Cyrus, I believe, through the prophecy of Daniel. The Bible is not explicit about that. This is obviously me surmising the possibility of that through biblical principles. But at the end of the day, I do believe that Daniel played some form, some role in stirring up the harbinah instrument that stirred up Cyrus, King of Persia, to make those decrees. Now, this chapter is essentially highlighting what is it that God is going to use? How is he going to use Cyrus in the world, in the nation of Israel? Well, first and foremost, you know, Cyrus is the king of kings because he conquered many different nations. And obviously, God used him as an instrument to punish those nations, right? I mean, he used it to essentially punish Babylon and the surrounding nations. He also used him to free the Israelites and allowed them to return to Judah. And God was going to use him to communicate the fact that there is only one God. So, you know, it could be that Cyrus is just a compromiser. He did believe that God was the God of the Bible and that was the only God. But then to placate the other religious groups, you know, he just kind of fancied them or whatever. Because according to these passages, he's proclaiming that the God of the Bible is the one true God, okay? And of course, he's going to use him as picturing Jesus Christ setting humanity free. And by the way, when the Babylonian captivity ended and the Jews came back to the land, not everyone came back. There's some that stayed there in Babylon. Cyrus, King of Persia, basically said, whoever wants to go can go back, right? You can go back. And there's many that went back, but there's some that stayed. And you know what that pictures is the fact that Jesus Christ, who's the anointed one, calls many to be saved, but not everyone's going to be saved, right? The Bible talks about many are called, but few are chosen. And so that pictures the fact that, you know, the Lord Jesus Christ calls many to repentance, many to salvation, many to believe on him. But the reality is this. It's up to them if they really want to go, right? If they really want to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse number two. We're going to see that he was selected. He's the anointed to conquer and succeed Babylon. It says, I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight. I will break in pieces the gates of brass and cut and sunder the bars of iron. And I will give thee the treasures of darkness and hidden treasures of secret places that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which called thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. And I believe he's addressing Cyrus, King of Persia. So he's saying like, you know, he's doing this, that thou mayest know that who that Cyrus may know that the Lord, which called them, is the God of Israel. So regardless if he made a public decree in a secular realm proclaiming that God is the God of Israel, you know, somewhere in his heart, he knew that because God is saying, I'm going to allow you to do so that you know that I'm the one who's in charge, basically. Now, this was actually fulfilled in Daniel chapter 5. We're not going to go through the passage tonight, but we know the story of Daniel chapter 5 with the removal of Belshazzar, right? Belshazzar was having a party and he takes all the holy things of the house of God and they begin to use them for abominable means. And of course, he begins to see the writing on the wall. Daniel comes and he translates that. And to summarize, he basically says, you're dead, you know, it's over with you and, you know, the Persians are going to come, they're going to come destroy you. And that very night, he dies. Well, historically, it is said that it was in that night that Cyrus, King of Persia, actually conquered Babylon. And he did it without any war because according to the account, he essentially, you have Babylon, the walls of Babylon, they were actually surrounded by a moat that historically people said were about, two men deep, so it's very deep, protecting the walls. And what Cyrus did was that he cut down trees, using his men, he's cut down trees and he put those in the moat to redirect the water from the Euphrates in a different direction, causing the water to become shallow. His men crossed through, climbed over the wall and they were able to take over and essentially annex Babylon. And so, you know, it's considered one of the greatest just, you know, ideas to come up with just to redirect the water and really no loss of men. And when he ended up taking over, the people of Babylon loved him. Like they were just like all for him because they were being oppressed by the previous king. And, you know, once he took over, he lowered taxes, gas prices were doing great. Oh, wait, there was no gas, you know, dung was great, you know, whatever they had back then. You know, everything was just going good. Like the economy was great. They proclaimed liberation for everyone. And quite frankly, the common man during that time in Babylon uplifted Cyrus as being a great leader and they loved him because he proclaimed liberty, not just for the Jews, but just everyone in Mesopotamia. Look at Ezra chapter one and verse seven, because in Isaiah, you know, the Lord says, I'm going to give you the treasures of darkness. He says hidden treasures, hidden riches of secret places. He's allowing them to have these riches. But it says in Ezra one, verse seven. Also, Cyrus, the king, brought forth the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem and had put them in the house of his gods. Even those that Cyrus, king of Persia, bring forth by the hand of Mithradath, the treasurer, and numbered them unto Shezbazar, the prince of Judah. And this is the number of them, 30 charges of gold, a thousand charges of silver, nine and 20 knives. It says 30 basins of gold, silver basins of a second sword, 410, and other vessels, a thousand. All the vessels of gold and of silver were 5,400. All these that Shezbazar bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem. So we see here that he truly does give them the hidden treasures of darkness, right? He takes it from Babylon. Now, what's interesting about this is that most kings, when they go and conquer something and they find spoils, they take it unto themselves, right? They keep it, take it unto themselves to make themselves richer, with the exception of Cyrus, king of Persia. And it actually tells us in this chapter in Isaiah 45 that he didn't do this for a reward. So he didn't conquer Babylon necessarily for a reward or take these treasures unto himself for a reward. And in fact, what did he do? He put them back into the house of God. So that is obviously an act of God. That is something that God put in his heart. Because what king or ruler wouldn't just take it unto themselves, right? Like, hey, I'll let you go, but I'm going to keep this stuff, you know. I'm not a believer, so we'll just make a trade-off here. But he's just like, take it all to the house of the Lord God. That's what he decreed for them to do. And so that is a miracle. Now, obviously, people could look at something like this and say, well, this is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because if this was prophesied 200 years prior to his birth, you know, someone could have came to him and said, hey, your name's right here. Why don't you fulfill this? But, folks, how can it be done to the T, right? And at the end of the day, you know, who's the one who opened the gates? Who's the one who prospered, you know, Cyrus' way? It's obviously God. And Cyrus very much could have just said, no, I'm not going to do that. These Jews are going to stay here, you know what I mean? I'll just give them liberty within this area right here. But, you know, he basically got no gain from liberating them and allowing them to go back. There was no benefit under him for himself to allow them to go back to Jerusalem. It's obviously God working in his heart to do so. Now, let me give you some possible evidence as to why maybe he wasn't saved, okay? Look at verse 4 of Isaiah 45, if you would. Go back to Isaiah 45. Can you put that at, like, 69? Let's say we're going to look at the purpose of his selection. Look at verse 4. It says, For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name. I have surnamed thee, listen to this, though thou hast not known me. So it's basically saying there that God is selecting Cyrus, he's using him, and he says, though you don't know who I am, you know? And, you know, that could be an indication that maybe he wasn't saved. And obviously we can go really deep into this. It was like, well, you know, he needs to be known of God, you know, and that's what salvation is. But, you know, obviously this is all speculation. I'm just giving you reasons why it's possible that he wasn't saved. You know, he's acting on God's behalf and doing things without necessarily him knowing that this is a very supernatural thing. And if he wasn't saved, he might be reading about these prophecies and it might appeal to his benevolent nature, right? He's looking at these prophecies about the children of Israel going back and how God's going to use him. And let's say, let's just guess, let's just kind of throw out there that maybe he wasn't saved. He could look at that and it could appeal to just his noble nature of being a humanitarian, wanting to help people, and he'd say, you know what? I'm going to do this, right? That could be the possible case, and obviously through that, that's how God is stirring him to do so. And you know what? The same happens today. I mean, how many unsaved people out there quote scripture, they put a Bible verse on their stories, they use it to inspire themselves to go to work, you know, or whatever. They use it for all kinds of reasons, even though they're not even saved. People do that all the time, right? The Word of God is not only powerful, but it's also inspirational. And there's some awesome passages in the Bible that can stir you up as an unsaved person to go run a mile or something, right? You know, if thou faint in the day of the verse, thy strength is small, therefore I'm going to hit this PR or something, you know? And they'll put that verse there, they're not even saved, they don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, you know, they don't know salvation. But here it specifically says that, you know, he did not know the Lord, okay? And look at verse five, it says, I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou hast not known me, that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, there is none else. Now, a couple things I want to say about this is that the Lord is making it pretty, you know, clear that first and foremost, Cyrus does not know the Lord. And, you know, from a human perspective, we're like, oh, man, you know, like, I wish you would have known him, it would have just made more sense, right? It would have just been more romanticized if he did. But he says there, I am the Lord. And he says there's none else. And then in verse six, he says that they, who's they? The Israelites may know from the rising of the sun from the west that there is none beside me, I am the Lord, there is none else. So, in other words, he's allowing, this could be interpreted as, he's allowing this foreigner, ruler to deliver them who doesn't know God as a supernatural miracle to prove to them that, hey, God is the one doing this. Because this man does not know the Lord. He's a Persian, the man has his own agenda, God is stirring him, you know, his religion is not the God of the Bible, and so he's using them. Why? So, to prove to the Israelites, hey, I'm the one who's saving you, not Cyrus, I'm using Cyrus as an instrument to deliver you, so it's really made to kind of direct their attention back to God. You know why? Because it's in man's nature to idolize a man, right? It's in man's nature to want to attribute godliness to a great leader and accredit that person for salvation, for liberation, for great gas prices, for whatever. It's in our nature to do so. We want to follow a physical man. I mean, that's what the nation of Israel did. You know, give us a king like all the other nations, right? We may be like all the other nations. And what God's trying to do is like, I'm going to send a foreign king to come rescue you, someone who doesn't know me, just to prove to you that I'm God and I can do this even through an unsaved vessel, if he was unsaved. Okay? And so, what is God trying to do here? He's trying to take the attention off of Cyrus and off of the other kings and like trying to redirect their attention towards him. Okay? So, though Cyrus was instrumental in bringing the children of Israel back into the land and sanctioning the rebuilding of the house of God, the Lord ultimately is the one responsible for doing it. And what does God want? He wants credit. That's what he wants. That's what he wants from Israel. He's like, can you give me the credit? Because I'm the one doing it. Whereas it seems the children of Israel really want to solely focus on the instrument itself. Okay? You know, the Bible tells us the divine sentence is in the lips of the king, his mouth transgressive, not in judgment. You know, God can often put that divine sentence, that divine decree, that divine law, though it's not something that's personally in his heart. He can move, you know, that leader to say, you know, Christianity is a religion of America now or something or, you know, praise Jesus Christ. And everyone's like, oh, man, that's awesome. But the problem is that sometimes people take that and they're just like the instrument, the leader, you know. Whereas God's like, no, how about me? I'm the Lord. I'm your deliverer. Okay? Look at verse 7. And again, I'm still on the potential that he's not saved. And again, I'm just going to go ahead and believe that maybe he was because it's just cool if he was. But I can definitely see it from the other end that maybe he wasn't. And the same goes for Nebuchadnezzar. I think within all of us, we just want these cool leaders. It's like maybe there's someone in power that was just, you know, if we could just get a fundamental Baptist in the office or something, it's one of those kind of things. Right. But this is in its context. Look at verse 7. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. So he's like, give me credit for these things. You know, he's saying that he forms the light, creates darkness. Let me just kind of go off track here and talk about the fact that he says he creates evil. Now, evil in the Bible, there's instances where it is referring to that which is sinful, that which is wicked, that which is associated with iniquity. But there are other instances where evil is just referring to judgment. Right. You talk about the evil day. And, of course, probably the most famous passage that we all know about is in Amos chapter 3, verse 6, where the Bible says, shall there be evil in the city and the Lord hath not done it? Shall there be judgment? Shall there be, you know, an evil day, judgment coming upon people and the Lord hath not done it? Now, we know this isn't referring to, in Isaiah 45, it's not referring to evil as in sin because God cannot be tempted with evil. Neither tempted He any man, the Bible says. Right. And that, in its context, is referring to that which is sinful, that which is associated with transgression. But God is responsible for evil as in judgment. Okay. And, you know what, sometimes judgment comes upon even good people. Fact. There's people that suffer under the hand of judgment just because a city or a nation or a state is suffering collectively. Right. You know, sometimes good people end up suffering the consequences of a nation's sin, a city's sin. That happens. And, you know, if evil comes upon a good righteous or a good person, a righteous, a moral person at that, you know, we can't not accredit that to God because God still allowed it. Right. Why? Because He creates evil. You know, He allows that. And here's the thing, as we're going to look at later on in the passage. We, as that which is created, can't look at God and say, why has that made me thus? You know, why did you do this? Because in His infinite wisdom, He has a plan even behind that as well. Okay. And, you know, probably the most recent thing that I can think about is the fires. Right. And thank God that we were spared from the fires. But, you know, I guarantee you there's a ton of people this side of the fires are probably wicked and evil. And they didn't suffer in those fires. And I guarantee you there's people over there who there's maybe a sprinkling of good people, you know, in that area. I'm sure there's really good moral people over there. I'm sure there's even saved people over there. They may have suffered severe consequences of those fires. And it's absolutely true. And I think it's wrong for Christians to say, well, you know, because, you know, because good people suffered, therefore that can't be of God. But you don't know exactly how God's going to use that suffering in that person's life, though. You know, you don't really know. Maybe that person needs an evil day to turn them unto Christ. Have you ever thought about that? You know, oh, I just don't see, I can't see how God can do that to really good people. I can. Because there's a guy who's like perfect and upright, one who has chewed evil. And he got worse than a fire. I mean, his kids, they're all killed. His resources were taken. I mean, evil came upon that man. And it didn't take away the fact that he was good. It just ended up turning him to an even better person. He came forth as gold. So you don't really know. You know, there's people in those fires. And you know what? I pray for those people. When that was happening, I pray. I'm not just like burn it all to the ground. You all deserve it. Because we're not for the grace of God. I mean, that could have happened to us, right? And during that time, I'm praying for them. And I'm also praying, Lord, spare us. Because if we burn down to the ground, I want people pointing, oh, it's because of First World Baptist Church. No, it's probably because we just live in this wicked state, a wicked nation, and God just so chose to select this particular area to burn. You know, it doesn't mean God hates me or hates us or is not favoring us. It's just that we collectively suffer for the consequences of our nation. And you know what? When those fires are going on, I'm thinking about those people, you know, and there's even people in our church who live in close proximity to that area who are slightly affected by that. I'm praying for them, right? I don't want evil to come upon them. But you know what? I guarantee you, maybe there's a saved person or there's just a person who's not saved. Evil came upon that person, and maybe it stirred their heart to start searching after God. And you know what? If that person ended up getting saved, believing on Jesus Christ, it was worth every single ash. Every single inch of fire to get that person saved. And so let's not just like question God, well, God wouldn't do that. How do you know? You don't know the hearts of those people. Maybe they're just a natural disaster away from getting saved, right? Maybe they're just a natural disaster away from actually believing on the Lord, or maybe they're just some super backslidden Christian out there who's just living a life of sin. God allowed their area to be burned down to strike fear in that person's heart, and they went back to church the very next week. You don't know. Well, that wasn't on the news. Yeah, of course it's not going to be on the news. Who cares? Who cares where it is? God knows, and God is working in those people's hearts. The point that I'm making here, though, is that evil came upon that area. Evil came upon in multiple areas. And you know what? God is the one responsible for it, because He said it. He says, I create evil, okay? He formed the light. He formed darkness. That is what He does, okay? And in fact, let me read to you from Proverbs 16, because this is all still in context of Cyrus, right? And He's saying, you know, I formed the light, created darkness, He created evil, all in context of Cyrus. Let me read to you from Proverbs 16, verse 4. The Lord hath made all things for Himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. So God is saying, like, I even raised up evil people, allow evil people to exist in order to use them as an instrument to judge other people. And we can see that the Old Testament is replete with examples like that, right? So you can kind of see how it can also imply there that maybe Cyrus, king of Persia, was not a safe person. He's just someone who God used, because from whence come wars and findings among you come they not of your own lust. You know, Cyrus, king of Persia, might have been noble and a humanitarian and all for the liberation of people and religious freedom. All the while, he's just like, you know, destroying nations and trying to conquer people, right? He's like, well, he's killing people. He's like, all right, what's the next area we're going to take over? So there's some lust in that man that stems from, you know, or there's war in that man that stems from his lust. So we can look at him and say, man, that's an evil person, right? He's just a greedy, evil person who just wants more land. And you know what? God can use the desires of that person and say, okay, I'll allow that. I'm going to allow you to broaden the scope of your influence and your rule just for my people. You're like, would God do that? I mean, that's literally what he says. He says, for my servant Jacob's sake, he says. That's why he did it. So literally, you know, the scholars would hate this. The secular world would hate this. Iran would hate this, probably. But the only reason, according to the Bible, which is the only thing that really matters, according to the Bible, you know, Cyrus, king of Persia, was able to conquer so much only for God's people. Just to bring him to the point where he would liberate God's people, bring them back to Jerusalem, because he was chastising the Jews, which is what the Babylonian captivity was all about in the first place. You know, they're there for seven years for the rejection of the God of the Bible. God, you know, he raised up Nebuchadnezzar, an evil person, to essentially take them into captivity, and then he raised up another evil person who was just lusting after more territory, and he just used him to bring them back. He's just using them as instruments. You know what that teaches me? The rules of this world are used as instruments to carry out a specific task. And so, you know, don't put all your eggs in one basket. Don't put so much faith into one man, because at the end of the day, the only faith you should be putting in man, the only man you should put your faith in, is the Lord, right? And so, cursed is every man that maketh the arm of his flesh, when you depend on the man, because he ultimately will fail you. The point that I'm making here, I think the reason God is saying, like, I create darkness, I form the light, I create evil, he's basically saying, like, I'm raising him up for a specific task, okay? Look at verse 8. He continues here with that thought of him working through Cyrus. Let's read verse 7 again. It says, I form the light, I create darkness, I make peace, and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. By the way, he makes peace. These next four years are going to be peaceful, according to the new administration. And you know what? I'll take it. Right? I'll take it. But you know who I'm going to give credit to? The Lord Jesus Christ. And by the way, that's why I believe, like, forget what the conspiracy theorists say, I believe God delivered Donald Trump from that assassination attempt. You know, people are like, no, it's fake. Yeah, he just knew exactly when to turn, at the right moment, so the bullet can nick his ear. Yeah, he planned that all out. It's nonsense. It's called an act of God. Now obviously, the crazy conservatives, worshippers of Donald Trump, they're going to look at that and say, oh man, it's because he's a godly person. No! It's because God is the one in charge. He has to use him for a particular reason, so he's going to keep him alive. So he made him just turn at that moment. He's just like, you know, the heart of the king is at the hand of the Lord, but the head of the king, too. You know, he's just like... And people come up with all kinds of conspiracy theories. I'm not interested when it comes to that. It's an act of God. Stop taking away from God's supernatural intervention. And me saying that is not me just like worshipping Trump. It's me worshipping God. Because Trump, he didn't know he was going to get shot. You know, he's not like trying to time it right. It's the Lord who knows these things. The point that I'm making here is the fact that God is the one who makes peace. So if we experience peace throughout these next four years, it's because of the Lord. And by the way, we've had peace even before that. Like the past four years, we had peace. If you didn't have peace, then you're not serving God. Playing it simple. If you didn't have peace the last four years, it's because you're not praying, you're not serving God, because true peace comes from the Lord. The peace of God, the passage of understanding. And so he says, I do all these things. Look at verse 8. It says, Drop down, ye heavens from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together. I, the Lord, have created it. Now what is this telling us? It's telling us that God is responsible also for the good of this world. You know what's crazy is that people are like, Well, if God is such a good God, why is all this evil happening? I got a better question. The question you should be asking is, Oh, because there's so much good going on in this world, that must be God. Why do they only want to give credit for all the bad stuff, but when everything is going good in someone's life, they don't give credit to God? All these atheists and agnostics, you know, they only want to talk about the negative things and say, Oh, yeah, if you're God so loving, why is he allowing this? Well, that's funny. You're breathing today. You've had meals. You have a functioning brain, supposedly. Your organs are up to par. I mean, you're living a life. God sends the rain upon the just as well as the unjust. Give God credit for that. Why? Because he's also responsible for the good of this world. You know, he's responsible for the evil that comes upon people, but he's also responsible for the good that comes upon you. Why? Because every good gift and every perfect gift coming from above, from the Father of lights and whom there is no turning, neither variableness nor neither shadow of turning, the Bible says. James chapter one. You know, God is responsible for everything. What good gift did you receive today from another person? Guess what? It came from God. What good thing did you receive this month? Did you get something good? It came from God. Why? Because he's the one who opens the heavens and allows that to come to you. It's not like, you know, you get some good out of life. And then God's like, Oh, that's nice. I didn't think of that. You know, who gave that to you? You know, God allows any good thing that you have. He allowed for you to participate in that. Look at verse nine. Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker. Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. That's hilarious. A potsherd is just like earthenware that is just broken like shivers. And he's like, why is the earth and why is this thing arguing with me? It's referring to his people, right? It's like, let that argue with another potsherd. OK. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it? What makest thou, or thy work? He hath no hands. He's basically pointing out the ridiculousness of the fact that creation or the created beings, the nation of Israel specifically, can often point their finger at God and say, Why are you even doing that? What's the point of that? Or there's others that will say, it says there, or thy work, he hath no hands. It's just like, well, I don't have a God. God doesn't exist. Like the fact that you exist is proof that God exists. He says in verse 10, Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begetth thou? Or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth? What is he saying? He's saying we should never reply against God. You know, the creation has no right to question the creator. The Bible tells us that, you know, can the thing formed say to him that formed it? Why hast thou made me thus? Why am I this brown? Why am I this light? Why can't I have blonde hair? Why can't I have hair? Why do I have to be? You can't reply against God. Just be happy with the way God made you. And let me say this. Be happy with the way God made others, too. You know, this Twitter type of ambiance needs to change in our church, folks, and we need to get back to just the Bible, the biblical perspective of things, okay? And I'm not talking about culture. I'm not talking about culture. There's cultures out there that are wicked, that are disgusting and abominable, and we need to have a Christian culture, amen? But here's the thing, folks, is that, you know, there should be no hatred or prejudice or racism against other people of different skin color, because at the end of the day, that's how God made them. Do you have a problem with how God made that person? You know, are you a Mormon that believes they have the mark of Cain or something like that? It's crazy. It's crazy to think that people will think themselves to be something because they were born a way that they didn't control. It's just like, well, I'm white. Yeah, what did you do to participate in that, though? You were just born. And then you want to judge other people and hate other people for their skin color when literally, listen to me, that's how God made them. Everyone listening, that's how the Lord created them. Don't reply against God and say, why hast thou made them thus? Right, because the way they look. Now, obviously, you know, they need a Christian culture, but let me just be honest with you. Cyrus was not a Christian, right, as far as we know. Obviously Christianity didn't exist, but he didn't necessarily uphold biblical religion, as far as we know, historically speaking, but he was a noble person. And you know what? There's people out in this world who are not Christians that are still good people. They can still be good people. And you know what? Stop getting your opinions from social media. Stop coming up with a narrative just from Twitter. Stop being a Twitter chud. I just learned that word from Adam. Be a Christian. Be a Baptist, okay? Like, well, you know, I just can't stand these people. Yeah, but you've never had contact with them, though. So how do you even know? Now, look, I've had contact with other races who are very racist against me. I grew up that way. You know, I was jumped by black people. I was hated by Asians, and that's why I can't stand. No, I'm just kidding. I love Asians, and I love black people. And you know what? You say, well, don't you have a little bit of prejudice? Well, here's the thing is that, do I have prejudice against certain cultures? Absolutely. But I never allow that to manipulate or influence my attitude towards people when they come to that door. You know? That's at the end of the day. You know, whatever we have in this church, I'm not like, hey, look, if an Indian walks in our church, and his name is Pajit, I'm not going to be like, oh, heck no. Oh, no. Oh, no. You know, I'm not going to be that way. You say, well, what are you going to be? I'm going to be like, this person needs the Lord Jesus Christ. This person literally followed the light that God gave him, brought him to a church like this to be saved and to live a godly life. I'm not going to be like, you know, I've seen all the reals. No, for sure, we'll tell that person, like, I don't like your food, by the way. That's just true. It's facts. Does anybody here like Indian food? Raise your hand if you like Indian food. That hand was a little too, all right, you know, just kidding. I went up too low. I don't like Indian food, you know? And I don't think that's racist to say that. And some of you Gen Z'ers, if you think that's racist, you're a weenie if you think that's racist to say you don't like another culture's food. Folks, I'm Mexican, and I don't even like Mexican food. I'll eat it if I have to, if my wife wants it or something, but give me all American food. That's just, that's what I like, you know? The point that I'm making here is that we, as created beings, don't be criticizing the way someone else has created, okay? And here's the thing, folks, you're like, well, again, the culture, okay, but let me ask you, does the culture get fixed by just telling them to just fix it, or does it get fixed by getting them saved, getting them the Bible? That's what changes culture, you know? Like, I know this one person that's just really ghetto, well, they need the word of God. Why don't you go actually win them to Christ and teach them what the Bible says, right? That should be, you know, that should be our driving agenda, is that we want everyone to convert to a Christian culture regardless of what skin color you have, okay? Well, I just, you know, I just prefer a white man to preach behind the pulpit, you know, Pastor Shelley said something like that or whatever. He sent me a screenshot of that on Twitter, and I just said, bro, you listen to me. He said, well, I love your preaching. Well, there you go, right? I like hearing white people preach, too, though. White people are great preachers. Now that I think about it, I think I only listen to white preachers. No, I listen to Pastor Jimenez, too. Pastor Jimenez is darker than me, you know? So he's a really good preacher. The point that I'm making here is that we need to make sure we uphold Christian culture, promote Christian culture, seek to get people to adopt Christian culture, right, and not say, well, that race is just doomed. Those people of that skin color, they're just doomed. They just can't. Folks, we believe Jews can get saved. And look, the only reason I even pick on Jews probably more than any other race or ethnicity in this world is because literally the Bible picks on them more than any other ethnicity, OK? And the Bible specifically singled them out as being a cursed nation. But folks, we've had Jews come to this church, though, and we've given them the gospel, and we showed them love, right? But I digress, because I still need to finish this. I just need to get that off my chest. Look at verse 11. And obviously I'm preaching to the choir because you're listening to a Mexican preach right now, you know, so you can't be that prejudiced if you're listening to me, you know. It says in verse 11, Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands, command ye me. I'm going to skip some of this right here. Look at verse 13, actually. It says, I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways. He shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the Lord of hosts. So again, talking about Cyrus, he's like, I'm raising him up, and the miracle that he's providing here is that Cyrus is doing this not for a reward, which is pretty amazing, right? He's doing it because God inspired him to do a humanitarian act of sorts that God's going to use, okay? And, you know, I think of one time where, like, let me give you this really shallow example, but I think it works here, okay? I remember years ago, when I first got saved, I was going through just a really hard time. I was really discouraged. You know, my family was not in church, and I just felt like, I remember being, like, a single in church, a young person, and I'm like, man, like, no man cared for my soul. Like, I'm just going through a hard time. I don't have anybody to talk to, and, like, just no one's there for me, you know? And I just felt discouraged, and I was just feeling like I wanted to quit. And I remember just one night, it was just like, life sucks, and, you know, like, you know, I had those thoughts where it was just like, if I left, no one would even care, no one would even notice. And it was just like these dark thoughts of just wanting to quit. And I remember, like, I think I was selling something on, like, what's that, what's that, not eBay, what's the other one? Off, no, not Off Rope, it's the old Craigslist. I was selling something, and this guy came. It was this black guy, he came, and he came to purchase it, whatever I had, and then I was just kind of like, you know, here, and he's like, oh, you know, thanks a lot. And then I was, and somehow he knew that I was a Christian. He goes, oh, I think it was the way I was dressed. He's like, oh, you're dressed sharp. Where do you work? I was like, well, I'm actually a Christian. He goes, I'm a Christian, too. And I'm like, oh, cool, you know? And then he's just like, man, it's great to be a Christian, is it not? I was like, awesome, it's a blessing to be a Christian. And at that moment, I was just not feeling that way. And I was like, yeah, I just, sometimes it's hard, you know, I'm just going through a hard time. He said, you're going through a hard time? And I said, yeah. And he's like, let me pray for you. And he prayed for me, and he's just like, Lord, I know God has a big plan for this guy, and I know the devil's trying to get him down, but Lord, help him to just stick it out, because he needs you, he needs your strength, help him to walk with you, to read the Bible, to pray. And man, that man's prayer was so edifying, it's like exactly what I needed. And I was like in tears, because I was just like, I was like literally just on the brink of quitting, and this random black guy, this man of color, you know, he came, and he edified me through his prayer. And look, he wasn't getting anything out of me, like I didn't lower the price for him or anything. Like, ah, just take it for free, we haven't already done the transaction. And then he's like, and then afterwards, he's like, are you a preacher? And I was like, I am, I'm trying to be a pastor one day. He's like, don't quit, just keep at it. He's like, you'll go through hard times like this. And he's like, God bless you. And man, I'm telling you right now, I feel like God, and you know what, I don't know if the guy probably wasn't even saved. He might have been like a Cyrus, where God's just like, you know, let me just use this man's eloquent speech, and his, ha, you know, his soul to kind of like inspire, you know, woo, you know, just the fact that he's just, you know, he's just a man who just doesn't like to see another man down. For I don't know, the guy probably believed in a repentance, I have no idea. But whatever words he said, though, I felt like they were just for me at that exact moment. And I remember walking back into the house, thinking to myself like, God is still with me, like I can't quit. And, you know, the point that I'm making here is the fact that, you know, what this chapter is doing is it's showing us that Cyrus, yeah, Cyrus did a lot of great things, but at the end of the day, folks, he was just an instrument in the hand of God to get something done for God's people. And you know what? People don't have to be saved for God to use them, and don't put so much faith in the instrument. Don't put so much love and faith into the instrument where you actually forget about the creator who used him. And here's the last thing I want to say here, because I'm already out of time. Let me skip some of this and go to, skip down to verse number, go to verse 23. It says, I have sworn by myself the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength, even to him shall men come, and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory. So what is he saying? He's propping up this man Cyrus, and through him many people were saved. Through him many people were destroyed and demolished. But he's saying at the end of the day though, every knee shall bow before me. And obviously that's what the New Testament quotes about Jesus Christ. And what this is showing us is that what the Lord is telling the world is be saved willingly or bow down forcefully. One of the two. Because at the end of the day every knee will bow. You know, you use Cyrus to make you bow down forcefully or you can just choose to believe on me. So he exalts the greatness of Cyrus king of Persia only to overshadow him and say, like I'm the one you should be worshipping. He did a lot for you but keep in mind I'm the one who moved him to help you. What is the sermon tonight? The sermon is simply this. You know, don't put your faith in me as your pastor. Just remember, I'm just God's man. Right? Don't put your faith in any one man because they're just the instrument that God is using to edify you. You know, don't put your faith in the president. We're going to enjoy these next four years. But just remember like God allowed him to do that for our benefit. Right? And so at the end of the day let's not glory in the instrument, glory in the axe, but may we look at the works of the instrument, the works of the axe and say, man, we got a great God. We have a wonderful God who can do great things and I just need to make sure that I have favor with him. Amen? Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for chapter 45 and great truths there and principles that we can all learn and apply to ourselves, Lord. You are the one and true God, Lord. You've always been. We're so thankful that you are not only our God, you're our Heavenly Father, and we are your children. And Lord, we're so thankful that there are certain things that happen in this nation that, yes, collectively affect everyone, whether saved or unsaved. But at the end of the day, there's only one story that matters in this world. There's only one work that truly matters. There's only one religion that truly matters to you. And quite frankly, there's only one people that really are near and dear to your heart and that is your people, safe Christians. And I pray that you'd help us as your people to appreciate that, Lord. And of course, if you allow this nation to be blessed over the next four years, may we realize that it's not necessarily just a time of peace so we can kick back and not do anything. It's a time that we can recharge and get more people saved. Help us to preach the gospel to more people so they can get saved willingly and not have to bow down forcefully one day. And I pray that you'd bless us as we go on our way. We love you. We thank you. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Song number 63. What a day that will be.