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And the Bible reads, Moreover, the Lord said unto me, Take thee a great role, and write in it with a man's pen concerning Mary, Sheol, and Hashbaaz. And I took unto me faithful witness to record Uriah, the priest, and Zechariah, the son of Jebrechiah. And I went on to the prophetess, and she conceived and bared a son. Then said the Lord to me, Call his name Mary, Sheol, and Hashbaaz, for before the child shall have knowledge to cry. My father and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria, shall be taken away before the king of Assyria. The Lord spake also unto me, saying, Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shilohah, that go softly, and rejoice in resin, and rameliah son, now therefore behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, the strong and many even the king of Assyria, and all his glory. And he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks, and he shall pass through Judah, and he shall overflow and go over. He shall reach even to the neck, and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breath of thy land, O Immanuel. Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces, and give ear. O ye of far countries, gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and ye shall come to naught. Speak the word, and it shall not stand, for God is with us. For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not a confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say a confederacy. Neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself, and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And it shall be for a sanctuary, but for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, for a jinn, and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples, and I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs, for wonders in Israel, from the Lord of hosts which dwelleth in Mount Zion. And what I shall say unto you, seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter, should not a people seek unto their God, for the living to the dead. To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. And they shall pass through it, hardly beset and hungry, and shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. And they shall look unto the earth, and behold, trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish, and they shall be driven to darkness. Let's pray. We thank you, Heavenly Father, for the book of Isaiah, dear God. Thank you for this wonderful church you've given us. We thank you for giving us the passage, dear Lord, and we ask that you please bless them tonight as you preach us your word unto us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So King Ahaz in chapter 7, of course, is confronted with two different kings. You have Rezin, the king of Syria, and then Remaliah, the king of Israel, who is threatening Ahaz, who is essentially the king of Judah, the southern kingdom. And we see in chapter 7 that Ahaz is not depending on God. He's not looking towards the Lord, and God is trying to encourage him, he's trying to provoke him, to trust in the Lord, to pray unto God, and to recognize that it's only by God's hand that he's going to be delivered from the enemies of God. And of course, he uses Isaiah's son in chapter 7 as essentially an example, his name, shear jashub, to mean that a remnant shall return. So even though he's trying to convince Ahaz to trust in him, God in his foreknowledge knows that Ahaz is not going to trust in the Lord. And eventually, Ahaz and Judah, to a certain extent, a certain percentage of the land of the people, are going to be castigated, they're going to be destroyed, they're going to be disciplined, but he's bringing his son, Isaiah, along with him, because his son's name means that a remnant shall return. So even within the preaching that Isaiah's giving to Ahaz, it's that promise, that object lesson to say, I know you're going to disobey, but even when you disobey, a remnant's going to come back from that captivity of the Assyrians. And then of course, later on in chapter 7, you have the birth of Immanuel, right? And Immanuel means God with us, and obviously we know the prophetic significance behind that. It's referring to Jesus Christ in the New Testament, we see that quoted in the book of Matthew, chapter 1. But the immediate interpretation of that is the fact that he's trying to instill faith in Ahaz to say, hey, God is with Judah, he's with the people of Israel, those who are in Judah, and that even though the Assyrians are going to come and plunder and destroy you, you know, you just got to keep in mind that God is still with you, even in spite of that. And then of course, it finishes off with God explaining to Ahaz that at the end of the day, even though Ahaz is depending on the Assyrians to destroy Syria or to defend him against Syria and the northern kingdom, Israel, eventually Assyria is going to turn on him, he's going to be used to punish Judah. And it's a great lesson for us all, right? That if we depend on anything else other than the Lord for our necessities, for our protection, that which we're depending on, that which we're leaning on, it's eventually going to become our ruin because God wants us to have faith in him. He wants us to trust him, to pray into him. And just because something has, you know, various chariots and horses, spiritually speaking, doesn't mean that it's going to come out to your advantage in the long term as a Christian, as a believer. We need to make sure that we're putting our faith in God. Now in chapter number eight, we have another mention of a child that's going to be born. And it's actually another child of Isaiah. So initially in chapter seven, you see the mention of shear Jashub, meaning that a remnant shall return. But then you have another birth of Isaiah's son and his name is Meher-shal-ahash-bas. Now I'm pretty sure that this is actually the longest name in the Bible. And why he would name him that, I don't know, you know, it was like, what's it short for? Even the short term, the short part of it is probably still long, right? Try saying Meher-shal-ahash-bas five times fast, you know, but you know, you're not going to forget it. Now you won't be able to pronounce it, but you won't forget it. Okay. So we have the birth of Meher-shal-ahash-bas and it obviously has significance to his name regarding the message that God's bringing to Judah. Now look at verse number one here, it says, moreover, the Lord said unto me, take thee a great role. The me there is obviously referring to Isaiah. Take thee a great role and write in it with a man's pen concerning Meher-shal-ahash-bas. And it took unto me faithful witnesses to record Uriah the prezic, Uriah the son of Jiberikiah. Now what is he talking about in verse number one? Well, this is pretty unique because of the fact that typically prophets of the Old Testament have a scribe writing something for them, but in this particular case, you actually have Isaiah being commanded of God to take a role and actually write himself. Now before we get into the term Meher-shal-ahash-bas and what that means, I want you to notice that it actually says write in it with a man's pen. What is that talking about when he says write in it with a man's pen? Well, he's not referring to just, you know, hey, go find some dude's pen out there and use that to pen down what I'm going to tell you. I believe what he's actually referring to is the clarity of the message. In other words, I want you to write this down the way any common man would write down some sort of statement or document that's very clearly understood by the person who's going to read it. It's going to be clearly understood by the recipient. So the man's pen is referring to the clarity of the message. In other words, God wants everyone in Judah to know what he's saying here, okay? And when you think about it, you know, that's not unique to Isaiah or the book of Isaiah or this particular passage. This is how God wants the word of God to be for all nations, right? And obviously there's instances in the Bible where there are dark sayings, there are parables, things that are hard to be understood that require prayer, it requires for us to pray unto the Lord and said, open down mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law, other things that take spiritual maturity to understand. But in general, the essentials of the faith are very easy to understand for the common man. And in fact, Jesus Christ, the Bible says of Jesus that the common people heard him gladly. You know, even though he is the word of God, he is the epitome of knowledge and wisdom. He is the source by which all knowledge stems from. He was able to speak in such a manner that everyone understood what he was saying. Those who were open to the truth. He put the cookie on the bottom shelf. He was a light into them. He opened the eyes of their understanding because of the fact that he came for the common man. And that's not to say that people who are really knowledgeable or have a lot of wisdom can't understand the Bible. But I will say this, you know, it's often the case that the people who have the most knowledge are the most critical of the Bible. The more knowledge you have, the more puffed up you are and you're not saved, the more likely it is that you will take on this critical attitude towards the Bible. You will not have as much faith in it because of the fact that knowledge puffeth up. And so this is the reason why sometimes it's the simple minded people of this world that readily receive the word of God and they believe it. And in fact, you know, I have an example of this. When we were in Mexico on Saturday, we're preaching the gospel to various people. And Brother Ulysses Hernandez was talking to a person at the park. She was a mother and her daughter was right next to her. She was about 14, 13 years old. And so he started preaching the gospel to the mom, the step-mom actually. And I started preaching the gospel to the daughter. Well, I started realizing a little bit into the conversation that she was mentally disabled. And you can tell by her speech that even though she was 14 years of age, mentally, she was probably around five or six. She understood concepts and she did have mental faculties to understand what I was telling her. But you know, there's obviously some mental issues that she had there. And she had trouble talking, but she understood a lot of what I was saying. And it was very touching to say the least because when I would talk to her about the gospel and I told her that God loved her, she was just absolutely astounded at the biblical truth. Like I told her, her name was Maria. And I said, Maria, you know, Jesus loves you and he died for you. And she was just like, really? And I'm just like, absolutely. And I would give her, I would tell her what the Bible says. And I told her that, you know, I read her the verses and I'll explain to her how Jesus died on the cross to pay for her sins. And every single time that I would tell her something about the gospel, a point about the gospel, she was just like. And it wasn't insincere because she was in tears, you know, and she was very much sensitive. And so, you know, it didn't take long for her to completely understand the gospel and she ended up getting saved. And she even told me herself, she said, you know, she basically said, you know, I wanted in so many words, she said to kill myself, you know, a couple years back, because I'm just really sad. You know, I'm really sad, I'm really depressed. And I said, well, you know, the Lord loves you, Maria, and he died for you. He loves you and he has a purpose for you. And her eyes got watery and she was just very thankful. And at the end of the conversation, when she ended up getting saved, she called upon the name of the Lord. You know, I got up and I said, thank you for your time, Maria, and she said, no, thank you for telling me these things, because I did not know that. And you know what, that touched my heart, but it helped me to realize that sometimes, you know, there are certain individuals who have all the knowledge, they're so knowledgeable about so many things. They may have degrees, they may have all of the studies down, they know everything about science and evolution, and they're literary geniuses out there. And you know what, they're probably more likely than not, a lot of them are not going to get saved. Because at the end of the day, you know, person, the gospel requires the faith of a child to believe it, right? And it's not like the gospel is hard to understand, I didn't need to come to her with any theological terms, I didn't have to come to her with words of man's wisdom, I just had to give her the Bible and she understood it plainly. She got it, she believed it, and she ended up getting saved. It reminds me of a verse in Habakkuk, you don't have to turn there, in chapter 2, verse 2, it says, the Lord answered me and said, write the vision and make it plain upon the tables that he may run that readeth it. And you know what, that's exactly what God wants us to do. The difference is, it's already written on this table right here, and all we have to do is explain it in a plain way, right? We don't have to be all Calvinistic about it and all articulate when we're explaining the gospel, it's very easily understood if we just make it plain. First Corinthians 2, 4, the apostle Paul, who by the way, wrote some letters that were hard to be understood, but when it came to the gospel, he spake very plainly, says in First Corinthians 2, 4, and my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. In other words, he didn't have to flex his vocabulary or flex his wisdom in order to demonstrate that he had power, all he had to do was essentially show the power of the Holy Spirit in him, right? The fact that he's preaching, the words that I speak into you, they are spirit and they are life, and it's the word of God that has power to convert. He says that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men. Oh man, that apologist is so powerful, you see how he just argues all these particular points, their faith is in the apologist. Their faith is in the fallacious arguments of these apologists that make all these claims, whereas the Bible tells us that we want people's faith to be in the power of God, right? To give credit to God, to give credit to the word of God, and they'll often tell us, I never heard it explained that way, but at the end of the day, what they're referring to is the fact that it's just in the Bible, because all we're doing is reading John 3.16, reading Romans 6.23, reading Romans 5.8, it's nothing super deep, it's just plainly telling them what the Bible says regarding the Gospel. The Bible also says in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 12, seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech. I mean, why would we want to make the Gospel hard to understand? We want it to be easy to understand, right? And thankfully, there are terms in the word of God whereby we can explain it plainly, such as believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, that is a very clear, concise, and simple statement to make to help people to understand what do you have to do to be saved. And by the way, the apostle Paul could have simply said, when the guy asked, what must I do to be saved, he could have simply said, be justified through the imputation of the righteous, you know? Right? Because it means the same thing. You can have the redemption through the imputation of the blood of Jesus Christ because his propitiation, you know, he could have gone through that whole spiel, but he didn't do that, though. What did he do? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. He basically is citing what it says in John 3.16. And is there any coincidence that John 3.16 is like the most famous verse in the Bible, right, that people know? Now, that's not to say that we can't get deep on the doctrine of justification because the Bible does get deep. And you know, after we get saved, let us go on into perfection, right? Let's learn what the Bible says further on the topic of salvation. What are some pictures of salvation in the Bible? What are the different facets of salvation according to the Word of God? But when we are seeking to convert someone to win someone to Christ to get them saved, we need to use great plainness of speech. It's not a time to flex how much you know about the Bible or how many terms you can use or whatever, you know, what you have, what tools you have on your belt really is just trying to get them saved as easy as possible. Well, I think you shouldn't say believe, you know, because why not? I mean, the book of John uses it repeatedly to explain salvation. And obviously, you know, you need to expand on what it means to believe sometimes and explain to them. I'm not just saying believe in God, that He exists. Believe simply means to trust. And that's easy. Like, well, what if they don't get that, then you know what, then it's time to move on. If they can't clearly understand what it means to trust, what it means to believe, you know, it may not be that they don't have the mental faculties to understand that and maybe they're just trolling you, just want to waste your time, they want to argue, etc. But the point that's being made here is the fact that the Lord wants everyone in Israel to know what is going to take place, which is why He says, I want you to get a man's pen, pen this like any common man would pen this. Don't make it complicated. This is not the book of Daniel here, you know, or it's going to be sealed up until the end. This is something that they want, they need to know now. Okay, look at verse three. He says, And I went up to the prophetess, and she conceived and bare a son, then said the Lord to me, call his name, may or shall a hash pass. Now, the prophetess that's being referred to here is Isaiah's wife, okay, and of course, we know that because of the fact that may or shall a hash pass is his son. Now, why is she a prophetess? Is she a pastor of a church or something like that? Is she, you know, a priest in the temple? What's the point here of calling her the prophetess? Well, I believe the reason he is labeling her to be a prophet or prophetess is because of the fact that she's bringing forth the message, and the message is may or shall a hash pass. Because, you know, God is, you know, using may or shall a hash pass as an object less than the way he used Shere-Jashub and the way he used Immanuel. And so the prophetess, even though she's not necessarily proclaiming it with her mouth, she's bringing forth may or shall a hash pass, which is essentially the message to Israel. Okay, very unique way of doing it, but that's basically what it is. You know, and the reason it's important to know that is in case some woman pastor or an advocate of a woman pastor says, well, you got the prophetess here, you know, well, that's not what it's referring to. And other instances where women are referred to as a prophetess, it's often just referring to a woman who's just a soul in her, right? Someone who's preaching the gospel, which the Bible does not forbid that. And people often over exaggerate our position on, you know, not letting women preach in church. And they'll often say, well, you know, you think like women can't preach the gospel or something like that. It's just like we're talking about in church behind the pulpit, the Bible forbids and prohibits them from preaching the word of God because he considers that usurping the authority over the man. And you know, call that chauvinistic and take it up with God. That's what he said. He doesn't like that. And it's an abomination. It is complete disobedience to God's word. And the reason, one of the reasons why he doesn't want women preaching behind the pulpit is because Adam was first form, then the woman. And Adam, listen to this, Adam was not deceived, but the woman being in the transgression was deceived. So he's saying that in conjunction with not letting them preach. And basically he's implying if you let a woman preach, she's going to start teaching all kinds of weird doctrines because she's easily deceived. No, we're not. Okay, Eve, how did that go for you? He's using the example of Eve, you know, first prophetess, you know, she had one shot to make an impression on biblical history and she couldn't do it because she was easily deceived. And there's a reason why Satan went for Eve and not Adam. And so this is not saying that women can't preach. Obviously they can preach the gospel. Obviously to a certain extent, they even preach the word of God to their children when they're teaching their children at home, but when it comes to the parameters of the house of God and the position of a Bishop, elder and or pastor, you know, the Bible tells us explicitly that only men can fulfill that office. You can't let them be the husband of one wife. Can't do that if you are a woman, you know, and I don't care if you're a Methodist dyke or whatever, you know, this is like, still don't work. So he said, he goes into the prophetess, she conceives, it bears a son. And then God tells Isaiah, I want his name to be Mahershala Hashbaz. And, you know, remember Isaiah is penning this down. So he was like, hold on, hold on, like writing that whole name out. Verse four says, for behold the child, excuse me, for before the child shall have knowledge to cry, my father and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the King of Assyria. So what is he saying here? Well, in chapter seven, he gives sheer Jashab as an object lesson because his name means that a remnant shall return prophesying of the return of those who go into captivity after Assyria plunders a portion of Judah. Then he uses the birth of Emmanuel to convey the fact that even though this evil is going to come upon them from this foreign nation, God is still with you. Now he's using the birth of Isaiah's son to communicate that the Assyrians will be quick to plunder their enemies, okay? Because what Mahershala Hashbaz essentially means is quick or quickly to plunder or quick to plunder. In other words, they're going to make quick work of Syria and of Israel. So it's God's promise to Judah that even though Syria and Israel are confederate one with another, they're trying to destroy Judah, they're involved in a conspiracy against Judah, God is basically telling them, don't worry, the Assyrians, although we're going to punish you guys too, they're going to make quick work, quick plunder of Syria and Israel as well. How quick? Well before your son's going to be able to say mama and papa, it's going to happen. Now obviously he doesn't give us a specific time frame because it's different with every child, and you can basically, sometimes my kids for example, at least my last daughter, she actually says dada before mama, and my wife often is bitter at that because my wife is like, I feed you, I hold you, I'm there for you, and then you just like dada. And so I feel very special about that. But she's a year old, so maybe there's, obviously there's children out there that maybe say even sooner than that. So we can say that maybe at least within a year span, within at least the first year should I say, a few months within the first year, God is going to execute retribution on Syria and Israel and their Confederacy, one with another, by the Assyrians. He's going to may or shall hash bash them, he's going to make quick work of their enemies. And so obviously this has immediate significance to this time period, but to a certain extent we can apply it to ourselves as well. The Bible also says, vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay. He says, avenge not yourselves. And here's the thing is that if you're a Christian who just doesn't live a godly life, doesn't do anything for the Lord, is just living just a complete lukewarm Christian life, you're not serving God, then you don't got to worry about anybody doing anything to you, because all that will live godly in Christ, Jesus shall suffer persecution. And if you're the type that hasn't received any persecution whatsoever since you become a Christian, then the may or shall hash bash has no significance to you, because that means something to Christians, that means something to believers, because of the fact that we want to be avenged. Maybe you've had enemies who have criticized you, they've mocked you, they've been querulous towards you, they have persecuted you, they've wronged you, and you just live by this principle, I'm not going to strike back, I'm not going to avenge myself. Maybe you've had people defraud you, rob you, drag your name through the mud, and have been very scabrous about your character, just kind of criticizing you, lying about you. This is temptation to say, you know what, I want to do something about that. I think everyone feels that way unless you're just like a beta who just doesn't, it doesn't bother you. But any just red blooded man, or even woman, gets upset at that. And there's something within us innately that wants to execute vengeance on our enemies. And this is why God gives us that promise, because he knows that. This is why he tells us, don't avenge yourselves, vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay. May here shall I hash bash. God will make quick work of the enemies of God, he's going to make quick work of even your enemies, whether they're the enemies of God or not. I believe God does do that, even to others who are not the enemies of God, because at the end of the day, whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. And so this is very much an important message to Judah, because of the fact that even though a remnant shall return, even though Assyria is not going to prevail, and Israel and Syria are not going to prevail, they are going to do some significant damage to Judah. Okay, and they're going to feel it, Judah is going to feel it. So even when a minor loss is made, they probably want to do something about it, and God is basically telling them Assyria is going to end up taking care of them, he's going to destroy them, because Assyria is a tool in the toolbox of God that he's going to use to essentially discipline the northern kingdom, which is Israel, and of course, Syria in which he's confederate with. Look at verse number five, it says, The Lord spake also unto me again, saying, For as much as this people refuse it, the waters of Shiloh, that go softly and rejoice in resin and Romellias, son, now therefore behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory, and he shall come up over all his channels and go over all his banks. So what is he saying? He's essentially describing the destruction of Israel and Syria, and he's saying this, you know, because he's first mentioning Israel here, he says, you know, Israel is refusing the waters of Shiloh that go softly, and they're rejoicing in resin and Romellias, son, what is he saying? You know, Israel apparently is just not happy with what I've given them, because God has given them the soft waters of Shiloh, the tranquil waters, the quiescent waters of Shiloh, and basically, you know, kind of makes you think of Psalm 23, right? He leadeth me beside the still waters. In other words, he's like, I've given you tranquility, and you know what, Israel doesn't want it. So it's like, okay, you don't like the still calm waters of Shiloh, then I'm going to bring the flood upon you. And who's the flood? Well, in the Bible, floods are often synonymous with or picture armies. So Israel's over here rebelling, and they are disobeying God, they're mocking God, they're fighting against the southern kingdom, and what are they doing? They're essentially expressing their discontentment with what God has provided for them, the tranquil quiet waters of Shiloh, and God is saying, okay, you're not happy with that? Then what I'm going to do is I'm going to bring up the waters of the river strong and many, the king of Assyria, and they're going to flood you, and they're going to drown you is what they're going to do, okay? And so this is essentially saying that they're not content with the waters that God provided, the blessings that God has provided. This is just one of many examples where God's people are just not happy with what God provides. So then what he does is he gives them what they want until they realize that's not what they want. There's many times in the Bible when that happens, right? Or it's just like, they don't want to have the theocracy. We want a king like all the other nations, and then they get Saul, and then Saul ends up being a really bad king, and it's just like, oh man, what are we going to do? Or how about the example with the quail in the wilderness, right? Or they're like, we're tired of this manna, we're tired of this manna, we're tired of this bread, give us flesh to eat. And they're complaining, they're murmuring in the wilderness, and finally God says, okay, you want flesh? I'll give you flesh so it comes out of your nostrils. And you're going to loathe it, you're going to hate it, it's going to be disgusting to you, you're going to have exactly what you want, and you're going to have so much of it that it's going to disgust you. And you know what? This is a perfect example of sin, because sometimes Christians out there, they're just like, oh man, all my friends are having fun, and they're involved in all kinds of sin, and fornication, and drugs, or drunkenness, or whatever it is, right? And it's just like, that's what they want for themselves, and they feel like they're missing out, and it's just like, they begin to murmur, they're not happy with the tranquil waters of holiness, of abstinence, of vigilance and sobriety, they're not happy walking by the still waters with their shepherd, so then what ends up happening is that God gives them what they want, and when he gives them what they want, they end up loathing that woman they found, right? It's like, oh man, this is the woman that I want, this Instagram ho, I've always wanted this Instagram ho, I'm telling you, there's a lot of young guys that are like that. I want this Instagram ho, and they won't say it exactly, but it's an IG ho, though, it's a social media ho, or thought, or whatever it is that they call it nowadays. Same thing, right? That ho over there, that's what it means? What's another word that they use? 304? Now they're using numbers? Who said that number? What? Bop? What does bop mean? Oh, it's a ho. But why bop? Come on, man, you know. That bop, you know, they want that bop, they want that thot, they want that ho, it sounds like a rap song or something, huh? But here's what ends up happening, they get it, and you know, sin is pleasurable for a season, but then it starts coming out of their nostrils, and then they start realizing that this woman was not all that it was cracked up to be, they are making their lives a living hell. Or in other worst cases, they end up producing a bastard, and then, you know, the guy ends up wanting to get right with God, wants to serve God again, wants to get serious about the things of God, but now he has this bastard child, and he has this baby mama who's probably going to put him on child support, and all the slew of other problems that come with it. Because at the end of the day, why? Because they're not happy with the tranquil waters of Shiloh, that's why. You know, before you start complaining about what God has provided for you in the will of God, you might want to look at the alternative and the end of that alternative. Yeah, of course, sin looks so great on the outside, but you know, afterwards thy mouth shall be filled with gravel, the Bible tells us. You know, once you consume it, once you eat it, then you realize this is not everything those cracked up to be. And you say, well, you know, I'm in that state right now where I'm just tempted to go back to the world, or whatever it is, you know, what should I do? Well, do what Asaph did and just go to the house of God, because when you go to the house of God, then you understand the end of those people. You know, because then you got me calling out the hoes, and the thots, and the bops, and kind of pointing out the fact that it's stupid to want to go for such a wicked woman, and then you're like, oh yeah, it is dumb, oh man, why would I do that? Yeah, why would you do that? Stick to the waters of Shiloh. Stick to the waters of Shiloh. And this not only applies to young people, but even older men who are married, right? Drink waters out of thine own cistern, the Bible says. Drink water out of Shiloh, where God has provided for you the necessary spiritual waters that will actually quench your thirst, and God actually approves of, rather than seeking something outside of your marriage, some strange woman out there who's going to destroy your life. You could apply this all across the board to various things. At the end of the day, the important thing is here is that we just need to be content with what God has given to us, and at the end of the day, once you realize what the alternative is, you know, tranquil waters or a flood, I'll stick with the tranquil waters. You know, tranquil waters or a tsunami, I'll stick to the tranquil waters. You know, the waters of Shiloh or deep in the ocean with nothing to, no life jacket, no, you know, life saver, nothing, which one do you prefer? You know, you think of those, have you seen those Instagram videos where they always show a ship out in deep sea, and these massive waves that come? It's like, yo, ho, ho, ho, you know what I'm talking about? Everyone's laughing knows what I'm talking about, people aren't laughing, you guys are Facebook people, okay? You know, there's these videos out there that show you how like scary, you know, they call it thalassophobia, where it's just like people who are afraid of like the ocean because how vast and deep and dangerous it is, right? And they'll show these storms out in the oceans where the waves are just crashing on these ships, and it's just like terrifying, absolutely terrifying. Well that's what sin is, that's what it'll do to you, it'll just crush you. So I'll stick to the waters of Shiloh, but Israel did not want to do that, they don't want to stick to the waters of Shiloh, so then okay, then you're gonna, you know, you want something better, or what you think is better, then you're gonna suffer the consequences because of it. Let me read to you from Proverbs 1, verse 22, it says here, how long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity, and the scorners delight in scorning and fools hate knowledge. Turn ye at my reproof, behold I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you, because I have called and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded, but ye have said at naught all my counsel and with none of my reproof, I will also laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh. Now, whoever said that God doesn't have a sense of humor, here it says that God will literally laugh, and you know what, this is called dark humor, he's not laughing at like some PG joke, he's laughing at the calamity of the wicked, the ones who are simple, who love scorning, he's like I'm gonna laugh when you're destroyed. He said what makes you laugh when people are destroyed and they don't listen, that's basically what he's saying, and to add to that, he says I'm gonna laugh at your calamity and listen to this, I will mock when your fear cometh, you guys realize what that means, when he says mock when your fear cometh, it's like what do you do when you mock, you copy them, and God's like, that's basically what he's saying, that's all God feels when people are just constantly corrected, constantly reproved, and they just scorn at judgment, they love simplicity, they delight in scorning and criticizing the things of God, okay, there's gonna be a lot of mocking going on at the great white throne judgment, let's just put it that way, you know all these pages on social media that are dedicated to just making jokes about Jesus Christ and making fun of him and scorning him and blaspheming the Lord Jesus Christ and saying all kinds of wicked things, you know, they're gonna stand before God, and God's gonna be like, remember this meme, that's funny, you know, this is posted on, you know, April whatever, 2000, and he's gonna be like, no Lord, he's gonna be like, no Lord, drag this bozo out of you, throw him into the lake of fire, oh I think you're just pulling too much out, it literally says I will mock when your fear cometh, when your fear cometh as the desolation, your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you, this is what he's laughing at, then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer, they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me, for that they hated knowledge, they hate the Lord, because Jesus Christ is the source of knowledge, he is knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof, therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices, for the turning away of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them, but whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, listen to this, and shall be quiet from fear of evil, and how does this apply to Isaiah chapter 8, well he's proclaiming this judgment it's gonna come upon Israel because they have despised the waters of Shiloh but then later on he actually tells Isaiah like you're gonna be fine, because you're hearkening unto counsel, you're gonna dwell safely, and you know what it doesn't matter how bad America gets, doesn't matter what judgments God brings upon America, as long as we trust in the Lord, we hearken unto counsel, we shall be quiet from fear of evil, be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh, so he's saying you don't want the waters of Shiloh, okay I'll bring a flood upon you and then we'll see what you think about that, looking for saying he shall pass through Judah, he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of the land O Emmanuel, what is he saying here, so after Assyria does quick work of Israel and Syria, you know he's gonna seek to reach Judah, but he's not really gonna prevail, you know a lot of it is gonna affect Judah to a certain extent but as it says there it's gonna rise up even unto the neck, so like Syria and Israel they're just gonna drown, right, he's gonna destroy them but Judah's not gonna drown, he's gonna be up to the neck, you know you ever heard that phrase like I'm up to the neck and work or whatever it is like you feel like your head is just barely above water, well that's how they're gonna feel after Assyria is done with them, but this is obviously a indication or fulfillment that God will not allow them to prevail against Judah because God is with Judah, okay that's what he says there O Emmanuel, look at verse 9, associate yourselves O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces, what is he saying okay Israel you know you guys can associate yourselves, you guys can like band together, come up with a plan, a strategy, you're gonna be broken in pieces, give ear all ye of our countries, gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces, you can get all your armor on, you can gird yourself, put on your sword, you're still gonna be broken in pieces, gird yourselves and ye shall be broken in pieces, he repeats it twice verse 10 says take counsel together and it shall come to naught, speak the word and it shall not stand for God is with us, now who's the one saying God is with us, Isaiah is, so Isaiah is preaching this to Judah, he's preaching this particular obviously to Ahaz and Judah and he's saying like and Israel and and Syrian he's basically saying like you guys can do everything humanly possible on a practical level to defend yourself against Assyria, it's just not gonna work, you can take counsel together here what should we do, should we go hide, should we you know set up garrisons, should we create a flank, well what should we do to stop this or to survive it and God's like you can put the best plan together and it's just gonna come to naught, and I like what he says speak the word and it shall not stand, he's like I give you my word this is gonna happen we will succeed over Assyria and then God's like it's just not gonna happen, why because God is with us referring to Isaiah and of course in a crazy way he's like with Assyria as well, God is with Assyria to chastise Israel in Syria and of course God is with Isaiah and he's basically saying here that every precautionary measure can be taken against Assyria but it's just not gonna do any good and this kind of reminds me that when someone is really backslidden and they're you know they're at a church they're not reading the Bible anymore they're just not serving God they just can't prosper and they can do everything humanly possible to try to succeed to avoid chastisement, avoid the consequences of their action but it'll always come to naught, it always will, you know they try to do things their own way and they're not adhering to counsel or the Bible they're not listening to preaching anymore serving God is no longer a priority and they just are fixated on whatever God's gonna make that come to naught because as a child of God sometimes God just doesn't let you prosper if you're not putting first the kingdom of God in his righteousness you can have all the money in the bank you can have the best leadership skills all the connections everything humanly possible to succeed that all the gurus can say yeah if you do this you're good to go but if you don't have God then you're just toast it's just not gonna happen and it's gonna be so embarrassing too because one of the things that you'll see with when it comes to God chastising his children sometimes he'll allow them to think that they got it all together and then when it doesn't fall it doesn't go through it's just like what happened it's like I'll tell you what happened God wasn't in it because God is capable of making your devices come to naught if you're not putting him first won't do you any good okay you know horses of a the Bible says that a horse is a vain thing for safety and it says neither shall he deliver any by his great strength you can have the best horses the best army it's just not gonna do any good if God is not with you and the Bible tells us if God before us then who can be against us because it doesn't really matter how many weapons artillery artillery horses or you know nations do you have on your side at the end of the day us and God make the majority this is why it's not really important you know how many people are on our side this side of eternity you know the biggest false religion in the world is Catholicism and I think after that is like Islam they'll say Christianity but then they're talking about Catholicism because we obviously know that those are mutually exclusive but you know they lump them together they say Catholicism is the biggest you know and it's just like oh man you know then we're the minority it's the minority that goes to heaven though right broad is the way so the Bible says and so you can have the numbers in your religion you can have everyone agreeing with you but you know what if you don't have God who cares you're toast and this is very bold of Isaiah he's like come up with your strategy is gonna come to not because God is with us I mean that's very bold is very confident to say that right it says in verse 11 for the Lord spake thus and thus to me with a strong hand and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people saying say not a confederacy to all them to whom this people shall say a confederacy neither fear ye their fear nor be afraid he's instructing Isaiah saying look you know hey I know you're in Judah but you're not like them though you know he's the prophet of the Lord and obviously him and his family and I'm sure there's a remnant also who's who's following his message and he's like you know it's it don't allow them to fear monger you okay and you can see how Isaiah can be put in that position right if he's the only one standing up and believing this but then all of Judah is just freaking out they're all scared that can easily instill fear in the heart of Isaiah and he can easily be like oh confederacy you know they're confederate one with another what are we gonna do when they make the problem bigger than God basically and what God is telling Isaiah is like hey I like what he says neither fear ye their fear like don't adopt their fear okay don't be afraid don't fear be a person who trust in the Lord okay he says a verse 13 sanctify the Lord of hosts himself and let him be your fear and let him be your dread that is a very powerful verse there because at the end of the day if you truly fear God and not just fear him you dread him what does dread mean it's like excessive fear like you're just afraid of God then you are in good standings you're gonna be okay because God protects those who fear him he's merciful to them who fear him as high as the heavens are from the earth so great is his mercy towards them that fear him the Bible tells us so one of the greatest things that you can do as a Christian listen to me the greatest things the greatest virtue that you can learn as a Christian is train yourself to fear God think about how terrible and dreadful God what would you mean terrible yeah terrible he says himself that he's terrible and if you don't think he's terrible in other words dreadful and worthy of fear then you don't really know the God of the Bible very well because yes God is lovingly kind he's gracious he's merciful but man he can mop the floor with you in a matter of seconds if you want to he can literally destroy your life if you wanted to in such a replete manner that you just you just fall apart fall on your knees and just he'll bring you to your knees and you know if you're like yeah that you have no fear of God in your you know and I'm not saying that we just have to live like like just not you know that our fear of God somehow impedes our love for God okay you know I believe you can love God and equally be terrified of God as well you know I'm terrified of God's power I'm terrified of God's capability of just making my devices and my achievements come to not I'm terrified that God you say are you terrified of your enemies no I'm actually terrified of God using my enemies against me that's what I'm terrified of my enemies suck they're just homos and false prophets but I'm afraid of God though and you know that God can use those groups to completely completely bring me to not or to shame me or just destroy me I don't think they're capable of doing that I think God is capable of bringing that upon me you say then you know why would you fear that well the only reason I would fear that is if I'm in living in disobedience towards God because the examples that we see in the Bible is that God uses four nations and the enemies of God to chastise his people so that should motivate us to serve God and be in right standings with him right love the Lord and to obey God knowing full well that he can bring all types of trials and tribulations upon our life through the enemies of God if you wanted to and this is why God is telling Isaiah don't fear like they fear because their fear is not causing them to seek after God their fear is causing them to depend on Assyria it's like you know Americans today right American Christians got all these Democrats and liberals and just haters of God and you know a lot of conservative Christians just losing their minds and it's not causing them to get closer to God it's driving them to you know get the right guy in office but is that really the answer no the answer is fear God because the evil that shall come upon this nation because of the wicked leadership will not come in close proximity to you if you just fear God it shall not come nigh unto thee the Bible says but if you want to join yourself to that Confederacy Judah then you know what then Assyria can mop the floor with you too if you want to depend on the Assyria then Assyria shall be your shame it is gonna be that read that goes into your hand it's gonna be your shame it's gonna teach you a very grievous and painful lesson so don't let the fear of you know old IFP fundamental Baptist or Zionist Christians instill this fear in you that we have we must do something this year you know I just heard that Trump's going to jail or something he's guilty or something like that I don't know I just heard someone like wow that's crazy anyways but I'm sure there's there's Republicans and conservatives that are just like losing their minds my mind is still here my mind is in here I'm not losing my mind nor do I plan on losing my mind this entire year so what will cause you to lose your mind God I never want to lose my mind like Nebuchadnezzar right so it's important for us to let the Lord be our dread fear God contemplate and meditate in your heart how terrifying God is you're like I don't know if that's the right attitude then you need to read the Bible a little more because God delights in you fearing him in that manner because it shows it's an expression of humility it's an expression of faith and he repeatedly says in the Bible that we need to fear the Lord our God and it's not just reverence either that's like a given I mean unsafe people give God reverence you know that it should be a step up for believers that we actually are terrified of God it says in verse 14 and he shall be for a sanctuary so for us he's like a sanctuary right he's like a strong tower but it says but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel and for a jinn and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and many among them shall stumble and fall and be broken and be snared and be taken bind up the testimony seal the law among my disciples now that should ring a bell right because it's prophetic of the Lord Jesus Christ who's the rock of our salvation and he's basically saying you know the Assyrians are gonna destroy you but at the end of the day you're stumbling at the stone who's the stone the Lord Jesus Christ you're rejecting God you're rejecting Jehovah rejecting the Lord so now that rock is gonna be a stone of stumbling into you it's gonna offend you I'm gonna offend you is what God is saying there because of your rejection and this is true in Isaiah's day but it's so much the more true in the first century AD when Jesus Christ came let me read you a couple verses here go to first Peter chapter 2 if you would hold your place there in Isaiah we're almost done give me about five minutes and we're done let me read you from Matthew 21 verse 43 says therefore say I unto you the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof and whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken but on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder so you know if if they're trying to attack the Lord Jesus Christ they're gonna they're just gonna break themselves doing it okay but if he takes the initiative to fall upon them he's just gonna grind them to powder so this the stone of stumbling referring to the Lord Jesus Christ is basically saying that he's an adversary towards those who reject them look at first Peter 2 6 says wherefore also it is contained in the scripture behold I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone elect precious and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded you know like Isaiah he's not confounded unto you therefore which believe he is precious but unto them which be disobedient goose the stone which the builders disallowed or another way to say that the stone which the builders rejected the same is made the head of the corner and a stone of stumbling a rock of offense even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient whereunto also they were appointed so you know this is a very common disposition of the Israelites even from the Old Testament you know obviously the straw that broke the camel's back in the New Testament they rejected the Lord Jesus Christ but let's just be honest here Israel has just repeatedly rejected God throughout the Bible because this is prophesied all the way back in Isaiah's day God was offensive to them back then he was offensive towards the Israelites even back then and it's saying there he's he offends them because they're disobedient go back to Isaiah if you would and so that is obviously prophetic of the Lord Jesus Christ is a verse 17 and I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob and I will look for him behold I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts which dwelleth in Mount Zion so basically saying here is that he's gonna wait upon the Lord now what does it mean to wait upon the Lord well you think of a waiter a waiter serves so the way you wait upon the Lord is that you serve the Lord so if there's something that you are waiting for you're praying about you want God to bring your way you wait by waiting by being God's waiter basically you serve God come to church win people to Christ your blessing to your brother and sister brothers and sisters in Christ you serve God with your life you're waiting upon the Lord until he decides to give you that blessing that's what he's saying there verse 19 says well I'm gonna skip these last couple verses here but it's because it's pretty self-explanatory he's basically saying through verses 19 19 through 22 he's telling them not to seek for alternatives so he's basically telling them hey this is a very trying time don't look for the people with familiar spirits don't go to the Wizards look what it says at the latter end of verse 19 should not a people seek unto their God for the living to the dead you know that's a good verse for the Catholics right there why are you going to dead saints why why are you worshipping a corpse a relic you know because they always have these relics right it's like a body part of a supposed saint when it's probably just somebody they dug up because they're just morbid like that and God is like why don't you just ask me why do you got to go to all these other things these statutes they have no life go to God don't go for any other alternative go to God himself he says in verse 20 to the law and to the testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them and I'm gonna finish there but that's a great verse that basically says if someone's coming to you in the name of the Lord but they're not speaking according to this word there's no light in them if they come to you with traditions the traditions of men claiming to come in the name of the Lord there's no light in them and the same goes for the Israelites if they claim to be God's people but you know they are depending on Syria or like a has who depends on a Syria there's no light in them and so what is the message tonight it's simply this that you know at the end of the day no matter how much our enemies prosper this side of eternity mayor shall hash pass God's gonna make quick work of them one day they're gonna be like the chaff in the wind the Bible says right the righteous shall dwell in safety but the chaff will be blown away he's just gonna wipe them all out you know and obviously you like when when before he says mama and Papa just put it that way okay you know before it's even comes out of his mouth it's gonna happen in other words you know just it's gonna happen one day you just got to wait upon the Lord so keep serving God keep winning souls keep discipling people keep loving the brethren keep bringing your families to church keep raising them in the nurturing the admonition of the Lord because one day may her shall a hash baths is gonna say mama and Papa let's pray father we thank you so much for your word and thank you for this great lesson here in the book of Isaiah help us to give heed to these things Lord and recognize that you will make quick work of the enemies of God one day may we not fret because of the prosperity of the wicked but we may we recognize that vengeance is yours and you will repay one day Lord and as we wait upon that may we wait upon you and serve you all the days of our life knowing full well that you will recompense us for our works and recompense our enemies for their deeds Lord we love you we thank you pray these things in Jesus name amen all right turn to song number 343 revive us again song number 343