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But let's start there in Isaiah 1.1, it says, the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amos. So the title for the sermon tonight is The Vision of Isaiah. God's given Isaiah this vision, these are the words of God. It says, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. And so we see that we get a time period as to when this prophecy was written. And if we can compare, knowing full well that Judah was taken later on into captivity by the Babylonians, this prophecy of Isaiah commenced about 160 years before the Babylonian captivity. But that's what he's warning the nation of Judah about, that the Babylonians are going to take him into captivity. And also by looking at the names of the kings of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Ahaz, the kings of Judah, we can see that roughly his ministry was about 85 years long, 85 years long, ministry. That's a long time of service. And obviously, within that time frame, if he started about 160 years before the Babylonian captivity and preached for 85 years, within his period of time, he would have also seen the northern kingdom of Israel taken into captivity or being dispersed by the Assyrian Empire. Now, the other thing about the book of Isaiah, I've heard it commonly suggested, obviously not by Bible believers, not by pastors of our churches, but by those that are kind of critical of the scriptures, some people believe that the book of Isaiah has two Isaiahs, two different writers. Now, obviously, for us, we would clearly disagree with that. OK, we say, no, I mean, it's definitely the same Isaiah. But why do you think, I don't know, has anyone heard that? Why do people think that there are two Isaiahs that wrote the book of Isaiah? Yeah, Ramson? They said from chapter 40 onwards, it's different the way God speaks and... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So from chapters 1 to 39, it's really bad. The prophecies toward Judah are horrible, and it leads up to speaking of their captivity, which is obviously by the hands of the Babylonians. Then starting in chapter 40, it's like there's a new tune. Now we're talking about the restoration, and things sound a lot nicer. It's not so judgmental, if you want to put it that way. And some people think, man, Isaiah's really changed his tune. This must be a different writer. This must be someone completely different. And that's actually what brings of interest to me with the book of Isaiah, because how many chapters of the book of Isaiah have? 66. 66, right? And how many chapters, yeah, and how many books of the Bible are there? 66. And how many chapters of the Old Testament are there? 39. 39. And chapter 40 is when the tune changes. So you've got the first 39 chapters of this judgment coming upon the Jews, and then you've got this deliverance, this idea of coming back into the land, starting from chapter 40. And so many people, and I do believe this, just by my own, I haven't researched this in any great depth, OK? I'll be honest with you. But I have seen many similarities with the chapters of Isaiah correspond with the books of the Bible in the order that we have it. So for example, Isaiah, we're going to look at this soon, Isaiah chapter 1, has a lot of similarities with the book of Genesis, because Genesis is the first book of the Bible. Isaiah chapter 40 has a lot of, well, that would be the 40th book of the Bible, which is the book of Matthew, the start of the New Testament. There's a lot of similarities with the book of Matthew. And then with Isaiah 66, that would correspond with the book of Revelation. And there's a lot of similarities with the book of Revelation. And so it is said, and I believe it's true, that the book of Isaiah is like this mini Bible, you know, mini Bible within its own book. Now, just to give an example of this, if you come with me to Isaiah 40, you know, come with me to Isaiah 40, please, Isaiah 40, of course, this would correspond with the book of Matthew. And in the book of Matthew, we're introduced firstly to John the Baptist, who announces the arrival, the soon arrival of the Christ, the Messiah. And in Isaiah 40, verse 3, the Bible reads, The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. I mean, for you that know the Bible, you know that's definitely the words of John the Baptist. Okay, that's no surprise. Now, come with me to Isaiah 66, Isaiah 66, the last book of the Bible, sorry, last book of Isaiah, and how it corresponds to the book of Revelation, Isaiah 66, please, Isaiah 66, and verse number 22, Isaiah 66, verse number 22 reads, For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, save the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And so we see the introduction to the new heavens and new earth, which the book of Revelation, of course, you know, it's one of the main topics, right, of the book of Revelation as you get toward the end of the Bible. So I hope you can kind of see, it's quite interesting. I'm going to do the best I can, as much as I have the time to do this research, to flesh out as we go chapter by chapter through the book of Isaiah, you know, showing you how the other books of the Bible that are corresponding to these chapters, how, where the similarities are, I hope I can do that for you. So let's go back to Isaiah chapter 1, Isaiah chapter 1, verse number 2, and that's why I have a real interest in the book of Isaiah. Like, that's really why, and I thought, you know, once the recommendation came, Isaiah go, all right, let's do it. Isaiah chapter 1, please, and verse number 2, it says, Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. Now, if you've just taken to heart what I told you, that Isaiah chapter 1 corresponds with the book of Genesis, when you read verse number 2, like, it should just, the book of Genesis should just jump out at you in verse number 2. Should it not? It says, Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth. Genesis 1, 1, of course, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. We have introduction to the heaven and the earth, and it says, For the Lord hath spoken, and what does Genesis 1, 3 say? And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. And of course, God spoke creation into existence. For the Lord hath spoken. And then it says, in verse number 2, and, sorry, verse number 2, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. Well, you know, what does that sound like? Of course, once God creates Adam and Eve, they rebelled against the Lord, and they were kicked out of the garden. And not only that, then even mankind was so wicked, we know that we're then brought into the story of Noah's flood, where there was such great wickedness upon the earth. But, you know, the Lord God provided Adam and Eve everything they needed in the garden, right? They had work, they had food, they had comforts. And then in Genesis 3, 17, once Adam sinned against the Lord, and unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened, because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it. Cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. And so Adam and Eve, they rebelled against the Lord. And again, as we go through this chapter by chapter, verse by verse, I wanna try to bring out the similarities with those books of the Bible. But again, the primary, I don't want you to lose the primary reason the book of Isaiah has been written here. God is speaking to the southern kingdom of Judah, all right? He's telling the Jews, look, you're rebelling against me. He sent the prophet Isaiah to give them this warning. 160 years before the Babylonian captivity, God is telling them, look, you gotta get right, otherwise destruction's gonna fall upon you. Then he says in verse number three, Isaiah 1, three, The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib, but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. He says, look, even the animals know who their owners are, even the ox, you know, even the animals obey their masters, right? Pets know the voice of their creator, but he says, look, you guys are like less obedient than animals. You're less obedient than animals. I'm always amazed when we see Jesus Christ come to this earth, we see the stories, how he was able to calm the seas. And you know, we understand that there's a consciousness in man and even within animals, but how is it that creation can obey the very will of Jesus Christ when he calms the oceans? And I think it's amazing how even the climate is able to obey the Lord God, but we as human beings many times rebel against him. We can't even, you know, it's so easy for us to fall into sin, and of course it's so easy for these Jews to have gone so far with the Lord that the Lord says even the animals are more obedient than you are. Verse number four, it says, A sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters, they have forsaken the Lord. They have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger. They have gone away backward. All right, so they've forsaken the Lord. They've provoked God to anger, they've gone backward. And of course, this is the concept that we often hear about in our churches, the idea of backsliding, going backward. Can you please keep your finger there and come with me to the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 12, please, Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. We don't wanna be backsliders. And you know, it's quite interesting. There are times that certain questions, certain topics come up to me, certain inquiries, and it's usually when there's a certain topic, I usually get asked by like several people in my churches, whether it's at Blessed Hope or at New Life of the Church. Like, it's always interesting to me. I don't know if these are conversations that I had amongst brethren, and then I might get questions from multiple people, or if someone's heard a sermon maybe, as maybe everyone's heard a similar sermon, and then I get kind of questions asked, or I don't know. Maybe it's just, you know, the Lord, you know, moving our minds and hearts together as a people asking similar questions. But what we identify here, of course, the danger of going backwards is something that provokes the Lord God through anger. And look, not only have we been saved as God's people, but we should be progressing forward in our walk with the Lord, in our relationship with God, our knowledge of the Bible, you know, living a holy life. You know, as the years go by, as time goes by, we ought to be getting better as God's people, growing, maturing, being that perfect man that we've been looking at for the past several months. But there is a time in your life where you may backslide, okay? And I feel the question that I come to get asked is, you know, if we are not doing more today than we were yesterday, then we are backsliding. And the problem, and look, I like the idea, I like the idea that, like, okay, tomorrow I should be doing more Bible reading than yesterday, but then eventually gonna get to a point, let's say Bible reading, just as an illustration, all right? It can be how many times we meet at church, it can be how much hours we go soul-willing, it can be whatever, you know, task you may have. The problem with that, let's say you do one hour of Bible reading every day. You go, all right, next six months I need to be doing two hours of Bible reading every day, because I need to be on the upward, I need to be doing more. And then six months later, I need to be doing three hours of Bible reading every day. Look, eventually down a few years, you're gonna be doing 12 hours of Bible reading, and you're not gonna have time for anything else in life, right, we've been 24 hours of Bible reading, and you're like, oh man, if I'm doing 12 hours of Bible reading, but then I drop down to 10 hours of Bible reading a day, I'm backsliding. Well, that's wrong, that's a crazy idea. Backsliding is going from whatever hours of Bible reading you're doing, or whatever minutes of Bible reading you're doing, to no Bible reading, okay? Or obeying God's commands, to not obeying God's commands. That would mean going backward. And I wanna show you this in Hebrews 12, verse one, please. Hebrews 12, verse one, the idea of backsliding, especially when it comes to New Testament churches, is this race that God has set before us in Hebrews 12, verse one, And look, we are on a racetrack, a spiritual racetrack that God has given each one of us, and we wanna get to the finish line. And we wanna run, right, to run, we need to run. But many times people forget the next words, Run with patience. Patience, and this is why we come and say, hey, the Christian life is not a sprint, it's a marathon. And if you know what a marathon race is, there are times that you can run fast, but there'll be times that you need to slow down. But the point is, just because you slow down, because you need to conserve your energy, or because the situation demands it, like, obviously, if you're running up a hill, you're gonna be running slower than running down a hill, right? Depending on the race, there's gonna be different scenarios in life where you can run hard and run fast sometimes, but there'll be other times that all you can do is walk briskly, okay? To conserve your energy, but hey, some people have the idea, well, if I was running, but now I'm walking, I'm backsliding. And what I'm saying to you, no, as long as you're taking one step forward, doesn't matter how fast it is, if you're doing it with patience, one step forward at a time, you are not backsliding. You are not backsliding. It's when you get off the race, all right? Or we start running backwards, that would be backsliding. But look, slowing down at a time where you need to, for whatever those reasons are, it might be sickness, right? It might be tribulations and turmoils that you're going through in life where you can't run as hard as you used to. It might be, like the apostle Paul says, that he's a single man, hey, that his priority is the kingdom of God, but he says that a married man, he has the cares of the world, right? He has to care for his wife. And of course, a man who is married cannot run as quickly or effectively as a man who is single in the service of the Lord. But hey, your life is going to dictate how fast you can run. But the most important thing is that you're always taking one step forward at a time. Come with me to another passage in 1 Corinthians 9, 1 Corinthians 9, please. 1 Corinthians 9. 1 Corinthians 9 and verse number 24. 1 Corinthians 9, verse number 24. 1 Corinthians 9 and verse number 24. Know ye not that they which run, run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the prize, so run that ye may obtain. And then notice this, verse number 25. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible, okay? So we're on this race to earn incorruptible crowns, incorruptible rewards in heaven. But notice every man that strived for the mastery is temperate in all things. That's like running with patience. The word temperate means with self-control. There are times that you need to assess your life. Can I run hard? Can I run fast? I can, then I will. Hey, right now, I can't. You've got to control yourself, right? There are times you can. Sometimes you can't run as quickly. But the idea once again is that you're taken one step forward at a time. You know, you're still walking in the Lord and you haven't forsaken him, right? When God spoke about the nation of Judah here, speaking about going backwards, he says it's because you've forsaken the Lord, all right? So please don't have this. Don't put yourself up because maybe you can't run as fast as you used to, okay? Maybe you need to slow down in order for you to conserve your energy to be able to progress faster at some other point in time, okay? But you need to run with patience and you need to be temperate because I've said it so many times, I'm sick and tired of seeing so many believers that are so zealous, so on fire, they're running so hard, then they run harder and they run harder, they burn out and you don't ever see them anymore. You know, it's like they forsake church, they forsake the Lord, they're back in the world. They truly are backsliders. It's because they burnt out. But Brevin, you need to understand, as long as you're taking one step forward, you are doing well, okay? You're doing well for the Lord. But when it comes to the people of Judah, they've fallen off the track, they've forsaken the Lord, they're backsliding, okay? Back to Isaiah chapter one and verse number five. Isaiah chapter one, verse number five. Isaiah chapter one, verse number five. Why should you be stricken anymore? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick and the whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot even unto the head, there is no soundness in it. But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores, they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointments. God is telling about the nation, you've gotten so far from me, right? You fall in so much weakness that you've sustained injuries on your journey, okay? And injuries that you're not even healing from. It's like you just keep getting more injured, more injured. He talks about the purifying sores. He says, look, some of your sores have become infected, right, there's infection growing in you. And what we learn here, brethren, is that when we sin against the Lord, and as we go about life and we commit sin, whether it's what we do, what we say, what we think, we are hurting ourselves. It's like we're trying to run the race that is set before us, we commit a sin, and it's like we've sustained an injury, all right? We've cut ourselves, and the idea there is to understand, look, when we sustain injuries, we want to heal that injury. We want to fix that injury, right? When we sin against the Lord, we don't want to just stay in that sin and, well, I don't care what you have to say, Lord, I'm just going to continue to sin against you. No, we know that we ought to confess our sins before the Lord and be made right with him. But when it comes to the city of the nation of Judah, look, they're in a sinful condition, they're so backslidden, and they're not going to God for healing. Therefore, God says in verse number seven, "'Your country is desolate. "'Your cities are burned with fire. "'Your land, strangers, devour in your presence. "'It is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.'" So the southern kingdom of Judah, the nation is deteriorating, right? It says your cities are burned with fire, like they're suffering. You know, like Australia, like we're starting to see bushfires again, aren't we, when it comes, well, pretty often, as we come around the summer, the springtime and summer seasons, it says, look, you've suffered fires, and there's damage on your land. You've got strangers devouring your land. You know, we often talk about Australia, like in Australia, one of the things that is commonly spoken about is how the Chinese are buying up our land, right? You've got strangers that are taking ownership of the land that is supposed to be for the people of Australia. Well, something similar is happening to those of Judah, right, you've got strangers buying up the land, meaning that, you know, the economies of these other nations are much stronger than the economy in Judah. That's why it says it's desolate, overthrown by strangers, look at verse number eight, And the daughter of Zion is left, Zion is another way of just saying Jerusalem, okay, it's about Mount Zion, Jerusalem, where it's located, instead of it being a city, it says, is left as a cottage, like instead of being this grand city, you know, the great city of David and of Solomon, it's like a cottage now, in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city, I'm not sure what the significance of cucumbers are, okay, but it might be, it might be, like as a besieged city, it might be a reference to the fact that they may not have the kind of, the food that they used to have, right, and now they're maybe just consuming cucumbers and basic greens, rather than, you know, eating properly, because it's like a besieged city, it's like a city that's surrounded by enemies, but it hasn't been surrounded by enemies yet, again, that'll happen 160 years from now, but God is telling them, look, your economy is collapsing, your land is falling apart, you know, it's like if you were driving the streets of Sydney, and like there might be potholes everywhere, right, that never get hit, never get fixed, it seems like just everything is deteriorating, you know, God, this is a judgment of God upon a nation, and Judah is suffering because of this, right? And then it says in verse number nine, verse number nine is really interesting, he says, except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like Gomorrah, hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom. That's, he's not talking about Sodom, because something's been destroyed. When he says ye rulers of Sodom, it's been the rulers of Judah at this point, right? Give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. And of course, where are we introduced to Sodom and Gomorrah in the Bible? The book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, and now we see Judah is being described spiritually as a Sodom and Gomorrah, and you know, I have no doubt that the reason God uses this language, I'm sure Sodomy is becoming rampant in the city as well. I'm sure they're not, you know, putting these wicked perverts, these wicked sodomites to death, right? They're letting this sin run rampant in the city, and so God calls Judah, Jerusalem, Sodom, Gomorrah, and we know of course, how God destroyed those wicked cities. Now, what's really interesting about this, he says in verse number nine, we should have been a Sodom, meaning by now we should have been destroyed, but why have we not been destroyed? Because it says the Lord of the hosts have left unto us a very small remnant. There is a group of believers, Isaiah being one of them, right? There is a group of believers on the land where God has refrained his destruction for the sake of that small remnants of believers that still love him. And I often think about the city of Sydney. We know that every year there's the Mardi Gras parades, and you know, to me, this is like, this is Sodom. You know, when I think about this, at least the city is in Australia. Sydney is like the Sodom, the modern day Sodom and Gomorrah of Australia. And you know, I've heard preachers say, you know, if God doesn't judge, like I've heard this many years ago, I'm saying decades now, you know, I've heard preachers, pastors say, man, if God doesn't destroy Sydney, or judge Sydney, he's gonna have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. Now, I don't like that statement. I don't think God has to apologize for anything. Because everything is in God's time in any way. But the reason, I suspect, just by looking at the reason Sydney still stands is because there's a small remnant. Like we as God's people are very important in the eyes of God. You know, as much as God may want to destroy a wicked city, and I'm not gonna sit here to say Sydney doesn't deserve it, I believe it does deserve it. But the fact that it hasn't yet been destroyed just tells me, hey, look, there's still believers. There is still a remnant, there's still at least Blessed Hope Baptist Church in Sydney, where God has withheld his judgment. And brethren, this tells me that the work that we do as soul winners is so important, not just for the saving of the souls, which is the most important thing, but for the sustainability of the city to continue, that we can continue to live here, work here, serve God here, win souls here. And look, if we stop the soul winning, like if all the great churches that love the Lord stop soul winning, and we don't see the next generations come to the Lord as believers, then I can be confident that the city of Sydney is gonna be destroyed pretty quickly. So our role is very important. Now come with me to Genesis, please, keep your finger there. Come with me to Genesis 18. Genesis 18, verse number 23. Genesis 18, 23. And you all know this, but I just wanna just read it to you and for you to meditate upon these words. Because the Lord comes to Abraham with two angels, the two angels that went to Sodom, that ended up pulling that lot and his family out of the city before God destroyed it. But God tells Abraham, look, I'm gonna destroy that wicked city. And in verse number 23, Abraham Jr. and said, will thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Like, you're kind of thinking, man, if I was Abraham, I'd be like, God, wipe him out. But Abraham, he has his nephew Lot on the land, right? He's like, man, he's thinking of Lot. He's thinking about the righteous. And look, when you read the story of Lot in the Old Testament, I don't see any righteousness. I don't see any righteousness in that man whatsoever. Right, I mean, he does some horrible things and lives in a horrible city. We know that he vexes his soul. But don't forget that salvation is not based on our righteousness. It's based on the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And the reason Abraham was able to speak about the righteous in Sodom is because he knows that his nephew Lot is saved, okay? So God, are you really gonna destroy your people? You know, when you destroy Sodom. Then he says in verse number 24, peradventure, there be 50 righteous within the city. Will thou also destroy and not spare the place for the 50 righteous that are therein? God, what if there's 50 saved people in the city? You know, are you sure you can destroy the city? What about the 50 righteous people, the 50 believers? Verse number 25, that be far from thee to do after this matter, to slay the righteous with the wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee, shall not the judge of all the earth do right? And the Lord said, if I find in Sodom 50 righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. So God says, all right, if there's 50. Now look, I'm not sure, the numbers just say blessed are about this church, I think it's Sunday morning. My mom texts me different numbers sometimes. Apparently there was about 40 of you guys meeting on Sunday, all right? Now I suspect there's gonna be at least 10 other believers out there in Sydney, okay? So you're doing a good job, right? You're doing a good job in this, right? And God will protect, will not destroy a city, will not destroy the rights of the wicked. You know, you see here, if there's 50. And then in verse 127, and Abraham answered and said, behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes, proadventure, there shall like 50 of the 50 righteous. Will thou destroy all the city for lack of five? So, and he said, if I find there 40 and five, I will not destroy it. Look, even 45, I'm not gonna destroy it. And he spoke unto him yet again and said, proadventure, there shall be 40 found there. And he said, I will not do it for 40 sakes, for 40 sake. Now look, we know that Lot, his wife, his two daughters, and he's got other two daughters that were married, okay? So if his own family are all saved, you've got six people in that family, okay? And hopefully they married, saved men, all right? Hopefully that's what happened. But that would be another eight at least. I don't know if Lot had any grandchildren or what have you, don't have enough information. But, and look, some of you guys have seen 50 people saved in your life. When it comes to all the years that you've gone soul winning over the last few years, I'm sure some of you have seen at least 50 people saved. Now when you think about Lot, he's been there for some time in the city, and Abraham is going down these numbers. Lord, look, just 50, look, 45 and 40, you know? And what does God say in verse 29? And he spoke unto him yet again and said, proadventure, there shall be 40 found there. And he said, I will not do it for 40 sake. And he said unto him, oh Lord, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak, proadventure, there shall be 30 found there and he said, I will not do it if I find 30 there. And he said, behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, proadventure, there shall be 20 found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for 20 sake. And he said, oh, let not the Lord be angry and I will speak yet but this once. Because Lord, just let me speak one more time. Let me ask you one more time, okay? Proadventure, 10, 10 shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for 10 sake. So if Lot and his wife are saved and his two daughters that are with him and the other two daughters, that's eight. Is that right? Lot, wife, the two daughters, two more daughters, the husbands they married, okay, that's eight, hopefully. You know, all they need to do is win two souls in the city and the city will be saved, right? If they were saved, if those individuals saved. I'm just saying like, if Lot did a decent job, right? In his life. What's the result? Come with me to the next chapter, Genesis 19. Genesis 19, verse number 24. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah, brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities and all the plain and all the inhabitants of the cities that which grew upon the ground. God destroys the two cities, Sodom and Gomorrah. He could not even find 10 righteous people in that land. Praise God for blessing our Baptist church. We'll find more than 10 righteous people in blessing our Baptist church, I'll tell you that. And look, again, I'm just trying to show you how important it is that we serve the Lord, that we love the Lord, that we're saved, that we're living in a city and doing their work for him, trying to cause more people to call upon Christ for salvation. But look, if not, you know, if not for the small remnant in Judah, come back with me to Isaiah one, then God would have destroyed the city long time ago. You know, and the major sins, of course, of Sodom and Gomorrah was homosexuality, LGBT. You guys know how much that nonsense has been pushed down, you know, the throats of children in Australia by the education system. You know, teachers forcing students to just choose your pronouns. And if you're like, let's say you're just a normal student. You're like, okay, I guess I've got to choose pronouns. I'm a them. Oh, welcome to the LGBT community. And all of a sudden, right, well, it used to be like 2% of the population. Now they're saying they're 20% because these children are going through school and they're being brainwashed to think, maybe I am one of these people. Maybe I should experiment with my body and see what happens. But it's weakness. Judah had gotten so bad that God calls them Sodom and Gomorrah. And look, that's not the first time. If you know the book of Revelation, God calls Jerusalem Sodom in the book of Revelation once again, okay? So that time is coming in the future and once again, God's going to look down upon that land and refer to that nation as Sodom. Verse number 11. Actually, you know what? There's one more thing I want to touch upon here. If you can come with me to Matthew 11, please. Matthew 11. Matthew 11. Because the question will become, well, hold on. We know that those sodomites, they're reprobates, they're rejected by God. You know, God was right to destroy them. God was right to rain down fire and brimstone and bring hell and earth upon them. But if God is calling Judah, Sodom and Gomorrah here, then why doesn't God just wipe them out if they're reprobate? But one thing you need to remember when it comes to those two cities, they did not start reprobate. Like those two cities, Sodom and Gomorrah, there was a time when they could have gotten saved. There was a time when they could have fixed themselves up. They could have believed on Lord God and they would have survived. They would still be retaining, they would still be a city on the day when Christ walked the earth. And I wanna show you this here in Matthew 11, please. Matthew 11, 23. Matthew 11, 23. Christ is rebuking the city of Capernaum that he traveled into frequently, did great miracles, did great works, preached great sermons, and he starts to rebuke the city of Capernaum. In verse number 23, it says, And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell, for if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. Jesus is saying, look, if I did the works that I did in new Capernaum back at a time when Sodom was not reprobate, a time when I didn't have to rain down fire and brimstone and destroy them, they would have been amazed, they would have believed on me and they would have remained as a city until that very day. But then it says in verse number 24, But I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee. What I'm trying to show you is, even though we know Sodom and Gomorrah for their homosexuality and for being reprobates and for being destroyed, they did not start that way, obviously. There was a time when if God did those works, if Jesus Christ was walking the earth, they would have believed on him. And Brevin, even though I think of Sydney as spiritual sodomy of Australia, look, God has not yet rained down fire and brimstone. It's still an opportunity. We're not to just give up on this city. It's still an opportunity to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and praise God, we're still seeing people saved. Even this past week, we've seen people saved. We've seen people call upon the name of the Lord. So don't give up on this city. Don't give up on the city of Sydney. Yes, it's wicked. Yes, probably would have been destroyed by now if not for a faithful remnant. But look, as long as God has us here and souls are getting saved, keep doing the work. Keep doing the work that God has given us. Verse number 11, Isaiah 1-11, Isaiah 1-11. Now this is, the next things that we're reading here is a big slap in the face, okay? Now, we know they're backsliding. We know they've gone backwards. We know they've forsaken the Lord. But if you went to Judah during this time, you'd be going, hold on, God. They're doing the sacrifices. They're going to the temple. They're doing all the things you've asked of them, Lord. Because he says in verse number 11, to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? Sayeth the Lord, I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and of the fat of the fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks or of lambs or of the he-goats. Because look, you're doing it all. You're doing all the sacrifices. Because, but I'm full of it. Like, why are you even doing all this, okay? Because look, we can see something that you can do the right things. You can tick the boxes, but your heart and your mind can be far from the Lord, right? You can come to church. You can tick the box. I've been to church. I've read my Bible. But you know that in your life, your heart can be full of wickedness, full of sin, full of rebellion against the Lord. So God is saying, look, you do these things, but for what purpose, for what points? Again, we're introduced to the sacrifices. We're introduced to the sacrifices, of course, in the book of Genesis. But then in verse number 12, when you come to appear before me, who have required this at your hand, to tread my courts? He says, who told you to come and do these sacrifices? Say, well, you have God. Yeah, but God, why don't you do what we've loved toward him? As a service toward him, right? He says in verse number 13, bring no more vain oblations. Incest is an abomination unto me. The new moons and Sabbaths. Hey, they're doing the festivals. They're doing the holidays. Because all of that is abomination to me. It means nothing. Look, he says, the calling of assemblies. You know, the church is the assembly. Coming to church together, right? He goes, I cannot away with. It is iniquity. Even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hateth. They are a trouble unto me. I am weary to bear them. Go, what? God, you told him to do all these things. He goes, they are a trouble unto me. I'm weary to bear them. You know the best way this describes churches today? Well, in fact, it's the majority of churches today. Those that are called church, and they do the songs, they do the praise, they do the sacrifices, whether it's a sacrifice of singing or what have you, but their hearts far from the Lord. In so many churches, so-called churches, they're doing the practices, they're ticking the boxes, but they're not even preaching the gospel. The gospel's corrupted. It's another Jesus, or it's another spirit of the charismatic movements, or the Catholic church. They've got all the bells and whistles and all the fancy buildings and the riches, but you know they don't serve the Jesus Christ that we serve. You know, the Mary that they worship is not the Mary that gave birth to Jesus Christ, some pagan God that they worship. God says he hates it, you know? And you know, we also hate these false churches. You know, one of the saddest things, I grew up, you know, if you guys know that I grew up in a Baptist church, I went to Cabramatta Baptist Church, you guys want to know. I'm going to go visit it, it's not a big deal. Well, not visit the service, I avoid the service. But the last time I stepped foot there was the 100 year anniversary, 100 years of the church. That was maybe seven years ago. I'm just kind of taking a guess. 100 years, all right. And look, and I learned a lot of Bible in that church. And the theme of that 100 year service was they were going through the years. So they went through, they showed pictures of it being started and the founding members and the preaching of God's word. And they had an old King James Bible, a big King James Bible that used to preach from him and preach from. And I mean, all that was wonderful and great. And then they get to the modern years and then it's like, oh, I remember some of those faces, I remember those people. And it brought back some, remember those great preachers that I used to hear from? And then it just kept changing, like it got more modern, more modern. And they're just showing the change of music, the change of Bibles, the change of doctrines. And then at the end of it to celebrate, they had, because it's Cabramatta, they had a Vietnamese, oh no, the thing was Thai. They had some Thai girl, Thai girl dancers, and the Thai girl are dancing and doing their traditional dance. And I'm like, what? Like what, what is this? What, are they dancing for Jesus? I've never seen this before. I mean, I was kind of enjoying it for a moment. I was enjoying the history and the reminders that I used to see the great teachers I learned from, but the church has changed so much. They're doing all these activities and these cultural dances, but it's not teaching the Bible. It's not teaching the gospel. They're teaching from false Bibles. And I just go, man, how far can a church go in 100 years? We ought to be thankful for blessed up at this church. And I'm not saying because I'm the pastor. Look, even if I wasn't the pastor, I'd be thankful for this church, right? A church that says, you know what? We're going to preach God's word without compromise. We're not going to change. We're going to stay to the Kije's Bible. We're going to go soul winning. And even if we stay a small church, it doesn't matter. We know we're right with God. We're serving him. We're running the race and we're not backsliding. That's what I want for our church. And you know, the fact that God says all these words, you know, there's another time when King Saul tried to offer a sacrifice when he shouldn't have, right? And he's doing the religious acts. And then the prophet Samuel gets sent to him. And Samuel says, Have the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord. Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice. So what do we learn? Yeah, they're doing the sacrifices in this time in Isaiah 1, but then they're obeying the Lord, right? They're doing the religious acts, okay? But then they go home and they're full of wickedness, right? They're letting the city run rampant with sodomites. You know, they're not passing judgment. They don't love the Lord. They've forsaken the Lord. But they're doing the religious practice. You know, again, we want to apply that to us. It's one thing to say, oh, they did it, but apply it here. And look, I'm thankful. I always say I'm thankful for you guys that come for the minimum service. But don't just tick a box. Don't just come, oh, I'm here, tick the box. Make sure your heart is right with the Lord. Make sure your heart is Lord. I want to learn from your word tonight. Lord, I want to praise you, prepare my heart, because I know my heart is wicked. I know I can be easily distracted Lord, I know I can easily make, you know, my imaginations can run wild into fleshly, lustful things potentially, Lord. But Lord, please keep my heart and mind upon you when I come into your house and please receive our sacrifices. And help me to be obedient to your word, Lord, all right? We want to have the right attitude when we come to God's house. Isaiah 115. And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you. When you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Look, when the Bible says your hands are full of blood, it speaks of murder. You know, Judah is full of murder, okay? And look, they're spreading forth their hands and lifting up, look how religious we are! Look at us, God! God says, I will hide mine eyes from you. I can't even see it, I can't even look at you. You're so filthy, you murderers. Look, I don't know, going back, I got these stats like 10 years ago or more. 250 babies have been murdered by abortion in Australia every single day by abortion doctors. Every single day, 250 babies. And we're not even talking about the pill, okay? And the soft abortions that occur because of that kind of practice. 250, I mean, look, if there's a city full of, or if there's a nation whose hands are full of blood, it's Australia. It's definitely Australia. And God says, look, I'm gonna hide mine eyes from you. Keep your finger there, come with me to Genesis chapter four. Genesis four. You know, I told you that there's a lot of similarities with the book of Genesis. And the first murder that we read about, of course, is in the book of Genesis, Cain murdering his brother Abel. And God asks Cain, hey, Cain, tell me about your brother. You know, the oil, am I my brother's keeper? You know that passage. But then in verse number 10, and he said, what hast thou done? God's asking Cain. What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground, and now art thou cursed from the earth, which have opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. God says to Cain, your hands are full of your brother's blood. And remember what God said in Isaiah. He said, I'll hide my eyes from you. Well, look how Cain responds in verse number 13. And Cain said unto the Lord, my punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I be hid. Right, so Cain recognizes, God, you can't even look at me. And look, when it comes to Judah, not only are like Sodom and Gomorrah, but now they're like Cain. They're murderers, where God can't even look upon them because of their wickedness. He says, Cain says, and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth, and it shall come to pass that everyone that findeth me shall slay me. Look, murder results in murder. You know, why is there so much suffering and wolf and bloodshed in Palestine, Israel and the Palestinians? It's just murder after murder, back and forth, back and forth. Who started it? I don't know. I don't really care. But what I see is wickedness amongst two nations. And all it does, brethren, is breed more murder, more blood, okay? And it's, oh, I've got to pray. Look, God's eyes are hid from that nation. There are wicked people, right? Look, the Jews reject Jesus Christ. And the Muslims, they don't believe God has a son. But thank God, I'm sure there's still some remnant in the land. If you're going to be praying for anybody in that land, pray for believers, or pray that those that are suffering would reassess what they're doing and maybe call upon the real Lord, the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham. They both honor Abraham, they say. Well, let me not pray that these Jews, these Palestinians would open their eyes and truly seek the God of Abraham, then the God of their false religions. Isaiah 1, 16. Oh, God gives them a chance. Wash you, make you clean. Put away the evil from your doings from before mine eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do well. Seek judgment. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plea for the widow. He says, look, have some justice and some judgment on your land. Like, stop committing such wickedness. Clean yourselves up. Again, God gives them chance. And you'll see, obviously, in the Old Testament prophets, so much judgment upon the nations, but you see constantly God giving them the opportunity to be made right with God. How do we apply this to our lives? Don't forget the moment you're saved, you're in the righteousness of Christ, okay? And as a reminder, even though we're saved positionally before God through Christ Jesus, we have our walk, and our walk, we mess up, we make mistakes, we sin against the Lord, we rebel against the Lord, don't we? And as I mentioned, as the nation rebelled and got these injuries, your sin causes injuries on your body, all right? And the mistake of the Jews at this point in time, they didn't seek to heal. They didn't seek to recover, right? Their injuries became infected. And brethren, when you've got sin in your life, you better get right with God in your spiritual walk as soon as possible. Ask God to heal you. You don't want those injuries, that sin, to fester, to become infectious, where it starts to go over your entire body, and before you know it, you're in excessive wickedness. You guys know this passage, 1 John 1-8, for if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Look, we're all sinners, even though we're saved, we still sin, all right? If you say we have no sin, you deceive yourself, and the truth is not in you. But then it says in verse number nine, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So who heals us when we have injuries, sinful injuries? It's God who heals us. But we have to be willing to confess and say, God, I've sinned against you once again, please heal me, please cleanse me, please forgive me, and he will. The Jews, they couldn't even face God, they couldn't even go to God and say, God, forgive us. We've messed up, we've done wrong. And God's given them the chance. Look, clean yourself up so I can look at you once again. Verse number 18. Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you be willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. Come now, let us reason together, verse number 18. You know, when you sin against the Lord and you're in darkness and you're embarrassed, you know you're far from the Lord, God's saying to you, come now, let us read, come, let's talk about this. You know, let's deal with this. That's what God wants from us. And we need to remind ourselves, because I remember, you know, not now, but I remember when I was young in the faith, I'd sin against my Lord and I'd be too embarrassed. I'd say, oh, I would think, God, you must be sick of me. God, you're not going to forgive me now. Because I just asked you yesterday to forgive me and I've done it again. Or maybe I've done it twice in one day. Or surely, God, you're sick of me. But he says, no, no, come now, let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Like, we serve a great God, like we truly do. Like, we're looking at the God of judgment, how God could destroy his sword of Gomorrah and he's threatening to do the same to Judah. And look, God can rain down his chastisement upon us, you know, but he gives us time, he's a merciful God, he's slow to anger, he's willing to forgive. And Brethren, if you've got sin in your heart, even right now, Lord, don't tell me, don't confess your sins to some priest, right? Some man of God, you know, just confess this to the Lord right now, quietly. No one else needs to know just between you and God why you hear this sermon. Because we don't want to backslide. We want to get to the point where we start to distance ourselves from our Lord God. Verse number 20. But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. He is the faithful city, sorry, how is the faithful city become in harlot? It was full of judgment, righteousness, lodged in it, but now murderers. This was a righteous city, the city of Jerusalem. God says now it's well, now it's just a harlot, it's a prostitute, okay? And truly, the nation of Israel today, the land of Palestine, it's still like that today. It's still, look, but now murderers. That's what it is. There's murder happening every day in that land. Okay, there was a time that it was a faithful city. In the time of David and Solomon and great kings. You know, I mean, what would God say if we, if we had extra books of the Bible? Not that we do. What would God say about Israel today? Well, he would say the same thing. You know, it was a place of righteousness, but now murderers, now it's a place of murder. So, you know, when I see these things take place in the Middle East, you know, I'm not like, oh man, we're about to, you know, we're just about to enter the great tribulation or, you know, now this particular battle, that's gonna have ramifications on the end times. You know, all it does to me just reinforce the fact, yep, they're just filthy murderers, just wicked sinners, you know, and they're still facing the judgment of God upon that land. Nothing's gonna change that until Christ returns. Verse number 22, thy silver is become dross. Dross is what you remove from silver. It's all the impurities. When you're trying to refine silver and make it pure, you get rid of all the other metals and earth and minerals that are, you know, in there but with a furnace. And that's removing the dross. You know, that's the waste, the worthlessness. He says, thy wine mixed with water. So they're drinking watered down juice, right? Instead of it just being pure grape juice, they're drinking watered down, meaning, again, their economy is collapsing. They're becoming a poorer nation as they've turned against the Lord. And I've, you know, not long ago, I think it was like, I showed you guys how like, was it like the Australian dollar had lost like 98% of its value? Something like that, right? Yeah, you know, our silver has become dross. You know, the economy is just, so why, like you never seem like you get ahead, right? You get the pay increase, but then the rate of inflation is higher than your pay increase, so you're really going backwards. And that's what's happening to this nation. Like they're not getting ahead. They're just falling more and more behind. But I want you to notice this is a judgment of God upon this nation. Verse 123, thy princes are rebellious, that's the leaders, the government, the companions of thieves. Isn't that how we feel when it's tax time? That we've been robbed. Everyone loveth gifts and followeth after rewards. They take bribes. They judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. Again, when the Bible speaks often about the fatherless and the widow, they talk about the fact that there is no justice on the land, right? People are getting away with horrible things. And we know, even Australia, you know, it's so sad that we didn't have the death penalty. Like people get a slap on the wrist for things where people would be put to death, you know? So there's no judgment, there's no justice on the earth. Now, that can be discouraging, I think. But it shouldn't be discouraging for God's people. Because even when things are not just, and we see that things are not fair on this earth, you need to remember that God is keeping an account of all things. Like God is keeping an account, okay? And truly, we can't really complain. Look, I got saved when I was young. But some of you guys got saved later in life. You know, I mean, look, if God was truly fair, look, I just want fairness, then you probably would have been destroyed before you got saved. Like if God's hand could have fallen upon you, but rather he was merciful, gave you an opportunity, opened your eyes to the truth of the gospel, gave you that time and space to call upon him, and you're saved. And truly, again, if we wanted things to be fair, then we should all just die for our own sins. Is it really fair for Jesus to die for our sins? No, that's his mercy, that's his grace. It's undeserved merit, that's what grace means, right? It's undeserved, it's not fair. But he loved us so much that he sacrificed his son for us. And so, you know, as believers, we shouldn't get discouraged when we don't see justice on this earth. I know where you're coming from, but remind yourself that God is keeping an account. He sees the wickedness, okay? He's writing that in his book, his spiritual book in heaven. Those wicked people are gonna be judged, you know, on the last day, as a great way of throwing judgment, and they're gonna suffer a hellfire deserving of all the wickedness they've done upon this earth. Verse number 24. Therefore, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the mighty one of Israel, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies, and I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin. Tin is a cheap metal compared to silver, for example, okay? So what's interesting about verse number 24 is God speaks of himself and announces himself with three titles. Therefore, saith the Lord, then he says, the Lord of hosts, the mighty one of Israel. Now, I don't know if this is God being a little bit cryptic in the Old Testament about his triune nature, you know? But I love the fact that he's the Lord, so basically he's saying, look, I'm the boss, right? I'm the ruler, I'm the boss. Then he says, the Lord of hosts, and we know in heaven, there is a host of heaven, you know, of angels and believers that have gone before us that are worshiping God and praising God, right? There's a great host in heaven that are honoring God day and night. And then he says, the mighty one of Israel. And you say, well, see, Israel in the Middle East, that's God's special people. Look, is God, look, when you think of God, is that the Israel that he's talking about? Is God being mighty right now in the land of Palestine for them? The mighty one of Israel is the Israel of God, the Jew which is one inward, that which is circumcised of the heart, not outward, but on the inward. That is the God of Israel. When he says, avenge, avenge me of mine enemies, of mine adversaries, who is he talking about there? He's talking about, again, what we just read about the princes, the leaders, the kings, those wicked kings in Israel. God's gonna take revenge upon them, right? And then of course, when it comes to the final generations of the Jews, they're taken into captivity, many of those kings are killed, many of those leaders are, they suffer horrendous things, many of those leaders, okay? But God is telling them this is a way for him to purify the nation, okay? With the Babylonian captivity. And so he's going to purge away the dross, he's gonna get rid of the wickedness, all right? And he's gonna give them an opportunity, we know later on, to come back into the land with a new generation of people that are excited and zealous for the things of God, and you know the story, they start to rebuild the city, rebuild the walls, rebuild the temple, what have you, 70 years after that period of captivity. Verse number 26. So now he's been, you know, been hopeful for the future when they do eventually come out of Babylon captivity. And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning. Afterward thou shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. So he says, look, it's gonna happen, all right? Right now you're not the faithful city, but it is gonna happen when you are the city of righteousness, again and again, when they come back out of the Babylonian captivity. Verse number 27. Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts via righteousness, and the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together. And they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed. For they shall be ashamed of the oaks, which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen. I'll just finish reading it. For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water, and the strong shall be as a toe, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them. So again, just, you know, to summarize this few verses, God is telling them, look, there is hope for your nation in the future, okay? God first needs to wipe out that weaker generation, wipe out those weaker princes, to get rid of the dross, to get rid of the tin, right? So that a new generation can come back into the land and give him glory and give him praise. There'll be that faithful city, and that city will remain until we know Christ comes, the first, his first coming to the earth. Christ walked the earth. Christ taught great things, but we know that after the Jews rejected Christ, that city will be pretty much be done for, especially the temple, right? Because Jesus Christ promises that the temple will not have one stone left upon another, and there'll be complete destruction there of the Jews, as they were known in the time of the Old Testament. But Brethren, Isaiah chapter one, and you know, the other similarity that I think about with the destruction that God speaks about upon them, you know, when I told you the similarities in the book of Genesis, I'm reminded again with Noah, and how, you know, God created things to be perfect, and yet when it comes to the sin of man, we, brethren, we, we cause so much damage in our sin, you know, as we turn our hearts against God, and you know, a nation, a people can become so wicked where God says, you know, man, it repented me to have made man, so God then destroys, right, decides to destroy the world with a flood, but once again, even in that example, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And so, brethren, I don't know how much time Sidney still has. Maybe a church like ours is what's keeping the hand of God's judgment at bay, okay? But ultimately, brethren, what we want is for God to find his grace, for God to find grace in his eyes for us, as God's people. How important is it that we walk faithfully with God? And when you sin, and you do, and we all do, and I do, how important it is for us to not allow that injury to fester, right? A little leaven, leaven of the whole lump, you know, that concept. You know what, as soon as we sin, take the time. God is ready to speak to you, right? He's ready to reason with you. You know, go before God and say, God, I messed up again, forgive me, forgive me for my sin. Before you come to God's house, say, Lord, forgive me, cleanse me. Brethren, I do it every time. As the man is reading the chapter of the Bible, as I'm getting ready to preach God's word, if you look at me, not that I'm anything special, but if you look at me, my head is bowed, I'm humbling myself before my God, and say, God, I probably messed up, I know some of those things that I've done already today, and if there's anything else, please forgive me. Because I need to be a clean vessel as I get up to preach your word to your people, because your people are important. You guys are important to me, and you're important to God. And if I'm not a clean vessel, then God can't utilize me to preach God's word. And you need to be a clean vessel when you come to God's house. Otherwise, you're not gonna be able to receive God's word. You're not gonna be able to, yeah, you might hear it, but you're not gonna have the ability to do it if you're walking far from the Lord. So, brethren, be careful of backsliding. And look, if you're getting exhausted in the spiritual race, maybe slow down a little bit, relax. Okay, I've had this discussion with a few people, relax. As long as you're taking one step at a time, conserve your energy, still come to church, still read the Bible, still go soul winning. And then when the opportunity comes up for you to run again with all your might, then go for that run once again. But always take one step at a time. All right, let's pray.