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I'm not sure if you're all tuned into the sermon on Thursday, but we started a new book of the Bible, the book of Isaiah. Not Isaiah, that's how Americans say it, it's Isaiah, okay? We're in Australia. Alright, but look, so on Thursday we started with chapter one and today we're looking at chapter two. And it is a very interesting book of the Bible and what I had mentioned on Thursday is that many times, I don't know, we're going to discover this on this journey together, right? There are many references, so when we think about Isaiah chapter two, I had mentioned that the book of Isaiah has 66 chapters and we've got 66 books of the Bible and it seems like, it seems like the book of Isaiah is this mini Bible that contains interesting ideas and thoughts and almost parallels sometimes the other books. So if we're in Isaiah chapter two, Isaiah chapter two in many ways will parallel the second book of the Bible which is the book of Exodus. And so I do want to bring this out a little bit again, but without, you know, that sounds really amazing. If that's how God intended the book to be, I mean, it seems like, and that would definitely confirm that we're dealing with not a book written by man, like this is definitely a book written by God. But at the same time, I never want you guys to lose attention or focus on the primary purpose of the book, okay? So we have Isaiah who is preaching against the nation of Judah, the southern kingdom, warning them about 160 years before the Babylon captivity that they were on, they were literally like about to be judged by God, they've got to turn things around as a nation, otherwise God's judgment is going to fall upon them. So let's start there in verse 11. The reason I wanted to look at verse 11 is because this verse actually appears twice in this chapter. But in verse 11 it says, The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. The total for the sermon this morning is the Lord alone shall be exalted. I like that. The Lord alone shall be exalted. And you know, this Sunday morning, I really want the Lord alone to be exalted. I really want us to just have our eyes and our hearts upon our Lord God, upon Jesus Christ, our Saviour. And you know, I love Sunday mornings here with you. I don't get this experience very often. But when I do, I appreciate your company, your friendship, your fellowship, and I get a lot of nice things said about me. And it's kind of nice to the ego when you guys say nice things about me. But I don't want to be exalted. I want to make sure that whatever... And look, it's great to serve one another and to speak kindly of each other. But of course, we do so because we're brothers and sisters in the Lord. And what makes us brothers and sisters in the Lord is because our God sacrificed His Son for us. Otherwise, we would not even know each other. Can you believe that? I have no idea who you are, if not for Jesus Christ. So the Lord alone shall be exalted this morning. So let's start there in verse number one. The word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Again, confirming that this prophecy is for the southern kingdom of Judah. Of course, Jerusalem is the capital city. And look, verse number two is really interesting. It says, and it shall come to pass in the last days. So, as Isaiah is preaching this to the people of his current generation, do you think what we're reading about here in verse number two is about the current day? No, because it says, it shall come to pass in the last days. So now he's prophesying of the future, okay? Now, what we're about to read about is about the millennial reign of Christ, the thousand year rule of Christ, okay? And I've just started going through the book of Revelation with New Life Baptist Church. And one thing that I was teaching that church is, when it comes to end times doctrines, end times teaching, or last days teaching, like we're about to see here in Isaiah, often you'll find like, it's hard sometimes in the Old Testament to get the chronology right. Because it just seems like sometimes we're talking about, like right now we're going to be talking about the millennium. And then, you know, before the millennium though is the great tribulation and God's wrath eventually that falls upon the earth. But then as you read through the book of Isaiah, it seems like the millennium comes first and then God's wrath, and then this is where people get confused. But you must remember that the book of Revelation is called Revelation for a reason, because it's revealing to us the chronology and great detail of the end times. And so in order to understand the end times of the Old Testament, even the end times teaching, when it comes to Christ and the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, we must always go first to the book of Revelation and allow that to be the light to shine and help us understand what's taking place, especially when the Old Testament scriptures are being written about the end times. And if you don't like that idea, you don't like that concept, just remember, probably the most famous book dealing with the end times in the Old Testament is the book of Daniel. And at the end of Daniel, at the end of the book of Daniel, Daniel writes all these words, been moved by the Holy Ghost, and he says to God, God, can you tell me what I just wrote? And God says, look, it's not for you to know, Daniel. This book is closed until, I'm paraphrasing a little bit, but till the end times. And so God understands that there's going to be a further revelation, further understanding as we get closer to the end times. And the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, really is the book that shines a light to help us understand exactly what's taking place. So when I say to you, we're now at the millennium, it's because I know the book of Revelation. And I can see what's going to take place there, and then we can understand what's taking place here in the book of Isaiah. I hope that makes sense. But in verse number two, I mentioned this about the millennium, because it says, it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains. So God's house, like right now, this is God's house, the church, right? We're not really on top of mountains. We're here in Fairfield, right? But there's coming a time in the millennium where God's house is going to be high and lifted up. What mountain is he talking about here? It says, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. So this is definitely not about the time of Isaiah, because not all nations were flowing to the house of God. And it's definitely not talking about right now, because not all nations are flowing to the house of God. But look, verse number three clarifies what period we're talking about here. It says in verse number three, and many people shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of God, of the God of Jacob. And he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths, for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. So we see where the house of the Lord is during Christ's millennial reign. It's in Jerusalem, it's in Zion. The mountain that was referred to here is Mount Zion, which is obviously Jerusalem. This is where Christ is going to reign from for a thousand years. And look, even though we're talking about future events, when we talk about the house of God, the house of God right now in our time again is your local church. And what do we read about the house of God? I hope this morning you said to yourself and to others, many people shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of God, of Jacob. I hope this morning you didn't wake up and go, oh man, it's wet, it's cold, it's raining, I want to stay in bed. I hope you said, look, I can't wait to be in the house of the Lord this morning. Why? Why do we want to be in the house of the Lord? No, no. It says, and He will teach us His ways. We come to God's house to know of God's ways, to know God's Word. And why do we want to know God's ways? Is it just to know what the Bible says? So we can say, oh, we know doctrine, we know the Scriptures, no. And we will walk in His past. The reason we want to know His ways is so we know how to walk, right? We don't want to be hearers only, but we want to be doers of God's Word. And so whatever it is that you learn this morning, brethren, I encourage you to take one thought and say, this is one thing that I can do, this is one thing that I can change, this is one way that I can walk in the paths of my Lord. But it's coming from, this is raining from Jerusalem. Like, is Jerusalem right now the house of the Lord? Like, Jerusalem today, you know, is that where we go to hear God's ways and know what God wants from us? Of course not, okay? So this is, of course, talking about a future time to come, okay? Now, what's interesting about this is the house of the Lord, it says here, it's basically exalted above the hills. And look, Mount Zion isn't really that high. It's pretty high, but it's not that high. Like, compared to, say, Mount Everest, right, or something like that, right? And I was thinking about this and going, how is it that, you know, this mount is considered to be a high place above the hills? But if you can keep your finger there and come with me to Revelation 16. I just want to remind you of something. Revelation 16, so if we're talking about the millennial reign of Christ here, obviously God's wrath has already fallen upon the earth, okay? God's wrath has already fallen upon the earth. And just a reminder, the final judgment, the final wrath that God pulls out upon the earth is with the seventh angel and the seventh vial. And it says in Revelation 16, 17, Revelation 16, 17, it says, And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air, and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices and thunders and thunders and there were voices and thunders and lightnings, and there was a great earthquake. Look how great this earthquake is. Such as what was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great. And this earthquake gets brought up many times in the Old Testament scriptures. But let's keep going there. Regarding this earthquake, verse number 19, And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. I mean, think about Sydney, like this great earthquake, and you think of the towers and the opera house and the, what's the bridge called? The Harbour Bridge, man. Imagine like this huge earthquake and all the buildings just collapse. I mean, I'm sure you've seen the videos of 9-11 where you had the two twin towers collapse and building seven, apparently that's a secret, but apparently building seven collapsed. Imagine seeing a whole city just tumble and fall, everything collapsed, right, because of such great an earthquake. And then it says, and cities and nations fell, and great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath, look at verse number 20 though, and every island fled away and the mountains were not found. Like this earthquake in the end times when God was, it's so great, not only the cities fall, but where are the mountains? They've collapsed. I mean, this final judgment of God is so great, it changes the topography of the earth, changes everything, the geography, topography of the earth, which then makes sense because after this Christ comes on his horse, establishes his kingdom upon the earth, rules for a thousand years, and so it may very well be, I'm just throwing that out there, it may very well be that Mount Zion might be the highest place on the earth, and that's where God decides to establish his house, okay? Now, I had said to you that I'm going to draw out some parallels with Isaiah 2 and the book of Exodus. We're talking about going to God's house on Mount Zion to receive God's word, to know his ways, and the first time that happened was of course with Moses in the book of Exodus. He doesn't go to Mount Zion, but he goes to Mount Sinai. Remember when God calls him out to Mount Sinai, and what does God give him? He gives him his laws, he gives him the Ten Commandments, he gives Moses the word. Now, remember when Moses went up to Mount Sinai, and he was there for 40 days and 40 nights, and the Israelites kind of got sick and tired of waiting for Moses, what did they decide to do? They decided to build idols. They built a golden calf, didn't they? They decided to worship a false god and golden calves. Now, what we're seeing here is Isaiah's encouraging Judah as he preaches. Look, there's coming a time, look, I know things are hard right now, I know we're not doing well spiritually as a nation, but he's reminding them, look, in the latter times, if we say faithful to God, if we're saved, look, there's a great hope, there's a great future to come, that all the nations of the earth are going to want to worship the God that you ought to be worshipping. He's trying to encourage them about these end times. But we know that people's hearts are just so slack, and they're very quick to turn to false gods. But then in verse number 4, Isaiah 2-4, Isaiah 2-4 please, it says, and of course this is the reason we know this is the millennium, and not the new heavens and the new earth, it's because it says in verse number 4, And he shall judge the nations, and shall rebuke many people. So what period of time in the future are all nations going to want to know what God has to say, but God still has to rebuke people? It's only the millennium. Like the millennium is the only thing that makes sense. If it's the new heavens and the new earth that makes no sense, because we're all saved, we all have our new resurrected bodies, there's no man that's trusted Christ that can even sin, so there's no need for rebuke. And the only time this place of course is in the millennium. So that's how we know. It says, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks, this is a famous verse, nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. Brethren, what's the solution to world peace? Making some agreement between Israel and Palestine? Is it causing peace between Russia and Ukraine, and other combat situations that might develop in the world? The only solution to world peace, the only solution that will give peace, and never for war to take place again, is the peace of Jesus Christ. Christ come to this earth and taken over all the kingdoms of the earth. That's the only time we're going to have world peace. So I'm not out there protesting for world peace. Me preaching God's word is telling you, God's world peace is coming, coming in the form of the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so we see these weapons, these swords, these spears being turned into farming tools essentially, right? And so during the millennium we get an idea, hey, we're going back to farming, we're going back to agriculture, right? We're going to be self-sustainable in that way. Verse number five. And now here's the encouragement, right? He's telling them about the future events to come, and this is the encouragement that he gives to Judah. Verse number five. O house of Jacob, come ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord. Right, he's encouraging. Let us walk in the light of the Lord. So he's got this hope for this great future to come. He's saying, look, walk with God now. Things are going to be awesome in the future, in the end times, in the latter days. So let's walk with the Lord. And we know in chapter one they were very far from the Lord, right? They weren't serving God the way that they ought to. Now, let's take a lesson for ourselves quickly. Come with me to 1 John. 1 John, stay in Isaiah 2 as well. But 1 John, chapter five. This idea of let us walk in the light of the Lord is a doctrine of the New Testament, okay? And probably the best book that teaches this is 1 John. Chapter one, verse number five. 1 John, chapter one, verse number five. So if Isaiah's telling the nation, let us walk in the light of the Lord, do you think they'll walk in the light of the Lord? No, right? If so, like, we've got to do this, guys. Obviously, they walk in darkness, right? They're not walking in the light of the Lord. But in 1 John 1.5, it says, This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth, okay? So if you're in darkness, if you're in rebellion, if you're in sin against the Lord, and like the pastor, I sin every day, yes you do, okay? But if you're in unconfessed sin, you haven't gone to God to declare that sin, to confess that sin before him, you are walking in darkness. Now, I've said this before, but just again, this doesn't mean you lose your salvation, this doesn't mean you're not saved, okay? We are dealing with our walk with the Lord. I've told you before that positionally before God, nothing changes. We are a child of God, we've been saved in Jesus Christ, and what keeps us a child of God is not our righteousness, is not our walk, it's the righteousness of Jesus, which is always perfect. Nothing can ever cause you to lose your salvation, but you can lose your fellowship with God, right? That's why it's said in verse number 2, if we say that we have fellowship with him, we walk in darkness and lie, we lie and do not the truth, okay? So we want to be able to walk in the light of the Lord. Verse number 7, if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. So if we're walking in the new man, we're doing righteousness, right? We confess our sins as soon as we do them, we are having great fellowship, we can have great communion with God. And it says in the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanses us from all sin, which is why you need to have a constant habit in your life that as soon as you walk in darkness, i.e. you sin against God, you're very quick to re-establish your fellowship with God, and we saw in chapter 1 where God says, come now, let us reason together. You know, sometimes we think, well, God must be so angry at me because I've sinned against him, I don't know if I should go to him, but we were reminded in chapter 1, God is saying, hey, come, I want you to come, I want to walk with you, I want to fellowship with you. And so Christ, the Lord God wants us to go to him, confess our sins and be made right with him, walk with him, in the blood of Jesus Christ. But back to Isaiah chapter 2 and verse number 6. Isaiah chapter 2, verse number 6. So of course, Isaiah is just encouraging Judah, hey guys, come on, let's confess our sins to God, let's get right with God, we've got an exciting future to come, okay? But then we get to the reality, okay, in verse number 6. Now Isaiah says to God, therefore, so therefore, because they're not walking, they should be walking in the light of God, right? But they're not. Therefore, thou hast forsaken thy people, the house of Jacob, why? Because, this is what they're doing instead, they be replenished from the east, so they're learning something from the nations of the east, okay, the surrounding nations, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers. All right, so what's happening here? Instead of worshiping and serving the Lord God, they're bringing in soothsayers, okay? Soothsayers are basically what we would call, say, fortune tellers, okay? Maybe people that read tarot cards and they tell you your future, right? Or people that look up astrology and horoscopes. Isn't that what people do? Like, what month were you born, what dates, and so you must be this, you must be cancer, or you must be, I don't even know what they are, right? You've got these horoscopes, and you read that horoscope, and somehow that's telling you about your life now, and what's going to happen this afternoon, and what's going to happen this month for you, you know? All of that is what the Bible refers to as soothsayers. They're trying to tell you of some future, but it is not the word of God, okay? This is coming from the children of strangers. This is coming from the teaching of the eastern nations that have surrounded them. So instead of going to God's word and saying, God, tell us about your future, which is wonderful, which is the glorious kingdom of Jesus Christ for a thousand years, they're going to the soothsayers, they're going to these people, and look, let me just say, there is power in those teachings. Like, there is truth, if you want to put it that way, because these people have been influenced by devils, by familiar spirits, and those spirits have been walking the earth ever since it's been created, and these spirits know things, right? They know things about God, they know things about the world, they know things about human beings, they know things about people that have passed and perished and died in the past, okay? Because they've been around for thousands of years, and they give this information to these soothsayers, these fortune tellers, and it might sound like they're saying something wonderful, but Brevin is coming from the devil, okay? You want to be encouraged, you want to know the true future, the things you need to be meditating on, open God's word. He's told us plenty about the future to come, and we ought to be hopeful about that, and as we're hopeful about the future, we ought to be striving to be walking with the Lord and not listening to horoscopes and fortune tellers, and what's the glass thing they look at sometimes? The orb. The orb? That's another word for it, isn't it? The crystal ball. The crystal ball, that's what I'm thinking about, right? And be careful about these things, and, you know, it's very hard to avoid, because, like, it's hard for me to find good television shows for my children. Like, for those that are parents, you know how hard it is? And even on things that look good, they're often influenced by magic, and these crystal balls and witches and wizards and all this stuff. You know what? It's just that they're just trying to make Sufzain more enjoyable or easier to digest for little children, okay? So please, as parents, be careful about what you show your children. I know we can't avoid everything in life, but, you know, please do your best, because you can see how much this has upset the Lord when the Southern Kingdom started to accept these kinds of fortune telling and teachings that came from these other nations. Verse 7. So God has forsaken the people. Like, he's saying, look, you've got to get right. You know, you're not walking with me, you're listening to the devil, okay, you're following false religion here. Now, what's interesting about verse 7? Chapter 1 made it very clear that Judah was not doing well, like, its economy was not doing well, okay? Poor, you know, economic management, and they were getting poorer as a people. But what's interesting in verse 7, it says here, their land also is full of silver and gold. Oh, hold on. So the economy's collapsing, but still, the land's full of silver and gold. It says, neither is there any end of their treasures. Their land is also full of horses, so they've got a great army, neither is there any end of their chariots. So from Judah's perspective, they're doing really well. We're doing well financially, we've got great armies, we've got great horses, these things, okay? But even though they have riches, like I said in chapter 1, we saw a collapsing economy, all right? So this tells us two things, that there's bad economic management, the funds are there, okay, but the governments are corrupt. And look, that is so true across this world. You know, people are often talking about, you know, the aid that the African nations need in order to feed their people. But when I've looked into this, it's not that there's not enough aid and financial help going to those nations to feed them, it's that the governments, the people in power, are just so corrupt, they consume it for themselves, and they don't care about their people. And so what I believe we're seeing here is that the rich in Judah are just a mass in wealth. Yeah, it's full of gold and silver, but it's a very select few. It's that 1%, right, of rich people that are gaining more and more, but the general people, the great populists, are getting weaker and weaker financially in their position. Not only that, we see in verse number 8, it says, their land also is full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. And as I said to you, the parallel with the Book of Exodus, we start with a mount, the word of God coming from that mount, Moses in the Book of Exodus got that word, but when he came with the Ten Commandments the first time, he saw the people worshipping idols, right? He saw the people worshipping a golden calf, Moses was so angered that he took those tablets, smashed them on the ground, right? He was so angered about what happened. And again, we see sort of that parallel with the Book of Exodus. And verse number 9, it says, and the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself. Now, it's not saying when men are humbling themselves, that's a good thing, right? Like, we don't want to be full of pride, but when it says he humbleth himself, it says, therefore forgive them not. Isaiah is telling God, don't forgive them, Lord, because they're humbling themselves, but in what way? They're humbling themselves because they're bowing themselves down to the idols. They're humbling themselves to the idols, right? They're saying to these false gods, you are our gods, we're listening to the soothsayers instead of listening to the word of God. And so, Isaiah just says, God, don't forgive them. They don't deserve your forgiveness. Verse number 10. Now, this is really interesting. Verse number 10. Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty. He's telling these wicked idol worshippers, guys, you better hide yourself, because you better have a fear of God, because when judgment falls, you're going to face a full brunt of God's judgment, you better hide yourselves. Okay, he's kind of giving them a warning. Of course, they can't hide themselves from God, but you understand the parallel. This is what I want to show you, an interesting parallel again with the book of Exodus. Keep your finger there, come with me to Exodus 33. Okay, Exodus 33. So as you're turning there, I'll just read that verse again in Isaiah 2.10. Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty. Now, when we talk about the glory of God, I know the Bible is full of this term glory, but I need you to fully appreciate what God's glory looks like. When Jesus went up to the Mount Transfiguration, remember he was transfigured? Well, first of all, when Christ walked this earth, he looked like a regular human being. Anybody could look at him. But when he was transfigured, he turned on the glory. And his disciples were so scared at the sight of this glorified figure of Jesus. I'm also reminded in the book of Revelation chapter 1, when John turns and sees Jesus, but he sees Jesus glorified. Okay, with our eyes like a flame of fire, right, his legs are like this fine brass, and again, Jesus Christ is turning on the glory, and if you read the book of Revelation, you know, John falls on his face. He just can't contain the glory of God. And so, I want you to appreciate what God's glory, like, if God were to walk in here and turn on his glory, we would not be able to absorb it. Like, we'd be on our faces. Like, we'd be, whoa, because we're still sinful in our flesh, right? We can't absorb it and fully appreciate God's glory. God's glory is a wonderful thing. When we receive our new resurrected bodies, we will be in his full glory, right? In fact, we're going to be glorified with Christ as well, but while we're in the condition of man, it's something that is just, it's too strong to overwhelm in. And what about when God's glory, though, is mixed with his wrath? Think about how difficult it would be for a sinner to stand before God. They won't be able to stand before God. That's the thing, right? They won't be able to stand before God. Now, Exodus 33 verse 20, we have this interaction with Moses and God, and God tells Moses the same thing. Look, I need you to hide in a rock. I want to cover you because you can't take my glory. You won't live. You won't survive if you see my glory. And God is speaking to a righteous man in Moses. God is speaking to one of his people, one of his children, someone who is saved, right? Someone who's doing a great work for God. And even that person, it's too difficult to absorb the glory of God because it says here in Exodus 33 verse 20, and he said, God said to Moses, Thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me and live. If you look at my face, Moses, you're going to die. I mean, that's how overwhelming, like his body can't take it, right? So what does God say in verse 21? And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock, and it shall come to pass while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cliff of the rock, and I will cover thee with my hand while I pass by. So God says, I'm going to hide you in the rocks, and I'm going to put my hand over you to protect you from my glory. And then it says in verse 23, And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen. I believe this is God the Father speaking here because no man has seen the Father, like the face of the Father. I believe this is the Father referenced here. But I want to show you that even a righteous man in Moses cannot sustain the glory of God. Even he has to be protected and hidden. And even when Christ transfigured on the mount, and the Father, before the Father spoke to the Son, this is my beloved Son, you may recall the disciples said there was a great cloud. They were kind of blinded from being able to see the Father, otherwise they'd be wiped out. Like they would be wiped out, okay? Now again, I think that would be amazing, right? God's glory, he protects us, we see a bit of the back parts of God, but it's like, whoa, this is just overwhelming, right? But what about when you're a wicked sinner, when you're worshipping false gods, and you're being told by Isaiah, look guys, you've got to hide, man. You want to survive God's judgment here, you better hide. You better hide, right? So this is obviously a billion times worse for someone that is not right with God, someone that is not faithful to God. And if we keep going there, Isaiah chapter 2 please, come back to me to Isaiah 2, we're going to look at this in a moment, but Isaiah 2 verse 11, look when God turns on the glory, okay, verse 11 it says, and the lofty looks of man shall be humbled. Look, if man just looks upon God, they're just going to fall to pieces, they're going to be humbled. And the haughtiness, just lift it up, haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. Reverend, when will the Lord alone be exalted? When Christ comes back, okay, when he takes down the antichrist, he takes down the beast, he takes down the kingdoms of the earth, and he starts to rule over the entire earth, brethren, on that day he'll be exalted. And no man will be able to lift their head up to Christ, okay, they will be humbled. And if you can, keep your finger there, and come with me to Jeremiah chapter 27, Jeremiah 27 please, keep your finger and come to Jeremiah 27. So we know that Isaiah is speaking about future events, but again, remind yourself that he's warning Judah of the Babylonian captivity, okay, and we know about Babylonian captivity, especially in the book of Jeremiah, okay, and I just want to show you what it says in Jeremiah 27, so even though it's Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians that humble Judah in captivity, I want you to notice what God says in Jeremiah 27 verse 6, Jeremiah 27 verse number 6, Jeremiah 27 verse 6 reads, And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and the beast of the field, have I given him also to serve him. So what does God say? Even though it's the Babylonians taking Judah into captivity, God says, I gave this in the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. Okay, again, God is the one being glorified, God is the one being exalted, even when Judah failed, and they were taken into captivity by the hand of the Babylonians, I want you to understand that God is above all those things, and he is exalted, he is glorified, it may not make sense to us, why would you take your people, God, and bring them into captivity by another wicked nation, more wicked than Judah, in King Nebuchadnezzar in the Babylonian empire, but I want you to remind yourself, if you ever lose your freedoms on this earth, remind yourself, God is exalted, God is praised, he receives all worship, and when it comes to God's judgment upon the earth, I'm just going to let it happen. I'm just going to let, God, you judge the earth as you see fit, even if it doesn't make sense to me. Back to Isaiah 2, verse 12. Isaiah 2, verse 12. Isaiah 2, verse 12. For the day of the Lord, a lot of you guys would be familiar with this term, the day of the Lord, of hosts shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty, and upon everyone that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low. Brethren, it's not worth filling yourself with pride. Like, God hates pride. And this is why I said, I want Christ to be exalted this morning. Whatever we do, whatever we preach, whatever we sing, it's to the glory of God. You know, and I love you guys, I do, and some of you guys, some of the young men that I preach are not, yeah, Ash is the young man, okay? That is preaching on a regular, on a Sunday. Look, look, do it for the Lord. And I love the work, I love the song leading, I love the Bible reading, I love the fellowship you guys are doing, the soul winning, but don't pat yourself on the back. Just say it to the glory of God. It's so easy to be lifted with pride. It's so easy. I bet you right now there's a pride in you. You go, yeah, but I did a little bit too, though. Just give it to Jesus, give it to the Lord, you know, because, look, I tell you now, I never for the life of me thought I could ever get behind a pulpit and preach God's word. I never for the life of me thought I could ever knock a stranger's door and give someone the gospel. And the only reason I can do it is because of God. Because of his strength, he's equipped me, he's given me the wisdom, he's given me his word, it's his word, it's God's word. I've got nothing to tell you. I've got like, Pastor Kevin, tell us something, I've got nothing to tell you. I've got nothing. But we've got God's word and that's where all the wisdom from God's word comes here. I'm just saying, I don't know, I don't know your hearts, I'm just saying to those that serve in God's house, those that preach God's word, please don't think of yourself highly. Because God will humble you. God will bring you low. If we don't give him glory, and make sure you always give Christ the glory, let him be exalted. And any time the pride shows itself, just say, No, Lord, I'm sorry, just bring that pride, help me, Lord. Help me to take down the pride, because you must increase, not me. Yes, so we saw in verse number 12, the day of the Lord. Now, come with me, join Isaiah, so come with me to Isaiah 13, Isaiah 13, verse number 9. Isaiah 13, verse number 9. Now, again, we're looking at later days, yes, we've been looking at the millennial reign of Christ. And now we're going to be talking about God's wrath before the millennium. Again, if you're looking at this in order, now we're dealing with God's wrath. So, we've got the millennium, now we've got God's wrath, again, the book of Revelation is the one that tells us that God's wrath comes before the millennial reign of Christ. But, we need to understand this about the Bible. Isaiah is speaking about future events, and there is many parallels with the end times. But, when it comes to the day of the Lord, as far as a reality for the people of this generation, again, that is the captivity of Babylon. Or, for the northern kingdom, the Assyrian captivity, this was God's wrath upon this nation. This was God's judgment upon these two wicked nations. But, in Isaiah 13, verse number 9, it says, Behold, the day of the Lord cometh. Now, when we read that in Isaiah, we know, again, he's preaching to Judah of that time. He's preaching about the Babylonian captivity. But, he quickly translates to the end times day of the Lord. It says, Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate, and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. So, you can see here that the day of the Lord is a day of wrath and fierce anger. It's a day of God's wrath. And then, verse number 10 is really interesting. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light, and the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. Now, for those of you that know the New Testament and the book of Revelation and Matthew 24, all of the discourse, you know what that's talking about. Okay, look, the sun didn't turn off when Babylonians took over. Okay? Isaiah is quickly transitioning to the day of the Lord of the end times. And we know in Matthew 24, as soon as the sun goes dark, the moon doesn't give her light, the stars fall from heaven. They don't give their light or whatever way you want to describe it. That's when the coming of Jesus Christ occurs. Okay? Christ coming in the clouds. Okay? And it says that all the tribes of the earth shall mourn. Okay? And so, hey, that is the day of our rapture. That is the day of our resurrection. And again, Christ is coming with great power and glory. And that's why people can't take it. But we, at the rapture, are going to receive new resurrected bodies, bodies that cannot sin. And it's going to be the first time that we're going to be able to experience the full brunt of the glory of Christ. Okay? Like, we're not going to be dropping out on the face because we have new bodies. Righteous bodies made like unto Christ. You may recall that at the rapture. And so I want to show you, look, the book of Isaiah, there's just so much depth, right? We're dealing with present time for Isaiah and Judah. We're also dealing with future events to come. And we're also seeing parallels with the books of the Bible. In order from Genesis, Exodus, etc. And so it's a really deep book and this is why I wanted to preach on it. And I, you know, I feel like in these sermons I'm going to be scratching the surface. And so I strongly recommend that you also spend the time to read the book of Isaiah yourself as I go through chapter by chapter. Read it that week and try to absorb as much as you can before you listen to the preaching. But back to Isaiah 2.13. Isaiah 2.13. Isaiah 2.13. So we're talking about how everyone's going to be humbled. Or the people of Judah are going to be humbled. The prideful are going to be taken down when they experience the glory of God. But in verse number 13 it says, And upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon the oaks of Bashan, Bashan is located in modern day Syria today. So it's not just Judah that will be humbled by Babylon. It's also nations like Lebanon and Syria, modern day Syria, that are going to be humbled and brought under that kingdom of Babylon. And again, we can just say, well not only when Christ comes is Judah again going to be humbled, but all the nations of the earth are going to be humbled at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And in verse number 14 it says, And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, and upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all the pleasant pictures, what I was saying here is that the whole earth is going to be humbled at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then it's verse number 17, And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down. So this time they're not bowing themselves down to idols. But they'll be bowed down, and the hoardiness of men shall be made low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. So again, verse number 17 is basically almost word for word the same as verse number 11. And so that's why I took the title for the sermon from there. The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. It seems like the Lord wants to make that known in this chapter. He tells us twice. We want to make sure that the Lord is exalted. And again, I don't want the Lord just to be exalted on that day when he returns. I want him to be exalted this morning. I want the Lord to be exalted every single day of our life. Any time you're filled with pride, and you do a good job at work, and someone says, well done, you get a promotion, you get a pay rise. That's not the time to pat yourself on the back. That's the time to say, Lord, you know, all these wonderful gifts come from my Father in heaven above. Lord, it's your blessings, it's your reward, it's your ability that you've given me to do a work for you. And verse number 18. And the idols he shall utterly abolish. And the idols he shall utterly abolish. There will be no idol worship in the millennium. And even if there's an attempt, it'll be quickly shut down because Christ is going to rule with a rod of iron. Now, again, this teaching of idols, and we're going to be humbled by our Lord God, and we're going to worship him and not worship idols, or in the world he's not going to worship idols, I should say. And again, where does this concept and idea mainly come from? The Book of Exodus, right? The Book of Exodus, we've got the Ten Commandments. And I'll just quickly read to you, you don't need to turn there. Exodus 23, you guys know this is one of the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Then verse number 14 says, thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them, for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God. Look, there's nothing wrong with being jealous. God is a jealous God. His name is jealous. Jealous is a positive attribute. But God says, look, you're my people. Worship and praise belongs to me, to God. And if you give your praise and worship and you bow down to some image made by man, God says, I'm jealous for that belongs to me. And you're giving it to something else. So look, I love the fact that the idols shall be utterly abolished. I don't know, I mean, look, I guess some of you guys have been saved out of the Catholic Church or the Orthodox Church. And you've got these idols and you've got these images and you kind of reverence them. I can see, but I guess just being saved at four years old, I just can't. I can't understand why a man would bow down to a piece of wood, a piece of gold or silver, as pretty as they are to look at. It boggles my mind. You know, I'll bow down to a God that is invisible. You know, a God that has saved me. He's invisible, but I know him. I've seen Jesus, not with these eyes, but I've seen him in his word. I know he's real. I know he came 2,000 years ago. I know he died on the cross. I know that he rose from the dead. I know that even more, I know that's true, even more than seeing you here this morning. He's my saviour. That's who I'm trusting. I know Christ is coming back. You know, these things, these images, these idols, they don't appeal to me whatsoever. I mean, it's such foolishness and it's so sad to think how far Judah has deteriorated when they've had the scriptures, they've got prophets, they've got Isaiah. Imagine having Isaiah, instead of Pastor Kevin, imagine having Isaiah here this morning, right? Preaching God's word. How great would that be? And then to think how far our people can go and worship idols. And look, you might say to me, Pastor I agree with you, I can't see myself doing that. And you're right. But the other thing that we see through this process is the pride of man. And I know I have pride. And if I have it, I'm the same flesh and blood as you, I know you have it. So even if we can't relate to the idol worshipping, I know you can relate to pride, to ego. Okay? Thinking highly of yourself. And all I'm saying to you brethren, just let the Lord be exalted. That's the main lesson I want you to take away this morning. Alright? Verse number 19. Isaiah 2, 19. So Isaiah did tell them, hey go and hide yourself. Now he's saying this is going to happen. Okay? In fact, now he's talking about the end times again. This is why you need to understand. It feels like when you read the Old Testament scriptures, these end time things are all over the place. Again, the book of Revelation gives us the order, the chronology of all these things taking place. He says, And he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. Okay? That shake terribly the earth we saw earlier was that great earthquake, right? When God pulls out his wrath. And then it says, verse number 20. So we know what bats, bats live in caves, right? Both the moles and the bats live literally underground, right? Where there's no lights. The moles dig tunnels under the earth, right? And so these people are hiding themselves on the rocks. They're hiding themselves in bunkers and what have you. And for some reason, when they're hiding from God, they take their idols with them, alright? But when that happens and they see the glory and they're so frightened, they're going to leave their gold, their idols of silver and gold to the moles and the bats. Right? Like the moles and the bats can have their idols, right? They left their underground. And then verse number 21. Like they're going to hide themselves underground. But look, if you're underground and there's like a great earthquake and things are shaking and things are starting to fall on you, then you're going to want to get out of there, right? And they're running, they're fleeing, they can't even take their idols with them anymore. It's left for the bats and the moles. When does that take place? Come with me to Revelation chapter 6. Revelation chapter 6. Again, I feel like I'm just scratching the surface here. I can't, look, this chapter 2, I had to really summarize it. I was up till like 1 in the morning, like trying to summarize this chapter because there's so much, right? But Revelation chapter 6, okay. We saw earlier that the sun's going to go dark, the moon's going to go dark, the stars from heaven. And I mentioned the rapture takes place. Read Matthew 24 in your own time and confirm that. But when you read Revelation chapter 6, verse number 12, Revelation chapter 6, verse number 12, it says, And I beheld when he opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake. Well, that makes sense with Isaiah. And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became his blood. And the stars of heaven fell onto the earth, even as a fig tree cast off her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll, when it is rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains. And said to the mountains and rocks, Fallen us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. And then verse number 17, For the great day of his wrath is come, and he shall be able to stand. They're like, we can't stand before God here. They're like rocks, hide us, hide us from his face. Why are they saying that? Hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne. Because they saw Jesus. Because we know when that happens, Christ comes in the clouds. And we're going to be woo hoo! We're going to lift up our heads for our redemption draweth nigh. Yes! We get to go to the clouds. You won't have a fear of heights. You'll have a new body. You'll have a new body. We'll be excited. Everyone else is mourning, weeping, wailing, hiding in the mountains, taking their idols. Don't protect me! The earth is shaken. And this begins the day of God's wrath. The wrath of the Lamb. Which is the day of the Lord. Which is what we're seeing in Isaiah 2. Again, it seems like Isaiah, Why are you telling them about this? Aren't you telling them about Babylon? Again, remember, the day of the Lord for them is Babylon. For their generation. For that time. Well, not for that generation because it's a hundred years or more. But for that period, his preaching to all these people, that was the day of the Lord for them. But he's using the language and the description to then tell us about the end times to come. And what should amaze us about the scriptures is just how well... Again, how is this the writing of... This is not the writings of men. No way, right? I mean, I used to read a lot of books when I was young. I don't have much time now, but even when you've got the same author writing a series of books, once they've written book number 10, you start to see these inconsistencies. They're like, hold on, that character had blonde hair in a previous book. Now he's got brown hair or whatever it is, right? You start to pick up these little inconsistencies even when you've got this single author trying to make one story. But when it comes to 40 different authors, what is that, 2000 years? At least 1500 years of these scriptures being written. 1500, yeah. And everything gels. This is God's word. So he proved to me it's God's word. It is God's word. Man could not have written this book. And so my full faith and trust is that this is God's word for us. We want to learn the ways of the Lord, we want to walk in his paths. I don't have to prove it to you. It stands on its own. It's still... The words of Isaiah, how long ago did Isaiah live? And we're still hearing the words of Isaiah today. This must be the word of God. But back to Isaiah 2, please. Isaiah 2, 22. Isaiah 2, 22. Just in the last verse. So in light of all this, again we want to make sure that we honour, we glorify, we think of Christ as exalted. We take down the pride of man. So we end on verse number 22. Cease ye from man. Brethren, as some of those people say nice things about me. Pastor, you're a great man, I trust you 100%. I'm like, I don't even trust myself 100%. And I love you for it because it's encouraging. And I feel like there's some of you guys that if I needed help, you'll take a shot off your back. But at the same time, look, and it's wonderful to be amongst God's people. I know we'll try to help and we'll love and care and serve one another as much as we can. But don't have your confidence in man. That's why cease ye from man. Whose breath is in his nostrils. That's all we've got. That's all. That's the strength of our power. The fact that we can breathe. So why trust man? Because this is all we can do. It says, for wherein is he to be accounted of? So essentially, look, this ends with this teaching. Stop trusting in man. When it comes to Judah, they're listening to the soothsayers. They're listening to false religion. They're worshiping the creation of the... Man has created the idols. Just turn away from, cease from that. Man can't help you. Man can't save you. Don't exalt man. Don't even exalt yourself. Obviously, we want to make sure that we fear God. That was the instruction that was given to Judah. And brethren, this morning I say to you, fear God. Love the Lord. Even if we don't do baptisms today, that's the Lord's hand. We fear the Lord. Whatever you want. Lord, you send the rain. You send the sunshine. Lord, whatever you do, you open the doors. Lord, as a church, we want to walk in the paths that you have set for us. Lord, if you close the door here and there, Lord, we'll make sure we honor that. And we just need to be mindful. God is above all things, even when there's a wicked Babylon on the loose. And brethren, I believe the nations of this earth today are filled with the spirit of Babylon. And look, we can get worried. We can get upset. But who cares? Who cares about man? Their strength, their breath is in their nostrils. They can breathe. God can shut down their nostrils today. God can end their life. God can change the events of the world today if he wants. But when we get discouraged, and maybe when we are not walking with the Lord the way that we should, the reminder that Isaiah gave to Judah was a wonderful future to come. The glory of God. Christ is returning. All the nations are going to flock to him. And I want to be able to say, hey, I flocked to Jesus before he was cool. Like when you thought I was a weird guy, I was already loving the Lord because he saved me. And you guys are late to the party, but anyway, welcome to the party. But you're late to the party, right? And I want to be able to say, you know what, I'm excited for the future to come. And because I'm excited for the future to come, I'm going to serve my Lord today. I'm going to walk with my Lord today. Alright, let's pray.