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

But we're in Isaiah chapter 8, and I liked verse number 13, so look at the title from there. Isaiah 8 13 says, Sanctify the Lord of hosts, and let him be your fear. The title for the sermon tonight is, Let God be your fear. Let God be your fear. We are talking about a period of time where there is fear on the land. The king of Judah has fear. You may recall in Isaiah chapter 7, that the king of Judah was concerned that the king of Israel, the northern kingdom, had come together with the king of Syria, and they were going to overrun their nation. And in chapter 7, you know, God is telling the king, Ahaz, look, just believe my word. You guys are going to be fine if you believe in me. You believe my word, you'll be established. You know, God is telling the king, look, don't be afraid. Don't let your people be afraid. These powers are not going to overtake your nation. And in fact, he prophesies that the king of Assyria, or the Syrian empire, is going to wipe out the people they consider to be their enemies. But let's start there in verse number 1, Isaiah chapter 8 verse number 1. God, he speaks to Isaiah, he says, Moreover the Lord said unto me, Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a man's pen, concerning Meher-shalal-hash-baz. That's a long name, okay? And he said, look, write about this, and I had to look it up. I had to look up what this means, okay? And basically, from the Hebrew, this means, something along the lines of being swift, or being speedy, to the spoil, okay? So when you've got warring nations, the nation that overcomes, the nation that's victorious, will take the spoils of the defeated, right? And so this Meher-shalal-hash-baz is talking about a speedy movement, a swift movement, to the spoil, okay? So God is telling Isaiah, write this in a roll, write this with a man's pen. I don't know if there were women's pen back then, I don't know what it is, but write in a man's pen. And then in verse number two, he says, so this is what he does, so he's going to write this prophecy about what's going to take place. In verse number two, he says, And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record. So he says, look, I'm going to write this about this swift to spoil prophecy. So he says, look, I want two people to be my witnesses, because Uriah the priest, and Zechariah, the son of Jebirachiel, okay, so, okay, yes, we bear record, we bear witness that God is giving this prophecy to write this in a roll with a man's pen. And then he says, when he's done doing that, okay, and this is part of the prophecy, this is part of what God's asked of him, it says in verse number three, And I went unto the prophetess. Now here he's speaking of his wife, okay? So then I went unto the prophetess, and she conceived, and bare a son, then said the Lord to me, call his name Meher-shalal-hash-baz, the very same words that God has asked him to write concern of. So his own son has this name, swift to the spoil, okay? Swift to the spoil, and just as a spoiler for you guys, that which is coming swiftly for the spoil is the Assyrian kingdom, and they're going to be swift to overtake the king of Assyria, sorry, the king of Syria, and the king of Israel, and is going to take the spoil of the land, okay? So this is about a prophecy concerning the northern kingdom, though Isaiah is preaching to the southern kingdom, and one of the southern kingdom about what's happening in northern kingdom, and to learn from those things, so they don't fall in the same judgment as that northern kingdom. So you can see this whole process takes definitely at least nine months. You know, don't read this over, okay? Once he's given those words, all right, now I'm going to sleep with my wife, she can see, bare a child, nine months later, right? She bears a son, and then Isaiah gives him this name, speaking of the prophecy that God has told him about the Assyrian empire. Now, if you can keep your finger there, come with me to the book of Acts. Acts chapter 2, please, Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2. Now, when it says here that he went unto the prophetess, we don't have any record of Isaiah's wife being a prophetess in the way that we generally think of prophets. When we think of prophets, we think of people that were moved by God to preach against a nation or to write the scriptures. We don't have in the Bible a record of Isaiah's wife acting as a prophetess in the sense, in the way, that he was a prophet, okay? Now, this doesn't mean that she was a prophet like Isaiah, okay? I want you to understand, words in the Bible, sometimes we've been corrupted to think like charismatics, like we've been corrupted to think like Pentecostals, and so any time someone says the word prophet, you're thinking someone that is being moved by the Holy Ghost, you know, to pen words or to speak words, in the sense where God is given this extra revelation of his word. But I want you to understand that this very night, I'm acting as a prophet, because a prophet simply means a preacher, someone that is proclaiming the word of God, all right? And when you went door-to-door soul-willing on Saturday, you were also acting as prophets. You were going out there prophesying of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the reason I'm going to turn to Acts 2 is because it's the famous story of the day of Pentecost, okay? On the day of Pentecost, okay, they were empowered by the Holy Ghost, they were given the ability to speak in other languages. And what were they speaking? Were they speaking Jimberish like the Pentecostals? No, they were preaching the gospel in different languages that could be understood by man, right? Languages of all nations they were speaking, and people were getting saved. But the question gets asked, like, what are you guys doing? The question gets asked of Peter, like, what is going on here? Why is everyone speaking different languages? What can we hear in other languages? And he speaks of this prophecy here in Acts 2, look at verse 18, it says, And on my servants, and on my handmaidens, so the handmaidens are obviously the women, I will pour out in those days of my spirit, and they shall prophesy. So you can see here in Acts 2, when people are given the gospel, what does God say they're doing? They're prophesying, okay? They're prophesying. So please don't get always worked up with these statements, you know, Isaiah's wife must have been in an official position, petting God's words or speaking God's words, you know, like in a sense that Isaiah was. No, she may very well be just preaching God's word, preaching the gospel, being used by God to win souls. And when we're out there speaking God's words, we are acting as prophets and prophetesses, okay? All right, come back with me to Isaiah chapter 8, please, and I'm sure you guys already knew that information, but I just want to clarify, because I do sometimes get asked questions from time to time, like, you know, what's the story about this prophetess? Well, it may not be what you think it is, right, in the sense of their understanding because of the corruption or the teachings that they received from Pentecostals or charismatic teachers. Back to Isaiah chapter 8 and verse number 4. Isaiah chapter 8 and verse number 4. It says, for before the child, this is the child that Isaiah's wife gave birth, So, before the child shall have knowledge to cry, my father and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria. So, as this child grows, obviously a child grows, when a child's young, the child can't speak, you know, it speaks gibberish, speaks baby language, but some of the very first words of a child is mama. What do you say generally speaking? Generally speaking, not always, but generally speaking, mama, papa, or dad, or whatever your daddy, you know, they're generally the very first words, okay, of a young child learning its first words. So, what the prophecy is here, that before your child, before Isaiah's child starts to speak the very basic principles of words, so still very young, that Assyria, the kingdom of Assyria, is going to take the riches of Damascus. Damascus was the capital city of Syria. And again, please don't confuse Syria with Assyria, okay. One's a nation, another one's an ethnic group of people, if you want to put it that way, okay. But you've got the kingdom of Assyria, they're going to overrun Damascus, okay, and take the spoils, okay. So, that's why the son was given that name, speed to the spoil. Again, so this is the prophecy being fulfilled in the days of the Assyrian empire. And then it says, and the spoil of Samaria, again, what was the capital, Samaria was the capital city of what nation? Of Israel, the northern kingdom of Israel. It says, shall be taken away before the king of Assyria. So, again, the Assyrian empire, the kingdom, is going to be swift, they're going to quickly overtake the Assyrians, they're going to quickly overtake Israel, and again, this was what we were introduced in when we looked at Isaiah chapter 7. The southern kingdom of Judah, remember, they were afraid, King Ahaz was afraid of Syria, afraid of Israel, because they've come together, they're going to make war against us. And God is prophesying, look, don't worry about it, they're going to be wiped out. And now fast forward a little bit in the future, Isaiah has given birth, or his wife has given birth to a son. And God is saying, look, before your son speaks the basic words, mama, papa, Assyria is already going to have overrun, you know, speedily against these two nations. Now, if we keep going there, verse number 5. Verse number 5. And the Lord spake also unto me again, saying, Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shilohah that go softly, and rejoice in resin, and remilize sun. Okay, resin was, again, the king of Syria, sorry, these names, getting confused, alright? Got resin here, remilize sun, is that right? Pekah is the king of Israel, that's right, Pekah. Okay, resin is the king of Syria. Now, when it says therefore, as much as this people refuse the waters of Shilohah, you may recall a time when Jesus Christ was walking on the earth, when he was on the earth, and he went to the waters of Shiloh, yeah, Shiloh, it's the same waters, it's the same waters that it's referring to. What this is speaking about is, of course, these waters being located, this pool of water being located in Jerusalem, okay, where the temple of God is located, where they're supposed to be close in the presence of God, serving the Lord. So instead of desiring the calm waters, as it were, okay, they instead, what we see here, is they choose a different type of water. Now, in verse number seven, just very quickly, it says, Now, therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria. So instead of going to the Lord, going to the calm waters of the Lord, you've chosen the raging flood of the Assyrian Empire, okay, as your judgment. Instead of relying on God, right, you've turned away from God, where you're going to receive different type of waters as your judgment. That's kind of the comparison that God has given in these verses. But before I keep reading verse number seven, can you keep your finger there and come with me to 2 Kings? 2 Kings chapter 16. 2 Kings chapter 16. And if you want to keep a bookmark in 2 Kings, please do, because we are going to refer back to it a few times here. But I want to bring you to the historical books, okay, so we understand a little bit about what's happening, so again, we better understand the prophecy that Isaiah is speaking. In 2 Kings chapter 16. 2 Kings chapter 16 and verse number seven. Now, at this time, King Ahaz is the king of Judah. Remember, his dad was a godly king, his grandfather was a godly king, but King Ahaz, very wicked king, worshiped false gods, okay, burnt his son in the fire, you may recall that, sacrificed his children in the fire, so he's an ungodly king, even though God has been merciful, being gracious toward him. But we get introduced here in 2 Kings chapter 16 verse number seven. It says, So Ahaz sent messengers to Giflath-Pileser, king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son, come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me. So, when we go back to the prophecy of Isaiah, again, he's refusing the waters of Shiloh, he's refusing God, he's refusing the help of God, he goes to the king of Assyria. Hey, king of Assyria, help me, I'm worried about the Syrian king, I'm worried about the king of Israel, I'm worried about these nations, can you help me? So we see, even though God's reached out to him, God said, look, just believe me, I'll take care of things. He still runs to a foreign power. Okay, and of course, this would be the waters that God is seeking later on, that they're going to be overrun by the waters of Assyria. And, you know, the teaching for us, brethren, it doesn't matter what problems and hardships and trials, or enemies and persecutions and tribulations we face, when we need help, we can't go to the ungodly world. We can't expect our governments to be our help, or ungodly people in your workplace, or, you know, anything else, whatever other powers there might be. That's not the answer. The answer is to run to God. Right? I mean, God's our defence. He's our strength, he's our deliverer, he's our saviour. Like, he's laid down his life to give us eternal life. Who else would we go to but our Lord Jesus Christ in a time of need? But again, King Ahaz, ungodly. He refuses, remember the last chapter, he refuses the miracle that God wanted to give him, to reinforce, I'm here with you, Ahaz, I'm here with your nation, I'm reaching out my hand of mercy, even though you've been a wicked king. No, he says, I'm going to Assyria. The king of Assyria, he's got the strong armies. He's got the big kingdom, he's the one that I'm going to turn to for help. So what does King Ahaz do? Verse number eight, it says, And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria. He takes all the valuable things from God's house. The things set up to worship God, to honour God, to show the glory of God. Right, when light hits the gold and the silver, and the sparkle and the beauty and the colours, it's supposed to represent the glory of God, the wholeness of God. He takes all of that that is supposed to represent heaven and God, and gives it as a gift to the king of Assyria. Again, this guy's no good, right? This guy's a failure, right? You can definitely see that. And then it says here in verse number nine, And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him, and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Ker, and slew Rezin, the king of Assyria. Okay, so now Assyria's been destroyed. Okay, now look, we saw earlier in chapter seven that God is using Assyria. Whether King Ahaz did this or not, would not have changed the prophecy that God already gave. God already said Assyria's going to wipe them out. But God wanted Ahaz to be with him on his side. King Ahaz again relies on a man. He sells out the temple of God for something that would have happened anyway. Sometimes we might run to the wrong kind of help, the wrong kind of friends for assistance. And we might do something wrong, we might team up with the wrong kind of people, wicked people. And we might get the result that we wanted, but that result may have already come by the hand of the Lord, and we've neglected the Lord, we've not gone to him for help, we've not gone to him for aid, we've turned our hearts to people that are wicked. That's what this king has done. Drop down to verse number 20, 2 Kings 16 verse 20. Now, about King Ahaz, we don't know exactly how King Ahaz of Judah dies. We just get told that he does die. In 2 Kings 16 verse 20, And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Hezekiah, his son, reigned in his stead. So, again, King Ahaz, his grandfather, godly man, his father, godly man. Did they make mistakes? Of course they did. Every godly man makes mistakes. But then you've got King Ahaz, extreme wicked, unsaved man, didn't love the Lord. He then has a son called Hezekiah, and Hezekiah begins to reign after King Ahaz passes away. So now Judah has a new king. As we continue going through this prophecy, I want you to understand there's been a transition in the king. Now it's King Hezekiah. How is King Hezekiah going to turn out? Is he going to be like his father? Is he going to be wicked like his father? Or is he going to seek the Lord like his grandfather and his great-grandfather? We'll find out soon. You can keep your finger there in 2 Kings. We're going to come back a few times. But come back with me to Isaiah chapter 8, to Isaiah chapter 8 and verse number 7. Isaiah chapter 8 and verse number 7. Verse number 7 says, Now therefore behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river. Again, this would have been King of Assyria. So strong and many, even the King of Assyria, and all his glory. And he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks. And he shall, look at this. So when it says here that he should go over the banks, let's talk about the northern kingdom of Assyria. Oh sorry, northern kingdom of Israel. They've been overrun by the Assyrians. They've been captured, they've been misplaced. Other people have been brought in to live on the land. And it says in verse 8, And he shall pass through Judah. So as part of the consequence of turning to the King of Assyria for help, and now the King of Assyria is going to try to invade Judah. You know, like this, it doesn't work. When you try to team up with a wicked, it's going to backfire. And for Judah, it backfired for a period of time. It said, And he shall pass through Judah. He shall overflow and go over. He shall reach even to the neck. And the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breath of thy land, O Immanuel. Now we should know what Immanuel means, because we're coming into the Christmas season, and the name of Jesus Christ and the names of Christ was Immanuel, which by definition is what? God with us. Just keep that in mind, God with us. So when he's speaking about the southern kingdom of Judah here, it's referred to as Immanuel because Immanuel means God with us. And yes, God's been with them. God is with Isaiah. They're trying to, Isaiah's trying to preach to the southern kingdom. Hey, just put your trust in the Lord. What's Hezekiah going to do, though? The new king, is he going to hearken to the words of Isaiah? Is he going to turn back to the Lord God? You know, God with us? Or is he going to try to form another alliance? Okay, now the enemy is Assyria. Hey, what are we going to do, right? Like, the problem was Israel and Syria, now the bigger problem is Assyria. You know, we thought we gave them gifts, we thought we formed an alliance, and now they're overtaking our land. It's backfired. The whole process is backfired. I feel sorry for Hezekiah, the new king. He's going to deal with the problems that his father caused, the issues that his father caused. So what's going to happen, all right? Well, let's keep, if you can, one thing that I actually want to show you here, actually, before we turn away, let's keep going there, verse number nine. Verse number nine. Now, what we see here, associate yourselves, all ye people. Now, this all ye people is not Judah, it's not Israel. What we're about to read here, all ye people are the other surrounding nations, because as the kingdom of Assyria grew, they overcame not just one land, not just one nation, they took over many nations. They were a great kingdom for a period of time. So this all ye people are talking about other nations. You'll soon see that as we keep going for this verse. Associate yourselves, all ye people. Ye shall be broken in pieces. Okay, so Assyria's going to wipe you out, and give ear, look at this, all ye of far countries. So this again, not Judah now, talking about the other countries that are around the place, the other countries that are going to be overrun by Assyria, God kind of sarcastically, if you want to use that word, gives this instruction, gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. He says, look, get ready for the fight. Get ready for the battle. Assyria's marching on. They're going to take you over. And again, we've already seen that the Assyrian Empire, the reason they have the power and the might to do this is because God is directing them. God's given them that ability. You know, we saw last week that God illustrates them as a razor. They're coming on the land, they're going to cut down all the hair of the land, it's going to be left bold, okay? And so this is by the hand of the Lord. The Lord's going to reward Assyria. The Lord is allowing Assyria, you know, this moment of triumph over these other nations. And so you've got Israel taken down. You've got Syria taken down by the Syrians. You've got all the other nations surrounding Judah being taken down by the Assyrians. What's King Hezekiah going to do? I mean, I don't know, what do you think, right? Is he going to turn to the Lord? Or is he going to continue down the downward spiral of his dad worshipping false gods, trying to form alliances with other wicked nations? What's King Hezekiah going to do? Well, let's keep going there in verse number 10. Take counsel together and it shall come to naught. Speak the word and it shall not stand, for God is with us. Now, remember the southern kingdom of Judah was called Immanuel? Well, we see here, God's given us a definition, okay? For God is with us. Again, back to Judah. God is speaking back to Judah, okay? So he's turned his attention to the far countries, but now he's saying to the southern kingdom of Judah, look, take counsel together. Like, if you try to form alliances with other nations, it's going to come to naught. It's going to come to nothing, all right? Speak the word and it shall not stand. Like, if you try to rise yourself up, we're going to battle. We're going to overcome them. That's not going to happen, okay? Because God is with us. God is saying, look, once again, I'm going to take care of this, okay? Like, it's in my hands. Assyria is in my hands. Judah is in my hands. The hearts of these kings are in my hands. These soldiers are in my hands. So let's see what happens in the story if you can come back with me to 2 Kings. 2 Kings chapter 18. 2 Kings 18. And obviously, I'm not going to give justice. You know, in your own time, I recommend you read 2 Kings 16 all the way to 19 if you want all the context. I'm just going to hit some highlights here. Otherwise, we're going to be here all night as to what takes place, okay? But in 2 Kings 18, verse number 1, 2 Kings 18 and verse number 1, it says, Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea, son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. Okay, so Hezekiah starts to reign. And he's copped a bad situation. He's copped a bad situation. The nations turn against the Lord, his dad's messed things up, his dad has taken the precious gold and silver from the temple of God, given it over to the Assyrians, there's fear of war, there's fear of being taken over, but Hezekiah begins to reign. And again, what is he going to do? What action is he going to take? I love Hezekiah. He's such a great guy. Verse number 2, Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah. And look at verse number 3, And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did. You know, it's always sad when you know of godly parents, and the children turn away from the Lord, or even if they're saved, they turn to the ways of the world. It's sad. But you know what can also happen? You can have ungodly parents. Look, some of you guys don't have saved families. Like, I have the blessing of having a Christian mother and father being brought up, going to church, being brought up, listening to God's word. I have such an honor, such a blessing. Some of you guys, you know, your parents, the former generation don't love the Lord. Unsaved. Probably would rather you be anywhere else but church tonight, potentially, right? But you don't have to follow in the same paths as your parents if they've done wrong. If they've been ungodly, you can do what is right in the sight of the Lord. Like, praise God for salvation. The free gift, you can be sure of where you're going to go in eternity, and then you can obviously do great works for Him, even when your parents haven't done so. You know, we have to get to a point in our life where you can't just continue blaming our parents for our messed up life. Like, who doesn't have a bit of a messed up life? Some have it worse than others. You know, even me, right? There are challenges, there are difficulties, there are trials and tribulations that even I would go through as someone who was brought up in a Christian home and what have you, but look, we can't just blame the former generations. At some point, we have to make a decision for ourselves, am I going to do what's right in the sight of the Lord or am I not? Am I going to follow the paths of wickedness or am I going to follow the paths that God has laid out for me in His word? Hezekiah goes, you know what? My dad's action hasn't given this nation a good name. My dad's actions has only brought ruin on Judah. I'm going to do things differently. You know, we've great men like Isaiah preach and like other prophets preach and he goes, I'll do what they say. I'll follow God's ways. And what does he do in verse number 4? It says He removed the high places and break the images and cut down the groves and break in pieces the risen serpent that Moses had made for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it and he called it Nehushtan. Hezekiah, whatever idol he finds, he takes it, he smashes it, he breaks it. He goes, we're not going to have any false gods on the land. We're turning back to the Lord. He even takes the serpent that Moses made. Remember the story when the children of Israel were bitten by venomous snakes and they were dying, they were perishing in the thousands and God instructs Moses, set up a serpent, a brazen serpent and lift it up and all that would see, all that would look upon the serpent would be healed from the venom. And that serpent represented Christ. But what happened? The serpent is meant to be a picture, a type, a foreshadowing of Christ. That serpent was meant to, oh, Christ will one day save us from our sins. Like we've all been bitten by sin but one day if we just look on Christ Jesus in faith alone then we're going to be healed from our sin as well. But what happened? The people of Israel had taken that serpent and made it into a god. They burned incense to it. Instead of their hearts being toward Jesus, instead of their hearts being toward the Lord God who provides healing and safety and security, their hearts are on a brazen serpent. Just the wickedness of the land. This reminds me of the Seventh-day Adventists. Those who don't understand that the Sabbath was a type, a picture of Christ our Sabbath. That salvation is not by works but by resting on the finished work of Christ. Christ is our Sabbath. Salvation is not by works. But they're like, wow, you've got to keep the Saturday from, you're going back, you're burning incense to the brazen serpent is what you're doing. You've lost your thought, you don't understand. That was meant to show us Christ. It's meant to picture what he's done. Like if someone started offering, like if we're like, oh man, maybe we should just start offering burnt offerings to Jesus, to God right now. Let's take a lamb, let's take a goat, let's sacrifice it. Let's sprinkle the blood on an altar and do those practices. Then you've lost your eyes on what the lamb, what the sacrifice represented. The lamb of God which take away the sin of the world. Like starting to sacrifice as animals now and think you're going to please God. No, you might as well just burn incense to the brazen serpent. See, these things are in the Bible to tell us about Jesus Christ. You know, I gave this illustration I had before where, you know, when a woman is pregnant and they do the ultrasound pictures, right, you get those ultrasound pictures and they're dark but you kind of see the face, you kind of see the shape and you go, well, the baby's there, wonderful, it's great, we can see the ultrasound pictures of the baby. But then the baby's born. And after the baby's born and people come over, can I see your baby? What kind of mother's going to take the ultrasound photos? Oh, here's the baby. You're like, you're crazy. Ultrasound photos aren't important anymore. Show me the baby. Show me that which is pictured, right? It's like people going back to the ultrasound practices that were types and shadows of Jesus Christ. Why are you going back to the ultrasound? Show us Jesus. So King Hezekiah works this out and goes, man, what is wrong with our nation? What is wrong with my dad? And so he gets right with God. And verse number seven is really interesting. It says, and the Lord was with him. Immanuel, God with us. Okay, the Lord was with him and he prospered. With us over he went forth and he rebelled against the king of Assyria and served him not. His dad's like, here's all the gold. Here's all the silver. And the king of Assyria's all right, we'll take over your land then. Start paying your taxes. We'll take the spoils off your land. King Hezekiah goes, no, no more. We're fighting back. We're pushing back because God is with us. So he's got a completely different heart, completely different attitude to his dad. Okay, you can stay there in 2 Kings. We're going to come back a bit later. Come back with me to Isaiah chapter eight. I hope as we're going through the prophecy of Isaiah eight now, you're kind of getting the picture. Like, what's happening? Why is God saying these words? And I hope by looking at the history it's starting to form a picture in your mind. Verse number 11, Isaiah eight verse 11. For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people. This people being a reference to rebellious people, people that have been worshipping a false god. You know, God's saying to Isaiah, look, just don't walk in the ways of the wicked. All right? He says in verse number 12, say ye not a confederacy. A confederacy is when people come together. They combine together. Again, nations joining with other nations to fight back the Assyrian empire or something like that. Say ye not a confederacy. To all them to whom this people shall say a confederacy, neither fear ye their fear nor be afraid. So say, look, the people of the land are afraid of Assyria. That's why they're trying to form these associations, these confederates with other nations to fight back. He says you don't have to be afraid like these people. And brethren, we don't have to be afraid like this unsaved godless world. Can I mention COVID again? Because it's come back. You know, there's a lot of sicknesses again, a lot of COVID cases. I don't know. Does that mean we're going to lose our liberties again? Does that mean there's going to be border closure? I don't know. But you know what? I'm not going to be afraid. Like the world gets afraid, right? Because why do we have to be afraid? God is with us. Why do we have to fear like those that are without Christ? We're God's people. Like God has never left us nor forsaken us. In fact, He lives in here right now, the Holy Spirit of God. I've got Christ in my heart. You know, anywhere I go, no matter what happens to me, God is going to be with me. Immanuel, God with us. I've got nothing to be afraid of. But again, the instruction here is don't join up with the ungodly. Even in a fearful time. Come with me to a passage in the New Testament, 2 Corinthians 6. 2 Corinthians 6 please. 2 Corinthians 6, verse number 14. 2 Corinthians 6 and verse number 14. Remember God was telling Isaiah and prophesying that they should not walk with the way of this people. 2 Corinthians 6, verse number 14. This is a teaching in the New Testament. Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Brethren, look, we have to deal with unbelievers all the time, every day, right? You go to the shop, you're going to deal with unbelievers. You go to work, you're dealing with unbelievers. You catch public transport, you're going to be sitting next to unbelievers. But God doesn't want us to be yoked up together. A yoke is a piece of wood that would combine two animals, you know, to yoke up, let's say, two oxen. So they could push a plow, they could work harder, they'd be just, you know, together, working, and in many ways, you know, intimate in the way they would go about their business. Brethren, we should not bring, build strong associations with unbelievers. Even as good, even as friendly as they could be. We should be making God's people our friends. He says, For what fellowship have righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion have light with darkness? I remember, you know, coming out of school and my first job and, you know, meeting young people like me and they're like, hey, there was one job that I was doing. My very, very first job, I was in the city, I was working for Optus. This was a time when Optus started rolling out their Optus Vision, it was called back, it was Optus Vision back then, their cable TV. And so I would go door-to-door. I learned to go door-to-door, soul, no, not soul in. I went to go door-to-door sales. And, but we had to go at a certain time and, you know, the time, I can't remember what it was, we had a few hours to just kill and some of the guys at work go, hey, why don't you just come over to my house? It's just down the road, they live in the city, so whatever. You know, just go there, talk, you know, try to build some friendships. And before I know it, that they're smoking marijuana, you know, drinking alcohol, and I'm like, what am I doing here? Like, how did I find myself in this situation? You know, and I'm still a young guy, I'm pretty much 18 years old or something like that. I was like, how do I get out of this situation? I'm never going to be tempted to give in to that, you know, but, because I was already saved, I mean, look, even safe people can mess up, but, you know, I already had those strong convictions in my heart that I should not be doing that, that I need to be sober-minded. But I just found myself in such an uncomfortable situation, like innocently just walking into a house, and it's pretty much a crack house kind of thing, right? And I'm just trying to be friendly, I'm just trying to be friendly. But then we've got these instructions, what communion have light and darkness? That's how I felt. It's like, I'm in darkness, like, I've got no one to talk to. Like, these guys are high, you know, these guys are drunk, they're playing video games, you know, they're laughing off their head, it's not even funny. And I'm like, what am I doing here? And I was like, man, I need to get back, I need to go to work, like, we need to go sell some, Optus Vision or something, right, to get out of this situation. It's true. Look at verse 15. And what concord have Christ with Belial? Or Belial? Or what part have he that believeth with an infidel? Remember Belial was the god that King Ahaz worshipped. But Hezekiah says, no, we're going to take down those images. We're going to worship the Lord God. He says, hey, what kind of agreement do you have with your father? You have a different religion. One's a Christ rejecter, one's a Christ acceptor. He says, what agreement, verse 16, what agreement have the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God. As God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. And we'll be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. This is not talking about salvation, of course, it's talking about our walk with the Lord, our fellowship with the Lord. Hey, when we walk in fellowship with God, we can cry, Abba, Father, He's our Heavenly Father. But when we walk in darkness, we break the fellowship with our Father. And we don't have that beautiful relationship that we ought to have with God. We need to break away from the ungodly friends, from the wicked friends that are darkness, that affect us. They affect our walk with God. Come back to me to Isaiah 8. So, look, it's the same instruction that Isaiah is receiving, the same instruction that we receive in the New Testament. Isaiah 8, verse number 13. Isaiah 8, verse number 13. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself. To sanctify is to set apart. It's like the word holy. So, look, set the Lord aside from the wickedness of the world. Like when it comes to the house of God, when it comes to blessing our Baptist church, it can't be like the world. This has to be something different. This can't be a rock band. It can't be a concert that the world is like. It's got to be wholly separated, something just for the Lord God. I know we have a small building. I know we're not the biggest church in the land, but at least we're set apart. At least we're different. At least when someone walks into this church, they go, this is not like the Hillsong that I'm familiar with. This is not like the Pentecostal churches that I'm familiar with. This is not like the world. This seems different. This seems wholly separated. This feels like light in comparison to darkness. That ought to be the reputation we have here at Blessed Old Baptist Church. And then he says there, I sanctify the Lord of hosts himself, and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. Dread. Fear. Are these good qualities to have? Yes. As long as you fear and you dread the Lord. I love preaching behind the pulpit because I have a fear. And I keep saying this, but I'm just being honest with you. When I'm about just living my daily life, I forget the Lord from time to time because you're busy doing things. And then when you have the responsibility of opening God's Word, speaking to God's people who are... You're going to rule and reign in the millennium. I'm speaking to the future government. I'm speaking to the future kings and rulers and priests of the millennium. That's what you are. And then I come behind here and I just start joking around. Sometimes I joke around. I start telling my stories and my opinions and we barely touch God's Word. You know that preach has got no fear of God. It's about the entertainment, it's about the position, it's about the money. Brethren, I just want church to be about God's Word. And that gives me fear. Because I'm saying, thus saith the Lord, but what if the Lord did not thus say? Boy, I'm accountable for those things. Again, preachers, I thank you for those that preach on Sunday. But you've got a huge responsibility on your shoulders, don't forget. Don't think, ah, just 10 minutes, I'll be fine. No, give honor to God's Word. Make sure you've got it right. If there's even an inclination in your mind, I don't know if this is true, just don't preach it. There's enough to preach. You don't need to amaze people with your wisdom and look what I came up with. Just show people God's Word. Show them. Thus saith the Lord, because God literally said so, that's what He says. Read it for yourself. That's the things that we need to stand on. Have a fear of God. Dread Him. And boy, you know when you find that you've got a fear of God, you want to have a fear of man. Like right now, as I'm preaching, I have a fear of God. And I know what I'm preaching is going out on YouTube. But I don't care. I don't care who's listening right now. I do care for the people that I love. Thank you online listeners that we do care about. But if the ungodly world, the darkness, the wickedness of the world is listening to my preaching, trying to find something for me to attack me on or whatever to expose, so be it. Who cares? Because the fear of the Lord is greater than the fear of man. So that's what God is telling His people. Verse number 14. And here shall be a sanctuary. A place of safety. God's going to protect you from the Assyrians. If you fear God. So I mean, I can see why Hezekiah is encouraged. You know, he's listening to great men like Isaiah preaching in his day. And then when he says, For here shall be a sanctuary, for God is a sanctuary, but for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offense, to both the house of Israel, and for a jinn, and for a snare, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. So what he's saying here is that even though God is a place of refuge, He's a rock, He's a fortress, He's a place of safety, He's saying to the people of the land that have turned against God, that have worshipped God, the rock of God is becoming a stone of stumbling. A rock of offense. And then it says in verse number 15, And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. So the rock which is supposed to give us safety, for some, they're tripping over that rock, and they're hurting themselves. They're stumbling, they're being destroyed by that rock that they stumble upon. And if you know your Bibles, you guys should know what that reference is about. You guys know what that reference is about? Yeah, of course, Jesus Christ. Let's have a look at it. Come with me to 1 Peter 2. Again we saw the prophecy of Christ in Isaiah 7. For a virgin shall conceive. Now we're seeing another prophecy of Christ. The rock of offense, the stone of stumbling. In 1 Peter 2, verse number 5. And before we talk about Christ as the rock, the Bible also tells us that we're stones. We're lively stones. In 1 Peter 2, verse number 5, it says, Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, wherefore also it is contained in the scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious. And look at this. This stone is a person because it says, And he that believeth on him, he that believeth on this stone shall not be confounded. So there's a stone that we've believed on. The rock, our Lord Jesus Christ. I love what it says in verse number 6, elect, precious. I like that word precious. When I think about my Lord God, I do think of him as precious. Often we think of the word precious as something very valuable, very rare. Like if you were to dig, you go mining, you come across a gold nugget, you go that's precious, that's rare, require a lot of effort to find. That's like my Lord God is that precious, beautiful, most amazing, mighty God. Like nothing compares to God for those that believe on him. I love him. He's my saviour. Then it says this in verse number 7, And again, this teaching of Isaiah should be precious. Oh, you're telling us that God is going to come through and deliver us. You're telling us to rely on him as our sanctuary, as our defence. But unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner. Verse number 8 is where we get Isaiah 8 from. It says, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence. So Jesus Christ is the stone of stumbling. Jesus Christ is the rock of offence. Have you ever gone, daughter of soul winning, and you've asked them, are you 100% sure you're going to heaven? I say, yes, because I'm a good person. And then you turn around and say, well, there's no one good. None of us are good enough for heaven. The only one that was good enough was Jesus Christ. Have you ever seen people get offended by that? Oh, are you saying I'm not good enough? Yeah, because you're offended by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Salvation is the righteousness of Christ, not the righteousness of man. They get offended. They stumble at that. They don't understand. They think salvation is my efforts. No, no, no. He's a sanctuary. All we have to do is hide ourselves in Christ and say, Christ, you saved me. You've done it. I'm trusting you. I'm trusting you alone and none of my efforts. That's when He comes through and saves. But if you think, no, I don't need the rock. I don't need His defense. I don't need His salvation. Boy, they're going to stumble at that stone. Verse number 8 again. What are they being disobedient to? It says at the word. They're being disobedient to the gospel message. To obey the gospel message. When you give someone the gospel, if they're going to obey that, you say, hey, in order for you to be saved, you need to put all your faith and trust. You need to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved. And if they're obedient, they'll be like, okay, I'll do that. And if they're disobedient, they'll say, not for me, not interested, I'm not going to put my faith in Christ. Well, in verse number 9. But ye, those that have trust in Christ, those that have believed on the stone, ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. Again, let's look at a holy nation. Again, as a preacher of God's word, I'm preaching to a holy nation. You're not just Brother Tim. You're not just Sister Carol. You're not just sinners saved by grace, and that's what you are. I know you are. But you're also a holy nation. The children of God. You're part of the royal family. You're children of God. Like, what would God do to me as a pastor if I lie to His children? Should we not have a fear of God in our hearts when we open God's word and speak? You guys are important. I don't think you realize it just yet. Just how important you are. It says that you should show forth the praises of Him who have called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Again, I love what God was doing with King Ahaz. Even though King Ahaz was a wicked king, sacrificed his children, God was still trying to be merciful. Hey, trust me. Trust my word. How many chances would God give before He says it's all over for you? I'm glad you've put your faith on Christ Jesus, you holy nation. Back with me to Isaiah chapter 8 verse 16. Isaiah 8 16. Verse 16 says, Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. The encouragement is, look, get back to the testimonies of God. Get back to the laws of God. Verse 17, And I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. If I was to seek, and ye shall find. Well, the Lord, as it were, had hid his face from Judah, because he had become so wicked. You've got someone like Hezekiah that says, You know what? I'm going to look for God. I'm going to turn to the Lord. I'm going to put my trust in the God of David, in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now, I told you to keep your finger in 2 Kings. So if you can, come back with me to 2 Kings. This time, chapter 19. 2 Kings 19. Now again, please, in your own time, if you want to just get something further out of this chapter 8, read it, read 1 Kings 16, 17, 18, 19. Read it all so you get the full context, okay? But even though King Hezekiah was a godly man, and he definitely was, he still had times of weakness. There were times that he did try to appease the king of Assyria. There were times of weakness. Like, even the most godly of all men sometimes have moments of lapse of faith. When you think about the father of faith, we think of Abraham. He's given that title, the father of faith. And even he had a moment where he took another woman and brought forth Ishmael because he was waiting for his promised son, Isaac. Look, and this is why you don't need to beat yourselves up when you mess up. You don't have to just stay fallen and, oh man, I messed up again, I must be a horrible person. Look, yeah, your flesh is horrible, your sin is horrible, we know that, but we're also God's people. God wants us to pick ourselves up. And when we fail the Lord and we mess up and make big mistakes, we have moments of fear, we have moments of unfaithfulness, then, you know, God's going to draw us back to him where we would have no option but to call upon him and ask for his help. Ask for his help again. This is what happens to King Hezekiah. He has moments of weaknesses. But he's at a point now where he's desperate. And in 2 Kings 19, 19, he prays these words. 2 Kings 19, 19. Now therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech thee, save thou out of his hand, out of the king, the king of Assyria's hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord God, even thou only. Save us, Lord, so everybody else knows that you are the true God. Then Isaiah, we know who Isaiah is, right? Isaiah, the son of Amos, sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, that which thou hast prayed to me against, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, I have heard. God says, King Hezekiah, I've heard your prayer. Even though you've made mistakes, even though you've failed, even though you've tried to appease the king of Assyria, even though you gave in to the fears of man rather than fearing God alone, he says, I've heard your prayer. Praise God for a God that hears our prayers. Praise God. Anything, anything in your heart, any burdens, problems, worries, stress, we all have some measure of it, whether it's relationships, whether it's health, whether it's finance, fears of man, persecution, whatever, brethren, you know what? Just go to God. Go to God and you see He hears our prayers. He loves us. God with us. That's the message that Isaiah is trying to give to the people. God's with you. Just turn back to Him. Seek His face. Let's drop down to verse number 32. Therefore, thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord. God's like, I'll take care of it now. He did come in, but He's going to go out the same way that He came in. He's not going to further come into this city. He's no longer going to be a trouble to you, King Hezekiah. Then he says in verse number 34, For I, this is God speaking, for I will defend this city, to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake. So what happens in verse number 35? A miracle takes place. And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred, four score, and five thousand. And when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So some soldiers just wake up, ready for the battle, ready to take over Judah, and they look around. There's all these dead, fallen soldiers, dead, fallen comrades all around. An angel of the Lord, just a single angel. God goes, oh, I was just saying, what are you guys? Some people say this is Jesus Christ. I don't know. It's not very clear. But look, all God needed was just one to go out and wipe out an entire army. And we know there are literally millions upon millions of angels in heaven. God can't help us? Of course He can. Lord, just send us one angel. If I could just have spiritual eyes, I wouldn't be surprised if there's an angel standing outside the door right now, making sure that our church is safe and protected. Then it says in verse number 36, So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed, and went and returned and dwelt at Nineveh. So Judah was delivered by the hand of the Lord. Now come back with me to Isaiah chapter 8, verse number 18. Isaiah 8, 18. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord have given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel, from the Lord of hosts which dwelleth in Mount Zion. This is the words of Isaiah. Remember his second child? In chapter 7, he had an older son. I can't remember the name of his son. He must be another prophecy. He must be something like that. So Isaiah is saying, look, these names and these children that God gave me are these testimonies, they're object lessons of prophecy, of what God will do for the land of Judah. And in verse number 19, it says, And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and that mutter, should not a people seek unto their God for the living to the dead? Because of King Ahaz, remember he brought in false religion. He also brought in the occult, which is occult sacrifice in children. But you can see that there were people, there were witches, wizards, people that had familiar spirits. The word familiar, these familiar spirits, they're fallen, the devils is what they are, the devils. They're part of Satan's kingdom. And the word familiar is like the word family, like in Spanish, family is familiar, familiar spirits. So that's something that is close. So have you ever seen these stories on the news where maybe a murder took place and they're looking for a buried body somewhere and there have been times that detectives have turned to these witches and wizards and all these kinds of things and they've actually told them, yeah, this is where you go, this is where the body is. That's not a coincidence. It's true, those things happen. I've indirectly not had personal experience but have spoken to people that I didn't know at the time, had familiar spirits and they knew things. And eventually I'm like, how do you know those things? Because as they keep talking I realise, you've dabbled into the occult. You've got this familiar spirit. And they'll say things, they'll say even things that I've done. They're familiar. They're aware. These spirits have been roaming the earth for a long time. They may have been a familiar spirit of a long dead person and because they know all about that person they then tell another person, another wizard or whatever these people that are in touch with these spirits about all those other events. And so sometimes these people know about lives of others. So how do they know that? Are they making it up? Obviously some people make it up but some things are real and these spirits are telling, these fortune tellers and all these kinds of people. These things are real. They're out there. They're legitimate, not legitimate in the Bible, but there are legitimate powers that people turn to and they can seem miraculous and amazing. But what I love about verse number 19 again it says, And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them which have familiar spirits. The concerns, hey maybe we should listen to the wizards. Maybe we should listen to the fortune tellers. Maybe we should go to them and see what they have to say. But then the question gets asked, should not a people seek unto their God? For the living to the dead. Verse number 20, To the law and to the testimony. How do we go seek God? To the law and to the testimony. If I want to know I go here. I don't need to go to familiar spirits, fortune tellers, wizards, witches. Here, God's laws, God's testimonies. This is where knowledge is. This is vastly superior. If they speak, if the familiar spirit people, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. And it's not just fortune tellers and wizards and the occult. This stuff, this practice is in pretty much every charismatic church here in Australia. Oh, the Lord's given me a word. The Lord just told me. I went to a charismatic church once. The pastor said, Kevin, come up here. I got up there. One day you're going to be leading tens of thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of people. And I'm like, what? It's like, what happened to Blessed Old Baptist Church? Where's the tens of thousands? Maybe they're online, I don't know. But they'll say things. And look, it might sound impressive. It might even sound godly and holy. Wow, look how these people speak. And some things might even be true. But what we must do is test it against God's word. Every preacher, even me as a preacher right now, anything I say you should be testing with God's word. Is that what God's word says? That's what we're meant to be doing. Am I going to mess up sometimes because I'm a human being? Of course. But that's not my desire. I hope if I mess up, you guys are like, obviously I'm not teaching damnable heresies or something, right? If I just make a factual mistake or something, I hope you guys are like, oh, he's a human being. It just reminds us that we need to go to God's word and depend on the Lord God alone. There is no light in them. These people that say God spoke to me but it's contrary to God's word, there's no light in them. They're not saved. They're of the devil. And again, like these familiar spirits, it might sound impressive, but this is vastly more impressive. Like I know when the world was created about 6,200 years ago, roughly, give or take. I know the names of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman. I know when the flood took place. I know that a family of eight came off the ark. I know that Jesus Christ walked this earth, died on the cross, rose again from the dead. I know that salvation is by faith alone. I know that Christ is coming back one day and I know I'm going to rule and reign with him like the rest of us, with Jesus Christ. I know one day God's going to create a new heaven on earth. I don't need some familiar spirit to tell me these things. I have God's word. That's all I need. Sometimes people say, oh, the devil knows more about the Bible than you do. No. No way. Not even close. The devil can't understand. The Bible says that only the spirit of God knows the deep things of God. Only the spirit of God. And I've got the spirit of God living in me. Praise God. I'm not some familiar spirit. I've got the spirit of God who guides and teaches me his word. And you've got it too. So who cares about familiar spirits? Who cares? Like, oh, they found a dead body. Okay, you're that familiar spirit. It's like me, right? I see Brother Tim, and I see him bury $1,000 in the ground. And I go to Ramzan. Hey, Ramzan. Tim buried $1,000 in the ground. And Ramzan goes and picks, buries it. Oh, there it is. There's $1,000. Wow. Amazing. Miracle. That's impressive. I'm like, no, that's just what I saw. That's not a familiar spirit. It's just they saw those things. And they're just telling different people different things. It's not impressive. Just as unimpressive as the example that I just gave you. That's all they can do. I'm not the future. I'm excited for the future. You know, I can see the prophecies of Christ even in Isaiah 8. We have prophecies of Jesus Christ. Familiar spirits don't know the Bible. What do they know? They haven't got the spirit of God. All they can do is corrupt God's Word. All they can do is twist. Just like their ministers. Just like pastors that preach contrary to God's Word. Pastors that say if you get sick, then you're not right with God. Pastors that say if you're not rich, you're not right with God. It's like, you've got another spirit. I don't care about that spirit. It knows nothing. Yeah, it maybe knows where you can find a thousand dollars buried in the ground. But I know where the riches of heaven are. I know that I serve my Lord Jesus Christ. I'm laying up treasures in heaven. I don't care about the riches of this world. I'm getting sidetracked. Sorry, guys. Where am I up to? Can someone tell me what verse I'm up to? 21. Listen to 21. And they shall pass through it. These are the people that are listening to these familiar spirits and wizards and whatever. And they shall pass through it, hardly be stared and hungry. Like, it's not going to satisfy them. Okay? And it shall come to pass that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves and curse their king and their god and look upward. Look, these familiar spirits, they never give satisfying answers. They're still on their way to hell. They're still unsaved. So instead of looking up to the heavens, they then look to the earth. And they shall look unto the earth and behold trouble and darkness, dimness and anguish, and they shall be driven to darkness. That's why these wizards, they love the black colours and the dark colours, okay? They can't get answers from heaven. They can't get answers from God. So they say, well, what about the earth? And when they look at the earth, all they see is darkness and trouble, which is the world, because it's a sinful world. They've got no satisfaction. They've got no answers. They've got no spiritual fulfilment. They're still hungry. But brethren, the moment I trusted Christ, I spiritually ate of his flesh, drank of his blood, spiritually speaking. You know, water where I never thirst ever again. You know, everlasting waters of Jesus Christ. Now, we finished Isaiah chapter 8, but let's go back to verse number 2. Let's start all over again. No, I'm just joking. Come with me to verse number 2, Isaiah chapter 8, verse number 2. Because we're in the 8th chapter of Isaiah, just very quickly. We'll touch upon this last. What's the 8th book of the Bible? 1 Samuel. Nah. Nah. Ruth. Yeah, Ruth, Ruth. So very quickly, come with me to Ruth chapter 4 as well. Come with me to Ruth chapter 4, verse number 9. Ruth chapter 4, verse number 9. We'll end on this one, okay? Just the connection with the book of Ruth, very quickly. Isaiah chapter 8, verse number 2, and Ruth chapter 4. Isaiah chapter 8, verse number 2. Remember it said, what Isaiah had to do, it says, And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberachiah. So Isaiah's gone to get a few witnesses, okay, for this prophecy that God has given him. Then he says in verse number 3, And I went unto the prophetess, his wife, and she conceived and bare a son, and then said the Lord to me, call his name, Meher-shalal-hashbaz. All right. Well, come with me to Ruth chapter 4, verse number 9. And this is a famous story. It's a love story. Okay, ladies, if you want a romantic book, that's a good book to turn to, the book of Ruth. And men, if you want, you know, it's good for men too, don't get me wrong. Okay? But Boaz, this is the end of the story. Boaz decides to marry Ruth. And it says here in verse number 9, And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, Ye are witnesses this day. Okay? So there's a parallel. The searching of the witnesses, and then it says this, And I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chelon's and Malon's, of the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of Malon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place. Ye are witnesses this day. And that's why when we do marriages, we want witnesses present, okay? So yes, we witnessed that this marriage took place. We witnessed that these vows were made. They've committed one to another, they've accepted each other as husband and wife. And then it says in verse number 11, And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders said, We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel, and like Leah, which too did build the house of Israel, and do thou worthily in Ephratah, to be famous in Bethlehem. Drop down to verse number 13. So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife. And when he went in unto her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son. So, not that I can draw much parallels, I mean, much more from Isaiah 8 from that, but I just want to show you, very interesting. Ruth's not a very big book. It's only four chapters long, okay? And we look at Isaiah 8, the search for witnesses, Isaiah going into his wife, conceiving, bearing a child, is exactly the story, the conclusion, the climax, if you want, of the story of Boaz and Ruth. You know, truly, God's word is an amazing book. Truly, we don't need to turn to wizards, and fortune tellers, and the star signs to know of amazing great truths. No, we've got God's word. We've got his testimonies. Let's rest upon him, okay? Alright, let's pray.