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Amen. Okay, we're in Isaiah 16. Last week obviously we were in chapter 15 and we saw the first chapter of the burden of Moab, so the prophesied destruction of Moab. We're into these burdens. We saw Babylon before that, now it's Moab. The first time being during the Assyrian Empire's invasion and then finally with the Babylonians afterwards, I think, to finish them off. We saw major cities being laid waste in the night and how the night time is a time of danger for the world as well as God's people and how the Moabites would be going up to the high places, a place of idolatry to weep. They'd be mourning and howling before fleeing to the south, sort of south-western regions to Zoar. However, it seemed like not many would escape with the remnant eventually being destroyed by the Babylonians. It's said in verse 8 of Isaiah 15, for the cry has gone round about the borders of Moab and howling thereof unto Eglaim and howling thereof unto Beer-alim. For the waters of demons shall be full of blood, for I will bring more upon demon, lions upon him that escapeth of Moab and upon the remnant of the land. And Isaiah 16 verse 1 starts with this, send ye the lamb to the rulers, sorry, to the ruler of the land from Silah to the wilderness unto the mount of the daughter of Zion. I'm going to pray and then we're going to get started. Father, thank you for your word, thank you for this chapter of the Bible, Lord, and the talking points and the things we can learn from it, Lord. Please help me to preach them in a clear way and in a way that everyone will just, you know, be interested, will be listening, will be taking in what they need to hear from your word today, Lord, and just fill in with your spirit when I do that, please, Lord, and just bless the sermon and bless everyone who's listening to it now. In Jesus' name I pray all this. Amen. Okay, so it said, send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Silah to the wilderness unto the mount of the daughter of Zion. What does it mean to send the lamb to the ruler of the land? Well, it's a gift, basically, like a peace offering to the ruler of the land that is Judah, the southern kingdom, that's what it's talking about. Silah is by the borders of Edom, on the east of Edom, that is, the wilderness being the southern borders and mount Zion being Jerusalem in the north, so he's saying, sorry, to the west that is with Edom, he's saying to the Moabites to perhaps, to perhaps a remnant or to those that are listening to make peace with an escape to Judah, that's what he's saying, send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Silah to the wilderness unto the mount of the daughter of Zion, that's that area which is the southern kingdom there. It says in verse two, for it shall be that as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon. Now, Arnon being the river on the southern borders of Moab indicate that eventually they'll be fleeing, that's what he's saying, the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon, showing that they're fleeing out of Moab. It said in verse three, take counsel, execute judgment, make thy shadows as a night in the midst of the noon day, hide the outcast, beret not him that wandereth, let mine outcast dwell with thee Moab, be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler, for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land. Now, what I believe that the Lord is saying through Isaiah, obviously, to the Moabites, is that they need to help God's people, they need to help the outcast right now, because that throne of Hezekiah is being established, okay, which would be a refuge for all. He said in verse five, and in mercy shall the throne be established and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking judgment and hasting righteousness. So remember that the first of these burdens, the burden of Babylon, was written in the year that King Ahaz died. Isaiah 14 28 said, in the year that King Ahaz died was this burden. So we're somewhere around the end of King Ahaz reign and the beginning of King Hezekiah's reign right now, which coincides, because obviously Hezekiah succeeds Ahaz, his father, which coincides with the eventual destruction of the northern kingdom by the Assyrians, with it completed five years into Hezekiah's reign, albeit though after a three-year siege. So the three-year siege starts two years into Hezekiah's reign of the northern kingdoms by the Assyrian empire. And of course many of the remnant of God's people of the northern kingdoms, because it's not that the northern kingdom was right, no one saved there, there was a remnant obviously there, there was a righteous remnant, and many of those end up in the south under Hezekiah. So we see Hezekiah basically calling them in as well early on in his reign, and these people are coming down to the south, those that wanted to be, you know, a part of God's kingdom from various tribes in the northern kingdoms. But in the meantime, so they're going to flee eventually, some of them will come out earlier than that, some of them already had, some will flee after this invasion by the Assyrian regime. They're going to be fleeing from that eventual siege, and especially if you think about those in the outlying towns and villages, you know, before or while that siege is going on, as the Assyrian army's kind of just going over those lands, going over those towns and villages, where are they going to go? Okay, they're not necessarily all just going to go straight south, they're going to be fleeing in different areas. And second king 17.5 says, you have to turn there, then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land. So it's not that he just came to the, to, oh he just directly went for like what was known as a city Samaria, it's that he came up throughout all the land and went up to Samaria and besieged it three years, talking about the city itself, and rather than the whole country. But he went through all the land first, so the Assyrian empire basically just invaded the whole northern kingdom. So when in verse three to four he's telling the Moabites to take in the outcasts, I believe it's his people that he's talking of, it's his own people, it's the outcasts, God's outcasts there from that northern kingdom. He said, take counsel, execute judgment, make thy shadows as the night in the midst of the noon day. The shadows being like the protection from that sun in the noon day in obviously what is a very hot part of the world. Hide the outcast, beret not him that wandereth, let mine outcast dwell with thee Moab, be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler, that's the cover, for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land, and in mercy shall the throne be established and he shall sit upon it, in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking judgment and hasting righteousness. Perhaps there's a picture there of how the world will survive God's wrath to come as well, with something, this is a time to come in the future. We've seen previously how the invasion of the Assyrians pictured God's wrath, with Hezekiah's reign on the back of it picturing the millennial reign. If you remember we've gone through this in various chapters already, along with the with the little surrounding of Jerusalem by Assyria later on, and their sudden destruction, remember it was just immediate, the angel of the Lord just going out and killing just hundreds of thousands of them picturing the battle at the end of the millennial reign, when God just destroys everyone who's been stirred up for a while by the devil, you know, to deceive that one last time when he's released for a season at the end of the millennial reign. So we've seen that and there's a picture there clearly, okay, and we've seen Hezekiah's reign clearly picturing the millennial reign. So who are the outcasts during God's wrath then? Who are those outcasts during the wrath of God that this would maybe picture? Well for me it would be the 148,000 real witnesses, and I say real witnesses because they ain't Jehovah's witnesses as we know them today, they're the real Jehovah's witnesses, and that's who the 148,000 are, they're the witnesses, they're the outcasts aren't they? If you think about it, this is during God's wrath, but during God's wrath being spilled out upon the on the world, on the unbelieving world, ultimately really the anti-Christ reprobate sort of armies of the world, well those 148,000 ain't going to be too popular at that point. Remember he still manages to muster up an army at the end, so it's not that, you know, I know obviously people are hiding their dens and the rocks but they still eventually muster up an army. So during that three and a half years you've got all these, you've got the anti-Christ, you've got the false prophet, you've got his army of reprobates basically that have taken the mark of the beast, and then you've got 148,000 sent out to witness as well as the two, like I've called them the high profile witnesses, who everyone will see. So the 148,000 witnesses will be getting hunted and persecuted like the two witnesses won't they? Don't you think? They're going to be outcasts at least aren't they? At least to most of the world. And they're going to be hunted, the reprobate armies are going to be hunting them. Remember these people are coming down from heaven to preach the gospel during God's wrath to a load of, and there's going to be amongst those that they're able to preach gospel to, just a load of reprobates, a load of people that have been given over to a reprobate mind that have taken the mark of the beast, they've worshipped the beast, his image, and they have they have never forgiveness, right? But those that listen to their counsel, verse three we saw here, take counsel, execute judgment, make thy shadow as a night in the midst of the noon day, hide the outcast, beret not him that wandereth. So they execute judgment, they protect them, they hide them, they don't beret or reveal is another word we would say that those wandering witnesses that have them dwell with them, that cover them from the face of the enemy, said, Moab, be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler, will more likely hear the gospel, won't they? Those that do, those that, because remember the 148,000 aren't there just for a laugh, the two witnesses aren't there just for a bit of fun, to bring down a bit of fire on the earth and other stuff like that, and if you're sitting here going, what on earth is this guy going on about? I'm just talking about the prophesied things to come at the end of the world, and there will be a time when after God's people are raptured, after a time of tribulation, a time of great tribulation, and those who are saved are raptured, there's going to be three and a half years of God spilling out his wrath on the world. Now this could happen at some point in our lifetime, for we know it might not, it might be in our kids' lifetime, might be in our grandkids' lifetime, it might be in centuries to come, we don't really know, but what we do know is that it's going to happen, it's going to come, God's word promises it's going to come, and I think it's pretty clear, I know you've got these preterist views and other things, it's a load of nonsense, it's going to come, we haven't seen this happen to the whole world yet, and when it does come there's going to be, after God's people are raptured up into the sky, the Lord Jesus Christ returns at that point, and then we're going to see God spilling out these pretty crazy judgments on the world in terms of, you know, by the world's standards, thinking what on earth is going on, and at that same time though he's sending out 148,000 witnesses, 12,000 from each of the tribes, and I don't know, these guys, I don't think they're going to be too popular are they? So, but those that take them in, because they're there to get people saved, and those that take them in, that welcome them in, that let his outcast dwell with them, that are covert to them from the face of spoiler, well those people are more likely going to hear the Gospel aren't they? They're more likely to succeed through that three and a half years, they're more likely to get saved, they're more like to be blessed in that time when the bad guys come to an end, because that's what he said, be thou covert to them from the face of spoiler for the extortion is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land, these people are ending, they've got three and a half years of getting an example made out of them, and then it's done, and then it's Jesus Christ's millennial reign, that's to come. Here God was punishing the wicked of the land with the Assyrians in the end times, though it will be with all sorts of biblical judgments, okay, the Assyrians are just a picture of that just coming, and just the whole land just getting taken over, at least as, you know, as far as, you know, that local, not even local, I mean they were a world empire, the Assyrian empire, and it went far and wide, but in the end it will then be followed by the thousand year reign of Christ, said in verse five, and in mercy shall the throne be established, shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking judgment and hasting righteousness, pictured here by Hezekiah's righteous reign to come, which is the initial, the first fulfillment of it, however those that get saved during the wrath of God will likely be a large minority due to the sheer masses choosing the mark. Revelation 13 16 says, and he calls with all both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond to receive mark in the right hand or in their foreheads, so he's at least causing all, he's giving a reason for them all, I think a lot will, and it seems that when the Assyrians destroy Moab there won't be many left either, so either way I don't think there'll be many, that there's still, it's still worth sending out those 148,000, but I think here as well there won't be many, it says, it said, it said that he will haste righteousness, and then it said after that, it says in verse six, we have heard of the pride of Moab though, he is very proud even of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath, but his life should not be so. So even though there's a remnant, even though there'll be a few, the vast majority Moab as a whole, like the world as a whole now, is very proud, it's haughty, it's full of pride, and with that comes wrath as well from these people, but it says, but his life should not be so. So just, just kind of, just a summary, or just, just to, just an ad, sorry, the last bit there is, it's a picture, the truth was that Moab, he's saying even to those Moabites of the day then, if you take in my outcast, you help my people, and if you think about it, what's the result of that? When you're taking God's people, you're more likely to get saved yourself, you're more likely to be blessed by God, and they're more likely to survive this Assyrian invasion, but that is a picture for me of the end times as well, like we've seen many times through the book of Isaiah, but then in verse 6 he then points out this pride of Moab, and again we see this damning description of the pride of people, it is a damning description, we saw it with the king of Babylon, also preacher of Lucifer in Isaiah 14 13, so it's preaching of really both really, but we know it applies to Lucifer because he even tells that, but it says in Isaiah 14 13, for thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend it to heaven, I will exhort my throne above the stars of God, I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north, we've seen it with the people of Babylon as a whole in Isaiah 13 11, where it said, and I will punish the world for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity, and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible, and here in verse 6 the Moabites are getting this description too, with like the previous subjects of the burden, also impending destruction to come too, and we don't want to just skim through these verses on pride without taking some necessary warnings I believe, okay, so we've seen this already in this burden, we've seen many times punishments coming because you're prideful basically, okay, at least it's one of the reasons God hates pride, okay, God hates it, he hates pride, and I'm not just talking about the freak show parades that go on around the world either, okay, obviously he hates that, I mean it's just it's a joke really that they call it pride festivals because God hates pride, yeah, and they just kind of make it very clear for everyone what it's all about, God hates all pride though, okay, not just the freak shows, okay, and as believers we need to be very careful not to get prideful don't we, we really do, we need to be very aware that we all have the ability to be prideful, okay, no we're not going to go to the levels of the sods, but we have the ability, Proverbs 16 18 says pride goes before destruction and an haughty spirit before a fool, that's why we need to be careful because the result of pride is destruction, the result of a haughty spirit is a fool, we see God punishing it time and time again in the Bible, we see whole nations getting destroyed, we're reading about whole nations getting these burdens, this chastisement because of pride, yet so often his own people, I'm not just talking about the people out there, his own people, those with the word of God, reading it, hearing it preached, still get so proud, pride, prideful, we still get so proud, so haughty, so eager, God's people can so often be so eager to prove themselves, to get some some glory from boasting, from competing with other believers, from showing off in various ways, a sneaky little thing there to show off, sometimes it's just blatant, some people it's just out there isn't it, sometimes it's embarrassing how much people are just trying to lift themselves up, puff themselves up, show themselves off, they get puffed up and even in our circles puffed up about soul winning, people that they think they're the bee's knees and act like that and sadly there are people like that aren't there and around maybe, it depends but in our circles and I'm not, I want you to start thinking who's he talking about in the church, I just I've been around, you know, I've been around soul winning Christians for many years now and people get puffed up about this stuff sadly, about their Bible knowledge or so called Bible knowledge, people get puffed up, they get prideful, they think they've got it sold, they think they're the one, about their apparent righteousness, people get prideful about that, you think people don't? I'll tell you they do and it's so ironic because if you're getting prideful about your righteousness you're well out of God's will right, you ain't righteous in God's eyes if you're full of pride but this is just sadly something that believers get like and it's so contrary to how God wants us to be isn't it, it's so the opposite of how God wants us to be, he doesn't want us full of pride, he doesn't want us showing off, he doesn't want us getting haughty, he doesn't want us trying to take glory for ourselves and do you know what often goes with pride is wrath and lies that's what it says here it said we have heard of the pride of Moab he is very proud even of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath but his lies shall not be so so why wrath to start with because prideful people with fragile egos are often full of anger, they get angry when their ego gets damaged in one way or another especially when their pride is dented you know if they don't look as good as they were hoping that you know they they it's affected their get a bit of shame a bit of embarrassment or something else look no one enjoys that but some people the wrath really kicks in right outward appearance is so important for sadly many and when it's affected this is when the wrath is triggered and think about it I've seen this with people I've seen it with this with people fuming okay with just legitimate reproof and rebuke not necessarily just for me but I've seen that I've seen it when they've I've seen it from behind a pulpit I've seen it with people who are just like just outraged that they've had the reproof of just God's word and it's like look I'm not saying they you know they have to be like high-fiving afterwards but you know like it's a different thing when you're just full of anger rage because you know I've had it with you know I've had it but you know when you've had to talk to people sometimes I had to tell them something and the rage the anger at the pride getting dented it goes with it wrath goes with pride people rage-filled because of an accidental word or action that affected their pride think of how many think of how many fights serious assaults and even murders are due to pride a lot of them right think how many think how many fights probably have gone on around the nation possibly even this evening so far with people purely out of pride someone looked at them the wrong way I mean what a retarded reason to beat someone up that's pretty big isn't it someone you know did or didn't say something and it's all about pride so who do they think I am tired about think how much road rage a lot of the time it's pride I get it sometimes when someone does something dangerous it gets you angry a lot of the time it's I mean I I was just laughing about it there is a because it is something I preached out there that there isn't when we're out in Malawi there isn't the pride that you see here and and something I was mentioning I was talking to the driver because I mean the driving there is quite amusing sometimes yeah the guy you've got a queue of traffic yeah on a what on like a like it's a one lane on your side one lane on the other queue of traffic hardly anyone's moving so our driver he just goes in the other lane yeah towards the oncoming traffic drives at about 50 or 60 and then as soon as the car comes he just pulls in in front of whoever it is now you do that stuff in England yeah you're getting in a fight not because it's necessarily because they're feeling the danger of because he's not hurting anyone he's pulling in just like how dare you go in front of me I'm in a queue here you know and of course we love a queue in England okay but it's a pride thing isn't it and don't get me wrong I mean it's pretty dodgy driving all right but point being that you're you're I mean you do that he would do it like every day and and I'm like sitting in the front with this guy and I'm saying to him you do that stuff in England man you're getting beaten up like they're gonna be few they're gonna be like because in England be bumper to bumper you're getting in man and it's like you're gonna get then you're gonna cause mayhem on the other side but every time he's just squeak just forces way in they don't even beep no one's even like no one's even gesticulated they're not like what are you doing like it at least here you'd be like in a car mood you'd just be like what on earth and I'm looking at these people because I'm in the passenger site so he's pulling in on my side and I'm like oh this is really embarrassing and they're just like it's like well he must be in a rush so what and and but think here think the opposite and it's a pride isn't it how dare you cut in front of me you know you're not going in front of me bumper to bumper smashing that kind of front to stop you going in front of me it's like that sort of thing isn't it and that and and think how many people are not getting beaten up possibly even killed over stuff like that and so much more and then what about the lies so it said here as well but his lies shall not be so because the appearance is so important that I think lying to say face is that bit easier isn't it when your appearance is is up there in importance then the lies to keep that appearance in your mind and hopefully in everyone else's mind up there become that bit easier when the pride is up lying to maintain that carefully inflated image lying to not look silly when you've been embarrassed quickly lie and cover up for that one lying so often goes hand in hand with pride and haughtiness and often with people he would convince themselves of the lies because it's so important to them to fill you know that that person that they're trying to create the image of and here in Isaiah 66 I believe that the Moabites are being told that whatever lies they've told themselves about the safety of their nation the protection may be from their idols the works of their own hands putting them in good stead with God those lies shall not be so they won't come to pass I think that's what he's saying he said in verse six six we have heard the pride of Moab he is very proud even of his haughtiness and his pride is rad but his eyes shall not be so therefore shall Moab howl for Moab everyone shall howl for the foundations of Kir Haroseth shall ye mourn surely they are stricken now Kir Haroseth was a fortress city of Moab where they retreated to in the battle against Israel and Judah and Edom back in second kings chapter three it's you don't have to turn there but point being that it's a fortress city that they actually eventually they managed to survive there when they retreated and were about to get destroyed so it seemed to be the only place that survived then but here against the Syrians he's saying even that fortress will fall and and the problem for those that have their trust their faith their safety in something other than the Lord when it eventually falls they'll be howling they'll be howling and howling is something that you do in pain and anguish okay when the fortresses of false religion are exposed by Christ's second coming they'll be howling won't they they'll be howling out when whether it's their whatever religion they manage to merge into the worshiping of the beast or whatever it is they're going to be howling they they're going to be howling when that fortress is exposed when when the fortresses of false religion crumble at the day that the unsaved dies they'll be howling because when the unsaved die suddenly that fortress that they'd you know felt safe in with their false religion with their works for show or something else they're just going to be howling because in hell they're going to lift up their eyes being in torments when the bank balance a successful job the online guru whoever it is is stricken people will be howling because they can't cope there's only one foundation okay that can't be stricken it's a sure foundation isn't it isar 28 16 says therefore that saith the lord god behold i lay in Zion for a foundation a stone a tried stone a precious cornerstone a sure foundation he that believeth shall not make haste it and that's what we are to build our lives it has upon the foundation of the word of god you've got to build it on the foundation of the word of god you won't be having your the foundations will never be destroyed yeah and obviously that first foundation is salvation isn't it it's a rock it's a precious cornerstone it's the lord jesus christ but then it continues doesn't it it continues with the statutes of commandments the testimonies the truths of god's word that's the foundation you want to build it on everything else it you you just can't count on can you can you he said therefore shall moab howl for moab everyone shall howl for the foundations of kir harriseth shall you mourn surely they are stricken for the fields of heshpon languish and the vine of sigma the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants are of they'll come even unto jaysa they wandered through the wilderness their branches are stretched out they're gone over the sea so these towns heshpon and sigma seem famous for their fields and vines respectively jaysa being north of moab uh the wilderness to the eastern sea to the west okay the point being that the asyrians are coming from everywhere they're just coming from everywhere they're just basically covering the whole land the moabites were to be surrounded they're basically going to be completely overwhelmed that's what he's saying here he said in verse nine therefore i will bewail with the weeping of jesus the vine of sigma i will water thee with my tears oh heshpon and eliyeli for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen so despite god ultimately bringing this chastisement upon the people he still cares it seems about the destruction of the land for starters here he said that he will bewail with the weeping of jesus the vine of sigma i will water thee with my tears oh heshpon and eliyeli for the shouting for thy summer fruits for the harvest is fallen so he does care about the land he cares about what's going to happen said but but he's still bringing the chastisement i said in verse 10 and gladness is taken away and joy out of the plentiful field and in the vineyards there shall be no singing neither shall there be shouting the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses i have made their vintage shouting to cease and of course it's important to point out okay due to the massive amount of false doctrine out there and the sheer level of pressure just surrounding us upon us not just us will be upon our kids as they grow up as well probably more so if if what we see in the world is anything to go by and how it's gone over the last several centuries and more that the point being that this is one of the proof verses that that wine can refer to both fermented and unfermented juice in the bible okay this is one of quite a few that wine in the bible can be non-alcoholic just grape juice or even fruit juice and different fruits obviously it could be as well but also it can be what we know of as wine nowadays which is fermented wine so he's saying here that due to the invasion of the asirian army the breaking down of the principal plants in verse 8 he said about the heathen have broken down to principal plants thereof um that that he will bewail the vine being the great vine of sigma verse 9 he said he'll bewail with the weepy of jesus the vine of sigma because the treaders okay he said because ultimately this is why the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses okay that's what he said and if you're going once you talk about treaders and and treading out wine because that's how people used to get juice out of grapes was their tread on it and hopefully they had clean feet when they did it you know but they they used to tread it out and it would be probably in an area where it would then you know i'd imagine there's a good runoff and stuff where they then gathered it at the bottom of some sort of runoff and it would have been designed for that in these in these pressing areas where labourers would be treading out grapes to produce wine and think that's a lot of grapes to get juice out of it's it's it's a lot of it that's an expensive fruit juice people actually pressing them out with their feet this is a different era this is a different day this is why it was such a luxury okay and by the way just just uh at the baby shower um i came to collect my wife and there was a sadly there was a few leftovers here that i was trying my best to help out with a couple of the men here came to collect their wives as well and what they did have is they had some fresh grape when i say fresh it wasn't actually freshly squeezed but it was some nice grape juice wasn't for concentrate it was just some some nice grape juice and that stuff tastes good doesn't it we were talking about it we're saying it's got such a smooth taste it's just different to other juices isn't it and there's something about it and that wasn't freshly pressed i hadn't had my heels on that okay because that would have tasted a bit rank and a bit crispy and chewy with the bits of skin okay okay is it really a luxury no i'm kidding okay i'm sure they had ways of safeguarding against bits of skin coming off okay but okay but if it's done properly okay that's some good stuff is it freshly pressed grape juice is a luxury item and that's what it says here that the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses so here he's basically saying that that they're treading out wine now how could they be treading out alcoholic wine without a fermentation process to make it alcoholic wine i'll tell you why because wine in the bible also refers to juice you say look okay we get it okay maybe maybe you say this we would have to be absolute idiots once we've had this explained so i'm not knocking anyone that's never heard this before but once you've had this explained and you read through the bible you'd have to be an idiot to believe that all wine in the bible is alcoholic you would and i know i preached a sermon saying you know if you drink alcohol you're an idiot okay and look if you are if you are an alcohol drinker here and you're an idiot don't worry there's a quick fix solution stop drinking alcohol you stop being an idiot if i've offended you so be it let the cap fit all right if the cap fits sorry you can wear it yeah okay if if if you're an idiot stop being an idiot okay because if you believe that wine in the bible is alcoholic like like i explained when i preached a whole sermon on this that would mean that the lord jesus christ his first ever miracle in john chapter two was to facilitate a massive booze up his first miracle it's like all right what are we going to do for the lord jesus christ first miracle i know we'll just get everyone hammered you've got to be an idiot or you've got to be a boozy baptist or something where you're just trying your best to to justify boozing okay now people go well why keep talking about it can you go we could just move on mention this and why keep talking about this past seven i'll tell you why because we live in a nation full of alcoholics we live in a nation full of them i'm not just talking about those guys and the guys that we saw down on high street today like i mean if if there's any way i mean i love it yeah because i'm standing with my three my three eldest children in the high street and when the alcoholics go past there is no better advertisement for for me to be able to just go i'm like i hope to god that my kids are watching that and thinking i will never drink alcohol because it wrecks lives it ruins lives these people are an absolute mess they're an absolute joke okay but we do live in a nation full of alcoholics not just what we consider the physical addicts the ones that get the shakes when they don't drink there's a lot of people that cannot go a week or more sometimes you know that i always talk about it because it's always flabbergasted me that are people that used to get sponsored when i was young to go through dry january they would actually try and get sponsored to make a month without drinking alcohol i mean that's an alcoholic okay if that's an achievement you've got a problem okay and and again why do i keep talking about because the majority of churches and i use the word loosely in this nation serve up alcoholic wine to represent the sinless blood of christ you go to most churches most places that call themselves churches and you go around there and get involved in their communion or whatever they call it they're serving up booze to represent the sinless blood of christ because the majority of christians in inverted commas think that alcoholic beverages are some sort of blessing from god that's what they think they think it's a blessing it's absolutely fine there's no problem even bible believers yeah who claim to believe they claim to believe that the the bot you know the bible is the word of god to some degree although probably not preserved you know but whatever they claim to want to follow the body they claim that you know they've got some version of the word of god they and even look even king james bible readers and believers you know want they they claim to want to follow god's word they misteach this to justify boozing and whether or not they do it purposely or they're just happy to repeat the lies they've heard because it justifies their alcoholism it justifies their boozing whatever it is this is a problem all over this world isn't it you know what what what i'm what i teach from this pulpit and what what other people that believe the bible will teach on this is laughed at people people try and mock it they try and scorn it even non-drinking pastors will compromise and claim that it's okay to drink to not basically to not offend their boozing church members so they'll sit on the fence i was at a church where like the old the previous pastor he didn't drink but he was like oh but but no problem if people to eat no problem if people want to drink i just don't drink so you're wise enough to not touch alcohol but you're going to basically encourage other people to drink what what's that all about well as i have 5 22 says woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine and men of strength to mingle strong drink he said woe unto them woe unto people that drink booze basically woe unto them that are mighty sarcasm basically that are mighty to drink wine and men of strength to mingle strong drink because people think they're strong drinking something which basically promotes oestrogen like they're tough because they can sink a load of oestrogen promoting poison and act like a bunch of blubbering little queers all night or wake up in the morning sobbing because of all the stupid things they said in their behavior like somehow that's that's something to be to be proud of woe unto them that are so mighty to do what everyone else does and ruin their lives with alcohol woe is sadness sorrow despair yeah and it's not just the morning after either okay it could be a lifetime of despair due to something that happened we were talking about this the other day i was talking about this with the brother the other day and stop and it just started reminding me how many people because we're talking about he was saying something about someone who got a head injury out drunk and had basically become a little bit disabled from it i think he got beaten up or something like that well then it started reminding me actually i know a few people from when i was young people that i knew who ended up either getting beaten up falling over smashing their head open one one guy used to know tried to balcony hop when when he was wherever he was abroad somewhere on a holiday slipped smashed guess what he was drunk guess what this other guy that ended up with a scar like this all the way down his head he got an absolute kicking when he was drunk and other people and i know people that went to prison because they gave people absolute kickings when they were drunk and and another guy that i knew as a friend who actually got kicked off a wall on by the river tem smashed his head on a gang plank and sunk in the water and managed to fish him out the water after a couple of guys before he died is again never been the same since why because they're all drunk yeah oh no that's all cool no no go ahead oh kids might as well start early i'll let my kids have a little go yeah i'll go i'll just go to the shop for you though i'll go down the off license for you i mean what on earth that's the world we live in that's the parents that basically surround us that is the world that we're amongst yet and and that's i'm just talking with that's just the head injuries right what about the prison sentences as well the prison sentences that the fact you know what do you know what the vast majority of those guys are doing three years plus or whatever right now for saying something offensive what during all those rights or whatever they want to call them the protests most of them were just guys that are in the pub and and i've i've read a few of the testimonies and they were like well you know i came out sort of like going on and i came out and threw something and now they're in prison but let alone the more serious stuff let alone the people that that probably got half of that jail term but for more serious stuff for for what about the trunk driving the people that have lost their lives people that killed people maimed people destroyed whole families because they had to drink and drive the marriage is ruined how about that how many marriages do you think have been wrecked by alcohol a load a load of marriage is wrecked because because alcohol's so cool because it's so normal it's so okay to drink isn't it families destroyed how about that abuses like like onward abuse kids getting beaten up on regular basis's because of boozing because of drunkards because of drunkard parents that the health destroyed how many people's health is just wrecked destroyed because of booze how many people have died early because of alcohol i mean i i wouldn't you wouldn't even want to attempt to go to the stats on it it's ridiculous isn't it we all know people let's be honest if you've lived any any years in this world you know people that have wrecked their lives in one way or another let alone the rest of it because of booze oh but let's do our utmost to prove that drinking alcohol is okay turn to isiah chapter 28 now what they'll do this is what so boozy baptist uh alcohol justifier people that just want to justify drinking they'll go oh but that's people abusing it no no that's uh that's those heathens you know that's like the guys up the road who are just like sinking them one after the other in the pub no or outside the off license whatever else that's just that's those types yeah not you know a cultured christian you know if you've got a bit of self-control you can just you know you can just enjoy some social drinking well is our 28 7 okay he's preaching against ephraim and says this and isiah 28 7 he said but they also have heard through wine and through strong drink are out of the way the priest and the prophet have heard through strong drink they are swallowed up of wine they're out of the way through strong drink they err in vision they stumble in judgment now you show me a boozing past the prophet christian i'll show you someone that's erred in vision they've stumbled in judgment because they're drinking they've heard they've stumbled they've got it all wrong you know even look there are people across this world that claim to be men of god that claim to be pastors preachers whatever you like and and they're drinking they're boozing they can't even understand this basic concept in the bible and there's a pretty early judgment to to make when you first read the new testament i believe on this so i don't i don't buy the excuses okay if you're teaching the bible okay turn away our 65 by the way turn away our 65 by the time you get like i said to the second chapter of the gospel of john okay so this is pretty early in reading the new testament we're new testament christians so you would hope if you're teaching the bible if you're preaching the bible you will have read the new testament and by the second chapter of the gospel of john was jesus first miracle and and they're honestly reading that as just him having a massive booze up at a wedding it's it's flabbergasting after men had well drunk it said whatever the liquid was after they had well drunk said had a lot of whatever it was did jesus christ then make gallons more in case anyone wasn't drunk enough i mean like you can't that for me is just kind of is flabbergasting now look it's one thing if you're just a believer who just never looked into this you've read the bible through you know maybe you've read it a couple of times you just say yeah i didn't you know i just didn't really didn't really think it through i've always been told wine's wine i just thought wine's wine look that's one thing but these people teach this stuff these people try and justify this stuff from the pulpit they should at least at least go yeah i better double check what i'm what i'm encouraging here what i'm teaching here so either jesus christ just wanted to get everyone drunk or perhaps it wasn't the wine that we read about in isiah 28 and is the one that we read about in isiah 16 and here in isiah 65 where it says in verse 8 isiah 65a thus saith the lord as the new wine is found in the cluster and one saith destroy it not for a blessing is in it so will i do for my servant's sakes that i may not destroy them all he said as a new wine is found in the cluster the cluster of grapes that is that is juice okay that's true don't even go away treading out this is new wine found in the cluster it's juice and thousand years ago up until very recently that was a blessing for sure wasn't it that we just like we said that was a blessing without mechanical pressing without fact without like mass mass industrial farming that was a blessing okay that was a an amazing luxury to have that was an amazing thing to have and jesus christ being able to turn gallons of water into gallons of this precious luxury sufficient for all is for me clearly a picture of jesus christ sinless blood being sufficient for all jesus christ sinless blood being sufficient for as many people want it as many as they want it it's there it's not limited calvinist jesus christ blood is there for all first john 2 2 says and he is a propitiation for our sins and not for us only but also for the sins of the whole world his blood is there for all that was what that was a picture of him what a what a heresy to try and claim that that his sinless blood is being represented by booze where the bible teaches and clearly shows leaven being a picture of sin leaven being yeast which ferments things like what on earth right but back in isaiah 16 back in isaiah 16 we saw that they they will tread out no wine in their presses and that's because wine like i said can apply to both juice and it can apply to alcoholic juice what we would call wine now back then they you know it's not always in the bible clear which one it is the translators just did an honest job and they called it wine and sometimes it's obvious wine wine is a mocker strong drink is raging and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise that's clearly talking about alcoholic wine but when it's talking about it being a blessing not a mocker and that it's being trodden out in presses or it's in the cluster of the grapes and a blessing is in it well that's clearly talking about non-alcoholic wine right not that not that complicated anyway back in isaiah 16 okay these vineyards are going to be destroyed resulting in no juice in their presses now whether or not those moabites will have fermented it or not we don't know maybe they would maybe the moabites would have turned it into into booze but it said in gladness is taken away and joy out of the plentiful field and there's joy and gladness in a plentiful field in the vineyards there shall be no singing neither shall there be shouting and again this is talking about some massive boozer necessarily although there you never know with the moabites the treaders shall tread out no wine in the presses i've made their vintage shout to cease okay shouting about the the vineyard the vintage wherefore my bow shall sound like an heart for moab and mine inward parts for kirharish and despite the chastisement to come what we see here is that god still cares for them doesn't he and god is complex okay yes he judges he chastises but he also cares doesn't he he so loved the world he gave his only begotten son i mean god loves god loves people he loves the world he still cares but he still he does he does carry out the judgment that he says he's going to do and he does chastise but as a loving father he does that as well and ultimately it should it should hopefully the idea is it should result in the right response but it but people choose not to respond the right way verse 12 says and it shall come to pass when it is seen that moab is weary on the high place that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray but he shall not prevail so there comes a point for many when they become weary of the idol and the high place remember is is basically where they worshipped idols it's a place of idolatry and sometimes that's when destruction is happening around them when those idols of life you know mean nothing but but sadly often it's too late isn't it it's too late they might finally call out to god but they won't they won't prevail and i say that because you know think about for example like lifelong atheists with their science falsely so-called gods when the chips are down shall tell you who they call out to they call out to god but at this point they've rejected if they've ever they've rejected the opportunity of the gospel just call you out and go god if you're there you know help me out from this problem or something else that's not the same as receiving the gospel and people look ultimately when the chips are down they're going to call out to god and i think that's what it's talking about that once they get weary of that idol they might come to his sanctuary to pray but he shall not prevail all those worshipping the idols of life all those worshipping their bank accounts their sports stars their music stars their film stars when they get weary when they need help they call out to the god of this world but it doesn't mean they know him i don't know him they call out it doesn't mean they know him they won't prevail because they've rejected him for so long and verse 13 says this is the word the lord has spoken concerning my have since that time but now the lord has spoken saying within three years the years of an highling and the glory of my shall be contempt with all that great multitude and a remnant shall be very small and feeble now highling being a temporary worker employed for a limited time and basically within a limited period of time three years time and my my was to be contempt or or we might say rejected with disdain the the multitude were to be destroyed and a remnant has to be was to be at least sorry very small and feeble and perhaps there was a righteous remnant there there's a righteous remnant here isn't there i mean it's only a remnant because if you think about it compared to about 70 million people across the uk it's a pretty small remnant of safe people in this nation isn't it it's a it's a remnant it's a few and it may be feeble here it said with all that great multitude the remnant shall be very small and feeble and here i would say it's probably feeble we're feeble compared to the rich and powerful around us aren't we i mean we're pretty feeble really i mean some of us like to think we're we're tougher than we are but really we're feeble really i mean the power of that the devil has the power of the world compared with us is i mean you can't even compare can you compared with the righteous remnant in this nation but where there's a remnant there is a chance isn't there where there's a remnant of god's people there's always a chance there's always work that can be done god does great things with a few doesn't he throughout the bible he just does great things with a few in fact often there's too many for him to choose to do his great work and he wants to whittle them down to the few for example 300 being a great story of that no it wasn't a load of queers with skirts on and silly long hair standing there for some reason topless and wearing a tiny little mini skirt like in the old movie just bizarre this stuff is it i don't know maybe those weird 300 of what are they meant to be are they the trojans are they the greeks i can't remember uh spartans that's it spartans okay and that was it but it was the attack of the assyrians wasn't it or was it the medo but no it's medo-persians medo-persian empire isn't it and those guys yeah i mean you know maybe they did look like absolute freaks but the real 300 from from the bible they weren't wearing mini skirts they didn't all have their tops off and queer haircuts okay but you know what they what happened is god basically whittled down what was something like 10 000 plus to 300 because he wanted to be glorified and he loves doing great things with a few and we might not have a great great many saved people in this nation yeah but god can do great things with us can't he sadly the mobites end up being destroyed as a nation in the end but they had a chance where there was a remnant there was a chance and they were left to chance still get right yeah and i think we we still have a chance in this nation to get right don't we and when i say we have a chance to get right ultimately by doing the work by getting people saved and by trying to inspire and encourage other people to get right and even amongst you might say the spiritual destruction surrounding us there's still a hope there's a remnant there's a hope we're able to do something we're able to still maybe keep this nation surviving because that's what happens when nations end up without a remnant when the remnant go when they end often that nation just gets destroyed doesn't it so there is a hope and even amongst you know all of all of this going on there is a hope we're small and feeble but we have the ability to do great things don't we and but we all need to want to do that we want to think yeah look you know let's let's get working let's get busy and i know look we have a church of busy people the church people they're getting out there they're doing stuff trying to get people saved trying to do the things of god and if we do that well as our 40 in verse 31 says but they that wait upon the lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint moab there is a remnant left i don't think that remnant did much and that's why eventually they were taken out for good by the babylonians but right now there's a remnant here and we've got a chance haven't we so let's take a chance and on that uh we're going to finish in a word of prayer father thank you for uh well the the warnings the the um the caution we can take from that chapter of the bible lord those burdens prophesied upon moab and especially the pride the haughtiness lord help us to to to keep that in check lord to make sure that we don't fall into that trap lord and also lord help us to just just you know remind ourselves that we have a remnant here and a remnant here means we're able to to do you know to to do stuff for you we have a chance here to make a difference in this nation help us to take that chance in both hands lord and help us all to you know to with that just avoid the the pitfalls of life especially the pitfalls of idols and the pitfalls of alcohol and booze and just you know what disaster it's just caused so many people throughout history help us to just be wise about that lord um to not be deceived by it help us to be sensible help us to just avoid that and and for those that maybe you know need to make that decision to just just think well what do you want lord you want us to avoid it you want us to look not now upon the wine when it is red when it giveth its color in the cup when it moveth itself aright to just not even look at fermented alcohol lord help us to all um to just keep that in mind to to raise our kids to be wise in those areas as well to not ruin their lives like so many around around us have lord help us to uh get home safe for sand this evening and to return the sunday for the amazon ship to go great as well just don't pray amen