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

Amen. Okay, we're in Isaiah chapter 26 now. Last week we're in obviously chapter 25, we're going through it chapter by chapter each week on a Wednesday evening, preaching each chapter. Last week Isaiah said that he was going to praise the Lord and then we looked at how God commands us to praise Him. It is a command, isn't it? It's not just a command to sing, it's a command to sing loudly as well, to sing aloud. It's a command to make a pleasant noise unto the Lord and they are commands and something that we're told to do and we looked at that. We saw how Isaiah was both glorying in the eventual return from captivity with the dual prophecy being the second coming of Christ and really it was focusing more on that, along with the millennial reign after that being on the back of that destruction of Babylon and we saw how it will be a time of relief for those alive in His coming and a time of joy and plenty for all of God's people. And then finally Isaiah talked to Moab being trodden down and then we saw how that could first have applied after the return from captivity. Sambalat, who happened to be a Moabite, being the chief adversary during Nehemiah's time and eventually trodden down, but also how this could have represented the world during God's wrath or perhaps even a rebellion at the end of the millennial reign you could say as well. Verse 10, said in Isaiah 25, for in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest and Moab shall be trodden down unto him, even a straw is trodden down for the dung hill. He shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands. And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low and bring to the ground even to the dust. And in Isaiah 26 and verse 1 begins like this on the back of that, in that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong city, salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. And I'd like to pray before we continue. Father, thank you for your word, thank you for, Lord, the book of Isaiah, thank you for this chapter and everything that we can learn from it, Lord. And just help me to preach accurately and boldly please, Lord, accurately, you know, with all the topics I'm going to cover and how this applies, you know, especially to the end times as well, and help me to just preach in a way that people will be able to take it in to learn from it, to apply it to their lives, Lord. And just fill me with your spirit, please, as I do that, in Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Okay, so it said, in that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong city, salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Okay, so this is a song to be sung, and what day is that? It said in that day. Well, like we saw last week, there is an initial fulfilment with the return from captivity, but the ultimate fulfilment is when Christ returns. Okay, this is what it's talking about here. Isaiah 25, 8 said this, for example, Isaiah 25, 8, he will swallow up death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth, for the Lord have spoken it. And the true fulfilment being the second coming of Christ, that's what is being preached about in these chapters here. And with that in mind, okay, let's have a look at the song then, because unlike most songs out there about empty nonsense, which is pretty much most songs out there, aren't they, most of songs our world seems to love and sing along to, especially whether or not it's over Christmas time or not. Most of it's pretty empty, isn't it? Most of it's just vanity. Most of it, I think they'll say most sings as long as it rhymes. It seems to be just an exercise in rhyme, and you know, and if it rhymes, it's good to go, and that seems to be the sort of music that the world likes nowadays. But this, though, is a word of God, and that's going to be sung. And I was thinking about this briefly the other day, that nowadays you get some pretty talentless singers lifted up to all if they're marketable, don't you? I mean, that's kind of how it goes. They don't really need to have much talent. If they're marketable, they'll be lifted up to the world, and you'll even get people just going around spouting how marketable they are. Sorry, how good they are because they're marketable. It always amused me that the big scam with, what do they call it now, what was the old show with Simon Cowell on it? Anyone remember the name of it? Say again? Pop Idol? Was that the original one? What did you say, sorry, brother? X Factor was the original one, yeah? And I remember my parents used to like watching X Factor, okay? And I've seen a few X Factor episodes and stuff, and this is kind of the format of the show, yeah? Get some really kind of mentally ill, a lot of the time, people on, yeah? Get this guy, Simon Cowell, to just tell them they're rubbish when they're rubbish and tell them they're idiots and just be brutal with people that probably needed a bit of kind of care and help, really, right? So he says it brutally. So now this guy is so honest that now when he says someone who's not really that good is amazing, everyone's like, oh well, they're a really good singer, though. And they're just repeating Simon Cowell because he must be honest because he's honest to the people that are rubbish. It's quite a clever format because then they market that person who is just marketable, that Simon Cowell, the pound signs light up, this one's fairly attractive or fairly cool or something else. I think we can get some money out of this one. Let's tell everyone that they're really good. Everyone believes me because I've been telling the bad people they're bad. And then what happens is suddenly they're all over the world making millions from someone who was probably no better than the average person that stands up at karaoke bar. And that was pretty much X Factor. And I think that still goes on, doesn't it? You said it's pop idol now. Apparently that's Jamie's favourite one. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. But that seems to be, that's the sort of format, isn't it? Well, okay, so you've got those, but imagine how good, so we have to kind of, because you have to listen to that stuff. Whether you're in shops, whether you're at work, wherever it is, in gyms and stuff, you're going to have to listen to some pretty talentless people, aren't you, sadly? Okay, that are marketable. But imagine how good those angels will be able to sing. They're going to be, we'll actually finally have some good singing, won't we? Those harpers harping with their harps. I reckon that's going to be some good harping, isn't it, out there? Sometimes you have to put up with some pretty talentless musicians and now, you know, up in heaven it's going to be amazing, isn't it? Harpers harping. And we're going to get familiar with the song that will be getting sung then. I think the song is probably the whole chapter. And sometimes it can be hard with Isaiah because it's quite poetic anyway, isn't it? Where does the song start and finish? I think it's probably the whole chapter. So let's have a look at this song then. He said, In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong city. Salvation will God appoint for walls and ball works. So it's a salvation of God instead of physical defences that will keep the city, Jerusalem, where the earth will be ruled from. And like I said, this song is just full of doctrine. So we're just going to learn a lot just from the words of this song, like you do from a lot of what we sing. We sing hymns with doctrine, but also, like, you know, if you sing through the Psalms, the Psalms are a hymn book, there's just so much doctrine in the book of Psalms, isn't there? And there's so much doctrine here. He's saying that instead of physical defences, and it's talking about the city, Jerusalem, that's where the earth will be ruled from, with Christ on earth will be ruling from Jerusalem, as we know, we've looked at this already, is salvation. And you could say both physical and spiritual is what will keep or protect that city. So physical in that you're not invading the city that God lives in and spiritual because it's our own salvation that will keep us all safe. Ultimately, that's the reason that we're there in the first place in the millennial reign. He said in verse 2, Open ye the gates that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Now, who is that righteous nation? Oh, okay, which one? Which one? It's got to be England, isn't it? Because we're the most righteous aren't we? Turn to 1 Peter 2. Not many people agreed there because we have a church of probably most nations. We have a lot of nations, don't we, in this church. But turn to 1 Peter 2. In Matthew 21 43, Matthew 21 43, the Lord said to the chief priests and elders, Therefore say unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. No, it says a nation. Who's that nation? Well, in 1 Peter 2, Peter says this to all believers. In verse 6, 1 Peter 2 6, Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone elect precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner and the stone of stumbling and the rock of the fence, even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed but ye. Okay, these are the you from verse 7, which believe, but ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation. That's believers. That's all. That was actually the stranger scattered abroad. That's just believers everywhere. Are a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praise of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous 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. So that's who the gates are open to in the millennial reign. It's believers are saved. They're the holy nation. They're the righteous nation. He said, Open ye the gates that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Back in Isaiah 26 and verse 2. So what does he mean keepeth the truth? And it's again talking about the saved in a more, you could say, I don't know, I used this phrase the other day, a more cryptic Old Testament way you could say. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life, isn't he? OK. And how do we keep the truth? Well, by being saved. For example, in 2 John 1 2, John says, For the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us and shall be with us forever. If you're saved, you keep the truth. It's in you. It will be with you forever. OK. Being that the truth is Jesus Christ ultimately. Yeah. It's a save that will rule and reign with Christ and have access to him and the holy city there. That's a nation that keepeth the truth. They're saved that are able to enter in the gates. And they are the only ones that will be ruling and reigning with Christ. It's that nation of believers. OK, it's believers. And this is talking about in the time to come. He said in verse 2, with that in mind, Open ye the gates that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee. So aside from this, applying to the saved in the millennial reign, this applies to all of God's people at all times. This is a truth that does. OK, if you want perfect peace, then stay your mind on the Lord. Trust in him. If you want to at least at least some of that perfect peace that we're all going to fail at this obviously often in life. But that's our goal, isn't it? And I think most people want peace in life, don't they? I think that's a big goal of most people, especially the more you go through life, the more you'd like some peace, right? Well, he said, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee. And it sounds good, that perfect peace. The problem is that life isn't very peaceful very often, is it? There's an old saying, you're either coming out of a storm or going into a storm often. You're coming out of a trial, going into a trial. And it's nice when you're coming out of it and you get on the other side, but it's usually not long before there's a new trial that comes. That's the Christian life. That is just life in general, okay? Life is like that, really. So the answer is to have your mind stayed on the Lord. But what does that mean? What does it mean to have your mind stayed on the Lord? It's to be fixed or settled. And aside from not wavering, and obviously that would be part of it, not having wavering faith, to not be a double-minded man, but you could have just focused, couldn't you? If it's fixed on the Lord, it's focused on the Lord. Turn to Proverbs chapter 3. Proverbs 3. If God's in your thoughts, you're dwelling on him in your day-to-day lives. Your mind is fixed on him as much as possible. That's our goal, isn't it? Okay? There's a peace that comes with that because you should by default then trust him more, shouldn't you? So if you think about him a lot, if he's on your mind a lot, you should by default with that, be trusting him more on a day-to-day basis, on even an hourly basis, on the many things that come up. You know, there's a verse obviously, pray without ceasing. And yeah, you could say, well, it's to not stop your prayer life. I agree with that. Yeah, we should always be praying. You know, I think a good rule of thumb is kind of three set prayers are good, right? Like we see the example of Daniel, for example, having those three set prayers. But I do believe that a goal should be to be regularly in prayer throughout the day, shouldn't we? To just be regularly praying to God, regularly checking in, praying for things, praying, you know, and it's a good goal to have to try and pray in conversation, pray in hard times, pray at work, pray just, you know, little prayers all the time, things that come in your mind, pray to God, being in dialogue with God, right? And if you're doing that, well, I think there's a peace that comes, which is what Proverbs 3 is saying in verses 5 to 7, a famous verse of the Bible where it says from verse 5 in Proverbs 3, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, so in everything you acknowledge in God, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes, fear the Lord and depart from evil. And that's your mind stayed on him. That's trusting him, which is trusting that his way will prosper, isn't it? That's part of trusting God. Trusting God with all your heart, having your mind stayed on him, trusting in the Lord, in all thy ways acknowledging him is, for example, trusting him that his way of parenting will prosper, doesn't it? You have to put some trust in that. You've got the whole world and, you know, even now you've got nations making it illegal to smack a child's bottom. But that's not God's way, is it? That's not God's way. And having faith that, no, you know, God's way is going to work, and that's not the only way of God's way of parenting. Bring him up in a nurture, the admonition of the Lord. You know, it's not leaving a child to his own devices, it's training a child yourself up and away you should go when almost the whole world wants to send them off to schools, send them off to people that you don't even know to raise your kids for most of the day. It's putting your trust and thinking, yeah, and sometimes it can be hard. Sometimes, for example, I mean, I think some people, and I like to remind them that they think that, you know, homeschooling is just this easy, nice, relax, you know, you're kind of maybe sitting in meadows and, you know, it's all just this lovely, relaxing time. It's not. It can be hard, right? And you have to have some faith in God that this is going to work out. Sometimes at the beginning, sometimes with different kids, you'll have different challenges with it. But that's what it is, isn't it? It's trusting in him, it's putting your faith in him that when you do it his way, that things will work out, that his way of marriage will prosper. In a world where marriage is, you know, is a bit of a dirty word nowadays, isn't it? I mean, who even gets married nowadays? It's getting less and less and less. But trusting that getting married, having a marriage, and then doing it his way will prosper when you've got the world telling you to do it the other way. The world telling you not to, a wife submitting to her husband, I mean, how horrendous is that? A guy leading his wife, I mean, what sort of, you know, whatever they call him, chauvinist pig or something else, whatever stuff, how controlling, you know? And notice how any man that leads his wife is so controlling or something else. And all these things, it's trusting God that, no, but God says to do that, right? And he's trusting God with those other parts, trusting God that he said, love your wife. And whether you think, well, you know, I don't feel like loving my wife today, it's just loving your wife. It's just following that command of God. It's for a wife to just go, look, you know, yeah, he might not be very, you know, I don't feel like obeying him right now because he's pretty out of, you know, I don't think he's, you know, the sort of husband I want to have right now. It's just doing as God wants you to do and getting, and both focusing on you doing your part and having that godly marriage, right? And it's trusting God to do that, isn't it? It's trusting God that his way of, for example, being honest, having uprightness, having integrity will prosper in life. That doing what God wants you to do, that doing it how God's word, his preserved inspired word tells you how to live, will prosper. Because a lot of the time there could be times in life where you think this has got to be a time to be dishonest, isn't it? Well this will probably help me out, a little lie here, a little this there, this will help me with my work life, this will help me with this, this will help me in this situation. And it's just saying, no, you know, in all my ways I'm going to acknowledge him, I'm going to trust the Lord with all my heart, with all my heart, and not lean onto my own understanding and with that the world's understanding. And when you know then that that will prosper, when you're doing, and your heart is stating him and you're doing those things and you know it's going to prosper, you're trusting in him, you can have that perfect peace, can't you? And no, look, whatever's going on, I'm doing it God's way, it's going to work out. Verse 3 says, thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, back in Isaiah 26, whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee. And listen, you've got people all over the world going, oh yeah, trusting God, trusting God, but they don't really know what that means. Trusting in God is trusting in what he tells you in his word. That's trusting in God, that's how we know what he wants us to do, how he wants us to behave, how he wants us to think, what standards he wants us to have, how he wants us to behave in these different spheres of our life, it's all in the word of God. That's trusting in God. And you can't know how to trust in God if you don't read his Bible. If you don't read what he tells you to do, how can you trust in it? You can walk around and say empty words are, trust in God, just trust in God. And most people mean by that just kind of, you know, it'll work out in the end. Well, not if you're not doing what God tells you to do. You're not really trusting in it. How do you know how to trust him? Read the word, yeah. But when you do that you can have perfect peace. He said trust you in the Lord forever in verse 4. For in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. So he's who we will have our trust in in the future. So you may as well start now. I mean eventually it's just going to be ultimate trust in God anyway, right? He wants you to trust him. He's commanding you to trust him, isn't he? Yeah, it might be a song, but it's, this is, this is the word of God. And the word of God says trust you in the Lord forever. Trust in him. Put your trust in him. And that's where real strength comes from, doesn't it? Strength to get through the trials of life. It comes from trusting in God. It comes from the Lord. He said for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. So look, you can outlift anyone in the gym and then crumble at a bit of persecution, don't you? There are some physically strong people out there in the world and they can't take a tiny bit of persecution. They can't deal with it. They'll crumble. Christians crumble in the Christian life when that little bit of persecution comes. You can outfight anyone in the ring and then fold at the first bit of temptation. There are people that are, you know, have been training fight skills and all these different things for years and then the first bit of temptation and they're weak. It doesn't matter how tough they are. You can have all the weapons and weapons training out there and then tremble when a bit of tribulation comes your way. The spiritual tribulation can really scare someone who thinks that they've got all the defences in the world and they've worked it all out and they've got their bug out plans and they've got all their weapons in different rooms and everything else but they can't take a bit of tribulation. But when you trust in him, there's a strength that's everlasting because it comes from him. When you really have trust in God, that's true strength in your life, isn't it? He said, trust you in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. So it's the Lord that protects you. It's the Lord that rescues you. It's the Lord that fights for you. For he bringeth down them that dwell on high, the lofty city, he lieth it low. He lieth it low even to the ground. He bringeth it even to the dust. Now we saw similar language referring to the remaining Moabites in Isaiah 25.12 which said this in verse 12 of the chapter before, and the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low and bring to the ground even to the dust. We've just read that if he bringeth down them that dwell on high, the lofty city, he lieth it low, he lieth it low even to the ground, he bringeth it even to the dust. So which in times to come probably represents the world, those in opposition to God. With much of the world, many cities being destroyed during God's wrath, okay, that's what's going to happen, many cities will be getting wiped out. During the wrath of God he said the foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor in the steps of the needy. Which is, if you think about it, who makes up probably a large proportion, the majority of God's people? Those who are on the whole much more receptive to the Gospel. That's the reality of life, isn't it? Who makes up, you might go, well, I don't know, how poor is everyone in this church? Well, I don't know, you know, I don't give tabs, but you know the reality of it is, people in the church doesn't represent the swarms of saved people. And we go to many poor areas and get many people saved, does it mean they're all going to go to church? Of course not. Do most of them go to church? No. Are they saved? If they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ they're saved. And those people will be in the millennial reign. Those people will be God's people, won't they, because they've put their trust in Christ, if they've put their trust in Christ they're saved. And do you know who the most receptive people by far are? Poorer people. Because they don't have the pride, they don't have the haughtiness, they don't have all of that which prevents them accepting they need a saviour, that prevents them accepting that they can't add some of their own works, their own goodness, their own whatever it is, to salvation, which sadly is so often the case with richer people. So it's said here, the foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor and the steps of the needy, and they are who will go on to rule and reign on the earth. And it's kind of, it's irony really isn't it? It's irony if you look at the world and look at who rules and reigns, rich, powerful, wealthy people, people rule and reign from the shadows, people rule and reign openly to some degree as well. Rich, powerful, wealthy people but for a thousand years in the millennial reign it will be the complete opposite. It will be poor people who don't have power, who don't have money, who don't have influence in the world will be the ones ruling and reigning with Christ. It's an interesting change of events really isn't it? That hasn't been the case pretty much throughout history. But they're the ones who will be justified by faith in Christ. They're the ones that will be justified, they're the ones that will be alongside Christ. As well as, don't get me wrong now, that's not to say there won't be anyone rich, there won't be anyone who's, whatever that means, whatever you categorise that. But ultimately the majority of people throughout history that got saved have generally been those that are more humble, those that are poorer, blessed than the poor, in spirit, for there's the kingdom of God, right? So verse 7 said the way of the just is uprightness, thou most uprightest way the path of the just. Now this is how we should live. That's the way for us, it's uprightness, which is honesty, integrity, that's the way of the just. David said in Psalm 25 verse 21, let integrity and uprightness preserve me for I wait on thee. So he wants that integrity, that uprightness, he's waiting on the Lord, he wants to live how God wants him to live, and that's what keeps us in God's favour and will, okay? It's having the right heart. It's not trying to just con and deceive our way through life. Just because you can, just because no one knows it, just because no one knows you, you're being a bit deceptive, a little bit dishonest, you're just conning a little bit, that's not how God wants us to live. He wants us to live with uprightness, to walk upright, to be honest, to not be sneaking around, to not be dishonest, to just live with some uprightness, with some integrity, because why? God, the most upright, it says here thou most upright weighs our path. He knows if we're doing things honestly, he knows if we're trying our best, doesn't he? He knows if we have integrity. People can con it, people can blag it, people can pretend, but God knows, doesn't he? It's God that weighs our paths. It then says this, in verse 8, yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for thee. The desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. With my soul have I desired thee in the night, yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early. For when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. So, yes, all of the saints with those glorified, sinless bodies will be singing this in that day, but don't we want to be able to sing that right now? To be able to say we've waited in the way of his judgments, that our desire is to him and to spreading the truth of him. That's what verse 8 said, yea, yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for thee. The desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. Isn't that how we should be? That should be our desire for the remembrance of God, to not just be a Christian until it's night time, and then the sin comes out. He said, with my soul have I desired thee in the night, and I don't think he's saying I was asleep, because night time is generally the time when people fall. Night time is the time when I've had a good day and now I can reach for the sin. Now I can reach for whatever it is, for the thing I know I shouldn't really be watching, the thing I know I shouldn't really be doing, the thing I know I shouldn't be eating, drinking, whatever else. It's often night time, isn't it? Yet, wouldn't it be nice to be able to say with my soul have I desired thee in the night? That's a challenge for a lot of people, isn't it? It's night time. It's night time to be able to still be desiring the Lord. He said, yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early. So to seek God early, not just when the chips are down. And that should be our goal, isn't it? You know, sometimes your chips won't be down so much if you seek God before the point when the chips are down. Because often that's kind of how God pulls us back, is by things going on in our life. We know that really we probably weren't seeking him as much as we should have done before that point. And you can preempt that, you can try and prevent that happening by seeking him early. Seek the Lord early, right? But especially in bad times. He said, for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. And knowing that when God's judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. That generally is what happens when God's judging the earth, when bad things are happening. Well, firstly, God's people are often more likely to go out with the gospel as well, and people are more likely to hear the gospel and often talk about it. I just found it. It was just a really stark difference for me from pre-COVID to the early days when people were unsure where, before people started getting wise to it and thinking this is a bit weird, yeah, but the early days when people are a bit unsure and people just thought, yeah, I think I'm going to, you know, is everyone just going to die? Is this like some plague going to go through the world? It was receptive. It was really receptive soul winning. People wanted to hear the gospel. People that you didn't expect to want to hear the gospel. I remember family members that got saved during COVID because it suddenly brought the haughty, the proud load, didn't it? And it made them think, yeah, actually, and here he said, for when my judgments are in the earth, when God's judging the earth, I think is what it's saying here, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. And that's what should happen during God's wrath. And you could argue as well on the back of that for those remaining for the thousand year reign as well. It's not going to, I don't think it's just all saved people, obviously. There'll be those that get through the wrath of God that maybe don't get saved by the witnesses during that. There'll be people remaining. However, those that have taken the mark and all other reprobates can never be saved. Just to make that clear. Now, he causeth all the world to receive that mark. He's causing them. Doesn't mean everyone does. Otherwise, there wouldn't be anyone to rule the reign for that thousand years, right? Well, it says here in verse 10, let favour be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness. Verse 10, in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see, but they shall see and be ashamed for their envy at the people. Yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them. So he said in verse 10, yet will he not learn righteousness. So they're allowed to live. He said, let favour be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness. They enjoy the blessings of life, but they've rejected him. They've rejected him. They do not like to retain God in their knowledge. They won't behold the majesty of the Lord. That's what he said in verse 10, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. So even when his hand is lifted up in judgment, verse 11, Lord when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see. They won't acknowledge it, but eventually they will have to. Okay, that's what it says in verse 11. It says, but they shall see and be ashamed for their envy at the people. Yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them. So there will eventually be a shame for their envy at the people, which is a big part of a reprobate's make-up, and it helps you to understand them a bit more, these people. Romans 1 says that they're full of envy, which is one of the things that makes them so dangerous, because it's such a powerful emotion, isn't it? So dealing with bad people who are full of envy, that's such a powerful emotion. For example, Proverbs 27, 4 says, wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous, but who is able to stand before envy? So look, people can be cruel with wrath, people can do outrageous things when they're angry, but you're still better off with those than standing before someone that's envious. It's so powerful, they'll go to extreme lengths. Envy drives people to extreme lengths. When you see the green eyes of envy in someone, you've got trouble. And I don't know, if you've experienced that before, if you've been around someone, you've been with people and you've seen those green eyes light up, and I'm kind of joking, they don't literally go green, but you can see envy sometimes, can't you? You start to see it, you get a flavour for it, you see that envy, you know that you've got trouble, and the problem with psychopaths is that they're filled with envy. That's who it's talking about here, that's who the wicked are. They're psychopaths, as the world would call them, and they're full of envy. Pretty worrying, right? But we have the Lord. But eventually the wicked will be ashamed for it, and they will be devoured by fire, that's what it's saying here. He said, yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them. And I think that's the fire that ultimately is for his enemies, that's going to devour these people, it's the fire of thine enemies shall devour them, and well, you've got God's fire and brimstone in various ways and different things coming down in his wrath, and then you've got hell and eventually the lake of fire. So, in one way or another, that's where they're going, it's said here, they will not learn righteousness. That's what it's talking about, it's talking about people that cannot be saved. They've gone beyond that point, they've rejected the Lord, they've changed the truth, got into a lie, and one way or another, they've basically not retained God in their knowledge purposely, and it gets to that point. However, verse 12 says, Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us, for thou also has wrought all our works in us. So that's what is awaiting, though, ultimate peace. And in the same way that God worked for us with the works that we do, he will be the one providing the peace for us. So we don't have to wonder, is I think what it's saying there. Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us, for thou has also wrought all our works in us. So if you can see God doing those things in your life, etc., and you know you're close to God and stuff, well you can also, therefore, you should be able to trust the fact that he'll also be the one ordaining the peace, right? He said in verse 13, O Lord our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us, but by thee only will we make mention of thy name. They are dead, they shall not live, they are deceased, they shall not rise, therefore has thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish. I want to feel like this won't be a Christmas hit until the millennial reign, right? I think they'll be singing this one too loud. I don't think Simon Cowell will be enjoying this one. He said they're dead, they shall not live, they're deceased. Yeah, a really strong topic here for this song, right? But, okay, what it's saying here, though, I think with the Lords, okay, you can probably apply it to false gods, to idols, to leaders in different areas that have had dominion over us at some point in our lives, okay? And there are different, you know, you can probably look back to different, whether it's a false god, some idol, you know, some leader in different areas that's had some dominion over you, okay, he said, but by thee only will we make mention of thy name, but it's, I think it's only God that's given us eternal life. He's the only true God, it's him that deserves, that commands worship, okay? Then he said they are dead, they shall not live, they are deceased, they shall not rise, therefore has thou visited and destroyed them, made all their memory to perish. So I think the rest of them will perish along with the memory of them. In eternity, they just won't matter anymore. All those people, all those false gods, all those idols of life, all those people that, you know, people put up here in life, they just, there won't be any memory of them in the future. They'll be done. There's only one, ultimately, one Lord that's going to matter in the future, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ, right? Verse 15, thou hast increased the nation, O Lord, thou hast increased the nation, thou art glorified, thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth. Now, we looked at this previously, okay, how the scattering of God's people, the result of tribulation, results in the gospel spreading. That's what it's saying here. Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord, thou hast increased the nation, thou art glorified, thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth. That's what it's talking about, is the people going, the nations being increased by them being removed far unto the ends of the earth. So remember, the nation's a spiritual nation, which is, I think, probably, maybe you could just say to be scattered one last time during the tribulation. I don't mean one last time from now, just the final time that God's people will be scattered in the future will be during the tribulation, won't it? If you think about it, there's going to be some scattering during that time, with the one world leader rising up, with people trying to find safe places and things like that. Maybe some of those developing nations, if that's what they call them nowadays, they used to call them third world nations, at the time, will be the safest places to be. Have you ever wondered that? When you go to places, or you've ever been to pretty rural places, or what we might call the developing world or third world, you think, how on earth would they implement a one world cashless society as they stand? You're thinking, no chance, there'll be a black market, that ain't happening. And maybe things will change, maybe it's not for hundreds of years to come. I get the feeling that some of those places are going to be the places to get to, right? When you're thinking, okay, in England this isn't going too well, right? Starmer's already going for that B system, I think. But it's so far ahead, we're so much further along here than there's places in the world where you're just like, that's not really going to happen, is it? Well, maybe that's what it will take for God's people to go to those places en masse, who are crying out for the Gospel. Because there are some receptive places, aren't there? There are some receptive places where you think, how on earth would they implement some sort of one world system there in the future, like the book of Revelation shows us will happen. And you think, well, maybe that's what's going to take God's people to go there en masse. Well, knowing that it's a safe place to go, knowing that it's a place of refuge, it's a place where you're going to be able to keep living, and not only live, but preaching the Gospel to the poor and needy that we talked about earlier, who will go on to tread down those mighty cities as saints of God. They're the people that will be getting saved and they're the people that will probably be then, well, they'll be the people then rolling and reigning with Christ in the future. And of course, you know, it will be saints from the beginning, but... And sadly, look, if you think about it like this, okay, there are a lot of God's people all over the world doing very little for him, really. That's just the sad truth. And I'm not saying, oh, well, we're all right, though. Look, we can all do more, okay? We could all do more for the Lord, couldn't we? But there are some people, there's a lot of Christians, I mean, there are Christians in the world that don't go to church, they don't do anything. They don't even attempt to do anything, they don't do anything at all. But there are many, many Christians who go to churches all over the world who still do very little for God. They're saved, they've received a free gift worth more than anything else you can imagine, but will they go on to tell someone else about it? Just one person. Sadly, so many won't. So many won't. Let alone go on to tell the masses, let alone think, let's go somewhere where people actually are just begging to hear the Gospel. Many people here have gone to nations in the past several years where there are people just desperate to hear the Gospel. Where you're surprised when someone says, I'm not interested. I mean, that's a bit different to hear, isn't it? There are some receptive places out there. Let me tell you what does draw God's people close to him, though, because that's ultimately being close to God is doing that. Because when we go and preach the Gospel, is it just us going on our own strength? It's not really, is it? That's us working side by side with the Lord. That's us with the Holy Spirit going out and doing what God wants us to do with the Word of God, with God's Word, with his living Word, with the Holy Spirit indwelling us, and going out and preaching the Gospel. You can't be much closer to God than when you're out preaching the Gospel. Now, just to make it clear, that doesn't mean all are preaching the Gospel, so who cares about everything else in the Christian life? Because the problem is you don't do the other stuff, you won't be preaching the Gospel for the long term. If you forget about, if you let all the sin just gather up in your life, that will pull you down and pull you out of the race. But there's nothing much closer than when you're out preaching the Gospel, is there? That's drawing close to God. Well, he said this in verse 16. He said, Lord, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them. So I think that's, you know, really when we should be looking at our lives and saying, am I doing what God wants? Okay? That should push God's people. When they're being chastened, that's when they should say, okay, am I doing what God wants me to do? Right? He said here, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them. That's when we should be calling out to God saying, okay, look, what am I doing wrong here? Am I doing what you want? And above having clean language, some people, look, don't get me wrong, you know, I agree we should have clean language. We shouldn't be trying to offend people. But, you know, way above that, because some people like put that up here. That's like potentially an unpardonable sin for some, right? Above dressing appropriately and attending church on a Sunday. Because for many, that's like, well, I attend church, isn't that the Christian life? I go and, you know, shake some hands and some people listen to a bit of preaching, sing a song and go home. Above the behind closed doors sins, getting rid of them, above Bible reading, prayer, tithing, are you trying to reach a loss with the gospel? Because that's really what we should be. That should be our assess, when the chastening's coming, whether it's on the whole world, whether it's God's judgments coming down, or whether it's in your life, what should we be thinking? Because all of that stuff, yeah, we should be looking at that stuff. But do you know what? If you're not going out and preaching the gospel, you're disobeying a clear command. And when I say not going out, look, you're new to the faith, or you're new to soul winning, or whatever else, at least that should be your goal. Yeah, I want to be getting out preaching the gospel. I need to learn how to preach the gospel. I need to start getting involved. I need to, if you're just going, yeah, but let them go to hell. I'm not getting involved with that. I mean, what on earth, right? Do we really care about the lost? Because there's so much, and I understand that for new believers, even for seasoned believers, they see this sort of, you know, community club Christianity, and they see all these people where it's just, you know, turn up on a Sunday, maybe even a midweek. You know, maybe they have like a vibe, whatever they call it, like a small groups or something in the house, and they all feel nice and holy, and they're studying the word of God and trying to get to the bottom of it and everything, but they're not doing anything. They're not doing, that's our job. Our job is to preach to the lost, to go out and preach the gospel. And if you're not doing that, if you're not doing that, maybe God's going to chasten you. And then when you get chastened, if you're looking and you're just going, oh, probably not chastening. I mean, I can't think what I'm doing wrong. I'm not doing any major sins. But a major sin is not preaching the gospel. It's just disobedience, clear disobedience. And it's so important, isn't it? And often God's people have to go through some chastening in one way or another to then get their butts in gear and go and preach the gospel. And God forbid that our church ever becomes some lukewarm Christian social club. God forbid that ever happens to this church, over my dead body. It's not happening to this church. If you ever feel like it's getting like that, come up to me and go, Pastor Tavernor, you said this is never going to become a lukewarm Christian social club. Where people come, have a lovely chat, you know, shake hands, tell each other how great they are and go home. And don't get any exhortation to preach the gospel, let alone soul-winning times, missions, trips, and just trying to reach people with the gospel. That's what we should be doing. That's the whole point. That's the whole point of this church, isn't it? And the things that go with that and trying to help people in their lives so that they're able to still do that, right? Obviously. And if that did happen, perhaps a chastening would kick in, don't you think? If it did start going a bit lukewarm-y, Christian-y, socially clubby, then I reckon the chastening's going to start to ramp up, isn't it? He said in verse 17, like as a woman with child that draweth near the time of her delivery is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs, so have we been in thy sight, O Lord. We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind. We have not wrought any deliverance in the earth, neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. So I think they're saying that they failed, they struggled as in labour, but they only brought forth wind. I think it's what it's saying here, you know? It's like, they've gone through the labour, but they haven't brought forth anything. They didn't bring forth, you know, they didn't deliver anything. They didn't bring forth deliverance. He said we've not brought any deliverance in the earth, neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. They didn't defeat the enemies. And for me, this is a picture of the Christian life if it's without soul winning. That's what it is. The Christian life without soul winning. You'll struggle through it, there'll be pain, you'll be crying out, but there won't be any spiritual children at the end of it. You know, that's Christians all over the world. They go through it, they're struggling through the Christian life, they're having these like dips and back and backwards and forwards in the church. Maybe they're in church, or maybe it's the other things trying to get some of these sins out, you know, whatever else. They're going through the pain, they're going through the pangs like a woman in labour, but they're not bringing forth anything at the end. It's a waste of time. Because they're going to go through it anyway. You're going to go through life. Oh, well life would be so much better if I wasn't soul winning. I'd just be so much easier if I didn't do a couple of hours a week. I mean, I wouldn't be so much easier if I didn't, you know, go soul winning, you know, on a Sunday in between church. No, now my life's okay. No, you've got to go through it anyway. You're going to be tired, you're going to find it hard, you're going to find it hard whether or not you do go on a midweek soul winning tour, whether or not you do try and save up and go on a missions trip. Life's just going to be hard. That's life. But you know what, when you're doing those things, you're bringing forth the spiritual babies as well. You're not going through all the labour and then just bringing forth wind. And for some of the women here that have been through labour, it would be a bit of a shame if you went through all that labour and then there was just nothing at the end. And I'm not saying like in a horrible way, just like, oh, it was actually, it was a fake. There's nothing in there. That'd be, you'd be like, what on earth, right? What was the point in all of that? Well, it's kind of the same for the Christian life without soul winning. It just kind of, and you go, oh, well, soul winning is actually 11, 12, 11, 13, you know, whatever you want to call it, outreach, the gospel, preaching the gospel, the ministry of reconciliation, whatever you want to call it. Without that, it's not, it's just a waste. It's a waste. And here's the thing is that when there is deliverance, okay, well, they're the people that are going to live forever. He said in verse 19, thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall there rise. Awake and sing ye that dwell in dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs and the earth shall cast out the dead. So there's a bodily resurrection coming, is what he's saying. Those dead bodies will rise and be changed in the twinkling of an eye. 1 Corinthians 15 52, you don't have to turn this in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. So God's dead men shall live, okay. The picture, I think, is of dew on the ground above them, watering them to spring up into life, like, like whatever you've planted in the ground. And we've talked before about the dew being a real blessing there in a place where there was not a lot of rainfall, the dew is what watered a lot of things, you know, that's, that's what it's talking about. And something springing up from that, verse 20 says, Come my people enter thou into thy chambers and shut thy doors about thee, hide thyself as it were for a little moment until the indignation be overpassed. For behold the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also shall disclose her blood and shall no more cover her slain. So verse 20, I believe, is a great tribulation followed by verse 21 is the day of the Lord. Okay, so you have to tell me, but Daniel 11 36 says of the Antichrist and the king shall do according to his will and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god and shall speak marvelous things against the god of gods and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished. For, for that that is determined shall be done. And here we've seen that he said to enter into thy chambers and shut thy doors about thee, hide thyself as it were for a little moment until the indignation be overpassed. So, and it's when they will be trying to entice us out to be killed, that's why he's saying to enter into your chambers, shut thy door, hide thyself. For example in Matthew 24 23 it says, Then if any man shall say unto you lo here is Christ on there, believe it not. And then he talks about, you know, don't go there, don't go here, right? Because that's the point where we're being hunted down, that's the great tribulation, that's that small period of time, that, that's that little moment that we've just seen in verse 20. And then, but then it's followed by verse 21 where it's god's wrath upon the earth. And I think what he's saying here, he said, For behold the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also shall disclose their blood and shall no more cover has slain. And I think what he's saying here is that the dead will not even receive a burial, you know, during this period of time, or at least at some points in this period of time. He said the earth also shall disclose her blood and shall no more cover has slain. And perhaps that's the sheer number of people that will be destroyed in god's wrath, a lot of people are going to be killed in that time, a lot of the unbelieving world, but, but also remember it's going to culminate in the battle of Armageddon. And again you have to, Revelation 19 21 says, And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse which saw proceeded out of his mouth. Did they get a burial? No, and all the fowls, that's the birds of the air, were filled with their flesh. That's not the earth covering the slain, okay. That's what I think it's talking about, definitely no burial when it comes to the battle of Armageddon, those remaining after obviously all those kings and the Antichrist and false prophet taken. But verse 21 says, For behold the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover has slain. And that was, was Isaiah 26 telling us about what's to come, right, and telling us, and as much as like I said before, yeah there's some initial fulfillment, but really there he's almost just preaching ultimately really for about the end times there, okay. And that, that, that for me is quite clear what he's preaching about there. And, and you know, yeah there's some, some rough stuff that's going to happen, okay, but really as well they're singing and they're celebrating as well that, that if you're saved you ain't going to be going through God's wrath, you're going to be living in the ruling and reigning with Christ, that millennial reign, and then you've got eternity, right. And I mean, do we doubt it? I hope you don't because that's what the word of God says. And on that we're going to finish in a word of prayer. Father, thank you for your word, Lord, thank you for the Book of Isaiah, thank you for all the, the encouragement you give us, Lord, to go out and preach the Gospel, and, you know, the encouragement you give us, because we know that's how the lost are reached, and that's how we're going to, you know, show people salvation, that's how people receive salvation, is by being preached to, by, by, it goes from faith to faith, but also, Lord, for, for our own good, Lord, to give us, to make life fulfilling, Lord, to, you know, the Christian life isn't, you know, it's lacking if it doesn't have, it doesn't have soul winning with it, Lord, that is our purpose here, really, Lord, ultimately help us to, you know, to just accept that, Lord, to want to serve you, to want to reach a loss, to want to learn, to want to grow, to want to be better in those areas, Lord, help us as a church to, to just keep striving to get the Gospel out, Lord, to find opportunities, doors, you know, open doors that will, you know, help us to, to reach the lost en masse, Lord, help us to just be a, a soul winning church forever, Lord, until you return, and help us to all get home safe this evening, Lord, and to return on Sunday, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.