Bible Study: June 22, 2022

A recording start. Okay, so we got one space left. We'll see if we fill our one space left here when I look at our participant list here and everything. So, okay, tonight we're going to continue in Isaiah and Isaiah 1. We didn't get very far in Isaiah 1 last week. If you remember, we gave kind of an introduction to the book of Isaiah. A little bit about the prophet Isaiah. He's an interesting man. We know that he prophesied for God for well over 50 years through the reign of those four kings that we talked about last week and even in a sermon a few weeks before that.

You know, one of the reasons that it mentions those kings there is because Isaiah learned to human nature as he lived under those kings in their domains. He saw how they handled life. He saw you know, some start off very righteous and then as life went on and they became very complacent with things, they lost their calling. Others learned the lessons from the past, stayed true to God all the way through. Others were evil. We know that finally his death came at the hands of one of Israel's most notorious evil kings and that was King Manasseh. He died by a very cruel, cruel death, if you recall. If legend has it correctly, it was he was thrown into a sack, put into the into a hollow tree, and sawn in two. But he served God throughout all of his calling and he was very loyal to him. You remember that we did look at Isaiah's calling. That was in Isaiah 6. That was a very dramatic calling as God gave him a vision of the throne that he was. You remember Isaiah's reaction as he realized where he was in a vision. He just became almost speechless and realized what a sinner he was. Oftentimes, when you see people in the presence of God in a vision like that, they immediately recognize what a sinner is.

As we go into chapter one here today, we're going to see that again in that. It's something that you and I, when we are there, or when we really are in concert with God, we realize what sinners we are. Daniel melted at that Christ's feet. Isaiah did. John did when he was in the vision and put the book of Revelation. It is a fearful thing. It is a fearful thing to be in the presence of God. We see that again these men as we meet them in the Bible. When you and I have that recognition one day that we are in the presence and we know that we are in God's presence, we will be as humbled as they are. Hopefully, we can become that humbled and yield to God even before that time.

Let's go to Isaiah 1 here. We'll try to get through chapter one tonight. We got through the first four verses last time. I want to start in verse two again. We have verse one that talks about the kings. Isaiah is interesting as God opens the book of Isaiah. He is the one who inspires Isaiah. It is God's words that we are reading here. Isaiah wrote them, but God inspired them. That is how God works. He gives the words. They are written or spoken. You see that they open up in verse two with God saying, Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth. Now, that's an interesting thing for God to say. As he opens up the book of Isaiah, we know that there's a lot of prophecy in Isaiah, a lot that's been fulfilled, but a lot that has not yet been fulfilled. He addresses the heavens as well as the earth. It's written to the heavens. Hear, O heavens, and hear, O earth. Now, you might remember a verse that we looked at in Ephesians 3. That was an interesting verse for us to look at. I'm just going to have us turn back over there to Ephesians 3.10, because as you look at that, Hear, O heavens, and hear, O earth, it might remind us of what God said back here in Ephesians 3 verse 10 when he talks about the manifold wisdom of God and how it's revealed. Ephesians 3 and verse 10. I'm going to go ahead and read verse 9 just to have the context here. It says, to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the ages, remember what the ages are. There's those seven dispensations, the seven ages, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ, to the intent that now, that's now, the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. According to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. So again, what God is working out on earth today, as he's working with physical mankind and the purpose that he created us, this has never been before done in all of the history of infinity. So the heavens are looking and understanding the manifold wisdom of God as God works with mankind, as they see the physical earth, as they see physical mankind, as they see God fall you and me, as they see the transformation as a result of God's spirit and us turning from the way of Satan, the way of the world, to the way of God, the majesty and the mystery of what God is doing and what he is creating in you and me.

Preachers, mankind that will serve him as first fruits forever and ever and ever.

And so when God opens up the book of Isaiah, again it's like hero heavens, look at this, look what's going on down here with mankind, look at how they have been, look and learn what mankind is like, look and learn what mankind can be under the power of God. And so he opens it up, you know, very dramatically when you tie that in with Ephesians 3.10 and understand that even the beings in heaven are learning during this experience, the manifold wisdom of God and what he's creating.

Again, mankind is a unique creation in the history of infinity, if I can put it that way. But what God is working in you and me is beyond description, but nothing we should ever discount or take lightly. You know, just let it roll off of our lips as it means nothing. What God is doing is awesome and he opens the book that way. Here, oh heavens, give ear, oh earth, the Lord has spoken. I've nourished and brought up children. And then he kind of draws attention to the physical earth.

Look what I've done. I've given these people everything. They've got a beautiful earth to live on. I've given them everything they could possibly want, variety of food, variety of plants, variety of animals to enjoy, a beautiful existence to be there. I have nourished and I have brought up children and they have rebelled against me.

And of course, he's talking about Judah and Israel, the 12 tribes of Israel there. I've given them everything, right? I've taken them out of Egypt. I've delivered them from slavery. I'm taking them, I've given them the promised land, the land flowing of milk and honey. And look how they've treated me. Look how they've treated me. They've rebelled against me. They're not even paying attention. They're not at all grateful. You know, we see this rebellion as just a part of human nature. It's just part of who we are, something that we have to overcome and not allow that natural rebellion to be there because it's just part of the nature we have, part of that Romans 8-7 carnality that it talks about that it's enmity against God.

You know, they rebelled against me. And he says, even the animals know better than that. The animals that are here on earth, the ox knows its owner. It appreciates what's been given it. Those of us who have pets, you know, they appreciate the fact that we provide for them the food and the water and everything that they need to get by. The ox knows its owner. The donkey, its master's crib. But Israel doesn't know. Israel doesn't know. They don't consider it. That's one of the weaknesses in human nature and one of the things that, you know, that we, you and me, need to just guard against.

That we just don't take things for granted. That we are always, as we've talked about in a couple of the Bible studies here lately, always remember to be grateful to God and what He has done for us and always remember what He is doing for us and how that, you know, has eternity in its definition there. So he talks about Israel. Now, if Israel truly loved God, as we know, just as you and I, if we truly love God, we would obey Him.

We would put sin out of our lives. We would be conscious when our minds are going in the wrong direction, you know, to deny self and to choose to do what God says, to deny what, you know, what's more comfortable to us or what we prefer to do and do what God does. If we truly were thankful and I got paid God with our heart and mind, you know, that's what we would do.

Israel didn't do it. Israel didn't do it and they became a sinful nation. They gave in to their nature. They gave into the world around them. So he calls them in verse 4, a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corruptors. Now, you know, again, many of the commentaries will just talk about that this is written for ancient Israel. But again, when we look through this, this is certainly a prophecy and a definition of Latter-day Israel, as we'll see here in a few minutes.

So as we read through it's not going to be escaped on you that this is defining the culture and the society that we live in today. Children who are corruptors, you know, we look at the world around us today and, boy, I mean, we see our younger generation, you know, wow, it can be amazing.

It can be amazing how their ideas that seem very foolish and not wise at all, you know, people pay attention to, well, whatever. Children who are corruptors, they have forsaken God. They don't want God in their minds. They have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel. They've turned away backwards, you know, instead of drawing closer to God where there are blessings and there is joy and there is all the promise of life and the joy of life and the purpose of life and the meaning of life and the, you know, you get up every morning and you enjoy life, they've turned away back to the way of the world where there's nothing but futility and anger and misery and strife and headed in the absolute wrong direction.

So that's where we end last week. So, you know, when we see God introduce the book, you know, he's talking about the state of Israel. We can relate to what he says here in the first four verses, and then he tells us, you know, they've turned away backwards, and here's the result. Here's the result of turning away from God.

When God has blessed us, when God has opened our eyes, when God has given us everything and we recognize it, and we turn back again, he asks, why would you be stricken? Why would you be stricken again? It doesn't even make sense. Don't you know that if you go back to the way of the world, what's going to result? I mean, we've all tried it. We've all seen that suffering, anguish, misery, it all results from the world.

We look at the world around us. We don't see peace. We don't see anything that's lasting. We see confusion. We see, you know, misery. We see uncertainty. We see a future that doesn't look at all promising if we have our eyes wide open. But when we look at what God's plan is, when we look at where the vision of where he is taking us, that's a vision that we should grasp and that we should hold on to, knowing it's absolutely certain to come.

Why would you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. That's what human nature does.

2 Timothy 3.13 says, evil men and impostors grow worse and worse. They don't get better. They don't get better. They get worse and worse. When people turn away from God, they revolt more and more. It's like, you know, sin begets sin almost. If we find ourselves and give ourselves some leeway and compromise with God's law, then it becomes easier to compromise with the next thing that comes our way and to give ourselves permission to do that. And all of a sudden, we find ourselves drifting further and further and further away. You know, going back to that vision that we had when we looked at Hebrews 2 about drifting away. You know, it happens ever so subtly when we make decisions and we just, in essence, rebel against God and revolt against Him more and more. And then he's very visual in verse 5. The whole head is sick. You know, our heads and the seat of our intellect up here, our head directs everything, right? I mean, I don't even have to think. My mind tells me, go ahead and move your right hand and your left hand, scratch your forehead. It just sort of happens. It directs everything. And if the head is sick, we all know if we have blinding headaches, if we have this COVID thing, you know, many people say it just produces a fogginess in your mind. You can't even think about things to do with the things that come automatically. You sometimes have to just stop and think, man, I have to make myself do these things. And when our head is not well, we see how important it is to have a clear mind, a clear and healthy mind. When the head is sick, the body becomes sick because it's our master control. Now, just like Jesus Christ, I have to remember Jesus Christ is the head of the church. He is the one who directs everything. And we're part of the body. So when he knows what he wants the left hand to do, the right hand to do, the left foot, the right foot, everything to do, we just have to kind of learn to let him direct and respond when he says, do this and do that and all this. Anyway, the whole head is sick. The whole heart faints. It's a thoroughly sick body. It's a thoroughly sick Israel that we have here. A thoroughly sick nation is what he's saying. From the sole of the foot, even to the head, there's no soundness in it. It's just completely, it's almost completely hopeless. You just see that more and more, the healthiness, the wisdom, everything is just draining out of this body. And of course, you know, we're looking at a physical description here, but it's a spiritual, it's a spiritual malady that we're talking about here too, because that can happen to us individually and it can happen to us as a body. If we allow ourselves to become diseased, if we allow ourselves to become lax, if we allow ourselves to become sicker and sicker and move away from God and not stay as sharp and tuned into his will and to his spirit that he would have us be, pretty soon the whole body becomes a little bit weaker, a little bit slower, a little bit less energetic. We wind down a little bit until we're asleep, like so many of the analogies that we see in the New Testament. And there's no health in it, you know, there's no health in it, but we can't become that way spiritually. But that's the picture of what God is showing here about the physical nation, but we have to look at it from a spiritual aspect of what can happen to us as well. There's no health. There's no health in it, is what he's saying. There's no there's no health. This body is dead. It's diseased, and they've done it to themselves. There's nothing left but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. It's dying. It's decaying.

Those sores haven't been closed or bound up. No one is trying to treat them. They're just letting them fester. And you can imagine if that was happening to your body, if you just let every bruise and every open sore just ooze and never do anything with it at all. Never try to heal it at all with the Bible or the healing or any do nothing, but just let it continue to get sicker and sicker. What a sorry state that is. They haven't been closed. They haven't been bound up. They haven't been sued with ointment. And so we come to verse 7. And this is something that never happened to ancient Israel. In our lifetimes, we haven't seen what is defined there in verse 7.

And I think last week, when we look at Isaiah 6, I was going to look at that. I think it was last week. We talked about, yeah, verse 11 of Isaiah 6. When Isaiah is being called and he asks, how long am I going to witness these things? How long am I going to speak your word, God? And God says, until the cities are laid waste, until it's all desolate. Same thing he's talking about here in verse 7.

Your country's desolate. That never happened to ancient Israel. When they were finally conquered by Assyria, Assyria wanted the land. They weren't going to lay it. It was a very rich and lush land. They wanted the land, so they moved into it. That's why they conquered Israel, because they wanted what it has.

They weren't determined to completely destroy the land. You know, same thing in World War II that we may be more familiar with. Even as Hitler marched across Europe, he wasn't looking to completely desolate all the lands. There were a lot of cities that were laid waste. There were bombs that went off, but there wasn't this mission to just completely destroy the land. The first time in our lifetimes, I will contend, that we're seeing something like this is in the Ukraine war today.

This is the first time, I think, that we've seen for some reason, and I think we know the reason what's driving Russia. It just seems like the mission over there is completely destroy Ukraine. Completely wipe it out. You know, even hear the stories about where it's wipe out the crops, but we don't even want to have that land be fertile anymore.

We want to completely destroy that land in any use it has forever. There's this evil, evil mission in completely desolating that country, because we know that if Russia really wanted to just conquer Ukraine and take it over, they could have done that weeks ago. When away they start in, and they back off, and start in, and back off, the mission is completely destroy that.

I think we're beginning to see what the mindset is in the world around us. For Israel, you know, modern day Israel, the Bible talks about, your cities will be laid waste. Your land will be desolate. There will be the hate for that land that will just cause your enemies to just completely, completely try to decimate you. And so we see that happening here in this end time, but we haven't seen, at least in our lifetimes before, I don't recall any time in history where people have had the weaponry, the machinery, the capability to completely, you know, maybe somewhere there was, but this is kind of unique what we're seeing, and it's right here in line with what for seven, your country is desolate.

Your cities are burned with fire. Strangers devour your land in your presence. You know, if you're a Ukrainian citizen watching what's going on in your city over there, you're just seeing these strangers come in, and they're just devouring it. They're just destroying everything in sight. They don't care. They have no use for you, no use for the land. They just want it gone.

Strangers devour your land in your presence, you know, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. And so, you know, as God paints this picture for a very sick and sinful nation, so the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, just kind of this house, this house sitting out in the middle of nowhere, a hut in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city, a city that's just cornered like been worn out, a city that's just been bled to death, and there's nothing left in it.

There's nothing, nothing, nothing left of any salvage of value at all. It's just been, it's just been slowly and systematically killed. And that's, you know, that's a very sad and a very sorry thing to have. And what an awful, what an awful nature that is in mankind, that that would be it. Just a systematic destruction of everything that someone has built up without any care or concern. Just destroy the land as well, you know, and make it completely useless, completely useless. Well, you know, that that's not the mind of God. He created, he created the world to be a beautiful and a productive place. But we know the mind of the adversary of God is here to destroy everything, not everything about the earth.

He hates everything the earth stands for and all the promise that it is. You know, I should just pause there for a moment. I just thought of this first. Let's go back to Revelation 11. Or Revelation, I think it's 11, but maybe not.

Yeah, it is a very, yeah, it is Revelation 11.

And in verse 18, you know, as it talks about the return of Jesus Christ, the seven trumps leading up to the return of Jesus Christ, you see there in verse 15, it talks about the seventh angel sounding and the 24 elders in Revelation 11, 16, who sat before God on their thrones, fell on their faces, and worshiped God, saying, We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the one who is and who was and who is to come, because you have taken your great power and reign. The nations were angry and your wrath has come at the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that you would reward your servants, the prophets, and the saints, those who commit to God and through this awful world we live in, remain loyal to Him, and those who fear your name small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth. So there's an element that's on earth at the end time that's only interested in destroying the earth. You know, they want to destroy man, but they also want to destroy God's creation. They hate it, right? And we know Satan hates everything about this earth and what God is working out below, and whatever he can do to destroy that, he will do. And as the time gets closer and closer, we'll see these attitudes on earth become worse and worse. And, you know, as we see it back here in Isaiah 1, 7, and 8. So if we go back to verse 9 here in Isaiah 1, you know, you see the systematic destruction that's being painted there in those verses. The body is getting sicker and sicker. It's full of wounds. It's full of bruises, putrefying sores. No one is doing anything to heal it. It just keeps getting sicker and sicker and sicker. They don't know. Well, they may know, but they don't turn back to God where there is healing, right? 2 Chronicles 7.14, if you would turn to me, I would heal your nation. But they're not going to do that. They're not going to do anything to heal it. They're just going to get sicker and sicker. And so we see this continual destruction here in verses 5, 6, 7, 8. And that would lead to complete decimation of man. So in verse 9, God says, you know, unless the Lord of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, right? I mean, it would be that the mission here is completely destroyed the men living on the earth. That means Israel completely wipe out. It will be God who says, no, no, you're not going to completely wipe out Israel. You're not going to completely wipe out my people unless God had left to us a very small remnant. I remember we talked a few weeks ago and probably last week as well in chapter 6 of Isaiah, verse 13, it defines that very small remnant as 10% of the people. Unless God had left to us a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom. We would have been made like Gomorrah. God completely allowed those cities to be completely destroyed and every inhabitant in it burned up. He didn't leave any survivors of Sodom Gomorrah except Lot and his family, you know, who God took out of Sodom Gomorrah, but the rest of it was completely destroyed.

So, you know, it's like if the way of the world was going to continue, we would be completely wiped out, but God has mercy. God has mercy on Israel. And he says, no, you're not going to wipe out my people, not my physical people who are the descendants of Abraham who obeyed me. You're not going to wipe out spiritual Israel who are the first fruits who I have called, who have turned to me, who have yielded their lives to me, who have overcome the world and their own desires and shown themselves to be loyal and committed to me rather than the world around them. I can't wipe them out. You know, God is still in charge. So, you know, we have this picture as we open up Isaiah of total devastation and total, you know, total elimination of Israel or, yeah, total elimination of Israel that wasn't for God, who stepped in and saved the world from destroying itself. As we read in the Revelation 11, he will come in and he will destroy those who would destroy the earth. God will not allow it. God will not allow that to happen. Satan left to his devices would completely destroy the earth. And I guess let's go ahead and, you know, look at Matthew 24 because Christ, you know, says that as well. We may as well draw, you know, what's here in Isaiah because we see the same things throughout the Bible. It's consistent from beginning to end, from Genesis to Revelation.

And in Matthew 24, you know, Christ says the, you know, the same thing.

Yeah, verse 13.

Nope. Let me see here.

Oh, yeah, verse 22. Matthew 24 verse 22. Unless those days, well, we're looking at verse 21. For then there will be great tribulation, such as not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. Same type words that are said there in Daniel 12, consistent prophecies throughout the Bible about the time of the end before Christ returns. There will be great tribulations such as not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. Okay, save the live, as it would be. If the less those days were shortened, the less Christ came, Satan would be able to completely destroy and have all of mankind wiped off the face of the earth. God won't let that happen.

We all will learn what is the hate that Satan has for mankind before the elect's sake. That would be you and me, right? The first fruits that are following God who are loyal to him before the elect's sake, those days will be shortened. Satan won't be able to destroy the entire earth and all of mankind. Christ will come. He will set up his government and mankind, the remnant, will live into the millennium and learn his way, as we'll see here a little bit in Isaiah 2. The picture as we get through this. Okay, remember if you have any questions, comments along the way, you can pop in anytime you want, but if not, let's go back to Isaiah 1 here. Isaiah 1, and we were in verse 10.

So we see the pattern of where the world is going, complete decimation. In verse 10, God talks to the rulers of Sodom and the people of Gomorrah. He's talking to a very sinful nation.

You've heard me say, there were times in my life that I wondered, how could America or the world ever become like Sodom Gomorrah? You look at Sodom Gomorrah and what it talked about, how that world was like when the angels came in and lodged with Lot. Now I look at the world we live in, and I think we're worse than Sodom Gomorrah. I can't imagine that the things go on in this world today that people talk about and that they're encouraging to have happen, the entertainment that they want to bring even into the lives of the children is just kind of absolutely mind-boggling. I wonder if that stuff was even going on in Sodom. I don't think so, actually. Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. He's talking to our people today. Here we have a nation that we live in that the morality is absolutely, for lack of a better word, incredible. What we hear are the mouths of our leaders and what they espouse is just incredible. Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah. Listen up, you people. I mean, are you paying any attention? I mean, what the type of stuff that you're embracing, the type of stuff that you're encouraging, you know, you lost your mind is what he's saying. Give ear to the law of our God.

Pay attention to what he's doing. He's the one who set the standard for how to be happy and joyous and to have all the good things of life. And then we can see from verse 11, he's talking to the people of God, too, because we know the people of the world today, they're not bringing sacrifices to God.

It's the people of God. It's you and me, the first troops that he has called. You know, we don't bring animal sacrifices, but the sacrifice of God is a broken heart and a contrived mind, right? The sacrifices of God are praise. Praise to him. The sacrifices of God are being thankful to him and remembering to do that.

To what purpose, he says, is the multitude of your sacrifices to me. You know, of course, he is talking to Judah who is bringing, going through the ritual ceremonies of, okay, we've got to bring all these animals to be sacrificed. We're going through the litmus test here of what God wants us to do. Their heart wasn't in it. They weren't learning from it. They just kind of did it. You know, the way we may just write our check regurgingly for tithes, or we may go to Sabbath services and say, okay, I've got to put my hours in at Sabbath services today.

What purpose is this multitude of our sacrifices to me? Says the Lord, I've had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I don't delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or goats. You know, I don't think I have to turn to 1 Samuel 1522. I think we know that verse where it says, God isn't, he doesn't delight in the offerings of animals as much as he delights in people who will obey him, who will simply yield to him and do what he says.

That's what he was always interested in. Those sacrifices were a way of reminding them to be loyal to God and to have their sins covered up, if you will, or to remind them that they need to bring a sacrifice to God. You know, you and I are here to give our lives as a living sacrifice to God, to give up our way, our ideas, you know, the things that we want as opposed to the things that God wants and just to do what God's will is.

So he says, I've had enough of this. Just don't go through the, just don't as I often say, don't just check off the list. You know, believe what you're doing. Let your heart be doing it. Do it because you desire to please me and it's become who, part of where, you know, who you are.

Verse 12, he says, when you come to appear before me, you know, that would be like us coming before him at Sabbath services, coming before him, even in these Bible studies, coming before him on holy days, coming before him in prayer, right? Because every time we go to God in prayer, we're entering his throne room. It's, it's a very tremendous privilege we have to come before God in prayer, in assembly, at Sabbath, holy days.

Every time we come before him, when you come to appear before me, who has required this from your hand to trample my courts? You know, we, we spoke back a few weeks ago in the Sermons on Holy Ground and talked about how Moses, you know, God introduced the word holy to Moses when at the burning bush he told Moses, stand still, get your, get your, take your shoes off, Moses, you're standing on holy ground.

You don't walk on my holy ground with your everyday shoes, right? And so we, we show that, you know, that he uses that same analogy in Isaiah 58 when he's talking about this, the, the, in Isaiah 58 about the Sabbath day. You know, don't, don't try, don't, don't, don't use, well, let's look at Isaiah 58. We're in Isaiah, why don't you just look at it here and say his word rather than me paraphrasing it imperfectly. Yeah, yeah, verse 13. If you turn, Isaiah 58, if you turn, if you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, okay, again, there's that analogy, turn away your foot.

Don't, don't do your will. Don't walk all over my Sabbath day. If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, call the Sabbath of the light, honor him. Don't find your own pleasure. Don't speak your own words. Let God lead you. Make that time a time that's, that's holy to him. And it's the same analogy that he's making here in, in Isaiah 1 verse 12. Don't trample my courts.

Don't walk all over my holy time, my holy assemblies with your feet. Do it. Walk with the feet that, that, that I give you. Walking with God. Use that as holy time. There's a special time with God, you know, and that would include the attitudes that we come before him with. That we're eager, eager to be in his presence. We're respectful. We're in awe to have the opportunity to even become before God, you know.

So he says, in verse 13, if I'm back in Isaiah 1, don't bring any more futile sacrifices. You know, he's, he's, he's not saying, you know, okay, disregard my law. He's just saying, I don't like the, you're not doing, you're not doing what I ask you to do with the right attitude.

You're just going through the motions. You're not learning. It's not becoming part of your heart. Don't bring these futile sacrifices. Fudal there is, you know, they're, they're unnecessary. They're not doing anything. They're not making you a changed person. They're not, you're, you're not letting it become you. Bring no more futile sacrifices. Incense is an abomination to me. God says, you know, I, I know what I intended this to do, but, but you're not using it for that.

The new moons, the Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies. I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. No, when we come before God, remember ancient Israel, when they were meeting God at the bottom of the base of Mount Sinai, remember, we read that in Exodus 19 and Moses, you know, God told Moses, you tell that people to clean up, tell them to wash their clothes, get ready, you know, in three days they're going to meet me.

Clean themselves, clean themselves up. Come before me with clean garments. And it's the same thing he tells us, you know, when you're going to, when you come before God, be living your life in a very clean way, you know, be constantly reviewing for the dirt and the filth that gets on us along the way. Repent, you know, and through the righteous acts of God, do our linens become unspotted and unwrinkled and white. So he says, you know, I can't endure iniquity in the sacred meetings. You know, it's okay that you're here, but you're coming before me as dirty people.

You're not ready. You're not ready. You're not recognizing who you are. You're not coming before me with a clean clothes and a clean attitude. So that's, you know, that's, I mean, it's kind of like really telling when you look at these verses and see what God is saying and focus in on them. I can't endure iniquity in the sacred meeting. You're new moons, verse 14. You're appointed feasts. My soul hates. Not because God hates the feasts that he has.

They have tremendous meaning. And when we keep them in the manner and the attitude and in the frame of mind that God wants us to, being led by his Holy Spirit, he delights in that. We understand that. We get closer, we grow closer to him. We understand his plan and we worship and love him more and more. But if we just go through the rote exercise, okay, you know, our next holy day is the Feast of Trumpets. So gotta take school off, gotta take work off that day because it doesn't land on a weekend here and later on in September. Now, if we go to it with the attitude of, okay, it's just another other day of trumpets.

But if we're preparing ahead of time, preparing our hearts and cleaning up our clothes and making sure that we're getting ready for these holy days and not just letting them happen to us, oh God will be pleased. God will be pleased and we'll be learning what we should learn, you know, as we go through it here. You're new moons, you're appointed face, my soul hates. They're a trouble to me. I'm wary of bearing, a wary of bearing them, you know, it's just because God has hope.

He always has hope that we're going to turn to him with all our hearts, minds, and soul. That's what delights him. Now, if we're looking, as we also read in Ephesians 5, I guess it was there, you know, if we're looking to see what is well-looking to find, what is well pleasing to God, you know, he knows we love us when when we're seeking what is well pleasing to him and then we give him.

We give him and strive to give him what is well pleasing. So these are verses for us today. They were also verses for the ancient people back then, too, because they had gotten to the point where they were just going through routine. It really had no meaning to them, and they thought it was okay just because they were keeping the routine. Now, if you remember from last week, we said that Isaiah's contemporary was Amos. And Amos, as he was prophesying to ancient Israel, he has similar words for them. So if we go back to the book of Amos, it's Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos.

We see that he says similar words here in Amos 5. I'm in the wrong chapter here. Okay, Amos 5 and verse 21.

Amos 5, 21. Okay, Amos 5, 21. God inspires Amos. You're right. I hate. I despise your feast days. I don't savor your sacred assemblies. Though you offer me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I'm not going to accept them. I'm not going to regard your fattened peace offerings. Take away from me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments, but let justice run down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream. You know, God, what we do, we're supposed to be doing the things that God says, but also living our lives the other six days, 24 hours a day, besides the Sabbath, in his way too. And not just that one seventh day of the week, keeping him in mind. So we see two prophets, two ancient Israel at that time. God sang the boat, same thing, through both of them. Wake up! Wake up, ancient Israel! Of course, we know in the book of Amos, as we look at it too, there's prophetic things that apply that didn't happen to ancient Israel back then that would apply to God's people, physical people today, the nations of Israel. So we see God's theme here, and it's a warning to us. It's a warning to us, as it was to the peoples back then. Wake up, worship God with your heart, mind, and soul, and with your spirit here. So, okay, so we'll go back to Isaiah 1 then.

In verse 15, let me look at something here for a second.

Yeah, verse 15, he's talking about praying, right? So he talks about, you know, the people gathering together, keeping the holy days, of course, back then doing the sacrifices and everything, and then he even talks about prayer, right? Isaiah 1.15, when you spread out your hands, I'll hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I won't hear. Your hands are full of blood.

You know, we hear that, and I know I mentioned this in the sermon back a few weeks ago when we talked about something by Isaiah 1. You know, people in the world will say, God doesn't listen anyway, you know? So I remember, I don't remember who, but there was a late night show host that said, the prayers don't do any good, you know? Those have the whole gun control thing after the Yuvaldi incident. Prayers don't do any good, and in fact, well, no, they don't do any good, because the nation does nothing that God says. They are the opposite of what God wants. If God says it, they go the opposite. Why would God bless and honor prayers of the people who have, who just keep turning further and further away from Him? You know, I just want to, again, you know, just to remind us, God does answer prayers, and you know, let's just look at a couple verses on that back in 1 John 3. 1 John 3 and verse 22, and if we, if our prayers, you know, we say that our prayers are answered. Sometimes the answer is no, we've got to accept, we've got to accept no. You know, a few of us are involved in a few things. We were listening tonight, you know, the last few days we've had, we've been working on some things. It's like, there's been closed door, closed door, closed door, closed door, and you ask God, well, why are these doors closing? Then boom, one thing happens at the end of that, and think, oh, now we know why the door was closed, because that door was open. You just keep searching, you know, there's something God wants you to do, and if our prayers are never answered, if they, if God never answers them affirmatively, boy, we need to look at ourselves. How are we living our lives and, and, you know, living them? You know, in verse 22 of 1 John 3, in John's epistles, remember John, of all the apostles, the 12 apostles, he lived the longest. He lived, he endured to the end. He remains true to Christ until the very end of his end of his days, 60 years, you know, that or more that he lived, always following God, remembering what Jesus Christ said. In verse 22, 1 John 3, he says, whatever, whatever we ask, we receive from him. Why? Because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. Now, you know, we may, we may have to look at ourselves sometimes and say, am I doing God's commandments? You know, am I really doing all of God's commandments? They're not just 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. There's more to just a physical adherence to those 10 commandments. Jesus Christ showed, you know, in Matthew 5, there's a spiritual component to it of the commandments that are, that entail our entire minds and attitude and the way we do things, right? And so you, you know, because we keep his commandments, and that includes his way of life, the way we trust in God, the way we have faith in God, the way we learn to rely on him and give up less and less reliance on ourselves and the world and more and more reliance on him, because we keep his commandments and we do those things that are pleasing in his sight. It gets back again to doing the things that are well pleasing to God. You know, that's one of those things, I think, in the, in Ephesians of the, boy, four or five or six things in Ephesians that we just have to kind of remember, right? Do find the things that are all pleasing to God and do that.

Understand that he's working out here as a witness to even heaven, that they're the heavenly bodies, they're looking at things, the heavenly beings, that they're looking at the things and how God is working this mystery among in the earth and among his people there. You know, living the truth in love. One of those things that, you know, we need to focus on because it kind of in those four words, the three words in Ephesians 4, sustain truth and love, understanding that's superb, but living the truth and love really encapsulates a lot of what you and I, you know, have got to come to do in every aspect of our being here. But Ephesians, or 1st John 3 22, tells us, Scott, if we do those things, if we really are living God's way, you know, we will, he'll answer, he'll answer. Psalm 34, you know, there's several other verses I could talk to and talk about, but you can do a study on answered prayer. If you want a Bible study that, you know, kind of the old correspondence type of Bible study on answered prayer, you know, I put one together years ago from the old correspondence courses that I'd be happy to send you when I get back to Florida because I don't think it's in my computer here, but in Psalm 34 and verse 15, Psalm 34 and verse 15, it says, the eyes of the eternal. You know, we want God's eyes on us, right? The eyes of the eternal are on the righteous.

We know who the righteous are. They're doing God's commands. They're yielded to him, seeking to do his will. The eyes of the eternal are on the righteous. His ears are open to their cry. When they cry, he'll listen. He'll listen. He sees where their heart is and he sees they're relying on him and learning, you know, learning what we need, you know, who and how we need to be. So, man, I am going slow. Okay, let me go back to Isaiah 1 here.

Okay, Isaiah 1 and verse 16.

Okay, Isaiah 1 verse 16. Continuing in this, guys, you know, watch what you're doing with your spiritual lives. Honor me the way you worship me, right? Verse 16, he says, wash yourselves.

You know, we wash ourselves. What? Washing of the water of the Word. Wash yourselves. Make yourselves clean. Put away the evil of your doings before my eyes. You know, then he talks about repentance here. Cease to do evil. Learn to do good. Find out what's well pleasing to God and do it.

Put away evil. Learn to do good. Seek justice. And then he says, rebuke the oppressor.

Those who would hold you down, anyone who would tell you, you can't do it. You can't do it. It's too hard. All those voices that you hear that say, you know, it can't be done. Whatever. It can be done with God's Holy Spirit. It can be done when we have faith in him, but only with his only Spirit and only faith in him. Review the oppressor. And then God says a couple of times here in Isaiah 1, defend the fatherless and plead for the widow. Pay attention to those who are poor and those who are needful among you. Don't discount them. You know, God, in Deuteronomy, it says, the reason we have poor among us is that we learn agape. Look out for our brethren. You know, first we've talked a lot about agape in a series of servants back a few months ago. You know, we learn agape by when we see a brother in need, we make happen what needs to happen for them. And, you know, God uses that as that here. Defend the fatherless and plead for the widow. Now, I do want to turn to Jeremiah 5, you know, in regard to that. And Jeremiah 5, you know, there's these series of things that God is talking to, you know, Israel, and of course, Jeremiah was the prophet to Judah. But I like the way he'll talk about some of the issues that Judah had. And he closes with a question as he's explaining their sin to us. And then he closes with, you know, well, why wouldn't I punish a nation like that? And then, there's Jeremiah 5. It's beginning of Jeremiah 5. He talks about that as well. But down here in verse 28, I believe it is.

Now, let's look at verse 26.

Yeah, let's start with verse 26 here. Jeremiah 5, 26, he says, For among my people are found wicked men. They lie in wait, as one who set snares. They set a trap, they catch men. As a cage is full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. How can I lure them in? What can I do? And again, you kind of see this game in the world today, right? This is, as we look at the society around us, as a cage is full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. They become great and grown rich. They've grown fat. They are sleek. They surpass the deeds of the wicked. They don't plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper. On the right of the needy, they don't defend. Shall I not punish them for these things, says the Lord? Shall I not avenge myself on such a nation as this? You know, he looks at the heart of the people on, do they have the compassion on everyone? Are there just themselves? They're looking at, where is the agape? Are they learning to love all of mankind? You know, I don't think we have to turn there. I'm going to turn there, but you don't have to. In James 1 and verse 27, he defines religion, right? He finds it very simple. He says, pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this. And the very first thing he lists is to visit widows in their trouble. Again, isn't that interesting thing? What he's saying is, agape. I'll know you developed agape and that you're willing to serve, you know, others when I see you working, you know, with people and that you see a need and you're willing to help fill it and whatever. To visit orphans and widows in their trouble, that's agape, what he's saying, right? And to keep oneself unspotted from the world. What he's saying there is truth. You've got to seek truth. You've got to seek truth. You've got to embrace truth. You've got to live truth. It's living the truth in agape. You know, that what he's saying there in James 1 and 27 is what Paul put in three words in Ephesians 4, 16. Truth in love. You've got to live the truth, you've got to do the truth, you've got to be the truth, it's got to be you in agape. That's what God is looking at us for. I get myself distracted here when my beeper goes off. So anyway, you know, so he says that and I say, well, let's go back there and we'll see, you know, we'll continue on. You know, I won't, you can bark down, you can look at it a little later, but also in Jeremiah 5 at the beginning of that chapter.

And see, you know, in fact, I'll all read it to you. So it's run to and fro, verse 1, 1 and verse 1, run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem. See now and know and seek in her open places. If you can find a man, if there's anyone who executes judgment, who seeks the truth, see if you can find anyone who seeks the truth. You know, you and I are always supposed to seeking, you know, be seeking the truth. But, you know, truth has become such a byword in the world today. Everyone wants to define truth by what their beliefs are and not what God's truth is. So, okay, Isaiah back to Isaiah 1. Verse 18. Verse 18. You know what, again, God is calling, saying, you know, look at your spiritual, look at your spiritual life here, people. Look what you're doing. Pay attention to the calling I've given you. Come back to me. Give your lives to me. That's where the future holds. It's not the world doesn't have the future that we're looking for. God is the only hope and the only way to eternity. And in verse 18, he says to us, sinful nation, to us, sinful people, to all of us, right? If we find ourselves drifting, if we find ourselves wandering, he says, come now, come now. Let's reason together. You know, let's sit down and talk.

So same thing we would say to anyone who is, you know, has been coming to church with us, with service with us, and they get caught up and find them, you know, drifting away or whatever. And we say, no, no, come on, let's just sit together. Let's go back. The foundation of everything we are is the Bible. This is the truth. This is the future. This is the only thing that matters in the world. This is the only rock in the world. You know, God's true church is based on the rock that is Jesus Christ, that is the cornerstone. It's based on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. And that's where we need to go to. God said, come now, let's reason together. Same thing you and I should say to one another. What? Where'd you come up with that? Or, you know, where, where, why do you believe that? Let's go back to the Bible and look and see what the Bible has to say. And let's, let's let God teach us rather than us develop our own ideas. Come, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarred, you know, though you are a sinful nation, you know, God says, there'll be as white as snow. I'll forgive you if you come back, if you'll embrace the word of truth, if you'll live the truth, if you'll, if you'll come back to me, if you'll repent, I will wash away your sins. You know, Isaiah saw that. Isaiah saw that in Isaiah 6. Remember, we just talked about that at the beginning. He came before God and was like, whoa, I'm undone. I don't even, I can't even be standing before you. I am a man of unclean lips, and God cleaned his lips. Remember the pole that came and touched him with his lips? And now your lips are already, Isaiah. They can be, they can be used. God does the same things for us. Though we've drifted, come back to God. He's saying, I'll forgive you. I'm not interested in you, in you perishing. I'm not interested in you dying. I'm interested in you living. I want to give you eternal life, but it has to be done my way. They shall be white as snow. Though they be like red, though they are red like crimson, they'll be as wool. And then he says that, that tremendous little word, you know, it's possible for all of us. If, if you are willing and obedient, if you will yield your heart to me, God says, if you will put away the carnality and let, you know, choose me and let your Holy Spirit or let his Holy Spirit in us help us to become the humble and reliant and yielded people that he wants us to become. If you're willing and obedient, you'll eat the good of the land. I want you to be there, but you have to be willing and you have to obey what I have to say.

But if you refuse, if you rebel, you'll be devoured by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord is spoken.

There's the choice, the same choice that, you know, God gave Moses to give Israel, Deuteronomy 30, verse 19, the same choice that was given to Adam and Eve at the time of the Garden of Eden, where God said, don't eat the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If you use that tree, you will die.

But he gave them free access to the tree of life, but they didn't take it. So when they chose their own way and chose death, as opposed to life, he cut off the way to the eternal life. God has opened that way. He's opened that way back to us, those that he has called, if we will partake it, if we will be willing and obedient. So in verse 21, he talks about a nation, you know, about a nation or a society that was just at one time. You know, Jerusalem was the faithful city, you know, as he's talking about here. We can look at America, where America is today. At one time, America was the land of justice. America was the land of the free. Everyone wanted to come here. It was the, you know, kind of like the city on the hill it talks about. It was a beacon of light.

It was, you know, freedom. People could become who they could develop their potential. They weren't going to be under the, you know, the heavy-handed fists of a tyrannical leader who was going to do things every his way and was going to, you know, the kind of where we're going now, what we see in the world around us. America wasn't that way. It was kind of the beacon, a beacon of hope for the world. But over time, it became a harlot, as God says. How the faithful city has become a harlot, you know, no longer, no longer virtuous, no longer a light has become a dark, dark place as mankind has allowed and, you know, them to become something that it was, that it not to fade from what it used to be. How the faithful city has become a harlot. It was full of justice. You know, I think that people around the world back whenever in America is like, oh, in America, there's justice. You get a fair trial. It's not going to be just because the king doesn't like me, I'm going to end up dying, or this group of people, they don't like me, so I'm going to end up dying, or I can do whatever I want to commit every crime known to man, but hey, I'm part of the ruling class, and therefore I can get away with it all. You know, the faithful city has become a harlot. It was full of justice. Righteousness lodged in it, but now what lodges in it is murderers. Your silver, which was once pure and worth something. Your products were first class. They were, you know, the envy of the world, if you will. Your silver has become dross. It's no longer pure. It's no longer shiny. It's no longer, it no longer has the luster that it used to have. Your wine, which was a great wine, has become mixed with water. You've watered it down. It's no longer the fine product it used to be.

Your princes, who once were strong and who stood for respect and stood for the law, who stood for being upright and everything. Now your princes, the sons of your land, they've become rebellious. You know, they're against everything. They're kind of the far left liberals who everything that used to be, we don't want anymore. Throw it all away, and we want this new garbage that means nothing. Your princes are rebellious. They're companions of thieves. You can use your imagination on some of the stories you've read about in the world today. Your princes are rebellious. They're companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes. I mean, you know, I don't think it's been any escape on anyone that even with this whole pandemic and the whole vaccine mess and all the stuff that's coming about, about all the millions of dollars who have gone to this group and to that group and how many bribes, if you will, have gone down that now fall into question.

Why are all these things being pushed? I mean, God does reveal what's going on in the world.

You know, everyone loves bribes. Everyone follows after rewards. They don't defend the fatherless. They don't, nor does the cause of the widow come before them. That's become a nation that is just, it has become a nation and a society that's just sick. Just sick and one that is certainly dying because it has all these open sores that aren't going to be resolved without the healing that can only come from God. Therefore, there's the word therefore, therefore the Lord says, the Lord of hosts, the mighty one of Israel. Ah, ah, I will rid myself of my adversaries. I will take vengeance on my enemies. And so, you know, so we know at the end of the age, right, that when God, the trumpet calls the day of the Lord, we know that's God's vengeance on the world. All these people who have led mankind astray, you know, they will be punished. They will be tried in fire. Christ will come and he will restore righteousness to the earth. He will he will bring the time of peace that everyone thinks they want, but they go about it the opposite way. You know, the Lord of hosts, I will rid myself of my adversaries. That means there won't be any, there won't be any who don't yield to me in my kingdom. You know, in Revelation, it talks about that in Revelation 21 and 8 and 20 22. All these people who are of a sinful nation, who have all these sinful natures, they're not going to be in my kingdom. It will be people who have yielded to me, who have my Holy Spirit living in them, who have overcome all of these things in the world.

I'll take vengeance on my enemy. Verse 25. I will turn my hand against you and thoroughly purge away your dross and take away all your alloy. I'll purge you with fire, Israel. You will be purified. Your silver will shine again. Your wine will be pure again, you know, but it'll come about by a very rough, a very rough frame. You know, we can, your margin probably says Malachi 3, verse 3 there. Let's look at Malachi 3 in regard to that. Because again, the Bible talks about this purging by fire here in the Old Testament. We'll turn to Revelation 3, where it talks about that as well. Malachi 3 and verse, well we'll read verses 1, 2, and 3.

He says Malachi 3, 1. Malachi, of course, the last book of the Old Testament.

Malachi 3. Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple. Now, you know, Jesus Christ, remember what temple when he returns suddenly and the world is taken by surprise by his return. What temple is he returning to? The spiritual temple that he's building in you and me, right?

The Lord will return. The Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming? Well, the people, God can. You know, it'll be a terrible day. You know, other places in the Bible says, who can stand? Who can stand in that day of the Lord? Mankind will be absolutely, they'll be, well, they're decimated and they'll be in awe of what happens. But as Revelation tells us, they simply won't repent. They're so hard-hearted. Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver. He will purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer to the eternal and offering in righteousness. Now he'll purge, he'll purge them. They'll be pure again. And of course, you may be thinking of Revelation 3. Revelation 3 and the last church of the seven that are mentioned in Revelation there, the Laodicean church that, you know, God has some harsh words for when he says, you're not cold and you're not hot. I wish you would either turn away from me or you would get zealous for me. And in verse 17 of Revelation 3, you know, he says, because you say, now this is a church of God, remember, because you say, I'm rich, I become wealthy, I don't really need to change anymore, I'm kind of where God wants me to be, we have that attitude, we think we don't need to change a whole lot more. Well, we better be thinking again, because you say, I am rich, I become wealthy, I need of nothing. And you don't know, God says, that you're wretched, you're miserable, you're poor, you're blind, you're naked. In verse 18, he says, I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich. I counsel you to buy of me at white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your awakeness may not be revealed. So, you know, the purging by fire is something that's throughout the Bible.

You know, as God makes things, the silver, the wine, the gold again refined and purified, you know, just like the purification of the saints, you and me that he's working with today, so that we would be part of his kingdom. 814. I'm going to ask you to give me just a few more minutes because we can finish Isaiah 1 here, which I'd like to do, so that's okay.

Okay, Isaiah 1.26. So again, we see in here kind of a sermon that God is giving here in Isaiah 1, to a sinful nation, but also to his people, kind of telling us what's going to happen at the end time, what he's going to do, that he will, you know, he will work with us. He, you know, come before him, reason together, go back to the Bible, live the truth in agape, you know, yield to him, repent before him, do the things that we've been talking about. He says in verse 26, I will restore your judges as at the first. When Christ comes, it will be a beautiful time to live in. The government will be restored. Justice will be restored to the earth. Peace will be restored. People will know the way of the peace. God's law will be extant on the land. You and I will be the ones teaching it and working with the people who live in there to help them understand how to how to live God's way. And as that permeates the earth, the joy, the peace, the blessings, the abundance, the harmony, the unity will be something that'll be absolutely amazing to behold and be a joy to everyone around the world. Always, always what God wants, the same joy that is in heaven will be on earth when people live God's way. I'll restore your judges as at the first. I'll restore your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward, you will be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. And I'll fast forward to Isaiah 2. You know what it says there. We read it every trace of Tabernacles. It'll come pass in the latter days. The mountain of the Lord's house will be established on the top of the mountains. People will flow to Jerusalem. That's where the law will be taught. That will be the place where it emanates from. So God says, I'll restore all that. Only He can restore all of that. Zion, verse 27, will we be... Zion shall be redeemed with justice. You know, not the messy stuff that we see even happening in this world today where there is no justice. You know, justice in this land is quickly becoming the mob rules. Throw out the law book. Throw out the Constitution. If the mob says it or the person in power wants it, that's the new law. The law of man. No longer the law of Constitution. The way of the harlot, doing things the way we want. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Zion shall be redeemed with justice and her returners, the people who return with righteousness. They'll live God's way of life. The destruction of transgressors and of sinners will be together. There won't be those in the kingdom. There won't be those in the millennium. If they refuse and rebel against God, they won't be there. There are people who will be willingly yield to God. Those who forsake the Lord, verse 28, will be consumed. Those are our words for us, too. If we forsake God, if we kind of like, yeah, here's my limits, here's my limit, and I'm not letting God go any further than this, well, we better watch what we're doing. We better watch what we're doing and remove those hardened hearts and those hard minds and those barriers we put up as, this is where I go, and that's good enough. Again, all our heart, all our mind, all our soul yielded to God. Verse 29, they'll be shamed of the terebeth trees. When you read terebeth trees, and we can give this a little bit more next week, it's those groves that they would talk about. These groves where they would have idol worship in there, right? I mean, when you read Jeremiah 10, you read other places in there, they had these groves where trees were these idols that they would do, and the pagan world used trees with this, and that's what these trees were used for. They'll be ashamed of the terebeth trees.

I can't believe we ever bow down to that tree. You can't believe we ever did that. I mean, what were we thinking? How foolish could we have been to think that, you know, life was all about this tree that we're dancing around, or, you know, rather than doing what God's will is? For they shall be ashamed of the terebeth trees, which you have desired, God said. You wanted it. Understand, you wanted that, you wanted that, and you will be embarrassed because of the gardens, which you have chosen, you know? They'll say, remember, you did want that. You did want to do things the way the world wanted to. You did want to worship me the way the world worshiped their gods, but you will be ashamed. When I return and your mind is open that you get in God's Holy Spirit, you'll be like, I can't believe I ever did those things. You know, you might go back to Isaiah. I won't take the time, but Isaiah 66. Yeah, Isaiah 66 verse 17, I wrote it down there. Just look at that one. It talks about the gardens, you know, at the end of the time, the gardens that people used to go to, and at first you see this picture of, oh, it must be a nice garden, but then here they are. They're eating, they're eating swine, splashing, rats, and everything else in there, and God is painting the picture. That's the gardens you used to, that's the gardens you used to worship in.

You'll be embarrassed because of the gardens which you have chosen. Verse 30, for you will be as a terevan whose leaf fades, you know, it will die. That will die, and that desire in you should die, and it'll be as a garden that has no water. You know, those gardens may look, they may look beautiful, they may look appealing what the world has to offer, but they're going to die. They're going to die, and anyone who participates with them will along with it. The strong shall be as tender, the work of it as a spark, both will burn together, and no one shall quench them. God will purify, and in his kingdom, which we'll read about here as we get into chapter two next week, in his kingdom will be the people who want, you know, who come to him and seek his will. Okay, so I know I rushed through some of that, but let me let me stop there and open up for any comments and whatever, apologize for taking a little longer than I should have, but I kind of wanted to get through chapter one anyway tonight, so I will shut up. You can talk.

Thank you, Mr. Shavey. Yes.

I don't know who's talking, but... Thank you.

Okay. Shavey. Yes. Yeah. Looking here, you know, it's, this book has like probably 66 chapters, and I guess the way that God took the time to warm Judah, I guess, Judah and Israel, I guess, back then, he basically gave them a lot of warning and a lot of time to change their ways. It's kind of the same thing that he's doing today, I guess, through the church that's giving basically a warning and a witness to, you know, the descendants of ancient Israel and to the earth. So it's, I guess, it's an evidence of his long suffering and his mercy, and the fact that he wants everybody to, you know, to make it the kingdom, you know, not only the people that he's calling now, but you know, whoever repents and and starveying him, will be forgiven and will receive the benefits of it now and then after. Yep.

Yeah, that's true. God's not willing that any should perish, and he is merciful and patient with us. He will wait and he will warn and he will, he'll remind us over and over and over and give us every chance, every chance to come back to him and to yield ourselves to it. We just have to be people who listen and do that and keep moving closer to him. So.

I feel like some of these verses, where we are now in the world and in history, are more fitting probably than they ever have been, ever in time, probably. I mean, obviously, I've been around for all time, but that's my thoughts on it. Yeah, I would agree with you. I think that every generation could look at those and say, wow, you know, that the time is near. But we live in a time where we see all these things happening, right? We have everything going on in the world, including our, you know, nation just falling apart and departing so quickly from even the norms that have been there for 200 years. That's the part that's alarming that tells us that, you know, the time is growing closer and closer to Christ's return. Right. It's such an accelerated pace.

Yeah. When we're away and when we're here, I don't watch the news as much. But when I do turn it on, it's like, wow, all the little things that are even happening behind the scenes. The world just keeps marching forward, no matter what opinion polls say or whatever else. It's like, there are things just keep marching ahead. Like, we're not changing. We've got, we, there's a mission that's headed in one direction and there's nothing going to interrupt it. And it's kind of, kind of like surprising to see that. So different, different than what we've seen in the past. So, you know, this and the economy, you know, it's been, it's been teetering a little bit here. And I don't know what the stock market did today. And stock market isn't the only indicator of economic strength, of course, but it's kind of the barometer by which the world looks at it today. And you can see all the warning signs of that, that it's just a matter of time before it just, you know, explodes and crashes. It's just a matter of when. And the thing is, no one knows, no one knows what that's going to be like. No one has an idea because it's never happened before in the history of the world with a global economy. How does an economy break in? What does that mean? It is completely unknown territory, you know, that we're headed into. So.

I don't know if you saw that, but I, what I've seen today, but one of the things that I guess we're seeing is that the physical blessings that the United States and I guess the Anglo world, those blessings were unconditional based on Abraham's obedience, but the maintaining or the continuation of those blessings are conditional on obedience. God is starting to basically remove those blessings because we, these nations were not able to keep them by obedience and by paying attention to Him. Yep, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Edgardo, I just sparked a thought in my mind about that. It's like we're, God still has that covenant with Israel. We're still responsible because of that covenant that He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And even though our countries have failed miserably, God is going to punish us for that because of what we're doing and because we're failing as nations to set the examples and because of our responsibilities as God outlined them.

And as the last hurrah as a nation with the word of God as free as we have it, this is the place that they really want to destroy. Nowhere really shows the word like America does. Not the neighbor of North, nowhere else, but America really is out there. I'm sure it's been done everywhere else, but not on the same scale and not as a hub, so to speak.

Yeah, it says in another book of Isaiah that they want to plot out the name of Israel.

They want to break the bonds of God against them in Psalms too, and that's the vainest thing ever.

They want to entertain. Like, okay, any way they can change you, whatever in the far-est way it is, it's only God from the heart and countries and people, schools, etc.

Yeah, I mean, yeah, Britain, America, and Little Israel, right? Those are the ones that they want to destroy, and there's a reason for that.

Well, I would say there is chaos everywhere in the world, not only in America, because in Nigeria where I am too, there are lots of problems in Nigeria, terrorism, and troubles up and down, but we do know that as God promised hope to Judah, there is hope for the world. We can rejoice and look forward to the restoration that Christ promises in the millennium. Yep, you're exactly right. Good to have you with us tonight there.

Yeah, we're not hopeless, thank God.

Okay, anything else? I don't know why a lot of people are afraid to, like you mentioned in the first 20, 20, 20, God is the one who's doing the judgment for people. I'm sure there is a good way of doing it where you call out leaders and what Christ calls benefactors. When you look at the Greek, it means fake philanthropists. They say they're good doers, but in truth behind the door, they have nefarious schemes and they only do this philanthropist work just to have influence.

In Islam, Luke 22 verse 25. Luke 22, 25? Okay. Yeah.

But a lot of people are afraid to call out these evil things on their agendas.

As long as you do it from a biblical standpoint, you're just with God.

Yep, yep. I think we have to be really careful of in general right now. It's sort of like something that people are seeming to hide behind almost, in my opinion. Hiding behind what? I missed that, Becky.

Hiding behind this farce of doing good and being concerned for others. But the motives behind almost everything now are just evil and selfish ambition. It's like the burden of of undoing good for somebody else. This veil, I guess. Yeah, it's a lie on their part.

I think, you know, when they say it's strangers, there's already land in your presence. And also think of the open borders. You know, they just seem to be letting in the United States, letting just anybody come in without really vetting them. And they're eating up the kind of eating up the fruit of the land more because of that. There's almost nothing you can point at that's going right Yeah, God has taken away the wisdom. Yeah. I hear a few still have wisdom.

Okay, well we hit 830, so anything else anyone wants to talk about or anything? Okay, I right now I'm planning to have a Bible study next Wednesday as well. So next Wednesday at 7 o'clock, we'll plan to be there and you'll get the emails. Thank you, Mr. Rick. Okay, we'll see you. We'll see you. We'll see any of you this weekend. I happen to be in Cincinnati, so it's nice to. We'll look forward to next week, okay? Thank you. Bye, everyone. Bye.