Firstfruits in a Sinful Nation

Well, last week, last week I talked about living stones, if you heard that sermon.

And here we are a week from Pentecost, and we'll be talking about firstfruits. And, you know, God has called us all to be firstfruits. And that should be on our minds as we move toward the day of Pentecost and thinking about what that means and how tremendous the calling that God has given us to be called firstfruits. Firstfruits of His creatures, of His people. And last week I read from 1 Peter 2, so I want to, you know, I didn't welcome visitors that are with us here today.

Everyone on the web, good to have you with us as well. So let me do that. But if you'll turn with me to 1 Peter 2. I'd like to read a few verses to introduce this again. Last week we talked about living stones. We are all that. God is working with us, molding us into who He wants us to be to fit into that spiritual temple that He is building in us individually and collectively.

And He will frame it all together as we allow Him and get out of the way and let Him do with us what He wants. But in verse 9 there is the verse that we all very well know, but let's read it again. Peter says in verse 9 there, but you. Of course, He's talking to you and me, everyone who's listening to this and who will listen to it. You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. And we've talked about that word holy over the last few weeks, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. And all of us have been the benefactors of understanding what that light is, to be able to live in that light and to allow that light to shine brighter and brighter in our lives. God called us out of darkness into light. You know, way back at the beginning of time in Genesis 1, when God made the day and the day and the night, it says He separated the darkness from the light. That was part of the purpose for this earth and part of the purpose of mankind and the firstfruits is to separate them from darkness.

Children of light. Jesus Christ talked about that. He would tell us, say, that we are children of light. John, you know, talked about that as well in 1 John. If you want to turn over there, 1 John 1 and verse 5.

If I can find 1 John, here it is. 1 John 1, verse 5. He writes, This is the message which we have heard from him and declare to you. God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie, and we don't practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin. Walk in light. We go back to the book of Ephesians, a book that we've been in quite a bit lately. We keep coming back to it because there's so much in this book that tells us what our calling is and how we should be living. But in Ephesians 5, verse 17. That's not verse 17, verse 7. Ephesians 5, verse 7. I think we read this certainly before I left and maybe last week as well. Paul is writing, and again he's talking about living in the light. Verse 7, he tells us, Don't be partakers with them. That would be children of darkness or the darkness of this world. He says, For you, not you and me again, you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk, walk as children of light. For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth, finding out that's discerning, that's seeking, that's looking for it. Finding out what is well pleasing is a better translation of acceptable.

Acceptable. We can accept a lot, but we need to know what is well pleasing to God and then discipline ourselves to do what is well pleasing to God. Finding out what is well pleasing to the Lord and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.

The light will shine and that will expose the darkness. Children of light, first fruits, called out of this world. God opens our minds to His truth. But then Jesus Christ said, It's not my will that you take them out of the world that's full of darkness. Have them live in the world. Have them live in the world. Let them live among the darkness. The darkness of everywhere we work, everywhere we live, the neighborhoods that we live in. Not necessarily meaning everything is just terribly evil because we know that this is a world of evil and good, not of pure good that God represents. So why did God have us live in a world of darkness when we are to be children of light and walk in light? And what do we do? What do we do about that? Well, there is a book, Isaiah, that talks about that. What do we do? Why is it important for us to be in the world while we become children of light? Here in the book of Isaiah, and Isaiah has been on my mind for several weeks now, and we've talked about that perhaps the next Bible study book that we do is Isaiah because it is so full of information of how to live. It's got history. It's got prophecy.

There's things that take some time to delve into and see how it all fits together, and it's not a short book. 66 chapters that take us from the beginning all the way into the time that Christ returns on earth. But here in Isaiah 1, we have the prophecy of Isaiah, and it says he's the son of Amos. And in this chapter 1, which is where we're going to focus on today, we learn about darkness. As we read these verses, we're going to get a good picture of the world we live in today. We're going to look at these verses that he penned for Jerusalem and Judah, but they really define what we're living in today and where the world is going.

Isaiah will show us what those works of darkness lead to. You and I, as we live our lives, we begin to see where the works of darkness lead to. And we also, as we know the truth and as we're led by God's Holy Spirit, we see and we have to keep our vision on what truth leads to, what light leads to, that it leads to life and that it leads to happiness and joy and peace. But the works of darkness lead to anything but that. And so, Isaiah draws the parallel here for us. And as we dig into these verses, we not only see the world around us and the works of darkness, but we also can glean from it what the children of light need to do. Because there are messages in this first chapter of Isaiah that you and I, as firstfruits, as children of light, need to know or need to remember and need to keep at forefront of our minds. So let's begin here in chapter 1 and verse 1.

It says, The vision of Isaiah the son of Amaz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. So when he wrote, it gives us a time frame. It's that 60, 65, 75-year period that these kings reigned. But God's specifically names those kings. And as he names those kings, it's helpful to go back and see what was Isaiah living through. What did he see? What did he learn from Uzziah's reign? What did he learn from Jotham's reign? What did he learn from Ahaz's reign and Hezekiah's reign? Because what he learned are messages for us. And as he learned what was going on, as he walked and lived in times of light, and also times of darkness, God revealed things to him that you and I can benefit from looking at. So before we go any further, let's talk a little bit about these four kings. Maybe you are very well familiar with those four names. I can't say I was all that familiar with all of them, that I could give you any details. But let's talk about them a little bit. If you turn back to 2 Chronicles 26, we meet King Uzziah. King Uzziah was a good king. He did what was right in the sight of God. And under his reign, Judah was very prosperous. In fact, some of the commentaries say that it was one of the highlights of Israel's existence, or Judah's existence, under Uzziah, because God blessed them so richly. So there's a couple of verses we can look at in here. One of them is one of my, I'm going to say one of my favorite, I don't know if favorite is the right word, or one of the verses that I look at that I kind of remember. And that's in verse 5 of 2 Chronicles 26. He, Uzziah, sought God. He was looking for God. He was looking what is well pleasing to God. He understood. It's God who gives me everything. It's God who prospers us.

It's God who provides for us. It's God who watches over us. He sought God and wanted to do what God's will was. He sought God in the days of Zechariah, a high priest, who had understanding in the visions of God. Some of the concordances will say that would be better translated the fear of God, the understanding of the Word of God. Zechariah was a man of God, and Uzziah was there with him, and he sought God. During that time, Zechariah had an understanding in the ways of God, the visions of God, the fear of God, and as long as he sought the eternal, God made him prosper.

Now prospering doesn't necessarily mean that it's financially, right? We can prosper in many ways, other than just having a large bank account or getting an increase in salary or whatever it is.

Any of the blessings that God gives us, he can prosper us in ways that we can't even imagine.

But we know when we're living God's way what this verse says, and as Uzziah learned, it said key words in there, as long as he sought the Lord, as long as he sought God, as long as he was doing what God's will was, God allowed him to prosper. Now the council knows, the Council of Elders, when I make my treasure report, often, I know about often, once a year anyway, I refer to that verse, and I talk about how we as God's church need to always be seeking God's way, and as long as we do his will, he will make us prosper not just financially, but he will have his church become what he wants it to become. As God grows us, and I mean spiritually, not in numbers, as God grows us into his temple, the joy, the gladness, the peace, everything that God gives is there. Uzziah did that, as long as he sought the Lord. And under that, as you read through chapter 26, you see how God prospered him down here in verse 15. It says that God even blessed him with being able to develop these weapons so that he became known. You know, his fame, it says there, spread far and wide.

In verse 16, though, we have that unfortunate little word that shows up in the Bible sometime.

Here's Uzziah, but in verse 16, it says, but when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction, for he transgressed the Lord as God by entering the temple to burn incense on the altar of incense. When he became strong, you know, what all too often happens to people is things go well. God blesses them. They start off with the right attitude. We'll follow God, look to him, ask him to order our steps, direct our paths every day, everything be done to his will.

But then everything, but things change and things go well like it did for Uzziah, like it did for other, you know, for other people in the Bible. And all of a sudden, they begin thinking it's me. They kind of forget God. They kind of forget that it is him who provides.

And so Uzziah fell prey to that malady that befalls so many. It can befall any of us, right? We can become too comfortable in the things that we have. Too comfortable and begin to think that we have answers, that we have talents, and that God needed us more than we need God. And all of a sudden, things begin falling apart. We always need to remember to seek God, always remember that it's not in our power, our might, or anything to do anything that it's God who gives us all. No matter what the job is, that's what has to happen. We need to keep God at the forefront of everything and everything in our lives. Uzziah didn't. And what he did was, he took it upon himself. Of course, he was the king, and then he had the high priests. He was not supposed to go into the temple. That was not part of any of his duties, but he went in and he thought, there's nothing here that I don't have command on. I'm going to go into the temple. I'll burn the incense. The priests, as you read down there, they, Uzziah, what are you doing? You know you don't belong in here. You don't have carte blanche on everything. God said, this is not your place. And down here in verse 19, we see what happens when people are in an attitude of pride.

Now, when David was confronted, King David, you remember, when he was confronted with his sin with Bathsheba, he just repented. He just said, okay, I get it. I've sinned. I've sinned against God.

But Uzziah, it says in verse 9, he became furious. I'm not listening to you. Who are you to tell me what to do? And so he just took it out on the priests there. And God dealt with Uzziah immediately. Leprosy broke out on him as he was speaking to those people. His destruction was swift. It's not always swift for us, but his destruction was sure when he stopped seeking the Lord. As long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper in all he did.

Isaiah 6 tells us that it appears that God called Isaiah and opened his eyes in the last year of Uzziah's reign. And so as Isaiah looked at that and the lessons that he learned from that, we're there in his head. And what God wanted us to do was understand that as well.

The next king there is Jotham. Jotham, of course, was Uzziah's son. And in chapter 27 says, when he was 25 years old, he became king. In verse 2, he did what was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father Uzziah had done. Although he didn't enter the temple of the Lord, he saw what Dad did. He saw that that isn't right. He lived a large part of his life seeking the Lord. But what he did in the end, Jotham didn't allow himself to do that. He learned a lesson. And then you see that last verse there in verse 2. But the people, even though they had a righteous leader who was showing the example, they still did corrupt things. Isn't that amazing?

They had the leader there, but they still acted corruptly. Things were going okay in Judah. You see, as you read down through chapter 27, a very short chapter there, again Judah was very prosperous. God made many things happen for Jotham because he did what was right in his sight. And he sought God. In verse 6, there's another lesson that's there about Jotham. It says, so Jotham became mighty. We might think, uh-oh, uh-oh, the same malady that struck Uzziah struck Jotham. But that isn't what happened to him. Jotham became mighty because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God. The other way that word prepared can be translated is he established his ways in God.

He became mighty. God blessed him. Things worked well under Jotham. He didn't make the same mistake as his father. He continued to have his ways established in God. And so there's a lesson for us that we would always establish our ways in God to not allow ourselves to make, to forget God in any way. Jotham apparently never did that. He had the foundation of establishing his way in God, and he continued that throughout his life. It appears because when he died, he was given a place of honor in his burial. Now there's a few other verses that use the same word translated prepared in verse 6 that we can look at, and those would be in Proverbs 16 among many places. But in Proverbs 16 verses 3 and 9, what we can learn from Jotham. 16 verse 3, commit your works to the Lord. Commit yourself to Him.

You know, children of light, they commit their works to God. First fruits, they commit their works to God. Jesus Christ, the first of the first fruits, He committed His works to God. He said, you know, the works that you see Me do, they're not of Me, they're of My Father. The words I speak, they're not of Me, they're of My Father. Commit your works to the Eternal, and your thoughts will be established. Always remember God. Always keep Him at the forefront of your life. In verse 9, it says, a man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. We may have plans, we may decide we're going to do this, that, and whatever, and sometimes we see God change those plans.

Now, we had, for instance, we had no plans, no plans to leave ever, Florida, but God directs paths, and you go where God wants you to go. That's true for all of us. We may plan our ways, but always be ready to do what God said. Never, never stand on your own principle, not on your own principles, on your own decisions. Let God lead you.

You know, a prayer, a good prayer every morning when you wake up is to ask God, order My steps, direct My paths, start your day off with that thought that God will lead you, and ask Him to lead you into what He wants you to do. That's what we're here for. That's what firstfruits do. They do the will of God. That's what children of light do. They walk in light, and not in darkness. And even though we go out into the darkness when we go to work or school or whatever it is we're doing, we're to walk as children of light and let that light shine.

Let God direct your paths. Always ask Him, direct My path, order My steps, lead Me to where you want Me to do. Joseph did that right through the end of time, and we should be looking at that and asking God to do the same thing with us. Jotham set a good example for us, others in the Bible who have done that as well. Well, Jotham had a son. If we go back to 2 Chronicles, he had a son Ahaz in chapter 28 of 2 Chronicles. Ahaz was just the opposite of his father.

So, as Amos is living through his life, and he's under for a short period of time King Uzziah, and he sees what happened to King Uzziah, a good king that became too full of pride and thought that he had all the answers, and God took everything from him. And then we see Jotham, who didn't make the same mistakes of his father. He learned from others' mistakes and stayed close to God. And then here's Ahaz, who was just the opposite of his father, Jotham. He did everything that God would not have him do. In 1 Corinthians 28, it says, he didn't do what was right in the sight of the Lord. Verse 2, he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He made molded images for the bales. He burned incense of the valley of the sin of Hinnom. He burned his children in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations which the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. Where did he do? Why did he do that? What happened to him? How did he turn from light and everything that was going so well in Israel, and then turn just completely around and not follow in his father's footsteps? But he did. But he did. And he departed from God, and he went back into darkness. He didn't walk in light, as God would have us walk. And we could do the same thing, too. Some of us could love the darkness. Some of us could get closer and closer to the darkness. And before we know it, the darkness can put out the light. Can't let that happen.

Can't let that happen. We have to be stronger than that. But Ahaz did that. And Ahaz just refused to follow God. Well, as he chose darkness rather than light, Amos, or not Amos, Isaiah, and we see the results of choosing darkness. In verse 5, therefore the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria. They defeated him. They carried away a great multitude of them as captives, brought them to Damascus. He was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who defeated him with a great slaughter. Wow. Depart from God. Go back to darkness. Lost it all.

It wasn't because of poor battle plans that Ahaz put together. It wasn't because his weaponry wasn't good. He still had what his grandfather and father before him had put together. It was God who said, when you don't seek me, destruction comes. When you don't seek me, when you depart from me, it may not come immediately, but destruction, life, misery, life ends, misery develops.

Ahaz simply wouldn't listen to anything that God had to say. In verse 19 of chapter 28, it tells us, again, it was God. It was God who did that. As long as you seek the Lord, as long as your heart is with him, you will prosper. But when you go back to darkness, it was the Lord, verse 19, who brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had encouraged moral decline in Judah and had been continually unfaithful to God. Encouraged moral decline.

Interesting thing, especially as we look at the world around us today and what is going on and what was going on in Judah at that time that God sent them into captivity with Syria and then Israel. Back in the book of Isaiah, there was an interesting comment about King Ahaz in chapter 7.

And chapter 7 is quite a complex and detailed chapter. We certainly don't have time to go through it today, but there's one thing I want to draw your attention to in verse 9.

You know, as you read through chapter 7 and you glean through some of the things that are in there that are going to take some time to explain and go through and show what God is talking about, you see that Ahaz, it appears that God gave Ahaz an opportunity to turn to him, to ask him, to show him that God would show him a sign. Ahaz always refused. Don't want it. Now, on the face, it almost looks like Ahaz trying to be righteous. No, you don't have to give me a sign, God. But really, what was in his heart is, I don't want to hear from you. I don't want anything to do with you.

I don't want what you have to offer. And so, in verse 9, a comment, verse for us to remember, if you will not believe, God wrote, surely you shall not be established.

So, if we're going to have our hearts established in God, we have to believe. Now, in the New Testament, you've heard me say many, many times, and every see the word believe, it's that Greek word, pistoio, almost every time, p-i-s-t-e-u-o. And what it means is, when we believe that Jesus Christ is, it cuts to the core. We are never the same people again. You can't just go to a meeting, hear that Jesus Christ is the Savior, say, I believe, and go off and keep doing the things the way you did. It changes you forever.

That's what believing in God and Jesus Christ is. If that isn't the belief you have that it changes you and you desire to follow God and you know you must follow God, then you don't believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior as much as you should, because it changes us forever. If we know and we believe God, if we believe Jesus Christ, and especially as we go through our lives and as we grow in the knowledge and grace of Jesus Christ, we will desire more and more the good things of life, the things of Jesus Christ.

We will desire more the light and less the darkness. If that's not us, if we still gravitate toward the world, the entertainment of the world, the things of the world, boy, we've got some light to be seeking and we've got some things to be doing. It all comes over time. That's why God gives us the rest of our lives from the times we're baptized to become first fruits, to become children of light, and to have the darkness faded from us. But if you will not believe, he said, you won't be established.

So when we pray to God and ask Him, establish our steps, order our steps, direct our paths, we must believe, we must have the vision that God is taking us to His kingdom, and that He is, that Jesus Christ will return, that He will establish it, that it will be for eternity, that we have that vision and that hope for all of humanity that isn't just for us, but that mankind doesn't have the answers to the mess that we find ourselves in. It's only God. And what is going to happen is, more and more as time goes on, things will get worse and worse, just as it says in 2 Timothy 3, 13.

And evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse. More people will suffer. More agony will develop. More of everything against what God's will for us will happen if we do not believe. So we have Uzziah, we have Jotham, and we have Ahaz, and we have Hezekiah. Now, I know you're more familiar with Hezekiah, so I'm not going to spend any time on him. You can go back into it. You know that Hezekiah was a good king. He made some mistakes. One thing that we can remember about Hezekiah is when they understood the Passover, you'll remember that they prepared their hearts.

And when God and Hezekiah asked God, please let us keep the Passover. We haven't had time to do the things that you asked us to do to be clean for the Passover, but please honor the fact that the people have prepared their hearts for God. God answered the prayer, and they kept the days of Unleavened Bread and kept it another seven days beyond that because the joy was so was so rife there. We always need to be preparing our hearts for God. We always need to be getting ready and letting God... getting ready, taking the opportunities, I say so many times, to let God get us ready for what it is and to prepare our hearts for the kingdom and the return of Jesus Christ and not look at it as something that is so far off.

It's not so far off. We have no idea when, but it's not so far off that we should be putting it out of our our minds. Well, let's go back to Isaiah 1. With that preface, you know, as God inspired these verses to be written, we know what we know what Isaiah saw.

Some of the lessons that he learned, some of the lessons that we can learn from those kings. You know, when we read about the kings in the book of Kings and the book of Chronicles, we shouldn't look at them as someone who's apart from us because all those examples that God's given us that we should learn from, you and I are those kings. He's preparing us to be kings and priests.

And so when we read those, we can read, this king did that. I can't allow that to happen to myself. Projected into the 21st century, projected into what we're doing now to make sure we aren't following ill ways, ways of darkness or letting ourselves descend into darkness. Look at the kings and what was in their heart that led them to light as they became and lived in the light, as we're supposed to be living in the light.

So I'm going to read here, not the entire chapter of Isaiah 1, but as we read through this, I'm going to stop periodically. But two things I want us to think about. One, this was written for Judah and Jerusalem, but I think as we read through it, you will see that God also meant this for any country, any nation that departs from him. We all know, I don't think there's anyone even in America, well, I shouldn't say that. Yes, they would deny it, but in their hearts they know it is God who blessed this country. It's not an accident that America is as blessed as it is. It's not an accident that America is the wealthiest nation that ever was. It's not an accident that America has all the resources it has. It's not an accident that America has the government it has that allowed us to grow and develop and achieve our potential in these states. It's something that God has given us.

And so, as we read through that, we can look at these verses and we can realize we're living in a time that is that are defined by these words of Isaiah. We are in a nation that has far, far, far different than what it was several decades, several decades ago. So in verse 2, God has a pronouncement that he is giving here to the nations, his people. It says, Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. You know, rebellion, it's kind of a sad and sad isn't even the right word. It's kind of an awful thing, right? If parents have children, and if those children then grow up and they just turn their backs against their parents, don't want to talk to them anymore, rebel against them, everything you said, we don't want anything to do with you. It's an awful experience, right? Because as parents, we give ourselves to our children. We give them everything they need. We nurture them. We provide for them. We see that they have shelter and food. And then when we see them become different people, it's a heinous and awful thing that God hates, that we hate, that any humanity hates. There's something not right in that. In the Old Testament, God said, if you had a rebellious child, put him out because that, put him out, and worse than that, put him out because that can't happen in Israel. There has to be this awareness of what your parents have done.

And here he's speaking of Israel, and he's talking of his people, and he's saying, you know what, look what I've done. Look what I've given you. And yet this nation, this people, have rebelled against me. You don't have to turn to 1 Samuel 15, but in verse 23 it says, rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. How does that make you think that God thinks of rebellion? Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. The other part of verse 23 is stubbornness is in that same lot as well. We're called to be yielding to God, to be when we are made aware of a problem that we yield to him, not stubbornly resist and keep on with a natural human mind. So I've nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, the donkiest master's crib, but Israel doesn't know. My people don't consider. The other way to consider should have been maybe is my people don't understand. They don't get it. They're missing something key. What they're missing is being grateful to God. They don't thank God. They don't keep him in their minds. They don't pay attention and remember what he has given us and the benefits that we've had of living in this land in this time. You know, decades ago, literally, there's a verse that has stuck in my mind that has made me think over and over again. Let's go back to it for a moment in Romans 1.

In Romans 1, and you know Romans 1 at the end of Romans 1, it talks about people who descend in the darkness. What happens? What do they do that lead them into darkness? Something goes on in their life. They're missing something once they've been called, once they've been enlightened, that they would choose darkness over light. Because who in their right minds would choose darkness over light?

Verse 20. Romans 1 says, "...since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power in Godhead, so that they are without excuse." If everyone was being honest, they would look at the universe, they would look at everything, how everything works, and there is no explanation except God. They'll cling to a theory of evolution. They'll cling to the Big Bang Theory simply because they don't want God. It makes no sense. It can't be proven. The only thing that makes any sense is creation by God. They just simply will not accept it. Because, verse 21, although they knew God, they didn't glorify Him as God.

And then those three words should pop out at us. Nor were thankful. They weren't thankful. They didn't give God the credit for what He had provided for us. And you know, of all the things that we do, you know, when we wake up in the morning, boy, yes, ask God to order your steps. Let's ask God to establish your ways. Yes, thank God. Always make that as part of your prayer. Thank God for the life you have, the health you have, the home you have, the jobs you have, for the calling you have, for His Holy Spirit, the vision of the future that He's given us. Always thank God, and never, ever, ever forget to thank Him. And be grateful. If we're grateful to Him, if we're grateful to Him, that light will still be there. It will make us remember who we are. It will make us and cause us to remember what God has called us to, this tremendous calling that He has given us. But if we ever just start taking it for granted, if we just sort of pass it by and thankful to God is not something that's in our minds, you know what happens? What happens is what is in the rest of Romans 1. Verse 22, or the rest of it here, they weren't thankful. When they weren't thankful, they became futile in their thoughts. Their foolish hearts were darkened.

Lack of gratitude can put out the light. Remember God. We've just been through the days of unleavened bread. Remember, remember, remember all of His benefits. In verse 22, boy is that a verse for our time. Professing to be wise, they became fools. That's quite a statement for the world around us.

And then you can see what went on and what being in darkness leads to in that chapter.

And so that, as God is talking to Israel, well, talking to Judah, talking to us. Every part of the Bible has everything to do with us as much as it did them. Never forget that either.

So if we go back to chapter 1, you know, we were in verse 3, my people don't consider. They're not understanding. They're not paying attention. They're not considering what I have done for them. They've let that out of that.

You know, Paul in verse 1 and 5, he says, in everything, in everything give thanks.

Alas, verse 4, alas sinful nation.

When we forget God, when we are no longer grateful, when he's kind of out of our minds and we kind of are like Uzziah and think, oh, everything we have, it's because we're so wonderful, we're so inventive, we're so ingenious, we have all these great ideas and everything. Alas, sinful nation, what happens? Sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evil doers, children who are corruptors. They have forsaken the Lord. They've forgotten Him. When we forget Him, that's what happens. We see that in the world around us. God is nowhere in the picture in all the problems that we've had lately among the nations and the world with the diseases and all the other things that go on in this world. He's nowhere in the picture, in the people's minds.

And so this is what happens. Children who are corruptors, they've forsaken the Lord.

They've provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel. They have turned away backward. They've turned back to darkness. They're no longer seeking light. They're no longer seeking truth. They're no longer seeking what pleases God. They're just kind of floated back into darkness. Might happen ever so slowly. Might happen ever so subtly. But they've gone back to darkness, and this is what happens to them. Now we might pause and we might ask the question, how do you provoke God to anger?

I think we probably all know that, but let's just look at three verses back in Deuteronomy where we see what it is to provoke God to anger. Now you'll remember back several months ago when we were looking at the book of Deuteronomy, and the last chapters of Deuteronomy, therefore the future. Talks about the latter days, talks about the end time, and in chapter 31 and 32, provoking God to anger shows up. So it wasn't just for ancient Israel that would provoke God to anger. It's people in the latter days that could provoke God to anger as well. In Deuteronomy 31 and verse 29, Moses, as he is speaking to the children of Israel, as he's about to die and they're about to go over and cross into the Promised Land, he said, for I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt. You will turn aside from the way which I have commanded you, and when you do that evil will befall you in the latter days, because you will do evil in the side of the Lord to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands. Provoke him to anger. Do things that would anger God. In chapter 32 and in verse 15, this song of Moses, it talks about Jesurin. Jesurin is Israel, but Israel grew fat and kicked. They weren't any longer submissive to God. Jesurin or Israel grew fat and kicked. You grew fat. Enjoyed the benefits of the land, but it went beyond that. You were thick. You are obese, and when they became that, and when they thought everything was okay, they have more than plenty, there's always a danger in having more than enough that we want, that's the time of trial. Then he forsook God who made him and scornfully esteemed the rock of his salvation. They provoked him to jealousy with foreign gods.

With abominations, they provoked him to anger. Now, we know with the foreign gods that ancient Israel, his people, his physical people, and he still knows where physical Israel is. You and I are spiritual Israel, the people that God is called, that own special people, the royal priesthood, the holy people, the firstfruits, the potential bride of Christ, if indeed we continue walking with him.

So he knew he was talking about ancient Israel and the literal little gods that they would worship, but we know that we have gods. This chapter is for the end times. We know that we have gods. We've talked about them plenty. There's many things that we may not bow down on worship and put out, get down on our knees, but there are things that we count and trust in more than God. Anything we trust in more than God is a god. God says, trust in me, only in me. Israel, of all nations on earth ever, should have known. They saw God, bring them out of Egypt without ever lifting a finger. He did it all.

They saw him bring them through the Red Sea when they had nothing but death staring him in the face, and he's simply part of the Red Sea, and they walked through it. He's brought them through the wilderness. He provided water. He provided food in a place that none of that should have happened, but that did. They should have trusted him, but they still kept looking at these other gods. And God said, just trust me. Believe me. Have faith in me. They provoked him to jealousy with other gods.

We need, as we grow, as children of light, walking in the light, that these other gods that may still be in our lives need to be away. They need to be put away.

Firstfruits don't have any god other than God. They provoked him to jealousy with foreign gods with abominations. Go back and look up the word abominations. You'll see how many things there are in abominations, abominations that God calls. There's plenty of them in this world today. Maybe some of us pay attention to them more than we should or sympathize with them more than we should.

Verse 17, they sacrificed the demons, not to God. To gods they didn't know, new gods, new arrivals, that your fathers didn't fear. Of the rock who begot you, you are unmindful. You've forgotten the god who fathered you. And down in verse 21, he repeats again, they provoked me to jealousy.

They provoked me to jealousy. Has Israel, has modern day Israel, has our nation, like Judah, back then provoked God the jealousy after all he's given? Do we rely on him at all?

So we go on in Isaiah 1.

So he talks about what he's done for us. He talks about what happens when we don't consider what God has done. And then in verse 5, the results, the results of ignoring God, forsaking God, just counting him out there but being more entranced by the world than him. Verse 5, why should you be stricken again? You will revolt. You will revolt more and more.

Well, he has revolted more and more. It seems like the world around us revolts more and more.

When you look at Judah, they revolted more and more. And after Hezekiah, you know, came an evil, an evil king that was so bad that God said he would not forgive. And Judah would go into captivity because they followed him. You will revolt more and more. And then the whole body, the whole system becomes sick. The whole head is sick. The whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot, even to the head, there is no soundness in it. It's just totally unhealthy.

It's destined to death. It's not going anywhere. Where does health come from?

Comes from God. When Israel came out of Egypt, he said, all this is where health is. Follow me.

We know spiritual health comes from God and His Holy Spirit. Without it, we are dead. There is no soundness in us without God's Holy Spirit. I'm going to speed it up here a little bit. I just looked at my time, but give me a few more minutes here. From the sole of the foot, even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying swords. They haven't been closed or bound up or soothed with ointment. Their body is sick. It's dying.

And verse 7, things that never happened to Judah, things that never happened in ancient Israel, your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Strangers devour your land and your presence, and it's desolate as overthrown by strangers. Verse 9, Unless the Lord of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom.

We would have been made like Gomorrah. That's how bad it became. Everything would be destroyed.

God would do it all, just like he did with Sodom and Gomorrah. But for Israel, he left them a remnant. And I'm just going to pop over here to Isaiah 6. And verse 11, because later on Isaiah, under inspiration of God, comes back to this remnant and talks about what the devastation is, what turning to the ways of darkness does, cities desolate, cities empty, only a remnant remain.

Verse 11 of Isaiah 6, Isaiah says, Lord, how long God answered, until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, the houses are without a man, the land is utterly desolate. The Lord has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. But yet a tenth, yet a tenth will be in it, and will return and be for consuming. As a terabith tree or as an oak, whose stump remains when it's cut down, so the holy seed shall be its stump.

That's a very small remnant of a large group of people. When you turn back to darkness, when you aren't seeking the light, when you aren't seeking God, when you turn from Him.

And that way, we go back to Isaiah 1 after God says what the result, as a result of what turning from God and living in darkness is, and as we see, we can't become darkness. We have to see what the darkness is like so that we don't become part of it, and so that we desire to be anything but tied to darkness and the world. That we have the desire to come out of the world because we seek light. We seek truth. We don't seek darkness. We don't seek devastation. We don't seek death. We seek life, and we learn that as we're in the world around us, and it should make us more and more committed to God and following His way. In verse 10, God talks to the leaders, the rulers of Sodom. He says, if you want to be healed, come back to me.

Give here to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah. And then He talks more, I think, to the people of God who may be, who are children of light, who may still be messing around with darkness and still coming out of it. To what purpose, He says in verse 11, are your sacrifices to me.

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. Now, you know. I think 1 Samuel 15, 22 is a memory verse for most. God said, it's not burnt offering sacrifice that He desires. What is it that He wants? He wants us to obey Him. Obeying is better than sacrifice. Yielding to Him is better than sacrifice. Our heart is what He wants. Psalm 51, David says, the sacrifices of God are a broken and contrite spirit. That's what He's looking for from us. That's what His Spirit leads us to. That's what children of light do.

That's what they seek. That's how where they go. In verse 12, He says, when you come to appear before Me, just like we're sitting here before God in this Sabbath assembly, just like we'll be sitting before God in that Sabbath and on the day of Pentecost and His holy convocation, when you come to appear before Me, who is required this from your hand to trample My courts. Remember, we talked in Exodus about Moses. Don't put, don't take your shoes off, Moses. Don't trample on My holy ground.

This is My time. These are My courts. Do things My way. Seek My way. Delight in My way. Remove your foot from there. Don't trample in My courts. Don't bring, verse 13, any more futile sacrifices.

Incense is an abomination to Me. The new moon, Sabbath, the calling of assemblies, I can't endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. God wants us to live our lives every day His way, not just attend Sabbath services. Coming to Sabbath services is part of our life. It's part of what we do for God.

It's because we desire to be here in God's presence because He's simply said, do it.

But we delight in it, and we learn from it, and we become one, and the temple gets built as we're together in there. But if that's all we're doing, if we're just doing physical things, as I often say, if we just checked off, went there, did this, did that, if our life is just about physical things, we are missing the boat so thoroughly. We are not yet children of light. It's the heart that God wants. It's this what drives us. Physical things are great. Service is great. Heart is what God wants. Heart in His way. Heart in His law. Yielding ourselves completely to Him and obeying Him as we use the word on the Bible study back, what, a month ago now? Circumspectly? Walk circumspectly? Accurately? Exactly? Diligently? Carefully? Doing His will? Not interpreting it our way, but doing it the way He says. So when God sees this, and He's talking about new moons and Sabbaths, He doesn't mean He hates them. He's commanded them. But the way we're living our lives, we're coming before Him as hypocrites, is the way He looks at it. Verse 14, your new moons, your appointed face, my soul hates. They're a trouble to me. I'm weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, when you pray, says, I'm going to hide my face from you. I'm going to hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. In the wake of this Yuvaldi Texas shooting, someone mentioned to me that a late-night talk show host made the comment that prayers won't help, but gun control will. How wrong is he? Someone should let him know prayers will help, but prayers have to be offered in by a people who have turned to God and who are committed to Him. Without turning to God, God will not heal this nation.

Any amount of the things that man plan to do are simply are not going to work. What will heal this nation as Solomon so wisely said under the inspiration of God in 2 Chronicles 7, 14, is that the nation must return back to God. And when people say things like that, they should be told, no, no, no. Prayers will help, but prayers have to be in concert with looking to God, seeking Him, and doing His will. When we seek the Lord, when we do His will, He will prosper. But when we turn to darkness, we know what the end of that is. We see it in Isaiah. We see it playing out around us all around today. And as we play around it, and as we watch it, we should be absolutely like more and more and more committed to God. Why would I want to even tie myself to any part of this darkness?

That should be the motivation we see as we see the world and society descending around us.

I was going to turn to something here. Let me pause for a moment and think where I was going.

Oh, yeah, let's go to 1 John. I just want to address answered prayer here for a moment.

You know, you hear that sometimes in the world. It's like prayers, prayers, God, where is God? Where is He? How come He's not answering our prayers? You know, you might hear that out in the world. We might even ask that as well. And there are a few things that we have to do. God will answer our prayers. Jesus Christ did say, whatever you ask in my name, I will give you if you believe me, remembering what that word means here in 1 John 3 and verse 22.

He says, whatever we ask, whatever we ask, we receive from Him. Why? Because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. Seek what is well pleasing to God.

Do it. Make it part of your heart. Obey His commandments fully, exactly, diligently, carefully, exactly the way He said, make it part of your heart. Have faith in God. That has to be part of it. Without faith, God's not going to answer any prayers. We must believe in Him.

And so, until that happens in the world, God's not going to listen. He says, why would I listen?

You're not doing anything I say. I've shown you the way to life. I've shown you the way to life.

I've shown you the way to salvation. I've shown you the way. You just have to do it. You have to commit to it. And so when He says back in Isaiah 1 and verse 15, I'll hide my eyes from you, even though you make many prayers. When you turn to me with all your heart, I'll heal you. And I don't mean just physical healing. I'll heal your nation. In verse 16, what He tells, firstfruits, what He tells, His people, His holy people, His royal priesthood, you and me. Verse 16, same thing we talked about last week as ancient Israel stood at the base of Mount Sinai and God said, Moses had them wash their clothes, make them appear before me clean. He tells us, wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes, stop doing evil, learn to do good, seek justice, repuke the oppressor, practice agape with no partiality to anyone. And I'm going to cut it short here 1819-20, 1819, obey God, seek the truth, do what He says, truth and love. It's there in Ephesians, we talk about it. Be people of truth, seek the truth, do the truth, live the truth, let it be in your heart, and let agape be there as well. Verse 19, if, there's that word, if, if you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land, but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. First fruits, children of light. Let's all be people who are seeking the light. Let's all be people who are seeking God and remembering the things that He has done for us and never ever allowing us to turn back to darkness, but always being aware of the darkness so that we are walking away from it.