Isaiah Chapter 10: God Judges the Heart

You know, bread and God, as you're very well aware, God deeply loves mankind and greatly desires to share His life and level of existence with all mankind. In His love, He's created a Master Plan of Salvation that will extend to every human being who has ever been born. Part of that Master Plan deals with mankind building holy, righteous character by God's grace, our diligent efforts. And God very much looks at the heart of each of us as human beings as a primary focus that He has. He has created mankind in His image. God our Father, Jesus Christ our Elder Brother, desire that mankind have a heart like theirs, a heart like theirs, a heart full of love.

But that isn't always the case, is it? Let's take a look at Genesis 6. Genesis 6. Genesis 6, verses 5 and 6, I believe you want. If I could just get to it. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Notice that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart because of what he was seeing in mankind.

Scripture very much demonstrates that God is always concerned about our heart and where our hearts are. And of course, that is true for us as modern-day Christians, as New Covenant Christians. But let's take a look at some Old Testament scriptures that really also relate to how God views the heart and so forth. Let's go to Deuteronomy 6. You notice well. We're going to rehearse this, though, anyway. Deuteronomy 6.

And verse 5, This is a theme that runs from one end of the Bible to the other. As God loves us totally, he wants us to love him totally.

There's so much for us to learn as we become more and more like our father and elder brother, Jesus Christ. Going back one chapter to chapter 5 of Deuteronomy in verse 29. Deuteronomy 5.29 So here we see where God wants us not only to totally love him as he totally loves us, but he wants us to have the proper intentions. We talked about that last time I was here.

We talked about good intentions and how good intentions are a fine thing, but good intentions have to be based on the Word of God. If they're not based on the Word of God, they'll come to nothing in most cases. Leviticus 19.17 I'll read this in the New International version. We critique the New International in the New Testament, and I think properly so, but in the Old Testament, the New International is really quite a good translation.

Leviticus 19.17 in the NIV states, Do not hate your brother in your heart. And I won't turn to this one either, but I'll just paraphrase part of it. 1 Chronicles 28.9 And again, this is in the New International. God searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. So, brethren, obviously what I want to talk about today, the theme for today, a fundamental issue for today, is that God judges our heart. God judges our heart. And the way we're going to take a look at that today is we're going to go back.

We've not been there for a while. We're going to go back to the book of Isaiah. In the book of Isaiah, we're going to take a look at Isaiah 10. In Isaiah 10, we're going to see how God judges Israel's heart, finds them lacking, finds them wanting, and does something about that in terms of correcting them through the nation of Assyria. But more than that, in that same chapter, God looks at Assyria's heart, and God corrects Assyria for the heart that they have. So God is no respecter of persons. God looks on all people's hearts and then deals with them accordingly.

And certainly the same is true for us. So in Isaiah 10, if you're writing your notes down, you want a theme, simply God judges the heart. God judges the heart. So let's go over to Isaiah 10. Put my marker there. Isaiah 10 started here in verse 1. Whoa! And of course, in the Scriptures, when you see that word, you know that some difficult times are coming. Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, who write misfortune, which they have prescribed, to rob the needy of justice, and to take what is right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they might rob the fatherless.

So here we see a basic condemnation of Israel's heart. They were issuing unjust and oppressive laws. They were robbing the needy of justice. They were depriving the poor of their rights. They were herding widows, as well as robbing the fatherless. They were taking advantage of people who couldn't properly help themselves. We read early in Leviticus 19 about loving our neighbor. The Israelites were told from early on, this is how they were to live, but yet their heart was not there. Put a marker here. Let's go back to Deuteronomy 24. The people of Israel had no excuse. Brethren, as you and I have no excuse, we've got to make sure that our hearts are right with God.

Deuteronomy 24, verses 17 and 18. 24, verse 17. You shall not pervert justice due to the stranger or the fatherless, nor take a widow's garment as a pledge. But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. Therefore I command you to do this thing. So God reminds them what their past was, that they had been taken advantage of, and they should not do that to anybody else.

And yet they were doing just that as a nation, the leadership of the nation in so many cases. These actions involved taking advantage of people who could not properly defend themselves. And that was a stench in God's nostrils. Isaiah chapter 1.

Isaiah chapter 1, starting in verse 16.

And of course we covered this earlier on in our study of the book of Isaiah, but again, for repetition, which is, I think, good. Isaiah chapter 1, starting here in verse 16, going through verse 20.

So God says to the nation, repent. And of course, brethren, you and I as Christians, you and I as new covenant people of God, we always have to be guarding our hearts. We're especially in a time like this. You know, at all times, Christians have had a difficult time living in Satan's world. But here we've got the internet, we've got media, we've got things coming at us from all angles, all the time, 24-7. And it can be so easy for us to allow our hearts to wander, for our hearts to drift. And we certainly don't want our hearts to wander and drift. Going back to Isaiah chapter 10. Isaiah chapter 10, verses 3 and 4.

God says to the leadership, What will you do in the day of punishment and in a desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your glory? Without me they shall bow down among the prisoners, and they shall fall among this lane. For his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. Now this phrase, his hand is stretched out still, has been seen several times in preceding chapters, talking about how God very much loathes what's happening in the nation, with his people. So basically God is saying here in verse 3, What are you going to do in a day of reckoning? Brethren, for us, in our notes, we might want to jot down 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 17, where judgment begins at the house of God. What are we doing with what we have? We've got so much. God has given us so much.

Spiritually speaking, and if we're not taking heed, and if we are drifting, where are we going to be? So God says, What are you going to do on a day of reckoning when disaster strikes? He says, Who are you going to look for help? I mean, you've been oppressing the people. So, you leaders, where are you going to be going for help?

And verse 3 talks about, at the end of verse 3, he talks about, Where will you leave your glory? Well, that word can also be talking about wealth. What are you going to do? You know, you're doing all these things to gain wealth, to gain position. But when the hard times come, what are you going to do with that wealth? Is that going to buy, get you away from your trials? You know, in your notes, you might want to write down Ezekiel chapter 7 and verse 19. The prophecy talks about how the people in these kinds of situations will throw their silver into the streets, their gold will be like refuse, the silver and gold will not deliver them in a day of judgment. And the same thing is very true for us. You've got to be very careful about where our hearts are in making sure we don't drift away. Okay, verse 5. Woe to Assyria. Now, we'll come back to that in a moment. Let's read the rest of verse 5. Woe to Assyria. The rod of my anger and the staff in whose hand is my indignation. I will send him against an ungodly nation, and against the people of my wrath. I will give him charge to seize the spoil and take the prey and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. So God here is very much delineating the fact that he is angry, very angry, white-hot anger with Israel. And he's going to be dealing with Israel, because Israel doesn't have a right heart. Doesn't have the right heart. But also notice, the very beginning of verse 5, Woe to Assyria. Israel is not the only nation here who doesn't have a right heart. Assyria doesn't have a right heart. Now, you know, in your life and mine, you know, what you heard in the sermon, it was very apropos for what I'm discussing here, and I appreciate that. There have been times in your life where things have happened to you that simply have not been fair. You've probably had some very unrighteous people deal you some very bad hand of cards. And you're thinking, where is God in all of this? Why is God allowing this to me? I go to church, I try to be the best Christian I have, and now I'm being tortured, tormented, by these people on the outside. They can care less about serving God. Well, here we've got Assyria who could care less about serving the true God, but God is using them as a tool. And just like in your life and mine, there have been people that God has used as a tool to help correct you or to help you think about things or in whatever way God wanted to work with you.

But notice, woe to Assyria. The Assyrians, and we've talked about this in the past, the Assyrians were an especially brutal people. When they conquered a country, they would kill off as many of the leadership as they could find, and they would begin deporting whole sections of the populace. They would destroy and dismantle a nation. One commentator said they were the Nazis of that age. Very, very brutal. We're going to read something a little bit later on in terms of history about the way they were. But God says, woe to you. Woe to you. Because of their actions. Let's look now at verse 7. Verse 7. Here we're going to see the reason God is upset with the Assyrians. We're going to begin to see where their pride and their disrespect for the true God comes into play here. Yet he does not mean so, nor does his heart think so. Again, talking about their heart. But it is in his heart to destroy. And it cut off not a few nations. It's in his heart to destroy. Put a finger here for a moment. Let's go over to John 10. Who is inspiring some of this? God is obviously using Assyria as a tool, but there was also another being that was behind all of this. John 10 and verse 10. John 10 verse 10. The thief, referring to Satan, does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. So long before God was beginning to use Assyria as a tool to correct Israel, the Assyrians had this frame of mind. A frame of mind that came from Satan to steal, to kill, and to destroy. We go back now to Isaiah 10. Verse 8, for he says, Are not my princes altogether kings? Even my lesser leaders are as great as the other kings of other nations. Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Syria like Damascus? He begins naming the various places that were conquered by the people. Now, historically, this wasn't just one Assyrian king who did all this. Calno and Arpad, both in northern Assyria, were taken in 738 B.C. Damascus, 732 B.C. Samaria, 722 B.C. Hamath, on Iranites, 720 B.C. and Carchemish, 717 B.C. This was done by a series of kings. This was a way of thinking. This is the way their heart was moving in those days. So they thought that they were just the pride of the nations. They were very prideful. They were very arrogant as a people. Verse 10. As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, whose carved images has excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria. So what is he saying here? He said, those other nations had their gods. And our god was better than their gods. And I as a king was better than all of them. And if I can take all these other kingdoms, I certainly could take Jerusalem and Samaria. Verse 11. As I have done to Samaria and her idols, so I also do to Jerusalem and her idols. So again, just a very vain and very pompous individual.

Therefore, verse 12, which shall come to pass when the Lord has performed all of His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, that He will say, I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the King of Assyria. Brethren, God always punishes the arrogant heart. You and I have to make sure that that's not talking about us. That we don't have an arrogant heart. You know, that sounds like something would never happen in God's church. But I've seen it too many times, and so have you, where people thought they knew better than others. You know, we've had any number of splits over the years. And why was that? Because somebody felt they knew better.

I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the King of Assyria, and the glory of His haughty looks. For He says, By the strength of my hand, Now, He's not even talking about His own false God here. Again, being very arrogant. By the strength of my hand, I have done it. And by my wisdom, I am prudent. Now, notice the word I here. How many times it's used. Also, I have removed the boundaries of the people, have robbed their treasury. So I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man. My hand has found like a nest the richest of the people. And as one gathers eggs that are left, I have gathered all the earth. And there is no one who moved his wing, nor opened his mouth, even a peep.

So again, Aryan pride, arrogance, and a total disrespect for God.

Verse 15. Notice God now joins in the discussion. God says, Shall the ax, the Assyrians, boast itself against him who chops with it? Shall the saw exult itself against him who saws with it? As if a rod could wield itself against those who lift it up? Or as a shaft should lift up as it were not of wood? Shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will send leanness among His fat ones? And under His glory, He will kindle a burning fire like a burning of a fire? And so God here is joining the conversation and saying that there's coming a time, Assyria, where with all your haughtiness, all your disrespect for me, you're going to learn a very powerful lesson. And once again, brethren, I've got to ask myself, you've got to ask yourself about where is our heart? This is something we do all the time, not just at Passover time, maybe not just at the feast time, where we think about our spiritual lives. We've got a Sabbath every seven days. And one of the things we could do on a Sabbath, and we probably all do, is we ask ourselves, where am I in my walk with God? Where am I? Where is my heart? Is God helping me see my secret faults? Am I working on those secret faults? Once God shows them to me. Verse 17, So the light of Israel be for a fire, and his holy one for a flame. It will burn and devour his thorns and his briars in one day, and it will consume a glorious forest in his fruitful field, both soul and body. And they will be as when a sick man wastes away, and the rest of the trees of his forest will be so few in number that even a child will write them. No, that's an allusion to the armies of the Assyrians. They're going to be cut down by the great God. Now, you know that in 701 B.C., 185,000 Assyrian soldiers surrounding Jerusalem were killed. 185,000.

Just like chopping down all those trees or setting a flame to all those trees. Then, around... there's some variances that are to date here, 612 or 609 B.C., the Assyrian Empire fell. The Assyrian Empire fell. And we're going to take a look at where they went.

And what does that mean for us today? We'll do that in just a moment. Verse 24, Isaiah 10, verse 24.

So starting in verse 24, basically going through the rest of the chapter, God is saying to Israel, just as God intervened in fighting the Amidianites with Gideon and so forth, He was going to be a part of the world. And so, he was going to be a part of the world. And so, he was going to be a part of the world. And so, he was going to be a part of the world. And so, he was going to be a part of the world. And so, when he was talking about the Amidianites with Gideon and so forth, just as God intervened in Egypt to bring Israel out of Egypt, there's coming a time where the yoke of the Assyrians will be broken. Now, of course, it's rather late for the Israelites, but we're also talking duality here in terms of prophecy, which we're going to get to in just a little bit down the road in the sermon. One long prophecy that talks about, in many cases, in those chapters, talks about the return of Jesus Christ and things that are going to be happening in the return of Jesus Christ. We understand that this nation is going to go through some very difficult times during the Great Tribulation. The modern Assyrians – and again, who are they? We're going to take a look at that in just a moment. Take a look, because chapter 10 here flows into chapter 11. Let's take a look at Isaiah 11, verse 11. Isaiah 11, verse 11. It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again a second time to recover the remnant of his people who are left, from Assyria and Egypt, from Parthos, Kush, from Elam and Shinar, from Hamath and the islands of the sea. So just as there was a first recovery, there's going to be a second recovery of God's people. And again, we see the duality of this throughout the Scriptures. So now let's take a look, and I'm going to be reading a little bit here from our United Church of God Bible commentary. Who then are the Assyrians today? And I quote, The ancient Israelites who were taken into Assyria eventually migrated into northwestern Europe. We understand that. That's nothing new to us. Likewise, the Assyrians, after their empire fell in 612 B.C., migrated into Europe behind them. The Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder located the Assyrians north of the Black Sea in his day in the first century. This is from the Natural History Book 4 of Section 12. Another quotation here, this is from the Nicaean and post-Nicaean fathers, Letter 123, Section 16. And I quote, A few hundred years later, Drom, one of the post-Nicaean Catholic fathers, applied Psalm 83, excuse me, yeah, 83, verse 8, through the Germanic tribes invading western Europe along the Rhine. And I quote again, For Asher, the Assyrian, also is joined with them.

So here we're seeing where historians of long ago have noted the move of the Assyrian peoples north of the Caspian and then further to the east into the middle of Europe. Another quote here, And the Germanic peoples, Smith's classic dictionary states, there can be no doubt that they migrated into Europe from the Caucasus and the countries around the Black and Caspian Seas. Indeed, a significant portion of the Germanic people of Central Europe today appeared to be the descendants of the Assyrians of old.

The descendants of the Assyrians of old. To bring divine punishment on the Israelites from a foreign power in Isaiah's day, Assyria was the logical choice. Ancient Assyria, as we've seen, was the preeminent empire of the day. It was also one of the most warlike and imperialistic nations in history. From an article entitled, Assyria, the Oxford Companion to the Bible States, and I quote, Its imperialistic ethic was embodied in a Middle Assyrian coronation ritual in which the officiating priests silently charged the king, Expand your land. This is what the Assyrian kings were told, Expand your land.

And unless we think such national motivation is just ancient history, we should remember Adolf Hitler's more recent cries for living space.

Of course, many nations have engaged in imperialism and territorial expansion in modern times. Nevertheless, it is significant that this threat is still found in the modern history of the Assyrian people along with other Europeans. In fact, in the years ahead, a resurgence of imperialism is prophesied the grip of the European continent. These are things, brethren, we need to be paying attention to and looking at. Various biblical prophecies show that a European-centered revival of the Holy Roman Empire called the Beast and Babylon will be the dominant power in the world just prior to the return of Jesus Christ. In your notes, you can write down Daniel chapter 2, Daniel chapter 7, Daniel chapter 11, and Revelation chapter 13 and chapter 17 and 18.

So what is a takeaway that you and I have from today's looking at the book of Isaiah?

Well, we talked about how God judges the heart. We read Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 5 about, we should love the Lord God with all of our heart, all of our soul, and all of our strength. In other words, to love God as totally as He loves us. We read Deuteronomy chapter 5 and verse 29 where it talks about how God wished we had a heart that would be obedient at all times. That's certainly something that we could be praying about on a regular daily basis in our relationship with God.

King David knew that God surges every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. So a spiritual lesson to learn or a spiritual takeaway as we look at the fact that God judges the heart. Two points, two very simple points today. Number one, understand our deep need for God's grace regarding our heart. Understand our deep need for God's grace regarding our heart. Let's look at an old scripture here that you know by heart. These old scriptures we know by heart, we don't want to just say, well, I know that, and walk our merry way. Let's take and think about this deeply. Jeremiah 17, verse 9. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

Who can know it? Brethren, just because you and I are converted people doesn't mean our heart can't go astray. Doesn't mean we can't wander from the truth or drift. The apostle Paul, we believe it was the apostle Paul who wrote to the Hebrews, warned them about spiritual drift. And these are people who grew up in the church. From the time they were children, they knew about the laws of God, and they were keeping the laws of God.

Then Christ came and they accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, but then time moved along and they began to drift. We can begin to drift, and we don't want to be doing that. We don't want to be doing that. We've got to remember that we are kind of a heart we have. And we want to be sure that with God's grace, we're working on the situation on a regular basis. Our natural inclination is to please ourselves. I mean, if I were to ask for a showing of hands, how many of us have totally eradicated human nature? I don't think I'd get much of a showing, right? If I did get any kind of a showing, I would say, let's talk after services.

So our heart is unclean. Let's go to Psalm 51. David has something to say about this. Psalm 51. Psalm 51 and verse 10. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Create in me a clean heart. David was a man after God's own heart, but David drifted. You know, we know this story, what he had done with Uriah and with Bathsheba and other things in his life. He certainly, you know, he wanted to build a temple for God, and God said, no, you're not going to do it.

Your hands are bloody. So, you know, he had various issues in his life. He realized his heart still needed work, and he asked God, create in me a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Steadfast. Father, don't let me drift. Don't let me wander. Keep my eyes on the goal. So we need God's help. We need His grace so we can see ourselves. Let's go back to Psalm 26. Psalm 26, verse 2. Psalm 26, verse 2. Examine me, O Lord, and prove me.

Try my mind and my heart. Notice how the heart keeps on being discussed here. Examine me. Of course, we talk about this every year at Passover time, but it shouldn't be just a Passover exercise. This is something that you and I as Christians, as New Covenant Christians, we should be thinking about this every day. How can we amend our lives to be more like God, to be more like our elder brother, Jesus Christ?

How can we amend our lives to be more in sync with what God's word says? To not be in sync with the world, but to be in sync with what God says in His word.

He says, examine. Try my mind and my heart. Am I self-deceived? Am I deluded? Do I have good intentions that really aren't based on the Word of God? Or as David did with the Ark of the Covenant. Good intentions? Let's bring it to Jerusalem. David had good intentions. The populace had good intentions. Uzzah had good intentions. Somebody died. If good intentions are backed by what the Word of God says, and we saw that last time I was here, there was a certain way that Ark was to be transported, not on a cart. There were certain people who were to transport that Ark, not the ones who were doing it. We saw that Uzzah, the Ark had been in his home for years and years and years, maybe decades. He was very familiar with the Ark. He should have known better. Oh, it started to jostle. It might have fallen off. Well, do you not have faith in God? Can God not tear? See, the Israelites, as again we rehearsed last time, they began to look at the Ark as a superstitious box that had God. And they took it into battle against the Philistines, and because they thought that God was in the box, that they'd be victorious. But God gave them a crushing defeat. Because in their mind, they were limiting God to being in a box. We don't want to limit God to being in a box. He can't be kept in a box along those lines. So again, we have to have God try our hearts and see what's there. And how do we do that? Well, we do that through praying to God, asking God to do just what David says here, but then we have to follow that up by studying the Word of God. How is what I'm studying in the Word of God, how does that respond to the way I'm living my life today? Are my words and actions in accordance with the Word of God? Or do they sound like good philosophy in the world, but they're not really good in terms of what God says? So point number one on our action list of developing a clean heart is understand our deep need for God's grace regarding our hearts. Point two, and the last point, we need a personal commitment and abhorrence of all thoughts and activities that make for heart trouble. And abhorrence of all things and activities that make for heart trouble. You know, I've talked to a number of you in this room, those of us at the zippered chests, you know, every day that I'm shaving, I look at the section of my chest from about here to here, there's a nice white line there where my chest was open, where they did my quadruple bypass. Some of you also had bypass surgery. And I'll never forget wheeling into that room. On my back, they were about to open my chest and stop my heart and all those things. At that point, I was saying, you know what? All those people I used to make fun of, I would eat in Big Mac after Big Mac, they had the last laugh. Too many cheeseburgers in old Delisandro's life. The cheeseburgers were winning out. So people who've gone through that develop an abhorrence for things that are going to hurt the heart. Now, we need to think about that spiritually. Let's go back to Psalms, in this case Psalm 119.

Psalm 119 verse 10.

Psalm 119 verse 10, With my whole heart I have sought you. O, let me not wander from your commandments.

Are you wandering? Am I? Are you drifting? Am I? Are we being wholehearted? You and I. Or do we take so many things for granted? Coming to services, going to holy days, all those things. We're half step by half step, we're walking away. God's not moving. Are we? Are we moving away?

Questions we need to ask ourselves. Jeremiah, again, what helps us to have a heart that is focused?

Let's look at Jeremiah chapter 31.

Jeremiah chapter 31.

Notice the words here. Surely, this is verse 19, Jeremiah 31 verse 19.

Surely, after my turning, I repented. After I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh. I was ashamed, even humiliated because I bore the reproach of my youth.

So one of the things that helps us in the proper way is we look back with deep sorrow on mistakes and sins we've made. Now, we don't want to be shackled to those.

It talks about in the book of Hebrews chapter 9 how our conscience is cleared so we can move forward doing the work of God. Part of that work of God is our lives and our hearts. We don't want to be shackled by past misdeeds and sins, but we need to remember how painful those things were and the bad consequences that came of those.

As we've said in the past, you make one bad decision, and it seems that other bad decisions creep along behind that, and you've got this downward spiral.

And so it's good from time to time to remember. Don't touch the unclean. Don't do. Don't allow your mind to begin going down a certain avenue.

Because there only can be negative consequences from doing some of those things. We do want to remember, though, the pains we've gone through.

Pain can be a horrible thing, but it's a necessary thing.

I think I may have told you in the past, I remember one of the congregations that I pastored years ago, I forget what the situation was with this one member, but they had a need to get a muscle relaxant shot.

And so they got a multi-dose muscle relaxant shot from their doctor.

Shot in the hip was a lady, and as soon as she took that shot in the hip, she fell down.

She was paralyzed from the waist down.

She remained paralyzed for a period of time. Eventually, she was able to start walking again. But for a number of years, and I don't know how long because I left the area, but for a number of years, that woman had no feeling at all from the waist down.

She didn't know if she had to use the restroom, so every so often she had to go into the restroom. She didn't know if she had to go or not, but she had to go there and just to see.

She couldn't feel anything. She could literally have walked on several spikes, gone through her feet, and not have felt a single one.

So many times we think that pain is awful, and it certainly is awful. You've experienced pain, and I've experienced some of you experience a lot of pain.

But it's also awful not to have pain in some cases.

So in her case, she very much wanted to be able to experience that because it was a safety feature for her, for all of us.

And just as our pain, if we properly utilize the pain we've gone through life, and not waste our pain.

Too many of us have wasted our pain.

You know, you go through some trial, you have, I have, I'm sure, where we've been through some painful experiences, but sometimes we don't learn our lesson.

And then we've got to go through that same painful experience, maybe some other type of thing, but basically the same idea.

You know, we didn't learn, and so God says, well, I'm going to try another angle to get you to understand, with their view, and another painful experience.

Let's not waste our pain.

Last scripture for today, we'll be finishing early today, 2 Corinthians chapter 10.

2 Corinthians chapter 10.

How do we watch our heart, you know, looking back? Deep sorrow for what we've done wrong.

We're not going to be shackled by that, but we want to remember the positive aspects and how we need to stay close to God.

2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 3.

Moving forward.

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God.

Mighty in God.

For pulling down strongholds.

God has not left us defenseless.

God has given us His Spirit of power, His Spirit of love, not a Spirit of fear.

We can move forward properly, making sure our heart is where it should be.

Verse 5.

Casting down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

And that is such a key scripture.

Bringing every thought into the captivity to the obedience of Christ.

Where does our sin start? In the battle of our minds and hearts. And where do we lose that battle? Where we don't chop it down at the get-go?

Where we allow things to boil and fester and ruminate and expand into our hearts and then action ensues.

But at the very beginning, if we bring every thought into captivity, then our hearts will not drift.

And that's something that we need to be aware of.

So today, brethren, we've taken a look at Isaiah 10.

We've seen where God has judged the Israelites because of their heart.

We saw where God judged the Assyrians because of their heart.

But make no mistake, God is also looking at us to judge us for our hearts.

God is no respecter of persons.

So you and I must ask ourselves, where are our hearts today?