Isaiah Chapter 10

God deeply loves mankind. There is no way we can express how deep that love goes. He greatly desires to share his life, his level of existence with each and every human being. In expressing that love, God has created a master plan through the holy days that we celebrate in their seasons every year. God is extending to every human being who has ever lived the opportunity for eternal life as a spirit being. Truly, that is a deep love. Part of that master plan deals with mankind building holy, righteous character. That is done in a combination of God's grace to us and our diligent efforts. Spiritually, one of the things that God looks to is our heart. How is our heart? I'm not talking physically. I'm talking spiritually here. It's a tremendous focus with our Creator because God created man in his own image. God the Father, Jesus Christ, or elder brother, both desire that you and I have a heart like they do. A heart full of love. Now, with that in mind, let's turn to Genesis 6.

Genesis 6. We see something about what happened to God's heart as he saw what mankind was doing on the earth. Genesis 6. Verses 5 and 6. 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. And the Lord was sorry he had made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. So mankind's heart, every intent of the thought of his heart, was evil continually. And that grieved God, and God's heart. So we're seeing something here very powerful about the heart. Now, let's turn over to Deuteronomy 6 for a moment. I'm going to go through a few scriptures to talk about how God wants our heart to be. Not like it was in the days of Noah, but how God would like for your heart and my heart to be. Deuteronomy 6.

And verse 5. Deuteronomy 6. And verse 5. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Now, remember, God wants us to have a heart like he does. And God loves us with all his heart. And since he loves us with all of his heart, he wants us to love him with all of our heart. Okay? Total love, just as God loves. Chapter 5 of Deuteronomy.

More about the heart. God expressing his feelings about the heart. Deuteronomy 5 and verse 29. So once again, God says, I wish they had the right kind of heart. A heart that loves God, a heart that loves man, just as I love my creation, mankind. Leviticus 19. I'm going to be going someplace with those in just a moment, but we're using these scriptures to kind of set the stage. Leviticus 19.

And verse 17. Leviticus 19.17. Now, the new international, Leviticus 19.17, says, do not hate your brother in your heart. Do not hate your brother in your heart. That is one of the great themes throughout all of scripture. Loving God, loving our family, loving our family, loving our family, loving our family, loving our family, loving our family. That is one of the great themes throughout all of scripture.

Loving God, loving our fellow man, from the heart. I'm not going to turn to this next one. I'll just summarize it for you. 1 Chronicles 28, verse 9. 1 Chronicles 28, verse 9 in the new international version. And many times we talk about the new international not being a very good translation for the New Testament, which is the case. But it is an excellent translation for Old Testament. 1 Chronicles 28, verse 9, where it says that God searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. God searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts.

So today we want to talk about the heart. And to do that, we're going to go back to our study of Isaiah. We're going to take a look and you can turn over now to Isaiah chapter 10. Isaiah chapter 10. Let me do that as well. And you can put a marker there. We'll be going to some other locations.

But we're going to start here in Isaiah chapter 10. Isaiah chapter 10, to give you a bit of a brief summary of the chapter, here we see God punishing Israel because of their heart, a sinful heart. Much like God had to punish all of mankind who was living at the time of Noah because of the intents of their heart. So here in chapter 10 of Isaiah, God is judging the heart of Israel.

Their heart is found wanting. God assigns the nation of Assyria, the perimeter power of that time and that region, to be a rod of correction in God's hands that chastises the nation of Israel. Once that's done, God judges Assyria's heart and finds that Assyria's heart is not right with God. Then God does something with Assyria. He punishes Assyria. So it's an interesting chapter in terms of the way God looks at the heart.

After we're done with the chapter, we're going to go through some Christian living material about the heart. Because it's very important. If you and I want to be in God's kingdom, we need to make sure our heart is the way God intends it to be. And that's a lifelong struggle. So let's now start with Isaiah 10. We'll start here in verse 1. So here in these first two verses of Isaiah, we see corruption. We see how the nation, especially the leaders of the nation, don't have a proper heart before God. Of course, this is true to the rank and file as well.

Israel's heart was full of wickedness. The leadership was issuing unjust and oppressive law. 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. Now, you might also interject there Leviticus 19-18, 17-18, which we just read a moment ago, about loving your neighbor as yourself.

They weren't doing that. They weren't following one of the great commandments, one of the great principles of Scripture. Now, I said we were going to turn to some other Scriptures. Let's take a look at Deuteronomy 24, in relation to what we just read here in Isaiah 10. Deuteronomy 24, verses 17-18. Deuteronomy 24, verse 17. You shall not pervert justice. That's exactly what we just read in Isaiah. You shall not pervert justice.

Do the stranger or the fatherless, nor take a widow's garment as a pledge. You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeem you from there. Therefore, I command you to do this thing. So, in your notes, you might want to jot down the idea of the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have them do to you. They weren't doing that. Israel was not doing that. They were oppressing the stranger. They were oppressing the fatherless. They were oppressing the people who couldn't fend for themselves, the people who were vulnerable. Let's go back now to Isaiah, but this time, Isaiah 1.

Throughout the course of the book of Isaiah, now we've already gone through Isaiah 1, but just to reiterate here, throughout the course of the writings of Isaiah, God is imploring the nation of Israel to repent. And here we see it, Isaiah 1, verse 16. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice.

Again, we just read in chapter 10 of Isaiah where they weren't seeking justice. They weren't doing good. They were doing evil. Rebuke the oppressor. Defend the fatherless. Again, we saw in chapter 10 where that was not being done. Plead for the widow. Again, a common, the fatherless, the widow were types of people who were vulnerable. And the people with power were preying upon the vulnerable. Verse 18, Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as wool. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.

But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord is spoken. So God says, there is something you can do about all this. You can repent. You can change. We don't have to go down the road where I've got to pull out the rod and chastise you.

God is always wanting people to repent. Always wanting people to repent. Now, let's go back over to chapter 10 again. Isaiah 10, verses 3 and 4. Confronting the leaders head on. Isaiah challenges them to ponder three different questions in verse 3 and 4. Verse 3, What will you do in a 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. They shall fall among the slain. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. So three things God is saying to the leadership. What are you going to do when I really got to come down and do some punishing here because of your heart, the condition of your heart? What are you going to do? Brethren, in your notes, you might want to jot down 1 Peter 4 and verse 17.

Where it talks about how judgment is now with the house of God, the church of God. Our hearts right now are being judged. What are we going to do when this nation is severely punished? What are we going to do when you and I are coming to the end of our days? Maybe we won't live to the time when Christ returns, but we're still being judged right now. Our hearts, each and every one of our hearts, are being judged right now. Isaiah asks a second question. Who are you going to go to for help?

Who are you going to go to for help if you've been oppressing all these people? And in verse 3, it's at the very end of verse 3, it says, And where will you leave your glory? Now, glory, the word glory there, can also be translated wealth.

You've been oppressing people, you've been gathering wealth for yourself, but in a day of hardship, when you're being judged, or when you're coming to the end of your days, what good is that wealth going to do you? What good is that wealth going to do you?

In your notes, you might want to jot down Ezekiel 7, verse 19. Ezekiel 17, chapter 7, verse 19, where the people in Ezekiel's day took their silver, they threw it into the streets, their gold became like refuse to them, they couldn't buy their way into the good graces of the great God. They couldn't buy their way out of their trials, they couldn't buy their way and be delivered in the day of difficulties.

So, the first four verses kind of set the tone. Israel was a sinning nation from the leadership, from the head to the foot. And God was looking at their heart, He had been looking at their heart for some period of time, generation after generation, for years and years and years and decades and so forth, and has found them wanting.

Now, therefore, we turn to verse 5 and 6. Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger. Now, the Assyrians were the preeminent power in that region of that day. And God says, they are going to be the rod of my anger, and the staff in whose hand is my indignation. So, God is going to use this nation as a tool, the Assyrians as a tool. I will send them up against an ungodly nation, referring to Israel, and against the people of my wrath. God is angry with Israel.

I will give Him charge to seize the spoil, to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. You know, it's interesting. In verse 6 here, it says, I will give Him charge. Talking about Assyria, I'll give Assyria charge to seize the spoil, to take the prey. Now, I don't know if that reminds anybody of what we studied back in Isaiah 8. In Isaiah 8, as you remember, Isaiah had two sons. One of his sons had a name, Mahar Shalal Hashbaaz, the longest name in the Bible.

What did that name mean? That name meant, quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil. What do we see in verse 6? I will give Him charge to seize the spoil, to take the prey.

So God was using Isaiah's son as a personal example by His name of what was going to take place because of their hard heart. What was going to take place because of their hard heart? God here is severely displeased with His people, Israel, calling them an ungodly nation, the people of my wrath. But let's notice something else in verse 5. Notice the first three words in verse 5. Woe to Assyria! So yes, God is going to use that nation as a rod in His hand to punish Israel. But when that's done, God is going to punish Assyria. Now, let me just break into an idea here. I don't know how many times in your life you have suffered at the hands of somebody who is less than godly.

And you're thinking, why is this happening? Why is God allowing this person to treat me this way?

Happen to Israel? God doesn't have to use some clean instrument to punish us, to chastise us, to get our attention. God simply wants to chastise us and get our attention. If the person or people doing it may not be the best people, well, maybe God will use those people.

Remember this story, and I forget the guy's name, but he was a relative, I think, of Saul. And he was following David, he was throwing dirt in the air and cursing David. And one of David's mighty men said, Let me go and take that man's head off his shoulders. Let's just kill this guy. What was David's response? David's response was, Leave him alone, maybe God has sent him to curse me. So, if you're being hurt or put upon by some awful person, awful source, and I think all of us have been there in our lives, we shouldn't be saying, why is God using that person?

What we should be saying is, what does God, like David, what does God want me to learn? I think if we take that approach, then the correction, if that's what God is intending, then that gives us something to think about. Now, the Assyrians, as we talked about in the past, by looking at various historical records, by looking at various writings, a form, and so forth, they were the Nazis of their day. They were extremely brutal people. When they conquered a nation, they found every leader they could find, every person in office, every teacher, every religious leader, and they would put them to death.

Then they would take whole groups of people, large groups of people, and take them out of the land, so that the nation would be destroyed from what it once was, and then they would bring in other populations to take in that land. Populations they already controlled. Now, a little bit later in this sermon, we're going to take a look at where those Assyrians are today, because history is mapped out where they went.

And this has something to do with what's going to happen to this nation in the future. And think about what I just said. Every leader you knew, every teacher you had, anybody who had any kind of power, if they found you, you were dead. And then they took people and dispersed whole populations. Who are the modern Assyrians? What does that mean for our day to day? I think we should be thinking about that.

And, you know, these prophecies in the book of Isaiah are very much dual. And we need to be understanding that. Okay, chapter 10 here of Isaiah, verse 7. Now here we see, we now turn to Assyria's heart. And we're going to see where Assyria's heart is evil as well. God is no respecter of persons. He's going to punish anybody with an evil heart. Verse 7 through 11 here, talking about the prideful Assyrians and their disrespect for the great God.

Verse 7. Yet he does not mean so, nor does his heart think so, but it is in his heart to destroy. And it cut off not a few nations. So it's the Assyrians in their heart to destroy. That's where they're coming from. Where did they learn this? Let's take a look at John, chapter 10. Very well-known scripture. I quote this all the time. John, chapter 10, verse 10. John 10, 10.

A red letter in my Bible says, The thief does not come except to steal, to kill, and to destroy. The thief there is Satan. Satan has come to steal, to kill, and to destroy. That's exactly what the Assyrians were going to do. Where did the Assyrians learn their tricks of the trade? They learned it spiritually from Satan the Devil. Okay? Going back to Isaiah. But it's in his heart, verse 7, to destroy. And it cut off not a few nations. So in other words, they're hungry for land. They're hungry for living space. And we're going to see how this enters into the coronation of the kings of Assyria, even down to our time today.

Verse 8, for he says, Are not my princes altogether kings? You know? You know, people that may have been kings of the land. Well, my princes do those things. Again, arrogance. Is not Calno like Carchemish, Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?

As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, whose carved images excel those of Jerusalem and Samaria? As I have done to Samaria and her idols, shall I not also do to Jerusalem and her idols? So basically, what this Assyrian king is saying is, he's gone from country to country, from kingdom to kingdom, all of whom have false gods, but his god is better than them all.

And Israel's god and Judah's god is no better than the other nations. So he's putting God down here. He's putting down the God of Israel. He's disrespecting the God of Israel. It's in his heart to destroy. Now, these cities that are mentioned in verse 9, these were cities that were overcome by a series of Assyrian monarchs, not just one guy. A series of monarchs.

For example, Calno and Arpad, both in northern Assyria, were taken in 738 BC. 738. Damascus, 732 BC. Samaria, 722 BC. Hamith on the Arantes in 720 BC. The ancient Hittite city of Karkamish on the upper Ephrades, 717 BC.

If you didn't get all that, you'll just have to listen to the sermon again online. I'll give it to you again. Here it is. Calno and Arpad, northern Assyria, were taken in 738 BC. Damascus in 732 BC. Samaria in 722 BC. Hamith in 720 BC. Karkamish in 717 BC. After taking all these various cities, the Assyrians think, who are these people of Israel? Who are these people of Judah? We'll just simply devour them. Their heart is full of pride. Their heart is full of arrogance. Their heart does not respect the God of Israel. Okay? Verses 12 through 14, we see more of the same. As we're looking through verses 12 through 14, you will see the word, as this king is speaking, the word, I, six times, and the word, my, three times. So nine times in these three verses, he uses the word either I or my. Let's go through it. Verse 12. Therefore it 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 errant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of His heart He looks. For He says, verse 13, By the strength of my hand I have done it. By my wisdom I am prudent. I have removed the boundaries of the people, and have robbed their treasuries. I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man. My hand is found like the riches 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 with a peep. Not the best heart. A heart full of arrogance. A heart full of pride. A heart that did not respect the great God of Israel. So what is God going to do about this? Chapter 10 here, starting here in verse 15. Notice what God says to Assyria. Shall the axe boast itself against him who chops with it? The chopper is God. The axe is Assyria. And you hear God saying, Why is thy axe boasting like as though it's doing this on its own? Or shall the saw exalt itself against him who saws with it? Assyria was the saw. But God wielded the saw. As if a rod could wield itself against those who lifted up. Or as if a shaft could lift up as if it were not wood. Therefore, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will send leanness among his fat ones. And under his glory he will kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. So the light of Israel will be for our fire, and his holy one for a flame. It will burn and devour his thorns and his spires in one day. And it will be consumed the glory of his forest, of his fruitful field, both soul and body. And they will be as when a sick man wastes away. Then the rest of the trees of his forest will be so few in number that a child may write them. So God is saying there toward the end that he's going to bring calamity upon the Assyrians. His armies are going to be decimated, and so few in number that a little child who hardly knows how to count can still count what's left. God is going to act. History tells us about some of this. In 701 BC, 185,000 Assyrian soldiers surrounding Jerusalem were killed. 185,000 Assyrian soldiers surrounding Jerusalem were killed. In 612 BC, the Assyrian Empire fell to Babylon.

Where did they go? You know where they went? They went right where Israel went. Same area of the world. Then they moved from there into Europe. We're going to read about that in a moment. Let's finish up this chapter of 10 before we get to that. Verse 24, God starts to talk about lifting the burden of Assyria from his people. Verse 24, Thus is the Lord God of hosts, O my people who dwell in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians.

He shall smite you with a rod, and lift up his staff against you in the manner of Egypt. Just like Egypt was a great burden upon the people of God, so will Assyria be. For yet in a very little while an indignation will cease, as will my anger in their destruction.

So God's saying, you know, you're going to be hurt. You're going to be powerfully hurt by what's coming. But that hurt is eventually going to cease. Verse 26, The Lord of hosts will stir up a scourge for him, like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Orib, as his rod was on the sea. So he will lift it up in the manner of Egypt.

So God is basically saying to his people, just as we, you know, under Gideon took care of the Midianites, these people are going to be taken care of. Just like we took care of the Egyptians when you were back in Egypt, God's going to take care of these people. God's going to punish them as well. Verse 27, He shall come to pass in that day, that his burden will be taken away from your shoulder, his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing.

So basically God is saying, there's coming a point where all of this is going to end. All of this is going to end. Now, this chapter is a part of chapters 7 through 12, are all a discussion about the return of Jesus Christ and prophecies dealing with the return of Jesus Christ. If you take a look at chapter 11 for a moment, verse 11, He shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand the second time to recover the remnant of his people who are left, from Assyria and Egypt, from Pathros and Kush, from Elam and Shinar, from Hamath and the islands of the sea. So there's going to be a second Exodus of God's people at the return of Jesus Christ.

There was the first Exodus when God took his people out of Egypt. But as we're about to see, looking into not only history but prophecy of the future, the Assyrians will take our people into captivity. They'll be taken all around the world. But then there's going to be another Exodus from around the world back to the Holy Land.

Back to the Holy Land. Which then leads us to the question, who are the Assyrians today? We're talking about God judging Israel's heart, God judging the Assyrians' heart. I want to read to you, and this will take me a little bit, from our United Church of God Bible commentary. You can find this online under Isaiah 10. So if you don't get all the notes here, you can go there and get what you need.

And I quote, The ancient Israelites who were taken into Assyrian captivity eventually migrated into northwest Europe. Likewise, the Assyrians, after their empire fell in 612 BC, migrated into Europe behind them. Now notice the world historians and what they've got to say about this migration of the Assyrians. The Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder of the Assyrians north of the Black Sea in his day in the first century AD.

This is from the Natural History Book for section 12. A few hundred years later, Jerome, one of the post-Nicene Catholic Fathers, he's writing here in the post-Nicene Fathers, letter 123, section 16. Here's another historian, another individual, of note, a hundred years later, saying that in applying Psalm 83, verse 8, to the Germanic tribes invading western Europe along the Rhine, and the quote from Jerome, for Asher, the Assyrian, also was joined with them.

So here we have somebody, a well-known historian, saying that Germanic tribes were the Assyrians of old. This is from a Smith's classical dictionary. Quote, 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 appear to be descendant from the Assyrians of old.

So we're seeing how the peoples of God were taken into captivity. They eventually found themselves in northwest Europe. But then so did the Assyrians, after they were captured by the Babylonians. They eventually themselves wandered into Central Europe through various migrations, through a course of time. And I'm quoting now again from the commentary. To bring divine punishment on the Israelites from a foreign power in Isaiah's day, Assyria was a logical choice.

Ancient Assyria, as we've seen, was a preeminent empire of the day. It was also one of the most warlike, imperialistic nations in history.

Quoting here now the article of Assyria from the Oxford Companion to the Bible, page 63, it says, and I quote, talking about the Assyrians. Its imperialistic ethnic was embodied in the Middle Assyrian coronation ritual in which the officiating priests solemnly charged the king, expand your land. So kings of Assyria were told to expand their land.

Wasn't there somebody in relatively modern history who wanted Levenstrom? Wasn't there somebody in modern history in Europe who said, we need places to live, we need to expand, we're a great people? The Assyrians were known as being brutal. People have said they were the Nazis of the day. Well, they're currently, they were the Nazis of our day, too. They were the Nazis of our day, too. And yet, brethren, that same group of people will be in a tremendous power block, a resurgence of the restoration of the Holy Roman Empire.

And they're going to come for us again. And not like World War I and World War II, where God intervened on our behalf.

World War III, God will intervene on their behalf, and we go down. And we go down because of our hearts. We go down because of us as our people. Our hearts are not right with God. So, what is our spiritual takeaway from Isaiah chapter 10? Our spiritual takeaway is that God judges the heart. And what we should be asking ourselves is, where is my heart? You know, each of us as individuals. How is my heart? Does my life and the way I live my life reflect the heart of God or another being's heart?

God is wanting to create us in His image. Does our heart show that? You know, we talked about the Scriptures, how God is concerned about our heart. How we should love the Lord or God with all our heart. As He loves us, we should love Him with all our heart, nothing with being withheld. God said, although they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me. Do we have that heart? That we fear God?

Leviticus 19, verses 17 and 18, about loving our neighbor as ourself, having that kind of heart.

So, I've got two very simple points here regarding our heart. Spiritual action list. Two points.

Number one.

Understand our deep need for God's grace regarding our heart.

Understand our deep need for God's grace regarding our heart.

Brethren, we're not the untouchables. Many of you are old enough to remember that TV series. Remember the untouchables? Elliot Ness, Robert Stack, all that sort of thing, going way back in the day?

I was only two or three.

Of course, if I had Pinocchio, the nose would be growing here. But, no, I wasn't two or three. You know, in our recent conferences, the one we had in Cincinnati, the one we had in Minnesota, we've had two in November. You know, Mrs. Rowan-Spee's and the Morrisons could verify that some of the things that we talked about are, some of our ministers recently, who have left. Relatively famous names over the last few months have left. People we kept a feast with a couple years ago in Wisconsin Dells have left.

They're still keeping the Sabbath and Holy Days, but they don't want to be a part of us. And in the case of four of these men, mostly men of well-known fellows, they believe that, you know, in various places in the Old Testament where we see where God is listed as the YHVH, and, you know, we say, well, that's Jesus Christ, the God of the Old Testament. They say, oh, no, it's not. That's God the Father. And so now they've taken, and there's all sorts of theological problems and issues with that, but they've left us.

People that probably you enjoy listening to, taking notes on. So don't think you or I or any of us are untouchable. Now, where that's going to lead them, I don't know.

But we have a deep need for God's grace. We can't be like the Laodiceans and say we're rich and increased and have need of nothing. Brethren, we always have need of checking out our heart.

Let's take a look at something that we should always keep in mind, and that's over here in Jeremiah.

Chapter 17.

Jeremiah chapter 17. Well-known Scripture. Let's not think we're untouchable when it comes to this Scripture. Jeremiah 17 and verse 9. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?

Who can know it? Now, if I were to ask for a showing of hands, how many here have totally conquered their human nature? How many have totally conquered? I don't think I'd get many takers. And whatever takers I would get, I'd say, well, let's see when I talk after services. We still have...we're trying to conquer our heart with God's grace in our diligent efforts. But we can't go to sleep. We can't just say, well, I'll...you know, like Scarlett O'Hara, I'll think about that tomorrow. We can't just say, I'll think about that tomorrow. We've got to be thinking about that today. Our heart is unclean. Our natural inclination is to please ourselves rather than to please God. We have to be asking God to cleanse us from within. And it takes our efforts, but He's got to help us. We can't do this by ourselves. It's a matter of grace and works. Not grace alone or works alone. You know, we've got to have God's help. God has got to help us to see things and give us the power and the strength and the foresight and so forth.

So we realize where we're at. Now, let's take a look at Psalm 51, David's Prayer of Repentance. Here's a guy who sinned big, but he repented big. He was a tremendous man of God, but his heart wasn't totally right.

Isaiah...or what am I doing here? I was going back to Isaiah. Let's go to Psalm 51.

Knowing that our heart is what it is, Psalm 51, verse 10. Psalm 51, verse 10. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. So we have to ask God to help us, to have him help us create a clean heart. Our hearts are desperately wicked, but God can help clean up the situation. We need his help. We can't do it on our own.

We need his help, his grace, to see who we are. Look at Psalm 26 for a moment.

Psalm 26.

In verse 2, Psalm 26, in verse 2. Examine me, O Lord, and prove me. Try my mind and my heart.

Examine me. Don't just examine me and leave it a secret. You know, reveal to me my secret sins, my secret faults. As you examine me, try my mind and my heart. Help me to see where I can be cleansed. Help me to work at that cleansing process. So point number one is understanding our deep need for God's grace regarding our heart. The second point is to have a deep commitment to a poor all sin that makes for a troubled heart. A personal commitment, a deep commitment to a poor all sin that troubles the heart.

Psalm 119. Psalm 119.

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

Now, with part of my heart, you know, Paul had to write to people of his day in the book of Hebrews. He warned them about drifting away. Brethren, we've got to be careful about spiritual drift. You know, at the feast this year in Hawaii, Mary got out there in the water, really enjoyed. The place where we had the feast, the Royal Lahaina Hotel, was right on the beach, and the beach was gorgeous. White sand, the water was clear as crystal, nice sandy bottom, couldn't ask for anything better. To give you an example, one day Mary and I were probably no more than five or six feet apart. We were just in the water, swimming, enjoying ourselves. Mary just happened to notice there were some people where we were staying up on about the 11th floor. We were on the 10th floor, and all of a sudden the one guy disappeared. Next thing we know, he's running to the beach near us. He had his goggles on. He jumps in. He swims over to us. He says, don't you realize what you guys just had experienced? We're thinking, well, we're enjoying the sun. We're enjoying the beach. What else? He said, you just had three sea turtles swim right through you. Two around you, one between you. Now Mary and I were oblivious to that. Because we were talking and enjoying one of those companies. Here, you pay good money to go on tours and go see those guys. We probably could have touched them with our hands or our feet. They're talking. We were observing.

We were seeking enjoyment, and it was fine. But we have to take a look at what we're doing. We have to have this commitment to be observant. What are we observing in our hearts and minds? What are we observing in our lives? He says here, with his whole heart, he sought God. We need to be seeking God with our whole heart as well, and not drift. Getting back to the story of Mary and I on the beach. It was so easy for us as we're enjoying the water and talking to one another. And we look up, and where we set our things on the beach, now we're 50 yards down shore. Why? Because we're drifting. We're enjoying ourselves. Life is good. But we've drifted. The currents have taken us down shore, down the beach. Life is just like that. We can be doing things, not necessarily wrong things, just kind of living life and enjoying the day, enjoying the moment. And we're drifting. We've got to have our minds on the goal. Mary and I wanted to stay near where our beach stuff was. We want to find ourselves a mile downstream there. So we can drift. Drifting can be very, very dangerous.

Jeremiah 31. What can help us from drifting? What can help us making sure that we follow God properly?

Jeremiah 31.

Jeremiah 31, verse 19. Jeremiah 31, verse 19.

Surely after my turning I repented, and after I was instructed I struck myself on the thigh. I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated because I bore the reproach of my youth. So here's a man who sees his sins.

He looked back with deep sorrow for missing the mark. And brethren, there is a place for that in our lives. Now, I'm not going to turn there, but in your notes, you might jot down Hebrews 9 and verse 14. Hebrews 9 and 14, we read that every year at Passover. Talks about how we are... well, let's just read it. Let's go to Hebrews 9. We've got the time.

Hebrews 9 and verse 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offer himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works? So there's a balance here. Isaiah was writing about slapping his thighs because he looked back on what he did. Now, there's value to that. There's value to remembering misdeeds in terms of, I don't want to do that again. But the balance here, as we see in Hebrews 9 and 14, that we want our conscience cleared. We don't want to just go through life guilty. We realize our Savior, our sins have been cleansed by his shed blood. So the balance is to remember... why is our conscience cleared here in verse 14? Isaiah 9 and 14. So we can serve the living God. Our consciences are cleared so we can serve the living God. Does that mean we should forget the lessons we've learned in the past? Of course not. Those lessons... you know, we don't want to... as I've said last week over in Chicago... we don't want to waste our pain. Too many times in life, we waste our pain. What do I mean by that? Well, how many times have you gone through something that's been a painful experience? Then later on in life, you seem to go through the same thing again. Another painful experience. What does that mean? Well, I wasted my pain back there because I didn't learn the lesson. God has had me go through his lesson again. And sometimes two or three or four times. We are wasting our pain. We don't want to waste our pain. Let's learn something and move on and leave that behind.

In the sense of not doing it again. So, one of the things that helps us to make sure we don't have a sick heart is we look back with deep sorrow, but also remembering that our sins have been covered by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Moving forward, we got 2 Corinthians chapter 10. Let's go there.

2 Corinthians chapter 10.

Verses 3 through 5. 2 Corinthians 10 through 3 through 5. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. This is good news. We have the power of God at our disposal. We are sons and daughters of God. God has given us a spirit of power.

A spirit of power, not of fear. A power of love. So, we've been given that power, God's Holy Spirit of power. Though we walk in the flesh, we're human beings, yet we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds. Whatever we face with God's help, with God's grace, with God's Holy Spirit, we can overcome. You know, Paul says here in the same bunch of Corinthians, God's not going to give us something we can't handle. People say, well, that's not true. I've been given things I can't handle. Well, the whole idea behind that point is we only handle those things with God's help and God's grace. Sometimes people buckle because they try to take it on their own shoulders. We can't take those things on our old shoulders. We have to make sure we rely upon God and His strength. When we do that, then it says here, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds. What strongholds do you have in your life right now? What strongholds do you have in your mind and your heart right now? If you and I aren't getting rid of those, why not? All of us have our issues. All of us have got these strongholds that Satan has set up camp in. And with each and every one, God gives us the power to overcome that. Sometimes it takes all of our life.

You know, maybe you've got an anger issue. You may have an anger issue to the day that they put you six feet under. But God wants to see, what are you doing with that? Are you working with that? If you've gotten to the place where you know you've got a horrible temper, but no one around you remembers the last time you used it, well, that's good. It shows that you put Jack back in a box. Now every once in a while, Jack wants to come out of that box. You know, he's a pretty ugly thing. But we've got the power of God to take care of that. Verse 5. Casting down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. And here is a key in my mind. Bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Bringing every thought. How many times have you and I, in our prayers to God, said, you know where I failed, Father, this last time? I allowed the thought to linger. I allowed my mind to kind of ruminate on that. I allowed my mind to think about that. And before you know it, I was doing that. I was having a bad attitude. I had, you know, I did some things I deeply regret. But if we cast, bring every thought into captivity, then we're on the road to success. And the only way we do that is through the grace of God, the power of God, and our diligent efforts using the grace and the Spirit of God.

So, brethren, today we've taken a look at Isaiah chapter 10. We see where God judged the heart of Israel. He judged the heart of Assyria. And he's judging our hearts. Now, since I took a little bit of a break from Isaiah, last time we were in Isaiah was three months ago. So I've fallen behind. So the next number of sermons, I think, will be in Isaiah. Next time we're together, we're going to look at Isaiah chapter 11 and 12. So you can look forward to that. Isaiah 11 and 12 are some of the great scriptures that are encouraging scriptures. The Lion and the Lamb scripture and all those wonderful scriptures showing that we, as the people of God, God is victorious. God's plan is victorious. God's people are victorious. And that's what we're going to be looking at the next time we get together.