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All right, so Isaiah chapter 17, this is a new a new segment Goes along with with many of the chapters recently we've been we've been going through and studying on Wednesday night This is the burden of Damascus. So we've already seen you know the burden of Babylon the burden of Moab now we're at the burden of Damascus and Damascus of course was the you know, basically the capital city the main the primary city of Syria and What if when we get into this you're gonna see more than just a burden of Damascus is is the way it starts But there's judgments being pronounced against more than just Syria So we see here It's not just Damascus because then you see the cities of a rower are forsaken Which this was in the northern kingdom of Israel as well as in verse number three it says the fortress also shall cease from Ephraim and the kingdom of Damascus and the remnant of Syria and So We see this judgment coming not just against Syria, but against you know, when the Bible refers to Ephraim also sometimes it's referring just to the tribe, but you remember that was a large tribe made a large portion of land and Sometimes God refers to Ephraim in reference to the whole northern kingdom of Israel right instead of instead of You know listing off all of the other tribes that make up that consists of northern tribe Ephraim is the biggest so that that often will just encompass all of it the same way that he talks about Judah Right, we talked about the nation of Judah Well, Judah was not just the tribe of Judah, right? There was a few tribes in that too So but that's just how it's commonly referenced and that's I don't think I brought that up in the past recently, but that's That's the way we understand that and very frequently. That's what the Bible is talking about. So we see these various Places Mentioned this is the burden of Damascus and if you remember this kind of makes sense too because earlier in the book of Isaiah we were reading about the Confederacy that Syria had remember with reason and Remaliah son with with Ephraim Syria and You know, they were they were conspiring together and plying together against the kingdom of Judah and it would make sense Even though this this is you know further along in the chronology It still makes sense that they're probably still having this Confederate the Confederacy and even if that is broken by this point because I'm not sure I'm not 100% exactly sure when this happens, but Even if it's not, you know, it's still This judgment is coming upon them Probably still stemming from that Confederacy and there and it's their own wickedness Anyways book of Isaiah 2 and when we notice this there's a lot of doom and gloom in at least the first half the first portion of Isaiah and You know, I'm glad I'm thankful that we do these Wednesday night Bible studies I wish more churches did go through scripture chapter of time to make sure that the whole Council of God is preached because You can't you know, if you just left it up to say your flesh of like well What do I want to preach on as a pastor, you know? Well, I preach on I just always want to be encouraging I just thought you know look that's great to be encouraging and you know, we ought to be edifying and and Exhorting and comforting people through the sermons or the preaching but that is not all the Bible is We need to go through all of it. We need to study all of it We need to learn from all the scripture and you know, unfortunately we need to hear This doom and gloom type of sermons and preaching and messages because as sinful human beings We really need to hear this So that we can make sure that we stay right with God if we're not right with God that we get right with God and what we see here over and over and over again is is a pattern of God preaching against nations against cities against whole groups of people for the wickedness And again as I mentioned over and over again now more than ever in the United States of America This is this is a type of preaching to be that America needs to hear This is what we we need to hear we need to understand that God is love. Yes, but God also the God of judgment in righteousness and holiness and God demands that of every every person under the Sun But especially so those that are going to claim the name of the Lord Right those that are claiming to be his people not everyone is claiming to be you know children of the Lord But you know what the God's rules apply to everybody every human being on earth Whether you believe in them or not whether you want to adhere to them or not whether you you know have any trust in it at all God is still the judge and the law is still in effect for everybody. I Mean if it didn't then then that would mean some people weren't sinners because they weren't transgressing God so no everybody Transgresses God's law regardless of their own belief in him the law still stands, you know, it's similar to that That's how it works in the country. We live in and in every country in the world. There's laws on the books it doesn't matter where you go and It's your responsibility to know what those laws say You can't use ignorance as an excuse if you break the law you say oh, well, I didn't know well They're gonna say you still broke the law and here's the punishment You can't go somewhere and say well, I wasn't brought born here. I wasn't raised here No one told me I didn't know you can't kill people here Well, it's against the law right obviously I'm using extreme example but it doesn't matter what that is you you have to it's on you to know what the laws are and God has given mankind His laws from the beginning Mankind is known and they've been given enough information ample opportunity to understand What God's laws are and he's given enough evidence He's given enough proofs. He's spoken enough through his people that that Everyone is without excuse But I don't want to get too far off on that Let's let's dig into the chapter tonight and start going through this this another message of judgment and this time It's focused primarily at Damascus But also at Israel look at verse number one the Bible says the burden of Damascus behold Damascus is taken away from being a city and it shall be a ruinous heap and I just want to you know pay attention here that ruinous heap being gathered together because later on we're gonna see a heap being mentioned and Just to understand that this is what it's talking about talking about ruinous heaps like a heap just being rubble a pile of trash You know, whatever and and we're also gonna see here in Damascus and this route its utter destruction Just like we saw Babylon and just like we saw at Moab when God gets angry and is gonna judge people He doesn't hold back. I mean he just goes forward and judges and woe unto the place that is not going to take heed to the warnings of God because these people are receiving warning through Isaiah the prophet and through other prophets Jeremiah the prophet through other prophets that are to come and that have been You can see in the book of Amos Amos preaches about these things You can read other places in Scripture where prophets are preaching and even prophets that are not found Unnecessarily literally in the Bible, but we're also preaching the word of the Lord will be preaching messages that people could could hear from and learn and and be warned from About about God's judgment because we've seen that again before like we saw last week or two weeks ago We're looking at Jeremiah and Isaiah. We're preaching essentially the same thing Even though they were preaching in different time periods, you know Jeremiah was a little bit later than Isaiah on what he was preaching But it's still still a word of God now Let's read this a little bit verse number two the Bible says the cities of Aurora are forsaken they shall be for flocks Which shall lie down and none shall make afraid now what this is what this is saying here You know when you read like oh they'll be for flocks and they'll be able to lie down and none's gonna make them afraid That sounds like a good thing. That sounds positive. Yes, it's positive for the flocks But the reason why he's saying hey This is gonna be positive for the flocks are gonna be because the whole place is gonna be forsaken There's gonna be nobody there The whole point of bringing up the flocks that sounds really nice and no one's gonna make them afraid They're gonna be at peace. It's because all the people are gonna leave it desolate Like there's gonna be empty So they're like, yeah flocks are gonna have plenty of space and plenty of room because the cities of Aurora Are gonna be wiped out and everyone's gonna be gone That's the point of just saying that hey This is all gonna be desolate verse number three says the fortress also shall cease from Ephraim and the kingdom from Damascus and the remnant of Syria they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel set the Lord of hosts and In that day it shall come to pass that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin and the fatness of His flesh shall wax lean so in verse three again You can look at this and say it's talking about Ephraim the kingdom of Damascus the remnant of Syria It says they shall be as the glory of the children. Well, that sounds like a good thing They're gonna be as the glory of the children of Israel, right? Well, then he says in the next verse what's gonna happen to the glory of the children of Israel? They're gonna be just like the children of Israel, which is also Jacob, right? Jacob's another name for Israel verse 4 says in that day It shall come to pass that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin and the fatness of the flesh shall wax lean So these are all places that were prospering Prior to the judgment of God they were doing well, they were living in fatness They had they had things and then God comes along and he's gonna wipe out their prosperity he's gonna wipe out people is gonna send famines and plagues and and All manner of destruction against these people When he brings his judgment and that their glory their greatness their their shining as a nation Wow, how prosperous are they how great are they is gonna be brought to nothing? Verse five and it shall be as When the harvestman gathers the corn and reap at the ears with his arm And it shall be as he that gathers ears in the valley of Rephaim now I'm sure there's more context to the valley of Rephaim and he that gathers ears. I don't know what that is, but Again, this is one of those areas where if you don't understand something Specifically the the the the reference about the valley of Rephaim And this has come up these things like this have come up multiple times If you come across some other person saying some weird thing, you know, obviously this is this is in Context with all of the judgments and plagues that are going to come along What I would think is that the valley of Rephaim probably wasn't a great place to Gather ears of corn for some reason because that's what he's saying It's gonna be like and they're being judged so they're not gonna have this plenty. They're not gonna have this bountiful harvest it's a reasonable conclusion to come to without having to Know every single last detail about the valley of Rephaim and I did a little bit of a search in Scripture to see Whereas Rephaim, you know mentioned and I couldn't see anything that would would would give me any extra insight on this but You know use Basic Understanding cognitive skills and see okay. Well, I could just see you know, maybe there was there's more to that But I'm sure there is more to this if I don't understand it. At least I just know that this is this is not a Good thing. It's not a positive thing. It's just further along the lines of God's judgment so verse number six the Bible says yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it as the shaking of an olive tree Two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough Four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof saith the Lord God of Israel so God's saying there's going to be some gleaning still left and obviously this is Symbolic of the judgment that's going to come Where yes, he's gonna make these places just vastly desolate and complete on empty But there's going to be just a little bit left Here and there and I want to cover this because I think this is still applicable This is the way that God is going to deal with them He's going to leave some gleaning grapes turn back keep your place here and turn back if you want to Deuteronomy chapter 24 Because I just want to review real quickly God's law. God she has a law on gleaning on When you when you harvest your fields that you are to leave Some A little bit behind you're not supposed to go back and just completely make your your crops your food your fruit Whatever it is that you're growing you're cultivating and not take 100% of what has been produced so, you know if I own an orchard If I own a garden whatever like like had these big fields and lots full of you know Orchards food, whatever. I'm growing I'm growing fruit. Let's say I'm growing orange. Let's have a grove of orange trees Right and we see that a lot in Arizona. There's a lot of orange trees out there and people own, you know big portions of land and they've got this huge orchard and all these orange trees are going and When you go through and you're harvesting your crops, I mean, it's your food. You're you know, you're growing it you planted it You've worked it You deserve to risk to reap the fruits of your labors and what how God has blessed you And even though you may think that you're entitled to all of it, right? Well, so it's my land my fruit my this my that It still all belongs to God. I mean God recognizes some land rights of where you're so journeying here on earth of Being able to cultivate land and stuff like that. But at the end of the day everything belongs in the God And God made a rule on Look, you need to leave a little bit of this behind You've got this wealth I blessed you with this But leave some for the fatherless and the widows and that be all the really poor people said they have an opportunity to eat Because I want all people still to be fed and it's also this is a way of God's safeguarding too So, you know people became too wealthy and too rich, you know, there still needs to be a way for people to eat And this is I mean, it's a perfect Opportunity too because then You know people who are capable of working If they're down on their luck people are capable of going in and picking food and eating it will be able to do that You know, even really poor people will be capable of going to the uppermost by you'll finding these places that you know Basically have gone through their first pass. They've gotten all this stuff You always missed up and anyone, you know I brought up oranges because that's something that my wife and I have done for many years in Arizona With family with relatives that had that had trees on their property where we went and and would harvest You know you can go through man and we were picking and using the tools and we're picking all this stuff down and I'm shaking The tree and we're doing all this stuff There's all it's like you look at it and you think man, it's pretty better than you're like, nope They're there that you know, there's still there's so many of them right because this is hard to get everything and they're saying look I Go through get your first pass and then just keep moving on and just leave some leave some fruit up there and let's read About it here in in chapter 24 of Deuteronomy verse number 17 about says thou shalt not pervert The judgment of the stranger nor the fatherless nor take a widow's raiment to pledge So we're starting off here in the context of this passage Showing God's heart towards the people Especially the people who are who are you know, the poor the the fatherless widows Look you're not supposed to pervert the judgment of the foreigner the stranger by You know taking a widow's raiment to pledge so saying You know a pledge would be okay. I'm gonna borrow from you or I need something and they're saying okay Well, give me something for collateral. That's what a pledge is more like collateral and they're saying look Don't take a widow's got widows not able to support herself. You know, her husband has died and now She's she's in need she's fallen on hard times and You know don't take her clothing her raiment like like let her have her clothing don't take that for a pledge and That was something that was more common for people to give as a pledge because it's worth a lot more money than than the clothing Is today but that's a whole nother, you know, I want to get that deep into it So he starts off by saying, you know the stranger the fatherless the widows We need to pay attention to these people and don't do certain things you allow allow So show some grace and some mercy for these people verse 18 says but thou shalt remember that thou was a bondman in Egypt And the Lord thy God redeemed thee thence therefore I command thee to do this thing saying don't ever forget your humble beginnings in the state that you were in and that You were a bondman in Egypt and you know, that's something for you to remember too Especially as a believer that you are unsaved once that you were having the wrath of God abiding on you Don't forget that either don't get so lifted up and full of yourself that now all of a sudden you think you're above Everyone else and all these sinners, you know, that would be the spiritual application of this But even just a physical application saying don't forget That you didn't have everything at some point, you know that you were slaves You were servants all the things that now you've been blessed and now you're possessed you're possessing all these things You didn't always have that stuff. Don't forget about that When you're looking at these people that don't have anything You need to keep that in your heart so that you can you can have compassion on people verse 19 says when thou cut is down thine harvest in thy field and Has forgot a sheaf in the field thou shalt not go again to fetch it So he said you bring in all these sheaves and one falls off the truck one drops down You know, just keep going is what he's saying. Don't worry about going back and then oh no No, we're bringing all this back and then I'm gonna go back and I'm gonna pick up everything that fell he's like just leave it You know, I bless you. You've got this great bounty this great harvest leave it And this is in God's law, I mean this is Deuteronomy right says don't go back and fetch it It says it shall be for the stranger for the fatherless and for the widow that the Lord thy God may bless thee in All the work of thine hands and God saying, you know what you do this and I'm gonna bless you So by leaving some behind by not getting all of the prophets God says that well, I'm gonna bless you for that. I'm gonna bless you more and The people that are so covetous and so focused on just now I need to get every single last one Guess what God's not gonna bless them They're gonna end up doing worse than the people who are Obeying God and showing compassion on the poor the fatherless the the widows, you know Because God's gonna bless them Verse 20 says when thou beatest thine olive tree thou shalt not go over the boughs again It shall be for the stranger for the fathers and for the widow When thou gathers the grapes of thy vineyard thou shalt not glean it afterward It shall be for the stranger for the fathers and for the widow and thou shalt remember that thou was to bond men in the land of Egypt Therefore I command thee to do this thing. So What I think is really interesting here is that God is essentially, you know reaping These people but not for good, right? I mean he's casting them out. He's making you know, he's taking them out of their nice fruitful Bountiful place and And they're gonna be removed because this is going to become desolate But he still leaves some behind and I think again This is the reference to the gleaning is going to be now they're going to be in that condition just like the poor the fathers and widows that need that gleaning and It also shows that God still does have some compassion on the people in general that he's going to leave a remnant as He usually does even when the children of Israel were taken captive and Judah, you know when they went into Babylon There was still a remnant. There's a small group. God left a portion just a small group he brought the people made him humble and Mostly what he does though. He leaves the humble of the land So that the majority of the wicked people are being are being judged but I believe that that probably his humble people are the ones that get to stay behind and Rebuild and and not get taken away just like Jeremiah was not taken into Babylon. He was left To stay in the land and not be taken away. God blessed him for his faithfulness and You know some of the other people now obviously not all of the people that were left behind in a remnant Were godly people because even at that point they were still making these these Rebellions against Babylon and we're not supposed to do and and a lot and even more people then were taken captive, but Anyhow in general we see this happening we see God leaving a remnant and that's what's that what's being prophesied here If with the burden of Damascus, let's keep reading in Isaiah 17 go back to Isaiah 17 And The result of all of this Destruction and his doom and gloom is that they're gonna end up being able to show respect and the God God's gonna They're gonna respect God one way or another everybody is going to show respect unto God one way or another Right and we ought to do it willingly and joyfully But If you don't, you know God that made us is gonna get his respect He's given us free will he's giving you a free will you could choose what you want to do but the end of the day God is going to be respected one way or another and if it has to be through through the punishment and judgment Then so be it but look at what it says in verse 7 It says that that day shall a man look to his maker and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel And you know what? Unfortunately, that's often the way it is to be for people to come to God is by being humbled by Being brought to a very low point in their life You know for myself personally, I was at a pretty low point Spiritually and mentally not necessarily physically. I wasn't brought down to poverty But just in my own being and you know Mentally speaking whatever it was it was kind of a low point When I came to Christ and oftentimes, you know That's one of the reasons why when we go out soul-winning We're preaching the gospel and we go to poor areas where people are struggling a little bit more They're more humble and the more ready to accept God Because they're not full of themselves and full of pride thinking that they don't need anything so when you're brought low and you have need and you're suffering want and you're You're going and you've got whatever the problem may be It could be a you know, just physically you just don't have very much money and you're struggling that way It could be emotionally or spiritually somehow mentally, you know, you're having you're going through some serious problems. You're starting to recognize Hey, I have a need that's greater than myself. I have a need that's something that I can't fix I have a need that needs to be met and You know what? God has the answer And oftentimes then that's when people will turn to God because they recognize. Hey, I need something Because everybody needs to recognize you need a Savior everybody is in need of that and When you already have an attitude That's been humbled That's been brought low Then you're much more likely to be able to accept that and recognize that and understand and see that And these people are no different he's saying at that day A man's gonna look to his maker and his eyes have respect to the Holy One of Israel. They're gonna understand finally You know that these false gods that they were worshipping and all the idols and everything else they did They weren't able to save them from the destruction that came Look at verse number eight the Bible says and he shall not look to the altars the work of his hands Neither shall respect that which his fingers have made either the groves or the images in That day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bow and an uppermost branch Which they left because of the children of Israel and there shall be desolation So they're gonna realize wow the works of my hands Ultimately couldn't accomplish anything. They couldn't keep me safe. And this is obviously extremely symbolic of our salvation We have to understand, you know, any works based salvation is gonna come up short and it's not gonna save you from destruction You're looking at the works of your hands whether they be the the groves and the images and these these idols and the things that You can make literally physically with your hands or just any of your good works That you're doing by thinking I'm living a good life. I'm helping people out. I go to church. I pray I do all these things Hey That is not good enough. That is not gonna save you from God's judgment Only faith can save you And this is a perfect example of that and the people of faith God's people. You know what? You have respect to the Holy One of Israel You have respect you can understand who your maker is and people who are trusting in all those works How could you trust it anymore? Once it's once you've already come to the low point and you've already been been brought to desolation and nothing. There's nothing there Their fake gods couldn't save them Keep your place there turn if you would to Philippians chapter 2 And see this is one physical example in the book of Isaiah with Syria and in Ephraim Being brought made desolate and having respect under the Holy One of Israel And the Bible talks about though that that all people will have respect unto God when their desolation comes Every individual will have that respect and the Philippians talks about this in chapter 2 verse number 9 The Bible says wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that the name of Jesus Every knee should bow of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father There's going to come a day when every single person is going to fall on their knees before God and Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father And it doesn't matter how tough they are how obstinate they are right now how stiff-necked Everyone who rejects Christ is Going to be brought to nothing and brought to desolation and brought to judgment every single one and That is going to change their attitude just as the Bible say that God was saying that their attitudes are being changed Just by being cast out of the land by by being brought to desolate physically. They're gonna recognize Hey, I'm gonna have respect unto my maker now because God is judging us for this Well when people end up dying and going to hell you better believe that whatever attitude they had in this lifetime About Jesus Christ whatever despite and hate and in you know, whatever they had Towards the gospel towards Jesus Christ. That's all going to change. I Mean you see these wicked people saying, you know I just got a comment recently on this on the how to be saved video that we have up the Bible way to have whatever whatever it's titled how to know you're going to heaven we die or something like that and And and someone may get a comment that like You know basically I don't remember the exact words but to the to the effect of If Going to heaven means being with you know, your God essentially the God of the Bible then I don't want to go there Anyways, right? So this is that pompous attitude that people that think that there's so much more moral Than the God of the Bible than the Lord in heaven That they're gonna judge God because they don't like his rules and they don't like what the Bible says and it just rubs them the Wrong way. Well, I don't want to be in heaven. Anyways, yeah that stinking attitude they're gonna eat their words when they're burning in hell and they will get on their knees and Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord To the glory of God the Father One day that will happen That will happen and it's not a threat. It's reality And people just need to recognize that I Wish they would and I wish they would and that person that left that comment, you know, I Don't hate that person. I hope that they would come to the understanding of Jesus Christ and not reject him and hopefully they haven't already been given over to a reprobate mind and that they still Have the capability of putting their trust in Jesus Christ because You know, even God doesn't want them to die and go to hell I Don't want them to die and go to hell I want to see them put their faith in Christ But you know what that is the reality And you know people like to say oh well, you know, you're just you know, what kind of choice is that? I guess you're just forcing me to do this. Well, look It is free will because you had the free will of sinning You had the free will of breaking God's laws So you can't say Oh God's unjust by carrying forth the judgment that is due to every person who denies Jesus Christ That denies the free way out of the free pass the gift of God because basically then you're just left accountable for your own actions and And When you're accountable for your own actions, there's one place for you tell It's a place of judgment. It's a place of death that person who doesn't want to spend my time You know what buddy you've earned your place in hell already Because of your own wicked deeds because of your own sinful actions and you might like to think that you're so great And well, I don't think I ever did could possibly worthy of hell. Well, then you don't know anything You don't know the God of Judgment But that same God of Judgment is a God of mercy But he doesn't he doesn't just show mercy for no reason you have to accept Christ to get that mercy You have to at least Acknowledge what God did for you You have to at least be humble enough to recognize that you actually do deserve a punishment And without that there's no I mean there's no hope then you're gonna have to just be brought low But unfortunately there gets a point where it's just too late for people there got to a point where it's too late for Syria The destruction came and it was too late then now they still got humbled But hey, the destruction has already happened when people die without Christ. It's too late for them It's too late One day they will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord the glory of God the Father But after they die, it's too late. I mean if they're still good. They're still gonna recognize Jesus. So Why don't you recognize Jesus Christ as Lord right now? Without having to go to hell to understand that Because Recognizing that later isn't going to save you Recognizing that now will save you Either way, you will be on your knees one day and confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord It's much better to do it now Then after you've been punished in hell for a while To make that that that statement and understanding that oh, yeah, Jesus Christ is Lord And turn it to go to Proverbs chapter 1 Because I mentioned all people have respect unto God when their desolation comes and as I mentioned also there's you know Unfortunately, sometimes it gets too late for people Because You don't want to wait until that desolation comes you want to get right with God before that happens Because God is gracious and merciful and gives space to repent he gives you time he gives you opportunities But there's a limit there is a limit in In Proverbs 1 demonstrates this the latter portion of Proverbs 1 we're gonna start reading verse number 23 The Bible says turn you at my reproof Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you. I will make known my words unto you So basically saying turn you at my proof boys that repent I'm reproving you. I'm telling you you're wrong Okay, recognize that I'll pour out my spirit unto you. I'll make known my words. God's willing And look what I'll do for you I'm correcting you turn him. I reproof and I will pour out my spirit. I'll make my knowing my words. I'll give you wisdom and knowledge and understanding Well, they were so much 24 says because I have called and Ye what you refused? That's it. It's not that God wasn't calling It's not like the Calvinist. Oh, well, he must not you must not be elect. You must not be called of God No, God is calling everybody God's choosing everybody but see you're the one that needs to respond to the call. You need to answer the call He says I have called and ye refused I Have stretched out my hand and no man regarded all you got to do is Take his hand so to speak all you have to do is take that drink of water All you have to do is eat that bread. All you have to do is walk through that door All these various ways of just receiving Christ All these analogies is so simple. It doesn't require any of your work You just got to trust you just got to believe God's got God has his arm stretched out And when we want soul winning what we're trying to do, here's God's hand out here We're trying to help people say hey look take your hand Look his arms stretched out. Here you go. Here's how you do it Here's the bread of life, I know you're hungry You've got this void. You can never satisfy that hungry. Here's the bread. Look you take that and you're never gonna hunger again But here's what God does he says look I've called I've stretched out my hand but you refused you didn't want it Verse verse 25, but ye have said it not that means that nothing all my counsel I'm trying to counsel you tell you what's right tell you what to do tell you, you know but you you just treat it like nothing and What none of my reproof you didn't want to hear it? The verse 26 now this is this is how God will respond to these people who just refuse Don't have anything to do with you and look the children of Israel by and large acted this way Even though God's sending his prophets. He's preaching unto the people There they're go they're warning. They're saying look this is what's gonna happen. Isaiah is out there preaching Jeremiah's preaching What they do Jeremiah threw him in a dungeon Right. None of God's prophets are being treated. Well But God's sending them saying look my hands stretched out still I'm still here I want you to come to me, but the people who Just won't have any of it After so long a time there comes a point where God just says fine I'm done and this goes for a nation And it also goes for the individual. There is a line in the sand if you will where God just says No more And Again, this will continue to read here in Proverbs one. This is expressed here. He says I also will laugh at your calamity and And this is an important aspect that people need to understand in Christianity at God's Word teaches That there comes a time with God where he laughs at people's calamity so God would never do that Well, you know what God wouldn't just do that right off the bat Because God does have compassion. He does have mercy and he is long-suffering But there comes a point where God will do that I Will also laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh Imagine getting to a frightful point man, man, you're just now all of a sudden you're really afraid and The person that can help you starts mocking you Man I'm so afraid of haha. Look at you. You're scared. Hey scaredy-pants You know, but he's doing that because of the pompous attitude that they had Before and didn't want to have any of any of God's help before I Will mock when your fear come when your fear cometh as desolation It's being left all alone, man. That's a scary thought anyways, right? I mean just be an imagine is being left just desolate. Some people are like, man I can't wait my wife's probably like I would love that. That's heaven But not for very long right and I'm saying that cuz all the kids and everything It's all noisy and there's always there's always stuff going on all the time Like I just want some peace and quiet But if you're just left desolate like if you're just stranded out in the middle of nowhere like that is not that is not a Good thing that that's something that no one ultimately is going there's a few weird people I think that really do just go out survive But couple that with fear your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind And look, I don't care who you are when when you're faced with destruction that would come from the Lord like some type of Even you know in a tornado hurricane, you know things that are just way beyond your control. That's fearful That could be frightful going through those things and then you're left alone and then you've got God saying You know, I'm gonna mock when your fear comes When distress and anguish cometh upon you look at verse 28 then shall they call upon me? When they're finally brought to that point and they're full of fear and they're desolate and and and they've been brought now to nothing Hey, it happens every time when people are brought to desolation Hey, then they're gonna start having respect under their maker, right then they're gonna say well now I'm gonna respect my maker now I realize that the works of my hands they couldn't do anything now I finally realize that I need God But you know what don't let it get to that point of just being desolate because it could be too late because though he says here's then shall they call on me, but I will not answer and notice the The same lane the words being used he says I have called and you didn't answer So when you call then I'm not going to answer I called They shall call upon me, but I will not answer they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me For that they hated knowledge and did not choose The fear of the Lord they would none of my counsel they despised all my reproof Everybody will respect God at one point Or another they will come to respect God We need to make sure that we respect God and have a healthy fear of God All the days of our life and never have to be brought to a point of being brought low Being humbled and made to be humbled right if we're voluntarily humble. You know you can be blessed and Not have to experience all the pains that go along with being forced to being humbled Right being taken captive and brought into bondage and everything else That's a humbling you don't want to have But you can still have a humble heart and attitude towards God and not have any of those things happen to you And that's a much more blessed life to have You know people who get into drugs and sin and everything else they're gonna be brought into bondage and here we brought really low Before hopefully they get humbled and then turn at God's reproof and then and then Recognize the Lord their maker, right? but you know again we need to take the warning seriously from God's Word and See the examples you see the physical examples of nations you see the physical examples of Syria Damascus Ephraim but then also more of a spiritual application as well we see Proverbs 1 and Many many other passages that will describe that that concept of Hey, don't push things too far. You know now is a day of salvation right today Don't don't you know seek you the Lord while we may be found Like there's a day where he may not be found There's a day where he may not answer when you call upon him they're gonna they're gonna want to call on me but Not there not there for you There's an urgency And we need to recognize that urgency too there's an urgency in the land today There's an urgency that that people need to hear these warnings From God you can say oh, this is just Damascus. Yeah, that's what happened in Damascus, but see that's the truth We ought to learn from history We all learn from the Word of God But you know if God did this to them. Why wouldn't he do he's not a respecter of persons It's not that God had some special thing against the Syrians, but not against not against Americans look It's for the same reasons That God will judge not because of the specific people and when who they were born from Because God doesn't care about that God made all the people It doesn't matter who I mean how silly in asinine is that to think that who who? Came forth out of any type of person's womb Would have any bearing at all on how God would treat you or feel about you something you have no control over That has nothing to do with it it has to do with with what you choose and what you do with what God's given you Let's go back to Isaiah chapter 17. We'll finish off this passage Verse number 10 says because thou has forgotten the God of thy salvation and has not been mindful of the rock of thy strength Therefore shalt thou plant Pleasant plants and shalt set it with strange slips in the day shalt thou make thy plants to grow and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish But the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow, so he's saying It doesn't matter how much work you're gonna put forth all this work You're gonna you're gonna plant these seeds you're gonna get them ready you're gonna work at it You're gonna let them grow and everything else, but then when it comes time to reap the harvest. It's just gonna be a heap And that's why I said to make notice of that of the word heaping used earlier the beginning of the passage because you could think well heap that might just mean like there's a whole lot of Produce right no. There's no it's all a heap of trash. That's like a trash heap. It's good for nothing Otherwise this this wouldn't even make sense because that was forgotten the God of thy salvation therefore You're gonna be blessed with all this food and fruit. No All the work that you do is gonna come to nothing it's gonna be desolate It's going to be made a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow now Just to drive home this point to because we live so comfortably It's It's hard for us to imagine and I'll admit it's even hard, you know, it's hard for me it's hard for everybody I think in our position to imagine what it would be like to lose all of your food from a harvest and In how low that would bring you and and what this the the Seriousness and the gravity of the situation of like a famine or not having food for someone my age and younger We have not experienced anything of this sort in the United States of America as far as like a food shortage Some people may have gone through some property where you know, like individually with a family But even still in this country for the past 45 years and more No one has had to experience the level of poverty that would come for people that were living, you know without all of the Transportation technically we have a lot of advantages to be able to even source food from from multiple places and stuff But if you're just relying on where you live, I mean, yes, there's markets. Yes There's trade routes everything else, but it's not to the same level that that things are at today to be able to to you know And even today obviously You know if God wants to judge with a famine God can do that We've just been blessed It's not that it's not that somehow mankind has overcome the judgment of God in these areas because we haven't and if God wants to send famine and Withhold rain and send droughts and you know and cause crops to fail. He can easily do that Easily do that. They'll have a significant impact and all of a sudden, you know, every mankind now thinks they're so Oh, we've got so much, you know Going nothing nothing can harm us. It's like we just had one little glimpse of Of how fast things can turn here with that gas pipeline With just a hacker or whatever, you know, like like one small thing and that's just that's one Facility that's one little and you can say okay well, it really wasn't that big of a deal people are starting to get pretty freaked out really fast and That is just one small little little little trigger of just going like, okay Here's what could happen but this can happen on a much larger scale and it can happen very quickly very easily one source Can wipe out, you know a whole infrastructure practically especially these days with with you know, whatever Things can either go really well or they go really bad and it can change in an instant It could change in a day. It could change overnight God can make any of this happen and this is why we need to understand It doesn't matter what we have now, but my point was you know, you start thinking about these people, you know We need we need to consider this and and think about how horrible that would be To not have you know, all of the supply and not just feel like oh man my pantry is full I've got multiple refrigerators and freezers. I've got all this food and man we could last for a long time You know you lose that supply chain Things get rough real fast You lose your electricity things get rough real fast, especially in today's society, right? But if crops aren't yielding what's that gonna do prices are gonna skyrocket If God's destroying large portions of agriculture in the world Everything's gonna cost tons of money and then we'll all start to experience what real hunger feels like and and here when it's talking about God, you know, they're gonna be investing in all this and all these plants and then it's just gonna be a heap All that work everything you labored for now, you've got nothing to show for it And what are you gonna do you're gonna wait for another harvest time, I mean that's that's a long time from seed time to harvest I mean talking half a year and depending on where you're at You might not be able to I mean you probably gonna be a grow in the winter I mean you might be able to hear but a Lot of places won't and even still you got to wait a long time before you can have hopes of yielding something to survive off of so extreme hunger and and you're going without food is It's torturous and I said, I don't even understand it fully because I haven't had to deal with that I've fasted by choice And that was hard enough Like there's an end to it, you know, there's an end to that But the desperation in being forced to fast and not knowing when the end might come To that to be like, well, I'm hungry. Well, you're fasting. Yeah, you're gonna keep fasting You're a fast for a few more days because we don't have any food. I Fast and it's like I'm counting down the hours. I have a set time. I'm going like, all right, let's get everything ready All right fast is done let's eat right like You're ready to go and then you just go right back to normal That's not the same at all as being in a situation where you're just being played right, I mean that's it we Need to take heed to this everyone. I wish more people would take heed to this because this is real This is what God does. This is how God judges and this can happen Just like that You Verse 12 finish off the chapter Bible says woe to the multitude of many people which make a noise like the noise of the seas And to the rushing of nations that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters The nation shall rush like the rushing of many waters But God shall rebuke them It doesn't matter how many people I mean this is talking about a huge Multitude right the number were the numbers of people marching sound like the noise of this, you know that the noise of a seizure been to the ocean and you just hear a Just this huge sound waves crashing coming back and forth rushing mighty waters and That's the noise being being associated with a whole group of people, right? It doesn't matter though hand joining hand doesn't matter how many people Can can amass themselves together and all these nations you can have the United Nations all joining together and coming to have their for their cause Look if God is going to rebuke you and God is bringing his judgment It doesn't matter how many people band together They're nothing for the Lord. So buses here the nations That's plural nation shall rush like the rushing of many wars, but God shall rebuke them and they shall flee And when God reviews him, they're going to turn tail tuck tail and run there are no match for God's rebuke and Shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind and you know This reminds me of and I'm not saying this is this is you know, necessarily a foreshadowing of the end times But this reminds me of end times events where people are gonna band together where the Antichrist is gonna have a whole bunch of People coming after Christians before God comes down and rebukes them and they go running scared or at the end After the millennial reign just at the end of the millennial reign where Satan's loose out of heaven and deceives the nations And then all these nations come together and circle about Jerusalem circle about the camp Threatening, you know, and then God just opens up his mouth and fire comes out and just destroys them all Right when they realize oops, we made a mistake. Oh, but it was too late and Verse 14 says and behold at evening time evening tide trouble and before the morning He is not this is the portion of them that spoil us So it was a burden of Damascus But now the narrator here Isaiah saying this is abortion them that spoil us us God's people Right and the lot of them that Rob us. He says this is what happens to those that spoil Rob You know bring into bondage God's people that's what happens to him. God's judgment comes And it's going to come and it comes every time And people need to be warned about it Nations need to be warned about it. You're gonna you're gonna mess with with God's people Then this is the judgment that you can expect There's a judgment of a nation there's a judgment physically, but there's a greater judgment than that That's a judgment in the lake of fire And that's the judgment. Ultimately, we're trying our best to warn people about but people need to be warned about You know the the temporal judgment as well And And we need to pray that people can can receive the words and the message of God and receive the warning Before it's too late. That's about rides. Have a word of prayer dear heavenly father. Lord. Thank you so much For your words for the warnings And I pray that you will please help us to expound your words and the people to share them and to help warn the lost and warn the wicked Lord that they could That they can truly repent that they can turn at at your words and at your reproof and That they would receive Christ and that they would humble themselves dear Lord And I pray that you would please help us to be to have a good testimony to be a good example Lord And help us to be able to remain humble and learn From your words and learn the humility without without having to be brought down low God. We love you and it's in Jesus name We pray. Amen