(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Alright, so in Isaiah chapter 47, this is really, kind of goes hand in hand with Isaiah chapter 46. You remember Isaiah chapter 46 started off with bow down, bow down, Nebo stupeth. And it's talking about the, you know, judgment that's going to be coming against Babylon and how they're going to be humbled. And 47 is sort of a continuation of that same thought. So before I dig into chapter 47, I just want to give a very, very high level synopsis or summary of this chapter because as we dig into this, there's going to be a lot of different, you know, maybe doctrines or fine, you know, kind of fine tooth drill down into some of the statements that are made. And I don't want to lose the overall broad picture of the chapter because we will be able to start drilling down into various statements that are made that are supporting of other doctrines and other things we're going to be able to see here that are going to maybe take us on to some topics that are not the primary application of Isaiah chapter 47 as a whole, but very important versus nonetheless that I want to get into that are very instrumental in forming other doctrines. And one of the reasons why we're going to be doing that with some of these statements is because the way that chapter 47 is written to us here is it's like a personification. It's talking about the daughter of Babylon. And it's referring to, you know, Babylon as a whole, but sort of as an individual and make some applications, you know, about crossing this river and being, there's shame being exposed and having to then start working, like Babylon has been rich and mighty and powerful and magnificent and living as a princess or whatever and now it's like, okay princess, guess what? Now it's time to get to work. Now you're going to have to get the mortar and pestle, now you're going to have to get busy and get to work. Your time to shine is gone and now your judgment's coming and now you're going to be ashamed and everything else and, you know, it kind of closes off with the, okay, where are all of your, where's all your witchcraft now? Where's all your enchantments? Where's all the stuff that you were so, you know, lofty in before and thought was so great? Where is that to save you now? Right? All the things you trusted and all the wicked ways of the world and the false religion and the witchcraft, what is that doing for you now? And that's sort of how this, you know, and that's the high level, just this judgment against Babylon before Babylon even comes into power ultimately and takes them captive because we're still in Isaiah, excuse me, during Isaiah's life and his time was prior to the children of Israel being taken captive. Now it's already gone through kind of the gamut of Babylon taking them captive and then judgment coming down upon them. So that's all just by way of introduction because I don't want to lose sight of that, but we've talked quite a bit about the humbling and, you know, the problem being taken down. So we're going to dig a little bit deeper into these verses specifically and kind of follow them where they're going to lead us. So let's start reading here in verse number one, the Bible says, come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground. So starting off immediately with that humbling, you know, from being exalted to just, okay, now you're sitting in the dust. I mean, you can't get any lower than that of just being sitting on the ground in the dust. There is no throne. You don't have a throne anymore. You don't have a place of exaltation at all, O daughter of the Chaldeans, for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones and grind meal. So now it's time to get to work, right? That, oh, that's a servant's job, right? That would be what Babylon would think, no, now it's time for you. You've been brought down. You have been dethroned. It's time to get to work. Next part of this verse number two, uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. So what's being described here is somebody, you know, maybe lifting up their clothing to pass over a river, but in so doing, in this act of lifting up their clothing and passing over the river, it's a shame, because verse three says thy nakedness shall be uncovered. Yea, thy shame shall be seen. I will take vengeance and I will not meet thee as a man. So, you know, in that last phrase there about taking vengeance, obviously this image that is being brought up here, he's referring to them physically being brought down. But the imagery here is of a woman who's passing a river and has uncovered her nakedness. And nakedness in the Bible is always associated with shame except for when the man is naked with his wife and there is no shame there because that is the type of relationship that it is appropriate for a man or woman to be uncovered with each other would be in marriage. That is allowed, that is acceptable, and they are not, you should not be ashamed in that context. But any other context being nude, being naked in front of other people is a shame. I don't have to teach this. You all should know this inherently, naturally, already. God's law on us, you know, it's something that everyone grows up as you get past the ages of innocence, you start to realize, hey, I don't want to be found naked in front of people. It's shameful, right? It's shameful, and that's, not only is that inherently natural, but it is taught as well in Scripture over and over again. I'm not going to take the time to belabor that point, but we could obviously see here in verse 3, thy nakedness shall be uncovered, thy shame shall be seen, equating the two, the nakedness with the shame. But not only are we seeing the shame there, but what we're also getting insight into here is what the Bible actually defines as nakedness, as far as just what would, if you were to see somebody say, if you're looking at me right now, would you say, Pastor Berzins is naked? Of course not. Right? I mean, it would be ridiculous. The only thing that's not covered are my hands and my head, right? So that's not considered nakedness. But people will argue and debate over, well, what is nakedness? So where do you draw the line? And if I start rolling up my sleeve, you know, well, we don't have to really wonder because the Bible gives us a definition of what nakedness is considered. Now, understand me, just because something is not considered nakedness does not make it appropriate or right either. Okay? You can have people who are dressed from head to toe and be immodest and inappropriate because the Bible also talks about modesty. So don't equate just, well, nakedness is the standard, so as long as I'm not naked then I'm fine. No, that's not true. And the reason why I'm bringing this up is because what we're going to see the Bible referring to as nakedness is the area of your body from your loins to your knee. And turn if you would to Exodus chapter 28, okay? This applies to men and women equally, nakedness. And what you're not going to be able to find in Scripture is nakedness referring to anything above the waist. Now, we in our society would probably consider, you know, if you were to see a woman walking around with just completely topless, that would be nakedness. I would consider that nakedness, okay? But that's not the biblical definition of nakedness, but if you see a man walking around, you know, that may not be considered nakedness for some people. But here's the thing, and that's why I said there's a difference between what's appropriate and what's modest versus what's considered the actual definition of nakedness, okay? So if we're going off the biblical definition, we're going to find, and, you know, I challenge you to find where it's going to call, you know, the top being uncovered as nakedness. You're not going to find it. But we definitely see what's considered here. And in Isaiah chapter 47, if you still have your place there, verse number 2 says, uncover that locks. It says, make bare the leg. Well, that's not very specific of what part of the leg, but then it says uncover the thigh. Now the thigh on your body is a place between your thigh ends or starts, depending on which direction you're going, at your knees, right, because this is a calf, right? This is the lower leg. This is not your thigh. Your thigh begins or ends, I said, at your knee and comes up to what I'll call the loins, the groin area, right? That area, there's that where your hip, right, your hip is probably a good, that's your thigh from that point to your knee, right? Pretty simple. I mean, look, this is basic anatomy 101. Those are your thighs. In Isaiah 47, the making bare the leg and the uncovering of the thigh to pass over the river, that's the nakedness being exposed, okay? We don't just have this one place in scripture either that is going to give us this definition. It's backed up 100% very clearly in Exodus chapter 28. In Exodus chapter 28, we see the instructions given for the priests in the garments that they're supposed to wear in their service to the Lord. You say, but I'm not a priest, it doesn't matter, but that's not the point of this because we're going to see that the garments are, there's specific garments given to them in order to cover their nakedness, and we're going to see what part of their body does that cover that's designed to cover their nakedness. Look at verse number 40 in Exodus chapter 28. The Bible says, and for Aaron's sons, thou shalt make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles and bonnets, shalt thou make for them for glory and for beauty, and thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother and his sons with him, and shalt anoint them and consecrate them, and sanctify them that they may minister unto me in the priest's office, and thou shalt make them linen britches. Okay, it says breeches, britches, they're both, you know, I say britches because that's the more familiar pronunciation of that word, but it's the same thing. Britches to cover their nakedness. So you're saying, okay, they need the nakedness covered, so you're going to make britches for them. Look what it says in the next part. From the loins, even unto the thighs, they shall reach. Now you say from the loins, from the loins to the thighs, well, that doesn't include the thighs, right? If it doesn't include it, you have nothing, right? Because just past the loins are thighs. So if it just is like, I mean, otherwise you have a belt. I don't think he's talking about just having a belt that's going to cover your loins and okay, it made it to my thighs, you know, whatever, that's not, that is not what britches are also, and we all should understand that and know that, right? And even the dictionary definition of britches is correct here. I'll read it for you. The dictionary, and even with this spelling, breeches, right, if you look it up in the dictionary, it says, also called knee breeches, knee-length trousers, often having ornamental buckles or elaborate decoration, at or near the bottoms, commonly worn by men and boys in the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries. Definition number two is riding breeches. Definition number three, informal trousers. What are we talking about? Shorts. Pants. Pants that go down to the knees. Isn't that what's being described in Exodus chapter 28, from the loins even to the thighs? That's going to be covered. And what is that covering? Their nakedness. Their nakedness. Well if it's, if we could clearly see that it's a shame to be naked in front of anyone other than your spouse, right, if you're supposed to just be naked in public, now there is times too we could be, you know, maybe in front of the same gender or something like that, but at least in mixed company we know for sure you don't want to be naked, you know, and even just in front of strangers in general, you know, we don't want to have our shame exposed. We don't want to be naked in front of people. You know what that tells me is that man or woman, and this is in context with men, right, normally we're thinking about women being naked and that being a big problem, but you know what, this is describing a man having her nakedness covered and that's important to God and saying, look, they need to have their nakedness covered, which means they're going to be wearing clothing that's not exposing the thighs. And just as much, and look, I am all for being really hard on saying women ought to be covered and ought to be dressed modestly and everything else, because that's where more of the problems are in our society in general, but you know what, men don't get off the hook either. You ought not to be wearing clothing that's going to be exposing your thighs, and I know from experience, just like all of you in general, it's harder to find shorts if you're going to wear shorts that are going to go down long enough to cover your thighs, but you know what, if you care about what the Word of God says, you know, and you don't want to be a hypocrite and you want to talk about, oh man, that woman's dressed in modesty, well how about you? Right, don't be wearing clothing that's going to be exposing your thighs to people, no matter man or woman, because you're showing your nakedness. And I'll tell you what, you say, but they don't make anything that's going to, then don't wear anything like that. You know what they still make? They still make pants. Make your own shorts, right, cut them off, they're called cut-offs, right, who cares if you ask your wife to sew it up real nice for you at the bottom or something, I mean. It's not that important, and look, man and woman, it's not that important to, well I just want to wear shorts. Is that more important than being right with God? I mean seriously, this should be one of the most simplest things for any Christian to just get right immediately, because anything, any other reason to just balk at this or be, I'm not going to do, you know, I'm not wrong, is your own stinking pride, you need to get over yourself and treat God's Word with respect and say, you know what, I'm going to show God respect, if he's calling this nakedness, then I'm going to make dead sure that I'm not exposing my nakedness. I mean this flies in the face of what America's going to tell you is nakedness. I mean America's going to tell you, you know, if you were to go in, if someone was going to work, into an office, wearing a bikini, that would be improper, right? Even today, probably still, hopefully still, they'd send her home and say look, you can't be dressing like that, that is inappropriate. But if you go out by some water in the summertime, that's just perfectly fine. I mean if the company is having a pool party, then it would be fine, right? The same business, the same company, hey, we're renting out this water park and we're going, oh, then it's fine. Then it's appropriate, right? Then it's not nakedness, no, no double standard. And we're going to be coming into some hotter months here in Atlanta and, you know, it's going to be hot. But that doesn't make it okay to get naked in public, ever. And isn't it interesting how both of these passages just are so consistent on nakedness being covered or nakedness being uncovered, and was it referring to loins to the thighs? Couldn't be clearer. Now like I said, that doesn't mean that, you know, women exposing their breasts is going to be, well, that's not nakedness, so it's okay. Well, no, that doesn't make it okay. You're right, that makes it not nakedness by the biblical definition. But it doesn't make it okay. Because if you start doing things that's going to, that could cause men to lust after you, and look, you say, well, it's designed to feed children. Yes, it is designed to feed children, but that's not the only purpose. Okay, and I'm not going to try to get too graphic today, but if you read the Song of Solomon, it talks about being satisfied by your wife's breasts, by your spouse's breasts, and you know, embracing their bosom and things like that. That is clearly not just talking about for children. Okay, it's a part of your anatomy that has more than one purpose. So just being uncovered is not acceptable. Now besides what we see here, this clothing, and you can look down at verse number 43 of Exodus 28, the Bible says, and they shall be upon Aaron and upon his sons when they come in under the tabernacle of the congregation, or when they come near under the altar to minister in the holy place, that they bear not iniquity and die. It shall be a statute forever unto him and his seed after him. This was so serious to God, he's like, if you don't want them to die, make sure they cover their nakedness. What is he using to cover their nakedness with, though, britches, shorts. Who served as a priest? Aaron and his sons, the men of the children of Levi. Now besides covering nakedness, clothing also serves as a distinction between men and women. Just like hair. Okay, the length of your hair, you can read in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, you're going to see the difference that, you know, does not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it's a shame unto him. If a woman have long hair, it's a glory unto her, it's given her as a covering. And God does this by design because he created men and women different, and he wants there to be a distinction, there ought to be a distinction. So whether it comes to your hair, whether it comes to your dress, you know, these things should be outward manifestations of already how physically different you are. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 22 verse number 5, the woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment, for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God. And I'm just going to briefly touch on this, I'm not going to spend all night on this one topic, but it's important to bring up from time to time because we have standards that we live by as fundamental Baptists, especially, but as just Bible-believing Christians, and sometimes people might not always fully understand, you might come in and we have a lot of visitors, we have people visiting our church and they're going, why are all the women wearing dresses and the men wearing, you know, suits or whatever, and not just, and just not understand it, right? So oftentimes people just not understand the doctrine and just think, well, it's just some tradition of man or whatever, but no, there's a very good reason for that, and I'll tell you right now what that is. One, first of all, you know, the reason why men often will wear suits or I'll wear a suit and tie is because I want to look my best and just be presented as my best for the Lord. That's why. Okay? Now, it's not to show off fancy clothing, it's to look my best and be able to be as presentable as possible to the Lord. That's what I care about. Now, look, we don't have a dress code as far as, well, you can't come to church if you wear this or that, and it's not to look down on anybody else for how they appear outwardly. That is not the purpose at all, but if you start to see people looking a certain way, it's because I believe, you know, it's called your Sunday best, right? Why do I do it? It's not to be seen of others. It's because, well, as a pastor, I care about my position, but not just as a pastor because I, you know, prior to even ever pastoring a church, I felt the same way and thought, you know what, church is important to me. You know, if I'm going to go to a wedding, I'm going to be dressed up to go to a wedding. You know, if I'm going to go to some other event, some other, you know, someone invites me to some event, hey, that's, you know, an important event in someone's life, then you normally will dress up for that. To me, church is an important event, so I will dress up for that, okay? And I feel like that is important. Now, you will never hear me go up to anyone in the church going like, why aren't you dressed better? You know, that's never going to happen. It's not my place to judge anyone else. I'm just trying to explain, first of all, why you might see what you see when you come into a church like this, and what I believe just about dress in general, and especially just dress in the house of the Lord, okay? The other thing is, you know, you also don't know anyone else's situation. Maybe they are wearing their best, right? And hey, that's, who am I to say anything about what your best is? I, you know, I, that's, but, you know, that's for you to decide on what you feel, and I'm not saying any of this to shame anybody at all, because we don't have a dress code or positivity net. I just want you to understand, because you might have never even thought about that before. It might have never crossed your mind. It might have never ever occurred to you, and now after hearing it, you might be like, you know what? That makes sense. I think I'm going to practice that same thing, okay? But not only will you notice the, maybe, dressing nicer, but you're also going to notice a difference between the way men and women are dressed in this church. And why are you going to see that? Because we believe Deuteronomy 22, verse 5, where the Bible says, the woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment, for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord. Now, if there is nothing that exists that would be uniquely man or uniquely woman, then this verse makes no sense. You have to have some clothing somewhere that's going to be a distinguishing, where you say, this is men's clothing and this is women's clothing. So the most logical or reasonable thing to do is going to be, one, just start thinking about it. What do people wear? Socks. There's men's socks and there's women's socks. But what's the difference between men's socks and women's socks? The size, right? There is no difference. What about, you know, a coat? My daughter's wearing a jacket. Men and women wear jackets, now hers is pink. And you can make that argument, too, and, you know, I'm not going to get into all the color schemes and I think that there's something to that as well, but it's talking about a specific garment here, not just the color of a garment, right, like a woman's garment. What makes something a woman's garment? And you go on down the list, think about the different things, a shirt, what are the different things you can wear and what historically, even just throughout history, has been clear differences between men and women's clothing. It's been what covers your nakedness. By and large, that is the defining difference. Even so much as you can see it in universal symbols, if you want to know a man's restroom versus a woman's restroom, what are you going to see? You're going to see a woman in a dress or a skirt and a man's legs as a universal symbol of distinguishing between man and woman. And this has been the way it is forever. Now, I brought up XS28 because we see the britches specifically being designed for men and that's what they are, they're trousers, okay? That is a definitely biblically a man's garment because men are being commanded by God to wear that. And nowhere are you going to find men wearing dresses in the Bible. Now, the world is going to try to teach you that, oh, in Jesus' day all the men wore dresses. Not true. What else do you want the world to teach you about the Bible? Why are you going to accept that? They're going to tell you that Jesus had long hair, they're going to tell you all kinds of ridiculous things, they're going to make excuses for the miracles, they're going to make up all kinds of things to blaspheme the word of God because the world is not of the Father and doesn't believe the things, you know, the world rejects Christ. So don't put your faith in the world's, you know, analysis of what, and even if there were men in Jesus' day that wore dresses, they were heathen men. They're not going to be the Christians. If you have some wicked, like, oh, are you going to look to the Romans as your example of what men and women should wear? The Romans who were, you know, pedophiles and had all kinds of just disgusting practices with men and boys, I mean, oh, yeah, but they really could tell us how men and women should dress. No. That's not who we look to. We're going to look to the people who are going to be keeping the word of God and that care about the word of God and that want to keep a difference. So we're not going to look to the kilt wearers. We're going to look to the people who love the word of God. And you know, when you break it down, it's, if you're going to say, well, I don't think that's it, Pastor Berzins, I don't think that pants are, you know, specifically just for men, I think that women can wear them, too, then what is a woman, then what is a man's garment or what is a woman's, what can a woman not wear? What is it? If it's not that, then what is it? If it's, is it, well, it's the men's style. From which generation? Oh, are you going to tell me that God's view of clothing just changes with the styles? So when the homos come up with new fashions, because, by the way, that's who these fashion designers are, they're homos, by the way, they're sodomites, these great famous fashion designers, everyone wants to wear their names and their logos and everything, the vast majority of them are all sodomites, they get into this feminine, you know, business anyways, this industry that they want, and they want to pervert the public. You know, there's a man that, well, man is, you know, I use that term loosely, that died and went to hell not that long ago, maybe 10 years ago now, I forget exactly when it was, and I preached on this a couple times because people just need to understand, this, and I don't even remember the person's name anymore, but I'll have to look it up. When he died, you know, the reason why I even learned this is his name was in the news, he died, and he was known as being the person who put women in pants, he's a sodomite, and that was like his, one of his claims to fame in the fashion industry, because he's this real influential fashion designer, and he was the one that was just pegged with and got the accolade of being, of putting women in pants, why? Because before the push was made in mainstream media through movies and imagery, women did not wear pants, because it was known that the man wears the pants in the family, right? You might have heard that expression before. It didn't just come out of nowhere. It came as a fight against this movement to try to mix the genders, to try to make things more wicked, to try to blur the lines between men and women, and God calls that abomination. It's an abomination. And you do with that what you will, all right? But you have to answer to God. I don't have to answer to God for you. I'm going to stand up here and try to teach you the word of God as I see fit and make the applications in modern day, but why don't you use some reason and think about it for a minute and say, okay, if I'm so wrong, then what is the difference? And if you're going to stand there and tell me that God's perception of what's right and wrong changes throughout the years, then you've got shifting sands. You're going to let the culture dictate what's right and wrong in the eyes of God, just because, well, the culture now is saying, if the culture says that it's okay for women, for men to wear dresses, are you going to just be like, well, then it's okay for men to wear dresses. It's okay for a man to walk around in a skirt. Right now, you're at a state probably where you're thinking, no, that would be weird. No, that's gross. No, that's cross-dressing. If you're going to think of a man that's a cross-dresser, what is he going to wear? What's he going to wear? A dress. But if next year the culture pushes, hey, here's our men's line of dresses, are you going to tell me, are you going to sit there and say, God in heaven is going to look down and say, well, I guess there's men's dresses now, and that's okay. That Deuteronomy 22.5, it doesn't apply that way. Last year it applied, this year it's fine, because some sodomite says we're going to put men in dresses. No way. Hell no. Okay, but then why would the opposite be true? Why would the opposite be true? You know why you would even think it's true? Because you grew up in a time where it was already accepted. Because you weren't allowed during a time when it was not tolerated at all and when it was absolutely not, no way should women be wearing pants. But you've been brought up with it, you've been brainwashed thinking, no, this is fine. So now we live in a world where people think, well, women can wear anything and men can't wear dresses. But no, the Bible says that the woman shall not wear that which pertains unto a man and the man shall not wear that which pertains to a woman. It's not one-directional here. Let's go back to Isaiah 47. We could go on and on that subject, and you know what, there are more scriptures to cover on that subject alone, but we're doing a Bible study tonight, and I wanted to hit these things because Isaiah 47 covers that concept of nakedness and the loins to the knees, and especially with the reference in Exodus, couldn't pass it up. And we've got to teach on it because I don't even think I've covered that in a while anyways. And you know, on a side note, this is also why it's important to come to Wednesday night Bible study. There's a lot of different topics we cover on Sundays. One you're going to hear topics, whether I plan on it or not, whether I think about it or not, because I have to go through all of the verses in the Bible. And honestly, you know, what women and men wear hasn't been on my mind that much lately for whatever reason. Who knows, right? I've just had other things on my mind. And guess what I preach on Sundays? Whatever's on my mind. Whatever it is, through Bible reading and through other reasons, I preach what's on my mind. But you know what I do on Wednesday night? I preach on literally just whatever is exactly coming out of the Bible. It doesn't mean that Sunday sermons aren't biblical. It just means that I'm just forced to go, okay, we're covering this topic right now. Great. And I haven't covered it in a while, so there you go. And in order for people to maintain good doctrine, you know, it's important to, even if you can't make it on, you know, Wednesdays, listen in. You know, get the teaching and try to stay with our Wednesday night Bible studies because we really do go in deep oftentimes on doctrine here, so let's keep reading Isaiah 47. I'm running short on time already. Host number four. As for our Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts is His name, the Holy One of Israel. Sit thou silent and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans. The Chaldeans are, you know, basically the Babylonians, okay, just real briefly there. For thou shalt no more be called the Lady of Kingdoms. And again, this is referring to their former status of, and this is how, you know, the world will view the high-priced hooker. They'll call the high-priced hooker a lady, right, until their shame is exposed. Then they're the whore. Then they're brought down. Then their name is dragged through the mud, right? But even when everybody knows it, isn't that what, you know, you look at the Hollywood stars, the actresses, that they're dressed all nice and beautifully, and they're treated like a princess, and they'll roll out the red carpet and everything else, but everyone knows they're a bunch of whores and whoremongers. But no one will say anything about it until something turns, and then all of a sudden their shame, and then it's okay to call them what they really are anyways, right? Well, the time has come for Babylon. And you say, basically saying, you're no more going to be called the Lady of Kingdoms, right? Because Babylon was a whore. Babylon is, you know, the great whore, which we're going to see the spirit of Babylon again in the end times. But let's keep reading here, verse number six. I was wroth with my people. I have polluted mine inheritance and given them into thine hand. So God's saying right now, you know, I've judged my people. So I'm not Israel. So I'm judging my people. I polluted them, and I gave them into your hand. But look at this, thou didst show them no mercy. Upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke. So this is why God's angry with Babylon, because he's saying, look, I delivered them into your hand. I already judged them by making them your prisoners, but you showed no mercy. And that's wicked. You could say, but that's God's judgment. Yeah, but you know what? God did his judgment, even in them just going captive, and he's saying, you took things too far. You showed no mercy. You had a very heavy yoke that you laid on the ancients. You know, like even the old people, you just, you had no mercy. This is describing very similar things to reprobates. This is what Romans 1 is talking about. They're unmerciful, implacable, you know, all those attributes of the reprobate. We see some of those things showing through here with how Babylon treated the children of Israel. Verse number seven, and thou saidst, I shall be a lady forever. So this is the self-deception thinking, oh, nobody can touch me, I'm all that. And I'm always going to be like a lady forever, so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart. So all this wickedness that's being done, not even a consideration, not even a thought. And the contradiction of, you think about a lady being merciless, a lady laying the heavy yoke and burning and oppressing people, right? Lady-like attributes, mercilessness is not a lady-like attribute, right? Mercy would be lady-like. Humble, kind, nurturing, these are all lady-like attributes. But the Babylon thinking, oh, I'm this wonderful lady, is really just extremely wicked, and God is going to expose them for who they really are. And God does this to all, whether it's a nation or an individual that's going to be having this mindset and thinking, oh, I'm going to be a lady forever, thou didst not lay these things to thy heart. So he's saying, so you didn't even care about it, because you thought that you're just going to continue on forever, that you could keep doing wickedly, you could keep being unmerciful, and that you're just going to keep doing this, and that your life is going to be just great. And he says, neither didst thou remember the latter end of it, like basically that you're going to reap what you sow. Therefore, so because of this, hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me. Now, what did we just get done reading for the past, like, oh, I don't know, four or five or six chapters in Isaiah, God saying, I am, there is none else, there is no Savior, there is no God, there is none but me. So what is this showing here is that they have the attitude of making themselves God. In their eyes, they're God. They are lifted up with themselves, given to pleasures, dwelling carelessly, I mean, how does this not describe the people that have all the fame and fortune in the world today? They appear to dwell carelessly, not a care in the world, just given to pleasures, given to drunkenness, given to fornication, given to adulteries, given to drugs, given to whatever feels good, just indulgence and overindulgence, and, well, what can anyone do to me? And then they get caught by the law, and guess what, they're going to, you know, get out of it because they're going to hire someone and not have justice applied to them, because they think they're above the law. And then it says this, after I am and none else beside me, this is the mindset, I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children, basically saying nothing bad is going to happen to me, right? I'm going to keep on going, no one could do anything to me, because what being a widow means you lost your spouse, being, you know, having a loss of children, obviously extremely terrible tragedy there, but verse number nine says, but these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day. So these two things that you think would never, ever happen to you, these two horrible tragedies says in one day it's going to happen, you're going to lose your husband and you're going to lose your children. The loss of children and widowhood, they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries and for the great abundance of thine enchantments. And don't forget, he's talking to a nation here, he's talking to Babylon. Now how would Babylon lose their husband and their children? In war, right, in battle. The men are going to go off and fight, you're going to lose your children, you're going to lose your spouse, he's talking to the virgin daughter of Babylon, you're going to be wiped out. You think that everything's going great, you think you've got it made, you think you're riding the top, you've got this great worldwide kingdom and no one can touch you and you're like God and no, in one day God says you're going to be brought down. And you know, that's how Babylon of the future is going to be brought down too, because the Bible says in one day there's going to be that destruction and that devastation that Babylon thinks they're so full of themselves and so full of pride, we've got the most military, we've got everything, we've got the riches, we've got this, we've got that, and utter destruction. Just in one day, total chaos, total destruction, total tragedy, loss of life. And the Bible says here, it's because of what, the multitude of sorceries and the great abundance of thine enchantments. And again, if this doesn't describe the way that our nation is operating today, the enchantments and the sorceries, the witchcrafts, the abomination being spread throughout the world as a source just funneling from the United States of America, you know, this is one more reason why I could see that if the end times happen any time in the near future, you better believe that Babylon is talking about the United States of America. Now if it happens much later, you know, then I don't know. But as it stands right now, there is no other influencer in the world as strong as the culture of the United States of America. With all the filth and sodomy and everything else being pushed out, it's being propagated by our country and influ- I mean, Western culture, what are people listening to in other parts of the world? They're listening to the music coming out of Western civilization. What are they watching on TV? They're watching- you know what they're watching? They're watching all the Marvel stuff, they're watching all the other movies, all these superheroes or whatever, all the stuff that comes out of Hollywood here that's popular here, that stuff is watched across the ocean too. And when's the last time people here are popping in the French films and the Indian films and the Arabian films, you know, any other cult, they're not coming here. They're being exported. They're not being imported. And I- yes, I would call those sorceries and enchantments because it's very deceptive in getting in to using these abominations to get into the minds of people and to influence people into just extreme wickedness. And that's, you know, the sorceries, enchantments, I don't want to- you know, with the music and everything else, I don't want to get too far into it, but dig into that one a little bit deeper and you'll start to see some of the dark forces at work in all things American culture when it comes to mass media. This is why God is going to- and the proud attitude in the country as well, we're the superpower, no one can touch us. Yeah, that's what Babylon thought too. You know, that's what Egypt thought, that's what Rome thought, that's what Greece thought, that's what media in Persia thought, all the world powers and kingdoms, that's what they all thought. No one can touch us, no one- you know who no one can touch? People whose God is the Lord until you turn away from him. When God's your defender, when God's your protector, no one can touch you, but that's the only thing. That is the only true safety, safeties of the Lord. Doesn't matter how many horses you have for the battle, doesn't matter how many tanks, doesn't matter how many nuclear weapons, doesn't matter how much of any of that you have, because if you don't have the Lord, you're on the losing side. Every time. Verse number 10, this is really interesting and I want to hit this, this is kind of going to be the- probably the last main point of the sermon, but we see these abominations, we see the sources, we see the enchantments, we see the mindset, the I am and none else beside me, just the given to pleasures, everything feels good, we're rich, everything's great, you know, and it's extremely wicked. Look at verse number 10, for thou hast trusted in thy wickedness, and thou hast said, None seeth me. So just the brazenness to just do any abomination, to do wickedness, and think, well, no one's even seeing me, as if like God doesn't see what you do, but look at this, thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee, and thou hast said in thine heart, I am and none else beside me. See when people get so lifted up with pride and think that they're so smart and so knowledgeable, they begin to see themselves as God. And this is the path of the Romans 1 reprobate as well, that, you know, because they glorified him not as God, but became vain in their own imaginations, and, you know, they fooled themselves, they deceived themselves, and this comes through their own knowledge and wisdom, he said that perverted you. The wisdom of this world and people think they're so smart, it blinds them, it's blinding, and that's what happened here, it says it's perverted you, and it's blinded you. Now look, the Bible does teach that having wisdom is important, the Bible says that wisdom is the principle thing, therefore get wisdom, and with all that getting, get understanding, right? That knowledge, wisdom, these are important things, but the wisdom he's referring to here is the wisdom of the world, right? The knowledge and wisdom that comes with this world, this is where people get so puffed up with themselves in the technology, right? That it's not necessarily a lie, but they get so lifted up thinking, wow, we're like gods now, we could build AI, we can do this, we can do that, and, you know, and all this wisdom that they're amassing, it perverts. I mean, this is where the transhumanism is a perversion of people who think, you know, this great wisdom and knowledge is turning into something that's just a perversion. And people are starting to think that they could literally just be like god. Now everybody, though, has to be aware about the dangers of becoming wrapped up in your own wisdom. Whether you have truism from god or not, everybody's capable of falling into the trap of being lifted up with pride because of your knowledge. Everybody has that danger. This is one of the reasons why the qualifications for someone to pastor a church is to not be a novice. The Bible says, not a novice lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. The devil was lifted up with pride with his stature, with his beauty, with, you know, his kind of being the center of attention and his own wisdom caused the devil to fall. And you know, if you put someone in the position of being the teacher and being this, you know, someone who's looked up to but they're a beginner and they don't have the experience and don't have the real wisdom, it's easier for that person to get lifted up with pride and then fall into the condemnation of the devil. Daniel chapter 5 verse 20 says, but when his heart was lifted up and his mind hardened in pride, this is talking about Nebuchadnezzar, he was deposed from his kingly throne and they took his glory from him. So what happened to Nebuchadnezzar? His heart was lifted up. He was full of pride. And right before he became like a beast and he spent seven years out in the wild and just kind of became like an animal, his heart was lifted up within himself and he's like, look at this great Babylon that my hands have done. You know, it's like, no, God did that. God lifted you up. And it says his mind was hardened in pride. So that pride hardened his mind to even think logically or think rationally. His mind was perverted, if you will, because similar to what the Bible is saying here in Isaiah that, you know, you've got to watch out for that wisdom that can lift you up in pride to where you won't even be able to reason anymore and you're literally perverted as a result. Ezekiel 28 verse 17 in reference to Satan, the Bible says, thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness. So Satan had wisdom, but now he says, you've corrupted that wisdom. You know, the people in Isaiah, Babylon, they had wisdom, but they were perverted by their wisdom, right? He was corrupted by wisdom by reason of thy brightness. I will cast thee to the ground. I will lay thee before kings that they may behold thee. So it's the same judgment that God will bring upon everyone who's lifted up, nation or individual. How do we guard against this, though, even as believers? We guard against pride from knowledge through charity. So the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 8 verse number 1, now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. So as you begin to learn and grow and learn about more things in the Bible, it's easy, and watch out for this, it's easy to start being puffed up. And I've seen this happen, I don't know how many times, especially among younger Christians, people who are spiritually less mature, less grown, when they start to learn a lot. They start to gain knowledge. Maybe they've been saved for a year or for six months or whatever, right? They start to just eat up a lot and gain a lot of knowledge real fast. And I've seen it, I don't know how many times where now all of a sudden, I mean, they just learned something last week and they're going to go on telling how everyone else is an idiot that doesn't believe this. How could you not believe? Oh, you just must be a moron just going on and on and on and on about how dumb other people are. You know what you're saying? How smart you are. If you're going to call everyone else dumb for not believing a certain thing, it's because you think you're so smart. Right? I mean, why else would you be saying that, especially, though, on things that you just learned? Like you're going to be the teacher, you just learned this last week, you're going to be the teacher? No. That knowledge, it could puff you up. It doesn't make what you understand untrue, it's very true, it could be true knowledge. But watch out for that puffing up because that's not the right attitude and God's going to bring you low. God's going to bring you, and you know what, normally when people, if they continue like that, they're going to be out. The same people who just, oh man, it's great, they start learning and everything, they fizzle out and then they're gone, and they don't stay in church, they don't keep serving God because they just got full of themselves and God had to bring them low and then they didn't have the character to keep coming back to church when they were brought low. So you overcome the pride through charity. What's charity? Well, read 1 Corinthians 13. Okay, that's going to give you a good idea of what charity is. Charity is selflessness. Charity is caring about other people. Charity is having, esteeming others better than yourself. Charity is having the love towards other people, knowing that, hey, whatever I know, I'm going to use to help you, not me. So when you have that understanding with your wisdom and your knowledge, you won't be puffed up in yourself, you're going to be thinking, what can I do to help others? And in so doing, not be lifted up in yourself. That is how you combat it, which is why the next verse in 1 Corinthians 8, verse 2 says, and if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. So be careful when you just think you've got it all figured out, because you probably don't, right? And I forget the name of it. I don't know if it's the Dunning-Kruger effect, whatever it is, researchers that research the subject. But there's truth to it in that, you know, there's people, when people don't know anything about a subject, they're usually willing to say, I don't know anything about that. But when someone starts to know a little bit about something, they feel like, well, I pretty much have this figured out. But then the more you start to learn, the more you start to realize, I really don't know everything. And then the more, even more you learn, you start to realize, well, there's even more and more and more. You start to uncover, like, wow, I really, your lack of knowledge on a subject becomes more and more apparent the more you learn, right? And there's kind of like this scale of a curve where, you know, at first you start to feel like, oh, yeah, this is pretty simple. I got this all figured out. And then you realize you don't really. And this is the similar concept to what the Bible's teaching here. You know, if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. So just, you know, don't allow yourself to get lifted up. Oh, yeah, I've got all this stuff figured out. And when you come to church, if I'm preaching on something you've already heard before, don't have that. Oh, I just got this all figured out already. You know, I don't have it all figured out already. I'm not saying I'm preaching lies or untruths. I'm just saying, you know, to have it all figured out, why don't you pay attention and listen. You might hear something or think of something or be taught something that you didn't quite know as properly as you did before, instead of just having a close attitude and a proud attitude thinking, well, I don't know, I mean, this person can't teach me anything. And honestly, that's a problem that people have even going to other churches. You know, if you're in an area, for whatever reason, that maybe you don't have the best church to go to. Maybe the pastor isn't as well-knowledge or doesn't have as much wisdom. Maybe that's the case. But you can't go into those places with your mind shut off thinking you're so smart and they're so dumb because then you're guaranteed not to learn anything. How about you go in with a humble attitude and ask God to teach you something from His Word and that He could use that person that even if they don't have a lot of knowledge can still teach you if you have the right attitude and your ears are open and you're ready to hear. And I don't care if that's here or anywhere else. You show up to church ready to hear. Let's finish up this chapter here. Go to verse number 11 there in Isaiah 47. The Bible says, Therefore shall evil come upon thee, thou shalt not know from whence it riseth. And mischief shall fall upon thee, thou shalt not be able to put it off, and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know. Basically, you're saying this is going to come and hit you out of nowhere. And anyone who gets lifted up with pride, that's how their destruction comes. They're not even going to see it because they're so full of themselves, they think they're God and they think nothing can happen to them, that when it does come and knock them on the rear end, it's like, whoa, where did that come from? If you're wise, you won't let that happen because your eyes will be open, you'll be humble and you'll be able to actually see what's going on with an unperverted wisdom. The perverted wisdom makes you think you're God. The perverted wisdom makes you think, well, it doesn't matter, we could do anything, we'll just make technology, we'll go to another planet, I'll live forever, or go to a cryogenic chamber, you know, whatever, like, you got an answer for everything, right? Well, we'll see how well any of that happens when you don't have energy, or what, you know, like, like God can just turn it off in a second. And all your great plans are brought to nothing in an instant. Verse number 12, stand now with thine enchantments and with the multitude of thy sorceries wherein thou hast labored from thy youth, if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail, thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels, let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators stand up and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. Why? Because that's what they look to for their wisdom, that's what they look for for their source of truth, they looked to the stars, they looked to the horoscopes, they looked to the palm readers, they looked to their magicians, they looked to all the wicked, abominable people trying to tell you all manner of wisdom outside of God. They say, when God brings the judgment, now what are they going to tell you? Yeah, let them save you now. Go to the psychic, yeah, go run to them, when God brings judgment on you, now go ask them what to do. See if they could save you. News flash, they won't be able to save you. And by the way, I'm bringing up these things like psychics, mediums, palm readers, most people think it's just a joke, and you know, I kind of do too, there's a lot of charlatans and frauds out there, but I'll tell you what, don't get so lax days ago about it where you think that, oh, it's just a joke, it's no big deal, and then maybe participate with it because you think it's just a joke, no, it's wickedness, it's wickedness, don't have anything to do with it, even if you think it's all just a fraud and phony, have nothing to do with it, have nothing to do with the unfruitful works of darkness, because that's how the Bible describes these people, these, you know, the astrologers, stargazers, monthly prognosticators, you know, every month, hey, what's my horoscope? Don't buy into that stuff, don't do it, even if it is a sham, have nothing to do with it. Verse 14 says, behold, they shall be as stubble, the fire shall burn them. So the people who are producing this stuff, this garbage, this abomination, the Bible says the fire's going to burn them. They shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flames. If they can't even deliver themselves, do you think they're going to deliver you? There shall not be a cold or warm mat nor fire to sit before, and it's not just this passage that's denouncing these types of people, it's all throughout the law of God as well. Exodus 22 18 says, thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Leviticus 20 27 says, a man also a woman that hath a familiar spirit or that is a wizard shall surely be put to death. They shall stone them with stones, their blood shall be upon them. Deuteronomy 18 verse number 9, the Bible says, when thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations, there shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or daughter to pass through the fire or that useth divination or an observer of times or an enchanter or a witch or a charmer or a consultant with familiar spirits or a wizard or a necromancer, for all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord and because of these abominations, the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee, thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God for these nations which thou shalt possess harken unto observers of times and unto diviners but as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee or allowed thee, so to do. The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren like unto me unto him ye shall hearken. You know he's talking about Jesus Christ is the prophet that's kind of like Moses but he's the one that you're going to listen to. It's not any of these other ungodly things, these wicked abominations, it doesn't matter if it's in jest, just like it doesn't matter if it's Halloween and oh just for a joke these guys are going to dress up as girls. No it's an abomination, it's an abomination for a man to put on a woman's garment. It's an abomination to go on to the necromancers and diviners and wizards and witches and these things you know all this wicked enchantments, astrology, witchcraft, don't mess with it at all. It's not for a godly Christian to have anything to do with, ever, in any circumstance, it's always wrong and you know what's the world going to teach you, oh it's no big deal. What are Christians who don't really read the Bible or don't have respect under the word of God, which is what it boils down to by the way, respect. I'm closing with this, I'm trying to think of a good way to put this, I mean, when God's own word is so clear and he's so explicit and lists off all these various types of people and he's like look this is abomination and it's not just abomination, he's like it's the death penalty, wizards, witches, all these things, look it's death, that means it's a serious, that should sink in and say you know what this isn't like, this isn't even like stealing because you know what stealing is wicked, we all know that stealing is wicked, it's wrong but the penalty for stealing is not death at all, you just pay it back, right, maybe fourfold or fivefold or something like that or sevenfold, whatever, you can deal with that punishment but you deal with wizards and witchcraft, that's death, so let that sink in, now if God feels so strongly about those things, do you think that you should just be consuming that junk in the form of Harry Potter and all the other witchcraft and Lord of the Rings and Hobbit and all that other stuff, do you think that's the right thing to do, girls pay attention, do you think that's the right thing to do, to allow the wicked worldly influences into your minds and into your hearts when God said those people deserve the death penalty, absolutely not, but people just call me a nut and that's okay, you can call me crazy, you're just fanatical, I think I have respect for God in that teaching, I think it's disrespectful to take something that God was so serious about and treat it as if it's not a big deal, many parents out there, if you have kids, you want to stress something to your children and say look, this is so bad, anyone that does this, they're going to die, do you really want them just flirting with that then, I mean how serious do you think they would take you if they're like oh really dad, yeah, that's so bad they deserve to be put to death and then they're just out reading about it and have posters on their wall and like that just exalts the very thing that you're telling them is like what's some of the worst things that anyone can do, it's no respect, well how do you think God feels, last verse, verse number 15, the Bible says thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou has labored, even thy merchants from thy youth, they shall wander every one to his quarter, none shall save thee, none of the abominations are going to save, Babylon's being brought down, we could learn from this a lot from this chapter and hopefully you did learn a lot from this chapter and you know one thing we all I think need to make sure that we are diligent to do is take heed to the word of God and have respect unto what it says and don't try to deceive yourselves into justifying behavior, clothing, entertainment, whatever it is that the world all day long is going to say is just fine, don't justify those things to satisfy your own fleshly lusts, have respect to the word of God and say this means more to me, how God sees things matters to me and I'm going to respect what his word says and if that makes you look a little bit different and if that makes people point fingers at you and make fun of you, would you rather be seen as good in their eyes or would you rather be seen as good in God's, I mean that's a decision for everyone to make but there's a reason why the Bible says that we're to be a peculiar people and separated and different from this world and not of this world, I mean this is a common theme throughout scripture so decide for yourself, do you really want to be a Christian, do you really want to try to follow Christ, do you really want to follow the word of God, if so you're going to be different, you're going to be different, people of the world are not going to see you the same way and when you have to tell them I don't do that, we don't watch that, I don't listen to that because the Bible says that it's wicked then be prepared that some people are going to reject you for that, be prepared that some people are going to make fun of you because of that, be prepared for that but you decide what stand you're going to take and what is important to you, are you going to stand with God on the word of God and know that it's right and be blessed because you make that stand or are you just going to go the way of the world and buckle under the pressure and feed your lusts and your desires and all the things that you just want to do and if you go that route you'll see where that's going to lead you to, you know I don't hoot and holler up here and make a big deal out of this because well everything will just be okay in the end anyways, it won't, it won't, now obviously if you're saved you're going to heaven no matter what but your life matters on this earth and you start making compromises and going the way of the world, your life will not be full of joy, it's not, you're going to miss out on all kinds of things, you're going to end up, you know, causing more grief for yourself and you don't have to, you don't have to believe me, I'm just urging you to decide for yourself, look at these things, you believe the Bible will be true, justify it in your own mind, you know but do so with an honest heart that cares about truth and if you still think I'm wrong then you know that's on you, you know I'm not going to come over to your house and tell you what you can and can't do, I'm not, I'm going to preach up here what I believe is right and wrong but you, you know, you do, you do what you want to do, as far as that word of prayer, dear Lord love you, thank you so much for all the great wisdom that's provided in your word, I pray that you please help us all to, to grow in our knowledge and understanding, I pray that you please help us to be mindful, to have charity so that we wouldn't get lifted up in pride, I pray that you would please help us to be able to accept maybe some things that might be hard truths from your word and to be able to make the changes, if we need to make changes in our life, we all need to make changes, Lord help us to see what those, what those areas are where we are not doing as well as we could in accordance to your words, Lord we thank you for giving us the light and the instruction and I pray that you please illuminate our minds and help us to know and understand even more every day, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.