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you you you you you you you you you you you you you Right good evening everyone welcome to stronghold Baptist Church if you can grab your handles and open the song of the five 105 105 all that thrills my soul 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 Colby 105 105 105 105 105 105 asses 105 Please minimize distraction, give us ears to hear, please let us be noise of the word, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Alright, let's turn to song number 25. Song number 25, Wounded for Me. Song number 25. On the first. Wounded for me, wounded for me. There on the cross he was wounded for me. God my transgressions and now I am free. All because Jesus was wounded for me. Tying for me, tying for me. There on the cross he was dying for me. Now in his death my redemption I see. All because Jesus was dying for me. Risen for me, risen for me. Up from the grave he has risen for me. Now ever born from death sting I am free. All because Jesus has risen for me. Living for me, living for me. Up in the skies he is living for me. Daily he's pleading and praying for me. All because Jesus is living for me. On the last. Coming for me, coming for me. One day to earth he is coming for me. Then with one joy his dear face I shall see. Oh how I praise him he's coming for me. Amen. Alright, great singing this evening. I think I need a bulletin. So if you need a bulletin slip up your hand. If you get one up here I appreciate it. Thank you. I brought the last one home. There's a lot of stuff I had to write down. Alright and if you open up to the first page you will see our service times listed there. Sunday morning at 1030. Sunday evening at 5 p.m. and Wednesday night at 7 is our Bible study. We're finishing up the book of Isaiah. So we've only got a few weeks left in Isaiah before we start Hebrews. We've got the soul winning opportunities listed there. As well as our salvations and the baptisms for the month of July as well as for the year. It's been a great month as far as people getting saved and baptized. Let's go ahead and count up any salvations to report for the week. Anything that has not been reported. Yes sir. Two for Monday group. Amen. And I know there was two today right Leslie? Was that two? Anything else to report? Alright very good. Continuing on we've got the offering totals down there at the bottom page for the month of July. Prayer requests. Let's see I don't think I have any updates. Does anyone have anything to update on any of the prayer requests? Actually yes. So he's responding well to the antibiotics. They're going to postpone the surgery. They're not going to pull the trigger on that yet. They're going to see if he can heal. Just heal up. So he might not even have to get that colostomy bag. That would be great. It would be great. So right now he's responding good to everything they're doing for him and the medications they got him on. So they're going to kind of hold off. Was that the construction or something? I don't know. They didn't know either. They had asked him a bunch of questions. Did he get hit or whatever. It just kind of came out of nowhere. Weird. It is very weird. Let me say this. He's on a liquid diet. And he's just got approved to get back onto a solid diet. So I guess they were trying to see if there was something there. But they haven't found anything. Okay. Well praise the Lord for a good report right now. Continue to pray for Frankie. He's not on this list. It's actually on my other list. That's why I didn't... He's also going for a colostomy as well. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course, of course, of course. Yes, that makes perfect sense. So continue to pray for brother Peter's brother in the flesh. Right. And that he'll completely recover and continue to respond well to the medications that they're giving him. And that no further surgeries or other treatments would be necessary and he could heal quickly. So thank you for that good report. Anything else to report? Anyone else have any updates on prayers? Alright, well continue. Can you pray for people? Please bring these home with you and pray for everyone on our list. On the next page we've got the August challenge to be coming up. So Sunday is the last day of July so next week we'll be starting the month of August. And everybody who is capable of bringing a first-time visitor to church, everyone who's able to encourage a first-time visitor to come to church will get a prize for the month of August. Please remember to use the follow-up cards because that's one way to help get first-time visitors in the church, is to follow up with them especially from after soul winning. Right. So maybe it's someone from work, maybe someone who's never been here before that you want to encourage to come and join us for a church service. You got a whole month to release for this prize to be able to get a prize to get people to come in. And obviously we should be encouraging people to come visit us anyways. If you love this church as much as I do, you know, you want other people to be here with us. So share that excitement with other people about our church regardless of the month. But we're focusing on that for this August and you'll be able to get a prize if you're able to bring a visitor in. Bible memory passage. So we're just going to do the entire chapter of Hebrews 4 in one shot. We'll give you 10 weeks to do it. It should be plenty of time to memorize that chapter. So just take it at the pace that you feel comfortable with. But you've got 10 weeks. That's two and a half months to get this to get this chapter memorized. And of course, you'll get a prize for being able to do that. I handed out prizes on Sunday for the first. Six verses that we've memorized of Hebrews Chapter three. So if there's anyone is there anyone here that did not receive their prize, but you did complete that challenge. Good. So I'm going to continue on Sunday giving out more prizes for the other Bible memory passages. And I understand that I'm also behind on some of the challenges. Keep in mind, not every not every challenge that we do. Has a prize associated with it. I know everybody was looking forward to the July prize. For the backsliding prize. But that's I'm participating too. So I'm just going to backslide and never get the prize for the for the month of July. That's that's that's my that's my backsliding. So no. But just in general, I usually I try to announce it before I don't always announce it before and whether they have a prize or not. The harder the challenge, the more I'm I like to give out prizes for. So it's kind of one of the ways that I do that. I already said, you know, I guess, of course, you're going to get a get a prize being over and visit. And I'll get caught up on the other one soon. Let's see, upcoming events, we got that sold in Marathon in Alabama on September 3rd. I think this is going to be great. I'm already getting I read a few people reach out to me. And if they're listening, sorry, I didn't get back to you yet. I did get emails from people that want to meet up with us out in Alabama. And I just I need to be able to respond. I didn't want to respond yet because I don't have the location selected and I want to be able to give more details when I respond. But I'm hoping to be able to do that very, very soon so that we just have that place established. I can make a video and get more people to join us. I think it could be a very, very good success. And then I'll also try to establish a location for South Carolina as well. I'm not sure. I think I'm I'm not sure. I'm not sure when we do for South Carolina yet, but we're going to do that also before the end of the year. And then there's the dates there for the mountain Baptist Church camp. If if you're interested in that dates are there. Birthdays and anniversaries. So I'll have the rest of. I have a birthday written down. Who told me about a birthday? Who? Kristen Miller. That's right. And she's on the. Fourth. Right. I was to say there it was like all it was like these days. It was first, second, we have first, second, third and then the fourth. All right. Down here as well, because. But I have that bulletin that has all that information in it, which, by the way, just a real quick point. If anyone's ever cleaning up in the auditorium and you're you're helping really appreciate it, you're throwing things away or whatever. Please look inside the bulletins and make sure it's not my bulletin from the pulpit that gets tossed because I write down all the soul winning numbers. I write down birthdays or whatever, just all kinds of different things. I jot down here so I could take care of it later after service. So if you are helping, I really appreciate it. But just do me a favor when you're throwing out bullets and stuff like that. Just just check on the inside real quick. Make sure it's not the one that's up here, although it should normally be up here. Sometimes they travel. Sometimes I bring it back to the seats back there. Sometimes little kids pick them up and drop them in places. And who knows? Right. I don't know how these things happen, but they do. So. Part of life. All right. That's about it for the announcement. The announcement. So, Brother Peter, come on up and please lead us in our next song. Church, open up your hymnal. Song number one hundred forty nine. Song number one hundred forty nine. Trust in Jesus. Song one forty nine. On the first. Simply trusting every day, trusting through what's for me way. Even when my faith is full, trusting Jesus, that is all. Trusting as the moments fly. Trusting as the days go by. Trusting him, whatever befall. Trusting Jesus, that is all. Rightly does his Spirit shine into this poor heart of mine. While he leads right hand on fall. Trusting Jesus, that is all. Trusting as the moments fly. Trusting as the days go by. Trusting him, whatever befall. Trusting Jesus, that is all. Singing in my way is clear. Praying in the path we dream. If in danger for him all. Trusting Jesus, that is all. Trusting as the moments fly. Trusting as the days go by. Trusting him, whatever befall. Trusting Jesus, that is all. On the last. Trusting him while life shall last. Trusting him till earth be past. Till within the jasper wall. Trusting Jesus, that is all. Trusting as the moments fly. Trusting as the days go by. Trusting him, whatever befall. Trusting Jesus, that is all. At this time we're going to collect our Wednesday night offering. It goes to the four missions. It goes to the ushers and they can collect that. In church while that offering plates are being passed around, if you could open up your Bibles to the book of Isaiah chapter 64. And it's Isaiah chapter 64. And as we do customary here at Stronghold Baptist Church, we're going to read the entire chapter. Ask brother Devin if he can please do that for us. That was Isaiah 64. O that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, as when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence. When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence. For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways. Behold thou at wrath, for we have sinned, and those is continuance, and we shall be saved. But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee, for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us because of our iniquities. But now, O Lord, thou art our Father, we are the clay, and thou our potter, and we all are the work of thy hand. Be not wroth, very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity forever. Behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people. Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation, our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praise thee, is burned up with fire, and all our pleasant things are laid waste. Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O Lord? Wilt thou hold thy peace and afflict us very sore? Let's pray. Dear Lord, thank you for this hour for us to come together. I pray that you would clear the room of distractions, help us all to focus on the Word in this chapter, and I pray that you would be with Pastor Burns as he comes, and help him to focus on what he wants to say, and fill him with your Spirit. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. All right, Isaiah chapter 64, it's a little bit shorter, but we have a couple of very famous passages here that are quoted in the New Testament, and we're going to dig right in this evening. Look at verse number 1, the Bible says, O that thou wouldest rend the heavens, and rend means like to break, like to break open or tear apart, right? O that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, as when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence. So there's a plea to God, O that you make yourself known, O that you do these great things, and show your great power, and rend the heaven, and come down, so that the mountains are just like flowing down, like lava just flowing out of these mountains, and just this extremely powerful show of force of God coming down to this earth. He said, why? Why would you ask for this type of entrance and this type of presence in the earth? Why? To make thy name known to thine adversaries. And how many times, and I think as the days get darker, you might get the same type of feeling. I sure feel like asking God sometimes, God, can you just make yourself known to all these God haters, to all your enemies, to all these people who think we're so foolish because we're looking to the Bible and we think the Bible has the answers and we're so weird and peculiar and different and people want to persecute Christianity. Look, wouldn't it just be great if God just tore open the sky, came down and was just like, here I am, I'm real, right? I am the Lord. Now, there is a day coming where that is going to take place, which is what this passage is prophesying of this day, that day to come, that great and terrible day of the Lord that is going to come upon this earth where all the adversaries and all the enemies will see God and will know that there is a God. And they will tremble and quake and shake in fear. But I could definitely identify with this, even just with this asking, oh, Lord, that thou wouldst just come down from heaven. Let everyone see you, right, who you really are. Not some idol or some false god that's been made up. See you, you know, people just think, you know, so many today that just say, well, God is love, but they think that's all He is. Look, I believe God is love because God is loving. But over and over and over again, if you don't think that God has wrath, then you don't know God. You don't know God at all. Every chapter we're going through, and even in this chapter, we saw it last week, we saw it the week before, the contrast between the terror and the wrath and then the loving kindness and the mercy and the love and the joy, you know, how these two, God has both. And there's going to be people who see God differently when He appears. When Christ comes back, there's going to be some of us who are going to be happy at His coming, happy at His appearance, joyful to see the Lord coming in the clouds. And then there's going to be the other group of people who are going to be terrified at His coming. Because here's the thing. What's going to happen when Christ comes back? Every eye shall see Him. Okay? From the east to the west, like the lightning that shineth across the sky, every eye shall see Him. And those that pierced Him, you know, everybody is going to see it. This isn't going to be some secret rapture, some private rapture, some, wow, where did everybody go? I don't know. I guess we'll just keep on living life then. Maybe we'll figure out where these people went. Who knows? Who cares? That's not how the rapture works. That's a lie. Every eye shall see Him. There's not going to be any doubt where the believers are going when God comes and saves them from being destroyed from those who are persecuting and out to kill them and hunt them down in this world. See, many people mock now. They mock the Bible. They'll mock the things that the Bible says. But you know what? Judgment's coming. We know this is true because we have faith. Right? But those that don't have faith don't know. But one day, our faith shall be sight. And it's going to be the sight to the horror of those who didn't have faith. Look down at verse number three. The Bible says, When thou didst terrible things, which we looked not for, thou camest down. The mountains flowed down at thy presence. Again, just this awesome power of God coming down. Now, there is a day of judgment coming specifically that this passage, I believe, is referring to. And keep your place here. Turn, if you would, to Nahum, chapter number one. Nahum, chapter one. There's multiple places we could turn to to illustrate this. As I already mentioned, you know, the day of the Lord is mentioned many times in Scripture. We could look at the book of Joel. We could look in the book of Revelation. We could look to other places, many in the Minor Prophets, actually. Nahum is one of them, that bring up the day of the Lord or that bring up God's coming to this earth and the great day of judgment and vengeance. But I chose this passage specifically with this reference to the mountains. You know, it says here, the mountains are going to flow down at thy presence. Nahum, chapter one. We're going to start reading verse number two. The Bible says, God is jealous and the Lord revengeth. The Lord revengeth and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. Isn't this kind of the context that we're starting to read in Isaiah 64? That, hey, God, I wish you would come down to make your name known to thine adversaries. Right? To the nation, that the nations may tremble at thy presence. Why? Because they are the enemies of the Lord. And the Bible says here, look, God's jealous and God's going to revenge. This is who God is. This is the God of the Bible. I mean, how many times? I'm not cherry picking these few verses, right? People who don't know this just have probably never read the Bible ever before and they might go to church every single week, but they're listening to some pastor who doesn't love them because he's not giving them the whole counsel of God. If they open up the Bible at all, they're the ones cherry picking the one or two verses that never talk about who God is in totality and try to give a lopsided view of who God is. The Bible says that God's jealous. The Bible says that the Lord revengeth. The Bible says the Lord revengeth and is furious. What does it mean to be furious? I mean, you are just like raging mad. The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The Lord, and look at verse number three, the Lord is slow to anger. That's a very positive thing, right? God is slow to anger, but here's the thing. When it comes to the slower God's anger is, you just know how much more severe once you get God past that tipping point, and that's true of probably just about anybody. There's people who can be very slow to wrath and slow to anger, but man, when you get that person, it's like building up pressure, right? People can be long suffering, long suffering, long suffering, okay, you can take it, you can take it, you can take it, you can take it, and then you hit that boiling point. I mean, what happens when water boils, right? It starts getting active, right, and pretty soon it could start bubbling over. You're cooking something on the stove or whatever. It gets past that point, that boiling point, and God, when God gets to His point where it's, He's okay, I'm done being long suffering, then everyone's got to watch out, because He'll be furious, full of wrath, full of anger. The Bible says He's slow to anger and great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet. He rebuketh the sea and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers. Bashan languisheth in Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. Verse 5, the mountains quake at Him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at His presence. Yea, the world and all that dwell they're in. Just that awesome power of God, I mean, hills, mountains melt, burn, you know, just at His presence. He's not doing anything. He's just showing up. He rebuketh the sea. Oh, I read that verse number 6. Who can stand before His indignation and who can abide in the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by Him. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knoweth them that trust in Him. And that, of course, is our church verse there, verse number 7. But again, we're seeing, just like we see in Isaiah, you've got this extreme wrath and fury and, you know, fright and terror of the Lord. And then, hey, the Lord's good. He's a stronghold to them. See, the terror, that's on the adversaries. That's on the enemies. But those that are known of God, those that are, it says, He knoweth them that trust in Him, those that are saved, those that trust in the Lord, hey, the Lord is good. He's a stronghold in the day of trouble. He's actually the one to go to. God's going to be the one bringing trouble on the adversaries, but He's going to be the one to go to for those that trust in Him. As I said, when Jesus comes back, there's going to be this, you know, all the saved are going, yay, Jesus, and going towards Him, and all the wicked are going to be going, we need to get away from Him. And calling out to the rocks, you know, fall on us, and going into the dens of the caves of the earth and just trying to find a place to hide themselves from the face of the Lamb and from the wrath that He brings. Because people will finally know this was real. This is happening. Like, this is, God is real. Jesus is real. They thought they were getting away with it as they were, you know, as they persecute the believers. You know, I'm talking about the end times when the mark of the beast is established, and the antichrist is given the command to go forth and to kill those who aren't going to receive the mark of the beast, and people are going forth, persecuting, slaying. You've got, you know, children giving up their parents, and parents giving up their children, and their brothers and sisters, you know, and people just turning on people. Why? Because they're not taking the mark of the beast because the believers are going to be hated and hunted down and killed, and you know what? The Bible says that if the days weren't shortened, that no flesh would be saved, but that those days shall be shortened so that there is, you know, people will be alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Believers, that is, will be alive and remain. Some will. Others will be martyred. Others will be put to death. That's why it's all the more important for us to watch, be aware of these things, know about these things, be strong in the faith, be ready for God to use you because I also believe this. You know, God could use you in many different ways. You don't have to even be alive. Like, you could do a lot of good for God by being faithful in the end, even as a martyr, just like the martyr Stephen was, right? He did a lot of great things for God. He didn't do anything wrong to become martyred for the Lord, but his testimony of Jesus, right, and his martyrdom was not in vain. There was a big impact through his death, and that may happen if we happen to be the generation that's alive when Christ comes back. That may happen to some of us. You have to be ready for anything, but I believe that probably more often than not, you're going to have the people who are doing the good works like Stephen was, that God will allow to continue to do the work all the way up until Christ comes back. I think there's going to be a lot of believers who are doing nothing that are going to end up getting slaughtered early on because they're not ready, because they're not watching. Otherwise, why would he say, watch, right? I mean, there has to be a reason for it. There has to be a reason for you to watch that has a consequence, that has something out of that, right? I mean, it just makes sense. So, anyhow, I don't want to get too deep down that road. Let's look back in Isaiah 64, verse number four. The Bible says, For since the beginning of the world, men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. Now, we're going to look where this... Keep your place here. Turn to 1 Corinthians 2. It's where this passage is quoted. It's in 1 Corinthians 2. What we're going to see in 1 Corinthians 2 actually is going to help us, I think, to understand Isaiah 64 significantly because it's quoting this passage and it helps the New Testament shine so much more light on the Old Testament. Sometimes things can be worded funny. Oftentimes, and especially in the book of Isaiah, we've got multiple prophecies kind of going on simultaneously. We've got some aspects of the chapter that are very directed at the time then present. We've got other aspects that are prophesying about future events. And sometimes even more than one future event. It could be a little bit difficult to try to understand these things, but since we have other scriptures or other passages that lay things out a little bit clearer, especially in the New Testament, we could look back and be like, oh, okay, yeah, this is much more clear on what it's talking about. So I'm not saying we just can't know anything it's talking about. Of course we can. We have much more information to be able to see more clearly on what these things are talking about. And there's even a... We're going to get to it in just a minute, but a part that I believe... Well, we'll get to that in just a minute. I'll explain myself in just a few more verses in Isaiah 64 when we get to the other famous passage, how I think there's multiple ways that you can apply that passage that fits perfectly with the passage. That's one of the great things about the Bible, too, is that you can teach... There's a lot of truth in Scripture, and we always want to be careful about this, and we talked about this after service not that long ago. We want to be careful when we are teaching anything or even just our own understanding of Scripture. When you read the Bible, you want to make sure that you're understanding this the way it's written, right? Like you're not misapplying a passage to mean something that it doesn't really say or apply it to something that it's not applicable to, right? So we want to be careful about that. Sometimes we can do that. Even when you have an established truth, you know something is true, but then you start to see that truth in other places in the Bible. Sometimes it's not really applicable where you think you might see it, even though what you believe is true, the foundational truth, whatever it is, the passage of Scripture that you look at sometimes might not be applicable towards that truth, right? So we want to be careful, and I say this especially probably the most important time to be careful is when you're soul winning and we're trying to teach someone who's unsaved, trying to show them the Bible and explain how to be saved because if you use a passage that in the context is not saying what you are saying it means, even if the truth you're presenting is true, even if you're saying something that is found in Scripture, if it's not found in that passage, it could hurt your testimony. If that person doesn't receive the word of God right then and gets saved, they may later on be talking about what they've heard, and someone else goes, no, look at this, and if it's just clearly like, yeah, that's not what that says, you could destroy a chance for a person to maybe get saved if you're using the word of God like that. Even if it's unintentional, right? You might be careful not to do that. That being said, right, there's also places, I believe, Scripture that can be applied to multiple different things, and what we're gonna see here is gonna be you could apply passages to groups of people, maybe that's what it is on the surface, but then there's also an application to an individual, and the reason why we care about that as well is because the salvation, specifically someone being saved, like someone being saved, a nation getting saved in the eyes of God or like not being destroyed, that salvation is based on their works, and the salvation of a soul, of an individual, is just putting their trust in Christ. It's faith, right? So we wanna be careful making these applications, but sometimes it's not going that deep, and we can apply the truths both ways. So anyways, we're gonna get, I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself. You're in 1 Corinthians 2. Let's check out this passage that quotes Isaiah 64.4. I'll reread Isaiah 64.4 real quick. For since the beginning of the world, men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither at the eyes seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. And remember Isaiah 64, we only read a few verses, but they were all talking about that fear and the anger and the fury and the vengeance of the Lord coming down in the mountains, but now we're contrasting that with good, positive things. This is talking about, so when it's saying that, you know, from the beginning of the world, men have not, you know, basically heard or understood, don't know the good things or the things that God has prepared for him that waiteth for him. Now, him that waited for him is like him that serves the Lord, him that loves the Lord, him that follows the Lord, right? The people that are God's people. What he's prepared for them. Well, 1 Corinthians 2, we're going to see a little bit more insight into this passage. Look at verse number 7. The Bible says, But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. And notice it's equating him that waiteth for him with them that love him, right? And this is a passage that's saying, you know what? We don't really understand the things that God has prepared for them that love him and them that waiteth on him. Now, both of these things, those that love God and those that wait for him, they're not just believers, but they're believers who are following and obeying and doing the works, because that's what it means to wait on him or, like, loving him is going to be, you know, if you love me, keep my commandments, right? So there's great things in store for those that love God, for those who are waiting for him. And I'm not saying it's not going to be great just to be in heaven, right? I mean, every believer is going to be in heaven, and that's awesome. But there's so much more that God has for us, and the thing, like, we don't even understand what it's going to be like, because it says that I have not seen neither in the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him. But look at this, because that's the verse that's quoted from verse 4 in Isaiah 64. But look at verse 10. The Bible says, But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. So in the past, you know, people just had no idea about it, but he's saying, But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. He's going to explain this a little bit more. For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the Spirit of man which is in him, even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God, which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. So the benefit that we have as New Testament believers, we have the indwelling of the Holy Ghost within us that's going to lead us and guide us into all truth and knowledge and that he's going to, you know, the Holy Ghost is here to reveal the deep things of God. What the Bible's saying here, so, you know, people had no idea really before what, you know, what God hath prepared for him that waited for him, but now we can start to know through the Holy Spirit the things that God has prepared for them that love him. I want to point this out as well because notice in verse 2, look at verse number 9 again, but this is that famous passage, but as is written, I have not seen nor eared neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. So you say, well, what things? What are the things which God hath prepared for them that love him? And if you just stopped here without reading the rest of the passage, it could just be left up to who knows what things he's talking about, right? We don't know. It could just be talking about, you know, is it talking about the mansions? Is it talking about, you know, other cool things we might have to spend our time with? I'm going to say no. Now, there is going to, it's going to be beautiful, right, when we get to heaven, you know, the kingdom of God is going to be very beautiful. The streets are going to be paved with gold. You've got pearly gates. That are prepared for us. But those aren't the things. And if you think about this, this makes sense, too. Do you think that all of a sudden, like, God doesn't want us focused on material objects and things here, but he wants us focused on what? People, right? And ministry and serving and helping others and loving others and doing unto others. But then when we get to heaven, it's going to be all about just material possession? No. Those aren't the things that he's prepared for us. Let's keep reading. We'll understand this a little bit more. And just pay special attention to how many times now you're going to see the things referenced. Because when you start to see that over and over now in his passage, it'll help us to get a better meaning, understanding of what does he mean by the things based on how it's used in these verses. So let's keep reading there from verse nine. Look at verse number 10. But God hath revealed them unto us. So he's revealed the things unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. So the very first thing here that's talking about when the Spirit searcheth all things, the deep things, what comes to your mind when you think of the deep things of God? Deep truths, deep understanding, deep knowledge, deep wisdom, this knowing. See, here's going to be one of the great, cool things about being in heaven, if you will, or the New Jerusalem, you know, the afterlife, is that we're going to have access to God directly. You know, Jesus, during the month of March, is going to rule and reign. All the nations are going to flow unto him. The judgment's going to be coming out of his mouth. We're going to be able to learn and listen and understand so much more from God. And again, if you kind of ponder it for a minute, okay, just bear with me and just ponder, even just the joy of coming to an understanding, gaining new knowledge, isn't that a very gratifying sensation? Isn't it great to know? Isn't it great to see things through the lenses of wisdom and understanding? And the more you could start to see things and the more you learn and the more you grow, that in itself is like a prize to be won. And we are going to have the time to learn so much more. And we know that God is infinite and God is infinitely tied to his word. Jesus Christ is the word of God. And there's infinite truths to be learned about everything. I mean, God's an infinite God. I think we're going to be getting to learn more and more about God. And think about this as well. Through that learning and that knowledge, when it comes to people, think about learning more about other people, you're going to grow closer to them, right? Think about a spouse, those of you who are married. Every year you spend together, husband and wife, you're married, you learn more and more and more about your spouse. And hopefully, you grow closer and closer and closer together. And when you're learning things, and here's the thing, when you're learning more great truths and righteous things about your spouse, you will love them more. Now, human beings are fallible, right? So if someone's got some really horrible secrets and they're like really a wicked person or something and you get to learn more about them, that way you may not love them as much. Right? I mean, that's a reality. But that's with fallen, sinful human beings. God is not sinful. God's holy. So the more that we learn and understand about God, the more we're going to love him, the more we're going to understand, the closer we're going to feel to God just knowing and understanding more and more. And I hope you can get as excited about this as I am or more because on the surface to the world, it may sound really boring. And just like, what are you talking about? I hope that you're seeing things the same way that I am today because it's not boring. And as we continue on, we're going to continue on through this passage, we just stopped right away on the deep things of God. We were talking about the things which God has prepared for them that love him. These things are tied in with us having that knowledge and understanding and just gaining in our wisdom as it's going to become more and more evident as we continue to read. Look at verse number 11. For what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man, which is him. So what are the things of a man? Well, just everything pertaining to being a physical man on this earth, right? Being a person here, you kind of have knowledge. How do you know about these things? Well, because of the spirit that God has given you of man. That's how we know what it's like to be a man because of the spirit of man that's in us. Even so, the things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God. The spirit of God teaches us all the godly things, all the things about God, his holiness. Verse 12. Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God that we might know, look at this, the things that are freely given to us of God. Now, I didn't have this in my notes, but, and I don't want to misquote it, James chapter one. Verse number five, the Bible says, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him. Given for free. What's God giving away here? And giving away liberally, giving away in abundance? He's giving away wisdom. You're saying you need wisdom? I'll give it to you in abundance. Well, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Those things we're knowing is going to be more knowledge. He's going to tell us more truth, or get more understanding. Verse 13. Which things also we speak. Not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. What are the spiritual things? Truths. What is that we're supposed to be teaching or speaking? Truths. Truths. We're speaking truth. We're going to understand truth. Things that are right, things that are true, things that are real, things that are valid. Facts. We're going to understand and know more. Those are the things of God. We're going to know the deep things of God. Understand mysteries, and gain knowledge, and how awe-inspiring is it? We get a taste of this on this earth, even physically speaking. Look at how magnificent creation is. I mean, people spend their entire lives studying God's creation. Now, some people come to different conclusions about how it got here and whether or not there's a creator, but most of those people that don't understand are fools. But the deeper you look into any aspect of creation, the more amazing it is. The understanding we have these days of things like DNA, for example, the small, microscopic, tiny pieces that compose our body and our flesh and who we are, the amount of information packed into such a tiny element in your body, such a tiny piece of matter is mind-boggling. The code to determine this stuff, the information stored in one little thing, the expanse of the universe, the way that anything works. If you just look in at the creation of the human body, let alone any other creature, and all the various organs that do all these things to help keep us alive, but also be able to handle different things in our environment and be able to just overcome various obstacles and problems and difficulties and lack of food or even detecting poison, so many different things. God gave us all these senses and all these abilities. It is incredible, and I could go on and on and on and on and on. My mind's going way too fast to even catch up. My mouth can't catch up because there's so many ways and aspects of this in this world that are just awe-inspiring about this creation, and we know so very little about it, so very little. Think back to near the end of Job where God is kind of rebuking Job and saying, hey, you don't know about this and this and this and this and it starts rattling off, some of the most basic things, right? But we're going to get to understand and know about so much more and those things that happen. We have direct access to God. Now, this is why we can know these things even right now because we have direct access through the Holy Spirit that resides within us, which believers of the past did not have in dwelling within them. But now we do have that indwelling of the Holy Spirit to help guide us and teach us about the spiritual things. So as the man says here, or as the man, as the Bible says here, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Verse 14 says, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. The natural man is the unsaved man, the unregenerate man. The Bible says they cannot know these spiritual things. They have no way of knowing them and if they don't get saved, they don't become regenerate, the natural man, they're never going to know those things. They're never going to have those things revealed unto them because they can't. The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judge of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But look at this, but we have the mind of Christ. And how many times do you see the things, the things, the things, spiritual things, right? I hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered in the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. These things are those, is that great understanding and the great truth and the great mysteries and that knowing and that increasing relationship with the Lord. What a great positive view and something to look forward to for those that love God, for those who wait for him as opposed to the destruction that is awaiting those that are just the natural man, those that can't receive the Spirit, the things of the Spirit, those that are the adversaries or enemies of the Lord. Let's go back to Isaiah 64. The Bible says, Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness. Now, again, we're seeing, remember we went from verse 4, God beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him, which was quoted in the New Testament as prepared for them that love him. And then verse 5, Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness. Those that remember thee in thy ways. And then continues on here, Behold, thou art wroth, for we have sinned. In those is continuance, and we shall be saved. Now, the those is in continuance. I think it's the those that worketh righteousness and remember thy ways is a way to continue, right? And I don't think this is talking about like your soul being saved from hell. It's talking about God judging his people is what we're transitioning into here when we get to verse number 6 that says, We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee, for thou hast hid thy face from us and hast consumed us because of our iniquities. Now, what I am reading here, what I am understanding here, obviously, verse 6, a very famous passage, all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags before the Lord, and I've heard this taught over and over again, and I still believe in this 100% this truth that when it comes to our salvation, when it comes to our works, when anything that we can present before the Lord, because we're human, because we're sinful, we say, Hey, you know, we could try to do our best, but our best is so far from being good enough that our best is like filthy rags, right? We need to be saved. We're saved by grace. It has nothing to do with our own works. If we try to offer up to God, be like, Here, God, look at all my works, as a way of payment or as a way of getting into heaven, it's going to stink. God's going to be like, That's a joke. What do you think that is? So that is 100% true as a day is long, okay? And I think that it's very appropriate to be able to look at this passage and apply this in that regard because that's so true. But I think that in the context of this passage, this is more talking about that Isaiah here is talking about we're all an unclean thing, talking about the people of Israel. Like, we're all unclean. Why? Because they're straying away from the Lord. And their righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Why? Because they don't really have any righteousness and they're not following the Lord at all. Because whatever we have, it's filthy, it's defiled, it's corrupt. We all do fade away as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. Because they were in sin. I mean, our sin has taken us away. And he's talking collectively because he always says, We, you know, our righteousnesses, we all do fade as a leaf, our iniquities. I don't think this is just talking about mankind in general, which I do think you can apply this that way because that's true. And that concept is 100% true. And I don't even think there's anything wrong with using this passage to show that and explain that truth. I don't think that for a second, so don't get me wrong here, but I do think that you can apply this. Also, when you're reading it in the context here is looking at this going, Hey, it's talking about those that work righteousness, those in continuance. It's talking about, you know, people who are, Hey, all our righteousnesses are filthy rags. We all do fade away as a leaf. Our iniquities have taken us away and there's none that calls upon thy name. No one's even seeking God. This is the condition of the people, the state that they're in that stirs up himself to take hold of thee. For thou hast hid thy face from us. And we've heard this too in other places where God is hiding his face from his own people, right? He's not going to hear them anymore. Why? Because they've gone after these false gods. And where he says, Okay, now I'm going to bring you into judgment. And what is the book of Isaiah prophesying? The captivity in the Babylon, among other greater truths, right? But primarily the prophet for this day, for the short term right then, is the warning to the children of Israel that judgment is coming, which obviously has the future prophecies in there as well of judgment to come in the last day, right? Which is going to be very similar. This is just a microcosm or a smaller picture, the captivity of the children of Israel versus the coming of the Lord Jesus and all the wickedness that's going to be going on in that day. And there's so many various applications to be made properly in the context that touch on so many different areas. So like I said, we want to be careful about it but at the same time not lose sight of what this is saying on the surface and get too far off on one side. And I think this is one of those passages where we need to look at it as what it says in context first. Verse 7, and there's none that called upon thy name that stirs up himself to take hold of thee. Because if this is talking about just being saved, I mean, nobody's getting saved then? Like nobody? I think this is talking about people seeking the Lord. You know, because calling on the name of the Lord, is that meant for a soul salvation? Yes, it is in some instances for sure. But in other cases, it's more just the reliance on the Lord, right? You're calling on the Lord. Hey, God, save us. You know, you read in some of the Psalms or in other areas where there's battles and there's fighting to be done. People are looking to the Lord to be their defense, to be their shield, to be their buckler. And they're calling on God to help them and to save them physically in the day of trouble Both are applicable. Both are true. But when we look at this in context, I think this is talking about nobody cares about the Lord in this time, in this day, among this people. People aren't doing righteousness. The righteousnesses that might exist are like filthy rags because they're barely even keeping anything. If they're trying to keep any part of the law, they've defiled it. They're, you know, like in Micah, giving the lame and the maimed for their offerings and stuff like that. They're trying to keep it, but it's like, it's a filthy rag because it's not even close to what God said. And here's the other aspect about our righteousness is filthy rags. If you, as a saved person, lead someone to Christ, is that a filthy rag? Say no. So not all things that we can do that are righteous are filthy rags. If we're trusting in how good we are as our righteousness to be saved, yeah, they're filthy rags. Right? Does that make sense? But are there things that we can do when we walk in the Spirit that are not filthy? Absolutely. Absolutely. And the people, the children of God at this time, were not doing that. Their iniquities, like he says, like the wind, have taken us away. And they're going to be taken away. They're going to be taken captive. And there is none that calls upon thy name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee, for thou hast hid thy face from us and hast consumed us because of our iniquities. Now, O Lord, thou art our Father. We are the clay and now are the potter. And we all are the work of thy hand. He's pleading with God and confessing their sins and he's saying, but look, Lord, you're our Father. Right? And this is representative of them still being the children of God that have gone astray, that have gotten into sin, but God has not removed his loving kindness from them forever. Right? God has turned his back on them for a time, for a moment. Remember, we saw also the Lord has put them away for a moment because God needs to teach them a lesson and help them understand when his people are doing wrong, they get rebuked, they get chastened, they get disciplined, as opposed to the world who faces the wrath and the destruction because they were never children of God. They were never his people. Let's keep reading here. Look at verse number nine. Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity forever. Behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people. So he's entreating the Lord for mercy. He's acknowledging, hey, look, we've all gone out of the way. Our righteousness is like filthy rags. No one's doing anything for you, Lord. People have forgotten about you. They turned their back on you. They're doing these things and you know what? You, oh, where is it? You've hid your face from us and has consumed us because of our iniquities. So we know, we're guilty. But then he emphasizes, look, but now, look, this is what's happened, but now you're our father. We're the clay, you're the potter. Form us, fashion us, mold us the way that you want us to be. And why would God even do that at all? Because they're seeking him. Because Isaiah's seeking him. Isaiah's entreating. He's going, look, we're your people, God. Please, use us, mold us, fashion us. And we ought to have that same desire and attitude as well saying, God, you're the potter, we're the clay. Because a potter with a clay, I don't know if you're familiar with this at all. I'm not that familiar with it, but at least I know the basics of it, right? A potter will spin a wheel and they have this clay and they form pottery and they're able to, when they get it spinning around, you kind of make movements with your hand, which I would never probably be able to do, at least have everything come out that would look anything like a usable object. But when people are skilled at it, they could make really small adjustments and movements. Really cool to watch how you can make all these various designs and kind of, the person who's doing it has a vision and they can see and they know what they want it to be like and they can make these small adjustments and form it to be what they want. And sometimes if they mess up, you know, if something gets screwed up in the clay and, you know, this kind of goes all over the place or falls on itself, right, we want to be malleable as clay. And I think, you know, if the clay isn't at the right composition, moisture, right, like, you know, if it's too stiff, you're not going to be able to mold it, right? I mean, that makes sense. Or if it's just too loose, like, you won't even be able to build it up at all. So we can't be double-minded in our ways. We can't be that unstable. But at the same time, we can't be so resistant and stiff-necked that we're not allowing God to use us. So we need to have that attitude and that mindset going, God, form me, fashion me, right, and not resistant going, oh, but I don't want to do that. Oh, I don't like that. No, God, don't put me there. Be ready to be moved anywhere. If God's working in your life and all of a sudden it's kind of starting to seem like, man, God, I'm trying to follow you, I'm seeking you, I'm doing everything I'm supposed to be doing, and it looks like there's a path being led somewhere and it leads you to Norcross, Georgia, to start a church, you've got to go. If it leads you to Timbuktu, right, whatever, you've got to be willing to go and do it and just pick up and say, okay, there's nothing that should keep me, no matter whether it's physically planted in one place, whether it's giving up something else, like, well, but no, I've got this awesome job. I'm making so much money, God, but if I do that, then I won't be able to do that. So what? Be malleable, because God has a vision for you, for every one of us. We're the clay. We want to be the best clay we can be for God so he could mold us and fashion us to his liking. And as his children, we get that benefit of being able to say, hey, you're our father, guide us, direct us, form us, mold us, fashion us, and don't remember our iniquity forever. He said, don't, please don't dwell on that. Forgive us. We're sorry. We want to be formed again. Use us. And this is from the saved perspective, right? Hey, we're your children. Be not wroth very sore, as it says in verse 9, oh Lord, neither remember iniquity forever. Behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people. Look, we're thy people. And he's talking from, again, from the standpoint of being the children of Israel because obviously not all the people in the world are God's people. They're not, everybody isn't a child of God. But to them that received him to them gave me power to become the sons of God even though they believe on his name. Only those who are believers are those that become a child of God, which means you're in the family. You become a child of God. You're not automatically, by default, a child of God, just by being a created being because then that would mean a cow is a child of God, an ant is a child of God, a leaf is a child of God, a tree is a child. No. All of creation is not a child of God. It's those who are born of the Spirit are children of God. And then even the further, in the context, I think, support what I'm teaching you tonight, verse 10 says, thy holy cities are a wilderness. Zion is a wilderness. Jerusalem is a desolation. These are supposed to be the places of the people of the Lord, right? These are supposed to be the places that would be thriving if they're following God and seeking him and loving him. But he says, no. But what happens when they're not? They're a desolation. They're removed from those places. They're taken captive. It's a wilderness. Our holy and our beautiful house where our fathers praised thee is burned up with fire and all our pleasant things are laid waste. Why? Because they're judged. Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O Lord? Wilt thou hold thy peace and afflict us very sore? So the beginning, we're seeing the vengeance on the unsaved world. We're seeing how God is going to respond when he shows up and he's settling the score and bringing vengeance. And then we see the difference between, hey, those that are God's people, they're going to love his coming. And they've got something to look forward to that people didn't even fully comprehend and understand, but now, especially in the New Testament, we will understand those things a lot better. But God's going to give so much the more to those who are loving him, waiting on him, looking to serve him. And then those that aren't doing those things, they're still saved. They're still children of God, but they're going to have to be like, okay, look, we're sorry. We want you to use us again. Don't remember our iniquities forever. Please stop chastening us and disciplining us. That is not the same as what's happening to the adversaries in the first few verses. So we get to see the adversaries that are the haters of God getting judged. We see those who are right with God getting this blessing and understanding and coming to this great knowledge. And then there's those who, yes, they're still children of God, but they haven't been doing what they're supposed to be doing. And now they're trying to just get right and find a way forward. I think in the context, that is what Isaiah 64 is teaching, not to say it's not applicable or teaching other things. As I said before, I have preached, and I will continue to use that passage about all righteousness is filthy rags because it's totally true. It's a true statement about the way that our works are viewed in light of our salvation, in light of that being any way or means of us to be able to achieve getting into heaven, being saved. It's so far from being righteous. It's just like, they're just like dirty rags. I do think that's applicable, but like I said, I think given the totality of Isaiah 64, we're primarily seeing the filthy rags being the, you know, just that they're not really working for the Lord at all. A believer just, hey, you're supposed to have, you know, we're supposed to be created unto good works, right? We read Ephesians 2, verses 8, 9, and 10. The Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves is a gift of God, not of works as any man should boast, created unto good works for we are as workmanship, right? I think I misquoted that, but basically that's for we are as workmanship created unto good works. For we are as workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. You're saved by the grace, you're saved by faith, you've become a child of God, not of your works at all, but we are created to do the good works. And the Christians, who are believers, who are saved by grace, that are disobeying the commandments to do the good works, your works that you might try to present to God might look like filthy rags. But God, I went to church on Christmas, right? I mean, come on, remember all those Christmases? I know it wasn't all of them, but those filthy rags, my friend. God wants you working for them. And you know, another application is this, too, that ultimately nothing of us is really good. Our good works are done through the Spirit and through Christ, which is in us. So that is another great truth and understanding of that passage to say, hey, it's not me that's doing the good, it's Christ in us that can bring forth those good works, right? So in me, that isn't, you know, in my flesh dwells no good thing. So anyhow, you know, I hope this wasn't, I'm not trying to confuse you. Like, we need to be able to look at passages and be able to examine them, look at them, and especially in the context that's the most important thing, we want to make sure we're understanding it right, but not be afraid to be able to make proper applications and say, yes, this is still 100% true in these other, you know, and apply it appropriately. So as far as that word of prayer, dear Lord, we love you, thank you so much for your word. Pray for your, to illuminate us, enlighten us, dear Lord, help us understand these passages. There's so many levels and so many meanings we could glean from your word because it truly is infinite, dear Lord. I'm looking forward to the day, you know, that now, even though now we see darkly, but then we'll see face to face, Lord, that there's that day that's going to come where we'll be able to see clearly and you'll be able to explain and help us understand so much the more, Lord. But right now on this earth, I pray that you would help us to get a closer, a clearer view of what things will be like in heaven and those things that you've prepared for us, Lord, help us to understand more and more through the Holy Spirit that you've given to us. We thank you for that great blessing of indwelling us with the Holy Ghost that can teach us, Lord, and help us to take heed to that instruction. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. All right. We're going to sing one last song before we're dismissed. Father Peter, would you please lead us? Church, if you can open up your hymnals to song number 157. Song 157, come thou almighty King. Song 157. On the first. Come thou almighty King, help us thy name to sing, help us to praise. Father of glorious, for all victorious, come and reign over us, ancient of days. Come thou in parting word, heard on thy mighty sword, our prayer unto thee. Come and thy people blessed, and give thy word success, Spirit of holiness, on us descend. Come holy, comforter, thy sacred wind is fair, in this flat hour. Thou who almighty are, thou who in every heart, and there from lusty heart, Spirit of power, to the great one and free, eternal praises be, his evermore. His sovereign majesty, may we in glory see, and to eternity, love and adore. Amen, church, great singing. Thank you so much for coming, you guys. piano plays softly piano plays softly