Through the Bible | Isaiah 5:8-6:13

[Music] Isaiah chapter 5 we started the chapter we kind of ran out of time last week so so we're gonna pick up kind of where we left off we we left off with a little poem it was a little song called the song of the vineyard and if you recall it was basically Isaiah Wright writing about this beautiful vineyard that had every potential of being fruitful and productive but instead it brought forth wild grapes and the idea of wild grapes that's not a good thing you know it's amazing you know when you when you're talking about wild blackberries or or things like that man that's great it's one of my favorites but I apparently wild grapes in in that region of the world are sour horrible grapes and they're worthless you can't do anything with them really and so this beautiful vineyard was taken over with wild grapes and so you know basically the Lord says to Israel through this little poem I'm gonna leave this little tilled land that's been set up with towers of water and ready for beautiful vineyards I'm just gonna leave it alone it's gonna go to thorns and thistles and the Lord is lifting up his blessing lifting up his hand from Israel this is really Isaiah's calling to call the people of Israel out into that you know repentance but one of the things that you're gonna get the sense of even tonight is the Lord seems to almost give up on these people does the Lord give up on people that's an interesting question you might have a knee-jerk reaction say yeah the Lord never gives up he's just always faithful and never gives up on people well we'll talk about that tonight but it says here in this little song that the vineyards done and there's it's going away so that's a little hint of coming attractions and then after that nice little ditty the little poem the little song from my zaiah that kind of says you're toast then he's gonna pass out six woes big-time woes now this whole thing of woe unto them this is Isaiah basically pointing is prophetic finger at each of these people of Israel of Judah of Jerusalem and saying woe unto you woe is almost like an astonishing wow I can't even believe this is all gonna happen but it's bad it's all bad the bad was here of Isaiah but you'll notice the woes that Isaiah passes out to the Jews there you know several thousand years ago you'll see that some of those woes are the same woes that you could pass out today to the United States or to the world culture today basically we've set a culture of godlessness around the world and we're into the same things they were it's amazing to me how people haven't changed all that much I'm also interested to hear people talk about the Bible being irrelevant and and Bible doesn't everything there's just old stories of ancient people that have nothing to do with us man I don't know a Bible they're reading first bag of baloney ins maybe but they're not reading the Bible of the the Lord and and right here I see these people exactly like we are and we can learn from them hopefully we learn you know if there's one thing we've learned from history as we've learned nothing from history but here we have a chance tonight to look at these people and get into this wou series the six woes you got to tell this joke with the woes that are in front of us it's that story of the pastor who walked by the livery-stable there in cowboy days and and he saw that and it said Christian horse for sale and so he went into delivery says this is interesting I've never heard of a Christian horse and he said what's the deal with this Christian horse and the guy said well it's a great horse the only thing is if you want to go you don't say giddyup you say praise the Lord and when you want to stop you don't say whoa you say Amen I think I owe the pastor was kind of thought that's cool is it's gonna take it for a test-drive I said sure so he gets on the horse rides out of town and and he says giddyup and then the horse just does nothing and he says giddyup and then here the praise the Lord things praise the Lord and the horse just just took off and just riding and he was having a great time and and suddenly there was a rattlesnake that popped out of a rock and spooked the horse and the horse just took off and it was just running running running through the desert there and the pastor was like whoa whoa he's pulling on the reins trying to get the horse stopped but he just the more he held whoa the faster the horse ran and then it just at the very last minute as they were heading toward this cliff the horse was headed for a cliff the pastor finally realized oh yeah and it's not a what is the word what's the word oh he says Amen oh the horse screeches to a stop right just inches he stops before he gets over the cliff and the pastor lifted his hands the Lord of heavens and oh praise the Lord but he I hope you're laughing at home because right here I'm sitting with crickets chirping but tumbleweeds blowing across the sanctuary right now but I'm sure you guys are just laughing up about that that joke but the woes here of Isaiah they're not woes of a horse their woes of horrible things that are upon the people of Israel and that's what we're gonna be looking at this evening so the first row is Isaiah chapter 5 verses 8 through 10 let's read it says woe unto them that join house to house that lay field to field till there be no place that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth in my near saith the Lord of Hosts of a truth many houses shall be desolate even great and fair without inhabitant yay 10 acres of a vineyard shall yield one bath and the seed of a homer shall yield a knee path what's that well if you're jotting down notes the first woe is dealing with work what we're gonna call this evening corrupt capitalism corrupt capitalism interesting thing about this it's it's these people who are joining house to house laying field to field the idea is they're accumulating wealth you know there there's this kind of cover just ruthless sort of mentality of wanting more stuff and getting bigger houses more houses more farm land and just you know gobbling it all up but the Lord basically is in dining them saying in my near say for divorce of a truth many houses shall be desolate he's gonna say you're gonna want to have more but it's just gonna be emptiness and all this stuff about the bath of the bath what this is all about the bath you say but in Hebrew which is a unit of measure it's about 6 gallons volume wise so when it says the the 10 acres of a vineyard will yield one bath that's just 6 gallons of grapes that's pathetic that's worthless it's a waste of time and this eepa is about 1/12 of the amount of seed that would be sown so picture sowing seed in a garden and only 1/12 of those seed bringing forth good fruit that's not a great ratio and the Lord saying you're gonna be striving you're gonna be toiling you're gonna be struggling but you're gonna come up empty emptiness and he's talking about just you know people trying to do more work harder corrupt capitalism now interesting that I bring that up because a lot of people are you know talking about capitalism especially with kind of the current world situation with Bernie Sanders you know really talking about socialism and you kind of wonder his socialism ok is communism ok Marxism I remember in college I I had a college professor that started out his class saying I am a Marxist and I'm into socialism basically communism was his thing really but but I'm but I remember being so stunned because that was in the late 80s when we were just coming kind of into that the end of the Cold War and communism was kind of a dirty word but college professors have been pushing socialism and what-have-you for quite some time down so a lot of our younger people are into socialism some of us older people are like no capitalism has served us well and it has but here's the thing is-is-is capitalism better than social the thing is all of those listen to my whole thing don't turn it off don't because this is important socialism is wonderful communism is wonderful except for one thing Oh capitalism wonderful in fact I would argue that you could make the case that all of the various world you know governmental systems and what-have-you wonderful - one thing people whenever you add people to anything you're adding wackiness and sinfulness you see socialism would be wonderful if the government stayed nice and giving and not self-centered and not not you know corrupt that's what's that's the problem with socialism is you've got government controlling everything and they end up being greedy and taking money that's why Venezuela is in the situation it is right now that's why much of socialism as you look around the world it's not working and it never has worked because of corruption but the same things true of communism the same thing is true of you know dictatorship a dictatorship could be wonderful if it didn't involve people thought if it was a good dictator by the way you could maybe make an argument that someday we will be under a glorious dictatorship and that's when Jesus Christ comes in rules and reigns over the years one single ruler the reason it's gonna work and the reason it's not gonna be evils cuz he does nothing evil he does everything good and righteous if you have kidding John moon over there in North Korea he's an evil dude and he could care less about his people thus a dictatorship it's horrifying and people are dying because of evil corruption so you could even make that argument by the way of capitalism and you know what's interesting about our country though let me just defend our capitalism and our the way we've built this country as people as it was built you know way back you know some people think the Constitution was our first document but you know you might even go all the way back to the Mayflower Compact you know the the writings of these Puritans it was right out of the Bible what they wanted to achieve and do here in the in the United States when they moved to this new world and we could talk about all the other documents and what-have-you but the goal was to have goodness and sort of a Christian nation was the idea and I know there's people to argue with that and say oh they weren't Christians they were deists and whatever but I disagree with that and I've studied a lot of history about this I've read a lot of the writings of our founders and man you just can't get around it these guys love Jesus they believe that our country should would be wacked if we ever lost our faith in Christ it was de Tocqueville who came back came here in the 17 was the toque I forget but he came and he observed he said what made America great this French philosopher he's like looking at our nation he says he looked to the farms in the fields he said he didn't find the greatness there he looked to the schools in the education system but he didn't see the greatness of America there and he looked all over what what made this capitalism this democracy what made it all work and great he says America will remain great because he said I found the secret to its greatness in its churches and from the pulpits where the pastor's were preaching of truth and morality and righteousness and goodness and and de Tocqueville made a hauntingly accurate prophecy there whether he was trying to make a prophecy or not he said America will remain great as long as America remains good but as soon as America loses its goodness it will lose its greatness boy we're seeing that happen right before our eyes we're seeing America's greatness I think being squandered with immorality and unjustness and we're seeing all kinds of corruption I believe in Washington and other places and that's why even democracy I wonder if that's maybe why some of our young people are saying forget capitalism even though as older viewers I hate it's worked really well they're saying forget about it there's injustice and imbalance and I think that's coming from this idea that we are not not good there's greediness there's the same kind of corrupt capitalism where people are getting more for themselves and they don't want to help others and it becomes a very self-centered kind of thing so no matter what form of government you're talking about it's all gonna fail whenever you involve humanity people I believe that the United States is as a great form of government because of what we're still riding on some of the momentum of the faith of our fathers our founders and some of the goodness that came from Americans before us but the further away we get from God and from Christ and the further we push Christ out of our schools and the more we become atheists and irreligious the more our form of government will fail that that's a prediction I'll make the further away we get from from God and morality from the Bible the more we are going to fail in democracy and in capitalism and all that stuff the Jews kind of reached that point where God says you're capitalism buying and selling lands and wanting more for yourselves you've become greedy and the Lord says you it'll be emptiness and you won't find goodness there so covetousness ruthlessness corrupt capitalism that's number one so he says whoa verses 8 through 10 the second woe is in verse 11 it says woe unto them that rise up early in the morning right there I like that no early risers check you guys are saying man I'm not getting up early I like that have you noticed yourself sleeping in a little bit since the since we've been under quarantine and locked down where some of you maybe aren't going to work like he did before people are sleeping in I'm afraid but that's sadly not what he's saying here let's finish this says woe unto them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink and continue until night party down from morning till night and that continue until night till the wine inflame them and the harp and the viola and the tablet and the pipe and the wine are in their feasts but they regard not the work the Lord neither consider the operation of his hands therefore my people are gone into captivity because they have no knowledge their honorable men are famished and their multitude dried up with thirst therefore hell hath enlarged itself and opened her mouth without measure and their glory and their multitude in their pomp and he that rejoices shall descend into it into hell and the mean man shall be brought down and the mighty man shall be humbled and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled but the Lord of Hosts shall be exalted in judgment and God that is holy shall be sanctified in the righteousness then shall the lambs feed after their manner and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat what's going on here the woe number two is the whoa to hedonism hedonism what does hedonism remember it's just a you know pursuing of pleasure beyond everything else hedonistic cultures and societies have come and gone throughout the ages and largely as Americans we've lived for pleasure and for we've pursued pleasure and you know it's interesting there's a there's a difference between the pursuit of happiness versus the pursuit of just self-centered pleasure hedonism I think we see it may be displayed even the last few weeks when we saw the coronavirus you know spreading rapidly and you know we during spring break we gave everybody the warning go home stay home save lives that whole thing meanwhile our college-age party animals were down in Panama Beach Florida you know partying and twerking and drinking and playing around down there just this week if you follow the news a lot of those kids as it turns out got the coronavirus and and what they're also finding is the corona virus is not as brutal only to the elderly and they're finding out just today I saw a doctor come out saying well we're finding that there are young people that are dying too of the coronavirus the kovat 19 and you know really hedonism is kind of that picture if you could picture you know at all cost living for pleasure as you you know maybe you saw some of the interviews of those college students saying we're young and our immunity immunity system is stronger than old people so we can be down here busting a move on the beach ID having a great time but you know that they didn't realize that not only they could get sick and die but also that grandma would would be catching the virus from them or older people and that's how it spreads rampantly and so there was a very self-centred kind of thing and now those kids are getting kind of a there's even a name that they're calling it now Cove idiots people that have the the lack of you know social distancing skills and aren't taking it seriously they're calling Cove idiots I'm not promoting that I just I just kind of caught me in sort of funny but be that as it may this idea of you know hedonism where we see you know just a rampant pursuit of pleasure the Lord says basically those people that are doing that they're they're gonna go into captivity they're gonna end up in captivity even thrown into the very pit of hell verse 14 says and even the great men the average man the low man it doesn't matter who you are pursuit of that kind of pleasure will throw you into hell and you'll be humbled the Lord will be exalted but the hedonistic will be humbled man I hope we're careful on this one because we have been a culture that lives for pleasure and for happiness and comfort I think this you know quarantine eing and locking down has been hard for some people because you could go wherever you wanted to go you could eat whatever you want to eat you could eat at restaurants you know seven days a week and you know we've been living in this prosperity and pleasure and suddenly you can't go eat at restaurants and who would have thought you know we'd be locked down in our homes and they're even talking about tracking people with their cell phones and and all this stuff and it almost seems like you know George Orwell kind of situation you know where people are being watched and all that you might say man I feel so confined and so stuck maybe this is the Lord just showing us to be careful not to be so into the pursuit of pleasure hedonistic to to fail and the Lord says I will be exalted you guys are going down if you're gonna live for pleasure so 1/2 the Jews there and woe unto us when people pursue number one corrupt capitalism woe unto you number two hedonism the pursuing of just pleasure at all costs and then we come to the third woe the third woe is verse 18 woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as it were a cart rope that say let him make speed and hasten his work that we may see it and let the counsel the Holy One of Israel draw near and come that we may know it now this might sound good at first but it's not it's a really really bad thing what are these people doing they're taking up sinful iniquity yucky sinfulness and they're drawing it in with ropes and they're saying come over here God look at what we're doing and see what you think about it they're they're doing sinful stuff and they're doing it in the face of God and we're gonna call this liberalism number one is hedonism our part many corrupt capitalism number two hedonism number three is liberalism loose with looseness with sin doing things that are seemed to be free and and valid and acceptable when in the eyes of God they are not and this liberalism tends to become a thing where men flaunt it in the face of God and that's one of the pitfalls of this loose liberalism looseness with sin and they say come on Lord hurry up and and come and see look look you may know what we're doing and I believe that's what we see when people march down the streets of Portland with the rainbows and the and the you know gay and lesbian you know and you know transgender and all the various groups that are very much flaunting what they say look what we're doing and who cares what God thinks that's exactly what this is talking about just people doing sinful stuff that the Bible calls sin and then then flashing in the face of God saying yeah whatever the problem is and this is the tragic part God calls that sin not because he doesn't like gay people God calls that sin because certain lifestyles that the Bible outlines will be harmful to you they hurt you you're the one if you're living that gay lifestyle or lesbian lifestyle you know doing that stuff that's that's flaunting in front of God it's you that will be hurting and that's why God as a loving God said man I forbid things that are called sin because I want you to flourish and do well but there's certain people saying yeah whatever god it's like the three-year-old and the mother trying to warn don't touch that red hot stove it'll hurt you but the three-year-old is enamored with the red-hot stove and reaches and sort of in a trance reaching wanting to touch that hot stove and the the good mother will grab that child and pull away so that she not be burned by the red-hot stove God has tried with you know to pull people away from things that will hurt them but we mesmerized by our own you know lust for sinfulness we keep moving toward that and that's what the world is doing today that's what the Jews were doing then and and there's a point where they're gonna they're gonna flaunt it so much that's where God like in Romans chapter 1 talking about that very topic he says I will give you over to your lusts in your sins I'll let you do what you want and then you're gonna see why I called it sin and why it was bad it was not bad because I forbade it i forbade it because it was bad and it was gonna mess you up and that's this corrupt loose liberalism that we see happening today so basically these people are mockingly saying hurry up God let's see what you can do about this and some people make the mistake by the way of thinking that you know because God has not judged them right the second they miss understand God's patience perhaps you know sort of just not carrying an apathy about the sin but mark mark this well the wheels of God's judgement turned slowly but they grind thoroughly and these people here are gonna learn that these woes that Isaiah's sand these people are not going to listen and they're gonna learn the hard way and it's heartbreaking you want to see people do well and if you love people you'll tell them the truth some people say Brett you're a homophobe to say that stuff and people would get all upset but I'm telling you what the Bible teaches you don't have a problem of me you've got a problem with the Bible so tell people if you don't like this tell people you don't like what the Bible says but the sad thing is people that care they're gonna tell you things that matter people that could not care less about your future will say yeah man gay pride it's awesome but the Bible says man the way of the sinner is hard and the Lord loves us so much that he wants to keep us from sin so it's actually the Lord's love but it's being misinterpreted as whatever people want to call it it's funny how people call people names now it's that's that's the end of all arguments you know you call someone you know this or that it's like I just trumped you in in my argument by calling you a name homophobe or whatever no that's not really a legitimate way to talk about the topic um but all that said here's what the Bible says woe unto those people it's not a good thing that say we're gonna flaunt our sin in the face of God so you got number one corrupt you know capitalism number two hedonism number three liberalism and then number four we we have kind of the next one relativism or if you want depending on the way you were taught existentialism you can call either one but let's let's look at it right here it's in verse 20 it says woe unto them that call evil good and good evil that put darkness for light and light for darkness that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter as they're switching of the good and the evil today see some people would that what I just said was evil you know it's amazing how that's been turned around here I'm a pastor teaching what the Bible says and a lot of our culture today would say well he's just an evil hater but that's exactly what the Bible said would happen in fact it's not just here but in the last days the Bible says that people will call good evil and evil good and so you know the people to get celebrated today are oftentimes the people that are doing the grossest stuff it's amazing this dichotomy that we're seeing you know one minute weinstein is getting put in prison for all the evil that he's done which is totally evil but at the same time we're celebrating these lusty sexually perverse movies that he put out it's like we've got this double triple quadruple standard to approve things that are horrifyingly evil that he was the creator of and then when he acted out on ways that he actually movies that we all celebrate that have the same exact sexual perversion then we throw him in prison which we should have and he deserves to be there but it's such a double standard people you know it's like this my sin on you looks very evil but my sin on me it's not so bad I'm a pretty good person and I enjoyed that you know movie and because I enjoyed it it must be a good thing people have this weird relativism if it's evil for you then good for you but don't tell me what's evil or what's right or what's wrong there are no absolutes and that's again what college professors have been pushing for decades now there are no absolutes and I always like to ask them are you absolutely sure because they say it but what they're saying you know elementary logic tells us you cannot say that there are no absolutes because that's an absolute statement which means there are absolutes kind of harebrained if you ask me but I'm a lot of our young people over the last 20-30 years have been sort of indoctrinated by these so-called thinkers and and by the way that kind of brings us to the next group of people and that's a number what are we got number five intellectualism that's the next one so you got corrupt capitalism hedonism you got liberalism relativism and then number five intellectualism in fact we see that in verse 21 it says woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes whoa unto them that are prudent or smart smart thinking in their own in their own sight woe unto them well these are the people that think they're really smart think they're smarter than everybody else and by the way that's one of the things there's a lot of people that think they're smarter than everybody else and you see this condescending sort of attitude you know it's funny the older I get the more I almost just so appreciate the simple people that are just simple and and and what I've found is there are people that have learned how to look really smart but they're actually not and then there's people that look kind of dumb but they're actually really smart it's amazing to me how you know we see this all over the place and I hope you hope you younger people can see through this because you can go to a college or university and find your you know pipe puffing cardigan sweater wearing professor a-z pontificates and puffs as pipe and you think wow what an intellect what a brain and uses fancy words and stuff like that but you know I'm actually learning to be more impressed and I've read a lot of those guys I've been through college and all that stuff and I'm just not impressed they sound smart but many of them now don't get me wrong there are smart people out there that are scholarly and man I love those and there are some in colleges and universities and you know some of our and you know there's smart people out there but I'm sometimes impressed with the guy that knows how to fix your plumbing in your house or the guy that does how to lay tile and that guy who knows how to fix a leak in your house I'm more impressed with these construction workers who can build a bridge that withstands a you know an earthquake and the guys who know how to design those things and I mean you know that to me is in some ways real intellect where you know I'm kind of impressed really but I've found that there's there's guys you know that sound like Hicks you know and they talk sort of like tell you what Bert Mayer they might just be smarter than you be careful with this sort of appearance of intellectualism because I believe we've become so open-minded that our brains have fallen out and our intellects man they seem so smart but they're the ones saying stuff like this that you know you know it's all relative there's nothing that's for sure and you know how do you know it's good or how do you know it's bad or evil and they're raising all these questions and the Bible says they they are professing themselves to be wise they become fools that's what we're seeing today and so you young people be careful there's a lot of very deceptive smart looking people that you're maybe learning under in colleges and universities and and there's some smart ones but men it's a little tricky figuring out which ones are right and which ones are wrong I'm gonna go out on the limb because I know a lot of you believe in evolution perhaps that are listening to this teaching or online live with us right now but you know evolution it's just such a fantasy and we've bought into this this whole thing now real science is even starting to jump ship and they have for quite a while they're trying to figure out another theory that might not be so stupid like it's so amazing to me that you really believe people believed that there was just you some some you know prebiotics premortal type soup that was stricken with some kind of a charge of electricity and suddenly life went into that little single cell and even if you believe that that little cell you know that cell for that to exist there had to be a perfect sequence of things to make that cell and work and and then to have those cells replicate themselves and duplicate each one it'd be like if you had a mousetrap if you took a mousetrap pretty basic little thing if you ever looked at them an old-school mousetrap you know if you took any one thing off of that mousetrap it wouldn't work anymore if you took the little you know spring off of it or if you took the little arm that holds the lever down that's gonna crush the unsuspecting mice if you took any one part of that out of there you would suddenly have a dysfunctional mousetrap and what evolution wants you to believe is that there's been a replication of everything that's needed to happen just by accidental set of circumstances and this is why by the way they've they have to say billions and billions of years because they believe that the chances they know that the chances the odds of that happening are so impossible that they need billions of years it'd be like if you had a giant warehouse full of airplane parts and then you shook that up and you just kept shaking how long would you have to shake that big hangar with all those airplane parts how long would you have to shake it to have it suddenly come together and form a 747 that's in working condition you see that's why they take billions of years because that's not going to happen in a billion years it's a fantasy the whole evolutionary theory now we see micro evolution where adaptation within the same species and they use that as sort of evidence we that's clear that we see that but macro evolution where you know interspecies and eventually that fish grew an arm and crawled out on the beach and grew an eyeball and all that that's just total I'm sorry you really have to think through is it really even possible I think it's easier to believe that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth that's that's a much more intellectually honest sort of deal you've got intelligent design the reason we believe in design is because when you look at the human cell and you see your poly nucleotide strands of DNA in your body you see a sequence that has to be so perfect it's an information that's perfectly coded and if that code gets out of whack just a little bit then you're you're gonna be totally messed up and and the fact that that that intelligent code and sequence is so perfect that it's got more information you know then volumes of volumes of books that have to be sequentially totally accurate to think that just accidentally optin happened is a fantasy so isn't it funny that our so-called intellectuals that's that's the basis of a lot of their worldview as evolution and that's why it's such a battleground in education that's why people right now are probably because people believe they're professors and so-called scientists and they're some of you are dismissing what I'm saying right now but if you really do an honest look at it and do this science study yourself you'll find that there's holes everywhere even Darwin said you know that it was far-fetched read his book chapter six tells us where Darwin even said men I know it sounds totally far-fetched and it's gonna the truth is I believe it's impossible so so the question is are you part of this are you one of these people part of this woe of thinking ourselves more smart and intellectual than we really are I believe that God's saying this to the Jews woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes woe unto them that are prudent in their own sight they think they know it all nope only God knows all things that's why I love leaning on the Bible I'm not leaning on my own intellect or what-have-you I'm gonna I'm gonna trust in the true and living God so you've got number one corrupt capitalism number to hedonism number three liberalism number four relativism or existentialism number five intellectualism and then the sixth ISM that God in Deitz the people of Israel is right here is alcoholism oh no Pastor Rick you're not gonna bash that one - nope God is right here verse 22 woe into them that are mighty to drink wine and men of strength to mingle strong drink which justify the wicked for therefore reward and take away righteousness of the righteous from him well into them there into this strong dream and drinking some of your translations the newer translations sort of put it rightly it's like you're a champion of mixed drinks you're like really into that whole thing and making strong alcoholic beverages and stuff like that you know I see this and it makes me nervous enough for people even in our church that sort of celebrate making mixed drinks there's Christian websites now where they talk about your favorite mixed drinks and how you can become really good a champion of making mixed drinks and here's the Lord saying woe unto those people I think we should be cautious about this you know when Jesus drank wine it was you know wine and it was good wine but it wasn't you know Jack Daniels and it wasn't making margaritas and all this stuff like this that were so into now that was the way they drink they had water and they had milk and they had wine that's pretty much your three choices they didn't have ice tea or Pepsi or coke or orange juice as much but they did have wine water and those two things could last and then be stored and that's why they drink it but it wasn't fermented to the level of craziness and that's why the Lord tells us don't be drunk with wine that is a sin in the Bible when you're tipsy or drunk or even buzzed that's all sin the Bible says and the people of Israel became so into their wine they started mixing their drinks and making it more powerful and the Lord says unto them woe unto them and then because of their drinking they sort of lost good judgment it sort of reminds me of what you know Solomon's mother said it's not for kings Oh Lemuel to be given a strong drink unless they you know forget the law and pervert good judgment that's in Proverbs 31 same thing here these people are drinking and then they start justifying the wicked their judgment is and they take away righteousness of the righteous so they they just do evil deeds when they start you know swinging the brews and getting into their mixed drinks man I I know that I sound like a legalist or like a teetotaler which I am but I would say you know think about not drinking just think about it why why not just say you know what in this culture of alcoholism and people getting drunk all the time and and it being a real problem in our culture what if we just said I'm free not to drink it's not that the Bible says you can't drink alcohol but what if you just said I'm gonna instead of playing the game and playing with fire what if you just said I'm gonna abstain from drinking altogether and what would be your reasoning stay out of trouble number two care about people that are alcoholics that you know people in your family people that are your friends that come over to your house if you're there drinking something other than alcohol you're supporting them and you're standing with them and you're not gonna stumble your brother you know there's so many good benefits of saying you know what we're just gonna abstain it's not a got - it's a get - for me I don't feel like you have to not drink and that you're a sinner if you drink alcohol I just find great Liberty personally in not having to do deal with that at all so just something for you to think about if you don't like what I said then just be careful because if you are getting drunk or buzzed that's just sin at least all kinds of trouble so don't do that well then the Lord continues after those six woes the Lord speaks through Isaiah and continues this it says in verse 24 therefore as the fire devours the stubble as the flame consumes the chaff so their root shall be as rottenness and their blossom shall go up as dust because they cast away the law of the Lord the Lord of Hosts and despise the word of the Holy One of Israel what did they do they despised his word I hope you don't do that as tonight we're talking about hedonism liberalism you know we talked about homosexuality some of you despise what we're saying here but this is the problem that's the problem and watch as Lord continues talking to these people their futures not that bright verse 25 therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against his people and he hath stretched forth his hand against them and hath smitten them and the hills did tremble and the carcasses were torn in the midst of the streets for all this anger has not turned away but his hand is stretched out still who that sounds pretty bad carcasses of people that's what happened whether it was the Assyrians or the Babylonians after Isaiah prophesied these things both of those nations pillaged and plundered raped and killed people in the streets of Jerusalem it was an ugly horrifying time for the Jews this all came to pass just like the Lord said now in the end of verse 25 leaves a question with scholars that love the Bible what does it mean when it says all this Lord's angers not turned away but his hand is stretched out still some of your newer translations say that his hand is raised up still like he's gonna smack ya um is it smacking raised up or is it stretched out trying to save you that's the thing people don't the scholars don't really know is it is it a loving hand trying to pull them out of their own sinful depravity or is the hand ready to smack them again and the answer we don't know and if that troubles you let me just give you some word of comfort that hand of Jesus Christ that's gonna come and rule and reign in this world if you look closely don't forget that same as hand has little nail prints scars he's the one who stretched out his hand on the cross for the sins of the world and all we need to do is confess repent turn to Christ and be saved and that's the hand I'm gonna go to so I think that whether it's a hand outstretched to smack or hand outstretched to save it is kind of to you whether you're gonna be saved by the hand of the Lord or you're gonna be whacked by the hand of the Lord it's up to you whether you're gonna believe or not verse 26 it says and he will lift up an ensign or a banner or a sign to the nation's from are and will hiss unto them or whistle like this like wow whoa Nelly that's what they're whistling like they will hiss unto them from the end of the earth and behold they shall come with speeds swiftly that's the Babylonians in the Assyrians they're gonna come Swiss swiftly in the world's gonna go bad news verse 27 none shall be weary nor stumble among them the armies of the enemy Babylonians they're gonna be tough in the Assyrians none shall slumber nor sleep neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed nor their lachen of their shoes be broken whose arrows are sharp and their bows bent their horses whose shall be counted like flint and their wheels like whirlwind and there roaring shall be like a lion they shall roar like young lions they shall roar and lay hold of the prey and shall carry it away safe and none shall deliver it and in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea and if one look unto the land behold darkness and sorrow and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof this is just a very scary end of secularism people that are living the secularism and that's the last ISM that I'll talk about in Chapter five his secularism all of these things corrupt capitalism hedonism liberalism relativism intellectualism alcoholism secularism is the summary and the the armies are gonna come against those who are against the Lord and that's just the way it's gonna be first John chapter 2 verse 15 says this it says love not the world neither the things that are in the world if any man love the world and the love of the father's not in him for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes the pride of life is not the father of the Father but is of the world so you have to ask yourself we have to ask ourselves are we into the lust of flesh the pride of life the less the eyes the Bible says the Lord is not in us that was the condition of the Jews in Isaiah's prophecy and that brings us to chapter 6 in verse 1 it says in the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple we looked at verses 1 through 5 on Sunday and if you missed that you'll want to you know download you know pick up that teaching and catch up because we spent a lot of time on these verses but I didn't give you some of the details so I'm gonna fill in some details and if you missed the meaning on Sunday I'll need to catch up but in the year King Uzziah died that would have been about seven thirty nine BC is when you Ziya the King died if you're just getting your notes together on this and Uzziah was that great king and he had to die so that Isaiah could see the Lord yes I was a great king and his goodness and greatness seemed to almost eclipsed what God was doing and so when his iodide then Isaiah saw this beautiful vision of the Lord High and lifted up now the word Lord there is not Jehovah that's notice they're not there's no capital letters l Ord it's the different Lord there which means it comes from the Hebrew Adonai which is a cool sort of title of God which means the sovereign one I don't I mean sovereign one and so it could almost say I saw the sovereign one God sitting upon the throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple some of you guys are thinking what kind of locomotive was that or some of you ladies are thinking what kind of wedding dress was that the train but it's neither one of those the word train in the Hebrew is the word shul and the word shul is a very specific word that we don't really even have a word in our English that has the same meaning because we don't have the same thing some translate the word shul to robe his robe filled the temple but the word robes not correct either it's the hem of the robe that's in that particular word shul it's the hem so who cares about that we'll see that's just it we don't really care about hems anymore but in Bible times when you were a robe a priestly robe or a kingly robe it would have a very specific hem and the hem would sort of tell us about who you were it'd be a little bit like are you knows you know soldiers or you know you know the Marines or whatever when you see them in their dress dress attire they have the bars that kind of tell you about what they've done what their exploits included and and then they have rankings and stuff in Bible times the hem that would tell us that the hem of a garment and this is the idea when it says his hem shul train filled the temple why because it was there was so much that he's done it's almost too much to speak of and so that's the idea of his train filled the temple shul the hem of his robe by the way that's that same word is the word that's used in the story of David remember when he cut the hem of Saul's garment as the king he was cutting off it'd be like you walking up to an admiral and you know a four-star general or whatever and tearing off his four stars that's what David did when he cut the hem of Saul's garment so that's kind of the image er this beautiful train with God sitting on the throne with this this this hem that speaks of his exploits filling the temple and above it the throne there verse two stood the seraphim's each one had six wings with two he covered his face with two he covered his feet that says there and with two he did fly what's a Seraphim it's interesting because the Bible doesn't talk much about seraphim's only Isaiah talks about seraphim's other books of the Bible talk about cherubim well what's the difference between cherubim or Seraphim or cherubim or Sarafine depending on how you want to pronounce it but you know the thing is the main difference between the cherubim and the Seraphim some people say there's no difference and they make them the same and I wouldn't argue to death about that but I do believe there might be some differences between series cherubim and Seraphim the cherubim seemed to in their appearances that we read about in Genesis Exodus Kings and the book of Revelation we read about cherubim and they seemed to have four faces like in the book of Revelation and four wings Seraphim seem to have six wings in the Bible the main role of both cherub cherubim and Seraphim is to sit at the throne and worship God that's where we see these intelligent sort of beautiful they might sound ugly because they have faces and six wings and all this stuff but I have a hunch that when we see these creatures when we're standing before the throne we're gonna be blown away at their beauty perhaps you know could Satan have been a sort of Seraphim because it's interesting because the the Hebrew word serif it means burning and and it's interesting because Seraphim appearing here in Isaiah the name means burning ones or flying serpents flying serpents are we talking about dragons with six wings flying around burning blowing fire out of their nose I don't know but that seems to be a little bit of a hint of what these creatures have so the Seraphim used two of their wings for flight as the cherubim but they're among the highest order of angelic beings that seems to be what these cherubim Seraphim creatures are and the reason that's important is when you get to heaven you won't be a tourist oh there's a Seraphim well how do you know it's not a cherubim six wings and somehow burning fire somehow cherubim has four wings and four faces so now you know well they're there flight is the seraphim's flying over the throne and then verse 3 it says and one cried to another and said holy holy holy is the Lord there's the word Lord in all caps at Thor Jehovah is the Lord of Hosts and the whole earth is full of his glory and the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried and the house was filled with smoke now the Seraphim cries out holy holy and can you imagine the doorposts shaking in your house have you ever had that happen Deb and I used to live in Tualatin not far from not too far maybe yeah maybe a mile away from a big quarry and man once in a while they'd put some dynamite in that quarry and blow the quarry and man our whole house would just go cookin and those of you that live in parts of two walls and you you probably know what I'm talking about there and you're gonna hang on to the lamps and stuff hopefully not having everything fall over and stuff in your sheetrock cracking and stuff but but but that's kind of what I picture when this Seraphim says holy holy holy it's like wow the doorpost are just off trying now you say well Brett that's impressive but you gotta understand this Seraphim is a is a tiny creature compared to God so here's God seated upon the throne and this little Seraphim fly around that God could just swap with a flyswatter but when he the seraphim's speaks is it's shaking the door like this is just such an impressive image to me and when we stand before God I think we're gonna be in such aa that will fall flat on our face every time in the Bible you see somebody stand before the throne of God you see them fall flat on their face we are gonna see this and this is just a little hint but this powerful mighty Seraphim is saying holy holy holy and we talked about that on Sunday the word holy means whole altogether perfect laughs lacking for nothing now some of you might say well why three times why be redundant why does it say holy is the Lord of Hosts don't know for sure but I believe it might just speak to the three-part being of God holy holy holy God the Father God the Son God the Holy Spirit all three holy three and one the mystery of the Trinity great is the mist of godliness Paul told young Timothy and there in that verse talking about there was God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Spirit it's all there holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty you know who was and is in his two-gun that's what they're gonna cry out there in the book of Revelation well verse 5 then said I whoa is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the king the Lord as soon as he sees the King as I says oh woe is me now have you ever heard of Jew say this remark boy Vey where did that come from it came from this when he says woe is me woe Vey that's where it's the Hebrew you know you know you dish kind of form of the same thing that Isaiah's saying what I say is saying here is through the ages been translated down to become boy hey what was me oh I can't believe this this is amazing yeah you know kind of thing and that's what what Isaiah is who knew what he would be starting there when he said woe is me but he says for I am undone you'll see the the margin says there that I am cut off that means cut short of being complete I'm lacking stuff the Lord is holy he lacks for nothing but Isaiah and the presence of God realized he lacks everything and so he says any and he comes to a specific one that he knows he lacks I am a man of unclean lips apparently Isaiah had a problem with his speech saying stuff he shouldn't have I'm getting into himself into trouble he says I dwell with the people of unclean lips Brett was he swearing like a sailor was he a guy who cussed all the time I don't know if it was that it may have been gossip or trash talking people or maybe just the previous chapter he was getting a little too much joy out of wooing everybody I don't know but he knew that he had a sin that was dirty so what does he do verse 6 then flew one of the seraphim's unto me can you imagine this I wonder if Isaiah was petrified the Seraphim comes to Isaiah having a live coal in his hand which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar and he said that part me and he laid it upon my mouth and said lo this has touched thy lips and my iniquity is taken away and my sin is purged who I remember reading this is a little kid thinking wow your lips are sensitive have you read chapped lips hurts when your lips are cracked and the little tender skin on your lips suddenly there's this live glowing coal from the fire and the Seraphim goes do they still see your stuff on your body I've heard like people that bloody noses they'll stick a hot thing up their nose and sear those vessels to keep them from you know having bloody noses that sounds really unpleasant to me but this was kind of what Isaiah's getting but it's all it's all a symbolic thing of his filthy dirty mouth is being cauterized or beings you know seared with hot coals so that he'd be cleansed and it wouldn't be dirty any longer um he said well why was God doing that that's mean well I think it's preparing him for what's to come what's to come is he's gonna be used check this out verse 8 also i heard the voice of the Lord saying whom shall I send and who will go for us there's the S there again the Father the Son the Holy Spirit that's what I believe the Trinity then verse 8 middle part said I hears Isaiah just having his lips freshly cauterized then said I here am I send me don't you love Isaiah here or I'm here my lips have just been cleaned I'm still kind of hurt from that but send me I'll go and send I'll go for you I will I'll be your servant you know I love this because Isaiah may not have been the most amazing guy in some ways but the best ability it's been said his availability and he says here am I send me are you available if the Lord wanted you to do something would you say Lord here am i I'm ready to go send me or man don't pick me pick somebody else oh god there's other people doing stuff for the kingdom of God because I sure I'm not gonna do it glad that you know certain people are talking about the gospel because people need to be saved but I'm not gonna do it don't be that person the best ability is availability and I'm not passive but active that's Isaiah he says here am I send me so verse 9 there's kind of an interesting thing about the sending of that Isaiah was gonna do because he's gonna go preach to the people but it's gonna be worthwhile verse 9 and he said go and tell this people hear ye indeed but understand not and cee indeed but perceive not make the heart of this people fat and make their ears heavy or death and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and convert and be healed right it seems to me like God sending eyes in he's gonna make them not hear he's gonna make them not see and he's gonna make them fat and useless and they're not gonna understand and they won't be converted and they won't be healed that's what God wants is that right yes that's Isaiah's job he's just gonna go and say here's what's gonna happen to you guys you're condemned and you're not gonna be saved hmm so verse 11 then said I Isaiah says Lord how long how long is this going to go on for where the people are going to be deaf and blind and not to hear what you're saying they're purposely sort of being blinded by you Lord and he answered until the cities be wasted without inhabitant and the houses without a man and the land be utterly desolate and the LORD hath removed men far away and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land the Lord says until they're destroyed pretty much and that's what happened the sad story is Isaiah preached these prophecies to the people but they did not have ears to hear so by and large they were all deaf blind and dragged off into captivity and killed like it says they're sad sad story well Brett is there any good news yes at the very last verse of this chapter verse 13 but yet in it shall be a tenth and it shall return and shall be eaten as a teal tree and as an oak whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof a tenth of the people would be sort of saved in fact by the way a tenth of the people Nebuchadnezzar would leave behind in Jerusalem to sort of stay there they were sort of this tiny little remnant and then the Lord would use them to sort of be the seed to replant and restore so God he sees an end for most of these peoples and you're done you're not III I'm you know I'm giving you over to your own sinful isms secularism I'm giving you over to that and you're all gonna die or be hauled off into captivity except for a tiny little remnant and the Lord saved that little remnant because he had a covenant with the Jews that he would never completely leave them or forsake them and isn't it interesting that Jerusalem did set in desolation for 2,000 years isn't it interesting that God has regathered his people and when we get to the prophecies of Ezekiel he's going to talk more about the aftermath of this and the the scattering of the Jews and then him bringing them back to life in His mercy that God has not done with the Jew but he's got a plan for them I don't know about you but I'd rather be one of the tenth the faithful staying behind holding the fort down still walking with the Lord and that's what we have to choose tonight are we gonna be those that follow after the Lord or are we gonna be those who reject the Lord that's the question and the Jews here they've got some tough days ahead of them because of the rebellion I wonder if this coronavirus crisis that we're in right now it's just a reminder of what with some of these coming attractions for us because in the same way God has given us his word and largely we have rejected it and we continue to reject it and the Bible says there's coming a time where God's gonna do the same thing with humanity whereas wrath was poured out the the Tribulation Period that where's wrath is poured out upon a christ-rejecting sinful world and Men you know you and I we don't have to be afraid of that some of you might be that's so scary oh it is unless you're saved unless your Bible says comfort yourself with these words that we are not appointed unto wrath read 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 in chapter 5 and it talks about the plan God has to pull us out before the wrath comes down so we might go through these birth pains and these times like right now watching things happen but ultimately we're going to be taken out we're gonna be like this remnant that's saved we're gonna be taken up to heaven to be with the Lord so comfort each other with these words don't be afraid during these times because we're gonna be saved the Lord's got us and no man can pluck us out of the hand of the Father so there you have it Isaiah chapter 5 in chapter 6 and we'll start looking at chapter 7 Lord willing next week so let's pray together and lord we're so thankful for your word it's living it's powerful sharper than any two-edged sword and I pray that these challenging notions of what the world accepts and what we perhaps have been sucked into to believe from college professors or from the Hollywood messaging and and marketing and all the stuff that we tend to buy into Lord may your word cauterize our minds and our lips and our eyes even as Isaiah had a problem with his lips that need to be cleansed Lord I pray that you'd cleanse us that you've caused us to see sin for what it is and not to be a people that just sort of glanced at things and and not really think much of it but I pray that we'd see sin for what it is that we'd be like Jesus taught us Lord to be those that are blessed who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled so Lord bless these your people who have taken this time tonight to study the scriptures and I pray that it would bring forth good fruit in our lives this evening and this we pray in Jesus name Amen [Music] you

Channel: Athey Creek

Views: 4,667

Rating: 4.7818184 out of 5

Keywords: Brett Meador, Bible, Church, Teaching, Study, Christian, Jesus, Micah DePaoli, Oregon, Through the Bible, m2-295, Woe, Socialism, Communism, Intellectualism, Liberalism, Materialism, Relativism, Secular(ism), Alcoholism, Alcohol, Evolution, Pride, Cherubim, Cleanse/Cleansing, Remnant

Id: bGNjzys0-mc

Length: 66min 39sec (3999 seconds)

Published: Wed May 20 2020