Another prophecy of destruction
and how God is able to destroy in so many different ways. He can
dry up the rain. The word in the commentaries
seems to be here that that's what happened to see some inlet
or other that was the lifeblood of this harbor city had dried
up. There was some type of drought
or something. God can bring war, famine, so-called natural disasters.
It's his world. And he does what he wants to
do with it and in it. Nebuchadnezzar, when God brought
him so low from so high, said in Daniel 4.37, now I, Nebuchadnezzar,
Praise and extol and honor the king of heaven, all whose works
are truth and his ways judgment. And that's what we're learning.
We're learning his ways. How does God do things? And why? And to what end? And those that
walk in pride, he's able to abase. Those proud cities that represent
the pride of those that build them. They are laid waste because they
boast in themselves. Because they are idolaters and
despise the God that made them what they are. That's what Nebuchadnezzar
did. Look at the great empire that
I've built. And God said, I gave it to you
and I'm fixing to take it away from you. And everything else, even the
very faculties of your mind, the basic abilities that you
have that you take for granted, that I gave you, I'm going to
take them away too. Until you praise and extol the King of
Heaven. And so these great cities, they
picture the ones that build them. Proud and godless, idolatrous. They're a reflection of those
that build them. Just like every sinner, we brag on ourselves.
We trust in ourselves. It is our own will that determines
our eternal destiny, you know. And no one can infringe upon
that. And when God comes and pulls the rug out from under
us, and that's what he does. He'll
pull the rug. What's down is going to be up, and what was
up is going to be down. When God comes. It's not pleasant to the flesh
when he comes. We experience so many different things and
we perceive things and we experience joy and pain and everything in
between. But every once in a while, something
happens that changes the way you perceive everything. Every experience is different. And the most marked example of
that is when God comes and turns the light on. You know, that
still happens in the life of the believer, doesn't it? You
know something else that can do that? Change the way you see
everything. A little bit of age. A little
bit of time. A little time. Your perspective
on everything begins to change and by God's
grace that's good. If you're in his grace. But he'll
pull it out from under you. He'll knock the stuffing out
of you. Mercy is God's prerogative. will come and destroy you in
mercy or he'll destroy you in judgment, but you're getting
destroyed either way. And the verdict on you is in
the timing. Will God bring you down now in
this lifetime while there's hope, while there's space for repentance? Will he break your proud heart
while you have breath? Or will he destroy you after? It is appointed unto men once
to die, but after this the judgment. And again, let me be clear, everybody
gets destroyed. It's just a question of when. Those that fall upon him are
broken. Those upon whom he falls are crushed. Everybody's busted
either way, aren't they? But there's a big difference.
There's a big difference. All of God's elect will be brought
down in the loving providence of God in this life. All of his
elect. It's not going to be too late
for you. You're not going to be deceived. If it were possible,
you would, but it's not. All of his elect at the time
of love will be brought down. And this is what this is a picture
of. Of course, it's a picture of judgment, pure, eternal judgment,
too. But we see the salvation of his
elect here. God will reveal to his sheep
that they are nothing at all, and he is all. God will shatter
all of our fleshly dreams and teach us of himself. He'll cause
us to see that all of our righteousnesses are sin. All of our achievements
are garbage. Isn't that what Paul, that's
a nice word for what Paul called all of his achievements. The
word he used was nastier. Garbage is a kind word. Everything
we build, everything we do, everything we are. And he'll reveal to us that we
must have Christ and be found in him. Wasn't that Paul's desire?
To be found in him. the burden of Tyre, the sorrow. How he ships of Tarshish, for
it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in. From the land of Chittim it is
revealed to them, the ships are mentioned, because Tyre was a
bustling seaport, it was the glory of Tyre, The great harbor
that it had where most of its business was transacted. There
were great businessmen there and they were very successful.
But God put them out of business. And God says, Howl. That impressed me. God says,
Howl. Religion talks about how gentlemanly
God is. You know that he won't violate
your will or impose himself upon you. You know, he's too much
of a gentleman. He waits by politely to see if
you're gonna honor him or change your ways or not. I don't see
that God in scripture, do you? He will come and cause your world
to crumble down around your head and he'll say to you, howl. Howl. When my God gets ready to put
you out of business, you're out of business. And you'll praise him for it
because your business is self-destruction. There's a way that seemeth right
unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death, destruction.
And it doesn't matter what you call it. It's spiritual suicide to defy
God. And so when he stops you, when
he puts you out of that business, you'll be grateful for it. And
more so all the time. Verse two, be still ye inhabitants
of the Isle, thou whom the merchants of Zidon that pass over the sea
have replenished, and by great waters, the seed of Sihor, the
harvest of the river, her revenue, and she is a mart of nations.
You see, the business, the great importance of this great city,
the richness of it, a mart of nations. And this is the rich
man that was not rich toward God that we saw this morning.
This city, God doesn't pronounce judgment upon cities, really.
I know that's in the scripture, but that's a picture. He pronounces
judgment upon sinners. This city represents us. Busy
and proud and rich, but not rich toward God. No time too busy
and successful to have any use for God. At a more convenient
time, maybe, I got business to take care of. Until God puts
you out of business. That's the way we'll be. God's
gonna wake us up one of these days if we're his and he's not
nice about it He's not nice about it Be thou
ashamed Oh Zadon For the sea hath spoken verse 4 even the
strength of the sea saying I travail not nor bring forth children
Neither do I nourish up young men Nor bring up virgins like
like a barren woman God dried up the lifeblood of that city,
which was the sea and either physically or just by some twist
of circumstance, no more business. Shut them down. Whatever it was
that he used to do that. Verse five, as at the report
concerning Egypt, so shall they be sorely pained at the report
of Tyre. Pass ye over to Tarshish, howl
ye inhabitants of the isle. Is this your joyous city whose
antiquity is of ancient days, her own feet shall carry her
afar off to sojourn. Is this your joyous city? And this is important to understand.
In the picture here, God takes away the prosperity of this place. But in the spiritual reality
of this, in what it pictures, he's just showing us what we
already are. It's not that we were successful really and then
God overturns that. It is that we think we are. We
think we're doing just fine. That's what it says in Revelation
where God speaks to his church and he rebukes them and he tells
them why he rebukes them in Revelation 3 17. Because you say I am rich
and increased with goods and have need of nothing. And knowest
not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind,
and naked. You talk about blind. True blindness
is somebody that's blind and don't know it. That's poor and
thinks they're rich. That's naked and thinks they're
clothed. This was an old and well-established
city, verse 7, the antiquity. And this is a problem for man
also. We dug in too much, aren't we? We dug in. Been around, a
lot of things have been going the way they have for so long.
The scoffers, the Apostle Peter said, the scoffers say things
continue as they always have. You talking about the Lord coming
back? Where is he? Everything's just like it's always
been. Ecclesiastes 8 11 says because
sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily Therefore
the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil Because you got away with it
for before you got away with it for a while, you know, you
were proud you bragged on yourself and talked about your free will
and and you know, God seems to be blessing that and Well, everybody
loves to hear that and gives their money and it looks like
prosperity, doesn't it? And so men's hearts are fully
set in them to do evil, you see. Don't judge your sin by the fact
that you seem to have gotten away with it. Judge righteous
judgment. How do you do that? This book
right here. Alone the word of God alone And notice in verse 4 that there's
shame God will take away everything you rejoice in in the flesh Everything
you take pride in everything you trust in everything you rely
on everything you delight in And he'll make you ashamed that
you ever trusted it Or loved it Is that true Shame. Shame. Not only was I blind and
proud and self-righteous and an absolute fool, but I had no
excuse. No excuse. Has God ever made you truly ashamed
of yourself? Job said, I abhor myself. Paul said, oh wretched man that
I am. You know what that is? Shame.
I'm flat a wretch. How about you? And I hadn't gotten any better.
My flesh hadn't gotten a bit better. It's all got to go though. It's
all got to go. And you're going to be ashamed
of it. And there's no place to hide, verse 12. You see that?
You're going to run, you're going to flee, and you're not going
to find any rest where you go either. Not going to happen.
There's one place of rest, and you're not there yet. God may
be driving you there, but you're not there yet. Well, what are
we going to do about it? What are we going to do about
it? Verse 2, be still. You see that? Be still. Quit. Quit doing. You've done enough. That's your problem is what you've
done. Let's find out now what God's going to do. When God is
dealing with you like this, it's time to be still and let's see
what God's going to do now. You know, it's just exactly the
opposite of what religion says. They say God's done all he can
do and now it's up to you. You know what the truth is? You
do, don't you? You've done everything you can
do. You've sold everything. You've paid every doctor every
penny you have until you're wiped out and you're only worse. And
now it's up to God. Let's see what he's gonna do. He may leave you right there. Then again, he may not. Because
you see, he delights to show mercy. And that's who he shows
mercy to, the destitute. The one who has spent all they
have is only worse. Be still, see she from man, be
still and know that he's God. Hebrews 4.10, for he that has
entered into his rest as God did from his has seized from
his own works. Have you ever thought about that
verse? He that enters into the rest of Christ. He said, come
to me, I'll give you rest. He that has done that, you know
what you're doing? You're ceasing from your own works just like
God did from his. You know why God ceased from
his own works? From what he did when he created
this universe? Because it was done. That's why. Everything was done. That's exactly
why you cease. It's done. That's why you cease from your
work. Everything is done, but not by me. Not by me. Everything that we have done
is sin. Let me be as clear as I can about this. We cease from
our works because they're sin. We just stop because we're just
digging ourselves deeper. They are the problem. All of
our righteousnesses. It's not what we consider our
sins, it's what we consider our goodness. That's our problem.
And we don't begin to do anything different or anything better
to help save ourselves. We don't try. We don't turn over
a new leaf or make some kind of a decision because we couldn't
do anything about our real problem anyway. And because Christ has already done it. He stopped in creation because
it was finished. And when we see his finished
work in the new creation, you know what we're going to do? We'll go rest. Verse 8, who hath
taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants
are princes, whose traffickers are the honorable of the earth?
The question is asked like this, who in the world and why? You
know, this is a great thing. Look at the beautiful, wonderful,
bustling, busy, prosperous city. What happened? Who in the world? Who could do anything about that?
You know, the rich man was pretty firm. He said, I've got many
things for many years and nobody can touch me. But somebody did. Who? What in the world happened? How could all of that go wrong?
How can that fail? Who could possibly destroy such
a well-established and great confederacy of businessmen and
honorable men? Here are the people who are the
best in the world at what they do. Who can put them out of business? It's asked as though it seems
impossible. There are so many fail safes
in place. You know, there's so much basis
for trust and reliability. We've got so much to fall back
on. We've gone to church all of our lives. My mom and daddy
raised me right. I tithe, I read my Bible, I do
this. This is us in our sin. We're well established and we're
good at what we do. Justifying ourselves. We're good
at it. We do our very best and always
have. We have so many disadvantages we're fighting against. It's
not our fault after all. We're giving to charity though
and we're reading our Bibles. Who can roust a self-righteous
sinner out of his false refuge? Who? Who? That's the question
here. I just want an answer to that. You're talking about impossible.
You're not going to do it. You're not going to convince
a self-righteous sinner that he's evil. He'll admit readily
right up front he's done some bad things, but you tell him
he is evil to the core. He is a personification of evil. You'll never convince him of
that. He got too much to fall back on. He got too many, he
got too good a resume. You're never going to talk the
proud Pharisee into believing that his best works are vile
and disgusting to God. You're not going to do it. But
I'll tell you who can. He does it all the time. The
Lord of hosts hath purposed it. He hath purposed it. To stain the pride of all glory. Why does God choose the weak
and the vile and the foolish and the wretched and the things
that are not? So no flesh of glory. Why does God save the
way he does? By grace through faith. And that
not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, how come?
Lest any man should boast. He's gonna stain all of the pride
of all of your glory and bring into contempt all of your honor. And you're gonna be okay with
it. When he gets done with you, you're gonna be okay with it.
You're gonna say, sure enough, I'm shameful and wretched. The pride of Satan was expressed
in two words, I will. Isaiah 14, 12, how art thou fallen
from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut
down to the ground, which did weaken the nations? For thou
hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt
my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the
mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will
ascend above the height of the clouds. I will be like the most
high. And God said, here's what's gonna
happen to you. Thou shalt be brought down. You're not gonna
do anything. I'm gonna do something to you. And that's where he comes
to us that same way. And shuts up our mouths about
this I will business. You won't find a single believer
talking about his free will. Not a one. Those days are over,
my friend. Thou shalt be brought down to
hell to the sides of the pit. And that's what God will do.
He'll hang you over hell. What is man so proud of that
he even names his churches Free Will Baptist Church? I will. The mighty will of man. The indomitable and inviolable
will of man. And guess what God is going to
utterly annihilate? He's going to wring you out with
regard to your will. There's evidence of it all through
the scripture. Saul of Tarsus was pretty proud, wasn't he?
I'm going to go do this, I'm going to go do that, and here's
what's going to happen. And God put him in the dust, and you
know what he said then? Lord, what do you want me to do? Forget what I want forget my
will What's your will Lord? And he was ashamed of what he
was I'm a wretch. I'm not worthy He said wretched
man that I am. I'm not worthy to be called an
apostle I'm less than the least of all and this is what but must
must become of us all sooner or later and sooner would be
good Just a couple more thoughts here from the text and In God's
good time, everything changes. Everything changes. I want you
to see, look at verse 15. It shall come to pass in that
day that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years according to the
days of one king. After the end of seventy years
shall Tyre sing. As a harlot. Notice first of all, 70 years,
exactly. In God's good time, everything
changes in his time. There's the time of love, there's
the time of sorrow, there's a time to weep, and a time to laugh. And all of those times are ordained
of God. Exactly when God had ordained
it to be, Tyre was destroyed. And for 70 years, whatever that
number represents, may have been exactly 70 years, I don't know,
to the day, to the hour, I don't know. But it was a set, specific
amount of time that they were desolate and in captivity. And
then, at exactly when God ordained it to be, she was rebuilt. And
there was singing. And I just want to say one word
of thanks regarding this. Thank God. Listen to what David said in
Psalm 31 13. I have heard the slander of many. Fear was on every side. while
they took counsel together against me. They devised to take away my
life, but I trusted in thee, O Lord.
So here's David trusting God in a very difficult time, a time
when it seemed like everybody and everything was against him.
I trusted in you and I said two things. This would be good for
you to look at later. Psalm 31, 13 and 14. He said,
I trusted you when everything was crumbling around my head.
When my world was upside down, when everybody was against me,
I had no friend but you. I trusted in you and I said two
things. You're my God. Thou art my God. And this one, my times are in
your hand. No matter what happens, you're
my God and I know this. I'm yours too. You're mine and I'm yours. Everything
about me, me and everything about me is in your hand. Everything
that happens to me is in your hand. Everything I experience,
all of my fears, all my joys. Traced upon our dow we sing by
the son of love. Every joy or trial falleth from
above. Is that you? Are you okay with
that? I trust it in you. My God, whose
God in his very hand of everything that happens to me, deliver me
from the hand of my enemies and from them that persecute me.
That word times in that verse means my experiences, my fortunes,
my occasions, all of it in the hand of God. Isn't that wonderful?
You talk about something to be thankful. My times right now
are in his hand. When were you saved, Chris? Wouldn't
it please God? He revealed his son in me when
he got good and ready. And it was the perfect time. When God restores all that we
lost in Adam and more, we're described here as singing like
a harlot. Why is she singing? Well, because
the city is restored to its former glory. She's back in business. Well I know the other question
that's in your mind right now. Why in the world would God use
this illustration to describe us? But you know the answer don't
you? Why would God refer to us as
a harlot? Why do you think? Maybe you think well that's distasteful
to be compared to a singing harlot. And maybe that's why God used
it. Because it's distasteful to you. And to me. And maybe
we need to see what we are. You know what you say when God
calls you a harlot? Truth, Lord. Now notice something in verse
18. We're back in business now. Tyre is back in business. This
is us now restored. We're back in business. But it's
not the same as before something's different look at verses 15 through
17. This is us back in business It
shall come to pass in that day that tyre shall be forgotten
70 years according to the days of one king After the end of
70 years tyre shall sing as in harlot Take in heart go about
the city thou harlot that has been forgotten make sweet melody
Sing many songs that thou mayest be remembered. You've been forgotten,
but not anymore things have changed things are There's restoration,
there's joy, there's singing. And it shall come to pass after
the end of 70 years that the Lord will visit Tyre and she
shall turn to her higher and shall commit fornication with
all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth. Now
again, this is an illustration of just doing business. Again, and again, if it's distasteful
to you, we have never yet seen How distasteful
we really are. But look, it's not the same anymore.
And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord. And it shall not be treasured
nor laid up. For her merchandise shall be
for them that dwell before the Lord. And she's going to have plenty
to eat. And she's going to have something to wear. Well, we're back in business,
but not like before. You see what the difference is?
Before, it was all about just treasuring it up. The rich young
ruler, what did he do? Boy, I need some bigger barns
so I can treasure it all up. Let's get all we can and can
all we get. It's all about the flesh. We're
treasuring it up and trusting in it. But not anymore. It shall
not be treasured up. It shall be under the Lord. It's
going to be for his people. It's going to be for his glory.
It's going to be holiness to the Lord. Now, everything we
do, it's going to be for his glory now. We're not doing it
to enrich ourselves in the things of this world, to treasure up
the things of this world. We're not like the rich young
ruler anymore, at least not entirely. There's still a me that is. You
know that as well as I do. But it shall be holiness to the
Lord, not in order to gain his favor, but because we have it.
He's already restored us. It's holiness to the Lord what
we do. It's to his glory, not to gain his favor, but because
we have it. There's a big difference. He's
already put a song in my heart. He's already restored me everything
that I lost in Adam and more. I'm already singing. And now
by his grace, I want to honor him. I don't want to honor myself
anymore. I don't want to treasure everything
up for myself anymore. I want to do what I do to the
glory of God, not under us, oh Lord, not under us. We have his favor by the blood
of Christ, by the righteousness of Christ, by the holiness of
Christ. And now it's holiness to the
Lord, all that we do. Not that we are righteous in
ourselves, we know that. That's why it's pictured the
way it is in verse 17. We're pictured. These pictures
aren't very flattering. They don't make us look too good.
That's because we're not too good. But before God, all is well. Those that dwell before the Lord. You see them there in the tent?
Sinful though they be, they're going to be well fed and well
clothed. Well that's a clear picture isn't
it? We've already talked about that today. Christ is our meat
and drink indeed and he is the best robe. He is our righteousness
before God. And notice it's durable clothing. The robe of Christ's perfect
holiness will endure the very judgment of God. Durable clothing. If God has yet to do so for you, may he utterly annihilate you. Well, that's a strange prayer,
Chris. No, it's not. I pray that if he hadn't done
it yet, he would utterly annihilate you, that he might restore you
and feed you and clothe you with his son and his mercy and love. That's my prayer. Let's bow together.