All right, so let's go back to
Isaiah 21. Isaiah 21, and we'll be looking
at verses 1 through 17. And we'll see here again the
Lord's promise to overthrow Babylon. And by visiting again the overthrow
of Babylon, it confirms for us the certainty of its overthrow,
and also that it's done repeatedly throughout history. Alright,
not the original city necessarily. Well, not the original city will
be overthrown over and over again But that wicked spirit when it
arises that spirit of Babylon when it arises and gets to that
point Where it is troubling and persecuting the church The Lord
Christ will overthrow Babylon again and again until that final
overthrow and so in understanding this, were to
seek Christ. To seek Christ while he may be
found before that coming day of judgment. Alright, now our
title is The Warning of Babylon's Fall. The Warning of Babylon's
Fall. And the first point, we'll be
looking at the first burden, Babylon's certain fall. And we'll spend the majority
of our time here tonight, and then we'll look at the other
two burdens, seeing the the necessity of true repentance and then the
burden upon Arabia. We'll look at that and see how
that's an example of the gospel day and why we're to see Christ
while we may find him. We're to see Christ, alright?
So Babylon, Ser and Fall. This chapter, what it does is
it outlines the calling of a watchman, the vision of a watchman. That's what's being outlined
here. And throughout history, as well as what we see in scripture,
is that the watchman had a very important role. They had an important
role. And the reason, well, what they
did was they would go up to a high point where they could see all
around the city, and they would watch. They were appointed there
to watch for the people of the city. They were to watch for
danger, whether it's attackers or enemies, or even if someone
was coming, they were to watch for them and to let the people
know someone's coming. And I think it's danger. I think
it's trouble or something like that. And that's because the
people are going about their daily lives, right? They're just
trying to live. They're trying to farm the land
or sell things or whatever. They're trying to provide for
themselves and they don't have time to be looking up every minute
to see if there's some danger around them. So they could be
productive. Their heads are down and they
have somebody who's a watchman watching over to tell them if
there's some kind of a danger. And so we see this in places
like Ezekiel 3.17, where there in Ezekiel it says, Son of man,
I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore,
hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. And
then in our own text today in verse 6, it says, For thus hath
the Lord said unto me, Go set a watchman, let him declare what
he seeth. And so the watchman declares
to the people what he's seeing because they're preoccupied. They're preoccupied in life.
They're preoccupied in what they're doing and making a living and
getting by in this world. And so that's where all their
cares and their attention is focused. So the watchman says,
guys, time to look here. There's danger coming. Be aware.
Be aware of what's coming. Alright, so that's what's required
of a watchman, to watch and declare what he sees so that you can
be prepared for what's coming. And Isaiah here, he's in this
passage speaking from the perspective of a watchman in Babylon. So look there at the beginning
of verse 1, the burden of the desert of the sea. And that desert
there is a reference to the great plain that was about Babylon,
that lay between Babylon and Persia, or Media, which is modern-day
Iran today, and Babylon was in modern-day Iraq today. And there
was a great plain between them, and Babylon was really only a
desert land in regards to truth. That which pleases God and how
man may know and approach and worship God, Babylon knew nothing
of that. Knows nothing of it at all. They only know death. And then
this seas, this reference to the seas, well Babylon was situated
in a very lush and a good area. It was surrounded on either side
by rivers. It had the Euphrates and I believe
the Tigris River on the other side. And so it was a very lush
place. It had a lot of pools of water.
lakes, if you will, and the Hebrews referred to those as seas, as
seas there. So, that's probably how it got
its name, the burden of the desert of the sea. Alright, and Isaiah
continues here, verse 1, saying, as whirlwinds in the south pass
through, so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land. and that there's a reference
to the fact that the Persians and the Medes were crossing that
great desert, that great plain, their army was crossing over
that desert to come to Babylon to destroy it, to wipe it out. Alright, and he says, verse 2,
a grievous vision, a hard vision, or rather it's a hard vision,
it's destructive in nature, and he says, this grievous vision
is declared unto me, the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously.
and the spoiler spoileth." And what it's saying there is that
Babylon is the treacherous one. Babylon is the spoiler that was
troubling and spoiling the other people. And he's saying they
which dealt treacherously with others, those that spoiled others,
they're now going to get repaid what's coming to them. They're
now going to be the ones that are dealt with harshly. And he
says, go up, O Elam, which is another name for Persia, besiege
Omedea, or besiege Omedea, and that's modern, you know, this
is all modern-day Iran there, so Median Persia, and so all
the sign thereof have I made to cease. Or in other words,
all that trouble that Babylon afflicted the people with, all
those cities and countries and places that they ruled over,
that they brought about, people sighing under the weight and
the what they put them through, the servitude that Babylon inflicted
on them, the Lord says, I'm gonna make that decease, because I'm
bringing up an enemy against you that's going to overthrow
you. So Isaiah's seeing this burden
against Babylon, and as you know, we saw Babylon, the burden of
Babylon earlier, in chapters 13 and 14, and that was largely
focused on spiritual Babylon's overthrow. And so this one here
is more about the physical overthrow. And as I mentioned before, the
fact that they're looking at it again, it confirms that it
certainly shall be. It's certainly going to happen.
And it would be a comfort to those people that were taken
captive, right? When Israel, or rather when Judah
was taken captive and there for 70 years in captivity, Their
teachers, someone like Daniel, could see this and provide comfort
to the people because they could say, look, the Lord's going to
destroy our captors. He's going to overthrow them
that have taken us captive. And the other thing, as I mentioned,
it reveals to us that this happens repeatedly over and and over
again. Throughout history, the Lord
deals with Babylon, and that's verified in the scriptures, because
what does the Apostle John see in Revelation but Babylon? He
speaks about Babylon, and even Peter references Babylon, right? So the Lord overthrows the spirit
of Babylon continually, delivering his people from their captivity,
alright? Now, I don't want this to be
a message about how America is Babylon. I'm not trying to say
that America is now Babylon or anything like that. I will say
this though, as a watchman, don't put your confidence in the strength
of America. Don't feel confident and secure
that nothing could ever touch us or nothing could ever overthrow
America. Don't put your confidence because
we see in the scriptures those who put their confidence in man
get overthrown when that man is overthrown. And here's Babylon
and they were mighty. They were the superpower of their
day and seemed untouchable and so it is with America. We are
the only superpower but don't be so confident. I mean there's
many many similarities between them. And again, I'm not saying
this to say that America is Babylon, but rather like Babylon that
was so strategically sound. They sat between two rivers that
would be difficult to cross and were a great defense. We sit
between two great seas. the Atlantic and the Pacific.
You know, that's not an easy thing to attack a country from
something like that. And like the lushness of the
rivers that provided their food for them, I mean, you look at
the fact that if you were looking at a map of the United States,
you know, you have the Rockies here and you have the Appalachian
Mountains here. And from there flows an amazing
water system all into the Mississippi water system that our enemies
know that that thing grows a tremendous amount of food and sustains a
tremendous amount of cattle and food production just in that
whole valley alone is immense, not to mention California and
everything else. So there's a lot of similarities
in there where you would think our military is tremendous, our
government There's no other government like it in the world. If it was
working the way it should work, it's a tremendous government. There's a lot of good and a lot
of benefits and a lot of things that you could say, this is tremendous. What's ever going to touch us?
And all I'm saying is, don't trust in man. Put your trust
in the Lord. Because we see Babylon and the
spirit of Babylon overthrown constantly. So we are to put
our trust and our confidence in man and it's ever the time
to seek the Lord. It's always time. Now is the
time to seek the Lord before there's trouble. Not when suddenly
things fall apart and you don't know where to turn. Now is the
day to seek the Lord, because the Scriptures declare all men
are sinners. All are under the wrath and the
judgment of God, and He's provided salvation. He's provided deliverance
in His Son, Jesus Christ. All right, so now Isaiah, he's
looking at what's happening here, and it's from the perspective
of the watchman in Babylon, and he sees a terrifying sight in
verse 3. And it says, therefore, are my loins filled with pain. Pangs have taken hold upon me
as the pangs of a woman that travaileth. I was bowed down
at the hearing of it. I was dismayed at the seeing
of it. My heart panted. Fearfulness
affrighted me. The night of my pleasure hath
he turned into fear unto me. And while this is going on, The
Lord says, prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat,
drink, arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield. Alright, well
what is this watchman seeing? What does this watchman see?
Turn over to Daniel 5. So I want you to put a marker
in Daniel 5, because I'm going to reference a couple more verses
after we look at these first six verses together, and you
may want to flip back and see it. So put a marker here, too,
between Isaiah 21 and Daniel 5. So in Isaiah, it mentioned the
night of my pleasure. And that's referring to the night
that Babylon was overthrown. Because Babylon ceased in a night. It was taken in a night by Persia
and Media. And it was a tremendous overthrow. So while they're there partying
and acting like it's never going to end and everything's going
to go on fine and dandy the way it's been going on because it's
so powerful and glorious, And one night, they were taken and
overthrown. And so look at Daniel 5, verse
1. Belshazzar, the king, made a great feast to a thousand of
his lords and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, whilst
he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver
vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple,
which was in Jerusalem, that the king and his princes, his
wives and his concubines, might drink therein. And it's showing
there a picture of the mixing of the flesh and the things of
God. And that's not a good combination,
just mixing the flesh, the lust of the flesh, and the things
of the Lord, the worship of the Lord. And it's not a mixture
to mix. Verse three, then they brought
the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the
house of God, which was at Jerusalem, and the king and all everyone
with them drinks from them and they drank wine and they begin
to praise all their false gods, the gods of gold and silver and
wood and stone and things like that. And verse five, in the
same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over
against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the
king's palace. And the king saw the part of
the hand that wrote. Then the king's countenance was
changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his
loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another." That's
fear. That's fear when your legs start
smacking against each other because your legs just suddenly are given
out. You have no strength. you're weakened by what you see
and so That this is what's happening and remember the Lord stirred
up already Persia median they're coming now across the the plane
they're there already at the city gate by this time now and
So he stirred up an enemy to overthrow them and it says in
verse 7 Daniel 5 7 the king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers
the Chaldeans and the soothsayers Etc right, but none of them were
able to read or interpret what was written there. Verse 9, then
the King Belshazzar, then was he greatly troubled, and his
countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonied or
astonished. Basically, they were turned to
stone in the sense that they were so astonished they didn't
even know what to say or what to think about it. And the queen,
she hears, and by reason of the words of the king and his lords
came into the banquet house. And she says to the king, verse
11, there is a man in thy kingdom in whom the spirit, in whom is
the spirit of the holy gods. All right, now, back in our text
there, in Isaiah 21, verse 6, we read where the Lord said,
for thus hath the Lord said unto me, go, set a watchman, let him
declare what he seeth. And this is referring to Daniel.
Daniel is that watchman that was placed there by the Lord,
given the Spirit of the Lord, to know what needed to be known,
to interpret the tongues, to interpret that language that
was spoken there, and to not only read it, but to interpret
for the king what it meant, so that the king would know what
the Lord was telling him. And he was seeing back there,
if you look there in Daniel 5, verse 25, he said, and this is
the meaning that was written, meenie meenie, teakle you farson. Alright, meenie meenie, teakle
you farson is what it said there. And Isaiah, now back in our text
in Isaiah 21 verse 7, he's interpreting what that weighing is, because
that's what it means. Thou art weighed and found wanting.
Thou art weighed and found wanting. You're not measuring up. Babylon,
you're going to fall. And so it says in verse 7 of our text Isaiah 21 7 it says
and he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen a chariot of asses
and a chariot of camels all right, so there's an imbalance there
a chariot of asses and a chariot of camels and it doesn't It doesn't
work. It's imbalanced. There's something
wanting there. And he hearkened diligently with
much heat. And he cried, a lion, or eupharsin,
a lion. And he's saying, my lord, I stand
continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set
in my ward whole nights. In other words, he's saying what
Daniel had recorded furious, thy kingdom is divided and given
to the Medes and the Persians. And so Isaiah is seeing all this,
that this day of Babylon's overthrow, and they're coming to an end,
This is it. He's witnessing what's being
seen there and what's being understood suddenly by the people of Babylon
that it's all unraveling, it's all coming to a very quick end. And in Daniel 5, verses 30 and
31, the end of that chapter, and we won't go back there, But
it says, in that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldean slain,
and Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about 62 years
old. And that's how quickly the Lord
can bring a kingdom to an end. That's how quickly He can overthrow
the powers of men. It's really that quickly. It's
nothing to the Lord. We trust in men. We have our
confidences in vain, ma'am. But the Lord can bring that all
to a sudden end. And Babylon was a long time in
coming. It took time for them to rise
up to that greatness of power that they had arisen to. And
in doing that, they filled up their cup of sin, which was their
cup of wrath that was their due. And in the Lord's time, they
drank it and were judged by the Lord. And in Revelation 16, 19,
it says, "...and great Babylon came in remembrance before God
to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His
flesh." The problem that we have, that
all mankind has, is this flesh. This flesh is weak, and this
flesh loves the things that the spirit of Babylon loves. I mean,
you see it there in what they were partying, and they were
praising the gods of gold and silver and wood and stone, you
know, all those things that man looks to. whether it's riches,
worldly riches, or it's just the might, the strength, you
know, of stone and iron and things of that nature, that war machine.
That's, you know, what the children of men, the children of Adam,
they love that. It's very attractive to our flesh
and very appealing to our flesh. And that's what the spirit of
Babylon is. It's the love of all that is
vain, and dead and carnal and fleshly and cannot save it cannot
save us it will not provide for us in the day of of judgment
and it's infected that poison that that love of those things
is throughout All men, all mankind is poisoned with the fruit of
that tree that Adam ate and took of and it's infected us and so
that's the very nature of Babylon and what she loves. And it's
just preparing all men to drink from that cup of the wine of
the fierceness of our Lord's wrath. Alright, turn over to
Revelation 17. Revelation 17 and go to verse
4. And we see her described, this
is the whore of Babylon. And it says, verse 4, and the
woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color and decked with
gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in
her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. The appeal that she has to the
flesh is something that we need to recognize because that lust
is in us. The things of this world, the
lust of the eyes, the pride of life, the lust of this flesh
is present in every one of us. And it says, and upon her forehead
was a name written, Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots
and abominations of the earth. And because we all lust after
those things which are described by her and described in her and
part of her, that's why the Lord tells us His judgment, His wrath
is upon the earth. We're not going to escape. We'll
be held to that. We all drink by nature from that
cup until the Lord delivers us and overthrows her power Rule
that that rules in the heart of men and it says verse 6 and
I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the Saints and with
the blood of the martyrs of Jesus So whether they're physically
slaying those that confess Christ and look to Him, or they just
hate them in their heart and would slay them if they could,
and so by their hatred of the truth and hatred of Christ, they
slay them in their heart, or whether it is that they're slaying
others, Or just even the truth that they hear. They're slaying
it. They're saying, I don't want
to hear that. I don't want to hear that. I don't believe that.
I won't hear that. I want to keep doing what I'm
doing. And they judge themselves unworthy
of eternal life. What we see in the scriptures
about this is that all of Israel and Judah they had prophet after
prophet After prophet being raised up to the Lord telling them all
the time judgments coming You're mixing your flesh with the worship
of God. You're turning back to the things
of the flesh You're turning to the other false gods of the people
around you you're turning from the Lord but they wouldn't they
would never hear they they would not hear and what was Predominantly
standing in the way is that they really they felt that they were
all right with the Lord many times It wasn't that they had
no worship of the Lord they had that and so they were confident
that everything was fine there and so they wouldn't hear what
the prophets were saying and they just pushed that out and
In doing that, they were saying everything's fine with the Lord,
but then they were going to the cup of the whore Babylon for
their refreshment, and drinking from there, drinking from that
well and looking to those things. And so the Lord still speaks
to us today. He's reminding us, right? We
have the scriptures, so we still hear from these prophets. These
prophets still speak to us. They've told us of the coming
judgment, and they've told us of the Christ that came and ministered
salvation to his people. And the Lord uses the prophets,
he raises up pastors to preach, you know, preachers to preach
what the prophets told us and to show you how it's still relevant
to you. This isn't just something in
the past that happened to some city that's now in ruins in a
desert in Iraq somewhere, but It's repeated constantly to show
us that the spirit of Babylon is there ruling and reigning
in the hearts of the people, of many people, and that the
Lord's yet going to overthrow Babylon and destroy spiritual
Babylon. So be aware of it. The world's under judgment, whether
it's for their their carnal fleshly lusts, or even if it's disguised
with the cloak of religion to look good, it's still under the
judgment of the Lord. And so, like man, people, they
practice their, get their fill of religion, they practice their
religion, and they they seek to to work some works up and
they feel good about those things but it's very much it's like
that that man who had a bumper crop one year and decides I'm
going to tear down my little silos and build up bigger silos
and fill up my silos with these grain because now I'm wealthy.
I have sufficient to last me to the end of my days. I'm going
to take my knees now and just relax and coast on out of here
for the rest of my life but We read in Luke 12, 20, God said
unto him, Thou fool this very night, or this night thy soul
shall be required of thee. Then whose shall those things
be which thou hast provided? What are going to become of all
the works that I've done in my flesh? What's going to become
of everything I've done to work up riches for myself? And it
says, So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not
rich toward God. I ask, you know, would you be
rich toward God? Would you be rich toward God?
Do you want to be rich toward God? Because there's a problem
for us because the scriptures declare us to be bankrupt sinners
who have no riches, no wealth, nothing precious to bring to
God that He should receive us and be pleased with us. It says
in Psalm 50 verse 12, the Lord speaking, He says, if I were
hungry, I would not tell thee, for the world is mine and the
fullness thereof." So our dead works, our works of righteousness
to try and please God and atone for our sin and try to work our
way out from under the judgment of God will never work because
nothing we do satisfies God. God isn't looking to us. Just
as he said in that psalm, if I was hungry, I wouldn't tell
you. I can have anything I want, the world's mine, and all the
fullness of it, I can satisfy myself. I don't need you and
your works to satisfy me, but you're under judgment, and I'm
going to destroy this world. But there is one way, and he's
provided that way, or made rich by one man, and that one man
is the Lord Jesus Christ, whom God sent to be the propitiation,
to be the salvation for His people so that it's not our religious
works and our attempts to be good and to be better that wash
away our sins and deliver us from the stain of sin. It's the
work of Christ. It's His blood which He shed
on the cross for His people. His blood is what washes away
the sin and the guilt of our sin and the stain of our sin.
and because he pleased the father well and the father raised him
from the dead and he ascended to the father so that now they
send the spirit the spirit to give us light so that by the
light of god we understand i'm the sinner and by the light of
god we see Christ is the Savior. That's why he was sent. He's
not looking for us to partner with him and just be a little
better. No, we're bankrupt sinners, unable to save ourselves. Christ
provided all the payment by his own blood. He purchased his people. fully and completely, one hundred
percent. God doesn't look to us to now
work these good works to make ourselves clean. Christ has made
us clean. And he washes us of our sin.
And the Spirit not only gives us life, but life. So that by
the life of the Spirit in us, knowing what we are, understanding
by His power, What God has done for us in Christ, by faith which
He gives us, we believe Christ. We lay hold of eternal life through
faith. Believing on Christ, which faith
He gives us. He gives us. All because of Christ. He did all that work. And you
know what? Babylon never did that. Babylon
never once did anything for her subjects, for those people locked
up in her prison. She never gave them any light.
to understand and to know these things, and she never opened
that prison door, giving them life to let them come out and
see what God has done and what God is declaring. She keeps her
prisoners bound up in darkness, unable to see or to know the
things of God. All right. So that's what we
see there in that first point. But remember, it's certain, by
the fact that it's repeated, it is certain that it shall be
and that it always, it continues to happen until the Lord once
and for all finally overthrows it again in the end of days and
that'll be the end of it. So that's what that first one
is showing us. We come back to our text in Isaiah
21 verses 11 and 12. We see this next burden of Duma
or Edom. It says, the burden of Duma he
calleth to me out of Seir. Watchman, what of the night?
Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, the morning
cometh, and also the night. If ye will inquire, inquire ye,
return come. Many people, they hear that the
Lord is going to judge the world. They hear that God is going to
judge the world and so they get nervous and they get real religious
and they try to work up some works to make themselves appear
good before God and try and straighten things out. because the night's
there, and they're afraid, and they're terrified, and they're
trying to work a righteousness for themselves. But then the
daylight comes, the morning breaks, and it's daytime now, and they
start to feel a little better with their works, and all that
fear and concern is washed away, it diminishes, it goes away.
But the watchman tells us, but also the night, it's coming again,
it's coming again. And so Christ came, and Christ is a
blessed, wonderful Savior. And people hear it, and they
dabble in it a little bit, and then they grow tired of hearing
of Christ, and they go right back to their own works and their
own deadness. And that contents them. And the
reality is, We're to hear Christ. This is the day of salvation.
We are to hear Christ. And He is the only hope of sinners. He's the only salvation that
God has provided. And while we cannot save ourselves,
He tells us to look to Him, look to Him, beg Him for mercy, beg
Him for grace and salvation. And all those who seek Him with
the whole heart, they shall Find them and we know if you seek
him with the whole heart it's because he gave you that but
don't think lightly of Christ don't think that Lightly of Christ
and his blood and the work that he's done This is the day of
salvation and he told us he said night cometh when no man can
work night cometh when no man can work that day of salvation
will close and then No one will hear it. They won't hear that
truth anymore and they won't know where to turn in the day
of vengeance and judgment. And that's what we see here in
our final point here, this burden of Arabia. Look at verse 13. Isaiah 21, 13, it says, the burden
upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall
ye lodge, O ye traveling companies of Dedanim. The inhabitants of
the land of Timah brought water to him that was thirsty. They
prevented with their bread him that fled. For they fled from
the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from
the grievousness of war. And so we see here that those
that are fleeing from the sword, fleeing from judgment, are helped
by someone from Arabia, someone out of Arabia. And I was thinking
about that. And what I can see in this, what
I was able to see in this, was it reminded me of Paul, that
those that are fleeing judgment were helped of the Gentiles,
those that were fleeing judgment, were helped by the gospel that
was revealed to Paul. And if you turn over to Galatians
1, you'll see why I'm saying that in Galatians 1.15. And we'll look down from 15 to
17. Galatians 1.15 says, But when
it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb, and
called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach
Him among the heathens, immediately I conferred not with flesh and
blood. Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before
me, but I went unto Arabia. and returned again unto Damascus."
And so we see there that the Apostle Paul was called of Christ. He was arrested by Christ and
taught the gospel. He was given revelation of Christ
by Christ of the gospel and such clarity and purity that we know
it now because of what the Lord taught him. And he wrote that
down very carefully as God revealed it to him, that apostleship that
we have there which was given to Paul. And so Paul came back
up. And he was used by the Lord to
preach that gospel so that all those Gentiles that were fleeing
judgment, fleeing the sword, that were hungering and thirsting
for righteousness that had no knowledge of salvation, they
were given drink by one from Arabia. They were given bread
by one who came up from Arabia and helped to know and understand
this gospel and to see that salvation is indeed in Christ. But notice here, back in our
text there in verse 16, it doesn't last forever. It did not last
there in that part of the country. It didn't last forever. Eventually,
we know the sons of Ishmael and their religion, the Muslim faith,
took over and the deadness of the Catholic Church took over
with man's works and what man has to do. It went back to that
focus on the flesh and back to the law and back to man-made
traditions and teachings and laws rather than looking to Christ. the day, the daylight, the morning,
the hope of our salvation, our deliverance from dead works religion. And it says there, verse 16,
for thus hath the Lord said unto me within a year, according to
the years of inhaling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail,
and the residue of the number of archers. the mighty men of
the children of Kedar, those that had the gospel, that understood
it and could help those that needed help, they shall be diminished,
for the Lord God of Israel hath spoken it. And we see that, right? You look there in that part of
the country, and we don't even know if there's true churches
there. There may be. I mean, we have a hope that the
Lord still has some people there that hear and believe Christ
in truth. And, you know, the candlestick
is here now, and you see how it just marches across the land,
through Europe, and now it's so light and sparse there, and
it seems so few here. You know, in America, here it
is, but we don't know how long it'll be here. We have no idea. I mean, many times a church is
there for a generation, maybe two, and then it it's gone. And that church is no more. And
we're to be reminded that don't play games with it. The Lord's
given it to a candlestick. It's a blessed thing. And so
he gives it to feed his people. It's a blessing that you have
it. Because he gives it to feed his people that are here and
brings them together around it. But pray for your children and
their children because it doesn't always last very long. We see
that as wonderful and as powerful as America is, it has all the
markings of a great nation that could be here one day and then
isn't here the next. Case could be made that we're
the treacherous one in the spoiler. tax and treaties were in place
for a long time and I voted for Trump and probably will vote
for him again. I'm not telling you what to do
but probably will. But you can make a case and say
this man's come in here because America at one time said look
We'll let you, you can export all your goods and we'll buy
them from you. You just take our side and don't
take our enemy's side, Russia. You just play with us and everything
will be good and we'll let you do your treaties as you will."
But now he's coming there and saying, well, that's no good
for us. We're going to fix that. So he's fixed the one with Mexico,
fixed the one with Canada. He's told South Korea, if you
want our help with North Korea, you're going to have this fixed.
Japan, oh, no, no, you're going to fix that too. You know, Germany,
well, this is why it's this way. He says, oh, yeah, that's good
to know. Here's your bill for NATO. And then he's, you know,
Britain, who's in their Brexit thing, they're getting a new
deal, you know, and now, you know, then there's China, you
know, and you have all these these deals being reworked. And
you could say, wow, the treacherous one is already wealthy and powerful
and has everything. They're doling it out for something
fierce to everybody else now. Again, I'm American, it seems
good for me, but it does make me think, man, what are we, who
knows what's going on, but the Lord knows. And so I just don't
put my trust or confidence in man or this country. I love the fact that we have
the freedoms we have, but we look to the Lord. He's our hope
and our confidence. I pray that's where your hope
and confidence is in Christ. All right, let's pray. Our gracious
Lord, we thank you, Father, for your mercy, your kindness, your
grace. We thank you for the salvation
you've provided in Christ. Lord, we see how so few Look
for salvation. Look for light. Look for hope
where light and hope and life is found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
They look everywhere else. They drink from many different
rims of the cup of the whore of Babylon, but never do they
look to Christ. Lord, it's by your power, your
glory, your grace that saves sinners and delivers the prisoners
from the prison. Lord, shed your light upon us.
Give us light. Teach us the gospel and cause
it to come forth from this pulpit and be rejoiced in by this people
here that you would deliver us from death and keep us faithful
to that final day. We pray this in Christ's name,
our blessed Lord and Savior. Amen.