Good evening. All right, let's
turn to Isaiah 13. Isaiah 13, we'll be looking at
the entire chapter of Isaiah 13. And Isaiah begins here a
series of burdens. Now a burden is a prophecy that
doesn't have a favorable outcome. It speaks of destruction for
the object, and that's why it's called a burden. And we have
recorded in this chapter here a literal description of the
destruction of the kingdom of Babylon. Now Babylon, as you
are probably familiar with, represents all false religion. All false religion. And so therefore,
we'll see that the destruction of Babylon is a picture of the
destruction of spiritual Babylon. Last week we looked at the Song
of the Redeemed, that is all those that are elect, chosen
of the Lord Jesus Christ, they are given a song, they are given
eternal life, they are given salvation and a song is put in
their mouth and they declare and sing the glories of Christ
for the work of salvation that he has done for them. That's why we call it the Song
of the Redeemed, because they are promised to triumph in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so these burdens, what we
see here is that these are picturing the dismantling. of the works
of evil and wickedness which kept us captive and bound up
in our sin and separated from the Lord our God." This is the
destruction of those works of evil, the works of the wicked
one that prevent the children of God from seeing and seeking
and reaching their God, so that God does all the work of salvation.
Christ has saved us, and now he delivers us out of the captivity
of Babylon. He destroys their worst, delivers
us out of false religion, delivers us out of all the lies of the
wickedness there in Babylon. Our title is Delivered from False
Religion. Now, our first point here is
the world in darkness. Let's look at how the text opens
in verse 1, Isaiah 13, 1. the burden of Babylon which Isaiah
the son of Amos did see." So up until now, much of Judah's
woes have been concerning Assyria, but now Isaiah begins to speak
about Babylon, and Babylon wasn't much to speak of at the time
when Isaiah was prophesying to Judah and Israel about Assyria. And literal Babylon is the type
of spiritual Babylon, and that calls to mind the Whore of Babylon. We turn over to Revelation 17.
The Whore of Babylon is the sum of all false religion, and she
persecutes the saints of the Lord Jesus Christ, all those
who have been shown that Christ is light, has been shown salvation
provided by God for his people, she persecutes them, she hates
those children of the Lord. And in Revelation 17 Here is
a description of the whore of Babylon. And there came one of
the seven angels, which had the seven vials, and talked with
me, saying unto me, Come hither, and I will show unto thee the
judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters, with
whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the
inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine
of her fornication. So he carried me away in the
spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting upon a
scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven
heads and ten horns. 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. And upon her forehead was a name
written, Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots
and the abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman drunken with
the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
And when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration." So here's
this whore in the scriptures, and she's an adulterous whore
who lures all the people of the earth. She lures all the people
of the earth to fornicate with her. That is, They are lured
by her to partake of all her blasphemies. All her wicked,
false, dead religion, all the vain show of outward religion
and dead-letter religion, all the practices that they do, that
are not taught by the Spirit of Christ, that don't glory and
worship in Christ, they're all dead. It doesn't matter how good
they appear in the flesh, they are the works of man and they're
just blasphemies against the truth of God and His Christ.
Because the very fact that God sent Christ in the world declares
to us, there's nothing that man can do in his self, in his flesh,
to work a work of salvation for himself. We can't produce any
righteousness for ourselves. So that's why Christ came. And
the fact that we reject Christ by nature and turn to our own
works means that we reject the righteousness of God in favor
of our own righteousness. So any religious work, any work
which we hope to gain favor with God that we do in the flesh for
ourselves is a rejection of the true righteousness of God. It's
a blasphemy of the Whore of Babylon. It's partaking in her adulteries
and fornicating with her. And that's what all the world
does, the partaking of that wickedness. We're told that the great horse
sitteth upon many waters. And Revelation 17, 15, it interprets
what the waters means. Look at verse 15. And he saith
unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth,
are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. So that what we're seeing here
is that this disease, this blasphemy, this drunkenness and fornicating
with the whore of Babylon, is prevalent. It's throughout all
the world. It's upon all the peoples and
the kings and the kingdoms throughout the world. So there's no doubt
in our mind about this fact that this is affecting all the people. So, the hope, the only hope that
man has in being delivered from this wickedness is faith in Christ. And God does that through the
new birth. The Lord God gives us a new birth
and makes us alive in the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn over to 1
John 5. 1 John 5 and go to verse 18. John writes in 1 John 5.18, we
know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not. He's saying that those, and what
he's teaching throughout the letter of John, what will help
you when you're reading 1 John, and it'll keep your heart from
fearing, because it talks about sin. And what John is speaking
of there, That sin that a man does unto death is forsaking
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's apostatizing. He's being
turned from Christ and going back to the religion of this
world. And he's saying that whosoever
is born of God sinneth not. They will not be turned. They
will not forsake Christ. They will not abandon Christ's
brethren that he has provided for them. They're not going to
fornicate with the whore battle on in her vain, false, dead religion. But he that is begotten of God
keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not." In Christ
we cannot be touched. In Christ we are more secure,
is no one ever, than in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so He says
there in 19, And we know that we are of God, and the whole
world lieth in wickedness. They're all drunk with the blasphemies
of the whore of Babylon. As it's said there in Revelation
17, 2, I'll quote it, And the inhabitants of the earth have
been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So God sent
Christ into the world to deliver us from the harlotries of the
whore of Babylon. And that term, whore, you don't
want to keep hearing it, but I keep using it on purpose because
it's repulsive, it's filthy, it's vile, and that's what vain,
earthly, fleshly religion, it's an affront to God, it's an offense
to God, because it says, I don't care for your salvation in Christ,
I'm going to do my own thing, and that'll be sufficient. for
me. And we know that the Son of God
has come and has given us an understanding because we are
made a new creation, a new creature by his Spirit that we may know
Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in
the Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. So that you see the difference
there. You have the whore of Babylon, which has corrupted
and affected all the world, lying in wickedness and lying in darkness,
unaware of what's going on. They don't realize and understand
just the wickedness that they're under, but God has made it known
to you, to you rather. He's made known to you what He's
done for you in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a precious thing.
Bless the Lord God when that is brought to your mind. Be thankful
and praise Him with the calves of your lips. Praise Him. And
then he wraps up the letter there. Little children, keep yourselves
from idols. Amen. And he's not speaking,
he's not worried about them turning to stumps and rocks to worship
those things, but those idolatrous thoughts and things that rise
up in our heart, the worship of ourselves, the worship of
our own free will, the worship of the things of this world,
the worship of the lust of the eyes and the pride of life and
the love of the praise of man, to be seen of men, be turned
from those things so that as we see in this life, as the Lord
shows us that the things of this world are troubling to us because
they're contrary to the spirit in us. He shows you those things,
if they're affecting you, and they're causing you to be afraid,
they're causing you anxiety, causing you fear, then don't
set your heart and your mind on those things. Don't keep feeding
those things, because that's idolatry. You're glorying in
men, or you're glorying in that, rather than glorying in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I speak to myself as well. Turn over to Philippians 4. Philippians
4. Paul tells us what to think of. He tells us what to be thinking
of in Philippians 4. And go to verse 5. Paul writes, Let your moderation
be known unto all men, the Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing,
but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving
let your requests be made known unto God. You know, we don't
think that just to pray to God you have to be in your bedroom
on your praying. You can pray all day long. While you're at work, while you're
driving in the car, you can just turn off the radio there, or
while you're working in the yard, or whatever it is that you're
doing, tinkering around, you can be praying to the Lord. And
as the Lord raises these things to your heart and your mind,
pray. And he says, finally brethren,
And the peace of God which passeth all understanding, it's going
to surpass all earthly, fleshly wisdom, shall keep your hearts
and minds through Jesus Christ. Finally, brethren, whatsoever
things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things
are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of good report, If there be any virtue,
if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things
which ye have both learned and received and heard and seen in
me do. And the God of peace shall be
with you." So he's telling us, think on the things of the Lord
Jesus Christ and don't be worried and caught up with the things
that are going on. And I feel it in myself when
I'm too focused just looking at the news or something like
that and I say, It's troubling and I'm spending too much time
and there's no profit in it. What's going to be is going to
be and the Lord knows He's going to take care of it all anyway. I'm so much more profited in
looking to Christ and hearing a message and seeking Him and
praying to Him and studying. I'm so much more profited and
at peace when I'm seeking Him. And so that's what he's telling
because it just blows away all that wafting toxic fumes of the
whore of Babylon that's still trying to... permeate and corrupt
us with her vileness. So Babylon in our text, in Isaiah
13, it pictures utter spiritual darkness and her lies, and God's
going to destroy that whore. He's going to destroy the whore
of Babylon and all who love and marvel at her. The angel said
to John, because he said, I marveled at her. I was amazed when I saw
her. He said, why are you marveling at her? She's going to be destroyed.
Don't marvel at her. All who wonder at her and love
her and are allured by her, they're going to be destroyed with her.
So in chapter 12 of Isaiah, we saw the promise of the children
of God is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the song of our redemption
and our praise. And then we know that Israel
did go off into captivity of Babylon. It's a picture of the
spiritual captivity of the people of God that are entrapped and
taken captive by their enemy and they can't set themselves
free so that we see and understand that when the Lord delivered
his people from Babylon, he delivered his people spiritually. It's
a picture of the spiritual deliverance where Christ saved us out of
her abomination so that we're not going to perish and be destroyed
with all the wicked of the world that love her. So this chapter,
Isaiah 13 that we're in now, foretells of Babylon's destruction,
and the physical is a picture of the spiritual. So let's look
at some of that now. The physical pictures the spiritual. Look in verse 2, Isaiah 13, verse
2 through 6. Lift up a banner upon the high
mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand that they
may go into the gates of the nobles." Now this isn't the banner
of Christ our ensign that we saw in Isaiah 11.10 a couple
weeks ago. This is not that banner, but
rather what this is more is a post, it's a flag, it's basically they
set up shop to make the men aware, a medium Persia, to make them
aware, we're going to war, come and enlist and join with us,
because we're going to go to war against our enemy. And the Lord says in verse 3,
I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty
ones from mine anger, even them that rejoice in my kindness. So he's set apart, they're not
sanctified as in being holy, but he's sanctified them, he's
put them apart to do a work for him, a work that he's calling
them to do. And he goes on, the noise of
a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people, a
tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together.
The Lord of hosts muster it, the host of the battle. They
come from a far country, from the end of heaven. Even the Lord
and the weapons of his indignation to destroy the whole land, howl
ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand. It shall come as a destruction
from the Almighty. So these men have war in their
hearts. The sin is already in their hearts. The Lord didn't put sin into
their heart. He's just making use of that
which is in the heart of man, but he's turning it to do his
will, to destroy Babylon. Listen to these scriptures. Psalm
76 10 says, Surely the wrath of men shall praise thee, the
remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. So the Lord is able
to take that which is burgeoning and bulging in the heart of man
to do wickedness and to control it, to use it to do His will,
and then He restrains the rest so that it can do no more. He's
in complete control. Proverbs 12, 21. The king's heart
is in the hand of the Lord. As the rivers of water, He turneth
it whithersoever he wills." So he's going to direct where the
heart of the king is set to go. He's going to turn it, and so
this war that's in their hearts, the Lord's going to turn it and
turn their attention and put their mind on Babylon to destroy
it, the captor of Israel. And what this picture is, is
the captivity of the Lord's people that are, you know, we by nature
are imprisoned in that darkness, imprisoned in sin, unable to
set ourselves free. And the Lord is showing that
to us constantly throughout the scriptures, that we aren't able
to make a righteousness for ourselves, and we're in darkness to it.
We don't even know or understand it until the Lord makes us to
know, until he brings that understanding to our hearts and our minds,
that he's the one that must do it. And it's not even us initiating
it. He had to deliver us from that
false understanding of our own free will, thinking that we have
a free will that is at liberty to actually do what is good.
But if we could do what is good, then we could save ourselves.
And we can't. We're trapped in that prison
of darkness that we can't see it. And the scriptures teach
us that. That in Adam, we all sinned. And in Adam, we all died because
we rebelled against the commandment of the Lord. And he said in Genesis
2, 16 and 17, The Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree
of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day that
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. And so we broke the
commandment and we surely did die that very day. So that in
Adam we were plunged into ruin. In Adam we were plunged into
darkness. In Adam we were plunged into
death. In Adam, we were plunged into the prison so that we can't
set ourselves free. We became captives of evil Babylon
in that very day. We became evil and enmity toward
God. Matthew 6.23, our Lord said,
But if thine eye be evil, and that's what we all are by nature,
thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the
light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness. Because
we think we're seen by light. When we get religious, when we
get a little religion, and we start practicing a little religion,
we think that it's light. And that we're walking by the,
you know, our path is lit up. And it's darkness. And it's great
darkness. Because we think that by the
things we're doing, we're earning a righteousness, we're earning
favor with God, He's pleased with us for our works, and we're
not looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not trusting Him.
He might sprinkle his name in a little bit, but we're still
all caught up and focused on what we're doing and what we
need to be doing better and what everybody else should be doing
and things of that nature. In our text, we see that it's
Christ who delivers us from darkness, and we see that the Lord is able
to even work and control the wickedness of man so that it
works His purposes and does His will in it. It says in Proverbs
16, 4, the Lord hath made all things for Himself, yea, even
the wicked, for the day of evil. All right, so the Lord, in verse
seven, in Isaiah 13, verses seven through 12, he begins to describe
the destruction of Babylon, and he's gonna use these wicked men
to do that destruction. Look at verse seven. Therefore,
these are the inhabitants of Babylon, therefore, all hands
shall be faint, and every man's heart shall melt, and they shall
be afraid, pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them, they
shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth, They shall be amazed
one at another, their faces shall be as flames." And so they're
going to be in great fear for what is coming upon them, the
destruction that seizes them in a night, because Babylon fell
in a night. They just dried up the river
and then went in through the riverbeds. They dried up the
moat around it and went in and took it in a night. There was
no, like nothing there, but it did later on get destroyed as
time went on. It was eventually wiped out.
And it says, Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both
with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate, and
he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars
of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their
light. The sun shall be darkened and is going forth, and the moon
shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the
world for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity, and
I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease and will lay
low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious
than fine gold, even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir." The Lord destroys Babylon and
all her works, both literally in our text, but also spiritually,
especially in the hearts of the people, in His chosen people,
His chosen elect people. And that's what we see that the
Lord accomplished. What we're seeing here, the Lord
accomplished in the death of Himself on the cross. He accomplished the destruction
of Babylon in our hearts and the wickedness of Babylon's idolatries. So that we see men drunk with
the blasphemies of the horror of Babylon, blaspheming God,
thinking that their righteousness is sufficient, thinking that
they were doing God service and putting Christ to death, they
actually accomplished the destruction of Babylon and Babylon's idolatries
for the people of Christ. The Lord did that. In putting
Christ in debt, they actually accomplished the destruction.
By doing that, the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished the destruction
of the hold and the sway that Babylon had over the people. So that they, you know, killed
Christ for envy because they saw his works were righteous
and their own works were evil. And with wicked hands and a wicked
heart, they took Christ and they crucified him. But they accomplished
the will of God in doing that. Turn over to Acts 2. Acts 2. Because when Christ died, he
drove out, he purged us of the works of Babylon. He delivered
us from the captivity of Babylon that held us captive by her in
her works. Acts 2.17. and hear Peter speaking to the
people, and he says, It shall come to pass in the last days,
saith God, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your
sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men
shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams, And on
my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days
of my spirit, and they shall prophesy." So that because of
the death of Christ, because of his death, his burial, and
his resurrection, he's gone to be with the Father, and so the
Father now sends the Spirit of Christ into our hearts, whereby
we cry, Father, we cry out to the Lord God being made alive.
He comes upon the people that sit in darkness. We who did not
know God and did not know the things of God and were in utter
darkness and ignorant of God and how to worship him. And it
says, verse 19, I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in
the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. So that
now it's the Spirit that regenerates us. We don't boast in and get
glory to our works and what we have done for the Lord. We glory
and boast in what Christ has done for us. And He's regenerated
us by His Spirit. He's given us life to know what
God has accomplished for us in the Lord Jesus Christ. In that
regeneration, He gives us His Spirit. He takes us to Himself. He makes us a child of God, giving
us His seed, whereby now we know God, and we worship God, and
we bring forth righteous fruit, rather than that filthy fruit,
that wicked fruit of the whore of Babylon. And look, verse So in that there, what happens
is the Spirit applies the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
applies that blood and purges us of our sins, washes us of
the sins and makes that blood atonement for us. And we see
that and know that when Christ died, Even though wicked men
put him there, that was all the purpose and the works of God
being worked out, because when he went there to the cross, having
worked all righteousness for the people, having done all that
was necessary, he was made a sacrifice for the people. A body hast thou
prepared me, the Lord said. because the Father laid the sins
of the people on Him and the Lamb of God and then poured out
His wrath and judgment against the Son so that in Christ we
are made alive, we are purged of our sins. His life was laid
down for our life. He paid the price that we might
go free and be delivered from the coming wrath and destruction
which comes upon this world. So he put away our sin, and it
says, verse 20, the sun shall be turned into darkness. If you
remember what we read in Isaiah, it's all the same, similar language.
It says, the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into
blood before the great and notable day of the Lord come. It spoke of, in Isaiah there,
the consolation shall not give their light, because all our
natural light, all our natural gifts and things that we did
are nothing to us. They've all gone dark. We have
no confidence in the flesh or those works. And we see the Son
of Righteousness, the Lord God, go down, die in our place, and
go down into the grave, so that he shines no more until he rises
again. And in that, the church, the
moon there, being pictured by the moon, is turned into blood. She's covered with the blood,
washed in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we see
how he's worked all that atonement for his people, so that he's
making us his people. He's driving out the captivity
and the sins and the wickedness that we once held to. He's driving
that all the way and purging us of all those filthy works. And so then Peter tells them
plainly who it is that he speaks of, that it's the Christ, the
Lord Jesus of Nazareth that God sent. He is the Christ. He's the one that delivers his
people triumphantly from their captivity. And he says, verse
22, ye men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man
approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs
which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also
know. Him being delivered, here it
is, what's in the heart of wicked man, him being delivered by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken. and by
wicked hands have crucified and slain. See, there's the evil
works of man which God is able to use to work his glory and
accomplish his purpose in the earth for his people in the glory
of his name. Whom God hath raised up having
loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should
be holding of it. Go down to verse 36. Therefore
let all the house of Israel know surely that God hath made the
same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Remember
where this, stay here in Acts, I'm just going to quote, remember
in Isaiah 13, 7 and 8, it said, Therefore shall all hands be
faint, and every man's heart shall melt. That's true. In the
judgment, they were afraid and fearful, literally, in that day
of their own works. And they shall be afraid, pangs
and sorrows shall take hold of them. And so that's true of them,
but now We don't fear that judgment, that day of judgment that's coming
upon the earth. We don't fear that because we've
already been judged in Christ our Savior. We have an advocate
with the Father. We are made righteous before
God. So we don't fear that day of
judgment that's coming because we've been judged in Christ. Christ has delivered us and in
the time of his choosing he brings this gospel and causes us to
hear it, gives us faith to lay hold and to believe that Christ
has done this work for me, for us, for each one of us that are
his. We know that he's done this work for us and he delivers us
out of that bondage into the kingdom of life. And that's what
we see in Acts 2, 37 and 38. Now when they heard this, they
were pricked in their heart. See, they were fearful. They
were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest
of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? hearts were
melted and Peter said unto them repent and be baptized every
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins
and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." So we see
there how literally the Lord raised up the Medes and the Persians
and they went and physically destroyed Babylon and then we
see how the Jews they took Christ and they laid hands on him, and
they delivered him to be crucified, but when that was done, Christ
destroyed all the spiritual hold of that vain, dead religion that
had held on us, and the works of the devil, and the works of
our sin, and the debt that held us. He destroyed all our enemies,
so that we're set free now by the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn over
to Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42, and we see this recorded. in verse six and seven. I the
Lord have called thee in righteousness, he's speaking to his Christ,
and will hold thine hand and will keep thee and give thee
for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles,
to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison,
and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. All
right, again, look over at Isaiah 49. Isaiah 49, and go to verses
eight and nine. Thus saith the Lord, in an acceptable
time have I heard thee, again he's speaking to his Christ,
and in a day of salvation have I helped thee, and I will preserve
thee and give thee for a covenant of the people to establish the
earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages, that thou
mayest say to the prisoners, go forth, to them that are in
darkness, show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways,
and their pastures shall be in all high places. So, there's
an example, a great example, of how the physical is picturing
the spiritual. Alright, one more point here,
a man more precious. Now, for the sake of time, let
me just say that the rest of the verses, they do picture a
physical, literal destruction of what happened to Babylon.
And, at the time, when Isaiah said it, it seemed impossible,
because Assyria was the great kingdom at that time. Babylon
was just a small kingdom. city under the rule of Assyria
and Medes and the Persians were almost non-existent. So it was
pretty amazing that he predicted that. It shows that the Lord,
the Spirit of the Lord guided him in that prophecy. But what
we should see here is the spiritual light of what the Lord is showing
us here, what Christ our Savior bears that righteous fruit in
his people, and that all the wicked, all those who are trusting
in their own works, who aren't looking to Christ, trusting their
own religion, trusting their own selves, their own self-idolatry,
all those, they're going to find out that all their works are
not going to stand up in that day of judgment. Only the works
that Christ works are going to stand in the day of judgment.
Only they will stand up against the fiery judgment of God because
it's already been tested and proven. He's already absorbed.
He's already had that wrath of God poured
out upon him. and he put away the sins of his
people in that day. All right, now Isaiah 13, 12,
once more, it says, I will make a man more precious than fine
gold, even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Now it's Christ
that has made that man, that man that is more precious than
gold, and no other man is found worthy. Only the Lord Jesus Christ,
He's the one who is precious and more precious than all the
elements of this earth. In Romans 3.10 we are reminded,
it's written, there is none righteous, no not one, there is none that
understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God, they
are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable,
there is none that doeth good, no not one. And then the Lord
says in Isaiah 13.13, Therefore I will shake the heavens and
the earth shall remove out of her place in the wrath of the
Lord of hosts and in the day of his fierce anger." When that
day comes, when the Lord returns, in the day of the Lord, and the
heavens roll up like a scroll, and the mountains are removed,
and all the islands are removed, and we're standing there before
the great throne with the Ancient of Days sitting on that throne,
they're going to be looking for that man. They're going to be
looking for the one true intercessor that can help them and he won't
be found. He will be most precious, more
precious than any of the things that they gloried in and trusted
in. when they lived here on the earth. It says, look at verse
14, and it, that is speaking of a man to defend and protect,
an intercessor, shall be as a chased roe. And you're not going to
find anyone that's going to be able to intercede or defend them
in that day. And as a sheep that no man taketh
up, they shall every man turn to his own people and flee every
one into his own land. So, all the wicked are going
to be standing there, their hearts melting, their bowels turning
to liquid, and their works are going to be seen for what they
are, falsehood and lies, that they were all products of the
whore of Babylon. All those things that they trusted
in are just empty, vain religion. And they'll come before the throne
of God without anyone to intercede for them, without an advocate.
They'll have no one to stand with them in that day. And verse
15, everyone that is found shall be thrust through, and everyone
that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword. Their children
also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses
shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished. And what that's saying
there is that their children, all the fruit of their labors,
all their own works are going to come to nothing. They're going
to be dashed before their eyes, and their wives shall be exposed
to be nothing more than the whore of Babylon. That's all that it
is. It's just they've been fornicating
with the whore of this world that's kept them all drunk and
in darkness and not knowing the truth of God. So that's because
man is dead in his trespasses and sins and can bring forth
no good work that pleases the Lord God. So, listen to Romans
7, 5. And when we were in the flesh,
Paul said, the motions of sins which were by the law did work
in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. Those are nothing
more than children that are going to be dashed and perished in
that day of judgment. They ain't going to be profitable
to you or anyone. But the child of God who believes
in Christ by faith, we are the wife. of Christ, and we bear
righteous fruit, we bear fruit of his seed, so that we bring
forth those children that can never be touched, those good
works, those precious works which God is pleased with, because
it's of the seed of his Son. Listen to Romans 7, 4. Wherefore,
my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of
Christ. and dead to all those being fleshly works of religion,
that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised
from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God."
So that's the spiritual fruit that no army can touch. No army
of this world is going to be able to touch and harm those
children and harm you, the wife of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
are safe and secure, covered in the blood of Christ. And I
realize it's getting a little late. I was going to read Matthew
25, where it speaks of the Lord, and he comes with all his holy
angels, and he brings the sheep and the goats, and he separates
them before his throne. And he says, well done to you
who are his sheep, those on the right. He says, well done, good
and faithful servants. And he speaks of their good works,
and they say, well, Lord, when do we ever do those good works
because when you're not under the curse childbirth is so easy
you don't even know what happened you don't even understand the
good works that you did before the Lord because you're not under
the curse where you know Eve brings forth in labor and in
pain she brings forth children because that's she's under the
curse but in Christ you don't even know what you did was a
good work because it's all in Christ it's all of his work and
to his glory And then he turns to the wicked ones and he says,
depart and go into everlasting destruction. And then they started
listing all their works that they sacrificed and brought forth
and labored and worked so hard to bring forth and to do for
the Lord. And they come to nothing. They're all dashed before their
eyes and they go off. It says, these shall go away
into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. And so I'll just close with what
it says at the very end in verse 22 of Isaiah 13, 22. It says, and the wild beasts
of the island shall cry in their desolate houses, when there will
be weeping and gnashing of teeth and dragons in their pleasant
palaces, and her time is near to come, and her days shall not
be prolonged. what we see there in that birdie,
don't just look at the physical, understand that it's a picture
of, Babylon pictures the whore of Babylon, which all the world
is under, that darkness and those dead works, and Christ was crucified
to deliver us out from that bondage, to deliver us from trusting in
those dead works, that we would look to the righteousness that
God provided, the Lord Jesus Christ. So, look to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Stop looking to your works, don't
trust, and then get you to Christ, because the day of the Lord is
at hand, and it's coming. Why should you perish in your
sins? The Lord Jesus Christ came to put away the sins for his
people. And all those who look to him
are assured and promised that they shall receive remission
of sins, that he shall have an advocate stand with them in that
day, and they shall have children and be the wife of Christ that
shall not be touched by any army of this world. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your mercy. We thank you, Lord, for your
power and your might and your grace that you've shown and provided
in your Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, help us. We see how many
have fallen and just lie in darkness under the wickedness that is
upon this world. Lord, save your people. Keep
us, Lord. Keep our hearts where the enemy
cannot touch us. Lord, let us never depart from
or forsake the Lord Jesus Christ. Deliver us from idols, Lord,
the idolatry in the heart of every man. Lord, deliver us from
that. Fill us with your spirit. Bring
forth that precious fruit of the seed of Christ in us, Lord.
Keep us looking to him. Lord, there be any here that
don't know you, that don't trust in you and rest in you. Lord,
break their hearts. Bring that fear upon them, show
them that destruction is near and that they're trusting in
vain, fleshly works or vain, fleshly, fleeting ideas of fame
and glory or things like that, Lord. But destroy the power and
the work of sin in our hearts and deliver us into the kingdom
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray this in Christ's name,
our Lord and Savior. Amen.