Hope Worth Having

Pastor Mike will be speaking on What More Could God do for You Part 1. He will be reading out of Isaiah 5:1-5.

I have seen this in families after families. God blesses them and he continues to advance them They get promoted at the job and all of a sudden you can’t find them in church anymore When the bank account is full and they’re blessed in immeasurable ways. They don’t have time to seek the Lord Hello, this is pastor Mike Sanders and I’m welcoming you to the hope worth having radio program We believe it’s one of the best out there and we hope you are taking the opportunity to grow in your faith today We’re gonna be in Isaiah chapter 5. We’re just kind of tracking through the book of Isaiah it’s gonna be an incredible journey as we tackle this great book of the Bible and The message today is what more could God do for you? Isaiah chapter 5. Let’s begin our study If You have your Bible this morning, I want you to join me in the book of Isaiah Isaiah chapter 5 we’ve been tracking through the book of Isaiah for a few months now and we are finally made it to Isaiah chapter 5 remember that as we go through this book chapter 2 chapter Things are always different and in one chapter the Prophet is speaking about today’s Circumstances meaning the times that he’s living in in dealing with Judah and Israel and Jerusalem and Then he’ll take us to the future of what is to be What is to come to pass and the hope that we have? The Prophet never wants us to be overwhelmed He never wants us to be discouraged But he certainly wants to address the ills of society in the day that he is living and So it is that he keeps bringing us to that Hope that is found in God in the future and what he is to bring about For those who love him for those who live for him We come to Isaiah chapter 5 Isaiah chapter 5 I’ve entitled the message.

What more could God do for you? What more could God do for you? the Apostle Paul appealed to the gifted but troubled Corinthian Church in 2nd Corinthians 6 1 He said we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain What does it mean to receive? The grace of God in vain to answer this question we must understand the doctrine of God’s grace We know that there is saving grace We understand that there is sustaining grace and even speaking grace and serving grace One theologian said this in defining grace That it is God’s determination To do good to people who deserve his wrath Let me explain it. Maybe a little bit more simpler God bestowing his goodness upon us Unfolding his goodness upon us even though we do not deserve it That is what grace is It has the idea of a king or a person of royalty stooping down So it is in God’s wonderful grace He has stooped down and he has pulled us out of that miry clay of sin And he has set our feet on the solid rock of Jesus Christ what a wonderful thought and yet The Apostle taught the Corinthians not to receive the grace of God in vain There are several ways in which God is bestowing his goodness upon even all of humanity It is referred to as common grace I Made a list here of just some things in which God’s common grace is Lavished on to the world we can start with the beautiful sunshine We can continue with the beautiful rain that God gives and refreshes and renews the earth we think about the food that he provides the clothing that he gives We think about shelter family friends health Education and even the written Word of God as a common grace made available to all of humanity It is possible to receive all these common graces in vain if We fail to take advantage of the opportunity of God’s grace being bestowed upon us and yet we choose to follow a life or a lifestyle that Contradicts the Word of God and it refuses to be thankful for God’s goodness and grace upon us In a real way Then we are taking the grace of God in vain and God’s grace that is bestowed upon us even as believers is being wasted Because we rise up we complain We find fault with the day we don’t enjoy the goodness that he bestows upon us and This is exactly what happened to the nation of Israel in Isaiah’s day And this is what he confronts in Isaiah chapter 5 is a people who have been so blessed blessed beyond measure That they have taken the grace of God in vain So Isaiah starts out He starts out with a song. I Song Might empty the house.

Amen We let those who can sing sing and those who can’t to stay seated. Amen, but in this Song, it’s a song About an owner of a vineyard. We’re gonna read about it here in just a second And he’s doing everything that he can to make it possible for this Beautiful vineyard to prosper and to be blessed and to grow and to just continue to do well But what does it yield Worthless grapes It doesn’t yield the sweet fruit of all the goodness and the grace of the owner So it is that God is exposing He’s exposing the many sins of a richly blessed people and He is reminding us that what is the judgment upon those who will not? Acknowledge the goodness and the grace of God.

This is what we understand. It’s taking place in Isaiah chapter 5 so let’s begin reading in verse 1 now. Let me sing to my well-beloved a Song of my beloved regarding his vineyard My well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill He dug it up and cleared out its stones and planted it with the choicest vine He built a tower in its midst Also made a winepress in it.

So he expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes And Now Oh inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah judge, please between me and my vineyard What more could have been done to my vineyard? That I have not done in it Why then? When I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth? wild grapes And now please let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard I will take away its hedge and it shall be burned and break down its walls and shall be Trampled down I will lay it waste it shall not be pruned or dug But there shall come up briars and thorns. I Will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and The men of Judah are his pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold oppression for righteousness, but behold a cry for help as We begin to analyze this chapter this morning.

I want you to first see God’s Gracious or his lavish grace upon the people and this startling question that is presented to us What more could God do for you? What more could he have done to make this vineyard such a success and yet it was not a success Isaiah Wants to relay a message through this song to the people He wants to remind the people of Jerusalem and Judah directly that What is it that God could do more in your life? What is it that God could do more to bring you to a point where you would bring glory to his name and you would? Praise his name and give thanks to God every day of your life that he has blessed you with in this effort to help the people to become self-aware of Their lack of response to the goodness and the grace of God He proposes for them to consider who’s right and who is wrong go back to verse 3 in the song of Isaiah chapter 5 and he says and now Oh inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah judge, please Between me and my vineyard Discern Tell me who’s right and who’s wrong. It’s not that God doesn’t know It’s not that even the Prophet doesn’t know but this is the point trying to drive home to the people for them to come To the conclusion on their own for the understanding to hit to their minds and their hearts What God is saying to them? Directly So in this beautiful song He’s speaking to us Particularly he begins speaking to Jerusalem to Israel to the men of Judah He’s speaking to them and saying what is it that God did that somehow would cause you to respond? with no fruit towards the Lord and The truth is nothing Has not God done all that he could do to bring us to true salvation Has not God shown the path for us to find the blessing and the fruitfulness that is found in a relationship with him and Yet what has been our response? What has been our response? God is calling us to evaluate and to discern in our own hearts and We think about our nation as a country we think about America has God not been good to America Has he not blessed this nation beyond measure? People like to be hard on America But I tell you no nation has been blessed like America in the sense of all of its wealth and resources a nation that has always Shown up to other nations tragedies and provided finances and materials and people to help to resolve their Challenges if a hurricane hits another country America is there right How is it that America could do that? Does she has so much wealth She has so much resources as God Not provided for America in such a beautiful way That our response should be one of gratefulness and thankfulness Has he not shed his grace on this land in profound ways? certainly I Want you to look in verses 8 through 23 We see the six clusters of bad grapes that manifested themselves in Israel as well as in Judah and I want you to first see because what he pronounces are the six woes We’re gonna go through these we won’t be able to dive down deep on each of these because we’d never make it in all the Things that we need to cover in Isaiah. We just would never get to the end of it But I hope that always my sermons prompt you to study more to research more and to search the scriptures more But let’s look at these woes if you’re taking notes.

First of all, the first woe is Aggressive greed verses 8 through 10. Let’s read that together in chapter 5 He says woe to those who join house-to-house They add field to fill till there is no place where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land in my Hearing the Lord of hosts said truly many houses shall be desolate great and beautiful ones without Inhabitants for 10 acres of vineyards shall yield one bath and the homer of seed shall yield one ephah What he is trying to show us here is that the people have become so greedy That they’re constantly just adding and adding and adding and it’s not that God is against wealth or that somehow God is against you Prospering the Bible teaches us in 1st Timothy 6 that God gives us all things that we might richly enjoy them God blesses you with material things tangible things and these are wonderful and I don’t want you to misunderstand the scriptures I want you to know that God Provides his blessings and he shows his goodness to us not only spiritually but he shows it to us physically and he shows it to us in many different ways and he calls on us to richly enjoy them, but We must recognize Where do they come from? Where do these blessings come from? Whatever God has given you you must give him thanks and glory and the second thing that I think is what’s happened to the folks here in Israel is they Were allowing these things that they were being blessed with To be more important to them than their relationship with God Almighty And this is what the prophet is pointing out that they have accumulated houses and lands, but they have compromised Their relationship with God Almighty. Yes, they have become wealthy And yes, they have a lot of stuff and they have financial success which we see in verses 8 through 10 But they have put God on The back burner and how many times as a pastor that I have seen this in families after families God blesses them and he continues to advance them.

They get promoted at the job They have new opportunities that open up and all of a sudden you can’t find them in church anymore Because the things of this world are more important than the things of God They don’t have time to read their bible like they used to when they were poor and desolate They could barely rub two nickels together and find a way to pay the bills at the end of the month They were praying to God seeking God to help them But all of a sudden now when the bank account is full and they’re blessed in immeasurable ways They don’t have time to seek the lord anymore. It stands as a warning to all of us The second woe that we see in this text in verse 11 and 12 is the sinful excessiveness Of the people we pick up in verse 11. The bible says woe to those who rise early in the morning That they may follow intoxicating drink who continue until night till wine inflames them the harp and the strings the Tambourines the flute and the wine are in their feasts, but they do Not regard the work of the lord Nor consider the operation of his hands What the prophet is pointing out is the people are living for all the pleasures of this world rather than Dedicating their life to god They’re so passionate and so dedicated In pursuing the things of this world and the pleasures of this world They even get up early so that they can have another drink so that they can enjoy All that they have in the pleasures of this world.

They run after drinks And they call For the new tunes and the new harps and the new songs They want all of this so that they can enjoy the pleasures of life, but they would never rise up early to Seek god They would never rise up early to pray They would never rise up early to give glory to god or to give thanks to god Their life instead of being filled with the spirit Is filled with intoxicating drink Meaning you remember the scriptures teach us To not be drunk with wine in contrast to be filled with the spirit rather than letting the Substances of these things to control our thoughts and our minds We should let the spirit of god fill our hearts and minds and we should be so passionate to be led of the spirit to Walk in the spirit that that’s what we desire To guide our decisions and our choices and rather than pursuing the things of this world and the pleasures of this world Our passion as believers should be to pursue our savior Jesus taught us Blessed are those who hunger and thirst After god meaning they thirst after the righteousness of god. They shall be fill My friends your feeling is always In connection to your passion of pursuing the righteousness of god And the question is what is your priority today? Nothing wrong with these things that are out there and I want you to enjoy the blessings of god But the question is is your pursuit of god more important is the glory of god more important? What has god done For you to bless you in so many ways That you could not even take the time to worship him to dedicate your heart to him The third woe we look in verse 18 and 19 we jump down to this third woe he is what we call the self deceived enslavement and the mocking of god Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity a sin as if with a cart rope That say let him make speed and hasten his work that we may see it and let the counsel of the holy one of israel Draw near and come that we may know it. What he is saying is that they have deceived themselves.

They have become slaves to sin As if they were beasts of burdens who are slaves to the master And in this case, they are mocking god. They are not pursuing god, but they are mocking god They are questioning god. They are challenging god.

They are defying god They are demanding that god carry out what they want and when they want it Very disappointing To see people defining god the way they want it to be Rather than saying I want to see the revealed god in his word and in his truth And worship him for who he is not what I want him to be That he’s just a god who is to be a genie in my life And he just responds to my demands and wishes and he immediately accomplishes what I want him to do in my time Rather than recognizing him as being transcendent and sovereign And all powerful and omniscient That we are his servants He is the source of all that is good in our life. And who are we to demand from god? Who are we to dictate to god what kind of a timetable he is to operate by? We see the fourth woe Remember what I told you how many woes were there? six Hang in there church. I have good news for you at the end I know it’s hard Just be glad you weren’t the one that had to study and put this sermon together Look at verse 20 We’re very familiar with this one Woe to those who call evil good And good evil Who put darkness for light and light? for Darkness who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter If there’s ever been a passage of scripture that defined our culture and our society, I think it’s isaiah chapter 5 and verse 20 And I could stand up here and rant and I could rave about the different things that are Destroying the fabric of this nation and this society and this culture and you would all agree with me And I know it to be true And I don’t deny any of that But I want you to know it all starts in our own hearts And it’s easy for us To scream at the darkness and to yell at the wicked But what really isaiah is calling us to do is to look at our own hearts Are there moments and times in our life where we are compromising our own integrity? And we are calling what is wrong right? Are we in our own hearts failing to love god and make him a priority? Are we sending the wrong message to our families to our children and to our grandchildren? When we choose to do what we want rather than honoring the lord jesus christ in our life god Is using the prophet To not only call out a nation and rightly so church But he is also using this prophet to call out the people directly in their own hearts Yes, we live in a post-modern world a world where They believe everything is relative that there is no absolute truth That whatever you say is true is true to you.

And whatever I say is true is true to me You and I know that they are constantly trying to redefine What is truth? We know the scriptures teach us that jesus is truth Amen, jesus said I am the truth the life and the way and no man comes unto the father But by me, we know that christ and his word is truth. That is the measurement. That is the standard and so we see That even what used to be common sense Among a general society in america has been flipped on its head And now we’re trying to figure out You know what’s going on I was down in baltimore area friday night being a part of a renewal vow service And as I was coming back that night I was listening to the radio.

I heard a news report about a young girl just outside of st. Louis Missouri they were all in up arms because she went to school and she took a test and on the test She had failed this test and the parents were all upset because one of the questions was how many genders are there? And the little girl having common sense said there’s two and she Failed the test. It’s crazy And I saw the other day that in pennsylvania, you could have 50 different options for your gender in your license You know and I mean maybe somehow we could come up with You know Don’t worry.

Don’t worry about me church. Okay. I’m a two-gender guy But maybe somehow we could dream up two or three or four or five six I don’t know.

But how do you come up with 50 plus genders? I mean, that’s just a heavy lift seems to me And so here we are in crazy times where children are mutilated And The government sponsors all this and if a parent steps in and tries to say I don’t want my child to be mutilated And they’re not old enough to make this kind of a decision that all of a sudden you’re put in prison for this That if you stand up and you say i’m pro-life and I want to stand for what’s right and I would just like to go across the street of the abortion clinic and just pray for those moms and those children who are being aborted that you would be a threat and thrown into jail Do you think there’s no way this is happening? Is happening all the time I’m, not making it up church. Like i’m not coming up here just swinging from the hip and hoping something sticks to the wall I’m actually telling you things that are happening and they’re not in other countries They’re in america You The book of isaiah in chapter 5 opens with a song It’s a love song and isaiah is using this song about a vineyard to relay the lord’s message to his people And reminding them what else could god do for he has already done so much and he certainly Lavished his grace on us and extended his grace so that we could have eternal life So what else are we looking for? Sometimes we are like the old saying what have you done for me lately? And we have to be careful that we don’t fall into that trap as believers But that we’re always grateful full of joy and excited about what god has already accomplished on the cross for us And that we are experiencing his redemption through his great work of the cross and the resurrection I want to encourage you to check us out on hopeworthhaving.com There we have some newsletters we put out some newsletters and you can kind of keep up with our ministry what’s going on How things are happening? And if you have questions Feel free to go to the website and just hit that contact button and you’ll be able to find out more about our ministry This is pastor mike sanders reminding you that in christ. There is hope worth having

The post What More Could God do for You Part 1 first appeared on Hope Worth Having.

Pastor Mike will be speaking on God is in Control Part 2. He will be reading out of Isaiah 4:2-6.

How will you escape if you neglect this great salvation? If you say no to Jesus this morning and you walk away and refuse to believe, how will you escape the judgment of God? You will not, my friends, escape. Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders from the Open Door Church. I want to welcome you to the Hope Worth Having radio program.

Thank you for joining us today. We’re going to be back in the book of Isaiah. We’re in chapter four.

We’re learning that God is in control. So join me as we begin this study. He will destroy the kingdoms of this world.

Daniel tells us all about that. You can read about it in Daniel 2 and Daniel 4 and Daniel 7, and you can see it in Daniel 12. But the point being is I want you to understand that this will be a beautiful day.

It’ll be a time where Jesus is not only vindicated, but it’ll be a time where we will rejoice, and we will give glory to God, and we will give praise to God. Hebrews 1. I want you to just go to Hebrews chapter 1, verse 3, real quickly. Go ahead, get your Bible out.

Come to church with your Bible because this will help you to be a student of the Word of God. You’re already scrolling on your Facebook page. You’re already scrolling on what Amazon deals are out there.

Forget all that, and recognize you’re in the presence of God. It’s a holy presence of God, and open the holy Word of God, and look at verse 3 of chapter 1 of the book of Hebrews, and referring to Jesus Christ, that who being in the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person. That’s the phrase I wanted you to see, that in that day Christ will be exalted in glory and honor.

He already is exalted, and he is glorified in the presence at the right hand of the Father, but the day is coming, my friends, where the brightness and the glory of Jesus Christ will sit in the seat of David and will reign in the city of Jerusalem. You say, why do you say that, Mike? Because the Bible says it. That’s why I say at church, and you could come up with all of your different eschatological philosophies that you want, but friends, I’m just sticking with the Bible.

In that day, Christ will be glorified. He will be beautiful and glorious. In that day, all of his enemies will be humiliated and destroyed, and they will eat the dust of this earth.

You say, what do you mean? First Corinthians chapter 15 verse 25 says, referring to Jesus, he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. Jesus will reign, my friends. He will come as a lion, and he will rule and reign.

All the agony and the suffering and the slander and the false accusations will be nullified in the glorious way when Christ, the great prince, is praised in that day because he is beautiful and he is glorious. Now, as Christians, as we live in this day, not that day that is to come, we look forward to it. I recognize that many times in Christians, we have seasons in our life where we feel that we are never going to be able to escape sin.

The Bible tells us that we wrestle with sin. We wrestle with it, that this body is still dealing with the temptations of sin. When you came to Jesus Christ and received him as your Lord and Savior, you were delivered from the penalty of sin.

The penalty of sin, that is that Jesus took that penalty on the cross. The wrath of God, the holiness of God that had to punish sin was taken care of in the cross. That’s why we glory in the cross, church.

That’s why we rejoice that our Savior died for us. But I also want you to know that as we are growing in our faith, as we’re plugged into Bible studies, as we’re plugged into mentoring relationships, as we’re plugged into the worship service, as we are under the teaching and the feeding of the Word of God, we can obtain power over sin. The power of the Holy Spirit, the power of the Word of God that helps us to be able to say no to sin and yes to Jesus Christ.

That’s why it’s so important. But yet the presence of sin is still here, and we will not be delivered until that day. In that day, you and I will eventually be delivered from the presence of sin, and we will live in a place where there is no sin, there is no sadness, there is no sorrow, there is no curse of sin upon this planet.

We will live in a day where not only all of creation is groaning for, and even that the people of God are groaning for, and even the Spirit of God is groaning for, that day when the presence of sin is absent in our life, and we can live in this utopia society where God is honored and Christ is glorified every day. Won’t that be beautiful, church? That is the hope that Isaiah wants you to have. We’ve seen the period of that day and the praise of that day.

Let’s see the prosperity in that day. I’m still in verse 2. In that day, the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious. That branch is Jesus.

You say, Mike, why do you keep saying it? Because half of you have been sleeping, and I’m trying to wake you up. But look at this, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing. It shall be excellent and appealing when Jesus Christ is honored, when righteousness is exalted and embraced.

It will impact this land and the prosperity of this land. It will bear fruit. Even broccoli will taste good.

Amen? Yes, broccoli needs salt and cheese to make it taste good. But the fruit of the land will be wonderful. It’ll be beautiful.

It’ll taste good. You and I, we watch a world that thinks they’re prospering. A world that’s so upside down.

A world that has said that right is wrong and wrong is right. A world that thinks it can just spend its way out of any problem that they have. A world that is in trillions of debt and will never be paid back.

You’re kidding yourself. And any politician who promises you is only lying to you. The prosperity of the world is only poverty.

It’s only poverty. And certainly it is most of all spiritual poverty. But in that day, the true prosperity of God will be upon the land as the curse of sin is gone.

And God will ultimately restore this beautiful place as we live in this millennial kingdom. And everything will be so glorious and wonderful in the reign of Jesus Christ. We won’t be hyped up about who’s against who and who’s against what.

But we will just enjoy that we are blessed and there’ll be so much prosperity. Doesn’t mean that you’ll have everything that you want. It just simply means that the blessings of God will be upon this place in the millennial kingdom.

You will be given assignments and responsibilities. You’ll have a job to do. You’ll wake up every day not groaning that you have to go to work, but you’ll be rejoicing.

Because you will be working in accordance to your giftedness, your passion, your abilities that God has equipped you with. You won’t be in a dead-end job. You’ll have an assignment from the Lord and it will be beautiful and it’ll be wonderful and you’ll enjoy every moment.

Why? Because the Bible teaches us that we’ll have the energy of the Lord. We wake up and we’re tired. We wake up and our bones are cracking.

We wake up and we’re looking for our wheelchair. But you know there’s coming a day when our age won’t matter and our bodies will be renewed. And Isaiah will talk about that later in that we will be like young people again and we’ll have the energy of the Lord and the strength of God.

But the day is coming where God is going to restore our youthfulness. It’s going to be beautiful church. It’s why there’ll be so much prosperity.

But I also want you to see the people of that day. The people of that day. I’m still in chapter 4 and verse 2. In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing for those of Israel who have escaped or been delivered.

Some translations put it like that. They have been escaped or delivered. This speaks of those who will truly experience this glorious time.

Those who have been saved. Those who have put their trust in Jesus Christ. Again remember what are they escaping or what are they being delivered from? They’re being delivered from this particular tribulation time period.

Jacob’s trouble the prophets would call it. Jacob’s trouble. A seven-year period that they are being delivered from.

You come to Matthew chapter 25. In Matthew 25. I know we like to see it as something that’s applicable for today and certainly it can be.

It doesn’t go against the Word of God. But honestly what it’s teaching us in Matthew 25 is about the tribulation period. And you remember it says that Jesus would say I was hungry and you fed me.

I was in jail and you visited me. I was without clothes and you clothed me. And we believe that this is our mandate to meet the social ills of the world and certainly we should do everything we can as a church and as a believer.

But I’m telling you that the true context of Matthew 25 is about the tribulation period where those who refuse to take the mark of the beast and those in the nation of Israel who are coming to Christ. Because there’ll be 144,000 evangelists who are raised up during the tribulation period. They’ll be preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and they will be invincible until their purpose is accomplished.

And many will come to Jesus Christ but there will be great persecution. We know in Revelation 6 that there is around the throne of God a group of martyrs who are crying out to the father asking him when will he bring vengeance upon the earth for their blood. Because those who believe in Jesus Christ during the tribulation period will be under intense persecution and intense suffering.

Who are these people? Look at verse 2 again. For those of Israel who have escaped are those who have been delivered. They are the people who are delivered from the tribulation period who come to Jesus Christ more particularly.

But we have a reminder to all of us this morning. The words of Hebrews 2 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? How will you escape the tribulation period? How will you escape the judgment of God? How will you escape to be cast into the eternal lake of fire? Only if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. How will you escape if you neglect this great salvation? If you say no to Jesus this morning and you walk away and refuse to believe.

How will you escape the judgment of God? You will not my friends escape. Oh there is a season the Bible says that sin is pleasurable but it all comes to an end. And we all must make a decision.

And you say well I’m not going to make a decision. Well my friends to make no decision is to make a decision. But what we see here is those who escape this tribulation period are those who are truly redeemed.

Who have truly put their faith in Jesus Christ. And they will enjoy the blessings of in that day. And if you have not come to Christ for salvation this morning.

If you have not put your faith and trust in what Christ did on the cross for your sins. My friends you will not escape the divine judgment. And you will not enjoy the blessings of the millennial kingdom that is to come for all believers.

Now we get to the rest of the chapter. And we come down to verse three. He reminds us he says and it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy.

Everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem. What I want you to see is the protection of that day. The protection of this beautiful day in the millennial kingdom.

God protects his own. Here the prophet Isaiah is using symbolic language to remind us of the protection of God in those last days. You remember if you’ll just go back real quickly Isaiah 1 and verse 9. We’re reminded that God always has a remnant.

And God is always protecting even when his judgment is upon us. Verse 9 unless the Lord of hosts had left to us a very small remnant we would have become like Sodom. We would have been made like Gomorrah.

You see the judgment of God that Sodom and Gomorrah judgment upon those people because they rejected God. Because they wanted to live a selfish lifestyle. They wanted to go away from God’s plan and purpose and design for their life.

And so they chose a path that was dishonoring to God in their homosexual lifestyle. A lifestyle that offended the very holiness of God. You see my friends when I sin against God.

When I live outside of his purpose, outside of his design, and outside of his plan for my life. I am committing treason before a holy God as I am offending in my selfish sinful lifestyle a perfect and righteous God. And that’s where I need to get to in my spiritual walk with God.

That it’s not about me. It’s about honoring and glorifying a holy and righteous God. That I never want to disappoint, let down, or displease this holy and righteous God who has saved me.

Who has protected me. We come to chapter 3 and verse 10 again in the midst of all this judgment that we learned a few weeks ago. We see this that the prophet says, say to the righteous that it shall be well with them for they shall eat of the fruit of their doings.

God always has a remnant that even as judgment is raining down even upon our nation. God always has a remnant of believers who he is protecting. And we’re to be reminded of that church.

That we can continue to move forward for God. We don’t walk in fear. We do not retreat in our mission and assignment from God just because we’re in the midst of judgment.

But rather we continue to move forward in the sovereign power of God who is protecting the remnant. He is protecting the remnant. What is the source of this protection? Again we see it is the source of this protection is the Lord.

The Lord is the source. Look at verse 4, when the Lord has washed away the filth and the daughters of Zion. Verse 5, then the Lord will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion and above her assemblies.

Who is it that is doing this? It is the Lord who is protecting us. This great protector is God himself. And when our protection is from God, you need no other insurance policy.

Salvation is secure in Christ. He has protected you. He is watching out and covering over you.

Making sure that you achieve what he has purposed in your life. That’s why I’m a strong believer in the security of the saints. In the eternal security of the believer because of John chapter 10 verse 28 and 29 in which Jesus said, I give them eternal life.

Not temporal life. Not partial eternal life. But he says, I give them eternal life and they shall what church? Perish.

I want you to see it. I want you to say it. I want you to feel it.

I want you to sense it. Why? Because I want you to walk out of here with confidence and hope that he will not take away your salvation. They shall never perish.

Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. You nor anyone else can snatch your spiritual eternal life out of the hand of God. How wonderful it is to know that we are in the hand of God.

Not only that the hand of God and his anointing and power to be upon us, but we are in the covering and the protection of his hand. And the Bible says, you cannot be snatched out. My father who has given them to me.

Now stop there. I wish I could just drill down on this and you’d be so overwhelmed. We would just rejoice even into the picnic time.

But here’s what the Bible says. My father has given them to me. I know you saw your salvation as only a means of escaping hell.

As perhaps fire insurance to make sure that when you check out that heaven is your home, certainly that is the surface level. But even deeper about your salvation is this. You and I, every believer that trusts in Jesus Christ is a gift from the father to the son.

You are a gift from the father to the son. And he only gives gifts that he knows will please the son. You don’t go out and buy a gift and say, I hope they don’t like it.

I mean, maybe a few of you, I don’t know. Maybe Christmas is coming and you’re going to really get even, right? Because they only gave you a hand towel last year. So you’re going to pass that candle that’s been going through the family through 10 different people, right? But here’s what I want you to know how beautiful church.

You are a gift from the father to Jesus. And Jesus says, my father who has given them to me is greater than all. He’s greater.

And no one is able to snatch them out of my father’s hand. Don’t mess with the father and his gift to the son. Don’t mess with it.

And don’t think that somehow in your finite life that you have the ability to take away Jesus’s gift from the father. Don’t think that somehow you have the ability. Do not think of yourself so highly that you have the ability to take Jesus’s gift away from the father.

You are secure and you are secured by the father. You are protected in your faith. And the question before us, is God able to protect us all? And the answer is yes.

And yes, absolutely. The sight of this protection. Hang in there church.

How could so much be in so few verses? Because the word of God is so deep we could never get to the end of it. I hope that I lead you into a study of the book of Isaiah that will lead you to greater depths than I could ever share with you. But what is the place? Well, again, we see it in verse 5, that the Lord will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion.

Again, he says, and above her assemblies, this beautiful place, Mount Zion, that God is honored. A place where God is exalted. You see, it’s not just that.

This is all symbolism. And it’s not just that it’s all something made up. But it’s a literal person, Jesus Christ, the branch.

It’s a literal place that he’s giving to us. It’s a place where we will rejoice and honor God. It’ll be far superior than any place in this world.

It will be the exalted place of where Jesus Christ will reside. And he will sit in that throne of David. And he will rule and reign.

Listen to the prophet Daniel. As he says in Daniel 12, 1, at that time, Michael shall stand up. The great prince who stands, watch over the sons of your people.

And there shall be a time of trouble. That’s that tribulation time. Such as never was since there was a nation.

Even to that time. And at that time, your people shall be delivered. Everyone who is found written in the book.

Now look, you have to be in the book. Go back to verse 3. It shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy. Everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem.

And the question is your name in the book? Is your name in the book of life? When roll call is given, is your name going to be called out? Are you in the eternal book of life? Have you trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Have you been just fiddle-faddling with the world? Dabbling in the pleasures of your sin? Or have you truly devoted your life to follow Jesus Christ? My friends, there’s much to be said here and much for us to contemplate. But I desire so much for each of you to have your name in the Lamb’s book of life. And that this church family works tirelessly, rises early and late, and gives a hundred percent and more if possible so that your name will be in the Lamb’s book of life.

And I hope that is true. I hope that is true. What is my response this morning? I hope that if you know Christ that you will choose to be holy.

That what is glorious and is to come will be a reflection, a little bit of taste on this earth, a little bit of heaven on this earth, a little bit of the millennial kingdom. Be distinct. Be different.

Make the case through your life for Jesus Christ to be a believer. Don’t be a hypocrite. Don’t be someone who is against the church, but be holy.

But I would also say be hopeful, church. It’s going to get better. Now, there is going to be some troubles.

There’s going to be some problems, church. Things aren’t going to always unfold like we want them on this earth. But let’s be hopeful that there’s going to be a greater and a grander day that’s coming forward.

And listen, I want the millennial kingdom to come. Why? Because my loved ones are there. Because I want to hold them and touch them and talk to them again.

I want to interact. I want to fellowship with the people of God. I got some questions for Moses, and I got some questions for the apostle Paul.

I’m going to be one of those guys that Paul’s going to be saying, can you distract him because I got to get out of here. He’s got too many questions. Be hopeful, church.

The curse of sin is leaving this world, and your loved ones are going to be with you. Be hopeful, but also be helpful, church. Until then, until that day, let’s be helpful to one another.

Let’s take care of the household of faith. Let’s be helpful in serving. If you just give a cup of water in his name, you’re doing his work.

You got to stay engaged. You can’t get on the back burner. You can’t quit.

It’s too soon. Somebody made you mad. Well, I’m just saying power through it.

People make people mad all the time. Welcome to life. We can’t quit church.

We can’t give up. We can’t walk away from the assignment of getting the gospel to every person on this planet. We can’t quit on our job from heaven.

We must stay fully engaged. Well, Isaiah talks about a day of vengeance, a period in time in which God is going to right all the wrongs in the world. Certainly, the Bible teaches us that vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.

We cry out in our hearts for righteousness, justice, rightly so, because within our heart, God has created a desire for righteousness, and yet we will never see it fully on display in this world. We will only see it in the coming kingdom of Christ in the thousand-year reign of the millennial kingdom. And we look forward to that day in which God will establish justice and righteousness in the land.

I want to encourage you to make sure that you are checking us out on YouTube. You can get this entire sermon in the YouTube channel. Just go under our playlist, and we have different books of the Bible that we’ve been teaching and preaching from.

And if you’ll jump into the book of Isaiah, you can pick up and see this whole message and take advantage of learning and growing and developing. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ, there is hope worth having.

The post God is in Control Part 2 first appeared on Hope Worth Having.

Pastor Mike will be speaking on God is in Control Part 1. He will be reading out of Isaiah 4:2-6.

And he is glorified in the presence at the right hand of the Father But the day is coming my friends where the brightness and the glory of Jesus Christ Will sit in the seat of David and will reign in the city of Jerusalem You say why do you say that Mike because the Bible says it Hello, this is pastor Mike Sanders Thank you for joining us today as we are sharing the Word of God and we’re looking forward to opening God’s truth And its impact upon our life. If you have your Bible, I want you to join us in Isaiah chapter 4 Isaiah chapter 4 as we are learning the incredible truth that God is in control I want you to take your Bible and join me in Isaiah chapter 4 and this morning We’re covering verse 2 through 6, which actually will complete chapter 4 in the book of Isaiah Now when you come to chapter 4 we Obviously as Americans we like to start in verse 1 But actually verse 1 belongs to chapter 3 and I know some of you are about ready to call me a heretic But it’s not the chapters and the verses relating to their addresses is not inspired by God It was actually added later. And so sometimes there are some mistakes that have taken Verse 1 of chapter 4 belongs in chapter 3 and in chapter 4 verse 2 is the Beginning of a whole new thought you remember that I taught you early at the outset That Isaiah goes back and forth.

It’s not that Isaiah is struggling It’s not that he has ADHD. He can’t stay focused or anything like that. But rather he is reminding us of Not only the current situation of Israel and Judah and Jerusalem and the judgment of God but he continues to infuse hope into the hearts of God’s people by reminding them of the future and So in chapter 1 we see that Isaiah starts out with this vision that he received from God It’s a vision of God’s judgment upon the people because they have not put God first in their hearts We jumped to chapter 2 and we see that now we’re launched into that Millennial Kingdom future Verse 2 of chapter 2 says now it shall come to pass in the latter days We understand that those latter days are referring to this dispensation of the Millennial Kingdom Some people do not like the word dispensation But it is in the Bible the Apostle Paul talks about different time periods and different ages if you will or different particular purposes that God has in Unfolding his ultimate will upon this earth And so we see in that Millennial Kingdom chapter 2 some beautiful things that we’ve already shared with you we come back to chapter 3 and again a warning to Judah a warning to Jerusalem a warning of what are the signs of the judgment of God a Few weeks ago when we walked you through chapter 3 I’m sure that maybe it felt like a heaviness and I’m sure there was some Wow, it seems like this is what we’re experiencing in America.

It’s true It’s exactly what we’re experiencing in America, and it’s not that America will be judged But when we look at Isaiah We see the signs in chapter 3 of the judgment of God upon Israel upon Judah upon Jerusalem And thus these signs are already being manifested in America and my friends It’s not that we will be judged, but we are being judged America is under the judgment of God And so please don’t be saying that we just feel like that’s something for the future. I Want you to know I really believe with all my heart. This is opinion.

Okay, this is opinion but I believe America has peaked out and Now we are beginning into those stages. We’re leading us to the rapture of the church and to the tribulation of the world But when we come to chapter 4 again Isaiah is switching from the signs of judgment To remind us of the future. I call it simply this I’ve entitled my message.

God is in control God is in control Church, whatever might happen in the future of this nation Whatever might happen in this world. God is in control. He is not let go He is fulfilling his will in This text of chapter 4 verse 2 through 6. We are reminded that there is something to look forward to That there is a positive view that Isaiah gives us of the end times which is in contrast to the negative signs of chapter 3 There’s a deliberate contrast From chapter 3 to chapter 4. I think that Isaiah through the work of the Spirit of God Inspiring Isaiah to pen down the very words and the breath of God understands that we can only take so much and so after we read a Chapter like chapter 3 of great judgment upon the nation of Israel Surely it is that the people of God need a hope They need something to look forward to So God is clearing all the wreckage of the people sin and he is building a perfect City the city of Zion in its place and we’ll talk more about that in the book of Revelation But I want you to see some things here, but let’s first pick up in verse 2 it says in that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing for those of Israel who have escaped or been delivered and It shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem Will be called holy Everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem when the Lord was washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and Purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning Then the Lord will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion and Above her assemblies a cloud and a smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night for over all the glory there will be a covering and there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat for a place of refuge and for a shelter from storm and rain The first thing that I want you to see in this text is that we see a period of the day of that day Noticed again in verse 2. He reuses that phrase in that day Now the first two verses of this chapter Meaning verse 2 and 3 the prophet is trying to help us to understand that God is in control He’s in control of the times and the seasons that are unfolding on this earth And he is affirming to the people that yes, there is judgment but there is something to look forward to he reminds them that in that day this will be a period of vindication for the Lord note again that it says in verse 2 in that day the branch the Lord shall be Beautiful and glorious there’ll be vindication for Jesus the Messiah you see I want you to understand again Try to see this big scope and try to see this big picture if you will with me It’s very hard sometimes in a worship service to help you to see exactly what God is doing but it’s an assembly of all of what the scriptures teach, but I want you to know that Israel has rejected Jesus as their Messiah Jesus came to this earth offered himself to the Jews first the Apostle Paul when he preached the gospel He offered the gospel of salvation to the Jews first We’re commanded to take the scriptures and the gospel to the Jews first What was the Apostle’s strategy when he would go from place to place? He would first go to the synagogue He would go first to the gatherings of the Jewish Meetings and he would share the gospel of Jesus Christ But unfortunately in the ministry of Christ and the ministry of the Apostles overall the Jews rejected Jesus They rejected Christ as the true Messiah but in that day Look again the branch which is referring to Christ the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious there’s a vindication that is unfolding in that day a Vindication of what God has established his way his righteousness his word his truth is being Vindicated before all the Bible tells us in Romans 11 26 that all of Israel shall be saved And you see what is the tribulation period about some people think it’s about them but they need to get their eyes off themselves and on to the glory of God and Recognize that the tribulation is not for the believer but it’s for the Jewish people the nation of Israel that they would come to Recognize and to realize that Jesus Christ is The true Messiah.

He is the one they’ve been waiting for. He is the one that was promised by the prophet Isaiah He is the one that they are to be looking for and he is the one that they are to believe in and he will bring true salvation Jesus Christ came the first time to Save us from our sins he came as a lamb the Lamb of God who would die on the cross for our sins so that you and I could come by faith and believe in Christ and Experience the grace and the forgiveness of God in our life, but he’ll come the second time as a lion He’ll come as a lion who will rule he will reign and friends in that tribulation period just as The second coming of Christ is upon this earth The Bible teaches us in Zechariah that the people the nation of Israel they will mourn and they will grieve because they will Recognize that they have crucified Jesus Christ and that he is the true one that was sent by God and that he is the one that has come to deliver them from their sins and from their enemies and to establish a kingdom that will be a Thousand years upon this earth. How glorious would that be? That’s what I want you to see there in verse 2 that in that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious It’s a period of vindication.

It’s a period of vengeance in That day is referring to a time when God will bring judgment upon sin We go back to chapter 2 go back if you will with me to chapter 2 verse 12 for the day of the Lord of hosts shall come upon everything that is proud and Lofty upon everything lifted up. It shall be brought low. God will humiliate the prideful God will bring down every king and kingdom of this world Jump to chapter 3 in verse 7 and you’ll note again that in that day What day this latter time in that day? He will protest Saying I cannot curve your ills for in my house and neither food nor clothing Do not make me a ruler of the people.

I told you one of the signs of the latter days one of the signs of the judgment of God upon a nation is That those who are competent and capable of leading will refuse to leave that’s what you’re seeing in verse 7 and Then in verse 18 of chapter 3 in that day The Lord will take away the finery the jingling Anklets and the scarves and the crescents and it goes on it just talking about people who are more interested in style than substance The women are all about making sure that they have their bling-bling going instead of having a relationship with Jesus Christ More concerned about the outward than the inward This is the signs of the times of a culture that is under the judgment of God It may seem like sin is ruling and reigning in our world that we live in It sometimes feels like the world is pushing out God. I saw this morning that 27% of Americans Have no religion no belief in God at all you can only imagine what that number is of people who have a warp view of God or Misunderstanding of who Christ is We live in complicated Confusing times this is part of the judgment of God But in that day God will Judge and he will bring a judgment upon this nation when God returns that second time Jesus Christ And he will defeat all the kingdoms of this earth. He will destroy Everyone that is high and lofty and he will make all evil to be banished It is in that day that Isaiah is reminding us that is to come and so he says in that day That the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious I Want you to see not only the period of that day, but the praise of that day in that Day, the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful.

The branch is already stated as Jesus Christ We know this Jeremiah taught us this in verse 5 behold The days are coming declares the Lord when I will raise up for David a righteous branch What he’s been saying is that a righteous branch shall come out of the lineage of David Out of the heritage of David out of the family tree of David That’s why Matthew took time to help us to see that Jesus did come from the lineage of David That’s why he walked back for us in those beginning chapters. You say what’s the big deal pastor? Why do I got to read about who begat who? What’s it matter because the Jews were particular about this but also because it was the fulfillment of prophecy It was the fulfillment of what God had always promised Jesus would come from That lineage of David a righteous branch chapter 23 of Jeremiah and he will reign as a what church Look up he will reign as a king right before you. He will act wisely I think it is and he will do Justice and righteousness in the land a Church, please again I’m trying to help you sometimes look closely and I’m trying to help you to step back and look at this 30,000 foot view of the Bible and prophecy and what it teaches us So again, why does pastor Mike believe in the rapture of the church before the tribulation because the tribulation is not about? Me or the church or believers it is about the nation of Israel coming to grips that Jesus is the true Messiah and so then What is the Millennial Kingdom about it is about the fulfillment of the prophecies of? Jeremiah and Isaiah and Zechariah and Amos who continued to proclaim That there’s coming a day when this King Jesus Christ Will rule and reign look at verse 5 again of Jeremiah put it back up there on that screen that he will reign as king he will act wisely and do justice and Righteousness in the land the Bible tells us when Christ comes that second time at the end of this seven year Tribulation period that we will come back with him His Saints will come back with him and will rule and reign with Jesus Christ and he will fulfill all the prophecies That were given and it’ll be in the seat of David in the city of Jerusalem And he will rule with righteousness and get that underscore that bookmark it in your in your device He will reign and act wisely.

How about that? There is a lot of common sense that has left, Washington DC, man You say how did you get Washington DC out of that verse? It’s just a contrast Thank God Jesus will make great decisions awesome decisions Thank the Lord that Jesus will reign. He will be our leader not just spiritually but politically He will act wisely. He will do justice and righteousness in the land That’ll be in the Millennial Kingdom so after this seven-year tribulation Then Christ will come and he will defeat all the kingdoms of this world All those who are anti God he will defeat the Antichrist He will destroy the kingdoms of this world Daniel tells us all about that You can read about it in Daniel 2 and Daniel 4 and Daniel 7 and you can see it in Daniel 12 But the point being is I want you to understand that this will be a beautiful day It’ll be a time where Jesus is not only vindicated, but it’ll be a time where we will rejoice and We will give glory to God and we will give praise to God Hebrews 1 I want you to just go to Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3 real quickly Go ahead get your Bible out come to church with your Bible Because this will help you to be a student of the Word of God you’re already scrolling on your Facebook page you’re already scrolling on what Amazon deals are out there forget all that and Recognize you’re in the presence of God It’s a holy presence of God and open the Holy Word of God and look at verse 3 of chapter 1 of the book of Hebrews and Referring to Jesus Christ said who being in the brightness of his glory and the express image Of his person that’s the phrase I wanted you to see that in that day Christ will be exalted in glory and honor.

He already is Exalted and he is glorified in the presence at the right hand of the Father But the day is coming my friends where the brightness and the glory of Jesus Christ Will sit in the seat of David and will reign in the city of Jerusalem You say why do you say that Mike because the Bible says it? That’s why I say at church and you could come up with all of your different eschatological Philosophies that you want but friends. I’m just sticking with the Bible in That day Christ will be glorified He will be beautiful and glorious in that day All of his enemies will be humiliated and destroyed and they will eat the dust of this earth You say what do you mean? First Corinthians chapter 15 verse 25 says referring to Jesus. He must reign Until he has put all his enemies under his feet Jesus will reign my friends.

He will come as a lion and he will rule and reign all the agony and the suffering and the slander and the false Accusations will be nullified in the glorious way when Christ the great prince is praised in that day because he is beautiful and he is glorious Now as Christians as we live in this day Not that day that is to come we look forward to it. I Recognize that many times in Christians we have seasons in our life where we feel that we are never going to be able to escape sin The Bible tells us that we wrestle with sin We wrestle with it that this body is still dealing with the temptations of sin When you came to Jesus Christ and received him as your Lord and Savior You were delivered from the penalty of sin the penalty of sin that is that Jesus took that penalty on the cross the wrath of God that the holiness of God that had to punish sin was Taken care of in the cross. That’s why we glory in the cross Church That’s why we rejoice that our Savior died for us But I also want you to know that as we are growing in our faith as we’re plugged into Bible studies as we’re plugged into mentoring relationships as we’re plugged into the worship service as we are under the teaching and the feeding of the Word of God We can obtain power over sin The power of the Holy Spirit the power of the Word of God that helps us to be able to say no to sin and yes to Jesus Christ that’s why it’s so important, but yet the presence of sin is still here and We will not be delivered until that day In that day you and I will eventually be delivered from the presence of sin And we will live in a place where there is no sin.

There is no sadness. There is no sorrow There is no curse of sin upon this planet We will live in a day where not only all of creation is groaning for and even that the people of God are groaning for and even the Spirit of God is groaning for that day when the Presence of sin is absent in our life and we can live in this utopia Society where God is honored and Christ is glorified every day. Won’t that be beautiful church? That is the hope that Isaiah wants you to have We’ve seen the period of that day in the praise of that day.

Let’s see the prosperity in that day I’m still in verse 2 in that day. The branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious that branches Jesus You say Mike, why do you keep saying it? Because half of you’ve been sleeping I’m trying to wake you up But look at this and the fruit of the earth Shall be excellent and Appealing It shall be excellent and appealing when Jesus Christ is honored when righteousness is exalted and embraced it will Impact this land and the prosperity of this land. It will bear fruit.

Even broccoli will taste good. Amen Yes, broccoli needs salt and cheese to make it taste good But the fruit of the land will be wonderful it’ll be beautiful it’ll taste good You and I We watch a world that thinks they’re prospering a world that’s so upside down a world that has said that right is wrong and wrong is right a World that thinks it can just spend its way out of any problem that they have A world that is in trillions of debt and will never be paid back You’re kidding yourself And any politician who promises you is only lying to you The prosperity of the world is only poverty. It’s only poverty and Certainly it is most of all spiritual poverty but in that day The true prosperity of God will be upon the land as the curse of sin is gone and God will ultimately restore this beautiful place as we live in this millennial kingdom and Everything will be so glorious and wonderful in the reign of Jesus Christ We won’t be hyped up About who’s against who and who’s against what? But we will just enjoy That we are blessed and there’ll be so much prosperity doesn’t mean that you’ll have everything that you want It just simply means that the blessings of God will be upon this place in the millennial kingdom you will be given assignments and Responsibilities you’ll have a job to do you’ll wake up every day not groaning that you have to go to work But you’ll be rejoicing Because you will be working in accordance to your giftedness your passion Your abilities that God has equipped you with You won’t be in a dead-end job.

You’ll have an assignment from the Lord and it will be beautiful and it’ll be Wonderful and you’ll enjoy every moment why because the Bible teaches us that we’ll have the energy of the Lord We wake up and we’re tired We wake up and our bones are cracking We wake up and we’re looking for our wheelchair but you know, there’s coming a day with our age won’t matter and our bodies will be renewed and Isaiah will talk about that later in that we will be like Young people again and we’ll have the energy of the Lord and the strength of God But the day is coming where God is going to restore our youthfulness It’s going to be beautiful church It’s why there’ll be so much prosperity, but I also want you to see the people of that day the people of that day I’m still in chapter 4 and verse 2 in that day The branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing for those of Israel Who have escaped? Or been delivered some translations put it like that they have been Escaped or delivered this speaks of those who will truly experience This glorious time those who have been Saved Those who have put their trust in Jesus Christ again Remember, what are they escaping or what are they being delivered from they’re being delivered from this particular? tribulation time period Jacob’s trouble the prophets would call it We have quite the contrast of chapter 3 to chapter 4 the book of Isaiah Isaiah 3 is talking about judgment and what God is going to do to a nation that has turned their back on him But here in Isaiah chapter 3 God is showing us the future of what it’s going to be like when God brings everything full circle Redeems his people fully and we are walking in the joy of the Lord and enjoying all that he has for us So it’s wonderful to know that God is in control Even in the negative or the positive God is in control of the valley or the mountain God is in control of the past As well as the future and so we continue to worship him and I hope that’ll be your focus This week as you worship the Lord and live for him each and every day We encourage you to check us out on social media We’re on Facebook YouTube and we provide material and encouragement and ways for you to learn and to grow and I hope you’ll take advantage Of that this is pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ. There is hope worth having

The post God is in Control Part 1 first appeared on Hope Worth Having.

Pastor Mike will be speaking on The Loss of Stability Part 2. He will be reading out of Isaiah 3:1-19.

Yes, the Bible teaches that Christ will judge all unbelievers at the great white throne judgment, that those who do not believe in Christ will be cast into the lake of fire. And I believe there is a heaven to gain, and there is a real hell to shun. Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders from The Open Door Church, and we welcome you to the Hope Worth Having radio program.

We’re excited that you are with us today, and we’re looking forward to sharing God’s word with you. We’re in Isaiah chapter three, so I want you to grab your Bible and let’s get right into this study. That’s what’s going on.

I know we don’t like to hear it, and I know that people say, well, I’m for this and I’m for that. Listen to me, my friends, what you need to be is for the Lord Jesus Christ. You don’t need to worry about what political team you’re on.

You need to make sure that you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and that you’re on God’s team, amen? I think about all that’s happening, and my heart grieves over what we read, what is popping up on our social media feeds, what is we’re witnessing on television or radio or these things that we’re hearing about. It only helps me understand more of what God says to us in this sense, that God is not the author of confusion. If you’re confused about your identity, if you’re confused about your gender, if you’re confused about your purpose, that didn’t come from God.

That didn’t come from the word of God. The Bible teaches us just the opposite. God is a God of order.

He is a God of structure. He is a God of purpose and great intent, and He has a plan for our lives, and He has a will for our life, and the only way that we will find true significance and true meaning is to follow the will of God. Your significance is rooted in your relationship with Jesus Christ, and to try to go the way of the world, and they’re only going to cause more confusion in your life and more chaos in your life, but God is not the author of confusion, but the world is, and the flesh is, and Satan is, and so this confusion oppresses on our young people, and they’re trying to navigate through all these voices that are telling them this and that as if somehow God made a mistake about their life, but God makes no mistakes, does He? Our God is perfect in His purposes.

We don’t always understand them, and we may not always agree with them in our finite life that we live and that we are not always understanding of the big picture, but we still give praise to God. We still worship the Lord. We understand what is happening, and we know the Lord has a plan, and we fulfill that plan, and what I’m saying to you this morning is that what you’re witnessing in chapter three of the nation of Judah and the fall of Jerusalem and the fall of Judah is exactly the path that America is on.

Thankfully, God is long-suffering, isn’t He? And as even our nation ravagely destroys one another and devours one another, as the Apostle Paul said, we are under the promise that there’s coming a day when God is going to right the wrongs, and God is going to bring peace, and He’s going to bring purity, and He’ll rule and reign with justice and righteousness. The question is, are you ready? Are you ready for the return of Jesus Christ? When you see all these things bubbling up and you see the things that are unfolding in our nation, you really ought to take a spiritual inventory on your life. I know it’s easy to curse the darkness, but what you really ought to do is say, where am I at? Am I spiritually ready? Because it seems to me that the signs of the times are imminent upon us, and we can see that His return is very near, and thus, we should be ready to meet our Savior.

Amos said to the people of God, are you prepared to meet your God? Are you prepared? That is not only essential for you and I as followers of Christ, but if you’re here this morning and do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior, and you have never put your trust in Him for your salvation, you must know that judgment is imminent, that it is soon coming. Not only with the return of the Lord, there is going to be judgment upon unbelieving sinners. Yes, that’s what the Bible teaches.

That is what is upon us. And we see, as we read all the way through verse 18, all the way through verse 23, as he describes the different things that the women are trying to do to get attention to themselves, then we come to verse 25, your men shall fall by the sword, and your mighty in the war. Her gates shall lament and mourn, and she, being desolate, shall sit on the ground.

Talking about the nation, the nation. Now, we don’t like to think of God in terms of judgment, but we must remember that God’s judgment is very purposeful. It is purposeful for us as a nation, as a community, and certainly as a church family.

What is God’s purpose in His judgments that He brings upon us? Please remember what I told you earlier, that it’s not that we’re waiting for the judgment of God. What you’re witnessing is the judgment of God upon this nation, a nation that is slaughtered, unborn babies, millions of them. A nation that has turned their back against God, a nation that looks to everything but the Lord for answers.

What is the purpose of God’s judgment? Well, first of all, I would say to you, it displays His glory. The judgment of God displays the glory of God. Revelations 14, 7 reminds us that we are to fear God and give Him glory because the hour of His judgment has come and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.

When we see the manifestation of the judgment of God, we ought to worship God and give glory to God because we are reminded that our God has not forgotten us, that He is bringing attention to the matter, and that He is letting things unfold in a purposeful way to bring about the most glory to Him. My life and your life is about the glory of God. It has been written by our forefathers that the chief end of man is to glorify God.

Every day that we rise up, it is to glorify God. But yet, even in the judgment of God, whether that is upon me personally or that is upon a nation, we can bring glory to God Almighty. Why else would God bring judgment? To vindicate the righteous.

To vindicate the righteous. The Bible says in Revelation 6, 10 that they cried with a loud voice saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? We understand the scriptures to teach us that it won’t be long before the church of Christ is raptured out of here. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, the trump will sound.

The dead in Christ will rise from the grave. That’s some of our loved ones, isn’t it? And they will rise from the grave, united with their soul and spirit. And then the dead in Christ who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with the Lord to be with Him forever.

Can God’s people say amen? That will usher in a seven-year tribulation. The seven-year tribulation will be about God getting the attention of the nation of Israel so it all can culminate within this seven years to Romans chapter 11, verse 26, which the scripture says that all Israel shall be saved. In the midst of that, people have said, Well, in the tribulation, you can’t get saved.

But that’s wrong. Because Revelation chapter 6, which is in the midst of the tribulation period, says that there are those who were martyred during the tribulation who are before the throne of God, and they’re asking God the question, How long before you avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Here’s what they’re saying. Lord, how long will it be before you right the wrongs? During the tribulation, the Antichrist will take over, and he will rule the world in a one-world government system, a one-world economic system, and a one-world religious system.

He will control everybody. And those who refuse to take his mark, the mark of the beast, will be martyred. They will flee to the mountains.

They will hide from the Antichrist and his cohorts, who will try to do everything that they can to destroy those who will not align with the Antichrist. What will be the result is that there will be many who have come to Jesus Christ during the tribulation period, because the Bible says that there’ll be 144,000 evangelists who will be raised, and they will spread the gospel to every person on every planet. Can you imagine 144,000 Billy Grahams telling people to get right with Jesus Christ and to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior? Isn’t that going to be awesome? And these 144,000 will be invincible.

They will not be able to be stopped by the Antichrist, and they will continue to march forward to fulfill the purpose of God. People will come to Christ. They will refuse the mark of the beast.

They will be martyred for the cause of Jesus Christ. They will stand before the throne, and they will say to the Lord, how long, how long before you avenge our blood? We read in the book of Revelation, when you read about the bowls and the vials and the trumpets, these are the outpouring of the judgment of God. What is going to be taking place in this seven-year tribulation is not only all of hell will be opened up and the wrath of Satan will be poured upon the nations and the people, but all of heaven will be opened up, and the wrath of God and the judgment of God will be poured upon the people through the expression of trumpets, bowls, and vials, and they will then experience the wrath of God and Satan so much that they will desire to be hidden in the cliffs and the rocks because they cannot stand all that they are experiencing.

And why is it that God is allowing this to unfold? Two purposes, church. Do not forget it. Number one is to vindicate the righteous.

And number two, to bring the nation of Israel to true salvation. God’s judgment is purposeful not only to display his glory and to vindicate the righteous, but to defend the weak. The psalmist said in Psalm 140 verse 12, I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted and justice for the poor.

It’s so unfortunate to see people take advantage of the poor and to afflict the weak, but the day is coming that God will judge and he will vindicate those and defend those who are weak among us. Why is it that God’s judgment is purposeful, as we already mentioned, to bring salvation to people? We already went through that, so I’m not going to spend a lot of time, but simply to say this, that even in the judgment of God, people can come to the Lord Jesus Christ. We look at judgment as being an evil thing or a bad thing, and perhaps there are times that could be, but I’m telling you, when the judgment is from God, he has a purpose and he’s working out his purpose.

You remember the story in the gospels when there was this large tower that had fallen upon the innocent and fallen upon the people. It was a great tragedy. It brings up the great question, why do good people suffer and why do people face such dramatic tragedies? When they went to Jesus and said, why do you think that this happened? He said to them, do you think you’re better? Do you think that you’re better than other people? That somehow you escaped this tragedy and this suffering because somehow you were better? He reminds them, it is a reminder to you to repent and believe that God even uses the tragedies and the sufferings of this world to draw our attention to the brevity of life and that just like that, life can be over.

That I can jump in a car after church today and I can pull right onto Grandview Avenue and bam, somebody run right into me. That I can go to a restaurant and eat a wonderful lunch and then bam, have a heart attack. That’s how brief life is.

A tragedy can happen, something that we’ve never anticipated, but it’s a send a message to all of humanity. Life is like a vapor. It’s here today and gone tomorrow.

Are you prepared to meet the Lord? Are you ready to stand before Jesus Christ, which brings us to what I believe to be the ultimate purpose of the judgment of God. It is to turn people to God. Hebrews 12, verse 5 and 6 reminds us that God disciplines us even as believers and he says, and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, my son do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord nor faint when you are punished by him for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines and he punishes every son whom he accepts.

When you and I get off track, when we start going our own way, instead of the way of the Lord, the Lord knows how to bring us back in alignment with him. He just does. Just like your parents did, or at least they should have.

I know people say to me, pastor, I’m against spanking and I always feel like maybe I was one spanking away from being a good kid, amen. Judgment serves as a means of getting our attention. God’s punishment is both corrective and restorative.

It is not to destroy. God is not trying to destroy our lives as much as he’s trying to correct our lives and he’s trying to restore our lives back to him, to fully faithful, devoted followers of Christ. Isaiah 19, verse 22 says that the Lord will strike Egypt, he will strike and heal it and they will return to the Lord and he will be entreated by them and heal them.

God knows how to get our attention. Temporal judgments may turn people to God and save them from eternal judgment. I want you to take your Bible this morning very quickly to 1 Corinthians.

1 Corinthians, those of you that are able, you have your Bible. If you don’t, grab one in front of the pew there. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, I want you to go there if you will.

If you are with us on a regular basis, you know that when we have our communion services that we often reference 1 Corinthians chapter 11. We take it very serious. The Bible instructs us that we are to approach the Lord’s table in a manner that is worthy unto God, worthy of what he has accomplished for us.

That is that we don’t bring grudges to the Lord’s table. We don’t bring our guilt to the Lord’s table. We don’t bring our grievances to the Lord’s table.

We don’t bring our pride and glory to the Lord’s table. We come as humble servants and that’s why we are instructed in verse 28 of chapter 11, let a man examine himself and let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. Why? Because verse 29 says, he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

He’s not talking to the unbeliever in this passage. He’s talking to you and me because the only people that are allowed to come to the Lord’s table are those who love Jesus Christ, those who believe in Christ. And yes, the word judgment is in the Bible.

How about that? And he says that if you come with the wrong heart, you are eating and drinking judgment to yourself because you’ve disrespected what Christ has accomplished. He goes on to say in verse 30, I want you to stay with me, church. For this reason, many are weak and sick among you and many sleep or have died.

These are not Mike’s words. These are the words of God. God takes it so serious that part of this judgment may manifest itself in sickness, weakness, and even death.

But what is the remedy? Look at verse 31. If we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. And I might add this by God.

If you had the courage and the faith to judge your own sin now, you would not have to be judged later by God. If you had the faith to confess your sin now, to come clean with God now, it would all be under the blood. For if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to cleanse us and to forgive us of our sins.

And yet too many believers are holding on to their sin. They’ve got it tucked into that closet. It’s a secret sin.

Nobody knows about it. They’ve not come clean and honest before God, and they are keeping it from everyone. And God says, you need to deal with it.

And it’s better to deal with it now. Your doctor may say, hey, it’d be better if you dealt with this now than wait till later. And God is saying spiritually, it’d be better if you dealt with it now than wait till later than wait till later.

Some people think that Jesus is too kind to judge anyone. However, Jesus spoke more about hell than he ever did about heaven. Jesus spoke often about the reality and the seriousness of God’s judgment.

And his disciples and apostles taught the same in the word of God. I want you to later this day, maybe as you close out the Lord’s day, you could spend some time in the scriptures today. But in the gospel of John chapter five, verse 22, 27 and 30, we’re reminded of how God does bring judgment.

Well, I know that’s heavy. It’s hard for us to digest all the pastor Mike’s saying here. Imagine Judah as they heard the prophet Isaiah say all this.

And I’m being a lot nicer than Isaiah was. But what do we do about this, Mike? What do we do about this? My final thoughts and I’ll set you free. For us to remember that Jesus is the only savior and his gospel is the only gospel.

The word gospel means good news. And the reason the good news is so good to us, because the bad news is so bad to us. When you read Isaiah chapter three, you can be overwhelmed with the bad news.

You can be overwhelmed with sin and you can be overwhelmed with the judgment of God. But I’m here to bring you good news, church. And that is the gospel of Jesus Christ, not the gospel of the world.

That is a fleeting good news. That is a good news that will not lead to salvation. I’m not bringing you the good news of false teachers who promise you so much more than whatever could be delivered to you.

But I’m bringing you the good news of Jesus Christ. Yes, the Bible teaches that Christ will judge all unbelievers at the great white throne judgment. Yes, the Bible teaches us that those who do not believe in Christ will be cast into the lake of fire.

And I believe as I took you through that series on heaven and hell, I believe the word of God and I believe what it says. And I believe there is a heaven to gain and there is a real hell to shine. I believe it, church.

And if I didn’t, I would not stand up here and go through all that I go through. Just for nothing. You understand that? And neither would you.

Neither would you. If there is no heaven and there is no hell, let us eat, drink and be merry and live selfishly however we want to. But there is a heaven and there is a hell.

And so what do we do? Well, for those of you that trust in Christ, Christ has already judged our sin on the cross. We deserve God’s judgment, but Jesus took our place on the cross. Thus, we hold on to the promise of Romans chapter 8 verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.

That’s why Isaiah encouraged them in verse 10 of chapter 3 that there is this remnant and this remnant will be rewarded. And this remnant of believers are safe and protected by God. And listen, no matter how difficult this world gets, whether it’s in your personal circumstances or in a national political sense or whatever direction this nation goes, we can still love God.

We can still live for Christ. Why? Because we have the hope that there is no condemnation to those who are in Jesus Christ. Church, I don’t have to be afraid.

I don’t have to worry because why? Jesus went to the cross for me. He took my place on the cross. Christ took all the fury of God’s wrath.

We deserved. He bore the punishment, the guilt, the shame of all who believe. That’s why the gospel is such good news.

That’s why Paul would go on to say in verse 32 of chapter 11, first Corinthians, in which we just read. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world. Why is it that God would chasten us? Why would he discipline us as believers? Because we’re not acting like we should.

We’re not representing the faith. We’re not representing the cause. We’re not representing the mission.

And so God will align us. He will discipline us. But we’re not condemned with the world.

Why? Why are we not condemned with the world? Why is it that this judgment that is coming upon the world? Why is it that we escape it? Because first, we’re not ordained to it. But second of all, because we have put our faith in Christ and what he did on the cross for our sins. And God’s people said, men, church, knowing the wrath and judgment of God should cause each of our hearts to cherish the gospel.

God delivers his people from the judgment of sin through the sacrifice of Christ. It is no wonder the apostle said that we are not to be shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven. Yes, we read chapter three and we say, that’s a mess.

We see our world and we say, that’s mass confusion. But church, you keep trucking forward for Christ because he died for your sins and you have the hope of the gospel and you have something to look forward to every day no matter how messed up this world gets. And you cling to that old rugged cross and you give thanks to God that at the bare minimum, you know Jesus Christ and you are protected and shielded from the wrath and the anger and the judgment of God because you are in Christ and there is no condemnation.

But we do not well, church, if we just hold this good news to ourselves. Let us fan out into this community and continue to have spiritual conversations with our friends, our family, strangers, people that God puts in our path. And as they talk about the bad news of the world, and they will remind them of the good news in Jesus Christ.

Well, this has been a straightforward message and God pulls no punches and through his prophet, he is reminding us how important it is to build our lives on the solid rock of Jesus Christ and how important it is for us to stay focused in our walk with him. And so we hope that you are striving and that you are giving all your energy and that you are living for Jesus Christ and that God will use that to create spiritual stability in your life and help you to be a solid person for him. Now, we do remind you that we have a podcast and we have blogs and you can check all these out on HopeWorthHaving.com and you just go under the About Us, the different ministries we have, and these things will pop up and you’ll see whether you like to read, listen, exercise, listening, whatever works for you.

And you can continue to be challenged in the word of God. You also have it all on video and you can take advantage of that through our YouTube channel. And we hope that you will use these tools for God’s glory.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.

The post The Loss of Stability Part 2 first appeared on Hope Worth Having.

Pastor Mike will be speaking on The Loss of Stability Part 1. He will be reading out of Isaiah 3:1-19.

When you see the things that are unfolding in our nation, you really ought to take a spiritual inventory on your life because we can see that his return is very near and thus we should be ready to meet our Savior. This is Hope Worth Having with your host Pastor Mike Sanders and we look forward to joining together in exploring what God’s Word has to say. Today we’re going to be in Isaiah chapter 3 and we’re going to talk about the loss of stability.

And so what happens when we lose that stability and we’re not on that solid rock, Jesus Christ? Let’s talk about that today as we study together. Now if you have your Bible this morning, I want you to join me in Isaiah chapter 3. Isaiah chapter 3, a few weeks ago we began this incredible journey through the book of Isaiah. We’ve only made it to chapter 3, but be encouraged.

Hang in there, we’ve got 66 chapters to cover and somehow, someway, perhaps we will make it through. But we’re okay if God interrupts our series and calls us home, right? We’re not going to argue and you’ll probably get a better lesson up in heaven than you would down here on earth. Now when we come to Isaiah chapter 3, as I have been sharing with you, church, that through the first half of the book of Isaiah, there is a lot of Isaiah pointing out the things that the nation of Israel and particularly Judah, which the nation of Israel had been divided into a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom, and he refers to Judah as a nation of a people who have turned their back on God.

Isaiah chapter 3 proclaims that God will bring down the exalted or the prideful. And how will he do this? By removing their leadership and then elevating those who do not deserve any kind of position of rule or leadership. The results will be disastrous for Judah.

We’ll read about that very shortly, but Isaiah describes a nation that is void of military, political, and religious leadership. Sound familiar? Well, when we pick up in verse 1 of chapter 3 of the book of Isaiah, we note that the scripture says, for behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stock and the store, the whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water, the mighty man, meaning the military, the warrior, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the diviner, and the elder, and the captain of 50, and the honorable man, the counselor, and the skillful artisan, and the expert enchanter. What is it that God is bringing upon this nation, the nation of Judah, is that he is stripping them of any quality and competent leadership.

He is taking away from them the blessing of good leadership. He is bringing judgment upon the nation. Again, we see in verse 4, what is the replacement of these leaders? Well, again, let’s look at verse 4. He says, I will give children to be their princes.

He’s not specifically saying children in the sense of age, but in common sense and maturity, that they will be like children, people with no common sense. I often like to say that common sense has left the building. And here the Bible says that God will give children to be their princesses, and babes shall rule over them.

The people will be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbor. The child will be insolent towards the elder, and the base toward the honorable. Now, what we’re seeing here is the people that God is allowing to oversee this nation, that not only are they immature, but they’re incompetent.

They don’t have the qualification and so the judgment of God is upon this nation, and it is being punished with godless leadership. And this godless leadership will lead to desperate leadership, and the people will begin to spiral downward. The nation, the culture, the community will continue to go south and plummet, eventually leading to disaster.

I remind you, church, that when we often think about the things that our culture is facing, we talk about something in the future relating to the judgment of God. But I want you to know that America, very similar to this circumstance that we see in Judah, is experiencing the same thing. The loss of stability, the loss of certainty, and we are under the judgment of God.

It’s not that we will be judged one day. America is being judged. You’re trying to navigate it through the complications of this world and how to somehow make it through the different things that are going on, things that used to be so certain and understandable and used to be the bedrock of who we are as a nation have all been stripped away, and we are left with incompetent people leading us, not only just as a nation, but many times in our communities, in our cities.

So we’re seeing all this take place. So we ask the question, how will God judge? How will he judge his people? Well, we jump down to verse 8, and I think we get a clearer understanding that God is going to not only take away from us, and certainly through Judah, everything that we trust, but he’s going to give us leadership that will lead us down the wrong direction. Look at verse 8. For Jerusalem stumbled and Judah is fallen, because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his glory, to look on their countenance, witnesses against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom.

They do not hide it. Woe to their soul, for they have brought evil upon themselves. How does God judge his people? He will judge them by stripping away everything that we have trusted, everything that we have relied upon, and that could be leadership, it could be basic resources, it could be our military, it could be our spiritual leaders, it could be many things in many shapes and sizes, but this is what God is doing.

He has not only done it in Judah, but he is doing it in America. So what we see and witness in verses 1 through 15 of chapter 3 of the book of Isaiah, is an entire nation support system is being disintegrated, and there is no physical, temporal remedy. Nobody, nobody is able to come up with a solution.

Look at verse 7, as they institute potential leaders, their responses in that day, he will protest saying, I cannot cure your ills, for in my house is neither food nor clothing. Do not make me a ruler of the people. As people are searching for leadership, as they’re searching for answers, and they grab on to someone, or they grab on to potential people to help them, that individual, that person, that group is going to say, we can’t.

We don’t have the answers. We continue to read, and we see down in verse 12, he says that, as for my people, children are their oppressors, meaning the immature, and women rule over them. Oh my people, those who lead you cause you to err and destroy the way of your paths.

Now ladies, don’t get too upset, okay? What he’s trying to simply say is that, in this sense, the women who were silly women, or immature women, women who were not serious-minded, and could not handle, they kind of just looked at life as kind of just a big game, and that’s the kind of women he’s talking about. He’s not talking about some of you dynamic ladies that are organizers, and you’re leaders, and you’re capable to handle things, and deal with things. I tell these ladies, Len, look, if you can raise teenagers, you can survive anything, amen? I mean, you ladies need to wear a t-shirt that says, you don’t scare me.

I raise teenagers. Yes, ladies, do not misunderstand. He’s not talking about you.

He’s talking about these incompetent women who do not care about taking anything serious. The nation’s leaders in Isaiah’s day were charting a course that was outside of the will of God, and would ultimately bring disaster and judgment, but the righteous, the remnant of the righteous, are protected. Jump back to verse 10, and notice what he says, say to the righteous, in the midst of all this chaos, in the midst of all this uncertainty, in verse 10, he says, say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat of the fruit of their doings.

Woe to the wicked, it shall be ill with them, for the reward of his hands shall be given to him. And he’s referring here to a contrast of the wicked to the righteous in verse 11, and the righteous will be rewarded for their faithfulness to God. The righteous remnant will be rewarded for their obedience to God, for their desire to follow the will of God, reminding us as believers that no matter how chaotic, how confusing this world may get, and no matter how much it may drift from the will of God, there is still the reality that as believers, we can follow the plan, the purpose of God in our own lives, and let the Lord deal with the other things that are around us, but we cannot let the world lead us astray.

We are required to stay faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ, to not give up, to not lose hope, to not be set back emotionally and spiritually, that we somehow just want to quit and give up, but we recognize that God will reward those who love him, who live for him, and are dedicated to his cause and his purpose. After denouncing the leadership, the prophet zeroes in, Isaiah the prophet zeroes in on those who are bringing even more destruction, and again I referred to the women in verse 12, but you’ll see this played out a little bit understanding more in verse 16, he says in verse 16, moreover the Lord says, because the daughters of Zion are haughty, meaning they’re prideful, and they walk without stretched necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, making a jingling with their feet, they’re all about self, they’re all about attention, they’re all about look at me, they’re not about look at God, look at Jesus Christ, look at God’s glory, how can I minister to you, how can I serve you, they’re all about self. That’s what verse 16 is about, and it goes on to describe even more and more details, and he reminds us that the judgment of God is upon the land.

Nobody’s going to notice the women’s expensive clothes, their elaborate dresses, the jewelry that they have, because the world’s a mess, they’re going to be led astray. So much that the culture has so been destroyed that men have been stripped of their manhood, women have become silly and lost focus. Look at verse 1 of chapter 4, it says that in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying we will eat our own food and wear our own apparel, meaning you won’t have to take care of us, only let us be called by your name to take away our reproach.

And so you see that we read this, and I just feel like I’m reading all about America, and I could continue to give you all the stats, but what we’re seeing is the breakdown of the family in America, right? We were warned about this. We heard the prophets of old, the pastors of old, and our forefathers who stood in this pulpit, and they stood out in our communities, and they said if you start taking away the standards and the barriers of the family, that eventually it would lead to chaos and confusion, so much that people are not even certain whether they’re a man or a woman nowadays. And that now government is saying, look, we’re okay, and we’ll let you transition without even talking to your parents about it, and we’ll let you destroy your body and destroy your identity and destroy your purpose and what God’s plan is for your life.

That’s what’s going on. I know we don’t like to hear it, and I know that people say, well, I’m for this and I’m for that. Listen to me, my friends.

What you need to be is for the Lord Jesus Christ. You don’t need to worry about what political team you’re on. You need to make sure that you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and that you’re on God’s team, amen? I think about all that’s happening, and my heart grieves over what we read, what is popping up on our social media feeds, what is we’re witnessing on television or radio or these things that we’re hearing about.

It only helps me understand more of what God says to us in this sense, that God is not the author of confusion. If you’re confused about your identity, if you’re confused about your gender, if you’re confused about your purpose, that didn’t come from God. That didn’t come from the Word of God.

The Bible teaches us just the opposite. God is a God of order. He is a God of structure.

He is a God of purpose and great intent, and He has a plan for our lives, and He has a will for our life, and the only way that we will find true significance and true meaning is to follow the will of God. Your significance is rooted in your relationship with Jesus Christ and to try to go the way of the world, and they’re only going to cause more confusion in your life and more chaos in your life, but God is not the author of confusion, but the world is, and the flesh is, and Satan is, and so this confusion oppresses on our young people, and they’re trying to navigate through all these voices that are telling them this and that as if somehow God made a mistake about their life, but God makes no mistakes, does He? Our God is perfect in His purposes. We don’t always understand them, and we may not always agree with them in our finite life that we live and that we are not always understanding of the big picture, but we still give praise to God.

We still worship the Lord. We understand what is happening, and we know the Lord has a plan, and we fulfill that plan, and what I’m saying to you this morning is that what you’re witnessing in chapter three of the nation of Judah and the fall of Jerusalem and the fall of Judah is exactly the path that America is on. Thankfully, God is long-suffering, isn’t He? And as even our nation ravagely destroys one another and devours one another, as the apostle Paul said, we are under the promise that there’s coming a day when God is going to right the wrongs, and God is going to bring peace, and He’s going to bring purity, and He’ll rule and reign with justice and righteousness.

The question is, are you ready? Are you ready for the return of Jesus Christ? When you see all these things bubbling up, and you see the things that are unfolding in our nation, you really ought to take a spiritual inventory on your life. I know it’s easy to curse the darkness, but what you really ought to do is say, where am I at? Am I spiritually ready? Because it seems to me that the signs of the times are imminent upon us, and we can see that His return is very near, and thus we should be ready to meet our Savior. Amos said to the people of God, are you prepared to meet your God? Are you prepared? That is not only essential for you and I as followers of Christ, but if you’re here this morning and do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior, and you have never put your trust in Him for your salvation, you must know that judgment is imminent, that it is soon coming.

Not only with the return of the Lord, there is going to be judgment upon unbelieving sinners. Yes, that’s what the Bible teaches. That is what is upon us, and we see as we read all the way through verse 18, all the way through verse 23, as he describes the different things that the women are trying to do to get attention to themselves, then we come to verse 25, your men shall fall by the sword, and you’re mighty in the war.

Her gates shall lament and mourn, and she being desolate shall sit on the ground. Talking about the nation, the nation. Now we don’t like to think of God in terms of judgment, but we must remember that God’s judgment is very purposeful.

It is purposeful for us as a nation, as a community, and certainly as a church family. What is God’s purpose in his judgments that he brings upon us? Please remember what I told you earlier, that it’s not that we’re waiting for the judgment of God. What you’re witnessing is the judgment of God upon this nation.

A nation that has slaughtered unborn babies, millions of them. A nation that has turned their back against God. A nation that looks to everything but the Lord for answers.

What is the purpose of God’s judgment? Well, first of all, I would say to you, it displays his glory. The judgment of God displays the glory of God. Revelations 14, 7 reminds us that we are to fear God and give him glory because the hour of his judgment has come and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.

When we see the manifestation of the judgment of God, we ought to worship God and give glory to God because we are reminded that our God has not forgotten us, that he is bringing attention to the matter, and that he is letting things unfold in a purposeful way to bring about the most glory to him. My life and your life is about the glory of God. It has been written by our forefathers that the chief end of man is to glorify God.

Every day that we rise up, it is to glorify God. But yet, even in the judgment of God, whether that is upon me personally or that is upon a nation, we can bring glory to God Almighty. Why else would God bring judgment? To vindicate the righteous.

To vindicate the righteous, the Bible says in Revelation 6, 10 that they cried with a loud voice saying, how long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth. We understand the scriptures to teach us that it won’t be long before the church of Christ is raptured out of here. First Thessalonians chapter 4, the trump will sound, the dead in Christ will rise from the grave.

That’s some of our loved ones, isn’t it? And they will rise from the grave, united with their soul and spirit, and then the dead in Christ who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with the Lord to be with him forever. Can God’s people say amen? That will usher in a seven-year tribulation. The seven-year tribulation will be about God getting the attention of the nation of Israel.

So it all can culminate within this seven years to Romans chapter 11, verse 26, which the scripture says that all Israel shall be saved. In the midst of that, people have said, well, in the tribulation you can’t get saved, but that’s wrong. Because Revelation chapter 6, which is in the midst of the tribulation period, says that there are those who were martyred during the tribulation, who are before the throne of God, and they’re asking God the question, how long before you avenge our blood on those who dwell? Here’s what they’re saying, Lord, how long will it be before you right the wrongs? During the tribulation, the Antichrist will take over, and he will rule the world in a one-world government system, a one-world economic system, and a one-world religious system.

He will control everybody, and those who refuse to take his mark, the mark of the beast, will be martyred. They will flee to the mountains. They will hide from the Antichrist and his cohorts, who will try to do everything that they can to destroy those who will not align with the Antichrist.

What will be the result is that there will be many who have come to Jesus Christ during the tribulation period, because the Bible says that there’ll be 144,000 evangelists who will be raised, and they will spread the gospel to every person on every planet. Can you imagine 144,000 Billy Grahams telling people to get right with Jesus Christ and to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior? Isn’t that going to be awesome? And these 144,000 will be invincible. They will not be able to be stopped by the Antichrist, and they will continue to march forward to fulfill the purpose of God.

People will come to Christ. They will refuse the mark of the beast. They will be martyred for the cause of Jesus Christ.

They will stand before the throne, and they will say to the Lord, how long, how long before you avenge our blood? We read in the book of Revelation, when you read about the bowls and the vials and the trumpets, these are the outpouring of the judgment of God. What is going to be taking place in this seven-year tribulation is not only all of hell will be opened up and the wrath of Satan will be poured upon the nations and the people, but all of heaven will be opened up, and the wrath of God and the judgment of God will be poured upon the people through the expression of trumpets, bowls, and vials, and they will then experience the wrath of God and Satan so much that they will desire to be hidden in the cliffs and the rocks because they cannot stand all that they are experiencing. And why is it that God is allowing this to unfold? Two purposes, church.

Do not forget it. Number one is to vindicate the righteous. Number two, to bring the nation of Israel to true salvation.

God’s judgment is purposeful not only to display his glory and to vindicate the righteous, but to defend the weak. The psalmist said in Psalm 140, verse 12, I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted and justice for the poor. It’s so unfortunate to see people take advantage of the poor and to afflict the weak, but the day is coming that God will judge and he will vindicate those and defend those who are weak among us.

Why is it that God’s judgment is purposeful, as we already mentioned, to bring salvation to people? We already went through that, so I’m not going to spend a lot of time, but simply to say this, that even in the judgment of God, people can come to the Lord Jesus Christ. We look at judgment as being an evil thing or a bad thing, and perhaps there are times that could be, but I’m telling you, when the judgment is from God, he has a purpose and he’s working out his purpose. You remember the story in the Gospels when there was this large tower that had fallen upon the innocent and fallen upon the people.

It was a great tragedy. It brings up the great question, why do good people suffer and why do people face such dramatic tragedies? When they went to Jesus and said, why do you think that this happened? He said to them, do you think you’re better? Do you think that you’re better than other people, that somehow you escaped this tragedy and this suffering because somehow you were better? He reminds them, it is a reminder to you to repent and believe. Hope is a powerful force, but when we lose that hope or that stability in our relationship with Christ, it causes us to vacillate.

It causes us to go wrong directions. That’s why it’s important for us to keep our relationship with Jesus very, very strong. I hope that you’re cultivating your relationship with him by reading your Bible and that you are on your knees and staying in Bible study, staying in church and continuing to grow your faith.

Now, I want to remind you that we have a website, hopeworthhaving.com, and you can sign up for our devotions. If you will just go to the contact button to sign up for devotions, you can receive right into your email a daily devotion to keep you encouraged, to keep you inspired, and to keep you motivated for the Lord Jesus Christ. So take advantage of that.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ, there is hope worth having.

The post The Loss of Stability Part 1 first appeared on Hope Worth Having.

Pastor Mike will be speaking on The Danger of Success Part 2. He will be reading out of Isaiah 2:6-22.

We’ve got to stop trusting in our own righteousness and our religious works. We’ve got to stop trusting in our own efforts to save ourselves. The only way that you and I can be saved is through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders, and I want to welcome you to the Hope Worth Having radio program today. We’re looking forward to sharing God’s word with you as a source of inspiration for your heart, and I hope that you will be rooted in your faith. Now today, we’re going to continue our study in the book of Isaiah chapter 2, and we’ll be looking again at verses 6 through 22, and we’ll study the danger of success.

Join me as we study. And they worshiped and served the creature more than the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

I know that sometimes we live in this digital age, and we see no need to gather and worship when we can just watch it on YouTube, or we can just watch it digitally, or we can watch it on our phone. And I understand, and I’m grateful for those opportunities, and I see them as a supplement. But nothing can change you like gathering together as a body of believers, and realigning your heart, and refocusing your thoughts and your minds upon Jesus Christ.

Because all throughout the week, what you’re going to spend your time doing is listening to so many voices calling you to follow stuff. To follow idols. To follow other priorities.

When we come back together, God once again focuses our heart and helps us to stay on mission, and to stay together as a team, and to stay together as the people of God. That rather than being full of idols, we want to be full of Jesus Christ. Can God’s people say amen? And the sad commentary.

Verse 6 again. You have forsaken your people. What caused the Lord to forsake his people was that they were empty of God.

They were empty of God’s power. They were empty of a relationship with the Lord. They treasured the things of this world more than they did Jesus Christ.

They exalted themselves before God. And they humbled themselves before their idols. It’s a warning to us this morning, church, to be careful that as you are prospering, as you are blessed, as you are moving forward, as the Lord is providing, as you are rejoicing, that you don’t get your focus on success and forget who is the one who offers any blessing in our life.

It is God. It is God who provides all that we have. It is Jesus Christ who continues to sustain us and pour out grace upon us.

So then, now that they have become so full of things and empty of God, we see the second thing here is that the terror of the Lord has come upon them. Again, this is a picture of things that are happening in the latter days. In the last days, lofty things have become humbled.

And so we’ll kind of just walk through this because it’s going to be difficult to cover every particular verse. But I want you to see that the overarching point of verse 10 through 21 is that God’s holiness is vindicated. And that though there has been this generation of people who have rejected the Lord, that God has vindicated and righted every wrong.

So what do we see here? First of all, the day of the Lord is proclaimed. Look at verse 10, beginning there. Enter into the rock, hide in the dust from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty.

Don’t forget, church, that God will not share His glory. Isaiah will teach us that later, that He does not share His glory. That you may exalt yourselves above God and you may humble yourselves before your idols.

You may bow down before your idols, but God will destroy those idols. Again, in verse 11, the lofty looks of man shall be humbled. The haughtiness of man shall be bowed down.

And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. Look at verse 12. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up, and it shall be brought low.

The day of the Lord. The day of the Lord. What is the day of the Lord? The phrase, the day of the Lord, is identifying the events that will unfold at the end of history.

The day of the Lord is referring to a future day when God will intervene in history and He will judge those who have rejected Him and He will establish His righteous rule in this world. The day of the Lord is the inception of that millennial kingdom. It is the conclusion of the tribulation period that when we as a church are raptured out of here, receiving our rewards in heaven, that while the events are unfolding in that seven-year tribulation and that there’s this final defiance towards God Almighty by the kingdoms of man, that Jesus Christ will crush them at the end of that seven-year tribulation and He will establish His righteous kingdom upon this earth and we will rule and reign with Jesus Christ.

The phrase, the day of the Lord, it is used 19 times in the Old Testament, Isaiah being one of them, other passages of scriptures as well. It is used four times in the New Testament. When you see the phrase, you know that the Lord is proclaiming how things will unfold at the end.

This day of the Lord is not only a time of judgment, but is a time of salvation as God will deliver the remnant of Israel. Remember I told you, why is it that we believe that God would rapture us, the church, before the tribulation period? Remember this, do not forget, because the tribulation period is about the nation of Israel. It is about a nation that has not accepted the fact that Jesus Christ is the coming Messiah.

I told you before that when I sat there with the chief rabbi amongst other pastors, he said, the only difference between us and Christians, meaning Jewish people and Christians, is that you are looking for the second coming of your Messiah and we’re looking for the first coming of our Messiah. But there’s coming a day, the day of the Lord, that during the tribulation and especially at the end of the tribulation, that the Jewish people, according to Zechariah, they will recognize that Jesus Christ is the true Messiah that they’ve been looking for, the one that they have been waiting for. He is the fulfillment of all the prophecies in Isaiah, and in Zechariah, and in Zephaniah.

He is the fulfillment of all those prophecies, as Matthew taught us, and as Luke taught us, that they all align together, and so Jesus Christ is the Messiah. The Bible teaches us that great sorrow will come upon Israel, and they will be very repentant, and they will be very broken, and they will cry out to Jesus Christ for true salvation. Romans 11, verse 26 says, All of Israel will be saved.

Why do we love Israel as Christians? Well, not only because God has given us a promise that you are blessed if you do, if you bless His people, He’ll bless you, but number two, they are the chosen people of God, and He is using the tribulation period to woo them back to Him, to bring them back into a true relationship with Him, and that’s why there is favor, that’s why there is blessings, that’s why we as believers and those who follow Jesus Christ, that we have an affection towards the nation of Israel, and we have a special protection because God called them the apple of His eye. And so we understand that, and we recognize that, and we look forward to that day in which they will truly come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. You will note again that in verse 10, that He says to us that we are to enter into the rock and hide in the dust.

This is a reference to what the Bible already teaches us in the book of Revelation, that when the vials are poured out upon this world, when the bowls are poured out, when the trumpets are sounded, these are the things that represent God’s judgment and God’s wrath upon the Antichrist and his man-made kingdom, and the judgment of God upon them. The judgment will be so fierce that people will want to hide in the rocks and the cliffs. Isaiah talks about in verse 12, that the Lord of hosts shall come upon everything that is proud and lofty.

That’s that second coming. That word can be translated host, it can be translated army. Some of your translations probably have that.

It is referring to the armies of angels, the legion of angels that are around the throne of God. In 1 Kings 22 verse 19, the Bible says, and He said, Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the hosts, or all the armies of heaven, standing by Him on His right hand and on His left, that God with all of His angels, all of His armies, and the people of God, we will come back on white horses.

The book of Revelation teaches us, and we will come back. And Jesus, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, He will destroy every man-made kingdom. He will destroy every enemy of God.

And as the judgment of God is coming upon this world, people will be in so much pain and so much terror that they will want to hide in the cliffs and hide in the rocks, the scriptures teach us. Now the day of the Lord is described here by Isaiah. He says, The lofty will be humbled, and the Lord will be exalted.

Look again at verse 12. When the Lord of hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up, it shall be brought low. You and I witness, and we wonder, why do the heathen rage? Why is people getting away with their defiance to God? Listen to me, my friends.

It’s all coming to an end. It’s just not going to come when you want it to, and when I want it to. But God is going to bring everything to a point, and He’s going to finally bring judgment.

And those who exalt themselves above God, He is going to confront them, and He is going to deal with them. Joel 2, verse 31 says, The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. Wow.

So we look at verse 13. Upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, upon every high tower, and upon every fortified wall, upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all the beautiful slopes, and the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low. The Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

So the day of the Lord is being described to us. What’s going to happen? People are on their perches, and they are blaspheming God, and they are acting all prideful, and they can do whatever they want, and there’s no accountability. But I tell you, my friends, that every person will give an account to God.

And that’s why you and I do not have to be afraid. You see, if you’ve already humbled yourself before Jesus Christ now, you will not have to humble yourself on the day of the Lord because you will already be with the Lord, and you will be in a relationship with God, receiving your rewards. Now is the time.

The Bible tells us that one day every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess. That day is coming. But how much better it is to bow your knee today and to confess in your heart today that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Do not wait until the terror of the Lord comes upon this world and upon this land. But receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Acknowledge before God Almighty that you’re a sinner in need of a Savior, and accept Him as your Lord.

The house of Jacob, the nation of Israel, they were bragging about their military pride. You see that in verse 16. They were bragging about their trade and their commerce and how prosperous that they had come.

But look at verse 18. But the idols He shall utterly abolish. They shall go into the holes of the rocks and into the caves of the earth from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty when He arises to shake the earth mightily.

The lofty things that have been in direct competition with God’s glory are going to be destroyed. Human pride always seeks to exalt itself. We look across this world.

We see world leaders exalting themselves above God. We see politicians who think that they are better than God. They belittle God.

And they think that everything’s because of them. It’s a reminder to me of an incredible story in 1951. We saw this picture occur that the communist era in Eastern Europe came to a close.

The communists exalted themselves above God. And they belittled God. They refused to let anyone believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

You remember in downtown Budapest in the Hungarian Communist Party had erected a monument to the great communist leader Stalin. It was completed in 1951 of December. It was a gift to Joseph Stalin saying that he was above God.

It was torn down on October 23, 1956 during a revolution. The statue was 75 feet high and the people pulled it down with rope around the neck and they began to torch it and to burn it. And I thought, you know what, that’s exactly what’s happening.

We see it all across America. We see these leaders claiming that they’re God or that you’re to worship them and they tell you not to believe in God but to only believe in them. And then what do we see? Their kingdoms crumble.

Their statues fall. Why? Because there’s only one true God, Jesus Christ. And I’m going to tell you at the end of the day of the Lord God is going to take care of all those who’ve exalted themselves against God.

He will destroy all those who challenge His supremacy. Now I want you to see the result. What is the result of this day of the Lord? Well, verse 19, they’re going to go into holes.

They’re going to go into caves. Why? From the terror of the Lord and the glory of the majesty when He arrives and shakes the earth mightily, in that day a man will cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which have made each for himself to worship to the moles and to bats. God is warning that His wrath is coming and this wrath will come upon people who reject Him.

Revelation 6.16 says, The people cried out to the mountains and the rocks, Fall on us, hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. When Jesus comes that second time, He’s not coming like He did the first time. He came as a Lamb, as a sacrifice for our sins.

But the second time He’s coming as a King and He will destroy all those who reject Him and the terror of the Lord will be upon this world and they will long to hide from the terror of the Lord and the glory of God. They will so despise and hate God Almighty and want nothing to do with Him that they will want to run into the caves and be hidden from the face of the One who sits on the throne. So I want us to look at these last two verses.

You say, Mike, what’s that mean to me? Well, this is the invitation that God gives to us in verse 21 and 22. Notice what He says in verse 21. To go into the clefts of the rocks and into the crags of the rugged rocks from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty when He arises to shaken the earth mightily, sever yourself from such a man whose breath is in his nostrils for of what account is he? There’s three things that God wants us to do and I want you to learn this and that is first we got to stop trusting in ourselves, our wealth, our own self-sufficiency.

We’ve got to stop trusting in our own righteousness and our religious works. We got to stop trusting in our own efforts to save ourselves. The only way that you and I can be saved is through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Any effort to save ourselves, to be more religious than the next guy so you’re accepted before God is futile. It is vain. Turn to Jesus Christ and believe in Him for your righteousness because your righteousness, my righteousness, is as filthy rags.

Let us turn to Jesus Christ and stop trusting in ourselves. I would say as a nation, though America spends lavishly lavishly on its military expenditures and though Americans have much wealth, gold and silver and possessions and investments and though Americans have trusted in all the things of this world, this is a nation that needs to humble itself before Jesus Christ and they need to exalt the Lord and quit exalting idols in their hearts. Now listen.

One of the ways that we worship idols as a nation is that we pursue the pleasures of this world with more passion than we do pursue God. We pursue entertainment, sports, music, movies, social media, material pleasures. These are all clamoring for our heart’s throne.

They all desire. Are they all evil? No, I’m not saying that. I’m just saying anything you put before God can become an idol in your heart.

Your own children can become an idol. So many people say to me, well, I’m not going to go to church because I want to spend time with my children. Don’t say that.

We need to remember that Jesus Christ is number one and when you make Jesus Christ number one in your life, everything else will fall into place as it should and give honor and glory to God. We use different things that sometimes are good in and of themselves, but we put them before Jesus Christ. We put them before our relationship with God.

I think about parents who will drive their children all over this state for sports, but they never take their children to Sunday school. They never take them to Awana. They never take them to church and then their kids grow up and want nothing to do with church and you say, what happened? I’ll tell you.

You bowed down to the idol of sports. Hey, I went through that phase. We loved sports, but sports never kept us away from the house of the Lord and there were many temptations and there were many people pushing for it, but we stood up and said, no, and if I can do it, I know you can do it.

I love sports too, but sports not more important than my relationship with Jesus Christ. Can God’s people say amen? That’s right. Some of you, you put family before.

You say, well, we got this family thing and that’s more important. You need to make a decision. Is Jesus Christ number one? Is he premier in your heart? Is he preeminent in your heart? And if he is not, then you need to ask the Lord to forgive you and stop trusting in the wrong things.

Repent from your idols and follow the true God. The second thing is that we are to come. Let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Walk in the light. Go back to verse five. Remember what we were told? Come and let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Let us walk in his glory. Let us walk in his joy. Let us walk in his perfect plan and will for our life.

Let’s walk in the light of Jesus Christ. None of these things of this world will satisfy you, church. The things of this world will not satisfy you.

Some of you are jumping from relationship to relationship only to find that they’re dead ends. The only true relationship that will satisfy you is Jesus Christ. And if you are married, the only way that your relationship will ever be meaningful and make a difference in your heart is if it is built on the foundation of Jesus Christ.

Your marriage must be built upon Christ. Jesus must be at the center of your marriage. He must be at the center of all your relationships.

He must be at the center of everything that you do in this life. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. He deserves all praise.

Amen, church. Don’t be enamored by human glory. Don’t be enamored by the achievements of others.

Don’t be pulled away by the razzle dazzle. Some of you, honestly, you’re more passionate about politics than you are Jesus. You come to me and you talk to me about this.

I had this guy was up preaching somewhere and wasn’t here, so relax and calm down. But this guy came up to me and he’s handing me Donald Trump money. And I said, buddy, I don’t need Donald Trump money.

I trust in the Lord. He’s a Christian. He’s all bent out of shape because I said I trust in the Lord.

I’m gonna tell you, no politician gonna save this country. Only Jesus Christ will save this country. And I know that makes some of you angry because you’ve exalted politicians.

You’ve exalted them and you’ve made them your passion. You’ll put a yard sign out, but you’ll never put a yard sign out for Jesus Christ. You’ll never hand out a track to a lost person.

You’ll never invite somebody to a special day, but you’ll certainly invite them to come and vote. That’s when we have exalted politics above our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You hand out all these signs.

You walk around with your fancy buttons, but you never wear a button that says, I love Jesus. You never walk around. You come to the church and you wanna try to recruit people to be a part of your political movement.

And why don’t you recruit people to be a part of your prayer movement? Why don’t you recruit people to be a part of your soul winning movement? Why don’t you be a part of those things? Because let me tell you something, friends, politicians will go the way of the world. I’ve already told you, church, the Republican Party took pro-life out of their platform. The Republican Party took out traditional marriage out of their platform.

They are no difference. Do you wanna die slow or quickly? That’s how you vote. And I’m saying that what we need to do as a nation is get back to the Lord Jesus Christ and we need to exalt Him.

We need to surrender to King Jesus and we need to worship Him and we need to follow Him and we need to walk in the light of Jesus Christ. I know I’ve made some people mad, but that’s okay. It’s okay.

Somebody needed to tell you because it’s getting out of hand. It happens every political season. I want you to stop being enamored with human glory.

How can any human achievement compare to what Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross for us? Nothing can compare to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, can it? Nothing can compare to it. So what do we do? We need to follow Jesus Christ. Stop these things of the world and come to Christ and walk in His light.

Are we in the last days, church? Oh, we’ve been in the last days and we are in the last of the last days and what is going to be the turning point for your family? What is going to be the turning point for this nation? It is going to be, are we going to be all in, fully devoted followers of Christ? Are we just going to fiddle faddle with church, dabble in it a little bit, get a little bit of religion to make me feel good? Are we going to be sold out for the Lord Jesus Christ? He’s coming. The signs are all around us. He tells us what it’s going to be like.

I want to be a part of that group that’s raptured out of here and I want to be in the presence of God. I don’t want to have to endure the terror of the Lord and I don’t want the wrath of God to come upon me. I want to be in the safety of the old gospel ship of Jesus Christ.

God’s word is sure and God’s word is steadfast and it is reliable. And when we come to the Bible and we see those warning passages, they are not for us to run or overlook or even to neglect, but rather to see them as God speaking to us and we take the time to make sure that we don’t fall into these traps, that we’re alert to these potential dangers. And so I hope today the message and last week’s message has come together and given you not only some hope, but also some courage as you strive to honor Christ in your life.

Now, I want to remind you that we are on social media, Facebook, Instagram, and want to encourage you to check us out there. Go to Facebook, like our page, and you can keep up with us and you can send us messages and all that kind of wonderful stuff. If you have a prayer request, let us know and we’ll be glad to pray with and for you.

And this is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.

The post The Danger of Success Part 2 first appeared on Hope Worth Having.

Pastor Mike will be speaking on The Danger of Success Part 1. He will be reading out of Isaiah 2:6-22.

We live in this digital age and I’m grateful for those opportunities and I see them as a supplement, but nothing can change you like gathering together as a body of believers and refocusing your thoughts and your minds upon Jesus Christ. Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders and I welcome you to the Hope Worth Having radio program from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. I serve as the Senior Pastor of the Open Door Church.

Today, we’re going to be in Isaiah chapter 2 and we are going to be studying verses 6 through 22. We’re going to talk about the danger of success. Join me as we study together.

I want you to take your Bible to Isaiah chapter 2. We were in Isaiah chapter 2 last week. We covered verse 1 through 5. We talked about that great hope. We talked about that one day God will be exalted above the hills and all the nations will flow to him.

Look at verse 5, O house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord. What a beautiful truth that is. Now we come to verse 6 through 22.

I told you last week Isaiah is one of those books in the Bible that we keep shifting. We go forward, we go backward, we go forward, we go backward. It’s sometimes very confusing to me and it’s confusing to believers.

It’s like watching that movie. They go backwards on me and I don’t know what happened and my wife will say, Mike, this is in the past. I’ll be asking a bunch of questions.

You don’t want to watch a movie with me because I got 20 questions. You just give up, throw the popcorn away and just walk away, okay, because that’s the way I am. I just I can’t help it.

It just doesn’t make sense to me. I always am moving forward. I don’t like to go backwards, but here’s Isaiah.

He’s like that. He’s telling us about what the current state of Israel, which is often referred to as the house of Jacob, and then he fast-forwards us to the future and we learned so much of the positive and the hope of the future last week, but this week I want to talk to you about the danger of success. The danger of success.

We’re gonna finish out the chapter somehow, some way, but before we dive into the details of this chapter, I want to tell you a story about Augustine. He was a bishop in North Africa and he wrote a book entitled The City of God. In Augustine’s mind, in this book, he believed that history was really about two different cities battling each other in unequal terms.

He referred to it as the city of man, which represented Rome at that time, and the city of God, which represented the church, the true church of Christianity. At the core of the city of man is one driving spirit, love of self, which results in a contempt towards God. At the core of the city of God is an opposite driving spirit.

It is love for God, which results in contempt for self. In this book, The City of God, the story of history is that these two cities are battling for glory. The city of man is battling for its own glory and the city of God is battling for the glory of God.

The city of God against the city of man, which we could say simply is the love of God verse the love of self. It’s the outcome of that struggle that Augustine reveals in his book that is the topic of Isaiah chapter 2. So when we begin to dive into it, remember that we’re at the end times, we’re in the last days, we’re in those latter days that has already been revealed to us in verses 1 through 5, and what we’re seeing is the competition. The competition of self, or the competition of love of self, and the competition to love of God, and glorifying God.

Which will it be? The danger of success. The danger is that we can get so focused on self, it can become all about us, about building our own kingdom and what we want rather than a desire for God’s kingdom and God’s love and God’s people. So the first thing I want you to see in verses 6 through 9 is what we might refer to as pride, or we might call it that the people had become full of things, and they were empty of God.

Look with me in verse 6, for you have forsaken your people the house of Jacob, because they are filled with Eastern ways. They are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they are pleased with the children of foreigners. Their land is also full of silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures.

Their land is also full of horses, and there is no end to their chariots. Their land is also full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.

People bow down, and each man humbles himself. Therefore, do not forgive them. Now, the house of Jacob has become corrupt.

They have turned their heart from God. They have refused to believe in God. They have chosen to follow a path of pride and self, and they have become full of things.

What you will see over and over in just these few verses for 6 through 9 is the word full or filled. That’s a key word, full or filled. You want to underscore that in your Bible.

You see in verse 6 that they are filled with Eastern ways. And then we jump down to verse 7, that they’re full of silver and gold. Then we look again at verse 7, they are full of horses, and there is no end to their chariots.

Verse 8, they are full of idols, full of stuff, but empty of God. When you and I fill our hands with the things of the world, then there’s no room for God. That’s why God sometimes calls us to let go of stuff, so we can come empty-handed to Him and let His love and life fill our hearts.

What are they full of? Well, we see in the text that, first of all, they’re full of superstitions and not true faith in Christ. Again, look at verse 6. They are filled with Eastern ways. They are soothsayers like the Philistines.

So, he’s referring that Israel has begun to practice pagan ways of the Eastern culture of that day. And rather than practicing what Moses had taught them, what they had been taught in the Word of God, they had begun to adopt these superstitions in their life. And so, they were full of superstitions.

And they are pleased with the children of foreigners. And so, that is that they wanted to follow the ways of the world. That’s what their heart was, satisfying their selfish desires.

Then you’ll note that they are full of silver and not the true wealth of Christ. Look at verse 7. Their land is also full of silver and gold. There’s no end to their treasures.

Yes, they have wealth. They have gold. They have silver.

But they don’t have the true treasure. They don’t have the true wealth that is found in a relationship with God Almighty. What an indictment upon people who will not let God be their true wealth and their true treasure.

Here again, he goes on to say that they are full, in verse 7, that they are full of horses and chariots rather than the true power of God. Their land is also full of horses and there is no end to their chariots. Now, I know that you guys look at this and I look at it and we say, what’s the big deal? Horses, chariots, doesn’t seem like that’s too powerful.

But in that day, that’s how the armies were. We might say that they had the F-17s. They had these mammoth warships.

They were filled with all these powerful things. But Israel did not have the power of God. Another indictment upon the people of God that we might be loaded with wealth and the bank account might be full, but we don’t have true wealth in Jesus Christ.

That we may have much strength, many buildings, wonderful property, but we don’t have the true power of Jesus Christ resting upon our lives. That we are operating in our own strength rather than the strength of the Lord. That we are worshiping our own accomplishments and achievements.

That we are impressed what we have done. And now you can see that pride is taken over, full of things, empty of God. Noted again in verse 8 that they are full of idols and they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.

Verse 9, they bow down. They bow down to these idols and rather than being full of the Lord, they have become full of idols. Idols.

I know that we’re a sophisticated society and surely we would not be so odd as to bow down to an idol, but yet an idol is anything that you put before the Lord. An idol could be sports. An idol could be a relationship.

An idol could be a thing. It could be a passion. It could be a hobby.

Anything that you put before the Lord Jesus Christ is an idol. That you would spend more time doing that particular thing or that particular hobby than you do in spending time with Jesus Christ in a relationship. These are the things that we have to be alerted to because there is great danger, church, in being successful.

The Bible tells us in Romans 1 25 that what had happened to the society is that they had changed the truth of God into a lie and they worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen. I know that sometimes we live in this digital age and we see no need to gather and worship when we can just watch it on YouTube or we can just watch it digitally or we can watch it on our phone and I understand and I’m grateful for those opportunities and I see them as a supplement, but nothing can change you like gathering together as a body of believers and realigning your heart and refocusing your thoughts and your minds upon Jesus Christ.

Because all throughout the week what you’re going to spend your time doing is listening to so many voices calling you to follow stuff, to follow idols, to follow other priorities. When we come back together God once again focuses our heart and helps us to stay on mission and to stay together as a team and to stay together as the people of God that rather than being full of idols we want to be full of Jesus Christ. Can God’s people say amen? And the sad commentary verse 6 again.

You have forsaken your people. What caused the Lord to forsake his people was that they were empty of God. They were empty of God’s power.

They were empty of a relationship with the Lord. They treasured the things of this world more than they did Jesus Christ. They exalted themselves before God and they humbled themselves before their idols.

It’s a warning to us this morning church to be careful that as you are prospering, as you are blessed, as you are moving forward, as the Lord is providing, as you’re rejoicing, that you don’t get your focus on success and forget who is the one who authors any blessing in our life. It is God. It is God who provides all that we have.

It is Jesus Christ who continues to sustain us and pour out grace upon us. So then now that they have become so full of things and empty of God, we see the second thing here is that the terror of the Lord has come upon them. Again this is a the last days lofty things have become humbled and so we’ll kind of just walk through this because it’s going to be difficult to cover every particular verse but I want you to see that the overarching point of verse 10 through 21 is that God’s holiness is vindicated and that though there has been this generation of people who have rejected the Lord, that God has vindicated and righted every wrong.

So what do we see here? First of all the day of the Lord is proclaimed. Look at verse 10 beginning there. Enter into the rock, hide in the dust from the terror of the Lord and the glory of his majesty.

Don’t forget church that God will not share his glory. Isaiah will teach us that later that he does not share his glory that you may exalt yourselves above God and you may humble yourselves before your idols. You may bow down before your idols but God will destroy those idols.

Again in verse 11, the lofty looks of man shall be humbled. The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. Look at verse 12.

For the day of the Lord of hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up and it shall be brought low. The day of the Lord, the day of the Lord. What is the day of the Lord? The phrase the day of the Lord is identifying the events that will unfold at the end of history.

The day of the Lord is referring to a future day when God will intervene in history and he will judge those who have rejected him and he will establish his righteous rule in this world. The day of the Lord is the inception of that millennial kingdom. It is the conclusion of the tribulation period that when we as the church are raptured out of here, receiving our rewards in heaven, that while the events are unfolding in that seven-year tribulation and that there’s this final defiance towards God Almighty by the kingdoms of man, that Jesus Christ will crush them at the end of that seven-year tribulation and he will establish his righteous kingdom upon this earth and we will rule and reign with Jesus Christ.

The phrase the day of the Lord, it is used 19 times in the Old Testament, Isaiah being one of them, other passages scriptures as well. It is used four times in the New Testament. When you see the phrase you know that the Lord is proclaiming how things will unfold at the end.

This day of the Lord is not only a time of judgment but is a time of salvation as God will deliver the remnant of Israel. Remember I told you, why is it that we believe that God would rapture us the church before the tribulation period? Remember this, do not forget, because the tribulation period is about the nation of Israel. It is about a nation that has not accepted the fact that Jesus Christ is the coming Messiah.

I told you before that when I sat there with the chief rabbi amongst other pastors, he said the only difference between us and Christians, meaning Jewish people and Christians, is that you are looking for the second coming of your Messiah and we’re looking for the first coming of our Messiah. But there’s coming a day, the day of the Lord, that during the tribulation and especially at the end of the tribulation that the Jewish people, according to Zechariah, they will recognize that Jesus Christ is the true Messiah that they’ve been looking for, the one that they have been waiting for. He is the fulfillment of all the prophecies in Isaiah and in Zechariah and in Zephaniah.

He is the fulfillment of all those prophecies, as Matthew taught us and as Luke taught us, that they all align together and so Jesus Christ is the Messiah. The Bible teaches us that great sorrow will come upon Israel and they will be very repentant and they will be very broken and they will cry out to Jesus Christ for true salvation. Romans 11, verse 26 says, all of Israel will be saved.

Why do we love Israel as Christians? Well, not only because God has given us a promise that you are blessed if you do. If you bless his people, he’ll bless you. But number two, they are the chosen people of God and he is using the tribulation period to woo them back to him, to bring them back into a true relationship with him.

And that’s why there is favor, that’s why there is blessings, that’s why we as believers and those who follow Jesus Christ, that we have an affection towards the nation of Israel and we have a special protection because God called them the apple of his eye. And so we understand that and we recognize that and we look forward to that day in which they will truly come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. You will note again that in verse 10 that he says to us that we are to enter into the rock and hide in the dust.

This is a reference to what the Bible already teaches us in the book of Revelation that when the vials are poured out upon this world, when the bowls are poured out, when the trumpets are sounded, these are the things that represent God’s judgment and God’s wrath upon the Antichrist and his man-made kingdom and the judgment of God upon them. The judgment will be so fierce that people will want to hide in the rocks and the cliffs. Isaiah talks about in verse 12 that the Lord of hosts shall come upon everything that is proud and lofty.

That’s that second coming. That word can be translated host, it can be translated army. Some of your translations probably have that.

It is referring to the armies of angels, the legion of angels that are around the throne of God. In 1 Kings 22 verse 19 the Bible says, and he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and all the hosts or all the armies of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.

That God with all of his angels, all of his armies, and the people of God, we will come back on white horses. The book of Revelation teaches us and we will come back and Jesus the King of kings and the Lord of lords, he will destroy every man-made kingdom. He will destroy every enemy of God and as the judgment of God is coming upon this world, people will be in so much pain and so much terror that they will want to hide in the cliffs and hide in the rocks the scriptures teach us.

Now the day of the Lord is described here by Isaiah. He says the lofty will be humbled and the Lord will be exalted. Look again at verse 12.

When the Lord of hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up, it shall be brought low. You and I witness and we wonder why do the heathen rage? Why is people getting away with their defiance to God? Listen to me my friends. It’s all coming to an end.

It’s just not going to come when you want it to and when I want it to, but God is going to bring everything to a point and he’s going to finally bring judgment and those who exalt themselves above God, he is going to confront them and he is going to deal with them. Joel 2 verse 31 says, the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. Wow.

So we look at verse 13. Upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up and upon all the oaks of Bashan, upon all the high mountains and upon all the hills that are lifted up, upon every high tower and upon every fortified wall, upon all the ships of Tarshish and upon all the beautiful slopes and the loftiness of man shall be bowed down and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low. The Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

So the day of the Lord is being described to us. What’s going to happen? People are on their perches and they are blaspheming God and they are acting all prideful and they can do whatever they want and there’s no accountability, but I tell you, my friends, that every person will give an account to God and that’s why you and I do not have to be afraid. You see, if you’ve already humbled yourself before Jesus Christ now, you will not have to humble yourself on the day of the Lord because you will already be with the Lord and you will be in a relationship with God receiving your rewards.

Now is the time. The Bible tells us that one day every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess. That day is coming, but how much better it is to bow your knee today and to confess in your heart today that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Do not wait till the terror of the Lord comes upon this world and upon this land, but receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Acknowledge before God Almighty that you’re a sinner in need of a Savior and accept him as your Lord. The house of Jacob, the nation of Israel, they were bragging about their military pride.

You see that in verse 16. They were bragging about their trade and their commerce and how prosperous that they had come, but look at verse 18. But the idols he shall utterly abolish.

They shall go into the holes of the rocks and into the caves of the earth from the terror of the Lord and the glory of his majesty when he arises to shake the earth mightily. The lofty things that have been in direct competition with God’s glory are going to be destroyed. Human pride always seeks to exalt itself.

We look across this world. We see world leaders exalting themselves above God. We see politicians who think that they are better than God.

They belittle God and they think that everything’s because of them. It’s a reminder to me of an incredible story in 1951. We saw this picture occur that the communist era in eastern Europe came to a close.

The communists exalted themselves above God and they belittled God. They refused to let anyone believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember in downtown Budapest and the Hungarian communist party had erected a monument to the great communist leader Stalin.

It was completed in 1951 of December. It was a gift to Joseph Stalin saying that he was above God. It was torn down on October 23rd 1956 during a revolution.

The statue was 75 feet high and the people pulled it down with rope around the neck and they began to torch it and to burn it. And I thought you know what that’s exactly what’s happening. We see it all across America.

We see these leaders claiming that they’re God or that you’re to worship them and they tell you not to believe in God but to only believe in them. And then what do we see? Their kingdoms crumble. Their statues fall.

Why? Because there’s only one true God Jesus Christ. And I’m going to tell you at the end of the day of the Lord God is going to take care of all those who’ve exalted themselves against God. He will destroy all those who challenge his supremacy.

Now I want you to see the result. What is the result of this day of the Lord? Well verse 19 they’re going to go into holes. They’re going to go into caves.

Why? From the terror of the Lord and the glory of the majesty when he arrives and shakes the earth mightily. In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold which have made each for himself to worship to the moles and to bats. God is warning that his wrath is coming.

As Isaiah in Isaiah 2 gives us a glimpse of hope as we look into the future, he reminds the people of God that there is a danger to success. And one of those dangers is that we can become prideful, self-sufficient, and make it about us. And God wants us to always give him glory and always be dependent upon him.

And so the things we’re learning about these dangers may they serve as barriers for us and guardrails as we strive to honor Christ in our life. Now I also want to mention to you that if you’ll check out our website hopeworthhaving.com we have a newsletter and that can come to you through email or if you would like it to be physically sent to you just go to our website hopeworthhaving.com, hit newsletter, and then you can sign right up for it. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.

The post The Danger of Success Part 1 first appeared on Hope Worth Having.

Pastor Mike will be speaking on Faith In Action (Fathers Day). He will be reading out of Hebrews 11:23-29.

And every story is not a David and Goliath. And sometimes you’re at the point of a sword. And sometimes you’re at the point of loss.

And sometimes you’re in the midst of suffering and persecution. Yet, in that crisis, will you stand strong? Happy Father’s Day. This is Mike Sanders, and I am the Senior Pastor of The Open Door Church.

And I’m glad to bring to you this broadcast today. And it is Father’s Day, and we want to be an encouragement to all dads. And so I’ve entitled my message, Faith in Action.

Every dad ought to have a faith that is active. So we hope that you’ll be encouraged and challenged in this message. We’re going to be in Hebrews chapter 11, looking at verses 23 through 29.

So let’s grab our Bibles, and let’s begin to study. We have your Bible this morning. I want you to turn with me in Hebrews chapter 11.

And verse 23 through 29 is going to be our text. This Father’s Day, I would like us to learn about faith in action. Faith in action.

When you come to Hebrews chapter 11, you come to the great faith chapter of the Bible. Hebrews 11 has been called the roll call of the heroes of faith. And when we come down to verse 23 through 29, we are introduced to one of those heroes of faith.

And his name is Moses. And Moses exemplifies for us a faith in action. He is a man of God who stands as a model for every man, every father, and yes, every person present today on making sure that our faith is moving forward in action.

You know the story. How God delivered Israel from Egypt during the time of Moses. He led the people through the desert for 40 years, providing for them miraculously along the way.

After 40 years, God led them to the promised land where they settled in the land that God had given to them. Acts chapter 7, Stephen gives a narration, an overview of exactly what the Lord was doing. He said in verse 34 of Acts chapter 7, I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt.

I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt. That was the calling that was on the life of the man, Moses.

He was called to be an instrument of God, to deliver the people out of slavery, out of bondage, into the land of the promise that God had given them, where they would experience the true freedom that is only found in their Messiah. This moment of the calling was so holy and so momentous that Moses took his sandals off. For he recognized from the angel that the land and the ground that he stood on was holy ground.

And Moses began that journey of leading the people. And there was a lot of detours. There was a lot of struggles.

There was a lot of ups. There was a lot of downs. There was frustration.

And even one time Moses was so angry that he smote the rock out of his anger. But yet in all of that journey, God used the life of Moses to influence and impact a whole generation for God. A generation that would march in to the promised land with the man, Joshua, that Moses had mentored, that Moses had discipled.

And Joshua then would lead the people to take on the different battles of this land that was given to them. So when we come down to verse 23, we see that Moses makes the hall of faith. And we recognize the scripture says in verse 23, By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid of the king’s command.

By faith, Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. For he looked to the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.

By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned. Now I want us to see in the life of Moses, as well as his parents, faith in action.

So let’s first look at the parental faith in verse 23. It says again that by faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents. As soon as Moses breathed his first breath, his life was in danger, because Pharaoh had sent out an edict.

He had given, if you would, an ordinance or some kind of a command from the government. And the command was that every firstborn child should be put to death. And this certainly would be a sign of Moses’ life to come, how that his life would always be in danger, and that God would call Moses to be courageous and to take risks and to step out in faith all of his life.

But where did it begin for Moses, and this is what I want all dads to get, and this is what I want all moms to get, that Moses’ parents’ faith kept them from killing Moses as they had been instructed by the Egyptian government. How important it is for us to understand that Moses’ parents were people of faith in Yahweh. They understood that he was no ordinary child, that he was a unique child, that he was blessed of God, favor was upon his life.

When you come down to verse 23, and it says that the reason that they hid him was because they saw he was a beautiful child. In the Hebrew, he’s not talking about appearance, but there was a uniqueness to Moses. There was a glory upon Moses.

There was something special, a favor from God upon Moses. And this is something that was so startling to the parents that the Bible tells us that by faith they hid Moses, and they hid him for three months. Now, this very act of disobeying the government, of disobeying the Pharaoh, would cost them their lives if it was discovered.

And yet, these parents demonstrated great faith in the midst of a crisis. And it’s easy to imagine that this one act of faith that they took as mom and dad shaped their son’s life forever. And I want you to know, moms and dads, that our children are watching us, and that they are watching how we respond in crisis, how we handle situations, how we handle difficulties and problems in our life.

And it is our responsibility that even though we may not understand it, that we are always called to be a people of faith. And as a result of the strong faith of Moses’ parents, they were able to impact the life and influence their son, who would go on to be a great man of God and a great person of faith and a instrument in the hand of the holy God, our righteous God, our Savior, Yahweh, Jehovah, however you want to term His name in relating to giving praise and honor to Him. And today, moms and dads, you as well can influence your kids.

You can influence them for Christ. And I know some of you say, well, you know, I got a little bit started late, Pastor, and maybe I haven’t had the chance, and maybe I haven’t had the opportunity. Well, listen, friends, start where you’re at.

Make a commitment in your heart today. From this moment on, I’m going to live a life of faith. I’m going to live a life of courage, and my children are going to see faith in action in my life, in every aspect of my life.

They are going to watch my life, and they’re going to see that I’m going to stand up for the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I want you to note something. I want you to know that the government is not always right, that there are times that the government is wrong.

And listen to me. We have a higher calling. The head of the church is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Can God’s people say amen? And we are to follow Christ. Now, we do everything we can. The government says, Mike, you need to have exit signs at the entryways.

They all work, the last I checked. And if they don’t work, you let me know, and we’ll get on top of it tomorrow morning. But let me tell you something.

We want to make sure that we follow the ordinances, the guidelines, the codes, everything like that. But when the government tells us to do something that violates the Word of God, when the government says, hey, you cannot gather together, when the government says, hey, you have to do something against what the Bible teaches, that’s when, in the moment of crisis, that God is calling on His people to stand up in courage and to stand for Christ and say we have a higher authority in our life. It’s higher than the government of this world.

Amen. And that’s what I’m talking about. You say, well, I took my kids to church.

But the key influence on the life of your children is in the moment of crisis. Are you retreating or are you stepping in? Are you stepping up? Are you being that man of faith? Are you being that person of courage and your children get to see faith in action? Now, we’re all gonna have problems. There’s never gonna be a day in your life that you rise up and you’re problem-free.

How about that one? Now, a lot of people hope they’re gonna have a problem-free day. And as soon as they have a problem, as their day begins, they have a meltdown because they thought that they were gonna have a problem-free day. But if you would get up every day and say, Lord, I know there’s gonna be some challenges.

I know there’s a lot of flawed people around me. It’s not me, God, it’s everybody else, amen? But I want you to know this, that you’re gonna have challenges in your life. But what are you gonna do about it? How are you gonna handle it? And what kind of faith is going to be demonstrated that your children can see? Faith is obeying God when I don’t understand it.

You know, there’s a lot of things we’re not gonna understand in life, okay? I don’t have all the answers. And I want you to know many times people have asked me why. And I say, I don’t know.

I wish I did. I wish I did. But you know what? Faith is obeying God when I don’t understand it.

The evidence of faith in my life is always obedience. Will I obey God? Unfortunately for too many, they build their faith on their feelings. They build their faith on their circumstances.

That every time their circumstances change, they’re all messed up. And every time their feelings are down, they’re down. Friends, we have feelings that are up and down.

It’s just part of the human nature, right? Okay? And there are gonna be things you’re excited about, and there’s gonna be things you’re gonna be frustrated about. But you know what? Don’t ever stop living for the Lord Jesus Christ. Don’t ever stop being a person of faith and courage.

Now, how does faith produce courage in our life? How does faith produce courage? Now, I want you to jump back in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 1, real quickly. Because I think that gives us the answer. That helps us to understand.

Faith, I’m in verse 1 of chapter 11, Hebrews. Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Let me help you.

Faith emboldens us to be courageous because it is the assurance of what God promises that is better than anything than the world can promise me. So I have an assurance of the promises of God. I have faith in God.

Things that maybe I cannot see or know that I cannot touch or even taste. But they are promises of God, and I know the promises of God are better than the promises of the world. The promises of the world will fail you, and they will let you down.

But the promises of God are as sure as the sun is shining today and the sun will rise tomorrow in the providence of God, as every time you see that sun shine, you remember that our God is a faithful God who keeps his promises. And I want you to know that when you build your faith on the promises of God, you will be a person of courage today. Now, the second thing I want you to see this morning is the personal faith of Moses.

So we saw his parents’ faith. Now we’re back in verse 24, and now we’re transitioning to Moses’ faith, and we see that it says, by faith, Moses, when he became of age, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. Moses’ faith included two critical things that are important for our faith.

First, there was a refusal, meaning that he refused, or we could put it like this, he renounced his status as a member of the royal household. Now, there is a lot of misnomers about Moses among Christians. There are many of you think that he was a stumbling, fumbling idiot that could barely articulate his words, but Acts chapter 7 helps us to fully understand that Moses many times in the presence of God was playing possum, and that he was trying to fool God that he could not communicate, that he could not fully speak.

But Moses went to the finest schools of Egypt, and Moses was being groomed, and he was being mentored to be the potentially next Pharaoh. He was gonna be a world leader. He was gonna be the man who would take the place of the current Pharaoh.

He was gonna be the person that was going to be stepping in and taking over the world and the kingdom of Egypt. But friends, remember the Bible says that Moses was beautiful. More than just his appearance, he was a man who was favored of God.

And at his mother’s knee, he learned about the principles of God. He learned about the Word of God. He learned about everything that was involved in understanding the heritage of his faith.

And the moment came where Moses had to make a decision. Would he follow the path of a world’s identity, or would he go down the path of the identity in his Messiah and God’s people? And would he follow what he knew was in his heart and what he was designed for and what God purposed in his life? And the Bible tells us in verse 24 that when he became of age, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. That’s huge.

Because the moment he walked away and said, I’m no longer identifying myself with this family, but I am identifying myself with the people of God, Moses understood there would be great sacrifice and there would be great loss. A willingness to suffer loss is evidence of your faith in Jesus Christ. Jump to verse 34 of Hebrews.

Notice again. When we read, let me give you this context before we read the verse. But when we read Hebrews, we tend to stop.

And we say, wow, that was awesome. There was some great people of God and look at all that they accomplish. But friends, when you read Hebrews chapter 11, don’t forget the final verses because we read about great people of God who lost, who suffered, who dealt with opposition and persecution.

Look again at verse 34. They were quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong became valiant in battle and turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Verse 35.

Women received their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trials of mockings and scourging, yes, and of chains and of imprisonment.

They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were tempted.

They were slain with the sword. They wandered about in the sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, and tormented. And I love this verse.

Verse 38. Of whom the world was not worthy. Friends, part of your faith in action and showing courage is that there are gonna be times you’re gonna stand up for God and you’re gonna suffer loss.

You’re gonna have to sacrifice some things that maybe you’ve enjoyed, but God is bringing you to that moment, that crossroads in your life and saying, are you willing to follow me or do you wanna follow the world? And that’s exactly what was before Moses and that was exactly what was before God’s people. Every story is not a story of resurrection and every story is not a David and Goliath and every story is not a story that victory was seen on this side of heaven. Sometimes the victory is not experienced until the other side of heaven.

And sometimes you’re at the point of a sword and sometimes you’re at the point of loss and sometimes you’re in the midst of suffering and persecution. But yet, in that crisis, will you stand strong? Will you stay strong? May God help all of us that as we refuse the world’s identity and embrace the identity of Jesus Christ, may God help us that we will stay strong even in persecution. There was not only Moses’ refusal, but there was his rejection, verse 25.

So choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. In Moses’ refusal, he had to decide his identity. In Moses’ rejection, he had to decide whether he would enjoy the pleasures of sin or he would enjoy the stigma of following the Messiah.

To identify with the people of God, Moses rejected all the wealth, all the pleasures that came with being a part of Pharaoh’s household. Remember that the stigma of God’s people was like this, Exodus 1-11. Here’s what they did.

Therefore they did set over them taskmasters, meaning the people of God. The Egyptians were taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Python and Ramesses.

And what I’m trying to say to you is this. They bore this stigma of being in bondage and the stigma of being in slavery and the stigma of being a people who were looked down upon and were rejected by the world. And they were just used as stepping stones for other people to obtain their wealth and to obtain their desires.

And Moses, who was at the top of the ladder, being ready to step into the position of Pharaoh, had to make a decision. Would he go back and identify with the people of God at the bottom? Or would he stay in the palace and enjoy the pleasures and the wealth and the sin of the Egyptians? It was before him. And he learned from his mother’s niece that he was truly a Hebrew.

He was part of the family of God. And that he was to follow Christ, the Messiah. And so Moses gave up pleasure.

He gave up pleasure to live a life of virtue and honor to his God. That’s why it’s so significant. That’s true faith in action.

And every day, you and I have to make a choice. Every day, choices stand before us. Will we glorify God? Or will we glorify the world, ourself, and our own desires? Will we do what’s right? Or will we follow the values of the Bible and the word of God and our Savior? Or will we follow the values of the world? It’s all before us.

Little decisions. And you say, what’s the big deal, Mike? What’s the big deal about these little decisions? Let me tell you what the big deal is. Is that eventually, you’ll be in a crisis.

And eventually, you’ll face a big decision. And those little decisions will only pave the way for whatever your big decision is going to be. And that’s why every day, you have to make that choice in your life.

Am I gonna do the thing that honors God? Am I gonna follow Christ? Because in choosing to identify with the people of God, Moses was rejecting the values of the world and of Pharaoh. And that very decisive action of Moses foreshadowed a future decision by our own Messiah. We see in chapter 12 and verse two, excuse me.

And remember this. The Bible says of chapter 12 of Hebrews, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross and notice, despising the shame. It was embarrassing to die on a cross in the Roman culture.

It was a shame to be put on a cross and crucified. Only the worst of the worst criminals faced the ultimate death penalty of the cross. In the Old Testament, it was a curse.

So no wonder that Jesus not only bore the curse of the cross, he bore the shame and the embarrassment of the cross upon him. But why did he do it? The Bible says for the joy that was set before him. What was that joy? It would be your salvation.

And my salvation and the salvation of all who would come and receive Christ and turn away from this world and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior. It was that joy. He was willing.

He was willing to take on shame for you. He was willing to take on embarrassment for you. He was willing to take on the curse of sin and the wrath of God.

And he did it all for the Lord Jesus Christ. Can the church give praise to Jesus Christ this morning? Amen. I mean, Jesus did all that for you.

He did it for me. We ought to be shouting from the mountaintop what Christ did. Moses was foreshadowing what was to come.

Now I want you to also see the perceptive faith of Moses in verse 26. And I want you to see what the Bible says here. That he esteemed, meaning Moses valued the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.

For he looked to the reward. He looked to the reward. You see, Moses had a conviction for a greater wealth, a greater treasure.

Not the treasure of the world, but the treasure of the Messiah. Now, it’s easy to misunderstand the text here a little bit. Because when the Bible says that Moses esteemed, or he valued the reproach of Christ, we certainly think in terms from the back end of everything, because we’re always looking back.

But Moses was looking forward. For Jesus had not yet come to this earth, and he had not yet died on the cross. But what Moses had always heard from his mom, and from his dad, and from his family, was that a Messiah was coming.

And what was so beautiful is that the parents gave him the full scope, like the prophets had taught. That in Isaiah, that the Messiah would be a suffering Savior. That he would be a Savior who would not only just bring victory, and he would one day rule and reign from the seat of Jerusalem, and all the beauty of that.

But that he would come and give his life for his people. And that it was that reproach that Moses learned from his parents. And it was that that instilled in the heart of Moses.

Look at verse 26. Greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. I want to know, is your faith perceptive? Do you have the ability to discern and distinguish the greater riches? When we think about the ills of society and all the problems in America, we can just bring it all right back to the home, and the breakdown of the home, and the lack of fathers having faith in action, and being active in their lives of their families.

And so it’s important for dads to step up, be strong, be bold, be courageous for the Lord, and to be able to speak up for him when it is necessary. And that’s what faith in action is all about. And so dads, I hope that you will continue to follow these principles, and apply them to your life.

We want to pray for you. So if you’ve got a prayer request, go to our website, hopeworthhaving.com, and click the contact button, type out your request, and I will spend some time praying for you. So take advantage of that opportunity.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders, reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.

The post Faith In Action (Fathers Day) first appeared on Hope Worth Having.

Pastor Mike will be speaking on The Future. He will be reading out of Isaiah 2:1-5.

And the kingdom of God will march on with you or without you. Are you gonna follow? Are you willing to take on the challenges that are before us? But the most important kingdom, church, listen to me, the most important kingdom is not the kingdom of this world. It is the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders. Welcome to the Hope Worth Having Radio Broadcast, and we are broadcasting from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania and delighted to have you along with us. We’re gonna be in Isaiah chapter 2 today, a very intriguing and interesting passage of scripture, and we’ll be talking about the future.

So join me as we study together. When we come to Isaiah chapter 2 in verses 1 through 5 this morning, we’re reminded that God tells us about the future. But what is so great is that even though man may have aspirations of trying to create his own future, God has a plan for a future that supersedes all the plans of mankind and are better than mankind.

Most of us live our lives with an eye on the future. It would be foolish for us to live our lives regardless of what we know about the future. As we understand the future, it gives us more hope for the future.

And God has revealed the future with absolute certainty, and we should plan our lives based upon that future. And that future includes his soon return. Now Jesus taught us that there would be signs of the times, and as you and I are recognizing and we see these signs of the times, there is great anticipation for what the future will bring for us as believers.

And we are getting excited about what God has for us. When we come to Isaiah chapter 2, that is the very tone of this passage. It is a message of Isaiah that is very upbeat.

It is exciting. It belongs in the winner’s circle. It encourages anyone that might be discouraged about the circumstances of life, perhaps even of the world, and perhaps even of this nation.

You and I have such confidence in what the future will be like. There is a definite contrast that takes place in the book of Isaiah that you will note as we journey together. But in chapter 1, if you’ve been with us, you know Isaiah exposes the sin of Judah and Jerusalem.

Go back to verse 1 of chapter 1. The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amaz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And he goes on to narrate those different things that were troubling God, how they were empty in their worship and they were following the sinful ways of the heart. But then all of a sudden, having made it through chapter 1, and having seen how God was exposing a sick nation, we see the hope in chapter 2. And what God does over and over in the book of Isaiah through the prophet is to continue not only to expose sin and provide a remedy for our sin, but he continues to infuse us with great hope for the future.

God doesn’t just leave us. And what’s unique about the book of Isaiah, it’s not so much that it’s chronological. We’ll be going back from the past to the future and to the past again.

And you know when I read Isaiah, that’s what’s going on. It’s not the past, it’s the future. Isaiah, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he pops in God’s word of hope into the future.

And so again, we come to chapter 2. It is the message of the future. It is a message of hope that I want you to see this morning. So let’s first of all learn about the positive about this future.

Isaiah starts off chapter 2 just like he did chapter 1. And he says, The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Remember in chapter 1, he’s going to expose the sin. But in chapter 2, he’s going to talk about the future and what we have to look forward.

What is the source of this great positive outlook upon the future? Look at verse 1 again. Underscored in your Bible. The word.

It is the word of God. It is the word of God that Isaiah received. Isaiah received this message from God.

It is not something that Isaiah was just trying to teach the people to have positive thinking. It’s not that he was trying to give some kind of a message so that the people could somehow pull themselves together and keep moving forward. But rather, it was a message from God almighty.

It was the word of God that came to Isaiah. And what does Isaiah say to us? Go to verse 2. It shall come to pass. Look at the middle of verse 2. It shall be established.

This is the word. This is the promise. This is what God is telling us.

It’s not just that God is saying, here is my plan. But he is saying to all of us, here is my promise. This is what I’m going to do in the latter days.

This is what’s going to happen in the future. This is what you have to look forward to. And it is this future that we have as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ that keeps us motivated and it keeps us inspired to living strong for the Lord Jesus Christ.

And whatever God says is going to happen, friends, it’s going to happen. People make all kinds of promises. And you probably have had many people break promises to you.

But let me tell you something that’s different is that God’s promises are established. And they are sure. And God will fulfill everything that he has said.

And so that’s what I want you to see. The positive about the future is that its source is God’s word. It is God himself.

And it’s not something that he’s just putting out there to just pump you up. But it’s something that you can definitely bank on and that you can look forward to. So let’s see, second of all, this unique period in the future.

Look at verse 2 again. He says, Now it shall come to pass in the latter days. We know that in Acts chapter 2 and Hebrews chapter 2, the apostles talked about the latter days.

Talked about the last days. And the last days is a long period that exists from the coming of Jesus Christ the first time all the way to the coming of Christ the second time. And when we think about the latter days, what the prophet Isaiah is talking about, the last of the last days.

Or the last of this time period after the return of Jesus Christ. So, in general, you’ll read throughout the scriptures. You’ll read in the Old Testament.

You’ll read in the New Testament about the last days. People say to me, well, Mike, we’re definitely in the last days. Yeah, we’ve been in the last days for quite a while.

But I understand what they mean. They are saying we believe as we see the signs of the times that we are in the last of the last days. That we’re in that kind of final fourth quarter.

And it looks like God is bringing everything together. And everything that he said would come to pass is starting to come together so that it can come to pass. And we are witnessing some exciting times that you and I are living in.

And so, Isaiah says, the latter days. The last days. And this is an encouragement.

Because what he is trying to remind us is we are on schedule for God’s plan and God’s promise. That we are moving according to all that God has already orchestrated. People get so frazzled.

They get so frustrated. They get so upset about what they see happening in our nation. Or happening in the world.

Or perhaps even happening in their own lives. But listen to me, my friends. God has a plan.

And God has a purpose. And that even though it may not be what we always want. Or we want to see how certain things unfold certain ways.

You need to remember that God is in charge. And he is in control. And nothing is happening and catching God by surprise.

He is not shocked. His hand is working. And his hand is moving.

And he is accomplishing everything that he has already scheduled for the latter days. It’s exciting. God’s judgment.

God’s dealing with America. God’s dealing with people. And he is dealing with the righteous as well as those who are unrighteous.

And he is bringing it all in accordance to his perfect plan. You say, how do I learn about this perfect plan? Well, I want to give you a quick template. But you can read the book of Revelation.

You can read different books that talk about what is to unfold. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4, chapter 5 helps us a lot. But you can begin to see this template.

But in general, this is where the position of our church family. But we believe that the next great event on the prophecy schedule of the latter days is the rapture of the church. Do you believe that church? Amen.

There’s a few of you left. Hey, my friends, I believe that the rapture is before the tribulation period. We’re given a promise that we are not ordained to tribulation.

Or we are not ordained to the particular suffering of the tribulation period. And again, I can take you back to the Greek. And I can help you walk through that.

And help you understand that. But there are some of you who still don’t believe the same way that I do. Or our church does about the rapture.

And that’s okay. We’re not saying you don’t love Jesus. Okay? We’re just saying that we believe the next great event is the rapture of the church.

After the rapture of the church is the tribulation period. How long is the tribulation period, church? It’s going to be a seven-year period. Christians are already raptured out of this world.

All that’s left is unbelievers. But in the midst of this seven-year period, there will be those who believe in Jesus Christ. They will come to Christ.

They will believe in Christ. I did a Bible study on insights into the tribulation through the book of Daniel. We taught about how you can understand what is going to unfold.

But one of the things we know is that the Bible says in the book of Daniel that they’ll be running to and fro. And people seem to think that that means that technology is going to be faster than ever. And knowledge is going to be more than ever.

And all those are true. I don’t deny those things. But that’s not what Daniel’s talking about.

He’s talking about that there are going to be people running all over, looking for the truth, trying to find the answers. What happened to all these people? They say that there’s just over 8 billion people in this world. But they say there’s about 2.5 billion Christians.

There’s only about 330 million Americans. And can you imagine that in a moment, instantaneously, 2.5 billion people are raptured out of here? Gone! And I’m telling you, those that do not believe in Jesus Christ, they’re going to be, what in the world just happened? And you know what they’re going to do? They’re going to run over to Grandma’s house. And they’re going to run over to Grandpa’s house.

They’re going to run over to their mom and dad’s house. And they’re going to say, they kept telling us we need to get saved. We needed to obey the Bible.

We need to get into the Word of God. And they’re going to be running to and fro, trying to find the truth. And Daniel says they’ll find it in the Word of God.

And you see, my friends, that’s why it’s important for us to print the Bible. That’s why it’s important for you to have a Bible at home. That’s why it’s important for you to tell your children about Jesus Christ.

That’s why it’s important for you to tell your grandchildren about Jesus Christ. You say, they don’t listen, Mike. It don’t matter.

That never stopped me. And it shouldn’t stop you. Amen? And it didn’t stop Isaiah.

When we get to Isaiah chapter 6, the Lord’s going to tell Isaiah, the people aren’t going to listen to you. But he said, keep telling them. And that’s the way God rolls, is that he keeps telling us the truth.

But here’s the thing. We, as a people, we tend to be hard-headed, and sometimes it doesn’t sink in as quick as we’d like it to be. Thank God for those who have been awakened, and they see the truth.

They respond to truth. That’s why it’s important to reach these children when they’re young, to reach these teenagers when they’re young, because they’re more responsive and they’re more receptive. They haven’t been hardened by sin.

That’s why we need to have ministries for children and continue to reach out to them and tell them about the Lord, Jesus Christ. But here’s what I want you to know. This tribulation period, people are going to be looking for the answer, and many will come to Christ.

The Antichrist will come on the scene. He will rule and reign, and he will control this world by three different means. You might write this down.

He will rule this world through a one-world government. He will rule this world through a one-world currency system, and he will rule this world through a one-world religious system. It won’t be the faith of Jesus Christ.

No, the Antichrist hates God, but he loves religion, because if he can use religion to control people, he’ll be glad to sign you up. Now, don’t you worry, church. We’re out of here, except for those guys that they want to wait until after the tribulation to be raptured.

You know, if I was God, I’d let you. I’d let you stay around if you wanted to. But for the rest of us, we’re out.

We’re up in heaven. We’re enjoying receiving our rewards, worshiping God, getting ready for the big moment. What’s the big moment? The second coming of Jesus.

At the end of the seven-year tribulation, I’m giving you a template. I’m helping you understand the end of the latter days. What’s it going to be like? It’s going to be a second coming of Jesus Christ.

I just read to you in Revelation chapter 20 some of the things that will be happening. Read to Revelation chapter 19 and Revelation chapter 21, and you’ll begin to see this big picture of what’s coming. Read Daniel, and you’ll begin to see this big picture that is coming, and the second coming of Jesus Christ will be upon this world, and we will rule and reign.

He will conquer every nation. He’ll conquer every political system. He’ll conquer all those who rebel and are against God Almighty, and he will sit on the throne that is in Jerusalem, the seat of David, and he will fulfill all the promises that have been made by the prophets that we will have a Messiah who will rule from Jerusalem.

That’s why it’s called the city of God, and that’s why Jerusalem and Israel matter so much to us, for, of course, many other reasons, and that’s why we have so much hope in the future. Now, what is the purpose of this thousand-year reign of Christ? I’ve referred to you before as it being the millennial kingdom. The millennial kingdom is not found in the Bible.

You’re not going to find that word millennial. I mean, you can look for it. Do a Google search.

It just isn’t going to pop up, but don’t worry. Don’t get upset because neither is the word missions. We all love missions.

These are words that we use to describe what the Bible teaches. We’re not saying that they somehow are man-made. What we’re saying is that there’s this thousand-year reign, the millennial kingdom, which is a Latin word that means a thousand, millennial.

It means a thousand. The millennial is a time of peace and prosperity on earth when Christ will rule from Jerusalem. The purpose of this thousand-year reign is to fulfill the promises that God made to his people that cannot be fulfilled while Satan is running free and rampant.

It is a time that we will be able to witness that Jesus Christ will conquer all political authority and he will be the sole authority on this earth. These promises sometimes are called covenants. They are sometimes specific to Israel.

Other times they are specific to Jesus himself. And other times they are to the church. It is our responsibility to distinguish what is this promise and who is this promise for.

Sometimes the church gets super excited. No problem. We understand it.

I like that you’ve got some zeal and some passion for God and that you’re excited and you read the Bible and you read a promise and you think, man, this promise is for me. And you come to me about it and I say, no, no, that’s for Israel. And you get discouraged.

No, don’t be discouraged. There’s plenty of promises to share, church. There’s plenty to enjoy.

But you’ve got to know what the promises of God are and who are they for. Is this for Israel? Is this for Jesus? Is this for the church? And once you distinguish that, then you can properly apply it to your life. Now, all these promises that are given so much in the Old Testament will be fulfilled during the thousand-year reign called the Millennial Kingdom, which will be ruled by Jesus Christ.

And when Isaiah, I’m doing Isaiah 2. I know you think I left it, but I didn’t. But in Isaiah 2 at the beginning, it shall come to pass in the latter days, the last days. Now, let’s talk about the power of the future.

Now, you will note in this text, again, as we continue to read in verse 2, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills. When you read, again, the book of Revelation and you read the book of Isaiah so many times that God uses metaphors, he’ll use different symbolic language to help us understand. So when God says the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, this is excellent news for all who love Jesus Christ, but it’s symbolic language that he is teaching us.

And the mountain that he speaks of is a metaphor for the Lord’s kingdom that will be exalted above all other kingdoms. And the term mountain can often be referred to as governments or kingdoms. And here, I want you to read that with that understanding that the mountain of the Lord’s house, that is, the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of the Messiah, shall be established on the top of the mountains, meaning the mountains of man’s kingdoms, that the kingdom of God will supersede the kingdom of man and will be on top of all these other man-made kingdoms and shall be exalted above the hills.

What will happen is that the mountain of Christ and the mountain of his kingdom will so supersede the mountains of man’s kingdoms that man’s kingdoms will become nothing more than just little hills. Their status will change. Let me help you out a little bit, okay? I want you to take your Bible, and I want you to go to the book of Psalm 48.

I want you to see this again. So Psalm 48, verse 1, says, Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, in his holy what church? Mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, and the city of the great king.

What I want you to see is that this is not the only time that this word mountain has been used as a metaphor. So it is. The psalmist, he taught us, the mountain refers to the kingdom of God.

Here’s what I want you to know, that after the tribulation period, in the second coming of Christ, the establishment of this thousand-year reign called the millennial kingdom, that God will be recognized as the supreme rule of all the nations. It will not be the United States of America. It’s not even mentioned in prophecy.

I don’t even know if the United States will be here, church. And that’s why what you’re witnessing may be a part of God’s perfect plan. And you say, well, I don’t want America to go down.

Well, I don’t either, but I’m just telling you that the Bible doesn’t mention America. But sometimes we have to recognize before we can get to the good, we got to endure the bad. And sometimes in order to fulfill God’s plan and that his kingdom will rule and reign and that there’ll be all these things that unfold in the book of Revelation, it’s probably going to require for the decline of America.

It won’t be the United States that rules in the millennial kingdom. It won’t be the United Nations. It will not be China.

But the true ruler in the latter days will be Jesus Christ himself and the kingdom of God. Can God’s people say amen? Amen. Now I want you to see not only the status of this kingdom, but the strength of this kingdom.

We’re back in Isaiah chapter 2, so flip back there. And again, I already mentioned this, but I just want you to see the strength of this kingdom. He says in verse 2, it shall be established.

And then he says again in verse 2, it shall be exalted. That’s the great strength of this nation. And God will overcome all the wickedness and all the sin that is in this world.

And there’ll be many that defy God, hate God in the tribulation period and desire to destroy Jesus Christ, his followers. They will literally demand that they take on the mark of the beast. And if they do not take on the mark of the beast, they will be martyred for the cause of Jesus Christ.

But there’ll be no evil by Satan or his own kingdom that will be able to stop the kingdom of God. For Hebrews 12 teaches us that the kingdom of God is unshakeable. Now, sometimes his servants, yeah, they get shaken, but the kingdom of God will not be shaken.

And the kingdom of God will march on with you or without you. That’s your choice. You have to decide, are you all in? Are you going to follow? And are you willing to endure? Are you willing to take on the challenges that are before us and keep marching forward? But the most important kingdom, church, listen to me, the most important kingdom is not the kingdom of this world.

It is the kingdom of Jesus Christ. And I hope you’ll put all your energy and all your effort to advancing the kingdom of God. Now, what will the thousand-year reign be like? As we go through the book of Isaiah, as I told you, Isaiah is going to keep bringing us back to this millennial kingdom.

If you want to learn about the millennial kingdom, man, read the book of Isaiah because over and over again, as Isaiah deals with sin and confronts a nation, he will then jump us into the future to once again infuse hope into our hearts, and he will describe what this thousand-year reign will be like. Just a few things that I put down. This is not all, but I want you to write this down.

It will be a universal kingdom, meaning the kingdom of Christ will be universal all over the whole world, not just certain parts, but all over, Christ will rule. Where will be the center? It’ll be Jerusalem, and it will be a righteous kingdom. It will be a time of perfect justice.

We get frustrated because there’s so much injustice in this world. Isn’t that true, church? It’s frustrating, and you say, man, that’s not fair. I hear you, but that’s the world we live in.

You haven’t made it to the millennial kingdom yet, but hang in there, church. In the millennial kingdom, you’re not gonna be able to say it’s not fair, because God’s kingdom will always be fair. We’ll also learn that Israel will be converted in the millennial kingdom.

Jeremiah chapter 30 teaches us that, and Romans chapter 10 and 11 teach us that the nation of Israel will be converted to Jesus Christ. But I went on a trip to Israel. You’ve heard me say it before.

It was a great trip, and there was 20 of us pastors, and we were led by Dr. Dino Padrone, and we had the privilege of meeting the top rabbi of the nation of Israel. And he said, the only difference between the Jewish people and the Christians is that the Christians believe their Christ has already come the first time, but we are waiting for our Messiah. And see, I want you to know that one day they’ll recognize that Jesus is the true Messiah that they have been waiting for.

He is the true Messiah, but it’ll be also a time of great peace. I want you to look at verse four again. We’re jumping down in Isaiah.

The Messiah will judge between the nations. He’ll rebuke many people, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Let me put it to you like this.

The weapons of warfare in the millennial kingdom will become instruments of agriculture. That’s what’s gonna happen. And the Bible gives us a promise.

Look at the end of verse four. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, and neither shall they learn war anymore. We are living in times where we are constantly under the threat of war, aren’t we? And we read the news, we see it across our social media, we see the threat of all that is happening, and we are terrified as to what might happen.

But let me tell you, there’s coming a day when there’ll be no more war. It’ll be wonderful, church. Now let’s learn about the praise in the future.

The Bible says, this kingdom of God shall be exalted above the hills. We talked about that, and it certainly speaks of the future, because it’s certainly not now, but God will be exalted, His kingdom will be exalted, and we will praise God. It’ll be a beautiful time.

Right now, we’re in a battle between good and evil, aren’t we? We’re in a battle, we’re fighting. I mean, you know, you win one battle, and then you turn around, you wake up the next day, and there’s another battle. And it’s easy to get weary in the battle.

It’s easy as believers to say, man, I’m just gonna coast, I can’t take it no more. But no, friends, we gotta stay on the front lines, because we are to be salt, and we are to be light, even in a wicked world. We are to be the people who are spreading the good news of Jesus Christ, and we are to stay fully engaged.

We can’t jump on the sidelines, church. We can’t just quit, we can’t just give up. We gotta stay fully engaged with the gospel of Jesus Christ, trying to promote the righteousness of Christ anywhere and everywhere that we can, in small ways, big ways.

We’re fully engaged Christians who refuse to retreat and to back down from the opportunity that is before us. But I want you to see here again that it says that these mountains will become hills, meaning God has conquered them, which reminds me in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, when the apostle spoke of the millennial kingdom and the second coming of Christ, he reminded the people of God, then comes the end in 1 Corinthians 15, when he hands over the kingdom to our God and Father, when he has abolished all rule, meaning the rule of mankind, and all authority and power. In the millennial kingdom, all of Christ’s enemies will be put in subjection and under his feet, so that the sovereign plan of God will be… As we study the book of Isaiah together, one of the things you will note is there are times that Isaiah begins to look into the future, and today’s text in Isaiah chapter 2 is about the future.

And so God is bringing us a hope, he is bringing us truth, and he wants us to know that it won’t always be like this. The nation of Israel will not always be a sin-sick nation, but there is much to be thinking about relating to their future and what it’ll be like in the thousand-year reign. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.

The post The Future first appeared on Hope Worth Having.

Pastor Mike will be speaking on What Exactly is Worship? Part 2. He will be reading out of Isaiah 1:11-20.

And you and I have a responsibility how we treat others. You can’t walk out of this place and live like the devil and then come back here next Sunday and think that your worship is acceptable to God. It’s not.

Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders from The Open Door Church, and I want to welcome you to Hope Worth Having, and we’re delighted that you’re listening today to the program. And we’re looking forward to what God has to say and teach us today. And we’re going to be in Isaiah chapter one, verse 11 through 20.

We’re continuing our study on what exactly is worship. So I want you to grab your Bible and join me as we study together. You just cannot be right with God if you’re wrong with everybody else.

It’s impossible. That’s why Peter said to the believers that the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

And he’s not talking about unbelievers. He’s talking about believers. And this is what Isaiah the prophet is saying when he says to them in verse 15, you spread out your hands.

They’re lifting their hands unto God. Great, wonderful. But he says, I’ll hide my eyes from you.

Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. It could refer to the blood of the sacrifices, or it could be symbolism of how they treat other people.

Either way, the point is clear, that God will not hear the prayers of his people if our life is not aligning with the word of God. And that it is hypocritical to come into the house of the Lord and worship God when we are walking in sin. So third John tells us, beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good.

He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil has not seen God. See, people watch our lives, don’t they? They see how we act and react and how we handle circumstances. And they are seeing whether we worship God in our daily activities, that all that we do is for his glory and not for our selfish ambitions or our own agendas, but rather everything is about God.

And so they look at us, and John is saying, you need to do what is right or what is good. Because that’s what God’s good work is in you. That’s how he is glorified for you.

So we come down to verse 16 and 17, and there’s a call to repentance. Look at it again. Wash yourselves.

Make yourselves clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil.

Learn to do good. Seek justice. Rebuke the oppressor.

Defend the fatherless and plead for the widow. The prophet is not trying to tell us to work our way to heaven. He’s trying to say, show yourself as being a person who has been touched by heaven.

That God has done his good work in you. That you are to be a person who promotes justice. You’re to be a person who learns to do good.

That you speak up and step up against those who are oppressing others. This is a reflection of our heart. This is a reflection of who we are as we worship God.

We are worshipers of God, and we worship him in spirit and in truth. And the Bible tells us to worship him in spirit, which means that it needs to be authentic. He’s not talking about the Holy Spirit.

Certainly the Spirit of God leads and guides all of our worship. That’s a known factor. But in the idea of this word and the original language, he’s talking about being real in your worship.

Being true to God in your worship. And then not only are you true to God in your heart, but you are guided by the truth. Worship God in spirit and truth.

The truth shapes our worship, and it shapes how we live. And as we are out there interacting with others and operating as believers and true worshipers of God, people are seeing whether our life is glorifying God, reflecting God. Then they know that there is a God, and that God can change a heart, and God can transform a person.

James put it like this in James 1, pure religion, undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world. Now again, sometimes people like to make these the marks of salvation, but that’s not the point. The point is that these are the marks of someone who’s truly been saved.

These are the marks of true worshipers who are genuine before God in their walk with him. And so Isaiah continues on after this call of repentance, after he acknowledges in verse 11 through 15, he points out the failure of outward religion and outward worship going through the motion, and then a call to repentance in verse 16 and 17. Then we come to an incredible invitation in verse 18 through 20.

Let’s read it. Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land, but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. What beautiful sets of words, amen? Because see, that’s what I love about God, is that God doesn’t just say, hey Mike, this is your problem, but he says, I want to show you a path to deal with it.

He helps me and restores me and renews me. He brings me back. He shows me the path.

We like to refer it to like this, that it is redemptive discipline. Redemptive discipline. When we came many years ago, we believed it was important to establish redemptive discipline in the Christian school.

Because we believe that redemptive discipline is the way of the Lord. And so it is in our walk with Jesus Christ this morning, is that God is not cutting you off because you came just dragging in and going through the motions. And though he may have been disappointed that your heart was not really there and all in with worship this morning, God is saying, hey, I want to restore you.

I want to renew you. And he says, here’s the way. And he gives us an invitation.

Let’s look at first the tone. It’s a tone of reason rather than demanding. He says at the outset, let us reason together.

I love this because one of the things that I think is so essential in the 21st century in the American church is this skill set to think or to discern. It seems to me that so many Christians have quit thinking. There is no discernment in the body of Christ.

And that whatever is the razzle-dazzle and whatever moves the heart and the emotion, whatever makes the foot tap, it must be from God. And if it came down from heaven, or at least I should say it says heaven or Jesus on it, it must be true. But you see, the Bible tells us that the devil appears as an angel of light, doesn’t he? And we’re called to test all things, to prove all things.

And here God says, I don’t want you to check out your brain when you come to the gathering. I don’t want you to check out your brain when you are coming to assemble as corporately as believers. But he says, I want you to reason with me.

I want us to reason. Use your noggin. And so it is that God is not only a righteous judge, but he’s a loving father.

And his tone towards us is, let’s think about this. Let’s just think about what you’re doing, why you’re doing it. And his tone is one that he certainly has great sorrow over his children.

We jump back to verse 5 and 6. He said, why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick and the whole heart faints. Verse 6, the sole of the foot, even to the head.

There is no soundness in it but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They have not been closed or bound up or soothed with ointment. He is saying, you’re sick.

And I care about you. And I care enough about you to intervene. To be intentional.

Not to just leave you in your sickness and delay in your spiritual bed. And let you deteriorate spiritually and drift from God. He says, I want to get your attention.

So God, out of great love, gives this great invitation. And that he gives it in a heart that cares. We remember our Savior in Luke 13 who said, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem.

The one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings. But you were not willing.

Our empty worship breaks the heart of God. Our hearts that have drifted break the heart of God. He cares.

It does matter. It is important to him. So what an amazing thing that God reasons with us when we stray.

How incredible that the Lord Jesus knocks at our door even though we have become lukewarm in our faith. You remember the words of Jesus. Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

And if anyone hears me, my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine or fellowship with him and he with me. This is the tone that God has this morning to each of our hearts. It is a desire that we would open the door and that we would reconnect with God and have that fellowship with him at a deeper level.

That our Bible reading would be more than just, I checked that off. That our prayers would be more than, yep, got that done. So I don’t have to worry about pastor getting on to me about that.

But that we would want to fellowship him at a deeper level. That we’re not worried about a checklist. But we are passionate about spending time with Jesus every day.

Let’s talk about the terms of this invitation. Stepping from his bench, the judge offers the accused a full pardon. Both wool and snow are white by nature.

And the Lord is offering to give each of us, his people, a new heart and a new nature. It’s like the words of John when he said, if you walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all of our sin.

You see, friends, when we respond to God, he takes the initial step. He reaches out. He’s the one that is searching, looking, and being intentional.

But when we respond to his great work in our hearts, what does he do? The Bible teaches us that he cleanses us, he washes us, and he makes us brand new. Gives us a fresh start in the Lord Jesus Christ. And what I want you to know in 1 John 1, 7, is that there’s a connection here.

Again, what I’ve already taught you. That you can’t be wrong with others and be right with God. And you can’t be wrong with God and be right with others.

It’s just an impossibility. It’s something that we have to keep in the forefront of our hearts. And so, John says, we have fellowship one with another.

You see, you may drift. God hasn’t kicked you out of the family, but the fellowship’s not as sweet, right? You’ve been to those Thanksgiving dinners when it was awkward. Maybe a brother and sister aren’t getting along.

Maybe a mom is upset with a son. Maybe a dad is disappointed in his children. And yet, we all tried to do the Thanksgiving dinner because we’ve always done the Thanksgiving dinner.

And we kind of just showed up and we ate the turkey and we ate the cranberry sauce. And then we were trying to figure out how to get out of there because we can’t stand some of these people. Amen? But here’s what God does.

He comes in and wipes all those offenses away. All those issues away. And he brings us back into sweet fellowship with him.

And he brings us back in sweet fellowship with others. It wasn’t the sacrifice of animals. It wasn’t the rituals that was going to make it right.

It had to be getting right with God in their hearts. That was essential. You know in Isaiah 53 verse 1 and 2. I want you to real quickly just jump over there.

Will you do that for me? Because it becomes such a thread throughout this whole book and even the Bible. That it’s hard for us to ignore this great passage in Isaiah 53. In which we are reminded who has believed our report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed.

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant. And this is a prophecy about Jesus. And as a root out of dry ground he has no form or comeliness.

And when we see him there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we did not esteem him. And look at verse 4. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.

Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.

The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And by his stripes we are healed. We are healed spiritually.

We are healed from the offenses of sin. And the walls of disfellowship. We are healed through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But there is a condition. And the condition is that we must repent. It means we need to change direction.

Now guys, if you’re like me and most of you probably are in some way. Is that you’re hard headed. And we’re saying, I know how to get there honey, don’t tell me.

And my wife will say to me, Mike, I think we’re on the wrong road. Honey, I have driven this way 10 times. I know what I’m doing.

This just happened, okay. And I am so determined. And then I can’t find where we’re supposed to be.

And I got to humble myself. Not only do I have to humble myself to my wife. But I have to humble myself to the GPS lady.

So now I got two women to humble myself to. But I got to change direction. And you see, that’s what God’s saying.

He’s saying change direction. Change directions. Reject apathy.

Reject formalism. Reject the charade. And let God do his work in your heart as you are repenting.

Now verse 21 through 31, we don’t have time to read every verse. But we’ll point out a few. But there is a painful purification.

So God has given us this great invitation. But he’s purifying us too. That as we come to him and we make things right, he is purifying our hearts.

So unlike Sodom, remember that he sarcastically called him Sodom? Remember he referred to the people like the people of Gomorrah? And you remember that story that God just rained down judgment upon them? Well, these people are his people, Judah. And so it’s a little bit different in that the Lord is going to purify, not annihilate. He’s going to purify our hearts.

And so we are a stubborn people and we can be persistent. But God is still going to draw us to him. Look at verse 26.

I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. Look at verse 27.

He says, Zion shall be redeemed with justice and her penitents with righteousness. The destruction of transgressors and of sinners shall be together. And those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.

He goes on to talk about those who reject God. But he goes on to teach us that he is purifying us. He is purifying us, church.

And I want you to understand something. That God will discipline you. He will discipline me.

He will confront me. He will confront us if need be. He will judge our sins and we will have to face the consequences of our sin.

But he has not given up on us. He has not kicked us out of the family. When we try to substitute religion or a religious experience for genuine worship and obedience to God and love for others, it will always fail.

But God says, I want you to realign your heart. I want you to realign your heart. Yes.

I want you to remember that, and again you can read this on your own, but in 1 Peter, the Bible teaches us that we’re tried by the fire. And when Peter shares this story about being tried by the fire, he talks about all the infirmities when the gold is put into the fire or the metal, the precious metal is put into the fire, that all the infirmities rise to the top, and then the blacksmith takes a tool and wipes that infirmities away. And it’s a beautiful picture of the believer going through adversity, that we are tried by the fire.

There is a purification that God is doing in our life. And some of you are wondering the what and the why. There are storms of correction that God is using in our life to help us get back on the right path and to purify our hearts.

And when all of our weaknesses are exposed in the midst of the adversity, in the midst of the trial, in the midst of the challenge, who you really are is right there naked before God. But it’s also right there naked before you, isn’t it? Some of you remember what it was like taking a test in school, don’t you? But I want you to know it was not just to let the teacher know, did you learn anything? But see, the test was designed to show you what you knew and didn’t know. And what I want you to know, that as I walk through a test or trial, you and I together as we walk through adversities, that it’s not only showing God where am I at and what do I need to work on, but it’s revealing to me where I’m at and what I need to work on.

And God is purifying me so that I would stay in alignment with Him. There is no vital relationship with God apart from obedience to God. And you and I have a responsibility how we treat others.

You can’t walk out of this place and live like the devil and then come back here next Sunday and think that your worship is acceptable to God. It’s not. You can’t be wrong with people out there and then come in here thinking you’re right with God because you lifted up your hand or you prayed a prayer or you signed a card or you went through the motions.

You need to make sure that when you leave this place that your worship continues to God in how you treat others. And that’s why Isaiah spent so much time in this chapter talking about defending the fatherless, helping the widows, seeking justice. He is saying that it all flows together because our proper treatment of others is foundational to our worship to God.

And so if you want to abandon empty worship, you have to abandon a lifestyle that is contrary to the Word of God out there so that when you come in here that God is receiving your worship as true. Let’s pray. Our heads are bowed and our eyes are close.

We don’t stand in judgment to you this morning. We say we know and we understand, but we call upon you to join together as believers to say, Lord, forgive me. Maybe there’s something you said or did this week that needs to be brought to the Lord in this moment.

This is our response to God. While our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed, I invite you to respond to Him, whatever God has pointed out. And maybe even through your adversity, God has shown you some things you need to work on, things that you’ve got to make right.

And maybe there’s someone you need to be right with and you need to reach out and connect so you can be right with God. That’s the crux. You can’t be wrong with others and authentically worship God.

You just can’t. And so through His blood, let Him cleanse you and make you white and pure. And the Bible says if we confess our sins, He’s faithful.

May it be our heart this morning to sing again in our hearts, change my heart, oh God. May I be more like you. If you’re here this morning and you don’t know Jesus Christ, I pray today that you would reason with the Lord, that you would come to Him, and that you would see that you’re a sinner in need of a Savior.

And the Savior through the blood of Christ can wash away and make you as white as snow. He can wash away your sin if you’ll only come with a surrendered and submissive heart. Heavenly Father, this morning we come acknowledging that there have been moments and times we have just walked through the rituals.

We just did the motions, but our heart was not there. And for many reasons, our heart was not there. But we ask God that you would again renew our hearts, restore us in fellowship with you, with others, and may we walk in alignment with your truth.

May you bless us with your wisdom as we navigate the challenges of this world. I pray, Lord, that you would help us to be real as you expose what we need to address in our hearts. Grant us hearts that are obedient, hearts that are humble.

I pray, Lord, for anyone here this morning that may not know you as their Savior. I pray that they would engage their mind and think about your invitation to them and how reasonable it is to come to Jesus, how much sense it makes to bring your sins to you, Lord, and that you promise when we humble our hearts that you will forgive us of our sins, that if we call upon your name that you would save our soul. I pray that many hearts today would trust you as Lord and Savior.

And we ask God that you would forgive us of empty worship and that you would grant us hearts that authentically and genuinely worship, not just here, but throughout the day as we interact with others. We pray all this in the precious name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Despite their rebellion, the Israelites did not abandon religion.

But unfortunately, the Lord could not bear their rituals anymore, and he was tired of their insincerity. And so when we think about worship, it’s not so much the outward as it is the inward, and that we need to make sure our heart is in alignment with Jesus Christ, that we’re not caught up into empty formalism, and that we are distant from the Lord in our hearts where we are indulging in hypocrisy. So I pray that God will grant us a sincerity as we worship him.

I want you to know that we appreciate your support. Many of you pray for our radio program. Many of you are sending donations and thank you because as you give, it helps us to stay on the air.

And make sure when you give, let us know what radio station you’re listening to us on so that we can continue to be an encouragement to them as well. So this is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.

The post What Exactly is Worship? Part 2 first appeared on Hope Worth Having.