It's one of the minor prophets in the Old Testament, not minor in terms of message or content, but mostly minor in terms of size compared to Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel. That's why they're called the minor prophets. And so I invite you to turn there, if you're familiar at all with the Old Testament order, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos. Amos comes right after the book of Joel. And we've been, I guess, writing a theme The theme that I chose for this section is why do nations fall? Why do nations fall? And the history of mankind has been a perpetual cycle of the rise and fall of nations. And to synthesize it, to make it small enough so that we can understand it, basically the reason they fall is because of flagrant sin, no matter how well they start in their inception, and how they progress along invariably. they degenerate over time. The course of sin is like leaven, and leaven leavens the whole lump. That's what Paul wrote using that analogy of the Old Testament for the Passover season to remove all leaven before they observed the Passover leaven permeates the whole loaf, and sin has that capacity. Unless there are structures and things put in place to inhibit and keep them in check. That's why when our country was founded, it was founded on the principle of the rule of law. The rule of law. Even though we have, in theory, a democracy, it's not a pure democracy, thank God. Because if majority rules, we'd be in trouble in a lot of times, in a lot of situations. Because majority doesn't necessarily have the wisdom and insight just because they have the numbers on their side. It's not only a rule of law, but it's a constitutional republic, and the Constitution is the law of the land. And our republic uses the instrument of democracy to put leaders in authority, but there are checks and balances within the structure of our country. But we see our country on the demise itself. If anybody is a serious analyzer of the times in which we live, you have to come to the conclusion things are not well in our times. There's much distress across the world, and probably things that are not in the media that we don't even know about that are happening now. I read a book, and I mentioned it years ago when I read it. It was written by Joel Rosenberg, who is himself a Jew, and he's written several theological novels and prophetic novels, but one book that he threw out there as an analysis of our country, and if it fell, how could or would it fall? And the title of the book that he wrote was called Implosion. Implosion. And he suggested that there are five things. He sets forth some scenarios and he sets the groundwork for that. He suggests the possibility of a financial implosion as a scenario that might bring about the collapse of our country. Also he suggested, and we see that intensely and intently in our own day, he suggested war and terrorism as a possible scenario. Well with our open borders we have opened up not only for immigrants from third world countries, we've opened our gates to terrorists who've come into our land and opened it basically to the drug cartels who do not have our interests in mind. And so he suggests war and terrorism. Are we being set up for that? I don't know. The next one he suggests is natural disasters. Natural disasters that are global in strength, like earthquakes and mountains or volcanoes that explode, that can cause great havoc and disaster. There are other things. And then he suggests a rapture scenario. When we're studying 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, we dealt with that scenario in the midst of first century Christianity because that's what the Apostle Paul taught. He taught that there would be a time when saints are resurrected, those who've died in the Lord, and they would be caught up into heaven. But what about we who are alive? We will be taken up at the same time, not first, not at the same time, but subsequent, just in a moment, a twinkling of an eye. You know you can't bat your eye and notice it that quickly. It happens so quickly. But the Bible teaches a rapture scenario, a catching away of saints when the Lord comes to execute judgment according to scripture on this planet for a period of seven years. And of course, the focus of that is the judgment of the nations, first of all, and secondly, the judgment of Israel. Steve, in his teaching in Sunday school this morning, took us, at the end of it, to consider, this week, in our study in the book of Isaiah, in correlation with it, Isaiah 12 through 14, or Zachariah, I'm sorry, Zachariah 12 through 14, and that gives you an insight into what's going to happen to Israel in those days. So he's dealing with Israel, he's dealing with the Gentile nations. But what would happen if the Church of Jesus Christ across the globe, we're not just talking about in our country, but across the globe, every true child of God was taken out at one time? And it will happen, I believe that with all my heart. I do. I may not sound serious about it, but that's my hope. It's a blessed hope, it's a glorious hope. But what would happen to society? What would happen to the economy? What would happen to the institutions of this world? Of course, I know they're set with explanations for it. But it would have a devastating effect all the way across the board, I think, on this planet on which we live. And so he deals with that scenario. Those are the possibilities that he sets forth. I couldn't help but think, and I was listening to a broadcast that I listen to periodically. It's called Prophecy Watchers. Gary Stearman, he's the one who set that organization up. Armando Gonzalez is the one who kind of heads it up now and hosts a lot of programs on Prophecy Watchers. And he was talking to Elie Marzouli, and they were talking about a passage found in 2 Timothy 3.1 that reads, but know this, and whenever Paul uses the term know, he is giving information that is solid. This is not speculation on his part. It's not guessing. He writes to Timothy, know this, that in the last days perilous times will come, but know this, The LEB translation, the Lexham says, but know this, that in the last days, difficult times, same word. And he was camping on that concept of the word that is used there that's translated perilous and difficult. The times that will or the characteristics of the times of the last days will that they will be very difficult times in which to live because of lawlessness and pestilence, and there are a whole host of scenarios and signs that characterize that time. But it's going to be perilous in terms of intensity. The word is used again in one other place in the New Testament. It was used to describe a time in Jesus' ministry when he came into the area of the Gerasenes, And in that country there came out to meet him a couple men who lived in the tombs. They lived in a graveyard, so to speak. They were demon-possessed men, or literally the text says they were demonized, demon-controlled. And it came out of the tombs, and Matthew describes it with this word, exceeding fierce, exceedingly fierce. It's used in the Old Testament, Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. In Isaiah chapter 18, in verse 2, which sends ambassadors by sea, even in vessels of reed on the waters, saying, Go swift messengers," and he's referring to Ethiopia here, "'Go swift messengers to a nation tall and smooth of skin, to a people terrible,' and that's the word, from their beginning onward, a nation powerful and treading down, whose land the rivers divide, a people terrible, a fierce people, a people who in their history have been very difficult to deal with. And that's the time in which Paul describes the time of the last days, very difficult times. The hour is difficult for many people, financially, economically, and socially, and governmentally. And with our institutions like the media, it's difficult times. You don't know what to believe and what not to believe, or who to believe and who not to believe. Over time, you can kind of figure out who's misleading you and who's guiding you toward truth. And so these are times in which we live that we need to be directed not only into truth, but by truth. That's what life is about, is an exploration of whatever time that we are given here to come to an understanding of what is true and what is false. What is true and what is false? Not only, well, we dealt with this the other night in Wednesday night's service from John's epistle, chapter 4. In verse 1 he says, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses Jesus has come in the flesh is of God. He closes this section off by saying, we are of God. He who knows God hears us. He who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth, the spirit of error. That's what we have to deal with in life. What is true and what is in error? That is to comprise what our worldview is, what our view of life is, what is truth. Well, the nation of Israel had abandoned truth. And that's why God had to send them prophets who would speak the truth. Speak the truth, the old truth. nothing but the truth. But as we're going to see in this text, that's not what the people want to hear. What we read in Jeremiah is not what the priest, what the prophets, what the leaders of the nation of Judah wanted to hear. But God would bring prophets up to speak truth, to power, to people in positions of power, what the priest and the false prophets were, and the king, the princes, Speaking truth. That's what makes it difficult because we're fed so many lies. What do we got over a hundred different gender classifications? Come on. The scriptures is binary. Male and female. That's God's created order. We're gaslighted every day through the network medias. And so we need to be fortified in our minds, strengthened in truth, so that we can discern error from truth. That was one of the failures of the nations who were judged. Remember there are two covenants that we suggested by which the nations and the people of God are accountable to. And the first covenant is the Noahic covenant. That's established in Genesis chapter 9 when Noah came off the ark, a rainbow. came into the sky and that was to be a sign that God would never send a flood again. And then he set up a basic governmental order in which justice is to be applied in the affairs of mankind. And Paul sets that forth clearly in Romans chapter 13. Be subject to the authorities that exist, because God has appointed them to punish the evil and support the good. But in Israel's day, they fell away from that. The nations fell, they disobeyed that. The covenant that was given to these two nations, the Northern Kingdom, Israel, and the Southern Kingdom, Judah, was the Mosaic Covenant. They were to be judged and to live by that. And they had not obeyed that. We saw that last week concerning Judah. This week concerning Israel. He does a deep dive into this nation. He's from the Southern Kingdom. He's from Judah. He's a shepherd. He's a lay person, if we could think. He is not in the priestly order, but he was a prophet chosen of God to go speak to the Northern Kingdom. And so now he turns from the surrounding nations and turns from the Southern Kingdom and turns to the Northern Kingdom and indicts them with their sin. I call it Israel's panoply of evil. And again, in the case as it was with the other nations, he gives them assurance of that judgment or the pronouncement of his prophecy. Look at verse 6, thus says Yahweh, or the Lord, for three transgressions of Israel and for four. I will not turn away. Some translations put it revoke, some put it reverse. I will not relent, another translation puts it. I will not relent concerning its punishment. There's no change here. That is, it's going to happen. And then in the latter part of verse six, we come to the accusations which he brings against the kingdom. Different commentators divided up different ways. And I've chosen to divide it up, I guess dissected a little more minutely to seven areas that he deals with here. He brings in terms of accusations against Israel. And number one is taking advantage of the poor. Taking advantage of the poor. Notice what he writes, because this is the reason why God will not relent. These may not be the lowest of society, but they are the neediest of society. In some translations put it that way, needy. And the first indictment is, they sell the righteous for silver. And of course, with anything, there's differences of opinion on these things. But the audience who listened to this could probably navigate in their minds through exactly what he's talking about. But the word righteous there is not necessarily here a designation of those who are believers and unbelievers. The word righteous here is in a context of a legal situation, which means he's referring to people who are innocent. That's the basic gist and understanding of the injustices that's going on here. They're innocent. And they take those who are innocent But they're not of means. They're innocent, the righteous. And they sell them for silver. And I like what one commentator said, Donald Sinookjian. He said, honest people, that's the righteous here, who could be trusted to repay eventually, were sold for silver they owed. In other words, whoever's involved in the pursuit or persecution of these people are intent in every way of punishing the righteous here and not giving them any latitude, any opportunity. It reminds me of a story that Jesus told in Matthew chapter 18 And I invite your attention there because it's in a monetary setting Matthew chapter 18 Verse 15, Jesus says, more of your brother's sins against you go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. So it's in a context of discipline. And if a person seeks reconciliation, seeks forgiven, you are to extend to them the scepter of forgiveness. here to consider him pardoned. And so Peter comes to him and says, verse 21, Lord how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him up to seven times. And Jesus said to him, I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. He's not suggesting there by that figure that they're to keep track, a little black book. You did me wrong on this occasion. That's number one. You did me wrong on this occasion, and da-da-da-da-da-da. And it goes through his journal. And he comes to 490. The book's closed. No more forgiveness. That's not what he's suggesting at all. He says, you don't keep track. of injustices, if there is forgiveness and reconciliation. So therefore, he says, the kingdom of heaven, and this is God's rule. over his people from heaven, is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents. That's a monumental amount and he was not able to pay it. Verse 25, his master commanded that he be sold. with his wife and children and all that he had and that payment be made the servant therefore fell down before him and saying master have patience give me give me some time give me some time and i will repay you jesus said he wasn't able to repay he didn't have the resources to come up with that money Verse 27, then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. But here is the ironic turn, and a conjunction, but the adversity was very strong. He had experienced a flood of relief and forgiveness from his master, removing that debt. And now he turns around. He went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. And he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me what you owe. So his servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will repay you all. This was in the realm of possibility. He could have repaid him by installments over time. But notice his response. The same thing, the same scenario, but only on a miniature level is what he's involved in with his master. And he would not, verse 30, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were grieved and came and told their master all that had been done. And the point of the story is that there is no infraction that you experience in life. No injustice that you experience in life that compares with your injustice toward God. And God has forgiven you an enormous, infinite debt. That's the nature of your debt. Toward God. And he wipes the slate clean. Well, in Isaiah's day, there were people that fell on hard times. Not saying that the time was necessarily a hard time, but there's some who were innocent, who fell on hard times for one reason or another. Righteous men, men with integrity. And yet someone wants to exact from them the full extent of whatever unfortunate circumstances they're found in, and take their money away from them unjustly. That's what's happening here. They sell the righteous, the innocent, for silver. And some have suggested, well there's two suggestions. Either they sell them into servitude and get compensation for that, or that they bribe judges with the silver. They take the money and go to the elders of the city, where the judges were, who executed judgment in those cities, and buy them off. Whenever so-and-so comes to you and dealing with this particular problem between him and me. Here, I'll give you a little money. You adjudicate for me, okay? And so in that fashion, they are sold for pieces of silver. Kind of what Judas did with Messiah, sold him for 30 pieces of silver. He was bribed to betray our Lord, and he fell prey to that. So what was happening in that world? They were taking advantage of the poor and the innocent. And another scenario there given in seven. No, I'm sorry, the poor for a pair of sandals. Here are the needy, the destitute, and all he may have of any value in his possession are the shoes on his feet. That's one suggestion, and they're going to take the very thing that he needs to walk and live in life. The poor are being sold for a pair of sandals. So there's this injustice, first point. Second point, they were exploiting the poor. Note verse 7, they pant after the dust. Now, this translation doesn't do justice to the original Hebrew, just as there are different definitions of the word bar. When I throw that out word bar we think of a steel rod or something and that's a bar, but the bar of justice. That's another use of that term and in the definition or the exploration of that word bar in the In the dictionary, you have 16 different entries as to what that term could mean. Well, it's the same in Hebrew. It can be the same stem and look the same way, but yet have a different meaning. And the sense of the meaning here is that the poor are being crushed. They're being crushed in the dust. They're down and out right now and it's like someone comes up and puts their foot on them and rubs them in the dust in their poverty. They crush them in the dust of the earth which is on the head of the poor. They mistreat the poor and that happens probably throughout history, in every society, in every situation. So God makes provision in the Old Testament law for the destitute, for the poor. Just one text turned to with me, Exodus 23 verse 6, Exodus 23 verse 6. I read these words, you shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his dispute. I mean he's disadvantaged already because of his poverty. And then you rub his face in the dirt, so to speak. You stomp on him in his need. And that's what was happening in the society in violation of the law. Also, Deuteronomy 16.19. Synogen again says, contrary to the covenant commands, the court had gone into collusion with the creditors and were denying justice to the oppressed. They were crushing them. And then you have next, in the same verse, sexual perversion of father and son. A man and his father go into the same girl to defile my holy name. And again, how do we flesh this out? What is he talking about in particular? Well, there are a couple of suggestions, actually three, but I'm not sure that I've thought through it clearly. It could refer to a young maid who's become a slave or a servant in a household and is brought into being a concubine, which is a secondary wife to the master. And that happened. The law makes provisions for that in Exodus chapter 21. So that may be the scenario. And both the father and son go in and have sexual relations, intercourse with this lady. It's an abomination. It's unthinkable. It's a perversion. The other scenario is a temple prostitute, and that is both father and son, because the nation had become involved in so much idolatry, are going to idolatrous houses of worship, and they're having sexual relationships with the same lady, temple prostitutes. That's a perversion. And so he is fleshing out the full nature. I'm sure he could go on and on with this list, but for sake of time, let me move on. Verse 8, they're keeping collateral for debts. Let me just backtrack for a moment. This act, whatever it is, defiles or profanes God's holy name. Profanation means to consider common, ordinary. God's name and his reputation and character demonstrated in his acts and demonstrated in his law, in his precepts. And for the people of God to become involved in this profanes the name of God. Moses' anger when he struck the rock not only once, it came out twice, but he struck it again. He says, you did not sanctify or consider my name holy before the people. Now you're not gonna go into the land for that one act of anger. You say, oh, I need being kind of harsh. Not when the reputation and name of God is at stake. And they had profaned it. And now, verse eight, they lie down by every altar on clothes they take and pledge. The Old Testament made provision for taking collateral for loans. And it's described here as a pledge that you will pay a debt or make amends in a certain situation. You give them your top garment as a pledge, which was important in the ancient world, especially for the poor. And the disadvantage is to have that clothing because it kept them warm in cold times at night. It was necessary. And they were to give it back by evening. When the sun set, they were to take that collateral and give it to them so that they would have it to use that evening. They were not to do it to widows either. And they were taking that clothes, those clothes, and they were taking it to altars of Baal and worshiping at the altars of Baal by lying on those clothes and not returning them. One writer said they display excesses before the sacred altars in a shrine dedicated to God. He said they were within the rights maybe to seize a garment in default of a debt or to purchase wine with funds, that's the next thing, and drink the wine of the condemned. And that word was translated by one author as immersed, not immersed, but amersed, A-M-E-R-C-I-E-D, and it means to pay a fine. And that's what's in view here. Drink the wine of those who have been fined. They've taken money or either bought wine or taken wine from them. And they take it into the house of God. So in both scenarios, they're lying on clothes that are people's clothes they use for collateral. They're to give it back, and they're using it in the worship and desecration of God in idolatrous practices. You can see the society is degrading, degrading. So they were perverting the legal system. And they were keeping collateral for debts. I move on quickly. In verse 9 and verse 10, I consider two sins of presumption. They first of all presume on God's goodness. And he gives them a history lesson here, is what he does. Verse 9 he says, yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them. whose height was like the height of the cedars. These were giants. These are the people when the spies went into the land and explored it, saw these people and said, we can't go in and take the land. God says, you go in and you take them. And they did. And one of the first Canaanite civilizations that they attacked and defeated were the Amorites. But it was God who gave them the victory. I destroyed the Amorite before them. He was as strong as the oaks, and yet I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath. The figure there is of the fruits that come from a tree and the roots that derive the nutrients. It's both extremes. It's a figure of speech called merism, M-E-R-I. It's the parts. That's what merism means. The parts, and that is the extremities for the whole. He completely obliterated them. Nothing left. Everything was destroyed from fruit to root. And in verse 10, the presumption on their beginnings. God had led them and graced them with victory after victory in their conquest of the land. And this, having won, being victorious over one tribe or one section of people, speaks for the whole. He led them in conquest of Canaan. And then he takes them back further in their history to their beginnings, their genesis as a nation. And it was I who brought you up of the land of Egypt and led you 40 years through the wilderness to possess the land of the Amorite. Again, he references the Amorite here. In other words, your inception as a nation is something that I wrought through judgments I brought on Egypt and Pharaoh and brought you out of the land. But you were disobedient to me. I had to lead you and prepare you in the wilderness for 40 years, but I was gracious to you. I was good to you. The essence of the implication is, why do you do what you do since you have such a history? I couldn't help but apply it to my own nation. The foundations of our own nation were Christian. Our nation, in many ways with all of its flaws, has been throughout its history a beachhead for the expansion of Christianity and what we call the modern mission movement. and the institutions, the Ivy League colleges that were established were to be places and they were to teach ministers to preach the gospel to the peoples of our country and to the people of God and to train men to go into the nations of the world and that's what they did. But not so much anymore. Our country was founded on a Christian philosophy. People who've studied these things realize that the founders of our nation, the Puritans and the Pilgrims who came over, it was the outworking of the Reformation that took place in Europe. Luther and Calvary and so forth, coming here with its own flaws and so forth like that. But nonetheless, God used it to establish a gracious and good nation. And we've turned away from that. And then verse 11 and 12, I use the term leader, be a leader, spiritual leaders. He uses two instances of prophets. I've raised up some prophets of your sons. And some of the young men as Nazarites. Nazarites, you go to Numbers chapter 6 and it gives you an outline of who they were and what they were obligated to do. Their holiness, their life of dedication was primarily external. The prophet's ministry was primarily speaking the mind of God to the people of God to call them to repentance and to change. And I raised them up. That's one reason I chose the text for our scripture reading this morning that I did with Jeremiah. Who raised Jeremiah up? God did. Not too long ago I referred to Ahab and his prophet in the northern kingdom, Micaiah. And he was to be brought before Ahab and give a good word about the battle that he was going to enter into with Jehoshaphat. One of the prophets took him aside and said, say a good word. Well, he said a good word to the king and the king knew he was just fooling him. He said, tell me the truth. Oh, you're not coming back. If you come back from battle, I've not spoken. And lo and behold, he goes out to battle and hides himself or puts himself in a position to think that he's safe. And an archer hit him. not necessarily by a designated shot, and he dies. Ahab does. Because he didn't listen to Micaiah. He didn't like Micaiah. He never said anything good about him. That's what a prophet's supposed to do. He's to call the sins of the people to account. And the Nazarites are to set an example of holy living. That's what they do. They separate themselves to devotion to God. And there's certain key elements to it that I'll not take time long here. Don't drink wine. Don't touch dead corpses. And if you do, this is the procedure that you have to go through to correct or remedy your vows and so on and so forth. But notice the accusation he gives to the people, verse 12, but you, you, points his finger to them, you gave the Nazarites wine to drink. You caused them to violate their vows of separation. And secondly, they commanded the prophet saying, shut up. Shut up. Don't say anything. Don't speak a bad voice. Say something that's good. Tickle his ears. And that's what dictators want. They want advisors and counselors around them that tickle their ears to say what they want to hear. And so I was listening to, I don't know who is analyzing tyranny, but the only way tyranny can function is that everybody has to turn into a liar. The tyrant lies to the people, and the people lie to him because it's a matter of survival. If you tell the truth, you're in trouble. That's what's happening in our own society. We speak truth to power and say, we got to get rid of that. That's what was happening in Amos day. That was what was happening in the Northern Kingdom. And so it necessitated judgment. Verse 13, behold, I am weighed down by you as a cart. is weighed down that is full of sheaves. Now again, there's a translation issue here in the text of scripture. And I think the best way to deal with it is with this. God, that is Yahweh, or the prophet speaking on behalf of Yahweh, is not the one weighed down. The one who's weighed down are the people. And that is the sins that they have committed are so enormous that they are weighed down and crushed under its load. That's the sense here. The note in the NET Bible says, because of these sins God would not turn back his wrath. He would crush, and that's the word, crush rebellious Israel as a cart crushes when loaded with grain. That is, they've overloaded the cart and it weighs down so heavily that it breaks it. It crushes under the load. And that's what was happening in the Northern Kingdom. And beloved, the sins of our nation. The shedding of innocent blood in abortion. There's all this whole transgender and sexual slavery. I could go on and on with the sins that our nation is guilty of. It is a crushing load on our nation. Are we ripe for judgment? I would say yes. Are we going to be judged immediately? I don't know. But I started off with a scenario from Joel Rosenberg. that our nation could implode. And whatever means God uses, when it happens, it's going to change the dynamic of our country. And this may have worldwide implications, global implications. I'm not a prophet of doom. Just as in Isaiah's day, not Isaiah, Jeremiah's day, he called the people to repentance, Isaiah did too. Ezekiel called the people, all preachers of the truth, call the people of God to repentance. To turn from their wicked ways. And maybe God in his mercy will visit us with another spiritual awakening. that happened in our own history, the Great Awakening. We've had several seasons. I'm not sure what's happening today is the spiritual awakening of that magnitude. It may be laying groundwork for that, but what we need in our day and age is revival because our sins are crushing us. as a nation, and our leaders can't see it, our preachers can't see it, sadly. And they're not calling the people to repentance. I call myself, I call you to repentance. And then he closes in verses 14 through 16 with a judgment, a battle failure. He gives a scenario of what's going to happen when ultimately in 722 BC, Assyria comes in and ransacks the nation. He says, therefore, therefore, flight shall perish from the swift. I don't know if he's referring to couriers. Usually they had the best runners to be couriers. or just battle-hardened soldiers who were very fast in what they do. But he's looking at a battle scene here in flight. That is, the ability to escape to flight is so enormous and so devastating and so powerful. Will this attack be that, I mean, it's going to shatter The ability of those who really can run for their lives to perish and the strong shall not strengthen his power Not as hardened soldiers Muscle-bound soldiers ready to fight with sword or spear or arrow or sling To go into battle. It's it's going to be lost In that day the strong shall not strengthen his power nor the mighty deliver himself Deliverance is gone. This is what happened when Assyria came in and devastated them. He shall not stand who handles the bow, the archers. He's affected by this too. The swift to foot shall not deliver himself. Nor shall he who rides a horse, the cavalry, they're not going to be able to deliver themselves either. The most courageous men of might shall flee naked in the day, says the Lord. This is the battle scenario when their judgment comes. They're not even going to have the energy, the strength, the wherewithal They were under battle siege, as I understand it, for three years when the Assyrians came in and attacked them. They were initially under tribute to the Assyrians, but they rebelled against that and hired So, the pharaoh of Egypt, to help them in violating their annual giving to the Assyrians and so the Assyrians took that as a signal we got to deal with these people and consequently they attacked him and brought him to a Tragic end now. I know I belabored this this whole issue of why do nations fall? but it's pertinent to the time I believe that we live in because our nation is I think is on the cusp of falling. And our only hope is found in Jesus Christ. And in the Holy Spirit, who might be pleased to grant us a respite till Jesus comes. I don't know. But it has to happen in the churches. That's where revival happens, is with the people of God. And then it spills over into society. So may God help us God help us in these perilous and difficult times. You need to renew your commitment to the Lord, to be in his word daily, to be in prayer daily, and to be faithful to the calling to which he's given you, whether it's in retirement or whether it's in active employment or whatever it is. We need to be faithful in this hour, unlike the Northern Kingdom. Well, of course, they got off on a bad start with Jeroboam I, and it didn't improve. throughout their whole history. So God help us, God help me, God help us this morning to turn to the Lord, to pray for revival. I've been praying these things with a host of pastors around me, and Christians, this call for united prayer for our nation and for the church. God help us in these days, because if He don't, we're doomed. I don't care what happens in Washington, and I rejoice that Mike Johnson is the Speaker of the House. He's a professing Christian, but I don't have great hopes that he can turn the ship. Who knows? Who knows? Maybe he's called for a moment. But you and I are called to be faithful. regardless of what the outcome is. Join me in prayer. Father, I pray for our nation. I pray for the church. As Charlie and I have been praying each Sunday morning as we precede the day, we pray for spiritual revival. I pray for it in my own heart. I pray that you would open my eyes and cause me To see the awful sin in my own heart and confess it and be faithful to follow you Even unto the point of death or even imprisonment But help me to be faithful to truth. That's what life is about truth Because we are as sinners Deceitful, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, Jeremiah wrote. Who can know it? I, the Lord, try the reins. I try the heart even to give every man according to his doings. You know our hearts, they're evil. Oh, our Father, may we confess and walk in truth. In Jesus' name, amen.