But we just pray that God would give everyone safety as they travel. And I'm just so glad to see each one of you and your Bibles. Isaiah chapter 10. Now, this passage was really a lot of fun. Isaiah chapter 10. You say, how can the Bible be fun? Well, it's just really wonderful to have a book that's smarter than any one of us. In fact, all of us together. And just to look and see what God says to us, it's just really interesting. In Isaiah chapter 10, we'll start in verse 5, it says, O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge to take the spoil, to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. We'll stop there right now, but we will try to go through around verse 14 if possible, but this is kind of a hidden glimpse into the purpose of God. There's some verses that are really interesting. We don't always see these hidden things. In Deuteronomy 29, it tells us the secret things belong to God, and He reveals them unto His servants, the prophets. In other words, there are secret things, and that's really a fascinating thought, isn't it? It speaks that way in Daniel 2, and in Acts 2.23 it tells us, according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, which is just an intriguing statement. It says, Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken by wicked hands, have crucified and slain. You get to see just a little glimpse into what goes on behind the scenes. And while we were singing here, it struck me once again, I've been reading in Isaiah myself, and it struck me once again in Isaiah 55, probably very familiar to you, but think about this. Isaiah 55, it says, verse 6, Seek ye the Lord while ye may be found. That means there's a time when it's too late. Call ye upon him while he is near. That means he's near, isn't it? Isn't that wonderful? Let the wicked forsake his way, the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Man, that's a tremendous promise, isn't it? He will have mercy on the most wicked, the ones with wicked thoughts, if they'll turn back to him, he'll have mercy on them. But look at verse 8, "'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' said the Lord. You know what we would do typically in that context? We would say someone is so wicked, we'll leave them to their own devices, and they'll ruin their own lives. But God says, I don't think the way you do. And that's really neat, isn't it? It says, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. In other words, When I say this book is smarter than all of us together, well, as the heavens are higher and nearer, that's a long ways up. It says heavens, so it's not just the atmosphere. It's all the way past where the stars belong. Also, it's to the third heaven where God's throne is. But it says, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. That's why it thrills my soul to see how God works and man's not always aware of it. And we'll see that here tonight. Here you can compare the Assyrian boasts with God's plan for them. which is very interesting to me, and I have to confess I really enjoyed looking at this, and I trust it'll be a blessing to you as well. Let's pray. Lord, just bless this time together. I sure thank you for a glimpse into your thoughts. You tell us they're higher than our thoughts, and we thank you that you record so many of them for us to enjoy, to meditate upon, and really to trust, Lord. I pray that you'd bless tonight. Give me the words to speak, and Lord, challenge each of our hearts in Jesus' name, amen. Well, I do love these words, O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I want you to, just to lay the groundwork here, I want you to understand the character of Assyria, first of all. The Assyrians, I had a look, and it's to the north of Babylon, which I think is where Iran is today. I don't know, at least it's in that general area. It's the Middle East. But what is the character of Assyria? My dictionary said that they're a Semitic people. Doesn't surprise me. largely joined up in an alliance with Babylon. And we know that when the two nations were carried captive, the northern kingdom of Israel was taken captive by Assyria, but Assyria didn't capture Judah. But Judah was captured by Babylon later on. And it's funny that Judah didn't even repent when they saw, they were doing the same things that Israel was doing. Israel went into captivity, and then Judah just doubled down on their evil. Because men are stupid. You know what that means? That we are stupid too, probably. Okay? And so, the dumbest things that we can do shouldn't be a surprise to us. Now, that's not an excuse to do those, but think about that. What in the world would possess someone to be proud? What in the world? And you notice this, if you look at this carefully, it says, O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger. So the Assyrian, God calls them the rod of his anger. A rod is what you chasten someone with. And that's what this context is, but it says, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. In other words, the staff in their hand of correction or retrieval or whatever the staff is, you have the rod and the staff in the Psalm, 23rd Psalm, it is mine indignation. In other words, What they're doing to Israel is what God does to them as a loving father, as a loving parent, because the Bible speaks of chastening, and that's what this passage is all about. There are Semitic people, largely joined in alliance to Babylon. They ruled the old world from the 9th to the 7th centuries BC. They were a cheerful people. I was surprised to read that. They were thought of as a cheerful people, but also extremely cruel and bloody. I'm not sure, maybe they got joy out of being cruel and bloody, which I suspect is true, but they were a cheerful people, history records, but extremely cruel and bloody. And that will give you a reason why Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh, because right in the middle of Assyria is Nineveh. He didn't want to go to them because they were so wicked. It might have been cheerful, but they were so wicked and cruel that he didn't want to see them repent. He was afraid if they did repent, then what he prophesied to come wouldn't come, and he'd look like a fool. He was thinking only of himself. Aren't you glad that verse 9 is there? Is that the verse I want? No, it's in Isaiah 55, that He will still abundantly pardon. He wants us to come to Him. He wants us to come to Him. Now, it was a small geographic region north of Babylon, including Nineveh, but the fact of the matter is they were a bloody people and they had expertise in killing people slowly. And that's an awful thing. We look at Hitler and his henchmen, what do they call them? I can't even remember all of them. But they did, was it Mengele, who did horrible experiments on people? Human beings experimented on them. And rightly so, we condemn that. It's a horrible thing. That's what the Assyrians did by nature. That's what they did, and yet God used that nation to punish Israel. Now, there's a bunch more interesting stuff about it. We go further in this passage. Look at verse 8. This is Assyria, the Assyrians speaking. He said, Are not my princes altogether kings? You want to see what the character of Assyrians is. They were an arrogant lot. Are not my princes altogether kings? They're qualified to rule as kings. He's promoting them as if they have great power and authority, maybe just looking for a nation of rule. But are not my princes like kings? My princes are better than your princes. My princes are above everyone else. Are not my princes altogether as kings? That means all of them. There's no city that's ahead of them that's greater than the ones they have already conquered. What does he say? Verse 9, is not Calno as Carchemish? Is not Hamath as Arpad? Is not Samaria as Damascus? As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and Samaria, shall I not, as have I done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? In other words, the nations that are in front of me, all you nations, they're broadcasting this, all you nations, you're inferior, not only to me, but you're inferior even to the nations we've already captured. And not only that, your gods, he's speaking this to Israel like a fool, he's speaking this to Israel saying, your idols are less than the idols that couldn't save the previous nations. I mean, when you say arrogant, their princes are as kings, no city ahead of them is greater than the ones they've already defeated, and all the idols, even the ones they claim Israel served, they still were not able to protect those lands from the Assyrian conquest. So in every way their character is of arrogance and pride and certainly cruelty, and apparently they enjoyed that if they were actually cheerful, as historical record would suggest. It's funny, the devil stirs up, well look at verse 6, I will send him, this is the Assyrian, I will send him, God will send Assyria against a hypocritical nation. Now isn't that interesting? Why are they hypocritical? That was the exact problem with the Pharisees in Matthew 23. They were hypocrites. The leaven of the Pharisees was hypocrisy, wasn't it? It's funny, they were given the truth at God's hands. They were given the temple worship. They were given the office of the priest and the fact that the high priest stood between them and God. They were given the picture of redemption with the shedding of blood. They were spared. They had all the history behind them. and yet they went through the motions at the very best and really most of these people were being condemned because of their idolatry. It's a hypocritical nation. We claim one thing and behave a different way. Now who in the world does that eliminate? I mean, everyone's subject to that. Is that not true? And what is, as I say, this is God's purpose. This is kind of a look into the mind of God. He's using an incredibly wicked nation to go after a hypocritical people that he names as his own. And so the devil stirs up, he especially has his way in hypocritical spirits, doesn't he? He especially has his way there. Someone that is hypocritical can justify anything, can live one way and not be in the least bit affected by how inconsistent it looks. That's what was wrong with him. Can you imagine two nations that were united? They are separated then, and the northern kingdom, which is Israel, was taught to sin by Jeroboam, and they pursued idol worship. And the idol worship took them downhill so fast, eventually the Assyrians came and captured them, took them into captivity. And the Bible says, and I don't have the verse in front of me, the Bible says that You did evil, Israel, and your sister Judah did even worse. Why in the world would you see condemnation, judgment upon people that you have, you know, at least cousins amongst, and not reflect on your own situation? not reflect on your own situation. Yes, they were arrogant, and you can't help but see that God, the devil is glad to use people, well, the alliances the devil makes are with hypocrites. They have a good relationship with, the devil has a good relationship with hypocrites. So that's the character of Assyria. I don't know how I can paint it any more dark. than that is. But then look at the purpose of God. Verse 5, once again, it says, The staff in their hand is mine indignation. In other words, God is using them. God is using them. the rod of his anger. The first part, the rod of mine anger, he's calling Assyria the rod of his anger. And the staff is the hand of his indignation. He's indignant toward them for their behavior. His anger is displayed in a rod used against them by a nation that is happy to be violent, vicious, and bloody. Wouldn't it have been easier just to repent? and all the way through this book of Isaiah, because I like Isaiah 55, how that our thoughts are not as his thoughts. Isn't it funny that this whole book of Isaiah spells out by a loving God, their shortcomings, what they should do to repent, what they will be spared if they repent, and it spells out all these things, and they still don't repent. Have you ever thought about what a blessing it was the day you came to know Jesus as Savior? The trend of our world, the hardness of our hearts, and frankly, saved people can be as hypocritical as lost people, can't we? Saved people can be as desperately in need of chastening as lost people. It's just that God chastens His own, not the world. Well, he uses this terrible nation as the rod of his anger as a switch that a loving parent uses against his child. That's the mind of God. Man, my head started going nuts. Did yours? Does yours when you think about that? Now, we know that Israel takes a different place in the community of nations in this world because Israel is still God's people. Now, they don't have a physical birthright to heaven. They still have to get saved. That's why the church is made of Jew and Gentile alike if you'll come to Christ as Savior. but they still have a special place in God's care. He still allows them, and that's another message entirely, but He still gives them some great blessings, and frankly, all the nations coming against Israel today find that the nation of Israel, though small, is quite formidable, aren't they? Far beyond their numbers. far beyond their numbers. He's using the Assyrians, the staff in his hand. That is, their weapons are God's tools or instruments of judgment, if you will even. beyond judgment, chastening of a loving father. And look at verse 6, I will send him, Assyrian, against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge to take the spoil, to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. They are going to do God's bidding. This wicked nation is going to do God's bidding. A charge. I look up charge in your Bible and basically you get two meanings for it. One is authority and also responsibility. Authority and responsibility. If you have responsibility and no authority, it doesn't work. but authority and responsibility. They slander the God who charges them. That's their problem. So God is using them to do his bidding, and you notice what he gives them? I will give him a charge to take the spoil. Now spoil is when you defeat someone, you go take everything of value. That's the spoil. In our day, you could go through and take their homes if you conquered a nation. You could take their homes. You could take their personal possessions. The spoil is what a winner gets, in a sense, as a payment for their victory. Isn't that right? And God says, take their spoil. What God is allowing is for a wicked nation to come in and chasten His children who will not listen. And He says, take what they have of value. Well, that's kind of interesting, isn't it? Well, that's exactly what they did do. They did do. It's funny how much possessions mean more to people than a walk with God. Isn't that true? And these people that will not listen, because God's given them every reason to figure out where they stand and to change their ways, change their directions in the midst of all these things of judgment, He says, turn unto me and your peace will be like a river. He even identifies these people in the book of Isaiah as the way of peace they know not. They don't understand what peace is. They've forgotten it. I give him a charge to take the spoil, to take the prey. That means they're just taking probably victory over the persons as well. God gives them their wealth and whatever of their people, because they took them captive. If you take someone captive, that means you take them into slavery, don't you? God gave them this. Now, think about all of this, because when they went into captivity, they found out they had to go, the Babylonian captivity for Judah was for 70 years, because they had not allowed their land of life fallow for 490, and they owed God 70 years. It says that, the last chapter of 2 Chronicles. 70 years. So they haven't paid any attention to the words of God. In other words, much like so many modern Christians today, we can stand up and say, this is the word of God, but we don't read it. Say, oh, this is the right book. We don't follow it. There's a whole bunch of stuff that's not hard to interpret. It's just hard to practice. And most people choose not to practice it. Isn't that right? They do his bidding. So we have a wicked nation that is given a license, if you will, by the God of Israel to chase in Israel and take them captive and take their possessions. That's quite interesting. God gives them the wealth of his people. Certainly not without warnings. We know that. and what he's doing is punishing Israel. We've already seen it's a hypocritical nation. They're the people of his wrath. Remember when the Bible says that, I think Sunday we saw this, how that, that there was a marvel that Solomon turned the wrong direction even after God had appeared to him twice. God appeared to him, first time Solomon, what would you have for me? Well, I'm just a child, give me wisdom. Okay, you didn't ask for the things that seem to be important to Israel. You didn't ask for wealth and the respect of your enemies. I'm gonna give you all that too. But you're gonna have an understanding heart. But God was, God chastened him. because God had appeared to him two times and he still went astray from the clear words of Scripture that give him the rules for his behavior as king. Man, when the Bible says that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, who can know it? That means the man after God's own heart can let his heart get himself into trouble, can't he? We can also see that the wisest man on the face of the earth, that would be Solomon, can let his desires or whatever get him into trouble completely contrary to the obvious words of Scripture. And all this has happened so much that people probably, the children of Israel probably got accustomed, their new normal was rebellion. And when the prophet came and spoke to them, they got mad at the prophet. When God showed, for instance, showed Judah by chastening Israel, Judah got mad and got worse than before. That's because God's dealing with men whose hearts are incredibly wicked. That's why we as believers, I know God gave us his spirit to indwell us and lead us into truth, which is a wonderful blessing. But we need to have our nose in this book that was written by someone way smarter than we are. so that we can let it determine our thinking. And maybe as equal or more important, let it change our thinking when we need to. They just wouldn't respond. So God uses them to punish Israel, the people of his wrath. Now, think of all the things God's already done. We're looking at the book of Judges on Sunday nights. And Judges is a history of all these failures and yet God bailed them out. And Joshua before that, not only did Joshua lead them into the promised land, I put an arrow here to put these two backwards and I missed it. Joshua led them into the promised land, but you notice that after Joshua died, the people in his circle that saw what God had done still maintained decorum amongst the children of Israel. behavior, the right behavior. But as soon as that generation died off, then they went quickly into idolatry, didn't they? And how about just the kings? Now, I know the nations split, but they all looked at David as the benchmark of a king. I don't know why Israel would fall away from that. Do you? Why would they? But Israel went after idol worship when the greatest king of their people, because at one time the 12 tribes were together, was David, and he loved the God of heaven with all his heart and soul. In fact, when, I think it was Hezekiah or Josiah, offered to, I think it was Hezekiah, he was going to have a Passover feast. and he even invited the northern tribes. Most of them laughed him to scorn, but there were a few tribes that joined him, even though the two nations were apart. That's very interesting. So they had the kings, the history of the kings, and all the way through they had the prophets trying to direct their steps, trying to make them think. It's funny, isn't it, that they needed the prophet Daniel when they were in captivity. And when they were welcome to come back in the land, what did they do? Well, some of them came. And there were priests and Levites that came with idolatrous wives and children by them. Did they learn anything in captivity? That's interesting, isn't it? I guess I've said that a few times. I just checked on a general time scale. Joshua takes place around 1451 BC. according to Usher. Isaiah 10, where we are, is 711 years later. Now, we have, what, almost 250 years of history as a nation. 700 years, God had blessed them, they'd had ups and downs and all this, and continually they would rebel against God, and God would use someone to chasten them, but now he's using a very wicked nation to chasten them. They were, after all these blessings, spiritually they were running on empty. Calls them hypocritical nation. What does a hypocrite have in fellowship with God? I can't imagine any fellowship with God if you pretend to be something that you're not, spiritually. So they're the people of his wrath. Today, we don't have a lively oracle. These clowns that stand up and say, well, God gave me a word of wisdom and tells you something. It's funny, as a 15 year old, my pastor told me this about the charismatic movement. I know I've said it before. All they can say, if I told you I was going to speak in tongues, God moved in me to give you this utterance. It's either something in the Bible already or something that's not in the Bible. If it's in the Bible, why do you need it? If it's not in the Bible, why do you want to listen to it? That is just to entertain people that are probably empty and certainly insecure in their walk with the Lord. There's no lively oracle. We have a finished revelation in our hands and it even includes these wondrous passages where you get to look behind the scenes in the way God works and places all over the Bible. And secondly, even though there's a great deal of unrest, there's still a hypocritical nation. It's funny that a bad situation in Israel where they were being surrounded, as it were, by the Assyrians, and ultimately the Assyrians and the Babylonians. They were being attacked by them, and it didn't bring about repentance. How hard is that kind of a heart? How hard is it? And today, God's people, who have so much more than the Old Testament, we have the indwelling Spirit of God. We have a complete revelation. The Bible also speaks of people that say they're speaking for God. And even if they're right, but if they try to lead you into idolatry, if they say this is going to happen, but they're idol worshipers, you don't listen to them. And if they stand up and say that they're speaking for God and one thing doesn't come to pass, they're false prophets and you don't listen to them. We have a completed revelation. All the things that we have and you can't navigate very much of this life without figuring out that there are some times where you just don't know what to do. I'm glad that the Bible covers that in Romans 8, aren't you? The Holy Spirit makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered when we don't even know what to pray for. When you don't even know what to pray for. Today, we don't have a lively oracle. In spite of all the unrest, they were still hypocritical. And unfortunately, greater and greater judgment was coming. Now, Isaiah 10 takes place around 740 B.C., right around there. you know, that's a guess, trying to cover the different time periods and matching them up with known periods of time, but I'm sure that's fairly close. So 700 years before Christ, and because they were in captivity, many of the prophets were written in captivity. We know that Zechariah was, we know from internal stuff, Haggai was when they came back. Because of these prophets were written in captivity, and Daniel as well, knowing that they were going to return soon. We know all that stuff was happening, but it still speaks of greater judgment coming. Then they call the 400 silent years. The last 400 years before Christ, God didn't really speak to man. They had enough of the Old Testament for them to look for a Messiah, didn't they? They had enough to know how to seek God and to worship Him, and they had all they needed to know, and there was revival, and Hezekiah, and Josiah, and many others as well. But for 700 years, they had a few prophets speak to them. Some of that, they were in captivity. But then 400 years of silence, and then Jesus come, and they rejected Him. That's incredible, isn't it? This is a people whose hand God was on. God's hand was upon each one, wasn't he? They were his people. And he spoke to them. You don't really see, I don't see any come to mind where God reveals his word to other nations. It was to Israel. Now the one thing that comes to my mind is Jonah going to Nineveh. You have 40 days and God will destroy you. But God sent prophets to his people and they ignored him. They ignored him. We have all the prophecy we need, way more than they had in that day. I mean, it's fun to look at the book of Daniel. I taught through that some time ago, really enjoyed it. To compare it to the book of Revelation, they mesh perfectly, don't they? And yet, we have people today that still won't let the Bible be the rule of their faith and practice. We haven't changed much, have we? Greater judgment was coming to them. Now, he punishes Israel, but remember, I'm still looking at God's purpose in all this. Look at verse 12. It says, Wherefore it shall come to pass that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria and the glory of his high looks. So God's purpose is to use this wicked nation to chasten his people, and he gives them their people and their property, and when he's done, then he's going to punish them. That's fascinating. After his work is done by the Assyrian, when the whole work is done, and it says, the stout heart of the king of Assyria, the glory of his pride, look at verse 13. For he saith, this is the Assyrian, by the strength of my hand, I've done it. God gave them the ability to chase an Israel, and now they're saying, we did it ourselves. and by my wisdom, and we're the smart ones to do this." Isn't that all interesting? For I am prudent. Hey, I'm the smartest guy in the room. And I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures. And I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man. And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people. And as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth. And there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. The stout heart of Assyria, he is stealing God's glory. God's the one that gave them the permission and the ability to do this. He's stealing God's glory by setting his hand against the people of God. He imagines it's his own wisdom and his own strength, his own ability, and the plundering of Israel. That was all his work too. Not realizing that it's God who gave him the license to do this. But you know, again, when you look at the, we've looked at what Assyrians were like, and we've looked at God's purpose. Now look at the perspective of the Assyrians, back to verse seven. How be it? He meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so, but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations, not a few. God uses the Assyrian. gives him the strength to do so, gives him the license to do so. And when he's done, he thinks he's done a magnificent job. It's the fruit of his brilliance. He doesn't even know that it's only God that's allowed this. He doesn't even know that he's putty in God's hands. That's interesting, isn't it? He's unaware of it. All he cared about was conquest. And verses 13 and 14 just show his arrogance. So, But like so many passages in Scripture, like Job, I think I mentioned Sunday, you have to wait until you see the rest of the story, don't you? If we were there in Job's day, we would have figured, well, he did something to deserve this, which is exactly what his friends said. And he didn't. God turned the devil loose on him. We don't know all the background of all this. And arrogance is never a blessing. It's an annoyance to people, but it's never a blessing to anybody, is it? And they showed arrogance and wouldn't even acknowledge that it was God that gave them this ability. Now, we know this as we close, that God chastens his own. God doesn't want to chasten. He'd rather have you just fellowship with him and change your ways. just exactly like an earthly dad would rather have you change your way. And by the way, your heart and spirit too. It's not just obedience is changing the spirit, a spirit of obedience, not a spirit of defiance, because a child can be sitting when he's told to sit and still be jumping up and down inside. Okay? But God chastens His own. We go to it all the time. Look at Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12. Remember, we're looking at some things. God's given us a glimpse into His workings, and a good parallel passage is there in Isaiah 55. His ways are higher than ours. We don't even know the fruit of all this. Think about God's chasing on people today. You don't know how much of that is going to maybe salvage a preacher boy out of a bunch of unruly kids. We don't see all that. I'm just so glad when God gives us a little glimpse into this, aren't you? It thrills my soul. Yeah, he's using a very wicked nation. Well, the children of Israel didn't wanna listen to him, so he got someone, he enabled someone to chasten them for him. And that is consistent with Hebrews 12, 6, Do you know what he's showing by chastening Israel like this? How much he still loves Israel when Israel has gone into idolatry, taught to defy God by Jeroboam when he led them astray. And for the rest of the Bible, Jeroboam who taught them to sin. He taught them idolatry. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. That's exactly what's going on here with the northern tribes, the northern kingdom, which is Israel, and scourgeth every son whom he receives. What's he trying to do? He's trying to receive them back. And one day, he will restore Israel to the land that he gave them, the land of their fathers. All very interesting. The chastening becomes progressively greater, doesn't it? Because chastening starts out hoping to fix a problem early and relatively easily, but the more difficult the problem is, the more severe the chastening, God probably didn't want to let them go into captivity. As a father, you wouldn't want your children to go out in our day and age, probably in our vernacular, make the wrong choices and go out into the world. Israel was taken captive and it behooves everyone to thank God for His chastening. Number one, it means He notices you. When you're praying and it seems like heaven is silent, it's almost like God doesn't notice, but you know what chastening does? It makes you realize He notices you, personally. Out of millions of Christians today, He sees and hears you and me. and he chastens the ones, as a father loves his children, he chastens us. And it goes on and says, if you're without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, every son, and we're sons of God by adoption, every son is chastened. Otherwise, you're a pretender. You pretend to be something you're not, chastening. I think of David when he finally repented And it's a similar spirit in Paul as well. David said, my sin is ever before me. Isn't that interesting? The man after God's own heart, his sin is ever before him. I suspect he never went too far from a memory of his failure, even though God had forgiven him. And what does Paul say? The things that I hate to do, I do. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Not only that, he says, I'm the chief of sinners. I don't think he was ever allowed to forget. And I'm not talking about God allowing him to forget it. Because when we repent, God cleans the record, doesn't he? He cleans the record. It just behooves us to accept the chastisement and repent, and it is to benefit us in our fellowship. He receives us. He receives us. We know he loves us. We know he notices. He cares. He cares enough to change our behavior. And how many people have not looked at friends or relatives or children, say, man, I worry about the bad decisions they're making. And there's a certain ability to see bad decisions as you get older, isn't there? Sometimes it's friends that might seem innocuous, but as an older person, you can see they're not innocuous. Sometimes it's just interests that can become an idol. It could be any number of things, but it's right and wise to repent early, isn't it? And we have a Bible that has a record of transforming people's lives and directing our steps in fellowship. So we just read it, be students of it, listen when he speaks and thank him for caring. Very interesting passage. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your goodness tonight. Bless your word to our hearing.