but we're so glad that God's such a good God. Tonight in your Bibles, Isaiah chapter six, and we'll start reading in verse nine, Isaiah chapter six and verse nine, one of the high points of scripture, certainly a high point in the book of Isaiah. And most people have heard something about this, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. and he saw the Lord high and lifted up, and all those things we've already looked at. But look at verse nine, and he said, go and tell this people, hear ye indeed, but understand not, see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert and be healed. Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, the land be utterly desolate. and the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return and shall be eaten as a tall, as a teal tree, and as an oak whose substance is in them when they cast their loaves. So the holy seed shall be the substance thereof." What we're gonna look at here is heart problems. heart problems. You're going to see in verse 10, make the heart of this people fat, make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes. And yet, as you keep reading that verse, it says that they can see with their eyes. It just goes backwards. See with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart. Really, the heart is the foundation of it all, isn't it? That's why it says, Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. And the Bible says in Romans 10 that we are to believe with our hearts the Lord Jesus. It's not just enough to say something with our mouth. It has to be a change on the inside, doesn't it? We believe with our hearts the Lord Jesus and confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus will be saved. So this is really about heart problems and it's really quite practical, quite simple. It is based upon the holiness of God. We already saw in the first verses. It speaks of the sinfulness of man, and it goes all the way back to chapter one, the evil that they were doing, and yet they were still nourished by God because God had given them so much. And yet God asks this question. It says in verse seven, I'm sorry, verse eight, and I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send? And who will go for us? Then said I, here am I, send me. So this is after Isaiah has seen this great vision, how he has been profoundly affected by the condition of the children of Israel, how he's seen the holiness of God, recognized the depravity of man in particular, and his in particular, I should say. And then when God says, who will go for us? And he says, here am I, send me. Aren't you glad God looks for volunteers? You know, there are a lot of people that think of royalty, and that means if you're a prince, that means your dad was a king, you did nothing to get there. God looks for volunteers, doesn't he? And think of the people that have volunteered to do great things. I mean, one of the great missionaries, I can never remember their names, but one of the great missionaries in the Northeast came from a rich family, and he turned his back on all the wealth and went to the mission field and was dead by 21. Well, that's not a wasted life, is it? You can hear about all kinds of people that gave their life. In fact, in the Boxer Rebellion in the early 1900s, there were people that got off the ship coming as missionaries to China and they were executed pretty much on the spot. That wasn't a wasted life, was it? You know why it wasn't? because you don't always see in the background what God's doing. There are people there that saw these people coming, knowing the dangers, but they had a burden on their heart that was more important than the sacrifice of their own lives. And thankfully, it wasn't always happening. It wasn't always that common, but you still see fruit in the Chinese mission field today for what they have done, for what they had done way back then. And you see fruit all over this world for the sacrifices people have made. And it is never something you'll regret when you say, here am I, send me. Here I am, I'm available. Send me, do something with me. So we have to look at all this from the basis of heart problems. Make sure your heart's right. If you're talking about your marriage, make sure your hearts are right between you. Make sure your heart's right. And in relationships, that's what we need. Let's pray. Lord, would you bless our time together? Father, we're speaking about heart, and that is such paramount importance. I pray that you give me the words to speak and the power to speak those words to touch each of our hearts, Lord. Make each one of us a volunteer, that we can take the gospel out to every creature. And Lord, sometimes what we need is just the enthusiasm that comes from a little bit of success. Sometimes we need the gumption to go. Sometimes we have different needs. We know the gospel, but Lord, give us feet to carry us there, boldness to speak, and the words to come forth from your spirit. Lord, just bless us tonight. In Jesus' name, amen. When you think about heart problems, it's something that could affect any one of us. It won't at some time or another. Heart problems, it says, he said, go and tell this people, hear ye indeed, but understand not. I want you to notice when he volunteers, the first thing you see is God deputizes him. God gives him the authority to go, doesn't he? And what does he say? He says, go and this is what you're going to do. Go and hear this and say this. It says, go and tell this people. It's not our job to compel people to believe you cannot do that. It's our job to go and tell people. Ezekiel chapter 3. speaks of warning people, and Ezekiel 33 speaks of warning people, and it's wonderful to know that Ezekiel says that, because Ezekiel, as far as we know, had no converts, and yet he did exactly what God called him to do, was to go out and tell people. And you're going to find one here and there that does respond, won't you? So deputation, friends, address friends' problems, don't they? If you grew up in Israel, you would have friends that you grew up with, you played with. When we go back to the towns we grew up in, and I saw a posting from one of my high school friends today, and That just brings back a flood of memories, doesn't it? It brings back the memories of what it was we were talking about Spokane. That was a big time city when I was a kid. Well, if you grew up in a 5,000 population town, however big Spokane was 50 years ago, it wasn't nearly as big as it is now, but it was a big city to us. It was a big city. But when you go back there, you remember things that were special to you as a kid. I remember going there in my dad's pickup. We always called it the green wreck. We gave him a bad time about it. It was a neat old Chevy pickup. We had it forever. And I found out when there was nothing on the back, it was a three on the tree. If I got my elbow way up by the windshield and I hit second gear like this, I could get it to squeak the tires. I shouldn't tell you guys that, should I? Okay, just roll that back and take that out. I never got around to telling my dad that until I was in my 50s. But I remember all those things. We went to Spokane because we were going to have a big family reunion at OMAC. And my mom picked out furniture and we loaded it up in that old Chevy pickup and drove it home. And my brother was so small, he slept on the floorboards. Now, when I go through Spokane today, And that's almost 60 years ago, it was 1967. Almost every time I go to Spokane, I think of that today. Well, he says, God says to him, go and tell your people, go and tell this people. He would have grown up with some of those kids. He would have known them for many years. He would have known their culture because he was part of their culture. And God gives him this responsibility. Go and tell my people their sins. You go. Going means you leave the comfort of your own circumstances. Sometimes we're comfortable and we just like keeping our feet up, don't we? Sometimes we're comfortable not having to learn a new language. I remember the first day I worked in Los Angeles, they put me... They put me with a young Mexican guy and told me to level this floor for concrete, and he pretended he didn't know a single word of English, and I knew no word of Spanish, so what I did was pointed a lot, grunted, and that's as far as I could go. But if you're called to a new nation, you'd have to learn their language. He didn't have to learn a new language. Go and tell my people this thing. You know what we don't have to do here? We don't have to learn a new language to go and tell people about Jesus, do we? If we just go and tell them what we already know or what we've already experienced, that's a wonderful thing. And going is consistent in your Bible, Matthew 28, 19. Bible says, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Isn't that right? We're supposed to go out and preach why there are all kinds of problems in this world. And pharmaceutical industry tries to address some. The medical profession does so. And politicians tell you, try to convince you they're going to. But I can tell you what really takes the burden off people's hearts, that's preaching the gospel to them. I remember preaching the gospel to many people. They trust Christ as Savior. And that young Marine that one time, the tears were running down his face when he confessed that if he had died five minutes before he'd have gone to hell, now he'd go to heaven. But I remember people all over the country where I've told the gospel to them and they trusted Christ as Savior. Some of them respond with weeping. Some of them respond with quiet. Some of them just got down on their knees and prayed. And some of them couldn't help but go and tell someone else about it. We just go and tell them and trust the Holy Spirit. God's going to apply the right words to their hearts. We leave our comfort. We leave what's familiar to us. Sometimes you leave your reputation behind. I know when you knock on doors, your first fear is this. I'm going to see someone I know. You know, now I like knocking doors more than anything else. because you never know what you're going to run into. I've run into all kinds of interesting people, all kinds of them, but I just learned a long time ago, if I run into someone that I know, I'll just say, hey, it's good to see you. You know, we've gotten busy when we're working or I'm going to your store or whatever it is, and I've just never had a chance to tell you how you can know you're going to heaven when you die and turn it to them. You can figure out a way to do this. You know what the key to it all is? listening to someone else's experience, but going and figuring out how to do it. And Isaiah volunteered and God said, you go, you go. He who would minister with earnestness to men must first enter his presence. Because that's what happened. I got that quote from somebody, I didn't write down the name. If you're going to minister the gospel to someone, then you need first of all to be in his presence yourself. That's what happened here. He saw the Lord high and lifted up. It'll give you strength to go out when maybe you feel weak in the flesh. It'll give you strength to go out when maybe you don't feel like you're qualified or maybe you don't feel like you have the right words to speak. Just get in God's presence. You know, we could spend the night today and go just about one by one, everyone, unless you're really young, you could say something that God's blessed you with. Oh, maybe not today. It might be a while, but most likely some of it's today. Most likely some of it's today. I called and talked to two of my cousins and it was their brother that passed on Friday. And we had a good talk. You know what we talked about? How we get to see him again in heaven. He's waiting there. Hey, that's a blessing. That's not a blessing that this world has. Hey, do this good thing, you might make it. That's not true. You trust Christ and you will be there. You will be there. We could go around the room and say that. And you know, if you're frantically thinking in your mind, what would I have? Then maybe you walk a little closer to the cross and come to realize just how good he is to us. Think about the joy of having your own family. The joy you have of a church family. The joy you have of people that care enough to pray for you. The joy you have that friends and family are a long ways away and yet you still have fellowship with him. Those cousins, Those cousins were my neighbors for a short time. And it was their dad that led my dad to Christ. And I have just so many memories of them, just so many memories of them. And God's been good. Mark was telling me today how blessed he is to have his wife. They've been married for 52 years, I think he said last month, 52 years. Is that what you would say? I'm so glad I have the spouse that I have. I'd say that. Apart from salvation, that's the best decision I ever made. I ever made. Just think about how good God's been to us. And it's because you've been in God's presence and you've enjoyed his blessings. So, Isaiah showed the fruit of a good man's presumption. Remember, he came under the impression of the sinfulness of man because he was mourning. This happened when Isaiah died, a good king, and yet that good king presumed to go into the temple when it wasn't his job to do so. And so the very best of men can fail too, can't they? And you see that in Moses' life. You see that in David's life. You see that in Samuel's life. You see that in the lives of all these men down through the years apart from Christ, don't you? And you know what? You know what? That's something that inspires you to go, because the fruit of his misbehaving was leprosy. What doom awaits the hardened sinner? Why do I bring that up? Because these are people ripe for judgment. And if a good man, King Uzziah, for mere presumption, what we would say mere presumption, could suffer leprosy, What's in store for these children of Israel whose hearts are hardened, their ears are dull of hearing, and they won't see? That should be enough motivation, shouldn't it? You know, we've lived in this country with relative ease, haven't we? And we can decry the situation in our country today, but the best day in America today is better than the worst is. I mean, the worst day in America today is better than the best day in most nations, isn't it? We can thank God for that. We came in here and none of you were worried about getting arrested for going to church. Isn't it wonderful that we have that? Thank God for that. What doom awaits those hardened sinners? Isaiah was favored with a vision of the Lord, and that sustained him. That sustained him. Apparently, that's something we quickly forget, isn't it? Think about Jesus dying on the cross for us. Think about him on that road to Emmaus. Love to have been there. Think about all the wondrous things the Bible records about Jesus and keep that fresh in your mind. Because it's without a doubt you're going to have some hard days, aren't you? you're going to have some hard days. And those hard days, it could be physical, it could be medical, it could be financial, it could be all kinds of things, but some hard days where you're faced with things you really don't know what to do. Just remember, God loves you more than you can even imagine. And we look at love stories in our life and they pale by comparison to God's love for us. pale by comparison, can't even be compared together. So they're told God deputized them to go, but he told them to tell people. God gives us a message, doesn't he? God gives us a message. And I could spend some time just on the gospel to tell the people, but just think about how simple that message is, where it's the same message, whether it's someone 100 years old or five years old. That Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again. And it's the same old gospel has the same old power, doesn't it? And how wonderful it is that that message is the same message. Go and tell, be a spokesman. Our job is not to belittle people. I saw a picture, James sent me a picture yesterday. Remember Sean? Had a picture of Sean preaching on the street corner in Delia. And Sean, he was made for that, wasn't he? Sean was made to be a street preacher. Really, he was made to have a jail ministry. On either side of the bars, really. Okay? Okay? Sean was a lot of fun. It was a great time having him here. But isn't it wonderful that our job is not to go out on the street corner and belittle people. and call them names, point out that they're lost people looking like lost people. They're lost people that need a Savior. So let's just speak about the Savior to them. Let's speak about the Savior. Yes, you get them to the place where they understand their needs. But we come there, the Bible says, some having compassion making a difference. Most people don't care about anyone but themselves. And when they see that we actually care about them, what in the world would the Chinese people think when they saw missionaries in the flower of youth coming to their shores and the powers that be in China executed them almost on the spot? they had a message to speak to them. And that profoundly touches people. And though Isaiah grew up with them, he was familiar with what they had, their instruction, with their schooling. He was familiar with their culture. He was familiar with their politics and everything else. And he had a message from God to them. He had a message from God to them. And I've seen people say, well, why doesn't God speak to me like he did to Saul of Tarsus? Someone told me that. I said, it's right there in the Bible. He speaks to you right there through his word. He speaks right there. In fact, look at Luke 16. The rich man says, send Lazarus back from the dead to speak to my brother so they don't come here. And what was Abraham's answer? They have Moses and the prophet. If they won't listen to this, they won't listen if someone comes back from the dead. That's inspired, that's not an opinion. Our job is to make Jesus so special and wonderful, to illustrate their needs so that they will be driven to Jesus. And that's a blessing, it's a wonderful thing to do. And you notice this, it says, go and tell this people. Well, this people is Israel. Go and tell this people. What are the advantages to Israel? And we see it in Romans three and Romans nine. We have the word of God because of the nation of Israel. There's a reason that the world that is Satan's playground hates Israel because Israel gave us the mind of God on pages. But then those pages foretold that the savior would come and Israel gave us after the flesh the Savior, didn't they? And Israel, and God's dealing with Israel, gives us the rest of the story, doesn't it? I know how it's gonna turn out. I know how it's going to turn out. And we'll see the rest of the story played out. Why? Because God revealed that, oh, say to Daniel in Daniel chapter nine, told him all that was going to happen in the future, probably spoke the same thing to Moses on that mountain when he showed his glory through the ages and all of those things that, and John certainly, and Paul undoubtedly. I mean, think about it. Paul learned at the foot of Jesus on the backside of the desert for three years. Galatians tells us that. What kind of a theological training would that be? Top notch. Couldn't match it, could you? God reveals his word to us. And isn't it wonderful that God reveals worship through Israel? I'm glad that the temple, the tabernacle, and all the things that were included in that were the very best of the best. And they would have been beautiful. I'm not much on colors, but some of them strike me. I like the, I think it's a, I like those plates. My wife likes China. She's trying to get rid of our China, but she likes China. Those plates, are they white with a blue and a gold band, or are they off-white? I'm not good at colors, but those things stand out to me. Those stand out, certain colors stand out to me. And isn't it amazing that the temple was to be covered in gold, which never tarnishes. Silver in Solomon's day wasn't even thought of. It was so common, it was hardly counted. Everything was covered with gold and it would be the smell of aromatic cedar inside the temple and it would be blue and purple and scarlet and fine skins and all of that. I am glad that worship, we are instructed in worship in that God is holy and so far above us we can not even imagine it. He deserves our best, doesn't he? He deserves our best. And whatever effort it takes, he deserves our best. We get the concept of worship from God. We also get the concept of warning. hey, be sure your sin will find you out. That's just a warning to some self-centered tribes of Israel that wanted everyone else to go to battle while they sat back short of the promised land and got comfortable there. And their sin was they discouraged the hearts of the children of Israel. We find out what the warnings of God are. Rarely do we respond to words alone. Isn't that true? Rarely do we respond to words alone. And that's really the theme of this passage. You won't listen. You won't see what I show you. Your hearts are hard. Rarely is that. And what is it that turns the keys to their heart? when they're carried captive and the land's desolate. It's not till it's too late that they pay attention. That's how wicked and prone to sin our hearts are. That's how, and almost daily you see people that once were serving God aren't serving him anymore. I wanna die with my boots on. You know what I mean? I want to be serving God just as much as I can, as long as I can, because that's what's the joy of my heart, to tell someone about Jesus. We have warnings. What's the example here? Hard hearts, the deadness of religion, neglect, as passive as that seems to be, their shallowness of spiritual condition, and most likely a fear of just false repentance. That they would repent like Judas did. He saw it didn't go his way, so he went and tried to undo the damage and he couldn't. The kind of repentance that Esau had. It's an empty thing that's part and parcel of religion. So the example is that, the advantages, he says, tell this people, and you look at this order, as I briefly mentioned already, hear, hear. In verse nine, hear ye indeed, but understand not. Hear. Do you understand that we have an unusual situation in our country where you can still go and stand on the street corner and lift up your voice like a trumpet? I've had people complain to me, well, that belongs in church walls. Do you go to church? No. Well, then you'd never hear it, would you? You'd never hear it. And I had a guy one time, not too long after 9-11, he started following me in his car down the street as I was knocking on doors. I just led a lady to Christ. And I walked out, started walking down the sidewalk and this pickup pulled next to me. And he rolled down his window and he says, did you put this on my door? And I didn't tell him, probably Tom did, go talk to him. I said, I don't know, where were you? Where were you? Well, I'm not gonna tell you that. Well, then I can't really tell you, can I? And he was mad at me. And I didn't really get mad at him because that means that the gospel tract affected him. But by the same token, I was really nice and pleasant to him till he just kept railing. I said, listen, this is America. We have the freedom of speech. If you don't like that, throw it away. I was nice about it, but isn't it funny that they're trying to abridge the freedom of speech? How in the world can you obey God's command when you volunteer to serve him and you're told to go and speak? And the country, the government wants to stop your ability to speak. I think it was Elon Musk that says, in order to have freedom of speech, you need for people you don't like to tell things that you don't wanna hear. That's what the freedom of speech is. We have that freedom, and by the way, it's the first of the 10 First Amendments, the Bill of Rights, isn't it? The freedom of speech, which is the freedom to gather, attempt together, and sing and pray. People have the right to be wrong. If you ever want some good reading, I gotta think of his name. It's called the Rights of Conscience by Gibbon, not Gibbon. Anyway, it's the reason that we have the Bill of Rights and really the reason the Constitution was passed. John Leland was his name. John Leland, it's called the Rights of Conscience. And he wouldn't swing his support behind the Constitution because he said, it doesn't have a Bill of Rights. And I think it was Adams that went to him, one of the names you'd recognize, went to him and says, what would we have to do to get you to swing your support behind the Constitution? He said, it has to have a Bill of Rights. You know what brought that on? He watched a preacher get thrown into prison in America because he didn't have a state license to preach. He says, that can't happen. And the response was, okay, we will provide for the right to free speech to four major religions. He says, that's not good enough. You know why we have the right to free speech? Because of a Baptist preacher. Look it up, John Leland, I got the set of books to find it in. If you ever find it, it's a Britannica set, it's called The Annals of America. I've bought probably three or four sets of them and I give them away. All it is is American documents. And it's really incredible, a great set. You have, the order is this, you hear first. Secondly, you, it says hear, and they, it says hear indeed, but understand not, see indeed, but perceive not. You hear, but you concentrate in seeing, don't you? Oh, you've always had someone speak to you when your mind was preoccupied. That's what we don't need when we come to the Bible. You read your Bible, and if your mind wanders, snap it back to attention and read the chapter again if you need to. Isn't it funny? I have a book that I got from that store in Choteau, and it's called Wandering Thoughts in Worship. Every one of you, and it's written in the 1500s, Remedies for wandering thoughts in worship. Every one of us has had our thoughts wander. You read your Bible and you know what you find out? At the end of a column, you realize you don't remember what you read. Maybe I'm the one that's not very spiritual, but I've done that. You go back and read it again. This is when you hear it and they intentionally don't pay attention. He says, you hear, then you concentrate and make sure you understand. When I was a school teacher, I got to teach the classes that most people hate. I got to teach grammar, and I got to teach math, and I taught other stuff too, but I always aimed at getting the students to understand. I had a teacher that made us memorize about 50 different prepositions. Could you come up with 50 prepositions? If I thought real hard, I probably could. All they have to do is, is a relationship up, down, beside, you know, we had to memorize all of those. But then he taught us, and this is the best teacher I ever had. Then he taught us by definition what it was and you don't have to memorize them. And what's wrong with them is they probably have their thoughts wandering. They don't listen like they should. And and they're told to concentrate and understand, pay attention to what they're hearing. You pay attention. You pay attention. And let's see, that's Job 28, 28, I think it is. Is that right? Let me see. That may not be right. I know it's 28, 28. Let's see if I'm right. At any rate, it is, Yeah, Job 28, 28. See, I've not lost all of it yet. Okay. And unto man, he said, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. All over the Bible, the fear of the Lord is wisdom. And to depart from evil is understanding. You know what happens when you understand the evil? You get away from it. You get away from it. That's where you've actually heard it, assimilated it, and you stay away from the evil. You make sure you minimize the distractions. And look at an interesting verse, Isaiah 43 and verse eight. Isaiah 43 and verse eight. 43, eight says, bring forth the blind people that have eyes and the deaf that have ears. 43.8. We have enough vision, even if you're blind, to understand the words of God, don't we? We have ample light for vision. And yet with the same crowd, there is ample darkness for blindness. You know how we know that? Because the chapter ends, it says in verse 13, but yet in it shall be a tent and it shall return. God always preserves a remnant. So as the words were going out, most of the people were blinded and there was a darkness in the land that despite what light was shown, they remained in their darkness. But there was ample light for them to understand too. You know what we do when we witness to people on the streets and our places of business, we just want to get them thinking, to get them thinking about things. And it's amazing how long someone will hold a track in their wallet and read it years in the future. it's an opportunity to respond. So, first and foremost, you get the deputation, God sends you out. Number two, look at verse 10, make the heart of this people fat and make their ears heavy and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears and understand with their heart and convert and be healed. You get the aggravation of the flesh, don't you? I don't know why, but most people like the flesh way too much, don't they? Well, it's a temptation for all of us. They like the flesh way too much. This is handy. I can just look up there and see the text. Make the heart of this people fat. That means pretty much just immobile. Make their ears heavy and shut their eyes. He's addressing their hearts, their ears, their eyes. He's addressing them. And what is it that keeps them from listening? Pride. And yet the remnant in the last verse revels. in the things of God when they come back to that land. Why would their hearts, their ears and their eyes be problem? Well, certainly it's rebellion. Certainly it's rebellion. Sometimes it's just the death of routine. Routine. You know, one of the things we fight in our day is if you haven't seen someone saved in a while, you start, you don't even want to make it, you don't give words to the thought, but well, why should I go? And no one's going to believe. You can't do that. The next door is someone that might get saved. And just think how rejoicing, how much rejoicing you'll have then. It's sometimes routine. Sometimes it's indifference. Sometimes it's the crowd and all of those things, and we're to protect our hearts, protect our hearts first, because the heart's in the very middle of this ministry, isn't it? The heart spreads corruption to the ears and the eyes. but through the eyes and the ears, the heart responds. That's the essence of the gospel, Romans 10, with the heart man believeth. With the heart, men believe it. And you know, here's another one. Look at Isaiah 63. I've seen this many times. Don't think I've preached on it, but I want you to see how special this verse is. Isaiah 63, and it's talking, the title of it is, Christ showeth who he is, what is victory over his enemies, what is mercy toward his church, in his just wrath he remembereth his free mercy, The church in their prayer and complaint profess their faith. In other words, it's all about them and their judgment, the judgment that's certain to come upon them. Look at verse 9. In all their affliction, he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them. Have you ever noticed that before? God warned them and warned them and warned them. They went into judgment. He picked them back up and he had to warn them and warn them and warn them. And they went back into apostasy and judgment. He put them back on the rock and warned them and warned them and warned them. And yet in their affliction, he was afflicted. When he says, you know, a politician says, I feel your pain, they're lying. But Jesus does feel our pain, doesn't he? Hey, it's the affliction that's for our benefit. And he bears that affliction too. They rejected the ministers sent to them and only turned to God in judgment. Probably this, in verse 10, heart of the people fat, their ears heavy, all that, probably is a protection from empty conversions. From empty conversions. It's funny that they would still be rebelling as they go into captivity, isn't it? And in captivity, in the worst kind of conditions, after 70 years, only a small portion came back to the land. Everyone else had settled down in Babylon. We don't want compliance with defiance. That's what a false profession is. You comply because you're afraid of the consequence, but you're defiant inside. That's not the same thing as conversion. The truth, without the heart involved, hardens more and more, doesn't it? Romans 1 says that. Romans 1 in verse 28. I'll read it to you. It says this. It says, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. Being filled with all unrighteousness and all the works of the flesh. They didn't want to retain God in their knowledge. They didn't want to listen to him. They didn't want their hearts to be submitted to him. And it didn't matter how badly things were going. So God gives them over to a reprobate mind. You know what a reprobate mind is characterized by? Not being able to see the obvious. And thinking the wickedness is normal. A mind that is not able to be probated, if you will, adjudicated or so. A reprobate mind, the truth hardens more and more. That's the interesting thing about the sweet word of God. Bible speaks of God as light and life and the water of life. And light, light, when I go to the dermatologist, I was reproved because where my watch is, it's whiter. You know, I've been pretty good. Well, how come there's a white band around your arm? Just because I had melanoma on my back, I guess it was. The same light that brings life can turn skin to cancer, can't it? It can bake the ground. We're told to break up our fallow ground. You know what's wrong with fallow ground? The life-giving substances like rain and light hit the ground and pack it down and make a crust over it. The more you hear the truth of the word of God and say no, the harder your heart becomes. That's a sad thing. The truth hardens our hearts, doesn't it? And then 11, then said, I Lord, how long? And his answer is desolation. The last part of verse 11, until the land be utterly desolate. I don't know about you, but I like going to old ghost towns. And we used to go to one, some of you in Washington might remember Old Ruby. There was an old ruby ghost town over somewhere in northeastern Washington we'd go to. And I remember going to that, I hate to admit this, in a 51 Chrysler. And my dad was driving, he's a good driver, and I was small enough I could stand on the floorboards in the back. And I saw the long ways down on one side and I wanted to go to the other side, okay? But I like going to those places where they've been abandoned and you can imagine what it was like when someone lived there. And these people, despite the great preaching of all these prophets, despite the ministry of the priests that were good and the kings and all these things, they didn't repent until they got into captivity. What's wise for us is to listen. Why do we go to church? Well, why do you go to church all the time? because I don't want to miss anything. If I weren't preaching, I'd be here every service too. I don't want to miss anything. They wasted opportunities. The cities were wasted and abandoned. Empty homes. Do you ever drive by and see a home out there that's empty and wonder what the life story is of that? I might've said this, my daughter told me the other day that if she had the money, she'd buy that house. Why? Because they have so many memories of that house. And you drive by a home that's empty. I wonder what the walls could speak. And that's what happened in Israel. They were warned what was to happen, but they would not turn their hearts until it was too late physically. Very sad, isn't it? God removes them. They went, first of all, speaking immediately, it was to Babylon. That means that you would be carried captive to Iraq today. That doesn't sound appealing, does it? I've never even been there, and I don't have to go there to know I don't want to. You know, we have bucket lists. I'd love to see England. I'd like to stand in Spurgeon's Pulpit. I'd love to see some, I'd like to see Sweden, where my grandfather came from. On that list, Iraq doesn't show up. Mongolia doesn't show up. Lots of places like that, they just don't show up. But they were carried captive to Babylon. Later on, much the same thing happened, and Titus destroyed Jerusalem. It's a recurrent theme, isn't it? The people won't listen, and then God has to pass judgment. And frankly, what's yet coming in Zechariah 14 is they don't listen. They're yes in Jerusalem, but the nations are against them, and it's not till the walls are breached that Jesus comes back, and then they're all converted in a day. Desolation. And on a positive note to end, look at preservation. Verse 13, but yet in it shall be a tenth. and it shall return and shall be eaten as a teal tree, as an oak whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves, so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof. Holy seed, that's in Ezra 9 too, when they found out that the priests were married with the heathen. and they'd mingled the holy seed, the genealogies of those that were the children of Israel and priests in particular with foreigners that were heathen. God retains a remnant. God retains a remnant. Isn't it a special thing when you're in town and you get a suspicion that someone's a believer and say, hey, listen, I'm a Christian, are you? Yes, I am. Just think, in the midst of captivity, there were still some that believed. Remember when Elijah said, I'm the only one left? Oh no, there's 7,000 that haven't bowed their knees to Baal. And yes, a third of Israel is saved in a day. Romans 11 and Zechariah 13, I think it is. A third is saved. God always has a remnant. Romans 11 speaks of a remnant. There's always a few that have responded to when God speaks. And in our day, there are still a few that respond when the gospel is preached. There's still a few that are faithful to preach the gospel to every creature. There's still a few that have a heart for missions. There's still a few that have calluses on their knees because they spent an hour of prayer praying for the missionaries. There's still a few aren't there. And when the fellowship is amongst the few that remain together, it's sweet. So sweet in Malachi 3, than they that feared the Lord gathered often one with the other. And a book of remembrance was written. I don't think God needs to be reminded, but isn't it nice to know that your name is written there, but the name of sweet fellowship is written there too. That's just wonderful. So this is a chapter that further, God uses men. He could speak to us with angels, but he doesn't. He uses men, men that can only do that in unredeemed flesh, so we're desperate to trust him for the strength and the power. And that's a good thing. So that we have this treasure in earthen vessels. You know what God calls the redeemed, the new man inside you? It's a treasure. Just occurred to me. Think about that. It's a treasure. We have this treasure in earthen vessels. Why? So that the praise is to God, not to men. The praise is to God. They wouldn't listen, but one day they will. There was a remnant still that returned. God promised to preserve a remnant. But the less you listen and heed, the harder your heart becomes. And the more natural it is just to say no over and over again. Don't ever want to get there. The nice thing about that is, if you find yourself having a heart growing cold, just surrender and ask God to soften your heart. And that's what he wants to do, isn't it? By yielding, it gets more tender. Let's pray. Lord, thank you