In Scott Brown's sermon, 'The High Cost of Transgressing the Law of God,' Isaiah 24:1-12 is discussed, focusing on the judgment of God and the consequences of transgressing His laws. The sermon outlines how Isaiah presents God's judgment as a slow, deliberate revelation of both judgment and mercy, beginning with Judah, extending to the nations, and finally encompassing the entire world. The sermon contrasts two cities: the 'city of God,' characterized by strength, peace, and divine presence, and the 'city of man,' marked by desolation and divine rejection. The judgment is described as complete, impartial, and resulting in mourning, defilement, and the removal of joy. Brown emphasizes that transgressing God's law leads to defilement and rejection, and he highlights the importance of adhering to God's ordinances and covenants, particularly the everlasting covenant with Jesus Christ. The sermon concludes with a call to turn to Jesus and embrace His mercy to escape the coming judgment.

Good morning. Our scripture this morning is Isaiah 24 verses 1 through 12. Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes it waste, distorts its surface and scatters abroad its inhabitants. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest, as with the servant, so with his master, as with the maid, so with her mistress, As with the buyer, so with the seller. As with the lender, so with the borrower.

As with the creditor, so with the debtor. The land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered, for the Lord has spoken this word. The earth mourns and fades away. The world languishes and fades away. The haughty people of the earth languish.

The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left. The new wine fails, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted sigh. The mirth of the tambourine ceases, the noise of the jubilant ends, the joy of the harp ceases.

They shall not drink wine with a song. Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it. The city of confusion is broken down. Every house is shut up so that none may go in. There is a cry for wine in the streets.

All joy is darkened. The mirth of the land is gone. In the city desolation is left and the gate is stricken with destruction." Let's pray. Lord God we Thank you for this portion of scripture you have us in today, and Isaiah, the words of your prophets so many years ago. Lord, we do pray that you would be with Scott Brown as he comes to preach and expose these scriptures.

We pray that you will allow us to glean the wisdom that is here for us today that we may apply to our lives, that we may live a more pleasing life to you, Lord. Thank you, God, for leaving your scripture for us to study, learn, and for our benefit, Lord, in the name of Jesus. Amen. So this section here that we're focusing on this morning is really about the judgment of God. And, you know, when we see so much of the judgment of God, I think, you know, we should ask, you know, Why is it that Isaiah is giving us so much about the judgment of God?

I don't know if anybody here is saying, I'm tired of hearing about the judgment of God. You know, every chapter in Isaiah has something of the judgment of God in it. Well, that's almost true. And, you know, so how do we think about this? And why is it important to consider the judgment of God?

And I think there are many reasons for us. But one question I think that we could ask in this regard is, is it better to know of a coming disaster, or is it better not to know of a coming disaster? I mean, is it better to know that a tsunami is coming in two hours, or is it actually better to say, no, ignorance is bliss? Is it better to know that your house is on fire or not? Is it better to know that you have cancer earlier rather than later?

Is it better to know that you have cancer earlier rather than later? Is it better to know that the stock market is going to crash tomorrow for some of you? Well, the truth is, early warning is always a blessing. God is expressing his kindness by giving us many pictures of the final judgment and also many temporal judgments that help us to recognize what is coming. So God is actually very kind in showing us His judgment.

And in Isaiah, you can see how Isaiah grasps this, even in the very outline of the book. Because what Isaiah has been doing is he's been really engaging in what seems to me is a slow and patient and deliberate and careful disclosure of the judgment and the mercy of God. And you can see this in the way that the whole book is outlined. And Isaiah is working us through a very deliberate way of thinking about the world. It's the best thing that could ever happen to us is to begin to think like the Lord thinks.

And Isaiah is bringing us to the Lord's thinking on this whole matter of judgment by walking us through the mind of God on the judgment and the mercy of God. And you can see it in the very sections that we've already encountered. For example, this is the third section, this is sort of the third block or the third cycle of prophecy in Isaiah. The first cycle or the first section was in chapters 1 through 12. And the big focus was God's judgment on Judah.

And what I say in these first 12 chapters is that judgment begins in the household of God. And the whole force of chapters 1 through 12 really is, my people have hurt themselves in their sins. The whole head is sick, the whole heart is faint, and their sins are beating them to death. And so what's the remedy? Come, let us reason together.

Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. And so The whole first section is really about the judgment that begins in the household of God. And then in the second section, he turns to the nations in chapters 13 through 23. And what we learn in these chapters is that God judges these nations by their rejection of the Word of God. And each one of these judgments against the nations is characterized by the words, the burden against.

God has a burden for the nations. God has particular burdens for particular nations. There are certain things that are wrong in those nations. God is patiently and systematically working through how this nation has departed from God, how that nation has departed from God. And it's all part of God's slow and deliberate and systematic loving kindness that reveals his understanding of everything in your life and in every nation as well.

And what we learn from this section on the nations is that the sins of the nations are also our sins. We grow up in these nations. We start thinking like the people in our nations. And so when we read about the nations, we're actually even reading a story of our own lives. And God is very kind and patient to reveal the things that he is judging.

And he's showing us our infirmities. He's helping us to understand what is lacking so that we can find mercy and grace, so that we can find health again. And so in this second section in chapters 13 through 23, he broadens it out to the nations. Now in this next section, this third section, chapters 24 through 27, he's really speaking of the judgment of the world. And this section is characterized really by end that day.

So now in this third wave of communication, which spans from chapters 24 to 27. It really is a continuous whole. And it really is about one thing. It is about the way that God judges the world. So He begins with Judah, he moves on to the individual nations, and now he seems to take a further step back and generalizes for the whole world.

And we'll get into what this might be, because the language can lead you in particular directions. Now, because we're beginning a first section here, or this next section, which will be in for a while, I'm gonna spend a little bit more extra time on the introduction, just so we can get a picture of it. So I hope your Bibles are open. Get ready to step with me from chapter 24, 25, 26, and 27. We're going to make a few stops there just to try to get the overall sense of what is happening there.

Now, in this section, There are two cities that are being presented. There is the wasted city, that's in 2410. The wasted city, the city of which there is nothing left. And then there is the strong city. Look at 26, verse 1.

This is the city of God. Its gates and its walls are strong. There are two cities that are presented here. There's the city of God and there is the city of man. We're going to see these two contrasted throughout this whole section.

And so for example there's this this ruined city the city of man in 2410 it's a city of brokenness and alienation and loss of joy. The city of confusion is broken down, verse 10, every house is shut up so that none may go in. And then in chapter 25, verse 2, it's actually a city that's ruined forever. For you have made a city a ruin, a fortified city a ruin, a palace of foreigners, to be a city no more. It will never be rebuilt.

There's a finality about the language in this entire section that you'll see. In 25, chapter 12, it's a vulnerable city without defense. The fortress of the high fort of your walls he will bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, down to the dust. If you go to chapter 26, you'll see a very similar language in verse 5. For he brings down those who dwell on high.

The lofty city, he lays it low. He lays it low to the ground, he brings it down to the dust. And then chapter 27 verse 10, it's a desolate city like a desert. There's no sign of God's favor in it. 27 10, yet the fortified city will be desolate, the habitation forsaken and left like a wilderness.

There the calf will feed and there it will lie down and consume its branches. When its boughs are withered they will be broken off. The women come and set them on fire, For it is a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have mercy on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor." So that's the first city. The second city though is quite different.

In chapter 24 verse 23, it's a glorious city where God reigns. For the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before his elders gloriously. So this second city, Mount Zion, is completely different. Go to chapter 25 verses 6 and 7. There we learn that it's a city of abundance, it's a city of feasting, death is swallowed up, and tears are wiped away from their eyes.

What does that sound like? Verse 6, And in this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast of choice pieces, a feast of wines on the leaves, of fat things full of marrow, of well-refined wine on the leaves. And he will destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering, cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all the nations. He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces." And then chapter 25 verse 10, It's a city with the hand of the Lord upon it. For on this mountain the hand of the Lord will rest, and Moab shall be trampled under him as straw is trampled down for the refuge heap.

In chapter 26, verse one through three, it's a city where the inhabitants sing. They sing of the strength of God and of salvation because of the peace that's there. Verse 1 in chapter 26, in that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong city. God will appoint salvation for walls and bulwarks.

Open the gates that the righteous nation, which keeps the truth, may enter in." That's a critical phrase. You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." And then finally in chapter 27 verse 13, the outcasts end up worshipping in the city of God. So it shall be in that day, the great trumpet will be blown. They will come who are about to perish in the land of Assyria. And they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount of Jerusalem." Now, in these sections and in this entire section, you will find language that you can connect to many, many places.

You can find it, you can connect it to the final judgment and the great white throne. You can connect it to the very language of heaven itself. You can connect it to the great destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. You can connect it to the resurrection and the power of the resurrection. You can connect it even to other judgments previous to that with Nebuchadnezzar or perhaps Sinakharov as some of the commentators have thought.

But this language is connected in many, many places in scripture. They're like vines that go over a number of places and historical moments in the history of redemption. But what we see here is that the judgment of God is being declared. And there are two cities and there are two songs that are sung in this section from chapters 24 to 27. So I wanted to have some sense of how this works.

Now, the big question is, you know, when does this judgment occur? And it's a difficult matter. You know, some say it's a summary of the previous ten oracles against the nations. It just summarizes them. Others think it's a near-term judgment of Sennacherib.

Matthew Henry felt that was true, or perhaps Babylon. Some in modern times have connected it to the tribulation. Others at the very end of the age, some to the final judgment, some to 70 AD. And so it's a difficult matter. If you look at the commentators, here's what you'll find.

I look at 13 commentators, 10 of them say it's the final judgment, 14 commentators, and four of them say that it is a temporal judgment. And it's either Nebuchadnezzar or it is the time of the gospel or possibly 70 AD. So anyway, so it's a difficult matter to try to figure out. Here's what you should do. Read it very carefully.

Connect the language throughout scripture. It'll help you understand the mind of God throughout redemptive history. You'll read of tears being wiped away from eyes. Where else is that found? You'll read all kinds of things that you can connect in various places, both in the prophets and in the New Testament.

So it's a very rich passage of Scripture. My view is that Isaiah is walking through judgment, And it begins in the house of God, it extends to the nations, yes the word of God applies to the nations, but it is also for the whole world. It is at least at minimum for the whole earth that God is dealing with in this section. So the approach that I want us to walk through here this morning really answers the question what are the characteristics of the judgment of God? Because he may be speaking of Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC.

He may be coming, speaking of the conquering of death by the Lord Jesus Christ and His resurrection. He could be talking about the destruction of Jerusalem and the final annihilation of the Jewish religion by destroying the temple. And their whole sacrificial system disappears forever. And it could be the final judgment. Or they could be allusions to many things.

And Isaiah understands by the wisdom of God that the people of God need to consider the various matters of judgment that he brings out in the world, and there isn't just one final judgment. So, however you take it, what I'm going to do this morning is I'm going to give you characteristics of the judgment of God. So there are ten of them. For number one, it will be a complete judgment. Verse one, behold the Lord makes the earth empty and makes it waste, distorts its surface and scatters abroad its inhabitants.

And verse three, the land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered for the Lord has spoken His word. Now, This is why I inflect toward thinking this is the final judgment. Because the language is so binary, it's so complete. And you find this complete language all the way through. But you also see other language throughout this that could easily and explicitly connect to other things that we absolutely know are more temporal judgments.

But what we know from here, the language is the language of completion. There is a making void and a devastation of what is coming. It is severe, it's catastrophic, and it is comprehensive. And that means that no man can stand before the judgment of God. People scurry around in the earth thinking they're in control of everything that they can do, whatever they want to do, this is a delusion.

Because God will absolutely vanquishingly judge the world. And He will separate the sheep from the goats, and He will bring in a new heaven and a new earth, he will change absolutely everything. Here's what this means. Life and this world and the way that you know and experience reality will change. The reality that you're experiencing right now will not be your reality for the rest of eternity.

And you know, I think for probably all of us that's good news, that God will right every wrong, that He will take care of The ignorance, the gaps, the sins, the things that be set as. God will put a vanquishing end to it all. I'm so thankful for that. What a blessing to know that God will come and He will right every wrong through His judgment. And this just shows us how temporary the world is.

And at the same time, what a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of an angry God. As Hebrews 4 verse 13 says, everything will be laid bare. Men throughout their lives, they hide as much as they can. But everything will be laid bare and everything will change. And so the first thing that we see here is that it will be a complete judgment.

The second is it will be an impartial judgment, verse 2. Here in verse 2, you see the indiscriminate judgment of God, and it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest. As with the servant, so with the master. As with the maid, so with her mistress." So it's interesting, if you see in this first section that I read, the positions begin with the low position from high position, then he changes from high position to low position. As with the buyer, so with the seller.

As with the lender, so with the borrower. As with the creditor, so with the debtor. What Isaiah is telling us is that the judgment of God is no respecter of your position, no respecter of your religion, no respecter of your wealth, no respecter of your wisdom. You might be the most brilliant person in the world. It doesn't really matter.

God deals with mankind according to his own justice. And In this day of judgment, religious life is mentioned. There is the life of governing here that's spoken of. But What we learn here is that the judgment of God is impartial. And that it doesn't matter what you've accomplished in this world.

You know, it's interesting. In this world you can get a lot of praise and favor from people. If you are a certain way, You know, if you have a particular gift, you will get some kind of preferential favor. That is not going to happen in the judgment of God. He prefers no one for their own human accomplishments.

The only thing that God regards is the righteousness of His Son. And this is an impartial judgment. And this is really the only way that judgment can be impartial. It is when it is seen either A, under the righteous judgment of God upon his son, or upon the damnation of the wicked because of their refusal to turn to God. And that's how judgment is meted out.

So it is an impartial judgment. And it's interesting, he brings out various images here of religious life and home life. You have the master and the servant. You have business life, the seller and the buyer. And you have those who are governing and those who aren't.

All stations of life are really regarded by God as irrelevant. And the truth is that it is an impartial judgment. And then thirdly, the earth will mourn. Verses four and five. Verse four, the earth mourns and fades away.

The world languishes and fades away. The haughty people of the earth languish." And so there's this picture of the earth that is mourning. And the reason is haughtiness. Look at the language, the earth mourns and fades away, the world languishes and fades away, the haughty people of the earth shall languish. So haughtiness is the root of all of this languishing.

Man thinking that he is so wise, man thinking that he is the source of all wisdom for his own life. It's just not true at all. But as a result of it, there's a mourning that takes place. Hosea speaks of this in Hosea 4, verses 1 through 3. He says this, there is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land.

By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint with bloodshed upon bloodshed. Therefore the land will mourn." Interesting, Isaiah uses this concept that the earth mourns. Later on he talks about the earth being defiled. And why? It's for the same reason.

It's for departing from the word of God. Here in Hosea, the earth is, the land is mourning because of swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery and breaking all restraint. That's why it happens. It's the turning away from God. And that's probably really the heart of this whole idea in this text.

That's why I named this sermon The High Costs of Transgressing the Laws of God. That's really the heart of the matter. We'll get to that soon in this passage of Scripture. Now there's something to note here that may or may not turn your own thoughts about when he's talking about here. In verse four, look at it, it says, the earth mourns and fades away.

The earth, the word is herets, and it means earth, land, and it's always used as a land, a piece of land, a certain place in the land. And so the earth mourns and fades away, but then in the next line he says the world languishes and fades away. Now the world is a different word, Te-del, and it always means the globe. It always means the whole world. And so some have looked at that and said this is why he's talking about final judgment.

It's not a temporal judgment. It's not just going to happen at the hands of Babylon. It's not just going to happen at the hands of Babylon. It's not just going to happen at the hands of the Romans. It is a global judgment, and it's the judgment at the end of the world.

It's perhaps a pointer or a signpost. But I'm not sure if that absolutely proves it, but I think it influx the argument toward the fact that you have these two words that are set and they're compared. And so you would say he is talking about the whole world. But again, you can connect this language to other temporal judgments that take place in biblical history. So it takes place in a way that really makes it very clear here that the earth will mourn, that there will be a tangible effect on the earth.

And then we come to this next verse, verse 5, the fourth characteristic of the judgment of God is that the earth will be defiled. The earth will be defiled. This is a fascinating statement here. The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants. Now, he says that the earth is defiled because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.

So as a result of rejecting the Word of God, there is a judgment of God upon the people. And that is that there's a defilement that takes place. This is part of the judgment of God. And it's found in the defilement that's there. And what he's saying here is that it's the people that are defiling the land.

It's the people that are polluting the land. We have lots of people in our world today who are thinking a lot about pollution. What is it that's polluting the land? And you can learn about what nations are the greatest polluters of the land. You can learn about what kinds of activities on the earth are the greatest polluters of the land.

And most people today think that pollution is caused by running factories and driving cars and things like that. And that's how we're polluting the land. But the Bible actually says that man is the great polluter of the land, for sure. But it's his own pollution. He is the one who pollutes the land.

And he does it in a particular way. You know, the people that get so focused on mankind polluting the land through factories and cars and things like that are focusing on the wrong thing. The true enemy of the world is the rejection of the Word of God. That is the true enemy of the blessing that God has for his world. Now, you know, regenerate mankind, he tends and he keeps and he improves the garden and he blesses the relationships that he has by taking dominion over it.

It's the keeping of the law of God that cleanses the land. It's the rejection of the word of God that pollutes the land. And It's the moral behavior, not the industrial output, that defiles the land in God's eyes. Now If you look at this whole idea of pollution and purity throughout the scriptures, there are a number of places you can go. One place that you should always go to consider this matter of pollution and purity, holiness and wickedness, These two things set aside each other is the book of Leviticus.

Leviticus is a book about holiness. It's about purity. It's about what defiles the land. And If you read Leviticus 18 and 19 and 20, you'll see this. Now, in Leviticus chapters 17 to 27, there are laws about holiness and holy living, And many of them have to do with sexual immorality and idolatry and all kinds of things like that.

But there is a defilement of the land. And that defilement takes place through rejecting the law of God. Now in Leviticus, in Leviticus chapter 18, the land is defiled by uncovering nakedness in your family and he lists all kinds of different family relationships in chapter 18 verses 6 through 19. In verse 20 he speaks of adultery. In verse 21 he speaks of the killing of children for MOLAC, very much like I think our modern abortion industry.

In verse 22 he speaks of homosexuality. In verse 23 he speaks of bestiality. In Leviticus 19 he speaks of familiar spirits or witchcraft, which really refers to the whole New Age movement and the inclination of the American culture toward ghosts and witchcraft and all kinds of things like that. And If you go to Leviticus chapter 19, you find other ways that the land is polluted, that holiness is destroyed. In Leviticus 19.3, there's a focus on the keeping of the Sabbath, and then 4, the turning to idols, in verse 5.

There's the whole matter of hypocrisy and not sacrificing freely from the heart. And there's theft and lying and cheating and taking advantage of the weak and partiality to the poor in verse 15. Becoming a tail bearer in verse 16 and hating your brother in verse 17. Taking vengeance in verse 18. Adultery in verse 20.

You know, mismanaging the land in verse 23. Eating anything with blood in verse 26, idolatrous practices really, actually with your hair in verse 27, idolatrous practices with your skin in verse 28, prostituting your daughter, 29, keeping the Sabbath, verse 30, and on and on and on. But there are things that defile the land. And what defiles the land is the rejection of the Word of God. For example, in Leviticus chapter 20, we read this in verse 22, You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my judgments and perform them, that the land where I am bringing you to dwell may not vomit you out.

And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nations, which I am casting out before you. For they commit all these things. Therefore, I abhor you." There's this picture of being vomited out of the land, being cast out of the land as a result of the defiling of the land. Now, the casting out of the land without question happened in 70 AD when the Jews were cast out and their sacrifice was destroyed by the Romans. But you have this idea here that there's this vomiting out of the land.

You will be pushed out, vomited out. You will be rejected if you reject the word of God. That's the whole idea. And that really is the issue for divine judgment. If you reject the word of Jesus Christ, you will be rejected by him.

And It will be because you have defiled the land. Deuteronomy 28, I think, speaks of this very, very same thing. How God declares that if you obey His voice, he blesses you. But if you disobey, he curses you. He says in Deuteronomy 28, Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all which I have commanded you, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth and these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you because you obey the voice of the Lord your God.

Blessed shall you be in the city, Blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground, and the increase of your herds, and the increase of your cattle, and the offspring of your flocks. And the counterpart is also true. If you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, cursed shall you be in the city, cursed shall you be in the country, cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl, cursed shall you be when you come in, and Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. This is the primary principle for mankind to recognize that when you embrace the Word of God, God blesses you.

When you reject it, He will vomit you out of His land. And He will finally vomit out of the land those who have not turned to Him in the final judgment when He separates the sheep from the goats. Now God is so kind to give long warning. He patiently and deliberately gives us warning as He even is here in Isaiah to begin with how He judges His people and then how He judges various nations and then how he judges the whole world. But God is very deliberately, longsufferingly, and carefully showing us how it is that the world is judged.

And he uses this dramatic language here about the land being defiled. The land is defiled through murder. The land is defiled through witchcraft. The land is defiled explicitly through homosexuality. If you go to that section in Leviticus 18-20, you'll find this.

The land is defiled. We are defiling the land of our nation. And while people are running around trying to figure out how waste and garbage is defiling the land, they've completely missed the point. My father was telling me the other day that all the garbage that the United States will produce in the next 100 years, got this, all of the garbage that the United States will produce in the next 100 years will fit in an 18-mile by 18-mile footprint that's 100 foot high. And all you have to do is put dirt over it and you get a park.

That's it. And you have, you have, you have our, you know, our entire education system is trying to teach our young people that the greatest problem that we have is global warming and trash and all this kind of stuff. It's not true. The biggest threat to America is the rejection of the Word of God. And when you see millions and millions of babies being murdered, When you see moral categories and boundaries being destroyed, like as we're seeing today with homosexuality, and now the whole transgender movement that's just escalating in its speed, what you have is a rapid defilement of the land.

I've been alive over a half a century, and the escalation of the defilement of the land is like nothing I've ever seen. And just for reference point, I grew up in the 60s. I know what defilement looks like. And we are in trouble. And there are three charges that are brought against the world.

Number one, they have transgressed the laws. Do you see that there in the text? They have transgressed the laws. There is such a high cost for transgressing the law of God. It defiles the land.

It causes people to be vomited out. And this transgressing of the laws of God, it has to do with diminishing and despising divine revelation. Prioritizing your own thoughts, prioritizing your own psychological understanding of whatever over God. It is for the people of God not to transgress the laws but to cleave to the laws, to understand the mind of God, to clean out your mind. Now there's so much garbage in our minds.

That's where the true garbage is. That's where the great pollution exists. And that's where we should start, is with our wrong thinking, how our thinking transgresses the laws of God. And those of you who were with us when we went through Deuteronomy, remember what happened? We were reading through Deuteronomy, and everyone was offended by something in Deuteronomy.

How can that be true? Or, I don't believe that. That's not just. That's not loving. And I think what we all realize is that our minds are so twisted, our thinking is so wrong, that when God says something, we want to accuse him of lack of love.

The problem is in our thinking. We grew up in this world and we think like the world and so when we read things in the Bible we say I don't agree with that. That won't go all that well with us, because God will bring everything to justice. He will make every mind right, finally, in heaven. I long for that day.

The older I get, the greater I'm impressed with the frailty and the corruption of my own thinking and living. But the reason this is happening is because they transgressed the laws. Secondly, they changed the ordinance. They changed the ordinance. This is probably a brother of transgressing the laws, changing the ordinance.

This has to do with exchanging the truth of God for a lie, changing what has been established. In other words, preferring to do what you would like to do rather than what God has told you already is good to do. God has told us what is good in so many places. Loving what He has said is good. Cleaving to what He has said is good is such a blessing to the people.

You know, When we innovate in the Church and try to create such a hip and cool place, you know, that may be hipper and cooler than God, something better than what God has called us to do. You know, I hope, you know, if you come back here in 20 or 30 years, this church is still singing, because God commanded the church to sing. The church is still reading the Scriptures, because God commanded the church to read the Scriptures. The church still has preaching. The church still has the Lord's Supper.

The church still has baptism. You know? I hope that when you come back that this church won't be full of antics and circus performances and all kinds of stuff like that, but that we're actually satisfied with God. And it's really another way of saying that scripture is sufficient. His ordinances are sufficient for your church life, for your family life, for your business life.

It's sufficient for everything. And the task of a Christian is to start thinking differently, to start thinking like God about your church and about your family and about your work life and about everything, about how you're supposed to be a husband, how you're supposed to be a father or a mother, how you're supposed to be a child. Come under the government of God. Order your life under His authority, because that's where all the blessing is. Because when you do, blessed shall you be in the city, Blessed shall you be in the country.

Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. But when you change the ordinance, you will be vomited out of the land. And then the third thing is for breaking the everlasting covenant. Breaking the everlasting covenant.

And this, you know, there are seven covenants that are communicated in the Bible. There's the covenant with God and Adam. There's the covenant with Noah. There's the covenant with Abraham and Moses and David and the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's the covenant of peace in the Messianic Kingdom.

So there are these various covenants. What covenant is he speaking about? Well, he calls it an everlasting covenant. And I would think that we should go to the end of Hebrews 13, where the writer of Hebrews speaks of the blood of the everlasting covenant. The blood of the everlasting covenant.

And I'm not 100% sure exactly the scope of this whole thing of the everlasting covenant, but it is at least this. When you reject the everlasting covenant, you're rejecting the way that God approaches man and man approaches God. Because God enters into a relationship with man. A covenant sort of is a deal. It's like a contract.

It's like striking a deal. When you enter into an agreement with someone, you're making a covenant. And it's mutual. It goes both ways. And to reject the covenant of God is to reject His deal for us and for us rejecting.

So it has to do with the rejection of God, about how God approaches man and how man approaches God. And this is what causes the defilement of the earth, The rejection of the everlasting covenant. I also think he must be alluding to the precious blood of Jesus Christ, rejecting the blood of Jesus Christ, rejecting the everlasting covenant of blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, not recognizing that Jesus Christ is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Not recognizing that He sacrificed His life for sinners, not recognizing that He was the substitute for the punishment of our sins, that He took our sins upon Him, and that He gave us His righteousness in return for our sins.

I think it's rejecting belief in Jesus Christ. It's not having faith. It's not having repented of your sins and turned to the living God. I think that has to do with the rejection of the everlasting covenant. And then the fifth characteristic of the judgment of God is that the curse devours the earth, verse 6, Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are desolate.

Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left." So there's this idea of a curse devouring the earth. By the way, when we get to chapter 27, we're introduced to a great monster, Leviathan. And Leviathan is the devil in chapter 27. And he is devouring, he is devouring the saints. And here you find the same kind of language, the curse is devouring the earth.

And Leviathan is devouring, he's devouring people. He's like a roaring lion, but he's like a dragon as well. And he's the accuser of the brethren. And he's devouring people. And here we find that this curse is devouring the earth, and all who dwell in it are desolate.

I think it's an acknowledgement of the devastating work of the devil in the world. And therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned and few men are left. And you know, So the apostates are removed and the remnant remains. A few are left. God here is separating the sheep and the goats, quite likely.

Or it could be some other judgment previously as well. And then number six, joy is gone, verses seven through nine. The joy is gone. The new wine fails. The vine languishes.

All the merry-hearted sigh. Verse eight, the mirth of the tambourine ceases, the noise of the jubilant ends, the joy of the harp ceases. They shall not drink wine with a song. Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it." So there are all these illustrations of, like for example, the sources of joy. New wine, He uses the term for freshly pressed wine here.

And later on in verse 9, he speaks of strong drink. It's a completely different word. But these things, they cannot lift the spirits. These people are trying to entertain themselves, they're trying to get their joy inoculation through their wine, through their strong drink, and it is not working. They've entertained themselves to death, but it's all over now.

And they cannot lift their spirits by those means anymore. We have a whole society that lives for the weekends. They get to hump day. You know hump day is when you're sliding down toward the weekend. Thank God it's Friday.

Our whole society, It just tries to inoculate itself to the pain by engaging in one entertainment after another. One interesting, fascinating, fun thing, but it never really does it, does it? Why is it that people can never stop? It's because they never can be satisfied by it. It doesn't satisfy them.

And that's what's happening. They're not happy through these artificial means. The way that one finds satisfaction of the soul is by seeking the Lord. That's how it happens. It's the only way it happens.

And then number six, the people are empty, verse 10. The city of confusion is broken down. The reason I titled this characteristic of divine judgment, empty, the people are empty, is because even though the New King James version translates it as a city of confusion, the word actually means emptiness. You know, the emptiness in the hearts of the people of the world is legendary. Everyone has felt it to some degree, and some to such a great degree.

Some to such a great degree that they, there is so much emptiness, the cavern is so deep that they finally end their lives. But most people don't do that. They just keep trying to fill it with the next thing to jack up their spirit. But here the people are empty and broken down. There's this internal reality.

And when a person is empty, it is a confused state without question. But thinking wrongly about everything makes you empty. Rejecting the Word of God makes you empty. It will absolutely deprive your soul, suck you dry, and leave you there with nothing. And then number eight, the eighth characteristic of the divine judgment is that people are isolated.

This is the second half of verse 10. Every house is shut up so that none may go in. The people aren't part of one another's lives. They bar the windows. They lock the doors.

They fear one another. It's a little bit like Sodom. When Lot lived in Sodom, he had to bar the door against the evil people of the city. He did not want to come out. It was too dangerous out there.

And life becomes lonely and terrifying in a city where people have rejected the Word of God. We happen to live in a city where people don't have to put bars on their doors. But all you have to do is go into other cities in America. Not very many of them. But you can go to many cities all over the world where they do bar the doors.

And the reason they bar the doors, like if you go to one of those countries And you see bars on the doors. It's a sign that people have set aside the Word of God. They have transgressed the laws of God. And it's a sign. You know, when you have to have so many policemen, it's a sign.

When you have to have so many policemen, it's a sign. When you have to have so many ways to protect your house, it's a sign. It's a sign that people have rejected the Word of God. And it's part of the way that God judges the world. He actually brings hardship to those who reject his word.

And here what we find is that the people are isolated from one another. It becomes a lonely life when people reject the Word of God. When people embrace it, it's different. And that really is a picture of heaven and hell. In heaven is this glorious relationship, all surrounding the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and the people of God rejoicing together for all eternity.

They're feasting. It is such a remarkably beautiful thing. All the tears have been wiped from their eyes, but not for those who have been separated from the mercy and grace of God through eternal judgment. They're being tortured day and night. And all they have is foul relationships.

All they have is abuse and torture. And I think this is both a picture of earth and it's also a picture of heaven. And the two ways that there are in the world. There are only two ways in the world. There's the broad way and the narrow way.

That's all there is. There are only two choices. But here, when you choose the world, what you get is isolation and emptiness and fear, and you fear your shadow. And you lock your doors just like everybody else has to number nine The wine does not help verse 11. There's a cry for wine in the streets all Joy is darkened the mirth of the land is gone.

There are three things here. There's wine and music and song, all here. These are the ways that people try, use to try to bless their lives and to make them feel differently than they feel. And all of these are very powerful, wine and music and song. The reason that I said that the wine does not help, I could just as easily have said the song does not help either.

And the music does not help either. Because Isaiah uses a word here in verse 11. He says, all joy is darkened. And it's a word that depicts something that is changing along a line, along a continuum. It is being darkened.

So it's getting darker and darker and darker and darker. So the wine just doesn't do what it used to do. The song doesn't do what it used to do. And the music doesn't do what it used to do. It's just getting darker and darker and darker.

That's what happens to you when you reject the Word of God. It just gets darker, progressively. And, you know, the devil is not stupid. He doesn't just make it, he doesn't make the lights just go out on you. It's progressive so that you don't see it.

You know, have you ever walked into, after being in a fairly dim room, going into a room of normal light, your eyes kind of hurt? Well, you didn't realize you were sitting in darkness because somehow progressively your eyes adjusted to it. And that's what happens with us in this world. And the wine and the song and the music, it progressively loses its power. But there is one thing that never loses its power.

It's the Word of God. It's sharper than any two-edged sword. It heals. It convicts. It separates good from bad in your own thinking.

And it's a blessing to you. But the wine does not help anymore. The mirth and the joy and the exaltation just gets dimmer and dimmer, even though you use more and more of it. Have you ever thought of why it is that most people in our society are always listening to something? Always.

Or they're always looking at something. Do you know why? Because they are trying to satisfy themselves in the midst of this ever darkening picture of their soul. And they just need more stimulation until all they will have is outside stimulation and they have nothing of themselves, nothing in themselves, just this external reality that isn't even real. And that's the tragedy of transgressing the laws of God.

They're such a high cost. And you just progressively become less and less of who God made you to be. Less and less a real person. Less and less someone who has something inside of them. And it is growing.

The Bible says that those who love God, that their righteousness gets brighter and brighter and brighter. It's a completely different picture. It's like from the dawn onto noon day. That's what happens to a believer. But to those who rejected the law of God and who are experiencing his judgment, they get a progressively darkening experience.

And the wine does less, and the song does less, and the music does less. So get more wine, get more song, get more music to fill it up. That's a picture of life in a society that's under judgment. And you end up with hollow people whose whole lives are coming from outside of them, and it never satisfies. And then finally, number ten, there's nothing but desolation left.

Verse 12, In the city desolation is left, and the gate is stricken with destruction." You can apply this to some temporal judgment, and you can apply it to final judgment. Take your choice. But Whatever it is, here's what we need to recognize from this passage of Scripture, and that is that there's such a high cost in transgressing the law of God. Why would we ever do such a thing to ourselves? Why would we ever do such a thing to our families and our nations and our churches?

Why would we do such a thing to enter into a trajectory of ever-increasing darkness? It's such a dangerous thing to turn away from God. It's so harmful. And here Isaiah is telling us that. Why would Isaiah tell us so much about divine judgment?

Why would he so carefully and systematically and deliberately and progressively show us what divine judgment looks like, so that we would flee to Jesus Christ, so that we would flee into the everlasting arms, so that we would embrace the everlasting covenant, so that we would believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. So that we would escape the judgment that's coming, because there is a judgment that's coming. And He has warned us many, many times in many, many ways across hundreds and hundreds of years, across hundreds and hundreds of nations. And now, explaining it, that it is a judgment that's coming across the whole world. But as the next verse will tell us, as we will learn next week, there is a remnant.

There are those who rejoice. There are those who believe. There are those who have repented of their sins and are held in the everlasting arms. And so Isaiah is bringing us judgment so that we can see the beauty of His mercy, so we can see what a glorious kingdom it is, what a good shepherd He is, what a kind Father He is, even to correct us so that we would be reminded of the glories of his own kingdom. And I know that many here in this church have suffered different reversals and conflicts this week and even sins, participating in the things that transgress the laws of God.

And so what do we do with that? We turn to the Lord. We cry out to Him. And As we turn our time in just a few moments to the Lord's Supper, it's such a marvelous opportunity to consider, to examine ourselves, to see how we have transgressed the laws of God, and to recognize how futile that is, but how wonderful it is to walk in His ways. Blessed shall you be in the city.

Blessed shall you be in the country. Let's pray. Lord, Lord, these images, terrifying, heart rending, and yet they show us the way that things really are. I pray, oh Lord, that you would help us this coming week to live in the light of these things that you have told us through Isaiah. Amen.