In his sermon titled 'Pride Will Take You Here,' Scott Brown explores Isaiah 16, highlighting the consequences of pride as seen in the example of Moab. The sermon emphasizes God's burden against the nations, particularly Moab, which is described as proud and self-deceiving. Brown interprets the call to 'send the lamb' as an appeal for repentance and atonement, linking it to the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who offers salvation. The sermon questions God's burden towards individuals, the church, and nations like the United States, encouraging self-reflection on pride and idolatry. Brown underscores the importance of seeking God's mercy and truth, cautioning against rejecting God's grace, which leaves one vulnerable as depicted in the imagery of wandering birds and exposed daughters. The sermon calls for a protective stance towards God's outcasts and stresses that God's long-suffering and desires for people's gladness and salvation persist despite human pride.

Isaiah 16. Send the lamb to the ruler of the land, from Salah to the wilderness, to the mount of the daughter of Zion, for it shall be as a wandering bird thrown out of the nest, so shall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon. Take counsel, execute judgment, make your shadow like the night in the middle of the day, hide the outcast, do not beray him who escapes. Let my outcast dwell with you, O Moab, Be a shelter to them from the face of the spoiler, for the extortioner is at an end. Devastation ceases.

The oppressors are consumed out of the land. In mercy the throne will be established, and one will sit on it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking justice and hastening righteousness. We have heard of the pride of Moab. He is very proud of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath, but his lies shall not be so. Therefore Moab shall wail for Moab.

Everyone shall wail. For the foundations of Kir-Hir-Seth you shall mourn. Surely they are stricken. For the fields of Heshbon language and the vine of Sibma, the lords of the nations have broken down its choice plants, which have reached to Jisr and wandered through the wilderness. Her branches are stretched out.

They are gone over the sea. Therefore I will wail the vine of Sibma. With the weeping of Jhazer, I will drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Eliela, For battle cries have fallen Over your summer fruits and your harvest. Gladness is taken away, And joy from the plentiful field. In the vineyards there will be no singing, nor will there be shouting.

No treaders will tread out wine in the presses. I have made their shouting cease. Therefore my heart shall resound like a harp for Moab, and my inner being for Kir Hares and it shall come to pass when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place that he will come to his sanctuary to pray but he will not prevail. This is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning Moab since that time. But now the Lord has spoken saying, Within three years, as the years of a hired man, the glory of Moab will be despised with all that great multitude, and the remnant will be very small and feeble.

Let's pray. O heavenly Father God, we come before you the Holy God of all that is, Father, and look upon your judgment of Moab. Father, we ask that you would come now and give us understanding, that you would wash your bride in the water of the word, Father, that you would cleanse us, show us our sins, Father, that we would also hear your word, your voice to us, your instruction in righteousness, Father, that we would hear and be instructed. Father, give us ears to hear, eyes to see. Give us your Spirit, Father.

Give Scott Brown your words to speak. Father, use him as your mouthpiece to your bride. In Jesus' name. It's been such a remarkable experience to walk through the testimony of the prophet Isaiah, to see The figures, the beautiful imagery, the nations, the complex types that are there, his logical progressions, the connections that he's making throughout scripture, because it's remarkable to read Isaiah and to see how many other places there are that these images and these figures exist. And to study Isaiah really is to expand the mind, it's to stretch the soul, it's to help us to understand more about the Word of God and the will of God.

And of course, Isaiah 16 is the second deposit of God's burden against Moab. And there is a burden against the nations that God has. There's a concern that he has. There's a compelling interest that he has upon the nations. And it's important for us to ask as we go through these judgments against the nations, what is God's burden toward us?

Because each of these nations has a particular burden. Babylon had its own sins. God had a burden against Babylon. Assyria and Philistia had a burden of the Lord against them as well, and so does Moab. And so, last week we were asking, what is the Lord's burden toward us?

First of all, us individually, but then what about us as a church? But even beyond that, what's God's burden for the United States of America, this land that we live in? We should always be asking that question. It's one of the most life-giving, helpful questions you can ever ask. What is God's burden toward me?

What is the thing that concerns the Lord toward me? And it's the pathway to sanctification. It's really the way to joy. It's the way to freedom and relief and the experience of the grace of God in your life progressively as it operates. Now, these things have been given to us for a purpose.

First Corinthians chapter 10, I think, is one of the most clear disclosures of this reality for how we should interpret the Old Testament. People are confused today about how to look at their Old Testament, but you shouldn't be confused at all. Turn to 1 Corinthians 10 and read the first few verses, and it'll all clear up. Why is this there? Well, it's there for you.

These nations, these situations, these personalities are there for an example. That's what Paul says to the Corinthians. And the example is set before us for a really specific reason. We're not left in the dark for why those are here. It's to teach us not to be idolaters because he's going to show us what idolatry looks like in so many different ways as he works his way through the interpretation of the history of the world, beginning in Genesis.

And so all these things were given to us as examples so that we might not learn how to be like Moab, at least in our case today. So here, before us, is set a helpful example for us. So we should be asking, how are we, as a church, like Moab? How is my family a little bit like Moab? How am I in my heart like Moab?

These are these are the critical questions and and so what is burdening the heart of the Lord is a critical matter and we we've we learned really as we've gone through these nations that God has a burden against. The burden is always resolved in the gospel, as it is right here in this passage here. The only way to deal with God's burden toward any of the various institutions and the people that God may have a burden against is through a belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ, to turn to Christ, to repent, to turn around and run toward him instead of away from him as a result of the weight of the burden of the Lord. And this chapter opens with the words, send the lamb. That's really a declaration of the Gospel.

This is Moab's greatest need and it is ours as well. So in chapter 16, here we have the Moabite nation. The Moabites are in love with their own pride. That's number one. Number two, They lie to themselves and everybody else.

Number three, they arrogantly curse other nations, particularly the people of God. You know, you can curse the Philistines, and it might not be so bad on you, but if you curse the people of God, the Bible says that I will bless those who you bless and I will curse those who you curse. And as was pointed out, I think so helpfully last week by Jonathan Sides, One of the great patterns of Moab, of the Moabites, is they invite those around them to sin with them. That's exactly what the daughters, original daughters of Moab did in that cave in Zohar. And they just kept doing that for over 1, 100 years until the final day of their destruction.

And so, chapter 16 shows us this picture of the Moabite nation. We've cited a number of other passages of scripture. Go to Jeremiah 48. We read two texts today, one out of Zephaniah and the other out of Amos. But I hope that we wouldn't pass this opportunity to really understand Moab.

By the way, the Bible is not done with Moab. It will be mentioned a number of other times, and we'll have an opportunity to learn more. But the question that really is raised by all this is, can there be any salvation or deliverance for anybody in Moab? Can there be? And the answer is yes.

Deliverance is found in the house of David. And Moab should look to David. Moab should look and pay tribute to the King. And that is to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. So this wider context now that we've laid down, you have Babylon and Assyria and Philistia and Moab who are being declared to be judged, and God is the Redeemer of those who turn to Him in all of these nations.

Okay, let's look at verse 1. Verse 1 is a call for repentance and atonement. And we have this remarkable statement, send the lamb to the ruler of the land, from Sila to the wilderness, to the mount of the daughter of Zion. And here, I think it's important to ask, who's speaking here? If you read various commentators, you'll find that some of the commentators say that there are different voices in Isaiah 16.

So as you as you read it, you might grapple with that. I did. But my conclusion after trying to grapple with that is that this is God speaking throughout. And once you establish that it's God speaking, the passage becomes a lot simpler to understand. But the first thing that God says to Moab is send the lamb to the ruler of the land.

So this is a call to action. It's an appeal to seek atonement from the only place from which there is atonement. And we see, first of all, what is sent. It's a lamb. There is this command to send a lamb.

And so this is an offer of grace. It's a call for reconciliation. God is kind enough to cry out even to his own enemies and call them to repent. You know, the Bible says that you are dead in your trespasses and sins, but yet God called you and he rescued you and he justified you. This is a picture of God calling to sinners for redemption and this redemption though does not come without a price.

There's a lamb that is involved And you can take this perhaps two different ways, and maybe actually both if you would like. First, it could be just an act of tribute of lambs, because the Moabites had been paying tribute to Judah for some time past. In 2 Samuel chapter 2 and 2 Kings 3 and 2 Samuel 8, you can see examples of how Moab was paying tribute of lambs to Judah. And in 2 Kings chapter 3 verses 4 and 5, we find that King Misha, the king of Moab, sent a hundred thousand lambs as tribute to Ahab and a hundred thousand skins of goats. And so that's why they call Misha the Mutton King.

And you know, these nations that were sending tribute to one another, many of them were kinfolk. I mean, of course Moab was in a way kinfolk to Israel. The Moabites were descendants of Lot and Lot was a righteous man, so says the Apostle Peter. Lot was justified by faith And it was out of that family that came all of these terrible things. And so you can see how the nations operated kind of either as kinfolk or as entities that were involved in diplomatic activity with one another.

If you're familiar with the Amarna letters, it's a discovery of a number of letters that were discovered that document the interactions between the nations, particularly Egypt and the other nations. But a lot of the nations that we're dealing with here, in this passage of Scripture in Isaiah chapter 13 to 23 are mentioned in the Amarna letters, but what you find are these nations are sending tribute to one another. And they often call the tribute gifts. They're sort of like gifts. And some of them probably were, particularly as the Israelite nations would even receive tribute from those around.

But I think most likely, rather than just tribute, there's far more involved here. It's a reference to atoning sacrifice for sin. And the sacrifice for sin was sent to the temple of God in Jerusalem, in Zion. So I believe this is a symbol of repentance toward God as evidenced by making sacrifices to God for sins that were committed. And the desire to be reconciled to God, and God comes and gives help to the wicked of this world and he says, send a lamb.

This is how God helps sinners to be saved and to be rescued. The word that he uses here is for lamb is a word that is not always used for lamb. It can also indicate the young for slaughter. The same word is used for the Passover lamb. And You know, when John the Baptist saw the Lord Jesus Christ coming toward him in John chapter 1, do you remember what he said?

He said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So when you read Isaiah saying, send the Lamb, consider that there's continuity in Scripture, that the figures of the Old Testament are fulfilled in the new, that the Lamb of the Old Testament is the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who takes away the sin of the world. And here you can see the continuity of it. The book of Revelation mentions Christ as the Lamb 20 times. And He is the lamb that is worthy to open up the scroll, and he brings judgment and reconciliation.

Augustine said this about the lamb, Why a lamb in his passion? For he underwent death without being guilty of any iniquity. Why a lion in his resurrection? For in being slain, he slew death." So here we have the figure of a lamb being sent as an atoning sacrifice to the mountain of Zion. And the picture should be clear enough for us.

And the lamb is sent to the mount of the daughter of Zion. Do you notice that there? The mount of the daughter of Zion. Do you notice that there? The mount of the daughter of Zion.

We've encountered the word mount and mountain of the Lord before. That should help us to understand what's happening here. But the lamb who is slain in the New Testament is on the throne. The Lamb is on the throne in the New Testament. The Lamb is sitting on the throne.

Christ. And here, the imagery is that the Lamb is sent to the mount of the daughters of Zion. And it's quite likely that this is indicating that the Lord Jesus Christ is being sent here, sent from Petra to Zion. It's the same path that Moses took with the children of Israel out of Egypt to go to Zion. It's the same path that the Lord Jesus Christ took when he fled Herod.

He went to Egypt and then God says, out of Egypt I have called my son. And out of Egypt his son comes and he travels this path to Zion. So this imagery should trip our thinking to go back and consider particular other places in scripture where this is spoken of because scripture Scriptures is just some random book of disconnected stories at all It's a single testimony and it really it really does bear witness to the inerrancy of Scripture. That it's all connected together. Even though it was written over many, many hundreds of years by many different kinds of people of all walks of life, in all eras of history.

And yet it all hangs together. It's such a marvelous picture. But here, there's this call for repentance and atonement, and the Lamb is sent as a sacrifice. For further study, you could go to Hebrews chapter 7 verse 26 where you can read about the Lamb of God who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners and has become higher than the heavens. Or Hebrews chapter 9 verse 12 where it is not with the blood of goats or calves, but by his own blood he entered the most holy place, once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

For if in the blood of bulls and goats and ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleansed our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. This language of send the lamb, it connects with everything that we learned about Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who was slain before the foundation of the world as an atonement for sinners, to stand as a sacrifice, to receive the punishment for sinners, to take all of the wrath of God upon his own body so that you would go free, so that you could hold your head up, so that you could have joy in his presence forevermore. And that's why God says, send the Lamb, go find relief, Trust in His atonement. Your sins are red like crimson, but they can be white as snow if you send the Lamb, if you trust in Him, and in Him alone for your salvation. You know, earlier in Isaiah we read that there are people who are saying to each other, come, let us go to the mountain of the Lord.

Why? Because there's redemption there, there's refreshment there, there's atonement there, the Lamb is there in the midst of the throne. He's actually sitting on the throne after having been sacrificed, and he stands to intercede for those whom he loves and who have been called according to his purpose. So there's this call for repentance and atonement in verse 1. And then you see, really a tragic scene in verse 2.

The wandering daughters, they're really an exposition of the tragedy of turning away from the Lamb of God, from refusing to obey. This is the desperation and the exposure of the daughters of Moab, for it shall be as A wandering bird thrown out of the nest. What a remarkable image. Someday it would be interesting just to collect up the imagery of Isaiah. It's so graphic.

It's so riveting. Now here you have a bird thrown out of the nest, wandering, having really no way of protection or anything, can be, you know, can be devoured at a moment's time. You know, we had an owl over near us, over on David's property that gave birth to two owls and they ended up on the ground. Now this is a big old mean owl mama that was there. I'm sure this owl could have taken care of a lot of small animals who could have, who might have wanted to come and eat their beater babies.

But eventually the babies disappeared. We don't know what happened to them. But there's nothing more vulnerable than a baby bird on the ground with no wings with which to protect itself through flight. And so Isaiah is graphically explaining just how vulnerable the people of Moab were by these two graphic images. The first, of course, is a baby bird on the ground, And then the second are daughters at the fords of the Arnon, a daughter at a border, a daughter at a border crossing where there are threats really from both sides.

And there's really nowhere to hide, but they're there, There's a river as a barrier before them, and how are they going to navigate? How are they going to get away? It's like that bird who really has nowhere to go. Now you have a daughter on a border in the midst of a war, And there's nothing more vulnerable than a young woman in a war, or any kind of woman in a war. And here you have this picture of a bird and a young girl that really show how exposed and dangerous it is to really reject the grace of God.

And she has not submitted to the requirements of her deliverance and as a result, you know, she's lost. And so there are these remarkable images here. You know, I'm really struck by the use of the image of the daughters. You know, picture your own daughter in the middle of a war, and you're the dad, and you're not there. And she's jammed up against a river that's a border.

And what is she going to do? Where is she going to go? She's in such a vulnerable and dangerous position. You know, women are so vulnerable in war. I don't know if you've ever read about the Battle of Stalingrad.

And Historians say that in the Concord area, there were a million Russian women in this one area who were all pregnant by German men as a result of the war there. There's nothing more vulnerable than a bird on the ground or a woman at a border river in a time of war. And that's the imagery that Isaiah is using here. And he's saying, if you reject my salvation, you just have to recognize what that does to you and how vulnerable you are. And yet on the other hand, how safe you are and how protected you are with God as your protector.

And so this also perhaps could be a picture of many things that we see in the Scripture. Perhaps even lost daughters as they were thrown out of Sodom, and then they just continued to seek their own ways apart from the Lord. And then there's a command from God here in verses 3 and 4. This is really interesting. You notice these are all commands of God.

You know, Send the Lamb. And then now this is another command. Take counsel and execute judgment. This is a command to the people of Moab to protect the outcasts. God is requesting that his outcasts be protected.

And so he says, take counsel and execute judgment. In other words, you better watch your step Moab. You better exercise judgment. Don't be stupid as you have been so many times for so many hundreds of years. And he's calling them to protect the outcasts.

So here in verses 3 and 4, notice very carefully that the outcasts are the center of the attention in these verses. And who are the outcasts? They're the scattered ones. They are the remnant of God in the surrounding nations. And you might ask, who's the outcast today?

And I would just like to suggest it's the person who lives in a pagan land, and they're following the Lord, and they're caught up even in the judgment of that land. And the outcasts are fleeing the world. They're trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. And there they are living in the midst of a fallen land, so fallen that war is upon it and there are tremendous dangers there. But they do know that they have a God in heaven.

They do look toward heaven. They are outcasts of the world, but yet no, they have an eternal home. They are sons and daughters and heirs and co-heirs of salvation. And yet they're trying to flee the world in the midst of a pagan society. In many ways, what is being commanded here is reflective of what Jesus spoke about in Matthew 25.

You have these people for which Jesus speaks of when he says, I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink." This is an appeal to act with mercy toward the people of God. For the pagan nation to treat the people of God with kindness. That doesn't often happen, does it? The pagan nations really aren't all that happy with the people of God, because the people of God say things that make them uncomfortable.

And the people of God call them to have one king and not to be the king. And So here this appeal is delivered. And there's much that actually Isaiah says about the outcasts. Already in chapter 11, verse 12, We read that God will gather the outcasts. This should be a comfort for all of God's people living in a pagan nation, who are in the midst of times of war and declension and different other kinds of things, economic collapse, moral collapse.

The outcasts are found everywhere. I think in some ways, you know, the true people of God in America could be classified as the outcasts. But Isaiah says that he, in chapter 11 verse 12, he says, He will set up a banner for the nations and will assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth." He'll set up this banner and the outcasts will be there and they'll be gathered together. In Isaiah chapter 27, Isaiah tells us that there's going to be a trumpet that's going to assemble the outcasts. I don't know if this is the last trumpet.

I don't think so. I think it's the trumpet of the heart that says, you know, repent, believe in the gospel, and you become an outcast as a result of that. But he says in Isaiah 27, so shall it 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." And so here you find the daughters of Zion, which are the people of God, the outcasts. They're like a bird on the ground. They're like a daughter at a border river.

And God is commanding the pagans to take care of them. He's calling for government and protection. Notice the language that he uses in 3 and 4. I just want to point out to you, look at the words that are used. He's commanding them to be a shadow, to protect them.

He's almost saying, let them sit under your shadow. That close. And then the word hide, in other words, do not displace them, hide them, keep them from harm. Do not betray. In other words, don't expose them and then let them dwell with you.

Shelter them. Those are the words that he uses and so it's very clear what he's saying. And he also warns them in the midst of this appeal to protect them. And he says that he's ending their run as the extortioner and the oppressor. For the extortioner is at an end Devastation ceases the oppressors are consumed out of the land in other words you better stop doing what you're doing You better stop cursing my people because the extortioner is at an end and you are the extortioner the oppressor is is going to be consumed and you are the oppressor.

Remember how earlier in Isaiah he said, rebuke the oppressor? Here we go. Moab is now receiving some of the rebuke that they will receive. And so then Isaiah in verse 5 speaks of something that I think is really the heart of the matter. And maybe it answers the question, why should you take care of the people of God?

Why should you do this? And it's because there's a throne, there is a throne that is established. Now, in your understanding of Isaiah 16 and the whole testimony about Moab, I want to suggest that verse 5 really is the heart of this text. And in the heart of the text is the heart of the Gospel. And you see, first of all, a throne.

It pictures a king on his throne. In mercy, the throne will be established. And one will sit on it in truth, the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking justice and hastening righteousness." Now, does this sound like an Old Testament verse to you? I mean if you just pulled that out of context and read it one day, would you say, is this the Old or the New Testament? To me it sounds so much like the New Testament.

Here you have a king on his throne. And this is one of the great themes of Isaiah, that Christ is coming to establish righteousness and justice. And There are five qualities of this king and his throne. And there are various words that are used to express it. Number one, mercy.

This is the throne. This is the rulership of God. This is His kingdom. It's mercy. He uses that Hebrew word chesed.

Mercy is literally sitting on the throne, not the brutality and the self-indulgence of Moab. Not the aggressive, selfish, prideful acquisition of Moab, but no mercy. This is God. When someone says, trust Christ, they're saying, trust the only source of mercy, run to mercy. And mercy is sitting on the throne.

This is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, this unmerited grace of God that exists. You know, It says that the Lord Jesus Christ, John does in chapter 1, he says that, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace. He's full of grace. So here we are, right? We're a church.

We're sitting here and we are gathered in the name of Jesus Christ. And we're really gathered in the presence of mercy. When you come before God, you come before mercy. And then truth. He's full of grace and truth.

Truth is another very common Hebrew word that's used all over the Old Testament and math. It's the faithfulness of God. And then judging. He will come judging and he will be seeking justice. And so he comes with grace, he comes with mercy and truth and judgment.

He comes with everything that we need. Mercy without judgment and judgment without mercy are sick, and yet mixed together in perfect unity and divine wisdom. They're and divine wisdom. They're a beautiful thing. And then also, this one is hastening righteousness.

He is hastening righteousness. Righteousness is a standard. Righteousness is a declaration of what is right and wrong. There's righteousness and unrighteousness. There's what's good and what is bad.

Here he comes in righteousness with a dividing line with light and darkness and truth and error. And He is the one of righteousness. And so here we have all of these things are in the tabernacle of David. When he uses the term tabernacle, he's quoting Amos 9, where we read, On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and repair its damage. I will raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old.

Here Isaiah is prophesying the time of Jesus Christ when the tabernacle of David will be restored and rebuilt. Peter speaks of the very same thing. In Acts chapter 15 he's speaking in the Jerusalem council and he's speaking of the power of God to save the filthy Gentiles and to contradict the Judaizers who want to say that every Gentile has to get circumcised. And Peter's saying, no, the ceremonial law has passed away. And he quotes this passage.

He says, I will return and rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen down. I will rebuild its ruins and I will set it up." So when Isaiah is speaking of the tabernacle of David, recognize that he is speaking of something of tremendous significance. He is speaking really of, ultimately, the coming of Jesus Christ and the rebuilding of the tabernacle of David, and actually making a tabernacle in your heart. He rebuilds the tabernacle in the heart of the believer, and you are a tabernacle, and the church is also a tabernacle of God. It's a dwelling place of God.

And while on the one hand, God gives you a tabernacle, a home in heaven. His home is also in you. And it's prophesied right here. And God is appealing to the Moabites that there is a throne. It will not be overthrown and you had better wake up But they don't wake up and that brings us to verse 6 We have heard of the pride of Moab he is very proud of his haughtiness and of his pride and his wrath, but his lies shall not be so." So the pride of Moab is exposed and it remains unbent.

There are very few in Moab whose pride was broken by the grace of God, it had to be broken by the wrath of God, because those are really the only two alternatives you have. Either God breaks your pride through His grace and His mercy, He draws you with cords of love, or He destroys you in everlasting torment and fire." Here Moab's pride remains unbroken. If you look at verse 6 with me, please, the very first word, we, we have heard. Now the Lord is speaking. We is God.

And I want to suggest that this is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. They are speaking. And they do have conversations with one another. Do you remember in the Psalms where you read, the Lord said to my Lord, there are conversations going on in heaven. And This looks to me like almost, there's sort of an offstage comment being made about Moab.

God has been speaking directly to Moab, delivering commands to Moab, but now do you see the change in verse 6? Now he's just talking about Moab as if Moab is just sitting over there. He's been looking Moab in the eye and saying, send the lamb, protect my outcasts. Now he says, we have heard of the pride of Moab. Now he's talking about Moab.

So there's this, the burden of the Lord is now the focus of this conversation. And the pride of Moab is the burden of the conversation. Because Moab has rejected the offer of salvation. Why? Pride, haughtiness, wrath, lies.

And in order for Moab to be saved, then she must renounce her pride. And She must say that she sought her own glory, that that was all that she cared about, and what she did was for her own glory. But the language here is fascinating to me because in this conversation that the Lord is having in heaven, He's saying something about the pride of Moab that we shouldn't miss. And that is that the Moabites were proud of their pride. Do you see that?

He is very proud of his haughtiness and his pride. So it wasn't that he was just proud. He was proud of his pride. He loved his pride. It was part of his culture.

It was a culture of pride. It was a chest-beating kind of culture. Where they loved to dominate, they loved to slander, They loved to be on top. That's really all they wanted. They just wanted everything from themselves and they were proud of it.

This is not a kind of people who would be deferring in any way. Cultures have different characteristics, don't they? Perhaps our culture might go down in history as the history of quote-unquote tolerance, right? It was a culture of tolerance. Well here, and we're sort of proud of our tolerance, aren't we?

I mean, we're just so broad thinking, you know, we're so encompassing and magnanimous, you know, we are just so accepting of everything, you know, if you want to, you know, be accepted in this world, then just be so accepting of everything except just a couple things. Like, how about the gospel? And then now, you know, tolerance dies on any acceptance of the gospel. But here, you know, pride was the cultural milieu of Moab. They were proud of their pride.

In other words, they were sort of like Blind to it, you know, I think it was Richard Baxter or Jonathan Edwards when we were talking about the about pride earlier he said pride pride is a self-deceiving sin because it keeps you from seeing it your pride blinds you from seeing your pride but I don't it was it was not like that at Moab they were proud of their pride they loved their pride and so you know pride pride can become a mark of your life. I was reading to Deborah this week in Psalm 76, and we came across this. 76 verse 6, therefore pride serves as their necklace. Pride serves as their necklace. That was like the Moabites.

And you know, When you try to roll up Moab's legacy, I want to suggest that it had to do with pride, lying to yourself and inviting others to sin, and then finally, dishonoring and cursing the people of God. Now, as we go through these different nations, you'll find these national characteristics. We should always ask, how are these characteristics in me? And then the result of the judgment for the pride is found in verse 7, and you'll see this next point on your outline number six the results of God's judgment against Moab's pride is explained there therefore Moab shall wail for Moab everyone shall wail for the foundations of Kir Harisheth you shall mourn. Surely they are stricken.

For the fields of Heshbon languish, the vine of Sibba, the lords of the nations have broken down its choice plants, which have reached to Jaser and wandered through the wilderness. So now here we find they're weeping for one another. You know, brother looks upon brother and they weep for one another. It's like, it's like us looking at each other and seeing what has happened. You know, I look and see what has happened to you, and I weep.

And you see what has happened to me, and you weep for me. So Moab is weeping for Moab. This is what happens. You look at one another and you say, what has happened to us? A terrible thing has happened.

Pride, instead of doing what you hoped it would do, to put you on top, pride takes you down to wailing. You think you'll go up, that it takes you down, And it causes these foundations to be destroyed. And it causes the physical pride, causes prosperity to be destroyed. And again these cities are mentioned. Sibma, this is a Rubenite city that was taken over after Ahab died, when Moab went on the offensive.

The name of the town means coolness and fragrance. That's gone now. Heshban was the city of Sihon. It was a Rubenite land that the Moabites had taken over. Kirharisheth was the capital of Moab.

The word means raisin cakes. It was known for its delicious raisin cakes. Jezur is in the north. But their pride Expanded beyond their boundaries and God is now going to chop them off and bring them into desolation And then I think one of the most remarkable things is revealed here in verse 9 After all of this what does God do God has had this conversation? We have seen the pride of Moab, but what does He do?

He weeps. He weeps for Moab. Therefore, I will bewail the vine of Sibma with weeping of Jaser. I will drench you with my tears, O Heshvon and Elielah." You know, in chapter 15, in the previous chapter, the Lord is weeping for Moab. Now the Lord is weeping with Moab.

And this is God's sorrow for His children who are astray. You know, children, parents can understand this. They can easily relate to having a child who's gone astray, and to have heartache for that child as they're flowing down the currents of self-destruction and they languish night after night. This is God, a merciful parent for those of his children who are being destroyed. You know, it's remarkable to me how many times God reached out to Moab.

How many times God showed himself merciful and powerful. You see the patience and the mercy of God. Think of it in terms of the timeline of Moab. You know, Moab got its start right after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, right? James Usher says that that was in 1890 BC when Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed.

1890 BC. And how did Lot and his daughters get out of Sodom? An angel. God sent them an angel. And they rejected the holy overtures of the angel, at least in the way that they applied their rescue from destruction.

And then God sent Moses to Moab in about 1445 BC, when he was going with the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. God sent Moses right by, but they would not rejoice in Moses. And then God sent Joshua 40 years later, and they would not rejoice in Joshua. And then God sent David at around 1000 BC and they would not embrace Zion. And then God sent Isaiah in around 700 BC and they would not embrace, but they would still go to the high places.

And then God sent Jeremiah a hundred years later. And so God had been speaking to Moab for about 1190 years from the beginning of the people, and God continued to send prophet after prophet, people after people who would stand as a witness to the grace of God. And yet, Sodom had become so deeply enmeshed in their soul that they could not turn. You should be very, very careful at any seed of the sodom that is sown in your soul, because you have no idea what it might do to you. You see the long suffering of God here.

God is speaking to Moab for over 1100 years. It's the long suffering of God. And here, you know, God is demonstrating what he wrote to us in the New Testament, rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. He's now weeping for Moab. And then the reasons for his weeping are itemized here.

First of all, there are battle cries instead of summer fruits. For battle cries have fallen over your summer fruits and your harvest. Now, I'm going to tell you, because it's disclosed by Isaiah, why God is weeping. What brings God to tears? And here, it's because of the summer fruits and the harvest are not existent because there are battle cries.

Because there's battle in the land. No one is taking care of their gardens. And then the gladness is lost. Look at verse 10. Gladness is taken away.

And joy from the plentiful field. You know, this just shows you about God's intentions for you. He desires your gladness. He is for your gladness. He gives you the oil of gladness.

And God weeps for His people when their gladness dies. And if any of you young people especially, you want to know what God is for in you. Gladness. And do you know what turning away from Him will do to you? You know, it's the end of your gladness.

This is so true. I know this is true. To me, this is one of the things that so moved me in the days, in the early days of my conversion. I saw the gladness. I remember when the gladness was dead.

And when gladness was made alive. And so now, many, many, many years later, my hair is gray, and I know the gladness of the Lord. I know that it's true that God's intention for you is for your gladness. It's such a motivation to turn toward Him for the happiness that's in His kingdom, for the beauty of that kingdom. There's nothing like it.

Why would we ever turn away from the source of all gladness? That's what Moab did. It stands as a warning for us. And then there's no singing. In the vineyards there will be no singing.

He delighted in their vineyards. He delighted in their work. Even the Moabites, he delighted in what they were doing in taking dominion over the land and beautifying it and creating these beautiful vineyards. He loved their work. That gives you an insight in God and His disposition toward you in the things that you're making with your hands as a result of your obeying Him to take them in.

He delighted in their vineyards. He says there's no shouting. In other words, When the harvest comes in and they're shouting, and it happened, you were fed that day, you're around the table with your family and the food is right there, and it tastes good, and your wife made it, and the little olive plants are around your table, and you're eating the fruit of your hands, that's gone. It breaks God's heart and He weeps when you don't have that. When you're eating the bread of sorrows, running around like a chicken with your head cut off and You can't be thankful and you're just running from the wrath of God.

God so desires, you're shouting. And He says, there will be no treaders in the wine presses. I have made their shouting cease. And then in verse 11, the heart of God again is revealed, Therefore my heart shall resound like a harp for Moab, And my inner being for Kir-Heresh. My heart, his innermost being, the heartstrings of God.

Did you ever think that somehow the heartstrings of God could be played by the people of God? Yes, true. It is true. God has heartstrings. And I don't really understand how the infinite God who knows everything can actually, in some way, in some, I say this very carefully, In some sense, the heart of God can be played by man.

His heart is moved. Though he is sovereign, Though he is unmovable, his heart is moved. You know, it's like this, you can quench the Holy Spirit. You can push him away. You can actually grieve the Holy Spirit.

You can also make the heart of God resound like a harp, either for good or for bad. He is affected by those whom He has created. He is moved by those whom He has made. It's a remarkable thing that's here that Isaiah is revealing to us. And then the weariness of Moab is exposed in verse 12.

You know, not only is their gladness gone, but their life is weary. Weary, The word that he uses here in verse 12, And it shall come to pass when it is seen that Moab is weary upon the high place, That he will come to his sanctuary to pray, but he will not prevail." Weary. That means grieved, faint, exhausted. That's what you get. That's what you get for all your worldliness of the world.

Their idols cannot help them. They're ineffectual. They're underperforming. They never deliver on their promise of freedom. They never do.

And they do not prevail. It does nothing. You know, when you go to the high places, apart from God, there's no satisfaction there. I don't know if you read in the news last week, Mick Jagger's girlfriend killed herself. You know, here are these multi-millionaires, you know, popular, all over the world.

And here is a girl who kills herself who is Mick Jagger's girlfriend. We learned, I don't know if you knew this, but five of Mick Jagger's girlfriends have committed suicide. How about that? That we know of. I mean, this is what you get from the high places.

Weeriness. You do not get the satisfaction that's promised. It is not there. And yet God is standing there with his offer of a lamb, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He's there with his desires for you, for your gladness, for your singing, to rejoice in the work of your hands, to be before him, to be one who has had his sins atoned for.

And then you find the final destruction of Sodom, but it's actually not the final destruction. It's the final destruction before the final destruction. There's a sense of finality about it, but I think it's most likely that this is a great blow to Moab that he is speaking about here. It's a great blow. In verses 13 and 14, this is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning Moab since that time.

But now the Lord has spoken saying, within three years, as the years of a hired man. The glory of Moab will be despised with all that great multitude, and the remnant will be very small and feeble." So there is a punishment coming here, And my understanding of this is that there's a great punishment that Isaiah is speaking of, but there's a greater punishment that Jeremiah speaks of in Jeremiah 48, verse 4, where Jeremiah says that Moab is destroyed. Remember when Isaiah quotes the Lord and he says, Why should I strike you again? You will revolt more and more. God has been striking Moab to get Moab to return.

And here is another striking that's taking place, prophesied by Isaiah. And it will come on time. And as a result, there will be a very, very small remnant. Let me give you just some applications very quickly. First of all, beware of Sodom alive in your soul.

Sodom had sown its seeds and the seeds grew. But the seeds of Sodom will always be destroyed. So don't even sow them. What you sow, what you love, will be destroyed. And if what you love will be destroyed, you will be destroyed.

Number two, don't despise the people of God. That was a big mistake that the Moabites made. Number three, recognize that God is patient. 1190 years of God's patience. That's another way to look at this story.

How God would send Moses and Joshua and David and Isaiah and Jeremiah and Amos and Zephaniah to speak, and yet they would not listen. But just see the patience of God. You know, God has His hand held out. He offers, He calls to send the Lamb. He calls those who are caught in their sins to be relieved of their sins.

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. God's patience is meant to bring repentance. So brothers and sisters, send the Lamb, the God who judges the world from His throne and who takes away the sin of the world, says send the Lamb. Would you pray with me? Lord we thank you for the remarkable depth and height and width and length of the wisdom from heaven, your great patience with sinners, your great love for the broken, your heart's desire for gladness of heart.

Amen. Let's take a few moments just to meditate on these things and then we...