Intro- We left off last Sunday speaking about how that the Lord had raised up Judah as a Father providing for her like a normal father would his children. We seen that God had called for heaven and earth to listen... We also said that this is a metaphorical challenge. By that I mean the call in reailty was to Judah to view how heaven and earth response to him as creator, and yet after all that he had done for them they did not consider. In fact he charges them in the latter part of vs 2 with rebellion which is the sin of witchcraft. Tonight we will continue too list the charges that the Lord has brought against this nations of people and its leadership.

THE LESSER CREATION ACKNOWLEDGING ITS OWNER.. "The Ox Knoweth and the donkey knoweth"...vs 3 The two animals that are mentioned in this text as having knowledge to comprehend its owner is a God given instinct in them. When I was a boy growing up in La we had a small truck farm, we had a few cows, chickens, horses and other animals, it  was here that I learned how this is true. My dad could walk out into back yard toward the pasture and hear they come, they would follow him like I did, that is what Isaiah is saying here. Note....My people doth not know...This lack of perception is based upon a number of things..

a. Sin removes from our minds a correct knowledge of the Lord. Hosea 4:1 Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because [there is] no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.

Paul said to the church at Corinth..1 Corinthians 15:34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak [this] to your shame.

We have a duty in reference to this..2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

b. Sin leads too a forsaking of God..vs 4

Jeremiah 2:19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that [it is] an evil [thing] and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear [is] not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

The thing that causes us to slip easily by the wayside and most of the time we are so narrow minded that we cannot see it..IT IS THE LOVE OF THIS WORLD..

2 Timothy 4:10 For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.

It is a dangerous thing to carry on a love affair with the world, because of what the Lord has said about it..

a. The fact stated..."Why Will You DO IT".. vs 7

Ezekiel 33:11 Say unto them, [As] I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

We have been know to say Why do they do that, why will they not come to church, why do they not see this, coupled together with their sins, is the willfulness of their heart to forsake that which is right.

b. The condition it leaves them.. vs 5-9

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it? They absolutely make no effort whatsoever to do anything about the condition they are in, no one will take a serious look at their hearts and consider the awful condition they are in.

It is a ancient problem...Genesis 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man [was] great in the earth, and [that] every imagination of the thoughts of his heart [was] only evil continually.

It is a double problem.. Psalm 12:2 They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: [with] flattering lips [and] with a double heart do they speak.

"The whole country is affected" vs 7

Moses had foretold of this day...

Deut 28-47-51 Actually what is happening here is the realization of the curses that God had put upon them in the Law and this will be the manifestation of it until Israel falls. In verse 8 we see the sole surviving city of Zion...she stands alone, the land that once flowed with milk and honey, was reduced to a mere garden of cucumbers..

This is mentioned throughout the book of Isaiah...let us look at a few of them.

Isaiah 10-20-23

The hope that we have in the Lord is all that we have..and it is all that the prophet who was proclaiming to this people that God would indeed preserve a remnant because of the seed of the woman the Lord Jesus Christ.

a. It is through the word of God that we have and will remain to have hope.. Romans 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

b. It is through the Holy Spirit that we have patiently wait in hope for what the Lord promises.. Galatians 5:5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

c. Christ in us is the hope of glory.. Colossians 1:27 To whom God would make known what [is] the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

There is no reason to hope in anything for any sinner but Christ...he is the sum and substance of all that God ever promised to Israel and to the gentiles. And it very clear at least to me that the Lord fulfilled all the promises made to the fathers. This is why that he is called the SPIRIT OF PROPHECY...

Lessons to learn...

1. Learn that it is foolish to once taste the goodness of God and then forget him. Deuteronomy 6:12 [Then] beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

2. Learn that it is likewise foolish to forget and think that we can get by with it...Gal 6-7-9

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