This morning we return to part two of a discourse on God's judgment on a failed vineyard. So will you take your Bibles and turn to Isaiah chapter five? We're actually studying Mark 12 but in order to better understand what Jesus is saying in Mark 12, we need to step aside and understand his illustration taken out of Isaiah five. Let me remind you of the context. It's been a while since we were together, and I want to make sure you get the flow here of what's happening. It is the Wednesday before Christ's crucifixion. And he has forcefully taken over and occupied the temple precincts. He has humiliated the Jewish leaders who are scheming to kill him, and he has been preaching the gospel to many people. And that temple area, which could have been several 1000 people, and now with a large crowd gathered around him in Mark 12, verses one one and following, Jesus gives a parable of a vineyard that had been perfectly prepared, had been perfectly cared for and therefore you would expect that vineyard to produce wonderful fruit. But instead, it produced worthless inedible berries. And of course, this symbolized all that God had done for Israel and, unfortunately, the way she had turned out. And in this parable, in Mark 12, Jesus quotes, the same parable in Isaiah five. And the purpose of the parable in Isaiah five is basically twofold-- as well as what he's saying and Mark 12-- basically to expose the outrageous wickedness of the religious leaders; the vine growers who were given the responsibility of caring for this vine of Israel, that he had planted and cared for so carefully. But the second purpose was to steer his audience toward self condemnation, to actually pass judgment on themselves because no rational person listening to the parable would side with the wicked vine growers, but instead, they would denounce them in the strongest terms, and in so doing pass judgment on themselves.

So to better interpret and apply Jesus parable in Mark 12, we must examine the historical background of Jesus combination, along with the specific categories of sin that kindled his wrath against Israel many years prior. And now once again, in the first century. The last time we were together, we examined this whole historical context where God speaks through Isaiah to warn Judah of impending judgment because of her wickedness. There were really three categories that we looked at: number one, the Lord's rigorous preparation of the vineyard. Secondly, the Lord's reasonable expectation of the kind of fruit it should produce, and then finally, the Lord's righteous retribution. And that's where we're at here today to finish this up. And in that context of his righteous retribution, is indictment is made up of six categories of evil that finally kindled his wrath against them. And each one of these categories of sinfulness begins with the word "woe."

By way of review--because we looked at the first three the last time we were together--the first sin was that of covetousness, avarice, greedy materialism, which was a violation of the 10th commandment. As we read in Exodus 20 and verse 17, God said, "You shall not covet." Which means to selfishly desire, or somehow take pleasure in your neighbor's house. "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." And so with this background, knowing that they had violated that, and many different ways, he said, as he says, in Isaiah five and verse eight, woe to those who add house to house and join field to field, until there is no more room, so that you have to live alone and the midst of the land!" And you may recall that the problem here was that wealthy land speculators, wealthy people, would devise ways of driving out poor people from their land, and then they would steal their property to create for themselves enormous estates. And as we read here in the text, they would "add house to house," which basically means they would take an existing structure, and they would just keep adding on to it and adding on to it, until they had their own magnificent, massive mansion. This also, by the way, disregarded the law that God had gave them concerning land ownership. The land was sacred to the Lord. It was a sacred trust that he had given to the people. Individual families were allowed to live on their own land, but it was all part of his estate. And the land they possessed as his stewards was an inheritance from the Lord and it was supposed to remain in those families. But obviously, all of this went awry because of the sin of covetousness.

And I might add that this sin of covetousness, wanting that which you do not have; being discontent with what has given God has given you, is a very wicked thing. And it rules the hearts of many people, especially in our culture, especially those who do not find their satisfaction and joy in the Lord. But instead, they have to have other things that they feel will bring them happiness. Well, God went on to promise Judah, a taste of hell on earth because of their covetousness; promising famine conditions in the lands that they had stolen. And I might add, and bear this in mind now, when Jesus accused the Pharisees in Mark 12, he's accusing them of the same thing. Because they too were guilty of robbing the poor to enrich themselves.

The second woe was that of dissipation or drunken debauchery, gluttony, self-indulgence and so forth. Verse 11, "Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may pursue strong drink, who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them!" And as I brought out the last time we were together, the issue here is not so much in temperance and the wickedness of drunkenness and alcohol addiction that this describes--as wicked as that is, but rather, you go on to look at the next verse. The real issue is a refusal to pay attention to the deeds of the Lord and consider the work of his hands; all that God has done with respect to creation, and redemption. People that live that way give no thought of that which is truly important, and they deal with things that are eternally inconsequential. Few people ever pensively reflect on the realities of what God has done is doing and will do in those who live that way; Paul says in Romans one "are without excuse." Romans one and verse 20, and in verse 21, he goes on to say why, "for even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened." And to be sure, those that are alcoholics, that are kind of constantly inebriated, are constantly using some kind of chemical to add all their emotions; those type of people never give thought to the deeds of the Lord or the works of his hand. They have no desire to know the God of history and redemption. And so they are devoted to self-indulgence, and pursuing the fleeting pleasures of this world, with no regard for the glory of God. And with respect to the ancient people of Judah, they too were unable to discern these things; the things that they heard from the prophets, as well as that which had been given to them and the scriptures, and they therefore ignored the warnings of the prophets. So God pronounced judgment on them in verse 13. "Therefore My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge; and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude is parched with thirst. Therefore, Sheol has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth without measure and Jerusalem splendor, her multitude, her den of revelry and the jubilant within her descend into it. So the common man will be humbled and the man of importance abased, the eyes of the proud also will be abased. But the Lord of hosts will be exalted in judgment, and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness. Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and strangers will eat in the waste places of the wealthy."

The third sin that they were guilty of is that of mockery. They blasphemed God, they dared God to judge them. Verse 18, "Woe to those," God says, "who drag iniquity with the cores of falsehood, and sin as if with cart ropes." In other words, they exert themselves to sin, like beasts pulling a heavy float of iniquity. We see this for example, the gay pride parades and things like that that are so reprehensible in our culture. Verse 19, he went on to say what they say, "'Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work that we may see it; and let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel Draw near and come to pass that we may know it!'" Of course, this depicts the utter disregard even contempt for the moral authority of God. This is spiritual arrogance at its worst. This is depraved defiance--strike me down if you're there. That's the attitude. And Jeremiah also described the same kind of ridicule that he endured. We read about this in Jeremiah 17:15. He says, "Look, they keep saying to me, 'Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come now!'" And you see, that was the zeitgeist of that day, as it is in our culture. In other words, the spirit of the age, the general attitude that resulted in behaviors, that dominated their culture. And we again, see this so prevalent here today. And it's fascinating in Isaiah chapter eight the first four verses, we read something more about this particular mockery. There Isaiah says, "Then the Lord said to me, 'Take for yourself a large tablet and write on it in ordinary letters: Swift is the booty, speedy is the prey.'" In other words, I want you to take a large placard and I want you to engrave on that and Hebrew, "Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz," which means "quick to the plunder swift to the spoil." Which depicted the speedy and the imminent defeat of Israel and Aram also known as Syria, under the hands of the Assyrians. And in verse two of Isaiah eight it says, "'And I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, Uriah the priest and Zechariah, the son of Jeberechiah.' So I approached the prophetess," which by the way, just means the wife of a prophet; she had no miraculous abilities and this is Isaiah's wife, "and she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the LORD said to me, 'Name him name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz; for before the boy knows how to cry out 'My father' or 'My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria." So he announced his son's name before he was even conceived, which underscored the in editability of his birth. And the certainty, therefore, of the Assyrian invasion, that would occur before Isaiah's child was even able to say daddy or mommy. Walvoord and Zuck state quote, "Isaiah's son, Maher-shalal-hash-baz, was a sign of the coming break in the Aram-Israel alliance against Judah. In about a year and nine months--nine months for the pregnancy and one year of the child's life-- Assyria would plunder both Damascus, which was Aram's capital city and Samaria, Israel's capital. This happened in 732 BC, which confirms the date of 734 for Isaiah's prophecy, and when Damascus and Samaria fell, all Judah should have turned to God, as Isaiah had told them to do. But unfortunately, Uriah, one of the two witnesses, followed Ahaz's orders after 732 BC, and changed the temple worship, to conform with the pagan worship practiced at Damascus." Unbelievable. Folks, I don't want you to lose the big picture of what the Spirit of God is saying here, through the prophet. In this series of woes, which again, have practical applications for each of us individually, as well as all nations as a whole, one must expect mockery of God's promised judgment to follow those first two categories of wickedness. There's a progression of sin that we see here. I mean, think about it, those whose hearts are filled with covetousness are ruled by every imaginable form of loss. They have no fear of God. They fear climate change in our culture, they fear disease, they fear terrorism threats from other nations, but they have no fear of God. They're too busy going after other things that they think will make them happy in life. And even though they know he exists; they will not submit to Him. Paul says in Romans one that they "suppress the truth in unrighteousness." In verse 20, he says, "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse." Now, what's the best way to somehow suppressed the inconvenient truth of inescapable divine judgment because of a holy God that you have offended? Well, the answer is simple. Anesthetize, anesthetize. Silence your conscience with alcohol, with drugs, with parties, with entertainment, with materialism, and then join the mockery mob in blaspheming God; daring him to judge you. Why do you think we have such a drug and alcohol problem in our country? It's such a materialistic problem. And the result of this is people are unable to discern the truth of who God is. They're blind to according to Isaiah 5:12, "the deeds of the Lord and they do not consider the work of His hands." Reminds me of First Corinthians 2:14, that to the natural man, the unsaved man, "the things of the Spirit of God"... "are foolishness." The text says, "and he cannot understand them," because he's spiritually appraised. So what do people do? They mock God. They shake their fist in his face and dare him to judge them. I'm going to live the way I want to live. I don't care what God says in His Word. And when I look at his word, I'm going to twist his word to somehow make it say that which will help me fulfill my agenda. So people laugh at the thought of God's judgment. Isn't an interesting despite the evidence of God's past judgments that we see in Scripture, and in the annals of history, not to mention the undeniable evidence of a worldwide flood, despite all of that, people today laugh at the thought of the Second Coming of Christ and the judgment that he has promised. And isn't it incredible that approximately 1200, or I'm sorry, 2500 prophecies that are in the Bible, about 2000 of them have been fulfilled literally. In fact, the Old Testament contains more than 300 references to the Messiah of Israel, that Christ fulfilled when he came. Despite all of that, people laugh at what God has said.

Well, with all of this, the next category of sin that God promised to judge will be of no surprise. They progress from the woe against covetousness, dissipation and mockery to number four perversity. The sin of perversity; a practice by perverts who redefine morality. And this is one of Satan's most powerful and most deadly deceptions. Those who think they know better than God, and therefore they have a skewed perspective of right and wrong. I was thinking of Proverbs 11:20, as I was studying this, "The perverse in heart are an abomination to the Lord." And that's what we see in this fourth woe. Notice it in verse 20. "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness."

Now, throughout Scripture, light and darkness symbolizes good and evil. And here we basically have a description of a person who is utterly bereft of reason. I mean, only a madman would look at the daylight and say it's dark, and vice versa. I'm reminded of what God said to Paul, when he sent him to preach the gospel to the lost. It's recorded in Acts 26, verse 18. The Lord sent him to preach the gospel and "to open their eyes," it says, "so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me."

Notice what else God says through his prophet. In verse 20 of Isaiah five they "substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!" In scripture, bitter often symbolizes evil, which will taste good to the pervert but bitter to those who love God. I think of Psalm 19, beginning in verse 10, there we read that those who fear the Lord, the righteous judgments of God are, quote, "sweeter also than honey." I hope that's how you perceive the Scripture, folks. It's just sweeter than honey, it is so tasty, it's so precious, "sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward." You see that is the heart of genuine saving faith, to have an insatiable appetite for the Word of God, and a longing to obey it for the glory of God.

Contrast this to the description of the nature of the wicked that we read about in Deuteronomy 32, beginning in verse 32, "For their vine is from the vine of Sodom, and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison, their clusters, bitter. Their wine is the venom of serpents, and the deadly poison of cobras." Now, there are numerous examples of this kind of perversity in Israel's history, as well as in every nation's history, but I'll give you just a sample of a few of them where they call what is good evil and vice versa. Jeremiah seven for example, in verse 18, we read that "The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to spite Me." Now, the "queen of heaven" was another name for the Assyrian deity Ishtar, the Canaanite Astarte they believe to be the wife of a Baal or sometimes called Molech; the goddess of war and love and fertility. And this worship included all manner of sexual immorality. Israel's corruption was so severe that they would sacrifice their newborn children to their god Molech. There's evidence of the statues of Molech; a large metal statue of a man with a bull's head and outstretched arms that would be red hot with the fire. And he would hold out his arms you would toss your infant into his arms. Jeremiah describes the "high places of Topheth" it's called, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is an East/West Valley at the south end of Jerusalem. The term Topheth comes from a Hebrew word "tof" for drum because they would actually play flutes and beat drums to drown out the screams of the children. And so with holy outrage God described this horror in Jeremiah 7:31, "They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnon, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come into My mind." I mean, this is incomprehensible. This is satanic expression in ways that really boggle the mind, do they not? I mean, how could anybody do that? And here's the thing, they actually believed that such acts of barbarism would bring blessing to their life. What was evil, they saw as good. They believe that the Canaanite God Molech would reward them. You can read about this, for example, in Second Kings 23 and verse 10. As I've written elsewhere, this is where Judah's religious apostasy had led them and they had no fear of God. They scoffed at his law, and thought they were above it. So with a seared conscience, they were comfortable with this depraved practice, one that is no different than when millions of preborn infants are brutally sacrificed every year to the God of self on the altar of personal expediency and corporate profits. Folks, this is moral perversity, a result of satanic blindness. This is the doctrines of demons. And the ungodly deceive themselves, and they're deceived by others. So they end up redefining morality to fit their own agenda. Think of how we see this in in our culture today, things that God calls an abomination. For example, homosexuality is now called an alternative lifestyle, it's considered to be a good thing. Same sex marriage is now the freedom to love who you want. Gender now is fluid, it's not fixed. So if your gender identity doesn't match the sex assigned to you on your original birth certificate, you can change it to become whoever you want it to be. I think they call it nonbinary. I can't keep up with all these terms they come up with. Pedophilia is now destigmatized by calling these people minor attracted persons. Abortion for convenience is called pro-choice, it's part of a woman's reproductive rights. Social justice, which is nothing more than cultural Marxism that has been responsible for the destruction of so many nations and the death of so many people. These people see themselves as liberators that must somehow usher in a new world where rational thought and scientific reason and social justice govern humanity rather than the Word of God. And of course, all of this requires the elimination of biblical Christianity. You've got concerned parents today speaking up in school board meetings appalled over the teaching of the whole LGBTQ perversions. And in many circles in the government, they're called domestic terrorists.

I mean, these are people, dear friends with no moral compass, no moral authority, other than their own lusts. And of course, this is all part of the whole woke agenda that we see where our government is legislating immorality and criminalizing morality. This is the sin of perversity; redefining morality to accommodate your own depravity. The ancient Israelites were guilty of this. In fact, in Matthew 17, verse 17, Jesus described his own kinsmen as quote, "an unbelieving and perverted generation."

Let me add just for a moment--what is our responsibility to this culture that is so wicked? Paul addresses this in Philippians two verse 15. He says "prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life." And isn't it wonderful to see how God is a redeeming God and continues to save people out of the kinds of wicked things that we are describing?

Well, perversity leads to number five, the sin of self-deification. This is the height of arrogance. Notice verse 21, "Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight." I might add this is the exact opposite of what we would read in other passages. For example, in Proverbs three and verse seven, we read, "Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and turn away from evil." Well, what they did is they violated God's law in favor of their own opinions. They rejected the word of the Lord from his prophets. They were offended by the truth--"don't tell me those things, it hurts my feelings; tell me what I want to hear; I don't care what God says." And so they replaced the holy wisdom of God with the depraved foolishness of man. You know, Paul warned about this, did he not? Remember First Corinthians three, verse 18, he says, "Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, 'HE IS THE ONE WHO CATCHES THE WISE IN THEIR CRAFTINESS'; and again, 'THE LORD KNOWS THE REASONINGS of the wise, THAT THEY ARE USELESS.'" Self-deification--I will be the God of my life, I don't care what God has said in his word. I will be the one who speaks with final authority in my life. And Israel’s history is filled with examples of this kind of thing, of how we know better than God. For example, in Numbers 33, verse 55. God says there, "'But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come about that those whom you let remain of them will become as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your side, and they will trouble you in the land in which you live. And as I plan to do to them, so I will do to you.'" No, we're going to be wise in our own eyes, clever in our own sight; we're going to reject the word of the Lord and we're going to allow these people to continue to live with us.

Let me give you an individual example of what can happen when this occurs. Remember the story of King Saul? He refused to obey God's command to destroy the Amalekites and kill their king Agag. The Amalekites were among the most vicious of all of the people; they would attack the Israelites and their wilderness wandering especially from the rear. First Samuel 15, three we read, "'Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him, but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'" Utter genocide because of their wickedness. In chapter 15, and verse eight, we read what he did. "He captured Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly.'" You see, this is tantamount to tolerating their sin, and their hatred of Yahweh. So God sent the prophet Samuel, as you will recall, to tell Saul of his fate, First Corinthians, I'm sorry First Samuel 15, verse 23, "'Since you rejected the word of the LORD, He has rejected you from being king.'" And you know the rest of the story. And sadly, this kind of disregard has plagued Israel down through the ages.

Again, think about what he said in Numbers 33:55 that I just read, that you are to "drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you." Otherwise, he went on to say, they will "become as pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides and they will trouble you in the land in which you live." And we see this command reiterated during the age of the judges. In Judges two beginning in verse two we read, "'You shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed Me, what is this you have done? Therefore, I also said, 'I will not drive them out from before you; but they will become as thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.'" And look what has happened with Israel ever since. In 1993 they signed the Oslo Accords, which gave their avowed enemies, the Palestinian Authority, much control over Judea and Samaria. Then they abandoned the Gaza Strip, you remember seeing that in 2005? I'll never forget it, seeing it on the news. Destroying 22 Jewish settlements that were flourishing in that region. And in turn, they allowed Hamas terrorists to take control. And the result was the Second Intifada. It broke out and we are continuing to witness the horrific consequences of all of that to this very day, endless strife. 18 years of nonstop rocket attacks, terrorism, inhumane torture and murder and hostage taking. Move ahead a little bit to 2011. Israel freed 1207 murderous Hamas terrorists in exchange for Gilad Shali, an Israeli soldier abducted by Hamas. What kind of trade is that? And one of those released was Yahiya Sinwar, the master be mind behind the October 7 slaughter, who now surrounds himself with hostages to protect him. And you don't think God means what he says?

Now you have the godless and gullible leaders of the United States, Great Britain, of the UN, demanding a two-state solution. Just the opposite of what God has instructed. You can only wonder if Israel will choose to resettle the Gaza Strip; since by the way, it is part of the land that God promised them. The details of all of that described in Joshua 15, which includes according to verse 47, quote, "Gaza, its towns and its villages as far as the brook of Egypt, and the great sea even its coastline." But too often, Israel ignored God and went their own way instead. So God cursed them. In verse 21, "Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and clever in their own sight." The consequences are absolutely devastating. In fact, Amos, the prophet Amos, said this in chapter two, verse four, "Thus says the Lord, 'For three transgressions of Judah, and for four I will not revoke its punishment, because" and here's what they did, "they rejected the law of the Lord, and have not kept His statutes. Their lies also have led them astray; those after which their fathers walked, so I will send fire upon Judah, and it will consume the citadels of Jerusalem.'" Oh dear friends, guard yourself against self-deification. "Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight."

I might add that this is why Paul commanded Timothy, and all of us, to preach the what? Preach the word. Why? Second Timothy four beginning verse three, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths." So the progression of woes begins with covetousness. It moves on to dissipation and mockery, perversity, self-deification, and finally, to just corruption. Corruption--dishonest drunken leaders and judges that can be bribed. Verse 22, "Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and valiant men,"--that is powerful men, "in mixing strong drink, who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away the rights of ones of the ones who are in the right!" You see those guilty of the previous five sins, will have no problem just kind of living in a state of inebriation, and accepting bribes to somehow rule in favor of the guilty and against the innocent. Amos described this as well, in Amos five verse 10. He says, "They hate him, "referring to the plaintiff--"They hate the plaintiff who reproves in the gate." And the gate is where they would typically adjudicate these things; it was kind of like their court room. "They hate the plaintiff who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks with integrity." In other words, they abhor the witnesses that could provide the necessary information to indict the guilty and promote justice. They hate that. So, God says "Therefore because you impose a heavy rent on the poor and exact a tribute of grain from them, though you have built houses of well-hewn stone, you will not live in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, yet you will not drink their wine. For I know your transgressions are many and your sins are great, you who distress the righteous and accept bribes and turn aside the poor and the gate. Therefore, at such a time the prudent person keep silent, for it is an evil time."

And my again, the illustrations of this in our culture today are many. I mean, we see this in our own government, and we see how the DOJ and the FBI and other government agencies have been weaponized to silence political opponents and promote leftist agendas. It's just so commonplace anymore. I was reading in The Daily Mail the other day about the quote "Treasury Department officials suggested that banks review transactions at sporting and recreational supply stores like Cabela's, Dick's Sporting Goods and Bass Pro Shops, in order” to quote, "to detect customers whose transactions may reflect potential active shooters." I mean, I got a Cabela's card that I've had for probably 20 years. So, I guess I'm on that list. And I shop at Bass Pro all the time. They went on to say in addition, "Officials warned banks of" quote "extremism indicators, like the purchase of a bus or plane ticket" quote, "for traveled to areas with no apparent purpose, or the purchase of a religious text like a Bible." And I was reading according to a September 19, 2023 study, conducted by the Pew Research Center that said quote, "Currently fewer than two in 10 Americans say they trust government in Washington to do what is" quote, "right just about always or most of the time. This is among the lowest trust measures in nearly seven decades of polling."

Six sins that ignited God's wrath against his stubborn people, Israel and Judah. The same types of sins that Jesus alludes to in Mark 12: covetousness, dissipation, mockery, perversity, self-deification and corruption. Back to Isaiah five as we close this morning, we read God's judgment begin in verse 24, "Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble and dry grass collapses into the flame, so their root will become like rot, and their blossom blow away as dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. On this account, the anger of the Lord has burned against His people, nd He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them down. And the mountains quaked." That's always evidence of the divine presence. "And the mountains quaked, and their corpses lay like refuse in the middle of the streets. For all His anger is not spent, but His hand is still stretched out." Verse 26, "He will also lift up a standard to the distant nation and will whistle for it from the ends of the earth; and behold, it will come with speeds swiftly." (whistles) Assyria that's what he's talking about. Verse 27, "No one in it is weary or stumbles, none slumbers or sleeps; nor is the belt of its waist undone, nor its sandal strap broken. Its arrows are sharp, and all its bows are bent; the hoofs of its horses seem like flint and it's chariot wheels like whirlwind. It's roaring is like a lioness and it roars like young lions; it growls as it seizes the prey and carries it off with no one to deliver it." I mean, this is describing an irresistible predator. "And it will growl over it in the day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress; even the light is darkened by its clouds." And if you read the ancient history of what the Assyrians did, and some of it you can see, for example, in the Lachish relief, that is now housed in the British Museum, you will see that these people were barbaric, and did things that you cannot even begin to conceive. Dear friends, this is speaking of divine rage. And this is what happens when we live inconsistent with the word and the will of a holy God. And aren't you thankful for his grace, because apart from it, we would all be doomed. But as believers, we must do everything we can to guard ourselves against these very same sins that can creep up in our flesh and wreak havoc in our marriage, in our family and our workplace, and in our church. So let's all guard our hearts and celebrate the goodness of the Lord and saving us and giving us the hope of eternal life in Christ, amen. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for these eternal truths. I pray that you will help us to grasp them with all of our heart and live consistently with them. And Lord, for those that are deceived, those that are blind, we know that only you can give them sight. Only you can raise them from spiritual death to spiritual life. And so we pray for the miracle of regeneration. And I pray that you will use us as instruments of righteousness, to present the gospel, preach the gospel, and to live out the Gospel to accomplish your eternal purposes. We thank you; we give you praise in Jesus name. Amen.