No Peace to the Wicked Pt. 2

[0:00] I felt like it's better to do that before we preach than it is to do it afterwards and end on that note. So that's all I have to say about that. That's the end of it for me. Isaiah 57, please.

[0:14] Isaiah 57. We started a message last week. A one-liner that Isaiah gives us. He actually uses this line twice in his writing, but back in 48, verse 22, he says it.

[0:32] There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked. And here it's very similarly worded in Isaiah 57, verse 21, where God says, There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.

[0:45] And last week we studied some thoughts through this passage and even later in another chapter about their sin that has separated them from God and the things that the children of Israel were guilty of and some of the problems that they brought upon themselves.

[0:58] And God says, I've seen your ways. And he knows what they've been up to. He calls them some pretty nasty names and addresses the things that they're guilty of. And he says that I'm offering you peace.

[1:10] Toward the end of that chapter, he offers them to be restored. He offers to heal them. He offers them comfort. In verse 19, peace. Peace. And he makes that powerful statement, There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.

[1:25] And so what we studied last week was that there are some Bible, or the Bible reveals some reasons why the wicked or the sinner doesn't get things right with God and why he doesn't seek peace.

[1:37] And one of them was because he has prosperity. We read through Job, we read through some of the Psalms and found that sinners are prosperous, therefore they don't go to God.

[1:48] They don't see any need to go to God. They have what they want. And they're enjoying their lives with their prosperity. They think they have it all. But according to the scriptures, we know one thing they don't have.

[1:59] They don't have peace. And I'll take the peace. I said it last week. I'll say it again. I mean it from my heart. I'll take the peace. I'll take peace with God over prosperity.

[2:09] And I'll take peace in my home and family over having things and money and toys. I'd much rather have peace in my home. You can't put a price on peace.

[2:20] It's too precious. And the wicked, though, they have prosperity, but they don't have peace. Another thing we saw they have from the scripture is they have pleasure. There's pleasures of sin that are for a season.

[2:34] Pleasures that things are so much fun where you can just feast on behavior and let your flesh just go and have what it wants. And it's just, ah, feels good.

[2:46] Feels good to let the old man have his way. He sure does enjoy himself. But there's no peace because what comes with that is reaping. What comes with turning yourself loose after sin is the corruption and the guilt that follows it and the lies and the pain and the cover-up and the tears.

[3:05] And that's just life. You want to live after the flesh? You're going to face some consequences. And so the pleasures of sin, we studied how deceitful they are and how sin can harden you.

[3:17] And sin in Romans 7 doesn't appear sinful. But Paul said when the word of God came in, it appeared exceeding sinful. So there's pleasures of sin. We also saw there's pleasures of this life from Luke 8, verse 14.

[3:31] Things that we said that not necessarily sinful, not even described as wicked, but things that can choke the word of God. We call it good, clean fun.

[3:42] And there's plenty of that in this life, plenty of that in this area. Things that you can enjoy. Things that you can chase after and just set as a hobby and set as an outlet and just enjoy the pleasures of things in this life.

[3:56] But what we saw from Solomon is those things cannot give peace. And those things, though, and I cautioned you, they can be a stumbling block to your walk with Jesus Christ. And he may ask you, he may tell you, you need to give that up.

[4:11] And you can say, well, there's nothing wrong with it. But Christ's going to say, there's something wrong with you. Because you have this in your heart, and it's taken priority over me. And I could give you a long list of things that can take the priority in this life away from Jesus Christ and your fellowship with him and your service with him.

[4:29] And if there's something in your heart and in your life that you enjoy doing, you enjoy it more than you love God, than you enjoy being part of his work and being in church on Sunday morning and being around believers, you'd rather be doing that.

[4:41] Even if it's good, clean fun, it's a problem. And the pleasures of this life can be a sin to you. They can be a sin to you. And I showed you how Paul declared to the church that in the last days, men would be lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.

[4:58] And how true that is. So we saw that there was two things last week. Today, then, I want to give you two more. Two more reasons why the sinners and wicked will reject God's peace and chase something else.

[5:13] And the third reason is because the wicked have preachers. You say, what do you mean? They have preachers. Now, here's Isaiah's message. And he declares, There's no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.

[5:24] Look at chapter 58, verse 1. The very next verse, God speaks to Isaiah. He says, Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and do what?

[5:36] Show my people their transgression, and the house of Israel their sins. He gave Isaiah a job to preach and to declare to them how wicked they are.

[5:46] Look at chapter 59. This is God's preachers. Isaiah 59. We read this last week. Verse 1. Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save.

[5:59] Neither is he heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God. And your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear. Your hands are defiled, and so forth.

[6:10] And he goes on through how their sins and the way of peace they know not. There's God's preachers. But the wicked have preachers.

[6:21] There's a reason why they won't heed that message, because there's other voices that are calling and talking to them about their lifestyle. And instead of pointing out the problem, the wicked have preachers that give them a misleading message.

[6:34] Look at Jeremiah chapter 14. They give a message of promotion, of positive nature, something we mentioned even in Sunday school.

[6:46] A message of prosperity and a message, a false message of peace. And the wicked have preachers. Preachers that offer false hope.

[6:57] Jeremiah 14. Look at verses 10 through 14. Verse 10 through 14. Verse 10 through 14. Verse 10 through 15. Verse 10 through 15. Thus have they loved to wander. They have not refrained their feet.

[7:10] Therefore, the Lord doth not accept them. He will now remember their iniquity and visit their sins. Then said the Lord unto me, Pray not for this people for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry.

[7:21] When they offer burnt offerings and an oblation, I will not accept them, but I will consume them by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence. Then said I, O Lord God, behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.

[7:38] Really? Then the Lord said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither speak unto them.

[7:49] They prophesy unto you a false vision and divination and a thing of naught and the deceit of their heart. Look at chapter 23. So there's preachers that are telling lies to God's people, and that's the message they'd rather hear.

[8:08] God's preacher is supposed to declare unto them their iniquity and their sin and the reason why they don't have peace. Yet there's an element of preaching that's out there that says, No, ye shall have peace.

[8:21] Everything's fine. Jeremiah chapter 23, verse 16. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you.

[8:33] They make you vain. They speak a vision of their own heart and not out of the mouth of the Lord. They say still unto them that despise me, The Lord hath said, Quote, Ye shall have peace.

[8:45] And they say unto everyone that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you. That's a lie. That's a lie that they say, It's okay.

[8:57] Everything's fine. God's not angry with you. He loves you. He cares about you. He's going to take care of you. And God says later, If they would have stood in my counsel, And if they would have heard my words, It would have come out a whole lot different.

[9:15] God's prophecy, In other words, God doesn't send a preacher to a wicked people with a positive message. That's not of the Lord. He says in Ezekiel 13, The prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, Which see visions of peace for her, And there is no peace, Saith my God.

[9:32] He says, I'm going to destroy them. God doesn't send a preacher to a wicked people with a positive message. You cannot have wickedness that is accepted and just running rampant in the land, And then positive words from the pulpits of God's churches, And that be of the Lord.

[9:55] That is not of the Lord. The positive preaching of the United States of America today in this land is not of the Lord. It's a lying spirit. It's perverseness.

[10:06] It's against God. It's deceitful. It's satanic. Because God doesn't send a positive message to a wicked people. When God sends a preacher to preach to a wicked people, He warns that preacher.

[10:20] Look at Jeremiah chapter 1. He warns him, This isn't going to be easy, But this is what I want you to do. He even empowers them beforehand, Beforehand, Because he knows it's not going to go well, So it can't be a positive message that he's giving his man.

[10:40] In Jeremiah chapter 1, Look at verse 8. Be not afraid of their faces. Now, If he's going to preach a message of positive, Of God loves you and everything's well, Who would be afraid of it?

[10:54] There's no fear there. His message isn't of prosperity. His message isn't of peace. It's of anger with God. It's a destruction. It's against them. Be not afraid of their faces, For I will be with thee to deliver thee.

[11:08] Look at Jeremiah 15. Later on in his ministry, The Lord has to encourage him again and hold him up, Because they are not liking his message. Jeremiah gets tossed in the dungeon.

[11:20] He gets thrown into prison, Because he preached the word of the Lord. In Jeremiah 15, Verse number 20, God says, I will make thee unto this people a fenced brazen wall, And they shall fight against thee, But they shall not prevail against thee, For I am with thee to save thee, And to deliver thee.

[11:41] And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked. God promises this man, I'm going to take care of you. It's obvious that his message is not a positive message. I want to show you a few more.

[11:52] Stay in your Bible. Go to Ezekiel, The next major prophet to the right, Ezekiel chapter 3. Ezekiel chapter 3, And look at verses 7 through 9.

[12:18] It says, God getting this man prepared to preach his message. Verse 7, He says, And the Lord says later, If you don't tell him, I'm going to hold you guilty.

[12:53] You preach the word that I give you to preach. And it's a great two chapters here in this beginning of Ezekiel. And so God empowers his men. In Micah chapter 3, Verse 8, Micah says, These men are called of men, preachers with a message, and it's negative because Israel's wicked.

[13:23] They've turned from God, so the message God has for them is always negative. It's always judgment. It's always get right. And it's always, I will receive you, but you're going to have to turn. It's never, It's okay.

[13:36] I love you. It's going to be fine. Any positive message you hear these prophets preach, it's always out into the future. It's when he says in Hosea, I will heal their backslidings. It's when he says, I'll betroth them unto me.

[13:48] I'll restore them into their land. But it's always a promise for a future fulfillment with the second coming of Christ and his kingdom. He never condones and allows their sin. He never accepts their sin.

[13:59] Now, why do the wicked have or refuse peace of God and the message of God? Because they have preachers. They have preachers that say something else.

[14:11] And a simple scan in these prophets, as far as giving us a biblical foundation for how God handles these situations when his people turn from him, a simple scan of the message from these prophets, as I've already kind of pointed out a little bit, is that God's against them.

[14:26] The Bible says several times in these prophets, the Lord hath a controversy with his people. He says, Hear this word that the Lord hath spoken against you. He says, Woe to them that are at ease in Zion.

[14:38] God is not for them being comfortable in their sin. His message is always negative in that case. Look back at chapter 5 of Jeremiah.

[14:50] I'll give you a few more verses on this thought. Jeremiah 5. And verses 30 and 31.

[15:07] The people have a problem in their heart. They have turned from God. And they don't want the truth. In verse 30, this is amazing. A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land.

[15:20] What would that be? The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means. And look at this. My people love to have it so.

[15:32] They wouldn't want it any other way than to hear lies, than to be told everything's okay, and to just keep letting it go the way it's going. Look at the next chapter, chapter 6.

[15:44] Chapter 6 and verse number 13 and 14. For from the least of them, even unto the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness.

[15:56] Oh, they like pleasures and prosperity, do they? And from the prophet, even unto the priest, everyone dealeth falsely. They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people, slightly saying, peace, peace.

[16:12] Well, there's no peace. The message is peace, but there's not peace. It's not true. And so their hearts healed just enough to allow them to stay in their sin and to continue on.

[16:23] That positive message, that God's happy with everything you're doing, and that it's all good. And how many preachers today, all around this land, are just standing up in their pulpits and getting fat pockets by preaching positive, soft messages of how God is wonderful.

[16:42] He's so forgiving. He's so long-suffering with us. He wants to take care of us. And my people love to have it so. They'd much rather go in sinful and hear something good and go out the same way and have their heart healed slightly.

[16:58] Instead of have their heart opened up before the Lord and confess and forsake and walk out with peace and walk out restored.

[17:10] Instead, they'll keep their sin and just have that little slight healing every Sunday because they have preachers. Preachers that God didn't send. Preachers that have a different message.

[17:22] We've been turning a lot. If you want to, I'm just going to go to Isaiah 30 and read this quickly and you don't need to. But in Isaiah 30, there's a passage here I'm going to read from 9 to 15.

[17:34] It says that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord, which say to the seers, see not. And to the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things.

[17:46] Speak unto us smooth things. Prophesy deceits. That is what the people are saying. They're calling for a smooth message, for a deceitful message.

[17:57] It doesn't have to be true. Just tell us something we want to hear. And so Paul warns that in the end times, they'll heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. They'll turn away their ears from the truth, be turned unto fables because they won't endure sound doctrine.

[18:11] They want something smooth, something peaceful. And at the end of that passage, God's going to destroy them. There's no other way. And so men will reject God's peace and insist on a lifestyle of sin that's going to end bad for them.

[18:28] But it's not the kind of message people want. What they want to hear is something soft. And I'm all for uplifting the saints. I'm all for preaching on heaven and reminding you of your home.

[18:39] But that's to the weary pilgrim. That's to the weary soldier who's fighting the fight of faith to remind them to keep going. You can do this. We can endure hardness as a good soldier.

[18:50] But those messages of comfort and peace are for us that are in the fight. For the sinner, for the wicked that is in love with the world, it's get right. You can't preach peace to that.

[19:02] But that's what the people want. They love to have it so. And so God says, there's no peace to the wicked. There's no peace. So they have preachers, preachers with voices that are contrary to God's word and they delight in it.

[19:18] There's no judgment in their preaching. There's no condemnation in their preaching. It's nothing to fear. It's God is love and it's all going to work out good. And isn't God wonderful?

[19:30] And you leave in your sin and there's no peace in your heart. And so there's a reason why wicked and sinners, even people of God, won't come to the Lord and won't get right with God and open their hearts to Him because there's other voices that have been telling them lies.

[19:47] And they like to hear those lies. The last reason is that people, the wicked and sinners, don't have peace. The reason they don't come to God to get that peace is because they have pride.

[19:59] They have pride. And look at this one back in the Psalms. Psalm 10. Turn back to Psalm 10. They don't have peace because they have pride.

[20:12] If there's one thing that keeps a sinner from coming to God, it's pride. It's quite possibly the biggest obstacle to peace.

[20:25] And there's a reason why God hates it so much. Psalm 10 and look at verse 2. The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor.

[20:37] Let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined. For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire and blesseth the covetous whom the Lord abhoreth. The wicked, through his pride of his countenance, will not seek after God.

[20:51] God's not in all his thoughts. It's his pride that's keeping him. In verse 6, he said in his heart, I shall not be moved. I'll never be in adversity.

[21:02] How wrong he is. How wrong he is to assume that everything's going to go well with me in this life. That God's not, that his word's not going to come to pass. But he's proud.

[21:15] When God sent his only begotten son into the world, the nation of Israel rejected him and they crucified him. And before that day, the Bible records in two different occasions some things he said.

[21:27] One of them was he, he looked over the city of Jerusalem and he wept. And the Bible says he was moved. And he said that, his quote was, if thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace.

[21:43] If you would just have known what I'm trying to offer you and bring to you. But he said, but now they're hid from your eyes. You're not going to taste this peace. You're going to taste destruction. He goes on to describe how the city's going to be overthrown and destroyed and kids and women murdered.

[21:59] But if you'd have known what I'm offering you and what Jesus Christ did was wept. Because the pride of man won't bow, won't submit, won't humble themselves.

[22:11] Stephen told that generation they're stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. So the wicked have pride. They have a spirit that exalts itself up against God, against what God demands and refuses to submit.

[22:29] It declares, or I guess what God says is right. Now, pride is a grievous and a wicked sin. It's one of the abominations before the Lord.

[22:42] It's something that God says, pride do I hate. And pride has grown pseudonymous with a particular movement in our world today.

[22:55] And I wonder if you know that that term and the use of that term associated with this grievous and wicked sin of sodomy and all of it. I wonder if you knew that term was already associated with that in the Bible.

[23:10] Look at Ezekiel chapter 16. Ezekiel chapter 16. And come down to verse, we'll start in just verse 47, kind of really in the middle of all of this.

[23:45] But God's dealing with Jerusalem, Judah, and his people. And he, just like Isaiah does in Isaiah chapter 1, when referring to Jerusalem, he calls them Sodom and Gomorrah.

[23:58] He calls his people Sodom and Gomorrah. And here he says in verse 47, Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations, but as if it were a little thing, thou hast corrupted more than they in all thy ways.

[24:11] As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom.

[24:23] Look at the next word. Pride. Right there, slapped right up against Sodom is pride. The first thing on the list.

[24:34] Now come to Zephaniah chapter 2. Zephaniah, minor prophet. A little bit to you right there. I'll give you a second to find that one.

[24:49] Zephaniah, right before Haggai and Zechariah. Zephaniah chapter 2. And look at verses 9 and 10.

[25:06] And again, God uses this term in connection with this sin. Verse 9 says, Therefore as I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, surely Moab shall be as Sodom and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah.

[25:21] Now there's other ways for God to describe their desolation. That's a popular word actually in the prophets. But here he wants to mention those two cities. And the breeding of nettles and salt pits and perpetual desolation.

[25:32] There it is. And residue of my people shall spoil them. The remnant of my people shall possess them. This shall they have for their pride. And what I'm pitching to you today is that that word God has associated in his book with Sodom and Gomorrah, which you know from Genesis that they're sinners, wicked and sinners exceedingly before the Lord.

[25:59] And the sin of sodomy, God calls an abomination. And it's a sin that has been lifted up in our culture as not just acceptable, but praised, exalted.

[26:14] And they call it pride. And they scream pride. And they write pride on everything. And they shake their fist toward their creator and say, this is who we are.

[26:26] And if you made us, this is how you made us. You don't, I'm telling you, they're not going to have the last word. I can tell you that. But this term has become synonymous.

[26:39] And I'm just pointing this out in the here as a, you can't beat this book. That was in there a long, long, long, long time ago before they ever adopted that word to be synonymous with their movement.

[26:51] And it's a word that's directly against God in the scriptures. And God already showed us he connects those two together. Whether we saw it before or not. I want to read something to you from your president.

[27:10] In June, the president of our United States declared that this past June was pride month.

[27:22] Today's August 1st. So this is two months ago. And he declared a proclamation on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer pride.

[27:34] And along in his speech he said this, Pride is a time to recall the trials the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community has endured and to rejoice in the triumphs of trailblazing individuals who have bravely fought and continue to fight for full equality.

[27:54] Pride is both a jubilant communal celebration of visibility and a personal celebration of self-worth and dignity. This Pride month we recognize the valuable contributions of LGBTQ plus individuals across America and we reaffirm our commitment to standing in solidarity with LGBTQ plus Americans in their ongoing struggles against discrimination and injustice.

[28:23] Now, I don't stand with them as they seek to end discrimination and justice. You know, where I stand with that is they are free just like I am free.

[28:36] And so if they want to sin they're free to sin just like I'm free to sin. And so I don't, you know, I'm not going to say they don't have rights but I'm not going to fight for their rights or stand for them either.

[28:50] But let me move on. He goes on to say members of the LGBTQ plus community now serve in nearly every level of public office in city halls and state capitals governor's mansions and the halls of Congress and throughout my administration.

[29:06] Nearly 14% of my 1500 agency appointees identify as LGBTQ plus and I am particularly honored by the service of transportation secretary and so forth.

[29:18] He names a few for there being the first open person in this, open transgender in that by the Senate. And finally in conclusion of his quote and his speech here on this day of June 1st he says now therefore I Joseph R. Biden Jr.

[29:34] President of the United States of America by virtue and authority by the by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States do hereby proclaim June 2021 as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer pride month.

[29:53] I call upon the people of the United States to recognize the achievements of the LGBTQ plus community to celebrate the great diversity of the American people and to wave their flags of pride high.

[30:08] now that's the President of the United States two months ago calling on Americans and calling on all the perverts to to step forward and all of us to receive and accept them and to push forward their movement and to wave their flags high.

[30:31] Based on what we just read here about God's preachers and preaching a negative message against sin to a sinful people do you think God can ever bless America?

[30:49] Do you think he can honestly do that? What people are calling on him to do what people are singing on him to do God bless America what do you think his ears feel when you sing I want you to bless this land God now I know in your heart you want him to turn the land back to righteousness and to the word of God but this is what the land is doing this is what the President the Executive and Chief of our nation is declaring that we are and we support you think God's going to bless that?

[31:27] You know what the Bible says God resisteth the proud and there's no peace to the wicked there's no peace to the wicked this is not an anti-America message it's not my heart's desire to go that direction it's pride though that God's against and it's pride that keeps the wicked man and sinners from coming to God and receiving the peace that he offers through the Lord Jesus Christ and while we're on it the United States has enjoyed prosperity they have enjoyed pleasures it's a God in this land they've enjoyed those things they have their positive preachers all over the place building mega churches and just getting filthy rich and my people love to have it so and now they're promoting pride in one of the sickest forms I don't know if God can bless America not based on America that we live in now not the land that it's not the same as it used to be that's for sure and Christian our job though is not to fix this country our job is to it's still the same as to tell sinners where they can find peace the Bible says that of Jesus

[32:46] Christ in Ephesians 2 that he is our peace and we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ the message for us and our duty is still the same and I worry though I worry that the church is becoming more and more like the world more and more like God's people we read about and of Israel were falling further and further away worshipping the gods of the land accepting the sin that God despises and calls abomination enjoying prosperity enjoying pleasure listening to those preachers and their voices and the positive things we want to hear rather than the truth that we're falling away from God and that there's sin in our life and God hasn't accepted it and even believing that to be true that it's okay there's nothing wrong with it and then finally becoming too proud to humble ourselves before him there is no peace saith my

[33:46] God to the wicked if you do right you you'll probably have trials and you'll probably have things that just don't go well for you but there's peace in that he tells us that he gives peace that passeth all understanding and so there's even peace in the problems for the believer but there's no peace to the wicked I hope today that you'll consider yourself a child of God before you consider yourself a citizen of the United States and the direction it's going I hope you'll think I'm going to stand with what God says is right and I want what God says is right and even if you do want peace in this nation and revival in this nation and you do want to this patriotism to succeed and to go forth as much as you want that you better want what this book tells you is right first because the other one has been going against this for a very long time and you cannot bury your head in the sand and pretend that the

[34:54] United States is a Christian nation you can claim some history but that's all it is anymore it's history and we're going to be history if we our heads together and I know this kind of ended on a different tone