Now, dear Lord, we come to you thanking you so much for the Holy Bible. God, may we commit ourselves to you. May we present our bodies a living sacrifice, dear Lord. May we honor your day. May we live for you in truth. Now, God bless the preaching of thy word in Isaiah chapter 30, in Jesus' name, amen. Take a look in Isaiah chapter 30 verse 1. Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me, and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin. Title of the message is devilish coverings of rebels, devilish coverings of rebels. Now King Hezekiah, had rebelled against the king of Assyria, the most powerful empire of that time. Very wicked empire. They were so wicked that Jonah didn't even want to go preach to them to tell them they're going to be judged on the slight chance that they might repent and God showed mercy on them. They would put kids in their walls and cement the walls all back up. They're just a horrible, horrible pagan empire and very cruel. So the nation was very afraid. And since their king had rebelled against him and there was talk that Assyria would come down and invade Egypt and destroy the Jews along the way. So something had to be done. And listen to me now, when people are living an ungodly life, when they're living worldly, And then they get in great trouble. Oftentimes they don't go to God for help. They don't see things as discipline. They say, this is just a bad luck that's happening unto me, a chance. And they say, I'll get myself out of it. I'll figure it out. And Egypt was sitting right there. And they said, we'll make an alliance with Egypt. We'll join with Egypt and then we'll be strong. forsaking God. Now, the reason I believe they forsook God is because they knew to go back to God and get his help, they would need to repent. They would need to forsake the idols, the pleasures. God's not against pleasure, he's against sinful pleasure. which always ends in a curse anyway. So they covered their sins, justified them and said, we'll work it out. Egypt will help us. So they sent ambassadors to Egypt to form this alliance. And in the Bible, but not always, but oftentimes in the Bible, Egypt is a picture of the world. So really what we're to get out of this is, woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me, that covereth with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin. In other words, they went to the world to help them. Worldly ways, worldly things. That they may add sin to sin. To forsake God in time of trouble. To rely on worldly counsel and worldly ways is a sin. And they're already living in sin. So now they're just making their sin worse. When God begins to discipline you and you try to look for other ways to get out of it instead of repenting of your sin, now you're just adding more sin to sin. So the chapter begins with this warning. Then God reproves their sins more. And then God promises rest and blessing if they would just return to him. He warns your alliance is gonna be a bigger snare and it's gonna end in destruction. And then it concludes with a prophecy of a later revival after the tribulation period of Israel, when there'll be a great repentance and revival. And it shows the destruction of Antichrist. The chapter ends with fire and the Assyrian being punished. The application for us though is any rebels among God's people, you need to repent. But the devil, the covering cherub, that had a place of glory, Lucifer, before he fell, he wants to cover you. He wants to come to you and say, I'll be your covering. Just follow me, do things my way, and I'll work it out for you. So the application is, no matter what devilish covering you try to hide under, it's not gonna cover you. It cannot. keep you from God's judgment. It cannot help you. And I believe that right now, this vision is for your life. I want you to see these words that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit. And then I want you to see the fire that's at the end of this chapter. And I want you to put that before your mind's eye. And I want you to understand God saying to us, you cover without my Spirit, you cover without my Word, you cover without my covering. I don't care what you think, what type of confidence you have, though hand joined with hand, though everybody pat you on the back, it's going to end in destruction and fire. There's been people that have feared the Lord, repented, got right, and then they allow themselves to go back under a wicked covering. Let's look at these verses in more detail. Verse one, woe to the rebellious children. What does woe mean? It just means misery, curse. Why is he calling them rebellious children? It's a twofold rebuke. Because number one, they're rebellious. They're not obeying God. And number two, they're like children. It's wrong to be immature and carnal and childish. And how much worse is it to not even be childish in a more wholesome way? They're like rebellious children. He says in verse eight, if you take a look now, go write it before them in a table, note it in a book that it may be for the time to come forever and ever, that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord. The world today calls them brats. That's from a word, ironically, that means a rough garment, a brat. I had a Subaru brat one time and it about killed me. That led to my repentance. But a brat's always been, down through history, the children of people that don't teach manners, don't teach proper restraint. They're brats. So the Lord's saying, woe to these rebellious children. He says they're lying children. Children that will sin and rebel, and then when you confront them, they just lie. They lie about their parents. They lie about the authorities in their life. They don't hear the law of the Lord. And notice verse 10, which say to the seers, the prophets, that is, see not. And to the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things, but speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits. It says in the last days that they will heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. They will not endure sound doctrine. So they want to say to any pastors in their life, I want to hear smooth things. I don't want to hear things that deal with my own idolatry. I don't want to deal with things. I don't want to hear anything about me being a lover of pleasure more than lovers of God. I don't want to hear anything about me being lazy and gluttonous or whatever it might be. Leave my sins alone. I got to find a place. I got to find somebody to listen to that does not teach sound doctrine. So anybody that God had sent them, they didn't want to have anything to do with, see. Isaiah 28 says, Whom shall he teach knowledge? Whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast. You got to grow up for God to teach you. You can't be a baby. And God forbid that you are a rebellious, bratty, immature person. Woe to the rebellious children, sayeth the Lord. You know, you can get to a place where that's really what's happening. You look at some of the Christians around you, they're childish. It's like you're driving a school bus and they're back there just childishness. And they take counsel, but not of me. and they cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin. What does it mean to take counsel, but not of me? It means that you're not hearing the word of God. It means you're not, see the Holy Spirit wrote the Bible. It means you're walking in the flesh and not in the spirit. You're not walking in God's word. You're not listening to God's word about how to live. It says in Deuteronomy and in the book of Judges, it shows that people wanted to lean to their own understanding. They wanted to follow their own hearts about what was right and wrong. Y'all listening? That's what Adam and Eve did. Look at Psalms chapter one here. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. Ungodly people tell you all kinds of advice. Nor standeth in the way of sinners. Don't go the way they're going, nor sit in the seat of the scornful. People just mocking God, mocking authorities. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law does he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. And he bringeth forth his fruit in his season, and his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. But the ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the judgment. the congregation of the righteous. So what we see right here at the beginning in this song, this Psalm, is that you're gonna be blessed if you walk in God's counsel. You're gonna be cursed if you do not walk in his counsel. And his counsel is found in his law, in the word, in the scriptures. And notice, if you meditate on that day and night, if you're always thinking about it, always reading it with a sincere heart, God begins to teach you. But oh, the world has its own counsel. Your flesh has its own counsel. Satan, the devils, they all unite together with your flesh, the world, the devil. And they say, we got a covering for you. This will make you feel better. Do it this way. Everybody does it this way. that they may add sin to sin. They're already walking in sin, but now they're trusting in their own ways. The wicked Egypt. God says, don't be like the Gentiles. He says that in the book of Ephesians, that we ought not walk like the Gentiles walk. He says in the old Testament, don't, don't follow the manners and the ways of Egypt. You follow their ways and the way they say to do things, I'll put their diseases on you, he says. You'll get their curses. You want to live like a Canaanite, you'll get cursed like a Canaanite. So they're in a tight spot now. But instead of repenting and amending their ways, they seek a way out. We'll just go to Egypt and make friends with Egypt. Have you ever seen a lot of people when they rebel, they find other rebels. They used to not get along, but now they're all yoking up together. Herod and Pilate hated one another. They were enemies. But when it came to the crucifixion of Jesus and those false accusations and everything, they were made friends. Pilate and Herod became friends against Jesus. People will make alliances. They will yoke up because they have common ground now. Do you hate this preacher? Do you hate this doctrine? Let's yoke up and encourage one another. So they add sin to sin. Look at verse two, that walk to go down into Egypt. They sent ambassadors down there to say, Hey, will you help us? What a bad testimony. And they have not asked my mouth, says God, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh and to trust in the shadow of Egypt. Egypt will be my covering. You got Christians walking around, the world's my covering. I get my happiness from the world. Where do you get your joy from? From a good conscience and doing what's right? Oh no, no, I get my happiness, my security, my peace, from the world. I want my worldliness. Even though God says, love, not the world. Even though God says, whoever's a friend of the world is my enemy. We are to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. They have not asked you at my mouth, the Holy scriptures. They trust in the shadow of Egypt, the covering of Egypt. Verse three, therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame and the trust in the shadow of Egypt, your confusion. Worldly coverings bring shame to you folks. You see people that used to cover themselves with the word of God and His truth and a good conscience. They'd covered themselves with Jesus walking in his spirit. And then you see him months or years later, they're just, they don't have that covering anymore. They've lost the glory. You have shame and confusion. Verse four, for his princes were at Zoan and his ambassadors came to Haines. talking about Hezekiah's ambassadors. They came to these cities of Egypt to say, will you help us? Isn't that sad? We don't have a God in the land to help us. We need you. Will your gods help us? Isn't that shame? Isn't that horrible? Christians running to the world, going to law with one another and that type of thing. Will you help us? Verse seven, for the Egyptian shall help in vain, says God, and to no purpose. Therefore have I cried concerning this, their strength is to sit still. God's saying, you need to follow my ways. You need to get right with me, not go down there and trust in vanity. Verse eight, now go, write it before them in a table and note it in a book, we read this, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever. In other words, we need to hear this right now for our age. that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord. Are you telling me there's no application for this? The Bible says that in the last days they will not endure sound doctrine. It says in the last days they'll be lovers of themselves, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, disobedient to parents, and a long, long list of things. This is for us today. This is right before the second coming. We need to hear this because this is a chapter about the second coming and what God finds. Which say to the seers, see not, speaking to us smooth things. Verse 11, get you out of the way, turn aside, out of the path. Calls the Holy One of Israel to cease from us. So this is what they're saying to the seers, to the prophets, to the religious leaders that are trying to speak the truth. It would apply to pastors today. Get you out of our way. Get you out of the way. Turn aside out of the path. If you'll just quit preaching like this, we'll be happy. They really don't want the Holy One of Israel to be before them. Verse 12, wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, because you despise this word and trust in oppression and perverseness and stay there on, therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly and at an instant. God says, you know what this is like? You running down to Egypt and continuing in your sins and not repenting and not trusting in me. You know what it's like when you cover yourself with worldliness and worldly ways? It's like standing before a giant wall that would crush you to death and you see the wall protruding out. You see a breach and you don't know when it's going to snap, but all of a sudden it snaps and crushes you in a moment. You're standing before this wall. You think it's a covering for you, but it's not. It's going to kill you. And then look at verse 15, for thus saith the Lord God, the Holy one of Israel. He keeps telling them that he's the Holy one in returning and rest. Shall you be saved in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. And you would not just return back to God, just rest in God, do things his way and receive his rest. Salvation in the Bible is often more than eternal salvation. Christians need to be saved in one sense. They need to be saved in their present life from the power of sin. And they need to be saved in their present life from the consequences through repentance, going to their high priest. And we need to be saved at the judgment seat of Christ. It's not for eternal salvation, but it is for reward. and reign in the coming kingdom. But God says you would not. I'm telling you to just come and let's get this thing right and I'll take care of you. I'll bless you. But they would not. But you said no, for we will flee upon horses. Egypt has a lot of horses, see. And God says, therefore, shall you flee? And we will ride upon the swift. Therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. You're not gonna have faster horses than the Assyrians do. It's just foolishness. For the people shall dwell in Zion, verse 19, at Jerusalem. Thou shalt weep no more. He will be very gracious unto thee, but notice the qualification at the voice of thy cry. When he shall hear it, he will answer thee. This looks forward to the tribulation period when a remnant of Israel will repent. But it applies to us right now. God will be very gracious to us if we will just cry to him. We see that over and over in the book of Judges, when they finally cried out to him, that's when he began to move. When they finally repented and quit being brats, Verse 20, and though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, that is though you go through tribulation because of your disobedience, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner anymore, but thy eyes shall see thy teachers and thy ears shall hear a word behind thee saying, this is the way, walk you in it. When you turn into the right hand and when you turn to the left. God's saying, I'll give you teachers that are gonna direct you and show you. If a person repents, God sends them somebody. God gives them that information and will help you get right. You just gotta turn your heart to him, see. There's people that are in great revival right now because they turned their heart to the Lord and God began to teach them. They were no longer stubborn and scorning. Oh, look at verse 22. This is part of repentance. Oh, this is good. You shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver and the ornament of thy molten images of gold. Thou shalt cast them away as a minstreless cloth. Thou shalt say into it, get thee hence. In the Bible, Before modern times, when women and people invented all these crazy, wicked things, they had a minstreless cloth. And God is saying that this is what you're gonna view your idols as. The covering of your idols were usually, it was usually wood with some type of gold or silver plating or decking. And all of it needs to be thrown away. Those books were worth a lot of money in the book of Acts, but they burned them. This is idolatry. And these people, once they start getting right with God, they're gonna defile the graven images. That means just burn them, destroy them. You know, when you start getting right with God, you start going through and saying, you know what? This has got to get out of my life. This has got to get out of my life. I'm throwing this away. I'm getting rid of this. Getting rid of things that are morally defiling to me. I'm gonna get rid of things that are unhealthy to me. I'm gonna get rid of all these things that are not good for body, soul, or spirit. Because I want God in my life. I want the fullness of God. Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, and thou shalt sow the ground withal, and the bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous. In that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures. This speaks of revival and blessing for us, but it also looks to the millennial kingdom. After Israel repents. Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far burning with his anger and the burden thereof is heavy. His lips are full of indignation and his tongue as a devouring fire. This is for those that do not repent. This is for the rebellious children that do not cry out to him in repentance. And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard and shall show the lightning down of his arm, the lighting down of his arm. And with indignation of his anger and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering and tempest and hell stones." That's the tribulation period in the second coming. For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smoke with a rod. That's a picture of the Antichrist. But it's also telling them that God will be there to save them from the Assyrian empire. But it looks to the tribulation period in Antichrist. And then it speaks of hell and the lake of fire, which is at the mouth of hell. In Israel, it says before God's throne, when he sits there, he says, for Tophet is ordained of old. Yea, for the king, it is prepared. He hath made it deep and large. The pile thereof is fire and much wood. The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it. So what we see as we went through this chapter, just about every verse is God says, you're, you're trusting in something you should not be trusting in instead of coming to me and repenting. I have revival for you. I have a blessing for you. If you'll just turn to me. But if not, you're going to be destroyed like a wall falling on you. There's going to be fire judgment. So I want to quickly just look at what evil coverings are. Just mention them. That rebellious children, God's rebellious children often trust in. We see the main thing in this chapter is bad counsel. You know, when people go wrong, it's usually from bad counsel that somebody gave them. Some relative somewhere, somebody on Facebook. some wicked snake in a church that goes bad. They get this bad counsel. And somebody knows how in their subtle ways to inflame. That's how propaganda works. Propaganda is just people paid to study what your fears are, what your insecurities are, what your lusts are. And then they sell things to you based upon that. So wicked people, subtle people look at you and watch you and they say, Oh, I know how to manipulate this person. So they insinuate and they say certain things and they get you to do what they want you to do. But, but it's sin in your own heart often that allows these people. Look at Isaiah 28, because you have said, we have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us, for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. The hell shall sweep away the refuge of lies, says God, and the water shall overflow the hiding place, for the bed is shorter than a man can stretch himself on it, and the covering narrower. that He can wrap Himself in. Your covering is not going to be enough for you. And what was their covering? A refuge of lies. Instead of trusting in God's Word, their hiding place was Egypt. Their hiding place were these lies. And that's happening today with rebels. They listen to lies and they think, that is my covering. This will be my refuge. Their own delusions, false prophets. No, the false prophet told me that Egypt will be my protector. Heretics, ringleaders who so discord. All will be well. But God says in Proverbs 11, you join hand with rebels. You're still going to be, I don't care if the whole world's patting you on the back, my friend, I don't care if you got everybody on Facebook chirping and, and, and, and telling you that all is well, there is no hell. The Bible says in Proverbs 11, though, hand joined in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished. I believe this covering is literal and also devotional. Today, people have made the world their covering. I have to be like everybody. I have to dress like them. Everything they do, all their habits, I have to do. Oh, they're getting a tattoo? I gotta go get a tattoo. Though the Bible says don't follow what the people of Egypt and the Canaanites are doing. Now they're getting a tattoo from one shoulder all the way down to just tattooing all over the place. Now they got to go do it. See, I got to do whatever they're doing. If they're doing this with their hair, I got to do it. I got to follow them. If they're wearing this, I got to wear it. If they're wearing pajamas to Walmart, I got to wear pajamas. If they're walking around in yoga pants, I got to do it. It says in Job 24, they caused the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold. Clothes in the Bible is covering. And we can certainly make an application when it says that these people have a covering that is not my covering. They're covering with a covering, but not of my spirit. We can certainly say that God's people in these last days have some coverings that are not of God's spirit. God says in the Bible that he's gonna come out of the sky and all that are dressed in strange apparel, he's gonna judge. The Bible says part of holiness is hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Modesty is important. God certainly wants your heart. He wants the inside, but the Lord Jesus says, cleanse the inside and the outside. In the last days, Jesus says that Laodicea, which I believe is a picture of our age, is naked. And we've learned from the Old Testament prophecies that were fulfilled in the New Testament, that scripture can be both figurative and spiritual and devotional, but also literal. Ooh, more literal than you've ever realized. Everything was fulfilled to the letter in hyper literal fashion from the Old Testament to the New Testament. So I believe that when Jesus says in Revelation three, because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. And no, it's not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I believe they're naked literally. They say, I have a covering, but God says, why do you spend money on a covering? That's not a covering. Proverbs 7 talks about a covering that's not a covering, not one of God's spirit. A man goes out of town and a wife decides that she's gonna mess around on him. And it says in Proverbs 7, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot. See, there's an attire of a modest godly woman and then there's the attire of a harlot and subtle of heart. She doesn't have on a good covering. And she's loud and stubborn, her feet abide not in her house. And what does she say to the man, the young fool? I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry and carved work with fine linen of Egypt." And the virtuous woman has tapestry and coverings of tapestry and beautiful things. But the object, the godly virtuous woman is using it for good and for God. And she's using these things in a perverted way for someone who is not her husband. Oh, she has a covering. That's a wicked covering. But it is security, isn't it? When we don't have to be different. When we don't have to be a peculiar people. When we can just follow what everybody says and just kind of go with the flow. Instead of following God's spirit urging us, we want to follow just whatever the world says. 1 Corinthians 11, judging yourselves, is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? There's nothing beautiful about somebody cutting her hair off. Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it's a shame unto him. But if a woman have a long hair, it's a glory to her. In other words, it's comely, it's beautiful. For her hair is given her for a covering. So we're living in a day and age when a lot of women say, I need security. I wanna cut my hair off. It'll make me feel better. Why don't you get security from being what God wants us to be? Why don't we get security in doing things the way God wants us to do it? God says in Isaiah 55, wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfies not? If there's food that's not food, there's also clothes that are not clothes. Isaiah 28 again says, because you have said, we have made a covenant with death and with hell are we at agreement. For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in. It's like being on a bed and the blanket is too small to keep you warm. There's a lot of clothes that people are wearing that are not clothes. They're not coverings. We used to say sometimes, oh, I'm so sorry. Can I give you something to help you buy? Something's wrong with your clothes here. Somebody cut it off. Somebody cut a piece of it out. No, it's supposed to be like that. Oh, OK. So you just bought something that didn't cover yourself? Oh, my. What's another covering people? Not only the literal worldly ways of dress or undress, but just plain idolatry. We know that idolatry can be a covering. because he says so right here in this very chapter. In Isaiah 30, when he's talking about you cover yourself with a covering that's not of my spirit, and then you get down to verse 22, he says, when you finally repent, if you do, you shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver and the ornament of thy molten images of gold, thou shalt cast them away. The images had a covering. He talks about this in Jeremiah 10. Thus saith the Lord, learn not the way of the heathen. Be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain. For one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workmen with the ax. They deck it with silver and with gold. They fasten it with nails and with hammers that it move not. So they take this wood, this tree, and then they put this silver and gold over it as a covering. But I believe we could see this not only as the literal covering of the idol that God says, even though it's silver and gold, just cast this stuff away. But the idol itself becomes a covering, folks, a security blanket. That idol is there as a covering. The devil wants to be your covering. And he wants you to use paganism and pagan ways as you're covering to make you feel better. The whole point of an idol was protection and security. Jeremiah rebukes those women that were making cakes to the queen of heaven. And they got mad at Jeremiah. They said, Hey, our husbands are going along with this. And then they said, not only do we got permission to do this from our husbands. So you're not our authority. But they said, in any way, as long as we were making cakes to the queen of heaven, we prospered. But when we don't make cakes to her, we have bad luck. So see, the whole point of their idolatry was they think they're blessed by it. It becomes a covering. But here's something we got to learn that I preached on last Sunday. When you do not separate yourself from idols, you open yourself up to Satan. Okay? Now you open yourself up to satanic curses. The Bible says the things that the Gentiles sacrifice to these false gods, they sacrifice to devils. That becomes a devil. That idol becomes a devil. And C.S. Lewis, for all of his errors and problems, had this right. He said, whatever you love more than God becomes a devil. Whether it be a family member or a thing or whatever it is. 1 John 5, for we know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not, but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. That means those that are walking in God's spirit. Those that are the children of God in the sense of 2 Corinthians 6, that if we come out from among them and be separate and touch not the unclean thing, we will be his sons and daughters. Talking to believers. That means practically, experientially. Is God renewing you? Is God in your life? Are you walking in the Spirit or are you walking in the flesh? If you keep yourself, the wicked one will touch you not. He says, and we know that we are of God and that the whole world lies in wickedness. So why do you want to be worldly? Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. Idols can be things. Idols can be pleasures. Idols can be saints, dead people that you think you're going to wear around your neck and pray to them. Idols can be Santa Claus teaching little children. Idols can be celebrities. I mean, you see people, whatever one of these singers' names is, Taylor Swift or something, and you see these girls just falling down with just tears, and their mother's like, oh, yes, isn't it a blessing? Isn't it a blessing? And they're watching her, and they're just screaming in absolute worship. Whatever she says, they wanna do. She says, be a witch, go be a witch. That's your idol now. Wicked family members can be put before God's word. And notice, pleasures can be an idol. It becomes your security blanket. It becomes your comfort. It becomes your covering. 2 Timothy 3, traitors will be in the last days. Oh, we know that. Heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. In other words, this is one reason why they betray you, because they love pleasure more than God. They say, we've got to get rid of this thing. We've got to get rid of this type of preaching. We've got to get rid of this person If you love pleasure more than God, then that pleasure, whatever it is, is an idol. And a person will say, well, I don't love it more than God. Well, do you love it more than God's word? Do you, do you love it more than God's command? If God said, don't do it. And now you're going to do it. And then you're loving this above God. Jesus says, if you love me, then keep my commandments. Pleasure is also referred to of food and drink and all kinds of things. Look at Philippians 3, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who mine earthly things. And speaking of coverings, this brings us to Job chapter 15, because he covereth his face with fatness and maketh collapse of fat on his flanks, he shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue. Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity, for vanity shall be his recompense, his repayment. For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, though they're all joining together, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery. They conceive mischief and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit. This is speaking of a very, very fat, prosperous man who's covering his face in the fatness of his gluttony. Barnes says the sense is that he becomes excessively fat and gross as they usually do who live in sensual indulgence and who forget God. What is it about prosperity that makes us want to just eat bad and live bad and get proud? We get the sense we don't need God no more. And pretty much this applies to all of us as Americans. Sometimes prosperity makes us just no longer careful before God. Jesus warned about it. Deuteronomy 32 says, but Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked. He didn't kick before he got fat. Thou art wax and fat. Thou art grown thick. Thou art covered with fatness. Then he forsook God, which made him and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation. You get rebellious, you get money in your pocket, you get rebellious. I've seen people do really, really, really, really good and tender toward God. And they start making a high, high paycheck. And now they begin to kick, you know, stubborn. Praise God for the people that can let God bless them and still be meek and godly and holy and careful. Jesus said in the last days, take heed to yourself. That's talking to us people. Lest anytime your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life even, so that day come upon you unawares. Unhealthy, gluttonous eating and drinking and cares of this life. You can be drunk with the cares of this life, folks. And we're just not ready for the judgment seat. And the Bible said that how you live outwardly can affect your heart, your mind, It can affect your view of right and wrong. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell in the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore and pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and stand before the Son of Man. I believe it shows in Isaiah 30, some that go through the tribulation period and suffer adversity because they don't turn to God. They have a covering that's not God's covering. And I hope they repent. But you're not guaranteed when the Lord comes, you're not even guaranteed to be left behind. The Lord can slay you right then and there. Matthew 24, but, and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, my Lord delays his coming and shall begin to smite his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunken, the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him and in an hour that he's not aware of and shall cut him asunder and appoint him as portion with the hypocrites, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. He smites his fellow servants. We're seeing the same picture. The prosperous, the wicked prosperous that is, the indulgent, they begin to kick. They begin to get mad. They begin to smite and persecute, falsely accused. The Bible says that riches can be a covering that we trust in. Psalms 49, they that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, but none of them can by any means redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom for him. The goal is Psalm 62, if riches increase, set not your heart upon them. The goal is 1 Timothy 6, charge them that are rich in this world. This is what a preacher is supposed to do. That they be not high-minded nor trust in uncertain riches, because they might be poor tomorrow, but in the living God, which giveth us richly all things to enjoy. You got to be thankful for what God put in your hand. That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate. That is use their money for good. laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come. That's the judgment seat of Christ and the millennial kingdom that they may lay hold on eternal life. That is that they might begin their eternal life early in the coming kingdom instead of waiting till the general resurrection. If we suffer, we shall reign says God. Job 31 says, if I have made gold my hope or said to find gold, thou art my confidence. If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom. Y'all still with me for a few more minutes? Let me say one thing for you, okay? Maybe two things, maybe three. Adam covered his transgression. Is that a good covering or a bad covering? That's a bad one. It means that Adam used his wife as an excuse for why he failed God. So when you give an excuse, it's called blame shifting. We say, it's not my fault. And this happens. So I believe one of these coverings that is not of God's spirit is when you blame others for your disobedience. I did that as a teenager for a little while. And God about killed me. Don't do that. Don't do that. I looked at the elderly, the old people in my life or the parents and that type of thing, and they weren't living right. And I says, well, I might as well just go serve the world too. Don't do that. And the more light you have, the more trouble you get in. If you do that, don't, don't you use people around you as an excuse for you to sin. If the whole world wants to go to hell or get destroyed by the flood, you'd be like Noah and his family. Don't blame other people for your wicked sin, for your wicked gluttony, for your wicked lovers of pleasures, more than lovers of God. for your laziness. Nowadays, you read all these news reports about the teenager being lazy and gluttonous and sitting there with the video games and the mom comes in and finally gets mad and says, you're not gonna do this anymore. And they kill their mama. When people get so into self and their laziness, they're gonna kick at you. They're gonna say wicked things and they can even murder. You say, how could that be? How could something be so wicked? How can you murder your relative over a video game? Look at Malachi 2. For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away. That's divorce. For one covers violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts. Therefore take heed of your spirit that you deal not treacherously. You know what these people did? They saw some pagan women or something else. And they said, I'm gonna put away my wife. I'm gonna divorce her and get me one of these pagan women. That was violence. Divorce is violence. It's violence to the family. I'm talking about an unlawful divorce. It's violence to the family. These men committed violence to their wife and family. And he says, you cover your violence with your garment. which means they try to hide. What it's saying is these people want a divorce and they want to make an excuse for their divorce that's not of God. A lot of people divorce for lawful reasons, but a whole, whole lot of people divorce and there is no lawful reason, but they make up one. And just because you get your relatives to agree with you, just because you get your Facebook friends to agree with you, just because you want to spread lies and false accusations and say, Oh, this is why I divorced. You're not going to tell the real truth because you had an evil spirit. The Bible says you ought to take heed to your spirit that you deal not treacherously. You got yourself full of lust and that's why you left your wife or husband. Or maybe you just had a bitter spirit. Maybe you just had a wicked spirit. But the point here is people pluck up their houses, pluck down their houses. That is violence. And then they cover it as with a garment. They say, nobody's going to see that I did this. I'll just pretend that my motive was something else. And it was a holy motive. You might convince everybody around you, but you haven't convinced God. God knows what you did. Psalms 32, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. That's covered by God. By going to God and saying, I did wrong. This was wrong, God, please forgive me. And you make restitution for it. You don't make excuses for it. But Proverbs 28 says, he that covereth his sins shall not prosper. That is who makes up an excuse or blames others like Adam did. But whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Confess your sins to God, forsake them, and God will have mercy on you in your Christian life. But this chapter ends in fire, folks. Jesus is coming with fire. Judgment begins at the house of God. What's another way that they cover sin? By hyper accusations. Unrighteous judgment. David raged at the man who killed and ate his neighbor's lamb, but he had his own sin. Why was he so angry? I mean, it's a horrible thing that man did, but David raged. And a lot of people are walking around in rage, judging one another because they have their own sins. And through that rage and that hyperjudgmentalism, that is how they're covering their sin. If somebody knows that they are about to be convicted, if they're about to be judged, then they will, what are they gonna do? The world teaches you to do it every single day. They're going to accuse you of something. This is how the game works. Watchman E said, this is the reason many Christians don't ever tell others that they're wrong about anything. because they know the first response is going to be, they're going to look at something in your life and pounce on it. And maybe you do have things in your life that need to be fixed, but a lot of times they'll make it up. Self pity is no covering for you. Even if you get people to believe you, resentment is no covering for you. Joining hand in hand and getting a lot of people to pat you on the back. There's no covering. Man, we got to be real with God. We got to be straight up with God. Now don't have a false humility where you admit things that are not true, but you do need to be straight with God. Lord help us. I had a woman once, uh, that I knew, won't mention names, but went off into lesbianism and was, oh, I never got such bad name calling and accusations. And then God took her life and the life of her partner And I was able through emails to try to help them in their cancers. And I believe there was a repentance. I've had another man cheat, commit adultery, and oh, I never had such railings and accusations. And his life was cut short. And I believe he had a repentance. Only God knows. But these are just some of the people that I believe got right or close to being right. Before or during great judgment. Oh, you have a covering that is not of my spirit, says God. Let us think about that fire. Think about that judgment. And may we truly repent and let God cover with his blood and grace and mercy as we take revenge on idols, take revenge on all these things that have become our security Don't blame shift, don't lie. Dear Holy Father, we do pray for all listening to this message, that have heard this message. God, please, with your spirit, minister to those that are broken, minister to those that are not puffed up and angry, and let them be angry, Lord, at sin. Let them be angry at the lies of the devil. Let them be angry at the lies of the sowers of discord. And let them, Lord, just be sincere. and get rid of these wicked false coverings that are no coverings. May we trust in your word and that peace that you give us. Thank you for it. The joy and a clean conscience and knowing that when we walk with you and keep ourselves by your spirit, you'll keep the evil one from us. We know we can be persecuted, Lord, but praise God, we will not be in a stranglehold of sin and deception. We love you, Lord. We know you're coming quickly. We pray you come quickly, but may we be ready. In Jesus' name, amen.