I'm glad that you have set aside time to be here with us this morning. We have a message from Isaiah, the old prophet Isaiah. No one spoke more in the Old Testament as much as Isaiah has, so we get to hear something that many have heard before, but we get to hear it yet again. Isaiah 24, if you have a copy of scriptures. You wanna use the Pew Bible, it's page 585, or page 588, depending on which copies of scriptures you have. But we'd love for you to, if you don't have a copy of scriptures, take one of those home. We'd love for you to have that copy. But this is the word of God. We come here to hear God speak to us through his word. When you hear the word of God read, you are hearing God's voice. So let's listen to him. Just because you're hearing doesn't necessarily mean you're listening. And I want us to listen to be changed by it, all right? Isaiah 24, this is part one of four parts. So we've entitled it Two Cities and Three Hymns. Two Cities and Three Hymns. Today we get to learn about two cities and then the next three weeks we'll learn three hymns. So we're gonna be doing a lot of singing. This will be good. Here you read with me Isaiah 24. You read silently as I read aloud. This is God's word. Behold, the Lord will empty the earth and make it desolate. And he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants. And it shall be as with the people, so with the priests, as with the slave, so with the master, as with the maid, so with her mistress, as with the buyer, so with the seller, as with the lender, so with the borrower, as with the creditor, so with the debtor. The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered. For the Lord has spoken this word. The earth mourns and withers. The world languishes and withers. The highest people of the earth languish. The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants. For they have transgressed the laws, violated the statues, and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore, a curse devours the earth and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched and few men are left. The wine mourns. The vine languishes. All the merry-hearted sigh. The mirth of the tambourines is stilled. The noise of the jubilant has ceased and the mirth of the lyre is stilled. No more do they drink wine with singing. Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it. The wasted city is broken down and every house is shut up so that none can enter. There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine. All joy has grown dark. The gladness of the earth is banished. Desolation is left in the city, and the gates are battered into ruins. For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth among the nations. And when an olive tree is beaten at the gleaning, when the grape harvest is done, they lift up their voices, they sing for joy over the majesty of the Lord. They shout from the west, therefore in the east, give glory to the Lord. In the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the Lord, the Lord God of Israel. From the ends of the earth, We hear songs of praise and of glory to the righteous one. But I say, I waste away, I waste away. Woe is me, for the traitors have betrayed with betrayal. The traitors have betrayed. Terror and the pit and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth. He who flees at the sound of terror shall fall into the pit. He who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare. For the window of heaven are open and the foundations of the earth tremble. The earth is utterly broken. The earth is split apart. The earth is violently shaken. The earth staggers like a drunken man. It sways like a hut. Its transgression lies heavy upon it and it falls and will not rise again. On that day, the Lord will punish the host of heaven. In heaven, and the kings of the earth, and on the earth, they will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit. They will shut up in a prison, and after many days, they will be punished. The moon will be confounded. Wow, what a text, huh? Well, if you've been with us on this journey through Isaiah, we have learned much about the people of Judah. And can I just tell you, out of a heart of love, we are Judah. I'm not saying we're equal always to Israel, but the people of God, the church is the people of God. They're the chosen ones of God, Judah is. He rescued them from slavery in Egypt. I mean, God gave them his law, expressing to them his holy character, and he lived with them in some kind of mobile home, as it were, the tabernacle. It would move about. As they moved, it would move with them. And God gave them, eventually, this stable structure called the temple in Jerusalem. God met with his people. And in this way, the people of Judah, for some time, were utterly unique among all the nations of the world before or since. And yet, they found themselves surrounded by hostile nations of the world, It was a dangerous world they live in. And they didn't have the greatest army. They didn't have the latest and greatest weaponry. These were just shepherds. All they had was God living with them. And from day one, Isaiah has been saying, keep trusting God. Don't break the faith by joining with the pagan nations, by bending into the backdrop of the Near East. Don't do it. Now you can believe that they were tempted to give in. Because by all appearances, the world had the upper hand. The world seemingly had all the prestige, all the power, all the pleasure. and all they had was God. That's what we've seen the last several weeks in the series of 10 oracles that Isaiah preached against the foreign nations. The point of all those oracles was this, God rules not only over little Judah, but over all the surrounding nations, God rules over all, or really, God is all anybody has. Or as we would say today, all of life is really all about God. That's what we've seen for several weeks. And today, in chapters 24 through 27, we begin a little trek through this part because we reached the climax of this middle section of the book. And here's this sweeping vision of the future. I mean, this is an unbreakable hope for all of our lives here today. These chapters are what we would call Isaiah's eschatology. Isaiah's giving out the end times as he sees it. And the big picture of chapter 24 through 27 is the city of man versus the city of God. The city of man is seen in verse 10. Look if you would, chapter 24, verse 10. The wasted city is broken down. Every house is shut up so that none can enter. Look over at chapter 25, verse six. On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow and of aged wine. This is once again the city of God. Look, oh, excuse me, I'm sorry. 25, verse two. I was going like, wait, that's not right. 25, verse two. For you've made a city a heap. The fortified city, a ruin. The foreigner's palace is a city no more. It will never be rebuilt. Then look over 26 verse 5. For he has humbled the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city. He lays it low, lays it low to the ground, cast it to the dust. And then look over Isaiah 27 verse 10. You'll see why I'm saying this. For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness, like the calves' grazes. There it lies down and strips its branches. So what you begin to see is this city of man completely devastated. And it's in contrast to the city of God. Look if you would, chapter 24, verse 13. For thus, it shall be in the midst of the earth among the nations, When an olive tree is broken as the gleaning when the grape is done. This is the beautiful city of God. Look at 25 verse six. On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food. And you begin to see this city of God is well nourished. Look at 26 verse one, same thing. In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah. This comparison and then 27, Verse 13, he says this, and in that day a great trumpet will be blown and all those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out of the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem. The city of God. So this contrast, city of man, versus the city of God. Now in chapter 24, Isaiah proclaims and predicts specifically God's judgment over the entire earth due to the widespread sin of the world. It's his, not only eschatology, but it is his apocalypse, and it's somber. It's prophetic warning with a vivid imagery of destruction, but it also highlights great hope through God's sovereignty. And here's the point of this first chapter. Though God judges the earth in its rebellion, his righteous rule still sings of hope for the faithful. And you'll see why I say sings of hope. Today we begin with the two cities. One is destroyed, the other one is firm, and it remains forever. In the weeks ahead, we'll explore three hymns. The first is the hymn of Christian hope. That'll be next two weeks from today, chapter 25. A hymn of the Christian life in chapter 26, and a hymn of Christian victory in chapter 27. So we will be doing some singing, all right? So prepare to sing, not really. I mean, we will sing, because we always sing. But the focus is on God's people singing. Notice, first of all, in our chapter here, that God's global judgment is unavoidable. You see that in verse one? Behold, the Lord will empty the earth. Now, understand something. Isaiah's a prophet, but he's also a pastor. His years of pastoral experience backs up everything he says, and it pained him to see the idolatry, the godless living of the people of Judah. And beginning in chapter 13, he delivers these 10 oracles. And if you remember, we called these very heavy messages concerning God's judgment on nations who refuse God. So as Isaiah walks through the known nations at that time, when he finally lands on Judah's own sin in chapter 22, it becomes very focused, very personal. And so now he's extending the telescope even further out. And the purpose of a telescope is to take what is far away and bring it close. And so he's extending this telescope so that we can see it. Now, Isaiah's reaching all the way to what I call the end of the end, okay? The end of time as we know it. And he's got that much focus way out there. And Isaiah is reaching all the way out there and he's using imagery and language from two parts of the book of Genesis. Genesis chapter 1 would be the creation narrative and you'll see this in a moment. And then Genesis chapter 6 through 9, the flood narrative. And he does this simply to forecast what God would do at the end of history to the entire earth. So he's using this idea that when he speaks of the flood, God did it over the entire earth. And this is what will happen at the very end. The earth is destroyed. So this chapter begins with the terror. of the justice of Yahweh, and it is displayed as the city of man is destroyed. Listen to this quote about the city of man. The nations and cultures and businesses and ideas and trends and politics and moralities of this present age, however much they disagree on the surface, are in fact unified at the profoundest level. In other words, he said, if you look at our world today, all these different nations, all these different businesses, philosophies and everything, he said, they may show differences on the outside, but inside, they have one particular focus. They are all against God. What is our world really about, this writer says. It's a massive social construct, often beautiful and even heroic, rendering plausible life without God at the center. The human race is deeply united in building its own world on its own terms. That's sobering, isn't it? And you can see it. If you're looking, it's all over the place. And so this text begins here with the city of God, but it ends, and this is the beauty of this, you can smile at the end, because it'll get rough through this, but at the end, There's a brief view of the city of God, and he displays this eternal glory in verses 14 through 16. And it displays its brilliant shine, as we will see in verse 23. But let's go through the terror first, okay? Are you ready? Buckle your seatbelts, all right, here it goes. Notice, if you would, there is cosmic evisceration. Now that's a fun word to say. You can say it five times really fast, and you'll get a kick out of that. But I'm using this on purpose. In fact, the Legacy Study Bible uses this particular word here to explain what God is doing And so he begins with the word behold. Remember, Isaiah is always wanting us to look, all right? He's always wanting us to see, so shouldn't surprise us. Behold, Isaiah wants us to pay close attention to this prophecy that he's about to make. The Lord will empty the earth. And so Isaiah sets the tone for what he's about to say by using two words. One, Yahweh, the Lord, and he uses it seven times in this chapter to the earth. 18 times he says it in this chapter. The earth, the earth, the earth. Or we would say it this way. He's speaking of the creator, God, Yahweh, and the created. And he's setting the place where we all live, all right? We're the created, he's the creator. At the end of history, the creator will do exactly the opposite of what he did at the very beginning. You say, what are you talking about? Well, what did the creator do at the beginning? He filled the earth with his creation. And at the end, he will lay waste to it. At the end, he reverses it. Because this is what sin has done. It reverses all the work that God puts into play. It seeks to reverse it. He filled it at creation and now he will lay waste to it. That's what it means to empty. Leaving it empty of what used to fill it. Well, what used to fill it? All that was very good. At the end, what is left? Sinful humanity and the entire civilization that they built for themselves. Now notice that God works And what he does is he eviscerates, he empties his creation on a cosmic level. This is something that we have never seen before, but God will do. And I choose this word eviscerate mainly to communicate the desolation, the twisting of the earth, you see that in chapter verse one, and the scattering of its inhabitants. It means to disembowel, that's an ugly word. But I want you to catch the ugliness of what sin has done. And if you look it up in the dictionary, it will tell you it means to disembowel or to deprive something of its essential content. And it's a stark and vivid picture of God's just judgment of sin. And God reaches down, as it were, and turns up the volume of his just judgment at the end. My friend, this will happen. You must understand this. Isaiah's saying this because he wants us to understand it. So it's a cosmic evisceration, but it's also indiscriminate. You see that in verse two? God's judgment is comprehensive. No one is exempt. And so notice how Isaiah explains it. He explains it in a way that covers the entire scope of humanity in the world. He will give two sides, like buyer and seller, and the distinct implication is or everybody in between. What it means that no one is exempt, and think of any group, categories, they're all included, all of them. So, social titles, doesn't matter. Positions, means nothing. Religious titles, so what? Positions will have no options. Politicians, armies, will no longer have ranks or status that will mean anything, why? Because God is God. And God is exercising his rightful authority, judging humanity and sin. But notice, it's filled with divine purposes. And you see this in verse three. I love how he says it. The earth will be utterly empty and utterly plundered. Why? For the Lord has spoken it. There's purpose here. If verse one describes what the Lord will actively do, verse three describes what the earth will passively receive. The earth will be utterly emptied. The Hebrew here doubles the verb emptied. And so what that means, it's a point of emphasis. That is literally the earth emptied, it shall be emptied. Or the idea of plundered. The Lord will plunder and it shall be plundered. It doubles the word to convey the absolute certainty that the Lord will accomplish it. The word plundered here literally speaks of intention. It's intentionally done and the force behind which God makes the earth completely barren and cleared. This, my friend, is an act of God. The picture of all of earth's goods, all the spoil of all the stuff on earth carried off and taken away to never be seen again. The Lord will get rid of all the junk, all the garbage of human sin that's been accumulating for thousands of years. He will empty the earth of it. But what he describes here is not just a string of natural disasters. This is the Lord doing it. The Lord of Israel's direct and decisive action against the earth is by ruling power to judge those who have rebelled against him. The rebellion of man will be put down, but my friend, it's not random. It's not oops. It's not man killing himself with nukes. No, my friend, it's not without provocation. But the question then becomes, why does God have to resort to such judgment? It's a good question. Isaiah knew we would ask that question, so he tells us. And we see the effect of sin on the earth in verses four through 13, a large swath of information here. And let's walk through this. God does this, he says, because the earth is defiled. What was once deemed very good in Genesis 1 31 is now very bad, defiled. And so scripture says the earth mourns and withers. The world languages and withers. Language literally means to grow weak. to fail. Why does the earth and the world languish? Why does it go weak? Because it doesn't have the resources to contend with its creator and will also suffer under the heat of God's judgment. Some of you remember as we preached through Malachi. And I told you the story about the story of God's trombones. And if you remember the line that says, young man, young man, your arms are too short to box with God. That's what's happening here. Humanity's arms are too short to box with God. Notice, even the highest people of the earth will weaken, they'll languish. That is because this is a God-enforced drought It is God's removal of his blessing, and even the most exalted people in human society, the most famous people, the celebrities, the politicians, and so on, that everyone knows, they will be brought down to ruin. It's just the way that sin and the curse takes us. And now Isaiah gets even more specific. Why is God doing this? You see, humanity has made it dirty and tracked its moral and spiritual filth all across the home that God made for us to live in. It's as if we have all trashed a very scenic and picturesque park with litter. It's as if we've spray painted graffiti on a beautiful mural or an iconic architectural historic building. This is what we've done. The word defiled literally can be translated polluted. The earth is polluted under its inhabitants. Some of you have found out that I am on, in our new neighborhood, I'm on the pond committee. And I'm not just on the pond committee, I am the pond committee. And one of my jobs, is to pick up the pollution that the wind blows in to the pond. And my kids are going, Tad, you're just an old man now. I'm going like, yeah, get over it, that's the way it is, I'm gonna go. And Cindy bought me a claw. I've hit pay dirt, guys, this is it. This is where we're all headed, okay. But every aspect, even beautiful ponds, have garbage in it. This is the way it is. So we often hear great concern about the worst polluters among the nations on the earth, or the massive amounts of garbage that are flushed into the oceans, but according to Isaiah, who is guilty of the worst pollution? God's answer is 24 verse five, every single unrepentant sinner on the earth Humanity's sin has polluted the earth, contaminated it, and made it such a dirty, spiritually unsanitary place, morally unclean place to live, and then he gives a glimpse of what this pollution is. It's called sin. Every one of us has wrestled with sin this week. And if you're honest, you see the pollution of your own heart. And if you don't see it, then Isaiah's gonna break it down for us, because the cause of God's judgment is sin. Isaiah tells us what sin looks like, and he gives us a clear understanding, and he says sin is three things. First of all, you see this in verse five? Are you looking? The earth is defiled, for they have transgressed the laws. Transgressed the laws. Law here literally means authoritative instructions. And notice law is plural to convey that the entire moral code, the commands of God, that God has made clear to mankind, written both in his word and written in the human conscience that he created, that Romans 2 tells us. And humanity has completely went past it. It's a very comprehensive disobedience. Every single one of his laws, plural. I mean, this is a matter, my friend, this is a matter, transgression is a matter of the will to go past God's boundaries. We've done this on purpose. And then two, once you willfully turn from what God says, you have to justify it. So in order to justify it, then you have to violate his statutes. That's next. See, we don't ever stop and think about this. We just go on the way we live and pretend that I deserve goodness. And we don't realize that this is how our sin works. We violate his statutes. The word statutes here speaks of that which is carved in rock, indicating that it's unchangeable. Now stick with me here. And it's alluding to the Ten Commandments carved in stone tablets. God commands moral standards and he says they're permanent. I put it in stone. That's why we use this idea. Did you put it in stone? Yeah, it's in stone, man. The laws are ever present and they're permanent. The law here. The law accuses us, the law constrains us, the law controls us, the law ultimately condemns us with unending authority. We're under the weight of the law all the time. That's the Hebrew word here. One author has said this, they rejected divine moral absolutes and they've invented innovative morality. Have you seen that? I mean, this is what humanity has done, right? It's a willing suppression of the truth that Romans 1 tells us. It's the only way to go against God's clear commands, and then you make up something else, and everyone has to buy into it. It's happening all over the place. Look at things like marriage. What is marriage anymore? What is gender? What is a family? What is even life itself? All of this. We're living in a day of innovative morality. God calls it a violation of statutes. We can't actually change what God has made permanent. We don't have, our arms are too short to box with God. Notice thirdly, they've broken the everlasting covenant. This is a relational. So it goes from the law, which is kind of out here, to this intentional way of trying to take what God says is permanent and we're gonna swap it out, why we can do this because we're God. But then it goes to a relational violation of the very covenant that God has given to us. And so you'd ask, okay, which covenant? It's probably not the Mosaic covenant, I don't think. since that covenant was only made with the nation of Israel. This is likely the noetic covenant because this covenant is by all of humanity and it brings God's judgment against the entire earth, not just Israel. So this is God's covenant with all of mankind, established with Noah, that stands for all time, for all people on earth, that lasts as long as the earth endures, and is still in force even to this day. It has not gone out of date. God lays out the charges, and they're pretty clear, and we're all guilty. Now, if the chapter were to end right there, we would all be hanging our heads and walking out feeling pretty bad. But notice, He gives us the effect of God's judgment. How does this really work out? Folks, God is taking the blinders off of our eyes and letting us see how this really is. In verses six through 13, notice how Isaiah explains the effect of God's judgment here. In other words, he says, therefore, you see that in verse six, therefore, Because of humanity's baseline rebellion, God's judgment affects things globally. Therefore, a curse devours the earth. So it is a global, a global curse. And then it goes to an individual effect. You see in verse six, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt, therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched and a few men are left. And what we're gonna see here is at the end of the end, what he's talking about here, not very many people make it through. That's how grievous this is. God's judgment is. But the rest of the text outlines this global and individual effect in three ways. Notice first of all, there's no satisfaction in life. Some of you experienced that this week. You can see this dissatisfaction woven into the fabric of this text. He uses this idea of wine mourning. Now it's not wine mourning. glass of wine sitting there going woof, woof, woof. It's not what it's talking about. But it's wine isn't even the same. It's not right. The heart sighs. The joy of the tambourine, it's gone. No noise of exaltation. Here the effect is in the soul of the person. Singing is always connected with the transformed soul. Wine has lost its taste, it no longer satisfies. This is like an image on top of an image. He says the vines are no longer giving grapes. No one is affected, even by the tambourine. Have you ever been around a group of people and someone brings in this tambourine? The people kind of like, oh, yeah, yeah, now you're getting it. Why, because it has that kind of effect. The vines are no longer giving this grapes and the tambourine has gone silent. Our lives are filled with dissatisfaction. Honest with me today, how many of you came to a conclusion in your life this week? That's so unsatisfying. Some of you have and it's really gotten you depressed. That's what sin does. Just know that when that happens, that ain't the way it's supposed to be. No stability is the second thing. Notice the city of man is now called in verse 10 the city of chaos. Like no structure, nothing is as it should be. The singing isn't what it ought to be, the wine isn't what it ought to be, but it's unstable because no one knows what to expect. The people are wandering the streets crying out loud because of a lack of the effects of alcohol and there's this shaking of the olive trees and it's desolate. The instability is rampant and it brings fear and trepidation. And then finally, you see, there's no security. You see, in this city of chaos, or what one translator called the city of meaninglessness, what are people doing in our world today going about, what is the meaning of life? They don't get it right, they don't get it right, they don't get it right. None of us get it right. What's the use? Have you had that conversation with yourself this week? This is what sin does. In fact, that word meaningless is the same word as formless. It's the same word used in Genesis 1, the earth was without form. Things that used to give meaning, there's no meaning with it now. It's chaotic, no one is secure. Scripture says in verse 13, the gate is struck down Very few people will be left, wine fails, music stops, cities are desolate, life as people know it collapses. This reflects the emptiness of worldly joy without God. It isn't what it proclaims it to be. This is the city of man. Augustine studied this. He's the one that actually pulled this out, and for all of us people who follow after, we're gleaning from him. And he says this, two cities have been formed by two loves. Listen carefully to this. The earthly city by love of self, even to the contempt of God. The heavenly city by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories in itself, The latter glories in the Lord. For the one seeks glory from men, but the greater glory of the other is God, the witness of conscience. The one lifts up its head in its own glory. The other says to God, you are my glory. You are the lifter of my head. This is one who believes all of life is all about God. This is one who believes all of life is really about me. and they're at enmity with each other. They won't fit. This is why you have marriage breakdowns. One is all about me, while the other one is trying their dead level best to live in grace, and my life is all about God. It'll rip and tear at marriages. This is one of the reasons that we want to go through and give premarital counseling is to make sure that there's a godly sense of what I owe to each other as God has worked his grace out in me. It's not hard to see, is it, God's anger. Why would God be angry? Well, look at the filth, the stench of humanity. That's us. Isaiah wants us to feel this this morning. He wants us to sense it. But then he moves quickly in verses 14 through 16, the response of God's people. And here's when you can begin to crack a smile. Here's the first sight of the city of God, and what a contrast. What are the people doing in verse 14? They lift up their voices, they sing for what? They sing for what? Joy, say it with me, joy. You can't even say joy without having a little smile. But this is what he's talking about here. And it's a huge contrast. This city, the people remain completely stable. They're in fact going through the same tribulation, the same crud that the rest of the world is going through, but what are they doing? They're singing amongst the terror of judgment. Voices from the east and west are now heard doing what? Glorifying God in song. This, my friend, is stunning because this is the singing of hope. Hope that is away from myself, hope that is not up to me, but it's the hope in God. Those who lift up their voices are the remnant of God's people who endure to the end and are saved. And these are those who survive the judgment, who are left after God's harvest and see what the Lord has done to those who defiled and corrupted life here on earth. But notice they lift up and they shout and they cry out with their voices. This, my friend, is not standing here like I saw some today. Come people of the morning sun. No, when you've been through that kind of trial and tribulation, and you know that there's hope, there's the destination in the middle of the journey, it's God himself. Come people of, oh come on, sing. This is of God, this is of his glory. We must sing, come on. And we're reminding each other. Folks, this is worth singing about. All that other stuff with the tambourine going dad and the wine going dad, that's not worth singing about. This is God. They sing for joy, why? Look at verse 16, will you? Why do they sing for joy? From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise of glory to whom? The righteous one. Now come on, you know who that is. This is Jesus. In the middle of sin and destruction, there is a righteous one, there is a Redeemer. There is one seated on his throne. All this confusion, all this instability, all this dissatisfaction, there is a Redeemer. And they praise him, but that's not all. I want you to catch this. There's something else that we have to see here. They get to rejoice over Christ's earned righteousness for them. That's what it means to be the righteous one. We're not the righteous one. Jesus is and so verses 14 and 15 give glory to the Lord throughout the earth But in verse 16 we hear now songs of praise of the glory of the righteous one, but then Then my friend projected into this here Jesus himself say I waste away, I waste away. Woe is me, for the traitors have betrayed. With betrayal, the traitors have betrayed. This is Jesus himself speaking of his death. And friends, there is no time in the world history where the evil of mankind was more manifest when the Holy One of Israel came to this earth and men conspired against the very One who came to save them. Christ was betrayed like no other, Can you hear the words of Jesus? Jesus became a curse on the cross as the evil one of mankind and the wrath it deserved was poured out upon him. And now we get to call out to the people of the earth and say, oh yes, oh earth, you will be facing the judgments of your evil, so let me tell you of the righteous one who suffered in your place. This is his point. We get to rejoice and sing over the Lord's earned righteousness on our account. It's the heart of the redeemed doing the only thing they can do is sing. And with even greater rejoicing, they sing for joy as God's judgment of the world falls near because it means at least two things. One, God's righteous rule will arrive in the fullness of his power and his might and be fully established on earth just as in heaven. My friend, we're gonna be glad, listen to me, we're gonna be glad that the righteous one judges sin. It's not gonna be a delight, there's no delight in seeing the wicked perish, that's not the point. But what it should do in our hearts is rhyme, should link up with the righteousness that Christ has given to you. Righteousness should want righteousness. So God's righteousness will now rule and reign, but also it's the full outpouring of his grace onto hopeless sinners. That should stun us. No one of these people, not one of these people deserve Christ's gift of righteousness. And this is when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. And he will reign forever. And it will mean the complete triumph of God over the forces who oppose him. And they sing over the majesty of the Lord as the righteous one. They sing because this is their salvation in Christ. My friend, it's important now that we sing for the same reason. So we pick hymns that speak of his righteousness ruling and reigning in our hearts now and we remind each other of this. And then there's two more points. Hang on. It gets dark again. All is not yet well. And there's despair for those who refuse God. And you see this in verse 17 through 22. There's despair. Verse 17, there's panic, pit and pitfall. The earth is portrayed in three metaphors very quickly. The earth is staggering around like a drunken man. The earth totters like a shack. We've read this already. Think of the house it built on sand that Jesus spoke against. Verse 22, the inhabitants are like prisoners, confined and then punished. Such is the state of mankind apart from God. We must see this. because that's the world out there. And this language, all of this language in verse 19 is taken straight from Genesis six through nine of the flood where the earth is broken wide open and the entire world shakes. My friend, what it's saying here is there will be no escape for rebels who refuse to turn from their rebellion. The city of man will come to a very real and final end. Look at verse 20. The earth staggers like a drunken man, it sways like a hut, its transgressions lie heavy upon it, and it falls and it will not rise again. There will never ever be after this the city of man, never. Praise God that that city will be destroyed. But it doesn't end there. Look at verse 23. And my point here is, or Isaiah's point is, the glory of the Lord is unstoppable. Look at verse 23. This is the very end. Then the moon will be confounded and the sun will be ashamed. Why? For the Lord of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and his glory will be before his elders. This, my friend, is eschatological language. And this is beautiful. Don't miss God's message of hope. Judgment extends to heavenly and earthly powers all over the world, but ultimately it ends with the Lord reigning gloriously on Mount Zion and specifically in Jerusalem. And my friend, it's not Jerusalem as we know it in the Middle East now. This Jerusalem comes down from heaven. It's the new Jerusalem. It's the new heaven and the new earth. This is the city of God. Listen, when we say all of life is all about God, this is exactly what we mean. God's kingdom and his rightful glory is the ultimately important thing for all of life, and he will be triumphant in the end. Christians do not have hope for the future, but they have hope from the future. And the end is certain. God will reign, and gloriously so. Even the light of the sun and the moon pale and are embarrassed at their amount of light. That's lifted. I mean, Isaiah, John. grabs this in Revelation 21, 22 through 24. But Isaiah will say it again in Isaiah 60. The sun will no more be the light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the Lord will be your everlasting light. Your God will be your glory, your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more. The Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end. Aren't you tired of the days of sorrow? Don't you just sit there and look at the earth and go like you are missing something. You're missing the glory of God seen in Christ. The brightness of God's great glory is unstoppable. Do you understand that? So learn this. Sin has cosmic consequences. When you give yourself to sin, you think no one sees, no one knows. God knows. And the consequences of sin, rebellion, not only impacts those around that we live in, but overall, it impacts the world that we inhabit. But my friend, you can't fix that. Only the righteous one can fix that. And what a job he's done fixing it. Secondly, God's justice is impartial. God takes sin seriously. What that means is, from the person who's never walked into a church, but has believed into Christ, that person will be saved. To the person who spent all of his life in the church, but has never repented and believed into Christ, that person will face judgment. God's justice is impartial. It reminds us to walk humbly and repentantly before him. Three, true joy cannot be found apart from God. Can I just say that again? True joy cannot be found. Young people, listen to me. It cannot be found apart from God. When you start looking for it in these ah God things of life, you won't find it, because it's not there, true joy. You can manufacture this party joy. That's party, it won't last. True joy is in the presence of God. And then fourth, finally, hope exists for those who trust in God. Hope exists for those who trust in God. But here's my point in this. It's gonna get really dark in your journey. Some of you, if God tarries, some of you may have to go through this destruction. Okay? You say, well, do you believe in the rapture of the church? I do. I think. All right? The point, though, is that there are believers who come on the other side of this and have gone through it, and the reality is they stuck to the goodness and the grace of God. They lived out of his grace, not out of what I can do. So hope exists for those who trust in God. The righteous one has removed the only thing that could really destroy us, God's judgment. If you're born again, all the judgment for your sin was poured out on Christ. You're now free to move about the country, to live for him. And this hope, is only in the work of Christ done on your behalf. And this is Isaiah's point. Look, folks, trust in him. These people had not gone through Babylon yet. Babylon's coming, but Babylon is no comparison to this entire earth deal in chapter 24. Babylon's gonna be bad, but this is gonna be worse. It doesn't matter how bad it is if you're beholding and trusting into Christ. It won't matter. You'll shake, the earth will shake. You'll shake with the earth, but your confidence will need to be in him. Now this week, you can count on something. Your faith in Christ will be tested. You will think the earth is shaking underneath you. You will think your world is collapsing. Put your faith in him. That finished work of Christ on the cross did everything for you. You stand forgiven at the cross. Rest in that. Trust in him alone. He is your strength. He is your redeemer. Pray with me this morning. Father in heaven, what joy this brings us, but what soberness this brings us as well. Some of us are feeling the effects of the tambourines kind of toning down. The things that we used to look to to find great satisfaction, it's not satisfying anymore. We're feeling those effects as we go through life. You've told us this will happen. So Father, today, be our God, Help us to see the great message of the gospel, this perfect work of Christ on our behalf. His righteousness has been imputed to us. We have it now and we get to live in purity. We get to live in holiness. We get to turn from sin. We get to confess our sin knowing that he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins because he died for those sins. Father, strengthen the weak this morning here. Strengthen the one who is weak, but they don't know they're weak until they're tested. God, help us to be okay with being the weak. Because it's when the weak realize their weakness, then they can be made strong through the work of Christ. Lord, you are the great God. You've thought of everything. So God, let the word of God dwell in us richly. And may we persevere even at times when our head is exploding. We think all the world is lost. We trust not in our feelings, not in our heads, but in our Christ, the precious promises that are given to us. God, let us be the people who live in the city of God. Thank you for this amazing grace that has allowed this privilege, we pray in Christ's name, amen.