A good week once again, and it's good to have each one of you here tonight. Well, let's just get into it. Turn the Bible to the book of Isaiah. The book of Isaiah, we'll do a little review tonight because the chapter lends itself to that. But Isaiah chapter 23, Isaiah chapter number 23, this is the last of several chapters that speak of burdens that the prophet bore. And this one, the burden of Tyre, how ye ships of Tarshish, In other words, this is a new burden, and it's the 11th and last of the burdens that are being shared. The burdens are judgments. They reflect judgments coming upon them, and this chapter is certainly that, judgments coming upon them. Each nation represents some principle that they're being judged for. Don't ever forget this, and I look this up just to make sure. Go back to Genesis chapter number 10. Genesis chapter number 10, you have to keep the Bible all in the right perspective. And in Genesis chapter 10, I've said many times that your Bible is frankly the story of Israel, isn't it? It's the story of Israel. I know it's who's going to reign, and Jesus Christ stands out on it, but we see the nations of this world as they relate to Israel. In Genesis chapter 10 and verse 32, these are the families of the sons of Noah after their generations in their nations, and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood. So the earth was divided into nations after the flood, before God chose Israel to become the representative nation of His covenant. So the nations were there already. And when we see the book of Genesis, you see the nations, and chapter 18 I think is where God starts dealing with Israel, and you see all these things going on. That stopped quicker this time. Okay? You see where God started dealing with Israel, but just remember this, up in Acts chapter 17, it says that God has appointed a day when all the nations of the earth shall be judged. Everyone's going to stand before God, and these burdens that are representative of different problems that they represent, these are principles that there's a burden that the prophet has to speak with on them, and we'll look at those in just a minute, but he's the judge of all the earth. In fact, in Genesis 18, as God was dealing with Moses, and Moses, I'm sorry, Abraham, was begging God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah. If there were but ten righteous people there, you know what he asked God? Shall not the God of all the earth do just? So the God of all the earth, Abraham says, you're going to do just, right? So justice is not, I say all that to say this, justice is not just how God deals with the people of Israel. Everyone faces judgment and God tells us, that he revealed himself to Israel, and the Bible we have came through Israel. Holy men of God spake as they were moved to the Holy Ghost. Now, all those things are true. In fact, it ends up being of Israel, and it ends up in the last few chapters of a millennial kingdom where Jesus sits on a throne, David sits on his throne, and they rule and reign for a thousand years, and then there's another rebellion. The nations of this world are comprised of people that are sinners. We are sinners. We deal with our life as sinners, and we come before God, as we saw in 1 Kings 8, I think it is, as those that have a healthy respect for our sinfulness. Those aren't the right words, but I'd have to look at it. But we have a healthy respect for our sinfulness. If you don't have a healthy respect for your sinfulness, there's something wrong in your heart. And don't ever forget that. We're sinners. Paul said, oh wretched man that I am. Who in the world, who could be exempt from being wretched because of the presence of sin if Paul is in that condition? A wretched man. Why? Because he knew that in his heart he had leanings toward things that were wrong, that his spirit would say were wrong, and yet the things that he hated to do were the things that he ended up doing. Does that mean that he was terribly backstabbed and a wicked and evil guy? No. It's right in the midst of his service he still knew that he was dwelling in a body that wasn't yet redeemed. Now that's Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 8 says we're waiting for the redemption of the body. That's what will solve all that, isn't it? Now why do I say all of that? Because this chapter is the burden of Tyre, the last of these 11 burdens, and it's and it is going to address the temptation that commercialism is. And when you look at the different dispensations in the word of God, you'll see that every one of them, including that last one, the millennial dispensation, they end on a sour note, don't they? The age of grace, the Bible tells us, is the church age. It's going to end in apostasy as well. Hey, there's still people that haven't bowed their knees to Baal, but in every dispensation, you see another blessing of God turned to, well, neglected and probably violated by nasty old sinful flesh, even when they're believers. You say, well, I don't like the sound of that. Well, why is it that David, the man of God's own heart, could sin like he did? Not just the adultery, but in particular, and I don't mean to minimize that, he intentionally had one of his greatest men killed. Now, you say, well, that's Old Testament. Yes. Well, how is it that Demas could forsake the apostle Paul when he got to be there and watch all the wonders that Paul experienced? Then he said, I think I'll go back home. How could he do that? We don't know all the story, but I know this. God said, beware about loving this present world, and that's exactly what happened with Demas. Having loved this present world, he didn't want to live for the future when he got tired of that. So these different burdens, we'll look at them quickly here tonight before we get into the text, but we'll look at these quickly tonight because we'll see each one represents something that is well documented throughout all mankind's history, and hopefully it'll be a blessing to you. Let's pray. Lord, would you bless us tonight? Lord, give me the words to speak, and Lord, I frankly feel a little bit behind the eight ball. I pray that you'd speak through me. Give me the words that I should speak, whether I plan to or not. Give them to me at the right time, even illustrations at the right time, Father, that your word would be plain as we come before you. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, if you go back, the very first burden was the burden about Babylon. And we could go back, I think it's chapter 11 or so, 11 or 12, something like that, maybe 13, but it's a burden of Babylon. You and I know what Babylon was all about. Babylon conquered the world and of the four different kingdoms that he saw in his dream. Babylon was the first and the most powerful. It says that in Daniel 2. It was the first and most powerful, and it was a remarkable one, except it only lasted 70 years. God used Babylon for some of the 70 years to punish his own people, and after that, the Medes and the Persians. What's the sin of Babylon? They represent false religions and idolatry, don't they? because we make idols out of our possessions. We make idols even out of our personality or our blessings and all the things that represent us. You think about God giving Nebuchadnezzar two different dreams that needed to be interpreted, and he had a plain interpretation of both of them, and he violated both of them. That's just like Solomon. And by the way, until the very end, the last part of Nebuchadnezzar's life, you would assume that he's not a believer. It does say he's God's servant, he did serve God, but he did praise and extol the God of heaven, didn't he? both of his dreams he violated after he got a perfectly accurate interpretation of them by Daniel. On the other hand God was upset with Solomon for what reason? He went into idolatry after God appeared to him twice. You have to understand that we have a real war going on inside of us, and whichever one part of us we want to feed the most is the one that's going to have the most power in our lives. Babylon represents false religion. You see that in the book of Revelation. Babylon is still hanging around, isn't it? Babylon is still there, and she represents not just the false religions, the mother of harlots, in other words, the mother of unfaithfulness. but also she rides on the back of the economic system of the day. Secondly, we saw Palestine. The burden of Palestine, that represents the true religion, except that it's apostate. It's apostate. And that doesn't mean Palestinians today represent the true religion, but the burden upon that area of land, what happened to the children of Israel as they lived on that land after God delivered them time and again? They went into idolatry, even though they had the absolute, accurate, revelation of God in their hands. And in fact, in David's day, the spiritual things, though I think he worshiped God himself, there's a verse that says that in Hezekiah or Josiah's day, I think it was Josiah's day, that when they found the book of the law up in the temple, where was it for all those years? It was put on a shelf and they forgot about it. They had their verbal stories. They had their, instead of their written record, and I think it was about David that they didn't celebrate. That's, I think, when Josiah, no, Hezekiah was going to celebrate the Passover. They hadn't celebrated as a nation even before David was there. How could you have that as part of your heritage and it's not a vital part of your everyday walk? Do you know what a lot of people today that name the name of Christ are? Oh, what they do? Oh, I meet with God out by the river while I'm fishing. Well, isn't that nice? Isn't that nice? I'm so glad that Jesus died so you could go out and fish. Okay? We have all kinds of foolishness like that, don't we? So if you would, the burden of Babylon represents the true religion, but upon state, it's down to rituals and repetitions and relationships. Have you ever noticed your own prayer life? That much of what we pray is the same words as we did yesterday. I'm guilty just like you are, and I know I pray off a prayer list, I go through that list, but much of what we pray is the same words that we did yesterday, until a horrible burden comes upon us, then we put our heart and soul into it. One of them is just repetition, whether it's vain or not. I know repetition in the case of the Pharisees was vain, but man, when your heart's in it, that's different. When your heart's in it with your wife or your husband, that's different too, isn't it? Than just going through the motions. Number three, Moab. That speaks of formal religion, but without any power. Most of what passes for religion today is form without substance. We're promised that in 2 Timothy 3. They have the form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof. Now you think about all the ways you could deny the power of God. You go through the motions. You go through the motions. You read your Bible every day. We should read our Bibles every day. You pray every day. We should pray every day. But is your heart in it as it could be? Is your heart in it as if life and death depended upon it? Maybe not your life, but a loved one's life? We don't want to go with just the form. We want the power of godliness, that is. We want to have a walk so close to the cross that his shadow falls upon us, and that's what we need, isn't it? Moab represents that. Damascus, just plain compromise. Just compromise. Compromise is when people that name the name of Christ do exactly what they know is wrong, and they either ignore it or excuse it somehow. compromise. This world, this world... I think it was Sunday I looked at, it might have been the last week, how that God blessed, you know, it was Sunday, God blessed Ahab, with a victory when Ahab was the worst of kings. Why did he do that? So that they might know that there was a God in heaven. He did so two times. How did David defeat Goliath? He did so because Goliath challenged the God of Israel, the God of heaven, and God gave all kinds of physical manifestations of his existence, his presence, his desire to walk with us, And so much of what happens is compromised today. Compromised. Number five, I think we are, Ethiopia. I like Ethiopia. Ethiopia, the first Gentile saved was an Ethiopian eunuch. Isn't that right? Isn't that a wonderful thing? Ethiopia represents missions. Missions are the life of the church. missions of the life of the church. Why is that? Remember this, charity suffers long in his kind. Charity is the fruit of love, of God's love. And it's long-suffering and kind and considerate and all these things. Isn't missionary work charity? I mean, you look at the bus ministry. Lots of churches don't want a bus because it doesn't pay for itself. Are you out of your mind? Oh, those little kids don't bring a lot of offering. Are you crazy? You know what the easiest mission field is? Bringing these little kids in here. Got reproved by Cheyenne. She didn't get to see Anna yet. You know what? That's many years on the bus ministry. The kids remember Dave and Andrea. They remember the Sunday school teachers. Yeah, missionary endeavors is the life of the church. And your life is going to be enhanced greatly when you determine to be a witness for Jesus Christ today. tell someone about him. Egypt is always a type of the world. And when Isaiah is speaking about these burdens, he'd tell us, have this burden of missions, but he's telling us also, beware of this world. 1 John 2 tells us, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Now isn't that an interesting verse? It's extremely black and white. Don't love that world. Well, what exactly is the world? I know this. Whatever is in that world, it led demons astray. I know that. But I also know that it's contrary to the love of God. I know that. Sometimes the things we hold dear are contrary to the love of God. They work against us, don't they? I love sports, always have, but I will not let that get in the way of serving God. And I won't even let it get in the way of serving God by going and doing a sports thing instead of going to church. I'm not going to do that. And you know how right that is for the simple reason that when we were kids, that the school sporting events were never on Wednesdays or Sundays. Ever. And now they fill up pretty much every day and night of the week. And I don't think it's accidental, but it's just like my preacher friend, when he was asked to do the graduation stuff at a school in Brewster, Washington, he came up to the pulpit and he said, now you believe this Iraqi, came up to the pulpit and he said, these be thy gods. And he took a basketball out of the pulpit. And Brewster was known for basketball. I know, they were a class B school and they beat lots of class A and double A schools. These by thy God, a basketball, a football, and that's the way it's getting today, isn't it? That's the way it's getting today. Egypt is the burden of the world. Persia, Persia, the next one is the burden of luxury and affluence. Once you taste of those things, it's hard to go back, isn't it? That's what's remarkable about Paul when he says, I know both how to abound and how to be abased. I know want and I know great blessings in all. Why is that? Because his heart and his eyes were so fixed on Jesus that the world didn't matter so much. And we are so quick to take our eyes off of Jesus, aren't we? Persia's luxury and affluence. I see these videos all the time posted of excavations. Have you ever seen those? I saw an excavation of I think it was some royal relative of Caesar where Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii covered it up. And they dug down 20 feet or something like this. And here is a palatial estate as if they had just left it. And it has beautiful mosaics on the floor. And this is a 2,000-year-old building that is covered by ash. for all that time and people died in it and all those things. Hey, the rich have always found places to relax and that's not the problem. The problem is when that fills your heart. So Persia is a picture of what they call Persian rugs. That doesn't mean an old bathroom rug, does it? Persian rugs and so on. How about Edom? That's a type of the flesh. Arabia, Arabia is a type of war, isn't it? And that's the burden. Won't it be wonderful when Jesus ends the last rebellion with the sword of his mouth? See, that is just about as quick as we're transported to heaven. There's no battle when Satan is loosed for a season, because it's not even half a verse. When they rise up against King Jesus, he just extinguishes it. But war, war. Think about Jesus tasting death for every man. Think about that. Many of the wars have resulted in the most horrific of human abuses and tortures and all this stuff, and everything those poor dear souls, and the ones that particularly bother me are the ones that didn't go to heaven. Everything they suffered, he tasted death for them. What was the burden he bore? More than words can describe. War. children die. And things like that are horrible things. And this is a burden that Isaiah is sharing with the people. Each one of these things shows man has some great idea. We're going to fix the problems of the world with luxury. We're going to war because we have better ideas than anyone else. So we're going to impose our will with the loss of life so that other people can enjoy the luxury that we're going to provide them, which has never happened. ever. And the valley of vision, that's politics, not religion. Really, speaking of Jerusalem, we just looked at that. Some feel that negotiations and intellects and all those things will fix the problems. They don't. You think the United Nations and the League of Nations were the first time that they tried to get smart people together to fix things? But it doesn't matter how smart you are, you cannot overcome the sinfulness of man. And aren't you thankful that our Founding Fathers understood that? That's the exact reason behind the Bill of Rights, the exact reason for the framing of our Constitution. Why? Because men are men, and it says this, men are men, we need laws to protect one from another. Because governments are comprised of men. We need a contract preserved to keep the governed safe from the government. And if you just practice that today, that's what produced the most prosperous and safest country in the world, America. That's why it's being eroded over and over again. Negotiations aren't going to fix it. Think about in your lifetime, in my lifetime. I couldn't name them all, but I remember good old Jimmy Carter was negotiating peace in the Middle East. And I think Bill Clinton had negotiated peace in the Middle East. And they've all negotiated peace in the Middle East. And most likely, Trump will do something. He'll try to put a stop to that. That's not going to fix the problem. It's not going to fix the problem, no matter how high-minded your motives are. Negotiations won't do it. Tonight we're looking at tire. That's commercialism, big business. Throw money at every problem. Now I remember the speeches that LBJ gave and declaring war on poverty. What a farce. What a farce. What people throw money at, it ends up destroying it. Isn't that right? What governments do at least. You throw money at every problem and now the school results, the test results are going downhill. I don't know if they've started going back up. Does anyone know if they've started going back uphill? I think they keep plummeting. You know what they need? More money. That's what they tell you every time. And the money that's been spent on those things for the last 50 years has still destroyed the school so that many of the kids can't even read when they get out. So all these burdens were a cumulative burden upon Isaiah. It's no wonder these great prophets of the Old Testament who had a vision of the future, and they were able to see the present correctly, and they saw the problems that people were heading for. Hey, parents get a taste of that, don't we? You know parents, and they'll say, well, I hope you don't make that decision. It'll be the wrong decision. It's natural for parents to think that, isn't it? Henry said one time, hey, dad's still dad. Doesn't matter how old the kids are. But you notice that Commercialism, as we look tonight, is going to be one of the primary issues of certainly our day, and Isaiah would see these things in the future, and just like a loving father, he would see the heartache that's going to come. And he would see the unnecessary suffering and maybe the suffering of the innocents and all of those things that were going to come. And it's common knowledge that over 100 million people have died in the last 100 years just to try to get socialism affected. Isn't that correct? You've seen those numbers. A hundred million people. That's a little under a third of the United States population in the last hundred years, where someone who is convinced they're smarter than everyone else, it's going to take some hard times, but we're going to bring in a time of peace. Well, Isaiah would have been seeing all that. And all these little tricks just failed to work, didn't they? God is the judge of all the earth, Genesis 18 tells us. and all the people of this earth are gonna stand before him. And let me read that for you in Acts chapter 17 verse 31. Hey, this is a great verse for street preaching. Acts 17 verse 31, because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, wherever he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he hath raised him from the dead. Think about that. You know, the resurrection we thrill, our hearts thrill about. It's the essence of the gospel that death couldn't hold him. Sins that he paid for weren't his own. So he paid for my sins, but God assures us that there's going to be a judgment of all the men on the earth because the tomb's empty. Think about that. Think about it. That's really a wonderful truth, isn't it? So when Isaiah and other prophets see the future and see this stuff going on, It's interesting, isn't it? They get to see what's yet to happen. And in 1 Corinthians 3, 19, just remember this, the wisdom of this world is foolishness of God. and it's written on all the pages of history. So tonight we come to chapter 23, The Burden of Tyre. How, ye ships of Tarshish, for it is laid waste so that there is no house, no entering in from the land of Chittim, it is revealed to them, be still ye inhabitants of the isle, thou whom the merchants of Zidon that pass over the sea have replenished, and by great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river, is a revenue and she is a mart of nations. Now, a lot of verses there show us just exactly why this is all about commercialism. We forget this. We think that trade and shipping internationally just started in the last few years. This is going on long before Jesus came the first time. Remember, I just read about Solomon, and the verse that you think about is in 1st Kings, I think it is. I'd have to find that. Well, let's look at 1st Kings 10 and verse 22. 1st Kings 10, verse 22. This is in the days of Solomon. The kingdom is established, the temple is built. And all the wonders of that earthly kingdom are there. 1 Kings 10.22, for the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish, one of the cities we're going to be speaking about tonight, with the navy of Hiram. He was of Tyre, we're speaking of Tyre. Once in three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold and silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom. You know what King Solomon was doing? He was trading with other nations and every three years a new shipment would come of apes and peacocks and all the things that, you know, you don't absolutely need for life. I have never had a need for an ape. I've seen lots of peacocks, they're really neat, but I have never had a need for one of them either. You understand? That was going on even in that day. Tyre and Sidon were two great Phoenician cities. Sidon, the elder, was assumed to be the mother, and soon Tyre surpassed Sidon. And Tyre and Sidon are still in the New Testament, aren't they? We'll look at that as time permits. Phoenician ships entered all the ports of the Mediterranean. Think about that, all those years ago. Steve and I were talking yesterday, I think, about ships that are at the bottom of the ocean that are still full of Nazi plunder, isn't it? Weren't there some? They just disappeared. They loaded them up and sent them toward Argentina, and they're somewhere on the bottom of the ocean, aren't they? I can see how people get excited about looking for that because, not so much because of the gold, although I'd take the gold, but because of the history that's there. and they have ships that are in really cold water deep enough that the oxygen doesn't destroy the, they don't rot, so it's almost like a time capsule from hundreds of years ago. It's on the bottom of the ocean because ships went all over the world trading and it made the owners of the ships very wealthy despite losing some of them. That's what Phoenicia is. They entered all the ports in the Mediterranean. They even went to Great Britain. I think I read that Brittany is actually a word that means tin. Guess what they got in Great Britain? Tin. Tin. I'd like to know how they figured out how to make bronze. I mean, I understand getting something hot enough to take the gold out of it. Understand that. How did you figure out how to mix metals together to get bronze and all that stuff, brass, or whatever it is they made, and refine silver and gold? That's all understood 2,000 years ago. So the guys from 2,000 years ago weren't knuckle-draggers, were they? Not at all. They even went to Great Britain. They were aggressive. They settled Carthage. This is the Phoenicians. That is in North Africa. who was a longstanding enemy to Rome. Cyrus' prosperity came from trading with Tyre. I'm sorry, Cyprus' came from trading with Tyre. Tarshish was the south coast of Spain where Jonah sought to flee. These were cities and states well known in those days. You want to know what the trade was? Look at Ezekiel 27. Ezekiel chapter 27, and it's really a wonderful thing to compare these different passages. These are prophets that spoke in a certain day, and they were somewhat concurrent with each other. But this is Ezekiel 27, look at verse 2. Now thou son of man takes up a lamentation for Tyrus. That's what we're looking at. And said to Tyrus, O thou that art situated at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, thus saith the Lord God, O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty. Thy borders are in the midst of the seas. Thy builders have perfected thy beauty. They have made all thy shipboards of fir trees of cedar. They have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masks for thee. Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars. The company of the Asherites have made thy benches of ivory brought out of the isles of Chittim. Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail, blue and purple from the isles of How did they figure out all these things came from abroad? There were people trading. What do you suppose had Europe find America? Obviously the Native Americans were here already. They were trying to find a cheaper way, a quicker way to get to the Orient. And they discovered America in the way. All this was going on in those days. The merchants became wealthy from all this, didn't they? So Tarshish was on the southern coast of Spain where Jonah sought to flee. And it shows us what it was like there. Hiram of Tyre was a friend to David and Solomon traded with Hiram of Tyre. These were, this was, we're looking at Tyre and Sidon. They represent commercialism in every way. Now, what did Solomon need apes and peacocks for? Remember, when the queen of Sheba came, if you read that carefully, she was blown away by how his servants lived. You remember that? Well, I kind of think the servants didn't live quite as fine as the royalty. The servants were better than probably the royalty of Sheba. She was blown away by that. So there would be all these wondrous things. Remember, both Hezekiah and also Ahab, they got in trouble for showing all the things of their houses to enemy kings. It was a whole bunch of stuff for display, wasn't it? They were able to reach out to nations around this world. And the burden that, the burdens that Isaiah is bearing, there are all these burdens of people trying to, if you will, get to heaven without God, or have happiness without God. And the funny thing is, the people that have been to, I've always wanted to see Pompeii. I've always wanted to see. I read about that as a kid. The people that I've talked to that have been there, they'll say the architecture's incredible. They have, instead of sidewalks, you know, up, Steve told me that they had little grooves in the roadway and the wheels fit in the grooves. The opposite railroad tracks. So the water ran down the grooves and you walked on dry sidewalk. You know, the knuckle draggers from 2000 years ago knew how to do things. but the city was so perverse, probably rivaling Sodom and Gomorrah. You know why? There's an emptiness in our hearts. Bible doesn't say that's just New Testament. It says it in the New Testament. There's an emptiness in our hearts that only Jesus can fill, only God can fill. And think of a lonely preacher, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, whichever one, Daniel, a lonely preacher looking into the future and seeing all the vain attempts by man to find happiness without God, and every one of them is going to fail. Every one will fail. So Solomon traded with them, but they have a promise of destruction. In verse one, the burden of Tyre, how you ships of Tarshish for it is laid waste. It's going to be laid waste so that there is no house, no entering in from the land of Chittim is revealed to them. It's going to be leveled. It will be leveled. So the promise is the ships will return to ruins. probably from Tarshish and other places, and the city is leveled and the harbor is blocked. And verse 3, and by great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river, is her revenue, and she is the mart of nations. Once again, obviously commercialism the merchants of nations. In verse two, they're replenished. In other words, they have an ongoing replenishment. Verse three, the harvest of the river. The rivers were highways, weren't they? The mart of nations, by the way, the harvest of the river could be the Nile River, bringing the rich new soil down to Egypt that made it the garden of the world in that time. the mart of nations? And Egypt certainly was that. Verse 5, as the report concerning Egypt, so shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre. In other words, Egypt was once the breadbasket of the ancient world, and it was shipped everywhere, up the Nile, And these ships would bring food in. Remember, Abraham, the people of Israel grew up in Egypt. Why? For the very reason that there was food to eat there. Merchant to the nations, in other words, international commerce. This destruction ruined the commerce of Egypt in that day. The corn of Egypt that furnished the world is upset. and the defeat. The sea is the source of revenue. Five, as at the report concerning Egypt, so shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre. Pass you over to Tarshish. Howl, you inhabitants of the isle. Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? Her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn. This is a place you thought you were happy, but they're going to probably walk away as captives. Hey, anything you build without God is going to be a problem, isn't it? It will only go so far. So the sea is a source of revenue, but the sea is neutral. Verse 4, it produces no children. They don't have a, well, the last part of verse 4, the strength of the sea saying, I travail not, nor bring forth children, neither do I nourish up young men, nor bring up virgins. The sea is merely traffic, a place of traffic, of commerce. It doesn't have an eye on the fire, does it? They're not raising children, nothing like that. It's pain at the report of destruction, in verse 5, as it was in Egypt's history. There's no place to escape. No place to escape. So this burden that will continue the next time, Lord willing, this burden, it shows that destruction and judgment are coming on them as well. And there's no place to escape. The joyous city is empty. The joyous city is empty. I think the first time I went to Disneyland, which was never high on my list of things to do, but I think I went to Disneyland in 1979, I think it was. It was kind of neat. I thought, well, this is a nice place for kids. A few years later, we took Steve's boys down there. They were just little guys. And took them down there. I thought, well, that's appropriate. This is for kids. But it's not that place anymore. I know this, and I've been told this anyway, that when they make it free for the high school graduates down in, I know it's in Orlando, when it's free for the high school graduates that one day, that's also the gay pride free day. Now is that just an accident? Now maybe I don't have my facts right, but that's exactly what Disneyland stands for, isn't it? And they want to just destroy, or they are thinking that Indulging yourself is going to bring you happiness. It simply does not. And this preacher preaching of people who don't listen, who won't obey the words of God, sees that they're going to end up in a bad place. A bad place. When you come to the end of your days, on a death bed. We saw in Sunday school about Joseph sitting on his bed blessing his many sons, right? And what's his testimony? Few and evil have been my days. I haven't attained to the days of my fathers. Well, his father is Isaac, and before that is Abraham. No, they stood out, didn't they? But he got it right at the end. Most people don't. Most people do not. There's no place to escape, and the joy is gone. Have you ever just thanked God for being able to laugh? And I don't mean to take those words from Spurgeon, though he did say that. Let's pause and thank God for laughter. You don't always feel like laughing. You don't, do you? When you do laugh, and it's a real laugh, isn't it a joy? Why did God Why did God make us creatures that are able to laugh? Because God's a happy God, I think, and He wants us to enjoy our blessings from Him. But you won't enjoy blessings from God if you don't believe in God. And it's funny to me, it's interesting to me, that there are more and more people that have been atheists, that haven't converted to Christianity, but they're coming to the conclusion that evolution cannot be true. I think that's encouraging. Where are the preachers to go and tell them, hey, well, let me give you something to think about. That's why I ordered that one track out there, The Essence of the Gospel from Brother James. It just tells someone the story of the gospel the same way you would say it to them if you were witnessing to them. So that you understand why Jesus came, why he needed to come, why you need him. and really is a joy to tell people about Jesus. And even though the joy is gone, verse seven, it tells us verse nine, the Lord of hosts have purposed it to stain the pride of all glory and to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth. Hey, that itself is a potential blessing for people. Why? Because when you see that your very best efforts don't bring you contentment, you might be willing to listen. You say, you're preaching the choir. I know I'm preaching the choir. But what's fun about knocking doors is this. You run into pretty much everything you can run into knocking doors. And the next time you run into it, you're prepared for it. Far better than you were the first time. And you can just have the joy knowing that you're laboring with Jesus, it says. We're laborers together with God. But here and there, you'll see someone come to faith in Christ. And that's really a joy. These are burdens. Now we're looking at Tyre and Sidon, and we'll see them again in the New Testament. I mean, they're kind of a benchmark of evil, aren't they? And yet Jesus said, if these same miracles that were done in your midst, O Israel, were done in Tyre and Sidon, then they would have repented. You know, maybe it's Sodom and Gomorrah, they would have repented. In other words, they're kind of a benchmark for sin, like Sodom and Gomorrah, but the burden is, he sees it way before it happens, and he knows what's coming. You see what's coming in our world, don't you? I mean, we've seen horrible days in the history of our world. Any day in Hitler's Germany would be horrible, wouldn't it? And yet, the Great Tribulation is worse than the world's ever seen before. That's what it says. That's hard to imagine, isn't it? Hard to imagine. But it's exactly right. And these are the burdens that the prophet bore and shared with the people hoping to just turn one. Let's pray. Lord, thank You for Your goodness. Bless Your Word once again to our hearing.