Do you? You don't look like a bear. You don't look like a goat. You don't look like a horse. You're little boys, right? So you look like you're supposed to look. But he describes us as sheep. And he says, so he's the shepherd and we're the sheep. And he says he knows us. He knows who we are. And just as you know your parents, you do know who your parents are, don't you? Can you find them? Where are they at? They're right behind you, yeah. So you know your father and you know your mother. Yeah, you know where they are. Do they know you? They could find you if there was a whole crowd of kids, they'd be able to pick you up. And so they know who you are. Do they love you? Yes, they do. And would they give their life on your behalf? Would they be willing to die for you? You know, that's how much God loves you, because God was willing to send his son to die to take away your sin. So as we take the Lord's Supper later in the service, be reminded that God does love us, and he's already showed us, hasn't he? Because Jesus already died to take away our sin. So let's pray. Father God, we do thank you. We thank you that we're reminded each and every time that we come to the Lord's table that you have loved us already, that Jesus has already died for us. And so help us to prepare our hearts today that as we do take the Lord's Supper, that we're reminded that we're only in this because Jesus Christ has already died. And we thank you and we welcome it in Jesus' name, amen. All right, if you'll go that way, Ms. Tresa. I invite you to turn with me to the book of Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 23. Isaiah chapter 23. And for ease of this, I'm going to read the translation that I have given Kay that will be on the screen. Well, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste without houses, for it has been revealed to them, coming from the land of Cyprus. Be silent, O coastal inhabitants, merchants of Sidon. Those who serve the sea fill you up. In many waters the grain from Shihur, the harvest of the Nile, were her revenues. You were the merchants of the nations. Be ashamed, O Sidon, because the report from the sea, the stronghold of the sea, is saying, I have not travailed, I have not given birth, I have not raised up young men, I have not exalted virgins. When the report came from Egypt, they were anguished over the report from Tyre. Pass by Tarshish, well for the inhabitants of the coast land. What is this to you, O exalted city, whose origin is from of old? Her feet carried her from afar to settle her there. Who planned this against Tyre and the one who bestows crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are the honored of the earth? Yahweh of hosts planned it to defile her pride, even to dishonor her glory and all the honor of the earth. Flood your land like the Nile, O Tarshish. There is no one to restrain any longer. His hand stretched out over the sea. He is shaking kingdoms. Yahweh has commanded Canaan to destroy her strongholds. And he said, never again will you add exaltation. Those who have oppressed the virgin daughter of Sidon, get up and pass over to Cyprus. And even there you will find no rest. Behold the land of the Chaldeans, the people who shall be no more. Assyria has destined her for wild animals, and they will rise up a siege tower against her and raze her palaces and make her a ruin. Well, O ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold has been destroyed. And it will be on that day that Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years as the days of one king. And at the end of the 70 years it shall be to Tyre as the songs of the harlots. Take up the harp, go about the city, O forgotten harlot. Play the skillful melody, make many songs so that she will be remembered. And at the end of the 70 years, Yahweh will visit Tyre and restore her hire, and she will act as a harlot to all the kingdoms upon the face of the earth, and her merchandise and her hire will be holy unto the Lord. It will not be stored up or will be hoarded, for the inhabitants that are before Yahweh shall be her merchandise to eat and to satisfy for fine clothing. Now I know sitting here today that that seems like an awfully odd passage to read, but it's in the Bible, isn't it? Let me ask you a question. How many of you like the book of Revelation? Raise your hand if you like the book of Revelation. All right, and have you not read chapter 17 and 18? And what does chapter 17 and 18 have to do with the book of Revelation? Is it not concerning Babylon? And is the description not very much similar to what we find here? And so when we look at this announcement, we find that here is the world's economy. The world's economy at the time was upon the seas. I never understood how much the economy of the world is upon the waters, upon the oceans, until I moved on the Neches River. And sitting on the, you know, I grew up with cornfields and wheat fields and soybeans. But living on the Neches River, right out my back door, I look down the Neches River towards the Rainbow Bridge. And I have a series of docks. And at any given time, there are ships coming in from all over the place that dock there. They come from India, they come from Russia, they come from China, they come from down in the Caribbean. There are orange ones, there are blue ones, there are red ones, there are green ones. There are all colors that come in. There are black ones. And for the first few years, I used to write down all the names of the ships to see how many come in and how frequently they come in. I don't do that anymore. But one thing I found out is that shipping is an important part of the world's economy, isn't it? products travel from all over the world, and then watching them, especially during the days after 9-11, to see the difference of what it was like coming up and down the river, to see the Coast Guard come in with big gunships, and to see the fast boats that they'd have, and the sea helicopters coming over, to see them transporting troops going into the Middle East and then bringing them back. The world's economy travels upon the ocean. and the ships of Tarshish traveled all over the world and they stored up and they stocked and they stocked up on the island of Tyre. Tyre is in north of Israel and it would be equivalent to modern-day Syria or just south of Lebanon and it was off the coast. And it was an island place that they felt secure. And so it was a port that the ships would come in and they would buy and they'd do their trading, they'd do their selling. And people were getting rich, as it says, that their merchants, they were like princes. They were the honored of the earth. Twice he says that, once in verse eight and once in verse nine. And we look at the world economies, we all depend upon them, don't we? They have pacts that they meet, our president goes, and it doesn't matter who's president, they travel, they go to Europe, they go to the Far East, and they negotiate trade deals, they do trade in North America and Central America. And so economy runs and rules a nation. And yet we find that there is one issue at heart, and it's in verse nine. And it's not only a problem that nations have, it's a problem that men have as well. And the problem is pride. when we find ourselves prideful, when we find ourselves looking and taking honestly the things that people say about us. Again, verse eight, those who are the traitors, they're the honored of the earth. Everybody wants them to be there. Everybody recognizes them. They're the ones that are seen as the greater. They're the ones who bestow crowns, that bestow honor upon each other. And so God's problem with tire is the same problem that he has with individual men and women, and it's pride. Pride comes before the fall. Proverbs tells us that. That God resists the proud, but he exalts the humble. Does he not? Does he not? Yes, and so we look at the heart of pride that's seen in the country of Tyre, and we see the heart of pride even in our own selves that it can be. We find that there's three times that he uses the verb to pass over, or to cross over. And it's the very root that we get the name Hebrew from. It occurs in verse six, it occurs in verse 10, and it occurs on down later in verse 12. that three times he talks about passing over or covering over. It's used of the Passover that God would skip over. And so here we find that they that that they're commanded. In fact, 13 times he gives them commands 13 times in all of this talk that he is mocking them for their pride. You know, it's it's one thing when it's little boys on a playground and one little boy says to the other little boy, well, my dad can beat your dad up. And they've done that, haven't they? They've said that. Well, my dad can beat your dad up, right? I mean, we all said that at some point if you're a little boy. It's one thing as little school boys to be making such boasts, but as men and nations to make those claims and to make those boasts, those are not honorable. Those are not things in which we can validate or really have any substance at all. And so there's five different stages in what God deals with us in bringing us where he wants us to be. It's not just a taunt in the sense of ridiculing them, but it's a taunt in such a way as to get their attention so that they turn and they repent and that God restores them. And I don't know about you, but I thank God that God doesn't leave us where we're at. So he plans their destruction. and they're going to be destroyed, and they were destroyed. They were destroyed twice by the Assyrians, once in 709 and once in 687. Then they were ultimately destroyed by Alexander the Great in 332 BC. And so there were multiple times that God judged this nation, that God judged the people of Tyre because of this pride and this arrogance that they somehow or another thought that they were beyond the reach of God and men. You ask a question in verse 8, who planned it? Who's the one that planned their destruction, their humiliation? Who planned it? Who plans ours? Who plans that when God puts a roadblock and says, this is far enough and I won't let you go any further, who plans it? God does, and that's what he says in verse, what is it, in verse nine. It is the Lord of hosts, it's Yahweh of hosts who planned it, and why did he plan it? To defile their pride and all of their glory, to dishonor it, to bring them down, to humiliate them. Now I pray that you never had to experience that in your journey of faith to come to faith in Jesus Christ. I hope that you never had. I hope that you were a child and you came to faith early in your life and you've been an obedient young person and an obedient adult, but that was not my case. And it's not the case of many. that we walk and we think that we are beyond anything coming against us or anything assaulting us or anything that we are strong and that we are capable and that we can accomplish whatever it is that we want. I moved to Texas in 1976, 77, in October. I can't remember actually which year it was. But one of those two, I'd moved to Texas. And I was getting away from the cold, I thought, but it was really more than that. God was taking and humiliating me. He was bringing me to the end of myself and to the end of my pride because I was a very prideful person. And he allowed me to come down here to Texas. Well, it went well. First place I pulled up to was on the west side of Houston, and we pulled into an apartment complex and began building. Me and another guy were making $2,000 a week that we were splitting, framing apartments and doing work. And then we went to work for a wine gardener up in Kingwood, and then over in the woodlands and building houses. And the money was great, but we didn't have anything to show for it. Not a dime. It was all gone. It went as fast as we got it. It was like we had a hole in our pocket. In that December of 1977, I was picking up pennies in the parking lot to go to a Dunkin' Donuts to get a cup of soup for a dollar, a cup of soup, a donut, and a cup of coffee for a dollar. Now, you've never had to do that, have you? But for me, 1977 in December, that's what I was doing, because it rained. God let it rain for three months. And you don't frame when you're wading in water. You can't run an electrical cord. Nobody's forming slabs. And so for three months, God let me hit the bottom. Humiliation. The same thing that he did to Tyre, is he planned against them. Let me ask you the question, who brings the rain? God does, and if God brought the rain, then who was planning against me? God was, and who was taking away my pride? God was, and so we look at this process that God is doing this. We see second that God also commands the means in verse 11. It says, his hand is stretched out over the sea. He is shaking kingdoms. It is the Lord who commanded unto Canaan to destroy this. So that the actual demise of it was God's plan too. And as I've already said, who brought the rain? God did. Who allowed it to be for me to be to the end of myself at the end of three months? Who finally was in charge of all that? God commanded it. And we might say, well, that's such a terrible thing. How could a good God do such thing? Because he is good. Because he is good, he doesn't leave us to ourself. He doesn't let us go on for our ultimate destruction. Isn't it better that we would, in a moment, in a temporary time, come to the end of ourselves, that finally when we've hit the bottom that we can look up and then God can bring us back? Isn't it better that it happened to us now than we stand before an almighty God at the end? And there's no salvation for us? There's no rescue, there's no deliverance? Isn't it better that happens now? That we finally come to the end of the road when there's no other place to look and God's been in the process of bringing us to ourself that finally we have no place else to look except up. And so we find that that's exactly what God does in the songs. You know, there are 70 years We read in the book of Daniel, chapter 9. We read in Jeremiah, I believe it's chapter 23 or 25. We read in 2 Chronicles, chapter 36. We read that God had planned for Judah to be destroyed and out of the land for 70 years. When the Babylonians came and conquered and razed the city and burned everything down and took people in captivity, it was a 70 year from the time of the destruction, 7086. And you take 70 years off of that before they built the foundation for the temple to be restored and sacrifices at the altar were being restored again, 70 years. So for 70 years, there was this period of judgment, which is the lifetime of one man, one generation. And so for Tyre, think about it for just a moment, that God in his patience and God in his kindness doesn't make it last forever. That there's a duration, that there's a beginning and end. And so for Tyre, that there would be 70 years, just like it was for Israel, 70 years that God would begin their humiliation and God would bring an end to it. That there is an end. that when we go through these hard places, that it's not forever, that there is a day, there is a time when God's going to cut it short, when God's going to make a restoration. And so it was for them that God would have a time that he would bring judgment and they were not to be forgotten. The songs were sung, take up the harp, go about the city, make skillful melodies, multiply the songs, not to be forgotten. So they weren't forgotten. God did not forget them and God doesn't forget us either. He knows exactly where we are and he knows exactly what we have need of. Verse 17, the third process, from humiliation to commanding the means of the humiliation and the duration of the humiliation to now God's visitation. And it says at the end. In fact, twice he refers to the end, verse 15, as until the end of the 70 years. And then again in verse 17, when he says that there is an end, at the end of the 70 years, that the Lord of hosts, that Yahweh visits Tyre to restore her. And I think about that, God visits. You know, the term can be used both negatively and positively. It can be to visit, to bring about judgment. It can be visit, to bring about salvation. It's used both ways of Israel. But I'd like you to consider how it's used when we come to the New Testament. The New Testament, James 127. Anyone know James 127? It's what pure and undefiled religion is. What is pure and undefiled religion before God? Is it not to visit the widow and the orphan in their distress? And it's the same root word from which the Hebrew word comes. Actually, the Greek word comes from that Hebrew word. God coming to visit. And when we read in 1 Timothy in chapter three, it says, if anyone desires to be an overseer, he desires a good work. And the word overseer means those who visit. Those who come to visit. Those, not in the sense of showing up, you know, my mom's from a huge family. When grandma died, there was 127 of us in the immediate family. It's a big family. And it always bugged mom when there would be some distant relative that'd show up at grandma's house, and they'd come, and they'd stay. And stay. and stay. Sometimes they stay a month or two. Finally, one of my aunts or uncles or mom would just finally have to go and take them outside and say, it's time for you to leave because they just came and stayed and stayed and stayed and stayed and take advantage of them. And, but grandma and grandpa were always, the door was open. They were always that way. They'd always welcome them. That's not what he's talking about, to come and visit. You know, we do that. We'll go visit someone. We'll have coffee and cake or have a lunch or something, and then we leave and go home. Visit means to come to attend to, to care for, to watch over. And so we find at the end of this time of judgment that God had planned to set about their humiliation, that God's coming. And He's not just coming to say, oh, I'm just checking on you. He comes to visit, to attend to them, to care for them. He comes to restore them. And when we think about the word supper, that's exactly what Christ has done for us. He brings us to the place that we are humiliated and we repent before God and then God restores us. God brings us back and he restores that which has lost. He changes us. don't know about you but for me I have to say thank you God and hallelujah that God would care for me that God would care for you that he wouldn't leave us to ourself and that God does in in the plan of his salvation bring about our redemption and bring about our restoration God restores them and he visits to care for them and he visits to care for you You're not forgotten, you're not lost, you're not someplace where nobody knows. Our God knows exactly what you have need of and provides exactly that which you need when you need it by his grace and by his kindness. That ought to give you a sense of rejoicing, a sense of gladness. It ought to make us rejoice in the Lord that our God would visit and our God would restore. and that God would take and bring everything back that was lost. Everything that was lost would be brought back well before, and that is that God sanctifies. God's not going to let anything unholy into heaven. That includes us. So God sanctifies, God makes holy, God makes righteous. So what she had been, now it says, and that even her hire, her merchandise and her hire would be holy unto the Lord. Isaiah, the last chapter of Isaiah in chapter 66, reminds us that there will be a day when all the Gentile nations will come before God and they will recognize God's sovereignty and all things will come before God, will be given to Him and dedicated to Him. Now you look around the room and how many of you were born Jewish? Raise your hand if you were born Jewish. All right. Do that again, because some didn't notice. which means in most sections, there are not any Jews in here, right? Just one that's in this proximity. And so here you are, and God has chosen them, not because they were good, not because there were many. In fact, they weren't very big, and they weren't righteous, just like we aren't. And yet God chose to bless the nations through them, through one man, through Abraham. that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him. Why? Because there's one son that would be, just one, not many, just one son that would be born to Abraham, whose name is Jesus Christ our Lord. And through that one son, that God would bless all the nations of the earth. So Tyre is the people of God. And Egypt is called my daughter. And we find that even Babylon is called my son. You see, we get this imagination that unless you're just one class of people that you're not included, but God's plan is greater than that. Jesus Christ, when he comes before the Father in Daniel chapter seven, it says he comes before the ancient of days and God gives him every nation and every tribe and every people and every language and they come and he makes them a kingdom and priests and they're going to rule upon the earth because Christ is king, not because we are. He restores us and He sanctifies us. He makes us holy before His presence. He makes us acceptable. You and I, even as tired, that even though God would bring about a sense of our own demise to bring us to our humiliation, to bring us to repentance, and to bring us to a restoration, that God is going to do all that's necessary to make us acceptable. And we will be holy before the Lord, all who dwell in the presence of the Lord. R.C. Sproul used to have a saying that he would give at the end of his message, and it was called the Corum Deo. Now, if you've never listened to R.C. Sproul, it doesn't mean anything to you, but you like to use Latin because it made people think. Corum Deo means before the face of God. You could do the same thing in Greek, prosthetio, to be right there in the face of God, right there in the presence of God. So what do we do when we're in the presence of God? What do we do when God invites us to come into his presence where we are there? What do we do? One, we aren't thinking about sin. We aren't blaspheming. We aren't prideful. We aren't arrogant. But rather, we stand to do the last thing. And that is that we bring glory to God. In the Reformation, there were five, what were called the five solas. And the last of them, you'll see in most things that I write. And at the end, when I write in the article, the newsletter, whatever, you'll see these three little words that says, Sola Dea Gloria. To God alone be the glory. And that's the final step. That when God brings us into his presence and he presents us to be holy unto himself, because without holiness, no one's gonna see God. And as he presents us to be complete in Christ and whole before God, everything's done for God's glory. And that's what we find. Because those who are dwelling before the Lord are not going to hoard, and they're not going to store up. Rather, their merchandise is going to be to the satisfaction, to the eating, to satisfaction, and to the fine clothing. It's going to be that we take, and as the Baptist make the message says, that we use, that wealth is to be used with compassion. compassionate use of wealth not that we are forced to do anything but we use our wealth compassionately that we are concerned for the needs of others now sometimes I do that to the fault and my wife will tell you because I got taken advantage of already this week and almost got taken advantage again but I didn't do it The reality is, is that even when we're taken advantage of, we're like the Proverbs woman, the virtuous woman, we don't have our fists closed. That when the world has a need, what do we do? What's the Proverbs woman? It says, her hands are open, open to the poor. And when we stand before God, and when we live our life before God, because God has sanctified, changed us, Then all of a sudden we look and we see someone with a need, and God changes our heart that we have compassion upon that need. Not that I get more and more and more and more and more, but that I look and say, here's an honest need that needs to be met. What do we do with it? What do we do with it? Well, first of all, if we're prideful, there's only one way for us to be changed. If we don't repent before God in our pride, then God's going to take care of it for us. Will He not? If we're not willing to humble ourselves before God, God will humble us for it. He will take advantage to do it for us. God uses means. God uses the circumstances of our life to get our attention. He always has and He always will. He takes our finances, He takes our health, He takes our children, He takes our work. And God uses those things to wake us up, for us to see the needs that we have. We better listen when God speaks, because God's not gonna scream at us. He has a still small voice that speaks, but he speaks loudly. We find that our God is a God who comes to visit us, visit us for good, to visit us for restoration. We have a God that can make us what we are not. He can make us holy. He can make us acceptable. He can qualify us to be before His presence. And even as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 31, whatsoever you do, O man, whether you're eating or drinking, do all things for the glory of God. That's why we exist, and that's why we live, to glorify God and to bring God glory and enjoy Him all of our days. And so we honor and we glorify God because God lets us dwell. God lets us live in his presence. Forever. Father God, as we have come to your word. It were reminded from an ancient people. How you still work today in our own lives? That there is no difference between us and them. We still live for what we can grab ahold of. We still live for for our own pride, reputations for our own needs, and yet God, you want us to live for something greater than that. You want us to live before you in your holiness, to honor you, to serve you, that you'd be glorified in all things that we say and do. So God, change our heart. We sing a song, change our heart, oh God, and make us ever new. Lord, we do need changed, because our hearts are desperately wicked, and who can know them? And unless you change our heart, God, we would continue that way. So break us of our pride, and help us to live humbly before you and with men. Help us to live in such a way to know, God, that you are the one who visits us and that you visit to attend to our good when we have chosen to follow and walk with you. Thank you, God, that you're able to give back those things that we have lost. And thank you, God, that you allow us to dwell in your holy presence, not only today, but forever. And one day we will be in your physical presence. So we thank you in Jesus' precious and holy name. Amen. I'm going to ask for you to stand for an invitation Because I think before we come to the Lord's table that there are some things that probably all of us need to deal with. There are some things that I'm not asking you to come down here and tell me anything. I'm not asking that. But I am asking you to take and go before the Lord this morning. And just open your heart and say, God, what is it in my heart that is keeping me from loving and honoring and serving you? God, what is it in my life that is preventing me from walking in the way that you would have me to? God, I want to deal with it today because I don't want to happen to me what you had to do to the tire in order to get their attention and to bring them back. Wouldn't it be better to walk right with the Lord than have to be restored? Wouldn't it be better to choose today to walk with the Lord rightly than for him to have to restore us and renew us at some other point? So as the music plays, if God spoke to your heart, whether it's to trust Christ as your Savior or whether it's to come before him in repentance, whatever it may be, You respond. You act. If there's a public decision you need to make, then today's the day to do that. And now's the time. You come. I wanna ask if you'd be seated and if the deacons would come forward at this time. There are many passages that we could use to talk about the Lord's Supper. This morning I'd like to remind us from 1 Corinthians in chapter five, 1 Corinthians chapter 5, there were issues that needed to be dealt with and they weren't being, so Paul has to call them to take care of it. And he reminds them in verse 7 that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. And he says, and we are, we're not that, we're a new lump, just as we are unleavened. For Christ our Passover was sacrificed. Christ our Passover was sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast in unleavened as we are. In unleavened. This morning I'm going to ask that the deacons would stand and those who are going to serve. And if you would pass out the bread. Celebrate the feast as unleavened as you are. Okay. you Okay. Cliff, would you ask the blessing for the bread? Father, as we come to you during this very special time of our worship service, where we commemorate our Lord Jesus Christ by the bread that represents your broken body. Lord, help us to understand even better today what you did for us when you gave your life for us. God, that we might live for you because you loved us first. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19, Paul says, Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? and you're not your own. You were bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body. Bought with a price, purchased with something that is costly. In fact, the word is honorable. Bought with a price. As we come to the cup, we're reminded that this is the new covenant in his blood and the blood of Christ has purchased us from our sins. you