WWUTT 2079 Judgment On the Daughter of Babylon (Isaiah 47:1-15)

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God was going to use Babylon to bring judgment upon His people because His people had turned from God and had worshipped idols.

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But Babylon was not going to get away from judgment themselves. When we understand the text.

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This is when we understand the text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the word.

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Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday and our

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Q &A on Friday. Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Isaiah we are up to chapter 47 this week.

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If you want to open a Bible and join with me there. To recap what we've been reading in this section, chapters 40 to 48 are pertaining to things that will happen over a hundred years in the future.

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There are things in the book of Isaiah prophesied that will happen hundreds of years beyond that. But these things in particular have to do with the judgment that God is going to bring upon Judah because of their rebellion.

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They not only rebelled against God and worship false gods, but their actions were abominable, as evil as anything

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Sodom and Gomorrah had done. So God is bringing judgment upon Judah and upon Jerusalem and this will happen at the hands of the

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Babylonians and then after that at the hands of the Medes and the Persians. The Persians will judge

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Babylon and then Judah will go into exile into the hands of the Persians and then it will be at the hands of the

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Persians that they will be released and sent back to their land and even under the rule of Cyrus they'll be loaded up with all the provisions they need to help rebuild

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Jerusalem and the temple. We've read about that previously in this particular section. But what is going to become of Babylon?

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That's what we're reading in this section today. This will be chapter 47 with this judgment, this promise of judgment that is going to come upon Babylon personified as a young woman here, a harlot.

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So let me read here verses 1 through 7 out of the Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the

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Lord. Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon.

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Sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans, for you shall no longer be called tender and delicate.

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Take the millstones and grind the flour. Uncover your veil, strip off the skirt, uncover the leg, cross the rivers.

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Your nakedness will be uncovered. Your reproach also will be seen. I will take vengeance and will not spare a man.

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Our Redeemer, Yahweh of hosts is His name, the Holy One of Israel.

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Sit silently and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans, for you will no longer be called the queen of kingdoms.

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I was furious with my people. I profaned my inheritance and gave them into your hand.

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You did not show compassion to them. On the age, you made your yoke very heavy.

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Yet you said, I will be a queen forever. These things you did not put on your heart, nor remember the outcome of them.

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Now, as I said, Babylon is being personified as a harlot here. So it's interesting that Yahweh refers to Babylon as a virgin daughter at the start of chapter 47.

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Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon. The reason why she is called a virgin daughter is because she has not yet been conquered.

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Like a man has not come and seized her and taken her as a wife. That's why she's referred to as the virgin daughter of Babylon.

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At the time, these things that are being prophesied, this is a hundred years before Babylon is even going to come against Judah and conquer

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Jerusalem. So these things haven't even happened yet. Babylon is a superpower in the world at this time.

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And even after they seize Judah and carry them away, they will still be an unconquered people.

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But God is going to bring a nation that will conquer them. It will be the

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Persians, as had been spoken about previously in this particular section of Isaiah.

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So we have here in this warning over Babylon, you have this divided into three parts, verses one through seven, which

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I began with here. Come down and sit in the dust, it is said to her.

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And then at the beginning of verse eight, so now hear this, you sensual one who sits securely.

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So you have once again an address to the daughter that is sitting down. But then in verse 12, there's the invitation for her to stand.

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Stand fast now in your spells and in your many sorceries, it said. And that's in the conclusion of the chapter, verses 12 to 15.

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Basically, the challenge is being given there at the conclusion of the chapter to attempt to defend yourself.

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See if you can't be successful with the things that you do and God is just going to bring

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Babylon down. Now, when we get to the conclusion of the chapter and we consider application wise, do not think of yourself in your sin as someone who will escape from the judgment of God.

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If you are, if you have sin that you love, that you continue to indulge in, especially when it comes to the passions of the flesh and whoring yourself out with the world, beware, because the judgment of God will come and you will not be able to stand in that day.

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So coming back to verse 1, the invitation for the daughter to come and sit and listen to these promises that God has for Babylon.

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Come and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne,

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O daughter of the Chaldeans, for you shall no longer be called tender and delicate. And I kind of have to wonder with that address, this reference to tender and delicate,

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I wonder if there was kind of a reputation of Babylon at that particular time. Maybe they were soft because of all of their delicacies.

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It was thought of that the royals in Babylon had the plushest cushions, the most elegant robes, the finest curtains, things of this kind.

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It could be that they had that reputation, which is why we have some of these euphemisms that come up in this chapter in that way.

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The reference to tender and delicate could also be called back to the reference to being a virgin daughter of Babylon.

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However, Babylon was anything but tender and delicate in the way that they dealt with their enemies. This was a fierce people.

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Those that they preyed upon, those that they conquered, they dealt with harshly. They were quite savage in the way that they dealt with others.

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Habakkuk later on, when he mourns before God because he sees how

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Babylon has succeeded, how the people of God have suffered, and Habakkuk basically makes this appeal to God as though to say, look,

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I know what Judah did was really bad, but the Chaldeans are really, really bad. Like, you're letting them have their way with your people.

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But God promises Habakkuk that judgment is coming upon the Chaldeans.

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That's said to Habakkuk, and we see that here in the book of Isaiah as well. So there's kind of a reminder that's given to Habakkuk.

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Listen, God has promised long ago that judgment is going to come upon the

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Chaldeans. It was spoken through the prophet Isaiah. So this is going to happen, though God's people suffer for a time, and God means for this judgment to come upon them.

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He's not going to leave the enemies of God that come against his people go unpunished.

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So here, this invitation for the daughter to sit down, as delicate as she may seem to be, she is nonetheless going to be brought low, hence why the invitation for her to come and sit in the dust.

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So verse two, take the millstones and grind flour, uncover your veils, strip off the skirts, uncover the leg, cross the rivers.

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Now, there's something prophetic in all of this as well, because when the Babylonians will be conquered, they will be made slaves.

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So take the millstones and grind the flour. This is what they're going to wind up doing. They will not sit as kings and conquerors.

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They will be conquered. Uncover your veils, strip off the skirt is references to how you will be shamed.

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It was unheard of even in nations that were known for prostitution and things like that would have gone on in Babylon.

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You have the reference of the whore of Babylon in the book of Revelation. So they were known for sexual immorality, yet women out in public were not seen without their veils.

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And so for it to be said here, uncover your veil, strip off the skirt, is to say you'll be shamed.

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Your nakedness will be seen by everybody. You will become a byword. This reference to cross the rivers, you're going to be carried across the rivers as slaves.

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Though you have rivers on your borders, you're going to leave those borders as you become enslaved to another nation.

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So then verse three, your nakedness will be uncovered. Your reproach also will be seen. I will take vengeance and I will not spare a man.

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Now in verse four, we have kind of this pause on the promise of judgment that would come upon the

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Babylonians for it to be said and give praise to exactly who's speaking. Our Redeemer, Yahweh of hosts is his name, the

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Holy One of Israel. God will bring this judgment against Babylon because he is going to save his people.

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But even delivering them from the Babylonians into the hands of the Persians means that Babylon is going to be conquered.

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And so continuing on in verse five, sit silently and go into darkness, O daughter of the

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Chaldeans, for you will no longer be called the queen of kingdoms. And that was probably a reference at that time to how

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Babylon was referred. Remember the reputation that Babylon has in that when we get to the book of Revelation, the prostitute that sits on the beast, she's referred to as the whore of Babylon.

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So Babylon has this reputation of being a queen of kingdoms, but really she is a harlot by comparison to those in the world.

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Verse six, I was furious with my people. I profaned my inheritance. God talking about the judgment that he brings upon Judah, which by the way, this is still a hundred years away before this happens.

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I gave them into your hand, yet you did not show compassion to them. On the age you made your yoke very heavy, yet you said

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I will be a queen forever. Again, a reference to Babylon being the queen of kingdoms. These things you did not put in your heart, nor remember the outcome of them.

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So that's the first part of Isaiah 47. In this second part, there is this address to Babylon sitting securely.

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You're not as secure as you think you are. So beginning in verse eight, now hear this, you sensual one.

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So previously referred to as a virgin, right? Now she's a sensual one who sits securely, who says in your heart,

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I am and there is no one besides me. I will not sit as a widow, nor no loss of children.

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Now stop there for a moment, that line right in the middle there, I am and there is no one besides me.

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Where have we heard that? That's come up a few times in Isaiah. That is Yahweh who has spoken about himself.

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I am Yahweh and there is no savior besides me. That was in Isaiah 43 11.

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Even from eternity, I am he and there is none who can deliver out of my hand.

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I act and who can reverse it? Isaiah 43 13. A couple of verses later,

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I am Yahweh, your holy one, the creator of Israel, your king. Isaiah 43 25.

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I, even I am the one who wipes out your transgressions for my own sake and I will not remember your sins.

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So we've had these statements. Isaiah 45 5. I am Yahweh and there is no other besides me.

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There is no God. We've had these statements from Yahweh about how he is the one true

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God and there is no one besides him. Babylon has had, has has been extremely arrogant to think that they are great and no one can stand beside them.

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Verse 8. Once again, now hear this, you sensual one who sits securely, who says in your heart,

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I am and there is no one besides me. But God, the true

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I am, is going to bring them down and destroy them. Verse 9. But these two things will come upon you suddenly in one day, loss of children and widowhood.

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They will come on you in full measure in spite of your many sorceries, in spite of the great might of your spells.

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Lots of sorcery and divination and witchcraft and things like that were going on in the land of Babylon.

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They were known for a lot of paganism. But this statement that loss of children and widowhood will come upon you, that's literally going to happen.

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That's, that's not just some metaphor. Your children will die and your men will be killed by the judgment that comes upon them at the hands of the

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Medes and the Persians. Verse 10. You felt secure in your evil and said, no one sees me.

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Your wisdom and your knowledge have turned you astray. So you have said in your heart, I am and there is no one besides me.

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There's that statement again. But it's going to be the great I am that comes against Babylon and destroys them.

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But evil will come on you, God promises, which you will not know how to charm away all the, all their divinations, all the mystic practices that were known to Babylon.

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None of those things are going to save you. You cannot charm them away. Disaster will fall on you for which you cannot atone.

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And destruction about which you do not know will come on you suddenly.

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And so now we have this last section. So the first two were sit, sit in the dust, sit here and listen to what

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I have to say to you. And then finally in verses 12 to 15, stand up now and see if you can stand in the day of judgment that will come upon you.

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Their attempts to try and defend themselves really, to try to save themselves is just going to make the might of God look all the mightier when he destroys

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Babylon and lays them to the ground. Verse 12, stand fast now in your spells and in your many sorceries with which you have labored from your youth.

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Perhaps you will be able to profit. Perhaps you may cause trembling.

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These things may benefit you for a time, but they will be your undoing. Verse 13, you are wearied with your many counsels.

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Let now the astrologers, those who behold visions by the stars, those who predict by the new moons, stand up and save you from what will come upon you.

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Like who are the people that Babylon relies upon for protection?

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They're looking to their armies, they're looking to their kings, but even the kings look to the sorcerers.

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They look to the diviners. Remember that when the Babylonians come in and take

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Jerusalem and they carry away their people, there are certain young men that they single out and put into the court of the king to practice the magic arts, to become their wise men, so they would be at the king's right hand and be able to give him all the strength against the mystic powers and things like that.

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Four of those people that we know of most commonly are Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

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Remember that? So they were men that were taken and put in the king's counsel and they were expected to be the magicians and the diviners and stuff like that that would help him in his conquests.

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So let's see if you can do it. Let's see if your diviners can save you from the judgment that is to come or even predict this judgment.

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Here that judgment is being prophesied about through Isaiah and they're going to ignore it. Their own diviners won't be able to see it nor will they listen to a true prophet of God.

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Verse 13, you are wearied with your many counsels. Let now the astrologers, those who behold visions by the stars, who predict the new moons, stand up and save you from what will come upon you.

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Behold they have become like stubble. Fire burns them. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame.

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There will be no coal to warm by nor a fire to sit before. Thus they have become for you those among whom you have labored, who have traded with you from your youth.

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Each has wandered in his own way. There is none to save you. And now for application here my friends.

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If you are united with the world, if you are going after all the temptations of your flesh, the schemes of satan, the things that the world has to entice you with, you will come to destruction just as this promise is being given to Babylon.

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In James 4 .4, you adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity toward God?

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Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world sets himself as an enemy of God. Or do you think that the scripture speaks to no purpose?

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He jealously desires the spirit which he has made to dwell in us. But he gives a greater grace.

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Therefore it says God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

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Be subject therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

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Cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double -minded. Do not think that as you entertain the passions of your flesh that you will continue to get away you will continue to get away with it.

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Repent now. Come to the Lord for forgiveness which you will be given in Christ. But persist in your sin and you will perish in judgment.

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Let's finish there with prayer. Heavenly Father I pray that you would forgive us our sins.

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That we would not think so highly of ourselves to say I am he and there is no other.

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Or to say God does not see. For you do see all.

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You know our thoughts. You know our hearts. You know every action that we would do in private thinking that nobody else will see.

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The judgment of God will come upon those who think so proudly of themselves that nothing will ever happen to me.

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You have called us to holiness in Christ. So let us turn from sin to the Lord Jesus Christ and walk in the righteousness that he gives.

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So that we may enter into glory. On that day of judgment we stand with God and not against him.

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Forgive us our sins. Cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Lead us in paths of righteousness for your name's sake.

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It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes.

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For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more visit our website at www .utt

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.com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com

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and let your friends know about our ministry. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's word when we understand the text.