July 5, 2026 | The King Who Shakes Empires

I see a lot of red, white, and blue out there today.

I tried to pull it off, but I couldn't.

I got blue and white.

I'm not sure how to swing red.

And so I asked for your forgiveness.

And the way to make it up to you, I'm going to show you a picture of my grandson.

I knew that would work.

Okay, you can take it down.

You know, I've never preached a sermon like I'm going to preach this morning.

I've been preaching for 29 years.

So if I say things that don't sound right, uh don't come out right, offend you, I'm sorry ahead of time.

Um I'm just going to preach the word today and do a little connection to what's going on in our world today.

And I'm going to ask the Lord to have mercy on us all.

So let's pray.

Lord, I just ask that you would let my words be encouraging today.

And that basically my words would be your words, and it would come out the way that you wanted to come out and say exactly what you wanted to say, all for your glory.

Encourage us now in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Okay, there's there's way too much in these four chapters.

So let me just kind of give you two verses to hang on as we go through all this.

So let's first turn to Isaiah chapter 13.

Isaiah 13 · chapter mention

Look at verse 11.

Look at verse 11.

Verse 11 says, Thus I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity.

I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud and abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.

God will punish wicked nations and humble their pride.

Second verse I want you to hang your hat on.

Turn to Isaiah 16.

Isaiah 16.

I bet you didn't know this one is in here.

This is an amazing verse.

Isaiah 16, verse 5.

Isaiah 16:5

Isaiah 16, 5.

Isaiah 16 5 says, A throne will even be established in loving kindness, and a judge will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of David.

Moreover, he will seek justice and he and be prompt in righteousness.

A faithful king will rule with justice.

That's talking about Jesus in the Old Testament.

So to summarize today, God crushes proud nations and crowns King Jesus.

I'll say it again.

Let me tick off a few of those blessings.

Unprecedented innovation.

Remarkable prosperity.

Global influenced, unmatched in history.

We have been stewards of freedoms that billions have never known.

We've been a nation where the gospel could be preached freely, where churches can plant and grow, and where believers can serve without state persecution.

But we must be careful because we may think that we're too blessed to fail because God is on our side, or we're too big to fail, too secure to fail, too competent to fail, too beautiful to fail, too awesome to fail.

USA, USA, you you know.

Let's start up the chance.

But remember, God has a history of crushing proud nations.

And here is the reality given through Isaiah.

And here it is.

I'm just gonna say it straight up.

Human history is a graveyard of empires.

Human history is a graveyard of empires.

Rome thought it would last forever.

The Soviet Union, some thought their system was eternal.

The Nazi thousand-year right was supposed to last for a thousand years.

It made it a whopping twelve.

You can think about the Great Britain thought that the sun would never set on its domain.

And America has made it 250, which seems like forever without an end.

But Isaiah this morning reminds us there is only one kingdom that last.

There is only one kingdom that last.

There is only one kingdom that lasts, and that's God's eternal kingdom.

And the text before us this morning is all about God crushing proud nations.

Welcome to Village Bible Church.

So we're in Isaiah chapter 13, and you're going, okay, what is going on in Isaiah 13?

Isaiah 13 · chapter mention

Well, what's going on in Isaiah 13 is Assyria is knocking on the door of Judah.

And Judah is being disciplined and judged by God.

Why?

Because of their idolatry?

They've turned to other gods, they're worshiping other idols, they are involved with serious immorality, they are oppressing the poor, and they're trying to rely on other nations for protection and security besides the Lord.

To summarize, Judah has drifted so far from the Lord.

And many of you feel like this is exactly what has happened in America.

We have drifted from the Lord.

I don't know if you know this, but I heard the stat this week that in the last 25 years, 40 million less people are going to church in America.

40 million.

Since around 2000, 40 million less people are going to church.

One of my favorite pastors, I love to hear him talk about America, is Pastor Adrian Rogers.

Many of you will know him.

He's with the Lord now.

I was listening to him this week, so I got some things to share with you.

He says, The America I knew as a boy is gone.

We've been taken into Babylonian captivity of the world, the flesh, and the devil.

How many of you can relate?

The America you knew as a child is gone.

And then he says this.

We have reached the bottom of the garbage pail.

We cannot go any lower.

Watch us.

He said that in the 80s.

We cannot go any lower.

Can you imagine if he's alive now?

Surely kill him, right?

And then he says this.

This is a banger of a quote.

I love this.

He says, What was horrible?

I'll put this quote up for you.

He says, What was horrible yesterday?

What was horrible yesterday is acceptable today and a stepping stone for something worse tomorrow.

Absolutely.

That's a very accurate description of what's going on in our country right now.

And so we come to Isaiah, and we need Isaiah.

We need the word of God.

Look at Isaiah chapter 13, verse 1.

Isaiah 13:1

Verse 13, verse 1 says, The oral concerning Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amma saw, lift up a standard on the bare hill, raise your voice to them, wave the hand that they may enter the doors of the nobles.

Now a standard is a banner, like a call to arms.

Like what's happening here is God is summoning armies.

And you're very confused.

You're like, okay, I'm so confused, right?

He's speaking to Judah.

Assyria is knocking on the door of Judah.

And now he's talking about the conquest and the discipline and the judgment upon Babylon, which comes after Assyria.

What's he doing?

Well, I think what's going on here, God's saying, look, you think Assyria is so awesome?

Well, there's someone gonna come more powerful than them, and God's gonna even judge them.

So don't be scared of Assyria, and certainly don't be scared of Babylon, because what God's gonna do in the future, he's gonna orchestrate, he's not just gonna allow, he's gonna cause the summoning of the nations.

This will be the Medes and the Persians, from distant lands to be his instruments of judgment against Babylon.

Assyria is too big to fail, nope, judgment.

Babylon is too big to fail, nope, judgment.

And this is what's going to happen to Babylon.

Look at verse six.

Wail for the day of the Lord is near.

It will come as destruction from the Almighty.

Therefore, all hands will fall limp, and every man's heart will melt.

They'll be terrified.

Pains and anguish will take hold of them.

They will writhe like a woman in labor.

They will look at one another in astonishment.

Their faces a flame.

Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, cruel with fury and burning anger to make the land a desolation.

He will exterminate sinners from it.

And you may be thinking, I'm so glad that's the God of the Old Testament.

Because the God of the New Testament would never do such a thing.

Read the book Revelation.

Get back to me on that one.

God is God, Old Testament, New Testament.

And here he's bringing judgment upon the Empire of Babylon.

Because God brings judgment upon proud and arrogant nations, just as he brings judgment on proud and arrogant individuals.

Now, this morning I want to do something called a sermon timeout.

This is where I take a timeout in my sermon and I say, I'll talk to you here.

And the question I want to have during the timeout is what in the world would bring God's judgment on America.

Where shall we start?

Let's just talk for a moment here.

This is a sermon timeout, okay?

This isn't an aside, so listen to this.

For starters, I'm just saying, we are a very sexually immoral nation.

I think one of the biggest businesses in America is is pornography.

And it's that's that's in secret, right?

Some of you are familiar with that.

But also we flawed our sexual morality in a variety of other ways.

We have things called pride parades, pride nights at baseball games, basketball games.

And what's so interesting is that we have moved from a nation where, well, we're just trying to allow stuff to a nation where we're like, you know what?

If you don't celebrate our sin as a virtue in right, then we're gonna condemn you.

I mean, did you see those baseball players, you know, had to dress up with all that pride stuff to play baseball and they're wearing hats and pride stuff?

And then one baseball player, or a few of them actually just started writing uh the verse from Genesis about the rainbow as in God's promise.

And they've been condemned for that.

And I heard one baseball team got so fed up with it on the minor league said, we're not even gonna go out there.

We're not even gonna play tonight.

You can cancel the game.

We're not dressing up for you.

And of course, they're being condemned.

So we're in a nation that celebrates, celebrates sexual morality and condemns those who don't.

Another reason why you could say that God would judge our nation is that we have elevated money over pretty much everything else.

We're a very materialistic, prosperous nation.

We can say that is God's blessing upon us, or you could say it's God's judgment upon us, right?

I'm gonna bless them with so much and let's see how they can handle it.

We're not doing so well.

We elevate money over people.

We're very materialistic.

And a third reason why I think that God could judge our nation is why he judged Judah, why he's often judging these other nations, is because they're trusting in their own might, especially Judah, especially Israel, trusting in their horses, trusting in their chariots, trusting in Egypt, trusting in Assyria, trusting in Babylon, trusting in other nations, trusting in their own might.

If we're not careful, we can be such a proud nation that we can say, you know what, we trust in our own military.

We can trust in our own weapons.

And I want to tell you this it is good to have a solid military.

It is good to have weapons, it is good to have security, but it is not good when we trust in that.

I mean, just think about you as an individual.

Many of you right now are packing heat.

And some of you frighten me.

But you carry a gun.

And it's wise and it's prudent, you're trying to be safe.

That's that's good.

And there's nothing wrong with that.

But are you trusting in that to keep you safe?

Are you trusting the Lord?

You see how it's a fine line there?

And the last thing I think a reason why, and there's many reasons why God could judge our nations, our nation, is that we have pretty much kicked the vulnerable to the side.

Did you know Judah was judged because what they did with orphans and widows?

They dissed and dismissed orphans and widows.

And what do we do with our those who are widows, those who are older?

A lot of times we just kind of stash them away where we don't have to see them, we don't have to care for them, keep them out of the public eye.

Think about foster kids.

I mean, really, in a nation that is so prosperous as ours and filled with churches, there really should be no foster children, right?

But there are.

And when's the last time you've seen a Down syndrome child?

Where'd they all go?

Well, they've all been aborted, right?

And if you ever scratch your head and say, I have no idea what God would ever judge our nation.

Several reasons, right?

Time in.

All right, let's go.

All right, we're back.

We're back.

All right, look at chapter uh thirteen, back to chapter 13.

Look at verse 17.

God says specifically, Behold, I'm gonna stir up the Medes against them who will not value silver or take pleasure in gold.

So Babylon's gonna fall in the future to an army that cannot be bribed.

Babylon's desolation is ascribed in the rest of this chapter.

Says its beauty is gonna become like Sodom and Gomorrah, uninhabited, filled with desert creatures, owls and jackals.

The imagery is stark.

It is pride reduced to dust because God crushes proud nations.

And it's the inevitable consequence of choosing pride over principle.

Now, I know you may be confused.

You go, okay, we're about to have this big celebration.

We're so grateful for what the Lord's done as our nation.

So, how can we be proud to be an American and that not be pride, right?

That's all we want, right?

So we want to be grateful and thankful for all the blessings, but we don't want to be proud and arrogant about it.

And often it's a fine line.

And so we want to say this that our identity should not be in patriotism.

Nothing wrong with patriotism, but that's not who you are, right?

You want to walk with humility before the Lord.

And you think about George Washington.

You know, he's visiting us today.

He's out there in the lobby.

You can see him later on.

Get your picture with him.

But he's visiting with us.

Now, George Washington, he created some rules and standards for the Continental Army, and he wanted them to walk in humility and holiness before the Lord.

This is so amazing what he did.

He said, Okay, no cussing.

This is for the soldiers, no cussing, no drunkenness.

And they were attend church because being a Christian was more important.

And then he said this quote To the distinguished character of patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.

You get that?

So be a patriot all day long, love your nation, but more importantly, you're a Christian.

You are a follower of Jesus Christ, which overrides everything.

In fact, that's what people should know about you.

Yes, you can be uh a retired, or you can be currently in the military, and people can say that's the military guy, but you know what?

That guy's really, he's all about Jesus, right?

And say, okay, well, that woman over there, boy, she's boy, she's super involved in the Republican Party.

Nothing wrong with that.

But what if they said, you know what?

Boy, she loves Jesus, and she's also Republican.

You see?

Nothing wrong with being a patriot, but Jesus, being a Christian, should be the highest priority.

Because when we swap them, pride.

Pride.

Don't swap them to keep Christ supreme.

We continue on.

Look at chapter 14.

Chapter 14.

When the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and again choose Israel, now what, what, what, what?

Well, God's bringing judgment on Judah.

He eventually will take them away.

And it says, and settle them in their own land, then strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob.

The peoples will take them along and bribe them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the Lord as male servants to female servants, and they will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors.

So there's coming a day after Judah's judgment, after they've been taken into Babylon, that they'll be restored to the land.

Okay, I just want to stop real quick.

I just I want to stop so much that I need to just clarify things.

Just letting you know, we're not in the same status as Israel.

Okay, we all on board with that.

God has a special relationship with Israel that they're gonna endure, right?

We have no such relationship in America with the Lord where no matter what we do, we're gonna be taken out, brought back, taken out, brought back.

You understand that?

Okay, so far, so good.

All right.

So right here we have judgment upon Israel because of their pride, and yet we have mercy from the Lord.

He restores Israel, he shows compassion, and what starts to happen is that strangers, Gentiles, start to join them.

That's pretty amazing.

So Israel starts to have compassion on the world as God has restored them.

You can just think about the church, you know.

Obviously, we have Gentiles in here, or you can think about the church worldwide is made up in Jews and Gentiles and people from all types of nations because God has had mercy and he's brought people back together.

And we we don't we don't check patriot, patriotic IDs at the door, do we?

Are you on board with us?

What country are you from?

You can come in, you can't come in.

Now we don't we don't do that.

There's a crazy movie out there, I don't know if you've seen it.

It's a it's like a modern-day movie, I think it's called Civil War.

It's about America at war with itself, and they're kind of divided over a variety of things, and one soldier is about to execute uh someone else, and and the guy's pleading for mercy, and the guy says, Don't kill me, don't kill me! I'm an American, I'm an American, and the soldier's like, What kind of American?

What kind of American before I determine whether I'm gonna kill you or not?

We are not checking patriotic ID cards at the door.

We're not saying, you know, we'll reach out to you, but what kind of American are you?

And I want to commend this church.

I don't know if you know this, most of you were not here, but this church showed massive compassion during the hurricane to Katrina.

How many of you were here then?

Very few of you.

This church welcomed people, you had people from Katrina fleeing.

You welcomed them into your home, you made provision for them, you weren't checking patriotic ID cards at the door because Christ is elevated above all, and so you're welcoming other people, and you were loving them in the name of Jesus.

Pretty amazing, pretty amazing.

Let's continue on.

Let's look at chapter 15, let's pop down to there.

We're gonna switch a little bit here from God's judgment on Babylon.

Let's talk about some judgment on Moab.

Moab could also be an enemy in the past of Israel.

Look at verse uh one, chapter 15.

The oracle concerning Moab, surely in a night, R of Moab is devastated in ruin.

Surely in a night, Kir of Moab is devastated in ruin.

They have gone up to the temple and to Daban, even to the high places to weep.

Moab wails over Nebo and Mediba.

Everyone's head is bald, and every beard is cut off.

In their streets, they have girded themselves with sackcloth on their housetops and in their squares.

Everyone is wailing, dissolved in tears.

Heshban and Elar are crying out, their voices heard all the way to Jahaz.

Therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud, his soul trembles within him.

And that's just from the Assyrians taking out Moab.

The Babylonians are going to finish them off later.

But this is the image of a nation in free fall.

The confidence evaporates, the systems fail, the shame is public and total.

And Isaiah continues to describe Moab's plight about their fields, wither and their abundance disappear, and their rivers run with blood.

And he says in verse 5, he says, My heart cries out for Moab.

So even in judgment, God and the prophet here is grieving over their ruin.

Then something happens interesting in chapter 16.

If you want to look at there, Moab Moab does something desperate.

Chapter 16, verse 1 says, Send the tribute lamb to the ruler of the land from Selah by way of the wilderness to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.

Then, like fleeing birds or scattered nestlings, the daughter of Moab will be at the forge of the Arnon.

Give us advice, make a decision, cast your shadow like Mata at noon.

Hide the outcast.

Do not betray the fugitive.

Let the outcast of Moab stay, be with you.

Be a hiding place to them from the destroyer.

For the extortioner has come to an end, destruction has ceased, oppressors have completely disappeared from the land.

So what's what's interesting here is that they're they're asking for Israel for mercy.

Let us come to you.

We're being so judged.

We want to come and take refuge with you.

And then we have a wonderful messianic verse all about Jesus.

Look at verse five.

A throne will even be established in loving kindness, and a judge will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of David.

Moreover, he will seek justice and be prompt in righteousness.

It's a prophetic word that there is a time coming where the Lord Jesus will sit on the throne and he will rule the nations.

This will be there in the millennial kingdom, and he reigns now, it's an already and not yet.

That we can flee to Jesus, we can find forgiveness in Jesus, we can find hope in Jesus through his life, death, and resurrection.

But our faith in Jesus, right?

This is the gospel message that no matter what nation, country, no matter how much you've sinned, no how wicked you are, you can find refuge in Jesus.

Now get this.

When Jesus reigns, it says specifically, look at verse 5 again, that his reign will be about seeking justice and be prompt in righteousness.

And if you are a follower of Jesus, you don't walk in pride, you are a person who seeks justice and righteousness.

You're a person who seeks justice and righteousness personally, you are a person who seeks justice and righteousness in your family and your city and your country.

And if you're not careful, some people may try to sideline you.

When you start speaking to the moral decay of our society, people may say, Oh, you're just a Christian nationalist, as if it's a dirty word.

I mean, you're Christian, you live in this nation.

What are you supposed to do?

Someone say, Wow, it's all about it's all about separation of church and state.

Or let's get the separation of church and state really clear because this is what I'm gonna talk about.

I want to say, okay, Christian nationalists separation of church and state, you can't say anything.

So let me get this straight.

Agnostics, seculars, and atheists can advocate for morals in our society, but we can't.

Who's making the rules up here?

So when we say anything about anything about abortion's wrong, immorality's wrong, you're just a Christian nationalist, separation of churches say, give me a break.

We are believers following Jesus, and as believers following Jesus, why should we not advocate for what's in the Bible?

Because is it not clear that God's ways are the best ways?

I just must be a Christian nationalist or something.

I don't know, I don't know.

That's that's just a derogatory word.

If you're not careful, people are gonna try to sideline you and say, because you're a Christian, I mean, really, everybody is promoting doctrine, everybody is promoting morals, believer or not believer.

The issue is what are you promoting?

And so we just can't say you can promote it, but we can't.

That's not a game on a play.

We follow King Jesus, full of justice and righteous.

His people should be full of justice and righteousness.

And don't, don't, you can speak up.

It's okay.

It's okay.

Don't be ashamed of the gospel.

It's okay.

Let's start to finish up here.

This is why Moab was judged.

Verse 6, chapter 16, verse 6.

Says, We have heard of the pride of Moab, the excessive pride.

We have heard of the pride of America, an excessive pride.

Even of his arrogance, pride, and fury, his idle boasts are false.

So Moab boasted in wealth, power, and the culture.

Their fields and vines, symbols of prosperity, will wither under judgment.

God weeps for Moab.

Once again, God has a heart, even for those he's destroying here.

It says, Therefore, my heart intones like a harp, harp for Moab.

It's interesting that God is coming after Moab.

They've totally shun his ways, they're arrogant, they think that nothing can topple them, and yet when God comes to bring judgment, it all disappears.

And I've been thinking about America 250, and the warning stands.

Do not assume we're gonna go another 250.

I know in your mind, we wanted to, right?

I know in your mind you're thinking, I there's no scenario in this world in your mind where America could be wiped out at all.

Like, what's the scenario?

Can you imagine living in the Roman Empire?

There's no scenario.

And yet, read the Bible, you see the nations are graveyard from of empires.

Let's not assume, let's not get so arrogant, let's not be so proud.

We turn from God and his ways and assume we got another 250 in us.

We must walk with humility.

And we finish it up in verse 13 and 14, what he says about Moab.

It says, This is the word which the Lord spoke earlier concerning Moab, but now the Lord speaks, saying, Within three years, as a hired man would count them, the glory of Moab will be degraded along with all his great population, and his remnant will be very small and impotent.

Basically, judgment's coming.

God has set a timeline.

Three years.

God has set a timeline.

Our 250 year stories in his hands, not ours.

Our plans, our investments, our military strategies, technological innovations, political alliances are nothing without Christ, the true king.

Because once again, there is only one kingdom that will last forever.

One kingdom.

And it's not ours.

You know, I've kind of had an interesting uh relationship with patriotism, an interesting relationship with America.

My staff knows, Jim Neal knows.

By the way, if you have any problems with the sermon today, just email Jim Neal, he'll he'll answer all the questions.

Sometimes I just feel like we we cross the line of idolatry or nation and patriotism.

And sometimes I think, God, just go ahead and judge us.

God, just go ahead and wipe us out.

Just look at us, look at us.

We're in so much sin.

Bring your judgment.

You know, you've heard of the phrase, God, you you you must owe, you're gonna owe Sodom and Gomorrah an apology unless you don't wipe us out, right?

Which is as bad.

But then I pull back and say, wait.

Wait.

Can I show you the picture again of my grandson?

You wanna see that again?

That boy's gonna grow up in this nation.

And what I do now as a grandfather, what I do now as an American is gonna pack him.

And his mama, my daughter, she's pregnant with another one.

And I have a feeling with having kids, I'm gonna have a lot of grandkids.

What am I leaving them?

Arrogance, pride, or humility, and repentance, and Jesus?

I don't want God's judgment to wipe out this nation.

Because he's gonna grow up in it.

So at the length we should pray for this nation.

We should pray for the churches in this nation to start acting like legit churches.

And we should pray for us as individuals.

Not to be arrogant, not be proud, because God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Let's pray.

Lord, I just thank you so much for your word.

And it just I I do not know, God, how you arrange for these chapters to be preached on this day.

You've brought it all together.

And Lord, I just ask you keep us, keep us from pride.

May we walk in humility.

We think about our nation.

We pray for our nation.

We pray for people to repent and come to Jesus.

And may we not just be people who just point the fingers at all the sin of the world, but just point the fingers at the church.

Where's the church?

And not just point the fingers at the church, point the fingers at ourselves.

Where are we at?

What are we doing?

May we repent of sexual morality.

May we rep repent of ways we trust in the security of other things.

May we repent as we as we neglect the vulnerable.

May we repent as we're so consumed with money.

May we repent of our pride and find refuge in Jesus, in humility, forgiveness, and give us grace as a way forward, as we want to see the next generation raised in the gospel.

Not a cultural Christianity, but raised and legit followers of Jesus.

And we pray, we pray for our kids, we pray for our grandkids, we pray for our great grandkids.

May they follow Jesus, may they know Jesus, and may they take up their cross and follow Jesus no matter what.

In his name we pray, amen.