Isaiah 28 - The Times of Refreshing

i'm good in isaiah 28. we are beginning a new section here in isaiah that will reach out to chapter 35 right before it gets into the narrative the historical narrative of hezekiah and the events around cherub's attack of jerusalem and that that story there up until now we haven't had many stories and narratives it's more prophecy and details of historical events we have the 10 chapters of of of judgments against the nations around jerusalem and then we had the three or four chapters there describing the end of the world how god's going to restore the kingdom and so he cleans the earth and then he builds his kingdom up we have those chapters there well this chapter tonight chapter 28 begins a new section 28-35 these eight chapters have have instruction about jerusalem specifically but also israel warning them about their judgment and has a theme of the times of refreshing or when god's going to refresh israel and jerusalem or rather offering them that we'll see tonight that god is offering them a rest and they've refused it and then peter of course talks with the times of refreshing in acts chapter 3 and israel refused it and so it's been multiple times in jerusalem's history where god has offered them peace and rest and they just didn't take it they didn't want it they didn't hear it they didn't hear what god was offering which has always been the issue right god has been speaking to humanity and humanity refuses to listen and so we'll see that in these section that the difference is those who don't hear the word of the lord don't read his book who don't listen to the prophets they face this judgment is going to come and those that do hear the word of the lord and it uses that phrase specifically in chapter 28 the word of the lord then they are the ones that get preserved and of course that's a common theme in isaiah we've heard about the remnant before in isaiah we've heard about judgment before but this section is specifically dealing with those that time of refreshing for israel the rest for israel okay so we're dealing with that there's eight chapters within these chapters is a common delineation are these these statements of woe or grief or indignation woe against jerusalem and ephraim i mentioned in verse 12 in this chapter there's a phrase about god talking about the rest the the uh refreshing yet they would not hear so there's the time of refreshing we'll deal with and there are four sections in the chapter we'll do it tonight and he'll get through all four there are 29 verses in the chapter okay so the first section we titled the drunkards of ephraim and in verse 1 it says woe to the crown of pride to the drunkards of ephraim whose glorious beauty is a fading flower which are the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine the theme of this section is that god will bring to nothing the proud and bring to glory the residue and that's a common theme that should be familiar to you jesus talked about this revelation talks about this the prophets talk about this theme and this section deals specifically with this referring to ephraim ephraim of course being the 10 northern tribes in israel right there's the 10 northern tribes the two southern tribes that make up the 12 tribes of israel the northern tribes were also called jacob at some times or just israel the house of israel the southern tribes were called the house of judah or jerusalem sometimes was associated with the southern tribes or or just zion talking about the city there and so it's talking specifically to ephraim the northern tribes and calls them the crown of pride now crowns in the bible refer to things that you usually give to honor people you honor them with something and so paul talks about a crown of righteousness and there's crowns of glory and yet here's a crown of pride and so here's the thing you bestow on these people to honor them and the sarcasm is here the honor them with pride because that's apparently what they have that they get rewarded for in the sarcastic sense that's what they're good at is pride and so woe to the crown of pride the drunkards of ephraim now this is what god is saying to his people right this is how bad it is in their history you might expect this from gentile nations but this is the northern tribes of israel they're the people who are given the oracles of god right and he's now calling him a crown of pride the fading flower he says the glorious beauty which is you see this theme in scripture all israel and their land was it was promised to be a beautiful land a beautiful people when israel is referred to as a woman or a wife it's a beautiful woman as israel is and talking about that marriage there so it's a glorious beauty but it's a fading flower now and that's what it's describing it as so it's lost its beauty which are on the head of the fat valleys the capital of the northern tribes was samaria so samaria was the capital city and so you've heard of the samaritans well they're in the area of the northern tribes that's what that is and so the head of the fat valleys the fat valleys refers to the fruitful lands in the northern tribes and so samaria would have been on on a hill uh there on mount gerizim and places there in the northern tribes and then around them were all these fertile valleys and they would produce fruit and the fruit would give them wine and riches and and that sort of thing except with their fruit with the wealth they could get from their land which god has given them instead of using it to glorify god they use it for their own consumption and so here we have the drunkards of ephraim right they drink up all their profit they drink up all their wine and they use it not for government for themselves their own satisfaction and so he calls them drunkards down in verse four he calls them hasty fruit he says in verse four the glorious beauty which is on the head of the fat valley shall be a fading flower and as the hasty fruit before the summer and which when he that looks upon it sees while it is yet in his hand he eats it up that's the idea you go out to the apple tree and when the apples are first blooming you're going to pick it as soon as you can to eat that first apple you're not going to wait until october november to harvest the whole tree you're eating that first one and the idea is that it's quickly happening and so like a hasty fruit before the summer uh they quickly gone away is is what the prophecy is going to be here they're going to be trodden down and judged like that fruit that thinks he plucked off that tree pretty fast okay so they're called these things instead of remember last chapter in chapter 27 we dealt with the vineyard that would create the the red wine the mature wine right that's the long time maturation and fruit bearing well these these people here in the context first fruit comes out they're destroyed they're that quickly going to be judged verse 2 says behold the lord hath a mighty and strong one which as a tempest of hail and destroying storm as a flood of mighty waters overflowing shall cast down to the earth with the hand the crown of pride the drunkards of ephraim shall be trodden under feet now this is interesting because it gives us the time context of this prophecy ephraim's northern tribes it's saying they're gonna be trodden down and god has this mighty one it's gonna do it and he gives the metaphors the figures there about the flood which we dealt with back in isaiah chapter 10 and 14 the assyrian empire just as a matter of review it's been a few chapters in the book of isaiah there are three major contexts that the prophecies deal with and each of those context has a king and then an enemy and the first major king in isaiah's a has remember him in isaiah 7 through 14. and when we talk about ahaz that king who didn't want to listen to isaiah he was the one who was given the prophecies about emmanuel remember the promised savior and his enemy or the one the prophets were speaking about bringing god's judgment were the assyrians remember the the the assyrian singular being the type of the antichrist the assyrian who would come in and ahab's tried to to seek defense or protection but from the assyrians but isaiah said the syrians going to turn on you and they become the enemy to wipe them out and so that's one pair king enemy the second king enemy pair is the king of hezekiah so after ahaz is hezekiah and he is king at the time of the downfall of the northern tribes so the assyrians come and invade the northern tribes but they don't remove them entirely when ahaz leaves hezekiah becomes king they come to the northern tribes and wipe them out hezekiah is a king of the southern tribes all right so hezekiah's enemy there would have been uh also an assyrian but cynic chariot cherub specifically he was a a ruler of the assyrians who came to invade jerusalem specifically we'll read about that in isaiah 36 7 8 9 there where he comes against jerusalem the angel lord comes and wipes them out so you have that pair then the third context is this third king messiah and his enemy being the anti-messiah antichrist is not a word you find in the old testament but we see the enemy of this messiah being the devil the wicked one and the new testament called the antichrist or the anti-messiah so you have these three kings in isaiah right these three kings that we've mentioned before that these two especially picture and shadow the future one we saw the prophecies of emmanuel here we see the prophecies of a faithful king here until he becomes unfaithful then here you have the perfect one right who comes and delivers the nation and this is still yet to be uh the messiah king is spoken about in chapters 40 through 66 in isaiah at the end of the book right hezekiah here in the middle between the 20s and 30s in the book and ahaz is in the in the first section so we're here in chapter 28 and it says that the northern tribes are going to be trodden down destroyed wiped out we're in this context right here hezekiah right so you can tell historically when this was written just by reading what's happening here it's a prophecy against northern tribes are going to be trodden down and removed verse four we read already uh let's look at verse five he says in that day shall the lord of host be for a crown of glory and for a diadem of beauty unto the residue of his people notice the residue that's what's left that's the remnant right and so we saw earlier on he's calling the northern tribe he's calling israelites drunkards and calling them fading flowers and calling them fruit that's going to quickly be harvested and yet now they were a crown of pride but now in verse 5 it says there's a crown of glory now notice the words here it says the lord of hosts will be a crown of glory you see that so the people were the crown of pride in verse one in verse three but here in verse five the lord is the crown of glory and so how do you become a part of this glorious beautiful diadem here well you've got to be the people who are in the lord right you got to be the people who are faithfully following the lord believing and trusting in the lord this is a theme we've seen through isaiah as well the word diadem there is simply a similar word for crown i mean something you put on your head that has the jewels and things when paul talks about the gold silver and precious stones the precious stones there are things that are honorable these are things you find on crowns and diadems things you put on your head and around your neck and things to honor kings and queens and all that so that's what it's talking about so you have a crown of pride and contrast to the crown of glory you have the fading flower in contrast to the diadem of beauty right and this is all found in the lord of course we know that being the lord jesus christ right it says capital l or d there lord jesus christ so the lord will be a crown of glory for the remnant uh go back to chapter four in isaiah real quick in verse four if you remember way back in chapter four this prophesied the purging of the city of jerusalem and isaiah 4 verse 4 says when the lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of zion and shall have purged the blood of jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning and it says in verse 3 that those that are left in zion shall be called holy right so this is the the people who receive the the beautiful diadem and the crown of glory which is the lord he leads them back to this city and it's because after god has purged the city all of the wickedness and all the all of the the evil's gone so the drunkards are gone right all the the fading flowers is gone now it's all burnt up um now you just have this new growth you just have these these holy ones and it says that he purges the city by the spirit of judgment the spirit of burning that's important a little bit later we'll see that in isaiah 28 okay look at isaiah 62. we see some cross references here to this crown of glory jesus christ is a chronic glory and isaiah didn't use the name jesus right his name meant the same as jesus but he uses lord over and over again and then you read in the new testament you read in isaiah 62 and other places how it's speaking about the messiah about jesus he is the crown of glory isaiah 62 verse 1 for zion's sake will i not hold my peace and for jerusalem's sake i will not rest until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burns and the gentiles shall see thy righteousness and all the kings of thy glory and thou shalt be called by a new name which the mouth of the lord shall name thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the lord and our royal diadem in the hand of thy god talking here about jerusalem about israel the the believing saved israel of course right back in 1962 a bunch of drunkards fading flowers right uh the kind of pride by isis d22 they're turned into the crown of glory and they're they of course become that crown of glory because they're in the lord chapter 28 it says the lord shall be the crown of glory right without him they don't become glorious so again this idea of you have to be in christ throughout the scripture right everyone has to be in christ without the lord you don't get glory and that's what the old testament said over and over and over again so we talk about us being in christ according to the mystery well that according to the mystery is significant because in christ according to the mystery is that whole identity we talk about in our seminar right being in christ according to prophecy that's a different thing but everybody needs christ without which there is no salvation right and that's what the scripture says uh look at revelation chapter 14 verse 1. so a crown and diadems are things you put on your head and you think about things on your head it's interesting to think about in revelation how when god is going to uh preserve this residue this remnant of people to lead them into that kingdom and you find in revelation a few places which you're very familiar with maybe but did not think of them in the light of isaiah of how god before the antichrist puts his mark well you've heard of the mark of the beast before he puts his mark on people god puts his mark on certain ones so the antichrist copies what god does in revelation 14 verse 3 i think it is or verse one i looked and lo a lamb stood on the mount zion and with him 144 000 having his father's name written in their foreheads that's interesting so says the lord shall be a crown of glory maybe quite literally the name of the lord is written on their crown interesting so they they are a crown of glory because they have the the lord's name the father's name written on the foreheads and it's the lord jesus christ of course who they're following right so he's the one by which their name can be written on the four heads right uh look revelation seven gives more identification to who these people are job witnesses are getting all happy about relation 14 but that's not them not only we're not living in in the time of revelation revelation 7 defines these people as 12 000 people from each of the 12 tribes of israel revelation 7 3 it says hurt not the earth neither the sea nor the trees till we have sealed the servants of our god in their foreheads with what what's that seal going to be you read it chapter 14. father's name right so you wonder what the seal the mark of the beast is going to be you know what that's going to be name of the beast right remember version 13 you say 666. well 666 was the number of his name right you see so it's the name that they're marking you with that's what it is so that might help you too if you're really trying to look for that mark of the beast which you won't find today but uh you can rule out a lot of stuff because it's not it's not the name of the beast and uh and you're not in that context anyway let's move on here isaiah 28 verse 7. so verse 5 talks about the crown of glory that these people will be the remnant the residue of his people will be verse 6 says and for a spirit of judgment to him that stirs in judgment and for strength to them that turn the battle of the gate that's isaiah 4 4 that spirit of judgment right so the lord will be the crown of glory the diadem of beauty the spirit of judgment and why do you need judgment we'll see it come up here again you need judgment because if you're drunk what you're lacking is righteousness and judgment that's what you're lacking when you're drunk that's what you're lacking when you're drunk you have no good judgment when you're drunk you're not doing things right righteousness and judgment are the two things that the lord will bring to the kingdom of israel righteousness and judgment these are these rods and the staff that he's going to bring and that spirit of judgment he brings this burning this purging will bring righteousness in judgment by removing the unrighteousness by removing those who don't have good judgment so we see these people come up in verse seven they also have heard through wine but they also have earned he's talking here about the the city in jerusalem and saying even not only ephraim and the northern tribes that even jerusalem even zion even the rulers here have heard uh through wine now you could say were they literally drunk well you wouldn't put us put it past them to be literally drunk this is the way of the world okay and most of the religious world as well by the way but also it could be speaking just simply about their poor judgment and their unrighteousness but most definitely they they had literal drink there it says they have earth through wine and through strong drink are out of the way the priest and the prophet have heard through strong drinks this is not the guys going down to the bar who don't go to church right i speak spiritually here this is the priest and the prophet these are the people that god entrusted with his law to communicate to the nation and they're the ones that are overtaken with the strong drink and the wine which means they can't minister properly like quite literally you're in the pulpit or the priest you know the temple and you're drunk yeah how do they get drunk you say part of those offerings included drink offerings well weren't they allowed to drink them interesting they poured a lot of them out they were supposed to or take them out of the temple okay in leviticus chapter 10 look at leviticus 10 verse 9 the law for bad priest to drink strong drink in the temple and this is one of the major accusations that the prophets like malachi and others have against the priest in jerusalem and the temple that they were not following the law yeah they were following the law and that they were taking sacrifices but they weren't following the law and that they weren't offering them right to god or they're consuming them on their own lusts right so you can keep the law and not keep the law at the same time different parts of the law right you can do it without the heart without the sincerity and this is always what the prophet's dealt with what jesus dealt with he says yeah you give the tithes but you've missed you omitted the weightier matters of the law remember that you give the tithes of anus and human but you immediate judgment mercy and faith judgment mercy and faith with the law communicated and they didn't do those laws leviticus 10 verse 9 not drinking strong drink in wine is not simply about what you put in your mouth just like what you wear is not simply about cloth and covering right it's about mind righteousness and judgment that's what it is and so i mentioned i think it was last week or sunday the first timothy too it talks about women's dress and this sort of thing it's less to do with what you put on the outside whether you put on on the inside that's what it's talking about right but when you have judgment when you have the right frame of mind and who you are in your identity it changes things that you do you see it's the same thing so in the bible and it forbids drinking and other sorts of activities the law of course always deals with the outward and just actions and behaviors but really what god is trying to do is change your mind and grace does that wonderfully and this is the issue with this prophecy here they lack judgment and righteousness well judgment's an inward process you know you can't say well i'm i'm drinking down judgment no no judgment comes from the inside but of course strong drink impairs judgment right it blurs your mind look at chapter 10 in verse 9 do not drink he spoke to aaron and the priest here lord speaking to aaron in verse 8 do not drink wine nor strong drink thou nor thy sons with thee when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation lest ye die it should be a statue forever throughout your generations wow that wasn't like slap on the wrist business that's like you drink stronger temple you die apparently god was concerned about these people not being under an influence of anything else but him in the temple right and that's what the law was and they were obviously breaking this verse 10 says that that ye may put difference between holy and unholy in between unclean and clean that's the reason that you may that people may see a difference now we talked all weekend about our identity in christ now it's not what you see it's by faith and that's true but people can't see your faith right and if the law was about it's always about an expression of what was really righteous judgment mercy and faith and because of judgment mercy and faith because of love which was the chief of the commandments right loving god and loving your neighbor because of those things there's all these rules which always comported with loving god and loving your neighbor right but you can't see someone love unless they do right you can't see someone have judgment mercy or faith unless they do and that's the teaching of the scripture that's that's what you learn from the law right the law just could not change your heart so it couldn't give you those things it could only tell you what was wrong but you see in these instructions the reason why god said don't drink here and there so that people would see this is a holy place well paul would say no you're not you're the temple the holy spirit right he says that those who destroy the temple god destroys quoting the old testament that's an old testament reference paul's not added new information there he's quote an old testament saying when you destroyed the temple you profaned the temple he destroyed you this is the holy thing and he applies that to you saying you are a temple so do with that corinthians as you will right with that mindset of who you are so leviticus chapter 10 talks about forbidding drinking strong drink there in the temple proverbs 20 says the same thing that he that you're deceived by strong drink uh those that partake in it proverbs chapter 20. verse one wine is a mocker strong drink is raging and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise so you have these instructions very clear in the scripture people say well aren't we free under grace don't we have liberty yes all things are lawful not all things are edifying walk according to who you are in christ and be persuaded to choose likewise yeah and that's the instruction let's move on isaiah 28 here isaiah 28 verse 9. uh verse 8 by the way is a very disgusting picture of what's going on here the priests and the prophets of which isaiah would have been talking to isaiah as a prophet would go to the priest and prophesy we go to the other prophets who claim to be prophets and prophesy right that's what they did many times the old testament hear stories elijah and others who would walk into the temple where the king's throne house was and there would be all the false prophets right well they didn't have name tags that said false prophets they were prophets you know the the the prophets of god called them false prophets so you had the priests and the prophets all there with the king and uh in the temple and here comes god's man and to in the prophesying so here comes isaiah into where the priests and the prophets are at and he says you've heard through strong drake the priest and prophet have heard through strong drink they are swallowed up of wine they are out of the way through strong drink they air in vision because they're they're prophesying wrongly and they stumble in judgment the priests can't make proper judgments because they're stumbling which of course defines drunk people right in verse eight all tables are full of vomit and filthiness i i don't think he's making that up i think isaiah walks in says i'm about to talk to you guys they're going hold on you know we're still drinking and eating you know he's going this is disgusting this is disgusting he walks to the temple he walks into the throne and says this is not how god intended his holy place to be right but it's full of vomit and filthiness so that there is no place clean remember the law don't drink in the temple because so that people know the difference drink outside the temple if you're going to drink not inside the devil because this is a clean place out there is filthy right and if it's filthy you got to think about if you want to live that way clean filthy right and so in 1928 isaiah says there's no clean place this is the context in which verse 9 we talk about these priests and prophets refusing to hear what isaiah is saying isaiah is talking about destruction coming to you guys because of your heir because of your crown of pride and everything else and so he says the table is full of vomit verse 9 when whom shall he teach knowledge whom shall he make to understand doctrine them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts wean from the milk drop of the breast this is these are babies these are toddlers these aren't men students doctors right that's not who these people are and so you hear their response perhaps now you read this one or two ways one is in the first person where perhaps the priest and prophets are mocking isaiah and saying who are you going what are you going to teach us what is god going to teach us we're priests and prophets what are you going to say isaiah that we don't know we're the priests and prophets that's precisely how they responded to jesus when jesus remember with the blind man he healed the blind man and the blind man was held you know in investigation before the priests and the prophets and they said who did this he said that guy over there he must be the christ they said no no that guy can't teach us anything that's my paraphrase they said they rejected jesus saying there's no way this blind man can teach us something there's no way that that man who healed this blind man teaches us something because he's not in the temple with us we are doctors of the laws what they said we're prophets and scribes and priests and so you can read it this way and say yeah this is this is their speaking in nine and ten mocking isaiah whom shall you teach knowledge whom shall you make to understand doctrine them that are your babies that you think you're talking to babies here we're not babies that's what they would say sarcastically we're prophets and priests for pre-set up must be upon priesthood uh present upon precept line upon line here little there little that is precisely how you teach babies toddlers that's how you teach them you don't dump everything on them it's a little bed at a time right one line this week another line next week one word this week one word next week a little bit at a time and this frustrates adults right and thus you need to learn patience if i taught like that on tuesdays you'd all be asleep long before you normally are right if i talk that slowly as you would to a child you'd say we got it we got it last week please move on to more than one verse per week right but most church that's all i teach one verse a week they are teaching to babies right but this is what they're saying is oh isaiah you're god's speaking a little bit of time it's so you're just talking about command the ten commandments come on we know that stuff it's more complicated than that isaiah right and he's going no it's not you're breaking the law he calls isaiah a simpleton you're childish right you're treating us like children you read it like that or you can read it in the third person in that uh it's it's isaiah speaking and evaluating the nation here saying who among them can you actually teach because they're so blind because they are children because that's the truth of it too they're behaving like children spiritually right and without judgment without righteousness that who can we teach who can understand doctrine the answer nobody apparently we should start with the babies because there's no one else older than that can understand anything right so either one of those works in the context either way that they're complaining about isaiah which has happened in the scripture and the way god's talking to them or that isaiah is pointing out that there's not a single one of you that's worth teaching except for babies you know you're a bunch of babies either one of those works in the context look at hebrews 5 you see other places in the scripture where there's this kind of admonition about being babes hebrews 5 is one of them hebrews 5 12 and this was again written to israel here hebrews but when the time when the time you ought to be teachers you have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of god and it becomes such as have need of milk and not a strong meat for everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness for he is a babe well these are drunkards and ephraim these people are drunk priests and prophets they have no vision no judgment so they are like babes children spiritually speaking even though they are the esteemed in the religious society of israel i mean they're supposed to be closest to god that everybody but they are babes and isaiah walks in and tells himself and that's an offense that's an offense and so hebrews says the same thing he says you should have been teachers by now but i have to teach you again the first principles this is the mode of which god is at in the time of israel's history hundreds of years after he's given the law he's sending prophets still teaching them the same thing right why why do they get it it's like like babies right they don't get it and so he says in verse 14 strong meat belongs to them that are of full age even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil so that's what hebrews says you should be that's not what they're that's not what they are first corinthians 3 paul says the same thing about the corinthians remember that corinthians had some of the similar fleshly issues as we're reading back in isaiah only the corinthians were saved by god's grace there was no dispensation of grace back there in isaiah 28. first corinthians 3 paul writes brethren i could not speak unto you as into spiritual but as unto carnal even as unto babes in christ i have fed you with milk and not with meat for hitherto you are not able to bear it neither yet now are you able for your yet carnal right so they're doing things in their flesh and because of this because the lack of charity he calls them babes right and so you see this throughout the scripture where becoming wise is not a matter of age it's a matter of your adherence to the word of god that makes you wise the fear of the lord's beginning of wisdom right you do that you get wisdom and yet there are people who are older maybe have more experience maybe in positions that are higher than yours who claim to be elders and they're not you see so there has to be a spiritual judgment so isaiah 28 back here we see uh this statement uh about this preset upon precept line upon line here a little there a little who is he going to teach and notice in verse 10 by the way it says for precept must be upon precept precept upon precept so this is the requirement why can't you teach it a little faster why can't god just tell us what's going to happen clearly in chronological world why can't he just dump it out why did he write 66 chapters in isaiah that was to go back and talk about the same theme over and over and over and over again why can't he just lay out all the details in one chapter here's the chapter about the remnant and everything's going to happen here's the chapter about judge and everything's going to happen what can you do that way that's how you and i would do it we would write a book and say that chapter title the remnant everything about the remnant right right well there's a couple reasons we'll see here one is that people are slow learners so you need to repeat repeat repeat repeat a lot of bible's repetition and that makes you tired of the repetition and this actually is an indicator of the the this your heart is what that is the discerner of your heart if you look at the bible's repetition and i have i know you have two okay it's just flesh right look at the bible's repetition you say read it before skip right you are not caring about the content but if you see the bible's repetition as an opportunity to hear something more about the same subject you're caring about the repetition right you talked to your wife once i got it i understand her talk to you ten years from now no you talk to her again and again again you hear the same things you see the same things but you learn more and it gets deeper and richer every time it's the same thing in god's word he repeats things so that we can learn more about the subject he says the same thing in different ways in every chapter in isaiah there's the themes that are consistent throughout and yet there's these little details that he adds each time he talks about them they're different than the previous one and so line upon line please everyone praises out come on give it to us all at once why is it so piecemeal why is it so why are you treating us like children because you're slow of learning but secondly maybe i'm testing to see whether your heart's right because if your heart's right you'll hear it again and again and again i've already heard the gospel the grace of god tired of that oh really you're tired of the gospel of god okay i guess we won't talk about again the rest of your life since you're saved you see the problem there it's a problem right you go back and you revisit you learn something more about it and you see this over and over again go back to romans and we learn again something new right so the repetition isn't something that we say yep read it skip instead you're going why did he say it again and you're looking for what's new there right and that's an amazing way to read the scripture and this is their issue why are you treating us like children why did god write the bible this way why did he write the bible in such a way that it doesn't seem immediately easy to grasp right that we draw dispensational charts in an hour i'm not saying you can't understand it i'm saying it takes a heart intent to want to we draw a description of chart in an hour it takes you longer an hour to read the bible right why didn't he just put a chart in front of it why didn't he just preserve a a visual so you go over to the first page and say i get it because you close the book and never read it again right so he created this book which is a living word quick and sharper than any two-edged sword so it discerns the thoughts and tense of your heart so that when you open this book if you don't want to hear what god says you will be filtered out of it you will put it up and close the book but if you want to know what god says even when you don't yet know you'll come back to it and back to it back to it right and you hear that testimony over and over again of christians they say well i've been trying for years why have you been trying for years because they want to know right but not everyone does that people try for a week i'm done right tired of this they've closed their ears they're done hearing they're done listening so you see the issue here this line upon line in the the response of the priests and the prophets and and how isaiah is looking at this issue there's both good and bad here about the line upon line you know uh and there's by the way there's nothing wrong with simplifying things there's nothing wrong with trying to to conjugate things in such a way that people grasp them quickly but you gotta really guard yourself around your heart about you know not wanting to know anything more about god's word because i think i got it all you can never search out the depths of this book right go back to it look for something else right because it's there it's there and man didn't write this when god inspired it so isaiah 28 down in verse 11 is where we're at because they're children they're babes because it's precept upon precepts line upon line here a little there little i gotta tell you a little bit because that's all you can handle okay because of this in verse 11 isaiah says for with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people and this is a a quoted prophecy in the new testament multiple times okay in verse 11 paul quotes it even with stammering lips in another tongue well let me speak to these people imagine this however we often hear this maybe you have this baggage of hearing this in the context of the tongue talking the new testament okay but try to block that out for a moment because this has not yet been spoken about in isaiah 28. okay stammering lips toddlers stammer my son's learning how to talk and he does not speak clearly all the time and sometimes he drops the end of words and you have to guess what he's saying and sometimes we pick it up other times we don't right this is what he's talking on the context here how you speak to children how children speak because you don't want to hear what god says because you can't learn and understand just like isaiah 6 because you don't want to know when your ears are stopped or ears are stopped he's going to make you not know if you don't have ears to hear you won't have ears to hear so he sends isaiah to go to stop their ears right and and stop their eyes so that they won't see because of their response to his word so this is what's going on who is there to teach knowledge whom shall we make to understand doctrine they're a bunch of babies there's just babies here that's all we got we don't got people who are actually looking for it and so because of that we're going to talk to them like babies right line upon lines stammering lips another tongue that's what babies have another language baby babble right they start learning that's how they talk now it's also how people of other languages speak when you don't speak their language there is there's nothing more humbling and that will make you feel like a child again than to speak to someone in a language that you don't know or know very well right man you feel like a child right i want food i could say that that's all i can say i can't say which food i can't say what kind when how hot i just i want food you know as i was trying to speak to my mother-in-law about when she was born a relatively simple conversation i would have in english was so complicated i get hand gestures and that's weird you know what are you doing like you're a baby you're a child stammering lips another tongue right that's what that is it's like i don't understand what you're saying you can't communicate and these people don't want to hear god god's going to talk to them like children and they can't understand him on purpose god designed it that way right because of their lack of faith because they don't understand now this comes over into the new testament of course we'll see that here in a moment um but first i want to take you to deuteronomy 28 verse 49. this was part of god's judgment in deuteronomy 20 28 49 when god confounded the languages and don't mistake it the different languages are as a result of god's intervention okay uh he did that as a punishment he did that to separate the nations he didn't confound us to create confusion i thought god wasn't the author of confusion well he did as a result of our sin you see when we all spoke the same voice in ungodliness we right quick tried to create our own religion to oppose god and he said i'm gonna put that on hold for a moment i'm not really yet ready for armageddon let's confuse their languages delay that a little bit that's what he did well he made it confusing for us well he didn't tell you to do what they were doing he didn't tell you to do that they told him not to build that that tower 28 part of god's judgment here in deuteronomy the the blessings and the curses of the covenant that he gave to israel we're reading about the curses here in verse 28 49 yeah there it is the lord shall bring a nation against thee from far from the end of the earth as swift as the eagle flyeth a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand that's part of the judgment a nation of fierce countenance which shall not regard the person of the old or nor show favor of the young you shall eat the fruit of thy cattle and so on and so forth and we see these judgments being played out in the book of isaiah we talked about that chapters ago talking about those five courses of judgment how the room played out in isaiah and one part of that judgment is people will come there and speak a language to you that you don't quite get what's interesting is we'll read in isaiah 36 and 37 that the assyrians come to jerusalem and they start speaking the hebrew language which man what an insult that is the hebrew language was the language of god's people and god's people were disobeying god here comes these pagan gentiles sinners if there ever were any on the earth and they come and speak in hebrew because jews can't speak their language right but they can speak theirs it's not good right in jeremiah 5 15 we have another prophecy about this language as a punishment god intended israel to be a nation above the nations israel was intended to be to communicate with every nation and the fact they couldn't even speak their neighbors was again a sign of their apostasy jeremiah 5 and verse 15 lo i will bring a nation upon you from far o house of israel saith the lord it is a mighty nation it is an ancient nation a nation whose language thou knowest not neither understand us what they say what do you call that another tongue stammering lips right you think it's you think it's uh it's hard to understand or you think it's childish to understand what i'm telling you what god says line upon line a little bit a little bit i'll tell you what i'll bring someone you can't understand at all that's what he's saying that's the punishment right and so they want to hear god's word they want him to say it differently okay he will he'll say so he can't understand right you receive god's words and you receive them as he said them because whether you think they're too simple or not relevant they are you're the one that's wrong change your mind around what god said and you'll learn more wisdom the fear of the lord of wisdom the bible is too simplistic and it's still around thousands of years later helping and changing people's lives and it speaks truth and many times truth is more simple than what is wrong it's much harder to say things simply than it is to just talk talk talk talk right you see this among scientists in the world and scholars they write long dissertations that nobody reads because nobody can understand them then god has a proverb millions understand right that's wisdom that's what wisdom looks like wisdom doesn't look like a book this big wisdom looks like a book this big with sayings that if you just read one book of it it'd be filled with wisdom right that's what wisdom looks like so praise god for that how do you know the bible is god's word because all that it says and so so few pages right that's how you know men couldn't have written this if they wanted to right if they were trying to write about the topics this book deals with it'd be a library and it is right go to your christian bookstore and they're all talking about this book right someone's talking too much read the bible right first corinthians 14 let's go over here first corinthians 14 paul quotes isaiah 28 here why does paul quote prophecy because all scripture is profitable because you can learn things from all scripture it's not all talking about you in the context but you can learn things about god and about how to respond to god first corinthians 14 verse 21. paul says wherefore tongues are for a sign um yeah 21. in the law it is written calling isaiah the law by the way so the prophets are also part of that law there and the law it is written with men of other tongues and other lips will i speak unto this people and yet for all that they will not hear me saith the lord be for all that they will not hear me is in verse 12 isaiah 28 says that the end there yet they would not hear so he sends them people of another nation and yet they don't hear now look at verse 22 this is in the chapter about tongues paul was talking about tongue talking in the corinthian church the spirits will to tongue talking and he quotes this law about men of other tongues on the lips so i speak to these people to whichever pentecost goes yes we fulfill the prophets we're going to speak in other tongues of these people but there's a reason why i stayed back in isaiah for a little bit because the reason why god sent them those people was so they would not understand and paul's point in chapter 14 is that people need to understand isaiah 28 he says you need to hear the word of the lord most people didn't want to hear it so god says i'm going to make you not hear it but they should have heard in fact isaiah will say later hear the word of the lord you need to understand right whom shall understand doctrine there's nobody there to understand it they need to have understanding right in first kings 14 people are speaking in tongues and people don't understand what they're saying and paul says unless you're trying to hurt people you should speak so that they can understand right you need to speak to the edifying of people not so you can say well i got a language you can't understand that makes me more spiritual nowhere in the bible is that the case different languages were always a curse it's better if we all spoke the same language and tongues were given for that purpose so that you could speak to someone of a different language and they could understand you see that was why this gift of tongues were given just like a pentecost when they spoke and people of other nations understood what they said right so in verse 22 it says wherefore because i've quoted the law here about this wherefore tongues are for a sign not to them that believe but to them that believe not you see well what how's it assigned to them believe not because when you speak in a tongue then they understand what you're saying then it's a sign of that believe not if you speak in a language they don't understand they're going to go away there's no sign of anything there just like isaiah 28 when isaiah in isaiah god is sending the prophet so that these people would be turned away isaiah 6 9 and 10 read it he did not send paul to turn people away it's a different mission so we need to we need to in the conversation i know this is a conversation we've had here too much but about speaking into our own tongue angel language that no one knows you know god forbid right you say well god did it he gave tongues yeah more people understand that's why he gave it if people can't understand it if you can't properly communicate using the gift of tongues then be quiet right and that is not a rule that's followed and that's what paul's point is first corinthians 14. so moving on here so isaiah 28 verse 12. now he sends these stammering lips and other tongues to speak to these people because uh they need to hear what god is saying but uh they are drunk they're stumbling around they're airing in judgment vision and in verse 12 says to whom he says this is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest this is the refreshing that's good news folks it's good news to say this is the time where you can rest i mean you're feeling suffering you're feeling pain you're feeling judgment you're feeling condemnation here's the time of rest can it all be over please right that's good news that's salvation that's kingdom that's god giving you peace and so the message that these people of other languages are saying to them right that god's messengers are saying here is here's the rest here's the refreshing and yet they were not here they didn't want it okay they didn't get it now let's cover a few verses here about this rest look at hebrews chapter 3 the rest of god the times of refreshing is a very common theme in scripture as well prophetic theme dealing with going back to the garden when god created the heaven and the earth on the seventh day he rested he didn't rest because he was tired he rested because he was done creating and it would be a prophecy about his future rest and we'll see that in hebrews hebrews chapter 3 hebrew speaks about the rest of genesis and the the rest that will come to israel here's the verse 11. so i swear in my wrath says the lord he's quoting god here that they shall not enter to my rest uh because in verse 10 it says they they er in their heart verse 12 take heed brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living god but exhort one another daily while it is called today lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin for we are made partakers of christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end while it is said today you will hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation for some when they had heard did provoke howbeit not all that came out of egypt by moses but with whom was he grieved forty years was it not with them that had sinned whose carcasses fell in the wilderness to whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest but to them that believe not explanation who didn't get into the promised land those who did not believe he's writing to an audience of believing hebrews saying guys we're in the wilderness you need to keep believing because if you stop believing or you sin some way because you're being provoked to sin and you sin you're not going to get in that promised land you need to believe faith and do the things that faith requires works faith and works get into that promised land right now then he explains in chapter four what the promised land is well i thought we already went to the promised land he says no no no because joshua spoke of a promised land and jesus spoke of a promise like a future promise so it's not just the promised land back in exodus it's another promised land it's the kingdom come right this is the rest you enter that kingdom we talked about it last week the kingdom where there's peace and celebration and a feast going on that's the rest okay that's what that is chapter 4 verse 1 says let us therefore fear lest a promise be left of us of entering into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it peter spoke about the times of refreshing the time of rest and hebrews says this rest is a promise that you can have if you endured at the end talking to the hebrews living hebrews the little flock so they were promised a rest a time of refreshing at the appearance of jesus christ and his kingdom now jesus taught the same thing everyone said in matthew 11 and everyone quotes this out of context matthew 11 take my yoke upon you remember that why so you might have rest right oh great cause i'm really feeling tired today if i just pray to jesus he's gonna make me feel better that's not what he's talking about that's 11 verse 28 come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden i will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn of me for i am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest into your souls my yoke is easy my burden is light he is not talking about if you become a christian your life will be easier he is not saying if you are a christian your day will go smoother he's not saying if you just trust in me then you won't have as much problem or burden right like actually in your life the burden he's talking about here is getting into that kingdom how hard that's going to be right in fact well he says later uh how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom remember that how hard it is for a rich man enter the kingdom why because he won't follow christ right because he's got his riches there and you and jesus was saying give up all you got for me right and so he's saying my burden is light what he's saying is follow me believe in me as the messiah and you'll get in that kingdom easy right because belief is the key that gets in if they didn't follow jesus it didn't matter how many good works they didn't matter who they were in israel they're not getting in they see that's a heavy burden good luck with that the light burden is follow me right my yoke is light follow jesus and that's what he was saying there he came preaching that believe me follow me that's what john 6 is in other places as well and this is the rest he says you'll have rest it's not simply your daily rest because when he told them to pray for daily bread for example and to save us from transgressions and from our enemies right that was a prayer designed to be prayed at a time in which their enemies abounded and they had no food that's not necessarily a time of rest and refreshing that's a time of survival and god says i'll preserve you during that time of survival for israel and the tribulation right time of wrestles at the end of that remember the big feast in the kingdom peace on earth right that's the time of refreshing jesus says i'll get you there i'm the one's taking you in i'm the shepherd right you're the sheep it's all that teaching and so he'll lead them through the shadow the valley of the shadow of death to lead them to those waters right that's what he says so the word refreshing look up your dictionary actually means a rest after uh suffering after long suffering or fatigue right i've done something tiring and i'm done with it now i need some refreshment right that's what refreshing is and so you might take a stop while you're traveling for a long distance you take a stop to get refreshed it's a rest after a long suffering or fatigue as a from a journey right on a long journey take a rest at the end right this is precisely what israel was prophesied to go through a long journey in the wilderness at the end promised land of rest right and milk and honey ice cream as i've said before that's what it is so you get that at the end and that's the rest and so jesus talked about the rest hebrews talks about the rest isaiah 28 talks about this is your rest wherewith he may cause the weary to rest and this is the refreshing yet they would not hear it's about salvation from god he gives them the covenant gives them a promise i mean all they do is keep this covenant keep the commandment right and they don't want to hear it verse 13 but the word of the lord was unto them precept upon precept he says line upon line hear a little and they're little that they may go and fall backward and be broken and snared and taken see what he adds there at the end the reason why i spoke to them line upon line and present upon precept and not just straight forward so that they would be snared and broken and fall backward so you come to the scripture and say this sounds childish and you walk away and you say yup that's exactly why i wrote it that way that those who had ears to hear ears of faith would hear it and those who didn't would not if god wrote it like a scholar he'd be excluding the wrong people right those who weren't able to understand would not get it and those only that were able would get it right that's that's dissertation writing only those who are credentialed can do it that's precisely opposite of god's grace so he writes it like as to children and those who are offended don't have the faith and those that receive it have the faith right wow god's wisdom it's amazing how you wrote this book it discerns the thoughts and intents of your heart you know it's amazing so isaiah 28 verse 13 he deals with that he says yet they would not hear just like jesus said in john 10 my sheep hear my voice you thought he was just creating new things there no he's quoting prophecy all over isaiah all over the old testament it's all about hearing the word of the lord and jesus come says i am the word if you hear my voice you are my sheep which means you can follow me into the kingdom isaiah 28 through 35. this ch this section we're talking about here the time of refreshing is talking about leading israel into that rest and so you'll see in every chapter a clue about the way in which they supposed to enter that rest it's very interesting the very last chapter in chapter 35 talks about the way the highway of holiness every chapter talks about gives a clue about the way to enter into that rest and jesus comes and says i am the way that's a great revelation folks because i've been reading the prophets and you know it talks about these ways and it gives me little clues and hints little road signs and jesus comes says i'm the way oh great so if i just follow you i'll get there right because all the prophets spoke of me you see that's what i was talking about and so uh why couldn't they know jesus was the christ well they read the scripture line upon line present property step yeah yeah just wants rules no it's talking about christ all over the place if you have faith you'll see that over and over again you see the repetitions talk about a person the lord's the crown of glory right you start looking for that so it changes the way you see the scripture revelation 3 20 that famous picture uh by warner solomon where the guy's knocking on the door those that hear my voice when i'm knocking right that's what it's talking about it's talking about israel hearing his voice where they didn't before isaiah 28 uh down in verse 14. wherefore it says oh i don't want to skip ahead here for a moment because in verse 13 it says that they may be snared and broken and fall backward he gave them this preset upon priesthood upon line this this style of communication so that they would fall backward and be snared and they and remember throughout the new testament you have this concept as well jesus says i speak to them in parables why that they would not understand that's what it's talking about here priest at the palm precept cute parable jesus doesn't have to do with anything right well so that you would not understand the disciples who had ears to hear you get the explanation about the kingdom about the messiah it's about faith it's about their being israel being divided right and so he said speak to them in parables that they would not understand paul says in romans 11 verse 9 that david wrote in the psalms that they didn't hear the word so they would be snared and they'd be caught in a snare right when this this other nation speaks to them in these tongues and speaks to them saying in these other tongues here's the rest here's salvation and they go yeah who are you to give that to me right then here comes these prostitutes and these fishermen with jesus and they start speaking to the pharisees and priests saying he's the one they're going we're not going to listen to you who are you right or here comes cornelius saying i believe it he's the one you're a gentile cornelius here comes titus yeah i believe christ died for my sins you're a gentile titus right you see how easy it would be to reject it that's what's going on here the word of salvation sent to them they're not receiving it and paul says the same thing in romans 11. he says the word was sent to them they rejected it right they were snared the word came not in the way they thought it should come and so they were trapped right don't put that sort of expectation on god give what he gives to you in his word trust him to give it to you the way that you need it not the way you want it right and so in 1st corinthians 1 23 paul says the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness and he says to the jews as the stumbling block why because they got the law we're a jews and how did you get it by belief no there's got to be a list of rules there right and to the greeks foolishness why let me just read the scripture it's not like some great dissertation from cicero or something right but it's god's word and you see it all over the wisdom all throughout it it's a different right style of writing and so the bible seems so childish to the scholars of the world so foolish but god's wisdom's in that look isaiah 20 verse 14 wherefore he says here's the admonition wherefore hear the word of the lord ye scornful men right you people that mock god hear the word of the lord he's speaking to deaf ears of course you scornful men that rule this people which is in jerusalem the rulers are scornful mockers of god's word in isaiah all i can say is hear it and they're saying we'll hear you again of this matter go home right remember what they said to paul and marcel go home we're done with you for today we thought it was something greater than just resurrection yeah that kind of myth and verse 15 because ye have said we have made a covenant with death and with hell are we at agreement when the overflowing scourge shall pass through which shall not come unto us for we have made lies our refuge and under falsehood have we held our uh have we hid ourselves they made a covenant with death there's interesting connection here with the with daniel we'll see here in a moment but first i want to deal with what they're saying death is around them death is isaiah's prophesying death upon them and they say in response to isaiah's prophecies that you know because you broke the law you're going to die because you broke god's commandments because you committed sin you're going to get judged oh we're not in sunday school isaiah we made a covenant with death we we know peace has come we've made peace with it right it's not going to get us we have a deal with who you might ask well there's the egyptians these are syrians there's lots of people with great armies that protect them from things they think right we've got this covenant with different people with different things so that death can't hurt us is what they say they say there's peace there's peace now there wouldn't be peace if death's on your door but you know if we got a covenant a deal with him it's peace but the prophet said they say there's peace peace but there's no peace that's what jeremiah says that's what isaiah wrote later because they're prophesying lies that's what isaiah would say go into the temple and all prophets say there's not a problem nothing to worry about we've got taken care of we got to coven it with death i mean we've dealt with it we've got it under control isaiah says no you don't it's coming and you say there's peace there's no peace right and he knows that by the way because of god's judgment because of his words and because he knows truth that's why he says that it's not just his opinion it's not because he's on the other side of political aisle because he knows god's word of truth right that's why so uh the theme of this section here in this chapter is hoping for peace without the lord is vain because they're hoping they got this covenant with death and an agreement with hell that they're not gonna be captured by it right what how do they think they're going to prevent this right this is the hubris of of people without faith in verse 14 you ask about this uh the the the isaiah's statement of hearing the word of the lord ye scornful men that rule jerusalem and you wonder if this is isaiah's day or jesus's day answer both right yeah jesus could say the same thing in fact he did he said the same thing what would you pharisees hypocrites right said the same thing vipers right liars right that's what he called him because the same thing isaiah is dealing with the same the same same humanity same rejection and it's god's people that he's dealing with there supposedly so they made this covenant with death they think there's peace uh they seek comfort and lies notice the second half of that verse it says when the overflowing scourge shall pass through the scourge just like the disease and everything like they're pandemic right when it passes through they say it shall not come unto us for we have made lies our refuge now surely in 2020 you can appreciate what this is like at this state of things if you can't see the contradictions and the differences of expert opinion and the data has been given about the present scourge and not think that people are taking refuge and lies your eyes are shut right you look around you say why do people think that this or that might protect them they're wearing a mask in a car with no one else around right experts even say that well you do this and that because it'll comfort you it's a lie and this this is the illustration i'm giving here for what this looks like there's impending death it's easy if people are the priests and the prophets to say here's how you protect yourself and you believe it right or if it's a lie they take refuge in their lives it says under our falsetto we hid ourselves well if it's a lie then it hasn't protected you at all right you see you start seeing the church say why in the world have flu flu deaths decreased 95 percent since april like flu there was news just the other day i'm like i don't have no idea this is interesting they're talking about this now i don't know why this is why is it they changed the instructions why is it you you have to wear a mask indoors unless it's the church indoors like in indiana something's wrong here right something is wrong you know you say it's politics okay but there's lies going on somewhere right because it's okay if you're in church you're protected right it's a lie you're not i mean if it's dangerous there it's dangerous there this is so the unscientific suggestions the untruthful uh uh recommendations and this is exactly what you see in isaiah's day see this people are the same civilizations are the same right refuge and lies is what it says under falsehood have we hit ourselves therefore thus saith lord god behold i lay in zion for a foundation a stone a tried stone that's what we're looking for right there right this will we preach through this pandemic as well it's like you're fearful of things people are fearful of things if you know christ and what he's done for you you stand upon a rock of truth and now i'm spiritualizing the verse a little bit because this is not about the mystery of course but it's about christ and you have hope in the lord and not in politics right not in the changing opinions of experts right but it's something you know to be true that even though you take cautions and precautions based on what you know persuaded in your mind if i die i'm with the lord right you know god's word of truth right and this is how the remnant would believe and think and it says in verse 16 therefore saith the lord behold i lay in zion for a foundation a stone a tried stone jesus was tested by the devil he was tried he was tried by the pharisees by the romans and found guilty but he wasn't and he still died on the cross he could have jumped down when they were mocking him to jump down from the cross and he didn't he was tried right he was tested like as we are yet without sin is what hebrews 4 says right a precious cornerstone and so the cornerstone isn't an actual block in jerusalem it's jesus right it's not part of the actual temple it's jesus who is the cornerstone a sure foundation paul says there's no foundation that any man can lay save jesus christ your foundation right this is back in isaiah 28 a very popular bookmark verse here in chapter 28 verse 16. very clearly jesus christ especially when you read the new testament in referencing to it in first peter 2 he talks about this verse romans chapter 9 33 and 10 11 paul quotes this verse all right about this stone this concept of god being the rock god being the stone the cornerstone and the stone that the builders rejected right remember that one of the most quoted prophecies in the new testament have you heard the stone the builders rejected he's the cornerstone the sure foundation why did they reject the stone it was such a great stone why would they reject it because it wasn't what they thought it would be right they they stumbled over it was by faith that they had to recognize it right and so belief was the stumbling stone and uh of course we have to ask the question belief in what right these people here are told to hear the word of the lord and faith comes by hearing hearing by the word of god what are they supposed to believe isaiah that judgment's at the door death's coming they need to repent they need to hear god's commandment they seek refuge in him not in their neighbors everything else right that's what they they were to believe nothing here about the cross a lot here about christ it's a big distinction to make says he that believeth shall not make haste it's quote in the new testament for that word believe over and over again it says believe and paul makes that argument right he says it's by faith by faith and so he quotes isaiah 28 16 why because it says faith believe right it will make you ashamed and so you see why they quote isaiah 28 there's so much power here in these these passages uh verse 17 says judgment also i lay to the line and righteousness to the plummet when you have a plummet like a plumb bob it's a line right when you're building something you have this this line that goes up and down and gravity holds the line and then you make sure things are straight if you don't have that plummet things get built crooked right well he's talking about the the drunkards in ephraim and jerusalem and judah that can't build right they don't have judgment they don't have righteousness and christ is going to come this righteous stone and he's going to have righteousness and judgment he's going to build something right you see and he says he's going to do that in part by tearing down what doesn't work he says the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies i'll put that to the test right people have said about the uh the chronovirus this year that this is uh this is like god's tribulation and judgment and it's a drop in the bucket folks i mean it the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies we had a question about hail before in revelation 16 talk about hailstones yay big we're not seeing that now you know it's going to be bad right and he does that in order to destroy the wicked and the unrighteous and the drunkards but he doesn't do that simply out of uh of entertainment or out of pleasure he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked well he does that we saw in isaiah 24 to clean off the earth so he can build fresh on a right foundation he says in verse 18 your covenant of death since your covenant of death shall be dissonalled and your agreement with hell shall not stand when the overflowing scourge shall pass through then you shall be trodden down by it it'll knock you out right and by the way this scourge is again you saw earlier the crown of glory is among the residue so it's discerning the scourge is discerning on who has faith and who doesn't that's a different type of thing how do you know we're not living in these times these times of the tribulation and god's judgment because that judgment from god discerns those with faith and not and the chronovirus doesn't discern who has faith and who doesn't you see it is not of god in his judgment his judgment if you were had god's name on your forehead you're not touched by those things what i said hurt not right rightly dividing is important because if you think you're there you're protected from god and that's been taught over in africa or the doctrines all messed up in many places they were claiming that as christians they did the surveys the majority of christians there thought because they were christians they were protected of things whether it's true or not from the data it's not right theologically and it's dangerous right people have been hurt by stuff like that and so in isaiah 28 it teaches here that god's going to bring judgment and hail and and against the world and uh yet we learn also that there's a remnant the faithful will be preserved from it verse 18 your covenant of death shall be disannulled so that coming of death that means i have peace with death i've got an arrangement you know that's going to be there's gonna be no peace you said peace there's gonna be no peace all right you'll be trodden down by the judgment verse 19 from the time that it goes forth it shall take you for morning by morning shall it pass over by day and by night and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report so just hearing about it it's going to be horrible again 2020 great illustration isn't it it didn't touch you but you heard about it man that's vexing it's been vexing right uh and and to know it's it's been more vexing than it has been infection right the infections are bad the deaths are bad more people are vexed by it that's the truth you know because i mean the people then the precautions they take and everything else and and rightly so but the vexation god's talking about here when you hear the report that's what you hear day by day by day by day right and verse 20. for the bed is shorter than the man can stretch himself on it and the covering narrower than he can wrap himself in it so isn't that uncomfortable you're too long for your bed the blanket's too small not feeling good right that's not good there's no comfort here just give me a bed and a blanket sorry you don't have it at this time is no comfort here verse 21 for the lord shall rise up as a noun perism he shall be roth is in the valley of gibeon uh it give beyond where he stopped the sun there with joshua in paris he intervened with david to help the fight against the philistines both of these times god intervened and just as a tidbit and go and study for yourself these two places where it says here he'll rise up in mount ziribia are on the agenda for where christ will be when he returns and through these mountains and just as he intervened in the old testament with joshua and david he's going to intervene on these mountains as he returns back to jerusalem but he's talking about god's intervention there in those mountains and he may do his work his strange work and bring to pass his strange act what in the world is this strange act the strange act the strange act is god who rises up a nation and plants it and builds it and grows it and gives it his law and gives them his profits and gives it all and then he turns around and wipes it out why would he do that that's strange right that's why he calls it strange uh but the idea is that they they were faithless worthless didn't bear the fruit why would you go through the effort well that's a good interesting point while you go through the effort why would there be a benefit to tearing things down right i just keep what you got you spend all that effort well there's a benefit to pruning a tree you cut dead branches off and more fruit grows right there's a benefit to washing things right you get the dirt off and it's cleaner right or or wind moving things around which like the seeds that get planted in the flowers and things in the spring without the wind you don't have that sort of thing so the wind destroys and knocks leaves off but the wheat the wind also is the cause for the pollination along with the birds and the bees things like this and so there's a a benefit in god's creation to the tearing down of things at certain times and this is what god's going to say here he's going to say i've created this vineyard i'm wiping it out and yet it's for good right it's not going to be for bad um threshing and plowing is what he's going to bring up here threshing compliment i mean plowing you are digging up the dirt if i went to your yard and just started drinking what are you doing i put true grain down you know well i'm plowing because i'm hoping to get a harvest right so you have to tear up before you plant the seed before you grow something that's what god's going to say he says in verse 22 now therefore be not mark mockers lest your hand bands be made strong for i have heard from the lord god of host a consumption even determined upon the whole earth uh this is a similar prophecy back in isaiah 10 22 it talks about a consumption over all the land but he says don't be mockers be not mockers and this is constantly a refrain in the new testament as well in luke 18 32 jesus says to his disciples i will be delivered to the gentiles i'll be scourged and mocked right they're rejecting him they're going to kill him and they're mocking him he's the messiah or they're going to mock him in luke 23 11 uh when he's there being crucified they're mocking him on trial they're mocking him taking his clothes and mocking him with the crown of thorns that was a mockery you understand here's a crown of thorns king he's the crown of glory and he bore on his head crown of thorns that was mockery by man and yet you've heard the teaching that god's looking at going well he's bearing the curse of the earth right with those thorns and so they're mocking and yet god's intending it for good however the instruction by isaiah and the lord should be don't be the mocker if you're the mocker that means you're not believing christ that means you're not getting in that rest if you're the mocker you're getting the judgment right so isaiah says don't be the mocker okay and so you see in second three verse three there are those that are false prophets and mockers and scoffers in the last days they'll be scoffers in those last days why because they didn't trust jesus that's the big difference first john says the same thing you'll know the antichrist because they denied christ came in the flesh right it's not that they won't deny christ that deny christ came in the flesh to deny that he came before okay because a man will come and he'll reinstitute the law of israel and all dispensations will say hurrah and that's a shame unsafe dispensationalists who are there at the time apparently they'll say iran it's a shame it runs through the law and then he'll stop the law and replace it with something better and he'll say i've got a new covenant and look all the scriptures speak of this new covenant jeremiah 31 right psalms deuteronomy and they'll enter into a covenant for a week with this man of which the sacrifice and oblation will see say why have they ceased because he created a new covenant you don't need those sacrifices in the new covenant because i am the messiah right you're right he's fulfilled the law and the prophets he's the messiah how would you know that he's not really the messiah if he had come and done that already right if he had come in the flesh and already instituted a new covenant with israel already died for sins and that's not the right one he's already done that work you see the next time he comes he'll come in judgment and that's not what you're doing you're saying peace peace and there is no peace right you're saying that you're bringing a covenant and uh you're appealing to death right a covenant with death what can you possibly think will save you from death what about someone dying for your sins would you think that you do think that don't you right that's how hard the the the lie will be there'll be a man who dies and raises from the dead who will say you trust me i'll save you from death now see those christians were right they were just wrong about who it was and they're wrong about who it is right wow the deception and their covenant of death will be destroyed because while they have that covenant for that week that final week of daniel's prophecy in daniel 9 the real messiah will come and here's the irony of it is that when he comes he marks his people with his name does he mark the whole world no just some people right just some few a remnant when the antichrist puts marks on his people who does he put it on all so who's the more loving one right so here comes a savior who this is a new covenant who brings salvation to the world doesn't that sound like this dispensation yeah he's offering it to all and here comes the true messiah and says i'm only gonna save that group right there he sounds like the devil right that's confusing unless you know the scriptures unless you know what happened unless you trust christ the true crush on the scriptures then you know you got to have ears to hear because what will happen will confuse you now you won't be here by god's grace in the body of christ you'll be raptured out here in heaven but that's why you got to know what the scriptures say right he told isaiah to seal up these things amongst your disciples isaiah is writing these books and he's going to seal him up his disciples and most of israel gets captured or gets destroyed and here's this remnant that goes to babylon and they carry this great book of isaiah with them right how did god preserve his word you know how can you preserve a word that was entrusted to a people that constantly get destroyed it's amazing wow it should have been lost a long time ago out of print and it survives because yeah people have faith and that's how god uses it so look isaiah 28 23 let's wrap this up here this last section he says give ye ear and hear my voice remember the sheep you'll hear my voice this is the first person god's saying this right hearken hear my speech hear my words doth the plow man plow all day to sow we have here in isaiah 28 a parable of the sower okay you know a parable of the sower matthew 13. here's the parable the sower how many sowings are in the parable of the sower in matthew 13. do you remember four you got the seed on the wayside the the stony material authority plants that grow up and then you have the good soil four right there's four sowings in isaiah 28 right parable the sower what's the point of the parable of the sower methi 13 there's grounds that don't receive the word they don't believe the word it gets taken away then there's ground that does receive it what's going to be the point of this parable so here you think what's the whole chapter talking about there's word being preached and some don't receive it and some do he that has ears to hear jesus says he doesn't read preach isaiah folks they need to know what isaiah 28 says here's a parable the sower those have ears to hear i know another parable the sower oh yeah isaiah 28 right who's that rock in isaiah 28 who's that stone i don't want to be like these people who don't hear god's voice i want to hear god's voice you're the stone aren't you right wow that unlocks a lot of stuff doesn't it isaiah 28 in verse 23 or 24 says dot the plow man plow all day to sow doth he open and break the the clods of his ground does he just plow the ground for the fun of it no he's talking about judging israel here in isaiah 28 right is he just judging israel because that's his goal i need to judge you because you know you're off to my standard what's he do he says when he has made playing the face he he he breaks the ground so he makes play in the face thereof does he not cast abroad the fitches and scatter the human and cast in the principal wheat and the point of barley and the rye in their place he he plows the ground so that he can cast the seed that's why he does it so that the seed would grow and there's some seed he scatters like this and there's some seed that he plants in a row in their right place which means god knows exactly what he's doing so if there's some of the nation that's taken his captive and scattered he's got a plan to bring fruit from that after some of the nation he's planting in a row and he's telling him to go this way he's expecting fruit from this right god has a purpose here jeremiah 29 11 he's got thoughts about these people right israel he's not judging them just to get rid of them he's judging them to purify them so that his purpose could be fulfilled in them right and so he says in verse 27 for the fitches are not threshed with the threshing instrument neither there's a cartwheel turned upon the human he's talking about the way you you harvest the grain you harvest them differently right but the fitches are beaten out with a staff and they human with the rod breadcorn is bruised because he will not ever be threshing it nor break it with the wheel of the cart nor bruise it with his horsemen so you got carts horsemen rods staffs a sower you've got christ horsemen rods and staff in revelation 19 christ returns with those stuff and he plows the ground and he plants the seed and he expects the harvest in matthew 13 he says after the parable of the sower with the parable of the of the uh the of the wreath reaping there and the harvest he says there's the tares and the wheats right he says the sowing is the preacher of the kingdom right and the harvest is the end of the world right and the tares will be burned up and the angels will be sent to gather the wheat he knows what he's doing he's planting the seed when he planted isaiah he knew what he was doing when he came and preached matthew 13 he knew what he was doing with the parable of the sower he knows when it's going to happen he knows what's going to happen right so that israel was taking him out of jerusalem he knew that he did it to preserve a remnant right when israel crucified him on the cross he knew that right he did it on purpose okay he's gonna bring israel back but not all of israel we see over and over again it's a residue and a remnant that receive it it says this also comes forth from the lord of hosts which is a wonderful in council and excellent in his in his working and so in psalm 23 verse 4 doesn't he say there about leading them through the valley of the shadow of death i walk the valley shadow of death i will fear no evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me the parable in isaiah 28 of the sower says you beat some things with a rod you take some things with a staff and yeah well you take a staff and you lead sheep and you take a rod and you beat away the animals and you beat down the grain he's going to come to judge he's going to come to save his remnant right thy rod comforts me because you judge my enemies your staff comforts me because you lead me to steal waters comfort from his presence right psalm 23 is about the tribulation his return so god knows what he's doing and it will be excellent as isaiah 28 says his works are wonderful hope you enjoyed it at 28 any questions or comments about that great chapter i thought it was pretty fun to study you

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Length: 85min 44sec (5144 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 21 2020