All right, good evening and welcome to our
midweek Bible study tonight. We are currently in the book of Isaiah. What a, what a book
and what to study. An amazing study through this book. So, we left off in chapter 30 last
week we're going to, Lord willing get from chapter 31 to chapter 33 and bring to a conclusion
the woe chapters, like woe. So from chapter 28, I think it was to chapter 33, the prophet
Isaiah is declaring these woes, these sorrows that are going to come upon the Israelites
because of their rebellion and disobedience against the Lord, sinning against the Lord.
And such is the case tonight as we go through these chapters. So why don't we begin with
the word of prayer? If you would join with me, we'll ask God to bless our time together
in His word. Loving Heavenly Father, we're just so grateful to You for this Bible
study tonight. I was just thinking before we went live about how it is that oftentimes
many of us struggle because we're tired at the end of the day. Many have such a busy
day and a busy week and busy lives and... And there's that part of us that says man, I'm
just really tired and maybe I just won't go tonight. Maybe I'll just watch online. But
then the Holy Spirits right there and we get ourselves up, we get ourselves ready, we get
ourselves in the car, we come. I have to. I'm the pastor, so. But when we get here and
we just put aside all the all the cares and the affairs of our crazy lives, all the stress,
and we just begin to worship. And you inhabit the praises of your people, and there's just
a calming and soothing and a peace that surpasses human understanding that sets in. And then
Lord, we open up our Bibles and we just began to get into Your Word. And then as we get
into Your Word, Your Word gets into us. And by the time the Bible studies over, we don't
want it to be over, there's just something that has happened in us and it's that which
only You can do. And for that, we're very grateful and we thank You, and we look forward to what
You have for us tonight here in Your Word. So bless our time together, we pray in Jesus'
name, Amen and Amen. All right. So I want to begin tonight's Bible study with the takeaway
right out of the chute, from the get go. And it's that of our relying only, keyword, on the
Lord, relying only on the Lord, and No one or no thing else. And the reason is, is because
here in Isaiah's prophecy, God is pronouncing this woe to Israel because they have put
their trust in and were relying on Egypt to help them, and defend them, and deliver them
from the invading Assyrian army. And so this is the takeaway. It's that like Israel then, so too do we now, tend to look to and rely on the world. Egypt the type of the world,
the ways of the world. We tend to put our trust in the world, the Egypt if you prefer
instead of turning to and relying on the Lord, and the Lord alone. We completely, fully rely
only on the Lord. So let's jump in. You ready? Verse one, Isaiah 31, 'Woe to those who go
down to Egypt for help. And rely on horses, Who trust in chariots because they are many.
And in horsemen because they are very strong, but who do not look to the Holy One of Israel,
Nor seek the Lord. Yet (verse 2) He also is wise and will bring disaster, And will not
call back His words (go back on His words) But will arise against the house of evildoers,
And against the help of those who work iniquity.' Verse two is very, well, for lack of a better
word, strange because here's God saying to them, you're not relying on Me. And what you
don't realize is that He, speaking in the third person, He's speaking of Himself through
the prophet Isaiah. He, speaking of Himself, is wise and will bring disaster. And when
God gives you His word, He won't go back on His word. He's talking about himself. 'Now,
(verse 3) the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses are flesh, and not spirit.
When the Lord stretches out His hand, Both he who helps will fall, And he who is helped
will fall down; They all will perish together.' I think they got it. They got what? They got
it, that God is saying, 'Oh, you want to trust in Egypt and not Me. You want to rely on Egypt
and not me, here's what's going to happen. You're going to fall too.' Oh, they're going
to fall. But so too will you fall because you've relied on man and not God. You've trusted
in the numbers, the strength, the might of the horses and the chariots, but not Me. This
is Psalm 27, 'Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of
the Lord. Our God.' I want to draw your attention to a fascinating account. It's actually quite
chilling. It's in Second Chronicles 16, I want to read verses seven through nine. Actually
verse, I think it's nine, is going to sound familiar. Is it verse 9? Well, anyway, Yeah,
it is verse nine. Don't start reading it yet. Wait for me. I need to set the stage here, give
you the back story of what's happening here. So you've got this righteous king, king Asa.
And he's one of only eight good kings that did that, which was right in the sight of
the Lord. All the other kings, they did evil in the sight of the Lord. Now, these were
not perfect kings. They were good kings. They were righteous kings, but they made mistakes.
And some of those mistakes that these kings made were very costly mistakes. And such
is the case with this particular king. Now there was a time when they were severely outnumbered,
against all odds, against this massive army of the Ethiopians. And so King Asa does not
know what to do, because there's no way he's going to be able to be victorious over this
Ethiopian army. So what does he do? He calls upon the Lord, relies on the Lord, and the Lord
delivers him miraculously, supernaturally from this massive army of the Ethiopians.
You would think that after God did something like that, that this king, this good king,
this righteous king would never again for the rest of his reign ever rely on man after
God did that. But that's exactly what he does. And we pick it up in verse seven. And it says,
'And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said to him: "Because you
have relied on the King of Syria, and have not relied on the LORD Your God, therefore
the army of the King of Syria has escaped from your hand. Were the Ethiopians...' Now He's
reminding him of when He delivered, when God delivered him from the hands of the Ethiopians.
He says, verse 8, 'Were the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army with very many chariots
and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand. (Remember,
oh yeah. And then, verse 9) For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the
whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this.
You have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars." ' Wow! This is what
I mean by chilling. I mean this is a good king. This is a righteous king, who did that
which was right in the sight of the Lord. And it just goes to show you, that for those
of us that have been walking with the Lord for a number of years, we are prone to this.
We are capable of this. So here's what happened, and it was to his own peril. God blessed him.
God prospered him. Now he had resources. Now he had options. Now he had this opportunity
to make this alliance and rely on another nation; like the Israelites did by relying
on Egypt; putting their trust in the horses and the chariots and the might of the Egyptians
against the Assyrians. The only difference is with King Asa it actually worked. He actually
pulled it off. And then on the heels of what he believes to be a victory, which is no victory
at all, the Lord appears to him through this seer and says to him: 'Looks like it worked.
Huh?' Yeah. 'Well that was pretty clever, If your strategy to form this alliance with the king
of Syria and defeat this invading army. It really worked, didn't it?' Yeah. 'Wow, how
about that?' I know pretty good. Huh? 'No, actually it's not because what you did is you relied
on them and not Me. And here's the thing, and you should know this because you've been on
the receiving end of Me delivering you miraculously out of the hand of the Ethiopians when they
came against you.' Don't you realize that the eyes of the Lord are constantly continually
searching, roaming throughout the earth looking for a heart. And God sees the heart. Man only
sees the outward appearance. And He sees the heart and He's looking for a heart that says, 'Lord
in Your search, find me. Find me. My devotion is fully on You. My reliance is completely
on You.' And when He finds such a one, it's like this: it's like few and far between, by the
way; He says, watch Me now, watch what I'm going to do on your behalf. Why? Because you
relied on Me. And here's the thing, at the end of this, it's only God who gets the glory.
See, if we're relying on our own strength, or relying on someone or something else other
than the Lord, and we pull it off, who's taking the credit? Me. Did you see that? Did you see
what we did? I'm the one who put that together and pulled that off in my own strength.
Not the Lord. So the Lord doesn't get any of the glory. This was all man and not God. Very
interesting that Isaiah would write, by the Holy Spirit, Egypt is a man, not a God. They're
flesh, not the Spirit. One of the things I'm learning in my own walk with the Lord is that
God is at the ready, wanting to do a work in the Spirit. But oftentimes can't because we
thwart Him by doing it in the energy of our own flesh. And you know what happens
when we do that? We end up with an Ishmael, we end up with an Ishmael. When God had an
Isaac for us. Ishmael, a type of the flesh. And Isaac a type of the Spirit. God wants
to do the work His way, in His time, and for His glory. And He's looking, He's searching,
and you get this impression that this is a deep search. I mean, you really have to go
throughout the entire earth to find one who is fully devoted to the Lord, fully relying
on the Lord. Well verse 4, 'For thus the LORD has spoken to me: "As a lion roars, And
a young lion over his prey (When a multitude of shepherds is summoned against him, He will
not be afraid of their voice Nor be disturbed by their noise), So the Lord of hosts will
come down To fight from Mount Zion and for its hill. Like birds flying about, (verse 5)
So will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem. Defending, He will also deliver it; Passing
over, He will preserve it." Return to Him against whom the Children of Israel have deeply revolted.'
Do you hear the, the warning and the plea from the heart of a loving God, who is saying to
his people, return to Me, rely on Me. God wants them to return to Him, as a people who
not only didn't rely on Him. But also, did you catch it, revolted against Him. To not
rely on The Lord is to revolt against the Lord. And here's the Lord, again at the ready,
like a lion when he has his prey. You ain't getting out away from him. I don't think you
should even try. Lions' the King of the jungle. I find an interesting contrast between the
lion and a bird. That's what He's saying. I'm going to deliver you and protect you like
a lion, and like a bird. I get the lion. But what's up with the bird? Oh, have you ever
seen maybe those television programs, those nature programs? I'm kind of dating myself.
But wasn't it, what was that old program back in the day? You remember when you only have
three channels and it was a dial on your TV? The Kingdom... What is it? What, the
Wild Kingdom, Right? That was it. Oh I got it right. Yeah. Yeah I was only four when
that was... But they would show these, you know, animals and how they would protect their
young. And you would see these birds, and the mother bird protecting her young in the nest
against a predator. That bird would put itself in the way of that predator to
protect their young. And they would even dive bomb them, the birds to protect. Have you ever
seen this? Please say that you have. I mean they would dive bomb the predator. That's
what He's saying. Hey if I have to I'll dive bomb them, like a bird protecting its young.
I'll be like that lion, that roaring lion over his prey. Once he's got it, it's game over.
I'll be like that lion and I'll be like that bird. Return to Me. It's almost like God's
saying, let Me. Why won't you let Me do this for you? Why are you looking to the world,
to Egypt to do this? First of all, they're not going to be able to do it. And by the
way, why in the world are you paying them to do it? We saw that last week, right? They
took their treasures and they're paying Egypt money to do that which only God can do. I
almost want to insert in here, by the way, you're not going to get your money's worth.
In fact, you're going to want to get your money back. You won't. Verse 7, 'For in
that day every man shall throw away his idols of silver and his idols of gold - sin, which
your own hands have made for yourselves. (Wow). "Then (verse eight) Assyria shall fall by
a sword not of man, (Hang on to that) And a sword not of mankind shall devour him. But
he shall flee from the sword, And his young men shall become forced labor. He shall cross
over to his stronghold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the banner," Says the LORD,
Whose fire is in Zion And whose furnace is in Jerusalem.' Oh, I love this. So here again,
and we're going to see this throughout, yeah, at least the next, I want to say, three or
4 chapters. But much of what we have here in Isaiah is about the Assyrian army; who's
going to besiege Jerusalem, surround Jerusalem, to take Jerusalem. God's not going to let
them. And the reason God is not going to let them is not for their sake, but for His name's
sake. God is, as we're about to see, God is going to deliver them. And He's not going to
allow the Assyrians to succeed in their attempts to take Jerusalem. So we know from 2nd Kings
chapter 19 verse 35 that there was an army of Assyrians encamped around the walls of
Jerusalem, 185,000 strong. And the Israelites are freaking out, for lack of a better way
of saying it. We're going to see that again here in a moment. But an angel of the Lord, and
we're not told his name, an angel of the Lord is sent down, doesn't use the sword of man.
He slays all 185,000 of these men from the Assyrian army overnight. The Israelites wake
up the next morning and 185,000 men are laying dead on the ground before them. One angel,
not the sword of man. I think there's another takeaway here. Just indulge me for a moment.
Listen, God's ways are not our ways. If I'm there at this time and I witnessed this,
I'm saying to myself, wow Lord, that was really cool. I kind of like Your way of doing things
a lot better than my way. I would have never thought of that. God, You're amazing. Your
ways are too high for my understanding. Well, that's, we know that, we're going to see that
in Isaiah as well. His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. Could you
imagine, if the way we think was the way God thinks. What do you think? That's kind of scary.
His ways are my ways? Wow. No, I want His ways to be infinitely higher than my ways.
You know, oftentimes I heard this many years ago, early in my Christian walk; and it's always
stuck with me. You know how it is that we're praying, you know, God open up this door.
You know, and we're kind of anticipating and expecting that God's going to do it this way. Because
that's the way we would do it after all. Right? And it shows up in the way we pray. They're
called directional prayers. We pray but we give God directions on how to answer our
prayer. Come on, we do that. Right? So the directional prayer is, God do this this way,
at this time, in this color. And God's like: 'What if I don't want to? What if I don't
want to do it that way? What if that's not the best way? What if I have a better way?'
I mean here you are praying, God open up this door. 'I don't want to use the door this time.
How about that? I want to use the window this time. In fact, I'm not even, I don't even need
a window. I could just come through a wall if I want. But here we are focused in on praying,
Lord, you know, do it this way, open this door. And like the Lord saying you, actually
truth be made known, you don't want me to open that door. I've got a way more batter door
over here that I want to use and open. God's ways. How many times, for those of you that
keep prayer lists, prayer journals, you ever go back over them? I've been doing it for so
many years, since the 1990s. Again, I was only five at the time. But, I mean I've gone back
over those. We're talking years ago, right, even decades ago. And I'm looking at these
prayers. First of all, they bring back a lot of memories. But I'm looking at these prayers.
And the way I do it is the date I prayed it, what I prayed, and then how God answered,
and the way God answered it, and when God answered it. And I'm looking at this prayer request,
and I'm like apologizing to God; God, I'm so sorry, what was I thinking? You weren't? I
mean had I known here, I am praying for this and You did that. I mean, even with this church,
I mean I'm praying so small. And it's like God's in heaven going, 'That's it?' Yeah. 'That's
all you want Me to do?' Yeah, Lord, just, you know, if we could just like rent some space,
you know. You know, I know it's kind of small. And God's like, you want to settle for that.
I've got 3.1 acres at 47-525 you know Kamehameha Highway. And I guess I'm searching to and fro throughout
the earth, looking for someone whose heart is fully devoted to Me. And when I find them,
and they're going to trust Me, and rely on Me; I'm going to blow their minds
because that's just because I can. Because I'm God. That's just what I do. That's how I roll.
Watch me now. I could do anything. But see, I know. I don't want to go off on
this. I talk about this often and I think it's an expression of my own unbelief in my
own life. I'll just be very open with you. I think of that man who said to Jesus, I believe,
but help my unbelief. How many times have I tied the hands of God's blessings and miracles
with the ropes of my unbelief. And I don't trust Him. I don't look to Him. I don't even
ask Him. I just, I think small. I think inside this box. And God's like, why? Why is your box
of faith so little when your God is so big and desires to do this for you? Isaiah 32
verse one. How we doing, we're doing okay? Don't look at your watches. 'Behold a king
will reign in righteousness, And princes will rule with justice.' It's believed that this
is speaking of King Hezekiah, who was the king at the time. Another good king, by the way.
He made mistakes, big one by the way. But he was a good king, a righteous king.
He was the king at the time of this Assyrian invasion. But it's also believed that King
Hezekiah is a type or a picture of Jesus as our King of kings. Now, what we're going to
see in this chapter is this kind of bouncing back and forth, as it were, between the now
in Isaiah's time, and yet future; That duel prophecy, the duality, the nature of it. It
has a twofold meaning. This was fulfilled then at that time, but it will also be fulfilled
yet future. Much of which will be in the kingdom age, when Jesus rules and reigns, and us with
Him. Verse 2, 'A man will be as a hiding place from the wind, And a cover from the tempest,
As rivers of water in a dry place, As the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. The
eyes of those who see will not be dim, And the ears of those who here will listen. Also
the heart of the rash will understand knowledge, And the tongue of the stammerers (the stutterers)
will be ready to speak plainly. You know what He's doing here? He's just got done pronouncing
this woe, but He's saying to them, there's hope, be encouraged. Actually on Sunday our
teaching, we'll finished Lord willing Hebrews chapter six. I've titled the sermon, "Hope the Anchor of
the Soul", Hope the Anchor of the Soul. And this is what God is doing here. He's encouraging
His people with that which He has promised to His people so that they don't give way
to hopelessness and despair. In other words, there's a time coming where I will intervene.
And this is what it's going to be like and this would be fulfilled. And it again, has that
dual prophecy. It will be fulfilled in the Kingdom Age. Verse 5, this is interesting, 'The foolish
person will no longer be called generous, Nor the miser said to be bountiful; (In other words,
things were so bad that a fool was considered to be generous and someone who was really
cheap and stingy was actually considered to be bountiful and resourceful. Man, that's upside
down. That's messed up. Verse 6) For the foolish person will speak foolishness, And
his heart will work iniquity: To practice ungodliness, to utter error against the LORD, To
keep the hungry unsatisfied, And he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. Also (verse 7)
the schemes of the schemer are evil; He devises wicked plans to destroy the poor
with lying words, Even when the needy speaks justice. But (verse 8) a generous man devises
generous things, and by generosity he shall stand.' Okay, What's this about? Well woven
into the fabric of these verses is a powerful principle. This is not a principle you break,
it breaks you if you go up against it. The principle is this, that the generous prosper
in their selflessness, but the fool becomes poor in their self-ish-ness. That's the principle.
We saw it replete throughout the Book of Proverbs. You can find it in the Gospels. Jesus would
speak about this. You want to keep your life, lose it. You want to be
selfish, and live for yourself, and keep your life; you're going to lose it. That's the
principle. Verse 9, 'Rise up, (Now for the women. I just need you to hang in there on this.
Okay, because this is about you. Guys don't check out because yeah, it's about you too,
actually.) 'Rise up, you women who are at ease, Hear my voice; You complacent daughters, Give
ear to my speech. (Does He have your attention yet? He's got mine. I'm not even a woman.
Verse 10) In a year and some days You will be troubled, you complacent women; For the vintage
will fail, The gathering will not come. Tremble, you women who are at ease; Be troubled, you
complacent ones; Strip yourselves, make yourselves bear, And gird sackcloth on your waist.' Okay,
I think that's self explanatory. Let's move on to verse 12. No, not so fast. What is this
about? What? I'm glad you asked, because I'm going to tell you what this is about. This
is a scathing rebuke against the women at that time, in that day. Why? Because it would
seem that they were very superficial. Only concerned about what's the latest? Oh, hey,
that's a that's a really nice purse. Where did you get that, what's the? Oh, it's a Coach.
Okay, I'm glad you didn't get that. I only know that. Well, I'm not going to tell you
how I know that. Anyway, just, you'll forgive me. I need to say this in love. But if I'm
not mistaken, some of these name brand purses, aren't they, like, $300-400 on the low end.
Thank you, thank you for that. I don't even, I just, I don't know. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
I'll sell you a very nice purse for $50. (laughs) What? Anyway, I digress. But that's what they were
into. That's what they were all about. Oh, the newest episode on TV, the newest TV show. And meanwhile judgment is coming. The Assyrians are coming. In fact, they're
already here. Have you looked out your window lately? We're about to see that next. And you're
just concerning yourselves with, I mean you're just living in this alternative universe,
complacent. Untroubled by what's really happening. The reality on the ground, as it were. And you're
all caught up in all of this. You need to get rid of those name brand clothes that you're
flaunting and wearing; and you need to gird yourself with sackcloth. It's a rebuke. And
here's the thing, Men, it comes to this. Where's the men? Oh, they've already
abdicated their leadership responsibilities. And now He's going to the women, the last line
of defense. And if their moral moorings are like this, forget it, forget it. It's too
late. I fear that in many ways we live in our day, in a day that this has become the
norm. And I'm not just picking on the women. I'm talking about men and women. You know,
a couple weeks ago, the update was titled "Playing While the World is Burning" based on
that idiom: 'Fiddling while Rome Burns'. You're, it's like, you're going about your shallow
life in the midst of what's really happening and coming; and in some ways already here.
You know, every Sunday morning in the Prophecy Updates, I find myself just, I mean almost
pleading with people in warning, that this is no time to play around. And certainly we
live in a day that is unforgiving, most unforgiving of complacency. You know what complacency
means, right? I mean, you're just kind of like not interested. The only thing you're
interested in is your life in this world, which apparently you're trying to keep. And
you're going to lose it. Lose it and you'll keep it. I'll tell you the Christians that
have let go of this world, and the things of this world, are going to bode well in the days
ahead. And conversely, the Christians that are still holding on to their shallow lives,
in this fallen world, are going to have unspeakable difficulty in the days ahead. It's going to
get increasingly worse with each passing day. If your hope is, if you're relying on anyone
or anything other than the Lord, I don't know how else to say it, I feel sorry for you.
I feel sorry for you. Well, verse 12. I hope you receive that In the loving way it was
intended to be received. Verse 12, 'People shall mourn upon their breasts For the pleasant
fields, for the fruitful vine. On the land of my people (verse 13) will come up thorns
and briers, Yes, on all the happy homes in the joyous city; Because (verse 14) the palaces
will be forsaken, The bustling city will be deserted. The forts and towers will become
lairs forever, A joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks-' Again, these verses speak to this
dual nature. It would happen at that time and it will again, yet future happen. But
this is textbook in the sense that God will oftentimes deem it necessary, to bring about
a much needed humbling, to bring us to that place where He can bless us again, and pour
out His Spirit upon us again. Because you see, in our pride, we grieve the Holy Spirit.
We can quench the Holy Spirit. Pride precedes the fall, and destruction even; as the Proverbs
say, 'and a haughty spirit goes before a fall.' And it's again like God is pleading with them,
as He maybe even pleading with some of us here tonight, humble yourself. Oh, I want
to bless you, but I can't; because I resist the proud, but I give grace to the humble.
The proud, I know from a far off. I can't, I can't even be around you when you're proud.
You know why that is by the way, because God himself is humble. I cannot, I want to but
I cannot pour out My Spirit when you're harboring a spirit of pride. Verse 15, listen to this,
'Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful
field, And the fruitful field is counted as a forest. Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
And righteousness remain in the fruitful field. The work of righteousness will be peace,
(I could use me some of that) And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.
(Boy can I really use some of that.) My people (verse 18) will dwell in a peaceful habitation,
In secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places. (Where do I sign) Though hail (verse 19) comes
down on the forest, And the city is brought low in humiliation. Blessed are you who
sow beside all waters, Who send out freely the feet of the ox and the donkey.' Wow! Are you
kidding me right now? I want that peace. I want that peaceful habitation. I want secure
dwellings. I really want... These two words in one sentence, oh my goodness, 'quiet,
resting'. Quiet alone, I'll take the quiet. Because I know if I have the quiet I'll be
able to rest. How do I, how do I get this? Oh, verse 15. The Spirit, the Holy Spirit.
This is how the chapter ends. The chapter ends with this description of what we would
refer to as the Fruit of the Holy Spirit. I'm not talking about the gifts. Gifts are different;
the gifts of the Holy Spirit, different. The Fruit of the Holy Spirit, the result. This
is what grows as a result of the Holy Spirit. Galatians chapter five, can I just read this
list, verse 22, 'But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, (and I want
to talk about patience) kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control; against
such things there is no law. This is, actually, this is evidence of being filled with the
Holy Spirit. You know, all the emphasis is on the gifts; when the emphasis should be on
the fruit that grows. This is what grows out of a Spirit filled life. You show me a Christian
that is filled with the Holy Spirit. I'll show you a Christian that is loving, and has
joy, and has peace that surpasses human understanding. I mean you go down the list. I guess I would question
my filling with the Holy Spirit when it comes to patience, because that's hard one.
It's for you too, so don't look all spiritual. How about just gentleness, alone? I could
preach a whole sermon on just gentleness. Just being gentle, gentlemen. Did you catch
that? Gentlemen. Where? I'd like to meet one, gentle man, a gentleman? Chapter 33, 'Woe
(Thank you. This is the last one) to you who plunder, though you have not been plundered;
And you who deal treacherously, though they have not dealt treacherously with you! When
you cease plundering, You will be plundered; When you make an end of dealing treacherously,
They will deal treacherously with you.' How about that? Who's he talking to? The Assyrians.
Now, this again speaks of the Assyrian army, which is throughout Isaiah's prophecy. But
this principle holds true for us as it relates to God being the one to mete out just judgment.
Don't take matters into your own hands. God will take care of it. Oh, they plunder you.
The Assyrians came to plunder. No, they're going to be plundered, I'll see to it. They've
dealt treacherously with you, but you have not dealt treacherously with them. I'll take
care of it. Vengeance! Is the Lord's. Vengeance is mine saith the Lord. Verse 2, 'O LORD,'
I think I should probably set the scene here now. Because this is a beautiful, magnificent
prayer. We've really turned a corner here, you know. Well, in all fairness, we would
probably do the same thing and pray the same beautiful magnificent prayer. Because when
they do this, the Assyrians are all around them. Oh God! Is that not when we pray and cry out
to the Lord; when the Assyrians have camped around about us; the enemy is there to attack
us? 'O Lord, be gracious to us; We have waited for You. Be their arm every morning, Our salvation
also in the time of trouble. At the noise of the tumult, the people shall flee; When You
lift Yourself up, the nation's shall be scattered; And (verse 4) Your plunder shall be gathered
Like the gathering of the caterpillar; (Interesting imagery here) As the running to and fro of
locusts, (Consuming everything in their path. He's actually about to do that. He's going
to, 185,000, like the Locusts.) He shall run upon them. (verse 5) The Lord is exalted,
for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. Wisdom and
knowledge will be the stability of your times, And the strength of salvation; The fear of
the Lord is His treasure. Surely (verse 7) their valiant ones shall cry outside, The ambassadors
of peace, shall weep bitterly. The highways lie waste, The traveling man ceases. He has
broken the covenant, He has despised the cities, He regards no man. The earth mourns and languishes,
Lebanon is shamed and shriveled; Sharon is like a wilderness, And Bashan and Carmel shake
off their fruits.' Again, this is a very descriptive portrait that's painted on the canvas of the
landscape that the Assyrian army has crushed in their wake. And this is their prayer, and
their crying out to God to deliver them. They now turn to the Lord, and cry out to the Lord.
What's the Lord going to do now? Is the Lord going to hearken unto the voice of their cry?
Or is he going to be like me and do what I would do? Nah, you had your chance. Aren't
you glad God doesn't do that? Oh, you're turning to me now. Oh, when you were allying with
the Egyptians against the Assyrians, you weren't turning to me then. You weren't crying out
to me then. Well now the Assyrians are at your doorstep. And now? But that's not who
God is. That's not how God is. Listen to His response as He hearkens under the voice of
their cry. Verse 10, "Now I will rise," says the LORD; (Ooo, can I watch. I want to I want
to see you do this.) "Now I will be exalted, Now I will lift Myself up. You shall conceive
chaff, You shall bring forth stubble; your breath, as fire, shall devour you. And the people
shall be like the burnings of lime (thoroughly, swiftly); Like thorns cut up they shall be
burned in the fire. Hear, (verse 13) You who are a far off, what I have done; And you who
are near, acknowledge My might." ' In other words, when news of what I'm going to do spreads,
and it will. Did you hear what the God of Israel did for them, instead of them? Verse
14, 'The sinners in Zion are afraid; Fearfulness has seized the hypocrites: "Who among us shall
dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings." '
Two questions that we're going to have answered now. Ready for the answer? Verse 15,
'He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, (That's who) He who despises the gain of oppressions,
(That's who. He) Who gestures with his hands, refusing bribes, (Get away from me!) Who stops
his ears from hearing of bloodshed, (Stop, I'm not going to hear this) And shuts his eyes
from seeing evil: He will dwell on high; (verse 16) His place of defense will be the fortress
of rocks; Bread will be given him, His water will be sure. Your eyes (verse 17) will see
the King in his beauty; They will see the land that is very far off. Your heart will
meditate on terror: "Where is the scribe? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who counts the
towers?" (The strength, the might.) You will not see a fierce people. (Verse 19) A people
of obscure speech, beyond perception, Of a stammering tongue that you cannot understand.' So, these
verses are painting yet another poignant picture of the Lord's deliverance of His people. Now
again, the dual nature of this is that God would deliver his people from the Assyrians
then, but so to will God ultimately deliver his people on the day of judgment. Watch me
now, that's what He's saying here. 'Look upon Zion, (verse 20) the city of our appointed feasts;
Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet home, A Tabernacle that will not be taken down;
Not one of its stakes will ever be removed, nor will any of its cords be broken. But
(verse 21) there the majestic LORD will be for us A place of broad rivers and streams, In which
no galley with oars will sail, Nor majestic ships pass by (For the Lord (Verse 22) is our
Judge, The Lord is our Lawgiver, The LORD is our King; He will save us); Your tackle
is loosed, (verse 23) They could not strengthen their mast, They could not spread the sail.
Then the prey of great plunder is divided; The lame take the prey. And the inhabitant
will not say, "I am sick"; The people who dwell in it will be forgiven their iniquity.' Oh I cannot
think of a better way for a chapter to end and with it the Bible study; yet again, another
duel prophecy. This time concerning Jerusalem. I'm not going to let Jerusalem fall. Ultimately
Jerusalem would fall, but not this time. And there's coming a time, yet future, where Jerusalem
will be our dwelling place forever. You know how long forever is? I know deeply profound. It's
forever, in the new Jerusalem; our eternal dwelling place where we will dwell forever
and ever in the new Jerusalem. And that is a magnificent picture that is painted on the
canvas of this prophecy, in this chapter in Isaiah. Why don't you stand? We'll have the
worship team come up. So glad to be done with the woes. We made it. (Pants hard) Woe! I know.
Well we're not done quite yet. I mean, there's much more to come, very powerful,
very applicable. Again, so much to take with us, home tonight from this, the take away, the
paramount importance of trusting in and relying on the Lord. Maybe you're here tonight or
watching online, and you've got a situation that, I mean is so perilous, it is so impossible.
And you really need God to do a miracle, You need God to deliver you. There's no way, there's
no way you're getting out of this, unless God does it for you, and delivers you out of that,
which you find yourself in. And He will. Won't you put your trust in Him? Won't you rely
completely upon Him? I mean, forget Plan B. There's no Plan B. Plan B. You're looking
at me going pastor with all due respect, I'm on Plan Z. Maybe that's the problem, because
you've exhausted all of your plans, and nothing has worked. And you've come to the end of yourself;
and you're throwing your hands up; and you're going like the Israelites, crying out
to God, God deliver me! To which I can almost hear the Lord, a loving Heavenly Father saying,
Well, it's about time. I've been here the whole time waiting for you to come to Me so I could.
But you had to try. I was just waiting and it's not easy on Me. It hurts My heart to
watch you do that. Because it's so unnecessary. All the fretting, all the striving, all of
the efforts in your own strength, in your own flesh. I'm just exhausted watching you. God
doesn't get exhausted. But you get the point. And here we are, we're just, God deliver me. Okay?
You ready? Yeah. It's impossible. Good. Because when it was possible for you, it was impossible
for Me. Now that it's impossible for you, it's possible for Me. Get out of My way and watch
what, watch what I'm going to do. You know, one last thing and we're done. I haven't done
one last thing yet, so. One of the things and this has been a biggie in my life, is that,
and God is so gracious, and He's so gentle and so long suffering. You know, when He shows
you that area in your life, that's that problem area. And for me, it's God saying, I wish
you would just stay out of My way. You're in my way. I want to do this. But would
you just get out of the way so I can. You know, some of the best things that God has done
in my life and my ministry, as the pastor of this church, which is my privilege to be; have
been those things that required me saying, okay, God have the known way, Lord have an
own way. You're the potter. I'm just the clay. Mold me and make me after Thy will, while
I am waiting yielded and still. That's hard for some of us and you know who you are. You
know, growing up in school, they would, the teachers would always tell me, sit still.
I can't. I know they have clinical terms for this. But you tell me that, don't move,
sit still. I cannot hear anything else now because all I'm thinking about is I can't
move. I have to sit still. I can't, I can't. And I was done. I couldn't learn anything.
I couldn't hear anything past that. All I could think about was sit still. That's
what God is doing. Just be still, Psalm 46:10, and know that I am God. Don't get in
My way. Let Me have My way and you'll see what I'm going to do. Let's pray Father in
Heaven, thank You. Here again, it happens all the time. I shouldn't be surprised. By the
time we get to the end of the Bible study, it's like something you don't want to end. Because
there's just so much. Lord, just as we get into Your Word, Your Word gets into us; and
oh, what comes from it as a result of it. Lord, I just pray that we'll take these things
that we've seen here tonight with us, and allow the Holy Spirit that unfettered access into
the deep recess of our hearts, to do the work that needed work in our lives. And Lord, we'll
get out of Your way so You can. Thank You Lord, in Jesus' name, Amen.
