Good evening, we're in Isaiah chapter 28 and the Bible reads, "Woe to the crown of pride,
to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the
head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine.
Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one which has a tempest of hail and a 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, and 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 which, when he that looketh upon it, seeth, while it is yet in
his hand, he eateth it up.
And that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty
unto the residue of his people, and for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in
judgment, and for a strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
They also have erred through wine, and through strong drink, are out of the way.
The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink.
They are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink.
They err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
Whom shall he teach knowledge?
And whom shall he make to understand doctrine?
Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breast.
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, and there a little.
For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people, to whom he
said, "This is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing."
Yet they would not hear.
But the word of the Lord was on to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon
line, line upon line, here a little, and there a little, that they might go and fall backward
and be broken and snared and taken.
Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, these scornful men, that rule this people which
is in Jerusalem, because ye have said, "We have made a covenant with death, and with
hell are we at agreement, when the overflowing Spirit shall pass through, shall not come
unto us, for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves."
Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a
trite stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation, he that believeth shall not make
haste.
Judgment also, I will lay the line in righteousness to the plummet, and the hail shall sweep away
the refuge of lies and the water shall overflow the hiding place, and your covenant with death
shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand, when the overflowing
scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
From the time that it goeth 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.
For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it, and the covering narrower
than that he can wrap himself in it. For the Lord shall rise up as in Mount Perizom, he
shall be wrought as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work,
and bring to pass his act, his strange act. Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your
bands be made strong. For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a consumption, even
determined upon the whole earth. Give ye ear, and hear my voice hearken, and hear my speech.
Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? Doth he open and break the clouds of his ground?
When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and
scatter the cumin, and cast in the principal wheat, and the appointed barley, and the rye
in their place? For his God doth instruct them to discretion, and doth teach him. For
the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cartwheel turned
about upon the cumin. But the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cumin with
a rod. Breadcorn is bruised, because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with
the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen. This also cometh forth from
the Lord of Hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working. Let's pray. We thank
you Heavenly Father for the King James Bible, dear God. We thank you for every precious
soul in this church. We thank you for our pastor, dear God. Please love him. As he
gives you his word, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Okay, we're continuing this evening
with our Bible study in the book of Isaiah, chapter 28. And in this particular chapter,
there is essentially two sermons against the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom.
So the northern kingdom, of course, is called Ephraim here. And Ephraim is just another
way of saying Israel. And then the latter end of the chapter is focused on Judah, which
is the southern kingdom. Now, obviously, out of both of these kingdoms, the southern kingdom
was a little more righteous than the northern kingdom. But quite frankly, anybody can say
that basically they're just better than Israel because Israel, the northern kingdom, was
extremely wicked. They're involved in a lot of sin, a lot of idolatry, adultery, a lot
of covetousness, a lot of wickedness, abominations, things that were greatly displeasing unto
the Lord. And in fact, when you look at the lineage of kings that reigned over Israel,
virtually all of them were bad with a few exceptions. And so Ephraim is an extremely
wicked nation, and they're getting preached against here. Now, as I mentioned, Israel
is obviously guilty of a lot of sins, but one specific sin that Isaiah is focusing on
in this chapter is actually alcohol consumption, drunkenness, drinking wine. And that's like
a major sin that is being addressed here in chapter 28. And what we see here is the fact
that not just the nation, the people of the nation are participating in drinking alcohol
and wine and things of that nature, but even the priests and the prophets. So this is something
that a sin that not only the common people are participating in, but even the spiritual leaders,
which makes it even worse. Okay. Now look at verse number one here. We're going to look at
preaching against Ephraim in this regard. Look what it says in verse one. It says woe to the crown of
pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head
of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine. Now, what is he saying here? He's saying,
you know, Ephraim, Israel, essentially has this crown of pride. They think that they are the
greatest of all nations. And he's saying that they have glorious beauty. Why? Because of the
fact that they're God's chosen people. Not only that, but geographically, it probably just looks
like a beautiful landscape. It looks great. It's very attractive. However, because they're involved
in such wicked sins, such as drunkenness and wine, it says that that they're like a fading flower.
Okay. Their glorious beauty is fading greatly because of their drunkenness. Now we can obviously
make a lot of spiritual applications to this, how sin makes you fade and it removes your beauty.
But in its most literal sense, that's actually really true. Alcohol makes you ugly. Alcohol makes
you very unattractive. Alcohol makes you horrendous. Okay, you say why? Well, when you think about
alcohol consumption, you know, first of all, it dehydrates you and it removes all these vitamins
from your skin, vitamin A. And you see, you often see someone who's an alcoholic, for example,
in their twenties, right? And they'll often look like they're 40, 50, 60 years old. Now there's
nothing wrong with aging naturally. Okay, right? If you're just getting older, you know, I got a
couple of gray hairs right here. You know, in a couple of years, I'll be looking very old because
it's stressful to be a pastor, but that's okay. You know, aging naturally is quite okay. That's,
that's God's order, right? But there's something wrong when you're like 20 years old and you look
like you're 60. And if you've known any alcohol, alcoholic personally, you know, that's true,
that alcohol ages you greatly. Okay. It destroys your skin. It makes you fade. Obviously you have
all these other health complications, such as cirrhosis of the liver, redness of eyes. And you
just essentially prepare yourself for an early grave. And we can say that someone who is young,
glorious and beautiful will begin to fade as a flower because of alcohol consumption.
And you know, this is important because of the fact that, you know, you think of Israel,
ancient Israel at this time, and the fact that they are the nation that's of God to them were
committed to oracles of God. They know about the Bible and you're like, how can they get involved
in alcohol? How is it that the priests and prophets are drinking alcohol? How is it that
they're just getting involved in that? But folks in 2024, you have churches promoting alcohol,
you have pastors that promote alcohol consumption. And in fact, when you think of the idols
of Christianity of today, here are three major idols and golden calves that if you talk about,
Christians just freak out over. Number one, defending fags. You know, you defend fags or you
criticize homos and fags, Christians are just like all over you. It's like, that's like a golden
calf of Christians for whatever reason. Number two, the Republican party is another golden calf.
You talk about politics, they'll freak out. And number three, alcohol. When you start preaching
or talking about alcohol and how it's sinful, because it is, and how it's wicked in the eyes
of the Lord, the Bible makes it explicitly clear that it's sinful, oh man, you'll get
a bunch of winos on the comment section. Christians just like, "No, Jesus turned water into wine."
And wine makes glad the hard. They have all these verses memorized. They don't have any
salvation verses memorized, but they have all the alcohol consumption verses memorized.
They can't quote you anything from the book of John. They can't quote you anything from
the book of Proverbs. Oh, but those alcohol verses, they got down pat. And it's like you
strike a nerve when you talk about alcohol. And they always say this, well, it's okay
in moderation, just not in excess, you know, but folks, the Bible explicitly teaches that
alcohol is always bad to consume. Not only unhealthy, I'm saying it's sinful to drink
alcohol and people say, huh, this guy don't know what he's talking about. Doesn't it
know the apostle Paul said a little wine for thy stomach sake? But folks, don't we believe
the Bible? Don't we say that the Bible is the word of God? And because of that, it doesn't
contradict itself. So how can we have one passage that says, you know, that the apostle
Paul says a little wine for thy stomach sake, but then you have other verses in the Bible
that say that alcohol is like a serpent, that strikes like a serpent and stings like an
adder and both of them be alcohol. Not possible. Obviously one is referring to juice and the
other one's referring to alcohol. Okay. One of them, if it's speaking of wine in a good
light, we can surmise that's referring to juice. When it's telling you to stay away
from it, that's obviously referring to alcohol. You know, this is why the Bible tells us in
Proverbs chapter 24, wine is a marker. Strong drink is raging and whosoever is deceived
thereby is not wise. The pastor, the Christian, the Calvinist, non-denom Christian who is
just constantly, you know, permitting alcohol consumption and saying you can drink just
a little bit, enjoy it with your friends, a little wine for thy stomach's sake, wine
to make glad, the hard and all this nonsense, they don't know what they're talking about.
Why don't they ever quote Proverbs 23 and Proverbs 24? You know, the Bible says, "Who
hath woe, who hath sorrow, who hath wounds without a cause, who has redness of eyes,
they that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixed wine," the Bible says. "Look
not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth this color in the cup, when it turneth
itself aright." And why? Because it says that at the last it will bite like an adder and
sting like a serpent. It's going to destroy you in the long run. So how is it that alcohol
is permissible according to these guys when the Bible literally says, "Don't even look
at it." How can you even drink it in moderation if according to the Bible it's forbidden to
even get close enough to look at it? The Bible is telling us, given this exaggerated commandment
because it's trying to help us to see, to understand, just stay away from it, period.
When it says, "Don't look at it," he's basically saying, "Just stay away from it." No, the
Bible says, "Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess." Okay? Oh, okay, but just drinking
in moderation. That's how the verse ends, right? No, it says, "But be filled with the
spirit." Because the alternative to not drinking wine in excess is not to drink in a moderation.
The alternative is what? To be filled with the spirit. Obviously, I don't even believe
that's referring to alcohol. I believe that's referring to just juice in general. The Bible
is very clear on this that alcohol is sinful, and we need to talk about that. We need to
be reminded of that, because if you're not careful, there's so many videos out there
and so many false prophets and so many winos out there that are constantly telling people
it's okay to drink a little bit and you know, not beer, but you know, just a little wine,
you know, a little more classy or something like that. And as long as you're not getting
drunk, as long as you're not being excessive, you know, it's okay to do Jesus turned water
into wine.
But folks, that's the oldest, oldest argument in the book. And it's a stupid argument to
say that Jesus made alcohol is absolutely insane. Okay. You say, why? Because, you know, these
people, for example, this one guy back in the day, a couple of years ago, and his name
was called his name was inspiring philosophy. And he's this heretic on YouTube. And he was
going back and forth with me on this whole thing. And he said this, Oh man, this guy
doesn't understand that as soon as you, you know, crush the grapes, it just ferments automatically.
They don't have like the systems we have today and the technology to keep it from fermenting.
That's why Jesus made alcohol, you know, because by the time that the grapes are squeezed into
the vessels and by the time they got it to the wedding and by the time they walked in
that heat, it would automatically just turn to alcohol because of the temperatures. Okay.
This is his argument. He's like, Oh, this guy doesn't know, you know, they're crushing
the grapes in there. They're not using Jews for the wedding. They're using alcohol because
as soon as it crushed the grapes by the time to get to the wedding feast, it's already
alcohol. And this is his proof that Jesus turned water into wine because in his mind
he's like, you know, Oh, when Jesus turned the water into wine, he's making it alcohol
because you know, the way it was done back then is you have to transport it by the time
it got to his destination, turn it into alcohol. He turned the water into wine. He didn't have
to transport it anywhere. And that whole story, that argument falls flat on its face in John
chapter 2 that they're using John chapter 2 for because of the fact that they claim that
drinking alcohol in excess is sinful. And my position is that it's always sinful, whether
in moderation or in excess. But they want to use John chapter 2 as an example. And it's
a bad illustration. Why? Because Jesus gave them more wine after they had well drunk.
So after they're smashed, they're just absolutely just hammered. Jesus just brings more, six
more kegs. And just gave them more. Because when men had well drunk, the Bible says. And
then they brought up the other stuff. It's nonsense. But this is like the mental gymnastics
that people would try to do in order to justify alcohol. This is why I say it's like an idol.
It's a calf. The golden calf of Christianity. Because they will twist any passage of scripture
they possibly can so they can still have their Bud Light or whatever beer that they drink.
That's nonsense. Alcohol is never spoken of in a good light in the Bible. People are either
getting raped, they're getting taken advantage of, they're being fags with it. I mean, there's
all kinds of wickedness that takes place with alcohol in the Bible. And in this particular
case, he's saying, "Hey, your glorious beauty is fading because you are overcome with wine."
You're drinking alcohol, it's making you age, it's removing your beauty from you, and so
it's wrong. And we need to realize, folks, drinking alcohol is a sin. And you know what?
If you drink alcohol, number one, you're stupid and you're a fool. But number two, you'll
get thrown out of church for that. Because according to the Bible, drunkenness is a sin
that according to the Bible merits excommunication from the local New Testament church. And you
know what? People are like, "Well, how are we supposed to have fun?" And it's crazy that
people think that you can only have fun unless you're on, you know, as long as you have some
drug in your system, alcohol in your system. Folks, I've been safe for 17 years and you
know what? I don't drink alcohol and I've had fun all these 17 years. And they're like,
"Oh, are you trying to say that people don't use alcohol in weddings?" Like, yeah, like
how many weddings have we had in our church? I don't know, 20 something, 22 weddings.
Not a single wedding had alcohol and we had a blast. And you know what? The groom and
the bride had even more fun, right? So that's what the wedding's about. We don't need something
to aid us in having fun. You know, Sparkling Cider does just fine. Okay. And so it's a,
they're nonsensical arguments to try to justify alcohol consumption. And again, you know,
I know I've said this before, but you know, this is important because I'm sure this is
something that people struggle with even in our church. Okay. It's important to understand
this, you know, because they'll say, well, moderation, not excess. But folks, if you've
never drunk an alcohol before, or you're not accustomed to drinking alcohol, it doesn't
take that much alcohol to get you drunk. So in order for you to even drink in moderation
where you're not getting drunk, you have to get drunk first to build up a tolerance so
that when you drink again, you're not drunk. So how is that biblically justifiable to say,
well, get drunk a couple of times so you can build up tolerance to the alcohol. So then
at that point you can drink in moderation and not be drunk. Stupid. Where in the Bible
does it ever say to do any, any sin in moderation fornication is okay, just in moderation.
Adultery in moderation, railing in moderation, idolatry in moderation. It's nonsense. Extortion,
moderation. Let's be moderate about these sins folks. Covetousness in moderation. It's
never right to do any sin in moderation. And drunkenness is a sin according to the Bible.
There's no such thing as moderation. And again, you know, if God approves of alcohol,
then let's just give it to kids and pregnant women. You know, and it's already been debunked
you know, wine is good for your health and all this stuff. Folks, it's literal poison,
putting poison into your body. And so it's nonsense. He says in verse two, 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 trodded under feet. And 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, which,
when he that looketh upon it, see it while it is yet in his hand, he eat it up. He's basically
saying like, I'm going to judge you for this. And it's not just for that. We've seen other sins that
he highlights, but he's saying, I'm going to send mighty ones, a foreign nation to come and destroy
you and just completely remove your glorious beauty, remove this crown of pride. Now, obviously
the intent by which why he's removing the crown of pride is to replace that crown because he says in
verse five, in that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory and for a diadem of beauty
unto the residue of his people and for a spirit of judgment to him that sits in judgment and for
strength to them that turned the battle to the gate. He's saying, look, I'm going to remove your
crown of pride. I'm going to actually give you a good crown. What's that crown? That diadem is
referring to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the crown of Israel. Now that's not the crown that
they have right now though. They have a crown of pride, a crown of Sodom, a crown of just hating
the Lord Jesus Christ. And what Isaiah is saying is like one day this is going to be completely
removed and a crown, a diadem, which is Jesus Christ will be placed on that head. And he's the
one who's going to essentially beautify the land of Israel. Right. He's going to beautify
that geographical location because right now it's ugly. It's filthy. It's perverse. It's
spiritually wicked. It's spiritually Sodom and Egypt, according to the Bible. But then one day
the crown, which is Jesus Christ, which what does a crown signify authority that proper authority
will be placed on the land of Israel. And at that point it will actually be attractive. Okay.
Spiritually speaking, look at verse seven, he says, but they also have aired through wine.
So he's bringing up alcohol again. And he says through strong drink are, are out of the way.
The priest and the prophet have aired through strong drink. They are swallowed up of wine.
They are out of the way through strong drink. They air envision, they stumble in judgment. So
they is referring to Israel, but then he gets specific and he says, also the priest and the
prophet are involved in this alcohol consumption. Now again, wine in the Bible is used interchangeably
to describe alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages. And you know, by the way, a proof of that,
for example, is Numbers chapter six. When you read Numbers chapter six, when it comes to the
Nazarite vowel, he says that he's still abstained from wine and strong drink. Well, strong drink
is what? Alcohol. Well, why would he say abstain from alcohol and alcohol? That's because wine is
obviously referring to juice. Strong drink is referring to alcohol. So obviously that's a clear
case where wine is being used in such a way that it's obviously not talking about strong drink,
as noted by the fact that he follows up with strong drink after wine. But the point that
this verse is making right here is that Israel is so inebriated spiritually, but even physically,
that they're airing in their visions and they're stumbling in judgment. And that should come as no
surprise, right? Because drinking alcohol impairs judgment. So if it impairs just normal judgments
that we make from day to day, how much more does it impair spiritual judgment? So these priests and
prophets are drinking alcohol, they're getting drunk, and they're airing, meaning they have error
in their visions and they're stumbling in their judgments. Let me read to you from Micah chapter
two and go with me if you would to Proverbs 31. Hold your place there in Isaiah. I'm going to
read you from Micah two verse 11. It says, "If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie,
saying, 'I will prophesy unto thee of wine and strong drink,' he shall even be the prophet of
this people," the Bible says. So here's a good way for you to determine what preacher you should
be listening to. First of all, if he makes permission for alcohol, just put an X right there.
He has a spirit and falsehood of lying. He's a man of deceit. He's prophesying of wine and strong
drink. And by the way, that just automatically includes all grace, right? Catholicism, which
literally just drinks alcohol every Sunday and even gives alcohol to children, you know, because
they're taking their communion or whatever. They're literally drinking alcohol. They're drinking wine
in that mass. Okay. And I told the story before, but I remember being in the Catholic church. It's
a funny story. I was in the Catholic church and we went to mass. This is when I used to go to
Catholic school, but we went to mass and the Monsignor, he was performing the mass or whatever,
and they got to the point where they're doing the Lord's Supper, the Eucharist, and he gives
everyone the wine to drink or whatever. And then he just killed, because he ends up killing it
himself. He finishes it off. And sometimes, I don't know if you've ever been in mass before,
but he just kills it. And the service is not over. There's a lecture that's supposed to go
there after, you know, a liturgy that they're supposed to recite or whatever. But the dude's
drunk though. So he kills it. He cleans it. And then he just walks off the stage. And then we're
just kind of sitting there like, is he getting something? No, he just forgot. His judgment is
impaired. So he just forgot that he's like, the service is still going. And then after like,
I don't know, 10, 15 minutes, everyone just kind of like one by one just starts getting up like,
I think we should leave now. You know, he didn't close out the service or anything. And he probably
just went in his little bed chamber and just slept or something. I don't know what he did,
but what is that an example of a drunkard, a priest and a prophet who's airing through strong
drink, but you know what? Catholics aren't the only ones. Calvinists are responsible for this
stuff too. Bunch of winebibbers, drunkards, you know, getting tattoos and drinking alcohol and
try to be all hip or whatever. It's nonsense. They are airing in vision and stumbling in judgment.
Look at Proverbs 31 and verse four, it says, "It is not for kings, O'Lemuel. It is not for kings
to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink. Lest they drink," listen to this, "and forget the law
and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted." So what does alcohol do? It causes you to forget
the Bible. And it also perverts judgment of any of the afflicted, meaning you don't have good
judgment when you're drunk, when you are impaired, when you're inebriated. You can't think straight.
And it's impossible for us to justify alcohol consumption and also promote sobriety. The Bible
promotes being sober, having sobriety, making sure that we are alert. How can you have that
mental state when you're drunk? "Well, I'm not drunk. I'm buzzed." There's no buzz in the Bible,
though. There's no like, "Thou shalt not drink, but it's okay to be buzzeth," or something.
"Thou shalt buzzeth." That is just drunk. That's just buzz and all that. That's like a modern thing.
It's just a nice way of saying drunk. It's for people who are too embarrassed to say they're
drunk because they can't handle their alcohol or whatever. So they don't want to admit that they're
drunk. So they'll say, "I'm not drunk. I'm buzzed." You're drunk. And he said, "Well, this is an instruction
to kings though. We are kings though." The Bible says we're kings and priests. So we're to operate
on this level. Amen. Shouldn't drink. Why? It'll cause us to forget the law. It'll cause us to
prefer judgment of any of the afflicted. The Bible also says in 1st Thessalonians 5.6, "Therefore,
let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the
night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day be sober,
putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for it helmet the hope of salvation."
So it's no wonder that the Northern Kingdom is so wicked. It's a bastardization of the religion
of God in the Old Testament, because they are essentially Judah, but perverted in their beliefs.
They have this heathenistic amalgamation of God's religion and the heathen, and they have
their own priests and their own way of worshiping, but they're worshiping false gods. So it's no
wonder, it's no surprise that they have alcohol included with that. And it's no wonder that their
vision is impaired. They're not speaking right things about the word of God. They are erring
through strong drink. Now, people may read this and say, "Pastor, this is obviously spiritual
drunkenness." Go back to Isaiah. What Isaiah is describing is spiritual drunkenness. You know,
they're erring because they're not being sober in their minds. They're not thinking about the
things of God. And so you're making too much of a literal application to this. This should only
be applied spiritually. We're supposed to be spiritually sober and not spiritually drunk.
Okay. Look at verse eight. "For all the tables are full of vomit and filthiness." Now I'm going to
make a spiritual application to this, but this is literally what they're doing. Because when people
drink alcohol, you know what they do? They vomit. Okay. So that there is no place clean. So the
priests and prophets are getting hammered and they're just throwing up, just reveling in their
filth. It's like a bar that's being like described here. Okay. Disgusting. So here's the thing.
They're vomiting. They're making their immediate surroundings filthy. And this is what they're
saying in verse number nine. "Whom shall he teach knowledge and whom shall he make to understand
doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast for precept must be
upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little."
Now I believe what this is referring to is them mocking Isaiah and God's word because he's basically
saying like who is Isaiah going to teach knowledge? Whom shall he make to understand doctrine? And he's
basically saying oh he's going to make babies understand this stuff. Them that are weaned from
the milk and drawn from the breast and then they're basically trying to teach Isaiah how to teach.
Precept must be upon precept. Precept upon precept. You don't know anything about alcohol. You got to
look at the cultural context of everything. What seminary did you graduate from? You need to do
expository and you don't know the context. This is how Calvinists talk. As they're drunk, they want
to explain to me how to study the Bible, right? They're drinking their Guinness. They're drinking
their wine and they're trying to explain to me how I should be expanded. You got to understand
context and cultural context. Sober up and talk to me when you're sober. And then we'll talk.
But let me give you the spiritual application to this because obviously we know when people drink,
they throw up, right? This is just very common connotations here. Vomit is a by-product of
drinking alcohol. And the reason why is because your body's rejecting it because when your body
receives poison and wants to get it out, therefore it's vomiting, right? But it's pretty interesting
that they vomit and then they say this. So I believe that spiritual application here is that
basically they're bringing out all this filth out of their mouth that they claim to be the word of
God. Okay. Let me read to you from Matthew 15 verse 17. It says here, do not ye yet understand
that whatsoever entereth into the mouth, goeth into the belly and is cast out into the draft.
But those things which proceed out of the mouth, come forth from the heart and they defile the man.
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts,
false witness, blasphemies. And what are these men doing? They're blaspheming the word of God
by saying and asserting that Isaiah's wrong and that he doesn't know what he's talking about.
That's not how you teach the word of God. I mean, how embarrassing is that?
Hey, you're not teaching the word of God correctly. Who would you respect?
How are they supposed to get any respect? They literally just throw up and after they're done
and wipe their mouth, they're like, Hey, just let you know, precept must be upon precept,
precept upon precept and you know, line upon line, line upon line. They're like repeating
themselves here a little, there a little, and it's just like, okay. After they literally just
got finished vomiting and throwing up, but what does the vomit represent? It represents the
filthiness that's coming out of their mouth or blasphemies that are coming out of their mouth.
Okay. And you know, vomit is defiles a person. You vomit is just filth. You know, it's just
unclean. The tables are unclean. They're defiled. And you know what? That's what's coming out of
their mouth is that which defiles them, these blasphemies of the word of God. Because Isaiah
is not a drunkard. He's a righteous man. He's the right one. But you have all these false
prophets around him in Israel, drunken, vomiting, and trying to tell him how he should teach
the word of God. It's nonsense. That's why I don't esteem any of these scholars if they
don't have the common sense and biblical sense to stay away from alcohol. I don't care how
many degrees they got. I got a bachelor's or a master's in divinity. And you know,
I know the Greek and the Hebrew. It's like, wow, you know, all that and you still can't
stay away from alcohol. That's crazy. And you're still drunkard. Wow. And so go back to Isaiah
or you're in Isaiah, look at verse 11. So these guys are mocking God's word. They are
spewing out their filth and their vomit. And it's given us like a picture of like the spiritual
condition of the leaders of that day. And let me just say this, there's more people,
there's more pastors out there that are pro alcohol than those who are against alcohol
today. There's a lot of Calvinists out there that are pro alcohol, they like to drink.
And you know what? Let's just pretend for a second that some of these pastors are actually
capable of drinking in moderation. I promise you, whoever they're leading cannot. I promise
you whoever they're teaching this to cannot because what they do in moderation, their
followers will do in excess. You know, you get some Calvinists and you get some tattoo
or whatever that says Jesus or some, some scriptural thing, you know, he gets a little,
you know, his church members are going to get sleeves because what they do in moderation,
his followers are going to do in excess. Plain and simple. Look at verse 11. He says for
what stammer, you can turn that off for the, he says for what stammering lips and another
tongue will he speak to this people to whom he said, this is the rest wherewith you may
cause the weary to rest. And this is the refreshing yet they would not hear. But the word of the
Lord was unto them, precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line
upon line, here a little, there a little that they might go and fall backward and be broken
and snared and taken. So God is almost like flipping this on them to say, well, it will
be to you precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little, until
you stumble at the word. Now go to first Corinthians chapter 14, because we're going to look at
where this is actually quoted at in the New Testament. And it's going to give us some,
some insight on what he's specifically saying here, because Isaiah is preaching to Israel
and these Israelites, this Northern kingdom. Let me ask you, are they believers or not?
No, they're not worshiping false gods. You know, they're not serving the God of the Bible
as they're supposed to. They're, they're, they're wicked. They're wrong. And so the
Lord in Isaiah 28 is saying, well, with a nation of stammering lips, I'm going to speak
to you. What is he literally saying? Saying a four nation that has a language that does
not understand is going to come upon you and tell you this stuff. So you're mocking God's
word, but you're going to have someone else. You're going to have the Assyrians come to
you in a language you don't understand, and then you'll get the message. But by that time,
what's going to happen? They're going to fall backward, be broken, snared and taken. Okay.
Now look at first Corinthians 14 verse 18. This is the chapter regarding tongues, meaning
speaking different languages, right? This is not referring to some heavenly dialect
that's spoken of by angels and people who are filled with the spirit, some incoherent
language that no man understands, but God himself, tongues is literally referring to
an actual language. That's all that it's talking about in the Bible. Okay. And this is the
chapter that addresses that the most verse 18 says, I thank my God. I speak with tongues
more than ye all. And by the way, a lot of these people who say that tongues is referring
to that incoherent language, that divine language will often use that as a meter for spirituality.
Like if you're really spiritual, you'll speak in tongues, but here's the problem. Jesus
didn't do that. So are you saying that he's not spiritual or something? Cause he's the
most spiritual man that ever lived. Verse 19 says, yet in the church I had rather speak
five words with my understanding that by my voice, I may teach others also than 10,000
words in an unknown tongue. Brethren be not children and understanding how be it in malice
be children, but in understanding be men in the law it is written. Now let me just explain
something to you. When it says the law, you know, often it can be referring to what, you
know, the first five books of the Bible, right? We talk about the law, the laws of Moses.
But sometimes when it says the law, it's just referring to anything in the what? The Old
Testament. Because the verse that it's going to quote here is Isaiah 28. And obviously
Isaiah is considered part of the prophets, but in general it could be lumped in as being
part of the law. Okay. He says in the law it is written with men of other tongues and
other lips will I speak unto this people and yet for all that will they not hear me
say at the Lord and I want you to notice this wherefore tongues are for a sign not to them
that believe, but to them that believe not. So what does this have to do with Isaiah
28? Well, if he's sending people of a different tongue, stammering tongue in the Old Testament
to speak into Israel and the Bible saying here that these tongues are for those who
do not believe, what does it say of Israel of the Old Testament? They don't really believe
because he's sending men of stammering lips of a different tongue to speak into Israel.
You're not going to understand. And here's the thing, he's basically implying, they don't
really believe in the true God of the Bible. This is the application that first Corinthians
14, the connection that is making between this and Isaiah 28, because it's saying tongues
are for a sign, not to them to believe, but to them that believe not, which is why he's
sending the Assyrians to punish Israel because they don't believe. Okay. Go back to Isaiah
28, if you would, Isaiah 28. So he's saying, you know, you're mocking God, but you're not
going to be laughing once the Assyrians come and destroy you. Look at verse 14. So that's
pretty much the end of the preaching for Israel, but it's just saying, you know, like you guys
are going to be taking over the Assyrians. Okay. Anyways, now Judah, it's like, there's
no happy ending with Israel there. Okay. But obviously, Judah is not necessarily in the
best shape either. They're in better shape than Israel, the Northern kingdom, but they're
still also going to be punished. Verse 14 says, wherefore hear the word of the Lord,
ye scornful men that rule this people, which is in Jerusalem, indicating that he's obviously
addressing Judah, since Jerusalem is the capital of Judah. Because he have said, we have made
a covenant with death and with hell are we at agreement when the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, it shall not come into us for we have made lies our refute and under
falsehood have we hid ourselves. Now that's an interesting statement, right? We have made
a covenant with death and with hell, we are at agreement. Now what is he talking about
there? Well, we'll see in the coming chapters that the covenant that they're making is
with Egypt because they are trying to get help from Egypt to fight against Assyria.
So when he says you made a covenant with death, he's referring to Egypt. And when he says
and with hell, you're at agreement, he's talking about Egypt. He said, why say, why not just
say Egypt then? Because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what nation they're
making Confederate with. He's basically saying, you're just basically agreeing to die because
I don't care what nation you use to protect you, you're going to die. Now, a good way
to explain this is this. You can tell me you believe anything you want, any variation of
salvation. You can say it's by repenting of your sins. You can say it's by works. You
can say it's by praying to Mary. You can say it's by taking the Eucharist. You can
say it's by anything. At the end of the day, it's just an agreement with death. You understand
what I'm saying? So you can say, oh, it's Egypt is going to take care of me. No, you
just made a covenant with death is what you did. You could, you could have made a covenant
with Assyria. It's a covenant with death because if it's not a covenant with God, then it's
not a, it's a covenant of death. And in like manner, if it's not salvation by grace through
faith alone, then basically it's a covenant of hell and death because every system of
beliefs when it comes to salvation all leads to hell. If it's not by salvation, salvation
by grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ, you can package it however you want. You can
say it's by faith and repenting of your sins, faith and doing works. Oh, it's by believing
in Jesus, but you have to do your part. It's by, you know, producing fruits. You can wrap
that works based salvation any way you please. At the end of the day, the way God views it
is a covenant with death because that's, that's the road that it leads to. So he's basically
telling them, I don't care who you made a covenant with. I just know it wasn't with
me. And because it's not with me, it's a covenant of death. It's a covenant of hell. Okay. And
you know, at the end of the day, he says that the, I like what he says at the latter end
of verse 15, he says, it shall not come unto us for we have made lies, our refuge and under
falsehood have we hid ourselves. What does this mean? It means that Judah is depending
on lies. They are resting and covering themselves with lies, with falsehood, and therefore they
will be punished. Okay. Look at verse 16. It says, therefore thus saith the Lord, behold
I lay in Zion for foundation, a stone, a trite stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.
He that believeth shall not make haste. So, you know, obviously this is referring to Jesus
Christ, right? So it's a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ. And the reason he's mentioning
this is because he realizes that Judah is depending on or using for refuge that which
is deceit, deception, lies. And he's saying, you know, I'm giving you the sure foundation,
which is Jesus Christ, God himself, right? And this is quoted in the New Testament in
1 Peter chapter two, slightly different, but it's talking about the same thing. And what
this is referring to is what? The fact that the foundation of our faith is what? Jesus
Christ, our faith in Jesus Christ. So if we build upon a faulty foundation of lies, deceit,
a false gospel, doesn't matter how godly of a life you live, you made a covenant with
death, okay? Because, you know, you have people out there who will literally spend decades
calling themselves Christians, saying that they're saved, living a Christian life, living
out biblical principles, but they don't have the right salvation. And what does it profit
if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? You have to make sure you have
the right foundation, which is what? The tried stone, the precious cornerstone, the sure
foundation. And if you believe on him, you'll not make haste. You know, who's ever believing
that him in the New Testament says shall not be ashamed, you will not be let down.
So you know, this is a foreshadowing. He's telling you to like, you need to place yourself
back on to the right foundation, which is the Christ, Emmanuel, the Lord. And of course
in the New Testament, we'll know that he will be named Jesus. Let me read to you from first
Peter chapter two, verse five. It says he also as lively stones are built up a spiritual
house and holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Therefore also it is contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion, a chief cornerstone
elect precious and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. We know that Jesus
is the foundation, but the Bible also calls him the cornerstone and a cornerstone essentially
joins two walls, right? Well, what does Jesus Christ do in the New Testament? He joins two
people and makes them one, right? Jew and Gentile become one man. That's what the foundation
is built upon. Okay. Look at verse 17, if you wouldn't, he says, judgment also will
I lay to the line and righteousness to the plummet and the hail shall sweep away the
refuge of lies and the water shall overflow, overflow the hiding place and your covenant
with death shall be disannulled and your agreement with hell shall not stand. When the overflowing
scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it. And he's basically
explaining to them like, you know, this, this hovering that you're using is not going to
help you. But if you place your faith in this cornerstone, what's going to happen? Well,
then your covenant with death shall be disannulled. And another way of saying this in the New
Testament would be, you know, whoever doesn't believe is condemned already, right? Like
you, that covenant is in full effect because you have not believed. But once you believe,
you're no longer under the condemnation. The covenant has now been made disannulled by
your faith in Jesus Christ. And look at verse 20 says, for the bed is shorter than that
a man can stretch himself on it and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in
it. He's basically saying, you know, you're placed in your faith in Egypt, but you know,
they're providing a bed that you can't even like stretch yourself on. It's like a kid's
bed. It's like one of those race car beds, you know, is like you're depending on Egypt
to take care of you, but you can't even rest in Egypt properly because you can't even stretch
yourself out. You're going to be all cramped up. And then just look at the blanket that
Egypt is providing you. It's too small. You can't even wrap yourself in it. It's like
a towel or something. And in fact, go to chapter 30 of Isaiah chapter 13 and look at
verse one, he says, woe to the rebellious children. Say the Lord that take counsel,
but not of me and that cover with the covering, but not of my spirit that they may add sin
to sin. They walk to go down into Egypt, but have not asked that my mouth to strengthen
themselves in the strength of Pharaoh and to trust in the shadow of Egypt. So the literal
interpretation of this is that, you know, you're placing your faith in something that
can't help you at all. You can't rest in the bed of Egypt. You can't cover yourself with
the covering of Egypt. It's not going to help you any. The spiritual application we can
make to that when it comes to salvation is that all these people who are working their
way to heaven, you know, it's, it's, it's a small little covering. They only covers
like that one little sin or something. And even then it's just like kind of see-through.
Whereas what do we need? We need the blood of Jesus Christ that covers all sin, right?
Where we can essentially, you know, have the righteousness of God imputed on us, where
we could put on the Lord Jesus Christ and just have all sins forgiven and not just depend
on the aprons of Adam and Eve, but rather the skins of the Lord Jesus Christ through
his sacrifice. That's basically what the principle there. Go back to Isaiah 28. We're almost
done here. Look at verse 21 says, "For the Lord shall rise up in Mount Peresum and he
shall be wrought as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work and his strange work
and bring to pass his act his strange act." Verse 22, "Now therefore be ye not mockers,
lest your bands be made strong, for I have heard from the Lord of hosts a consumption
even determined upon the whole earth. Give ye ear and hear my voice hearken and hear
my speech." So keep in mind this is Isaiah speaking and what is Isaiah saying? He's like "Hey God's
just letting you know God's going to punish you guys." So I really recommend that you don't mock
you know it's probably not a good idea to mock the Lord because if you do your bands will be made
strong okay and I just he says "I've heard from the Lord that there's going to be a host of
consumption even determined upon the whole earth." He's saying this punishment is going to be very
thorough and is going to be throughout the land so my recommendation to you is don't make fun of it.
And you know what we have today? We have people just mocking Christianity, mocking men of God,
mocking the things of God, thinking that they'll get away with that stuff. There's no fear of God
in their heart. There's no fear of God in their eyes. We shouldn't mock men of God. We shouldn't
mock Christianity. God's people especially shouldn't mock churches and men of God. Why? Because
God is not mocked. "Whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap." Let me just say this right
off the bat. This has nothing to do with the sermon but it kind of does. You know you have
these people with all this controversy going on right now and they're like oh I'm against abuse
all the while making fun of abuse. Oh I'm against abuse as they're taking pictures with electrical
cords. That's funny I thought you were against it. You know there's this guy who used to be in our
church a couple years ago and he got all disgruntled with the new IFB and he's like I'm against abuse.
Well folks I'm against abuse too but yet here's the difference between me and that guy. I'm not
taking a picture for Facebook and saying oh I was late to church because you know why. Oh yeah that's
that's very godly of you. What a Christian thing to say. What a Christian thing to do. Taking pictures
with electrical cords all the while you're claiming that you are against abuse you hypocrite. Disgusting.
And let me just say this as a pastor and this may make you mad but I don't care because I'm
the pastor here and at the end of the day you're forced to listen to me if you're sitting right
there and if you don't like it walk out. At the end of the day folks you know you shouldn't be
liking photos of disgusting perverse things you know people are posting sexually inappropriate
things making fun of men of God even if you disagree with those men of God you're sick in
the head if you think that's funny. Get right with God you filthy pervert and you call yourself a
Christian you know that you can disagree and not like whatever pastor and still not before wicked
people that's how you should be if that's your position but it looks godless disgusting and
perverse when you claim to disagree all the while liking perverseness you're filthy you're
disgusting and get out of my church if that's you because you know what I want people to be
diplomatic and respectable I want you to be a respectable person hey is it too much to ask
to just ask you to be a Christian I know I know that's kind of weird but this is a Baptist church
though and you know we should have Christian behavior and part of Christian behavior is you
know what I don't have to side with this crowd or this crowd but you know what why don't how
about you just not side with reprobates even if you believe them which is nonsense if you do but
let's say you just believe them okay why not just not like their posts where they're posting
faggotry and they're mocking men of God regarding sexually perverse things that I can't even say
from the pulpit you're perverse and you're wicked clean your mind get your mind out of the gutter
it's disgusting like I'm never coming back good because I want perverseness in my church yeah but
how are you going to fill this seed the way we've been filling seats for the last seven years
that's how and you know what if half the church thinks that that's appropriate then I want half
the church to get up and leave right now I don't want you around my kids you know if that's your
mentality and you're okay with liking perverseness and disgusting fills and you and you claim to be
against abuse all the while liking posts about mocking abuse then go there's this door right
here you just open there's a bunch of doors but you can go about this one then go out that one
over there like right now and you know what I'll never miss you because I don't miss people who
can pervert the minds of my children disgusting get right with God read the Bible pray be a
Christian for once act like a Christian have godly conduct disgusting I don't remember how I got off
on that but you know don't be mockers oh you know what does the Bible say oh yeah fools make a mock
at sin look at verse 24 mad now I'm really mad now because it's crazy that people think that that's
like appropriate behavior you know I respect the person that says you know I respect I disagree
but I'm just not going to say anything because you know disagree doesn't mean I have to agree
with the other side either and just like I just won't say anything I want to move on
serve in my church love the pastor love the church I'm all for that because we can disagree
about things what I don't like is when people support wicked people though stupid if you
do yeah I said it if you're supporting reprobation and I'm talking and I'm not talking about
the claims that are being made I'm talking about liking and supporting posts they're
saying vile perverse things that no Christian should ever like even if you don't like the
pastors in question you say why because it's weird you're being a weirdo you're showing
you don't read the Bible you're not acting like a Christian look at verse 24 that the
plowman plow all day to sow does he open and break the clods of his ground when he hath
made plain the face thereof does he not cast the bra the fetches and scatter the cumin
and cast in the principal weed and the appointed barley and the rye in their place for his
god doth instruct him to discretion and doth teach him for the fetches are not threshed
with the threshing instrument neither is a cartwheel turned about upon the cumin but
the fetches are beaten out with a staff and the cumin with a rod.
What is he saying here?
He's saying he's using agricultural terminology to help Judah understand you know just as
the farmer uses different tools to arrive to a specific destination with his crops or
whatever in like manner.
God is saying I'm using different ways to chastise you.
I'll use the Assyrians, I'll use foreign nations, I'll use famines, pestilences, foreign nations
to destroy you because just as a farmer uses an array of different tools to produce fruit
in like manner, God does the same thing.
And a great way to apply this to our lives is the fact you know God will use a variety
of different things to mold you to be what he wants you to be right?
He'll use trials, he'll use health problems, he'll use financial issues, he'll use tribulations,
fears, doubts, anxieties, he'll use the election, he'll use everything, a variety of tools to
make you the right kind of Christian.
And you're like why I got all those things down?
Oh, he's got a barn full of tools though that he can use on you.
The Bible tells us that God, as our father,
God is our father and we are the clay.
He molds us, he'll use trials in our lives.
And yeah, you know what?
Sometimes he even uses success in our lives too, right?
To help us to be grateful, to learn things,
but he also use losses, he'll use, you know, persecution,
he'll use tribulation, he'll use people,
he'll use preaching, he'll use your parents,
he'll use your brothers and sisters in Christ,
he'll use your husband, he'll use your wife,
he'll use everyone to help you,
to make you conform to the image of Christ.
He's not a one trick pony, amen?
God is very creative, and he'll use anything possible.
That's why the Bible says all things work together for good,
because he can take any situation that you're experiencing
and produce gold, okay?
The Bible tells us in Philippians 1-6,
being confident of this very thing,
that he which hath begun a good work in you,
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
And so, you know, I'm gonna finish off there.
What is the sermon?
The sermon is simply this.
You know, it looks like Israel is just done, right?
Now, whereas Judah seems to have some hope,
and at the end of the day, you know,
he wants to bless Judah,
because Judah's still worshiping the God of the Bible,
albeit they're backslidden in a lot of ways,
but they do worship the God of the Bible,
and God is trying to help them get back on track,
and just as the farmer will use any tool
to produce that peaceable fruit of righteousness in Judah,
you know, the same way God will do that to us as well.
Hebrews 12 tells us that.
He'll chastise us in order to yield
that peaceable fruit of righteousness and of holiness,
so we can be vessels unto honor
and meet for the master's use, amen.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for your word.
Thank you for Isaiah 28.
Lord, may you help us to view both northern
and southern kingdom through the lens of our personal lives
and even our church, Lord, our nation.
Help us to make those applications, Lord, to ourselves.
And Lord, as your people,
obviously we know that alcohol consumption is wrong
and it's sinful, but I'm sure there's someone here
who may struggle with that temptation, Lord.
And I pray that tonight that reminder would exhort them
to abstain from alcohol and to remind them
how destructive alcohol can be in their lives.
And Lord, we're so thankful that we're not
deceived by false prophets and prophets of wine
and strong drink who try to convince us
that it's permissible, Lord.
That's the devil.
That's satanic.
Just to remove sobriety from the mind of a Christian
makes them less effective in the work of God.
And Lord, I just pray that you'd help us as your people
to be holy, to have Christian conduct,
and not to make a mock at sin and filth and perversion,
Lord, help us to be sober and aware of our surroundings
and recognize that we are in a spiritual battle.
We love you and we thank you.
Pray this things in Jesus' name, amen.
- Call number 377, rescue the perishing.
- Call number 377.
- Call number 377 on the first verse.
♪ Rescue the perishing ♪
♪ Care for the dying ♪
♪ Statch them in pity from sin and the grave ♪