So, we're there in Isaiah chapter 20, and look at verse number 6, it says,
And the inhabitants of this isle shall say in that day,
Behold, such is our expectation. The title for the sermon tonight is,
Such is our expectation. You know, when we talk about something that is
your expectation, we're saying something that you're hopeful in the future.
You know, what it is that you're trusting that will develop down the road.
You know, right now, my expectation is that I'm going to be in Fiji
at the end of May, you know, being part of a missions trip, and for many of you
that is your expectation as well. What we see in this passage is that
we see the southern kingdom of Judah saying that they have an expectation.
They're hopeful of a future that's
they're expecting to come past, to pass for them, and we're going to soon
see what that is. Now, in Isaiah chapter 20, you can see it's not a
very long passage, is it? Six verses long. And so
before we get straight into it, I want to build a bit of a backstory
before we get into the meat of Isaiah 20. Look at verse number 1
quickly, Isaiah 20 verse 1, it says, In the year that Tartan,
Tartan is like a general of the army of Assyria.
In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, Ashdod is a
city in the Philistines, when Sargon,
I want you to remember that name, Sargon, the king of Assyria, sent him
and fought against Ashdod and took it. So you can see definitely
from verse number 1, we've got a time frame as to what is happening here
and I want you to notice that the king of Assyria mentioned here in verse number 1 is Sargon.
Now, we're going to get a bit of a backstory
to help us then understand why Isaiah is preaching
the way that he is and what is preaching. So let's go to 2 Kings
you can say of course in Isaiah chapter 20, but come with me to 2 Kings
chapter 17, 2 Kings chapter 17
and verse number 1, actually before we look at verse number 1, just go to 2 Kings
chapter 17, 2 Kings 17, and I want you to notice verse
number 3 actually first. 2 Kings 17 and verse
number 3, it says, Against him came up
Shalmaneser king of Assyria.
So in verse number 3, who's the king of Assyria? Shalmaneser, do you see that?
Now what we saw in Isaiah 20 verse 1, we saw Sargon
the king of Assyria. Now, come with me quickly to the next chapter
2 Kings 18, 2 Kings 18
2 Kings 18, look at verse number 13
2 Kings 18, 13, it is now in the 14th year of King Hezekiah
did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the
So who's the king of Assyria in 2 Kings 18, 13?
Sennacherib, do you see that? So, so far, what we're looking at
are 3 different kings of Assyria. Sennacherib in 2 Kings
18, Shalmaneser in 2 Kings 17
and in Isaiah 20 we saw Sargon the king of Assyria.
Now I quickly, as we were singing songs, I just wanted to quickly look up
what secular history records as the kings of Assyria during this time
of course I'm not going to go through all of them, but Shalmaneser comes up
Shalmaneser ruled between 727 to
722 BC, so Shalmaneser is mentioned there
in 2 Kings 17. Then after Shalmaneser is Sargon
King Sargon is reigning and then what we saw in 2 Kings
18 is Sennacherib. Now,
when we get to Sennacherib, you need to also understand that King Sargon
is still reigning at the same time because it is
not uncommon, it even happens within the kings of Israel, that sometimes you have
2 kings that are reigning together at the same time
co-regency. At the same time, sometimes
it's kind of like the idea of like an apprentice, so if a king
knows that it's close to his death, he's going to pass away, he wants to
instruct his son or someone to be the king in line, many times they're going
to rule together and then when that one passes away, of course, then that king
that is co-reigned with him is the one that takes over. And so the reason I say
that, just in case, it doesn't really matter in light of the
prophecy of Isaiah 20, but just in case you're in for this, go on, there's 3 kings
I can't make sense of them, well they reign one after another
all 3 kings, okay? And so, and they reign for
a very long time, so you know, all of this takes place around the same time
of course, Isaiah is a prophet that's been preaching for decades, okay?
So in his time as a preacher, he has seen the king of Assyria
change hands time and time again. But going back to 2 Kings 17
let's get the back story. In 2 Kings 17
the northern kingdom of Israel still exists
it's not been taken over by the Assyrian kingdom just yet. In 2 Kings 17
verse number 1 it says, In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king
of Judah, began Hoshea, the son of Elah, to
reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.
So we're talking about king Hoshea here, reigning over Israel
being the northern kingdom of the two nations.
In verse number 2 it says, And he did that which was evil
in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel
that were before him. Against him came up
Shalmanes the king of Assyria, and Hoshea became his
servant and gave him presents. Okay, so the northern kingdom
is still functioning, they're still a nation, but the king of Assyria, Shalmanes
has come into the picture and instead of taking them all into captivity
instead of destroying the nation of Israel, they say, look, you're going to be
our servant from this day forward. You know, the spoils of your land, your riches
you've got to pay taxes to us, and so that's why it says that he's got to
give him presents, like he's offering presents, leave us alone, like it's bribery
we'll pay you, you leave us alone, we'll serve you king of Assyria.
So that's what's happening at this time frame, okay? Now, obviously
he's not going to like that. King Hoshea is not enjoying that.
Now, when it comes to these nations, don't forget that God is the one
who established these people as nations. You know, God
used Moses to bring them out of Egypt, he's given them prophets, he's given them
the land, he's given them kings, like the Lord has looked after
these nations over the years. Now, when you've got the king of
Assyria causing havoc, right, and causing them to be fearful
and under bribery and paying these taxes, who should be the one
that these people go to? When King Hoshea says, I need help
I don't like being a servant under this king of Assyria, who should he
be running to? Of course, the Lord God, right? Now, the title of the sermon
was, such is our expectation. Now, if the king
of Hoshea had a fear of God, his expectation
should be God. He should say, look, I'm going to humble
myself before God, God you're the king of this nation, Lord
we've messed up, Lord we worship false idols, they're not helping us against
Assyria, we need to turn back to God and get things right with him.
That's the right approach, that's what a man who has a fear of God should do.
He should be saying, our expectation is the God of Abraham
Isaac and Jacob. That's what he should be saying.
But what does he do instead? Look at verse number 4.
So instead of going to God, who does Hoshea
go to? The king of Egypt. He goes to the king
of Egypt. So who's his expectation? Who's his hope?
Who's he expecting to come through and help him when the Assyrians
come through? He's expecting the king of Egypt to be that person. Instead of going to
the Lord God, he's trusting in man. Now, of course,
Egypt was a powerful nation, it was a renowned
nation. The king of Egypt had his armies.
Also, another nation that gets brought up later on in Isaiah 20
is Ethiopia. Ethiopia was also a strong nation
in Africa. But instead
of going to the Lord God, he goes to the king of Egypt. And that makes
Hoshea, that strengthened him. He goes, alright, we're not
going to pay any more taxes, we're not going to give our spoils, we're not going to give our
bribes to the king of Assyria because we've got Egypt on our side.
So if the Assyrians try to cause us problems, Egypt's going to come
and help us out. And together with Egypt, we're going to be able to fight back
Assyria and push them back. As soon as he turns his trust and expectation
to Egypt, we see that the king of Assyria takes him,
throws him into prison, and so it ends up even worse for him
than when he started. Verse number 5.
So not only does he take the king, now he's taken over the whole land of Israel.
In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took
Samaria and carried Israel away into Assyria
and placed them in Hala and in Habor by the river of
Gozan and in the city of the Medes.
For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned
against the Lord their God, which had brought them
up out of the land of Egypt and under the hand of Pharaoh,
king of Egypt, and had feared other gods
and walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the Lord
cast out from before the children of Israel and of the kings of Israel
which they had made. So God is telling them, look,
you trusted in the Egyptians. You should have trusted God
who delivered you out from the Egyptians, right?
God had taken them out. They were slaves in Egypt. They were being mistreated.
They were being put to death. The babies were being put to death. God hears their cry.
God sends them deliverance out of Egypt
and so their expectation, like I said, should be on God, the same God
that delivered them from Egypt, but now their expectation is back to their
older presses. And so God allows Assyria to just wipe them out.
They're taken into captivity and taken into foreign lands
and so that's kind of the, and look, as we've been going through Isaiah,
we're very familiar with these stories, aren't we? We really looked at many of these chapters
have to do the same stories and the same events of the Assyrian takeover
and then Isaiah is warning the southern kingdom of Judah
that the same thing's going to happen to them, but of course it's going to happen to them by the hand
of the Babylonians. If they don't repent, if they don't get things right with God, the same thing
is going to happen to the southern kingdom of Judah. All right, let's go to
2 Kings 18 now. Let's go to 2 Kings 18.
So the northern kingdom's been wiped out by the Assyrian king.
2 Kings 18.
Now, what we're about to read
just confirms for us that not only was Hoshea, the king of Israel,
giving presents and gifts and bribes
to the king of Assyria, but Hezekiah, who was
a godly king for the southern kingdom of Judah, started to do the
same thing. Like, he became fearful of the Assyrian empire
and he starts to give presents and bribes to the king of Assyria as well.
So when we get to 2 Kings 18, verse number 13,
it says, Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah
did Sennacherib, king of Assyria, come up against
all the fenced cities of Judah and took them. So now not just the
northern kingdom, now they're attacking the southern kingdom. I hope that makes sense, okay?
And look at verse number 14. And Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent
to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying,
I have offended. So, because he stopped giving these
bribes. So now he's like, I've offended you king of Assyria.
He says, Return from me that which thou putest on me
will I bear. He goes, look, I'll go back and pay
whatever it is that you wanted us to pay. And it says here,
And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah
three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
So this is a large portion of the wealth of Judah.
Alright, you want to make things right between me and you king Hezekiah,
you've got to pay this silver, you've got to pay this gold.
Now, if you know the history, king Hezekiah, we've looked at him many times already,
he is a godly king. He starts well.
Then he has a time of weakness. And then he has another time
of weakness. But he ends well. He ends his life well. Like God,
he's definitely a saved man. You know, he did that which is right in the sight of God.
But even a man who is righteous before God also can make mistakes,
also has times in his life when he's weak, and he's lost trust
in the Lord. Now, when it comes to Hezekiah, he's already
familiar with the prophet Isaiah. He knows that Isaiah is
again, you spend your own time looking at the history of these people, but Isaiah
has prophesied, has preached many times, he's
encouraged Hezekiah in the preaching. So Hezekiah knows that
Isaiah is a legitimate prophet. But even then, instead of
going to God, instead of going to Isaiah and saying, Isaiah, what do we do?
The king of Assyria is asking, all this gold and silver from us.
Instead of putting his expectation on God, what does he do?
It says here, look what he does, it's so crazy, verse 15.
So King Hezekiah, as they're trying to get their bounty together for the king
of Assyria, says, look, there's not enough, we haven't got enough silver, we haven't
got enough gold to make it up to the king of Assyria. And then his thought
is, well, we've got plenty of silver, we've got plenty of gold in God's house.
So let's go to the temple of God, you know, and burn
down those, whatever it is, and take the gold and give it to the king. Like,
this is a point of weakness in his life. Verse number 16
says, at that time, did Hezekiah cut off
the gold from the doors of the temple of the
Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah, king of Judah,
had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.
You may recall that when Hezekiah became king, that he restored the temple, he fixed
up the temple, they brought the gold and the silver, so what he's saying here, like,
even he's the one that got those doors fixed, he's the one that put the gold
in the doors, but now he's removing the gold of the doors, and because of
the fear of the king of Assyria, he's handing that over as the bounty, as the
bribery back to the king of Assyria. So, definitely
a point of weakness, and both kings, northern kingdom of Israel, southern king
of Judah, fearful about the king of Assyria.
Now, I hope that kind of gives you a picture of what's happening
historically, then we get to Isaiah 20, so, you know, but keep a finger
in 2 Kings 18, keep a finger in 2 Kings 18. Come back with me to Isaiah 20
and verse number 1, then it says, in the year that
Tartan, remember Tartan's a general of the army there,
came unto Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent
him, and fought against Ashdod and took it, so now we're getting
to this point, when Tartan has been sent by the king of Assyria,
now come back with me to 2 Kings 18, come back with me to 2 Kings 18
and look at verse number 17, 2 Kings 18
verse number 17, it says, and the king of
Assyria sent Tartan, so there he is, and
Rabcerus and Rabshikah from Lakish to king
Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem,
and they went up and came to Jerusalem, and when they were come up
they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool
which is in the highway of the fool's field.
So Hezekiah's, you know, just ransacked the house of God,
he's given the gold and the silver, and still the king
of Assyria is not satisfied, in fact, he's made the decision
at this point that we're going to take over Judah, we're going to capture Judah for ourselves.
Just like they did the northern kingdom of Israel.
It says here in verse number 18,
And Rabshiki
said unto them, speak ye now to Hezekiah.
So they call him, Hezekiah, come out, we want to talk to you.
Hezekiah is afraid, he sends these other men, so these other men are the messengers
for Hezekiah. So they say now, speak ye now to
Hezekiah, pass this message to your king, thus saith the great king,
the king of Assyria, look at this, what confidence is this
wherein thou trusted?
Now we said the title of the sermon was, such is our expectation.
They're asking the question, what is your confidence,
King Hezekiah? Who are you trusting in?
Again, the response should be, our Lord God is who we're trusting in.
That should be the response. But he's gone to the house of God.
And he's ransacked it, right? He's in a state of spiritual weakness.
Look at verse number 20.
Sorry, let me get a drink.
Verse number 20.
Thou sayest, but they are but vain words,
I have counsel and strength for the war,
now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest
against me? So he's saying to Hezekiah, you think you've got strength
to fight us, right? You think you're ready to battle with us.
Okay, who is it that you're trusting, that you've rebelled against the king of Assyria?
Look what he says in verse number 21. Now behold,
thou trusted, so he knows this already, thou trusteth upon the staff
of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt.
He says to King Hezekiah, even you're
trusting in Egypt. He calls it the bruised reed, it's a reed
that's already been taken down. He says that Egyptians are weak
and your trust is in them. Just like the northern kingdom
was trusting in Egypt.
And then he goes, on which if a man lean,
it will go into his hand and pierce it.
So is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him.
He says, you can't trust Pharaoh the king of Egypt.
If you lean upon him, it says that he's basically going to backstab you.
It says on which the man lean, it will go into his hand. Your trust in the king
of Egypt and you're going to be thrust through by your hand because the king of Egypt
is not powerful enough to deliver you from the hands of the Assyrians.
So he says, look, your trust is in the wrong place. And that's correct, their trust is in the
wrong place. But look at verse number 22. But if you say
unto me, we trust in the Lord our God,
so if you say your trust in your God is not that he
whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah have
taken away and have said to Judah and Jerusalem
you shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem.
He says, look, how can you trust in this God
when you've gone to the temple, taken the silver and the gold
and you've handed that all over to us. You see, he's showing
that the expectation of king Hezekiah is in the wrong places.
And he wasn't trusting God the way that he should have.
His trust was still in Egypt, in the Pharaoh, because obviously Pharaoh
and the king of Assyria did not get along.
So that brings you up to speed. When we get to
Isaiah 20, we know what's been happening.
Then comes Isaiah, God gives a word to Isaiah and he starts to
prophesy from Isaiah 20. So come back with me to Isaiah 20.
Isaiah 20. Alright, Isaiah 20. So
in quick summary, the Assyrian empire comes,
the northern kingdom of Israel is strengthened by Egypt. They're like, we're not going to give
into the Assyrian king anymore and then they get taken over.
The Egyptian king was no help to them. Then Assyria comes to Judah, the southern kingdom.
Judah's also trusted in Egypt. Hopefully Egypt comes through and helps
us. And he says, look, that's not going to help you at all. And you have not been
trusting your God like you say you might. And then we have
Isaiah with his prophecy. Verse number 2. Isaiah 20.
Verse number 2. At the same time,
spake the Lord by Isaiah the son of Amos, saying,
Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins,
and put off thy shoe from thy foot.
And he did so, walking naked
and barefoot. What a sight. Look at verse number 3.
And the Lord said, Like as my servant Isaiah have
walked naked and barefoot three years,
for a sign and wonder upon Egypt
and upon Ethiopia. So this sign
of Isaiah walking around naked was a sign for Egypt and
for Ethiopia. Now, obviously,
look, I don't know if Isaiah is
naked 24-7, 365 days a year for
three years. I don't know if that's the case. I don't know if he's like, once he's done, he like,
maybe he just gets naked when he's preaching and then he comes home and does what he needs to do at home.
And when he's out preaching again, he's out naked again. You know, again, King Hezekiah
knows Isaiah as well. So he has a respect for Isaiah.
Maybe, like, we don't get a lot of information as to what's happening, okay? Like, we're kind of left
to our imagination of what's really taking place here. But, you know, it could be that
Hezekiah, of course, you know, looks up to Isaiah. It could be that he's allowed
Isaiah to come into the palace and to preach in the palace in front
of the men there so that way he's not ashamed. He doesn't show his shame to the women or to the children.
That could be playing out as well. You know, at the end of the day, we don't have a lot of
information how this is happening. But we learn something about Isaiah.
That when God asks him to preach naked, he does it.
And he does it for three years.
I mean, if God said to me, preach naked,
I mean, I'm sorry.
I mean, if I did it tonight, there's no more churches there.
You're not coming back on Sunday. You're not coming back next week for sure.
I mean, if I just started preaching naked, it would be, this is like
broadcasting live on YouTube, right? This would be the talk of Australia.
You know, I'm going to have radio stations ringing me up. You know, can you tell us what's
been happening? We're going to have the media ringing me. Can we interview you naked
like you preach at church? Obviously, if this is happening,
it's going to capture the attention of everybody. Okay, like this is
something so unusual. But
the Lord asked and he obeyed. Okay, it shows us the heart,
the humility of Isaiah that he would do such
a thing. Like, I think if it was me, I'd be like Jonah. I'd try to run
away. I'd get on the first ship to another nation.
That's probably what I would do if God asked me to preach naked. Now, of course, he's not going to
ask that from us. This was a sign specifically for Egypt and
Ethiopia, but it was a sign for the people of Judah to see.
Okay, because you can think about people on the land just going, man,
this crazy Isaiah, like he had a good
reputation. He had a good testimony. He had good sermons.
And now he's just lost his way looking, going crazy, preaching naked.
But this was a constant reminder for three years
that their expectation should not be on Egypt.
Their expectation should not be on Ethiopia. We'll have a look at what took
place in a moment. But when it says here, and before we
get into the rest of it, because again, it's a very short chapter in Isaiah 20,
I want to just speak about nudity very quickly. Because when it says here,
sorry, I'm just trying to say, oh, no.
Actually, if you drop down to verse number four quickly,
it says, so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners,
we're going to talk about this in a moment, but it says, and the Ethiopians captives
young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks
uncovered to the shame of Egypt. All right, so what we learn
here is that what God considers nudity or what God considers
nakedness is having your buttocks uncovered.
Okay, this is what, this is what, this is the standard
according to God's word. So, you know, it's not,
I don't see it so much now, but I remember when I was a teenager, there was a look that
girls had where they had like these really low pants and
kind of their butts were kind of sticking out from the front. Look, even if it's just
a small portion of the buttocks on show, God says
this is nakedness. Like going to the beach and putting on
some g-string, something like that, or men
wearing a, what do you call them, budgie smuggler, what do you call them?
Speedos, whatever. You know, any sign of your buttocks according to God
is nakedness. Okay, it's nakedness. Come with me to
Isaiah 47 quickly. Come with me to Isaiah 47, verse number 2.
Isaiah 47, verse number 2. Now, I don't want
anyone to walk away from this and go, well, God
fired me going to the nudist beach because Isaiah did it. I mean,
Isaiah was preaching naked. Well, I don't know, did God tell you to go to,
God did not tell you to go to the nudist beach. God did not tell you to walk around naked
and show your buttocks. Now, of course, when we think of nakedness, we just think of
a man or a woman who is just completely without clothing. But God actually
narrows down what nakedness is. In Isaiah 47,
verse number 2, it says, take the millstones and grind
mill. Uncover thy locks. Make bare
the leg. Uncover the thigh.
Pass over the rivers. Thy nakedness
shall be uncovered. Yea, thy shame shall
be seen. I will take vengeance and I will not
meet thee as a man. So what else is nakedness
here in Isaiah? It says, uncover the thigh,
in verse number 2, in verse number 3, thy nakedness shall be
uncovered. According to God, your uncovered
thigh is nakedness as well. So it goes
from your hips where your buttocks begins down to your knees. If you
show any part of that skin, God says it is
nakedness. Not only nakedness, in verse number 3, thy nakedness shall
be uncovered. Yea, thy shame shall be seen.
God says if these parts of your body are on show,
you should be ashamed of it. This is your shame. God expects
you to cover these parts of your body. It's
hard to preach this in Australia, because the number one sport in Australia is
AFL, isn't it?
Is it? Rugby league, well whatever, both of those sports.
Both of those sports. Those men have the shortest shorts.
Their nakedness is uncovered. And if you say, I love watching a pastor,
shame! Shame!
Look, and I understand it takes time to
for people to adjust, because we're so used to our culture, and
our culture would never say, look if your thighs are on show,
it's nakedness. All I'm showing you here from God's word, it is nakedness.
I'm going to the beach, I'm going to the pool. If I can
see your butt, it's nakedness. In fact, I don't want to see it.
You know one thing that's wonderful about the Sunshine Coast
is that there's so much beach. You can go somewhere quiet.
You don't have to go to the main beaches where there's nakedness.
Or you can avoid, of course, you can avoid the school holidays,
the public holidays, and go when things are quieter. You know when most people
are at work and kids are at school, you can enjoy those places
a lot more without having to see all kinds of nakedness before you.
But I want you to be careful as God's people, like this is
shame in the eyes of the Lord. Come with me to another passage, come with me
to Exodus chapter 28 please. Exodus 28.
It's the same for man and woman, there's no difference. It's not like, well ladies
you need to make sure your thighs are covered. Men, you need to make sure your thighs are covered.
Exodus 28, Exodus 28
and verse number 42.
Exodus 28 and verse number 42.
Now this is God instructing Moses and Aaron
how to serve in the tabernacle, which would eventually become the temple
of the Lord. And they were to dress a certain way, they had to be
cleansed, they had to be washed, they had to go through certain rituals to make sure
that as they go and serve the Lord, that outwardly they are representing
God's glory and God's holiness. And then what God
says in Exodus 28 verse number 42, it says
make them, that's the priests, linen breeches.
Breeches or, you know it's just another way of pants.
Linen breeches, look at this, to cover their nakedness.
Say what's the standard passage?
It says there, from the loins even unto the thighs shall
they reach. So God says, well what's going to cover there?
Your buttocks, your thighs, that's how long it's got to be.
Now obviously they can be longer than that, but that's the standard.
You know if we want to cover your nakedness as you go into God's house
to serve the Lord, you need to make sure it's covered.
Now look at what it says in verse number 43, this should alert you.
If you're not in the habit, you've never heard a sermon like this before, like you don't know the standards
I'm not blaming you, I don't walk around like, look I don't prepare
a sermon for one person or two people or a family, you know this is
where we're up to, Isaiah chapter 20, we've got to cover our nakedness.
But this is why it's so important to God that they get this right
as they serve in the house of the Lord. Because in verse number 43 it says
and they shall be upon Aaron and upon his sons
when they come in unto the tabernacle of the congregation
and remember the tabernacle was the house of the Lord in the Old Testament
or when they come near unto the altar to minister in the
holy place that they bear not iniquity
and die.
It shall be a statute forever unto him
and his seed after him.
Now of course there's a long list of things that they had to do to come and serve in the house of the Lord
but one of those things was to cover their nakedness
and God says if they come showing their thighs, if their thighs
are on show, if their buttocks are on show, God says I'm going to kill them
as they come into the house of the Lord.
How can you not take this seriously?
God's expectation on those coming to the house of the Lord, the tabernacle of the congregation
how they ought to dress. Now look, I don't have
some dress code
for church. You've got to come with a jacket, like if you're going to preach
come with your tie at least. But if you want to come to the house of the Lord
and you want to look casual, I don't care. I don't care.
But look, can we at least take this into consideration. The house of the Lord in the New Testament
is here for you guys, blessed of the Baptist Church
and before I come to the house of the Lord to worship him and to serve him
we are made priests in the New Testament. The Bible says we're kings
and priests. Our great high priest is Jesus Christ. Can we not
say, look I better make sure my thighs are covered. I don't care
how you dress at home, but can't you go maybe those shorts I'm wearing at home is just not
good enough for God's standard. I'm going to make sure when I go to the house of the Lord
I better put on some pants that covers my thighs
or God might very well kill me. And maybe you've never seen that passage
before. Maybe you've never seen it, now you've seen it. So you can't walk
away thinking God doesn't mind. No, God would be willing to kill
those serving the house of the Lord if they weren't dressed properly.
We need to cover our shame. We need to cover our nakedness.
And so I want to speak about that just a little bit as we're going through
because I was always dressing naked and again I don't want
look, I'll tell you why. Because there's someone that I know
I don't talk to them anymore. They're crazy. They've gone down
that preaches naked.
Like somebody that I know from my past, he's a downright reprobate
you know, just a full blown homosexual that we thought was
saved many, many years ago. And I know today that he and his
buddy, they go to large churches because that's where they want the audience
and they strip naked and they're preaching against the pastor
they're preaching against the church and they look at Isaiah 20 and go
well God told Isaiah to do it, why can't we do it?
Look, there is that extreme and I know, I know, I know the person
there are extremes, okay. Like people go nuts
they go crazy. Look, obviously Isaiah's not gone nuts
Isaiah's simply humbling himself before God and saying God well if you
said so, then obviously this is not sin against you.
And you know, being naked necessarily
with husband and wife being naked, that's no shame, okay.
There's a proper place between husband and wife to be naked, okay. And also
in the Bible you find other passages that if a man is naked, let's say
I mean I don't even like the idea, but let's say you're in a, I don't know, you're
hitting the gym or something right, and you go into a shower and it's all men, different men
having showers, like that's not a sin in of itself. Like you're not out there publicly
promoting your nakedness or trying to attract the opposite sex or trying to
be, you know, perverse towards children or anything like that.
Of course, again, when I think of Isaiah doing this, there's probably
certain, you know,
considerations that he's considered as he's going, and I'm sure Hezekiah the king has also
considered, you know, where is the best place for Isaiah to preach naked, but
at the end of the day this has obviously caught the attention of the entire nation,
okay. And he's doing this for three years. Three years doing this non-stop
preaching and showing his nakedness as a
sign eventually toward Egypt and Ethiopia.
So come back with me to Isaiah 20 please.
Come back with me to Isaiah 20, Isaiah 20
and verse number four. Well actually let's read verse number three again.
And the Lord said, like as my servant Isaiah
have walked naked and barefoot three years, for
a sign and a wonder upon Egypt and upon
Ethiopia. So shall the king of Assyria
lead away the Egyptians' prisoners and the
Ethiopians' captives, young and old,
naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered
to the shame of Egypt. So it says the reason Isaiah's
been doing that the whole time, being naked, it was a sign. So when Judah
who were trusting in Egypt, Egypt you're going to help us
against the Assyrians. Well when they see the Assyrians
take over Egypt and take over Ethiopia and they see
these people taken captive, taken prisoners, you know, and
they're being stripped naked. And they're being seen, this huge
number of people, these huge populations being taken away captive, barefoot
walking barefoot naked, that this would remind the people of Judah,
hold on, this is what Isaiah's been warning us about.
Our expectation wasn't Egypt and now
they're naked. Now their buttocks is on show. Now
look at the shame of Egypt. We put our expectation
on the wrong place. That's the whole point of Isaiah
preaching like this. It's so crazy. But to remind
them, hold on, God was right this whole time. Isaiah was
right this whole time. We thought he went crazy. We thought
he went insane. But he had his sanity and obviously he was
being directed by God to do exactly what he's been asked to
do as he's preached naked. So that's the whole point behind it, okay?
To show what's going to happen as a prophecy of Egypt
and Ethiopia. And look at verse number
five. And they shall be afraid and
ashamed of Ethiopia, their expectation
and Egypt, their glory. So they'll expect
in both Egypt and Ethiopia that you guys are going to help us out against these Syrians aren't you?
Like if they come and take over us, we can run to you, you send your
armies and we'll fight together before they can have their
expectation, their hope on those nations. Assyria's already wiped them out.
Verse number six. And the inhabitants of this isle.
I know we think of isle as island, but it's just a reference to the southern kingdom of Judah.
Because it's on the other side of the Red Sea. You'll find other passages in the Bible that
refers to Judah as an isle. But anyway, and the inhabitants of this isle shall
say in that day, behold, such is our expectation.
They're like, look at them go, naked.
That was our expectation. They've been taken away captive by these Syrians.
That's who we hoped for. That's who we were trusting in. That's who we were expecting to come
through to help us. Look at them walk away naked.
Whither we flee for help to be delivered
from the king of Assyria. And how shall we escape?
They're like, who do we flee to? Who do we turn to?
Egypt's been taken over. Ethiopia's been taken
over. Who do we run to now against the king of Assyria? How shall we
escape? So that's the end of Isaiah chapter 20.
Now, when we look at Isaiah 20, we're also looking at the
20th book of the Bible, which is? After Psalms.
That was an easy one. Proverbs. Who said Proverbs? Well done, Daniel.
So let's go to Proverbs. Let's go to Proverbs chapter 10.
Let's not end this sermon on a bad note
for Judah. Let's take away the lessons. Let's say, boy, your expectation,
your trust, your confidence was on the wrong place. So what can we learn out of this?
In Proverbs 10, 28. Proverbs 10, 28.
The Bible says, the hope of the righteous
shall be gladness, but the expectation of the wicked
shall perish. So what are the wicked
expecting to come through their hope and their future?
God says that hope will perish. But rather, the hope
of the righteous shall be gladness. Brethren, that's you
and I. We are the righteous. Our hope is on who?
On our Lord God. He's always ready to help us.
He's always ready to hear our prayers. He's always ready to go
to the battle for us. That will give us gladness.
But brethren, if we have our expectations on some
other foreign nation, if we have our hope and trust on
man, even on a pastor, or anything, brethren,
it's going to perish. Those expectations, those hope and trust,
it's going to fail you. Of course, our Lord God will never
fail us. Come on into Proverbs 11. Proverbs 11, verse number 7.
Proverbs 11, verse number 7.
When a wicked man dieth, his expectation
shall perish, and the hope of unjust men
perish. Okay, so a wicked man, you can't,
whatever a wicked man is trusting when they perish, right, we're trusting
in Jesus Christ, His blood, His sacrifice, His death,
burial, resurrection, His payment for sin, that He's paid our way to
heaven. That's our expectation when we pass away.
But the expectation of the wicked will perish. Whatever they're trusting
in, their false religion, their good works, their riches,
their reputation, whatever their expectation is in, when they
perish, brethren, it's not going to appease our Lord God.
It's not going to make them righteous before God.
Come on into Proverbs chapter 3. Proverbs chapter 3, please.
Proverbs chapter 3.
So we can see from both sides of I 20 in the book of Proverbs, we need to
make sure that our expectation is on our Lord God.
Our trust, our hope is on our Lord God. Like even if
the nation of Australia is being taken over, you know, there's warfare, there's some
foreign power wanting to take our resources and our strength from us.
You know, we shouldn't be, as Australians, going, boy, I hope the Americans
step in and help us. As God's people, we have to be saying, Lord,
come through and make sure your people are going to be taken care of,
regardless of the outcome, our expectation on our Lord
God. And you guys know these passages, Proverbs 3.5,
probably some of the most famous verses in the Bible.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not
unto thine own understanding. So what was the understanding
of King Hoshea and King Hezekiah for a period of time?
They thought, let's just make, you know, allegiances with Egypt and Ethiopia.
Look, sometimes, I think
it's hard, because we function in the world
and when we're going through a tough time, we quickly resort
to, you know, earthly matters, maybe
to deliver us and to help us. Maybe we look at our bank account and go,
well, I think I'll be fine because I've got, you know, $5,000 in the bank account.
I think we're going to be okay. Look, I hope you've got $5,000 in the bank account. I hope you've
got it ready for a rainy day, whatever that amount is. But look, don't put your expectation
on that amount. Put your expectation on the one
who gave you the amount. Right? That's the key behind this.
But we often, you know, our understanding is to trust
in the fleshly strength of man, rather than our Lord God.
In verse number 6 it says, in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall
direct thy paths. I believe that with all my heart.
Whichever way I go, you know, obviously not sinful ways or worldly
ways, but as I go through life, if I just make sure I always honour
my God and my expectation is on him, that he's going to direct
me in the paths of righteousness. He's already proven that. I'm sure he's proven that
in your life. Drop down a little bit further, verse number 23,
Proverbs 3.23. Then shall they walk
in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.
Do you believe these words? I can walk,
I can get through life safely. I don't have to stumble,
I don't have to fall if I always acknowledge my God
in every way that I go. Verse number 24, when thou liest
down, thou shalt not be afraid. Yea, when thou lie
down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.
That's a harder one, right? When you're going through difficulties, sometimes those thoughts
and concerns are plaguing your mind, and you just can't sleep, you're not getting enough sleep,
you're thinking, you're worried. But when that happens,
and I'm sure it's happened to you, but when this happens, it's showing you
that your expectation is not on God. You haven't fully
trusted him. You haven't fully said, Lord, I don't know what I'm, it's all about to
fall apart. Lord, I'm about to be destroyed. My life's about to fall apart,
and you need to get to a point where you ever say, Lord, I don't know what I'm doing anymore, I can't do it.
I've got to just trust in you, and you alone, and I'm going to go to sleep.
You've got to be able to do that. Lord, it's in your hands, and
I know it's in your hands. I can't carry it. Lord, you take care of it.
You're a bigger God. You're my expectation. I'm going to go to sleep,
and I'm going to let you take care of it. You've got to get to that point in life.
If you struggle to sleep from concerns and fears and worries,
then your expectation hasn't been fully put on our Lord God.
Your sleep will be sweet according to these verses.
These are promises. These aren't just words written there
for some nice feeling. That feels nice.
That reads really well. It's so we can look at this and go, you know what, God,
I want to claim this promise in your Word for me.
Verse number 25 says, be not afraid of sudden fear,
neither of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh. For the Lord shall be
thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.
The Lord will be your confidence. Is the Lord God your confidence?
Is the Lord God your expectation? Come with me to one more passage,
and we're done. Come with me to Psalm 62. Psalm 62 and verse number 5.
These are some of my favorite verses in the book of Psalm.
Psalm 62, verse number 5. The psalmist says, my soul,
wait thou only... I'll read that again.
Wait thou only upon God,
for my expectation is from
Him. He says the only one I'm expecting
to come through and to help me is God, and only God.
He's not like, I'm going through a problem, Lord help me,
but I'm also expecting my parents to help me, I'm expecting my church to come and help me,
I'm expecting Pastor Kevin to come through for me, I'm expecting my boss to come through with me,
my workplace to come through for me, because my only expectation is from God.
You're the only one that can help me in a time of trouble.
He says in verse number 6, He only is my rock and my salvation.
He is my defense. I shall not be moved.
Man, I want to be that man.
I shall not be moved. No matter what happens, Lord,
I'm going to stand sure on your word, on your promises, and I know you're going to come
through, you're my only hope, you're my only trust, you're my only expectation.
Verse number 7, in God is my salvation,
in my glory, the rock of my strength and my refuge is in God.
Trust in Him at all times, ye people,
pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge
for us, Selah. And I love verse number 9 as well.
He says, surely men of low degree of vanity,
means empty. Like, they can't do anything for you.
So they go like, men of low degree, let's say people that are just your average
you know, let's say your average, what do you call them,
middle income average earners or even people that are low in that.
It says men of low degree of vanity, like they can't help me. But then the thought is
well maybe men of a higher social class can help me.
Maybe the politicians and the rich men, they can help me.
But then it says, and men of high degree are a lie.
To be laid in the balance.
They are altogether lighter than vanity.
He says you're trusting men in low degree, okay put them in the balance.
You're trusting men in high degree, put them on the same sort of balance.
And on the other side we're going to put vanity. And he says they are lighter
than vanity. So trusting in nothing,
is better than trusting in all the men in the world.
That's what he's saying. Why? Because he goes, the Lord is my rock, he's my salvation,
he's my strength, he's my expectation. He only is my rock and my
salvation. That's true.
When you guys come to me, and nothing wrong with it, say pastor I'm going
for a difficulty, can you pray for me? Praise God. Or you go to the
church chat, guys are going for difficulty, pray for me. Yeah yeah, we'll pray and
that's the right approach. But what's wonderful
and don't stop doing that, because when we're doing that, we're going yeah yeah yeah, we'll pray for you
we'll go to God, our expectation, and we expect him
to come through and help you. We're not trusting in the
men who are praying, we're trusting in the God who we are praying to.
And of course when the Lord God hears our prayers as a church,
obviously that's going to touch his heart when he sees an entire church coming together
for the need of a brother or sister in the Lord in our church.
In conclusion brethren, such is our expectation with the words
of the people of Judah. And when they said those words, such is our expectation, they were
talking about Egypt, they were talking about Ethiopia. Poor king
Hezekiah, I mean he has ups and downs in his life. But
at the end of this sermon I want you to ask yourself the question, what is your expectation?
And I hope you can say confidently, Jesus is my expectation.
Jesus is my strength. He is my fortress. He is my refuge.
He is my salvation. He is my Lord. Alright brethren, let's pray.