Amen. Okay, Isaiah chapter 32 now. Last week in chapter 31, it was quite a short chapter,
just nine verses there, Isaiah continued to warn them about relying on Egypt when the
Assyrians were to come. And he didn't just leave it from the chapter before, he repeated
the warning, and sometimes we need some repeated warnings to get right in life, don't we?
Like not relying on the world to help us, instead seek the Lord in hard times. It seemed
that the old workers of iniquity were at it again, trying to persuade God's people
to turn to Egypt. There were a couple of analogies of how the Lord was going to defend Jerusalem
as a roaring lion against the multitudes of shepherds. We saw one and then as a bird looking
down, defending, delivering and preserving his people. And then finally we saw how his
deliverance was going to come once they cast away, once they cast away the idols of gold
and silver. It said in verse 7, for in that day every man shall cast away his idols of
silver and his idols of gold which your own hands have made unto you for a sin. Then shall
the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man and the sword, not of a mean man
shall devour him, but he shall flee from the sword and his young men shall be discomfited.
And he shall pass over to his stronghold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the
ensign saith the Lord, whose fire is in Zion and his furnace in Jerusalem. And in Isaiah
31 verse 1 starts like this, Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes
shall rule in judgment. I'd like to pray then we'll get started. Father, thank you for your
word, thank you for the book of Isaiah, thank you for this chapter, Lord, of what we can
learn from it. Help me to preach it accurately and clearly and boldly, Lord, and in a way
that everyone will just, you know, want to apply it to their lives, want to learn from
it, Lord, will want to think about it, will want to focus upon what your word's saying,
Lord, not, you know, not necessarily, you know, what I'm saying. But what does your
word say, Lord? Help everyone to just take it to heart, apply it to their lives, fill
with your spirit as I do that, please, in Jesus' name, I pray, Amen. Okay, so, Behold,
a king shall reign in righteousness and princes shall rule in judgment. So the first fulfilment
is on the back of the defeat of the Assyrians, okay. As we've just seen in the previous chapter,
turn over to 2 Chronicles 32, 2 Chronicles 32, obviously keep something in Isaiah 32,
turn over to 2 Chronicles 32, where we're going to look at what happened after this
great victory. So we've just finished the chapter before showing that the Assyrian was
going to fall by the sword, we saw it was ultimately the sword of an angel, okay, and
now we're kind of, you know, continuing this sort of prophecy on the back of this. And
in 2 Chronicles 32, the 2 Chronicles account of this event, it says this from verse 22.
So 2 Chronicles 32 verse 22 says this, Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, from the hand of all
other and guided them on every side. Okay, so we notice how he guided them on every side,
right? And many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem and presents to Hezekiah king
of Judah, so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth. In
those days Hezekiah was sick to the death and prayed unto the Lord, and he spake unto
him and he gave him a sign. So there was then this blip after this point, okay, so we've
seen that he was guided on every side. We saw in verse 23 they brought gifts. Okay,
then it says this in verse 25, But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit
done unto him, for his heart was lifted up. Therefore there was wrath upon him and upon
Judah and Jerusalem, but he then sorts it out and things improve. Verse 26 says, Notwithstanding
Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah. And
Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honour, and he made himself treasuries for silver
and for gold and for precious stones and for spices and for shields and for all manner
of pleasant jewels. Storehouses also for the increase of corn and wine and oil, and stalls
for all manner of beasts and coats for flocks. Moreover he provided him cities and possessions
of flocks and herds in abundance, for God had given him substance very much. So don't
leave here, but for me this is what Isaiah is prophesying of in Isaiah 32.1, where it
said, Behold a king shall reign in righteousness and princes shall rule in judgment, with God's
favour on the rest of Hezekiah's reign, ultimately being a reflection of his righteousness as
a king, really, on the whole. 2 Kings 18.6 said of him, you don't have to turn there,
but it said, For he clave to the Lord, and departed not from following him, but kept
his commandments which the Lord commanded. Moses, sort of one of the, you know, part
of the summary of his life. So the result was God's blessing on his reign, agreed?
So on the back of that, the result was his blessing like we just saw from verse 27. Hezekiah
had exceeding much riches and honour, and he made himself treasuries for silver and
for gold and for precious stones and for spices and for shields and for all manner of pleasant
jewels. So things were going well in the kingdom. Storehouses also for the increase of corn
and wine and oil and stalls for all manner of beasts and coats for flocks. Moreover,
he provided him cities and possession of flocks and herds in abundance, for God had given
himself to this very much. And we previously saw how the early part of Hezekiah's reign
pictured the millennial reign of Christ, okay? And we looked at that in quite a bit of depth,
you know, quite earlier on in this study. Well, in this period of life, I believe there's
another picture. So this period of Hezekiah's life, it's not now a picture of the millennial
reign. Let's have a look. It said in verse 23, and many brought gifts unto the Lord to
Jerusalem and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was magnified and a sight
of all nations from thenceforth. In those days, Hezekiah was sick to the death and prayed
unto the Lord and he spake unto him and he gave him a sign. Now notice how they're bringing
gifts to him, with him seemingly representing the Lord, right? Okay, they're bringing gifts
to the Lord, they're bringing gifts to him, right? This precedes his sickness unto death.
Now turn over to 2 Kings 20, you can leave now the second Chronicles account, turn over
to 2 Kings 20, which goes into greater detail about that sickness and the events surrounding
it. The second Kings account, 2 Kings 20, you're turning to, of Hezekiah's sickness
tells us this in chapter 20. 2 Kings and chapter 20 says it from verse 1. In those days was
Hezekiah sick unto death and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amos came to him and said unto
him, Thus saith the Lord, set thine house in order for thou shalt die and not live.
So it was certain death at this point, right? The Lord's saying it as well. Then he turned
his face to the wall and prayed unto the Lord saying, I beseech thee, O Lord, remember how
now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that
which is good in thy sight and Hezekiah wept sore. And it came to pass afore Isaiah was
gone out into the middle court that the word of the Lord came to him saying, Turn again
and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people. Thus saith the Lord, the God of David, thy
father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears. Behold, I will heal thee. On the
third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord. When was Hezekiah to be healed?
On the third day, agreed. Verse 6, and I will add unto thy days 15 years and I will deliver
thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria and I will defend this city
for mine own sake, for my servant David's sake. It wasn't just to be the one victory
against a huge Assyrian empire, they would continue to be delivered from there, basically
protected from them. They never took over, they never managed to conquer Jerusalem after
this point. But on the back of this being healed from what was certain death on the
third day would be deliverance of his people from the king of Assyria. Okay, who for me,
you know, pictures the devil at times, right, or you could maybe say the Antichrist as well,
but I think at this point picturing the devil. He said in verse 7, Isaiah said take a lump
of figs and they took it and laid it on the boil and he recovered and Hezekiah said unto
Isaiah what shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I shall go up into the
house of the Lord the third day. So just in case we missed it, that third day is important
isn't it? Okay, make your point of it, we've seen it twice now. But he also asked for a
sign. So as well as his third day, he asked for a sign. Verse 9 says, and Isaiah said
this sign shalt thou have of the Lord that the Lord will do the thing that he have spoken,
shall the shadow go forward ten degrees or go back ten degrees? And Hezekiah answered,
it is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees, nay, but let the shadow return
backward ten degrees. And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord and he brought the shadow
ten degrees backward by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz. So this is a sundial,
okay, with a miracle seemingly being the time going back ten degrees. How much ten degrees
was would depend on this sundial, you know, I don't think there's a generic sundial to
understand how far that was, it was a sundial of King Ahaz, his father. But however much
it was, this was an amazing miracle, okay, he basically brought time backwards, brought
the day backwards, okay, by whatever amount. Now keep a finger here and go over to Luke
chapter 23. So if you keep a finger here in 2 Kings, go over to Luke chapter 23, where
the Lord Jesus Christ, who was also brought gifts for God, being God manifest in the flesh,
who was also prophesied to receive life again on the third day, was also the cause of an
amazing sign when it came to the sun preceding those three days. Okay, so in Luke chapter
23, the thief on the cross has just trusted him for salvation, verse 43, Luke 23, 43 says
this, and Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee today, shalt thou be with me in
paradise. And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth
until the ninth hour. That's an amazing miracle, isn't it? And the sun was darkened and the
veil of the temple was rent in the midst, and when Jesus had cried with a loud voice,
he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit, and having said thus, he gave up
the ghost. So this was the middle of the day and it went dark for three hours. What a sight.
Can you imagine being, just imagine seeing that now, imagine suddenly it just went dark
for three hours in the middle of the day. The sun was just dark and we'd all be a little
bit shaken up, weren't we, right? Wondering what's going on. What was the result of this
miracle for those there at the time? Well, verse 47 says, now when the centurion saw
what was done, he glorified God, saying certainly this was a righteous man. And translation,
by the way, if you're going, oh, well, why does he just think he's a good guy? Well translation,
Matthew's account says in Matthew 27, 54, that he said truly this was the Son of God.
When he's saying this was a righteous man, he's saying this was the Son of God, okay?
And all the people that came together to that site, verse 48, beholding the things
which were done, smote their breasts and returned. So what an amazing sight, okay? As was what
happened during Hezekiah's miraculous recovery from what seemed to be certain death, there's
this miraculous sign in the heavens, basically, there's basically day going back, and three
days later he's healed, right? Verse 8, verse 8, back where you were. In 2 Kings 20, he
said this in verse 8, and Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, what shall be the sign that the Lord
will heal me, that I shall go up into the house of the Lord the third day? And Isaiah
said, this shall thou have of the Lord, the Lord will do the thing that he hath spoken.
Shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees? And Hezekiah answered,
it is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees, nay, but let the shadow return
backward ten degrees. And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord, and he brought the shadow
ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz. So I believe that
Hezekiah is a pretty clear Christ picture. I think, hopefully, by now you would agree,
right? At this point in his life, he's a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ's first coming, but
specifically being his first coming death, burial, and resurrection, yeah? That's what
we're seeing here, right? Which should then help us to understand, I believe, what is
being prophesied of in Isaiah 32 and verse 1. So Isaiah 32, 1, and onwards, says this,
Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. So although
we've been looking a lot at the second coming and millennial ruling are reigning to come,
I think what we're going to now see after this verse is some events and truths that
precede that and are a result of Christ's first coming, which we saw is pictured by
Hezekiah after the defeat of the Assyrians, with verse 15 onwards here, I think being
the turning point when we then go into the millennial reign when Christ returns, but
not before that. So look at verse 13 though, it says here from verse 13 where we are in
Isaiah 32, Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briars, yea, upon all the
houses of joy and the joy of the city, because the palaces shall be forsaken, the multitude
of the city shall be left, the forts and towers shall be fordense forever, a joy of wild asses,
a pasture of flocks, until, this is verse 15 now, until the Spirit be poured upon us
from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and a fruitful field be counted for
a forest, then judgments shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the
fruitful field, and the work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness,
quietness and assurance forever. Okay, for me now we're into the millennial reign. But
before that time, Christ came the first time, and that man is that protection from the current
wind, the tempest, that shadow in a current weary land, not talking about now the land
under the millennial reign of Christ, this is pre that, right? It said here in verse
2, back in verse 2, it said, and a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a
covert from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as a shadow of a great rock
in a weary land. I don't believe that's talking about millennial reign, that's a Christian
life, isn't it? It's a man, Christ Jesus, that is a hiding place for us, isn't he? He's
a covert, a recovering, he's protection from the tempest, he sustains us with water in
a dry place, and he is the rock, it says here, that shadows us from the heat of the sun.
That's the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the Lord that's all those things, and he wants to protect
us, he's here for us, isn't he? But the protection isn't dependent upon how much you say you
love him. It's not, well, as long as I just say I love Jesus enough, you know, just keep
saying love Jesus, I just love him. That's not why he protects you, you know, that's
not what's needed for him to protect you. The protection isn't dependent upon wearing
a cross or whatever, you know, having some fish sign on your car. I think most autonomous
people aren't saying, but I don't know, right? Or even having scripture on your house or
on your car or whatever it is, etc. Any of those things. The protection comes, and it's
pretty simple, from doing as he tells you. And I know it sounds like a simple concept,
doesn't it? But how many people are just like, why isn't God protecting me? Why aren't
you protecting me? And it's pretty simple, okay? You have to turn to Psalm 119 and verse
114 says, thou art my hiding place and my shield, I hope in thy word. So he's basically
saying you're my hiding place and my shield. Why? Because I hope in your word. That's what
that's saying, right? Don't be the Christian that does what they want, does it their own
way and then says, why haven't you protected me? Why haven't you blessed me? Why haven't
you blessed my life? Why haven't you done, what's going on? But you're doing it your
way. You're not doing it God's way. So I was thinking about it this way. Say you've got
a security team, say, I don't know, maybe you've got some people, maybe like it got
really out of hand with the Muslims down here. And then fortunately, you've got a bit of
money you think, I'm going to get this security team. And you get this top security team.
And they tell you not to go somewhere. It's compromised. They say, look, you know, today
don't go down there because we've already scoped it out. There's people ready to take
you out. Yeah, don't go there. You wouldn't then go there and then blame them afterwards,
would you? You don't go there and maybe on your dying breath go, security team or whatever
it is, right? Maybe you survive, but it gets pretty rough. You know, that would be foolishness,
wouldn't it? You'd be like, well, we were told not to do that. We're told not, we're
told to go there. My security team said, go this way. Don't do this, do this. I did
the opposite. And now I just can't believe they didn't protect me. It'd be silly. How
silly would it be to go to the places, do the things that they're telling you not to
do, right? But that's believers all over this world, all over this world. They've got this,
the protection comes from God because he's telling you what to do and what not to do.
It's not just this sort of, well, we're just going to protect you just no matter what.
No, it's dependent, isn't it? That's what it comes from. It comes from the Word of God.
And then what happens as well, it's worse than that. This is how bad it is. They have
the security team. They have like the top notch security team. This is believers around
the world. We've got it there. It's all here. It's just like telling you what to do, what
not to do, where to go, where not to go. He's a light unto your feet, a lamp to your feet,
a light unto your body. It's all there. And then what they do is they go, yeah, but I'm
going to go over to the world's Donald Trump crew cut, you know, lesbian security team.
Anyone ever see any of the stuff for that when he got shown? Anyone see this? They're
fumbling for their guns. It's panicking and not knowing what to do. I'm going to go for
those guys instead. And then I'm going to go, I just can't believe it. I just don't know
what's happened. This is what people do. They have it all here. God tells them what to do,
what not to do, how to live that safe, that fruitful life, all those things. And instead
they go, yeah, I've got that, but I'm going to go to the world. I'm going to go to the
world's version of a security team, which is like the equivalent of Donald Trump's feminist
security team. And when it came to the crunch, they were panicking. They didn't know what
to do. They couldn't even get the gun out of the holster. It all went wrong, didn't it?
But that sadly is believers all over this world. All over this world. They'll go to
anyone often, barring the expert who's promised to help you. He's promised to help you. He
said he'd help you. He said he's there for you and they won't go to him. And of course
that expert is the Lord Jesus Christ. And it said in verse two, and a man shall be as
a hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest as rivers of water in a dry
place as a shadow of a great rock in a weary land. And the eyes of them that see shall
not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. And that's the results of
salvation, okay? The results of believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Once you see, you're
able to see more and more, aren't you? Once you hear, you're able to hearken and listen
to all his word. He said in the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of
them that hear shall hearken. The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge and
the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly. So the rash are what we
might call the hasty. Those that haven't put years into study, the impatient maybe,
will understand more than the unsaved scholars. Those who aren't gifted speakers will speak
more sense, the simplicity of the Gospel. And isn't that one of the many remarkable
things about the Gospel? You can get someone who's not a gifted speaker, who may be stutters
and stammers, you know, maybe they've got some impediments, you can get them to explain
the Gospel, and they will make more sense than the unsaved religious guy trying to explain
salvation. Won't they? You could have someone who just can barely string a sentence together,
you could have someone who's not gifted at all, and you get them to explain the Gospel
and they'll make more sense, then you go to an unsaved person and go, well what is it
then you have to do? And suddenly, with a couple of questions, there's all sorts of
lists, they don't even know themselves, there's always conditions, they just can't,
they just don't know what to say. So instead they'll just say things like, oh yeah of course
I believe in God, I don't want a guy to die, oh it's grace, oh okay, but you've just said
you could lose your salvation, yeah it's grace though, so how can you lose your salvation?
And then they just start coming out with all sorts of weird stuff about Old Testament people
losing the Holy Spirit, and just like mad, they just don't understand it, and they just
make more and more, they just basically make less and less sense, and they sound more and
more foolish and more and more complicated, and it just doesn't make any sense. Now turn
to 1 Corinthians 1, where Paul tells us of this irony in life, where when it comes to
the Gospel, it's so simple, the Gospel is just so simple isn't it, that the prideful
intellectual types find it so hard to get to grips with because it's just so simple.
Especially the fact that they need it talked to them by some foolish believer, this is
a real stumbling block for them, they just can't, they can't cope with that. If you notice
those people that think they're a bit intellectual when you're trying to explain the Gospel,
in general they want to go home to look at it themselves, or I need to go home and study
that myself because they just cannot, they can't get to grips with the fact that someone
who's just a regular guy, a regular girl, a regular child, can show them the Gospel
and they can get saved. It says here in 1 Corinthians 1.18,
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which
are saved – notice it's not being saved, yeah, notice that it might be saved in the
future, it's are saved, if you're saved you're saved – it is the power of God.
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the
understanding of the prudent, and talking about the wise according to the world, the
prudent according to the world. Verse 20, Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where
is the disputer of this world? Have not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by
the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
Don't they consider us idiots with our Bibles in hand? You get these people, they walk past
you with your Bible in your hand, scoff, scorn, mock, you know, that even a no thank
you to a flyer is oft alone. You know, this sort of attitude, they think it's foolishness.
What do these people do walking around with Bibles, trying to talk to people, trying to
show people the Gospel? But verse 23 says, But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews
the stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called, both Jews
and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Which is one of the reasons
I'm wary of those that want to intellectualize the Gospel. And what is it, usually, when
people are trying to intellectualize the Gospel, make it into an intellectual exercise and
attempt to add some conditions of works? That's what it usually is. Some attempt to add conditions
of works or to take some credit for the Gospel, right? But it's as simple as this. Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried and that he rose again
the third day according to the Scriptures. And Jesus said, verily, verily, I say unto
you, he that believeth for me hath ever lost a life. It's as simple as that, really, isn't
it? In a nutshell, that's the Gospel. He died for our sins. Not some sins, which sins? He
died for our sins. That's all sins. Past, present, future sins. According to the Scriptures,
he was buried and he rose again the third day, and all you've got to do is believe in
him. It is that simple, isn't it? Now, of course, there's ways of showing that, there's
certain verses which help people to understand they're a sinner, they deserve help, you know
what the punishment for sin is, and, you know, the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God. He was who he said he was, he died, he rose again and paid for our sins. But once
you're saved, you're saved. And it's as simple as that. And once you hear, you hear. Once
you see, you see, and you're able to tell others as well, aren't you? And it says in
verse 3, and the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear
shall hearken. The heart also of the rash, sorry, back in Isaiah 32, the heart also of
the rash, verse 4, shall understand knowledge and the tongue of the stammer shall be ready
to speak plainly. Which, you know, with like we looked at in previous weeks, like we've
looked at in previous weeks, the indwelling Holy Spirit, okay, also called the Comforter,
helping us to see, to hear, to understand, to speak, okay? And we've looked at that a
few times over previous weeks, so we're not going to go there again, but it's because
of the Holy Spirit as well. John 14 26 says, but the Comforter, which is a Holy Ghost whom
the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things
to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. It's the Holy Spirit that brings
the Word of God to our remembrance, it's the Holy Spirit that guides us, helps us to
understand the Word of God, and it's after salvation, and that's why before salvation
you can never read the Bible and get saved. It just doesn't happen. And these people
that sometimes you talk to, and then they claim they did, and then when you get to the
bottom of it, either they're not saved or they go, oh yeah, someone did actually explain
it to me once as well. It goes from faith to faith, you know? Faith comes by hearing
here by the Word of God, and I don't believe you can just read the Bible and get saved.
Which is a difference here, where it talks about the Comforter for those in the New Testament,
with the complete Word of God and the indwelling Holy Spirit. Okay, so it's a New Testament
where the indwelling Holy Spirit brings all things to your remembrance whatsoever I've
said unto you. It's a New Testament where you now have the complete Word of God, and
we have it at our fingertips as well, which wasn't the case for many during many periods
of time in the Old Testament. We have the ability to understand more than the great
men of old. And with that, with the first coming of Christ in the New Testament, will
be the opportunity to be wise in life, to see things for what they are, won't it?
That's what happened. That's what we're able to, you know, we have that ability, we have
the full Word of God. There are things that, you know, like, lots of this, and even he
talks about in the Gospels, the Lord Jesus Christ, the things that he said and things
he's explained, things that people have basically could only have dreamed of in the Old Testament,
people would have loved to, you know, that wanted to hear this stuff and understand this
stuff. It's all here for you. It's all here. And then it helps us to be wise.
Verse 5, where you are, says, The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl
said to be bountiful. Now, liberal here being a good thing, okay, in case you've kind of
got, you know, political, you're looking with a political lens with this, yeah, it's someone
generous, it's someone giving. Now, although churl can mean rude, here it means miserly,
tight-fisted, but in an extreme, selfish, you know, often very bad sort of way. For
example, in 1 Samuel 25, you don't have to turn there, but the son of Belial, another
name for a reprobate, Nabal, was described as churlish. Okay, and I believe that he's
saying that the believer will see this for what it is. That's what he's saying in verse
5. He said, The vile person shall be no more called liberal, talked about in the New Testament,
right, nor the churl said to be bountiful. For, the vile person will speak villainy,
and his heart will work iniquity to practice hypocrisy, and to utter error against the
Lord to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty
to fail. The instruments also of the churl are evil. He devises wicked devices to destroy
the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right. But the liberal devises liberal
things, and by liberal things shall he stand. So another reason why I don't think this
is talking of the millennial reign itself, but, and obviously the vast, vast majority
of the millennial reign, I know at the end the devil stirs up, you know, a rebellion
at the very end, but he's released for a time for that. But when we talk about the millennial
reign as a whole, it's just a time of, you know, just, it's a great time, right. But
the precursor, okay, being the, I think that's what we're talking about, the coming of Christ
in the New Testament. So verse 6 here is talking about false prophets, okay. So for
the vile person will speak villainy, and his heart will work iniquity, works of iniquity
of false prophets. He said to practice hypocrisy and to utter error against the Lord to make
empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. And
we see them clearly because, and here's the thing why it's even easier for us now,
is because we can test what they say by the complete Word of God. So we're not waiting
to see if their prophecy is fulfilled, we're testing what they say by the Word of God.
We can test the spirits, can't we? So we test what comes out of their mouth by what
the Word of God says by the complete Word of God. We're not waiting to see. Notice
it said here the hypocrisy, to practice hypocrisy, and this is a classic trait of false prophets,
isn't it? So they try and claim holiness but they're full of hypocrisy. And the result
being that those hungry aren't fed, it said here to make empty the soul of the hungry,
and those thirsty aren't quenched. Because they target often receptive people, like we
talked about before, they target those that were maybe receptive to the Gospel and they're
trying to basically pull them into work salvation. And people are given a choice in life, aren't
they, often? And many people look back, when you talk to people about when they got saved,
and they'll say, I remember around that time suddenly the Jehovah's Witnesses were
on my case, or suddenly the Mormons were on my case, or suddenly the Pentecostals were
on my case, or people were on my case at that point, at that moment in time when I then
got saved and I heard the Gospel got saved. But you had that choice then, didn't you,
to choose some version of work salvation and feeling holy, and praise God that you didn't,
I'd assume because you're sitting here today hopefully saved, right? But the hypocrisy
is part of that, and that's something that you do, I would imagine, you know, for just
a normal person you should recognise, shouldn't you, when you've got like a Jehovah's Witness
there standing there going, you can be holy enough to be one to 144,000, just looking
at the white set of eyes thinking, really? You know, and it's the same with all these
false prophets, right? The hypocrisy obviously is something that they just can't get away
from. But verse seven then says this as well, the instruments also of the churl are evil,
he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy
speaketh right. So it says that the churl will devise wicked ways to destroy the poor,
which makes me think of more like the covetous false prophet, with the churl being it's sort
of a financial type of, you know, like tight-fistedness, but in an extreme way very selfish. Makes
me think of the covetous false prophet lies in manipulation to deceive the poor, which
is what you see out there obviously amongst all these types. And I think here he's saying
it's not just about that, and obviously we see that with a lot of false prophets, a go
for the poor, the churl here, the instruments of the churl are evil, they're devising, so
wicked devices, for example, you know, if you give us more money you'll get more money,
you know, if you give money to the church God's going to bless you with even more money.
And of course they always take a truth, a part truth of tithing and then change it into
this, just throw in more cash and you'll get blessings type stuff, you must just be
too wicked, throw in more cash, and it's all about money, right? But it makes me think
of those, but even those that are perhaps saved, because he says here, even when the
needy speaketh right, so they destroy the poor with lying words even when the needy
speaketh right. And it makes me think of the false prophets that they, so there's obvious
ones, there's like the clear false prophets, and that's a lot of religions, but then there
are ones that are very subtle and they pretend to believe the Gospel, don't they? And I'm
not just talking about the kind of Baptists and inverted commas ones, but many of these,
like when you talk to a lot of these, you know, talking to someone today and then they,
so they pretend, oh grace through faith, pretend that, oh we just believe the Bible, oh you've
just got to, you know, accept Jesus into your life or something, and it's like, okay, what
do you really mean by that? But then when you really break it down they will a lot of
the time believe in works. Sometimes they won't even admit to that. I've been around
false prophets that won't, they will just, they'll try and test the water, what do you
believe? And if you, and if you're saying, well it's grace by faith, that you agree
with that, oh, oh yeah, yeah, no way you could lose yourself. Nothing you have to do for
it. A few months later you must repent of your sins. It's like, well, wait a second,
you said that you believed it was grace through faith alone, that there were no works required.
What, what suddenly changed, because they just speak out of both sides of their mouth
and there are those types, and what are they trying to do ultimately? They're here, they're
devising wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh
right. They want to pull you in, they want to put doubt in your mind, they want to weaken
your faith, they want to weaken your walk. But the liberal, he said here, the liberal
deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things shall he stand. So generous giving, we've
said is maybe liberal, non-selfish, and for me it makes me think of those finding ways
to get the Gospel out. Sometimes you've got to find some ways to get the Gospel out, don't
you? You know, there are places, there are many places in the world where you can barely
knock on a door. All the apartments are locked up, people don't answer, there's all these
different types of things around, right? And people are trying to find ways, aren't they?
Find ways to reach a loss, find ways to get to receptive nations. There are churches in
places where, you know, they're lucky to get, you know, a salvation a month, you know,
but they're trying to find ways, right? They're devising liberal things, generously, by liberal
things shall he stand. And that's ultimately why we stand, okay? If you're going to stand
in the Christian life, it's by basically because you're preaching the Gospel in the long run.
And again, not for people new to it, not to people that don't, you know, maybe babes in
Christ and things like that, they might get a bit more grace, right? But as you grow in
the Christian life, what is it that we stand by? The fact that we go and preach the Gospel.
The fact that we go out and we have our feet shodled with the preparation of the Gospel
of peace. And that is an important part of our armour, and that is why we stand. We stand
because we're doing the job that God has got for us. And if you stop doing that job, as
we've seen, he that endureth until the end shall be saved, talking about physical salvation
in the tribulation, because the Gospel has to go out, right? It's about the Gospel going
out. And if you don't, if you're not, and if you're just like, yeah, whatever, who cares?
I mean, honestly, and this is a thing, yeah, but you get all these people that just get
this so mixed up. And again, people go too far with this, of course. You've got the opposite
side where it's like, oh yeah, I'm soul winning. And what they mean is they kind of turn up
on a soul winning time and then they just live a wicked life. And, you know, a lot of
these people who are unsaved that we come across who are like that, right? But there's
the opposite side where people are like, oh, you know, or they just think it's all about
soul winning. But if you're a child of God, you know the Gospel, you're saved, you know
that the Bible says, go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, you
know the Bible says it, he's given us a ministry of reconciliation, you know that the Bible
says that if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. You know all of that
and you choose to just not do anything in terms of trying to get the Gospel out in any
way at all, not trying to reach anyone, any loss, like that's a pretty wicked thing, really.
It is, because, and I get it, look, I understand there's issues, there's reasons, there's
nervousness, there's anxiety, there's all these things that go into that. But if you
just don't want to be involved at all in the Gospel going out, I mean, that's people going
to hell. Oh, but I don't use foul language. Oh, good on you. You know? Oh, well, you know,
but at least, you know, I dress appropriately. It's like, great, but you think God's happy
with that. But here, he said that the liberal deviseth liberal things and by liberal things
shall he stand, and that's why we stand, is if we're, I think that's talking about the
liberality of going out and imparting the truth, the word of God, to the lost. He then
said this with that in mind, okay, so on the back of that, he then said this, rise up ye
women that are at ease. Hear my voice ye careless daughters, give ear unto my speech. Many days
and years shall you be troubled, ye careless women, for the vintage shall fail, the gathering
shall not come. Now this is both a warning for those there, that after that time of plenty
will be a hard time to come. Okay, so there is that warning there, and I think talking
about after Hezekiah's reign, but also a warning for those in the future too, with careless
women, women at ease being the focus here, and this is what we're going to look at today.
So he's speaking particularly to his people here. Careless daughters, the honeymoon period
of the end of Hezekiah's reign, we're after that there, knowing that it will come to an
end, the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come, is what he's saying. Manasseh's
reign, if you know anything about it, it's pretty horrendous, and it's kind of pretty
much downhill, for the most part, until they're carrying away to Babylon with a couple of
little, small resurgences, but it all goes downhill really after that. And aside from
looking forward to post-Christ in 70 AD, with Jerusalem being destroyed, would you not say
that this is the case spiritually as well, though? The Gospel went out, and this is post-Christ,
on mass throughout the world. So there was some great efforts, the early church,
there were people getting saved all over the place, great numbers, you're seeing stuff
that we've never seen in our day, like thousands of souls getting saved and baptised and added
to that first church. So there was what we would call a big revival at this period. But
now in many places the vintage is failing, isn't it? The gathering is not coming, and
one of the reasons, and that's who we're going to focus on today, is careless women.
Women that are at ease. So too many are God's daughters, and that's why he's talking to
him, and sitting on their backsides doing nothing for him, that's why he said to rise
up. He said, rise up, you women that are at ease, hear my voice, ye careless daughters,
give ear unto my speech. So he said rise up and listen to him, give ear to him, instead
of rising up to stare in the mirror, for example, rise up to get ready for a coffee
morning, you know, with the girls, rise up to drop off the kids before relaxing down
at the gym, rise up to go off to the office to do very little real work. He said rise
up and hear his voice, give ear unto his speech. You know what would help a lot of Christian
women out there? It would be to get some discipline and rise up to hear God in the morning. That's
a great start, isn't it? That is the start that I hope every woman here, every child
here, I hope that what you do is you rise up and you hear his voice, and you give ear
unto his speech. And when you get that discipline right, you get that right in the morning,
that's a great start to the day. And other things will more likely slot in after that,
right? But that's a start. It might help them with the discipline in other areas of their
life. Because if you can get some discipline in one area, that's got to be one of the most
important areas, isn't it? Getting up in the morning, reading the Bible, right? That
should be a no matter what. Get up and read my Bible. And then if you get the discipline
with that, then other things start to slot in more. But if you can't get the discipline
with that, you're not going to get the discipline with other things. Because one of the big
reasons that the gathering isn't coming, I believe, and has been the case for many years
now, is because of women at ease. Careless daughters out there. And talking about they
just don't have care, there's nothing to care about. They're women at ease. And I'm not
just talking about soul winning, okay? And of course a great commission is for all, okay?
And of course pregnancy, young babies, etc. can affect that, okay? That goes without saying,
okay? But there are many other things in a Christian woman's life that will affect the
end result of soul saved as well. So of course, soul winning is one of them, okay? There's
no reason for a lady to not be soul winning unless, like I said, pregnancy, babies, things
like that, okay? And even just being involved, just being along, you know, it does make a
big difference sometimes. You know, kids, things like that sometimes. There are women
that don't want to talk to men. There are men that maybe don't want to talk to men.
You know, there's many people that maybe will only or more likely be reached by a lady.
Yeah, they don't, you know, the reality of it is that they're not always as successful
as a general, and we've seen that over years, because there are men that will only listen
to men, and there are women that a lot of the time will only listen to men, and people
that will disrespect women, but there are still women that want to hear you. And there
are women, and there are many people that get saved by women. They should still be going
out and preaching the Gospel where possible, or being part of someone going out and preaching.
We pair women with women here unless they're with the husbands. So we need women's silent
partners as well, right? But there are other things as well, so it's not just soul-winning.
How about taking, for example, for things that will affect the end result of soul-saved,
how about taking some load off a soul-winning husband? You know, isn't that ultimately,
if you're married, isn't that what a woman's made for? She's going to help, meet for
her husband, suitable for her husband, take some load off him. Taking, and again, you
know, it depends on the situation, depends on what he's doing, but if a guy's trying
to serve God, he's trying to provide for a family, he's getting in church, he's
soul-winning, maybe you could help him with that a bit, take a bit of load off his plate.
Maybe kids, you could take a bit of load off soul-winning parents, especially thinking
about maybe the younger girls out there, help them with some of the things around the house
and other things which will make them more able to have time to be able to go out and
preach the Gospel. How about raising kids to be godly? Hopefully go on to do great things
for God, isn't that such a massive – if you're a mum, that is ultimately your goal,
isn't it? That's a massive goal in your life, that, you know, they're in heritage
of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is his reward, and you want to ultimately get them
prepared for life to go on to carry on to serve God. And it's not a given. I think
some people think, oh well, they'd be raised in church, I wasn't, so yeah, but you know
what, a lot of kids are raised in church and go on to do nothing for God. All over the
world. Because there might be something in your life or in your make-up, in your personality
and everything else that made you want to get in church, want to be zealous, want to
serve and everything else, that might not be in that kid. But the more we raise him
in the things, if you train up a child in the way he should go when he's old he will
not depart from it, the more we're trying to train him up to be part of church, and
a big part of that, the majority of that, falls down to a mum, doesn't it? It's
a big job, right? If you're a lazy mum, and say you had, I don't know how many kids,
and those kids, none of them go on to serve the Lord in the future, can you imagine a difference if all of them
went on to serve the Lord in the future? What a difference to souls saved. That's a huge
difference. They go on to be like a soul winner. You've got five kids go on to be a
soul winner, you've got five kids that don't. Three kids that go on to be a soul
winner, three kids that don't. What a massive difference over souls saved over those
years. And then the knock-on effect of those souls saved on what they go and do
and everything else. It's a huge job, isn't it, right? Huge responsibility. But let me
tell you, okay, homeschooling is hard work. It's hard work. It really is. To do it
properly, to raise kids properly, to teach them, teach them properly, that's hard
work. It's graft. It's not easy. It's not for the faint-hearted. It's not, you know,
you get like these bloggers out there and, you know, these like homeschool mum
bloggers from the US and stuff, you know, if any of the women out there ever looked up some of these women.
They're just like random women. They're like five kids, seven kids, whatever it is, you know, and they go to
these blogs. And what happens with social media, a lot of people try and
blag it. So they just do. This is just life. You know, I remember many years ago
when I was on Facebook, always the same stuff, always like this fake, like, you know,
people you know and you're like, I've been round your house, it don't look like that.
Kids never look like that. You never look like that. What on earth?
You know, but if you don't know him, you buy into it. You're like, wow, you know, they're just so amazing and they're just so great.
And wow, the kids are just so well behaved and they just love every day and that's not
reality. And the reality of it is it could be a graft. It could be a grind
sometimes. It can be hard trying to find a solution to a certain behavioural
problem, a certain learning problem, trying to juggle all these
different stages at the same time. It is a graft, right? But it's worth it.
It's worth it, isn't it? It really is. I mean, you know, that's got to be hard.
We were talking about it the other day. Every time we drive past schools on the way to
church or something else, you just say to my wife, it'd be tough, wouldn't it? It'd be really
tough to try. I'm not saying that. I know some are in situations where they can't
avoid it, right? But if you're able to, if you have the opportunity to, because it's
going to be tough to keep them in the things of God with that
influence at school. That is a tough thing to do, isn't it? And if you're
unable to do that, then that takes even more effort, more time to
try and undo so much of stuff that's going to happen at school. But
homeschooling's hard work. Being a proper keeper at home is hard work, isn't it?
Mum's out there. It's not a job for the faint-hearted. Some of us
men, when we try and cover for the day, you know, and even for a few days, we
quickly realise how hard it is, don't we? Sometimes it takes a bit of that to
remember again, like, wow, I couldn't do this. Let alone when, you know, when my wife's
like, oh, if you could just, you know, we're going to get them doing school as well,
you know, if she has an appointment or something. It's one thing it's like, yeah,
I've just got to keep an eye supervised. Another one it's like, Scott, I know if you
could just help Charlie with that bit of reading. You just help, you know, grace
of this, you know, with her maths today and it's just, oh, actually, I've got something.
It's hard. It's hard, right? That's a hard slog. And you know what, for most women
out there, they couldn't even do it. They couldn't do it. So it's easier to then find
the fault, isn't it? It's easier, oh, well, will they even be socialised? Oh, well,
actually, you know, I don't think it's going to be good for them. Oh, well, I
don't, you know, I don't think that, you know, I think they're going to suffer. But
deep down they know. Deep down, when you look at the schools, you know that, are you
a kid you really, are you really going to do worse off having them out of school
and trying to teach them at home? But it's hard. It's hard. And aside from that, okay,
aside from that stuff, there's so many other things that a woman can do and a
lady can do, a young girl can do, to contribute to the things of God. And you
know what, it's when you do work harder, and here's the thing, right, so it's hard.
Life is hard. Life's hard whatever you do, really, if you really want to do it
properly. But God wants you to work harder. You know what, when you really do
it, and you're really graft, and you accept that, yeah, that's just life, because a
lazy part of us wants to quit, a lazy part of us wants to complain. And we all
have the flesh, right, and maybe some people have more of a disposition to
that than others, but it is the only way God's people will be truly satisfied is
when they're working hard. And the reality of it is, mum's out there, if you
were just, you know, if you were like the, what they used to call them, there's a
name for them, the Stepford Wives, let's see, if you were a Stepford
Wife, if anyone's going, what on earth is he talking about? Basically just one of
these women at leisure that does nothing all day but find ways to go to
the gym and do their hair and everything. You wouldn't be happy, right? You wouldn't be
content, you wouldn't be satisfied. It's working hard that we're happy, really.
That's how we feel fulfilled. That's how God's people will be truly satisfied,
because he said in verse 10, many days and years shall you be troubled, you careless
women, for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come. Especially
God's people, because watching it all crumbling around you whilst focusing on
vanity. He said, tremble you women that are at ease, be troubled you careless
ones, strip you and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins. They shall
lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine. So he's
saying that they'll be in mourning. Why? Well, Proverbs 41 says that every wise
woman buildeth a house, but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands. Let me
tell you what lazy mums end up doing. Mourning their crumbling homes. That's
what happens in the long run. A lazy mum will end up mourning her crumbling home
with the knock-on effect being, what, the soul saved of those around them, really?
If every mum in here destroyed their home and it was crumpled, can you imagine
the difference in the future of souls saved than if they didn't, if we all just
did our best to raise godly children and kids that will go on to serve the
Lord and preach the gospel and everything else? What a difference, right? What a
difference to your surrounding area. And women and mums in particular, there's
just so much responsibility. And it's not even just a full-time
job, it's just round the clock, isn't it? And again, like many of us dads know that as
well, it is round the clock, because you sleep through it a lot of the time, right?
Well, actually, I had to get up three times in the night. Oh, yeah, yeah. Really disturbed sleep as well, you know?
Did she? Because it is round the clock, they've got like an antenna for it. I don't know how they do it, you know?
It's like, I heard them go to the toilet, what? But it's round the clock, they just
tuned in. It's kind of like, have you ever seen like when, have you ever seen, have you ever watched
like a cat sleeping? And they look so peaceful, but you walk past, as quiet as
you like, you just see that ear, it just kind of, all this stuff, doesn't it? I think
that's like kind of mums, you know? That's like a busy mum in bed. It's like, she's
asleep, she's asleep, but the ears just kind of, breathing, rolled over in the
night. That's what it's like. But you know what, even though it is, and it's hard work and it's
quite, it's worth it, right? It's worth it. He said, tremble you women at ease, they're
the ones that are scared, right? Be troubled, they're the ones troubled, you careless ones.
Verse 11, it says, strip you and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.
They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.
Upon the land of my people should come up thorns and briars, yeah, upon all the
houses of joy, in a joyous city, because the palaces shall be forsaken, the multitude
of the city shall be left, the forts and towers shall be dense forever. The joy of
wild ass is a pasture of flocks. Which is what happened physically after Christ's
first coming in 70 AD, with the destruction of Jerusalem under the general
Titus there, and spiritually speaking ever since. Okay, with Jerusalem being
pretty much, to this day, a spiritual wilderness, isn't it? Okay, it's a
spiritual wilderness, there's very little of the gospel there, if at all,
right? I'd be very surprised. The thorns and briars, which spiritually speaking is
God's enemies, they're still there now, aren't they? It's full of God's enemies,
it's full of false prophets, false religion, all over the place. There are
flocks there, but they're just not the Lord's. He said, a joy of wild asses and
pasture of flocks, they're wild, right? They're not the Lord's. Now, when will that
change? Well, it says here in verse 15, until. It's until the Spirit be poured
upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruit fulfilled, and a fruit
fulfilled be counted for a forest. So this is Christ's second coming, with the
peace and glory of his thousand year reign. That's what he's talking about
there, with it, so the wilderness becomes a fruit fulfilled, that fruit fulfilled
is then counted for a forest, being even more fruitful, right? Verse 16 says, and
judgments shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruit
fulfilled. So judgment and righteousness will be everywhere. Verse 17, and the work
of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and
assurance forever. So finally peace, okay, both spiritually through faith in Christ
and physically, the result of God's righteousness being the standard now, and
him ruling and reigning with his righteousness, his righteous decrees, and
with it, quietness and assurance, both spiritually and physically, you'd say, as
well, right? That's what's going to come in the millennial reign, I mean, what a
time, right? And I'm sure everyone here just is looking forward to that, I hope you are.
Just a pity there's a tribulation first, and then God's wrath, but at least we won't be
there for that. But verse 18 says, and my people should dwell in a peaceable
habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places, when it shall hail
coming down on the forest, and the city shall be in a low place. So when
that wrath comes first, I think is what it's saying, we've seen a few times of
the hail being kind of one of the features of this. When the hail comes,
which represents, you know, hardship, you know, the hail coming down, the city
is brought low, is what it's saying there as well. God's people, I think it's talking
about will be safely raptured, because we'll be dwelling in a peaceable
habitation, in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places when it shall hail,
okay, when that comes. With, of course, the rapture coming before God's wrath as it
comes down upon the world. And then, with all of that in mind, okay, on the
back of the warning to those lazy women, who incidentally, being
saved, also have, from verse three to four, those undimmed eyes, those harkening
ears, those understanding hearts, the ability to speak plainly, okay, just a
reminder, all ladies out there, all girls out there, because you often see
all these men doing stuff and everything else, but you have it all as well, you
have the ability, you can understand the Word of God, you have the
undimmed eyes, you have the harkening ears, you have the understanding hearts,
you can speak plainly, you can preach the gospel, you can make known the
mysteries of God to people. On the back of all that, verse 20, blessed are ye that
sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.
So he said, basically, blessed are ye that sow, and as we know, as we've seen many
times sowing, he obviously is a picture of sowing the Word of God, and that send
forth others to do so. And on the topic, I believe, in this passage of women doing
that, it's the children, right? You know, you're the ones that have the
most responsibility with that, it's you that's doing it on a daily basis, blessed
are ye that sow beside all waters, and that send forth thither the feet of the
ox and the ass. And if you go and send them forth as well, then blessed are
ye, right? And it's not always easy, you know, it's a hard job, but it's something
that, you know, mum's out there, we couldn't do, we're glad that you've got
that job, we couldn't do it, but with that it's a great job as well, isn't it? And it's
something that you just, you know, you've got to, you've got to, you've got to
appreciate the importance of it as well. So that was Isaiah chapter 32, and on
that we're going to finish in a word of prayer. Father, thank you for your word,
Lord, thank you for the lessons, the talking points we can get out of that
chapter, Lord. Thank you for all the women here, Lord, thank you for, you know,
that, you know, we have all these great godly women in and around our church,
Lord, but we pray that you just help them to just, you know, remember to stay
like that. It's easy to, you know, maybe start to take the foot off the gas and
start to do less and less, and it's easy to backslide, Lord, we all know that. We
should all take heed lest we fall, and help those that maybe, you know, need a
bit of encouragement and need a bit of inspiration to just remember that, you
know, they have the ability with everything they do to affect, ultimately,
tons of people's souls in the, you know, now and in the future, Lord. Help us to,
all of us, every single one of us, to know that how much responsibility to have the
ministry that you've given us, Lord, help us take it seriously, help us to be
spurred on by that, Lord, to be encouraged by that, to be, you know, provoked to good
works with that, to keep putting the time and effort in as well with what can
feel like a weary life sometimes, Lord, but knowing that at the end of it all
we've got the millennial reign to come, and then we will have that peace, we will
have that quietness. Lord, help us, help us get home safe and sound this evening to
return on Sunday. Amen.