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Amen. Okay, Isaiah chapter 28 now, and just as usual I'll just remind you what happened in chapter 27, where Isaiah was mostly preaching about the second coming of Christ. He spoke of a leviathan, the dragon, who is to be slain, and although this dragon pictured satan, we also looked at the truth of dinosaurs, dragons, and all that fun stuff, which is always good fun, isn't it? Isaiah went on to speak of the millennial reign again, with God's people blossoming and filling the earth with fruit, we saw that. We then saw prophecy of Christ's first coming followed by what was to happen soon after with Jerusalem's destruction, and he finished with that second coming where he said in verse 12, and it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel. And it shall come to pass in that day that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem. Which is then followed by a bit, you could say, maybe a gear change again in Isaiah, because we had those 10 burdens followed by a sort of summary of that entire sort of time period in the last four chapters. The end times prophecy increasing in focus until it became sort of the sole fulfillment by the end. And now in Isaiah 28, Isaiah seems to focus again on the more imminent invasion coming from the Assyrians, but of course there is often, as usual in the book of Isaiah, end times prophecy with that as well. But let's look at verse one in Isaiah 28 where it says, woe to the crown of pride to the drunkards of Ephraim whose glorious beauty is a fading flower which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine. I'd like to pray and then we're going to get started. Father, thank you for your word, thank you for the many truths and many talking points that we can get out of this chapter. Lord, help me to preach those. I've chosen to expand more and focus on more today in the right way, in a clear way, in an accurate way, Lord, full of your spirit. Help everyone to really listen to what your word's got to say today, just don't pray. Amen. Okay, so he said, woe to the crown of pride to the drunkards of Ephraim whose glorious beauty is a fading flower which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine. So back in chapter 14, we saw that the burden of Moab was being prophesied in the year that King Ahaz died. If you remember, Isaiah 14 28 said in the year that King Ahaz died was this burden, okay, and we started the burdens in chapter 13. However, there's a bit of controversy as to when Hezekiah began to rule. So even though that's when Ahaz died, many believe he was co-regent with both his father Ahaz and later with his son Manasseh too. In chapter 20, we saw that it was a time of Sargon taking Ashdod. Isaiah 20 verse 1 said in the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod when Sargon, the king of Assyria, sent him and fought against Ashdod and took it. We saw that's when he's when he's preaching that or prophesying that those particular prophecies. Well, 2 Kings 18 does talk of when Sennacherib came up against the fence cities of Judah. It said in verse 13 of 2 Kings 18, we did go there at the time, it said now the 14th year of King Hezekiah did Sennacherib, king of Assyria, come up against all the fence cities of Judah and took them. So the 14th year of King Hezekiah, but with a co-regency, this could still have been soon after Ahaz's death, is my point. And perhaps therefore still before the northern kingdom's destruction is where I'm going with here. It's a bit, we don't know for sure, but it could still be before the northern kingdom being carried carried away by the Assyrians even though that point it seemed to be if it lined up the 14th year of King Hezekiah. The northern kingdom included Ephraim, is my point, if you go back to, if you did flick, but if you go back to Isaiah 28, it included Ephraim aside from those that had maybe previously joined Hezekiah's revival. So do you remember at the beginning of Hezekiah's reign there were people coming from the northern kingdoms which suggested that it hadn't been carried away by Assyria at that point, and they were coming to Hezekiah where he had this sort of revival going on, and we saw mentioned that loads of Ephraim came as well. Well, they could still be a nation at this point, is my point here. And he said of them, he said, woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine. Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one, which has a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing shall cast down to the earth with the hand. The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under feet, and the glorious beauty which is on the head of the fat valley shall be a fading flower, and as a hasty fruit before the summer which when he that looketh upon it seeth while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up. So he's definitely prophesying of a destruction coming to Ephraim, which means that we're either still, like I said, pre the northern kingdoms carrying away by Assyria, or he's talking to those that already come down south, probably less likely, when Hezekiah got that Passover going again, etc., early in his reign. So it said in verse 1, woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine. So these Ephraim might seem to be prideful, but they were perhaps crowned with it. But they're drunkards, they're overcome with wine, and this is definitely referring to the fermented kind, all right. The valleys were supposedly very lush there, well-watered, the mountainous areas made it hard to invade by all accounts. So, however, you can have it all on the plate, can't you? You can have everything, you seem to have it, you've got these lush valleys, you're hard to invade, it's hard for a conquering army to take you, you know, and in life you can have many things on a plate, you seem to have it all and you can wreck it all by booze, can't you? You can wreck your whole life with alcohol, you can just wreck what you did have, wreck so many things because of boozing. He said here that whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, and there are beautiful women out there who look horrendous after years of drinking, aren't there? You know, there's many, many people that have just destroyed themselves, destroyed themselves physically with drinking. He talks about a fading flower, that's a wilting flower. There are clever, talented men out there who have just been overcome with wine. He said here that they're overcome with wine. They're basically, you know, the wine has taken control of their life and there's many people out there and they might seem to think they could do it well when they're young and they're okay, then they can take it or leave it and then eventually with many it comes to a point where they're overcome with it. He said, behold the Lord have the mighty and strong one which is a tempest of hell and a destroying storm as a flood of mighty waters overflowing shall cast down to the earth with the hand. So that's God's wrath coming and in this case it is through the Assyrians. Isaiah, he's using imagery of some of the awesome power that we see in nature which obviously is of God, we don't worship mother nature, here it comes of God ultimately. A tempest is an immensely powerful wind and an immensely powerful wind with hail sounds pretty scary, doesn't it? That sounds pretty lethal. A destroying storm, a flood of mighty waters overflowing. I mean these are awesome sights when you see them, these are scary things and he's showing that that's coming from God. He said, the crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under feet and the glorious beauty which is on the head of the fat valley shall be a fading flower and there's a hasty fruit before the summer which when he that looketh upon it seeth while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up. So it sounds as though it's going to be swift judgment, they'll be trodden under feet and destroyed it seems here. In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory and for a diadem of beauty unto the residue of his people and for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate. So it's God that is our crown of glory, he's all we can legitimately glory in, you don't have to turn to 2 Corinthians 10-17 says, but he that glories let him glory in the Lord. So if you're going to glory in someone, you know, don't let it be in yourself, let it be in the Lord. The diadem here is a sort of headdress at royalty war. He said in that day, and remember there's a true fulfillment to come of that, but there is an initial fulfillment when the Assyrians come to Jerusalem's walls, okay, it's the Lord that delivers them being a spirit of judgment to those Assyrians that are sitting in judgment, you could say. That's what it said here, it said, and for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, in verse 6, for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate. So there'll be strength to his people that retreat into the walls of Jerusalem, I believe, but it's not that those of Judah were squeaky clean either. So it says in verse 7, but they also have erred through wine and through strong drink are out of the way. The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they're swallowed up of wine, they're out of the way through strong drink, they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. So these are supposedly holy men, the priest and the prophet, and you should and could and I hope read this and just think, what on earth, right, the priest and the prophet, they've erred through wine, they're out of the way through strong drink, they're swallowed up of wine, they're out of the way through strong drink, they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. They're thinking, how have these holy men got to this point? What on earth has happened in their lives for them to think that's okay? I mean, you know, if you look to maybe people that are leading churches, for example, if I was boozing, I think most people would just think, what a clown, right? I mean, forget me stumbling in here, just if that was kind of in my life outside of church and I was in the pubs and bars and you wouldn't take me seriously, you'd think, what on earth is up with this guy, what a loser. What, he's standing behind a pulpit preaching the word of God and he's getting drunk. I was sitting at home and, you know, going through bottles of wine every night. You'd just think, what an absolute loser, right? What an idiot. You wouldn't, I mean, you'd think, how can this guy be serious? How can he really be preaching the word of God when he's boozing on the side, right? I would hope so. I think normal people would be thinking that, wouldn't they? But aren't we all kings and priests, aren't we? We're all kings and priests. Aren't we all prophets? Every single one of us is, you should be a prophet if you're not because, ultimately, what are we doing? We're prophesying the word of God. We're preaching the gospel. We're kings and priests. We're prophets. Every single person here. Don't we all have an important job to do for the Lord? Every single one of us does. We have an important job because it goes from faith to faith. People are, people, the people in your circles will probably never have a soul winner come and knock on their door, unless you happen to live in South End or one of the areas that we go to regularly. That's the truth. So, really, the people in your small circles, you're the best chance of their salvation. You've got a big job to do, right? Instead of erring through wine, being out of the way, out of the things of God through strong drink, which is what these guys were here, swallowed up, erring in vision, stumbling in judgment. And look, that's going to mess you up. It's stumbling in judgment. Look, if you're drinking, if you're boozing, you're going to make a lot of bad judgment calls, in various areas. So, is that okay for any of us? Surely it's not. We all have an important job. We all have a massively important job. That erring, that stumbling, by the way, is what the devil capitalizes on as well. That's what he wants. He wants you to err in judgment. He wants you to make bad calls, bad decisions that will wreck your life and will fling you out of the things of God, stop you being in church, stop you growing, stop you learning, stop you going out soul winning, ultimately. That's what he wants, right? That's why we're all commanded in 1 Peter 5a to be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil is a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour. And that devouring doesn't sound like fun, does it? He wants to devour us. Look, those, you know, the people who are out in the world and in the bars and clubs and all the unsaved like that, look, they're already, I mean, they're not doing anything for God anyway. But you know what? He's looking for an opportunity to devour every single one of you. It said in verse 8 there, for all tables are full of vomit and filthiness so that there is no place clean. You know that something isn't good for you if you end up vomiting it up, by the way. That's kind of a little clue there. Oh, it's just so healthy. Oh, it's so good for you. Yeah, you vomit it up when you have too much of it. You know, I mean, that doesn't sound good, does it? Think about, think about other things you vomit out, like food poisoning. If anyone's ever had food poisoning, it's pretty grim, isn't it? It's pretty rough and you're puking it up because it's so bad for you. Something that's got a load of bacteria in it, it's got, you know, that's going to make you seriously sick so your body throws it up, right? It's the same thing with booze. It's because it's poison. Your body wants to throw it up, it wants to eject it out of your body. And by the way, often it can feel like you've got food poisoning. I mean, it's just so weird, isn't it? When you come out of all that and you just look at it from afar, it's like, what on earth, right? You want to, people want to mimic having food poisoning. You can't make it up, really, can you? I mean, what a laugh that it's been. I mean, I mean, we've been listening to a bit of classic FM because it's, you know, it's the only time you're going to hear a load of hymns and everything else and all the Christmas carols and then in between are the adverts and it says adverts for alcohol. Because it's classic FM, it's adverts for like posh alcohol. So it's all adverts for wine and fine wines from wherever and, you know, it's Christmas so you need something a bit more special and then they start trying to like promote gin and tonic and other. It's just like, what on earth? You're just promoting something which makes people with a certain amount feel like they've got food poisoning. But there's a lot of other filth that goes hand in hand with boozing. He said, all tables are full of vomit and filthiness so that there is no place clean. Think about the filthy talk that goes on once people are boozing, once people are drunk, once their inhibitions are going a bit and they start saying things they wouldn't normally talk like. You walk through one of the local bars, pubs, clubs, something, you're just going to hear filthy talk. Just filth, smut, the, you know, vile language where every other word's inexplicable. It's just like, why? Why does it have to be like that? Why is every, you know, someone was asking me this the other day about sort of, you know, what we consider swear words and stuff and the level with it and I said, well, you know, regardless of what you think about biblically or whatever, just what most of those words mean. If I was walking around saying something else that means those words, you just think I'm a bit of a weirdo. You know, if every other word was about like fornication or whatever, you just say, well, what's up with this guy? That's something he keeps talking about, you know, and that's kind of what it is, isn't it? It's just filthy words, just talking, just talking smut, talking rubbish, filthy behaviour. Goes hand in hand, doesn't it, with it? People just act in ways they wouldn't ever otherwise act. You think about your work colleagues in the daytime, in your office, on the building site, in the factories, whatever it is, and then you see them when they're out drinking. It's like two different people, isn't it? Like Jekyll and Hyde and it's filthy behaviour. They behave in ways they wouldn't normally behave in. They wouldn't behave like that in the workplace. They wouldn't behave like that around at their granny's house on Christmas day until all the boozies flow. They wouldn't behave like that in normal company, then suddenly when everyone's boozing it's okay, is it? Filthy relationships as well. That's another filthiness that goes hand in hand with boozing, that goes hand in hand with drinking, is fornication, adultery, all that sort of stuff. It all goes together. It's filth. That's why Proverbs 23.31 says, not to even look at fermented wine, look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. And this is basic stuff really, okay, which I think is really probably the primary application of the next couple of verses, the primary application. So we've seen he's talking about boozing, drinking, erring, then he says in verse nine, whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little. And the subject of alcohol is basically the milk of the world. This is baby believer stuff, I believe. I think it's just baby believer stuff, the subject of alcohol in the Bible. When you're a baby, okay, you might get conned by the alcohol dip dummy. Anyone ever heard of that? That's what they used to do a lot, okay. So this was standard practice, not many decades ago. Dip the dummy in some strong booze and put it in the baby's mouth and that will soothe them and shut them up and send them to sleep. I kid you not, that was standard in this day. Fairly standard, at least it was commonplace, okay. But a baby might get conned by that, okay. And yes, our unbiblical society has promoted and continues to promote all sorts. Now they haven't, no, no, they're not suddenly all wise and all knowing now, okay. They've been promoting all sorts of wickedness in the past, they continue to do that in the future, including when it comes to babies, child care and everything else, okay. But you need to spit out the dummy, don't you? Yeah, you need to spit out the dummy. You need to shut your mouth to the soothing syrup with the alcohol in it. That was something else they used to give. They used to have these things like soothing syrup, it had high levels of alcohol. And do you know what else they used to put in this stuff? I had a quick look at this. Morphine. So they used to give babies, several decades ago, soothing syrup for like colicky babies, babies that they wanted to just shut them up and get them to sleep, with morphine in it. Oh yeah, but they would never do anything like that now. I'm sure everything they put in those things, you don't even know how to pronounce and what even it is now, must be okay. They sell it in the shop. It must be all right. Who knows? But that's the milk of the word stuff, okay. You start the Bible and by chapter nine, you just open up at the beginning of your Bible, you get to chapter nine of Genesis, the first incident of alcohol kind of results in some weird abuse. It's up to you what you think really went on there, but it was not a good advertisement. For the first time we see alcohol in the Bible, it ends up with some freakery between Noah and his son, right? Well, aside from Proverbs 23, telling us not to look at it, Proverbs 20 and verse 1. So Proverbs is just the Book of Wisdom, right? Let's get some wisdom. The Book of Wisdom, nice simple stuff in the Book of Proverbs. By chapter 20 and verse 1 it says, wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. So you're reading this Book of Blowers going, I want to get wise. I'm reading the Book of Wisdom to get wise. Well, there's one way. It said, don't be deceived by wine and strong drink. Pretty simple, right? Proverbs 31 says, it is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine nor for princes strong drink. And we're all meant to be kings and priests, aren't we? It's not for us to drink. It's not for us to drink strong drink. Pastures like, we've just been reading Isaiah. Then you get to the New Testament. Oh, well that's all Old Testament, Passer Taverner. You know, that's old news, yeah? Well, you get to the New Testament, and this is what people honestly think. They think, yeah, forget all that because it's happy hour down at the local bar now. It's like happy hour, New Testament. It's all just a big old knees up, isn't it? People think that, don't they? Baby Christians think that, or unbelievers. Turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, 1 Thessalonians 5, Ephesians 5 18. Well, you're turning there says, and be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. You're turning to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 6 says, therefore let us not sleep as to others, but let us watch and be sober, for they that sleep, sleep in the night and they that be drunk in the drunken in the night, but let us who are of the of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and friend helmet, the hope of salvation. Go over to 1 Timothy and chapter 3, 1 Timothy 3, just keep going forward a few pages, 1 Timothy 3 and verse 2 says this, a bishop then must be, he must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, he must be sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy, a filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous. Is that just the bishop? Oh no, well that's only the bishop passing to heaven, everyone else, it's like fair game, isn't it? He's meant to be setting the example, the example to follow. Verse 11 says of the deacon's wife, and of course that applies to the bishops, but also to every woman out there, even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Carry on to Titus chapter 2 and verse 2, Titus 2 says that the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound of faith in charity and patience. Verse 4 says that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, love their children. Verse 6 says young men likewise exhort to be sober minded. Keep going, if you want, to 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 13. 1 Peter 1 13 says, wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 4 7 says, but the end of all things is at hand, be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. 1 Peter 5 8 says, like we just saw, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. You read through the Bible once, surely one time through, and it's pretty obvious that we should be sober, isn't it? How obvious is that? So not under the influence of alcohol or drugs, pretty clear. So what does the Bible say about bizarre, weird, latest, trendy drug? I'll tell you what it says, be sober. Simple. Oh, well, what about drinking, you know, in moderation? It said be sober! It said be sober! It's pretty, this is like milk of the word stuff, isn't it? When I, when you come across these like Christians, whether they're like online Christians, people you come across, people you talk to, who like want to kind of try and debate this, and talk about how much drink. I, I just look at them and I think, you still, you need some milk. Forget the booze, you need some milk of the word. You need some Bible milk, because you still haven't, you still haven't learnt this bit. One time through the Bible, and this is pretty, I mean, you don't even have to get one time through. You could just read a little bit and it's like, okay, you told us to be sober. That's pretty obvious, isn't it? Tell us not to look at it. I mean, what on earth, right? And like some simple books there as well. I mean Proverbs is quite a simple book to read, isn't it? So then what do we do? Okay, we, we get all that, we see all that, that's clear as day. So we reconcile the rest of the ambiguous verses about wine, based upon this clear precept, this clear truth. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little, was verse 10 in Isaiah 28. So we build upon clear scripture. And, and I'll tell you what makes this very easy, okay, and this is a problem for many people out there. It's having full faith that what is in front of you is the preserved words plural of God. It makes it so much easier. When you open the Bible, you study the Bible, you read the Bible, you teach, you preach from the Bible, or you just try and learn yourself from the Bible and you accept it as a preserved, the very preserved words of God. It just makes it much easier. It's easier to build off because you just, well there's clear scripture there. There are no contradictions, so let's try and understand it based on the clear scripture. We build and we build and we build from clear scripture. Turn to Hebrews 6, because this goes for other truths too. We build from the foundation, okay, so all truths in the Word of God start from a foundation. The foundation is faith in Christ, okay, that's the foundation, that's the rock, that's the cornerstone of our faith. But obviously that faith in Christ, the Word of God himself, includes a level of faith in those words of God, doesn't it? So to have faith in Christ, we're having faith in God's record that he gave of his Son. So we have, we have a faith in the Word of God with that, don't we? Well, we go on from that and then other basic principles to then perfection or completeness, or at least that's the goal, isn't it? But it starts with that faith of that foundation. Hebrews 6 says in verse 1, therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God of the doctrine of baptisms and of laying on our hands and of resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment. He's basically saying that this is the foundational stuff, the doctrine of Christ, and he goes on to show, I think, that foundation of that. So he said, therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation. So this is the doctrines of Christ. Repentance, and we've looked at that obviously in depth recently, the repentance is what from dead works. So that's one of the foundations, isn't it, is that repentance of dead works from dead works and of faith toward God is to change your mind about those dead works, get you to heaven and put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's like the foundation, isn't it? The foundation of our faith is to turn away from dead works, works salvation in its various ways, whether it's obvious, whether it's subtle, whether it's continued works, previous works, a little bit of works, a smattering of works, and faith alone in Christ, right? So he then said from dead works of faith toward God of the doctrine of baptisms, okay? And that's just understanding what baptism is and isn't. What it is, it's a picture of Christ, death, burial, resurrection. It's a picture of our dying to sin, our raising a new life in Christ. It's a picture, ultimately you could say as well, it's probably a three there, of the coming, you know, death, burial, and resurrection as well with that new body in Christ. It's a picture of those things. It's got nothing to do with salvation, okay? There's a doctrine there. We know why we're doing it. We're showing that answer of a good conscience toward God. We're following his command to do that. We're following the ultimate example. We sort of, by the Lord Jesus Christ, are being baptized, right? Okay, so we don't have to redo that. We don't have to go over that again. We're not sitting there going, oh, I just can't work out about these baptisms. You know, maybe we do have to be baptized to be saved. No, no, no, that's foundational stuff, right? Okay, we've got that, that's foundation. He then said, he then said, and laying on of hands, okay, which, which of course there is a laying on of hands in the ministry. There's a previous laying on of hands for that miraculous gift of the Holy Ghost, but I believe now it's probably part of being that called out assembly. It's part of being basically in church, being sent out, soul winning. I think that's ultimately how we would apply that now. Resurrection of the dead, the, the, the second coming still to come, and the great white throne of judgment for the unsaved, okay? Again, clear stuff. We've been looking at that in depth in the Book of Isaiah. This is all sort of foundational stuff, isn't it? Yep, there's a second coming of Christ. Yep, there's a resurrection coming. Yep, there's a great white throne of judgment for the unsaved, yeah? Yeah, it's all coming, right? That's the principles of the doctrine of Christ, isn't it? Okay, everything else builds upon these precepts. So that, that's like, that, that's kind of standard stuff. Now with that, you can then build upon when that coming, you know, the timing of the rapture, things like that, you know, which people want to get into. Sadly, a lot of the time they want to get into that before they're saved, and they just can't understand it, and as many people teaching and preaching stuff, and they ain't got the first bit, they ain't got the foundation, and all sorts of things. People are teaching and preaching, they don't have that rock. All of the other knowledge comes from this starting point, and without it, people go into crazy stuff, don't they? So without that starting point, without the foundation, without the faith in Christ, they start to go into all sorts of weird and wacky and weird stuff. Often you hear someone preach some weird stuff, you're thinking, well, they seem to be right to salvation, but they preach some crazy stuff. There's some weird doctrine. I've never heard that before, and then several years later, oh, actually, they've decided you've got to repent of your sins. You've got, you know, that's what happens, isn't it, right? Because so often they don't have that basis, that foundation. Now, it's not that you, now, it's not to say that anyone here can't get things wrong and get some doctrines wrong and everything else, but without that foundation, you're gonna go wrong, for sure, okay? So back in Isaiah, in chapter 28, he said, whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast, for a precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little. And that continues throughout, okay? Comparing spiritual things as spiritual, which is what we're supposed to do, okay? We build things upon each other in the Word of God, but without that foundation, the Word of God is confusing. And that's what he's saying. He says in verse 11, for with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people, which I think applies two ways. It's as if it's a stammering foreign language when you're not saved, and it's funny because I'll be talking to a family member, and a friend, and he's talking about a friend of his, and they want to start reading the Bible, and without that salvation, you just know they're not really going to get it, right? They're not going to understand it. They're not going to get it. It's like, I think it's like being talked to with stammering lips and lips and another tongue. If you're unsaved, it's like that, isn't it? The Word of God, you just can't understand it. But I think it's also a prophecy, which you don't have to turn to, but it's mentioned in 1 Corinthians 14, because the Gospel will end up being preached en masse by the Gentiles, won't it? Okay, which is ultimately in the future how the people that were still the physical seed would ever have got saved was ultimately through the Gentiles. But anyway, he then says in verse 12, to whom he said, this is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing, yet they would not hear. Now that's the Gospel, okay? The rest, the refreshing. Turn over to Matthew 11. It said, Matthew chapter 11, it said here, to whom he said, this is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing, yet they would not hear. Now in John 4 14, John 4 14, your turn to Matthew 11, John 4 14, the Lord said to the woman at the well, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. He said that they'll never thirst, right? That's some refreshing, isn't it? And in Matthew 11, we see the rest for the weary, where it says in verse 28 of Matthew 11, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I'm meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. So easy, so light, but it's just faith alone that saves you. It's that, that light, it's that easy. So this people were preached to then, they were preached to in the past, they continued to be preached to after Christ's death. And it said in verse 12 back in Isaiah 28, to whom he said, this is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest. And this is the refreshing, okay, that's talking about the gospel, yet they would not hear, they would not hear. But the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little, that they might go and fall backward and be broken and snared and taken. So I think what he's saying here is that you can have it laid out clearly, you can have that initial doctrine of Christ explained in various ways, referring to all the prophets before, maybe have the apostles preaching in Jerusalem for years, have Paul go on a synagogue tour of the Mediterranean and elsewhere, but the result on the whole was rejection, wasn't it? The result's rejection. So they, they would not hear, it was precept upon precept upon precept, it was line upon line, it was all of that, that they might go and fall back and be broken and snared and taken. They fell, they were broken, they were taken because of Christ, because of Christ. Verse 14 says, wherefore hear the word of the Lord ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem, because ye have said we have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement, when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us, for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. Therefore thus saith the Lord God, behold I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation, he that believeth shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line of righteousness to the plummet, and the hell shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place, and your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand, when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by him. So with this passage, what he's saying is that these scorners of the day, they're being preached at, and you can apply it obviously to all scorners, but the scorners of the day here, he's saying, because ye have said we have made a covenant with death and with hell are we at agreement, when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us, for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. Now there's a couple of ways you can look at this, but I believe that this is those willful rejectors, the reprobates here, who have ultimately made their choice. They've made their choice. Matthew 27 and 25, we don't have to turn there, they said to Pontius Pilate, then answered all the people and said, his blood be on us and on our children. I mean they just said, yeah, his blood be on us. Proverbs 8 36 says, but he that sin if against me wrongeth his own soul, all they that hate me love death. And here it's said that they've made a covenant with death and with hell are we at an agreement, or at agreement, sorry. Well, I think they've chosen death, they've made a covenant, they've rejected God's word, basically, and it's a willful rejection. And that's the point, isn't it, with reprobation with this sort of, it's not like, oh they accidentally didn't get saved or something, it's a willful rejection. It's choosing to reject, it's ultimately hatred of God with that. And here they're making a covenant with death, with hell they're at agreement. Jeremiah 8 3, you don't have to turn there, talks of them, and death shall be chosen rather than life. It's chosen by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all places, whether I've driven them, saith the Lord of hosts. And with that rejection, perhaps then convincing themselves that the coming physical judgment won't happen. That's what I believe is what they're saying here. It says, therefore, thus saith the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a triad, a stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make haste. So that's obviously the Lord Jesus Christ, who is that sure foundation, okay. Here, we're going to be looking again at this hell in a second, this hell agreement, but here he's talking about Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3 11 says, for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ, okay. He is that foundation, he's that sure foundation. There's no other way, okay. There is no other way, there's no other way to heaven. No, for other foundation can no man lay than that, that is laid which is Jesus Christ. Turn over to 1 Peter 2, 1 Peter 2, Psalm 118 22, you're turning over to 1 Peter 2, Psalm 118 22 says, the stone which the builders refused is become the head of the corner. So the picture is of building everything off him, okay. Like we saw earlier with the precepts, a foundation is the doctrine of Christ. It starts with faith in Christ and we build off that for the rest of our lives, don't we. So we start with a foundation with salvation and we're just constantly building off that. We're building and building and building and trying to build our lives upon the Lord and upon his teachings, upon his commandments. 1 Peter 2 says it like this, 1 Peter 2 says, wherefore also it is contained in the scripture. Behold I lay in Sion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Or you won't be dismayed, maybe, put to shame at the end, astonished that you were wrong. Maybe we'd say it like that. However, there's a flip side to that stone. Said in verse 7, unto you therefore which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner. And a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient whereunto also they were appointed. So basically the stone, as well as being that head of the corner, as well as being that foundation, as well as being that cornerstone, it's also a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. Isaiah 8 14, that says of the Lord of hosts, because that's who the Lord Jesus Christ is, God in the flesh, and he shall be for a sanctuary but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the house of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Which is what Isaiah says back in Isaiah 28 with that in mind. So he said it back in Isaiah 28 in verse 16, therefore thus saith the Lord God, behold I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation, he that believeth shall not make haste, or perhaps shall not suddenly disappear, we might say. Verse 17, judgment also will I lay to the line, a righteousness to the plummet, and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. So the line and plummet is giving the picture of building, these are tools used for building, he's saying that, or carpentry even, he's saying that with that building will be judgment too, those hiding behind lies will get it. He said in your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand, when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. Which is maybe those in the, I don't know, I'm thinking like the first kind of fulfillment, maybe those in the outlying towns and cities where the Syria invade, those that reject the warning and don't end up behind the walls, okay, talking about the coming besieging of Jerusalem. So the covenant, he's saying, will be made void, it won't stand, they will still face the physical judgment coming too, I think is what he's saying. From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you, for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night shall it be, it shall be a vexation only to understand the report. Now this makes me think of God's wrath to come that these rejecters will have to suffer. So notice that he said it's going to be disannulled, your agreement with hell shall not stand. So basically they're not going to have that death that they want, the overflowing scourge shall pass through, and they're going to be trodden down by it. He said for that time goeth forth it shall take you, it should, morning by morning shall pass over, by day and by night it should be a vexation only to understand the report. Now turn to Revelation 9 then, where people will be seeking death but they won't find it, which I think this is what we're ultimately seeing, you know, what it's picturing. Now Revelation 9 is during the time of God's wrath, where all those that have rejected him before his coming will have to suffer this wrath of God. Of course some will die through it but many won't, okay, many will have to go through this three and a half years of horrendous sort of biblical judgments coming down upon them, and this one is probably one of the most noteworthy ones I believe. It says in Revelation 9 one, and the fifth angel sounded and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit, and he opened the bottomless pit and there arose a smoke out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace, he's talking about hell and this angel opening it up, and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And they came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth and unto them was given power as the scorpions of the earth have power. So these aren't some normal locusts, these are some sort of furious hell locusts which have some sort of sting like a scorpion. Said, and it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. So remember that's 144,000 witnesses that have the seal of God in their forehead, so they're not going to harm them but everyone else. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, this is talking about the people of the earth, but that they should be tormented five months and their torment was as a torment of a scorpion when he striketh a man. So this is talking about the pain which apparently can include paralysis as well, it goes on for five months, this sort of pain, this the effects of these stings which are similar to scorpion stings. And in those days, don't miss this in verse six, in those days shall men seek death and shall not find it as shall desire to die and death shall flee from them. And the shapes of the locusts were like under horses prepared under battle and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold and their faces were as the faces of men and they had hair as a hair of women, so they got long hair faces of, I mean it's so crazy locusts right, imagine living through this, I'm glad we're not going to be in the round. Wow that's pretty freaky, their teeth was the teeth of lions and they had breastplates as it were, breastplates of iron and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. They had tails like unto scorpions, I mean this is like, this is like the worst nightmare you can imagine isn't it? And they had tails like unto scorpions and there were stings in their tails and their power was to hurt men five months and they had a king over them which is the angel of the bottomless pit whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. It's a pretty hardcore angel. And in those days shall men seek death, verse six said, in those days shall men seek death and shall not find it and shall desire to die and death shall flee from them. Which if you then go back to Isaiah 28, I think is that that's what it's being talked about here when it says in verse 18, in your covenant with death shall be disannulled and your agreement with hell shall not stand, when the overflowing scourge, which is like a punishment, it's overflowing scourge makes you think of these swarms of locusts shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it. From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you, for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night, so remember they can't die, five months they're just being harmed and it should be a vexation only to understand the report. Just have an idea, just seeing what's going on, just knowing what's going on, those locusts things are coming. I mean that's going to be a vexation, cause you anguish, knowing what is going on. He said in verse 20, for the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it. I think that's a time of discomfort, again for me picturing that big stung by that scorpion, it's a discomfort, you can't stretch out, you can't wrap yourself in a covering, it's some sort of time of anguish. For the Lord shall rise up as in Mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work, and bring to pass his act his strange act. Now therefore be ye not mockers lest your bands be made strong, for I have heard from the Lord God of host of consumption, even determined upon the whole earth. So again I believe a dual prophecy here with a warning that they might be, I think he's saying your bands like chains, that they'll be chained fast and strong for God's wrath, they're going to survive through it. He's saying you might think yeah you're just going to die and everything else, but no you'll be there for it. Okay you want to be careful, you don't want to be mockers lest your bands be made strong. You're there for that God's wrath, including obviously these scorpion locusts with the women's hair and the face of men. Well verse 21 said, for the Lord shall rise up as in Mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work, and bring to pass his act his strange act. So Perazim was where David smote the Philistines, and you don't have to turn up in 1st Corinthians 14, Gibeon also a scene of various mighty victories, but the Lord rising up, him being wroth, his strange work and strange act, I think that's what it's talking about there. Ultimately that's a prophecy, but obviously there is going to be this sort of, like we saw before, the taking of all these outlying towns and cities by the Assyrians is probably the first sort of fulfillment of this, with them eventually surrounding and besieging Jerusalem, but then he's going to kill them. I think the full fulfillment of that is talking about that in God's wrath there. It's God rising up, as in these times when he destroyed all his enemies in Mount Perazim or through David in the valley of Gibeon. He's going to be wroth, you know, he's going to be angry, he's spilling out his wrath, and it's a strange work, it's a strange act. Some of the stuff he's doing, it's basically strange you're not going, oh weird, you know, how weird is that? It's just things that people haven't seen before, and scorpion locusts with the teeth of lions and everything else, things that people haven't seen before. I'm assuming you haven't, I definitely haven't. Okay, and then we see some reasoning for what's to come. Okay, so he says this in verse 23, I think some reasoning for that, and there's some other applications here that we're going to look at. So it says here in verse 23 of Isaiah 28, "'Give ye ear and hear my voice, hearken, and hear my speech. Did the ploughman plough all day to sow? Did he open and break the cloths of his ground? When he hath made plain the face thereof, did he not cast abroad the fitches and scatter the kumin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rye in their place? For his god doth instruct him to discretion and doth teach him. For the fitches are not threshed through the threshing instrument, neither is a cartwheel turned about upon the kumin, but the fitches are beaten out with the staff and the kumin with the rod. Breadcorn is bruised because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horseman. This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working." Now the lesson here, you know, they're kind of on the surface, is that different seeds, different crops are sown in different ways and are harvested in different ways too. Okay, verse 24 shows that the ploughman has to vary his work. Does the ploughman plough all day to sow? Does he just plough all day? No, if he needs to sow as well. Does he open and break the clods of his ground? Yes, so he does different things. He ploughs, he breaks up clods, he sows the seeds in different ways. Why? Well, verse 26 says, for his god doth instruct him to discretion and doth teach him. And God is teaching us something here, okay, that different people need different approaches when it comes to receiving the Gospel. People need different approaches. They need us to be able to be adaptable, to adapt to the people in front of us, to the situations we're in, to the places we are, the people we come across. They're going to be reached in different ways, basically. That's what I think we're seeing here, okay. Turn to 1 Corinthians 9. 1 Corinthians 9. And while you turn now, I just want to read Jude verse 22 and 23. Your turn to 1 Corinthians 9. Jude 22 says, and if some have compassion, make your difference. Okay, some people need some compassion to make that difference, and others, save with fear. Some people need some hellfire preaching, right, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. So there are different approaches with different people. Basically, we can't just be robots when we preach into the lost. Now, it's better to be like, at the beginning, and when you're first preaching the Gospel, you know, it's good to kind of have, like, to be well versed in how you want to go through the actual Gospel, but when we approach people, when you're talking to people, you've got to have some adaptation, right. You can't just say the same thing, hi there, we're from wherever, you know, and then suddenly it's like, next thing you know, it's your family member at Christmas dinner. You go, hi there, we're from Strong Tower Baptist Church, you're like, let's go, can I invite you to church? They're just like, yeah, okay, darling. Obviously, you're going to adapt a bit, right. Well, same when we're talking to people in front of us, because different people give different responses. You want to, you need to be able to adapt, and it's not easy at the beginning, because sometimes, like, the nerves can freeze you up a bit, and stuff like that, but Paul said here in 1 Corinthians 9, he said, for though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all that I might gain them all, and unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews, and them that are under the law is under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law, to them that are without law is without law, being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law, to the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak, I am made all things, to all men that I might by all means save some, and this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. So he's not talking about being fake, okay, just to make it clear, but it's talking about, I think, believing, appealing to common ground. He said in verse 20 here that he will, I believe, emphasize the fact that he's also a Jew, for example. You know, you might, for example, for maybe some of the guys here that aren't, you know, that are maybe first generation here, that maybe they've come from another nation, and you come across someone that's from the same nation as you, you're going to probably make a point of that, aren't you? That's some good common ground to get a conversation started, to talk to someone, to try and get them saved, right? Well, he then said unto the Jews I became as a Jew that might gain a Jew, so them that are under the law is under the law that might gain them that are under the law, and I think he's saying maybe like more holy to those under the law to then preach them the gospel. There are some people, look, there are some people that, if you're kind of, you know, people that are very like into all the kind of the do's and don'ts and the commandments and everything else, there's certain ways to behave around those people, where you, to try and get them to listen to you, right? If you go in there with really coarse language and acting like a bit, you know, sort of, we're under grace like those times, you know, some people are going to be put off by that, because ultimately we're trying to get the gospel to them, right? So we're trying to adapt a bit, right? He said in verse 21, he said, he said to them that are without law is without law, being not without law to God but under the law to Christ that I might gain them that are without law. So I think, you know, he will appeal to those without law by maybe not coming across all like hyper-spiritual, ultra-religious, obviously though without sinning. So it's not like he's just going to be like, right, let's find some sin to do, but maybe he's just kind of then adapting a little bit and talking to those people in the way that they're going to respond. Verse 22, he said, to the weak became I as weak that I might gain the weak. I made all things to all men that I might by all means save some. So he won't try to dominate the weak. He won't kind of like stand over them and dominate them and everything where people like that, yeah, they might agree with you but they don't even want to listen, they just want to get out of there or whatever else. No, he's going to get to their level, right, get on their level, get on the level of people he's talking to. And I think it's something that we need to think about when we're soul winning and it's using discretion, it's using our wisdom to appeal to the people that we're talking to, right. And it's not, it's not, oh I'm just going to be a fake now, I'm going to pretend, you know, oh this fella's, you know, he's got a Scottish accent, I'll just pretend I'm a Scot as well, you know, try and put it on or something else, right, or the other way, maybe the Scots here are like, right, I better put on a cockney accent now because I'm in front of a guy from Essex or something. It's not, it's not that, but it's just trying to just basically appeal and try, try and find some common ground and try and appeal to the person that you're talking to and in their various ways and areas and I think everyone gets what I'm saying here, right, but back in Isaiah 28 he said this, for his, for his God doth instruct him to discretion and doth teach him, for the fetches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cartwheel turned about upon the cummin, but the fetches are beaten out with a staff and a cummin with a rod, bread corn is bruised because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen. This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in council and excellent in working. So notice how in verse 27, the beating of those plants creates produce, whereas in verse 28 the bread corn is bruised because it doesn't get that beating and I believe that there's a lesson there that we've looked at a few times in Isaiah, that the judgment of God gets positive results, doesn't it? So when God judges a nation or judges a people, judges even individuals to some degree or they're going through some hard times, other things, people are just more likely to get saved in those humble times, aren't they? And we've looked at that a few times and the point being here that, yeah, you're trying to find that right approach with people, but sometimes it's just the right time as well. And here it's on the back of him talking about this judgment coming and everything else, but ultimately what happened with that was, I think, that probably more people got saved on the back of that. Probably more people were reaching out to God, calling out to God, and I think that's also what will happen in God's wrath. That's why those 144,000 are there, it's for people to get saved, people that probably were very unlikely to otherwise, more likely to in that period of time when God's wrath is coming down. Of course, those that are taking the mark, they won't be getting saved, but there'll be many that haven't. 1 Peter 2.12, we don't have a turn that says of us, having our, or your, he's talking to here, talking to us, your conversation honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works which they shall behold glorify God in the day of visitation. The day of visitation is basically a bad day, the day when, you know, things aren't going well, the day when you're humble and you're more likely to be receptive to the gospel, to needing a savior. So there's that, and then number two there is that God's people are more likely to produce more fruit due to hard times. So on one hand you've got people who are more receptive and then God's people are more likely to do more in the harder times, which is a funny old game isn't it, but the more relaxed, the more easy, the more carefree our lives become, the less we do for God. Hebrews 12.11, you don't have to turn that says, now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous, nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. So the result of the chastening of God, the result of these things is that it yields a peaceful fruit of righteousness, which what's the knock-on effect of that? Ultimately it should be more people getting saved. So where he said here, he said, so he showed us sort of, I believe, that that look there's different approaches with different people to sow that seed, but then there's also, and you could argue in either way, either if it's to harvest, harvest people that aren't saved or it's a saved going on to produce fruit, either way there's, there needs to be kind of some sort of, a lot of the time hard times, that beating with the rod, the beating with the staff, that threshing is what often will get the results, one with salvations and two with God's people. And it says, and that's on the back of showing us what's going to be happened firstly and with the Assyrians coming, secondly in the wrath of God, he said, this also cometh from the Lord of hosts which is wonderful in council and excellent in working. And we look at it and we think, man, I mean, I can't believe God's going to do this or that, I can't, you know, scorpion locusts, what on earth, right? And yeah, like some of that's just some just judgment on some pretty wicked reprobates, but for some of that, that might be the difference between, you know, those some people getting saved, right? Who is, because the Lord is wonderful in council and excellent. And that was Isaiah chapter 28, and we're going to finish in a way. Father, thank you, Lord, for your word, Lord. Thank you for all the great pictures we see of salvation there of the Lord Jesus Christ and that precious cornerstone, Lord. And we thank you that we have our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you that with that we can build upon that, Lord, we can build from the doctrines of Christ and go on to, you know, to attempt perfection, not being that we're going to be perfect, but to be those complete Christians, Lord, we need that faith first and then from that we just keep building line upon line, precept upon precept. Help us keep doing that, Lord, help us keep growing as Christians here. Let's grow and not be conned by all the different false doctrine out there and other things to keep just building things upon the truths of the word, upon clear scripture, upon clear commands, upon clear doctrine, Lord, help us to keep growing, help us keep growing as a church, help us keep becoming more knowledgeable as a church, to help us with that then to be stronger, to be able to stand more, you know, in the evil days that we all have to face and to be able to then stand and keep going out and preach the gospel, Lord. Help us to just be in a highly effective church which just keeps getting more people saved. Open those doors to us, Lord, as they're fit to be opened for us to just find ways of getting the gospel out in different areas, to receptive people, receptive places around this nation and further, Lord, help us to all get home safe and sound this evening and to return on Sunday. Jesus, no problem with this. Amen.