Drunkards, Scoffers & Tough Nuts – part 4
Isaiah 28:1-29 (17-29)
October 8, 2023
Tonight we want to jump back in to the message we started this morning.
• I had not originally intended to spend an entire sermon on verse 16,
• But what an important verse it is
• And certainly a joy of ours to gaze upon the perfection and value of Christ.
None of us who trust in Him have ever found Him to be a disappointment,
NOR WILL WE EVER.
But let’s jump back now into the flow of Isaiah’s sermon.
• You know we are discussing the stubbornness of Israel.
• You know Isaiah is asking Israel just how much they are going to force God to put them through?
And Isaiah gives 3 analogies regarding their stubbornness.
#1 DRUNKARDS
Isaiah 28:1-8
• The priests and prophets of Jerusalem were compared to drunks who totter in their judgments and their messages were comparable to vomit on the table.
• Their stubbornness was seen in their refusal to rightly value God’s word.
• Just as a drunk values the wrong things (sin over God)
• These priests and prophets valued their own opinions more than God’s.
It is stubbornness.
#2 SCOFFERS
Isaiah 28:9-22
• We saw their mocking of Isaiah as though he was talking baby-talk.
• We saw God announce that He would now speak to them through stammering lips.
• God would hide His word.
We saw how the rulers didn’t care because they already had a plan.
They had made an alliance with Egypt.
Their stubbornness emerged again
Because they didn’t see the need to listen to God
Since they had a plan for facing the judgment on their own.
They had a plan.
They had an ally.
They had a deliverer.
Isaiah called it a “covenant with death”
And he said it wouldn’t work.
And o God has now set out to set the record straight.
We said this morning that in verses 16-22
God lays out 4 things every scoffer ought to know.
If you scoff at God’s word
And have your own plan for facing the judgment,
Then here are 4 truths you need to be reacquainted with.
1) THERE IS ONLY ONE AVAILABLE SAVIOR (16)
We looked at this this morning.
God has provided only one means of salvation.
“I am laying in Zion a stone”
This is that foundation that will survive the judgment and it’s the only thing that will.
• “a tested stone” – chosen and proven, certainly up to the challenge.
• “a costly cornerstone” – costly but worth it! Precious and valuable.
• “for the foundation firmly placed” – the stone that everything will depend on.
Jesus Christ is the Only Savior.
HE IS THE ONLY SALVATION WHICH GOD HAS PROVIDED.
And this is what every scoffer needs to know.
• They think they have found a different avenue of salvation.
• They have made a “covenant with death”
• They have made a “pact” “with sheol”
That is a foolish notion because THERE IS ONLY ONE SAVIOR.
• There is only one salvation.
• Only one rock is capable of surviving the coming judgment
• And it isn’t Egypt or any other would-be savior.
• Only Jesus can save.
We saw all that this morning, TONIGHT WE MOVE ON.
3 more things a scoffer ought to know.
There is Only One Available Savior
2) THERE IS ONLY ONE APPROVED STANDARD (17)
(17) “I will make justice the measuring line And righteousness the level; Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies And the waters will overflow the secret place.”
I remember years ago watching a video of a Catholic priest on Larry King who was debating John MacArthur who assured all listeners that when God judges men it will be on a curve.
• That God will only require 60% or 70% in order to get into heaven.
IT IS A POPULAR VIEW.
Men instinctively know that they are sinful.
We hear statements like, “We all fall short” or “Nobody’s perfect”
And while those are true statements
They SHOULD NOT be comforting ones.
Mankind use them today as a means of comforting their anxiety.
They see their sinfulness and their imperfection
And then seek to eliminate their fears by saying, “Well, nobody’s perfect”
And the basis behind the statement is to basically say:
“God can’t judge men for being sinful or else God would have to judge everyone.”
If God wants people in heaven
Then He’s just going to have lower the bar.
And if you remember it,
You know that this was a mindset which Jesus directly confronted in the Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew 5:17-19 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus says, “Do not think…”
• Because that is precisely what they thought.
• They thought that when the Messiah came
• He would clarify which parts of God’s Law really mattered and which parts didn’t.
We remember for instance the Rich Young Ruler
• After Jesus told him to enter into life he must “keep the commandments”
• And that man responded by saying, “Which ones?”
• As if to say: Surely you can’t mean all of them.
We remember Jesus’ conversation with the woman at the well,
• After talking to her about immorality and worship she said:
John 4:25 “The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.”
Jesus said, “Do not think
That I came to abolish the Law and the prophets”
He didn’t come to do away with one letter or stroke.
BUT MEN THINK THAT OUT OF NECESSITY.
They know that the only way they will ever enter heaven
Based upon their own merit is if God lowers the standard.
The only way Egypt can save you from God’s judgment
Is if God’s judgment isn’t too strict or severe.
Surely He only requires 60% or 70%
If you are a person who scoffs at God’s Law
Then you must embrace such a view.
• If you are going to willfully neglect to honor, read, listen to, and obey God’s Law
• Then your only hope is that God isn’t that strict in His application of it.
BUT HERE GOD HAS A WARNING FOR SCOFFERS.
God reveals to them the standard of His judgment.
“I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the level;”
Apparently God wasn’t joking when He said, “
You shall be holy as I am holy”
• When God judges men He will NOT judge them on the curve.
• When God judges men He will NOT judge them based on percentages.
All men will stand next to God’s righteous plum line.
All men will stand under God’s righteous level.
And just to make sure we are still clear on this.
THIS IS ALSO JESUS.
Acts 17:30-31 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
Paul said that God would “judge the world in righteousness”
And that He would do so “through a Man”.
In other words God’s standard of judgment will be a man.
WHAT MAN?
• The man who God declared righteous by raising Him from the dead.
Listen to Jesus speak about it:
John 5:22 “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son,”
And then later Jesus says:
John 5:26-29 “For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.”
We talked about this last year at Disciple Now with our teenagers
And I hope you already understand it, but if not it is so important.
I typically at this point like to ask the question:
“Do good people go to heaven?”
• And most of the time our churchy background overtakes our Bible reading and we say, “No.”
• Now we say that because we know that “no one is good, not even one”.
But look again at what Jesus said.
“Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.”
What did He say?
• If you do the good deeds you go to a resurrection of life
• But if you do evil deeds you go to a resurrection of judgment.
Listen again to what Jesus told the Rich Young Ruler.
Matthew 19:16-17 “And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
When this man asked how to go to heaven Jesus did not say, “believe”,
He said, “keep the commandments”.
It is the same implied point.
You are going to have to do the good deeds
If you are going to enter into life.
Listen to the apostle Paul:
Romans 2:5-10 “But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”
And there it is again.
• Those who do good get life, those who do evil get judgment.
So let me ask you again,
“Do good people go to heaven?”
And the answer is: YES
• If they are holy as He is holy…
• If they are perfect as He is perfect…
• If they are good like He is good…
• Then when they die they will go to heaven.
WHY?
Because “justice is the measuring line and righteousness the level.”
But what happens if a man is half a bubble off?
• What happens if a man is a little out of plum?
• What happens if a man isn’t quite perfect?
WELL I SHOULD THINK IT IS CLEAR.
THAT MAN IS JUDGED
Because he has failed to meet the standards required by God.
Does that make sense?
God will judge all men according to their deeds.
With God it is righteousness or bust.
There is only one approved standard.
That is why it is SO FOOLISH TO SCOFF at the word of God,
For it is there that God reveals His righteous standard.
It is through God’s Law that He shows men what righteousness looks like.
And you say,
“Well the Law doesn’t help me, it only condemns me.”
Quite right, but that is NOT ALL God’s word tells you.
God’s word ALSO TELLS YOU what to do
If you have been found guilty of sin
And have fallen short of God’s righteousness.
We are told to look to Jesus who perfectly fulfilled God’s standard and will make a way for us fulfill it in Him.
Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.”
• At D-Now last year we told the kids to imagine that in order to go to heaven God requires a man to run an 8 second 100m dash.
• (That’s difficult since the current world record is 9.58 set by Ussain Bolt)
• And so the world says, “Well, if God wants anyone in heaven He’s going to have to lower the bar. He might need to limit it to a 14 second 100m or none of us are going to make it.”
• But that is where Jesus shows up and says, “No, God is not yielding. It’s 8 seconds or no entrance, but if you like, I’ll run the race for you and you can count My time on your card.” And Jesus then runs an 8 second 100m.
He didn’t come to abolish, but to fulfill.
So many people assume Jesus came to lower the bar
And widen the gate so that sinful people could go to heaven.
WRONG!
Jesus ENDORSED the Father’s plan of righteousness or bust
And then He FULFILLED it for us.
But the standard doesn’t change.
DON’T SCOFF AT GOD’S WORD.
It will condemn you but it will also drive you to Christ.
There is only one available savior
There is only one approved standard
3) THERE IS ONLY ONE ANTICIPATED SCENARIO (18-20)
(18-20) “Your covenant with death will be canceled, And your pact with Sheol will not stand; When the overwhelming scourge passes through, Then you become its trampling place. “As often as it passes through, it will seize you; For morning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night, And it will be sheer terror to understand what it means.” The bed is too short on which to stretch out, And the blanket is too small to wrap oneself in.”
For all those who ignore God’s standard.
For all those who ignore God’s savior.
They have only one scenario to look forward to and that is judgment.
The writer of Hebrews said:
Hebrews 10:26-31 “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
If you reject the only Savior available
Then all you can look forward to is “a terrifying expectation of judgment”
And that is exactly what Isaiah says here as well.
NO ESCAPE
“Your covenant with death will be canceled, and your pact with Sheol will not stand; When the overwhelming scourge passes through, then you become its trampling place.”
You’re not going to make it.
• So you trusted in Egypt…
• So you trusted in Muhammad…
• So you trusted in your own good works…
• It won’t work.
Your house is built on sand, and the storm is going to level it.
YOU WON’T SURVIVE.
What about these guys?
“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’”
Or how about the man who tried to enter the wedding banquet without wedding clothes?
“Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”
Whatever plan you had for escaping judgment, it won’t work.
NO PEACE
(19) “As often as it passes through, it will seize you; For morning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night, And it will be sheer terror to understand what it means.”
You’re NOT going to get peace and hope and safety and confidence.
• You’re going to be like a man caught in a tidal wave of judgment.
• It’s just going to bowl you over and over and over and over.
There will never be any peace for you.
And the more you understand this, the more terrified you’re going to be.
NO REST
(20) “The bed is too short on which to stretch out, And the blanket is too small to wrap oneself in.”
Ever try to sleep on an airplane?
Ever try to sleep in the cold without enough cover?
You won’t get much rest in such circumstances.
And that is the reality of judgment.
And you see the point of Isaiah.
It is A REMINDER TO EVERY SCOFFER who rejects God’s word.
You have chosen a false savior
And placed your hope there instead of listening to God’s word.
WELL YOU NEED TO KNOW
• There is only ONE available savior.
• There is only ONE approved standard
• There is only ONE anticipated scenario
• All you have to look forward to is a sure and certain judgment.
There is nothing else.
It is either heaven or hell.
• Those who are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus go to heaven.
• Those who are not go to hell.
And on that day they will find that
Their plan for facing death did not work.
WHAT IS YOUR PLAN?
• How were you planning to explain your sin to God?
• How were you planning in working around His holy expectation?
If that plan is anything other than Jesus then you are sunk.
All you have coming is sheer terror.
Every scoffer needs to know that.
• Only God’s word reveals the savior.
• Only God’s word reveals the standard.
• Only God’s word reveals the scenario.
DON’T SCOFF AT IT.
One more thing ever scoffer needs to know.
4) THERE IS ONLY ONE ACCEPTABLE SOLUTION (21-22)
(21-22) “For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim, He will be stirred up as in the valley of Gibeon, To do His task, His unusual task, And to work His work, His extraordinary work. And now do not carry on as scoffers, Or your fetters will be made stronger; For I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts Of decisive destruction on all the earth.”
God is coming in judgment.
• “Perazim” is where God broke through the Philistine army to deliver David.
• “Gibeon” is where God used Joshua to sley the Ammorites.
• Both of those places were places of God’s outpouring judgment.
And I like that Isaiah calls it
“His unusual task” and “His extraordinary work”
• God is a Savior.
• God delights in salvation.
• God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
BUT HE WILL DO IT.
• He will judge, but He takes no delight.
• It is “His unusual task”
And because God will do it,
There is a piece of advice given here.
(22) “And now do not carry on as scoffers, Or your fetters will be made stronger; For I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts of decisive destruction on all the earth.”
What is the acceptable solution?
REPENT
• Start honoring God’s word.
• Start listening to what God has to say.
• Repent of your sin and trust in His Savior.
When Peter revealed that Israel had killed God’s Son they were terrified and asked what to do.
Acts 2:38-40 “Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!”
He preached again in Jerusalem.
Acts 3:19 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;”
You must repent of your scoffing!
You must repent of your neglect of God’s word!
You must seek it and listen to it and obey it.
For God has it within His power to squeeze you until you will.
And thus God has now corrected the scoffers.
It is not wise to scoff at God’s word.
So now Isaiah has confronted the stubbornness of Jerusalem with 2 analogies, “Drunkards and Scoffers”
Let’s now take a look at the 3rd.
#3 TOUGH NUTS
Isaiah 28:23-29
It’s a simple farming analogy.
It is not hard to understand, and it is quite fitting.
(23-24) “Give ear and hear my voice, Listen and hear my words. Does the farmer plow continually to plant seed? Does he continually turn and harrow the ground?”
So we start with a couple of questions.
Their just farming questions.
When a farmer goes and hooks up his plow so that he might break up the ground, does he “plow continually”?
“Does he continually turn and harrow the ground?”
And what is the answer? NO
• Surely he plows until the ground is soft.
• Surely he plows until the ground will take the seed.
• But he doesn’t just keep ripping up the ground.
His plowing is for a purpose
And when that purpose is reached he stops.
(25-26) “Does he not level its surface And sow dill and scatter cummin And plant wheat in rows, Barley in its place and rye within its area? For his God instructs and teaches him properly.”
So he only plows it for so long.
There is not need to cut up the land any more than that.
AND THEN WHAT DOES HE DO?
He sows grain.
Now why do you suppose a farmer only plows so much
And then plants the grain?
“For his God instructs and teaches him properly.”
In other words, This knowledge is not man’s knowledge, it comes from God.
That isn’t a man invented principle, that is a God invented principle.
THAT IS HOW GOD OPERATES.
God doesn’t plow just to plow.
God plows for a purpose.
And if that ground will yield to the plow
Then God will stop plowing and will plant a seed.
That makes sense.
(27-28) “For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, Nor is the cartwheel driven over cummin; But dill is beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a club. Grain for bread is crushed, Indeed, he does not continue to thresh it forever. Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually damage it, He does not thresh it longer.”
Here we move from planting season to harvest.
And when you plant “dill” and it produces a crop
You don’t have to run it under “a threshing sledge”.
WHY?
Because all you have to do is hit the plant with a rod and it will yield up its seed.
The same with “cummin”.
• You don’t have to grind it, just whack it with a club and it will give you the seed.
Now the same CAN’T BE SAID for “Grain”
“Grain for bread is crushed”
If you want to turn wheat into flower you’ve got to run it under “a threshing sledge”
• You’ve got to crush it.
• You’ve got to really hit it hard.
Dill and cummin not so much, but wheat is hard.
You’ve got to hit it harder to make it productive.
BUT EVEN THEN:
“he does not continue to thresh it forever”
WHY?
“Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually damage it.”
Even wheat, which requires a stiffer beating, isn’t beaten forever.
It’s only beaten until it yields.
And then Isaiah says:
(29) “This also comes from the LORD of hosts, Who has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great.”
It is the equivalent
Of when Jesus gave the parable of the soils and then said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
WHAT IN THE WORLD IS ISAIAH TALKING ABOUT?
In this world
• There is some ground that is soft and only requires a little plowing.
• There is some ground that is hard and requires more plowing.
But it is never plowed just to plow it.
And when it finally yields the plowing stops.
In this world
• There are some seeds that are soft and require a little pounding.
• There are some seeds that are hard and require a severe pounding.
But it is never just beaten to beat it.
When it finally yields the beating stops.
DO YOU NEED THE APPLICATION?
In this world
• There are some people who are soft and repent after a little pressure.
• There are some who are hard and require more pressure to repent.
But God never afflicts just for the fun of it.
When a person finally yields the pressure stops.
And so the obvious question is:
HOW TOUGH A NUT ARE YOU?
When Jesus approached Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus road:
Acts 26:12-14 “While so engaged as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me. “And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’”
“to kick against the goads” was a farming analogy.
• It refers to spikes that a farmer would put behind the oxen to keep them from kicking back or resisting the plow.
• They could kick all the wanted but all it would do is hurt and injure the ox.
You can kick all you want but you’re only hurting yourself.
How stubborn do you intend to be?
When Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream he said:
Daniel 4:27 “Therefore, O king, may my advice be pleasing to you: break away now from your sins by doing righteousness and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, in case there may be a prolonging of your prosperity.”
• Of course if you insist upon eating grass like a cow for 7 years we can do that
• But it would be much easier if you would just repent now.
Ezekiel 33:11 “Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’”
It is not God’s desire to plow forever.
It is not God’s desire to thresh forever.
But if the ground won’t yield and the nut won’t crack,
Rest assured that He will hit it again.
Do you see again the danger of stubbornness?
TURN TO: PSALMS 32
It is the testimony of David as he recounts the absolute blessing of repentance and the forgiveness that follows.
Good advice isn’t it?
FRIEND, DON’T BE STUBBORN.
Don’t be like a drunkard who values the wrong thing.
• Value God’s word over your own wisdom or logic.
Don’t be a scoffer who turns a deaf ear to God’s word.
• Listen to Him and do what He says, He has the only plan of salvation.
Don’t be a tough nut who forces God to beat him relentlessly to get him to yield.
• Read what God says and repent and obey without requiring a beating.
