Drunkards, Scoffers, & Tough Nuts – Part 2
Isaiah 28:1-29 (9-13)
October 1, 2023
To say that Israel is a stubborn nation is a bit of an understatement.
• No sooner did they really take shape as a nation
• And did God deliver them from Egypt
• Than do we find God’s evaluation of them.
David recounted it in the 95th Psalm.
Psalms 95:10 “For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways.”
We saw it in God’s commissioning to Isaiah when He told him that he was going to people with ears but who couldn’t hear.
Isaiah 6:9 “He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.’”
When God commissioned Jeremiah to the people of Israel He first informed him:
Jeremiah 1:19 “They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you,” declares the LORD.”
When God commissioned Ezekiel to the people of Israel He said:
Ezekiel 3:5-7 “For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel, nor to many peoples of unintelligible speech or difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. But I have sent you to them who should listen to you; yet the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, since they are not willing to listen to Me. Surely the whole house of Israel is stubborn and obstinate.”
Jesus noted it:
Luke 7:31-35 “To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? “They are like children who sit in the market place and call to one another, and they say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ “For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ “The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ “Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”
When Stephen confronted them he noted:
Acts 7:51-53 “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. “Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.”
When Paul tried to witness to Israel he said:
Acts 13:45-46 “But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and were blaspheming. Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.”
Later Paul testified of them:
Romans 10:21 “But as for Israel He says, “ALL THE DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND OBSTINATE PEOPLE.”
SURELY YOU GET THE POINT.
We are dealing with a stiff-necked and stubborn people.
Isaiah 28 is a chapter meant to appeal to Israel
That they not be so stubborn.
We’ve already seen
The great lengths God is willing to go to in order to break that stubbornness,
Isaiah is now pointing out the folly of forcing God to such an end.
Here in chapter 28 Isaiah is characterizing their stubbornness
Through 3 types of people.
In reality Israel was all 3.
He reveals their stubbornness by talking about
Drunkards, Scoffers, and Tough Nuts.
We saw the first one this morning.
#1 DRUNKARDS
Isaiah 28:1-8
Certainly the first part was about literal drunkards in the northern kingdom of Israel, but that was really just a set-up.
Isaiah spoke of those
• Who everyone in Judah would agree deserved judgment
• Certainly their were some faint grins on their faces as Isaiah spoke of their coming destruction.
But the weight of the sermon fell in verse 7
When Isaiah turned and pointed at the priests and the prophets
In his congregation and said, “You’re just as bad as them.”
You may not be literal drunks but YOU ARE SPIRITUAL DRUNKS.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN?
Well you vacillate and wobble when handling the word of God
And the content of your messages is as valuable
As the vomit a drunk leaves on the table.
AND SO WE LEARNED the first leg of being stubborn had to do with the way we handle and view the word of God.
• It is a stubborn man who insists on his own opinions over God’s.
• It is a stubborn man who follows his own logic instead of God’s decrees.
• It is a stubborn man who listens to the culture instead of God.
That is one of the worst forms of stubbornness
And it has not suited Israel well.
The teaching they have received from their priests and prophets
Has only suited them for the extreme discipline
That God must bring to shake them out of it.
But we saw the first analogy.
Their stubbornness can be compared to drunkards.
Let’s move on to the second analogy tonight.
#2 SCOFFERS
Isaiah 28:9-22
This is a longer segment and I had considered breaking it down even further,
But in reality I don’t think it is necessary
Because it really just flows linear from one verse to the next.
So let’s just start working our way down the passage.
Isaiah just punched the priests and the prophets in the mouth.
• He has called them out and publicly.
• He has humiliated them.
• He has exposed them.
And in verses 9-10 we see their rebuttal.
They could have listened to Isaiah and repented
But their pride would not allow it.
So their only other option is to try and ruin Isaiah.
(9-10) “To whom would He teach knowledge, And to whom would He interpret the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just taken from the breast? “For He says, ‘Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there.’”
So they first answer with a statement that SEEMS TO READ like, “Who does he think he’s talking to?”
Does he think he’s talking to a bunch of babies?
Does he think he’s preaching in a nursery?
“Those just weaned from milk? Those just taken from the breast?”
And at first it sounds like they are defending themselves as if to say,
“We’re not a bunch of kids that you can talk to us like that.”
But that’s NOT really what they are saying.
They ask if Isaiah is talking to kids
Because they’re accusing him of SPEAKING NONSENSE.
(10) “For He says, ‘Order on order, order on order, Line on line, A little here, a little there.”
I am by no means a Hebrew scholar so reading it to you in the Hebrew is difficult.
But the words here are:
• “order” translates (SAV) which is the word for “command” or “oracle”
• “line” translates (KAV) which is the word for like a plum line.
So what these leaders do, after Isaiah finishes confronting them
Is basically just mock him like he’s speaking to little babies.
“sav lasav sav lasav kav lakav kav lakav”
They look at him and say, “You’re talking nonsense. You’re talking gibberish. Why don’t you go down to the nursery and talk to the babies, that’s how they talk.”
And you know exactly what that feels like.
• If you’ve ever worked a VBS
• Or maybe even with your own kids
• And they act up and you correct them,
• And the kid makes that mocking face or sticks out their tongue and mocks what you’re saying.
It is total disdain.
It is total disrespect.
It is their way of saying, “We’re not going to listen to a word you’re saying.”
1. Isaiah says their preaching is the equivalent of vomit on the table
2. And they rebuttal by saying, “Well you’re preaching sounds like baby gibberish.”
So not only do these men lean upon
Their own logic and wisdom instead of the word of God,
When God does speak into their lives they mock it and tune it out.
THAT IS WHAT YOU CALL STUBBORN.
AND LET’S TALK ON THIS IDEA FOR A MOMENT.
I know we’ve looked at it several times before
But it cannot be addressed enough.
TURN TO: JAMES 1:19-25
Most people like to quote James 1:19-20 as a verse that deals with anger and temper tantrums.
• And certainly we understand that a man of God is not pugnacious
• And that fits of rage are an attitude of the flesh,
• But that is NOT what James 1 is primarily about.
James 1 is all about how you handle the word of God,
Especially when God’s word
Contradicts your behavior or your own personal wisdom.
James gives 3 basic warnings.
1. “be quick to hear” – that is to say, you ought to always want to know what God thinks about anything.
• There should be a desire to read God’s word, to hear God’s word, and to know what God says.
• Not hearing what God has to say is terrible arrogance.
2. “slow to speak” – James is talking about those who argue with what God has to say or who make excuses around what God is saying.
• It’s the proverbial, “I see what the Bible says, but don’t you think…”
• Don’t, “Yeah, but” the Bible.
If God says it is black there is no need for you to analyze it any further
IT’S BLACK.
And finally James says
3. “and slow to anger” – this refers to the person who knows what God says, knows God is right, but who doesn’t like it and gets angry.
• They don’t like what God has to day.
• They don’t want to hear it.
• They are offended and they are angry.
And that warning comes with its own listed consequence,
“for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.”
In other words, you are never going to walk in the righteousness God expects if you get angry every time God corrects your behavior.
SEE HOW YOU RECEIVE THE WORD OF GOD MATTERS.
That is something those in Isaiah’s day were not willing to do.
SO JAMES SAYS: (21) “Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.”
You need to “receive the word…which is able to save your souls”
But James doesn’t stop there.
• It’s NOT JUST about receiving God’s word well,
• IT ALSO MATTERS what you do with it after you receive it.
(22-25) “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.”
LISTEN VERY CAREFULLY.
While it is important that you receive God’s word,
You must know that receiving God’s word is NOT the goal.
Many people
• Receive and even acknowledge the Bible as the word of God.
• Many read it, study it, they may even apply it.
But none of those are the final goal.
THE GOAL IS THAT YOU OBEY IT.
Matthew 21:28-32 “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ “And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went. “The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go. “Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. “For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.”
You see the difference.
In Isaiah’s day they did neither.
• They WOULD NOT RECEIVE God’s word – they mocked Isaiah.
• And they certainly WOULD NOT OBEY God’s word.
This is terrible stubbornness.
They were “scoffers”.
And GOD HAS AN ANSWER for those scoffers.
(11-13) “Indeed, He will speak to this people Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue, He who said to them, “Here is rest, give rest to the weary,” And, “Here is repose,” but they would not listen. So the word of the LORD to them will be, “Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there,” That they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snared and taken captive.”
Isaiah’s response is, “Indeed”
If you think God’s word is nothing but gibberish baby talk
Then the next time God speaks to you, that’s how it will sound.
“He will speak to this people Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue”
“the word of the LORD to them will be, “Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there”
I hope you understand the point.
God is going to hide His word from you
And make it an unintelligible word that you can’t understand.
He will speak the truth to you sure enough,
But He will speak it in a way that you cannot understand it.
And if you can’t understand God’s word
THE END RESULT IS ALWAYS JUDGMENT.
“That they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snared and taken captive.”
Paul is very clear to us when he tells us:
Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”
Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
In short the only shot at any human has at salvation is to hear the gospel.
• If they never hear it
• Or if they never hear it in a language they can understand
• Then they cannot be saved.
1. For if you don’t hear the gospel how can you believe it?
2. And if you don’t believe the gospel how can you confess Christ?
3. And if you don’t confess Christ you cannot be saved
4. For there is salvation in no one else.
Do you see the danger of not comprehending the word of God?
IT IS A TERRIBLE JUDGMENT!
WHY WOULD GOD DO SUCH A THING?
Because they are stubborn!
“He who said to them, “Here is rest, give rest to the weary,” And “Here is repose,” but they would not listen.”
• God offered them peace.
• God offered them rest.
• God offered them salvation.
All they had to do was hear and receive and obey His word,
But instead they supplanted God’s word with their own
And scoffed at His when they heard it.
God said, “Fine, you’ll never understand it again.”
I know to many that just sounds so un-Jesus like.
• Would God really stop warning people?
• Would God really stop telling them the good news?
• Would God really confuse the language so that they couldn’t comprehend it?
TURN TO: MATTHEW 13
This is actually the story we’re going to cover with the youth this year at D-Now.
But it is that all-familiar parable of the soils or parable of the sower.
(READ 1-9)
• It is just a farming story, and not really all that enlightening of a story.
• You throw seed and it lands all over the place and not all of it comes up.
And then Jesus closes the sermon, “He who has ears, let him hear.”
In other words, Jesus gave a sort of basic synopsis of farming percentages and then said, “Do you hear what I’m saying?”
And He dismissed the crowd.
If that is all you ever heard of that parable
You wouldn’t have a clue what the spiritual reality behind it was.
You wouldn’t have a clue what in the world He meant.
You’d walk away scratching your head saying,
“What was that guy talking about?”
Well the disciples picked up on that, and while the crowd left they stayed to find out exactly what Jesus meant.
(They hungered, they wanted to receive God’s word)
(READ 10-16)
Do you see what Jesus said?
I hid it from them on purpose!
“to them it has not been granted”
WOW!
WHY?
• Because they don’t listen.
• They see but they don’t see.
• They hear but they don’t hear.
But the disciples hear, the disciples see.
WHY?
• Because they stayed to ask.
• And anyone could have stayed to ask.
The disciples weren’t content to hear and not understand.
Think about that now the next time you are reading God’s word
And something comes up you don’t understand.
Do you dig and search deeper?
Do you seek out Jesus to ask what He meant?
Are you content to hear and not understand?
Proverbs 2:1-5 “My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you, Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will discern the fear of the LORD And discover the knowledge of God.”
1 Corinthians 2:11-12 “For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God,”
God has made it so that we may understand His word.
• It may require work.
• It may require digging.
• It may require seeking and prayer.
• But the intension is comprehension.
But you see here even from Jesus that
THOSE WHO WON’T HEAR ARE MADE WHERE THEY CAN’T HEAR.
That is why in Luke’s version of the parable of the soils
He includes the warning of Jesus, which is our theme for D-Now.
Luke 8:18 “So take care how you listen; for whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him.”
But there is one more warning on this I want you to see.
TURN TO: 1 CORINTHIANS 14:20-25
This is of course in the middle of Paul’s segment to the Corinthians concerning spiritual gifts and even more specifically with Paul’s dealing with the gift of tongues.
There is no spiritual gift more misunderstood than the gift of tongues.
• Today it has become a non-intelligible gibberish
• Often referred to as “a private prayer language”
• Or “a heavenly language”.
There is zero biblical basis for that.
• The tongues that occurred in Scripture (even the Greek word for tongues) are known human languages.
• You see that at Pentecost where certain people from certain regions recognized the disciples supernaturally speaking these known human languages.
But at Corinth it was being abused and manipulated,
Much like we see today and Paul not only seeks to put it in context
But also to explain it’s purpose.
If you ask several today what is the purpose of the gift of tongues?
Many, as we noted, we say it is for a personal prayer language.
• At best that would be for self-edification,
• Though not really because even the prayers don’t know what they are saying.
That is bogus on a number of levels.
• For one, all spiritual gifts are for the edification of the body,
• Not for the edification of the person.
• A private prayer language misses on that mark badly.
To speak a language even you don’t understand is of zero spiritual benefit
Which is what Paul points out early in the chapter,
But we don’t have time to get into all of that.
BUT IF YOU ASK OTHERS (not the private prayer language crowd)
What is the purpose of tongues?
Most would likely say it is missions.
• It would be of use when God sends a missionary to a foreign land
• and supernaturally enables him or her to speak a language they have not learned.
• And indeed God could do something like that, and perhaps He has at times.
But what may surprise you here
Is what Paul says is the purpose of tongues.
Paul says in verse 22 that “tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers;”
Now think on that for a second.
If you’re in a church and someone starts breaking out speaking in tongues, what does that mean?
Paul says it is not a sign for believers but for unbelievers.
He goes on.
“but prophecy is for a sign, not to unbelievers but to those who believe.”
Let that settle in your mind for a second.
Now look up to verse 21, “In the Law it is written, “BY MEN OF STRANGE TONGUES AND BY THE LIPS OF STRANGERS I WILL SPEAK TO THIS PEOPLE, AND EVEN SO THEY WILL NOT LISTEN TO ME,” says the Lord.”
DO YOU RECOGNIZE THAT VERSE?
Of course you do, it is Isaiah 28:11-12.
And we already established that what God was doing in Isaiah’s day was a form of judgment on Israel.
WHY? Because they would not believe God’s word.
And Paul says the same.
• He is merely expositing Isaiah 28 when he tells you that tongues are a sign for unbelievers.
So what does that mean?
• If you are in a church and the legitimate gift of tongues were to break out
• And someone where to start speaking the words of God in a language you did
not understand,
• Do you know what that means?
It DOES NOT mean you are a spirit-filled congregation.
• It means you are a congregation that would not listen to God’s word in a known
language
• And God is now judging you by giving you His word in a language you can’t
understand.
It would be a sign to that church that
They are filled with people who do not believe God’s word.
OUCH!
In fact, Paul says that tongues ISN’T even evangelistic.
(READ 23-25)
DO YOU SEE THAT?
• True missions…
• True evangelism…
• Is speaking God’s word in a language that the hearer can understand.
If God intervenes and speaks in a language you don’t understand,
That is not God trying to save you, that is God judging you.
That is evidence that you are stubborn
And God has hidden His word from you.
How important is it to listen to God’s word when it is available?
Now…
TURN TO: ACTS 2:1-13
Do you see what was happening?
• It wasn’t gibberish, it was known languages,
• But it wasn’t the language of the Jews.
It was a form of judgment from God upon Israel.
Why?
Because the Word Incarnate had been in their midst
Teaching for 3 years and they would not listen.
THE JUDGMENT NOW IS THAT
God is speaking His word in a language that they do not understand.
DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?
See stubbornness before God is not acceptable.
• Do not be like a DRUNKARD WHO SWAYS on the word of God and spews out his own ideas.
• Do not be a SCOFFER WHO MOCKS God’s word and refuses to listen to it.
God will judge both.
That is stubbornness.
We’re actually going to stop there tonight as well, I know that’s a lot to chew on.
We’ll pick back up with Isaiah’s application to these scoffers next week.
