Isaiah 31 Isaiah chapter 31 verse 1. Woe
to them that go down to Egypt for help and stay on horses and
truss and chariots because there are many, and enforcement because
they are very strong, but they look not unto the Holy One of
Israel, neither seek the Lord. Yet he also is wise, and will
bring evil, and will not call back his words, but will arise
against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them
that work iniquity. Now the Egyptians are men, and
not God. Why is it a problem to trust
in the Egyptians and not to trust in God? Because the Egyptians
are men. They're not God, and their horses
are flesh and not spirit. When the Lord shall stretch out
his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is hopin'
shall fall down, and they shall all fall together. For thus hath
the Lord spoken unto me, like as the lion and the young lion
roaring on his prey when a multitude of shepherds is called forth.
Against him he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself
for the noise of them. So shall the Lord of hosts come
down to fight for Mount Zion and for the hill thereof. As birds flying, so will the
Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem. Defending also he will deliver
it, and passing over he will preserve it. Turn ye unto him
from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted. For in
that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver and
his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you
for a sin. Then shall the Assyrian fall
with the sword, not of a mighty man, And the sword not of a mean
man shall defour him, but he shall flee from the sword, and
his young men shall be discomfited. And he shall pass over to his
stronghold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the
incense, saith the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace
in Jerusalem. Now all of the scriptures teach
that there are generally two religions, two trusts, two ways, two hopes. Only one is true in the sense
that it's a real hope, a real stronghold. But many observe
that which is false, the religion that's false. They have confidence
in that trust that's untrustworthy. They go that way which seemeth
right unto men, but the end thereof is destruction. They look to
that hope that cannot save. Historically, this chapter speaks
of the Israelites seeking help from the Egyptians in their trouble
with the Assyrians. But this is all of life. This
is every man and woman, every sinner, every situation. There
are always two. Two ways. It teaches us how that
in everything there are two perspectives in every situation in every life.
One or the other is taken. There's no standing still. There's
no neutrality. And you can't take both. It's one or the other. You can't
serve God and man. But you're going to serve somebody. You are right now and you will
be committed to one or the other. And these two ways are described
nowhere more concisely than in verse three of our text. Men and not God. Men and not God. That's the choice. Oh God, always has been, always
will be, until there is no more choosing. The Israelites had
gone to Egypt for help and thus had chosen men. And notice the exclusivity again
of the choice. Men and not God. If it's men, then it's not God.
And that's important. Turn with me to 2 Chronicles
chapter 32. I recently did a very brief lesson
on this. Some of you saw 2 Chronicles
32. Let's read verses 1 through 8 of 2 Chronicles 32. After these things and the establishment
thereof, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered into
Judah and encamped against the fenced cities and thought to
win them for himself. And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib
was come and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem, he
took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the
waters of the fountains which were without the city, and they
did help him. So there was gathered much people
together who stopped all the fountains and the brook that
ran through the midst of the land, saying, why should the
kings of Assyria come and find much water? They were very clever
about it. They made it so that if the Assyrians
were going to besiege the city, they weren't going to get something
to drink. Not if the Israelites could help it. They stopped up
the brook. Also, he strengthened himself and built up all the
wall that was broken. That's a good idea if an army's
coming against you, isn't it? That just makes good sense. God
gave us some good sense, didn't he? He gave us a little discernment
and, you know, some instinct to think of things like that.
Raised it up to the towers and another wall without and repaired
and mellow. I still haven't figured out how
to say that. Milo or Milo, in the city of David and made darts
and shields in abundance. Now that's another good idea.
Let's have some weapons. Or they'll just camp out there.
We can't do nothing about it. They'll starve us out. We've
got to do something about it. And he sent captains of war over
the people and gathered them together to him in the street
of the gate of the city and spake comfortably to them, saying,
we've got lots of swords and shields. That's not what comforted them. At times it did. They looked
to Egypt for help because they had a lot of chariots. Did you
notice that in there too? Why? Because they were strong.
They took comfort and took counsel with the Egyptians and went to
them for help because they looked like they were able. They had
the resources. This is a wise king here. He didn't comfort them saying,
look what we've made every preparation we can make. This is going to
be good, no? He said, Be strong and courageous,
be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for
all the multitude that is with him, for there is more with us
than with him. What do you mean by that? With
him is an arm of flesh. He's trusting in his chariots
and his horses, exactly what God said, don't trust in them.
But with us is the Lord our God. to help us and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves
upon the words of Hezekiah, the king of Judah. Well, we're taught this also
by the story of David and Goliath. Goliath was unmatched in the
strength of the flesh, but that's all he had was the strength of
the flesh. David said, we come at him in the name of our God,
the name of the God of our Father, and for the glory of God. It's
seen in the Israelites versus Pharaoh and the Egyptians in
the beginning when they escaped Egypt, when they were delivered
from Egypt by God. It's pictured in all of the battles
of Gideon and King David in the scripture where they were so
outnumbered and it was just so impossible in the flesh. The
flesh appears capable at times, and it appears to be the logical
choice in some cases. But God would always bring his
people, it seems like, into situations where the flesh just appeared
to be hopeless. We're outmatched. That's where
he always brings his people. He would not have us trust. And
don't go down to Egypt for help. Don't trust the world. Don't
trust the flesh. Don't trust man. But the flesh,
by nature now, it just makes sense to go to Egypt. Look at
all the chariots they have. We need help. What do you need
to win a war? Horses and chariots and weapons.
They got them down there. It seems like the logical choice.
It makes good sense. Faith is not about that, and
it takes faith to choose God. A supernatural ability that most
men will never have. God's gift of faith. To see what's
taught in all of scripture. To see what's real. To see that
there are more with us than with them. It don't look that way.
You remember Elijah's servant? They were surrounded by the enemy. And his servant said, what are
we going to do? What are we going to do? And
the prophet prayed, Lord, open his eyes that he might see. And what he saw that the army
of the Lord of hosts was on their side. If God be for us, who can
be against us? Philippians 3, 3, we are the
circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in
Christ Jesus and have no confidence. in the flesh. Why are we, in
that word rejoicing, is the confidence that we don't have in the flesh.
We rejoice in Him because we have all confidence in Him, but
none in ourselves. All through the Bible this is
taught. And this is not just a matter of physical, earthly,
temporal battles and endeavors. And I say that because religion
just keeps hammering that, don't they? This is not about being
successful in this life. That's not what it's about. We
don't know what success is anyway. Do we? Was John the Baptist successful? He didn't have anything. But this is more than success
in this life. This is for all the marvels. This is eternal life and death.
The battle we're in. The flesh cannot save you from
your sin. And sin is really your only problem. Sin is the source of all of our
problems. And when I say sin, I mean you.
You're the problem. I'm the problem. So you see the foolishness of
trusting in the problem. There are two ways out of the
mess you're in. You are God and you are the problem. And God
is the only answer, the only solution, the only way, the only
hope, the only life, the only truth. Your problem is with God. And by faith, the sinner must
take sides with God against himself. The battle is us versus God. Who's going to help us? The God
that fights against us. That's the one that wrestles
with us. How did Jacob win in his struggle
with Christ? He fought all night. He wrestled
all night with him, didn't he? Did Jacob win? I'd say he won.
He left there a prince with God. How did he win? By losing. by God breaking him down and
putting him in the dust. We're gonna win this fight by
losing it. Most people trust the problem
to solve the problem. What is your problem? Your sin.
What do most people think is the answer? Well, you gotta do
something. You know what the definition of sin is? You doing
something. If you want to sin, just do something. If you want to be saved, look
to Christ, who really did something, who actually did something, who
never sinned. Look to Him and what He did.
You are God. You are God. Consider Philippians 3 again,
that chapter that we refer to so often. In that chapter where
Paul says, my heritage was strong and flawless, a Hebrew of the
Hebrews, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, as touching the law blameless,
circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel. But Paul rejected all that. Who
was Paul renouncing? What did he renounce in that
chapter and who did he rejoice in? He renounced himself and
rejoiced in Christ Jesus. Who is Paul rejecting in that
chapter and who is he pursuing? He said, I'm pursuing, I'm running
after him. If by any means I might apprehend
the one who apprehended me. Now that God has turned the light
on, Paul denied himself, took up
his cross, died to self and pursued Christ. It's counterintuitive to trust
God, to trust the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 1, between the
Egyptians and the Israelites, in the ancient bondage that the Israelites were
under, under the Egyptian bondage, whose money would you put, who
would you put your money on? The Egyptians or the Israelites
being able to get out of there. Well, it took a miracle to save
them, didn't it? It took a miracle to save them.
It's going to take a miracle to save you, too. It'll take
a miracle to save me. To save us from our sins. This
is why scriptures are so clear that salvation is not of him
that willeth. Because we will never choose Christ if left to
our own choosing. Why? Because he is foolishness
to us. The natural man receiveth not
the things of God because they are foolishness unto him. Neither
can he know them because they are spiritually discerned and
we are nothing but flesh. We will never choose Christ if
left to our own choosing. But wait a minute Chris, you
just said we have to choose God over ourselves. That's right. How are we going to choose him
we can't choose? It's called a miracle. It's called salvations
of the Lord. It's Lazarus come forth. It's stretch forth thine hand.
It's rise, take up your bed and walk. He only says that to people
that can't do it. He's not going to say to a walking
man, rise, take up your bed and walk. He says that to lame people.
The whole don't need a position. The one who needs to walk is
the one who can't walk. There's only one way he can walk.
That's by the power and grace of Christ. So in this, it's impossible. It doesn't make any sense. It's
foolishness and spiritually impossible. Think about for just another
second the irony of Israel going to Egypt for help. Egypt is where
God delivered them from. This is what it is to trust man
for salvation. The will of man, the works of
man, the way of man. You trust in the enemy. You trust
in the problem. Your will is not the solution.
Your will is the problem. And yet sinners will do so every
time. All of religion is based on it.
Without the grace of God every time, we will trust the problem. Romans 9 verse 30. If you want
to turn over there with me, I've got to turn to it because I didn't
put it in my notes. So you might as well turn over
there to Acts Romans chapter 9 verse 30. Here it is, all in the Word of
God, all through the Word of God. 930, what shall we say then that
the Gentiles which followed not after righteousness have attained
to righteousness? Even the righteousness which
is of faith. They didn't have any interest in being righteous
with God, but God gave them faith in His Son. And now they know
what it means to be righteous before God. But Israel, which
followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law
of righteousness. They were all about being righteous before
God. But couldn't cut it. Wherefore?
Why couldn't they attain it? Why couldn't they be righteous
their way? Because they sought it not by
faith, but as it were by the works of the law. And they stumbled
at that stumbling stone. As it is written, Behold, I lay
in Zion. A stumbling stone and rock of offense and whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Egypt is big and strong and they
have all the resources, they have the ability, so it appears. They can be seen to be a help. But God says don't go there.
Man's churches are bigger and more impressive. and their programs
and their outreaches than God's churches will ever be. Only a fool would choose to go
to God's church. There's nothing happening over
there that has any interest to the flesh. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3.18,
Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth
to be wise in this world, let him become a fool. Only a fool
would do that, would choose this church over the people's church.
And bless God, make me a fool, make me a fool. Let him become a fool that he
may be wise. God hath made the wisdom of this
world to be foolishness. What this world calls foolishness
is the wisdom of God. In matters of the soul, in eternal
matters, If it makes sense, beware. Beware. It just makes sense. Watch out. Watch out. God rarely uses what makes sense. His way is rarely the logical
way. Every one of us now, we have
a perception of what our problems are in this life, and we have
a perception of how to resolve them. It's wrong, unless it's
God's. Your only problem is your sin.
Wait a minute, I've got all kinds of problems. No, you don't. Your
only problem is your sin, and all you need is Christ. You don't need a better job.
You don't need more money. You don't need for your trials
to go away. You don't need that. You need Christ. You need him. I need him. I may want him to go away. I
may want things. I need him. Got to have it. We must become fools in our own
eyes and we must become what this world calls a fool. And
that only happens by grace. The flesh is powerless in salvation. The flesh profiteth nothing. But the flesh is strong against
the spirit in us once we are saved. The flesh, oh. The flesh, we fight. We overcome
by fighting. The spirit wareth against the
flesh. And the flesh against the spirit.
And it's strong. Now our temptations are strong.
The flesh is weak in that it can't do that which honors Christ. Our Lord said the flesh is weak
because they couldn't even watch with Him for an hour. But strong
in the sense of the influence of our flesh upon us even now. And we can't overcome the flesh
without Him. Through Christ we are more than
conquerors, but not alone. We can't overcome the flesh when
the flesh is what we're fighting. But Christ is our only help and
our only hope. Now I've seen this play out over
and over in my own experience and in my own life. This matter
of who am I going to trust? Who am I going to trust today?
Who am I going to trust in this instance? Who am I going to trust right
now? Where am I going to go for help? I've seen it in believers and
unbelievers. I've seen it in myself and I've seen it in others.
Why did Israel go to Egypt for help? Because they were in trouble. And what do we tend to do when
we're troubled? Well, our tendency of this flesh is
to trust the flesh, to go to this world. How many times have
I seen people in the church, beloved brothers and sisters,
They experience heartache of some kind, some kind of trial.
And what happens? They forsake the worship. It
seems that the attitude is this, I'll retreat into the world,
you know, and work this problem out, and then when the storm
is over, I'll come back and worship. Can we worship God in the storm?
Can we worship Him in the midst of the storm? The disciples in the midst of
the storm, what did they do? Why are you sleeping? Don't you
care about us? They were battening down the
hatches, boy. We got things we gotta do. Oh, our Lord said,
how is it that you don't have any faith? How is that? You know me, you've seen me,
you've walked with me, you've heard me, you know what I do. How can you not have any faith?
That's a good question. How in the world can we still be worried? Can
we still retreat from Him when we need Him the most? If you need help, where are you
going to get it? Verse 2, it says in verse 2,
now when you're trusting the flesh, you're actually fighting
against God. Yet, that word yet, even though,
you know, we're doing what we think is right, it sure looks
good, you know, boy, it looks like the right thing to do. Yet, he also is wise now. and will bring evil, and will
not call back his words, but will arise against the house
of the evildoers, and against the help of them that worketh."
You know that word, against. Against. God is against. I don't want to be on the wrong
side of that, do you? When you go to Egypt, who is
He against? He's against you. If God be for us, who can be
against us? But if God be against us, who's going to help us? You
think Egypt can help you when God is fighting against them? You're fighting against Him who
alone is wise, yet He also is wise. You're fighting against the only
one who does as He pleases. It says He will bring evil. How is he going to do that? He's
got to be almighty. Nobody can beat Egypt. That's
why we're going to them for help. They're nothing to God. You're fighting against the only
one that does what he pleases with whom he pleases. Think about
that. He will make it so that all of
your fleshly endeavors shall fail. all of your fleshly foundations
will crumble. And you're fighting against the
one who always does what he says he'll do. What does that mean,
he won't call back his words? You know, I say I'm gonna do
something, and I may have to go get those words and get them
back. Yeah, I may have to eat them.
God don't eat his words. He don't call back his words.
He does exactly what he says he's gonna do. You don't want
to be against him. He doesn't change his mind. He
speaks it, and he performs it. He says, I'll have mercy on whom
I'll have mercy, and he does. He says, I'll harden whom I believe,
and he does. Whose side are we on? God's against
somebody. Oh, I don't want to be somebody
he's against, do you? Exodus 32, 25. Let's look at
it together real quick. Exodus 32, 25. Isn't this clear? It's so clear.
The more, the older I get, the more I look into the word of
God, the more I realize that the gospel is simple, isn't it?
It's God or me. It's God or me. Exodus 32, 25. And when Moses saw that the people
were naked, for Aaron had made them naked under their shame
among their enemies, then Moses stood in the gate of the camp
and said, Who is on the Lord's side? Let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered
themselves together unto him, and he said unto them, Thus saith
the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and
go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay
every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every
man his neighbor, the children of Levi did according to the
word of Moses, and their fellow the people, that day about three
thousand men." I don't even know what to say about
that. It speaks for itself, doesn't it? What a terrible day. And yet, How much more terrible would
it be to not be on God's side? Now the Egyptians are men and
not God, and their horses flesh and not
spirit. When the Lord shall stretch out
his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is hopin'
shall fall down, and they shall all fall together. You know,
I wrote down Matthew 15, 8 through 14 to read in regard to that. But let me just tell you what
that's about. You remember when our Lord said, you see those
Pharisees? He said, stay away from them. He said, don't be
like them. Don't do what they do. They be blind leaders of
the blind. And when the blind lead the blind,
everybody going in the ditch. Just stay away from them. Leave
them alone. The only good they are to you
are as an example of what not to be and what not to do. They're
all going in the ditch. That's what verse 3 says. They're
all going in the ditch. Oh, to trust in some reprobate
that gets up smiling with his rings on and has that charisma,
you know, that personality. And he gets up and perverts the
Word of God and twists the Word of God to his own advantage and
murders the souls of men in the process. And people give him
their money and follow him and brag on him. They're all going in a ditch.
All going in a ditch. Verses 4 and 5, let's look at
that in the text. Verses 4 and 5, look at this,
this is interesting. For thus saith the Lord, for
thus hath the Lord spoken unto me, like as the lion and the
young lion roaring on his prey, what a multitude of shepherds
is called forth against him. He will not be afraid
of their voice. Who's God going to be afraid
of? nor abase himself for the noise of them. So shall the Lord
of hosts come down to fight for Mount Zion, for the hill thereof,
as birds flying. So will the Lord of hosts defend
Jerusalem. Defending also he will deliver
it like a lion and like birds. That's interesting. That's quite
a contrast. And I understand the lion part,
don't you? A lion is mighty. The lion of the tribe of Judah,
our Lord is called. Not scared of anybody, if anything.
Mighty, the king, the king of beasts. And he's the king of
the universe. But what's a bird? Birds don't
seem very strong. They're not, but they're quick.
They're fast. He's like a lion and he's like
birds flying over. Not only will he defend you and
destroy all your enemies, it doesn't take him long to do it.
He's in ever-present health in times of trouble. Notice in the middle of verse
5 that when He defends, you defend
it. He's effectual in all that He
does. When He defends, He delivers. When He takes up your case, you're
saved. You see, that's the main difference between religion and
the true church of Christ, the true message, the true gospel.
Christ does what He came to do. He don't try. He don't offer.
He don't make things possible. He don't make things available.
He does it. His work of salvation is finished
and successful and complete. Verse six. Turn ye unto him from
whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted. What a message. Here's the gospel. Turn to him that everybody else
that is anybody has rejected. You see that in that verse? Turn
to the one that everyone else is turning away from. You know
how that's going to happen? By grace through faith. Will you also go away? Everybody
else has. You see that? The children of
Israel have deeply revolted against him. They've rejected him out
of hand. His message is offensive, it's
scandalous, and we don't want anything to do with it. That's
the one you've got to have. The despised one. The rejected
one. The one that is despised and
rejected of men. God has made him both Lord and
Christ. And there's none other name under
heaven given among men whereby you must be saved. The apostle
Peter told them the only one that can save you is the one
you nailed to a cross and spit on while he was hanging there.
That's right. That's the mess. That's the gospel. Turn to the one that you deeply
have rejected and revolted. It's a revolution. It's a taking
up of arms against him. It is a violent rejection, a
willful rejection of Him. Turn to Him. Come to Him. Bow to Him. Throw down arms. Submit and plead for mercy. Turn away from man and turn to
Him from whom everyone else, especially the religious, especially
the children of Israel, have turned away from. When everybody
else turns and walks no more with him, may God give us grace
to say, to whom shall we go? His words are life. How can I
leave? Life flows from his lips. Verse seven through nine. For in that day, every man shall
cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which
your own hands have made unto you for a sin. Then shall the
Assyrian fall with the sword, and not of a mighty man, and
the sword not of a mean man, shall devour him. But he shall
flee from the sword, and his young men shall be discomfited. And he shall pass over to his
stronghold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the
incense, saith the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace
in Jerusalem. Three things, one thing from
each of those verses. First of all, when God saves,
he alone is worshiped. Every idol, don't think of an
idol as a little piece of wood or a trinket. A lot of people
worship trinkets and things like that. A lot of people worship
imaginary Christ too, false Christ, anti-Christ. Everybody and everything that
claims your attention, your energy, your devotion, your time, Your
commitment, it's an idol. When He has mercy on you, when
He turns you, the prophet said, Lord, turn us and we'll be turned.
The gospel message is, turn ye unto Him who you've turned away
from. And everybody else is still turning
away. Turn to Him. When that happens,
He alone will be exalted in your heart. You'll never trust your
works again. You'll break every idol. Secondly, When God saves, our true ultimate
enemy is a goner. A goner. But what's this whole
chapter about? Why did they go to Egypt for
help? Because of the Assyrians. The Assyrians They're not going
to bother you anymore. You see that? They're going to
run. They're going to run and hide. They'll be destroyed and God
don't need any help. Did you notice that? Not with
a sword, not of a mighty man. He don't need Egypt. You think
you do. You need Him. He don't need them. Without Egypt, God saves without
Egypt, without man, without him. That's the only way he saves.
And verse 9 says that our enemies will be afraid. They won't come
near us. Why? They're going to see our
flag. What are they afraid of? The
ensign. Our flag, our banner. And when
they see that, they won't dare. They won't dare even come near
us. Who are our enemies again? Well, the Assyrians represent
the justice of God. They represent Satan and all
of the demons of hell that serve him. They represent our own flesh,
our own evil heart and nature, the old man. Our enemies. The justice of God against me.
What will keep God's justice from taking me and punishing
me? From routing me? Destroy it? I'm no match against
him. against his justice. What am I going to answer? How
am I going to defend myself? You know what will keep that
from happening? There is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus. Our banner. Notice in the text. Our banner. The incense saith
the Lord. They're afraid of the incense
saith the Lord. See that next word? Who's. Our flag is a who. It's not a physical flag with
a cross on it. It's somebody. They're afraid of the one who
is over us. They're afraid of the one whose banner we fight
under, whose protection we are under. Our banner is a who, the ensign
whose fire is in Zion, in the church. Christ is like a flag
raised in our very midst, in Zion, in the church, where his
people are gathered, the flag is flying. There he is in the
midst of us and it strikes fear in the heart of everybody and
everything that would do us any harm. Satan not afraid of you. He's not afraid of you. He wasn't
afraid of Job. He just said, Lord, give him
to me. And we'll see about, you know,
what a great man he is. He wasn't afraid of Job. He's
not afraid of you. But there's a flag flying over
us, a flag flying in our very midst. And when Satan in this
world the avenger of blood, our own flesh, because in the matter
of God's justice, we're the enemy, not God's justice. We're the
problem. Our own sin is the true enemy in the matter of the justice
of God. When all of our enemies see whose protection we are under,
when they see to whom we pledge allegiance, they can't come anywhere
near us. They're gonna run and hide. Who
is he that condemneth? Who shall harm a hair on our
head? It is Christ. It's Christ that died. It's Christ
crucified who is our King, our Savior, our Champion. Whom shall
we fear? Don't trust man. Don't trust yourself or anybody
else. And having trusted God, don't
fear man. or anybody else. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
my rock.