Let us turn to God's Word and
our text tonight, found in Isaiah chapter 28. Isaiah chapter 28,
that Old Testament portion that we read, and turning to verses
9 and 10. Isaiah 28, 9 and 10. 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 precept must
be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line
upon line, here a little and there a little. I want to deal then with the
manner of God's teaching as we have it laid before us in these
words. Particularly those words in verse
10, precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon
line, line upon line, here a little and there a little. Clearly the chapter is speaking
to us ultimately of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's a direct
reference to Him. in verse 16, were to be taken
up by Peter in his first epistle in the second chapter. 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. And that scripture, as
I say, is taken up by Peter in 1 Peter 2, 6. So this passage is to be understood in terms
of the gospel, this day of grace, this acceptable time, even the
day of salvation. but it also has its historical
setting. And I want to begin by saying
something with regards to that particular context, the situation
in which God was first pleased to give this word through his
servant, the prophet Isaiah. I know that Isaiah's ministry
is principally to the southern kingdom, to Judah, because at
the beginning we have mention of those who were the kings in
Judah in the day of his vision, the day of his prophecy. We read
of kings such as Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Ezekiah, all of them
kings of Judah. but also he does address himself
on occasions to the Northern Kingdom, the Kingdom of Israel,
with its capital there at Samaria. And often that Kingdom of Israel
is referred to under the name Ephraim, and we see that here
in the opening part of the chapter. 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. And then again at verse 3, the
crown of pride we read, the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under
feet. God is addressing them, that
northern kingdom, and speaking of their sins, their pride, their
rebellions against God, and how He is going to send a terrible
judgment upon them. Spoken of there in the second
verse, Behold the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest
of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing,
shall cast down to the earth with the hands." The mighty,
the strong one that is being spoken of there was the Assyrian,
Sennacherib. And Sennacherib did fall upon
that northern kingdom, and the ten tribes that made up that
kingdom were scattered. And then of course, we read later
how it was in the days of King Hezekiah that Sennacherib and
his armies even came through the kingdom of Judah and arrived
at the very walls of Jerusalem, only for God there to frustrate
him, to overthrow him. But here, in this chapter then,
we're reading of that judgment that was going to fall upon the
Northern Kingdom. And how God describes in verse
4, the glorious beauty which is on the head of the 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. how temporary, how passing were
the glories that might have belonged on to that kingdom. Israel, Ephraim, a fading flower,
hasty fruit, and yet God says that he will preserve and save
a remnant. Verse 5, 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. That residue, that little
remnant, according to the election of grace. And we know that Isaiah's
ministry was very much to the remnant, as we see there at the
end of chapter 6. A chapter wherein, of course,
he receives his call and his commission where he says to the
Lord God, as he sees that remarkable sight, the vision of the throne
of God, and God says, Whom shall I send? Who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I. Send
me. And then that ministry that he
must exercise. And there will be a remnant,
in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return. We read in verse
13. Just a tiny, just a little remnant
preserved out of principally the kingdom of Judah, but also
there were those few who were preserved out of Ephraim, out
of Israel. The residue that God will yet
save. And yet their leaders are corrupt
out of no use, As we see in verse 7, 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 are swallowed
up of wine. They are out of the way through
strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgment. For
all tables are full of vomit and filthiness so that there
is no place clean. There were so many false prophets
and so many wicked priests. they would have no service at
all. But there will be a remnant and
God himself will be the teacher of that remnant. Whom shall he
teach knowledge? We read in verse 9. Whom shall
he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the
milk and drawn from the breast, for precept must be upon precept,
precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a
little and there a little. And this is where I want us to
come tonight, to consider these words and to say something with
regards to the manner in which God teaches His remnants, the
manner in which God teaches His people. And that teaching is
gradual. He teaches his children by degrees. We read later in verse 16, that
word that is directly applied to the Lord Jesus, He that believeth
shall not make haste. He that believeth shall not make
haste. It's a gradual way wherein God
teaches and establishes His people. when God brings the children
of Israel into the promised land, do we not there in the way in
which the Lord is dealing with them as they enter into the possession
of that land of promise, do we not see that that is a type of
the experience of God's people under the gospel? And what does
God say, Exodus 23, 30, By little and little I will drive them
out from before thee, those wicked peoples who were in possession
of the land. How was God going to rid the
land of those Canaanites and all those other wicked nations? It was by little and by little. And I say again, it is a type.
Now, as we come to consider the words of our text tonight, I
want to divide what I say into these two parts. First of all,
to say something with regards to the need of weaning, because
clearly that is spoken of in the first part of the text, in
verse 9, the ones that God teaches knowledge. the ones that God
causes to understand doctrine, them that are weaned from the
milk and drawn from the breast. And then secondly, to look at
the nature of God's teaching, as it's spoken of in the 10th
verse, precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little
and there a little. But first of all, the need of
weaning. Now, we're told that it was the
practice in the East that they would wean the child from the
mother's breast at a much later period than would be common in
our experience. The child would even be a toddler
and still often at the breast of his mother. But the time of
weaning would come and then how that child would fret and sulk
how that child would feel the loss when the comfort that it
had so long enjoyed was now denied and often that experience might
cause the child to misbehave Now, we see in that portion that
we read in the New Testament how that weaning is part and
parcel of the believer's growth in grace. Paul, in a sense, is
rebuking the church there at Corinth. I, brethren, could not
speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto
babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk and
not with meat, for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither
yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal, for whereas
there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are ye
not carnal and walk as men." How he is rebuking them. And how was that spirit, that
carnal spirit manifested amongst them? He goes on to speak of
partiality and divisions. Instead of developing, instead
of growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ, they have their favorites, they love some, and
they despise others. Verse 4, while one saith, I am
of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos. Are ye not carnal? Who
then is Paul? Who is Apollos? But ministers
by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man. I have planted, Apollos watered,
but God gave the increase. Here is a mark of their immaturity,
they're looking to men, they're looking to personalities, they're
not looking to the Lord God Himself. Though He reminds them with those
remarkable words at the end of the chapter. He says at verse 24, Therefore
let no Manglorian men for all things are yours whether Paul
or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present
or things to come all are yours and you are Christ and Christ
is God that partiality those divisions all these are all indications
that they're not they're not growing in grace they're not
learning as they ought to be learning but there's not only
partiality When we come back to this portion in Isaiah 28,
we see that they were really such a proud people. What do
we read there in the opening verse? Woe to the crown of pride! Woe to the crown of pride! To
the drunkard of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower. Again, in verse 3, we read of
the crown of pride, haughtiness, pride. And now there's a contrast
when we think of the weaned child. And we sang just now in the psalm,
the metrical version of the 131st psalm, Lord my heart is not haughty,
nor mine eyes lofty, Neither do I exercise myself in great
matters or in things too high for me. Surely I have behaved
and quieted myself as a child that is weaned of his mother.
My soul is even as a weaned child." What a contrast between all that
pride that is being rebuked here as the Prophet faithfully speaks
to the people the Word of God. The observation of Mr Spurgeon
is quite striking with regards to his comment there on Psalm
131. He says, it speaks of a young
child, but it contains the experience of a man in Christ. That is growth
in grace, you see. It's the experience of the child.
And yet what do we see? We see that man who is mature
in the Lord Jesus Christ. All the need for weaning then.
That we're not those who are partial, not those who court
divisions. We're not those who are proud
and haughty. But then also, there is that
worldliness that must be avoided, that worldliness that really
is a manifestation of idolatry. the language of John in his first
general epistle he says love not the world neither the things
that are in the world if any man loved the world the love
of the father is not in him all that is in the world the lust
of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life
is not of the father he says but is of the world now we are
to avoid all worldliness, idolatry. Again, thinking of the Psalms,
we refer to the 131st Psalm, the Psalm of Degrees. So also is the 126th Psalm, when
the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that
dream, it says. That was that judgment that God
visited, not upon Israel to the north, but on Judah. Not then
under Sennacherib's armies, the Assyrians, but it was Nebuchadnezzar,
the Babylonians who came. And Jerusalem fell that time
to the Babylonians and they were taken into exile. They were removed
into captivity. And there, they say, when God
turned that captivity, they were like them that dreamt. Now, we know that those songs
of degrees would be sung as they went up to the temple for the
three great Jewish festivals of Passover, and of Pentecost,
and of Tabernacles, as the men made their way to that place
where God had established His worship. setting the tabernacle
first at Shiloh and then at Jerusalem, they would sing these songs.
And surely, there in Psalm 126, we see that they would have been
singing those songs of degrees as they returned, as they returned
again to Jerusalem after the 70 years in exile. And what did they experience
here? Had they not been weaned? Or were they not by that experience
of the captivity been weaned from all their idols? What was
the principal cause of God judging his ancient people? It was idolatry. We see that in this book of the
prophet Isaiah. Israel and Judah, they wanted
to be like the nations round about them. They wanted their
idols, the works of men's hands. And it was because of that that
God sent that judgment upon them, that scattering of them. And
they were weaned, because after the captivity, we don't read
then of their idolatrous ways, they were weaned of it. Now,
we might not have our idols of gold and of silver, but we We
still have our idolatrous hearts. And if we put anything before
God, is not that an idol? The first commandment says, Thou
shalt have no other gods before me. God is that One who must
have that principle, that primary place. Nothing is to be put before
Him. Nothing to be put in His place. And yet we have our idol. And
how the Apostle speaks of idolatry when he writes in those New Testament
epistles. Writing to the Philippians, he
speaks of some whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose
glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. Here's carnality,
you see. Their God is their belly. All
their mindful of earthly things. The things that are seen are
but temporal things, and yet men make idols of the things
of this life. Going to the Colossians, Paul
can say that covetousness is idolatry. And it is. Thou shalt not covet. What is
covetousness? It's an inordinate desire. The
word that Jews, you remember in in Romans 7 is that word concupiscence
concupiscence inordinate desire men lost after the things of
this world and that's idolatry we cannot throw stones at Ephraim
or at Judah they have to be weaned from their idols and we have
to be weaned from from our idols. Think of that word that the Lord
God speaks to Barak, a man who seems to be secretary to the
prophet Jeremiah. It was some sort of an amanuensis
to him. He would write the words, the
prophecies, the preachings of the prophets. And now he's referred
to in that short 45th chapter in the book of Jeremiah. And
God says to him, Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek
them not. For I will bring evil upon all
flesh, but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places
whither thou goest. O Barak, seekest thou great things? Don't seek them. God is going
to bring evil. And he's speaking of course of
that judgment that would come in way of the captivity. But
God would give him his life for a prey in all places, God would
watch over him, God would preserve him. But he's not to seek great things
or we're not to make an idol of ourselves. God preserve us
from that. God delivers his people from
all false gods, from all falsehoods. He says here in verse 17, Judgment
also will I lay to the lying and righteousness to the plummet
and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies and the water
shall overflow the hiding place all will be exposed there's nothing
but vanity all our idols, futile things all by his judgment you
see God will deal with us and wean us from our idols how we
need to be like that weaned child. Now we have to be converted and
become as little children. Remember the words of the Lord
Jesus when the disciples dispute amongst themselves who's going
to be the greatest? In the opening verses of Matthew
18 We read, At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus,
saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus
called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become
as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of
heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble
himself as this little child, The same is greatest in the kingdom
of heaven. Now, if I remember right, I'm
not sure of this, but I think in that fourth verse where it
says that we have to humble ourselves as this little child, the noun
for child is the diminutive. There is a diminutive. In the
Greek, there's the word child, but the diminutive literally
means little child. But if I remember right, this
known also as the adjective. So literally he says it, "...whosoever
shall humble himself as this little, little child." So this
is that child just weaned. Just about weaned. Now when the
child is weaned, of course, the child is no more fretful. It's
been delivered from all that. It's at peace. It accepts its
situation. Now we have to be like that little
child as we read there in the 131st Psalm. Lord my heart is
not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty, neither do I exercise myself
in great matters or in things too high for me. Surely I have
behaved and quieted myself as a child that is weaned of his
mother. My soul is even as a weaned child. What a blessing when the
Lord brings us to that. Whom shall he teach knowledge?
Whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned
from the milk and drawn from the breast. The necessity then,
oh the necessity of us being weaned and being delivered from
all our follies delivered from all our foolish ways, all our
idolatrous ways. And then he goes on to speak
of the way in which God teaches, the nature of God's teaching
in verse 10. Precept, must be upon precept. Precept upon precept, line upon
line, line upon line, here a little and there a little. All the teachings of God. Remember
the language of Elihu? In the book of Job, Job 36, 22,
he says, or he asks the question, who teaches like him? Who teaches
like him? The Lord Jesus says, they shall
be all taught of God. Every man therefore that has
heard and have learned of the Father cometh unto mercy. how God teaches us and it is
as we see here and it's repeated there in verse 13 the word of
the Lord unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept
line upon line, line upon line here a little, there a little
it's by little and little this is how God teaches when God brings
the children of Israel into that land of promise, remember, by
little and little I will drive them out from before thee, it
says. Now, that's the word that we
have in Exodus 23 and then it's repeated in Deuteronomy chapter
7, 22. The Lord thy God, it says, will put out those nations before
thee by little and little thou mayest not consume them at once
lest the beast of the field increase upon them. There's a reason why
God does things in the way that He does things. The reason why
God deals with us little by little. And that's a very interesting
word that we find in Deuteronomy chapter 7. The reason is given, thou mayest
not consume them at once lest the beasts of the field increase
upon them." All the beasts of the field, what are these beasts?
Think of the spiritual significance of what's being said there. If
we understand that the dealings of the Lord God with the children
of Israel as they come into the possession of the promised land.
What is the promised land? We think sometimes in terms of
that promised land as being heaven. You know, they cross over the
river Jordan they enter into the land and often and we see
it in some of the hymns that land of promise is spoken of
in terms of of heaven the heavenly rest that the people of God enjoy
and yet surely in a sense we have to recognize it is not so
much heaven but gospel rest it's entering into gospel rest because
There's no nations to be driven out of heaven. There's no sin that can ever
enter into heaven. If we think of these wicked nations,
the Canaanites and all the others, as representative of sins, none
of that can enter into heaven. But when the sinner is converted, When we enter into gospel rest,
we know that there is still that awful inward conflict, that conflict
with ourselves, that conflict with the all-nature. Aren't these
the beasts that would so quickly destroy us? And so God says,
by little and little thou mayest consume them. And then he says,
the beasts of the field. lest the beast of the field increase
upon them. All those beasts of pride, independence,
forgetfulness of God. The psalmist says, as God's mouth,
slay them not lest my people forget. And we have to constantly
remember our complete and utter dependence upon God. This is
why when we're saved we're not immediately in that state of
sinless perfection. Our sanctification experience,
it's experienced in the good fight of faith. It's experienced
in the mortifying the deeds of the body and living. And this
is how God teaches us. He teaches us our complete and
our utter dependence upon Him. Now, It is interesting when we come
to passages such as this in Isaiah 28, and I acknowledge it's not
an easy portion of scripture. There's no doubt, as I said at
the outset, that it has to do with the Gospel day. Because
verse 16 is explicitly applied to the Lord Jesus there in 1
Peter 2, verse 6. But also there are words that
we have previously here, verse 11. It says, with stammering
lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. Now those words are taken up
by Paul when he writes to the church at Corinth and he's dealing
with the abuses that were occurring in that church. It was a church
that was greatly gifted with what we now call charismatic
gifts. Remarkable gifts were evident
there in that church. But look at what Paul says when
he is dealing with these matters in chapter 14, 1 Corinthians
14. And there in verses 21 and 22. In the law it is written With men of other tongues and
other lips will I speak unto these people. And yet for all
that will they not hear me, saith the Lord. Wherefore tongues are
for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe
not. Now he quotes in verse 21 those
words in Isaiah 28 verse 11. The word law is simply a reference
to the Old Testament. It's Isaiah's prophecy that he's
being referred to. With men of other tongues and
other lips will I speak unto them and yet for all that will
they not hear me saith the Lord. Wherefore tongues are for a sign
not to them that believe, but to them that believe not." Tongues
then, are a sign of God's judgment, that's what he is saying. Now
that was a very gifted church at Corinth, they did not come
behind in any gift. But what is the lesson that we
learn? The important thing is not gifts. The important thing
is not gifts. The all important thing surely
is grace and we want God to teach us by His grace and to teach
us all the ways of grace and what is that way of the Lord's
teaching it's us being brought to nothing that was Paul's experience
was it not when the Lord dealt with him as he says in 2nd Corinthians
chapter 12 the thorn in the flesh and how he prays and pleads with
the Lord, and he does it time and time and time again, three
times. He beseeches the Lord that this thing might be taken
from him. But not so. He has to be brought
to the end of himself. And he says there in 2 Corinthians
12, 11, Though I be nothing. Oh, we have to be brought to
that. We have to be brought to be nothing. Paul there to the Corinthians,
I brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as
unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. Oh the Lord has to
bring us to the place of humility, the place of us being nothing
at all, humbling us. and as God humbles so God also
at that time separates in his teachings he separates amongst
his people or do we not see that in the 13th verse we have that
repetition of the words from verse 10 but then he says that
they might go and fall backward and be broken instead and taken Now God's words are a separating
word. We are unto God, says Paul, a sweet saviour of Christ, in
them that are saved and in them that perish. To the one, the
saviour of life, unto life. To the other, the saviour of
death, unto death. Who is sufficient? Who is sufficient for these things? Well, the Lord has to teach us.
And He teaches us, as I said, by degrees. We're not able to make haste,
we have to keep a steady pace, precept upon precept, line upon
line, here a little, there a little. Job is brought to see the truth
of it when he declares, though thy beginning was small, yet
thy latter end shall greatly increase. Well, it's small beginnings,
it's small beginnings. And we live in a day really when
we see that the work of God seems to be such a small work. And
we contend to despise that work. Who has despised a day of small
things? asks the Prophet Zechariah. Let
us not despise small things. Let us delight in what we see
to be real things, the work of God. God weaning His people,
God teaching His people, God instructing His people, God establishing
His people. Or what call we small things,
since whole cancelled some, it is greater than all things except
those to come. Or the great things that we have
even in this day of small things, that we have the Gospel of the
grace of God. that we have the doctrine of
the local church. Maybe sometimes we feel ourselves
to be so very small, so insignificant. We're not to despise these things.
I'm not saying that we're to be satisfied. Or we're to seek
great things from God. We're to seek the coming of the
Kingdom of God. We're to pray that that Kingdom will come.
But when the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?
or that we might be those who are truly taught by the Lord
God Himself, and that we might be those converted as little
children, those weaned, satisfied, placid, waiting the Lord, seeking
His instruction. Whom shall He teach knowledge?
Whom shall He make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned
from the milk and drawn from the breast, for precept must
be on precept, Precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line,
here a little and there a little. Oh the Lord be pleased then to
be our teacher and our instructor and that we might be those who
are truly established in all of the ways of the God of grace. The Lord grant His blessing upon
His Word.