Now, let's turn back in our Bibles
to Isaiah chapter 28. This is probably a chapter of
Isaiah that many of you are familiar with, especially what you find
in verses 16 and 17, because this is one of the quoted prophecies
of the Lord Jesus Christ, quoted in the New Testament, quoted
by the Apostle Peter. And then, in some ways, we see
also quoted by the Apostle Paul, verse 16, God says, Therefore
thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion. Zion is the church. That's the redeemed of the Lord.
Sinners saved by the grace of God. And the foundation of the
church is a stone, but not just a stone. Now, this is not a little
stone. This is a giant boulder of a
stone. It's like a rock of Gibraltar.
And it's not only just a stone. He's not only just a stone, but
he's a tried stone. He's tested. He's been tested
under the testings of God Almighty. He was tested and tempted by
man, tested and tempted by Satan, and ultimately tested on the
cross of Calvary for our sins. And he passed every test. I spent
a lot of years in school. I can't say that I passed every
test. And many of you probably can't
say that either. I've been, I'm 54 years old now,
and I've had testings in life that I've failed. I can't say
that I've passed every test. But our Lord, He passed every
test, 100%. And He never failed. And that's
what that means when it says a tried stone. And then He's
a precious corner, it says. That's a cornerstone. The foundation
stone holds everything up. The cornerstone holds everything
together. Christ is the foundation of the
church. He's the cornerstone of the church.
And then it tells us, he that believeth shall not make haste.
Another way of saying that is if we rest in Christ, if we trust
him and plead the merits of his finished work, his blood and
his righteousness, we will not be ashamed. We will not be disappointed. We won't even be embarrassed.
We won't have any reason to hide our heads in shame, for our glory
is Christ and Him crucified. Our glory is the cross of Christ. And certainly that is a great
expression of the whole theme, not only of the book of Isaiah,
but the whole theme of the Bible right there. You can underscore
that verse right there. Memorize it. It's a good one.
They're all good. Don't get me wrong. But this
is such a comforting passage of Scripture. However, what I
want to do, I'm really just going to deal with the first 13 verses,
but I had Brother Aaron read to verse 17 because this is where
it all leads, and this is where it all centers around, the preaching
of Christ and Him crucified. This chapter 28 of the book of
Isaiah, it begins another section. You might say another message
or another sermon. by the prophet Isaiah, another
prophecy. It lasts on through chapter 35,
and it's mostly directed to Isaiah's locality. You know, he was a
prophet in the southern kingdom of Judah. I've said this so many
times, and I'm not repeating this because I think you all
just don't get it, but since we're in that passage where it
talks about line upon line and precept upon precept, you won't
mind if I do that. That's the way we teach. We have
to hear things over and over and over again. And this passage
here is the prophecy of Isaiah to his town of Jerusalem, that's
in the southern kingdom. The northern kingdom, made up
of ten tribes, the largest of which was known as Ephraim. That's
why he says Ephraim here. Their capital was Samaria, and
Isaiah begins talking about the northern kingdom. He begins talking
about Ephraim, begins talking about the fall of Ephraim. But what he's doing is he's showing
by the fall of Ephraim a lesson that his own people, the southern
kingdom, made up of mainly the two tribes Judah and Benjamin,
that they should listen to. And he starts off with woe, W-O-E. Now, woe doesn't mean look out,
you're going to get it. Woe means you better listen and
avoid it. That's what he's talking about.
So think about this as we go through these scriptures. I've
entitled this message, Whom Shall He Teach? Get that from verse
9. Whom shall he teach? Every saved
sinner is going to be and has been taught of God. He's going
to teach us. Now, he doesn't teach us without
means. He has his word by his spirit and by his preachers and
teachers. But we're going to be taught
of God. My question is, who shall God teach? Who can learn? We used to, in teaching, sometimes
we'd run across a student that we would kind of try to work
with and have a hard time. We'd say he or she is unteachable. And I'm not sure that we had
it right, maybe we just weren't good enough teachers. But, but,
are you unteachable in the things of the Spirit of God? Am I? Who
shall he teach? Now, if we're going, if it's
salvation, we're going to be taught. You know, I said this
morning, the disciple is a learner. Paul spoke to the church at Ephesus
as those who have learned Christ. Well, who teaches? Well, God.
Now, God is good enough to teach anybody. He's a master teacher.
And like I said, He teaches by His Spirit, through His Word,
using His instruments. As awful sometimes as we can
be, He uses those instruments. But listen to this as I go through
these scriptures now. The message of God to Judah is
this. This is what His message is in
Isaiah 28 and on the next chapter. And it's this, repent and turn
to the Lord. Judah, repent and turn to the
Lord. Jerusalem, people, repent and
turn to the Lord. Because except you repent, as
the Lord told the Pharisees, except you likewise repent, you
shall perish. You shall perish. Now, what's
the problem? Well, let's look here. I've divided this into
five sections. The first four verses deal with
the fall of Ephraim. That's the northern kingdom,
remember. That nation, known as Ephraim, that nation that
was sometimes just called Israel in the Bible, was a wicked nation
led by wicked men. They'd begun as the people of
God. They were brought out of Egypt, made a nation, settled
in the Promised Land just like Judah and Jerusalem. But after
Solomon, you know, there was a split in the kingdom. And Samaria
became the capital of the northern kingdom. They even built their
own temple, and they had their own ways of worship, but it wasn't
the ways of God. And so he starts out showing
how God is going to judge Ephraim. Now, how's he going to judge
them? Well, he's going to destroy that nation. How's he going to
do that? He's going to bring another nation,
an empire, an evil empire. It's called the Assyrian Empire.
He's going to bring them down and use that evil empire as his
instruments to bring judgment upon that nation Ephraim. That's
how he's going to do it. But he's telling the southern
kingdom Judah, he says, now you listen to what's happening here
and you repent because you're just as guilty and God is going
to bring judgment upon you too for the same reason. So look
at the first four verses. And what he's teaching here in
these first four verses is that what God is going to do to Ephraim,
to the northern kingdom is well deserved. God's judgment is deserved. God never brings judgment where
it's not deserved and earned. God's never, you know, people
look at the God of the Old Testament and they act like he's just on
a whim or he just throws a temper tantrum or something like that.
No, sir. They deserve what they got. Now, listen to this. He
says, first of all, he says, woe to the crown of pride, to
the drunkards of Ephraim." You read these first verses, you
think this is something that you would like to hear read at
Alcoholics Anonymous, because they're just having a drunken
wild party down there. But this is symbolic language.
Now, the Bible does speak against drunkenness, the drunkenness
of alcohol, and against it, because it's forbidden. all things in
moderation. But that is not what he's talking
about here. What he's talking about here
is shown right here in this verse. Woe to the crown of pride. What are they drunk with? They're
drunk with the wine of pride and self-righteousness. That's
what they're drunk with. That's the problem. Now, God
had been good to Ephraim, just like he'd been good to all of
Israel. God had given them the most fertile land that could
be found in Canaan. God had given them His Word. They had ordinances from the
Law of Moses, which again was a schoolmaster to lead sinners
unto Christ. They had prophets in the northern
kingdom, and they had priests. But Ephraim despised God's goodness
and refused His Word, and they polluted his ordinances. just
like Judah had done. And as I've often said, you can
go right back to chapter 1 and start and read what their problem
was. How they took the beautiful Word of God that was given them
by Moses, that was such beautiful pictures of Christ and Him crucified
in the grace of God, and how God saves sinners like us who
deserve nothing but damnation, but God provides a way. He's
provided a way here. He mentions it here. He says
a stone. a tested stone, a cornerstone,
a sure foundation for sinners who run to Him. God had provided
all that beautiful word of truth to them, but they despised it,
and they rejected it. And that's a great picture of
all of us by nature. What would we do with the beautiful
things and privileges and blessings of God were it not for His free
and sovereign grace? We'd reject it. That's what we
did before God turned to us, didn't He? before he gave us
repentance. So they despised what God had
given them. Therefore God determined to destroy
Ephraim. So here they are, woe to the
crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, drunk and intoxicated
with the wine of pride, with the wine of idolatry, lying on
God and exalting the flesh. That was their problem. It says
here, "...whose glorious beauty is a fading flower." That's the
beauty of the flesh, you see. That's the religion of man. It
may look beautiful on the outside, but it's dead, it's fading. It's
on the way out. That's what he's saying here,
even though they don't see it. Their own righteousness is filthy
rags. Their glorious beauty, their
own ways are ways of destruction. Their own truth is nothing but
a lie." And he says, "...which are on the head of the fat valleys."
These are valleys that are full of lush, flourishing plants and
grass. And he says, "...of them that
are overcome with wine." In other words, they have what is depicted
here is a person like us sitting under the preaching of the gospel,
but not giving heed to it. You're hearing the truth, but
you've made up your own truth. You're hearing what's right,
what God reveals, but instead of doing what's right and following
what's right, you've got a better way. But yet you're sitting right
there in this fat valley, this lush valley where the way of
life and nourishment and sustenance is, but you despise it. Now,
who would do that? Only someone who's drunk with
pride and idolatry. They're not in their right mind. That's what we say about a drunk.
Somebody gets drunk. They don't have right judgment.
We talk about reaction time, you see. They don't react in
time. That's the problem. Look at verse 2. He goes on. He says, Behold, the Lord hath
a mighty and a strong one, which as a tempest, that is a storm
of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing,
shall cast down to the earth with the hand. God's got an instrument
of destruction that he's going to use against Ephraim for their
rejection of his truth. And that instrument, as we've
heard, that's the Assyrian Empire that's coming down and going
to destroy this nation, this northern kingdom. That is the
destruction of the northern kingdom. And they were totally obliterated.
They were totally dispersed throughout the world, never to be brought
back again. You know, you'll hear a lot of
stories about the lost ten tribes. Well, that's who they're talking
about here. They're still lost, and nobody's
going to find them. Stop looking. Just read the scriptures. You know, I mean, that's basically
it. But this nation of Assyria, this empire, is going to come
down under the mighty hand of God. And they're going to execute
judgment. Now, let me say this very clearly. Assyria did not realize they
were God's instrument. They didn't worship the true
and living God. They were just as wicked and
idolatrous as anybody. But God sometimes uses evil. He overruled by His sovereign
power to punish evil for His purposes. Look at verse 3. He says, "...the crown of pride,
the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under feet, And the
glorious beauty which is on the head of the fat valley shall
be a fading flower." Everything that was beautiful about them
will be fading. And he said, here's how quick
it's going to happen. Now listen to this. He says, "...and as
the hasty fruit before the summer, and which when he that looketh
upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand, he eateth it up."
It's like picking a piece of fruit, a piece of summer fruit
off of a tree, and you've got to eat it while it's in your
hand or it's going to rot. It's going to get too right.
That's how quick. That's the picture he's using.
This is the language of God through the prophet. Now, it's going
to happen quick. Actually, it happened in about
720-something B.C., somewhere around there. So it was pretty
quick that the northern kingdom was destroyed by the Assyrian
army. So now what we're seeing here is this, that God's work
of judgment against Ephraim was a mighty, remarkable work of
His providence. his sovereign control and his
justice. It was God's sovereign work. It was God's sudden work. It didn't delay. Swift work. And it was God's thorough work,
because that nation was totally destroyed. Now, here's the next
section. In the midst of this now, and
this is Isaiah's message to his people, to his city, to his nation,
the southern kingdom, God has preserved a remnant of his people. Now, we see destruction. You see God's justice. But God
has preserved a remnant of his people. Look at verse 5. In that
day, that is, in that day of destruction, shall the Lord of
hosts... Now, remember what the Lord of
hosts refers to. It refers to the invincible God
who cannot be defeated. Lord of hosts literally means
the Lord of a great army. That's what it means, host. And
what the picture is, whenever you see God described that way,
it means God cannot be stopped. He cannot be hindered. He cannot
even be slowed down. He cannot lose. He's the invincible,
victorious God. What He sets out to do, He does,
and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, What doest thou?
He's the Lord of hosts. And so He says, In that day the
Lord of hosts shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory
and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue, or the remnant,
of his people." When others are being destroyed under the judgment
of God, getting what they deserve, God has a remnant of people,
and unto them He, the Lord of hosts, will be their crown of
glory. They'll glory in the Lord, not in the flesh. They're not
going to be drunk with the pride, you see, of self-righteousness.
But they're going to glory in the Lord, and He's going to be
a diadem, or that's another word for crown, of beauty. He's going
to be their beauty. Now, this is a reference mainly
to the coming of Christ, to save His people from their sins. Not
just Israel, not just Jews, but God's people out of every tribe,
kindred, tongue, and nation. You see, when God saves a sinner,
the Lord of hosts, salvations of the Lord, becomes that sinner's
crown of glory. He has no crown but God, the
Lord of hosts, the God who justifies the ungodly. Christ is our crown
of glory. He is our King of kings. He is
our Lord of lords. He is our potentate, all-powerful
Savior. He's our Redeemer. And He's our
beauty. We have no beauty but Christ.
We have no righteousness but Christ. He's our beauty. He's
our foundation. He's our heart. He's our goal. God forbid, Paul wrote, that
I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
And he said, circumcision, that doesn't mean anything, whether
you're a Jew, Uncircumcision doesn't mean anything, whether
you're a Gentile, but a new creation. That's the church made up of
individuals, sinners, saved by the grace of God. And Christ
is our crown of glory. Christ is our beauty. And we
have no beauty but Him. Now, that's the residue of God's
people. And he says in verse 6, look
here, he says, "...and for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth
in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle
to the gate." What he's talking about here is Israel's fall.
The northern kingdom's fall was to serve as a warning to Judah.
And you need to understand this now. Judah had fallen into the
same sins as Ephraim. But God's sovereign, preserving
grace and mercy is to bring them to repentance. You always need
to remember that when we talk about judgment, People getting
what they deserve. We need to always keep in mind,
we don't deserve any better. That's right. It's of the Lord's
mercies that we're not consumed. So that when Ephraim was carried
away into the Assyrian bondage, God gave his favor to Judah. You know, Judah, when the northern
kingdom, when they split, not one king throughout their history
was a king that it was said that he did that which was right in
the eyes of the Lord. All of their kings of the northern kingdom
were wicked kings, led the people in idolatry, away from God. Most of the kings of Judah that
reigned from the throne of David in Jerusalem were the same, but
there were some kings, a few, by God's grace, who led the people
awry. One of them was a man named Hezekiah.
This is the present king under which Isaiah is prophesying.
Another one was Josiah. And during that time, the Lord
was the glory and the beauty of his people, that nation Israel.
It was a short-lived time, but it was there. And he gave those
two godly kings, Hezekiah and Josiah, the spirit of judgment
and strength to rule his people and conquer their enemies. But
I want to tell you something. That verse, too, speaks of one
greater than any earthly king. When it says, gave him to be
a spirit of judgment, That, too, speaks of the King of kings and
the Lord of lords, Christ, who is the great judge of all, the
great King of kings. And He gives His people the spirit
of judgment in the preaching of the gospel. You see, before
we come to see how God saves a sinner by His grace, we really
do not know the right and the wrong of salvation, do we? How does God save a sinner? By
His grace and His mercy. And there is among the fallen
sons of men a remnant according to the election of grace. And
this elect remnant is the residue of his people, chosen by the
Lord God himself in everlasting love, ordained to eternal life
in Christ before the world began, the scripture teaches. And the
Lord Jesus Christ himself, the Lord of hosts, is the glory and
beauty of his people." How are we in him and how is he our glory? Well, he washed us in his blood.
He washed us clean from all our sins in His precious blood. He
clothed us in His righteousness. He made everything right between
God and His remnant. We are accepted in the Beloved. He sanctified us by His Holy
Spirit, sent the Spirit to give us life and under the preaching
of the Gospel bring us to faith and repentance. And we are complete
in Him. We are told in the Scriptures
that for everyone who trusts Christ, There's a crown of glory. It's sometimes called a crown
of life. The Bible says it's an incorruptible
crown. You know, earthly kings can be
corrupted, and most of the time are. But this is an incorruptible
crown. It's called a crown of righteousness
because it's in Christ. But it's all found complete in
our dear Savior, who is our crown of glory and our diadem of beauty. But now there's something real
interesting here in verse 7. Now look at this. Here's the
third section. Now you see Ephraim getting what
they deserve. You see Judah at this point in
time not getting what they deserve. Who makes the difference? God
makes the difference. That's what verse 7 is about.
He says, but they also have erred through wine. Who? Judah and
Jerusalem. Just like Ephraim, they also
have erred through wine and through strong drink, are out of the
way. Now again, this is symbolic now.
He's not talking about literal drunkenness of alcoholic beverages.
Maybe some of them were doing that, but that's not the issue
here. The issue here is they're out of the way. What way? God's
way. God's way of salvation. God's
way of life, God's way of righteousness. And he goes on, he says, the
priest. Now, who was the priest? Well, the priest of the Old Covenant,
as you know, the priesthood, the high priest himself was a
picture of Christ, our great high priest. The other priests
are pictures of God's people who are made priest unto God
through Christ, our high priest. It was all a picture of how God
saves a sinner, how God accepts a sinner through that blood atonement. The sacrifice of animals upon
the altar, the sprinkling of the blood on the mercy seat,
even the priest is out of the way. The priest is not fulfilling
his duties as a priest, leading sinners to look towards the Messiah
who is to come for righteousness and eternal life. And he says,
and the prophet have erred through strong drink. They are swallowed
up of wine, they are out of the way. The prophet is not pointing
sinners to Christ. pointing somewhere else. And
he says, they err in vision. Now, in the Bible, when you see
the prophet having a vision, what that simply means is this
is a prophet who has the word of God. God has revealed himself
to this man. And this man simply tells out
what God has revealed to him. Well, that's the way it is. That's
what a preacher of the gospel does. I'm just telling you what
God has revealed to me through his word. And that's a vision. It's not something you dream,
even though many of the prophets had dreams. It's not something
that you see in some visible shadow or anything like that,
even though they saw those things. The main thing about a vision,
it was the Word of God. And what he's saying here is
that the prophets, they err in telling what God reveals. They're wrong, you see. They
stumble in judgment. Now, let me tell you who stumbles
in judgment. Any prophet, any preacher who does not preach
the gospel stumbles in judgment. The Bible teaches that God has
got a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation,
and he's going to send them the gospel by the power of the Spirit. And many times the way that that's
described is this way, God will send judgment to the Gentiles.
Well, what judgment? Well, now look across the page
at verse 17. Now here, he'd given this prophecy
of Christ, the stone, the tried stone, the chief cornerstone,
He's coming, a sure foundation. And listen to what He says in
verse 17. Now, it is in relation to Christ who is to come. This
is a prophecy, you see. It's in relation to Christ who
is to come and what He would do in His testing on the cross,
establishment of justice and righteousness, mercy and truth. that this judgment is to be gauged. And he says in verse 17, judgment
also will I lay to the line. Now, there's going to be right
judgment here. When I talk about salvation, how can I have right
judgment? I've got to speak of Christ.
Do you believe in Christ or do you reject him? And then he says
in righteousness to the plummet, like the plum line. Righteousness. Now, where am I going to find
righteousness? You've got to go back up to the tried stone,
the precious cornerstone, the sure foundation. The only place
I'm going to find righteousness, I'm a sinner, and the only place
I'm going to find righteousness is in Christ. I'm not going to
find it in religion. I'm not going to find it in my
doing or my not doing. I'm not going to find it in my
New Year's resolutions. I'm only going to find it in
Christ and Him crucified. That's the only place I'm going
to find it. That's the plumbing. There's the plumb line right
there. And he says, "...and the hail shall sweep away the refuge
of lies." When God saved you, He sent a hail that swept away
all refuges of lies. Everything that you trusted in,
everything that you rested in, everything that you had confidence
in and boasted of, but Christ and His blood and righteousness
was swept away. Isn't that right? You want to
see a good example of that? Read Philippians chapter 3. That's
what Paul's talking about. He thought all that stuff recommended
him unto God, Hebrew of Hebrews, circumcised the eighth day of
the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee of Pharisees. See, that's the
refuge of life. You say, well, I had an experience
when I was 12. That's a refuge of life. It's not what you experienced
when you were 12. It's who are you looking to and
resting in today, tonight, April 6, 2008. Where's your hope today? That's the issue, isn't it? Everything
else, if you're trusting in an experience, and I know we do
experience Christ in salvation, but it's all refuge of lies.
And he says, "...and the waters shall overflow the hiding place."
Now, go back over to verse 8. He says, "...for all tables are
full of vomit and filthiness, so that there's no place clean."
Now, I know that's graphic language. But that's the way the scripture
is. It doesn't hold back, you see. It's not for the sensitive
ears. This is just the way it is. I'll
tell you what. What he's saying, now the table
there is the table of religion. That's what they're referring
to. You remember David prayed, let their table, those who stand
in my position, let their table be a snare to them. The table
upon which they do their religious works, their ceremonies. Let it be a snare. In other words,
if you think that your activity in religion is what saves you,
then I pray that it'll become a snare to you, that you'll be
rid of it. That's what we're praying. That
God will show you the futility of that. Well, the tables here
are full of what? Well, now, the one who's drunk
with the wine of idolatry, the one who's drunk with pride, He
thinks he's set a beautiful table. But here's the way God sees it.
It's just a table upon which there's vomit. Now, what a picture. And I'll tell you what, I don't
even believe he's even gotten close to how God really sees
it. You think about that. Come and eat at the table. A
table full of vomit, filthiness, no place clean. You wouldn't
eat there, and I wouldn't either. But now, when the gospel is preached,
when Christ is lifted up, and the bread of life is spread forth
on the table, and the water of life is in the cup, and the joy
of the wine of the Holy Spirit is there, then you can come and
feast. The table is spread, and you
can be filled. You can be nourished. You see
the difference there. Now, in light of that, what he is saying
here is this. Now, this is Judah. So somebody
says, well, now Ephraim's getting what they deserve. Why doesn't
Judah get what she deserves? Well, it's only because it seemed
good in God's sight. I cannot answer that question
for you other than just to simply tell you that it seemed good
in God's sight. Is that right, folks? Is there
any other reason somebody in philosophy wants to give? There's
no other reason. God determined to have mercy
on a people. Judah was just as vile and guilty
as Ephraim, profaned the ordinances of God with a vomit of superstition
and idolatry through the drunkenness of their false worship just as
fully as the men of Ephraim. They had no way. And what was
the difference between Ephraim and Judah? God chose Judah. God was merciful to Judah. Grace
is sovereign, grace is free, grace is unconditional, and grace
is distinguishing. Paul, when he spoke to the church
at Corinth about their gifts, he made this comment in 1 Corinthians
chapter 4 and verse 7. He says, for who maketh thee
to differ from another? You say, well, there's a difference
between me and this one. Well, who made you to differ?
And he said this, what do you have that you did not receive?
If you have anything from God, It was a free gift. You didn't
earn it, and you didn't deserve it. Isn't that right? If I have
anything from God that's good, I don't deserve it, and I didn't
earn it. I received it. Now, if you did receive it, Paul
went on to write, why are you glorying? Why are you bragging?
Why are you proud? As if you didn't receive it.
In other words, if you didn't earn it, and you didn't deserve
it, and we could say that of all salvation, why are you going
around here acting like you earned it? Like you deserved it. Oh, I tell you what, folks. Think
about God's grace. Think about it hard. Now, this
is what God teaches His people. Look down at verse 9. Here's
the fourth section. Now, this is what God teaches
His children. And He asks this question. Whom
shall He teach knowledge? Who's going to get a hold of
this knowledge? Who's going to embrace it, live
by it? And here's his answer. He says,
whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Literally, you might
have this in your concordance there in your Bible, the hearing,
what they hear. This is the doctrine of God.
This is the truth of grace, distinguishing grace that none of us deserve,
none of us have ever earned. And here's the answer, them that
are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast. Now who's
weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast? That's little
babies. What's he teaching us? He said in order to be taught
of God, God has to humble us and make us like children who
are hungry for the mother's milk. That's what he's saying. Got
to be humble. We got to be brought to a place
where we are as totally dependent upon God for salvation as an
infant child is totally dependent upon its mother for milk. That's
how it is. And that's whom God teaches.
Now, we're not going to humble ourselves. We won't do that,
and the reason is because by nature we're all drunk with pride.
Self-righteous religious pride. And God must teach us, but He's
going to teach us as babes. And He teaches His children with
care. I want you to turn to Matthew
chapter 11 with me. Whom shall God teach? God teaches His children with
care. And His instruction is simple
and clear. It's not high theology. It's
higher than us by nature. But what I'm saying is, it's
a simple message. It's not confused. It's not mixed
with poison. But it's just pure milk. It's
progressive. It's repetitious. We'll see that
in just a moment. Now, here's what he says. Look
at Matthew 11. Look at verse 25. He says, at this time, or at
that time, Matthew 11... Jesus answered and said, I thank
thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast
hid these things from the wise and prudent." Now, the wise and
prudent are those who are wise and prudent in their own eyes.
That's talking about the pride, the drunkenness of pride. Man
thinks he knows something, and really, when it comes to God
and salvation, he doesn't know anything. And I've made this
statement before, but I'm going to make it to you again. And
this is why I thank God for you who teach our children. I thank
God for you so much. I don't tell you enough how much
I thank God for you, but I do. But I'm going to tell you something.
I went to seminary, and I'm not bragging. I didn't finish. But we've got little children
here that know more gospel, at least in their heads now. than
any seminary professor that I sat under at that seminary. And that's
the truth. That's the truth. Isn't that
amazing? But it's so. I never heard the
gospel at the seminary I attended. I heard philosophy. I heard Christian
philosophies, what they called it. I don't recognize it as such
now. But they didn't know the gospel.
I heard men stand up behind lecterns and deny the blood of Christ
openly. I had a professor told me and
told the class, rather, he said that the idea of a blood sacrifice
as a payment for my sins is utterly ridiculous. He made that statement.
Reading from a Greek Bible. He's an intelligent man. But
he didn't know God. Didn't know Christ. He wasn't
a babe. But look at it, wise and prudent
in his own eyes, but he says, and has revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. And then look at Matthew 18.
Now, when God saves us, all that pride is not jerked
out of us immediately, is it? We still have the flesh, and
we have to fight it. And here's the disciples who
had been taught. And it says in verse 1 of Matthew
18, it says, At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus,
saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Now, when
we're really taught of God about His grace, we see that that is
a ridiculous question. Bill Pemberton, who among men
is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Now, that would be
silly for me to ask that question, isn't it? Because first of all,
there's none of us who are great in the Kingdom of Heaven, only
Christ is great. He's the great, not only is He
the greatest, He's the only one who's great. I think about old
Muhammad Ali walking out of town, I am the greatest, I am the greatest.
Last time I saw him on TV, he didn't look so great to me. And
that's sad now, I know. I'm not just saying it to make
fun. The kingdom of heaven is not
going to be filled with our greatness. It's filled with the greatness
and the glory of Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. But he says here in verse 2,
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. Go back to Isaiah 28. Now listen
to this, and I'll close. God makes us to differ. God teaches
His children. Look at verse 10. Here's how
He teaches them. For precept must be upon precept,
precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a
little, there a little. Tell me the old, old story of
Jesus and His love. Tell it to me anew, afresh, I
never get tired of hearing it. Sing the praises of Christ every
time, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little,
there a little. That's how a child learns. Do we ever forget? Oh, yes we
do. That's why I have to have notes. But we'll never forget Christ.
But we learn, you see, as God teaches us through His preachers. Look at verse 11. For with stammering
lips and another tongue will He speak to His people. God uses
some of the weakest instruments to teach us, doesn't He? Those
with stammering lips may sound like another tongue.
He may come from the South. He may say, ain't. And that may
bother somebody. You always tell people I'm in
good company because Isaiah was a southerner. He preached in
the southern kingdom. Maybe he said y'all, I don't
know. But I'll tell you what I believe he's really saying
here when he talks about another tongue. He's not talking about
this gibberish that's going around today in religion and they call
speaking in tongues. There are those who hear our
message and they don't receive it. They don't believe it. It's like you're speaking a foreign
language. And that line upon line and precept
upon precept becomes bothersome to them. That's what he's talking
about here in Isaiah 28 in verse 13. He says, yet they would not
hear in verse 12, but to the people of God, It's the greatest
story ever told. It's the greatest message ever
told. It's the story of rest. Look
at verse 12. Here's the last point. God brings
his children to rest. You know, there's nothing more
beautiful than a little baby sleeping restfully and peacefully,
is it? And that's what he's talking about here. Look at verse 12.
To whom he said, this is the rest wherewith you may cause
the weary to rest. My friend, you can rest here.
You see, we trust in Christ who is a tried, tested, sure foundation. We can rest right there. Later
on in this chapter, he's going to talk about those who says
the bed's too short. It means they can't rest. They
can't get comfortable. But here, we can rest. God brings
his children, his babies, to rest in Christ. You can lay down
your head on the pillow at night and sleep peacefully here." And
he says, and this is the refreshment. This message is our refreshment.
I like refreshments, don't you? I've never turned them down yet.
And this is what it is to hear Christ glorified, Christ crucified,
and what He accomplished for me. And then he says, yet they
would not hear. Now, God's going to bring destruction
on Judah later on. Because they would not hear.
But he says in verse 13, but the word of the Lord unto them
was precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line,
line upon line, here a little, there a little. What the picture
here is that those who won't hear get tired of it. They can't
stay with it. They've got to have something
else. They've got to have other things to play with. Brother
Mahan, you say the goats have to have a tin can to chew on.
That's what he's talking about. Because the preaching of Christ
is not enough. It doesn't fill them, doesn't
bring them to rest and comfort and peace, you see. And he says
that they might go and fall backward and be broken and snared and
taken. Well, my prayer for you and for
myself and for all that hear this message of grace is that
we believe it. Rest in Him whom to know is life
eternal. That God teaches us, humbles
us like little children. who are totally dependent upon
Him. Let's sing hymn number 125 as
our closing hymn. Jesus paid it all.