My subject tonight is the naked
preacher. That ought to get your attention.
The naked preacher. I don't have any question at
all that if you were to find a video of some preacher standing
in the pulpit naked and put it up on YouTube, it would go viral
tonight. There would be millions watching
it by morning. And tomorrow evening it would
be on every major news program in the world. But I pray, oh
how I pray, that God might cause the message he's given me tonight
to burn in your hearts and to be heard by men around the world. Our text is the 20th chapter
of the Gospel of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 20 verses one
through six. In the year that Tartan came
to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and fought
against Ashdod and took it. At the same time spake the Lord
by Isaiah the son of Amos, saying, go and loose the sackcloth from
off thy loins. and put off thy shoe from thy
foot. And he did so walking naked and
barefoot. And the Lord said, like as my
servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for
a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia. So shall the
king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners and the Ethiopians
captives young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their
buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. And they shall be afraid
and ashamed of Ethiopia, their expectation, and of Egypt, their
glory. And the inhabitant of this isle,
that is the inhabitant of Israel, shall say in that day, behold,
such is our expectation. whether we flee for help to be
delivered from the king of Assyria, and how shall we escape? This prophecy, though coming
at a later time, refers to the same subject as was addressed
in Isaiah 18 and 19. Those chapters showed God's method
of grace by which he stripped and peeled his elect before he
clothed them. In the 20th chapter, the context
relates to those days when Ethiopia and Egypt and Israel were made
to realize that their hopes and expectations were dashed in pieces,
and they had no help from anything or anyone on the earth. God's
prophets are given commandment from God at various times, required
to do very strange, unusual things. things humiliating to them, but
things used by God to give a vivid portrayal of the message they
were sent to declare. In the fourth chapter of Ezekiel's
gospel, Ezekiel was required to lay on his side, first on
his left for 390 days, and then on his right for 40 days. Each of those 390 days represented
years of Israel's open rebellion, turning to idolatry, setting
up calves in Dan and Bethel. The 40 days on his right side
represented the 40 years of idolatry under Manasseh's wicked rule,
the idolatrous king of Judah. It was a sign, a sign of judgment
and a sign of mercy. a sign of impending wrath and
a sign of hope. Ezekiel was required to lay on
his side as one man bearing the sins of many and bearing them
to the full extent of their just punishment. All the while he
was required to eat barley cakes baked with dung as a man utterly
unclean. What a picture he is then of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who bear our sin in his body on the tree. When he was made sin for us,
made as one unclean before God, bearing our iniquity and our
guiltiness. In the 24th chapter of Ezekiel,
God's prophet's wife was killed, killed by the hand of God. The
Lord made it clear, this is my work. And then he forbade Ezekiel
to shed a tear or to mourn. He forbade Ezekiel to speak one
word that implied any kind of sorrow, but rather he required
that Ezekiel go about his business as usual as the man of God in
his hour, one speaking for God. It too was a sign of judgment
and of mercy, declaring how God makes himself known to his elect
by taking away our carnal joys and our carnal hopes that we
might find hope for our souls and everlasting joy in the Lord
God, our Savior, Jesus Christ alone. God's prophet Hosea. in the first three chapters of
the book of Hosea was required of God to go down to the red
light district and find among the prostitutes there a woman
he would take to be his wife. God commanded it, God commanded
it. When Hosea brought Gomer home,
God gave them three children. Three delightful children, blessed
hope. But Gomer was still a prostitute
at heart, and she abandoned Hosea and went back to the red light
district to sell herself to men who might come by offering what
they would. All the while she was there,
Hosea found where she was, provided for her. Gave her her food, gave
her her clothes, paid her rent, took care of her all the time,
all the time, and left her there, left her there. And then at last,
when Gomer was worn out with her prostitution, And she was
useless to anyone, worthless to anyone, herself included. When she was utterly useless
and worthless, Hosea went down and bought Gomer. Bought her
for 33 pieces of silver for an omer of barley and for a half
omer of barley. And he brought her home. He allured
her to himself. He conquered her heart. He won
her love. And the Lord said, now, this
is what I'm teaching you. My love for you. So is my love for you, my people. Even so in this 20th chapter
of Isaiah, God's prophet was required to walk around naked
and barefoot for three years. to teach Israel and us three
things by forceful, vivid picture. Something unforgettable. Something
unforgettable. Learn these things. We are shamefully
naked sinners before the holy Lord God. There is no hope for
our souls, not in ourselves, not in any man, Not in anyone. Our hope is only in God, our
Savior. Now this is Isaiah's message
to us. Whatever your soul's need is, I speak to you who do not know
God and to you who have walked by faith in Christ for many years. Whatever your soul's need is,
The arm of flesh is impotent. Yours and mine and your neighbor's. Whatever your soul's need is,
the arm of flesh is impotent. God alone can help. God alone
can deliver. God alone can save. Hold your
hands here and turn to Jeremiah chapter three. Jeremiah chapter 3 verse 23, Truly in vain is salvation hoped
for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains. Truly
in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. Now that's the message
of Isaiah 20. Let's look at this strange prophecy
together. May God, the Holy Ghost, whose
words are now before us, write them upon our hearts and effectually
apply them to our hearts. First, Isaiah was required to
walk around naked for three years. He was required to walk around
naked for three years. giving us by vivid, unforgettable
picture the method of God's grace. This opening verse in Isaiah
20, in the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king
of Assyria sent him and fought against Ashdod and took it. This describes the time when
the Assyrians conquered the Philistines. Now, these were mighty nations,
mighty nations. Not many folks today study much
concerning history, world history, and even when I was in school,
we didn't spend a lot of time studying about Assyria and Ethiopia,
not even much time studying about Egypt. But these were mighty
nations, fearsome nations, warring nations. The Assyrians conquered
the Philistines. They took the city of Ashdod
in 711 BC. So the timeframe is given specifically. The historic setting is just
that picture. The Philistines were both neighbors
to Israel and thorns in their side, and they had been throughout
their days on this earth. Nothing had changed. They were
a people feared by everyone. And when the children of Israel
saw the Philistines take the city of Ashdod, a mighty, well-fortified
city, take the city from the Assyrians, terror must have shook
them. Terror must have shaken them.
I recall back during the time of Mr. Carter's presidency, and
when Mr. Reagan was elected to office,
I had been in the Virgin Islands. I went every year for a number
of years to Kingston, Jamaica, you may recall, preaching for
the Aaron Dumas. And traveling in the islands
prior to Reagan's presidency, Because we had shown a disinclination
to take care of the nations around us, all of the islands in the
Caribbean, all of them, all of them were on pins and needles,
scared to death at any time that Cuba might invade and take them
over and the United States wouldn't help. I was also back in Jamaica
just a few weeks after Mr. Reagan had sent our troops in
to free the folks in Grenada. You would think I was in another
world. You'd think I was in another world. I mean, they were at ease.
We're all right now. Nobody gonna bother us now. United
States has got our back. I can just imagine the children
of Israel. They saw the Assyrians take Ashdod
and they said, we're next. We're next. And they started
looking for help, looking for help from Ethiopia and from Egypt,
but not to Jehovah, not to God, to Ethiopia, to Egypt. So the Lord commanded his prophet
Isaiah to do this very unusual thing, to give a sign to Ethiopia,
a sign to Egypt and a sign to Israel. He commanded the son
of Amos to go take off his sackcloth, his garments of mourning, those
were the common garments of mourning in that day, and put off his
shoes from off his foot. And he did so walking naked and
barefoot. Obviously, Isaiah had been wearing
sackcloth mourning. If you read chapters 15 through
chapter 19, and read the judgments, the woes he pronounced against
Moab, Damascus, Ethiopia, and Egypt, delivering the burden
of the word of God, he was sent to deliver. You can picture him
doing so in sackcloth, as a man in mourning, mourning for the
very people to whom he preached. Mourning for the very people
for whom he cared. Mourning for the very people
he served. You see, Isaiah was no ordinary
preacher. He was no ordinary prophet. Isaiah
was a broken prophet. He had seen Christ in his glory,
and he had been made to see his sin, and he was broken before
God. He was a heavy-hearted preacher.
He knew that when he spoke, he spoke for God and God spoke by
him. Now I can't begin to communicate
to you what a weight that is. If God speaks by me, What I say
will have consequence in you and upon you one way or the other
forever if God speaks by me. Either it will be to you grace
upon grace or judgment upon judgment. Isaiah knew His business was
about eternal matters, not temporary things, not social things, eternal
matters. And he knew that he wrote and
spoke the very word of God to eternity bound sinners under
the sentence of divine judgment who must soon meet God. Isaiah
was a heavy hearted prophet. But now he's commanded to take
off his sackcloth, his garments of mourning. What he was commanded
to do is designed to show us by forcible, unforgettable picture,
the natural state in which God's elect are found. The pictures
intended to remind us that we're a fallen people, stripped. naked, shameful, barefoot, that
is helpless, unfit to protect ourselves, defend ourselves in
any way, utterly without power, and there's no one who can help
us. All those to whom we think we might look for help, all those
to whom we imagine we might look for hope are just like us, naked,
shameful, helpless, barefoot. That's what's told in verses
two and three. These three nations, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Israel,
who in the end were all recipients of mercy and grace. God has his
elect among all three, but they were a trinity of hopelessness
and doom. Each had counted on the other.
each looking to the other, forming an alliance, hoping to find strength
and defense in one another. Now, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Israel
are naked, helpless, in the dust, without hope. John Trapp wisely
wrote in commenting on this passage of scripture, so dealeth the
devil with all his wretched captives, whom he driveth away hellward,
naked and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered, the shame
of their nakedness exposed to public view, for want of the
white raiment of Christ's righteousness, that they might be clothed. Now,
while that is certainly true, this chapter is talking about
God's method of grace. Here the Lord God is showing
us how he brings chosen redeemed sinners to Christ. you're probably
thinking, Brother Don, how on earth does this picture of a
naked barefooted preacher say anything about that? I'm glad
you asked. The question comes up, obviously
when you read this passage, when I read the passage, was Isaiah
really buck naked? I mean plumb without any clothes
on. Probably not, maybe he was, and if God commands it and he
does it, that's all right, but probably I think he was not buck
naked. But rather he was commanded to
take off his morning garments, his sackcloth, and strip to his
loincloth. Walking around, much like a man
today would be walking around in his underwear. Now, I realize
that in the 21st century Western world, that wouldn't be shocking
to anybody. That's just sad. That's just the way how utterly
insane the society is. But in Isaiah's day, that was
a shocking thing. He was commanded to walk around
naked for three years. Again, I rather doubt that he
walked around 24 hours a day, summer and winter, day and night,
naked for three years. But rather, he probably frequently
appeared in the streets of Jerusalem, in the various places in Jerusalem,
naked, barefoot. Can you imagine the mockery?
Can you imagine the scorn? Can you imagine how he was put
to shame? Just imagine what men must have said, but he's God's
servant, God's prophet to deliver God's word. So what men do or
say or think really doesn't matter. The term, but naked, It may be
the source from which we got our idea of buck naked. It probably has origins to the
ancient practice of men and nations when they would take their prisoners
captive and lead them through the streets, usually chained
and stripped down to the lawn claws with their buttocks being
exposed to their shame. Turn back to 2 Samuel, show you
a picture. 2 Samuel chapter 10, give you
some idea. David sent his servants to the
Ammonites and the king, Hanun, and he was being gracious and
kind, but the king didn't treat David and his men so graciously.
Second Samuel 10, verse four. Wherefore Hanun took David's
servants and shaved off the one half of their beards and cut
off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks and sent
them away. And when they told it unto David,
he sent to meet them because the men were greatly ashamed.
And the king said, tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown and
then return. These men were stopped from coming
all the way back into Jerusalem. David the king goes out to meet
them because they were terribly ashamed with their nakedness
exposed. I recall when I was studying
this, I happened to think about the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay.
Some of the guards got in a great deal of trouble because they
stripped those terrorists down to their underwear. And that
was a shameful thing to the poor Islamic terrorist. And so that's,
you get a picture of what's going on. Isaiah was commanded to strip
off to his loincloths and walk around for three years declaring
God's word. Such was the case with Egypt
and Ethiopia. But for them, being humiliated
was part and parcel with God's method of grace. Such was the
case with Israel. And so it always is with God's
people, God's elect in all nations everywhere. Let's look at some
scripture. Turn to Psalm 107, Psalm 107. Verse 10. Such as sit in darkness and in
the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron, because
they rebelled against the words of God and contemned, despised,
held in contempt the counsel of the Most High. Therefore he
brought down their heart with labor. They fell down, there
was none to help. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.
He brought them out of darkness in the shadow of death, and break
their bands in sunder. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children
of men. For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars
of iron in sunder. This is always the way God deals
with sinners in saving mercy. This is what sinners experience
when God saves them. Before the Lord God sets you
free, he will bring you into captivity. God's captives are
called prisoners of hope. Our Lord Jesus said he was sent
for the opening of the prison to them that are bound. to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord, to proclaim liberty unto the
captives. Before God clothes you with the
garments of salvation, He will strip you of your imaginary righteousness. He will expose your sin. He will
expose your shame as one buck naked. Shame exposed. The Lord God had
Adam and Eve in the garden. And when they had no sin, they
were naked and not ashamed. But as soon as they rebelled
against God, they saw that they were naked and were ashamed. Because sin brings shame. And constantly in the scriptures,
nakedness is spoken of as our shame. Before the Lord God gives
you the strength of his grace, he will make you to know your
weakness. He'll bring you down. And before God gives you hope
in Christ, he will destroy your refuge of lies. He'll knock every
prop out from under you. Everything on which you depend,
everything on which you lean except the Lord Jesus himself.
Now here's the second thing. Isaiah was required to walk around
naked and barefoot for three years to teach God's Israel in
all ages that salvation is of the Lord. There's no hope in
man, no hope in you, and no help to be had for man. The arm of
flesh will fail you. You dare not trust your own. I repeat, whatever your need,
whatever your need, whatever your trouble, whatever it is
that holds you down, whether I'm speaking to you who are believers
or to you who are unbelievers, the arm of flesh will fail you. Oh God, teach me that. The arm
of flesh will fail you. You dare not trust your own.
As it is true in the matter of salvation, it is true in all
the affairs of life. Trust the Lord, not your own
arm or the arm of any other deliverance as God's word. Don't trust yourself. Don't trust others. Trust God
alone. Deliverance. Deliverance in grace. Salvation is God's work, not
ours. God's work, not another's. God's
work alone. And deliverance from every heartache. every trial, every adversity,
every affliction, every sorrow, every temptation. Deliverance
is God's work alone, not yours, not the preacher's, not the church's,
God's work alone. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart and lean not into thine own understanding. In all thy
ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. The psalmist
said, some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will
remember the name of the Lord our God. Turn over to Isaiah
chapter 30, Isaiah 30. Look at a few verses here. Woe to the rebellious children,
saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me, and that cover
with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin
to sin. They walked to go down to Egypt,
and had not asked at my mouth to strengthen themselves in the
strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt. Therefore
shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and to trust in
the shadow of Egypt your confusion. for his princes were at Zoan,
and his ambassadors came to Haines, and they were all ashamed of
a people that could not profit them, nor be in help, nor profit,
but ashamed and in reproach. the burden of the beast of the
south into the land of trouble and anguish. From whence come
the young and old lion, the viper and the fiery flying serpent. They will carry their riches
upon the shoulders of young asses and their treasures upon the
bunches of camels to a people that shall not profit them. For
the Egyptians shall help in vain. and to no purpose. Therefore,
I have cried concerning this. Are you ready? Are you ready? Their strength
is to set still. Their strength is to set still. We find our strength in our God. Our strength is to sit quietly,
still before him, and wait on him, trusting him alone. My help
cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. Oh, what a
great Psalm, Psalm 121 is. I will lift up mine eyes unto
the hills, from which cometh my help. My help cometh from
the Lord. not from you, not from a preacher, not from
a shrink, not from a group of folks, not from the church, from
the Lord. Now, we are anxious to be of
help. Anxious to be used to give what
comfort we can to those in need. Anxious to speak a word in season
whenever we can. Recognizing all the while I'm
as naked and barefoot as you. And you as naked and barefoot
as me. So learn this third thing. Isaiah
walking around naked and barefoot for three years. was a thunderous
voice to the people he loved. The people for whom he labored,
saying, there's no hope for you and me. I can't help you anymore
than Ethiopia or Egypt. Isaiah was commanded of God to
take off his clothes of mourning. All that and all they see, all
they hear and all they see, is a man of God stripped naked,
barefoot. Even the faithful, highly esteemed
prophet of God, that one day recognized to be God's messenger
to them, he was naked and barefoot. And Isaiah is saying, you must
understand, you're in God's hands, not in mine. Your hope is not in Ethiopia. Your hope is not in Egypt. Your
hope is not in your prophet, your preacher. Your hope is in
the Lord of hosts. He who does as he pleases in
heaven, in earth, in the seas, in all deep places. He who has
mercy on whom he will have mercy. The Lord God was systematically
destroying every hope they had right in front of them. What's
left for them? Just one thing. If God does not
show mercy, we must be helplessly and forever lost. I'm here to
tell you exactly that. You're in God's hands, not mine.
God's hands, not your own. God's hands, not any man's. Isaiah being commanded to remove
his sackcloth, his garments of mourning was to show the captivity
of Israel and Judah was just as much a part of their deliverance
as the deliverance itself. Isaiah was no longer to mourn
as if he might be viewed as one who was at a loss, not at all. He served the true and living
God. and showed by his nakedness that
he's God's servant. Isaiah, why are you standing
here in front of us shamefully naked? Just one reason, God told
me to, and I'm God's servant. And whatever God calls for, I
must obey. Isaiah's nakedness was a continual
reminder that God was the author of Israel's sorrow, and God's
the only remedy. Oh, children of God, learn that.
Learn that. God is the author of our sorrows.
God's the only remedy. God's the author of our cares. God's the only remedy. God's
the author of our trouble. God's the only remedy. We must
look to none but to Him, God our Savior. In men, there's no
help. Put not your trust in princes,
nor in the son of man, in whom there's no help. Cease ye from
man, whose breath is in his nostrils. As these things were spoken in
the Old Testament. Like all of the things in the
Old Testament, they're spoken for you and me in this gospel
age. It's to be heard by us in this
the acceptable year of the Lord. People get in trouble, especially
speaking now of rebels, unbelieving folks, and they call the preacher.
I've been called Jail houses, I've been called to prisons.
I've been called to death beds. I've been called to hospital
rooms, emergency rooms. I've been called to folks' parlors.
They get in trouble and they call the preacher. Somehow they
figure the preacher can do something. And when I walk into the room,
I walk in barefoot, naked, and full of shame. And I'm glad to listen. I'm glad
to go whenever I'm called. Don't hesitate to call me. I'm
glad to go. I'm glad to listen. But when
all's said and done, I'll tell you in the most difficult times,
in the most trying times, when you look somehow to easily escape
from the wrath of God, the same thing I've told you from this
pulpit every time I've preached to you for 39 years, I can't
help you. I can't help you. I know religion
and religion's preachers look upon man's extremity as their
opportunity. Soul winners chase ambulances
and the churches have revivals. I guess they still do this. When
I was a boy growing up, churches had revivals every fall and every
spring. and they'd get the biggest name evangelist they could find,
whichever one they could afford, and they'd bring him in, and
he could tell stories, and tell jokes, and entertain folks, and
they'd have folks to come in and sing, and they'd have a good
time, and folks would get saved, and rededicate, and make a profession
of faith, and come and join the church, and then after a few
weeks, they'd start to peter out, and things would be just
like normal. And then in the spring, they'd have another revival
and same thing happened because they're just doing nothing but
making merchandise of the souls of men. They're doing nothing
but using men for their own gain. I recall one time years ago,
I heard Brother Ralph Barnard, he was preaching down in Texas. Well, actually Jack Shanks told
me the story of preaching Brother Jack Shanks and someone called Brother
Barnard And Brother Barnard used to go to bed pretty early. He
wasn't like me. He was usually in bed by nine or 9.30 if he
wasn't preaching somewhere. And he was in bed and been in
bed for a little while and someone called and wanted to know if
she could speak to the preacher and she was just bawling. So
Jack went and wrote Brother Barnard up and he could just hear one
end of the conversation. And Barnard answered the phone
and he said, he said, good, he's raised enough of it, leave him
there. And Jack asked him, what on earth was that conversation
about? He said, she called me begging me to come see her boy,
said he's in jail and he's in hell. He said, it's good, he
raised enough hell, leave him there. Good thing to do, leave
him alone. Often, I had been called by some
of you, by your children, by your family, and wished that
I somehow helped them through a time when they feel conviction. and the fear of judgment and
hell. And I can't. I can't. I've said to many of
you, I can't help. Get alone with God, seek the
Lord. You see, Jimmy, I'm in the same
boat you're in. Sinful, weak, helpless, naked,
shameful, barefoot, a man of flesh just like you, just like
you. But you're saved. Yes, but God
saved me. And if God ever saves you, he'll
have to do the saving. I can't. I recall some years
ago, I was preaching down in Winston-Salem, I've told you
before, preaching with Brother Daniel Parks, father, who was
my pastor when we were in Winston. And after I got done preaching,
Moose's wife, Sandy, they'd driven out to, I forgot where they were
going, they were going on a trip somewhere. And they'd been gone
a little while, but we were still standing around the church talking
and pretty soon they drove back up in the driveway and Moose
got out of the car and he said, he said, Brother Don, Sandy tells
me she's lost and she wants to see you. Moose and Sandy and
Brother Parks and I went back in one of the rooms, chatted
for a little bit. She talked to me, and I said, Sandy, there's
not one thing I can do for you. Get along with God, seek the
Lord. You're in his hands. Sometime later, Moose told me,
he said, I expected you to do something, say something. You're
in God's hands. and I'm prepared to leave you
in God's hands. Your children are in God's hands,
and I'm perfectly comfortable to leave them in God's hands.
My sons and daughters, my grandchildren are in God's hands, and I'm perfectly
comfortable to leave them in God's hands. You understand that?
Salvation is of the Lord. We wait on God. Well, the passage
concludes, how shall we escape? Look to him who is so marvelously,
wondrously typified in Isaiah, our Lord Jesus, he who is our
prophet. He who is our prophet. He who not only speaks as a prophet,
he is our prophet. And he teaches us as a king,
an interceding priestly king, writing the word of God on our
hearts. He came here and he was stripped naked. He was put to an open shame. Imagine the mockery. Imagine
the scorning. Like Isaiah, he became the song
of a drunkard. Everybody poke in front of him. He humbled himself and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, that he might
by the merit of his blood and the power of his grace, save
sinners like you and me, and that he might deliver us from
every woe and every trouble. My business is to point you to
him who said, look unto me and be you saved. Oh, God give you
grace, whatever your circumstance. whatever your need, whatever
your affliction, whatever your adversity, whatever your pain,
whatever your trouble, to look away to Him whose arm is omnipotence
and grace. Amen.