Bringing the light of Jesus Christ into a sin-darkened world. This is the Lighthouse Radio Bible Study. Hello, my name is Ben Fordham, and I invite you to join us now as we study God's Word together. Welcome to the Lighthouse Radio Bible Study. I greet you all in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and thank you for tuning in. As we look at the Word of God today, I would like to draw your attention to the book of Isaiah and chapter 30, verses 1 through 7. This chapter begins with the pronouncement of a woe upon rebellious children. As we look at the context of the chapter, we will learn that this is referring to Judah. Assyria is going to come up against Judah, and the threat of Assyria is a frightening one. The Lord is using Assyria to judge His people. His hand, it seems, is outstretched still. Instead of repenting and turning to his outstretched hand, they rebel and seek their help from their old masters in Egypt. Having been delivered by the hand of the Lord and made a nation with the Lord going before them and enabling them to conquer their enemies, somehow, Judah has determined that in the face of the judgment of the same God, they will resort to help from the nation that he once delivered them from hundreds of years ago. This should seem like a strange thing to us, and yet, often, We do the same thing. When times of trouble arise, the Lord should be the first place we seek counsel, but we do not look for him to give us refuge. We do not examine ourselves to see if there's any sin for which we should repent. We often find ourselves in trouble, and we go somewhere else, anywhere else but God. But when we find ourselves in trouble, we should be asking the Lord for help and direction, and not anyone or anything else. Where we go when we find times of trouble often reveals about what we think of God, or at least what the state of our hearts is. I think a wise man once said that you can tell someone's God by who they go to in time of trouble. And so, we should ask the same question of ourselves, who is our God? Trying to avoid God by seeking help from others is very offensive to Him, and avoiding Him because of our sin is going to have the effect of piling sin upon sin. Having sinned, are we tempted to cover sin with sin? That seems like an oxymoron. But how often does one lie lead to another? And how often do we sin and attempt to cover that sin by thinking of another sin that may get us out of the sin we just committed? The only real covering for sin is the blood of Christ. And the only real answer is to repent and to turn to Him. Once you choose to sin, you are often going to be forced to sin again to cover that sin. And soon, having piled sins upon sins, you will be called a rebellious people who trust not in the Lord at all. Be sure the Lord will tear down the idols that you worship, and remove the things that you have put in his place, until you have nothing left but him, and nowhere else to go but him." Once you do this, or once this is done, the only place to have you put your faith is in Christ. Now the question becomes, would not it have been easier to do that to begin with? And so this leads us right to the conclusion that we should put our time and effort into serving the Lord rather than men. We should not invest in other helpers expecting a return or a reward. So let us look at our text and ask, what are we to do? The text, Isaiah chapter 30, beginning in verse one and running through verse seven. 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, that walk to go down into Egypt, and have 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 the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion. For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Haines. They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be in help nor profit, but a shame and also a reproach. the burden of the beasts of the south, into the land of trouble and anguish from whence came the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them. For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose. Therefore have I cried concerning this, their strength is to sit still. We pick up again in verse one. 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. This is a woe pronounced upon Judah, as Assyria is threatening. God has sent the Assyrians as his rod of judgment, and this particular woe reveals to us one of the sins they piled up upon their already high pile of sins. God had brought them up and nourished them as sons. We read in Isaiah 1 verse 2, Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. I have nourished and brought up children. and they have rebelled against Me. This nation the Lord has chosen. He has not done so by their merit, but for His glory. But they have forsaken Him, and they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger. They are all gone away backward. We know the word of God instructs children to honor their father and mother. So if God is truly our father or their father, then where is his honor? Judah has been a rebellious people, and they are going to add to that before the Assyrian army invades by seeking help from Egypt. This is effectively adding more sin to an already exhaustive list. They had been guilty of idolatry, and now they are going to be guilty of turning away from God, not just to serve idols, but to seek help from Egypt, in effect, to go back to their old masters, leaving and forsaking God. They rejected his counsel to repent of their sins and do away with idols. Verse two. that walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt. The leaders of Judah would walk down to Egypt to seek help. They would do this instead of asking the Lord from right where they were. We note here that it is not necessarily the easier path to ask and seek help from Egypt. this is actually more difficult. We've seen this pattern in Isaiah 18 and Isaiah 20, where Judah seeks help from Egypt against her enemies. This, again, is a repetition that we should pay particular attention to. Assyria knew this was part of the plan, and they were ready for it. They mocked Israel for trying to do so. We find that later in Isaiah 36. This temptation seems to be hardwired into the DNA of Judah. It started as soon as the Lord led them out in the Exodus, when they were faced with obstacles like the Red Sea before them and Pharaoh's army behind. They would say, it is better for us to have been slaves in Egypt than to live and live there and then to die rather in the wilderness. They would not seek his spirit for a covering for their protection. They would not go to the Lord for counsel or for covering. The spirit had good covering and counsel for them. This is the inspired word of God. Indeed, Isaiah is telling them what's going to happen with their going to Egypt, and yet they do not listen. Judah desires Egypt to be the shadow of their covering. And it seems so simple to say that they could have stayed where they were and prayed and sought the counsel of God. But in their rebellious spirit, they would rather walk hundreds of miles to seek help from Egypt than to go to God where they were. It is like they were teenagers who would do anything but their homework and spend more time trying to get out of their homework than to do the actual homework would require. There is understandable logic in their choice of Egypt, for they had been a powerful nation and Judah was a small nation, but Egypt would not turn out to be this great equalizer against Assyria. God is the one who wields Assyria as a rod. Verse 3, therefore, shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame? and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion. God will turn what Judah thought would be a force multiplier into a source of shame. Remember the humiliation of Egypt in Isaiah 20 verse 4. 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. The shadow of Egypt will not be a refuge, but a source of confusion and darkness. For his princes were at Zohan, and his ambassadors came to Haines. The princes of Judah and the ambassadors were sent to the cities of Zohan and Haines to meet with the Egyptians for the purposes of an alliance against Assyria. This is the notion that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. But we must ask always who is on the Lord's side. This is the princes and rulers, the ambassadors and men of high political rank, pursuing a course of action that is against the Lord, on behalf of the Jews. Verse 5. They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be in help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach. The Jews would be ashamed of a people who could not profit them. The plan failed. They had intended to defeat Assyria with the help of Egypt, with a covenant made that likely involved the return of some of the treasures that Israel had escaped with out of Egypt hundreds of years before. This investment of the people of Judah would not have a return. Egypt agreed to help, but Egypt was defeated. Isaiah here shares the prophecy that Egypt will be a shame, a reproach, and produce nothing but condemnation. Judah would lose its deposit, so to speak. Egypt would be defeated, and Assyria would be enraged and emboldened. Verse six. The burden of the beasts of the south. Into the land of trouble and anguish from whence come the young and old lion, the viper, and 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. Judah would carry their treasures into Egypt to fund this alliance, this burden of the beasts of the south. That is, the treasures themselves would be a literal burden to the beasts that carried them into Egypt, Egypt being south of Israel. This would all ultimately be without profit. Not without a profit, but without profits from the funding. This is not a judgment on the beast. Again, this is a literal burden. Here the word burden is not used for judgment as it is in other places, but as a literal burden. Egypt is directly south of Judah, so these are called Beasts of the South. In the land of trouble here is the place that Israel wandered, the wilderness of Sinai and the land of Egypt. The land of Egypt and this wilderness is a place known to have had lions, vipers, and fiery flying serpents. You might remember one or two of those. Judah would take their riches and give them to a nation that would not profit them. The ROI was not good, that is return on investment. Verse seven, for the Egyptians shall help in vain and to no purpose. Therefore have I cried concerning this, their strength is to sit still. We know from the biblical record and other historical records that Sennacherib would make quick work of the Egyptians and the Ethiopians. We read that in Isaiah chapter 20. God tells them through Isaiah that their strength is to sit still. The thought or instruction being to stand still or sit still and find strength there is a strange one. If we want to build muscle, for instance, we must move. There is no strength to be gained without motion. Such is the wisdom of man over against God. The wisdom of man is foolishness in God's sight. Instead of doing weighted carries all the way to Egypt with beasts of burden in tow, they would have fared better to stand still or sit still and pray, to find repentance and stay home, to return to God, which is a shorter journey than they thought, and rest in Him, finding all the strength they needed to oppose any other enemy they might have. Therefore, we find this cry to Judah is a strange one. It is actually the best thing for them to sit still for their mighty God and wait upon Him. Had they ever heard God say, stand still or sit still and see before? We read in Exodus 14 verses 12 through 14. Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness. And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show you today. For the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. Repent, wait upon the Lord, and see what he will do. This is the call that Isaiah gives, this is the charge that Isaiah gives, that it would be better for them to stand still than to wander into Egypt again to make an alliance that would be of no profit to them. Some lessons for us. First, the problem of sin. We may first, as a lesson, learn something of the nature of sin Sin often begins in the lives of God's people when they neglect His counsel. How is it that we neglect the counsel of God? Well, this may begin simply by leaving off the daily practice of reading the Word of God and seeking Him in prayer. one day off becomes two, and then the counsel of the Lord, which should be keenly considered in every decision we make, becomes something not avoided necessarily, but not directly sought either in any way. This may be because we found other counsels that tell us something we want to hear. These counsels that we should not have sought lead us away from God and toward something else or someone else. In either case, we find ourselves unhitched from the word of the Lord and then ultimately unhitched from God himself and find ourselves ultimately as well in dire straits. What we should be doing is going to the Lord for every decision we make, and going to His Word for the principles to use to make those decisions. What happens next is that we find, according to our passage, that sin grows. Sin doesn't sit still. Sin, like weeds, grow whether we want them to or not. Sin accumulates, and sin upon sin is piled up. The Jews forsook the Lord's counsel and sought help from Egypt. In this, they added sin to sin. This is also the same thing that we do. One sin we will find inevitably leads to another until we are weighed down and burdened under heavy, heavy sins. And then, we do not know where to go but deeper into the sin we've committed. This sin has made promises, just like Egypt, and just like Egypt, this sin cannot deliver. The more we invest in sin, the more that it promises, but we will ultimately find that sin cannot free us from any kind of punishment. Sin offers pleasure, but does not deliver ultimately with any sense of joy. There are certainly temporary reliefs, temporary pleasures, but they are just that. No permanent delivery of a promise is given by sin. And so sin, as it piles up, piles up something else, empty promises. It also piles up weighty punishments. John Rolison reminds us concerning this particular vicious cycle of sin piling upon sin, and punishment then piling upon punishment, that we should not hug our chains that we should not add to them, but that we should repair to the cross where we will find the only sure promises. Impenitence and patience, or impenitence and impatience. The counsels of our own hearts and the counsels of others will lie to us and promise the same things that sin will. The promises are just as empty. We think we can deliver ourselves as though the Lord were somehow insufficient to deliver us. There is a grievous error in this in two ways. The first part is the most obvious, the idea that somehow the Lord cannot deal with whatever trial or tribulation or judgment we are enduring. In our particular passage of scripture, we see that it was the Lord himself using Assyria as the rod of judgment against his people for their sins. Indeed, not only was he sufficient, he was the only one who was sufficient, and thus should have been the first counsel and refuge that the Jews sought. Is he your first counsel and refuge? The second error in this sort of thinking is that the belief that we are somehow sufficient to deal with our own trials, tribulations, and judgments, that is, to deal with them without God. We often act as though we're able to go anywhere but God, as though somewhere else was better equipped or someone else was better equipped to do what God can do. Imagine, if you will, in a real-life scenario, a husband or a wife who confides or counsels in someone other than their spouse. They tell this person, outside of their marriage, things that they have not even told their spouse. The end of such behavior is likely to be an affair, or a divorce, perhaps both. And then sin piles upon sin. As we seek the counsel and refuge of others to deal with the ramifications of our own sin, we set ourselves up for yet more sin and more judgment. You may argue doing something is better than doing nothing, or that motion is better than standing still or sitting still. According to our passage, it would be the strength of the Jews to sit still. All the fear the Jews had of the coming army of Assyria led the Jews to decide that they could not sit still. They had to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and make their own destiny. The problem with making your own destiny is that it ignores the counsel of God's word that tells us he is sovereign. The Lord has something to say when it comes to determining your, quote, destiny. Sitting still or standing still is not to be confused with doing nothing. The point of the passage is that they would have been better off not going down to Egypt and investing in the men of Egypt to no profit. The right investment to make was to spend all of their efforts in seeking the counsel of the Lord and the counsel of His word. Imagine having a prophet tell you exactly what's going to happen, but not heeding the counsel. Truly these men were blinded by their own sin. They covered themselves with darkness and could not see. They did not seek the Lord in prayer and wait upon His reply. Like many today who mock the idea of thoughts and prayers as though these are not effective means of dealing with problems, these Jews decided the best course of action was to ignore God completely and just do something. They had not considered, because they did not seek the Lord's counsel, that God himself was the one coming against them and the only real solution was repentance. What are we to do? We are to follow that simple but not easy instruction of taking counsel with the Lord first and always above all others, taking refuge under the covering of the Spirit and not under more sin. We are to give ourselves to searching the Scriptures daily and seeking the Lord in prayer daily. and we are to be intentional about it, not simply being unaffected and praying without import. The step we may be tempted to miss is that these are not seeking counsel and refuge unless we are doing so with intention. We search the Scriptures for principles to obey and sins to avoid. We seek the Lord's direction for every decision, every single one. Well, you say, that's asking a lot. Does the Lord really need to be that involved? I promise you this, if you want to experience the full and lasting joy of your salvation, you absolutely want Him to be that involved. May it be so, and may the Lord give us more light. We believe that the Bible is the Word of God. It is our guide for what we are to believe, and it is our guide for what we are to do. We believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Son of God, and He is to be followed as Lord and Savior. And we believe that His salvation is a free gift of God's sovereign grace, not dependent on any work that we do, but wholly dependent on His finished work done on our behalf. We present this weekly Bible study based on the premise of Psalm 119 verse 105. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. If you would like to contribute to the furtherance of this program, then please send your donation to this address. The Lighthouse P.O. Box 1317, Baxley, GA 31515. Again, that is The Lighthouse EO Box 1317, Faxley, GA 31515. Or if you would like to send a question or comment to us, you can also send your correspondence to that address. We also have a website where you can access our programs and other helpful information. It can be found at www.lighthousebiblestudy.org. That's all one word and with all lowercase letters. Again, that's www.lighthousebiblestudy.org. Until next week, this is your speaker, Ben Fordham, praying that God will light your world.