Take your Bible with me this morning, if you would. Turn to the book of Isaiah. Isaiah. We are starting the trek through this beloved book. I am in love with Isaiah. That's because I strove all week with him to try to figure out what is he saying in this chapter so that we could learn to hear it today. Isaiah is not your Joe normal preacher. All right, he is a prophet sent by God to a group of people who did not wanna hear what he had to say. And he said it. If you're looking at where Isaiah is, it's on page 568 in the Pew Bible. If you look right in front of you, you'll see a black book. You may take that book and turn to page 568 and 569 as we will be reading together Isaiah chapter three. Isaiah chapter three. How many of you have ever sat through a thorough exposition of the book of Isaiah? Anybody? Good? Good? Alright, two. Wonderful. That's good. All right. Well, this is a new for all of us. So let's buckle our seatbelts and let's jump right into it. Isaiah chapter 3. I have a heading in my Bible. And by the way, I'm reading the Legacy Standard Bible. And it's a fairly new translation done by Master Seminary Group. I was in a conversation with one of the guys there this week, Dr. Joe Zakevich, and he just said, I just said, thank you for doing the work on that, and he said it was a priceless opportunity for me, and I'm so glad to have been able to do that. So we read this with good knowledge that this is God's word. And we get to hear it, and may we be careful on how we hear it this morning. Alright, the entire chapter. Are you ready? Let's read through this together. Listen to God's Word. For behold, the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, is going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support. the whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water, the mighty man and the man of war, the judge, the prophet, the diviner, and the elder, the commander of 50, and the highly respected man, the counselor and the wise craftsman, and the experienced enchanter. And I will make young men their princesses, and capricious children will rule over them, and the people will be oppressed. Each one by another, each one by his neighbors, the youth will overwhelm the elder, and the dishonorable against the honorable. When a man grasped his brother in his father's house, saying, you have a cloak, you shall be ruler, and these ruins will be under your hand, he will protest on that day, saying, I will not be your healer, for in my house there is neither bread nor cloak. You should not appoint me ruler of the people. For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their tongue and their deeds are against Yahweh, to rebel against his glorious presence. The expression of their faces answers against them, and they declare their sin like Sodom, and do not even conceal it. Woe to their soul, for they have dealt out evil on themselves. Say to the righteous that it will go well with them, for they will eat the fruit of their deeds. Woe to the wicked, it will go badly with him, for what is he dealt out will be done to him. Oh, my people, their taskmasters are infants, and women rule over them. Oh, my people, those who guide you, lead you astray, and swallow up the way of your paths. Yahweh takes his stand to contend and stands to judge the peoples. Yahweh enters into judgment and the elders of his people and his princesses. It is you who have consumed the vineyard. The plunder robed of the afflicted is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the face of the afflicted, declares the Lord Yahweh of hosts. Moreover, Yahweh said, because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk around with outstretched necks and seductive eyes, and go along with mincing steps, and tinkle the bangles on their feet, therefore the Lord will smite the skull of the daughters of Zion with scabs, and Yahweh will make their foreheads bare. And in that day the Lord will remove the beauty of their anklets, headbands, crescents, ornaments, dangling earrings, bracelets, veils, headdresses, ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, enchanted charms, finger rings, nose rings, festal robes, outer tunics, cloaks, money pursues, hand mirrors, undergarments, turbans, and shawls. Now it will be that instead of sweet perfume, It would be the smell of rot. Instead of a belt, a rope. Instead of a well-set hair, a plucked-out scalp. Instead of fine clothes, a donning of sackcloth. The branding instead of beauty. Your men will fall by the sword and your mighty ones in battle and her gates will lament and mourn and deserted she will sit on the ground and seven women will take hold of one man in that day saying we will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes. Only let us be called by your name. Take away our reproach. This is God's word. There's something very bewildering and even startling about belonging to a society that's fallen apart at the seams, that's in a long-term decline. And historically in such circumstances, one of the features of a culture in decline is that there will be leadership that begins to demonstrate that they are very weak people. And they're in charge. And they try to grapple with the problems that are far beyond their ability or their wisdom to solve. And meanwhile, those who are best to lead avoid the positions of leadership. They opt out to make their money, to secure their pension, and enjoy their retirement while they leave the society to go to the dogs. Well, in many ways, that's the picture that Isaiah has painted in chapters 2 and 3 of his writing. It's a society, Judah and Jerusalem, that is reaping what they have sown. It's a society under judgment. And you can be sure that God says about Judah and Jerusalem, he would say the same of any society that behaved and acted that way that Jerusalem and Judah did. But he's not talking about any society. He's talking about specifically a particular city, Jerusalem, a particular people, Judah. He is speaking about the people of God to whom God had a covenantal relationship with, a God who had acted on their behalf, who had promised them great and significant promises, who set out a law and they agreed that they would do and follow the law as God had particularly decreed. And God had kept their promise. And he told them that if they kept his word, they would keep their land. But now it seems that it's all up for grabs, because the people of God turned away from God. Judah was filled up with her own ways. We learned about this last week. She was filled up with her own God. She was filled up with her materialism. And when a cup is full of water, or full of mud, or full of anything, you can't fill it with something better until you empty it. And so God, in order to rescue his people one more time from their fullness, God must empty them. Israel's message, or Isaiah's message to Israel is in this text today, prepare to be emptied. If you remember last week, we ended with chapter two, verse 22. Look back if you would and see what he says here. He says, stop regarding man whose breath of life is in his nostrils. If you remember in chapter two, these people were full of themselves, but empty of God. And God is saying you are full of stuff like personalities, armies, material goods, wealth, in whom you're placing your trust in. Thinking that somehow, someway, those things and those people have the ability, the power, and the influence, and the techniques to get you out of the hole that you're in. But in reality, They were empty of the only one who could rescue them. And so Solomon gives us reason behind this understanding. Solomon tells us in Proverbs 14, 34, righteousness exalts a nation. But sin is a disgrace to any people. Judah is disgraced. And so what we see here is God is coming to judge. Judah has abandoned God's ways, and so she will meet his wrath. And God is about to take hold of the earth and shake it, verse 21 of chapter two. He's even now entering the courtroom that you see in verse 13 of chapter three. You see, my friend, from time to time, the church, even the church, needs a shaking. and emptying, as it were, and it's that time for Judah. Prepare to be emptied. Just three points in this text. Listen carefully. First, God will empty his people in judgment. We see this in verses one through seven of chapter three. And Isaiah begins with a solemn word of just who it is that's doing this action. And he says this right off the bat. For behold, the Lord, that's the word Adonai, meaning master or owner or sovereign. And then he says this. The Lord Yahweh of hosts. That is the famous only final word of the highest that someone could say to God. He is Yahweh of the armies. He's Jehovah of the armies. He is God of the armies. And so Isaiah put these two together, Adonai and Yahweh, and he puts them together, and he does so 10 times in the book of Isaiah. It's as if he is making it clear, as much as humanly possible, to speak of God in the most loftiest terms, the master of all, the captain of heaven's armies. And it's like he's looking, he's searching for superlatives, and he runs to the highest words of reverence, of awe and exaltation. One writer says this, this is the reason why God calls the Lord, this is the reason why Isaiah calls God the Lord and Jehovah of hosts, that the majesty of God may terrify their drowsy and sluggish minds. For God has no need of titles, but our ignorance and stupidity must be aroused by perceiving his glory. My friend, isn't that the way we are today? We come in so full of ourselves from the week that we have very little time in our thinking for God. And so verse one, he says, for behold, It speaks to the fact that Isaiah has switched gears a little bit. If you remember in chapter two, it was the latter days, or the last days. And now he's saying, but now. He's shifted gears. This is what's going to happen now. God is now emptying their fullness or removing things from Judah. And then he spends time telling us what it is that he is emptying from Judah. Are you ready for this? First of all, God empties them of the very basics in life. Look at verse one. He's going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support. That's a beautiful little term that he uses there. But God begins by removing the very basics for life for them. When we are so full of ourselves, our possessions, our wealth, our own ideas, our own way of living, our own security, God starts with the very basics. The words supply and support here are two Hebrew ways of speaking of a staff or a crutch, as it were. Something to lean on. You see, my friend, we only need a crutch if we aren't using our feet for what they're supposed to be used for. I mean, God gives us feet for his glory, to support us, to keep us up. But what he's saying is you have taken that thing that I've given to you for my glory and you are leaning on other things other than God. And so I'm removing anything that you will lean on other than me. And the very first thing is bread and water. Bread and water. God has often done this. I mean, every day, we place our trust in water, don't we? And bread, don't we? That's the idea, both of those undertake the very substance of, the very basic. And you understand, if God were to take those things away from you, your world would be pretty shaken, wouldn't it? I mean, all we have to do is look at Western North Carolina. and Florida after a hurricane come through. And what did we do? We're spending tons of money to take in tons of water and food sustenance to them, why? Because they lost everything. And the only thing that they really need now are the basics. And so God is going like, I'm getting your attention by removing the basics. It's very destabilizing, isn't it? God knows what he's doing, doesn't he? But then notice, God empties them of stable leadership. Look at verses two and three. God will destabilize the culture and leadership by removing of their supposed social stabilizers. You say, what are you talking about? Well, he lists several different kinds of men that should have brought stability into the congregation there. And what he does is he takes, first of all, military leaders. You see that? The mighty man, the warrior, and the soldier. And then in verse three, the captain of 50 men, or the men of rank. These are men who would courageously dedicate their lives to their country, but not just the military men, the political leaders, the judge, he says, and then in verse two, the elder and the counselor. This is not an elder like an elder in a church. This is a person who would serve a local church. town or village. The judges are national leaders, but the elders are local leaders in the towns and villages of Judah. And both judges and elders make sure the laws of the land are upheld, and they bring stability. The counselors, these are advisors. They help the king govern policy. All of these stabilize a very wicked city. And then he uses religious leaders, and he shows either good ones or bad ones. The prophet, most likely, a good religious leader. But then the diviner, and at the end of verse three, one who is an enchanter, one who's an expert in charms. And if God takes away true prophets and true leaders, then there's going to be a famine in the land, not just of bread, but there's going to be a famine of the word of God, too. And this is what was happening. During times of increased confusion in society, people begin to leave the foundation of God's word. And they begin to be obsessed with trying to figure out then what will happen and how to live life. And so they search for answers from those who would claim to have those answers, perhaps in other spiritual realms and ideas outside of the word of God. Because we all know they know more than God does, right? And that's what they do. They look desperately to find anyone who can predict, anyone who can prognosticate, anyone who could compromise and promise to bring some sort of security and stability into their earthly future, no matter how strange or no matter how superstitious it would be. And then notice, finally, economic leaders. And I like how he says this. He called them the skilled, in verse three, the skilled magician. These are skilled workers or craftsmen or artisan. And I know I had an electrician in my house this week to just do some electrical work. And it's kind of a magic show that they do. They know how to do things and screw things and put things together. And so these are the craftsmen. These are the people who make the city function well. It's a sign of normal order of society that's beginning to break down. God removes good, reliable men from the workforce. It's God emptying Jerusalem. And then it doesn't stop there. It's like this snowball that starts going down the mountain, and it gets larger and larger, and the effect of this emptying becomes more crucial. And I think it's what we see in verses four through seven, that God empties them of social decorum, social order. The lack of good, godly leadership always oppresses people. Oppression of people becomes in many forms Notice how God's judgment continues by God placing leaders over them who quite frankly are not worthy of being in those positions. Look at verse four. And he will judge between the nations and will render decisions for many peoples and they will hammer their, oh, sorry, wrong one, verse four. And I will make young men their princesses and capricious children rule over them. What in the world's going on? So God places these young men He says, I will give them boys, as it were. That is, youths, young men. And it's not the word for a two-year-old. It's the word for youths, like 10 years to 20 or even 25 or so. The point is, though, it's boys or men who act like boys, who don't have the life experience or the wisdom to be responsible in these positions of leadership overseeing others. They shouldn't be in that position. But that's who God sets up. There's an Arabian proverb that says, a blow in the face by an ax is easier to take than the rule of a boy. And things continue to deteriorate. Look at verse five. There's a culture of division and disrespect arising. The youth will overwhelm the elder and the dishonorable against the honorable. Just ways of dividing the culture, the old and the young. They will be insolent young people with great disrespect for the older. And this is a disregard by the children who are left to their own wills. They're insolent, scripture says. And the dishonorable will abuse the honorable. Everything is upside down. It's not as it should be. Society is crushed and crumbled. And when this happens, notice, they will grasp at anyone who has a cloak to seek to put them in charge. Do you see that? It's amazing how they do this. And so when a man grasped his brothers, his father saying, you have a cloak? You should be ruler. Look at you. You kind of look like a ruler. You have a coat on. It's probably you can make it as a ruler there. They're so desperate for leadership. They just grab anybody. that looks the part, and they put them in office. And what Isaiah is conveying here is that this is not a thoughtful decision that does the research, chooses carefully, or discerns to find the best qualified leaders. They simply grab the closest person nearby. It doesn't even matter if they're qualified or even able to do the job. And then verse seven, this man refuses. Well, of course he does. He refuses. He doesn't even, he says, I don't even have a cloak and I don't even have any bread, meaning I'm not qualified. I think it's even somewhat a show of the wisdom of even of that guy who says, no way am I doing that. I'm not qualified to do that. Boy, don't we need that in our country. And like Judah, God's judgment is on this kind of chaotic living. It's really what we're watching in our nation, and frankly, in our churches today. I think God's judgment is heavy upon us. And men of good character are nowhere to be found, so we'll just take anybody, and any way that we can get them. God says that's a sign of deteriorating culture and society. So that leads us to the second point. God will judge. I mean, God has to judge. God is forced to deal with this kind of living. And in verses eight through 11, as you watch the progression of God's emptying, notice that it began at the top with leadership. He removes good, godly leadership, and he puts in children, puts in kids, infants. And so it starts with the rulers and it ends up going down to the common, ordinary person to the lowest level, from top to bottom. Verse eight, Judah is ruined. For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah is fallen. Why? Well, notice why. First, sins against God. In verse eight, it's very clear. Because their tongue and their deeds are against Yahweh, to rebel against his glorious presence. Their sin in their words and in their doing. And he points to their words. The tongue in scripture always connected directly to the heart. And the deeds that follow their tongue are things that reveal just what's going on in the heart. And so their speech and their deeds are against the Lord. And the deepest reason for the root cause, as it were, of their coming national breakdown is their sin against God. But it ends up being a sin against their fellow man. But above all, it's a sin against God himself that brings on this judgment. And so he names their sins of speech first. Isaiah would allude to this in Isaiah 6-5, which we will get to in a couple of weeks, where he says this, I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Sins of the tongue were very common at the time, just like they are today. They characterize normal, everyday life. I'm appalled at how much crass and corrupt words are being flung around in our culture today as if that's the normal way to talk. And this is what was going on here. They gossiped about others. They yelled angrily. They cut down others. They cursed. They used foul language, coarse joking. They flattered. They lied. With their tongue, they constantly complained. They gave voice to all kinds of rotten, unclean, and ungodly speech that did not give grace to those who heard, that did not build up others, but literally tore them down and sought to self-promote. Rash words, as Proverbs said, that wound instead of heal. The phrase, defy his glorious presence, really reads, provoking his eyes of his glory. Meaning that their sin provoke God to look on them with his wrath. That is, they are unapologetic about defying God's perfections, even if he does see. They know God sees, doesn't matter. They're going to say and do things that will provoke his wrath unapologetically. And God's anger is stirred against them. If they were saying things, can you imagine what their actions were like? Brazen and visible wickedness was the flavor of the day. And God saw it. It's a sin against God, but secondly, it wasn't just against God quietly. It was their open and arrogance rebellion. Look at verse nine. The expression of their faces answered against them and they declare their sin like Sodom. They didn't even conceal it. Woe to their soul. It was brazen. I mean, these are people who sin with audacious arrogance. It's as if they go up into God's house, into the temple in his holy presence, they give full vent to all the wickedness and filth that's in their hearts by speaking it, by acting it, by going its way, and doing it with no shame whatsoever. It's like they dare God to judge them. They openly flaunt their evil ways in public. Sound it all familiar? On the streets of Jerusalem for all to see. They openly flaunt their evil ways, and they don't even care if children see it. And just like the people of Sodom did back in chapter one, verse 10, that he pointed to. Because they want everyone to have as calloused and depraved of a conscience as they do. Misery loves company. And because it's not enough that demand you to begrudgingly accept the evil that they flaunt. They want you to join them in celebrating that it is freeing and it is virtuous. And they boldly and proudly parade their lifestyles of abomination for which they should be utterly ashamed. They should be deeply embarrassed. They should hide from the public. And it's just if they're saying to God, I don't care that you see me. These are God's people he's speaking to. These are not the unbelievers that he's speaking to. But they think that there's something so special about them that they'll be spared from God's righteous wrath. But God sees all that they do with the eyes of his glory. That's what it's talking about. And like Sodom and Gomorrah, they parade their sin and don't hide it. This, my friend, is us in 2024. God says, woe to them. They bring disasters on themselves. When any society makes sin an open public way of life and parades it without shame, the wages you get paid are what you have earned. You did it to yourselves, is what he's saying. You brought upon yourselves all the evil, horrific consequences of a nation that has lost its collective moral conscience. And this is God's universe. And it will always run according to his justice and ultimately by his righteousness. Because only God is God. But then what I want you to see is that sowing and reaping is still in effect. Look at verse 10. Here's another startling truth about God's law of sowing and reaping. It's always in place. Who are the righteous in verse 10? Who would be those righteous ones? Well, it's anyone who has placed their faith and their confidence alone in God, in his promises and obedience to God's command. They seek faithfully to bring their thoughts, their speech, their actions into conformity to God's law, to walk before God with integrity and uprightness and in faith committing their lives into doing what was right in the eyes of God. And he says, if you do that, it will be well with you. But they will have to live through the coming of the national collapse. They will have to suffer during all the general wickedness that surrounds them, that they have to live every day. So when the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? It's a good question. Well, they can keep faithfully trusting in God, who's promised. They can keep trusting God, and they can keep doing good with a full measure of faith in the eternal God. This is not just any God. This is why he starts with, this is Yahweh, King of the armies, Lord of the armies. You can trust him. But at the same time, verse 11, we miss this every time. When the wicked continue to corrupt themselves, create their own immorality, with all the while becoming worse than they were. By becoming worse, they grow more and more visible. He looks right at them, and I want you to catch this. Because these are words that Isaiah's not only gonna use on his people, but in chapter six, when we get there, he will use it upon himself. And he looks at them and he says, woe to you, stop, stop. You stop what you're doing, because it's going to be bad if you continue. Woe to them, and with them it will be ill, for the achievement of their hands is given to them. Here's what this means, folks. Righteous living births more righteousness. Wickedness gives birth to more wickedness. the law of sowing and reaping, and you can't get around it. Our leadership of our country is what it is today because we have allowed the wickedness to prevail. And we have the kind of leaders that we have today because of sowing and reaping. So what is God's case, really, against Judah? Look at verses 12 through chapter four, verse one, and this is fairly a big section, and we're not gonna go into every little word of it, but it has basically two segments. Here's what God is doing in chapter three. God is emptying Judah, and he's going after the leadership of Judah as a whole. And he does so by going to the males and the females who are living their lives against God. So, two things we're gonna learn with this. One, a false security lies within masculine leadership. And you see that in verses 12 through 15. Do you see this? Oh, my people. The taskmasters are infants, and women rule over them. Oh my people, those who guide you, lead you astray, and swallow up the way of your paths. 14, Yahweh enters into judgment with the elders of his people and his princesses. He's dealing with the men. And here's why we don't put our trust in men. This is why chapter 2, 22 is so important. It connects here. The culture continues to spiral. The youth here, or the infants, refer to weak leaders who act like infants, in verse four. And notice this, and women ruling. If you do a study on this, many think that it's probably speaking of the harems of women that were around the king's courts, who misused their relationships to even control the king, and in doing so, they will rule. You see, my friend, what you're seeing is there's this layers of corruption that's going on here, layers of confusion and misuse of power. But understand the point here. When there is this vacuum of good, godly male leadership, there are substitutes that will take over. And in Scripture, like here, women in governing positions often single out and signal God's judgment. And these leaders do something, they don't lead. Scripture says here, they oppress. And they lead people astray. And how do they do this? Well, he tells you. You see, the true task of a leader is to guide, is to help you right down the path, get you down the path. But here, he says those who set you right really set you wrong. They turn you from the path. Literally, the road of your paths, they swallow up. You say, what are you talking about, Isaiah? Well, this is a beautiful picture, and we wouldn't be able to pick it up as pretty as it really is in English. So you've got to go to a little bit of the Hebrew and understand what it's saying here. They turn you from the path, is what he's saying. Literally, and the road of your paths, they swallow up. Road here mean direction that a path is taking. You understand? You see a path, you go like, that's where we're supposed to go. But here, this idea of signpost is what it's dealing with. Old established signposts of right living and sound society are gone as totally as if someone had swallowed them up. A God of right living, a God of right character, has signposts that he's given in his word that help guide you. And leaders take those signposts and say, don't go here, don't go here, go down here, do this right. But leaders that oppress, oppressive leaders, get rid of those signposts. God permits these unqualified leaders to rule. In verse 13, the Lord takes up court and he presses serious charges to these elders and leaders. These are men of weak leadership. Notice verse 14, they've oppressed the poor by taking what was designed to be given to the poor. They've put it in their houses. God will judge these elders and leaders because they've crushed the poor. And here's the thing, this is what this word grinding is in verse 14. They have gleaned, that word grinding is literally gleaned. They've gleaned what should have been left over in God's laws for the poor. They've gleaned it and they've taken it back to their own home. They use people and position to abuse others and to serve self. There's no security, my friend, in weak leadership. You go into a home where there's poor, weak, male leadership, there's no security. You go into a country where there's poor, male, weak leadership, and there's no security. God is not surprised. at the United States of America. They tear down the signposts of the roads so there's confusions as to which way to go. And people don't know which way to go. You ever seen so much confusion in a day and age as it is right now in our world? Everything, everyone does what's right in their own eyes. My friend, understand something. God handles the sin of leadership. God uses it. Leadership will always give an account on how they rule. It's the point of this text. And not only is it poor ruling with the male leadership, in verses 16 through four, verse one, you see false value in feminine beauty. Most of this chapter has dealt with pride and arrogance on the part of the men of Judah, but the women are not exempt either. Because the men fail to lead properly, the same kind of pride exists in the women of Judah, and it shows up in different ways for women. So this passage is closely connected to Isaiah 2, verse 7, and Isaiah 2, 15 through 17, where Isaiah deals with the haughty and the proud in Jerusalem who rely on their silver and gold. They're towers, they're chariots and horses. But in this passage, the prophet now deals with the women, in particular, who still rely on their silver and gold. He calls them the daughters of Zion. But these are ones who are in a particular class in a society which can afford to live this luxurious and frivolous lives while oppressing the poor. Isaiah doesn't get quite as nasty as Amos does. In Amos chapter four, verses one through three, he calls these women the cows of Bashan. Isaiah's a little bit nicer. The Lord discloses a close connection between Jerusalem's social evils and the women's behavior and lifestyles. They induced their husbands to act corruptly and unjustly. The men's lack of leadership and the women's neglect of the family discouraged the men and demoralized the youth. There is no sin in fine clothing or fine jewelry. There is no sin in that. But it is the attitude that one has towards these externals that is offensive to the Lord. That's what he's getting at in this text. When the material is more important than the spiritual, morality collapses and the Lord will bring judgment. And at that time, these wealthy women of Jerusalem were proud and arrogant and they dominated the rule over the nation. They were adulterous women who exerted a ruling influence over the nation. The leaders had become so driven to satisfy their lust that they would do anything to please their women who were so wicked and adulterous. Their lusts controlled them, both male and female, and the situation is reflected in this section of Scripture and its rough reading. In verse 16, the Lord cites five general characteristics of these adulterous women that they publicly displayed through their prideful arrogance. Did you see them? Haughty, walk with outstretched necks, wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go. That's a neat little phrase. Spent some time looking at that sometime. Making a tinkling with their feet. That's with the jewelry on their ankles that brought attention to the kind of woman that they were. Each one of these are behaviors that exhibit an attitude that God finds highly offensive. So God empties these women of their signs of pride. In verses 18 through 23, notice that there are 21 ornaments of jewelry or clothing that the haughty women of Jerusalem proudly wore on their feet, around their necks, and their bodies in general. But then look at verse 24. It shows God stripping them of all they hold dear and worship. Their perfume becomes a rotten smell. Their belt becomes a rope. And instead of their well-set hair, baldness. Instead of a rich robe, sackcloth skirt. And you notice the repetition of the words instead of. Instead of, instead of, God is sending them a message. that when you take and instead of ruling and submitting your heart to the one true God who rules over you, instead of doing that, you devise your own God to your own liking. Replacing God with the created is man's downfall, has been since Genesis three. God's judgment is astonishing and yet fitting and proper because these women falsely use their beauty and attire for haughty and prideful purposes. And suddenly, at the end of the chapter, they are empty of men and filled with sorrow and woe. Do you see that? Look at verse 25. Your men will fall by the sword and your mighty ones in battle. and her gates will lament and mourn, and deserted she will sit on the ground. God removes men in battle. Not a big deal to us now, but the words you're here, I want you to see in verse 25, your men, your mighty ones, is feminine singular. And it's showing that God has moved from speaking about the daughters of Zion to actually the city herself. Zion here mourns and sits like a mother watching her sons dying in battle and leaving the city in ruins. This is Jerusalem's men that she is giving in battle. Many die, but not all of them. Many die, but not all of them. Pictures of the remnant, hold that thought. God removes the men in battle, but secondly, the city mourns. The gates here that he talks about were always considered places where life happens in the city. And here Zion mourns and sits in the rubble with her heart broken. And it's very possible that Isaiah is thinking of God's full judgment by Babylon in AD 70, which we discussed when we talked about the book of Daniel. And Assyria, we know, comes in after it and mops up years later. But chapter four, verse one, paints a very sorrowful final picture. Not only there's no leadership, but you actually have seven women fighting over one man. The words take hold here speak of same desperation when they took hold of one who had a cloak to lead. They desperately reach out to any man. Why? Because so many had died. This destruction was very real. It is heavy and it is hopeless because they would not hear God. And yet there's a tiny picture of how God uses the suffering. Look at verse one. Seven women will take hold of one man in that day saying, we will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name. God in his mercy, they're clinging to by a thread. They cry out for removal of their reproach. God is still one they can cry out to. There's only one name that will take away the reproach of their sin. His name is Jesus. Isaiah hasn't told them that name yet, but he's preaching this message, getting to the point that Isaiah will eventually unfurl his name because he will save his people from their sin. Let's just stop and take a moment and take a look at all of this and how it plays out. Two questions to you this morning that I want to leave you. And I think it's a very important question for the membership and the attenders of Calvary Bible Church this morning. What are you filling your life with? You will not survive with the godlets of this world. You will not be able to create the God substitutes that you would like to create. You don't have that ability. You're not God. You need a redeemer. You need the one true God. Be very careful. about the godlets you have worshiped and are worshiping. They're not real. The second question, how is God emptying you today? How is God emptying our nation? How is God emptying Israel today? The principle here is before God's filling, there's always an emptying. Let me ask you a question. We just went through all of this. Be honest. Is this a good thing God does for Israel? Is this a good thing? Some of you are having a hard time shaking your head yes, aren't you? It's a precious thing. that God doesn't let us have our own way. That's the thing that condemns us. If God in his kindness comes and in a loving way begins to empty you out of your own way of thinking, your own life, and begins to little bit by little bit or a lot by a lot to empty you, get on your knees, thank God. That is genuine love. And that's where life begins. Will you pray with me this morning? Father, what a difficult message it is to hear, humanly speaking. We can't even fathom this kind of stuff. We know, we know it's true. History bears this out. This is exactly what happened to Israel. And Father, it doesn't take a rocket scientist just to look up into our own country and see you're continuing to do the same to the United States. And Father, what you're doing is the same thing you were doing then back there, is calling people, calling a remnant of people to believe and to trust in Christ alone. And Father, you used Isaiah to set them up, to set them straight, to help them understand that before you can actually fill them with your righteousness, they must be cleansed of their unrighteousness. And the same is true for us today. In order for us to be made new we must repent, turn from that wickedness that just so easily erupts out of our hearts because our hearts are gratefully in a great way full of sin and corruption. And in your loving kindness, you bring people and circumstances into our lives to empty us. And Lord, it's painful to be emptied. These are painful words. But you are demonstrating your great, steadfast, penetrating love that's poured out on a rebellious people. Father, this is grace. This is mercy. This is loving kindness, this is steadfast love, and this is beautiful. So Father, continue to stop us from having our own way, continue to humble us, and may we turn from our sin before it's too late. May we turn and rush to God while he is near, while we can hear, Father, I pray for that one who has heard and heard and heard and heard it and yet in their hearts they're still denying it. Be merciful. Penetrate that heart. Grant them repentance that they may believe. Give them that heart of flesh that they may know you and love you and give their hearts to you. But for those, Father, who insist upon their own way Father, would you bring them to righteousness? What a gift we have in a Redeemer, Jesus Christ. We are so thankful, it's all we have. It's the only thing that grants us access to the Father, it's his righteousness. May our hearts be thrilled today that God in his kindness stopped us from having our own way. and filled us with his righteousness. What a joy, what a privilege. And it's in Christ's name we pray, amen.