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 to the Word of God today, I would like to draw your attention to the book of Isaiah in chapter 28, verses 1 through 13. This chapter of Isaiah moves us away from the themes that were related to Babylon and And back to the situation that is closer at hand, as Assyria is the pressing concern in Isaiah's day. The Lord is going to use the rod of Assyria to bring Ephraim down to dust, and Judah to her knees. Sounds familiar. We see in Ephraim the sins of pride and drunkenness, and in Judah something of the same. There is, in our passage, one of the more notable and quotable lines in all of scriptures. Line upon line, precept upon precept. The context here is a bit different than how we've typically heard that phrase used, though the thought has many applications. We typically hear this in laying out what should be systematic theology or how we do our biblical hermeneutics. That's a $10 theological word. It means this is how we interpret the Bible. We're not wrong in how we use this phrase, but how we use it is not exactly according to the context most of the time, and I hope for our sakes that that's not ever how we have to use it. In this context, there is an indictment. The people of Judah are like children in their understanding and their faith. The indictment of Hebrews 5.12 rings true. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. Is our generation not the same? Have we not missed the simple message of sin and repentance? Are there not megachurches packed to overflowing with messages of prosperity and deliverance from our current state of uneasiness into our best life now? Because, after all, we believe or we think Christ died to make us happy. Is that right? We have long taken for granted our position as God's chosen people, and we have been filled with pride. Are we entitled to the grace we've been given? Yeah, I know that statement is kind of an oxymoron. Ephraim thought she could worship God as she saw fit, and when prosperous, she presumed that she was right. Judah had much the same issue, but since she had Jerusalem and the temple, she thought that God could be pacified with right worship and in the right place, with the wrong heart. We'll call it lip service, and also with the worship of idols side by side. God is sure to bring judgment, and it has begun already. The question is, have you noticed? We have reverted to childhood, lacking understanding, and having the need to be taught the basics of the gospel once again, like having to relearn our ABCs line upon line, precept upon precept. The problem is, we think we are smarter than all of this, and we do not need to go back and learn the lessons. The thing is, we're trying to show our skill in calculus, but we've forgotten how to add and subtract. But there I go again, using the line upon line, precept upon precept thing a different way than is used in the context. We need to go back to first principles, and we need to remember our first love. So what are we to do, and how will this all work out? Let us look to our text. The text, Isaiah 28, beginning in verse one. Woe to the crown of pride to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine. Behold the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand. 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. and as the hasty fruit before the summer, which when he looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up. In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory and for a diadem of beauty unto the residue of his people, and for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate. But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way. The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink. They are swallowed up of wine. They are out of the way through strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean. Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, and there a little. For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to his people, To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing, yet they would not hear. But the word of the Lord was unto them, precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little, that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. Back to verse one. Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine. We see here a woe pronounced upon Ephraim, and we should, I hope, immediately understand this to refer to the northern 10 tribes of Israel in the times of the divided kingdom. This locates the time of the prophecy as clearly being before Babylon would come against Judah, and by context we see this chapter referring to Assyria as the enemy of Ephraim and Judah. The pride of Ephraim seems to refer to their capital city of Samaria. This was considered by all who lived there as a glorious beauty, as the crown of the nation, as the key or capital cities of nations often are. The Lord says here that this beauty is that of a fading flower and will soon fail. Samaria was on a hill among larger mountains, apparently with fat valleys, that is, valleys that are full of substance, vineyards that are there to produce wine and provide enough that drunkenness was also among their great sins. Pride and drunkenness often cause men to think they are quote better than they really are. A man filled with pride presumes he is better and knows better than others. And a drunk thinks himself to have abilities granted by the wine that he does not truly possess because it lowers his inhibitions or restraints. Judgment for these things is coming and sure. Verse 2, Behold the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand. The Lord has a strong and mighty one to come in judgment, the rod of his anger Assyria and its powerful kings, kings like Tiglath-Pileser, Shalmaneser, and Sargon. It is Shalmaneser who would conquer and lead away the people of Ephraim. The Assyrian capital on the Tigris would give us the analogy that is given, the flood of mighty waters overflowing. This gives that analogy a good source, pun intended. The prideful nation of Ephraim would be overwhelmed by a tempest of hail and destroying storm. The beautiful flower is going to be destroyed, cut off, and cast down to the earth with the hand. Imagine a fading flower being pruned or taken down by a storm with hail. Verse three. The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet. The fading flower cast down is trodden underfoot. Remember that the Lord had promised to judge Ephraim in Isaiah seven, verse eight, until they were no longer a people. God removed them from their homes and land, and others would come in and occupy their homes in Samaria. Second Kings 17, verses 20 through 24. Verse four. And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer, which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand, he eateth it up. The blessings and fruitfulness of Samaria would be taken away. The Assyrians would come and destroy it. The early fruit, the harvest that would be brought forth, would be consumed before another harvest could come. It would be consumed in the greed of the conquering nation of Assyria, and it would be consumed quickly. The blooming flower would not last long, nor would the fruits of this fat valley. Verse five. In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people. We see in this verse a change in the person being spoken to, or spoken of. The Lord is now speaking about the residue of his people, those in Judah. This is Judah and Jerusalem. The glory of the residue of his people and the diadem of beauty will be the Lord. This looks to the blessings of the time of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and the favor God would show him and the nation during his reign. We notice the glory and beauty contrasted in this verse between the glory and beauty in Ephraim. Ephraim's pride was the glory and the beauty of the city of Samaria and the fat valleys. Judah's glory and beauty was to be the Lord of hosts. Ephraim's crown was cheap and fading, but not so with the crown of Judah, Jeremiah 9, 23-24. Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord, which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, saith the Lord. And for a spirit of judgment, verse six, him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate. Ah, to have the spirit of judgment given to him that sitteth in judgment, would that we had thus. Wisdom and understanding to fill the office of king, governor, or perhaps even the president and congress. With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Right judgment and the spirit of right judgment is a gift of God. Remember the wisdom of Solomon. Ephraim was not blessed with this, but Judah was in Hezekiah's day. The Lord is also the one who blesses with strength. He is the one who turns the enemies of his people away at the gate. Think Sennacherib surrounding the city of Jerusalem, but turned away by the angel of death. But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way. The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink. They are swallowed up of wine. They are out of the way through strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgment. Even though Judah was favored in this encounter coming from the Assyrians, they were guilty of the same sin of drunkenness. We will find in the next portion of the chapter a description of the judgment coming against Judah. Falling into drunkenness, they are out of the way. They have stumbled and sinned. The priest and the prophet are in error through strong drink. In other words, they have given up sober judgment and given themselves over to wine. Recall the warnings in the New Testament to elders and deacons not to be given too much wine, that is, not to say they must abstain completely, but it cannot be ruling them as it did these in Judah. They lost their spirit of judgment because of such. As we look through Isaiah and other scriptures, we will find this to be a common sin of Judah. Verse eight. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean. Drunkenness leads to vomiting. That seems fairly obvious. Other conduct of those who are drunk leads to filthiness. This drunkenness is apparent to all by the conditions described. In those days it would be obvious there was drunkenness in high places, and there seems to be no place that is clean, and the drunkenness is very obvious. Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts. Here is another condemnation of Judah wrapped up in a riddle. The warnings were very simple. Repent, for judgment is coming. Very simple. So simple as telling a child that if you do that again there will be discipline. Whom shall he teach knowledge? Barnes describes this in his commentary this way. According to this interpretation, the prophet speaks of them as deriders of the manner in which God spoke to them by His messengers. What, say they, does God treat us like children? Does He deal with us as we deal with infants just weaned, perpetually repeating and inculcating the same elementary lessons and teaching the mere rudiments of knowledge? The expression, therefore, whom shall he teach knowledge, or whom does he teach, is an expression of contempt, supposed to be spoken by the intemperate priests and prophets, the leaders of the people. Whom does God take us to be? Does he regard us as mere children? Why are we treated as children, with an endless repetition of the same elementary instruction? These mocked the teaching as though it were too simple for them and meant only for children. But indeed, they had not learned it so well. Only how to disobey it. For precept, verse 10, must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little. How is it that we do teach children? Repetition. Precept upon precept, line upon line. We teach them their ABCs this way. We teach them mathematics this way. All the simple things that we teach them are a basis for the things that will come as they get older and older. Here a little, there a little. This is not so much a statement regarding the principles of systematic theology, though the phrase can be employed for such, and that is true. Rather, this is used to mock the simple, structured repetition of the teaching that was offered by the priests and the prophets. This is the way God would talk to them, because they would not listen any other way. How many times must we hear the same story, the same call to repentance? Answer, until you actually demonstrate that you've learned it. One of my favorite sayings, and I recall it well, it is often attributed to Confucius, though it is found throughout the scripture, is, to know and not to do is not yet to know. Knowledge of something is not defined so much as being able to articulate that something, but rather to do that something. You can certainly tell me how to change a tire, but you don't really know how to do it until you actually change the tire, until you do the deed. And so it goes. We might have a head knowledge of something, but we really don't know until we've actually experienced it, until we've actually done that which is commanded. There goes the preacher again, speaking to us like children. This must be done, this teaching must be done, this method must be done, here a little, there a little. Why? Because they, like children, do not have the capacity to absorb too much too fast. Put another way, they need really short sermons. Verse 11. For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. This is an astonishing judgment. They would not hear his word in their own language. They would mock it as simple and for babes. So he would speak to them with stammering lips and another tongue. What does this mean? How would he accomplish this? He would bring the Assyrians and all the nations that they had conquered with them against them and they would speak in foreign tongues. This is the proclamation. Since you refuse to hear the plain speech in your own tongue, I will send nations to conquer you that have different tongues to come against you and to teach you in a language you do not understand. Rather, they will teach you by the rod. Do not refuse the Lord's simple instructions. You might be confronted with strange people from strange lands that you do not understand. Verse 12, To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing. yet they would not hear. The Lord had offered them His good word and the call to repent. If they would but turn to Him, He offered them rest, rest for the weary and refreshing. Despite the repeated simple offer, they refused to hear. They rejected Him. Verse 13. But the word of the Lord was unto them, precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, and there a little, that they might go and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. Judah considered the warnings of the prophets as simple and childish, and ultimately that meant that they considered the warnings beneath them. They were blinded from the truth by the simplicity of the truth itself. You tell me, that can't be the way it works. These words are for children. We know this instruction and it is for the simple. And yet they were blinded by the simplicity, even offended by it. This was done, and it was done so that they might go and fall backward and be broken and snared and taken. Sounds like the reason that Jesus spoke in parables. Being drunken and blinded, they would go and fall backward. They would not hear, they would not heed, they would stumble and stammer and fall backward. They were broken, snared, and ultimately taken. Some lessons for us. Simple, but not easy. This is a precept to build precepts upon. There are plenty of things that are simple but not easy. Spending less than you earn to save money is simple but not easy. We live in a world where goods are marketed so well that this has become nearly impossible. But the concept is very simple. Tell someone that the best way to financial independence is to spend less than they earn. 20, 30, or 50% less than they earn, and you will see the resounding, no kidding, wonder why I didn't think of that, sarcastically move across their face. The concept is so simple, this is too simple, and everyone would rather hear about a get-rich-quick scheme that is very complicated, or how they can earn more money so that they could spend more money. And it is intentionally done so, in the world, because the schemer that wants to make money off of the schemed needs to have them believe that complicated is better than simple. The next example is somewhat controversial. Want to lose weight? Simple, eat fewer calories than you burn. I know, I know, this is controversial, and I know there are many examples churning in your heads right now, and that many will be offended by such a statement. You think this is bad, wait till we talk about repentance. The concept of losing weight is quite simple, yet it is not easy. We all, well, maybe not all of us, but I certainly have personal experience with this. These are light examples of what is true in many areas of life. Simple is not easy. The message given to Judah was very simple, so simple, so straightforward, that it blinded them. They were not ready to hear these words. They were, in fact, stunned by them, taken aback by them, and thought, this is child's play and for children. This is not something we need to hear. We heard all these things when we were children, and they don't work. Things like, come unto me, all ye that are weak and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Return to me, and I will return to you. Repent and believe the gospel. This is simple, but not easy. Does it seem too simple to us? Turn around. Stop sinning. In fact, kill the sin. This is a simple command to be sanctifying yourself, to be holy. It sounds simple, and it is. But which of you, having been given this simple instruction, will call it easy? So why is this so difficult? The first instruction seems so simple. I mean, repent, return to the Lord. It is so simple a six-year-old should understand it. Why does the Lord insist on such simplicity? Surely He knows the size of our intellects. It's difficult to follow this instruction because we are depraved. We have this sin nature and therefore we love our sins. We love them so much that we justify keeping them around. We are told to repent and when we do are told to repent we think that this means to take our sins and send them on vacation or take a vacation from them or maybe lock our sin in the closet. The instruction to kill it is too simple and quite frankly a little cruel. So we hide it and send it around the corner or perhaps cage it for a while but we refuse to kill it. What is the secret? What is required to get past this problem? Simple, but not easy. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Put another way, love God more than you love your sin. Be therefore willing to kill sin for Christ's sake, for He died to give you a new life and to free you from it. What are we to do? How shall we who are dead to sin live any longer therein? We've been moved from being dead to Christ to being dead to sin. We are now in a completely different state or position before God, by Christ and in Him. This means that we have the ability to mortify the deeds of the flesh, in other words, to kill sin. And so this is what we are to go about doing. We are not to be blinded by the simplicity of the truth. That is the gospel, the simplicity of Christ. We are called to do this, to be holy as he is holy. So simple, but not so easy. We need the Lord to help us. We need the Lord to give us more light. bringing the light of Jesus Christ into a sin-darkened world. This is the Lighthouse Radio Bible Study. The Primitive Baptists who bring you this program each week do so with the following conviction. 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, Baxley, 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.