Isaiah Lesson 42

So, Heavenly Father, thank you so much for another opportunity to open your Word, and we pray that as we look into your Holy Word, you would peer into our hearts, and that you would see the things that need to be transformed, and that you would change us from the inside out.

We look to you, we look to your truth, because you say, sanctify them by your truth. Your Word is truth. So Lord, speak to us and change us, in Jesus' name, amen. I have evergreen trees in my backyard, giant, tall things, but once a year, I notice a creeping vine.

It's a weed that comes over the neighbor's fence, and early in the summer, it takes hold of my tree, and then starts to climb it, and wrap itself all around. It does this every year. If I did nothing, within a couple years, it would own that thing.

It would completely take over, but what I've learned to do is give it a few months, and then grab hold of it, and just start pulling it down, before it gets too high up, breaking off its source to the ground, and throwing it back over the neighbor's fence.

By so doing, I can keep this weed under control. Why are there weeds in the world? Sin. Sin. Genesis chapter 3, the curse on the ground, it would bring up thorns, and thistles, and briars, and weeds, and vines.

The earth produces life, just in an amazing way. The sun brings the light and the heat. The water that the Lord sends from the sky to water the face of the earth, it just bursts forth life. But from that, man cannot survive, because of the weeds, because of the factors of sin in the world, man has to work by the sweat of his brow.

Unless you pull down the weeds, eventually that tree will die. Unless you cultivate the ground, it's not going to bring forth a crop. Unless you harvest, and you sow, and you till, and you bring forth the fruit, you'll have nothing.

Now, when there are righteous rulers in the land, righteousness wins, and people live in peace and prosperity. When there are wicked rulers in the land, the people suffer. But there's a cycle that tends to play out.

When peace and prosperity come upon a people, there tends to be, after a period of time, complacency. And then, people stop pulling the weeds. They just think that the prosperity and the peace that you are experiencing is just naturally there.

Think of all of the goods and services that we have in America. Did that just spring up from the ground? Or is that the result of human work, human effort? It's the work that people put in that are brought forth.

However, when we grow complacent, then wicked rulers rise, and we fall into the downward side of that cycle, and there's a period of judgment. Here in Isaiah chapter 32, we see the peace and prosperity that Israel is promised to experience when they have a righteous king, a monarch, a king.

Not a democracy, but a monarchy, where Israel has a king who's representing God. Now, originally, it was a theocracy, and the people clamored to be like the nations around them. They wanted a king like the other nations.

God actually knew that they would beg for such a thing. And way back in Deuteronomy, he talked about when you have a king, so it was always his intent for them to have a king. But through that means of their complaint, he brings forth, first of all, Saul, who is found to be wicked.

What is this bleeding of sheep that I hear? And then, King David, who righteously rules the land. And Solomon, then, provides the first picture of what life is like for Israel under a righteous king for a period of time.

It is unprecedented prosperity and peace. The king of peace, Solomon. Well, as the history of Israel unfolds from that point forward, you never have a united peaceful kingdom, because Solomon's throne is divided, Jeroboam and Rehoboam.

And then, to the north, there's nothing but wicked kings. And in the south, you have an alternation, sometimes wicked, sometimes good, until we come to the prophet Isaiah and the various kings that he prophesied to.

And here in chapter 32, who is the king? Ahab? Not, well, it's after Ahab. Who's the king under the siege from Sennacherib? Hezekiah. This is Hezekiah's reign. So let's pick up, and who would like to be a reader?

Maybe somebody who's close to the camera, you can read nice and loud. Bob, would you want to do it? Sure. Okay. I'm going to ask, I'm just going to put you on the spot, so you can't deny that. Next week, I'm sitting in the back.

Bob's in the back. Poor Bob. So can you read for us Isaiah 32, one to eight, we'll begin with.

There is coming a king who will reign justly, and princes who will rule uprightly. A man will be like a refuge from the wind, like protection from a storm, like streams of water on arid ground, like a rock cliff shading a weary land.

The eyes of those seeing will not be closed. The ears of those hearing will pay close attention. The minds of the impetuous will learn to wait carefully. The tongues of the stutterers will speak readily and clearly.

The mean person will no longer be called generous, or the miserly said to be noble. For the mean person will speak meanness, his heart planning evil, so that he can act godlessly, spreading error concerning the Lord.

As he lets the hungry go on starving, and deprives the thirsty of drink, the mean person's mean are mean. He devises wicked devices to ruin the poor and needy with lies, even when their cause is just.

But the generous person devises generous things, and his generosity will keep him standing.

The Righteous King and the Peace of His Reign

So the first five verses begin with a picture of peace and prosperity under a king. Look at verse one. Behold, a king will reign in righteousness. Now Isaiah is prophesying specifically, and in the near term, about Hezekiah.

Here we will have a righteous king. And notice he will have princes who will rule in justice. So those who are under him, who are serving in a righteous way. Even though this speaks in the near term of Hezekiah, I think we can see in this a messianic hope as well.

Because every good king of Israel, especially David, being the first prototype of a good king, is picturing the son of David. The one from whom the scepter will not depart. The descendant of Judah, the king, the righteous promised king, will be the Christ, the Messiah.

And Jesus is the final fulfillment. So behold, a king will reign in righteousness. There will be a period of righteousness in Israel. Princes will rule with justice. Look at the imagery of verse two. Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.

In this life, we will get beat down. The sun will beat us down and dry us up. The wind will wear on us. These are the circumstances of this life. Just looking around at people in my life and seeing one diagnosed with Crohn's disease and the parents reeling from that but trusting in God.

But another, you know, my mom with Parkinson's and other people suffering with... So all of us, if we were to go around this room and talk about the storms of this life, have any of us escaped without being touched?

All of us have been hit hard, but in Israel at that time, a righteous king was a shelter for the people. How much more so our king? Look at the images of verse two. Our King Jesus is like a rock. He is a rock to run into.

Now again, this is the picture of a fortress. This is a place to hide from the wind when it's howling. When the storm comes, you can run into this place and it is safe and it is strong. The righteous run into it and they are safe.

It is a hiding place. Right, and strike the rock as Moses did. And what comes forth of the rock? Water from the rock. Like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.

This world, in this world you will have trouble, says the Lord, but take heart, I have overcome the world. This is a picture of our king. And when this life gets difficult, always remember that you have a rock to run into.

He is the living water. He offers us living water that satisfies the soul and fills up and bubbles over. My cup overflows. So here you have a picture of things will be comforting in Israel under Hezekiah, but how much greater the peace that is coming under Christ.

Amen. Verse three, then the eyes of those who see will not be closed and the ears of those who hear will give attention. One of the great pictures of the coming kingdom when Christ rules in this world is that no one will teach his neighbor and say, no, the Lord, for they will all know him from the least to the greatest.

God himself will be with us and we will all be taught by God. We will finally have eyes that see him. We will have ears that are fully attentive. Nowadays, our attention wanes. I'm sure that at some point as I'm teaching today, your mind will wander to something you have to do later in the day.

That's part of the fall. But to be attentive to his word constantly, that's coming in the millennial kingdom. And in this new covenant, we have the first fruits of that. We have the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And so we should pray that the Spirit would teach us and help us to learn, to have eyes that are open, ears that hear and give attention. Amen. Habakkuk says that, that the earth will be full. And that's actually said in multiple of the prophets.

Isaiah 11, 9. Very good. Well done, Rich. You have not lost your touch while I was gone. This guy is as sharp as ever. Verse 4, then the heart of the hasty will understand and know. What does it mean to be hasty?

In a hurry. In a hurry. Mine says hothead. Hothead. Quick to blow a fuse. Without giving adequate thought. Without giving thought. Anybody here struggle with being hasty? In too much of a hurry to listen?

Impulse sometimes. Yeah, we all do. Yeah. Our lives are so busy. In this fast paced American society. But the heart of the hasty will understand and know. He's calming us. He's quieting our heart. And the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly.

The Lord will give us clear speech. Moses, of course, was famous as a stammerer. He was a stutterer. And yet the Lord was able even to speak through that. How much more when we see him face to face and everything is made right.

So you do have the picture of the eschaton here. The coming kingdom. But also picture this as a near term fulfillment. A good time of blessing. When you have a righteous king, things begin to sort out.

People are attentive to God. They're God centered in their worldview. They listen. They hear. They're wise. So what becomes of the foolish one? Verse five, the fool will no longer be called noble, nor the scoundrel said to be honorable.

And all God's people said, amen. See when there's a righteous king ruling in a righteous land, up is up and down is down. Good is good. Evil is evil. Sweet is sweet and bitter is bitter. But as things become perverted in a culture, everything turns upside down and people honor what is ignoble and they dishonor the things that are virtuous and lovely.

Everything is turned upside down. Isaiah 5 .20. Yeah. Isaiah 5 .20. He said exactly that. But here under a righteous king, he rewards the good and punishes the evil. In the new covenant, there is still a role for government.

Romans 13, first Peter two. In both cases, government is shown to be the hand of God, an avenger who does not bear the sword in vain. What does he do? He punishes the wrongdoer and rewards the good. But what happens when government begins to wield the sword against that which is good?

Against the church, against the freedom of conscience and of speech and the right to assemble. Yeah. We are beginning to see that in our culture, right? As things are turning more and more upside down, the government is no longer punishing the pornographer.

The freedom of a pornographer must be protected at all costs. But the freedom to raise your children and teach them biblical gender distinctions is what's under attack. It's a completely upside down world that we're living in.

Under a righteous king. We have a stammerer. Good one. Yes. Yes. Yes. We have a stammerer. You said it, Ralph. Not me. Because I'm on camera here. I can't talk about political things. I never do that, right?

Far be it for me. On that note, does the Bible distinguish between moral questions of the city and private individual matters and tell ministers to only speak to the latter? No. Politics comes from the Greek polis, city.

The affairs of the city. The Bible speaks to all areas. In fact, that's what it's referring to here. This is a political situation where the king is righteous and all the people are blessed because of it.

He rewards the good. He punishes the evil.

So we can talk about these things. I thought it meant poly-tick. Poly meaning many ticks meaning blood sucking insects. See he's on fire today. Politics. Many blood sucking insects.

Okay. That's good. I'll have to store that one up. That's a good one. So the fool will no more be called noble, nor the scoundrel said to be audible. Now look at verses six to eight as kind of a parenthetical word of wisdom.

Here Isaiah is putting on his kind of wisdom literature hat and speaking kind of like Solomon in the writing of the Proverbs. He's giving a principle here that applies for all time. For the fool speaks folly and his heart is busy with iniquity to practice ungodliness to utter error concerning the Lord, to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied and to per to deprive the thirsty of drink.

As for the scoundrel, his devices are evil. He plans wicked schemes to ruin the poor with lying words. Even the plea of the needy is right. Even when the plea of the needy is right. But he who is noble plans noble things and on noble things he stands.

So we have wisdom literature here. As I think back over the book of Proverbs, it was the 16th chapter that really came to mind as paralleling what Isaiah is saying here. Would somebody read for me the first three verses of Proverbs 16?

And I have printed those in your notes there. So Bob, would you mind?

The plans of the heart belong to man. The answer of the tongue is from the Lord. All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit. Commit your work to the Lord and your plans will be established.

And this goes on to speak about how man plans in his heart, but it's the Lord who determines the steps. It's the machinations or the determinations of somebody's mind as they chart out a course. Do they intend evil sometimes?

Other times, look at verse two of Proverbs 16. All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes. Not governed by the wisdom of God, but governed by human reason. And this is the folly of many. Paul will even say of himself, he says, my conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent.

It is the Lord who judges me. Sometimes people devise schemes in their mind. They make plans not based on the wisdom of God, but based on human reasoning. What would be an example, look again at Isaiah 32, of something from the 20th century that deprived the thirsty of drink and left the craving of the hungry unsatisfied.

What happened in the 20th century that starved a hundred million people to death?

The Russia? Yeah. Stalin's attempt to unify the masses. Exactly.

Starved millions. Political machinations, plans of Stalin and Lenin before that, and then Mao with his great leap forward, Pol Pot, all of the communist machinations, the plans of man actually starved.

People to death. There were an estimated 170 million people.

Yeah. 170 million total dead, they say, yeah. And probably a hundred million at least were from starvation because of their plans. In their minds, they planned a course, but it was not built on biblical wisdom.

It was happy to steal. The Bible says thou shalt not steal, right? But communism says to take the labor of a free individual and confiscate it for the public good. Stealing, it's theft of human resource.

And then redistribution by a centralized authority, which if you understand the nature of man, as the Bible presents mankind, corrupt men at the head of that centralized power will wield it for their own benefit and to the detriment of the people.

And so communism is a plan. It's how people think and come up with ideas, but it's a scoundrel, verse seven. As for the scoundrel, his devices are evil. Communism is a perfect example of an evil plan, which masquerades as being for the little guy when in actuality it starves.

It is a wicked scheme, verse seven. Here you have leaders who are unwise. They're foolish in Israel. And we'll get to the nature of what that is in a minute. To ruin the poor with lying words, even when the plea of the needy is right.

But he who is noble plans, noble things and on noble things he stands. So circle back from verse eight to the first verse of this chapter, behold, a king will reign in righteousness. So the first five verses of chapter 32 presents this beautiful picture of peace and prosperity, where you have a righteous king and the people are blessed because of him.

He makes good decisions. He rewards good behavior and he punishes the wrongdoer. And so things become straight. He draws a straight line and fools are treated as foolish. Their ideas are not entertained and acted upon.

And so the people are doing well. But see, this does not describe the Jewish people at the time of Hezekiah. Not yet. When Hezekiah takes the reins, he is inheriting a wicked people. And so God must do something first to bring about this righteous situation.

And that is chastisement. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 11 says, for the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant. But later it yields a peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

God will discipline the one he loves and he will chastise the one he accepts as a son. God does accept Israel as a son. And so he will chastise them. So what we will see now, verses 9 to 14, is a harsh rebuke, not from a wicked king who hates a people, but from a loving father who is willing to discipline his own children for their good.

Who would read for me 9 to 14?

Thanks. Rise up you women who are at ease. Hear my voice, you complacent daughters. Give ear to my speech. In little more than a year you will shudder, you complacent women. For the grape harvest fails, the fruit harvest will not come.

Tremble, you women who are at ease. Shudder, you complacent ones. Strip and make yourselves bare and tie sackcloth around your waist. Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine, for the soil of my people growing up in thorns and briars.

Yes, for all the joyous houses in the exultant city. For the palace is forsaken, the populous city deserted. The hill and the watchtower will become dens forever. A joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks.

So the historical situation here, of course, as we've been tracing, is the onslaught of the Assyrian army. They've come from Persia. They swept south and wrecked Babylon, and now they're moving west, destroying every country in their wake.

As they approach the city of Jerusalem, they conquer 42 cities in the southern kingdom. They're devastating, and they will come right up to the neck of Jerusalem, threatening to overrun the holy city of David.

This is the historical situation. Sennacherib is leading, sending forth his army with Rabshakeh, his spokesman and commander, to go overtake Jerusalem. This discipline is from the Lord. But Assyria does not so intend.

They would turn the gods of Israel into rubble and their cities into piles of stone, the way they have done every other nation before them. That's their intention, to dominate the world. And yet, God has a plan, and he's wielding them for the purpose of discipline.

Now, he will address this discipline to the women. Look at verse 9. And it speaks to the situation in Jerusalem. Rise up, you women who are at ease. Hear my voice. You complacent daughters, give ear to my speech.

In today's PC social justice culture, where intersectionality is the rule of the day, a prophet who would speak directly to a woman would be called a misogynist. But Isaiah is not afraid of such things.

He speaks to men, and he speaks to women, and recognizes equally that men and women are made in the image of God, and men and women are fallen together in Adam, capable of wickedness, even as men are.

How would you describe the women of Jerusalem? We saw an earlier picture of this. Turn back with me to Isaiah 3, verses 16 and following. Isaiah has addressed the women before, if you recall. The Lord said, because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks.

So they're like peacocks, just strutting around Jerusalem. Glancing wantonly with their eyes. This is an enticement to men. They're sexually trying to entice men. Mincing along as they go, tinkling with their feet.

Isn't that a great image? They're kind of dancing and fluttering around. Therefore, the Lord will strike with a scab the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will lay bare their secret parts. In that day, the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the crescents.

Here's a physical description of how they're dressing. It says, the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves. The headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets. The signet rings and the nose rings.

The feastal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags. You get the idea here. He's going on and on, because this is where their heart is. They're all about these material things. And the outward adornment, with no concern for a heart towards God.

The mirrors. What do they want to do with those? Look at themselves. They want to see their own beauty and delight in how they look. The linen garments, the turbans and the veils. And then the judgment again.

Instead of perfume, there will be rottenness. Instead of a belt, a rope. Instead of well-set hair, baldness. Instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth. And branding instead of beauty. Like a cattle branded by an iron by this enemy.

Your men shall fall by the sword, and your mighty men in battle. And her gates shall lament and mourn empty. She shall sit on the ground. A devastating judgment spoken against women. So here you have a parallel again.

Isaiah 32, we left off at verse 9. He addresses the women and he says,. And here's the problem. In a little more than a year, you will shudder. You complacent women. What does the word complacent mean?

Satisfied, self-satisfied, okay? Apathetic, yeah. Women and men of the church. Is it possible for us to sit in church every Sunday and Wednesday and grow complacent? Not on Wednesday. Not on Wednesday, okay.

Good answer. Not on a Wednesday. It's a danger for all of us to grow complacent. We're so blessed. Here's how I think about it. If the Lord gave me nothing but salvation, he's given me far more than anything I could ever ask, think, or imagine.

Anything above six feet underground is absolute grace. Pure grace. And yet, the longer we enjoy the benefit of salvation and the uber-abundant blessing that's just poured out upon our heads as believers, to have friends and family, to have a roof over our heads, and then in this 21st century, to have cell phones and cars and air conditioning and everything that we could possibly want or need.

The danger is there for us as well, to grow complacent. And this is what had happened in Jerusalem. They had been so blessed. God had provided their needs, and Jerusalem is a thriving city, and they're taking it for granted.

They become complacent. So verse 10 says, For the grape harvest fails, now their complacency will result in discipline. God will have to come, and this is the cycle. And in some measure, it still happens to us as believers.

In the Old Covenant, the cycle was so pronounced. It went from this wonderful blessing of God to complacency and sin, and then falling under judgment, and then a deliverer would come. This is the book of Judges, over and over again.

The cycles go around and around, and then there's prosperity again as people turn back to the Lord in repentance. But then they become complacent again, and they fall into sin, and they're judged, and a deliverer comes.

That's true of Israel, to a lesser degree because we're under the New Covenant, where the Holy Spirit now indwells us and makes us more consistent. We still experience these cycles. There are times when we start to become complacent, and so the Lord will discipline us, and draw us back to our first love through chastening, which feels painful for a time.

That's what Jerusalem has to go through before they get back to that peace and prosperity. So he says now, verse 11, well, the end of verse 10, the grape harvest fails. The fruit harvest will not come.

Tremble, you women who are at ease. Shudder, you complacent ones. Again, the word complacent is being repeated, as well as ease is a similar idea. Strip and make yourselves bare, and tie sackcloth around your waist.

Now notice there that it's no longer what's going to happen. It's a prescription of what they're to do. There's a command given right there in verse 11. What is it? And it would be in the privacy of their home, but the idea is don't adorn yourself with all of these anklets, and bracelets, and headdresses, and look at yourself in the mirror, and delight in your beauty.

No, this is a time for humbling yourself. Repentance. You need to be fasting in sackcloth, and throwing ashes on your head. This is a call to repentance. Matthew Henry writes of this verse, this intimates not only that God's judgments would strip them, but that the best prevention of the trouble would be to repent, and humble themselves before God in true remorse and godly sorrow.

The best preparation for the trouble would be to deny themselves, and to sit loose to all the delights of sense. They need to humble themselves before the Lord, because it's better to humble yourself than for God to break you.

There's a time for fasting, and going before the Lord in repentance, which can avert some of the pain of discipline which will otherwise come. So he says, again, this is a command, beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.

Church, when is the last time that we beat our breasts? That we said have mercy on me, and we took a day to fast. To look at the way this country is going, and to say, this country has become complacent, and our church has not been as vigilant as we should be, humble ourselves and pray.

Humble yourselves. That's what he's calling the beating of the breasts, repent, not to be complacent. This is a call to be humble, and to be repentant. For the soil of my people, growing up in thorns and briars, yes, for the joyous houses in the exultant city, for the palaces forsaken, the populous city deserted, the hill and the watchtower will become dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks.

That word forever in verse 14. The Hebrew does not carry the same ultimacy that we have for the word forever. It means for an indeterminate amount of time. So Jerusalem will not be utterly wrecked forever in the sense that it will never revive, but in the sense of we have no idea how long this will go.

And we will learn later in Isaiah that God does send deliverance through the angel of the Lord, and Israel then will come into this period of prosperity. The other interpretation that another commentator took was that forever here refers to certain of the cities that are conquered on the way to Jerusalem, and some of them would never revive.

In either case, though, the picture's really clear. They are gonna come under a heavy hand, and what is that? It's Assyria. It's Assyria coming through to wreck them. Now, verses 15 to 17. Beautiful picture of the gospel, I think.

Rich, would you mind reading that?

Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is counted as a forest, then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness will remain in the fruitful field.

The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, is quietness and assurance forever. Amen. Don't you love that word until?

Yes, look at verse 15. This judgment, this discipline, I should say, the chastisement, is not forever. It is until. Until what? Revival. Until Jerusalem experiences a revival under Hezekiah, and a time of peace and prosperity, which does come.

In fact, it's prolonged longer than expected, because Hezekiah is about to die of an ailment, but he begs the Lord and gets 15 more years. And so there will be this period of peace and prosperity, but it comes by the gospel.

Now, you can't miss this in verse 15. The Spirit poured upon them. This, in the near fulfillment, is a revival in Israel, but in the far fulfillment, it's Acts chapter two. You guys know, Joel is the quote there, as Peter's preaching, that the Lord will pour out His Spirit on all flesh.

Yeah, this is the coming of the Holy Spirit in the new covenant. Through the preaching of the gospel, as people believe, the Spirit comes upon them and fills them, and on that first day of Pentecost, they speak in tongues.

Those listening hear in their own languages. 3 ,000 people are saved in a day, and the church is born and begins to spread to the ends of the earth. Righteousness is repeated over and over again in verses 16 and 17, because the gospel is the promise of righteousness.

It's the righteousness of Christ imputed to those who believe in Him, a righteousness that is by faith. Justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field, and the effect of righteousness will be peace.

How blessed has this country been to have been founded by pilgrims who fled religious persecution and landed at Plymouth Rock and on that boat preached a city on a hill dedicating this experiment to God, founded on the Bible, and then a nation born out of a revolution that was driven by the Bible.

A book you might like that responds to that, The History of America from 1607 to 1776 is by Rod Gregg. It's called Forged in Faith.

Ah, somebody else recommended that to me. Forged in Faith by Gregg. Rod Gregg. Okay, we'll have to look up, some of us might get that. So the point is the result in verse 17 or the effect of righteousness, when you have many Christians, many who have been imputed righteousness and then therefore being changed from one degree of glory to another, being sanctified, coming together to form a nation, a democracy, there will be a period of peace.

But what happens when they grow complacent and at ease? Well, God will have to discipline. I think it's starting to happen, isn't it? We're experiencing discipline. So finally in 18 to 20, my people will abide in a peaceful habitation in secure dwellings and in quiet resting places.

Sounding great, right? But look what it reverts to in verse 19. And it will hail when the forest falls down and the city will be utterly laid low. Then again, verse 20, happy are you who sow beside all waters, who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.

Now it's a picture of peace and prosperity. They have animals on the range, freely grazing, prosperity in the land again. But notice, it doesn't happen without that discipline. And again, the peaceful fruits of righteousness come by discipline.

Hebrews chapter 12. It's true for us as a church, as it was for Israel, although our cycles are not as drastic as theirs, from absolute idolatry and worshiping Moloch to coming back to Yahweh, we drift in our heart and we abandon our first love, but he calls us back.

So our complacency likewise needs to be broken. So application, do not become complacent under the blessings of peace and prosperity. Our church has been thriving like never before, since I've been here for five years now.

This last year, just seeing how the numbers of people coming and people getting baptized and saved, growing in depth in the word, people who love the word and getting deeper. And the relationships that I'm seeing happen where people are getting closer to one another, we're in danger of growing complacent because we're prospering like this.

Let us remember to seek the Lord. And so it says in 1 Peter 5, 6, Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time, he may exalt you. We must remember to take time.

Guys, don't answer this out loud. When's the last time you took a day to fast and pray? Don't tell anybody by the way, because Jesus told us that that should be between you and him. Don't even let your right hand know what your left is doing kind of thing.

But humble yourself rather than be disciplined by the Lord. If you will self-discipline and humble yourself and call to him, seek his face, then he exalts you. But when we grow complacent, we are in danger.

Do not get discouraged when disciplined by the Lord, but be trained by chastisement. If you're under chastisement, which we all go through, otherwise you're an illegitimate son. If you've been chastised, recognize that's his love toward you.

He loves Jerusalem. He will establish them in peace. But first, there is a period of chastening. So let's close in prayer. Father, thank you so much for this word to us. We don't want to admit it, Lord, but we're a lot like the Jews of old.

Lord, we are prone to wander. Lord, we feel that. And even if it's not the drastic things of idol worship and things like that, God, we do recognize that we will cool from our first love, from the heat of that passion of love for you, seeking you in the morning.

I pray that we would be called back to prayer and fasting by this warning. And we do thank you that you're a loving Father, that everything you do is for our good. Thank you for this word this morning.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen.