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Isaiah 3:1-15 - When God Removes What We Trust In · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. Today.
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  We are in Isaiah chapter 3 and tentatively we'll do verses one
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  through 15 today. The book of Isaiah is prophecy
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  from about hundred 150 years before the exile to Babylon for
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  God's people from Israel. And Isaiah was a prophet during
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  the reign of a couple good kings and a couple bad kings.
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  And he had some definitively sharp words to say to people
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  that were very religious, but who were totally unlike God in
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  their words and in their actions.
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  And so we're going to we're going to read through some of
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  that today in chapter 3. So just letting you know on the
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  front end of this, like this is serious.
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  This is well, let's just read through and you'll see what I'm
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  saying. Isaiah chapter 3, verse number
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  one. Note this Yahweh Adonai of
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  heaven's armies is about to remove from Jerusalem and from
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  Judah every kind of security. So here, here's what's going to
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  happen. Southern Kingdom of Judah and
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  from your capital city, God is going to take away everything
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  that you are counting on to protect you, to keep you safe,
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  to make you great. God is the one who's actually
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  your safety, but you guys don't recognize that.
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  And so I'm going to take away all of your safety Nets.
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  Then he goes on describing through like verse #4 or so all
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  of the things that he's taking away.
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  So this is helpful for us. What kinds of things can we
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  trust in instead of trusting God?
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  This warns us what some of those things can be.
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  He says the entire supply of bread and water.
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  We can trust our literal like storehouses.
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  We can trust our doomsday bunker in our backyard, He says I'm
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  taking away the entire supply of bread and water.
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  Heroes and warriors, the great defenders of your people.
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  If you wanted to maybe make it a little bit more similar to what
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  we have today, I'm taking away your nukes.
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  I'm taking away, you know, your F20 twos or your B52 bombers.
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  I think I have the the right generation of bomber in my head.
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  I'm taking away your Navy like these people that you count on
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  that will physically keep you safe and physically keep the
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  enemy away. I'm going to take those away
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  because you're trusting in them, not in God, he says.
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  Judges and prophets, these people that help kind of corral
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  evil within your society. The judges, those that would say
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  all right, you have to do this in compensation for this other
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  person, The judges are going to be taken away.
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  The prophets, those ones that warn Israel when they are going
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  to go into divine danger, or as is likely hear from what I'm
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  seeing down in verse #3 it could also include the false prophets,
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  those that would be prophets of Baal or one of the other false
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  gods of the nations around Israel that they were putting
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  their trust in. What is this guy say instead of
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  what has the Lord said? And you can read about that over
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  and over again in first and second Kings especially.
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  So he says I'm taking away the entire supply of supply of bread
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  and water. I'm taking away the heroes and
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  warriors. I'm taking away the judges and
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  prophets, he says. I'm taking away the fortune
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  tellers and elders, commanders of 50 and dignitaries.
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  I'm going to stop there real quick before I mention a few
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  more. So here these people that are
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  pretending to tell you the future, I'm taking all of them
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  away. He says.
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  The elders, the people that have been around for a while and they
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  know kind of the way that the world works.
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  He says. I'm going to take those away so
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  that you can't even rely on the wisdom of experience or old age
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  in order for you to figure out what you should do in your life.
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  You're not going to have them anymore, he says.
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  I'm going to take away the commanders of 50 and
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  dignitaries, these people that were over smaller portions of
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  Israel. So, you know, think City Council
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  members, I'm going to take away your mayor, those types of
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  things. He says, I'm going to take away
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  your counselors, your cunning magicians and your necromancers.
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  So all of these people that you would consult or you would talk
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  to so that they would talk to some spiritual being on your
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  behalf in order to get you answers.
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  He's God says Nope, I'm taking all of them out of the way too.
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  You can't rely on how strong someone is.
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  You can't rely on physical resources like bread and water.
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  You can't rely on the, you know, smart people making decisions.
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  You can't rely on spiritual beings.
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  You can't rely on even, like, low level people who are only in
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  charge of 50 people in your nation, he says.
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  I'm taking all of this away and I think for my life and for
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  yours, how often do we put our trust in things other than God?
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  Like if America's going to be safe.
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  And again, I'm in America and so this is just what I know I
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  cannot place my trust in. OK, well, I have, you know,
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  President Trump is at the helm and so I'm safe or, oh, I have,
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  you know, the world's greatest Air Force and also the world's
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  fourth greatest Air Force because I don't know if you guys
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  have seen that before. But it's like our Air Force is
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  the biggest or has the most capable, you know, fighter
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  planes or whatever. And the fourth most, the fourth
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  biggest Air Force in the world is the, you know, Navy's Air
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  Force or whatever. Like that is not the thing that
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  keeps us safe. What keeps us safe is not a
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  enormous military or are, you know, extravagant riches here in
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  America. None of that is what actually
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  protects us or keeps us safe. And so it doesn't in one sense,
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  it doesn't matter what the day-to-day is in our country
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  that we want to, as we read in previous chapters, we want to
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  pursue righteousness and justice and doing right by God and doing
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  right in the sight of God and doing right by man.
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  We want to do all of that. So in that sense, it matters.
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  But it doesn't matter who is voted into the White House or
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  who is in Congress or who is, you know, in our state
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  legislator who's voted on to our City Council.
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  What ultimately matters is our faith and trust in God because
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  he is the one that sets up rulers and tears down rulers,
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  that sets up nations and tears them down the one that gives
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  victory to armies or dismantles armies.
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  Like God is the one who is in charge of all of that.
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  So yes, we can seek to be good God, honoring citizens who
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  utilize our votes in line with our Christian conscience and
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  what we believe the word of God to teach us.
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  But at the end of the day, our salvation as a nation, our
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  health, our prosperity, it doesn't ultimately come from any
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  human person. It comes from God.
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  So let's not make the same mistake that Israel made in
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  thinking all of these other persons or locations, leadership
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  positions are what actually keep us safe.
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  It's God, not man. Verse #4 I will make youths
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  their leaders and unstable rulers will govern them.
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  I got to be honest with you guys.
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  You know, I'm 20. I'm 29 years old now.
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  I don't, I don't know if that's an indictment against anyone
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  that I'm here, you know, pastoring and leaving a church.
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  I, I would hope even knowing, you know, the stories of Charles
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  Spurgeon got saved at about 17. I think it was 17 or 18 years
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  old and by 19 or 20 he was pastoring a very large church in
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  London. And it was because it was
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  obvious, you know, the Holy Spirit is on him.
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  And I, I don't want to claim anything for myself.
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  My hope would be that I'm sensitive to the Holy Spirit and
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  that I am led by him and, and what I do in teaching or
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  preaching. And so I hope that I'm not one
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  of these where it's a punishment on a nation to have
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  inexperienced people placed into leadership because there is
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  nobody else that can fill in the role.
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  It is an indictment against a nation when there's not able to
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  be some wisdom that is there. Verse #5 the people will oppress
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  one another, man against man, neighbor against neighbor.
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  The young will act arrogantly against the old and the
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  worthless will act arrogantly toward the honorable.
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  When there is interpersonal fighting, that is a sign of a
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  deteriorating world. Though I am young, I want to
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  have respect for those that have come before me.
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  I want to have respect for my elders.
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  And so I want to encourage you towards that, that if you're a
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  young person, I understand that not every old person says things
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  the way that you would say things.
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  Not every person has the same even set of values that you do.
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  But have a concern to not act in arrogance and pride towards
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  those that are older than you like realize that they have
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  lived through life and circumstances that you haven't.
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  And so there is wisdom there from them towards you.
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  Verse number six, a man will even seize his brother in his
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  father's house saying you have a cloak.
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  You be our leader. This heap of rubble will be
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  under your control here as God just dismantles all of the
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  safety Nets for Israel or for the southern Kingdom of Judah
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  and for Jerusalem. A person that has a jacket is
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  going to be viewed as man. This is a guy who has his life
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  together. We're going to put him in charge
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  because we have no one to be in charge.
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  A lack of leadership is a very, very bad sign for anyone, for
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  any church, for any nation, for any region of man.
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  Leadership and authority is good and valuable and to be followed.
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  Now, as we've seen, you don't want just anyone to be a leader.
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  Your leaders need to be those that follow and love the Lord,
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  ones that draw attention to what does God say.
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  And those are the kinds of leaders that we should have
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  verse #7 on that day he'll cry out saying I'm not a healer.
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  I, I don't even have food or clothing in my house.
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  Don't make me the leader of the people.
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  For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen because they
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  have spoken and acted against Yahweh, defying his glorious
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  presence. That is God had his Shekinah
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  glory, his presence there in the temple in Jerusalem.
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  That didn't change how the people treated one another or
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  how they worshipped Him and said they did whatever they wanted to
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  do, regardless of what God had said.
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  Verse #9 The look on their faces testifies against them, and like
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  Sodom, they flaunt their sin. They do not conceal it.
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  Woe to them, for they have brought disaster on themselves.
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  Part of a failing society is a boldness in sin without shame or
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  regret it. That's part of some of the
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  difficulty of our world today is people have forgotten to be
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  ashamed for their sin, that they will talk about their failures.
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  And there's not a like contrition, A repentance to say,
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  man, that was wrong. I shouldn't have said that.
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  Like, yeah, I, I really blew up against this other person and I
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  cursed them out. And man, I feel awful for that.
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  I should not have said those things.
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  I should not have lost my temper.
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  Instead people just do whatever they want to do and they would
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  place greater blame on a person that would shame them for their
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  actions. They they would view that person
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  as more at fault than even themselves for doing the shame
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  worthy actions. As a pastor, I want to encourage
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  you like shame is a good thing to have.
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  Now we want to have a godly shame that says I ain't doing
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  that again. I want to be like Jesus.
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  That's a godly shame. A bad shame just says, oh, I'm
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  terrible, I'm awful. I guess I better just, you know,
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  retreat into a corner or not go to church anymore.
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  No, like have shame that says I'm not going to be that person
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  anymore because this sin doesn't define me.
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  Jesus defines me. And so I'm going to get rid of
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  the sin and I'm going to keep on going the Jesus way.
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  So shame is good. Allow shame to lead you to
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  Jesus. Don't be like Jerusalem and
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  Judah here that like Sodom, they just sin.
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  They sin openly and it doesn't really matter what anyone else
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  says about you can think of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in
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  Genesis 19, that public group rape and homosexuality that was
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  their abuse of, of strangers, of foreigners is what was taking
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  place there. And you know, the men of the
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  city are all gathering to do this great evil against those
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  angels that had come to Lot's house.
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  And so these men did not have shame in their actions.
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  And God says, Israel, I'm going to say Israel, God's people, the
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  southern Kingdom of Judah. Judah, you have not had shame
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  about your evil. Verse #10 tell the righteous
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  that it'll go well for them, for they will eat the fruit of their
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  labor. He says not all of you in
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  Jerusalem and Judah are evil. The righteous, you're going to
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  be fine. He says, verse #11 woe to the
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  wicked. It will go badly for them, for
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  what they have done will be done to them.
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  He says youths oppress my people and women rule over them.
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  My people, your leaders mislead you.
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  They confuse the direction of your paths here.
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  He says in addition to the other evils taking place, he says
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  youths, this is young people. It's kind of funny, even not
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  funny. Ha, ha, it's funny.
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  Ironically, even recently in the Essex area, there have been
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  larger groups of teens that have gotten together and not been
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  doing great things, even sometimes attacking people.
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  And man, I, I see some of this societal failure that is taking
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  place even within our area. I want to encourage you, if
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  you're a parent, you are responsible for your child, know
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  where they are at all times. Like that's, that's not asking
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  too much to say they are accountable and responsible to
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  you. And if they're somewhere they're
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  not supposed to be if they're with someone they're not
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  supposed to be with, if you will in a godly manner kind not
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  cursing or insulting or yelling like bring the hammer down.
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  Let there be consequence for bad actions.
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  Children that are never told no are not raised to succeed in
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  life. Instead, they'll be like these
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  youths here in this verse says youths oppress my people and
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  women rule over them. That there's such a lack of
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  leadership from the men that the women are leading here and God
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  says this is not a good thing that there there is an
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  abdication of leadership by the men that the men are supposed to
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  be leaders, but instead they are doing bad things.
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  They are sinning shamefully and they are not leading as they are
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  supposed to. This isn't saying all right.
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  Well, if a, you know, if a woman is leading in prayer, if a, you
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  know, you have a female mayor or something, this is not saying,
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  oh man, it's, it's shameful for a woman to be in control.
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  No, that is not what's being said here.
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  There is a role for men of God within the work of God and the
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  people of God that I can't just say, well, you know, I've got
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  some of my great friends here at the at the church.
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  OK, well, I really don't want to deal with the, you know, prayer
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  ministry of the church. And so I'm just going to have,
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  you know, Kathy or I'm just going to have, you know, Dina
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  take care of that and they'll, they'll do with the prayer
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  stuff. And I don't really have to know
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  if I'm a person of God and if I'm going to be a man of God,
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  then I need to, if you will, head the charge.
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  I don't have to be the only one doing it.
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  Hopefully I'm not the only one doing it, but that I'm
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  encouraging other people follow me.
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  I'm going to do the thing, Do the thing with me.
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  But I'm going to be leading the charge.
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  I'm going to be the first one into the battle fray for the
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  Lord. Come with me as I'm doing it.
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  And that was not what was happening there in Israel, He
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  says, my people, your leaders mislead you.
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  They confuse the direction of your past.
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  Just because you have a leader does not mean that they will
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  always do or say what is right. That is true over and over and
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  over again. Just because Governor Moore says
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  something, if you're here in Maryland, it doesn't mean that
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  it's right. It doesn't mean that it's godly.
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  Just because one of our senators or one of our Congress people
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  says something or espouses something doesn't mean that it's
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  right or that it's in line with the word of God.
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  Just because President Trump or Vice President Vance says
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  something or has a policy does not mean that it's right or in
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  line with the word of God. And so whatever our leaders are,
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  they can mislead us. So don't just blindly follow.
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  Instead, say I'm going to go back to the Word.
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  I'm going to pray for my leaders.
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  God commands me to do that, but then I'm going to encourage them
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  to go the right path, not just the path that they've been on.
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  These last verses. Here, 13 through 15, Yahweh
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  rises to argue the case and stands to judge the people.
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  So God is both the prosecuting attorney and the judge in this
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  courtroom. Verse 14, Yahweh brings this
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  charge against the elders and leaders of His people.
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  You have devastated the vineyard.
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  The plunder from the poor is in your houses.
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  Why do you crush my people and grind the faces of the poor?
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  This is the declaration of Yahweh at an eye of heaven's
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  armies. So here in these last verses,
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  God says, here's here's my specific charge against the
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  people leading the nation right now is that you are taking
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  advantage of the poor, like you're making life hard for poor
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  people. And when you do that, it is an
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  affront to God himself. He says, these are my people.
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  And so because they are made in my image, they belong to me.
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  And you are mistreating them, he says.
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  I'm going to be both prosecuting attorney and judge against you.
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  Do you have a love and a care for the poor?
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  Even as it relates to so many things in in our world, there
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  can often be a suspicion and a hatred of the poor.
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  Some people are poor due to their own actions or works, but
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  I personally known far more people that are poor as a result
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  of life itself just being difficult.
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  And so I want to encourage you have a heart like that of God
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  that says these are people made in the image of God and so they
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  are deserving of care. They do not need to be taken
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  advantage of. They don't need to be as he
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  says. Why do you grind the faces of
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  the poor like you're just demolishing these people?
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  And so let's have a care for those that are most in need.
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  Let's lead. Let's lead the charge.
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  Let's be the ones that are praying, that are giving, that
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  are serving, that are evangelizing, that are building
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  others up, that are saying kind words and encouraging others,
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  that are warning others. Let's lead in these areas as the
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  people of God so that our nation can be those righteous that it
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  will go well with and not the wicked who will be destroyed.
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  Thanks for watching this episode and looking forward to I believe
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  concluding chapter 3 next episode.
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  God bless.