WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:01.840 Our Bible and go to the book of Isaiah. 00:00:01.840 --> 00:00:06.799 Isaiah chapter three will be in chapter two and three. 00:00:06.799 --> 00:00:11.279 If you don't have a Bible, you can find one in front of you and you can turn to page 601. 00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:29.359 In the Chronicles of Nardia, there was a boy by the name of Eustace who found a treasure trove, a dragon's treasury. 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:37.039 He was so excited that he was the one who found it, and he reveled in all the wealth and riches that were there. 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:40.640 His heart began to go greedy and sort of wanting to possess it. 00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:45.600 And as he examined what he claimed as his own, he fell asleep. 00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:51.520 And when he woke up the next day, he found he himself had turned into a dragon. 00:00:51.520 --> 00:00:56.479 It was a miserable condition for him to be in. 00:00:56.479 --> 00:01:04.400 And eventually, as the story goes on, he finds himself wanting to be rid of this new identity as a dragon. 00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:10.239 And as try as he might, he could never get the scales off of him sufficiently. 00:01:10.239 --> 00:01:13.760 Every time he pulled them off, they'd be there again. 00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:19.359 He could not rid himself of this dragon personality that he was. 00:01:19.359 --> 00:01:27.519 And eventually he went to Aslan and sought for a way to be relieved of being a dragon. 00:01:27.519 --> 00:01:42.159 And Aslan told him that what he needed to do was to lie down, and that Aslan alone could help him, and that Aslan would take the dragon scales off of him. 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:46.239 And Eustace describes this operation. 00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:55.519 He says there, he said, the first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. 00:01:55.519 --> 00:02:01.359 And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I had ever felt. 00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:12.319 This morning we're going to hear from God's word, and it's going to feel like getting dragon scales ripped off of our skin. 00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:15.840 This is not an easy passage of scripture. 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:29.360 It is filled with biting indictments, with sarcasm, and it takes us well outside the norms of our comfort level in every way possible. 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:52.080 It is a challenging, challenging message because it deals with something that is so central to us, it could be called the very root and substance, not only of the first sin against God by humanity, but of all other sins against humanity. 00:02:52.080 --> 00:02:56.080 And it is the sin of pride, the sin of pride. 00:02:56.080 --> 00:03:00.000 Benjamin Franklin wrote in his autobiography about pride. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:07.439 He said, There's no natural passion so hard to subdue as pride. 00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:14.639 Beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as I please, it's still alive. 00:03:14.639 --> 00:03:21.680 Even if I could conceive that I'd completely overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility. 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:30.960 Someone said that pride is the only disease that makes everybody else sick except for the person who has it. 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:45.759 There was one preacher who was lauded one Sunday as the most humble pastor in the world, and so his church gave him a medal, and then they fired him the next week because he wore it to church. 00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:50.159 G.K. 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:58.639 Chesterton said, he said, if I had but one sermon to preach my whole life, I would preach it about pride. 00:03:58.639 --> 00:04:02.719 That's a rather powerful statement. 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:06.159 Pride is a tough one for us. 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:14.639 Yes, there are legitimate places where we can be encouraged and satisfied and perhaps even boastful. 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:22.079 I'm looking for the day when I can be proud about my grandson's first finger painting, for instance. 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:25.360 We can be satisfied with a job well done. 00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:29.600 There are certain things that we can be legitimately proud about. 00:04:29.600 --> 00:04:36.959 But then there's that battling, consuming, self-centered pride that all of us express. 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:41.279 The Word of God teaches us something about both of those. 00:04:41.279 --> 00:04:44.240 Paul uses words like boasting. 00:04:44.240 --> 00:04:55.439 He talked to the Philippians and he said to them, he said, if you stand firm in the words of life, then I'll be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. 00:04:55.439 --> 00:05:08.079 Now it wasn't Paul's boasting of himself, but of the genuine ministry of the gospel working through him in the lives of others. 00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:13.360 He could boast in what God was doing through the message that he proclaimed. 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:19.519 Scriptures talk about pride in a lot of different ways, talks about an inordinate self-esteem. 00:05:19.519 --> 00:05:25.680 It talks about boasting, of course, talks about rebellion, it talks about arrogance and all other sorts of things. 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:30.160 And we can find those in pithy little statements like the Proverbs. 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:40.079 Proverbs 16, pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall. 00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:44.800 Proverbs 26, do you see a man wise in his own eyes? 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:47.120 There's more hope for a fool than of him. 00:05:47.120 --> 00:06:00.079 These passages tell us about the folly of pride, of the self-deception that comes, of us not being able to really understand reality with clarity. 00:06:00.079 --> 00:06:03.759 And we measure ourselves all too highly. 00:06:03.759 --> 00:06:23.839 And the giraffe did. 00:06:23.839 --> 00:06:30.319 And then he went to the zebras or zebras and he said, I am the king of the savannah. 00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:31.759 I am the king of beasts. 00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:33.279 You will bow before me. 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:35.120 And the zebra did. 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:40.160 And then he went to the elephant and he said, I am the king of the beasts. 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:42.560 You will bow before me. 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:47.519 And then the elephant grabbed the lion by the tail and threw him up into the trees. 00:06:47.519 --> 00:06:50.000 And the lion finally climbed down. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:58.800 And then the elephant grabbed him again and slammed him onto the ground and stomped on him four or five times and then tossed him into the river. 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:07.279 And broken and dripping wet, the lion came out and he said, You don't have to be so upset about being wrong. 00:07:07.279 --> 00:07:18.240 Arrogance, haughtiness, pride, lack of perception about ourselves. 00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:24.480 But the scriptures don't just tell us little pithy statements about pride. 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:27.519 They also tell us stories about pride. 00:07:27.519 --> 00:07:36.639 They flesh it out because it wants to get into the heart of us, deep down into the inside of us. 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:46.560 And for us to realize that pride really is any attempt for us to stand against God with our ideas is better than his. 00:07:46.560 --> 00:15:05.440 Yes, it was painful. 00:15:05.440 --> 00:15:09.919 But God is more concerned about our holiness than he is our happiness. 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:16.399 He is more interested in bringing us free of sin than to leave us satisfied in it. 00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:24.080 And when God speaks to us, sometimes he speaks to us with striking strong words. 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:29.840 They're not meant to simply belittle and crush us and leave us in the dust. 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:42.960 They're meant to be wholesome healing words by causing us to be aware of reality because sin has deceived us into thinking something else other than it. 00:15:42.960 --> 00:15:52.159 And he goes on from this title to begin to expose the folly of their misplaced trusts. 00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:58.240 And we looked at this last week, but in chapter two, there's this list of different things that they're doing. 00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:11.039 In verse 6 of Isaiah 2, you've abandoned your people, the house of Jacob, because they're full of divination from the East and of fortune tellers. 00:16:11.039 --> 00:16:23.279 They think that they can somehow gain the mind of God by manipulation and magic through superstition and divination. 00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:29.519 In verse 7, they think they're plenty wealthy enough to live a life of ease. 00:16:29.519 --> 00:16:33.600 Their land is full of silver and gold, no limit to their treasures. 00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:41.200 They think that security is found in impressive military arsenals. 00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:46.000 Their land is full of horses, and there's no limit to their chariots. 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:51.759 They've negotiated with the Egyptians. 00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:54.159 They've gotten their weaponry. 00:16:54.159 --> 00:16:57.600 They've worked out all the alliances that they need. 00:16:57.600 --> 00:16:59.840 They've amassed themselves with wealth. 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:09.440 They've got the mind of God through all of their manipulation and magic and superstition. 00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:12.559 What are they doing? 00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:16.240 They're building up a tower of self-importance. 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:23.119 They're building up a tower in which they feel like once we attain all of this, we're secure. 00:17:23.119 --> 00:17:24.880 We're safe. 00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:27.039 Nothing can harm us. 00:17:27.039 --> 00:17:29.920 We can take down any enemies. 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:33.119 We've got strength in our arms and legs. 00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:37.359 Life could be the best for us. 00:17:37.359 --> 00:17:46.400 But the scriptures tell us at the beginning of chapter two that God is going to lift himself up to the highest hill. 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:54.240 And that he's going to oppose human projects that seek to rival his. 00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:59.759 That he alone will be exalted in that day. 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:10.880 And there will be no room for boasting about your wealth or boasting about your power or boasting about your insider knowledge or boasting about your alliances. 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:14.880 Because those places are not eternal places of security. 00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:22.960 And he goes on at the very end to tell us what the heart of the issue really is. 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:35.680 At the very end of chapter two, he says this put no more trust in a mere human who has only the breath in his nostrils. 00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:38.079 What is he really worth? 00:18:38.079 --> 00:18:54.000 God is calling us to a security outside of the human dimension, calling us to a security outside of our wealth, outside of our power, outside of our intellect, outside of our alliances, outside of our knowledge. 00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:59.440 Because at the end of the day, there's an end to all of that. 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:08.799 It is a telling message to the people in that day, and it is a very applicable message to us today. 00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:20.400 Because we somehow construct the same rubble of the Tower of Babel over and over and over again. 00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:34.079 We put a brick of self-reliance on top of a brick of alliance, on top of a brick of knowledge, on a brick atop of strength, on a brick atop of wealth, until we think we've constructed our security. 00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:37.200 God says, don't do that. 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:39.680 Don't do that. 00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:57.680 Because the fundamental issue is that sense of self-reliance that comes from pride, that arrogant first sin of saying, God, I know better than you what's best for me and what's right and good. 00:19:57.680 --> 00:20:14.720 So Isaiah is calling us here to a reassessment of what's real and right, and to recognize that all of our strengths are no places of eternal trust. 00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:21.759 That humans, including ourselves, don't deserve that level of trust. 00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:28.000 And then in this indictment, he gets personal. 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:31.920 He uses a title for all of the people, House of Jacob. 00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:47.359 He begins to expose their areas of misplaced trust, but then he gets right into these very clear statements of two different groups of people, the leaders and the ladies, in chapter three. 00:20:47.359 --> 00:21:00.480 Chapter two, he talks about the ruin of human schemes, but now he's going to talk about the hopelessness of actually trusting human leaders in Judah. 00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:02.720 Look at the first three verses. 00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:04.480 Chapter three. 00:21:04.480 --> 00:21:27.200 Heroes and warriors, judges and prophets, fortune tellers and elders, commanders of fifties and dignitaries, counselors, cunning magicians and necromancers. 00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:32.799 The whole leadership structure, every place of security is going to be wiped away. 00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:42.480 When Israel first sought a king, Samuel warned them that they were going to get more than they were asking for. 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:47.200 That along with having a king, there was going to come some trouble to them. 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:51.279 And they said, No, we really want a king. 00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:59.920 And the Lord told Samuel to inform the people of just what they were going to get: a full disclosure in this contract. 00:21:59.920 --> 00:22:04.480 If you want to make this contract up, let's read the details. 00:22:04.480 --> 00:22:22.799 And so Samuel reads the details to them that this king that you're asking for, this king is going to take your sons and use them for his chariots, or for his horses, or for running in front of his entourage. 00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:30.000 He's going to use your sons to plow his ground and to reap his harvest. 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:36.720 He's going to take your daughters to make them perfumers and cooks and bakers. 00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:47.039 He's going to take your best fields and your vineyards and your olive orchards and he's going to give them to those that he pleases. 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:55.359 He's going to take a tenth of your grain and your vineyards and use them to make alliances with other people. 00:22:55.359 --> 00:23:17.839 Yeah, we yeah, yeah, where do I sign? 00:23:17.839 --> 00:23:19.359 Right? 00:23:19.359 --> 00:23:24.799 We want to be like all the other nations. 00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:26.720 Our king will judge us. 00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:28.799 Our king will go out before us. 00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:31.839 Our king will fight our battles. 00:23:31.839 --> 00:23:40.000 They were looking for a king because they were looking for security. 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:51.839 And establishing this system of a king, they were saying, we'd rather depend on him than you, God. 00:23:51.839 --> 00:24:05.519 Now, in the first three verses of Isaiah three, there's some legitimate offices, and there's some, well, illegitimate offices. 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:10.640 Some of these things are appointed places that God would establish. 00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:15.440 Judges and prophets, of course, heroes and warriors, those are all legitimate things. 00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:17.119 Fortune tellers, no. 00:24:17.119 --> 00:24:20.319 No, necromancers, no. 00:24:20.319 --> 00:24:22.319 Cunning magicians, no. 00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:29.680 But whether they were legitimate or illegitimate, they were still objects of people's trusts rather than God. 00:24:29.680 --> 00:24:35.519 And because of that, God was going to take it all away. 00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:53.519 Can I say that two days before we have an election? 00:24:53.519 --> 00:24:58.240 I don't care who you vote for. 00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:07.359 We should not put our trust in human leaders because they cannot solve our problems, because they don't have everlasting solutions. 00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:12.319 They will die just like we do. 00:25:12.319 --> 00:25:25.279 Here we find that people had placed ultimate trust in mortal man. 00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:31.599 And God was going to remove this life support system. 00:25:31.599 --> 00:25:36.160 He was going to remove everything that supported the social order. 00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:44.319 He was going to remove military figures, the warriors, the heroes, the commanders of the fifty. 00:25:44.319 --> 00:25:50.880 He was going to remove political figures, the judges and the elders and the dignitaries and the counselors. 00:25:50.880 --> 00:25:59.440 He was going to remove the religious leaders, the prophets, and even the false ones, the fortune-tellers and necromancers. 00:25:59.440 --> 00:26:02.079 And he was going to remove the economic powers. 00:26:02.079 --> 00:26:06.079 That cunning magician has also translated skillful craftsman. 00:26:06.079 --> 00:26:23.440 So no matter how you looked at society, whether you looked at military might or political might or religious might or economic might, God was going to bring down every structure, every single one of them, and all the natural resources, food and water. 00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:31.440 He was going to strip it all away and leave them with poverty and brutality. 00:26:31.440 --> 00:26:34.640 This situation is tragic. 00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:51.759 The people who had constructed the Tower of Babel of self-reliance and pride were going to fall headlong off of that tower and find it crashing down on their heads as they spiraled back down to the ground. 00:26:51.759 --> 00:26:55.519 And this was not just some accident. 00:26:55.519 --> 00:26:58.240 Take a look at verse one. 00:26:58.240 --> 00:27:13.920 God, where are you when our military fails? 00:27:13.920 --> 00:27:16.720 God, where are you when our politicians fail? 00:27:16.720 --> 00:27:20.240 God, where are you when our religious leaders fail? 00:27:20.240 --> 00:27:24.000 God, where are you when Wall Street falls apart? 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:26.160 I'm doing it. 00:27:26.160 --> 00:27:28.799 I'm doing it. 00:27:28.799 --> 00:27:37.200 Because you've put trust in something you should never trust. 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:51.680 The crushing indictment goes to the leaders of the people and shows them for just how foolish it really, really is. 00:27:51.680 --> 00:27:57.839 And he steps into this painful little section of ridicule here. 00:27:57.839 --> 00:28:01.119 Not just ruin, but ridicule. 00:28:01.119 --> 00:28:03.759 Take a look at this. 00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:08.400 The people will oppress one another, man against man, neighbor against neighbor. 00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:11.839 The young will act arrogantly toward the old and the worthless toward the honorable. 00:28:11.839 --> 00:28:13.119 It's horrible. 00:28:13.119 --> 00:28:21.680 But in verse 6, a man will seize his brother in his father's house and saying, You have a cloak, you be our leader. 00:28:21.680 --> 00:28:24.400 What? 00:28:24.400 --> 00:28:39.759 They've been so reduced to shame that the only thing that they can think of is to find somebody with a coat as the qualification for being the leader. 00:28:39.759 --> 00:28:57.279 But even those with this minimal, even ridiculous qualification are going to say this on that day, verse 7, he'll cry out saying, I'm not a healer. 00:28:57.279 --> 00:28:59.359 I don't even have food or clothing in my house. 00:28:59.359 --> 00:29:01.759 Don't make me the leader of the people. 00:29:01.759 --> 00:29:16.319 The people are going to resist leadership so much that those who are put into the place are the least qualified to be there. 00:29:16.319 --> 00:29:20.079 That's how shameful this is going to get. 00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:38.000 The look on their faces testifies against them, and like Sodom, they flaunt their sin. 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:40.480 They do not conceal it. 00:29:40.480 --> 00:29:44.720 Woe to them, for they have brought disaster on themselves. 00:29:44.720 --> 00:29:59.440 There's no rebuttal. 00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:08.480 Verse 13 gets into the reasons, gets into the particulars of this indictment. 00:30:08.480 --> 00:30:10.720 Verse 13 to 15. 00:30:10.720 --> 00:30:17.119 The Lord rises to argue the case and stand to judge the people. 00:30:17.119 --> 00:30:21.519 The Lord brings this charge against the elders and leaders of his people. 00:30:21.519 --> 00:30:24.319 You have devastated the vineyard. 00:30:24.319 --> 00:30:27.039 The plunder from the poor is in your houses. 00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:31.279 Why do you crush my people and grind the faces of the poor? 00:30:31.279 --> 00:30:35.759 This is the declaration of the Lord God of armies. 00:30:35.759 --> 00:30:43.200 And this idea of rising up and putting down, of rising up and putting down, is brought right here. 00:30:43.200 --> 00:30:54.960 And it's calling to these leaders who had been elevated to places of leadership so that they could reach down to the cast down and lift them up. 00:30:54.960 --> 00:31:06.400 That they were in places of leadership to guarantee order and security in society to those who couldn't take care of themselves. 00:31:06.400 --> 00:31:26.400 But instead of taking care of them by reaching down and lifting up, they stepped them down as they put themselves up, by grinding and crushing the poor underneath their feet as they stepped on top of them to elevate themselves. 00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:31.680 What was it showing us? 00:31:31.680 --> 00:31:46.960 These people were using leadership, military leadership, political leadership, religious leadership, economic leadership for their own security, to the destruction of others. 00:31:46.960 --> 00:31:53.519 They were irresponsible, selfish, mean-spirited, and proud. 00:31:53.519 --> 00:32:00.400 And the Lord was not going to stand for that. 00:32:00.400 --> 00:32:04.799 And so, verse 13 says, the Lord stood up. 00:32:04.799 --> 00:32:15.599 The Lord rises to argue the case and stands to judge the people. 00:32:15.599 --> 00:32:48.960 He stands against those people who were responsible to lead people to follow God's instructions, who were responsible to take care that everybody enjoyed the benefits of God's blessings, who were responsible to defend the powerless and poor, to set a place in society where those could be healthy and whole and happy. 00:32:48.960 --> 00:33:00.559 Which is why Paul tells us to pray for those who are in leadership that we may live peaceable lives in all godliness and sincerity. 00:33:00.559 --> 00:33:23.759 That God's call for governance is the same as it was then, to establish a place where society could be ordered and secure and safe, to where individual liberties could increase and flourish, and where true heartfelt care for others could go forward. 00:33:23.759 --> 00:33:31.039 God still has high standards for people in positions of leadership. 00:33:31.039 --> 00:33:45.519 He still calls for government to be in place, for businesses to be working, for family units to show structure, and for the church to have in place leadership. 00:33:45.519 --> 00:33:57.359 Without servant leadership, political structures, business entities fall into disaster and destruction. 00:33:57.359 --> 00:34:06.240 Without responsible political leadership, society will fall into disarray. 00:34:06.240 --> 00:34:17.920 But even more serious for us particularly, and more applicable to us particularly, is when there is abuse of authority in the church. 00:34:17.920 --> 00:34:27.519 Our Lord Jesus Christ said that he came to seek and to save, to give himself as a ransom for many. 00:34:27.519 --> 00:34:38.480 He took the basin and the towel and grabbed the dirt-taped feet of his disciples and washed them and said, This is an example. 00:34:38.480 --> 00:34:44.320 He said, The greatest of you among you shall be the servant of all. 00:34:44.320 --> 00:34:56.239 The apostle Paul, when he would write to the churches, would often say, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, a bond slave of God. 00:34:56.239 --> 00:35:03.760 I'm just an oar-rowing man chained to the service of the gospel. 00:35:03.760 --> 00:35:13.760 He calls those who are in leadership positions to be humble people, to be servants. 00:35:13.760 --> 00:35:37.119 But he calls each and every one of us to condescend of men of low estate, to not think more highly of ourselves than we ought, to let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not something to be grasped, but rather humbled himself to fulfill the needs of people who couldn't. 00:35:37.119 --> 00:35:43.920 To be like our Lord when we care for one another. 00:35:43.920 --> 00:35:53.519 And here are the people of God, the ones that He's been, He's brought into covenant relationship with Himself. 00:35:53.519 --> 00:35:57.840 And this indictment stands against them strong. 00:35:57.840 --> 00:36:03.119 It's full of ridicule and ruin. 00:36:03.119 --> 00:36:12.800 Because inside their heart resides this heart of pride and self-centeredness and self-assurance. 00:36:12.800 --> 00:36:24.639 You can see just how pervasive it is when you look at the next section, because he he centers in not on the leaders, but to the ladies. 00:36:24.639 --> 00:36:32.480 And it's an odd move away from the leadership, but there's a connection. 00:36:32.480 --> 00:36:46.480 Verse 16: the Lord also says, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, walking with heads held high and seductive eyes, prancing along, jingling their ankle bracelets. 00:36:46.480 --> 00:36:54.159 God will judge the proud, wealthy women of Jerusalem and Judah. 00:36:54.159 --> 00:37:02.480 You can feel the dripping accusations of this indictment as he condemns them for their behavior. 00:37:02.480 --> 00:37:20.559 Yes, they're self-engrossed and proud and haughty, but that pompous manner is seen even in their movement and how they hold their head and how they walk, how what they sound like when they move down the street. 00:37:20.559 --> 00:37:36.960 With their heads, as it says here, held high, and really it's more their heads turned over to the side as they coily look about to see who's noticing their well-dressed manner. 00:37:36.960 --> 00:37:48.800 To see if anybody's noticing their elegance, as they breathe out their sophistication. 00:37:48.800 --> 00:38:00.320 They look from side to side to see who might affirm that or be jealous of it, as they look down their noses as those who are not dressed quite so well as they. 00:38:00.320 --> 00:38:25.840 Ankle bracelets, headbands, crescents, pennants, bracelets, veils, headdresses, ankle jewelry, sashes, perfume bottles, amulets. 00:38:25.840 --> 00:38:28.000 I'm not even halfway done. 00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:39.119 Signet rings, nose rings, festive robes, capes, cloaks, purses, garments, linen clothes, turbans, shawls, perfumes, belts, ropes, styled hair, fine clothes, beauty. 00:38:39.119 --> 00:38:40.559 Wow. 00:38:40.559 --> 00:38:51.679 Here are these people broldly strutting away in their finest attire, displaying their proud heart. 00:38:51.679 --> 00:38:59.039 Their wealth, where did it come from? 00:38:59.039 --> 00:39:04.239 In this society, their wealth would have come from their husbands. 00:39:04.239 --> 00:39:06.880 Guess who their husbands were? 00:39:06.880 --> 00:39:10.400 The people in verses 14 and 15. 00:39:10.400 --> 00:39:14.079 You have devastated the vineyard. 00:39:14.079 --> 00:39:17.199 The plunder from the poor is in your houses. 00:39:17.199 --> 00:39:22.480 Why do you crush my people and grind the faces of the poor? 00:39:22.480 --> 00:39:38.960 The pride of these ladies, the appearance of these ladies, was the consequence of their husbands crushing down the rest of society to gain their wealth. 00:39:38.960 --> 00:39:49.440 They were living in the lap of luxury, much like perhaps the wife of a drug dealer might. 00:39:49.440 --> 00:39:52.400 There's nothing to be proud of here. 00:39:52.400 --> 00:40:01.760 And what's even worse, another name, daughters of Zion. 00:40:01.760 --> 00:40:05.519 What is Zion? 00:40:05.519 --> 00:40:09.360 That is the place where Yahweh lives. 00:40:09.360 --> 00:40:16.559 This is where God manifests himself. 00:40:16.559 --> 00:40:29.360 And the inhabitants of the place where God shows his presence ought to be populated with people who are fitting for his presence. 00:40:29.360 --> 00:40:46.000 And in his search he finds none of them. 00:40:46.000 --> 00:40:55.760 This place, Zion, was the last place these daughters should be lifting themselves up as spectacles to behold. 00:40:55.760 --> 00:41:03.360 And so verse 18 says that they will be stripped of the things that they're proud about. 00:41:03.360 --> 00:41:07.599 On that day he will strip away. 00:41:07.599 --> 00:41:11.039 And then there's the litany of all those things. 00:41:11.039 --> 00:41:14.719 All the objects of their pride are going to be gone. 00:41:14.719 --> 00:41:26.960 God will mercilessly and totally remove everything that they use to make themselves look important, including their hair. 00:41:26.960 --> 00:41:30.719 And they will be humiliated. 00:41:30.719 --> 00:41:32.719 Verse 25. 00:41:32.719 --> 00:41:52.079 So all of their dressing to impress will be exchanged for loss that the warfare that's coming is going to bring upon them. 00:41:52.079 --> 00:42:02.880 Instead of looking like stately beauty queens fresh from the beauty parlor, they're going to be humiliated women displaying ugly scabs and uncovered foreheads. 00:42:02.880 --> 00:42:18.239 Instead of wafting fragrant perfume in their passing, derived from the balsam trees, as prisoners of war, they're going to be in places where they cannot bathe and their body will begin to gain a stench. 00:42:18.239 --> 00:42:27.840 Instead of having decorative sashes and belts to wrap around their fine linens, they're going to be tied up with a rope. 00:42:27.840 --> 00:42:38.960 Instead of the white, beautiful cloth that they once wore, they're now going to be wearing sackcloth as a sign of their brokenness and their mourning. 00:42:38.960 --> 00:42:48.320 And instead of having beautiful makeup to wear, they're going to be marked with a painful brand as a prisoner of war. 00:42:48.320 --> 00:43:07.599 And in one last display of desperation, in chapter 4 and verse 1, on that day, seven women will seize one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, we'll provide our own clothing, just let us bear your name. 00:43:07.599 --> 00:43:09.920 Take away our disgrace. 00:43:09.920 --> 00:43:20.639 They'll be deprived not only of all of their possessions, but all of their dignity, all of their social status, and all of their security. 00:43:20.639 --> 00:43:32.559 So many men will die in that coming war that seven women will pursue one guy to try to convince him to be their husband. 00:43:32.559 --> 00:43:48.960 And they'll be glad to share him with six others if only they could be marked by his name and perhaps have children by him, making a mockery of family and marriage and society as it should be. 00:43:48.960 --> 00:43:55.679 What a horrible description this is. 00:43:55.679 --> 00:44:04.639 This is the indictment against pride that has pervasively infiltrated every aspect of society. 00:44:04.639 --> 00:44:08.719 And it's not pretty at all. 00:44:08.719 --> 00:44:12.079 It's ruinous. 00:44:12.079 --> 00:44:26.320 But this is the length to which God will go to eradicate pride out of the human heart in order to alarm us to what is ruinous for us. 00:44:26.320 --> 00:44:43.519 That he calls us to double-check ourselves and to see whether or not we are in a position of being right with him rather than looking good with our neighbor. 00:44:43.519 --> 00:44:47.039 And so there's an invitation. 00:44:47.039 --> 00:44:52.960 Amidst all of this are just some little words of hope. 00:44:52.960 --> 00:44:56.559 Take a look at verse five of chapter two. 00:44:56.559 --> 00:45:03.039 House of Jacob? 00:45:03.039 --> 00:45:05.039 House of Jacob. 00:45:05.039 --> 00:45:10.079 Come, let's walk in the Lord's light. 00:45:10.079 --> 00:45:31.920 The verses before that talk about God pointing to a future in which he will be exalted and people will stream to his presence gladly, worshipfully, with joy and interest and a desire to learn and to have their ways of warfare turned into peace. 00:45:31.920 --> 00:45:36.239 And he's saying, Let the future invade your present. 00:45:36.239 --> 00:45:38.960 Walk in the light. 00:45:38.960 --> 00:45:43.440 Move toward that light which is coming. 00:45:43.440 --> 00:45:52.000 Let God's future cast itself a brilliant light into your present. 00:45:52.000 --> 00:45:59.679 Seek Him rather than the things that you think you need for security. 00:45:59.679 --> 00:46:13.440 And then in chapter three and verse ten, tell the righteous that it will go well for them, for they will eat the fruit of their labor. 00:46:13.440 --> 00:46:21.280 Woe to the wicked, for it will go badly for them, for what they have done will be done to them. 00:46:21.280 --> 00:46:25.760 Is there any hope? 00:46:25.760 --> 00:46:27.599 Yes, there is. 00:46:27.599 --> 00:46:29.519 There is hope. 00:46:29.519 --> 00:46:38.960 But the hope comes by following that exhortation, that command at the end of chapter two. 00:46:38.960 --> 00:46:45.039 Put no more trust in a mere human who only has the breath of his nostrils. 00:46:45.039 --> 00:46:47.039 What is he really worth? 00:46:47.039 --> 00:46:53.199 Turn away from trusting yourself, turn away from trusting others. 00:46:53.199 --> 00:46:58.480 Don't seek your security in the things or the people or the structures of this world. 00:46:58.480 --> 00:47:09.440 Don't think you're going to find a satisfactory answer by going to a powerful military or to a strong government or to a secure business or any such thing. 00:47:09.440 --> 00:47:13.599 Find your security and source in God and God alone. 00:47:13.599 --> 00:47:20.960 We need to hear this message. 00:47:20.960 --> 00:47:26.320 Because how often do we project our security in our careers? 00:47:26.320 --> 00:47:44.159 Or how much money and value our house has gained since we bought it, or what our bank balance might be, or how persuasive and charming I really am to be able to get forward in this life. 00:47:44.159 --> 00:47:51.519 No, Isaiah is telling us to realize that all those things are just powerless. 00:47:51.519 --> 00:47:57.199 They may be gifts of God to you, but they're not places of security for you. 00:47:57.199 --> 00:48:23.519 We should be as the Apostle Paul when he examined his life and those things that he thought were things upon which he could build his security, being Jewish, being born in a particular tribe, being eager to know the law of God, being scrupulous about how he behaved himself. 00:48:23.519 --> 00:48:27.760 When he started to add those things up, he thought, I am right with God. 00:48:27.760 --> 00:48:32.239 Then he realized that none of it mattered. 00:48:32.239 --> 00:48:36.400 And he said, I count all of this as rubbish. 00:48:36.400 --> 00:48:42.800 It has no valuation before a holy God who sees me as a sinner. 00:48:42.800 --> 00:49:00.000 And he said, I am going to rid myself of everything that I've counted down my plus side of my account in order that I might be at a loss and being at a loss freely, being able to receive the gift of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:07.039 We live in the same kind of world the 8th century BC, Jerusalem did. 00:49:07.039 --> 00:49:15.679 We live in a world filled with pride of looks or pride of luxuries or pride of ideas or pride of innovations or pride of alliances. 00:49:15.679 --> 00:49:19.039 We need to preach this message to ourselves. 00:49:19.039 --> 00:49:41.679 And to realize our only hope is in the grace of God, the grace of God of a Redeemer, who was obedient for the purpose of saving the disobedient, who was faithful for the purposes of saving the faithless, and who was humble in order to save the proud. 00:49:41.679 --> 00:49:44.880 Let's pray. 00:49:44.880 --> 00:49:56.480 Father, Lord, this is a biting, biting passage of Scripture. 00:49:56.480 --> 00:50:06.000 But Lord, just as Eustace said he couldn't, he couldn't get the scales off of himself. 00:50:06.000 --> 00:50:15.039 And Lord, simply trying to address ourselves with these things, it's not going to work. 00:50:15.039 --> 00:50:24.639 We need the operation of the lion of the tribe of Judah, Jesus Himself, to do a heart surgery on us. 00:50:24.639 --> 00:50:29.199 And we thank you that your word has done that. 00:50:29.199 --> 00:50:33.920 That it showed us where we've placed a false sense of trust. 00:50:33.920 --> 00:50:41.440 It showed us where we've lifted ourselves up with a false perspective of importance. 00:50:41.440 --> 00:50:47.280 It showed us that we have relied too much upon others. 00:50:47.280 --> 00:50:54.480 Lord, we thank you that your surgery has occurred through the Spirit, bringing conviction to our hearts. 00:50:54.480 --> 00:51:06.239 We pray that that surgery would run so deep within us that it would rid us of these scales of pride and that it would make us something different than a dragon. 00:51:06.239 --> 00:51:08.880 And we pray this in Christ's name. 00:51:08.880 --> 00:51:09.840 Amen.