In the sermon titled 'What Happens When You Go to Christ for Advice and Help?' by Scott Brown, Isaiah 32:1-8 is used as the foundational text to explore the transformative benefits of seeking guidance from Jesus Christ. The sermon emphasizes the six key outcomes for those who turn to Christ: righteousness and justice, protection and abundance, transformation of the senses, discernment and wisdom, generosity and devising, and stability. The speaker contrasts these benefits with the futility and disappointment of relying on worldly sources, symbolized by 'going down to Egypt' for advice. Through vivid imagery, such as Jesus being a hiding place and rivers of water in a dry place, the sermon illustrates the profound changes and blessings that result from placing one's trust in Christ. It underscores the righteous and just nature of Jesus as a king and highlights the spiritual growth and discernment believers experience under His guidance. Ultimately, the sermon calls for a rejection of worldly counsel in favor of divine wisdom and the liberating transformation that comes with it.

Good morning. Today's sermon text is Isaiah 32, verses 1 through 8. Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule with justice. A man will be as a hiding place from the wind, and a cover from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. The eyes of those who see will not be dim, and the ears of those who hear will listen.

Also the heart of the rash will understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers will be ready to speak plainly. The foolish person will no longer be called generous, nor the miser said to be bountiful. For the foolish person will speak foolishness, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice ungodliness, to utter error against the Lord, to keep the hungry unsatisfied, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. Also the schemes of the schemer are evil. He devises wicked plans to destroy the poor with lying words.

Even when the needy speaks justice, but a generous man devises generous things, and by generosity he shall stand. Let's pray. Father, we are so grateful for this text. Oh, Father, I pray that you just open our hearts. Father, that your Holy Spirit would work within us throughout this service today.

We thank you, Lord, for the many hours of preparation that have gone into this service. And Father, we pray that we do not just mere sit and listen, but we take these words to our heart. We pray a blessing upon God as He comes and speaks to us this morning. We thank you, Lord, for your Word, for your truth. We praise you in mighty name, Lord Jesus.

Amen. I very much desire to get to this passage of Scripture. It's such a beautiful text, because it shows what happens to people who do not go down to Egypt for advice. We've been talking a lot about what happens to people who do go down to Egypt for advice, but this one here is about those who do not go down to Egypt for advice. So the prophecy now changes here in this chapter, and it speaks about how God takes care of those who trust Him, and how they cast their burdens on the Lord, and how they change.

What happens to you in your life when you cast your whole trust and You seek all of your advice from Jesus Christ. What is going to happen to you? This passage tells you all about it. It's just marvelous. It shows what a righteous king does to his subjects and what his subjects are like as a result of his rulership in their lives.

He completely refashions them. We'll see how he renames everything about them right here. He itemizes all the different things that he transforms and how he sanctifies, how he changes you. Now, there are six things that going to Christ for advice will do for you. I've outlined them here.

You see the outline. First of all, righteousness and justice. Second, protection and abundance, third, transformation of the senses, fourth, discernment and wisdom, fifth, generosity and devising, sixth, stability. Well, that's what happens to you. Well, we'll get into all the details as we work through this.

But What we learn here is that everything changes with Jesus Christ and This is what happens to you when you go down to Christ for advice It reminds me of Psalm 146 verse 5 happy is he that has the God of Jacob for his help whose hope is in the Lord his God." You know, it's that theme that is all over Scripture. Happy is that people whose God is the Lord, who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. On the other hand, there are those that we've been reading about. They're actually evildoers who've gone down to Egypt for advice. And they're the civil leaders for sure.

But the People are just like the civil leaders, and they long for the protection and the advice of Egypt as well. So let's talk a little bit about the context. I think we should recalibrate here because we're right in the middle, not in the middle, but we're in the midst of a section. I don't want us to lose a sense of where we are. Now we're in the midst of six woes that diagnose the spiritual diseases of the people of Judah, and he's telling them that they've gone the wrong way in their lives.

We began in chapter 28, which begins the first woe. We started there on July 20th. We've had eight sermons on these woes. And now we have our ninth here today. When we end the woes in chapter 33, we will have heard 12 sermons on these woes.

And for the past two chapters, Isaiah has been declaring that there's no good help or counsel in Egypt. She'll let you down. She'll rip you off. She'll throw you to bankruptcy. You'll end up hating the whole idea, all the effort and trouble you went through to go down to Egypt for advice.

You're going to end up despising it, and you're going to whack yourself on the head and say, what did I do that for? And so he's been going through all these different things that happen to those who go down to Egypt for advice. And there's this contrast. You know, the rulers who go down to Egypt for advice, advice in chapter 30, and those who go down to Egypt for help, that's in chapter 31, we finished that last week. And in chapters 32 and 33, there's a contrast to the previous two chapters of going down to Egypt for advice.

And there are those who go down to Egypt for help. They trust in man whose breath is in his nostrils. And now there's this shift. And in This next section, there's just an extolling of the power of the gospel and the transforming work of Jesus Christ in your life. Now notice something here.

Chapter 32 does not begin with woe. Well, we're right in the middle of this context. Chapter 31, if you'll look with me at 31 verse 6, it ends with an appeal to return to Christ. I just want us to think about the contours here of this great section that began in chapter 28, ends in chapter 33, the six woes. But chapter 31 ends with an appeal to return to Christ.

They had gone down to Egypt, it had now failed, and everyone sees the futility of taking their eyes off the Lord. And so in chapter 31 verse 6, the chapter concludes with this, return to him against whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted. And then he says, you know, in that day a man's going to just throw away his idols and despise all that he did. So that's, we end chapter 33 with this appeal, return to the Lord, then in chapter 30, I'm sorry, chapter 31, return to Him. And then, And then now we pick it up in verse 1 in chapter 32 where what we see is what happens when you return.

What happens when you go down to Jesus for advice? You know, it's kind of like this. You know, woe, woe to those who go down to Egypt for help. But oh, oh, what blessings there are when you go down to Jesus Christ for help. That's it, that's the whole message.

Okay, let's go to the question and answer time. Verse 1, we're beginning here, these six things that going to Christ for advice will do for you. Righteousness and justice. Verse, behold a king will reign in righteousness and justice and princes will rule with justice. Now I already identified this but notice that verse 1 doesn't begin with woe.

It begins with the word behold. It's a completely different focus here. We've been going through the woes. You know woe means look out, you know save our ship, you know don't go that way anymore. And so this started in 28.1 where there was this warning of the fading flower of pride.

Chapter 28 verse 1, woe to your pride, and we unpack the elements of pride that were identified there. And then in chapter 29 verse 1, it's woe to you, Ariel. This is a warning about just going through the motions of religion, coming to church, doing your stuff, having your family worship, but there's really nothing inside anymore, what's happened. And then the third woe is in chapter 29 verse 15 this is a warning about secret sin and hiding hiding in the dark God sees it don't don't don't think for a minute you're escaping the eye of God he it will it will come down it will be revealed and then in chapter 30 there's the fourth woe It's a warning about seeking advice from Egypt. Woe to those who go down to Egypt for advice.

And then in chapter 31, woe to those who go down to Egypt for help. Now, the last woe is in chapter 33. Now, remember, we're just in chapter 32.1, so we're not there yet. Chapter 33 is not directed to Judah. You'll notice that.

It's directed to Assyria. So the final woe, after the one we deal with here today and next week will not deal with Judah at all. And it's a warning to Assyria for her taking aggressive action when nobody's gone after her. Woe to you who plunder though you have not been plundered. But so here, chapters 31 and 32 show us the hardships and the disappointments and the chastisements when man goes to the wrong place for advice.

In all these, in this woe of going down to Egypt, you know, it just should chase us away from the idea that any kind of worldliness will deliver us from anything, give us any kind of help, excite us, enlighten us, enhance us at all. Egypt will not do anything good for you. You know, I sure pray this is sinking into our hearts. And we're here for a reason. We've been in this section for a long time.

Why is that? I mean, Dan and I didn't have some strategy to have us really consider the matter of going down to Egypt for advice. We're just taking these sections one by one, taking them short enough to where we can try to explain them at some level of detail. But let me submit this, there is a reason this church is in this section of scripture. You know, it's to relieve us of the troubles of going down to Egypt for advice.

And so instead of God saying, whoa, we'll say, oh, oh, how good, oh, how good it is to go down to Jesus for help. So we are here for a reason. Now, he says behold, And then he speaks of the king. And you have to ask, who is the king? Is it Hezekiah?

Is it Josiah? Is it Christian society after the resurrection? Is it Christ himself? We'll just short circuit this. It's Jesus Christ.

It can only be Christ. Everything here speaks of Him. Of course, there are leaders like Hezekiah who typify in many ways the faithfulness of Christ. But here we find such soaring descriptions. It can only be a prediction of the Messiah, and that he is a good shepherd.

He is the King of kings, and he is the Lord of lords. And there are two types of leaders here. There's the King and his princes. And My belief is that he's speaking of Christ and his followers, the prophets who see the word, the priests who teach the word, you know, who are his representatives. But Jesus Christ is the central figure here in this text.

And it's a kingdom of justice and righteousness. You notice these two words are paired, justice and righteousness. By the way, we don't have time to get into it, but this is a common pattern in Scripture, where justice and righteousness are together. And you see it in Isaiah 1.27, Zion shall be redeemed with justice and her penitence with righteousness. Those two things together are helpful to understand the whole matter of redemption.

But you see it in 5.27, in 5.16, in 9.6, in 7, in 11.4, in 16.5, in 26.7-9. It's all over the place in Isaiah so far. Righteousness and justice, they are together. But this is the kind of king we have. He's righteous and he's just.

You know, the world is full of illustrations of governors who do not use their positions of authority for the blessing of the people. They use them for their own gain, you know. Just this last week, when we went to South Africa, we were taken by a pastor there to Soweto in Johannesburg where the Afrikaans had oppressed, so severely oppressed the black population there, they finally rose up against it. And the corruption there was so astonishing and the poverty imposed and just the terrible treatment of people, you know, the bribing, you know, all this kind of stuff, you know, right before our eyes. You know, in Soweto you see the homes of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu just within a block of one another.

It's a picture of all kinds of conflict and problems from sin in a society. And so we were just right there in the middle of that community. But this is a picture of a good king. He's a picture of a king who rules beautifully, who treats his subjects well, who does everything with justice and with righteousness. Picture kings who do not corrupt.

You know they say power corrupts, right? And absolute power corrupts absolutely. Well that's actually not true. It's not the power that corrupts, it's the corruption that corrupts the power. God has established offices of power.

And it's not the office that corrupts, It's the corruption that arises in the heart of the one who's in power. And that's the great danger. Jesus Christ is incorruptible and He is righteous and He is just. And he is the head of the government of his kingdom. The government will rest on his shoulders, as we saw in Isaiah chapter 9.

He is such a good governor and a good king. He does all of his things with righteousness and with justice. And so this new king brings these changes as a result of his righteousness and justice. There are changes that happen in people's lives. You'll see what righteousness and justice does to a people here just as we get on further in this chapter, it totally transforms them.

I couldn't help reading this passage about the testimony of John G. Pate when he went to Ani Wah and people were being converted. And they couldn't even go to church without bringing their pigs and their chickens because if they left their pigs and chickens at home they'd be stolen. But God began to reform the society and they reached a season where finally they didn't have to bring their pigs and chickens to church anymore. They could leave them home.

They didn't have to lock them up. It's a sign of the goodness of the Messiah. He changes everything about how you see life. We just left this church in Malawi where God is changing the practices of the people. And you know what?

It's really beautiful. There are all these young people in this church and they're with all their hearts trying to follow the Lord. It's causing them to be persecuted in a number of ways. You know, even they're getting married. You know, when we were down there two years ago, there was only one couple in that church married.

It was Frank Maxson. Frank Maxson was his wife. Now there are a few married couples. When we go back there again, there'll be several more. But you know what's happening?

They're trying to get married the way the scripture speaks of it. It's beautiful. That's causing a lot of conflict and difficulty. And it's also causing change in people's lives. And we could go on and on about that.

But it's pretty amazing when a person says, no, I'm going to follow the Lord. Here's what happens. Sparks fly. Anger rises. But Often what happens over time, if you're willing to endure the trouble, and if there's love that's the oil between it all, then there's beautiful change and even greater unity that happens.

And that is actually happening in some places there. But you know, this is what a righteous king does. He rules with righteousness and justice and it's really the foundation of all of the changes and it's a foundation for all of the answers that we're looking for. His justice and His righteousness. So that's the first thing that we see here in this passage, the justice and the righteousness of this King.

He's such a good King. You know, you should go to that King. Why? Because woe to you who go down to Egypt for help. But oh, oh how nice it is, how good, how life-giving it is when you go to Jesus Christ, the King of righteousness, the only one who has perfect justice.

The second thing that happens is that there's protection and abundance. That's verses 2 through 4. A man will be as a hiding place from the wind and a cover from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." Oh, now you know why I could not wait to get to this passage. It's just so full of beautiful language that explains the goodness of God and the glory of this kingdom and how compelling He is. Now Christ here is four things.

I'll tell you what they are first and then we'll take them one by one. First of all, he's a man. Second, he's a hiding place. Third, he's the water in a dry place. Fourth, he's the shadow of a great rock.

How about that? Behold your God. This passage started with behold. Remember, not woe, but behold. Oh, it started with oh, not woe.

Now, He is a man. His protection and His abundance and the explanation of it begins with these two words, that He is a man. Only the man, Jesus Christ, can save the people of God. Only the man, Jesus Christ, can satisfy the soul. He is a man, he's not Hezekiah, he's not God the Father, he's the representative of God the Father, he is a man.

He's the God who became man. And, you know, the manhood of Jesus Christ, you know, this mix of divinity and manhood is critical for salvation. Salvation could not be complete unless Jesus Christ were both God and man. Here we see that he is a man. Only a perfect man can expiate.

Only a perfect sacrifice can be the satisfaction of the wrath of God for sin. So he is both God, he's holy, but he's a man. And when we have that declared here, apart from the incarnation of the Son of God, our infirmities could never have been healed. All our souls need are perfectly met in man who is also God, the Lord Jesus Christ. His two natures of divinity, holy God and man of flesh, made it so that he could be the man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.

A real man who suffered on the cross. A real man who was punished for our sins. You know, he was punished for our sins, and he did suffer on the cross. A man did suffer on the cross. But let's be really clear.

It wasn't the nails that made him suffer that much. It wasn't the crown of thorns. There wasn't that much pain in the nails. OK, do we understand that? There wasn't that much pain in the crown of thorns.

This is not his suffering. His suffering was because all of the iniquities and the filth and the bile and the immorality and the theft And the covetousness was laid upon him. That's why he suffered. It wasn't the nails. His body would go into shock.

But let's be very clear. It wasn't a few drops of blood from a nail that made him suffer. Now that would be hard for any of us. But Jesus Christ bore the sins of the world. He was a man.

He is the man bearing the sins of the world. Francis Turreton said this, the dignity of an infinite person swallows up and absorbs all the infirmities of punishment due to us. He, a man, and he, God, swallowing up all of our infirmities. This is the man, Jesus Christ. He drank the cup of wrath.

He was cursed for every for everyone who ever committed adultery in his heart or hated his brother or stole or slandered or bore false witness or fornicated or coveted his neighbor's wife. God through his son swallowed up all the wrath and that's why he's called a man. Behold a man. And then he's a hiding place. You see this in verse 2 as well.

A hiding place from the wind and a cover from the tempest. He's a hiding place. He deals with our vulnerability. He does something about our exposure. And he mentions these two things that are harsh, wind and a tempest.

And, you know, can a man stop the wind or the tempest? No. Do you save yourself from the wind or the tempest by going down to Egypt for advice? Absolutely not. Don't go down to Egypt to deal with your wind and your tempest, to try to get it fixed.

No. Go down to Jesus Christ. He is a hiding place, quote unquote, and a cover. So he is a refuge. You know, does this mean that he will shelter you from every kind of trouble?

No. It doesn't mean that you'll have a trouble-free life. That can't be the meaning. Because there are troubles. The Bible assumes that we will have troubles.

In this world you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. So he can't mean that if you become a Christian, you're going to have an easy life. That's not what he means at all. There are trials and there are tribulations.

We have places in the Bible where the winds blew against the house like in Matthew 7, and the rain will come. That's true. You'll find your life exposed and you may have less than you than you than you want or less than you thought you had and you're exposed and To the howling winds and the howling will in the howling wilderness, but that's not what he's talking about. I don't think I Think he's speaking about the refuge from the wrath of God. He's a hiding place from the wrath of God.

That God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we shall not fear, though the earth should change and the mountains slip into the heart of the sea. You know, what is exactly the protection here? The protection from the wrath of God. It's Jesus Christ.

He is the cover from the tempest. You know, His blood shed on the cross is the shelter. It's the cover in the tempest. You know, Adam and Eve were covered in skins that God made for them. Abraham was covered in the refuge of faith.

In the Passover, the sins were were passed over as a result of the blood on the doorposts. And here, I think we learn that we are covered by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. It's the shed blood of Christ that is your shelter and your cover. You know, is there a reason that God would cast your soul into hell? The only reason he would cast your soul into hell is if you have not turned to Jesus Christ for your covering.

You know, what is the greatest evil that could ever come upon us? The wrath of God. That's the greatest evil that could ever come upon us. It's not some temporal reversal. It's not some problem in your family.

That's not your greatest problem. Often we take what are very temporal and minor problems and we make them as if they're the biggest problem in the world. When in fact, our biggest problem is the wrath of God. And here, the Lord Jesus Christ is the shelter, He's the hiding place from the storm. Paul said, If then you've been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Set your mind on things above, not on the things on the earth, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Jesus Christ hides from the howling wind of the wrath of God. So not only is He a hiding place, He's the water in a dry place. As rivers of water in a dry place. Here the Lord Jesus Christ does something about your dryness.

Psalm 1 speaks of this whole matter that those who turn to Christ will be like a tree planted by rivers of water that brings forth fruit in its season, whose leaf shall not wither, and whatever he does he shall prosper." This is what happens when you don't go down to Egypt for advice. This is what happens when you go down to Jesus for advice, you don't have the woe, woe of the wrath of God. You have the blessings of heaven. Psalm 36 speaks about this, about drinking of the river of delights. He says, for with you is the fountain of life.

In your light we see light. You give them drink from the river of your pleasures. Isaiah spoke of this dryness as the desolate heights. In Isaiah 41, 18 He says, I will open rivers in desolate heights and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water.

In Isaiah 43, 19, he speaks of your life really as a desert without these rivers of water. He says, behold, I'll do a new thing and it shall spring forth. Shall you not know it? I will make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. You think your life is a wilderness?

Isaiah 43.20 says, I will give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert to give drink to My people, My chosen. God here sets Himself up as the refreshment, as the source of all abundance. You go down to Egypt for advice, what do you get? Gravel. You go down to Jesus for advice, you get water.

You get living water. Isaiah 55 says, Ho, everyone who thirsts, Let him come to me and drink. You who have no money, come buy and drink." The singers and the musicians say, All my springs are in you. There's so much imagery about this matter of the rivers of water. Isaiah 33, 21, we'll get to that soon.

There the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams. Ezekiel 47, 9, wherever the rivers shall come shall live. Christ is the river. He is the river who makes glad the city of God. His water is always fresh.

It's always running. It's always cool. His water is always ready to make glad the city of God. This is the water of life. That's who Christ is.

He is this great protection and abundance. In the Gospel of John we read, if any man believes in him, let him come to me and drink, and out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. You get the water and then you dispense the water. It's such a beautiful picture that's here in Isaiah. Here it's water and it's a weary land, you know.

There's this whole matter of weariness. We get to this that he's a shadow, he is the shadow of a great rock. He does something about your weariness. As a shadow of a great rock in a weary land. You know, this whole idea of a shadow in a weary land, you know, there's movement in the language here.

You're working your way from one location to another. The prophet knows that you're weary. There's no rest. But God has compassion. You're in a weary land.

But God comes and He and He blesses you. In Isaiah 57, 51, it says, The wicked are like the troubled sea, they cannot rest. But you know, the Christian can get weary from time to time, but the Lord won't leave him there. The Lord knows, if you're weary today, the Lord knows you're weary. He won't leave you there.

He says, enter your rest, oh my soul. He says, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. In Psalm 61 verse 2, he says, When I'm overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Well, there is a rest for the people of God. And here there's this whole matter of the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

You know, life does get weary from time to time, doesn't it? You know, Young mothers are often weary. They have so much on them. There's so much action. It's like they can never sleep.

They have to have eyes on the back of their head. But there's rest. There's rest in a weary land. Trust God, wait. You know, there's rest from the guilt of sin, there's rest from fear, there's rest from labors, hopefully.

There's rest from a condemning conscience. This is what Jesus Christ gives in a weary land. Land. The Lord Jesus Christ is the rest here. And then you see the changes that He makes.

The Lord Jesus Christ is not only your substitute, He's not only your hiding place, He's not only your water in a dry place. He's not only your shadow of a great rock in a weary land. He does something about your weariness. And then in verses 3 and 4 you see the transformations of the senses. He makes changes.

And Isaiah is outlining what Christ does for his people. He's speaking of what he does for his people. He transforms you. He changes the eyes and the ears and the hearts and the tongues. You see that in verses 3 and 4?

He begins with the eyes. He says in verse 3, the eyes of those who see will not be dim. Not fuzzy, not unclear. The eyes of those who see will not be dim. Not fuzzy, not unclear.

The eyes of those who see will not be dim. You know, you see what you never saw before. This is what Jesus Christ does. This is what happens when Christ is your advice and your help. And instead of what happens in your natural body where you lose your eyesight over time, that's not what happens with Christ.

It actually improves. The Bible's not a closed book any longer. You encounter the Word of God, and you say, that really makes sense. That's beautiful. You have sight.

You have sight. The eyes of those who see will not be dimmed. This is why Jesus Christ is always opening blind eyes. And then there's hearing for those who listen, verse 3. And the ears of those who hear will listen.

This has to do with attentiveness and obedience. This has to do with looking to Him for your help, to hear His voice. And then you have hearts that understand in verse 4. Also, the heart of the rash will understand knowledge. The rash of those who are hasty.

They judge by appearances and they're jerked around all the time. They're hasty and speedy and impetuous And they've got to do what they've got to do. But there'll be a change. This erratic kind of life will return to some kind of stability. People will have discernment.

The reckless, rash heart will stabilize, and he'll walk according to the knowledge of God. He won't be jerked around so much. That's what happens. And then the tongues speak and the tongue of the stammerers will be ready to speak plainly. What does it mean to stammer?

It means to speak inarticulately. It comes from a root word, to stutter. So tongues speak. Remarkable things happen. There's just radical transformation of the senses and they speak plainly and they learn and they talk and they actually have something to say.

Something to say. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ is so good. He transforms the senses. He transforms the way you see everything. He transforms the way you hear everything.

He transforms the way your heart processes everything. And it's a, Of course, it's a progressive thing that happens, doesn't it? He comes and He transforms your life, He redeems you, and then He deals with your eyes and your hearing and your heart and even your tongue. He changes the way that you even talk. And this is the kind of sanctification that the Lord Jesus Christ brings to His people.

He's such a kind Father. He's such a good shepherd. And this is what happens when you go to Christ for advice and help. You know, we've heard it so many times, woe to those who go down to Egypt for help. Well, it's not so with Christ.

Oh, oh how good it is to those who go down to Jesus Christ for help. You know, this is a declaration of the advantages and the blessings of the New Covenant. In the New Covenant, there's access and help like never before. We have privileges and opportunities that other saints never had. And this is part of the goodness of Jesus Christ.

He, in His whine, gets better as the time goes on. He continues to bless His people. It's like that in the history of salvation, where God continues to reveal more to his people, but it's also true the older you get It's also true that the more you advance in Christ the greater blessings you see that are there He just continues opening more and more doors. He's such a good shepherd. And this is what happens.

He just completely transforms your senses. Under the New Covenant, there's a power that the New Testament, that the Old Testament saint never had. The Holy Spirit's poured out on the Day of Pentecost and everything changes. There's more power. There's more help from heaven and people being washed with the water of the Word and being filled with the Holy Spirit and blessed with every spiritual blessing.

That's what's being spoken of here. There's this whole transformation of the senses. Your eyes, your hearing, your hearts and your tongues, everything changes. You know, when you read Isaiah, you often wonder about the many condemnations. And here's perhaps a way to consider the book of Isaiah.

The condemnations are really for those who do not trust Christ, but there's always a remnant. There's always a remnant in mind in Isaiah. And, you know, you cannot blame the sheep for what the goats do in the church. And often the goats do so much in the church because they they seem to be members of the church. But the true sheep have their hearts toward the Lord.

The true sheep have their eyes and their ears and their hearts and their tongues toward the Lord. And that's the picture that we see here. There's this whole transformation of the senses that takes place through Jesus Christ. And it is true that that you know Christians will will stray, they will forget, but the truth is they still are moving on. They're still going forward.

And these things just testify to the supernatural work of God in the believer's hearts. And then also in verses 5 through 8 you see this discernment in wisdom. Verse 5, The foolish person will no longer be called generous, nor the miser said to be bountiful. For the foolish person will speak foolishness, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice ungodliness, to utter error against the Lord, to keep the hungry unsatisfied, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. Also, the schemes of the schemer are evil.

He devises wicked plans to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaks justice." So here, you know, one of the things that's going on when people go to Christ for advice is that they have wisdom. And the foolish person will no longer be called generous. There's a change that happens in your life when you trust the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the whole idea here. These are the marks of the healing that goes on in the people of God.

There's this, there's this, there's a shift of perception. You know, wisdom enters into the heart of the people of God, and they're not, they're not deceived as they once were. Their gullibility drops. And so, so men are not deceived by the schemes of men that's what verse 5 means the fit the foolish person will no longer Be called generous nor the miser Said to be bountiful in other words you'll no longer label things the way you used to You'll be able to see through the sham. You'll have insight.

Men will be seen for who they are. The foolish person will no longer be called generous. You have the Word of God and the Spirit of God, you see more clearly what's going on around you. You're not so foolish to be captured by the outward performances of the world. You see something deeper that's there.

And the foolish will no longer be called generous. In other words, we'll quit saying certain things. We'll quit saying that the foolish are generous. In other words, our value system will change. Our perception will be improved So we won't mislabel things.

We won't look at things and stupidly say that they're good. That happens to us all the time. And without the witness of the Holy Spirit and the help of the Word of God, we're always mislabeling things. But the Christian has a help here. And we won't do that anymore.

The miser, the miser or the one who withholds blessing will be exposed. Men who seem generous, you'll see the reality of it. They may seem generous, but they're really only out there for their self-promotion. The schemes of the schemer will be seen as evil. You'll be able to see better.

This is the blessing of the New Covenant, That God gives you an insight into the world. This is what happens when you go to Christ for advice and help. You see things the way that they really are. God gives wisdom to his people. What happens to the Christian is that the Word gives him an objectivity about everything in his own life.

In other words, he can see himself for who he really is, but it goes beyond that. He can also see the world for what it really is as well. He really has no hope without God and His Word. But this is a picture of discernment and wisdom. There are two types of men here.

There are the foolish men and then there are kind of the scoundrels that are mentioned here. And people will be able to identify foolishness, and also they'll be able to identify the scoundrel. They won't be as faked out. Now The foolish person is someone who's rejected the counsel of God, and they're full of themselves. They trust in themselves.

They like their own ways better than God. And here, the foolish person here is really exposed. The word that Isaiah uses here is the word Nabal. It's the same word for Nabal in 1 Samuel 25. Remember Nabal?

Remember that personality there? David is on the run. Samuel has died. Israel is in mourning. David is running.

And he's not taking Saul's life. He won't put his hand against God's anointed, but Nabal is a rich man from Carmel. He's respected, but he's harsh and he's evil, and Abigail is married to this man. He's a fool even though he's harsh and undiscerning. So David sends his men to Nabal to get some food and Nabal is resistant and David comes back to punish him.

And the young man testifies like this in the story, he is such a worthless man for no one can speak to him. He was such a fool and Nabal is his name. And that's the idea that's here, that same terminology, the foolish person. And then he speaks of what this discernment looks like. There are seven types of discernment.

First, he discerns those who are not generous. They are no longer called generous. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ gives discernment. He shows us what is true and what is not true. And the picture here is of a person being clothed with a level of discernment that they never had before.

This is what Jesus Christ gives you. And, you know, you won't be called generous. You think of the people who are exalted in our whole culture. The entertainers, we give them a place of authority. The professors in our educational system, the sports heroes are honored in our culture.

The prosperity gospel preachers. Well, here, The people of God will be able to see right through them. They'll have discernment and wisdom. That's what verses 5 through 8 are really saying. That God gives His people a discernment.

This is what happens when you go to Christ for advice and for help. It's completely different compared to what we've been reading about up to now, and these judgments really against the wicked. He discerns those who speak foolishness in verse 6. Thirdly, He discerns those who practice ungodliness. And then fourth, He discerns those who accuse the Lord of error in Verse 6.

Fifth, He discerns those who treat the hungry poorly. And sixth, He discerns who will not give a cup of water to drink. Verse 6. And seventh, He discerns those who have schemes. Eighth, he discerns those who devise wicked plans.

And ninth, he discerns those who destroy the needy. There's discernment and wisdom that happen to a person who comes to Christ for all of his help. And it's such a marked contrast to everything we've been reading about people who actually go down to Egypt for help. And there's really no help in Egypt at all. And then there are things that going to Christ for advice will help you do.

Generosity, verse 8. But a generous man devises generous things. But a generous man devises generous things. And this has to do with God's transforming a man. How he devises things that are a blessing.

You know, when a man turns away from Egypt for advice, he becomes a different kind of leader. And he becomes a noble and a generous kind of leader. The word generous here means, you know, to go out to God. It has to do with a free-flowing devising of things that really need to be done. And this is the whole transformation that takes place.

The generous man thinks of how he can add value to whoever he's involved with. This is the opposite of the person who's just feeding himself. It's a person who's scheming for what is good, for what he can do for his family. He's always devising how he can be a blessing. He's always planning how he can add value to whatever he's doing.

This is the whole picture here. You have this beautiful picture of what happens when you go to Jesus Christ for advice and for help. It changes absolutely everything. There's so many ways to apply what we have here. You have fathers who design for their families.

You have elders who design wonderful things for her people that are consistent for the Word of God. This is what God does. When our interns come, we design opportunity for them. We give them a context. We provide them a place to live and offices and technology and a reading list and a schedule and a workout regimen and you know how to write and how to read every day and going to homes and all these things And there are ways of devising.

This is the way that God has for His kingdom to operate. That God would have us like this. The generosity and the devising of God, how He's constantly at work for us. The generous man devises generous things, and by generosity he shall stand. This is the blessing of the Kingdom of Heaven.

God is so kind to provide for us in this way. You know, there are so many things that come from going to Christ for advice. We've been reading about going down to Egypt for advice. Now, we read about what it looks like to go down to Jesus Christ for advice. When you go down to Jesus Christ for help, wisdom and knowledge will be your stability.

Because it won't be your own stability, it won't be your own knowledge. It'll be because you've been drawing from the wells of salvation. This is why Jesus Christ is called a rock and a stronghold and a fortress. You know people we speak we look for stability in ourselves but we never really find it there. It comes from God.

It comes when you hear the voice of God speaking outside of you. And that is what happens to you when you go to Christ for help. Someone is speaking outside of you, to you. And it's really our only hope. And it's the hope of the Word of God.

It's why we need the Word of God so much that there will be something speaking into our confused brains. And this is what God does for His people. That's why He says, be still and know that I am God. When people go to the Lord Jesus Christ for advice, They end up saying what Paul said, My grace is sufficient for you. And remember what David said in Psalm 32, or what God said to David, I will instruct you and teach you in the way in which you should go.

I will guide you with my eye. Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you. Many sorrows shall be of the wicked, but he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him. Be glad in the Lord, rejoice, you righteous ones, shout for joy." This is the stability that Jesus Christ gives. Let's go back to the beginning, okay?

Let's go back to chapter 32 verse 1. Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule with justice. Now this is what happens to you when you don't go down to Egypt. You get a king who reigns in righteousness. It's such a beautiful thing.

And then a man will be as a hiding place from the wind. That's Jesus Christ. He is your hiding place from the wind, from the storm. And a cover from the tempest as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. Jesus Christ is that.

He is a man. He is a man who's a hiding place. You think about all your failures and your sins and all the problems that you're anticipating in the future. Here is refuge in Jesus Christ. He really is a cover for the tempest.

He really is a river of water and a dry place. You know, anybody who runs into a time of confusion and difficulty, who's a Christian, can know there's water there. There's a hiding place there. Jesus Christ is that hiding place. He is such a good hiding place.

You ever, you know when you were a kid and you'd run around and You'd play hide and go seek and there were some good hiding places and there were bad hiding places. You know, when you're young, when you're really young, you choose really bad hiding places. You know, you think nobody sees you, but your foot's right there, you know. The older you get, the better you are at hiding. But Jesus Christ is the hiding place.

He's such a good hiding place. And He never fails. And then the eyes of verse 3, the eyes of those who see will not be dim, and the ears of those who hear will listen. This is just this whole opening of the eyes and understanding. You'll be able to understand things that you never understood before when you go down to Jesus for advice and not to Egypt.

And then in Verse 4, the heart of the rash will understand knowledge and the tongue of the stammerers will be ready to speak plainly. The heart of the rash, this is the person that's just being jerked around here and there, this rash of life, of going from one well to another to try to get help and advice. But it's really found right before you, right in front of your eyes. It's found in Jesus Christ. You know, when you go down to Egypt for advice, you're just running to and fro fretfully.

But when you go down to Jesus Christ for advice, it's not like that at all. He's such a wonderful counselor. And then verse 5, The foolish person will no longer be called generous. In other words, you have discernment. You have insight into the way life is working in the world.

You can look at politicians and you can see right through them. Because you have the Word of God to help you understand. You actually can look at your children and understand what's going on in them. And even better, God even allows you to see your own sins, your own weaknesses because of His Word. When you go down to Jesus for advice, You've gone to the right place.

He can help you figure it out. He is sufficient for it. And you're no longer living that rash, jerky lifestyle of going here and there to this pool of water, to go read this book to fix all your problems, or go get advice from ten people and spend ten hours and not have anything better than when you started because you didn't go down to Jesus for advice and then the foolish will no longer be called generous nor the miser be said to be bountiful." You'll be able to look into the whole philanthropic world and understand what true generosity is. You'll be able to see what really is good that one ought to do. And then verse 6, the foolish person will speak foolishness and his heart will work iniquity to practice ungodliness, to utter error against the Lord, to keep the hungry unsatisfied, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.

Also the schemes of the schemer are evil. He devises wicked plans to destroy the poor with lying words even when the needy speaks justice. It just gives you discernment about things. You know there's one area of life today that is so lacking in discernment. And that really is the whole area of philanthropy.

And you know, there are actually some new books being written about this whole subject, about how we often do more hurt with our kind of American philanthropy when God actually has a better way. And then the generous man devises generous things and by generosity he shall stand. This is a beautiful picture of a person who is bent on adding value wherever he is. As a father, he sees himself as pulling up every good thing for his family, designing and devising wonderful things. This is what happens when you go down to Jesus for advice.

It makes you a different kind of father. It makes you someone who's devising wonderful things for your family. It does that if you're an elder as well. If an elder is going down to Jesus for advice, he's going to come up with good plans for the church. But guess where they'll come from?

They'll come from here. You can know whether they're good plans or not because they came from here or they didn't come from here. And you have this whole beautiful picture here of a person who's gone down to Jesus Christ for advice and out of the liberality of his life he's devising generous things. He's bringing blessing everywhere he turns. This is the picture of going down to Jesus for advice.

We've had such a long season of the disclosure of going down to Egypt for advice, to go down to Egypt for help, and how unprofitable it is, how frustrating it is. You know, you spend all this money and you spend all this time and what do you get for it? You don't get hardly anything of value. But when you go down to the Good Shepherd, you'll get what you need. And I think, you know, why are we in this passage today?

I think, really, we're here to see the generosity of Jesus Christ. I think we're here to see how important it is to go down to Jesus Christ for all of our advice and not to man. How bankrupt it is for us to go to man when God has given us such a rich treasure trove. You know, we live in a world of so much pragmatism. It's unbelievable.

Pragmatism might be one of the greatest stumbling blocks in the Church today. That we want to use every kind of scheme we possibly can, but we don't connect it with God and the word of His grace. Here's perhaps why we're here this morning, is that God would maybe use this time to turn our eyes toward Him, to turn our eyes toward the Lord Jesus Christ, to turn our eyes toward this King who rules in justice and in righteousness, this King who has rivers of water, who has a shadow of a great rock and a weary land. I mean, is anybody weary here? Is anybody struggling at all?

Jesus Christ has presented Himself to us. You know how easy it is to become weary. But where do you go? What do you do? You go to the rock.

You go to Jesus Christ. You go to the King who will reign in righteousness, and you will be one of his princes who will rule with justice. I pray God would at least from this sermon give us that. Would you pray with me? Lord, Lord, I thank you for your words, your words, which are so good.

I pray you give us such affection for them. And I pray, oh Lord, that You would pour Your Spirit out upon this congregation, that You would give us all together such a heart within us to love all of Your counsels, to turn away from Egypt for advice, to turn toward You, O Lord, day after day, moment after moment, looking toward Heaven, seeking wisdom that has come down from You, the Father of lights. Oh Lord, that You would bathe this congregation in wisdom from Heaven, in blessings from heaven. Oh Father, I pray that you would banish within us all thoughts of worldliness. We think we have our help there and it only harms everyone around us.

Oh Lord, that you would wean us, that you would take us away from these councils. I pray that you would deliver any person here from any councils of man. Oh Lord, that you would fill us up with the knowledge of your will and all spiritual wisdom and insight. Oh Lord, that we would be drinking of that water, that we would be eating of that food from heaven. Lord, make us a church like that, that we wouldn't be confused in the midst of a collapsing society, a troubled culture like Isaiah was in, and how He comes and casts this beautiful vision of people who trust in their King.

Oh Lord, help us to trust in You. Help us not to trust in ourselves, oh Lord. Oh, that You would come upon us and wean us from this world and that you would turn our feet around every time we start down to Egypt for help and advice. Lord, fill this congregation with your advice, with your wisdom, that you would give us such hunger for it that we would not turn back from it. Oh Lord that we would saturate all of our thoughts with thoughts of heaven and our duties here in the world.

Oh God that you would come and bless this congregation. Lord, don't let us go off into Egypt. Lord, if there are any here who had a frustration or out of a sense of failure have turned back to Egypt, Lord, turn their feet back today. Oh, Lord, that You would give us such a childlike faith in all of Your promises and all of Your ways. Oh Lord, filling us up with the generosity, the liberality to devise, to provide all things out of your treasure chest of wisdom.

Oh Lord, wean us from Egypt. Wean us from her advice. Show us, oh Lord, the everlasting ways that we would have the liberality and generosity to be a channel of everything from Your Kingdom. Oh God, there are so many ways that we have fallen short, that we've sought the advice of Egypt. Help us Lord, help us to see it.

Find ourselves with such a good King, such a kind Shepherd, such a faithful Lord and Savior. Oh, Lord, I pray all these things. Amen.