In Scott Brown's sermon titled 'The Fading Flower of the Drunkards,' he explores the message of Isaiah 28:1-13, focusing on the themes of pride and spiritual drunkenness as depicted in the Northern Kingdom of Israel (Ephraim) and its warning to Judah. Brown emphasizes that pride leads to spiritual inebriation, resulting in blurred vision and poor judgment, much like the effects of physical drunkenness. This pride and intoxication manifest in the people's lives as they stray from God's Word, leading to societal collapse and impending judgment. The sermon further highlights the consequences of ignoring God's Word, equating it to hearing only 'blah blah blah' and missing out on the rest and refreshment that come from truly understanding and applying it. Brown urges listeners to recognize the danger of spiritual pride and to repent, finding stability and refreshment in the sure foundation of Jesus Christ. He also draws parallels between historical judgments and the contemporary moral and spiritual state, encouraging a reliance on God's Word as the true source of wisdom and strength.

Isaiah chapter 28 from verse 1 to 13. Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious Beauty is a fading flower, which is at the head of the burdened valleys. To those who are overcome with wine, behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one, like a tempest of hell, and a destroying storm, like a flood of mighty waters overflowing, who will bring them down to the earth with his hand. The crown of pride, the drunk words of Ephraim, will be trampled under food, and the glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is at the head of the burdened valley, like the first fruit before the summer, which an observer sees he eats it up while it is still in his hand. In that day the Lord of hosts will be for a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of his people, for a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and for a strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

But they also have erred through wine, and through intoxicating drink, are out of their way. The priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink. They are swallowed up by wine. They are out of their way. Through intoxicating drink, they earn vision.

They stumble in judgment, for all tables are full of vomit and filth. No place is clean. Whom will he teach knowledge and whom will he make to understand the message? Those just winning from milk, those just drawn from the breast. For precept must be upon precept precept upon precept line upon line line upon line Here a little there a little for with his tummer lips and another tongue he will speak to these people, to whom he say, This is a rest with which you may cause the weary to rest, And this is a refreshing, yet they will not hear.

But the word of the Lord was to them, Percept upon percept, percept upon percept, Line upon line, line upon line, Heed a little, dare a little, that they might go and fall backward and be broken and snare and cough. Pray. Thank you for your word, Lord. Oh God, I pray that you open our ears, Lord, to hear your word. Holy Spirit, I pray that you use your word once again and use Mr.

Brown to speak the truth to us. Amen. In Isaiah 28, the prophet appeals to us to look to the drunkards, to think about the drunkards, to think about the intoxication, to think about the stumbling, to think about the blurred vision, to think about the fill. He uses this imagery of drunkenness, I think, both literally and figuratively, but he really is appealing in these first 13 verses, primarily about this whole matter of being intoxicated. What does spiritual drunkenness look like?

And he's pointing to an example. The prophet is speaking to Judah about the northern kingdom of Israel. So that's the direction of the language. He's talking to Judah about what's happening in Israel And then he turns around and says, you're just like Israel. That's really the whole structure of this chapter here.

So it's a warning for Judah to look to Ephraim. And of course, Isaiah is a prophet in his own nation of Judah. And his own nation has fallen apart. It's a society under judgment and under collapse. He's feeling the weight of it.

He's seeing sort of the spiritual inebriation and drunkenness in his own land. And he sees that there's a dramatic judgment coming upon his nation. And I think as we've been going through Isaiah, we've thought many of the same thoughts. You know, How ought we to be like Isaiah in our own nation, a nation that's under collapse, a nation that's under judgment? How should we say the same things that Isaiah said to his nation to help prepare them for the calamity to come, first by repenting and then also by crying out in that nation and proclaiming that the judgment of God is at hand.

So Isaiah is among his own people and he's seeing this collapse. And what does he see? He sees the people that are drunk. And this imagery of drunkenness just runs through the whole thing. And he's speaking of this thing that causes drunkenness, this primary thing that causes drunkenness.

It's the P word, pride. It's pride. And that's why he opens this up, woe to the crown of pride to the drunkards of Ephraim. Pride and this kind of drunkenness that he speaks about are really connected. And what God is doing through Isaiah is to use him to rescue a people who have been become inebriated, whose pride is destroying them.

You know, you can trace so many of your problems right back to pride. And the prophet nails it right there in the first verse and really casts a vision for what is happening. And pride is the reason for the drunkenness. You know, you've heard of the term alcoholic. How about a prideaholic?

That's what he's really talking about. And prideaholics have so many problems. And how many of your maladies can trace to your prideaholism? The discouragement that you experience almost always is simply traceable to wounded pride. Wrong purchases often come from pride.

Unwise speaking, marriage problems, children that do not honor their father and mother, wars, church splits, all kinds of things. They just go right back to pride. It makes people drunk. It makes people think wrongly about everything. You know, I'm pretty sure that most of the people in this room have not had a DUI lately.

But you've probably had an LUI, a living under the influence of pride lately. And that's what he's talking about here. But God is kind to those who overcome with wine. They can be sobered up. They can be sobered up by standing on the rock, by having a precious cornerstone, by listening to the Word of God.

That's how you get sobered up. That's how you get delivered from your staggering, blurred vision, stupid statements, and ridiculous life that you end up living because of P-R-I-D-E. This thing is all about pride. So this is a new section in Isaiah. In each chapter from chapters 27 to 28 to 23 begin with the word woe.

There are six woes that are proclaimed in this next section. And this is why some commentators have called this section the Book of Woes. Others have called it the Book of Judah, because the focus is Judah itself. And so these prophecies in chapters 28 through 35, they also picture a different reign of a Judean king. In the chapters up to 27, primarily it's the reign of Ahaz that has been pictured.

Remember right at the beginning, the prophet Isaiah meets with Ahaz at the highway to the Fuller's Field at the end of the aqueduct. And he has this meeting with him. And he says, trust God. And he can't do it. He trusts in Assyria.

He placed his whole trust in Assyria and Assyria doesn't rescue him as was agreed but now there's a there's a new political power and that is of the reign of Hezekiah. And Hezekiah is a different kind of man. Hezekiah is a man of God. He does love God. He does have one great weakness, fear.

And he fears, he fears Assyria, and so he trusts in Egypt and he makes an alliance with Egypt. Which is why when you get to the following chapters, you'll find words like, woe to those who go down to Egypt for advice. Don't go to Egypt for advice. Trust God. So we have Hezekiah, who really is a godly man, and yet he has this Achilles heel in his soul.

The central message in these upcoming chapters is characterized by the word woe. And so, woe, and why woe? Because, at least in chapter 28, because of drunkenness, because of a kind of inebriation that comes over the human soul. And there's a very, very clearly identifiable reason why that happens to people. It's really rejecting the sure foundation and not listening to the Word of God by letting it become to you like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Instead of having it pierce your heart and change everything about the way you're thinking and feeling and living. That's what we're dealing with here. So with that as an introduction, let's go into verse one. First of all, we find there's this warning to Judah, and by the way, let me just say one more thing by way of introduction. The first 13 verses are a warning to Judah looking at Ephraim, the northern kingdom, as an example.

The following verses from verse 14 on is a message to Judah. So there's a warning, first of all we're dealing with that today, and then there is the message and we'll deal with that next week. And in some ways it's hard to read the first part without reading the second part, because the big answers are in the second part, really. Particularly verse 14 and verse 17, I think, are the heart of the text. And so as we go through this, continue to have verse 14, which says, hear the word of the Lord, and verse 17, which says that Jesus Christ is a sure foundation.

OK, verse 1. There's this warning to a fading flower of pride, woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is at the head of the verdant valleys, to those who are overcome with wine." So first of all, we run into this word, woe. It's the very first word in the chapter, woe. And he's speaking to Judah about Ephraim. And remember how that works.

The kingdom was divided. There are 10 northern tribes. They're called Ephraim. They're also called Samaria. And they're called Israel.

Ephraim, Samaria, Israel, they're all the northern 10 tribes. You got that? And then the southern two tribes are Judah and Benjamin. So Judah is one, they're a divided king, and brothers have been divided against brothers. And you can often see Isaiah's pain in the separation, in the way the brothers have gone to war against brothers.

And he's tracking the spiritual trajectory of his brothers in the north. He is his brother's keeper in that sense. And he's also, of course living in the southern kingdom itself he lives in Jerusalem itself and what what he so he's speaking to Judah the southern kingdom about about Ephraim and he talks about this crown of pride this crown of pride this thing this thing on your head that can be seen. Pride actually has its manifestations and it's something that you're proud of and In the way that a crown makes you proud of yourself, because it makes you be yourself, who you really are, your look, your expression, your way. You know, when my kids were growing up, we would sing this song, I'm gonna do it by myself.

Oh yeah. That's the song of pride. And pride is linked to this idea of drunkenness. Pride and drunkenness are connected here. So when you're proud, God says, you are drunk.

You are inebriated. And terrible things happen to you when you're too proud. You remember that old story? I don't even know if it's true of Muhammad Ali. He was on an airplane.

You know, that great boxer? He was the greatest. And he was on an airplane. And the stewardess said, Mr. Ali, please put on your seatbelt.

And he said to the stewardess, Superman don't need no seatbelt. And without skipping a beat, she replied, Superman don't need no airplane. And pride can make you think really, really stupid thoughts. And pride is the root of the problem here. And What does pride look like to God?

It looks like drunkenness. Woe to the drunkards of Ephraim. And pride really is the root of all of our worldliness. And here Isaiah is pushing back on the worldliness. He's pushing back on the pride.

And, you know, as a preacher of these words, I just want to somehow have all of us, including myself, push back on the pride. You know, that God would reveal to us our pride. That he would push back on it here today. And I've seen a number of things in my own life that need that push back, that really come back to pride. They have become intoxicated.

Calvin said they've been intoxicated by their prosperity. Their wealth made them pride. He speaks of this beautiful place that they live. They're in Samaria. Samaria is the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel but they were intoxicated he speaks of the drunkards of Ephraim now if you've had if you've had drunkenness in your background if your father or mother or grandfather or even yourself had have ever become entrapped in drunkenness you you know what he's talking about you You know what a trap there is.

You know what happens and how devastating it is. And here the Lord is using pride and intoxication as comparable. And, you know, as we go through this life, you know, if we read the Word of God, We start thinking God's thoughts after Him. We start thinking about the things that we see in this life rightly. And here, I think the prophet is trying to teach his own people how to think rightly about pride.

And he's connecting it with drunkenness. You know, there's an alcohol treatment center in California that identifies six stages of intoxication. Stage number one, euphoria characterized by difficulty in concentrating, talkative, lowered inhibitions, brighter color in the face, fine motor skills lacking that stage one. Stage two, excitement, senses are dulled, poor coordination, drowsy, beginnings of erratic behavior, slow reaction time, impaired judgment, stage three, confusion, exaggerated emotions, difficulty walking, Blurred vision, slurred speech, pain is dulled. Stage four, stupor.

Cannot stand or walk, vomiting, unconsciousness is possible. Decreased response to stimuli. Apathetic. Stage five. Coma.

Unconscious. Low body temperature. Possible death. Shallow breathing. Slow pulse.

Stage six. Death. Death as a result of respiratory arrest. These are the six stages of intoxication. And you know, when you read those, you think about connecting that with pride.

Because that's exactly what the prophet is doing. He is taking drunkenness and he's saying, this is what happens to you when you're intoxicated with your own pride. And he's, again, he's speaking to Judah and he's saying, this is what's happening up there in the Northern Kingdom. This is what has happened to your brothers. And so there are enormous problems with drunkenness.

You know, it makes you someone that you really aren't. It emboldens you to do foolish things and say stupid things. And the problem often is you just can't face the reality of who you really are so you want some kind of help to get you where you are not. And so you go to the wrong place to get you where you're not. Rather than to go to the sure foundation, rather than go to the Word of God to help you to be who you want to be.

You go to the thing that actually might end in your death. But along the way there's this progressive deterioration that begins with just being talkative and it may end in a coma and finally death. And so Isaiah is using this analogy of drunkenness for our own benefit. And what does this do? It gives you nothing but fading glory, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is at the head of the verdant valleys, to those who are overcome with wine." Pride causes true beauty to fade.

And, of course, the glory has been fading in Israel. It's been fading just like those stages of intoxication. And you know, it has at least been fading from the time of Solomon. You know, here we're standing, you know, sometime before the sacking of Israel in 722 BC. So you mark the time between the time when Solomon built the temple and dedicated it.

It's over 200 years, about 213 years, from the time of the dedication of the temple to the time of sacking Israel and the great destruction that took place there. And, you know, here it's this fading glory. I want to camp on that for a minute. I want to camp on the whole matter of deterioration. Because the Christian life is either, you're either in a state of deterioration or increased glory.

Here, Here is a picture of fading glory. The trend line is running down. The trajectory is headed down. One of the most important things for a Christian is to know when the trend lines have turned down. Because what you were may not be what you will be.

And that's what's happening in Israel. It's a fading glory. They're continuing on this trajectory. And there's so many things that can trip the trajectory downward in the Christian life. And of course, pride is the one that's in the center stage right here.

Thinking that your ways are better ways than God. Thinking that you can beat the system, thinking that you can find some pleasure outside of God's ways. That's really the beginning of the trajectory downward. And we can think of this in terms of our own nation. Of course, Isaiah is talking about a nation.

And America has enjoyed enormous success. The question is, will it continue? Is it on an upward or a downward trajectory morally socially religiously and when you when you have a society who wants to do its own thing, which really is, I think is really the summary watchword of the philosophy of most people in our nation. Do your own thing. If it feels good, do it.

It started with my generation and it's rolling as hard as ever now. That was really the beginning of a downward trajectory in our land. We talked about that a little bit last week, but when you insist on doing your own ways because of your pride, you are on a downward trajectory. And let's don't forget the greatest, the greatest most powerful nations in history, they all fell. All of them fell.

Rome fell. And don't think for one minute that the downward trajectory of America is unstoppable. So here you have this beautiful, wealthy part of the world. The verdant valleys, they've been overcome by wine. And then We see that there's a strong one coming in verse 2.

Again, this is where the warnings escalate. It is a warning of coming judgment. Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one, like a tempest of hail, and a destroying storm, like a flood of mighty waters overflowing who will bring them down to the earth with his hand. Notice first the word behold, verse 2, see that behold. It's like Isaiah's trying to calling, trying to call the people back to reality.

Open your eyes, get real, see the world as it really is. Stop lying to yourself about your nation and about yourself and about your priests and everything. There's got to be a time in everyone's life where they behold, where their eyes open, and they behold. Maybe that's a time in your life, even this morning. You know, God has it that he brings people together, and there's a time to behold.

A time when God looks you in the eye, and you see. And You experience this beholding. You finally get real with who you are and where you've been going all your life long. And you repent. You believe in the gospel and you're saved.

Or this happens all throughout life. In many ways, we're all a bunch of recovering drunks. We drunks of the world so long that it takes a while to get it out of our system. Thankfully, If you're just a physical drunk, it doesn't take that long to get it out of your system. You can clean your system fairly quickly.

The problem with being with sin is that it takes longer to get rid of the drunkenness that's there. And so there's this time where you must behold it. They are spiritual drunks. They're irrational, they're letting things happen, they're ludicrous. This is what drunk people do.

They do ridiculous and unthinkable things because they're drunk. And they all make perfect sense to them. But they lead to death. Now, look at this description of what's coming. First of all, the Lord has a mighty and strong one.

Do you see that in verse 2? That is either Nebuchadnezzar or Sennacherib. I think it's Sennacherib. But you can debate that. But there is, the strong one and the mighty one is coming.

And look at the language, like a tempest of hail. It's like this destroying storm. You know, when I first moved here, there was a gigantic hail storm that totaled all of my cars and thousands and thousands of cars around. I'd never been in a hailstorm before. But there are these knife-like pieces of hail, six, eight inches long, coming out of the sky and just shredding the trees.

I'd never seen anything like it before. Good thing we weren't outside. We were planting a church, and we were having a picnic. It was our first church picnic. And we all were able to run inside into a building.

And we were protected there. But this is a tempest of hail. I mean, think about the gigantic hail stones that can fall. And they have fallen. And they just destroy everything.

Like a flood. OK, so hail is not enough for you to get it, so let's put it's like a flood Okay, I've ever been in a flood things just are swept away like mighty waters. Remember the tsunami? Remember watching the pictures of the tsunami? And the whole city just floating.

It was the most terrifying footage I think I've ever seen. And people just continued to watch it. It just took your breath away. Well, it's like a flood of mighty waters overflowing. And then he says, who will bring them down to the earth?

And then he uses what might not seem so terrifying, but it's probably the most terrifying image in the whole sentence with his hand, the hand of God. So he piles up all this imagery to speak of this strong one. What God will do against pride. How God is going to deal with this drunkenness. You know, let's say that this was depicting Nebuchadnezzar coming in and laying siege to Jerusalem in 586 BC.

And there was Daniel and the Hebrew children. Put yourself in their place. This military force comes in and destroys everything, and they take captives, and they castrate Daniel and his friends, and then they march them to Babylon, and they walk into Babylon. I mean, Daniel and his friends experience this in a very real way. And there's this might and this strength that's spoken of here.

And then you see the swiftness of the judgment in verses 3 and 4. The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, will be trampled underfoot, and the glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is at the head of the verdant valley. Like the first fruit before the summer, which one observes, sees. He eats it while it is still in his hand." So again, there's this other imagery. He leaves from the hand of God.

Now it'll be trampled underfoot in verse 3. And then it will be like a first fruit. And he gives you this image. And just put yourself there for a minute. You're standing, and there's a fruit tree out there and there's a man walking over to the fruit tree and he is telling us as a bystander do you see that he it's always it's amazing me as we go through Isaiah how often Isaiah puts you in a place of observation.

And he says, look at that. There's what that's like. There are these freeze-frame moments that he puts you in to bring you to your senses. And he does that here. So there's this scene.

There's a tree and there's a man. And someone is watching the scene from afar off. And the man walks up to the tree and he picks the fruit. And instead of putting it in his pocket and saving it for a meal, he picks the fruit and he puts it right in his mouth. He's explaining how quickly the judgment will come.

And he just gobbles it up right when the rightness appears, right when the right time comes, when the ripening of the disobedience has come to its perfect moment, its pick and its dealt with right there. And we won't leave this concept of God times all of his judgments perfectly. He times them perfectly and he times the length of them perfectly. All of his chastisements come that way. They are perfectly timed.

But here is a picture of speed. He picks the fruit and instead of saving it, he eats it. And that really speaks of the swiftness of the judgment. And then in verses 5 and 6, there's this reminder of God's favor. And Isaiah does this over and over again.

He shows the judgment, but then he exposes the mercy of God to be a blessing to his children, verses five and six. In that day, the Lord of hosts will be for a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of his people, for a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and for strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate. So there's also something else going on. There are people during this moment who love God. Their hearts are toward Him.

They don't just have their little toe on the sure foundation. They're resting their whole life on the sure foundation and they are hearing the Word of God. So he's speaking of these kinds of people and notice what he says. He changes the language. Instead of a crown of pride, it's a crown of glory And this is God's favor.

He bestows glory upon them. You know, David said, you're my glory and the lifter of my head. This is a picture of the glory of God upon a sinner. Peter, in 1st Peter chapter 4, he speaks about the fact that believers are reproached and scorned and slandered in this world. But then he says, but the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

Though you may be blasphemed, the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. So he's speaking about the glory of God upon you. Now, we all know that we fall short of the glory of God, but even those who fall short of the glory of God are bestowed upon them his own glory. In 2 Corinthians chapter three, we're told that we're transformed from glory to glory. As we behold the glory of the Lord, we are transformed into the same image from glory to glory.

As you behold the Lord Jesus Christ, you're transformed into His glory. You change. That's the process of progressive sanctification. So instead of a crown of pride, it's rather a crown of glory. And then it's a diadem of beauty.

And It's also a spirit of justice. Verse 6, for a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment. This means that when people listen to God, when Jesus is their sure foundation, they judge things rightly. They see things rightly. Justice is a sense of what is right and what is true.

And the people of God will have wisdom to know what is right because the wisdom of God rests upon his people, because they have their foot on that sure foundation, and they listen to the Word of God. And then also strength in battle, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gates. This has to do with the fact that the people of God are involved in a battle. We're not just resting. We're also waging war.

And we're here in the world to turn back the enemies of God in the days of battle. This is one of the functions of the Church of Jesus Christ. How do you turn back the enemies of God in the day of battle? You do it with the sword of the Spirit. You open the Word of God and you proclaim it in your house, on the streets, wherever you are.

This is the weapon of battle, the Word of God. Our weapons of warfare are not physical, they're spiritual. The Church isn't given of violence from metal and guns. The church is given the violence that comes about by preaching the word of God. That's our tool.

And you get strength from the battle, strength in battle with it. And then there's a disclosure of the waywardness of Judah in verses 7 through 13. See now, in these verses, Isaiah turns the discussion. He's been talking about the northern kingdom. He's been talking to Judah about the northern kingdom.

Now he's talking to Judah about Judah. Okay? And he's saying, you're just like your northern brother. And so that's why we pick this up in verse 7. But they also, that word also gives you this understanding that he is now speaking in Judah.

They also have erred through wine and through intoxicating drink. They are out of the way. The priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink. They are swallowed up by wine. They are out of the way through intoxicating drink.

They err in vision. They stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filth. No place is clean." And so again, he takes us back to this imagery of wine. Remember the stages of intoxication.

These are the stages of the trajectory of the people of God. And he brings out this same kind of imagery again. Now, he says they have erred through wine. So he talks about this whole matter of airing through wine and then they are out of the way. Out of the way in the Hebrew language this term means to stagger, to wander.

It's sometimes used for being misled morally or mentally. It's wandering mentally. It's interesting that Isaiah is actually picking up what is almost a textbook medical description of intoxication. And then he says they're swallowed up. They're just devoured.

And then they air envision. They just can't see straight, which is part of this whole technical description of intoxication. And they stumble, stumble just like the intoxicated person stumbles around and then they vomit. This disgusting picture of what happens. The filth on the table that you see.

So there's this whole discussion of intoxication, of alcohol. There are three main positions on the use of alcohol. The first position is the prohibitionist, and this is the person that believes that wine is prohibited by Scripture, and therefore it's unlawful to ever consume it at all, to ever let it touch your lips. The second position is the abstentionist position, which doesn't believe wine is prohibited, but just chooses to abstain. And the third position are those that hold that the use of alcohol is acceptable in moderation as long as there is no drunkenness.

And so, I mean, here in these first 13 verses, the language of intoxication runs through the entire section. And it really is a disclosure of what happens to you morally. And the Bible does speak quite a bit about strong drink and wine. I think there are over 150 references to it in the Bible. And there are a number of contexts for it.

Sometimes it's related to blessing. For example, in Amos chapter 9 verse 13, for example, Isaiah 55 verse 1, Jeremiah 40 verse 12, 1 Chronicles chapter 12 verse 40. And all of these relate to wine being a blessing and that it is not a curse at all. And It's hard for people to even hear this, that wine is actually related to blessing. But we have to be honest with what the scripture says.

We have to have our minds washed by the water of the word of God to quit thinking our own thoughts, to think God's thoughts after him. And the second context that the Bible uses a strong drink or wine is our context of warnings, really dramatic warnings for the misuse of wine. Proverbs 20 verse 1 I think is a summary verse. Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise. And there are dozens of references just exactly like this that speak of the dangers of wine.

The third use of the terminology for wine occur in relation to the worship of God because wine is actually used in worship And it's inconceivable for me to think that wine could be used in worship. But actually, if you read your Bible, you must recognize that it's true. It is absolutely true. And like in Leviticus chapter 23 verse 13, you read, It's grain offering shall be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the Lord for a sweet aroma, and its drink offering shall be of wine." And there are many references to wine being used in worship. In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ himself promotes this in the use of the Lord's Supper.

But at the same time, drunkenness is a gigantic problem in the world that we live in today. But somehow in a world of drunkenness, the people of God have got to get their wits about them and think biblically about it. And it's really important that we do that. And here Isaiah is giving us a picture of drunkenness and he's connecting it with pride. So we're learning more about wine and strong drink through this passage.

But, you know, God was always concerned that the priests not drink wine. In Leviticus chapter 10 verse 8, The priests were to be temperate. And then the Lord spoke to Aaron saying, Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die. You know, when we get to the New Testament, we learn that elders must not be given too much wine in 1st Timothy 3, verse 2. God is concerned that kings did not drink much wine in Proverbs 31, verses 4 and 5, which tells us that kings should not drink wine in order to guard themselves because they might forget the law and they might only think about themselves and forget the afflictions of others.

And he says, it is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes intoxicating drink, lest they drink and forget the law and pervert the justice of all the afflicted. Give strong drink to him who is perishing, and wine to those who are bitter of heart." And Ecclesiastes chapter 10 verse 17 warns of immature leaders who grow up with a silver spoon in their mouth and they drink whatever they want. Well, I think in this matter of kings and priests and prophets being very careful about wine, with greater responsibility, it's required that there's greater care and greater protections. I think that's the idea that the scriptures are speaking about when we talk about priests and prophets and kings Not drinking like that. And then you see this mocking.

You see the intoxication, verses 7 and 8, and then you see another expression of this pride being explained. And it is another form of intoxication. It's the intoxication that you experience when the Word of God makes no effect on you at all. It's just a bunch of gibberish to you. It's a form of intoxication by pride.

Verse 9, whom will he teach knowledge? Now I believe that here in verse 9, the he is Isaiah. And the people are mocking Isaiah. They're mocking what he's been teaching. It could be God.

I more think it's Isaiah. Does it change the interpretation? Not at all. Whom will he teach knowledge And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk, those just drawn from the breasts.

He's saying, you know, the things you say, it's baby talk. You're treating us like babies. It's not really helping us. It's not getting us what we need. And then they say, for precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.

They're mocking, they're mocking him. And they would rather not hear. And these are, we've heard of the proud of Ephraim, now we come to the scornful of Judah, and they're scorning him. And the way that, the way, you know, you had this line upon, precept upon precept, line upon line. Precept is the word thav.

It means, it could be commandment upon commandment, precept upon precept. But in line is the word kab. So how it sounds in the Hebrew is, Isaiah, when you speak, it's like, thav, thav, thav, thav, kab, kab, kab, kab, thav, thav, thav, thav, kab, kab, kab, kab. That's it. It's just a bunch of gibberish to us.

You're just babbling to us. And So they despise the teaching, they're mimicking the Word of God. They're hearing it with their ears, but all they hear is blah blah blah, yada yada yada. That's this state of drunkenness. When you reach that state, you're in big trouble.

You know, I know that, you know, there are many children here who've heard the preaching of the Word of God for many years. Here's how you know when you're in danger, when it's like blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada. When you're in that state, you need to know where you stand before God. You're drunk, you're inebriated, and you're in one of these stages of drunkenness that leads to death. You have to understand where you are at any given moment.

But if you're, you know, if you've been listening, if the Word of God is open and being read, it's just like blah blah blah, yada yada yada. Sov, sov, sov, sov, cop, cop, cop, cop. That's what was happening. The prophets speak and it's just gibberish. You know, they don't see the beauty in it.

They don't see the glory and the happiness in the kingdom of heaven. They don't long for it. It doesn't touch them. It goes right over their head. If it goes right over your head, recognize what's happened.

You're drunk. You're inebriated. And what's the source of it? Pride. Pride.

Repent. Repent of it. Verse 11, He says, for with stammering lips in another tongue, he will speak to his people. So God is saying, okay, so if it's just blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada to you, then I'm going to send you people in another tongue and they'll talk to you. I'm going to send you people with a different language, like how about the Babylonians or how about the Assyrians.

And they're going to show up and they're going to talk to you and they're going to tell you what for and it's going to be to you blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada. You won't even know what they're saying. If you can't hear me now, I'm going to send another voice and you'll know what it's like. It's this mocking voice. Now this is prophesied in Deuteronomy chapter 28.

I'll just read it for you. He speaks of this time in the future, Moses does. Moses is speaking in around 1400 BC. Now it's almost 700 BC. And now this is being fulfilled, what Moses spoke in Deuteronomy.

He says, it shall come to pass if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, that God will set you high above the nations, but if you do not, he'll destroy you." And he says, if you don't serve God with joy in your heart, in other words, if your heart hasn't been changed, here's what will happen to you. And he says in verse 49, he says, the Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand." God judges his people when all they can hear is blah blah blah yada yada yada. And he sweeps them away. Here he says he's going to send another nation that will speak a language that they do not know. Habakkuk 1, verse 4, speaks of this.

But interestingly enough, the apostle Paul quotes this very verse in 1 Corinthians 14. Go ahead and turn there. 1 Corinthians 14. And look at verse 21. This is the whole context of tongues, the tongues being spoken in the church.

This whole matter of being so prideful that all you hear is blah blah blah, yada yada yada. It's a judgment against the church. Verse 21, in the law it is written, with men of other tongues and other lips I will speak to this people, and yet for all that they will not hear me, says the Lord." Verse 22, therefore tongues are for a sign, not for those who believe, but to unbelievers. But prophesying is not for unbelievers, but for those who believe." Now, we don't have the bandwidth in time to go in a detailed discussion about tongues, but there are two things I want you to notice. One thing is just sort of interesting.

He says, in the law it is written, and he's quoting Isaiah. He's saying that Isaiah is part of the law I think that's interesting. It's worth worth consideration but then he says that That tongues is a fulfillment of what Isaiah spoke of in Isaiah 28. You can't understand tongues until you go to Isaiah 28. I don't know if you've ever heard messages on the gifts of the Spirit and landed on tongues and nobody ever mentioned Isaiah 28, but here's the deal.

You cannot understand 1st Corinthians 14 until you go to Isaiah 28 okay because I the apostle Paul says this is that okay and so I mean this prophecy that Isaiah is giving extends to the time of the apostles. And tongues are a sign that you're talking to a people who are unbelievers. That God gave languages to His people so that other languages could hear. I believe tongues are languages because that's how they're used. When people don't understand the Gospel, then they're spoken to in a language, and the person speaking it is not speaking in his own language.

He supernaturally speaks in their language so they can hear the Gospel. Tongues are languages, and they are testimonies that God is not going to speak to the Jews. They're a testimony and a sign against Israel that they have ceased hearing the Word of God. That's why tongues came to pass, is to declare judgment on the Jews, that they had come to the place where it was all blah blah blah, yada yada yada, And therefore God was going to speak to people in other languages, to the unbelievers in other languages. And he gave that gift as a supernatural manifestation.

Unknown tongues showed that God would speak to a people who would listen to their language and that he was taking away the kingdom from apostate Israel. You know it's interesting in Romans chapter 11 Paul says that Israel was blinded. Does that sound familiar to you? You have blurred vision here in Isaiah 28. He says that God gave them a spirit of stupor.

What does that sound like? It sounds like the same drunkenness in Isaiah 28. He says eyes that they should not see, ears that they should not hear, their whole sensory perception has been hampered, just like drunkenness does. And then he quotes David, he says, and their table became a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a recompense, let their eyes be darkened. This is the very same language.

And then it says, they're in Romans 11, and bow down their back, and then they have stumbled that they should fall. This is the same picture. This is the same picture of Isaiah 28. The Jews had become just like their forefathers in Isaiah's day. They heard the word of God and it was, kav, kav, kav, kav, sab, sab, sab, sab, sab, blah, blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada.

O'Palmer Robertson has an article on this whole matter. And he says that there are four elements of New Testament tongues. New Testament tongues, number one, were revelational. They weren't private. They were revelational to declare a word of prophecy.

Number two, they were foreign languages. Number three, they were for public consumption. Number four, they were a sign indicating a radical change in the direction of redemptive history. So probably most people haven't heard that Isaiah talked about tongues in Isaiah 28, but he did and it's important matter here. And then you see the loss in verse 12, to whom he said, This is the rest which you may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing.

Here's what they missed. When you get to the place where it's nothing but blah blah blah, yada yada yada, what do you lose? What's to lose? What's to lose by just sitting there and hearing blah blah blah, yada yada yada? Your answer is right here in this verse 12.

You lose rest, you become weary, and you do not get refreshing. That's what happens. That's why Peter said, repent so that times of refreshing will come in. But if all you've got is blah blah blah yada yada yada, here's what you're missing. Rest.

Refreshing. That's what you miss. It's a tragedy. And then you see the result. But the word of God was to them, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little, sob sob sob, cough cough cough.

Why? That they might go and fall backward and be broken and snared and caught. It's such a great tragedy to fall backward. Have you ever seen anybody fall backward and slam their head against the concrete? It's a terrible, it's just terrifying to think of it.

That's the image here. And they're broken and then snared and then caught. This is what happens when your heart cannot hear the Word of God and love it and be nourished by it and cared for by it. This is such reason to cry out to the Lord Jesus Christ to save you so that your eyes would open so that they would be words of life. So that you would love to have your foot resting on that foundation.

You would love to hear the sound of his voice. That really is the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian. The Christian wants to hear the sound of the voice of his Savior. He wants to hear it. Of course he might struggle from time to time with discipline in it.

He may go through periods of dryness, but overwhelmingly his life, his heart does desire the Word of God. Okay, let me give you some applications. First of all, for any hear whose hearts have not and do not hunger for the Word of God, for those who only hear blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada, For those here who are only marking time, their big concern when they come here is, do we get the service done in time so we can get on with life? If you're In that state, God has given you an opportunity to consider the trajectory of your life and the station of your soul and where it rests. And to you, I just want to say Jesus Christ is so much better than anything that you hope to achieve by your worldliness, that God is good, that the ways of the world are outperformed by God, that His ways are pleasant ways, that His ways are the only way to happiness.

You thought happiness, you thought you could get happiness by getting drunk on pride or drunk on anything. You were wrong. And you've got your ladder leaning against the wrong wall. And how do you know? It's when all you hear is blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada, and when is this service going to end?

Know who you are. Cry out to God. Find the refreshment that he has for you. Hear the word of the Lord. Now, application number two.

For the drinkers, for the pride drinkers. Now you may, I hope you, well, I hope you're not drinking alcohol to get intoxicated. I hope you're not. And if you are, turn. Turn from it.

Have a right view of alcohol. Go to the Bible and wash your mind about what the Bible says about it. The Bible says be not drunk with wine but be filled with the Holy Spirit. The issue is control. The Bible doesn't say don't ever drink wine.

It says be not drunk with wine. That's what the Bible says. So, but the issue is control. Wine controls you. It makes you stagger.

It slurs your speech. It causes you to think ridiculous things about yourself and everyone else. It makes you a buffoon. It makes you a laughing stock and finally will kill you. So if you're drinking, if you're taking drugs, Stop.

Return to the Lord. Trust in God for your sustenance. There might be some people here who are secretly addicted to alcohol, and you're hiding it really well. Turn. Understand where that goes.

But, for the other drinkers, for the other pride drinkers, for the prideaholics, this is a really good opportunity for us to consider our ways and ask ourselves what pride has gotten us and what we ought to do about it and have you been getting drunk on pride every time I've ever gotten discouraged in my life I have always been able to trace it to drinking out of a glass, the glass of pride, caring so much about myself, And I drink that. And it never goes well. So what have you been drinking? I don't know what pride is doing to you, but you should know. You should know what the drinks are doing to you.

Here, Isaiah has talked about the drunkards of Ephraim. What about the drunkards of Hope Baptist? Let's talk about the drunkards of Hope Baptist for a while. Application number three. Isaiah is rebuking Judah for her pride.

Judah thinks She is so spiritual. Judah thinks she is so far ahead of Israel, her brother to the north. The big giant idolaters up there, the bad guys. That's how Judah thinks about Israel. And you know what?

There's some truth to the accusation that Judah makes. But Judah's looking at Israel and they're thinking they're so fine. Isaiah says, no, no, no. They are just like you. Is there any of that in us?

Do we think that somehow we are just so much better than anybody else as a church because we do this and they don't do that? Because we pay attention to this but they don't and therefore we are so holy. Let's banish any of that kind of thinking. Let's don't be like Judah. God is dealing with Judah.

So God is giving an example to Judah of Ephraim. And I think we should look at Judah as an example as well. And God gives us examples. And Judah is saying, we're fine. We're not gonna fall.

They're gonna fall. God says, no, you're gonna fall too, Judah. Let's make sure that we've really had our minds washed by the water of the Word and have thought rightly about ourselves. And then finally, which is really the central thrust of this entire chapter, remember the sure foundation. It's in verse 16.

We'll unpack it more carefully next week. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. Whoever believes will not act hastily. So here you have these two ways of living. The way of the drunkard and the way of the one who is standing on a precious cornerstone.

And it is solid underneath his feet. And there's refreshment there. And again, you know, Isaiah brings us back to the thing we see all in all of the altar scripture. There really are only two ways. There's the narrow way, the way of happiness, the way of refreshment.

And there's the broad path, the way of drunkenness and confusion and stumbling and staggering and finally death. Choose life. Let's pray. Lord, Lord, we thank you that you've given us Isaiah to help us think rightly about all these things. I thank you Lord that you put the drunkards of Ephraim before us to help us understand pride in its own ways upon us.

Oh Lord that you would come and help us with all these things. Amen.