Scott Brown's sermon, titled 'When Manhood Dies,' explores Isaiah 3:1-15, highlighting a historical context of societal collapse due to apostasy and lack of godly leadership. The sermon outlines how the absence of righteous men leads to societal disintegration, affecting manhood, womanhood, and overall social order. Brown contrasts this with a contemporary revival of biblical manhood where men are increasingly taking responsibility to preach and lead according to God's counsel. The sermon emphasizes the importance of the Church as a pillar of truth, urging men to rise as leaders and counselors, filled with the knowledge of Christ, to prevent societal collapse. Brown calls for personal repentance and a commitment to building a strong foundation on Jesus Christ, ensuring the Church's role in guiding society towards righteousness.

The sermon text is from Isaiah 3 verses 1 to 15. For behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stock and the store, the whole supply of bread, and the whole supply of water. The mighty man and the man of war, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder, the captain of fifty and the honorable man, the counsellor and the skilful artisan, and the expert enchanter. I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. The people will be oppressed, every one by another and every one by his neighbour.

The child will be insolent toward the elder and the base toward the honourable. When a man takes hold of his brother in the house of his father saying, You have clothing, you be our ruler, and let these ruins be under your power. In that day he will protest, saying, I cannot cure your ills, for in my house is neither food nor clothing. Do not make me a ruler of the people. For Jerusalem stumbled and Judah is fallen, because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of His glory.

The look on their countenance witnesses against them, and they declare their sin as sodom. They do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought evil upon themselves. Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.

Woe to the wicked, it shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him. As for my people, children, are they oppressors and women rule over them. O my people, those who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your parts. The Lord stands up to plead and stands to judge the people. The Lord will enter into judgment with the elders of His people and His princes, for you have eaten up the vineyard.

The plunder of the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor? Says the Lord God of hosts. Let's pray. Father God, as we come to you, as we sit under the instruction of your word.

Lord I pray that you would anoint each one of us, anoint our hearts to be obedient hearers. And Father I pray that you would pour your spirit upon Scott that His labors in Your Word would bear much fruit. Father, that it would bear fruit in our hearts too, in our lives. Lord, that we would be faithful hearers and doers of your word. O Lord, what a privilege it is that you have revealed to us these things, that you have given us elders who teach us the mysteries that were once hidden, but you have revealed them to us and you have said oh Lord Jesus that blessed are our ears that we hear these things and our eyes that we see these things for many righteous men and many prophets before us did not hear this and did not see this.

Oh Father, help us to realize what a blessing we have now. Father, I pray that we would be Faithful in what we hear now, in Jesus' name, Amen. It really is with great joy, happiness for me today to bring this passage of Scripture to us. It is a picture of collapse, It's a picture of terrible things happening. But as for me, I've been rejoicing contemplating this passage.

Because the level of collapse that we see here has not happened in our times. In fact, quite the opposite. I'm living in a time where I believe there is more progress in this area, well, definitely, than any time in my life. This is a picture of a collapse of manhood. It's a picture of when the conduits of the counsel of God are stocked up and men shut their mouths and they don't teach their children and they don't speak up in the marketplace and they don't even have good counsel to give.

But we actually live in a time where there are hundreds of thousands of men who are reversing that. There's a whole revival of a sense of recovering biblical counsel. There's a whole revival going on in our land where men are more aware than any time in my entire life of their need to speak for God, to preach the gospel to their families. When they sit in their house, when they walk by the way, when they lie down, when they rise up. Do you have any idea what's happening in your times?

Something is happening now that should take your breath away, and it's the exact opposite of this. So I've really been rejoicing reading this passage of Scripture. This does not happen. In fact, I know many, many, many men who are a complete opposite of this, at least in their desires. At least they're struggling with trying to not have these judgments fall upon them.

I know We've just finished a meeting here this weekend where we gathered men together to speak of this whole matter of what does it mean to be a father? What does it mean to be a mouthpiece of God? And we talked about men who create households out of delight and submission to God. We talked about men like the one pictured in Deuteronomy, the man who saturates his house with the Word of God. We talked about the man pictured in Psalm 78 who opens his mouth in a parable.

He utters dark sayings of old. He speaks of his wonderful works that He has done. He praises God. This is the kind of man that the men around here desire. They don't desire to be like what you see in this passage.

They desire to be men like David who teach his son to get wisdom. They desire to be men like Abraham, who help their children get married. They desire to be like the perfect father in Hebrews, who disciplines his sons and helps them. Like the perfect father who gave his son work to do, like God did with Adam. Like the men like Jonadab, who spoke words of life to their children and they took it to heart and they honored their Father for 300 years and they repeated the words of their Father.

We had dozens of men gathered just to drink in this vision of manhood. But that's not happening in the days of Isaiah. We talked about men like Joshua who said, that's for me and my house, He was a conduit of truth and wisdom for his family. Not men like Eli who wouldn't take action at all. So I've been so thankful to be in this passage, even though when you read it, It's so terrifying that this could happen in society.

And of course, we do see the vestiges of it. We see the preliminaries of this. But on the other hand, never in my life have I seen so many thousands of men who desire to speak, to be a conduit of counseling and blessing, to open their mouth in a parable. It's a great time to be alive, brothers and sisters. It really is.

God is reversing this curse in many places, and it's such a blessing. So there you have it. I'm so grateful to be able to bring this text. This is Isaiah's second sermon in the book that we are studying here. Isaiah chapter 3 stands dead center in the middle of that sermon which begins in chapter 2 and ends in chapter 4.

And so what I'm doing here today is I'm giving a sermon on a sermon. So that's what's happening. And there are three basic parts to this sermon. In chapter 2, verses 1 through 5, You see this beautiful picture of the power of the Gospel. You know, when the Gospel comes, when you repent, when the Lord Jesus Christ fills your heart, what happens?

Well you desire to say, come, let us go to the mountain of the Lord. You long to be in the courts of the Lord. And you put your arm around your brother and say, let's go to the mountain and let's drink of the water of life. And you beat your swords into plowshares. You begin to love people like you never were even capable of before.

And mercy fills your heart. You used to have no mercy. And now you have mercy for people you never even possibly could have mercy for because you've received mercy. And that's the first part of the sermon. He starts with this beautiful picture of the soul that is saved and what happens to that person.

And they long to be with the people of God. And it is a wonderful thing as they've beaten their swords into plowshares. And then the second part of the sermon begins in chapter 2, verse 6. And what Isaiah does is he shortcuts back to a vision of the Church in his own day. And he gives various qualities of that Church in that day, the apostate Church, the people who have fallen away from God.

The Church is pictured in this text today. And he says They're filled, they're just filled to the brim, filled with Eastern ways, filled with everything, just filled with everything but God. They have time for everything. They fill their vessels with absolutely whatever, But there's no room for God. That's the second part.

And we are right in the middle of that section here in chapter three. And then the final section is found in chapter four, verses two through six, where you find, again, another picture. It's really a picture of the beauty of the Lord. It's a picture of salvation. I can't wait until we get to that section.

We'll be there in a couple of weeks. But it casts such a wonderful vision of what it means to be in the arms of God and to be a child of His, and the blessings, the abundance, and really the beauty. So, conceive of this sermon as sort of a sermon with bookends. It begins with a vision of the people of God and even heaven itself. Then it speaks of the depravity of man, the troubles that come upon disobedient mankind.

And then finally it ends with the beauty of the Lord. So that's it. That's the sermon. And here we are, you know, in the midst of it, and there's much to say about this sermon and what we've covered so far. I will refrain from doing that.

Let's go to verse 1. You have an outline before you. You'll see the flow of the argument that Isaiah is making here. But first of all, you see that in this society where God is rejected, the supports are destroyed. Now, this verse 1 begins with the word, for.

Make note of that. It begins with the word, for. Chapter 3, verse 1 begins with this term, connecting to it to what has just been communicated. The Lord has just said at the end of chapter 2, stop trusting in man whose life is in his nostrils, whose breath is in his nostrils. And then he says, for, And then he explains what it looks like, what the reasons are that you should not be trusting man.

The reason you shouldn't trust yourself, you should trust God. And God alone, He gives all these reasons. And the reasons really boil down to a whole picture of social collapse. It shows what it looks like when a nation has fallen into rebellion and the judgment of God has fallen upon that nation. What it looks like when disobedience runs its course, it shows what a culture looks like when the kingdom of heaven on earth is in a state of collapse.

It is such a loss. It's really a loss of the whole presence of the picture of the image of God in man, in the world. God has placed men, males in the world, to be his representatives, to speak for him, to counsel in his name, to bring out the wonderful things that bring life. But this picture here shows collapse of all of that. There's so many features of what it looks like for people to ignore God and His ways.

There are no more heartbreaking results of apostasy than the effects on manhood and womanhood. This first part that we're dealing with today speaks of the effects on manhood. Next week, in the final part of the chapter, we'll deal with the effects on womanhood, Because what Isaiah is saying here is that when there's apostasy, there's such a dramatic effect upon manhood, and manhood is destroyed. Hence the title of the sermon. And also, womanhood as well.

It's a disfigurement of the image of God in man and his whole purpose to bring blessing into the world. God has placed us here for a reason. Peter said it like this, you were created for a blessing. And that means that we rise up and we speak for God. We speak the words of God, the words of blessing for Him.

And for we who are on a mission to rebuild Christian culture, This is very important. It helps us to diagnose the problem. And it helps us to see what our part is in the rebuilding. And so it's a parable of judgment. And Isaiah is speaking of how God judges Judah.

And it serves really as a parable for what happens when a nation is under judgment. And what does it look like? Verse 1, behold, The Lord, the Lord of hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and Judah the stock and the store, the whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water." Now There's much that I will say about this, but let's just make a keen observation here about what Isaiah is doing. This is an illustration of the phrase, Judgment begins in the house of the Lord. Judgment begins with the people of God.

In chapters 13-27, Isaiah explains how God will judge the nations. In verses 1-12, Isaiah explains how he is going to judge his church for their disobedience. Judgment begins in the household of God. And so the question is, why should he judge? Why should God not judge his own people?

If God's people are not corrected, if God's people are not reformed, then to whom will the nations go? Who will show the way? Who will demonstrate what it means to repent if the Church doesn't repent first? Who will show the world what it looks like to trust in God and God alone? Well, this is why God brings judgment to His Church first.

And this is why we should always be a humble church, ready to be judged by the Word of God. Because if we are not judged and we find ourselves repenting, and repent means to turn around and go in a different direction. It means actually, it's not a feeling primarily, It includes a feeling, but it actually pictures a feeling that leads to a real, live change. And so that's what repentance is. And God brings judgment to His church in order to raise them up to have a voice for holiness and beauty in the world.

So we should always take the judgments of God to heart. And there are various ways that He judges His church. He comes and He judges us individually and He chastises us in different ways. We should always take His chastisements well so that they actually work to change our hearts and our lives. And when God comes and judges a church, they should take it to heart.

You know, in the past years there have been different ways that God has actually judged our church. We should take it to heart and let it humble ourselves to teach us his ways. But there's a purpose in it all, and that is that there would be a day when the beauty of the Lord would come from our lives and from our lips in a way that didn't in times past. So God is so kind to do this, But he does it here by knocking out all the props. The stock and the store are destroyed.

Stay and staff are the same word for support. It's the same word, but it's both the masculine and feminine, macein and maceina, the stock and the store. It has to do with the supports, the very foundations. The props are knocked out. The stability is threatened.

And the terminology here indicates a completeness of the removal of the supports. And let's be very clear about this, he's not just speaking about bread and water exclusively. He is speaking about these foundational things, these fundamental things for life that everything depends upon. That's the picture. He is knocking out the props.

He is taking away the support systems that once existed and that does include, that will include bread and water. At this moment, as Isaiah is speaking, it doesn't include bread and water. That's coming in the coming day of judgment when the great armies will lay siege to Jerusalem. And then they will have trouble with bread and water. But he's talking more about bread and water.

The stabilizers of society have been knocked out. And we see various levels of this taking place in our own culture. I mean, I do believe that the stabilizing forces of manhood and womanhood that once existed were in such a time of deterioration, are now actually being recovered in our times. I think times were worse 20 or 30 years ago in the church, in the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's far more conversation and change on this matter today than there ever have been in my lifetime.

I'm pushing 60 years old. I've been in the church for a long, long time. I've seen it, and I know it's true. Something different is happening now in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we should give thanks to it. Now, what Isaiah does here is he explains the various ways that the foundations are being knocked out.

And we're going to go through them one by one. But just by way of summary, he talks about how valor and courage in men, military leadership, government, spiritual leadership, business, craftsmanship, family leadership, everything is getting knocked out in the scenario that Isaiah is speaking of here. God is taking something away. He's unraveling the social order by cutting off the blessings of godly leadership on multiple levels. But here's the heart of the matter in Isaiah, and we will see this over and over again.

God judges and then He restores. That's the summary of the book of Isaiah. Almost everything we see in Isaiah will tell us that same thing. You'll never hear a message coming out of the book of Isaiah of judgment without the corresponding revival that takes place in the heart that repents. It's really a perfectly balanced testimony in that sense.

There is judgment, but God is merciful. He does restore. He does bring back what the locust has eaten. He does do that. And that's the book of Isaiah, really, in summary.

So let's begin to itemize what is being knocked out. It's very important that we see the details here. In seeing the details, we begin to understand how God has wired the world. We begin to understand the purpose of our lives. It helps a man understand why he is a man.

And it helps a woman to understand why she is a woman. So it really helps us to understand who we are. It's a beautiful picture. And that's why I want to go slowly through the list, so that you can be helped to know who you are. Now, there are more children in this room than adults right now.

Now, I really somehow want the attention of all the children in this room, because what I'm going to read is really a picture of why God made you, and what he really desires for you. And what you'll see is that God so desires to declare His glory through you. That if you're a little boy, if you're a little boy that you understand why you've been made. You've been made to speak words of beautiful counsel in the world. Little boys, do you understand that?

Do you understand that God has put you in the world for such a marvelous purpose? And you young ladies here as well, understand the same thing. God has put you in this world to declare an aspect of His beauty. Well, that's why God made women beautiful, one reason. Their physical beauty is a parable of something even greater.

And that is they have something beautiful to bring into the world. And Isaiah, in this chapter, reveals many of the elements of it. And so it's such a beautiful passage to go through. On the one hand, because you see the counterpart of When God does glorify himself through a man or a woman. But also the terror of what happens when men and women turn away from God.

And they walk in their own way. They fill themselves up with eastern ways. And what happens? Beauty, beauty dies and it's replaced by ashes." So it's a very helpful picture. So the first thing we see is in verse 2, the mighty men and the mighty men of war, they disappear.

This is the hero, the champion, men like David who can kill giants, bold men who care for nothing but the glory of God. Not puppets, but real men. You know, it's interesting, the language that Isaiah uses really speaks of kind of an audacious, almost a tyrannical, proud man who magnifies himself. It's almost like beating your chest. And the kind of man that has any kind of confidence is destroyed.

And you know, we see this happening in a real historical moment when Nebuchadnezzar came and he finalized his sacking of Jerusalem, and he actually he took away thousands of men of valor. I'll read it to you in 2 Kings chapter 24 verse 14. It's very gripping because this happened in a physical reality. Also, he carried into captivity all Jerusalem, and notice what he took. All the captains and all the mighty men of valor.

Ten thousand captives and all the craftsmen and the smiths." Now, hang on. He gives a little bit more detail. He said there are 10, 000 of them that were left. And then he actually itemizes how many mighty valiant men he took. And he carried away Jehoiachin captive to Babylon, the king's mother, the king's wives, his officers, and the mighty of the land he carried into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon, all the valiant men, seven thousand." So he took seven thousand of the valiant men and then he says, one thousand of the craftsmen and the smiths.

All who were strong and fit for war, these, the king of Babylon, brought captive to Babylon. God was going to physically remove the valiant man and take him out of the town. You know, that's a tragedy when courageous men are taken out of a city. This is why I'm so encouraged today where you do see an uprising of men who really have it in their hearts to speak for Almighty God, to be fearless men, to actually open their mouths in a parable, the utter dark sayings of old, to teach their children when they sit in their house, when they walk by the way, when they lie down, and when they rise up. It's a blessing to have men in the world.

You have no idea what a blessing you are in the world if your desire is to do that. Do you have any idea how important you are to this city, to this nation, when you desire this? Because when God's judgment is on the land those men don't exist and he actually he actually takes an army and Tears them out of the city and there's nobody in the city who has courage and then Not only the mighty men, but the judges verse 2. This is the civil leader. This is the man who has the ability to tell the difference between what is beneficial and what is not.

What is good and what is not. What is wise and what is not. This has to do with men of discernment who can judge, who can see the light and the darkness, and know the difference between the two. Let me read you Strong's Concordance definition of the word judge. To govern, vindicate, punish, to act as a lawgiver or a governor, to decide in a controversy of God and man, to execute judgment, a discriminating man, vindicating, condemning and punishing, to enter into controversy, to plead, to have controversy together.

This kind of man, this kind of judge, disappears in the land. We need men of discernment. Where does discernment come from? It comes from filling your mind with the knowledge of God. But He will take away these kind of men.

There are different kinds of men in scripture that are like this. Lot, he was a judge at the gates without any discernment. Eli was a priest without discernment. It's interesting. In our own land, we do see the beginnings of such a loss of judgment, a loss of discernment.

Some of it is almost laughable. When the recent government shut down a few days ago, there was this website that had a sign on it that said, we're going to stop working because we can't agree on how to spend the imaginary money we don't have. I mean, this madness, the level of judgment, the discernment. I was so amazed. I didn't know whether I should laugh or cry, when the mayor of the largest city in America, Mayor Bloomberg in New York, made a law against Coca-Cola's over 16 ounces.

I mean, it's insane. What are these men thinking? There's just a loss of discernment. You know, hundreds of thousands of babies are being murdered in this city, and you have a civil magistrate who's focused on 20-ounce drinks. It's madness.

So we do see the beginnings of this loss of judgment. It's astonishing to see it. So the mighty men, the judges, and then The prophets in verse 2 as well, and the prophet. The prophet is a spokesman. These were the preachers of the day.

There was a famine in the land. There was a famine in the word of God. In Job chapter 17, we read, He leads counselors away plundered and makes fools of the judges. He makes fools of the judges and there is no counselor. The people who are speaking, they don't speak or write.

They don't make known the will of God. They really only care about their own will, their self-serving, their self-indulgence, and their own will is all that really matters. Every man does what's right in his own eyes in a society that's in collapse, and they wander aimlessly as a result. Proverbs 29, 18 says, when there's no vision, the people perish. When a society ceases to have preaching and the declaration of the truth and people who will actually listen to it, then the people perish.

They cast off restraint. And then fourthly, the diviner, verse 2. In most contexts in the Bible, this word is used negatively, but not all contexts is it used negatively. It is spoken of negatively in 2 Kings 17, where they practice divination. But it can also have to do with discernment.

Joseph was a diviner. My perspective is that this is used in a positive sense, as someone who derives from the divine, like the sons of Issachar who discerned the times. The reason I don't think this is a negative term is because in the context, All of them are positive. And Hebrew words are used differently in different contexts. And so the context, to me, seems to focus on positive qualities.

There are commentators, though, who say, no, The collapse is so deep that even the pagans, even the devil worshippers are in trouble in their discernment. And that's not my position, but it's certainly something to consider. And then the elder in verse 2. The fifth, the elder, the emphasis here is on age, an ancient person, an experienced man, one who is able to be an advisor because he's seen a lot and has something to say about a lot. It's the principle of the older teaching the younger that we see in Scripture.

Why is there a dearth of elders in the land today? Well, there are a number of reasons that we could unpack, But it's a terrible situation when the elders don't exist, when there are men, where there are old men, but they're not qualified to be men of elder quality. We live in a time like that now, but I have hope for the future, because you can't have elders until you have fathers. And we're having more fathers today than any time in my lifetime. I think that means we're going to have more elders than we've ever seen in the next generation.

We'll see. I'm not a prophet, but I've been around long enough to know there are more fathers around today than there have been in a long time. So I'm really encouraged about that. In Isaiah chapter 9, the same issue is surfaced, verse 14. Therefore the Lord will cut off the head and the tail from Israel, the palm branch and the bulrush in one day.

He makes this illustration, the head the tail, the palm branch and the bull rush, and he's talking about the older and the younger. That's what he's talking about. And then he says, for the leaders of this people caused them to err, oh I'm sorry, I skipped a verse. The elder and the honorable, he is the head. The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.

For the leaders of this people cause them to err, and those who are led by them are destroyed. Therefore the Lord will have no joy in their young men, nor have mercy on their fatherless and widows." I mean, to have no joy in the young men is a condition that is created where there are no old men who speak truth to the young men. And there's just no capacity for joy in the young men, because the old men aren't speaking to the younger men. The younger men aren't hanging around with the older men. And it creates such a terrible tragedy.

We need old men to be with young men, and young men need to be with old men. Otherwise, there will be no joy in the young men. We will have no joy in them, Because they'll be in a state of collapse. They'll be increasingly foolish. They'll just run with their passions, rather than have them restrained and actually redirected to good things by older men.

So not only are the mighty men, the judges, the prophets, the diviner, the elder, these are the things that disappear. Now it's quite possible that in this list here that we've just reviewed, we're speaking really about sort of higher levels of society and leadership in the civil government, it's possible. Because in the next few verses, in verses three and four, there seem to be lower levels of leadership perhaps on a local level. While these qualities of judgment and speaking as a prophet and having discernment like a diviner and having the wisdom of age like an elder do exist in lower levels of leadership, It does seem that perhaps there is a different kind of leadership spoken of in verses 3 and 4. Verse 3, the leader, the captain of 50 in verse 3.

These are representatives, caretakers. It's telling us that leadership collapses even at the lowest levels. Leadership capability is stripped out of the land. There are very few men who are able to lead, even small groups of men. Where are the local heroes, the mighty men who lead groups of 50?

These are so pivotal. These are so important. We're so obsessed with leaders of thousands. But God is wiser than that. He values leaders of 50.

Thank God for leaders of 50. I pray that God would give us an enormous crop of leaders of 50. And then the honorable man in verse 3. The man, it's interesting that This has to do with having a good reputation, respect and integrity, but the word has to do with being able to carry weight, almost like a piece of armor. He can carry weight with honor.

And then there's the counselor in verse 3. The one who gives advice, the one who devises a plan, the one who speaks the truth in love. And then the skillful artisan in verse 3. I mean, this collapse has even gone down to the whole level of the ability to perform beautiful craftsmanship, to do beautiful work, to be an artisan. The experienced worker with wood or stone or gems or clay, that's what he's referring to specifically.

But these are men who are wise and understanding in the works of their hands. You know, there are people who say, you know, that man uses his mind and that man uses his hands. Well, that's really not true. The man who uses his hands is using his mind. He's a skillful artisan who's filled with the Holy Spirit and he has wisdom in his hands.

But this kind of thing disappears. And then the expert enchanter, verse 3. Again, this is like the diviner earlier. Some have proposed that the collapse comes in the realm of unlawful religion, the enchanter. The words always need to be interpreted in context.

This word, lakesh, occurs five times. It is translated enchantment once, but it's also translated as orator and prayer or charm. So it can mean something different than its negative connotation. I believe it's a positive thing. And that the God who blesses representative heads, the God who blesses men, men who stand for righteousness.

They have wonderful things on their lips. That's the summary of this whole section. That in levels of leadership, there are men who have something to say. They take the world in the right direction. This is the glory of a man.

You know, you little boys need to understand why you've been created. You've been created to take the world in a good direction. What a blessing that is to be a man. It's one of the great things about being a man. You know, I really have been rejoicing reading this text.

Notice how many ways God brings blessing into the world, through the prophet, through the diviner, through the leader, through the captain of fifty, through the man in his house who is speaking the Word of God, fathers who speak, elders who speak, men with judgment and discernment. These are all gifts from heaven. And what a blessing it is to consider it. They really are. They're men like the one pictured in Deuteronomy 6 and Psalm 78 and Proverbs 24 and Genesis 18 with Abraham.

They are men like this, who are taking the world in a right direction. What a blessing it is. And then, after these various kinds of people who deliver beautiful counsel in the world are explained as having been destroyed or knocked out of the way, the props knocked out. Then Isaiah speaks of an even more difficult thing that happens practically in everyday life in verses 5 through 7, the relationships of authority are broken down and there's anarchy. Verse 4, I will give children to be their princes and babes shall rule over them.

This is a picture of anarchy. It's not babies literally, but it's about people who are caught up in themselves. You know, it's the 30 or the 50 or the 60 year old baby. The man who never grew up to be a man. In Exodus chapter 18, Moses spoke of the kind of men we need, able men, men who have proved themselves.

Ecclesiastes 10, 16 says, woe to you, O land, when your king is a child and your princes feast in the morning. This has to do with men who have never really thrown off their own self-indulgences. They're like children. They just grab whatever they want. And then you see in verse 5 that neighbors oppress one another.

The people will be oppressed, verse 5, every one by another and every one by his neighbor. Neighbor. Again, this word in Strong's Concordance is enlightening. It can speak of an oppressor or a taskmaster or to be an exactor, a driver, an oppressor, a tyrant, a lord, an exactor of tribute. This has to do with people who are injurious to their neighbors.

They don't love their neighbors. The writer of Proverbs says, you know, he who despises his neighbor sins. But there's a loss of love for neighbors. People are so self-centered that they can't love their neighbors. You know, it does happen.

You know, the property line wars and all kinds of things. Neighbors get upset with one another. But this kind of thing is happening. The injurious, unneighborly kind of heart is spoken of here. When a society is in collapse, people can't get along with their neighbors.

You know, it's interesting, we were in Athens last week, And it was such a remarkable city to me. It was really one of the most discouraging places I've ever been. You drive down the streets of downtown Athens, and there are just miles and miles and miles of graffiti, eight feet high, on almost every wall, and even on beautiful marble buildings and things like that. And the dishonor for other people's property was so amazing to me. There was no love in that society.

They only cared about expressing themselves. There's no love for their neighbor to protect their neighbor's property. But really, absolutely everywhere in Athens, There were miles and miles of walls just covered with graffiti, speaking dishonorable things. And then there are insolent children in verse 5. Again, this is a picture of anarchy and a breakdown of the whole social order where children are insolent.

This is the angry, stormy, boisterous, unrestrained, proud child. The child who has not received the discipline of the Lord. It's such a tragedy when parents don't discipline their children in the ways that God has determined. And then there are insolent underlings and the base toward the honorable. That's in verse 5 as well toward the end.

The base toward the honorable. In other words, the person with the lower station, a lower position of authority dishonoring those above. It's a tragedy when a people rejects a sense of ranking and breeds dishonor. Where there's really no honor for the president, there's no honor for the mayor, there's no honor for the elder or the pastor, where the authority structure in society is attempted to be torn down. This is the tragedy that's there.

And then you see, there are no responsible men, verses 6 and 7, when a man takes hold of his brother in the house of his father saying, you have clothing, you be our ruler, and let these ruins be under your power. What an astonishing statement. In that day he will protest saying, I cannot cure your ills, for in my house is neither food nor clothing. Do not make me a ruler of the people. Here this is just the desperation of leaders.

There's panic in the land for leaders. And it just shows another aspect of what happens when men become like babies. They don't take authority or responsibility. And what it creates in other men is a desire for leadership. Come, be my leader.

And what is it that qualifies this man? Well, he's dressed well. That's it. It's clothing deep. And there is no character there underneath the clothing.

But at least he does have that. He does at least have some outward semblance of honor and dignity. He has some outward gravitas about him. But there's really nothing inside. And so the man takes hold of his brother.

It's our natural desire to desire leadership, but then men won't lead. And then there's also really a true lack of leadership. Men just shrink back from taking responsibility. And this man will have nothing to do with it. He's not the man you thought he was.

He'll say, I can't cure your ills. I don't even have food or clothing. Don't make me a ruler of this people. I can't even rule over these ruins. They see how ludicrous it is to be a leader, and they're honest, and they say, I can't govern myself.

How can I govern you? The lack of self-government is a sign of a great curse coming upon a people. It is true, you know, self-government has died, but that also means that manhood has died. Men don't take responsibility. This really starts in the family, where fathers do not take the responsibility to lead and govern.

They don't learn how to do that. And because of that they don't know how to do it in the church. And then they really can't do it anywhere. This is why the family is so fundamental. I'm writing a book now called Man Killers.

There's so many things that kill men in our society. We have child men in our society. And it begins in the home and then it spreads to the church and it affects companies and it moves on into the state. And there are very few men who are willing to accept authority, even in the church. You know, why is it that there are so few men rising up for leadership in the church?

There are two reasons. One reason is that men have not managed their households well. That might be the primary reason. But here's another reason. Men don't want the trouble of a church.

They don't want the judgment that comes against them. They don't want the problems that arise. They don't want to deal with the very messy things that arise in church life. They don't want to take responsibility. They don't want to bear the weight of the burden.

We need men who are willing to bear the weight, to charge the fire, to go into the swamp, and have the alligators around you and pull out the bodies from the swamp. We need men like that. But often people are afraid because of the trouble that it might cause them. I pray that There aren't any men like that here who are afraid of the trouble and that God would convict you if you have that in your heart. But we can give thanks, really.

God has not done this in America. He really has not. We do have men who desire to rise up and lead. And then finally the result here, not finally, but the result is that the city falls in verses 8 through 11. And there's the analysis here that is presented.

They stumbled, verse 8, for Jerusalem stumbled and Judah is fallen. And then there's this bold boisterous speaking against the Lord, verse 8, because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord. They actually speak against the Lord. They speak things that are not true and they do things that are not right. They are speaking and their doing are consistent.

In verse 8, they provoke the eyes of His glory. And in verse 9, you can tell it on their face. The looks on their faces prove what they're really doing. The look on their countenance witnesses against them. And they declare their sin as sodom.

They do not hide it. In other words, they just flaunt their sin. We see so much of that today. The flaunting of sin is so upon us today. You know, Paul said to the Romans, you are inexcusable.

Not to hide. You know, In Sodom they did not hide their sin, and in our day there's less and less hiding of sin. We ought to recognize what that means for us in our land. And then he says, woe to the soul, verse 9. Woe to their soul, for they have brought evil upon themselves.

What a tragic thing to have said about your soul. Woe to your soul. Woe to your soul. You know, when men don't speak the words of life, woe to the souls of those who are around them. It's so tragic when Men are stopped up in their councils from heaven, woe to the souls around those men.

How a man spends his life affects souls. The roles of men affect the soul. This is why we're born, to have an effect on souls. What a blessing it is to be a man, and yet how tragic it is when we are not like the men that God desires. And then in verse 10, say to the righteous, it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.

Now, isn't that interesting? Right here in the middle, it's almost like the subject changes right in midstream. But has it really changed? Isaiah, under the illumination of the Holy Spirit, is just speaking a truth that even in a time of collapse, there are those that it is well with, and they are eating the fruit of their doings. You can live in a society that's in a state of collapse and it can be well with you.

There always will be that remnant for whom it is going well. Blessed shall you be in the city. Blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you go in and blessed shall you be when you go out." This can happen to the people of God in a time of collapse.

It will be well with you, but the counterpoint is also true in verse 11. But woe to the wicked, it shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given to him." And then he switches to the present tense in verse 12. Notice that. As for my people, children are their oppressors. Women rule over them.

Women rule over them. Now, it could mean women in authority generally. It could mean women in authority over men specifically. It could mean effeminate men. These are different positions that are taken.

But it has to do with the distortion of womanhood that places a woman in authority. The Bible doesn't have women in authority. The Bible has women as helpers. This is the creation order, the way that God has designed it. It's interesting, you know, there's this view in evangelical complementarianism today that goes like this.

Men are an authority over women in marriage. Men are an authority over women in marriage. Men are an authority over women in the church. But when it comes to the state, all that gets erased. It doesn't carry over to the state.

When a woman steps outside the door of the church, she's now an authority. She steps outside her home. Now she can rule in reign. It doesn't make any sense to me. But in this broken society, women rule over men.

It's a sign of collapse. It's a sign of the society under judgment. And then we find here in verse 12, leaders mislead. O my people, those who lead you cause you to err and destroy the way of your paths. And then in the final section here, the Lord stands to judge the men.

Notice He's judging the men, the men, the males, the guys. The Lord stands up to plead, verse 13, and stands to judge the people. The Lord will enter into judgment with the elders of his people and his princes, for you have eaten up the vineyard. The plunder of the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor, says the Lord of hosts." He is speaking of these leaders.

He has spoken of all of these different kinds of leaders, the judges, the counselors, all these ones that he has itemized. And he's saying, I'm standing up against you, and I'm going to knock the foundations away. I'm going to destroy all of the supports." And why does God do that? Why does God judge? He judges so that He will restore.

So that out of the ashes comes beauty. That's what God does. He brings beauty for ashes. He cuts away the vine down to the stump, and then it grows back into a beautiful, luxuriant vine. But he's addressing the leaders.

They ate up the vineyard. In other words, they just, they consumed all the resource. Men have a tendency to do that. They have this ideal life. They think they want to live and they consume all the resource of their house, maybe their church, maybe their company, they just waste everything.

Men like that are a curse to a home and a church and a company. You know, it's really interesting when you see the way the government contracts are lent out, how people deal with that money that they get, and they buy things they don't need. They're just plundering. They're eating up the vineyard. But they're really a picture of us, of the rest of society.

They plunder the poor, they crush the people. You know, self-indulgent men are such an enemy of the blessings of God. But here you see a picture of men who really have deprived the blessing of the people of God there in Judah. But God calls for a different kind of man, a kind of man who will stand up and counsel, a man who will stand up and lead, a man who will stand up and judge, a man who will stand up and lead fifty. This is such a blessing when men are a conduit of the blessing.

And what's really the common denominator? They speak and they act. That's the kind of men that we need today. So my heart is grateful that there is a revival of true manhood today. It's such a blessing to my soul to see it.

And I feel very honored to be among men who at least have some desire for it. I know the honest men know they fall so short in all these ways, but they still long for it, they still pray for it, they still feel convicted when they hear the Word of God about it and they want to make progress. It's a blessing to be around men like that who want to continue to take steps forward and who want to teach their sons to be men like, not like this, that are in society. My prayer is that out of this church will come many mighty young men, men who have been spoken to by their fathers, judges, counselors, leaders, valiant men, bold men who care nothing but for the glory of God alone. That's what's being lost in this society here in Isaiah.

Those are the support systems that were being knocked out. Did you ever think of yourself, men, as part of the whole support system of society? Did you ever think of yourself like that? That you were born in the world actually to stand in the gap and to bring beauty for ashes, to bring leadership, to take the world in the right direction. This is manhood.

Manhood says, we're going to go take that hill. Let's go take it. What a beautiful thing. Okay, Let me give you a few applications here. Number one, I know this is obvious, see how God has governed the world in righteousness for blessing, to place men in the world.

You know, there is hope. There is hope as long as there are men in the world, because God can raise a new man out of a dead man. He can make a dead man live. What a blessing that is. There's always hope when a baby boy is born.

You know, God gives a blessing in the world. In Ephesians chapter 4, He gave some as apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. But speaking the truth in love may grow up into all things into Him Who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes the growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. This is part of this picture that must so be restored. He gives men like this to the church.

Here's another application. If you want to make sure that these foundations aren't blown out in your time, know how to conduct yourself in the household of God. 1 Timothy 3.15 says, I write these things that You may know how to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the Church of the Living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. The pillar and ground of the truth. The Church itself, the brothers and the sisters existing together, form this pillar and ground of the truth.

If you desire in your lifetime that the foundations and the supports are not destroyed, be a builder of the Church of Jesus Christ. It is the pillar and ground of the truth. You are the Church. And it's often a church in collapse that causes a nation to fall into collapse. Give your whole heart to the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is the pillar and ground of the truth. Next, be built together on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Ephesians 2, 19 and 20. Therefore, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple to the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. How do you establish the foundations that are mighty?

Well, you build your life on the foundation of Jesus Christ and his apostles and prophets. That's how you do it. There's really no hope for men that aren't founded on Jesus Christ and his prophets and his apostles. Build your life out of Christ, out of the apostles, out of the prophets. That's how you stay the tide.

That's how you keep from the foundations from being shaken and destroyed. Standing upon this cornerstone that Isaiah 28 spoke of, the foundation stone. 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. I will also make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plummet." He is a foundation stone.

He said, I will lay in Zion a foundation stone. The Lord Jesus Christ as the center of everything is really our only hope for having the foundations secure in the society. He is that stone. Remember the consequences of standing on that stone, on that chief cornerstone. Jesus Christ spoke of it in Matthew 21.

He said, have you never read the scriptures? The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone? This was the Lord's doing and it was marvelous and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and be given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. And whoever falls on this stone will be broken, but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.

Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived he was speaking of them." The consequences of not grounding every single aspect, every micro part of your life on Jesus Christ is that it will be taken away from you. Like the Pharisees, they were wiped off the face of the earth because they did not build their life out of Jesus Christ and out of Him alone. First Peter spoke of the same thing. So bottom line, Christ is our only hope in a time of collapse. He's the captain of our salvation.

He is the judge. He is our counselor. He is our faithful high priest. He is the leader of fifty. He's the leader of thousands.

He's the one. Charles Spurgeon, in his final sermon before he died, spoke of how the Lord Jesus Christ stands with His people to fill the gap. And it really speaks so much of the beauty of a man in the world who is a counselor, a counselor for holy things, who has holy things in his mind because he's filled his whole soul with holy things. And what happens? He becomes like Christ.

And here's what Spurgeon said about the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the most magnanimous of captains. He is the choicest of princes. He is always found to be in the thickest part of the battle. When the wind blows cold, He always takes the bleak side of the hill.

The heaviest end of the cross lies on his shoulders. If he bids us carry a burden, he carries it also. If there is anything gracious, generous, kind, and tender, yea lavish and super abundant in love, You always find it in Him. His service is life, peace and joy that you would enter onto it at once." The answer? The Lord Jesus Christ.

Saturated with Jesus, filled up with the knowledge of His will, with all spiritual wisdom and understanding, to become a conduit of blessing, to rise up in your generation and open your mouth in a parable, to speak of the great marvels of the pure, holy Scripture when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up. Are you up for it? Is that the life? That is the life. Let's pray.

O Lord, we pray that you would help us in the very imperfect ways. We've understood these things in time past, but I do thank you. I praise you that you have lit a fire in men's hearts. Men in this room, oh I praise you, oh Lord. You are so kind to us.

You have not kicked out all the supports. And here they are standing in this room, all of us together, the great supports of the blessing from heaven. Oh Father, prosper them, encourage them, help them, give them joy in your presence, give them fire from heaven, Give them fruit that lasts. Amen.