The sermon titled 'When They Say To You' explores the theme of discerning truth according to Isaiah 8:19-20. The speaker warns against various voices and sources that claim to offer truth but stand apart from or contradict the Word of God, emphasizing that such sources have no light in them. The sermon draws parallels with biblical stories, such as Genesis 3, where voices question God's Word. It stresses the importance of judging every truth claim against Scripture, which is described as an unwavering standard and a source of light and truth. The speaker cautions against reducing the message to just occult practices, highlighting that broader sources outside of God's revelation can also lead believers astray. Through references to Colossians 2:8 and Hosea 5:11-13, the sermon illustrates how philosophies, traditions, and worldly principles can deceive and cheat believers by offering empty promises. The message encourages believers to run to the Word of God, which should hold the dominant position in their lives as the ultimate plumb line and source of truth. The sermon concludes by emphasizing that all Scripture points to Jesus, who is the centerpiece and fulfillment of biblical promises.

The text today is Isaiah 8 verses 19 and 20. The title of the message is, When they say to you... There will be people coming to say something to you. And so Isaiah, speaking for God, comes and tells us about those people who are going to say something to us and what we should do about it. The message is about the many voices that claim to offer truth.

So they come with an offer, truth. But it's truth apart from God, there is no such thing. Even in some cases, in open contradiction to the Word of God. So just know this, according to Isaiah, a lot of people are going to be coming to you over the course of your lifetime, many, many, many, many people coming to you through many different sources to say there are sources of truth apart from God and sometimes in open contradiction to God and this arms us for what we should do when that happens. Of course this is not new.

We are studying Isaiah hundreds of years before Jesus Christ, but it wasn't new in the time of Isaiah either. We encountered it in Genesis chapter 3. Someone coming to Eve to say, Did God really say that? You will not surely die. So this is as old as the garden.

Here is the text, Isaiah chapter 8, verses 19 and 20. And when they say to you, seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter, Should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and the testimony. If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

Let's pray. God, I thank you for your word. Pray that you would help me and help us judge every source claiming to offer truth against this word. It would be an unwavering standard for us. Help us to identify the influence that we have handed to people who have made these claims, we can't deliver on them.

Be free of them, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, if you got a handout, you see there's just two headings. What they say and what we should do. So, what they say.

They say, seek those who are mediums and wizards. Some translations instead of wizards say spiritists. Mediums, those who think they are going back and forth between this world and the next, and spiritists who whisper and mutter. Whisper and mutter. Yet, these sources who claim to have special insight, so this is the claim, special insight, and claim to have the truth do not speak according to this word.

So they have lots to say but doesn't measure up to the standard of Scripture. The reason is because there is no light in them. So they're making truth claims, but it's not according to Scripture and there is no light in them." Now, who are they? Who are these undefined people? They say.

They are those people who believe that they have found the insight you need to navigate the challenges and difficulties and problems in your life. Do you have challenges in your life? Do you have difficulties in your life? Do you have problems in your life? They have the answer!

They have the insight you need. So they point you to those sources, or they claim to be those sources. Now, a plea from me to you. Are you prepared to be begged? I'm prepared to beg you.

I beg you not to reduce this just to the occult, the practitioners of witchcraft. If you do, suddenly this text has nothing to do with you. You think this is a text that has nothing to do with you. I think this is a text that has everything to do with us. Yes, people claiming to have other worldly sources of truth are an extreme version of this.

So, God through Isaiah goes to the far end of the continuum. But does that mean there's not a continuum? No. That's not what that means. This is more fundamentally about something much more broad than just the occult witchcraft.

Here is the broad category. Sources that stand apart from the revelation of truth from the God of Scripture to mankind. Sources that stand apart from the revelation of truth from the God of Scripture to mankind. That's what we think this is. This book is the Word of God.

The revelation of truth from the God of Scripture, He tells us who He is to mankind. He hasn't left us just with our own thoughts coming out of minds that since Genesis chapter 3 have experienced severe corruption. He hasn't just left us with corrupt minds. He has given us an unmoving, unwavering, unchanging word. Sources who do not speak according to this word have no light in them sources that stand apart from the Word of God have no light in them.

What's another way to say that? Darkness. Light's not very variable. I mean, I guess it could be bright or not bright, but you know the difference between light and darkness. These are poles.

These are polar opposites. If there's no light in you, it's darkness. They say go get what you need here. Your challenges, your difficulties, your problems need this, believe me. What are those sources?

Well the Apostle Paul takes a crack at answering that question when he writes to the Colossian believers. So you can turn there if you want. I just have a single verse. It's Colossians chapter 2 verse 8. So what are these sources that stand apart from the Word of God who claim to offer truth but do not speak according to the word of God and so there is no light in them.

In other words, they're darkness. What are these sources? Paul takes a crack at that question in Colossians 2 verse 8. Paul writes this to his brethren, his brothers and sisters in the Colossians church. Colossians 2 verse 8, Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ." So The Apostle Paul issues a warning.

Paul says, Believer, there are sources of so-called truth making offers of what they say is truth, but they aren't truth and they'll cheat you. I always appreciate it when people warn me about things that will cheat me. Anybody like to be cheated? Nobody likes to be cheated. You can't get the world to agree on anything.

We all agree on this one point. Nobody likes to be cheated. Paul is actually telling you about things that will cheat you. Okay, Paul, what are they? What, like what?

Like philosophy, what is philosophy? Here's the Google answer. The study of fundamental questions about existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. It explores the nature of reality, what's real, what's not real, what's moral, what's not moral, ethics, and the meaning of life. So a framework for the big questions.

You know it by the word worldview. Through what do you view the world to make sense of what you see? What's the framework that helps you make sense of what you're seeing? Philosophy, your philosophy, you have one. Did you know you have one?

You have one. Everyone has one. They're not all good. They're not all bad. Everyone has one.

Your philosophy are the lenses through which you see and interpret everything around you. You know there's something between you and the things that you see through which you see them and through which you interpret them. You might have heard someone say, he sees everything through rose-colored glasses. You know what that means? He sees, and imagine this, if you just tinted the lenses in my glasses rose-colored, everything would be rosy.

For me, oh that's rosy, that's rosy, that's rosy. Everything's rosy because I'm looking through tinted lenses. So this is what you have to know. We're all looking through tinted lenses. And We're seeing through them and we're interpreting everything through them.

What's an example of this? The philosophical structure, the philosophy, that human beings are basically good. You know that's the majority report. If you ask a hundred people, 80 of them are going to tell you Human beings are basically good. That's either true or not true.

But in any event, those are tinted lenses through which you see, if you hold that, the world, and you interpret things through those lenses. You draw conclusions from those lenses. You make determinations about what the problem is through those lenses. You make determinations about how you solve those problems through those lenses. Human beings are basically good, and so our great need is better education.

The problem is, the problems that we see around us are because we don't have the right education and we'll fix it by better education. Is that what the Bible says? No! Bible says that our nature is twisted at the core. Ok, these are two radically irreconcilable worldviews, philosophy, radically irreconcilable worldviews, philosophy, tinted lenses, through which you see and interpret the world.

Paul speaks of empty deceit. Jude 12, Jude's a single chapter, so there's no chapter two. So when you see Jude, what comes after it is just the verse number because there are no chapters. So Jude, verse 12, talks about these people who push empty deceit and Jude says that they are one, self-serving, two, clouds without water, three, late autumn trees without fruit. That's good to know.

Empty the Seat. I think that's a good definition of empty the seat. People come and it is self-serving. What's the motive for them and their truth claims? Looking out for number one, looking out for themselves.

They are clouds without water. Who needs a cloud without water? Clouds come with the promise of rain. People in drought see a cloud and hope for rain. There's no rain with that cloud, then it's just a promise that can never be kept.

That's what a cloud without water is. It's a promise that will never be kept. Late autumn trees without fruit. If you don't have the fruit by late autumn, you're not going to get it. Late autumn trees without fruit, like a cloud without water.

It's just a re-saying coming at it from a different angle. Promises made, promises that can never be kept, only you don't know until it's too late for you. It's not too late for them because they're self-serving. They're looking out for number one and they get what they want and by the time you realize that cloud doesn't have any water, it's past the time of fruit, it's late autumn, and we haven't had any fruit. Those people will be nowhere to be found.

What is an example of the purveyors, the offerers of empty deceit, clouds without water? How about the prosperity gospel? This is a point. It doesn't have to come from outside of professing Christianity. Often this comes from inside professing Christianity.

Of course there are all sorts of examples outside. I know that, but here's one from inside, the Prosperity Gospel, the Health and Wealth Gospel. What Jesus purchased in His work on the cross is for you to always be healthy and for you to live the life. Where every day is a Friday. Hot dog.

And by the way, when it doesn't work, it's your fault. You didn't believe hard enough. Your faith wasn't solid enough. That guy is gone with your money. Paul speaks of the tradition of men.

Did you know that inherent value in consensus? Zero. Inherent value, meaning by definition, consensus is valuable. What? The crowd can't ever be wrong?

Now, if you've been alive enough, you know consensus is almost a demerit. This is an aside. I think I have time to chase a rabbit, so let me chase this one. I had a friend who had some mockery of the workplace signs, you know, inspiring signs, soar like an eagle and all those things that show the mountains and the eagles and workplaces are typically full of them. The bigger the organization, the more ridiculous signs they have.

And so there is a cottage industry mocking these signs, which I delight in, and one of those said, none of us is as dumb as all of us. Just seizing on this truth that often consensus is an indication of falsehood and not of truth. So anytime you hear these words, the science is settled. Beware! Run!

Because the real scientists don't talk like that. They don't talk like that. They're not afraid of following truth anywhere it goes. In other words, how do you separate truth from falsehood? Count noses.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, say yay. 1, 2, say no. The eyes have it. That's not how you separate truth from falsehood. You think truth cares how many people vote for it?

What is an example of the tradition of men? Dead, moralistic religion passed from one generation to the other. To the other, to the other, to the other, to the other, to the other. Religion, that's good. Really?

Islam is good. Christless Judaism is good. Hinduism is good. Lifeless professing Christianity is good. Hippocritical Christianity is good.

None of that's good, but it's passed from one generation to the other. That's the easy thing to pass. The hard thing to pass from one generation to the other is lively Christianity, real heart Christianity. We can pass on moralism to our children. Paul speaks of the basic principles of the world.

Basic, like foundational principles of the world. What the world is building on. What is an example? Got one for the youths. YOLO.

Let's YOLO. You only live once. That is used to give cover for all kinds of stupidity. That's not only, I've seen it used in ways that I think are perfectly fine. By the way, you didn't invent YOLO.

Your generation didn't invent YOLO. Before you, it was Carpe Diem, live for today. We were so much more sophisticated than you. We use Latin. You use lame acronyms, we use Latin.

You only live once, meaning get all you can today. Don't invest long term. Don't say no to anything. If it sounds fun, chase it. A world says, look within.

Is this not true? The world says look within. The answers are within. Trust your heart. The Bible says no, no!

Don't trust your heart. It is deceitful above all things. It's the last thing you should be trusting. Look without. Okay, the world says look within, the answers are there.

The Bible says no, look without. Trust this. Your heart will deceive you. This will never deceive you. Diametrically opposed opposites that are irreconcilable.

But if you count the noses, trust your heart, we'll win the day. But the Bible says there is a broad road. Oh, where does it take you? To destruction! There's a narrow road that leads to life, and it's hard.

More precious promises from Scripture. There are lots of precious promises in Scripture. There are so many sweetnesses. But the Bible is not blind either. It doesn't leave you blind.

Amen. These things, philosophy, empty deceit, the tradition of man, the basic principles of the Word, are set forward as sources of truth, but they are not according to Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life. So in the end, they cheat you. They take from you. They rob you.

They leave you worse off when they promised better off. They promised you things and they leave you worse off. They are appealing in certain ways and that's the hook. They're appealing in certain ways. They can appear logical.

They definitely grab onto the weaknesses of the corruption of our nature, So they're always telling us things that we really like hearing, but in the end they cheat us. Believer, beware! This is the word of Paul. Believer, beware! There's these list of things that will cheat you.

Listen to the prophet Hosea. I just happened to be in Hosea, my Bible reading plan this week, and I thought, wow, this is for Sunday. This is Hosea chapter 5, verses 11 through 13. Hosea 5, 11 through 13. So, Ephraim, that's a synonym for Israel, the northern kingdom, the ten tribes.

Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment because he willingly walked by human precept. So Israel, the northern kingdom, is being crushed. Why? God, why are you crushing them? Because they willingly walked by human precept.

Therefore I will be to Ephraim like a moth and to the house of Judah like rottenness. When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah saw his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to King Jerob, yet he cannot cure you nor heal you of your wound." So what is Israel being condemned for? Willingly walking by human precept. They have problems, challenges, troubles. Where do they go?

They went to the Assyrians. They sent to the Assyrian king, Jerob. God says, he king, Jerob. God says, he can't cure you. So this actually has a connection with Psalm 73 in last week.

You see the wicked prospering? They apparently have the solution to my problems. Apparently they've solved them. Living for God seems to be in vain. Remember that from Psalm 73?

Like what was the good of cleansing my way? They must have the answers. That is the wrong conclusion from the data. So that is what they say. Seek sources of truth outside of the Word of God.

This is what Paul says, don't be cheated. Don't be cheated. What you should do, What they say, what you should do. What should we do? We should run, not walk, to the Word of God.

Don't walk, Run! To the law and to the testimony, to the Bible, to the Scriptures, to this book that is openly despised and contradicted in our nation for the first time in our history. Do you understand? That's true. Now, is this the first time it's been despised and contradicted?

No. It's just the first time that you can get wide applause for it. Despising it and contradicting it. This is a new age. Oh well, You can despise it and you can contradict it if you must.

But as for me, to the law and to the testimony. I'm not walking to it, I'm running to it. Why? Because it's light. I need light.

If I'm going to walk without falling, I have to have light. These other sources have no light in them. They are darkness. But this book is light. This book is truth.

This book is right. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous all together more to be desired are they than gold yay then much fine gold sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb moreover by them your servant is warned and in keeping them there is great reward." That's Psalm 19 verses 7 through 11. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. That's 2 Timothy 3 verses 16 and 17. The word of God is the plumb line.

What's a plumb line? A weight on a string. What do you need it for? It tells you vertical. And it's never wrong because of gravity.

So when you're building a wall, you don't do it by eye. You do it by a plumb line. So as you build, you're checking, is it vertical? Is it vertical? Is it vertical?

Because a small error at the base compounds as you build. So you need a plumb line, you need a weight on a string that shows you vertical, that you can keep checking and keep checking. I'm on course, I'm on course, I'm on course as I'm building. It's a reference line. You measure things against it to see if you're on course.

I want you to imagine a bookshelf, multiple shelves on the top shelf. The top shelf, one book. No other books allowed on that shelf. What's the book? It's the Bible.

The other shelves have other books, but there's one book above them all, and they have to pass the test of that book, every shelf beneath. Every shelf beneath. Doesn't pass the test. They sit beneath that the master book. That should be your figurative bookshelf.

Bookshelf, mini-shelves, top shelf, one book. No other book gets to go on the top shelf. Every other source, every other book measured against it. You set the other book beside the plumb line to see if it's straight or not. That's how you know.

Why? Because the Assyrian king, King Jerob, he can't cure you. He says, oh I've got the insight that will help you with your problems, your challenges. In the end, he can't cure you. Listen to Jesus.

That's a good principle. Listen to Jesus. Matthew chapter 7 verses 24 through 27. Matthew 7, 24 through 27. Jesus says, Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain descended the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

But everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like the foolish man who built his house on the sand and the rain descended the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house and it fell and great was its fall." Two very different stories, but they're the same in this way. The rains come. The rains are coming. The flood is coming. The only question is, what are you building on?

Build on Jesus is the common preaching theme of this text. So far so good. I don't want to separate Jesus from His Word, but the text actually says, He who hears these sayings of mine and does them. We're talking about what Jesus has said. Please don't reduce that to the red letters.

He is the Word of God. The sayings of Jesus are a rock and it really is all the words. So, when the voices come offering other sources of truth that are not according to the Word of God, we say to the law and to the Testimony. We run not walk there. Applications, I'll give you four.

One, in the form of a question. Are you seeking the whisperers and mutterers who do not speak according to the word of God because there is no light in them? Are you doing that? The answer is yes. When I listen to their podcasts, when I sing along to their music, I can't memorize scripture, but man, I can remember the songs.

When I watch their movies, when I bring them into my inner circle personally, I am seeking them out. Nobody's making me do that, right? Right? Turn off the spigot. Turn off the spigot.

Tell them, you're fired. To the law and to the testimony. I am realizing that I consider way too much to be harmless. Well, it's all harmless. All these inputs, all these influences are harmless.

Are they? Are they neutral? Stop handing influence to the whisperers and mutterers. Any input that normalizes things that the Bible warns us against is exactly what is in view. The Bible says watch out for this and we have inputs that normalize it.

That's what's in view Because it's not according to the Word of God, and there's no light in them. Listen to this. This is so penetrating. Isaiah 5 verses 20 and 21. Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who put darkness for light, light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight. So, woe is just a word like warning of damage, of impending disaster, warning of impending disaster, woe to those who call woe to those who call evil good. Can you think of any examples of that? Normalizing of things that scripture calls an abomination. Like we're swimming in it.

Here's all I'm saying. I'm not accusing anybody of anything. I might be the worst offender. But we're swimming in the normalizing of things that scripture calls evil, but the inputs are calling good. We're swimming and God says whoa.

It's a warning of impending disaster. Or does the opposite. Things that the Bible says, this is good. And when you count the noses, they say no, that's evil. When we drink in the inputs that are calling evil good and good evil, we are handing influence to that.

Oh, I can partake and I won't be colored at all by that. You fool. You fool. Of course you will be. Of course I am being.

So the question isn't am I? The question is how much and where. How much and where. Here's my recommendation for something very concrete. Identify one thing to fire.

You're fired. Okay, Identify one thing to fire now and reclaim that influence for the word of God. Take away the influence from that input that is calling evil good or good evil. Take away the influence and give it to the word of God. Just one thing.

You can't find one thing. I'll give you one of mine. I can find more than one thing. Number two. Beware of yes, yes, all that but, and by yes, yes, all that, they mean this.

It's like skipping right over the top. Oh yeah. Yeah, we're in sync on this, yeah the Bible, but also beware of that. So much of what is not according to God's Word, and there's no light in it, falls under that category. People who are happy to concede, oh yeah, we all like the Bible, that's good, but also this other thing.

Beware of that. Pat the Bible on the head and send it on its way and now talk about this thing that is solve your problem. There is a lot of secular everything, meaning worldly everything, meaning no foundation in Scripture at all, but happy to pat the Bible on the head. Yeah, oh yeah, oh all good. Yeah, the gospel, gospel, gospel, gospel, gospel, and this other thing.

Be aware of that. Number three, consider proportion. Proportion. Give the Bible the dominant position. Give the Bible the dominant position.

This is a real temptation for me, risk for me, danger for me. Why is that? Man, I love me some Matthew Henry. J.C. Ryle.

Wait till we get to Luke. All the J.C. Ryle quotes are going to be flown from this pulpit. You can give away the dominant position even with other good things, but there's nothing like scripture. What's the proportion?

Am I giving the dominant position to Scripture? We should be. There's nothing better than it. It actually explains itself better than Matthew Henry explains it. You get that right?

We'd be fine without Matthew Henry. We won't be fine without the Bible. Number four, never forget that Jesus is the centerpiece of Scripture. So everything that I've said up to this point could actually just take you to moralism. Hey, the Bible says good things, do the good things.

But the Bible doesn't tell you to do that. The Old Testament is to prove our desperate need for a Savior and the promises of the Savior. And the New Testament is about the Savior and the fulfillment of those promises. Here's the Bible in 10 seconds. Desperate need and promises and the promises fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

And That's so clear that the Bible is saying that. It's not me claiming something about the Bible that the Bible doesn't claim for itself. That's why I can't wait to get to Luke. It's been five years, five and a half years now since we finished John. Let's get to a gospel.

Love it. Can't wait. The sources of truth, air quotes, the sources of truth that divert us from scripture, ultimately divert us from Jesus. This is the huge risk. These sources of truth that are taking us away from scripture are taking away for Jesus because he's the centerpiece of scripture.

Let's pray. God thank you for your word to whatever degree that I've handed influence to those who Call evil good and good evil. God forgive me and redirect me now. That your word would have the dominant position. It would be the plumb line that everything is built next to, to ensure that this is sound building.

Thank you for setting forth Jesus, convincing us of our need for Him and then setting Him forth in the Scriptures. In Jesus' name, amen.