ISAIAH 322008 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Isaiah 32

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2008. Now, here in the book of Isaiah, we're reading the words of Isaiah, of God really, through Isaiah, to the nation of Judah.

Specifically, we've been looking at Judah in these past few weeks and we'll continue to look in the next week or so.

Last week, if you remember, I just want to recap because it really kind of goes right along with what we'll be looking at tonight. Last week we covered chapters 30 and 31 and we talked about really the difference between the flesh and the spirit and really the need to seek God and his ways and his counsel, his advice and his plans whenever we come up against difficult situations.

And so it was a call to rely on the Lord, seek the Lord, and walk in the Spirit. Now here in chapter 32, Isaiah, it's not exactly in line. It's not part of the same prophecy or message. But a lot of the things are the same or similar in that it's a call really to rely upon the Lord, to repent and to come back and get right with Him.

It's a promise of blessing that is to come. But that blessing that is to come is also going to be preceded by some difficulties, some hard times, and the need for repentance that the Holy Spirit might be poured out upon the nation of Judah. And so we start out in chapter 32, verse 1, it says this,

Behold, a king will reign in righteousness and princes will rule with justice.

A man will be as a hiding place from the wind and a cover from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. The eyes of those who see will not be dim, and the ears of those who hear will listen. Also the hearts of the rash will understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers will be ready to speak plainly.

Here in the first four verses of chapter 32, we have the promise of a king that will come. Behold, a king will reign in righteousness. This is a wonderful event. This is a wonderful promise. The people rejoice when the righteous reign. Because, well, there's great blessing that comes with righteousness. Righteousness.

Now, during the time of this prophecy, it would seem that the king of Judah at this time is not a good king. His name is Ahaz, and he continually turned people away from the Lord. After Ahaz, his son, there was going to be a good king, really a great king, probably the best king next to David for the nation of Israel.

for the nation of Judah rather, he was going to be a king that would bring the people back to right relationship with God. His name was Hezekiah. And Hezekiah, Ahaz's son, did a tremendous work in allowing God to bring spiritual revival to the nation. The people were turned back to God.

And so, as often we see, the prophecies that we see here have dual fulfillments. There's an immediate fulfillment as Isaiah is prophesying this

During the reign of Ahaz, there would be the fulfillment in King Hezekiah, who would bring great revival to the nation. But ultimately, for many of these things, we'll see the ultimate fulfillment is when Jesus Christ comes, the true king of righteousness, and he establishes his kingdom later on during the millennial period.

But let's look at Hezekiah for just a moment. If you'd like to check it out later, I would encourage you to. You can read about Hezekiah and the things that he did in 2 Chronicles 29-32. And he was a king who did great things for God. His father was not a good man. In fact, in 2 Chronicles 28-19 says,

It tells us that the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz, king of Israel, for he had encouraged moral decline in Judah and had been continually unfaithful to the Lord. Ahaz was a man who was continually unfaithful to the Lord, and as a result of him, God brought Judah low. God brought Judah low.

God had really humbled them or humiliated them is what that word is talking about. He brought them low because they were continually unfaithful to God. But Hezekiah, on the other hand, in chapter 29 of 2 Chronicles, it tells us that he did what was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father David had done. Now, on Sunday, I believe I shared about...

the pattern that we see in the book of Kings, in that the nation of Judah had various kings after David, and it was about every other king was good, and the in-between kings were bad. But it would often say that this king, he loved the Lord, or he was loyal to the Lord, and it would add on this phrase at the end, and yet the high places were not removed. And

And so he was a good king, but he didn't go all the way in bringing reform and cleaning house, but he left some pockets of idolatry and really did not deal with everything, but he himself was loyal to God and loved God. Well, Hezekiah is the exception to that pattern.

Hezekiah actually does get rid of idolatry. And he goes out of his way and makes sure they knock down all of the altars to the false gods. And they knock down all of the idols. And they clean house really, not just the house, but all of the nation and get rid of that junk. He was a king who really reigned in righteousness.

He was a king who brought the people back to right relationship with God. There were some kings who were good, who loved God, but they didn't do anything as far as bringing the people back to a relationship with God. They just themselves personally had a relationship with God. But Hezekiah goes and brings the people and incorporates the people and draws them back. And so we see a great revival taking place

There in Hezekiah's reign, a king will reign in righteousness. It says in verse 2, a man will be as a hiding place from the wind and a cover from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. And so he gives now some pictures of what this king of righteousness will be like.

He'll be like a hiding place from the wind, some protection and cover from the wind and the biting wind that would come. As rivers of water in a dry place, and so there's going to be some refreshment. It's going to be so refreshing to have a righteous king, to have a spiritual revival as the shadow of a great rock.

Out in the middle of the desert, you can imagine the sun beating down on you and how wonderful it is to find some shade and a little bit of coolness. And there's that protection, there's that shelter, there's that refreshment that comes. And that is likened to this king of righteousness. He goes on to talk about the eyes of those who see will not be dim and the ears of those who hear will listen. It's going to be a spiritual awakening.

Now, if you remember last week, we talked about those who are crying out to the seers, don't see. Hey, you prophets, don't prophesy. Take God out of the picture. We don't want to hear anything about God. But here, the exact opposite is true. They're saying, those who have eyes will see. There's going to be vision. There's going to be proclamation. There's going to be the word of the Lord. He says, the heart of the rash will understand knowledge. What kind of knowledge?

Well, in the reign of Hezekiah, one of the first things he did was he reinstated those who would teach the word, those who would teach the good knowledge of the Lord. And so we're talking about a spiritual revival. And again, 2 Chronicles 29 and the following chapters detail for us those things that Hezekiah did to begin this revival in the hearts of the people. Let me list for you just a few things that Hezekiah did.

the first thing that he did was he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. Ahaz, his father, a wicked king, had shut them up. Instead of encouraging people to draw close to God, he had discouraged people and set up altars and closed the house of the Lord. But Hezekiah, the first year of his reign, the first month, first things first, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord.

Next thing, chapter 29 of 2 Chronicles tells us is that he reinstated the Levites, those who would take care of the house of the Lord, those who would manage those things and allow people to come and worship. As the Levites are reinstated, then the next thing that happens is they clean out the house of God. They go get all the junk out and all the defiled things and they make it set apart completely holy unto the Lord.

They're also in that chapter, they begin the sacrifices again. They begin to offer the sacrifices to God, the sin offerings and the burnt offerings and so on and so forth. In the next chapter, in chapter 30 of 2 Chronicles, Hezekiah calls all the people to celebrate the feast of Passover. To remember what God did for them in delivering them from Egypt. To obey God in what he said, that it would be a memorial feast.

Forever and ever, the Passover celebration. In chapter 31, it tells us that Hezekiah goes and he destroys all of the idols, all of the high places. Also, in chapter 31, the last thing I'll point out about Hezekiah's reforms is that he commands again that there would be the collection of tithes and offerings, that people would bring their firstfruits to the Lord and be obedient to God.

Hezekiah called the people back to right relationship with God. It started with opening up the house of the Lord. It started with reinstating the Levites who would take care and cleaning house and taking care of those things, the defiled things, and really letting the house of the Lord be set apart and sanctified to God. It also included the Passover, celebrating and remembering in obedience to God what He had done for them.

Getting rid of all the old false gods, all the junk, all of the idolatry. Much of what we talked about on Sunday is really what Hezekiah did. He cleaned house. He got rid of the junk. He got rid of the false gods. And he brought people back into right relationship with God. Starting a spiritual revival within the people. And I know we often hear about and we love to talk about the need for revival here in our generation and our time. And it is true.

But it really needs to start with ourselves. And so I would challenge you and I would encourage you again to read through the story of Hezekiah. And to consider for yourself, for you to open the doors of the house of the Lord. How important it is. Are you opening the doors of the house of the Lord? See, the door is shut right now. When you came in, you had to open it. Are you opening? Are you regularly attending? Are you being a part of the services? Are you being a part of the fellowship?

Are you opening up and making ways to meet with God? Now, often we just wait until it's convenient. There was some work that had to be done because the doors weren't just closed. They weren't just locked, but they were barricaded. They were blocked. He had to really do some digging in order to open up the doors of the house of the Lord. In the same way in our lives, sometimes...

We pile up things and there's some things prohibiting and if we wait till it's convenient, we're going to be waiting a long time. We need to really do our diligence and get right with God to open up the doors of the house of the Lord, to reinstate the Levites and clean house.

To be a servant. And really dedicate ourselves to taking care of the filth and the things that are in our lives and in our hearts, that are in our homes, that are in our church, that must not be there, that should not be there. We need to clean house. Sacrifices. Now, we have the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus Christ. And we need to look to Him and rely upon Him. It's not about works. It's not about what we do.

But it's about our relationship with God. Getting right with God. Approaching God on the basis of our faith in Jesus Christ. But at the same time, we need to be obedient. And so we need to celebrate the Passover. As we remember what God has done, we need to celebrate what He has done for us in delivering us and redeeming us. And at the same time, we can't have this relationship with God with all of these idols and high places in our lives. These are the things that take the place of God.

Other areas that we worship. One of the things about Ahaz, we read this morning in reading through the Bible in a year. Well, not necessarily this morning. I read it this morning. I don't know when you read it. But Ahaz, he went to Damascus and he saw this other altar that he really liked. And so,

He had them build himself an altar like that. And so there in the courtyard of the house of the Lord, he had this other altar and then he had the Lord's altar. And the other altar is where he did most of his worship. But then he had the altar that Solomon had made, the altar that was really meant for people to approach God and worship God and offer their sacrifices to God. And it says he kept that one in order to inquire of the Lord.

But everything else he did on this new altar that he really liked, he thought it was cool. Now, here's the thing. See, he's worshiping, he's doing really what's not right.

He's worshiping these other gods, making these other sacrifices, but when things really came down to it, he knew where to go. He would go back to the other altar, okay, now Lord, I really need to hear from you. And we have that in our lives, don't we? We have all these other things that we're consumed with and caught up with, and they take priority in our lives, but then we're really in trouble. Well, we know where to go. And then we go, okay, now I'm coming right, okay, God, I really need to hear from you, and so I'm coming back to this altar. Okay.

Hezekiah, what he did was he made things right. He got rid of all the junk. He got rid of all the other idols. He got rid of the high places. If you want a revival in your life, if you want to see this generation experience revival, it starts with us. So we need to open the doors of the house of the Lord and clean house and serve God and sacrifice to Him. Celebrate what He has done for us and get rid of the false gods and honor Him with our first fruits. Revival starts with ourselves. And then as you take these steps,

Then also include those areas that you have authority within your home, within your workplace, within your neighborhood, wherever God has given you authority and given you disciples. Then pass on these things. But we need to take the steps first. And so I want to encourage you to start a spiritual revival, a renewal in your life and allow God to do a fresh new work in you.

That's what we see here. The King of righteousness will bring. He'll be a great refreshing. There'll be spiritual revival and renewal. Eyes will see. They won't be dim. They'll hear. Knowledge will be proclaimed. Those who stumbled and stuttered will be able to speak plainly the knowledge of God. That's what I want in my life. To be an accurate representation of Jesus Christ. To hear from Him. To see what He is doing and the work that He wants to accomplish.

Let's move on. Verses 5 through 8. He says,

Here in verses 5 through 8, basically what we're seeing is evil and good being exposed for what they truly are. There's a lot of deception. There's a lot of hypocrisy going on. And the foolish...

It's called generous or noble. The foolish is thought to be generous. And how true that is, well then and even today, we see that. Remember back in Isaiah chapter 5, Isaiah said, "...woe to those who call evil good and good evil."

There's a pronouncement of sorrow or judgment for those who call evil good and good evil. And that's what's going on here. Except for now they're being exposed for what they truly are. See, as the king of righteousness comes in, as the righteousness is now the rule, righteousness is the standard, well, it's very clear that these guys, these fools, they don't measure up. This is something we need to be prepared for if we want a spiritual revival in our heart.

As you open the doors, as you reinstate the Levites and serve God and clean house and destroy the altars and you get right with God and you begin this revival, understand you're bringing in the light. You open up the doors, the light of God will shine in and there's going to be some things exposed. God will expose and show foolishness for foolishness and goodness for goodness.

The schemes of the schemer are evil, verse 7 says. He devises wicked plans. But, in verse 7, the generous man devises generous things and by generosity he shall stand. When the standard is righteousness, it'll be clear. The fools devise wickedness. They speak foolishness.

They won't be able to deceive or pretend to make you think that they're super spiritual any longer, that they're righteous or that they're right on. No, the fools will be exposed for what they are. And when you open up the house of the Lord, when you begin this revival in your hearts, yeah, there's going to be those areas that will be exposed for what they truly are. We're quick to deceive ourselves and think, well, I'm really righteous, especially in this area. And as God shines His light, you need to be prepared.

for what God will show you. Sometimes, you know, we say, Lord, show me anything. Is there anything in my life? And that's kind of a scary prayer to ask. Are you ready to deal with that? Are you ready to let God show you that you might turn that over to Him? Are you ready to repent of those things? God will expose what is true. Ephesians chapter 5 talks about this as well. The light that exposes darkness and shows it for what it truly is.

And so we need to walk in the light. Verse 9, Verse 11, Verse 12,

There's a righteous king that's coming for us. What are we to do? What shall we do? Here Isaiah, he makes his call. Really, the Lord makes his call through Isaiah to those women who are at ease. Those who are complacent. He uses the word complacent three times in these three verses. Complacent means to have confidence or boldness, trust. Now, a lot of times we talk about confidence and boldness as good things, but these who are at ease...

Their confidence is not in the Lord. He says, in a year and some days, in verse 10, you will be troubled, you complacent women, for the vintage will fail, the gathering will not come. We learn here that their gods and what they were confident in was not the Lord, but in the vintage, in the vine, in the harvest that would be reaped and the bountiful blessings that they expected, the gathering from the crop.

They were complacent. They were confident and bold in the midst of their unrighteousness. Remember, as Isaiah is writing these things, Ahaz is king. The people are walking away from God. They haven't been revived yet. There hasn't been a spiritual renewal yet. And so it's a great message for you and I to not be comfortable in sin.

to not be confident in self, to not be confident in the economy, which there's not a whole lot of confidence there right now, but to not be confident in the things of this life and the things that we expect, our confidence, our trust, our hope needs to be in God. And so he says, hey, rise up, you women who are at ease. Hear my voice, you complacent daughters.

Pay attention because there's a time coming that's going to be a great trouble. There's going to be a barrenness. And you're not going to experience the blessings that you're expecting to experience. And so he tells them in verse 11, four things. Tremble, be troubled, strip yourselves, and gird sackcloth on your waist. These are all issues of repentance or elements of repentance. To tremble, to be troubled, not to be at ease.

There's a great danger for us as Christians if we become comfortable or complacent in the midst of sin. Although it happens, it's a great danger. It happens that we become complacent even when our confidence is in something else other than the Lord. But it's a great danger. And so we need to be troubled. We need to tremble. To strip yourself and gird sackcloth on your waist. Again, it's the picture of repentance. There needs to be repentance. Repentance.

We need to call out to God. We need to turn from the confidence and the materialistic nature and the things that we've been focusing on and putting our trust in. We need to tremble and fear the Lord and put our hope and confidence and trust in Him.

He describes this hard time, these tragedies that will be coming in verses 12-14. It says,

because the palaces will be forsaken. The bustling city will be deserted. The forts and towers will become like lairs forever. A joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks. There's great tragedy here. Desolation that comes. People are going to mourn because the fields aren't producing. Now again, remember what 2 Chronicles 28, 19 says, the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz.

Because of his continual unfaithfulness to God, there was a great humbling of the nation of Judah. And that's what we see here. The humbling, the being brought low. It's interesting, as we were waiting to hear back on how Elsa's mom was doing, I was there with some of the family. Elsa's sister was there. And you can pray for her. She's not really a believer. But

We were talking about the whole housing market and crisis and everything and she said something very interesting and just, you know, flat out, kind of speaks boldly without hesitation like Elsa does. And...

He runs the family. And she said it's greed on both parts. It's greed on those who took on those things and those who made those bargains and made those deals that they couldn't afford. It's greed on the other part, the lenders and those who are the brokers and those who are making the deals. It was just greed. This whole thing was just about greed. And now it's all falling apart. And it's so true. As our society...

in general, has been faithful to God. We were hoping for this great reward, this vintage that was going to come, man, when, you know, the housing market continues to go up, and man, now I'm set for life because of this great deal that I made. And yet it fails. And as a whole, we're experiencing, well, this is what happens when we don't trust in the Lord.

This is what happens when we put our confidence in the vintage, in the crop, in that which is to be reaped, and not in the things of God. It's greed. And so there's going to be great tragedy, Isaiah says. The land is going to be desolate. It's going to be a joy of wild donkeys.

The people are going to hate it, but the wild donkeys are like, fresh new land to roam and things to jump over and houses to walk around in and find some extra food. And the donkeys love it because now it's all desolate. It's going to be a pasture for the flocks. Nobody's going to be there. They're all going to be forsaken. It's all going to be stripped away. And now the areas are going to be barren.

But then check out verse 15. Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field and the fruitful field is counted as a forest. There's going to be this hardship. There's going to be this tragedy. Until... An important word. Until...

This is going to continue, he says, until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high. Until there's an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, there will be this desolation. The land will not be inhabited.

Man, there's so many things we could talk about here, but let's just look very quickly. Right now we see Israel. Israel is restored as a nation. God's been doing a great work and they're very fruitful and they produce lots of fruit and export it all over the world. But understand this, we haven't seen a fraction of what God plans to do with the land of Israel when He pours out His Spirit.

No, yet, this hasn't been fulfilled yet, the ultimate fulfillment. Again, we'll see it during the millennium. An eye has not seen, an ear has not heard, nor has entered into the heart of man what God has in store for those who love Him. God has these incredible plans for the nation of Israel. He's going to pour out His Spirit, and the land is going to produce, there's going to be a great bountiful work of God when He pours out His Spirit upon that nation. Already we see just a smidgen of it, but it's going to blow your mind.

In the same way, spiritually, God wants to work in us. And where there once was desolation and wilderness and dryness and barrenness and isolation and just nothing there at all, He wants to make it a fruitful field, counted as a forest, until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high. Speaking about the millennium, that's the ultimate fulfillment. But the application is also now. Because in Acts chapter 2, quoting also Joel chapter 2,

We see the beginning of the Holy Spirit being poured out upon the church. Bless you. Turn with me real quickly. We'll come back here, but turn with me to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2, and we want to look at verses 38 and 39. Acts chapter 2, Peter is here preaching to the crowd that has come to see what's going on because everybody was speaking in tongues and the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the disciples.

After hearing his message, they cry out to him, Hey, what shall we do? They were cut to the heart. And in verse 38, here's what Peter says. Here's what you must do. Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promises to you and to your children and to all who are far off as many as the Lord our God will call. Here's what Peter says.

Here's what you must do. Repent, be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. What have we just been reading about in Isaiah? Repent. There's great desolation. There's great tragedy coming. There's horrible hardship that's on its way. Repent. It's going to be that way until the Holy Spirit is poured out. For you and I, the message is repent.

Repent. It's what we talked about on Sunday. We dealt with it last week, last Wednesday as well. It seems to be a message that God is delivering because it's also what we talked about at the men's breakfast. Someone else was sharing with me it was also a devotion that was shared with the worship team on Sunday. There's a message going out and God is proclaiming and God is speaking and He's crying out for revival in our hearts and it starts with us repenting. We need to get right with God. We need to clean house.

There's desolation. There's tragedy. There's difficulty around us. Yes, it's happening physically, financially, literally. Yes, we are experiencing it. But more importantly, internally and spiritually, there's great tragedy and desolation, isolation, barrenness. Do you have an empty spiritual life? Are you empty? Are you desolate? Are you experiencing abundant life that Jesus promised? Yes.

It's a great desolation that will continue to take place until the Spirit is poured out. But when you repent and believe, Peter says, you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Repent and believe, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Let's go back to Isaiah chapter 32. The wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is counted as a forest. I wonder this evening if you would desire...

the wilderness of your heart to become a fruitful field, to be overflowing with abundant fruit. What kind of fruit? Joy, peace, love, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control, the fruit of the Spirit upon a heart, upon a life that the Spirit has been poured out upon.

Do you have an abundance of joy? Like too much, you can't control it all, you can't contain it all. I just got, it's like a fruitful field, it's kind of as a forest. It's not a whole lot of space, but man, it sure does produce a lot. Do you have that much joy? Do you have that much peace? Do you have that much love? This is a tough one. Do you have that much self-control? There's a barrenness, a desolation on our hearts and what we need. It's going to be that way until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high.

It can't produce any other way. We try to do all kinds of things to produce that joy, to produce that peace, to produce that love, to produce that patience. But the only way it can be produced is with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. But there's a need, there's a necessity. We need to, well, we need to tremble and be troubled and humble ourselves before God. We need to start this revival like Hezekiah in our lives that we can experience the pouring out of His Spirit.

We need to repent that we may receive the gift of God, the Holy Spirit which has come upon us. Look at verse 16 back in Isaiah chapter 32. Then, okay, notice the word, until, in verse 15, now then, okay, once the Spirit has come, then here's the result, then justice will dwell in the wilderness and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. The work of righteousness will be peace and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.

My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places. Though hail comes down on the forest, and the city is brought low in humiliation, blessed are you who sow beside all waters, who send out freely the feet of the ox and the donkey. So once the Spirit is poured out upon the nation...

also upon our hearts, here's the result. Righteousness will dwell in the wilderness. Justice will dwell in the wilderness. There'll be a rightness, a right standing before God. Justice will dwell. Righteousness will remain in the fruitful field. Now, we have a problem sometimes. You may have experienced this, that righteousness doesn't remain very long in your heart, in your life. You get right with God. You think you got a handle on it. All right, I got it now. And then, where'd it go?

No, but with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, righteousness will remain in the fruitful field. The work of righteousness will be peace. There'll be peace. Again, the fruit of the Spirit. Peace. The effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.

No longer are there people going to be freaked out and stressed out and worried and stressed. Man, this nation is coming against us. These people are coming to battle us. These are going to overthrow us. What if this season comes and ruins our crop? And what if that happens? No longer. No. When God pours out His Spirit, when God does what He wants to do ultimately with Israel, there's going to be quietness and assurance forever.

In the same way for you and I spiritually, God wants to give us quietness within, assurance that we're not freaked out and stressed out and anxious and worried over all these things. Jesus said, don't worry about those things. My Father knows you need them. My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation. Again, peace. Over and over, this idea of peace and quietness, assurance of hope, really a solidness that God offers.

With the outpouring of His Holy Spirit. Peaceful habitation, secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places. But notice, though hail comes down on the forest. So He's not saying, hey, everything's going to be perfect now.

For you and I as Christians, you need to know. Everything's not going to be perfect now. He's not saying once you receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, once you receive the filling of the Holy Spirit, once the Holy Spirit's poured out upon you, man, you'll never have a bounce check again, and you'll never have a late payment, and you'll never have any kind of difficulty. No, that's not what God's saying. It's like, though hell comes down on the forest, now there's still problems.

Yeah, even though there's still hail coming down. Even though the city is brought low in humiliation. You ever been humbled? You ever been humiliated? Hey, even if you're stripped of everything, yet, here's what the Spirit promises. Here's what God promises with the outpouring of the Spirit. In the midst of that, you can be stripped of everything. You can even be put to death for your faith in Jesus Christ. But there's quietness and assurance and peace.

Remember what Jesus said in John chapter 14 verse 27? My peace I leave with you. My peace I give not as the world gives. He leaves us peace. But in John chapter 16 verse 33, remember that one? John chapter 16 verse 33, Jesus is saying, look guys, in this world you're going to have much tribulation. I'm telling you these things that you might have peace, but in this world you're going to have tribulation. You're going to have peace within and on the outside there's going to be tribulation. Now,

It's okay because I've overcome the world. So I've conquered. I've won. You can have full assurance and you'll have my peace because that's the peace that I leave to you. Finally, in verse 20, blessed are you who sow beside all waters, who send out freely the feet of the ox and the donkey. This is kind of an odd verse, isn't it? What in the world is that talking about? There's lots of things that we could discuss here. Several different interpretations we could follow, but

Blessed are you who sow beside all waters, or the well-watered places, who send out freely the feet of the ox and the donkey. Now, normally for a farmer, for those who are keeping crop, you don't want just animals roaming freely in your field. Yeah, they'll destroy your crop. They're going to mess it up. They're going to eat of it and partake of it. No, you put fences around. You take measures in order to keep those animals from roaming freely in your field.

What I believe God is saying here is, hey, you're going to be blessed. There's going to be a fruitful field and it's not going to matter. You'll let your animals roam freely because, well, there's going to be plenty, more than enough. And you won't have to worry about them roaming freely. Reminded me of John chapter 7, verses 37 and 38. Jesus said, hey, come unto me all you who thirst and drink.

From your inmost being will come torrents of living water. This he spoke of the Holy Spirit which was to come. Torrents. You're thirsty? Take a drink out of a fire hydrant. That's the idea. Can I get a glass of water? Is that your life? Is that what you're experiencing? Here in Isaiah chapter 32, we see this great promise of this king of righteousness. We see it particularly fulfilled there with Hezekiah.

Ultimately fulfilled with Jesus Christ as He established His reign. But spiritually for you and I, God has this work for us. Will you start a revival in your heart this evening? Will you open up the doors? Take away the things that have been barring the doors that have really been keeping you from God? It's time to clean house. It's the message God has been giving. And He's giving it to us because we need to hear it. We need to open up those doors. We need to clean the house. Reinstate the sacrifices.

The sacrifices of praise, thanksgiving, the fruit of our lips, the sacrifices of obedience, celebrating the Passover and what God has done for us, celebrating the feast and what He's called us to do, celebrating communion, relationship with God, taking down those idols, those high places. We need to tremble and be troubled. If we're complacent and comfortable in our sin, we're confident in ourself, we won't experience the abundance.

the fullness, the fruitful field that God has. But if we'll tremble, if we'll be troubled, if we'll repent, if we'll humble ourselves before God, He'll pour out His Spirit upon us and we'll experience the abundance, the overwhelmingness of Him working in our lives. It comes with surrendering to Him. So this evening, the worship team's going to come up and I want to ask you, I want to challenge you to really start a revival this evening in your heart, in your life. It starts with you.

And so during this song, I would encourage you, I would ask you to seek the Lord. The Holy Spirit is promised for those who ask. Jesus said so in Luke chapter 11. You can check it out. I'm not going to go into the details, but he says, look, ask and you will receive. If you want the Holy Spirit, if you want this outpouring, ask the Lord. But don't ask expecting that, well, my life's going to be just the same as it was, or expecting that I can just continue on and do whatever I want.

Know as the doors are opened, know that God's going to expose. And you need to repent. And you need to let go of those things. Whatever it is that's been keeping your heart occupied and away from God. You need to turn from those things. And He will pour out His Spirit. It's a promise He gives to us. Repent, Peter said. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Repent and believe in Jesus Christ whom God has sent. So during this song, I want to encourage you to get right with God. Now,

For those who feel led, for those, if the Lord puts it upon your heart, there's going to be guys on either side of this stage. They would love to pray with you for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. If you've been lacking, if you feel desolate, if you feel a real dryness in your heart, in your spiritual walk, it's time to pray that God would renew and refresh, that there would be a fruitful field, a fruitful work of His Spirit in your life.

So they'll be up here. They would love to pray with you. Please come up and get prayer for the filling, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Also at the same time, if there's a need for healing in your life, they'll be up here. I would encourage you, as the Lord puts it upon your heart, to come up and receive prayer. Let's see what God wants to do. Let's spend this time just seeking the Lord. Let's get right with God. Repent. As He exposes, as He shows you things,

Turn it over to Him. Turn away from those things and ask Him to pour out His Spirit upon your life that you might be a fruitful field, that you might be a tremendous blessing to the people around you. Let's worship the Lord together. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.