1. "Behold, a king will reign in righteousness. That's a reality worth rejoicing over this morning."

2. "The difference between complacency and contentment is the object of each of those actions' desires. Both complacency and contentment desire the end goal of rest. But the issue is in rest's intentions. If you're complacent, you're most likely resting in yourself. And if you're content, you're most likely going to rest in Christ."

3. "We are undoubtedly more in danger of spiritual complacency in our prosperity compared to our adversity. If you don't have any needs, then why would you have need for God?"

4. "Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And weak men create hard times. That is exactly what is happening at this point in time in Judah's history."

5. "Circumstances may seem very bleak. Judgment may be closely impending. Temptation may be encircling, and sin may be enslaving to the point where things in life seem to be increasingly dark with no way out. But we serve a God who speaks a single word of hope. Until."

6. "Something that's poured out cannot be contained. And something that's poured out touches everything. And something that's poured out as it touches everything, it changes everything. And so it is with the Spirit."

7. "For the Christian then, the question is not, do I have all of the Holy Spirit? Because the answer is yes, you do. Instead, we as Christians should be asking, does the Holy Spirit have all of me?"

8. "God cannot fill that where he does not rule. He can't fill a heart where him as Lord is not proclaimed."

9. "The vision of all things being made new is here to remind us of our eternal destiny. And it gives us strength to fight sin today. It gives us hope for tomorrow."

10. "The hope for tomorrow is the help that motivates us to trust God today. And even though we're unable to see what's ahead in our future, even as we're tempted to become complacent and hopeless, you must ask yourself this: Does my confidence for today and my hope for tomorrow rest on a sure foundation?"

Observation Questions

1. According to Isaiah 32:1, what two qualities characterize the reign of the coming king and his princes?

2. In Isaiah 32:2, what four natural images does Isaiah use to describe what the king will be like for his people?

3. What specific behaviors and attitudes does Isaiah attribute to "the fool" and "the scoundrel" in verses 6-7?

4. In verses 9-14, what specific losses does Isaiah warn the complacent women of Judah will occur—what will happen to the harvest, the city, and the land?

5. According to verse 15, what event must happen before the wilderness becomes a fruitful field and the fruitful field is deemed a forest?

6. In verses 16-18, what are the effects and results of righteousness that Isaiah describes for God's people and their dwelling places?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why does Isaiah use such vivid natural imagery (hiding place, shelter, streams of water, shade of a great rock) to describe the coming king's protection, and what does this reveal about the needs of God's people?

2. How does the contrast between the fool/scoundrel in verses 5-7 and the noble person in verse 8 help us understand what kind of leadership and character the righteous king will establish?

3. What is the connection between Judah's spiritual complacency (verses 9-14) and their impending judgment, and why does Isaiah specifically address the "women who are at ease"?

4. Why is the word "until" in verse 15 such a pivotal turning point in this chapter, and what does it teach us about how God brings about transformation?

5. How does the outpouring of the Spirit in verse 15 connect to the broader biblical narrative of God's redemptive plan, from the Old Testament through Pentecost and into the future restoration?

Application Questions

1. The sermon identified spiritual complacency as resting in self rather than in Christ. What specific areas of prosperity or comfort in your life right now might be tempting you toward spiritual complacency, and what would it look like to actively rest in Christ in those areas this week?

2. Verses 3-4 describe a transformation where eyes see, ears hear, hearts understand, and tongues speak clearly under the righteous king's rule. In what practical ways can you cultivate greater attentiveness to God's Word and responsiveness to His Spirit in your daily routine?

3. The sermon asked, "Does the Holy Spirit have all of me?" What is one area of your life—a habit, relationship, attitude, or priority—where you sense the Spirit prompting you to surrender more fully to His control?

4. Isaiah called the complacent women to "rise up" and "hear" and respond with grief and repentance. Is there a specific sin or pattern of neglecting God that you need to confess and turn from this week? How might you invite a trusted Christian friend to help you in this?

5. The passage promises that the effect of righteousness will be peace, quietness, and trust forever (verse 17). How can you encourage someone in your church or small group this week with the hope of Christ's coming kingdom, especially someone who may be experiencing weariness or discouragement?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Joel 2:28-32 — This passage prophesies the outpouring of God's Spirit on all flesh, which Isaiah 32:15 anticipates and which was fulfilled at Pentecost.

2. Acts 2:1-21 — This passage records the fulfillment of the Spirit being poured out from on high, inaugurating the new age of the church that the sermon described.

3. Isaiah 11:1-10 — This passage describes the Messiah from David's line upon whom the Spirit rests, bringing righteousness and peace to creation, closely paralleling Isaiah 32's vision.

4. Revelation 21:1-8 — This passage depicts the consummation of God's restoration when Christ makes all things new, fulfilling the eschatological hope presented in Isaiah 32:15-20.

5. Ephesians 5:15-21 — This passage calls believers to be filled with the Spirit and to live wisely rather than in complacency, applying the sermon's challenge about the Spirit having all of us.

Sermon Main Topics

I. The Coming King Who Reigns in Righteousness (Isaiah 32:1)

II. A Promise of Protection: God's Authority Through Good Integrity (Isaiah 32:1-8)

III. A Prophecy of Desolation: God's Judgment for Complacency (Isaiah 32:9-14)

IV. A Power of Transformation: God's Spirit Poured Out Abundantly (Isaiah 32:15)

V. A Provision of Restoration: God's Peace Abides Eternally (Isaiah 32:15-20)

VI. Living with Strength for Today and Hope for Tomorrow

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Detailed Sermon Outline

Help me finish these sentences this morning. The grass is always greener on the other... Ooh, good, good start.

Actions speak louder than... Okay, good, two for two.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him... Good. Do or do not, there is no... Okay, more Star Wars fans in this congregation than I thought. Very good.

You've probably also heard you heard the saying, it's always darkest before the dawn. Exactly. It's always darkest before the dawn. But is this scientifically true? I'm not a scientist, but I can say with great confidence, no, it's not.

It's not true. But sayings like this are not by definition literal. We all understand what it means when we say it's darkest before the dawn, right? It means that things might seem to get worse before they actually get better. And a saying like that gives us that even in the worst of circumstances, there is always hope coming at the dawn.

Here in Isaiah chapters 28 to 35, God's people are experiencing what it's like to live in the midst of some pretty significant darkness. And last week in Isaiah 31, we saw the darkness of Judah's dependence upon Egypt, the darkness of their sin and idolatry, and the dark warnings of God's Yet back in chapter 31, we also saw how things were beginning to brighten just through Judah's repentance and as a response to God's promise and presence. Last week in 31, we asked, what's God like? And God showed us in the way that he would respond to Judah's circumstances. Jerusalem he rescues.

Egypt he he marginalizes. In Assyria, he destroys. So here in chapter 32 on page 592, a similar theme continues. In chapter 32, Jude is provided with a vision of God's restoration that is both near and far. A vision that's gonna be fulfilled for God's people both now and also later.

This future vision that Isaiah communicates is an ideal situation of redemption and restoration that will be experienced like the dawning of a new age. But even though the dawn seems to be breaking with future hope, the context that Isaiah preached in was desolate. It was again dark. The prophet's words are filled with promises of future restoration, but we can't negate this present darkness of God's judgment over Judah's sin as well. And so here in chapter 32, we'll observe that in the midst of Judah's waiting, This chapter moves from the negative to the positive, from the bleak to the blessed, from the ruins to the restored, and from the darkness to the dawn.

Now, if you came to church this morning hoping to hear some good news, I have some for you. There's a king that is coming. That's the good news this morning. A king is coming. Coming.

Praise God for that. Look there in chapter 32, verse one, and see this good news with your own eyes. That first sentence there in chapter 32, verse one simply says, behold, a king will reign in righteousness. That's great news this morning for us. And because of this reality that a king is coming, the big question of Isaiah 32 is this.

When a king reigns in righteousness, what will that king When a king reigns in righteousness, what will that king bring? Well, we're gonna look at this chapter through four main points this morning that's gonna answer that exact question. What will the king bring? Here's our outline for this morning. When a king reigns in righteousness, that king will bring, number one, a promise of protection.

A promise of protection. It's verses 1 through 8. Secondly, the king will bring a prophecy of desolation. That'll be in verses 9 to 14.

A promise of protection, a prophecy of desolation. Third, a power of transformation in verse 15. A power of transformation in verse 15. And then fourth, a provision of restoration. A provision of restoration from verses 16 to 20.

So let's begin this morning together with point one, a promise of protection. God's authority through good integrity. Read along with me beginning in verse one. Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice. Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.

Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed, and the ears of those who hear will give attention. The heart of the hasty will understand and know, and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly. The fool will no longer be called noble, nor the scoundrel said to be honorable. For the fool speaks folly, and his heart is busy with iniquity, to practice ungodliness, to utter error concerning the Lord, to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied, and to deprive the thirsty of drink. As for the scoundrel, his devices are evil.

He plans wicked schemes to ruin the poor with lying words, even when the plea of the needy is right. But he who is noble plans noble things, and on noble things he stands.

In the same way that a newspaper headline grabs your attention to declare a message of hope or expectation, so also does this truth in verse 1 of a king reigning in righteousness serve as sort of the headline for this entire chapter. Just consider for a moment the significance of those words, not only for Judah, but also for us this morning. Behold, a king will reign in righteousness. That's a reality worth rejoicing over this morning. Before we go any further, we probably should ask, why is God described as a king here in this passage?

In order to understand that, we have to understand an interpretive rule about prophecy concerning this king.

Here in Isaiah. Of course, in the beginning of its history, the nation of Israel was a theocracy, where God reigned as their only king. But the theocracy became a monarchy when in the days of Samuel, the people begged for a king. And then God gave them Saul. The monarchy then gave way to a dynasty, but not through Saul's line, but rather through David's.

And that anointed king, David, through the dynasty of his Davidic line, he promised to bring forth Israel's Messiah king as the son of David. And we know from Matthew 22, Jesus speaking with the Pharisees, and he appeals to Psalm 110:1 to show that Christ himself is the Messiah king and the son of David who once was promised. So here in Isaiah, when we hear this prophecy about a king, whose reign are we talking about exactly? Are we talking about a king of Judah or are we talking about a king in the line of David? Are we talking about this king being God himself or are we talking about like an actual human king?

Are we speaking of a king in the present or a king in the future? And the answer to all of these things is yes, all of the above. How amazing is that? When we read this kind of prophecy in Isaiah, we should always be looking for its fulfillment in three particular ways. Chronologically, crystallogically, but also eschatologically.

Let me explain those. Chronologically, these prophecies are being fulfilled for Judah. Primarily in this historical context that Judah finds himself in, when they hear of a king reigning in righteousness, they're thinking in that moment, King Hezekiah, the reigning king of Judah. But also, Hezekiah is a type of Christ. This prophecy looks through the lens of Isaiah in order to reveal Jesus as king.

For those of us on this side of the cross, we know that the coming king is God in the flesh being both fully man and fully human. And that's Christ. In this sense, the prophecy of a future king who will reign not only has a chronological element to it but it also has a Christological fulfillment. And then of course in these chapters there's a clear eschatological perspective as well. If you're unfamiliar with that word eschatology, it's simply the study of the last things.

The study of the end of days. We're talking about eternal things here. It has eternity in view and especially in this chapter and in the next, we're gonna see the eschatological hope of King Jesus who reigns in righteousness for all of eternity. So with all of those things being understood, when this king reigns in righteousness, we see here in the second half of verse one that he also brings princes and he brings justice with him. Under the king's reign, sound moral principles of righteousness are going to be added to sound moral practices of justice.

And that good authority that God brings is going to protect and to bless those underneath it. We see that in verses two through eight. God's good authority provides a promise of protection from oppression in at least three ways. Good authority brings security. Verse two, God's authority brings clarity.

Verses 3 and 4, and then lastly, integrity, they're from verses 5 to 8. Let's look at those for a moment. In verse 2, this good authority from God brings security. You can see that Isaiah provides four natural word pictures right there to show how this king protects. We've been asking in this series, what's God like?

Well, he's like a hiding place. He's like a shelter. He's like refreshing streams of water. He's like shade for the weary who are in the desert. He's all of those.

His just rule does not exploit people but instead it defends them, it protects them, it brings them security. In verses three and four we see God's good authority bring clarity because those under him will respond in such a way. Four senses are listed there. Do you see them? Eyes will see, ears will hear, hearts will know, tongues will speak.

All of that coming with the recognition of this king's rule. All of those things happening through the restoration that God's people will experience. And then in verses five to eight, when this king reigns in righteousness, he's gonna set all wrong rule right through godly men of integrity. Integrity. In verse five, you see two characters, the fool and the scoundrel presented there.

They're introduced as emblematic examples of the moral confusion and the lack of character of Judah at this time. In verse 5, they're both introduced together and then they're described individually, the fool in verse 6 and the scoundrel in verse 7. And in both cases, their outward conduct reveals their inward lack of character. Now, hopefully I'm not insulting anyone's intelligence here by giving an example from a Disney movie, but I know we've got some hardcore Disney+ subscribers in this church. And if you're a closeted Disney adult like myself, then you probably know the old classic Disney film, Pinocchio, right?

Pinocchio, as you watch it as an adult, it's a tale of deep moral implications, isn't it? Two of the villains in this story, in Pinocchio, are lesser-known Disney villains. Can you think of them in your mind's eye? There's a fox and then there's a cat. Apparently, the fox is named Honest John and the cat's name is Gideon.

And both the fox and the cat, they're like two little con artists. They're in the village that Pinocchio is in and they swindle innocent little Pinocchio, right? They swindle him into many troubles. They get him to lie and his nose grows. And then they take him and they put him on a carriage to Pleasure Island and he turns into a donkey, right?

Man, if the fool and the scoundrel in chapter 32 are like that cat and the fox in Pinocchio, then in verse 8, the noble one that's described here in verse 8, do you know who it is? It's Jiminy Cricket. It's Jiminy Cricket. You chuckle and you laugh, but look at the verse. Verse 8, He who is noble plans noble things, and on noble things he stands.

When I read those verses, like I can just hear that that little cricket whistling in my ear, right? Do you see the contrast there in the word but? Verse 8 is tied to verse 1, where the character of godly integrity and authority is honored as virtuous. The protective nature of good authority in leadership and also integrity in behavior in verse 8 there, that's what the king brings when he comes. So how should we take these words to heart?

Well, if you're anything like me, you probably are tempted to grow weary in this world. We get weary in its ways. We get weary in its wrong authority. We get weary in seeing fools and scoundrels prosper. We get weary of having to function under this broken world's sinful operating system.

Yet for the Christian, we should be reminded that it is right to be weary in this world. We should view these frequent discouragements as opportunities that prompt us to wait well. Yes, this world is broken, sin is rampant, our experiences of life, they can be very, very dark, but we must be reminded that we as Christians are simply pilgrims passing through. We wait with hope for the revealing of this coming King, and we should be encouraged that there is a day coming. Praise God, where a righteous king will bring with him a new kind of kingdom.

All the wrong authority will be made right and the protective nature of truth and integrity is going to prevail. For now we have to wait on it, but in our waiting, we'll realize that even all the weariness in this world will be well worth it when this kind of righteous king will be revealed. When the king rules in righteousness, what will that king bring? He'll bring a promise of protection. All wrong rule made right.

Secondly, the king will bring, number two, a prophecy of desolation. God's judgment for complacency. A prophecy of desolation, God's judgment for complacency. Now look at verses 9 to 14 with me. Rise up, you women who are at ease.

Hear my voice, you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech. In a little more than a year you will shudder, you complacent women, for the grape harvest fails, the fruit harvest will not come. Tremble, you women who are at ease, shudder, you complacent ones, strip and make yourselves bare and tie sackcloth around your waist. Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine, for the soil of my people growing up in thorns and briers. Yes, for all the joyous houses in the exultant city.

For the palace is forsaken, the populous city deserted, the hill and the watchtower will become dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks. Just like last week in chapter 31 verse 6 that we saw the call to turn to him or to God, these verses here in verses 9 to 14 show off these careless, aristocratic women. They represent the spiritual state of Judah at this time. And ultimately, Judah as a nation is marked by a spirit of spiritual complacency. Spiritual complacency is like the stupor that Isaiah is seeking to shake and wake Judah out of, like trying to rouse someone from a deep sleep.

He calls these women in verses 9 to 10 to rise up, to hear God's voice, to give ear to this prophecy of desolation that's so dark and it's so stark that it should cause them to shudder and tremble. Isaiah's call to Judah seeks to wake her up and in order that she might grieve and lament and repent from her complacency so that these women might sacrifice their luxuries and but also at the same time their necessities as well. Generally speaking, an attitude of complacency seeks to avoid the necessity of coming to terms with reality. In that regard, spiritual complacency then is the willful neglect of God that turns away from him, turns trust away from him, and instead turns to self or other things for a false sense of comfort and security. Make no mistake about it.

Spiritual complacency leads to spiritual neutrality.

Consider this question for yourself for a moment. What's the difference between spiritual complacency and spiritual contentment? The difference between complacency and contentment is the object of each of those actions' desires. Both complacency and contentment desire the end goal of rest. It's not a bad thing.

But the issue is in rest's intentions. That's the sticking point. If you're complacent, you're most likely resting in yourself. And if you're content, you're most likely going to rest in Christ. So let me ask, what circumstances of your life most commonly cause you to fall into spiritual complacency?

What type of situations tempt you to numb your own conscience to God? Further lulling you into a deeper sleep of spiritual neutrality. Just like these prosperous women of Judah, we are undoubtedly more in danger of spiritual complacency in our prosperity compared to our adversity. If you don't have any needs, then why would you have need for God?

It's been said, Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And weak men create hard times. That is exactly what is happening at this point in time in Judah's history.

So be warned, when things go smoothly for you, It's easy to become intoxicated by success or blessing and then we're tempted to give no thought to living a life of dependence upon God. That's the warning from this passage. And throughout Isaiah here the rhetorical question that God is asking is Judah, where's your trust? In who do you most trust? Who should you trust?

And if the answer is anyone other than God, then you're in trouble. You are in deep trouble just like these complacent women if we ourselves are at ease because we think we can manipulate God as we talked about last week or because we think the harvests have been so good or because of some sort of perceived security in our lives.

Well, that's an illusion of trust that is manifested in complacency. And that kind of spiritual neutrality is a false sense of security that we should first recognize and then seek to repent from. And what will be lost? For Judah, if they continue in this complacency and this misguided sort of dependency, well, you can see this bleak picture of what the future looks like here in verses 10 to 13. Look back at the scripture there, verses 10 to 13.

The grapes gone. The fruit of the harvest failed. The fields, once pleasant, will be filled with nothing. And if it is filled with anything, it's filled with briars and thorns. Which is reminiscent of course of Genesis 3 after the fall.

And in verse 14, the city of Jerusalem, this city that was once known as an exultant city filled with joyful houses is now considered a city of desolation. The palace was once protected. It will now be forsaken. The city of God once populous because of God's presence is going to be deserted. The military strongholds of hills and watch towers once teaming with soldiers All of those things will be abandoned, left only to be filled with the wild animals that take it over.

This is a prophecy of desolation both on the city, but also the people. Think about this in a larger context. How shameful that this divinely provided land, God's chosen land for a chosen people, is now reduced to a lamentable and desolate destruction. No harvest, no fertile land, no city, no palace, no military, and worst of all, for God's people, no spiritual urgency, only complacency. God's people are in God's place, but they are willingly not under God's rule.

Lament and grief are the only proper response to a God who has been neglected like this. This is a very, very bleak outlook for Judah. God's judgment is coming. It's coming in a little more than a year. It's coming in full and quickly because of the sin of their spiritual complacency.

And in this impending doom, this is by far the darkest this chapter gets. It's one of the darkest times in the history of Israel.

But it's always darkest before the dawn.

Yes, this is the darkest this chapter gets until God himself intercedes. And verse 15 is that exact moment in Isaiah 32 where the sun just begins to peek up over the horizon and with it comes light and and warmth and hope for God's people. Have you ever heard a single word or a sentence in your life that absolutely just changed everything for you personally? I've heard a few in my own life. I can recall the top flap of the envelope that held my application, my acceptance letter, for my undergrad studies.

And on the top of the flap, before you even opened up that envelope, it just simply in big, bold letters said, congratulations!

That one word, congratulations, changed everything for me. It changed me academically and spiritually. Going to the college in Madison, Wisconsin was an incredible experience that changed the outcome of my entire life. No question about it. When I got down on one knee in the middle of a downtown Chicago cathedral and asked a woman named Grace Rahani to marry me, and she simply barely muttered out in the midst of tears, I mean, it was a really beautiful moment, She barely muttered out, Yes, you know?

That little yes, that little yes changed me. And then a few years later, to see the word positive on a pregnancy test, not once but twice, and then to see a doctor write on a little pink piece of paper two times, It's a girl. Whoa. Those sentences changed me.

Really changed me when I heard them call me dad for the first time. Like, that's just a beautiful moment. Even more recently in the fall of 2021, I received an email and it simply said, Troy, I'm pleased to invite you to participate in the pastoral internship program at Capitol Hill Baptist Church. I'm not just saying this because we are here in Capitol Hill Baptist Church, but that sentence changed the entire trajectory of my life. Honestly, it did.

That was a life altering email for me and for my family. So a single word, a single sentence, that can change everything in an instant. That very first word there in verse 15 is the life altering word of this chapter for us this morning. And it's the hinge upon which this entire passage turns from judgment to blessing, from destruction to restoration. Do you see that single word of hope there in verse 15?

That word is, until. That's a word filled with hope. Circumstances may seem very bleak. Judgment may be closely impending. Temptation may be encircling, and sin may be enslaving to the point where things in life seem to be increasingly dark with no way out.

But we serve a God who speaks a single word of hope. Until. And then he goes out miraculously reorienting everything with that single word in a single moment. Verse 15, until the spirit is poured upon us from on high. And the wilderness becomes a fruitful field.

And the fruitful field is deemed a forest until the spirit is poured out upon us from on high. How amazing is this? Notice the significance of this sentence. When is this going to happen? Until.

When God makes it happen. Who is going to make it happen? Spirit of Almighty God. How will it happen? The spirit's going to be poured out from where will this spirit come?

From on high. And look how the work of the Holy Spirit transforms the Wilderness. It becomes a fruitful field. The fruitful field. Becomes a forest.

So when the king reigns in righteousness, what will that king bring? A promise of protection, a prophecy of desolation. Third, a power of transformation. A power of transformation. God's Spirit poured out abundantly.

I think it's fair to say that probably of the three persons of the Trinity, The person in the work of the Holy Spirit is the one whom we most easily neglect and the one whom we most easily misunderstand. The Holy Spirit is not a force or a principle of nature. He's not an elemental part of God or a certain mode of his existence. The Holy Spirit is a person, distinct from the Father and Son, yet still of the same essence in the Godhead. The Holy Spirit is eternally God.

In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit is never absent, but truthfully, he does sometimes feel a little bit anonymous, doesn't he? In those Old Testament days, the Spirit comes and goes both on people and on places. In those days, God's Spirit was always present but wasn't permanently resident. But in Isaiah 11:1-2, we see that the Spirit will eventually rest on an eventual Messiah, and not on only the Messiah but his people as well. And around 60 years before Isaiah's ministry, God called Joel to be a prophet.

And in Joel 2:28-32, Joel speaks this to Judah a generation before and says, and it shall pass, it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days, I will pour out my Spirit, and it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. How amazing to think about this. An outpouring of God's Spirit. Just think about it.

If I was to pour out this cup of water on my Bible right here, I'm not gonna do that, but if you think about it, something that's poured out cannot be contained. Right? And something that's poured out touches everything. And something that's poured out as it touches everything, it changes everything. And so it is with the Spirit.

In Jesus's life on earth, we see that the Holy Spirit rests on him at his baptism. When he teaches in the synagogue, he opens up again, Isaiah 61 and says, look, this is the Spirit of the Lord. It will rest on me. And the Spirit is described as a helper in Jesus's ministry. Through his miracles of healing and transformation of people's, even their souls.

So we see the spirit active during the time of Jesus's life, not only in his ministry, but in his crucifixion, his resurrection, and of course, his ascension back to the father. And right before Jesus ascended back to the father, he spoke with a few of his disciples in Luke 24, and he said this, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you. That everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. And then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance for the goodness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. He says, you are my witnesses of these things.

And behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you. And he tells his disciples, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. And then in Acts 20, 50 days after Jesus's resurrection, this power from on high does come to the disciples. And the spirit ushers in an entirely new age as the church is established. That spirit that was always present now becomes resident in the lives of every single person who believes in Christ by faith.

And here in Isaiah 32, this passage shows us that the Holy Spirit will be involved in God's future reign on this earth when Jesus brings about this hope that we're reading about, this hope of the new heavens, the new earth. And on that day, there will be a complete reversal of the present condition of this universe. Christ comes to renew and restore all things, and he does so by his Spirit. All of that to say that the Holy Spirit of God is poured out abundantly and it transforms all that it touches, just like verse 15 says. We must understand that the act of the Spirit being poured out is a gracious gift from God, and that's something that a person can earn or something that a person deserves.

The judgment of God for your sin can only be superseded by a greater grace, this gift of the Holy Spirit that is given from God. As I mentioned before, the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is not only present but can be resident in the soul of a person. And if the Holy Spirit can't be earned or deserved, how does a person receive the Holy Spirit? And if a person has the Spirit, how can that Christian know if they've been filled with the Holy Spirit? Well, of course, these are two entirely different questions.

Having the Holy Spirit marks a person as a Christian. You are not a Christian if you don't have the Spirit. When a person turns from their sin and they embrace Jesus Christ by faith for their forgiveness, through faith, through repentance, that person becomes a Christian and at the moment of that person's conversion, you receive all of the Holy Spirit. For the Christian then, the question is not, do I have all of the Holy Spirit? Because the answer is yes, you do.

Instead, we as Christians should be asking, does the Holy Spirit have all of me?

God cannot fill that where he does not rule. He can't fill a heart where him as Lord is not proclaimed. So being continually filled with the Holy Spirit as Ephesians 4:18 says and calls us to, that's what every single believer should seek to live out for the sake of their own growth in Christ but also to give glory to God. And if you're not a Christian here this morning or you're not sure if you're a Christian here this morning, you realize, right, that you can't change a desolate heart like Judah into a fruitful heart. That's only a work of the Spirit.

And if you're wondering how you can receive the Holy Spirit, it's only through faith and repentance in Christ. That's the thing that allows his Holy Spirit to pour into you. One of the beauties of being a part of a church family is that the church is, as Pastor Mark has mentioned, an assurance of salvation cooperative. One of the best ways you can discern your relationship to the Holy Spirit is to connect with a friend or a pastor and to talk with them to help you understand and discern that for yourself. And if you were to sit down with that Christian or that friend, they would probably tell you something like this.

If you ask, how can I receive the Holy Spirit? They'll say, well, your sin has separated you from a holy God. And to reconcile that chasm that your sin caused, by his grace and his mercy, God sent himself through sending his son, Jesus. To pay for the penalty for that sin and to bridge the gap, that chasm of sin. Through Jesus' death and burial and resurrection, he saves sinners.

He saves sinners. And Jesus teaches us that if a person turns from their sin and repentance and trusts in Christ through faith that this person will be reconciled to God forever and they receive at that moment all of the Holy Spirit. We'd love nothing more than to encourage you to have a conversation with someone about that exact thing this morning. If you don't have a Christian family or a friend to talk to, talk with one of our pastors who will be standing at these doors at the end of the service. We would love to have a conversation with you about this.

Back in Isaiah 32, this dark prophecy of warning that we saw in verses 9 to 14, it now gives way to this bright prophecy of salvation in verses 15 1 Kings 15 to 20, the promised kingdom will come. There will be peace and security. God's spirit will transform everything. And when his spirit is poured out, what comes with it? Restoration.

And what will that restoration bring? Hope. Hope in the king who reigns righteously. So again, when a king reigns in righteousness, what will that king bring? A promise of protection, a prophecy of desolation, a power of transformation, and then fourth, a provision of restoration.

God's peace abides eternally. Verse 15 is so good. So let's just pick it up there in the text again, and we'll look at these final verses. Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest. Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field, and the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.

My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places. And it will hail when the forest falls down, and the city will be utterly laid low. But happy are you who sow beside all waters, who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free. When this king reigns in righteousness, we will see with our own eyes the complete transformation of God's creation, both nature and also people. What was once under the curse is now completely reversed.

This is the hope of glory. This is the eternal reality that wakes us up from our complacency and our lethargy. The vision of all things being made new is here to remind us of our eternal destiny. And it gives us strength to fight sin today. It gives us hope for tomorrow.

In these verses, it's kind of like looking at a before and after picture. A picture of God's entire created order. And if you just put one alongside the other, those two side-by-side pictures to compare them, you're just like, oh my gosh, look at what's changed. Look at the results. Look at how every single thing has been completely and utterly transformed.

This is what Revelation 21:5 says when King Jesus proclaims over the new heavens and the new earth, Behold, I am making all things new. All things new. And here in these verses, we do see a new soil, a new society, and a new security. Verse 15 speaks of a new soil in the land. Verses 16 and 17 describe an entirely new society where his people dwell in peaceful habitation, secure dwellings, quiet resting places.

It sounds kind of like the suburbs. Man, sounds great. And in verses 18 to 20, God provides for us a new security. And that security is a permanent security. For the Christian, quietness and calmness replaces fear.

Security replaces complacency. And in God's abundant righteousness for us in Christ, he alone produces true peace. Both in the midst of this weary world and throughout all of eternity. And this is what Jesus provides for us even now in a foreshadowed form. In a sense, as the spirit was poured out on Pentecost and the church was established, so also the church today is the foreshadowing of that fulfillment to come.

Not only in this gathering, but think about all of the gatherings, big and small, all over the globe this morning. This representation of God's kingdom is fully present in this way. Why? Because of the Spirit. And as we gather here this morning, we are fully present in the righteousness and peace of Christ.

We're abiding in the kind of quietness and trust that Christ alone provides. That kingdom has been inaugurated and one day it will be consummated. The full consummation of this king and his righteous kingdom awaits the second coming of Christ. And that kingdom will be established forever, as verse 17 says, throughout all of eternity. Therefore, as 1 Thessalonians 4:18 says, we should encourage one another with these words.

That's the major point of application in this last section. Be encouraged with these words. So as we close, where does this leave us as we consider this chapter as a whole? It leaves us with strength for today and it leaves us for hope, with hope for tomorrow. The hope for tomorrow is the help that motivates us to trust God today.

And even though we're unable to see what's ahead in our future, even as we're tempted to become complacent and hopeless, you must ask yourself this. Does my confidence for today and my hope for tomorrow rest on a sure foundation? What's your answer? Does it rest on the King who even now reigns in righteousness? Is my confidence for today and hope for tomorrow sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit?

And can I trust in hope in God to restore all wrong things in order to make them all right? With hearts full of hope, our response to each of these questions must be answered with yet another one of those singular life-altering words. Yes.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we praise you today as the King who reigns. We praise you, God, and we thank you that your kingdom's reign extends over all things for all time. And God, we praise you for sending your righteous Son as our Messiah and King, as our Savior in whom we wait and long for. And Lord, we do so with hope. Help us in this.

And God, we praise you today for sending us the gift of your Spirit who convicts us and challenges us and changes us and calls us, Lord, to pursue obedience and righteousness and peace. We pray, Father, that you would encourage us in these words and allow us to be conformed to these truths so that we can glorify you in order to wait well until you return again. In Christ's name we pray, amen.