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ISAIAH 28:20

"SHORT BED WITH NARROW BLANKETS"

Intro: Can you imagine trying to sleep on such a bed. No true rest.

I. THE PEOPLE BEING ADDRESSED.
        A. Gods chosen people.
                1. Created as a people of God.
                        a. Had been given laws, promises, covenants.
                2. They owed their existence to God.
                3. They owed their prosperity to God.
        B. Yet. A people whose impulses and perpetual mode was ungodliness.
                1. They had scorn and contempt for words of the prophet.
                2. Intellectually they still believed in existence of God.
                3. In practice they had denied Him.
                        "Who hath believed our report?"
        C. A people who had contempt for God's prophet.
                1. "Whom shalt he teach knowledge?" vs. 9.
                        a. "Them that are weaned from the bottle."
                2. "For precept must be upon precept."
                        "This kind of preaching is out of date."
                3. When Isaiah warned of God's judgments, the replied...
                        1. We are not afraid "We have made a covenant with death
                           and hell."
                4. Vs. 16.

II. THE MESSAGE - CHRIST ONLY PLACE OF REST.
        A. Down in the deeps of your conscience you know that this life is not all.
                1. If you do believe that this life is all, I am not going to argue
                   with you-I will pray for you.
        B. We cannot stop the wheels of time, they are sweeping us to the end.
                1. Some try to stop the clock.
                2. Others try to turn back the clock.
        C. No rest except in cornerstone God has provided.

III. BEDS MEN TRY TO REST IN.
        A. "I have always been moral" morality.
        B. "I have observed all the rites of the external church," religious experiences.
        C. "Ten years ago I had a glorious experience - past experiences."
        D. "God is too good to punish"- false doctrine."
        E. "I haven't time for these things now."

Two Comments:
                1. The beds are too short no rest.
                2. The blankets are to narrow - will not cover.
        A. Bed of Morality - Morality demands standards.
                1. What is your standard? Golden Rule.
                2. God's standard "Thou shall love the Lord."
        B. Bed of religious observances.
                1. Spiritual life never generated by mechanical actions confirmation
                   you renounced world, flesh, devil. Have you? Resting in broken
                   promises - bed too short.
        C. Past experience must be translated into present experience.
                1. Paul.
        D. God to good to punish - truth is God too good not to punish. There are men,
           if God let them into heaven they would turn it into hell.
        E. For those who haven't time.