Isaiah 28 - Crowns of Glory or Wreaths of Ruin

I'd ask you to take your Bible and turn with me over to the book of Isaiah, chapter 28.

Isaiah 28 · chapter mention

We're going through the book of Isaiah on Sunday mornings and we are in this chapter coming up chapter 28.

In 1711, a long time ago the South Sea Company was established for the purpose of consolidating and managing the national debt of the British Empire, of consolidating and managing the national debt of the British Empire.

In return for taking on the debt, the South Sea Company was granted the monopoly of trade in the South Seas.

The government played a very significant role in that arrangement and for nine years everything seemed to go well.

In 1720, the South Sea Company proposed a scheme to assume even more of the debt in exchange for shares, and Parliament voted and approved their proposal, and that contributed to a mad rush on the South Sea Company stock.

It rose dramatically and people rushed in to get in as early as they could, because they could only see it getting better and better and better and better.

People believed that they'd receive massive profits by investing early.

People believed that they'd receive massive profits by investing early, and those who had invested early found themselves leveraging what they thought was their wealth and obtaining more debt in order to secure properties and places.

Everybody was connected to it, tied to it.

The success of it would have been fantastic for all, and at its peak the company was worth several times what it was just a few months prior.

Everybody was excited, but their excitement was just nothing but irrational optimism fueled by misleading information.

In truth, the company was all built on speculation.

It lacked any real earnings and within a few months from that peak in 1720, it collapsed and thousands and thousands of people went bankrupt in a day.

Thousands of investors, whether they were in the aristocracy, whether they were politicians or just common everyday folks.

They were brought to financial ruin in a moment.

This ruin caused widespread panic.

It disrupted the whole banking system of the British Empire and almost toppled the government.

Politicians were entangled with this and the public outrage grew and grew and grew.

The South Sea Company and the bubble that was caused by it stands as an emblem for us of the dangers of speculative excess, of investing ourselves in things that actually have no true value whatsoever.

So we come into Isaiah, chapter 28.

Isaiah 28 · chapter mention

Isaiah is returning from his prophetic whip around tour of the nations To come back to Samaria, to the people of Israel, and back to Jerusalem, to the people of Israel and back to Jerusalem, to the people of Judah, to talk about them, about the foolish investment of their own self-reliance or in their alliances with the nations he's just spoken oracles of destruction about.

He's here to tell them, in this chapter, of the follies of putting themselves and investing in the wrong securities.

He tells them that their misplaced trust in themselves and their misplaced trust in their alliances are going to prove their ruin, and so he gives them a warning.

But he also extends to them some hope.

In the same chapter as he exhorts them about these dangerous activities, these dangerous investments, he tells them that if they would invest in the Lord and put their trust in him, that they would receive a reward far beyond their wildest dreams and imaginations.

The question is, how would they respond to this?

And as we think about that overarching question, it's a question that we have to ask ourselves also what are we investing ourselves in?

Where are our reliances, not only for time but also for eternity?

And could we be speculating, thinking that our investments secure in something when actually it holds absolutely no value whatsoever?

Or have we invested in something that may not on the surface look promising but in reality will open up into eternity to be the greatest value and weight of glory ever imagined.

We're going to compare these two contrasting investment schemes and strategies and see whether or not one is secure and the other one is not.

And I want us to ask ourselves and to evaluate ourselves where am I putting my trust in my investment?

Where are my securities, and will they hold value when the eternal day comes?

Well, the first scheme that we're going to look at is a crumbling capital investment.

A crumbling capital investment.

And it starts off with this cry of woe, the very first word of the chapter.

Take a look at it.

In verse one, woe, woe.

Isaiah jumps right in to tell us just how tragic this investment is, and he grabs a word from the realm of the funeral and begins to tell us just how dramatically sad and horrible this is.

The word woe comes from the places of weeping at a funeral.

It comes when we mourn over the lost loved one who's been snatched away from us.

It comes from that place of pained lament as we wail over the fact that our loved one is no longer beside us, that we're separated, that now life will be completely different.

And here Isaiah is taking up this language of the funeral to talk about the tragedy of this headlong destruction that the people of Israel and Judah are in by investing in their own reliance and investing in their alliances with nations like Egypt that are going to bring them nothing but ruin.

And so, as he unpacks this, he begins to talk about a crown and actually makes a contrast of crowns.

Look at the first few verses here.

You'll see this word wreath or crown show up In verse one.

Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim's drunkards and to the fading flower of its beautiful splendor, which is on the summit above the rich valley.

Take a look at verse three.

The majestic crown of Ephraim's drunkards will be trampled underfoot.

Verse four the fading flower and its beautiful splendor, which is on the summit above the rich valley.

Verse five on that day, the Lord of armies will become a crown of beauty and a diadem, a splendor to the remnant of his people, a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment, and strength to those who repel attacks at the city gate.

Here is Isaiah contrasting crowns.

Here is Isaiah contrasting crowns.

One crown is a wreath of everlasting beauty and glory, in verses 5 and 6.

And it is the crown that is the Lord himself, but the other crown, a wreath of flowers that partying people slip onto their heads as they dance around in their drunken revelry.

We'll discover more about the Lord's crown in just a moment, but take a look at this first crown.

It's described to us in verses one and four as the beautiful splendor which is on the summit above the rich valley.

And what Isaiah is referring to are the 10 northern tribes and their capital city of Assyria, or Samaria rather, and of its battlements, of its walls that protect it.

And so it's on top of a mountain, overlooking a lush and fertile plain, and there are this significant walled city with the center of it standing above and all of it.

And if you looked at it, you'd say that looks just like a crown, looks just like a wreath on top of someone's head.

And here Isaiah is saying that this battlement, this structure of defense, this fortified city, is really going to be trampled down.

It's going to be nothing more than fading flowers, a corruptible wreath that's going to be put underfoot and smashed to the ground.

And the people here are so secure in what they think they've got by having fortified their capital city that they're literally partying almost like people who stayed on the dance floor after being told the Titanic was sinking.

That's what these people are doing.

Their confidence is ruinous.

And Isaiah, in order to get the point home, gets very graphic.

Actually Verses 7 and 8.

He talks about the priest and the prophets and the leaders, the political leaders.

In verses 7 and 8, he takes us into a realm that's a little unpleasant for us to hear, but boy does it communicate.

Even these stagger because of wine and stumble under the influence of beer.

Priests and prophets stagger because of beer.

They're confused by wine.

They stumble because of beer.

They're muddled in their visions.

They stumble in their judgments.

Indeed, all their tables are covered with vomit.

There's no place without a stench.

What a remarkable statement.

This is hardly the kind of table anybody would want to eat at and these people are hardly the kind of leaders anybody would want to follow.

And Isaiah is saying that their confidence in these leaders and their confidence in themselves and their confidence in this walled city is well, what is it?

It's like watching a drunk at a party who has a lampshade on his head.

It's like watching him move around the room, bumping into people and saying ignorant words and offensive remarks, and then eventually getting sick and vomiting all over the buffet table, and the only thing more offensive and humiliating than that are the people who are grabbing their tongs in a plate and saying I think I'll continue to put some stuff on my plate from there.

He said this is pride.

This is how disturbing and disgusting and how degrading and humiliating pride is and arrogant is and self-reliance is, is and arrogant is and self-reliance is.

The only thing worse than this stuporous, staggering slosh who's chundered all over everything are the people who are trying to eat off of the table he just threw up on.

It's degrading and disgusting.

The smell is putrid, sadly in our day, there are people walking around offering advice and spiritual wisdom and instruction are no better than the prophets and the priests in this day who are spewing nonsense all over the airwaves and social media and television, and there's people taking their spiritual plates and forks and they're going give me some more of that and it's just ruinous and tragic.

And in verse four, god says it's going to be like this and he uses another picture it's going to be like that first ripe fig that shows up when all the others are still too green to eat, and you've been waiting and waiting and waiting for the figs to become ripe and you see that one that's just right there ready to eat, and you grab it and you eat it before you even take it home or wash it.

That's how fast Samaria is going to be gobbled up in judgment.

Assyria is going to come down and wipe them out in a heartbeat.

And in 721 BC that's exactly what happened.

Isaiah moves on to talk about this.

Isaiah moves on to talk about this catastrophe of an investment in self by moving to Judah in verses 14 to 22.

And there he takes up another picture of a covenant with death to make an agreement with destruction.

Judah's leaders were no different than the people in the northern tribes who were relying upon their walled cities.

And now he condemns the people of Judah for their covenant with death by making an alliance with the people in Egypt, thinking that Egypt would help them defeat the Assyrian onslaught.

He tells them look, god will take care of you, god will supply everything you need to stand firm.

You don't need to be disturbed in the midst of these troubling circumstances.

Your God can hold on to you.

But the nation rejected the Lord and they were thus put into a place where they had made a covenant with death, an agreement that you take care of me, I'll take care of you.

And they both died.

In verse 17, isaiah says that hail will sweep away this false refuge and water will fill up your hiding place.

A storm will come in and you will find yourself in your little hideaway, up to your throat in water, and you're going to get washed away in the surge that's coming.

And in verse 19 and 20.

He tells them Every time it passes through, it will carry you away.

It will pass through every morning, every day and every night.

Only terror will cause you to understand the message.

Indeed, the bed is too short to stretch out on and its covers too small to wrap up in.

When Assyria comes, you're going to find Egypt can't take care of you.

You're going to try to get in bed with Egypt and you're going to find that bed is not big enough for you.

You're going to try to cover yourself with the sheets of Egypt.

You're going to find that half of you is still left exposed.

This is not a safe place.

This is not where you find help.

And he says it's not until the terror comes upon you that you understand.

They could listen to the preaching of Isaiah and listen to the warnings that he had given and heard the promises that he provided.

But it wasn't until the judgment actually fell did they say.

You've made a tragic mistake when there's no place to remedy the mistake you've made.

I love talking to Sam as he raised his boys.

He told them one thing, told them a lot of things, but one thing that I remember him telling them is don't make a mistake, you can't walk back.

Don't make a mistake, you can't walk back.

These people have made mistakes that they never realized they should have never made until it was too late.

Now let's find out why.

Verses 7 to 10 tell us exactly why.

It comes on the heels of this disturbing illustration of the priest and the prophets and the political leaders who are overtaken by alcohol and staggering around and stumbling, confused and blurred vision.

I'm not going to repeat that sordid story and depravity anymore, but let's get behind it and see what's behind Israel and Judah's disturbing investments.

Verse 9 and verse 10.

Who is he trying to teach?

Who is he trying to instruct?

Infants just weaned from milk, babies removed from the breast?

Law after law, law after law.

Line after line, line after line, a little here, a little there.

What's this.

Isaiah is quoting the drunken prophets and priests.

He's repeating back what they're saying about Isaiah's preaching.

These leaders, who are getting bombarded by the prophet with words of judgment and warnings to repent, who are given sweet and beautiful invitations if they'd only trust in the Lord, are listening to Isaiah and they're saying man, this guy just doesn't have it.

His message is beneath us.

His call to trust in God is simplistic nonsense.

It's just a silly message meant for children and to their ears.

Isaiah's plain speech just doesn't fall nicely upon their sophisticated ears.

He doesn't satisfy their refined tastes.

He doesn't speak a message that moves them with profundity, and so they mock him.

And verse 10 is a little difficult to translate in the Hebrew.

But what I think is happening there is that Isaiah is using what sounds like baby talk to mock, as they're using baby talk to mock Isaiah's preaching Kisav Lasav, sav Lasav, kav Lakav, kav Lakav, just blah, blah, blah, blah.

Right, it reminds me of that house music song.

Yes, your pastor understands house music a little bit.

All we ever hear from you is blah, blah, blah, blah.

So all we ever do is go yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

We don't even care about what they say because it's all yeah, yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

That's the prophets talking about Isaiah's preaching.

We don't even care what Isaiah says, because it's all just blah, blah, blah, blah, mocking the power and the protection and, yes, the spiritual profundity of Isaiah's message.

Looking at the word of God is worse than worthless just because it wasn't sophisticated enough for them.

And so verse 11 opens up in the NIV, particularly with the phrase very well then, they're going to refuse God's message.

Then he has something to say to them.

Very well then, if that's your determination about the message of the prophet, well, verse 13,.

The word of the Lord will come to them, law after law, law after law, line after line, line after line, a little here, a little there.

It will sound to you like blah blah, blah, blah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it'll be the Assyrians speaking a different language to you when they drag you away from your country and bring you into captivity.

You're going to mock the word of God.

You're going to face the word of God.

You're going to face the consequences of that mocking voice.

What Isaiah is saying here is real, and every Sunday, when the word of God is proclaimed, there's someone in the pew saying boy, I've never understood the word of God like this.

This is sweet.

I can't wait.

I wish we didn't have to close.

I would love to write more in my notebooks.

I'm gonna take this home and read God's word more deeply and with a fresher sense of understanding.

I love God's word, and then there's someone who listens to it and says this is dumb God's word.

Why can't God's word say something up to my level?

Same message, different impact.

When the Bible's opened up, you have to ask yourself is it sweet to your soul or is it sour to your tongue?

Or is it sour to your tongue?

Do you receive it as if it was a rich and satisfying drink, or do you spit it out because it tastes like swamp water?

You see, it's not the Word of God that's under judgment, it's us.

We are here.

The Lord is offering rest to the weary, but if they continue to resist it, if they continue to mock it, if they continue to speak against it with such haughty speech, they're going to face judgment and get back in their face what they're blurting out in derision.

They're just going to hear a bunch of foreign words in their ears as they're dragged away and never returning to their homes.

Paul quotes this passage of scripture, by the way, in the book of 1 Corinthians, and what he means to say there is that incomprehensible messages are not how God speaks to his believing people.

That kind of speech is left for those who don't have the heart to hear the truth.

Who don't have the heart to hear the truth.

Let's jump down a little bit, because there's a message to people who are making poor investments and there's a message of hope here.

You see, you don't have to come to complete ruin before you return and find welcome in the Lord.

There is a place of repentance and there's an invitation at the end of this section, verses 23 to 29.

In verse 23, it says listen and hear my voice, pay attention and hear what I say.

And then verse 29,.

This comes from the Lord of armies.

He gives wondrous advice, he gives great wisdom, and to those who have made a rather tragic and destructive investment, he says before you go any further, why don't you just stop and listen to the Lord instead of mocking him?

And so he calls into this invitation some wisdom from the farm, an example of why God should be heeded.

And he asked two questions about plowing and planting.

The first question in verse 24, does a plowman plow every day to plant seed.

Does he continually break up and cultivate the soil?

No, no, of course he knows when to plant and he knows when to stop plowing.

And then the second question, verse 25,.

When he's leveled at surface, does he not then scatter black cumin and sow cumin?

He plants weed in rows and barley and plots with spelt as their border.

Does he know when to plant and when to plow?

To plant and when to plow, when to stop plowing, when to stop planting?

Of course he does.

Yes, the farmer knows all of that.

Where does that understanding come from?

Isaiah asks us to consider.

It comes from God.

The farmer can follow the instructions that come from God's common grace in this world that has patterns in its seasons, and we can discern this because God is a God of order who has made this world work for the purposes of granting life.

So the farmer, even though they may not even understand it to be God, who's granted them this understanding, recognizes the signs of the seasons and knows when to plow and when to plant and when to harvest.

And if he can do something simply for the purposes of attaining an ordinary crop of cumin that we can put in our curries.

How much more should we listen to this God who tells us things of eternal consequence?

Should we not invest in his wisdom and then receive his instruction?

This is what he's saying.

And if this farmer can find himself reaping a harvest at the end of the year, having paid attention to the signs of the seasons, how much more would an investment in God himself and trusting him alone bring with it?

Something far beyond what we could ever gather if we simply relied upon ourselves.

You see, there's a lot more at stake than a good or bad harvest.

For the people of Israel and Judah, what was at stake was the danger of a mighty Near Eastern Empire called Assyria wiping them away.

But for us there's something even bigger than that.

There is the enemy called sin and the eternal destruction that that will bring to us, because it'll enslave us forever.

And God is saying take refuge in me, don't take refuge in yourself, don't lean on your own abilities to get you through eternity.

So there's one investment scheme, and it's a crumbling capital investment.

It falls into nothing.

But there's another scheme, and this one is a concrete capital investment, because it's an investment in the Lord himself.

For the people who are reading this, in their day, things could have been so much different.

And so let's just retrace our steps very quickly as we go through this chapter and see what the dividends are for putting our trust not in ourselves, but in God, for those who would humble themselves and hear what Isaiah is saying.

What does the person who trusts the Lord find?

Well, the first thing we find is a crown.

We started with crowns.

The bad investment scheme had a crown or a wreath of flowers that was going to get trampled underneath, but what about the crown of those who trust in God?

Verse 5, chapter 28.

On that day, the Lord of armies will become a crown of beauty and a diadem of splendor to the remnant of his people.

Yeah, the first crown is a fading crown, it's a worthless crown, but this, the Lord himself, is, to his people, a crown of glory and of splendor, one meant to beautify the wearer, one that intensifies and glorifies the person who puts it on, because that crown is the Lord himself, with all of his love and all of his investment, of all of his person in the one who puts him or herself in his hands.

Yesterday, when Kevin and Jessica were married, ephesians 5 came into the discussion, as it should Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

And wonderful instructions Kevin received.

But listen to it, apart from the marriage aspect, and just take in who Jesus is to his people marriage aspect and just take in who Jesus is to his people.

Just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, to do what?

To make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word and he did this to present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that Holy and blameless.

What happens to those who trust the Lord?

They become the bride of Christ.

They become this one who receives Jesus' full attention and his full care and his full investment in them in order to bring them to a place of honor and glory that they could never bring themselves.

What a glorious thing this is.

This is Jesus calling out a people to himself and giving them all that he is.

If he's a king, his people will be his queen.

If he reigns in heaven, so will they.

If he's heavenly, his people will bear the image of the heavenly.

If he is incorruptible and immortal, they will be incorruptible and immortal If he is at the right hand of the Father, so they shall sit with him in heavenly places.

This is Christ and his people.

This is the crown, who is God himself.

But it doesn't stop there.

It could easily and we've already seen the weight of this investment far excels the destructive, ruinous investment in ourselves.

But it goes on.

Verse six he's going to give to the remnant of his people a spirit of justice, to the one who sits in judgment, and strength to those who repel attacks at the city gate.

Solomon, you're going to be a king.

Solomon, you're going to be making decisions for the people.

Solomon, you're going to have to think about what's equitable and what's righteous and you're going to have to make judgments that are going to be for the benefit of the people.

Solomon says I need wisdom, I don't need money, I don't need my looks, I don't need money, I don't need my looks, I don't need anything but wisdom.

Because he knew he didn't have it.

The responsibility was beyond him.

What does a person who sits in the place of justice need?

They need the wisdom to make judgments that are just and right and equitable.

What does a soldier need when he's standing against the enemy at the gate?

Well, give me some reinforcements and give me a larger ability to repel the enemy.

In the place of our lack, there is the supply, and this is that picture that Jesus, that the word of God is giving us, about God granting to those who trust in him.

Where do you feel a weakness, where do you feel a lack within yourself, where do you feel an inability of strength?

It's in those very places God will operate.

Paul said this treasure, we have it in earthen vessels that the excellency might be of God and not of ourselves.

And he said we're afflicted in every way, but not crushed.

We're perplexed, but we're not in despair.

We're persecuted, but we're not abandoned.

We're struck down, but we're not destroyed.

Why?

Because Jesus is with me Through all the places where I feel my utter inability, he steps in and he has everything to keep me going, everything.

And then he says this and we know that the one who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with him.

The place where I feel the weakest, the most in the face of death, where I can't tell it no, come back tomorrow.

He's there and I can go into the grave knowing that through Jesus Christ's resurrection, I will also come up out of the grave because of him.

So here, what are the dividends of investment in God and not ourselves?

A crown, the conquering victory and confidence.

Take a look at verse 12.

He said to them this is the place of rest, let the weary rest, this is a place of repose.

But they wouldn't listen.

The Lord is telling us that he himself is the place of rest, that he himself is the place where the weary and the weak can find that needed recreation and recovery and they can lie down without fear.

We'll look at it in a few chapters, but in Isaiah 32, verse 17,.

Isaiah 32:17

The results of righteousness will be peace.

The effect of righteousness will be quiet confidence forever, and my people will dwell in a peaceful place, in safe and secure dwellings.

What a glorious picture that is.

You don't have to be afraid when the lights are turned out.

You don't have to wonder if there's some enemy sneaking around the backyard.

You don't have to turn the alarm on when you leave the house.

You don't have to lock your car.

There's no danger.

That's the image of what it means to find rest and repose and security and confidence and safety in God.

There's nothing bigger than him and there's nothing going to take you down that he's not already got an answer for.

Take you down that he's not already got an answer for.

And this is why Jesus said come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden.

And he said he will give us rest Because he is that place where our very soul can lie in repose.

How confidence building.

That is, polycarp of Smyrna, who lived from 69 AD to about 155 AD, was drugged before others who were mocking his faith in Christ, calling on him to abandon Christ and to call Caesar Lord.

And he said this right before they killed him.

80 and six years I've served him and he has done me no wrong.

How can I blaspheme my king who saved me?

How can I blaspheme my king who saved me?

He was ready to die for Christ because he had lived under the safety of giving himself wholly over to this Lord Jesus who had taken care of him for 86 years.

But there's more, one more, actually almost two, but one Verse 16.

Look, verse 16.

Therefore, the Lord said Look, I've laid a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.

The one who believes will be unshakable.

He repeats himself three times here, with three different phrases, in order to get the point across that if you rely on God, you've got an eternal security in that investment.

It's a precious cornerstone.

It's an unshakable foundation.

It's a tested, proved, reliable place to put your trust.

It's not the South Sea Company and it's not the housing crisis of 2008.

Because if you trust in Him, he will uphold you through everything.

God's building will stand in times of trial.

The Assyrian conflict, god will take care of.

There's no need to be afraid or dismayed because of the enemy that's in front of you, because God's cornerstone is dependable and trustworthy More dependable and trustworthy than Egypt, and certainly more dependable and trustworthy than your ability to sort of stifle your fears or to make it through on your own or to pick yourself up and say I'll do better next time.

What is this cornerstone?

Again, the New Testament picks this passage up actually in several different places.

It's a significant prophecy that's echoed in the New Testament picks this passage up actually in several different places.

It's a significant prophecy that's echoed in the New Testament.

It's found by Peter in 1 Peter 2, verses 6 to 8, where Jesus Christ himself is identified as that cornerstone.

1 Peter 2:6–8

When we put all of ourselves and invest everything that we are for life and eternity into Jesus Christ.

We are standing on top of this secure foundation, this tested place.

It's a concrete investment place.

It's a concrete investment.

The hope of redemption that Isaiah, chapter 28, is talking about, is fulfilled ultimately by our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 28 · chapter mention

His death and his resurrection secure our salvation and our reconciliation with God and give us the promise that we'll be with him.

Jesus himself picked up these words and talked about himself.

We read about it in chapter 3 of 1 Corinthians, about Christ is the only foundation.

And in the book of Romans, in chapter 9, paul says this about the contrast between the bad investment and the right investment.

And he said this.

He said Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not achieved the righteousness of the law.

Thinking that they can be righteous by doing the things that God demands, they find that that thing actually reveals sin to them rather than grant them the righteousness that they were trying to attain.

Why is it?

Because they did not pursue it by faith, but, as if it were, by works.

They stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, and he quotes Isaiah 28.

Look, I'm putting a stone in Zion to stumble over and a rock to trip over.

And the one who believes on him will not be put to shame.

Paul explains there's a bad investment, a ruinous effort and endeavor, being preoccupied with the righteousness that comes from your abilities or righteousness that comes by simply believing on the righteous one, christ himself.

And the investment in Christ is the one where you'll never feel ashamed.

You'll step into eternity and there won't be a single moment in the eternal day that you'll say I wish I hadn't done that.

You'll never be ashamed.

And if Paul were alive today, he would say if you're planting your eternity and your investment of your never dying soul in your own abilities, he said you're no better than putting your assets into the hands of Bernie Madoff.

You're going to say why did I do that?

I'm ruined.

You see, telling people they need to be better and do better or think that they can go to heaven because they are better, is a sweet deception that just seems to ring well in all of our ears.

But it's a lie.

And Paul is telling us here that there's one investment, and one investment alone, that makes all the difference.

And it's not the collapsing capital investment, it's the concrete capital investment.

Who is the Lord Jesus himself?

We'll conclude with this Prince Oscar Bernadotte was born in 1859.

He was the second son of King Oscar II of Sweden and Queen Sophia, and he was titled initially the Duke of Gotland.

But his life took a remarkable turn.

In 1888, he married a lady named Ebba, who was a commoner, and he did so without the required royal consent.

So what did he do?

What did Prince Oscar do?

He renounced his royal titles.

He renounced his succession rights because he'd rather have Ebba than to have the title of prince or king.

Oscar and Ebba shared together a deep Christian faith.

It was a very central part of their lives together as a couple, and he was actively involved in a lot of organizations the Swedish YMCA, a number of different conferences and conventions.

It was just wonderfully used of God in that part of the world.

And he wrote the lyrics of a song in Swedish that have been attributed in English to a lady named Rhea Miller.

You might know the song I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold.

I'd rather be his than have riches untold.

I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands.

I'd rather be led by his nail-pierced hands than to be king of a vast domain or to be held in sin's dread sway.

I'd rather have Jesus than anything, anything this world affords today.

Amen, let's pray.

Father, thank you for this word, a word that is striking in its imagery, a word that pierces our very hearts.

Thank you for warning us, before we step into eternity, about the awful investment of self.

Thank you for the sweet invitations of life and the guarantee that comes by your very person, because you can swear by no higher.

You swore by yourself and gave us a security that our investment will never fail by putting ourselves in your hands.

Thank you for granting us a savior, jesus Christ, one who delivers us from ourselves and our own destruction.

And, father, I want to pray for anyone who's here, anyone who, maybe today for the first time, has asked themselves that very serious question when are my securities lying?

Who am I trusting?

Where's my reliance?

Oh, father, I pray that today would be the day that they bow to the true King, the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings, because you tell us in this that our glory is in you, that we find justice in you, that we find strength in you, that we find composure and rest, we find victory in you, because you are that cornerstone.

You promise us a never fading wreath of glory.

You grant us our wisdom and justice beyond imagining and strength that endures through the test of time.

Father, thank you, thank you.

Move them and move us.

We pray to be in the Savior and we pray this in Christ's name, amen.