This passage you read with me
is difficult, isn't it, to understand,
and begins with woe, as so many chapters in Isaiah do. Isaiah pronounced woe 21 times,
and more than any other prophet, all of them did. Our Lord said that 15 times,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one that said, as in
the days of Noah, as in the days of Lot, you're buying and selling
and marrying and giving in marriage and eating and drinking, building
until the day that the Lord sent his judgment and they're all
taken away. I must, every true prophet, every
true apostle, all through the epistles, warnings to a godless,
unbelieving world, warnings and promises to God's people. And
I'm well aware that we have young people who are looking forward
to the future. Looking forward to enjoying these
things that God gives us richly to enjoy, homes and families. And I look forward to having
a marriage and a home and children and all that, grandchildren.
And I enjoy these things too, but all of this needs to be tempered
with the fear of the Lord. Here the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. And this world we live in, Isaiah's
world, Jeremiah's generation, Ezekiel, all of them, they didn't
fear God. And there was much religion,
but religion, as Isaiah wrote and Jeremiah wrote and Ezekiel
wrote, prophesied smooth things. You understand? Smooth things. Nobody's offended by it. And
Barnard said, they preach a God nobody's mad at. Smooth thing. And peace, peace. That's what Isaiah said, and
Jeremiah, and all of them said, and Hosea, and none of them.
It said of their generation, they prophesy, they preach peace,
peace, but there is no peace. And our Lord said, there will
be no peace for the wicked. Those that forget God. And that's Romans 1. You read
that with me just recently, didn't you? The times we live in. Look at verse 2. O Lord, be gracious
unto us. This is a prayer. We've waited
for thee. Be thou their arm. That is, those that wait for
the Lord. Those who worship the Lord. Those that seek the Lord.
Those who know the Lord. Be our salvation in a time of
trouble. Down in verse 6, it says, Wisdom and knowledge shall
be the stability of these times. Unstable time. Troublesome time. Now, Israel. This is all to Israel. This is
all to those that profess to know God. And the majority of
our nation, I preach to Americans, you know. And the majority of
people make some profession of religion, profess to believe
God. I mean, one time there was a, what's the word? They estimated
there were over 50% of the population of America were Christians. That's
just not so. This nation wouldn't be like
it is if that were true. But this was written to Israel
and those who profess to believe God. And it was full of warnings. The troubles hadn't really started
yet in Israel. This was a hundred years before
the enemy came and took them all away to Babylon. They were
living in peaceful times. They were living in prosperous
times. Things were so good, they thought
they had God's favor. It just sounds familiar. God
bless America. This was times of prosperity. Peaceful times. Peace. We have
peace. Jeremiah, I remember, warned
them. He kept telling them about the
coming judgment of God, and they didn't like it, and they put
him in a pit and said, we're not going to hear this. And all
the prophets got against him and said, no, no, no, God loves
us all, and there's a wonderful plan for our life. How relevant is this? How needful
is this? And he's last day. Paul called them perilous times
in 2 Timothy 3. He said we're living in perilous
times. And he didn't mention wars. He didn't mention calamities. What did he mention? Lovers of
self, no fear of God, proud, heady, high-minded, boasters. Isaiah said the whole of our
society is sick from the top of their head and the sole of
their feet, the way they walk and the way they think, sick,
sick. And he went on to say that they have a multitude of horses
and chariots. They have all the modern technology,
and that's what they're taking up with. He said there's no fear
of God, and he warned, he said, you better run to hide you in
the rock, because the lofty looks of man are going to be brought
down. There's never been a more proud, heady, high-minded, boastful
generation from old and young. Isaiah 3, he said they declare
that they don't hide their sin anymore, they declare it like
Sodom. It goes on to say that daughters
of Jerusalem, supposed to be believers, that they walk in
and prancing and so proud of their beauty and on and on it
goes. And Isaiah, in that chapter 6,
we don't need to leave Isaiah to hear all the counsel of God. And Isaiah chapter 6, he said,
I saw the Lord. High and lifted up. What Lord?
Who's that? The Lord Jesus Christ. The whole earth's full of His
glory, though man can't see it. His train filled the temple and
the angels cry one thing concerning Him. Holy, holy, holy. The Lord
and God abode. And he said, woe is me. That's
when Isaiah said, woe is me. I'm undone. I'm a sinner. in
the eyes and the hands of this holy God. And I dwell in the
midst of a people of unclean lips, whose mouths are cursing
and full of bitterness and all that. Isn't that our generation?
Is this not the most relevant message that we could hear? And
they're not hearing it, but you and I are hearing it. We're blessed. We're blessed to hear words of
comfort. We're blessed to hear words of warning. rebuke, reproof,
correction, instruction and righteousness. That's what the Scriptures are
profitable for. I want to give you some stability in these unstable
times. Though we live in the most prosperous
times in the history of the world, though we live in the most peaceful
times, I started looking back in history and I think the last
war on this in the United States was a civil war. Wasn't it? That's 1865. That's 160 years
ago. Not a shot been fired, no battles,
no blood shed in a battle in the United States of America. But everywhere else it is. All
over the world. Why? Why has God spared this
country 160 years of bloodshed and war and all that? I'm certain
it's because of the gospel. Because the gospel is here. You
know, the gospel started over in the Middle East, and it left. What happened in the Middle East?
Well, it was just nothing but wars. It went into Europe, didn't
it? Switzerland, that John Calvin,
John Knox, over into Spain and France and England and Scotland,
all these preachers that left there. Now where they at? Germany,
Martin Lutheran. And it came over here. Bless
God it came over here. The Gospel came over here. And
the Lord spared our nation because of the Gospel. We just read that
in Isaiah 33, and he said, to the church of God, you're not
going to need to worry about this. That's what he's saying,
the church of God. You don't need to worry about
these things if you fear God. If you fear the God of the Bible
and worship Him aright, you don't need to fear these fierce people
and all these wars. You don't need to fear that.
Telling His people that, His disciples that. Fear not. Fear
not. Don't fear their fear. Isaiah 8. Don't fear their fear.
Don't get with them. Fear Me. He said, Let Me be your
dread. Then you won't have anything or anyone to fear. Come what
may. You'll know it's God that did
it. Come who may. The fiercest. China, Russia,
all that. Don't need to fear those men.
They're pawns in the hands of our God. These are troubling times to
those who have their eyes open, aren't they? Troubling times. The moral decay and wickedness
of this country is just appalling and it's sickening. I hate it
for our children and our grandchildren, don't you? I hate it. You can't
escape it. Troublesome times, perilous times,
oh my. But here's stability. Here's
stability. Look at our text now. Verse 5,
the Lord is exalted. Say unto the heathen, thy God
reigneth. He dwells on high. Who? The Lord
God. Who? The Lord Jesus Christ. Our
Lord Jesus is not outside our hearts door, people. You know
that. You know that, don't you? Where
is he? Sitting at the right hand of the majesty on high, expecting
his enemies to be made his footstool. Waiting on the day he's to come
back and get his people and take them out of this mess. Reigning
and ruling in heaven and earth. That's where our God is. The
Lord is exalted. He dwelleth on high. None higher. Here's stability in mercy, love,
and grace. Verse 5, he's filled Zion with
judgment and righteousness. He had filled his church, his
people, with judgment, discernment, when he's Romans 1 again. when he's taken away all judgment
because they don't acknowledge God in their thoughts, they don't
like to think of God, there's no fear of God before their eyes,
they've changed the glory of God into corruptible things,
they've changed the truth of God, professing themselves to
be wise, they became fools, so God gave them over to a reprobate
mind. That means a mind that doesn't
have a lick of sense, no judgment. When you look around at our world,
you see what men and women and young people are doing to themselves
and doing and thinking and all that they're doing. You think,
don't they have any understanding? Don't they have any good sense?
Just 40 or 50 years ago, people had some good sense. You understand
what I'm saying? But he's filled this church with
judgment, discernment, understanding. Judgment
and righteousness. Now where is all that saying?
Where did we get this judgment and this righteousness, this
understanding, this discernment? The Son of God has come and given
us an understanding that we might know Him that is true. A true
and living God who reigns and rules. Not a God who wants to
and tries and fails and trying to tell men, trying to save people
and just won't let Him. He wants to be their God. He's
given us an understanding. We know the living and true God
and the Lord Jesus Christ, and it gives us such peace. Filled Zion. He's filled Zion. Now, Zion is not full of people
on earth. This building is not full, although
it's a pretty big, pretty large grace church. Do you know that
today? I'm telling you the truth. I've been to most of them. There's only a few larger than
this one. That's amazing, isn't it? It doesn't surprise us. The truth
has always been in the minority. It's always been so. So the church
is not full of people, but it's full of judgment and righteousness. Where did we get this fullness? Of His fullness. Have we received
grace for grace, this gift of judgment, of understanding? The
Son of God has come and given us an understanding. See, no
man knows the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father
but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal. Man doesn't know God. Man doesn't know the Son of God.
They don't know Him because they can't until He reveals Him. Right? Well, you see, you're
calling brethren. How God has abounded toward us
and wisdom and prudence having made known unto us the mystery
of His will which is kept hid from the wise and the prudent.
You see how blessed we are? By His Word, by His truth, by
the Word of truth made flesh, we know who God is, the living
and true God. We know what man is. We're not
deluded by the God of this world. We don't follow the people of
this world. The way they say is right. No, we follow Him who
is the truth. We know what salvation is. It's
not in man's hands, it's in the Lord's hands. And I'm glad. That
makes the world mad. That makes God's people glad. Because we were just like these
deluded and fearless people. No fear. Our understanding was darkened.
But God, the people that walked in darkness have seen it greatly.
upon them hath the light shined. They don't see the light. The
light, like the salt of Tarsus, surrounded them. You're mine. Oh, my. The church is not full
of people on earth, but it's filled with truth, love, wisdom,
knowledge, righteousness, judgment. Judgment. I was going to turn
to Isaiah 59. As said, you don't I've often
thought if I was on a desert island and only had one book
of the Bible, what would it be? Maybe Isaiah. Maybe Isaiah. It's all there, isn't it? It's
all there. It speaks about man and his sin. It sounds like Genesis. In the
very beginning, his sin. And then in the very end it talks
about the new kingdom, the new heavens, the new earth. All before
He declares the end from the beginning, Isaiah. But it says
in Isaiah 59, judgments backwards. As none seek for truth, none
calleth on God. And they're groping like with
a wall. And judgment's far from us. And that's the United States
and that's the world. It says judgment. And you know
where judgment is committed? You know who has all judgment?
Man doesn't have any. Christ has all judgment. He's
the judge of the earth. He said all judgment is committed
unto me. And this silly, ignorant generation
says, Oh, Jesus, He loves all people. He loves, He wouldn't
do that. He didn't talk about this and that and the other and,
you know, He wouldn't condemn anybody. Oh, hold on now. That's
the other Jesus. That our Jesus Christ is all
judgment. You're going to stand, everybody's
going to stand before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ. How do
you stand? You either stand in front of
Him or in Him. And righteousness. He's filled
His people with righteousness. Righteousness. God's personal
righteousness. That's why we fear God. And God
has provided righteousness. God has imputed righteousness.
Christ. That's Christ, isn't it? Look at verse 15. You remember that? It sounds like Psalm 24, doesn't
it? Who's going to dwell with a devouring
fire? Who's going to be in the presence
of a holy, just God who by no means clears the gate? He that
walketh righteously speaketh uprightly. And on and on it goes. He'll dwell on high. Verse 17,
who is it? It's the King in all His beauty. It's the Lord Jesus Christ, our
righteousness. It's Jehovah's Seeking. That's
it. Look at our text in Isaiah 33. Wisdom, judgment, and righteousness. He fills God's people and His
church with judgment, discernment, understanding, and righteousness. He's made us righteous in Christ.
And wisdom. Wisdom, righteousness. Wisdom
and knowledge shall be the stability of our time. Wisdom. What's the
beginning of wisdom? When you first begin to be wise,
what is it? That's right. The fear of the
Lord. You know how few people Although
it's through the Scripture, how few people know that. You don't
hear that anymore, do you? The Scripture says things like
this, God is to be greatly feared in the assembly of the saints.
That's among God's people. But no, this religious generation
has made Him to be something He's not. All love, no holiness. All forgiveness, no justice. No, no, no. Now, the fear of
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And He hath abounded toward us
in our wisdom and prudence, and made known unto us the mystery
of His will. Wisdom and prudence. He made
known unto us the mystery of His will in wisdom. Wisdom. We
know the wisdom of God in this person. This is the Father's will, Christ
said, that of all He hath given me, I lose nothing. Here's the mystery. Here's the
will of God, that God, before the world began, purposed a kingdom
in His Son, a people holy and righteous and unblameable and
reputable in God's sight from among this sinful world. gave them to Jesus Christ to
come to this earth, to make them righteous, to take their sin
and to take their punishment and be condemned by God, a curse
of the law on Calvary's tree, and then rise from the grave,
proving God accepted the way He did. Go back to the right
hand of God where He ever lived to make intercession for those
that God gave you, those He laid down His life for, those He shed
His precious blood for. sends His Holy Spirit with this
Gospel, what I'm saying right now, to round them all up and
give them wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,
and see it's all in Christ. And according as it is written,
those that glory, they're going to glory in the Lord. And they're
going to see His glory. And they're going to dwell with
Him in glory. And this is the glory that they
glory in right now. God forbid that we should glory,
saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. by whom we're crucified
to the world and the world to us. He's abounded toward us in
all wisdom. He's given us an understanding. Christ said, this is the will
of the Father that everyone that seeth the Son believeth on Him
should not perish. He said, I will raise Him up
to last day. Do you see the Son? See the glory. Look at verse
6. He's bounded toward us in wisdom
and knowledge. You know, to know God is to know
all things. To know the things of God is
to know all things. To know the things of Christ
is to know all things. To have the mind of Christ, to
have an understanding of Jesus Christ, who He is, why He came,
what He did, where He is now. It's to know the end from the
beginning. It's to know the end of all things. The world is full of useless
knowledge. Useless knowledge. Ever learning
and ever coming to a knowledge of the truth. What's that? It's
not of what? It's a person. A person. Doesn't it amaze you,
the stupidity, the ignorance of mankind, that this book is
so full of glorious wisdom and knowledge? Christ himself who
came, the book, made a person. Every word from his mouth was
full of grace and truth. He could not lie, God cannot
lie, Christ could not lie, did not lie, told the absolute truth.
Here's an amazing thing God said in Isaiah. This is a wonderful
and amazing thing. The prophets prophesy lies, and
people love to have it so. Not God's people. Back over in Revelation, he said
to the church, you've found out them that are not apostles. You've
found them to be liars. You've held my word of truth,
he said. You've kept fast my word of truth. You can't stand
those that lie. That's again, knowledge of the
Holy. Fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. The knowledge of the Holy is understanding. Oh, the
ever learning, never coming to a knowledge of the truth. You
come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, you'll know the truth.
You know the truth about everything. Yeah, you will. Whom to know
is to have eternal life. And His people, God's people
are growing in grace. Every gift that God has to give
to His people, He's giving them multiplying grace. And the greatest gift of God
is the gospel of God's grace. They're growing in the knowledge
and understanding of the grace of God. They're being grounded
and settled in grace. It's a good thing the heart be
established with grace. Salvation is by grace. And God,
the gifts of God are without repentance. He doesn't take it
back. Our God doesn't change. Our God
doesn't change. Scripture says don't meddle with
them that are given to change. Well, that's their God. Oh, God has given us, He's filled
His church with wisdom, knowledge, Oh, this is the stability, verse
6. People, this is the stability
of our times. An unstable time. Perilous time. Hmm. Stability in unstable times. The world doesn't know. They're
just so fed up, men. Go through Isaiah. Fear, fear,
fear, fear. People, because God, when God
arises, when God does anything, And Hebrews says he's going to
rise one more time and shake the earth. Well, he has done
that over the years. He shook the earth many, many
times. It just causes fear of the inhabitants of the earth.
I told you the story. Maybe somebody hadn't heard it,
but I bought those worms. And I bought those worms and
made a little house for them. It was a plastic tub. He talked
about a poor house. This world, he's
going to fold it up. But anyway, I put those worms
in that tub and I fed them and watered them and took care of
them and I had compassion on them. I thought about them. Why
would I think on worms? What is a worm that I would think
on? And I'd go down there with Brother Kelly at night sometimes
and visit them. Are you okay? That's foolishness. No, that's compassion. That's
condescension. That's taking care of the thing
that I bought and purchased. Okay? Well, every now and then, you
know, none of those worms, Kathy, none of those worms, when I'd
open that lid up, would say, hey, thank you. Not one of them. Not one of them. Thank you so
much. That's good lettuce you just threw in here yesterday.
Them rotten tomatoes are wonderful. Everything they had, I fed them.
I watered them. I took care of them. I built
the house, the soil, the earth they live in. I did it. And none
of them would ever say anything to me. Not one word of thanks.
And that's Romans 1, isn't it? And so every now and then, I'd
take that towel and just shake it. There. Remind them. Hey, somebody's
running a show. That's so naughty, we spend our
days in the wrath of God. The wrath of God revealed from
heaven every day against all ungodliness and unrighteousness.
Men have the truth to suppress. That's Romans 1. Things haven't
changed. Nothing's changed. Man hasn't
changed. God hasn't changed. And He shakes the earth. Hebrews
13 verse 12 says that once more He's going to shake the whole
world one last time, but those who are on Christ's solid rock
will not be shaken. They have a faith that cannot
be shaken. Where is it? It's in Christ,
the solid rock. It's in our God that doesn't
change. It's in our God that shakes the earth. But if our
faith, those who trust in the Lord, shall be as Mount Zion,
unmovable, unshakable, stable, grounded, settled, established,
come what may, earthquake, according to the seismic register, whatever. Good, fine. We don't have anything
to fear. But God. This is stability in these perilous
times. Our God reigneth. Oh, my. Wisdom and knowledge. Strength
of salvation. I've got to get to the end of
that. Look at verse 6. It's the strength of salvation. Brothers and sisters, this is
stability in unstable times. This is wisdom in foolish times. This is knowledge in ignorant
times. This is judgment in reprobate times. This is righteousness
in wicked and ungodly times. This is fear in blasphemous times. And this is strength and weakness. Strength. You see, Satan is strong. And no human being is a match
for him. And people say, make all their boasts, religion especially,
these stupid Pentecostal holiness people make all their boasts
against, speak evil of dignity. They don't know what they're
talking about. Satan laughing at them. Well,
stronger than he came. And that's my Lord Jesus Christ.
And He's my only hope against this adversary, that I have no
strength again. None. Though this world has a
strong pull on me, like gravity. Like gravity. Talked about wanting
to fly off. We're going to mount up on wings
of eagles. No more gravity. Meet the Lord
in the air. How are we going to do that?
No more gravity. No more sin. Pull us down. It pulls us down,
doesn't it? Our Lord is stronger than sin. Where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. He said, sin shall not have dominion
over you. Didn't He say that? Oh, that's
good news to my ears. My sin, my flesh, my passions
are still strong. I'm not as old as Kate. She's 70 today. She'd want you to know that,
I'm sure. I'm not as old as her, but I'm getting there. And my passions, my fleshly passions
are just as strong as they were when they were 18 years old.
And I hate it. And I can't do anything about
it. But I know who can. And that's
why I cry daily. Every morning, help me. And he does. If I don't cry,
you know what he does? He leaves me alone. And these
things overtake me. Don't they? Yes, they do. A stronger, we need a stronger
than any of these things. I have a strong inclination to
leave, to wander, to leave, go away, leave these things. You
don't know how many times people I say, I'm just not going there
today. I'm leaving. I'm tired of this. Anybody? I'm going to run. I'm going to
flee. Where are you going to flee?
You're going to go back where you found it? I don't want that. He's stronger than my inclinations. He's stronger than my flesh. He is. He's stronger than my
flesh. He said this. He said, I'm your shepherd. I'm
your shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. And
though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we'll
fear no evil, and thou art with me. I rod and I staff, they comfort
me. I fear no evil. He said, surely
goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life,
like two sheep dogs following you, keeping the enemy at bay,
keeping you in line, nipping at your heels, saying, don't
look to the right, don't look to the left, look straight on.
You get out of line, that sheep dog finds you and brings you
back, his goodness and his mercy. And look at this in closing.
Said the fear of the Lord is his treasure. That's where we started it. The
fear of the Lord is his treasure. The fear of the Lord is his treasure
for his peculiar people. Got some more bathroom notes
here. You can't exhaust the truth. You can study it. I've studied
this for days. It just keeps flowing. The fear
of the Lord. Scripture says the fear of man
brings a snare. Those that trust in the Lord
have nothing to fear. The fear of man brings a snare. It's a trap. It's bondage. If you fear man, you're going
to fear what man does to you. You're going to fear what man
says about you. You're going to fear all that
man fears. You're going to fear all that man says. You're going
to fear all that man does. It's called peer pressure. You
follow in line with what man fears and what man says and what
man does and you're fearful not to. You fear what men think of
you. You fear losing man's favor.
You think man gave you a job and you fear him taking it away. You fear. It's bondage. You'll
be in bondage to rumors. The Lord destroyed a king, a
mighty king, the king of Syria with a rumor. You'll fear rumors. You'll fear
the news. You'll fear gossip. You'll fear
everything. You'll be in bondage. Full of
fears. Full of fads. The next fad that
comes along. You'll follow it. All the follies
of man. Fantasies of man. You fear man. It's bondage. You'll be in bondage
to everything man is bondage to. What's that? Men. You fear
the Lord. It's freedom for man. You won't believe what man says.
You'll believe what God says. You won't look to man for answers.
You'll look to God, Christ, won't you? If you won't follow the fads,
you'll follow His Word. If you won't fantasize anything,
you'll believe in faith of the truth of a new heaven and a new
earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. And that's what you'll look forward
to. That ain't fantasy. That ain't a fable. It's the
truth. Peter said we've seen Him. His
majesty. John says we've handled it. Life. So you're not making this up.
Man makes things up. He's got a God he made up. He's
got a Jesus he likes better than the one in the Scripture. He's
got a truth, he's got a gospel he likes better. But it's false,
and it'll damage your soul. Don't listen to them. Fear God. Fear man will order
your feet, where you walk, who you walk with, what you do, order
your mouth. You'll be afraid to say things
if you fear man. It'll order your way of thinking.
Fear God and He'll order these things. He'll order your steps
right. He'll order your thoughts. He'll order your words. You won't
be afraid to speak the truth. You're afraid not to. You're going to have to listen to this
again. You understand? It's His peculiar treasure that
He gives His peculiar people. that are getting more and more
peculiar as days go by. As this world gets more and more
perverse, God's people are peculiar in this perverted and wicked
and sick society. Why? They fear God. They actually
do. They fear the Lord Jesus Christ.
They don't refer to Him as they would anybody else. They bow to Him. You fear a man,
you'll bow and scrape to him. You fear God, you'll bow to Him.
You'll believe Him. He won't believe anybody or anything
else. You'll shut your ears like the
pilgrim and have your eyes straight on the prize and run just as
fast as you can to your refuge. You need to listen to this again.
This is stability in these troublesome times, these perilous times.
And as I said, though the economy is good, isn't it? The job outlook,
the economy, the, you know, peace, hang on. It's never lasted. It's never lasted. And I'll tell
you what does last. our everlasting consolation in
Christ. Fear not, thou worm, Jacob. There are some worms that do
call on him. Why? Because he calls on them
through the gospel. All right, let's sing a closing
hymn.