I have often said to you and
others, among all of the men known as reformers, I have less
in common probably theologically with Martin Luther than any of
them. And yet, Martin Luther is a man I can't help but to
greatly admire. I admire him because he was a
man. because he was a man of faith. A man of faith who all
his life long as a believer faced opposition with a backbone of
steel. A backbone of steel because of
his confident faith in God our Savior. He wrote that great hymn,
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. I'd love to hear it and I'd love
to sing it. A mighty fortress is our God
of Bulwark, never failing. Inspired by the 46th Psalm, Luther
would get word from one of his friends, political friend or
an ecclesiastical friend, and tell him of some edict the Pope
had issued against him. And Luther would say, come, let's
sing the 46th Psalm and spite the devil. What a great attitude. Let's sing God's praise and spite
the devil. You and I tend far too much to
look upon the dark side of things as we observe them in our lives
day by day, and I understand that. It is the natural tendency
of our flesh to do so. We tend far too much to see things
that are bitter, painful, unpromising, and uncomfortable. But the prophet
Isaiah was inspired of God in Isaiah chapter 33 to turn our
eyes, as the scriptures constantly do, away from circumstances,
away from darkness, away from trouble, away from sorrow, away
from pain, away from grief, away from enemies, and turn them to
God our Savior. There is one sentence given in
one verse here, in verse 22, in which the prophet was inspired
to tell us in this one sentence, in this one verse, everything
needed to keep our souls in peace. If we could constantly keep in
our minds, keep before our eyes, and believe in our hearts, That
which is here revealed in this one sentence, this one verse
of inspiration, made up of just one syllable words, all except
for one of them. Just one syllable words. If we
could just keep this one thing before us all the time, nothing
could greatly disturb us, frighten us, or make us terribly uneasy. Have you found it? Isaiah 33,
22. For the Lord is our judge. The Lord is our lawgiver. The Lord is our king. He will save us. No matter what hell does. No matter what the Pope may do.
No matter what presidents may do. no matter what Congress or
legislature may do, no matter what your neighbor may do, or
your family may do, the Lord is our judge. The Lord is our
lawgiver. The Lord is our king. That means
everything is just fine. He will save us. The Lord, the triune Jehovah,
He who really is God. Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord
is our judge. You can take that word many ways. It may refer to our Lord Jesus
being the judge of all men, the judge of all things in the last
day. And that's perfectly comfortable
for folks who know him. I find no place in the book of
God, Rex, where anyone who believes God dreaded Judgment Day. I find no place in this book,
nowhere. Folks who trusted Christ, folks
who believed God, looked forward to eternity. The Apostle Paul
wrote to the Corinthians, who had many who came in behind him
and Suggested he was a false apostle, a false prophet, a man
who served for his own gain. He said, it's a small thing to
me that I be judged of you or of a man's judgment. He said,
I don't even judge myself. I'm prepared to wait until the
last day when God sets everything in its true light, in clear light
before everybody. God's my judge. God's my judge. I'm perfectly comfortable with
that. He will judge me in perfect righteousness. He will judge me in absolute
holiness. He will give me exactly what
I deserve, not by what I have done, not by my personal merit
or worth, but exactly what I deserve in union with his darling son,
who is the Lord my righteousness. And he declares, I am a man without
sin, holy, unblameable before him, altogether righteous. The Lord is our judge. He's our
vindicator, our defender, our advocate, our defense. The one who has undertaken our
cause. God's my judge. Christ is my
judge. He is our avenger. Let men and
devils do what they will. The Lord is our lawgiver. He's
our governor. He's the one who orders our lives
and he's the one who gives our lives order. He's the one who
orders all things in our lives, and he's the one who gives us
our orders in life. He's our lawgiver. We live to
do his will. We live by his will. We seek
his will. He's our lawgiver. The Lord Jehovah
is our king. My king, your king, king of Zion,
he's our king. And he who is our king, Bill
is king everywhere. He's everybody's king. He's king
in heaven. He's king in the earth. He's
king in hell. He's king, our king. Our possession
as our king. He will save us. He will help us. He will succor
us. He will preserve us. He will
keep us safe. He will keep us safe. He will
keep us safe. He will deliver us. He will make
us victorious. He will save us. Now, let's go
back to verse one. After giving the ecstatic prophecy, of Christ's reign as our king
and the outpouring of his spirit upon his church in chapter 32. Excuse me. In this 33rd chapter,
Isaiah returns to his own times of darkness and trouble. And
he addresses the present trials of his people during the days
of Hezekiah. But he doesn't stay there very
long. The prophet of God had learned to look upon the church's
troubles as nothing more than preludes to the church's triumph. Oh, God, teach me that. Trouble for God's elect is but
the prelude to triumph. Difficulty for God's church is
but the forerunner of victory for God's church. Darkness for
God's people is but the forerunner of bright light for God's people. So in this chapter, Isaiah begins
with Sennacherib and the Assyrian invaders who were bent upon the
destruction of Judah. But the chapter concludes with
the triumph and glory of God's church in heaven. Really, the
theme of the whole chapter is expressed in verse 17. Thine
eyes shall see the king in his beauty. Thine eyes shall see
the king in his beauty. Watch him in his work and you
see him in his beauty. Watch him in his performances
of grace, of redemption, of providence, and you see him in his beauty.
Now let me give you the historic background of this chapter, and
then we'll look at these 24 verses. Historically, the passage is
talking about the fact that back in 2 Kings
18 and 19, Sennacherib invaded Israel, Judah with all
his host. And it speaks of the desolation,
his determination to bring Judah to utter desolation. The threat
of danger that he set up against Jerusalem, how he taunted them
and jeered them. And he said, he said, he said,
don't you, don't you pay any attention to those who tell you
otherwise, you went down to Egypt and you see what that got you.
You think anybody's gonna deliver you out of my hands? You trust
in Jehovah? Well, you've already given me
the gold out of his house. He demanded tribute from Hezekiah,
and Hezekiah foolishly paid it. He sent tribute money to Sennacherib,
and then Sennacherib demanded the unconditional surrender of
Jerusalem. He had already captured a lot
of cities around them, cut off travel and commerce for the people
of Judah. So Hezekiah's ambassadors came
home weeping, carrying Sennacherib's message to Hezekiah. And then
Sennacherib sent his army to Jerusalem. Did a little bit of
saber-rattling and tried to get Hezekiah to turn over the keys
of the city to him. But Rabshakeh failed to persuade
Hezekiah to surrender. God promised Hezekiah that he
would defend the city, and defend it he did. One night God sent
an angel out upon the armies of Sennacherib. While they slept,
one of God's angels, not just, one of God's angels slaughtered
185,000 of Sennacherib's men. And Sennacherib fled to Nineveh
in confusion and fear. One day while he was worshiping
Nishrach, his God, two of his sons killed him. Now what does
all of this history that Isaiah is talking about here tell us?
As God defended Judah, so God defends his church. As God dealt
with Sennacherib, So he deals with all who seek to destroy
his gospel, his people, his church, his kingdom. God is our judge. God is our lawgiver. God is our king. He will save us. That applies to everything. That applies to everybody. That applies to every difficulty,
every foe, every obstacle, every task, every enemy. He will save
us. Now let's look at this prophecy
in four sections. First, verses one through six.
Here the prophet of God, speaking by divine inspiration, gives
us a promise of deliverance. Of course Isaiah is speaking
concerning his own day and talking about the treacherous oppressors
that Judah faced and he promises that God will deliver his people
from Sennacherib and the Assyrians by his sovereign power. But this
was not written just for Judah and for Isaiah's day. This was
written for us, for our learning, for our admonition, that we through
patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. The Lord God
says, he that toucheth thee, toucheth the apple of thine eye. And let's look what it says.
First in verse one, God gives a promise of deliverance to his
chosen. by the destruction of our enemies. Look what he says. Woe to thee
that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled, and
dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with
thee. When thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled. When thou shalt make an end to
deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
In other words, he says, Sennacherib, you Assyrians who have spoiled
my people, who have dealt treacherously with my people, though they did
nothing to harm you, though they in no way sought to take anything
from you, in the end, they will spoil you. and deal treacherously
with you, sitting as judges with God on his throne over the nations
of the earth. In verse 2, in light of God's
promise, the prophet offers this prayer of faith for God's people. In the light of what he has just
said, God, teach me to believe your word. Oh, Lord, be gracious
unto us. We've waited for thee. Be thou their arm. Now he's talking
about the arm of his people. Every morning. Our salvation
also in time of trouble. This prayer of faith is not begging
God to do something we have no basis for. The Lord God has already
said he's going to overthrow, overturn, spoil, and destroy
Sennacherib and the Assyrians. Having said that, Isaiah says,
God, do it. God, do it. Do as you have said. This is very much the same thing
David said when the Lord God told him, I will give you a throne
and I'll give you a kingdom and there will never cease to be
a man to sit on your throne and of your kingdom, there will be
no end. David turned and said, Lord, now your servant found
it in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee because of what
you promised. God, I ask you to do what you
promised. This prayer was a prayer based
upon God's word, and it is a prayer that arises from a heartfelt
need. God be gracious to us. Well, Rex just got through praying.
The men in this congregation stand in this place Sunday morning
after Sunday morning, Sunday night after Sunday night, Tuesday
night after Tuesday night, week after week, month after month,
year after year, and we say in all the different ways we can
think to say it, God be gracious to us. God, be gracious to us. This
is what we need. This is what we must have. Everything
depends on this. We have waited for thee. We've
been waiting for you to be gracious, and we wait now. Be thou their
arm every morning. God, see these men and women.
Be their arm every morning. See your people in great trouble
now. Be their arm every morning. See
your servants scattered through the earth. Those men across this
country, those in dark lands, our dear brethren we've never
met yet in New Guinea, in Africa, in Mexico. God, be thou their
arm. Be arm to your servants, your
preachers every morning. Be thou our salvation in time
of trouble. Trouble comes often by our own
doing. Trouble comes often by our own
unbelief. Trouble comes often by our own
sin. Trouble comes often by our choosing our own ways, insisting
on having our own ways. Be thou our salvation in time
of trouble. We have no salvation except what
you work for us. In sickness, in sorrow, in pain,
in trouble, adversity, trial, we have no deliverance but what
you perform. I know that some of you took
to heart the assignment I gave you Sunday. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. Pray as Isaiah here taught us
to pray. Now in verses three and four,
we have God's answer of grace. Be thou gracious unto us. And
the Lord God answers, at the noise of the tumult, the people
fled. At the lifting up of thyself,
the nations were scattered. All you did was arise and the
nations scattered. And your spoil shall be gathered
like the gathering of the caterpillar. As the running to and fro of
locusts shall he run upon them. Let God arise and his enemies
be scattered. Let God arise and his enemies
be scattered. As he arises, his enemies are
scattered. And his church shall have the
spoils of the victory he works. The wealth of the wicked is laid
up for the righteous. As Israel was enriched by the
spoils of the Egyptians, So we shall be enriched in eternity
by the spoils of our enemies as heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ, inheriting all things. Little do we realize this as
we ought. Everything that Esau does, he
does for Jacob. Everything that Ishmael does,
he does for Isaac. Everything that your enemies
do to you, my brother, my sister. Everything that men do to oppose,
injure, and harm you, they only do to help you by the order of
God. Ham, is forever cursed to be
servant of servant to Shem and Japheth. The reprobate are made
to exist, upheld in their lives, ordered in their lives, and enriched
in their lives, given power in their lives, dominion over nations
in their lives, only for the good of God's elect. And then in verse five, we see
the exaltation of our Savior in his mighty works, especially
in saving his people. The Lord is exalted, for he dwelleth
on high. He hath filled Zion with judgment
and righteousness. He's exalted because of his grace. because of his peace, because
of his justice, because of his righteousness, because of his
deliverance, Christ is exalted. He dwells on high because he's
done all things for the saving of his people, for the glory
of God, according to the will of God. He's finished the work
and sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. How this
ought to ravish our souls. How this ought to comfort our
hearts in times of distress and trouble. How this ought to encourage
us before foes and enemies, before darkness, before ungodliness. Christ is on his throne. When
Spurgeon was but a young man, he was called to be pastor of
the church at Horsley Down in England, and the church grew
rapidly. and they were required to move,
but before they could get the Metropolitan Tabernacle built
from time to time, they met at different locations large enough
to house the crowds. On one occasion, Spurgeon was
preaching to a large crowd at an open theater, and the thousands,
thousands of people present, thousands of people. I'm not
talking about a couple of them. The man preached to over 20,000
people without the aid of a microphone, gathered in this huge, huge facility. And some, Horribly, cruel, barbaric
man. Cried twice, fire, fire! And people trampled over one
another to get out of the building. Many were injured. Two were trampled
to death. Spurgeon was devastated. He was
devastated. He didn't leave his house for
two weeks. He couldn't preach. He was just devastated. Two weeks
later, he returned to the same place and preached from Philippians
chapter two, a sermon that I have often read with great joy and
benefit to my soul, Christ Exalted. Hear me now, my brother, my sister. Christ is on his throne. Everything's
just fine. Everything is just fine. Then
look at verse six. Here's the blessedness of God's
church in this world. And wisdom and knowledge shall
be the stability of thy times and strength of thy salvation.
The fear of the Lord is his treasure. Wisdom and knowledge are the
stability of God's church in this world. The wisdom of his
spirit, the knowledge of his grace, the wisdom he gives who
is our wisdom, the knowledge we have by the teaching of his
word. His salvation is our strength. And our great treasure is the
fear of the Lord. Our great treasure is knowing
God and walking with God by faith. Worshipping God in spirit and
in truth. Look at verses seven through
12. These verses describe a time of great trouble. I looked at
these verses of scripture a good while the last few weeks. trying
to prepare to preach from this passage of scripture. And I try
to compare things in scripture to my own life and put them in
perspective today. Most of us are close to the same
age, somewhere over 50 years, some of us a good bit beyond
that. In our brief lifetime, my, my, my, how things have changed. Things that weren't discussed
when I was a boy are everyday fare now. Fornication, adultery,
blasphemy, sodomy, drunkenness, revelry, just everyday fares,
just everyday fares. Read how Isaiah describes the
time of trouble for God's church. Behold, their valiant ones cry,
shall cry without. The ambassadors of peace shall
weep bitterly. The highways lie waste. The wayfaring
man ceaseth. He hath broken the covenant.
He hath despised the cities. He regardeth no man. The earth
mourneth and languisheth. Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down. Sharon is like a wilderness.
Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits. Now will I rise, saith the Lord. Now will I be exalted. Now will I lift up myself. Oh, thank God. Fulfill your word
today, Lord. Ye shall conceive chaff. Ye shall
bring forth stubble. Your breath as fire shall devour
you. And the people shall be as the
burnings of lime. As thorns cut up, shall they
be burned in the fire. God promised to defend Jerusalem
and destroy Sennacherib. But before deliverance, there
would be distress. Before triumph, there would be
trouble. And that's the way it always is. That's the way it
was in the days of Hezekiah and Sennacherib. That's the way it
was in the days when Moses was sent to deliver Israel out of
Egypt. That's the way it has been throughout
history. That's the way it is now. Our
Lord is coming, but Antichrist has been around a long time.
The man of sin must be revealed. His workings must be made manifest.
Many shall fall away. God will send them a strong delusion
that they should believe a lie. But all the while, the Lord God
has given us good hope through grace, and promises his salvation,
and promises his salvation to be glorious as he arises to work. In Revelation chapter seven,
or chapter 11 rather, we read of God's witnesses slain in the
streets. I don't pretend to understand
everything about the chapter, but I understand this much. God's witnesses slain in the
streets, his word trampled on, his servants silenced, and the
whole world throws a party. The religious world and the secular
world, the whole world throws a party. Look at them now! Those
men who derided and mocked us and denounced our ways, where
are they now? But right in the midst of their
reveling and their partying, God raises up his witnesses again
and causes them to be heard through the earth. What a day it is in
which we live. Our God has been pleased in this
day to give witness of the gospel in our hands around the world
in the darkest day history has recorded. Right in the midst
of the greatest apostasy this world has ever known, I mean
by that Arminian freewill works religion, call it by whatever
name you will, call it Islam, Judaism, Papacy, Baptist, Pentecostal,
Presbyterian, doesn't matter, call it Confucianism, call it
whatever you want to, the worship of man. Right in the midst of
it, God has made means give an opportunity and sing to it that
his word goes now into the four corners of the earth and folks
in Moscow and Beijing and Tehran can't stop it. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? I think I've told you this, I'm
sure I have. When Brother Larry was here keeping records of things,
he was telling me about someone in Tehran, it's been several
years ago, who every Saturday would get on our websites and
stayed for three hours every Saturday on that website. Had
no idea who he was. Obviously, I've never heard from
him. But he did so until he had downloaded everything on there. Everything. Everything. At the
risk of his own life. And it endeareth. God, in the
midst of darkness, sends out his word, the light of the world,
in the calling out of his elect. Third, look at verses 13 through
16. And see God's intervention. First, he gives us a call to
praise. Hear ye that are far off what I have done. and you that are near, acknowledge
my might. God says, hear me, acknowledge
me, worship me. The Lord our God calls for us
to praise him for what he has done, for what he is doing, and
in anticipation of what he's promised to do. In the midst
of it, he promises to bring confusion to those who profess to be his
people, to hypocrites, sinners in Zion. Verse 14, the sinners
in Zion are afraid. Fearfulness hath surprised the
hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with
the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with
the everlasting burning? None of them. But read what he
says concerning God's elect, verse 15. He that walketh righteously
and speaketh uprightly, he that despiseth the gain of oppressions,
and shaketh his hands from the holding of bribes, that stoppeth
his ears from the hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes
from seeing evil. What's he talking about? I'm
talking about men and women who walk by faith in Christ. They
walk righteously. By the sweet influence of grace,
By the power of God the Holy Ghost, they put off the old man
and put on the new. Walking in this world, living
in this world, in this world of darkness, in this world of
opposition to God, in this world of ungodliness, they walk with
God. And they walk with God in faith. And they shall endure the judgment
that God brings, both in time and to eternity, being preserved
by his mighty grace. And then we see the assured blessedness
of God's elect in verse 16. He shall dwell on high, these
who walk by faith. His place of defense shall be
the munitions of rocks, His place of defense shall be the strong
place in the rock. His place of defense shall be
the hard, firm place in the rocks. Bread shall be given him, and
his waters shall be sure. I find a parallel passage. If
ye then be risen with Christ, Don't let the things on this
earth bother you too much. Seek those things which are above,
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection,
not affections, your affection. Set your heart on God. Set your heart on heaven. Set your heart on eternity. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth, for you are dead. Dead to the world and the world
to you. Dead, crucified with Christ and
living, living with Christ. And your life is hid with Christ
in God. When hypocrites in Zion are afraid,
still the bread of life is given to God's saints and waters of
refreshing are sure. precious promises. All right,
let's look at the last section, verses 17 through 24. Here the prophet expands his
promise of assured blessedness to God's elect and declares the
sure, certain triumph and glory of Christ, his church, his cause,
his gospel, and his people. Here's the blessedness of heavenly
glory that awaits every believer. Thine eyes shall see the king
in his beauty. They shall behold the land that
is far off. What a promise. What a promise. These eyes. Job said this 6,000
years ago. He says, I'm going to see him
with these eyes. These eyes. Enoch wrote about
it before the flood. Christ is coming with 10,000
of his saints. We shall see Christ our King in all his beauty as
Christ our King. We'll see him face to face as
he is. Thine eyes shall see the King
in his beauty. We will see the land that's now
far off. How often I told you when we
think about heaven, we haven't begun to have any real imagination
of what it is, that far off land. Shelby and I were talking about
it last night at supper, learning of Christ, learning of Christ,
ever learning of Christ. We shall see that land soon that
is so very far off. And just in proportion as we
look to Christ, we shall view our earthly troubles with delight
and the prospect of triumph and victory with Christ our Lord
over Satan and all of darkness and ungodliness and all that's
in opposition to him. Verse 18. Thine heart shall meditate
terror. Where is the scribe? Where is
the receiver? Where is he that counted the
towers? Where is that fellow who told us he's going to do
so much harm? Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people
of deeper speech than thou canst perceive. of a stammering tongue
that thou canst not understand, but rather God's church, God's
kingdom is secure and shall be glorious. Look upon Zion, the
city of our solemnities, the city, God's church. If I mistake him not, Lindsay,
he's saying this right here is the only important thing in the
world. The city of our solemnities, God's church, God's kingdom.
Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem, the city of God. You'll see a
quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down.
Not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed. That can't
possibly be talking about the physical city of Jerusalem or
the physical temple in Jerusalem. It's talking about God's church.
Neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. But there
the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and
streams. Broad rivers and streams. Now what's this next word? wherein
shall no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ships pass thereby. Here we are in this broad river,
this broad stream, stream pure, clean, fresh, as clear as crystal,
flowing from the throne of God, ever refreshing our souls. Broad,
broad, broad. Nothing in it to impress the
flesh. Nothing in it to ascribe any
nobility to those who inhabit this city. Nothing gallant, nothing
majestic, nothing wonderful. Just sinners saved by God's free
grace. No galley with oars, no gallant
ships pass thereby. Who needs them? We've got Christ. God's church, oh, would to God
I could convince you and me and every one of God's people of
this fact. God's church needs nothing from
the world. God's church needs nothing of
the world's riches, the world's philosophy, the world's power. The church of God needs nothing
from the world, for the Lord is our judge. The Lord is our
lawgiver. The Lord is our King. He will save us. Verse 23, thy tacklings are loosed. They could not well strengthen
their mast. that could not spread the sail,
then is the prey of a great spoil divided, and the lame take the
prey. Those who have been spoiled will
spoil you. Those who have been dealt with
treacherously by you shall deal treacherously with you. Verse
24. And when God's done, and Christ is triumphant at last,
God's church is triumphant at last, darkness is gone, sin is
gone, Satan is gone, death and hell are gone. Then sorrow shall
be no more, and the inhabitant shall not say, I'm sick. The people that dwell therein
shall be forgiven their iniquity. Would you inhabit this land,
this glorious land called heaven, the new Jerusalem, the church
of God, where no one enters except he that is holy. and he that
is just and he that is undefiled. No one enters except those who
keep the commands of God in this book. Would you inhabit the land? Hear the Savior. The Spirit and
the Bride say come. And whosoever will, let him come
and take of the water of life freely. You see, life everlasting
is free to sinners who come to Christ, who believe on the Son
of God. For believing Him is obedience
to the commands of God in this book, in the totality. Ours is life eternal by faith
in Christ our Lord. Amen.